Seeing the Sights
A Sequel to [url=https://www.furaffinity.net/view/43228669/]Wish You Were Here[url]
© 2022 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by :iconfreia:

The dinner delivery had been faster than usual, their fried chicken arriving just as Louisville went up 2-1 against Birmingham at the top of the second inning.  Both the tigress and her bobcat boyfriend liked baseball for the same reason – the math involved.
The Irons-Racers game was on as background noise, and Sylvia and Kyle had elected to sit at the coffee table for dinner.  “I still can’t believe that was possible,” Sylvia said enthusiastically, pointing at the collection of components with a half-eaten chicken leg.  The computer that had taken them to Hawaii and back in time to the late 1930s sat quiescent for now.  She took another bite from the drumstick and wiped her mouth with a napkin before asking, “How much research did you do?”
Kyle grinned greasily before wiping his own mouth.  “A heck of a lot - hours,” he replied.  “Fortunately, there’s a lot of stuff on the net about the Spontoons back in the Thirties – home movies, photos, some old movies and serials shot there, things like that.”  He took a drink of his soda before his ears dipped.  “There were still a few holes to fill, so I had to create some patches using old movies.”
“I can’t wait to see what you’ve done,” but she raised a paw before he could say anything, “and I know we can’t until this weekend.  I’m not jeopardizing my grades or yours.”  He smiled, and after they’d been eating for a few minutes Sylvia asked, “It’s just that I can’t help but think, isn’t there a danger to this?”
Her boyfriend frowned, the paw holding a half-eaten chicken breast strip poised over a container of barbecue sauce.  “What do you mean?”
“Well, I heard someone say that if we could create a machine reality – you know, like what you and Ozzy have put together – civilization could collapse because we’d be in the machine, and not out here in the real world.”
Kyle nodded, the breast strip dipping into the sauce before he brought it to his mouth and took a bite.  “It was a whole hour debate in my VR class,” he said with his mouth full, “and me and Ozzy have talked about it while we were designing this system.  I don’t buy it.”
Sylvia cocked her head.  “Why?”
The bobcat took another drink of his soda before poking at his coleslaw with a plastic fork.  “The holographic theater problem, that’s what Professor Halvorsen called it – the idea that if you could design a reality you judge to be perfect, what’s to stop you from living in that reality 24/7?”  He paused to eat some of his coleslaw.
“’Holographic theater?’  Oh, like in – “
“Yeah.”  The two exchanged grins.  Being rather committed nerds, they had easily found that they were compatible.  “Like that.  Problem is, it’s not just your mind or brain that’s in the theater, your whole body is, and your body has needs that a VR or AR system can’t fulfill without a lot of real heavy science fiction tech and paw-waving.”  He took a swallow of soda, and frowned at the burbling sound that told him that he’d reached the bottom of the cup.  “We don’t live in a perfect universe,” he remarked, and Sylvia giggled as he got to his feet to get more soda.
When he sat down again, Kyle said, “It’s the same with VR or AR as they are now.  Even if you’re completely immersed in the universe, your body still has demands.  If we take it a step further, like in that movie, your body still requires food and water, and still poops.”  He chuckled, whiskers twitching.
“And this debate lasted only an hour?” the tigress asked skeptically.
“Heh.  An hour of class time, but two weeks in a chat room, with Halvorsen acting as moderator,” Kyle replied.  “Some people really got into it, but then Halvorsen dropped a question in.”
“Oh?”
He nodded.  “Suppose that you have a perfect universe to plug your brain into, and it includes support for your body.”  He paused.  “Who’s supplying the power, and remembers to refill the food tank and empty the wastes?”
Sylvia’s eyes widened and she made a soundless ‘O’ with her lips.  “An AI?” she finally asked.
“Someone asked that same question, which started sounding a lot like that one movie.  Again, a lot of paw-waving started up, and Halvorsen eventually set it out as a term paper challenge.  Anyone who wanted to deep dive into the subject could do it as a paper.”  He munched another forkful of slaw.  “Sort of took the fun out of it, but I know there’s two or three working on it.”
“And this thing?” Sylvia asked, pointing at the computer.
“Well, it’s still got limits.  Right now, we started out in Honolulu, and we’re headed to the Spontoons.”
“Right.”
“But if we suddenly decided to stay in Honolulu, head back to the United States, and go to, say, Paris, we couldn’t.  The system doesn’t have any data on that.  And you noticed that, in the computer, I’m wearing a wristwatch.”
“I noticed.”  Kyle rarely wore one.
“I’m using it as a timer, to make sure that we don’t spend too much time in the program,” he explained.  “Otherwise we might come out of it to discover that we’re starving, and the couch needs to be thrown out.”
“Thrown out?  What – oh.  Ew.”
He nodded.

