WARNING: This story may contain content of an adult nature. If you are easily offended or are under the legal age to view adult content in your area, please exit now. This text is intended for adults only and may include scenes of sexual content or graphic violence. Reader discretion is advised.

Yerba Maté
by TaintedThylacine and IndigoNeko

Chapter 10

Friday, December 4th, 2015

“Chris, who do you still need to get presents for? And how much do you think that you’re going to need?” Alyssa asked as she pulled into a parking spot near Washington Square mall. The yapok was a bit surprised that she was able to find a parking spot this close to the main entrance on a Friday afternoon.

“Well, I have gifts for everyone but Elizabeth, Charlotte, and you two. You two can wait till later when you’re not in my tail fur,” Chris said, glancing from her mother to her friend Melissa before getting out of the car. Nobody mentioned the fact that the younger yapok didn’t actually have fur on her tail.

“Do you even have any idea what you want to get Liz?” Alyssa asked, smiling at how sweet it was that her daughter wanted to find her the perfect gift; this was their third stop, shopping for Christmas gifts. “I don’t think that you’ve had to buy gifts for someone like this before,” the older yapok said as she got out of the car, taking a moment to adjust her scrubs. She had skipped changing out of her work clothes in order to beat traffic out to the mall.

“Umm, no. So any ideas would be good,” Chris said, taking a second to re-adjust the plaid short skirt that she was wearing over the tight black jeans that she had on, causing the multiple wallet chains to jingle a little. “It's too cold,” the young yapok complained as she walked around the car to join her mother and Melissa.

“Well, I can help find something for Charlotte. She sounds like she’s kind of a nerd like me,” Melissa said, joining the two yapoks as they walked towards the mall entrance. “I have a few ideas for gifts,” the pale-furred fox-bat said. Out of the three, she was the most lightly dressed, wearing a white wool sweater dress that had been modified for her wingarms. The dress had just a simple heart design on the bottom part.

“How are you not a bat-sicle?” Chris grumbled, shoving her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. “It’s freezing.”

“You know that I’m part arctic fox right?” Melissa retorted, snickering as they got to the cross walk, making sure that it was safe before heading into the mall. 

Chris let out a contented sigh as she felt the heated air of the mall washing over her. “Well, that takes care of Charlotte, and I know what I’m getting you two… but what about Liz?”

“You know, I think that Elizabeth would love a pet,” Alyssa said with a snicker, “though that would be something that you would have to plan out with her mom and dad. So that might not be the best idea.”

“Well, that’s one way to plant an idea in someone’s head,” Chris said, smiling and letting out a little squeak as she felt Melissa tugging her in the direction of a store.

“You know where to meet. Call me if you need anything,” Alyssa said, smiling at the sight of the two cubs before wandering off to one of the other stores to do her own shopping.

“Where are we even going?” Chris asked, glancing at another store that she thought the fox-bat was going to take her to in search of something for Charlotte.

“This,” Melissa said, pointing to the signage above the store that read ‘Hot Topic’. “This place has everything. I’m sure that we can find something that she will love. So, tell me a few things about her and her collection.”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her collection, but we have talked a few times. She’s mentioned Bleach, Onion… Ouran Highschool something, Death Notice, and something about a metal alchemist,” Chris, shrugged her shoulders. “Some of them sounded good, but others were just weird.”

Melissa shook her head. “I give you points for trying, but you missed some of them by a mile,” The fox-bat said as she guided Chris through the store to the DVDs that they kept near the back of the store.

“So, umm...” Chris muttered as she looked over the shelves, recognizing some of the titles. Some of them were only in Japanese. At least, she was pretty sure that it was Japanese. “What about this one?” the yapok asked, picking one off of the shelf and looking at it. “I think she might like it. It looks interesting,” Chris said, holding up a copy of ‘Hunter X Hunter’.

“I’m going to have to sit you down and give you a crash course on buying anime for people,” Melissa said, taking the copy of Hunter X Hunter and putting it back on the shelf before moving to the graphic novels. “We need to sit down and have a girl’s night. Snacks, drinks, anime, board games, the whole nine yards. This is the one!”, she yipped happily as she pulled the box set for a manga called ‘Kill Me, Kiss Me’ off the shelf.

“Are you sure that she will like it?” Chris said, glancing at the back of it, reading over the blurb on the back of the box. “It sounds weird… And a little sappy. And has cross dressing.”

“I'm sure that she will like it, or your money back,” Melissa said as they started heading to the front of the store. 

“We’ll pay for this and then meet mom and hopefully come up with something for Liz,” Chris said as they reached the entrance and put the manga on the checkout counter.

“You know, if you want to have some fun and get to see the most amusing look on someone’s face, tell her to wait to open it, that it’s yaoi,” Mellisa said with a little giggle, getting a look from the male that was at the register ringing them up.

“No clue what that is and I don’t think that I want to know,” Chris said, shaking her head as she handed the cashier the money, waiting for her change.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” Melissa giggle-squeaked as she saw the look on Chris’ face. 

After Chris got her change back, the two tweens headed for the food court, eventually spotting the yapok’s mother sitting at a table with a pair of bags next to her.

“Well, it looks like you two found something for Charlotte,” Alyssa said, double checking the bags beside her and making sure that they were tied tight to keep prying eyes out of them. “What about Elizabeth? Maybe a stuffed animal or something?”

“I don’t know. She already has a lot of them, so it would have to be one that she doesn’t have,” Chris said as she looked around the mall at the few stores that she could see from the food court. “Though I do want to ask her mom something. I have a plan.” 

“¡Dios mío!” Alyssa exclaimed, then sighed and looked at her daughter knowing that she was up to something, but not sure what. “What are you planning, chica?”

“Things,” Chris replied. “Come on, I want to look at that toy store. There might be something there,” the younger yapok said, walking off with Melissa in tow. Alyssa quickly stood up, following her daughter and their friend.

“That isn’t the right answer. You remember what happened last time you were planning ‘things’?” Melissa warned, giggling at the memories of the roof incident.

“That was a fun call to make to the fire department,” Alyssa muttered, holding back a laugh of her own as they reached the toy store. They dodged out of the way as a young opossum darted out of the store, a sloth employee yelling at them. The employee didn’t even make it past the checkout counter before giving up and reaching for his walkie-talkie.

“Do you really think that Liz’s mom would let her have a pet?” Chris asked her mom as they walked down the aisles, looking at the different toys on display.

“I don’t know. You would have to talk to Julia. We can call her when we get to the car,” Alyssa said, watching her daughter and her friend stop at a shelf full of plushies. The two tweens looked them over, trying to find the perfect plush. “You know, if I remember right, I think Peggy said something about one of their cats having another litter of kittens,” the older yapok said, tapping her muzzle in thought before pulling out her cell phone and typing out a message as Chris and Melissa browsed the stuffed animals.

“Oooh, check out this one,” Chris said, picking up a cute corgi plushie that looked more like a round pillow.

“I would like that if someone got it for me. It’s so soft,” Melissa said as she gave it a squeeze before handing it back to Chris.

“If that’s the one, then let’s go. It’s getting late and I’m sure that you want to call Julia,” Alyssa said, following the two cubs to the front of the store to pay and head out. “Now, if you do talk her into this, then you are going to help with taking care of the kitten when you visit them. That means all the gross stuff as well as the good stuff that’s part of having a pet.” 

“I know mom. I’m not going to make them do all the work,” Chris said, handing the plushie over to the sloth at the checkout counter. “That was going to be one of the points that I was going to make: that Julia and Terrence wouldn’t have to do anything and that it would be me and Liz doing all the work.” The younger yapok watched as the sloth finally rang up the toy. Before he could tell them how much the total was, Alyssa had counted out the money and was handing it to him.

“Chris as a pet mom? I’ve heard you’re paying attention and studying in class too. I’m starting to think that you’re getting soft,” Melissa teased as Chris took the bag that had the plushie in it. They made it well out of the store before hearing the sloth telling them to have a good day.

__________________________________________________

Getting out of the mall always seemed like it was more work than getting into it. Having to dodge the endless oncoming flow of people entering the mall, especially the people that ignored the enter and exit signs on the doors. The three of them had to step out of the way for a family of elephants that were coming in through the exit door. The elephants earned grumbles and complaints from the other people that wanted to leave.

From the entrance, it was just a short walk back to the car. “Okay, go ahead and call Julia and talk to her while we load the trunk. Oh, and get the car started so it can get warmed up,” Alyssa said, handing Chris the keys.

“Thanks mom,” Chris said as she opened the driver’s side door to get the car started and the heat cranked up. By the time that she was done doing so, her mom and Melissa had loaded the car. By the time everyone was in the car and getting settled, Chris had found ‘noodle’s parents’ in the list of contacts and hit the dial button.

“Stouffer residence. Julia speaking,” the stoat said, answering the phone in her office.

“Hello, Mrs. Julia, it’s Chris. I had something that I wanted to talk to you about: a Christmas gift for Elizabeth,” she said, taking a deep breath. “It’s kinda big and stuff.”

“Oh, Hi Chris. What exactly do you mean by ‘kind of big’?” Julia asked.

“Well, I don’t think that it would be that big. It’s more of a long term thing,” Chris explained, watching her mother as the older yapok started backing out of the parking lot, snickering as her mother muttered some choice phrases in Spanish.

