FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"She's coming here!" Rik boldly declared as he ecstatically burst into the mess hall. A few members of his squadron were there, including his co-pilot, Aleksi. When the fox burst in most of them jumped at his sudden invasion of the peace. Once recovered, they all looked at him questioningly.

Aleksi, who was nursing a cup of coffee as he flicked through an outdated copy of Hustler magazine, was the first to speak up after him.

"What are you on about?" The tiger asked. To this, Rik ran up to him and shook him by the shoulders, very nearly spilling his coffee.

"She is coming here." He emphasised. Aleksi growled at him for causing a trickle of scalding hot liquid to drip onto his hand. At this point a nearby otter decided to get involved.

"Who's she?" He asked as he put down the book he was reading.

"You know." Rik said blankly. Everyone returned an equally blank stare. The fox sighed. "I met her a few weeks ago. I've been obsessed with her ever since then, and now she's coming here. To this island. Tonight!"

Aleksi groaned, "You're not still chasing after her are you?"

"Of course I am! But this time she's coming to me." He replied.

"I bet you twenty dollars she won't show up." Aleksi stated in reply. Rik shrugged.

"Deal."

To this, one of the two figures in the corner of the room spoke up. One was a tall, rather muscular lion sporting a short white mane; the other completely was a husky covered totally in thick white fur. They both held pool cues, having been halfway through a game before Rik jumped in.

"Sorry mate, but what 're ye on about?" The lion asked. At this point however, Rik was done trying to explain to them and made to leave.

"Aleksi'll explain." He said on his way out. Aleksi tried to protest, but by then Rik had already skittered excitedly out the door; leaving the tiger alone with half a squadron looking at him expectantly.

* * *

Kierra Rose the fox repeated in his head over and over again, images of the arctic vixen popping up in his head as he happily down the road. He'd see Kierra again in a few hours. As much as he would like to skip time and go straight to meeting her again, he had to get a few things ready.

Or rather, he felt obliged to get a few things ready. In all honesty Rik wasn't sure what to do. He mulled over the prospect of getting out some smart clothes, but Kierra didn't come across as the sort who would appreciate that kind of stuff. It was probably best to wear something casual. There was also the subject of what they would actually do. Would Rik cook something, or would it be better to eat at a restaurant given the fox's appalling history with cooking? Would they do something afterwards? How long would she stay for?

The questions were beginning to dampen Rik's otherwise high spirits. He stopped himself and thought of the layout of the island, as to calm himself down and manage each subject one by one.

There was a good choice of restaurants, but he knew nothing about what she would like. He'd have to take a gamble on that one. Down the road on the seafront were a couple of decent restaurants overlooking the sunset, one of those would do fine. Done.

She would be landing on the most desolate part of the island. It would be a long, annoying walk up the road to get to any sign of civilisation. He needed transport.

It was then that Rik stopped in his tracks, just outside his accommodation. He didn't have a car.

Loosing a frustrated sigh, he trudged his way over to his door and went inside. He'd left the air-con on, which greeted him with a nice blast of cool air when he walked inside. Closing the door behind him, he sighed once more and paced the length of the room, passing his desk several times in the process. Passing the desk a sixth time, he paused to open the lid of his laptop and boot it up. He continued pacing as he waited for the system to warm up. When presented with the log in screen, he stopped to enter his user password and press enter. After the familiar 'Welcome' message, the screen faded to black, loading up a new screen a few seconds later. The screen showed an open Word document. Rik remembered it. It was the entry he wrote several weeks ago when he felt lonely and compelled to document his loneliness. He leaned over it and inspected one section in particular.

I'm a fighter pilot, I sometimes wear those leather jackets with patches on them, I've got a motorbike licence... hell, I've even got a pair of Ray Bans. I've got everything set for a shitty Top Gun remake.

