Balto: Red Nikki: Blue Christa: Green Idrissa Kofi: Purple Asha Kofi: Orange Raphael: Yellow
Mixed Side-Characters like the Minskoff director and the Principal: bold black
Art was done by the amazing https://www.furaffinity.net/user/ruusen",
"writing": "[u][center][b]Chapter 2 The Competition[/b][/center][/u]\n\nMonday morning was full of hectic. Our college rector knocked on everyone's door. He yelled:\n[b]“Out of the bed, everyone. We have to leave for the theater in an hour. Get up now.”[/b]\n\nBalto stood up and walked slowly into the bathroom, grumbling how much he disliked my rector. I giggled and followed him shortly after, helped him to get ready. Afterwards we got dressed, and went down for breakfast and to meet with the others. To my surprise, we were first, and so Balto had not to fight for his beloved meatballs. Raphael came down next, together with the principal and Svetlana, with whom he shared his room. The rest came down about fifteen minutes later. While everyone ate, I could watch this big Rottweiler walking up and down in the main hall. It seemed that he was even more nervous than we were. None of us said a single word during breakfast that day. As it was time to go, we stood up, I took Balto's hand, and we left the hotel. To our luck, we didn't have to take all our stuff to the theater ourselves. The principal had taken care of it, and it was already waiting for us in our dressing room.\nAfter a 15-minute walk, we arrived at Time Square. Another five minutes later, we entered the Minskoff Theater, where we were asked into one of the smaller stage rooms. Inside it, we could see the members of the other groups. It surprised me to see only three other groups. So, we were just four groups in total. The chairman of the Minskoff walked on the stage, as we took our seats in front of it.\nAfter everyone sat down, he began a little speech:\n[b]“Ok, I see that the last group finally arrived. I welcome the Stark College from Darwin's Hope. I heard about that terrible storm there yesterday, and I am delighted to see, that you still could make it. Since I want to avoid losing more time, and I am sure you all would like to prepare for the competition, I will make this as short as I can. The Minskoff Theater is proud to host its tenth College Theater Competition. As every time, we gathered the most promising theatrical groups from New York City and the surrounding areas in a little competition, to see who has the potential to make it in the world of theater. The winner will take home the price of 10,000 Dollars, given by the Theatre Guild. Before I introduce the participants, I want to explain how this competition will go on.\nFrom tomorrow on, every group will perform their chosen play in front of a selected audience. The Minskoff will support every group with props and decorations, as far as possible. For the not performing groups, it isn't an obligation to watch the show of the performing group. But I would recommend it. Be assured, in the world of theater, it is always a good thing to know what your competitors are doing. Now I want to introduce the groups we have this year. \n\nOur last years' winner, the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts,\nThen we have the Metropolitan College of New York,\nThe University of Rochester, and finally, \nthe Stark College from Darwin's Hope.\n\nFour outstanding groups, which will present us four wonderful shows. The first group tomorrow will be Metropolitan College with Sense and Sensibility,\nWednesday is for the University of Rochester, who will show us a version of McBeth,\nThursday, we have Stark College with A Midsummer Night's Dream,\nwhich leaves the Friday for our last year's winner, the NYCDA. They will show us The Women of Lockerbie. \n\nMe and the other judges eagerly await your shows.\nTo round this up, I want to give you all a warning. Any acts against other groups will end in disqualification. So be nice, be fair. Now you all will have time to make yourself familiar with the stage, speak with each other, or go to your assigned dressing rooms to make yourself at home. The first show will begin tomorrow at 2 p.m.”[/b]\n\nI wanted to take a closer look at the stage, and took Balto with me. Hand in Hand, we walked towards the stairs. I could feel how the little wolf was pressing my hand, and I felt the other participants' stares. We walked up the stairs, which were on the side of the stage. Balto missed a step and almost fell, what made some people laugh. They joked about Balto and his young age.\n[b]“Hey, I thought this would be a college competition, who invited the Kinder Garden?”[/b]\n[b]“Where is your mommy, dog-boy?”[/b]\n\nThere were other things said there, which I don't want to write down here. But Balto was clearly intimidated by this, and tried to hide behind me. Raphael joined us on stage, placing his hand on Balto's shoulder. \n[color=#c4a000]“Just ignore them. It is better not to react to things like that. We could easily get disqualified, if we start to argue about it. So please, just ignore it. We have to concentrate on the reason we are here.”[/color]\n\nRaphael was right, and we simply continued to look around. We checked out the dressing room, unpacked our costumes, made a fitting to see if everything was ok. After he was in his costume, Balto had to visit the bathroom. So, he walked out of the dressing room as he was. Just to came back crying a few minutes later. His costume had a big tear on the shoulder. \n\nAngelike was closer to him than I was, took him in her arms and asked him what had happened. He couldn't stop crying, but explained that he met a hooded person outside. And that this person damaged his costume by holding him, as he was leaving the restroom.\n\nI was furious, wanted to seek and confront this idiot. Gladly, I was held back by Raphael.\nHe said, in a calm voice:\n[color=#c4a000]“Nikki, if you go out there now, we can pack our stuff and go home. All our work would have been for nothing.”[/color]\nI was so angry, that I nearly screamed at him:\n[color=#3465a4]“If this isn't counted as an act against us, what is? This guy's group should be disqualified for this! Look at Balto. His and my mom made this costume for him. Do you know how long they have worked on it?”[/color]\nRaphael's voice became louder:\n[color=#c4a000]“Nikki, calm down. You are not helping anyone here. I know what this was, but I doubt that it would have any consequences, if we say something. Please, Nikki. Calm down.”[/color]\nAngelike was drying his tears when we looked at Balto and moved closer.\n[color=#c4a000]“Now, let us have a look at the damage.”[/color]\nHis gaze went over to Miguel, after we checked the tear.\n[color=#c4a000]“Miguel, can you repair that?”[/color]\nMiguel is a genius with needle and yarn. Of course, I could have shown it to my mother, but somehow, I wanted to avoid risking her and Christa seeing that. Miguel took a close look, before he smiled at us.\n[b]“That is not a problem. Come with me, Balto. This shouldn't take long.”[/b]\n\nMiguel fixed the tear, and it looked as good as new afterwards. Balto was smiling again. We then changed back into our normal clothes, Raphael gave the rest of our cast their specific roles, and in the late afternoon, we walked back to the hotel. \n\nBalto was holding my hand during the whole time. This wasn't the best start. I began to think again, that all this might have been a big mistake. My gaze went up to the sky, and I prayed that this was the last disaster for this week.\nAs we entered the hotel, our mothers were already waiting for us. Christa spoke up first:\n[color=#4e9a06]“Why haven't you told us that you are leaving?”[/color]\nI sighed.\n[color=#3465a4]“I am sorry. It was all a bit hectic today. What have you done the whole day?”[/color]\nMy mother answered me, after she checked her phone for a moment.\n[color=#f57900]“We went to the Guggenheim Museum and made a walk through Central Park. But what about the plan for the rest of the day? Are you two hungry?”[/color]\n\nBalto immediately raised his hand and answered:\n[color=#cc0000]“I am! I want Pizza!”[/color]\n\nMom and Christa laughed out loud, while dad finally joined us. He said that he had to make an important call.\nWe talked a bit more about the day, about the program for the rest of this week, and went out for dinner in a nearby pizzeria. Before Balto and I went to bed that day, we met once more with our group in Raphael’s room. We agreed to watch all shows of our competitors, and we also wanted to make little sightseeing tours together after the shows. Our parents would accompany us to the shows, of course.\nWhen Balto and I were about to leave, Svetlana held me by the arm. It surprised me when she asked me to come with us for a moment because she needed my advice.\nBalto was so kind to go up to see his mother, so we girls could have a little talk together. We sat down on the bed, and I recognized for the first time what a cute and sexy Husky Svetlana was.\n\nI began the conversation:\n[color=#3465a4]“Well, Svetlana, what can I do for you?”[/color]\nShe seemed a bit shy and looked away, as she answered in her slightly Russian accent:\n[b]“Well, Nikki, I wanted to ask you something. You know, I am going out with Raphael since a few months now, but he never attempted to, you know, have sex with me.”[/b]\nI chuckled a bit.\n[color=#3465a4]“And what is your question here, Svetlana? If he doesn’t want to make the first step in that direction, maybe you should do it. Maybe he is afraid to do something wrong.”[/color]\nThe girl seemed pretty nervous, and rubbed her arms.\n[b]“I can’t simply tell him to have sex with me. I think I love him.”[/b]\nCarefully I touched her cheek.\n[color=#3465a4]“Then show it with gestures. You know, bending over in front of him, sleep naked. You share a room, Svetlana. It shouldn’t be too complicated to show Raphael, that you are ready and want him to make the next step.”[/color]\n[b]“Nikki, I am not sure if I am really Raphael’s taste. I mean, he hasn’t tried to even touch me so far. If you remember, he asked you several times to go out with him. Maybe he simply is more into felines.”[/b]\nThis made me laugh. \n\n[color=#3465a4]“His last girlfriend was a golden retriever. I met her once, she was not the brightest candle on the cake. Svetlana, just be honest to him. I promise you, he will not be able to keep his hands off you, if he knows what you want. Raphael is probably just too shy to make the first step.”[/color]\nSvetlana still seemed not to be convinced.\n[b]“Nikki, did you ever have sex with him? I mean, you know each other for so long.”[/b]\nI shook my head.\n[color=#3465a4]“No, we never had sex together. Svetlana, let me give you another tip, if you really want to speed things up. Take a shower, wrap yourself into a towel. Make sure that it only covers your upper body. It should at least wake his interest, if you walk back into the room like that. Then you turn your back on him and ask him to help you dry off. And if Raphael didn’t become gay during the last few months, he will no longer be able to resist you. Say, do you have condoms?”[/color]\nShe nervously shook her head, and I took some out of my bag.