FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Luis sat in the waiting room with their elbow on their chair's arm rest and their head propped up on their fist. Nothing could be more grating than waiting for who knows what and who knows how long at some liminal bureaucratic nightmare agency. The whole space was built upon white noise, the sound of keyboards typing, the tick tock of the clock, shuffling papers; the aircon's hum, someone clearing their throat, yet another 'Please take a number and wait.' It didn't look busy, but Luis had been waiting for more than a half hour for something to change, or someone to call their name.

The worst of it was that Luis didn't really know why they were there. A week before, they'd received a letter stating that they were needed at the 'Bureau of Consistencies,' which Luis had never heard of before in their life. They looked it up online and found out that it was some kind of records correction office, a new facility for keeping all official personal documents well organized and accurate. The letter demanded urgent attention, some nonsense about record accuracy and a pressing need for corrections. It listed a specific appointment date, so there Luis was a week later- on the dot.

"Number sixty-four, please proceed to room 8 down the left hall. Number sixty-four." The intercom called for Luis who was glad they'd finally get to stand and walk after being confined to a waiting room so long they thought their legs would fall asleep. They looked to the receptionist who called on the intercom and he nodded Luis in the right direction. The young human plodded their way down the drab gray-blue hallway until they found the door marked with a big '8.' Luis could hear strange whirring and clicking sounds from behind the door, the kind of noise that one would expect from a clockmaker rather than a bureaucratic meeting room.

The door swung open and a gust of air that smelled of wood and brass whooshed out over Luis. They weren't given a moment to understand what was happening, as a worried set of hands grabbed at Luis and tugged him into the room.

"Quicky, quickly now. There's a lot of sensitive equipment and pieces in here." An anthro lynx ushered Luis into the room and shut the door behind them, clicking the lock into place as well.

"It's just as bad as I told you, see?" A more masculine voice came from a tall and gaunt, snowy owl who looked as though he was dressed for the 1920's. He was surrounded by all sorts of strange mechanical wonders, clockwork sculptures that depicted scenes, works of art in slow wind-up motion. He stood in front of a table that was littered with various tools like little tweezers, a hammer, tiny drills and other pointed metal instruments that Luis couldn't identify.

The lynx on the other hand looked like she was a decade ahead in professional fashion. Her suit was asymmetrically fastened, but neat and straight at the edges. The shirt was a bright white with a collar made for her considerable fluff, it somehow made her look understated and crisp. The entire suit was completed by a jacket with a white lining that ran down the edges. All in all, she was put together and had a serious face to match her serious wardrobe.

"What is all this? It looks more like an antique shop than a meeting room." Luis said, unsure where they could take a seat or if they were meant to at all. The owl was arranging his tools, he paid as much attention to Luis as he did the ticking clockwork behind him. The lynx put her hand on Luis' shoulder and adjusted his position so that he stood in front of the clockmaker's workbench.

"You're here, because there is a major incongruency with our records regarding the entity known as 'Luis.' Thank you for coming in on time." The lynx said, as she put Luis in just the right place. The human hadn't a clue what any of this had to do with record congruence, none of this made any sense.

"You see Luis, we've detected a major error." The lynx put a folder in front of Luis and opened it, she flipped through the papers and pointed at various bits of text with her claw.

"According to our documents you, 'Luis' are supposed to be a clockwork automaton." She stopped on a set of complex diagrams and designs. They depicted a masterwork of clockwork, a bipedal humanoid with articulated joints and mysterious sensors. It was absolutely ridiculous, and Luis couldn't believe that they had to come into the office for them to be confirmed non-mechanical.

"I could have just sent you guys a picture to prove I wasn't a machine, is this some kind of joke?" Luis said and moved to turn away, but the lynx adjusted the human right back into place. They broke into a sweat, as the clockmaker picked up a plain brass key a little larger than their finger and walked toward Luis. The key looked like it might fit into a music box, it had a single notch in the top and looked worn by the ages.

"This is no laughing matter, Luis. Our records and models are extensive in both digital and paper forms. Altering these would take months of dedicated manpower and frankly? The records are never wrong." The lynx took the folder and flipped through the pages with a smug and accomplished look about her.

"If there is any deviation from the model then any incongruencies will have to be righted. You're here today so that we can correct your state of being and bring it in line with the records. The model says that you are a clockwork hyena, so you must be." The lynx said with a finality to her tone.

Luis was just about ready to walk away when they felt the snowy owl press that little key against their chest. The human looked down at the spot just above their sternum and laughed. Did they really expect anything to happen?

