Bernie sighed as he got his jacket and backpack out of his locker. Then he frowned. "Hey, are you really an only child?" he asked. "I thought I heard your mom talkin' about your brother sometimes."
Kenny shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess. But he's way older'n me. Like, he graduated from school when I was in third grade. He an' his girlfriend are even gonna have a baby, I guess."
Bernie's eyes widened. "I didn't know that could happen."
His friend nodded. "Mom 'n Dad say it's cause I was a 'surprise.' They figured they were just gonna have Keith an' that'd be it, I guess."
Bernie shook his head as they turned to walk towards the buses. "That's kinda weird. Is he cool?"
Kenny shrugged. "I dunno, I guess. He's got a car an' stuff. But we never really got along much. My parents never seemed upset about havin' me, but I don't think Keith ever figured on havin' a little brother. He wasn't mean or nothin', but...it was kinda like not havin' a brother at all, I guess."
Bernie frowned. "Dude, that sucks."
"I guess. I mean, Mom 'n Dad like me, an' I got you to hang around with, but it's just kinda weird, is all."
"Huh, weird." Bernie tried to steer the conversation to lighter topics. "So I guess you're gonna be an uncle then, huh? Do they know if it's gonna be a boy or a girl?"
Kenny nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's gonna be weird. His girlfriend's a catgirl, so I guess it's gonna be a girl."
Bernie smirked. "So you're gonna have a little niece who can beat you up!" he taunted, turning the argument from earlier back around on his buddy.
"Oh, ha ha!" retorted his friend. He didn't care what Bernie thought, there was no way a little baby could overpower him, even if she was a catgirl. Plus, he thought to himself, I wouldn't try to fight her in the first place. That's just silly. But he didn't tell Bernie that.
Karyn sat on the living-room couch, browsing through the family photo albums. Her tail was threaded through the three-inch gap between the seat cushions and the back that had developed since the dice roll took effect yesterday afternoon, and swished idly behind her.
It was interesting, she thought, that the albums during the first six years of her life pretty closely correlated with the way she remembered them; there were occasional oddities like a picture of her at age six proudly holding a sunfish in her mouth at the lake cabin up near Milaca (as she recalled it, she'd mostly spent the trip playing king-of-the-hill with several of her cousins on a large inner-tube a little ways out from the dock,) but mostly it was all stuff she remembered, even if the demographics skewed a good deal furrier (not to mention more female - in addition to various cousins, one of her uncles was now an aunt.)
But then a bit over eleven years ago, there was suddenly a new member of the family involved. Karyn looked over some pictures of her mother (now a chocolate-brown tortoiseshell cat-woman with soft midnight-black hair) holding a newborn Karina, herself holding her new little sister, photos of the dedication... It's like there's this whole part of my life that I never knew about, she thought. At first it was strange, like someone had surreptitiously doctored the photos to show someone who never existed...but as she went on, it became increasingly impossible to think of it that way. Karina smelled like family. Karina felt like family. Karina was real, an actual person with her own life and history, and the fact that Karyn's own memories didn't square with that did nothing to change the fact. The cognitive dissonance she was experiencing was real enough, and of course she knew the reason for it, but that didn't make her little sister somehow "fake..."
There was a soft thud and the couch jostled noticeably. Karyn looked over to see Karina there, perched on the armrest. "Watcha lookin' at?" she asked, her whiskers twitching and tail lashing as she flashed her big sister a fangy grin.
Karyn smiled at her, finding that she didn't have to force it. "Oh," she said, "just looking over some of Dad's photos."
Karina peered over at the album that was laying open on Karyn's lap. "Hee!" she said. "That's when we went out to the farm for Eddie's birthday an' we had a flour-bomb war up in the hayloft. 'Member how long it took to get all the spots outta our fur?"
Karyn laughed - inside, she knew that she didn't remember, but hearing her sister reminisce over it was almost as good as reliving it herself. Karina sat down next to her, and they dug through the collection for a while longer, Karyn smiling to herself as she listened to her little sister tell her about all the things that had never happened two days ago. She wondered about Karina's birth - why had her parents waited six years to have another child? Had they planned on having her, or had she been a surprise? Either way, what was it about this reality that had led to them having another kid?
A while later, after they'd more or less had their fill of looking through the family albums, Karina looked up at her big sister with a curious expression on her face. "Um, Karyn?" she asked. "Me an' Tabby were talkin' today, an'..." She looked a little embarassed.
Karyn smiled and ruffled her hair. Her little sister leaned into her touch in that way that cats do when they're enjoying the attention, her embarassment temporarily sidelined. "What is it?" Karyn asked.
