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 15
Saturday, May 7th, 2016
“Anyway, you’ll need to stop taking your testosterone-blockers so that the doctor can get an accurate read on your base hormone levels when we go to the hospital on Thursday,” Raenne explained as they walked towards the gymnasium, following a sheep in a white karate gi. “That’s why they weren’t on your counter this morning.”
“Oh. Okay,” Alex said, slinging the small duffel bag with hir pads and spare clothes over hir shoulder.
Raenne jogged the last few feet to catch the door that the ram was holding for them, then held it open as her daughter caught up and walked through the door as well. The high school gymnasium that the ISKF had managed to book for the tournament was absolutely packed, with four separate ‘rings’ in use for the individual matches, plus another two open areas designated for belt tests.
The bleachers were packed with people, only a third of which were wearing white karate gis like themselves. The rest looked to be mostly parents who had come to watch their kids compete in the tournament. As they walked in, Raenne turned to a horse in a white gi with a black belt and a clipboard standing near the door. “Where’s the belt test enrollment sheet?”
“Right here,” the horse said with a smirk. “All examinees must be wearing a white gi with the shotokan logo on the lapel, a belt colored according to their current rank, and must wear gloves and a mouth guard during the kumite portion of the exam,” he added, holding out the clipboard he’d been holding, along with a pen.
Raenne accepted the clipboard and pen. The first empty slot was halfway down the list. Apparently they were doing belt tests every ten minutes. The tigress sighed and wrote down Alex’s full name, plus the belt shi was testing for, then handed the clipboard back over. The horse gave a short bow, then handed the tigress another form. “Please fill this out and have it ready to give to the judges when they call out the examinee’s name. Don’t write anything on the back; they’ll be using it for point tracking.”
“Thank you,” the older tigress said, glancing down at her daughter. “You heard all that, love?”
“Yes, Mom,” the younger tigress said, looking around. “I didn’t think there’d be so many people...”
“There’s probably only fifty or so competitors, plus about that many people taking belt tests. But when you include the instructors, judges, examiners, and all the friends and family of those who are competing... It does get a bit crowded. I’d guess there’s probably three hundred people here,” the tigress said, walking towards the bleachers. “Your exam is at eleven o’clock. Let’s go find a seat and we can watch the tournament while we wait. I’ll explain all the rules.”
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Raenne watched from the edge of the mat as her daughter went through the various Kihon, the basic moves such as punches, blocks, and kicks... from the ‘sanbon zuki’ triple strike to the ‘yoko geri kekomi’ side thrust kick. Alex knew far more advanced Kihon, but the examiners were only testing what was on the 5th kyu exam requirements.
The tigress watched calmly as the examiners called out Heian Yondan, the fourth ‘peaceful mind’ Kata. It was one of over a dozen that Alex already knew by heart. With that many Kata floating around in her daughter’s head, it was entirely possible shi might accidentally mix and match part of one kata with another. Hence the reason Raenne had been teaching Alex weapon forms to keep hir occupied, instead of more advanced Karate forms.
The little tigress standing in the center of the mat quickly bowed towards the examiners, then called out the name of the kata before shi began the twenty-seven moves that it consisted of. Raenne idly nibbled at her lower lip as she watched her daughter go through each motion, performing them at a quarter speed and making sure to do them flawlessly, slightly exaggerating each movement for the judges benefit. A minute later, Alex finished the last move, standing once again in the center of the mat.
The older tigress grinned as her daughter bowed once again to the judges before walking in her direction to get hir gloves and mouth protector for the Kumite portion of the exam. Given how well shi had done, it was practically a given that Alex would earn hir purple belt today, not that Raenne expected any less. Perhaps it was time to tell her daughter about her plans for summer.
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Ravi turned the heat up under the pot of basmati rice, then covered it with a lid. Next he poured the milk into a small pan and carefully measured out a few strands of saffron into a mortar and pestle before quickly grinding it up and dumping the powder into the milk, using a small brush to get every last fleck of the precious spice out of the mortar, then turned up the heat under the small pan and the skillet next to it.
“Thanks, Naani,” the tiger boy said as his grandmother set the cutting board down on the counter next to the skillet. He quickly put a few tablespoons of oil into the skillet, then picked up the wooden board and scraped the sliced onion and green chiles in before turning and handing the cutting board back to his grandmother. While waiting for the onions to cook, he carefully started measuring cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, garam masala, mace, bay leaves, and a few other spices into the skillet as well.
By the time the onions were almost done, Lanka set the cutting board down next to him again, this time covered with a small pile of finely chopped mint and cilantro. He quickly scraped that in, followed by the diced lamb that had been marinating all day. “Well, that’s that. Now we wait.”
“लड़की यहाँ कब होगी?” the elderly white tigress asked.
“Uh... Alex will be here at six,” Ravi said, quickly glancing at the clock on the range. “Thirty minutes.”
Lanka nodded, then walked over to the kitchen table to sit down. Ravi watched as she gingerly leaned back against the back of the chair, straightening her back and closing her eyes, taking a few quick breaths before visibly relaxing. He knew she had some kind of arthritis, and couldn’t stand for very long.
The tiger boy turned back to the stove and checked the rice, then turned the heat down to low on all three burners before turning and padding over to his grandmother. He bent and gave her a kiss. She opened her eyes for a moment, giving him a radiant smile, squeezing his paw as he stood before he turned to head back to the living room where his dad was watching television... reruns of the original BBC Top Gear.
The tiger boy stood at the base of the stairs watching the television for a moment, grinning at the three men’s absurd claims about the reliability of the Toyota Hilux. He’d already watched this episode though, and turned to go up the stairs, stopping at his sister’s room. “Dinner’s cooking and Alex should be here in a half hour,” he announced.
“Yay!” Aruna yelled, quickly hopping off her bed and turning to straighten it before going around the room and picking up stuffed toys, clothes, dolls, coloring books, and other random odds and ends that were strewn all over the floor.
Ravi watched his sister clean her room for a moment with a smile. It amused him that she cared enough about appearances to clean her room just because Alex was coming over. “Don’t want her to see how messy your room is, huh?” he teased.
The younger white tiger cub huffed at him while throwing her dirty clothes in the closet hamper. “You’re one to talk,” she said. “You’ve got dirty socks under your bed that have been there for a week!”
Ravi opened his mouth for a retort, but... actually she had a point. He sighed and turned around, heading back to his room to do a bit of quick cleaning before Alex arrived.
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An hour later, Aruna finished loading the last of the dirty dishes, then put a tablet in the dispenser before closing the dishwasher and hitting the button to start the wash cycle. The young tigress turned and joined Alex and her grandmother at the table. She didn’t know anything about cooking, but she could at least help to translate between them while they discussed recipes.
Apparently Alex did a lot of cooking, along with hir mom, and knew several Indian recipes by heart... enough to debate the best ratios of spices to use in tandoori chicken with a nearly seventy year old Indian woman who barely spoke English. After about ten minutes, Lanka shooed both of them off, grinning broadly at finding out that the American girl that her grandson was wooing knew as much about Indian cuisine as either of her grandchildren did.
“Come on,” Aruna said, taking Alex’s paw and dragging the tigress out of the dining room and through the living room to the stairs. “Don’t trip,” she warned with a grin before pelting up the stairs towards her room. By the time Alex walked in, she’d already taken out her supply of nail polish and related products.
“Okay, sit down here so we can clean the old stuff off,” Aruna said, pointing at the chair in front of her desk. “If we just paint over it, it leaves pits where the paint chipped off,” the younger tigress explained, pulling out the bottle of acetone and pack of cotton balls. “How the heck did you manage to chip your nails so badly?”
