FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Vern stood just under the entrance of the rusted tunnel, hands shoved in his hoodie's pockets and hood pulled over his head. In the poorly lit dark of the underground he stared and squinted into the tunnel's opening and desperately wished he had brought a light. He had his phone, of course, but he was saving its already low battery for if he saw it: the oddity, the anomaly, the ripple in reality. The man had seen it before, he swore to himself he had, but he didn't trust his mind enough to be sure. People saw peculiar things when they were alone and in the unknown and he currently qualified for both. Still, he trusted his irrational side just enough to come back down here again when every other trip he took down the city's underground he had made it a point to explore a different part or path. It was his break from his regular routines and so he found it ironic that an irregularity had broken him away from his rule of trodding twice the same path.

Vern was just about to meander down his current train of thought even further when he saw it. A patch of space in the tunnel not too far from him wavered like a sunny roadside mirage and then reality was whole again. He gaped, but mostly remained still, uncertain what to do. Wait for the ripple and see it again or go for his phone and maybe miss it? He hastily reached for his phone in his jean pocket and paid the price for his speed. His phone seemed to leap out of his hand and before he knew it his device slid across the tunnel's slick floor with a clatter. Vern swore under his breath and stumbled forward to retrieve his phone when the air in front of him wavered. He yelped and meant to turn away, but his momentum was already too far forward.. As he passed through the ripple, he felt a tingle and a bout of vertigo. He fell to the ground on his hands and knees, his swearing much less silent now. He hadn't meant to fall and he certainly hadn't liked how that tingle had felt--not wrong, not right but something strange. It had felt like the smallest part of him had been tickled at its core. That and the tunnel's cold floor made him slightly sick. He continued to curse a bottle more quietly now as he scrabbled on the ground searching for his phone until he heard some sound that wasn't him--a scratching sound that seemed to be coming from right--

Here?

Vern looked up and found a rat. Not a rat as he had from time to time come across while exploring the underground, but a big rat, a large rat, a walking rat that now stared down at him with a look of concern.

"My," the rat said. "That was quite a fall. Are you quite alright?"

Vern stared and gaped at the walking, talking rat. It was dressed too, garbed in clothes that could only be described as, well, ratty. Its clawed feet were bare, however, and even now they scratched slightly against the floor.

"It must have been worse than I thought," the rat muttered, wringing its hands together nervously. "Or am I that unsightly? Or are you mute? I'm sorry, I--"

Vern sat back on his rear and scooted away from the frightening rat until he heard a sickening crunch. His eyes widened and he forgot all about the humanoid rat as he looked back at what he had accidentally crushed. It was, of course, his phone.

"No, no, no!" Vern wailed.

"Oh my," he heard the rat say. "Really, it's alright you don't have to--"

Vern felt something touch his shoulder. He looked up and the rat was there again, the concern deeper in its beady black eyes as it reached down and held onto him. He yelped and this time forgot all about his phone as he ran as fast and as far away from the rat as he could.

"Wait, wait!" The rat yelled after him. "Where are you going?"

Vern had no answer for the rat because he didn't want to answer. He didn't want to believe the rat was real. Sure, it had been fun to entertain the fantasy that the ripple he had seen last time had been real, a break in reality or portal to another place but now that his mind's fiction met reality and he was mostly probably in another place without communication it wasn't quite so fun. Either that or the rat was some sort of mutant and that wasn't much better.

It was only after about half a minute of running that Vern realized the rat's words. Where was he going? He had run, true, away from the rat, away from the ripple, not out of the tunnel, but further into the tunnel, farther away from the paths he knew. He froze in place and tried to regain some sense of his bearings just as his body tickled and tingled and the vertigo returned. He would have fallen again had the rat not been close enough to catch him.

"There, there," the rat said, his snout so close to Vern's ear that his whiskers tickled his face. "I have you. My, you are not well, are you?"

"Mph!" Vern grunted, pushing against the rat who didn't so much as budge.

"Not that I blame you," the rat murmured. "Traversing the places between places is quite uncomfortable--but you're here now. You're safe."

"Mph!" Vern tried again.

"Not that I've traversed between the places between places because...well...not that I don't know how you feel. Dizzy, disoriented, perhaps even a bit-"

"MMPH!"

"Oh, I'm sorry!"

The rat released Vern. The man, who had been sure he could stand on his own, found he could not. He fell and heard the rat gasp.

"Sorry, so sorry I wouldn't have--well, let me help you again."

Vern felt more than dizzy and disoriented. He could scarcely move yet every part of him was buzzing at once. This sensation was somewhat relieved as the rat bent down and helped him up, wrapping one of the man's hands around his thick, furry neck.

"There you go! I have you--again, and I promise I won't let you fall this time even if you want me too."

The rat chuckled but Vern didn't find what it said particularly funny. Still, he was grateful even if it was a rat that was holding him up. A rat apparently from a place between places, whatever that meant. His body wasn't the only thing weakened, his mind likewise muddled.

