The Circular Object-Part Three

The Circular Object Mark I and II story, characters and concept copyright \xA9 Gregg G Guydish 2001, 2002 et al except the following: Zig Zag is copyright \xA9 Max Black Rabbit. Wanda Vixen is Copyright \xA9 Chris Yost. James Sheppard, and Rhonda Badger are Copyright \xA9 James Bruner. Marvin Badger is Copyright \xA9 James Bruner after a description by Chris Yost. Sabrina Mustelidae is Copyright \xA9 Eric W. Schwartz. Everything contained in this document \xA9 Gregg G Guydish, all rights reserved.

The Circular Object MARK II

\xA9 2001, 2002 Gregg G Guydish

Part III

"Ripple Effect"

WARNING: This story is rated NC-17 for Mature Audiences only

Drop a stone into a pool. Watch the ripples spread.

The following Monday…

ACT I

"Good morning, Amber," Mia the red panda said as another red panda, similar enough to almost be her twin walked through the big glass doors at the front of the studio. Amber smiled. "Morning, Mia." She replied as she approached the reception desk. "Playing secretary again?" She settled her long black arms on the top of the counter above the station, the sleeves of her turquoise jumpsuit pushed up to her shoulders, as usual. Mia looked up at her near double. "Yeah," she gives an indifferent shrug, "you know me, like to pull down a check even between productions." Her grin widens. "Idle paws and all that." Amber nods her head knowingly. "Understood." Mia tilts her head to the side, raking the younger procyonid with her eyes, impressed as ever at how attractive she looks even in her usual, shapeless coveralls. "You look good today," she smirks then and leans in close, "had a good weekend with that boyfriend of yours?" Amber dipped her head and let her eyes drop from Mia's. "Let's just say it was interesting and leave it at that," she lifts her eyes to hers again, "okay?" Mia smiles easily at the slim bear. "Okay, Mia, whatever you say." Amber blushes suddenly for being called by her little used nickname, and takes an involuntary step back from the counter, pulling her arms away and clasping them behind her. Mia leans back in her chair and appraises her with a knowing smile while Amber shuffles her feet nervously. After a moment or two more, she tosses her head back and turns to the service hallway that leads more directly to the back of the building. "I'll, uh, see ya, Mia," she says haltingly as she makes her awkward escape. Mia waves politely to her back as she disappears into the hall, never losing her knowing grin.

Amber signed in to the work-log set outside the Senior Tech's office, then headed back to the engineering workroom to see if anything needed her immediate attention. Satisfied that things seemed to be running smoothly for the time being, she sat down at her cluttered workstation and tapped into the editing network through the master router in the workroom, flicking through the various channels to ensure it was relaying correctly. "What the hell?" She muttered to herself after only a few seconds. She frowned, then flicked around some more, before pulling the router control towards her and took a good look at the plugs on the back. Satisfied that everything was right there, she stood, and left the workroom, headed for the Machine Core, where the network originated. It was enroute there that she bumped into Tiver, her immediate Supervisor.

"Amber!" The smooth collie called out, pleased to see her. "Just the fur I was looking for." The two stop, facing each other. "There's something screwy with the router network…" Amber smoothly overrides him. "Already on it boss." She twists her muzzle into a dour expression. "You'd think this place could run for two days without needing an engineer around." She leans in towards her supervisor as they both turn and resume her trek to the core. "Personally," she thumbs back over her shoulder, "I think it's those damn editors, messing with the patch controls." She shakes her head. "I don't know why they can't just let things be and let us do our job while they stick to theirs." Tiver leans his head in towards her then. "Yeah, but can ya prove it?" Amber shrugs and shoots him a half dirty look. "Not yet, but I will, someday!" He grins back. "Well, when ya do, bring me the evidence and I'll take it straight to the Boss Lady. Our job is hard enough without those guys makin' it any harder." Amber simply nods her head in agreement and, with a brief pat on her back from the department super, they part company at the door to the Machine Core, the procyonid stepping in, and the canine circling round back to his office.

She unlocks the door with the key on her belt loop, then flicks on the lights after opening the door, being careful to pull her long tail all the way through the opening before closing it again, and sealing up the air-conditioned room tightly. She looks around before pushing her sleeves back up to her shoulders in her comfortable style, and makes a beeline for the automatic router, intent to find out who did what and where that has her damn network fouled up yet again!

"Hey, Chris," Leonard says as he steps around the walls that separate his and his friends cubes, "did you take a look at the maintenance schedule specs for the Mcguffin contract?" He shakes his head. "I swear those bozo's at corporate have their heads up their asses." He lowers the folder and looks into Chris's cube. "Chris?" Chris remains unmoving, sitting with his feet up on his desk and reclining in his chair, a goofy smile on his face, his eyes lingering on some far off, unseen point in the distance. Leonard closes the folder and raises a paw to his mouth, making his voice sound like a scratchy atmospheric transmission. "KRSHHHT. Earth the Chris, earth to Chris, this is Ground Control, come in Chris." When his tomfoolery does not have the desired effect, he decides a more direct approach is necessary and, stepping into the cubicle, whacks his fox friend on the top of his head with the file folder.

Chris starts suddenly, his feet falling to the floor with a loud thunk, and a scattering of the papers that were sandwiched underneath them. "Wha? Who?" Was his response as he looked around, his gaze finally settling on the genet, and his lips settling into a scowl. "Oh, it's just you." "Geez, Chris, where the hell were you? You were completely zoned out." Chris bends over to pick up his scattered reports without answering. Leonard tilts his head as he regards him. "From the look you sported on your muzzle I'd say it was pleasant thoughts. Have a good weekend with Amber?" He looks up from the floor and grins broadly. "The best." Leonard folds his arms across his chest and leans back against the cube wall. "So," he drawls, "you guys do anything… interesting?" Chris straightens the stack of papers, then drops them into another untidy pile on the opposite corner of his desk before turning to him. "You could say that." "What? You gonna play coy with me? You know Kryn will want all the details." "You always hide behind her." "I can't help being married to the gal I love!" Chris looks at him blankly for a moment. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that, because it doesn't make any sense. Just like you." "Aw, that's cold, Chris." Chris's tail wags for the palpable hit on his buddy.

Chris leans back in his chair and speaks quietly, so his voice won't carry beyond his cube walls. "Len, it was incredible. The things we did… Wow!" He's quiet for a while and just as Leonard was about to interject a comment, he continued. "She blindfolded me." Leonard's jaw drops open. "Say what? And you let her?" He turns and grins to his friend. "I really didn't have much choice in the matter, I was all tied up at the time." "What?!" He exclaims loudly. "What do you mean you were tied up at the time?!" Chris sits up suddenly, looking around frantically, curious heads popping up in the surrounding cubicles. "Geez, Len, a little louder why don't ya, I don't think the whole department heard you." He stands and, placing a paw on his arm, guides him out of the office and down the hall, looking for a little privacy.

"These games of yours are starting to get a little too creepy for me, Chris. I think I'd better just stop asking you about it to save what's left of my sanity." "Yeah, great, whatever." Chris mutters distractedly as he leads him to the stairwell. Once the door was shut behind them, he looked around, then turned to face him. "It was just in fun, and I gotta tell you, my friend, there is nothin' like it." "Where do you get these crazy ideas?" Chris takes a step back as he spreads his arms wide. "Guess." Leonard brings a paw up to his head. "Your, ahem, collection." "Actually the, ahem, collection is, uhm," he looks pensive for a moment, "gone." "What? I thought you loved those things." Chris nods his head as he settled back against the pawrail behind him. "They led to a little political fallout between us." Leonard tilts his head to the side and regards his old buddy askance. "Yeah? How so?" An embarrassed look crosses Chris's face before he lowers his head to his chest. "I got carried away and used some of the words from my favorite one on her."

Leonard's jaw yawns wide, unbelieving at what he's been told. "Chris, what are you, insane?" He says after a few moments and begins pacing agitatedly, his arms swinging about in wild gesticulations. "You know, I've never understood your fascination with that movie. Why you thought all that bondage and dirty talk was alluring I'll just never get! Personally, I could never stand the thing!" He stops and looks at him, Chris still not looking up. "You're lucky she didn't leave you!" He places his paws on his friend's shoulders and Chris raises his head to look at him as Dexter continues. "She's the best thing that's happened to you in a long time and you want to screw it up because of your obsession with that sick fur flick? What the hell is wrong with you?" "Hey, I told you, I got carried away in the moment! I apologized and packed them out!" "But not before the damage was done, I'll wager." Chris looks appropriately chastised. "Unh, huh," Leonard muttered as he lifted his muzzle, "I thought so. So how bad was it?" Chris gives him a weak grin. "Pretty scary, actually." He takes a deep breath, then continues in a stronger voice, Leonard releasing his shoulders and stepping back. "Believe me, I've learned my lesson." He sweeps one paw out to indicate finality. "I don't ever want to go through that again." The genet evaluates him for a few moments, one paw rubbing his chin. Reaching a decision he drops the paw and slaps his friend on the shoulder with it. "You know, there just might be hope for you yet." "What?" "You keep this up and we just might make a civilized fur out of you. And that's really a scary thought." "Oh, ha, ha, Six, you're a regular comedian there." Leonard shrugs his shoulders and steps to the door. "I call 'em as I see 'em." He opens the door and gestures with the manila folder for Chris to precede him. "C'mon, loverboy, lets get back to work."

Sabrina stretched out her arms and legs as she let her chair roll away from the desk and bump up against the door that she had closed upon returning from an early lunch an hour or so ago. She stands and rolls the chair back to the desk, then rolls her shoulders a few times to relieve the kinks she's developed sitting in front of her computer. She reached out a paw to the folder on her desk with the shooting schedules for the web galleries that she needs to double check with Mark. Just then, she's interrupted by a knock at her door. She absently voiced for entry while she pursued the contents of the folder, then looked back over her shoulder a minute later, surprised at whom she found standing in her doorway.

