FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

---

A boy, staring at a blank sheet of paper. A teacher writing on the board at the front of the room, white marks following her chalk on the board. "Okay class, today we're going to learn how to write. These are letters! Every word has them, and when you put them together you can write different words! By the end of the day we should each be able to write a few words, including your own names."

The boy stared at the marks on the board, confusion and incomprehension on his face. The other kids wore similar expressions; only the teacher and an adult fixing a computer near the back seemed to understand.

An outstretched hand from the boy. "Why do we need to do this? Aren't computers faster?"

A smile from the teacher back to the boy. "Yes, but it's still important to know how to write! You might not have a computer, or need to leave a note to somebody, and even on a computer you still need to know how to spell. If you don't, people won't know what you're trying to say."

The raised hand shifted, pointed at the board. "But computers can do -"

"That's enough out of you for now; you'll do this lesson, or else you'll end up only knowing how to send spam mail to people." A ripple of laughter from the other kids, a feeling of embarrassment, of sympathy, of pity, of frustration. "Now, pick up your pencils. This is the letter, 'A'..."

---

Doctor Moreau sighed as he watched the images scroll by on the computer monitor. Everything looked fine. Brain activity was 'normal', as much as it could be. Reconstruction had officially ended two days ago without any complications, even if the process had been a rough one, and the dragon was obviously intelligent. He easily remembered and followed basic directions - drink the medicine, keep your wings closed when workers were moving around his cage, don't tear off the medical sensors - with far less repetition or pantomining than the other dragons needed. He would often watch the workers as they moved through the lab and seemed capable of recognizing what their actions meant - he would scrunch up his nose and move away from the door when somebody went towards the medicine cabinet, or sit down in the center of the small room and watch the door when somebody approached the cabinet where toys and medical instruments were kept. And he even seemed remarkably curious about how parts of the cell worked - how the door opened without hinges, if his paw could operate the sensor, how the lightbulbs got replaced when one burnt out. At one point the dragon had even pushed the small table he had been given in front of the door when somebody approached with medicine, sitting down in front of it and pretending not to be able to hear anybody outside.

The dragon was clearly smarter than the other dragons.

But no matter what the workers did, the dragon just wouldn't talk.

Doctor Moreau looked back towards the cell, watching as the purple dragon fiddled with a rubix cube that Doctor Richards had suggested giving him. The dragon clearly enjoyed that toy, and exhibited intelligence as he played with it, clearly understanding the point of it and trying different methods to get each side to be one color. It didn't make sense - the dragon was clearly smart, but when it came to talking, he was literally dumb. "What's going on with you? Did something mess up? Is it your voice box, did we mess up your brain some way we haven't found yet, did your lungs not form right? Were you just too old for the process? Why can't you talk to us?"

"Maybe he just doesn't want to talk to you."

Doctor Moreau jerked in his chair and looked behind him, surprised at the voice. One of the assistants - a teenager named Jeremy who had been assigned to the project as part of court ordered community service. Some sort of 'scared straight' program, on the assumption that if at-risk teens saw reconstruction and other punishments from the outside they wouldn't one day see it from the inside. Jeremy had come in near the end of the process, and had mostly just annoyed everybody by being rather anti-social and snarky. The doctor sighed. "Of course, why didn't I think of that; he just doesn't like my accent. I think there are some trash cans in the breakroom you can empty instead."

The teen rolled his eyes and walked off, but not before mumbling something under his breath.

The doctor shook his head and looked back at the various readings on his screen. There had to be something he was missing, some problem that their tests hadn't picked up on yet. The readings weren't identical to Joy's, but close enough; the same areas of his brain were just as active, and both of their scans had been far beyond anything the other dragons had shown. There were some variations, which was only to be expected in two different individuals, but on paper this dragon should be just as capable as Joy...

Doctor Moreau frowned, an idea suddenly forming. Maybe there was something to the kid's idea after all. If the dragon could talk but just didn't want to... then maybe he would want to talk to Joy instead.

---

The dragon tilted his head to stare at the open door. This was new. He could remember being here for a while now, though anything too far back was just a fuzzy haze, and he could remember the door to this room opening several times. But before the door opening had always meant somebody coming in. Maybe to give him a toy to fiddle with, or to put those chilly things on his head, or refill his food and water, or even to make him drink that hideous purple stuff. But this time when the door had opened, the person had just stood on the outside and looked back at him before opening his hand out towards the floor. "Come on buddy, let's go for a walk."

