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She gently climbed over the two other sleepers and had made it about half way to the bathroom when her alarm went off again, seems she hit the snooze. Cassy quickly tried to walk over the sleepers on the floor to get to her alarm. Before she could get to it there was an annoyed grumble and her clock sailed from the bed side table into the wall and shattered into a dozen pieces. Cassy sighed \n\n\t“You didn't have to do that Lana”\n\n\tA pair of deep, golden, feline eyes opened and glowed in the moonlight. With a sleepy purr Lana calmly replied.\n\n\t“It woke me up, better it than you yes?”\n\n\tCassy knew Lana was joking but coming from her it still made her laugh nervously. Cassy made her way to the bathroom to get ready for work.\n\n\tShe stepped into a cold shower to wake up letting the water soak her calico colored fur down to the skin before turning the heat up and closing her luminescent green eyes and relaxing in the warm spray. She was interrupted by the lack of water as someone else got in the shower with her. She opened her eyes and saw Tala’s ringed tail as she was starting to take a shower too. Cassy hugged Tala causing her to squeal, and turned around in the shower so she could steal the warm water back. She thought to herself how annoying it was to have to share one bathroom in a house with seven people, but also thought she was glad it wasn’t one of the guys that climbed in with her. Cassy finished quickly so as not to use up all the warm water for Tala and got dressed after drying out her fur. She waved bye to her roommates that were awake and ran out the door.\n\n\tAs Cassy waited for her bus, she thought to herself how lucky she was at getting this job. It was paying her a whole five dollars an hour. That was a lot considering most places wouldn't pay Morphs more than three or four dollars at the most for anything. She guessed that the Casino must be different. They make enough money to pay more.\n\n\tCassy was shaken out of her thoughts as the buss arrived. She hoped up and waited for the humans to get on and off the buss before she climbed on making her way to the back of the buss. She sat in the back and tried to ignore the stares and rude gestures as she waited until the buss stopped at the casino.\n\n\tCassy waited her turn to get off the buss; almost getting her tail caught in the door as they closed it. She then started to make her way to the door when a security guard stopped her\n\n\t“Where are you going fur ball?”\n\n\tCassy stopped and held up the id badge she was given and the guard sneered a little and let her past. She made her way to where she was to meet her boss a minute late, thankfully he was late also, she took the time to look around the room at all the posters and things on the wall about service and excellence. A moment later her boss walked in and sat down placing a few pamphlets and paperwork in front of her. He smiled as he began to talk about her new job.\n\n\t“Okay kid here is the down and dirty about the casino. You’re going to serve drinks at night. We put you on nights because there are less people.” He quickly held his hands out in a calming gesture “Not any reason except for your safety. We know that your kind are not too well liked as of yet. And although the night has some drunks. You have less of a chance of running into them okay?” \n\n\tCassy nodded “Good idea i don't want to be the reason your Safety officers are busy.”\n\n\tHer boss nodded and pointed at the things in front of her “Those are your rule books. Basically they outline legal stuff. The things like what to do if you get in trouble with someone, if you think we are picking on you. Oh and personally, if someone does pick on you, please come directly to me if it is a coworker. I detest any sort of discrimination if you feel it is happening tell me. If a guest is doing it, just get security they will deal with it. Now that all that is covered lets go get your uniform. With that tail of yours you will have to wait a moment while the uniform is altered and it will come out of your first pay check. Not much so don't worry about it. We take uniform dues from everyone.\n\n\tCassy nodded and went to get her uniform. After finding her locker and changing, she made her way out onto the casino floor with the boss. Once there she couldn't help but stop and stare in wonder at all the games, lights, and people she saw. After a second she hurried up and caught up with her boss. As they walked through the casino Cassy could almost feel the glares and foul looks aimed at her as she made her way to the beverage servers area.\n\n\tWhen she walked in she was almost tackled by a rather energetic blue haired girl, the girl laughed and wrapped her arm around Cassy's shoulders and grinned at her.\n\n\t“Hi. I'm Amy I get to train ya tonight. Your gonna love it!”\n\nAmy hugged Cassy and led her over to start her training as the boss wished them luck and to stay out of trouble. Cassy blinked a little lost at what just happened but smiled as Amy started to get out glasses and a serving tray as she started talking about everything.\n\n\t“Hey okay this is how things go, you get an order then you come back here and make them. There is another area on the other side of the Casino and at every bar. This is the biggest one though hey what's your name anyhow?”\n\n\tCassy twitched her tail a bit and laughed a little at Amy. “I'm Cassy...you’re about to over fill the glass there.”\n\n\tAmy jumped and pulled the bottle away with a sheepish grin. “Oops. Anyhow see all the things you need are in here. And remember when we are here no alcohol is served till seven in the morning. If they ask you just tell them that we don't serve till then. Most of the time they just ask for water or soda instead.”\n\n\tCassy listened intently as she watched Amy work turning as another server came in. The guy looked at Cassy and shook his head “Hey, don't get any fleas in the drink animal” With that he grabbed a water to take to a player.\n\n\tAmy stood there in shock then balled up her fists in anger “That bastard! What is his problem! I'm going to kick his ass!”\n\n\tCassy just shook her head and chuckled a little then sighed “You don't have to do that. What he said was nicer than some of the things I get told. Besides I think it is funny that most humans think just because I have fur or that I am a cat breed that I have fleas. The last flea I had was back when I was like three” She paused a moment and giggled “But boy when I had them it was sad..”\n\n\tAmy laughed “I bet all that scratching and biting and crawling..I bet it is worse for you though. All that fur to hide in hu?”\n\n\tCassy nodded and rubbed her arm a little “So who gets that drink?”\n\nAmy looked down at her notes and shuddered as she looked at the name and where he was\n\n “Eh..maybe you should stay here and look over all the stuff back here get used to the layout and such, yea that's a good idea..trust me, you don't want your first guest to be this guy. He makes the devil look like a saint when it comes to drinks and such, thinks because he has all that money that the world should bow to his every whim. Be right back!”\n\nWith that Amy made her way out onto the floor. After a moment or two of Cassy poking though the drinks and such she was interrupted by a loud slurred screech \n\n \t“Hheyyy yoou! Fhhushy waazzee make meh shom fhood!”\n\nCassy looked up to see an elderly human woman leaning against the door frame and even if Cassy didn't have a more developed sense of smell she still would have been able to catch the reek of heavy alcohol on the womans breath. The woman staggered up to Cassy and looked at her through squinted eyes then grinned drunkenly as she reached up and petted between her ears “you lhook jush like mah cast..um cats!”\n\nCassy laid her ears back in annoyance though only another Morph would have caught that movement for what it was worth. She gently pushed the drunk lady's hand off her head and as calmly as she could tried to tell her that she didn't serve food.\n\n\t“Ma'am I don't serve food just drinks If you fi.....”\n\n\tThe lady glared up at her, her mood changing in a flash to that of anger\n\n\t“Looks here caht! I shpent loosht of monhey heeeer sho I wahnt food! Ghet your thail in ghear and ghet it!\n\n\tCassy thought to herself that trying to reason with this lady might be a little tricky.\n\n\t“Ma'am if you find another server they might be able to help, this is my first day here I don't know where anything is really, just this room here”\t\n\n\tThe lady started to yell obscenities at no one in particular about how the casino was robbing her and that the security was hovering over her like a criminal and things of that nature before looking up at Cassy again “Hey! Whhere iss mah food! Why ish you jush standin there! Ghet it you stupid mahngy phile of crap. Why they even gif you a jhob is beyond mhe stupid animal”\n\n\tCassy looked up and saw the beverage server that had been in earlier and looked pleadingly at him for help, he just leaned against the wall and watched arms crossed in front of him with a smirk on his face. She looked back at the ranting lady and tried once more to fix this situation.\n\n\t“Miss if you ask the guy behind us here he might be able to help you get your food, I really can't leave here I was told to stay and get used to the place.”\n\nThe other server pushed off the wall and in a most annoyingly cheerful voice spoke up \n\n\t“Oh yes Ma'am I would be glad to help you, don't want that thing shedding in your food anyhow do you? Come on lets see if we can find you something to eat the cafe is open right now”\n\nCassy sat down in a chair and waited for Amy to get back being thankful that things were going so well. So far she had only one person making fun of her and she had made a guest mad, no matter that the guest was drunk. She was only mad and didn't try and get her fired. Today was going swell.\n\nAmy came back shaking her head and looking at a quarter at the bottom of a glass of soda grumbling as she dumped it out and started to rinse off the money. She looked over at Cassy and smiled “So you figure out the layout of this place? Pretty simple and everything is right where you need it!”\n\n\tCassy smiled half heartedly as she got up and leaned against the counter beside Amy\n\n\t“Well..I already have a coworker who hates me and I just had a drunk lady get mad at me because I didn't know where there was food.” She looked around a bit and smiled “But yes I think I got this place okay what next?”\n\n\tAmy leaned in close and stage whispered “Don't worry about Dave, he is a jerk to everyone he makes fun of my hair..I mean come on it's cool its blue! Who could make fun of that!”\n\n\tCassy stood there a second trying her best not to laugh, but failed horribly and started laughing at Amy, who pouted playfully which only made Cassy laugh even harder. Amy pushed Cassy and grinned \n\n\t“I think you and I are going to be great friends kitty...Hey I can call you kitty right? I mean you are a cat and kitty is like a friendly nickname you know instead of people saying it in a mean way you can think of your friend the crazy blue haired Amy when they say that.”\n\n\tCassy thought a moment then glared at Amy “Why would you call me that? Everyone says that they say here kitty kitty and oh look at the little kitty want yarn kitty kitty.. or they throw catnip at me.....” Amy shrunk back at this out burst looking a little hurt till she saw Cassy start to grin and then start laughing “You should see yourself Amy..you look like you just ran over my dog...I am just kidding I don't mind, I think it will be nice to think of a friend when I hear that”\n\n\tAmy blinked a moment and stared at her new friend in bewilderment “You have a dog?! That is too weird a cat having a dog as a pet wow!”\n\n\tCassy laughed and shook her head giggling “No I don't have a dog But i do have a roommate who is a wolf does that count?”\n\n\tAmy grinned hearing about the wolf as she started to grab a few glasses of soda and two trays. She hands one of the trays to Cassy and steps back.\n\n\t“Okay I want you to put the glasses of soda onto the tray without spilling them, Oh and you may want to get a towel from the shelf because most people drop it there first few times.”\n\n\tCassy nodded and started to put the drinks on the tray. Being a cat defiantly helps with balance tasks. When all the glasses were on the tray she grinned triumphantly \n\n\t“Tah-dah! Got it on my first try!”\n\n\tAmy smiled and looked down at her order sheet “Now here is the fun part You get to follow me and help me get these drinks out to the people in high limits. Just be polite and don't take anything they say personally, they are jerks ..But not as bad as Mr. Henderson.”\n\n\tCassy followed Amy out on the floor as they made their way to the high limits area, Cassy could feel the stares as she walked the floor. When they got to the small group Amy piped up in a cheery voice “Hey guys here we go sorry it took so long it was a lot of drinks.” Amy motioned to Cassy with a smile “Teachin' a new kid the ropes. This is Cassy it is her first day here cute ain't she? Anyhow lets see you three had diet coke and you two had sprite aaaannnd you had the root beer right?”\n\n\tOne of the guests looked at Cassy and smiled “Your first day hu? Well good luck kid, here your first tip” The guy pulled out a hundred from his wallet and put it on Cassy's tray before going back to the game. Amy and Cassy collected empty glasses and walked back to the server area where Cassy just stared at the hundred like it was a bar of solid gold.\n\n\t“Amy? Um do I get to keep this?”\n\n\tAmy grinned “Hey don't get too cocky he gives all new people a hundred for their first tip, but yea you get to keep any tips you make.”\n\n\tCassy cheered happily and hoped up and down in excitement for a second before she blushed and looked at the ground sheepishly “Sorry this is just well..It will help a lot for rent. I didn't think I got to keep tips too this is a great job!”