FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Someday, I truly believe that chimeras will come to thank us. Because by allowing them to purchase their freedom through the use of service contracts, we've given them access to a measure of contentment and security that they've never before had.

Of course, in order to enjoy that contentment and security, they must first maintain good standing as citizens, or find that their hard earned freedoms can be revoked. Not only will this allow us to maintain the high standards for which we have become accustomed to, but will also allow many chimeras to independently improve their quality of life.

And of course, should they ever find themselves under overwhelming financial pressure, they can choose to simply sell their contracts into the service of the greater public good.

~~Excerpt from a report released by Exotica Geno-Works entitled:

The economic benefits of indentured servitude.

Chapter Thirty Eight : White Rabbit.

Shivering as both she and Kato stepped out of The Rabbit Hole and into the frigid night air, Lady rubbed her hands together in a feeble attempt to keep warm. Despite the fact that it was still summer when it came to matters like the weather living in the LowerCity meant being at the mercy of the environmental control subsystems. And if you happened to live in a sector that couldn't afford to pay its heating bill . . . Without a word, Kato removed his coat and slipped it around her shoulders.

“Thanks,” Said Lady, pulling it tight around herself. “But you didn't have to.” Enjoying the way that it served to warm her almost immediately, Lady decided that a Kato with less clothes on was almost as good as a Kato with no clothes on. And if the fact that wearing it sent a clear message to everyone who had been waiting for her to leave the club all night that she was his and his alone, well, that was just an added bonus.

“I know that I didn't have to,” Said Kato as he shamelessly used his superior size to clear a path through the drunken perverts who tended to loiter outside of seedy strip clubs. “But I still wanted to . . .” Feeling himself begin to blush beneath his fur as he remembered just how much she was actually wearing, he added. “That is, I mean, I'd hate for you to catch a cold, because of me.”

Once they were free of the crowd and out onto the relative safety of the sidewalk, Lady stepped in front of Kato and taking hold of his gently swaying tail said. “Your face turned just a little bit too red a moment ago. Now I wonder, what could you have possibly been thinking about, hmm?”

“Nothing!” Said Kato, adding just a bit too quickly. “Nothing that you'd be interested in hearing about anyway.”

“Oh?” Seeing his embarrassment in having been caught thinking naughty thoughts about her body begin playing itself out on his face, Lady thought to herself. Good to know that I can still make him blush, among, other things. Out loud she said. “And why don't you just try me.”

“Well,” Said Kato. “Seeing as I don't get all that many chances to walk down the street with a beautiful woman beside me, I was just thinking that,” Now how can I put this into words she can understand? “That even though we came from different worlds, different walks of life and different backgrounds, just being able to enjoy something as simple as a midnight stroll, makes it feel good, to be normal.”

The world could have ended tomorrow and Lady wouldn't have cared. This moment was enough. To be able to allow herself to exist without fear or worry, to feel for even a single second the freedom so many people took for granted. Looking up into his eyes Lady knew that Kato had the right of it. “It does feel good to be normal, doesn't it?”

Forgoing his tail for his hand Lady leaned into him. No different from anyone else, they could have been any number of young couples out enjoying the night. Two chimeras who had been caught up in the throes of loves tender embrace. In a way, it was almost poetic, until Kato's stomach decided to start growling that is.

“Ooh, that's not good. Think that we should stop somewhere and get something to eat? I know a great place to find the best Thai food in all of SynCity.” Holding up a loaded cred card, Kato said. “Its my treat.”

“Hmmm, as tempting as that sounds, I think that I have a better idea.” Patting his hungry belly, Lady said. “Why don't you wait until I get you home, and we'll see if I can't cook up something tasty for you to eat.”

“Mmm, I like the sound of that.” Even though a home cooked meal wasn't really what he was hungering for, Kato still decided he would play along. “But how will I know if you're any good or not?”

Her tail twitching in anticipation, Lady said. “You'll just have to wait and find out, now won't you?”

Circling his hands around her waist, Kato leaned in close and said. “Tease.”

“And you love it,” Giving him a quick kiss, she added. “You just won't admit it.”

Nodding ever so slightly, his lips pulling back in just such a way that it served to soften the fierceness of his face, Lady knew then that he was showing her the smile that was just for her. “I can't believe you decided to wear this.” She said as she lifted his wrist. “I mean I appreciate the gesture, but tokens of favor really are supposed to kept close to your heart you know.”

“But I like wearing it on my wrist. And besides, being able to look at it whenever I want to has helped to keep me going through some pretty dark times.”

Eager to learn more about the things he had done while they had been apart, Lady asked him. “What kind of dark times?”

“Oh you know. Having to wait until my body healed, worrying about things like if I was ever going to meet you again,” Kato clenched his fist. “Pretending to like Johnathan after the things that he did to you . . .” Hoping to change the subject Kato said. “So do you live close by?”

“Near enough.” Noting that Kato's attempts to shift the conversation away from himself had been a little too conveniently timed, Lady planned to make a point of it by asking him about it later. “Why, you aren't worried about me, are you?”

Having seen Lady's fighting style first hand, Kato knew that she was more then capable of taking care of herself. “Let's just say, that I feel bad for the poor slob who looks at you and thinks that you'll make an easy mark. But the thing is, its just, its easy for me to forget what its like down here. The people living on the streets, the grinding poverty. Every time I've come down to the LowerCity, I feel as if somehow I've entered a different world, that somehow I've started to become a different person, and I hate it.” Looking up at the steel sky that separated the two halves of SynCity from each other, Kato said. “I hate knowing that while I'm safe up there, there are people down here, who are still suffering.”