\n[color=#3465a4]“No problem, I have some here. Balto and I barely need them, since I am on birth control.”[/color]\nI gave her the condoms, and she hugged me.\n[b]“Thank you, Nikki. I will tell you how it went.”[/b]\nShe was about to leave when I jumped up from the bed to stop her.\n[color=#3465a4]“Just one more thing, Svetlana. Wait until Thursday, after our show is over. Both of you will be much more relaxed, and enjoy it more.”[/color]\n\nShe hugged me once more, and as she opened the door, I saw Balto outside. My wolf just wanted to knock at the door, and looked a bit confused, as Svetlana happily left our room.\nHe tilted his head while looking at me.\n[color=#cc0000]“Did you two …?”[/color]\nI silenced him with a gentle grip over his muzzle, before I told him to come in. I released Fluffy from my grip, after I closed the door. While looking a bit mad at him, I answered his question:\n[color=#3465a4]“No, we didn’t have sex, silly. But she wants to have sex with Raphael, and asked me for tips to turn him on. But please, keep your mouth shut about this, ok?”[/color]\nDoggy only nodded tiredly. It was time for us to sleep. We had some long days ahead of us.\n \nDon't worry, I won't bother you, our dear readers, with the whole competition or with what we did during the rest of the time. I will only give you a short summary of Tuesday and Wednesday, before I jump to Thursday.\n\nOn Tuesday, we watched the Metropolitan College with their version of Sense and Sensibility. Balto made a stupid joke, as I asked how he would summarize the story shortly:\n[color=#cc0000]“Well, there are two sisters. One has great sense, and the other one…”[/color]\nDad interrupted him.\n[color=#75507b]“Let me guess, she has great sensibility?”[/color]\nBalto giggled.\n[color=#cc0000]“No, she doesn't have any sense at all.”[/color]\n\nWe all laughed. Some visitors looked a bit weird at us, but others also had a smile in their face, as far as I remember that. We took our seats in the last row, together with the others, and watched the show. It was a solid performance, unfortunately it was a bit too quiet. Even we had problems to understand everything, and we have, as you know, a better hearing than most humans. The play itself is about the difference between two sisters, one guided by sense, the other one by her sensibility. Or in other words, one followed her head, the other one her emotions. If you are interested, I will link a page, where you can read more about it. I am not really a fan of stories like that. The fashion style in this play wasn’t mine at all. But ok, fashion was different in 1811. The acting, well, it was good. Maybe a bit stiff sometimes, especially in the kissing scenes. Balto slept through half of the play. Can’t blame him for that. Well, the play was about 3 hours long, then we left for dinner. Sadly, we had to eat quickly, since we had some more training to do.\n\nWednesday promised to be more interesting for us. Macbeth is a sad tale about a man, who was told by three witches, that he will be king. Encouraged by his wife, he kills king Duncan, then he kills more people in paranoia. All this ends in a civil war, in which many more people die. Macbeth loses his head in a battle against a man named Macduff, the war ends, and Duncan's son Malcolm becomes king of Scotland.\nA pretty bloody story, that is definitely not suitable for children. Like many of Shakespeare's plays.\n\nThe group from Rochester set the bar pretty high that afternoon. Solid play, cool costumes, great actors. The only thing our rector mentioned after the show was how copied it looked in some parts. No personal note, no feeling. But it still would be hard to beat this. In the evening, we went to a nice Chinese restaurant for dinner, and we used the time we waited for our food to chat a bit with Hazel and Johana.\nWell, let us move on to our big day.\n\n[center][u][b]Chapter 3 Thursday[/b][/u][/center]\n\nThe morning began peaceful. Balto already was awake, as I opened my eyes. He stretched his body and jumped through the room, somehow how he was supposed to do it on stage later. I stood up, brushed my teeth, then we went down for breakfast. Everyone was there, and the hotel's main hall spontaneously turned into a stage for us, as we went through a few scenes again. Everything seemed just fine, until it became time to go to the theater. We looked outside, and it rained. And if I say rain, I mean a flood. But we had to go, there was no time to wait. The car sadly was no alternative. If you have ever been to New York City, you know why. The hotel gave us a couple of those cheap raincoats, and wrapped in them, we walked as fast as we could to Time Square. Our paws were soaking wet, when we entered the theater. The sight of us amused the other students, they laughed loudly, and we heard more than one stupid comment.\n \nAt the doors that lead to the dressing rooms, we had to leave our parents behind. For Balto, this was the hardest part. He seemed so calm before, but now I could see how nervous he was. He shivered, stuttered. It seemed like he would look for a way to get out. His mother gave him a tight hug, and a few words, while she smiled at him:\n[color=#4e9a06]“Balto, I am proud of you. Nothing will ever change that. Don't be afraid, my son. Just remember the times you did karaoke with your girlfriend. Oh, and look here.” [/color]\nShe opened her purse, and took out Little Balto.\n[color=#4e9a06]“I have Little Balto with me. You forgot him at home, and I saw him standing on your nightstand, shortly before we left. Do you remember what I told you on the day I gave him to you?”[/color]\nBalto nodded.\n[color=#cc0000]“You said that nothing bad can happen, as long as Little Balto is with me. That he will protect me.”[/color]\nChrista gently touched her son’s cheek, before she took him into her arms.\n[color=#4e9a06]“Right. I believe in you, and I am certain that your father is also very proud of you right now, Balto.”[/color]\nI almost felt bad, as I had to interrupt this heartbreaking scene.\n[color=#3465a4]“Balto, we have to go. We need to get dressed. The show starts soon.”[/color]\n\nI took Balto's hand, and we walked to the dressing room. We all put on our costumes, after we dried our paws a bit. I helped Balto a bit, after I was done. My wolf was so nervous, that he couldn't sit still. As I looked into his face, I could see how he was shivering. Then I heard him saying silently: \n[color=#cc0000]“Nikki, can I go? I can’t do this. I will ruin everything.”[/color]\n\nRaphael heard what he said, and more importantly, he saw Balto trembling with fear.\n[color=#c4a000]“Balto, please relax. Nikki, can't you do anything to calm him down?”[/color]\nThe only thing I could think of that always helped to calm him down was something I hadn't done in a long time. I took a deep breath and began to sing a song I used to sing to Balto when he was sad as a puppy:\n\n[color=#3465a4]“Hush, my Balto, don't you cry; Nikki's going to sing you a lullaby. \nHush my Balto don't say a word; Nikki's going to buy you a mockingbird. \nIf that mockingbird won't sing, Nikki's going to buy you a golden ring. \nIf that gold ring turns to brass, Nikki's going to buy you a looking glass. \nIf that glass begins to crack, Nikki's going to buy you a jumping jack. \nIf that jumping jack is broke, Nikki's going to buy you a velvet cloak. \nIf that velvet cloth is coarse, Nikki's going to buy you a rocking horse. \nIf that rocking horse won't rock, Nikki's going to buy you a cuckoo clock. \nIf that cuckoo clock won't tick, Nikki's going to buy you a walking stick. \nIf that walking stick falls down, you'll still be the sweetest little Fluffy in town!”[/color]\n\nAnd yes, he calmed down. In fact, everyone did. As I finished the song, the room was silent until Raphael spoke up:\n[color=#c4a000]“Ok, Musketeers. Two minutes until the curtain lifts. Everyone, form a circle.”[/color]\n\nHe reached his right hand into the circle, saying the famous phrase:\n[color=#c4a000]“One for all”[/color]\nEveryone reached for his hand, only Balto held back, until he found the courage to place his hand on top of ours. Now we answered together:\n[b]“And All for One!”[/b]\n\nAnd so, it began.\nGabriel as Demetrius, Miguel as Egeus, and Jonathan as Theseus were the first on stage, Thomas as Lysander and me, in my role as Hermia, joined them shortly after. \nSvetlana as Helena was the last of our main crew, who came on stage in these first scenes of the first act. \nThe cute Husky also had one of my favorite lines in this part of the play:\n[b]“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”[/b]\nEverything went smoothly, we all had a lot of fun. Even Balto cheered up now, and I could see a gleam in his eyes, as I risked a brief look at him. Yes, my little trickster has smelled blood.\n\nNow he wanted to hunt. The stage was prepared for Balto’s biggest victory over himself.\nAnd Balto used his chances to win the hearts of his audiences. Already in one of his first sentences he showed his talent to emphasize his words with his gesture:\n[color=#cc0000]“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”[/color]\n\nThe way Balto and Raphael acted together was fantastic.\nAnd the scene where he gave Joseph that big ass head, hilarious. You could see and hear how Balto enjoyed his role, as he ran, sneaked and jumped over the stage, like he never did anything else.\nThe play went on, and after nearly 3 hours, we were finished. The curtain fell, Balto stood in front of it, and our Puck said his famous little poem:\n\n[color=#cc0000]\"If we shadows have offended,\nThink but this, and all is mended—\nThat you have but slumbered here\nWhile these visions did appear.\nAnd this weak and idle theme,\nNo more yielding but a dream,\nGentles, do not reprehend.\nIf you pardon, we will mend.\nAnd, as I am an honest Puck,\nIf we have unearned luck\nNow to ’scape the serpent’s tongue,\nWe will make amends ere long.\nElse the Puck a liar call.\nSo good night unto you all.\nGive me your hands if we be friends,\nAnd Robin shall restore amends.\"[/color]\n\nAs soon as Balto was finished, he slipped through the curtain to join us. In his face, he wore a smile from ear to ear. I could hear the people clapping their hands, they whistled, and the theaters' director could be heard:\n[b]“Wow, what a play, Ladies and Gentlemen. This group of Anthropomorphs clearly earned your applause. I want to ask every single member to come out on stage once more, if you hear your name. Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you:\n\nOberon, King of the fairies, played by Raphael McAlister,\nTitania, the Fairy Queen, portrayed by Angelike Peterson\nTheseus, or better known as Jonathan Schmidt,\nthen we have Thomas O'Rielly as Lysander,\nGabriel Smith as Demetrius,\nSvetlana Stoica as Helena,\nJoseph Goldman played a great Nick Bottom,\nNicole Kofi as Hermia, and\nMiguel Rodrigo, he played Egeus.\nThen we have the Stark College Cast, they also did a fantastic job in their specific roles.”[/b]\n\nI could see the man looking at his notes for a second.\n[b]“Oh, and before I forget him, and before he makes a donkey out of me, please give an extra round of applause to Balto Star, who managed to enchant us all today in his role as Puck!”