FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Out in the middle of a forest coated in Winter frost, there were stone steps normally hidden by a cover of briar and bramble leading to a place few people had ever seen or even heard of. A particular feline potion maker made her way down those very steps with her curious gaze focused on the path below her. Eventually, the light of the sun was swallowed all around her by an inky darkness that seemed thick enough to touch. Luckily enough, the potion maker had her ways of getting through the dark. The feline brought up a paw and whispered a ball of soft blue light into existence with a small smile. It hung just above her paw and trailed up to light her path down deeper into whatever abyss she was getting herself into. There were vines growing over the stonework along with little mushroom caps that lined the walls and ground around her. She did her best to ignore the strange fungus growing on the walls knowing that there were supposedly more interesting things at the bottom of these very steps. Coming down here had been the idea of a new friend who had told her that there were many rarities down in an underground forest, along with many dangers. Partially, she didn't believe that it did exist, but her curiosity had dragged her down the stone steps in hopes of finding herself something to sate her interest. Soon, Layne found herself near the bottom of the steps and her eyes grew wide as the need for the light near her disappeared, and as she discovered that the Fungal Forest was real.

Flickering lights in different colors and hues floated before her sapphire eyes illuminating an expansive forest with mushroom trees topped with purple and blue caps. The air felt thick with a strange mixture of cold and humidity that made it hard to determine if she would need to strip layers or keep them on if she went deeper within. One immediately good thing about the sights before her is that there seemed to be no sign of snow whatsoever and to her, that made this place a practical paradise.

Layne closed her paw over her own magic light to snuff it out as she found the odd spores floating around enough to keep everything well lit. The ground was uneven and there were strange plants growing on the forest floor along with the fungal growth none of which she could identify simply by sight. There were flowers that seemed to glow more brightly than the spores in the air, some strange bulbs that opened and closed as if they were breathing and so much more.

The feline took her first few steps off of stone and onto the soft ground of the forest and she looked around wondering which direction she should go first. Really, there was nothing to say what she would find if she went one way or the other, so she simply shrugged her shoulders and took a hard right and started walking deeper into the forest. There was no sense in overthinking a magical forest living and breathing underground. Speaking of underground though, Layne looked up to see that surprisingly enough she could see the ceiling. It was covered in glowing blue lichen and if she were to climb one of the tall mushroom trees then she could see herself hopping up to at least reach the lichen, but of course, that would be dumb.

Occasionally, as the feline walked through the forest she stopped to inspect some strange plant that caught her eye. Most of the plants here looked as if they were poisonous with bright purple petals and leaves and at times glowing as if they were charged with some sort of magic. Despite that little fact, she took a few of the ones that really interested her and stuffed them in her satchel for later inspection. Of course, there were a few plants that seemed to take offense to her even being near them. A few flowers puffed out and fired a thorn or two in her general direction and at the same time, there were some plants and mushrooms which she didn't even try to get near. Typically, if it was emitting some sort of fume she was almost certain that it would be something that either knocked her on her rear or knocked her out of this life.

Layne continued down the path she had started on until she found that the strange trees were closing in on her. It wasn't as if they were moving, there were simply more of them all around her. She found herself needing to push and twist through the thicket of mushroom trees determined and set to keep going in her intended direction and when she finally squeezed through she was in a clearing. Most notable about the clearing was a small set of mushrooms near the center whose caps were stretched wide like platforms. Small creatures made of green slime sat there with little caps on their backs and two feelers of some sort on their heads. She smiled a bit as they jiggled and moved about.

The potion maker only took a few cautious steps toward them when they all froze and turned in her direction. She froze and suddenly remembered the fact that her mushroom friend had said that this place was full of strange things and danger. With ears drawn back, she kept her distance, watching as the strange slug-like slimes seemed to appraise her. The largest of the slimes hopped down on the ground with a soft splat before it opened what appeared to be a tube-like mouth. She braced herself to move out of the way, but then blinked as a bubble flowed out of the slug's mouth. With tilted head, Layne eased her stance and watched as all the strange little slimes joined in on blowing bubbles in a variety of colors.

What she had thought was an attack, turned out to be a show of brightly colored bubbles dancing around the clearing. At some point, they stopped producing more and instead began bobbing back in forth in place. Layne could only bring up the side of her mouth in a sort of half-smile as she felt pleasantly surprised and at the same time confused by what the creatures were doing. She supposed it would be fine to get closer and so she did.