"Mia?" She asked, startled at the way the actress was dressed today. The red panda shook her head slightly and spoke. "No, Amber. Engineering Department." She indicated her router and monitor with a vague wave of her muzzle. "There's something up with the video network, mind if I check your equipment?" Sabrina flushed briefly over her mistake and turned to face the other red panda femme more fully. "Sorry." She gave a little shake of her head as well, then stepped back and motioned her over to her monitoring equipment for the live, in-house video network. "Be my guest," she made a face, along with an odd shudder as the panda tech entered the small room. "I never use it." Amber smiled to herself as she slipped past the young skunkette, crouching down as she pulled a screwdriver from a pocket of her coveralls and began to unscrew the switcher from the wall. "Don't blame you. This network doesn't really run anything I care to watch either." She grinned back at Sabrina then. "Though it does have its moments occasionally."

Sabrina blushed and ducked her head as Amber went back to work, the two femmes quiet for a few moments before Sabrina next spoke. "Um," she fiddled with the folder in her paws, "do you need me to be here, Amber?" Amber again looked back over her shoulder. "Not really," she glanced around the little office, "in fact, if you've got somewhere else to be, now would probably be a good time." At that moment she pulled the router from the wall in a tangle of cables. "This shouldn't take too long, but," she holds the router with one paw and uses her free one to first, return the screwdriver to her pocket, then turn on the television monitor, looking up at it while she punches buttons on the router. "As you can see, I've got my work cut out for me here." And she flashes the attractive skunk another quick grin. Sabrina nods her head and, just as she's about to reply, a new voice emanates from the open doorway.

"Knock, knock." Zig Zag announced along with the action on Sabrina's open door frame. She shifts her eyes from Sabrina to Amber and grins widely. "Well, this is a treat for sore eyes," Sabrina and Amber both look up and over at her, "my two most attractive non-actresses in the same place! Color me happy!" Sabrina resists the urge to roll her eyes as Amber makes to rise. "No, no, don't get up." She motions casually with one paw and the panda stays put as Zig enters the, now, crowded little room, a small, gaily colored box held in her paws. She looks down at the mess of wires and makes a face. "Whatcha doin?" Amber's eyes lock on the unexpected thing in her paws and it takes her a moment to realize she had been addressed. She gives her head a little shake and looks up at her tall boss. "I'm sorry?" Zig's mouth creases slightly and she restates her question with a point of her muzzle. "What's with that?" Amber looks down at her work with a start. "Oh! Uh, network problem. Uh," she glances back up at Zig, but her eyes settle instead on the box in her paws. "Some, uh, feed signals are getting lost somewhere." Zig's eyes follow her employees, and is surprised to find them locked on the package in her paws. Amber's eyes snap back to her work a heartbeat later, and she keeps them locked there, looking as if she were trying to do quadratic equations in her head while her house was on fire. Zig's eyebrows knitted together in concern over her behavior, while Amber's head was instantly jammed with all manner of inappropriate thoughts clamoring for her attention, all at the same time. Sabrina watched the whole exchange in silence and, while not understanding Amber's reaction, does recognize the signs of embarrassment, and makes a sudden effort to draw the attention away from the technician.

"Uh, is there something I can do for you Zig?" She asks, the skunkettes voice cutting through the fog of Amber's clouded thoughts like a ray of bright sunshine, more grateful than she has words to express when her employer shifts her attention away, and over to the artist. Zig stands up straighter and looks down at Sabrina, her thoughts wandering a moment before she corrals them into order. She leaned against the wall behind her, in the pathetic excuse for an office she had assigned her, and held out the package. "Wanted to talk to you about this." Sabrina's eyes grew at the sight of if and she briefly stammered for a response, unsure why she was so suddenly nervous, and drawing Amber's attention to their conversation. "W-w-what about it?" Zig shoots her a concerned look as well for her behavior, but then just chalks it off to her innate shyness of things sexual in nature. "Did you know," she says, tapping the box with one impeccably manicured claw, "that sales are up almost ninety percent since you did the redesign on this things package?" Amber's eyes are once again locked on the little box, her last weekend with Chris flashing through her mind at the sight of it. "Really?" Sabrina asks as Zig nods her head. "Really. I'm thinking we should take a good look at our product line and consider redesigning some of the other stuff that's not selling so well." Zig crossed her arms over her ample bosom and waited for Sabrina's response. "I don't think that should be a problem," she starts out hesitatingly, then picks up speed as her thoughts settle. "In fact, I've been kind of trying to do that all along." She hoists the box to indicate it. "That's more or less how this got redesigned." When she next spoke, though, it was with an odd, muted note in her voice.

"I'll look at the product line and think about this." She turns to toss the thing onto her desk but stops when she catches sight of Amber staring at both her, and it, and they lock eyes uncomfortably before the panda returns to her work, but not before Zig catches the exchange. Sabrina reconsiders and looks around for some place else to put the thing, finally settling on her rollaway graphic supplies table in the far corner, about as far from the technician as she could put it and still have it in the same room. "But my workload is really killer right now, I don't know for sure when I'll get to it," she turns back to her boss, "is it urgent?" Zig Zag turns back to her as well. She gives a little shake of her head, her long hair framing her face nicely. "No, not at all." She says, sounding distinctly distracted. "Why don't you pull all our current catalogs, online and print media, and we'll review it together sometime? No rush." Sabrina nods an affirmative. "Got it boss." Zig gives her a smile, then points to the folder in her paws. "Whatcha got there?" Sabrina looks down suddenly, having forgotten she even held the thing. "Oh! Uh, the, uh, shooting schedule. I gotta check it with Mark against our post and publish dates." Zig's smile widens, pleased with the forethought and initiative of her artist. "Well," she drawls, motioning towards the door with her head, "you'd better get a move on then. He has a shoot with Wanda in a few minutes." Sabrina looks at her watch and curses the time. She had meant to be there and gone long before the vixen ever arrived. At this point, she'll already be there and… undressed! She closes her eyes and makes a face, causing Zig to laugh inwardly, knowing instinctively what the younger skunk was thinking. She opens them and moves towards the door, pointing towards the hall. "I gotta go, Zig." Zig just smiles and waves as her graphic designer disappears around the edge, then shakes her head before turning, and settles her gaze on her engineer.

Zig stared down on Amber and let a half-scowl cross her features before settling down into a crouch next to her, peering at her closely. "You okay? You seem distracted." Amber glances over at her boss suddenly and, after a brief moment, smiles half-heartedly. "I'm okay." Zig process that statement as Amber returns to her work, then rejects it, and, while she's the last person to push someone on any problems they may have, she definitely does not like to see her employees, or her friends, unhappy. "Hey, kiddo, what's wrong? You got problems here at work?" She fishes for a source of Amber's unease. "Your home life okay?" Amber's movements freeze and her head falls slowly to her chest, telling Zig that she's scored a hit. "You wanna talk about it?" Amber remains quiet and merely shrugs. Zig Zag searches her profile for a few moments, then decides not to rush the girl, after all, no one should be forced to talk about their private life if they don't want to, she of all people should know that. She stands and lays a paw on her shoulder. "Well, if you do, you know where I am. I'll leave my door open for you." She turns then, and slowly steps to the door, Amber's thoughts in a tumult. Just as she lays her paw on the doorframe, Amber speaks in a soft, uncertain voice.

"Zig?" She turns to look a the skunk hybrid while letting her paws fall from her work to rest on her thighs. "You ever have anyone speak dirty to you?" Zig Zag drops her paw and turns slowly to face the young procyonid. She cocks her head for the unexpected question from the tech, and gives a snort before answering. "Sure, all my life it seems." Amber shakes her head, not sure she wants to have this conversation with her, but feels obligated to finish what she started. It seems there are still hurt feelings reverberating since last weekends love play. "I mean, when you've been," she looks at the floor, "intimate." Zig's jaw drops open for a nonce, then she recovers her composure almost instantly. She thinks a moment, then quietly closes the door before padding silently back over to Amber and crouching down next to her again.

She gives her a conspiratorial grin. "Girl, I could burn your ears." Zig doesn't much like to talk about her past relationships, but she has always rather liked the young panda, and finds herself willing to discuss it a little, though she's sure she doesn't know exactly why. Again Amber shakes her head, feeling decidedly odd for broaching the subject in the first place. She chews her lip before speaking, her eyes locked firmly on the floor between them. "I mean, with someone who might care about you." "You mean, someone like James?" Amber finally raises her head, the question in her eyes apparent. For, while she's heard the rumors about her new relationship, she never paid them all that much attention as it really wasn't any of her business, and she is not a gossipmonger. Zig catches that look, just like all the others, and nods affirmatively, knowing exactly what unspoken question the young lady was asking. "No. James has never used obscene language around me. Or if he has, he's apologized for it."

The two share another long glance between them, Zig looking her over critically. "Amba, don't tell me that new guy you've been seeing…" Amber's eyes again flick to the floor and she seems to shrink in on herself as Zig's eyes grow hard and cold. "I'll kill him if he hurt you!" Amber snaps back to reality again at the harsh tone in Zig's voice. She shakes her head and looks up, the tears glimmering in her eyes betraying her words. "No. No, he didn't." Zig's expression doesn't change for the denial, unsure whether to believe the girl or not. "It's just that, some stuff was… said between us this weekend, and I'm not sure how I feel about it, that's all." Zig looks carefully at her as she purses her lips, then relaxes for Amber's sake. "An argument?" She nods. "Something like that." Amber takes a deep breath. It's time to end this awkward conversation she thinks, and assumes a more businesslike demeanor. Zig notes the change and reflects the same attitude back to her, both of them tucking away their concerns for her as best they could.

