{"sf1_id":737158,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Shifting Plans","author":"assilsasta","words":4231,"posted_at":"2014-07-30T09:43:00.000Z","tags":["American moose","Birthday","Bobcat","Clean","Female","Gift","Herm","Hermaphrodite","Joy Ride","Kangaroo Mouse","Liger","Male","Moose","Mouflon","Mouse","Otter","chinchilla","ideas","plans"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/737158-shifting-plans","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/737158","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=737158\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nDark RIders of Marblecliff\n06 Shifting Plans\nBy Assilsasta\n  \n??????????? August 24,\n2013 ???????????\n??????????? Miracle ???????????\n \nThe moose looked over at the older otter that sat at the far\nend of the bench seat of the old Chevy truck and asked, \"Why am I here and not\nout with Sisy practicing her driving?\"\n \n\"Because you know the boy I'm supposed to be looking for,\"\nHank said in reply as they pulled up in front of Blackfoot Custom Autos. \"Come\non,\" he continue flatly while he cut off the \nengine and got out of the truck. As they walked through the parking lot,\nthey passed a brand-new royal blue Corvette, still with the Temporary Tags on\nit.\n \n\"Fine, like you could miss him,\" the moose said as she got\nout of the truck. \"All you have to do is look for the walking snowball unless\nhe's covered in grease... or been dyed pink.\" Daisy looked back over her shoulder\nwith an icy glare as she walked toward the open service bay doors.\n \nHank just shrugged as he said, \"Could be worse.\" He walked\ntoward the main entrance and showroom as he said, \"We might want to use the\nfront door.\"  \n \n \n \nAs she was about to turn around and head for the main\nentrance Daisy saw the Samoyed hybrid roll out from under the rusted-out shell\nof an El Camino with a wire brush in his paw. The car was caked in dirt, and\nlooked like it had been half-buried. \"Hey, Snowball,\" she hollered into the\nworkspace, \"I have someone that needs to talk to you in the main office when\nyou get loose for a minute,\" before heading inside.\n \n\"Sure thing. Give me just a minute to wash all this soil\noff. My mom will kill me if I track dirt onto the carpet,\" he said as he stood\nup and walked off to the rinsing station.\n \n---\n \nThe front display area of the shop had an array of\ncustom-built toys, ranging from a dune buggy built from a modified Volkswagen\nBeetle to a Ford F-350 with a tonneau cover on a hydraulic lift system,\ncreating a canopy over a gas grill, condiment station, and a pair of\nnineteen-inch LCD TVs. Rounding out the showroom was a Subaru hatchback, decked\nout with a roof rack filled with skis and snowboards, but instead of wheels, it\nhad four sets of snowmobile treads.\n \nHank stopped at the rubber mat just inside the door and\nwiped his bare paws before he stepped onto the show room carpeting. Digging in\nthe chest pocket of his overalls he pulled out the mangled business card and\nflipped it over to look at the back. As he scanned the showroom, waiting to be\nnoticed he meandered over to the F-350 and began inspecting the custom bed on\nthe vehicle.  \n \n\"May I help you?\" a female voice sounded from the far end of\nthe room. He looked up to see the samoyed woman approaching him. \n \nWiping his paw off on the bib of the overalls Hank turned to\ngreet her. \"I hope you can,\" he said as he held out his paw toward her. \"Name's\nHank and I'm looking for a...\" He glanced down at the hand written note on the\nback of the business card and read, \"Wrench Jockey named Dick?\"\n \n\"Derek,\" The moose said as she entered  the showroom scrubbing her hooves on the\nrubber mat, \"And he said he's on his way in.\" Walking over to stand beside the\nhalf dressed otter Daisy said, \"you probably don't remember me Mrs. Blackfoot,\nI'm Samantha's friend Daisy from the cruise.\"\n \n\"If you are here for a delivery, ve take zhem around back,\"\nthe older woman said. \"Vhat company are you vith? I can get him zhe paperwork\nto make zhings a little faster for you.\" She smiled politely as she spoke.\n \n\"No, Ma'am,\" the otter said. \"I am here to get an estimate\non a custom restore job on a Chevy Nomad.\" He pointed out the window at the\nrusted out Nomad wagon on the trailer behind the beat up Chevy truck.\n \nShe looked him over as she said, \"Are you sure you vant to\nbring it to us? Vork here can get quite expensive.