Shapeshifter City: Sam and Sarah
Shapeshifter City: Sam and Sarah
By Crola_the_Snake
According to the latest census, 40% of the citizens of the city are anthros (animals standing on two feet), 30% are humans, 15% are fantasy creatures (archetypal races in a high fantasy world), 10% are ferals (animals standing on four feet), while the remaining five percent is comprised of grotesque and unusual forms, born of the rather extreme minds of these people. We will talk about that 10% comprised of ferals. We will enter the lives of Sam, a feral deer, and his friend Sarah, a feral wolf.
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I strode along the sidewalk of the streets, people giving way because of my large antlers. I never got to look around while striding the streets, but I don't need to, anyway. I walk along here from home to work, which I can walk from my apartment.
Ferals have a hard time living in the city. That's why there is only a small percentage of them in the population. For example, I have to have an apartment caretaker, since I can't lock nor unlock the door to my apartment. No surprise there, actually.
Many people worked as caretakers for ferals, and it was a good job for people who are stranded in the city with no home nor work. Enough income for two people [depending on the feral(s) they take care of] and a free place to stay in (at least until you get another job with higher income). They also offer as free companions for the ferals to talk to [unless the feral(s) specifically requested to not get close to each other].
There are methods introduced for ferals to get along with bipedal life. One of these is the Feral Panel. This is a touchscreen monitor for ferals to use with their forefeet to do daily things, like buying groceries or signing up for something. All it requires is a sample of your DNA (preferably your blood) to verify the buyer and use an online payment system inclined to providing services for ferals. They do have services for bipedals, but it doesn't match the services of the other online payment system popular in the city.
Feral Panels are also installed in condominiums and suburban homes, but not apartments. Also, some ferals haven't registered for an account, so they rely on caretakers to carry their money and pay the cashier for them. Caretakers also carry some stuff that a feral would find heavy. Caretakers do pretty much anything that would require dextrous fingers, like cooking or cleaning the house. It's a hard job, but it's worth it.
Well, unlike most ferals, I rarely needed the help of my caretaker. I only carry a laptop on my back going to work, so there's no problem. I already registered an account so that I can use Feral Panels located in every store in my vicinity. I'm also ten minutes away from the mall, so no problem with that. I buy food outside, so I don't need to cook. Despite all this, I still pay Ruth with regular caretaker wage. I have enough money to give away, anyway.
That's pretty much what I need to explain about ferals. Now we can get back to my life.
As I arrived at my workplace, which was located on the third floor, a few people greeted me, mostly ferals.
"'Sup, Sam?" a female feral wolf asked. The wolf has white and grey fur. Her eyes were yellow. Like most ferals, she wasn't wearing anything.
"Nothing much, Sarah," I replied, "Is the paperwork done?"
"A few more documents and we are done," the female wolf yawned, "Damn, I can't believe I spent the entire night working on these instead of watching the game."
"Wolves versus Vultures, right?" Sports are a bit different in here. There are unique sports out there that allowed ferals to play in, like feral football (both American and European), feral athletics, and a few more.
"I can't believe I missed it!" Sarah said, "My money..."
"Don't sweat it," I said, "I brought Ruth to the game with your tickets, so your money isn't wasted."
"It still is! I never got to watch the game! I basically paid for you two! I bought the tickets so that Aaron and I would watch the game."
"Come on, your my best friend, Sarah. Don't you love your best friend more than your caretaker?" There was a hint of sarcasm in my tone.
"Fuck off Sam, just pay for those tickets." There was a hint of a growl in her voice.
I rolled my eyes, "All right, I'll work on it." The sarcasm was obvious enough for Sarah to notice.
She growled, "Just make sure you fucking will, Sam!" The angry wolf then stormed off back to her desk outside the president's office. Sarah's the secretary of the agency.
"Don't you think that's a bit too harsh?" A voice asked from behind me. I looked to see an anthro cheetah holding a cup of coffee on his left hand. A tuff of yellow hair covered his already furry scalp. He was wearing a white shirt and dull green pants. Over his shirt, a striped yellow-and-blue necktie was hanging.
"Don't worry, Aaron," I said, "Sarah and I grew up together. She will cool down in no time." My parents and Sarah's parents were both ferals, so they got along, bringing me and Sarah together as children.
At first, we didn't get along, our personalities the polar opposite of the other. My peaceful and orderly, yet sarcastic, attitude against her short-tempered and lazy, yet loving attitude. It's still a wonder how she has a higher position than me. But then, we became best friends by high school, entering the same college and jobs together. With our high income, we hired our caretakers Aaron and Ruth.
Since Aaron just recently graduated, Sarah lets him work at the company as an employee, despite the fact that we are a company made to provide jobs for ferals. We need people to do computer stuff and help carry paperwork to other places.