Alex sat down at the desk chair and turned sideways, watching as Aruna knelt on the floor next to hir and doused a cotton swab with the astringent chemical. Shi held hir hands straight and flexed the last tip of hir fingers to extend the claws. “I... uh... I was practicing using claw swipes for Karate. There’s a lot of, uh, ‘secret’ moves for people who have claws. They’re really dangerous to use in sparring, so you have to practice them on a wooden dummy...”
“You were scratching wood with your claws?” Aruna asked incredulously. “No wonder your nail polish is so messed up,” she said, noticing the badly splintered claw tips. “I’m gonna have to buff your claws,” she said with an exasperated sigh.
“Sorry,” Alex apologized, hir ears going flat against hir head. “You’re supposed to wrap the dummy in soft leather or foam if you’re gonna practice claw strikes on it, but ours is shredded. There’s one martial art that’s half claw strikes... it’s what Bruce Lee used,” Alex explained.
“Ravi used to watch old movies with Bruce Lee,” Aruna said. “I prefer Jackie Chan. He’s funny,” she said with a smile.
“Me too,” Alex said, sharing a smile. “There’s a good one called ‘The Spy Next Door’.”
“Oh, I think we might have that,” Aruna said, excitedly. She leaned back and hollered out her door into Ravi’s room. “Hey Ravi! Do we have ‘The Spy Next Door’? With Jackie Chan?”
“Ahhh... I think so,” Ravi called back. “Let me finish this race and I’ll go look.”
“No hurry. I’m doing Alex’s nails,” Aruna said, grabbing another cotton ball and dousing it with acetone. “It’ll take a while. You wouldn’t believe how badly chipped her claws are. They couldn’t even cut paper right now.”
Alex blushed; It was a point of pride for felines to keep their claws neat, whether they were dull or sharp. Shi quickly changed the subject. “Maybe after we watch the movie, you and Ravi could teach me how to do that dancing stuff?”
Aruna smiled and looked up at Alex. “Oh, I’d love to! Only...” The smile she wore suddenly turned into a smirk. “Try not to get a boner this time, or you might need to change your panties afterwards.”
This time Alex flushed scarlet under her fur and hir ears went flat again, utterly mortified. “I- I-” shi stammered as Aruna began giggling.
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Monday, May 9th, 2016
The smell of incense lingered near the Dojo-Kun tapestry at the front of the dojo, the faintest hint of it tickling Alex’s nose despite being nearly twenty feet from it. The tigress ignored the slight discomfort in hir knees from sitting in seiza as shi waited for Ravi to get back from changing into his uniform, getting ready for class. Shi gently rubbed the strip of purple fabric at hir waist between hir thumb and index finger, one ear turned back over hir shoulder as shi tracked the faintest whispers of fur against fabric from behind hir.
“Congratulations, Alex-senpai.”
For once, the tigress didn’t jump at Owen-san’s words coming from only a few feet away. The black panther instinctively moved with near complete silence, and had caught the tigress unaware at least a dozen times since classes had started nearly a month ago. Now shi was attuned enough to hir ears to hear him, when the Dojo was quiet.
“Thank you, Owen-san,” Alex replied, sitting quietly. “And also... Thank you for offering to teach me Kenjutsu. I know Mom appreciates it a lot. She’s been, uhh, worried... that I need to know how to defend myself... since I got kidnapped in January. She tries not to show it, but...”
The young tigress took a deep breath. “Mom’s probably right, too. I find myself looking over my shoulder all the time now, and I can’t use headphones anymore. Henry would have killed me, one way or the other, if Jordan hadn’t shot him. And it’s a miracle I didn’t get shot later... or killed by that rottweiler after he rape-”
Alex immediately shut hir mouth when shi realized what shi was saying; shi hadn’t even told hir best friends about this and here shi was blabbing to a total stranger. “Sorry. I shouldn’t be talking about that.” The young tigress swallowed and shifted, hanging hir head and staring blankly at the mat beneath hir knees, trying to ignore the ugly memories that flickered through hir mind. Shi didn’t even realize that shi was crying until a tear splattered on the beige vinyl, and quickly wiped at hir face with the back of hir hand.
“Alexandrea Andreyev,” Dafydd said, holding up his paw, prompting the young tigress to look at him. “Before I retired I was a nasty lawyer, a nastier PI, and a licensed military contractor. That's forgetting my previous career in the official military. I'm telling you this so you know exactly where I'm coming from.”
The black panther turned and looked the young tigress in the eyes. “You can already defend yourself. You had Henry’s blood on your claws before anyone shot him. You fought off a feral apex predator. This training, these skills... They make you a bit more effective, but mostly they give you confidence you can, let you stay calm, and use what you already had.”
Alex’s mouth gaped open. “H-how do you know about Henry?” shi stammered.
“Because of that previous career I mentioned, I've got contacts. Doorways into databases that frankly scare me with how much I can find out about stuff. You wouldn't believe how deadly my google-fu can be. And I looked, after your mom’s comment about you defending yourself. I’ve seen his autopsy report. You got a pretty good piece of him, girl. With the training giving you that extra instant to think, you’d have had him out of action before anyone else stuck their paw in.
“Trust me, Alex, whatever you’ve been through, I’ve seen worse. Much worse. And you made it out. Some of the furs I was trying to help didn’t, and I blame myself for every one of them, even if I never really had any chance of success. I’m no shrink, but anytime you want to talk to someone who’s been there and done that, who’s not a parent, who’s not listening because it’s his job to listen... Well, my ears still work even if one of them is a bit ragged.”
The tigress took a slow breath in. “Thank you, Owen-san.”
Both of them went quiet as they heard the door to the basement lounge slide open as students began to filter up from the downstairs locker room. Surprisingly, the class had grown by two more students over the weekend, to a total of ten including Alex and Dafydd.
This time, when Raenne walked to the front of the class, she gave a short announcement. “Just so you all are aware, the Dojo will be closed on June eleventh, as my husband and I will be attending the ISKF Master Camp in Philadelphia...”
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Tuesday, May 10th, 2016
Raenne leaned back against the living room sofa, holding the phone to the side of her head while waiting for the call to connect.
“Thank you for calling the office of Mr. Pullman. This is Leanne. How may I assist you?” a pleasant voice said. A loud mechanical whirr sounded in the background, followed by several loud bangs.
Raenne tilted her head slightly, wondering why the secretary hadn’t included her own lawyer’s name in the greeting. “Umm, this is Raenne Andreyev. Is Mr. Pratt available? I have the bank account information for them to set up the automatic payments from my daughter’s trust.”
“Oh... um... I thought we had sent out letters to all of Mr. Pratt’s clients,” the secretary on the other line said. “Mr. Pratt is no longer with us, and Mr. Pullman is temporarily taking on all of Mr. Pratt’s cases and clients until we can find another partner to take his place.”
The way the secretary said ‘no longer with us’ made the fur on the back of Raenne’s neck begin to itch. “What happened to Mr. Pratt?”
“We had a break-in at the office two weeks ago. Mr. Pratt was working late, and we believe he confronted the burglar,” Leanne explained, raising her voice to be heard over the sound of a high-speed electric motor. “He was attacked. Mr. Pullman found his body the next morning.”
The fur on the back of Raenne’s neck stood straight up. “Is Mr. Pullman available?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Andreyev, but he’s currently busy. I can have him call you back at his earliest-” the secretary said, then paused for a moment. “My apologies. Mr. Pullman wishes to speak with you immediately. Do you have time to speak with him now?”
