"Ugh! Pathetic!" Madame scoffed bitterly, slamming her cane down with a blunt THUD! as Klaus shot back up off the floor. "Zis is ze fourth time today you have fallen flat, Klaus! It may have escaped your notice, but ze point of zis class is to make you less clumsy!"

"But... b-but Madame, please, we... we have been training all day, if we could just - ooh!" Klaus jolted back when she swatted his hand away with a sharp SNAP! from her cane, the sound of which made even his fellow dancers tense with fear.

"And you vill be training all night if you do not master these steps!" Madame barked harshly, before pulling a smug smirk as she spoke with a more insincere and patronising tone. "Let's not forget, fraulein, zis is Redshore City, not ze dirty little slums you crawled out of in Schnitzeldorf. We have standards here, and I expect all of you to live up to them."

"Oh, um... y-yes, Madame..." Klaus lowered his head in shame as Madame rolled her eyes, before she stomped one of her hooves on the floor to make him tense up again.

"What are you still standing around for? Return to your position!" She scolded, her raging red cheeks striking a stark contrast with her grey coat. When Klaus quickly scrambled his way back over to the line of dancers, the mare flattened down her black turtleneck and brushed her slightly unkempt white mane out of her face, putting her more civilised visage back on before raising her cane again. "Now... let's take it from ze top again, shall we...?"

"Klaus...?" Johnny's voice made the monkey jolt up a bit, nearly dropping his phone before he narrowly caught it, though he quickly regained his cool as he turned around to face the gorilla. "You, um... are you okay?"

"Okay? Yes, of course." Klaus tried to sound casual as he straightened up, slightly adjusting his beret. "Why would I not be okay, Johnny?"

"Well, I dunno, you just... when we were all chatting back there, you were just looking at your phone and... and then you just took off here."

"Oh yes, I um..." Klaus glanced back at his screen, before shoving it back in his pocket. "I just, um... I just received some... news."

"Ah, right... um... was it about that Madame Jument lady...?" Johnny cringed a bit after he said this, though he did feel slightly relieved when Klaus, after some hesitation, nodded. "I, um... I'm guessing you two know each other...?"

"Know each other? She taught him everything he knows!" Marilyn suddenly butted in as she made her way in between the two, followed by Kaya, Nooshy and some of the others. "Honestly, Madame Jument's a bloody legend! She basically made Redshore's dancing industry! Or... at least that's what Wikipedia says."

"Hmm... there's certainly worse things they could say about her..." Klaus snarked, taking a few steps back as he leaned against the wall. Johnny and Nooshy both went slightly wide-eyed when he said this, but before they could prod further, Marilyn let out another gasp once she saw something else on her Quacker feed.

"Well, it says here says she's having a big End of Life Ceremony at her mansion on Monday..." Marilyn pursed her lips. "Hmm... I wonder if it's a public event. Then again, they probably wouldn't be posting this if it wasn't."

"I have, um..." Klaus cleared his throat, holding back for another moment as he glanced back at his phone screen. "I have been asked to attend. By the personal invitation of Madame Jument herself."

"Oh, brill! Hey, if you need a plus-one, Double K, you can count me in!" Marilyn said. "It'd be great for my Quacker clout!"

"Marilyn..." Kaya raised an eyebrow, which made the young gorilla tone calm down a bit, before they both looked back to Klaus. "But in all seriousness, Mr. Kickenklober, you're more than free to go. Nooshy here has said she has some choreography in mind already for Marilyn, so we should be able to make a start on that while you're away."

"What? Oh... oh, yes, thank you." Klaus cleared his throat, though it seemed he still wasn't fully focusing. "Yes, it... it's best that I go."

"Hmm... so I guess this Madame Jument lady's pretty high profile, then...?" Ash still didn't sound so sure. "I mean, dancing's never been my sorta thing, but the name does kinda ring a bell."

