Fringe – Furries
Location: Sacramento, CA
A teenager walks the hallways of his home, it's early morning. He sleepily slinks down the stairs towards the smell of toast. The family is ready to begin their days. The teenager enters the kitchen. The sound of a porcelain plate smashing on the stone floor is unmistakable. The rest of his family stare in horror. Mother, frozen stiff with fear; loose hands that a moment ago had held the plate. Sister staring with intrigue, toast in her mouth. The Father: a look of astonishment upon his face from behind the lowered newspaper.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" the teenager asks curiously. He looks down. Grey wolf fur covers his feet. He raises his hands in front of his horrified parents. Claws extend from his finger tips. The hands themselves, cloaked in the same grey fur as the feet.
His father stammers words out, "Well... Jonah... we accept... you're... a furry... but... don't you... think... this... is a bit... too much?" Jonah the wolf-teen stands, now as shocked the rest of the family, in the doorway of the kitchen.
Location: Harvard University
"Hey Astrid," Olivia triumphantly enters the room, in her usual black attire, to the sound of Rocking around the Christmas tree. It's nearing Christmas every day, the days were getting shorter and the lab was covered in decorations, with a suitable tree in the corner. Even Gene, the cow, was wearing a Santa hat. "What smells so good?"
Astrid Farnsworth, obviously wearing a hat as well, carefully whisks a batter mixture in the bowl she is carrying. "Oh, hi Olivia, it's probably Walter's Christmas pudding; he says he's almost perfected the recipe. He's just in his room there."
"Well, I can see he's starting to become who he was before..." She stops as she sees the bio-chemist dance out of the room (again wearing a Santa hat); at this moment in time, he doesn't need to be reminded of the son he had lost. Only a few months ago had the Universes been linked by Peter, but at what cost. Peter had vanished out of the machine as the two Universes had joined together, and there had been no trace of him for months. In that time, Fringe Team had been made public as a mutual agreement by the Universes.
"Olivia!" The rugged scientist threw open his arms and Olivia accepted the hug. They pull apart. "Olivia?"
"What's wrong Walter?"
"Where's your hat?" He stares at her silvery blond hair, barren of Christmas. He pulls the end of his and dumps his jolly head decoration on her head. She smiles, joyfully. "Here have mine." Olivia is chuffed to see Walter in his happy state (LSD free).
"Thank you Walter."
"So, what brings you to our lovely place? A case?"
"No," The scientist looks sad.
"It's been a long time since we've had a case to work on. So why are you here?"
"Why can't I pop in on a friend?"
Suddenly Olivia's phone buzzes from within her coat. Walter looks hopeful. "Olivia Dunham..."
"Dunham, are you with Dr. Bishop?" The deep voice of Colonel Broyles echoes down the line from the new Fringe Headquarters.
"Yes. Why?"
"We've had our first case on the hotline..."
Walter waits patiently for the end of the phone call. "Yes sir. We'll be there soon." Olivia ends the call and Walter rises. "That was Broyles, we have case."
"Yes!" Astrid looks slightly stunned as Walter cheers and then realises that it could be that someone could be seriously hurt or even dead. "May I ask, what's the case?"
"Some kind of anthropomorphic animal, but the victim is somewhat happy about what's happened to him."
Walter looks intrigued, "Hmm... now that's odd."
