SelisSculpts Commission: Banking On Success

Story by T04stm4n on SoFurry

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#1 of Commissions

A commission for SelisSculpts on FA of their blue jay June beginning to see herself shoot up her bank firm's corporate ladder after going to bed one night, skipping years and clothing sizes along the way. Will she become more tyrannical as she ascends up the corporate ladder, or will her softer side begin to peek out? Maybe both?

Thank you again for SelisSculpts for their commission, and hit him up if you got a character you'd think would be great for the type of sculpting/3D modelling the legend does. Likewise, I've got my commissions open on Fur Affinity if you'd have a story idea you'd like to suggest! Comments are appreciated as always.


June huffed as she set the folder with the latest customer details down, tapping her keyboard to send life back into her desktops black screen to research the best investing opportunities. In the corner of the screen, the clock ticked to 4pm as the workday was supposed to be winding down, her chair making a small amount of noise as she plopped her rear down in the seat, briefly complaining about her weight. She didn't need that today, not when what was supposed to be a free afternoon had been taken from her. Make no mistake, she had already done her share of the work today but with the leopard that sat in the cubicle across from her having to leave early because he was sick, it meant she had to pick up the slack.

Ngh, typical. She had to pick up all the work again, she yawned. The chubby, 26 year-old blue-jay didn't know how long she'd be stuck at an entry-level analyst position, but she knew she had to be worth more than this. Bryant had practically deserved the shit she'd given him when he'd had the gall to stop June on her lunch break and ask her to pick up for him!

...Well not really. Under the yellow and black-ringed fur, June could practically see how pale he was. Almost looked like he was gonna puke right then and there. The blue bird might've...felt a little bad for him as he meekly asked if she knew anyone willing to pick up the slack for him. He and everyone else watching couldn't know that though, so she'd lashed out at him for the "laziness" to try and skimp out on his share of client duties. She already had a reputation for getting on people anyway, so it wasn't like it would be out of nowhere. As that period had ended and the guilt had set in, she had doubled back around his desk to see if he had actually left the file there before leaving. If he didn't do his part, that reflected on the rest of them as the newest hire, of course. Whatever reputation she was trying to build couldn't be stained just because one person got sick.

Yeah, that was why she was doing this.

For all the concern June buried, the fear of getting used as a stepping stone for it by everyone else was a lot stronger. Keeping her guard up and shoving it down meant she had the best shot of moving upwards, even if she didn't necessarily like it sometimes. Still, she needed to let it out of the cage of the self-sure, rigid personality June kept up, even if it wasn't exactly "pretending" sometimes. You didn't get far in the industry by being "nice", the associates barking orders at them to get the numbers for their client projects were proof of that.

And she'd already been passed over for a promotion too! One that she was almost sure was hers. June huffed again as she noted down the portfolio performances listed on screen before she copied it down to a different excel document comparing the numbers for projected increases for the separate investments in each of their accounts, repeating the process back and forth as the clock ticked away into the night. But was keeping it around worth being left by the wayside...? June shook her head. There had to be some other way, her pride refused to have her discard a part of herself to get ahead.

She'd think about it later.

Mmph. June pushed through the door to her ratty one bedroom living space, her mass making the door bounce off the wall before she reached out with an exhausted arm to close it behind her. Coming back to her apartment at one in the morning, the chubby blue jay was firmly and totally exhausted after she had finished getting the investment numbers together and leaving them on Bryants desk.

When he got back, the leopard probably wouldn't know who had picked up after him, but he damn well better be grateful for it nonetheless. She dropped her purse next to the couch, planting herself on the bed, June felt herself indent the mattress as her form sank into it. It was too late for dinner, especially when she'd have to be up bright and early to get back into the banking office. Not bothering with the covers or changing out of her work clothes, she sighed as turned her beak to the side and set the alarm on her phone an hour earlier than it normally was so the bird would have time to get ready.

...

As she expected, the alarm came much too quickly and much too loudly as it rang off the desk. Groaning, she reached out her arm to try and hit the snooze button, though was surprised with how heavy it felt to reach out with it, like someone had strapped a small dumbbell to it. Regardless, it came down on the phone and she tossed the covers off herself as she rolled out of bed. That heaviness on her arm seemed to have spread to her entire body though as she landed with a 'thump' on the hardwood floor. It felt like more of her jiggled than usual, and moving to her closet, she could feel her thighs and rub together closer than they usually did as well. It was like her body was in a thicker coat of itself as she made her way over to the bathroom mirror. What was going on?

