Columns of colourful vintage book covers brightened the many shelves that were towering Bedrock's very own library. The library was at the opposite side of the campus from the gymnasium, located at the North wing, where the tall windows of the building exposed the skyline of Minneapolis and St. Paul to its occupants.

In a section, where rows of wooden desks and chairs occupied the space between big columns of books, there were students, studying to their own content. Papers were spread across the desk, along with cups of Steerbucks and oBooks right in front of multiple students. Erik and Troy on the other hand were studying in a more traditional way. While Troy had his oPad on the side, he wasn't paying much attention to it and just had his earphones plugged into it and nodded his head while listening to his tunes. Erik went through his playlist on his oPhone and selected another Alice in Chirrs song as he continued to study and take notes.

Erik finished off reading another chapter in his text book and dropped his pen, taking a deep breath. It was getting easier for Erik to understand the material of his courses, but it was still a lot to process. His mind had to start thinking in English and it was anything but easy for the Finnish reindeer. Troy put his pen aside and removed his earphones, as he looked towards his friend.

"Ey, you ok?" the black timber wolf asked in a soft-spoken voice to keep the conversation as quiet as possible.

Erik looked over as he stretched and yawned. "Yeah, I'm ok. Just stressed." the reindeer rubbed his nose as he grabbed his water bottle to take a drink.

"I see," Troy nodded then his ears perked. "Hey, dude. Do you play an instrument?" he asked his reindeer friend curiously. Erik was a little thrown off by Troy's sudden shift in topic. "Uh, I play guitar. Why do you ask?"

Troy snickered as he leaned forward. "Well, I'm in a rock band and we play on any weekend we have time to play. I mean, we're just covering songs and all that, but it's all fun times. We're actually having band practice in about two and a half hours, so I thought if you wanted to hang out after we're done here, that'd be cool."

Erik's attention peaked as he looked towards his canine friend. "I see. Yeah, I could hang out. Uh..." the reindeer paused for a bit, gathering his thoughts. "Do you want me to bring my guitar?"

"Of course, dude." Troy chuckled lightly, trying to keep it down. "We'll be doing a little bit of practicing, but also just chill," the wolf watches as a tabby cat supervisor comes into sight and watches over the study commons. Adjusting her glasses, she walked on, as the scene was quiet and productive, like it should be.

As the tabby cat disappeared, Troy leaned forward again and signalled for Erik to do the same.

"Meet me at my place at 8 PM." the black wolf whispered to the grey reindeer as he wrote down his address to his friend, along with a bus route to get there. With a nod, Erik took the piece of paper and put it into his jeans pocket. "Oh and bring some snacks if you can." Troy smiled towards his cervine friend as the two resumed listening to their tunes and finishing their studying for the day.

Erik stepped off the bus into an unfamiliar neighbourhood. His friend lived 20 minutes east of his home, but due to them always hanging out in the commons after classes to study, Erik never had a real reason to come to his buddy's place. But tonight was a bit different than others.

Adjusting his guitar bag on his shoulders and gripping on his small amplifier and grocery bag, Erik wandered down the fairly lit sidewalk. Looking around, he could tell that this was definitely not his own neighbourhood, but it was nothing to be afraid of. It looked safe to him.

After a few blocks of walking, Erik arrived at a two-story home with the light from a couple of rooms being very noticeable. As he walked onto the property, a light automatically turned on at the front door. He stepped towards it and pressed a button beside it to ring the doorbell.

Deep barks echoed from behind the door as Erik heard a mixture of noises, from barking to claws scraping across hardwood flooring, until the door opened and the reindeer saw a familiar black timber wolf.

"Ey, man! So glad you could come!" Troy grinned as Erik walked inside and was greeted by a bulky Rottweiler, wagging its stubby tail as he sniffed the bag and Erik's pant leg. The tall reindeer has not seen many dogs in his life, so it was strange to him to be sniffed at.

"Ok, Dexter, that's enough." Troy ordered his dog to step away from his friend as he looked around the elegant-looking interior of the house. "You got a nice place, Troy."

"Thanks. I mean, it's my parents' house, so I can't take credit for the design and all that." the timber wolf chuckled. "We're all gathered downstairs, so just follow me."

Erik nodded and followed his friends down the stairs into the basement. Once he went down the final step, he caught a good view of what's ahead of him. It was a mostly empty basement with storage boxes piled in a corner and an old couch standing beside a row of amplifiers. Sitting on one of them was a cougar with puffy hair, wearing a flannel shirt and denim jeans, plucking away at his bass guitar, fumbling around rather than playing an actual song. Beside him was a small standard drum kit with a natural wooden finish. Behind it was a beefy and tall moose with a spiky haircut, wearing a Bedrock football shirt, looking at the newcomer as if he had not seen him before.

