FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Rating: This story contains content for general web audience members; safe for the majority.

This series continues with the guidance of Timid Fox.

• - - - - START - - - - -

Humid August morning air hovered over the sleepy neighborhood below, and the first rays of sunlight were peering over the horizon. The light pierces through the leaves of a maple tree in the cul-de-sac and passes into the room of a sleeping Siberian husky. He groans at the sudden brightness and turns over in his bed to face the glowing red numbers on the alarm clock.

"5:37 AM" the husky yawned. "Still. . . can. . . zzz."

The husky immediately fell back into dreamland as the sun continued its ascent into the sky; the morning rays growing stronger with each passing minute. It was soon six in the morning, the alarm having gone off several times, and the husky remained asleep.

"Hunter" came a muffled voice behind his door, followed by a series of knocks.

The husky groaned from being roused out of his sleep for the umpteenth time this morning. He sluggishly threw the covers off of his body and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah" Hunter half-growled back.

"Don't use that voice with me this morning pup," replied the voice. "Now get up and at-em sport. The bus is going to be here in half-an-hour. You don't want to be late for your first day."

"Sorry dad, I'll be out soon."

"Make sure you get ready with enough time to spare for breakfast. I've got to run. See you tonight."

"Later dad"

The husky sat on his bed, listening to his father's decent down the stairs. With a rapid open and close of the front door and rumble of the engine, he was off for a full day's work. Hunter remained seated in bed for a good three minutes, scratching various kinks out of his body and trying to come to attention. Well bored with delaying the start of the day any longer, the husky padded his way to the bathroom to get through the morning routine, spending a few extra minutes fixing his bed headfur. It was the first day and would be best to look like he cared rather than being branded a slacker.

After returning to his room, Hunter began his clothing ritual by peeling off his shorts; donning on a pair of blue jeans; putting on a collared shirt over the T-shirt his slept in; and pulling socks over his footpaws. Walking over to his desk, Hunter stuffed his pockets with writing instruments, change and house keys before pausing to look into his wallet.

'Hunter Roderick, male, green eyes, six foot even,' he recited mentally, admiring his stats. 'Just another two years 'til I'm street legal.'

The husky smirked as he dropped his wallet in his pocket to join the collection of items stowed away.

'Oh, almost forgot.'

Hunter walked back over to the desk to grab a square piece of paper and some safety pins. He scribbled a quick note on the paper and pinned it to his shirt. Satisfied with the last minute addition, Hunter made his way downstairs and was greeted with the sweet smell of a hearty breakfast.

"Hi mom," Hunter greeted as he took a seat at the kitchen island.

"Morning honey," his mother beamed. "Ready for your big day?"

She turned around to set a plate of bacon, sausage and eggs in front of Hunter. The husky nodded excitedly as he dug into his morning meal. Hunter's mother shook her head in mock disapproval and made her way to the fridge to get a carton of orange juice. She set a glass down and filled it with the juice, which was rapidly downed by the husky's greasy maw.

"If you don't slow down Hunter," she began, wagging a finger, "you're going to choke and I don't want to lose my precious pup to my cooking."

Hunter paused from his feasting to look into his mother's eyes.

"Aww, honey. I didn't mean--"

*BURP*

"Hunter!"

"Urp--excuse me mom," Hunter apologized.

He brought his paw down from covering his maw and noticed the time on his watch.

"Op gonna be late," Hunter realized. "Thanks for breakfast, gotta go."

He waved his mother goodbye before running out the front, grabbing his backpack and shoes before closing the door. Hunter's mother stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed and surveyed the mess her son left behind. She let out a sigh and began to gather the plates, pans and cup for cleaning.

"There are times when I honestly think," she muttered while washing the dishes, "if Hunter is going to grow up to be--"

She stopped cleaning when she felt a presence behind her. Frozen with fear and with no defenses in soapy plates, she could only stand in stark terror as whatever was behind her approached. She tensed as arms slipped around her waist, but a quick whiff of the air brought a familiar scent to mind and the gentle embrace that followed allowed her to relax.

"I love you mom. Thanks for taking care of me," Hunter said, nuzzling into his mother's form.

