FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ralph's stomach was knotted with worry through the entire subway ride to his office, a small square building with a view of farmland to the east and more buildings everywhere else. He kept replaying his conversation with Sam in his head, couldn't stop seeing the look on the wah's face before he walked out. The guilt was soured by his anxiety about getting the Size Tech job; Sam had promised he would help however he could, and so far that help had amounted to nothing. Ralph's manager would have been alerted about the application by now, and who knew how he would react. It wouldn't have even been worth trying if he wasn't sure he could get it; Allan could be extraordinarily vindictive if he felt slighted, and Ralph was sure his life would be hell if he was passed over.

The snow leopard tried not to think about that. He distracted himself by ogling some of the larger animals on the train car. There was a surprisingly muscular squirrel who loomed over him even while sitting, the yellow polo stretched across his torso threatening to burst at the seams whenever he checked the personal display on his wrist; a gigantic middle-aged wolf filled the aisle a few seats down from him, his powerful frame well-padded with heavy layers of...insulation. Ralph watched him devour a bakon and egg croissant, powerful jaws snapping through flaky pastry, lab-grown protein and oversized eggs. He let his mind drift into the fantasy of curling up around that stomach, rubbing it with spread fingers and hearing the soundquake of pleasure emanating from that thick chest.

Then there was the tall rabbit, a bit too big to be riding in the Junior Employee car, with a shocking bulge that snaked halfway down one leg of his pants. The obvious maleness was nearly as long as his arm but slightly thicker, and the giant kept moving it in the vain hope of finding a more comfortable position for it. For a moment, Ralph wondered what it must have been like to have a cock that big and, perhaps more importantly, why he wasn't wearing clothes better suited for it. Whoever he was, he probably couldn't keep a doe for very long; most weren't looking to be impaled for the sake of sexual satisfaction, and there was no way that cannon would fit inside someone less than twice his size.

That thought broke the spell and darkened Ralph's mood all over again. It was almost certain that the rabbit had gained his size as a plaything for some horny senior employee. He felt his own sheath stirring in his pants, barely straining the fastener at his front, and his ears burned at the relative modesty of his own body. It wasn't fair, it really wasn't. How could he compete when almost everyone had some edge, some talent they could use to get ahead? All he had was his work ethic, a sure but steady ability to do what was asked of him. He wasn't flashy, and he wasn't friendly. He was merely consistent.

The cloud over his head remained when the train arrived at his stop. He walked towards his office with his head bowed until he was sent spinning by a bump with the leg of a thirty-foot weasel. He dashed around the bodies of larger employees, walked into his building, and took the elevator down to his department. As soon as the doors opened, he saw the wall of Allan's hooves in front of him.

"Well, look who finally strolls in!" The horse nickered thunderously, reaching down to pluck Ralph by his scruff. "Thanks for finally making it. Mind if I take a moment of your precious time to have a chat with you about your work performance?"

Ralph was too stunned to respond. He hated the way being scruffed slammed into the headspace of a cub, all shy and helpless and pliable. His tail curled around his leg as he was lifted up to his manager's broad nose, nostrils he could stick his forearm in flaring to blast him with grass-scented breath. His eyes widened, and after several heavy heartbeats he managed to nod.

"Good," Allan snorted. He kept the snow leopard pinched tight between a hoof-tipped thumb and three thick fingers, turning to stomp into his office. Allan was unusually large for a manger of junior employees, towering over everyone in the office at 75 feet tall. He loved throwing his weight around, bullying his subordinates into producing sterling productivity numbers. Ralph suspected that the Percheron took an undue slice of the bonus that came from that to pad his own size, giving the rest to his favored employees and only the bare minimum to the rest. Try as he might, Ralph couldn't figure out how to get more than one foot every fiscal year.

He gave his coworkers a helpless look as he passed by, but none of them met his eyes. Sergei was Allan's favorite; the forty-foot tiger had already gotten the eye of a few senior employees, and everyone knew it was a matter of time before he moved down to the lower floors with higher ceilings. Jessamyn was a hard worker, helpful where she could be, and deferential to anyone larger than she was. That was why she grew up to twenty-five feet in the two fiscal years she had been here, nearly tripling his own height in practically no time at all. She had been distant but polite to Ralph, and the fact that she couldn't even look at him gave him the impression that he was in serious trouble. Though, for the life of him, he couldn't think of what he had done.

The other members of his team -- Rocko the kangaroo, Fairah the hyena, Ellin the sloth -- gave him sympathetic looks before he disappeared into Allan's office. Like Ralph, they had been at the bottom of the totem pole. Only seniority made them bigger than he was; Rocko was 15 feet tall, plugging away at the same position for nearly 40 quarters.

Allan's door slammed shut and Ralph was tossed onto the horse's desk, sliding across the polished wood surface until he bumped against a giant coffee mug. As soon as his mind was released from the spell of the scruff, anger flared within him, puffing out his thick fur. How dare Allan treat him with such blatant disrespect! If this was some kind of retaliation for trying to leave, the horse was going to be reported to Animal Resources as soon as he could get out of this office!

