FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The time passes by as the two talk about Jay, the memories giving Arya a calming effect. As if knowing that he touched someone else's life made the loss of his own seem less of a burden on herself.

A growl emerges from the couch, centered at the rat's stomach. Uma tugs her shirt down, coughing.

"All this juicy gossip got you hungry?" Arya asks, her arms behind the couch as she lets her tail rest along the floor.

"Yeah, yeah," Uma says, waving her off. Arya can't help but notice the amount in which the rat had opened up since she first came to this little hidey hole of hers.

"Yo, Tobias!" Uma shouts over to the tiger. "Get the menu for that Creole place down the street!"

"Creole?" Arya asks, narrowing her gaze at the rat. "How did you know...?"

Uma tilts her head, "know what? I just really like me a good jambalaya."

Arya leans closer, scrutinizing the rat. Uma does not lean back but blinks. "Y... yes?"

"Mild... jambalaya?"

"Bu... what!? What's wrong with you? No fan of creole cuisine would ever settle for a mild Jambalaya! The spicier the better!"

A smile creeps its way over Arya's mouth and she whispers. "I knew there was something I liked about you."

Tobias steps up, a phone in one hand and the menu in the other. "Yo, if you two are gonna start making out over what we're having for lunch, at least wait until I'm in the room to enjoy it."

"Back off," Arya snaps, her tail lashing against Uma's coffee table. She hardly even notices the dull throbbing pain as she smacks the leg over and over again. "I'll have what she's having."

The tiger shrugs and takes a few steps back. "Alright, ladies. I'll leave you two to your tender bonding for now, but only because you asked, miss apex predator."

Arya hisses, only to stop when Uma places her hand upon her shoulder. "Hey, that's pretty cool what you did there. Usually, I'd have to pay him extra to get him to shut up."

"Some friend, then." Arya says, gripping the table harder, "You put up with his abuse? I put him in his place the moment I met him. Now, he gets me my lunch," she chuckles at that.

Uma giggles back. "You know, I envy that about you. How you got this... commanding presence."

"Ugh... I don't even want that," Arya slumps. "I just want to live in a nice, well-furnished house and snuggle up to some 'Hello Kitty."

"Shut up."

"Excuse you?" Arya gives Uma a sidelong glance.

"No, just..." Arya runs her hand through her hair. "There's so many layers you got going on, you know? You're this smooth sexy super spy, yet you have such a... a girly dream."

"If it were my normal life, I wouldn't be dreaming of it, now would I?" Arya says, scooting back to her side of the couch and letting the silence stew a moment, before she continued with the question burning in the back of her head. "Did... did you just call me 'sexy?"

"Did I?" Uma asks, sipping her drink. "I think I need to get something a little stronger... or maybe a little less." She says, standing up and padding along back to the kitchen.

"Hey don't worry. You were complimenting me, I get it." She shrugs. "I mean, that's what happens nowadays. People can call each other sexy with nothing really being meant about it. So, yeah, thanks."

The silence that follows makes Arya clear her throat. "R...right?"

"You want some coffee? I don't have much in the way of selection. I just kinda brought my Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. Not much in the way of sweeteners, either."

"Yirgacheffe?" Arya jumps up. "Forget getting a new house. We should just be roomates, already."

Uma peeks from around the corner. "Oookay, well, before we figure out if we're going to be living together, maybe we need to figure out what we're going to do about this whole global domination thing."

Arya slithers on up to Uma, placing her hands upon the girl's shoulders. "We have friends. We should both go check them out. They have a chapter house nearby, and they can really help on the global scale."

"A... a global group? I thought you were hiding out, though?"

"I was, but they really seem like nice people. They're siblings, you know, and they were all so proper and nice and friendly."

"Well, before you showed me that card, I couldn't say I've heard of the Pleasure Society. But they don't really sound like they're the underground liberator type."

"No, no, don't you see? They are all about making sure people are happy, really happy, doing what they want! Not being under the sway of anyone else. And I think--I really think we should hear them out."

"Well, I suppose you would be a good judge of character," Uma says, tapping her measuring spoon against her chin. "What could it hurt to just hear them out? I'll get Tobias to give them the once over and we can check them out after lunch."

"Oh yes, we have to make sure we fill our desires. That's the sort of thing they're into!"

The excitement builds up within Arya. While this whole mess has become her fault, she now has the means to fight back--a whole organization of people willing to help her instead of use her. And now, she also has someone again, a good friend who enjoys the things she does. Could things finally be looking in Arya's favor?

"Uma, they taught me that I should be myself, I should find myself, and... and I see you and me working together, and I think that I've finally realized that this... here, us against them... that's what I'm all about. Now, let's get some of that coffee and get ready for a spicy meal!"

The more she thinks about the Society, the more she feels that the key to victory is assuredly in her grasp. All she has to do is turn the handle and push.