\n\n\tAmy hugged Cassy and patted her on the back “Hey it's okay but just know that sometimes you won't get any tips and sometimes you get big ones. Just do your job, stay happy and smile a lot and you will do fine. And if anyone messes with ya you tell me so I can bust in a few teeth epically if it is David. Oh and one thing to remember is that when you see the guys with blue jump suits you should give them some bottled water but always ask the security before you walk up to the cart because trust me they will even tackle us if we approach without permission. But the guys will love ya forever if you bring them water.” Amy and Cassy spent the rest of the night at the bar learning how to mix drinks and how to fill out tickets. \n\n\tWhen Cassy got home she ran into the room and straight up to Lana “Hey Lana! I have my part of the rent already!” Cassy handed over her hundred dollars with a grin\n\n\tLana saw Cassy almost bowl over Duke, the wolf roommate, as he was leaving for his job and then smiled as the smaller feline handed over the hundred dollars. “Wow Cass what did you do at that casino to get a hundred dollars?” Lana teased Cassy but hugged her as she put the hundred dollars with the rest of the rent money “Now we just have to wait for Champ and Sarah to get paid and we will have rent I got us a few extra days to pay it from the landlord so we should be okay till Friday.\n\n\tCassy looked up at the lioness with eyes that would put a puppy to shame “Lana...can I bring a friend over sometime? She is great she helped me at work and is a good person please? Please let me bring someone over I promise I will help clean up and even do the dishes!”\n\n\tLana cocked an eyebrow and twitched her tail as she thought to her self that Cassy must really want her friend over because Cassy hated the dishes more than just about anything. “You sure Cass? I know how much you hate doing the dishes and getting your hands wet with the dish water. Is your friend a morph?”\n\n\tCassy cringed knowing how much Lana disliked humans. “Nooo But she is a great person I know you will like her, she is not like a normal human trust me!” Cassy looked up at her friend hoping against hope that she would say yes. Lana had been the one to get everyone together and get the apartment they had so she had been named the pack leader. If someone wanted to do something that involved the apartment it had to pass through Lana and get her approval. Everyone knew that she normally said yes But out of respect they still asked her.\n\n\tLana's tail lashed in aggravation as she looked down at Cassy “you know what I think about humans Cassy and you ask to bring one here? She must be a saint for you to ask that, however I still do not like or trust humans. Be that as it may, I will not let that get in the way of you having a friend at work. So I will say yes..on the condition that you clean up the house and you bring her over when I am not around. Do that and I will have no problem with you inviting her over.”\n\n\tCassy hugged Lana and danced off to take a shower and get ready to go to bed. Cassy stepped into the shower letting the water soak through her fur and wash out the lingering smoke smell. As the water slid down her body she leaned back against the shower wall and thought about the day. It had been great She had paid rent already, made a friend at work, and had convinced Lana to allow her to bring her friend over. Now was the hard part, Inviting Amy to a house full of morphs.\n\nDAY 2\n\n\tCassy was late to work the next day. Having missed the buss, She had called in at a payphone and was told to just get to work as soon as she could. When she finaly made it to work she ran to get her uniform and found every pocket full of catnip. She sighed and dumped her pockets out into the garbage and quickly changed and ran to her station. Amy was there making some drinks when Cassy ran in and quickly looked around to find something to help with. Amy looked over her shoulder and frowned “Late on your second day that is not good kitty I like you and I don't want to see you fired.”\n\n\tCassy frowned and started to gather up a few glasses in the room and wipe down the counters “Sorry Amy I missed the buss. Some humans shoved me back out as the door shut so I had to wait for the next one. So what's new tonight?”\n\n\tAmy stared at Cassy for a bit then shook her head “Well we have high limits again tonight so I think we will do good on tips. One of the security said that one of our whales are here they tend to tip very well! Once, a whale tipped me three hundred dollars for two sodas and a bag of chips. That was a good night. Oh and you never call them whales ever!”\n\n\tCassy giggled. “Why are they fat? Huge blobs that sit there and do nothing but pump money into the machines?”\n\n\tAmy laughed and shook her head “Naw it is just a code we use here that stands for high rollers the answer is yes now what is the question kinda people.” Amy handed Cassy a tray and started stacking drinks on it. “Okay here we go as you were late you get to carry more” Amy grinned and picked up her tray and started out to high limits. As they walked out and entered the high limits room one player looked over and rather loudly started complaining.\n\n\t“What the hell is going on here this place is hiring animals now. And it is carrying drinks HA! What a joke It better not get any fleas on me. Hey everyone guard your drinks fleas might jump into them. Or it might shed all over your clothes!”\n\n\tCassy sighed to herself and tried to ignore what the human was saying. It wasn’t the worst she has heard, But it still stings a bit to hear it. She walked up next to Amy after she was done handing out the drinks and the human called to her.\n\n\t“Hey cat get over here you gave me the wrong drink. Look at that, the thing is so stupid it can’t get a drink right. Stupid mangy flea bag get over here!”\n\n\tThe human was yelling so loud that even people that were not in the High limits area stopped to stare. Cassy lowered her ears and walked up to the human. He stood up towering over her and started yelling incoherently about the drink and how she was so stupid and each time she tried to apologies he screamed even louder for her to shut up. Just when she thought it couldn’t get more embarrassing , two security guards came rushing in. they stood between her and the guest as one of the guards looked down at her with a friendly smile.\n\n\t“Hey sorry it took so long. We will take care of this guy. Just go back to work, if we need too we will come talk to you.”\n\n\tCassy nodded and as she turned to leave the guest threw his drink on her screaming for her to make it right this time. Cassy hissed under her breath and Amy quickly dragged her off to the lockers the whole time saying she was sorry. When they got there Cassy looked down at the mess her uniform was now and sat down on a bench with a defeated sigh.\n\n\t“Well there goes my first paycheck..right out the window for cleaning..First I was late then I get a drink tossed on me..and I wasn’t even at a club. What a great day!”\n\n\tCassy rested her head in her hands on the verge of tears from the frustration today with the humans pushing her off the buss and now this. She looked up as she felt Amy place her arm over her shoulders and sit beside her.\n\n\t“Hey Kitty no worries, It will get better. Besides we just get you a clean uniform and I can take that home and clean it for you free of charge!”\n\n\tCassy looked up with shock that turned to delight “you would do that for me? You would clean my uniform?”\n\n\tAmy laughed and patted Cassy’s back “Course I would fuzzy you’re my friend that’s what friends do! And hey..where do you live? If people are going to make you late and push you off the buss, maybe I can pick you up. Give me a few bucks for gas from time to time and I would love to…..If you are not too far away.”\n\n\tCassy almost hugged Amy until she realized that she was still soaked from the soda dumped on her. She sat up and straddled the bench so she could face Amy and happily told her that she lived in the older section of town, the part that even bums don’t go to it is so old. She told her how to get to the house and to ignore the stupid rat on the corner if he is there. After she finished Cassy looked down and then started to take off her shirt “I hope they have one that fits me so I can finish the night.”\n\n\tAmy stared a second as Cassy took off her top before jumping up and starting to open her locker “I ..um well I have one It might fit I think” Amy tossed the shirt to Cassy and admired her fur coloring part of her wondering what it would be like to hug it. That thought quickly died as Amy mentally kicked herself for think that…Cassy laughed and looked at Amy as the sleeves were too long and the shirt was a bit big on her. They spent the next few moments trying to tuck here and there to make it fit. They then spent the rest of the night away from high limits as the guest was still there and still complaining.\n\nIs that a date?\n\n\tCassy woke up to Nessa, a young mouse girl, shaking her awake “Caaaaasy CAASSY! Wake up some human is at the door for you! She has neat blue hair! Cassy get up!” Cassy almost flew to the door and opened it so she could peek out as she was only in her fur. “Amy?! What are you doing here? It is Saturday I don’t work.”\n\n\tAmy nodded “Yea…But um…well I have the day of and I was thinking that maybe you, I mean if you’re not busy, well do you want to go see a movie or something? My treat! We can talk about work and stuff on the ride there.”\n\n\tCassy thought a moment then nodded as she opened the door and ran to her bedroom as fast as she could. Amy smiled as she caught a glimpse of her colorful tail streak around a corner. She was pulled from the doorstep by a grey mouse girl that was even shorter than Cassy. This girl didn’t look over nine years old, well at least; she was as tall as one. The girl held out her paw and smiled.\n\n\t“I’m Nessa, Cassy’s best friend we are almost like sisters, though she is like six years older than me. And No I am not a kid I am 15 that is not a kid!…Just I am a mouse so I am small. I am in high school a mostly human school! It is kinda hard but I got lots of friends.” Nessa looked around and swung open her arms encompassing the tiny two bedroom flat they lived in “What do you think? Lana, Cassy, and myself sleep in the room. Duke, Sarah, and Tala sleep out here in the living room... and Nook sleeps on the stove, he is kind of weird in a funny way, He says the floor is disgusting to sleep on…so he sleeps on the stove…” Nessa saw Amy’s confusion and laughed “yea it makes us wonder too”\n\n\tCassy came back out of the room and looked down at Nessa with a playful glare “Did she annoy you too much? She likes to talk to people any one that will listen to her stories, sometimes it seems as if she could talk for days without taking a breath”\n\n\tNessa stuck out her tongue at Cassy then grinned at Amy “Well you two have fun! Hey Cass bring back some of your popcorn kay?”\n\n\tCassy nodded and walked out to Amy’s car. Cassy’s jaw dropped when she saw that Amy was driving a shiny new purple Dodge Viper. Cassy looked up at Amy in absolute admiration and awe “that is yours?!” She walked around the car almost afraid to breathe on it, let alone get into it. “Amy..I don’t want to get my fur on the seats. I do shed a little even if I brush every day.”\n\n\tAmy giggled “It’s no big deal I can always use a lint brush or something. Climb in Kitty we have to catch a movie… Oh yes it is mine…but my dad bought it for me I just pay for insurance.”\n\n\tCassy slid into the leather seats and purred in delight Amy looked over and tried not to laugh out loud “I guess you really like the seats? I didn’t know you could actually purr that is cool!”\n\n\tCassy blushed a little although Amy didn’t catch it “Yea..Um..I can purr when I am happy or feel good or just whenever. It’s a cat thing”\n\n\tAmy smiled and playfully shoved Cassy “I like it, it sounds neat”\n\n\tAmy and Cassy arrived at the theater and made their way in line looking to see what movies were playing. They both excitedly agreed to watch a horror movie and when they went to get the tickets the ticket master looked down at Cassy and frowned.\n\n\t“They can’t use this entrance. They come in on the side so get your tickets and make sure it goes around.”\n\n\tAmy glared and bought the tickets and handed Cassy one after giving the finger to the ticket master. “Hey I’ll meet you inside at the popcorn counter okay?”\n\n\tCassy nodded and went around the side of the building to find the door. After a good time looking for the door she finally found it and made her way to the lobby. Cassy searched a little until she found Amy and they got their popcorn and went into the theater. As the movie started Amy leaned over and whispered “It’s okay if you get scared and jump on me I heard this is a very scary movie. Hey so don’t get mad if I am the one scared...I love scary movies just for the fact that they scare me!”\n\n\tCassy giggled “I won’t get mad. But I do not scare easily so you will be the one jumping! Ha!”\n\nAs the lights dimmed and the movie started Cassy looked over at Amy and thought to herself how lucky she was to have a human friend, especially someone as nice as her. As the movie progressed Cassy and Amy scooted closer and closer to each other in the seats and after one particular heart stopping scare Cassy felt Amy grab her hand and hold it tightly. Cassy looked up at her and smiled sheepishly as they laughed a little and finished watching the movie holding hands the rest of the time.\n\n\tAfter the movie Cassy reluctantly let go of Amy’s hand as they got up and headed to the car. On the way back Cassy had fallen asleep and Amy smiled and drove her home. When they got home She shook Cassy gently “Hey Cassy, Wake up we are back sleepy head.”\n\n\tCassy opened her eyes and looked around sleepily then smiled and got out of the car stumbling a little “I am very tired, Thank you for a great time I will see you at work.” With that she stumbled up the broken walkway and went inside.\n\n\tCassy was immediately bombarded with questions from Nessa \n\n“Hey did you have fun? Is she nice? Do you like her? Is she coming back? Is she going to be friends with us? Hey you look tired are you going to bed without giving me the details of the date?”