Andreas
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"You're ready to see the residents now, Mr. Nichols....Mr. Nichols?"
"Mrrm..zzz....Uh? What?"
"You're ready to see the residents, sir"
"Oh, thank you."
I could have sworn that was the third time I had fallen asleep in that waiting room, despite that the chairs were hard plastic and there was
constant chatter over the intercom system. Mind you, hearing "Doctor Manford to report to the clinic" over and over again would be sure to make anyone fall asleep
within a good half hour.
The absurdly polite fox gave me a smile as she held the door open for me, explaining that I could take all the time I wanted in the facility, though I didn't really
want to take too long; the place gave me shivers. It was probably the air conditioning.
Walking into the living areas, I could already see a fair of Anthromorphs performing various activites; Talking amongst themselves, playing cards, reading...
It was initially hard to take in. Where should I start?
Canines, felines, vulpines... I didn't know who to pick. It didn't surprise me I didn't see many Reptiles in here; They all had a seperate living area.
Something about blood temperature.
Within the hour, I had already come across some humans who were presumably here for the same reason I was: The Anthromorph housing Programme.
See, In late 2014, a new artificial bacteria was developed that could help treat victims of disease and sickness. Not only were the effects completely safe,
but worked instantaneously, paving a new path through medical science. Of course, there were going to be side affects. Every treated female human
would have a possibility of giving birth to an Anthromorph, or "Furries". In these cases, the child acted like their human counterparts in every way,
just like a regular infant. The problem being was, they'd begin to act by their own animal instinct, and combined with human
characteristics, the child would become uncontrollable. Therefore, the government built facilities all over the world, to help
teach and civilise the Anthromorphs, so, when they were old enough, would be ready to be let back into the world, housing with one or more humans per anthro.
So that was why I was there.
I recall meeting a cute and bubbly tabby named Miranda, but she didn't seem to be my type. Besides, she was picked out not
five minutes later by another family.
There was also a wolf named Kane, who seemed pretty nice, but twice almost broke my wrist in a strong handshake.
I decided that he wouldn't do well in a kitchen where everything is made of glass.
And then, finally, I saw someone who caught my eye. He was sitting by himself on a bench, quietly reading a book
which he didn't take his purplish eyes from as I approached. He himself looked to be a dragon, which surprised me.
I thought he'd be over in the Reptile Sanctuary. Well, considering the fact the he had no wings, but his head was still crested with small, knobbled horns, I would assume that he was, in fact, a dragon.
When I got close to him, he glanced up for a moment, looked back at his book, then shot his eyes up in surprise.
A cute smile spread across his face, and he put down his book. I stood there, looking at him, before I realised that I must've looked like a muppet standing there, so I introduced myself.
"Hello, i'm William." I said, holding out my hand.
He reached up and took it, giving it a firm shake with his own clawed paw. He didn't tell me his name though, and I felt pretty awkward at that point.
"What's your name?" Upon my question, he let go of my hand, placing it beside him, leaving me wondering
If I had somehow offended him. I was even more confused when he pulled out a small sketchpad and a pencil, and began to write. He handed me the pad when he was done, and the cursive writing took some time to decipher. In impeccably well handwriting, he had written:
~My name is Andreas. It's nice to meet you, William.~
I gave it back to him, a concerned look on my face.
"I don't mean to be offensive.. but... you can't..?"
He simply shook his head a little, still keeping that polite smile on his muzzle.
Actually, he looked kind of cute.
Needless to say, we chatted for quite a bit, about me and him, what we both liked to do, and general other questions that I had asked others earlier.
Next thing I knew, I was signing his housing and family form, and we were both headed out to my car. He was pretty eager
about the whole thing, but once we got outside, he stopped and looked up at the sky.
"Hmm, never seen the sky before?"
~Not that colour, William. Curfew for the facility is usually 6:00.~
I guess he was pretty damn impressed, as he kept staring at everything around him on the drive home. Everything down to the pack of chewing gum on the dashboard caught his attention.
I could tell that live at my place would very different for him indeed.
As we pulled up at the driveway, he scribbled on his pad:
~Thank you, William.~
I chuckled.
"You're welcome, Andreas."