FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter Two

Dressed in his finest Prada dark two-piece suit, Joseph walked into the entrance lobby of Scuderia Furrari's Faenza headquarters, and mere steps later he paused to mentally digest in the visuals of the interior environment presented to him. Stretched along the back walls were murals of drivers that planted the Scuderia name onto podiums and championships: Julio Macias, Kumori Urufu, André Hauer, Manfred Stoppelbein, and their newest champion Domitila Da Costa, to name just a few. On the center of the large open-space lobby was a statue of Ezio D'angelo, Scuderia's founder, and presented directly in front of it was an original F2002 model chassis car driven by Stoppelbein himself. Not only was the entire atmosphere designed to glorify Scuderia's history in auto-racing, but also to give the guests a sense of awe and perhaps even humility within themselves.

Joseph however felt differently. His ears swivel slightly upon catching the sounds of high heel steps approaching from behind him and he glanced over to see a brown and white furred vixen stop to stand beside him. "One day you'll see a painting of me on these murals," he said with a grin and then he looked back at the car in front of the statue. "Manfred Stoppelbein drove that car... but it'll be replaced."

"Replaced by what?" the vixen asked.

"One of my cars of course," Joseph replied with a smirk.

"Isn't Stoppelbein a six-time champion?"

"Seven," Joseph merely corrected and then continued his pace toward the receptionist desk. The vixen Brie Totten shook her head slightly with a roll of her eyes and followed him.

"Mr. Mahri, I'm your personal advisor but there are times I want to implore you not to be so big-headed..."

"I have to be cocky," Joseph said with laughter. "I can't strive to win if I don't feel I'm better than everyone else."

"At least tone it down?"

"Heh..." He dismissed the suggestion and upon reaching the desk, he turned to lean on the side of his hips against the edge of the desk.

The tiger receptionist looked up from her computer monitor. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Joseph Mahri, got an appointment with um..." Joseph blinked and uttered a profane word under his breath as the name escaped from his mind. He frantically glanced at Brie, hoping she would bail him out.

"Valerio Gasparini," the vixen said and slapped Joseph on the shoulder. "You should be remembering these things."

Joseph huffed curtly and waited for the receptionist to make a phone call to Scuderia Faenza's President. "I don't have to memorize every single person's name that I meet. That's your job."

Brie rolled her eyes and soon an elder male dhole arrived onto the lobby and approached them. With a dark blue suit and a white set of long hair tied back in a ponytail, the 6'5" dhole carried an air of confidence and authority well enough for Joseph to recognize him even before he introduced himself to them.

"Mr. Gasparini, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Joseph said with a smile and motions to Brie next to him. "This is Brie Totten, my advisor. She helps me with the financial and legal details."

Valerio nodded and grinned. "Please, the pleasure is all mine. Follow me to my office?"

They nod and soon they followed him to the back hallways of the building, inaccessible to the general public. Despite his air of confidence around him, Joseph felt his own heart beating so loudly that his ears twitch slightly, but he subtly relaxed when Brie rested her hand onto his shoulder to calm him. Upon entering his office, Valerio motioned for them to sit on the set of chairs in front of his large maple-wood desk, and as he sat on his office chair, he picked up a folder containing a small stack of papers.

"As per our earlier conversation on the phone, I have a contract for you. The finer details are on these papers, which I assume Ms. Totten want to look into?"

The vixen nodded. "Yes please."

Valerio pulled the contract papers out of the folder and handed it to her while his eyes return to focus on Joseph. "How old are you?"

"I'm twenty, sir."

"Please, call me Valerio," he replied with a smile. "I want to be more than just your boss. As you'll quickly learn here, we are a family, and that includes our other Scuderia affiliates in Maranello and Colloni. Now then, you're already at a rather well-advanced age to be starting in our Scuderia Young Drivers program, but you already have an impressive resume, especially with Furmula Reynault. Along with racing for us in Furmula Three, you will also be obligated by contract to attend various promotional events as an employee of Scuderia, and... there are also behavioral requirements that you must abide by."

Joseph blinked at hearing that. "Behavioral? Well, I'm an adult, I can behave just fine..."

