FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“Where were you? You don’t smell like corporation,” Missy said.

“I did some side work elsewhere, is all,” Leo said.

They walked through the forest. The evening sun giving its final farewell to the world, shining through the browned leaves and naked trees. Leo had done his fair share of trodding around today, what was a little more in the great outdoors? The air, while sparse, was delightful when it blew, bringing in all sorts of scents from the forest.

“Also, what does corporation even smell like?” he asked.

“You know, cologne, plastic, coffee. That sorta stuff. The stuff that is supposed to be fun but is super boring. Coffee is so boring now when you think about it. An energy drink from a distant land! Now all you guys do is drink it so you can get outta bed.”

“That’s true. Partially why I don’t drink it.”

“And the other part is uhhh, money, I’m guessing.”

“Mostly the taste.”

“And the cost.”

“Yes, and the cost. It’s ludicrous what they charge for that stuff, even prepackaged.” Leo shook his head.

“It’s kinda funny though. I don’t like it, but coffee smell is super nostalgic. Getting happy sad over something you hate is so dumb.”

“Why’s it nostalgic for you?

Missy didn’t respond.

“Your mom make some every morning?” he asked. That seemed about right, his buried memories told him.

“Yeah, well, not for me, but she loved it. And tea. Lots of tea. Not sweet tea, just tea. Like we lived in England or something. You know, the Camo-Meal stuff!”

“Chamomile?” Leo raised his eyebrows. “Simple, but very good taste in tea.”

“Well, yeah, that’s where you got the habit from.”

“What?”

They crossed over a bubbling brook, over a short yet sturdy little bridge.

“You know, when you make tea? That’s where you got it from.”

“It’s not like I do it much at all.”

“Still! It’s that Swanson magic in you.”

There was a curious feeling upon hearing Missy say that name. It felt more personal this time, as if it were her own magic, rather than a distant caretaker. Like she was owning the name.

As for the tea, that did make sense to a degree. The smell, while he couldn’t quite attach it to any one event, did seem to fit in his mental image of that dusty old home from way back when. Dad certainly didn’t drink tea, probably for masculine reasons. Mom did, but only the remedial kind, the gross kind that helped but almost made you wish you hadn’t bothered.

“Spill,” Missy said.

“What?”

“I see you thinking all wistful about the past. Spill your thoughts!”

“I’m just making sure your story lines up in my head.” Leo kicked a rock off the path. “Which it does. Surprisingly.”

“Now we just need to get all the parts in your head working again.”

The distant crunch of foliage caught Leo’s attention. Missy didn’t even flinch.

“Then we can start shaking all those old memories loose,” she said. “Back in action.”

“Alright, quit it.”

“What?”

“Talking like I have a hole in my head. I just don’t remember some things, like what Ms. Swanson said you were, for example.”

Missy’s cheery expression shifted to slight surprise, then subdued bemusement, and right back to delight. Leo glanced upward and suppressed a sigh. Yeah, he knew what was coming.

“Well, you know, it was all kinda hazy mysterious stuff. She always said one thing specifically though, that I’m a spirit of the land.”

Leo waited for her to continue, but clearly this was her hook to make him dig for more. He rubbed an eye and prepared himself.

“And what does that entail, exactly? Looking over forests?”

“I dunno. It sure sounded important, though. Like, specifically, I was called here because of the way people were treating this place. Modernization and stuff. At least I think it was that. You know, save this part of the world and all. Vengeance. Simple.”

Unease trickled in, both from the sounds of the forest and what Missy said. It aligned vaguely with the research still stewing in his mind. Though, he couldn’t be sure she was even speaking honestly. The cheer in her voice was all-too-apparent.

“That seems like a heavy role to take on yourself.”

“Well… I got you, don’t I?”

Leo paused. “Yeah, you do, though I’m not sure I’m fond of the Man vs. Nature trope.”

“You mean you don’t like mother nature fighting back?”

“Something like that often tends to be pushed a little too hard in the wrong direction. Lacking nuance. Speaking of, nuance, does that mean Ms. Swanson ‘summoned’ you?”

Missy lit up again. “No. She just raised me. Never said how she got me, but I’m guessing she must not have liked the guys who did. That’s how I’m all laidback and in-control, you know? Maybe I’m still a demon, just a smart one. One who’s got control. That was what I was told, anyways.”