"Did she caused that?" Aaron asked, pointing with his mug to a three-inch scar across my nape near the main body.
"Nah. She may hate me, but not that bad. No, this was caused by a rifle round because the hunter who fired the rifle mistaken me for an actual deer. Fell to a coma for three weeks."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"Tell you what. According to my parents, Sarah stayed with me for the first week of the coma. She cried when she found out about what happened." Aaron laughed.
"I heard that!" The wolf shouted across the room from her desk. The caretaker continued to laugh.
"Hey, stop laughing! I could get you fired," Sarah continued.
"Man, you must have hurt her a lot because of the tickets thing. You gotta pay her, albeit in small amounts and long periods."
I looked at the cheetah, "How am I supposed to do that?"
"Take her out to dinner, for starters."
"Wouldn't that mean...?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Let the dinner decide your fate."
I sighed, "Alright, I'll take her out to dinner."
"Good. I'll head back to work now." Aaron left me alone as he went back to his computer. I went back to mine.
By noon, I decided to go buy Sarah some food.
"Hey, Aaron," I called.
"Yes?" The cheetah asked as he covered his mic and peered from his desk. His desk was located near mine, so if I needed anything from him, I could just call him.
"Let's go get some food," I replied as I gestured to the wolf with my head. Aaron looked at Sarah then back at me.
"Oh, I see. Just let me finish this call for a sec. Then he uncovered his mic and spoke to the customer on the other line.
I looked at Sarah, who was busy doing paperwork. Because of their lack of dexterity, ferals wre given microphones with a speech-to-text program. It allowed ferals to give commands and get data with ease (albeit slower than people who could use their hands). There were other jobs for ferals, like agriculture and transportation. But I'm not really a fan of meeting the weight requirement for these jobs, so I just sticked to working in the office. Sarah had the same opinion and followed along.
I sighed as I looked at the hardworking wolf, "Can't she just chill a little?" The cheetah, done with his call, stood up and approached me.
"So what are we getting?" I asked Aaron as I stepped away from my desk.
"I don't really know. You lived with her longer." Aaron followed me and walked across the hall.
"You are currently living with her." There was emphasis on 'currently', " What does she get for lunch?" We stood before the elevator.
Aaron pressed the elevator button. "Let's see... Um, my last recall was that she got a steak from a restaurant a few minutes down the street. She liked the steak."
"Okay, we'll do that." There was a ding as the elevator doors opened revealing a brown-haired human conducting the elevator.
The man was in his mid-50s, his waist broad with years of eating subs. He was wearing a grey polo shirt and denim pants. The conductor was wearing a gleeful smile on his face.
We silently entered the elevator then the conductor pressed a button to close it.
"How are we doing, chief?" he askd cheerfully.
"Ground floor," I said.
"Alrighty." The conductor pressed the button for the mentioned floor. The elevator hummed and began its descent, the shift in gravity felt by the three of us.
As the ground floor button lit, the elevator halted, leaving a short sensation of heaviness. The elevator then dinged and its doors opened to reveal a rather empty lobby. We exited the building and walked down the road to the mentioned place.
A few minutes later, we reached the restaurant. The only problem, was that there's a queue. And it is long.
"Say, is this restaurant popular?" I asked as I stared at the long queue consisting of people in different forms.
"It seems like it is," Aaron replied, also staring at the long queue.
I looked at the cheetah, "There's a convenience store a couple blocks back that sells ham sandwich. Do you thi--"
"Definitely," Aaron interrupted.
I looked at the restaurant, "Yeah. Let's get out of here." We walked back until we passed by the mentioned convinient store.
"Sorry for having you walk all the way to the restaurant and back disappointed," Aaron said as he placed a ham sandwich and a bowl with salad, both wrapped in plastic, on the counter. Ferals eat their food similar to animals. So they eat their food out of a bowl to avoid spilling.
"It's okay," I said as a needle pricked me and collected a sample of my blood, "At least I'm getting her something." Then I pressed 'Confirm' to finalize the transaction.
"Thank you for your service," the cashier, who was a human-sized fairy, said with a smile. We left the convenience store and walked back to the building in silence.
"Hey, Sarah," Aaron called as we returned to the office.
"What? Can't you see I'm busy here?" the wolf asked.
"Sam here got you a ham sandwich."
"Did he now?" Sarah looked at me, seemingly raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I did. Sorry for using your tickets."
"You know that a ham sandwich isn't enough, right?"
"How about a dinner? Will a dinner do?"
"Hmm... You'll pay for it, right?"
"Right," I said anxiously. Sarah sat there thinking of the offer. After a while, she spoke.
"All right. But I get to choose where, and I get to order anything I want, okay?"
"Okay," I smiled, "A dinner it is, then."
She smiled, "A dinner it is, then."
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I don't know if I should cut this here, but we will definitely talk about our dinner. We will also continue to talk about ferals.