FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The denizens of Tigertail Lane knew well the gentle smell of freshly-baked cakes and bread as it rolled down over the cobbles. The odour trail originated at the doors of Ace's Cakes, a bakery owned by Ace himself. Ace was well-known around town as the owner of the bakery and art gallery on Tigertail Lane and for being as friendly as possible to everyone he met. Ace loved to have a laugh with everyone who came through his doors. He saw himself as a purveyor of happiness first and confectionary second.

At the end of a long Saturday when Ace was just about to close up the bakery, he heard the bell ring to signal the arrival of a new friend to serve. He gazed at the door as it drifted shut and around the room, but there was no sign of anybody.

'Hmm...' Ace thought as he went back to his business.

"Hey!" he heard. "Down here!"

Ace leaned over the counter and sure enough there was a short fennec fox in a brown turtleneck sweater looking up at him.

"Sorry Benny, I guess I didn't see you down there!" Ace said, not wanting an awkward atmosphere.

The fennec simply grinned and remarked that it was a common occurrence. Soon enough they were giggling together about it while Ace looked over the Special Order ticket the fennec had brought with him.

"Oh yes, the chicken cookies. It's a good thing your master orders these every week. Business has been a bit slow lately." Ace sighed as he bagged up an order of cookies specially made in the shape of little roast chickens.

Benny dropped some coins on the counter and made off with the special chicken cookies. Ace followed him to the door to see him off.

"See you next week, Benny!" he cried as the fennec scampered away.

Ace returned to the counter and popped open the cash register. It opened with less of a chink than he'd hoped; there wasn't much coin or notes in there this week. The sun started falling down in the sky as Ace counted up towards his target, but unlike the sun, Ace was stopped short.

'Not enough...It's okay, maybe they'll be cool about it. It'll be okay.' Ace thought as he stepped towards the door.

He changed the sign on the door to Closed and set to work pulling in all the furniture from the outdoor seating area. He huffed as he got the last chair inside and went to push the door closed, but it was stuck. He thought he'd be safe if he closed as fast as possible and got out of there, but looking down he saw a well-polished shoe jamming his door open.

He gulped and opened the door, letting the man enter. He saw the familiar but foreboding face of Ezra the lynx, a collector from a specialist agency of questionable legal status who had given Ace a loan some time ago.

"You're closing awfully early. I hope you're not trying to avoid me, Ace." said Ezra with a devious grin. His fur was a dark charcoal colour, with silver shards breaking the darkness on his cheek tufts.

Ace laughed nervously. "Of course not! We're still open, it's just...private service for VIPs like yourself."

Ezra smiled as he pushed his pince-nez up his nose. He took off his bowler hat and blazer and hung them by the door, dressed down to his specially elasticated shirt and waistcoat and his 'trademark' teal string-tie. "That's good to hear, but I'm not here for cakes."

"Then to what do I owe the pleasure?" Ace asked, using a friendly smile to distract from his shaking knees.

"You've been behind on your payments, Acey-boy. If it was up to me I'd give you more time, but my higher-ups are pressing me to collect the deficit." Ezra reached behind the counter and helped himself to a slice of tiffin and taking a small bite.

"About that...I-I actually don't have-"

"Oh, this is good!" Ezra said, guzzling the rest of the tiffin slice down in record time. Ezra stood out among the agency's debt collectors for his appetite.

Ace rubbed his sweating hands on his apron, ending up with flour stuck to his pads. He took the apron off and cast it aside, seeing if he felt more confident displaying his favourite blue t-shirt and grey cargo shorts.

"Ezra. I don't have the money."

Ezra stopped licking his fingers and shot a look of disappointment at Ace. "Oh, Ace. Lysander won't be happy. And it's difficult for people to remain unharmed when my boss isn't happy."

Ace gulped.

"You're part of his special club now. Lysander's Proprietor's Club. We don't call it a triad or other dirty words, because we're all friends. We're all friends in our own little club especially for proprietors of businesses under Lysander's protection." Ezra's smile dropped away abruptly. "Perhaps it's time you visited the Clubhouse, Ace."

There was a pause.

"Come, come into the back room with me and we'll talk business." Ezra said, walking behind the counter and through the door, needing no invitation to pass beyond the Employees Only sign.

