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Kevin was nervous as he sat, anxiously awaiting a contact request to pop up on his laptop. He nearly jumped out of his scales as his computer beeped, indicating that he had a request. Looking at the name, he confirmed that it was from his new GM, and clicked accept, followed shortly after by small green icon to start a video call. He straightened up in his chair at Barnaby's dining room table, trying to be as presentable as possible, as the male leopard's face appeared on his screen.

"Hello, Mr. Tomasi. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to talk to me so quickly. I have two things I really wanted to talk to you about. One is team related, but the other, well, it's a bit of a personal matter that I would like an outside opinion on."

"I see." the well-dressed leopard adjusted his earphones as he answered to his newest player. "Whatever it is, I'm sure I can help you with it and get it all settled. So what is on your mind?"

Kevin nodded. "Well, let's start with the team based one: What is it you want from me. What would you like to see? I know where my strengths are, and I know where my weaknesses are, but what I want to know is what you expect from me, and where you would like me to improve."

Tomasi nodded as he gathered his thoughts. "I know quite well that you are a forward and we drafted you because I felt the need to have someone with a presence and a defensive-oriented game and you fill the criteria nicely." he cleared his throat then continued.

"But all in all, I don't want you to feel pressured into doing anything you don't want to do, hence why my coaching staff asked you the question of whether you would be willing to learn to switch between 3 and 4, as we're figuring out how to continue after a horrendous post season." he sighed, the grudge from last season's playoffs against the Rapids still holding onto him.

"Ah yes, that." Kevin sighed. "I'm still more than willing to switch between the two, and wherever else you decide to put me. I will always do what I can and play my best. But I know 3 isn't my best position. I'm slow, and my weight is a big factor in that. But my weight is also what helps me on my defense. People have been saying I should learn to play Center, that I might do better as a Bigfur than as a Forward, but what do you think about that? I just want to do what is best for the team."

"Well, you indicated that your best position is at the 4 and I want to make sure you get playing time on that position." Tomasi spoke. "But since we're still waiting on a response to our contract offer from Mr. Redfield, I can't exactly guarantee you how much time you will get, but it is my personal belief that you should be comfortable wherever you are and a team like ours should embrace the strengths a player possesses."

"That's more than understandable, sir. I'm a rookie, I don't exactly expect a lot of playtime, especially if Mr. Redfield chooses to accept the Voyageurs' offer. I'm untested. But even from the bench, or the reserves, I just want to make sure I'm helpful in some way, even if just by cheering us on. If that's by playing the 4, slipping down into the 3, or even by trying to learn to play the 5, I'll do it."

"That's great to hear, Kevin." Tomasi nods in approval. "But I'm not letting you warm up the bench this year, absolutely not. I want you to PLAY. Otherwise you wouldn't be here right now." the leopard grinned enthusiastically. "But yes, my plans were for you to learn the 3 over the course of the season and for us to grant you the opportunity to show what you got on the 4. Sound good?"

Kevin nodded. "Sounds great, Mr. Tomasi, and I really appreciate the opportunities you are giving me." He paused, uncertain of exactly how to continue. "Now . . . the personal matter I wanted your opinion on. I'd like to talk about . . . my agent."

"Your agent? I'm not sure what you're trying to get at, Kevin, but please continue." Tomasi leaned back on his chair, the smile changing to a concerned expression.

"I'm sorry, sir, it's just . . . I don't know what to do anymore. I had an agent that dropped me because he no longer wanted to be an agent during the opening day of the combine. I scrambled that entire week trying to find myself somebody to represent me. I'm not the greatest at doing so myself, I'm sure you've seen the same lack of confidence that many reporters and others commented on. The only one who decided to take a chance on me was Mr. McKenley."

Kevin paused, before continuing. "But . . . this was his first year as an agent, coming into it from being a professional chef. And, well, he took on a lot of clients, myself included obviously. But apart from his adopted son Theo, Shannon Hickman, and Cassidy Whitelatch, well, I think he kind of forgot about the rest of us. He never really got in contact with us to see how we were getting along with our training or to try and arrange for teams to come and scout us, but he did so for those clients that were living with him in California. Heck, I'm the one who helped assist in getting two of his clients and my friends to Hawaii for the Show Your Colours event.

