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.

Zavarka
by IndigoNeko, Cormenthor, and TaintedThylacine

Chapter 4

Saturday, September 5th, 2015

Early morning sunlight streamed through the enormous glass windows that ran from floor to ceiling on the north face of the Andreyev residence, illuminating the great room and the open-air atrium. Alex, still wearing the oversized t-shirt that shi had slept in, was sitting on an overstuffed leather chair in the second floor reading-nook that overlooked the great room. Thick blue bandages were wrapped around hir forearms. In hir lap, shi had an open sketchbook, and in hir paws, a set of colored pencils.

The young tigress was finishing the drawing shi had started earlier that week during the free time that Mrs. Stanton had given them. It was now recognizable as a rugged mountainside dotted with colorful green spruce and yellow and red-leaved aspen trees, like what shi had seen further up in the mountains that surrounded the town of Winter Creek. The japanese-style building shi had drawn with its heavy log beams, ornate swept eaves, and thin rice-paper walls could have been a resort or temple. While it wasn’t something one would ever see in Colorado, it still made for a beautiful picture. Alex was now finishing the pair of sakura trees in front of the building. 

Alex’s iPhone, still sitting on the desk in hir bedroom, unexpectedly started playing music, singing “I just wanna be deep in your love; and it’s killing me when you’re away-” 

The tiger cub's tail twitched in irritation as shi closed the sketchbook, and shi made a mental note to change Elizabeth’s ringtone. After their previous conversation, it seemed... inappropriate. The young tigress sat for a moment, mentally debating if shi really wanted to talk to the little stoat right now. Shi was still sore after getting attacked by a feral mountain lion a few days ago and more than a bit depressed after finding out that hir best friend wanted to be in a relationship with someone else. Not to mention having woken up early and being unable to fall back asleep. Alex didn’t sleep alone often anymore and the strangeness of waking up by hirself had been enough to keep hir awake. 

This wasn’t exactly a typical time for Elizabeth to call though, so it might be important. Alex dropped the sketchbook and colored pencils on the floor and hopped out of the chair, quickly walking to hir room and snagging the iPhone off the desk, reaching a thumb up to the screen and swiping to the side, then held the phone up to hir head... and waited.

“Lexi?” the stoat on the other line asked after a few seconds.

Alex took a deep breath, attempting to keep calm. The pet name was no longer cute and hearing it was irrationally irritating. They’d already had an argument over it last school year and all that had done was make them both miserable, so shi decided to let it slide. “Yes, Elizabeth,” shi asked calmly, trying to remain civil.

“I... uhh... can we talk?” the little stoat asked, somewhat hesitantly.

“Of course. We’re talking right now, aren’t we?” the tigress continued, trying to sound polite no matter how rude shi wanted to be. Shi pulled hir tail to one side and sat down at hir computer chair, holding hir tail in hir lap and crossing hir legs, leaning against the backrest.

“Well... yes, but... I mean, you’re not busy, are you? You don’t mind talking right now?” Elizabeth asked cautiously.

Alex sighed. The little stoat must have realized shi was in a bad mood and was dancing on eggshells to avoid offending hir, but clearly needed to talk about something important. Being depressed, tired, and sore was no reason to be mean to hir best friend, though. “No, I’m not busy. No, I don’t mind talking right now. I thought you’d be playing with your new friend though. You two did have a sleepover last night, didn’t you?” shi asked, raising an eyebrow and then wincing as the cut on hir forehead pulled painfully.

“Umm... yes, we did,” Elizabeth confirmed. “She’s upstairs in my room right now playing on the computer. But I wanted to call you to... Well, I wanted to apologize...” The little stoat said, her voice trailing off.

Alex toyed with hir tail tip, mind racing, imagining all the different things that the little stoat might apologize for. Shi couldn’t narrow it down... too many unknowns... but every single one of them involved Elizabeth’s new friend, that much was certain. Shi took a deep breath, bracing hirself. “Apologize for what?”

“For... For cheating on you,” the little stoat stammered out before quickly continuing. “I- I’m sorry. I was taking a shower with Chris after we went swimming the weekend we first met, and I found out she was a herm like you, and I- I asked to see it, and well... things happened…” she said, getting choked up at the end, like she was on the verge of crying.

Alex's mouth dropped open and felt like hir stomach had suddenly dropped to the floor. Elizabeth had been Alex’s first and best friend for nearly half hir life, and hir first love and first lover. The thought of the little stoat doing things with someone else... the tigress felt like shi had been punched in the gut.

Elizabeth continued to speak. “I should have called you then, but I didn’t-” 

“What things?” the tigress interrupted, her voice nearly cracking again. Shi had to know what Lizzy had done, and at the same time shi knew that whatever it was, knowing would only make it worse, like picking at a scab. Shi tried to swallow the lump in hir throat, hoping that shi could manage to hold in hir tears until after they were done talking again. Shi stood up and stepped over to hir bed, hir tail thrashing behind hir.

“Just... you know. Stuff,” Elizabeth said. “I... I licked her boy parts a bit and played with her flower...” 

To Alex, sex was something you did with those you were closest to, a way to express your love to those you cared most for. Finding out that hir best friend had sex with someone the little stoat had just met... it flipped hir world upside down. It was like kissing a stranger: you just didn’t do it. 

Only... Elizabeth had done exactly that. Sex was clearly was nothing special to her. Had the little stoat ever truly loved hir? Maybe she hadn’t loved hir any more than someone she’d met on the street. Alex was absolutely crushed. Devastated. Hir heart ached as if shi had been stabbed. The tigress fell onto hir bed with a thump, pulling hir tail around and holding it tight to hir chest. Shi couldn’t help but let out a cry of pain, anger, and sorrow, then quickly clamped hir jaw, fighting back the urge to scream.

“Lexi?” Elizabeth asked. “Are you okay?” 

Alex’s chest hurt even more than it had last night; shi didn’t think it was even possible to hurt this much. It took her a few moments before shi could even think clearly enough to speak. “Why, Lizzy? Why?” Alex cried, tears streaming from hir eyes. “Don’t you love me?”

“Of course I love you!” Elizabeth protested. “I’ve always loved you! I love you more than anyone else, even Mother and Father...” 
 
“But sex is supposed to be special! It’s something you do with those you love the most, not something you do with someone you’ve just met,” the tiger cub yelled into the phone, barely able to hold back the grief and rage. “How can you say you love me when you’ll have sex with someone you just met?” On that last word, Alex’s voice broke and shi burst into sobs. Shi felt utterly betrayed; trying to reconcile Elizabeth’s words and actions was impossible.

“Lexi! Lexi, I do love you! I promise, I love you more than anyone,” Elizabeth tried to explain. “I’m so sorry, I really am. I didn’t know sex was that special; I didn’t know that cheating was that bad...”

Four months ago, when Alexandrea and Elizabeth had first decided to go out, neither of them had known what cheating meant, with respect to relationships. Cheating was when you glanced at someone else’s quiz in class. Neither of them had known, really. It was just a word. Now... Now both of them knew. Knew what it meant in a way that most other people never could and knew what pain it could cause. 

Alex’s sobs rocked hir to hir very soul. Shi tried with every ounce of hir willpower to stop it; big girls don’t cry, after all. In the end, shi managed to quell the worst of it, bottling up hir pain and storing it in some dark corner in the recesses of hir mind. It took time, but eventually all shi had left was a few sniffles and a runny nose. And a very damp sleeve and slightly soggy tail tip.

Once Alex’s sobs had begun to quiet, Elizabeth started speaking again. “Lexi, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t know sex was that special; I have to have sex to keep from getting sick. And I swear, I didn’t know cheating was that bad, honest. I’d never, ever, have done anything with Chris if I’d known. I really do love you. I love you more than anyone else in the whole world. You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember; my whole life. I... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I never, ever want to hurt you. Never, ever again. Please forgive me?” she begged. “Please?”

Somehow Elizabeth’s words penetrated the thick haze of depression. Alex knew that sex was something the little stoat needed in order to live, because of her medical conditions, and eventually she’d grown to enjoy it as a pleasant past-time. The little stoat truly didn’t think much of it, and had just wanted to play with her new friend.

Alex took a deep breath, hir chest shuddering, somehow managing to control hirself. “It... it’s okay, Lizzy,” the little tigress said between sniffles. “I- I believe you. It... it hurts, but... I know you didn’t mean to- to hurt me.” Shi took another rattling breath, wiping hir nose on hir damp sleeve again. “I forgive you.”

“Lexi... Is there anything I can do for you?” Elizabeth asked.

“No. I’ll be fine,” the tigress said, starting to feel a tiny bit better. Shi let hir tail go, watching the tip fall off the side of the bed before sitting upright. “I was wrong; I should have realized that you don’t see sex the same way I do, cause you’ve had to do it all your life, just to live. I’m just being stupid. I just... nevermind. I just need some time to think, okay?” shi said hoarsely.

“Okay,” Elizabeth whispered, her voice starting to sound hoarse as well. “But you’re not stupid, silly kitty, and you’re not wrong. Mother got really mad at me when she found out about what I’d done with Chris; she threatened to ground me for a year. Sex is something you should only do with people you’re in a relationship with... with people you love.”

Alex went quiet for a moment, hir mind churning as shi processed everything they’d just talked about. Once shi had gotten over the initial hurt, that feeling of betrayal, shi realized that Elizabeth probably did care about the mysterious marsupial, especially if they’d gotten so close so quickly; taking showers together, going on vacation together, having sleepovers, and now this thing about a relationship, as painful as it was to think about. “Last night you said you wanted to be in a relationship with Chris, right?” shi asked.