[/b]\nBalto came out shyly. The applause and that everyone was looking at him, while he only wanted to get some rest, was maybe a bit too much for him. \nThat changed, as he saw his mother, who came to the stage with open arms. He quickly walked towards her, kneeled at the edge of the stage and gave Christa a hug. Their tails wagged fast, what made us all smile. I had to get him back to us, so we could bow down in front of the audience, like it is tradition in the world of theater. \n\nAs we finally walked back to our dressing room, we found a disturbing note on the door.\n[i]“Anthros, go home.”[/i]\n\nMiguel took down the note and threw it in trash, after we entered the room. Humans can be so stupid. Ok, to be fair, there are also stupid Anthros, who think they are the better people. Idiots come in all shapes, colors, and species. What I didn't notice was Balto pulling this crap out of the garbage can again. We changed our clothes, and simply wanted to go back to the hotel or grab a bite. Even our principal was glad, that this was over. Miguel, Thomas, Gabriel, Angelike, Jonathan and Joseph wanted to visit a nearby bar, Svetlana and Raphael wanted to go for a walk. I guess they had to discuss a few things. Our principal, together with the rest of the crew, moved back to the hotel, while Balto, our parents and I went out to have dinner. We decided for the pizzeria we knew from our last stay in this city. We sat down, Christa placed Little Balto on the table, after she gave him a cheering pose, as a hooded man approached us. He nearly immediately began to yell:\n[b]“Filthy creatures, you are no Americans. Laboratory rats, that is what you are! Go home!”[/b]\nMy father wanted to reason with him at first, but that didn't help much. And after he attempted to grab Little Balto, dad had enough. He took this person by his neck and threw him out on the street. The other people in the restaurant clapped their hands, which showed me that most humans don't agree with people like him.\nAs my father came back to the table and sat back down, Balto pulled out this note from his pocked, showing it to the others.\n[color=#cc0000]“This was on the door of our dressing room.”[/color]\nBalto clearly was afraid, and his mom took him into her arms. \n\nThe waiter came, brought us some water and took our orders. While we waited, my father looked at the note.\n[color=#75507b]“This reminds me about my time in the military. I thought this crap would be finally over. Nicole, Balto, please be careful. Better call your friends, and tell them what just happened here.”[/color]\nI did what dad told me to do, and gladly, nothing bad happened for the rest of the day. After dinner, and after a little walk, we went back to the hotel to finally get some rest. In the lobby, we met a few crew members, and our principal, who seemed to be relieved to see us.\n[b]“Mrs. Kofi, Balto. I am so glad to see you back. Mr. Rodrigo here just told me about this note on the dressing room door. I already called the head of the Minskoff Theater, he promised me to investigate in this matter. He told me about security cameras, and he will see if he can find the one who put this on the door. But now, please, get some rest. Tomorrow will be another long day.”[/b]\n\nHe was right. Not only that we had to watch the last play, the award ceremony would be right after that. Balto and I went up to our room, and as we passed a few doors, we heard a familiar sound out of one of them. I swear, Balto's ears became bigger than they usually are, as he stepped closer to that door. You guessed it, it was Svetlana's and Raphael's room, and by the sound of it, they just had a lot of fun together. After a few moments, I pulled Balto away from the door.\n[color=#3465a4]“It isn't nice to eavesdrop, Balto. Come, let us take a nice warm shower.”[/color]\n\nBalto happily followed me. We undressed, and I must say, a shower never felt better before.\nI helped Balto to wash his back, and as my hands massaged the shampoo into his fur, I felt every single muscle underneath it. I first washed his back, then kneeled to wash his legs, and his paws. Oh, these pressures paws of him. Yes, I admit it. I am crazy for paws. They are one of my biggest fetishes.\nDoggy clearly enjoyed me taking care of him, what I saw, as he turned around. His member was standing right in front of my muzzle. I looked up, just to him smiling at me with big eyes. \n\n[color=#cc0000]“Please, Ni…”[/color]\nHe didn't need to finish the question. Slowly, I took his whole dick into my mouth. Balto placed his hands on my head, before he began to thrust. Drops of pre-cum dripped into my mouth, as my naughty canine increased his speed. My right hand gently massaged his heavy balls, while I fingered myself with my left. I love if my mate is using my muzzle like that. His speed increased further, while I tightened my mouth around his member. Balto moaned load, his knot grew every time he shoved his penis into me. His body began to shiver, his thrusts became shorter and harder, until he pressed himself against me and shot his warm seed deep into my throat. He took a step back, panting and smiling at me with satisfaction.\nI swallowed his seed, stood up and turned around. With my hands on the glass of the shower cabin, I presented him my wet vagina. My tail switched from one side to the other, as he came closer, just to rub his cock against my hungry lips.\nI whimpered like a bitch in heat, as he finally had mercy and shoved his still hard member into my wet cave. The canine didn't lose time, he held me with both hands by my hips, and began to hump me. Fast and hard, fully driven by his primitive instincts. I couldn't do more than moan and biting my tongue. Otherwise, I would have screamed of lust and horniness, that the whole hotel could have heard me. It took about 10 heavenly minutes, until his knot began to swell. Another minute later, I exploded under his skillful thrusts, and a bit because of my handwork. We were combined by his knot once more, wet to the bones from the still running shower, and tired out by the day, and this wonderful sex we just shared. I love my naughty little sex fairy. Nothing else really mattered to me at that moment. I was perfectly happy. It took another 10 minutes, until Balto was able to pull out. Next, he helped me with cleaning myself, we dried each other's fur, then we went to bed. Arm in arm, we felt into a deep slumber.\n\nMy alarm clock woke me up at seven in the morning. As I looked down, I could see Balto, whose head was laying on my chest. I carefully caressed over his head, whispering:\n[color=#3465a4]“Wake up, sweetie. The night is over.”[/color]\nBalto woke up and yawned, before he looked at me tiredly. Then my wolf sat himself up, took his mobile, checked the time and mumbled:\n[color=#cc0000]“Why do we have to stand up now?”[/color]\nHe sat there, half asleep, and his hair looked like an exploded broom. I also sat up and kissed my sweet prince, what made him smile. We stood up, brushed our teeth and helped each other groom. Afterwards, it was time for breakfast.\nThe others were already sitting at the buffet. Well, everyone besides Svetlana and Raphael. To my surprise, Balto didn't eat anything this morning. He just sipped on his tea, since the hotel still wasn't able to offer a Cocoa suitable for Anthros. As I mentioned before, I know Balto all my life. Skipping breakfast is highly unusual for him. That is why I asked him:\n[color=#3465a4]“Is everything ok, Balto? Don't you want to eat something?”[/color]\nHe shook his head in response. I put my arm around his shoulders, which made him snuggle close to me. The others giggled and smiled at him, especially Angelike. Then our rector joined us, with a cup of coffee in his big hand.\n[b]“Good morning. As I see, we are still missing Mrs. Stoica and Mr. McAlister. But for the rest, I have an announcement to make. The head of the Minskoff informed me, that he received an anonymous letter. In it, he was warned of consequences, should he continue to support our kind in his house. He called police, and they granted some extra protection today. To prevent any damage, and to minimize the danger of someone getting hurt, I want to ask every member of our group, if we should just leave.”[/b]\nHe looked at each one of us.\n[b]“The decision is yours.”[/b]\n\nEveryone was silent for a minute, until we heard Raphael's voice.\n[b]“The Musketeers will stay! We came here to be part of a competition, and even if the other groups would love to see that, we will not put our tails between our legs and run away. Am I right?”[/b]\nA combined [b]“AI!”[/b] was the response coming from our whole group, including the supporting cast.\nTo my surprise, Balto took a knife from the table, stood on his chair and said loudly: \n[color=#cc0000]“One for all!”[/color]\nOur response couldn't possibly be overheard. Even our principal joined in, as we all raised a knife, a spoon, or anything else he or she could get his hand on, and chanted:\n[b]“And all for one!”[/b]\n\nA shiver ran done my spine, as I heard that. This group really is something special. As Raphael once said: We are a family.\nMy mother and father, as well as Balto's mother, joined us some time later, as it was time to walk to the theater. I kind of felt like in a street gang, as we walked down the sideways of New York City. You know, the kind of street gang that plays Shakespeare to defeat their enemies. Since there was still one group to watch, we took our seats in the front row, after we were welcomed by the theaters’ director.\n\nToday's play was “The women of Lockerbie”, performed by the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. A highly professional school for acting. \nThe story of this play is loosely based on the happening around Pan Am 103, a plane which crashed in Lockerbie. The play is described as a poetic drama about the triumph of love over hate.\nAnd yes, it was good. The actors, their voices, everything. As it has ended after 90 minutes, I had buried even the slightest hope of winning. The best we could hope for was second place.\n\nThe director walked out on stage, like he did it after every play during this week. He introduced the actors, they got standing ovations by some members of the audience. Then came an hour of waiting. Balto, I, Christa, and my parents moved over to a little café nearby, where we ate something and talked a bit. Only Balto remained silent during our stay there. He seemed to be thinking about something and constantly looked at an empty chair by the window. Every attempt to break his silence failed, he only shook his head or nodded, if we asked him something. And he always had a hand in the pocket of his hoodie. \nWe left the Café after about 40 minutes, and came back to the theater just in time. Raphael already waited for us, asked us to go with him backstage. We excused us from our parents and followed him. All other groups were waiting there. And by their looks, they were even more nervous than us. Well, besides the NYCDA. They were certain that they have already won this competition. While I looked at those humans, I recognized something. But no. That couldn't be.\n\nWe saw the director passing by, in his hands three envelopes, what surprised me. Three? We were four groups.