FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chris gave a long-practiced smile to a pair of tigers that walked past his register as they entered the grocery store. It was still fairly early in the morning and the slender cheetah hadn’t yet lost all of his customer service energy for the day so he was able to give them a happy greeting as they passed by. It was only his third day working at the small store since he moved into town and he was doing his best not to become too pessimistic. Not an easy feat to manage when this was his first job fresh out of a cripplingly expensive college course to earn him a degree in computer programming. It may have been the norm in society these days to struggle to get into the field you go to college to study for but that didn’t make it any less frustrating to see every potential position labeled as entry level for his chosen field typically saying something along the lines of ‘Entry position available! 3 years experience required’. Just as such thoughts began to drift down into a depression spiral the jingle of the front doors opening once again snapped him out of his introspection.

“Welcome to Vittles….Mart…” Chris had begun saying automatically even before he had looked towards the door. But the moment he turned and saw the latest customer was his greeting trailed off as his eyes widened in shock and alarm.

They were HUGE.

That was the first thought that crossed Chris’s mind when he saw the person entering the store. It was obvious they were an avian species based on the feathers covering them from head to toe and the hardened beak adorning their face. But his brain struggled in the attempt to discern any additional information such as what species of bird the man was when faced with the mind-boggling size of the black-feathered avian. They were so big that they were practically down on their hands and knees out of necessity to crawl through the double doors of the entrance to the grocery store. Even then their shoulders were dangerously close to either side of the door frame due to how wide their overall size made them. When they got through the door and stood back up Chris’s eyes widened even farther until they looked like they would pop out of his eye sockets. The avian man was so big that the top of the door frame was barely higher than their waistline!

The massive crow, Chris finally managed to identify, had to be at least ten feet tall at minimum. He was dressed in a pair of jean shorts so big that each leg of them looked to be as wide around, if not wider, as the cheetah’s own waistline! He wore a plain white shirt underneath a black jacket to protect against the late autumn chill outside; either of which were big enough Chris could have used them as blankets. Finally his eyes drifted downward and saw the enormous, taloned feet of the crow. Each one of the huge appendages was big enough it could have covered most of the cheetah’s torso!

Chris stood there, staring dumbly with his mouth hanging open slightly as if halfway through a lost word. The massive crow looked around with a slight smile that showed the good mood they were in; seemingly oblivious to the disbelieving gawking they were being subjected too. When they finally turned to look at Chris the cheetah’s jaw snapped shut on reflex now that he was being observed and he struggled to get himself back under control enough to regain his customer service smile. The crow smiled a bit wider back at Chris in a silent acknowledgment and greeting then turned to walk deeper into the store.

Chris’s swallowed nervously when he not just heard, but FELT the first few steps the crow took inside the store. Each footfall was so heavy that the usually near-silence expected when someone walks around barefoot was accompanied by a soft, but audible, thump sound followed immediately by a slight vibration through the nearby tiled floor. The barely-audible taps you would expect from a bird’s claws rapping against the hard tile floor were magnified into sharp clacking sounds that left a part of Chris worried they might be scratching up or chipping the tile just by walking around the store. He could only guess how much the massive crow must weigh. Had they been normal sized Chris’s best guess put them at maybe 150 pounds based on their fairly average and lean body type, though he was no expert at judging such things at a glance. But even wildly undershooting it down to 100 pounds from what he knew of the square cube law the crow, which was nearly twice the size of a normal person, had to weigh at LEAST five or six hundred pounds despite showing little muscular definition or fat to speak of!

As they walked deeper into the store the shocked cashier could see their journey down each aisle clear as day. The crow was so tall that his head and shoulders loomed over the top of the 8 foot shelves with ease which made him visible from anywhere in the store. There were a few times he saw someone quickly scurry out of an aisle when the crow entered it. He couldn’t blame them. They were so big that they took up nearly the entire aisle all on their own. Despite their clearly friendly and pleasant demeanor the crow’s size alone made them inherently intimidating.

“First time seeing him, new guy?”

The unexpected voice nearly made Chris jump out of his own fur. His head whipped around to see his manager: a heavyset wolf a good couple of decades older than Chris.

“I uh… y-yea… holy shit, who is that?” Chris stammered.

The cheetah’s shocked expression and demeanor seemed to amuse the wolf and elicited a low chuckle from him. “That’s Cura. He’s kind of a local mascot around here. You can guess why; he’s kind of attention grabbing. And, before you ask, no I have no idea why he’s so big. Ain’t had the courage ,myself, to ask him. Plus it seems a bit rude to do so. And last thing I’d ever wanna do is be rude to someone like that. I ain’t exactly a light fella as you can see-” The wolf chuckled, pausing to pat his thick gut for emphasis “-but I’d rather not get on the bad side of someone that could pick me up and toss me across the parking lot like a toy. Not that I think he would, mind you. He’s always been a pretty friendly guy when he comes in. But its just something I ain’t in a hurry to test, ya know?”