“Uh-huh.”

There had to be something that Lizzy saw in Chris. “Why? What makes her so special?” the tigress asked in confusion, still trying not to cry.

“I... uh... I mean, she’s interesting, she loves video games, and music. She swims well. She’s cool, and...” the little stoat’s voice trailed off, sounding like she was kind of grasping at straws. Suddenly the little stoat’s tone went from hesitant and confused to one of absolute conviction. “She’s a lot like you. How could I not like her?”

Alex was taken aback by that. Lizzy had fallen for Chris... because Chris was like Alex? Suddenly it made a lot more sense; Lizzy was trying to find a replacement for the hole in her life that Alex had left when shi had moved to Colorado. Apparently Lizzy had succeeded. 

The grief hit once again. Shi had been absolutely right about being replaceable. Like a cheap plastic happy meal toy, to be gathered up and thrown away when another toy came along. Despite hir best efforts, tears began to spill from hir eyes again. 

Grasping at straws, hoping that shi was still worth something, through the haze of tears Alex quietly asked “Can I come see you two?”

Elizabeth nodded again, this time a bit more quickly. “Like over Christmas break? Of course, silly kitty,” she agreed. “I wish you were here right now.”

Alex cleared hir throat, feeling a tiny bit better. Shi may have been replaced, but shi hadn’t been thrown away yet. “I... can I call you later?” the tigress whispered, trying to get out the last few words before hir throat closed up again. “I don’t feel like talking much more right now.”

“Yes,” the little stoat whispered back. “Anytime. Best friends, forever. Right?”

“Best friends, forever,” the tiger cub murmured, tapping the phone. Then shi rolled over on hir side and pulled hir tail against hir chest again, no longer bothering to hold back the tears. At least they weren’t tears of pain and anger; only sorrow.

__________________________________________________

A few hours later, Raenne finished wrapping an ace bandage around the gauze on her daughters’ forearms, then stood up from where she was sitting on the edge of the tub, straightening her cargo pants and flannel shirt. The latter did a remarkable job of covering the tiger’s rapidly growing baby bump. Her daughter remained sitting on the toilet seat lid, staring despondently at the rug on the bathroom floor. “C’mon, kiddo. You’ve gotta get dressed; we’ve got places to go today. You need to get some replacement clothes and we need to get you some bear spray. There’s no way you’re going hiking again without it.”

Alex mumbled something about wanting to stay home, which was the last thing Raenne expected to hear. While not exactly a clothes-horse, her daughter would never turn down a chance for new clothes or to get out of the house. At first Raenne had put the silent brooding down to being sore, but today it was far more pronounced than it had been yesterday or the day before. She quickly wrapped one paw around her daughter’s ear, pressing her thumb-pad against the inside to check Alex’s temperature. It felt normal, but she asked anyway. “Do you feel sick? Or are your arms hurting more than they did yesterday?”

The tiger cub shook hir head, causing the oversized t-shirt shi was wearing to slip down one shoulder. Raenne sighed and knelt in front of her daughter, putting a paw under Alex’s muzzle and lifting until their gazes met. “Well, something’s clearly not right. You’re acting like Elizabeth died or something.”

Alex flinched and looked away, tail thrashing and face scrunching up again as shi tried in vain to keep the tears at bay.

“Oh. Something happened with Elizabeth, huh?” Raenne asked rhetorically, standing up once again, this time holding her daughter’s paw and pulling hir along. “I was wondering why you had decided to sleep in your room last night. Well, stop moping around in the bathroom and come tell me about it.”

Raenne led Alex out of the bathroom and back into hir room, then pushed the tiger cub over to the bed, where shi sat down with the faint rustle of fabric, sniffling slightly. The older tigress sat down next to her daughter and draped an arm over the younger tiger’s shoulders. “Okay, kiddo. Tell me what happened,” the older tigress ordered.

At that, Alex began quietly crying. “I- I... I’ve been... replaced,” shi explained between sobs. “Lizzy man... managed to... to find... someone who’s... like me.”

The older tigress sighed. “Kiddo, there’s nobody that’s quite like you. But that’s besides the point. Have you really been replaced? Did Lizzy say that you’re no longer best friends?” she asked, betting that Alex was exaggerating at least a little bit.

“Well, no, but-” Alex replied, still sobbing.

Raenne smiled slightly, glad that she’d been right, and pressed the advantage, hoping to pull her daughter out of hir depression. “Does she still want to talk to you? To play games with you? To come visit you?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“So she hasn’t replaced you. She’s just found someone else to play with. And that’s fair; she needs friends, since you’re not there anymore. Right?” the older tigress asked.

“Yes, but-” Alex protested, sniffling.

“You’re awfully fond of the word ‘but’,” Raenne commented. “Look, you’ve made friends here. Like Azalea. So she can make friends too. That’s fair, right?”

“But Lizzy wants to be in a relationship with her! They’ve already had sex...” Alex went quiet as shi choked up again, sobbing.

“Oh,” Raenne said, going quiet as that sank in. Alex hadn’t been exaggerating. At least not by much. It probably did feel like shi had been replaced then. Maybe not as the little stoat’s best friend, but as her lover. The older tigress frowned, tightening her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and pulling the sobbing cub against her side. After a few seconds, the tigress muttered “Well, I guess shopping can wait.” 

With a sigh, the older tigress scooted back onto her daughter’s bed, snagging a pillow to rest her head on, then dragged Alex back along the bed as well. Raenne lay sideways on the bed, pulling the younger tigress’s back against her chest, grateful that her pregnancy hadn’t progressed so far as to keep them from cuddling.

Raenne buried her nose in the fur of Alex’s neck and wrapped her arm around the cub’s chest, holding her daughter tight as the cub continued to sob. As much as she wanted to, there wasn’t much else she could do. Little helped in healing the hurts of the heart, except the passage of time.

__________________________________________________

Monday, September 7th, 2015

Alex stepped out of the courthouse, dressed in a black-pleated skirt and white sleeveless blouse and a pair of sandals. Somehow mom had even found white ace bandages to wrap hir arms with, to match the shirt. It looked good, but shi wouldn’t have worn this outfit at all if their lawyers hadn’t requested it. “Can I put on my capris now?” the tiger cub asked plaintively, turning to face hir parents as they followed hir out of the courthouse.

“You can get changed in the SUV,” Raenne replied, wishing she could do the same. The black pantsuit she was wearing was sleek and professional, but she couldn’t wait to get out of it and back into the comfortable cargo pants and thin flannel shirt she’d grown used to wearing over the past month or so. 

David took off his navy blue blazer as he and wife and daughter walked down the stone steps and down the cement walkway. It was a short walk to the parking lot and over to the SUV they’d rented at PDX for this trip. The white tiger tossed the blazer in the back seat before climbing into the driver’s seat, adjusting his tail and then waiting as his daughter changed clothes and then buckled herself in.

“So... Are we stopping at Elizabeth’s before we fly back?” he asked, looking at his daughter in the rear-view mirror. After finding out about his daughter’s emotional breakdown over the weekend, he wasn’t actually sure if she wanted to visit the little stoat. Alex looked up, meeting his gaze in the mirror and nodded. “Okay then,” he said, putting the key in the ignition and starting the engine. His wife made a call to let the Stouffer’s know they’d be coming by.

Alex had fallen asleep by the time they reached the Stouffer’s residence, which skirted the fine line between house and mansion. Raenne reached into the back seat and nudged her daughter awake. The SUV stopped briefly at the wrought iron gate in front of the house, waiting until it fully opened before driving into the looped driveway and stopping at the front steps, just behind a shiny red Mazda hatchback. 

“Wonder whose car that is,” David muttered as he put the car in park and turned it off, pushing open the driver’s side door.

“No idea,” Raenne said, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the passenger side door. “I love the color though. Think they make an SUV in it?”

“We’re not getting another SUV. Though that color does look pretty good,” the white tiger reluctantly admitted as he stepped out of the car.

“What looks good?” Charlotte said from the front steps, the teenaged doberman watching as Alexandrea pushed open the back passenger door and hopped out.

Raenne climbed out of the front passenger side of their rental SUV and pointed at the Mazda hatchback before closing both the passenger doors. “I was just saying I love that color.”

“Thank you,” Charlotte said brightly, her black-furred tail wagging and shaking the skirt of her maid outfit. “That’s why I bought it.”

“Oh?” the older tigress said, raising her eyebrow. “I take it you got your driver’s license then. Congratulations!”

“Seconded,” David added as he walked around the front of their rental. “I didn’t get my license till I was twenty. Got tired of biking to and from campus during my college days.”

“Yeah, I got tired of biking to and from the high school. I just found out that they’re restricting parking to staff and seniors only, though,” the teenaged doberman said with a frown, looking down at the ground.

“Where’s Elizabeth?” Alex interrupted, blinking the sleep from hir eyes.

“Up in her room. She doesn’t know you’re here,” Charlotte answered with a smile, turning around and pulling the front door open for the young tigress.

“Thank you,” Alex said, slowly walking inside and heading over to the lift.

The doberman pinscher raised an eyebrow and looked over at Alex’s parents. “Is shi okay?” she whispered. “Usually shi takes the stairs at a hundred miles an hour.”