\n\n\tCassy palmed Nessa’s head and glared at her in sleepy anger “Yes I am going to bead I work tomorrow. Yes she is nice and… well I don’t think it was a date date. She just took me to a movie. Now let me sleep and quit being so nosey” Cassy walked into the room and stepped over to the bed and fell beside Lana and drifted off to a deep peaceful sleep.\n\nLate & Luck\n\n\tThe next day Cassy got to work late again and ran into her boss when she got there.\n\n\t“Cassy this is the second day in a row you are late… is there a problem getting here?”\n\n\tCassy sighed and looked at the ground her ears pinned back in embarrassment. \n\n\t“Well sir umm I take the buss and we have to sit in the back. And wait till all the humans get off before we do. Yesterday someone pushed me off the buss and I had to wait for the other one. Today they wouldn’t let me off the buss and I had to walk from the third stop past the casino when they finally had had enough fun hearing me beg to be let off the buss. I… I know that it is an excuse Sir but that is what happened.”\n\n\tHer boss nodded “Well get ready and go to work we will figure something out as soon as we can. I don’t want my servers late.”\n\n\tCassy walked into the serving station and was greeted by Dave and his always present attitude.\n\n\t“Late again, had a cat nap you had to finish? We do have a lot of work to do here”\n\n\tCassy just shoved past him and started to grab her things to start work. Once out on the floor she was happy to find out that she didn’t have high limits, but the tables. They tended to tip more. As she was walking around she saw Amy and waved. Amy smiled and waved back before heading into high limits. Cassy turned to see a young lady calling her over. She walked up to the table and smiled \n\n\t“Hello Ma’am how can I help you?”\n\n\tThe lady smiled a bit as she looked at the name tag “You like the job here Cassy? They pay ya good? Oh sorry I guess you can’t say that stuff. I work at another Casino But um..hey could you get me a coke? And put some cherries in it?”\n\n\tCassy nodded with a grin “yes ma’am I like my job here and sure I will get the drink right away. Would you like some chips or anything with it?”\n\n\tThe lady nodded “Sure some salt and vinegar chips. Crazy but I love the two tastes of them You know the sweet cherry and then the tang of the vinegar it is great you should try it!”\n\n\tCassy smiled “maybe I will. I will be right back with your drink and chips Ma’am”\n\nA few moments later Cassy came back and handed over the drink and chips. The lady handed her money for the drink and then placed a hundred dollar chip on her tray.\n\n “here you go I won big on that last hand your good luck! Can you stick around? Well guess not there are others...But come back in a while so I can order more drinks from you Cassy okay?”\n\n\tCassy nodded and smiled from ear to ear “yes ma’am! I would love to do that I will check back in a few. Cassy darted off and made her way to the service area and set down her tray and picked up the chip here eyes gleaming with excitement. That one chip could really help the house. It could keep the lights on or get food…all sorts of things. Maybe she could even buy a phone! Cassy looked up and gripped her chip tightly as she heard someone coming around the corner. She smiled when she saw it was Amy and excitedly ran up showing off her chip.\n\n“LOOK! Look what I got! A player at the poker table in my area gave it to me, she wants me to come back later she said I am good luck! “\n\nCassy danced around Amy like an excited school girl until she saw Amy shaking her head. Amy smiled a little and put a hand on her shoulder looking into her bright green eyes then laughed as she couldn’t hold the disappointed look any longer.\n\n“Hey that’s cool nice tip but just remember, you don’t want to be labeled as good luck. If you are and then they have bad luck when you are around they tend to blame you and get all mad. Trust me kitty I have had that happen a few times. When you go back out there make sure you mention that you are not the luck and that she has all the luck in her or something like that.”\n\nJust then the boss walked in and smiled to them both, a smile that meant something was up and that it might not be good.\n\n“Hey just the two I was looking for. Amy you know that Cassy was late again right?” he didn’t give them time to answer but continued quickly. “Right well I looked at where you two live and it seems that you both are not that far away. As it seems you two are getting along great I have a suggestion. Well more like a way to keep your job Cassy and not be pushed around. I would hate to have to let you go because of other people. Now as I was saying, Amy would you be too upset if I asked you to pick up Cassy on your way to work? We can change her schedule to match yours it is only a day, and a few hour change for her.” He looked at Cassy who already had a big smile and was clutching her chip like it was made of gold. “Of course you will have to give her gas money I am sure But it is cheaper than the buss I think. The day change is only that you will have Sunday and Monday off instead of Friday and Saturday. The hours changed will be that you come in two hours earlier. Is that okay with you both?”\n\nCassy and Amy looked at each other and nodded with big smiles. Their boss smiled and quickly went about other work. Cassy grinned and hugged Amy again “Thanks! This will be great I don’t have to ride the buss and worry if I will make it to work...or make it home unscathed! This is great I can ride with you and give you gas money or something and then I won’t ever be late again…unless that is if you get sick or something…But then I still have the bus.”\n\nCassy almost broke down the door that evening when Amy dropped her off. She raced to the room and grabbed her buss ticket book and grinned at it evilly as she sat down in the middle of the floor and started to shred every other ticket. \n\nNessa walked in and dropped her bag in front of Cassy and plopped down on it watching her tear up the vouchers.\n\n“Why are you doing that? Did you quit? Did they fire you? Because if they did that sucks because it was a good job and if they fired you then that means that I have to get a job. Then I can’t go to school, I like going to classes…even if I get picked on by almost everyone I still like learning!”\n\nCassy reached up and clamped Nessa’s muzzle shut with a grin “No I didn’t get fired. Amy is going to take me to work. Now we can save money too I don’t have to pay for the dumb things. I am keeping some just incase there is a problem.”\n\nNessa giggled a bit “So… do you like her?”\n\nCassy looked up “Well yea she is a good friend, why?”\n\n“No...no I meant you know…like, like are you going to ask her out?”\n\nCassy looked at Nessa in shock and shook her head \n\n“No way she is a human, that is nuts, what are you thinking? Do you think I want to be laughed at? Or to have her made fun of? Nope not going to happen…Besides… you really think she has any interest in me? We are just friends that’s it period the end so shut up okay? Jeeesh High schooler’s…”\n\nNessa grinned a bit and started to pull out her homework as she watched Cassy out of the corner of her eyes. After a while she sighed exasperatedly and closed her book turning and frowning at Cassy “Okay look. I can see it you do like her and you’re scared to say it. Don’t try and deny it I am in high school I see it all the time. Just well you could ask her and the worst she will do is say no. I mean she did take you out to a movie and such … that is a date. Now she also gets to take you to work, a great time to talk to her!”\n\nCassy shook her head and shoved Nessa over “Shut up and get out! I have to get ready for bed so I can get up earlier so Amy can pick me up.” Cassy went to sleep thinking about Amy and laughing to herself at how absurd it would be to ask…\n\nMeeting Lana.\n\n\tAmy arrived at Cassy’s place early the next morning and knocked on the door. After a few moments of waiting she knocked a little louder and the door opened a crack and a pair of blue eyes looked out at her sleepily. Tala leaned her head out the door and looked up at this human with a bit of confusion. “Who are you and what do you want? Do you have any idea what time it is?” Even though Tala was a raccoon and nocturnal, her job was during the day so she had forced her sleep schedule to match and hated being woken up early because she could never get back to sleep. Amy smiled a little nervously “Sorry to wake you up..I am here for Cassy..I am her ride to work I am Amy.” Tala looked up at Amy again and then opened the door to let her in. “Oh..it’s you. Okay I will get her up you are early.”\n\nWhile the raccoon walked in back Amy looked around at the place a little more. She saw three shapes in the dark and when her eyes adjusted she found out that one of them was a pile of sheets where the raccoon must have been and the other two were more sleepers. She saw a wolf sprawled out on the couch with the blanket almost falling off and a sleek otter starting to sit up. The otter yelped in alarm to see some unknown human standing in the room. The yelp made the wolf spring up and fall off the couch looking around and then he growled a little seeing Amy. Amy backed up a little in alarm and felt someone behind her. She turned and saw a large lioness towering over her “What exactly are you doing in our home human?”\n\n\tAmy looked up at the lioness and smiled a bit nervously “I am here for Cassy I am her ride to work. I guess I am a little early. The raccoon let me in…”\n\n\tLana growled a little and clenched her fists, “That Raccoon has a name human…you should learn it if you are going to be here every day. “ With that Lana turned and shoved past Amy and walked down the hall. Amy looked back and saw the otter and wolf looking at her after a moment the wolf just yawned and flopped back onto the couch while the otter got up and walked past Amy. Amy couldn’t help but notice that the otter girl was completely nude and didn’t seem to care much that Amy was there. She watched the otter walk down to the back of the apartment and into a room. A few moments later Nessa came walking out into the living room and then smiled up at Amy as she tossed her backpack on, “Hey Amy…stay clear of Lana..the lioness…she hates humans. She might tear you up before you get a chance to tell her why you are here.”\n\n\tAmy nodded, “ Yea I got that from her when she confronted me a moment ago, hey what is taking Cassy so long? Oh..and um..as I may be here a lot…is it normal for the otter woman to walk around naked?”\n\n\tNessa shrugged, “you try sharing one bathroom with seven furs…it takes a while sometimes. And yea Sarah always walks around like that we don’t care much. Sometimes you even see furs walking outside in just their fur, clothes get annoying for some of us and we don’t see not wearing them as being naked as much as humans do. Cassy nodded and fidgeted a little before she looked back down to Nessa.\n\n\t“Why does Lana hate humans so much?”\n\n\tNessa blinked a moment and then shrugged and then looked around before she whispered. \n\n\t“I think humans hurt her family or something. I overheard her talking to Cass after the first day you were here” Nessa paused and then snuck in “You know when you took her on the date.”\n\n\tAmy looked at Nessa with a hurt expression and shook her head a little in disgust. \n\n\t“I can’t understand why people treat you all like this; Pushing Cassy off the bus, hurting Lana’s family, teasing you at school. Why can’t people see you for the beautiful creatures you are. I mean Sarah is a sleek and beautiful otter, who I bet could out swim any human hands down, Cassy is a smart friendly beautiful cat.” She looked down at Nessa with a friendly smirk “And you Nessa could out talk any politician or auctioneer in a heartbeat.”\n\n\tLana pushed off the doorframe she was leaning on and walked down the hall towards Amy looking all the more a huntress stalking her prey.\n\n\t“Humans fear what they do not understand. They are stupid, ignorant, self absorbed, loathsome, cowardly beings. The military created the first of us, and now that we are free they hate us. My father fought for your freedoms in the last world war. My mother was an army medic and patched up plenty humans in her time. They were murdered by a group of morph hating punks. Beat down and skinned alive. I was three years old when that happened. The only thing that saved me was the sound of cop cars. They were not even coming to help us; they were coming to arrest us for being in the rich side of town.”\n\nLana stopped right in front of Amy and loomed over her staring her in the eyes.\n\n\t“Now Amy, tell me why I shouldn’t hate humans?”\n\nAmy stood there tears streaming down her face out of sadness and fear. As she was about to say something, Lana just pushed past her and out the door. \n\n\tCassy came down the hall a few moments later and looked around a little at everyone just looking so shocked. She walked up to Amy and saw the tears and then quickly wiped them away for her.\n\n\t“Amy, what’s wrong? What happened? I was in the shower I am sorry I was so long. Are you okay?”\n\n\tAmy nodded slowly still a bit shocked at Lana.\n\n\t“I know why Lana hates me. And I don’t blame her. Hope I am not that much of a bother to you all. I can wait outside if it makes less drama in your house.”\n\n\tCassy shook her head a little and sighed “I am not sure even that would help with Lana. But maybe if you show her you’re not so bad it will make things easier”\n\n\tCassy and Amy walked to the car and headed to the casino in silence.\n\nBirthday troubles.\n\nCassy woke up to her alarm clock going off and wanted to throw it against the wall herself. She reached out and shut it off and curled up in a ball shivering even though it was not cold in the room. She opened her eyes and saw that the room was empty so she got up out of bed. When she stood up she regretted that in an instant as her vision blurred and she felt herself falling but could do nothing to stop herself, it was as if she was in a dream and floating to the ground. Although she heard herself hit the ground she was too dizzy and out of it to do anything about it as she collapsed.