FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The bus ride to work was interesting insofar as at one stop a group of rowdy and drunk soccer fans climbed aboard, rode for a block, then hopped off before one of them threw up. The rest of the passengers shared nervous looks and chuckles, including with Sylvie, but the rest of the trip was quiet and uneventful.

At work, a knock on the door led to its opening by Synthia who, uncharacteristically, said nothing to her though the hostility was still in her eyes. She nodded in thanks, which seemed to catch the serval off-guard, but didn't stick around for a thanks herself. Passing the changing room, she saw Tiffany was here tonight and helping Julie with...something and continued on by without stopping.

"Sally! Good to see you!" Rachael said, throwing her arms around Sylvie, giving her a large hug.

"You, too, Rachael," Sylvie said in return, taking a step back when she had the chance. She noticed the white blouse the raccoon was near the bursting point and hoped an eye wouldn't be put out when the buttons shot off. "Is Mary here?"

"Uh...." The question seemed to make the raccoon seriously think.

"You know - the other server?"

"Oh!" she said, then softer and to herself, "Oh, that's her name." Looking at Sylvie, she smiled and pointed. "She's in the kitchen talking to Roger."

"Thank you. Have a good night."

"Oh, definitely! You, too!" Then she bounded off to somewhere, giving Sylvie the chance to get away. She was about five feet away from the kitchen when the door swung open.

"Well, shit," Mary said before seeing Sylvie.

"Brought a bag tonight," Sylvie said, holding it up for approval.

"Good. You might need it."

The words sounded ominous and Sylvie let her spirits fall with the bag.

"Sorry, dear," Mary said, giving her a reassuring smile. "It's nothing like that. Roger just informed me someone reserved the party room on short notice."

"Which means...?"

"Trial by fire, I'm afraid. Typically, Firgil knows about this in advance and gets Will in here to help. I can usually handle both rooms by myself but I won't have time to train you properly if they can't get a hold of Will." She sighed and looked defeated. "I know it's only your second night, and it's not right--"

"I'll be fine," Sylvie said, cutting off Mary and trying to put a stop to her racing pulse. "I can do this." The relief on Mary's face was evident. "How do we do this? Each of us take a room?"

"More-or-less, but we help each other out as necessary."

"Of course. That's what teams are for." It felt good to say it and to actually be part of one.

"Bless you. Let's put your bag away and we can get started on setting up the room. I'll give you as many tips as I can while we're doing it."

Setup - vacuuming the floor and arranging the tables - was pretty much was Sylvie expected and, between the two of them, they knocked it out in a few minutes. Towards the end, Bruce came down and said something to Mary. She nodded and came over to where Sylvie was still vacuuming. Sylvie prepared to shut off the vacuum but Mary took the fake tree in the corner and moved it to the right, looking back to Bruce for confirmation. Giving her a giant thumbs up, he left and Mary stepped aside to allow Sylvie to finish.

"What was that all about?" she said, unplugging the cord.

"The tree was in the way of the cameras. Any time there's a party in here Firgil wants to make sure he can keep an eye on things."

"Understandable."

"Yes." Mary nodded. "Five years ago there was a party back here and a few of the guests got a little too drunk. Mind you, back here they are allowed to be a little more raucous and rowdy, but this group got fairly shit-faced."

"What happened?" was out of Sylvie's mouth before she could stop herself - Mary was already trying to tell her.

"That's...a matter of debate." Mary pulled the corner of a tablecloth and made a wrinkle disappear. "The cameras were going but one was obstructed. So happens, that was the one which would have been most important.

"According to Misti, she'd finished her routine and said something to one of the guests. He reached out and grabbed her where, well, quite frankly, where no woman should be grabbed unless it's by her husband or boyfriend. What happened next was something we will never know except that he left with a broken nose and another couple were limping. They all admitted something had happened - and took the blame for it - but nothing else was forthcoming. Firgil was certain they were going to sue but we never heard from them."

"What did Misti say?"

Mary gave a snort and a shrug. "She said they fell down."

Had Sylvie not had the afternoon she'd had, she would have thought the statement to be preposterous but, now...now, she wasn't so sure.

"Come on," Mary said. "Twenty minutes until we open. Let's see if we can get a look at who's coming then we can decide on which of us takes where."

