Wonderfully done as always, Zin! I love how you bring out your characters' personalities with every word and action, and so smoothly and realistically at that. It's such a treat reading your stories. Can't wait for the next installment.

Thank you! I'm really glad you like it so much, and to know I can manage to bring my characterrs to life so believably =^_^=

I hope to have a new story or two up soon! =~.^= One might even become adult in nature for the first time in the series of these two characters... =~.^=

Hee! Neato. FYI, here's the Mason Motors logo:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3317545/

And, of course, patches of "Artie", the R-T-T mascot are in evidence... ;)

Glad you're feeling better!

Ohh, cool! Thanks! I'll definitely incorporate that in the next story when the Silver Streak will be reassembled and ready to be taken out for a test spin! =^_^= And I'm sure there will be some kind of document or even a little plaque with the name and logo in the car somewhere =~.^=

Thank you so much, Major! =^_^=

A low, powerful rumble was heard outside the shop as a gleaming Astral Silver 450SLC pulled up out front. The driver, a tanfurred feline in her late 30s, raised a quizzical eye as she walked into the shop. "Dear heart, you are slumming again?"

Mason Motors' owner, a stocky tiger whose facial fur had been groomed into an improbable handlebar moustache, grinned as he looked up from under the Jensen's hood. "What now, love?"

A wicked wink and a wave indicating the massed supercars. "Well, you have all these Fiats here..."

Matt, the tiger, gave a mock groan. "Woman, you have no taste in vehicles."

"Well," the feline said, "was it not you who said if it was not from Stuttgart, it was not worth-"

"Tali!" Matt admonished. "Mind your language. You might shock the mechanics." A burly badger with a "Born To Ride" tattoo across his knuckles looked up and nodded rapidly in mock agreement.

Tali snickered and leaned over to give her mel a smooch on the nose. "How is the new patient getting along?"

Matt gave a proud thumbs-up over his shoulder. "Go see for yourself!"

As Tali walked over, her eyes lit up. "Oh! You DO have good taste in paint!" ...

Hee hee! Awesome!

*winks*

Most likely, I will be incorporating that in the coming story too, somehow... =~.^=

Mmm... and I'm changing the overalls from green to blue. Just a detail I think will look better =~.^=

Groovy!

And, yes. Dark blue overalls go better with the logo.

Definitely! *grins* Although admitted, with the overalls in dark blue, sporting a logog consisting of blue boxes with white crosses in them, that does give the work shop an even bigger feel of a Fiat garage... =~.^=

C'est la vie. Matt tried white overalls a'la Mercedes, but the laundry bills got too high.

Haha! Yes, I can definitely undersand that! Kinda makes you ownder how the Mercedes garages handle that... =~.^=

Simple. The automobiles are simply not permitted to soil the technicians. Or else.

*giggles*

I see... that makes sense. Although on the other hand it does not sound very wise to threaten the automobiles... I've seen enough examples of them getting revenge! =~.^=

Well, these are German automobiles. Disciplined.

*giggles*

And with a temper! Jawohl! =~.^=

ooooo Frankie Valli - if you get the opportunity, go and see 'Valli Boys' the musical. It's awesome.

love the story hun....

V.

*smiles and hugs*

They're good, aren't they? I have a lovely concert DVD of them, too; they even have a fun sense of humor! =^_^= Ooo, and I should keep an eye out for that musical!

Thank you for the comment and the tip, dear! I'm real glad you enjoyed the story, even if it wasn't my best, and it was about cars, again =~.^=

Thank you, Petey! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Hee, and yeh... Mara's work is a drag. She may be department head, and it may pay well, but it sure is a stressy job a lot of times. I wouldn't wanna be Mara, either... or well, maybe only on the times when she is home or going out with Celeste =~.^=

*giggles*

Mmm, yes, I think that will be a very... tasty story =~.^= Abby has a very delicious muffin... I mean, makes! She makes very delicious muffins! =~.^=

She certainly has! Lucky skunkette... =~.^=

*chuckles and sticks out her tongue*

Ahuh, suuure... of course you were referring to those muffins, just like I was... =~.^=

*giggles and shakes her head, waggling a finger*

You naughty naughty panther boy...

Well, I can understand it... kitties looooove milk! =~.^=

*purrs and raid's Abby's... uh, fridge* =~.^=

*giggles*

Well, she is wearing a full-body overall, after all =~.^= And besides, that's a disciplined, well-behaved, stylish German car she's working on =~.^=

*giggles*

Knowing Celeste, her reaction would have been something like...

"Ohmigosh, awwwies! Look at that! That's so cute! So boxy and stuff! Wow, and lookit that, it's totally simple, too! Just a two-stroke engine? Gee wiz, it couldn't go like very fast with that... oh, but look! It's made of plastic! That's totally weird but handy! It like totally will never rust and stuff!" =~.^=

Another wonderful Mara and Celeste story!

That kitty really is a good cure for stress, isn't she? If that could be bottled somehow, it would be a sell-out!

(Damn, where can I get some...?)

Great work, Zinzoline!

Hee hee, thank you so much! I'm real glad you enjoyed it so much!

*giggles*

Yes, Cee is a much better stress-reliever than all those rubber doll thingies you can squeeze and so! She could get even richer if she could bottle and sell herself! =~.^=

Mmm... "New! The cure for stress! Celessence!"

One thing you might want to note: The final coats happen while the car is mostly assembled (body parts), ESPECIALLY with metallic coat type paints. This way, the body panels blend instead of having different hues and sheens to them. The angle that the painter holds the gun affects the angles at which the metallic pops, and it's impossible to be uniform without the car assembled. The body panels all look different and ill fitting if done individually with the topcoat.

At least this is what I am aware of.

Also, this story didn't seem to have the energy the other one I read did. The tension that builds up with Mara's job is so immense, that when you finally get the relief of her getting to be around Celeste, it is expounded. This story seemed to be more distant and flatly paced. There also didn't seem to be conflict in it because the car was being assembled so perfectly, and Mara being away from work made her feel allright. So it was sort of... Non-challenging. I mean, there could have at least be problems with the car? Everything happens so perfectly for Celeste, it must almost be maddening for Mara at times. Even the conflict at Mara's job was pretty nondescript.

I'm working on a 70's Ford pickup right now, and NOTHING goes "right" when you are working on old cars, even if you have a contingent of mechanics. One missing tool, one tiny part breaks, and the whole operation stops. Need to order a part? You might wait weeks or months.

Still a wonderful story and I look forward to the next.