FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This is my first work I've felt is worth posting, and this is the only place I'm going to post it. This is the first part of a multi-part story, which I hope to continue on for a long while to come. This first portion of the story focuses on the characters Keith and Sonatina, but later parts, if I create them, will follow other members of the band. Questions and comments can be sent to [email protected]

Beautiful Music

Chapter One: Anxiety and Heartbreak

031955MAY2024, Houston Dome Amphitheatre, Backstage

Keith paced along the thick cable bundles, checking his watch almost as often as he ran his hands through his hair. At the sound of footsteps, he looked up from his watch, hoping to see Kody and Tamrin, but instead finding a rather sheepish looking crew member looking at him. "What?" He didn't mean to snap at the poor kid, but he was rather stressed out at the moment. The kid flinched, and Keith sighed, holding a hand out to silence any remark. "I know, I know, the show starts in five. Well, we're two short, and we can't exactly perform with only four."

The kid blinked and nodded, running off, hopefully in search of the erstwhile members while Keith checked his watch again, cursing to himself. Just as he was about to go up and announce a delay, he heard running footsteps as Kody and Tamrin came running around the corner. Keith glowered at them, and tilted his head a bit at the door, cutting them off before they could try and apologize. "Later. We have a show to do."

Keith ushered the male wolf and the tigress out the door, shutting it behind them and running back down the hall towards his mark, gathering a few curious looks as he did. Keith, you see, was a pure human, an increasingly rare thing to see, especially in this part of the country, where gene-modding has become more common than emergency surgery. He was tall, just over six feet, and had a runner's build, which some would call too thin, since it wasn't "perfect". His hair trailed out behind him as he ran, reaching the small of his back if he would just stand still, almost black it was so brown. He reached his mark just as the house lights dimmed, and the PA system started it's pre-recorded message.

032000MAY2024, Houston Dome Amphitheatre, Auditorium

"Ladies and gentlemen, live, all the way from Seattle, Washington, we are proud to present- The Enforcers!"

Six small doors opened under the stage, theater lifts raising the six musicians up to their instruments, each picked out by a single spotlight as they grinned and waved to the crowd, each wearing a headset so they can hear each other over the roar of the crowd. Sonatina whistled quietly before keying her mic. "So, this is what ninety-thousand people looks like. Well, looks like we better be in top shape tonight." The others laughed, except for Keith, who keyed his own mic. "Yeah, yeah. All right everyone, make sure your instruments are ready, and let's get this show on the road. Playlist is open, let's play it by ear."

Keith, you see, was the defacto leader of the band. He had worked as the head of their PR office some years ago, and had been "drafted" into the band when the lead singer left. He filled the spot, and, after a few months, the other members decided he should take the reins. He always had the option of going back to PR, of course, but he enjoyed it here. Besides, he had another reason he wanted to stay.

Less than five minutes after coming up from under the stage, all six of the band's members had finished checking their instruments, and after checking the monitor in front of them to see what song was queued up, they began to play. The Enforcers were an all-electronic band, save a few pieces that made use of one of various and sundry "live" instruments behind them.

032317MAY2024, Houston Dome Amphitheatre, Stage

Keith was starting to sweat under the hot lights, and the physical stress of playing for over three hours didn't help. He figured now was as good a time as any to pull his little stunt, and queued up the song he'd been working on for months. It was a very personal song to him, and one that the band had played for months, albeit as an instrumental, and with no title. He had made up his mind weeks ago that tonight was going to be the night that he actually sang the lyrics.

He took a deep breath and hit Execute, sending the song into the que under "No Title". The real title would show up once he started to sing. The lights went out between each song, and reliably did so before the next, coming up in a different pattern than normal for "No Title". All the band member except Keith chalked it up to a simple technical glitch, and began to play, leaving Keith sweating and shaking slightlyas he prepared to sing, and the title of the song changed on all their screens to "Sonatina's Song".

032321MAY2024, Houston Dome Amphitheatre, Backstage

Keith ran through the underground corridors as fast as he could, his hair streaming out behind him as his vision blurred from tears. He couldn't believe how stupid that was. He could still see the look on Sonatina's face after he finished the song, and the way she shook her head... He should never have done something so stupid.

He ran to the underground parking garage, and hopped onto his skip, thumbing it on and taking off before anyone could realize where he'd gone. His skip was modified, giving him enough clearance to clear the parking gates, and all the other vehicles parked nearby, letting him run. He didn't know where he was going, he just knew he had to run.

032322MAY2010, Houston Dome Amphitheatre, Stage

The lights came back up after "Sonatina's Song", ready for the next set. It took the other band members all of fifteen seconds to realize something was wrong when Keith didn't start playing, and another five to notice he was missing. Jacob keyed his mic to the PA and made the announcement that the show was over, and ducked backstage, followed closely by Kody, Sonatina, Tamrin, and Risisi. They all grouped just off-stage and huddled, looking confused. Sonatina spoke first.

"That fool... If I had known what he was feeling..." Jacob shushed her and looked to the others. Before he could speak, a crewmember walked up and nervously cleared her throat. "Um... I know where he went... He hopped on his skip and took off." Kody turned to look at him, and sighed. "All right everyone, let's get back to the dressing room, and try to find him."

040004MAY2024, Clyde's Pub, Houston, TX, USA

Keith sat at the bar, panting softly as he caught his breath, taking a quick glance at the TV behind the bar to see a twenty-four hour news channel, the talking heads discussing his disappearance from the stage and what it meant. He sighed, and got the bartender's attention, ordering plain water, and giving the guy a hundred dollar tip not to call the news station and report where he was. At least until he left. He knew the tracker on his skip was on, and knew it would take Kody at least twenty minutes to break his encryption and discover where he was.

Keith couldn't believe how stupid he was. But he had to try. Sonatina had caught his eye as soon as she joined the band, back when he was just a PR writer for the band. She was a kit fox, with thick grey fur and a figure to die for or kill for. He was certain wars had been started for less. He knew that she was, in reality, a shi. He had even had to squash a few stories trying to reveal that fact back when he was working in PR still. To him, it just added to hir beauty. Looked like he was going back to PR, anyway. No way could he go back to the band after that disaster. And hir rejection...

040036MAY2024, Houston Dome Amphitheatre, Dressing Room

Kody sighed and sat back in his chair as the screen finally cleared, showing usable data. He had been struggling with Keith's crypto for almost forty-five minutes now, and finally had his location revealed. Sonatina looked over his shoulder, tears streaking the fur of hir cheeks, and looked at the information before running to the parking garage, hir skirt fluttering as shi hopped on hir own skip and took off after Keith. Shi had to catch him, and let him know...

040037MAY2024, Clyde's Pub, Houston, TX, USA

Keith sighed as his wristcom started beeping sounding the alarm that his tracker had been broken into. He slipped a couple of hundreds to the bartender, and walked out to his skip, turning the tracker off before lifting off the ground and zipping off towards the train terminal, knowing he had a comfortable thirty minute lead on anyone coming after him, and that it would take them longer from the pub to figure out where he went next.

Keith kept his foot down, his speed whipping his hair straight back as he flew along at nearly half the speed of sound, ten feet off the ground, simply going above traffic rather than through it. His skip had the capabilities, he may as well use them. He had to get his stuff off the train and start his trip home. He had a lot of PR work to do, what with him disappearing and all.

To be Continued...