Anniversary Party 1 (Patreon)

@Pickles, @Keevin Childers, and @Bobinator all asked for a scene where Ali (from A&H club) and Rahua (from the Kanti Cycle) meet. Why? Well, that would be because of a wonderful drawing that @Pickles made for us:

But of course, with the two of them coming from different universes, it's taking a bit of finagling just to get them in the same room.

———

Kanti tapped hesitantly, and after a moment, the heavy Stage 7 door rolled open and a female wolf with bright green hair peeked out. “Yeah?” she asked.

“Hey, I’m sorry about bothering you. I think we’re the last groups in the studio, and I noticed your sign was off.” The scruffy tan geroo pointed to the darkened “quiet on the set” sign hanging prominently above the door.

“Yeah, we just wrapped. Getting ready to head home,” said Hilde, letting the door roll the rest of the way open. “Did you need anything? I think we drank all the sodas, but there should be some bottles of water left in the cooler—maybe a diet, if you’re lucky.”

“No, no, no,” said Kanti, waving his paws in front of him. “We’re having a little party down at Stage 2, and I’m starting to doubt that one of our co-stars is gonna show. He’s … the sensitive sort.”

A female kangaroo with hair spiked high between her ears drained the last of a bottle of water, then tossed it in a green recycling can. “He play the bad guy?” asked Adrian.

Kanti nodded. “You know how it is. Everyone on the set just loves the stuffing out of him, but he’s so good at being nasty the moment the camera rolls… Well, I think it eats at him. He feels bad about reading his lines.”

“Aw, poor guy,” said Hilde. “Wish Wyatt was a bit more like that.”

“Wyatt plays my ex–,” explained Adrian. “He’s a douche on-stage and off.”

“Anyhow,” Kanti said, scratching at his ruff, “if he doesn’t show, then we’re gonna have so much cake left over that it’s just wrong—like ten tons of extra cake. We’d love it if you’d come down and join the party. Eat some cake. Take some home. Bring a couple truck-fulls to a small impoverished village somewhere that will starve to death if they don’t get cake or something.”

Adrian snorted a laugh and covered her mouth. “Sorry,” she said from behind her hand, “that’s a lot of cake. We were just going to have a quiet night in front of the T.V., but a small slice of cake would be really nice. I never get anything sweet.”

Hilde shrugged. “New episode of Our Flag Means Death tonight,” she sighed.

Kanti raised one finger. “Champagne too!”

“All right, you sold me,” laughed the wolf.

“One little complication,” grunted Adrian as she pulled a joey from her pouch. “Okay, not so little anymore.”

“Oh, look at this handsome little prince!” squealed the geroo, his green eyes sparkling with joy. “He looks just about my daughter’s age. C’mon, we gotta introduce them.”

Adrian held Ali in her arms as the group walked toward Stage 2. “So, what are we celebrating?”

“Ten years!” said Kanti with a grin. “Ten years running now.”

“Mazel tov!” said Hilde. She pinched the geroo’s buttcheek hard enough to make him jump. Kanti and Adrian both stared at her for a moment before she shrugged. “What? It’s good luck.”

They walked a few more seconds before Adrian broke the silence, “I didn’t know you were Jewish.”

“I’m not,” said Hilde, “but canonically, my character is. Won’t really matter unless you meet my parents next season.”

“Ooh, I hope I do,” said the kangaroo.

“Would be nice,” said the wolf, “but I suspect they’ll cut it. I heard the writer is working on a big reveal.”

“Aw, nuts,” said Adrian. “Sure hope they’re not bringing Wyatt back.”

“Hey everyone!” Kanti called as they entered the stage, shushing dozens of simultaneous conversations. “I brought some new friends who were filming … uh, Club A…?”

“It’s called A&H Club,” said the wolf. “I’m Hilde. I’m the ‘H’.”

“I’m Adrian, the ‘A’ in A&H Club,” said the kangaroo. She raised her joey so everyone could see. “And this is Ali.”

Dozens of geroo ears lifted high, and the momentarily silenced partygoers shared a collective gasp before crowding in close to get a good look at Adrian’s son. Kanti and Hilde had to take a couple steps back to avoid being trampled.