“Just come out and say it, better than pussy footing around,” the older yapok said as she came to a stop at a sign, waiting for a break in the seemingly endless line of traffic.

“Okay. Well, you see, when we went to the farm, Elizabeth had said something about wanting a pet... and Aunt Peggy’s feral cat just had some kittens... and I was wondering if I could get her one for Christmas.”

“A pet?”, Julia asked, somewhat stunned. “Uhh… I… well… that definitely counts as a big gift. And long term, too. Phew… I don’t know what to think. Give me a moment here to organize my thoughts.”

Julia sat there silently for a few moments, mentally weighing the pros and cons of such a thing. Neither she nor Terry had ever really considered getting a pet of any kind. Mostly because of their busy lifestyles. Now, though… things had definitely settled down and they had Charlotte to help with most of the housework. If they made it clear that cleaning up after the cat was Elizabeth’s responsibility, it shouldn’t be too terribly big of a problem, and it wouldn’t be too much work to trim the cat’s claws once a week. The only real question was whether they wanted to risk the destruction of furniture and drapes for the sake of a pet.

A few seconds later, Julia had more or less come to a tentative decision. A pet would probably do Elizabeth good, at least emotionally, and that was worth more than all the furniture in the world. She took a deep breath, hoping she wouldn’t regret this. “Okay, Chris. If you want to get Elizabeth a kitten for Christmas, that’s fine. I just hope I can convince my husband that it’s fine as well.”

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Julia. We will make sure that we take good care of it and I know aunt Peggy will have all the stuff that we need,” Chris said happily. “This is like going to be the best Christmas ever,” she said with a smile. “Now I have to plan out how to bring it over and everything...” The younger yapok paused for a moment. “Or would it be better to steal Liz for a day to go pick one out?”

“Well, if you want it to be a surprise, you’d be better off picking one out for her. I don’t think she’ll complain one way or the other. A cat is a cat. Though I’d definitely lean towards getting a female instead of a male,” Julia added, “for a couple of reasons.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Chris said, nodding. “I think I know how we can do it. I’ll call aunt Peggy and talk to her, go pick one out, then when mom brings me by to trade gifts and stuff, I can give Liz the one I picked her out and see what happens,” the young yapok said happily. “We won’t be able to keep it at the apartment, but I’m sure that aunt Peggy can bring it by the night before or something like that.” 

“You know, let me talk to her,” the older yapok said, holding her hand out for the phone. After Chris handed it over, Alyssa said “Hey Julia. I’ll get my sister to bring the cat over just before Christmas, after it’s weaned. You’ll need cat supplies. Do you want to get them and hide them at your house? Or would you prefer to stash them at my apartment?

“I can keep anything that needs to be kept hidden here in my office. Elizabeth rarely ever comes in here; she knows better than to bother me when I’m working and I keep it locked the rest of the time,” Julia replied. “Just get me a list of what supplies I’ll need and I can get them.”

“That works. I’ll get some essentials and you can get the rest,” Alyssa said, smiling. “I think that takes care of everything. Is there anything else you need to know? Or need to talk to Chris?”

“Yes, actually. I’ve almost finished those dresses for you,” Julia said with a slight smirk. “But I’d like you and Chris to come and try them on to make sure they fit.”

“We can try them on this evening, when I come to drop off Chris,” Alyssa said. “I told you we’d be late tonight, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did,” Julia replied. “I’ll see you later, then.”

“I’ll see you later,” Alyssa said happily as she hung up the phone and handed it back to her daughter.

“I’m kinda excited to see what she did. Just... no photos,” Chris stated, trying and failing to hide that she was actually pretty excited to try on the custom made dress.

“I make no promises,” Alyssa retorted, pulling the car into one of the parking spots outside of the pet shop. “It’s not like taking a few photos is going to cause you to burst into flames. And it’s not like I’m going to show them to that many people. Mostly your Abuela and Abuelo, oh and some of the other nurses at work.”

“You don’t know that. It might happen. The moment that you hit the button: Boom! Flaming yapok everywhere,” Chris said, shaking her head at the thought of her mom taking photos, knowing that she would show them to everyone.

__________________________________________________

“Do you ever clean up in here?” Melissa asked as they stepped into Chris’s room, watching the yapok picking the bags up off of her bed and setting them on the floor. A moment later the fox-bat sat down on the bed with her friend.

“It’s not that bad,” Chris said, shaking her head a little. “I mean the only thing out of place is the hunk of canvas,” she said, pointing to the large canvas that was sitting against the wall, half scribbled on.

“And since when do you paint on canvas?” Melissa asked, glancing over it, unsure what the scribbles on it were.

“Well, it’s a gift for someone. Handing them a slab of wood with paint on it would be a little weird, so I’m painting it on canvas,” Chris said, pulling out the box set of ‘Kill Me, Kiss Me’, and reaching for a roll of wrapping paper.

“Well, that’s going to be interesting to see you do,” Melissa said, reaching for a gift that she had bought for her mother. “Won’t the canvas hold the paint differently than wood or something?”

“A little bit, but I think that I can handle it,” Chris said, wrapping up the gift for the teenage doberman. “I’ve been messing around and testing things out on some smaller, scrap canvas,” she said, finishing up the wrapping and sticking a name tag on the gift.

“Leave it to our anarchist artist to work that out,” Melissa said as she finished up the gift that she was wrapping, moving onto the gift that she had purchased for her sister.

“Got to be multi-talented and all that,” Chris said, poking her tongue out as she put the corgi plushie into a box, setting a cat collar on it like a little crown. “So... you think that Charlotte will like that yaoi manga thing?”

“She should. I mean, I like it. It’s got cute boys, crossdressing, and more,” the fox-bat said with a little giggle.

“You are so weird,” Chris said, snickering. “Now if it’s girls crossdressing, then I might have to look into it myself.”

“I still think that you should come with me to the con. I would help you get a cosplay outfit going,” Melissa said, wiggling a little. “Just think about it: me and you dressed up as some cute boys from BlazeBlue,” the fox-bat said, smiling.

“Don’t get too worked up over there,” Chris said, poking her tongue out a little as she put the other wrapped gift to the side. “So I take it you’re going as someone from that? I’m going to guess... Ragna?”, the yapok asked as she reached under the bed for a small box, getting started wrapping it.

“Close,” Melissa said, smiling and sitting back a little. “I’m going as Jin. You could go as Ragna. Think of all the people we could make smile running around the con trying to ‘kill’ one another.”

“I swear, every time I think that you can’t get any stranger, you outdo yourself,” Chris said, glancing over at the fox-bat before looking back down, sticking the name tag on the box and setting it to the side. “Well, that takes care of that,” the yapok said, setting the two gifts to the side before standing up and picking up one of the boxes. She quickly slipped off to the living room where the small Christmas tree was and set the box under it before returning and helping Melissa clean up the paper scraps.

“So, I think that you said something about teaching me a lesson in Mortal Kombat,” Melissa said, grinning and picking up one of the playstation controllers on Chris’s dresser and sitting on the bed.

“I’m totally going to school you,” Chris replied, smirking as she turned on the TV and the console, scooping up the other controller and joining Melissa on the bed.

“So... you and Elizabeth have been dating for a month now,” Melissa said, leaning against the yapok.

“And?” Chris asked, glancing at her friend before turning back to the game and getting things set up.

“I want to know what she’s doing to you,” the bat-fox said as the two got started in the first of many matches.

“What do you mean? She’s not doing anything to me,” Chris said, paying a little more attention to the game.

“She’s got to be doing something,” Melissa said as she started pressing buttons rather frantically. “She’s got to be seducing you or something. Are you getting into her pants or something?”

“Well, we snuggle and stuff,” Chris said, her ears folding back as she tried to hide a blush. “And we might have done some naughty things. What’s that got to do with anything?” she said as she won the first match.

“Okay. See, I was wondering what she was doing that has you actually behaving at school. Even... studying,” Melissa said as the next match started up. “I mean, I don’t think that you’ve even gotten into a fight this year.”

“Well... Yeah. But it doesn’t have anything to do with what me and Elizabeth are doing,” Chris retorted with a huff, leaning in a little as she got into her flow. “Before Liz and I even got together, we got to talking about things. I kinda promised her that I would be better and that I wouldn’t hit people and stuff.”

“That’s good,” Melissa said, smiling and turning to Chris and poking her tongue out in victory. “I mean I know that you still want to knock your sister Brandy’s teeth out of her muzzle, but you’re doing the right thing. I’m proud of you.”

“Gee, thanks mom,” Chris sassed, smiling and bumping her friend. “And don’t think that buttering me up like that is going to get me to go easy on you. I haven’t gone soft, and I’m about to prove it,” she said as the two tweens got caught up in the tiebreaker match.

__________________________________________________

Alyssa was thankful that most of Chris’ friends lived pretty close to one another in the suburbs near Martinazzi Avenue. After dropping off Melissa, it was a straight shot to the Stouffers’ house. The older yapok pulled into the driveway and leaned out the window just enough to press the button on the intercom to signal their arrival.

Surprisingly, Julia was the one who answered the intercom this time. “Hello?”

“Good evening, Julia. It’s your favorite aquatic marsupials,” Alyssa replied, then snickered as her daughter smacked her palm against her forehead.

“Oh! I thought you wouldn’t be here until later. Hold on a moment,” the stoat replied. A moment later the metal gate started to open. 

