CAUTION: This story contains implied sexual activity between minors, mild violence, and profanity. Reader discretion is advised.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Masala Chai
by IndigoNeko and TaintedThylacine
Chapter 13
Monday, April 18th, 2016
The now-familiar green-scaled lizard with headphones and a fur-lined coat was sitting behind the desk at the front office of Scott Carpenter Middle School, as usual, when Alex walked inside. “Hello, dear... Alex, was it?” the anole lizard asked, pulling off her headphones. “How can I help you?”
“Umm... A friend of mine said I should ask about gymnastics or cheerleading...” the young tigress said, hesitantly.
The lizard squinted her dark eyes at the tiger cub. “Hmm. We don’t have a gymnastics team, but we do have a small cheerleading squad. Tryouts for next year’s team will start in two weeks. You’ll need to get a sports physical signed by your pediatrician,” she said, bending to one side and pulling a sheet of paper from a drawer, setting it atop the front desk. “And you’ll need an informed consent form signed by your parents, and you’ll need to fill out the tryout application,” she added, adding two more sheets.
“Okay. Thank you!” Alex said, grabbing the sheets of paper before turning to rejoin the mass of students heading through the hallways on their way to first period class, pulling out hir phone to text hir mom about getting an appointment with hir doctor.
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Now that the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, the flagstone courtyard in front of the Dojo was a riot of pink and magenta. Beyond the courtyard wall, the evergreen forest that covered the surrounding hills and the clear skies above painted a vivid green and blue backdrop. The Dojo itself, with dark brown natural timber walls, gray-blue tiled roof, and rice-paper shoji doors and windows, was a magnificent sight.
Unfortunately, it was starting to grow dark and the seven o’clock class would be starting soon. Alex sighed with disappointment as shi stepped back inside the dojo. Apparently Ravi wasn’t going to show up for the Monday class; maybe he had something else going on right now and couldn’t make it. The young tigress straightened hir black karate gi and tugged on the green belt around hir waist to make sure it wasn’t loose, then walked across the polished wood floor and past the dark brown support pillars to the edge of the beige gym mats.
After bowing, Alex walked across the mat to face the left wall where the Dojo-Kun tapestry hung on the wall between two murals, one with the Shotokan Tiger emblem in white on a red circle and the other with the kanji for Karate in black on a red circle. The rest of the walls inside the dojo were hung with dozens, maybe hundreds, of martial arts weapons, all of which had been zip-tied to prevent them from being taken down easily. The young tigress knelt on the mat, perhaps ten feet from the edge, facing the left wall.
While shi didn’t turn upon hearing the other students heading up the stairs behind hir, on the far side of the dojo, hir ears swivelled backwards, listening as they walked across the polished wooden flooring and paused, their clothes rustling as they bowed before walking onto the mat and walking over to join hir. While standing in the courtyard, shi had watched them trickle in one-by-one, but hadn’t kept count. There were actually more than shi had expected, with easily a half dozen students besides hirself and hir dad.
“Excuse me, senpai,” a voice came from just behind hir.
Alex jerked, startled; shi hadn’t heard so much as a whisper to indicate someone was so close. The black panther shi remembered seeing from Friday evening stood to hir right, wearing a brand new black gi with the Shotokan symbol on the breast and a white belt tied around his waist.
“Do you know if Raenne-sensei begins her sessions with a period of mokuso meditation? Or should I plan on performing that myself if I wish to?” the panther asked quietly.
“Uh... We begin with a short period of meditation. Then a warm up, stretching, kihon, kata, kumite, then some strength exercises, and finish up with the Dojo-Kun,” Alex explained, thinking that it felt a bit odd to be considered ‘senpai’ by someone easily thirty years hir senior.
“Thank you,” the panther said, smoothly kneeling on the floor a few feet to hir right and bowing in hir direction. “Forgive the interruption.”
“Daijoubu desu. It’s okay,” Alex replied, smiling at the older gentleman, noticing the notch in one of his ears. As he turned to face the tapestry, shi did the same. Listening as people behind them approached. Most of them sat to hir right, while hir father sat to hir left, lining up in order of rank. A moment later, hir mom walked in front of them, walking over to the tapestry and kneeling in front of it to light a stick of incense and put it in the small carved incense holder.
The older tigress stood again, turning to face them. “As you all probably remember, I’m the instructor, Raenne Andreyev. During class, you can call me Raenne-sensei. My husband, David, will be assisting me. You can call him David-senpai,” she explained.
“Shotokan karate classes usually begin by kneeling, which is called ‘seiza’, in a line in order of rank, with highest ranking students to the left. Generally I start the class with a period of meditation, called ‘mokuso’, and end it by calling ‘mokusu yame’, which means ‘stop meditation’. After that we bow three times...”
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Once kumite started, Alex and hir father quickly jogged off the mat, pausing for a quick bow, before reaching the duffel bags that held their sparring gear. They both quickly strapped on pads and pulled out the pair of sai they’d been practicing with for the past few weeks. The polished steel multi-pronged weapons had quite a bit of heft, but the black leather-wrapped handles finally felt familiar in hir paw after weeks of practice. Shi double-checked to make sure the orange safety caps were secure on the tips while walking back, then bowed and stepped back onto the beige vinyl mat, followed a moment later by hir father.
They both walked over to the nearest sparring ring, painted in black on the mat, taking positions at the two black strips in the center, facing each other, then bowed. Alex took a standard fighting stance with one leg forward while twirling the sai in hir hand from the guard position along hir arm to point them towards hir dad. Neither of them were advanced enough yet to spar at full speed, so they’d agreed to go at half speed on attacks to give each other time to block, parry, or dodge more easily.
As hir dad lunged at hir with one of them, Alex stepped to one side bringing hir own up to sweep it away, rather than using the hilts to block; even with the safety caps, and pads they were wearing, getting hit with one of the prongs would hurt. The steel clanged loudly as shi thrust with the sai in hir other hand, going for hir dad’s chest. Somehow he managed to bring his own sai down in time, twirling it point down in his hand and stabbing at hir wrist.
The main prong, the monouchi, barely missed hir, though the smaller prong on the hilt hit the pad on hir forearm, just as the tip of hir own sai hit his chest-pad. “Yuko,” shi called dancing backwards. Hir dad nodded, circling to hir left. Shi stopped and hopped forward, bringing hir leg up in a feint, as if to kick. David spun the sai so the monouchi ran along his arm, and brought his arm down to block the kick. As he bent to block the feint, Alex lunged with both sai, points aimed at his upper chest, careful not to go full speed or force. The larger white tiger managed to catch one of them with his off-hand, but was too slow to bring his other arm up after trying to block the feint. The impact of their sai rang across the dojo as the young tigress danced back again, having landed another point. “Yuko,” shi called again.
On their third round, David lunged, attacking Alex from the side and front. Alex took a risk, trying to catch one of his sai with a hilt, while deflecting the other sai with a sweeping block. As the hilts clanged together, shi twisted hir wrist, spinning the point in a circle before flicking the tip up. Hir dad’s sai flipped out of his hand, spinning through the air and landing point-down in the mat ten feet away before falling over. If not for the orange safety tip, it probably would have punctured the mat. As David turned to see where the weapon had gone, Alex smirked, and poked hir dad with the tip of hir sai. “Yuko,” shi said with a smirk, earning an exasperated sigh from him before he jogged over to retrieve the weapon.