David glanced over at his wife, who shook her head and explained “Shi was attacked by a feral mountain lion last week when out hiking and lost a lot of blood. Shi’s still recovering.”

Charlotte’s eyes went wide. “Seriously? A mountain lion? Shi could have been killed!”

Raenne slowly nodded. “Shi’s not allowed to go out in the woods for now.”

The doberman whistled softly, then said “Julia and Terrence are in the living room,” as she waited for the two tigers to enter the foyer before closing the door behind them. 

__________________________________________________

Elizabeth was startled by the unexpected knock at her bedroom door. The little stoat quickly paused her video game and stood up to answer it, expecting her mother or father, or possibly Charlotte. The last person she’d expected to see stood just beyond the doorway, a faint smile on the tiger cub’s muzzle. “Lexi!” the little stoat exclaimed happily, darting forward and wrapping her arms around the tigress. “Oh my God, it’s really you,” she said, pressing her face against the bigger cub’s chest. “I missed you so much...”

Alex awkwardly wrapped hir arms around the smaller stoat, leaning down and kissing the top of her best friend’s head. “I missed you too, silly stoat.”

Elizabeth was quietly dooking, unable to help herself. After a few moments, she let go of the tigress and stood back, taking one of Alex’s paws and pulling the bigger cub into her room. “What are you doing here?” she asked, hopping up on her bed, still holding onto the tiger’s paws.

“Remember those kids that beat me up at school at the end of last year?” Alex asked, waiting until Elizabeth nodded with an angry frown. “Your dad’s lawyer friends... the red cardinal and the... the rat with artichoke scales...” the tigress shrugged, she couldn’t remember what the man’s species was. “They offered to help mom and dad file a lawsuit for ‘pain and suffering’ or something like that. We had to come back here and go to court. It was really boring. Mom and dad were happy at the end, but I guess the lawyers were hoping it could have gone better.”

The little stoat had stopped listening near the end, picking at the wrapping around the tiger’s arms. “What’s this?

“Umm... bandages,” Alex answered hesitantly, reasonably certain that Lizzy would freak out if shi told her what really happened.

“What happened?” the little stoat asked, dark eyes going wide as she realized that the bandages literally went from Alex’s wrist all the way to her elbows.

“It’s nothing; I just got too close to an angry feral,” the tigress started to say, trying to downplay the severity of the situation. “Wait, stop-” shi cried as shi realized Lizzy had pulled the clip off the ace bandage around hir right arm and was quickly unwrapping it.

Elizabeth ignored hir while she inspected the tiger’s forearm, carefully peeling back some of the gauze, quickly noticing the shaved area and the jagged cuts that went nearly halfway around Alex’s arm. She looked up, meeting Alex’s bashful gaze. “A feral cat?” she asked, clearly not believing that. “Lexiiii... Do you remember our promise in second grade?”

Alex looked down, frowning, then sighed. “I was hiking in the woods and wasn’t paying attention. I walked too close to a mountain lion and it jumped me. I got away, but...” the tigress explained, shrugging.

“A mountain lion?!” the little stoat exclaimed, incredulous. “You could have died!”

Alex winced, still staring at the bed covers. It was true, and shi couldn’t really argue with it.

“Lexiiii...” the little stoat wailed, sliding off the bed again and hugging the tigress so tight that Alex began to worry about hir ribs breaking... again. The tigress awkwardly rubbed Lizzy’s back, trying to soothe the little stoat as she cried. Alex sighed, wishing shi hadn’t been right about Lizzy freaking out.

__________________________________________________

Tuesday, September 8th, 2015
 
Alex sighed in frustration as shi finally sat down at their usual cafeteria table. Shi was getting tired of being tired. Mom blamed it all on the blood loss and said it would fade soon, but it still sucked. Dragging hir feet in the halls meant shi was last to make it to the cafeteria, last to make it through the lunch line, and last to sit down for lunch. At least the meal was still hot. According to the menu, it was roasted pork loin, garlic and herb baked potatoes, and mixed asparagus, string beans, and baby carrots in a lemon butter sauce. It definitely smelled good, and she quickly picked up a fork, only to pause and look up as shi realized that Jennifer was speaking at hir.

“About the time you showed back up. I was starting to think that you got into a fight with a boss and lost,” the white rat said, smiling at the tigress that had joined the table. “I mean, you miss like a week of class, wasn’t at the stop this morning and now you’re here and all bandaged up.”

“Sorry,” Alex apologized. “Had to fly out to Taiwan to see a ripperdoc out there in order to get some carbon-fiber retractable arm-blades installed. Took a few days to recover, not to mention how long the flight there and back was,” the tigress explained with an exasperated sigh. “Then I had to register them with the local police and the school board...”

There was a sound of a paw hitting a forehead from the seat next to the tigress. “Alex... You really shouldn’t tell her things like that, Jennifer is a little... odd. She’s gonna believe it,” Azalea said, shaking her head.

“Hey, I’m not that weird or off... And I know better than to believe her, ‘cause as cool as it would be, no one goes for that lame upgrade. They would get the monofilament wire. It has waaaay more uses than arm blades,” the rat said with a sigh as she reached into her pocket to get her keys and pressed the magnet to Alex’s arm.

“Hey!” the tigress said, pulling hir arm back. “Careful! I’m still healing. And they’re carbon fiber, not metal.”

“I knew that! I was testing you,” the white rat said with a huff, her pink eyes going back to her meal as she slipped her keys back into her pocket. 

“Sometimes I worry about both of you.” Azalea shook her head again as she ate.

Alex rolled hir eyes and used the plastic fork to stab a chunk of potato. Shi stuck it in hir mouth and chewed a bit, then let out a sigh of contentment. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and perfectly seasoned. The difference in quality of meals from this place and her last school was like night and day.

“So are you going to tell her? Or are you going to keep dragging the poor girl along? I mean, honestly the real story is prolly a lot cooler,” Azalea said, between bites of the veggies on her tray.

Alex reluctantly swallowed the lump of potato shi was chewing; it was so good shi didn’t want to stop. “Okay, fine. So, the flight to Taiwan was a slight exaggeration. I only flew out to Oregon to visit my old ripperdoc-”

The hybrid let out a loud sigh as she reached over, jabbing a finger into Alex’s side. “Alex!”

“Hey! Okay, fine. But I did fly out to Oregon yesterday,” the tigress protested, taking a deep breath. “So, last week, I decided to go hiking after school like I normally do, heading up the mountain. I think I’d gone maybe a quarter mile when I saw a big rock jutting out of the ground, and a tree that had snapped off about ten feet up and fallen over onto the rock. I thought it was pretty cool so I headed up to it. There was a sort of hollow under the fallen log, with lots of white rocks... At least, I thought they were rocks. When I saw the deer skull, that’s when I realized they weren’t rocks at all; they were bones. Sooo many bones...” Alex’s voice trailed off, hir gaze going distant.

“Alex, I swear to all three deities that I follow I will tell the story myself.” Azalea sighed, getting ready to jab Alex in the side. “Lunch doesn't last that long.”

“Azalea, shush, I wanna hear the story,” the rat said, her pink eyes wide as she listened, her tail twitching a bit from the anticipation.

Alex’s gaze focused again as shi glanced over at the white rat, then continued the story. “I dunno why, but I felt like something was watching me, and I looked up. Perched on the log above that hollow was a mountain lion, staring down at me and ready to pounce. We must have stared at each other for like a minute. I dunno if I blinked or what, but it... jumped...” 

The tigress went silent yet again, staring down at hir arms and starting to hyperventilate. Shi still vividly remembered it even now, like it was happening in slow motion, the angry snarl, the claws on its front paws...

“Alex! You can stop there.” Azalea reached out, putting her paw on her shoulder and rubbing her back. “Come on, breathe slowly.”

The tigress glanced over at Azalea, then took a few deep breaths, trying to calm hir nerves. Shi realized hir tail had fluffed up and was thrashing behind hirself and pulled it around into hir lap, hugging it against hir chest.

“Yeah Alex, don’t push yourself. It’s a cool story, but I don’t think it’s worth you having a panic attack,” Jennifer said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a cookie. “This will distract you.” She offered the cookie to the panicked tiger.

“Umm, thanks,” Alex said, a bit confused, but unwilling to turn down a cookie, even an oatmeal sugar cookie. “Anyway, I threw my arms up just before it landed on me, so it raked my arms instead of my head and chest. It still nicked my forehead, though,” shi said, pulling the fur just above hir eye to one side to show the small cut. “It knocked me to the ground. I got it pretty good with my own claws though, and it jumped off me. I got to my feet pretty quick and slowly backed away until I was a good fifty feet or so away, then ran home as fast as I could. Mom called for an ambulance, but we got like... two cop cars, a fire truck, an ambulance, and I dunno how many other people that showed up, including a doctor who stitched my arms up. It was something over a hundred stitches. I was pretty out of it from how much blood I lost, so I don’t remember how many it was,” the tigress said, finally talked out. Shi stabbed a slice of pork and sawed at it with the plastic knife, cutting a chunk off.

“Woooooow” Jennifer said, her meal forgotten up until this point as she went back to eating. “I heard about things like that happening, but I didn’t think that it would happen to someone I knew. I wonder if you’re going to have some really cool scars. I wanna see.” 

“Jennifer, no. Eat your lunch. And bring more cookies. You know: share with the class,” Azalea muttered. She was a little surprised when Jennifer handed her a cookie as well, not caring to question why she had them or where she found them. “Thank you. You are forgiven for now.”

