FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"I'm Mr. Carmielle, is this the right place?" The shop didn't look like much with dark wooden shelving lining the walls, filled with jars of unidentified liquids and powders, but this was the address on the card that the doctor had given me. It was quite a walk for this portly walrus, but I would do just about anything to bring some comfort to poor Bernadette. My thoughts strayed to Bernadette, my newest foster child. I was known for taking in tough cases, but nothing had prepared me for the condition for which she arrived.

Though hybrid species weren't common in the world, they were unique enough that they were usually quite stunning and beautiful in their various bodies, possessing abilities that made them creative artists, skilled musicians or entertainers. Folfs, Halfdragons, bearfoxes, and more were quite popular in the newspapers, but Bernadette was a cruel joke of what a hybrid should be, for she looked like a dolphin with a dead and decaying octopus wrapped around her chest and it's tentacles laying limp behind her. Blisters scarred her face, and where her long lithe arms and legs ended in flippers that had too few bones in them to be of any use. Her skin which should have been smooth like a dolphin had patches of what appeared to be green fur, which later had been identified as fungus growing in open sores on her otherwise dry and pallid flesh. Looking like a sea creature, the first responders, who originally found her out in a field, tried to return her to the ocean only to find that it caused her great pain when the salt water reacted poorly to her weak body. The poor child couldn't explain how she had arrived out in the field, or where her parents were, but it is assumed she was abandoned due to her condition. No matter what was tried, the child suffered terrible pain that kept her mumbling and unable to sleep at night. This fact along with the terrible stench from her sores, regardless of how well dressed and cleansed, caused her to move around the foster system quite.

And so with adoption an unthinkable possibility, I took her into my care.

"Yes, a pleasure to meet you Mr. Carmielle! I'm Colorado, and I've been expecting you." I heard him say, interrupting my train of though.

"Our friend the doctor had told me about how you are fostering Bernadette and I have great respect for someone kind enough to take on the task of caring for her."

The bobcat before me stood just a little less than one meter tall and for his height looked ridiculously small in the collared shirt, vest and oversized apron he was wearing. He had a sly expression on his face, as he looked me over, like he was sizing me up for a meal or some other nefarious scheme felines are known for in town. But strangely, I felt quite relaxed. The doctor had told me that he had a calming presence, and he was quite right. Such a natural charisma must come in handy for a pharmacist dealing with non-traditional cases like my dear girl Bernadette.

"Franclin, could you please bring out the prescription that the doctor had called in?" Colorado shouted towards the back of the store.

In response, a strikingly handsome red fox, Franclin, walked out gracefully from a stockroom door carefully crafted to blend in with the rest of the shelves in the back. He was close to 1.2 meters tall and dressed in similar attire to Colorado, but his clothing fit his muscular body much more attractively. He silently handed the little mortar and pestle that held the powder requested, nodded to me and then returned back to where he had came.

"Franclin Paus is my new assistant. I see you noticed that he is quite the looker, but that is only one of his many talents." He winked with a little smirk on this face.

"He's been with me for a few months now and we are working together quite nicely. But I'm sure you don't want to hear about us at the moment and need to head back home, so I won't keep you long. Here is the medicine that should help relieve some of the symptoms she is experiencing. Give half a teaspoon to her twice a day by mouth and have her drink a full glass of water after it. It won't last very long, but it should be long enough to bring a moment or two of relief."

"Thank you" I said, "But how are you sure this will work? She's been living with her condition since they found her a year ago and nothing the other social workers have tried seemed to help. How can you be sure?"

"I have done some research on other cases like hers and have some knowledge that isn't readily available to most doctors. I'm certain that we should see some positive change in her. But nothing is certain in this world. At best she will have a some relief and at worst, she'll have a chalky taste in her mouth." He said, trying to make the mood a bit lighter given how desperate her situation was at home.

The family doctor that I have known since a child wouldn't have recommended me to a quack, so I took the medicine "Thank you then, I'll give her a dose immediately!" I turned to walk out the door and just as I was about to leave he called out "Wait a minute! I almost forgot to give you this little charm I made for her."

As I turned around, I saw him playing a little piccolo flute, and as he played through a simple melody, orbs of light danced out of the end and swirled around him. I had seen similar instruments before, but this was quite a marvel of scientific innovation.