As the sparring continued, the two tigers danced around each other, periodically lunging, feinting, and blocking. The steel in their hands rang loudly with each impact, making their palms sting by the time that Raenne called an end to Kumite. Alex and David had traded wins for the first two matches, with Alex coming slightly ahead in points when their final match ended.
The two tigers quickly jogged off the mat again, putting the weapons away in their bags and stripping the pads off while the other students did some strength training exercises including pushups and squats. Alex rubbed at a few sore spots on hir arms as shi jogged across the mat. The foam pads they had were fine for fists and staves, but not for sai. Unfortunately the hard-suit armor that Mom had ordered wouldn’t be here until later in the week. That was both good and bad, since the armor would take easily twice as long to get in and out of as pads did.
Alex and David were by far the last to reach the line of students, and Raenne started the Dojo-Kun the moment they stepped into place, wrapping up the class for the day.
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Wednesday, April 20th, 2016
Kalu sighed as he relaxed into the oversized computer chair his parents had purchased to replace the cheap IKEA armchair that had collapsed earlier that month. This one was certified to hold up to five hundred pounds and could comfortably hold even his dad. He rolled forward across the thick plastic mat they’d put down to protect the floor, sliding up to the brand new computer desk.
After a moment the elephant picked up his cell phone and flipped it open. He was bored and wanted to talk... or at least tell someone about his new furniture. He opened up the contacts list and paused for a second. The very first name on the list was one that he hadn’t talked to in over a month. Frowning, he hit the call button, waiting for a few seconds as the call connected and rang, waiting for the tiger cub on the other line to pick up. The call connected just a moment before he was tempted to hang up; he didn’t really like leaving voicemail messages.
“Kal?” the tigress on the other line asked, panting.
“The one and only. Just realized I hadn’t talked to you in a while,” Kalu replied, listening to the tiger cub’s harsh breathing with concern. “You doin’ alright? You sound out of breath.”
“Sorry. I’m practicing handsprings and roundoffs,” Alex explained. “I almost didn’t hear the phone ringing.”
“Wait. You mean, like, gymnastics and shit?”
“Yeah, exactly,” the tigress confirmed. “Ravi’s teaching me.”
“So you finally got a hold of Ravi, did you?” Kalu asked, remembering he’d asked a few of the lower-class kids that he knew about the tiger boy that Alex had mentioned a while back.
“Yeah. Ravi came across Mom’s Dojo while on a jog and decided to check it out. I don’t blame him; it’s pretty awesome. Like one of those big temples in Japan or somethin’.”
The elephant blinked. He knew about Japanese temples, but had no idea what shi was talking about. He’d never seen anything like that here in the states. “What Dojo?”
“Uhhh... it’s my mom’s martial arts, uh, school, errr, gym,” the tiger cub said, not quite sure how to describe it to someone who didn’t know what a dojo was. “Mom teaches Karate. Only, we don’t have anyone taking lessons from six to seven right now and it’s empty. So Ravi’s been teaching me some gymnastics moves before the seven o’clock class starts.”
“That’s pretty cool,” Kalu said, actually meaning it for once. Gymnastics and karate were something he was far too big and slow to be any good at, but it still sounded pretty awesome. He’d been considering boxing at some point, since he could hit like a truck, but he was slow and couldn’t dodge for shit. “Is this dojo-thing out here in Prairie Flats?”
“Nah. It’s on the road that leads northeast out of Winter Creek.”
“Oh,” the elephant said, a bit disappointed. That was a good forty minute drive, and there was no way in Hell his parents would be willing to drive him that far to see something, much less go there for lessons. “Could you send me a picture of it?” he asked, using his trunk to pick up the pencil on his desk and writing a note to look up boxing lessons.
“Sure!” the tigress said, brightly. “I just took a bunch of pictures of it earlier, since the cherry trees in the courtyard are blooming and the petals look like pink snow, drifting in the wind. It looks like something out of one of those anime cartoons or something. I dunno if you’ve watched anime before.”
Kalu smiled; knowing exactly what shi was talking about. He’d never admit it to anyone, even a cub like Alex, but he had a thing for anime, especially the really cute and funny ones, like ‘Azumanga Daioh’, ‘Nichijou - My Ordinary Life’, and ‘Daily Lives of High School Boys’. Lately he’d been watching ‘Himouto! Umaru-chan’ on his computer, making absolutely certain his door was locked and using headphones so his dad wouldn’t know about it. His dad would beat him black and blue for watching ‘weeb shit’ if he found out. “Nah. Sounds cool though...”
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Friday, April 22nd, 2016
Prairie Flats General Hospital was starting to feel way too familiar for Alex’s tastes; shi’d already memorized the layout of the emergency and maternity wards and was pretty familiar with the pediatric ward that they were heading into now. The automatic doors slid open with a hiss and Alex stepped across the metal grating, feeling the warm air coming from below ruffle hir fur. Shi took the left turn and headed down the hallway a bit until they reached the reception area.
While Raenne walked up to the desk to sign them in, Alex took a seat on one of the vinyl benches. The reception area was surprisingly empty. Then again, school was still in session and the flu season was pretty much over now. Missing Art and Theater class was a small price to pay for a chance to get a sports physical taken care of. This time, Alex had remembered to take hir Nintendo DS with hir, so shi quickly pulled it out to play some games while they waited.
“Did you remember to bring the Sports Physical form?” Raenne asked as she sat down next to her daughter.
Alex looked up at hir mom, the fur on the back of hir neck standing straight up as shi realized that shi didn’t have it. Last shi’d seen it, it was on the kitchen island at home... “I- I...”
Raenne smirked and pulled the form out of her purse, handing it over to her daughter. “I thought not.”
The young tigress let out a breath of relief as shi accepted the sheet of paper from hir mother. “Thanks.”
“One of these days I won’t remember something for you,” the older tigress warned, “and it might be something important.”
Alex didn’t say anything, but hir ears went flat against hir head.
“Speaking of remembering things... Did you invite Ravi and his family to come over for the barbeque tomorrow?”
“Yes. He said his grandmother may or may not be up for it,” the younger tigress said. “But the rest of them will, for sure.”
“And his parents are okay with them staying afterwards for a sleepover?”
“Uh-huh,” Alex confirmed.
Just then the door opened and a calico cat in green medical scrubs stepped out. “Alexandrea?”
Both tigers stood, with Raenne following her daughter across the reception room and through the door that the nurse held open for them. “First door on the right,” the calico cat said. “Go ahead and step on the scale there so we can get your weight.”
A minute later, the nurse undid the blood pressure cuff around Alex’s arm. “Excellent. If you wouldn’t mind sitting on the exam table, the doctor will be here shortly,” the calico cat said, putting the cuff away and stepping outside of the examination room.
The two tigers didn’t have to wait long before a knock sounded on the door, followed by a dark-skinned warthog in a medical frock stepping into the room.
“Hello again, Alex, Raenne,” Dr. Negasi Abebe said with an Ethiopian accent, nodding to the two tigers. The unruly mop of hair atop the warthog’s head floated oddly out of sync with his movements. “So, you’ve decided to take up sports, little one?” the doctor asked the young tigress.
