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* All named characters within this story are actual characters I have met while in a program known as * Second Life, and most of the characters have given me permission to mention them in the story. * Not to be copied and given out unless credit is given to the original writer of the story. * * * Plink, plink, plink... My claw was hitting the same note over and over again on the baby grand piano that was sitting on the corner. I was into classical music, although at this moment I wasn't in the mood to play a little Mozart, or Beethoven, or even Renoir. Wait, that's a painter. My bad. Anyway, it wouldn't matter if I was able to play it, because the notes would have been drowned out by the sound of a blow-dryer running upstairs, in the exquisite (to me, anyway) cabin that my roommate and I were sharing together. Moving away from the piano, I glanced at myself in the window, the reflection returning a green crocodile/alligator combo of a lizard, the green scales melding nicely with the rawhide leather that I liked to wear - this consisted of a sleeveless shirt, with a vest on top of that, and brown trousers. My toe claws wiggled against the bare wooden floor, since I didn't like to wear shoes (nor can find any that fit, in that case) and my tail swished slowly, it stopping once I heard the blow-dryer stopping. I turned away from the piano, rounding a corner to walk to the other side of the cabin towards the stairs, stopping as an antique grandfather clock started to chime 8 pm. I smiled a bit, glancing over to a HUGE poster of a blue-and-white dog from a popular children's action show - it was something my roommate put up, not me. Especially since this particular one was - how did he put it? - "Rule 34" in a sense. The dog in question was completely nude, but he had his lower torso twisted in a way to hide his genitals and his rump at the same time, one hand downwards in a clenched fist, the other holding his badge in the air, as if challenging me to some- "HEY LIZARD!" I heard coming from the steps. That snapped me out of my daze and made me glance over to my roommate - a black spotless jaguar with a white underside - I only saw the underside at this point because he was wearing a pinstripe suit - opened - and a loose tie around his neck, both black. He was also wearing a pair of snappy black trousers and, like me, was barefoot - er, bare pawed. He also had an old-style fedora on his head, tilted at a rakish angle. He was also sporting a grin that showed his two little fangs my way. "You drooling over my poster again?" "I was not drooling," I responded in a flat tone, sighing as I grabbed a ratty-looking cloak that was hanging over one of the couches, draping it over my shoulders and slowly fastening the clasp around my neck. "Besides, Jag, I was waiting for you to finish your bath." I paused, looking over at Jag - short for JaguarMaster - as he was busy buttoning his shirt. "When are you going to install that bathtub anyway?" "Yeah, when are YOU gonna install it?!" was his comeback, startling me for a moment. We really didn't have an official tub, but a friend of Jag's was kind enough to supply a hot tub, which Jag quickly installed right on his balcony, just outside his bedroom. Until he (or I) ended up finding a good one and buy one, we were using that as our official tub. I sighed. "I told you already, I was supplying the kitchen and dining room. It was your job to get the bathroom." I had finished clasping the cloak and started heading for the door. Our house, for those curious, had no furniture when we both moved in, and both Jag and I had very little to begin with. Luckily, with my working at a toy store and he getting tips from his club act, we were able to furnish a good bit of it - I had supplied the piano and the clock as well as the seating arrangements in the den, and my bedroom; he put up the decorations and supplied his own bedroom with his things. The only thing we needed, now, was a bathroom. "There's no room that DOESN'T have a fucking series of windows," he snorts, following me to the door. Counting the bedrooms and the massive kitchen/dining/living room/den sector, we had four rooms (I consider the first floor one massive room since none of the walls close in enough to officially make a room) and of the three upstairs rooms, I ended up choosing the one room with the fewest windows, instead of the other spare room that had a wall-length and a half full of windows. Even worse, those same windows were full-length. I rolled my eyes, quipping the obvious: "Ever hear of curtains? Or do I have to buy them as well?" Jag glared at me. "Where the hell can I buy curtains?!" That ended that conversation, as we both stepped out of the cabin and headed