“Yes,” the tigress said, wondering just what the hell had happened and hoping the other attorney had answers.
“Hold please,” the secretary said, followed a moment later by a clicking noise.
“Mrs. Andreyev, this is Mr. Pullman,” a deep, well-enunciated voice said. “My apologies for not calling you sooner, but it’s been utter chaos here at the office. They only finished replacing the carpet a few days ago and the paint still hasn’t dried. If you hear any loud noises while we’re talking, it’s because they’re installing a security system in the next room.”
“Your secretary said that Mr. Pratt was murdered. What happened?” Raenne asked.
A sigh came over the phone line. “We don’t know precisely. Mr. Pratt was working late last week and someone broke into the building using one of the fire escape ladders on the fourth floor where our office is located. They then broke into our office... I have no idea why, unless it’s related to one of the cases that we’re handling. I believe Allan confronted the individual, since there was evidence of fighting in the office waiting room; he practiced boxing to keep in shape. It didn’t save him from the other person’s claws, unfortunately. The assailant completely trashed his office too. It took us two days just to put all the papers back in their respective cabinets.”
“And you have no information on the assailant?” Raenne asked, feeling her fur stand on end. This was exactly the kind of thing that she’d been worried about ever since finding out that her grandparents had set up a trust in Alex’s name. There was no way that money had been legally obtained, and someone was bound to be looking for it, once they discovered that the Kaminskis hadn’t actually been dead for the past decade.
“Other than having claws? Nothing,” the attorney said. “The Camden PD forensics team went over everything in the waiting room, but they haven’t gotten back to us yet with any results. Now... I know I’m not your original lawyer, but I know that your parents set up a sizable trust for your daughter. I was going over Mr. Pratt’s computer records this morning while preparing to take over his case-load, and it was a bit of a shock to my senses when I saw the amount sitting in that trust fund account. Your parents must have been extremely wealthy...”
As the attorney continued to prattle on, Raenne ran her paws over the fur on her forearms, which was standing practically on end, then massaged the itching scar on her palm. She made a mental note to inspect all the pistols she had stashed in various locations in case of emergency... and to talk to David about getting a security system for the house as well. Getting suppressors for the pistols in the house would probably be a good idea too. The biggest question was where to relocate the stash.
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Wednesday, May 11th, 2016
The moment that Ravi walked through the sliding Shoji doors of the Dojo, Alex ran over to him and grabbed his paw, dragging him towards the stairs that led down to the lounge.
“C’mon! Your armor’s here. You gotta try it on and make sure it fits,” the younger tigress said, letting go of his hand and bounding down the stairs. Shi hit the door at the bottom of the stairs and pulled it to the side, practically dancing with impatience as he followed.
David was sitting at one of the couches, watching over the twins who were currently squirming around on the carpet in front of the couch. “Hello, Ravi-san,” the big white tiger said, waving at Ravi.
“Hello, David-senpai,” Ravi replied. He smiled at the sight of the two kittens who were just barely learning how to crawl. After a moment, he turned and followed Alex across the lounge to the room marked ‘Employees Only’. He raised an eyebrow as the younger tigress pushed the door open, then followed hir inside when shi beckoned him in.
This room was easily as big as the locker room, only instead of lockers it was a fully functional studio apartment, complete with computer desk, king-sized bed, oversized baby crib, coffee table, recliner, and sofa. The only oddities were a wooden practice dummy wrapped in badly shredded leather and four mannequins against the left wall just beyond the computer desk, which had been dressed in black riot armor that slightly reminded him of Japanese samurai armor.
Alex’s mom was sitting at the sofa on the opposite wall, and waved to Ravi as he walked in. “Hello Ravi-san,” Raenne said, looking up from the array of handgun pieces on the coffee table that she was in the process of cleaning.
“Hello Raenne-sensei,” Ravi said, bowing to the older tigress. He wrinkled his nose at the faint odor of chemicals and bananas in the room. “Alex-san said my armor came in.”
The tigress nodded, and pointed over at the mannequins. “I think you can figure out which is yours,” she said with a smile.
Ravi nodded as he turned to look at the armored dummies. One of them was a little taller than Alex, the second exactly the same height as him, and the third and fourth were roughly the same height as Raenne and David, respectively. Alex took the helmet off the second mannequin and tossed it to him, which he caught and promptly held up to look it over. It looked halfway between a motocross helmet and a samurai kabuto.
“Try not to deliberately break those. They’re pre-production prototypes by Chiron Global, and they were very expensive,” Raenne said, focused on cleaning the gun on the coffee table.
“Mom, I don’t think we can break these. I was smacking Dad with a staff for like five minutes as hard as I could.” Alex said while taking the various pieces of the armor off the mannequin and setting it on the ground. “The worst I did was scuff the visor when I threw a sai at his face.”
The older tigress gave her daughter a tired look, then sighed and rolled her eyes before she went back to cleaning her pistol.
“This looks like something out of a video game,” Ravi said, putting on the helmet. “Seriously, I feel like I’m Master Chief or something, from Halo. Actually, the visibility in this isn’t too bad.”
“Too bad it takes like ten minutes to get it on and off,” Alex muttered. “It’s way faster with help, though. Here, start with the shin and thigh pieces, then we strap on the foot and knee protectors...”
Five minutes later, Ravi clunked up the stairs, followed by Alex. The younger tigress wasn’t wearing any armor at all, just hir usual karate gi. The armor wasn’t as bulky or heavy as he’d thought it would be, though it definitely had weight to it. Once they reached the mat, Ravi tentatively did a few jumping jacks and swung his arms around. Curious, he did a somersault across the mat, then tried a handspring. The extra weight was too much, and he collapsed onto his back.
“What’s this made of?” Ravi asked as he accepted Alex’s paw to help him back upright. He noticed that the inside of the helmet was starting to smell plastic-y.
“Some kind of kevlar and plastic composite. At least that’s what Mom said. All I know is it’s super-hard, like diamond or something,” the young tigress explained. “Here, brace yourself and I’ll punch you.”
Ravi stood up and took a fighting stance, facing the younger tigress, who promptly hit him in the chest with an open-palm strike as hard as shi could. He staggered back like two feet, but was completely unharmed. “Wow! This stuff is crazy.”
“Right?!” Alex exclaimed. “Okay, so... Open Kumite sparring is where you can use whatever strikes, blocks, or kicks that you want, but no striking at the crotch or joints. In a tournament, you get a point if you hit someone in the head or torso...”
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Later that night, Raenne handed the two baby carriers to her husband and turned back around, leading the black panther into the ‘Employees Only’ room. The tigress took a seat at the computer chair, then turned and waved at the two chairs against the wall next to the computer desk. “Sorry for the mess. Have a seat. What was it you wanted to talk about?”
“You know that I’m a PI,” Dafydd said, glancing at the suits of futuristic-looking riot armor and a wing chun dummy against the adjacent wall, before taking a seat as well, loosening the navy-colored neck-tie he was wearing. “After that comment last week about Alex needing to learn to defend hirself, I did a bit of digging. I found out most of what happened back in January. On Monday, before class, Alex and I had a short conversation. I don’t think shi intended to say as much as shi did, but... Shi confirmed pretty much everything that I discovered.”
The black panther took a deep breath, meeting Raenne’s gaze. “I think Alex is remembering things. She mentioned a species that’s nowhere in any official record... A rottweiler. With that, I can probably ID the male who assaulted hir.”