"And I don't know what to do now. I know I screwed my chances up with a lot of teams through twitter. I made statements degrading myself and my skill, made myself seem unconfident. A proper agent should have jumped on me and stopped me from lowering my draft stock like that, which is why I am so happy that you decided to take a chance on me this year. But Mr. McKenley hasn't done that, not like Mr. Toivonen has done when his clients mess up, or even Mr. Corker. And I fear that he will keep doing this, keep ignoring most of his clients. I feel like I need to get out of my contract with him, but, at the same time, I feel loyalty to him for taking a chance on me in the first place."

Tomasi nodded, pausing for a while. "This is certainly something we haven't quite dealt with before..." he sighs, gathering his thoughts. "But I will say that downgrading yourself as an athlete is one of the worst roads you can take in your career." his expression shifted to concerned and firm.

"Devaluing yourself jeopardizes your future as a pro athlete. I haven't caught on with your tweets, since get most of my information from my coordinators, but I certainly know that you have to be confident in yourself. I hope you're aware that if you weren't as talented as you are now, then you wouldn't be talking to me right now. I expect all my players to have confidence and the will to learn and grow as their careers go on. No degrading, no talking down. I want none of that on my team, you understand?"

Kevin nodded. "I definitely understand that, sir. And I hope that I can do you proud on that front. I've definitely been working on it, and I've had a few friends start drilling it into my head. But . . . everyone slips up sometimes, everyone makes mistakes. And . . . I think I need an agent who can stop me from making those mistakes, or at the very least yell at me when I do. And I'm not sure anymore that Mr. McKenley is that person."

Tomasi nodded. "You'll have plenty of people around you to make sure your scales are solid and razor-sharp, just like they're supposed to." he chuckled for a moment. "I should call you Razor, haha. But jokes aside, I'm sure we can help you find a good agent for you to help represent you well. I keep hearing good things from Mr. Toivonen as well as Ms. Aida Manchester. You have heard of her, right? She's Barnaby Jazz's agent."

"Yes, I've heard of Ms. Manchester. She has a few friends of mine as clients this year. Edwin as said good things, and I haven't heard bad things from Jirra or Mikaylah, either. And as for Barnaby Jazz, given that I'm calling you from his dining room, I'm sure he'd probably speak well of her." Kevin gave a small laugh. "Though, I'm surprised to hear they have been speaking well of me, I didn't know that agents usually kept track of the goings on of other agent's clients."

"Well, if you're heard that you're gaining a good repertoire then you're doing good things, my friend." Tomasi chuckled. "But if your good friends would recommend Ms. Manchester to you, I'm sure Mr. McKenley would understand. Some agents tends to take on more than they can chew sometimes."

"I mean, I haven't heard bad things about Mr. Toivonen, either. He has quite a few friends of mine on his client list as well. Adi, Julian, Brad . . ." Kevin let out a small sigh. "But before I can do anything, I need to speak to Mr. McKenley. Even if I feel like he hasn't done his job as an agent, I need to let him know of my thoughts, and he deserves a chance to speak his piece as well. I owe him that much."

"Please do so, Kevin." Tomasi nods "Because every good individual deserves a good agent. That includes you."

Kevin nodded back. "Thank you, Mr. Tomasi, and thanks for taking the time to speak to me today. It helped, a lot."

"You're welcome, Razor." the leopard chuckled a little. "Call me anytime when you need something."

"Will do, Sir. And, again, thanks." Kevin gave a small wave before clicking the end call button, closing the screen right after.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kevin sighed, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle. This was the type of conversation he hated. Things could go so very, very wrong. He liked Mr. McKenley, he really did, but he felt abandoned in favour of other clients. But Trivol had helped him out some, had paid for a flight or two, and had taken him to Disneyland that one day...

