FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

We leave the room and as we do so I notice that he makes a point of flipping over a little card on the door. I look at it to see what it's saying but can't make heads or tails of what it is on it. There is some sort of symbol on it, but it doesn't have anything on it that I can easily discern. Even my strange new ability to sort of understand that language that supposedly said what I was good at doesn't work on this. But I rationalize that all it is would be to mark that it probably just needs to be cleanses as the doctor did say that such a thing would be necessary. He leads me down the hall and stops at an ordinary looking door and unlocks it. Inside are a series of racks with clothes on them, all fairly large.

He turns and sizes me up a few times after locking the door before going down the aisles and grabbing a few items. Each time he lifts it up and superimposes it over me, as if trying to see if it'll fit or not. After a few tries he seems to have found one and hands it over. I take it and look it over a bit. The top seems ordinary enough, reminiscent of a long sleeved shirt, but the bottom seems to expand out a bit, without any specific area for the legs to go in.

"It's a dress."

"No, it's a uniform. Now get dressed," he states as he begins to browse through the aisles some more, probably looking for the intermediary uniform. Grumbling loudly I take off the gown and slip it on, after finding that it doesn't work so much in regards to opening up as just putting over head and pull down, as if one really long shirt. The thing itself isn't too bad in design. Soft browns interlaced with some grays and of a soft, yet likely sturdy material. I look down at it and find it does fit well enough and checking something I spin around a bit, noting that the bottom does expand out in a swirl.

"It's a dress," I reaffirm.

"It's a uniform. It's unisex. Lift your leg as high as you can."

"Pervert," I scowl.

"I've seen you naked. It's not like there's anything you can do now that I haven't already seen. My interest in you and your body is purely on a medical and perhaps scientific leaning. Now lift your leg, use a wall or rack if you have to."

Grumbling I obey, having to lean quite heavily on a rack to do so since I still haven't gotten much used to this body. I sort of impress myself by how high it is able to go, almost as far as doing the splits without any discomfort.

"Now, did you feel any restriction from your clothing? I thought not. They are specifically designed to be functional with just about any species, allowing for free and easy motion. Easy to clean, easy to repair. There is a slit in the back of the outfit that will let you let your tail out if you want, else it will stay in there."

"And here you go," he comes back once he's grabbed an outfit that looks more normal, only with a slightly open bottom for the pants. And thankfully it is a pair of slacks and a loose shirt, though the fact it is designed specifically for the tailed in mind isn't as comforting. But I take it nonetheless and then he leads me back out of the room and locks the door behind me, an act that I find somewhat strange. One would think needing to get more uniforms would be something that by necessity should be readily available.

"Well, unless something serious happens this will hopefully be the last time that you ever see me. I'll still be keeping up on you like I do with all of the people here. Go through the door at the end and they'll make sure you are situated. And if I may make one final bit of advice for you, make sure you get plenty of food and water for the next day or so. The process may be technically done but your body is still getting used to the concept of what all it has been put through. Your metabolism will be greater than normal for the next few days until it's settled down. Further, you will find your released state to have a higher metabolism than your human body on top of it. And since it'll still be somewhat in shock from what happened, not to mention the lingering effects of the sedative, you might not feel particularly hungry or thirsty for a while. And please keep in mind that your body is different now. Meaning that things are going to taste differently and your body will handle different foods differently."

And with that, he turns around and leaves. I watch him leave, holding the secondary uniform to my chest, trying my best to avoid and ignore the sensation of it pressing against the lump that is protruding out of my chest. I stare after him, letting my mind sort of absorb everything that has happened to it in the last few hours. Even with preparing myself for it does not change the fact that it is still a lot to take in. And since I was chosen for the draft, as he steps around a corner, I am alone for the first time. I turn slightly and lean back against the wall as I let it all in, let my mind finally process everything without any pressure. I half wonder if everything is going to be so overwhelming as it finally all comes to a clash that I will begin crying. I never used to cry before but then again this body is now female and they tend to cry more, right? Would crying be an act of acceptance then? Though for that matter can I even cry? It is a very different body, after all. There is nothing to say that there it even has tear ducts in the first place.

I slide down the wall into a more sitting position and just stare blankly ahead of me for a while; not really thinking about anything in particular. Just letting the emotion and the reality wash over me like a slow moving wave. I know ultimately that once I get up again and go through that door I'll have to face more like myself, have to be presentable and show myself as being useful. I would need to find out as much as I can in order to survive. And especially necessary are to find the means to protect myself without magic if need be. I can use magic now, can't I? I look down at my hand, clenching it and unclenching it. It is a strange thing to be looking at a thing that you both know is completely yours and yet does not look the slightest bit familiar.

