FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"We're here~" Tao mused, pulling up to a large white building with large, tinted windows around the door. Takiro was confused, but climbed out of the car as Tao grabbed her bag and climbed out as well, strolling casually towards the building with the little fox slowly in tow.

Walking through the doors, Takiro was as skittish as when she first met Kane. Her body was trembling, her eyes glancing around at the white walls and the fake potted trees surrounding the desk in the center, one hallway to the right of the desk. A petite little ferret sat behind the desk, who was chatting away with Tao as Takiro stood there confused and unsure as to why she was here in the first place. Before she knew it, Tao was dragging her off now deeper into the unknown building, walking past muscular furs using strange machines that was scattered all over in a large room at the end of the hallway. As they crossed through pathways between machines, the other furs glanced up at the pair, only to return to their workout. They finally reached the other side of the large room, where a pair of doors stood.

"Here, go put these on, and put your clothes in one of the lockers." Tao said, handing the bewildered fox a bundle of clothes before pushing her into the dressing room.

Takiro eeped softly as she was pushed into the doorway, standing there as she looked around with a frown on her face. The room was long, with metal lockers on each side and benches in the middle, while the back led to a tiled doorway, the sound of running water coming from it. The small fox swallowed, glad that there wasn't anyone around as she walked towards a random locker, pulling off her current clothes to slip into the clothes Tao gave her.

"Ugh... Great..." She muttered, staring at herself as she glanced around herself. Tao had given her a tight purple tank top that made her small, thin figure and small breasts stand out, along with almost too short dark grey shorts, her mark showing along her left hip. With the way Tao dresses, she should've figured the she-wolf would try something like this. But the fox just simply sighed, glad that her healing scars were hidden beneath the shorts, before slowly walking out of the dressing room and out into the open.

"Oh, great. You're done." Tao commented, examining the fox once over before nodding and taking her by the arm to drag Ryn off once more. She just simply followed the she-wolf before having to suddenly stop, Tao finally letting go of her nearly bruised arm. But then she was pushed to sit down on a bench against a wall surrounded by some equipment and strange machinery. "Here, why don't you just warm up with these." Tao said with a small smirk, handing Takiro a set of five pound weights. Once the she-wolf had let go of the weights, Ryn's arms dropped almost drastically at the weight put in her paws, lifting them up with what bit of strength she had.

"Have fun." Tao chuckled before walking off, heading towards a group of large, muscular males while swinging her hips along with her tail, seemingly to her their attention. Takiro watched her for a moment before glancing back at the weights in her paws, wondering what she should even do with these. She dropped her arms and lifted them back up in an attempt to understand what to do, as she has never been in a place like this before. She repeated the movement a few times before letting out a small yelp, dropping the weights to the floor to hold her paws against her chest. Her wrists were still bandaged and was still healing from the infection that had settled there days before.

Seemingly at the sound of the weights being dropped, most furs had turned to look and stare at the fox, paused in their work. This made her whimper softly, resisting the urge to either pull up her legs to her chest or hug her tail as close as possible.

A few yards away from the fox, a muscular Flareon hammered fist after angry fist into a sturdy, sand filled punching bag, only barely held by a massive 7-foot white tiger with blue stripes and long blue hair. He wore a tight, red tank top along with loose black pants, his hands protected by padded black gloves. Long locks of blonde hair fell in his face as he punched to forget, to let off steam without breaking his, or anyone else's bones.

After the seemingly long awkward moment had passed of her sudden embarrassment, Takiro looked down and picked up the weights that she had dropped, wincing at the pain of her wrists before they fell from her paws again. Less furs had noticed this time, but the couple that were around Tao were watching, letting out a few laughs.

The angered Flareon's ears flattened against his head at the sound of laughter that had a malign sound to it. Drawing a clenched fist back, he sent the heavy punching bag flying off its chain with a powerful right hook directed at the sound of laughter, leaving the large white tiger stunned as it was flung from his hands. Flexing his wrist, he stared flaming daggers at the couple.

"Something funny?" He asked, clearly irritated.

The couple quickly stopped as they saw a punching bag seem to fly in their direction, yards from where the pissed Flareon stood. They didn't say anything, especially Tao, who glanced over where the silver fox had sat to rub her pained wrists, staring down at the five pound weights with now a very uncertain look. She had held back tears after hearing the distant laughs that she knew were for her clumsiness, looking up after they had stopped and a punching bag lay broken from its chain on the floor in front of the guys who were now silent.