"I have a place nearby if you'd like to come. I could make you some tea, you could meet the neighbors, and by...well, by mid afternoon you ought to be recovered. How does that sound? Would you like to come to my place?"

Vern nodded. Going to the rat's place meant he would be farther from the ripple but it was so much better than lying on a cold tunnel's floor while his atoms danced about.

"Very well, just...well, just follow me. It's not far really."

Vern did as he was told and followed the rat, mostly by letting himself be lead. It was easier that way because he didn't even want to try walking another try. Anyways, if the rat's words were true, he should be fine by mid afternoon...whatever that meant. How was he meant to tell time down here? It was dark, he never wore a watch, and his phone was broken broken beyond repair, unless the rat was somehow an Android expert. He grimaced. He was worrying too much. He had a clearly capable rat taking care of him. He just had to relax and not let himself feel so small in the grip of a creature that should have been many times smaller--and not walking and talking either.

Vern took a deep breath and did manage to relax, just a little bit. The rat talked as he led him down the tunnel, but the man wasn't really listening. He just keep putting one foot in front of another at least until he suddenly and abruptly stepped out of his shoes. He came to a halt and the rat with him.

"What's wrong?" The rat asked.

"My shoes..."

"Oh!" The rat started. "Would you like me to get them?"

"No," Vern said with a shake of his head. How had he managed to step out of his shoes like that? They weren't mere slip ons, they were hardy shoes meant to survive the underground, tied tight. It was almost as if his feet were so much smaller than before. He shook off his socks to see if they really were.

This thought slipped away as his bare feet touched the ground. Vern squeaked.

"It's cold!" he said. He hardly cared that his voice was weak and high pitched with stress--the ground truly was much colder than it had been before.

"It is, isn't it?" The rat said. "Probably not for me as for you but...would you like your shoes? Or...or I could carry you if you'd like?"

For some reason, this sounded more palatable to Vern's muddled mind. He nodded and the rat truly loomed large over him now before bending down and scooping him up.. Vern knew he should have felt threatened to some degree, but no, there was comfort in the rat's embrace. He snuggled against the rat's fur and found it did not smell as he had feared. In fact, it had a sweet scene that was actually quite pleasant.

"Nearly there..." the rat murmured.

In the next moment they were there, emerging from the tunnel into an open space lit by what appeared to be sets of squat lanterns whose bulbs were filled with flitting fireflies. Between each set of the lanterns were holes in the rusted walls. Not holes, Vern realized, but homes for many of the holes had doors and it was not just the rat and him here, but many rats and him. They walked along the streets and their homes, short and tall, plump and slight, but all walking and talking and existing as humans might if they lived beneath the ground. Vern started at them in shock and now felt a little scared.

"Welcome to my home," the rat said. "Well, my city. We call it Cant and that little hole..." he nodded towards one a couple lantern sets down. "Is mine. It's comfy, I promise."

The rat carried him towards his home and Vern felt very out of place as they made their way through the rat city. He was the only human in sight but the rats didn't seem to care. He got a glance or two but most rats seemed content to go about their own way, save one, a mostly black rat speckled with white fur near her eyes--her, if the breasts covered up by her purple dress meant anything--stepped in front of the rat and nodded towards him.

"Oh, one of those!" she said. "Where did you find him, Tane?"

"Nowhere special," Tane, Vern's rat replied. "Just on my normal route when he stepped out of nowhere until...well, here."

"He's adorable," the she-rat said. "Do you think--"

"I think he'll be alright," Tane said briskly, stepping away and walking very quickly towards his house.

"I'm sorry about that," Tane said in a whisper. "I'm sorry about all of this really. Not that it's anyone's fault but--"

Whatever the rat meant to say next was lost as they arrived at his door.

"Do you feel well enough to walk?" Tane asked. "I don't mind carrying you in, but it would be easier to make some tea if I wasn't holding you."

Vern nodded and the rat let him down. As Vern's feet touched the ground, they felt fine but he didn't think much of it. The rats surely kept their city's warm, after all if they lived anything like humans. He did notice that the rat seemed even bigger than before. Vern figured the shadows would have lent substance to the rat, not diminish him and yet Tane was large and he was small. Was it--

"Are you coming in?" Tane asked, holding the door open.

Vern nodded and struck away those thoughts. Thinking that rat men were just large, he stepped towards the door and immediately tripped over his loose jeans. Again he found himself on his hands and knees but something was wrong, so horribly wrong because his hands--

"No, no!" Tane called. "Don't look!"

But it was too late. Vern saw his hands and they were not the same. They were actually quite similar to his old ones, but it was impossible to miss the fact that he only had four fingers instead of five and that each of his digits had not nails, but claws. It was also impossible not to notice that his barely visible wrists were thin and covered with dark grey fur.

