FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Samson yawned as he walked down the street. It was early morning, probably around seven or six o’clock. In his left hand was a foam cup of coffee. Taking a sip, he looked up at the sky. It was slightly overcast, which Samson didn’t mind, since it kept the summer heat away even if just a little. He then looked to his side and saw a sight that was always on his commute to work. It was a brownstone building, nestled between two other ones which were larger. It had two glass windows and a glass door that was open, the soft scent of fragrant flowers wafted through the air, above it read the store's name “Lotti’s Flowers” and he saw standing at the counter surrounded by flowers was her. She had white fur, white as pure snow and red eyes (albino). Her tail was segmented, and it swished back and forth as she stood on the tips of her toes, probably to reach a plant hanging in the distance to water it.

For a few months now, Samson had passed this shop, and he didn’t pay it much mind till he saw her, the rat who worked there. He wondered if she was Lotti or if Lotti was just the person who owned the place. Part of him wanted to simply walk in there and strike up a conversation, but then he’d get cold feet and then stop short of doing so.

“I wonder what she’s like” he’d say to himself in his mind, as he walked by and saw her for the few minutes it took for him to walk to and from work morning and evening. He’d see her helping customers, a bright, broad smile on her face. It was apparent to him, he’d developed a crush on this rat, but knowing his luck, someone as beautiful and cute as her probably already had someone else in her life. Plus, he didn’t think a woman like her wouldn’t want to be with such a dour tabby cat like him. So, he continued on his way to work. Samson worked in a warehouse, driving a forklift (he was indeed forklift certified.)

“Hey Terry.” His workmate/friend Byron stated as he put on his hardhat, Samson doing the same.

“Yo.” Samson said as he secured his hardhat, and went to his forklift. His day was boring, he would pick up pallets and put them somewhere else, then pick up more pallets and do this for three hours, then he’d go to lunch, then he’d go back to work and work the rest of the day before heading back home, day in and day out. He was going to be working in the northern part of the warehouse moving a few new items that had to be unloaded for today’s delivery. They were going to be getting a few more shipments later that day, so Samson had to be quick about this one, him and the four other forklift drivers. He finished the first few hours and headed off to lunch. Normally, Samson would bring his own lunch, but today he felt like splurging and getting something at one of the nearby restaurants or food trucks, he decided to head to a food truck he’d seen a few times while walking. It served pho and other Vietnamese food. That’s when he saw her there. She was wearing a white floral sundress that went down to her ankles, atop her head was a straw-colored sunhat, no doubt, to keep the sun out of her sensitive eyes talking to her was someone else, another rodent woman, a mouse.

Samson felt his mouth go dry, he saw the two of them talking and laughing about something, and he was stopped in his tracks as he tried to think what to do. Should he go up to talk to her? Would she even want to talk to him? Then she started to walk towards him. That’s when their eyes caught each other, those hauntingly beautiful red beady eyes, and he felt a pin run right through his heart and his voice acted before his brain could stop it.

“A-are you single!?” He yelped out, his voice cracked, and he sounded like a teen trying to ask his crush out and not a 30-year-old man who has dated other animals in his life. The two rodents were taken aback by the sudden outburst, and the rat spoke up.

“Um…are you asking me?” She asked and Samson nodded, not sure what to say. She then turned to her friend, who shrugged her shoulders. She then responded, “I’m single, yes.” She said with a smile on her face. And Samson was not sure what to say now. He’d never thought he’d get this far.

“Um…I’m…. I’m Samson.” Samson said, nervous as all get out, he was unsure if this would go well, or blow up in his face.

“Delila, and this is Lotti,” Delila said, still smiling. So that was the Lotti in question. Well, that answered the question in his mind. The two other rodents gave him a quizzical look and Samson took the deepest of deep breaths he could ever manage and gathered all the courage in his heart (which wasn’t a lot) and he spoke up.

“Do-Do you wanna go on a date?” He asked, his heart beating a trillion miles a minute as the words left his lips. He waited for what felt like decades, but there were probably only a few seconds of a minute of time for Delila’s answer. She spoke up, her voice soft and kind. He liked her voice.

“Sure. How about Friday?” She said, smiling, and it took Samson a beat to realize what she had said. He then gained his bearings and spoke up,

“O-Oh sure, Friday works.” He said. The two then exchanged numbers and the two left Samson to go off to wherever. Samson slicked back his hair and let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding and went to get his pho and some extra food just because he felt so happy. And when he returned to work, he had a pep in his step, he worked a lot harder that day and had managed to finish his shift a good hour earlier, which his boss had commended him for.

As he was walking home, he decided to step into the shop so that he could get a better idea where he and Delila would be going to for their date. And she was indeed there. Leaning over the counter, she saw him, and she seemed to perk up.

“Um I wanted to ask you, where do you wanna go out to?” He said, still nervous talking to her, though at least he wasn’t stuttering and acting like a giant rube like before. Delila placed her finger to her chin in thought, she then spoke up.

“How about we visit the insectarium at the zoo?” She said. Samson hadn’t been to the zoo in almost five years. He nodded and so the two of them agreed to go to the insectarium at about 12:00.

