FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"So how much of Lupān history do you remember?" Shade asked, rummaging through the compartments around the cockpit. Rayne's ears perked—he knew the question was for him and not Ami, whose memory could store planets' worth of data and probably had all of his people's history memorized.

"Why do you ask?" he asked with an undercurrent of anxiety, like he was afraid of a pop quiz.

"Thought I'd share an interesting bit of it with you," Shade said, pulling out the compact little circle of nanites that formed his VR suit. He shared a knowing glance with Ami. "You'll like this history lesson. Trust me."

"Usually, when you say 'trust me', I get shot at shortly after," Rayne quipped.

"Or you get laid," Shade replied, smirking. Rayne smirked back, ears twitching with excitement, his fluffy tail giving a single swish.

"Touche," he said. Shade frisbeed Rayne's own suit at him, the grey-furred hybrid catching it skillfully. "Is that what this history lesson involves?"

"Well, it doesn't involve a firefight," Shade said, standing.

"Ohh, I can't wait for this one," Rayne growled, that smirk widening into a grin that showed his sharp, shining fangs. So hot. Shade felt a tug of dismay that this particular history lesson wouldn't involve the two of them together.

They each dropped the disks on the floor at their feet, the nanotech spreading and shifting, starting to engulf them. Shade was distracted from the moment of anticipation by the scent of Ami's arousal, floral like any female of his species, but with an underlying dominant earthiness to it.

"Will the android be joining us?" Rayne asked, the VR nanosuit reaching his shoulders. Ami didn't need a suit like them—she could just transfer her consciousness right into their virtual environment.

"Depends what you mean by 'joining'," Ami said with a smirk that was slightly different from that all-knowing android smirk she usually wore.

Rayne probably would've had a wisecrack to that, but the suit's fluid nanostructure had reached his mouth, as had Shade's, spreading across his tongue and priming his taste buds to receive virtual flavors that weren't really there. The lenses covered his eyes and he was brought into the virtual world, an endless white void, just a vast, smooth floor of sleek white beneath his feet, cloudy fog obscuring the distance and the sky above.

He saw Rayne and Ami standing there, Rayne's ears perked and twitching this way and that. Shade's own ears did the same instinctively as the nanosuit crawled into the inner canal, his sense of hearing the last to join the virtual world. Ami stood there watching patiently—or as patiently as Ami always did, with the usual mild condescension and subtext of 'Why do you organics always take so long to do everything?'

Shade's library appeared with all his games; he had a lot, working with the lucrative earnings of an intergalactic weapons smuggler and the free time that came with zipping back and forth across the galaxy.

"Damn, I keep forgetting this is basically all you do on these trips," Rayne said, eyeing the thirty foot long, five foot high wall of a UI, lined with icons displaying games.

"To be fair, a lot of them do involve shootouts," Shade admitted, cracking a smile which Rayne returned.

He approached the wall of titles and selected one with a snowy forest backdrop, titled "White Forest". Even just seeing the game's cover stirred longing in him.

"This particular game is less of a game and more a continuation of one of Lupa's oldest traditions," Shade explained. "From way back in the tribal days."

Rayne's ears perked, but he said nothing, so Shade launched the program.

"Takes a bit to start up since we have to use an encrypted connection," Ami said.

Rayne blinked, surprised.

"It's online?" he asked. Shade and Ami nodded.

"Real players," Shade said. "Not just hyperrealistic NPCs."

These days, there was almost no difference between the Non-Player Characters in virtual games and other actual users—at least not a distinguishable one. The NPCs were well-programmed enough to pass for real, living, sentient beings, even though none of them had sentience of their own. The only real difference, and it was an important one to most people, was that the knowledge of interacting with another real person lent a deeper and more meaningful experience.

And speaking of meaningful experiences... there was that feeling again, that longing enveloping him. He was anticipating it with excitement as much as pain, feeling his heart beat faster as the game's progress bar climbed—he knew Ami could sense that much, and Rayne could probably sense his tension.

The program fully loaded in, and the environment changed, the white fog clearing, parting to reveal a green forest blanketed in snow all around them, and the feeling washed over him, through him. It came first as a physical sensation; Shade smelled the frost on the air, the brisk cool seeping into his fur. But inside, it was a strange mix of that warm, happy glow and a heavy, aching nostalgia, the bitter feeling of homesickness.

It had been almost eight years since he'd been banished from his home, and he'd mostly adjusted to it, learned to appreciate what he had, and the ache wasn't as strong as it had been most days. He had friends, loved ones, even out in the cold darkness of space, and he was happy. But that feeling was still painful at times, especially when he was vividly reminded of home. He stood a moment, watching the white flakes of snow land gently on his black fur, then closed his eyes and let that feeling settle in his chest, breathing deeply. Rayne and Ami let him, and he appreciated that.