Alex nodded, not trusting hirself to say anything. The warthog wasn’t as scary as shi remembered from the first time they’d met, now that shi knew part of the reason for hir aversion was his lack of fur on bare skin. The longer shi stared at him, the less creepy it seemed... though it was still off-putting. For some reason reptile scales didn’t bother hir like hairless skin did, even though they were kind of the same thing. Maybe if shi just thought of it like lizard-skin...
“Yes, Dr. Negasi,” Raenne said, sighing as her daughter went silent again. “Shi wants to try out for the cheerleading team, apparently.”
The warthog looked over at the older tigress and nodded. “Very well,” he said, walking over to the rolling stool and sliding it over to a small computer desk in the corner. “Let me pull up hir medical records. I remember from the last time I saw you that shi had a broken rib and some lacerations on the arms. Are those fully healed, little one? No problems with pain in your chest when breathing or from your arms?”
“No.” Alex shook hir head again, then paused for a moment. There was something different about the warthog than shi remembered. “Weren’t your tusks... longer?”
The doctor smiled. “Yes. I periodically have to cut them back. They are always growing, like the hair on my head. So, have you had any injuries in the past three months?” he asked, while typing at the computer keyboard.
The young tigress frowned. “Not that I can think of. Not since January.”
“What happened in January?” he asked, having finally pulled up the child’s records and seeing a list of hospital records from that same month.
“Well... uh... I was, uhhh, kidnapped... and flown out to Philadelphia,” Alex explained, hating to use the word ‘kidnap’, even though it was true. “One of the guys my grandparents sent to get me was a brute, and he threw me against a car door and gave me a concussion. One of my eyes was dilated for a few weeks. It’s called ‘Anisocoria’, if I remember right.”
The doctor raised one eyebrow, looking up at the younger tigress for a moment and then over at hir mother, who nodded. Between that and the notes he’d just pulled up on the computer about a post-rape trauma examination, multiple STD tests, and getting an IUD, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was a sensitive topic. He felt his jaw clench with anger that a child had gone through such a thing.
“Very well,” he said, noting that was the end of the file up until today’s visit. “I know that you’re on spironolactone to balance out your hormones, and you’ve got an IUD.” The warthog stood up and pulled out a small flashlight as he walked over to the young tigress. “Look up at my eyes, would you?” he asked, quickly checking hir pupil's response. “Are you still having regular monthly periods?”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, my last one ended a week ago. It sucks having to wear pads,” shi said with a sigh. “I’ve gotta cut ‘em or fold ‘em in half, cause they don’t fit right for hermaphrodites...”
The doctor sighed with relief that the child must have had no lingering issues from whatever had happened in January. “Have you tried tampons?” Dr. Abebe asked. “I assume you don’t have a hymen to worry about since you have an IUD.”
The young tigress shook hir head. “Mom said they’re less comfortable.”
The warthog glanced at the older tigress for a moment, then back at the cub on the examination table. “You may find that they’re actually more comfortable in your case, as they’ll stay in place better and you won’t have to fold or cut them to fit. Do you know how to use them?”
Alex nodded, shifting slightly on the exam table and making the white paper crinkle underneath hir. “Mom showed me a video of how to use them.”
“In that case, I’d suggest you get one of them, just to try it out, and see if it suits you better,” the doctor said. “Just remember to change them every eight hours, little one. They can make you very sick if you leave them in for too long.”
Alex nodded again, and Dr. Abebe pulled out a small rubber hammer with which to check hir knee-jerk reflex, which only took a few seconds. He followed that up by putting in his stethoscope and checking hir breathing and pulse. With the exam complete, he asked “Now, have you had any other issues at all over the past three months?”
The younger tigress shook hir head.
“Excellent. In that case, little one, if you’ve got any forms for me to fill out, I’ll be glad to certify you as sports-worthy.”
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Saturday, April 23rd, 2016
The Bassi family’s green Acura MDX pulled up to the A-frame house sitting atop a 3-car garage with a deck that ran around the front and left side of the main floor. A staircase next to the garage led up to the covered part of the deck along the left side of the house. The front of the house was a nearly solid wall of glass that went from floor to ceiling, interrupted only by a few thin support beams and a pair of glass doors that led to the open deck overhanging the garage.
“Well, this is the right address,” Ravi said, pointing at the brass numbers hanging on the wall to the left of the garage.
Atman pulled the car into the driveway next to the black and white Nissan SUVs, coming to a stop and putting the car in park before turning the engine off. “It’s going to be nice to get to meet Alex’s family,” the portly tiger said, smiling back at his son and daughter. “I’m happy that you all became friends so quickly,” he added as he opened his door.
“Just remember the rules,” Sevita said as they all climbed out of the car.
“We will,” Ravi said, adjusting the bag he had slung over his shoulder, heading up the stairs to the porch that Alex had mentioned and knocking on the side door.
“Yes ma’am,” Aruna said, practically bouncing around as they all made their way up the stairs and waited for someone to open the door.
A few moments later, a tall, muscular white tiger wearing a pair of khakis and a black polo shirt opened the door. “Hello everyone,” he said, holding his paw out. “I’m David. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you all.”
“Thank you,” Atman said with a nod, shaking the other tiger’s paw. “It’s nice to meet you too.”
“Raenne and the cubs are already out back. We’re all going to be out in the backyard, so don’t bother taking your shoes off.,” David said as he saw them pause, glancing at the shoe rack next to the door. “Unless you prefer going barefoot. Alex does. Anyway, just continue down the deck here, there’s a short set of stairs.”
“Thank you,” Atman said, turning to continue down the deck while the kids took off their shoes.
“Mr. David, where can we put our bags?” Aruna asked, looking up to the other white tiger, smiling warmly.
“You can set them here for the moment. Or you can take them upstairs to Alex’s room,” David said, stepping back to let them inside. “At the top of the stairs, turn left, and it’s the second door on the left, just past the bathroom.”
“I’ll take them up,” Ravi said, taking his little sister’s bag as she ran down the deck to the backyard, happily calling out Alex’s name. “Thank you, sir.” The young white tiger nodded to David and stepped inside, going up the stairs to Alex’s room to set the bags in her room before heading back down to join the others.
David closed the side door, then walked down the porch deck, following Aruna and her parents. The backyard wasn’t fenced in since their house was the last one on this leg of the suburb, at the edge of the residential zone. They didn’t use the yard much anyway, since the great room in the front of the house was enormous and the glass walls at the front of the house just enhanced the illusion of space.
Out in the backyard, Alex was standing on a short stool in front of their grill, wearing an apron over her usual clothes, plus a silly-looking chef’s hat that shi had insisted on buying when they’d gone shopping for the barbeque on Friday afternoon. Shi was in the process of flipping the burgers over when Aruna and the Bassi parents stepped into the yard. Alex gave Aruna a hug as the younger tigress ran over to the grill.
“Hello,” Alex’s mother called out as Atman and Sevita appeared, standing up from the chair she’d been sitting in, next to a lawn table. A few feet from the chair were a pair of baby rockers that were still swaying. “I’m Raenne,” the athletic-looking tigress said, straightening her sleeveless black dress as she walked over to the two Bassi parents, holding her hand out.