"A simple windup should get this one working right as rain once more." The owl said with a kindness to his voice. He treated Luis like they were a prized piece of clockwork, the owl even went so far as to brace against Luis using a polishing cloth, as though he might scuff them otherwise. The whole charade had gone on long enough however, and Luis reached up to gently push the owl away but stopped at the sound of a hard 'cl-click!'

Luis watched the key press right past their shirt and into their sternum. The little brass instrument fit snuggly into a keyhole that must have been there the entire time. The owl twisted the key until it met a pin and the resistance increased. Luis heard a tell-tale ratchet sound with every turn of the brass rod and felt a tension grow in their chest.

Luis could think of nothing more than to feel at his shirt, only to find that they'd been mistaken. It wasn't beige cloth on their chest, but rather a shell of light brown plastic that fit onto the front of their body. A slight panic rose in Luis' core, as they brushed fingers over somewhat worn polymer, feeling all the little scratches that had accumulated over the years. The owl found the inner mechanism had been fully wound and pulled the key out with care, then flipped the small transparent cover closed.

"This is impossible!" Luis didn't dare move from the spot, it had to have been slight of hand. They tried to tug on the chest plate but found no purchase. It was smooth all the way to their side where it met a small gap that connected it to the back plate.

"We told you that our records are never wrong, you are a clockwork automaton just as it says in the records." The lynx said, as she tapped the folder with the back of her claws. The owl sprayed an oil onto Luis' chest plate and started on polishing the plastic.

"I'm flesh and blood, look!" Luis shouted and thrust their hand up and into the Lynx's face, but once again found themselves in utter shock and surprise. Thick stylized digits splayed out in front of Luis' vision that were covered in the same light brown plastic. The hand was splotched with dark patches that looked printed on, as they were raised up from the rest of the shell. Each finger was separated into segments with a matching rubber between them to protect the hinges. The lynx pressed down on one of the fingers to demonstrate how the articulated joints curled.

Luis turned their palm so they could see it, the inner side had rubber pads on the palm and fingertips. They closed and opened their fist, each finger curling and uncurling one after the other. The sound of mechanical whirring and clicking filled the room whenever their hand moved, Luis was amazed that they had such a range of motion. How could they have forgotten that their hand was clockwork?

Their sight traced down their arm and found the same plastic shell covered the machinery within, the same rubber protecting the wrist and elbow joints. Dark brown spots were printed onto the mechanoid's upper arms and shoulders.

Luis was done denying the lynx's assertations, they looked down to confirm what seemed inevitable. Their legs were fully mechanical and covered in the same shell as the rest of their body. They had thick and heavy paws that were stylized like their hands. The toes were unarticulated and purely cosmetic, as Luis found when they lifted their leg to see their thick rubber paw-pads.

"I uh..." Luis stammered and struggled to find the words, how hadn't they noticed this until now? They stood back upright in a steady position and slowly rose their hands toward their face. Something dark was in the middle of their vision, a dark brown splotch that filled a good portion of their lower view. They had to know if it was what they thought it was.

The clockwork hyena grasped its snout as delicately as it was designed to grasp anything precious. It had, of course, a boxy muzzle with a large rubber nose that was molded perfectly. The automaton pressed onto the black rubber wedge and its jaw dropped at the surprise, that it had been so foolish to forget its snout.

It continued to feel at its face, poking at brass fangs and teeth, tugging gently at its long jaw. It even grabbed and tugged its well textured rubber tongue. Luis pressed its paws up along its face, careful not to touch the delicate structure of its artificial eyes as it brushed its way to feel its head. The hair of the automaton was a rubber of a lighter shade than the rest of its body, stylized to look like a hyena's mane. The rubber structure snaked all the way down to the small of its back. The rubber 'hair' was embedded into a perfect indentation in the plastic.

Finally, the automaton put its arms to its sides and let out a brassy sigh that was purely an indicator. Luis didn't need to breath, or take gasps, or suffer for winded breath. It was a machine and its vocalizations were merely synthesized audio to make it appear more complete.

"It is just missing one thing." The owl said. He took from his breast pocket a shining brass ring and carefully pressed it to the clockwork hyena's rubber nose, then used a pair of weak pliers to tighten the ring closed and snug on Luis' snout.

The ring made Luis feel complete. It stood tall and proud, glad to finally have its prized septum ring back. The artificial hyena gave a polite bow to the clockmaker and thanked him for his time, then shook the hand of the lynx in charge of corrections.

With everything righted and in its place Luis was dismissed by the bureaucrat and sent on its way home, but not before the owl strung a chain through Luis' key and hung it around the automaton's neck.