<HTML>Stage Sisters chapter 5 Written by & copyright of Andrew Cotton  Wolfie8898@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</HTML>