[tiger] [transformation] [roommate] 

Waking up on a Saturday is always awesome when there is no work ahead and I had finished all my homework for the weekend yesterday, just before midnight. I slowly opened my eyes, feeling so relaxed... My flat buddy was already rummaging in the kitchen. My female flat buddy. I have to point this out since most people jump to the conclusion that she is a dude. The next question I usually get is more of a suggestive smile and a "Ooohh...", and no, for gods sake, nothing ever happened between us!

Back to that particular morning.
Waking up is blablala. Alright? I'm not gonna repeat myself on that one.
So I turned around for a bit and closed my eyes for another 5 minutes, but the light that shone trough my curtains kept me awake... I tried a little longer, then got up. An ex-girlfriend of mine had once gifted me a huge mirror, because she said that I was never neatly dressed and that she wanted me to check every time before I left the house. Instead, I developed this reflex to look into this particular mirror, and this mirror only, to check how I looked whenever I saw it. A handsome, almost 2 meter tall zombie, graced with a short crop of black hair glanced at me. I smiled. Yeah, I always looked like that when I left my bed. My last girlfriend had told me that she was afraid that one day I'd ask for brains at the kitchen table instead of jam.
Alright, enough about me.

Back to that morning.
I opened the door and walked into the general direction of our kitchen, in t-shirt and boxers and passed a bunch of drawings from my room mate. She was one hell of an artist. I had put these up here to bolster her ridiculously low self-esteem. When I had moved into this flat, her former room mate had just graduated and buggered off to god knows where, leaving the shy little girl that she had ruled over like she was some kind of alpha-female behind, with scars on her wrist and black hair dye and all the other bad things. Once I had moved in, I couldn't bear her moody appearance. So I had set to work and started to pick up the little flower that had been dropped. The result was a happy but still rather shy woman, at least when it came to others. But I had cracked that shell and from there on, she just wouldn't stop speaking. It was like a... I'm getting sidetracked again. Sorry.

That particular morning. For the fourth time. Sorry, folks.
I walked into the kitchen, hoping that I could sneak some of that delicious smelling breakfast of my roomie using some excuse I had yet to think of... 
And saw a tiger. 
A fucking tiger. In our goddamn kitchen. 
I was lucky that our kitchen door faced away from the, I can't stress this enough, GODDAMN TIGER IN OUR FUCKING KITCHEN! How did it even get there? What was it doing there?
What if... Could it have eaten Sarah? I mean, what else was the explanation for ... What do tigers weigh? 500+ pounds? ...of death in our kitchen?

I did NOT want to become tiger food... This tiger had to leave. It seemed to have not heard or seen me yet. Good for me, bad for it.

How do you get a tiger to leave? Who takes care of these things? The police would be able to help, wouldn't they? They could help me get out of this surreal bullshit. Would they even believe me? I mean... How could I tell them about my problem without sounding insane? 
"Hello, I'm Vincent Kane, I have tiger in my kitchen, could you come here and take care of this?" ... Oh god, they'd hang up and leave me with one of the biggest landborne predators in my fucking flat...

I'm proud of how good I am at sneaking up behind other people. Now, sneaking back into my room I thought if not my heart, my footsteps would get the beast to come for another snack. Sarah wasn't exactly what you would call meaty... Or tall. Of course the goddamn tiger was still hungry. And it would definitely eat me, wouldn't it?

My phone was still attached to its charging chord and the green battery icon, with its peaceful green shine, didn't do anything to calm me down. 9:34. Yeah, thanks. I hated myself for still using this old smartphone. It took its time showing my home screen before I could finally dial 911. The waiting signal drove me insane.

Any time now, the tiger could just decide that it wanted a bite of me and follow my smell to -" 911, state your emergency."
A calm voice, male, very matter of fact. Help wasn't far away... Just around the corner maybe... "Yes, this is Vincent Kane, I know this will sound insane but there is a tiger in my kitchen and I have no idea where my roommate is and I think it might have eaten-" the voice interrupted me. "Sir, please slow down. From what I gathered, you think you have a tiger in your flat. We have a lot of these calls this morning. Do you know about the current situation?" What on earth was he talking about? What did I care for other animals? Those couldn't kill me right now! "Listen, I have a fucking tiger in my-"
"yes, I understood that. I encourage you to check the news before you do anything else. I've got 10 other calls waiting, and I have to get to those in case of an actual emergency. Good day sir."
What?
An actual emergency? My problem wasn't an emergency? What the...

Wait. Current situation? What current situation? Alright. Maybe the all knowing Internet could tell me something about the 'current situation'. I opened my phone's browser and tapped the address bar.
www.goo -
my door handle was pushed down. I froze. What if its the tiger? No, maybe it's Sarah... Oh please, let it be Sarah... My eyes were fixed as upon the door handle as it reached the lowest possible position and a slight knock against the door. A familiar, but weird sounding voice spoke trough through a small opening between door and frame. "Hey..."
"Shhh!! There is a tiger in our kitchen! Get the fuck in here before it spots and eats you!"
She chuckled. Why on earth would she chuckle? This was serious!
"It's not actually a tiger."
What? Had everyone gone crazy? I wasn't asleep, was I? I pinched myself. Nope, that hurt, and I was still clutching my phone and talking to my roomie through the door.
"... What?"
"It's not an actual tiger. It's a bit... complicated."
She actually sounded amused. Seriously. Amused. Whatever the rest of the world was smoking, I wanted a whiff of that stuff as well.

"It looked like a tiger to me. What other animal has orange fur with black stripes?"
"I don't know any, but seriously -"
"See?! It was a tiger. It still IS a tiger! And now it's -"
"HEY! Hear me out."
That was new. She never had done this before. She never interrupted anyone while they were speaking.
"I will now slowly open the door. It's easier than explaining it to you. Promise me you won't freak out."
"How can I promise ..."
My words trailed off and my jaw dropped. The tiger stood in my door. Only that it wasn't quite a tiger. It was more humanoid, a towel wrapped about its private parts and boobs. Oh yes, boobs. You have no idea. Most of it actually seemed pretty human, except for the fur, its... Her. Her head. Her head didn't seem to be quite as human as the rest of her body, a tail, bent to a J and massive paws instead of feet were also giveaways... If you were blind and couldn't see or feel the orange, black and white fur. She looked as if she was almost taller than me, with a strong build and an athletic and powerful figure.


"...Sarah??"
The tigress...thing... actually smiled at me.
"Isn't it awesome? Just look at me!"
She lifted a paw off the ground and twirled gracefully. I could see muscles move beneath her fur. Lots of powerful muscles. And still, she twirled like a ballerina. The old Sarah had never been able to move like this. And she had definitely been lighter. The tigress in front of me flung her rust orange hair around and twirled again.
She radiated happiness.
"So... What do you think?"
I had to admit that even though it was just... Weird... She did actually look pretty good.

"It's... Different. But it does look good." She dropped her smile. I suddenly realized that she was still mostly a living, breathing death threat.
"It looks good?"
Her voice had dropped to a menacing growl. Long, painful looking claws slid out of her fingertips.
"Uh, did I say good? I meant awesome. Yeah, totally uber-awesome. And attractive. Yup."
Her smile returned and the claws vanished again, leaving a laughing whatever-she-was behind. She stepped into my room and offered me a hand to pull me up.
"I'm just messing with you."
She snorted.
"But the look on your face... Priceless."
I took her hand and she pulled me up with no effort, then her tone got much warmer.
"Come on, I wouldn't hurt you. I'd have to find another room mate who could stand all those spleens of mine... And who'd help me with my depressions... You know... So don't worry.", said the black and orange striped machine of death in my room. Yeah, I won't worry.

On the other hand, this was definitely Sarah. She'd never told anyone about my help during her depressions. She couldn't have. That would mean that she would acknowledge her depressions in front of others, which was something she could never ever do. Which was ...paradoxical?, because she dressed in a way that made most people assume that she was depressive. I had found out by walking into the bathroom at the wrong time, meeting her with a razorblade in her hand. When I first met her, that little 5 foot woman had only worn long sleeve shirts in order to cover up the scars on her wrists and forearms. She didn't seem to understand that lots of black around he eyes and black hairdye didn't exactly hide this from others back then.

She let my hand go and smiled at me again.
"Hey, there is something I need to show you. The guy on the emergency hotline was right, you should check the news. "
What the.. How did she know?
"How..."
"How do I know? I followed you to your room and listened in. You have no idea how much I can hear now. It's as if someone lifted a pair of those ... Uh... The things that builders have over their ears? When they work with jackhammers and the likes? It's as if someone took those off my ears. And the things I can see now... I don't even need glasses anymore. It's awesome. Anyway, you really need to watch the news."
She gripped my hand again and pulled me all the way to the living room, where the TV was babbling. We came just in time for another news special. Sarah pushed me onto the sofa and watched me during the news report.

