FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I entertain the notion briefly of trying it on just to see how it feels against my skin but it isn't a notion that I can actually carry out. For starters my body is not exactly in the ideal human shape anymore and thus it wouldn't fit comfortably even if it were in the right size. Since the price seems to be pretty much independent to the size of the coat I grabbed the largest I can get for the money I have, so that I have as much material to work with as possible. I'll probably have even more than I can actually use for the moment but I'm sure I can think of something or other to put the rest to use. The sleeves will probably be converted first to be my new foot bindings but who knows, if I go and break into a mattress warehouse or something I could go and steal some fluff and then convert the rest of it into a pillow. That's what my bag used to be, but then after having slipped a while ago I had found that all of the fluff had been destroyed and was sopping wet and useless. Since then I had adapted it to be more a bag than a pillow.

I grab and move over to where all of the registers are and wait to find an opening. Too long of a line would be a bad thing. I'd be forced in a situation where I can't easily run with a lot of people who at any time could decide to look at me and insist on finding out my secret. I find one register that's particularly empty and walk up to it. As I get close I hesitate for a moment once I'm close enough that I'm obviously committing to that aisle. Another human walks up to the cashier in the line I'm in and instructs them to go ahead and go on break and that he'll cover her for the time being. She looks almost confused for a moment before a sort of calm comes over her and she leaves as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Not having any excuse to do otherwise I continue moving up and place the coat on the tray and move over to where he's standing so that I can pay.

To be honest I hate paying for things, but not because I would rather get them for free. I hate the risk involved in doing this. At any moment they could demand to see my face or demand I speak or some other thing that'll give me away and that anxiety keeps my entire body tensed up which is tiring if I have to do it for too long. Just another reason why I don't like long lines. If they do discover me I have to be ready to grab the coat and bolt as hard as I can out the door and hope I can get away without be caught.

"Cold out there, isn't it?" the man asks as he begins unclipping the security protection from the coat.

I frown slightly as he seems to be trying to initiate a conversation to me, which is the last thing that I could want at this point in time. To try and placate him I gesture in a somewhat non-descript manner, rolling my shoulder as if half arguing and half agreeing with my body. I try to make it look like I'm being busy by instead fishing around my cloak looking for where I keep my money. I know exactly where it is. I use this cloak far too often to not know where it is but this act provides me an excuse to not talk.

"They say that it's only supposed to rain today but I don't know, given how things are I'm guessing it'll probably start snowing sometime tonight or tomorrow. Still even if this storm is just rain it's not like we can't use it," he begins folding the coat and puts it into the bag before telling me the price of the coat.

I act as if I have just suddenly remembered where my money is and pull it all out, since I need to count it anyway and I know already that most of it will be used up by the coat so it doesn't matter if people see how much I have. The song begins roaring in my head for a moment as I try to count out the money, making it difficult to do so. I almost lose count on more than one occasion and it must clearly look like I'm having trouble with this as the man raises out his arm.

"Please, let me," he states in a calm and comforting manner.

I oblige and hand him all my money, trusting that he's not going to screw me over despite myself. Of course it also means that if I'm discovered now I'll be leaving this store with absolutely no money anymore. When his hands touch mine in the brief instant of taking the money out of my hands I could swear that an overwhelming sense of calm comes over me, the song even calming down to little more than a chirp in the back of my head. The contact is fleeting, however and regarded as nothing more than touching another person after so long. He counts it all pretty quickly, pulling out the remainder and opening the register and pulling out a few coins and placing them and some of the bills back onto the counter in front of me.

"Well here you go. Have a nice day and be safe out there. Don't want you catching your death of cold before you can try out that coat now do we?" he states in an overly cheerful manner as I grab all of the remaining money and stick it back into my pocket before gingerly grabbing the coat and heading towards the exit.

Once outside the song begins to sing into my head again, picking a rather playful cadence to use against me. After having been cooped up in that building for so long with my nerves at their peak condition I decide to oblige it in a manner that wouldn't be a surrender. I pull the coat out of the little flimsy bag that was given to me and throw it away, placing the coat in the opposite position as my bag which is getting empty from the amount of food that I've eaten from it throughout the day so far. I grab a bit more food and swallow it quickly before sealing the bag up again and with a little hop I begin to run.