***

OzGrtPwrfl:  Hey dude
CatDoesDance:  Dude don’t u ever sleep?
OzGrtPwrfl:  Gotta know – did she like it?
CatDoesDance:  lol she loves it
OzGrtPwrfl:  Great!
CatDoesDance:  Saw u on the ship
OzGrtPwrfl:  Yeah lol couldn’t help myself
CatDoesDance:  I gave u a tip
OzGrtPwrfl:  lmao
OzGrtPwrfl:  Have you gotten to Spontoon yet?
CatDoesDance:  not yet we’ll be going back in this weekend
OzGrtPwrfl:  Cool.  TTYL.
CatDoesDance:  ttyl

***

That Saturday morning, Kyle stretched as the system finished booting up and glanced to his left as Sylvia came out of the bathroom.  “All ready,” the tigress said as she made herself comfortable on the couch.  She patted the seat beside her.  “You ready?”
“Yeah,” the bobcat replied.  He gave her the same visor that she’d used the first time they’d entered the program before sitting down beside her.  Kyle rubbed his shoulder against hers.  “Here we go,” and, with a kaleidoscopic burst of color and a feeling of vertigo, the computer interfaced with their brains.
Sylvia opened her eyes, and blinked as she found herself in bed, in her stateroom.
It took a disorienting few seconds for her to recall that she and Kyle had separate, but adjoining cabins aboard the Loretta.  A soft ticking drew her attention, and she saw a small clock on the bedside table.  It was just after eight in the morning, and as she sat up she gasped.
Apparently the program would supply the users with appropriate costume.  The tigress usually wore a pair of light shorts and a t-shirt, but here she was wearing a negligee that matched the pink highlights in her headfur.
As she got out of bed, her ears swiveled at a knock on the connecting door.  “Sylvia?”
“Here, Kyle.”
The door eased open a crack.  “Are you decent?”
“Get in here, lover boy,” Sylvia chuckled, and when the bobcat walked in she started laughing at the striped silk pajamas he was wearing.  “You look ridiculous.”
“You look fantastic,” Kyle said.  “Breakfast in an hour?”
The tigress bared her teeth in a grin.  She’d been interested in finding out if the sensory immersion was as complete as it seemed to be when they’d first entered the program the week before.  “Let me get cleaned up and dressed.  Meet you in your cabin?”
“Sure.  Control K,” and in obedience to the command a keyboard appeared in midair.  “What do you want to wear?”
“Oh.”
“What?”
“I thought that I’d have to get a bath and change.”
Kyle grinned and banished the keyboard with a wave.  “The old-fashioned way, huh?  Sure, we can do that.  See you in an hour,” and he walked back into his cabin, leaving the connecting door ajar.
Sylvia poked her head into the cabin’s bathroom, trying the taps and sniffing at the soap before shedding her negligee and drawing a hot bath.
About fifteen minutes before nine, the tigress rapped on the doorframe.  She was wearing a cream sundress, her headfur brushed out.  “You decent?”
Kyle laughed.  The bobcat was wearing white slacks and an aloha shirt.  “I’ve been waiting for you,” and the pair left the cabin for the liner’s dining room.
They were shown to a table by a white-jacketed waiter, who supplied them with menus and asked, “May I interest either of you in a drink while you look at the menu?”
Sylvia looked at the beverage choices.  “Breakfast tea, please, with sugar and lemon,” and the terrier nodded before taking Kyle’s order for a cup of coffee.  After the canine was out of earshot she said, “I’m not sure of a few of the things on this menu.  What are ‘shirred eggs?’”
Her boyfriend shrugged.  “Don’t know.  I guess you just order what you know.”  He grinned.  “I was amazed at the amount of stuff they had on the menus back then.”
“I imagine it’s how things are on cruise ships now,” Sylvia muttered.  “Not much to do apart from eat.”
“I think we can find other things to do,” and he winked at her as the waiter approached with their drinks.