"Oh yeah, totally. It's like Marilyn said, she basically trained all the big dancers in the city." Porsha sounded rather awestruck, putting a hand on her hip as she looked over to Klaus. "Ya must be one of her favourites if she's actually asked ya to go, Mr. K! I'd be pretty damned honoured if I was you."

"Favourite? Pah! The closest she had to favourites were the dancers that she despised the least, and I certainly wasn't one of those..." Klaus' voice briefly betrayed a hint of sadness, and what almost sounded like fear to Johnny's ears, before the old monkey forced a harsh laugh and regained some of his more recognisable bravado. "But of course, as Madame has always said, it is only after we suffer that we can be great! And I have plenty of greatness to show for the suffering I endured. Hmm... I am sure after all these years, she simply wants to see the master choreographer that she moulded me into!"

"Oh good, he's back to normal now..." Nooshy rolled her eyes, though she could tell Johnny wasn't as convinced while Klaus left the room. Rosita, Buster and even Porsha seemed to notice the more concerned look on the gorilla's face as he still looked where Klaus had gone, but Nooshy was the first to break this brief silence as she nudged his arm with her elbow. "Hey, don't worry about him, mate. You heard what he said, he's looking forward to seeing her!"

"Well, he might have said it, but I don't think he really meant it, Nooshy..." Johnny rubbed his arm, now seeming almost distracted as Klaus had been. "I just... I've seen my... well, I've seen folks act that way before, and it... and it didn't go well for them..."

Buster then cleared his throat, having a better idea of what the young gorilla was inferring here, but he kept his usual charismatic and upbeat visage on as the others all turned back to him. "Well anyway, I know it's a terrible tragedy what's happening to dear old Madame Jument, but there's nothing to lighten the mood than some good old fashioned rehearsals, huh?"

"Oh yeah, absolutely." Suki stood back up from the koala's level, regaining her usual management of the troupe while their minds were taken off the Klaus situation. "Right, Nooshy, if you have any of your choreography notes handy, you and Johnny can talk Marilyn through them. And Buster, if you wanna get your scrapbook, we'll let Ash have a look at some of your ideas for her Toxic Tyrant costume."

"Yep, that's terrific, Suki! Alright, folks, let's move it or lose it!" Buster gave Johnny a final quick glance, before leading Suki and Ash out of the dance studio while Rosita and Porsha went to re-join Meena and Gunter in the main rehearsal space.

Marilyn continued idly gossiping - partially about her recently found passion for dancing, but mainly about her Quacker profile - to Nooshy and Kaya while they headed back to the other dancers, though Johnny remained by the door for another moment or two. There was no further sign of Klaus - though Johnny was certain that the monkey was actually hidden behind the doorway and hadn't actually left yet - but rather than prod further, the young gorilla simply shrugged and went back to his duties with his co-stars.

After spending the rest of the day going through various discussions and rehearsals, most of the troupe were too tired to go anywhere special, so they decided to just hang out with each other for the night. Buster had initially feared there would be some awkwardness staying at the Crystal Tower Hotel again - especially since they were already performing at its main competitor - Suki had assured him that, with their would-be dictator long gone, the extremely grateful board of directors were more that willing to accommodate Redshore City's newest stars.

"Yeah, you heard right! The lead villain!" Ash tensed away from her phone while the caller on the other end let out an excited shriek, playfully rolling her eyes before she continued. "I know, Mom, it's really great, and Moon made a huge deal out of it too. Yeah, Mr. Moon. Well, I just call him that because everyone calls him that, y'know? No, it's not rude, he's fine with it!"

"Hey, Ash, do ya think we're allowed to take these cute little shower gels home with -" Porsha cut herself off when she came out of the bathroom and realised her roommate was on the phone. "Ooh, is it your parents?"