She chuckled lightly and had a tear roll down her furred cheek as Hunter continued to embrace her from behind.

"I love you too Hunter. . . now stop scaring your mother and run along to the bus stop," she urged. "And please, lock the door on your way out."

The husky took leave of his mother and walked to the front door. He waited at the entrance and locked the knob before turning to look at his mother for the last time this morning. She was a bit teary eyed, but made the paw motions to 'go on' reassuring Hunter she was all right. He closed the barrier behind him and set the deadbolt with his key before turning to walk to the stop. Hunter's mother walked over to the window to watch him walk to the street, a contented grin on her muzzle.

"He'll grow up to be a fine fur," she mused aloud before returning to her task at hand.

Hunter casually strode with a paw in his pocket, the other holding onto his backpack's strap to keep a limb free for unexpected falls. As he looked up to the bus stop, Hunter saw the vehicle approach. Strapping the pack in place, he ran to meet the bus already loading at the end of the road. The husky was able to board just as the last fur stepped through the doors. It was fairly noisy onboard, considering the bus was only half full at this point in the trip. He took a seat near the center by a window and was left to his thoughts for the hour ride to school.

'Poveraview High,' Hunter noted on the school marquee.

The husky disembarked in the bus circle and followed the signs directing students to the gym to pick up their schedules.

"Name?" droned the elder otter, looking up through her large spectacles.

"Roderick, Hunter" he replied, anticipating how the system was organized.

The secretary pursed though the collection of schedule cards and extracted Hunter's. She noted the card's coloration for freshman and handed the schedule over with a map of the campus.

"Welcome to Poveraview High Hunter," she recited. "You can use this map to find your classrooms, and administrators will be stationed at various points in the halls to help you find your way. Have a great day."

Hunter nodded in acknowledgment and made his way through the maze of hallways and though random clumps of chatty furs. While trying to find his classroom by referring to his map, the husky didn't notice another fur in his path and ran into his backside.

"Watch it punk!" growled the Bengal tiger.

"Sorry. I'm new," Hunter said offhand as he walked past the head height taller tiger.

"Yeah, well so am I. What makes you so special?" he spat.

The confrontation was drawing a crowd as they could sense a fight coming on. Nothing would be more interesting than watching two freshmen going at it. Hunter wouldn't be the one to give anyone a show today.

"Nothing," the husky stated simply. "Nothing at all."

Hunter made his way past the poorly assembled wall of furs to physics, leaving an irritated tiger in the halls. The first warning bell rang and Hunter made his way into the classroom. The board had a message for everyone to find a seat and syllabus for the day. Hunter took a stool at one of the lab benches around the perimeter of the room, while the rest found seats at the tables. The final bell rang a minute later and the instructor walked out of the prep room, ready to address the class.

"Hello everyone! Welcome to physics," the platypus announced. "I'm Mr. Gideon. If you're in the wrong room. . . get out. . . otherwise settle down and hopefully learning physics will be painless, for you I mean."

Light laughter wavered through the room from the instructor's sudden change through serious and stand-up comic modes. Hunter took the instructor's attitude in stride and gave a slight grin.

'Least he's trying to make it fun,' the husky figured.

"Well, since none of you left, I assume you are all supposed to be here. I'm taking roll to make sure. . . make a noise when you hear your name, "present" or "here" is acceptable."

The instructor made ticks along the roster as he got responses to the names he called. Most students gave the recommended response; a few gave grunts and squeals that caused the platypus to shake his head.

"Hunter Roderick?"

"Howdy prof," Hunter replied waving his paw in an arc.

"Howdy Mr. Roderick," the instructor murmured under his breath and he looked up to locate Hunter. "What are you doing at a lab station?"

"Note on the board said 'find a seat' so find a seat I did."

"A liberal literal," the instructor announced. "You're going to love physics."

Some snickered and Hunter laughed nervously to himself as he tried to figure out whether the platypus was being serious or sarcastic this time around. There was no way to tell now, but the husky knew the year would be eventful. The remainder of the class was spent going over the course syllabus and covering basic physics concepts. The bell signaling the next period rang and for Hunter, that would be algebra. The instructor for this class welcomed students as they entered the room.