They both decided on cheese omelets, with a side of salted mackerel with lemon butter and freshly-made biscuits topped with Hawaiian guava jam.  Sylvia took a bite of the fish and sat transfixed for a moment.  “You okay, Sylvia?”
The tigress’ jaws worked for a moment.  “Kyle . . . this fish is great.  Right amount of salt, and I can taste it!  Even the texture’s right.”  She smiled across the table at him.  “You and Ozzy have done a wonderful job.”
He took a bite of his own serving, and his ears went straight up.  “That’s amazing.  Wow.”
“And you know the best thing?” she asked.
His ears swiveled.  “What?”
“We can eat everything on this menu,” she said, “and we won’t gain weight.”
The bobcat was laughing as he cut into his omelet.
The Loretta had several activities scheduled, along with a very extensive library.  Both the bobcat and the tigress were content to claim a pair of lounge chairs and watch as some of the passengers practiced skeet shooting on the ship’s fantail.
“Is it time yet?” Sylvia asked when she caught Kyle glancing at his wristwatch.
“Yeah.  Almost noon.”  They had agreed on setting time aside outside of the program to eat and to answer any calls of nature.
“When we get back in, can we fast forward to dinner?” Sylvia asked.  
Kyle had the keyboard floating before him, and he paused to smile at her.  “How about the last dinner aboard before we arrive at Spontoon?”
“Perfect!”
There was the jarring sensation as tropical heat and sun were replaced by the soft sigh of air conditioning and the tigress took the visor off.  “I’m first,” and she got to her feet and stumbled for the bathroom as Kyle started taking off his visor.  The bathroom door slammed shut, and after a slight pause he heard her say, “Burgers for lunch?”
“Going to be a hot day.  How about the deli?”
“Ooh, yes.”
The deli was about a mile away, maybe a twenty-minute walk, and after a leisurely lunch the bobcat and the tigress settled back on the couch and re-entered the program.
Once again, Sylvia found herself in her cabin, this time wearing a black satin evening gown set off by a string of pearls around her neck.  She was admiring herself in the full-length mirror when she heard Kyle knock.  “Come in – wow!” she exclaimed as he stepped in.  “Don’t you look handsome.”
The bobcat was wearing a tuxedo, and looked somewhat uncomfortable.  “I feel like I’m going to the prom,” he muttered.
She laughed and kissed his cheek.  “Just so long as you don’t step on my toes when we dance.  Let’s go,” and they left the cabin for dinner.
The dinner was an elaborate one, with several courses, and during the entrée Sylvia gave Kyle an arch look.  After taking a bite of her prime rib (served with Yorkshire pudding, baked potato and a mixed salad), she said, “I’m going to tell Stacy on you.”  Stacy was a mutual friend; the rabbit was a physics major.
“Huh?  Why?”  She raised an eyebrow and pointed at his roast Belgian hare with port wine sauce.  He laughed and said, “It’s all a computer program.  It’s not like he was anyone she knows.”  He flinched as she threatened to throw a dinner roll at him.
After having ice cream for dessert, the two joined other couples on the dance floor.  Being the equivalent of non-player characters, the other passengers paid no attention to them as they slow danced to [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_Kym-TTbV0]Sweet Leilani[/url].
Later, they walked along the deck, arm in arm, and Sylvia ran her paw along the rail.  “This has been amazing, Kyle.”  She paused and looked up at the stars. “Truly amazing.”
He leaned over and gently nuzzled her ear.  “I’m so glad you think so.  Want to go back to the cabin?”
She grinned at him.  “And do what, you naughty boy?  Although . . . “
“What?”
“It’d be the safest kind of sex imaginable.”
He laughed.  “True.”
“What time is it?”
“Hm?  Oh!  Um,” and he looked at his watch, “almost three.”
“Want to take a break?”  Her smile was mischievous.  “Maybe share some body fluids?”
“I love it when you talk dirty.”

