[Vfw-times] FUR: Cassie the Rock Vixen-Stage Sisters chapter 5

[Rufinoform at aol.com]

Stage Sisters chapter 5

Written by & copyright of Andrew Cotton  Wolfie8898 at hotmail.com

Featuring Laretta Morrigan (Cassie's rhythm guitarist) and Cassie

Cassie, the Rock & Roll Vixen
http://members.aol.com/rufinoform/Cassie.htm
Laretta Morrigan
http://velar.ctrl-c.liu.se/vcl/Artists/Richard-Foley/Laretta2.jpg

Please read chapter five, featuring Laretta and Cassie at
http://members.aol.com/CassieRockVixen2/stage_sisters_ch6.txt

All characters created by & copyright of Earl Bacon except Laretta, who is 
created by
and copyright of Andrew Cotton, Alex, who is created by and copyright of 
Donna Fritz
and Vixina, who is created by and copyright of Cloudchaser Shaconage.

The relentless sweltering summer sun heated the atmosphere to a slow boil as 
teeming
crowds eagerly gathered outside Marshall Stadium.  Not even the notorious 
Texas summer
heat could restrain them from the most exciting event of the year outside of 
the first
Cowboys game of the season - the Lone Star Metal Round-Up.  The event had 
already become
an annual pilgrimage among human metal bands and fans from its beginning, and 
the addition
of furry performers in recent years only generated even more excitement and 
popularity.
As the sun lowered in the sky, the heat index unfortunately did not, but that 
did little
to dampen the enthusiasm of the thousands of fans.

In the waiting area on a closed-off side of the stadium, dozens upon dozens of
performers mingled and bustled about around their trailers in preparation of 
the main
event.  The heat was utterly stifling in closed quarters, affecting both 
human and
furry performers alike.  In the trailer rented by Cassie's Band, a lone 
she-wolf tried
her best to keep her cool.  She sprayed herself several times with a water 
gun, letting
the cool water soak into her fur, though she felt little relief.  "It was a 
good idea not
to put on any make-up.  No one would have noticed, and it would've run right 
off!"
Laretta thought to herself.  "I kinda wish I had a nice cool halter top 
instead of
this bustier, though.  I feel like I could explode!"

Seated next to Laretta was Vixina, the red haired digitigrade vixen who would 
play the
fiddle alongside Laretta and Cassie.  She too was feeling the heat and tried 
in vain to
cool herself off with a fan.  "Man, it sho is hot heah!  An' Ah thought Ah'd 
be used to
it, whut with bein' from Tennosee an' all that!"  Laretta playfully sprayed 
her, and the
vixen giggled.  "Thanks, 'Retta.  Too bad we're not allowed ta have that on 
stage!"

Laretta just smiled and shrugged.  "It's almost impossible to get used to the 
Texas
summer heat, especially when you've got fur!" she replied as she habitually 
tugged on the
lacy cuffs of her frilly ankle socks.  "I just hope it won't effect our 
performance!"

"We is supposed t' be playin' last, when everyone else is done," replied 
Vixina.  "Ah
sho' hope it'll cool down a little!"  At that moment a tall, dark haired 
vixen strode
in, wearing a glamorous blue dress slitted thigh-high on both sides and 
carrying
ice-cold drinks.  "I thought you might like to have these," said Cassie with 
a grin, "and
I know I don't want my band mates to melt down come showtime!"

"You done read our minds, Cass!"  laughed Vixina as she gratefully grabbed a 
Coke
can.  Laretta took for herself a can of orange soda and smiled at Cassie.  
She had grown
quite accustomed to Cassie's thoughtfulness and generosity, although she 
worried about how
she could possibly repay Cassie for all that she had done for her.

Cassie was no less affected by the heat and anxiety than her companions, 
though she did
her best not to let it show.  She reclined in a seat and let out a contented 
sigh, turning
her attention to Laretta.  She had been concerned for Laretta's well-being 
since
their conversation the previous night, and wanted to be certain that the 
she-wolf was well
and truly prepared.