I walked back and he handed me the little flute where I noticed on closer inspection, ornate engravings that looked like vines and tentacles swirling around in circles, melding behind and over each other in infinite loops, around and around the flute.

"When she is feeling better, I have a feeling she might enjoy spending time with this instrument I made specifically for her little flippers. I designed it so that she could play it by holding it in her mouth and covering the holes, which I put into the sides. "

"Thank you again, Colorado, I'm sure she will enjoy it if this medicine works for her!"

I said as I hurried out of the store, excited with the two treasures I had in my care.

When I arrived home, I gave the medicine as prescribed and talked to Bernadette.

"I met the nicest fellow who gave us this medicine, Bernie. He also gave me a little present for you that he made himself!"

Bernadette's sad eyes looked up at the flute and for a moment she paused with a surprised look on her face. She then squealed with excitement at the new toy as I handed it too her and set it carefully in her blistered mouth.

"The medicine must be working! This is the first time you've been so excited!"

As she worked the flute around in her mouth, she used her flippers to adjust it and started gently making sounds out of it, trying different configurations of her flippers to produce different tones. Little sputters of light flew out the end of the pipe like a sparkler, but nothing compared to the pretty lights back at the store. It was quite a ruckus she was causing, but she was making a steady progression, discovering the notes that corresponded with each hole and watching steadily as the hues on the lights changed along with the tones.

"Very good Bernie! You'll be a star in no time!" I humored her as she continued to play around on the flute.

"Let's take our show outside where we can share it with the rest of the world, alright?" Though it was cute, the sounds were getting a bit louder and more obnoxious and the lights were dizzying. I didn't want to stop her since the medicine and noise were taking her mind off the pain of her sores, so I pushed her wheelchair outside and across the street into a small park.

"Now let's give everyone a big show!" I said almost ironically as she started playing notes together that sounded...amazing. She was putting together notes and forming harmonies that floated into the bubbles of color coming out of her flute.

As she continued to play, the flute lit up and began sending out orbs and swirls of light that pulsed in time to the music. Each one steaming out in front of her and coalescing into a knot a meter in front and above her little body. The lights gathered and fused into a singular bright point and pulsed in began humming back in tune with the notes being played.

In response to the glowing knot, Bernadette picked up the tempo and played a steady cadence of rising harmonics that streamed into the knot, growing larger and larger until it exploded in a burst of white light and sound that blew me away and onto my back.

"Bernadette!" I cried out, blinded from the event. The music she had been playing stopped, but now I heard a different sound, like a symphony playing the same melody she had been feeding into the knot. I didn't just hear it either, I could feel it and smell it. It was warm and felt like silk caressing my skin, but smelled of bitter almonds.

As my vision started to come back from the blinding light, I could see what was the knot was now a large blue green hole floating in the air, with tendrils of white light holding it open and pouring out, sweeping the air as a blue-green mist slowly filled the area. As the mist hit the ground, the grass started to melt and burn away. I watched in horror as it quickly crept toward Bernadette sitting helplessly in her wheelchair.

But as the mist reached her, it began eating off the green fungus on her body and seeping into the sores, healing them up. She leaned forward in her chair and took in, one, two, three deep breathes of the mist and then shot forward out of the chair and onto the ground on all four flippers. As she continued to breath in the mist, her tentacles on her back healed over and started waving into the air, gracefully swaying in time to the symphony beyond the portal. As she started to raise her head, her tentacles began to take on a light of their own, shining and pulsing in time, matching the radiance of the tendrils that were holding open the gateway to what must be her true home. As her radiance grew a set of large tentacles like bridge cables reached out and gently, lovingly, cradled her and picked her up, drawing her into the pool or blue green suspended in the air. It was only moments until she had completely passed beyond its horizon when the tendrils quickly withdrew and the circle of color and sound disappeared in a pop.

The commotion had drawn a crowd of onlookers toward the event and a few nurses were coming over to see if I had been hurt and was all right. As they loaded me up onto a stretcher, I looked through the crowd to see Franclin moving toward the spherical patch of grass that had been killed by the mist. He reached down and picked up the little flute and returned it to Colorado who was watching me. As they closed the doors to the ambulance carriage I saw him smile and mouth "Thank you"

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Bernadette: Farewell