Standing in front of the mirror, June froze as her questions were answered. The investment analyst may have been chubby before (pretty much since she was a teenager, though the late nights and eating out hadn't helped) but looking in the mirror, there was no excuse to say she wasn't just fat anymore. Her stomach, which usually reminded her of its existence as it pressed over her pants when she sat down, folded over the lip of her underwear, resting on the top of her thighs naturally even when she stood up. Her thighs were wider and chunkier too, almost past the edges of the mirror as she stood there and marveled at their dimpled glory. Turning around, her ass stood out more too, the soft cheeks sticking out more with mysterious added adipose as the backfold from her stomach rested over it.

Picking up an arm, June could see the extra fat jiggle on her arms just as well, but what really got her attention was the unshaved scruff she could see poking out under her arm. June shaved regularly, but now black hairs poked out from beneath the blue down like she'd skipped on it for a week. Pulling up her basketball of a tummy, she could see a similar tale there too as patches trailed down into her underwear.

She took a step back. Was-was she getting gaslit by her mirror right now? June didn't feel like she was supposed to look like this, but her memories seemed to put themselves through the spin cycle as she tried to recall what exactly her proportions had been before. And really, it didn't exactly feel wrong either. The more she looked at herself, the more natural the fat seemed to rest on her. Maybe she'd need to shave once she got back from work, but honestly aside from that she couldn't stop from feeling how well she pulled it off.

June spotted the clock out of the corner of her eye. Well, whether it was a dream or not, she still had a job to get ready for. In an oddly easy mental effort, she put aside her concerns as she focused on getting ready for another day with the bank. Her hands moved instinctively toward the clothes inside, which despite her initial worries, seemed to fit her fine if only a bit snug around the waist. Leaving her bedroom, there was the foggy notion of surprise as her apartment seemed nicer. June didn't quite remember the full kitchenette coming with it as she bought the place, and definitely didn't remember having a door giving her privacy to her room.

Cooking up a larger breakfast to compensate for last night, she swallowed the larger portions before she'd settled into the front seat of her car for the drive back to the office.

Walking into the building and taking the elevator to her floor, June had mostly been on autopilot as she made her way to her cubicle, preoccupied with her phone. Had it updated overnight? The apps were laid out in a way she didn't recognize, and as she fiddled across the device trying to figure out where the scheduling app was, she noticed the clock was off.

She squinted. 2030? That...no, that had to be way too far ahead right? June rubbed her eyes with a taloned finger, assuaging the migraine that was beginning to set in as she thought about it. As her fingers pressed on her temples, the wrinkling from the rubbing seemed to stay behind as her age sneakily set in. Almost like a water balloon letting out pressure, her body seemed to sag as her gravity triumphed over the diminishing perkiness her youth had given her.

The blue jay came to a stop, her instincts from walking the same path everyday telling her she'd arrived at her destination. The migraine still in effect, she removed her fingers from the bags under her eyes from many a sleepless night to see her cubicle, but...different. Better. The shoddy wooden desk she was at before had been replaced with a much nicer mahogany one, and a nametag that very clearly read "Senior Associate June Willas". Reading that, everything clicked as her memory unfurled from the tangle it was in. Her phone had said it was 2030, and not 2022, because she'd spent eight years working for the bank. June had got promoted a few years in and spent the rest getting to the top of the associates ladder. Years and years of experience in not just the grunt work as an analyst but successfully coordinating the people under her in projects and presentations to clients reared itself as it all clicked together at once.

Still, she could've sworn it'd all been different yesterday...

"June?" June turned her head at the name, settling into her memories as the decade caught up to her. She recognized the goat in front of her as Oren, one of the most recent analysts she'd been responsible for training, carrying a file in one hand and a large box of donuts in the other, holding it down to her as she still came a foot under him. "I've got the report for the Clymenale meeting all put together, and Hailey has the slides ready for the King presentation in 3A."

She shook herself from the daze that had followed the sudden rush of memory. "I...Right. Of course." June walked with the junior as he continued going over the itinerary for the presentation, following this new set of memories toward the boardroom they-she was meeting the King representatives in. The portly bird spared half her attention as she walked, contemplating the situation, while she took a donut as the goat held up the half-empty box for her in a spare hand, nervously munching on the pastry.

I mean, on one hand she'd put on a lot of weight, and it almost felt like she'd skipped eight years of her life, all at once. Even with that though, she'd at least been promoted so she was out of the bottom rung of the career ladder, she considered, swallowing the crumbs of the cruller. Along with that, her memory had caught up with all the lost time, so it definitely wasn't like she skipped anything, or just waltzed in and took the position unearned either. Hadn't she been mad at some point about being skipped over for her work? Maybe this was just life's...odd way of giving June her dues!