\n\nCassy opened her eyes to see bright lights above her and felt water all around her, very cold water. She tried to get up and a hand held her back and Lana spoke softly, though it still rang in her ears.\n\n\t“Stay in there Cass you’re sick. You passed out when you woke up Duke heard you hit the floor and you were out when he got there. We called a doctor from the payphone, He is on the way and we needed to get your temperature down so..you’re in an ice bath.”\n\nCassy looked towards the voice and smiled a bit as Lana’s face came into focus. She looked past Lana a moment to see most of her other roommates watching from in the doorway. Cassy hugged herself in the water and laid her head back against the back of the tub and sighed “What a great start to my birthday”\n\nLater, after the doctor had visited and informed her that she indeed was rather sick, but that it was not life threatening so long as her temperature stayed down she was soaking in a second ice bath when there was a knock at the bathroom door. Cassy laughed a bit “hey you guys don’t gotta knock it’s not like ya haven’t seen me naked before.” \n\n\tCassy looked up and then eeped in surprise and instantly started to blush and try to hide in the bathtub as Amy came into the room. \n\n“What are you doing here? Lana is home did she see you? Does she know you are here?”\n\nAmy looked at the floor sheepishly as she walked in on her naked friend. “Happy birthday Cassy. Tala said you were sick…but I came anyhow, thought you could use cheering up. And yes Lana told me that I was allowed in only because you were sick and we are friends, well she said you and I are friends..I guess she still hates me, anyhow I got you a present”\n\nAmy sat down beside the tub and handed Cassy a small wrapped box. She watched as Cassy shook it a little and turned it this way and that while she tried to figure out what it was. Amy could not help but marvel at how beautiful her friend was wondering how sick she was and thinking of asking her out to dinner when she was better. Amy mentally shook her head at that, and thinking to herself \n\n“What if she doesn’t like me as more than just a friend? That might mess things up if she thinks I like her. She may back off and I don’t want to lose her as a friend, but a harmless dinner I’ll ask her!” \n\nCassy gave up trying to guess what the gift was and leaned against the edge of the tub facing Amy as she tore into the package and her eyes got bright as she saw that the gift was a real Iphone!! Cassy looked up at Amy who was grinning ear to ear.\n\n“You like it Cass? I figured you didn’t have a phone sooo.” Amy fidgeted a bit nervously “Um it has a three year plan on it that I paid for so you don’t have to worry about making payments or anything. Aaannd check this out!”\n\nAmy reached over and touched a few buttons on the screen and a picture of Amy’s blue haired smiling face showed up as wallpaper for her phone. \n\nCassy squealed in joy and leaned out of the tub hugging Amy before she even realized she was doing it. A moment later Cassy sunk back into the tub blushing deeply and stammering a sorry.\n\n“I…I am so sorry…I forgot…I mean with the phone…Oh wait we can dry that here…I am sure that one of us has a shirt you can wear!”\n\nCassy laughed a little as she was now soaked and hugged Cassy back not minding getting a little wet from Cassy’s hugging. She held Cassy at arm’s length and smiled shaking tiny bit with nervous jitters as she worked up the nerve to ask her about dinner.\n\n“Cassy I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner when you get better”\n\n“Cassy giggled a little “Well of course and maybe some breakfast and lunch too. Why wouldn’t I want to eat? I am not that sick you know. Just a little sick and as long as I relax and stay cool I will be fine.\n\nAmy blushed a bit. “Oh no… I meant with me, you know as a glad you’re better dinner thing?”\n\nIt was Cassy’s turn to blush now as it sunk in that this was almost a date. She nodded slowly with a grin and then gave her another wet hug.\n\n\t“I would love to go.”\n\nThe Dinner.\n\nA few weeks later Cassy was fidgeting in the seat of Amy’s car in her only dress. A sleek emerald dress she found at good will and fixed up to look nice. Cassy looked out of the car nervously when they pulled into one of the most expensive, and fancy restaurants in the city.\n\nAmy smiled over at her friend and climbed out of the car in her silk silver and blue evening gown. When Cassy had first laid eyes on it she was captivated. Not just because it was shiny but because of the way the dress hugged Amy’s every curve, accenting her beauty a hundred fold in her eyes. Cassy had decided then and there that she was nowhere near as dressed for the occasion Amy had planned…no matter how much Amy complemented her on her own dress.\n\nCassy followed Amy up to the doors and shrunk a little from the looks of disgust from rich patrons leaving the place. She and Amy reached the maitre d’, he looked at Cassy and quickly walked over and started shooing her away like a common house cat.\n\n“shoo…Shoo get out..what are you doing here, leave this instant!!”\n\nCassy just looked up at the man and reached out taking Amy’s hand in her paw.\n\n“I will not leave. I came here to have dinner with my friend. We have reservations so you have to seat us”\n\nThe man looked repulsed as he saw the two holding hands and he turned his nose up at them both as a crowd started to slowdown and form for the spectacle. He looked around a little at the growing crowd and sneered at them both.\n\n“You think that because you and your uncivilized blue haired punk friend have reservations, that I have to allow a flea bitten, ugly, freak of nature, piece of gutter trash into this fine, clean, well mannered establishment? I think not!”\n\nThe man leaned down and stared into Cassy’s eyes with hate, burning into her soul. She could almost feel his utter distain for her kind dripping off of every word from his minty fresh mouth.\n\n“If you do not leave, I will call the police on your friend…and the pound on you.”\n\nAmy turned around and almost dragged Cassy back down the steps grumbling under her breath as they headed for the car. \n\n“stupid, loud mouthed, egotistical, brain dead … Hope he loses his job.. telling Cassy she is..ohh if I didn’t want to ruin the day I would soo go back and beat the tar out of that pompous windbag!”\n\nCassy giggled a little and blushed softly at Amy’s reaction; no one had ever said things like that about her or stood up for her even if it was as they walked away. Cassy squeezed Amy’s hand a little tighter and looked u pat her.\n\n“You do know I can hear every word you are grumbling. It’s okay we can find another place where they will serve us.”\n\nAmy looked over sheepishly and then shrugged with a bit of a sigh.\n\n“I had made plans and everything. I had the table near the ocean view windows.”\n\nCassy thought a moment and then smiled “Go to a Wal-Mart I have an idea”\n\nAfter a few hours at Wal-Mart and a drive to the beach, Cassy and Amy were lounging in the sand in bikinis soaking in the sun and ocean air. Cassy looked over and grinned before she rolled onto her side and gave Amy a big hug.\n\n“Thanks for helping me Amy. I don’t know what I would have done without your help these last few months.”\n\nAmy smiled and hugged back enjoying the feel of Cassy’s warm velvety soft fur against her skin. Amy reached up and ran a finger along one of Cassy’s ears and smiled to her as she watched her friend shiver with delight.\n\n“I like helping you kitty. You are a good friend of mine. I would do anything for you, you know that right?”\n\nCassy nodded and then hopped up and grabbed the hotdogs as the sun started to dip down below the ocean. “Time for hotdogs!”\n\nThe two spent the rest of the evening talking about work, and how sick she was and playing with the Iphone Amy had bought her as they ate hotdogs and made a few crude jokes about them laughing the night away.\n\nOf Coke and Friends.\n\nCassy was at work doing her rounds when she saw the hard count team for the first time. She had always seemed to miss them, but this time they were working in her zone. She watched them a few minutes and then went on her way until she remembered something Amy had told her about them. She turned around to ask them if they wanted water just in time to knock Juan over as he had an arm load of money boxes for the machines. Cassy dropped her tray and tried to catch the boxes before they landed on him but cringed when she missed and they all tumbled down around him. Juan looked up at her and started to mumble about watching where she was going and other hateful words. Cassy stood there a moment and then let her ears drop and turned to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Cassy turned a little and saw another hardcount man and this one was smiling as he leaned in close and whispered.\n\n\t“Don’t worry too much about Juan, he can be a jerk when he gets like that. Besides he should have been looking where he was going too. You’re Cassy right? I heard about on you’re first day. Everyone was talking about the cat. Oh and I’m Mark by the way, you ever need someone to talk.I am all ears. Though, not as all ears as you are I would wager.”\n\nMark grinned a bit as he looked back at Juan waving him back.\n\n“I have to go but it would be awesome if you could get us all some soda..with cherries in em.”\n\nMark gave a comical pleading smile and folded his hands in prayer as he pouted and then laughed as he flashed a goofy grin and turned back to the others.\n\n“Cassy is going to get us some drinks!”\n\nCassy went back and got the drinks together and walked back out on the floor to deliver them. She made her way to the team dodging a few players and then walked up to security to tell them she had drinks. The guard called a halt to the drop so everyone could get their drink.\n\n Juan nodded as he took his and walked over to a machine that was acting up to drink it. And mark followed and leaned on her shoulder as he drank and chatted as they rested.\n\n\t“Soooo how do you like it so far at the casino Cassy?”\n\nCassy handed out drinks to the security members who were quite shocked, as no other server ever remembered them. She smiled at mark with a happy twitch of her tail.\n\n\t“Well so far it is okay, I mean I have had a few rough spots but Amy is helping me out.”\n\nMark nodded and finished the drink and then went back to work and Cassy went back to her area to cover.\n\n\tWhen lunch rolled around Cassy was beat. Amy had called in sick, which made Cassy glad she kept some of the bus tickets, and she had been working their area with no help. Cassy ignored a few of the muttered comments she heard and just wondered if they knew she could hear them clear as day. She sat in the back corner away from everyone and plunked her head down on the table. After a few moments she heard someone coming up to her table. She folded her ears back and wished they would just go away. \n\n\tMark smiled awkwardly as Cassy’s look was one that would kill a charging hippo as he walked up to her table.\n\n\t“I guess it would be a bad idea to ask if you wanted company?”\n\n\tCassy jumped and quickly changed her mood when she saw who it was. She smiled and shook her head quickly and motioned to the empty seat.\n\n\t“Sorry, I just didn’t know it was you. I thought you were someone else bringing me a can of tuna or a carton of milk.”\n\n\tMark sat down and looked honestly perplexed as Cassy explained her previous look. He grinned and grabbed an imaginary pen and notepad.\n\n\t“Tuna bad check! How about meow mix?”\n\n\tMark grinned playfully and held out his hands in a calming gesture, even though Cassy was already snickering a bit.\n\n\t“Ya Meow mix is mostly sawdust anyhow. Iams would be much better, and not the dry food, canned wet food is better. I can spread it between bread.”\n\n\tNow it was marks turn to look at her funny. He leaned close and whispered “You don’t really eat cat food do you? I mean I guess it would be okay..but weird..because you talk and stuff.”\n\n\tCassy rolled her expressive eyes and grinned at Mark. \n\n\t“Humans are so strange at times. No I don’t eat catfood, I do not lick myself, I do not run from dogs, and I do not use a litter box. Any other questions I failed to answer?”\n\n\tMark leaned back a bit hurt at that response as he was trying to make a joke “Sorry I didn’t think you would take that seriously.”\n\n\tCassy let out an exasperated sigh and laid her head in her paws again.\n\n\t“Sorry Mark I am just so used to snapping off sarcastic responses just to shut humans up that it is second nature to me. Every day I have to deal with humans making fun of me, pushing me off busses, not letting me in a building, filling my uniform with catnip. It may look like I take it in stride, but inside it still hurts. All I want is to do my job and make it home safe. Sometimes that is hard to accomplish.”\n\n\tMark nodded a little as he listened and then gave her a hug around her shoulders.\n\n\t“Well I will always be a friend. I think you are just fine.”\n\nAt that moment David walked by and laughed at the two.\n\n\t“Aww how cute, you two make a perfect couple. A bleeding heart animal lover..and..a pussy cat that thinks it’s human.”\n\nCassy balled up her fists and then slowly stood up looking a little more menacing than norma, as she slowly turned and stalked upto him. “listen here you bag of hot air… I don’t know what youhave against me but I bust my tail out here twice as hard as you do to make my pay. I bring drinks, food, and collect the glasses just like you. But see for me I have to listen to insults and rude remarks every single night. My kind died for this country so cowardly pukes like yourself wouldn’t have to..and all you can do is poke fun at me and someone who can actually see that I am more than just a morph? You really are a sad little man aren’t you?”\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "A CATS TALE