For some reason, Sylvie wasn't entirely surprised to see a group of soccer fans enter, with Rachael leading them to the party room. She couldn't be certain they were the same ones as she'd seen on the bus but, given their jerseys, they belonged to the same group. About the time the last one straggled in, Rachael reappeared, immediately addressing someone on the other side of the wall. She reappeared closer to Sylvie and Mary with four males - two jaguars, a wolf, and a very nervous-looking young ocelot - dressed in very expensive suits. The older three were following Rachael like it was any other day while the ocelot was entranced by her bobbing ring tail.

"Well, here we go. Who do you want?"

Sylvie was pretty sure the back room would offer better tips as the fans got more drunk and, while the money would be nice, she remembered Mary's statements from last night.

"I'll take out here," she said. "Unless you want me to take the group, I think out here would give me a better chance to practice with a variety of customers." It would also mean she would be doing the vaster amount of walking but it wasn't like she couldn't use a bit more of that in her life.

Again, the look on the meerkat's face was one of relief. "Well, dear, get to it, then." She gave a wide grin and the night began.

The table with the jaguars, wolf, and ocelot ordered martinis, a Manhattan, and a Long Island ice tea, though the ocelot received a polite ribbing for his choice. Sylvie wasn't sure of the rules but figured she best ask him for his identification anyway - twenty-one years, plus four days. He was blushing when she handed it back to him and went to get their drinks. She passed Rachael, leading in another group of customers, and saw the lobby was moderately full. Knowing tonight wasn't going to be as laid back as last night, she put her head down and focused on the job.

It was two hours later when Mary tapped her on the shoulder and told her to take a break. She hadn't realized how much time had passed until she took a look at her watch. She gave Mary the breakdown on who and what and got herself an iced tea from the drink counter before taking a seat at an out of the way table. It felt good to sit but knew she would regret it if she did so for too long.

"Can I get you something, miss?" someone said, causing her to jump.

"Oh, no. I-- Will!" She jumped up and gave him a hug, surprising them both. "When did you get here?"

"Just now. Firgil got a hold of me, and practice was cancelled, so I decided to come in."

"Cool. We could use you tonight."

Will took a look around. "Looks like you've been doing well enough." He turned back to her and smiled. It was then she noticed the iridescent green eye shadow.

"Um, you know, you have, um...." She fumbled as she wanted to wipe it off while not wanting to impose and wasn't quite sure how to tell him as she'd never seen a guy wearing makeup in person.

"Oh," Will said easily. "I didn't get a chance to clean up before coming in. Give me a few minutes and I'll be back to normal."

"Okay," was all she said and he walked away. She had been prepared to watch Vickie and her routine but the image of Will wearing makeup wouldn't go away. She ended up finishing her iced tea, still feeling confused, and went to relieve Mary.

The meerkat had done her justice and the customers were happy when she made her rounds to check on them. The one aspect she wasn't so certain on was the party room and took a deep breath before heading back there.

She could hear them before she arrived and the smell of various species and upset beer hit her about the same time. Walking in, she saw Amanda and Lucy twining and separating before each reaching an end of the stage to dance for the crowds there. The hooting was loud and grew louder when they closed in on each other again, moving together in ways Sylvie wouldn't have thought possible. It was likely their long necks were making it look easier than it was but Sylvie was, nevertheless, impressed.

Walking around the room, she picked up the empty pitchers and bottles, asking those still sober if they wanted something more to drink or eat. Taking orders as necessary, she saw a few pointing at her and talking as she prepared to leave. She had seen this behaviour before and tried to ignore it as best she could.

Getting refills and placing the couple orders she had, she swept through the main room and saw to the other customers before grabbing the food and drink and heading back into the fray.

Placing the couple requested pitchers on their respective tables, and passing out the food to those who requested it, she passed the group who'd previously been pointing to her as she'd left before.

"Oi," one of them said as she walked past.

"Can I get you anything?"

The lemur, obviously inebriated, licked his lips and looked at his friends with a grin. "I think you can."

Ignoring the vibe she was getting, she pulled the order pad from her apron and poised her pencil above it.

"No, no, no," the lemur laughed, with his friends joining in. "I do not want to order anything." He looked at his friends, grinning again, then back to her. "At least, not what's on the menu. What else do you have to offer?"

Sylvie felt herself tense and tried to force it away. "What you see on the menu is all we offer."

"And what if I want something else...that I can't see?"

She could feel her anger rising and it wasn't in her nature to be confrontational. "Then, maybe, you need to go some place else," she said, trying to be diplomatic.

"Dance for us," he said, earning a couple chuckles from his friends.

"They're the ones here to entertain you," Sylvie said, motioning to Lucy and Amanda.