***

After dinner, the couple settled back onto the sofa and Kyle said, “I’m going to set it to open as we’re arriving at Spontoon, okay?”
Sylvia nodded.  “Just our arrival, and then we shut it down and pick it up again tomorrow.”  Kyle nodded, and they put their goggles on.
They were out on deck, shading their eyes against the morning sun and craning their necks like the other passengers as the Loretta passed between Spontoon South and Eastern Islands.  A few fishing boats sounded whistles or horns and their crewmembers waved as the smaller ships made their way past the huge white liner.  A four-engine aircraft had taken off from the airport on Eastern Island, and the big plane waggled its wings slightly as it turned south toward Hawaii.  As soon as the liner entered the atoll’s lagoon, a tugboat arrived to assist the pilot in bringing the liner to the dock at Casino Island.
They were dressed in the same clothes they had worn in Honolulu; Sylvia was wearing her ankle-length dress in cream linen with a matching jacket over a pink blouse. White cotton gloves were on her paws and a white leather purse hung from a shoulder strap, while Kyle was wearing a white linen suit with a broad tie done in a red and blue geometric pattern and topped off with a white Panama hat that he wore tipped at a rakish angle. 
Sylvia kept moving from one side of the ship to the other, the tigress’ eyes wide as she took in the lush tropical scenery.  As she moved from port to starboard again, Kyle caught up with her in time for to exclaim, “This is amazing!  It’s like we’re actually here!”
“I know, right?”  Kyle tipped his head back and sniffed.  “Flowers, trees, the ocean – welcome to Spontoon, hun.”
She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
They passed one freighter, and ears perked as a hoarse male voice shouted “Gilhooly!”  The bobcat and the tigress turned in time to see a rangy canine vault over the rail of the steamship, dive into the waters of the lagoon, and start swimming for the shore.  “What’s that all about?” Sylvia asked.
Kyle looked a little abashed.  “My research says that more than a few people would jump ship and hide out in the Spontoons.  Some families here got their start that way.  And it’s one of the patches I told you about.”  He shrugged.  “It fits.”
The tug gently nudged the Loretta toward the dock as the pilot deftly adjusted the ship’s course and speed, and as it neared the dock a band began to play, while [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=225BaO4aeCk]a chorus sang and hula dancers clad in grass skirts began to dance[/url].
The liner came to a halt, and as deckpaws made her fast to the dock the ship’s whistle sounded to the cheers of the passengers and a fanfare from the band.  “Are we staying aboard?” Sylvia asked.
Kyle shook his head.  “Uh-uh.  We’re going to be staying in a good hotel.  But first, we have to get through Customs, and after that we can walk.  You probably noticed that these islands are pretty small.”
“The two we passed between to get here looked pretty big.”
“Yeah, but compared to Hawaii they’re small.  Plenty of opportunities to take a walk and see things up close,” Kyle said as they headed below to join the rest of the disembarking passengers.
Getting through Customs was fairly swift; their luggage was searched and sent on to their hotel, and the uniformed otter stamped their passports and said in accented English, “Welcome to Spontoon.”
“Thanks,” Kyle said, and the two felines walked along the quay to the main road, pausing only as a pair of smiling native women garlanded them with flowers.
“Heh.”
“What?”
“We’ve gotten lei’d.”  He ducked her slap at his ears.
“Very funny.  What now?”
“Well, by the time we get to the hotel,” he said as a truck drove past, “our luggage will already be in our rooms.”
“Which hotel are we staying at?” Sylvia asked.
“Place called Shepherd’s,” the bobcat replied as they strolled along, arm in arm.  “One of the three biggest places on this island.”  He and his girlfriend sidestepped as a native fox holding the bars of a ricksha moved past at a trot and he added, “So far, this is turning out pretty great.”
“No argument from me,” Sylvia declared.  “You and Ozzy have done a wonderful job.” 
He turned his head and kissed her.  “Thank you, Sylvia.”
Casino Island was a little over a mile square, with shops and restaurants huddled cheek by jowl with hotels, warehouses and some private homes.  There were several multistory buildings, mainly the bigger hotels and the steel-and-glass edifice that housed a newspaper’s offices.  The narrow streets were full of people; tourists like them, a few white-uniformed police officers, and native Spontoonies in varying stages of undress
Although they didn’t have too far to go and were wearing white, the tropical sun beat down on them.  Sylvia pointed and said, “There’s Shepherd’s, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Great.  Let’s get inside where it’s cooler.”
Their rooms were on the second floor, and they discovered that their luggage had been unpacked and everything hung up.  “Wow, this is nice,” Sylvia said.  “Two bedrooms, living room, bathroom.  They really knew how to live back then.”
“If you had money,” Kyle reminded her.
“Well, yeah.”  The tigress shed her broad-brimmed hat and jacket and sat down, and he grinned at her.  “What?”
“You look beautiful in that.”
“Thanks.  What’s your watch say?”
“Almost, dang, nine o’clock.”
“Okay.  Let’s get out of here and get some actual sleep,” Sylvia said.
“Sure,” and Kyle closed the program.  
As Sylvia got up to use the bathroom, Kyle started shutting down the collection of computer components and drives, smiling to himself.  Tomorrow was Sunday.
It was also Sylvia’s birthday.