“Wait? What did I do?” the rat asked, tilting her head a little. “I have been behaving... mostly.”

“I don’t know. Give me some time and I will think of something,” Azalea said, turning to Alex. “You okay?”

The tigress reluctantly swallowed the chunk of meat shi was chewing. “Yeah. Arms still hurt, and I’m still tired from the blood loss. Mom says I should start to feel normal in another week though. Oh, and I’m getting that implant in my side removed tomorrow.”

“And you know that I will be over to see it. Save me a piece of it,” Azalea said jokingly. She actually did want to see it, but didn’t want to admit her weird fascination with medical things.

“And don’t forget to take pics, I wanna see it too,” Jennifer added, leaning in. “You will have to tell me how you really got that one some time too.”

“Okay,” Alex reluctantly agreed. “But that story will have to wait. It’s long, and I’m hungry,” shi said, stabbing a piece of asparagus and shoving it in hir mouth.

“That’s what she said,” Azalea snerked.

__________________________________________________

Wednesday, September 9th, 2015

The harsh buzz of an alarm clock filled the bedroom, blaring and angry. The sound was loud and annoying enough to cause an orange-furred paw to shoot out from under a pile of pillows and blankets that made up the squirrel’s sleeping spot. It took her a few times to find what she was looking for, but she hit the snooze button with righteous fury, trying to sneak in a few more minutes of sleep.

“Azalea, it’s time to get up,” one of her moms called through the door, tapping on it a few times before leaving the young hybrid to work on getting woken up.

“I’m up... I think,” Azalea muttered as she sat up, pushing the blanket to the side, before reaching up and rubbing her eyes with the back of her paw. “And a good morning to you too,” she muttered, looking down at the tent that she was pitching. “I guess I can’t talk you into going away?” she asked, wistfully wishing that the fleshy protrusion didn’t even exist.

The hybrid let out a little sigh as she pushed the band of her panties down and out of the way, freeing her unwanted extension from them. She knew from experience that it would be a long time before it went down on its own without help, and it did feel pretty good, as much as she didn’t want to admit that. Biting her lip, she wrapped her paw around the fleshy spire, moving her paw up and down at a pretty quick pace. She knew that, as much as she wanted to sit back and enjoy it, she didn’t have the time to do so. 

Azalea let out a little huff as she got more and more worked up, reaching over for one of the many pillows that she had and biting it to keep from getting too loud. The apartment had thin walls and this wasn’t something that she wanted to have to explain to her moms or sister. 

The squirrel-hybrid clamped her jaws down on the pillow, penis twitching as she got closer to orgasm. Not wanting to make a mess and have to take a one-minute shower before school, she pulled a few tissues from the box next to her. Using them to cover the tip of her manhood, she lay back and let it happen, member twitching as she shot several ropes of watery seed into the wad of tissues.

She relaxed for a moment, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the floaty feeling that came with the physical release. This didn’t last long, as a loud knock at her door caused her to squeak and sit up, quickly covering herself. “I’m up, mom. I’m getting dressed,” she stammered. She tossed the used tissues into the garbage can before getting to her feet and getting everything tucked back into place, before rushing over to her closet where her school clothes were hanging.

Azalea muttered to herself as she walked over to the closet, tossing her night shirt onto her ‘nest’. Opening the closet and looking at the uniform shirts that were hanging there, she pulled down one of the navy blue polos and slipped into it before grabbing a pair of khakis and a belt. Her next stop was her desk chair, which she used as support while stepping into her pants and pulling them up. Then she covered the two or three steps to her desk, standing there for a moment as she put her belt through the loops and then flopped into her chair.

The squirrel-hybrid smiled as she turned and used her foot-paws to push herself off of the wall, making her chair roll across the mat on the floor and coming to a stop just short of the dresser. She opened her bottom drawer and pulled out a pair of socks and got them slipped on before checking off ‘getting dressed’ from her mental morning checklist.

From her room, she darted down the hall to the bathroom that she and her older sister shared. The door was open and her sister was sitting at the edge of the tub, grooming her fur. Jenny always took forever getting dressed and brushing her fur and hair.

“Was starting to think that you went back to sleep and mom would have to get the water gun again,” Jenny said, looking up from brushing her tail and picking a hairball out of the brush before getting back to work.

“You know, you would get to sleep in more if you didn’t take so long getting ready,” Azalea said as she picked up her brush and started brushing her long hair before moving on to her tail fur. While she would never admit it to her sister, there was something nice and calming about brushing her tail or having someone doing it for her. She had also learned that if she brushed her tail before bed or before taking a shower that it would be a lot easier and quicker to take care of it in the mornings or after the shower.

“Come on slowpoke. If you don’t hurry, we will miss the bus,” Azalea said, as she looked down at her sister who was just finishing up.

“You just want to see that tiger again,” Jenny teased as she got up and pushed past her sister, snickering.

“I mean, she is my friend,” Azalea said, a little confused at what her sister meant by that. She was in the living room, picking up her shoes when she realized what her sister had meant and protested “Not like that! We’re just friends!”

“That’s how it starts. I’ve seen and heard the way that you talk about her,” Jenny teased as she walked past, waiting at the door for her sister.

“Sure, that’s how it starts, but I don’t think that there is anything like that between us. I mean, she is pretty cool, but I don’t think she even thinks of me like that or anything. She’s prolly too cool for someone like me.” Azalea stopped, realizing that she had started rambling on about her tiger friend.

“I think someone has a crush,” Jenny teased, goading her sister. “Bye moms, we’re off. Love you,” she yelled.

“Love you moms,” Azalea echoed as the two hybrids heard their moms calling back to them. The younger hybrid got up and walked over to the door, glaring at her sister. “I’m gonna get you for that; trying to get me into a rambling loop like that all so you can get something to hold over my head.” As her sister turned and opened the front door, she grinned and put her finger in her muzzle, getting it good and wet before sticking it in her sister’s ear and running like hell.

“Azalea! That’s nasty,” Jenny whined, her tail fluffing up in annoyance and anger as she gave chase, slamming the door behind her. “I’m going to get you back!”

__________________________________________________

“Just you wait. Payback is coming,” Jenny warned Azalea as the other kids started filing off of the bus and into the school, scattering to their lockers or classes.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You say that like I’m scared. Just remember, I know where you live... and where you hide your diary,” Azalea smirked as the two of them reached the doors of the school building. The younger hybrid held the doors open for her sister and a few other students that slipped in behind them.

“It’s not a diary, it’s a journal!” The older sister huffed as they stepped into the building, walking down the halls.

“I mean, when you have things in there talking about how much you have a crush on that red squirrel... What's his name? Daniel, I think it was? About how cute he is,” Azalea said, smiling at the sight of her sister blushing.

Jenny glared at her sister, then glanced around and saw one of the teachers standing nearby on hall duty. “You’re lucky that we’re at school. I would end you for something like that,” Jenny growled out as they stopped at Azalea’s locker. The younger hybrid entered the locker combination.

“Then hide it better next time. And don’t worry, I’m not going to tell him. Unless I have to,” Azalea said, peeking around the door of her locker, and giving a big smile. “Truce?”

“For now,” Jenny replied, glaring for a moment before she turned and started walking down the hall. “See you later butt-head,” she called over her shoulder.

“Later gremlin,” Azalea replied, gathering the things that she needed for her first few classes of the day.

The first class of the day for the hybrid was English, and it was one of the ones that she liked the least. Having a class like that first thing in the morning sucked. It was next to impossible for her to stay awake through it. Her teacher was boring and monotone in everything that she said or did. Azalea and some of her friends wondered if she even had emotions, speculating if she was the same way when she was at home or with her husband.

Azalea slipped into the room and took her seat near the back of the class, already wishing that she had gotten up in time to get some tea, coffee, or anything else with a decent amount of caffeine in it. She pulled out her book and opened it to a random page before setting her sketchbook on top of that and starting on a doodle as she waited for the rest of the kids to enter the room.

“Do you do anything other than drawing, slacker?” A voice called out, causing Azalea to look up from her sketchpad. Roberta, a coyote, was standing there looking down at her.

“I might be a slacker but I still get better grades than you,” Azalea sneered. She and Roberta got along well enough, but she wouldn’t call her a friend; rival was closer. “I mean who spent the better part of last year tutoring you?”

“And I nearly failed that class ‘cause of your ‘tutoring’,” Roberta said, sitting down next to her, snickering. 

“And I almost flunked Spanish class ‘cause of your ‘help’,” Azalea retorted, closing her book and turning to poke her tongue out at the coyote.

Both of them knew that without each other’s help, they would have failed those classes, though they’d never have admitted it to anyone other than each other.

“Well I guess that just means we’re both slackers, then.” Roberta conceded, shrugging as the teacher stood up and walked over to the door to close it. “Just try and stay awake today,” she whispered under her breath.

“You’re one to talk.” Azalea retorted. As she started to open her muzzle to say something else, she was cut off by the teacher’s monotone voice as the old cheetah began talking to the class.

“First things first, let’s get the homework out of the way. Please pass it to the front,” the cheetah said as she stood at the front of one of the rows. “After that I have a few things to go over and then a work packet for you all to do.” 

Azalea could feel her eyelids starting to get heavy as she listened to the cheetah, wondering just how an animal that was supposed to be fast spoke so slowly, and so boringly at that. She wrapped her tail around and brought it up into her lap to get it out of the way of the teacher or anyone that might be walking around the classroom.

