FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Haku grabbed his new black leather gloves and tugged them onto his hands a little tighter, the narrow fingers of the gloves fitting his slightly tightly, but he preferred it that way. They made his fingers more slender, and that suited his personal preference of dress just fine. 'Plus,' he thought to himself, 'they do look kinda badass with the look overall.' And kinda badass they did look. The black gloves almost mirrored the black hooded jacket he wore, if not for how faded it had started to become after using it almost nonstop for so many years. He knew he could use a new one, but with no holes or other signs of wear, unlike his previous gloves, he saw no reason to replace it yet.

The jacket fit him well too, right over his almost-as-badly-faded black tee with the white pawprint right smack in the center. It was a little loose from where he lost weight over the years, slowly, but not enough to want to toss it either. It flowed right over his only slightly faded dark blue jeans, the back of the bottom of the legs of which were shredded from constantly being stepped upon, but they did add a slightly rebellious touch. They framed his gray-and-blue-trimmed tennisshoes quite well, said shoes being the only thing that was not overly worn or faded. He made sure his feet were covered well, if nothing else; he wasn't completely uncaring of his wardrobe.

Not that it mattered, really. Anything would bring striking notice to his snowfox's heritage's bleach white fur. Even a white shirt would be pale against it, as there was an ancestral trace of silver wolf in his DNA that gave it a unique shine that made him stick out like a sore thumb, while not taking away from that brilliant white that would make most toothpaste commercials pissed off. That white shine flowed from head to toe, even up to his pointed ears. Still, no matter how many dark clothes he wore, it would be painfully hard to hide that same white shine in his three tails that flowed from behind him. Or the beautiful white hair that flowed down his back that actually carried the faintest trace streaks and strands of light silver through it, if you could find it.

Haku slipped his small framed sunglasses over his eyes and walked down the almost empty street. He loved working weekends and having the weekdays free, as it was so much easier to shop and find good deals when the stores were not crowded. On a Saturday afternoon, it would've taken twenty minutes to get those gloves, but a Tuesday? Two minutes, if that. Plus it gave him a reason to leave the house on occasion. His home was not an overly fantastic place, but it was cozy, suited his needs well, and had plenty of space should he ever...

He sighed softly and stared down at the sidewalk a little as he slowed his steps, his thoughts immediately de-railing at the thought of the emptiness in that house, how noone but himself had ever even set foot in that house. Not even so much as a pet walked through those halls. He had never really minded being by himself, But as he neared his 25th birthday, that loneliness had started to creep up on him out of nowhere, and what made it worse was that he had never experienced anything beyond his first kiss, which was an awkward enough situation.

His thoughts were suddenly de-railed yet again after his shoulder barely tapped another's, making him jump an inch or so without realizing it. A panda woman dressed in a heavy pink parka and matching hood turned her head to him, more surprised at his reaction than the actual contact. He stammered a little and stared at her, eventually managing to mutter an "I'm sorry" out, to which she simply responded "no harm done," and with an awkward smile, he walked back off at full speed. Once he was out of her sight range, he shuddered a bit to himself privately, rubbing his shoulder slowly with the opposite hand, letting out a little sigh. "I have to pay more attention."

Finding an unused bench, Haku sat down right in the center, panting a little to himself after speedwalking all the way there. He watched the kids all have fun playing on the jungle gym, running around in their oversized jackets and poofy coats their parents bought that way so they could "grow into them," and he let himself smile a little. His own mom had done that to him when he was that age, a big bright blue coat with an almost neon green hat and sharp red gloves, running around and having a blast sliding down the slide over and over. Fond memories always helped his spirits... until he remembered he didn't play with anyone back then either, even as far back as then.

The right side of the bench Haku sat on suddenly creaked a little, and he turned his head to see a copper vixen lighting a cigarette right beside him, not even an inch of space between them. He immediately hopped to the other side of the bench, but not before noticing her outfit. Her fur was a rustic copper from what he could tell on her tail, which was also tipped in white, but the rest of her was mostly covered. Her eyes were hidden by sunglasses as well, although tinted with a noticable shade of dark pink. Her ensemble was a mix of a long pink plastic-like jacket, tight black jeans, and a pair of long black high-heel boots the buckled halfway up her leg, a few inches short of her knee. An outfit that screamed of being a "dark high-class" almost, and her attitude matched it, when she simply took an inhale on her cigarette, let it out after a moment, and without even glancing toward Haku, simply stated, "Why did you jump? It's just a cigarette."

