FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Running water and clattering dishes echoed from the kitchen, broken up by the occasional laugh. Cheap wooden half-walls boxed in the booths, but gave no real privacy. Safe and conservative tans wallpaper accented the equally boring brown seats. The muzakial rendition of Desperado in piano coming from the ceiling reinforced the calm, unexciting atmosphere. The only true color came from the early dawn poking into the windows, a mixture of gold and faded blue. Snippets of conversations, voices stained by time, booze, and cigarettes chattered away at nearby tables. Jack couldn't help but wonder if some of those conversations weren't about him and the kobold seated across the table. He raised the coffee mug to his lips, giving himself opportunity to spy from the corner of his eye; he grimaced, no sugar, and the container sat empty on the table.

While Jack chose subtlety, Lys met the gazes of the curious patrons, giving them small waves or just staring back until they found their food more interesting. “Are you sure this was a good idea?" the kobold asked.

“As good as any idea I've ever had. You wanted to get out more, yeah?" He started to reach for his mug again when he remembered. “Not too many people at the Denny's this early in the morning, not that I wanted to be up either."

She frowned. “I tried to nudge you, but you're too heavy and you were sprawled out all over the bed."

“Now who's fault is that?"

“You're the one who fell asleep."

“Only because I was so drained, you're-Oh, excuse me, sir? Sir?" A middle-aged waiter, not much older than Jack brushed past with a platter and set it down a few booths away from theirs. Jack kept a steady eye, watching him lay out the dishes one by one for an older couple. Just going on looks alone he started painting a picture of their life together. Grey-haired, glasses, and grandkids, the smiles on their faces looked genuine enough from where he sat.

I wonder if we'll be like that in…oh wait!

“Sir?" The waiter hurried past. Jack wanted to err on the side of caution and assumed the fellow was in a hurry, but he also wanted sugar for his coffee; he snapped his fingers and the man stopped dead in his tracks and turned about. Middle-aged for certain with a tired look in his eyes and no visible nametag. “Can I get some sugar over here?" Jack pointed to the empty container. The waiter moved like his limbs were pulled in that direction by some unseen force and it didn't get any better when he reached the table. Without a word he reached for the empty container, avoiding eye contact with Lys who made a good effort to try and smile at him. “And do you have an idea when our food will be ready? Been waiting quite awhile," Jack said with growing irritation.

“Uhhh, I'll see what…" the waiter trailed off.

“Thanks," Lys said. The waiter looked down to see her nice, toothy smile. “We appreciate it." He nodded with a flat expression and hurried to the back. “Really friendly."

“And always with a smile," Jack rolled his eyes, “kind of why I picked this place, tiny morning crowd, if there's going to be a scene then at least it's a small audience."

Lys looked around, glaring at the diner. “Maybe we should have a big audience."

“What do you mean?"

“If people want to be jerks then maybe we should have brought a hidden camera. We could upload the video to the internet and go…viral? Lys has seen people doing that, using hidden cameras and showing the kind of jerks people can be." Her eyes lit up. “Maybe I can do that, some of those people get lots of money."

Jack thought about the money he shelled out for the computer. “I thought you wanted to be a streamer."

“I do, but maybe I can do this too."

Jack shook his head. “You really shouldn't get all of your inspirations from weirdos on the net, some of those people are really shady."

“But shouldn't—“ Lys found herself interrupted with a full sugar container planted between her and Jack.

“Sorry for the wait, your food should be done shortly." The waiter forced a smile at both of them, the bags in his eyes told a story of someone who got by on four hours a sleep on weekends, alternate weekends.

“Thanks," Jack said.

“Yeah, thanks. So like Lys was saying, shouldn't we be…" The kobold paused. The waiter was still standing there, looking at her, “yes?"

He continued to stand there with a dumb look on his tired face. “Oh, uhh, is there anything else? Your food should be out shortly."

“You said that already. No, we're fine, thank you," The kobold said, giving a reassuring nod. The waiter nodded back and wandered off towards the kitchen, still looking over his shoulder now and then.

Jack smirked. “If they don't give their employees free coffee, they need to."

“What was I saying?"

Jack tipped the sugar holder, a white, crystalline stream flowed into the dark brew. “I can't remember, something about cameras."

Lys eyed the flow of sugar. “Isn't that enough?"

“I always add more to the first cup, they come along and refresh it so I forget to add more, this way it goes farther. Of course, with the way they seem to be dodging us..." Jack set aside the sweetness and raised the mug to his lips, the welcome smell of coffee shook off some of the early morning jitters and replaced them with caffeine. Diner coffee wasn't much to speak of, but it might as well been Kopi Luwak or some organic Hawaiian grown beans to his tired palate. Jack looked down at his mate, chin up, shifting about, and obviously frustrated. “You sure you don't want a booster?"

She growled at the thought. “I'm not sitting in one of those things. Besides, they look uncomfortable."

“When, -or if- they finally bring us our chow you're going to make a mess."

“I'd rather make a mess." Jack heard her tail slap the firm cushion of the booth. “What are you doing now?"

He rolled his eyes. “At least sit on my jacket."