"Thanks, Zig." She gives a smile that seems much less forced, this time. "I just have some things to work out." Her eyes flick past her and settle on the box at the far end of the room where Sabrina had set it shortly before she left. She let her gaze linger there a moment before refocusing on her employer. Her smile warmer than the last time. "I should get back to work." She motions towards the partially dismantled router with her muzzle. "This won't fix itself." Zig Zag stands slowly then, and looks down on her, now, completely businesslike, employee. "All right. If you say so." She gives her a smile and heads back to the door. Opening it, she turns back to her before she speaks. "Amba, my offer still stands, my door will be open." Amber smiles and looks up at her. "Thanks, Zig. I'll keep that in mind." Zig gives her a wink, and, with a flounce of pure style, was gone, leaving Amber staring back at the little box on the far side of the room, depicting a muzzled female, and the application of its use.

Amber was just finishing up when Sabrina returned to her office, the blush on her face still fierce after catching sight of Wanda in all her natural glory, as it were. But the meeting was a success, and now everything is once more back on track, at least, schedule wise. Sabrina stopped in the open doorway and watched for a moment, before stepping inside, speaking as she approached. "All fixed?" Amber gave her screwdriver one last turn before rising also, thumbing off the monitor with a judicious jab of a finger, cutting off the furry images being relayed through one of the cameras from Studio B, where footage was being wrapped up for the day. "No," she shook her head, "but I've eliminated Graphics as being the source." She turned to the skunk with a smile, then tilted her head to the side. "You weren't here over the weekend by any chance, were you?" Sabrina signifies a quick negative with a head shake. "No, sorry. Why?" Amber shrugs. "Everything was working fine when I left on Friday, so whatever happened, happened between then and when I arrived this morning." She heaved a small sigh. Sabrina smiled. "No rest for the wicked, eh?" Amber's head shot around and pierced the smaller skunk abruptly, Sabrina's smile fading instantly, leaving her stammering an apology. "I-I'm s-sorry, Amber." She took an involuntary step back, shaking her head. "I didn't mean…" Amber forced herself to smile and held up a paw to placate her. "No, no, I'm sorry, Sabrina." Her smile turns wry. "Guess I'm too sensitive for my own good." Her paws ball into loose fists as her eyes settle on the muzzles package on the far side of the room, Sabrina nervously following her gaze. She jams her balled fists into the pockets of her coveralls and starts towards the door, looking anywhere but at Sabrina or the disturbing package. "I should go." Sabrina watches her leave in silence, but the panda stops at the doorway and turns, bringing her eyes back to Sabrina's.

"I, uh," she chews her lower lip very briefly before pulling her paws out of her pockets and, once again, pushing her sleeves back up almost to her shoulders, "I didn't mean any offense." She seems to struggle for words, her upbeat attitude oddly muted for some reason neither femme could pinpoint exactly. "None taken." Sabrina says as brightly as she could. She fishes for something else, then "maybe we should have lunch sometime, or something. I mean, we work at the same place and I've met you, what, once? Twice?" Amber nods her head in agreement, brightening herself. She smiles genuinely this time. "I'd like that. Thanks. I'll uh," her eyes flick to the floor, then back, "stop by tomorrow." Her grin is easy this time and she speaks almost conspiratorially to her. "If it's just the same to you, I prefer to have my lunch in the forward breakroom. I once caught sight of what passes for 'recreational activities' in the actors breakroom and, I don't know about them, but, I hafta eat off those tables." Sabrina brings a paw to her muzzle and laughs, remembering the 'recreational activities' she and Zig caught some of the actors doing in the back breakroom only a few days ago. "I couldn't agree more." The two femmes nodded in complete agreement before parting company, Amber disappearing down the hall as she made her way to the next stop on her hunt for the errant signal.

"Hey, Mia!" The buxom vixen called out brightly, startling Amber where she was lurking down the hall from Zig's office. She whirled in surprise, catching herself at the last instant. "Oh, hey Wanda." The vixen pulled herself up short, her eyes dilating in surprise. "Amba! What are you doing out of the cellar?" Amber chuckles roughly for the distinction. Sometimes it seems that way, like she and the rest of the editing and maintenance staff are the troglodytes to the actors and actresses that share the limelight up here on the surface. "The usual, solving the problems that lets the rest of you have jobs." Wanda gives her a mock scowl along with a sidelong glance. "That a jab, girl?" Amber shrugs. "Take it how you will." The statuesque vixen crosses her arms over her ample bosom. "Uh, huh." The two friends stare each other down coolly before Wanda breaks the silence. "So what are you doing hanging about out here any way? Shouldn't you be down in that dungeon Zig assigned you guys? Not that I'm complaining or anything, it's nice to see you out and about for a change." She takes a good look at her then, raking her eyes over her from top to bottom. "You look good today, real good, almost, glowing." She smiles slyly. "You have a good weekend with that new boyfriend of yours?" Amber smiles slightly, ducking her head a little. 'What?' she thinks, 'is it shaved into my forehead or something?' "Let's just say it was memorable and leave it at that, okay?" Wanda gives her a half shrug. "Sure Amba, whatever you say."

Amber lifts her head and regards her friend as Wanda reiterates her question. "So what are you doing out of your crypt, anyway?" Amber gestures towards Zig's office with her thumb. "Trying to screw up the courage to see the boss." "Uh, oh. Bad news?" She shrugs. "Not exactly. I gotta check some stuff in her office." Wanda looks nonplused. "So? What's the problem? Just go get to work, that's what she pays you for." Amber shakes her head. "Yeah, I know, but I get nervous around her." "Still? Whatever for?" Another shrug. "I get tired of her 'suggestions' that I act. Especially with Mia." Wanda regards her friend with a serious glare. "If it really bother's you that much, do the same thing I keep telling Sabrina to do. Tell her that it bother's you and to stop it." The svelte panda shakes her head. "I wouldn't wanna offend…" The vixen dismisses the notion with a wave of her paw. "Listen, Amba. If there's one thing Zig respects, it's honesty. You be straight with her, and she'll return the favor, regardless of the topic or issue." She gestures to herself. "Look at me. We dated for a while, but when it was obvious that things weren't going to work out we split up by mutual consent and we still get along fine." She lays her paw on Amber's shoulder. "Trust me babe, if it's important enough that it makes you uneasy around her, than she'll listen. Not only that, but she'd want to know." She shakes her head and gives her shoulder a quick squeeze. "You're not doing either of you any favors by keeping it hidden." A new sly smile creeps across her muzzle then. "Besides," she drops her paw, "you really can't blame her." Amber looks back with open curiosity as the vixen continues. "I swear, except for personality, you two could have been separated at birth!"

Amber throws her paws up in the air and turns her back on Zig's office, Wanda following her lead. "Not you too! We're nothing alike! For starters she's a porn actress!" Wanda takes umbrage. "You say that like it's a bad thing! I'm a porn actress and you like me well enough. What's wrong with Mia? I think she's pretty darn cute!" She gives her a jab in the ribs, her eyes focusing on her. "And so are you!" "You're not helping, Wanda!" Wanda gives her a little pout. "Amba, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's just sex for Gods sake!" Amber spreads her paws wide. "Okay, Wanda, fine. You win. Can we just stop talking about this now? I'm nervous enough as it is!" The vixen rounds on her friend, stopping them both and facing one another. "On one condition." Amber sighs and looks back at her expectantly. "Which is?" "You go out with me tonight." Amber slumps and drapes a paw over her eyes. "Wanda, I like you as a friend," Wanda interrupts, "hey, don't knock it until you've tried it honey." Amber spoke without thinking then. "I have tried it," she clamps her jaw shut suddenly, as an absolutely evil grin spread across Wanda's muzzle. "You never told me about that before girl," she intoned ominously while Amber's mind scrambled desperately for a way out of this conversation, "you and I are going out tonight and that is the end of the argument. Got it?" Amber withers as she cedes defeat, Wanda's grin growing with each passing second. "I'll be waiting in the lobby when you get off at six. You drive. I love riding in that sexy little car of yours." Amber numbly nods her assent, then looks up suddenly when her friend again pokes her in the ribs. "I really mean it," Wanda says, Amber looking warily back at her, "you really look cute today." She turns when she catches movement out of the corner of her eye. "Ooooh, there's Clarence. It's my lucky day." Amber follows the vixen's look, instantly feeling sorry for the defenseless male. "ByeAmbagottago." Wanda says in a breathless rush as she hurries off in pursuit of her unsuspecting prey.

Amber draws a deep breath, then steps up to the door.

"Knock, knock." She announces from the doorway to Zig's office, as Zig had done at Sabrina's door, earlier in the day. Zig Zag looks up from her work and smiles to see her. "Amber, come in." She puts down what she's doing and stands, stepping around her desk and over to where the procyoni lingers just inside the door. "You here for business, or pleasure?" She asks, noting her subtly defensive posture. Amber is caught momentarily off guard, then forces herself to relax a little. "Uh, business actually." She looks up slightly at her tall boss. "Shouldn't you be more careful using the word 'pleasure' around here?" Zig Zag allows herself to smile at her joke. "You're right, Amba, you got me. I'm glad to see you've got your sense of humor back. Now," she starts, shutting the door and leading her back to her desk, "what can I do for you?"

"Well," she thinks briefly about what Wanda said, but decides to deal with work first, "uh, I got this problem with the network to sort out. You mind if I have a look?" And she motions to the television at the back of the room. Zig follows her gaze and accepts her words at face value, refusing to force anything on the young femme. She shakes her head. "No prob, go right ahead." Amber flashes her a small smile and heads towards the equipment in question, fishing her screwdriver from her pocket once again. Zig watches her for a moment before returning to her seat behind her desk, resuming her work with a careful eye on her troubled employee.

