FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Flynn receives news from a fated doctor's visit.

TRIGGER WARNING! Contains: Blood (light), pain (light), needles (light), pills (light), chronic illness, diagnosis, memories, flashback, relationships, family

Flynn, Umbre, etc. are characters made by me, based off of characters in the Pokémon universe owned by GameFreak and Nintendo. I do not claim rights to characters such as Flareon, Umbreon, etc.

By PseudonymousUmbreon. If you wish to use or reference my work and/or my characters, please contact me first.

Author's Note: The following, like a lot of my works, is inspired by my own experiences. Following recent medical news in my life, I felt it necessary to get some feelings out on the page. Understand that a degree of dramatization has been implemented for the sake of the greater story I intend to tell, but know that this story is much closer to reality than most. Always remember to be respectful of other people's experiences and be cognizant of the inner struggles that affect us all.

*****

Big Bad Wolf

Coevolution Int.1

This certainly explains a lot of the symptoms we've been observing in your blood work.

Flynn clenched the steering wheel, only barely aware of their claw puncturing the faux leather. Yeah, this certainly explained a lot. It explained the extent of the weird, fucked up deck of cards they were playing with.

The ten-page, overly extensive packet from the doctor sat on their lap. Patients with the disease can still live a mostly normal life. Mostly. Save for the onslaught of needles, pills, pain, and doctor's visits that surely awaited them in the future. But yeah, he could live "normally."

Thankfully, it's only a mild case, and we caught it early.

It almost haunted Flynn, the universe where they hadn't spoken up about their symptoms at that check-up. The universe where their roommate hadn't found them doubled over in their room fighting to keep themself from throwing up. The universe where they hadn't been hospitalized, where they weren't in and out of the doctor's office over the course of months, the universe where they hadn't made it to March. The universe where Central hadn't kicked them out for going MIA for an entire semester, and instead kicked them out for being dead.

The universe where they didn't have to worry about lupus.

It's good that you came forward when you did.

To be honest, Flynn didn't even know if their hospital visit was even related to this. But how could it not be? For all they knew, that was the moment this disease had developed inside of them. One stomach ulcer, and suddenly their entire system was under attack.

There were still so many things they didn't know about themself, and this was just further proof of that. Not even the doctor seemed to know the full scope of what was happening... or maybe Flynn hadn't really been listening. It was hard to tell. Were they just overreacting to something minor? Being dramatic?

Here's a list of things you should watch out for. The doctor had handed Flynn the packet that now sat on their lap, menacingly listing out every way their body could rebel against them. Joint pain. Rashes. Chronic fatigue. Photosensitivity. Breathing problems. Ulcers. Migraines. Worst case, it was organ failure. But the doctor hadn't seen that as a possibility.

Tell that to Flynn's anxiety.

They were stuck in a loop--their body was attacking them, but not to a severe degree. But it was still bad, because it was inherently bad. Just. Not as bad as it could be. Were they making too big a deal about it, or being too nonchalant about it? It wasn't even going to shorten their lifespan, why did they even care?

It's important to know that you're not alone in this.

But... they were. They had no one. Their parents were long out of the picture, they hadn't heard from their roommate at Central for a semester, and they lived completely alone.

Without really realizing it, Flynn found themself in front of Mel's Melodies--their favorite music store. Not knowing what else to do, they turned off the car with a huff and threw the packet aside. Maybe they could distract themself somehow.

The bell jangled as they swung open the glass door. It smelled exactly how it should, the perfect mix of instruments and strings and dust. They scanned the rows of guitars that lined the left wall, noticing a gap where a strikingly purple electric guitar had been.

"Flynn!" A voice called from the desk standing in the back, surrounded by an impressive collection of vinyls and band posters. "Where the hella' you been?"

Flynn turned to face the titular Mel of Mel's Melodies. She had her deep purple hair up in tight braids today, decorated with shiny silver clips. Her right hand rested at her hip, foot tapping impatiently.

"Hey Mel. I'm sorry, I've been--" Mel cut them off with a sudden hug. "--Oh, you're not mad?"

"Why'd I be mad, shugah?" the Meloetta said as she pulled away. "It's just good ta see ya again. Things are quiet here without you and Charlie--where is Charlie, anyway?"

Flynn blushed. "Didn't bring 'em today. I'm actually coming from an--an appointment," they stuttered. "What, uh, happened to ol' Violet?" They pointed a paw at the empty space on the wall.