Raenne’s eyes narrowed as she took in just how much the panther knew. She sat silently for a few moments, then shifted slightly in the computer chair. “From the time-line I could put together, shi was probably raped after shi was picked up by the FBI, which means that they were most likely an FBI agent, and probably on the CARD team.”
“Say the word, Reanne, and I will,” Dafydd offered. “Then it will only take a phone call and the law lands on him like the end of the world. A different phone call and he silently vanishes. Or I take a short vacation and he ends up wishing I’d killed him. You’re hir mother, Reanne. It’s up to you.”
“My idiot of a husband accidentally ensured there’s no evidence that could be used in a court of law,” the tigress said, looking down at the floor while clenching her jaw. After a moment she looked back up at the panther sitting a few feet away. “But a predator like that shouldn’t be hiding within an organization created to protect the children he’s preying upon... and an act like that shouldn’t go unpunished.”
The two felines sat in silence for a moment before the retired detective stood up. Dafydd nodded to the tigress, then turned and pulled the door open, slipping back out into the lounge.
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Thursday, May 10th, 2016
Doctor Negasi Abebe took a deep breath before pushing the door open to the exam room three. As expected, Raenne Andreyev was sitting in one of the chairs against the wall and her daughter Alexandrea was sitting on the examination table. What he didn’t expect was the two infant tiger cubs in baby carriers sitting on the floor... though he probably should have, remembering that the older tigress had been pregnant the first time he’d seen Alex.
The warthog smiled at the two older tigers as he stepped into the exam room. “Hello Raenne, Alex,” he said. “My greatest apologies, but the clinic has been in utter chaos today. The computer systems aren’t working, and we can’t pull up patient records. I am sorry, but... I have forgotten the reason for your visit today.”
The tigress sitting on the chair blinked. “Huh. I guess that’s one disadvantage to going entirely digital; if the computers are down, you can’t do much,” Raenne said, with an awkward smile. “Alex needs to get hir hormone levels checked.”
“Aaaaah, yes. Now I remember. Shi has been on spironolactone since the end of last summer, to keep hir testosterone levels in check to permit hir body to develop a more feminine physique. So we need to test hir testosterone and estradiol levels and see where they are, yes?”
“Exactly,” Raenne said, nodding.
The warthog nodded as well, then pulled out the rolling stool and sat on it before he turned to the child on the exam table. “You look quite feminine to me, little one, much like many girls your age. Is that what you wanted? To have long hair, wide hips, and breasts?”
The young tigress nodded, hir snow-white hair dancing upon hir head.
“Good. The first year of puberty is, in my humble opinion, the most crucial for a hermaphrodite in determining how your body will look as you develop into an adult. That is now mostly behind you; you can rest more easily, knowing that over the next four years you will continue to blossom into a beautiful young woman,” the warthog said.
“You should continue to take the spironolactone until the end of summer, but after that you probably won’t need to take them anymore; your body will already be growing in the right direction,” Dr. Abebe continued to explain. “This isn’t always the case, which is why we need to find out what your base hormone levels are now that puberty is in full swing. At best, you will no longer need any pills. At worst, we may find that we need to give you a small fraction of the dosage that you are currently on for the next few years. Now... Before we get a sample of your blood to test your current hormone levels, I need to ask: When was the last time you took one of your spironolactone pills, little one?”
“Last Friday,” the young tigress murmured.
“Excellent,” Dr. Abebe said with a broad smile. “Then I will call the phlebotomist to come get a blood sample and have it delivered to the lab for testing. I should have your test results in a few days at the very latest. If you need to continue taking the spironolactone after this August, I will call you to let you know.”
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Friday, May 13th, 2016
The Winters family’s house was strewn with several banners and dozens, maybe hundreds of balloons, including a few that had managed to cling to Azalea’s tail. The jerboa-squirrel hybrid smiled as she looked over the ice cream cake that was sitting in the freezer.
“How does it feel to be a teenager?” Cora asked as she joined her wife and daughter in the kitchen.
“Our little girl is growing up,” Beth said, closing the freezer and pulling her daughter into a hug.
“I don’t feel that much different,” Azalea said, poking her tongue out. “I mean, it’s just kind of another day.”
“Oh, come on. You only turn thirteen once,” Jennifer said as she carried a few boxes of gifts into the living room, then set them on the kitchen island.
A knock at the front door caught the group’s attention.
“It looks like someone’s here,” Cora said warmly.
Azalea darted over to the front door and pulled it open, smiling at the orange-furred tiger cub that was standing there, carrying a large present wrapped in red paper and tied with a broad white ribbon.
“Hey Alex,” Azalea said. As Alex stepped inside, Azalea pushed the door closed for the tigress after making sure that hir tail was well out of the way.
“Hello sweetie,” Cora greeted the young tigress. “You know, I think we could get away with sneaking you a little catnip tea. I mean it is a party.”
“No, honey,” Beth said, shaking her head a little. “Hello Alex,” the malabar squirrel said, nodding to the cub.
“Aww. I still kinda want to see that. I bet it would be cute to see her all kitten-like,” Jennifer said with a little giggle. “Hey Alex.”
“Hello everyone,” the tigress said as shi started slipping hir shoes off. “Mom and Dad said they’re sorry they can’t come; Mom’s teaching classes at the Dojo and Dad’s watching over the cubs,” Alex said with a shrug. “So instead they had me bring this instead,” shi added, tilting hir head toward the huge present shi was carrying.
“Wow... that’s big,” Azalea said as she accepted the box, adding it to the others on the kitchen island.
“That’s what she said,” Jennifer muttered with a giggle.
“We kinda thought that,” Cora said with a little nod. “It’s a little rough to watch out for two little ones when it comes to things like this.”
“Just remember to get some cake for your parents... and don’t eat it yourself,” Beth said as she sat down in one of the recliners.
“Don’t worry, I’ll leave some cake for mom and dad. Anyway, the cubs are starting to move around now, so Mom and Dad actually have to keep an eye on them,” Alex said. “It’s funny, watching them try to crawl.”
“Just hope they don’t take after Azzy. She wanted to climb everything,” Beth said.
“We would look away for just a moment and she would be trying to scale the sofa,” Cora reminisced, reaching over to ruffle her daughter’s hair. After a moment she took a seat on a pillow next to the coffee table.
“I blame Jen; she was teaching me. She taught me all kinds of things,” Azalea said, flicking her tail.
“Oh, don’t try and get me in trouble for this one,” Jennifer protested.
“So Alex... did you invite your friend, Ravi? Or should I say ‘boyfriend’?” Azalea asked with a smirk.
“How’d you know about Ravi?!” Alex asked, shocked. “I haven’t told anyone at school about him.”
“News travels fast. Supposedly one of the cheerleaders said he’d been teaching you some ‘moves’,” Azalea teased.
Alex blushed furiously, but shook hir head. “Look, Ravi and I aren’t dating right now. It’s... complicated,” shi said, sitting down on the sofa. “And it’s your birthday; it would be rude to bring someone else with me.”
“Awww... So what happened? How’d you meet again and why aren’t you dating?” Azalea asked as she sat down next to the tigress, nudging her a little as she did. “Is he nice? I only met at the arcade that one time.”
“Sooo... Ravi showed up at the Dojo over spring break. After he met Mom and Dad, he immediately asked them for permission to take me out on a date. So a few days later we met at the arcade. I got a bit nervous though and asked if we could start by being friends before dating,” Alex admitted. “Then I got to meet his little sister. She’s super-cute. So now all three of us are friends, and we’re having sleepovers most weekends.”
