FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Now, while the next few days were fine days and many important things happened, they would not be particularly interesting to relate in detail. So I shall skip to the evening of day 199, one day before the turn of the century. Renna had just woken up, and I had just returned from work. We were lazing about naked trying to beat the heat, when Aresh knocked and called out. I shifted snake and went to the door. We had expected her in her own ferret body, but she was a male 2:1 dog, a chihuahua-shepherd mix. She was leaning against the door frame, the fur plastered to her skin by sweat. I opened the door once I remembered that I'd heard her call out. If this wasn't her, they were good at impressions.

"Famir?" I nodded. "Great. Oh, Steps. I didn't need steps."

I shifted naga, accepted her pack, and helped up to our second floor apartment. Renna had gone to the kitchen. "Want some water?"

"Yes, water would be great." She sat on the solid wooden chair, and Renna brought a glass. Aresh didn't seem to mind or notice Renna's lack of clothing - though as a very furry raccoon, she was substantially less indecent than she could have been.

"How are you doing?"

"Well, where to start?"

Renna said, "Right now. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, fine."

"And you can go bare if you want, really. I'll get a towel to be yours for sitting."

"That, er, won't be necessary."

"All right. All taken care of? Now where do I start?"

I suggested, "From the beginning."

"Well, the beginning. Ha, that was a little something. Right off, I was partway to Sawle to deliver that goat body, and I took a break and was shifting hoof-hand-hoof-hand because it was such a new thing to me, when up came this funny fellow, a fox. He figured I was a body deliverer, and pretended to be one. Seemed to know an awful lot about the business, maybe he was one before. Later I checked everything he said, and aside from the bit about actually being one, he was telling the truth.

"Did you know you can only switch so many times before you begin getting problems like eye twitches or ringing in the ears?"

We hadn't, and Renna began to look worried.

"If you play an active role in the change it won't, which is why the refitters themselves can hop around at will. The more skilled body movers are active enough not to be worn down. So this guy says he's going to teach me how to do the switch so they won't wear me down. But he was going to switch me out! I got suspicious when he was saying how much more valuable a young body is than an old one."

Renna nodded. "Age restrictions matter. If the old goat was in unusually good shape, and I think that he was..."

"Exactly. Really valuable. So I declined and got out of there. We did the transfer as a house call. Mansion call. He was jumping a disease, severe enough that once he was out they just took the body and burned it. I..."

I asked, "That reminds me. Where do they get these bodies from? Not just one for one trades, but where did they build up their stock?"

"More water, please? Thanks. So, spirit death leaving the body in revivable shape comes in three disgusting flavors." Aresh counted out on her fingers. "First, the death spell leaves the body in perfect shape. That's used for capital punishment, and it's a pretty common choice for suicide, and, from time to time, murder. Second, some cases of asphyxiation or drowning, and, rarely, blood loss. Third, some women, rather than aborting an unwanted baby, enchant it with confusion magic. If they start before it reads as a person, it never does. Then they can sell it to the refitters."

Renna and I shared a disgusted look as I returned with the glass. Aresh nodded in agreement. "It's kind of sketchy, yeah. And it has side effects. Which brings me to my next charge - a 1:2 gazelle, nine years old. Switches gender at midnight."

Renna coughed."That... sounds interesting."

"Not as interesting as you might expect, not yet. Anyway, someone wanted that in Brickport. Sheesh, the humidity here is horrible. I'm used to heat, but this..." She loosened her shirt and pumped it to exchange air in and out. She cocked her head, considering. "It's sort of weird to be a guy and able to go topless. Of course, I could go topless even as a woman, around here. It was a bit startling to see that." She shrugged, pulled the shirt off, and hung it over the stairs' railing.

I was confused. "So, that alternating sex gazelle - someone wanted that specific body? And their parents let them do it?"

Aresh nodded. "I met them. It was sort of a temporary thing, let the kid figure out if they'd like to become one gender or the other, or stay as-is. Born with ambiguous sex, you see. Anyway, I was a were-horse after that, took it over to Rin."

"Were-horse?"

"Yeah, not from around here. Fully voluntary except around full and new moon, though it takes some real effort to shift. The human form was... not well-kept up. And I can see why. The horse form was awesome - fast, strong, beautiful. You just feel energetic. The only problem is you can't talk very quickly. And you didn't even need to shift human to grab things - the hooves can grip kind of like magnets, only it works on anything. Anyway..."

She paused.

"I dropped by my family, mainly to see my father again. Didn't tell them who I was, just claimed hospitality. Of all my stepmother's faults, she's good about that. But she's gone completely overboard since I left. No shame. She invited her live-in lover to dinner."

Renna and I tripped over that, and she said, "What?"

"Well, my father is not particularly interested in her anymore, if he ever was. Still, I said utterly flagrant, right? Anyway, with a stepmother like mine, I can totally see where those fairy tales are coming from. Dad had to keep his dalliances far away, while hers got to drop her off at the front door. And recently, apparently, move in. Fortunately, my allegedly half-sister Aisa was surprisingly decent. I mean, she was vain, but not cruel, and she did her share of the work. Dad is fair, and that seemed to rub off a little, even if she didn't get it by blood. And I was of course older, so the only lever she had over me was her mother being on her side. So it wasn't exactly the 'no father youngest child' situation.

