Susan looked up from her phone and regretted it. Everything was wrong. Totally wrong.

“What are you doing?” she squawked, hopping from her chair, slinging herself to the stage. When her intern stopped positioning a light to look back at her, the young vulture got a sharp look from the egret as quick as her stride.

“I’m getting it lit,” Ian pecked. His eyes darted away from her as he grit his beak. He had sounded defensive. And that was stupid. He was lucky—very lucky—to have gotten this internship. And snapping at the top photographer for the FBA would not help him secure a job. Especially not in front of two FBA players.

Susan was too distracted to notice. “No. This,” she said, holding her hands toward the athletes. Nina Lime turned to Susan as she stood back-to-back with Travis Buckner, both still folding their arms across their chests. The wolf and koala exchanged glances before looking back at Susan.

The vulture rubbed the top of his fleshy head. “What?” he asked dismissively, before gritting his beak again. Susan glared back at him, letting his word infect the air, as if forcing him to breath it back in. “I saw it on a cover of Sportsden,” Ian said.

“Exactly.” Susan practically froze the air with her sharpness. “We don’t copy the competition, Ian. They copy us.”

Travis narrowed his eyes, glancing over his shoulder at Nina. “I knew I’d seen this before,” he muttered to her.

The koala unfolded his arms and stepped out of place as Nina wagged her tail, as much out of curiosity as to fluff it up. “So, what should we do?” she asked, turning to Susan as Ian tried to dip his head into the black of his feathers.

Susan ran a finger along her beak, looking at the stage a moment in thought. She strode back and forth, thinking— wasting time, by Travis’ estimation. He glanced at his watch, but Susan timed herself right to the edge of his frustration. “Spotlight,” she said, pointing to the vulture. “Hike it up on the jib. And put barn doors on it.”

Susan turned to her equipment, leaving Ian to lift his scaly red head in puzzlement. “Barn doors?” he asked as Susan reached the table. She stopped and rolled her eyes, turning back to explain. But Nina beat her to it.

“The metal flaps that direct the light,” Nina told him, holding out her hands demonstrating a hinge. Ian tilted his head, then nodded, shuffling toward the equipment closet.

Susan smiled. That was nice. “Thanks,” she told Nina returning to the set with a lens in her hands. She popped the caps off before shaking her head, lowering her voice. “Helping out a local university,” she explained to her. “Gives me a tax break.”

“I was a theater major,” Nina said. “Had to set up lights before getting in front of them.”

“You certainly put on a show this All-Star Week.” Susan snapped the lens on the camera body, then picked up the tripod walking it back. She knew all about Nina’s major. She made a point of researching every player that walked into her studio. That made it easier to ask questions she knew the answer to. “How about you, Travis?” she pretended to ask. “That show you put on was very Furrywood of you.”

“Business major.” The koala slid a hand down his tie, both thumbs hooking behind it. It might have worked on someone else, but there was no way that would distract Susan from spotting the grin scratching at his lips. Then again, she was expecting it. She knew the koala would enjoy the attention. “As you can see.”

Susan laughed generously, then looked up as the spotlight got into place. She helped Ian adjust it, then told him to replace the key and fill. As the vulture muttered, Susan walked up to the stage, glancing down at her phone. “So, I heard you were in Wicked,” she said to Nina, keeping her eyes down, knowing full well she was thrusting her wing right into a wasp’s nest.

Nina’s shuddered breath said everything. “Yeah,” the wolf began, folding her ears against her blonde hair. “Just before the draft.”

Susan looked up and smiled. “That’s terrific. Great show. You remember the songs?” Her finger slid across the face of her phone, gliding through the music on her studio PA system.

“Of course.” Nina was silent a moment as Susan looked down again. The egret smiled to herself, searching her playlist for a treat to give Nina, so engrossed she didn’t realize how long the silence went on. “I shouldn’t have done it, though,” the wolf’s voice cracked, splitting the mood with her words. “That was a mistake.”

Susan looked up quickly. “What? To follow your dreams?”

Nina sighed. “To not focus on my game.”

Susan was still for a beat. The feathers on the back of her neck spread as her long beak hung in the air silenced by disbelief. She lowered her phone and looked at Nina with the eyes of a disappointed mother, of a matured woman who had experienced life in ways the young wolf had yet to. “You took an opportunity you weren’t ever going to have again,” she said flatly. “You’ve got a six year contract, plenty of time to focus on your game. You had a chance of a lifetime before the draft. That’s not something you’re going to get again. You followed your dream. That’s not a mistake. That’s being who you are.”

Susan found her hand was shaking. She took a breath to calm down, both Nina and Travis looking back, having peeked into a well few had seen in Susan, none in her studio. Even Ian’s hands moved slowly down the light stand. Susan swallowed, looking away, and tried to seal up the well with a tap on her phone.

Nina’s ears perked up. “The Wizard and I? I loved singing this!” she laughed.