As it finished, I was completely baffled. Sarah switched off the TV and looked at me, waiting for a reaction.
"This ... is happening everywhere? Since midnight? ... How?"
"Interesting question, but I don't think anybody has an answer to that."
"But you are a biology student, you should have at least an idea!"
I sounded desperate. This was just too weird. Way too weird.
"None whatsoever. I have no idea why I would become some kind of tiger anthromorph either. As far as I know, my family is from europe and migrated to the US with some of the first ships to arrive here. I never got in contact with a tiger. Second, look at the amount of biomass this body has and compare it to my old one. You could probably make three to four Sarahs out of this one. I mean, I grew about half a yard in a single night. I have yet to hear of a growth hormone that could do something like that. But that is something that I will care about on Monday. My prof will probably try to get me to examine every single cell to the core, run a DNA test and most importantly, find out where the missing energy and mass for the surplus biomass is coming from."
"When did you... Know?"
" I woke up hearing you shift in your bed. My body just felt kind of weird. That was around 8, I think. Well, then I opened my eyes and saw my hand and forearm. From there on it didn't take much longer."
I snorted. Yeah, the fur was a bit of a giveaway.
"It wasn't all that funny at the beginning. Imagine yourself waking up and being a giant with fur and a new face with a snout and cats ears and a tail! I think I stood in front of your door for more than 5 minutes, contemplating whether I should wake you... But I thought that you'd have a heart attack if I just sat down beside your bed, naked, like this. So I picked up one of your towels, mine were not big enough, to not walk around completely naked... And a look in the mirror showed me that I wasn't looking so bad. In fact, I was surprised. Before today, I had never thought that a tiger could be this... You know, that it could look like this. That's when I decided that this wasn't bad, but awesome. Which left me with a good feeling, but an empty stomach. I started making breakfast. I still feel like I could eat some more... Well, you walked in on me when I had dropped the towel for a moment because I had to find a fork that had slipped out of my hand and decided to play hide and seek."
" I would have died if you had been waking me like that. Speaking of naked... Why are you wearing only one of my towels?"
She smiled. "Because I have no clothes whatsoever that fit my body. My hips are too wide for my skirts, trousers and whatnot, and my upper body... Lets just say it has grown way too much for my shirts. You know the large t I used to wear in the mornings? That doesn't fit me anymore. I can't get into it. I'm not even joking. So I was hoping that you would.. You know... Uh... Buy me some... Stuff? Please?"
This was going to get weird.
" I could just lend you a t shirt, a pair of boxers and some leggings... So you can go and buy your stuff on your own."
"Okay... Yeah, let's do that."

As it turned out, her hips put quite a strain on my leggings. I told her she could keep the boxers because they would be too loose for me to use afterwards. The biggest problem however were her tits: my t-shirt wasn't made for them. And because of that, the fabric just dropped on and around them in a way that made her nipples easily distinguishable. At least that was what she told me through the door of my room. The bathroom mirror was not as large as the one in my room, so yeah... She begged me to go out for her, snap photos so she could say yes or no and buy her clothes for her. Also, she wanted me to bring some steaks. Or ham. Or bacon. Just meat. Lots of meat.

My first stop was at the local shopping mall. On my way there, I had noticed a few other anthromorphs. They stuck out of the crowd and got a lot of looks. Sarah's decision to stay at home had been brilliant. She hated being the center of attention, and these anthromorphs just looked like rabbits and wolves and just differed from humans because of their fur and their heads. Sarah would have towered over these people. My assertion that she was taller than me had not been quite right, we were exactly the same height, yet none of these other anthromorphs was even close to being so imposing and awe-inspiring as Sarah now was. Everyone would have looked her way.
In the mall, I chatted with several girls from the local clothing stores who told me that finding something that would fit her was going to be difficult. Not a lot of women were 6 foot 4 inches, and none of them looked like her. The conversation was always the same: I'd walk into the store, and somehow the shop assistants always knew that I was lost. They'd ask me whether I needed help and I told them that I was buying clothes for a friend that got affected by last night's "event". They always asked what she looked like. I had never thought that this could be so much fun... Their eyes almost fell out when I showed them a picture of Sarah in my towel instead of answering. Most of the time, they told me that this could become problematic. At this point, I'd call Sarah and they would just sort it out between themselves. Sometimes I walked out of the store with a bag, sometimes I wouldn't. After we had gone through all the usual stores around, I checked the contents of my bags.
>> 8 bras, 15 slips , 7 t-shirts, 2 skirts, 2 hoodies, 10 p. o. socks, 1 p.o. trousers. no jacket. Enough?>> I pressed "Send" and waited for an answer.
I looked around. More and more anthromorphs had started to show up. They still looked alien.

Someone sat down next to me. "Shopping for your girlfriend?" Another guy, about my age, looked at me. He had at least as many bags with him as I had with me and looked at me. "Hmm?? Nah, room mate. She grew 50 centimeters over night."
" 50 centimeters... " I could see that he had no idea how long that was.
"Half a yard."
"Holy crap. That's a lot."
"Yup."
"And you go shopping for her?"
"Well, yes?"
"I wish I had a room mate like you. Mine just eats my side of the fridge empty and doesn't do crap for me."
My cellphone vibrated.
<< longsleeve? no shops left? How much $ ?>>
"It's always tempting...",I answered with a smirk.
He laughed.
"Hey, dude, if you have problems trying to find something for her, try the skate shop down there. They are expensive, but they have a lot of unisex stuff in large sizes."
" really? Awesome. Thanks man, that will help a lot."
"Don't mention it. It's down that way."
I got up and made my way down to the shop, dropped the bags in front and txted back.
>> no longsleeves. Sry. Guy pointed me to a skateshop. Says they have unisex sizes that could fit you.>>
Actually, I had instructed the girls at the stores to leave those out, if they had any. I picked up the bags and walked inside.
Have you ever been inside a skate shop? It's like walking into a different world. On the outside, you are part of the ordinary world. Totally normal. But once you walk inside, this smell hits you. Somehow rubbery, but not unpleasant, with a bit if wood and glue mixed into it. The girl at the checkout radiated coolness, even though she greeted me warmly and promised to be with me in a second. She was the first other anthromorph I spoke to. I had a look around before she finished whatever she was doing on the store computer and approached me. She was definitely a fox. "Hey, I'm Jane." She held out her hand. That surprised me. I set down the bags I held in my right hand and shook it.
"Hi, I'm Vince. " She chuckled.
"You haven't been here before, have you?"
"No..."
"You looked a little lost. Don't worry, there is a first time for everything. We are a friendly bunch in here, we won't bite you." She laughed.
"So, Vince, how can I help you?"
"Well, my room mate got affected by last night's event and grew quite a lot. She needs some new clothes."
"You're not the first one with that problem. By the way, what does she look like, if you don't mind me asking?"
I showed her the picture.
"Oh wow."
"Now imagine me walking into the kitchen and meeting her for the first time. "
She laughed again. " You should have seen my boyfriends face this morning. I swear, I could see it in his eyes that he was wondering what on earth had happened last night. We had a bit of a party, and he parties hard." She tried to recreate the expression for me and I had to laugh.
"Yeah, he fell out of the bed and broke his hand."
I tried very very hard not to laugh at that but a chuckle did manage to escape. "Sorry. "
She laughed again. "Don't worry. Just imagine how hard it was for me to get him to the hospital without laughing..."
"Ouch..."
"Yeah, he is still trying to be pissed off. I know that he knows how funny this was for me, but oh well... Hey, enough about me. You've got a tiger that needs clothing. Never thought I'd say that..."
"I never thought I'd to shopping for a tiger."
"That sounds even weirder. Anyway, what exactly do you need?"
"Well, I still need some trousers and she also asked for a jacket."
"Scrap the jacket, with that kind of fur she'll only need a thick pullover for any kind of cold weather. You can tell her that that is my advice. And I'm a lot smaller than she is. About the trousers... Does she like shorts? Cos I'm not sure whether we have a pair of jeans that fits her waist and her legs..."
"Do you want me to call her?"
"Well, yeah, might be useful."
"Oh, one more thing..." I reconsidered. A few longsleeves wouldn't do much harm, would they? But Maybe I could get Jane to not rat out that I had made a ... questionable decision earlier on.
"Yeah?"
"Uhm... She used to be... Well... Quite a downer. And she wore longsleeved tshirts to hide it."
"Oh. Okay."
"Her fur now hides all the left overs, so I figured that maybe, without the long sleeves, she'd leave that behind completely. So I didn't get her any long sleeves."
Her raised eyebrow told me all I needed to know.
"You should come clean on that. I'd also advise that you hide all the sharp objects in your flat, but she's got claws, so that's no good. But you should definitely come clean on that."
"Okay, uh,I will, once I am at home, but would you help me out here? I think that those shirts remind her of what she was like before."
"Before tonight?"
"No, before I helped her with her depressions. She basically had no self-esteem whatsoever."
"Alright -" she rolled up her sleeves and put my hand on her wrist. " - can you feel them? Whatever I say now comes from experience. We don't wear longsleeves for no apparent reason as you may already have noticed. We are ashamed of what we did. You are now forcing her to show this. Her fur may hide it, but she will still feel uncomfortable without her forearms covered. She probably has a spleen that makes her pull her sleeves a little over hand when she is nervous, right? That's her trying to hide something she is ashamed of. Also, why the hell do you think you should decide what she wears? Her life, her body, her choice, don't you think? She isn't even your girlfriend!
Although she probably has a huge crush on you because you made her feel good. But if you really want to help her, you are not going to make a move on her. You need to just let it ebb off. Otherwise you'll crush her heart, she'll run off and try to kill herself.
Promise me you'll come clean as soon as you get home. Otherwise I'll toss you out right now."
"I promise."
"Give me your flat's telephone number. I want to be able to check."
I handed her a small piece of paper with my cellphone number and the flat telephone on it. I usually handed these to girls that wanted to see me again... For something else.
She gave me a long look. " You really wanted to help her?"
"Yes."
"What else did you do?"
"She draws a lot. You should see it, it's incredible. She used to hide it from everyone, but I framed a few of her best creations and hung them on the walls in our flat."
She smiled again.
"That was much much more thoughtful. What else?"
"We talk a lot. We aren't just room mates. We spend a lot of time together."
"Define 'not just room mates'."
"Close friends."
"Good. Putting her drawings on the wall was a smart move. Did you do anything else like that?"
"Well... I made her move into her old roommates room. That girl had been dominating her all the time from what I heard. I figured that getting out of her old room would help."
"Hmm. Okay. I hope you didn't tell anyone else about her scars on your shopping spree. But you really do want to help her. Most people just want to make themselves feel better because they "rescued" someone else. Alright. I have a suggestion for you that might just make her not kill herself or hate you for what you did."
Then she turned away, grabbed her wireless landline and called Sarah. "Hey, this is Jane, I'm standing here with your friend Vince and we figured it'd be cheaper to call you this way. So, Vince told me you still need some trousers..."
I sat down on a bench close to the checkout. Why had I given her that number? She would have never been able to find me or Sarah. Too late, buddy. Now you have to tell her. And it's going to be hard.

