And You\x92re (Not) Out!

All characters in this story are original and owned solely by CPrebble. Any similarities to any persons, living or fictional other than in this story, is purely coincidental, unless based on real life friends and/or family. But, to be honest, I'm trying to stay as original as possible. Anyway, story is \xA92007, CPrebble.

As the sun rose, staining the sky with its pink and orange hues, Zack woke up and yawned. He rose from bed, and looked at his clock on the wall. He realized it was quite a lot earlier than he usually got up, but that was due to his strange dream last night.

\x93I still can\x92t figure that one out,\x94 he muttered to himself as he went to the bathroom and ran the water for his shower. Once he got it to the right temperature, he stepped into the stall, and let the warmth envelop his body, soaking into his fur. \x93Ah,\x94 he sighed, \x93that\x92s the stuff. My friggin\x92 knee\x92s killing me this morning. Must be the weather.\x94 It was getting colder, as the winter kept trudging on. His knee problems. He remembered what triggered them, back when he was in the army. Constant drilling, crawling and other tasks had finally caught up to him and taken their toll on both his knees. His right one was the worst, and it was the one bothering him now.

As he finished up with his shower, he grabbed the towel off the rack and ran it over his body, letting it soak up as much of the water in his fur as possible. He chuckled at his choice of towels for his use, as they were customized to look exactly like his fur pattern. His fur pattern had its own special quirks. He was a white tiger, but he had some blue stripes mixed in with his black ones, which lent to quite a few whispers behind his back.

He finished drying off, and went back to his bedroom to pick out the clothes he would be wearing to work that day. Not that he\x92d be keeping them on for long, depending on his schedule for the day. He worked at a somewhat famous blue movie studio, as he was quite flexible, save for his knees, and he had a friendly, guy-next-door air to him. He got dressed, and went to his kitchen to eat breakfast. He chose a small, healthy palate, consisting of a glass of orange juice, a cheddar and bacon omelette, and half a grapefruit. If there was one thing that Zack couldn\x92t get enough of, it was his citrus fruits. As he gulped down the rest of his juice, he glanced at the clock. He had an hour to go before he was scheduled to be at work, but he decided he\x92d go in a bit early, anyway, to see if he could talk to his boss, if she was there. It was a matter that had been pressing his mind lately, as his knees weren\x92t getting any better.

He got into his car, turned on the heat and let himself warm up a bit after his trek outside to the car. After that, he went on his way to work. He somewhat dreaded what he was going to talk to his boss about, but figured he had no choice. As he pulled into the parking lot at the studio, he noticed that a few cars were there, and one of them was hers. He got out and locked his car, then he worked his way up the few stairs to the studio. Once he got inside, the receptionist looked up from her newspaper, and smiled. \x93Hey, Zack,\x94 she cheerily greeted him. \x93How\x92s it going this morning?\x94

\x93Could be better, Holly. I tell you that.\x94

\x93Ah, your knees, hon?\x94

\x93Yeah, again. I wish I could do something about them. Anyway, I need to talk with the boss lady. She in her office?\x94

\x93Yep. Not sure what she\x92s doing, though. Want me to call and ask?\x94

\x93If you don\x92t mind, I\x92d appreciate it.\x94

\x93No prob.\x94 She picked up the phone and rang the boss\x92 extension. \x93Hey, you busy? No? Cool. Zack is here, early, and he needs to speak with you about something. Okay, cool, I\x92ll send him in. Yeah. Okay, bye.\x94 She hung up the phone and focused on Zack. \x93Head on in, buddy. She\x92s waiting for you.\x94 She smiled at him, and he felt a bit warmer inside for some reason.

\x93Thanks, Holly. You\x92re a beaut.\x94

She blushed when he said this. She didn\x92t always get these types of compliments, especially from the actors. \x93You\x92re, uh, welcome, Zack.\x94

And with that, he headed down the hall to her office. He still dreaded what he had to talk to her about, but it had to be done. He knocked on the door. \x93Come in,\x94 she chimed. He opened the door and sat down in the chair across from her. \x93What\x92s on your mind, Zack?\x94

\x93How did you know what I came in here for?\x94 He was puzzled, as she was only informed that he needed to chat with her.