He reflected on the part addressing the licence briefly. True he did have a motorbike licence, but he didn't have a motorbike... though, he knew someone who did own one. A member of the squadron owned a Brough Superior motorcycle. It was old, built in the 1930's to Rik's knowledge, but it was worth a shot. He didn't expect his friend to let him borrow it easily though; it was regarded as a relic. On the other hand, the only other cars on the island that he had the faintest chance of borrowing was a Jeep Wrangler, which was far too ill-suited to the occasion; a Bentley S1, which was valued so high that Rik would be too afraid to drive it; and a Dodge Charger, which was owned by a Major who scared Rik to death. The motorcycle was the final option.

Objective determined. The fox rounded on his heels and marched to the door, intent on finding and pleading to the owner of the motorcycle. He had to have it.

* * *

"I see no way this could possibly go wrong." Rik commented to himself as he watched a small, boxy speedboat draw closer to the shoreline. Rik stood in green cargo trousers, a plain black shirt and a brown leather jacket that fighter pilots were often associated with. Behind him proudly sat a 1938 Brough Superior motorcycle, parked majestically on the hard shoulder of the otherwise deserted road. Rik smiled contently to himself. Tonight was going to be awesome.

The boat beached itself on the damp sand and Kierra hopped off. She said something to the boat driver, who nodded to her and turned the boat back. Following the farewell with her transport, Kierra turned and made her way up to Rik. She was dressed casually, wearing only some dark jeans and a pale grey tank top underneath a tight hugging black jacket. Pleasantries were exchanged, but they didn't last long owing to the fact that they were both hungry and were both eager to escape the glare of the sun which was on its way to set.

As it turned out, Kierra had never ridden on a motorcycle before. Rik played it cool and reassured her, promising he would go slow. In reality he wanted to go slow too, partially because he didn't want to damage the precious bike, partially because this was the first time he would have ridden since taking his test which took place two years ago.

With Kierra sitting behind him, Rik timidly kicked the bike off its stand, fired up the engine and slowly pulled onto the road.

The drive was, all things considered, relaxing. The sea shimmered orange in the gaze of the setting sun, and the warm air was comforting on the deserted road. The solitude of the place allowed for the beauty of the setting to stand out. Only Kierra noticed it however, as Rik was far too busy fretting about crashing the bike and thinking about the arctic vixen on the back who had her arms wrapped about him.

The ride was smooth, given that Rik steered well clear of any pot-holes and cracks in the road. It wasn't long before they rolled up to signs of civilisation. A small settlement perched on the beach, overlooking the sunset. Most importantly, there was a restaurant. Rik had only been here once before, but he had fond memory of it. Plus it was the closest restaurant to the beach where Kierra landed, and it had a pretty view. In his mind, there wasn't any other choice.

The bike quietly rolled up to the building. Rik braked accordingly, and the vehicle was brought to a stop in front of the pavement. Kierra hopped off, and Rik kicked down the stand shortly before dismounting too.

He found Kierra a few steps away. Her hands were dug into her pockets, and her tail swished back and forth lazily as she observed the building. Rik came up behind her and gave her a playful smack on the bottom. The arctic vixen jumped a little and loosed a barely audible growl, but it was all in good humour. Together they advanced into the restaurant. Thankfully there was hardly anyone there, and they were free to choose just about any table they wanted.

Kierra picked out a table on the veranda, which overlooked the sea and served as a nice view point into the next bay. It was shaded only by two palm trees, which had thankfully been harvested of any coconuts for fear of one falling onto the restaurant or onto one of its patrons.

'Nice restaurant, nice view, nice atmosphere, nice girl' Rik thought to himself as he approached the table with Kierra. Tonight was going to be awesome.

* * *

"What made you choose that?" Kierra asked as the main courses arrived. Rik looked at her questionably, then down at the plate of Szechuan prawns and fried rice that had been placed in front of him. He grinned.

"Anything in Szechuan sauce is just awesome." He justified. Rik had always been a fan of Chinese food, but it was only on rare occasions that he ever got it. It was often expensive, and he always ruined it when he tried to replicate it at home. Kierra smiled.

"It's just that the Chinese at this place is just about twice as expensive as everything else on the menu." She said with a content grin as a bowl full of king prawns in coconut curry sauce was placed before her. Rik glared at his and Kierra's food.