The horse walked around the desk and sat down in his creaking chair, leaning forward to make sure his shadow fell across the cat. His heavy hands drummed noisy fingers together as he looked down at Ralph. Ralph rose with as much dignity as he could muster and folded his arms defiantly, tail lashing behind him. He wouldn't give Allan the satisfaction of letting on he was any more upset than he was. He'd wait for the manager to speak.

"I'm sorry about that, Ralph," the horse rumbled after several seconds. "I had to put on a bit of a show for the bullpen out there. Got a reputation to keep, you know."

Ralph blinked. An apology was the last thing he had expected. "Uh...OK."

"I brought you in here because I want to ask you a few questions." The horse fixed him with one enormous, dark brown eye. "If you're not comfortable answering them just say so."

Ralph nodded. He was still keyed up but his anger had no place to go now. A voice in his head told him that this was a trap of some kind. Was Allan trying to get him to disqualify himself from the position? Was he looking for some reason to recommend the hiring committee look elsewhere? That felt more likely than a legitimate need for information.

"Have you noticed anything...strange around the office recently?" Allan drummed his fingers, his gaze steady.

"Like what?" Ralph figured it was best to play dumb. Don't give him anything. Make him lead the conversation so he gets to the point.

The giant horse shrugged, then leaned forward, his huge blunt muzzle filling more of Ralph's vision. "You know, like colleagues being secretive. Keeping odd hours in the office. Trying to have private conversations with strange animals."

Ralph took an instinctive step back. What kind of question was that? "No? Why, is there someone keeping secrets from you?"

Allan snorted. A hot gust of breath ruffled Ralph's fur. "Not from me, specifically. Just...in general. Clandestine meetings. Using back channels to get information on, say, leads for a different position."

Something about his tone caught Ralph's attention. "No. Everyone pretty much does the work you give them as best they can. We keep our heads down. It's what a good junior employee does."

One of Allan's ears swiveled, and his expression hardened. It was a line he used all the time whenever one of his subordinates 'got out of line'. "That's funny, because I've heard rumors of you putting in for a transfer. Sneaking around, asking folks if you could be guaranteed a spot somewhere else. When you know you haven't shown any inkling that you deserve anything remotely approaching added responsibility."

Ralph felt his chest freeze and his stomach boil at the same time. "Well, if those rumors were true, I'd say that I've put in more than enough quality work to be considered for a position elsewhere. My record speaks for itself."

"Your record is what I say it is!" Allan slammed a hand down on the desk hard enough to make Ralph -- and the coffee mug next to him -- airborne for a split second. "And I say you're a fucking terrible worker! You're lucky there's a standard minimum for recognized work over a fiscal year! You've put in more than enough quality work...Jess closes more tickets than you and she works fewer hours!"

Ralph landed hard on one foot and fell to his rump. He scampered back, behind the coffee cup, even as he felt warm rage bubbling up in his throat. "Because you give her the tickets any trainee could handle! Don't bullshit me about fucking numbers! The tickets you saddle me with are senior-level work and you know it! Just fucking admit it sticks in your craw I've put in for a transfer, that anyone would have the nerve to get out of a dead-end career working for you! I'm not gonna be Rocko, happy for a pat on the head year after year. I'm not some little university cub you can break! Fuck you for thinking so!"

It rushed out of Ralph in a full-throated hiss, his fur prickling out of his clothes, his tail going bottle-brush straight behind him. Weeks of nerves and frustration had been mixing into an explosion like this, and now that it had erupted it simply...evaporated. Suddenly, the fog of anger lifted and all that was left was the cold realization that he had just said 'fuck you' to his manager, a horse nearly ten times his height.

Allan's nostrils flared as he stood up, planting his massive hands on the desk at either side of the small cat. "You think I can't break you, huh?" There was a note of cold steel running through his words, but it didn't nothing to cool the malicious glee rumbling through him.

Ralph was grabbed before he could react. Thick fingers wrapped around his torso and squeezed tight. He pushed at the digits, his breath coming out in a hissing wheeze, but there was nothing he could do to dislodge them.

He thought about biting Allan's knuckle, but then what? He'd be dropped, probably to the floor. There were no guarantees he'd land well, and even if he did he'd either be caught again or kicked through a wall. The only way out of this was a quick and hasty retreat. "I'm sorry, I wasn't..."

"You're gonna be sorry." The horse unbuttoned his pants with his other hand, the obvious bulge pressing against it pushing the zipper down as it grew. "You just signed yourself up for probationary measures."

Ralph's mouth worked dumbly as he watched his manager fumble for his sheath, pulling it out of his clothes and slamming it down on the desk. The massive head of the horse's member surged free immediately, the mottled length of cock barreling across the surface eagerly. "You...this is harrassment! I'll report you."

Allan squeezed him until breath came out of him in a strangled squeak. "Go ahead, you little nothing. You'll just be in probation twice as long."

He opened his fingers just enough to slap the cat over the hot surface of his shaft, turning Ralph over so that the snow leopard was forced to grind his face against the thumping, spongy surface. "You're already going to have to relieve the stress you cause me for a solid month, every single day."

The horse's rough palm clenched around his back, bending it into the unyielding firmness of his burgeoning erection. "I guarantee you're going to break well before it's over."

Breathless, Ralph could only squirm and keep his eyes closed. He had no doubt Allan would try his level best to make good on his threat.