"Do you need help...?" Said a gruff, yet youthful voice.

She looked up at the source of the voice, turning to see a tall Flareon standing over her. His cheek was scarred, as though by a cut, and his entire right arm was tattooed in a unique flame-like design. A Roman Numeral VIII was tatooed at his right collarbone, and just the hint of another scar at the left of his chest was visible out of the tanktop. His eyes were like two blazing embers, fiery and glowing. Metal brackets appeared to be surgically grafted around his eyes, their function unclear. Also, a long and fluffy tail swayed slowly behind him, the same blonde color as his hair.

Takiro's ears folded down in embarrassment and in fear. What if he was gonna pick on her and laugh at her like the others did? She carefully stood up, holding her bandaged wrists as she glanced away at the question.

"I-I'm not... Sure..." She muttered quietly, her voice quivering as she continued to hold back the tears from the early laughing.

He kneeled next to her, looking at her wrists. In a flash, black lenses slid out from the metal housings around his eyes, then just as soon disappeared as he lifted his ember gaze to her, ears lowered.

"You shouldn't be lifting weights with injured arms. Maybe you'd be better on a treadmill."

If Takiro's ears could flatten more against her head, they would have. She watched those lenses appear over his eyes and disappear, leaving her slightly surprised. Though she glanced away almost guiltily, as if she was being scolded, but looked back up with a slight confused look.

"What's that...?" She asked quietly, simply out of curiousity.

The Flareon stood and helped her up, leading her to more weird machines. Takiro frowned a bit in confusion, glancing over to where most of the other girls were on the same kind of machine, frowning even more as it looked as if they were running without really going anywhere. She didn't see a purpose in this, but turned back to where the machine he led her to.

"Just step onto the black strip and hang onto the bars. When it starts moving, you'll have to move your legs. I'll start you with a walk, alright?" He set the treadmill to its lowest setting, looking to her.

Takiro nodded, doing as he instructed and standing on there before she watched him press a button and the machine beneath her purred to life. She was still at first, moving along with the black strip she stood on before she almost stumbled off and almost lost her balance, finally stepping up to walk along with the treadmill. With her sensitive ears, she heard a few snickers where Tao stood with a few guys, watching her with amusement.

The Flareon shot a death glare at the group of guys, his tattooed right arm seeming to pulse with power as his right hand closed into a threatening fist. He returned his gaze to the silver fox, nodding.

"You'll get the exercise of a long walk or a jog without having to go anywhere. If you feel you're ready to go a bit faster, just push on the upwards arrow there." He said as he pointed to the 'Increase Speed' button. "I'm Leon, by the way."

After listening to the Flareon, and then getting to know his name, she wasn't really paying attention that she was still walking. Her ears had flattened in shyness and in embarrassment, though she tried to smile a bit.

"I'm Takiro..." She spoke quietly, holding onto the bars as she averted her gaze, looking at the buttons he pointed to before pressing one a few times. She wasn't really prepared at the speed change, but avoided stumbling or falling. "T-Thanks... for helping me..." She muttered, trying to smile even a little, but it wouldn't appear on her face due to being in an uncomfortable place.

"It's nothing. Here," Leon said, picking up the emergency release and clipping it onto her. "If you slip, this will stop the machine so you don't hurt yourself. Just let me know if you need me."

Takrio simply nodded and turned her head slightly to watch him walk away, going to work on the pec machine with the highest amount of resistance on, though he appeared to strain no more than one would at a more regular resistance. He certainly seemed to push himself harder than most, yet his physique was not as massive or bulging as many other men in the gym. Turning back to look at the machine's control panel, she examined the few yet different buttons. She knew the one she pressed earlier was to make it go faster, and she kinda figured the big red button was to shut it off. As she walked for about another few minutes, she dicided to pick up the speed a little. She pressed the 'up' button a few more times, going into a clumsy jog that took a bit to catch up with.

Though she tried to turn it down a few, Takiro stumbled slightly and accidentally turned the machine up even more, causing her to stumble and fall at the unexpected burst of speed. Luckily, the emergency release was pulled along with her, stopping the machine in its tracks before she hit the black strip. Slowly sitting up, laughter reached her ears as she picked herself back up.