"How are you feeling about all this, Laretta?" the tall vixen asked, hoping 
for a
positive response.

Laretta responded with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.  "Besides 
feeling a little
like Oz's Wicked Witch after taking a shower, I feel super!  Thank you so 
much for staying
to talk things over with me last night, and don't you worry, I promise not to 
let you down
on stage!"

"Whut's that y'all are talkin' 'bout?"  Vixina asked, unaware of their 
encounter the
previous evening.  "Oh, Laretta just had some last minute jitters, and I gave 
her a pep
talk," Cassie replied, trying to keep everyone's spirits high.  Laretta 
nodded, joining
in.  "Don't worry about me flaking out.  Cassie got me straightened out all 
right!" she
said with a smile and a wink, gently nudging Cassie on the shoulder.

Cassie gently chuckled and nodded in return.  "I think it's safe to say that 
everyone
playing tonight is feeling the same way we are.  Let's just take it easy for 
now,
and everything will go just fine."

Laretta stood up and stretched, feeling a great need to just relax and forget 
all her
worries.  "You know, I think I'd like to stretch my legs and mingle a little 
with the
other bands playing tonight," she said as she slipped her feet into her black
stilettos.  "Sounds fine to me, Laretta," said Cassie, "Just don't wander off 
too much.
We should all be ready and set up fifteen minutes before we go live."

"All right, Cassie.  I won't be gone too long,"  Laretta replied.  Cassie and 
Vixina
started chatting between themselves as Laretta stepped out of the trailer to 
the open
area where many various human and furry performers and crew milled about.  
Some were
"grabbing a smoke," though most were simply getting themselves "psyched" for 
their big turn
up on stage.  Laretta had the keen ability to pick up scents,  a common trait 
from
lupine ancestors, and the various strong odors of all those present came 
straight upon
her.  It was all entirely fascinating to Laretta, being part of such an alive 
tapestry
of humanity and fauna.

As she sauntered about smiling and saying "hi" to several other performers, 
it had dawned
upon Laretta that she could encounter one of her former band mates.  It was 
entirely
possible, since most of them moved on to other bands in the region, and they 
would
not hesitate to pass up an opportunity like this.  Laretta began to fret 
slightly - What
would she do if one of them approached her?  Would they try to intimidate her 
and ruin
her performance?

Laretta bristled at the thought of such a thing happening.  "No way," she 
thought with
steely resolve, "I won't let them get to me this time!  I am here to play 
with Cassie and
her band, but more importantly, I'm here for myself, because I want to be 
here!  I don't
care what anyone has to say about that!"

She was so taken in by her self-determination that she had momentarily 
forgotten to
pay attention to her surroundings and promptly bumped into another performer.
Laretta immediately tried to start apologizing before she recognized that the 
individual
was indeed one of her former band mates.  By a twist of fate, however, this 
turned out to be
a very fortunate occurrence.

He was a skunk, rather scruffy and gangly in appearance.  On his head was a 
brimmed hat in
the style of a navy admiral's, though it was colored red and the hat band was 
patterned in
a black and white checkerboard fashion.  Long forelock strands of his 
blue-dyed hair
stuck out, contrasting with his black and white fur pattern.  He was also 
wearing a gray
tank top shirt and green shorts with large cargo pockets, which were held in 
place with
purple suspenders, and on his feet were black calf-high lace-up army boots.  
Behind his
round glasses, his green eyes lit up and his face broadened into a smile as 
he recognized
his old friend.