\nHe briefly let his gaze wander over all groups, then he stepped through the curtain. The audience clapped their hands, before the man began to talk.\n\n[b]“Ladies and Gentlemen,\nDuring this week, we have seen four wonderful plays of talented young actors. I want to thank all of them for the good times we had because of their hard work. Theater was always meant as a place of joy, a place of amusement.”[/b]\nHe sighed, before he continued.\n[b]“This competition was created to give college groups the opportunity to perform on a professional stage, to show off their talent, and to fairly compete with other schools in friendship and respect. \nUnfortunately, we had an unpleasant incident this time. A message, even a threat, on the door of the locker room of one of the participating groups. However, I will not go further into this case here. The reason is simple. I will not give hate a stage here in my theater.\nBefore I announce the winner of this year's competition, I would like to thank the members of the jury and the audience, who invested their precious time to support these young actors. I want to thank the four schools for their hard work. Without it, these young people maybe wouldn't be able to follow their dreams of becoming actors. And without actors, without theater, the world would become a poorer place.\nNow, for the third place.\nFor their version of a tale full of lies and betrayals, I am happy to give this check worth of 500 Dollar and this trophy to the University of Rochester, for their version of Shakespeare's McBeth. Please, applause!”[/b]\n\nThe audience cheered, clapped their hands, as this group walked out to claim their price.\nThey made a little speech, then they left the stage. The director continued:\n[b]“The second place was truly a hard decision to make. It goes to a drama in the face of a tragedy. Please give a big applause to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Art, who showed us the Women of Lockerbie.”[/b]\nAgain, applause, cheering from the audience. But sad, almost angry expressions in the faces of the members of the NYCDA.\nOur hearts were racing, as we waited for the director to start talking again. The members from the Metropolitan College were getting ready to go out. They believed they had won, since they couldn't imagine losing against us.\n\nBalto folded his hands, his ears shivered, as the head of the Minskoff began to talk:\n[b]“That brings us to the winner of this year's competition. An unexpected one, I can tell you that much. But without any doubt, a worthy winner. Without any more words, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Howling Musketeers from Stark College in Darwin's Hope!”[/b]\nNone of us could believe what he just heard, and so none of us moved, until Balto took my hand and pulled me towards the curtain. It was also him, who stepped out first. A loud cheering and clapping welcomed us in the bright light of the spotlights. \n\nThe director continued, trophy and check in hand, after we had lined up next to him.\n[b]“I am proud to declare you as the winners of this competition. Your principal told me about the hard work you all did. Your version of the Midsummer Night's Dream impressed the jury and me. Especially the performance of your youngest member delighted audience and jury alike. So please, take this trophy, and the check worth of 10,000 dollars. You earned it.”[/b]\n\nHe gave the trophy to Balto, who seemed to have problems to hold it. Ok, it is a pretty big one. Raphael, as our leader, took the microphone to say a few words, after he took the check into his hands.\n[color=#c4a000]“We thank you all for this honor. I think I speak for all my friends here, if I say that it was an honor and a pleasure to perform in this house. We would have never thought of going out here with any kind of prize. We also want to thank all members of the other groups for this fair competition. Thank you.”[/color]\n\nAgain, cheering, clapping, a few whistles. I wanted to take Balto's hand, so we could leave, but he put down the heavy trophy next to Raphael, and asked for the microphone. Our leader seemed as unsure as I was in this situation, but he gave it to him. \n\nAnd my little wolf, shy, and a little uncertain at first, began to speak to the surprised audience:\n[color=#cc0000]“Hello. My name is, is Balto. I also wanted to say thank you, and also sorry to everyone who didn't win. Yesterday, my family and I went for dinner in a pizzeria, and a hooded man came in. He yelled at us, that we won't be Americans. That we are only laboratory rats. But we are not. I have never been in a laboratory.\nMy mom raised me up. I just want to say that I am proud to be here, and that I love my country. I want to be an actor, so I can make people happy. And, I thought about something we used to say in school every morning. And if I am allowed, I would like to say it here. Can I?”[/color]\n\nHis look went over to the director, who only nodded at him. Balto pulled out a little note from the pocket of his hoodie, and after a short pause, he continued:\n\n[color=#cc0000]“I pledge allegiance”[/color]\nI looked in the audience, after Balto said the first words. I could see my father standing up and putting his right hand on his heart. Christa and my mother did the same, followed by others, until everyone was standing. Raphael signed us to step forward, and we all spoke the rest together with Balto:\n\n[color=#cc0000]“To the flag of the United States of America, \nand to the republic \nfor which it stands, \none Nation under God,\nindivisible, \nwith liberty and justice for all.”[/color]\n\nThe Pledge of Allegiance. A little too patriotic for my taste. But I guess Balto wanted to show his love for his homeland. And I guess this attempt was successful. The audience cheered. Christa was fighting with her tears. Balto saw this, and quickly ran down the steps at the side of the stage and over to his mother. The two gave each other a heartfelt hug, while my mother gently caressed his back. I cannot say how happy I was at this moment. It took a minute, until Balto came back on stage. We shook a few hands, then it was time to go celebrating our success. And what would be a better place for that than the Diner with this nice Karaoke bar, where Balto and I had such a great time during our first visit to the Big Apple. As we walked out of the theater and into the direction of the diner, I spotted something in the window of a nearby clothing store. After I excused myself, I took Svetlana and Angelike, and we went inside that store. The others went to the diner without us to look for a table. \nThis was simply the perfect piece for now, and I had to have it. And yeah, I wanted the other girls to wear something to show their beauty as well.\nSvetlana decided for a sexy, short blue dress, fitting to the color of her eyes. Angelike, as the elegant Bengal cat she is, took a sexy red dress with a deep cleavage, and mine was a short black neck holder dress. It’s so sexy! Prepared like that, we girls walked to the diner. Even the human males were looking at us, which felt kind of awesome and made us all giggle. As Balto spotted us, his eyes became so big. In a cartoon, his tongue would have hung out at that moment. Raphael couldn’t get his eyes of Svetlana, as the sexy walked slowly towards him. The only single girl in our group now was Angelike. Well, but maybe not for long. Our little Mexican Wolf Miguel is seemingly very interested in her. At least he danced the whole evening with her. Funny thing is, that he is smaller than her, Miguel has about Balto’s size. Maybe a little bit bigger. The difference is that Balto is still growing. But that makes Miguel even more loveable. \nDuring the evening, we again had the opportunity to sing and entertain the audience a little.\nOur first song we sang was “Can't help falling in love” by the great and unforgettable Elvis Presley.\n \nRaphael and Svetlana also showed their skills with “You are the one that I want” from the movie Grease.\nAnd, since we have some Disney Nerds in our group, we all sang “We don’t talk about Bruno” together. We all had a lot of fun this evening. And were so tired afterwards, that everyone just fell into their beds, as we came back to the hotel.\n\nDuring the next two days we made sightseeing, visited the statue of Balto, Liberty Island, and some other landmarks. And after our friend Johana recommended it several times, we tried out Scarr’s Pizza, after we visited Seward Park. The Pizza had an amazing taste. All in all, it was an unforgettable time for all of us.\nMonday, at 9 o’clock in the morning, it became time to say goodbye to New York City. During the ride, our principal told us that we all will get another week off. For our great commitment to the college, as he called it. Christa excused Balto from school as well, so he and I could have some time together.\n\nWe decided to spend this week here, in our little cabin at Spaulding Lake. Dad did a wonderful job with renovating it, and we were really lucky that the storm didn’t damage this little house. Outside is a little fireplace, where me made a little photo earlier, which I show you together with this entry. We plan to make a little beach with sand down by the water. At the moment there are mostly stones there, which is not very comfortable to lie on. \nI can hear the wind and the waves outside. Here and there an owl calls into the night. It is so peaceful here.\nThe clock now shows Wednesday, 4 am. Balto is sleeping since hours, and I should finally join him in Morpheus’ realm.\n\nThank you all.\nAnd please, \nstay safe.\n\nNikki and Balto\n\nP.S.:\nBalto read the journal on my laptop, while we were sitting in a little diner nearby for breakfast. In his words: \n[color=#cc0000]“There is a hole in the plot you can drive a truck through.”[/color]\n\nWhat he meant was that I missed telling you about how the story around this note on our door ended.\nThe Head of the Minskoff didn’t want to give hate a stage, what is a good thing. But of course, he investigated, and the man who put this letter on our door was found. It was a member of the Metropolitan College of New York. And as I heard, it was the same man who yelled at us at the restaurant. They identified him, and his group was disqualified before the award ceremony. The jury just didn’t want to say that out loud, instead they told that to them in private. At least our principal explained it to us this way. He also said that this had nothing to do with the decision that we won the competition. This group had the weakest performance, but would have got at least a check to cover their expenses. Because of their disqualification, they got nothing. As bad as this whole matter is, I am glad that it was only one man, and not a whole Anti-Anthro group, like some of us had feared. Our principal now wants to organize a friendly competition at Stark College in a few months. A wonderful idea. And the musketeers will be ready for it.\n",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Chapter 2 The Competition
Monday morning was full of hectic. Our college rector knocked on everyone's door. He yelled: “Out of the bed, everyone. We have to leave for the theater in an hour. Get up now.”