Alyssa drove her Jeep further up the driveway, parking in front of the short steps that led up to the front door, just behind Charlotte’s red Mazda. The two yapoks stepped out of the car and walked up to the front door.

Julia pulled the door open just before Chris could knock on it. “Hello, you two,” the stoat greeted them. “Sorry, I lost track of time. I’m a little rushed at the moment. Come on in,” she added, stepping inside and holding the door for the two yapoks.

“Hello Julia,” Alyssa said as Chris stepped into the house. “That’s a nice pantsuit,” she complimented as she stepped in with her daughter. “Hopefully we’re not interrupting anything.”

“No, not at all,” Julia replied, closing the door behind them and leading the way through the library and into the office. “I just tend to get absorbed in my little projects. That's all.”

In the middle of the office were a pair of mannequins, approximately the same size as Chris and Alyssa. The mannequins were dressed in a pair of matching gray cashmere knee-length dresses. The dresses looked to be halfway between a trench coat and a dress, complete with two rows of large buttons running from waist to neck and wide lapel with collar.

“Oooh, that looks fancy,” Chris said as she walked over to the dress, reaching out and touching it. “It’s really soft, too.”

“Now, you know you’re going to have to take care of this. Be careful when eating, don't do anything messy in it, and all the rest of the stuff I’m supposed to tell you as a mom,” Alyssa said, reaching out and feeling the soft fabric of the dress herself. “Oooh, I can’t wait to try this on.”

“Oh, right...” Julia said, quickly walking over to one corner of the room and pulling out a folded privacy screen. She quickly stretched it out, creating a makeshift dressing area. “There you go. Now... I tried to make these dresses kind of... modular. There’s a zipper running around the inside of the skirt about four inches up where you can attach an ankle-length skirt,” she said, pointing at a pair of folded pieces of fabric on the workbench along one wall. “The same thing goes for the sleeves. They’re attached by a zipper under the shawl that goes over the shoulders, so you can remove the sleeves and make it a spring or fall dress. Or wear the dress over a shirt of your choice.”

“Wow. You went all out on these,” Chris said excitedly as she looked at the zippers and parts that Julia was telling her about before carefully taking the dress off of the mannequin and darting behind the screen.

“I don’t know what’s going on, or who took her place, but I’m so glad to see her excited over a dress,” Alyssa said, smiling at the sight of her daughter. “And Julia,” she added, turning to the stoat, “Thank you again. This means a lot to both of us,” she said, turning and starting to take the dress off of the mannequin.

“You’re welcome,” Julia said, flashing the older yapok a smile, then turning towards the privacy screens. “If you’re not used to dresses, just come out here when you’ve got it mostly on and we can zip up the back for you. Trust me, pinching your fur in a dress zipper is no fun.”

“I think you read my mind,” Chris said, stepping out from behind the screen, Alyssa’s eyes lit up at the sight of her daughter in a dress for the first time.

“Chris, you look absolutely gorgeous.” Alyssa said. The older yapok beamed with pride, as she watched Julia helping her daughter with the zipper. “If you’ll pardon me,” Alyssa muttered, taking her turn and stepping behind the screen.

Julia looked Chris up and down. “Hah. I was right. It’s a surprisingly close match to your fur. If you left the sleeves off, nobody would know you’re not wearing sleeves unless they looked at your wrists. Especially if you start using some of that fancy fur conditioner that gives your fur a satin sheen. How’s it feel?”

“Don’t give mom too many ideas,” Chris said, poking her tongue out at the stoat. “It feels… different. But I like it.” She twirled in place, causing the skirt to lift a little. “I could get used to it, especially if they are all this soft.”

“Too late. I already put fur conditioner on the list,” Alyssa said as she stepped out from behind the screen, dressed to match her daughter. “What do you think?”

“Mom! You look pretty...” Chris said, a blush tinting her ears. “...and hot,” she added in a whisper, letting her eyes wander up and down her mother’s form.

“Okay. They look like they fit close enough. Try moving around, especially moving your arms in circles. Also try twisting and leaning left, right, and forward,” Julia instructed, watching carefully. “If you feel like it’s binding or tight anyway, don’t force it. Repairing a tear is much harder than letting the seams out a bit. I haven’t trimmed the excess inside of the seams yet just in case.”

The two yapoks nodded to the stoat as they started doing different movements. Stretching their arms up to the ceiling, holding them out and moving them in circles. They had to take a moment to giggle at the sight of each other as they went through the motions of testing the dress, something that neither of them thought they would be doing today.

“They fit like a glove,” Alyssa said as she turned in place, showing off just how well it fit again.

“They do. I didn’t feel any tugging or tightness. Best of all, there’s no little tag in the back tickling the back of my neck,” Chris said happily.

Julia smiled. “Good. I’ll go ahead and finish the seams and I can give them to you tomorrow afternoon. Consider it an early Christmas gift.”

“Can I show Elizabeth? She would flip. In a good way,” Chris said, excitement in her voice as she looked to the door, her mother heading behind the screen to get changed.

“Sure. She probably doesn’t know you’re here yet though. You can use the intercom to let her know... or surprise her. Up to you,” Julia said with a shrug. “That reminds me... Do you need to go back home to get your sleepover bag?”

“She packed it,” Alyssa said as she stepped back behind the screen. “I just have to mention that we’re coming over and it magically appears in the car. Go surprise your girlfriend. I’ll get your bag out of the car for you.”

“Thank you mom,” Chris said, rushing out of the room and making her way upstairs to Elizabeth’s room.

Chris was practically walking on air as she made her way to the stairs, forgoing the lift, wanting the element of surprise. Once she got to the top of the stairs, she peeked around to see if the stoatling’s door was closed before creeping up to it. The yapok covered her muzzle to keep from laughing as she got to the door and knocked.

Elizabeth, currently sneaking through a zombie-infested cave in Minecraft, practically fell out of her chair at the unexpected knock on her door. A moment later she hit the escape key to pause the game and hopped off the computer chair, going over to the door and pulling it open, wondering if it was mom or Charlotte.

The moment that the door opened, they yapok smiled, “¡Ajá!”

“Eep!” Elizabeth said, stepping backwards. “Chris! I didn’t think you... Wait, is that a dress? Since when do you wear dresses? Is that the dress mother said she was going to make for you? It’s gorgeous! It matches your fur so well,” the little stoat said, leaning forward and peering at the neckline. “It’s almost like it goes up over your head like a hood, only it’s not a hood...”

“It is. Your mom is amazing with making dresses.” Chris said, blushing a little as she watched the stoat looking her over. “As for dresses, I’m gonna try and wear more of them. They are super comfy. And if you think I look good, you should see my mom,” she said, turning in place and showing off to her girlfriend.

“Well, you do look really good in a dress,” Elizabeth said, watching as Chris twirled, then stepped back into her room. “Come on in. You know, Alex never wore dresses, saying they were too girly. What about you? You don’t think they’re too girly?” she asked, sitting down at her computer chair and turning to face the yapok.

“They are a little girly, but I don’t think that’s really a bad thing,” Chris said, sitting on the bed, reminding herself that she has to sit a little differently with the dress on. “Part of being a herm that I like is that I can be girly, boy-ly or anything in between.”

“Huh,” Elizabeth said, frowning and tilting her head a little. “Seems like you’re better adapted to it than Alex was. Shi always felt like shi didn’t fit in... either as a girl or a boy,” the little stoat said, staring at Chris. “It’s crazy how well that dress matches your fur. I didn’t think mom would do that again. Not after the swimsuit...”

“Well, this is a little different. You can clearly see that I have a skirt. Now, if this was pants,  I could see that being more like your swimsuit.” Chris blushed a little as her mind wandered to thoughts of Elizabeth in her fur-colored string bikini.  “Anyway. It’s definitely something that I’ll have to get used to. I don’t know about wearing a dress to school, yet.”

“You can wear dresses to school whenever you feel like it. I know you normally wear jeans and stuff, so there may be a few people who think you’re a boy, but you didn’t hide that you’re a herm. Alex did, and that’s why shi got beat up,” Elizabeth said, sniffling slightly. “You don’t think that would happen to you, do you?”

Chris got up and walked over to the stoat and hugged her close. “Don’t worry about it. Nothing like that’s going to happen again,” she said, not quite sure what to say. “I think the school has learned to not let that happen again.”

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Chris as well, sniffling slightly for a few moments before letting go again. “You should probably take that back downstairs. It doesn’t smell like mother ran it through that fancy washer of hers yet,” she said, rubbing her fingertips over the fabric. “Oooh, it’s so soft...”

__________________________________________________

“Baked pollock with salmoriglio sauce,” Charlotte said, setting the baking dish down on a trivet at the table and pulling off the lid. Next to it were dishes with mashed potatoes with chives, and a creamy caesar kale salad.

“Oh my, that smells amazing,” Julia said, leaning forward and taking a deep breath as the scent of lemon juice and garlic wafted across the table. “I’ve got to say, I didn’t think I was a fish and fowl person, but I’ve liked everything you’ve made since Chris started coming over.”

“Thank you,” the maid said with a smile as she quickly pulled a spatula from her apron and began portioning out the entree among the six plates at the table. “It’s all in the salmoriglio sauce. It’s made with olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, salt, and herbs. It’s basically the Italian equivalent of a chimichurri sauce. It goes well on any kind of meat,” the teenaged doberman said as she quickly passed out portions before taking her own seat at the table.