Ace followed and tried to speak, but could only find himself stammering. He let his shoulder-length black hair fall from its hairnet and into his hands, pulling at it.

"Sit down, Ace." Ezra said, perching himself on the edge of the table and offering one of Ace's own chairs to him.

In his anxious state, Ace threw himself down on the chair a little too hard and felt it topple backwards. He kicked his legs out and felt his ankle grabbed by Ezra, stopping him before he hit the floor.

"Steady now!" Ezra said as he gripped the ankle. "You...have very fine paws, Ace."

Ace was taken aback at the sudden compliment and blushed, still stuttering incoherently.

"I know what will calm you down." Ezra said, pulling up another chair in front of Ace and pulling Ace's paws into his lap. Despite being barefoot all the time, Ace's paws were pristine. Ezra's thumb rolled over the surface of the wolf's pawpad and he wondered at the silky feel. He repeated the movement with his thumb and pushed a little harder this time, feeling it squish Ace's big, blue pad. With both thumbs he kneaded each pawpad like that, watching for Ace's reaction.

Ace had melted. Ezra's experience was clear and it was hard to keep his guard up through such an expert pawrub. The wolf wriggled his toes and Ezra responded by squeezing and rubbing those too.

"Y-you know, this isn't going to make me able to afford the payment..." Ace whimpered.

"Oh, I know." Ezra said. "This isn't related to business."

Ace nearly fell off his chair when he felt Ezra's warm tongue gliding over his foot, from the heel all the way to the toes. He grinned, seeing an opening in Ezra's steel façade. He pressed his foot against Ezra's face and curled his toes around the lynx's nose. Ezra blinked, but continued working his tongue at the soft blue pad, worshipping the wolf's sexy paws.

Ace kicked back and enjoyed watching the fearsome debt collector reduced to a paw-slave. He'd found a way to get the better of Ezra and he might even be able to use the leverage to weasel his way out of the 'Proprietor's Club' he'd mentioned.

"Keep tasting those paws, lynx!" said Ace confidently. "They're the sweetest treat in the whole shop."

Ezra went to move to the other foot, but Ace pulled them away. This was the moment when he'd show Ezra who's boss.

"I'll let you keeping playing with my paws, Ezra," he said. "If we can forget about this silly loan business."

Ezra frowned, his tongue drawing back from the pad it was lapping at. "Sorry, Ace. You're in the Proprietor's Club and the first rule is that you always pay what you owe."

Ace yipped as he watched his whole foot suddenly disappear into Ezra's mouth, followed swiftly by the other one. Ezra was holding the ankles in place with one hand while his other deftly removed his string-tie and set it aside - which could only mean one thing.

Ace tried to struggle free, but the slippery confines of Ezra's throat were surrounding his feet. The lynx kicked his chair away and kneeled for a better angle, swallowing the feet he had just worshipped and following it up with Ace's lower legs. Ace whined as he felt his legs locked together by the strong oesophagus, the heat coming from those walls incredible yet strangely soothing. Ezra stretched his mouth into a grin and Ace could see into the corners of his wet maw, all the space taken up by his own knees. The lynx moved up faster and faster, easing him in like a snake would eat its prey. Ezra's prey whimpered and tried to cling to the chair, but there was nowhere he could go. Soon enough he felt his feet no longer as tightly confined and knew that the first part of his body had entered Ezra's stretchy stomach.

Ezra suddenly yanked Ace from the chair and stood him up almost straight. It was a strange experience feeling himself standing on the bottom of Ezra's stomach, supported by the oncoming throat. He thought he could keep himself stuck like this, but Ezra's swallowing was too strong and combined with gravity, he had nowhere to go but down into the fleshy cavern of Ezra's maw. His body started to curl up inside Ezra as his arms were trapped in the throat. He pawed desperately at the walls, to no avail. To his dismay it wasn't long before he had to watch Ezra's lips closing tight behind him, leaving him in the dark but short journey down to the stomach. He curled up, now fully inside the predator's stomach and whined to himself. It looked like he would be visiting the Clubhouse after all.

Ezra stood up and straightened his shirt, happy that his meal wasn't squirming too much. After collecting his string-tie, coat and hat, the lynx set off, stopped only briefly by the beginnings of a stomach-ache.

"I shouldn't have eaten all that tiffin." Ezra winced, carrying on nevertheless to deliver the latest addition to his list of prey.