Well, this is only about a year and a half late. To be fair though the chapter has actually been done for a long time, Iwas just sitting on it because I wanted to backlog some chapters before uploading it but... well with going to a new school and having to get adjusted and having a number of news stories with strict deadlines I ended up not getting much done. X3 But hey, it's finally out for all 5 of you that were reading it. Considering it a Christmas present. X3 But no, seriously, I apologize for how long this has taken... life just happens I suppose, but still I don't want to be one of those peoples that starts something and doesn't finish it, so I will try to get back into it. I know where the story is going, just a matter of actually sitting down an writing it.

Either way, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Thank you to Gadabout for reading it before I uploaded and giving me the confidence to put it up. It's not much, but hopefully it will get the ball rolling again.

If I do not upload anything before the end of the year, Happy Holidays everyone. :3 Thanks for the support.

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“Good morning Ash County!” Liam’s familiar voice greeted through the stillness of the motel room, causing the horned panther on the bed, adjacent to the blaring television, to stir. “Sure is a warm one today, right Stacey?”

“That’s right Liam; while temperatures were projected to continue to drop after yesterday, the reality is that they have risen back up some. Countywide we can expect heats in the 80s, with Greenburgh topping the charts in the high 80s. Not terrible; perhaps weather to go to the lakeshore? We will have a slight breeze and bright sunshine all through the day,” the equally loud voice of the female newscaster, Stacey, responded back.

“Well, I’d personally rather stay inside with the air conditioning, and I recommend the same for the rest of you. If you do decide to spend some time in the sun, make sure you stay hydrated! Those with dense fur especially need to be wary of overheating.”

“Excellent advice Liam! Well, we’ll give you the updated forecast for the rest of the week, but first I think it’s time we talk about what professional chef…”

Marianna groaned in discomfort as she swatted her hand paw across the surface of her cheap particleboard nightstand, knocking her cellphone and bottle of sleeping pills onto the ground before finding the remote. She jammed her thumb onto the – button, lowering the volume to a reasonable level.

“Air conditioning,” she repeated from Liam, and opened her magenta eyes to look at the wall over here bed. There sat the air conditioner, doing a whole lot of nothing. Dead. Marianna sighed to herself. “It’s going to take a lot of talking to get them to fix it this time,” she said sullenly, hoping she got the single employee who actually spoke in a language she could understand.

Wetness broke the panther’s train of thought. Not the wetness that signaled she had a particularly good dream, but a general wetness all through her sheets and fur. Even sleeping on top of her sheets, Marianna found herself in a pool of sweat. She set her jaw in determination and closed her eyes, slowly sliding her legs to the edge and sitting up, creating a symphony of slick wet sounds. Her ears splayed; not only did this feel gross, it sounded almost as gross. And then she lifted her rear end from her bed, making a final peeling sound as her fur and sheets separated. It sounded worse, she mentally whined.

“It’s just a swamp cooler, maybe I can fix it?” she mused aloud, looking up to the off white device. “It’s just a motor and a pump… well, and some tubes and pads. Can’t be too hard.” She took a step closer to where the outdated machinery hung, but caught sight of herself in her mirror. While her fur was not all that long, sleeping in all of that sweat had left her sleek black body as a canvas of many swirls and otherworldly designs.

‘Maybe I should shower first,’ she thought in shame, and trudged to one of her windows, opening it up and almost gagging at the humidity that poured in. She audibly whined and leaned into onto the sill, covering her chest modestly with her arms and making sure her aching unmentionables were not in view. “It’s so muggy already… if I shower I may never be dry again… but I’m not dry even now, and dirty worse yet,” she spoke to herself, eyes plagued with indecision, tail whipping unhappily back and forth.

With an undignified sniff to her armpit area her muzzle wrinkled, and her mind was made up. Who would want to be stuck in a cubicle with her smelling like sweaty fur? Besides, she figured as she pushed away from the sill, showers are the perfect time for meditation, and maybe even a bit of time to check up on all her friends. A low purr welled up in the panther’s throat as she grabbed a fresh pair of panties and walked, with a bit more pep in her step, into the bathroom.

Ignoring the peeling paint and mildew smell she probably should be concerned about but could never find the energy too be, Marianna peeled her tight panties off with a sigh of relief. Not that she would want to brag about it, but she just had a lot to fit into the cotton prisons. “If only I cared,” she muttered to herself while one hand turned the water on and the other gently pet her beast. Once the water was ready, she entered her shower, causing both a moan and a purr to try to escape at once, sounding instead like a garbled mess.

