Punk Rockers
Well, the night that changed things forever didn’t really start at a fancy place. It was a dingy club in the north valley, you could smell beer and piss and joints from a mile away… It was a blast. There I was, a tiger of 17, along with the band entertaining the crowd with slicing thick chords and wicked solos that I was playing on my guitar. My best friend Mick was next to me, pounding at the drums so fast, I couldn’t see his paws at all. I’d gotten to be real good friends with him as of late; the other guys were mostly out of town over the summer or lived kinda far away. I slid my pick up the string loudly as we ended a song, my tail twitched in pure rebellious bliss as I hit the chords for the next song. The club roared in recognition as I hammered the chords on my home made Telecaster and the singer tried to throw on his Johnny Rotten voice as we went on. “I am an anti-Christ, I am an anarchist” we went on as Mick’s green Mohawk bobbed to his drumming and Ed followed my power chords on his worn-out Stratocaster. “And I wanna be…Anarchy” the entire club sang along as we hit the chorus.  Damn it was fun, the repetitive chords of punk songs, the wicked solos and the wild, roughty lyrics. The night was a blur; we played on and on until the party broke up around two in the morning. I wasn’t doing anything that weekend so I packed up my row of pedals and guitars, grabbed the drum set and rode off with Mick back to my place. 
“Dude, I have two words for ya, FUCK YEAH!!” the hyena raved in the passenger seat, “have ya ever seen so much fun?” “Yeah we were just bitchin” I growled back “when the hell did ya learn to play drums so good?” “I could say the same to you bro,” he snickered back “remember the eighth grade?” I shoved him playfully, still keeping as firm grip on the steering wheel. “Give me a freaking break Mick, I screwed up one chorus,” I sneered at him “I just got my guitar three months before for Christ’s sake!” “Well you should have practiced then Ich,” he hooted back “did ya buy the guitar and take it out before we went on?” “Oh shut up!” I teased “you’ve even got the full personality of a hyena!!” “I hear that kitty cat,” he taunted “you’re worse than me!”  I just snorted at him, driving off the exit at Riverside and turning towards my house. “Stop it,” I growled teasingly “I’m gonna make you sleep in the garage if ya keep it up.” “I’m just kiddin,” he laughed back, rolling down his window. I went down the side street and slowly slipped into my driveway, clicking the garage door and pulling in. we unloaded the car and pushed inside, going up a flight of stairs to the living room. “So, does the band beat Skyrim or are ya just gonna play the lute with a Kajhiit in Whiterun?” I taunted, glancing at the x-box as I put my guitar case in a cabinet. “Hmm... that’s a tough one” he said with a sneer “I’ll be in Whiterun if ya don’t have food, I’m starving!”  “Yeah, there’s a Pizza place down the street that’s probably open, wanna get some?” I said, grabbing my wallet from the kitchen table. “Hell, let’s go” he said, bounding downstairs and opening the front door.  
“Hey bro,” I said as we walked out the door “It’s been so much fun, ya wanna stay over?” “Hell yeah!!” he said “we’ll write a whole album!!!” “that might be ambitious dude,” I said a bit more sensibly, “it’ll be epic though!!” we chatted for a few blocks, the sun was setting and the topic somehow got switched to the best choice of weapon against a zombie hoard when suddenly my ears twitched as I heard a scream. It was fully dark, there wasn’t much light except for the dim street posts and I saw a thick husky figure grabbing at a girl and throwing her in and out of traffic as she shoved him away and cried out. I could decipher words from her screeches and heard “God dammit you prick!! Get the fuck away from me!!!” she fumed and wailed “get those filthy paws away from me!!! Don’t touch me you bastard!!!!”  He chuckled and grabbed at her again, I could smell alcohol and he grunted ad he threw a clout to her ear and tossed her into the street, a grey pickup truck narrowly missing her as she spun to escape her tormentor. “Shit Mick, do you see that?” I asked spinning towards the scene in half stunned observation, half anger. “Holy fuck Ich!!! We gotta do something” he said turning then stalling in his tracks “but what if the fucker has a gun?” I growled angrily at the scene “the douche would’ve used it by now, he’s got no weapons.” Mick was about to say something but I cut him off “call 911!” I spun and ran towards the scene, not waiting for Mick to grab his cell phone. the girl was still frantically trying to rid herself of the drunk, aggressive male trying to subdue her to his will. “HEY!!!!” I snarled with my claws out and teeth barred “leave the lady alone!!!” he spun around as if he’d been stung by a giant bee. “Who’s to know, move along prick, I gotta bit of business here” he rasped. I could see he was a Doberman, about 30 years old with a stained tee and thick red hair that almost covered his right eye.  “I don’t think so shithead” I growled “leave the lady be and we’ll all have a good day.” “And what’s a little teenaged pussy cat like yew gonna do huh?’ He said, still slurring a bit from his drunken mood.  To throw salt in the wound he grabbed the girl who started running away and threw her face first onto the cement. That did it, with a roar, I grabbed the scruff of his neck and slashed his face open with my clawed paw, he groaned and tried to punch me in the stomach. I grabbed his fist and crushed his knuckles against a concrete wall, giving him a kick to the groin as I continued to take out my rage. Then, I saw it, he had a knife, my thoughts raced as he slid it out of his sock and slashed at my chest with his good hand. I yowled with pain as the crimson scar on my fur started dribbling blood onto my shirt. I kicked his weapon aside and kneed his stomach hard, making him double over. I then took my elbow and smashed him in the face until he collapsed almost unconscious on the concrete. “Not bad for a pussy cat huh bitch?” I spat “if I see you around here doing this, I’ll be happy to beat the shit out of you again.” I turned slowly and saw Mick and the girl staring at me as if I was a serial killer, wide eyed as the thug passed out from the beating I dished out. “Holy…shit” said Mick as I walked over and licked at the slash on my chest. I looked over at the girl she was a really pretty white tigress, about my age, 17 or so wearing a faded American Idiot sweatshirt and staring at me with a look of wondering with her beautiful blue eyes. “The hell did you do that for?” she said in a soft, sweet voice, “you could have been seriously hurt.” “I did it because I didn’t want to stand by while someone was getting hurt” I said “Five years of MMA Paid off I’d think.” She smiled a bit and Mick just chuckled “hey Ich, we should probably go somewhere else, I don’t think it’s safe here.” “Okay,” I said then I turned to the tigress, almost forgetting about my wound “where do you live? Could we drive you?” I said. “I just moved into a place up the street, I’m not even done unpacking.” She said, still a bit shaky   from the incident. “Is it not too weird to stay ay my place?” I asked, “It’s just up the road and I have a spare bedroom.” She blushed and shook her head “no, you two have done more than enough.” “It’s not a problem, I said, “Company is always nice.”  She blushed again and said “is there anything I can do?”  “No, it’s okay” said Mick, speaking up before me, “when my friend Ichiro Sakurai says he means it, he really does.” “Thank you” she said shyly “this means a lot, I really don’t think I’d feel safe in my apartment anyways.” “What’s the story with the police dude?” I asked Mick, “my cell phone’s um… dead” he said back with a guilty stutter. I smirked a bit and without saying anything else, we got up and started walking towards my street, I suddenly doubled over and groaned as the adrenaline wore off and the gash on my chest started to throb and burn. “Holy crap, are you okay?”  I groaned and whined a little “I guess I’m not indestructible after all.” I slumped back fully standing and shook it off a bit more. Seeing everything was okay, my friend piped in, “guess ya live up to Slash now huh bud?” “Knock it off,” I said, “let’s just get out of here.”  I smirked and walked up the block further, my chest was painful but the scrape wasn’t too deep, as we got to the block near my place, Mick surprised me by bumping into me from behind. “Nice goin, ya got her to stay over,” he teased “same species huh?” “Shut up Mick,” I hissed at him, bristling a little “she’s right behind us for god’s sake, I only just met her…” he just winked at me and subtly gestured to her with a flick of his ear. I glanced behind my shoulder and saw a shy look of almost affection on the white tigress’ face. I turned around and got a bit flushed, flattered from it all, my chest calmed down a bit as the blood clotted, leaving my shirt a bit ragged. We turned left onto my driveway and I took out my key, opening the lock to the front door. “Welcome to my place” I said, turning on the lights. Suddenly, something dawned on me, “oh god, where are my manners?” I said to the tigress, “what’s your name. “  “Oh, I forgot too,” she said in her silky voice “my name’s May” “that’s an interesting accent you said it with, how do ya spell your name?” said Mick, always interested in different culture. “M,A,E  she said, “I have roots in south Asia” “That’s a really nice name, nice to meet you I guess” I said a bit more shyly than I needed to “you heard my name, my buddy here is Mick.” “You know Mick” she said to him “you sure live up to your identity, seeing as the amount of jokes you tell all the time.” Mick just sneered at her and said “yeah, I was dropped on my head when I was little.” I smiled at them and hiked up the stairs, heading to the bathroom to wash off my scrape. I turned on the sink and wet a paper towel, dabbing at my scrape gently to clean it up. “Oh my god, is this yours?” I heard Mae say from the living room.  “Huh?” I said poking my head out of the bathroom to see her looking at my Telecaster and amp with serious curiosity. “Oh, yeah, that’s my ax,” I said, “Mick and I are in a punk band together.” “Damn, that’s so cool!!” she squealed as she saw Mick’s drum sticks on the kitchen table, “I take it Mick’s the drummer.” “Yeah, I like to bang!”  He said from behind the TV, stopping shortly from setting up the x-box. Both me and Mae started to crack up and I playfully punched Mick in the Shoulder and said, “oh quit it, we’ve got a lady here!” “Hey, I thought it was funny,” she chuckled, “I’ll bet Ichiro likes to finger all the right chords too huh?” I smiled teasingly chuckling “Hey, you’re all right!” said Mick, breaking into his characteristic whimsical Hyena laugh. We chuckled for a bit and then Mae spoke up. “So, let’s hear ya play Ich,” she said with a smile “let’s see how it sounds.” I slipped my guitar over my shoulder for the second time that night and plugged the guitar into the amp with a crackle of static. “Well, how’s this” I said as I hit a chord then hammered out the melody to Holiday, “does this sound good?” I chuckled, noticing her American Idiot sweater. I saw her blue eyes twinkle with mischief as she started singing along. “Hear the sound of the fallin’ rain, coming down like an Armageddon flame…” she yowled as I played out the beating riff. Getting more confident, I tilted my guitar and jumped, my tail flickered around with amusement. Mick pulled out a couple drums and started smashing the beat in as we got to the chorus. “I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies…” she continued as our reveries got more complex. I hit the gain pedal as we hit the next verse, we went on and I strummed through the solo, my paw flying up and down the fretboard.  We hit the last verses and then I jumped high in the air, the last note was ringing out until I switched off the humming amp. “Holy shit that was awesome!!” said Mick putting his drumsticks down, grinning as he stood up, brushing some hair out of his face.  “Damn Mae, you were awesome!!” I said, after hearing the tigress’ almost perfect vocals. “Look who’s talking, you’re badass on the guitar!” she raved, surprising me by pulling me into a hug. I hugged back a little then we broke apart, Mick was already picking up a controller and turning on the X-box. “Thanks for the little Jam that was fun!” said Mae “I haven’t been able to do something like that for a long time.” “Glad ya like it,” said Mick, “you’ll probably get sick of it after a while over here.”  “I think she was talking to me dude,” I said to the hyena as he put down the controller and got up for some water. “I know,” he said simply and sat down again, “I just need to have the last word.” Mae was looking at my guitar quizzically; the hand painted personal logo was obviously not Fender’s. “Where did ya get that guitar anyways, I’ve never seen that logo” she said. “That’s my personal touch,” I replied, “I made it a couple months back.” “You made this?” she said almost amazed, “For the most part, the fretboard would’ve been hell” I answered.   “Wow,” she started, “This sure looks like a Telecaster, nice job!”  “Thanks, I tried I guess” I said to her a little too bashful, my ears flattening onto my head slightly. “No problem, you really are talented!” she replied, and then Mae yawned a little. I sat up and looked over at the clock; it was almost 3:30. “Geez, we should probably lay out your room huh?” I said, opening a cabinet and pulling out some extra sheets. “Sure, thanks a lot!” she said a little drowsily, “lead the way.”  I walked across the living room and turned the corner, opening a door on the right and throwing the blankets on the futon. “Hope this is okay,” I said, “its a little low to the ground.” “No, no, it’s fine, thanks so much!” she cooed as I laid out the sheets and put down a pillow.  “Okay, there you go” I purred as I set down the last things, “If you need anything, I’m across the hallway and Mick’s in the living room.” “Goodnight Ich” she said, settling down on the futon. “Night Mae” I said as I turned towards the door.  “Thank you,” she called after me, curious, I turned back. “For what?” I replied she came back with “For saving my ass, for letting me stay here and for the good time.” “No problem Mae,” I said back, “It was kinda crazy but not that bad now.”  She nodded in thanks but then studied my features with a sapphire eye, looking over my expression deeply. “Why so bashful?” she asked, “You’ve been turning pink all evening.” “I’m afraid that I may have scared you earlier when I beat the guy up.” She just chuckled and said “no, that was the most badass thing I’ve seen and it was just proof of your commitment to justice.” “Sorry Mae, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said still pathetically blushing as I turned away in efforts to stay humble. “You don’t need to keep apologizing,” she said “you haven’t done anything wrong.” “I know,” I said back, “this is just what I do when I’m feeling a bit unsure.” “Anything wrong?” she asked, her cute furred face showing a bit of concern, damn why did she need to be so sweet? “Nothing in particular,” I replied still a bit shy “I’ve just gone through some tough shit and well, life’s confusing.”  “What happened?” she asked sitting up slightly on the futon. “My parents split up when I was seven,” I began “they fought over me for years and I was just guilted to love one parent or the other when I was at their house and it was pretty shitty.”  She just kept looking knowingly as I went on, “My mom threatened to take my dad’s ass to court and the other way ‘round so many times, I just had enough,” I ranted, “one night when I was 16, my mom said nasty things to me and accused me for everything that was wrong with her life, that’s when I was found on the street the next morning, looking to buy some weed.” I stopped and looked at Mae, not wanting to smother her close call earlier. She nodded to urge me to keep talking so I went on. “my mom made me see a shrink and my dad blamed her for everything, and then one day when I was at my dad’s I just yelled “fuck it!” and threw a brick through the front window.” I snarled a little at the memory but calmed down a bit and started telling Mae the rest of the story. “I rode  the bus to downtown and took both their asses to court” I kept going, brightening at the memory of how it ended, “I won the case and got 200 grand, I put it into this place and my car.” Mae still listened intently, a knowing, almost sad look was on her muzzle “Then I moved, changed schools, met up with Mick and the band and I’m working for my art teacher as an assistant during her classes with younger kids.”  Mae looked at me intently as I finished my story and said “damn, that’s quite a mouthful.” “I guess the art classes explain all the décor,” she said as she looked up at the acrylic and oil paintings I had hanging on the walls. “I’ve had practice,” I said, “Thanks for listening Mae.” “No problem Ich,” she said, “it can be rough, but I just hope its okay, these things are never fun.” “What about you?” I asked recalling how we’d met, “you almost got raped in that dark street.” “That’s probably the only terrible thing that could’ve happened to me so far, I’ve been pretty well off so far” she said, “besides, you kicked the shit out of him!” I chuckled and my tail twitched with amusement, “glad you’re okay Mae, good night.” “Good night Ichiro, thanks for everything” she said back. I smiled and closed the door, making my way back to my friend in the living room, smirking as I heard Dragonborn shouts and his cussing from in front of the TV. “Still hooked on Skyrim huh nerd?” I said teasingly to the hyena as I headed into the kitchen for some water. “Not as hooked as you are tiggy” he teased as he moved the joysticks on the x-box controller “ya sure covered some ground with that Kajhiit!” “Come on Mick!” I half-teased “I just talked for half an hour, quit being a douche!” he broke out laughing and I sat down next to him on the couch. “Let me see that!” I said grabbing the controller out of his paw, loading my character and going into the game before he could speak up. “Here, I need to kill some Bandits!” I said, getting back into the game almost right away. “Nice!” shouted Mick a moment later as I killed a bandit with an ice spike through the head, “oh yeah that’s what that fight earlier needed!!!”  “Lay off Mick,” I said “I’m putting a landmine in front of her door!” “I’m just messing with ya dude,” said Mick “she seems really nice and I’m glad you’re hitting it off.” “No prob,” I said, “I’ve got a feeling we’ll have one more going to our next concert though!” Mick smiled slyly and watched the action on the TV; we turned the X-box off about an hour later and I headed to my room.