"Hey there, in trouble on the first day?"

"Hmm?" Hunter mumbled, looking up at the giraffe with confusion.

"Note pinned to your shirt." She pointed out. "Classic indicator of misfit behavior, though I do doubt the effectiveness of pinning a note to a high school student."

"Oh that," the husky noted. "That's no bad note, just a thought I had this morning."

"Really?" She lowered her head to read the note up-close. "I had a revelation, unfortunately it wasn't important enough to remember."

"A very intriguing statement. Can I look forward to seeing more of these?" she asked, smiling.

"Only if I feel like taking the effort to keep doing it," Hunter replied, shrugging his shoulders.

The giraffe kept her smile as she let Hunter through to join the others. Ms. Lenora ran the class in a more organized manner than physics. It was assigned seating and a structured introduction as the period progressed. A fortunate side-effect to this order for intro week was the time left over for general conversation, which Hunter avoided until he was tapped on the shoulder.Â

"Hey, weren't you the one who took the stool in physics?" the wolf next to him asked.

"Yeah" Hunter replied, growing warmer from the embarrassment of having furs remember him for that particular stunt.

"You pretty much know what you're doing, to push a teacher's buttons like that and not get in trouble."

"Well I wouldn't say pushing a teacher's buttons," Hunter recounted and whispered the next part, "especially when it comes to pushing 'those' buttons."

The wolf tilted his head to the side and tried to get the gist of what Hunter was trying to say. His face quickly changed to realization as Hunter's words made their impact, causing the wolf to let out a loud "Oh" bringing the attention of everyone in the class. The wolf promptly closed his maw with his paws as everyone turned back to their conversations. After shedding a sheepish smile, he held out a hand to the husky.

"I'm Ryan"

"Hunter. . . nice to meet you," the husky stated, returning the pawshake.

"Nice to meet you too."

Hunter was pleasantly surprised by his new friend's initiative. He didn't expect to make an acquaintance on the first day. For a slim wolf, Ryan had one powerful paw to shake with and Hunter readily returned the tight grip.

"Ah geeze," Ryan winced. "Be careful, I'm not as strong as I look."

"Sorry. I guess I overdo it at times."

Hunter and Ryan took back their respective paws and conversed until the class was over.

"Oh, can I have your attention before you leave please," the instructor said from her desk. "That bell is for first lunch, those of you on that schedule report to the cafeteria. The rest of you will need to proceed to your next periods. The schedules should have the lunches inserted between your classes. It is the first week so if you get disoriented with the schedule, it won't count against you."

"So, which lunch do you have?" Hunter asked as the pair walked out of the classroom.

"Lunch gamma, how about you?"

"Lunch alpha"

"Aw that's a shame," Ryan stated dejectedly. "I'd love to skip out on. . . English to join you, but something tells me with two other lunches, things will get confusing and fast."

"Hey it's no big deal," Hunter reassured. "Maybe we can get together next semester for lunch. . . besides we'll still have this class."

Hunter waved goodbye to Ryan as he made his way to the cafeteria. As the husky navigated the halls, he noticed how there were small groups of furs surrounding the administrators questioning them about their schedules. Hunter let out a sigh of relief, knowing he wouldn't be part of the crowd thanks to the last minute warning Ms. Lenora gave. He stepped through the double doors of the cafeteria and was surprised at how small the room was. It was barely large enough to fit a serving line in one corner; twenty tables scattered throughout; and booths lining the short walls of the room.

The husky looked around to see if he could spot anyone familiar from either middle school or in class, but no such luck. The cafeteria grew louder and more crowded as more furs streamed into the cramped room. Feeling severely out of place yet in the way, Hunter walked out of the cafeteria to sit in the relative peace of the courtyard. It was a small garden area, roughly the same size as the cafeteria. The courtyard resembled a city park with flora and rotted benches placed haphazardly in the underbrush. Instead of a wall of trees to separate the greenspace from the rest of the world, a chain link fence served as a substitute barrier.