As Terrence put his napkin over his lap and picked up a fork and knife, he asked “Were you planning on having Hikari over tomorrow, Charlotte?”

“Um... Yes,” the doberman said, her ears flushing slightly. “Um... Also... His parents are planning on flying back to Japan over Christmas break. Hikari doesn’t really like his extended family and he’s going to be staying here-”

“What, all by himself, the entire Christmas break?” Julia said, sounding vaguely affronted.

“Yeah,” Charlotte replied with a slight nod.

“Does he have any plans for Christmas Day?” Terrence asked. “Because if he doesn’t, you’re welcome to invite him over. He’s a good kid,” the ferret added before glancing over at the two yapoks.  “You two are still planning on coming over on Christmas Day as well, right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Chris said, her nose twitching at the smell of the food. “Food, friends, and free gifts.” 

“Just don’t forget that you have to finish the gift that you’re making, little miss procrastination,” the motherly yapok said, giving her daughter ‘The Look’™.

“I’m not going to forget,” Chris said, rolling her eyes. “Wait, who’s Hi...Hikari?” 

“He’s my... uh... a friend,” Charlotte answered, a bit bashfully. “He... uh... saved me from that boy who broke my face just before summer vacation,” the doberman said, gently rubbing the side of her muzzle.

“You should have seen the video,” Elizabeth exclaimed, waving her fork around, “Hikari kicked the crap out of him!”

“Elizabeth!” Julia snapped, “Don’t you use that kind of language in this house,” the older stoat snapped. 

“Sorry,” the little stoat-hybrid said, looking down at her plate in embarrassment.

“And where did you find out about that video?” Julia asked her daughter, glancing over at Charlotte, who quickly shook her head.

“At school,” Elizabeth said quietly. “Danny showed it to me. He didn’t believe me when I said that Charlotte lives with us.”

“Oh!” Chris squeaked. “So that’s Hikari... Yeah, he gave that guy what he deserved,” the younger yapok said before going back to her meal.

“And who showed you that video?” Alyssa asked, giving her daughter a side eye glance.

“Oreo,” Chris said quietly, not looking up from her meal, knowing that her mother was giving her ‘The Look’™ again.

“Well, seeing as everyone has already seen it,” Terrence said, pulling out his smartphone. He quickly unlocked it, found the footage, and held the phone up for Alyssa. “Here,” he said, hitting the play button.

Alyssa’s eyes went wide at the sight of the male canine running up and hitting Charlotte in the back of the head, watching the doberman girl sliding across the ground. The older yapok continued looking on in horror at the scene, watching as Hikari came out of nowhere and landed a beautiful kick to the guy’s chest and sent him flying. “Oh God. That was something,” Alyssa said, at a loss of words as she finished watching. “Charlotte, you have a good... not-yet-boyfriend.”  

Charlotte’s ears flushed red with embarrassment. “We’re not dating yet, but... well, we have a lot of things that we both like in common. Like anime and stuff. I’ve been thinking about asking him out, but... I haven’t exactly worked up the courage yet.”

“As the fellow youths would say, ‘YOLO’,” Chris said, looking at the doberman. “You know, with Christmas coming up, I’m sure that would make for a nice backdrop. The two of you standing in front of the Christmas tree, lights twinkling, and the soft sounds of a fire in the fireplace crackling. You both look up and see the mistletoe...”

“I thought you stopped reading that series, something about it going nowhere.” Alyssa said, glancing at her daughter, knowing that she had been reading romance novels.

“They brought it back in the last book,” Chris said, reaching for her glass of water and taking a sip.

__________________________________________________

After dinner had been mostly cleaned up, Julia, Terrence, and Alyssa retired to the basement while the two cubs headed upstairs and Charlotte finished the last bit of cleanup in the kitchen. 

“So, any ideas for what to do tonight?” Julia asked Alyssa as the three adults walked down the stairs to the basement den. 

“I’m fine with whatever you two choose,” Terrence said, reaching the floor first and heading over to the wet bar, pulling down the nearly empty bottle of Macallan Rare Cask and pouring himself a shot of whiskey on the rocks. “Want some?” he asked, glancing up at Alyssa.

“I would love a shot or two,” Alyssa said, heading over to the sofa and settling down on it. “We could watch a movie and make fun of the actors and stuff in it,” she said, half joking about the making fun part.

“You know, there’s a movie that came out last year that I’ve been meaning to watch. ‘Theory of Everything’. It’s about Stephen Hawking and his wife,” Julia said, looking over at Terrence. “It’s supposedly really good.”

Terrence shrugged. “As I said, I’m fine with whatever you two choose,” he reiterated as he carried a pair of lowball glasses over to the coffee table, handing one to Alyssa.

“That sounds like that would be good. Just the right amount of sappy and interesting,” Alyssa said, the yapok leaning forward to accept the glass and taking a swig of the fine whiskey.

Back upstairs, Chris and Elizabeth stepped into the young stoat hybrid’s room. “Would you believe he learned karate from Alex’s mom? No joke. We didn’t even know until Alex’s mom told us about it,” the little stoat said.

“So if he learned how to kick like that from her, imagine what she can do.” Chris paused, wandering just how hard it would be to learn how to do something like that. “She sounds like a cool teacher.”

“She’s more than that. Alex told me that hir mom was some kind of special soldier or something years ago, in the military. Shi just found out that even after her mom left the military, Raenne kept secretly flying around the world rescuing people and killing bad guys,” the little stoat added, peeling off her school clothes as she stepped into the closet. “Apparently Alex’s dad got really upset when he found out.”

“That’s soooo cool,” Chris said, her mind going right to some of the books that she had read in the past with super soldiers and special agents. “I kinda want to meet her, I wonder if she will teach me things.”

“Well, they live in Colorado now, so you probably won’t get to meet them,” the little stoat apologized as she stripped off the last of her school clothes and dropped them in the hamper, then pulled a nightgown down from one of the hangers in the closet.

Chris sighed as she pulled a long night shirt from her bag and started changing.

Elizabeth also quickly pulled on her nightgown, then stepped out of the closet. “Sooo... do you want to go downstairs and play Nintendo or watch a movie? Or play computer games-”

“Oh. There was this funny video that I saw on the internet the other day.” Chris said, pulling her head through the head hole of her shirt. “I’ll find it,” she said, plopping her butt down in Elizabeth’s chair, pulling up twitter, and logging in to look for it. After a few moments she clicked on a video without paying too much attention. “Come on, I found it.”

The little stoat walked over and watched as the video started playing, showing a pet dog chasing its tail for a solid ten seconds before it caught it... then promptly fell over. Elizabeth started laughing, watching as the dog continued to wobble around, trying to get its balance. “Oh gosh that’s funny. I’ve never used this site before. Does it have other funny stuff on it?” she asked, reaching over and scrolling down the page a little bit before clicking on another video.

“This site has a lot of stuff on it.” Chris said, leaning back a little so that the stoat could reach the mouse. Her eyes went wide as the video that Elizabeth clicked on started playing, it was very much an adult video. It was a video of two anthros having sex and from the looks of it they were outside somewhere. The sounds of nature and love making started pouring out of the speakers as the action picked up.

Elizabeth blinked. “Huh. They make videos of people mating?” the little stoat asked, a bit amazed. It had never occurred to her that they could take videos like that. She frowned a little. There were more than a few times that she wished she’d had videos of herself and mother and father. 

“Yes… Lots of videos like that, but you probably shouldn’t look them up,” Chris said, reaching over and clicking the button to pause the video, stopping it on the perfect frame that was a close up of the male sliding into the female. “So umm. Wanna do it?” She asked, adjusting herself a little.

“Do what? Watch the video? Or make a video? I don’t use it much, but I’ve got a camera on the computer here...” Elizabeth asked, confused. She was still getting over the fact that you could watch videos of people mating. Or take videos of people mating.

“Umm, I would be okay with watching videos, but I don’t know about making them. I think that’s like super illegal,” Chris said, scrolling down the feed to see what else had been posted. “We could also have sex.”

“Do they have videos like this with kids?” Elizabeth asked. “Oh... probably not. I think that’s super illegal too,” she said, dejectedly. She sighed, then looked over at Chris. “Oh well. I guess we can have sex...”

“Well, about videos like that with kids… I’ve got something, but it’s gotta be a super secret,” Chris said, getting up and locking the door before going to her bag where her phone was. “Come over here,” she said, fiddling with her phone, flipping through a bunch of screens and typing something in. She plugged in her headphones, putting one in her ear and offering the other to Elizabeth.

The little stoat quickly stepped over and accepted the other earbud, putting it in. “So what’s this?” she asked, curious.

“It’s… A video,” Chris said, holding the phone up for her girlfriend to see before hitting play. At first all they could see was a black screen and hear someone fumbling around with the phone. It showed Chris laying on her back naked before the camera tilted down to reveal her mom wearing a strap-on that she was about to slide right into Chris’ flower. As the movie played out, Chis never stopped blushing and had to adjust herself a few times, wet spots forming in her panties.

“Oh wow,” Elizabeth said, eyes going wide. “I never... I mean, I knew you did it with your mom, but... actually seeing it...” The little stoat’s voice trailed off as she watched, feeling her flower start to tingle. “Wait... Stop. Can you pause it?”