The dragon took another look around the room. It was the only place he could remember - a raised portion of the floor was his bed, a table held various knicknacks he had fiddled with, and a few bowls along the side dealt with food and water, on both sides of his digestion. It had been warm and safe, and mostly quiet. Outside the room, though... that was where all the people were. And they were always talking.

With a huff he turned back to his 'bed' and sat down on it. He yawned pointedly and looked back at the person in the doorway to see what he would do.

The man sighed and shook his head. "Fine, be that way. We'll just bring her in here instead."

With a wave of his hand over the sensor the door slid shut again, and the man turned and walked away.

Nothing happened for a time... then one of the far doors beyond the glass opened. That wasn't a new thing, either...

...but then something new walked through the door.

He had seen his reflection before - if he tilted just right he could make out himself in the glass - and he had seen enough of his own body to know he wasn't like the other people who were always walking around. But what walked through the door was like him. She - somehow he just knew it was a she, from the shape of her horns and the way she walked, along with the white stripe at the edge of her wings - had yellow scales, and had three spikes on her tails to his five, and seemed to be bigger than him, but other than that they were both the same. She was a dragon like him.

A human woman followed behind the other dragon, then slipped in front of her and led the way to the glass wall that formed his room. "Remember, Joy, he's very young, and something might have gone wrong; be careful with him."

The dragon - Joy? - shook her head. "I will - but I know he can talk." She turned her head to look at him, smiling and spreading her wings slightly as she did. "He looks nice. What's hif name?"

"His. He doesn't have one yet; we want to get to know him a little more first, and give him the chance to pick one. That's why we want to see if he'll talk to you." The woman gave the dragon a quick pat on her head, then reached a hand up to open the door.

Joy pulled her wings in and slipped through the door. She sat down on the floor and lifted a paw in a small wave. "Hello! My name if Joy."

The dragon stared back at her and blinked. He already knew that. The other person had just used her name; had she not heard that? Or did she not realize it? Or maybe she thought the glass was soundproof and that he hadn't heard. Was the glass supposed to be soundproof? It didn't seem thick enough, but maybe if it had been sealed someh-

"Helfooooooo? Are you there?" Joy waved her paw again, this time in front of his eyes.

The dragon blinked again and looked down. Of course he was there. He was right there. He couldn't be anywhere else. And she knew that; who else would she be talking to? Though... if he wasn't there, that would be a problem, and an interesting one; if he wasn't there, where would he be?

The dragon lifted one paw and used it to poke his other, almost feeling disappointed when he felt both the poke and the feel of his paw. Yes, he was definitely there; there was no problem to solve.

Joy twitched and stared down at his paw. "Did... dif you just check to make sure you were there? Are you mocking me?" Joy rose up onto her hind legs and narrowed her eyes back down at the male.

Mocking her? Had he been? He didn't think so, but...

"Hey! Say somefing!"

No way he was going to do that; then there would be no avoiding all the other people trying to talk to him! The dragon flattened his ear flaps and narrowed his eyes back at Joy, spreading his own wings with a slight hiss, trying to warn her off. Maybe if she thought he was mad then she would go away.

"Oh, no you difn't just hiss at me!" Joy reared back on her hindlegs and swatted him right on the nose with a paw. The dragon flared his wings and nipped at her paw, catching it just before she could snatch it away. "Oh fhat's it!" The female's tail swished... and then she leaped forward and pinned him to the ground.

The dragon flailed, spreading his wings out and trying to twist enough to slash up at the female, but her weight kept him firmly stuck in place. He kept flailing anyways, hoping he could get some leverage or get her to leave on her own. There was a sudden noise outside, and he caught sight of people running towards the doorway... but the woman held a hand out towards them and slapped her other hand on the panel to shut the door. "Don't! Those claws will bounce right off their scales, but they'll slash you straight to the bone; Joy will be fine, and she's not going to hurt him." The dragon was dimly aware of the woman frowning a little while he struggled. "At least, I think she won't. Sweetie, be gentle!"

The male hissed again... then yelped in annoyance as he felt something poke his shoulder. Nothing else happened... then there was another poke, followed by another, and then Joy yelled right next to his ear. "I know you're in fere! I'm going to keep poking you unfil you tell me to stof!"

The dragon struggled more, slashing wildly and clawing the ground a little, but the poking didn't stop. "Not." Poke. "Gonna." Poke. "Stof." Poke.