\tCassy woke up to the buzz of her alarm, quickly reaching over and slapping at the buttons until it turned off. She gently climbed over the two other sleepers and had made it about half way to the bathroom when her alarm went off again, seems she hit the snooze. Cassy quickly tried to walk over the sleepers on the floor to get to her alarm. Before she could get to it there was an annoyed grumble and her clock sailed from the bed side table into the wall and shattered into a dozen pieces. Cassy sighed

\t“You didn't have to do that Lana”

\tA pair of deep, golden, feline eyes opened and glowed in the moonlight. With a sleepy purr Lana calmly replied.

\t“It woke me up, better it than you yes?”

\tCassy knew Lana was joking but coming from her it still made her laugh nervously. Cassy made her way to the bathroom to get ready for work.

\tShe stepped into a cold shower to wake up  letting the water soak her calico colored fur down to the skin before turning the heat up and closing her luminescent green eyes and relaxing in the warm spray. She was interrupted by the lack of water as someone else got in the shower with her. She opened her eyes and saw Tala’s ringed tail as she was starting to take a shower too. Cassy hugged Tala causing her to squeal, and turned around in the shower so she could steal the warm water back. She thought to herself how annoying it was to have to share one bathroom in a house with seven people, but also thought she was glad it wasn’t one of the guys that climbed in with her. Cassy finished quickly so as not to use up all the warm water for Tala and got dressed after drying out her fur. She waved bye to her roommates that were awake and ran out the door.

\tAs Cassy waited for her bus, she thought to herself how lucky she was at getting this job. It was paying her a whole five dollars an hour. That was a lot considering most places wouldn't pay Morphs more than three or four dollars at the most for anything. She guessed that the Casino must be different. They make enough money to pay more.

\tCassy was shaken out of her thoughts as the buss arrived. She hoped up and waited for the humans to get on and off the buss before she climbed on making her way to the back of the buss. She sat in the back and tried to ignore the stares and rude gestures as she waited until the buss stopped at the casino.

\tCassy waited her turn to get off the buss; almost getting her tail caught in the door as they closed it. She then started to make her way to the door when a security guard stopped her

\t“Where are you going fur ball?”

\tCassy stopped and held up the id badge she was given and the guard sneered a little and let her past. She made her way to where she was to meet her boss a minute late, thankfully he was late also, she took the time to look around the room at all the posters and things on the wall about service and excellence. A moment later her boss walked in and sat down placing a few pamphlets and paperwork in front of her. He smiled as he began to talk about her new job.

\t“Okay kid here is the down and dirty about the casino. You’re going to serve drinks at night. We put you on nights because there are less people.” He quickly held his hands out in a calming gesture “Not any reason except for your safety. We know that your kind are not too well liked as of yet. And although the night has some drunks. You have less of a chance of running into them okay?”

\tCassy nodded “Good idea i don't want to be the reason your Safety officers are busy.”

\tHer boss nodded and pointed at the things in front of her “Those are your rule books. Basically they outline legal stuff. The things like what to do if you get in trouble with someone, if you think we are picking on you. Oh and personally, if someone does pick on you, please come directly to me if it is a coworker. I detest any sort of discrimination if you feel it is happening tell me. If a guest is doing it, just get security they will deal with it. Now that all that is covered lets go get your uniform. With that tail of yours you will have to wait a moment while the uniform is altered and it will come out of your first pay check. Not much so don't worry about it. We take uniform dues from everyone.

\tCassy nodded and went to get her uniform. After finding her locker and changing, she made her way out onto the casino floor with the boss. Once there she couldn't help but stop and stare in wonder at all the games, lights, and people she saw. After a second she hurried up and caught up with her boss. As they walked through the casino Cassy could almost feel the glares and foul looks aimed at her as she made her way to the beverage servers area.

\tWhen she walked in she was almost tackled by a rather energetic blue haired girl, the girl laughed and wrapped her arm around Cassy's shoulders and grinned at her.

\t“Hi. I'm Amy I get to train ya tonight. Your gonna love it!”

Amy hugged Cassy and led her over to start her training as the boss wished them luck and to stay out of trouble. Cassy blinked a little lost at what just happened but smiled as Amy started to get out glasses and a serving tray as she started talking about everything.

\t“Hey okay this is how things go, you get an order then you come back here and make them. There is another area on the other side of the Casino and at every bar. This is the biggest one though hey what's your name anyhow?”

\tCassy twitched her tail a bit and laughed a little at Amy. “I'm Cassy...you’re about to over fill the glass there.”

\tAmy jumped and pulled the bottle away with a sheepish grin. “Oops. Anyhow see all the things you need are in here. And remember when we are here no alcohol is served till seven in the morning. If they ask you just tell them that we don't serve till then. Most of the time they just ask for water or soda instead.”

\tCassy listened intently as she watched Amy work turning as another server came in. The guy looked at Cassy and shook his head  “Hey, don't get any fleas in the drink animal” With that he grabbed a water to take to a player.

\tAmy stood there in shock then balled up her fists in anger “That bastard! What is his problem! I'm going to kick his ass!”

\tCassy just shook her head and chuckled a little then sighed “You don't have to do that. What he said was nicer than some of the things I get told. Besides I think it is funny that most humans think just because I have fur or that I am a cat breed that I have fleas. The last flea I had was back when I was like three” She paused a moment and giggled “But boy when I had them it was sad..”

\tAmy laughed “I bet all that scratching and biting and crawling..I bet it is worse for you though. All that fur to hide in hu?”

\tCassy nodded and rubbed her arm a little “So who gets that drink?”

Amy looked down at her notes and shuddered as she looked at the name and where he was

 “Eh..maybe you should stay here and look over all the stuff back here get used to the layout and such, yea that's a good idea..trust me, you don't want your first guest to be this guy. He makes the devil look like a saint when it comes to drinks and such, thinks because he has all that money that the world should bow to his every whim. Be right back!”

With that Amy made her way out onto the floor. After a moment or two of Cassy poking though the drinks and such she was interrupted by a loud slurred screech

 \t“Hheyyy yoou! Fhhushy waazzee make meh shom fhood!”

Cassy looked up to see an elderly human woman leaning against the door frame and even if Cassy didn't have a more developed sense of smell she still would have been able to catch the reek of heavy alcohol on the womans breath. The woman staggered up to Cassy and looked at her through squinted eyes then grinned drunkenly as she reached up and petted between her ears “you lhook jush like mah cast..um  cats!”

Cassy laid her ears back in annoyance though only another Morph would have caught that movement for what it was worth. She gently pushed the drunk lady's hand off her head and as calmly as she could tried to tell her that she didn't serve food.

\t“Ma'am I don't serve food just drinks If you fi.....”

\tThe lady glared up at her, her mood changing in a flash to that of anger

\t“Looks here caht! I shpent loosht of monhey heeeer sho I wahnt food! Ghet your thail in ghear and ghet it!

\tCassy thought to herself that trying to reason with this lady might be a little tricky.

\t“Ma'am if you find another server they might be able to help, this is my first day here I don't know where anything is really, just this room here”\t

\tThe lady started to yell obscenities at no one in particular about how the casino was robbing her and that the security was hovering over her like a criminal and things of that nature before looking up at Cassy again “Hey! Whhere iss mah food! Why ish you jush standin there! Ghet it you stupid mahngy phile of crap. Why they even gif you a jhob is beyond mhe stupid animal”

\tCassy looked up and saw the beverage server that had been in earlier and looked pleadingly at him for help, he just leaned against the wall and watched arms crossed in front of him with a smirk on his face. She  looked back at the ranting lady and tried once more to fix this situation.

\t“Miss if you ask the guy behind us here he might be able to help you get your food, I really can't leave here I was told to stay and get used to the place.”

The other server pushed off the wall and in a most annoyingly cheerful voice spoke up

\t“Oh yes Ma'am I would be glad to help you, don't want that thing shedding in your food anyhow do you? Come on lets see if we can find you something to eat the cafe is open right now”

Cassy sat down in a chair and waited for Amy to get back being thankful that things were going so well. So far she had only one person making fun of her and she had made a guest mad, no matter that the guest was drunk. She was only mad and didn't try and get her fired. Today was going swell.

Amy came back shaking her head and looking at a quarter at the bottom of a glass of soda grumbling as she dumped it out and started to rinse off the money. She looked over at Cassy and smiled “So you figure out the layout of this place? Pretty simple and everything is right where you need it!”

\tCassy smiled half heartedly as she got up and leaned against the counter beside Amy

\t“Well..I already have a coworker who hates me and I just had a drunk lady get mad at me because I didn't know where there was food.” She looked around a bit and smiled “But yes I think I got this place okay what next?”

\tAmy leaned in close and stage whispered “Don't worry about Dave, he is a jerk to everyone he makes fun of my hair..I mean come on it's cool its blue! Who could make fun of that!”

\tCassy stood there a second trying her best not to laugh, but failed horribly and started laughing at Amy, who pouted playfully which only made Cassy laugh even harder. Amy pushed Cassy and grinned

\t“I think you and I are going to be great friends kitty...Hey I can call you kitty right? I mean you are a cat and kitty is like a friendly nickname you know instead of people saying it in a mean way you can think of your friend the crazy blue haired Amy when they say that.”

\tCassy thought a moment then glared at Amy “Why would you call me that? Everyone says that they say here kitty kitty and oh look at the little kitty want yarn kitty kitty.. or they throw catnip at me.....” Amy shrunk back at this out burst looking a little hurt till she saw Cassy start to grin and then start  laughing  “You should see yourself Amy..you look like you just ran over my dog...I am just kidding I don't mind, I think it will be nice to think of a friend when I hear that”

\tAmy blinked a moment and stared at her new friend in bewilderment “You have a dog?! That is too weird a cat having a dog as a pet wow!”

\tCassy laughed and shook her head giggling “No I don't have a dog But i do have a roommate who is a wolf does that count?”

\tAmy grinned hearing about the wolf as she started to grab a few glasses of soda and two trays. She hands one of the trays to Cassy and steps back.

\t“Okay I want you to put the glasses of soda onto the tray without spilling them, Oh and you may want to get a towel from the shelf because most people drop it there first few times.”

\tCassy nodded and started to put the drinks on the tray. Being a cat defiantly helps with balance tasks. When all the glasses were on the tray she grinned triumphantly

\t“Tah-dah! Got it on my first try!”

\tAmy smiled and looked down at her order sheet “Now here is the fun part You get to follow me and help me get these drinks out to the people in high limits. Just be polite and don't take anything they say personally, they are jerks ..But not as bad as Mr. Henderson.”

\tCassy followed Amy out on the floor as they made their way to the high limits area, Cassy could feel the stares as she walked the floor. When they got to the small group Amy piped up in a cheery voice “Hey guys here we go sorry it took so long it was a lot of drinks.” Amy motioned to Cassy with a smile “Teachin' a new kid the ropes. This is Cassy it is her first day here cute ain't she? Anyhow lets see you three had diet coke and you two had sprite aaaannnd you had the root beer right?”

\tOne of the guests looked at Cassy and smiled “Your first day hu? Well good luck kid, here your first tip” The guy pulled out a hundred  from his wallet and put it on Cassy's tray before going back to the game. Amy and Cassy collected empty glasses and walked back to the server area where Cassy just stared at the hundred like it was a bar of solid gold.