***

The smell of bacon succeeded in doing what the sunlight seeping around the blinds couldn’t do, and Sylvia yawned as she sat up in bed.  Kyle’s side of the bed was vacant, and the tigress rubbed sleep from her eyes and ran her fingers through her headfur.  She licked the taste out of her mouth as she got to her feet and headed straight to the bathroom.
She came out a few minutes later to find the kitchen table set with bacon, scrambled eggs and toast, and Kyle pouring a cup of coffee for her.  “Good morning,” the bobcat said.  He set the coffee down as she sat.  “Happy Birthday.”
“You remembered,” she said, and kissed him.  He sat down and they started eating.
Kyle poured a few spoonfuls of hot sauce on his eggs and started eating.  “What have you got planned for today?  Other than the program, I mean.”
Sylvia finished eating a slice of bacon and drank some coffee before she replied, “More sleep, and I have to do some work on my term project.  Call my folks.”  She looked at him across the table.  “You?”
“I’ve got some work to do too,” the bobcat said, “but I was thinking we could have dinner twice.”
“’Twice?’”
“Yeah.  This afternoon, if we have some time, we’ll go into the program and we’ll have a nice candlelight dinner.”
“Mm, sounds nice.”
“I think you’ll like it.  For actual dinner,” and he chuckled, “where would you like to go?”
“Hmm.”  Sylvia spent a few minutes eating before she replied, “How about that new barbecue place?”
“The one by the theater?  Sure,” and Kyle grinned.  “After dinner, we come back here so I can give you your birthday present.”
“What is it?”
The bobcat winked.  “You’ll see.”	
The day went by fairly smoothly.  Sylvia went back to bed, but got up a couple hours later to call her parents in Delahare before doing her schoolwork for Monday.  Kyle kept quiet to let her rest, spending most of his time after washing up curled up in his favorite spot with two computer tablets, working on a coding project for his own classes.
“Hey, Kyle?”
The bobcat had earbuds in both ears, and started when the tigress tapped him on the head.  “Huh?” he asked, removing one of the buds.  The Tuxedo Brothers single Superb Yowling could be heard.
“What do you want for lunch?  I’m going to make a sandwich.”
He goggled up at her.  “Is it lunchtime already?  Wow,” he said when she nodded.  “I was pretty zoned.  Let me close this and I’ll get one too.”
Lunch was eaten at the kitchen table, Sylvia wrinkling her nose at Kyle’s habit of adding sliced onion and spicy mustard to his sandwich.  The bobcat did what he usually did, and made kissy faces at her from across the table.  “At least in simulation your breath doesn’t smell,” Sylvia said.
“That’ll take a little tweak in the program,” Kyle chuckled before taking a drink of his cola.
Sylvia popped a pawful of claws.  “Don’t you dare.”  He grinned at her, and she went back to eating her turkey club.  “That brings up a question.”
“Hm?”
“When we’re in the program, the computer’s feeding info straight into our brains.  Sight, smell, sound, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Does that mean we can’t use our senses out here?”
Kyle stopped chewing, swallowed, and looked thoughtful.  “Yeah,” he finally muttered, “that’s a flaw.”  His ears dipped as he took a swallow of his drink.  “For safety reasons, at least.”
The tigress nodded.  “It’d come in handy if the house catches on fire.”
“Or you need to use the bathroom.”  He took his phone out of his shorts and started texting Ozzy.  The fox had to know about this.
An hour later, with no response yet from the Rain Islander, the bobcat and the tigress settled down onto the couch and donned their visors as the computer began running its program.