He huffed and stopped slashing randomly, letting his limbs back to the ground. He closed his eyes, determined to just ignore the nuisance and certain he could outlast her. If he said something, then everybody would _know_he could talk, and then they would bug him with conversations; he could still remember when that one doctor had kept peppering him with questions about how he felt, and if he was hungry, and what he remembered, and...

A series of rapid fire pokes hit him right above his nose. "Heeeeeey, this looks like a fun place to pofe. Pofe, poke, poke, poke, poke." Each time she spoke, the dragon felt another tap on his nose. "Poke, poke, pokey poke, poke, pooooooooooooke..."

"Staflit!!!" The dragon grunted in annoyance and made another slashing motion with his paw. He felt a bit of frustration when he made the motion, knowing there should be a phrase to go with it but completely unable to remember what the words were. The feeling passed after a second, though, and he fell back on other words he could yell. "Aff! Gid aff mi!"

"I knew it! See Steffie, I told you he could falk!"

The woman outside looked back at them in surprise. "That was talking? It sounded like growling..."

"Uh-huh! He said stof it, then he said - "

"GID AFF!!" The dragon heaved again, this time managing to catch Joy off balance - she had been distracted by looking out the glass, and wasn't prepared for his motion. She rolled off him and landed a length away, then straightened herself out to glare back at him.

"That fasn't very nice; I was going to!"

"Toof tew long." The male glowered back at her before sitting up and looking over himself. His scales didn't seem to be any worse off for the poking.

"Steffie always says pafience is a virtue! You should learn to wait a little." The other dragon nodded matter-of-factly and looked back to the human outside with a proud grin.

The woman looked pained for a second before looking back at the other people. "It should be safe now if you still want to go in. Did you have questions for him? He seems to be more talkative now, and Joy can always poke him again if he stops." She tapped the panel and the door slid open again.

The dragon spread his wings in exasperation. "Sea hut yew dit? Naow dey arrr gon asf mee tuff!"

Joy tilted her head and scrunched up her nose in disbelief. "Is that why you weren't talking to anyone? That wasn't very nice of you! These nice people have been taking care of you and just had a few questions! They fere worried about you!"

"Nah-anh! Ded ah bunf ov tefs ahn meh." The dragon nodded matter-of-factly.

Joy huffed and bopped him on the nose again. "The tests don't tell them everyfing! You should have said somefing - Steffie said you wouldn't even tell them your name!"

The dragon took a step back away from Joy, backing closer to the far wall, dimly aware of the woman outside having become distracted with the other people. Some sort of conversation about a recording, and getting somebody to translate. But it wasn't the important conversation anyways. He glared back at Joy. "Dunt hab one!"

"Well you could have one, if you would have answered them!"

"Awnd den dey wood ufe it tew talk to me moar! Due knot waant!" The dragon huffed and stomped his paw on the floor.

Joy narrowed her eyes. "I fink your name should be Grumpy!"

Grumpy huffed and flapped his wings at his sides. "Ant yer nam shoed bee Nefwance!"

Joy started to open her mouth, expression angry... but she paused halfway through her first word and hesitated, then dropped her wings sheepishly. "Newfance? What's that mean?"

The dragon glared back at her, folding his wings in with another huff.

Joy looked towards the opening in the glass walls and swished her tail to try and get the attention of the woman outside. "Steffie! I think he just called me a fence! What's a newfance?"

The woman was surrounded by two other people and staring intently at a tablet, with one of them tapping on it. She absent-mindedly called back over her shoulder. "Nuisance!"

The dragon glared daggers at the woman outside, who seemed to _feel_the weight of his angry stare. She looked back towards him and made a small 'eep' sound. "O-or newfance works too..."

Joy followed the woman's gaze back to the dragon and frowned. "Hey! Grumpy! What Steffie says goes; she's helping by telling us how to pronofunt things!"

"Pronounce..."

"Pronounce things! See! That's what she's here for!" Joy spread her wings proudly and nodded.

The woman outside seemed to wilt a little, both under the male's continued glare and Joy's happy words. "T-that's not all I... um... okay, Joy... s-so do you think your new friend might be up for answering a few questions?"

"Nao!" The dragon started to protest, but Joy spoke right over him.

"Mister Grumfy would be delighted to! Or else he will be poked."

"Mai naem fish knat Gwumpea!" The dragon flared his wings angrily.

Joy's head snapped back to glare at him. "Fine! What do you want your name to be then?"