I have no actual destination with this run. I'm just running for the exercise and to work out these nerves and quiet the song. The song is delighted enough with the motion, the running without purpose and no threat that it calms a little bit, chirping up and down in volume in time with my own steps, enjoying this game with no purpose immensely amongst the dull orangish browns of the dead grasses. My mouth starts staying quite open and panting in and out as I keep running. I'm not running as hard as I can but it's hard enough that I'm starting to slowly lose the breath within my lungs. So caught up in the simple pure joy in being to move my body to its utmost I don't even try and take the time to try and maintain the position of my abominable appendage near my legs and it flows well behind me, creating a tent in my cloak behind me. After what seems to be a mile or two of running in such a manner I finally slow down to a walk, letting my body recover from the exertion. I'm certainly somewhat hot and can't stop panting but I know it'll be a while before that happens. Even though it's almost winter my body can no longer produce sweat through most of the body, thus this panting is all I have to re-cool my body down.

After catching my breath and my panting has gotten to a manageable intensity I find a nearby bus stop bench to rest for a moment and take a look to see how bad the bindings have gotten. Thankfully neither of them have torn but one is still looking like it'll need to be mended or changed out completely some time soon. I rest back and stare at the sky, seeing a drop of water hit the mask and start to drip inside the eyehole. Frowning I realize that I should go and try and find some sense of shelter until the rain has stopped. My cloak is fairly weather resistant but I'd rather not have to put it to the test unless I have no other choice in the matter. I look around and find I seem to be in a more residential area, with quite a few two story houses lined up one after the other on both sides of the road, each looking almost identical to the ones next to it.

Going up to the door would be too obvious a move and would stand out too much. Instead I kneel down before the driveway of one of the buildings and begin sniffing the asphalt, checking to see how old the scents are. The first one seems to be particularly recent, only a couple hours old. Thus not my ideal choice. Too likely someone might still be home or get back before the storm has ended. The next two are much the same. The one after that brings my hopes up. All of the scents of the driveway are old, at least several days old. Smiling slightly I move in closer to the door, looking around slightly to make sure that no one is around as the rain starts coming down with a bit more fervor, soaking the top of my cloak as well as the leather bindings at my feet. I can feel that I still haven't reined in my abominable appendage as I can feel the rain hit against it before sliding down.

Not particularly caring at the moment to take care of that I lean in and investigate the door, getting a stronger sniff at it while the song plays with an annoyingly loud song, distracting me again. I shake my head to try to clear it out. The door smells the same as the driveway. There are a few scents that are much more recent but each of these scents only seem to have lingered for a few seconds and none have even gotten close to the doorknob. Finding it a good choice to investigate further and knowing that the song will not help me break in through the door I go around the side of the building and spot a door to a deck to this place. I scoff slightly at how wealthy these people seem to be while I have to live in such squalor and head up to the door. It's a very well used door, one that slides to the side. I push the screen door aside first and approach it a little more closely. The lock seems simple enough so I reach into another pocket in this cloak and pull out my tools and within a single minute I have the door completely unlocked and I step inside.

The air of this place is musty, giving me even more hope and when I go to check the fridge and cabinets I find that the only things still there are things that wouldn't spoil anytime within the next month or two. I grab a box of a somewhat sugary cereal and begin stuffing my face, placing the mask on the counter first. As I eat I am reminded of just how long it's been since I've last been inside of an actual house and from that my thoughts start straying towards the fact that it also means that it's been since I've had a good, real shower.

Taking apart the coat can be done whenever or wherever I really feel like it. Food can also be gotten from a large variety of places but I cannot bathe anywhere I want to and right now the only thing I really want is to just feel clean. I grab all of my stuff as well as the box of cereal and go look for where the shower is located in this place. I find it upstairs in a sort of bedroom. Yes there is a bed and closet to this room but beyond that it almost looks more like an office than a bedroom. There aren't even any bed sheets or pillows on the bed, just a mattress on the floor, which puts the thought of that I wouldn't be able to use this room to make a pillow with my coat passes through my head for a moment or two. But the condition of this place is not really my concern I push it to the back of my mind.

I grab my bag and coat out of where I was storing them for easy enough motion and place them to the side of the bed. I then move towards the bathroom and place my mask and cloak next to the door of the bathroom. I step in and take advantage of the facilities while I'm here, letting my eyes wander over the walls. They seem particularly plain to look at, almost akin to being little more than an afterthought. If nothing else it strongly resembles a place that someone doesn't spend any time in; that it's a home in name only, which is all the better thing for me since it means far less likely that I'll end up running into someone while I'm here.