FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The month felt like a drunken swing. A slow, uneasy wind to an inaccurate and quick blow. Before Leo knew it, Thanksgiving had scuttled toward him. Between work and spending time with Missy, he was fairly booked on terms of activities. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Leo sat on his bed, staring at his phone’s clock. Was it already time? The alarm kicked off, and Leo snuffed it out. Five AM. He rubbed his eyes. A worry settled on his mind, almost compressing his thoughts. Missy should be fine on her own, and the trip would likely go off without a hitch. Nonetheless, his body held on tightly to the touch of dread.

He slunk out into the hallway. No Missy. Her door was shut tight. The living room was silent. Almost a shame to disturb it with the hiss of water. But he did, and he was groomed and ready for the day. The last button on his shirt confirmed he was ready to go, though not after collecting supplies for the drive, and having a somewhat hearty meal. Some eggs and bacon. Enough for Missy, too.

Without any fanfare, Missy walked out into the living room. She nodded to Leo, standing near the kitchen table, but not taking her seat. She knew what day it was. Leo wasn’t actually sure if it’d bring jubilation or depression her way. At the moment, she was reserved, standing by as if waiting for orders.

Leo ran through a few things to say, settling on something casual yet warm.

“Hope I didn’t bother you with the cooking,” he said, standing up.

Missy shook her head.

“I’m gonna grab some water, a snack, and I’ll be on my way.”

“Not forgetting anything else?”

Leo had to parse if that was a joke, but she seemed genuine.

“No, I’m good, thanks.”

He grabbed his rations and moved over to the door. Phone, keys, wallet. Food and drink. He was ready for the trip. Hopefully. He stopped and turned to face Missy.

“Before you say anything, yeah, I remember all the rules and where everything is.” She smiled.

“Good to hear. I’ll check in with you when I get there, alright?”

Leo felt odd leaving like this. So simply, with little issue. His body creaked. He reached forward and pulled her into a hug. The dread eased. Missy returned the favor, tightly. The tips of her nails poking him. A good little annoyance. The two pulled back, still in each other’s grasp. Staring.

Missy nudged her nose into his and then quickly back.

“You gotta bring back anything your mom makes, or I will never let you know sleep as long as you live, mortal,” she said.

“Now that’s a threat you can follow up on,” he replied.

They parted, Leo opened the door. He stepped out.

“Goodbye,” he said.

“See ya.”

Leo shut the door behind him, pausing only to hear the click of the door locking.

Nerves roared. Alright, take a deep breath. That's what he would say, right? Something like that. OK. Good. Great.

Missy turned around and looked to her solitary kingdom. A billion little thoughts careened through her mind. This was it. Freedom, or solitary confinement. Maybe a mix of both. She tapped a finger on her leg. What should she do first? It was early in the morning, maybe she could stay in. Or go out. No, no, she had to do something fun. And also remember her chores. Right, the chores! Missy looked to the broom and dustpan. She had to do those. No, wait, it was still five. She could sleep. Not sleep, that’s just wasting time now.

Everything was quiet now. Missy looked through the blinds. Leo’s car hummed to life and began the trip onward, crunching gravel beneath its tires. Now everything was quiet. It usually was. Kinda. Well, she always had something going on in the background, but she could usually hear Leo. He was always touching something, or walking around to look at something, or doing that thing where he would stare at something and his breathing would be a little weird. Like he held his breath then let it go, over and over and over.

“OK, no, I’m not gonna stand here and just think about stuff. Woman of action. Here we go.”

Missy forced herself forward, then stopped. She didn’t even notice it earlier. Leo had left some breakfast out on the table for her. Scrambled eggs and bacon. She quickly sat down and delicately picked away at the meal. It’d probably be her last really nice meal for a long while.

“It’s only three days,” she muttered. Three days was a long time, especially when waiting for something. Waiting for him to get back? What if she really didn’t want him to come back? Sorta just… let her vibe out in this house in the woods. Send over cash as needed. He could visit, too. Just like, this would be her own place. Leo might wanna move back in with his parents. Then he’d move back later and it’d still be her place. Then she made the rules. Something like that. Whatever.

Missy downed the last piece of bacon and stared at her plate. Right, better wash that now before it all piles up. But the television called to her. Uh, well, she could just run the water over it and that’d still be pretty good. Yeah, good. So she did just that. No Leo to hassle her with all the little itty bitty things that nobody really cared about.

