I feel like this piece is consistent, but a bit more cliché than the last one.
On the one hand, it fits in with what has been established in the first part - and I do like the unexpected continuity as much as the title of the last story being the title of the newspaper here - while on the other hand, there's not much surprise here.
What felt a bit dull was Duke's way of carrying himself, although there are interesting contradictions in his character already. Duke presents himself as a stalwart of truth and a genius beneath the dignity of whom it is to even interact with people like Niffs. I say present because he has already shown his disdain for 'uncultured depravity' with the article he wrote in reaction to the reaction of others to the loss of a whole civilization. There is some kind of underlying empathy in that. That empathy doesn't really show otherwise. Instead, he likes to be the unorthodox ass. He loves controversy. And that's the cliché part because I've seen it before. It kind of works here because it's so blatantly obvious it's almost a caricature and fits the tone of the story as a whole so far. I mean… He blows things up…
He says and believes that what he wrote is the truth. Every good journalist knows that a reportage is always just an approximation of the truth, and this is what I meant by interesting contradiction. He pretends his disdain is the one and only truth.
Niffs is also rather cliché, but again, it works well.
Two cliché characters bring about a classic clash of the boss who has this unorthodox employee, whose as much of an ass as he is, but his method is working, so he kind of needs him. But he still wants to hate him, so he makes it as hard for the employee as possible. I feel like I've seen this before.
This story doesn't provide anything new or surprising - but its tone and storytelling make it so that it doesn't have to. It's consistent in its tone and style and the humor does work.
I particularly liked the continuity of commentary at the beginning. There's good prose already in the first sentence and that also underlines how Duke is a good writer despite his other flaws. My favorite line: "that glorious fucker with the greasy toupé and the stained suit, one eye peering from behind that missing sunglass lens. "
The integration of Planasthai (I'm still trying to figure out the pronunciation) was a nice detail too.
All in all, the story stays consistent and does what it wants to do. And as a Furry, I'm again pleased to see even more anthro characters. I'm curious as to how R'lek will turn out.
+1 This time for real lol
All the best
- Nylo