Love & Lattes - Group Therapy Ep. 06

It looks like Joseph has some help now that Crystal is on board with them. Hey, don't give me that look, I'll tell you right now that persian is 100 not hooking up with them, so get your pervy mind out of the gutter!

That said, maybe our lovely kitty manager will find her some fun as we go along but in the meantime... It's a good thing Joe has that extra help, he's going to need it!

Did you ever hear the old Thomas Edison quote? No, not the one about stealing people's ideas! I mean the quote about being a genius?

Let's jump right in!

Crystal pulled her small compact car up to the unassuming building. She'd have questioned if she had the right place if she didn't recognize Ivory's car there. It also didn't hurt that her two former co-workers were right there waiting for her.

The persian barely got out of the car before she had a bunny and calico rushing over to hug her.

"Crystal! This is so exciting!" Ivory purred out happily.

"This is gonna be great, I'll get to call you boss for once!" Karen hummed out, also hugging up her old friend.

"Yeah! S-Sure! Ooph! Okay, not so tight girls, gods!" She laughed and returned the hug before they all parted.

"Phew... I can smell those dogs on both of you, had to have a little morning session before you got here?" She offered them a grin.

Karen snorted and put her paws on her hips. "No! We actually didn't have any sex, we just all piled up in the bed and even showed together, so it's hard to fully get the smell of dog off."

"Woah... that must be one hell of a bed and shower." Crystal said, sounding shocked.

"Oh it is, believe me, living most of my life on a tour bus and grabbing my showers in cramped truckstop ones? You bet your ass those two things were what I paid up on with my money." Ivory purred out, sounding smug as she gripped the other cat's paw. "C'mon, boss. Let's go."

Crystal showed her a grin as the girls led her through the dark hallway into the large recording studio. Bianca of course towered over all three of them but had that haughty jovial air she always carried.

"Ah ha! Another little gattina?" The bovine woman peered down the persian who cocked a furred brow.

"A gattina? What are you on about, lady?" Crystal put her paws on her hips with a huff.

"It means a cat, Bianca is just... eccentric," Karen gave the instructor a smile.

"Riiight, well Bianca, I'm Crystal, I'll be assisting Joseph in his management duties going forward. He asked me to come out, meet you, and get an idea of how this all worked." Crystal stabbed right to the heart of the matter.

"Oh ho! You are to the point I can appreciate that! You girls, warm up I will show your manager the sound room, make sure you put on a good show for her!" Bianca slapped a paw around Crystal's shoulder, the cat hissing at the impact as she was pulled along.

"Are you also part of their little... family?" Bianca hummed out curiously as they walked.

"I'm their friend, JUST their friend," Crystal responded with a raised padded-finger, wagging it at the cow. "I've no part in their little polyamory relationship."

"Forgive me for prying, I was simply curious and wished to know how to approach things. As you know, it can be a touchy subject when working with loved ones." She pulled the door to the sound room open, letting the cat walk in first.

"I wouldn't know, been a hot minute for me in that regard." Crystal shrugged as she looked around.

"For me as well since my last divorce. Perhaps boys are not my thing and I should find a good woman, or perhaps the seventh time is the charm, yes?" Bianca gave a laugh and sauntered over to dial on the intercom. "Are my idols ready?"

"I'm never ready for this shit, but let's do it," Ivory hissed out and gave a yawn.

"We're good to start, Bianca!" Karen called out, her own eagerness, a foil to Ivory's morning grumps.

Crystal tried to take in as much of the whole thing as she could. This wasn't her kind of scene but even she could tell the two of them sounded good together. "Woah... I used to karaoke with these two, but what they're doing here... this is on another level!" She spoke out with an impressed tone in her voice.

"They are making great strides, my gattina was already good, but the love of her coniglia fuels her, pushes her. They are stronger together than apart, like... that ariete and lupa!" Bianca thrust a finger out to a poster, one of many that dotted the sound room.

Crystal was almost in her thirties, but she still kept up with pop music, recognizing one of them, a half-fur ram and wolf. "Ah, Electric Blue. I don't recognize the wolf though."

"A no-nonsense lupa, I was fond of training with her. She was fierce like a warrior but stubborn! We argued many times and she even threatened to throw me to the floor once or twice!" Bianca laughed the whole thing off, sounding amused as Crystal frowned at the display.