15 minutes later they were done. They had swapped to using my cellphone and its camera after noticing that just describing things to Sarah didn't work out that well and settled for just two longsleeved t-shirts, some shorts and jeans and a pair of cargos. The bill was astronomically high and finished off the last of the cash Sarah had given me, but her txt << hurry up! :) << sounded happy.
Jane looked me dead in the eye. "Promise again."
"I promise that I'll come clean once I'm home."
"Okay. My advice would be to bring something for her wrists. Hoops, a watch, whatever. Just make sure that it covers her wrist completely."
"Like that thing?" I pointed at a puppet in a store across the alley. It wore a brown leather... Thing on its right forearm. It reminded me of a cast for a broken bone, only that those tend to not have small spikes on them.
"If she likes it, perfect. If she doesn't... You tried."
"Okay. Hey, thanks. Thanks a lot."
"Yeah, yeah, you're welcome."
I left the shop, another bag in my hands and walked into the rather strange shop that sold the leather... Cast?

When I got home, I opened the door feeling bad. Really bad. I just wanted to run away from what I was about to do...
I opened the door and walked in. "Hey, it's-" WHAM. I felt as if I had been hit by a freight train. A orange and black blur had crashed into me and the force of her impact had knocked me down. "Ouch..."
"Sorry, I couldn't resist... I heard you walking up the stairs and just ... You know. It was too tempting." She smiled a broad tiger smile, then looked around us at all the bags that were flung around us. "Is that all of them? Thank you sooo much, I owe you big time..." She smiled at me again, then got up and quickly gathered her stuff before disappearing into her room. It had been a smart move to leave the other bag outside. I had gotten her the "cast" and another, smaller wristband.
I reached through the front door and pulled the bag in. Her door popped open. "Is that another one for me?"
"No, sorry..."
"Okay... Hey, I'll need you in a few seconds. You need to tell me how I look."
Alright. But I couldn't tell her just now, could I?? All this happiness destroyed by one colossal act of douchebaggery? No, no, I was going to wait. Wait until she had calmed down a little. I brought the bag in to my room and sat down on my bed. Oh man, this was going to be so- "knock knock, can I come in?"
"Sure."
She pushed the door open and took my breath. The simple, tight white t-shirt with cutout that she wore was bulging over her boobs. It was thick enough to hide any kind of coloring that my have shone through from her fur. It was just a bit too short, maybe on purpose, and left a bit of her muscular belly free before the olive cargopants began. She looked a little like an adventurer. It was almost impossible not to stare.
I also noticed that she was clenching her left wrist with her right hand. Her nervousness and the accompanying spleen, huh? I was actually going to give her the cast and wristband after my confession, but this couldn't wait right now. I wanted to see what it would look like on her.
" So... What do you think?"
" the view is... breathtaking."
She smiled broadly.
"Hey, I also got you something. You never told me your birthday, so I figured I'd just give you a present today."
She replied as I reached into the bag.
"But that was the point of not telling anyone... So no one would buy me any presents...."
"Alright, so its your re-birthday."
She snorted.
" I think there are a lot of people who have the same rebirth day that I have..."
"Yeah, sucks to be a tigress."
I had the two things resting on my lap.
"This is a wristband,- " I tossed her the small piece of leather and nylon and what not, "- and another one."
She slipped both of them over her hands and tightened the belts that secured them there. She didn't grab her wrist again.

"And... I have something else I need to tell you."
It kind of slipped out. Too early... Way too early...
A quizzical look.
No way back then. Attack.
"It's about long sleeve t-shirts. "
"I'm listening."
"It's.... Look, I... was worried that longsleeve t-shirts would remind you of what you did to your wrists and that you'd slip back into it. So I asked everyone not to sell you those. "
"What."
"It was stupid and the girl at the skateshop told me it was and that's why I got you the wristband and the other thing, so that you could hide your wrists..."
She just stared at me.
"What. The fuck."
"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I really am sorry."
She had never sworn before. At least I had never heard her do that. The tiger seemed to have brought a lot of personality with it.
She turned around and walked out of my room without another word. I couldn't let her go like that, right? I quickly got up and laid my hand on her shoulder to -
Holy shit. She was FAST. A claw was slowly digging its way into my throat and she gave me a look that would've made a penguin shiver.
"Leave. Me. ALONE. And here is your stupid fucking wristband." She pulled both things over her hands and dropped them in front of me, then marched off into her room and slammed the door shut.
More unusual stuff. Sarah wasn't an angry person. The Sarah I knew would have started crying and made me feel like an idiot. This Sarah made me feel... Almost rejected. And like an idiot. 
"Fuck..."
My phone vibrated once.
<< Did u tell her? Jane<<
>>yes. She hates me. >>
<< get out. <<
Get out? I just wanted to bury myself in my bed. I had never felt so shitty before in my life. I just sucked.

Then again, Jane had been right with the sleeves. At least I thought she had been. Maybe this was another thing just like that. I left my presents for Sarah where she had dropped them and went out of the door.