She carried herself a little taller as her ego swelled, still not coming up to the height of the goat as he continued, and she took another pastry. "Finally, it may be good to mention possible mergers in the Dunham sector to continue expected growth in the next quarter, especially with the possibility of downturns in profit by the end."

June nodded sagely, letting her new wisdom and memories of her current considerations carry her, grabbing another donut as she swallowed the bits of the last one. "Of course. And since that's done, I'll need you and the other analysts drafting the numbers for the Merlo corporation as soon as you can. I'll be meeting with them next week as well."

He nodded, but he could see him raise a hand up beneath his glasses as he sighed tiredly. "Of course, we'll get right on it..." June felt pangs of sympathy as she watched him try and exhaustedly rub the fatigue away, and the weariness of those long weeks came back to her.

"Once you've taken the rest of the day of course," she found herself saying without thinking, taking another pastry to stuff in her mouth. "This will be more than enough to satisfy the King representatives, and I can do some checking in on the Williams and Berkin side projects in the meantime." It took the goat's relieved smile to begin to form before she caught herself. "-Because I expect your full effort on them once I'm finished, do you understand? I won't have your or anyone on the analyst team jeopardizing me with sleepy, half-finished crap. I won't accept anything less than the best here."

That brought him back to attention, but she could still see some relief there. "Of course," he said. "I'll make sure to let the rest of the team know." As he peeled off from her at the meeting room's entrance, she almost stopped him from leaving the donut box, before she realized she'd already cleaned the rest out. Licking the crumbs off her talon, she strode into the long boardroom as one of her underlings got the powerpoint ready, contemplating the rising feeling of control, like a general utilizing her troops. Channeling the feeling of power there, she turned present to the company men waiting for her.


"Nn..." June drowsily turned her head as she felt sunlight on her face, trying to avoid its warm glare. Stupid sun, getting in her eyes! In a feat that took way more effort than she was used to, June departed from the lush sheets to get her day started, making the water in the glass on the nightstand ripple as she stood on her feet.

She was pretty sure that whatever had happened to her a week ago had struck again as she glimpsed her new body in the window reflection. June had gotten exponentially fatter, to be blunt. Her stomach hung like an apron over her thighs now, like an apron of soft dough as it stuck out pendulously in front of her. A proud, unshaved happy trail rode up the face of it, leading down to the cellulite covered stretch marks on the underside, pink from time but certainly not faded, like the ghosts of gorging past. Her breasts laid across her shelf of a stomach, propped up more than that than their own firmness, though the extra flab did have the perk of adding a helping more to them. Past them, and sparing the energy to lift her arm to see, she could see her pits had grown from unshaven patches to bushes of salt and pepper hair like her stomach, contrasting against the blues of her body that were beginning to fade. Even still, it felt like a footnote as she was reminded she was just covering it up with her work-clothes anyway.

As she observed her lower half, her eyes first rested on her thick, saddle-bagged cones of thighs, the folds rumpled and curving over themselves. As she walked to her closet, she could practically feel how they jiggled every time her gut came back to slap against them. She only caught a glimpse of her butt, it was enough as the flabby boulders on her rear quaked with every step. If before it felt like there was a simple "heaviness" attached to her form, now it felt like she was wading through mud as her body jostled against itself. Looking in the mirror, she could see how all of it sagged too, the last bit of firmness in her ass and breasts dying out as she was reaching her fifties.

Though, that all had been happening for a while now anyway, hadn't it? I mean she definitely hadn't been dieting before, anyhow. It was hard to place how much exactly she'd changed, more so that she had somewhere. In any case, it didn't really matter. As she waddled over to her wardrobe, and picked out a button-up that just barely fit around her ponderous girth, all June could think about was if her career had gotten a boost again.

And if the new memories unfurling inside her were any indication, she certainly had no reason to be.

"...The 'S' team and 'G' teams have reported success in their talks with the clientele, though the 'H' team has been struggling with theirs." The lioness next to her finished, running through the latest updates, standing back up to her full height.

Which she couldn't help but still feel dwarfed by, even if she more than dominated her in width. June took a frustrated bite of her snack-hoagie. She had to go through so much, and she couldn't get even a foot taller? It didn't help that with all the extra padding, the walk up to her office had made her sweat through the suit, providing the uncomfortable feeling of dampness where the creases met the inside of her fat folds.