"This is Erik, guys. You probably have seen him around on campus," Troy started to introduce the other folks of the band to the newcomer. "Erik, that's Isaac on Bass and that's Brutus behind the kit there. They all go to Bedrock as well." The cougar nodded towards the reindeer, while the moose simply waved and said "Hi."

The reindeer replied with a "Hi" himself as he put his stuff down, and proceeded to grab his guitar out of his bag. In the bag was an elegant-looking electric guitar with a blue finish and a light blue stripe across the upper corner. The body had smooth curves while the stem and strings were all tuned in naturally. Erik's instrument was a gift from his father on his 16th birthday. It was a replica made famous by Erik's favourite guitar player, Kurt Crowbain, the front man of Girvana.

As Troy was about to grab his own from his stand, he couldn't help but catch a glimpse of Erik's instrument. "Wow, that looks incredible! Where did you get that?" the black wolf asked with enthusiasm.

Erik chuckled as he pulled the strap over his antlers and settled his guitar over his shoulder. "My dad gave it to me for my birthday." he fiddles around with some chords to loosen his fingers. "I've had this guitar for about... 3 years now?"

"Cool, man." Isaac nodded as he pulled a few amp cords around and gave one to Erik to plug into one of the amplifiers, which the reindeer took in appreciation.

"So, dude, tell us what you usually like to play. I know you're into grunge and all that." Troy asked as he got his guitar ready. Erik thought about it for a while as he tried to name bands off the top of his head.

"Yes, I like grunge a lot. Girvana, Soundpasture, Alice in Chirrs and some other bands," Erik looked towards the others, who seemed to nod in agreement.

"Nice! Well, we play a bit of everything, really, but a lot of it is 90's stuff," Isaac said as he shook his head a bit to get some hair out of his face. Erik nodded as the time period mentioned was up the reindeer's alley. Troy had talked about playing in a band to his friend before, and now he got a chance to prove his worth. The black wolf looked around to the band. "So, guys, want to practice some Girvana for our new friend here?" The others replied with a 'yes' as Isaac stood up and grabbed his all-black bass guitar, while Brutus shifted around on his throne to get comfortable behind the drum kit.

Now Erik felt a bit nervous. It has been a while since he had practiced the particular song that was on his mind. He grabbed his pick out of his guitar case and began to pluck at the beginning chords of 'Heart-shaped box'. Then his ears perked as he noticed Isaac hitting the beginning notes on his bass, making the reindeer pause.

"Wait... you know this song?" He asked with caution. Isaac nodded. "Yeah, dude, we've been practicing it for a while now." he chuckled as Troy adjusted the microphone he was standing in front of.

"Show us what you got, man." the black wolf smiled as he spoke into the mike. Erik took a deep breath as he nodded and restarted the song. He plucked away at his guitar, the Isaac followed. A few moments later, Brutus played the beat and Troy began to sing into the microphone.

"She eyes me like a Pisces when... I am weak... I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box... for weeks..." were the first words that Troy sang softly into the microphone. Erik followed along with concentration, strumming away at his guitar.

The feeling was incredible. Erik had never been in a band before, and suddenly, he felt like part of one, even if he was just introduced. Everyone knew their part really well. Troy stood behind the microphone with a broad chest as he played with the others, singing the lyrics with great passion. Isaac stood beside him, plucking on the thicker bass strings, nodding his head slightly to the beat. Brutus looked concentrated towards his kit to make sure he hit every beat correctly, his body moving with the beat much like Isaac was.

While some notes were missed, it was a great first song to play and it welcomed Erik into a new circle of friends. The reindeer felt energetic, strumming away on his guitar, as if he was trying to shake off his frustrations that built up on him over the past few weeks with his studies.

Music was Erik's salvation throughout his childhood. He started playing guitar as a distraction after his parents started fighting. Whenever his father came home from a business trip, a fight happened almost every time he saw his then wife again. When the yelling started, Erik shut the door and huddled into a corner with his guitar and his Discman, playing along with the music by himself. It helped Erik become better and he eventually stepped into band class at school.

But Erik was not into classical music. He wanted to rock and roll with some friends rather than play at lousy high school concerts. Sadly, not many of his friends back in Oulu were into the same music he was, so it was hard to play music outside of school. Erik would still keep going, playing in his room whenever he was alone and there was no one to hang out with after school. It made the eventual divorce of his parents more bearable.