Amber turns on the monitor and cycles through the channels, noting that the same infuriating problem that plagues the rest of the building is present here as well. With a small sigh, she sets to work, removing the screws and pulling the router free so she could examine the connections and ensure everything is routed correctly. She worked quietly for nearly twenty minutes, before giving up and pushed the router back home with more force than she had intended to, bending the mounting flange and making it impossible for her to fix it with the tools she has on paw. "Damn!" She mutters under her breath, pulling Zig's attention from her work. "Problem?" Amber's head snaps up, suddenly remembering that her boss is in the same room with her. "Nothing. No problem. I, uh, just need some tools I don't have here." She stands abruptly and turns towards the door. "Be right back." She slips her screwdriver into her pocket but stops as she passes a bookcase filled with videotapes and slows her pace, her eyes catching the titles on the spines. She slows and withdraws the tool, eventually stopping and tapping it against them as she reads, Zig Zag watching her every move with curiosity. She sets down her paper and pen and rises silently, padding over to stand behind her slightly shorter engineer.

"Find anything you like?" Once again Amber is startled by her voice, jumping for it being so close behind her. She spins around and almost backs into the case, lowering her screwdriver to her side. "No." She shakes her head, "not exactly." Zig smiles warmly. "Relax. I don't bite. Well," she shifts her eyes back to the tapes "not unless I'm invited to, anyway." She lets a small moment pass before speaking again. "What's on your mind?" Amber sees her eyes refocus behind her and turns to face the library as well, this time catching the little ZZ Studios mark on the cover of each one. "You made all of these?" She asked and, Zig's answer, when it came, had an odd note of pride and awe, in it. "Yep. Acted in most of em, too." Amber let her eyes rove over the spines again, then lifted a paw and fingered one of them, one at the very top of the case. Her head tilted to the side. "And this one?" She tilted it off the shelf and turned it so she could see the cover, Zig Zag looking over her shoulder at the picture of the bound and muzzled female depicted there. She scowled. "Yeah." She said, her tone oddly devoid of emotion. "I made that."

"Clarence," Franklin asked the nervously twitching skunk, "what are you doing here?" "Uhhh, j-just taking a quick b-b-breather, F-franklin." Franklin looked around, trying to fathom why Clarence was breathing so hard. After a moment or so, he shrugged and gave up, turning back to him. "Well, as long as you're here, why don't you clean up editing bay two. Mike has a few credits to add to our latest production and the last guy that used it left it looking like a bomb went off in there." Clarence nods his head rapidly. "S-sure thing!" And he turned and marched smartly into the little room, grateful for any excuse to get away from that vixen!

The two stared at the tape in mutual silence for a while before Zig spoke softly into the quiet moment, her brows furrowing slightly. "Have you seen it?" Amber's eyes never leave the cassette. "I trie…" her voice was barely above a whisper and she stopped, and cleared her throat before trying again, her voice slightly louder this time. "I tried, but it was too violent for me." Zig nodded sadly, and spoke just as lightly. "That it was." A quiet pause once again reins between the two before Zig, with a false sense of bravado, smiled and assumed a more cheerful voice. "Well, for the sake of civilization, I'm happy to say that it never sold very well." Her smile faded from her lips when Amber turned and regarded her with far too solemn an expression. "Amber," she asks, her cool blue eyes searching the pandas golden ones, "where did you see this movie?" Amber holds Zig's eyes for a nonce, then drops her gaze, letting it hover somewhere just above Zig's bosom. "Chris had it."

Zig correctly interpreted that to mean the new guy she's been seeing, and her previous conversation with the girl comes rushing to the forefront of her memory like a charging bull: an enormous, dangerous thing that cannot be ignored. She closes her eyes and lets out a soft exhale. "I'm sorry, honey." She takes a fresh breath, then guides the slim panda back to her desk and settles her in one of the chairs arranged to the fore of it, Zig taking the seat opposite her.

"Well," she says after an invigorating breath, Amber lifting her eyes from the tape and settling it on her employer, "this was one of our first movies after relocating to Ohio from California." She glances at the tape in Amber's lap, then back up at her. "I guess we were a little desperate for material." She says with a smirk, valiantly struggling to lighten the mood. Amber considers that, following Zig's lead and flicking her gaze to the tape, then back, before narrowing her eyes with a little shake of her head. "But, it's so…" she searches for the word "raw." She's quiet again as her mind races, surprised to even be having this conversation with her boss. "I've never seen anything like this from you. I mean," she pauses, suddenly unsure of herself. "Zig, this movie is different."

Zig Zag sighs and spreads her paws, her shoulders drooping. "What do you want me to say, kiddo? It was a movie, we made it, we were desperate for income." A quick shake of her head. "It didn't work. This thing," she says, indicating the tape with a wave of her paw, "has never turned a profit." She looks down at it. "To tell you the truth, I'm sorry I ever made it." The remorseful tone in Zig's voice caught Amber off guard, and she stared at her for a long, long moment, surprised to see hurt and regret wash over her features. She drops her own eyes suddenly, lowering her head in shame. A long quiet grows between them then, Amber unsure what to say, or do, her mind chasing itself in chaotic little circles of fear and confusion. She lifted her head when she heard Zig rise, and watched from beneath her brows as she stalked silently over to the window, and stood there, staring out on the fading afternoon, her paws clasped tightly behind her back. Zig stared unseeing into the late afternoon while her thoughts ran amuck, distressed that someone she likes should have, apparently, come to some harm from one of her creations. She argues silently with herself for quite a long while, before coming to the inevitable conclusion: it was time to face the truth.

"That particular movie," she begins, her voice hard and yet, somehow, strangled, "was my first production solely as a producer/director. I drew on some," she pauses as she chose her words carefully, "personal memories to produce it." Her voice stressing the word 'personal'. "It was a, a bastardization, if you will, of my," her mind shuts down and refuses to release the word. Taking a breath, she quickly provides a substitute. "Past." She closes her eyes at the painful memories and bows her head, Amber watching in quiet awe, impressed that her boss should choose to be so… intimate, with her. She looks back down into her lap and closes her own eyes, her paws curling around the damned tape that started all of this, and, somewhere in the back of her head, cursing the male, as well. Guilt overwhelms her suddenly, and she feels bad for putting Zig on the spot like this. She looks up when she hears Zig's sharp intake of breath. Zig, for her part, has come to a sudden decision. She turns around and steps back over to Amber, resuming her seat once again, and folding her paws neatly in her lap.

"Amber, I'm probably the worst person in the world to give you, or anyone, advice on how to handle their relationships, but, I do have to admit, that I am probably the best person to talk to about sex. And if what I think has happened to you has, then you need to keep one thing firmly in mind." She reaches into Amber's lap and snatches the tape from her grasp, holding it up between them. "This," she waggles the tape to indicate it, "is just a movie. It's fiction, a fantasy. It has no more meaningful significance than that." She makes a little show of dropping it into her lap, as if discarding it. "It's beneath contempt, and not worth your mental energy to even consider it." She tilts her head towards her in close regard. "Amba, I can tell you for a fact, that what's said between lovers during sex play," Amber drops her eyes from hers, Zig Zag politely ignoring the action, "is just part of the fantasy that sex is." She reaches out her paws and takes Amber's in her own, squeezing them, and causing the panda to refocus on her bright, blue eyes. "There's nothing wrong with it. They're just words, honey. I've learned a long time ago that words only have the power to hurt you as long as you let them. And I know you're smarter than that." She gives her paws another squeeze. "Don't let anyone's words have that kind of power over you. Not ever. And especially not words from a crappy, low budget movie like that one."

"Besides," she finishes with a lighter note in her voice, "if you want to be angry at someone for those words, then you can be angry at me." She points to her chest with her thumb. "I wrote them."

Amber's eyelids flutter as she absorbs that, then sits a little straighter. 'Just words', she thinks, 'just games.' A slow smile spreads across her muzzle as she remembers what her friend Wanda told her earlier. 'Just sex, nothing more.' The smile on her face matched the one in her eyes: genuine. "Thanks, Zig." Zig Zag returns the smile. "You're a smart kid, Amba, you'll figure it out as you go along. Just learn to enjoy yourself." She drops her voice an octave, sounding more conspiratorial. "Next time he does that, just give it right back to him," she says with a wink "he'll either stop, or you'll have found something else he likes." Amber fights her sudden blush and shakes her head, but is unable to conceal the subtle laughter in her voice. "I don't think he'll ever do that again." A small pause ensues between them, then she looked warily at her boss. "Zig… I'm sorry if I dredged up unpleasant memories for you, and… I'm not angry at you either." "I know Amba, it's all right." Amber places her paws on her knees, her black fur contrasting nicely against her turquoise jumpsuit. "Well, I guess I should get back to work." She says in a much happier tone, "I still gotta fix that router." She motions with her head to the back of the room as she stands, Zig Zag rising smoothly aside her, holding the videocassette in one paw and shaking her head. "Forget it." Amber looks back at her suddenly, a refusal forming on her lips as Zig places a paw on her shoulder and guides her to the door. "I won't need that thing anymore today, leave it for tomorrow." She gives her shoulder a pat. "Go home. I'll see to it you get paid for the whole day." "But," she stammers, "but, I haven't fixed the router error. Tiver," Zig again shakes her head, quietly insisting in the way only she can. "You let me worry about Tiver." Amber fumbles for her watch, which she wears on a disused belt loop so it won't catch on equipment when she's up to her armpits in a repair. "Shooting will be done for the day. I need to check the studios now or I'll have to wait until the end of the day tomorrow. Either that, or come in early…" she trails off as she catches the uncompromising gleam in her employers eye.