Balto stood up and walked slowly into the bathroom, grumbling how much he disliked my rector. I giggled and followed him shortly after, helped him to get ready. Afterwards we got dressed, and went down for breakfast and to meet with the others. To my surprise, we were first, and so Balto had not to fight for his beloved meatballs. Raphael came down next, together with the principal and Svetlana, with whom he shared his room. The rest came down about fifteen minutes later. While everyone ate, I could watch this big Rottweiler walking up and down in the main hall. It seemed that he was even more nervous than we were. None of us said a single word during breakfast that day. As it was time to go, we stood up, I took Balto's hand, and we left the hotel. To our luck, we didn't have to take all our stuff to the theater ourselves. The principal had taken care of it, and it was already waiting for us in our dressing room. After a 15-minute walk, we arrived at Time Square. Another five minutes later, we entered the Minskoff Theater, where we were asked into one of the smaller stage rooms. Inside it, we could see the members of the other groups. It surprised me to see only three other groups. So, we were just four groups in total. The chairman of the Minskoff walked on the stage, as we took our seats in front of it. After everyone sat down, he began a little speech: “Ok, I see that the last group finally arrived. I welcome the Stark College from Darwin's Hope. I heard about that terrible storm there yesterday, and I am delighted to see, that you still could make it. Since I want to avoid losing more time, and I am sure you all would like to prepare for the competition, I will make this as short as I can. The Minskoff Theater is proud to host its tenth College Theater Competition. As every time, we gathered the most promising theatrical groups from New York City and the surrounding areas in a little competition, to see who has the potential to make it in the world of theater. The winner will take home the price of 10,000 Dollars, given by the Theatre Guild. Before I introduce the participants, I want to explain how this competition will go on. From tomorrow on, every group will perform their chosen play in front of a selected audience. The Minskoff will support every group with props and decorations, as far as possible. For the not performing groups, it isn't an obligation to watch the show of the performing group. But I would recommend it. Be assured, in the world of theater, it is always a good thing to know what your competitors are doing. Now I want to introduce the groups we have this year.
Our last years' winner, the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, Then we have the Metropolitan College of New York, The University of Rochester, and finally, the Stark College from Darwin's Hope.
Four outstanding groups, which will present us four wonderful shows. The first group tomorrow will be Metropolitan College with Sense and Sensibility, Wednesday is for the University of Rochester, who will show us a version of McBeth, Thursday, we have Stark College with A Midsummer Night's Dream, which leaves the Friday for our last year's winner, the NYCDA. They will show us The Women of Lockerbie.
Me and the other judges eagerly await your shows. To round this up, I want to give you all a warning. Any acts against other groups will end in disqualification. So be nice, be fair. Now you all will have time to make yourself familiar with the stage, speak with each other, or go to your assigned dressing rooms to make yourself at home. The first show will begin tomorrow at 2 p.m.”
I wanted to take a closer look at the stage, and took Balto with me. Hand in Hand, we walked towards the stairs. I could feel how the little wolf was pressing my hand, and I felt the other participants' stares. We walked up the stairs, which were on the side of the stage. Balto missed a step and almost fell, what made some people laugh. They joked about Balto and his young age. “Hey, I thought this would be a college competition, who invited the Kinder Garden?” “Where is your mommy, dog-boy?”
There were other things said there, which I don't want to write down here. But Balto was clearly intimidated by this, and tried to hide behind me. Raphael joined us on stage, placing his hand on Balto's shoulder. “Just ignore them. It is better not to react to things like that. We could easily get disqualified, if we start to argue about it. So please, just ignore it. We have to concentrate on the reason we are here.”
Raphael was right, and we simply continued to look around. We checked out the dressing room, unpacked our costumes, made a fitting to see if everything was ok. After he was in his costume, Balto had to visit the bathroom. So, he walked out of the dressing room as he was. Just to came back crying a few minutes later. His costume had a big tear on the shoulder.
Angelike was closer to him than I was, took him in her arms and asked him what had happened. He couldn't stop crying, but explained that he met a hooded person outside. And that this person damaged his costume by holding him, as he was leaving the restroom.
I was furious, wanted to seek and confront this idiot. Gladly, I was held back by Raphael. He said, in a calm voice: “Nikki, if you go out there now, we can pack our stuff and go home. All our work would have been for nothing.” I was so angry, that I nearly screamed at him: “If this isn't counted as an act against us, what is? This guy's group should be disqualified for this! Look at Balto. His and my mom made this costume for him. Do you know how long they have worked on it?” Raphael's voice became louder: “Nikki, calm down. You are not helping anyone here. I know what this was, but I doubt that it would have any consequences, if we say something. Please, Nikki. Calm down.” Angelike was drying his tears when we looked at Balto and moved closer. “Now, let us have a look at the damage.” His gaze went over to Miguel, after we checked the tear. “Miguel, can you repair that?” Miguel is a genius with needle and yarn. Of course, I could have shown it to my mother, but somehow, I wanted to avoid risking her and Christa seeing that. Miguel took a close look, before he smiled at us. “That is not a problem. Come with me, Balto. This shouldn't take long.”
Miguel fixed the tear, and it looked as good as new afterwards. Balto was smiling again. We then changed back into our normal clothes, Raphael gave the rest of our cast their specific roles, and in the late afternoon, we walked back to the hotel.
Balto was holding my hand during the whole time. This wasn't the best start. I began to think again, that all this might have been a big mistake. My gaze went up to the sky, and I prayed that this was the last disaster for this week. As we entered the hotel, our mothers were already waiting for us. Christa spoke up first: “Why haven't you told us that you are leaving?” I sighed. “I am sorry. It was all a bit hectic today. What have you done the whole day?” My mother answered me, after she checked her phone for a moment. “We went to the Guggenheim Museum and made a walk through Central Park. But what about the plan for the rest of the day? Are you two hungry?”
Balto immediately raised his hand and answered: “I am! I want Pizza!”
Mom and Christa laughed out loud, while dad finally joined us. He said that he had to make an important call. We talked a bit more about the day, about the program for the rest of this week, and went out for dinner in a nearby pizzeria. Before Balto and I went to bed that day, we met once more with our group in Raphael’s room. We agreed to watch all shows of our competitors, and we also wanted to make little sightseeing tours together after the shows. Our parents would accompany us to the shows, of course. When Balto and I were about to leave, Svetlana held me by the arm. It surprised me when she asked me to come with us for a moment because she needed my advice. Balto was so kind to go up to see his mother, so we girls could have a little talk together. We sat down on the bed, and I recognized for the first time what a cute and sexy Husky Svetlana was.