The teacher kept talking about the lesson, going on and on about one thing at a time, going into far too much detail about each topic. Azalea let out a yawn, showing off her buck teeth before bringing her paw up to rest her head on it. It wouldn’t hurt if she just rested her head on her hand, she even picked up her pencil to take a few notes or make a few little doodles on her notepad. Next thing she knew, she was out like a light. She wasn’t the only one, either; there were a few other cubs that fell asleep too.

The hybrid and her classmates' naps were all brought to a sudden and loud end as the teacher picked up one of the thicker books that she had and dropped it on the ground. The kids that weren't paying attention or napping were now awake and confused, while the others were laughing at them.

“Sorry about that,” Roberta whispered over to Azalea, then yawning. “I fell asleep too, though I didn’t have a nice pillow like you,” she said, gesturing at the squirrel’s tail. It was long, fluffy, and a pain in the butt, but it did have some uses, Azalea admitted to herself.

“Slacker,” Azalea teased. The two started snickering as the teacher did her best to get the class to quiet down as she started walking down the aisles, handing out their classwork packet. “How much longer did you manage to stay up?”

“Not much longer than you. Not like we missed anything important,” Roberta whispered. Seeing Mrs. Petry walking towards their aisle, the two snapped to attention, doing their best to pretend to pay attention. Once they were handed the paper and they had a chance to look over it as Mrs. Petry walked off to the other isles.

“Oh yeah this is going to be a cake walk,” Azalea said, muttering to her coyote neighbor. “It’s that stuff that we talked about the other week,” she said, pulling out a pencil and getting started on it.

The packet that the class was given wasn’t difficult, just tedious. Most if not all of the answers had the class writing out long examples or even a paragraph using what Mrs. Petry had talked about. By the time that she had finished it, Azalea had less than five minute to kill before the bell rang, so she spent it doing what she did the best, or liked to do: doodle.

“All right, go ahead and pass the packets forward and I will pick them up,” Mrs. Petry said as she walked up to the front of the room and started to write their homework assignment on the board. “Tonight’s homework is going to be a little different. It’s something that you will need to do a bit of reading on, but I’m sure that you all can handle it,” she said, walking around and picking up the classwork packets from the front of each row before going to her desk and sitting down.

Azalea and the other students were already gathering up their things and looking at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring. The moment that it did, there was a flurry of motion, bodies and tails all trying to get out of the room at once. Azalea waited at the back of the group, letting the pack of other students thin out a little before she went out into the busy hallway, heading off to her next class, Social Studies.

Social studies wasn’t as bad as English. The teacher, Mr. Spencer, at least had some emotion when he talked, and he kept things interesting with little activities and games during class. This was also one of the classes that Azalea had to pay attention in and keep the doodling to a minimum, as she’d gotten unlucky enough to be assigned a seat at the front of the class near the teacher’s desk.

The squirrel slipped into the room, glancing at the board and noting that they didn’t have any homework tonight. Mr. Spencer was one of the few teachers that would give homework assignments at the start of the class, if there were any, so that people who finished classwork early could work on it. She took a seat and opened her book to the page on the board and glanced at the chapter. It at least promised to be something that wasn’t nap inducing.

As Azalea was waiting for the other students to take their seats, she got out her homework from the night before and double-checked it before pulling out her sketchbook and working on the doodle that she had started in English. She wasn’t sure what it was going to be, but it was starting to turn into something with a forest setting, depicting trees all around a clearing. That was as far as she got before she heard the teacher closing the door and stepping up to the front of the class.

“Good morning students,” the shaggy-looking bull said as he stood in front of the class, writing something on the board. “I have something a little interesting planned for the day, but first we have to get some boring things out of the way.” He motioned to the pages that he had written on the board.

Mr. Spencer started by covering what was written in the current chapter, explaining what the United Nations were, what they did, and why they existed, using some of the examples from the book and even using the digital white board to show recent events related to the U.N.

While it wasn’t her favorite class, Social Studies was far more interesting than English, especially when Mr Spencer would get into the swing of things and dramatize the events that he was covering. He soon finished his lecture, turning and smiling at the class. 

“Okay, I think that covers all of the big boring stuff. I just want you to answer these questions here,” Mr Spencer said gesturing at the board before walking back to his desk and sitting down. “Shouldn’t take more than... Oh, let’s say fifteen minutes. Then we can get to the fun part of the class,” he said, starting to write something out at his desk.

It was several minutes later that Azalea’s ears swiveled as she heard something that was different from the normal sound of the class. Someone was getting up and moving rather quickly to the teacher’s desk. The voice of the student talking caught her, the class and the teacher’s attention.

“Mr. Spencer, I don’t feel too good,” a white-tailed deer in a navy sweater mumbled. Even from where she was sitting Azalea could see just how sick the kid looked just from the way he was hunched over.

“Carlos, if you’re going to vomit, get to the bathroom,” Mr. Spencer said, watching the boy turn and start for the door. As the kid reached the door he stopped, gripping the door frame as he started gagging. The teacher muttered something as he got up from the desk and grabbed a trash can, moving faster than any of the students had ever seen him, sprinting to get it in front of the deer’s muzzle. He was just in time to save the floor.

The class was filled with the sound of the poor deer puking up his breakfast. Many of the students got up and moved to the other side of the class away from the sight, sound, and smell. The class let out a collective ‘ew’, some of them fighting back their own nausea as Mr Spencer patted the deer’s back.

“Class, I’m going to walk Carlos up to the nurse. I will be back in a few minutes. While I’m gone I want you all to finish up the questions. When you get done with them, put them on my desk and pair up into groups of two,” Mr. Spencer instructed before he and Carlos walked out of the room, taking the trash can with them. It didn’t sound like they made it too far out of the room before the deer started barfing again.

Slowly Azalea and the rest of the class got back to work. Several of the students took advantage of the teacher not being in the room to share their answers and ‘help’ each other out. It only took Azalea a little while to finish up the questions and put them on Mr Spencer’s desk before going back and waiting for someone else to approach and ask to be her partner for whatever the teacher had planned. As she was killing time, she pulled her sketchbook out and got back to working on the doodle, this time working on adding a small house off to the side.

“Hey Azalea,” a quiet male voice caught her attention, causing her to jump a little as she looked up to see a small male pudu standing next to her desk. “Ummm I was wondering if you would like to team up for this thing,” he said, taking a seat at the desk in front of her as he waited for the answer.

She thought for a moment. “Sure, that would be okay,” Azalea agreed, trying to remember the pudu’s name as she went back to working on the doodle. She barely had time to add a few more pencil strokes before the class door opened and the teacher stepped back in.

“Sorry about that,” Mr. Spencer said as he walked over to his desk, checking the pile of papers. “So I want you all to move into your groups and we will get started,” he said, grabbing a paper off his desk and clearing the electronic whiteboard before writing on it.

The rest of the class was spent with the paired up students playing the part of individual nations in the U.N. and going over and discussing different situations that Mr. Spencer presented. For the most part the exercise went smoothly with the students that made up the ‘U.N.’ coming to agreements, save for one or two of them where some of the nations would get a bit heated on the topic. Only once did Mr Spencer have to step in and calm them down. The meeting of the ‘U.N.’ came to an end with the sound of the school bell, indicating that it was time for them to get to their next class. In Azalea’s case, that was I.S.T.E.

I.S.T.E. was one of her preferred classes because she got to do more hands-on work, something that she enjoyed. It didn’t matter if it was building something or typing out commands on the PCs. The class had been studying network topography for the last two weeks or so and they had finished up the chapter yesterday.

As she walked in, it dawned on Azalea that today was the test that she had barely studied for. Her worry was confirmed when she glanced up at the board and saw that there was indeed a test. On the bright side, there was no homework today. She quickly dug out her book from the pile that she had been carrying around and cracked it open to the end of the chapter and started skimming over the summary and review material. Thankfully most of it was easy for her to understand, though there were a few things that threw her off. Unfortunately, the teacher walked into the room before she could finish the review. 

Mr. Vaiene cleared the electronic whiteboard as she walked past it to her desk and pulled open a drawer to get out a stack of papers. “Good morning class. I hope you all studied for the test,” the old meadowlark said, moving to the front of the class. “Don’t worry, this one isn’t too hard. But it is a closed-book test. Keep them face down until I tell you to start. When everyone is done with the test, I have a little surprise for you all.”

Once the students had put away their books and all the tests had been given out, the old bird gave the signal for the class to start the test. Azalea looked over the test, smiling as she instantly knew the answers to the first few of the questions. She was making good progress, until she flipped the page to the next set of questions.

“A hybrid network can contain a tree network.” Azalea muttered to herself as she read over the true or false question. She worked through it in her head, writing true as her answer but the more that she got to thinking about it, she started second guessing herself. She knew that both hybrid networks and tree networks were complicated and could get even more complicated, thankfully her pencil had an eraser that was used to remove her original answer and change it to false.
 
From there, most of the questions were easy, or at least things that she could work out without ending up second guessing herself. She flipped the page to the end of the test, stretching a little as she would glance around the room and the clock, seeing that a number of the other kids were done with the test. She was in the home stretch of the test, knowing that this was going to be where the hardest of the questions would be.

“Multiplexing technique that shifts each signal to a different carrier frequency…” Azalea again muttered as she read over the last question. It sounded familiar to her but she wasn’t sure. Looking at the different answers she could narrow it down to one of two things, but she wasn’t sure. For the life of her she couldn’t remember what FDM or TDM stood for, the only thing that she was sure of was that it was one or the other, not both. “She let out a little sigh as she picked the one that she thought it was, ‘A) FDM’.