“We get by.” Said Lady. “And besides, despite the way it looks to outsiders, its not as if things are always going to stay this way. In fact, I happen to know that there are plenty of people, chimeras like you and me who are determined to build a better life for themselves no matter how long it takes. They just need a little help getting started, that's all. Besides, as long as we have in us the courage to carry on, as long as we have the will to reach out and help another, then with these hands, I know we can make the world a better place.”

And that was the part about her that attracted him the most. Not just the beautiful body, but the mind that it held. So full of ideas that challenged him to see the world in new and different ways. Kato purred. Because unlike so many of the people around her Lady chose to see the potential for change that life held, rather then just the obstacles that stood in the way. “Thank you.” He said softly.

“Mmm?” Tilting her head to the side Lady asked him. “For what?”

“For taking the time to remind me of what's actually important in life.”

“Kato I . . .” Not knowing how to respond to just such a compliment, Lady said instead. “You're welcome.”

Passing by a trio of scrawny looking kids that were snatching furtive glances at random chimeras as they crossed in front of the mouth of an alley, Kato nodded the moment they saw him. As if they were suddenly able to recognize him from rumor alone, a look of fear blossomed on their collective faces. “Do you mind, waiting here for just a moment?” He said to Lady. “Seems there's some business I need to take care of.”

“Sure but,” Kato was already out of earshot when she said. “What are you going to do?”

Watching as he held up his hands as he approached the mouth of the alley, Lady had half expected him to walk past the trio of thugs and start looking for a place to relieve himself, not strike up a conversation with them.

Straining to listen in, Lady could over hear bits and pieces of conversation. Kato seemed to be giving them some kind of directions, telling them about some kind of job he needed them to do. And then even stranger still, he handed something to each of them.

“What was that about?” She asked him when he came back.

“Oh nothing that important.” Said Kato, shrugging off her suspicions. “I was just trying to plant a seed, that's all.”

“Oh really?” Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Lady said. “Because it didn't look like any seed I've ever seen. In fact, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it looked more like you just gave some money to a couple of random kids on the street.”

“A couple of random pickpockets actually. They thought this place was a no man's land, so I just, went over there to assure them that I wasn't planning on making it my own. They must have thought I was famous because they kept saying something about paying me to work here.” Scratching his throat, Kato said. “Wouldn't that make me infamous though?”

“Kato,” Said Lady without missing a beat. “Forgetting for a moment that you just talked about taking territory the same way that the mob does. You just gave money, to thieves?”

“What's wrong with that? I give money to lots of people. In case you hadn't noticed, my owner is rich.”

Refusing to be swayed, Lady said. “What's wrong is that they're thieves. What's wrong is that giving them money doesn't magically make the problem go away.”

“And maybe tomorrow, they won't need to steal just to survive. Maybe tomorrow, there will be three less thieves.” Twitching his whiskers as Lady started to frown, Kato realized that he had never needed to explain himself to anyone before. “Look, the only reason that they're even stealing in the first place is because they're desperate and hungry. Two things that surprisingly enough, I actually have the power to change. And I know that if someone is hungry, then giving them food will always be the better option. But I was here now, in this moment, I offered them the help that I could give. Or would you rather I have simply walked on by, without a care for the people around me?”

“Well, no, not exactly, but . . .” Tugging on her ears in frustration as she tried to unravel the enigma that was Kato, Lady sighed as she pressed on ahead. Why am I even trying to argue? Wasn't I the one who just told him that helping people was a good thing? That all we needed to do to make the world better was reach out to each other? And besides, with that money, they'll be able to buy food, clean clothes, maybe even a decent place to sleep for the night. Lady just blinked in surprise as she began to understand the entirety of what it was that he had just done. “Kato,” Said Lady as she slowly turned to look at him. “You gave them something more then money just now didn't you. You just gave them a chance, to change.”

Holding up a loaded cred card as if it were of no more worth to him then the plastic that it was made from, Kato said. “To the man in the desert dying of thirst, water is a gift more precious then any other. But to the man who has more then he could ever possibly drink, it is absolutely worthless.” Tossing the card into the air he made it disappear with a wave of his hand. “Whatever it is, whatever that essential something might be, even something as simple as a single act of generosity can create a ripple that changes the course of a person's entire destiny. Now whether that change will be to their benefit or not, well, that is entirely up to them.”

Coming from a place of hunger and deprivation, of never knowing if she was going to have enough money to even be able to eat the next day, Lady found she had never really thought about it that way. “Kato, there are times, when I don't know whether I want to hit you or hug you.”

“Who ever said you couldn't do both?”

Grinning like a chesire cat as she tried to punch him, Kato grabbed her by the hand and pulled her into his embrace. Surrounded by the warmth of his love, Lady knew she would be safe in his arms as she felt a quiet strength slowly envelop her. Though their time apart had changed him, marked him in ways that were both subtle and complex, in his heart he was still the same.

“You know Kato,” Leaning her head against his chest she said. “There are some people, who might consider that little maneuver of yours to be just this side of cheating.”

“What can I say,” Said Kato as he admired his prize. “I learned it from the best.”