"Porsha, what the -?!" Ash shrieked, quickly covering her eyes when she saw the young wolf was only wearing a towel, though she let out a playful chuckle when the voice on the other end of the phone expressed some concern at her outburst. "Huh? Oh no no, it's fine, Mom. Yeah, that was just Porsha. Yeah, it happened again. Uh-huh... yeah, she's fine. Well, we're going to bed in a minute, so... great. Yeah, my Mom says night, Porsha!"

"Goodnight, Susan!" Porsha quickly shouted as Ash held up the phone so her mother could hear this. While Ash continued her conversation, Porsha went behind a privacy curtain and finished drying herself off, emerging fully-dressed in her blue sci-fi pyjamas before she sat at the bottom end of the bed.

When Suki had arranged the luxury suites for the Moon Troupe's stay - including a room for Buster and herself - there had been a minor mix-up with Ash and Porsha being given a double bed instead of two separate beds. But since Ash had already slept in Porsha's bed on multiple occasions back at their apartment - usually when the young wolf was having night terrors, but sometimes even when she just felt too cold - the roommates had mutually decided this wasn't worth making a fuss over.

"Alright, yep. Uh-huh. I know, I know, I love you guys too. Okay... goodnight, Mom." Ash made a dramatic kissing sound into the speaker before she hung up, putting her phone aside as she let out a yawn and relaxed back on the bed. "Boy... what a day, huh?"

"Yeah, no kidding..." Porsha quickly shuffled over, taking up one entire half of the bed as she got under the covers and rested her head on the pillow.

It took about thirty seconds of mutual silence for Ash to realise that something was on her roommate's mind - evidenced by Porsha biting her bottom lip and twiddling her thumbs - but before she could ask, the young wolf spoke up again by herself anyway.

"So, uh... that whole Madame Jument thing's pretty morbid, huh? I mean... folks die in Redshore all the time, but... but it's kinda weird to basically throw a party first, isn't it?"

"Well yeah, it's kinda unusual, I guess, but... but folks handle death in all kinds of ways, Porsha." Ash tried to sound casual, though her tone was still soft and compassionate. "And to be honest, I think something like this can really help soften the blow. Like, maybe if Ruby had something like this back then, it might have not have hurt Clay so much when she... y'know..."

"Hmm..." Porsha hesitated for a moment or two, clearly wrestling with herself whether her question was going to be inappropriate, but she eventually decided to just come out with it. "Do ya think Nana would ever wanna do something like that? I mean, I'm not trying to suggest anything, it's just... well... she's kinda old."

"Nana? Come on!" Ash stifled a laugh as she nudged Porsha's shoulder. "Trust me, buddy, being surrounded by a bunch of folks reminiscing about the good old days is the last thing that old sheep would want to go off with. Besides, she's still got a ton of years left in her yet."

"I guess so... still, I'm just kinda curious how this sorta thing would play out."

"Well, we could go if you wanted it, Porsha." Ash shrugged as her roommate looked back to her. "All of us, I mean. If she's supposed to be this living legend like that Marilyn girl says, it'd probably be a good look for us to be there. Y'know, kinda like a new generation paying our respects to the old one sort of thing."

"Oh yeah, that could be pretty fun!" Porsha then pursed her lips, thinking for a moment about her choice of words. "Well y'know, not... n-not fun fun, just uh... yeah... but anyway, I uh... yeah, I'm game with that. Do ya think we need to, like, get tickets for it or something?"

"Tickets?" Ash scoffed. "She's not putting on a show, Porsha, she's dying."

"Well yeah, but somebody dyin' that old is a pretty big deal in Redshore, Ash. Cause y'know, usually folks used to just die jumping off my Dad's -" Porsha suddenly cut herself off for a few seconds, her eyes bulging to their widest point when the realisation finally hit her. "Oh my gosh, those guys didn't jump!"

Ash cringed a bit, letting out an awkward chuckle as she gently patted Porsha's hand. "Yeah, uh... maybe that's enough talking about death for one night, Porsha."