\t“Amy? Um do I get to keep this?”

\tAmy grinned “Hey don't get too cocky he gives all new people a hundred for their first tip, but yea you get to keep any tips you make.”

\tCassy cheered happily and hoped up and down in excitement for a second before she blushed and looked at the ground sheepishly “Sorry this is just well..It will help a lot for rent. I didn't think I got to keep tips too this is a great job!”

\tAmy hugged Cassy and patted her on the back “Hey it's okay but just know that sometimes you won't get any tips and sometimes you get big ones. Just do your job, stay happy and smile a lot and you will do fine. And if anyone messes with ya you tell me so I can bust in a few teeth epically if it is David. Oh and one thing to remember is that when you see the guys with blue jump suits you should give them some bottled water but always ask the security before you walk up to the cart because trust me they will even tackle us if we approach without permission. But the guys will love ya forever if you bring them water.” Amy and Cassy spent the rest of the night at the bar learning how to mix drinks and how to fill out tickets.

\tWhen Cassy got home she ran into the room and straight up to Lana “Hey Lana! I have my part of the rent already!” Cassy handed over her hundred dollars with a grin

\tLana saw Cassy almost bowl over Duke, the wolf roommate, as he was leaving for his job and then smiled as the smaller feline handed over the hundred dollars. “Wow Cass what did you do at that casino to get a hundred dollars?” Lana teased Cassy but hugged her as she put the hundred dollars with the rest of the rent money “Now we just have to wait for Champ and Sarah to get paid and we will have rent I got us a few extra days to pay it from the landlord so we should be okay till Friday.

\tCassy looked up at the lioness with eyes that would put a puppy to shame “Lana...can I bring a friend over sometime? She is great she helped me at work and is a good person please? Please let me bring someone over I promise I will help clean up and even do the dishes!”

\tLana cocked an eyebrow and twitched her tail as she thought to her self that Cassy must really want her friend over because Cassy hated the dishes more than just about anything. “You sure Cass? I know how much you hate doing the dishes and getting your hands wet with the dish water. Is your friend a morph?”

\tCassy cringed knowing how much Lana disliked humans. “Nooo But she is a great person I know you will like her, she is not like a normal human trust me!” Cassy looked up at her friend hoping against hope that she would say yes. Lana had been the one to get everyone together and get the apartment they had so she had been named the pack leader. If someone wanted to do something that involved the apartment it had to pass through Lana and get her approval. Everyone knew that she normally said yes But out of respect they still asked her.

\tLana's tail lashed in aggravation as she looked down at Cassy “you know what I think about humans Cassy and you ask to bring one here? She must be a saint for you to ask that, however I still do not like or trust humans. Be that as it may, I will not let that get in the way of you having a friend at work. So I will say yes..on the condition that you clean up the house and you bring her over when I am not around. Do that and I will have no problem with you inviting her over.”

\tCassy hugged Lana and danced off to take a shower and get ready to go to bed. Cassy stepped into the shower letting the water soak through her fur and wash out the lingering smoke smell. As the water slid down her body she leaned back against the shower wall and thought about the day. It had been great She had paid rent already, made a friend at work, and had convinced Lana to allow her to bring her friend over. Now was the hard part, Inviting Amy to a house full of morphs.

DAY 2

\tCassy was late to work the next day.  Having missed the buss, She had called in at a payphone and was told to just get to work as soon as she could. When she finaly made it to work she ran to get her uniform and found every pocket full of catnip. She sighed and dumped her pockets out into the garbage and quickly changed and ran to her station. Amy was there making some drinks when Cassy ran in and quickly looked around to find something to help with. Amy looked over her shoulder and frowned “Late on your second day that is not good kitty I like you and I don't want to see you fired.”

\tCassy frowned and started to gather up a few glasses in the room and wipe down the counters “Sorry Amy I missed the buss. Some humans shoved me back out as the door shut so I had to wait for the next one. So what's new tonight?”

\tAmy stared at Cassy for a bit then shook her head “Well we have high limits again tonight so I think we will do good on tips. One of the security said that one of our whales are here they tend to tip very well! Once, a whale tipped me three hundred dollars for two sodas and a bag of chips. That was a good night. Oh and you never call them whales ever!”

\tCassy giggled. “Why are they fat? Huge blobs that sit there and do nothing but  pump money into the machines?”

\tAmy laughed and shook her head “Naw it is just a code we use here that stands for high rollers the answer is yes now what is the question kinda people.” Amy handed Cassy a tray and started stacking drinks on it. “Okay here we go as you were late you get to carry more” Amy grinned and picked up her tray and started out to high limits. As they walked out and entered the high limits room one player looked over and rather loudly started complaining.

\t“What the hell is going on here this place is hiring animals now. And it is carrying drinks HA! What a joke It better not get any fleas on me. Hey everyone guard your drinks fleas might jump into them. Or it might shed all over your clothes!”

\tCassy sighed to herself and tried to ignore what the human was saying. It wasn’t the worst she has heard, But it still stings a bit to hear it. She walked up next to Amy after she was done handing out the drinks and the human called to her.

\t“Hey cat get over here you gave me the wrong drink. Look at that, the thing is so stupid it can’t get a drink right. Stupid mangy flea bag get over here!”

\tThe human was yelling so loud that even people that were not in the High limits area stopped to stare. Cassy lowered her ears and walked up to the human. He stood up towering over her and started yelling incoherently about the drink and how she was so stupid and each time she tried to apologies he screamed even louder for her to shut up. Just when she thought it couldn’t get more embarrassing , two security guards came rushing in. they stood between her and the guest as one of the guards looked down at her with a friendly smile.

\t“Hey sorry it took so long. We will take care of this guy. Just go back to work, if we need too we will come talk to you.”

\tCassy nodded and as she turned to leave the guest threw his drink on her screaming for her to make it right this time. Cassy hissed under her breath and Amy quickly dragged her off to the lockers the whole time saying she was sorry. When they got there Cassy looked down at the mess her uniform was now and sat down on a bench with a defeated sigh.

\t“Well there goes my first paycheck..right out the window for cleaning..First I was late then I get a drink tossed on me..and I wasn’t even at a club. What a great day!”

\tCassy rested her head in her hands on the verge of tears from the frustration today with the humans pushing her off the buss and now this. She looked up as she felt Amy place her arm over her shoulders and sit beside her.

\t“Hey Kitty no worries, It will get better. Besides we just get you a clean uniform and I can take that home and clean it for you free of charge!”

\tCassy looked up with shock that turned to delight “you would do that for me? You would clean my uniform?”

\tAmy laughed and patted Cassy’s back “Course I would fuzzy you’re my friend that’s what friends do! And hey..where do you live? If people are going to make you late and push you off the buss, maybe I can pick you up. Give me a few bucks for gas from time to time and I would love to…..If you are not too far away.”

\tCassy almost hugged Amy until she realized that she was still soaked from the soda dumped on her. She sat up and straddled the bench so she could face Amy and happily told her that she lived in the older section of town, the part that even bums don’t go to it is so old. She told her how to get to the house and to ignore the stupid rat on the corner if he is there. After she finished Cassy looked down and then started to take off her shirt “I hope they have one that fits me so I can finish the night.”

\tAmy stared a second as Cassy took off her top before jumping up and starting to open her locker “I ..um well I have one It might fit I think” Amy tossed the shirt to Cassy and admired her fur coloring part of her wondering what it would be like to hug it. That thought quickly died as Amy mentally kicked herself for think that…Cassy laughed and looked at Amy as the sleeves were too long and the shirt was a bit big on her. They spent the next few moments trying to tuck here and there to make it fit. They then spent the rest of the night away from high limits as the guest was still there and still complaining.

Is that a date?

\tCassy woke up to Nessa, a young mouse girl, shaking her awake “Caaaaasy CAASSY! Wake up some human is at the door for you! She has neat blue hair! Cassy get up!” Cassy almost flew to the door and opened it so she could peek out as she was only in her fur. “Amy?! What are you doing here? It is Saturday I don’t work.”

\tAmy nodded “Yea…But um…well I have the day of and I was thinking that maybe you, I mean if you’re not busy, well do you want to go see a movie or something? My treat! We can talk about work and stuff on the ride there.”

\tCassy thought a moment then nodded as she opened the door and ran to her bedroom as fast as she could. Amy smiled as she caught a glimpse of her colorful tail streak around a corner. She was pulled from the doorstep by a grey mouse girl that was even shorter than Cassy. This girl didn’t look over nine years old, well at least; she was as tall as one. The girl held out her paw and smiled.

\t“I’m Nessa, Cassy’s best friend we are almost like sisters, though she is like six years  older than me. And No I am not a kid I am 15 that is not a kid!…Just I am a mouse so I am small. I am in high school a mostly human school! It is kinda hard but I got lots of friends.” Nessa looked around and swung open her arms encompassing the tiny two bedroom flat they lived in “What do you think? Lana, Cassy, and myself sleep in the room. Duke, Sarah, and Tala sleep out here in the living room... and Nook sleeps on the stove, he is kind of weird in a funny way, He says the floor is disgusting to sleep on…so he sleeps on the stove…” Nessa saw Amy’s confusion and laughed “yea it makes us wonder too”

\tCassy came back out of the room and looked down at Nessa with a playful glare “Did she annoy you too much? She likes to talk to people any one that will listen to her stories, sometimes it seems as if she could talk for days without taking a breath”

\tNessa stuck out her tongue at Cassy then grinned at Amy “Well you two have fun! Hey Cass bring back some of your popcorn kay?”

\tCassy nodded and walked out to Amy’s car. Cassy’s jaw dropped when she saw that Amy was driving a shiny new purple Dodge Viper. Cassy looked up at Amy in absolute admiration and awe “that is yours?!” She walked around the car almost afraid to breathe on it, let alone get into it. “Amy..I don’t want to get my fur on the seats. I do shed a little even if I brush every day.”

\tAmy giggled “It’s no big deal I can always use a lint brush or something. Climb in Kitty we have to catch a movie… Oh yes it is mine…but my dad bought it for me I just pay for insurance.”

\tCassy slid into the leather seats and purred in delight Amy looked over and tried not to laugh out loud “I guess you really like the seats? I didn’t know you could actually purr that is cool!”

\tCassy blushed a little although Amy didn’t catch it  “Yea..Um..I can purr when I am happy or feel good or just whenever. It’s a cat thing”

\tAmy smiled and playfully shoved Cassy “I like it, it sounds neat”

\tAmy and Cassy arrived at the theater and made their way in line looking to see what movies were playing. They both excitedly agreed to watch a horror movie and when they went to get the tickets the ticket master looked down at Cassy and frowned.

\t“They can’t use this entrance. They come in on the side so get your tickets and make sure it goes around.”

\tAmy glared and bought the tickets and handed Cassy one after giving the finger to the ticket master. “Hey I’ll meet you inside at the popcorn counter okay?”

\tCassy nodded and went around the side of the building to find the door. After a good time looking for the door she finally found it and made her way to the lobby. Cassy searched a little until she found Amy and they got their popcorn and went into the theater.  As the movie started Amy leaned over and whispered “It’s okay if you get scared and jump on me I heard this is a very scary movie. Hey so don’t get mad if I am the one scared...I love scary movies just for the fact that they scare me!”

\tCassy giggled “I won’t get mad. But I do not scare easily so you will be the one jumping! Ha!”

As the lights dimmed and the movie started Cassy looked over at Amy and thought to herself how lucky she was to have a human friend, especially someone as nice as her. As the movie progressed Cassy and Amy scooted closer and closer to each other in the seats and after one particular heart stopping scare Cassy felt Amy grab her hand and hold it tightly. Cassy looked up at her and smiled sheepishly as they laughed a little and finished watching the movie holding hands the rest of the time.

\tAfter the movie Cassy reluctantly let go of Amy’s hand as they got up and headed to the car. On the way back Cassy had fallen asleep and Amy smiled and drove her home. When they got home She shook Cassy gently “Hey Cassy, Wake up we are back sleepy head.”

