FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Peter glanced down at his watch as he sat in the waiting room, wondering to himself just how much longer it would be until he was seen to. He had been perusing the local newspaper the day before and spotted that a fairly recent setup was looking for new recruits, and whilst it didn't say what these recruits were for (Hell, it never even said the company itself was!), it did promise that they would be well paid and looked after. He didn't really have that many qualifications, but the promise of a well-paid job was at least worth enquiring about.

"I wonder how much longer it's going to take before they get to me?" He asked himself, glancing over one of the magazines that was on the nearby table. There had been two people before him, but he hadn't seen either of them since they were called in to speak to their potential employer. Maybe they left via a different room, or maybe they ended up leaving via a trap door, he didn't know. Either way, it had been a while. He was starting to think about leaving when he suddenly heard the door creak open.

"Mr. Pendragon, is it?" A voice called out.

"Yeah?"

"Shade will see you now, sorry for the wait!"

"Ah, thank you!" He got up, making his way through to the office. He didn't know what to expect, or if this Shade would be friendly. Either way, he went in with a level head.

"Hello there! I'm guessing you must be Peter, right?" Shade responded, getting up from her desk as she went to greet him.

"Uuuhh..." He froze where he stood. Peter was expecting a lot of things, but he WASN'T expecting the person who was offering him a job to NOT be a person at all. Instead, he found himself looking slightly upwards at a tall, anthropomorphic female raven, glowing purple markings standing out against her black feathers.

"Trust me, I get this a lot. I suppose I could appear to you as a human, but I'll be honest, I don't think human skin suits me~" She said with a sly wink. "Anyway, you came here looking for a job, am I right?"

"Uuuuuhhh..." It took him a few moments to finally snap out of his stupor. "Yeah, that's why I'm here. I saw your ad in the local paper, and thought I'd check it out!"

"Nice, I've had a few successful applicants drawn in from that advert, I'm happy to say!" She chirped.

"Before we go any further, though, what exactly am I applying for?"

"Oh, anything from a great variety of jobs! You don't even have to worry about having any major qualifications, those details can easily be sorted out as we go along!"

"That's good to know, cause I really don't have ANY major qualifications..." Peter admitted. "It's kind of a long story, I won't bore you with the details."

"No need to worry, I've known a few people who have come from poor or sad backgrounds, so I'm more than willing to be flexible with what I offer." She told him with a sweet smile.

"That's very reassuring!" He nodded. "Anyway, what is it you're looking for in an applicant, Shade?"

"Now that really depends on what I can glean from someone." She stepped in closer, staring deep into his eyes. "You'd be amazed what you can learn from someone just from staring into their soul for a moment!"

"Errrr..." He blinked, unsure what to make of all this - was staring into his soul THAT important for a job?

"OK, I think I've got a good idea of what to work with!" She giggled, backing away a little. "That's not something I have to do with every single person, but it does help when they're a little hard to read from the outside!"

"Riiiight..." He still didn't know what to make of this. "So... from staring into my soul, what did you gather?"

"To put it mildly, I can see that you've gone through a lot in your life, and there's been a few times where you wished that you could act on that, am I right?"

Peter slowly nodded.

"Yet you've had to restrain yourself because you don't want to get in any trouble, among other things. That takes a fair bit of restraint, so I commend you on keeping a level head through all that."

He nodded again - where was she going with this?

"So, from what I can see in you, I believe the perfect job for you would be... death!"

For a few brief moments, you could have heard a pin drop - both Shade and Peter were silent, the raven's beak sporting a wide smile, whilst the human looked like he had suffered a sudden blue screen of death. Shortly after that, Peter blinked and spoke.

".... Que?"

"Oooh, and you speak Spanish as well? That's perfect!" She crowed in delight.

"No, no, I don't know any Spanish... I think my brain broke from what you proposed I should be!"

"Oh... well I suppose I could still teach you a bit of Spanish nonetheless!"

"OK, let's back up for a moment, please." He tried to clear the air. "What do you mean that the perfect job for me would be death?"