“Felines are so sexy,” she snarked at herself with an eye roll, but slumped against the cool shower wall in happiness as the water poured over her gross fur. For the first time since meeting Leah the other day a smile was on her lips. Really, who doesn’t love a good shower? The feeling of water cascading over your body, the heavy sound of it hitting the floor; it is the perfect place for tranquility.

Perfect place to escape from the world, for just a bit.

***

“Princess Marianna is back!”

“She’s back? Oh, she is! It’s been so long!”

“It’s only been about three days.”

“Well, uh, shut up, it feels like forever when she’s gone! Don’t be a Grumpy Gus!”

My perfectly pedicured paws stop right before reaching my little friends, and I smile down to them. I wriggle black toes for my trio of little ones, chuckling as they fawn over my big digits; normally micros would be afraid of such a sight, I think, but not my friends, they just love checking them out.

“Don’t worry Dalton, you know I can see through you,” I coo down to my feistiest of friends, moving my paw so I can ever so gently rub the side of my big toe against his red cloaked back; he always looks so adorable in his red and white adventurer outfit, not that he adventured far beyond my chambers here. Once Dalton gets his pets, my foot tilts over to gently rub my other two friends, Mary and Kelly, with its padded ball area.

“I hope you all survived without my doting for the past few days… and can survive some more of it today,” my lips curl into a grin as I scoop the trio of them up in my hands and bring them up to my up towards my face. My grin only widens as I see them brace themselves.

If there is one thing micros must know about us felines, it’s not to get too close to our muzzles because we will… lick them. My friends know exactly what they are in for as I open my maw and bring it closer; Dalton tries to look aloof, but Mary and Kelly wriggle in excitement. Starting with Mary, I gently slap my wet, pink tongue onto her feet, giving them a quick lick to hear her squeals of delight before dragging my slurper all the way up her body. I repeat the same for Dalton and Kelly, before just smooshing my black nose into them.

I hear squeaks and gasps, and can see their shocked little faces looking up over my muzzle. Perhaps I can nuzzle a bit too hard? But how can I help myself? They are so adorable, especially in their role playing outfits, I just have too smoosh them! Well, I at least ease up so they can keep talking.

“Bleck, did you have to get us so wet Princess? I only have one set of clothes this nice,” Dalton groans, shifting against the side of my muzzle.

“Shush you! It’s just a bit of saliva! It won’t ruin your precious clothes you drama queen,” Mary quickly comes to my defense. She has always been my little defender, whenever my friends get a bit too personal. Not that my friends get on my case all that much!

“Well that makes me think; why are you so drooly today Princess? Did you skip breakfast again?” Kelly inquired, being the lucky one directly before my nose. I huff some warm air onto her.

“Maybe. Then again, my sweeties taste so sweet, maybe you all just made me a little hungry,” I say, my grin returning.

“I hope you are not implying…”

“Of course not!” Mary quickly interrupts Dalton before he can finish his question. “Princess Marianna would never harm us, you know that.”

“If you say so…” My heart sinks with a bit of guilt at Dalton’s fears, poor thing.

“Well, with that out of the way... since we are all dressed up for it, maybe we should go adventuring? What say you princess, have any ideas?” Kelly asks, bouncing with determination.

“Oh, I’m not sure if now is the time little one, I only meant to check in briefly…”

“Aw, come on princess, you’re always so busy with your royal duties! When was the last time we had some fun together?” Kelly presses. I can feel my resolve breaking.

“I know Kell Kell, but I do have things to do… well,” I swallow, and set my friends on my plush bed, fit for royalty. “Maybe I can spare a bit of time… I probably will not be late… oh but it is my second day…”

“Come on princess,” Mary joins Kelly in the pressuring. “You can stand to be a little late…”

“It wouldn’t be a smart idea,” Dalon comes in with some logic.

“Who cares? It’s fun,” Mary counters back.

What to do… I really shouldn’t, but… wait what the heck is that?

***
Loud shuffling noises broke Marianna from her fantasy. Like the sound of something heavy being dragged over wood. Why now of all times! Marianna quickly turned the water cold to rid herself of her excitement. As her blood pressure rose and she became hyper aware, she realized: someone is in her apartment. Someone uninvited. She knew because really, when was the last time she ever invited anyone to this crackerbox?

