FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Tristan stood at the edge of the cement sidewalk in the middle of a park, near the brutalist block structure of the modern art museum. Amongst the finely manicured grass of the park other spots of cement stood out, supporting art pieces too large for the museum. The public art was something he glanced at most days walking home from his work at the coffee shop, but today something had caught his eye.

He couldn't remember if this piece had always been there, but the pup couldn't remember really looking at it before. It was possible that it was installed over the weekend, or he'd always just been more focused on the mural on the wall of the museum opposite, but now he couldn't take his eyes off it.

The sculpture was a large chimeric beast lounging on one side, taking up a broad plinth of well-polished cement. The large creature's head was turned towards the path. In fact, towards the spot Tris stood upon at that very moment. Atop the head, flanked by large ears, lay a pair of swept back horns. Folded along the flanks draped abstractly represented feathered wings, detail foregone in favor of large smooth surfaces. The rest of body was ambiguous in shape, resembling many different predatory quadrupeds, but the neck was hidden by a large ruff of fur represented in a solid bulbous mass of whatever the art was constructed from.

The material was difficult to discern from his current position, but it was pure black coated with a clear high-gloss finish. Certain spots on the sculpture were a lighter color, which under the darkening sky revealed themselves to be illuminated from within. These markings were mostly outlining unsculpted details, like the ruffles of feathers on the wings, parts between digits on the paws or the definition of the smooth face, while others seemed purely decorative, like the lines on the ears, the diamond within a circle on one shoulder and incorporated into the facial markings at its forehead, the line along the flank that led over one thigh onto the side of its long tail. Strangely, the line on the tail broke for a few inches before returning as a zig-zag horizontally around the bulbous tip. Perhaps it represented a tuft like a lion's tail? But it was far too thick a tail for that.

An annoyed voice cleared the throat of its owner.

Tris turned his head and winced. While he'd been admiring the art, a greyhound with a rather large package on a handtruck was waiting for him to step out of the way. The labrador stepped onto the grass to allow the person by. After the slender dog had passed with his load, the black-furred pup stepped back onto the cement to resume his walk home.

The wind shifted, and a rubbery odor struck his nose. Tris wondered idly where the rubber was as he walked, but didn't look around. He'd pulled out his phone to start a new podcast since the one he'd been listening to before ended while he was gazing upon the public art. Then a rather large raindrop splattered the screen.

Tris looked up. The darkening sky should have been a hint that this was coming. He reached into his bag to try to dig out his hooded sweater. The thing hadn't seemed necessary when he left work but now...

A soft series of squeaks like balloons rubbing together came from behind Tris and towards the direction he'd been facing before, and then suddenly the raindrops stopped hitting his fur. The pup wondered if the rain had been a false alarm, looking back to eye level, but the opposite was true. Suddenly, it was pouring, but not within a five-foot radius of the labrador. The sound of the torrent hitting something came from overhead.

Tris slowly looked towards the sky again, only to find a very familiar, simplified wing outstretched over him. With the darkness of the rainy late-afternoon, the glowing lines were far easier seen. Tracing them, the pup found himself looking up at the tilted face of the sculpture. The chimera was smiling as always, eyes appearing closed as it had when lounging on the plinth.

"Such a good boy shouldn't suffer the rain." A warm, deep voice came from the direction of the no longer inanimate object's smooth, polished muzzle.

The black-furred pup stared, then turned his head sharply to look back towards the plinth. It was fully empty, reenforcing that the sculpture had indeed just stood up and walked over to him. He looked back up at the warmly smiling face, speechless.

"Ah, yes, we can go relax on my plinth." One large forepaw scooped around the pup, lifting him off the sidewalk.

Tris yelped in surprise, stammering and holding on as tight as he could. The surface was just as smooth and slick as it looked, but was far more yielding than a sculpture normally would be.

The glowing beast turned about, keeping his wing shielding the pup, and fluidly walked back to his plinth, seeming not impeded by using one forepaw to hold his ward. Every move was accompanied by those squeaky sounds that Tris had heard before, and the air around him was suffused with that rubbery odor.

When the apparent sculpture returned to the plinth, he turned about like an animal circling a point to prepare it as a bedding spot, before settling back down, the pup scooped up against the 'fluff' around his neck with the surface of his outstretched wing draped right on over, making the glowing markings the only source of light.

The pup was confused, but for some reason, it was all just... comfortable. He was distracted from his thoughts about the bizarre predicament when his phone buzzed in his paw.

When he turned the screen to face himself, instead of his lock screen the screen was black with the chimera's face glowing out of the device at him. "All comfy, puppy?" The voice from before came out in Tris' wireless headphones.

The labrador blushed. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, I have a way of computers, being one and all." The beast's gentle voice replied.

"I... uh... I thought you were public art." Tris managed after a moment.

"I can be both." The apparent robot bandied with a playful tone. "I am Qaz, and you are a puppy who is going to stay nice and cozy until after this rain's stopped." As he spoke, the lines on the underside of his wing shifted and spread out, before forming a series of screens situated above the dog's face and within his arm's reach.

Looking up, Tris realized that each screen was an app he'd left open on his phone, with the contents unchanged. Curiously, the lab tapped the play button in his podcast app on the sculpture's surprisingly soft wing. His headphones came to life with the opening musical sting of the chosen podcast, playing normally. "Wow..."

Qaz curled his tail to his side, almost exactly in his previous pose, but with the wing outstretched. No one noticed in the rain.