I began the conversation: “Well, Svetlana, what can I do for you?” She seemed a bit shy and looked away, as she answered in her slightly Russian accent: “Well, Nikki, I wanted to ask you something. You know, I am going out with Raphael since a few months now, but he never attempted to, you know, have sex with me.” I chuckled a bit. “And what is your question here, Svetlana? If he doesn’t want to make the first step in that direction, maybe you should do it. Maybe he is afraid to do something wrong.” The girl seemed pretty nervous, and rubbed her arms. “I can’t simply tell him to have sex with me. I think I love him.” Carefully I touched her cheek. “Then show it with gestures. You know, bending over in front of him, sleep naked. You share a room, Svetlana. It shouldn’t be too complicated to show Raphael, that you are ready and want him to make the next step.” “Nikki, I am not sure if I am really Raphael’s taste. I mean, he hasn’t tried to even touch me so far. If you remember, he asked you several times to go out with him. Maybe he simply is more into felines.” This made me laugh.
“His last girlfriend was a golden retriever. I met her once, she was not the brightest candle on the cake. Svetlana, just be honest to him. I promise you, he will not be able to keep his hands off you, if he knows what you want. Raphael is probably just too shy to make the first step.” Svetlana still seemed not to be convinced. “Nikki, did you ever have sex with him? I mean, you know each other for so long.” I shook my head. “No, we never had sex together. Svetlana, let me give you another tip, if you really want to speed things up. Take a shower, wrap yourself into a towel. Make sure that it only covers your upper body. It should at least wake his interest, if you walk back into the room like that. Then you turn your back on him and ask him to help you dry off. And if Raphael didn’t become gay during the last few months, he will no longer be able to resist you. Say, do you have condoms?” She nervously shook her head, and I took some out of my bag. “No problem, I have some here. Balto and I barely need them, since I am on birth control.” I gave her the condoms, and she hugged me. “Thank you, Nikki. I will tell you how it went.” She was about to leave when I jumped up from the bed to stop her. “Just one more thing, Svetlana. Wait until Thursday, after our show is over. Both of you will be much more relaxed, and enjoy it more.”
She hugged me once more, and as she opened the door, I saw Balto outside. My wolf just wanted to knock at the door, and looked a bit confused, as Svetlana happily left our room. He tilted his head while looking at me. “Did you two …?” I silenced him with a gentle grip over his muzzle, before I told him to come in. I released Fluffy from my grip, after I closed the door. While looking a bit mad at him, I answered his question: “No, we didn’t have sex, silly. But she wants to have sex with Raphael, and asked me for tips to turn him on. But please, keep your mouth shut about this, ok?” Doggy only nodded tiredly. It was time for us to sleep. We had some long days ahead of us.
Don't worry, I won't bother you, our dear readers, with the whole competition or with what we did during the rest of the time. I will only give you a short summary of Tuesday and Wednesday, before I jump to Thursday.
On Tuesday, we watched the Metropolitan College with their version of Sense and Sensibility. Balto made a stupid joke, as I asked how he would summarize the story shortly: “Well, there are two sisters. One has great sense, and the other one…” Dad interrupted him. “Let me guess, she has great sensibility?” Balto giggled. “No, she doesn't have any sense at all.”
We all laughed. Some visitors looked a bit weird at us, but others also had a smile in their face, as far as I remember that. We took our seats in the last row, together with the others, and watched the show. It was a solid performance, unfortunately it was a bit too quiet. Even we had problems to understand everything, and we have, as you know, a better hearing than most humans. The play itself is about the difference between two sisters, one guided by sense, the other one by her sensibility. Or in other words, one followed her head, the other one her emotions. If you are interested, I will link a page, where you can read more about it. I am not really a fan of stories like that. The fashion style in this play wasn’t mine at all. But ok, fashion was different in 1811. The acting, well, it was good. Maybe a bit stiff sometimes, especially in the kissing scenes. Balto slept through half of the play. Can’t blame him for that. Well, the play was about 3 hours long, then we left for dinner. Sadly, we had to eat quickly, since we had some more training to do.
Wednesday promised to be more interesting for us. Macbeth is a sad tale about a man, who was told by three witches, that he will be king. Encouraged by his wife, he kills king Duncan, then he kills more people in paranoia. All this ends in a civil war, in which many more people die. Macbeth loses his head in a battle against a man named Macduff, the war ends, and Duncan's son Malcolm becomes king of Scotland. A pretty bloody story, that is definitely not suitable for children. Like many of Shakespeare's plays.
The group from Rochester set the bar pretty high that afternoon. Solid play, cool costumes, great actors. The only thing our rector mentioned after the show was how copied it looked in some parts. No personal note, no feeling. But it still would be hard to beat this. In the evening, we went to a nice Chinese restaurant for dinner, and we used the time we waited for our food to chat a bit with Hazel and Johana. Well, let us move on to our big day.
Chapter 3 Thursday
The morning began peaceful. Balto already was awake, as I opened my eyes. He stretched his body and jumped through the room, somehow how he was supposed to do it on stage later. I stood up, brushed my teeth, then we went down for breakfast. Everyone was there, and the hotel's main hall spontaneously turned into a stage for us, as we went through a few scenes again. Everything seemed just fine, until it became time to go to the theater. We looked outside, and it rained. And if I say rain, I mean a flood. But we had to go, there was no time to wait. The car sadly was no alternative. If you have ever been to New York City, you know why. The hotel gave us a couple of those cheap raincoats, and wrapped in them, we walked as fast as we could to Time Square. Our paws were soaking wet, when we entered the theater. The sight of us amused the other students, they laughed loudly, and we heard more than one stupid comment.
At the doors that lead to the dressing rooms, we had to leave our parents behind. For Balto, this was the hardest part. He seemed so calm before, but now I could see how nervous he was. He shivered, stuttered. It seemed like he would look for a way to get out. His mother gave him a tight hug, and a few words, while she smiled at him: “Balto, I am proud of you. Nothing will ever change that. Don't be afraid, my son. Just remember the times you did karaoke with your girlfriend. Oh, and look here.” She opened her purse, and took out Little Balto. “I have Little Balto with me. You forgot him at home, and I saw him standing on your nightstand, shortly before we left. Do you remember what I told you on the day I gave him to you?” Balto nodded. “You said that nothing bad can happen, as long as Little Balto is with me. That he will protect me.” Christa gently touched her son’s cheek, before she took him into her arms. “Right. I believe in you, and I am certain that your father is also very proud of you right now, Balto.” I almost felt bad, as I had to interrupt this heartbreaking scene. “Balto, we have to go. We need to get dressed. The show starts soon.”
I took Balto's hand, and we walked to the dressing room. We all put on our costumes, after we dried our paws a bit. I helped Balto a bit, after I was done. My wolf was so nervous, that he couldn't sit still. As I looked into his face, I could see how he was shivering. Then I heard him saying silently: “Nikki, can I go? I can’t do this. I will ruin everything.”
Raphael heard what he said, and more importantly, he saw Balto trembling with fear. “Balto, please relax. Nikki, can't you do anything to calm him down?” The only thing I could think of that always helped to calm him down was something I hadn't done in a long time. I took a deep breath and began to sing a song I used to sing to Balto when he was sad as a puppy:
“Hush, my Balto, don't you cry; Nikki's going to sing you a lullaby. Hush my Balto don't say a word; Nikki's going to buy you a mockingbird. If that mockingbird won't sing, Nikki's going to buy you a golden ring. If that gold ring turns to brass, Nikki's going to buy you a looking glass. If that glass begins to crack, Nikki's going to buy you a jumping jack. If that jumping jack is broke, Nikki's going to buy you a velvet cloak. If that velvet cloth is coarse, Nikki's going to buy you a rocking horse. If that rocking horse won't rock, Nikki's going to buy you a cuckoo clock. If that cuckoo clock won't tick, Nikki's going to buy you a walking stick. If that walking stick falls down, you'll still be the sweetest little Fluffy in town!”
And yes, he calmed down. In fact, everyone did. As I finished the song, the room was silent until Raphael spoke up: “Ok, Musketeers. Two minutes until the curtain lifts. Everyone, form a circle.”
He reached his right hand into the circle, saying the famous phrase: “One for all” Everyone reached for his hand, only Balto held back, until he found the courage to place his hand on top of ours. Now we answered together: “And All for One!”
And so, it began. Gabriel as Demetrius, Miguel as Egeus, and Jonathan as Theseus were the first on stage, Thomas as Lysander and me, in my role as Hermia, joined them shortly after. Svetlana as Helena was the last of our main crew, who came on stage in these first scenes of the first act. The cute Husky also had one of my favorite lines in this part of the play: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” Everything went smoothly, we all had a lot of fun. Even Balto cheered up now, and I could see a gleam in his eyes, as I risked a brief look at him. Yes, my little trickster has smelled blood.
Now he wanted to hunt. The stage was prepared for Balto’s biggest victory over himself. And Balto used his chances to win the hearts of his audiences. Already in one of his first sentences he showed his talent to emphasize his words with his gesture: “Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
The way Balto and Raphael acted together was fantastic. And the scene where he gave Joseph that big ass head, hilarious. You could see and hear how Balto enjoyed his role, as he ran, sneaked and jumped over the stage, like he never did anything else. The play went on, and after nearly 3 hours, we were finished. The curtain fell, Balto stood in front of it, and our Puck said his famous little poem:
"If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended— That you have but slumbered here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend. If you pardon, we will mend. And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to ’scape the serpent’s tongue, We will make amends ere long. Else the Puck a liar call. So good night unto you all. Give me your hands if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends."
