With an angry hiss she put the communicator away. Instead of comfort she had received another scolding from Trisha. It didn't help at all that Trisha was right. She should have asked out Roger more thoroughly before accepting the contract.

  But it wasn't Rogers fault. Or maybe a bit, insofar that he had let Tanja step into his life.

  And just to mock her further, the first time in this new life that she had a room to call her own, the room was bare of anything but a bed and a ceiling light. And if Tanja had a say in it, she'd not even have a bed, but a stinky mat. Bruno was the one who had made sure she'd got a proper place to sleep, while Roger had been playing submarine, hiding out of sight till the storm abated. At least the bed and the room were slowly taking her scent and the place did not feel quite so foreign anymore as it had during the first night.

  A knock at the door woke her from her thoughts and she called, "Come in!"

  A wolf snout peeked in and then Bruno opened the door fully to step into the room and with apparent purpose closed the door right behind him again, "Hey Vivian, I've told Tanja that we'll do outdoor training today. A chance for us to escape her talons for an hour or two. Also I've got a frisbee."

  A moment she wanted to retort, he was only ever calling her Vivian if no one else was around, other times she was just the night cat. But a chance to get away from Tanja? That was not the time to complain.

  "Got a place to play, too?" she asked and got up from the bed.

  He came a step closer, "Yep. Two even, you can chose. A public park, not far from here. Problem is, people walk their dogs there, and we run bare footed. So maybe that's not such a good idea. The other place is farther out, in the forest near the city. Sort of a clearing, a large open and grassy area. People usually go there to have BBQ. It's not as neatly kept though as the park."

  She grinned and showed her new golden capped fangs, "The BBQ place might be better. I don't want to step in dog poop without a chance to wash my feet right away. And not even then, really."

  He chuckled and nodded, "Me neither. Oh, right, none of the places has water to wash or take a shower. So we'll take some big towels, and hope we don't ruin the car seats too badly on our way back. Once we're here again, we can shower properly."

  She smiled and offered a fist to bump, "Sounds like a plan. When do we start?"

  He bumped her fist, "How about fifteen minutes? Better change to your sports clothes before we leave, there won't be a chance to change out there. I'll fetch some towels from the training area below."

  "Alright," she confirmed and waved briefly as he left the room again. All her possessions were still in her sports bag, and getting changed to her sports dress didn't take long.

  A few minutes later it knocked at the door and she could hear Bruno's voice, "Hey night cat, are you ready? I've got the car parked right in front of the club."

  "Ready to go!" she confirmed with risen voice, looked over the room once more, mostly empty as it was and then joined Bruno for their little escape to the forest, away from the club and most of all, away from Tanja.

  The ride in the hovercar was uneventful. Bruno was driving, the same old city was passing by, the same boring traffic slowed them down. It got better once they were past the last buildings and trees began to line the road. Forest! After another little while, Bruno slowed the car down, took a branching way to the right and a few dozen meters further stopped the hovercar at the end of the small path. There was not even a real parking lot here, just a small, gravel covered area, surrounded by tall trees which nearly hid the sky from their view.

  When she left the car, she felt overwhelmed by the forest. So much to hear, to smell and see. The city suddenly felt very void and artificial to her, even the sports club in New Fairhagen, which had had some trees could not compete with this. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Humid earth. Pine needles. Plants she could not name, because she had never learned to tell them by their scent. Traces of animal scents. And the wind tugged her tufted ears and body fur now and then.

  She could hear birds sing, crickets chirp and tree branches with leaves rustling in the wind. Also Bruno, how he was walking around the hovercar towards her, his feet lightly displacing the gravel, which covered the parking space. She opened her eyes again and smiled at him, "This place is amazing!"

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  He smiled back, a big toothy canine smile, "Thought you'd like it. The city can't keep up with this." Then with a quick move he threw a frisbee towards her, it raised in the air and she jumped to fetch it with her hands. "Good catch," she heard Bruno acknowledge, "So, how do we go about this fetch thing?"

  She thought about it for a while, "Probably boring if just the one of us throws and the other one fetches. Maybe ... I think I have an idea. So where's the place that you've mentioned?"

  He pointed towards a trail, which lead deeper into the forest, "Just a few minutes this way. Shall we run?"

  She nodded, "Sure! Been a while that I could run some distance. Roger kept me indoors so often."

  He gave her a light punch to the shoulder and began to jog towards the path, "Come on, night cat!"

  She threw the frisbee to pass by him and caught up with a quick sprint. Bruno jumped and snatched the frisbee from the air, just to throw it further ahead and she tried to run it up and catch it again. Over their play they quickly reached a large open space, and they both stopped to catch breath.