When she approached the mushrooms at the middle, the slimes gathered on one another in another confusion motion. Layne found them to be curious creatures and not unlike the slimes above the ground, but these seemed less violent. Perhaps it had something to do with the mushrooms on their backs. One of the bubbles that were floating around came close to her face and she tilted her head as she brought a single digit up to tap it. It felt smooth to the touch and when she pressed on the bubble it popped. She blinked as she felt a bit of liquid touch her face and caught the scent of something extremely sweet in the air. It was at that point that she felt her head suddenly swoon and her vision grew spotted and blurry. Perhaps she should have been a bit more cautious.

While her vision was being corrupted and shifted in strange ways, her mind also felt the weight on the sweet scent the circled her like a hawk waiting to prey down on some poor creature. A few pangs of pain struck her before she felt some sort of odd relief rolling through her body that she recognized as some form of hypnosis or control. She had been under many spells before either for fun or because she had been dumb enough to mess with a creature with psychic ability. Layne's mental walls were sturdy enough to handle a bashing, but it seemed that the substance rolling through her mind was also taking a toll on her body and that was harder to control.

In general, she felt good at the moment. She could feel something crawling closer to her mind begging for entrance that it would never get and at the same time her body felt calm and weak all at once. It came to the point where she needed to take a seat on the grass or risk falling over. With a paw, she took her hat off and leaned back let out a puff of air. That'll show her for touching weird bubbles that come from fungal slimes, or at least, she thought they were fungal slimes. Speaking of which, what were those weird things doing right now?

When she tried to focus on where the slimes had been gathering she found her vision yet again growing twisted and blurry from the strange drug pouring through her mind. It took a few blinks but she could soon see at least somewhat normally again. What Layne saw standing there before her was not a slime or a group of slimes but in fact, just one cat-shaped slime standing there with big blinking eyes and flicking tail. She opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't think of what to say really. The gooey feline had a trail of mushrooms down their back and so she could only assume that the feline leaning down toward her was, in fact, the several little slugs that had gotten her into this mess. So, was this a good thing or bad?

Layne grumbled. Perhaps, if she had not popped that strange bubble then she could react appropriately, but even with her mental guard, she could not muster the correct flight or fight response at this moment and instead sat there while muttering, "So, am I gonna get eaten, killed, fucked. What's up? I mean...I'll give this to you, whatever that substance is in those bubbles it is doing wonders on my body. I feel like I'm actually liquid. Occasional headaches suck though."

The creature blinked before they reached to grab her cheeks softly with sticky paws, "You only hurt because you resist...Speaking of hurt, I'm sorry. Those were supposed to be for show but I forget that those who aren't accustomed to the depths here are not so resistant to toxins."

For a moment, the potion maker stared at the gooey feline before shaking her head. Had the slime spoken in a rather pretty tenor voice? Either way, she decided if she was hallucinating it was least worth it to keep up with the hallucination instead of panicking, "Huh, if I stop resisting you'll have full control over my body, or at least that's how it feels."

The slime twisted around her in what she could only imagine was some sort of embrace as they spoke, "No, and yes. We won't do anything to you. You're not a mushroom or plant life. Flesh and blood are bad for us."

She snorted, "That so?"

The odd gooey feline's head settled next to her own. Layne sighed and leaned back against the slime's hold while shutting her eyes. She supposed if she stopped struggling and just let the feeling pass over her then maybe at least this would be pleasant no matter what the result. When she relaxed, she realized at that point just how much her mind had been straining. Layne's body had been forced to relax, but her mind was constantly trying to combat what was happening and had created such a stress. With a sigh, she felt her pain start to fade away and the presence near her mind did nothing to enter and did nothing to even attempt to come closer.

"See? Is that better or not?"

Layne shrugged, "I guess so." She then leaned her cheek against her new friend and snorted, "Y'know, I don't usually do this sort of thing, except, maybe in the bedroom with a good partner. Well, maybe once or twice or thrice I've been caught by a monster and then some looking for a piece of action or a place to put their eggs. Most of the time, extremely thrilling. Even let myself get caught most of the time, although, sometimes are like these where I just sort of...Stumble into it."

A soft chuckled vibrated the slime as it pulled away from her to stand back up to full attention, "I see. A sexual deviant down here in this pure forest. Strange."

The potion maker huffed, "I'll have you know that I am not a deviant, just a little perverse. Nothin' wrong with that." She then plopped her hat back onto her head and made an attempt at standing before she decided to lie back in the soft grass instead, "Ah...You're really strong stuff you know that? Is it the mushrooms on your back?"