"That is a sacrifice I am willing to make." He said defiantly, prying his complementary chopsticks apart to punctuate his statement. However, after failing on several attempts to use them, he set the chopsticks down and returned faithfully to the knife and fork. Kierra laughed.

"So you clearly aren't as culturally educated as you think." She teased. He chuckled, trying not to lose the spicy prawn he was busy chewing.

"Whatever," He said after he swallowed it down. "As long as I get to eat something, it doesn't matter what I eat it with."

"So you'd happily eat sushi off of a girl's ass?" Kierra replied, nearly causing Rik to choke on his next mouthful. It caught him off guard. The arctic fox grinned evilly.

"Come again?" Rik said once he recovered.

"You heard me."

"Depends whose arse it is." He chortled. Kierra winked at him and gave him a sultry expression as she chewed her next mouthful. Rik froze, to which the arctic fox stopped suggesting and laughed at him again.

"It's cute when you don't know what to do." She teased.

"One time." He pointed out.

"Oh please," Kierra said, pointing her fork at him as she spoke. "There was just then, there was when you gave up on the chopsticks, and don't forget when you didn't know how to pronounce the wine."

Rik glanced at the bottle of red wine between them, and then looked back up at her, "So it's not chat-ew-newf do payp?"

"Chateuneuf du Pape." She corrected him, adding a French flare to the pronunciation. He flicked his hand dismissively.

"Whatever, I never needed French. Where I grew up you only ever needed English and pigeon English to get past the chavs."

"Where did you grow up by the way?" She asked. "And how'd you end up here?" Rik raised an eyebrow. She was looking back at him with some degree of interest. It didn't seem like another opportunity to tease him. He leant back in his seat as he began to talk.

"I was born in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. My family is a very military orientated one. Dad was in the Army... he fought in the Falklands War. His Dad was a tank commander in World War Two. My Mum's Dad was an engineer in the RAF at the same time. They all had either medals and little bits of shrapnel and war trinkets they brought home or some really good stories to tell. Me and my brother wanted more than anything to be war heroes ourselves. The dream of being a hero died at twelve or thirteen, but we still wanted to join the forces."

He paused to stuff another clump of rice into his maw, at which point Kierra asked, "What happened to your brother?"

"He joined the Navy. He originally wanted to be on an aircraft carrier or a destroyer, but he got posted on HMS Atherstone, the minesweeper."

"Oh."

"Exactly. But, he's alright. The Atherstone's still floating."

"What about you?"

"I joined the RAF. My granddad, that is my Mum's Dad, used to tell me stories about flying when I was six. He wasn't a pilot, but he got the stories off of the actual pilots. He was kind of an encyclopaedia for that kind of thing. Anyway, the stories he told me were awesome, so to say the least." He paused a moment, smiling to himself at the memories. "When he died, gran gave me a leather flying cap and some goggles that he had. He meant to give me them for my birthday, but he died before then. Anyway, I'd just spend ages outside, running around in my goofy leather cap and goggles, trying to find the biggest thing I could get to and jump off of it in the hope that the pilot cap would make me fly without the help of a plane."

Kierra took this time to giggle. Rik laughed with her, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I hurt myself a lot back then." He resumed. "Eventually I stopped, but I still wanted to fly. I never let go of the dream of flying. When I finished school, I went straight off to an RAF centre and signed up. I got put through selection and it happened; I became a pilot. I haven't really wanted to do anything else since."

"Aww, sweet." Kierra jeered. Rik rolled his eyes and put another forkful into his mouth.

"What about you?" He asked when he swallowed it, barely pausing before he took another mouthful.

"Well, I was born in the US, in Illinois, but my family had to move to Quebec 'cause of my Dad's work."

"And that's where you picked up French?"

"Sort of. It's where I learnt to pronounce French words better than you Brits."

"Hey!"

"Anyway, I lived in Canada until I was eighteen. Don't expect any sappy life stories from me, my life wasn't that interesting. When I finished school I took a gap year, since I didn't really know what I wanted to do in life at that point and I wanted to go somewhere warm. My parents let me and my friends take a vacation to Florida. I didn't want to go to Disney World for the whole time we were there, I decided to break off and do something interesting. So, of course, I started at the beach."