Taking a deep breath she shut the water off and tried to dry herself off as quickly and but quietly as possible. Maybe they didn’t hear her or know she was here? Maybe she could get to her cell phone, or just sneak out of the apartment?

Drying and more drying, rubbing the fluffy yellow towel over her dense black fur.

‘I can’t fight him! I mean, I’m big… but I can’t hurt someone! But what if they want to hurt me?” She bit her lip in frustration, drawing a tiny bit of blood with one of her fangs.

First towel soaked, time to use the second.

‘What don’t… I can’t…’ she stifled a whimper, let her second towel drop to the ground, and clenched her fists, staring down the door to the rest of her apartment. The shuffling sounds were gone, but there was clicking, and dripping… what the heck were they doing?

‘Maybe I’ll just scare them… if they don’t leave I can run… please God, let it work…’ She inhaled deeply through her nose and took a step towards the door.

‘Here we go.’

Yanking the door open Marianna barged into her own living room, instantly seeing the dark figure standing near her swamp cooler.

“Get the hell out of my apartment! I’m giving you one chance,” she mustered the most ferocious growl she could and stared down the dark figure, poofing her fur out to increase her mass as much as she could.

The figure barely reacted to her shout, which hurt a bit. Her fluffy black tail twitched, but other than that she did not move at first. It was only after several awkward seconds that the figure turned away from the swamper and to Marianna, revealing herself as a black wolf, dressed in mostly dark gray, with piercing red eyes, and two straight horns wrapping around the side of her head and aiming right at Marianna. The wolf grinned at Marianna.

“Sup sis. Nice tits,” the wolf said in a low sultry voice.

Marianna’s sudden courage deflated along with her fur. “Sequoia?”

***

“You know you’re not fooling anyone, Leah,” a concerned voice called down from above.

“Am too,” Leah muttered into the fabric of the couch cushion, “I mean be quiet, I just didn’t get a lotta sleep last night, just need a moment.” The artic fox lay face down with her arms and legs sprawled out on the plain of brown and creamy white zigzags. Her muscles ached so much from the night before, her body was practically limp, just a puddle of worn out fox fluff.

“Uh huh. So you’re definitely not still tuckered out from making dinner last night then? Or trying to clean up afterwards?” the same voice called back down. It was obviously the voice of Colleen, Leah knew that, though could not rightly know where exactly her little sister was judging her from, since her face was buried in the couch.

“Of course not! Come on, how out of shape do you think I am? ‘Sides, it was just a salad! Salads don’t take that much effort!”

“They do when you’re not even as big as the salad fork,” Colleen chided down, along with a snort of air.

“Hey!” Leah called back. She planted her paw hands onto the couch cushion and manages to push herself up just enough to glare at her little sister. However when she saw the good natured grin on the towering zebra’s muzzle she could not help but smile along with her. “Mean, Colleen, mean. C’mon, what do you take me for, some kinda micro?”

“…I’m not really sure how to answer that one without hurting your feelings,” Colleen mused, her face looking like it was unsure if it was supposed to still be teasing or sympathetic.

“So so easy,” Leah snickered back. Now that she was looking up she was finally able to discern that Colleen was on the couch with her, though sitting at the other end with her train sized legs stretched out towards her, feet upright and towering on either side of her. Leah’s eyes scanned across the thick black skin on the bulky trotters, wrinkling her nose at the sweaty sheen on them.

“Do you have to put those things near me? ‘Sides, no feet on the couch, you know that, put ‘em on the ground,” Leah muttered up to her sister before flopping back down on her front.

“Of course I do. How else would I be able to give you toe bumps?” Leah heard Colleen chuckle down, and was not surprised to feel a something slick, leathery, and huge rubbing against her side, no doubt one of Colleen’s big toes.

“Stoppit,” was about all Leah could muster, though her pristine white tail did flick at the oversized digit like a horse trying to whip at a fly. “Take ‘em off the couch,” she continued into the couch fabric.

“If you insist,” Colleen sighed, as did Leah in relief, feeling the couch cushion spring upwards with the weight of the zebra feet being lifted away from her. The air around Leah suddenly become just a bit less musky, which put a tired smile on her face… until she heard the familiar sound of one of her siblings feet slapping against their coffee table.