Missy trotted out in front of him and raised her arms. Their eyes met and her motions slowed to a dead stop. There was another crunch, but it halted. A deliberate step. Leo perked and glanced in its direction. Nothing except the intertwining forest stared back.

“How come you’ve never told me that before?” Leo asked.

Missy fell back to his side.

“It’s not like I’m super into it. I don’t really wanna be a forest spirit. Can you get a good phone reception out here?” She shrugged and presented the quiet forest. “Plus, you never asked.”

“I guess that’s true.” Though all the back and forth on this was beginning to give him a headache.

And moreover, it was infinitely more entertaining for her to drum up any number of possible responses. Space alien princess probably was still his favorite of the bunch, admittedly, if only just because the UFO chasers were the most bizarre. Them being her people would be hilariously sad.

Another crunch disturbed his thoughts. A little closer now.

“Did you hear that?” Leo asked, stopping in-place.

“Hear what?” Missy immediately straightened out, ears swiveling each way. “I hear some bugs.”

“No.”

Leo held his breath. The forest blared back. A touch of birds, the aforementioned insects, rustling in the leaves, but no specific crunching.

“Are you screwing with me right now?” Missy whispered.

“I guess it was a branch falling.”

“You were messing with me!”

“No, no, I wasn’t.” Leo shook his head. “You just have to be careful about this stuff.”

“OK, stop! You already spooked me. I woulda heard it first, anyways. Superior radars.”

“Maybe.” Then again, watching TV in an enclosed room probably stifled some of that innate skill.

“What were we talking about, anyways?”

“You mean your origin story?”

“Oh, yeah!” She definitely didn’t forget. “I dunno. Mom. Yeah, uh, she didn’t like talking about it much. Maybe it was stressful.”

There was a touch of pride to that. However curious she really was about her existence was trampled under a joy of the mystique, Leo figured.

“It was probably a serious moment in her life, if that’s true. I’m sure she was just happy to have you.”

Missy deflated, but kept her smile.

“Yeah. Not sure what those summoners musta been thinking, but I guess I should be happy. I kinda miss being called a little forest nymph.”

“Do you think that really happened? The whole summoning thing?”

“Are you trying to call me dumb?”

“No. I’m just asking. Missy, when it comes to you, anything is on the table.”

That instantly perked her up again.

“Like I said, not sure I even wanna be.”

They continued a little farther before hearing another crunch, yet this one was followed by a proper gait. Four legged gait, in fact. Leo placed an arm in front of Missy, bringing her to a prompt halt.

“I hear it, too,” she whispered.

Out of the woods came a black bear. Not too large, but still enough to get the nerves on edge. It immediately halted, sizing up the two of them. Leo calmed himself.

“Just follow me,” he said softly.

Missy had no response. He glanced to her. She was completely frozen on the spot, ears flattened back, eyes boring holes into the creature before her. Leo slowly grabbed her hand and tottered her off to the side of the path. Missy’s head swiveled, still tracking the beast as they moved.

They trod on the unkempt forest floor, creating a wide berth for the bear to pass by unbothered. It warily looked at them before taking a few tentative steps forward. As it neared the pair, Leo eased an arm around Missy’s waist, bringing her closer. Maybe it was in vain to calm her like that.

As the creature departed, it broke into a faster gait, soon slipping out of sight. Leo took a few relaxed breaths. “That was pretty cool,” was what he wanted to say, but he held his tongue. Missy continued her frozen staring.

“It’s alright. The bear continued on its way,” he said.

Missy’s ears gradually pointed back up, and her head stiffly looked back to him. Her eyes were wide, threatening to pop out of their sockets. She put her head against his chest and held him tightly. Leo nodded to himself and returned the embrace. That wasn’t unreasonable. Likely the first time she had been so close to something like that.

Leo looked around for anything else that could possibly bother them. He listened carefully for the smallest creak or the quietest crunch. Nothing. Just the wind with a peppering of birds.

That couldn’t have just been a bear, earlier.

_

The rest of the walk was uneventful. Missy lapsed from her energetic babbling into silence. She was completely on edge, despite Leo’s several attempts to calm her. It must have taken some bravery to keep walking with him at all. He took to scanning the area when he could, only when Missy wasn’t looking at him. Didn’t want to rile her up anymore than he already had.

“Do we have to go… back that way?” Missy said.

“It’s the quickest way to the house,” Leo replied.

“Yeah. But.”

“I’m sure he only went that way to get to the stream. Probably had his drink already and went home.”