When he opened his eyes, the forest clearing they stood in was a crossroads between several paths, each labeled with signs etched in wooden pillars: 'Singleplayer', 'Multiplayer with NPCs,' and 'Multiplayer Server.' It was an abrupt reminder that he was in fact in a game, a mere virtual recreation of his home planet, and he had to fight to shake off the homesick feeling. He nodded toward the last sign, 'Multiplayer Server', and Rayne and Ami followed him through.

"So what's the history lesson?" Rayne asked, his tone casual, clearly trying to help Shade clear the pain at the memory of home. "What's the deal with this 'White Forest'?"

Obvious as the tactic was, it helped. Shade's mind refocused, pulling up what he remembered about this age old tradition.

"It started off as a yearly tradition between two tribes, I think," he said, starting to explain. "They'd have this get-together where every unmated member of the tribes would wander out into the forest that stretched between their lands and pair up with the first person who caught their interest."

Through the path was another clearing, similar to the one they'd just left, but with a more diverse woodland beyond—not just layers of endless trees, but with rocky outcroppings visible a ways off to the left and a trickling stream past that.

"'Pair up'?" Rayne asked in that unsubtle tone of his. "Like, arranged marriage, orrrr..."

"Nope," Shade chuckled. "'Pair up' as in exactly as dirty as you're thinking. Not a long-term thing, just temporary relief during breeding season. It could always grow into more than that the following morning, of course. But for a night, it didn't matter who paired with who; race, sex, rank, religion, politics—it all went away."

"The hookup woods," Rayne laughed. "Nice tradition."

Shade snorted.

"I'd advise against referring to a several-thousand-year-old sacred tradition as the 'hookup woods'," Ami laughed. Shade laughed harder.

"Fair enough," the grey-furred hybrid chuckled.

"But that's not all there is to it," Shade continued, smirking again. "This tradition was to honor the Goddess of Scents, Palitā. So, to do this, you had to go in blind—literally. You keep your eyes closed at all times while you're in the forest, at least until the next morning."

"Huh," Rayne said, crossing his arms. "How do you not like trip on a branch or fall into a frozen lake?"

"You... move carefully, I guess," Shade said with a laugh and a shrug.

"Could try using your ears," Ami joked, causing Shade and Rayne to laugh.

"Sooo, we should be switching the suits to horny mode is what you're saying?" Rayne asked, cocking a brow.

Shade smirked and saw Ami adopt the same smirk as Rayne pulled up the settings interface.

"It's already set," Ami said.

Shade shifted his weight and gasped sharply as he felt the nanofabric of his VR suit morph and crawl up under his clothes, pressing around every follicle of his fur, shifting into his sensitive sheath and up inside other places, ready to vividly recreate organic sex in the virtual environment.

"Ahh h-haaah," Rayne huffed, his virtual avatar shimmering and distorting briefly as his suit did the same. "So it is."

Rayne dismissed the UI floating in front of him and Shade stifled a grunt as he felt his suit's material stretch between the crevice of his ass and then slip into him. But another moment, and the feeling of wearing a living, perverted bodysuit was gone, the VR settling into his senses so that the suit became a second skin. And suddenly, he found himself naked in the snowy forest.

"That's another part of the tradition," Shade chuckled, a bit breathless. "No clothes in the White Forest."

"Riiight," Rayne chuckled, blue eyes giving Shade an appreciative once-over like he always did when seeing him naked. Shade blushed, smirked, and felt his cock stir, pushing free of its sheath. He glanced over and saw Ami was naked now too.

He looked between them, Rayne's firm muscle and tousled grey coat, and Ami's light brown and white fur covering her curves, and again felt a bit disappointed that he wasn't going to be pairing with them. Not that there wasn't plenty of time for that later.

"They uphold the tradition, even today," Shade said, gesturing around. "This virtual version was created to help continue it from anywhere in the galaxy."

"So, what? Just... pick a direction and start walking?" Rayne asked, looking around at the trees.

"That's the idea," Shade said.

Rayne glanced between him and Ami, then closed his eyes. Shade did the same. He heard Rayne snicker.

"It feels ridiculous at first, but you get used to it," Shade laughed.

"Alright," Rayne chuckled. "So... see you in a bit?"

"Yep," Shade said.

"Later, boys," Ami's voice said, already distant.

"Bet her fuckin' android senses let her 'see' fine even with her eyes shut," Rayne muttered with a playful mock jealousy.

"I heard that!" Ami called, even farther away.

Shade and Rayne laughed.