“Girl, did you just…” Leah growled as she pushed herself back up, onto her knees this time, and looked out across the canyon that separated the couch from the oak oval plateau that was the coffee table, and there were Colleen’s stompers, soles planted onto the finished surface, smearing sweat and gunk onto it. Leah’s ears shot up in shock and betrayal as she rose to her feet.

“Colleen what the heck? I have to dust that today, and now…” she started before just holding her tongue, biting on her lip to keep herself from continuing.

“And now what? Now it might be too hard for you to do?” Colleen said, the smirk on her face just replaced with a more compassionate countenance.

“Colleen… I can still do it…”

“Uhg, that’s so not the point Leah! I know you CAN handle it, but you shouldn’t have to! At least not when I can and have the time,” the zebra said to her little big sister as she put her feet on the ground and leaned on her side so she was looming over the arctic fox. “Besides, do you really expect me to just sit by while you clean up my foot funk?”

Leah’s face and ears went flat.

“Okay this was a bad example. But it’s just like I was saying last night, you’re just… you need to…” she trailed off. Leah knew what she wanted to say, and knew how hard it would be to say it. Not that it really would hurt Leah’s feelings if she did... but playing dumb suited her needs well.

“I know that you’re concerned about me Colleen, and I appreciate that, but I need to pull my weight too. Maybe preparing dinner MIGHT be a little difficult here or there, but things like dusting the surfaces is child’s play! I think you’re overreacting sis,” Leah explained with a warm smile, trudging over to her sister’s thigh to plant her hand on it.

“I wouldn’t call it that when you become an actual gray fox from dusting one table…”

“Well, that is my own fault for not doing it as often as I should, or nor doing a good enough job,” Lead said as her ears and tail drooped.

“No! No, just…” Colleen sighed, obviously thinking over her words carefully. “I think… I think that you are just a bit overworked right now, trying to take care of four people and preparing for college, it’s perfectly normal to feel overwhelmed and slip up here and there,” she said while giving Leah a slightly strained smile.

“I spose you might have a point…”

“SEE?” Colleen started a bit too enthusiastically before dialing it back. “Ehm, I mean, so you see even you can get overwhelmed, there’s no shame in it,” the Zebra slowly moved her hand behind her sister’s back, holding her against her thigh in something of a hug. “You deserve a little break, and I can handle your chores… what do you say?” Her hand gave Leah a gentle squeeze, her expression becoming softer as she gently massaged her sister’s back with a thumb.

Leah let out a sigh before answering, “Fine… you win.”

Colleen’s eyes lit up.

“But just for today, and only because I need to take the library laptop back, AND I will be supervising the whole time, especially while you cook.”

“Guh damn it,” Colleen laughed in frustration, “I hate how stubborn you are.” She intentionally ruffled the arctic fox’s white hair with her fingertip.

“Hey, you know how I am in the morning,” Leah giggled and tried to fight the finger away from her head, unable to escape being pinned to the denim of her sister’s skirt.

“It’s not morning Leah, it’s almost twelve thirty.”

“Wh-what?” Leah chocked in shock, and looked to the window, the strong sunlight streaming in and hitting the calm white and warm orange walls of their home definitely being too bright for the usual time she got up. “Why’d you let me sleep in!? I need to take that laptop back!”

Colleen just laughed and bumped her sister’s nose with her fingertip. “You looked way too cute to get up. Plus you obviously needed it; I mean I carried you out here and you barely stirred… and I’m going to be driving you to the library anyways; it’ll be turned in on time, and we can pick up your laptop while we’re out.”

“But you said you were going to be handling my chores! Oh, I knew I shouldn’t have let you talk me into a break,” she growled, her tail bristling as she tried to break out of her sister’s hold.

‘You know, I’ll just have to do it all. Give you a taste of your own medicine and see how you like it,” the zebra snickered, having to gently grip her older sister around her waist to keep her from getting away.

“So uncool sis,” Leah sighed in defeat, and just leaned over the top of Colleen’s black thumb, resting her arms on it and resting her head on them. “Well, you might be able to use your size against me, but you can’t keep me down 24/7! Soon I will escape!” Leah managed to laugh, her tail wriggling against the zebra’s palm as she felt the familiar sensation of being lifted into the air, until she was right before Colleen’s muzzle.

“True,” the zebra grumbled, snorting hot air onto her sister, “Maybe I’ll have to just stick you in a cage when I can’t watch you,”

“Ah ah ah, careful, you know that’s illegal now!”