The hybrid sighed again as she closed the test packet and set her pencil down. She was pretty sure that she had passed, but a few of the questions threw her off, especially the last one. She stretched again, jumping a little as she had noticed that her teacher had appeared next to her to take the test.

“Done?” Mrs. Viaene asked as she held her hand out.

“I am.” Azalea whispered back as she handed her the test. With the test handed over, she had nothing to do for a little bit as she waited for the last kids to finish up the test, so she did what she did best, pulled out her sketchbook. By this point the sketch that she had started on to kill time had turned into a full art piece. She smiled at her work, the house sitting at the edge of the clearing of aspen trees, the open clearing itself that looked like it would be fun to walk through or just lay in the grass in the summer. Something about drawing this made her feel oddly at ease.

She wasn’t sure how long she was there working on the drawing before she heard the teacher calling for the class's attention, causing everyone to look up to the front of the room. “All of the tests have been turned in, so now I think it’s time for that little surprise that you all earned. For the rest of the class, you are free to play video games, study, or whatever. As long as you all don’t get too loud,” Mrs. Viaene said as she went to her desk to start grading the tests.

Video games sounded nice but the computers didn’t have the ones that she liked. She enjoyed playing a lot of different games, but she would have to be in the right mood for them and right now the only thing that she was in the mood for was working on her drawing. She had more or less gotten the sketch done, now she just needed to take some time and go over some lines with a darker pencil and clean up some spots with her eraser. 

Once again, the squirrel hybrid got completely engrossed in her artwork, snapping too several minutes later as she heard the class phone ring. The teacher picked up the phone and answered it. Azalea half wondered if someone was in trouble and about to be called to the office or if it would be something a little more interesting.

“Azalea. You’re needed in the office. Your mother is here to pick you up,” Mrs. Viaene said, hanging up the phone and watching the hybrid gathering up her stuff.

“Which mom?” Azalea asked with a snicker, catching her teacher off guard with the joke.

“Both of them,” Mrs Viaene replied, rolling her eyes. “Have a good day Azalea,” she said as the hybrid walked out of the room.

Azalea had forgotten that she, her sister and her moms were going to be going to look at houses again. Beth and Cora had narrowed it down to three of them and because they wanted both their children to like it too, they were going as a family to see them today. The hybrid stopped at her locker, grabbing the books that she needed for homework before heading up to the office. She was greeted by the sight of both of her mothers and her sister, waiting for her. They all piled into the family van before heading off to their first destination: lunch.

__________________________________________________

“So, are these houses going to be better than the last ones?” Azalea asked, remembering the other houses that they had looked at and snickering a little on recalled the house with slanted windows.

“One of these is going to be the one,” Beth said as she drove the van down the road, looking for a place to get something to eat. “I have a good feeling about them.”

“Honey, didn’t you say that about the last three?” Cora pointed out, smiling a little at how happy and excited her wife was about the whole thing. Though she would admit that the idea of a cozy little house was something that she really liked too.

“As long as I get a nice room, and the walls are thick enough that I don’t hear the video games or weird movies that Azalea watches,” Jenny chimed in.

“Hey, my movies aren't that weird,” the younger hybrid said with a huff. “I mean you really liked the one that we watched the other day.”

“That was a pretty good movie, but the ending was weird and hard to understand,” Cora said, peeking back at her daughters.

“It made perfect sense. It was all in the guy’s head; it was a way for his mind to parse what he had done and been doing to other people,” Azalea explained, apparently having picked up a few things in the movie that her mother had missed.

“That kind of makes sense. But how did he or why did he die?” Cora asked, turning back to the front of the car, seeing that her wife finally found a place to stop for food.

“That I’m not sure of. I have an idea, but I’m not certain,” Azalea said looking out the window to see that they pulled into the parking lot of a nice looking burger place.

“See, they are weird movies,” Jenny pointed out as she unbuckled her seat belt.

“Jenny, a movie doesn’t have to make total sense to everyone to be good, or not be weird,” Cora stated as the family got out of the car and walked up to the door of the restaurant. “I’m sure there are some movies that you like that we might think are weird.”

“Fair,” the older hybrid said as they walked into the ‘Five Guys’ burger joint, her eyes going straight to the menu.

“I hope you all don’t mind. I’m in the mood for a good hot dog,” Beth said, looking up to the menu. As she was looking it over and thinking about what she wanted, Cora leaned over and whispered something in her ear, causing her tail to fluff and her to blush. Jenny and Azalea giggling at their parents.

“Get a room for you two,” Azalea muttered to her parents as she stepped ahead of them and started placing her order.

“We’re going to get a whole house,” the older squirrel said as she stepped up, placing her order after her daughter.

“I get the biggest room right?” Jenny asked, her tail fluffing up a little as she looked up to her parents.

“Nice try kiddo,” Beth said after placing her order, letting Cora step up. “You know me and your mom get the biggest room,” she said smiling, and standing next to Azalea to wait.

“Well I get the second biggest bedroom then?” Jenny asked, taking her turn and stepping up to the counter to place her order.

“I don’t know, I think it’s my turn to get the biggest room,” Azalea chimed in, hoping that she would get a larger room this time, since her sister had gotten the larger one in the apartment they lived in now.

“I don’t know. We will have to see what the houses have to offer,” Cora said as she paid for the meal.

“You know, we could get some of those pool noodles, a roll of bubble wrap, and two helmets and let the kids go at it. The last one standing gets the first pick of the rooms,” Beth joked as the group moved to and sat down at one of the tables to wait for their food.

“I like this idea,” Azalea said, joining the squirrel at the table. Her sister and other mother followed them. 

“I don’t. I’m sure that you’ll find some way to cheat,” Jenny said, rolling her eyes.

The family sat there talking, killing time as they waited for their order to be called out. Once it was, Beth headed over to pick it up before returning to the table and passing the food out and setting the massive cup of fries in the middle of the table. They only ever needed to get one order of fries; that was one thing that Five Guys didn’t skimp on. The meal was spent talking about new rules about keeping the place clean and other such mundane topics.

After finishing, they got everything cleaned up and the trash tossed into the garbage bin. The group headed back to the car and got in and settled as Beth started punching in the address of the first place to her navigation system. “The first one is the closest. From the photos, this one looks more like a big, fancy townhouse,” Beth said as she started pulling out of the parking lot and heading off to the first place.

“I don’t know if I like the idea of a townhouse,” Cora said, shaking her head. “We’re trying to get away from loud neighbors and people hanging pictures at midnight.”

“It only looks like one. Each house is its own thing; nothing is connected,” Beth said, taking a turn and heading into a more residential looking area. “If it makes it better, the bedrooms are big, and there is a deck that has a hot tub on it.”

“Hot tub party!” Azalea blurted out. “Just think how cool that would make us at school.”

“It’s going to take more than a hot tub to make you cool, you dork,” Jenny teased as she stared out the car window, looking at the houses that looked almost identical to each other.

“You’re both dorks,” Beth said as they pulled to a stop in front of one of the houses that had a ‘For Sale’ sign in front of it, and another car parked outside. “Looks like this is the one.”

“It doesn’t look that bad. Or that weird,” Azalea said as she looked at the house before they all started getting out.

“I don’t like it,’ Cora said as she shut the car door, Beth locking them with the fob.

“Sweetie, you haven’t even seen it,” Beth said as they walked up to the door, looking around for their realtor.

“I know. It just doesn’t look like something I could see us in,” Cora said, looking around the front yard. “It has some nice things about it. I really love the swing in the shade of the tree that Azalea will not be climbing.”

“But mom,” The younger hybrid huffed as she walked up to the tree and put her paw on it. “I could totally get to the top.”

As they stepped out of the van, the front door of the car parked in front of the house opened and an old prairie dog stepped out, dressed in a button-down shirt tucked into a pair of jeans held up with a fine leather belt. “Hello again, Mrs. Winters,” he called out as he walked up towards them.

“Hello Floyd,” The squirrel and jerboa said unison before Beth stepped up, holding her paw out. “Good to see you again. So you found us a few good ones to look at today?”

The old prairie dog reached out and clasped paws with Beth. “Sure did. Hopefully they’re more to your taste than the other three,” he said. “This was built along with the rest of this subdivision in ‘71. I guess they hadn’t yet realized they could use more than one blueprints when building these cookie-cutter houses,” he explained as he walked over to the front door, entering a code on a small lockbox that was hanging from the doorknob. He pulled a key out of the lockbox and opened the front door, pushing it open and stepping inside, waving them in. 

“Even with it being cookie cutter, I’m sure that Cora and Azzy can make it look one-of-a -kind. Put the Winter’s spin on it.” Beth said, as the family stepped in and looked around. The first thing that caught Beth’s attention was a little room off to the side that could possibly be her new office. Azalea and Jenny rushed to the glass doors in the back that lead to the deck, admiring the hot tub that she had mentioned.

“The house was remodeled about fifteen years ago. It’s all up to code, now that the original aluminum wiring has been replaced. They didn’t splurge for an HVAC though, thinking that the baseboard heaters were sufficient,” the old prairie dog continued. “The next owners decided to do even more remodeling, changing the upstairs layout and installing that Jacuzzi you’re admiring, young miss,” he said, following the group around as they inspected the rooms.