“So that’s why you haven’t been coming to sleepovers with me and Willow,” Azalea said, poking the tigress. “You should introduce us to them.”
“Sorry,” the tigress apologized. “Maybe next time Ravi, Aruna and I have a sleepover at my place, you can join us?” Alex suggested.
“I think I’d like joining you three for a sleepover. They sound pretty nice.” Azalea smiled.
“They are. Aruna can be slightly annoying sometimes; she’s only nine. But she listens to Ravi if he tells her to behave, and she’s really cute,” Alex said. “I think you’ll get along with them.”
“I’m used to living with annoying people,” Azalea said, looking over to her sister, poking her tongue out at her. “There’s a reason that I have a lock on my room.”
“I’m your older sister. It’s my job to be annoying,” Jennifer said as she took one of the last seats. “And the only reason you got that lock is so you could sneak off and use that purple thing that you stole from me.”
“You have no proof of that,” Azalea countered, grateful that her dark fur hid her blush well. “I would never do something like that! I would never steal something from my bestest sister,” she said with a little giggle.
“Purple thing?” Alex asked, puzzled. Then hir eyes went wide when shi realized what Azalea was most likely talking about. “Oh my. Nevermind. So... Is anyone else coming?”
“Willow should get here eventually,” Azalea said, slouching back. “I’ve never been one for big parties, I mean I rather have just one or two people that I really know, and just have fun like that.”
Alex smiled. “I’m the same way. I’d rather have a small party with close friends and just have fun. I mean, more people means more presents, but... I don’t care.”
“Yep. Friends, family, and cake... that’s all we ever need,” Azalea agreed with a nod.
“I don’t know... I like the idea of gifts,” Jennifer said, turning to her mothers. “Soooo I have been good, and kept my grades up. So I’m getting my car, right?”
“Ask your mother,” Cora said, rolling her eyes.
“Ask your other mother,” Beth countered.
Alex leaned over to the hybrid next to hir. “Somehow I get the feeling they do that a lot when they don’t want to say ‘yes’,” the tigress whispered.
“Yes... yes they do,” Azalea said with a sigh.
“Love you two too,” Jennifer told her mothers.
Just then, a knock on the door prompted Azalea to immediately hop up and run over to the front door. A moment later, the purple-haired field mouse named Willow stepped inside, panting slightly. She quickly handed a wide, flat present to the jerboa-squirrel hybrid and began taking off her shoes. “Sorry I’m late,” she apologized.
“No worries,” Azalea said, taking the gift and setting it over on the kitchen island.
“Would you rather start with cake? Or would you rather open your gifts?” Cora said, standing up and glancing at the presents and the envelope that was sitting on the island.
“I think that I’d rather open the gifts,” Azalea said. “I mean, I can’t wait to see what’s in that big box. Hopefully it’s not something that will pounce me like a tiger on catnip,” she said, picking up the big one.
Alex stood up to follow, walking over and standing next to Azalea to watch her open her gifts.
Azalea’s tail twitched a little as she started opening the biggest present first, taking time to get the ribbon off safely before shredding the wrapping paper. “You know Alex, you don’t have to hold my tail,” she said, smacking the tigress with it while she tore more of the wrapping paper away, revealing a large brown cardboard box. After slicing open the tape, she lifted the flaps, revealing several other smaller boxes inside. The first was a big black and green box with the words ‘GeForce 780 Ti’ in big, bold stylized letters.
Azalea carefully lifted it out of the, as Alex said “So... Dad just replaced some parts on his computer, and he figured you’d be able to use this. I dunno what it is, but he said you’d like it,” Alex said with a shrug.
“Well he was right,” Azalea said, smiling happily. “It’s a GPU. It’s what makes the graphics on my PC look so good and run so smooth,” she explained as she set it to the side and started to pull out the next item, a 36-piece set of Prismacolor watercolor pencils.
“That’s from me,” Alex said. “I know you like painting, and I like drawing... I figured maybe we could try doing both sometime,” shi said with a small smile and a shrug.
“Ohhhhh. I have been wanting to try some of these,” Azalea said, looking over the box, chittering softly. “You know what this means right?” she asked, turning to Alex, smiling from ear to ear.
“Nooo...” Alex replied, looking confused and slightly scared. “What?”
“I’m going to need you to be my subject and paint, errr, draw you,” Azalea said. The hybrid giggled before continuing to unpack the box. The last two items in the box were a bag of candied pecans, and a small ziplock bag full of pine needles. Looking up from the container of pine needles, Azalea said “Your mom knows me well.” She opened the bag to take one out and slip it into her muzzle. “Thank you Alex. Tell your mom and dad I said ‘thank you’, too,” she said, pulling the tigress into a hug.
“I will, and you’re welcome,” Alex replied, returning the hug.
This time Willow stepped around to watch as Azalea picked up the wide, flat present, taking the bow off before using her claws to shred the shiny green wrapping paper, revealing a polished wooden box. After taking a moment to inspect the box, she slid the top off, revealing several compartments filled with tubes of pigment, brushes, small towels, and mixing trays.
“Oh my,” Cora said, having walked up to see what was inside. “Winsor and Newton professional watercolors. That is an expensive gift.”
“Weeeellll, it was, but... It’s used,” Willow admitted. “All the tubes are at least half full, though. I made my own art supply box, so I don’t need it anymore.”
“It’s still a very nice gift,” Cora said. “Now, don’t forget ours,” she told Azalea, pointing to the envelope on the kitchen island before she pulled the cake out of the freezer.
Azalea picked up the envelope and opened it, freeing the card from it and chattering softly. As she opened it, she smiled at the sight of the Steam gift card before reading what the card said. “Thank you everyone,” she said, looking around the room and smiling happily.
__________________________________________________
Alex dropped hir empty plate off in the sink before returning to the living room, watching as Beth and Cora retired to their bedroom, leaving the three cubs to their own devices. “So, what do you want to do for the rest of the evening?”
Azalea paused to think for a moment. “Well, we have a big Steam card to spend, so I’m sure we can find a game or something. Or maybe painting...”
“Oooh, that would be fun,” Willow agreed with a smile. “I can show you how to use real quality paint.”
“You mean quality watercolors,” Azalea sniffed. “They don't count as real paint.” The jerboa-squirrel hybrid pursed her lips, then looked at Alex with a grin. “We just need a nude model.”
“What, me?” Alex asked, taking a step back from the two rodents. “Why?”
“You would make for a perfect model,” Willow said, stepping forward and running her paw down Alex’s arm. “Your colors are bold, your stripes are compelling and exotic, you have a physique that shows your every muscle despite your fur...”
“And she wants to see your dick,” Azalea said, then started laughing at the sour look that Willow gave her. “What? It’s true, you told me last week.”
“Well... I’m not technically dating Ravi at the moment, but I...” Alex said, hesitantly, then sighed at the glares she got from the two rodents. “Fine. As long as it’s just modelling,” shi relented. Then shi paused. “Oh, wait. Dad was telling me something earlier about how the police consider pictures of nude cubs to be child pornography, even if it’s taken or drawn by other cubs... even themselves. There was even some girl a while back who was arrested just for taking a selfie...”
Azalea paused for a moment. “Hmm. I’m sure that we have some silk scarves and stuff.”
“Ooooh... Paint me like one of your french girls,” Alex said, laying down on the couch to strike a pose, getting a giggle from Willow.