Hunter had enough of the poor seating arrangement nonsense and opted to stand under a tree as he ate his lunch. The husky's lunch could be considered an overstatement since all he had with him was a packet of sandwich crackers and a bottle of water. He ate this early lunch, knowing he would be better fed at home.

A sudden crash brought his attention to the cafeteria. Apparently, the lax rules of the first week meant someone had the idea to start a food fight. Those unfortunate to wear nice clothing that day regretted going to lunch or at the very least staying to eat in the cafeteria when there was a perfectly good courtyard, in some respects, to eat in. A number of other students in the outdoor arena also took the opportunity to watch the free show. A fur on the inside saw how pristine those on the outside were and decided to share the fun by coming to the courtyard with a tray of pudding. One of the students outside saw this and barred the door with a few others to keep them from getting into the fray.

Eventually the administration got the situation under control and dismissed everyone to their next classes, much to the surprise of some instructors who were still eating during their planning period in the classrooms. No one would fess up as to who started the fight, so the administrators had to let it go for now. It wasn't until the first lunch period students got to class did an announcement come over the intercom.

"Attention all teachers, staff and students, due to an incident during lunch alpha, lunch beta will be postponed to gamma's lunch period. Teachers, please consult your alternative schedules and notify your students accordingly. As a result of the incident, students in lunch alpha will not have a-la-carte options and will be restricted to the cafeteria during the lunch period. All restrictions will end as soon as someone takes claim to the incident or two months have passed. That is all."

'Hmm, what a way to start the school year,' Hunter thought, as he listened to the announcement. 'Day one and trouble's brewing.'

Hunter was left with a dark could raining on his thoughts the remainder of the day. It was a good thing it was intro week, otherwise the husky would not have learned anything the instructors were trying to teach. It was standard fare anyway: hello's, this is the syllabus, and let's do some remedial work. With the final annoying bell of the day, Hunter was able to take leave from what may have been the worst first day in all of history. He walked sullenly down the halls to the buses, but was stopped midway by a  familiar face.

"Hey Hunter"

"Oh, hey Ryan"

"Whoa, someone looks down in the dumps," Ryan noted. "That lunch thing must have put you in a bad mood."

"You don't know the half of it," Hunter began. "Everything was going great in lunch, I found this fantastic spot to just stand and snack, enjoying the fresh air. Then the next thing you know, I get dragged down by a food fight . . . on the first day for goodness sakes!"

Ryan didn't have an answer to the husky's predicament and could only offer a smile and reassuring pat to the shoulder.

"Sorry I'm unloading this stuff on you," Hunter apologized.

"It's okay, you're frustrated. Best to vent it in hopes of staving off a sudden fit of roid-rage."

"I do not take steroids!" Hunter defended.

"Well you could have had me fooled buddy." At which Ryan started on a run. "You're huge and not in a flattering kind of way!"

Hunter gave chase after the wolf as he headed for the buses. The husky tried to spot Ryan from the crowd of furs boarding the buses, but decided tomorrow was another day; Hunter could get the wolf then. The caravan of buses poured out of the lot and dispersed to return students along their designated routes. Hunter arrived at his stop a few minutes later than required to get to the school, but the delay was trivial with the other thoughts on the husky's mind.

'Ryan was pretty forward on the first day,' Hunter considered. 'Either the sign of a great friendship or something else. Then again. . . huge. What's up with that?'

He lightly flexed his biceps behind the seat.

"I'm not that big. . . awfully nice of him to notice anyway," Hunter half-laughed, bringing some eyes in his direction.

"Um, it's not what you think it means," he said, waving off the curious stares.

'Still,'Â Hunter considered under his blush. 'A complement from a nice wolf with nice looks.'

The husky got off at his stop, still with thoughts on mind as he made his way to the house.

"Hey champ! How was your day?" Hunter's dad asked; while trying to mess up the husky's groomed headfur.

"It was a mixed bag," Hunter replied, dodging under his father's meddling paw. "Stuff you'd expect on the first day, nothing out of the ordinary."

"You're lying," a young husky singsonged as she walked past.