"But," she points towards the lobby, her brain scampering in horror that her body apparently doesn't know when to shut up, "but, Wanda…" At the mention of her friend, her previous conversation rushes back to the fore of her mind and she finally shuts up, but the look she shoots Zig is not the one hybrid expected to receive. "Uh, Zig," she says, her eyes once again shifting down from hers and settling on her cheek, "speaking of Wanda… um…" Zig dips her head forward, surprised, and a little frustrated, to learn that there is apparently more to come. "Yes?" Amber lifts her eyes back to Zig's and swallows nervously as she clasps her paws tightly behind her. "Wanda said I should tell you… um…" Zig is starting to get exasperated and it unintentionally shows in her voice. "Yyyeeesss?" Amber picks up on her irritation and decides to just get on with it. "Uh, boss, Wanda said I should be honest with you, and, the truth is, that I really wish you'd stop trying to push me into acting for you." She shifts her gaze to the floor, then her feet, then the back wall of Zig's office, looking anywhere but her eyes. "I mean, I like my job and all, and I really enjoy working here, but, y'know, I get tired of the 'suggestions' and the 'innuendo', and," she looks up suddenly into her eyes, "not that it's just you, boss, but, others, and I, well, I like it here, but…"

Zig holds up her paw to stop her rambling request, shaking both it and her head to get her attention. "Okay. Okay. I got it. That's fine." Amber abruptly closes and locks her muzzle shut tight, just realizing that she was running on. "I'll take care of it." Zig says with a slim smile and Amber nods her head, suddenly embarrassed, then points back towards the studios. "Uh, thanks." She begins to back away. "I'll, uh, just check those routers, and then I'll go." He holds up her paws in a fair semblance of a Girl Scout salute. "Promise." Zig simply nodded her head as she backed, and eventually, turned away, headed for the bowels of the building, then let out her frustration with a sigh. She brought a paw up to her forehead and covered her eyes for a brief moment before pulling it down over her muzzle as she considered how she was going to word that memo.

She lifted her other paw and looked at the tape, then glanced up when she caught a flicker of motion out of the corner of her eye. "Mia," she calls out, the real Mia tuning and walking over to her. "Yeah, Zig?" "I don't want to be disturbed for a while, okay?" The red panda nods her head. "Sure, boss." Zig gives her a small smile. "Thanks." She turns and closes the door as Mia goes back to her desk. Zig walks over to the TV in the back of her office and slides the tape out of its case, holding the sleeve as she slips the cassette into the VCR, the self contained little unit activating itself and turning the TV on automatically. She presses the play button, then goes and sits to watch the movie she made oh, so very long ago, curling the case into her lap. Despite what she said to Amber, she knows that words have a tremendous amount of power, and should not be dismissed lightly. As the movie plays out, her thoughts cloud over darkly. Partly for the unpleasant memories brought back to living mortality by the scenes playing out before her, and partly by the fact that her name is attached to this piece of tripe, but mostly, mostly because this movie hurt someone she likes.

As she stared blankly at the wanton carnality being displayed on the screen, her ears involuntarily pressed back against her head for the vulgar verbal abuse being directed at the bound female in the picture. Her instincts fought hard against her mind to suppress the memories that caused her to write such scenes, let alone shoot them. She grabbed the remote and punched the eject button abruptly, as a hiss escaped her lips, her mind unchangeably made.

ACT II

She rises quickly and steps over to the shelves where she has several blank tapes stored, waiting for use. Grabbing one, she slips the tape from its sleeve and steps over to her desk, dropping the cardboard case behind her, to fall absently to the floor, forgotten. There, she grabs a pen and draws a bold "X" over the label before sliding the tape into the empty porn cassette's sleeve. Turning, she strides for the door, the TV blaring static and white noise angrily in her wake.

Amber virtually bounced into Sabrina's office on her way to the studios, feeling unaccountably happy, and caught the skunkette completely by off guard, the pandas attitude being 180\xBA the opposite her earlier behavior. "Yo, Sabrina!" She bubbled happily, the skunk twisting her chair about and banging it into the desk behind her when the red panda threw her arms around her in an unexpected embrace. Amber hugged Sabrina quickly, but tightly, then stepped back, looking down on the startled skunk and barely suppressing her laughter for the look on her face. "Just wanted to thank you." She waggled a finger at her. "Don't think I didn't notice you coming to my rescue earlier with Zig. I owe you one." She nods her head as if agreeing with herself, then pokes herself in the chest with her thumb. "Amber remembers who her friends are." She flashes her a sunny-bright smile and turns to flounce from the room, Sabrina dodging to the side as her looonnnnggg tail whips around behind her. But she stops at the doorway and her paws reach out and grab the little box the muzzle was packaged in, and turned back to a still stunned looking Sabrina.

She tilts her head to the side. "Can I have this?" She hoists the box to indicate it and Sabrina flicks her eyes to it before looking back up at Amber and nods her head silently, causing Amber to do the impossible: widen her grin. "Thanks, babe! You're the best!" She turns again and bounces out of the office, Sabrina never having had the chance to slip a word in edgewise. However, before Amber's ringed tail even disappeared from sight, she was back in the doorway again, rushing the skunkette, and planting a big kiss on her cheek. She pulled back and held up a paw to indicate a count with her fingers. "That's two I owe ya, luv!" And she was gone again, just like that, leaving a bewildered Sabrina wiping at her cheek, thinking: "what is it about this place that makes femmes want to kiss me?!"

After a cursory knock on the door Zig Zag bursts through into Marvin's office, the burly badgers head snapping up and Rhonda's own whipping round as she stood hastily from where she had been perched on her husbands desk. Zig Zag pauses for the merest beat before refocusing on task. She steps up to the desk as Marvin rises next to his mate and takes in the angry gleam in her eye, and the firm set of her jaw. "Marvin," she states, holding out the videocassette, her words oddly clipped, "do we still have this movie in the Vault?" He looks down and reads the title. "Should be," he looks back up at her, "but that's an old one, I wouldn't have the records here, they'd be in the Archive." She withdraws the cassette. "Then go, and, check." She grinds out the words between clenched teeth. Marvin blinks exactly once, then turns to do as she instructs, knowing better than to try to talk to her when she's in this kind of mood, no matter what's caused it. As he makes his way from the room Zig sets one paw on her hip and stares blankly at the space he vacated, Rhonda trying her best to make herself as unobtrusive as possible, uncertain whether she should stay, or go.

Marvin returns a few minutes later holding the archive folder that lists all the movies from that year that currently reside in the Vault. As he steps into the office, his nose buried in the folder, Zig Zag turns to him, one foot tapping the floor agitatedly. He speaks to her as he reads. "Project zero, zero four, ticket twelve." He looks up at her. "Still in the Vault, both the original Master and the Protection Copy." Zig lifts her chin slightly. "Have someone pull them and take them down to editing." She turns her head and looks significantly at Rhonda. Catching the look, the badger begins to back awkwardly away, around the desk. Her eyes slide from Zig to her husband. "IIIII'll be in the lobby, honey," she says, drawing out the first syllable and pointing in that direction as she backs out the door, then disappears from sight down the hall.

Zig's head moved smoothly as it followed her progress, then returned to pierce her Business Manager. She holds up the cassette and speaks to him in a voice that would clearly brook no argument. "Marvin," he lowers the folder to his side, as he calmly regards her, "from now on this movie doesn't exist. If we still offer the thing, pull it. If we still have copies of it, secure them for destruction. From this day forward it is the mission of this Studio to erase this abomination from existence." Marvin draws back from her open hostility. "Zig, that may not be possible." She grates her teeth. "Find the production numbers and figure out how many we've sold. We are going to track these things down, one by one if necessary, and eliminate them." "That data is over a decade old, we may not even have the records any more." Zig shakes her head. "Then detail someone to research it! I don't care how you do it, just do it!" Marvin holds up his paws in a placating gesture. "Okay, Zig, I'll see what I can do. I'll check with the warehouse and ensure it's dropped from the product line." He steps over to his desk and turns the phone towards him while thumbing through his rolodex for the warehouses number. Zig closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before she speaks again. "Marvin," she says, her voice a modicum calmer, the badger turning back to face her, "I need you to be a hundred percent on the beam on this. See to it personally that any remaining copies are destroyed. I want documentation."

He narrows his gaze, concern flickering in the backs of his eyes. "Zig, you know you can count on me, but, why the sudden interest in this movie?" She's quiet for a long moment as she considers her motivations. This movie was a cry for help, only there was no one around to hear it at the time. Since the time she made the thing, her life has changed dramatically and she no longer needs to send out the message. Besides, as Marvin himself pointed out way back when, it's not the kind of thing ZZ Studios wants to have a reputation for. She'd honestly forgotten about it, otherwise she would have removed it from the production line long before now. Long before someone she cared about got hurt by it. She admits the single most difficult thing any person can ever do"Because I was wrong." She turns and strides toward the door, not another word spoken between them.

Rhonda looked up when she saw Zig Zag stalk out of Marvin's office and turn, headed down the hall into the recesses of ZZ Studios. She considers going back to his office but decides to wait, until her husband gives her the official all clear, her mind working furiously to imagine what could have happened to get her friend so upset. Marvin picks up the phone again, but instead of dialing the warehouse, he rings over to editing to relay Zig Zag's order to pull the Masters, then calls over to Sabrina's extension.