"Great idea, bringing your boyfriend's pet along Tao." One comment she heard that hit her hard. Tears flowed from her eyes, glancing around to see if she could find a hiding spot, or that dressing room she was lead to earlier. Though, she couldn't see anything through her cloudy, water-filled eyes before she began to tremble in fear.

Just then, a 20-pound medicine ball, traveling at a breakneck speed of 30 miles per hour, hit the jeering jerk in the face, and he fell to the floor in a heap leaving the others shocked and stunned before turning their attention to the now unconscious fur on the floor. Takiro didn't know what to do, until she helped up by Leon, who had finished his workout and toweled off. He took her to the snack bar, away from prying, judgmental eyes, bought them each a bottle of orange juice, and sat with her, his expression having gone from rage to indifference.

"Sorry you had to go through that," he spoke quietly. Takiro rubbed her teary eyes to see the bottle of juice he'd bought for her. She took the bottle and opened it, taking a huge swallow before screwing the cap back on. She sniffled softly and shrugged her shoulders indifferently.

"It's okay... I'm used to it..." She mumbled, rubbing her neck around the metal collar she still wore, feeling a bit sore from her fall. Leon snorted, taking a sip of juice himself.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have to be." He looked away a moment, eyes downcast as though discouraged by her low self-esteem. Takiro turned her head, glancing over at him with a sad, almost hopeless look before she took another sip from her drink.

"I am anyways..." She spoke quietly, almost a whisper. "Besides, I've always been different..." With that short comment, she wiped away any remaining tears from her eyes and cheeks.

Leon showed the flame-like tattoo on his entire right arm to her. "Yeah, well, so have I. That doesn't mean you have to put up with those idiots." Takiro glanced up to see the black markings, tilting her head to the side slightly in curiousness before she glanced up at him with a short nod. Though she grew quiet, thoughts were running through her head like wildfire. She took another sip of her juice before she realized that she almost drank it all. She let out a soft sigh before leaning against the table a bit.

"I... I don't know how... to deal with people like that..." She spoke, though seeming to be careful of what she says.

"Just ignore them. Or throw a medicine ball in their face..." He chuckled softly and drank more juice.

She didn't seem to laugh, or even smile at the obvious joke, but her mind went into overdrive as she remembered attempting to ignore Evan and Neal before, many times ending badly. She just frowned, her eyes watering a bit as if she was going to cry again. But she shook her head to rid of those bad memories, rubbing at her bandaged wrists while she ignored the comforting urge to pull her tail up and hug it to her chest. Suddenly, something large and fluffy laid itself on her lap, looking down to see his tail. Takiro blinked in slight surprise, looking towards Leon.

"Hug it," He said, smiling some and finishing his juice. "Usually helps me when I'm upset."

Takiro glanced up at him and was a bit confused until she wrapped gentle arms around the Flareon's tail, feeling a little better as she glanced up at him a bit shyly. "T-Thank you..." She whispered, resisting the urge to bury her face in his massive tail of soft fluff.

"It's fine. You seemed like you needed some help..." Leon said softly, producing a pen from his pocket as he wrote his name and number on one of the napkins provided with the juices. "Here," he said, "Call me if you ever need anything."

Takiro blinked and stared at the napkin a moment, confused by the numbers on it. She gently took in in her hand, nodding to him with the best smile she could manage.

"I... I will..." She replied under her voice.

"Come on Tashira, we gotta go!" The voice yelling over the snack bar was Tao's. She gave a harsh glare to the Flareon, who growled lowly in return.

"I-I have to go now... Thank you again..." Takiro stood and obediently followed Tao, ears wilted as she was taken back across the gym floor and suddenly pushed into the dressing room.

"Get dressed, and give me those clothes back." Tao muttered before walking back out, leaving Taki standing there, confused. She moved in auto-pilot, doing what she was told as she changed out of Tao's clothes and back into her comfortable tank top and loose slacks. When she walked out, Tao was waiting, leaning against the wall. Takiro held out the clothes when Tao took them a bit roughly, causing her to jump a bit before the she-wolf stuffed the clothes in her duffle bag and walking off, Taki following a few feet behind before she got lost in the large space of machinery.

While walking through and out of the building, she heard Tao mutter quietly to herself, seeming to sound like just a jumble of words as they walked outside to climb in the bright green mustang. Before Takiro could even close the door, Tao was already driving off out of the parking lot and towards the safe place where the little fox wants to be to hide from a possibly irritated she-wolf.