"All right Sarah, you got me," Hunter said, feigning sarcasm. "I made a friend; had some other mishaps and things. . . "

 "You need more friends Hunter," the younger husky replied. "I have lots of friends and they're my best friends forever."

'Lectured by an eleven year old on friendship,' Hunter considered thoughtfully with a smirk.

"It's great you made a friend. . . but what do you mean when you say 'other mishaps and things' pumpkin?" Hunter's mother asked while setting the table for dinner.

"Well, you know," Hunter began as he took a seat at the table, " a teacher noticed my tag and. . . food fight on the first day " Hunter said rapidly.

"A food fight?" his dad asked, rather loudly.

"Yeah but I wasn't involved, reprimanded anyway," Hunter replied stabbing his steak. "A few bad apples spoiling the bunch and all that."

"Hmm" his dad said gruffly, giving a nod.

Dinner continued for quite some time with hearty food and good conversation. Hunter's father shared some key decisions made which ended up putting a lot of work on him; Hunter and Sarah recounted their first days of school; and their mother politely listened to all that was going on.

After dinner, Hunter helped clear the table while his dad retired to the room for the night. This gave Hunter an excellent chance to talk with his mom about things that he couldn't exactly discuss with his busy father.

"Mom?"

"Yes, dear"

". . . when you first met dad, did you feel like something was different about him that set him apart from everyone else?"

"Ooh, someone's got a girlfriend," came another voice from the hallway.

"Mind your own Leslie," Hunter sang back, at which she made a kissy face.

"Don't make that face at me, especially since you've been sucking face on a daily basis with a college fur."

"Mom!"

"Oh you know your brother's teasing, isn't that right Hunter?"

She got a serious look from the male husky.

"Leslie Anne Roderick! What have you been doing?" her mother scolded.

She ended up scolding thin air as Leslie had run up into her room and locked the door behind her. Hunter's mom sighed before turning her gaze back to her son.

"I'm going to have to have another talk with her."

She remembered the conversation she was having with Hunter before Leslie had intervened.

"Let's see, I didn't notice him at first. No one special, just another face in the crowd. But as time passed, I couldn't stop thinking about him. We eventually spent more time together between classes; went out for nights on the town; out to enjoy--Oh, listen to me talk about my love life," she blushed. "If I go any further I might disturb you."

"Aw mom," Hunter groaned, "why'd you have to make me think of that?"

"Just a slip of the tongue dear. Did you have someone on your mind?"

"Kind of"

"Okay honey, just know you can come to me when you start to get a love interest."

"Mom!"

"Kidding, kidding. . . but you did ask. I'm here for you dear whenever you need help sorting through anything that bothers you."

"Actually, there is one other thing I needed to ask you about. I, um. . . saw. . . uh, a gay couple at school and I'm wondering if I should avoid them since everyone seemed to, I don't know, give them nasty looks whenever they walked by."

"Aw honey," she replied, lightly running a paw across the Hunter's shoulder. "You shouldn't avoid other furs because they're different. In fact avoiding is just as bad as staring since you're going out of your way to show you don't like what they're doing. Everyone has the right to do whatever they want. They aren't hurting anyone after all, that's especially important. So be yourself honey, different, but right. I'm not suggesting you have to be friends, but a "Good morning"; "Hello"; or being the friendly face in the crowd will make their day."

"Okay, thanks mom."

Hunter got a reassuring hug from his mother before going up to his room. The husky went through this evening procedures to get ready for bed that included a shower and change of all clothes. With no major homework assigned in any of his classes yet, Hunter got ready to sleep off a very eventful day. He turned off the light to his room and hopped under the covers of his bed. The husky reached over to check the time set on his alarm clock.

"Five thirty," Hunter said with a tired sigh. "Hope I can get into this before I end up as a zombie every morning."

He set the alarm and pulled the covers over his body. It took a while for the husky's chaotic thoughts to settle down before he could get some restful sleep. Hunter had pleasant dreams, mostly of him and Ryan hanging out at the beach, downtown or whatever else the city had to offer friends reprieve.

• - - - - PAUSE - - - - -

A series sort of started. This is section one of three of a prequel that will lead into other works.

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