“Alex,” Azalea muttered, then sighed, shaking her head. “You are a dork. But I’m okay with that,” she said, heading over to the kitchen island to grab the art supplies. “C’mon you two,” she said, heading upstairs to her room.
Azalea’s bedroom hadn’t changed much in the past few months; she still had a giant pile of pillows instead of a proper bed, and had a television, computer desk, cabinets, and easel with a stool along the left side, and a dresser, bookshelf, several bean bag chairs, and a small couch with a floor lamp along the right.
The tigress followed the two older rodents into the room, standing awkwardly as Azalea promptly turned the easel around to face the sofa and Willow grabbed a beanbag chair, dragging it over so she could sit next to the jerboa-squirrel hybrid. The purple-haired field mouse took the canvas sitting on the easel and turned it sideways while Azalea rolled a set of shelves over next to it and started opening up the box of watercolor supplies.
The two rodents continued to whisper to each other while getting everything set up. After a few moments, Azalea practically bounced out of the room.
“Okay. While Azzy gets those silk scarves... Go ahead and strip, then lay on the sofa,” Willow instructed while she started squeezing paint out onto the mixing trays.
Alex peeled off hir ‘Hello Kitty’ t-shirt, dropping it on the floor, followed a moment by hir black pleated skirt. For a moment shi hesitated, then peeled off hir black lycra sports bra and dropped it too. “Should I go take a quick shower so my fur’s not so matted?” shi asked, looking down at hir chest, running hir claws through hir fur to fluff it up slightly.
“Uhhh...” Willow turned around, then walked over. “Maybe. Let’s try fluffing it a bit. You get your front and I’ll get your back,” she said, stepping behind the tigress and vigorously rubbing the tiger’s fur so it stood up a bit before combing it flat again. Alex did the same to hir front.
“Oh my,” Azalea said as she stepped back in, mimicking George Takei. The hybrid quickly stepped over to Alex and draped a teal organza scarf around hir neck. “There. That’ll go with your orange fur and my blue walls. Now... drop those shorts and get on the sofa.”
Flushing red under hir fur, the tigress peeled off the black lycra shorts, dropping them next to the sports bra. Being the only one naked with others looking at hir was definitely a new and slightly uncomfortable experience. Swinging the translucent scarf around to cover hirself, shi quickly sat on the sofa while Azalea moved the nearby lamp, then lay sideways on it.
The jerboa-squirrel raised an eyebrow as Alex raised hir arms above hir head in the signature pose from Titanic. “What the hell? How did you go from being nearly flat to having boobs in three months?”
“They’re not that big yet,” Alex said, looking down at hir chest. “It took like six months of being on spironolactone before they finally started growing.”
“Oh, so I’ve got another six months before I start to catch up, huh?” Azalea asked, turning and heading over to her easel.
“Mosquito-bites. Not even B-cup,” Willow said with a sniff. “You’ve got a lot of growing to do.”
“I’m only ten,” Alex protested.
Willow did a double-take. “What?”
“Yep. Shi’s only ten,” Azalea confirmed, blending watercolor paints in the mixing trays. “Skipped fifth grade completely.”
“And you two had sex?” the field mouse asked, turning back to the tigress. “Ten? Seriously?”
“What? Is that bad?” Alex asked. “I started having sex when I was nine. With my friend Lizzy.”
“Ooookay...” Willow blinked. “Here I was feeling bad for wanting to see you naked, knowing you’re only ten. Except you’ve probably had sex more times than I have.”
“Way more,” Azalea confirmed. “Shi’s probably had sex more times than anyone else in sixth grade. Damn horny cats. What did you say you went through? A box of condoms a week?”
Alex blushed, draping the organza scarf to cover hir hips. “Yeah, the twenty-four packs, for like two months straight last summer. Lizzy liked having sex a lot. And she had to have sex with her dad every couple of days, too, to keep from getting sick.” The tigress went quiet, remembering all the things shi had done with the cute little stoat-ferret.
“With her dad?!” Willow asked incredulously, her eyes growing wide. “Okay, stop! That’s it! I don’t want to know any more,” the field mouse said, throwing her paws up to cover her ears and turning away, blushing furiously with embarrassment as Azalea started laughing hysterically.
__________________________________________________
Saturday, May 14th, 2016
“I claim this in the name of tree rats and jumping rats everywhere,” Azalea said as she flopped down on the bean bag chair and curled up. She promptly wrapped her tail around herself, looking a lot like a ball of fluff. A few seconds later, both of the jerboa-squirrel’s ears perked at the sound of knocking from downstairs.
“Oh, that’s them,” Alex said, rolling off the sectional and darting out of the guest room. “I’ve got it!” the tigress yelled as shi went pelting down the stairs at breakneck speeds. A moment later shi hit the side entrance door with a thud, then pulled it open, panting slightly. “Hey Ravi, Aruna. Come on in. Azalea’s already here, upstairs in my room.”
“Hey Alex. You sure got here quick,” Ravi said, stepping inside and kicking off his shoes. “Then again, I’ve been moving slowly with how sore I am,” the tiger boy added, rubbing his shoulder.
Alex blushed. “Sorry about the shoulder; I thought you’d manage to dodge that kick.”
“Why’d you hit the door?” Aruna asked. “Did you trip or did you get into the catnip?”
“I haven’t had catnip since, like, Thanksgiving,” Alex protested. “Never touching that stuff again.”
“Wait, you’ve had catnip? Really?” Ravi asked, tilting his head. “Alex, is there something that you need to share?”
“Uhhh... I should probably let Azalea tell you what happened,” Alex said, flattening hir ears against hir head and closing the door behind them. “It was her mom’s fault.”
“This sounds like a good story,” Aruna said, heading for the stairs. Suddenly the young white tigress stopped about halfway up, turning to look down at the other two tigers. “Aaallleeex, make sure you hold onto the railing.” She giggled.
Alex glanced up, holding onto the railing, and promptly stumbled when shi saw the pale pink panties Aruna was wearing under her skirt. “By the Goddess, Aruna... Did you have to wear a skirt again? Are you trying to kill me?!”
Ravi glanced up and sighed as he followed Alex up the stairs with a backpack slung over his shoulder.
“Nooooo, I wouldn’t do anything like that,” Aruna said, smirking before quickly jogging up the rest of the steps. “If I was, I would do this,” she said, standing at the top of the stairs and bending over, shaking her tail at them.
“Aruna!” Ravi chastised with a blush, watching his sister run off towards Alex’s room, before turning and apologizing. “I don’t know where she got that...”
“Watch that step, Aruna!” Alex yelled as Aruna turned the corner. “It’s my fault. I should never have told her why I tripped at your house,” shi added with a sigh.
“Alex, there’s a weird fluffy thing in here,” Aruna said, pointing at the hybrid sitting on a bean bag chair in the guest room across from Alex’s bedroom.
“I’m not that weird,” Azalea said, still snuggled into a ball.
“There’s nothing weird about the squirrel-mouse-thing, except that she sleeps in a nest, drinks pine needle tea, and has two moms,” Alex said as shi reached the doorway. “What are y’all standing around for? Take a seat,” shi said, stepping past them and sitting down on one side of the overstuffed leather couch, curling hir feet up and leaning against the armrest.
“Just making sure,” Aruna said sitting in the bean bag chair next to Azalea.
“Oh, and before I forget... Aruna, that’s Azalea. Azalea, that’s Aruna. You already met Ravi at the arcade a few months ago,” Alex said.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Azalea said, finally uncoiling and stretching a paw towards Aruna.