“Uh sure,” Chris said, pressing the pause button on it, showing that it was a rather long video that they made. “Is something the matter?”

“Let’s go watch this under the covers,” Elizabeth said, taking out the earbud and darting over to her bed and turning down the coverlet. She quickly climbed in, scooting over to the far side to make room for Chris, and leaned back against the pillows.

“Special snuggle time,” Chris said, crawling into the bed and snuggling up next to Elizabeth before handing her the earbud again. “Ready?” she asked as she hit the play button again. By this point in the video, Alyssa was finally done teasing her daughter and was now hilting the toy in her with each thrust. “I’m still surprised how good the camera on this phone is.”

“I don’t even have a phone. A smartphone I mean. Maybe I should ask mother and father for one,” Elizabeth said, leaning against Chris while they watched the video. “I’ve never seen a wearable dildo like that. What’s it called?”

“That’s a strap on. It’s a dildo that people without boy bits can wear so they can hump people. It’s one of mom and I’s favorite toys,” Chris said, still blushing and a bit surprised that she actually had the courage to show Elizabeth the video.

Elizabeth continued to watch the video quietly for a bit, listening to Chris moan in the video while Alyssa panted with exertion. “Umm, do you mind if I touch myself? This is really... sexy.”

“I… Um, sure,” Chris said, her cheeks getting even hotter. “I didn’t know that you would like this that much.” the yapok muttered, her free paw absentmindedly moving to her own panties and freeing herself.

“I could touch you, too... if you want,” the little stoat added.

Chris shifted around and wiggled a bit before pulling her panties out from under the blankets. “That sounds like heaven. You have the softest paws,” she said and scooted closer to the little hybrid.

Elizabeth smiled and moved her other paw under the covers until she found the yapok’s hips, then quickly found Chris’s member and daintily wrapped her fingers around it, gently rubbing her paw pads up and down the warm flesh while running the fingers of her other paw up and down her flower. 

Chris let out a soft moan as she felt the stoat’s paw around her member, purring at the feeling of the delicate and skilled paw. At this point in the video, Chris had already cum twice, moaning loudly as she did. Her mother knew all the best ways to tease her little girl. There was a brief lull in the video as Alyssa teased Chris with promises of stuffing her under tail too, all the while Chris was on her knees, licking the toy that had been in her flower.

“Wow... your mom really knows what you like, doesn’t she?” Elizabeth whispered in the yapok’s ear, then continued to watch as Alyssa began pegging Chris in the video. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anything in my tail hole. You look like you’re enjoying it. Does it feel as good as it looks?”

“My mom has found all of my buttons and loves to press them,” Chris said, blushing as she thought of the best way to explain butt stuff to the stoat. “It feels good if you do it right. It’s not something that you can just do; it takes some prep, but it’s worth it. It’s kinda like vaginal, but tighter.”

Elizabeth looked a little confused, then shook her head. It was obvious that Chris liked it from the sounds she was making in the video. Then she smiled to herself, remembering what Alyssa had said and rubbed her thumbpad over the pointy tips of the yapok’s penis, smearing pre-cum around, before rubbing her thumb over the groove between the bifurcated end. “Let me know when you’re about to cum,” she whispered. “So it doesn’t get all over the sheets.”

“I…I forgot that mom told you about that,” Chris said, making a sound that sounded like a mix of a moan and a whine. The feeling of the thumbpad between her tips made her buck her hips. “Mmmh, if you keep doing that, it’s not going to take long,” the yapok said, biting her lower lip.

“Good. Then you’ll last longer when we’re mating,” the little stoat whispered, still watching the video. “I never thought about putting anything in my bum. I wonder if father would do that to me,” she added before frowning and sighing. “Probably not.”

“Sly little bugger,” Chris huffed, her hips moving of their own volition at this point. “Y… You know I could put mine in your butt sometime,” she managed to squeak, her penis tips drooling pre-cum like a pair of leaky faucets.

“I’ll think about it,” Elizabeth said, going silent as they continued watching the video for another thirty seconds, idly running her thumb over the tip of Chris’s member while rubbing gently up and down. Eventually the video version of Chris began twitching and came explosively after being pegged for a solid minute, semen spraying everywhere from the yapok’s twin tipped penis. “Wow. That was messy,” the little stoat-hybrid said, impressed. 

“Things are about to get messy under your sheets,” Chris warned, trying to focus on not cumming yet. “Liz, you might want to move the blankets, I can’t hold it much longer!”

“Wait! Not yet,” Elizabeth yelped, diving under the cover and quickly wrapping her muzzle over the yapok’s penis, just in time to catch the first spurts in her mouth. She carefully sealed her lips around the tip and quickly sucked and swallowed several times, slowing as Chris’s orgasm slowly came to an end. After a moment she pulled back and licked around the tip to get any leftovers before crawling back out from under the covers. “Mmm, salty,” she murmured as she cuddled up against the bigger girl again.

By the time that Elizabeth came out from under the covers, Chris was laying back, eyes closed and muzzle open as she panted softly. The powerful orgasm had knocked the water opossum out. After a moment, Chris let out a tiny snore.

Smiling to herself, Elizabeth picked up Chris’s phone and headphones from the coverlet, turned off the screen, and set them on the nightstand, then curled up against Chris’s side. She could wait a few minutes before waking the yapok for a second round of fun. Taking a deep breath, she let herself relax and closed her eyes as well.

__________________________________________________

Saturday, December 5th, 2015

Hikari pulled up to the metal gate, squeezing the clutch and brake, then downshifting his bike to first gear. As the monkey’s small motorcycle came to a stop next to the intercom, he reached out and tapped the small button. A moment later Charlotte’s voice rang out “Hey Hikari!” as the gate began to open.

“Hey Charlotte. I come bearing gifts,” the monkey replied.

“Oh, goodie!” Charlotte exclaimed. “I’ll be right out.”

Hikari revved the bike and slowly let out the clutch, driving his little Honda Rebel around the driveway, raising his eyebrow at the sight of the Jeep that was sitting behind Charlotte’s red Mazda. He carefully pulled around Charlotte’s little hatchback and came to a stop, putting the bike in neutral. He smiled to himself as he revved the motor one last time just for fun before hitting the engine cutoff switch.

“Woah! Did you see that mom?!” Chris asked as she stepped out the Stouffer’s front door, seeing the motorcycle driving by and hearing the engine revving. She took off down the steps to get a better look at it.

“Chris! Behave,” the older yapok said, following her daughter over to the parked bike and the monkey that was dismounting it.

“Your bike is so impresionante y sexy!” the tween yapok squealed as she walked around the small cruiser, taking in every detail of it.

“Chica, don’t get in his way and don’t touch anything on it,” Alyssa called out, catching up to her daughter. “Oh, you must be Hikari,” she said, holding her hand out. “I’m Alyssa and la idiota is my daughter Chris.”

Hikari carefully undid the strap on his helmet and took it off, holding it under one arm and holding out his hand to the older yapok and giving her a polite handshake. “A pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I’m Hikari Arakaki,” the teenaged Japanese Macaque introduced himself with a smile before glancing down at the younger yapok. “You’re Elizabeth’s new friend, right?”

“I am,” Chris confirmed, having pulled out her phone to take some photos of the bike. “I’m Christina, or Chris,” she said, holding her paw out for Hikari to shake after he shook her mom’s.  “Can you take me for a ride sometime?”

“Chris…” Alyssa said, giving her daughter ‘The Look’™.

“I only asked once, I’m not pestering him about it. If he says no, then that’s cool, but if he says yes, then that’s even cooler,” she said, her tail twitching in excitement. “I want to get a bike when I get older.”

Hikari waited politely with a genuine smile until the younger yapok finally ran out of things to say before replying “I’d be glad to take you for a ride, but you need to have a helmet to ride a motorcycle in Oregon, even as a passenger. Unfortunately, I don’t have a spare,” the monkey apologized.

“We will talk about that when we get home…” Alyssa said, knowing exactly what her daughter was going to say. “I’m sure that we can work something out,” she added. As Chris’s ears and tail drooped just a little, she turned back to the monkey. “Well Hikari, I need to get going. We have a few things that we need to take care of. It’s been nice meeting you.”

“Yeah, it was nice meeting you, You’re just as cool as Charlotte said.” Chris said, smiling happily.

“Uh... Thank you,” Hikari replied, unsure how to respond to the compliment. He hadn’t realized Charlotte thought he was ‘cool’. “It was a pleasure meeting you as well. Have a nice weekend,” he said, standing there for a second as the two yapoks got into the Jeep before walking up the stairs where Charlotte was standing at the front door. “So I’m ‘cool’, huh?” he said, unable to resist a grin as he walked up to the teenaged doberman.

__________________________________________________

“Saturday the 19th to Sunday the 27th. Got it,” Terrence said, using his shoulder to hold the old rotary-style phone handset to the side of his head. “What’s the arrival time?”, the ferret asked, writing the details down in a small pocket-sized notebook.

“4:30 P.M.,” the white tiger on the other end of the line replied, waiting a moment before reading off the rest of the information such as the flight number and arrival gate. 

“Got it,” Terrence said after writing down the last pieces of information. “I’ll go let Elizabeth know Alexandrea will be coming to visit. She’ll be absolutely thrilled. Thanks David,” the ferret said, sliding the tiny notebook into the pocket of his khakis.