"Mm." Brushing that irritation aside, June reflected on the recently added life experience as she'd jumped from...what had to be a lower level manager into the Senior Vice Presidents chair. "Roxanne, reassign some of the 'S' and 'G' personnel to help close that, and look over the analyst numbers to see which among them we can bring upwards to fill out the teams in the meantime. They should have adequate time to run them through some of the training once they're done."

"Of course, Ms. Vice President." Oh, she positively preened at that title. Over twenty looong years, and she was finally in a position with the respect it deserved.

She swallowed a bite of one of her snackwiches, speaking before she went in for another. "Once they feel ready to do so, of course. Let them know they've done good work, overall, and see if there's extra in the budget for some kind of reward-" She froze a little there, mid-chew as the trim lioness tapped down on what looked like the glass screen to note it down. Should she take that back...?

Eh. June brushed off the worries as confidence swelled where it once was, taking another bite. She was the senior VP, so what if she bared out a kindness every now and then? Who was gonna stand up to her, the peons working management? She could just fire them! From what her assistant in front of her had said earlier in the meeting, her branch was outperforming the other ones just by sheer quality alone. The entrepreneurs were practically begging for her people to handle their money, and it all came down to expertise for managing her staff to provide the best they could. Sure she demanded success, but by now she knew damn well a good reward and environment incentivised a hell of a lot more.

"Oh." The feline in front of her made a sound as another notification was displayed on the thin glass pane that was apparently the new "modern age" tablet. June squinted from trying to figure out how she could hold that without worrying about it breaking off in her hands. "Ma'am, your catering is ready along with the meeting for training focus in 7H."

June shoved the wrapper from her last sandwich back into the bag it had come in, squeezing herself out of the extra-support office chair that had impressively bore her weight as it groaned out in relief. "Fine," she huffed, as she could already feel her pulse begin to quicken in both dread, and the movement again as she remembered the meeting room in question was clear across the building. "But whoever booked the meeting there is getting their performance 'surprise evaluated' for making me walk so far."

The assistant nodded politely, as the adipose-stuffed shortstack waddled ahead. "Of course ma'am, she said, adjusted her pace to make sure she kept just behind her. "I'll get on that right away."


Roxanne waited patiently by the elevator as the sounds of the office quieted away as she stepped into the elevator room. It was almost comical, seeing the chubby personal assistant standing in front of it, the entrance to the lift widened to the point it almost looked like it'd be better suited for delivering freight than anything else.

Her earpiece chimed, as a gruff voice informed her that Ms.Willas had arrived and was on her way up. Almost simultaneously, she could hear the elevator groan as its mechanisms began to haul up a massive amount of weight. "Thank you," she said to the escort in the lobby. "I believe we'll be fine from here." Patiently, she waited for the groans of the elevator to cease as the doors stepped open. In slow, exhausted, tremor-causing steps, the current acting management director for the investment banking company, June Willas, stepped out of the elevator and onto the office floor.

Well, "stepped" was more of the polite term for the action. Really, it was more like a diminutive landslide of fat creeping forward as June fought against her fat-swaddled, overencumbered body to move onto the office floor. Her stomach was enormous as it bloated out and drooped in front of her, the hairy mat of a happy trail running up it brushing against the floor to leave an almost slug-like trail of sweat as the diminutive blob of a blue jay leaned forward to take a step. She was more than aware from the last clothing incident that underneath it an equally bushy patch of pubic hair was barely held in by her overworked underwear, the image of her fupa stretching the elastic a particular memory that was hard to forget .

If one stared too long, they could even note the ribbons of stretch marks as her feathers were stretched thin over the overfilled gut, creasing to make a second belly roll as it rippled with each localized-tremor causing step. Every so often her fat-bloated arms would reach down to the top to settle it as she came to a stop to catch her breath. Her breasts seemed to only possess a hint of form as they rested on the deck of her gut, the doughy basketballs and blob of a stomach obstructing her vision to where the idea of seeing her toes was a dream in of itself. Roxanne could practically hear it grumbling now, almost eternally grumbling like some vast unfillable pit for culinary delights.

"Roxanne." June panted in acknowledgement.

"Good morning, Ms. Willas!" She smiled in return, before pressing a button on her bracelet to bring up the holo-screen with the itinerary she usually wanted to be informed to on her..."walk" to her penthouse office. She could see June eye the bracelet warily as she swiped through the different list items, not that it was a surprise really. The Director had grown up during the golden age of the touchscreen after all, and more than a little known for her...technological illiteracy, let's say. Which was fine honestly, Roxanne thought to herself, that was her job anyway.