Valerio crossed his arms. "You developed a reputation back in the United Kingdom with Furmula Reynault. A reputation that could rub certain teams the wrong way..."

Even Brie stopped reading the fine print of the contract and she turned her head to look at Joseph as the wild dog's ears fold back flat. After several seconds of dead, awkward silence, Joseph finally spoke again.

"What... sort of reputation?"

The Italian dhole sighed and looked through another set of papers on his desk. "You referred to a competitor as 'slower than a sloth on meth dragging concrete blocks cuffed to his feet'..."

Joseph frowned slightly. "He was two laps down and refused to give way to me despite being blue-flagged."

"After one race which ended in engine failure, you reportedly screamed on the radio about your race engineer's ineptitude and even made disparaging comments about Force K22's owner."

"I was... angry and I apologized to them afterwards," Joseph sighed loudly. "I promise, I won't do that here, especially about you."

"I will hold you to that promise," Valerio said. "Even though we are family here, we take our image in motorsport very seriously. Having one of our drivers criticize his or her own team in public and in front of media will be against the terms of contract and it can be punishable by fine or even suspension, depending on the severity."

"Even if I'm disappointed with the car?"

"Especially if you're disappointed with the car." The dhole replied and his eyes narrow slightly, as if challenging this new driver to raise issue with this.

For a fleeting moment, Joseph did want to protest. This felt akin to censorship, a way of muffling people from criticism from within. However this was his opportunity to drive for Scuderia, a dream of his since his father gave him a toy model of a Maranello-Furrari car when he was just six years old. If he decided to protest this now, he would risk dismantling that dream right before his eyes. So he dismissed the protest in his mind and nodded. "That's fine, sir."

Brie skimmed through the last of the fine print and then placed the contract on the desk. "It looks sufficient enough. But I noticed there's no indication of a salary..."

"Drivers in the feeder series such as Furmula Two and Three don't get paid directly from the team they're racing for," Valerio explained. "The income comes primarily from sponsorships, and on most occasions, from their families."

"Like my father," Joseph said and chuckled. "This contract is just so I drive for Scuderia exclusively this season."

"That is the core reason for it," the dhole said and then offered him a pen.

"I'm honored to be driving for Scuderia..." Joseph said as he accepted the pen and then signed his name on the bottom of the contract. "I won't let you down, sir."

"I'm sure you won't. You have the talent to dominate Furmula Three and then higher up."

Joseph couldn't help but to grin at such a compliment. Although he heard similar comments about him from many people, ranging from family to friends to even reporters, this one came from the boss of a Furmula team, and one of Scuderia at that. With the contract signed, he stood up along with Brie and shook Valerio's hand. "When do I report for work?"

"Tomorrow morning at nine, we'll give you a tour of the facility and meet our engineers. Welcome to Scuderia Faenza, Mr. Mahri."

"Thank you sir..." Joseph replied with an eager nod, and then turned to leave with his advisor. Valerio watched them leave, grinning confidently.

As soon as they exited the building, Joseph turned toward Brie and with a cry of joy, he wrapped his arms around her waist quickly to lift her up and twirl her around as he laughed. "We did it! I'm driving for Scuderia!"

Brie giggled as Joseph let her back down and she shook her head slightly. "No, you did it. I just nudged you in the direction you need to go."

"Don't sell yourself short, Brie. Come on, let's get something to eat... something Italian?"

Brie rolled her eyes a bit. "Considering that we're in Italy..."

Joseph reached over to mess up her hair. "Ha ha. Let's celebrate, my treat!" He walked with more pep in his pacing, much more certain in his future. Brie chuckled as she smoothed out her hair and calmly followed him.

"Save your energy for the track!" She called out to him, but Joseph just laughed it off and continued his pace toward his vehicle. Brie let out a soft sigh but decided to leave him be in his happy state. He had just made a huge step in his life and career, but now she felt tinges of worry.

What if he disappoints?

Brie internally shuddered. While it may be unlikely, it would still be a possible scenario, and it made her feel a strong sense of dread.

To be continued...