“No problem,” David replied. “If you need anything or something comes up, you’ve got my number. I’ll call you when the plane departs. Have a good weekend.”

“You too,” the ferret said, setting the handset back on its polished brass and white bakelite cradle. After adjusting the collar of his polo shirt, Terrence turned around, debating for a split second about whether to take the stairs or the lift up to the third floor. The throbbing in his left knee decided the question for him, and he stepped over to the lift. 

Playing tennis with his wife in fifty degree weather had definitely been foolish. Then again, it was likely the last time they’d get to play for the next three months now that winter was finally here, he mused as he waited for the lift. It dinged a moment later and he stepped inside, tapping the button for the third floor.

A moment later he stepped out on the short hallway of the third floor. For some reason the architect had insisted on having a short hallway to separate the stairs, bedroom, and bathroom. That had turned out to be a major boon when they’d needed to install the lift to help Elizabeth get around the three story house.

Terrence walked over to his daughter’s bedroom. Elizabeth had already heard the lift and paused the computer game she was playing. “Hello, princess,” he said, stepping inside.

“Hello father. What’s up?” the little stoat hybrid asked, her head tilted slightly in curiosity.

He smiled. “I just wanted to let you know that Alexandrea’s going to be coming to visit over Christmas break. That’s all.”

For a second his daughter’s eyes went wide and her mouth went slack in shock, then she darted across the room and wrapped her arms around him, making quiet dooking noises against his chest. Grinning, he gently patted her back for a moment before ruffling her headfur.

__________________________________________________

Alyssa pulled up to Nadia’s house. Seeing that they had closed the garage, the yapok figured that the kids must have gotten cold. She put the jeep in park before getting out and walking up the driveway and peeking into one of the windows that were built into the garage door. She laughed upon hearing Ashlyn scream in surprise.

“Jeeze, don’t you knock?” Chris teased as the door started going up, the yapok still snickering at Ashlyn’s reaction to seeing her mom appearing in the garage door window like that.

“I mean, if I knocked, I’m sure that the same thing would have happened.” Alyssa paused for a moment. “Actually no, if I knocked, you all wouldn’t have heard or I would have scared you all.”

“Okay, you got us there,” Nadia said as she started gathering up her things and packing them up.

“You ready chica? We got to have a little talk,” Alyssa said, walking with Chris back to the car.

“Whatever it was, I didn’t do it,” Chris said as she carefully laid her guitar in the back seat before getting into the front seat and buckling up. “I’ve been good, I swear.”

“You’re not in trouble, but I’m starting to wonder if you did something now,” Alyssa said, glancing over at her daughter before starting to back out of the driveway. “So your dad called-”

“Sperm donor,” Chris corrected.

“Sperm donor,” Alyssa corrected herself. “He called and he wants you to come spend some time with him and his family. Do you think that you can handle that? Just for a week?”

“Oh, Dios ayúdame!” Chris exclaimed, though it came out as more a whine than anything. “Do I have a choice in this? Or is it a thing that I have to do and I’m just getting the illusion of choice?” she asked, looking at her mother who was focused on driving.

“The second one,” the motherly yapok said as they came to a stop at a light. “I know that you don’t want to, but I think that you could fake your way through it. You never know; you might have fun.”

“I mean, if it was just me, the sperm donor and his wife, maybe. But Brandy is going to be there, and I… I don’t like her at all,” Chris sighed, sinking into her seat as her moment started driving again now that the light had turned green.

“I know that you don’t like her, and honestly she seems like a punta, but sometimes you just have to be the bigger person and deal with that kinda thing,” Alyssa said as she turned onto a different road, getting closer to the apartment. “You know, if you want to do something that will really piss her off... Do not let her know just how bad she pisses you off. Don’t let know that she gets under your skin. Fake being nice and friendly with her.”

“How would faking being nice and stuff to her make her mad?” Chris asked, looking at her mother, not sure where she was going with this.

“Because it’s the opposite of what she wants to happen. She wants to know that she’s making you mad, that she is upsetting you, that she’s pissing you off. If you ignore that and don’t show her that she is, and be nice to her, it will make her mad. For extra points try being nice with your sperm donor. I bet that would piss her off even more,”  Alyssa said, pulling into the parking lot of the apartment.

“Eres un genio malvado!” Chris said, a smile creeping over her muzzle as she got to thinking of the things that she could do with this new knowledge. “I will reluctantly do it… But I want something out of it.”

“I’m sure that I can think of a few things,” Alyssa said, as she parked in her normal spot before leaning over and whispering something in her daughter’s ear, causing the younger yapok to go wide eyed and blush. “Now let’s get inside, dinner is waiting.”

__________________________________________________

Elizabeth stepped out of the lift with her father, heading over to the refurbished victorian-style phone sitting on a stand a few feet from the entrance to her parents’ bedroom while her father continued into the bedroom itself, closing the door behind himself. 

The little stoat had long-since memorized Chris’s cell phone number and quickly picked up the handset, then started tapping the glowing glass buttons where the rotary dial would have been. A moment later, she heard ringing and started tapping her claws against the top of the stand while waiting for Chris to pick up.

Elizabeth didn’t have to wait too long for Chris to pick up the phone. “Hey Liz, what's up?” The yapok asked, the sound of her flopping onto her bed could be heard over the phone. “Did you miss me? I just got home and changed.”

“Yes. But that’s not why I called you. Father just told me that Alex is going to be coming to visit over Christmas break,” the little stoat-hybrid said, twirling the coiled phone cord around one of her fingers.

“Oh?” Chris asked, sitting up in her bed. “So that means that I would get to meet your best friend… And I can ask her to teach me martial arts.” 

“Uhh... shi just started learning martial arts. It’s hir mom that knows all that stuff. Though you could ask Hikari. I think he’s like... almost a black belt. Or maybe he is a black belt,” Elizabeth said, thinking. “I forget. Anyway, the point is, Alex should be here on the 19th and shi’ll be staying until the 27th. You should totally come over here every day. We could have tons of fun!” she said excitedly.

“Well, I know that we are going to be coming over for Christmas and stuff. I don’t know how much I could be there, though. I have to go stay with dad and those people for like the week before Christmas, and I really don’t want to do that,” Chris grumbled, then sighed. “But I would love to come over and meet Alex, hang out and do fun stuff. She sounds cool.”

“Well, your dad lives near my house. You could just ask him to let you come over...” Elizabeth said, cautiously. “That is, when you’re not busy doing Christmas stuff with your dad’s family. As long as you don’t punch Brandy in the face you shouldn’t get grounded...”

“Yeah, I’m going to try to talk them into giving me some free time, but I think him and his wife have a lot of things planned.” Chris sighed again. “As for Brandy, I'll do my best. She makes it hard to not hit her with that attitude that she has… She’s like the worst mix of uptight, preppy and a Keren in the making.”

Elizabeth sighed. “Well... Just try not to get grounded, okay? Otherwise you can’t come over and... “ the little stoat glanced down the hallway, making sure that Charlotte’s door was closed before continuing, “... have a threesome with us-”

“Wait… A threesome?!” Chris said, her ears and whiskers perking up. “Did you tell Alex? Or was this like her idea?”

“No, I haven’t talked to Alex in days. Father just told me shi was coming over like ten minutes ago. I can’t wait-” the stoat said, leaning up against the wall while twirling her finger that was caught in the spiral cord like a chinese finger-trap.

“You know, you might want to ask her first. ‘Cause that is a lot to spring on someone, and she might not like the idea of doing something like that. Things can get weird with exes and people they're dating. Heck, I would need to think about something like that before I said yes or no to it. ‘Specially considering that you and I are dating…” Chris said, pausing for a moment, remembering some of the different things that she had read in her romance books. “I think something like that would be cheating.”

Elizabeth felt her chest tighten when she realized what she had been contemplating would have been cheating. For a second she couldn’t breathe, and felt her knees buckle. She slowly slid down the wall, babbling. “I... I didn’t... Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Chris. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to cheat on you. I-I-I... I’m sorry,” the little stoat wailed.

Chris was stunned and a bit confused at the sudden change in the stoat hybrid. “Elizabeth, sweetie, calm down. I didn’t say that you were cheating. You didn’t cheat on me,” she said, trying to think of what to tell Liz to make it better. “It would only be cheating if you did it with Alex without telling me and I didn’t want you to do it.”

“But I was thinking about it! I would have had sex with hir, and I didn’t even think about asking you first. I’m a terrible girlfriend! I’m sorry,” the stoat continued to babble, tucking her muzzle into her elbow as she bawled.

Chris was quiet for a moment, trying to think of what to do or say. It kinda hurt that Liz was going to just mate with Alex without telling her, but it was also just as clear to the yapok that the younger girl wasn’t the most knowledgeable when it comes to relationships; the only reason that Chris had any knowledge about it was from the books that she liked to read, and that could be a little tenuous. “Liz, calm down and breathe,” the yapok said, finally breaking the silence. “You thought about it, you didn’t do it and that’s what matters. Everyone thinks about things like that… Or things that might be wrong, but it’s doing it that’s the bad thing. I’m not mad at you or anything.”

The little stoat continued to sob for a few moments before managing to get herself under control. A few sniffles later, she wiped her face on the back of her arm, dampening the fur there. “I- I just... I was so excited, I forgot. Mom told me how bad cheating was after we did that stuff in the shower. I promised I’d never cheat on you, and I forgot. I... I’m sorry,” Elizabeth said, finally running out of things to say.