But he cared about them.

With a groan, she scrubbed down the plate just a little bit. Just a teensy bit. Enough to get her brain to shut up. Almost like he was in there with her, standing right behind her. She immediately looked back. No. No Leo. She let out a sigh of relief and set the plate down.

No more distractions. Now it was television time. Missy skipped over to the couch and crashed into the cushions, grabbing a pillow as she did. She pawed for the remote on the table and flicked the picture box on. All the terrible movies in the world, ripe for the picking. Old television, too. Nostalgia had its allure. It was hard to pick.

Missy eventually settled on some old sitcom about aliens posing as humans she vaguely remembered from all those years ago. Before everything got shaken up and television was some sort of rare treat. Oh yeah, she made out like a bandit. Right now, she had the whole world at her fingertips. Right here from her empty little cabin. Just her. And everyone else.

The morning sun hadn’t even hit the sky, yet, leaving the entire living room in that subtle blue. The television seemed so bright. It was pretty cozy. She just needed a blanket to complete the whole thing. Laying down on the couch hadn’t been a thing she was chastised for, or at least she sure didn’t remember it, so it was A-OK. Missy gingerly got up. Blanket. She looked to her room, then… Right to Leo’s room. He probably wouldn’t mind, and she knew how to do laundry.

Missy stepped over to Leo’s doorway. Wait, why did she want a blanket from his room? She blinked. His were more cozy, yeah. She had slept on them for a good long while. Better than her sheets. Even if some of them were his anyways. She shrugged and stepped inside.

There was an odd air about this room. His room. “The lair of the beast,” she said with a giggle. Missy’s delight dropped. Maybe it was just odd to not have Leo around. The television was a distant noise, leaving Missy with her thoughts and heartbeat. The fur on her body began to stand on end. This was a bad idea. She wasn’t supposed to be here.

And yet, she wanted to be anyways. Missy settled her nerves, pushed on by arrogance, and rummaged through Leo’s closet. Clothing, clothing, more clothing. She pulled out a shirt on its super pristine hangar and held it up to herself. Not a bad look. She put it back. Blankets were just up above on a ledge. One of the fluffy ones would do. She nabbed one and let it fall on her shoulder.

“Hup!” Missy pretended as if it were some kind of heavy carpet, hefting it on her shoulder and nudging the closet closed with her foot. Her nose brushed up against it. Clean. Fresh. Underneath all of that, though. Leo. A shred of his scent that no doubt had settled over time into the fabric. A little part of him kept in place. Her eyes closed.

Leo standing in the hallway. Staring into her. Deep, grey eyes.

Missy’s eyelids snapped open, and she dropped the blanket. No, no he wasn’t. She plucked the blanket off the ground and scampered off to the couch, bundling herself up tightly in the fabric.

The comfort of simple, comedic television settled on her mind. Everything would be OK now. Just watch these funny guys stumble their way through silly lines. Then what would she do? Chores? Another movie? Games? Maybe go back to sleep. Wait for this whole thing to blow over. Wait for Leo.

The computer. Missy’s eyes drifted over to that box of electronic black magic. Maybe she should call now. He could be in an accident. Already? It hadn’t even been an hour. “Give the guy some credit. He’d probably crawl out of a ditch and walk the rest of the way there,” she said. That brought on a giggle. Yeah, that would be him.

Leo would also likely call into work and let them know he’d be working from home for a while. As he marched on several miles without breaking a sweat. The stamina on that guy, sheesh. Stamina, yeah. Imagine what he could do with that di– “No, shut up.” But like, for hours, you know? “Shut up, moron. He’s not even here to help out.” She held up her hand. “You just don’t do it for me anymore.” Missy shook her head. What was he even going to do at his parents’ place? Make some chairs? Build them a new shed? Share tips on how to scare bears?

“Well, you don’t know because you don’t have parents,” Missy said. “I have a parent. Did. Whatever.” Missy rolled her eyes. This was dumb. She was dumb. No, not dumb, just bored. Focus on the television. Missy looked to the TV and furrowed her brow. This was TV time, she was good at TV time.

Until she wasn’t, and her eyes grew heavy, lapsing into a comfortable sleep.

_

Missy yanked herself upright as the show’s credits hit her ears.

“Holy shit, what time is it?!”