\"\n \n\"Just following orders, Ma'am,\" Hank replied. \"The cost is\nnot really the issue, the unrealistic time frame is. I don't have a shop set up\nto do it myself, and my time is limited with other projects I need to work on. Someone\nput it in Lilly's head that this is the best shop, with the best mechanics in\ntown, and I can guarantee she won't accept anything less for this one. I've\nlearned that if she has a name attached to something, it's best to work with\nthem.\"\n \n\"I think I can handle this one,\" the younger Samoyed hybrid\nsaid as he walked in from the shop drying off his paws. \"I think we can thank\nMr. Burke for this recommendation,\" he said with a smile at Daisy.  \n \n\"Derek Blackfoot, this is Hank Heartken, yet another member\nof the Dark Riders you haven't met yet,\" the moose herm said jerking her head\ntowards the otter. \n \n\"Nice to meet you, Sir,\" he said, reaching out with his\nfreshly-dried paw to give the otter a shake. \"And thank you for your service.\"\n \nWiping his paw off on the bib of his coverall again he\nreached out and took the boy's offered paw in a firm grip as he said, \"Thanks.\nThe hulk is out front and she's expecting miracles.\"\n \n\"What hulk?\" the boy asked. \n \n\"The remnants of a sixties Chevy Nomad wagon,\" the otter\nsaid. \"She wants to get it restored and modified for Cecily... for her birthday.\"\n \n\"Her birthday?\" the moose nearly shouted in response.\n\"Miracle my fuzzy a... behind, even Jesus Christ couldn't pull that off in two\nweeks.\"\n \n\"Let me see what we're working with here,\" the wolf mix\nsaid, leading the way through the lobby and back out into the parking lot. The\nvaguely car-shaped pile of rusty bolts stuck out like Gilbert Gottfried in a\nTibetan Monastery among the other cars. \"I've got bad news for Miss Fargo,\"\nDerek said with a frown, \"This isn't 'Pimp My Ride.' We don't have MTV paying\nus to work on one job consistently for that short amount of time. Six weeks, I\ncan have something respectable. Any other big occasions coming up?\"\n \nHank shrugged as he looked at the boy before he turned to\nthe moose and asked, \"What do you think?\"\n \n\"I think Lilly thinking that anyone can make that,\" she said\npointing to the rusted heap behind the old truck, \"into anything other than\nscrap metal in two weeks is crazy, even for her. Hell I've learned she expects\nthe impossible but this time she's shit out of luck on getting it done in that\nshort of a time. Six weeks sounds good... but I'm not sure if it will be anything\nshe'll accept. Only other holiday that would make sense is what, Christmas?\"\n \n\"I think I can get that to pass,\" Hank said. \"Just hope your\nready to fix the birthday thing.\" He turned back to Derek and asked, \"What can\nyou do in four months?\"\n \n\"I'll give you a rolling Sistine Chapel,\" the Samoyed\ngrinned.\n \n\"I hope you're as good as you think you are,\" the otter\nsaid. \"Where do you want me to drop it?\"\n \n\"My workspace is Bay 5. There's a small garage across from\nthe bays for the projects not currently being worked on. You can unload it back\nthere, and I'll put it next to Lola. I'll make yours one of my three personal\nprojects,\" Derek said proudly. \"The first one is almost done, and the other one\nhas a Christmas deadline, also.\" He pointed back towards the shop and said,\n\"That El Camino is Samantha's present.\"\n \n\"Goddamnit...\" Daisy muttered softly. \"Why the hell do you\npeople do this shit to me? I not only have to keep my muzzle shut about Sisy's\nsurprise, but now about Samantha's too? Fuck me sideways,\" she added as she\nturned towards the old Chevy truck and stalked off.\n \nDerek strolled over to a small, 2-car garage across from Bay\n5 and keyed in his security code, then opened up the door. The young Samoyed\nwaved his paws, guiding Hank as he backed the truck up slowly and carefully so\nthat he could unload the Nomad and not have to push it too far. Once they were\nas close as they were going to get, the otter parked the truck and he and Daisy\nclimbed out.\n \nAs she walked around to the back of the truck, the moose\nstopped and stared at the other car in the garage. It was a vintage-looking\nEuropean roadster, painted a very vibrant yellow with 2 black racing stripes,\nwith open wheels in the front and a removable soft-top. \"Is this Lola?\" she\nasked.\n \n\"Yep,\" he said proudly. \"She's almost done, but she can keep\nyour girlfriend's Nomad company for a while. She won't be going anywhere until\nNovember.\"\n \n\"What's in November?\" she asked.\n \n\"I get my license,\" he grinned. \"That there's my own\npersonal car.\"\n \nThe Otter looked at the pair as he said, \"We need to get\nthis thing put away and back to the house before Squeaker gets back from her\ndrive.\" The three of them quickly get the Nomad into the empty space, Daisy\nsteering while Derek and Hank push.