"Marine biology stuff?" Rik asked.

"Marine biology stuff... sort of. I wanted to do something I hadn't done before, so I went up to a dive shop to go on a scuba dive tour. They gave me some kit, put me on a boat and shipped me off to the Florida Keys."

"And then marine biology stuff?"

"We got ready, we dove in and it was just awesome. It was just beautiful. There was so many colours in the coral that it made me dizzy. They were so many fish that sometimes I couldn't see; they just blocked everything in front of me. There were sharks, there were sea turtles... it just blew me away." The vixen stopped a moment, taking a sip of wine as she looked over at the sea. "When we got back, I asked the dive instructor so many questions that he couldn't answer 'em all. He referred me to a local aquarium and handed me this little book he had about marine biology. Since then I've been learning about marine life and science. I just can't stay away from the sea. It's a bit like you and the sky."

"Sounds nice." Rik commented, wiping up some leftover sauce with a bread piece now that he had finished his meal. "So, what you doing here? Lifeguarding and dive instructing are summer jobs or something?"

"Sort of. I went to Nicholls State University in Louisiana for my biology course. In the summer when I couldn't stay anymore, I came down here. My course got me qualified as a diver and I got a job in a dive shop. That's how I made enough to do some summer work on my course while I was here. When my course ended... ooh, about a month ago, I still came down here. It's kind of my home now. I love it here."

"So you're still doing marine biology?"

"Yeah. That's why I turned up yesterday with the other divers, remember?"

"Yeah... going back to being a dive instructor, how much is it for a tour?"

Kierra smiled, "Why, you wanna come so you can stare at my ass for a half an hour?"

Rik laughed, and a couple of other patrons around them swivelled their heads to look at her with wide eyes, causing Kierra to blush a little under the mask of her white fur.

"I just want to see what all the fuss is about." He explained. "I've never been before. And anyway, maybe in turn I could take you flying."

"Deal." Kierra said decisively. "One flight, one dive."

"Deal." Rik repeated. "How deep would we go?"

"I'm not sure. I think with first timers you're not allowed to go below twelve feet or something, but you'd have to ask my boss about that." Kierra said, reaching for her glass of wine again. It was at this point that a faint and relatively annoying series of beeps rang up, seeming to come from under the table. Kierra quickly swallowed down the rest of her wine, leaning back and delving a hand into her pocket. A moment later her hand returned, presenting a small rectangular device that resembled one of the Apple products. She smiled, "Speak of the devil."

Evidently it was the 'boss' that she mentioned earlier. She quickly slid a finger across the screen and held it to her ear.

"Hello......yu-huh.....no, why?......no......really?......well, I can't see shit." She looked up at the sky, which was still clear aside from a few wisps of cloud. ".....yes.....but why can't you-.......right......well, whatever......okay......see ya." She sighed and pecked at the screen of the phone with her finger, ending the call.

"What's up?" Rik asked. Kierra was still looking at the sky.

"Storm." She stated. "It's not here yet, but it's hit my island. So, of course, my boat can't come and pick me up." She huffed and let her arms drop to her sides.

"So, you're stuck here?"

"Yup."

Rik looked at his watch and estimated the storm's arrival. If it had already hit Kierra's island, it could probably be on them in the next ten or twenty minutes. That was just about enough time to get back to the accommodation where he lived. The pilot looked back at the diver.

"You've got nowhere to stay?"

"Nope."

"Well, if we leave now we could probably get back to my place without getting wet. You could stay the night there."

"Really?" Her eyes brightened.

"Yeah. You made the trip out here; the hell kind of host would I be if I just left you stranded here?"

"Are you sure though? I'd hate to impose."

"Impose on what? It's fine!" Rik reassured her, shortly before flagging down a passing waiter and asking for the bill.

"Thanks." Kierra replied. Rik smiled.

A moment passed, at which point the waiter that Rik had stopped earlier, a raccoon somewhat on the short side of the scale, returned with the bill. Rik looked it over and winced.

It was painful.