"So, dinner. I'm trying to make the best of the awkward situation, so I compliment my stepsister's painting. That always calmed stepmother down. Clueless lover asks me why I am focusing on her earlier, childish work when there's a much more expressive needlework right... over... there..."

"Oh no." I said.

"Yes. It was mine. Stepmother icily identified me as the creator, and expressed disappointment in me. Clueless lover said something vague along the lines he hopes I'm doing well. Wrong move. Stepmother launched into a half-hour tirade against me, accusing me of abandoning them and stealing the family jewels to fund a lifestyle of lavish drug-fuelled parties in the city, until I ran out of funds and had to resort to prostitution and latrine-emptying, and wouldn't I be so glad to see her then."

"Charming woman.", Renna sighed.

"Well, that's the thing. She can turn it on, that's how she pulls them in. Clueless lover was clued in, though. And on the balance I was pleased: Aisa didn't join in. If she turns out well, I'm basically okay."

She sighed. "Enough of that. Did you really care? I've got something a bit more exciting."

I nodded. "You opened up. That's a good thing. It's probably more important than the exciting thing, anyway."

Aresh shrugged. "Yeah, probably. Er. Now I'm shy."

We waited.

"So, how've you been doing? How's your body, Renna?"

Renna thought. "Better than I originally thought. It wasn't so much weak as just very tired. With proper rest - in the daytime, as this is a raccoon - I'm all right."

"But that would be a bit awkward, wouldn't it?"

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not required to be on the regular shifts, that's for sure. I go to work when Famir goes to bed, and sleep when he's at work. So we're together about the same amount of time as we normally would."

I rolled my eyes. "I could really use some support though. I didn't hit you with the latest idiocy."

Renna froze, her refreshing tail-fanning finally coming to my attention by its abrupt halt. "It got worse?"

"Well, Geeo has decided that it's my fault that the Weld military decided to run their own telegraphy network instead of joining ours."

Renna closed her eyes. "I thought he already decided that."

"Before he left it implicit."

Aresh frowned. "I'm not sure that I want to work for someone like that. Their running their own network is only sane."

I held up a hand. "He's got a little point about them being unreasonable. We did expect to get a station in the capitol out of the deal. We built one, after all, and they're contractually required to run one. They're just taking an indefinitely long time reassembling it after breaking it down for parts to set up their military network."

Aresh nodded, seeing how this could make a boss twitchy.

"Hopefully, once the turn of the century has passed and the doubts around Periten have subsided..."

Aresh's ears pressed back. "What if they're right?"

I couldn't convey what I thought of that compactly, so I just shrugged. Then recalled - "I did say hopefully."

Renna cut in, "Totally blatant topic change. You said you had something exciting."

Aresh hemmed and hawed a little more, then finally gathered the nerve. "Well, seeing you two together kind of got me... hot. I was kind of looking for someone to do something with... or to... me. So after delivering the horse to Rin, the next trip wasn't really set, I was offered my choice of temp body. I picked this huge cat woman. Huge. Sexy. Thing. And I went on the prowl, and I saw the sexiest cat out there."

Renna began laughing and stroking my arm.

"What?"

I answered, "Well, Renna was for a short time in the cat you were in. And then we met Jimothal, and things took a turn for the sexy."

"Wait, I thought you two were exclusive."

Renna clarified, "He just watched." Then she rolled over on me, forcing me to the floor.

"Ah. Well, he took a bit more active role this time. Oh gods."

Renna said, "On the windowsill? That was pretty sexy."

"Yeah, and on the stairs, and... wait a moment." She gestured to me. "You had sex with that cat."

"... yes."

She closed her eyes. "Okay, that's a mite weird. I've been in a body that you've had sex with."

"Two bodies!", I amended.

"Oh, right. But that was a man. It's not quite the same thing. You didn't leave a bit of yourself in that one."

Renna laughed. "Hey, maybe you'll get this one too. Or carry my original off to wherever. Complete the set!"

"No, I think I'm done with this. Get my proper body back, go get that telegraphy job... find a nice guy, settle down."

Renna said, "Sounds like a good plan."

"And write my father and let him know I'm okay."

I said, "Which reminds me. What's our plan for tomorrow? Your mom said to be over as soon as possible, but I'm on duty tomorrow, and it's a bit of a trip."

Renna tapped her fingers together. "Why you? Revenge?"

I rolled my eyes again. "Not so much that, as I wasn't around to get dibs on not taking that shift. Look. You can go ahead of me. I'll be late, but that's just how it goes sometimes."

"But for new century celebration?"

"I'll be there before midnight, don't worry. Speaking of getting places on time, you don't have a strict starting hour, but you will need to start eventually..."

Renna seemed to take her suggested starting time more seriously, because she was already in the bedroom getting dressed.