"But it's you I want to see...dance. Maybe some place not so...public." He was leering at her now and, hearing the tittering of his friends, she knew this was going to be a problem and didn't know how to get herself out of it.

"What's going on over here?" someone - female - said, placing hands on her shoulders as they leaned on her. Turning her head, she saw Tiffany, bare-chested, though wearing a toothy grin, the look in her eye belying the playfulness. She winked at Sylvie then looked back at the lemur. "Anything I can help with?"

The lemur's eyes had grown round and he seemingly gained some sobriety. A few of his friends were too oblivious or too drunk to notice the atmosphere had changed subtly. Behind her, Sylvie was aware the music was still playing and Amanda and Lucy were doing their thing to a largely unsuspecting crowd.

"I was just placing an order for...another...um, another beer," the lemur said, though bottle he was holding was still full.

"I see," Tiffany said, her tone clearly indicating her belief in his statement. "Then I'll leave you to it," she said to Sylvie, giving her a kiss on the cheek before leaving.

Sylvie watched her walk out the door then looked back to the lemur. "Another beer?"

"Um...yes." His friends were just now sensing the change and were looking between themselves with confusion.

"Very good. I'll be right back." Walking out of the room, she could hear quiet questions being asked behind her but didn't bother to try and decipher what they were saying. She was still bristling at what had just happened - and was thankful Tiffany had come along when she did - and tried to not let it show. The other customers seemed to having a good time watching Misti performing with Julie and she didn't want for their night to be ruined.

Continuing to the bar, thankful Mary would be handling the party room the rest of the night, she pulled another beer from the cooler. Turning around she almost ran into the massive chest of Bruce.

"Miss Sylvie," he said, "Miss Tiffany told me there was some trouble in the party room." It was a statement, not a question, and though she didn't want to get anyone in trouble it would do no good to lie.

"A guest implied something inappropriate."

"Were you touched?"

"Um, no."

"Understood. Thank you." He looked to somewhere out of Sylvie's line-of-sight and saw Bob come out of the shadows.

"Guys, it could have been a misunderstanding," she said, sensing something ominous about to take place.

"Do you think it was a misunderstanding?" Bruce said, giving her ample time to respond if she was going to. He looked to Bob and motioned with his head toward the room.

"Oh, shit," Sylvie heard Mary say beside her. "Something happen?"

"I think so."

"It was that asshole lemur, wasn't it?"

Sylvie turned to Mary. "How did you know?"

"He was a dick when I first went in and only got worse as more alcohol arrived."

"What's going to happen?"

"As much as needs to happen," Mary said dismissively. "If that beer's for someone back there, you might as well put it back. Stay and watch. I'm going to make a quick circuit."

Bruce entered the room first, leaving Bob to stand and fill the doorway. A few seconds later he turned sideways, allowing Amanda and Lucy to leave. There were a few shouts of complaint, which were drown out as the music in the main room grew louder - no one in the main room seemed to notice.

By-and-large, the group was amenable, realizing that someone in their group messed up. A few said something to Bob, which he dutifully ignored as they were also trying to walk in a straight line. Amanda and Lucy were on the floor mingling with the clientele, drawing their attention from the exodus underway. Everything was clearly calculated and prepared for and, honestly, Sylvie was impressed.

Seeing movement from the doorway, she saw Bruce closely escorting the lemur out of the room. The ringtail was obviously scared and mad - which explained what happened next: he took a swing at Bruce.

The bear didn't even bother to move but swallowed the lemur's fist in his own hand - much as he had Sylvie's the first night - and she could see the whites of the lemur's eyes as he realized the mistake he'd made. Instead of relenting, however, he kicked out and struck Bruce directly between the legs. Sylvie saw Bruce's face pinch at the pain but, other than that, made no other move. Bob, on the other hand, broke the lemur's nose with one jab, blood running down his nose and onto his jersey. She wasn't sure his hand wasn't also broken by Bruce but, regardless, they picked him up and walked to the door where they literally tossed him out.

"Well, that wasn't too bad," Mary said beside her, making her jump. "I've seen worse."

Sylvie didn't know what to think. She was unused to violence and no one had ever stuck up for her like that. The rest of the guests seemed oblivious to what had happened, though a few were clearly disappointed Amanda and Lucy were retreating back stage.

"I'm gonna go clean up," Sylvie said.

"You do that, dear. Not much going on out here at the moment anyway."

Sylvie felt disconnected from herself as she walked back to the party room to survey the scene. There were only half-empty beer bottles and barely touched food scattered about and it didn't appear anything was seriously damaged or upset by the incident. She quickly gathered a few things onto the table before remembering the mess of a nose the lemur wore and looked outside to see a trail of blood on the floor.