"Got it, thanks for the heads up, Marvin." Franklin breaks the connection by hanging up his phone. Stepping out of the Production Office, he walks quickly over to editing bay two. Poking his head into the room, he addresses the black, muscular jaguarundi working there. "Mike, you got a minute?" Mike swings his head up to look at him. "Sure, just finishing up. Why?" "The boss is on her way down," he holds a slip of paper out to him "I need you to run to the Vault and get these archived tapes ASAP." "Yeah, uhh," he turns back to his machine, "gimmie a sec to save this." A few mouse clicks later he stands and turns to his supervisor. "All set." Franklin gives him the paper and the jaguarundi heads off on his task, moving surprisingly quickly for such a large fur. Franklin heads over and unlocks the door to the rarely used third editing bay, turning on the lights and powering up the antiquated equipment before heading back to his office to wait for Zig, and the tapes.

While he and Zig waited for Mike to return, Zig had him search the editing records for any additional media they might still have laying around from that production. It was unlikely, but she wanted to cover all her bases. "Nope." He looks up at his boss from where he was crouched on the floor, looking up the data she wanted from his earliest records. He slides the moldy old tome back onto the shelf and stands slowly, stretching his legs from his awkward crouch. "Nothing listed in the archive." He tilts his head and thinks a moment. "You know," he begins, sounding thoughtful, "if we destroyed the left over media, it should be listed in our destroy logs," his eyes refocus on Zig Zag "and that's something we can cross check with our vendor." He steps around the desk and takes his seat behind it. "I can check our logs tonight, but," he looks at the clock on the wall, Zig following his gaze and finding herself surprised at the late hour. "If it's just the same to you Zig, I'll have to check with our vendor tomorrow. It'd be murder trying to find anyone to help me now. Will it keep?" She turns back to him and gives a little shake of her head. "That's fine Franklin, just let me know what you find out."

Mike appeared in the doorway with two large, slim boxes held in either paw. He clears his throat to get their attention. "Where do you want them, boss?" He asked, addressing them both. Franklin turns to Zig, and she turns to the younger editor. "Mike, you're qualified for the linear machines, aren't you?" He looks at her before addressing her. "Yep, got my original training on those babies." "You mind pulling some overtime tonight?" He gives her a large toothy grin and shrugs. "Well, technically, I don't get overtime since I freelance, but hey, why not?" She smiles for his impudent response. "I'll make it worth your while, then." She turns back to Franklin. "Why don't you head on back home to your wife before you're late, we'll take care of things here." She motions to the large black editor with a move of her muzzle. He looks at her a moment then nods his head in an affirmative. "Sure, Zig, thanks." He rises as she does and watches as Mike backs out of the doorway, the two of them walking toward the editing bays and talking before he gets back to the work he needs to finish before leaving for the day.

"So what's the game plan, boss?" Mike asks as they approach the editing suite. Zig smiles again, feeling her bad mood ebb slightly in the company of this friendly, affable male. Always so accommodating, he is, she can't help but feel relaxed in his presence. They stop at the door to edit bay three. "Mike, I want to be certain that the movie that's listed on the label is actually the movie on the reel. Then I want to destroy it." His grin fades. "Destroy it?" He glances down at the boxes in his paws, then back up at her. "Boss, these are the Masters. If we erase them the movie will cease to exist. I mean, it'll be unrecoverable." Zig Zag nods her head. "I know." He opens his mouth to speak again, then abruptly shuts it. It's not his place to question the boss, just to do as she says he decides. "Okay, let's head over to the Machine Core."

Mike puts down one of his cases so he could open the door to the large, specially air-conditioned room and flicks on the lights. He leads Zig through the maze of machinery to the farthest corner and finally places the Masters on top of two large, boxy machines. Zig smiles slightly to see them. "Ah yes, George and Gracie." Mike turns to look at her, then back at the machines. "You know," she says as he gets to work warming the antiquated beasts up, and prepping them for use, "one of these is the original I purchased when I first opened for business. Back then, they were state of the art. I think it's George here." And she lays a paw on the top of the machine as Michael works the latch on the tape storage boxes. "Geez," he says, "that's a long time ago. These things are antiques." He pats the second machine as he lifts the large reel of tape from its box and positions it on the outlay spindle. "What about Gracie?" "She's a replacement. We got her from an editing house that was scrapping its old equipment during an upgrade. I think the original Gracie is still kicking around here somewhere. You know engineers, they keep everything." Mike laughs as he threads up the machine and latches the tape to the takeup reel, then closes the door. "I can just imagine the look on Tyler's face if he ever had to fix one of these, he'd be pulling his fur out!" Zig Zag laughs right along with him. He finishes setting up the tape in George, then takes note of which reel is in which machine, and turns to Zig. "Okay, we got the Protection Master in George and the Edit Master in Gracie." He steps away from her and begins fiddling with the patch panel, looking closely at the labels and plugging the appropriate cables into the needed ports. Zig Zag watches him silently as he mumbles to himself for a few minutes, checking and double checking his connections before turning back to her. He gives her a wide grin. "All set, shall we?" And he motions for her to precede him but she waves him off and he leads the way out of the room. "What were you doing with the patch bay?" She wants to know. He looks over at her and explains as they head back to edit bay three. "Well, I got the impression that this is not something you want any casual observers on, so I bypassed the automatic router and fed George and Gracie's signal directly into suite three. That way, no one can look over our shoulders, as it were."

He takes his seat at the control panel and Zig sits down next to him in the large bay. She looks over the complicated boards, dimly remembering that she knew how to use it once, at least the basics anyway. "You sure you remember how to use this thing?" She asks suspiciously, looking over at him as he activates the long disused monitors surrounding them. "Sure," he glances over at her then back to the glowing panels before him. He stretches his arms out, paws intertwined and cracks his knuckles. "Just like riding a bicycle." He flicks a few switches and one panel falls black. "Oops." He makes an embarrassed grimace, then undoes what he just did and is rewarded with the lights coming back on. He grins nervously over at his boss as the edges of her mouth twitch. After a few more moments, he's ready. "Okay," he directs her attention to one of the monitors. "This will display George, the Protection copy, and this," he indicates a different monitor, "Gracie, the Original." He flicks a few switches and starts both movies at the same time. She watches with interest as he fast winds through the obligatory FBI warning and studio credits to the title sequence. And there, in the flickering light of the monitor in the moodily lit suite played the title of the movie Zig felt compelled to make, the one public cry she made from her tortured childhood'Indecency 666'.

When everything checked out in the Primary Studio, Studio A, Amber headed for then next largest one, Studio B, where Clarence was just finishing securing the gear from the shoot. He locked the door to the in-studio Equipment Room, then doubled back to the studio just to be certain he's squared everything away for the night.

"Marvin?" The large badger turned suddenly at the voice. "Oh, sorry, Rhonda, I'm afraid I forgot." She gives a half shrug. "It's okay. Is it clear to come in?" "Zig's gone, if that's what you mean." "Yeah, I know." She steps into his office. "Any more news on what's up?" He sighs as she comes up next to him. "Got me, hon, something about that movie is working her over real good though." "Well, you know Zig, this'll all blow over in a few days." He shakes his head. "I don't think this is going to go away for awhile, I think this one is here to stay." She lays a paw on his head and pets him gently, concerned over the tone of his voice. "What aren't you telling me?" He glances at the open door, listening intently for a moment, then leans back in his chair so he could look up at her. "Zig and I went around a few times on that movie back when she made it." Rhonda looked down on him in surprise as he continued. "I told her it was a mistake, that it would never sell, but she insisted on making it." He shrugs his big shoulders. "It's her name on the door, so it got made. And I was right, it never did sell well. In fact, I just got off the phone with the warehouse, they still have original stock of that movie on paw. We've never done a second production run." He shakes his head, then looks thoughtful. "You know, I always felt she made that movie for a specific reason, and selling it wasn't part of it." "I've never seen it." "You wouldn't have liked it, it was pretty obscene." She thought about that. She knew that her mate's attitude towards sex was impressively casual, so for him to say something pornographic was obscene spoke volumes to her. "You won't get to see it now, either." He muses, breaking her concentration. "What do you mean?" He glances at the door again, then back to her before sitting upright. "I'll tell you about it later." He glances at the clock, Rhonda following his action. "Looks like Zig's gonna be here late, tonight. Let me finish this quickly before she finds some more work for me to do." She chuckles at his remark, then runs her paw through his hair, playing with the base of his ear. "Okay, I'll wait in the lobby so I don’t… distract you." His head twitched on his neck as she touched him, unable to concentrate on anything but her. She dropped her paw and walked seductively towards the door, winking to him over her shoulder as she disappeared into the hall, Marvin marveling once again at how lucky he was to have her as his mate.

Zig let the movie play silently for a while as Michael regarded it for its low production values. Since he's been working for ZZ Studio's, he's not once seen a movie come through that didn't have almost feature film quality. He's surprised that Zig would even allow something like this to bear her name, maybe that's why she want's to get rid of the thing. But she could simply stop the production run, there's no reason to blank the masters as well. He wonders about it until he hears her speak in the quiet dark of the booth. "Turn it off." His paws go immediately into action, the screens going black, only the subdued lighting in the room providing illumination. She's quiet for a few minutes, Mike sitting patiently by her side, waiting for further instruction. Eventually she speaks. "You can erase it from here?" He nods smartly and sets to work. "Sure, no problem." He sets the tapes to rewind then reaches for the router controls and punches up the black channel, routing its signal to the one-inch machines back in the Core. He turns to look at her. "You sure, boss?" She nods her head affirmative and he toggles the machines to record. "The only signal going into the machines is the standard black signal, so they'll just record blank over the tapes, and with them disconnected from the network, nobody is going to know what's happening to them." He shrugs again. "I just thought you would want to be certain that nothing from them ever left this room." Smart, she thought. "How long?" Is her oblique question of him. He looks blankly at her for a moment, then realizes what time frame she's inquiring about. "Well, those machines don't have flying erase heads, so we're going to have to let them play out in real time." He thinks a moment, remembering the feature length from the label, and the size of the reel, and does some simple math. "Sixty minutes ought to do 'er." "All right then. Get the tapes ready to view when they're done recording, I'll be back later." "Sure thing, boss." Zig rises smoothly and leaves the room, heading back to her office, noting to herself how dark and still the studio was after-hours.