There was the usual amount of vertigo, and Sylvia found herself standing in the living room of their suite at Shepherd’s, dressed in the same evening gown the computer had outfitted her with, and Kyle in his tuxedo.  “I need to get a screencap of you wearing that,” Kyle said, the bobcat using his thumbs and forefingers to frame her as he grinned.
“Only if you get one of yourself,” Sylvia said, walking up to him and taking his paw in hers.  “Do we have a reservation?”
He laughed.  “Of course,” and they left the room for the hotel’s elevator.
The doors to the restaurant were dark wood bearing silver-framed glass panes etched with roses, and when Kyle opened the door for her a minkess walked up to them and smiled.  “Good evening, and welcome to l’Etoile d’Argent.”
“Good evening,” Kyle said.  “We have a reservation, under Washburn.”
The smile widened.  “Of course.  Come with me, please,” and they followed the minkess to a table overlooking the hotel’s veranda and giving them a view of the gardens.  “Your waiter will be with you shortly,” and the hostess went back to her station, where she had a brief conversation with a supercilious-looking squirrel.
They weren’t kept waiting long, and a slim rabbit buck presented them with the wine list and the menu.  “Would either of you care for a cocktail?”
“Could I get a glass of water?” Sylvia asked.
“For two, please,” Kyle said as he pored over the wine list.  The waiter moved off and the bobcat said, “Are we going to have fish for dinner?”
“Yes.  Some of these look delicious.  White wine, then?”
“Yeah.”
They ordered a bottle of wine to go with the cracked crab claws they had for an appetizer, and to accompany the swordfish steaks with a vodka-caper sauce.  After waiter had removed the empty plates and ran a crumber over the tablecloth he asked, “Are you ready for dessert?”
“Yes,” Kyle replied before Sylvia could say anything, and as the rabbit walked away the bobcat smiled at the tigress.
She narrowed her eyes at him, her ears laying back.  “You’re up to something.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you.”
The waiter returned with a tray bearing two covered dishes, followed by the wine waiter with an ice bucket, a bottle of champagne, and two flutes.  “Voila,” the waiter said after he placed the two dishes before the diners and whisked away the covers.  “Sachertorte, for two.”  The buck smiled at Sylvia.  “Happy Birthday, mademoiselle.”  The word was punctuated by the soft pop as the wine waiter opened the champagne and poured two glasses.
Kyle smiled at the expression on Sylvia’s face.  She had had the chocolate confection once when she was little, and had shared the memory of it with him.  “You – you remembered?”
He reached across the table and took her paw.  “Of course I did.”  He withdrew his paw and raised his glass.  “To you, Sylvia.  Happy Birthday.”
They clinked glasses, drank, and started to eat.
The dessert tasted as Sylvia recalled it.
After dinner, they went for a walk in the hotel’s gardens, and Sylvia remarked, “I still have trouble believing you did all of this for me.”
“Why?” Kyle asked.  “This way we can go on a cruise, without having to leave home.”
“You do realize it might spoil us if we ever go on a real cruise,” Sylvia pointed out.
“It might,” he conceded, “but I still want to take you on one.  Maybe this summer.”  He paused and pointed.  “Look,” and she turned to see the full moon shining through the palms and other plants.
“How romantic,” Sylvia said, and she turned to kiss and nuzzle the bobcat.  “Thank you for this birthday present.”
“You’re welcome, Syl.  But this isn’t your birthday present,” and Kyle checked his watch.
“This isn’t?  What is, then?”
“After we eat some barbecue.  System, exit,” and they took their goggles off as the simulation ended.
 