Putting off cleanup for the time being, she headed to the closet and pulled a mop and bucket. They wouldn't be ideal to clean with but the club was still open and she didn't want the rest of the guests to worry or suspect. Spying a wet/dry mop in the corner, and a box of refills on the shelf, she made sure it was loaded with cleaner before leaving.

The lemur's blood was starting to dry, and took some scrubbing, but she managed to return the floor to its previous state in short order. Carefully tossing the used pads into the trash and stowing the mop, she returned to the party room and continued cleaning. Ready to leave with her first load, she almost ran into Bob standing in the doorway.

"Bruce apologizes for inconveniencing you but he was wondering if you could get him some ice."

"Inconveniencing him?" She was incredulous. "After what you went through?"

"That's what Firgil pays us for."

"He pays you to get kicked in the balls?"

That elicited a smile from the bear. "Well, maybe not that."

"I'll be more than happy to get him some ice. You two want something to drink as well? I'll buy."

"No," the bear shook his head. "Not while we're working and, regardless, Bruce doesn't drink anyway." He turned to look at something in the other room. "I need to get back on the floor. If you'd just take it to Firgil's office, Bruce is recovering up there."

Sylvie took the dirty dishes back to the kitchen and found a bag to load ice into. She held it up when Mary gave her a questioning look and received a nod in reply. Heading up the stairs, she saw the door to Firgil's office was open and, at the top, saw him and Bruce sitting inside. The open door was invitation enough but she knocked anyway.

"Come in," Figil said.

Sylvie entered and extended the ice to Bruce, who smiled in thanks and promptly set it on his crotch.

"Bruce tells me you've had an eventful second night."

"Yes, sir, and I'm sorry if--" His upheld hand cut her off.

"It's partially my fault. It's always a toss up with groups like that about what will happen. Usually we're fine; tonight we weren't. I'll need you to come up after work and fill out an incident report. Don't worry, you're not in trouble, I just need it in case he decides to try and come after us. We have it all on camera," he indicated to the monitors, "but any additional context can help."

"Yes, sir."

"Firgil," he corrected her.

"Firgil," she agreed. "Thank you." Turning to Bruce, she said, "Thank you," again before leaving.

The next couple hours went by in a blur as more customers filed in from somewhere and work was steady until closing time. As with the prior night, she finished her work and helped Will with cleaning up. She didn't have a whole lot of time to exchange more than a couple words with anyone until the club was reset and, by then, a number of the dancers had already gone home.

Mary came over to her, holding a stack of bills. "These are yours, from when you were cleaning up after the lemur."

"No. You did the work. You keep it."

Mary smiled. "I'm not going to argue and you're not going to let up, I can see that. Tell you what - we'll do what the girls do."

Sylvie looked askance at her. "Dance?" That received a heartfelt laugh.

"God, no. I'm way too old for that," Mary said. "What they do is pool their tips from the night and divide it among them. They've got some formula about who was on stage the longest and some other things but they all get a share."

"Sounds...different."

"It works for them. Keeps them all working the best they can without favourtisim."

"I guess that makes sense - creates a team atmosphere."

"Exactly. So, what I propose to you, is this: if someone hands you a tip directly, it's yours, regardless. If they leave it on the table when they leave or as part of a bill, we split it. Sound good?"

"Sure," Sylvie replied. It could mean less in tips but, on the other hand, could mean more. It was certainly unique.

"Good. Then, here." Mary extended the money again. "This is yours." Seeing Sylvie's eyes widen, she added, "What can I say? You must have made a good impression."

"There's over two hundred dollars here!"

"Half of that is from Isaacs and Sturgeon - the first table you waited on."

The names sounded slightly familiar but Sylvie was still in awe at the two crisp fifty dollar bills.

"The law firm?" Mary prodded. "The wolf and one of the jaguars? Managing partners? High powered law firm? Hello? Sylvie?"

"I'm sorry," Sylvie said, breaking out of her amazement. "It's that-- I've never--"

Mary patted her on the shoulder. "You did good tonight, dear. Probably would have done better if that lemur hadn't been such an asshole but," she shrugged, "them's the breaks."

"Ooh," someone said, coming up behind Sylvie. "Making the same in tips that we are already, huh?"

Sylvie turned and saw Tiffany. The memory of what had happened in the party room and how timely Tiffany's intervention had been flooded through Sylvie and, on impulse, she threw her arms around the tiger in a very appreciative hug.

