I Attended A Furry Convention And Those People Are Weird

I can’t believe I let myself get talked into this. 

It all started last week. 

“Remmy.”

“No.”

“Remmmyyy.”

“No.”

“Remmy, come on. I need you on this.”

“Jackie, you can’t seriously expect me to go to a furry convention. Those people are fucking weird.”

“I know. But the fact is, the blog hasn’t been doing that well lately - we’re competing with every kid with a phone and a WiFi connection. Visits are down, revenue is falling. We need this.”

“So send Jimmy.”

“Jimmy is at his parents' vow renewal, Maxine is out with dental surgery, and Joe moved to California for an IT internship. I haven’t got anyone else.”

Then she gave me that look - the one that always gets me, the one with the eyes and the mouth and…

“Fine. I’ll do it. But you owe me one.”

“Absolutely - anything you want! Tickets are at the desk downstairs. Go get me a story!”

And that’s how I found myself at FurryFest 2026, the region’s largest Furry convention. 

The weirdness started right from the jump. I got admitted ok; apparently, you didn’t have to be dressed as a furry to attend, which was nice. I thanked the attendants and headed for the auditorium. 

It was as weird as I expected. 

All around me, people were dressed as animals - dogs, cats, bears, rabbits, squirrels, and everything else imaginable. The costumes got more and more elaborate the further I walked, going from cheap store-bought costumes to elaborately detailed outfits that were clearly labors of love. I saw realistic paws, colorful fur, even fully-articulated tails.

And among it all, I saw an amazing sense of camaraderie. These people liked each other, respected each other. More people should be like that. 

Of course, that couldn’t last. 

I was walking down the hall when I felt someone bump into me. 

“Watch where you’re going, asshole!”

I looked back and saw who’d made contact. He was tall, maybe 6’2”, with broad shoulders and an angry expression. And he was dressed like a giant fucking beaver. 

I looked at him, stunned. Then I shook my head, chuckled, and walked away. 

“Hey! Who the fuck do you think you are, laughing at me?” He flexed his arms and puffed up his chest - at least, that’s what it seemed like beneath the costume. 

“You know,” I said, turning back and looking directly at him, “the whole ‘intimidating’ act would work a lot better if you weren’t dressed like a giant beaver.”

The lady who was with him, I’m assuming his girlfriend, snorted quickly before she could stop herself. He quickly looked at her. 

“What are you laughing at?”

I couldn’t see her face, but I knew what fear felt like. And she was terrified. 

“Hey, buddy? Why don’t you stop picking on your girl? Or is that how you prove to yourself you’re a big man?”

“Why, you…” he started, glaring at me with pure rage (I assumed). 

“Cody, look,” said the woman with him. Dozens of onlookers stood watching, including two security officers. I could see the calculation in his posture. 

He looked at me. “We’ll meet again,” he said. “You should be careful; conventions can be dangerous places.”

I watched him walk away, dragging his girlfriend after him. I knew a threat when I heard one; I’d have to keep any eye out for him. 

I wandered the hall, observing the people around me. I saw hundreds of people dressed like animals, people who were strange but harmless, even friendly. But I kept my eyes open for trouble. 

As my father once said, if you look for trouble long enough, one of two things will happen. If you’re unlucky, you’ll find it. If you’re truly unlucky, it’ll find you. 

By the time things began winding down for the day, I had what I needed for the story. Jackie would be happy - this should make a good lead. Then I heard screams from a vacant conference room down the hall. 

“No! Stop!” 

It sounded like the girl from earlier. I followed the sound of her protests and burst into the room when I felt something crack against the back of my head. 

Minutes later, I opened my eyes. I was laying on the floor, my hands cuffed behind my back. Then the jackass from earlier strolled over, out of costume this time. 

“I can’t believe you fell for that. All Cindy had to do was give a few fake screams and you came running.”

I looked over at her; she shrugged apologetically. I couldn’t blame her; she likely hadn’t had a choice. I’m guessing she often didn’t have a choice with him involved. 

“I bet you think you’re something special, don’t you? You ain' t - you’re just like the rest of us. I bet you won’t be so cocky after my boys and I beat the crap out of you.” He looked at me and cracked his knuckles. 

“Cody, is it?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, Cody, you’ve made three pretty bad mistakes, here.”

“Oh, I have, have I?”

“You have,” I replied. 

“And what would those be?” he asked, a smug smirk adorning his face. 

“One, you assumed I was actually unconscious.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Two, you assumed these handcuffs could hold me,” I said, tossing the cuffs on the floor near his feet. His smile looked a little less smug now. 

“Neat trick. And three?”

“Three,” I said, feeling my clothes burst around me as I shifted, fur erupting from my skin as claws extended from my hands, “you assumed I was ever like you.”

I stood over him, all nine feet and 500 pounds of my true form revealed. His face now wore a mask of pure terror. 

“What?” I asked, my voice deeper in my Alpha form as my claws moved forward like lightning and punctured his chest, closing around his heart as he screamed silently. “You seemed to enjoy fake fur so much, I thought you’d appreciate the real thing.”