***

Shade walked a bit and found another clearing—marked by the distinct scent of open air between the wood smell of the trees and the way his footsteps in the snow sounded softer with fewer trunks to bounce off of. But the sunlight was brighter, shining through his thin eyelids in a way that let him "see" without really seeing. He decided he'd feel too exposed in an open clearing with a lover, so he moved on.

He crossed a river and finally caught a scent, feminine and soft, almost divine; alluring with a hint of power. He followed it, moving carefully around trunks, ducking branches, stepping over rocks and sticks, until finally he found its source—he heard a second set of footsteps in the snow which quickly halted. A pause sank in before she spoke, her voice light and melodic, but confident.

"Sorry. Afraid we'll both have to keep looking; I'm not into men."

Shade let out a soft chuckle. "No harm done. Carry on."

"Good luck," she called.

"Same to you," he said, before turning and heading off in a different direction.

The next scent trail he followed led to the same, a softer and less confident voice awkwardly explaining she wasn't after the opposite sex. He told her gently that he understood and moved on. He'd forgotten to mention to Rayne that this tradition did involve a lot of searching and finding failure—two lupāns who crossed paths in the White Forest didn't have to pair. But Rayne would learn this easily enough. Shade wondered how he and Ami were doing in their trek through the virtual forest.

He crossed over the same river again—recognized his own scent trail—and found a break in the trees interrupted by smooth stone. He nearly hit his head on one of the large rocks. The VR simulation was so realistic he'd momentarily forgotten that it was programmed not to hurt its players, carefully generated so that no surprise branches could take out an eye and no unseen roots could cause them to trip and fall, unlike a real forest.

Shade sighed as he kept moving; he'd thought that if he walked for long enough, someone else might catch his scent and track him down, but no one approached. His eager anticipation was dying slowly, his once half-hard cock shrinking back into its sheath due to the disappointment and the cold.

But then the winds shifted and he caught a new scent, soft and clean like the fresh snow, not overly sweet, but not lacking in sweetness either. He followed it, slowing as he heard tentative footsteps that stopped as soon as he heard them. He heard a gasp, a catch of breath, and knew she could smell him too. She let out a shaky huff—not one of nerves, but a sound of anticipation. She seemed almost desperate.

"Been walking awhile?" he asked.

"Yes," she breathed.

"Me too," he said gently.

"Can we...?" The question hung unfinished, like she didn't dare to hope. Her scent was growing intoxicating, stirring up his deeper instincts.

"Come here," he said, leaning against a smooth outcropping of stone.

She approached, stepping carefully, her breath getting faster. He reached out when he heard her steps get close enough and caught her shoulders. She gasped at his touch.

"Easy," he crooned. "I gotcha."

She exhaled shakily and he felt her breath on his chest—she was a bit shorter than him. He could smell from her scent, light yet warm, that she was very eager, but she seemed too nervous to make the first move.

"How 'bout you turn around for me, huh?" he said gently, releasing one of her shoulders, his grip on the other lightening to let her turn away from him.

"Okay," she said quietly, footsteps shuffling in the snow.

It was always weird keeping his eyes closed this long, and he had to remind himself to keep them shut and not peek when her tail brushed against his chest and muzzle.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"It's fine," he chuckled, gently moving the fluffy appendage out of the way. Gods, her fur was soft.

He reached out and took her shoulders again, then guided her back against him. She bent slightly, probably expecting he would want her to, but he tightened his grip on her shoulders just slightly and pulled her back into his chest, then wrapped his arms around her and leaned in to give a long, slow lick up the curve of her neck. She moaned, a beautiful sound, with enough pleasure in it to let him know he was doing well with the warm-up, but also a hint of surprise to let him know she hadn't expected the gentle passion—and was very much enjoying it.

He pressed his muzzle into the crook of her neck, right where he'd licked, so that the cold air wouldn't make her damp, matted fur feel even colder. Then he exhaled, breathing into her fur in that spot to warm it further, and he was rewarded with another moan; this one was all pleasure.

"Attagirl," he crooned, barely parting from her fur enough to speak. He helped her loosen up some more by taking advantage of the position of his hands on her shoulders, gently massaging them and feeling them release tension she probably didn't know she had—not to stroke his own ego too much, but he was fairly sure of this, since Ami did this move on him every now and then, and every single time he would've sworn he was completely relaxed until she started working his muscles. Shade couldn't help but grin when he pressed his thumbs in gently and rubbed around her shoulder blades, and she practically melted into him.

"Nnnnhh," she groaned, leaning back against him, almost limp. But doing this caused his cock to nudge her thigh and they both tensed. He hadn't even realized he was hard again. And it reminded both of them of why they were here.