I walked through the city with no idea where I wanted to go. I just walked. Somewhere along this walk, a man approached me with a clipboard.
"Sir, just a second please! I need your signature!"
I didn't want to argue with him.
"Sir!"
But I also didn't have the energy to send him away.
"Sir, I just need your signature!"
He had successfully out maneuvered me. I had stopped in front of him.
"Look, I won't be long. Just hear me out."
"Alright..."
"Sir, you may have noticed all these human-animal beings that walk the streets today. They are treated like everyone else, right? But how do we know that they are human enough in their heads to be allowed what every normal human does? Huh? They are partly animal, so we think that the animal part should also have a owner like every pet does. They live in houses, right? So -"
"Shut up." But he didn't even hear me. I felt my sadness slowly but steadily being replaced by anger.
" - they are not like stray dogs. They are domesticated. Someone should be liable for damage they cause. So we propose either a personality test for them or to have an owner officially entered in to a -"
"SHUT. UP."
"Sir?"
"Is this some kind of a joke? Because if it is, it's the worst one I have ever heard. You really want to have other humanoids sign their rights away like slaves? Are you still sane?" I was almost shouting by now. I was angry at myself, at this guy, the people around me, just... Everything. And this guy was enough of an asshole to unload it on.
"Sir, there was no need to insult me. You could've just said no if you do not-"
" WALK AWAY AFTER YOU INSULTED ALL THESE PEOPLE?!" I had to calm down. No need for screaming. Really, shouting at him makes you look like an idiot. Calm down, Vincent, calm down. I exhaled slowly.
"Sir, please calm down or I will have to call the cops."
Was he trying to get me to punch him? Because he was succeeding. It took a lot of self control to stop myself from whacking a few of his teeth out. I'm not weak.
Someone else defused the situation. He defused it by simply clapping. I turned around to see a wolf or something like it in a cafe just a few feet away, giving me a nod. More and more people were joining in, just looking at me with appreciation.

I didn't deserve their appreciation. Not really. Yes, I did tell a bigot what I thought of his cause, but once the anger about his close-mindedness was gone, I felt like a prick again. I had done exactly what he wanted to make a law... I had decided over Sarah's head what she should wear. So I fled the scene. I almost ran for half a block until I thought I was safe from anyone trying to congratulate me for whatever. Sadly, some hybrids can run much faster than humans, depending on what animal they got mixed up with.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Hey, excuse me."
Just ignore it.
"Hey, man, you just did something pretty great."
Maybe if I walked on, he'd just disappear.
"Dude!"
I sighed.
"Come on, I just want to thank you."
I turned around to face the voice from behind me. It was the guy that had started clapping first.
"What if I don't want to hear it?" I felt even worse once those words left my lips. The guy in front of me just looked at me apologetically.
"Oh. Okay. Uh, that's alright, I guess. Uhm. Sorry."
He turned around and walked off.
Shit.
"Hey!" I tapped his on his shoulder."I'm sorry for what I said. Look, I've had a very bad day and I just... Sorry."
He smiled at me.
"No problem dude. Hey, can I help?"
"No... But thanks."
"Aw. Okay. Good luck with your problems man. See you!"
I felt better after that.
My phone vibrated once. I wasn't going to check it. Not right now. Probably Jane telling me to do something else that would hurt.

I wandered through the streets until darkness fell. The way back home was short, my random choices in which direction to walk had left me only a few blocks away from our flat. I opened the door and walked in to find Sarah waiting for me, leaning against my door. Her face brightened once she saw me and then she gave me a long and tight embrace. To put it mildly, I was surprised.
" why didn't you answer my text? I had no idea where you were..." I slowly wrapped my arms around her to complete the embrace.
"You texted me?" Still completely discombobulated, I wondered how on earth she could now be so friendly.
"Yes, after the girl from the skateshop called. She explained to me why you did what you did. She also told me that I should seek out professional help, but I figure with someone like you here and with my new me, I won't need that. Oh, and after she explained everything to me, your gifts... Do you know how cute you can be sometimes?" That was just mean. She knew about my love-hate relationship with that word. It was so belittling, so humiliating... And yet it also meant that I was gonna score soon. Only I really didn't want to score with my room mate. I had done that once before. It's nice, sex almost every night, until you break up. Also, never mind how attractive Sarah was with her brown-reddish hair with those black streaks and those intense green cat eyes and her body...

So Jane had fixed this. I would have to send her some kind of thanks.
Sarah still wouldn't let me go. She whispered in my ear: "you know, cos you didn't answer that text, I was actually pretty worried about you. I know its silly, I mean, I was the depressive one, but... You know..."
I snorted.
"Awww, thanks..." Revenge. She hated awws. At least she did yesterday.
She chuckled. "I guess I had that coming." And finally let go of me to hold me an arms length away, her tail now dropping off my hips. Then she hugged me again. I heard her voice again. "I didn't know you cared so much about me."
"Friends take care of each other. I thought you needed it."
She snorted.
"Not anymore... Just look at me." She let to again and turned around for me just like she had done in the morning. It was still... Breathtaking. I dont think I ever used that word to describe a woman. Her curves were just... Spot on. Wow.
"I feel great. No need to worry, cutie." Hrmpf. Time for revenge.
"Awww, look at the big girl..." Hah!
"There still is a tiger in your flat... Maybe it's more of a tiger than human. Who knows, it could be hungry... And you don't look yucky..."
" I had an argument on the street with a guy who claimed that exactly that was the case and that all anthromorphs-"
"Hybrids."
"- hybrids, alright, should either pass a test that they are human enough or that they should have an owner who takes care of them."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"That's ridiculous."
" I know." Way to kill the mood. I would have slapped myself if she weren't my room mate and I had intended exactly that.
We stood there silently for a moment. Then I asked her:
"Are you actually hungry?"
"Mhhmhhm. And I already emptied the fridge. I think you should go and get some groceries..."
"Me? I should go?"
"Yes, you. Cos..." She avoided my gaze, as if she was... Embarrassed?
"Hmm??"
"What if... I mean, I like my new body, but..." She looked into my eyes and her voice dropped almost to a whisper. "What if nobody else does?"
This sounded a lot more like the Sarah I knew.
I chuckled, remembering the awed expressions of the girls in the clothing stores.
"Remember all the girls from the clothing stores? Every single one of them was awestruck when I showed them the picture we shot earlier on."
"You showed them that picture? That was meant for you, so you could judge whether something would fit me!"
"Because I know everything about women's sizes."
"Well, with all the girls you had, I figured you would know exactly just what would fit me!"
"I never looked into their clothes to find out what size they were wearing!"
"Oh god, this is so embarrassing... I was only wearing a towel..."
I tried to hug her but she pushed me away and turned around to hide her face in her hands.
"You're not crying, are you?"
"No, I'm just trying to hide..."
"Oh. Good. Would it help if I told you that some of them looked jealous as hell?"
"Really?"
"Yup. They sold me your stuff pretty angrily."
She lifted her head and smiled at me.
"You still shouldn't have showed them that picture. I'm almost naked on it."
"Too late now..."
"I know, cutie." Okay, I thought, I'm gonna let that one go.
"Back to food. I suggest we go and get some pizza and then, if you want to, we can eat here."
"You go. I'll wait here. I want something with loads of meat."
"Hmm. I forget so much these days... And I'm so weak.. I don't think I'll be able to carry two pizzas, much less remember what you wanted... Did you say Margherita?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you suck?"
"I can't remember that."
She looked into my eyes, with something that she used to call the 'puppy-eyes' when I used it.
"So, you wanna stay hungry?"
Her expression suddenly shifted and she grinned at me.
"You'll have to deal with the hungry tiger in your flat..."
"I feel like gambling today. I'll take that chance."
Her grin disappeared and she took a deep breath.
"Okay, you win. But only if you promise to stay close to me and only if we eat here, alright?"
"Deal."
"Okay. I'll get a pullover. "