"If shoed bee..." The dragon started angrily, but trailed off. He didn't know! What were names for, anyways, other than for people getting someone's attention? "Watt's yor naem meen?"

Joy brightened a little and some of the glare faded. "Oh! It's to let everybody know they'll be happy with me around! Doc Tor Jean gave me it; would you like her to pick one for you foo?"

One of the people outside tensed suddenly and looked away, focusing very intently at tapping on her tablet. The dragon noticed the change from the corner of his eye, but filed it away for later; Joy was the immediate concern. "No!" The dragon huffed. "Stoopid naem."

"It is not! You're the stupid one, for not seeing how nice it is! Now pick a name!" Joy lifted a paw and poked the male again.

"Nao!" The dragon flared his wings again and used his own paw to slap Joy's away. "Dis if dum! Wood radder anfew dere quesons!"

Joy's glare returned. "Fine! Steffie, he's going to answer questions now!" The yellow-scaled female turned towards the door... and used the momentum to slap the male right on his nose with her tail.

The dragon felt an odd mix of indignation and... something else. He had the sudden strong desire to bite at the tail and wrestle the other dragon to the ground, and... do... something? The confusion was enough to hold off the strange instinct, at least long enough for Joy to strut back through the door.

One of the people outside glanced between the dragon and Joy, then looked back to the woman Joy had stopped in front of. "What should we do?"

The woman just shrugged. "I guess start asking him questions. If he doesn't answer, then - "

Joy turned back to glare at the dragon through the glass. "- then I will go back in and poke him!"

The dragon glared back in annoyance at Joy, only stopping when the person stepped through the doorway. "So, I guess our first question is why you weren't talking to us before now..."

With an annoyed sigh he settled down on the floor and pulled his wings in. Ugh. A nice day ruined. He shot one last glare at the female dragon, then grumbled and prepared to answer the questions...

---

The dragon glowered out at the people walking excitedly outside the glass wall. They had been questioning him for hours, about the dumbest_things - why he had pretended not to be able to talk, if he thought the food tasted okay, what he thought of the toys they had given him; they even asked him if the scales on his chest were tender right before they _poked him! The yellow dragon had watched him from outside the whole time, until _finally_the woman with her said it was getting late and that they had to go. Joy had glared at him and told him to keep behaving... but as soon as the door had shut behind them, he had huffed and crawled back to his bed. One of the people tried following and asking other questions... but a steady glare and complete silence finally convinced them to leave him alone.

They were still making a ruckus outside and talking excitedly about all the answers they had gotten. But they stayed outside and left him alone, so he didn't mind too much. He started to shift in his simple bed to get comfortable - so much talking had been stressful, and he was ready for a nap - but just as he began to drift off, he heard the subtle hiss of air that marked the door opening.

The dragon lifted his head a little to glare at what he expected to be another interruption, but softened when he recognized who it was. One of the younger people he had seen around, usually assigned with doing menial tasks; the nametag on his shirt labeled him as "Jeremy". The dragon didn't dislike him quite as much as the other people; despite having the same glaringly bright pink outfit the individual was quiet and efficient. This time he was carrying a simple tray with food and a box of sanitary wipes.

The sight and smell of hot food caused the dragon's stomach to rumble, and brought the realization that he hadn't eaten in a while - the conversations had gone straight through two meals. The steaming meat and the small mound of mashed potatoes called to him, and he eagerly slipped off his bed and walked over to the food dish at the side of his room.

The person ducked around the dragon, then dumped the tray into the food dish and stepped back as the dragon began digging in. The food tasted even better with the added hunger, and he tuned out the rest of the world as he savored his dinner.

He didn't even notice somebody was talking to him until he heard the yelling. "HEY!"

The dragon turned away from his tray, a few strips of torn meat dangling from his claws, and hissed at the interruption. His eyes focused on the speaker, and he realized somebody else had come in while he was distracted - the person in charge, somebody everyone else called Doctor Moreau. He was standing with his tablet in his hands and a scowl on his face. "Don't bother playing dumb anymore - we went back over the recordings; we know now those growls you were making at night were really words. I've been trying to get information out of you for a week now, and I'm not going to quit just because Joy is gone. Look at this; can you read this?" Doctor Moreau turned the tablet to face the dragon, where a huge mass of tiny text filled the screen.

