FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ping!

The sudden notification was about to make Hazel jump on his seat. It had taken the dragon a few weeks to get used to the - barely - constant flow of donation messages and the shrill sound that accompanied each notification.

"Oh, thank you, _MasterKodi!" he exclaimed briefly before turning his attention back to his game.

He'd been streaming Planet Coaster for quite some time now, but he enjoyed the peace and quiet that it involved when compared to other games that were more action-packed and frenzied. Plus, it was a game that required a massive amount of dedication. Learning how to build a rollercoaster properly had taken him days and now, whenever he wanted to create a new one, he would spend hours and hours tweaking every single loop and banked turn to make sure it looked one hundred percent perfect.

The downside was that he didn't have as many things to tell his viewers during his streams. Fortunately though, that was the kind of game where slow progress could keep someone entertained for a long time - and besides, he considered he had enough subscribers now that he could allow himself to play something more slow-paced.

_Ping!_The sound came again and Hazel's eyes briefly darted at the emerging notification.

"Aaaand thank you, _MasterKodi! Oh, wait, you sent another one!" Hazel noticed, chuckling. "I'm glad you're enjoying the game that much. I am, too."

He clicked on his program's tab as he spoke those words. The dragon could have sworn he had changed the notification sound to a different one - less sudden, less shrill. He browsed through the tabs, frowning for a second, but everything seemed to be in order. Refusing the urge to shrug, he continued playing.

There was this wooden coaster he'd been building for hours now and he wanted to finish it as soon as possible. He had to work a bit on the rest of the park too, and his numbers were?

Ping!

Hazel blinked. Again?! His eyes turned to the corner of his screen to see the same notification as usual, accompanied by the same username. A bot?, he asked himself. Perhaps not, but that was definitely weird.

"Are you guys seeing that?" he asked his viewers. "Somebody seems to like my streaming a lot."

He checked the chat for a second, just to make sure this wasn't some kind of joke. Most comments were related to the coaster he was building - there were some off-topic comments too, and then a message that made him raised an eyebrow:

"Look, its happening again lol"

"What's happening again? What do you mean?" he asked with a nervous smile.

Like a response to his question, the_Ping!_ sound came ringing again, loud and clear. And again, it was signed by the same _MasterKodi. He double-checked he had saved his settings the last time he had changed it. That was definitely not the notification sound he had chosen! Confused, the dragon shook his head.

He placed his paw on his mouse, and then? Ping!

"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked, rubbing his temple and trying to focus back on the screen.

Perhaps it was just the constant sounds or the feeling that he had forgotten something at some point - that he hadn't checked something properly, even if he just had - but his mind was feeling a bit slow - Ping! - sluggish, even.

Well, the dragon told himself. At least I'm getting a lot of donations. That's going to make this a good month.

The idea made him feel slightly happier and Hazel relaxed. Trying to find the right segment to continue building the coaster, he fixed his eyes on the screen and decided to ignore the Ping! sounds, at least for the time being. And they kept coming, even when he got so good at ignoring them that he could barely hear them anymore. Hazel just kept clicking and humming sleepily from time to time as he built more segments, his eyelids lowering down as the process became automatic.

His mind went somewhere else as he kept working on the coaster, smoothing every single rough edge, and time passed by without him noticing that, or the fact that he'd been saying other stuff, or the fact that he'd been doing other stuff. Swirling weightlessly in some kind of cloud, Hazel just let everything go away as he kept playing for his streamers. Building was automatic, mechanic.

And then, at some point, consciousness returned to him. The dragon blinked heavily and realized he had already finished the coaster. Confused, he analyzed every corner of his new construction and realized it was perfectly smooth. Weird, he told himself. He must have zoned out as he was playing. That happened to him from time to time, but smoothing a coaster enough for it to look that good could take hours.

He checked the chat and noticed people seemed to have enjoyed the stream anyway. That took some tension out of his shoulders and he smiled - a goofy, still dazed grin spreading on his face. When the dragon checked his donation box, he noticed that he'd saved up enough money to cover the expenses of the month. His smile only grew wider.

"Well, guys, that's all for now!" He had to stop to yawn and rub his eyes. Why was he feeling so sleepy? "Hope you guys enjoyed the stream. Feel free to come to the next one! See ya~"

He remained there long enough to see some messages coming in.

"Thanks, Hazel! You were fantastic!"

"Most handsome dragon boyo around"

"Told you, this always happens haha he's this good"

Hazel giggled happily and then, still feeling a happy tingling sensation climbing up his spine, he closed the tab and went for a snack.