\tCassy opened her eyes and looked around sleepily then smiled and got out of the car stumbling a little “I am very tired, Thank you for a great time I will see you at work.” With that she stumbled up the broken walkway and went inside.

\tCassy was immediately bombarded with questions from Nessa

“Hey did you have fun? Is she nice? Do you like her? Is she coming back? Is she going to be friends with us? Hey you look tired are you going to bed without giving me the details of the date?”

\tCassy palmed Nessa’s head and glared at her in sleepy anger “Yes I am going to bead I work tomorrow. Yes she is nice and… well I don’t think it was a date date. She just took me to a movie. Now let me sleep and quit being so nosey” Cassy walked into the room and stepped over to the bed and fell beside Lana and drifted off to a deep peaceful sleep.

Late & Luck

\tThe next day Cassy got to work late again and ran into her boss when she got there.

\t“Cassy this is the second day in a row you are late… is there a problem getting here?”

\tCassy sighed and looked at the ground her ears pinned back in embarrassment.

\t“Well sir umm I take the buss and we have to sit in the back. And wait till all the humans get off before we do. Yesterday someone pushed me off the buss and I had to wait for the other one. Today they wouldn’t let me off the buss and I had to walk from the third stop past the casino when they finally had had enough fun hearing me beg to be let off the buss. I… I know that it is an excuse Sir but that is what happened.”

\tHer boss nodded “Well get ready and go to work we will figure something out as soon as we can. I don’t want my servers late.”

\tCassy walked into the serving station and was greeted by Dave and his always present attitude.

\t“Late again, had a cat nap you had to finish? We do have a lot of work to do here”

\tCassy just shoved past him and started to grab her things to start work. Once out on the floor she was happy to find out that she didn’t have high limits, but the tables. They tended to tip more. As she was walking around she saw Amy and waved. Amy smiled and waved back before heading into high limits. Cassy turned to see a young lady calling her over. She walked up to the table and smiled

\t“Hello Ma’am how can I help you?”

\tThe lady smiled a bit as she looked at the name tag “You like the job here Cassy? They pay ya good? Oh sorry I guess you can’t say that stuff. I work at another Casino But um..hey could you get me a coke? And put some cherries in it?”

\tCassy nodded with a grin “yes ma’am I like my job here and sure I will get the drink right away. Would you like some chips or anything with it?”

\tThe lady nodded “Sure some salt and vinegar chips. Crazy but I love the two tastes of them You know the sweet cherry and then the tang of the vinegar it is great you should try it!”

\tCassy smiled “maybe I will. I will be right back with your drink and chips Ma’am”

A few moments later Cassy came back and handed over the drink and chips. The lady handed her money for the drink and then placed a hundred dollar chip on her tray.

 “here you go I won big on that last hand your good luck! Can you stick around? Well guess not there are others...But come back in a while so I can order more drinks from you Cassy okay?”

\tCassy nodded and smiled from ear to ear “yes ma’am! I would love to do that I will check back in a few. Cassy darted off and made her way to the service area and set down her tray and picked up the chip here eyes gleaming with excitement. That one chip could really help the house. It could keep the lights on or get food…all sorts of things. Maybe she could even buy a phone! Cassy looked up and gripped her chip tightly as she heard someone coming around the corner. She smiled when she saw it was Amy and excitedly ran up showing off her chip.

“LOOK! Look what I got! A player at the poker table in my area gave it to me, she wants me to come back later she said I am good luck! “

Cassy danced around Amy like an excited school girl until she saw Amy shaking her head. Amy smiled a little and put a hand on her shoulder looking into her bright green eyes then laughed as she couldn’t hold the disappointed look any longer.

“Hey that’s cool nice tip but just remember, you don’t want to be labeled as good luck. If you are and then they have bad luck when you are around they tend to blame you and get all mad. Trust me kitty I have had that happen a few times. When you go back out there make sure you mention that you are not the luck and that she has all the luck in her or something like that.”

Just then the boss walked in and smiled to them both, a smile that meant something was up and that it might not be good.

“Hey just the two I was looking for. Amy you know that Cassy was late again right?” he didn’t give them time to answer but continued quickly. “Right well I looked at where you two live and it seems that you both are not that far away. As it seems you two are getting along great I have a suggestion. Well more like a way to keep your job Cassy and not be pushed around. I would hate to have to let you go because of other people. Now as I was saying, Amy would you be too upset if I asked you to pick up Cassy on your way to work? We can change her schedule to match yours it is only a day,  and a few hour change for her.” He looked at Cassy who already had a big smile and was clutching her chip like it was made of gold. “Of course you will have to give her gas money I am sure But it is cheaper than the buss I think. The day change is only that you will have Sunday and Monday off instead of Friday and Saturday. The hours changed will be that you come in two hours earlier. Is that okay with you both?”

Cassy and Amy looked at each other and nodded with big smiles. Their boss smiled and quickly went about other work. Cassy grinned and hugged Amy again “Thanks! This will be great I don’t have to ride the buss and worry if I will make it to work...or make it home unscathed! This is great I can ride with you and give you gas money or something and then I won’t ever be late again…unless that is if you get sick or something…But then I still have the bus.”

Cassy almost broke down the door that evening when Amy dropped her off. She raced to the room and grabbed her buss ticket book and grinned at it evilly as she sat down in the middle of the floor and started to shred every other ticket.

Nessa walked in and dropped her bag in front of Cassy and plopped down on it watching her tear up the vouchers.

“Why are you doing that? Did you quit? Did they fire you? Because if they did that sucks because it was a good job and if they fired you then that means that I have to get a job. Then I can’t go to school, I like going to classes…even if I get picked on by almost everyone I still like learning!”

Cassy reached up and clamped Nessa’s muzzle shut with a grin “No I didn’t get fired. Amy is going to take me to work. Now we can save money too I don’t have to pay for the dumb things. I am keeping some just incase there is a problem.”

Nessa giggled a bit “So… do you like her?”

Cassy looked up “Well yea she is a good friend, why?”

“No...no I meant you know…like, like are you going to ask her out?”

Cassy looked at Nessa in shock and shook her head

“No way she is a human, that is nuts, what are you thinking? Do you think I want to be laughed at? Or to have her made fun of? Nope not going to happen…Besides… you really think she has any interest in me? We are just friends that’s it period the end so shut up okay? Jeeesh High schooler’s…”

Nessa grinned a bit and started to pull out her homework as she watched Cassy out of the corner of her eyes. After a while she sighed exasperatedly and closed her book turning and frowning at Cassy “Okay look. I can see it you do like her and you’re scared to say it. Don’t try and deny it I am in high school I see it all the time. Just well you could ask her and the worst she will do is say no. I mean she did take you out to a movie and such … that is a date. Now she also gets to take you to work, a great time to talk to her!”

Cassy shook her head and shoved Nessa over “Shut up and get out! I have to get ready for bed so I can get up earlier so Amy can pick me up.” Cassy went to sleep thinking about Amy and laughing to herself at how absurd it would be to ask…

Meeting Lana.

\tAmy arrived at Cassy’s place early the next morning and knocked on the door. After a few moments of waiting she knocked a little louder and the door opened a crack and a pair of blue eyes looked out at her sleepily. Tala leaned her head out the door and looked up at this human with a bit of confusion. “Who are you and what do you want? Do you have any idea what time it is?” Even though Tala was a raccoon and nocturnal, her job was during the day so she had forced her sleep schedule to match and hated being woken up early because she could never get back to sleep. Amy smiled a little nervously “Sorry to wake you up..I am here for Cassy..I am her ride to work I am Amy.” Tala looked up  at Amy again and then opened the door to let her in. “Oh..it’s you. Okay I will get her up you are early.”

While the raccoon walked in back Amy looked around at the place a little more. She saw three shapes in the dark and when her eyes adjusted she found out that one of them was a pile of sheets where the raccoon must have been and the other two were more sleepers. She saw a wolf sprawled out on the couch with the blanket almost falling off and a sleek otter starting to sit up. The otter yelped in alarm to see some unknown human standing in the room. The yelp made the wolf spring up and fall off the couch looking around and then he growled a little seeing Amy. Amy backed up a little in alarm and felt someone behind her. She turned and saw a large lioness towering over her “What exactly are you doing in our home human?”

\tAmy looked up at the lioness and smiled a bit nervously “I am here for Cassy I am her ride to work. I guess I am a little early. The raccoon let me in…”

\tLana growled a little and clenched her fists, “That Raccoon has a name human…you should learn it if you are going to be here every day. “ With that Lana turned and shoved past Amy and walked down the hall. Amy looked back and saw the otter and wolf looking at her after a moment the wolf just yawned and flopped back onto the couch while the otter got up and walked past Amy. Amy couldn’t help but notice that the otter girl was completely nude and didn’t seem to care much that Amy was there. She watched the otter walk down to the back of the apartment and into a room. A few moments later Nessa came walking out into the living room and then smiled up at Amy as she tossed her backpack on, “Hey Amy…stay clear of Lana..the lioness…she hates humans. She might tear you up before you get a chance to tell her why you are here.”

\tAmy nodded, “ Yea I got that from her when she confronted me a moment ago, hey what is taking Cassy so long? Oh..and um..as I may be here a lot…is it normal for the otter woman to walk around naked?”

\tNessa shrugged, “you try sharing one bathroom with seven furs…it takes a while sometimes. And yea Sarah always walks around like that we don’t care much. Sometimes you even see furs walking outside in just their fur, clothes get annoying for some of us and we don’t see not wearing them as being naked as much as humans do. Cassy nodded and fidgeted a little before she looked back down to Nessa.

\t“Why does Lana hate humans so much?”

\tNessa blinked a moment and then shrugged and then looked around before she whispered.

\t“I think humans hurt her family or something. I overheard her talking to Cass after the first day you were here” Nessa paused and then snuck in “You know when you took her on the date.”

\tAmy looked at Nessa with a hurt expression and shook her head a little in disgust.

\t“I can’t understand why people treat you all like this; Pushing Cassy off the bus, hurting Lana’s family, teasing you at school. Why can’t people see you for the beautiful creatures you are. I mean Sarah is a sleek and beautiful otter, who I bet could out swim any human hands down, Cassy is a smart friendly beautiful cat.” She looked down at Nessa with a friendly smirk “And you Nessa could out talk any politician or auctioneer in a heartbeat.”

\tLana pushed off the doorframe she was leaning on and walked down the hall towards Amy looking all the more a huntress stalking her prey.

\t“Humans fear what they do not understand. They are stupid, ignorant, self absorbed, loathsome, cowardly beings. The military created the first of us, and now that we are free they hate us. My father fought for your freedoms in the last world war. My mother was an army medic and patched up plenty humans in her time. They were murdered by a group of morph hating punks. Beat down and skinned alive. I was three years old when that happened. The only thing that saved me was the sound of cop cars. They were not even coming to help us; they were coming to arrest us for being in the rich side of town.”

Lana stopped right in front of Amy and loomed over her staring her in the eyes.

\t“Now Amy, tell me why I shouldn’t hate humans?”

Amy stood there tears streaming down her face out of sadness and fear. As she was about to say something, Lana just pushed past her and out the door.

\tCassy came down the hall a few moments later and looked around a little at everyone just looking so shocked. She walked up to Amy and saw the tears and then quickly wiped them away for her.

\t“Amy, what’s wrong? What happened? I was in the shower I am sorry I was so long. Are you okay?”

\tAmy nodded slowly still a bit shocked at Lana.

\t“I know why Lana hates me. And I don’t blame her. Hope I am not that much of a bother to you all. I can wait outside if it makes less drama in your house.”

\tCassy shook her head a little and sighed “I am not sure even that would help with Lana. But maybe if you show her you’re not so bad it will make things easier”

\tCassy and Amy walked to the car and headed to the casino in silence.

Birthday troubles.