She returned with a black hoodie and followed me out of the door.
"Go ahead, I'll just lock the door."
"Hey, you promised something, right?"
I didn't answer. She didn't seem to expect one, since she didn't push me for one.
With the door locked, we walked down the stair case. I was amazed at just how quiet she walked... I almost couldn't hear her. Then again, she wasn't wearing anything over her paws.
At the bottom of the stair case, Sarah stopped and turned around to face me. "I know that this sounds a little weird... But... Would you hold my hand? You know, just... It would make me feel better."
She sounded so urgently in need for this that I just couldn't say no, despite what it would look like...
We walked out into the street, her hand trying to squash mine, through the night on our way to get some food. Every time someone passed by us, I could feel her claws on my skin. After the third passerby had walked by with a stunned expression, I squeezed her hand and told her to relax.
"Uhuh..."
"Hey, I fear for my hand. Once your claws dig into it, I probably won't be able to use it for some time."
"Sorry, it's just ..."
"Relax. Everyone is impressed by your looks. Just look at them. I bet the guy behind us is walking backwards just to see you."
She glanced over her shoulder and then looked at me. Her claws punctured my skin.
"How did you know?"
"Hey, my hand... Thanks. Because he is a guy. Why shouldn't he check out something beautiful that just passed him?"
"Oh..."
The rest of the way to the pizzeria was okay, because no one passed us. Sarah relaxed more and more until we arrived at the pizzeria. When we stepped in, all the tension that she had lost on her way here came back. An old man with grey hair stood behind the counter. He wasn't tall, but he made up for it with the energy he radiated.
"Buena Notte, beautiful lady." He grinned at her with a smile that made it hard to dislike him. The kind of expression showing a lot of interest in her body, the one women can't seem to be mad at, the one only Italian man seem to be able to produce. Every time I tried it, it ended with a drink in my face.
"Ah, Vincent. A dinner for two, then?"
"Sorry, Ed, she doesn't want to eat here."
Sarah's claws dug into my hand.
"Why, what's wrong? Is it me? What's wrong with me? Don't you like me? I did not do anything." He fired of his questions like a machine gun.
"Vincent, what's wrong with her?"
"She is a little shy. I don't think she'd be able to stomach a single bite somewhere else than at home. Just get me my usual pizza and she wanted something with a lot of meat."
Sarah tried smiling at Ed, then looked away, embarrassed.
"Okay Vincent, if that's what you need... Beauty and shyness. What a combination..." He vanished into a storage room and I could hear him rummage around in it.
Sarah's whiskers were tickling my ear.
"I'm gonna wait outside, okay?"
"What about your pizza?"
"Uh..."
She fumbled in her pocket, then handed me 20 bucks.
"Okay."
She let my hand go and rushed outside just as Ed came back, his hands full with two large, flat and round pieces of dough. "Where did your girl go?"
"She's outside. Just a little too nervous."
"I saw you with a lot of girls in here, Vincent, but I never thought that this might be your taste..."
"Oh, no, she isn't my girl. She's just my room mate. Flat buddy. Just friends. Nothing else. Stop giving me that look."
"You can tell me, Vincent. I know you'd like to have a little... Fun..."
"No, flat mates are always bad business. Once you break up, you are screwed."
"But you'd like to." Damn you Ed! You goddamn mind reader.
"I didn't say anything about that."
"So you would."
"I think I should go and check on her."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"That wasn't a yes."
"I can see it, your answer isn't a no..."
"I didn't say that. I think I should really check on her."
"You'll have to tell me what it was like!"
"Ed... Come on. Knock it off."
I opened the door to find her waiting right next to it.
"That was quick. Where is the pizza?"
"Not even in the oven. Are you alright?"
"Kind of. I really want to go home... "
"Kind of?"
She switched topics. "So... Yes or no?"
"You as well?"
"You took me to a pizzeria where you took all the other girls as well."
"Because he makes the best pizza around."
I had an idea. I could easily turn this awkward conversation around.
I couldn't hide the smirk as I asked: "What about you?"
"Uh... How long do you think until we can go home?"
She looked SO uncomfortable right then.
"I thought as much."
"What?"
"I said: I thought as much."
I opened the door to the pizzeria again.
"That was no answer either!"
"But it told me everything I need to know."
She yanked me out of the door.
"Hey, that wasn't any better than your 'I won't tell'."
"Oh yes it was. You switched topics. I just said that I won't tell. Which one is more suspicious?"
Gee, this sounded really childish.
With that, I slipped back inside, knowing well that she wouldn't be able to say a word in Ed's presence.
"Ah, Vincent. I'll ask you next time about what it's like to date a tiger."
"Oh come on, Ed, you know this isn't a date. Otherwise we would stay here, right?"
"Nonono, my friend, you go home because you can get to it faster there."
"Ed, please. She can hear every single word we say."
"Really? oh. But there is nothing new for her in this!"
"She just started asking me the same question you keep insisting on."
"Just say yes, I know that you want to!"
"Ed, please..."
"Okay, young man, if you don't want to tell the truth..."
"Ed."
"You know what's good for you..."
"Thank you."
We stood there in silence for a few minutes, until I decided I should go and check on Sarah again.
She was still standing there, but this time, she looked at me awkwardly, then stared at the pavement.
"Are you still okay?"
"Yes."
"Look, I like you. You are a good friend."
She lifted her gaze and mustered my eyes.
"And because you are,", I continued," I'd like to keep it that way. Lets just forget that he asked me that question. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Are you sure you wanna stay out here?"
"Yeah."
"Okay."
We had our share of awkward silence before I decided to go back in and see how far Ed had come.
"Vincent, are you sure you don't want to tell her?"
"Ed, please... Please just stop..."
"Alright, alright. Oh, and tell your girl she has to pick up her pizza on her own."
"I will. How long 'til they are done?"
"Half a minute, maybe."
Sarah opened the door and came in. I could tell from her face that it took tremendous effort for her to do so. She took hold of my hand again and squeezed so tight that I feared she would shatter my bones. Then she let go and I handed her her 20$.
Ed came back in, two large pizza boxes in his hand and smiled at her, then grinned at me.
Oh no...
He whispered something in her direction and she shot a quick glance to me, then gave him an awkward smile and we payed, with him complaining as usual about my tip ( something he did every time I was here since I tipped 75% once, because he had managed to escort one of my exes out of the pizzeria before she could spot me and my girl at that time) and we got out. As soon as the door was closed, I had to ask. 
"What did he tell you?"
"Oh, nothing." That was a lot of confidence for 'nothing'.
"Come on. He told you something that made you smile."
" He said that I looked good."
"He said way more."
"Yeah, but that's what it boils down to."
"What else did he say?"
"That's it, really."
As much as I tried, I couldn't get her to tell me what he had said.
Her good mood lasted all the way to the couch, where we opened the boxes and watched whatever we could find on TV until way past midnight. This was something we had done in the past as well whenever I found new scars on her wrists or she seemed to depressive for me to leave her alone. It wasn't unusual for her to lose her trousers and exchange them for a blanket either. It also happened before that she cuddled up against me. It just felt weird after Ed had forced his question upon me, and now this wasn't all that innocent anymore... I had to sneak my way out of this somehow. The toilet was the obvious choice. Then she started to purr and I was trapped. I could not push a purring tiger-woman-hybrid that was this hot off of me, that was just impossible. I couldn't do it. And she probably knew it. She'd have to stop for me to have a chance at getting into my bed without any incidents that could potentially put our friendship and her well being, according to Jane, in danger. I switched off the TV. "I am going to fall asleep any second now. I better get to bed."
"Already?" It was 3 am.
"Just look at the clock, I can't keep my eyes open any longer, Sarah, please..."
She moved away from me with a sigh and I quickly made my way into the bathroom and then into my room. It took me no less than five minutes before I was in my bed trying to think of something else to get rid of my boner. Wanking it off was not an option with her being able to hear me throughout the flat... I heard Sarah go through her usual routine, then there was nothing. Suddenly I heard a knock on my door.
"Hey... Can I come in?"
"Yes."
She opened the door and walked in, still wearing her tshirt, slip and bra and sat down on my bed, looking at me with those green eyes... Green eyes and rust colored hair, what a combo...
"This is what Ed really said: 'you are by far the most beautiful and exotic girl he ever brought, in your own way. And his answer is definitely yes.'" She laid down on top of my duvet and slung her arms around me. Her boobs pressed against me in their bra, and I had to check myself to not slip a hand out of my duvet and closer to her.
"Also, I'm sorry for how I reacted when you tried to help me by not getting any longsleeves." She kissed my neck. That did it for me. I turned around and looked into her eyes.
"If you don't get out of my bed really quickly, I'm afraid that I will rape you."
She smiled when she replied "rape is sex without consent. That doesn't apply here..."
"Remember what happened between me and my last room mate?"
"Yeah... She made the mistake of letting you go... But I won't." Her fingers were on my cheek and their claws suddenly scratched my skin. Great. Overly attached girlfriend.
"I don't think so."
She snorted. "You believed that?"
"You sounded serious."
She chuckled. "No I wasn't."
She rolled over and gave me some breathing room.
"You weren't serious about raping me either, right?"
Yeah, right.
"Nah... You know who I am, so getting away with it would be kinda hard."
She giggled. She actually giggled.
"Vincent the ripper."
"That would make you a prostitute."
Her giggling became laughing. Sometimes it was just impossible for me to predict what she reacted like. Around others, she didn't speak all that much and behaved like a shy little girl, but when we were alone, she was actually pretty normal. Maybe this tiger thing hadn't come over night. Who knows.
"Didn't you notice all these random people in here, paying to have sex with me?"
"That would explain the empty fridge."
" I really have to tell them to stop doing that."
"You could ask them to leave some instead..."
"I could." She turned towards me again with this warm smile that some people only show their best friends. She was one of those people. I was one of those friends. "So what's it gonna be, are you going to rape and kill me or are we just going to keep laughing?"
"Killing you would be a shame... "
"So just laughing then."
"Yeah, sounds good. In two ways." I smirked and she giggled again.
"Uuuuh, ambiguity... "
"I'm an artist with that."
"With what?"
"With... Oh. Well played, young apprentice, well played. But the most fun part is sexual innuendo. Let us see... The nail that sticks out gets hammered back in."
She giggled again.
"The size of your hammer doesn't matter as long as you use it in the right way..."
I had to chuckle at that one. She fired off another round.
"Boats are long, hard and wet things."
Now we were both giggling, lying next to each other in my bed, facing the ceiling.
Then she turned towards me again and gave me another glimpse of that warm smile.
"Hey... Thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it."
She gave me a quick little kiss on my cheek.
"What did I do to deserve that?"
"Everything. "
"Your kisses are worth a lot."
"I know."
She kissed me again, this time on the other cheek. Her whiskers were tickling my nose.
"And this one?"
"I did a quick calculation. One kiss on the cheek doesn't cover 'everything'."
"But two do?"
"Yeah."
We just looked at each other for a few minutes, happy with just being close to each other. I spoke first.
"I think I'll go and switch off the rest of the lights." As I was getting up, Sarah's hand touched mine.
"Hey, Uhm... Can I... Stay here?"
Yes, room mates are not supposed to have sex and a relationship. It doesn't end well. No, this was neither of both. No reason to kick her out. Shut up, smart part of my brain. "Yeah, you can."
"Thanks..."
The light outside my room was still burning, the last one in the entire flat. All the curtains had been drawn, all the lights switched off and everything was just fine, except for that light. The way to the light switch was easy. The way back, in complete darkness, wasn't.
"Sarah?" She moved around in my bed.
"Yes?"
"Can you see anything?"
"You mean, because I'm a cat, I can see better at night? Don't you think that that's a bit of prejudice?"
"Yeah, well, are you able to, or not?"
"You are about to fall over your laptop charger."
"Thanks."
I made a huge step and stepped on a wire. Sarah snorted.
Something small fell on the ground.
"What happened?"
"You stepped on it instead."
"But now I'm clear?"
"Yup. You've got... A yard until you hit the bed. And go a little to the left."
I took two small steps and then stepped on my bed.
"You should step off the duvet."
I sat down, slipped in between of the duvet and the blanket and turned towards where her voice had come from as I said:
"Now for the entry fee."
"What entry fee?"
"I'm sure that you are aware of the price most girls pay to sleep in this bed. However, for tiger hybrids, there is a special offer: a single kiss on the cheek will be enough to let you sleep here for a night."
"A full night?"
"Well, until you get up."
"That's a bit expensive, don't you think?"
"Maybe. It's up to you whether you want to make the deal."
"So a night in your bed is half as expensive as everything you did for me?"
"It's highly exclusive. There only is one bed that belongs to me."
She chuckled.
"I guess so... "
I felt her lips on my cheek. They lingered there for a few moments, then she retreated.
"Good enough?"
"Mhmmhmm. Hey, if you're going to stay, you should get under the duvet."
I heard her move, then felt the duvet move. Then another kind of movement and then silence, apart from our breaths. Suddenly, something touched my leg.
"Is that your tail?"
"What if it is?"
"If it is, I'm gonna catch it so it stops bugging me."
Right then, my alarm bells should have been ringing loud enough for everyone in the next two blocks to hear. But either they didn't, or I couldn't hear them.
Playing under the blanket is... Well. You know.
"I'd like to see you do that." I moved my hands under the blanket. She didn't make it very hard for me. I found it rather easily and had my hands wrapped around it very quickly. She giggled again. Then her tone became that special one that makes sure you get that it's not actually serious.
"And now, let go or I'll do the same to you. "
"Not bad, young apprentice, I see you have learned quite a lot."
She giggled once more.
"I did."
Then she laid her tail around my hips and took one of my hands.
"Am I really the best looking girl you ever took to that pizzeria?"
"Yes."
"You didn't even think about it!"
"It wasn't hard. I never described a girl as breathtaking before."
I felt a lot of fur pressed against my body as she gave me a hug.
"Thank you..."
"You don't need to thank me for speaking the truth."
She gave another tight hug and we stayed like this for minutes. Eventually, she loosened up a bit and I slung my arms around her as well.
We stayed like this for another couple of minutes before she drew back her head and I felt her hot breath blow across my cheeks. She pressed her forehead against mine, breathed in and out a few times and then...