She nearly fell off the couch getting up, and stumbled over to the kitchen to check the microwave clock. Barely twenty minutes. Oh, yeah, that’s how long shows usually lasted. Missy wiped a trail of spit off her mouth.

Twenty minutes used up. How many hours to go now? Sixty-ish? Wow, it felt a lot harder when put like that. Harder, like, thinking of what to do with all that time. She peeked in the fridge. An array of pre-made sandwiches sat there, just for her. Boredom hunger hit her, but she refrained from digging in. Plenty of other stuff to snack on.

“Don’t do that, you’ll spoil lunch,” Missy said. She dug through the cabinets for some pretzels. Still mostly fresh! She popped a few in her mouth as she walked over to her room. Selene looked at her from the dresser. “No, you can’t have any.” She frowned. “OK, I would give you some if I could.” Delicately, she picked up the stuffed toy and placed it under her arm. “We can watch TV together. To make up for it.”

The two of them retreated to the couch, snuggling under the safety of the blanket. Missy set the bag on the ground for easy snacking. This time she wouldn’t sleep. She had her friend to spend time with, after all. Selene wasn’t all that familiar with sitcoms, so it’d be something new for her, too.

Missy watched, and watched, and watched. Laughing, groaning, and sweeping off crumbs. “That’s not ever coming out,” she said. As she set her head back down on the pillow, her eyes grew heavy. “No, not happening.” She shoved off a yawn and flipped over the pillow, giving a few firm smacks to it to help jog her body out of sleep. “I’m gonna beat sleepiness if it kills me.”

“Hope I didn’t scare you,” she said, hugging Selene tightly.

Selene would naturally respond with something polite and reserved. Probably something like, “Sure, it’s no problem at all.” Or maybe… No, yeah, that was right. “Waking up early can be tough,” she would continue.

Yeah, it sure was tough, especially at five in the fucking morning. Nearly six. Almost six. What was it, like twenty minutes away? Maybe then she could– Hold on a second, was everything in the house plugged in properly? It might’ve been a silly thought, sure, but it was a real threat. A threat that needed itching in her mind. Missy got up without a word, snagging her snacks, and checked every outlet. Each plug was nudged in as far as it would go, and free of any moisture.

“Only you can prevent forest fires,” Missy said with a chuckle. Oh God, it would be terrible if a spark caused a fire. Leo would be upset. And she would be out of a home, too. And he would be, as well. At least he had his parents to sleep over at, though. What did she have? No one? Eh, there were probably like… one or two guys she could bother about that.

“But they were losers.” Missy’s grip tightened on the bag. “Real fucking losers.” She realized the iron grip she had on the pretzels and relaxed. “Aw man.” More than a few had been crushed to crumbs. She reached in to scoop those up and pour then down her gullet. “I don’t need to be a loser with other losers,” she said. Back to the couch.

Leo wasn’t a loser. Far from it. He was like the wilderness man. Like that guy from, uh, “Romancing the Stone”? That guy who said he was a chameleon. Sure, he could be boring with the biggest capital B, but he was an adult. With money and aspirations. Ruthless. “Without Ruth,” she said. Alright, bad joke. Where would she be in the world without him? All she had to do was sweep away some things and everything was peachy. But, but, but, he didn’t like her, did he? Like yesterday, when she was trying to have some fun and he just fucking looked away all grumpy. Probably some goddamn leaf more important. She was annoying, worth less than a leaf.

Well, he didn’t even know what he was missing out on. Just that… it would be better if he did know. How could he just ignore her like that? Was the gimmick overdone? “Not everyone can be Mr. Office Man. We have to make do with what we got!” She sat down on the ground, leaning back up against the couch. Can’t even have a little fun without him shutting her out. Every day was him just tolerating her. If he could, he’d just toss her out faster than she could say “spreadsheets.”

What was in his brain? How could he just not see her like everyone else? Missy was one in a quintillion-billion-quadrillion, and he saw her like wallpaper. No! He’d find wallpaper more entertaining. She was less than dirt! He probably had a whole dirt collection somewhere in that room of his.

Missy slowly realized she was laying on the ground, clutching Selene tightly to her chest. A wet patch grew on the poor Orca’s head. She sat upright and gently touched her face. Wet there, too. She sighed, letting some of that sadness evaporate from her. A lot of it lingered. It wouldn’t go, no matter how much she wanted it to.