As the song went on, Erik felt more alive, nodding his head, his longer hair waving with the beat. He was sure his idol would be proud seeing him play the very songs he practiced on for many hours.

Isaac and Troy grinned as they watched Erik move around and play passionately to the music just like they were.

"Great practice, guys!" Troy grinned as he came back to the occupied couch with four beers. The four musicians had settled upstairs in the living room, watching The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallow. Troy liked watching the show whenever he was at home.

The black wolf cracked open all the beers before everyone took their bottle. Erik took a swig from it to taste. With a disappointed smirk, he puts his beer back on the table.

"American beer not doing it for ya, huh?" Troy asked as he watches his Finnish friend put the beer back down. Erik looked over and shook his head. "This beer doesn't taste like anything."

"Yeah, I hear that a lot from Europeans." Isaac nodded as he drank his beer. "I was in Britain last year and went to a pub there. They know beer a lot better than we do."

"That was for one of your theatre trips, right?" Troy looked back towards his cougar friend, who nodded in agreement.

Erik looked between his new friends, as he became a little curious. "So, what do you guys study?"

"Well, you know I'm a music major, Erik." Troy nodded as he points to the others. "Isaac here is a theatre major and Brutus... I think he's in... shit, I forgot," he mumbles as Brutus turns around, as he was busy watching the show.

"Uhm, I'm in business administration." Brutus replied in a deep yet reserved voice. Troy snapped his finger. "Aaah, yes, that was it."

The reindeer nodded as he thought about another question. "Ah. I just do a bit of everything right now... uhm, how did you get into music?"

Isaac was the first to respond. "I like the arts a lot and I have done a bit of everything in the past. Plays, art classes and all that. Music came to me when I was about 10. Got a guitar from my dad, then I took lessons. It's pretty basic, but yeah." the cougar grinned as he took another drink from his beer and waited for Troy's answer. The black wolf chuckled.

"As for me, it was pretty much the same. I just love music when it comes to the arts, really. I've started playing when I was about 12 or so, then it took off, and I became a geek, collecting albums and all that. It's a fun hobby!" Troy grinned. "What about you, Brutus?"

Brutus looked over to them. "Uhm, I played drums back in high school, but I've been mostly been busy with football. Want to play in the UFFL someday." the big cervine laughs a little nervously. The others looked on with a grin.

"You got what it takes, man," Isaac notes. "You're a tower on defense." the cougar smiled as the moose nodded in appreciation.

"How about you?" Troy asked Erik. The reindeer swallowed then proceeded to talk.

"Music helped me cope with my parents' divorce." he said with a sigh, trying to be honest. "I practiced whenever they were fighting, and it helped me get better. I wasn't sad when it happened." The others nodded as Troy took a deep breath. "And now you're with us, and that's a great."

Erik nodded as another question entered his mind. "So what brought you guys together?"

There was silence at first, but Troy chuckled as he remembered. "Oh, man, it was pretty spontaneous. I met Isaac in one of my classes, and I overheard him listening to Fleezer. We started rambling about how much we liked those bands back in the day and then found out we both played instruments. And then we both came across Brutus," the wolf grinned as Isaac nodded and chuckled. "Yeah, man, it was all random, but I think we made the best of it."

Erik grinned towards the others. He then caught a glimpse of the clock. His ears perked and he stood up. It was time to go home and study for tomorrow.

"Gotta go, Erik?" Troy put his beer aside as he watched Erik grab his jacket and guitar bag.

"Yes, I have to study for tomorrow. Cannot miss a thing, you know?" the reindeer pulled the jacket over himself, then straddled his bag over his shoulders as he made his way to the door, accompanied by his timber wolf friend.

"Alright, fair enough, dude. I gotta finish my essay for Mr. Demir as well." Troy said as he opened the door for Erik to exit. The reindeer adjusted his footwear before stepping out the door. "See you tomorrow, Troy."

"See ya tomorrow, Erik. Oh and one more thing..." Troy said as Erik turned around, looking at his friend curiously.

"You're a talented guitar player, man. We should do this again soon." the black timber wolf smiled. The reindeer cracked a smile himself. "We should, yeah. Anyway, I better go. See you, Troy." Erik replied as he trotted towards the sidewalk and down the street to catch his bus home.

Troy waved goodbye before he closed the door in front of him and returned to his friends in the living room. It was a great feeling for Troy to be able in integrate a newcomer into the band, especially someone who has been playing for as long as they remember.