“How much did they change it? Are we talking just some little changes, like new wallpaper? Or worse?” Beth asked as she looked around. The downstairs had a pretty normal layout: lots of nice, big windows and space for them to move and walk around.

“The upstairs layout?” Floyd asked, raising his eyebrows. “They turned two small bedrooms and a small bathroom into a large bedroom and a giant bathroom, moved the laundry room that was next to the master bedroom down into the basement, and then converted that into a bathroom and converted the original master bathroom into a closet and powder room. It’s... eclectic, to say the least.”

“Looks like they might have had good tastes,” Azalea said, turning back to face the family before her and her sister walked into the living room, both of them chittering excitedly at the sight of the fireplace.

“It does look a lot better on the inside than the outside,” Cora said, peeking out from the kitchen. “I wanna save the upper floor for last; I feel like that’s going to be the killer.”

“I wouldn’t mind seeing the basement next. Yeah, it’s probably going to be the killer given all the changes they made, but maybe it’s not that bad,” Beth said as she glanced at the realtor before she started down the stairs to the basement, Floyd, Cora, and the kids following. “What about the basement?” she asked the old prairie dog.

“One bedroom, one den, one bathroom, one utility room, and a storage closet in the utility room,” he said. “It’s surprisingly well finished, except for the utility room,” the prairie dog added, following them downstairs.

The family looked around the hallway at the bottom of the stairs, Azalea rushing to the bedroom and looking around at it. “Mine!” She called out, claiming the room before her sister could even see it.

Cora was looking around the other den. She wasn’t a fan of having two dens, but she had ideas for what they could do with this space instead. 

Beth smiled as she watched her walking around the room, seeing the glint in her wife’s eyes. “You’re planning something aren’t you?” Beth smiled, taking her wife’s paw and squeezing it.

“I was thinking that we could turn it into a studio, seeing as Azzy claimed the room down here. That way we would have a space to work; tear up the carpet and put in some nice tile that’s easy to clean.” Cora said, motioning around the room and pointing out where she would set up her desk, easels, etc.

“I like that idea,” Azalea said, causing the two parents to jump as she startled them.

“We’ll see. We still need to see upstairs,” Beth said, heading back up to the first and then second floor. Floyd and her family followed.

Once upstairs the family looked around the two rooms. They were all a bit disappointed with how small the landing was, but Jenny liked her room, since it was huge. She would have to get used to the layout, but she liked it enough to gloat about getting the bigger room. Beth and Cora on the other hand did not like the layout of the master bedroom and the other changes that had been made.

“Well, I think we are going to have to pass on this one,” Beth said as they went back downstairs and then out to the front porch. “It’s not a bad looking house, but the layout of the bedrooms kills it for us. So I guess we will meet you at the next one.”

“Alright then,” Floyd said, locking the door behind them and sliding the key back into the lockbox.

With that they filed into their respective vehicles and got ready to head to the next house, Beth punching in the address into the gps before starting the trip. The drive to the next house seemed to go a little faster, the house was pretty close to the last one, and this one looked a lot different from the first one.

“Well, this one looks better. Not so cookie-cutter,” Cora said, looking at the house and smiling at the sight of the front yard and the space between this house and the others.

“But there's not that many trees, and no pine trees at all,” Azalea said, with a sigh as they pulled up to the house. Floyd’s car was already parked and waiting for them, and he stepped out again as they pulled up.

“You’re still banned from climbing trees,” Beth said as they got out of the car. The group went up to the front of the house and waved to Floyd. “I like the garage. That's bonus points already.

“This house was built in ‘87,” Floyd said as he walked over to the front door, unlocking it for them and letting them inside. “Surprisingly, it’s all original except for the appliances, which were replaced between five and ten years ago, when the originals started to fail.” 

“That’s not too bad. Shouldn’t have to buy anything new there for a little,” Beth said as they all walked into the house and looked around the open entryway and the living room to their left. Azalea wandered off to the sitting room that was attached to the living room and looked out the glass sliding door, admiring the backyard. 

“I like it already,” Azalea called as Cora was checking out the kitchen.

“So Floyd... No remodeling? Any weird layouts to worry about?” Beth asked as she walked through the house, checking out the kitchen and dining room with her wife.

“Nope,” the old prairie dog confirmed, sticking his paws in his pockets and watching as they explored. “It’s got a pretty good, if unimaginative layout. The basement isn’t finished; so you can either use it for storage or fix it up however you like.”

“I do like the idea of that. We could turn that into the studio for you and Azzy,” Beth said, walking around the house with her wife while holding hands. They took their time looking around the house, smiling and giggling at the antics of their kids as they worked out who would get what room. They all liked the fireplace in the living room. Azalea and Jenny liked the idea of using it for toasting marshmallows and just napping there. Beth and Cora had more romantic ideas in mind for it.

“Well Floyd, we definitely like this one a lot more than the other one, but I think we would like to see the last one. Knowing you, you saved the best one for last.” Beth said, her and the family making their way back to the front of the house and then out to the car.

The old prairie dog smiled. “Yep. I was hoping you’d fall for this one, honestly, cause the last one is a bit of a drive. On the other hand, it’s worth the drive,” Floyd said, locking the door behind them and heading over to his car.

The ride to the last house was indeed a bit further out. This house wasn’t even in a subdivision; it was down along a long dirt road, where houses were spaced several hundred feet apart and had huge lots that could have been used for farming if they were more flat and less rocky. The kids would have a lot of space for things like biking, playing, or just running around. The lot even had a few pine trees that practically called to Azalea.

“Oh, I like the look of this one,” Cora said as they pulled up to the large house with its dark wood siding.

“Ooooh I like this one too.” Azalea said, looking at the yard and trees that were scattered about.

“Well this one ticks a lot of things on the list,” Beth said as she pulled up to the house, wondering just how Floyd managed to beat them to each of the places. “Come on, let's check this one out,” She said. The family got out and walked up to the front door, again waving to the prairie dog.

“This particular vacation cabin was built in ‘04,” Floyd started explaining as they walked up. “The wood siding was stained and treated again just last year, which is why it looks a bit dark. It’ll fade over time until you have it stained and treated again. Looks great, but it’s a bit of a pain to keep it looking good,” the prairie dog said as he led them over to the front door past the right side of the two-car garage. “It looks very boring from the front, to be honest. But they made up for that with the back side of the house. I think you’ll appreciate the view,” he added as he unlocked the door and showed them into the wide open great room that included areas for a kitchen, dining room, and living room. The far wall was made up of huge windows that showed the enormous backyard and several other houses in the distance.

The group let out a little gasp in awe as they got a good look at the inside of the house. The windows framed the mountains in the distance just right; Floyd wasn’t joking when he talked about how good the view was. Jenny and Azalea rushed over to the windows and looked out at the back deck, looking at the chairs and tables that were there, the awnings stretching out and covering parts in shade yet somehow not interfering with the light that was coming into the house.

“This place is amazing,” Cora whispered as she and Beth walked up to the windows and looked out across the valley.

“Checking this one out was a good idea,” Jenny said, looking back at her mothers.

“Agreed,” Beth replied, turning back and looking into the living room. “What do you all say to looking at the rest of this? I’m sure that you two have to fight over- I mean ‘pick’ your rooms.” 

“There’s five bedrooms and four bathrooms, so they have plenty to choose from,” Floyd piped in. “There’s also a basement den that opens up to the back yard. The current owner has requested that you do not touch any of the instruments down there. Apparently some of them are valuable. This particular house was a bit out of the price range you’d specified, but it’s such a good deal that I thought it would be nice to look at. Just in case,” he said with a smirk.

“We can deal with the price part later. I’ve a feeling that you have something up your sleeve,” Beth said as they looked around the kitchen and bar area before turning and heading up to the second floor.

“I’m really liking this house; there’s a lot of room. We can turn one of the bedrooms into an office for you and one into a studio for me and Azzy,” Cora said as they crested the top of the stairs.

“Or I can just use this as an office,” Beth said, gesturing to the area next to the top of the stairs. It was a small area that looked down over the living room and had a good view of the windows and yard.

“It’s looking more and more like this is the one,” Cora said, smiling. 

Azalea was looking around a room down the hallway, an open room with a window at one end. It might not have been wide, but it made up for it in length. “I found my room,” the young hybrid called from down the hallway. “I’ll even have my own bathroom.”

“Good, that means that I don’t have to share with you,” Jenny said, coming up the stairs. “And I found my room too.”

“Well it looks like everyone is finding things. Come on sweetie, let's look at the master bedroom and find you that studio,” Beth said, taking Cora’s hand.

The family spent a little more time walking around and looking at the house. Jenny and Azalea took some time to look at some of the instruments, musing on why the owner had so many of them and settling on him being a musician or something like that. At the other end of the house, Beth and Cora were looking at the master bed and bath, making plans. Not much later, the family gathered back at the living room, talking about the house.

“This is the one,” Azalea stated with a nod.

“I really like this one,” Jenny agreed. “The view is stunning, there are lots of rooms, and I don’t have to share a bathroom with Azalea.”

“It’s got an office and a room that we can turn into a studio for you and Azzy,” Beth noted.

“I’m just worried about the price of it,” Cora said, looking around the living room. The place was amazing, but from what she had seen online, places like this would cost an arm and a leg.

“It might be outside our budget, but it’s better than wasting all that money on rent. If it’s too far outside the budget we can pick the other one. Or I can call mom,” the squirrel said, smiling. “Floyd? You said something about this being a little out of our price range. Just what kind of prices are we talking about?”