She kissed me. Not much, just a short kiss on my lips. But it was a kiss. And it felt good. It felt right. I had drowned that smart-ass part of my brain.
I whispered into her ear.
"What was that one for?"
"That one was for you."
I felt her breath wash against me, felt her hot thighs with my legs, knew what she actually wanted. But not tonight.
She kissed me again, just in front of my ear.
Alright, tonight.
She shuddered as I moved my lips to her mouth.
Then I kissed back.
When I stopped, we just lay motionless, my mouth less than a quarter of an inch from hers, her body pressed against mine and our arms keeping it that way.
Then we kissed again, and again after that, and once more. I slid one hand into her shirt, the other into her slip. She responded with a moan and kissed me with even more vigor. Then she rolled me on top and pulled my shirt off me before we rolled around again and I got to pull of hers, open her bra and an toss everything out of my bed. Her fur felt great on my body. I turned us around again. My massage of her pussy was getting quicker and quicker and she responded accordingly, her body moving rhythmically on top of mine while her tongue slowly but steadily sandpapered mine. She was wild.

At least that's what I thought until I slipped my fingers into her. She broke off my lips to take a deep breath, then returned as if her life depended on how viciously she could kiss me. I pulled off her slip and got the room I needed between her legs to make her go completely nuts. She stopped kissing me and just panted, moaned and occasionally touched my lips with hers. I hammered into her with my fingers, now completely soaked in her juices as her body wound like a snake. I kissed her. Her hands clamped around my head as she kissed back. The only description I can think of for the way she kissed me is 'violent'. And I had yet to truly nail her... I wrapped my other hand around her neck and played with her tits as her right hand left my face and reappeared at my dick only instants later. She almost ripped my boxers off of me, then started to stroke it. It became harder and harder with every stroke. It was almost painfully hard when she rolled on top again, pinning me on the sheets and kissed me once more, then asked:
"Condoms?"
I searched for the highest drawer on my nightstand with my hand, opened it and produced one. She kissed me once more, then slid off the the side and gave me some room.
I opened the wrapping, took the latex skin out and rolled it down on my dick. Sarah was still on her back, waiting for me to enter her. I bent over her, my dick already poking her pussy and gave her a kiss while I prodded her. Her hands grabbed hold on my back as her legs folded around my bum and then pushed me in. She took a long, loud, deep breath. From the tip on, she couldn't do much more, but wrap her tail around me and ...
What? A hymen? I bent over to kiss her, then asked
"Is this your first time?"
"First time in this body..."
Good enough for me. I pulled back out a little, gave her another kiss and then, with a powerful thrust, pushed through.
"Ouch..." She kissed me again, but stopped once I started to rhythmically thrust into her and moaned and panted instead. Her tail was now tightly wrapped around me, her legs were keeping me in and her hands had started to bury their claws into my skin. I hammered for a while until she threw us around and sat down on top of me, her tail now waving around behind her as she reintroduced my dick to her pussy and pushed me into her. She breathed in, then wrapped her tail around one of my arms as I started massaging her tits with my hands. She slowly started to grind on me, then bent over and pushed her hips down on mine, lifted them, pushed down... Much faster than what I had previously done. Her moans grew longer and her breath started to come quicker and quicker as she built up more and more speed, then came. Her hands pushed their claws partially into my chest, her abdomen contracted uncontrollably and she let out a short, primal scream.
I pulled her down and started thrusting into her from below, resulting in multiple orgasms, then a continuous one with her hands tearing my shoulders apart, her breath coming completely unregularly and her not making a single sound. She was just panting whenever she could and digging her claws into my neck. Her abdomen didn't stop moving erratically and her pulsing insides massaging my dick felt like nothing i had ever felt before. I kissed her snout before cumming, then felt the orgasm wash over me. I shot my load inside of her into the condom. I pushed into her with every shot, heard her long wail as a last orgasm tormented her body, then felt my member loosing its pressure and shrink. Sarah's body was still twitching when she lifted her head from my shoulder and gave me a long, exhausted kiss and slid off me, her juices running out of her and on to my leg.
I searched for the roll of toilet paper I always had under my bed and took of the condom off, then wiped my dick clean. I dropped the sticky result out of my bed and wrapped me and Sarah in the duvet, then pulled her closer with my arm. Her head on my chest, one leg between mine, she had one hand on my chest and the other still close to my neck.
I started stroking her head with my other hand and felt her huddle even closer.
"Wow."
She kissed my chest.
We stayed silent for a few minutes, until she quietly remarked "the girls you were with told me that you were good, but I hadn't known you were this good..."
I wasn't. Multiple orgasms on the first time? Wow. That was all hers. I usually managed that after a few dates with some girls, but this... Wow.
Sarah purred her deep, growling tiger-purr and seemed very happy. I knew I should have felt bad because A: she was my room mate and b: I had, by Jane's definition, taken advantage of her, but this afterglow was special. It felt way better than the one I usually experience after having sex. Mostly, I have to restrain myself from getting up and playing video games or something alike, but this... Nothing could have made me leave that bed back then. Nothing.