\n \nHank looked at Derek with a smile. \"Here's the deal, Cecily\ngrew up most of her life thinking she would never drive on her own. This thing\nneeds to knock her flat on her back for twenty paces. You've seen Daisy's toy,\nand Cecily has a little happy spot for automotive muscle in her. You can blame\nthat on Lilliana and her Camaro. Just see if you can make this something really\nspecial for the girl.\"\n \n\"Just tell me what she likes, and I'm sure I can draw\nsomething up. If Miss Fargo likes it, my mom will give you a quote,\" the young\ncanine answered. \"I can go anywhere from like-factory-new to absolutely\ninsane.\"\n \nHank put his paw on the boy's shoulder as he said, \"There is\nonly one thing Lilly will care about, the classic look. At least from the\noutside. For Squeaker, music and art. If you can do something with that she\nwill love you forever.\" He turned and started walking to the truck as he added,\n\"You might want to  think up something\nsoon, the liger is a bit of a slave driver, and never cared about price tags.\"\n \n\"Hold up, now, Snowflake,\" Daisy interjected, \"what do you\nmean by 'absolutely insane?'\"\n \n\"Wait right here, I'll get the buggy,\" he said excitedly.\n\"You guys are gonna love this.\"\n \nThey watched as Derek disappeared back inside the shop. A\nfew minutes later, the showroom doors swung open, and the modified Beetle from\nearlier came rolling out, with the Samoyed boy driving it.\n \n\"I thought you didn't have your license?\" the moose asked.\n \n\"I don't. Thankfully, the state recognizes this as an\noff-road vehicle, and I'm not taking it off the lot,\" he explained casually.\n\"I've got room for one more, if either of you want to get in.\"\n \n\"Ah, what the hell,\" Daisy said with a shrug. As she got\ninto the passenger side, she noticed the three-point harness in her seat.\n \n\"You might want to buckle yourself in,\" her friend's\nboyfriend warned her.\n \n\"What for? You said we weren't leaving the lot,\" she asked,\ngenuinely confused.\n \n\"Trust me,\" he grinned. \"You wanted to see 'absolutely\ninsane.' I'm going to give it to you.\"\n \n\"Fine,\" she huffed, not sounding totally convinced, though\nthere was a slight twinge of fear in her voice.\n \nAs she fumbled with the complicated restraints, Derek drove\nthe car around to the far back of the lot to a sandpit no bigger than the size\nof a volleyball court. Looking over at Hank, he asked, \"Does your phone take\nvideos?\"\n \nDaisy laughed at the question, and butted in, \"He's lucky\nhis phone takes calls.\"\n \n\"You're going to want to show this to Miss Fargo,\" he said\nto Daisy. \"Show him how to record video, and show your girlfriend's mom when\nyou get home.\"\n \nHank pulled out the advanced smartphone that didn't match\nhis backwater look in the least as he said, \"I can handle a little video.\" \nA few minutes later, Hank was standing twenty yards away,\nholding Daisy's phone just like she had shown him. \"Now, it's time for some\nfun,\" the canine boy smirked.\n \n\"If you say so, but I don't know how fast you think you can\ngo before you run out of sand,\" Daisy quipped.\n \n\"You'll see,\" Derek replied, flicking a switch on the center\nconsole. \"Hang on tight.\"\n \nAs he hit the switch, he turned the steering wheel as far\nleft as he could. The front tires of the dune buggy turned in towards each\nother, while the rear wheels turned outwards. He applied some light pressure to\nthe accelerator, and all four tires began turning in different directions,\ncausing the car to spin in place.\n \n\"What the fuck?\" Daisy exclaimed, suddenly gripping the\nrollbar overhead.\n \n\"Don't worry,\" the Samoyed yelled over the throaty growl of\nthe engine, \"In order to keep it from flipping, it can't go past first gear\nlike this. Still, it's a lot of fun!\" To emphasize his point, he pressed down\nharder on the gas, causing the vehicle to rotate faster and faster.\n \nThe young moose screamed as the centrifugal force of the\nride made her feel as though she was about to be thrown from the car, but her\nsafety harness kept her securely in her seat. As the world spun past her dizzy\neyes, she thought she saw Hank backing even further away from them as sand\nsprayed out in all directions.\n \nFinally, Derek eased up on the gas, and the car's rotation\nslowed to a halt. He let out an exuberant laugh and pounded his paws on the\nsteering wheel. \"Oh, shit, that's fun!\" he exclaimed. \"Do you want to give it a\ntry?