Leo, Leo, Leo. The big man in the picture. Missy wiped Selene and placed her chin on the stuffed toy. He was… Something. Handsome. Boring. Mean. Nice. Rude. Smart. Funny. And one more thing. That one thing that didn’t make any sense. He was just a guy, a regular simple guy. She was the one who came from the woods, the lady who went bump in the night.

And yet.

She pictured Leo, just standing in the kitchen, cooking something nice. Being near him made Missy’s hair stand on end sometimes. He could say one thing.

“How do you like your eggs?”

And Missy’s mind would halt, running through all the right answers in her head, peppered with jokes. Which one was the right one? The answer that would bring her a little closer to him without stepping on a landmine.

“Scramble ‘em up,” she’d reply.

He’d nod, firmly, his eyes looking back to the pan. Leo never looked like he was mindless, though. Those words would rattle around in his head, judging them. A look would confirm whether or not he liked the answer.

Then she’d be eating and it would all melt away. Leo was a guy again, who had an absurd sense of coolness. Then it was so fun to talk to him, watch him do his little funny brow thing and say something so deadpan that he gave Droopy Dog a run for his money.

Night would then come. All of that remained, only now boiling up inside her, with the intent of so much more. No matter how much he protested or mocked, Leo was always gentle with her then. Absolute safety in his grasp. She’d say something dumb and horny. The kind of words she didn’t even want to remember, and he’d silently press on.

The day would start all over again, but Leo was always there, ready to push on her mind. Except now.

Missy found herself staring at the ground, arms around Selene. The television continued to buzz on. There was a lot more staring as the last of her thoughts filtered away. It was probably a cheesy joke that helped to break her out of the trance of conflict.

With an exaggerated groan, Missy got up and sat herself back on the couch. It wasn’t even six and she was still driving herself crazy. She lay back and coasted through a few more episodes, enough to catch her attention for at least a little bit.

Suddenly, Missy held up Selene.

“Maybe you should get some rest, little Missy,” Selene would say.

“I got a good night’s rest for this day. I’ll be A-OK.” Though she had to admit she missed the whole crepuscular thing. Nocturnal wouldn’t work at all with all the stuff she had to do during the day, and oh boy, Leo would not like a laundry machine running at three in the morning. That would break his whole perfect sleep cycle and ruin his job. Big boss man wouldn’t like that.

Who was that big boss guy anyways? Like, the only guy Leo ever bent knee to. He was probably just a regular fat guy. Oh, and eugh, that bimbo from the party was related to him, right? Yeah, bad blood in that family. Missy shoved a pretzel in her mouth. Better stop thinking about it before even just the thought of that blondie cramped her style.

“You mean like Hermanubis?” Missy mocked. “Yeah, whatever, bitch.” Another pretzel. Like she had even an ounce of intelligence rocking in that noggin of hers. She deserved a scare to set her straight. Aaaaaaand Missy could probably do that now. Oh, wait, she had no idea where that broad even lived. Also, she still remembered what Missy looked like. Yeah, Missy had that effect on people, she knew.

Couldn’t even imagine what that woman did all day. Sell toys? And Selene was one of them? That was practically a prison break. Missy could picture her there, filing away nails, painting them pretty pink and generally wasting oxygen. Linda, that was her name, right. The lamest, boring name you could come up with for a girl. How fucking dense do you have to be to go to a party for place you don’t even live in? It’s a community meet-up, sweetheart!

“Isn’t that crazy? The balls on that girl. Or maybe she’s just sooooo dumb. Better not fucking come over next year or I swear–”

A knock at the door came, then a thud. Missy pulled Selene close, ducked low, and froze, staring at the door. Her heart hammered. All of the muscles in her body poised to sprint. Every which way her eyes went marked a new way to escape. Missy waited for the next hint of sound, noting some retreating footsteps. Oh, wait, that was probably the delivery guy. Yeah! Missy set down her plush and zipped over to the door, then leaned over to peer through the window. Mr. Cargo Shorts walked up and into his truck, then sped off.

“If only you knew what horrors lie behind this door, delivery guy.” She swung open the door to grab at the hefty package, tugging it in. “Just keep up the good work.” The door shut again.

One jittery and excited finger sliced open the package, unveiling all the fabrics within. Two packages like this in one month. Truly, she must’ve been doing a good enough job for Master Leo to warrant such gifts. She would have to thank him when he called, or she called, or texted. OK, not important right now.