  "We must do this way more often," she let him know.

  He was breathing heavily and just nodded, before he managed to speak, "You're fast as fuck Vivian."

  She laughed, "I sure am! I've been worried the leg operation would take my speed, but it didn't."

  "So, what's been the idea?" he asked.

  "Simple. You throw the frisbee ahead, I run and fetch it. Then I throw it some place ahead of you and you run it up. And then you throw again and I run. So we throw and chase it all over the place."

  Bruno nodded and got in position to throw, "Ready, night cat?"

  "Ready!" she confirmed and waited a moment till the frisbee had taken flight and she started to chase it. Her claws found good traction in the grassy soil and she was up to speed in just a few steps, but not too eager yet to actually catch the frisbee. Some running was good just by its own.

  While she kept her eyes on the frisbee flying ahead of her, her right foot suddenly missed the ground and she fell with a protesting hiss, slithered and rolled over the grass and soil until her momentum was used up. What the hell! A scandalous hole in the ground and she had stepped right into it and tripped.

  No time for contemplating, where was the frisbee? She looked around and spotted the hovering disk quite a bit ahead.

  She was already up and running again. The damn thing had gained distance! But if she was one thing, she was fast.

  Her claws dug grooves into the soil in desperate attempts to give enough traction to deal with the force of her leg muscles. Even with her new extended legs, she still had plenty of power and now also a longer stride.

  There, the frisbee was hovering undecided! In jumping range.

  She jumped with all she had, flying towards the frisbee. Hold still damned thing!

  Her teeth bit nothing but thin air and the frisbee hovered back towards where it had come from. With all force she could muster, she tried to twist herself in the air, to keep facing the frisbee and get all fours ready for a new sprint. All fours. To hell with dignity.

  The ground came closer. She bend her knees, and came down on all fours at the same time. Twenty steel capped claws ripped turf from the ground to break her momentum and she catapulted herself forward again, running on two legs once more after the emergency break.

  There was that damned yellow thing! Yellow to her, no idea what it was in human colors.

  Another jump, an easier one this time and she homed in on the frisbee, almost effortlessly snatched it from the air and ended her jump quite gracefully on two legs. Her new legs were amazing. Even with the extensions, they could compensate so much momentum.

  She took a deep breath, looked over at Bruno to be sure she had gotten his attention, aimed a good fifteen meters ahead of him and threw the frisbee, "Fetch!"

  With a smile she watched him running. Now she had a moment to catch breath until it was her turn again. And she so would catch that damned yellow thing. Snatch it right from the air, she would!

  ----

  "What have you two been doing? Mud wrestling?" Tanja's voice sounded razor sharp in her ears.

  She turned around to answer, just to be stopped by Tanja's risen index finger, "Don't speak! You know I hate your voice." She just hissed quietly and Tanja turned to Bruno, "Bruno, explain!"

  "We've been in the forest, doing cardio," Bruno explained.

  "That is Madam for you Bruno." Tanja emphasized every single word.

  Bruno tilted his head a little, "I'm sorry?"

  "You are the head of security and I'm your boss. So it is Madam for you if you address me," Tanja stated.

  "Madam?" Bruno appeared confused.

  Tanja stared daggers at him, "Anyway. Cardio doesn't explain why you two are dirty like shit. And you stink!"

  She took a deep breath, but refrained to comment. Bruno just shrugged, "We're furries and Vivian is one fast beast. We do proper exercise, no kiddie play."

  "So you two rolled in the mud and call it exercise?" Tanja had gotten on her toe tips to shout at Bruno.

  "No, we run and jump, and if the jump goes bad we just roll over and try again," Bruno explained with risen voice, arms spread, hands held open, his posture lightly bent down to Tanja.

  Tanja glared at him once more, "I know Vivian is half an animal, but I'm expecting better from you Bruno. Go, get cleaned, the both of you!" Tanja pointed towards the stairs down to the basement where the showers were.

  "We've ..." Bruno tried.

  "Go!" Tanja shouted and Bruno just nodded, grabbed her arm and pulled her with him, "Come, night cat."

  Once downstairs she hissed angrily. Bruno stopped and let her arm go, but she shook her head, "Sorry, that wasn't aimed at you. I hate Tanja."

  He grabbed her hand, quite gently this time, and led her towards the showers, "Me too, believe me Vivian. But it was good fun out there. We'll do that again. And next time we both should hug her good to show some love and rub the sweat and dirt right onto her."

  Now she had to laugh, "I will so love to do that!"