Haku thought over his list of excuses, and fell back on one that was technically true, slowly muttering out "S-sorry, I'm.. allergic to smoke, you see. Makes me sick." The vixen simply let out a realizing sigh, and took another hit off her cigarette, which he took to mean she accepted his response, and sighed a little in relief himself. He leaned back against the bench, watching the kids again, before she finally exhaled and retorted, "And what's your excuse for you jumping at barely touching that woman? And rubbing your arm afterward? She followed you after to make sure you were okay and saw you rubbing where you two touched. ...pretty sure you hurt her feelings."

He did a double-take hearing what she said, and stared at her a little, not able to immediately come back with a respone, while she simply took yet another drag off her cigarette before putting it out, acting as if what she said was nothing special. Instead, he slowly stood up and turned to walk off. She simply released her last breath of smoke, and bluntly stated, "Also, running away from your fear of people... not a good way to overcome it." Once again, a cold emotionless blunt statement of her own fact, which made Haku freeze in place after only two steps.

Without facing her, Haku managed to form a coherent reply. "I'm not afraid of people, that's stupid. There are tens of thousands of people in the city, several of which I have contact with, and being afraid of them makes no--" she simply interrupted his words by placing her fingertips along his exposed neck, gently pulling them across the exposed fur with the lightest of caresses, making Haku suddenly freeze in place mid-word and jump again, this time a few inches sideways, his hand immediately reaching up to his neck to rub at it defensively.

"Makes no sense, yes?" She simply followed him, but instead of touching him again, she took very slow, precise steps in the form of a tight circle around him, going no farther than two feet from him as she did. He could not see her eyes behind the sunglasses, but he knew she was staring at every inch of his defensive stance against her. "Fear does not make sense. But I bet you've already come up with several things that do. Like, 'their body soaps upset my allergies,' or 'I might trip and hurt them if I get too close.' You could maybe... blame it on a trauma from your past, too. All fairly good excuses, and I would not doubt if they were true to some degree... but it will not change the truth."

As she circled him, he continued to remain silent, partly because he was he was becoming irritated and trying to ignore her, but mostly because his every instinct was telling him to run at the first chance he had, before this slowly circling shark snapped at him and ate him alive. She slowly continued to circle, and continued, "Now, you have three options. You either live with it, which is what I'm guessing your... outfit is proof of you already doing. You could seek help from a... therapist, or friends, or someone else who may think they know what they are doing..." She suddenly stopped in front of him, and moved her sunglasses up just enough to reveal the sharp amber eyes beneath, as she finished, "Or, you can come with me." After that, she simply replaced her sunglasses, and slowly sauntered off toward a parking lot with only a few cars, leaving a slightly shaking Haku behind her.

He tried to process her claim, but as she walked off, he only could think to half-yell, half-command, "Why SHOULD I follow you?!" But she did not respond, and instead continued to her car. This actually irritated him more. He was used to being ignored and left alone, but this woman flat-out refused to answer his questions, which noone had ever done before. The nerve of her! "Hey, can you not hear me?!" He got to her car just as she had closed the door, her hand on the keys, as he stood at her window. "I said, why should I go with you as opposed to a licensed therapist or a friend, or continue doing what I'm doing?"

She simply turned to him and took off her sunglasses, and finally responded, "Because you are clearly not happy with the way you are, you obviously don't think therapy would help or else you would have tried it, and you don't appear to have any friends to call upon or you wouldn't walk down the street by yourself. Now get in the car or leave." Haku... was in utter shock at her decisive commands. He simply could not come up with a response to her blatant dissection of his retort, and could not think of anything to say. But, he decided he knew what he should do. He slowly walked to the pasenger side of the car, opened the door, and was about to sit, before she suddenly continued with a stern and powerful warning.

"I will say this one time. You want my help, then you follow every instruction I give you to the letter. No questions, no buts. Or I will kick you out and you will have no choice but to go back to your... life. Getting in this car, shutting that door, and locking it means you accept your fate, and there is no turning back." He did not know where she got this nerve from... but he opened the door, sat down in the passenger seat, closed the door, and locked it. The car roared to life and pulled off the lot. He had never been more terrified in his life, and in hindsight, he wondered why he ever agreed to this ordeal with this random stranger.