Nate opened the door to the tavern and walked in. His heart was beating a mile a minute, unsure of just what he was getting himself into here. He had heard the stories about this place and had seen some of the real life furries around campus. The sight of them had excited him. Nate wanted more than anything to be one of them and knew this was the place that made that happen. But he was still scared. That's probably why it took him four tries to even walk down the alley and through the door, turning back each time. Now he had finally worked the courage and slowly made his way into the dimly lit tavern.
The place was still pretty quiet as the night was young. Nate adjusted his wire rim glasses as he looked around. A few people sat at tables. It was a mix of humans and furries. Among the various species included a lioness, a gazelle and a car lady with cat ears and tail. It all seemed like a pretty chill place with nothing to fear.
"Hello there, sir!" came a booming voice from behind the bar. Nate turned to see the big, hulking anthro bull bartender. Nate's eyes glanced over the real life Minotaur's body, from his rippling musculature to his large horns. Nate walked over, trying to hide just how attractive he immediately found this beast of a man to be as he sat at the bar. "My name's Mike. What can I get for you?"
"Could I get a beer please?" Nate replied. As the bartender poured his drink, Nate took in the physique of the bull man a bit more. The thick hide of his skin, the short, dark fur. Nate was surprised to see his feet were still human, although ending in large, dark nails as he wore large sandals.
"I see you finally made it in. I was wondering about you, showing up and then leaving. Apprehensive about the furry folks? Or more curious?" asked Mike.
"Wha...what?" Nate was confused how he could know that, until Mike gestured to the small security monitor on the shelf behind him. "Oh. Yeah..."
"There's nothing to be scared of. We're all nice folks here. But we can't be too careful. Some folks around here don't care for our kind." Mike set the beer down in front of Nate.
"Oh! I'm not like that at all. I think it's really cool." Nate took a sip of his beer.
"Cool, huh? So, why were you afraid to come in then."
Nate set his beer down on the bar and let out a sigh, "Oh I don't know..."
Mike leaned forward, speaking quietly. "I think you do, you're just afraid to say it. I promise, no judgments."
"Okay, it's like this. Ever since I was a little kid, I always loved werewolves. Like wanted to be one loved them. I always had these very vivid fantasies. I could see my nails growing out into claws. The fur growing in, the fangs growing out, all of it. And now, here I have a chance to live that out at least once. But as far as I know it's permanent." Nate gave Mike a meek smile. "Or at least that's what the girl in my Geology class told me."
"What girl?"
"Alissa? Tiger gal. Usually she was this sort of withdrawn, girl next door type and then one day a few weeks ago comes into class with this crazy feline makeover. Orange fur, black stripes, claws, fangs, whiskers, long tail. And I ask her, how did this happen? She referred me here when I told her why."
"Well, I think you would make a great candidate to join our group, if you're interested. Tobias is in the next room there. We can go and speak to him, if you'd like. He can answer your questions and show what he can do." Mike gestured to the ornate, oak double doors to his left. Nate took a large sip of his beer and swallowed it as he tried to decide what to do.