"At any rate, she is his love and it fuels him. Is the lupa on par with the ariete? No, not yet, but she makes him stronger. That is these two, she is not at the level of my gattina, but she will be and she makes her stronger by being with her!"

"Ruby Thunder and Electric Blue..." She shifted her gaze back to Ivory and Karen who were both pushed to the lone mic as they sang, looking fully focused. "Cream and Mocha... Yeah, even a novice manager like me can feel it. They've got something, they really do." Crystal purred to herself as she folded her arms, her tail coiling and flicking to their singing.

Bianca just gave her a confident nod before declaring dramatically, "Mark my word, they will have a number one when I am finished with them, it is their fate to do so!"

Joseph stood across from Isaac, the wolf in an unfamiliar dojo, both of them dressed in gi's. The smaller fox brought his paw up, a cocky grin on his muzzle as he motioned with his padded-fingers.

Isaac barked out as he lunged forward with a snap kick, the smaller dog shifting his knee up, letting the blow land squarely on his shin. The drive made him actually hop back on his one planted footpad, but Joseph seemed to use the moment and simply spun out with a wide sweeping roundhouse kick.

Isaac hissed out and jerked his head back but he wasn't going to be able to clear before the blow landed. Then the footpaw just halted right there about six inches from his muzzle, the fox flicking his tail, looking at the wolf over his shoulder before dropping back into stance.

"Holy... I didn't think you could move that fast, Joe..." The wolf barked out with a pant. They'd been sparring for a while now, Isaac having pushed for Joseph to show him some muay thai even though this was the wolf's first lesson.

"Excellent control, Joseph-san!" Another fox called out, this one sporting a blonde tail and ears that blended perfectly with his hair. He was what some affectionately called a half-fur, sporting a soft tan flesh over most of his body. They didn't tend to have paws or muzzles either, but regardless they seamlessly intermingled with the full-furs, there being about an equal amount of one another in society at large.

"Thank you sensei. I was quite nervous if I'm being truthful." Joseph made a practiced bow.

"Isaac-san, I know you are an adept martial artist with several forms under your belt, I hope you will not let this dishearten you. I did caution you-"

"Not at all, Sensei. I simply wished to see it in live practice. Ego has no place in the martial arts, regardless if it's practice or competition." The red wolf offered his own practiced bow he no doubt made to his other instructors throughout the years.

The blonde fox gave an approving nod at that. "I lament I cannot instruct you longer than the time we have, I feel you would have much I could learn from as well. Still, I will make the few sessions we have as educational as I can. Since you are a practiced martial artist, I will be able to... skip past some things, as it were."

After a while longer, the lesson concluded, and Isaac thanked the instructor for his time on such short notice. The two dogs that were now a couple, cleaned up and got back into their regular clothes before leaving the dojo.

"I always get a little nervous sparring with half-furs, ya know?" Isaac called out conversationally from the passenger seat.

"Why's that?" Joseph gave him a curious look with a tilt of his head.

"I dunno... no fur for padding, they don't even have pads." He looked down at his own open paw.

"I mean, Karen doesn't have pads either." Joseph shrugged. "You want my opinion on the matter?"

"Well duh, I did bring it up." Issac grinned over at his lover.

"I think it offers some advantages too. I mean smooth flesh offers less wind drag. You can theoretically move faster. Also their footpaws erm... feet? They offer more spring and agility."

"I suppose that's fair. I think I like my fur personally, I'd feel vulnerable without it." Isaac nodded.

"Can't miss what you never had, right?" Joseph pointed out.

"I see them every day, of course, it's just interesting because I never spar with them. So it got me thinking." Isaac huffed out as he looked to the side window.

"Are you about to open with 'I'm not racist but-'" The fox offered him a grin.

"Don't be an asshole, Joe!" Isaac laughed out and grinned. "I don't give a shit one way or another, fur or not, it's what's inside that counts."

"How proactive of you!" Joseph chuckled them gave a nod. "I get it though, I could never date a bigot... People of all walks have enough bullshit you could find an issue with, no need to go after them over something they have no say in."

"So what's next on the agenda?" Isaac asked.

"Let's get some lunch with the girls and Crystal, then I want to get you to one of those classes on doing security. It's only a few hours and I think given your background, it'll bore you to tears, but it'll give me some time to sit in the car and give the label that conference call they've been hounding me about."