He heard the ringing of the messenger alerting him to the incoming call. He simply stared at the screen for a few moments before moving the mouse to click accept. The blue-furred wolf looked back at him from the screen, unaware of just what was on the pangolin's mind. "Hey, Mr. McKenley. Thanks for calling me."

"No problem, Mr. Malka." He said while he adjusted his monocle and fedora while staring at his client. "How are things going for you down for in Winnipeg? Pretty busy I would take it." He said while putting his elbows on the desk and smiled at him in return.

"Things are going pretty well here in Winnipeg, Mr. McKenley. I'm staying with Yves and Tanner until I get a house, but," Kevin paused, "given that I've already found a place and signed the paperwork, it shouldn't be too much longer. It's actually Antonio Garza's old apartment. Not too large, very nice view, and not too expensive. Trying to live light, at least until my rookie contract is up."

"Excellent. Now," he said while straightening up in his seat with his golden eyes staring at the pangolin. "What made you to contact me? Something I can work out for you? Or is it rather a serious matter?"

Kevin looked away from the screen, a bit afraid of what he was about to say. "Yes . . . it's somewhat of a serious matter, and as for if it's something you can work out, I don't know. But, I felt that I needed to at least talk to you about this, and give you a chance to speak your part as well. We kind of need to talk about my contract with you."

"Oh all right then. What is it that you want to talk regarding your contract?"

"Well . . . " Kevin paused, taking a few deep breaths. "Whether or not I'm going to continue having a contract with you."

Trivol glanced at the pangolin for a few minutes regarding what Kevin was saying. He didn't say anything for a while. He took off his monocle and scratched his forehead... He thought about it long and hard regarding the situation that he was in. The blue wolf glanced at the pangolin once more, keeping his composure. "You want to vent anything at me that led you to say that?"

Kevin sighed. "I really do, yeah.

"I feel like . . . you haven't really been treating all of your clients fairly. You took on a lot of us, but, really, how many of us were you in constant contact with? Three, and those three were the ones that were living with you. The rest of us, we heard from you maybe a few times this summer. I mean, sure, it's easy to convince the Californian teams to come scout Theo, Shannon, and Cassidy, they were right there. But for the rest of us? I think you had somebody go check out Josh and P.J., and you said you would have Lorain come and view what I had . . . but then you never actually got back to me on the exact date they were coming, and they turned up at the gym while Edwin and I were just practicing, not fully prepared for them."

Kevin sighed, hands in his muzzle. "I just feel like you've been giving preferential treatment to some of your clients while leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. I dropped my draft stock a LOT this year through twitter, every time I devalued myself, every time I raised somebody up while saying exactly why they were better than me . . . I know a lot of teams probably removed me from their lists for that, and this wasn't a good year for us forwards anyways. I only realize in hindsight what I've done, but . . . you should have been there, yelling at me to shut up. Yes, you're not my father, you shouldn't need to baby me, but I am a client that was ruining my chances, and that's something that should have concerned you! What happened when Brad Pullman had that fiasco during the combine? His agent forced him off twitter for a few days, gave him a talking to. And Mr. Corker, bless him, has been working his tail off to try and redirect the bad image that Trent St. Croix gives off constantly. But you seemed more interested in fixing Cassidy's mistakes than you were in even taking a look at mine. And, recently, you seem to have put more effort into correcting Coby Carson than you ever did with correcting me."

Kevin groaned. "You gave me a real chance, Mr. McKenley. I really doubt I would have come this far without your help. But . . . I feel like you're not invested. I don't know how right or how wrong my thoughts that I have shared are, but. . . that's how I've seen things the past few months. I owe you a lot, sir, I really do, and I like you, both as a person and as an agent, but I really need somebody that is as invested in my career as I am, whether that is you or someone else.