“Nice to meet you too,” the tiger cub said, taking the offered paw and shaking it. “You are so fluffy... Can I pet it?” Aruna asked, tilting her head a little.
“You know, I’m starting to think that this is like tiger bait or something,” Azalea said, flopping her fluffy tail onto Aruna’s lap, who promptly began petting it. “And, nice to see you again Ravi, in a better situation.”
“It’s nice to get to sit down and get to know you better,” Ravi said, nodding to Azalea. “If my sister starts annoying you, just tell her to stop.”
“I don’t mind. I’m used to being groomed and petted. Like I said, it’s tiger bait, Alex always took care of it for me.”
Alex blushed. “I like brushing you... It’s relaxing.”
“You never heard me complaining about it,” Azalea said, poking her tongue out a bit. “So, Ravi... If you want to get close to hir, go for the tail. Shi loves it when you brush it,” the hybrid said, smirking at Alex.
“You dirty rat,” Alex said, shaking hir fist in mock anger. “Giving out all my secrets.”
“Hey, I haven’t given all of them out,” Azalea protested.
“Oh, oh! Secrets! Tell us about the catnip!” Aruna begged.
“Yeah, Alex just mentioned catnip a moment ago,” Ravi added, flashing a smirk at the tigress as he sat down next to hir.
“Yeah! She said it was your mom’s fault,” Aruna said, practically bouncing in place. “Tell us!”
Alex hid hir head, covering hir face with hir tail as shi sat there, listening. Shi had to admit, it was a funny story, but it was very, very embarrassing.
“Well you see, we drink catnip tea from time to time at my house,” Azalea said, leaning forward a little. “And, well, Mom gave Alex some, not thinking about the fact that shi is a tiger. Alex comes running into my room and hides in my bed, terrified about a dragon... I ended up having to trip-sit hir.” She smirked at Alex. “Thank Bastet for feather toys.”
“Oh God... So she was like a big kitten?” Aruna asked. “I bet that was, like, super-cute,” she said giggling at Alex. “Big ol’ tiger pouncing around after a little toy.”
“Yeah... shi mauled my walls. I think I have photos,” Azalea said, smiling.
“Well... Note to self: no catnip for Alex,” Ravi said, nodding.
“I don’t really remember much about it, except for the dragon in the kitchen,” Alex explained, trying not to blush. “I hit my head pretty hard against the wall and knocked myself out.”
“That was also the day that I learned the power of a spray bottle of water,” Azalea said, poking her tongue out. “Oh, and that smelling salts actually work.”
“I always had a feeling that Alex was a big kitten,” Aruna said smiling to Alex, pausing for a moment. “What’s trip-sitting?” she asked, turning and tilting her head at Alex.
“Do you know how to field that one, kitten?” Azalea asked Alex with a smirk.
“Ummm, when someone’s high on drugs, it’s called tripping... and they don’t exactly act normally, and someone has to keep an eye on them,” Alex explained awkwardly. Shi hadn’t even known what tripping was until shi had asked Azalea at some point.
“It still kinda sucks that I didn’t get to do that thing Mom B told me about,” Azalea said with a little snicker. “That would have been fun.” The rodent hybrid paused, looking at Ravi. “Hey Ravi, are you affected by catnip?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“No... Why? You’re not going to get me to do something illegal are you?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow at the hybrid.
“Nothing that bad... just a way to make each kiss that you give Alex, one she won’t forget.” Azalea said smiling. “All you need is just a little catnip and some lip balm or chapstick. Mix the two, apply to your lips, and kiss.”
“Azalea!” Alex exclaimed in shock, promptly picking up a pillow and throwing it at the squirrel on the bean bag. “No!”
Azalea let out a little squeak as the pillow hit her before picking it up and holding onto it. “Sooo totally worth it,” she said, poking her tongue out. “And blame my mom. She’s the one that told me about it.”
Alex huffed. “If any of you even think about that again, you’ll find out exactly how sharp a kitten’s claws are. A ten-year-old tiger kitten’s claws. I’m never doing drugs again!”
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Ravi said, rubbing the back of his head a little. “I don’t want to get mauled by you, much less your Mom or Dad.”
“I’d call you a wuss, but I’ve seen what shi can do to a wall,” Azalea said, pulling out her phone and flipping through the photos. “See?” she asked, showing it to Ravi and then Aruna.
“Oh, Wow,” Ravi said, going a little wide-eyed. He knew how dangerous shi could be in Karate, but seeing the wall with foot-long vertical and horizontal gouges that covered the wall from nearly the floor all the way to the ceiling, dripping exposed insulation, was... frankly terrifying.
“It can’t be that bad...” Aruna said before she saw the phone. Then her eyes went wide. “Wow... Alex, you’re banned from catnip.”
Alex huffed. “It’s not like I went and tried to get some myself; I didn’t even know Cora was giving it to me.”
“We’re not blaming you or anything. I blame Mom for it all day... Beth was the one that said something about the catnip in the lip gloss,” Azalea said, shaking her head a little.
“Both your moms are both a bad influence,” Alex replied, rolling off the couch, walking over to the entertainment center, and flipping the television on.
“Where do you think I get it from? Also, I’ve been good so far. I haven’t even tried to make you and Ravi kiss yet,” Azalea said. “No matter how much I want to see it.”
“Wait!” Aruna exclaimed, as she turned to the squirrel-jerboa hybrid. “You have two moms? I thought that Alex and you were joking! If you have two moms, then how did...” the tiger cub paused, tilting her head a little as she looked from Alex to Azalea.
“Well, when one mommy loves the other mommy, they go to bed and hug one another and make funny sounds...” Azalea said, trying not to burst out laughing and failing at it.
“Hush, Azzy,” Alex ordered, trying to be serious. “Beth is a herm like I am,” the tigress explained. “Shi’s really Azalea’s father, but shi prefers being called Mom.”
“Yeah. What Alex said,” Azalea said after getting her laughter under control. “Hey, I was trying to be PG about it; Trying to be a good role model or something.”
“You were being a smart-ass,” Alex retorted. “Now, does anyone want to play ‘Marvel vs. Capcom’ before dinner? Or ‘Smash Brothers’?”
“Smart ass is my default. You know that,” Azalea defended herself, wiggling a little. “And I’m good for some Smash.”
“Oooooh. I can beat you all up with Samus,” Aruna said, smiling and nodding.
“I’m game,” Ravi said, leaning forward.
Alex turned around and flipped on the console, already having anticipated the games they’d probably prefer playing, and started digging out the controllers from the drawer underneath the television.
__________________________________________________
Half an hour later, the four children were still playing Super Smash Brothers. Alex sighed as hir current character, Fox McCloud, got punted off the platform and hit the edge of the screen with a flash of light.
“I should go start dinner,” Alex said, setting down hir controller and standing up. “I’ll call when it’s ready. Try not to kill each other, except in the game.” The orange tigress stretched, and started walking out of hir room, leaving the two white tiger cubs alone with the jerboa-squirrel hybrid.
“Just try not to get hurt; You’re a little on the klutzy side,” Aruna said with a smirk.
“I’ll try not to spill extra chili powder in your portion,” Alex said, turning around just outside the door and sticking hir tongue out at Aruna. Then shi disappeared from view, heading downstairs.
“She’ll do it too,” Azalea said, snickering. “This is why you have to watch her and the spices.”
“We’re used to hot food. That one there likes it,” Ravi said, pointing to his little sister.
“There’s a reason that I’m so spicy hot,” she said, poking her tongue out at her brother.