\" \n \n\"I think I'll pass this time snowflake,\" the moose herm said\nas she blinked rapidly, trying to stop the world from spinning around her. \"I\ngotta give ya this one, wasn't expecting a cookie cutter from a modified Bug,\nit's a hell of a lot more fun than those six wheel pieces of shit that do it\nthough.\"\n \nAs Derek jumped out of the buggy to talk to Hank, he asked,\n\"So, a classic Nomad look on the outside, I got that. On the inside, how crazy\ndo you want me to go? One a scale from one to ten, with one being factory and\nten being that.\" He pointed over to the Volkswagen where Daisy had managed to\nget both hooves back on the ground.\n \n\"Can't honestly answer that,\" the otter said putting the\nphone away. \"Might need to find out what the girl is looking for in a\ncar.\"\n \n\"Men,\" the moose said as she nearly stumbled into the\nSamoyed boy, still trying to get her equilibrium to settle again. \"Think like a\nsixteen year old girl that loves art, music and photography and you might get a\nclue. For that girl the sound system will mean a lot more than how crazy it is.\nBit of fair warning though, I don't think there is a genre she doesn't listen\nto to one degree or another.\"\n \n\"How's this sound? I'll keep most of the outside looking\nclassic, but I could use that roof rack to mount 12 high-speed cameras in\nwaterproof housings, and sync them up to a Bluetooth system inside the car,\" he\nexplained as the vision started to come together. If Sisy saw something at the\nten o'clock position, she could just say something like, 'camera ten, take\npicture,' and the car would, in theory, take the picture for her. It just\ndepends on the height and distance of the subject matter in relation to the\ncar.\"\n \nThe otter shrugged, as he said, \"the girl has an eye for a\nshot. She'll figure it out if you can get it to work.\" He looked at Daisy for a\nmoment as she wobbled slightly. \"We should get back, Cupcake. They should still\nbe planning the party.\"  \n \n\"Yea, we should. Good seeing you again Derek and good luck\non the rust bucket. Who knows if you do good with it Hank may even look you up\nfor idea for that pile of bones of his,\" the moose said as she walked towards\nthe truck only slightly unsteady.\n \n\"My truck is fine,\" the otter said as he reached his paw out\nto the Samoyed mix. \"Thank you for doing this, Its important that it gets done\nright.\"\n \n \n \nClimbing into the truck next to the moose, Hank looked over and\nsaid, \"They're not going to be happy knowing that their one big surprise for\nSqueaker is not going to be ready. You have any ideas to fix it?\"\n \n\"Why the hell is it my problem... fuck that, I don't even want\nto know,\" the moose said crossing her arms across her chest. \"You know what,\"\nshe said as a thought came to mind, \"I just might after all. She can get her\nlicense, and if Lilly fills out the paperwork her motorcycle learners permit on\nthe same day. You think that crazy woman can plan out a bike trip for the\nweekend?\"\n \nStarting up the truck he asked, \"Do I really need to answer\nthat?\" \n \n\"Not really, but you did kind of confirm it there Hank,\"\nDaisy said as a grin spread across her muzzle.\n \n??????????? Plan A.5 ???????????\n \nAs Daisy followed Hank back into the  great room from the motor court she saw\nSusan, Alex and Detlev sitting in a circle talking. As soon as they came into\nview the eagle hopped to her feet and nearly shouted, \"'sabou' time ya goddere.\nYa needa make a guess liss fer da party.\"\n \n\"Slow down and speak english, Boomer,\" Susan said with a\nsmile as she turned to see Hank and the moose in the entryway.\n \n\"Nah that's okay Susan,\" Daisy said in reply as she walked\ninto the great room, \"I've been around her a bit longer and I'm starting to\nunderstand chi... Alex a little better. I kind of figured the shit pile was going\nto land on me over Sisy's birthday party so I've been keeping track of the\npeople she talks about from school, hell it's not like anyone else would know\nwho she talks to there,\" she added as she shoved a paw into the pocket of her\nshorts. \"Here, this is the list of people I can be pretty sure she would want\nto be at her party. Beyond that fuck if I know for sure, other than her little\nfilly buddy Juno maybe.\"\n \n\"Ima get dat ban' across da stree' ta play,\" Alex said as\nshe took  a seat again. \"Che likes dem,\nlissenin all dat time when dey are dere.\"\n \n\"Ant a bonfire,\" the Badger said in his deep german accent,\n\"Zis chould be a night to rememper for her.\"\n \nSusan looked over her shoulder at the moose as she said,\n\"And  she needs to be kept in the dark\nabout it. Or else it won't be a surprise, and you know how those work right?