The blue wolf sighed a bit as he admitted some truth in Kevin's words. The fact that he preferred other clients and not focusing on Kevin's problems. Also, the fact that he took on so many clients was a huge mistake on his part as well. Trivol cleaned off his monocle and put it back on his right eye. "Well, Kevin..." He finally said breaking out of his silence. "I admit whole-heartedly that I haven't been the most faithful to my clients and taking on a lot of clients doesn't help either. Perhaps I do prefer others over you and I am truly sorry for giving off that impression. You are certainly entitled to voice out your opinions and glad you told me these things. Makes me better as an agent for any future clients to come if I decide to. Since this is entirely my fault, I will leave this matter of whether or not to cancel the contract with me to you. I won't certainly hold a grudge if you do. The choice is yours." He said while pulling out the contract Kevin signed and held it up in his hand. "I am ready to rip it at your command, Mr. Malka."

Kevin looked up at the screen. "Please, don't sir. If you could, I'd like you to hold off on that."

He watched the wolf lower the document. "I . . . sir, I think, in the end, that we both know deep down that we won't work the best together. You have a lot of clients, and you're still new to being an agent. Well, actually, we've both pretty new to the FBA. My leaving would give you one less client to worry about, and therefore just that little bit more attention you can pay to the rest.

"And I like you sir, I really do." Kevin continued. "I said it earlier but it is true. You've given me some opportunities I would never have had otherwise. But . . . I do think I need to try and look for another agent. You'll still get your portion of my contract for this year, as you deserve for what you have done to get me signed in the first place, but I think it's best if we part ways as, well, I don't know if the best word is friends, most likely, but at the very least as good acquaintances, as well as the father of a friend and the friend of a child."

Kevin sighed. "But . . . please hold off on ripping up the contract. It's entirely possible that there will be nobody else out there that wants to sign me. Most agents already have their fill of clients for the year. And, well, I know I can't handle myself, I need help with that, and I'd rather not be left agent-less, you know?"

"I understand," Trivol said while tucking the contract into the Manila folder he out his contracts in. "I will keep your contract with me for now until the situation changes. Truly sorry that it had to come to this but it was inevitable I suppose. I am certainly hoping that you will do well with Winnipeg this upcoming season."

Kevin nodded. "I understand, sir. I really appreciate what you have done for me. I'm honestly really sorry that it came to this as well. I just need to ask, do you THINK you can be the agent I need this season? Because, if you do, speak now, before I start looking."

"I will certainly do my best to start accommodating your needs," Trivol said while giving off a small smile. " but there is one thing I want you to do. Feel free to be more open to me. I admit I do not ask you often how you're doing. I will get better on that. I will certainly do my duties as an agent and get to work on your 'problems' regarding your self-esteem and all. Just do be more open to me, please."

"I, I understand, sir." Kevin paused. "I know you're going to work to be a better agent, just as I'm going to work to be a better player. But I still need to look at other agents, see if any would consider me. Find somebody who will be the best fit for me and the best person to help me develop. And, well if could be you, but I won't know until I actually look. And I'm sorry for that."

"No worries at all, Mr Malka. Glad you have told me this. Otherwise, I wouldn't have know that this was a problem I had. Thank you for telling me this. Again, if you do find someone better or who can work better with, I will certainly take no offense to it whatsoever."

"I appreciate that sir." Kevin looked up with a slight smile. "I do hope that even after all this we can stay in contact. I would rather this meaning not end with bad feelings, no matter the outcome."

He paused momentarily. "And . . . take what I've said and maybe take a look at the rest of your clients. Reach out and see what you can do for the likes of Kortni, or Tanner, or Roni. Or even Josh or P.J. Kortni and P.J still don't have contracts, maybe you can convince somebody to take a chance on them. You have the makings of an excellent agent, and I don't want to see somebody else having to make the tough decision I am."

"I certainly will," he said while smiling in return. "You made me realize that I have to be attentive to what my clients need. Not just the specific ones I pick and choose to pay attention to. I will start on that tonight. Thank you Kevin for having this call with me. Good luck to you in Winnipeg!" He pushed down on his fedora and smiled widely

Kevin gave a quick grin. "Thank you, sir. Even if I end up no longer your client, I hope I can make you proud up here."

With a small wave and a nod, Kevin ended the call, shut his laptop, and collapsed sideways on Yves's couch.