"Just that, really! You've had to deal with your fair share of morons and everything, so why not be in a position where you can pass judgement on them? A few poor, unfortunate souls... well - maybe not poor or unfortunate - meet their end, and it's all part of your job!"

"I... I..." Peter really was trying to find the right thing to say, but he was still recovering from the absurdity of her suggestion. "I... REALLY want to know what this has to do with working for you!"

"You'd be running a valuable service, taking care of wrongdoers, those who proclaim themselves to be fearless heroes, and maybe the occasional Darwin award nominee! And again, you'd be paid really well!"

"You keep saying that... what happened to the other two people who came in before me?"

"They've been assigned to their new jobs - I needed someone to be a swimming instructor, so I turned him into an anthropomorphic orca, and I also needed someone to be a master chef, so I turned them into a dragon. You'd be amazed how much money you save on gas bills when you're able to cook food yourself!"

"You... turned them into animals?"

"Oh yes, fully sentient animals who still remember who they were beforehand. There are very few applicants who I need to fully change their thoughts and that, thankfully enough, as I do prefer them to come into this willingly!"

"I... I still don't know... normally when people mention death, they normally refer to a skeleton in a robe, and I'm kinda fond of my skin and being alive, ya know?"

"Heh." Shade stepped close to Peter, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Thankfully, the vision of death that I see is something that's a lot more pleasing to the eye~"

"So... not a skeleton?"

"Not at all! I see you as something that's far more imposing than a walking biology model!" She laughed.

"And what would that be, exactly?"

"I suppose I could tell you, but wouldn't you find it a bit more fun if it was a surprise?" Shade proposed. "All I need to do is work my magic, and the job's yours, hun!"

"Well... as long as it's NOT a skeleton, I guess I can trust you!" Peter said with a slight smile.

"Perfect!" Shade chirped happily, taking a few steps back from the human. "Now then, I'll leave it up to you if you wish to disrobe beforehand, I mean you may still need what you're wearing for some more 'casual' clothing!"

"Disrobe..." He blushed. "Er, is it ok if I keep my underwear on?"

"I've got no issue if you want to preserve some modesty through all of this!" She told him.

"That's good, I was just worried that you'd try and jump me if I was here in the nude..." He responded, removing all but his pants.

"Oh, that might be a possibility, I mean some of my changees can get pretty frisky~" She spoke in a sly tone. "Of course, we can save the saucy aspects for another time, away from prying eyes!"

"So, how do you go about doing this?" Peter asked.

"It's a fairly simple process... well, processes, I can make it happen in several different ways. For this one, though, we'll keep it at its simplest!" She held out her hand, a ball of purple energy forming in her talons. With a simple flick of the wrist, she tossed it at Peter, striking him with it.

"Ghh~" He winced, feeling a wave of magical energy rushing through him. It didn't take too for Shade's magic to take effect, a tingling sensation filling his hands and arms. Looking at them, he saw silvery-grey fur beginning to sprout along them, running along his limbs and slowly spreading to his shoulders and elsewhere. His hands twitched, the middle digits merging together whilst the remaining fingers sprouted sharp, black claws, the palms of his hands also gaining soft looking pads.

"So you're turning me into some kind of animal?" Peter questioned, the muscles in his arms bulking up slightly. The fur was working its way across his back and chest, his abs and pectorals toning up nicely in a similar manner to his arms - not too much to make him look overly muscled, but enough to give him an extra boost in strength and stamina.

"Hey, an animal works better than a walking bag of bones, after all!" She smiled, looking over him. He was growing slightly taller, adding to his increasingly imposing build.

"I suppose that's very true!" He laughed, running a paw along his chest, feeling the fur and muscles. A tugging at the base of his spine clued him in to the next change, a long, bushy tail emerging outwards, swaying from side to side, almost touching the floor.

"I've had several hundred years to work with fun creatures and designs... not to mention TV, movies, games and comics have all played a hand providing inspiration!" She said proudly, the fur travelling down his legs, which, similar to his arms, gained some additional muscles around the thighs.