“Yeah, Kwaku loved hearing it,” Susan said. She turned away and hid behind the camera, fully aware she made Nina’s heart skip a beat. Just as she suspected. “He asked me to play it during the last shoot.” That was a lie— but not by much. The jungle wolf hadn’t been in Susan’s studio since Nina’s rookie year, and he had pointed out a different song as his favorite when he spoke of the musical. But it was strange for the veteran to bring up a rookie’s name like that. Susan connected the dots quickly. “Why don’t you sing it?” Susan encouraged.

“Oh, I— here?”

“Why not? It’ll loosen you up.”

Ian and Travis made matching faces at the thought of listening to someone belting out a musical number. But Ian was in the shadows, and Travis still had his back to Nina. That left the wolf with little encouragement, but she couldn’t refuse Susan. Travis might have not been in the mood for musicals, but he hated restrained talent even more.

“Oh, come on,” Travis growled, looking over his shoulder at the wolf whimpering out the notes. “You know you can do better than that.” When Nina looked up, she saw his grin scratching again. The challenge helped. She picked up her voice and sang more strongly, but that didn’t satisfy the koala. “I heard you sing at the All-Star party,” he reminded her. “Don’t come off the bench. Sing like a starter.”

That brought a glare from the wolf, and her competitor’s streak flared as she opened her muzzle to let the notes shine against the lights. The koala’s grin grew. His ears lifted to drink in the sound. If he was going to listen to musicals, he’d listen to quality. And he was hearing quality.

Susan snapped some photos. When Nina hesitated, Susan waved a hand at her. “Keep going! I’m just taking some test shots,” she assured, watching through the viewfinder. Nina started up again slowly, but when the song changed to One Short Day, she threw herself into it, closing her eyes and singing with the recording. Travis tapped a foot while Ian stewed in the darkness. Susan waited patiently, taking a few more photos as the wolf got more and more into the energy of the song, her natural talents coming to the fore right in front of the lens. As the song came toward its big conclusion, Susan turned it off.

Nina stopped in mid-measure, finding herself suddenly singing to silence. She blinked, ears perking, having lost herself in the moment. Susan strode into frame, pushing her phone into Travis’ hand. “Here. Use it as a prop,” she explained briskly. “It goes with the suit.” She stepped back and squawked to her intern, “Ian! Let’s take some photos!”

The vulture loped over with his head hanging more than natural. As he began to snap pictures, Susan gave the two directions on how to pose, trying a few things, keeping them active in front of the camera. But all the while, Nina’s tail was swishing to the beat of the song in her head, the songs still burning inside her, making the posing as uncomfortable as the unfamiliar phone against Travis’ ear.

Susan walked up behind Ian. “Give me your cell,” she told him.

“What?” The vulture looked up at her. “Yours is right there!” he reminded her, pointing at the koala posturing awkwardly on the set. “What do you need mine for?”

“To tell your school I’m not going to fire you today. Now give it to me.” Ian grumbled as he handed it over. “Keep shooting,” the egret instructed him as she tapped the screen, making a phone call.

The phone in Travis’ paw rang. Actually, it didn’t ring. It played. As Travis instinctively brought the phone to his ear before remembering it wasn’t his own, the melody of Defying Gravity played on its loudest setting, right at the towering final bars of the song.

Nina couldn’t stop herself. With all the expectation boiling in her ears, the wolf sang out her favorite part of the entire musical, yanking on Travis’ tie in an unconsidered effort to stop him from answering it. It worked, leaving Travis caught somewhere between his corporate training and his admiration for Nina’s talent. And the goofy grin on his face didn’t scratch. It was too honest for that.

When Susan heard the click, she knew everything was right. Totally right.

---

This art piece was commissioned by  tazel as a Furballer cover, who was great to work with in putting this image together. I'll admit to being possessive of the Furballer covers-- I've had people in the past try to use these covers for things I didn't think were up to par. Call me elitist, if you want, but T6 was very easy to work with, listened to ideas, and was honest about his own thoughts on things. And through his help, this cover design was made, as well as the story above improved immensely. He gave me terrific input that I folded into the story that just pulled everything together better and better. Can't thank Tazel enough for his input-- this would never have been as good as it is without his help.

Also, have to give a big shout out to  asterionblazing. Naturally, she did this artwork and did a wonderful job-- great energy, great lighting, great ideas all around. But what's more, she actually designed this cover. I usually insist on designing all of the Furballer covers myself, but as this was being put together, I was just neck-deep in work, and there was no way I could set aside the time to put this together. So I asked A-Blast to design it for me, and she did a stellar job. Great fonts, great lettering, awesome all around.

And finally, a big thanks to  kitana who created the Nina Lime character and also approved her appearance in the story above, and to  lilifox who designed the Plymouth Taproots jersey. With a touch of inspiration from the Toronto Raptors, natch. ;)