FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

~ Roland's shift at the theater had run into the early hours of morning, and the kobold looked forward to his quaint apartment a number of subway stops away. He settled into place while the subway car rumbled and jostled its way along the path, a cassette of some mediocre pop duo strumming away on the tape deck in his pocket. He really didn't see what Chuck saw in the band, noting to return the loaned cassette when they next had the same shift.

~ A group of four well sauced members of the night life stumbled onto the car just about as Roland had sorted out that he and Chuck would have the same shift the coming Thursday, what with the popcorn machine needing to be cleaned and delicate hands needed to get the jumbo projector in theater seven up for the midnight showing of whatever was coming out. Over the meandering tones of what Chuck apparently regarded as music, Roland could overhear pieces of raucous discussion from the crowd. He slowly clicked off the tape deck, for improved eavesdropping.

~ From what Roland could glean, between the mixture of slurs and profanity, was that amongst the group the racoon of the group had lost his job some weeks ago, the beagle managed to stain his pants by sitting in some bearing grease this evening, and all four were not fond of the steady influx of mythic breeds of folk for the past decade and a half. The kobold kept his head down and pretended to be listening to his music, hoping to avoid notice. The music, previously sounding like someone had fancied a chandelier to be used for wind chimes found itself replaced with the rapid thumps of his panicked pulse.

~ Roland glanced to the station's markings as the car departed another station without the angered folk departing to his sorrow and increased anxiety. Four stops, and he'd be at his home stop. He forced himself to keep to regular breathing, while the group seemed to be discussing who they could take in a fight. Gryphons, not so much even with their lubricated courage. The stereotype of soul theft seemed to jelly even the knees of the ferret and rabbit of the group. Basilisks and Jackalopes? Definately. Phoenixes and dragons? Only small ones. Roland became more anxious.

~ After the next stop, which Roland had spent praying and fiddling with the controls of his tape deck, he glanced up to verify his progress home. To his immediate panic, he realized that everyone else had gotten off. He was alone in the car with the group, who seemed to be trying to whisper amongst themselves. The party was sufficiently drunk that the whispers spilled out into the car as shouts with tilted enunciation, trying to mimick a low tone by adopting some attributes of whispers to the exclusion of 'quiet' or 'difficult for others to hear'. It was rapidly becoming clear that they thought him a small dragon, and were sussing out who could resist his magics best in a fight.

~ For once, Roland was thankful to be mistaken for a dragon when he heard a loud thump across from him. A gryphon wearing the wrinkled uniform of a pizza deliveryperson tossed a pizza box onto the bench beside her. She wore a scowl that looked to Roland to be a mixture of frustration, rage, and sorrow. He stammered to her, confusion from her sudden appearance making it difficult to properly assemble sounds into pieces of words and words into thoughts. Before he could muster a question, she volunteered an answer as she opened up the box.

~ "I couldn't get this pizza delivered in time; I think it was a prank call. Want a slice?" She held out a cold slice of pizza. Roland's eyes caught sight of properly boiled cabbage on the pizza, gingerly accepting the offer. The portion of the gryphon's frown dedicated to sorrow seemed to waiver just a a moment, her expression softening a bit while he ate. The pizza was quite cold, reminding Roland of the traditional stews his mother had prepared on so many a breaking summer morning those years ago. The stew would then be staged in the cooling pots of unglazed clay for the evening meal just after the heat of the day broke.

~ The gryphon and kobold sat in silence, as the roudy crowd had been temporarily cowed by the arrival of a gryphon. They kept reminding each other, in their not-whispers, of the plan to wait for the small dragon to be alone. At the next stop, the gryphon stood. Roland glanced up from his pizza crust with a flash of panic. Looking down, the anger melted out of the hen's frown leaving only frustration and sorrow. "Sorry, I can't help." As she stepped off the subway and out to the lonely platform, Roland scrambled to follow with a stuttering plea.

~ Stumbling out into the mostly lit platform, Roland turned about with confusion. He found himself alone on the platform; the gryphon was nowhere to be seen. Turning back to the subway cars with a pitiful sigh, he saw that his solitude was going to be short lived as the car's remaining occupants' courage seemed similarly aware of the sudden lack of gryphons.