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Atman,” the stout tiger said, taking Raenne’s paw and giving it a shake. “This is my wife Sevita,” he added, motioning to the slender white tigress that was with him.
“A pleasure,” Sevita said, smiling as she shook Raenne’s paw. “It’s nice to finally meet you two. It’s been nice having Alex around, I know that Ravi and Aruna have enjoyed it.” She turned towards the baby swings, smiling at the two infants. “Oh my! Such little cuties.”
“Katherine and Nicholas,” Raenne pointed at the two infant tiger cubs. The first was a light-grey, the other a muddy orange. “They’re three and a half months old now.” Both of the tiny balls of fluff were sound asleep, lulled by the gentle rocking motion of the rockers they were in.
“Getting to the point that they sleep through the night?” Sevita asked, straightening up as her husband came over and wrapped an arm around her.
“Yes, thank God,” Raenne replied. “They started sleeping soundly only a few weeks ago. It was driving Alex absolutely nuts for the first three months.”
“Don’t remind me,” Alex piped up, setting the spatula down on the grill and walking over to them along with Aruna. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Bassi.”
“Afternoon Alex,” Atman said smiling.
“I like your hat, Alex,” Aruna said happily, following Alex over to where the adults were standing around the baby rockers. She cooed at the little kittens happily. “Daaaaad, can I have a little brother or sister?”
“Ask your mother,” Atman replied, blandly, throwing the proverbial ball in Sevita’s court.
Sevita cut a glance at her husband before she looked down at her nine-year-old daughter. “I don’t know about all that, sweetie. I’m getting a little old to be caring for cubs.”
“Hey Alex,” Ravi said, following David into the yard. “Hello, Ms. Raenne,” he said, nodding to the older tigress.
“But Mooom... I would help take care of it and be a good big sister,” Aruna said looking up to her mother with the tiger equivalent of puppy-dog eyes.
“We’ll talk about it later, okay?” Sevita said, hoping her daughter would forget to bring it up later.
“So, before we sit down and start chatting, I’ve got to ask... Does anyone have any food allergies?” David asked.
“None on our end,” Atman replied. “The only thing to worry about is keeping an eye on this one.” He said, reaching out and ruffling Aruna’s head-fur. “Make sure she doesn’t get hurt or anything, due to her CIP.”
“Alex mentioned that,” David said. “So, no roughhousing of any kind. The backyard here isn’t exactly smooth terrain, and there’s rocks all over the place. Once we’ve got time, we’ll dig up the topsoil and lay down fresh turf, but until then, no running either. Okay?”
“Okay, Dad,” Alex agreed.
“Why don’t you let me take over the grilling, so you can keep Ravi and Aruna entertained,” he added quietly, speaking to his daughter.
“Okay,” the young tigress said, taking hir hat and apron off, and handing them to hir dad. “Just don’t burn them.”
David sighed, shaking his head, and walked over to the grill, picking up the spatula.
“So Alex. That’s quite the hat,” Ravi said, smiling. “Do you wear it every time you cook?” he asked with a little snicker as he sat down at the table. Aruna and their parents joined him, sitting around the large lawn table which had paper plates, bags of hamburger buns, condiments, and two trays with various cheeses and vegetables for toppings.
Alex blushed. “Nooo, only when I’m cooking for friends,” shi said, joining them at the table. The young tigress snagged a paper plate and a hamburger bun as shi sat down.
“I like it. I think we need one for when Mom and Ravioli are cooking,” Aruna said giggling happily, following Alex’s lead.
“I think that Ravi would look dashing in something like that. He just needs a white shirt and black pants,” Sevita agreed. “Like your father back in the day.”
“Were you a chef, Mr. Bassi?” Alex asked, squeezing some mayonnaise and barbeque sauce on hir hamburger bun.
“Years and years ago... way back before Ravi was born, or even thought of.” Atman smiled. “It’s how I met my wife,” the tiger said, putting an arm around her.
“Oh honey, no,” Sevita said, nudging him a little.
“Sevita used to work at a medical laboratory near my restaurant, and regularly came in for lunch. One day, one of my waiters came back, saying something about this woman complaining about the food. Me being young and full of myself, I had to go prove her wrong. So I remade her order and took it out to her. We got to comparing recipes, and the rest is history.” Atman laughed, taking a paper plate of his own and preparing a hamburger bun as he told the tale.
“Wow... You were a real chef then,” Alex said. “Was it your restaurant? Or did you just work there?” shi asked, reaching over to grab a piece of smoked provolone, some lettuce, and tomato slices.
“It was mine,” Atman confirmed, nodding. “I worked there as the head chef for a while and ended up buying and taking over it when the owner wanted to retire. I became more of a manager for a while. Of course, that was all before we moved here. I’ve gone from line cook to regional manager, and Sevita has gone from lab assistant to genetics researcher. We both work down in Prairie Flats, and Lanka keeps an eye on the kids while we’re away.”
“Was this when you were still in India?” Raenne asked, also taking out a plate and a hamburger bun of her own. “Ravi said you lived near New Delhi.”
“Yes. We moved here when Ravi was five or six. Seven years ago, maybe?” Atman said, frowning. “Aruna was a toddler when we moved here. I don’t think she remembers India at all. We keep meaning to plan a trip back some time.”
“Well, we can all go back there when I get married,” Aruna said proudly, reaching across the table to get her own plate, and accepting a hamburger bun that Sevita handed her.
“That’s quite a few years from now, I’d think,” David said from near the grill. “Your parents might want to go back before then. I’m sure they have friends and family over there that miss them. Seven years is an awfully long time to be away from home. Unless you all consider this to be home, now?” the white tiger asked, glancing over at Atman and Sevita.
“Well, I do think of this as home now,” Atman answered while pouring some Heinz 57 sauce on his bun, “but, like you said, there are family and friends back in India that I’m sure we would all like to see.”
“And if everything works out right, we will be going back, hopefully at the end of the year,” Sevita said, looking at Alex. “I hope you don’t mind us taking Ravi and Aruna with us. We’ll make sure to bring them back in one piece,” she said smiling as she used a bit of mayonnaise and Heinz 57 on her hamburger bun like her husband.
“Don’t worry, Alex. I’ll make sure that big brother and I bring you something back. Or maybe we could sneak you on...” Aruna suggested, smothering her hamburger bun with ketchup. “We just need a really big cat crate...”
Alex looked a little alarmed at that. “I, uh, think I’ll pass. I’m not sure I’d really want to go to India,” shi said.
“Oh, it’s not bad,” Raenne said, getting her own plate and bun. “You’d probably like it there. Lots of different people, delicious food, and most people there speak English anyway, or at least a bit of it. Most people there speak three or four languages, sometimes more.”
“You sound like you have been there, Raenne,” Sevita said, smiling while piling her bun with shredded lettuce.
“I have,” Raenne nodded. “I’ve been to many places. All over South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. That was a long time ago now though, back when I was in the army,” she said, topping her bun with mayonnaise, mustard, and barbeque sauce.
“You are full of surprises,” Atman said, clearly impressed, putting some lettuce and tomato on his bun.
