FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I love the smell of cold. It's fresh, clean. Pure, like the whitest snow on the tops of mountains. It's the scent that envelops me after I turn off the steaming hot of the shower. My skin smells like Irish Spring, my hair just smells damp, although when it dries it will smell like the black raspberry and vanilla shampoo that I use. I wrap myself and my hair in a towel and exit to my room. My room smells hot, the dry kind caused by computers and low circulation. I don't much like that scent, but it's better than the damp hot we get during the summer. It's heavy and rank, almost to the point of dead body on the most humid of nights. Then again, I live by a river, the Mississippi River to be exact. In the warmer mornings, from April to Mid October the air hangs around humid and reeks of dead fish. Not the most pleasant of scents, but it does bring back good memories of fishing trips so I don't mind it so much. I sit in front of my computer, watching the loading bar slowly crawl across the screen. I hate DSL. It's extremely slow, but it is reliable. My connection has only gone down 3 times since it's been installed. Twice for network issues, once for line problems. Damn squirrels and their love of chewing on things. I rise and move towards my dresser, pulling out a muscle shirt and a pair of boxers to sleep in. Not the most ladylike of things to wear, but I'm going to sit in front of my computer before I crawl into bed so I don't care.

Yay! My World of Warcraft patch is complete! Time to log on and work on my tailoring. I plug my headphones in and put them on, that way I don't get yelled at for having the sound up too loud. It's not my fault I'm mostly deaf in my right ear. Well, I suppose it sort of is, but I wouldn't understand why. When I was younger my father apparently beat me, probably because he couldn't get over the fact that my mom died. A few dozen hits to the head, right around the temple will eventually render one deaf as my grandparents learned. They were given custody of me after my father got put in jail for assault. They were the ones who raised me, well, the human part of me. They made sure I was adopted into the pack, even though it was almost unethical. I was a hybrid: a werewolf and werecat. I wouldn't fit into the pack because I wasn't the same, but I couldn't be cast out because the wolf song ran through me. Eventually fate decided that I should be put on a different path, and my grandparents got into a horrible car accident. The pack decided they couldn't support me because I was too much of a burden, not being able to properly hunt after the change occurred, and I was sent into foster care. I was passed around a few times, then ended up here of all places. It's not a foster care home, not a house with too many adopted children who never moved out, it's just... home. I live with two humans: our parents, five werewolves: my "brothers", and two vampires: the "others". We've managed to coexist for at least 10 years, I was the last to be "adopted". The humans are by far the most normal of us all, and not just because they don't have any odd tendencies or change into furry creatures at night. I think their normality comes from being on neutral ground. They say they love us all equally, but I think me and Jedrek are their favorites. I think it's because we're the "different ones". I'm a were who can't really hear, and he's a vamp who can't really see. We both had difficult lives, had "accidents" that caused us to be different, but we found home here. Granted, I think it's most important for me, simply because my family was gone for 4 years prior to my "adoption", but I digress.

After I came to live here my "brothers" adopted me very quickly. It was easy to wrestle around, play, fight, and bite, it felt normal. More normal then I ever felt with my birth pack. I had learned to cope with things, in human form and out. I honed my senses, particularly touch and smell so that I could have a chance at being somewhat normal. Even though it would never be an issue, I learned to read braille, making my fingers sensitive to even the smallest of things. It's fun when listening to the radio in a car, I can put my hand on the door and feel the music vibrating through my fingers. My sense of smell has always been strong, but I managed to make it simple for me to pick out scents, even with no wind around to lead it to me. Speaking of smells, what the hell is that? I rise from my computer, taking off the headphones and open my door to go out to the hallway. The scent is rank, a kind of rotten smell, bad eggs, warm mayo, and mustard. As I move into the kitchen following the scent trail, I see a shadow in front of the microwave. It takes me a moment to recognize the figure in the darkness, but then it hits me: "Aw Jedrek." I dash over to the microwave and open the door, pulling out the now piping hot potato salad.

"What?" he asks in his light baritone, "I just wanted a snack."

"I understand that Jedrek, but potato salad is not meant to be eaten warm."

"That's what that was? I thought it was the spaghetti."

I sigh and shake my head, "It's ok Jedrek. Just sit at the kitchen table for a second, I'll warm the spaghetti for you."

"Thanks Kyden." I pull the container of spaghetti out of the refrigerator and see how Jedrek got confused. The containers are the same shape, the same size, but different colors. I sigh, this house has issues. "Kyden, what's wrong?"

"Well, I see now how you thought the potato salad was the spaghetti, the containers are the same."

"Oh."

"Don't worry too much. Just, next time you want a late night snack, get me please. I'm right down the hall anyway."

"Ok."

I put the spaghetti in the microwave and take the potato salad to the trash, scraping the container as clean as I can get it. Putting it in the sink and filling it with water I go back to the spaghetti, now warm enough to eat and put Parmesan cheese on it. "Here you go Jed."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

I go to start walking towards my room, but Jedrek grabs my hand, "Kyden, can you stay with me please? I don't really like being alone..."

I look at him, a pleading look in his cloudy eyes, "Sure Jed. I wasn't doing anything important."

"Thank you."

I pull a chair out and sit down. Thinking for a moment I stand up and turn on the kitchen light. It takes a few on/off flicks before the florescent bulb blinks on, temporarily blinding me from the sudden bright.

"I'm sorry Kyden, I forgot that you needed that."

I sit back down at the table, "It's ok Jed. You wouldn't have been able to tell if it was on or not anyway."

He chuckles to himself, "True. Thank you again for staying with me."

"No biggie Jed. But, why don't you like being alone?"

He shrugs as he finishes a bite of spaghetti, "I don't know. I guess just because I'm always alone. Always in the dark."

I bite my lip, not sure how to respond.

"It's ok. I know there's really nothing to say to it. Not your fault for the accident."

"I understand, but I still feel bad. It's not right for you to be blind."

"It's not, but it's no big deal, I survive."

"True... speaking of survival, why are you eating food anyway?"

He looks down at the almost empty container, "I haven't hunted in weeks."

I nearly fall out of my seat, "But why? Hasn't Duncan taken you hunting?"

He sighs, "No. Apparently I slow him down too much."

I feel my teeth sharpening as I growl quietly.

"Now Kyden, don't worry, I'm ok."

"No you're not. I don't know why I didn't see it before. You've been shut in your room for days, Mom even tried coaxing you out with your favorite meal."

"Yea..."

I stand up, "Come on Jed."

He looks up at me curiously, "Where are we going?"

I grin a very sharp grin, "Hunting."