“Yeah yeah, I know… nothing illegal about a sneaker though,” Colleen said as a large grin overtook Leah’s field of vision.

“Oh my god that’s disgusting!” Leah gasped in horror, “How could someone even think of that! Bad, bad girl!” She delivered a gentle smack to the zebra’s black bristly nose. “Jeez, just give it a week or so, I’ll be back in school and things’ll go back to normal.”

“That’s what I’m worried about…”

“Pardon?” Leah asked with a tilt of her head.

“Nothing. Come on sis, let’s go grab that crappy college laptop so you can finally get your good one back,” Collen smiled and slipped her sister into the breast pocket of her lime green over shirt, patting the pocket, and the fox shaped lump inside it, softly before heading to her and Leah’s room.

***

“What the hell are you doing here Sequoia?” Marianna asked from behind her kitchen counter, the only place where she could hide her lower half without simply leaving the room. She kept her eyes trained on the black wolf as she wished that she had put something on to cover her unmentionables before barging out of the bathroom.

“What’s with the hostility? Can’t a gal visit her favorite little sister if she wants?” Sequoia returned, not even looking at the direction of her sister while she tinkered with the open swamp cooler. “Mm-mm, you don’t clean these things and they get all clogged up…”

“That’s not what this is about; you could have at least called and told me you would be coming by,” Marianna scoffed at her sister, rubbing her black temple with one of her paws. “How did you even get in here? I had my locks changed.”

“I asked the person at the front desk for a key, told them I was your sister,” Sequoia answered back nonchalantly. With some grunts she forced the water hose back in place and placed the cover back onto the machine. Turning the knob on the wolf chuffed in delight as cool air began to pour over here. “Much better. You know Mari you really shouldn’t invite someone over if you if you have a busted AC. You really expect us darkies to survive in this heat? You’re lucky you have such a nice sister,” sassed the horned wolf, turning her eyes back to her sister.

“Of course if this is how you dress in the heat maybe I shouldn’t have; been a long time since I saw that dick… gotten pretty big huh?” Sequoia continued with a sultry voice, sashaying closer to the kitchen. Those eyes were like an actual predator’s.

“Stop being gross Sequoia. And I never invited you over, you broke into my apartment!” Marianna’s fur began inflating again, though we as her sister approached she backed up until her back was against her kitchen cupboard.

“You wanted me to fix your air cooler thing, you said so when you last texted me,” the wolf replied, expression unchanged as she leaned again against the stained white countertop that split the kitchen from the rest of the room, one red eye staring directly up to her sister’s face while the other began to drift downwards.

Twisting her legs in discomfort and wrinkling her muzzle in disgust Marianna let out a huff before quickly stomping past her sister and into what could be called the bedroom of her box, her eyes never leaving Sequoia’s until she was all the way to her portable closet; she quickly grabbed some panties and stuffed herself into them before then more carefully search for something to wear for work.

“All I said was that my swamp cooler was busted… and that was a week ago!” Exasperated Marianna as she slid a dress skirt, tilting her head over her shoulder so she could keep her gaze focused on her sister.

“Hey I have I life of me own, cut me some slack! At least I got over here and fixed it right?” Sequoia chortled as she seated herself on one of the torn up stools by the counter, leaning back against it with her arms spread wide as her red eyes continued to examine the panther.

‘Hate the way she stares,’ Marianna seethed internally, putting on her bra and blouse and before walking to her mirror to try to fix her hair over her curved ram horns. ‘It’s like I’m a piece of meat… like she’s an actual wolf staring me down… I can’t stand it.’ She growled at her reflection in the mirror as her limp her did not want to properly cover the horns.

“Look, Sequoia, just… why are you here?” She snarled, tossing her brush back onto her vanity carelessly and whipping her head back to look over at her sister again, keeping her magenta eyes narrowed.

“Fuck sis, calm the hell down. What’s the rush?” Sequoia chided. Unmoving save for her bushy black tail swinging like a pendulum behind the stool, she kept that same grin. Marianna couldn’t stand how much she hated that grin.

‘I have work today, I cannot be bothered with this crap Sequoia, so just spit it out or go,” Marianna demanded, walking up to her sister at the counter and intentionally looming over her to further press her. Standing over her sister and looking down on her from above, seeing her own thick arm in comparison to Sequoia’s, Marianna found something stirring in her. Confidence? Whatever it was she was feeling different than the feline she was when she exited her bathroom… at least until she looked at the wolf’s face.