Meanwhile, out in the Lobby, Wanda enters and is pleasantly surprised to see her friend Rhonda slouching in one of the sleek, leather chairs scattered about the airy room, and takes a seat near her, the two talking quietly as Rhonda brings her up to speed on recent events.

Zig's ears pressed flat against her head as she approached her office for the angry hiss of static emanating from within. She quickly grabbed the remote and muted the TV, then stared blindly at the flickering screen. She is now irrevocably set on the course she has chosen, she knows. In under an hour's time, for all intents and purposes, this is all that's going to be left of Indecency 666. She turns her head away and walks over to her video collection and slides the porn cover sleeved surrogate tape back onto the shelf with the rest of her productions, then steps to the VCR/TV unit and pulls the tape from the machine before finally returning to her desk. She places the tape in front of her and returns her gaze to the quietly seething static on the Television screen.

Clarence stopped dead in the doorway of Studio B when he heard the sounds of a frustrated and, apparently, quite angry femme emanating from within. His eyes roved the large room and settled on a familiar form, in unfamiliar dress. "Mia?" He asked in mild alarm, the red panda in question being up to her elbows in cabling and acting very unlike what he's come to expect from the actress and model. "W-w-what are you d-d-doing?" Amber's head shot up with a scowl and pierced the young skunk with a deadly gaze. "You!" She pointed a finger at him after extricating it from the innards of the router control. "Come here!" She stands as he comes close, towering over the shorter male. "Clarence, right?" Clarence gulps and nods nervously as Amber places her paws on her hips and glares down at him, he being nothing more than a convenient place to park her anger for the moment.

"Were you in this studio over the weekend?" He shakes his head. "N-n-no ma'am. I h-had the w-weekend off." "Was there any shooting this weekend do you know?" He again shakes his head, motioning vaguely to the shooting schedule on the far wall. "I-I-I d-don't think so." Amber's scowl deepens and she points stridently down at the mess on the floor. "Do you know if anyone was screwing around with this router lately?" Clarence looked down and his eyes widened in surprise. His ensuing gulp was audible down the hall.

"Th-th-th-that router?" He asked, pointing at it as if it were going to jump up and bite him. Her eyes narrowed and she motioned to it with her muzzle. "Yes, that router." Clarence tries to wipe his profusely sweating palms off on his trousers before looking back up at the irate panda, not understanding why Mia should care so much about a piece of electronic equipment. "Um, well, uh," he swallows, "Mia, I k-kinda t-tripped over it this morning and…" "Tripped over it?" Her voice shot up half an octave, causing Clarence's to leap up a full one. "Uh, y-yeah," She holds out a paw and he nervously skitters back a step. "This is important. Did any of the wires come loose?" Clarence found himself nodding his head rapidly before he even realized what he was doing. Amber sighs in frustration, dropping her paw and looking back down on the tangle of cables. "And I suppose you tried to put them back, didn't you?" She shoots him a glance and he nods his head again. Amber shakes hers. "And just how much do you know about network routing, son?" He stares at her, unwilling or unable to answer she's not sure, nor does she care. "Did it ever occur to you to report it to Engineering?" She holds out a paw to indicate the mess. "I've spent all day trying to find this!" She looked at her watch and brought a paw to her forehead at the sight of the time, exhaling forcefully in frustration. Instead of getting out early, it looks like she'll be pulling some overtime. Then she remembered Wanda.

"Okay." She says, dropping her paw and crouching back over her repair, her paws resting lightly on the frame of the router control. "Look," she begins to work on the problem, not bothering to look back up at the skunk as she addresses him. "Next time something like this happens, report it to the correct department. Or tell your supervisor, the cameramale, Marvin, anybody. Just report it, all right?" She glances at him then and he nods affirmatively. "S-s-sorry, M-mia." She shakes her head and returns her gaze to her work. "At least you can make yourself useful now. Wanda's waiting for me out in the lobby. Run out there and apologize for me being late, okay?" Clarence takes another involuntary step backwards. "W-W-W-ANNND-DAAA?!!!" Amber's eyes snap up to pierce him again. "Yeah. Wanda. We had a date." She sends him a half-scowl. "Seems the least you could do, considering I'm gonna have to stay late because of this…" she doesn't finish the rest of that remark aloud, letting her expression indicate exactly whose fault she thought that was. Clarence's paws are absolutely soaked at this point, the young skunk wondering exactly what he did to anger his God so much this day. "Uh," he points about the room agitatedly, "I gotta finish cleaning up here…" Amber looks around and fails to see anything that especially needed cleaning up, then swept her gaze back to the skunk, who was halfway to the door by this point anyway. She carefully reins in her irritation and speaks in an almost, but not quite, rational voice.

"You're a gofer, right?" He nods his head again. "Well, I'm tellin you to go to the front lobby fer t'tell my friend that I'm gonna be late. If you feel especially loquacious , feel free to tell her why. Now git!" He nods rapidly and scampers for the door, stopping when he next hears her speak. "And kid?" He looks back edgily, the light of the hall casting him in silhouette, "I'm not Mia."

Mike finished up his work on the current production he was contracted for, then reviewed it and saved everything to the central server file created for it, before shutting down edit bay two. He signed off on the work logs kept outside Franklin's office then checked the time. Seeing he had a few minutes before the tapes were done, he trotted off to the closest restroom to relieve himself of the last iced tea he'd rented.

Wanda reined in her enthusiasm for Clarence early, correctly surmising that her friend had put him through the ringer once already from his impossibly nervous air. She was genuinely worried that he was going to hyperventilate, or swallow his tongue or something. So, with nothing more than a quick pat on his rump and a blow in his ear she let him go, after getting him to admit just what happened to cause the delay, that is. And she found her wayward date exactly where the young male said she'd be, up to her elbows in something that looked decidedly complicated. She padded quietly over and crouched down next to her, staring blankly at what she was doing while listening to Amber curse quietly under her breath.

When Mike returned, he stepped into the large suite and suddenly stretched. He arched his back and slowly extended his limbs, his head rolling all the way back on his shoulders and his long black tail curling behind him. Zig turned when he entered, but remained quiet and watched him in silence. She tilted her head as she noted his strong, sinuous stature, his muscular frame, almost elongated, giving him a sleek, powerful look. He opened his eyes at the top of his stretch then relaxed with a long exhale and turned, jumping in surprise to see his boss watching him. His paw clutches at his chest as he stumbles back, bumping against the door frame behind him, an amused smile playing across Zig's muzzle. "Don't do that!" He exclaims, having always been a little too jumpy for his own good. Zig Zag chuckles for his reaction. "You know," she points one long, graceful finger out at him, "you have an excellent physique, you could make a lot of money in porn. Have you ever considered acting?" Mike regains his composure and shakes his head as he sits next to her before the editing panel. He smiles at her, a little embarrassed for the praise. "Thanks for the compliment, I try to keep myself in shape. But to answer your question," he glances at the boards, then back to her, "I never really understood porn movies." Her eyes widen slightly. "I mean, what's the fun of watching someone else do that stuff? I'd much rather be doing it myself, thank you very much. Now nudity, that's something else." He turns back to the editing panel, flicking switches and pressing buttons as he prepares to run the, hopefully, blown off tapes. "Nothing wrong with looking at a naked female," he looks back at her, a toothy grin on his muzzle "gets the imagination going." "So you like the fantasy more than the act." "Well that's what sex is, isn't it?" His mind reels, never would he have expected to have a conversation about his sexual preferences with his boss today. "The anticipation, the imagination, thinking about the touch, the caress... ninety-five percent of sex is the fantasy, not the act, don't you think?" Very, very smart, Zig thinks. "Mike, why don't we have you on full time staff?" His amused grin becomes an embarrassed one. "My girlfriend wouldn't let me. It's all I can do to get her to accept me working here as often as I do. In fact, there's probably going to be hell to pay for my extra hours tonight." He shrugs. "That's my problem, sorry to bring it up, Zig." "Wait a minute." A serious expression settles on her features. "How is it that you can have such a relaxed attitude toward sex, and yet you're dating someone who's so closed about it?" She shouts at herself for even asking such a question but some deep part of her craves the answer. He shrugs again. "Vaguearities of the heart, I guess." She gives her head a little shake and turns back to the monitors. "Sorry, Mike, I shouldn't have asked." "No prob, Zig, sometimes I wonder the exact, same thing."

She looks slyly at him then. "Well," he glances back at her for the playful note in her voice "you could always pose for some nude photos. Give the females out there something to run their imaginations over." He turns to fully face her. "Or the males." "You're not threatened by that, are you?" He shakes his head. "No, not really, I know who I am." "There's good money to be had." "Are you seriously asking?" She nods her head silently to him and his face takes on an abstracted expression as he seriously considers her offer. "You really think I'd be a draw?" "Mike, my business is knowing what people like, and I can guarantee that you would draw an audience." He blinks exactly once. "I'll think about it." "That's all I can ask." She replies, then turns back to the boards, the midnight black jaguarundi following her lead much slower.