Within these hands are currently the potential to cast magic. Fire and healing, huh? Never thought of myself as the healing type. It's such a very passive set. But I suppose I don't necessarily need to learn any healing magic. Just because I have an affinity for it does not mean that I have to use it, right? Just that it'll be easier for me to use than other types of magic? On that note, what other kinds of magic are there? I suppose that will have to be something I'll have to make a point of finding out. And then there is that aspect of things. My best chance of survival is to play on the defensive. I was almost told flat out I'm not an attack type. I am best suited to be on the defensive side of things. Make myself an invaluable part of the team, support them from the rear and hope that they will then go out of their way to protect me, even when my support abilities wane as I regain my humanity more.

I suppose they're probably watching me right now, aren't they? Those people from another land. I am technically in an open area of the complex, that's only the second level I think for the system. So I could very easily have thousands of people watching me just sit here. Thousands? Hmm, I don't think I've ever been told just how many people on that other side actually watch this thing. Let alone how many would actually watch in this area. I suppose that that is there to let people not get stage fright. Knowing that potentially millions of people are watching your every move and will then gather around to talk about each and every one of your failures.

You know, it's somewhat surprising that no one has come to collect me. I suppose that's why the door was locked. Given the situation I imagine some might feel so inclined as to go about trying to vandalize things as much as they can. I imagine every single one of these doors are probably locked or have guards on the inside. Welp, I might as well get this over with. I stand up by pushing against the wall and half sliding back up it before grabbing my intermediary uniform with both hands and with a long sigh I begin walking towards the door that was indicated to me by that doctor. When I reach it I close my eyes for a moment, take in a deep breath and then open the door.

What I find on the other side is not exactly what I expect. For starters there is a lot more color than what I would have expected from what I had seen thus far. So far everything was what you'd expect from an office building or a barracks or something. A bunch of neutral, dull colors that give the entire area a very sterile feel to it. On the other side of the door is almost the exact opposite. Not quite to looking dirty, but very vibrant colors all over the place. A very relaxed appearance on everything. And then there's the fact that it looks like every single person on this complex is in this room just waiting for me, making me feel very embarrassed on what they thought of the fact that I took so long to get through that door.

"Ha! I win," One of them shouts, raising his arms up high as he moves over towards some sort of bowl resting on the table and pulling out a bunch of money before stuffing it all into his pocket.

"Um, what?" I ask, completely blown away from the scene in front of me. It's so completely contrary to what I was expecting that for a moment I even forget my current condition, such as it is.

"Oh, don't mind that," an anthropomorphic hawk nearby speaks up, from the voice perhaps female? But can't tell. "It's just something we do. Whenever a newbie shows up we take bets on how long it'll take before they come out. The longest was about an hour."

"But what about," someone else in the room begins.

"That doesn't count. Erit didn't come through on their own. They stayed on that side of the door long enough that they fell asleep and had to be escorted over. Anyway, welcome to the fold."

"So, um," I state, still trying to absorb the situation.

"Siren, pleased to meet you," the hawk responds, extending an arm.

"Oh, I'm um... Rose, I think," I stammer, reluctantly shaking their hand.

Siren moves over and places her arm behind me, guiding me further into the room as various others begin to disperse and head out to do their own thing, though I can definitely tell that quite a few of them are still paying quite a bit of attention to me, as if trying to size me up.

"Relax, it's something everyone does. I can't think of anyone who didn't at least hesitate a little bit. Well, I take that back. There was this one guy who felt he had to prove himself and basically barged right in without any hesitation and waited until after dinner to fall apart. And then there are those who are so overwhelmed that they just obey blankly and go through as if half zombies. Those people don't tend to survive that well. Now don't get me wrong, I can definitely pick up on your own difficulty in grasping the situation, but the fact that you gave yourself time to think rather than just obeying without thought says you'll probably be a bit more prone to thinking through a situation when on the battlefield. At least that's my experience. I'm sure in other situations such a thing is probably totally different. I suppose we need to give you the nickel tour, huh?"