"Well, in class the other day they split up the boys an' the girls an' the catgirls, 'n they told us about...y'know, how stuff changes when you get older." Karyn nodded, remembering when she'd sat through the same thing some years ago. Her little sister looked sheepish. "An' me 'n Tabby were talkin' about what they told us, y'know, 'bout 'that time of the month...'"
Karyn chuckled. She'd never really anticipated herself having this discussion with anybody, at least not until she had kids of her own... "Yeah, I know."
Karina looked her in the eye. "Does that happen for everyone?"
"Well, every girl, yeah."
"Well, yeah," Karina said. "They said boys don't have to deal with that. But, like, what about Grandma?"
Karyn laughed. "Well, it stops eventually when you get older, once the body is done being ready to have kids. So no, not Grandma."
"But Mom?"
"Well, I haven't exactly asked her, but yeah, she's probably still got a good few years left."
Karina shook her head. "It sounds so weird. They said it messes with your mood 'n stuff 'cause of hormones, an' makes it hard to focus on stuff..."
Karyn shrugged. "Yeah, it's kind of a pain in the butt, but it's just a fact of life for us. Anyway, there's medications that can help manage the symptoms."
The younger catgirl nodded. "They were tellin' us about those, yeah. Guess I'm gonna need to start carryin' some around with me in a year or two. This just all seems like a lotta trouble just to be able to have babies!"
Her big sister laughed. "You're preaching to the choir, lil' sis. But that's life..."
Emily Drullers looked across the dinner table, wishing her husband were here. They'd known going in that a blended family was going to be a challenge, but it was quite a bit more of one when one parent was gone so frequently - there was always that feeling like neither she nor her stepsons really knew where the boundaries of authority were between them. And Lucy can be a handful on top of that, she thought, and we still don't know if... She glanced furtively down at her abdomen. It had been careless, but when the mood came over her...
No, no, she could worry about that later. Still, she thought, I wish to hell that Jack would push them to get him a position with less travel required. She was going to have to have a talk with Bernie, and...she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on with Leonard that he wouldn't talk about, at least not to her. But...well, Jack wasn't going to be back until next Thursday, so there was really no getting around-
Her thoughts were interrupted by the clatter of a fork on the floor. Her ears pricked up and turned in the direction of the sound, and she followed them to find Lucy sheepishly picking up a forkful of spaghetti with a napkin. "Oh, here, honey," she said, "let me help you with that." She got up and helped her daughter clean it up, tossing the spilled food in the garbage. Thank God it's not carpeted in here, she thought.
Returning to her seat, she looked over at the boys. "So, guys," she said, "how was school today?"
Leonard shrugged and mumbled something noncommittal. Bernie tried to hide a guilty look. "O-okay, I guess." Great, he's hiding something, too, she thought. Is it just about that thing with Lucy? She glanced over at her daughter to find that she had one leg high in the air and was cleaning herself down the inside of it. "Oh, honey, not at the table!"
Lucy looked up, a little embarassed. "B-but...it was spaghetti sauce an' it got on me..."
She sighed. "C'mon, sweetie. You know that's a job for a washcloth."
"But then my fur gets all wet 'n matted!"
"I know, Lucy, but you can fix that after, and it's not polite to do that at the table, okay?" Really, she sympathized, but, well, this was just one of those things young catgirls had to get a handle on. Mom'd remind me I was doing the same thing at that age...
Lucy nodded hesitantly. "Can...can I go play now?"
Emily thought for a moment. "Sure, sweetie, go right ahead. But put your dishes in the dishwasher first, please."
The young catgirl complied, then went off into the living room, where Emily saw her sit down on the couch and resume cleaning herself, presumably on the assumption that she was out of sight. She sighed. One day at a time...
Leonard got up shortly thereafter. "'m gonna go up to my room," he muttered. "Got a...thing...with the guild..."
"Sure," she replied. "Don't forget your dishes, though." She frowned as he walked away, her ears tilting back slightly. "Leonard! Dishes!" She felt a bit embarassed as a hint of a hiss crept into her voice, but he could just be so intractable... Mumbling something, he returned to the table and tossed his dishes into the dishwasher, then went back on his way. She sighed.
Well, that left just her and Bernie. Might as well get down to it...it was clear from his expression that he knew this was inevitable too. "Lucy told me what you said at school," she said. "You know we've talked about this, Bernie."
He scowled, kicking his feet under the table. "But we're not really siblings! She's only my sister 'cause you married my Dad!"
Emily sighed. "That's true. But you know what? Everybody here accepts that we're family now, except you. Even Leonard doesn't try to pretend that that isn't the case. This isn't something that's going away, Bernie, so you need to learn to adjust to it. I know that's not always easy, but it's the truth. And telling people that she's not part of your family is not acceptable, young man."
Bernie frowned. "Nobody asked me 'bout this..."