He heard her swallow and then moan, "Please..."

"Attagirl," he said again, knowing she could hear the smirk in his voice, and moved one paw down to her left hip, the other taking hold of his stiff length and lining himself up.

"H-haah," she panted softly, bending over slightly so that he could get a better angle, and her breath caught when his tip found her soft, wet lips.

"Ready?" he purred, and she exhaled a half whimper.

"Gods, yes."

With that, he pulled her hips back and pushed his forward, and he felt her yield to him. Her warmth embraced him, shielding his stiff, sensitive shaft from the cold, and it was incredible. But she was smooth and wet as well as warm, and he got most of the way in before she clenched tight and he stopped.

"Shhh, relax," he said, stroking down her back. And she did, releasing, but he decided another verbal check-in wouldn't hurt. "Still good?"

"Y-yes," she breathed, and he felt her hips twitch—was she holding herself back from instinctively pushing back against him, taking more of his cock? "Please, more..."

Gods, that was hot. He chuckled, smirking and rubbing her back, feeling her relax and loosen some more.

"You're such a good girl," he groaned, pushing himself deeper, and he felt the last two words make her tighten up again. He smirked.

He could hear her ears flick, but figured that the only way to really be sure whether that was just a momentary twitch or if they'd pinned back adorably like he'd imagined was to reach up and feel. He did, delighted to find that her ears were in fact lying back and flat, a response to his praise. He chuckled again to let her know how much this pleased him, his hand petting the back of her head, stroking her ears, and she moaned and clenched.

"You like that?" he teased, and she whimpered softly.

"Y-yes!" Her voice was louder, more eager now, and her hips rocked back and forth once, only shifting half an inch, but enough to let him know how desperate she was even before the verbal, "Please!"

"Good girl," he murmured, taking both her hips, palms against her ass cheeks, and started to thrust. She moaned openly, loudly, and they were pleased, happy moans that made him smile. Her shyness had gone completely, and although a part of him missed how cute it had made her, he enjoyed this more.

"You're such a good girl," he crooned, stroking one of her hips, thrusting at a steady pace.

"Fuck me!" she moaned. "T-tell me... tell me how to b-be your good girl!"

The request made him grin. Knowing she was aroused most by pleasing her partner, just like he was, made it all the more enjoyable. He had an idea then, remembering how she'd twitched and pushed back against him when he'd first pushed into her.

He stopped, holding her still, keeping his knot just outside her pussy. Her insides clenched and rippled around his shaft and for a second he thought she'd cum, but then her breath shook and he knew she was holding on. A half-stifled whimper escaped her before he could speak—she probably thought he was just teasing her.

"Push back," he said, a gentle but firm order. He was absolutely sure this time that he heard her ears perk. "Go on. Fuck yourself on my cock like a good girl."

"Yesss," she hissed, shuddering with pleasure, and he let go of her hips, letting her move.

She didn't start slow, moving forward and back, pushing her hips into his, panting eagerly. Her tail was wagging, and it brushed past his face a few times, but she was too lost in pleasure to notice. Shade felt his pleasure rising and gave a grunt, reaching out and grabbing her hips.

She stopped immediately, obediently, and he growled, "Good girl," then started pounding her. She let out a cry followed by a long moan, her voice shaking with the thrusts, and his hips slapped against her ass. He grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms behind her back, holding them there and fucking her harder, and her moans grew louder.

Suddenly, she clenched hard, but it was the same kind of reaction as before—not an orgasm, but the forceful halting of one; she was holding back, restraining herself.

"P-please!" she cried out. "C-can I-I... Can..."

"Almost there," he growled, letting go of her hip and loving the fact that she pushed back against him when he did, holding steady even without him to keep her there. He reached around with his free hand and grabbed one of her breasts, making her clench and cry out with pleasure again.

"Almost," he assured her, his voice tight. He slammed into her again and again, her stuttered moans rising, her heat clenching hard around him. He was right there. And then—

"Fuck!" he snarled, grabbing both of her hips and burying himself inside her, feeling his knot push easily inside, stretching her and sealing him there before his pent-up lust exploded. She squealed, a high, keening sound, and she moaned long and loud as he emptied himself in her, wrapping both arms around her again and pulling her against his chest. She let out smaller squeaks each time her pussy clenched and spasmed around his cock, milking him for all he could give.

Her moans died down from orgasmic near-screams to satisfied sighs as the waves of pleasure rolled over them. They both panted, recovering, and slowly, carefully lowered themselves down without pulling out. The snowy ground was a white cushion beneath them, the cold unable to get past their fur and the warmth of the afterglow.

"Good girl," he said.