to the one car that was sitting in the driveway - a blue 2002 Ford Windstar LX - Jag's color, and car, for that matter, since I couldn't drive. In any case, we both opened our respective sides of the doors (me tucking the trailing end of my cloak so that it wouldn't get caught in the door again) and fastened our seatbelts as Jag stuck the keys in the ignition and churned the car to life. We left the house and started driving down the road to our destination - the club that Jag earns his tips in. The radio was playing some... song I can't remember (I never pay attention to music anyway) as I started up a light conversation, "So when's your boyfriend gonna move in?" Jag's boyfriend was a winged white saber tooth tiger named Synjo Deonecros. I haven't met him in person, but Jag had a poster or two of him in his room (I've got to figure out where he gets those custom posters) and I must say, he's really lucky to get a hunk of a feline- Sorry, sorry. I'm going off topic. "I'm still not sure," he responded, stopping at a red light and fiddling with the radio to find another tune he'd like. His ears swiveled a bit, one ear flicking against the hat, before he looks over at me. "What about you? Have you heard from your boyfriend?" He has a coy grin on his face as he asked that. I swallowed heavily. He knew this anyway, but the "boyfriend" he's referring to is really just a crush I have, on this one guy - a human - that I work with at the toy store. Or should I say WORKED. About two weeks ago, he stopped in at the workplace and told me that he had a job at another place, closer to his house, which made my heart sink at the time. I asked him if we could still be in contact, and he agreed, but... "No, not yet." I let out a long sigh, avoiding eye contact with him as I stared out the window, watching the houses slowly change to a forest, then a series of hills and mountains as we drove closer to our destination. I was feeling really depressed on the account that I haven't had received contact from him whatsoever - haven't even gone out with him at all. But I digress. We finally arrived at the club, snapping me out of my daydream, as I stepped out of the car, taking a deep breath of the crisp air. Unlike all other reptiles I actually liked the cold, and could tolerate it better than others. It was also a nice night to be out, since there was a full moon low in the sky, drowned out by the bright neon lights coming from the mountain that we were standing in front of. The club, is actually in the near top of this mountain. We both walked under the entryway at the base of the mountain, stopping by a bouncer - a gruff tiger in a white shirt with the sleeves ripped off, and black jeans - to show our IDs to show that we were allowed in. I let out a sigh, looking at the ramp that was zigzagging its way up to the top of the mountain, before both Jag and I started to climb it. Let's just skip ahead and say we got to the top, with Jag feeling fine and me needing a seat badly. But in any case, we run into a second bouncer - this time it was a lion in a Japanese kimono (okay, kimono's not the right word but I do remember, from playing a sword fighting game, that it was the type of outfit a samurai from that game was wearing). But instead of showing our IDs, Jag grins and offers a high-paw to the lion, which he takes. "Hey Jag! Hey Cham! Welcome to theme night at the Feline Conspiracy!" The lion grinned, offering a paw in my direction, which I just grasped and shook tightly. The lion really wasn't a bouncer, but the DJ - one of them anyway - of the Conspiracy, which was a dance club... with a private room deep into the mountain. The private section was just recently added by the club's owner. "Hey Shuj. I don't have any outfits besides this, but I'm not in the mood for dancing," I respond to him with a weak smile. The DJ lion's full name was... too long for me to pronounce. Although I did frown at the lion's outfit. "What about you, though? You said it's theme night, but I don't recall that... thing being part of the roaring twenties." Which actually explains Jag's pinstripe outfit - he was portraying a "swinging cat". Oh god, I can't believe I just wrote that. Shujin chuckles, turning around and, in one deft leap, jumps into the rotating platform above the dance floor - intended for performance dancers, since the floor was a series of platforms with tip jars on each platform, and at four points of the multi-tiered platform was a dance pole, with five more in the middle region, most of which already had dancers on it, some being males in pinstripe suits, some females in flapper outfits. Around the platforms was a set of curved couches, a couple with other furries (mostly felines, yes, but there was a wolf or two in the seats) watching the