Cassy woke up to her alarm clock going off and wanted to throw it against the wall herself. She reached out and shut it off and curled up in a ball shivering even though it was not cold in the room. She opened her eyes and saw that the room was empty so she got up out of bed. When she stood up she regretted that in an instant as her vision blurred and she felt herself falling but could do nothing to stop herself, it was as if she was in a dream and floating to the ground. Although she heard herself hit the ground she was too dizzy and out of it to do anything about it as she collapsed.

Cassy opened her eyes to see bright lights above her and felt water all around her, very cold water. She tried to get up and a hand held her back and Lana spoke softly, though it still rang in her ears.

\t“Stay in there Cass you’re sick. You passed out when you woke up Duke heard you hit the floor and you were out when he got there. We called a doctor from the payphone, He is on the way and we needed to get your temperature down so..you’re in an ice bath.”

Cassy looked towards the voice and smiled a bit as Lana’s face came into focus. She looked past Lana a moment to see most of her other roommates watching from in the doorway. Cassy hugged herself in the water and laid her head back against the back of the tub and sighed “What a great start to my birthday”

Later, after the doctor had visited and informed her that she indeed was rather sick, but that it was not life threatening so long as her temperature stayed down she was soaking in a second ice bath when there was a knock at the bathroom door. Cassy laughed a bit “hey you guys don’t gotta knock it’s not like ya haven’t seen me naked before.”

\tCassy looked up and then eeped in surprise and instantly started to blush and try to hide in the bathtub as Amy came into the room.

“What are you doing here? Lana is home did she see you? Does she know you are here?”

Amy looked at the floor sheepishly as she walked in on her naked friend. “Happy birthday Cassy. Tala said you were sick…but I came anyhow, thought you could use cheering up. And yes Lana told me that I was allowed in only because you were sick and we are friends, well she said you and I are friends..I guess she still hates me, anyhow I got you a present”

Amy sat down beside the tub and handed Cassy a small wrapped box. She watched as Cassy shook it a little and turned it this way and that while she tried to figure out what it was. Amy could not help but marvel at how beautiful her friend was wondering how sick she was and thinking of asking her out to dinner when she was better. Amy mentally shook her head at that, and thinking to herself

“What if she doesn’t like me as more than just a friend? That might mess things up if she thinks I like her. She may back off and I don’t want to lose her as a friend, but a harmless dinner I’ll ask her!”

Cassy gave up trying to guess what the gift was and leaned against the edge of the tub facing Amy as she tore into the package and her eyes got bright as she saw that the gift was a real Iphone!! Cassy looked up at Amy who was grinning ear to ear.

“You like it Cass? I figured you didn’t have a phone sooo.” Amy fidgeted a bit nervously “Um it has a three year plan on it that I paid for so you don’t have to worry about making payments or anything. Aaannd check this out!”

Amy reached over and touched a few buttons on the screen and a picture of Amy’s blue haired smiling face showed up as wallpaper for her phone.

Cassy squealed in joy and leaned out of the tub hugging Amy before she even realized she was doing it. A moment later Cassy sunk back into the tub blushing deeply and stammering a sorry.

“I…I am so sorry…I forgot…I mean with the phone…Oh wait we can dry that here…I am sure that one of us has a shirt you can wear!”

Cassy laughed a little as she was now soaked and hugged Cassy back not minding getting a little wet from Cassy’s hugging. She held Cassy at arm’s length and smiled shaking tiny bit with nervous jitters as she worked up the nerve to ask her about dinner.

“Cassy I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner when you get better”

“Cassy giggled a little “Well of course and maybe some breakfast and lunch too. Why wouldn’t I want to eat? I am not that sick you know. Just a little sick and as long as I relax and stay cool I will be fine.

Amy blushed a bit. “Oh no… I meant with me, you know as a glad you’re better dinner thing?”

It was Cassy’s turn to blush now as it sunk in that this was almost a date. She nodded slowly with a grin and then gave her another wet hug.

\t“I would love to go.”

The Dinner.

A few weeks later Cassy was fidgeting in the seat of Amy’s car in her only dress. A sleek emerald dress she found at good will and fixed up to look nice. Cassy looked out of the car nervously when they pulled into one of the most expensive, and fancy restaurants in the city.

Amy smiled over at her friend and climbed out of the car in her silk silver and blue evening gown. When Cassy had first laid eyes on it she was captivated. Not just because it was shiny but because of the way the dress hugged Amy’s every curve, accenting her beauty a hundred fold in her eyes. Cassy had decided then and there that she was nowhere near as dressed for the occasion Amy had planned…no matter how much Amy complemented her on her own dress.

Cassy followed Amy up to the doors and shrunk a little from the looks of disgust from rich patrons leaving the place. She and Amy reached the maitre d’, he looked at Cassy and quickly walked over and started shooing her away like a common house cat.

“shoo…Shoo get out..what are you doing here, leave this instant!!”

Cassy just looked up at the man and reached out taking Amy’s hand in her paw.

“I will not leave. I came here to have dinner with my friend. We have reservations so you have to seat us”

The man looked repulsed as he saw the two holding hands and he turned his nose up at them both as a crowd started to slowdown and form for the spectacle. He looked around a little at the growing crowd and sneered at them both.

“You think that because you and your uncivilized blue haired punk friend have reservations, that I have to allow a flea bitten, ugly, freak of nature, piece of gutter trash into this fine, clean, well mannered establishment? I think not!”

The man leaned down and stared into Cassy’s eyes with hate, burning into her soul. She could almost feel his utter distain for her kind dripping off of every word from his  minty fresh mouth.

“If you do not leave, I will call the police on your friend…and the pound on you.”

Amy turned around and almost dragged Cassy back down the steps grumbling under her breath as they headed for the car.

“stupid, loud mouthed, egotistical, brain dead … Hope he loses his job.. telling Cassy she is..ohh if I didn’t want to ruin the day I would soo go back and beat the tar out of that pompous windbag!”

Cassy giggled a little and blushed softly at Amy’s reaction; no one had ever said things like that about her or stood up for her even if it was as they walked away. Cassy squeezed Amy’s hand a little tighter and looked u pat her.

“You do know I can hear every word you are grumbling. It’s okay we can find another place where they will serve us.”

Amy looked over sheepishly and then shrugged with a bit of a sigh.

“I had made plans and everything. I had the table near the ocean view windows.”

Cassy thought a moment and then smiled “Go to a Wal-Mart I have an idea”

After a few hours at Wal-Mart and a drive to the beach, Cassy and Amy were lounging in the sand in bikinis soaking in the sun and ocean air. Cassy looked over and grinned before she rolled onto her side and gave Amy a big hug.

“Thanks for helping me Amy. I don’t know what I would have done without your help these last few months.”

Amy smiled and hugged back enjoying the feel of Cassy’s warm velvety soft fur against her skin. Amy reached up and ran a finger along one of Cassy’s ears and smiled to her as she watched her friend shiver with delight.

“I like helping you kitty. You are a good friend of mine. I would do anything for you, you know that right?”

Cassy nodded and then hopped up and grabbed the hotdogs as the sun started to dip down below the ocean. “Time for hotdogs!”

The two spent the rest of the evening talking about work, and how sick she was and playing with the Iphone Amy had bought her as they ate hotdogs and made a few crude jokes about them laughing the night away.

Of Coke and Friends.

Cassy was at work doing her rounds when she saw the hard count team for the first time. She had always seemed to miss them, but this time they were working in her zone. She watched them a few minutes and then went on her way until she remembered something Amy had told her about them. She turned around to ask them if they wanted water just in time to knock Juan over as he had an arm load of money boxes for the machines. Cassy dropped her tray and tried to catch the boxes before they landed on him but cringed when she missed and they all tumbled down around him. Juan looked up at her and started to mumble about watching where she was going and other hateful words. Cassy stood there a moment and then let her ears drop and turned to leave when she felt a hand on her shoulder.  Cassy turned a little and saw another hardcount man and this one was smiling as he leaned in close and whispered.

\t“Don’t worry too much about Juan, he can be a jerk when he gets like that. Besides he should have been looking where he was going too. You’re Cassy right? I heard about on you’re first day. Everyone was talking about the cat. Oh and I’m Mark by the way, you ever need someone to talk.I am all ears. Though, not as all ears as you are I would wager.”

Mark grinned a bit as he looked back at Juan waving him back.

“I have to go but it would be awesome if you could get us all some soda..with cherries in em.”

Mark gave a comical pleading smile and folded his hands in prayer as he pouted and then laughed as he flashed a goofy grin and turned back to the others.

“Cassy is going to get us some drinks!”

Cassy went back and got the drinks together and walked back out on the floor to deliver them. She made her way to the team dodging a few players and then walked up to security to tell them she had drinks. The guard called a halt to the drop so everyone could get their drink.

 Juan nodded as he took his and walked over to a machine that was acting up to drink it. And mark followed and leaned on her shoulder as he drank and chatted as they rested.

\t“Soooo how do you like it so far at the casino Cassy?”

Cassy handed out drinks to the security members who were quite shocked, as no other server ever remembered them. She smiled at mark with a happy twitch of her tail.

\t“Well so far it is okay, I mean I have had a few rough spots but Amy is helping me out.”

Mark nodded and finished the drink and then went back to work and Cassy went back to her area to cover.

\tWhen lunch rolled around Cassy was beat. Amy had called in sick, which made Cassy glad she kept some of the bus tickets, and she had been working their area with no help. Cassy ignored a few of the muttered comments she heard and just wondered if they knew she could hear them clear as day. She sat in the back corner away from everyone and plunked her head down on the table. After a few moments she heard someone coming up to her table. She folded her ears back and wished they would just go away.

\tMark smiled awkwardly as Cassy’s look was one that would kill a charging hippo as he walked up to her table.

\t“I guess it would be a bad idea to ask if you wanted company?”

\tCassy jumped and quickly changed her mood when she saw who it was. She smiled and shook her head quickly and motioned to the empty seat.

\t“Sorry, I just didn’t know it was you. I thought you were someone else bringing me a can of tuna or a carton of milk.”

\tMark sat down and looked honestly perplexed as Cassy explained her previous look. He grinned and grabbed an imaginary pen and notepad.

\t“Tuna bad check! How about meow mix?”

\tMark grinned playfully and held out his hands in a calming gesture, even though Cassy was already snickering a bit.

\t“Ya Meow mix is mostly sawdust anyhow. Iams would be much better, and not the dry food, canned wet food is better. I can spread it between bread.”

\tNow it was marks turn to look at her funny. He leaned close and whispered  “You don’t really eat cat food do you? I mean I guess it would be okay..but weird..because you talk and stuff.”

\tCassy rolled her expressive eyes and grinned at Mark.

\t“Humans are so strange at times. No I don’t eat catfood, I do not lick myself, I do not run from dogs, and I do not use a litter box. Any other questions I failed to answer?”

\tMark leaned back a bit hurt at that response as he was trying to make a joke “Sorry I didn’t think you would take that seriously.”

\tCassy let out an exasperated sigh and laid her head in her paws again.

\t“Sorry Mark I am just so used to snapping off sarcastic responses just to shut humans up that it is second nature to me. Every day I have to deal with humans making fun of me, pushing me off busses, not letting me in a building, filling my uniform with catnip. It may look like I take it in stride, but inside it still hurts. All I want is to do my job and make it home safe. Sometimes that is hard to accomplish.”

\tMark nodded a little as he listened and then gave her a hug around her shoulders.

\t“Well I will always be a friend. I think you are just fine.”

At that moment David walked by and laughed at the two.

\t“Aww how cute, you two make a perfect couple. A bleeding heart animal lover..and..a pussy cat that thinks it’s human.”

Cassy balled up her fists and then slowly stood up looking a little more menacing than norma, as she slowly turned and stalked upto him. “listen here you bag of hot air… I don’t know what youhave against me but I bust my tail out here twice as hard as you do to make my pay. I bring drinks, food, and collect the glasses just like you. But see for me I have to listen to insults and rude remarks every single night. My kind died for this country so cowardly pukes like yourself wouldn’t have to..and all you can do is poke fun at me and someone who can actually see that I am more than just a morph? You really are a sad little man aren’t you?”

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