Laretta was equally ecstatic to encounter one of her few old friends from her 
previous
band, Timothy Joseph Martinez, the former drummer from Scars & Stripes.  
"Laretta!  Wow,
how long has it been?  It's great to see you again!" said the skunk as he 
gave the she-wolf
an enthusiastic hug.  "It's great to see you too, T.J.!" Laretta happily 
replied as
she returned the hug.  Even through all the turmoil Laretta had experienced 
with her
last band, up until its unceremonious break-up, she considered T.J. a caring 
and
considerate friend.  She felt slightly ashamed for not keeping in touch with 
him since then.

"Wow, this is amazing, us meeting again at the biggest rock concert of the 
year!"
exclaimed the skunk, "I'm glad to see that you got back on your feet and 
playing again.
I'm really sorry I didn't try to do more to keep the band together."  He 
shrugged
his shoulders slightly, obviously feeling deep regret about Laretta's 
misfortune.  "It's
okay, T.J." said Laretta as she patted him on the shoulder, "I'm just glad to 
see you
doing well, too.  I take it that you were able to get into another band?"

"Oh, absolutely!" replied T.J., "Our band's called 'The Wild Bunch', and 
we're having a
great time together.  We're working on an album, and we're hoping that 
playing tonight
will give us the exposure that we need.  Oh hey, here comes Sandy!  She's our 
lead singer
and guitarist."  As he said this, a large female tan-furred rabbit approached 
the pair. 
She wore her long blonde hair in a ponytail and large hoop earrings in each 
of her long
ears.  A pink T-shirt clung tightly to her voluptuous torso, over which she 
also wore a
black motorcycle jacket, and printed on the shirt's front in red letters was 
the
statement, 'Yes, I'm a rabbit, and I could probably kick your groin into your 
throat, SO
WATCH IT!'  Instead of a skirt, she wore black denim jean shorts on her legs. 
 Like
Laretta, she wore pink ankle socks with frilly lace cuffs on her large feet, 
except with
these she wore black leather stiletto-heeled ankle boots.

She immediately approached T.J., who was easily a head shorter than her, and 
wrapped
him tightly in a hug and licked his ear.  T.J. laughed and hugged her back, 
half-turning
to Laretta to respond, "Oh yeah, she's also my girlfriend!"

The rabbit femme momentarily released her lover and faced their companion.  
"Hey, aren't
you Laretta Morrigan?" she asked, grinning broadly, "I'm so glad to meet you 
in person!
T.J. has told me about all the hard work you did getting your band together.  
I also
heard some of your earlier music.  It's really great, and I think it deserved 
a lot
better press than it got!"  She offered a handshake to Laretta, "My name's 
Sandy Kuenstler,
by the way."

Laretta took her hand and shook it politely.  "It's nice to meet you too, 
Sandy!  Thank
you for your kind words!" she replied with a smile.  Sandy smiled and blushed
slightly, "Please, don't mention it.  You may not know this, but you were a 
huge
inspiration to me!  After your first band split up, you didn't let that stop 
you
from following your dreams.  I really admire you for that!"

Laretta was amazed at what she was hearing.  She never imagined that she 
could possibly
have been an inspiration for somebody through her long, difficult career 
trials.
Hearing someone else say this had a great impact on her.  She felt a tear 
well up in her
eye and smiled, trying to find the right words to say.  "You don't know how 
much it means
to me to hear you say that," Laretta finally replied, wiping the tear away.

"I absolutely mean it," replied Sandy as she gave T.J. another squeeze, "and 
besides, you
took such good care of my sweetie pie here, that I definitely had to thank 
you somehow!"
T.J. laughed and hugged his lover around the waist while also replying to 
Laretta.
"She's right, you know!  If things hadn't gone the way they did, I might have 
never
met Sandy!"  He looked up sweetly into the lovely rabbit's eyes, "and that 
would have been
a real shame, wouldn't it?"

The pair laughed and rubbed noses, while Laretta just smiled and looked on, 
until her
mind turned to a more disconcerting matter.  "Uh, but what about the others?" 
she asked
with apprehension, "Do you know what happened to them?"