"Augh!" Vern screeched, then moved to cover his mouth once he heard his higher pitched voice. His ratty hands came into contact with his mouth and for a moment he felt his normal lips and then his face pushed forward with that same tingling sensation. He blinked and found his vision partially filled with a now ever-present snout tipped by a pink nose that even now sense at the air, his whiskers twitching.

"No, no, no!" Tane shouted, rushing to his side. "You weren't supposed to notice, not now, not yet!"

Vern had noticed, however, noticed that he was that he was becoming increasingly ratlike, the buzzing spreading to the rest of his body. Or really, he had already been somewhat rattish, his clothes too baggy on his smaller frame and his feet much the same as his hands though he now stood on his heels.

Fur spread quickly across his body while his ears bloomed, pushing his hood down to rest against narrower shoulders. He coughed and licked his teeth against his prominent teeth at the end of his snout. He panted as the sudden spurt of fur cause him to throw said hoodie off. He doffed his shirt next and stared at bewilderment at the light grey fur that ran over his slim torso but his attention was drawn even more to the flesh beneath his chest, how it gathered into tear-shaped mounds topped by puffy pink nipples that poked out against the fur. He took a harsh, quick breath and watched as his new breasts shuddered in turn.

"Oh my, oh my," he heard Tane say. He looked up to the rat and the rat looked back at him with wide, apologetic eyes. At that moment, Vern's hips popped and his nethers churned, causing his pants and underwear to fall into a pile at his feet and his genitals to pull up and up until it hurt and then finally they pulled in. There was some relief to this until he looked down at his womanly hips and saw that he could no longer claim to be male, not if the thin, pink lips covered by covered of soft grey fur had anything to say about it.

Before she had even a moment to comprehend her new sex, Vern butt bubbled. She placed her clawed hands on her rear and felt as it rounded out and became more prominent and then quickly moved her hands away as a long, wormy tail burst out from the base of her spine. It hit the ground and twitched there for a moment before becoming still just as the buzzing came to a stop. Vern blinked and then another dose of vertigo overcame her. Again she would have fallen had Tane not caught her.

"I got you, I got you," he said. "That should be the last, I promise."

Vern pushed herself away from the rat and found she could stand on her own. She had a tail, stood digitigrade, and had breasts weighing her down now. It was strange, but only because she knew it was supposed to be strange. Still, it was strange--she was a she-rat, furred like a rat and with its face and fingers but with the curves, butt, and breasts of a woman and why? She meant to look to Tane for answers until she saw one of the rat men staring at her out of the corner of her eyes. When she looked around, she saw that all the nearby rats were. Embarrassed, she covered up her breasts the best she could with one arm and concealed her sex with the other.

"Come on," she heard Tane say. "Come in!"

She looked up and saw Tane holding the door open once more. Quickly she picked up her clothes and rushed into his home. He slammed the door shut.

"I'm sorry," Tane said. "I'm so sorry."

"What the hell just happened?" Vern shrieked, her voice shrill. She paused, not sure she quite liked it. "Why am I a rat? Why am I a woman?"

"It's...it's you came into this place between places. It happens here and we don't know why." He looked away. "Maybe I should have told you earlier but...it's a little awkward, no? We get strange folks like you all the time but you always end up as us and their previous sex hardly seems to matter. Always. Always but...but not always so fast. And..." Tane looked away sheepishly. "Not always so publicly."

"Then bring me back!" Vern said. "I need to go back!"

Tane's shoulder's slumped.

"I'm sorry," he said. "You can't."

"What?" Vern said, her voice a little more quiet, her ears laying back. "What do you mean?"

"You just can't," Tane said. "It seems like he's easy to get here, but...but you can't really leave."

"No," Vern said, folding her arms close to her breasts. "No," she repeated, feeling her eyes begin to water. "I can't just be a rat lady just like that."

"Now, now," Tane said, coming close and holding out his arms. He stood there for a moment staring down at her sorrowfully before she stepped forward and rushed into his comforting embrace. She sobbed and he petted her head.

"It will be alright," he said. "You think you're the first one that this has happened to? Hardly! Cant has plenty of once-not-rats. Plenty! We take care of the universe's mistakes. And I...well, if you don't mind I can take care of you for a bit until you get on your feet so to speak. I can guide you through the registration process, getting your own place, maybe finding your own little path...would that be alright?"

Vern sobbed again.

"Maybe that was too much," Tane said. "In that case, what about...well, what if we get you dressed first and then...well, we could have some tea. Does that sound better?"

Vern nodded and looked up at Tane.

"Thank you," she said. "You--I--thank you."

"No problem, no problem at all." From a pocket he pulled out a handkerchief and held it out towards her. "Now, why don't you dry those tears while I find some suitable clothes for you. I kept some just for this occasion."

Vern took it and watched as the rat went away. Despite herself, she smiled. She had certainly taken a different path today and now there were only more ahead of her. As scary as that could be, it was equally exhilarating and likewise enticing that Tane would be part of them.