“It’s ok Liz,” Chris spoke softly. “Like I said, I’m not mad at you or anything. I know how it can be letting your mind wander and think of naughty things.” The yapok was glad that Elizabeth couldn’t see the blush tinting her ears. “Are you okay?”, she asked.

“I... yes. I’m okay now, I think. You’re sure you’re not mad?” Elizabeth asked, a bit cautiously.

“I’m sure that I’m not mad,” Chris said, relief washing over her as it seemed she had got Elizabeth calmed down a little more. “You did the right thing, admitting that you thought about it and were going to do it. You showed that you’re an adult. Thank you for being honest.”

“I... uh... you’re welcome, I guess,” the little stoat said, thoroughly confused and wondering how the conversation had gotten so turned around that Chris was thanking her. She went silent for a moment before remembering what she’d originally called about. “So... if you’re not mad... would it be alright if... if I asked hir... if shi and I could... do things? And if you could join us?”

“I… Um.” Chris paused for a moment, she kinda thought that she was going to end up asking her something like that, but that didn’t mean that she was ready for it. “I don’t know. That’s something that I would have to think about. That's sort of a big thing to do in a relationship… I think.”

“Okay...” Elizabeth said, a little disheartened at not getting permission, but hopeful that Chris would at least consider it. “Are you sure you don’t want to have a threesome?” she asked, trying to wheedle permission out of the yapok.

“I mean, I do kinda like the idea, and some of the stories that I have read make it sound hot. And mom and I have talked about what it would be like to do something like that…” Chris stopped talking for a moment as she realized that she was starting to ramble. “But before we did something like that I would want to do something first. I would want to mark you as my girlfriend,” the yapok said, remembering something that she had read in one of her many romance novels.

“Huh?” Elizabeth asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “You mean, like have me wear a ring or something?”

“Give me a little think about it. I haven’t said yes,” Chris said, her mind wandering to a few lewd places. “I will call you later, how does that sound? Love you, Liz.”

“Uh... Okay. Love you too,” the little stoat said. After the phone line disconnected, she held the handset out in front of her face, staring at it in confusion and wondering if she should ask her parents what ‘marking’ was.

__________________________________________________

Friday, December 18th, 2015

Chris sat down at the bench outside the school at their usual spot, taking a seat next to Elizabeth while they waited for their parents to pick them up. The yapok had spent the better part of the last two weeks thinking about what she and Elizabeth had talked about: letting Liz play with Alex and having a threesome. She finally worked up the nerve to tell the hybrid what she had come up with. “So Liz, remember what we talked about a few weeks ago?”

“Huh?” the little stoat asked, staring blankly at the yapok for a few moments before the light suddenly came on, her eyes visibly brightening with excitement. “Wait, so... are you okay with me and Alex...?” she asked hopefully.

“Yes, but,” Chris started, taking a deep breath, “I want to mark you as mine before you play with her or we have a threesome. I think that would be fair, don’t you?”

“Uh... what exactly do you mean?” Elizabeth asked, suddenly cautious. “It won’t hurt, will it?”

“Well I mean it might sting a little if I bite you like that time you bit me,” Chris smiled, a blush tinting her ears as she thought about that night. “Or the other thing that I can do is a little more… naughty. One other way to mark someone is to… Well pee on them,” the yapok whispered into Elizabeth’s ears.

“Pee on them?” the little stoat whispered back in disbelief. “Really? Groooss!”

“Oh? You don’t want a golden shower and to smell like me?” Chris teased, leaning in closer to the hybrid. “I’m fine with biting your scruff instead. I bet you would make a cute sound when I do,” Chris whispered.

“Uh... O-kay,” the little stoat said nervously, hoping this whole ‘marking’ thing wouldn’t hurt too much.

__________________________________________________

“I think I packed too much,” Chris huffed as she lugged her suitcase into the room. “But I think I got everything that I need to survive a week at dad’s.”

The little stoat looked on helplessly, having already tried and failed to lift the suitcase. At best she would simply be in the way if she tried to assist. Instead, she took the guitar case she was carrying and carefully set it down next to her nightstand before turning back around and standing awkwardly while watching as Chris finally pushed it up against the wall. “Did you really need to pack that many clothes? I thought you’re only staying with your dad for a week...”

“Well it’s not only clothes,” Chris explained, sighing as she sat down on Elizabeth’s bed. “I had to toss in a few books and things to keep me busy,” she said, smiling and patting the spot next to her. Don’t worry, I’m not taking anything naughty or that will get me into trouble.”

“Oh. So no dildos, strap-ons, vibrators-” the little stoat said, smirking as she started to list off the various naughty toys she knew of.

Chris slowly turned her head, cocking an eyebrow at the stoat as she started listing off naughty things. “Noooo. Nothing like that. The only naughty things I have are my tail and paw,” she said, wiggling her tail tip at the hybrid while making a lewd motion with her left paw.

Elizabeth giggled, then sat down next to Chris on the bed comforter. She looked around her room, sighing and then leaned back, falling against the bedspread with a thump. The little stoat was still tired from the cleaning she’d done earlier after getting home from school. Even with Charlotte’s help, it had taken a couple of hours to clean her room and the guest bedroom in preparation for Alex’s visit. “I’m really tired. Is it okay if we just lay in bed?”

“We can lay here for a little, but we still have dinner,” Chris said, laying down next to the stoat, putting her arm around her.

“I bet Charlotte would bring it up here if we asked nicely,” Elizabeth said, going silent and relaxing as she stared up past the tall bed posts at the white ceiling and the recessed lights near each of the four corners. She suddenly remembered that Alex had put tiny glow-in-the-dark sticker stars on the ceiling in her old bedroom, then wondered if the tigress had taken them down before moving. Maybe the new owners had left them up there and stared at them at night before falling asleep.

“I mean that would be nice, but then you would get crumbs in the bed. Then you would have to go through all of the work of cleaning and having to make the bed… And a bed this big has to be a lot of work to change the sheets on.”

“Oh, it’s a lot of work. Charlotte and I just put clean sheets on before you got here... along with cleaning my room and the guest bedroom,” Elizabeth said, shuffling a bit closer to Chris and tucking her head against the bigger girl before closing her eyes. “I’m going to take a nap,” she muttered.

“Okay. A fifteen minute nap is fair,” Chris said, giving her girlfriend a little squeeze before closing her eyes as well. A few moments later the yapok was purring softly. It felt like she had only closed her eyes for a few seconds before she heard Charlotte’s familiar voice over the intercom.

“Dinner is ready,” the doberman called over the intercom, waiting for a few moments for the two cubs to respond before she made a similar call to the three adults that were playing cards down in the basement den. 

Down in the kitchen, Charlotte smiled to herself. Making dinner for six wasn’t much harder than making dinner for four, but it definitely much more satisfying. Alyssa and Chris were certainly appreciative of her efforts, and the older yapok sometimes helped with dinner. Alyssa had even taken to teaching the doberman some very tasty Mexican recipes now that she was regularly staying late on Friday nights when Chris came over for their weekly sleepover.

Having called everyone in the house down for dinner, the teenaged doberman cautiously pulled the casserole dish out of the oven, this particular one being a recipe that the older yapok had shared a few weeks ago. The smell of white wine, onions, jalapeños, tomatoes, and chicken accompanied the ‘pollo ixtapa’ that she carefully took over to the dining table. 

Charlotte hoped that it wouldn’t be too hot for Julia’s sensitive taste buds. At least she had gotten a little more adventurous over the past few months (or maybe a better term was ‘acclimated’) to the chilies that were so frequently used in Mexican cuisine. At worst, the stoat could pick the jalapeño slices out and eat the rest. The doberman snorted with amusement; Chris would probably ask to eat any that Julia set aside.

__________________________________________________

Over an hour later, Elizabeth shut the bedroom door behind herself as she and Chris stepped into her bedroom, fur still slightly damp from their shower. “I mean, it was good, but it was almost too spicy for me. I don’t know how you can eat all those jalapeños. I bet you don’t have any taste buds left on your tongue; they’ve all been burned off,” the little stoat said, stepping over to her closet to get dressed for bed.

“Oh? Well let's test that,” Chris said, wrapping her arms around Elizabeth and licking her ear. “Hmmm, tastes like a cute little stoat.”

“Ick, stop that,” Elizabeth said, flinching, but unable to pull away from the yapok’s hug. “You’re going to get all that jalapeño juice on my ears and they’ll start burning.”

“I don’t think there’s any left; I drank lots of water,” Chris said, poking her tongue out before letting go, stepping over to her suitcase, opening it, and pulling out her night clothes. “I could have nibbled on your shoulders to taste you if you’d like that better?” She said, tossing her night clothes on the bed.

“Nibble... That reminds me... uh...” the little stoat began to say as she pulled a nightgown off the hanger, “were you serious about that whole marking thing you were talking about after school?”

“I was. I would like to mark you as mine, so that even if you play with Alex, or we all play together, you're still mine.” Chris said, picking up the long night shirt from Elizabeth’s bed and slipping it on. “I think that would be fair.”

The little stoat finished pulling on her own nightgown and stepped out of the closet. “So... is this permanent? Like if we mark each other, are we married?”