“R.I.P., my whiskers,” Azalea said, slouching back in the bean bag chairs, as she got another round of Smash Brothers going. “So, Ravi, when are you and Alex going to start being a thing?”
“When shi and hir dad say that it’s okay,” Ravi replied. “We already went on one date, but shi asked to just be friends for a bit first. Then hir dad got upset that we were moving too fast when we asked to do stuff.”
“Bummer,” Azalea said as she wiggled her tail against Aruna’s arm as a distraction.
The little tigress thrashed as she tried to bat it away. “Stooooop!”
“He has his reasons and we understand where he’s coming from,” Ravi said, smiling at Azalea and her underhanded tactics. “You know she bites, right?” he warned the squirrel.
“I’m not doing anything,” Azalea said as she continued to tease the younger tigress while they played. “And if David is keeping things slow for you and hir, then there is some good reason for it, I’m sure,” she said, opening her muzzle to say something more, only to let out a squeak as she felt teeth clamp shut on her tail, jerking it away.
“Pfffffth. So much fur,” Aruna complained, sticking her tongue out and scraping at it with her claws, trying to get the foot-long strands of tail-fur out of the barbs on her tongue.
Azalea cackled for a few seconds. “You know... Alex made that mistake once... ” she said as she took the chance to get a one-up on Aruna. The one point lead didn’t last long as the younger tigress was surprisingly competitive and pretty good at the game to boot. Each of them had at least one character that they were good at playing, but after two more matches, it looked like Aruna was the best of the three.
“I win,” Aruna said, poking her tongue out.
“For now... cheater,” Azalea said, smiling.
“You’re the one that was cheating,” Ravi pointed out.
“Dinner!” they all heard Alex yell from downstairs.
“Well, it looks like you get a break from getting beaten up,” Aruna said as she got up, stretching with her paws in the air.
“For now. Give me time to learn,” Azalea said as she got up and started out the door. “Come on, slow pokes,” she said, leading the three children downstairs to the great room.
“Oooooh, that smells really good,” Ravi said, now that he was paying attention to his nose instead of the video game.
“Naani gave Alex some of our recipes when they got to talking after dinner last weekend,” Aruna said as she took a seat at the dinner table, followed a moment later by her brother.
“Smells like it’s going to burn... but it does smell good,” Azalea said, licking her lips.
David and Raenne joined the cubs at the table a moment later, carrying stacks of plates, glasses, and silverware. “Hello, you three,” David said as he set the plates down and started distributing them around the table. “Are you all getting along okay?”
“I got chewed on,” Azalea said mournfully, looking over to the youngest tiger. “Every time that I’m around you felines I get nommed on. I know that I’m a rodent, but the war ended long long ago,” the hybrid complained.
“You were cheating,” Aruna pointed out with a huff. “You deserved it.”
David sighed and rolled his eyes, then looked over at Aruna. “No biting. You’ll only give yourself a hairball by chewing on that one,” he said. “I don’t want you coughing up a hairball on Alex’s carpet.”
“What do you all want to drink,” Raenne asked as she set the glasses out on the table. “Tea, lemonade, milk, or juice?”
“Tea please,” Azalea requested. “Don’t worry about the hairballs. I live with two cats; I’m trained to keep that kinda thing from happening. If I hear gagging, I immediately grab a towel or something.”
Ravi rolled his eyes at Azalea. “Milk would be nice,” he said, worried that he might need it if Alex went heavy on the chilies.
“Ummm, do you have apple juice?” Aruna asked, looking up at the older tigress.
“We do,” Raenne replied as David turned back to the kitchen. “What kind of tea, Azalea?”
“I’d say catnip, but I don’t think that you have that,” the squirrel said with a smirk. “Umm, any black tea will be good. Got a breakfast blend?”
“No, we don’t have any catnip tea,” Raenne said, chuckling. “We do have Stash English Breakfast tea though. Hot?” the tigress asked, turning to head back to the kitchen.
“Yes, please,” Azalea said, nodding. “With a little milk and sugar.”
“Okay,” Raenne said as she started pulling cartons out of the refrigerator.
A few moments later she stepped out with two small containers of milk and apple juice, filling Ravi and Aruna’s glasses. “There you go,” she said, returning to the kitchen.
“Thank you,” Ravi said with a nod. “You know, Azalea, you might want a little milk if you’re not used to hot food.”
Azalea shrugged. “Can’t be that hot.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be that hot. Mom didn’t tell her about the really hot stuff yet,” Aruna said, then sipped at her juice.
“Your mom didn’t need to tell me about the really hot stuff,” Alex said as shi and hir dad stepped into the room, carrying several bowls. “Have you ever heard of Bhut Jolokia?” shi asked as shi set the tray down and took a seat along with hir dad.
“Welp, I’m skipping dinner,” Ravi said with a sigh.
“How did you even get a barf pepper?” Aruna asked, going wide-eyed.
“Alex? Is there something that I need to know?” Azalea asked, tilting her head and looking a little worried.
“Only that you shouldn’t eat that right there,” Alex replied, pointing to the bowl of meat cubes in a red sauce. “That’s lamb Rogan Josh. Normally it’s got cayenne pepper, but I put one finely minced ghost pepper in it. The rest of these are tandoori chicken, chicken tikka masala, malai kofta, butter chicken, chole, palak paneer, and Mom should be here in a moment with the rice and naan,” shi said, pointing to the respective dishes.
Raenne stepped in a moment later, carrying a huge bowl of white rice and another filled with naan bread. “I’ll be back in a moment with your tea, Azalea,” she said after setting down the bowls.
“Wait... That’s lamb?” Azalea said, looking from the bowl of rogan josh up at Alex. “You’re evil,” she said with a little huff. “It can’t be that hot can it?”
Alex shrugged. “I don’t think it’s too bad. You’ve got milk right there if you need it,” shi said, casually. Too casually.
Azalea squinted at the tigress. “Well, if it’s made with, uhh, ‘barf’ pepper, then I know who I will aim for,” she said, reaching out and spearing a little piece of meat with her fork. “R.I.P. me,” she said as she put the meat into her muzzle.
The squirrel made a chittering sound as she chewed the meat. “That’s good... kinda hot,” she said, making a face and opening her muzzle to breathe. “This isn’t that ba... Oh fuuu... fuzzy butts that’s hot,” she whined, taking the glass of milk that Ravi offered her after rolling his eyes.
Alex began giggling uncontrollably at Azalea’s expression, as the squirrel-hybrid tried to quench the fire in her mouth.
“Good try,” Ravi said with a chuckle, adding one piece of the rogan josh to his plate along with several other things.
Raenne stepped out of the kitchen carrying a large mug and a pitcher of iced tea. After setting the mug down in front of Azalea, she poured some tea for Alex, David, and herself, then took a seat.
Once shi had managed to get hir giggles under control, Alex bent hir head, saying a silent prayer to the Goddess while the rest of them began to pile food onto their plates. After a few moments, shi looked up at hir parents. “Thanks for helping.”
“You’re welcome, kiddo. Thank you for fixing dinner,” David said, lifting his cup of iced tea and raising it in hir direction.
“Yeah. Thanks, kiddo,” Raenne added, raising her own glass as well.
“To... friends, family... and food,” Azalea said, panting for breath and holding up the now empty glass of milk. “Even if they... try and burn... your whiskers off.”
“Cheers,” Ravi and Aruna said in near unison.
“Thanks,” Alex said, starting to blush. Then shi reached out and stabbed a piece of the rogan josh and stuck it in hir mouth, chewing with a sigh. “Mmm, so good...”",
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