Isaac gave a laugh as he put his sunglasses on. "Alright foxy, you're the boss."

"This is stomping all over the contract your wife signed with us!" The voice came back clipped and rather surly from the speaker of the phone.

"I know that, but work with me here, I'm telling you, this is going to be worthwhile!" Joseph snarled as he leaned back slightly in the seat of his car, a paw rubbing at his temple.

"Mr. Renault, we put a big risk out there for you two, and-"

"And we fucking delivered, Jacob! Ivory broke into the top ten on her first gods' damned LP, so get off my tail about this!"

He heard the snarl from the phone before a deeper smooth voice rang out, "Joseph, your little lady has a hell of a voice on her, we're just worried about the unknown of bringing another girl in."

"John... I get that, look, guys. Just let me cut a demo with them and throw it at you, shit, spin the whole thing with them as girlfriends, it'll add even more interest in them!"

There was a long pregnant pause before John sighed out, "I'm getting too old for this whole generation, husbands and girlfriends at the same time?"

"I don't like it, but... I want to hear the demo." Jacob's voice also called out.

John seemed to agree. "Yes, I suppose the proof is in the pudding as they say. We already had to re-work things recently for EB and his plans with Tracey, so-"

"Gods, don't remind me!" Jacob snarled with heat in his voice before spitting out at the phone. "I want a demo on my desk in a week, Joseph, this better be worth it..." He heard a click on the line.

"That goat is going to give himself a heart attack one of these days..." John drolled out before following up, "Well young fox, you're in the thick of it now and got your work cut out for you, we'll talk to you in a week, give Ivory my regards."

Joseph rubbed a paw down his face, shaking his head as he looked at himself in the rearview mirror. "In the thick of it huh?" He sighed and looked over at the small office building where Isaac was taking his class, then pulled his home screen up on his phone. He hadn't changed his screen in almost a year, a picture of him and Ivory on their wedding day.

"Do it for her man, everything for her..." He whispered to himself, swallowing the nerves down before nodding his head, his eyes growing sharper in the mirror as he glared at himself. "No... do it for them, all of them..."

"A fucking week?!" Ivory snarled out, her paws clenched into fists. "Joseph are you out of your ever-loving doggy mind?! Karen isn't ready, fuck, I'm barely ready again!" She hissed and pushed a paw to her own chest.

"I- Well..." Joseph snarled as he clenched his teeth, looking away as he stood there in the recording studio with everyone. He was still a young dog, the youngest one in the room, but he had to be the one to stand up and make it work, that was his job.

"That's what the label wants, and!" He snarled and glared over at Bianca. "What do you think Bianca, can we get at least three songs worth a damn out of them? Not a full album just-"

The bovine shook her head, folding her arms with a snarl. "I am no miracle worker, they can be exceptional but I will need at least a month, not a week."

"Tell Jacob to get fucked, it'll be ready when it's ready!" Ivory hissed out and put her paws on her hips.

"Can we really not do it?" Karen spoke out, tilting her head, Isaac saw the glint of challenge in her eyes.

"Angel, I think if you put your mind to it, you can do this, I believe you both can do it!" Isaac snarled and clenched his own fist, his red tail wagging.

"What about two songs?" Crystal chimed in. "Two songs will get the point across, it'd be a tough sell, but would that be more reasonable, Bianca?"

"None of this is reasonable, but..." She pushed a paw to her muzzle, rubbing her chin in contemplation as she paced a few moments. "I think... yes, but I would need full focus from you two, we would have to work very hard!"

"I'm not putting Karen through this bullshit, tell Jacob to fuck off!" Ivory hissed out.

"Ivory, that's not the way this works and you know it! I'm doing the best I can here!" Joseph stomped a foot, his tail fluffing out as he growled the words towards his wife.

"Okay, okay... let's all take a breath for a second here," Karen sighed and then gripped Ivory's paw in her own. "Sweetie... I will step up and give it my all for you, this was something you wanted, yeah?"

Ivory grunted and squeezed Karen's paw. "Yes, singing with you in front of all our fans, that's something I've had imprinted in my mind ever since I became an idol myself!"

Karen clasped her other paw around where theirs were joined. "Then we'll do it, we have nothing to worry about, we've got our best friend, both our husband's and a bossy cow behind us, we can do this!"