Were the floor kept like a normal office, her tank-like lower body would have been knocking over cubicles and desks, but luckily corporate had accepted that a "special" layout would be more appropriate for June's morning commute as the room around her had been cleared out almost like some royal hall to accommodate. Moving through the itemized list she'd prepared, Roxanne's vision was dominated by the mountains of sweaty, wrinkled blue ass-cleavage sticking out from the damp, shredded seams of her pants. It was almost hypnotizing to watch the overstuffed flanks wobble back and forth as the nearly sixty-year old woman slowly but surged a foot forward with every gasp of breath. Particular attention was drawn to her coat as she could see the buttons popping off and blue-feathered back fat busting the linen like dough heaped onto a washboard.

"And your policies for better analyst pay and childcare leave have been approved as long as numbers stay consistent, howev-Oh!" Her midsection planted into the wall of sweat-pouring meat mid-sentence as June stopped, wheezing as she simply had to focus on drawing air into her lard-covered lungs. Roxanne paused from the list, walking around the side to gently put an arm on her shoulder. "Ma'am, are you-"

It took a moment of panting before she could speak, but June waved a fat-bloated arm to signal she was fine. "I'm fine, Rox- *Uff-Huhh* Roxanne. I just- *Heh* I just need to catch my breath." That was capped off by more wheezing as her beak dipped into her chins to draw more air, sweat pouring off of every feather. She could hear her muttering between gasps about how dare the board question her when she was practically running it all anyway, she was the best thing to happen to the banking firm, etc, etc. Her age was very clearly beginning to show itself as the blues of the jay had become more muted, and around her eyes, the lines and bags under them were clearly pronounced as gravity seemed to push down on every fold.

Though for her arrogance, she certainly wasn't wrong. They were the applications choice for most, and the mergers that followed with the increase in profits with her leadership had allowed for a growth in market share that seemed steady enough to stay consistent. Despite the inflated ego of the avian in front of her, the brand of firm care that accompanied it was effective in getting the best out of people.

Still though, the lioness chose her next words carefully to not disturb the dragon of an ego beneath the surface of the overswollen bird. Fortunately, June's dragon's worth of wrath didn't seem to show itself without much more provocation these days, even if she'd certainly be short with her for the rest of the day over it.

"I believe tomorrow, if you need, I can ask the maintenance team to implement some sort of...escalator...belt to take you to your office, ma'am." She said gently.

Raising up her swollen face, the bird narrowed her slug-like brow in annoyance as she gulped down air. "Are you implying-"

"Only to reduce the chance of any kind of event that could come with someone of your...mass having to go walk so far Madame Director. I get tired from it myself!" She lied, taking special care to emphasize her title. Roxanne may have put on some weight following her up the firm's corporate ladder, but she certainly wasn't at the point where walking such a small distance would have her huffing for air like she was. "Any injury to you would cripple the company, as you know."

That end part seemed to cover what could've been perceived as slight at her ability to work as the blue jay, still huffing, considered it. "Hmmf, maybe." She pushed off again as both continued the trek to her office again, taking that rest period every couple steps or so. "Maybe. Keep talking to me."

Again, Roxanne dove back into the list of updates as June finally made it into her office, with a grunt of effort seating her sweat covered body on the recliner that acted as her throne to the high-rise office. The window inside it was wide, and seemed to look over everything in the gleaming financial area of the city. It wasn't the top per say, but it damn near pretty much was indistinguishable from it.

"...And finally, the board seems to have made its decision in terms of filling the CEO role, now that the previous candidate has stepped down." Roxanne said, swiping to the last item. "I'm sure you can guess who they've picked!"

June snorted, rolling her eyes. "Like anyone could do what I've done. So where will my new office be?"

"About that!" The lioness assistant swiped again, and the display disappeared. "They did have some special allowances I thought you'd like to be aware of first, Ms.Willas..."


"And you've signed the confidentiality release before you arrived?"

Xander nodded as the tubby lioness in front of him led him through the halls of the mansion. The coyote could see its owner in the portraits on the walls, a massive blue jay, almost a blob of a woman- as she towered over the attendants supporting her in the framed paintings. There were stories that circulated even from the top since she didn't occupy the CEO's office in the corporate building, but all of them were different. Some were of her being like some old tyrant out of a high fantasy story, greedy and gluttonous, while others tried to explain the shift in the company's culture by saying she was some rich kid who'd gone up the ladder through nepotism, and everything else followed by coincidence.