“Woo, that was close,” chuckled Kanti. Then, he gestured toward a folding table that was draped with a white tablecloth. “Let me get you that champagne.”

Kanti handed Tish a glass of champagne when she joined them. Then, he put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Did you get to see Ali?” he asked. “He’s so cute!”

Tish shook her head. “I’ll have to wait for the line to die down.” She touched Hilde’s arm. “You have to tell me about your show. How’s it going? What’s the storyline like?”

“This is my mate and leading lady, Tish,” offered Kanti.

“Hi Tish. Nice to meet you.” Hilde grinned wide. “We’re into our fifth season now. It’s sort of a slow-burn romance between Adrian and me. Her character is coming off a really bad relationship and starting over from zero. And I play the slutty old friend that offers her a place to stay.”

“Ooh, that sort of story!” said Kanti, his ears wiggling. “I was wondering why the shirts and no pants.”

“Nah, not so much,” said Hilde. “We just had our first on-screen kiss, and it’s taken us five seasons to get that far. Slow burn, like I said.”

“I bet you’re marvelous!” said Tish.

“I try,” said Hilde. “So far, the story has been mostly focused on Adrian, but I’m hoping we’ll dig into my backstory next season. How about you guys?”

“Science fiction!” said Kanti, a drunken grin on his ears.

“Ooh, I love Star Trek,” said Hilde.

Tish shook her head. “Less Star Trek and more Total Recall.”

The wolf wrinkled her nose. “With Schwarzenegger?”

Kanti said, “Nah, more like the remake from 2012. Dark, gritty, exploited workers, yadda yadda.”

“Huh,” said Hilde. “Didn’t even know there was a remake.”

A small, chocolate-colored geroo stumbled toward the table, but Kanti put his body in the way. “No, Suni,” he said sternly, “I’m cutting you off.”

“Aw, you’re not my dad!” the little geroo moaned.

Fortunately, that was the moment that Dekka arrived at the party. “Suni! My eternal love!” he cried.

“Dekka? Oh, you made it!” slurred Suni. And with a running leap, she latched herself around the skinny teen’s mid-section.

Tish cupped a paw to her mouth and spoke quietly for Hilde’s sake, “Poor Dekka got written off in the middle of the second season.”

“But I got the most epic death scene ever!” he laughed, clearly having heard. “Come, Suni, let’s reenact it for old-time’s sake. Let’s do the bit where you’re trying to save my vision after I’ve been exposed to sulfurous air.”

Suni frowned. “No, Dekka, that’s way too sad. This is supposed to be a party!”

The crowd had turned and now everyone was looking at Dekka and Suni

Dekka snapped his fingers repeatedly, and his off-screen boyfriend, Kuru, hurried over with a crumpled paper bag. “Thank you, Love,” he said as he took the bag. “That’s why I brought these to lighten the mood.”

Turning about, the skinny teen fumbled in the bag for a moment. When he turned back around, he had put on a pair of plastic glasses with two big, bloodshot eyeballs on springs. “Help me, Dr. Suni … you’re the only one who can save my vision!”

The crowd roared with laughter. It was a deafening sound that could have lasted forever if an even louder voice hadn’t interrupted it…

“Oh, hey guys,” said someone from high overhead.

With a single voice, all the geroo shouted, “Sarsuk!”

“I just wanted to congratulate you all on ten years,” the krakun said, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “But it sounds like you’re having a great time, and I don’t want to—”

“Don’t you dare leave!” shouted Kanti. “We’ve all been waiting for you!”

“Oh, all right, I can stick around,” Sarsuk said.

“What have you been up to, big guy?” asked Tish.

“They’ve got me doing a silly skit with Gert,” said the krakun. He put up his palms to form a hole between his thumbs and index fingers, then stuck his head through it as if he were a trophy on a wall, mugging a smile at the rest of the crew. “Gert was wasted on drama. His comedic timing is amazing.”

“I hear he’s lots of fun to work with,” said Dekka.

“Oh, he really is,” confirmed Sarsuk before turning his head. “Hey, is that cake?”

———

Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GCfSNizAhfzqxebBaY0-6Q3RcCt-ZqjrAyreVr9HYPg/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?