Emily put a paw-hand to her forehead, feeling her tail start to stand out straight. "Bernard Anthony Drullers, could you get over yourself for one minute? Your dad didn't need your permission to remarry, and even then we've made every effort to make this work! You're the one who's dragging your feet and making things difficult, and for what? You could be just as much a part of this family as any of the rest of us, if only you'd try. But you won't listen to me, and you keep pushing Lucy away even though she wants to get along with you! Did you know, even though you keep brushing her off, she still looks up to you as a big brother? But you keep trying to shoot her down. Why?"
He bit his lip. "Oh yeah!? Well...well she's the one who keeps beatin' me at everything! I can't be better at nothin' 'cause she's so good at stuff, an' you're always payin' attention to her an' even Dad likes her better!" Against his will, he felt his lower lip beginning to quiver and his eyes starting to tear up.
Emily sighed, realizing where this was coming from. Not that she hadn't suspected before, but he'd been so guarded until finally being pushed to the point of saying what he was really thinking. As exasperating as it was to deal with this...well, she thought she knew what he needed to hear. She embraced the little human boy that had become a part of her family; he met the gesture with resistance, but both of them knew there was really nothing he could do about it.
"Oh, Bernie," she said. "Honey, we don't love you guys because you're better than each other at anything. You all matter to us; it's just that sometimes Lucy needs closer attention. That's because she's a little kid, and she's also a catgirl, so she's not as used to controlling her instincts as humans are. And your Dad is taken with her because he's never had a daughter before, not because he's stopped being proud of you."
Bernie tried to stiffen up and resist his stepmom's embrace, but...he kept finding himself sinking into her bosom, and there was just something about the soft, warm, furry feeling surrounding him...he frowned, trying to stick to his intention. "She...she keeps beatin' me at everything though..."
"Bernie, Lucy keeps engaging you at these things because she thinks you're cool, don't you understand that? She's trying to relate to her big brother. Imagine how you'd feel if Leonard tried to shut you out of his life?"
He cringed slightly at the thought - and remembered what Kenny had told him about his older brother that afternoon. But, he thought, but...it's different when it's a girl doing it...
His stepmother hugged him. "Anyway, it's not like there isn't anything special about you, you know."
He looked up at her, perplexed. "Like what?" Everything he tried, she kept being better at...
Emily smiled. "I think you have a pretty good sense of humor, for one thing."
He frowned. "'s not what they think at school," he muttered.
She looked down at him, those big triangular ears perked up. "What was that?"
"...nothin'."
"Bernard..."
He sighed and pulled the letter out of his pocket, handing it to her. She opened it and read it. "It just says you were being disruptive in class again. It doesn't say what you did."
Bernie looked up at her sheepishly. "I...I put a mouse in the teacher's desk..." It didn't sound like such a terrible thing when he said it - why was everybody acting like it was such a big deal?
She looked puzzled. "Isn't your teacher a human?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I just...I thought it'd be funny to see what all the catgirls did. But the teacher freaked out an' then..." Unable to stop himself, he broke into a grin and tried fruitlessly to suppress a case of the giggles. "...an' then one of 'em caught it an' ate it an' Mrs. Sanders looked like she was gonna be sick an' half the girls freaked out too!" Aware that he wasn't exactly helping his case, he tried to force a more serious expression back onto his face. "...but then they got all mad and hauled me 'n Kenny into the office after." He frowned. "Just 'cause she's scared of mice...but that's just dumb!"
His stepmom shrugged. "It does seem silly to be scared of them," she said. "But you can't fault people for their little phobias like that. They can't help it, any more than your sister can help wanting to clean herself off when she spills something on her fur. It's not your teacher's fault that she reacts that way, it's just in her nature."
Bernie frowned. "But you tell Lucy not to do stuff just 'cause of instincts..."
"Sure, but that's because she's still a kid and learning how to behave - and some of these things would make people feel awkward around her when she's a grown woman - especially around humans who don't understand those urges the way other catgirls do. Your teacher being afraid of mice isn't like that - and she probably never had anybody to help her get over it when she was young. That's something you should be more considerate of. And anyway, you already know perfectly well that this kind of acting out in class isn't appropriate behavior, Bernie."
He sighed. "But it's boring!"
She nodded, kneading his shoulders in a weird but soothing fashion. "I know it seems that way to you. I felt the same way at your age. But this is still stuff that you need to learn, and if nothing else you shouldn't be distracting the students who are interested in learning it."
He gave an annoyed, noncommittal grunt. She shrugged. "Anyway, we'll talk about all that at the meeting, I'm sure." She released him from her arms, and he got back to his feet, still looking a bit upset and confused. "But you know," she said, "that is kinda funny."
In spite of himself, Bernie smiled.