dancers on the platforms. Somewhere in the seats, my eyes suddenly caught another feline that both Jag and I knew: Aaron. He was a grey housecat and was also wearing a pinstripe suit, except his was open to reveal his chest and the loose tie around his neck. But the jeans he was wearing - faded, to boot, kinda ruins the theme of the roaring twenties about as bad as Shujin's. Jag apparently noticed him, too, because both of us were heading in his direction. "Hey Aaron," I managed to greet the feline as Jag waved coyly in his direction. "Anything new with you?" "Nothing but a new set of songs I'm planning on playing tonight," was his grinning response. I just gave a gentle nod as I moved to one of the couches to sit down on. "Nice. I hope there's some songs in there I know." "In other words, he's hoping for the cartoon songs that Shujin likes to play," Jag smirked over in my direction as he spoke, clamoring his way to one of the empty dance poles, quickly wrapping one arm around it and swings around on the pole once, winking at Aaron. "And video game music," I responded. It's the truth, after all. As I had said before, I don't listen to very much music, but I do pay attention to it if it's in a video game. Speaking of video game music, I looked over to Aaron. "That reminds me. Did you find a music file for-" -"'This Machine' by Julien-K? Yep, just got a copy of it this morning," he grins back at me for a moment, before eyeing Jag up and down as the panth- er, the black cat started gyrating around the dance pole as if he was holding on to the flagpole of a dinghy in a monsoon. "BAH!" He suddenly called out, looking at the two of us watching him. "Sonic went downhill after SA2." "Let's not argue about that again," I gave an exasperated sigh, leaning forward and resting my head on my hands. Granted, while he and I have very similar tastes and preferences, we even argue about the very same things - Sonic the Hedgehog being one of them. I guess that's the flaw of being a roommate; constant arguments. Aaron sits down next to me and smiles. "I'll add it after Shujin does his set, alright?" He gives a gentle kiss on my cheek before getting up and making his way to join the lion in question to the DJ booth. Or rather, platform. The DJ "booth" was in fact an overhang of a round spinning platform that was supported from above with four catwalks joining together in the middle, allowing the platform to hang freely over the center stage of dancers. There was also a ladder leading from the DJ platform to the support above, allowing anyone to limb in and out of the platform when needed. "Hey." I blinked a bit, looking around for a moment before I realized it was Jag - who was supporting himself upside-down on the pole by only his ankles - that was speaking to me. "Let's not do it again tonight, alright?" My eyes looked downwards, avoiding his gaze. He and I knew what he meant about that. And, unfortunately, in the process of what "it" was, we also hurt one of our friends, because we were fighting over him as if he was a trophy. "Alright, alright," I finally exclaimed as I felt Jag's eyes boring into me. "Stop making me feel like an asshole already." "HOLY FUCK!" Jag startled me as he shouted that, also getting a few looks from some of the patrons. Jag quickly straightened himself and covered his mouth with a paw. Awkward pause. "CHAM SWORE!" He finally shouted, resulting in a few giggles or titters from the other patrons, and me twitching an eye ridge (I'm a reptile, I don't have eyebrows) at that. "Hey there, you swinging cats!" Shujin's voice promptly interrupted the festivities (and, at the same time, stopped me from swiping a punch at Jaguar), and as I looked up, I blinked. Shujin had changed his outfit to fit that more along the lines of the 20's theme he and Aaron were hosting, in a deep blue pantsuit, slacks, and even a deep blue fedora with a faux fur band around it. "I'm glad you all made it here to-night, because we are going to have a Sa-WINGING time, folks! All the music we are playing tonight will get your blood pumping and your feet tapping, and even get those clothes off of your backs and waists! So let's get this party SWINGING!" And at that, "Rock This Town" by the Stray Cats (hey! I remember a song!) began playing, and even I was tapping a foot to the beat. It was probably because of that reason that I didn't notice a pair of thick paws going around my chest, those same paws attached to a muscular set of arms, white with grey spots on them. Although I knew who it was that was hugging me tightly, it did catch me off guard. "Woah, Roland! Stop! You're crushing me!" I managed to squirm out of the guy's arms and spun around, panting a little at the muscular hyena. Rolandmaxum was his full name, and he was one of