\"\n \n\"Yea I know how those work... thing is we have another\nproblem. Where is she? Out with Lilly I would assume since you're in here\nblabbing it out loud,\" Daisy asked looking the eagle in the eyes.\n \n\"Come on, Squeaker out in the country with the new engine in\nthe Camaro?\" Susan asked. \"I don't expect them back till Monday.\"\n \n\"I almost wish that were true,\" Daisy said with a heavy\nsigh. \"I' am not looking forward to Lilly hearing that there is no way the\nNomad will be ready in two weeks. Fuck was she even remotely serious about that\nshit?\"\n \n\"Lilliana is not a fool,\" Detlev said, \"She knows ven\nsomezing is not possible, Een ven she asks for it. Zee quevstion iz Vat have we\ngot to offer as an alternative?\" As the Badger spoke everyone in the room\nturned to look at Daisy.\n \n\"Well, after the whole ride to school debacle went down, I did\npromise Squeaker that as soon as she got her license we could go out on the\nbikes and ride till she was sick of it. But I think I have a better idea, a girl's\nweekend out. Bikes and tents and open road, think Lilly would go for that?\" the\nmoose asked as she looked from one of the adults to the other.\n \nSusan and Alex looked at each other with a smile as they\nreached across the gap between them and hi-fived. \"Score one for Cupcake. That's\nabout six weeks before the Driver's Training is over. Plenty of time for the\nParty and planning a trip after.\" She looked around the group and asked, \"So\nwho gets to take credit for it?\"\n \n\"I say we let her have this one,\" Hank offered. \"She took\nthe fur dye job pretty well, and did handle things with the... Movie outing... and\nschool well.\"\n \n\"Meh,\" the moose replied with a shrug. \"Doesn't matter to me\neither way, but just so you asswipes know, I am still pissed about the dye job.\nFor fucks sake I'm still finding pink spots that I missed.\"\n \nThe group laughed as Daisy mentioned her continued plight\nfrom their prank. \"You can thank Alex for that, We were done when  the first two boxes were finished.\"\n \n\"Bu' ya missed spo's,\" the eagle said with a frown on her\nface, \"Wha' would' it 'ave looked like if Che 'ad ta go ta school like da?\"\nSounding more concerned about Daisy being more embarrassed by a shoddy dye job\nthan being pink.\n \n\"Oh, and the skirt thing was my idea,\" Susan said with her\npaw in the air, \"and you do look good in them, you should try it more.\"\n \n\"We'll see about that part,\" the moose said as she sat in\none of the unoccupied camp chairs. \"Maybe after I can be fairly sure there's\nnot gonna be a big spot of pink showing if I do. In the meantime, is there\nanything else to do or figure out for Sisy's birthday?\"\n \n\"Party covered, guest list in the works, impossible present\ncovered. I think we got it all,\" Susan said as they all sat back in their\nchairs. \"My only question is, when the hell are you going to finish the\nkitchen, Hank?\"\n \n\"Waiting for the last of it to come in, maybe next weekend,\"\nthe otter replied. \"We can just order pizza again tonight.\"\n \n\"Hey Hank,\" Daisy said as she rolled her head back and\nstared at the ceiling. \"Just remembered another thing that I know Sisy would\nlove to see finished her bathtub. That girl has a serious want for a bubble\nbath going on.\"\n \n\"It should be in next week also,\" he said. \"Had to special\norder it. A garden Jacuzzi tub for two. Not something they keep on hand at most\nshops. Should take a day or two to put it in, But I will have to take out one\nof the windows to get it up there.\"\n \n\"Hot damn,\" the moose herm said as she seemed to sink\nfurther into the cloth chair. \"I could kiss you for that, but my luck Squeaker\nwould walk in right about then and I don't feel like explaining that shit to\nher.\"\n \nHanging up the phone and slipping it back into her pocket,\nSusan said, \"They asked that Alex not answer the door this time.\"\n \n\"I 'ad my 'ousecoat on,\" the eagle protested.\n \n\"But vas is fastened, ant were you vearing anysign else?\"\nDeltev asked with a smile. Alex only folded her wings over her chest and\nslouched into the seat more with a huff, while the others started to laugh.\n\"Oh, vone more zing, Daisy. Mizz Grahm callt to ask if you vould vork tonight\nbecause Sunnchine called in sick.\"\n \n\"May as well, I'll call her and find out what time she needs\nme to come in,\" she said as she nearly forced herself out of the camp chair.\n\"May as well head up and get a shower first anyway, thanks for letting me know\nshe called General.\"\n \nAs Daisy left the room Susan leaned into the circle and\nsaid, \"We have one more week before it's open season again, any ideas?\"\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n"}