"Careful, hon," Tiffany said, returning the hug nonetheless. "Someone might get the wrong idea."

"If you hadn't come along when you did--" She was trembling when she pulled away.

"You would have been fine," Tiffany assured her. "You were handling the situation perfectly."

"It didn't feel like it."

"Trust me, you were okay. Bob and Bruce were already on the way to the room when I passed them; Firgil was watching everything on camera. At worst, you would have been alone for another few seconds." Placing her hands on Sylvie's shoulders, the tiger looked her in the eyes. "We're a team here, remember?"

"Yes. Thank you, anyway."

Tiffany smiled. "That's what friends are for. Let me know when you're finished and I'll give you a ride home."

"I couldn't--" Sylvie stopped herself, remembering the previous offer of a ride. "Let me check with Mary, and I still need to fill out a report with Firgil."

"Take your time. I need to settle up something with Roger anyway."

Sylvie found Mary putting on her coat and thanked her again before heading up the Firgil's office. The report he had for her was simply a few questions, with a space for a quick summary of what had happened. Bruce was still there and, on the way out, she paused long enough to give him a quick peck on the cheek. This seemed to embarrass him and she left him with a smile on his face.

"Ready to go?" Tiffany said, seemingly waiting in ambush. Sylvie jumped and the tiger laughed. "You're cute when your tail's puffed."

"You know it's not wise to scare a skunk," Sylvie mockingly admonished her. "And, yes, we can go."

The Miata was around back, waiting to take them home. Sylvie saw the seatback was still pushed out from the last time Tiffany had given her a ride - either that or the tiger had been planning on driving her home regardless. Climbing in, she gave a sigh, glad to be sitting in a seat with a back where she could relax. Tiffany climbed in the other side and they buckled up before pulling out onto the darkened road. The difference in driving styles between Tiffany and Misti was as considerable at their temperament or species, which caused Sylvie to laugh.

"What is it?" Tiffany asked.

"Just how you're so sedate in your driving and Misti is...anything but."

"Oh?" This seemed to pique her interest. "You know how Misti drives?"

"Yeah. She took me to lunch today." Tiffany didn't say anything for a moment and Sylvie could feel a subtle change in the air.

"Where'd you go?"

"Some little Italian place in Faris. It was really good."

"Probably authentic," Tiffany commented.

"Exactly. Have you been there?"

"Haven't had a reason, yet. Most of my business is on this side of the bay. Might have to give it a try on your recommendation, though."

Tiffany smiled but Sylvie wasn't completely convinced. Is she jealous I went out to lunch with Misti? Did I do something wrong? She decided to change the topic.

"Did you see Will tonight?"

"Yeah. I think he left not too long after the party room shut down."

Sylvie nodded. "He asked to leave since he was originally scheduled to be off. What I mean is, did you see him when he came in?"

Tiffany shook her head.

"He was wearing green eye shadow and said he just came from practice." At which Tiffany began laughing and levity was restored in the tiny car.

"First off, I'll you this: we all have our lives outside of the club which we don't usually bring into the club - and some of them would surprise you. I'll let you figure out those for yourself but I'll let you in on Will's 'secret'," she said, taking her hands off the steering wheel to mime the quotation marks, "simply because it's not really a secret and he doesn't mind.

"Will sings with a quintet of drag queens. Kind of like a barbershop quartet except, you know, there are six of them. And they're not barbers and certainly don't dress like them." She paused for a moment. "Well, don't dress like most of them."

Sylvie sat stunned and didn't catch the last of what Tiffany said. "Will's a cross-dresser?" Her tone must have been amusing as Tiffany broke out in laughter.

"I think drag queen would be more appropriate as I don't believe he usually walks around in women's clothes. I'm not entirely sure drag queen is appropriate, either, because, to the best of my knowledge, he only dresses up for performances. You'd have to ask him, though."

"But...but...." Sylvie couldn't get the image of Will prancing around on stage out of her mind.

Tiffany laughed again. "You are so not from the city." The focused on the road long enough to turn a corner. "I'm fairly certain Will's straight but you'll have to ask him how he got roped into performing. Give it a few more weeks and you'll probably see his troupe come in."

"They come to High Tails?"

"Damn straight they do. We got the finest dancers around." Tiffany said it playfully but there was more than a small bit of pride contained in there as well. "They come in for pointers and the girls are more than happy to show them a few things."

"I...I never would have thought."

Tiffany patted her on the leg. "Ah, Syl, there is so much to show you."