those beings one would call a shapeshifter - in this case, he was a muscular hyena, white with grey spots, and a blue underside. His "modest" outfit consisted of him wearing a dark blue vest, left open to show off his massive pecs, and a pair of jeans that were obviously a bit small on him, because he was sporting a heavy package down there. Oy vey. "Hey hunny," Roland was grinning, moving around the couch to give me a firm kiss on the snout and a quick grope on my package, making me jump a little, before managing to pull myself away from him and letting out a heavy sigh. "And a hello to you, too, Roland. What brings you here? You usually hang out at GYC." I started smoothing out my vest, which got wrinkled during the unexpected encounter. GYC was short for the Gay Yiffy Club - a large club full of male furries, almost all naked (thanks to a ‘clothing optional' rule) and a lot of... well... naked pole dancers. "Yeah, but I figured I'd hang out here, see how well you were doing here. Hi Jag," the ‘yena smiles up at Jag, who just grunts and continues swinging around the pole. "Say, who's DJ'ing tonight?" "That would be two people. Aaron and Shujin," was my response, pointing up to the middle of the club. "Ah, cool, cool. I wanted to make a dedication song in your name, hun. Something that I always listen to when I have a relationship go bad." Roland winks at me before sauntering off towards the DJ stage, his stubby tail wagging behind him in anticipation. And if you're wondering what he meant by that phrase, he also knows about what happened with Matt, and he also knows that I keep depressing myself over it. I figured he wanted to cheer me up with a song, so I let out a small smile and sat back down on the couch. It was... probably.. 20 minutes later? I can't remember. That Shujin's first set had ended, and the two Djs up there were chatting away as usual. I only heard half of the conversation, smirking at the bantering the two of them always have with each other, while my eyes were wandering around at some of the furries that were dressed for the 20's theme. "Hey, Lizard." I blinked out of my daze and looked up at Jag, "Sorry, what?" "I'm in the contest. You know what to do, right?" I nodded slowly. "Alright alright, I know. But you owe me." He was referring to the contest that, whenever there's a theme going on, there was also a contest board - one for men, one for women, and the herms had to pick between those two - for best-dressed for that theme. "Hey, cats!" Aaron suddenly shouted, making me snap my head up. "And birds and lizards and dogs and whatever creature you may be! A dedication is in order, for our lovely Chamelion, reccommended by Rolandmaxum, who is here for the first time tonight!" That brought a lot of hoots and whoops and a couple cat-calls when Roland, sitting on the opposite end of the couch I was on, stood up and flexed his massive muscles. I saw Jag roll his eyes. "So, Cham, enjoy your song!" And what happened next ended up in disaster. I glanced over to the "Next song" board, which was nestled between the two contest boards, and saw that it was a song called "Listen to Your Heart" by an artist called D.H.T. or something like that. I can't remember. Anyway, it was a slow comforting song instead of an upbeat song, and I never heard the song before, so I closed my eyes to listen to the lyrics. ‘Listen to your heart when he's calling for you...' I felt my heart sink, opening my eyes slowly as my thoughts focused immediately on picturing what this person was suggesting. ‘Listen to your heart, when there's nothing else you can do...' I felt my eyes water. ‘I don't know where you're going and I don't know why...' MY feet and my arms suddenly tensed as they started pushing my body up to a sitting position, claws gripping the leather of the couch tightly, puncturing holes into it. ‘But listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye-' "Stop the song!" I suddenly stood up, hearing my voice breaking down just from that last line. "Just... stop the song, now!" Not only did the song stop, but so did all activity in the room. Everyone was looking at me - Aaron, Shujin, Roland, Jag, everyone - as I felt my tears rolling down my snout. "Just..." I shook my head, unable to say anything else, and simply took off. I left the club. I heard two voices calling for me, but I didn't register who they were. I went down the ramp, passing by some latecomers who moved out of the way, looking at me as to what the heck I was doing. I passed by the bouncer, without glancing back. I passed the parking lot, where Jag's car was. I ran.