"Let's get on with the show." She says, looking expectantly at him. He pulls himself back to reality and gets to work. "Okay, same set up as before," and he points to the appropriate monitors "protection, original. Here we go." He again activates both machines and the screens flicker for a few seconds, then remain black. "Are you sure they're playing?" "Green and go, look at the time counters. Here, I'll run forward." And he sets the machines to fast wind, the screens remaining dead black. "What about audio?" He sets the playback to normal speed then toggles the audio. "We got two audio tracks on these one-inchers, but you know that, of course, I'll pipe it in now." And they hear nothing. She reached out and placed her paw over his on the volume control and turned the volume up high, the electronic hum of the speaker being the only noise it transmitted. She stared at the blank screen for several moments, then closed her eyes, listening to the hum of the speakers telling her it was gone. Dead and gone, just like mistakes in the past should be. And now it was time to bury it.

She moves her paw and he responds, turning the volume down to just above zero. "If there was any signal on the audio channels we would see it on the gauges," he said quietly, indicating them with his free paw, "see? No readings." "What about the other channels?" He shakes his head. "The counter channel is just your regular counter channel, and the data channel would only have information if we were running for a commercial station. There's no data there to be concerned about." He looks at her. "You want me to fast forward through the whole thing to be certain its gone?" This time she shakes her head. "No, it doesn't matter." She finally withdraws her paw from his. "These tapes will be destroyed anyway." She looks back at him. "I just wanted to be certain they didn't leave this building. Thanks, Mike." "No problem Zig, I'm happy to help." She takes a deep breath to invigorate her. "Would you box them and bring them up to my office?" "Sure, give me a few minutes to close things down here, then I'll be up." "Thanks." She stood and made her way from the editing suite, finally feeling a burden lifted from her shoulders.

As promised, a few minutes later Mike appeared at her door in the quiet building. She motions him into the room, and he places the boxes near her desk as she indicated, then looked surprised as she pulled a wad of bills from her purse and began counting them out to him. "Zig, whoa, this is unnecessary." She ignores him and gives him a generous stipend for his services. "Mike, you did a great job and I want you to know how I feel about that. You are exactly the kind of person I want working for me. Conscientious, dedicated and open minded." She looks him directly in the eye. "Confidential too, right?" He nods sharply to her. "Absolutely confidential, boss." She smiles. "You'll also see your extra hours reflected in your paycheck. If you ever want a full time position here, it's yours, I'd be happy to have you." Mike smiles as well. "Thanks boss, I'll keep that in mind." "You have a good night now." "Goodnight, boss." Mike makes his way from her office, and the building, needing to detour around to the service entrance as the main doors were locked and he doesn't have a key. Zig dismisses the handsome feline from her thoughts as she seeks to put an end to this day once and for all. Turning back to her desk she slips the remaining cash back into her purse along with her only remaining copy of Indecency 666, and leaves her job behind for the night.

Finally finished, Amber screwed the router back together and did a quick test of it, though there was nothing being broadcast at this late an hour to really look at. So, she did the next best thing, and left a note pinned to it asking that the next person to use it report any anomalies to Engineering immediately, and turned to Wanda, the vixen rising along with her panda friend. Wanda looked her over critically, tilting her head to one side. "You okay babe?" Amber shrugged, then retrieved the muzzle box she got from Sabrina before turning back to her. "Just tired, I guess." They started the long walk back to the Engineering Department, way at the other end of the building, the two femmes the only furs left on the premises.

"You okay about Clar\xE8?" Wanda asked as they walked. "You know, it was just an accident. I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose." Amber nodded her head wearily. "Yeah, I know. But he should have reported it. I can't do my job right if these things don't get done." She sends her a sidelong glance and snorts softly. "Zig gave me off early, but I couldn't get out of here because of that fuck-up." Wanda was unsure if she was talking about the router, or Clarence, or both, so she held her tongue. Amber sighs, her shoulders sagging. "It's just, I dunno, things have been so complicated for me lately. I certainly don't need this kind of grief at work."

They walk along again in silence until they reach the department in question, and Wanda lingers in the doorway as Amber enters and steps over to her workstation, setting the little box up on a shelf where she could see it. Wanda watches her, then speaks softly. "Your meeting with the boss go well?" "What? Oh, yeah," she waves a paw dismissively "Sans Souci*." She looks back at the image of the muzzled female and smiles a little. 'Just words' she hears Zig echo in her thoughts, then decides that words will never have power over her, unless she lets them. But the problem is, is she going to let them?

Her smile fades as a tiny scowl crosses her features, then, almost as quickly, she pushes the unpleasant thought aside and lets her fun loving nature resume control, letting her workaday world fall behind her. She scribbles a quick note to the only other full-time tech, Tyler, to keep an eye on the router network, then jumps off her stool and bounces over to her waiting friend, a big grin cracked wide on her muzzle. Wanda smiles just as widely then, happy to see Amber back in her usual, exuberant mood. "So, where we going?" She asks as she fishes for her keys, the vixen following her as she steals away to Tiver's office to sign out for the night, then to the service entrance where they will make good their escape from work. "I was thinking: The Pagandrome." Amber was not surprised. "Ah, the dykes paradise!" She stops next to the door on the outside of the building, taking a moment to be certain that it locked behind her and was secure, Wanda taking advantage of the opportunity it presented.

"Y'know, if you've had a bad day and don't wanna, I'll understand." Amber slips her a sly grin. "You saying you just wanna go home with me now?" Wanda looks momentarily surprised at the apparent come-on, the feeling being reinforced a moment later when Amber leaned in close and gave her a peck on the cheek. "You're sweet, Wanda, that's why I like you. Who knows?" She looks back over her shoulder as she pushes the button on her tiny keychain fob, deactivating her little sports cars alarm system. "You keep that up and you could get lucky tonight!" The grin she sends her is absolutely feral, pushing the tease for all it was worth, before returning her attention to the car. They didn't speak again until they reached the club, and even then, shared precious few words, but the drive there and back was spent pleasantly enough, listening to the music on Amber's CD player, Wanda's paw resting lightly atop her own, on the gearshift.

Late night found Amber sitting before her home computer, a crappy Compaq Presario laptop that she really ought to up and throw under a truck one of these days, reading through her email, a hot cup of tea steaming lightly at her side. She smiled softly at the little e-note Chris had sent her, then thought about the little piece of gossip Wanda had told her earlier, while she was waiting for her with, surprisingly enough, Rhonda. Wanda didn't know what to make of the whole thing and Amber just played dumb, deciding that it would be best to keep that aspect of her conversation with Zig private from all the parties in question. She took another sip of her tea, and warmed her paws on the sides of the mug before setting it back down and clicking on the reply button. While she waited for the page to load, then reload with the power editor, she thought some more about Zig.

She was surprisingly sympathetic during their talk, and she feels as if she's, underestimated her somehow, and feels bad for it. Zig always did treat her well, even pushing the term friend a little further than she was comfortable with at the time. Oh, she can see where that kind of a relationship with her could be attractive, she's not dead or anything. After all, Zig has a body that just doesn't know when to quit, a body that, in fact, needs to be continued on the next girl, but, she considers, it would take a more… tolerant, she decides, person to be able to manage that kind of an affair. She's got enough trouble managing her own affairs, thank you very much.

No, no, that's not the point. She hauls her thoughts back onto topic. It's this whole movie thing. What's up with Zig on that score? Why the hissy fit in Marvin's office? Why should Zig take a sudden dislike to the thing after all these years? Why now? What has changed?

Her thoughts wander as she stares blankly at her computer screen, a dull realization slowly creeping up on her from behind the bushes of her subconscious mind. 'She wouldn't' she thinks. 'She wouldn't.' Her eyes refocus on the waiting email program. 'I wonder if she would? Could she really be that kind of a friend?' Her paws reach for the keyboard just as her instant messenger pops up.

FOXZEE> Hey, Amba, surprised to find you on so late!

AMBA_M> Just catching up on my email. Got your note, thanks!

FOXZEE> You be most welcome, babe. I meant every word, too.

AMBA_M> Of course you did :) I've been thinking…

FOXZEE> Yeah? 'Bout what?

AMBA_M> About those tapes…

FOXZEE> I swear babe, I tanked em last weekend! Promise!

Amber smiles to herself.

AMBA_M> And I believe you. In fact, after what I heard today, well, yesterday, I'm almost sorry I made you get rid of the things.

FOXZEE> Say what?

AMBA_M> I heard through the grapevine at work that Indecency 666 is about to become a collector's item. Zig is pulling it from production. That movie could have been worth a lot of money to someone someday.

AMBA_M> Yo, Chris, you still with me?

FOXZEE> Sorry, Amba, you just sort of roundhoused me with that one. What rotten luck.

AMBA_M> I'm sorry, Chris.

FOXZEE> Hey, not your fault Amb. Just bad timing on our part, that's all.

AMBA_M> I don't know, I thought your timing was pretty good ;)

FOXZEE> Hey, now!=P

AMBA_M> Chris?

FOXZEE> Yeah, babe?

AMBA_M> There's just one thing…

FOXZEE> What is it?

AMBA_M> I heard this second paw and I got the distinct impression that we're supposed to keep it in-house, so I need you to keep it to yourself. Don't tell anyone I said anything not even Leonard. If word gets out I could get in trouble.

FOXZEE> No problem, Amb. Do you have any idea how Len would ride me if he knew I threw away something so potentially valuable? I'd never hear the end of it!

AMBA_M> Thanks Chris. I appreciate it! :*

FOXZEE> THANK YOU, AMBA! WOO-HOO!

After a few more exchanges, she makes her goodnights and logs out of both the instant messenger, and email programs, before turning off the PC. She closes her eyes as a mighty yawn takes hold of her, the needs of her body making themselves very known. She pads quietly back to her warm bed, looking forward to spending a lazy morning with the cause of her beds warmth, figuring; if she didn't get out early today, she'll just be a little late tomorrow, and work, for once, be damned.

End Part III

Circles within circles. To see where this circle ends we need to look into the not too distant future…

*San Souci means: Without Problems