Missy looked to him, with the slightest crinkle of the brow. “How do you know it’s a guy bear?”

There was the Missy he wanted right now. “He looked the part. Big enough. Girls are a little more wiry. I think, anyways,” he said.

“That was big?” The thought played across her face. Fear, calm, unease, uncertainty. “That wasn’t too bad, I guess.”

Leo thought for a moment. He could promote that line of thought, get her to calm down. Might also scare her all the more if they did stumble into a bigger fellow.

“The bears around here aren’t that big.”

“You didn’t tell me that earlier.”

“I’ve been telling you all along they’re nothing to worry about.”

“You gotta give me pictures. Just saying something isn’t bad ain’t gonna give a real picture!” She took a moment to calm herself. “Still, he wasn’t too scary.”

“If you raised your arms real tall, he would’ve been sent packing for sure,” Leo said.

A smile crooked at the side of her mouth, one that she was desperately trying to push down. Her innate desire to gloat was having a serious fight with taking the experience seriously.

“Bared your teeth too. He would’ve spun around on the spot.”

“Well, I dunno, maybe teeth would be taking it too far.” Gloating won out. It seemed as though Missy was going to raise her arms, but frowned and quickly crossed them instead. “Yeah, well, I guess I’ll think about it next time a huge meat eater comes stomping through the woods.”

Leo was surprised that failed at the last second. The thought bothered him. It shouldn’t have, but it did. Missy outright snuffing the chance to brag as he goaded her on. Could probe her about it. Then again it might’ve just been the fear bothering her. Asking seemingly accusatory questions while she was already on edge wouldn’t help matters one bit.

The house came into view, and not a bear in sight. Missy increased her pace, with Leo following closely behind. He unlocked the door and she rushed in, only to take her place on the couch and turn on the television. Looked like she was back to her old self, Leo figured.

To think, he was pondering about the mysterious background that permeated every part of Missy. That she might be a siren, dragging him into the forest for some tortuous meal. She glanced to him out of the corner of her eye, then looked back to the television in a snap and reclined away from him.

Missy might’ve been playing the longest con. Leo knew of her as a child, as friends, and whatever came after was anyone’s guess. The only thing he did know was that she knew him. There was no proof for a single word she said, only however she acted. She was scared, then, at the forest. Her desire to be seen as something that went bump in the night was simply aesthetic, and a touch of juvenile desire to be special.

Whether or not anything she said was true was irrelevant. Even if Missy might believe she was some summoned beast that feasted on the bones of men, she wouldn’t have the heart to pull it off. Leo relaxed and looked to her room. Right now, she didn’t need his scrutiny. She needed something a little more casual. Friendly.

“You know, you’ve got another shipment of clothes coming in,” he said. “Keep an ear out, would you?”

Missy perked up and looked to him.

“It’s coming today? I thought that was tomorrow.”

“Well, the website told me it was coming today.”

Missy got up and moved over to the window to peek through the blinds. “Oh, man, I hope that purple goes good with my fur.” Just a little more.

“What kind of purple was it? A darker one? I have to say, black can be hard to pair with.”

Missy spun around and looked at him, then moved over to his side. “I’ll show ya, hand over your phone.” She patted his pockets.

Leo did as he was told. Missy snatched up his Internet brick, scrolling and tapping through it for show-and-tell. While he had OK-ed every purchase on there, it was a little worrying seeing just how long the list was. A never ending parade of clothing. She could very well be starting her own boutique. Every scroll downward became more fervent.

“This one. I mean, I’m not sure about the flower. Just thought I’d try something new.” She held her free hand next to the phone screen. “See, it’s sorta the right purple for my fur. Oh, damn, I forgot about shorts, too. I don’t think denim is gonna work. Maybe I can cut up something…”

“I’m not sure what kind of cutting you have in mind, just go easy on the creative aspect. Might end up with a blind college girl on tour look, or something.”

“I’m gonna need a mirror for this. A big one. Too many unknowns. Gotta get the whole picture.” Missy shoved the phone back in Leo’s hand and scampered off into the bathroom, pulling out a handheld mirror.

Immediately she started preening as she moved the mirror to look at every part of herself, even ducking low to get a good look at her legs.

“Hey, Leo!”

“Yeah?”

“You think I’d look good with some horns? Like, curly ones? Kinda like a sheep, I guess? Scratch that. More like a goat.” She nodded. “Goat.”

Wolficus back in action.