“Indeed,” Sevita agreed. “And your mother’s right, Alex, the worst part of the trip would be the flight. I’m sure we could take you with us, without needing a cat crate.” The slender white tigress said, laughing lightly. “Ravi and Aruna would be there, and Ravi can translate if need be.”
“You know, we could take you all along with us.” Atman suggested. “You’ll have several months to think it over before we go on vacation.”
“It would be good to go back to India. I should still have a few friends out there,” Raenne said, giving the baby rockers a nudge. “Would you like to go see India, Love?”
David frowned. “I guess I’d be okay with going. I’ve never been outside the States.”
“Well, this could be your chance,” Atman pointed out. “Getting passports and such isn’t that hard, and I’m sure that there would be a lot for you to enjoy. The food is amazing; trust me.”
“Hmm... I do like Indian cuisine,” David said, nodding. “Oh, speaking of...” The white tiger quickly turned back to the grill, testing the burgers with a spatula. “These are almost ready.”
__________________________________________________
Alex led Ravi and Aruna back inside the house, heading upstairs; they’d gotten tired of the adults’ constant chatter after finishing their hamburgers. Shi wanted to make sure they’d be comfortable staying the night before Atman and Sevita left for the evening. Once they reached the top of the stairs, Alex walked down the short hallway and stepped into hir bedroom, spotting a pair of backpacks just inside. “Watch your step coming in, there’s a small bump there,” shi warned the other two tigers, pointing at the edge of the carpet where the extra padding started. With the overhead lights off, the only illumination was from the color-shifting fairy lights that ran around the edge of the ceiling, an idea that shi had shamelessly stolen from Azalea.
The room was dominated by a fairly new queen-sized bed, but it still had plenty of room for the two nightstands, bookshelves, leather lounge chair, and computer desk. The bookshelf was mostly occupied with various little-league sports trophies, sports equipment, crystals, arts supplies, and various puzzles and brain-teasers. A black and orange snowboard stood against the wall in the corner behind the lounge chair. A sizable flatscreen television hung on the wall above the computer desk, which had a small silver MacBook and a shiny black gaming PC with lights that cycled through all the colors in the rainbow, like the fairy lights overhead. The walls had a few posters from bands like OneRepublic, Smash Mouth, Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, and The Weeknd.
“My bed’s got another one underneath; it’s a trundle,” Alex added, walking over to the nightstand and turning on the lava lamp before flopping onto the soft Vellux blankets on the bed, making the pillows near the headboard bounce. “We’ll have to move the nightstand to get it out though. The sectional in the guest bedroom across the hall has a pullout bed as well.”
“Oooh, your room’s cool,” Aruna said, looking around the room, checking out the collection of drawing supplies and sketchbooks on the desk before stopping in the middle of the room. “The floor is really soft. Is it ‘cause you trip a lot?” she asked before walking over to the bookshelf to look at the sports gear and arts and craft stuff on the shelves.
“No,” Alex replied. “I just wanted it really soft, so dad put a couple of extra pads underneath the carpet.”
“Suuuuuure,” Aruna snarked, turning and poking her tongue out at Alex. “It’s okay to be a clutz.” She giggled as she pulled a small RC car off the bookshelf.
“Aruna, do I need to start telling stories about you and the battle with doors?” Ravi asked as he took a seat on the chair. “Soooo, do you want to play a game or something?”
“Sure. All our movies and video games are in the guest bedroom,” shi said, pointing over at the door. “The board games and all our books are on the bookshelves out in the upstairs landing and reading nook.”
“Let's see what we can find,” Ravi said as he got up and walked across the hallway to the guest bedroom, followed by Aruna and Alex.
“Ooooooh,” Aruna said, looking at the huge flatscreen TV in the guest bedroom, across from the leather sectional and bean bag chairs. “Can I hook up a MP3 player to this?”
“Yeah,” Alex said, pointing to the small black box on the console below the television, next to an Xbox One and PlayStation 4. “The little black box there is the stereo system. There’s a few connector cords in the center drawer there, along with the game controllers. Movies are in the left drawer and games are in the right,” shi said, sitting down on the plush leather sectional across from the television as Ravi pulled open the game drawer.
“Yay!” Aruna rushed over to her bag in Alex’s room, bending over to dig through it, tail twitching excitedly. A moment later she returned, hooking up an MP3 player and turning on the stereo system. “Do you like traditional music?” she asked as she went through her music.
Alex looked puzzled. “What do you mean by traditional? You mean like classical music?”
“No, silly,” Aruna said as she pressed a button, causing the speakers to start playing Indian music. “This kind. Traditional.” She set the MP3 player down and started dancing around a little.
The tigress sitting on the couch had never heard the kind of music that was playing through the speakers on the wall; it was completely, totally alien. But the white tigress in the middle of the room seemed to like it, her hips swaying gently as she began to gyrate.
Stopping dead still, Aruna let out a huff of irritation. “I should have brought my dancing clothes,” she said, looking down at her long skirt and t-shirt. “Oooooh... I know.” The young tigress pulled off her shirt and tossed it onto the sofa, leaving only a training bra covering her chest. She started dancing again, this time getting more into the sway of the music, hips rolling and twisting as she did. It quickly became obvious how Aruna managed to keep a flat tummy without playing sports.
Alex raised an eyebrow, watching Aruna’s entire body twisting and turning in time with the music. At first, shi’d thought shi wouldn’t like Indian music at all, with the strange tonality and crooning voices, but watching Aruna dancing in time to it made it much, much more pleasant.
“Oh, Aruna,” Ravi sighed, shaking his head a little. “Just be careful,” he warned his sister.
“Awww… Come join me, Ravi,” Aruna pleaded, turning in time with the music and motioning for her brother to join her.
“Oh, okay,” Ravi relented, setting down the game that he’d picked out before taking off his shirt and tossing it to the side with Aruna’s. “Alex, want to learn how to dance with us some time?” he asked, dancing in sync with his sister.
“I, uh, yes, but not right now. Maybe later. I’m a bit sore from karate,” shi said, which was true, but not the real reason shi didn’t want to dance.
“Don’t worry, we’ll have lots of time to teach you,” Aruna said, as the two siblings got more into the rhythm of the music. Their hips and bodies twisted and writhed as if they were practically made of liquid.
Alex watched, hir mouth hanging open slightly as the two white tiger cubs began gyrating around each other in a sinuous, fluid dance. There was something sensual and erotic about it. Both Ravi and Aruna looked absolutely amazing. They were really good dancers, too.
Soon the music slowed down and came to a stop, the two tigers holding paws and bowing to Alex. “Okay, I think that’s enough for now,” Ravi said, smiling a little.
“Wow… You’ve gotta show me how to do that later,” Alex said, trying not to be obvious about how aroused shi’d become just watching the two of them dancing.
“Well, I can show you the basics,” Aruna said, rushing over and holding her paw out to Alex. “Ravi can sit this one out and watch,” she said, smiling as her brother sat down on the sofa after putting his shirt back on.
“Try not to kill hir,” Ravi said with a little snicker. “You know how sore us normies can get after dancing.”
“Wait, wait. Don’t- I... shoot,” Alex said as Aruna pulled hir off the couch, still covering hir groin, trying to keep the two white tigers from noticing that shi’d gotten an erection. Only now it was totally obvious that shi was hiding something, and the tigress flushed scarlet under hir fur, absolutely mortified that shi’d gotten an erection in front of Ravi.