• * * I don't know how long I ran, or where I was. All I knew was that I was in a park, which was quiet considering what time it was (not that I knew what time it was, though) and I do remember sitting down on a bench, staring down at the ground as trickles of my tears fell from my snout, leaving small spot puddles on the ground below. It took a while, I don't know how long, but eventually I ran dry in my tears, and took a slow breath, sitting up on the bench, staring up at the moonlit sky. "Hey." I looked around for a moment, hearing a new voice, before I finally noticed an old friend of mine. "Oh, Hey Dar. Sorry about how I look." Dar, or Darius as his full name was, just nodded and sat down. I wiped my eyes to better clear my vision and glance over to my avian friend - specifically a black phoenix - and his unique clothing. The phoenix was wearing a large red trench coat and black jeans, and I could barely see one of his colorful shirts hiding underneath that trench coat. Nonetheless, if it wasn't for the moon glow I would have overlooked him, in his black feathers, with a hint of blue coming from the tips of his wings. Darius just smiled and rubbed my arm, looking down at me as I rested my head on his shoulder . "So what's wrong?" It was nice to hear a concerned voice every once in a while. I let out a deep sigh and sat back up, avoiding eye contact with him. That's usually a sign that I'm really upset, if I avoid eye contact while I'm talking. "I'm confused about my life, Dar. I met this cute guy at work, and I thought he and I would be good friends, and suddenly he up and goes to another job that's closer to where he works at. And while I'm happy about him with his better job," I added, turning to look at him, "I was hoping he and I would still be in contact with each other... but..." I paused for a breath, it exhaling in a white puffy cloud from my mouth. I didn't even realize unto now how chilly it was tonight, despite it being early summer. "I miss him, Dar. My roommate and another friend of mine are both aware of that, but... the friend tried to make me feel better by playing this one song in dedication for me at the club Jag and I were at." "Uh-oh." "Yeah... it was a song that depressed me even further, and without thinking, I... oh crap." It then hit me as to what I had done, and I buried my face in my hands. "Crap crap crap CRAP." Now I felt like an idiot, what with me just running out of there, and I had a feeling Jag was worried sick about me. A hand slapping on my back snapped me out of it. "Want me to call Jag? Let him know where you are?" It was almost weird that he'd know what my issue was. I let out a sigh, giving a nod. "Yeah, thanks. Do you mind if I walk around a bit? My mind's so jumbled up with my own feelings that I need to take a walk." Darius understood, and nodded. "Sure." He smiled at me as he pulled out a phone and started dialing a number, as I got up and followed down a path at random. The path ended at a cliff overlook with a wooden railing to prevent people from stupidly jumping off. It looked more like a crevice of sorts, except this one didn't have a river flowing through it, as is typical of such a scene. I let out a soft sigh, resting my hands on the wooden railing, staring up at the moon for a moment. Then, without thinking, I started talking aloud to myself. "I can't forget about him. I want to, but half of me wants to hold on to him. He was my first crush, and I can't let it go." My eyes closed, my claws drumming along the railing. "Why am I so scared, though? I have his number, I could call him... but would he be upset at me? Would he think I was stalking him?" A sharp huff of a breath. "Will I screw up my chance of a relationship with him again? God, I'm so confused. I don't' know what to do." I banged my fist hard on the railing. I don't know if that's what did it, or if it was because of weak supports, but in my frustration I turned around, my back to the cliff, and I let out another sigh. I had noticed that talking to myself was getting rid of some stress I was having, so I continued talking to myself. "Should I visit him at his workplace? That might be a good idea, but I don't know where it is. I could visit him at his home, but I might be invading his privacy..." I let out a sigh. "Maybe I should contact him. See if he wants to go to a movie with me... maybe a dinner," I started mumbling to myself, another pang of fear overcoming my "maybes" and making me fall silent for a moment. "No, I'm a coward. I won't have the courage to tell him. I wonder if I am going to live depressed and single all my life." I closed my eyes, leaning further against the railing. That last thought, of me being depressed and lonely, kept flooding my mind. That might've been why I didn't hear a steady cracking underneath me. Or that I was slowly leaning backwards, over the cliff. Or that the railing that was underneath me finally broke and fell into the cliff.