"Hmph..." Ivory pushed her forehead to Karen's, both sets of their paws clenching one another. "Yes... I believe in Joseph, Isaac, Crystal, and even that dumb bitch."

"I am standing here, you know?" Bianca laughed out at the insult.

"Will two appease them, Joe?" Crystal tilted her head.

"It'll have to, that's what we'll aim for!" Joseph snarled then turned to Bianca. "Full days going forward, you've got them fourteen hours per day, I need a demo with two duets in five days."

Bianca nodded. "I will make it happen, so long as these girls will-"

"No, not just the girls!" Joseph growled and looked to Isaac. "You've got all your gigs sorted, no P.I. or bonding stuff?"

The wolf gave him a nod. "Yeah, we're more or less cleared up."

Joseph thrust a thumb into his chest. "You and me are staying here with the girls, we will support them, help them work on lyrics, etcetera."

"So one big long brutal jam session huh? I was in a band in high school, I think I can handle that." Isaac nodded to him again before looking to Karen. "I'll be here for you, Angel, you too my Siren." He showed his teeth in a sharp grin to Ivory.

"Crystal, I know you need to work on that two-week thing with the job, I don't-"

"You mean two-day notice. Fuck em' this is more important. I'm not leaving my besties to deal with this alone. I'm their manager now too, I won't let you steal all the glory, Joe." Crystal showed him a challenging grin of her own, pushing a paw to her chest.

"So this is happening huh? So much for my fucking vacation." Ivory pulled from Karen and smiled at her group of loved ones all around her.

"Welcome to the big time, my little gattina! A child will pitch a fit, a star will walk through the fire to reach their dreams!" Bianca snorted out proudly then shifted her gaze to Isaac. "You were in a band lupa, what did you do?"

"Uh... drums." He rubbed the back of his head with a grin. "But I've not touched them in like twenty years, couldn't even tell you which end was up on a drumstick."

"You will find it is like falling off a bike, come with me!" She grabbed the wolf's wrist, hauling him over to a drum kit, already barking orders at him.

"I don't think I can add Isaac to the deal, Bianca!" Joseph laughed out as the cow gave him a level gaze. "You and the other gattina will join in as well. You do not need to be good, but you all trying and adding to the harmony will help my idols!"

"Uh... okay, I'll do what I can then. I could uhm... I mean I've done karaoke with them? I could try to back up?" Crystal shrugged a little.

"Yes! We will have you sing with my idols!" Bianca slammed a heel to the floor as she spoke out dramatically while thrusting her paw out. "There will be no more what if's, could be's, or maybe's in my studio! My gattina and coniglia are idols, I decree it, the rest of the world will have to accept it in time!"

Karen looked at Ivory and gave a small nod. "I... Alright, Cream, let's get started!"

The calico bit her lower lip, feeling her heart throb as the rabbit shifted to give her a haughty grin like she could take on the world and win. Her own paws curled into fists as she showed her sharp teeth in a smug grin. "You got it, Mocha, we'll show the world our love!"

The ensuing week was one fraught with what could only be described as a frustrating agonizing mess. There was lots of yelling, cursing, and snarling from everyone involved but as it went along, things started to come together.

Isaac, Joseph, and Crystal were a constant means of support as well as ideas for the idols. They only planned to put two songs on the demo, but they were rapidly fleshing out the entire upcoming album and every single song had them together. Bianca said they could each have a lone song with just their vocals when it came time to properly record, but she wanted the rest of it to be both of them.

By day five they had Ivory's proper band in the studio and spent it recording the two songs for the demo, as well as breaking ground on the rest of the album. Things finally settled and Joseph had the demo ready for the label.

Joseph was sitting at his laptop as the video call connected. Two windows popped open, one showing a surly-looking goat with salt and pepper hair, the other a rather large ox in a western-style hat. "Afternoon gentlemen. So, do you have the email with the file attachment?"

"That's a positive, young fox, It just came through now" John responded with a loud snort through his nose as he took his hat off, showing a sloppy assortment of mostly gray hair.

"Wait- Only two songs?" Jacob, the goat on the other call snarled out. "You can't expect us to take this seriously with only-"

"Jake, you son of a bitch!" Ivory pushed up right next to her husband, snarling as she shoved her padded-finger into the camera. "I just kicked mine and my girlfriend's tails over those two fucking songs, so you shut up, listen to them, or I'll charter a flight out there and be kicking your ass by dinner time!"