The creature answered with a nod, "Mhm. We gather them to build up a defense against other creatures. Normally, the bubbles are supposed to be harmless and well, a mild relaxant. It is working on you, but at first, your mind panicked so much that it hurt you instead. We are sorry and genuinely sad."

Layne chuckled, "Ah, don't worry about it. I made a mistake, again. Just glad you turned out to be a friendly, or I mean, well, if you weren't it might be kinda hot depending. Then again, I don't think I'm into being a hatchery today. I'm out here for rare ingredients y'know?"

Maybe it was the strange fog over her mind due to the slime's concoction, but she felt like talking on and on and on about everything she could think of. She only needed to throw a mental dart in a random direction and see where it landed, then, talk about it. There were desires to discuss on the surface along with the simple wants of the future and present, but deeper down pain festered and bubbled up to the surface. A small frown touched her features and she sighed as she shut her eyes.

"Are you unwell again?"

Layne opened an eye to peer off to the right where she saw the slime now returned to sluggish form looking over her with twitching and tilting body as if they were examining her, "Hmmm, hard to say. This thing makes me a blabbermouth and I was just thinking about what to say. Being horny was the first thing on my mind, guess cause, that's just on the surface of things, but I started going deep down and well, not every memory is pleasant and not every feeling is either."

The slug moved over onto her lap and shifted shape until it remained a featureless being with arms and legs, large hands touching her cheeks, "We could take those away...Memories that pain you, memories that ail you, We could remove them from your mind and make it so that you never feel pain ever again. We feel your suffering deep down. Close your eyes, let us work."

Such a strange and haunting intonation brought a shiver down her spine. Their words had been so peaceful, so gentle before, and yet now the tone of their voice had taken almost a grave aspect that fired off something in her mind the whispered danger beneath the bubbling ocean of her drugged self. Her body almost acted without her permission as her paws came up to grip tightly onto the wrists of the slime. Claws were out, her pupils were dilated and eyes wide with fright. Her heart was racing, was the drug wearing off? There was something in those words that she had not liked, and more than that, the thought of something breaking apart her memories for the sake of comfort made her feel wrong.

And so she began, "I can't. I don't want that at all. I'd be losing a part of me. Taking away painful memories would just leave me with a whole lot of questions. I am who I am today because I survived."

The slime seemed to consider that for a moment. For a few seconds, Layne thought that they would push the issue, but instead, they stopped approaching and sighed, "We don't understand. Pain...Pain is a horrible thing is it not? We can take that pain away. Just as we have right now with that bubble. At least stay with us so that we may care for you."

Layne chuckled and let go of the slime's wrists. They returned to their sluggish form and remained on her lap allowing her to sit up slowly. The slimy slug's head tilted as she brought a paw up to rest on it, "If you're going to care for me, you'll need a lot more than this. I'm a girl who likes excitement and danger in her life. Adventure is what sets me off and what makes me tick, plus, I got a shop to run back home."

A portion of the slime coiled around her paw and wrist, but moved no further, "So you'll leave then?"

With her mind growing less foggy and control of her body returning she could genuinely say, "Yes, I think I will and I think I definitely can. Mind you, I don't think I'll be leaving the forest just yet, I'll be going on deeper to find more interesting things."

The slime then vibrated and hopped back off of her, "Wait! Before you leave then. We want to give you something. You said you are looking for ingredients, and what we did to you is what this mushroom does. Pluck one from our back and you'll be able to find more within the forest."

Layne got up and with some hesitation leaned over to pluck a single mushroom from the back of the slug, "Thanks! I'll make sure to brew something real good out of this. I'm sure it'll be great."

When she placed the mushroom in her satchel she prepared herself to leave and gave a small wave. Upon turning around she stopped as she heard the slime call for her, "Wait! A warning." The feline turned around and the slime continued on, "There is a creature that captures flesh for use and entertainment deeper within. It has a nest made of web and you should see the signs when you get there. The cold drives it away."

She reached to touch the slug on the head and smiled, "Thank you for telling me about that friend. A little late, but my name is Layne Luness. I will be back someday to talk to you again since you were so sweet. Count on it. Oh, and if that thing shows up I'll give it a thrashing."

With that said, the potion maker turned away and began walking, the slug slowly breaking apart back into the several slimes that had been resting on the mushroom platforms before. Layne continued heading through the forest with a satchel full of ingredients and her curiosity set on the beast of the forest. Sure it was dangerous, but her curious mind had not been satisfied just yet.