I woke up the next day with Sarah already awake, not having moved a lot.
"Hey..."
She smiled, then gave me a kiss, before answering
"Hi..."

Making out with a tiger hybrid is weird. Their snout, due to the form of their lips, is much less sensitive than human lips. At least that's what it seemed like to me. You also have to watch out for their sharp teeth. Seriously. Don't slide your tongue over them. They cut it open like a box cutter. Her tongue, then, feels like sandpaper, but apart from that, and its unusual form ( for us ) its fine. Funny enough, Sarah had a reflex regarding her whiskers: whenever you touched them, she'd turn her head that way. Trying to unnerve someone you know? Play with their whiskers. It drives them up the walls.

"Vincent?"
"Mhhmhhm?"
"I need to go to the bathroom... I'll be back soon..."
She stood up and hopped off my bed. With her now completely naked, this was the first time that I got to actually look at her. I had previously assumed that she was actually as tall as me, but I hadn't noticed that walking on her paws meant walking on her toes. What this did to the length of her legs is something I will leave for you to imagine. Lets just say that was enough for me to want more of her. Her legs themselves looked strong enough to strangle an elephant. They weren't overly muscular, but you got the feeling that they were immensely powerful, although I can't describe why. Her whole body was like this. It was athletic and definitely feminine, but you got the feeling that she could outlift a bodybuilder with ease.
Halfway between her knees and her wide hips ( you have no idea. This girl, never mind the weird tiger stuff, topped my hit list in terms of attractivity.) her thighs whitened.
Her bum then. Oooh, Her bum... It may be covered in fur, but I knew from yesterday night that it was more than just firm. It was topped by a tail that would just reach the ground if she were to extend it, but she kept in a slight curl at its end, forming a J. It had a small black tip and was just as orange as everything else, including the black stripes.
Waist long dark red hair, with black strands in between fell down in slight curls on her back. I hadn't noticed her looking at me with a sly grin. I was still occupied with her stomach and the soft white fur that rose from there to her big, round, nicely formed tits, as one of her orange fingers interrupted me with a "come here" motion and led my eyes up to hers. Those intense green slitted circles of jungle... Their color was similar to one of those photoshopped pictures with over saturated green. It wasn't just green. It was... GREEN. I could see her lips moving and she definitely said something, but those eyes were like fly traps. I couldn't get out of them.
"... when I'm back..."
She covered one of her boobs, the one I could see, with her hand and moved out of my door. 
With her gone, I now had time and no distractions to think about what had happened. I opened the window to get some fresh air in and to lose the smell of sex and sweat.
So, me and Sarah now had something going on. I wasn't sure whether I was happy about it. Yes, her body was one huge temptation, the shy girl in it was someone I did like, but was this really a good idea? Her body was way out of my league. I do look good, yes, but I'm definitely not the sexiest man alive, and if you were to ask me, she was the sexiest woman alive. Also, we were room mates.
And we were close. Really close. I always thought it was a little one sided, with her trusting me with so many of her worries, but it worked out just fine. Probably because I wasn't attracted to her. Maybe because I looked away because she was my roomie. The only thing I had found attractive about her had been her green eyes, which had now gotten raised to insanely green. But green eyes hadn't been enough to gamble on such a deep friendship. What we had done last night had been a slip. It shouldn't have happened. But I couldn't tell her that. I had broken trough her new bodies hymen last night, and while her behavior during sex told me that this was far from her first time ( this shy girl had had sex before? How did that guy get to her?), I had devirginized this girls new body. It would be an absolute dick move to run away now.
I heard the shower running. More time for me to think this through. I was trapped. I couldn't just break her heart. This was exactly what Jane had warned me about. Sometimes I'm just extraordinarily stupid...
I had to go along with it. There was no way around this. She would, against all of my own rules, be my girlfriend from now on. Damn. My problem wasn't that she was my girlfriend, but that I knew I'd betray her. No matter how in love I was with a girl, none of my relationships had ever lasted longer than a year. They had a mean lifespan of 2 1/2 months. While I didn't care for those girls after that time, I did care for this one. I couldn't hurt her.
I sat there in my bed for a few more minutes until the shower went off, staring at the wall. Then I laid back down, accepting my fate and waited for Sarah to show up. When she did, she surprised me. She was fully dressed, wearing a tight black t-shirt ( bulging over her breasts ) and black shorts. She spoke first.
"Uh, hey... Uhm..."
"What's up?"
"I'm not sure how to say this... I think we made a mistake." Thank you so much. Thank you so much, I could kiss you right now for just being awesome.
"Okay?"
She walked in and sat down on my bed.
"Yeah, look, I see what you do to all of your girls, you have sex with them, start a relationship and then you dump them for another one not long after that. I know that at least one girl that works with me hates me for living with you. She hates you as well. And I don't want to hate you. You helped me when I needed a lot of help, and I just don't want to get dumped by you because I'm afraid of what I might find in me after that, I don't want to go back to trying to slice open my wrists every weekend but not finding the courage to do so, could we please just be friends and... " she stopped, turned around and wiped a tear out of her eye.
"Could we just pretend this never happened?"
"Yes."
She embraced me and whispered "thanks..." into my ear. Her fur beneath her eyes felt wet, as if she had been crying a lot more before she had the courage to walk in here.
"You never told me about weekly tries to kill yourself."
"That was before you moved in and just after you did, I stopped..."
"When I put your pictures on the wall?"
"No, when we started talking not just necessary things."
"Oh... Didn't anybody else ask you about your well being?"
"My uncle parked me here, remember?"
"No I don't. You never told me anything about your family. I never asked because I feared you'd just go back to cutting yourself..."
"Well, my parents are dead and my uncle was my legal custodian who sent me here after high school because he wanted me far away from his home. I was a liability for him. Did you notice how many times he called since I live here? Zero. All I get is money to pay the rent, university and that's about it."
"I'm sorry for your loss..."
" that's what everyone else said as well. But I didn't believe them."
"Do you believe me?"
"Yes."
We sat there for some time, just embracing each other in this awkward position, her completely dressed, me naked apart from the duvet that covered my private parts and just hugged.
I think it helped a lot. When she finally let me go, it didn't feel as awkward as I thought it would when I said "friends?"
"Friends."
I got up and left her on my bed, got a shower and went through my usual morning routine. When I went to get breakfast, I found her buried in her biology studies.
"Any idea how your transformation worked?"
"Huh? No... But I'm sure it was based on mutation of the DNA and a subsequent deevolvement of a lot of cells to stem cells, followed by a complete cycle of all my cells. I should have lost memories or scars, but all the scars on my wrists..." She faded out and concentrated even harder on her book.
"Didn't you use glasses for that?"
no reaction. Hmm. I opened the fridge to find it almost completely empty, apart from a little bit of milk. I was never good at keeping food stocked. I always ran out. Sarah, on the other hand, was never out of food. Today, her side of the fridge was empty. Not just empty, but almost swiped clean. I looked at her. Two plates were on top of some of the books she had laid all around her.
"Hey, did you just eat all of your food while I was in the shower?"
This was her contribution to our friendship. Whenever I was missing something, Sarah usually helped me out.
"No, yes, part of it. Borrowed some of your food yesterday. I was about to die of starvation when we finally got that pizza. "
Holy shit.
Sarah's side of the fridge was usually full enough to make a doomsday prepper happy. She knew that I "borrowed" a lot from her side and prepared accordingly.
She ate all of it? Wow.