She continues leading me as if I was a child or something and all the while talking. To some strange sense I can almost tell what some of the rooms are even before we reach them or even before she mentions what it is, my sense of smell strong enough and discerning enough to tell the difference. That's definitely going to be something hard to resist accepting. It'll be far too tempting to try and find my way through this place by smell. I know I could probably do it now but I need to almost refuse to pay attention if I want any chance of not being stuck with a giant thing pointing out of my face. But, even still I begin to feel a slight bit of apprehension when we begin moving to a place that smells strongly of alcohol. And unsurprisingly enough we end up in a lounge area. And even more frustrating is that there is one person with either cat or dog or fox-like features who is clearly very drunk. Can't tell the species due to the fact he's only in a half state and the alcohol is strongly masking his scent.

"Hey, baby," he turns and addresses me. "You know, I think you'd look really beautiful once you're all swollen up with kit. What do you say?" he makes a crude gesture at his groin and smirks at me.

I can feel a heat rising up in embarrassment at being treated in such a way, my cheeks and oddly my ears growing hot from blushing. But feeling the need to reassert myself and knowing I need to make it clear I will not be okay with this I walk calmly up to him, my fists clenched tightly.

"Hic, you want me to help you with that flat belly problem?" he chuckles.

"Sure, why not," I comment before leaning in a little bit and kneeing him as hard as I can in the groin, causing him to topple over. "Don't ever address me in that way again, do you understand?"

Whether or not he does I cannot tell. All he seems to do is whimper. But at this point he probably wouldn't remember anyway and it was more a statement for all the others in this place.

"I suppose I'm going to get in trouble for that, now, won't I?"

"In trouble for what?" Siren asks, looking around as if absolutely nothing had happened. "I didn't see a single thing. Did any of you?"

The crowd seems to laugh, apparently finding it hilarious for my tactic but all seem to be half making comment to having not seen anything either. Confused my head tilts slightly as I give her an inquiring look.

"Let's continue on with the tour, shall we? Don't mind him, you're replacing his best friend, so to speak. You won't be put on his team so don't worry about that either. He'll settle down in a day or two and be mostly back to normal. As for what you may or may not have done, there is a sort of unspoken rule in that we do not interfere with any act of defiance from any of us. You don't walk as a woman would so I can only assume you used to be male. That means his statement was challenging your masculinity, as well as other things. It was within your right to respond and defy such a challenge in whatever way you see fit, so long as it does not endanger anyone's life or the mission. Anyway, I should take you to your bunk so that you can drop that thing off and then you should go get something to eat. Might not know it but you're actually starving. And to be perfectly honest, even though I know that things work differently than with pure animals, there is enough of that latent animal instinct in me and probably you to make me more than slightly uncomfortable walking around within striking range of a ravenous predator."

"Sorry," I apologize sheepishly, looking at the ground to make sure I don't give the look of trying to eat the person who only seems to be trying to be nice to me. "So why are you helping me right now, if I may be so bold."

"Because I've been here the longest. Well, longest of all the ones that are still on their draft sentences. There are one or two around here somewhere that have stayed after their service has been paid, but they typically take their right to be left alone very seriously. I've been here ten months so far. I do get a little more human than this. This is day one for me so I can go twice as human as this. But as the one with the most seniority it is my responsibility to manage everyone. I have to keep an eye on the relationships of everyone in this facility and if I give the powers at be a recommendation for improving the team chemistry or reassignments they take it very seriously. As such it is also my duty to welcome the new people, show them around, try to make them feel at least slightly at home. Everyone here remembers what it was like when they first arrived, trapped in a strange body in a stranger environment. Everyone knows what you're going through. Well I take it back. Technically I don't have to show you around. If I so felt inclined I could just as easily assign someone else to take the job, which I'll probably start doing in a month or so. Gotta start letting someone else get used to the concept of doing these sometime, right? So what do you think of the walls?" she asks, clearly indicating the very vibrant colors rather than anything else.

"They are very colorful," I comment, following behind and in some regards somewhat glad for the dress aspect of this uniform. If my damnable tail is as expressive as a dog's then it would be way too awkward to have to have my emotional state broadcasted to everyone that would look right behind me. I suppose there is the notion it still might do a bit. If the tail was sticking up in confidence or something I imagine it'll tent the back of it, and with a tail that's easily three feet long at the moment it can do it quite a bit.

"Yeah, we do that intentionally. Helps uplift the mood of the place. Wasn't my idea, it was my predecessor's. My idea is there's a part of this building that is free for anyone and everyone to paint on. A wall of graffiti if you will. Occasionally they'll repaint it so that it doesn't get too clustered. I'm working on getting them to let us start painting murals in the halls. Anyway, here's your room," She comments opening up a door to a small bedroom.