"What? Oh, uh..." Porsha shook herself to snap herself out of her mildly traumatised state. "Yeah... y-yeah, probably..."

Ash sat up a bit as Porsha nestled closer, letting the young wolf rest her head right under her chin, and gently tightened her grip on her. With her free hand, the porcupine switched off the bedside light and pulled her eye mask down, almost falling asleep before Porsha spoke up again. "Hey, Ash...?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Did Johnny seem kinda weird, today?"

Ash opened her eyes, though kept them covered under her mask. "What do you mean, Porsha?"

"Well I dunno, he just... when Mr. K was talking about his teacher, Johnny was saying all that stuff about... about knowing what he's going through, or... or something like that..."

"Hmm... yeah, that actually was pretty weird, wasn't it..." Ash thought to herself for another moment or two, then shrugged as she rested back on the pillow and closed her eyes again. "Well, Johnny knows his own business, Porsha. Y'know, it... it's like Rosita said earlier, it's best to just give him a little privacy."

"Yeah... yeah, you're probably right." Porsha let out a small yawn, then rested her head on her roommate's chest again and closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Ash."

"Goodnight, Porsha."

Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style, some day

Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're going, I'm going your way

"Oh-ho, that was bloody amazing!"

Mary squealed giddily as she ran out of the Prairie Theatre, while her companion quickly shuffled past the other animals so he could catch up to her. As much as Marcus had enjoyed these outings - which were definitely not dates - that he'd been on with his employer's daughter in the past few weeks, he did have to admit that her free spirit made her quite hard to keep up with at times.

Mary did eventually slow down when they reached the bridge over the canal, and they stood in the very centre of the curve, at the very edge of the railing. It was nearly midnight, so the resident whale had already turned in for the evening, but the twinkling stars and the pale crescent moon in the night sky still cast a vibrant light on the clear blue water below the two gorillas.

"Hmm... I could tell you were enjoying it, Mary." Marcus finally broke the silence. "I mean, I've never been much of a musical bloke myself, but that were alright."

"Alright? Pah! It were amazing..." Mary let out a long, satisfied sigh, taking off her glasses to wipe the small, joyful tears that had dripped out of her eyes. "And she was absolutely phenomenal too..."

"Well of course she was." Marcus chuckled. "Don't think that Noodleman girl's the face of the theatre for no reason, Mary."

"Oh, you mean Nana? Well yeah, but she's always brilliant..." Mary casually said. "But I was talking about that new girl! Y'know, the gorilla."

"Oh yeah..." Marcus thought for a moment. "Yeah, I saw her name on one of the programmes. Uh... it's Fletcher something, innit?"

"Florence Fletcher..." Mary exhaled proudly, still sounding completely awestruck, and even somewhat smitten, as she held her hand over her heart. "God, she was incredible."

Marcus pursed his lips, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she were quite good, weren't she? Hmm... to be honest, I never thought I'd see one of us up on the stage beltin' her heart out like that. Y'never know... she might end up bein' a bit of a trailblazer, that girl."

"Oh, I really hope so..." Mary still gazed out into the distance, though it seemed some sadness was slipping through. "Y'know, it's a bit weird, innit? We're about the same age, me and that Fletcher. She might actually be a bit younger, but... but she's just everything I'm not, isn't she? She... s-she's talented, she's beautiful, she's -"

"Come on, love, don't make it like that..." Marcus gently placed his hand over hers.

"And she's up there living the bloody dream, she is! But yeah, y'know, it... it's good. Yeah... good for her..." Mary shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Honestly, I'd absolutely love to be able to have done something like that. It was never gonna happen, though."

"Isn't that what your piano lessons were for..?" Marcus noticed Mary tense up a bit after he said this, but after some hesitation he decided to prod further. "Well... why don't you just ask your old man to put you in one of those shows? You could probably be uh... what's that word again... not duelling, um... oh yeah, duetting, with that Fletcher girl if you went for it!"