Chris nodded, still feeling a bit dazed as he glanced back at Cura. The crow was now making his way down the chips and drinks aisle, plucking two-liter bottles of soda from the top shelf like they were the regular 16 ounce bottles in the impulse-buy section near the register. When they were done there the massive avian man made his way over to the Deli counter. It only added further emphasis to the crow’s size when they had to crouch down to see under the top of the partial-wall that went from ceiling down to a few feet above the deli counter separating it from the rest of the store. Despite what Chris could only imagine must be an incredibly intimidating sight Sarah, the dragoness who ran the Deli, seemed nothing but happy to see the crow. She even seemed to be conversing with the miniature giant like they were well acquainted though their conversation couldn’t be heard from across the store where Chris and his manager stood.

“Like I said, new guy, just be friendly with him and he’ll do the same back to you. Ain’t nothing to worry about. Don’t let him being big enough to crush a car by sitting on it intimidate ya. Just treat him like any other customer.” The manager said reassuringly as he gave Chris a light slap on the back for encouragement before walking off with an amused laugh.

When the giant crow was finished at the deli counter and had placed his order in the comically small, in comparison, hand basket he carried they turned around only to let out a surprised sound when they found someone waiting directly behind him for their turn in the deli. For a moment Cura looked like he might topple over as he stopped mid-step to keep from accidentally kicked over the older woman who had been standing far too close with her cart. Instead he raised his leg higher and awkwardly stepped entirely over her cart like it had been one of those little children’s carts instead of a full sized one that nearly came up to the average person’s chest.

“Whoop! Sorry about that, ma’am!” The crow spoke in a louder voice, letting Chris hear his voice for the first time. It was shockingly deep; coming out in a low baritone like someone had pitch-shifted his voice down with audio editing software but without the slight distortion that typically caused to the sound.

Thankfully the older woman just smiled and gave the crow a pat on the thigh reassuringly and said something to him, though her voice wasn’t loud enough to be heard from the registers like Cura’s was. From the friendly demeanor she spoke to him and touched him they must know each other beyond passing strangers. That also explained why she didn’t seem intimidated by the crow who likely would have crushed her if he had fallen on top of her. When they parted it was Chris’s turn to feel his own nervousness spike when he saw the Crow was heading directly for his checkout register.

The footsteps of the mini-giant preceded Cura and once again reminded Chris of how much the huge avian must weigh. He did his best to keep a smile on his face though he was sure at least some of his nervousness shown through at the approach of the intimidating crow. Even though he had seen Cura be nothing but friendly since he had arrived there was just something inherently nerve-wracking seeing another person so much bigger than yourself standing so close.

“Did uh… did you find everything alright?” Chris asked haltingly in his best attempt to stick to his usual friendly customer service persona despite his nerves.

“Yep!” The crow said happily, his voice just a tad too loud when standing so close to be entirely comfortable. The cheetah wincing slightly in response at the volume before he could catch himself. Thankfully Cura seemed to realize that and spoke a bit more softly going forward. “Er, sorry about that little guy. Sometimes I forget to control the volume of my voice. Yeah, I found everything alright. Thanks for asking.”

Nodding robotically, Chris began quickly scanning the various items Cura gingerly plucked from the store’s comparatively tiny hand basket and placed on the register’s conveyor belt. When everything was scanned and the total relayed to them Cura carefully pulled out a normal-sized wallet that looked positively tiny in his large hands. With practiced skill he gently plucked a debit card from it with two taloned fingers and offered it to Chris. On reflex the cheetah glanced at the terminal in front of the register where the customer usually went through the steps of using their card themselves. It took him a few seconds to realize Cura was waiting for him to take it and do it for him. Normally Chris might have bristled at being expected to do even that for an entitled customer but in this case he realized it likely was a better idea for Chris to do it. It would be a bit difficult for the giant crow to manipulate the keypad with fingers twice as big around as a normal persons. And that was assuming he didn’t just wind up breaking the machine entirely if he pressed on it too hard.

When he had Cura paid out and handed them both their card and receipt back Chris couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment. His eyes lingered as he took in just how much smaller his own hands looked in comparison to the crow’s. When he realized he was delaying them with his actions and staring the cheetah blushed and pushed both items into the waiting hand.

“Sorry…” The cheetah said awkwardly, struggling to meet the giant’s eyes as much out of nervousness as from how far he had to tilt his head back to look up at their face. “Have a nice day, sir.”

“Thanks, you too!” Cura said cheerfully.

With that the massive avian made his way back to the front door. Chris watched as he carefully placed the tiny, to him, bags of groceries outside the door off to the side before getting down on all fours and crawling back outside just like he had done to get inside. With a sigh, Chris exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. Now that the giant, intimidating crow wasn’t in the store with them anymore his thoughts calmed a bit. Enough to let him think through the whole situation and his reactions to it at least. It was shocking enough to even know someone that big existed much less meet them in person. One particular thought in particular that had occurred to Chris stuck in his mind that made him blush almost constantly for the next hour until it was time to take his break and he could stop by the manager’s office.

“Hey, uh… boss?” he asked, sticking his head into the wolf’s office.

“What’s up, new guy? What did you think of our ‘biggest’ customer?” the manager asked, unable to resist laughing a bit at his own joke.

“I uh… actually had a question about them. Cura, you said their name was right?”

The wolf nodded, leaning forward a bit. “Yea, thats him. What’s up?”

The cheetah felt blood rush to his face again as a fresh blush bloomed in his cheeks. But he pushed ahead to ask his question anyway. “Do you, uh… Do you know if Cura is single?”