All that was left inside of our fridge was milk. Cornflakes, then. I switched on the TV.
"Sorry, but I wanna see what the world thinks about hybrids..."
Sarah had first scowled at me, but once I had given her my reason for doing what I did, she relaxed and diverted her attention to the TV.
After half an hour of CNN, we sat there dumbfounded. Half of my cornflakes were soaked, but that didn't really matter.
Apparently, the government had so far been unable to decide whether these hybrids/anthromorphs/furries were actually humans, or whether they should be treated that way. It shouldn't have been much of a surprise, really, but this was raising the bar for ridiculousness even higher. While the UN had declared they were to be treated as humans ( I think that the general secretary, who looked a lot like a cat nowadays, helped a lot), the Republican Party was discussing whether the group that Sarah now belonged to was either sent by god or lucifer. They filibustered in an emergency sitting of congress, stopped anything useful from happening and made way for each state to make up their own mind. Apparently, there weren't as many of them as I had thought. West Virginia went ahead and declared them as not human and declared that they would each need a registered owner or leave the state. Several others, mainly southern states would follow during the next week.
New York had immediately declared them full on citizens and their mayor had promised a forum for them where they could ask for fulfillment of special needs.
Sarah looked at me, tears in her eyes again. Our state had not yet declared anything. It was far enough in the south to not grant her full citizenship. Nobody knew what would be done. The governor was on a hiking trip and not to be reached.
"Hey, you'll be fine. People in this city won't let that happen."
"How do you know?" Her voice was on the edge of breaking.
"I yelled at some nut who tried to make me sign his petition for exactly this. I got a lot of applause."
She calmed down a little. I left my bowl of cornflakes and gave her another hug. So many hugs... So many embraces... I knew that this would bring us a lot closer, if not into a bed again. Be careful Vincent.
We spent the rest of the day watching CNN, waiting for someone to find our governor and some kind of statement regarding the status of Sarah's and her kin's citizenship. They couldn't find him.

When she fell asleep, I had a hard time getting her in to her bed, until she woke up and did it herself. I was already in my bed when I realized I should go check on her. Who knew what this did to her. I got up and walked over to her, but before I could knock she already told me to come in.
"I figured I should check on you, since that thing on TV..." Her voice had sounded pretty bad when she had told me to come in, but even though she whispered now, I could hear her crying. "Would you stay here for the night?"
Yes, that would make things a lot easier. Come on, Vince, stay in the girl's bed that you are proven to be unable to resist, trying to resist while she seeks consolation.
"Sure." What other choice did I have?
I laid down on her duvet, wrapped my arms around her (sorry, that's the way it went down. I'm serious.) and felt her sobs and tears as her arms went around me and she buried her head on my shoulder.
"What if they don't grant me citizenship?"
"We'll sort this through. Don't worry."
"I won't be a full citizen anymore..."
"So were black people in the 1950s. Someone else will stand up with a dream. In this day and age, he/ she probably won't be a hybrid, but a white woman around 45 who has nothing better to do and wants publicity..."
I thought that this was funny. She didn't even seem to notice the joke.
"What if there won't be anyone?"
"There will."
"But, what if they won't succeed?"
I had no answer to that. A lot of movements failed, never mind how right they had been with their cause.

I was woken up the next morning by a loud alarm and a grumbling tigress in my arms. She looked okay-ish, not too worried about the citizen-issue anymore as she kissed my cheek and said "thanks..." before getting up.
Sarah had always been the first one to go through her bathroom routine. She was quick enough for me to not mind. We had breakfast silently, watching CNN for news, but apparently the governor had still not been found. Apparently, other media outlets were jumping at this story, mocking him for being unavailable when needed, but this was not all that important. Important was that the western world seemed to be of the opinion that hybrids were to be treated like humans, with the exemption of the god fearing southern states. The numbers of hybrids were apparently rather low, somewhere between one in 20 humans to one in 100, depending on the region. Xenophobia did its job and the first images of burning crosses on someone's front lawn had appeared. The Ku Klux Klan had widened its portfolio, or so it seemed. Everyone officially condemned the actions, apart from a few nutjobs and our governor who was still to be found.

We parted in the parking lot, as usual when Sarah started at the same time that I did. My day was rather unusual, as this new development in our society was very exciting for our prof. We didn't do models in computers ( I will spare you the technical terms) , we did society instead and eventually he lectured on how exciting this was. I was the only one in the room who actually had contact with what he only called "furries".
We had a very long chat about the legal changes and that he feared that their citizenship wouldn't be granted in this state and that he also saw this as a possible breaking point for the already strained union since the re-election of a black president. While he did sound convincing, I wasn't sure about it. Sure, there had been public outcries on both sides of the issue, but the union wouldn't break, would it? America stuck together.
He wasn't sure. He hoped that the political left would rally and unify now that they could fight for a common cause. I left him there and continued through my, apart from that, actually rather normal day.
Surprisingly, there were a lot less hybrids around than on my shopping trip on Saturday. The numbers CNN had given earlier now sounded about right.
I wondered where they had all come from on that Saturday.

Sarah was at home much earlier on mondays, so I just drove home alone. She either walked or took the bus, depending on her mood and whether the bus was there. It was one of the few bus lines around, and it took her very close to our apartment.
I didn't even have to work that day, so I decided to pick up a lot of groceries. I figured that I'd need a lot, if Sarah's eating habits would continue to work that way.

Coming home, I walked in to the living room/kitchen hoping to find Sarah. CNN was on. Apparently, they had a lead on the governor and it wouldn't take them much longer than an hour to find him. Or so they said. Sarah wasn't there.
"Sarah?"
Nothing. Oh, fuck no. I had hidden all her razor blades. She had told me to hide them. And I had hid them pretty well.
"Sarah?! Sarah, where are you?"
I opened her door. Nothing. She wasn't in my room either. If she did something to herself...

I found her in the bathroom, sitting in the shower, her back against the wall. Her face was completely soaked, but she cried silently and held blood soaked arm out as if she had just cut herself again, her other hovering above it with one claw dripping blood extended. Blood had dripped on her shirt and her skirt. The fur on her left arm, the one she had cut, didn't look good. I stood there for less than a second, realizing what she had done, before her head fell on her shoulder towards me and she tried to say something.

On my way out I almost slipped on her hoodie. I flung myself around the frame of my door, jumped over my bed and fetched the first aid kit behind it. On my way back I gave the pullover a wide berth, flung myself into the bathroom to find Sarah with her claw just above her wrist, about to make a longitudinal and fatal cut. She was still sobbing. I got to her when she pressed the claw in to her skin, pulled it back out and opened the first aid kit to find something to close the wounds on her arm. Suddenly, she sounded a lot less desperate and more fucked up. I felt her head leaning against my arm as I wrapped her forearm in bandages.
"How deep did you cut?"
She tried to say something, but I couldn't understand anything through her sobs.
"Do I need to get you to a hospital?"
She shook her head. Good. I put my arm around her shoulder and she put her head against mine.
We must've sat there like this for almost half an hour before she had calmed down enough to explain herself.
Under tears and after several tries she told me that a security guy had stopped her on her way to the biology tract and that he had taken her to the security office because, as a tigerhybrid, she was highly dangerous with her teeth, claws and other abilities.
"My professor got me in after he told them ... he told them... I was ... an experiment... For them, I'm just an experiment..." She started sobbing again and I caressed her head, at least for another hour. The bloodstains on her things had dried, the bandages seemed to hold tight and I figured it was about time to get the groceries squared away, so I got her on her feet, walked her to the living room and left her on the couch with several blankets draped over her.
"I'll be back in a second, I'm gonna get the groceries squared away, okay?"
"But you will come back right? When you ran out of the bathroom, I thought you ran away from me..."
Oh. Okay.
"I wouldn't run away from you." I gave her a smile.
She tried to smile back, but it looked more like a mask than an actual smile.
"Thanks..."
I switched on CNN before picking up the bags I had left close to the door and brought then into the kitchen, put everything in its place and made Sarah some hot chocolate and built something edible that resembled sandwiches out of the ingredients I had gotten. I am a terrible chef.
I returned to Sarah, with CNN declaring that the investigative services still hadn't found the governor and that the vice-governor was about to step up and resolve the issue, which was bad news. He was almost fundamentalist Christian, his answer would simply be to declare all hybrids as objects and not persons.
Half an hour later, the FBI found the governors corpse. He had apparently been killed by a falling tree log. The vice governor stepped in, held a speech about his late predecessor and told his citizens what we had feared: he would make hybrids objects. Their status would be similar to the status of pets.

I put my arm over Sarah's shoulders and drew her close. The governor was droning on about demons and whatnot, but I tuned it out and just held her tight, while she was crying again.