"Not a whole lot, unfortunately," replied T.J., shrugging his shoulders, 
"Last I heard
of Dylan," he said, referring to their former bassist, "he tried starting a 
band of his
own, but his huge ego got in the way and it fell apart in less than a month!  
Then
Crissie," he continued, speaking of Laretta's former back-up singer, "she 
went from band
to band, trying to find something she liked but never settling on anything.  
I think she
might have moved on to Hollywood to try out for modeling or something like 
that.
Then Tyler..."  He stalled momentarily, not knowing how to tell Laretta about
their keyboardist, who fell victim to alcohol and drug abuse.

"Oh, no!" Laretta thought, fearing the worst had happened.  "Is he...?" she
started hesitantly, twitching her tail in fear.

"Well, it's not like that, really," he continued uneasily, clutching his 
suspender
straps.  "You see, after the break up, he really did try to clean up his act. 
 He signed
up for rehab and tried to make a fresh start of things.  Unfortunately, he 
fell back into
the old routine, worse than before!  He tried to pull off a bank robbery just 
to fund
his habit.  Now he's in jail, doing hard time," he finished with a sigh of 
regret.

Laretta looked crestfallen, as if she heard a friend were in a serious 
accident.  "I knew
it," she started, "He really needed help.  I should have been there for him!  
If only
I'd known!"

"Don't say that!"  T.J. quickly responded, "You know you had to go on with 
your life, and
so did he!  I also feel really sorry that I couldn't help him, but who really 
could
have besides he himself?  Maybe he'll have to learn the hard way, but that's
his responsibility, not yours."  He gave the she-wolf a caring pat on the 
back of her
neck, "He's still alive, and I bet he'd be proud of you too, if he weren't so 
messed up."

Sandy also appeared dispirited by the direction the conversation had taken.  
She crossed
her arms and replied, "I just can't stand losers who can't get their act 
together.  They
give the rest of us who work hard and stay clean a bad name!"

Laretta just shook her head, "We should just drop the subject.  This will do 
us no good
for when we get ready to go on stage."  She adjusted her collar again out of 
habit and
tried to lighten up the conversation.  "If you two play as well as you 
snuggle, there's
no question you'll be the best act on stage tonight!" she said with a grin.

Both the skunk and the rabbit femme had to laugh at Laretta's keen sense of 
humor.
"Say, Laretta," T.J. replied, "I almost completely forgot to ask you, who are 
you playing
with tonight?"

Laretta thought for a moment with a smile on her face, wagging her tail, 
anticipating
their reaction.  "You're not going to believe this," she said with a sly 
grin.  "I'm the
back-up guitarist for Cassie the Rock Vixen and her band!"

Her companions suddenly wore expressions of shock and bewilderment.  "No 
way!" exclaimed
T.J.  "THE Cassie?!  I'm sorry Laretta, but you've just got to be joking!"

"It's no joke!" Laretta protested, "I got an offer to play with her band just 
a few days
ago.  I wouldn't lie to you about this!"

T.J. still looked quite beyond belief, but then Sandy interrupted.  "Uh, 
T.J." she
started, staring as if looking off in the distance, "This is just a guess, 
but I don't
think she's joking!"  It was immediately apparent at what she was staring.  
Cassie, in all
her grace and elegance, had decided to seek out Laretta and approached the 
small group.
All three were amazed.  Even Laretta was surprised, since she wasn't 
expecting Cassie to
join her so soon.

"Hey, Laretta," she said, "Vixina and I were starting to get bored, plus it 
was stuffy in
the trailer, so we thought we'd join you.  I see you've gotten acquainted 
with a few
folks already!"  Laretta just smiled and allowed Cassie to come closer, 
"Sure, Cassie,
in fact, I'd be very happy to introduce you all.  T.J. is a very good friend 
from my
last band, and Sandy is his current band mate."  She then turned to the other 
two, who
were clearly at a loss for words.  T.J. looked like he had gone into shock, 
and Sandy
looked like she was about to lose her balance.  "Guys, please don't be shy!  
Cassie is
really quite nice and friendly when you get to know her."