As soon as Balto was finished, he slipped through the curtain to join us. In his face, he wore a smile from ear to ear. I could hear the people clapping their hands, they whistled, and the theaters' director could be heard: “Wow, what a play, Ladies and Gentlemen. This group of Anthropomorphs clearly earned your applause. I want to ask every single member to come out on stage once more, if you hear your name. Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce you:
Oberon, King of the fairies, played by Raphael McAlister, Titania, the Fairy Queen, portrayed by Angelike Peterson Theseus, or better known as Jonathan Schmidt, then we have Thomas O'Rielly as Lysander, Gabriel Smith as Demetrius, Svetlana Stoica as Helena, Joseph Goldman played a great Nick Bottom, Nicole Kofi as Hermia, and Miguel Rodrigo, he played Egeus. Then we have the Stark College Cast, they also did a fantastic job in their specific roles.”
I could see the man looking at his notes for a second. “Oh, and before I forget him, and before he makes a donkey out of me, please give an extra round of applause to Balto Star, who managed to enchant us all today in his role as Puck!” Balto came out shyly. The applause and that everyone was looking at him, while he only wanted to get some rest, was maybe a bit too much for him. That changed, as he saw his mother, who came to the stage with open arms. He quickly walked towards her, kneeled at the edge of the stage and gave Christa a hug. Their tails wagged fast, what made us all smile. I had to get him back to us, so we could bow down in front of the audience, like it is tradition in the world of theater.
As we finally walked back to our dressing room, we found a disturbing note on the door. “Anthros, go home.”
Miguel took down the note and threw it in trash, after we entered the room. Humans can be so stupid. Ok, to be fair, there are also stupid Anthros, who think they are the better people. Idiots come in all shapes, colors, and species. What I didn't notice was Balto pulling this crap out of the garbage can again. We changed our clothes, and simply wanted to go back to the hotel or grab a bite. Even our principal was glad, that this was over. Miguel, Thomas, Gabriel, Angelike, Jonathan and Joseph wanted to visit a nearby bar, Svetlana and Raphael wanted to go for a walk. I guess they had to discuss a few things. Our principal, together with the rest of the crew, moved back to the hotel, while Balto, our parents and I went out to have dinner. We decided for the pizzeria we knew from our last stay in this city. We sat down, Christa placed Little Balto on the table, after she gave him a cheering pose, as a hooded man approached us. He nearly immediately began to yell: “Filthy creatures, you are no Americans. Laboratory rats, that is what you are! Go home!” My father wanted to reason with him at first, but that didn't help much. And after he attempted to grab Little Balto, dad had enough. He took this person by his neck and threw him out on the street. The other people in the restaurant clapped their hands, which showed me that most humans don't agree with people like him. As my father came back to the table and sat back down, Balto pulled out this note from his pocked, showing it to the others. “This was on the door of our dressing room.” Balto clearly was afraid, and his mom took him into her arms.
The waiter came, brought us some water and took our orders. While we waited, my father looked at the note. “This reminds me about my time in the military. I thought this crap would be finally over. Nicole, Balto, please be careful. Better call your friends, and tell them what just happened here.” I did what dad told me to do, and gladly, nothing bad happened for the rest of the day. After dinner, and after a little walk, we went back to the hotel to finally get some rest. In the lobby, we met a few crew members, and our principal, who seemed to be relieved to see us. “Mrs. Kofi, Balto. I am so glad to see you back. Mr. Rodrigo here just told me about this note on the dressing room door. I already called the head of the Minskoff Theater, he promised me to investigate in this matter. He told me about security cameras, and he will see if he can find the one who put this on the door. But now, please, get some rest. Tomorrow will be another long day.”
He was right. Not only that we had to watch the last play, the award ceremony would be right after that. Balto and I went up to our room, and as we passed a few doors, we heard a familiar sound out of one of them. I swear, Balto's ears became bigger than they usually are, as he stepped closer to that door. You guessed it, it was Svetlana's and Raphael's room, and by the sound of it, they just had a lot of fun together. After a few moments, I pulled Balto away from the door. “It isn't nice to eavesdrop, Balto. Come, let us take a nice warm shower.”
Balto happily followed me. We undressed, and I must say, a shower never felt better before. I helped Balto to wash his back, and as my hands massaged the shampoo into his fur, I felt every single muscle underneath it. I first washed his back, then kneeled to wash his legs, and his paws. Oh, these pressures paws of him. Yes, I admit it. I am crazy for paws. They are one of my biggest fetishes. Doggy clearly enjoyed me taking care of him, what I saw, as he turned around. His member was standing right in front of my muzzle. I looked up, just to him smiling at me with big eyes.
“Please, Ni…” He didn't need to finish the question. Slowly, I took his whole dick into my mouth. Balto placed his hands on my head, before he began to thrust. Drops of pre-cum dripped into my mouth, as my naughty canine increased his speed. My right hand gently massaged his heavy balls, while I fingered myself with my left. I love if my mate is using my muzzle like that. His speed increased further, while I tightened my mouth around his member. Balto moaned load, his knot grew every time he shoved his penis into me. His body began to shiver, his thrusts became shorter and harder, until he pressed himself against me and shot his warm seed deep into my throat. He took a step back, panting and smiling at me with satisfaction. I swallowed his seed, stood up and turned around. With my hands on the glass of the shower cabin, I presented him my wet vagina. My tail switched from one side to the other, as he came closer, just to rub his cock against my hungry lips. I whimpered like a bitch in heat, as he finally had mercy and shoved his still hard member into my wet cave. The canine didn't lose time, he held me with both hands by my hips, and began to hump me. Fast and hard, fully driven by his primitive instincts. I couldn't do more than moan and biting my tongue. Otherwise, I would have screamed of lust and horniness, that the whole hotel could have heard me. It took about 10 heavenly minutes, until his knot began to swell. Another minute later, I exploded under his skillful thrusts, and a bit because of my handwork. We were combined by his knot once more, wet to the bones from the still running shower, and tired out by the day, and this wonderful sex we just shared. I love my naughty little sex fairy. Nothing else really mattered to me at that moment. I was perfectly happy. It took another 10 minutes, until Balto was able to pull out. Next, he helped me with cleaning myself, we dried each other's fur, then we went to bed. Arm in arm, we felt into a deep slumber.
My alarm clock woke me up at seven in the morning. As I looked down, I could see Balto, whose head was laying on my chest. I carefully caressed over his head, whispering: “Wake up, sweetie. The night is over.” Balto woke up and yawned, before he looked at me tiredly. Then my wolf sat himself up, took his mobile, checked the time and mumbled: “Why do we have to stand up now?” He sat there, half asleep, and his hair looked like an exploded broom. I also sat up and kissed my sweet prince, what made him smile. We stood up, brushed our teeth and helped each other groom. Afterwards, it was time for breakfast. The others were already sitting at the buffet. Well, everyone besides Svetlana and Raphael. To my surprise, Balto didn't eat anything this morning. He just sipped on his tea, since the hotel still wasn't able to offer a Cocoa suitable for Anthros. As I mentioned before, I know Balto all my life. Skipping breakfast is highly unusual for him. That is why I asked him: “Is everything ok, Balto? Don't you want to eat something?” He shook his head in response. I put my arm around his shoulders, which made him snuggle close to me. The others giggled and smiled at him, especially Angelike. Then our rector joined us, with a cup of coffee in his big hand. “Good morning. As I see, we are still missing Mrs. Stoica and Mr. McAlister. But for the rest, I have an announcement to make. The head of the Minskoff informed me, that he received an anonymous letter. In it, he was warned of consequences, should he continue to support our kind in his house. He called police, and they granted some extra protection today. To prevent any damage, and to minimize the danger of someone getting hurt, I want to ask every member of our group, if we should just leave.” He looked at each one of us. “The decision is yours.”
Everyone was silent for a minute, until we heard Raphael's voice. “The Musketeers will stay! We came here to be part of a competition, and even if the other groups would love to see that, we will not put our tails between our legs and run away. Am I right?” A combined “AI!” was the response coming from our whole group, including the supporting cast. To my surprise, Balto took a knife from the table, stood on his chair and said loudly: “One for all!” Our response couldn't possibly be overheard. Even our principal joined in, as we all raised a knife, a spoon, or anything else he or she could get his hand on, and chanted: “And all for one!”
A shiver ran done my spine, as I heard that. This group really is something special. As Raphael once said: We are a family. My mother and father, as well as Balto's mother, joined us some time later, as it was time to walk to the theater. I kind of felt like in a street gang, as we walked down the sideways of New York City. You know, the kind of street gang that plays Shakespeare to defeat their enemies. Since there was still one group to watch, we took our seats in the front row, after we were welcomed by the theaters’ director.
Today's play was “The women of Lockerbie”, performed by the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. A highly professional school for acting. The story of this play is loosely based on the happening around Pan Am 103, a plane which crashed in Lockerbie. The play is described as a poetic drama about the triumph of love over hate. And yes, it was good. The actors, their voices, everything. As it has ended after 90 minutes, I had buried even the slightest hope of winning. The best we could hope for was second place.