Lys watched him take it off and toss it across the table to her. She held it in her claws for a bit before wadding it up. Sighing in defeat, she stuffed it under her rear and wobbled back and forth atop it like a broody hen. “Happy now?"

“Yes." Jack looked up just in time to see the erstwhile waiter heading towards their booth, plates in hand.

“Sorry for the wait," the man said while he moved the food onto the table. For as much as he tried to avoid eye contact with Lys before he seemed drawn to her now.

“Woah!" Jack caught his coffee mug moments before an oncoming platter of blueberry pancakes knocked it over. The waiter didn't even react until another plate collided with the one he'd just set down.

He turned to see the mistake. Jack's pancakes were about to be invaded by an extra helping of bacon and sausage he ordered to split between himself and Lys (or so he thought), the contents almost spilling over onto his stack. “Oh, sorry."

“Don't get many kobolds in here, do you?" Lys asked, her scaly lips curling into a smile, savoring the confusion. The waiter shook his head and straightened things out. “Well I don't bite, hard."

“Wha?" The waiter turned around, clocking Jack in the shoulder with his platter and almost spilling Lys's breakfast sandwich on top of him. Several patrons turned in time to see the green kobold laughing and Jack leaning deep into the booth. The waiter mumbled several more incoherent apologies, quickly set down Lys's order, and slipped away, mutterings and murmurs rose up from the nearby tables.

Lys kept giggling until she saw the portion of her meal. Jack had ordered for her. “This thing is huge, what do they call this?"

Jack rolled his eyes long and hard. “Moons...Over My Hammy." He shook his head.

She made an odd sound like something between a thrum and a chirp. “I don't get it."

“Just eat it."

“I will, but why are you looking at me like that?" She cocked her head to the side.

He brushed his shoulder. “We don't need any help causing a scene."

“I wasn't the one who kept staring at me. It is considered rude by humans to just stare at someone, isn't it?" A long trail of syrup poured out over Jack's pancakes, coating them in a layer of sticky sweetness. The kobold looked at them with longing, forgetting her sandwich.

“Usually…do you want to try them?"

She didn't have to think twice about that. Jack nudged his plate towards her and handed her a fork. Meanwhile, she traded him part of her Moons Over My Hammy. The plate squeaked with the force she put into taking out part of his pancakes with the fork while he took a bite out of the omelet sandwich. Breakfast sandwiches were standard fare for a working stiff like him so he didn't expect much, but the mess of egg and ham tasted quite good. Jack heard the fork strike his plate again and he swatted at her claws. “Mmmf, thaff enuff," he swallowed his bite, “you got your own." She managed to get one more mouthful before he yanked his pancakes away from her, getting syrup on his shirt. Toward the front more customers filed in as the morning picked up. Jack kept getting glances of the manager, standing near the front, looking at their booth while he paced slightly.

“I like them," Lys said, savoring her pilfered pancakes.

“Well, you should have ordered it then. Eat faster, I think we're going to get asked to leave."

The green kobold followed Jack's eyes to the manager sulking off to the side. A tall, moderate fellow who looked as if he'd held this position for three decades and planned on having it for three more. His neatly-trimmed, gray hair did nothing to help his withered cheeks which seemed to sink into his clean-shaven face. The nervous look he cast towards them made it seem as if the reaper were passing judgment on their lives.

“Why should we have to leave?"

“Just eat."

She shrugged her shoulders and opened her maw wide. Almost one half of the breakfast sandwich vanished down her gullet, leaving grease and cheese on her snout. For good measure she reached across the table towards the plate of extra sides, pinching two sausages between her claws before dropping them into her bottomless pit of a mouth. Whispers turned to gasps and laughs and several phones sprang from the pockets of nearby tables. Jack sighed to himself.

“You said to eat fast."

“Not that fast, wipe yourself off."

Huffing, she swiped a napkin from the table and dabbed away the mess on her mouth before wiping her claws. “Their fault for looking, this is starting to feel like a zoo."

“Those knives you call teeth could make anyone nervous."

“Do people really think that I would—“

“Excuse me, would you two like to take the rest of your meal to go?"

Jack turned to see the aged reaper-turned-manager standing next to the table, brow sweaty, lip quivering. His voice came clear, but with the rasp of age and tension, like a father warning a child who was about to get a beating. Jack couldn't tell if that was from genuine anger or all the pacing back and forth he'd done to work up the courage to tell them to vacate, either way the time had come. “No, we're fine where we are, but thank you," Jack said, adding an insincere smile. He went back to eating, knowing full well this guy wasn't about to let them be.

“Sir, I'm going to need to ask you to leave, you're upsetting the other customers and causing a scene."

“How are we doing that?" Lys asked, beating Jack to it. She stared daggers into the guy, but he remained deadlocked to Jack, doing his best to ignore her. Sweating, the old guy adjusted his shirt, which hung off his body despite its small size.

“Sir, I'm ask—“

“Hold on, she asked you a question and she's right, what have we done? What 'scene'? If you ask me, these people with their phones out are causing the scene." He emphasized people with a near-shout as he peeked around the manager at the amateur cameramen seated at the tables.