“Kinda.” Chris said, walking around the side of the bed and sitting down and sinking in a little. “It would be sorta like we’re married, but if we end up not liking each other down the road, then we can forget about the mark,” she said. She wasn’t sure of the best way to explain it. She hadn’t thought that Elizabeth would ask a question like that. “Think of it as a promise that you’re my girlfriend, and I’m your herm-friend even if we play with Alex or our parents.”

The little stoat tilted her head slightly, thinking about that. “But it’s not like we’re engaged or married. It’s just... a symbol that we’re together? I guess I’m okay with that... but no pee! That’s gross. And I already bit you on accident, so I guess it’s only fair if you bite me too.”

“Okay, no peeing on you.” Chris sighed, pretending to be sad, but doing a bad job at it as a smile crept over her muzzle. “You don’t still worry about biting me do you? I didn’t mind,” she said with a blush. “And don’t worry, I won’t bite you hard.” 

The little stoat held her paws to her chest, looking a bit uncomfortable. “I don’t like hurting people... or getting hurt. But... okay. I promise that while we’re together, I’ll be your girlfriend and only yours, and I’ll never have sex with anyone other than you except for Alex and my parents,” Elizabeth said solemnly, then turned around and pulled the neck of her gown to one side, exposing her neck.

“You didn’t hurt me when you bit me. I liked it,” Chris admitted, getting up and walking behind the stoat. “And don’t worry; this isn’t going to turn you into a vampire,” she whispered, leaning in and sniffing at the stoat, enjoying the shower-fresh scent before opening her muzzle and biting down on Elizabeth’s scruff. She didn’t bite hard enough to hurt, but just hard enough for Liz to feel the many pointy teeth that she had in her muzzle. As she held her girlfriend like this, her paws moved down to the stoat's waist, holding her there softly. 

“Vampire?” Elizabeth asked, suddenly nervous. “Uhh... what...” the little stoat said, going silent as she felt Chris’s sharp teeth clamp onto the loose pelt behind her neck. She squeaked slightly, holding still for several seconds.

Chris purred as she released the grip on her neck, resting her head on her shoulder. “That’s it, you’re mine now, and I’m yours,” Chris stated.

The little stoat relaxed again. “So... you’re sure you’re okay with me mating with Alex while shi’s here?” she asked, making absolutely sure that Chris was okay with everything.

“I am fine with you two mating, and the threesome if Alex is okay with it,” Chris said, tightening her grip on the stoat’s waist, pressing close and letting her feel the yapok’s member against Liz’s butt. “But I’m going to make sure you smell like me,” she added, nibbling on the stoat’s neck again before pulling her over to the bed. Chris was purring loudly as she carefully turned the little stoat around and then pinned her to the bed. She started kissing Elizabeth’s neck before leaning further and pressing their muzzles together.

__________________________________________________

Saturday, December 19th, 2015

Alex adjusted the straps on hir backpack as shi followed the airport employee down the concourse. The tigress thought that the stripe of black feathers that ran across the steward’s eyes and down the sides of his neck was definitely striking, and the ring of red skin around his eyes that matched his beak gave him a slightly sinister look. 

“Here we are,” the chukar said as they reached the end of the terminal and reached the wide open central hub where the terminals met. Several security staff, mostly canines, were standing near the metal detectors and luggage scanners where dozens of people were picking up personal items and re-equipping themselves after going through the TSA checkpoint. Hundreds of people were still waiting in long lines on the other side, waiting to go through the checkpoint.

The airline employee led the young tigress around the TSA checkpoint and through a much smaller hallway where people were leaving the concourse and heading towards baggage claim. At the far side of the hallway, Alexandrea saw the Stouffer family standing together. Terrence was holding a paper sign with Alex’s name on it. “There they are,” shi said, pointing them out to the bird who was escorting hir.

“Excellent,” the chukar said, following the tiger cub a little further. He watched as the cub ran over to the well-dressed family of mustelids, the cub’s overstuffed backpack bouncing around behind them. The bird nodded as they waved at him, politely waving back at them before heading back into the terminal, quietly singing the Waltz of the Flowers to himself.

__________________________________________________

“Hey Short Stuff,” Daniel said, leaning across the seat so he could see Chris as she walked down the front steps towards the car. “Did you remember to bring your guitar?”

“I did... but why did you want me to bring it?” Chris asked, slinging it over her shoulder and grabbing her other bag, carefully walking down the steps and putting her stuff in the trunk before walking around to the side and getting into the passenger seat

“I was hoping that I could get you to play it when we all go caroling,” the older yapok said, waiting for his daughter to buckle the seatbelt before pulling out of the Stouffer’s driveway.

The brief drive down the street to Daniel’s house passed in silence, to Chris’s relief. She had no interest in engaging her sperm donor with small-talk at the moment. It was a miracle that she had managed to bring herself to put on the red Christmas dress that her mom had gotten for her.

As the older yapok brought his car to a stop in the driveway and turned off the ignition, he said “I know you don’t want to be here, and I’m sorry. But your step-mom and I are trying to give you a... a home. Another place where you can feel like you belong, just like your mom does. Just... give us a chance. Please?” 

The younger yapok looked over at her father, meeting his gaze. As much as Chris wanted to make a snarky response, she had told her mom she would at least try. She also wanted to see if it was possible to irritate Brandy by being polite. She slowly nodded to him, then turned and opened the car door, stepping outside and heading to the trunk. Daniel beat her to it, taking the heavy piece of luggage while she got out her guitar case. Together, the two of them headed to the front door, Daniel lagging behind as he hauled the suitcase.

Chris braced herself, plastering a fake smile on her face before reaching for the doorknob. The moment that she opened the door and stepped in, her nose was hit by a wave of smells. Scents of sweets, cakes, and other treats all hit her nose at once, causing her whiskers to wiggle as she took in the smells. Despite the festive decorations and the tinsel-covered Christmas tree, nobody was in the living room yet, so she made her way to the guest bedroom that had become her own little haven while visiting her father’s family. 

The young yapok took a moment to look around before setting her guitar case on the bed. Daniel hollered down the hallway to let the other family members know that Chris had arrived before he followed her in with the suitcase and set it next to the bed. After he left, Chris looked into the mirror above the dresser and took a moment to fix her dress before heading back into the living room. Somehow the rest of the family had spontaneously appeared in the living room as if conjured by magic.

“What’s cooking? It smells like paradise,” she said, taking a seat at one of the few empty spots on the couch.

“I’m not sure what mom’s baking in there,” Drew said, slouching back a little.

“Can we all just take a moment and look at the fact that Christina is in a dress?” Brandy asked, leaning forward. “And one that looks good on her, too. What happened to ‘punk rocker for life’?”

“It’s ‘Chris’,” the young yapok insisted, glaring at her half-sister Brandy. “Just ‘Chris’. As for the ‘punk rocker for life’, that’s still true. But I can dress up nice once in a while,” she said, poking her tongue out at her sister.

“Well, I think that you should do it a little more often. You look less like a tomboy when you do,” Brandy said, smirking. “And Christina just sounds nicer. I mean, you’re all dressed up, so why not?”

“Brandy, call her by the name she wants to be called,” Daniel said, giving his daughter a chastising look. “But your sister is right: you look great in a dress. You might want to really think about dressing up like this more often.”

“Like I told mom and my friends: It’s something that I’ll have to get used to. I mean, I’m kinda digging it. I got a punk dress too,” Chris said, looking at the doorway to the kitchen as her step-mother walked into the living room.

“Good afternoon, Chris,” Naomi said, smiling as she walked over to her husband and sat next to him. “And that dress does look really good on you, sweetie,” the older yapok said as she snuggled up to her husband. “I agree with the others, I think that you should try more dresses. You know, I’m sure that I can talk Danny into taking you and me shopping.”

“That sounds like it would be a lot of fun, but I’m still not like one hundred percent on dresses,” Chris said, forcing a smile. “But, I have to ask, what are you cooking in there? It smells so good.”

“A little bit of everything,” her step-mother replied, “I’ve got a Kentucky Derby Pie cooling, some sugar cookies and then the turkey is nearly done. Do you like to bake?”

“I’ve done a little baking. Nothing big though,” Chris said, with a genuine smile this time. “I helped make cookies for a game night at a friend’s house.”

“Well, I’m sure that I can find a few recipes that would be easy for you to pick up,” Naomi said, glancing at her husband. 

Daniel took the hint. “So... your mom agreed to let you stay with us until the night of Christmas Eve. We don’t have anything planned for today, but tomorrow’s Sunday, so we’ll go to church in the morning, then have lunch, then we have a family photography session, and Sunday dinner. On Monday we’ll head up to Mount Hood and go inner-tubing; I bought us lift tickets. It’s a bit of a drive, but it’s worth it. On Tuesday we’re going to spend a couple of hours scrapbooking. That was Naomi’s idea...”

As her father continued to list off things they had planned for the week, Chris realized what a feral deer felt like, staring at a pair of oncoming headlights and unable to move before being splattered all over the road. In less than ten seconds this had gone from being a pleasant vacation to a week in hell. 

“...lastly, we plan on going caroling on Christmas Eve, until an hour after dark. We’ll get home in time for your mom to pick you up, I promise,” Daniel finished.

Somehow Chris managed to keep the smile plastered on her face, though it had rapidly gone from genuine to forced again. “Hijo de puta,” she whispered to herself.