“Alex, did our dancing give you a boner?” Aruna asked, with a smirk.
“Aruna,” Ravi chastised, simultaneously blushing and looking around the room.
The youngest tigress suddenly remembered Ravi’s injunction not to embarass Alex. “I’m sorry... We didn’t mean to.”
The tiger cub knelt in the middle of the room, covering hir face with hir paws. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. I must look a total pervert,” Alex cried, wrapping hir tail around hirself, trying not to cry from embarrassment.
“Not really,” Ravi said, blushing a little. “I mean, we were up here dancing around without our shirts on. Ahhh... if it makes you feel better, I used to get them when we first started dancing.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, Alex,” Aruna said, looking at the other tiger with folded down ears. “Ravi really did used to get them when we started dancing.”
“I know there’s nothing wrong with it, but there is,” Alex said, on the verge of bawling. “I’m sorry,” shi said, gasping. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” shi started repeating.
“Alex, don’t be!” Aruna insisted, looking down at the tigress. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t upset us or anything. Please don’t be sad,” the young tigress begged, holding her paw out.
“You don’t think I’m a freak, or anything?” Alex asked, wiping a tear from hir muzzle. Shi glanced at Aruna and before staring at Ravi, craving some kind of reassurance from the older tiger.
“No,” Aruna said, shaking her head. “I don’t. I think that you’re cool,” she said, kneeling down to hug the other tigress.
“I don’t think that you’re a freak or anything, and it doesn’t bother us,” Ravi tried to reassure the younger tigress. “You know that I have a crush on you, right?” he asked, smiling bashfully.
“It doesn’t bother you? Honest?” Alex asked Ravi again, hoping he was telling the truth. Shi’d never dated a real boy before and was terrified he’d be grossed out by the fact that shi had a penis. The incident with Robert had left hir kind of afraid of boys, and their reactions to finding out that shi wasn’t a girl. With Azalea, shi hadn’t been afraid at all, mostly because Azalea was in all respects other than her actual sex, a girl.
“I’m telling the truth, Honest,” Ravi insisted, smiling at hir. “It doesn’t bother me that you have both parts.” He took a deep breath, firmly and calmly adding, “Alex, you know that I like you. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”
Alex took a deep breath, going quiet again as Aruna squeezed hir shoulders. Shi let hir breath back out, sighing with relief. Somehow it felt like something deep inside, some strange fear or tension had eased a bit, like an injury that shi hadn’t known was there suddenly stopped hurting. “Thanks. That means a lot to me,” the tigress said, wiping hir eyes with the back of hir paw. Shi sat there for a few more seconds, then hugged Aruna back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to break down like that.”
“It’s okay,” Ravi said softly. “It happens sometimes. I hope that you feel a little better now.”
“Don’t worry, Alex,” Aruna added. “We know that stuff happens. We just want you to feel better. We’re friends, and friends are always there for each other.”
“Thanks,” Alex said with a relieved smile. Shi took a deep breath. “So... How do you do that dance, anyway?”
__________________________________________________
“You have a colorful room. It just screams ‘you’,” Atman said, looking at the color-shifting fairy lights around Alex’s bedroom. He frowned. “Hmm, I think that’s the right phrase.”
“Thanks! Oh, and watch the step there,” Alex said, pointing to the entrance to the bedroom where the extra-cushioned carpet started, before Atman and Sevita stepped inside.
“You know, sweetie, it would be a good idea to do something like this for Aruna’s room,” Sevita said after stepping onto the carpet while following her husband. “I can see why you and Ravi get along. He has someone to be sporty with,” she said, looking at the sports equipment on the shelves.
“Alex is very sporty,” Ravi agreed, leaning back in the lounge chair in the corner of the room.
“Ravi’s been talking constantly about the things that he’s been learning at the karate classes, and about the gymnastics lessons that he’s been giving you,” Atman said with a laugh.
“Yeah,” Alex said, sitting down on hir bed next to Aruna. “We’ve been sort of teaching each other stuff even before he started karate lessons, like flips and kip-ups. It’s a lot of fun. I wish Aruna could do it too. She said she’d start teaching me dancing, though. She and Ravi showed me one a few minutes ago. It’s really cool.”
“That will give you two something to do! Dancing and singing are her favorite things,” Sevita said, smiling at the two young tigers sitting on the bed.
“Indeed. Next time you stay with us, you can take over the living room and Ravi, Sevita, and I will play music for you two to dance to,” Atman suggested. “What do you say?”
“I don’t know if I’ll learn it that fast,” Alex replied, “but it does sound fun.”
“We can call it practice,” Atman said, smiling and winking at the young tigress.
“It’s been nice getting to meet your lovely family,” Sevita said, smiling at Alex, “but I think that it’s time to head back home. You two behave, you know the rules.” The white tigress cut a glance at her children.
“That’s right,” Atman confirmed, turning to Alex. “It’s been nice getting to meet your family. You kids have fun.” The Bassi parents waved as they turned to leave the room.
“Goodnight,” Alex called after Ravi and Aruna’s parents. The tigress walked over to hir door for a moment, watching as Atman and Sevita walked downstairs. Shi quietly closed the door, before turning to look over at Ravi. “What did she mean by rules? Is there something we shouldn’t do?”
“Brush our teeth, clean up after ourselves, make sure that Aruna doesn’t get hurt, follow the house rules, and be respectful,” Ravi said. “Things like that.”
“Alex?” Aruna spoke up. “Can I lay on your bed? It looks comfy,” she asked, running her paws across the blankets on it.
“Of course,” Alex replied, walking over to sit down next to Aruna again.
Aruna smiled as she flopped backwards on the bed. “Oooooooh,” she said, wiggling around. “I’m stealing Alex’s bed,” she said, rolling over to look at the tigress.
“You can sleep wherever you like,” Alex said with a smile. “On the bed, the trundle, the sofa in the guest bedroom, the pullout bed, or even the bean bag chairs.”
“Bean bag chairs are awesome. Aruna sleeps in one more than her bed,” Ravi said, smiling.
“Well... What if I wanted you to sleep on the bed with me?” Aruna asked with a shy smile.
Alex blinked, flushing with embarrassment.
“Don’t mind her, she’s a goof,” Ravi said, smiling. “I can sleep on the couch. Aruna can have the trundle. At least then she won’t have to worry about rolling off the bed,” he said with a snicker. “Unless you want for her to sleep with you. She might cling to you, thinking you’re one of her plushies,” he teased.
“Oh!” Alex exclaimed, jumping off the bed and walking over to the closet. “I forgot... I put most of my plushies up last time I cleaned my room and forgot to take them down,” shi said, pulling the closet door open. “Here, catch,” shi said, taking down plushie after plushie and throwing them across the room to Aruna. Most were of the two foot-tall variety, and shi had a half dozen of them, including two tigers, a pig, snow leopard, lynx, and parrot.
Ravi smiled as he watched the plushies flying across the room, his sister catching them and piling them up. The younger tigress quickly set up all of the plushies against the head of the bed.