“It’s listed at a bit over a half million,” the prairie dog said, not even trying to sugar-coat it. “With interest rates at around four percent right now, you’re looking at around twenty seven hundred a month on a thirty-year fixed mortgage,” he said, waiting to see the shock on their faces before he softened the blow a bit.

“That is a little more than I think we can comfortably handle,” Cora said, shaking her head a little.

“I think we can handle it. We have the beach house. We can start renting that out,” Beth pointed out, smiling and winking to her wife before turning back to the prairie dog. “Floyd, I know you’re a businessman... I’m sure you know a little more about this house and the person selling it. How long has this palace been up for sale?”

A smile grew on the prairie dog’s face. “You’re a smart one. This particular house has gone up for sale and been taken off the market no less than four times in the past three years. It’s been up for sale for four months now and he’s dropped the price twice already. Hasn’t had a single offer on it, I suspect because it’s such a long drive from Denver. If you were to offer, say four-fifty, I’m betting he’d hold out a few weeks, maybe even a month, but accept it eventually. That’d drop your monthly payment down to only twenty-two hundred. And I happen to know a local credit union that can probably offer you an interest rate of three point five, which drops it to only two thousand.”

“That is something we can handle,” Cora chimed in, looking over to her wife, “and we wouldn’t even have to rent out the beach house or ask your mother.”

“Well, that sounds like a green light to me,” Beth said, turning from her wife back to the realtor. “Floyd, work your magic.”

The old prairie dog nodded. “I’ll write up an offer and send it over today, then. Just don’t expect a quick turnaround. As I said, he’ll probably hold out for a few weeks before biting the bullet.”

“I’m good at the waiting game,” Beth smirked. “Worse comes to worst, we will just have to pester you to show us a few more houses.” 

“I can’t wait to tell Alex,” Azalea chimed in, looking around.

“Don’t get too excited just yet. They need to accept our offer first,” Cora said, patting the young hybrid on the head. “Thank you again, Floyd.”

“You’re welcome. While we’re still out here, why don’t we check out the deck and the backyard? It’s a beautiful day and I think there was something on the listing about some kind of covered planters. I don’t know if either of you happen to have a green thumb or not...” the prairie dog said, walking over to the side door that led to the deck.

__________________________________________________

Alex awoke without the faintest notion of where shi was. It was a plain white room with a window and a small television hanging on the wall. A few uncomfortable looking chairs sat against the wall with the door. Apparently shi was sitting partly upright in a bed of some kind, judging by the white plastic railings and the fancy buttons, this was probably a medical bed, like the one from Legacy Meridian Hospital.

That brought back a memory about having to go to the hospital to get the metal plates on hir ribs removed. Which made hir aware of the dull pain in hir side. Alex blinked as the door suddenly opened and Mom stepped in, carrying a bottle of water and a small pack of peanuts. The young tigress opened hir mouth to say something, suddenly realizing that hir throat was dry. Shi swallowed a few times and took a deep breath.

At that noise, Raenne looked up. “Hey, kiddo,” she whispered, walking over to the side of the bed. “Thirsty?”

Alex nodded, and hir mom opened the bottle of water and handed it over. Unlike last time shi had surgery, shi didn’t feel weak; only a little funky, like it was hard to think. Alex gingerly took the bottle of water, holding it up and carefully taking a sip, then handed it back. “Thanks.”

“Well, they said we could take you home as soon as you woke up. Let me go grab a nurse so we can get you checked out. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Mkay,” Alex replied, still looking around the room. Sitting on one of the chairs were hir clothes along with a small jar that contained a few pieces of metal and some screws. Shi smiled; the surgeon had remembered to keep it for hir.

__________________________________________________

It had been a pretty interesting day for the half-jerboa, half-squirrel. A half a day of school, a kid upchucking in class, and then a test that she was pretty sure that she had passed. Worrying about the test would be something that she could do later. Right now she had a tiger that she needed to call. She had gotten changed out of her school uniform and into her pajamas before flopping on the pile of pillows and blankets that she slept on and dialing Alex’s phone number.

Alex raised her head up off the couch cushion, looking around blearily for hir phone before remembering that it was in hir pocket. After fishing it out, shi unlocked it and held the phone up to the side of hir head. “Hello?” shi asked, still a bit out of it.

“Were you asleep? It’s like five in the afternoon or something,” Azalea said, hearing the tired tigress on the other side. “We have things to talk about.”

“Huh?” the tigress asked, somewhat shocked that shi had napped for a solid three hours. “Yeah... I crashed on the sofa after we got home from the hospital. Wait... what do we need to talk about?”

“It’s a super serious talk... Like about you, me, and love and life,” Azalea paused, trying not to laugh at her own silliness. “You missed a lot at school today. That one guy was asking where you were, the one that has a crush on you.”

Alex rolled hir eyes; this was at least the second or third time Azalea had mentioned someone who had a crush on hir, and shi didn’t believe it for a minute. The other stuff was actually important though. “How much did I miss? Did you get the homework assignments for tomorrow?” shi asked.

“Wellll, in Mr Spencer’s class there was a kid that barfed. Then we got to act out being the United Nations. That was actually really fun, but not as fun as the massive food fight that happened,” Azalea said as she dug her way into her nest to get comfortable.

Alex rolled hir eyes for a second time. “A food fight?” shi asked with a heavy sigh. “Azzy, I need classwork details. Did Mrs. Petry talk about anything other than MLA formatting? Or did Mrs. Viaene cover anything that wasn’t in the book?”

“Umm, well, about Petry’s class, you know that it’s impossible to stay awake in that class,” Azalea said with a sigh. “As for IST, she didn’t cover anything. We had a test on network topography and then played games for the rest of the class.”

“Wait, we had a test?” Alex asked, hir tail suddenly doubling in volume as shi panicked. “I thought the test was supposed to be on Friday!”

“It’s nothing too bad. Just read over the little review thing in the back of the chapter and you’ll be fine. I mean, that’s what I did and I think I missed like two of the questions,” the hybrid said, stretching a little. “As for the rest of the homework, I don’t have all of it, I skipped out at lunch.”

“What? But you still have the English, Social Studies, and ISTE homework assignments, right?” the tigress asked, the fur along hir neck and arms standing on end. “Wait. Jennifer was there today, right? She would have the Math and Science homework assignments, right? She’s got some of the same teachers we do... right?”

“Nope, she cut class with me,” the hybrid said, her voice cracking a little as she tried to keep up the joke, at least the part about Jennifer skipping class.

“Seriously?” the tigress asked, too worked up to realize the last part was a joke. Shi stood up and began pacing around the room. “What am I going to do?”

“You should prolly sit down, take a deep breath and check your phone. Jennifer didn’t skip school, only me. And I already thought to text her for the work that I just texted to you.” Azalea said, finally giving in and starting to laugh.

Alex held the phone out, looking at the screen, then sighed in relief as the text message popped up with the homework assignments for tomorrow. At least shi could do that much. As for the test... Hopefully Mrs. Viaene would be okay with allowing hir to take it the day after. Shi held the phone back up to hir head. “Thanks. You’re a life-saver,” shi said, collapsing back onto the couch.

“I try,” Azalea said, still snickering a little. “Also I love how you didn’t question or say anything when I said that I skipped half of the school day. Do you think that I’m secretly a hoodlum or something?”

“Uhh... I dunno. I try not to judge people,” Alex said, realizing that shi had been played, yet again. Being friends with someone who frequently told fibs as a joke was going to take some getting used to; shi hadn’t had to worry about that with Lizzy. “If you want to be a hoodlum and skip school, I’m not going to stop you,” shi added. “You do you.”

“For the record, I didn’t skip school like that. Mom One and Mom A took me and Jenny to get lunch and then look at some houses,” the hybrid said with a little sigh, her tail lazily flicking around. “Soooo you got the plate removed. Can I come see?”

“Sure,” Alex replied. “The doc actually kept the plates for me too. They’re less impressive than I thought they would be though; just some pieces of metal and a few screws. What kind of houses were you looking at?”

“The kind that you live in. But in all seriousness, moms have been wanting to move out of the apartment and get something that is more home-like and not a waste of money in paying rent. So we went and looked at the three that they have narrowed down to. Might even be close enough to flash you from my window,” Azalea said sitting up, and looking over at the clock.

“I know there’s a few houses here that look like they’re empty... summer homes or winter homes or whatever they’re called,” Alex said. “I noticed that the first day I got here. So were you planning on moving out here or something? Also, what’s flashing?”

“It’s not one of the houses near you; this one is a little further out of town. The one that we all really liked is nice, like a big yard, even has little mini greenhouses. Just think, we could get so much use out of them, I might even let you use one,” the squirrel hybrid said happily, her tail twitching with excitement.

“Mini green houses?” the tigress asked, thoroughly confused. “What... no, nevermind. Why don’t you just tell me about it when you come over here. Are you going to walk or have one of your moms drive you?”

“I’m gonna get one of the moms to drive me. It should be about time for her to go get Jenny from whatever weird thing she’s off doing. Soooo see you in a few?” Azalea asked, starting to get out of her nest.

“Okay. See you soon,” Alex replied, waiting for a moment before ending the call. Then shi realized shi hadn’t even asked mom for permission and it was a school night. Maybe shi could convince her that it was for homework purposes. Shi stood up, yelling “Moooom?”