The reaper folded his arms. “Sir, I ain't gonna ask you again."

Lys tapped on the table with her claw. “Good, because you still haven't answered my question, what are we doing wrong?" The kobold cocked her head to the side, waiting for the answer that never came. A short puff of air shot from her snout, her face curled into a snarl. “Hello? Can you hear me? Hello?!" She slammed her fist into the table, making the spoons and forks jump off their plates. Jack was about to try and calm her down when the old man jolted several feet back. Jack leaned to the side to see the kobold's tail jutting out next to where he'd been standing.

The manager pointed a bony finger at her. “You touch me again and I'll have you arrested for assault."

Lys threw her scaly arms up in the air. “Now he sees me." She pointed back at him. “I barely touched you."

“You both need to go, right now."

“Are you people really going to watch this happen?" Jack asked, gesturing to the crowd, every eye was on them, but it didn't matter, no one stirred so he turned his attention back to the old fellow. “I bet your boss would be real happy to hear how you're discriminating against paying customers, is there some sign on the front that says 'no kobolds' and I missed it?"

The gray-haired man hesitated, but didn't bother replying, instead he dipped into his pocket and pulled out his phone. In fact, every phone in the place was out and pointing at them now. Jack stared at his half-eaten stack of pancakes one last time and stood up. “We better go."

Lys stood her ground, slapping the seat with her tail, hard. “No, I don't want to go until he tells us what we did wrong."

“Lys…"

“What did we do wrong?" she directed at the manager who paid her no mind, phone to his ear. He paced once more as he said something to someone on the other end. Lys looked ready to pounce on him and Jack didn't blame her, this was pure bullshit and almost agonizing, but when it came right down to it, they'd lose an argument with the law. “Sweet, forget it. It's not worth it."

She looked at him like she'd been betrayed. “How is it not worth it? We didn't do anything!" she shouted, drawing even more attention.

“He's calling the police."

“They're on their way," the manager said.

“Oh." All the color went out of her face. One good encounter with a cop wasn't enough to cure her fear of officers. She tapped her horns a few times and pushed herself up from the booth, grabbing the last of her sandwich as she went. The two of them went for the exit with phone cameras slowly panning in their direction like Big Brother. They made it to the car when the crisp, outside air made him shudder, he'd forgotten his jacket.

“Wait here." Not one to let public embarrassment stop him, he ducked back inside and snatched it out of the booth while his ears burned with the gossip. Among the talk he heard sympathetic voices, sympathetic, but not willing to speak.

Should have known better.

Back outside Lys stood by the car, finishing off her sandwich. “What are you waiting for? Let's get the hell out of this rotten place." She pulled on the door handle a few times, but he'd locked it.

He stepped beside her, shaking his head. “Need to wait for the cops to show up."

“No, no way. Why?"

The key turned, unlocking the passenger side. “Because it's better if we tell our side of things rather than just leaving." Lys moved the seat and practically threw herself into the back with a look of fury, leaving indents on the fabric where her horns struck. Her tail whipped and slapped about like an enraged snake ready to strike. Jack closed up the passenger side and leaned up against the car. The cool air cleared his head and gave him time to calm down. Perhaps Lys was right in wanting to bring a hidden camera, technically this was all discrimination of the worst kind and totally illegal. The sort of situation reporters and lawyers both lick their chops for, if only the subject of discrimination wasn't a kobold. Up the road a black and white patrol car came into view, stopping at the intersection. “That was quick." He tapped on the window and gestured vaguely in the direction of the street. The kobold shrugged him off and closed her eyes.

The cops pulled in and everything became routine. He waved one of them over, but they wanted to get the manager's side first and asked him not to go anywhere and so on; then came his side and while the cop was as sympathetic as some of those people in the diner it changed nothing, they had the right to refuse service, they were banned, they'd be arrested if they tried to come back, thank you and have a good day. Jack watched the lawmen drive off before he got in the car and buckled up. In the rear-view mirror, he could see his mate staring at the restaurant, but with longing, not loathing.

“This isn't right."

He couldn't find the words, none that would help. The Chevy turned over, but before he could back out she unbuckled herself. “Hold on," she said. She climbed forward and strapped herself into the passenger side. Silence pervaded from the parking lot, to the intersection, to the highway. Telephone pole after pole, divider line after divider, he stayed focused on the road. “Jack," she said in a trembling voice. He turned, tears running down the cross-cross scales on her cheeks. “Why? What did Lys do wrong?"

“Nothing. You didn't do anything wrong, sweet."

“Then why can't Lys have what you have? Why can't I go where you go?"

They'd pulled off to the side of the road, a long stretch of nothing back to nowhere. He reached out for his mate with open arms. “I'm sorry." Was the best he could do. She slipped through the seatbelt with ease and wrapped her arms around him, sobbing anew. Nothing stopped the shame he felt for showing emotion and he hated himself all the more for it. He needed to be her pillar, the shoulder to cry on. How dare he show weak eyes to her in her time of pain; how dare he be unwilling to show them.

“Thank…thank you for trying t-t do something nice…for me…love you."

“I love you too." He buried his face into her shoulder. “I love you too…"