"Several hundred?" He cocked his head, stumbling slightly as his feet popped and stretched, pressure shifting to his tiptoes. His toes squirmed as they grew larger, the big toe shrinking away into his foot, the nails lengthening into sharp, curving claws, the soles of his feet puffing outwards into dark pads. "I'm surprised no-one's tried coming for you in all that time!"

"Oh, there've been several attempts on my life, but that was only for the first couple hundred years. They eventually gave up, though that's probably because they all ended up as animals, and not the humanoid kind!" She cawed. "Besides which, I don't feel a day over 25!"

"So what if I were to end up coming after you then?" He said in a playful tone, the fur spreading up his neck and over his face.

"Heh... I'm sure that even Death knows that there are a few beings that are off-limits!" She teased, watching Peter's face protrude forwards, nose darkening as it sank into his upper jaw, nostrils flaring. His lips darkened, his teeth growing into serrated fangs, several more popping out to fit his lupine muzzle. "I mean you ARE welcome to try at the least~"

He smirked, ears stretching out into points, moving to sit atop his head. The fur shifted to a darker grey around his eyes, which in turn moved to the sides of his head, irises turning blood red, sclera filling with inky blackness. The transformation over, the new wolf found himself looking down slightly at Shade, his tail wagging from side to side.

"And just like that, you're the new Death!" She cackled, admiring her handiwork.

"Yeah, straight up!" He laughed, taking a look over himself. It was certainly an improvement compared to his old human form.

"Of course, I think you need a couple of extra things to fully look the part, sooo..." She snapped her talons, and in a flash, a dark, hooded robe appeared on him, brown trousers covering his legs, and a pair of open-footed shoes with brown straps around them appearing around his feet.

"Heh, now I really do look the part!" He grinned from ear to ear, flashing all his fangs in the process.

"Almost! Just one more thing~" With another click of her claws, a pair of large, cruelly curving sickles appeared in his hands, gleaming in the light. He gave them a few test swings, slicing at the air. "NOW you look the part, dear!"

"Heh... I think I could get used to this!" He said with a chuckle, holstering the blades behind him. "So how soon until I'm needed to reap a soul or two?"

"Unfortunately, I can't give you an exact estimate on that, but I do believe that you'll be able to sense when you're needed for that, and you'll never be too far away when the deed needs to be done!"

"I hear you. Well, in the meantime, how about we get to know each other just a little bit better?" He proposed. "See what it's like to have a fling with Death himself?"

"Well, I don't think there's anyone else waiting outside right now~" She said slyly, moving in closer. As she went to place a taloned hand on his shoulder, a set of doors to their right opened up with a bang.

"Shade, we've got some big problems!" Haimogwen burst through the doors, the anthropomorphic bat in an obvious state of panic. "That new cook you ordered? I think he might have overestimated his new cooking prowess!"

"What do you mean, overesti...mated..." Shade turned to the doors, a look of disbelief crossing her face as she saw a blazing inferno through them. The dragon looked sheepishly as a group of cooks, some human and some anthro, ran around, flailing their arms about in a cartoonish fashion as they burned. "What in the hell?"

"I... MIGHT have turned up the heat a little too much..." The chef responded. "I didn't mean for the oven to explode!"

"You... DID say you were a professional, right?" Shade muttered in disbelief, using her magic to pull the anthro beings out of harm's way. The humans did appear to be a bit too far gone by now - she COULD heal them, but at this point with what she could see, they'd sooner prefer the sweet release of death over anything else. "Well then, Peter..." She turned to the wolf. "Or, rather, Death... I think it's time you earned your first paycheck!"

"That came sooner than I was expecting!" He grinned - he did feel a little sorry for the situation the two humans had gotten themselves into, doomed to their fate by another's seemingly suicidal overconfidence in their profession, but he knew he'd have to cast those feelings aside where they were applicable. After all, he was now death. Straight up.

"I promise to make this quick and painless - I think you've both suffered enough already!"