The way staff rushed back and forth throughout the mansion made him consider the former, but the look in their eyes as they attended their duties didn't so much speak to fear as it did dedication. He spotted two in the hallway even engaging in some light chatter as they carried their laundry bins unworried past him.

"Ms. Willas is very demanding," The lion in front of him said, seemingly answering his silent question. "But she is very patient with the people under her. Very rewarding too. It tends to net her the best results from staff." As her double chin wobbled with the praise, he supposed he'd have to believe her on that. His tour continued as they traversed the halls to the room Ms. Willas's personal assistant said she'd be meeting him in, eventually coming to a pair of large double doors at the end of the hallway. She pressed on her bracelet, which he could see was one of the more outdated holo-arm models, speaking into it carefully. "Madam CEO, your 2:30 is here. Should I send him in?"

"Yes, dear. Bring him in." The voice answering the call was husky to the point of being gravelly, and muffled almost like she was in the middle of eating. His curiosity only grew, though he supposed he was about to get his answers anyway.

Pushing through the doors, Xander froze, floored by the magnanimity of the chief executive officer in question. She sat back on lush velvet cushions, reclining like some empress of an ancient empire-No, a hedonistic goddess, as she lived up to her portraits in the hall.

Well. Albeit much shorter.

Her blob-like figure seemed to threaten to spill off of her pillowy lounge-seat from every edge. Her gut was massive, stretching to the floor even from her elevated position, like some sweat-covered, hairy and overfilled gray-blue water balloon, as masseuses surrounded it rubbed diligently. Her veined pillows of mammaries sloped off to the side, almost oversized for her frame as one barely mobile arm kept its stuffed fingers pressed against them, almost more for decoration as a shaking servant fed her what looked like rich pastries by hand. Her other arm had two servants dedicated to it; One manning a pulley to keep the cellulite-bloated blimp of a limb in the air while another ran a horsehair brush over the untamed forest of thick grayed armpit hair underneath. A similarly dense jungle of hair rose up from underneath her gut and into a flourishing happy trail, barely preserving her decency as sweat ran over it to drip off the edge of her enormous unformed mass of a tummy.

If he focused, he could see the same patches along her legs, but the denser parts were hidden as the flabby mountains of her rumpled thighs and ass obscured all else, save for the servants carefully massaging them as well. He could smell the sickeningly sweet stench of perfume as it tried to cover the odor of the sweat, failing to cover it completely and instead combining with it to create a strong feminine musk that permeated the room.

The coyote could only watch, stunned as her beak snapped up another of what looked like some sort of overstuffed chocolate croissant like a steel trap, though careful enough to avoid the fingers of the help offering it. Reaching down to the stack of boxes next to her, the obviously nervous feeder picked out another one and waited for her attention to return as two movers held up a finished portrait. Her bagged, crows-feet lined eyes narrowed, and her sweaty chins jiggled in indignance as it apparently didn't match her standards, even though to him it seemed much more accurate to her height than the ones outside.

"I am not that short!" She squawked, waving a fat, taloned hand from its elevated position. "It's completely off. You two, please be some dears and take that back so it can be redone properly, please." At her request, they tucked it between them, ferrying it back and out of sight down another alcove of the manor.

"Honestly, I offer triple the rate, and for such an insult-" She scoffed. "Honestly."

The assistant came up behind him, knocking him out of his stupor. "Should I cut the rate during the edits?"

The massive bird turned her head to eat another croissant nervously presented to her, taking some time to chew and swallow before she answered with a sigh. "No, I suppose not, Roxanne. His work was excellent, if not insulting. I'd just like you to review it first before it comes to me next time, hm?" She turned her head to the servant, ready with another pastry. "And you're doing wonderfully dear, don't worry." That seemed to lighten their nerves as the one they were holding was snapped up, and the mouse knelt down to crack open another box.

"Of course, ma'am. And as I said before-" The fat lioness took a step back to leave him in the regal hedons vision. "This would be the current top pick for branch manager of the pacific branch. I have his file ready when you are."

Her aged, gluttonous eyes drank him in; Sizing him up almost like he was one of her meals as he tried to gather his bearings and retain some sense of presentability. June didn't need to be tall to have an intimidated figure, splayed out like a mountain of bird. "Well, well, well" she rasped, wetting her beak with her tongue. "Let's hear it then."

Xander swallowed as the solid oak doors shut with a boom behind him.