For her part, Cassie just smiled and introduced herself.  "It's a real 
pleasure to make
your acquaintance," she said as she shook their hands, "I wish you the best 
of luck
playing tonight!"  Sandy was the first to be able to speak up, though quite 
uneasily.
"Well, gosh, it's just incredible to meet you, Cassie!  I just can't tell you 
much I
admire you!  I'm sure my boyfriend would agree."  T.J. was still stunned, and 
Sandy
frowned and gave him a gentle smack on the back of his head, nearly knocking 
off his
glasses.  "Oh, I'm sorry about that," he said as he regained his composure, 
"I just think
this is incredible, too!  It really is great to meet you, Cassie, and I think 
it's great
that you're letting Laretta play with you, too!"

"The pleasure is all mine," Cassie replied, smiling at Laretta.  Vixina was 
also introduced
to the group, and soon they all engaged in a joyful conversation about their 
music and
their plans for the future.  Soon enough, Cassie's drummer approached the 
group with
important news.  "Hey you guys," the large badger said, "the show's almost 
ready to
begin!  The stage managers are asking all the bands to gather around the 
backstage area,
where they'll give us instructions about who goes on when."

With that, the skunk and rabbit femme nodded to each other and addressed the 
group.  "I
guess that means we should round up the rest of our band.  Thanks for 
stopping to chat
with us, and I wish you the best of luck too!" said Sandy as she motioned 
T.J. to join her
in gathering their band mates.  Before leaving, T.J. gave Laretta a friendly 
hug.  "You
make sure you play the best you can out there!  I believe in you, Laretta, no 
matter what!"
he said with a broad smile.  Laretta happily hugged him back, "Thanks, T.J.!  
I'm so glad
to have a friend like you!"

After the duo departed, Cassie, Laretta, and their band mates began making 
their
own preparations.  "Thanks for getting us the news, Chet," Cassie said to her 
badger
drummer.  "We could've lost track of time if you didn't get to us!"  Chet, a 
large black
and gray badger, was dressed in a black baseball cap, red T-shirt, blue jeans 
and black
flip-flop style sandals, and the shaggy fur on his face was combed and 
trimmed so that
it resembled a goatee styled beard.  "Don't mention it, Cass," he smiled as 
he took out
his drumsticks and twirled them about, "I'll go check the drum kit to make 
sure
everything's okay, then I'll just be waiting for the rest of you!"

Laretta made all the last-minute preparations she needed, adjusting her 
collar and bustier
one last time, straightening out her mini-skirt, and taking hold of her 
favorite
X-shaped guitar.  She shortly joined Cassie, who also appeared fully prepared 
for
the performance.  After receiving a once-over from the stage managers about 
where they
would be on stage and when they would be signaled to go on, they each took a 
seat and
relaxed, knowing that they would be performing as the last, big act.

"Well, Laretta," Cassie said to her companion, "This is it!  This is all what 
we've
been preparing for.  What do you think?"   Laretta leaned back slightly and 
smiled at
the vixen, "Cassie, I think it's just incredible!  I'm still a little 
nervous, sure, but
I really do feel ready, and I have you to thank for it all!"

Cassie grinned and replied, "Don't mention it, Laretta.  It certainly was 
nice to meet
your friends back there!  It seems like they admire you a lot, and they very 
well should!
I hope we get to meet them again after the concert's over."

Laretta smiled and nodded, "It certainly helps to know who your friends are." 
 The pair sat
in silence, waiting with great anticipation for their turn to come.  Laretta 
couldn't help
but to think about her former band mates, and how different their lives could 
have been
if they hadn't fallen apart.  Even so, Laretta was very grateful for the 
friends she had
then and now, and for what she hoped would be a bright future.

Last modified:
August 26, 2001
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