The dragon narrowed his eyes - but at the doctor, not the tablet. He slowly brought his paw up to his mouth and began chewing on the meat caught in his claws, not bothering to say anything.

The doctor's face shifted to a redder color. "Listen, buddy; you're here because of us, and we need these questions answered! Quit stuffing your face and look at this tablet. Do any of these make sense? Do you know what they mean, or can you tell them apart? Do you know the different letters, punctuation marks, any of-"

The dragon made a slashing motion with his paw and turned back to his food, taking another bite from his dish. A familiar moment of aggravation struck him - he knew there should be words to go with the motion, but he still couldn't remember them. It wasn't important anyways, not with food to eat.

"Hey! Don't ignore me! And there's that motion again - you keep doing that; why?" The doctor drew closer and started to reach towards his dish.

A growl from the dragon's throat caused the man's arm to freeze, then pull back. The man's face turned a darker red, and he started to say something else... but another voice interrupted him.

"He's telling you to be quiet." Jeremy spoke up from where he had been cleaning the smooth platform that served as the dragon's bed.

"What?" The doctor looked away from the dragon, still sounding angry. "That actually was a growl; he didn't say anything!"

"No; that motion. It means be quiet."

"What?" There was a pause, then the man shook his head. "Is this some kid's thing these days?"

Jeremy just chuckled. "Actually I learned that from my mom. It's a zipper - she does that and yells 'zip it' to get us to stop talking.

The dragon's eyes lit up. That was it! Those were the words, the phrase that was supposed to go with the motion. He looked back at the doctor with excitement. "Zibifit!!"

The doctor glared back at the dragon, but the Jeremy started laughing. "Come on, Doctor Moreau, you're bugging him. He obviously wants to eat, and doesn't really want to talk. Just leave him alone for a bit."

"We need him to answer these questions; there's a lot of things we still don't know! This is only the second time we've done the procedure this way; he has to give us this information so we can compare it to Joy and establish a baseline! Joy didn't have any problems answering our questions!"

The younger person sighed and tossed one of his wipes into a trash can just outside the door. "Yeah, but he's not Joy. Look, he wants to be left alone, and you want to get answers; just make a deal with him. You only talk to him a few hours a day, and he has to answer and talk to you during that time, but outside of that you leave him alone. You get what you want, he gets what he wants, you can both be happy."

Doctor Moreau started to say something, but stopped. He thought for a moment... then nodded. "That can work. If that's okay with you, Mister Dragon?"

The dragon eyed the doctor suspiciously, but nodded. "Wan our."

The doctor shook his head. "Twelve! We have a lot of questions, and you still have half the day."

"Nao! Haf tew sweep; cant dew dat aund tawk, aund yew wheel tak dat fum mai tim! Tew our ors!"

"Six!"

"Tew!!"

"Seven, and I don't invite Joy to come back tomorrow."

"Sev in ish fine." The dragon drooped his wings and nodded agreeably.

"Seven it is then. I'll leave you to dinner and the rest of your day for now then - but tomorrow, we have seven hours to ask questions."

The dragon nodded glumly, and Doctor Moreau turned and walked out.

The dragon sighed and turned back to his meal, finishing up the rest, then stretched out on the floor to enjoy the sensation of a belly full of meat. Jeremy came over and picked up the tray, but the dragon spoke up before he could leave. "Tank ewe fer dat."

Jeremy smiled and shrugged. "It was no problem; I know how annoying those questions could be. Have a good night, dragon."

"Weight!" The dragon couldn't let him leave without thanking him - if he hadn't spoken up, the other researchers would have just kept pestering him with questions, or even worse, bringing Joy back. He didn't have anything to give to the attendant... but... maybe there was something he could do? Or share? Something special? He thought for a moment, trying to come up with an idea...

The dragon's eyes sparkled with a sudden decision. "Cawl me Zip."

There was look of confusion from Jeremy. "Call you..." The expression changed to a smile, accompanied by a nod. "Oh. You got it. Have a good night, Zip."

The dragon felt a strange surge of pride at hearing the word spoken. That wasn't just a word anymore; it was his. And it was perfect for him; anytime that somebody thought about talking with him, they would know beforehand that he'd rather not. He could still use it to tell people to stop talking, but it was also his word to do that with, in a unique way that nobody else could claim. He grinned possessively... then frowned. Ugh! That meant Joy had been right!

Zip huffed and picked himself up off the floor, stomping over to his bed and curling up on it with a snort. Sleep! He could worry about Joy and other people later.