***
  
The place was called The Savory Swine, and displayed a drawing of a dapper boar wearing a suit and top hat.  The spare ribs were excellent, and the bobcat and the tigress ate a whole rack between them with cole slaw, French fries and mugs of draft beer.
On their way back to the house, Sylvia asked, “Are we in the simulation, or is this real life?”
Kyle laughed.  “System, exit,” he said, and after waiting a moment he added, “I think this is as real as it gets.  And no, I’m not going to run out in traffic just to prove it to you,” he added, causing Sylvia to laugh.
The tigress flopped onto the sofa and asked as Kyle rebooted the computer and its peripheral drives, “You really have to send all this back to Ozzy?”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so.  This stuff’s so advanced that you can’t buy it, and a few of the chips are one of a kind.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said as he passed her a pair of goggles and he sat down beside her.
They were walking down a side street, headed toward a fenced-in building.  “Where are we?” Sylvia asked.
“Oh, still on Casino Island, and here’s your birthday present,” and the tigress glanced at the bobcat as Kyle stopped.
“The Double Lotus?”
“Yeah, it’s a bar.  I can’t go in with you.”
She frowned.  “Why not?” and her ears and tail flicked as he pointed at a sign reading No Boyz Allowed.  “A lesbian bar?”
“If I tried to go in with you, she’d stop me,” Kyle said as a very well-built and muscular tigress stepped out of the shadows to stand by the gate.  “But don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”  He brushed a kiss along her cheek and walked away.
Sylvia watched him go before turning back to look at the gate.  She’d visited a place like this before, and if she wanted to resist any advances a simple ‘No’ would probably suffice.  The tigress squared her shoulders and nodded at the bouncer as she entered the establishment.
“Welcome to the Double Lotus!” a tigress said from her post behind the bar, and she did a double take.  “Ohmigawd!  Sylvia!”
Sylvia’s ears perked.  “You – you know me?”  She looked familiar.
The older woman came out from behind the bar and walked closer to her.  “You never met me, doll.  My name’s Toni.”
Memory suddenly jogged, and Sylvia gasped.  Her grandmother had often told her that she closely resembled her great-aunt, and it was her great-aunt’s largesse that enabled her to realize her dream of an engineering degree.
Toni DiPantera reached out and gently brushed back a lock of Sylvia’s headsfur.  “Happy Birthday, Sylvia.”
Sylvia felt her breath catch in her throat.  “Aunt Toni,” she succeeded in saying as the older tigress gathered her into a hug.

***

On the sofa, Kyle’s paw moved to take Sylvia’s, and her paw gripped his as happy tears seeped from under the interface visor.

end