That grin was finally faltering into something of a grimace as the wolf sat there, head tilted back to look up to Marianna. She was wincing, uttering small, almost unnoticeable groans of displeasure. She was really wracking her brain.

With a sigh Marianna backed off, and went back into the kitchen. Her fur sank back down to her body as she frowned and opened her cupboard. ‘That’s still Sequoia,’ she thought to herself as she poured some water into the glass and set it down in front of her sister.

“Sorry… just take a moment and have some water.”

***

The two horned sisters sat in silence for a good minute while the smaller, more feminine of the two sipped on some water while using her other hand to rub behind one of her own ears. It was a fairly awkward moment, Marianna mentally noted as she shifted on her stool, sitting beside her sister.

“So… do you remember yet?” Marianna timidly asked, only to be greeted with an animalistic snarl. “S-sorry, just… I mean I do have things to do…” She trailed off. ‘What can I do? I cannot just throw her out, not when she is having an episode… I should not be so mean to her, even if she is…’ she sighed as she thought.

During the awkward silence Marianna kept her eyes on her stained carpet for the most part, shifting between thinking and just making out what the shapes might look like. He eyes would shift over to her sister now and then, just to check up on her. However she could not help but notice a difference in her sister.

Marianna recalled how big and scary Sequoia used to be. Those horns were still plenty scary of course, between their size and her sister never dulling them like Marianna does with her own, but besides them, looking at her sister there on that stool, she looked so… dainty. Her frame appeared so much smaller than Mariana’s, and even if Marianna had a certain kind of bulk that some folks found attractive, she could not keep her eyes from following the graceful flowing curves of her sister’s body. Everything felt so smooth, so natural, and so intentional. Comparatively Marianna just felt so… unintentional. Her eyes went back up Sequoia’s body to her face, only to realize her sister was staring back; the gaze was not her usual one, just confusion.

“Where am I again?” Sequoia finally broke the silence, her tail hanging limp behind her. Marianna sighed sympathetically.

“My place. Your sister’s apartment?” She decided to leave out the fact that she entered without permission. It would be mean to throw that in her face. She shifted as more silence took over the air around them, at least until her sister’s eyes finally lit up with recognition.

“Oh! Marianna, I needed to see you!” Sequoia began, getting off of her stool and getting her eager grin back on her muzzle. “Yes, I saw you updated your occupation status online and thought I should take my baby sister out for a congratulatory lunch.” This caused Marianna to raise her eyebrow.

“You went through all of this trouble just because you wanted to take me too lunch?” She questioned.

“Well…” Sequoia’s grin turned into something more of a smile, mostly, it was still fairly disconcerting, “it’s not like you have been returning my calls, texts, pokes, anything. Come on, I’m not stupid, any idiot could see you’ve been stuck in this fucking apartment for way too long. So it is only natural that I have to remove the boulder blocking the cave entrance, to pull from that silly book you love so much,” she admitted with an eyeroll.

“Don’t start… uhg,” Marianna groaned as she rubbed her wide muzzle, and gave her sister an inquisitive scowl. “And why would you care that much?”

“Aw come on… you might only be my half-sister, but you’re still my baby sister. I know what you think of me, but is it really so strange that I would want to spend time with you, check up on you, help you?” Sequoia retorted, and placed a hand paw on her sister’s shoulder, forcing her face into something of a normal smile.

Discomfort spread over Marianna immediately as she was touched; she wanted to shrink away from the hand, but… ‘Maybe she was being serious?’

“I suppose…” Marianna sighed, and then gently removed the paw from her shoulder, “but I really do need to be going to work. So can we do it another time? I promise I’ll call you and set it up,” she finished before grabbing her hat and purse, and heading to her front door. She looked back to her older sister, motioning for her to come over.

“Oh fine, if you insist… but I am holding you to that Mari,” Sequoia chuckled and walked towards her sister, “but I’m holding you to that promise.” Mari’s wolf sister exited the apartment, swishing her tail as she grinned over her shoulder to the panther.

Marianna gulped. This did not feel right, but maybe her sister was telling the truth and just wanted to spend some time together? She supposed it would not hurt, just one lunch. She wanted to learn how to hang out with people, real people, so this could only help her, right? She closed the door behind her and walked down the stairs with her big sister.

“You’ll see Mari, we might have our differences, but I am here for you,” Sequoia beamed as she went down the steps.

“What are big sisters for?”