"Sold her just the other day, shugah. Shoulda been here ta see it." Mel smiled. "This tall Toxtricity fella' came in--matched the guitar just perfect. Was happy ta get it off ma hands." The Meloetta suddenly turned serious. "How ya doin' shugah? Seem like ya walk in here followed by some kinda storm cloud or sumthin."

Flynn sighed. "I dunno Mel. There's just... a lot going on."

Mel's eyes filled with compassion. "Awwwh, well I'm sorry ta hear, shugah. Yaknow I'm always here ta listen, if ya need. Anythin' for ma fav'rite customer." She offered them a small treble clef-shaped lollipop from a small bowl on the desk Flynn was fairly certain they'd never seen empty.

Flynn smirked and accepted. "Thanks Mel. I really appreciate it."

The doorbell sounded once more as an Umbreon walked in dressed in a blue sweatshirt and jeans. They glanced around, spotted Mel, and made their way over to the two of them. Their ears, instead of being on end like most Umbreon, were instead folded back against their head. Perhaps to hold down their glasses?

They waved at Mel and handed her a small slip of paper. Instead of saying anything, Mel smiled at them and nodded, then walked behind the desk and pulled out a vinyl.

Flynn raised an eyebrow at Mel. "Who's this?" they asked, more to the Umbreon.

Mel grinned. "This is Umbre. They been comin' in here about... three months? Turns out I'm the only one around who sells vinyls of their fav'rite band." Mel waved at Umbre, then pointed at Flynn, and made some weird shapes with her hands.

Umbre turned. They did a weird half-wave, half-salute, then cast a side glance at Mel, who nodded her head. More hand shapes ensued, this time from Umbre--though they used their entire arms and paws.

Flynn looked at Mel, unsure. "Uh... hi?"

"They Deaf, shugah. That's sign language. Tell me you ain't seen that before? I only know enough to spell thin's out, but we make it work. They introducin' 'emself."

Flynn grinned. "Cool!" They weren't quite sure how else to respond. They'd never seen sign language before, but it certainly looked cool.

Suddenly, they paused. "W-wait, if you're Deaf--"

"Implants, shugah. It's just too much to wear 'em all the time." Mel pointed to Umbre's folded-back ears, where Flynn noticed for the first time a pair of metal devices. "'Sides, sometimes the vibrations of the music are 'nuff for anyone." She smirked.

Umbre nodded, signing slowly. They pointed to Flynn, then gestured to the whole of the store. Finally, they drug an L-shape up their arm.

"Do I... uh..." Flynn looked at Mel for help.

"They askin' how long ya been comin' here." Mel nodded and repeated the L along her arm to Umbre.

Another set of signs--dragging one paw-pad against the other, then two paws pointing up hitting each other, and finally pointing to Flynn again.

"Ooh, I know that one! That's nice ta meetcha. They taught me thatun." Mel giggled. "Try an' say it back shugah."

"Oh, uh..." Flynn raised their paws, uncertain. Dragging one paw over the other... two paws hitting each other, and a point at Umbre. "D-did I do it?"

Umbre giggled. It was startling, to suddenly hear noise coming from someone who had stayed silent this whole time. Grinning, they grabbed the vinyl, paid for it, and waved goodbye as they moved to head out.

Mel counted out the cash and stifled a laugh. "They left their number. I assume for you, shugah." She beamed. "You best text them back, I'm sure they got a lot ta say."

Flynn blushed and took the piece of paper. "Oh geez. Uh... thanks Mel." They looked around, suddenly flustered. "I'll be sure to do that... when I get home."

Mel nodded. "Ya gotta go, shugah? 'Salright, I'll be just fine here. But you stop by again, 'kay?"

"Course, Mel. Y'know I'll be back." The two exchanged another embrace, and Flynn set off back to their car.

Flynn practically fell into the driver's seat, exhausted. They would probably shoot Umbre a message. Probably. They tossed the paper with the number on the passenger seat, where they noticed the ten-page packet lay splayed open.

Oh yeah. They were having an existential crisis.

They let out a hefty sigh. Maybe a friend would be good for them to have after all. Someone to talk to, at least.

Flynn intentionally let themself be numb on the way to the shelter. It was best not to think about things right now, especially not that.

Only when they reached their locker in the shelter did the tears start falling.