"Are you joking...?!" Mary stifled a dry, rather bitter chuckle. "My Dad hates it, Marcus. Music, theatre, all that jazz. He thinks it's just a bloody waste of time. You should hear what he says about me and my piano when you're not around."

"Well, he must like it a bit if he's gonna buy shares in it..." Marcus' tone of voice wasn't completely sincere, though the rather disapproving expression Mary sent his way made it abundantly clear that they both knew the real reasons Graham had been investing in the Prairie for the past couple years. "Right... yeah..."

"Besides, even if he didn't hate it, he'd never want me doing something like that..." Mary pursed her lips as she sniffled a bit, which prompted Marcus to shuffle a little closer to her. "But it's alright, y'know, cause... cause at least we've got girls like Florence paving ways, eh...? That's worth something."

Mary's eyes bulged to their widest point when Marcus quickly leaned over and planted a quick peck on the side of her face, a moment that had come and gone so rapidly she almost thought she'd imagined it. But as she glanced over to the bigger gorilla, it was clear from his slightly shaking hands and the red tint on his own cheeks that it had most certainly happened.

"Hmm... you missed, silly..." She smirked as Marcus pulled a rather confused expression, then turned to face him directly so she could clarify her point. "That was my cheek. These are my lips."

Mary then gently placed her hands on either side of Marcus' face and pulled him closer, both closing their eyes as their lips finally connected.

While in reality their kiss had only lasted about ten seconds, it certainly felt a lot longer, as all the other sounds surrounding them slowed to a halt and finally faded to sweet, beautiful silence. For just a few, fleeting moments, it felt like the entire world had come to a standstill, and there was no one else in it but just the two of them, and they couldn't possibly have asked for anything better.

Two drifters, off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see

We're after the same rainbow's end

Waiting round the bend
My huckleberry friend

Moon river, and me

"Uh... hey, J...?"

Nooshy's voice snapped Johnny back to reality as the young gorilla straightened up. It was only then Johnny realised he'd been sitting up in his bed for what must have been a few hours, and he looked across to see the very tired looking lynx glaring at him from her own bed a few feet away, the small purple lava lamp positioned between them being the only light source.

"Why y'still awake, mate?" Nooshy rubbed her eyes with a yawn. "It's like two in the morning, innit?"

"Three, actually..." He corrected with a rather sheepish grin, then gave a small nod. "Sorry, Nooshy, I um... I were just thinking to myself."

"About what?"

"Well, y'know, about Klaus. And uh... and that Madame Jument lady." Johnny cupped his chin, biting on his bottom lip while he thought some more. "I just... I just can't help thinking there's something more there."

"Something more...?" Nooshy pondered these words for a moment, her face suddenly contorting into a tight, mildly disgusted expression. "You don't mean, like, love or something, do you?"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Johnny covered his mouth, not wanting his sudden exclamation to wake up anyone else on this floor, then rolled his eyes. "Ugh... no, that's not what I meant. If... if anything, it feels more like the opposite. Like... hatred."

"Oh, really? Klaus Kickenklober hating someone?" Nooshy scoffed while she gently puffed her pillow up, her voice becoming slightly muffled as she buried her face in it. "What else is new, eh...?"

"Well yeah, but... but maybe it's not that simple." Johnny looked down. "Y'know, Marilyn was saying that lady taught Klaus everything he knows. Maybe... maybe she taught him to be mean, too."

Nooshy lifted her head back out of her pillow, her eyes having widened a little after what Johnny had said, but she eventually gave a small shrug and slumped back down. "Well, whatever's going on with them, that's their business, J. Best not to get involved."

"Yeah... yeah, you're probably right..."

Johnny slouched back on his bed, turning the lava lamp to its darkest setting so that Nooshy could go back to sleep. He remained awake for another half hour or so, gazing up at the ceiling while he continued pondering to himself, and all these thoughts, concerns and memories still swirled around his head even after he finally drifted off.