Not Out Yet
#1 of The Studios
I know that this is a no-yiff story, but it's just getting to know some of the characters. No worries, though... There will be some to cum. I mean, come... Hehe... Enjoy!
- * * 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. "I still can't figure that one out," 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. "Ah," he sighed, "that's the stuff. My friggin' knee's killing me this morning. Must be the weather." 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'd 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't 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'd 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't 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. "Hey, Zack," she cheerily greeted him. "How's it going this morning?" "Could be better, Lily. I tell you that." "Ah, your knees, hon?" "Yeah, again. I wish I could do something about them. Anyway, I need to talk with the boss lady. She in her office?" "Yep. Not sure what she's doing, though. Want me to call and ask?" "If you don't mind, I'd appreciate it." "No prob." She picked up the phone and rang the boss' extension. "Hey, you busy? No? Cool. Zack is here, early, and he needs to speak with you about something. Okay, cool, I'll send him in. Yeah. Okay, bye." She hung up the phone and focused on Zack. "Head on in, dear. She's waiting for you." She smiled at him, and he felt a bit warmer inside for some reason. "Thanks, Lily. You're a beaut." She blushed when he said this. She didn't always get these types of compliments, especially from the actors. "You're, uh, welcome, Zack." 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. "Come in," she chimed. He opened the door and sat down in the chair across from her. "What's on your mind, Zack?" "How did you know what I came in here for?" He was puzzled, as she was only informed that he needed to chat with her. "Honey, if there's one thing I know, it's my actors. You, my dear, hardly talk to anybody, except for when you're reading the script and performing, or when you tell your jokes. Other than that, you're pretty quiet, and I'm going to assume it's from your military days." "How the heck do you get to know so much about actors, when there are so many of us to take care of and supervise?" "You 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." "Ah, 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." "Well, right now, I have you scheduled for a production starting today, but it's a pretty straight production, work-wise. It still caters to your usual films, though. The reason why you're in such high demand lately is because of your bisexual orientation." "Really? Wow. I didn't realize that bis were in high demand right now..." "Yep. Actually, to date, you have earned the studio a fair amount of cash, with all the movies you've been in. You're also starting to build up your own little fanbase, too, both with us furs, and with humans." "With the humans, too? Wow! I - I didn't realize that!" "Yeah, 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't 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's that sound?" "That, uh, sounds great! Are you sure, though?" "If I wasn't sure, I wouldn't 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've gotten your needed physio work done, you'll be as good as new, and back to work. While away, you will be getting paid for a regular work week, so you won't be out of money at all." Zack was flabbergasted at what his boss was saying, and how generous she was being. "I - I don't know what to say... I, just - Wow." That was all he could get out. She giggled a bit. "That's no problem, Zack. I can hear the studio is slowly getting louder, so why don't you head on out. We'll take care of the knee thing after this production is done and over with. Is that okay?" "Absolutely. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it." 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, Lily. 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. "Okay, that's all I need to know for now. Otherwise, I'm gonna blow before we even get started." She chuckled at that. "Well, you're the one who wanted to know, Zack. Are you ready to get into it?" "More than so." "Good. I'm going to enjoy the workload today." She said this seductively, and winked. He had caught the double entendre, and blushed a bit. "Geez, when you get into it, you get into it, don't you?" "Damn right, Zack. Let's go." And with that, they both headed into a recording studio and started their work.