\x93Honey, if there\x92s one thing I know, it\x92s my actors. You, my dear, hardly talk to anybody, except for when you\x92re reading the script and performing, or when you tell your jokes. Other than that, you\x92re pretty quiet, and I\x92m going to assume it\x92s from your military days.\x94

\x93How the heck do you get to know so much about actors, when there are so many of us to take care of and supervise?\x94

\x93You have a bit of seniority in my mind from the others, Zack, as you have those wonderfully different stripes. That is why you stand out to me, because I have a sensitive set of eyes, and can easily pick those things up.\x94

\x93Ah, I see. Well, thanks for the compliments. I actually wanted to talk about my acting and my health problems. As you may well know, seeing that you know quite a bit about me, I have bad knees. I think I may need to cut down on acting, so I was wondering if we could try to figure something out.\x94

\x93Well, right now, I have you scheduled for a production starting today, but it\x92s a pretty straight production, work-wise. It still caters to your usual films, though. The reason why you\x92re in such high demand lately is because of your bisexual orientation.\x94

\x93Really? Wow. I didn\x92t realize that bis were in high demand right now.\x94

\x93Yep. Actually, to date, you have earned the studio a fair amount of cash, with all the movies you\x92ve been in. You\x92re also starting to build up your own little fanbase, too, both with us furs, and with humans.\x94

\x93With the humans, too? Wow! I \x96 I didn\x92t realize that\x85\x94

\x93Yeah, you are quite the prize, Zack. But, now that I know your knees are in trouble, there is something I can do about it, so I don\x92t lose one of my prized actors. As you know, we make a fair amount of money here at the studio, and we have a bit of expenditure money, no matter what we do. We will get your knees looked at and fixed, depending on what needs to be done. How\x92s that sound?\x94

\x93That, uh, sounds great! Are you sure, though?\x94

\x93If I wasn\x92t sure, I wouldn\x92t have mentioned it, Zack. After all is said and done, it helps out both of us. So, when the stuff on your knees is done, and you\x92ve gotten your needed physio work done, you\x92ll be as good as new, and back to work. While away, you will be getting paid for a regular work week, so you won\x92t be out of money at all.\x94

Zack was flabbergasted at what his boss was saying, and how generous she was being. \x93I \x96 I don\x92t know what to say\x85 I, just\x85 wow.\x94 That was all he could get out.

She giggled a bit. \x93That\x92s no problem, Zack. I can hear the studio is slowly getting louder, so why don\x92t you head on out. We\x92ll take care of the knee thing after this production is done and over with. Is that okay?\x94

\x93Absolutely. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.\x94 He reached across her desk and hugged her, much to her surprise. He let her go, and went on his way to work on the production.

It was quite a specialty production, one that when he had first started working at the studio, he probably would have acted a lot differently towards. However, over the years he had been working there, a lot of niche work had grown on him. He rather enjoyed being sized up for the bondage outfit by the girl who was also the studio receptionist, Holly. He really liked her, and preferred her to all the other actors and actresses he worked with. She had only acted in a few movies, but they were all with him, and for that, he knew what kind of things she was capable of. She was a bit intimidating to some of the others, but it seemed that no matter how she treated him, he liked it.

He walked over to her desk and started to talk to her about the movie they were in now. He asked her what they were going to do today in the scenes, and she explained it to him. He slowly got more and more excited about what was going to happen the further detailed she got about it. \x93Okay, that\x92s all I need to know for now. Otherwise, I\x92m gonna blow before we even get started.\x94

She chuckled at that. \x93Well, you\x92re the one who wanted to know, Zack. Are you ready to get into it?\x94

\x93More than so.\x94

\x93Good. I\x92m going to enjoy the workload today.\x94 She said this seductively, and winked.

He had caught the double entendre, and blushed a bit. \x93Geez, when you get into it, you get into it, don\x92t you?\x94

\x93Damn right, Zack. Let\x92s go.\x94 And with that, they both headed into a recording studio and started their work.