Alex walked back out of the closet, holding one last plushie, stepping over to the bed where Aruna was. “So... That’s Viktor and Dina, that’s Harold, Jordan, Douglas, and Mrs. Oliviera,” shi started reciting their names, before holding up the pristine white stoat plush with a black tail tip. “And this one’s Elizabeth,” shi said, sitting down on the bed. “‘Named after my best friend in Oregon.”
Aruna nodded as she listened to Alex naming them all off, smiling. “She’s really pretty,” she said, looking at the stoat plushie. “I should bring over some of my plushies sometimes.”
“Long as it’s not the really big one.” Ravi said, shaking his head. “It was tough for me and dad to get that into the house, much less into your room.”
“Elizabeth is definitely pretty,” Alex confirmed, setting the plush down next to Aruna and walking over to the computer desk. Shi picked up a framed drawing sitting next to the computer and held the picture out to Aruna. “That’s a picture I drew of Lizzy,” shi said.
Aruna leaned over to look at the drawing, nodding. “Oooooh, she is really pretty,” she agreed. “I would like to meet her sometime. I bet she’s cool like you,” she said looking up at Alex.
“She’s shy and delicate. She’s got aplastic anemia, meaning she doesn’t make enough blood. She’s really sweet. I don’t think she’s got a mean bone in her entire body,” Alex said. “She lived a few minutes away from where we lived in Oregon, and we’ve been best friends since we were about five years old. I haven’t seen her since Christmas though,” Alex said, sadly.
“Awww, that sucks,” Aruna said. “I don’t know what it’s like to have something like that happen.” She went quiet for a moment. “You know, I don’t have any mean bones.”
Alex laughed. “Except when you were teasing me and Ravi about kissing,” shi pointed out, walking back over to the computer desk and setting the picture back down.
“I’m sorry,” Aruna said, folding her ears down. “I can’t help it. You get all blushy and it’s cute.”
“You know, I’m starting to think that you have a crush on Alex,” Ravi said, glancing at his sister and laughing.
“That’d be only fair; I’ve got a crush on Aruna,” Alex said, softly. “Both of you, actually,” shi cautiously admitted, unsure if that was something shi should even admit; it might make them get upset, since shi was pretty sure that shi could only date one person at a time.
“You do!?” Aruna said, blushing and squirming as she picked up the stoat plush and set it on her lap. “That... I might have a crush on you...” she admitted, her voice barely a whisper.
“Alex?” Ravi asked, looking at the older tigress. “I know she’s cute and all, but it’s a trap.” He said, trying not to smile at his sister’s antics.
Alex sat down at the computer chair, glancing at Ravi, then turned and squinted at Aruna, peering at her suspiciously. “What’s a trap? Are you trying to trick me, Aruna?”
“I’m not!” Aruna protested. “I mean, I might try and trap you for snuggles or something... like a big plushie,” the younger white tigress said, burying her face in the white-furred plush she was holding.
“I like snuggles,” Alex said cautiously, not exactly wanting to commit to anything with Aruna, especially if it meant sacrificing a relationship with Ravi. “Lizzy and I used to snuggle a lot. I really miss it.”
“You’re falling for her trap,” Ravi pointed out. “If you let her start snuggling with you, she’s going to do it all the time,” he warned. “I can’t tell you how many times that she’s ended up in my bed ‘cause she couldn’t sleep or something.”
“But... What if I want to snuggle all the time?” Alex said, looking back over at Ravi.
“I can help with that!” Aruna said, ears perking up while still hiding her face behind the plushie. “I would like that a lot.”
“Maybe... would you snuggle with me too, Ravi?” shi asked with a whisper, blushing slightly. “I’d like to snuggle with you too, sometime.”
“If you wanted me to, I guess I would,” Ravi agreed, looking around the room, trying to hide the blush that he had.
“So, ummm, Alex?” Aruna asked softly. “Do you really have a crush on me too?”
Seeing as shi had pretty much admitted as much to Ravi, shi might as well tell the truth. “Uh-huh,” Alex confirmed. “Both of you. You’re really pretty, and nice, and cool...”
Aruna’s ears perked up happily as she heard Alex calling her cool, but soon folded down. “If... If you have a crush on both of us... Would that mean you would want to date both of us?” she asked, holding the plushie tighter.
“Is that- I mean... Can you date two people?” Alex asked, both confused and hopeful. “I thought you could only date one person.”
“Well, I think it’s called polyamory,” Ravi said, “when more than two people are in a relationship.” The teenaged tiger took a deep breath, remembering the cheerleaders joking with him about it, suggesting he take all of them out on a group date after he refused to pick one of them to go out with. He’d gently, but firmly turned them all down, knowing his parents wanted him to eventually settle down with another tiger, if possible... and Alex was the first he’d ever met outside his own family.
Alex went silent, absorbing the idea. “Is polyamory bad? Or illegal?” shi asked, cautiously.
“I don’t know. But, I mean, I don’t think it’s against the law,” Ravi mused, taking another deep breath. “If the people in the relationship are okay with it, I don’t see it as being bad.”
“But if all three of us are dating, then you two would be dating, and that would be incest,” Alex pointed out, cautiously testing the waters, “and incest is illegal.”
“But, you said you didn’t think incest was wrong, when we were talking last week,” Aruna said, looking over at Alex. “If you don’t think that it’s wrong, then it can't be that bad.”
Ravi raised an eyebrow; he didn’t remember talking about this last week at all. Maybe it had been while he’d been in the shower. He was pretty sure he’d overheard something lewd before knocking on Aruna’s door after getting out of the bathroom.
“Well, it can be,” Alex said, shaking hir head. “Remember I said if people who are related have babies, they can have problems? Also, parents can take advantage of their children... or hurt them. That’s called abuse, and it’s illegal too.”
“Well, I know Ravi would never hurt me,” Aruna said, looking back at her brother. “And as for not having cubs... We can use those condom-things that you told me about.”
Ravi’s eyebrows both shot up at that; he must have missed one heck of a conversation. It sounded like Alex had practically given Aruna a sex-ed class. “I would never do anything to hurt my sister,” he confirmed. “I’ve gotten into more trouble over sticking up for her than anything. But... I’ve never thought about doing anything like that with her.” He shifted uncomfortably in the lounge chair. “I mean she’s cute, and I love her to death, but...”
“Really? Never?” Alex asked, tilting hir head slightly as shi looked over at him, crossing hir legs in the computer chair and leaning forward towards him. “Not even when she’s dancing?”
Ravi blushed, his ears going flat against his head. “Okay,” he admitted, hiding his face in his paws. “Maybe when she’s dancing, and I... I might have overheard you two last week, with Aruna saying she felt ‘all tingly and stuff’, and I might have had some thoughts since then...” He paused, peeking through his fingers.
Practically every last bit of fur on Alex’s entire body stood on end at hearing that he’d overheard them. Shi stared at him, realizing just how bad this could be if he told on them. Hir mouth dropped open, completely speechless.
“I stopped at the door to knock and I kinda heard you two making sounds and, well, I didn’t want to interrupt...” he said, blushing and covering his face again with one paw, resting the other in his lap.
“What... what did you hear us talking about?” Alex asked, fur still puffed out like shi’d stuck a finger in a light socket.