The week passed rather quickly and Samson’s head was filled with ideas as to how good or bad the date could go. He was nervous as all hell. There were so many ways this date could go belly up. But he managed to push those thoughts down as deep as they could go and as he prepared at 11:30 AM to head to the zoo he took a deep breath. The zoo was not too far from where he was walking. A few minutes to the bus he waited and watched the street pass by till he was at the zoo. Standing in an ankle-length yellow and white floral sundress with a hat on her head and sunglasses was Delila. She was as radiant as ever, and he walked up to her. She perked up and adjusted the brim of her hat.

“You look nice. Delila said and Samson felt the heat in his body rise up a bit, he’d never been complimented about his looks by such a cute lady.

“Y-You do t-to!” He stammered out, and he felt like a kid on his first date, Delila seemed to take it in strive and laughed at this and interlocked her much smaller hands in his larger ones and he felt the heat in him rise even more, and he almost felt his brain short-circuit, but he managed to push through it.

“So do you wanna go to the zoo first before we visit the insectarium?” Delila asked.

“Sure.” He answered a bit too fast. This made Delila giggle as the two walked up to the ticket booth and bought two attraction tickets for the zoo and insectarium and the two headed inside. The zoo was an interesting place, it was where the less evolved versions of many of the animals who called the world home lived; lions, bears, tigers etc. Lakeview’s zoo was also the home of a few endangered species. The two of them looked at the various habitats, reading the various facts about the ferals on display. It was quite interesting to see. Delila seemed to know more than the little plaques would tell. She was almost like an encyclopedia of feral knowledge; it was quite a thing to observe. The two of them walked around the zoo for about an hour, looking at the animals on display and taking pictures.

Soon the two were heading to the insectarium. This was much newer and had been added to the zoo about two years ago. The biggest draw was the Butterfly Garden that it housed. It was a large greenhouse filled to the brim with all sorts of plants, both native and exotic, with a whole menagerie of butterflies both native and exotic, it was a sight to behold, or at least that’s what the reviews of the place told him. Stepping inside and heading to the first area, they were greeted by a mural of insects and other creepy-crawlies, leading down from early arthropods such as Anomalocaris and Eurypterids and how they evolved to modern insects and arachnids. It was quite the mural to behold. The two of them went further in and were greeted by several glass boxes with various insects and arachnids housed in them to simulate their natural habitats.

“This place is so cool!” Samson said, feeling like a kitten again. He went to the first one that interested him. It was a beetle that was emerald coloured. It crawled around and then seemed to notice him staring at him, and it turned in its tiny enclosure and stared back at him. This allowed it to catch the light and shimmer even brighter and in multicolored hues.

“I think that’s a jewel beetle.” Delila said as she stared at the creature, so she was also an entomology fan too. She then began to spout off various facts about jewel beetles, and it was quite cute to see her gush about this kinda stuff.

“You sure know a lot about ferals and insects.” Samson said as he looked at her, admiring her as she turned around to face him, her same smile on her face.

“I love this kinda stuff, I wanted to be a biologist and settled on bottony.” She said proudly, and Samson was quite impressed. He only completed a general studies degree and didn’t do much of anything with it.

“That’s pretty cool, I never really thought of anything to do with my degree,” Samson said, as they continued to look at the various insects on display. They soon entered another area of the insectarium that was dedicated to displaying insects pinned to various boxes and with many facts about them. The two of them split up to find insects and arachnids that interest them. They were quite a sight and Samson found one of the largest butterflies he’d ever seen pinned to the wall, a Queen Alexander’s Birdwing, if the plaque was to be believed. He’d never seen a butterfly that large.

“This place is so cool!” Delila said as she went up to a box with several scorpions of varying sizes and Samson had to agree he could spend hours here just looking at various insects and learning about them. After looking through the rest of the tacked bugs, the two of them went to the main event of the insectarium: the butterfly garden. And to say it was beautiful would be underselling it. It was a menagerie of various multicolored butterflies that flew through the air, landing on the various flowers to suck out the nectar. It was quite a sight to see. One of them landed on Delila and this made her giggle as it flew off of her and went to meander somewhere else. It was something that made Samson gawk in wonder. She was like a princess out of an animated movie, and to say that Samson was captivated would be doing how he felt at that moment a bit of an injustice. short of being in love at first sight, he really liked Delila. The two of them continued through the insectarium and continued through the gift shop at the end, looking at the various shirts and what not on sale, he decided to buy Delila a plushie butterfly. As the two left, they headed to a nearby café, and after ordering their food, the two sat down across from each other.

“That was a fun time.”

“Yeah, it was cool.” Samson said happily as the two began to eat. He was looking at Delila who was eating a pastry.

“I’ve not been there in nearly five years, it’s interesting how much it’s changed.” Samson said, thinking of all the ferals he saw that were new to the zoo since he last visited and, of course, the insectarium, which was such an eye-opening experience.

“Really? I go there a lot.” Delila said as she listed off the times she’d visited the zoo in the last few weeks. No wonder she knew so much about it, she was practically a regular. The two of them continued to talk and eat and by the time they were done, a whole hour had passed. The two then decided to do a bit of a walk around downtown before bringing Delila home. The two continued to talk about anything and everything. Soon they’re at Delila’s apartment, it’s in the evening and the two of them are hand in hand.

“I had a fun time.” Delila said as she shifted on the balls of her heels. As if she was waiting for something, she then kissed him. It was a quick one, but she waved him goodbye and left him alone. Samson touched his lips and had the biggest goofiest smile on his face. He was in love.