The director walked out on stage, like he did it after every play during this week. He introduced the actors, they got standing ovations by some members of the audience. Then came an hour of waiting. Balto, I, Christa, and my parents moved over to a little café nearby, where we ate something and talked a bit. Only Balto remained silent during our stay there. He seemed to be thinking about something and constantly looked at an empty chair by the window. Every attempt to break his silence failed, he only shook his head or nodded, if we asked him something. And he always had a hand in the pocket of his hoodie. We left the Café after about 40 minutes, and came back to the theater just in time. Raphael already waited for us, asked us to go with him backstage. We excused us from our parents and followed him. All other groups were waiting there. And by their looks, they were even more nervous than us. Well, besides the NYCDA. They were certain that they have already won this competition. While I looked at those humans, I recognized something. But no. That couldn't be.
We saw the director passing by, in his hands three envelopes, what surprised me. Three? We were four groups. He briefly let his gaze wander over all groups, then he stepped through the curtain. The audience clapped their hands, before the man began to talk.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, During this week, we have seen four wonderful plays of talented young actors. I want to thank all of them for the good times we had because of their hard work. Theater was always meant as a place of joy, a place of amusement.” He sighed, before he continued. “This competition was created to give college groups the opportunity to perform on a professional stage, to show off their talent, and to fairly compete with other schools in friendship and respect. Unfortunately, we had an unpleasant incident this time. A message, even a threat, on the door of the locker room of one of the participating groups. However, I will not go further into this case here. The reason is simple. I will not give hate a stage here in my theater. Before I announce the winner of this year's competition, I would like to thank the members of the jury and the audience, who invested their precious time to support these young actors. I want to thank the four schools for their hard work. Without it, these young people maybe wouldn't be able to follow their dreams of becoming actors. And without actors, without theater, the world would become a poorer place. Now, for the third place. For their version of a tale full of lies and betrayals, I am happy to give this check worth of 500 Dollar and this trophy to the University of Rochester, for their version of Shakespeare's McBeth. Please, applause!”
The audience cheered, clapped their hands, as this group walked out to claim their price. They made a little speech, then they left the stage. The director continued: “The second place was truly a hard decision to make. It goes to a drama in the face of a tragedy. Please give a big applause to the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Art, who showed us the Women of Lockerbie.” Again, applause, cheering from the audience. But sad, almost angry expressions in the faces of the members of the NYCDA. Our hearts were racing, as we waited for the director to start talking again. The members from the Metropolitan College were getting ready to go out. They believed they had won, since they couldn't imagine losing against us.
Balto folded his hands, his ears shivered, as the head of the Minskoff began to talk: “That brings us to the winner of this year's competition. An unexpected one, I can tell you that much. But without any doubt, a worthy winner. Without any more words, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Howling Musketeers from Stark College in Darwin's Hope!” None of us could believe what he just heard, and so none of us moved, until Balto took my hand and pulled me towards the curtain. It was also him, who stepped out first. A loud cheering and clapping welcomed us in the bright light of the spotlights.
The director continued, trophy and check in hand, after we had lined up next to him. “I am proud to declare you as the winners of this competition. Your principal told me about the hard work you all did. Your version of the Midsummer Night's Dream impressed the jury and me. Especially the performance of your youngest member delighted audience and jury alike. So please, take this trophy, and the check worth of 10,000 dollars. You earned it.”
He gave the trophy to Balto, who seemed to have problems to hold it. Ok, it is a pretty big one. Raphael, as our leader, took the microphone to say a few words, after he took the check into his hands. “We thank you all for this honor. I think I speak for all my friends here, if I say that it was an honor and a pleasure to perform in this house. We would have never thought of going out here with any kind of prize. We also want to thank all members of the other groups for this fair competition. Thank you.”
Again, cheering, clapping, a few whistles. I wanted to take Balto's hand, so we could leave, but he put down the heavy trophy next to Raphael, and asked for the microphone. Our leader seemed as unsure as I was in this situation, but he gave it to him.
And my little wolf, shy, and a little uncertain at first, began to speak to the surprised audience: “Hello. My name is, is Balto. I also wanted to say thank you, and also sorry to everyone who didn't win. Yesterday, my family and I went for dinner in a pizzeria, and a hooded man came in. He yelled at us, that we won't be Americans. That we are only laboratory rats. But we are not. I have never been in a laboratory. My mom raised me up. I just want to say that I am proud to be here, and that I love my country. I want to be an actor, so I can make people happy. And, I thought about something we used to say in school every morning. And if I am allowed, I would like to say it here. Can I?”
His look went over to the director, who only nodded at him. Balto pulled out a little note from the pocket of his hoodie, and after a short pause, he continued:
“I pledge allegiance” I looked in the audience, after Balto said the first words. I could see my father standing up and putting his right hand on his heart. Christa and my mother did the same, followed by others, until everyone was standing. Raphael signed us to step forward, and we all spoke the rest together with Balto:
“To the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The Pledge of Allegiance. A little too patriotic for my taste. But I guess Balto wanted to show his love for his homeland. And I guess this attempt was successful. The audience cheered. Christa was fighting with her tears. Balto saw this, and quickly ran down the steps at the side of the stage and over to his mother. The two gave each other a heartfelt hug, while my mother gently caressed his back. I cannot say how happy I was at this moment. It took a minute, until Balto came back on stage. We shook a few hands, then it was time to go celebrating our success. And what would be a better place for that than the Diner with this nice Karaoke bar, where Balto and I had such a great time during our first visit to the Big Apple. As we walked out of the theater and into the direction of the diner, I spotted something in the window of a nearby clothing store. After I excused myself, I took Svetlana and Angelike, and we went inside that store. The others went to the diner without us to look for a table. This was simply the perfect piece for now, and I had to have it. And yeah, I wanted the other girls to wear something to show their beauty as well. Svetlana decided for a sexy, short blue dress, fitting to the color of her eyes. Angelike, as the elegant Bengal cat she is, took a sexy red dress with a deep cleavage, and mine was a short black neck holder dress. It’s so sexy! Prepared like that, we girls walked to the diner. Even the human males were looking at us, which felt kind of awesome and made us all giggle. As Balto spotted us, his eyes became so big. In a cartoon, his tongue would have hung out at that moment. Raphael couldn’t get his eyes of Svetlana, as the sexy walked slowly towards him. The only single girl in our group now was Angelike. Well, but maybe not for long. Our little Mexican Wolf Miguel is seemingly very interested in her. At least he danced the whole evening with her. Funny thing is, that he is smaller than her, Miguel has about Balto’s size. Maybe a little bit bigger. The difference is that Balto is still growing. But that makes Miguel even more loveable. During the evening, we again had the opportunity to sing and entertain the audience a little. Our first song we sang was “Can't help falling in love” by the great and unforgettable Elvis Presley.
Raphael and Svetlana also showed their skills with “You are the one that I want” from the movie Grease. And, since we have some Disney Nerds in our group, we all sang “We don’t talk about Bruno” together. We all had a lot of fun this evening. And were so tired afterwards, that everyone just fell into their beds, as we came back to the hotel.
During the next two days we made sightseeing, visited the statue of Balto, Liberty Island, and some other landmarks. And after our friend Johana recommended it several times, we tried out Scarr’s Pizza, after we visited Seward Park. The Pizza had an amazing taste. All in all, it was an unforgettable time for all of us. Monday, at 9 o’clock in the morning, it became time to say goodbye to New York City. During the ride, our principal told us that we all will get another week off. For our great commitment to the college, as he called it. Christa excused Balto from school as well, so he and I could have some time together.
We decided to spend this week here, in our little cabin at Spaulding Lake. Dad did a wonderful job with renovating it, and we were really lucky that the storm didn’t damage this little house. Outside is a little fireplace, where me made a little photo earlier, which I show you together with this entry. We plan to make a little beach with sand down by the water. At the moment there are mostly stones there, which is not very comfortable to lie on. I can hear the wind and the waves outside. Here and there an owl calls into the night. It is so peaceful here. The clock now shows Wednesday, 4 am. Balto is sleeping since hours, and I should finally join him in Morpheus’ realm.
Thank you all. And please, stay safe.
Nikki and Balto
P.S.: Balto read the journal on my laptop, while we were sitting in a little diner nearby for breakfast. In his words: “There is a hole in the plot you can drive a truck through.”
What he meant was that I missed telling you about how the story around this note on our door ended. The Head of the Minskoff didn’t want to give hate a stage, what is a good thing. But of course, he investigated, and the man who put this letter on our door was found. It was a member of the Metropolitan College of New York. And as I heard, it was the same man who yelled at us at the restaurant. They identified him, and his group was disqualified before the award ceremony. The jury just didn’t want to say that out loud, instead they told that to them in private. At least our principal explained it to us this way. He also said that this had nothing to do with the decision that we won the competition. This group had the weakest performance, but would have got at least a check to cover their expenses. Because of their disqualification, they got nothing. As bad as this whole matter is, I am glad that it was only one man, and not a whole Anti-Anthro group, like some of us had feared. Our principal now wants to organize a friendly competition at Stark College in a few months. A wonderful idea. And the musketeers will be ready for it. ",
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