“Just Aruna saying something felt really good, and warm, and tingly, and asking you not to stop,” Ravi said, blushing and fidgeting in his seat, covering his pants with one paw. He hid his face again behind his other paw as he realized he’d admitted to perving on them. “I’m so sorry. You must think that I’m a creep or something.”
Alex simply stared at him, starting to relax a little. He hadn’t told his parents or anything, and it was pretty obvious he hadn’t objected or he’d have said something about it. “You... you..” shi stuttered, then swallowed, staring at him. “What did you think we were doing?” the herm whispered.
“Well, I’m guessing you were touching Aruna,” he said quietly, still blushing at the thoughts running through his head. “Whatever you two were doing it sounded cute... and hot.” He made a strange noise, almost a whimper, as he looked back at his sister, whose muzzle was wide open. He turned back to Alex “You’re not mad?”
Alex swallowed again; shi could hardly believe that he hadn’t said anything about it to their parents. For a moment shi debated whether or not to tell him. He’d been pretty relaxed and open about things, and he hadn’t seemed upset that they’d done something lewd... Taking a deep breath, shi decided to tell him, hoping he wouldn’t flip out and tell their parents. Shi’d definitely done something naughty, doing sexy stuff without telling them, but... well, the worst they’d do was ground hir and forbid them from playing together for a while. Telling the truth was more important than anything else.
“No! I was worried that you might be mad,” Alex explained. “So... Aruna was changing into her jammies, and I saw her panties,” shi said, watching to see what his reaction would be. “And, well, I got a stiffy... an erection. I mean, she’s really pretty...”
Aruna had been blushing practically this entire conversation, and it was getting to be too much. “Ummm, Alex?” the youngest tiger interrupted. “When you were walking up the steps and you fell, was that cause you could see under my dress?”
Alex blushed and covered hir face with one paw like Ravi was. “Yes,” shi squeaked, thoroughly embarrassed.
“I’m sorry I made you trip,” Aruna apologized, sheepishly.
“Let me guess,” Ravi said, getting back to the previous topic. “As Aruna was changing, you got an erection and Aruna wanted to see it...” he said, sighing. His sister had asked to see his before too, but he’d adamantly refused.
Alex continued to cover hir face, but nodded.
“And then that led to you two doing things.” Ravi blushed. “Ahhh... By the Gods, Aruna...”
“I couldn’t help it,” Aruna piped up. “I wanted to see what a boner looked like, and Alex is really pretty... and even more pretty when she’s naked,” Aruna said, still hiding behind the little stoat plushie that she was squeezing.
Alex was silent, glancing back and forth between Ravi and Aruna.
“I... Ahh....” Ravi said, sucking in a deep breath. “Okay. I think that it’s really hot,” he admitted, wiggling in place a little. “There, I said it. I think it’s hot.”
The little tiger herm relaxed, then continued with the story. “Anyway, she asked to see it, and I didn’t think it’d be bad if it was just looking, so I let her see it... and my flower too. Then she asked-”
“If I could touch it and stuff,” Aruna spoke up. “I couldn’t help it,” she said, wiggling. “It felt really hard and stuff.”
“I shouldn’t have let you touch it; Mom and Dad made me promise to ask before I do sexy stuff with anyone,” Alex admitted. “Please don’t tell Mom and Dad,” shi begged, “they’d ground me for like a month.”
“You don’t have to worry about anything like that,” Aruna said, shaking her head. “I didn’t tell anyone, and I don’t want you to get into trouble or anything.”
“And I don’t want you to get in trouble either,” Ravi added. “So don’t worry.”
“We will make sure to do everything right next time... that is, if you want to.” Aruna said, clearly hoping that was the case.
“Okay,” Alex said with a sigh of relief. “Anyway... so Aruna touched me and made me feel good. So I did the same to her. It was only fair,” shi said, looking at Ravi defensively.
“Oh, Gods.” Ravi said softly. “I...”
“It felt really good too. I wouldn’t mind getting to do it again... and maybe some other things,” Aruna added, muttering into the plushie. “I mean if you want to... with Ravi too.” Her voice was nearly inaudible.
“Ahhh, well, if you’d like to...” Ravi murmured, squirming at the thought of Alex doing ‘sexy stuff’ with the squirrel he remembered from the arcade. “Alex, I wouldn’t, ahhhh, object...”
“Bro-ther has a booo-ner,” Aruna sang, giggling.
“Shush,” Ravi said, trying to act like he didn’t have one. “But... if it’s okay with you Alex, I would like to do stuff too.”
Alex blushed. “I really, really want to do stuff with both of you. But I’ve gotta ask Mom and Dad first. Sorry,” Alex said quietly, looking apologetically at Aruna, “but I promised. But they let me do sexy stuff with Azalea when I asked, so it should be fine.”
“Ahhhh, I would get up and join you, but... I’m a little, ahh, stiff,” Ravi said, blushing.
“I can go with you Alex,” Aruna said, smiling and poking her tongue out at her brother.
“Mom and Dad won’t care if you’ve got a boner,” Alex said, “I promise. And I think they might say ‘No’ if you aren’t there. Dad’s, ummm, kind of old-fashioned that way, I guess.”
Taking a deep breath, Ravi got to his feet. “Okay,” he said, using his paws to try to hide the bulge in his pants. “Then I will go.”
“Wow...” Aruna said, eyes going wide. “I think that’s bigger than Alex’s,” she said blushing. The younger tigress set the white plush down to one side and slid off the bed.
Alex got up a few seconds after Ravi stood up. Luckily, shi had been too embarrassed at getting caught doing stuff with Aruna to have an erection of hir own. The tigress padded across the soft carpet and pulled the door open, glancing out into the hallway. The guest bedroom, right across from hirs, was open, and the room was empty. “Watch the step,” shi said, pointing down at the threshold to the room as shi walked past the bathroom and headed downstairs, holding onto the railing.
“This time, you don’t have Aruna to distract you... so at least you won’t trip,” Ravi said with a snicker, still using one paw still trying to hide his arousal.
“I can’t help it; I’m just that cute,” Aruna said with a giggle as she followed the other two tigers downstairs.
Alex huffed, continuing down to the great room where hir parents were sitting in the living area, in front of the fireplace. “Mom?” shi asked.
Raenne was sitting on the sectional with Nicholas currently latched onto her chest, as she nursed the infant cub. David was sitting next to her, holding Katherine with one arm while the other was draped over his wife’s shoulders. Both of them looked up.
“What’s up, kiddo?” Raenne asked, glancing up as Alex made hir way down the stairs. “I’m nursing,” she added as the other two tiger cubs came into view.
“I noticed,” Alex said, walking over and sitting on the opposite leg of the sectional sofa closest to them. “So, umm...” shi trailed off as Ravi and Aruna stopped nervously at the foot of the stairs.
“Mrs. Raenne, Mr. David, we had a question,” Ravi spoke up, one paw over his eyes as he stood there, having heard something about her nursing. “And, ahhh, I’m not sure how to phrase it...”
“Can we all, um, do sexy stuff?” Aruna asked point blank, as only a nine-year-old could.
Raenne blinked, taken completely off guard. Uncertain what to say, she turned to her husband David, who was looking across the room at Ravi with one raised eyebrow, having realized why the teenaged boy had one paw over his eyes and the other covering the front of his pants.",
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"title": "Masala Chai - Chapter 13",
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