FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEUb6LioH38

When everything's new it's hard to get in the groove

Don't stumble around it's time to make your move

'Cause baby you shine and I'm sure that you'll make it in time

Oh, yeah

_ _

Just kick it up and don't give up, ridin' on a new wave

There's nothing really to it, it's not a mystery

Come on let's go it's time to show, everything you've learned

'cause Now you can finally see

_ _

You're not a joke you fit right in

So shake it off and give a grin

Don't be afraid to stand your ground

_ _

Chapter 16: CRAZY NOISY BIZARRE TOWN!

Love Heart didn't have to strain to hold back the fox and badger's branches. He looked from one to the other and noticed that the badger's left eye was green and his right eye was blue. He stood up and twisted his swords which wrenched the branches from their hands. Alex was a bit too stunned to resist but Daniel kept firm grip for an instant before the branch was torn from his hands. Love Heart swung his swords to dislodge the branches.

By now Alex had recovered and was starting to fume, "OK, who the hell are you and why do you look like us?"

"My name is Love Heart Bear and I'm a Care Bear, and so are both of you," Love Heart stepped back to keep both of them in his vision.

Alex stared at Love Heart, his mouth hung open and his left eye half-squinted. He shook his head the growled, "Fuck this! I'm going home!" He turned and stomped away.

"Wait!" Love Heart dropped his swords, which vanished as they hit the ground, and ran after Alex.

As soon as he felt Love Heart's hand on his shoulder, Alex whirled around and punched Love Heart right on the nose. "Leave me alone!" he shouted before he turned and jogged towards the nearby bus stop.

Love Heart had his hand over his nose, which was bleeding slightly, "That didn't go well."

"That's putting it mildly."

Love Heart turned towards the snarky voice and found Daniel behind him, where he stood with his arms folded across his chest. "Didn't think he'd just storm off or punch you." Daniel looked back over his shoulder, "Where did your swords go?"

"They disperse when I don't need them any more." Love Heart's chest symbol glowed and a moment later another sword appeared in his right hand.

Daniel jumped back, "Holy shit! How the hell did you do that!?"

Love Heart blinked and gave Daniel a perplexed expression before he dispersed his sword again, "It's magic."

"Really? I mean...damn," Daniel put a hand to his forehead, "I want to say you're full of crap but I just saw that and," he held up his hand, looking at the dark grey fur that now covered it, "I guess I didn't change into this naturally." Daniel's eyes narrowed and he glared at Love Heart, "If you can use magic then can you tell me how the hell I changed into this?" He swung his arms down to indicate his entire body.

Love Heart shook his head, "Sorry, I don't know."

Daniel groaned, "Well that was a waste of time. So why are you even here?"

Love Heart stopped and put a hand over his chest symbol as he took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "I came here because my mom told me there were more Care Bears here."

"I'm a badger, not a bear," Daniel interjected.

"OK so you're a Care Badger, but that's not the point. My mom said there were more care...animals here so I came here to meet you and..." Love Heart paused.

Daniel tapped his foot, "And what?"

Love Heart took a deep breath as he thought about what he was going to say, "Honestly, I don't know what my plan was. I had to catch a flight in a hurry. It's a long story."

Daniel sighed then turned and motioned for Love Heart to follow him, "Tell me later, if you just got here I guess you can stay with me."

"Really?" Love Heart walked up alongside Daniel then matched his pace.

"Yeah, mom and dad won't mind a houseguest," Daniel muttered his next line, "If they even notice." He spoke up enough for Love Heart to head, "Do you have bus fare?"

"I think so," Love Heart dug his wallet out of his pants pocket and opened the change pouch, "Do they take cash?"

"Yup, still do. My stop's over here."

OoOoO

Brandon, Caleb and Samantha had opted to walk home after school. It was longer but for the most part none of them wanted to put up with the needlessly roundabout route the busses took.

"I don't get why Alex didn't want to walk with us," Brandon put his arms behind his head as he walked, "The bus takes twice as long."

"Some days you just don't feel like walking after six hours of school," Samantha walked with her hands in her pants pockets, "I was tempted to take a ride today but I really didn't want to have to wait downtown for the bus again."

Caleb looked over at her, "Samantha, why do you hang out with us? Alex and Germaine aren't even here."

Samantha stopped, "Well...because we're friends."

Caleb blinked, "We are? I mean...I guess we are, I just..."

"It's fine," Brandon waved off Caleb's concern, "Yeah we're friends, but you did kinda latch onto the two animal people without getting to know any of us at first."

"Don't you have other friends?" Caleb asked.

Samantha sighed. "Not really. My elementary school didn't exactly give me any time to make friends."

Caleb put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry."

Samantha brightened up and wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders, "No worries, I have you guys now and that's better. Besides we can always email if we have to split apart right?"

Brandon chuckled, "Heheh, or use instant messengers if we need to." He carefully extracted himself from her arm, "Wanna stop at the store before we go our separate ways?"

"Sure, I'm in," Caleb said.

"You bet," Samantha grinned and walked out ahead of them.

As they left the store they saw Alex disembark from the bus a block down the road. Samantha grinned and waved, "Hey Alex! Over here!"

Alex was scowling when he heard the voice. He looked up and gave a half-hearted wave, "Hi." His voice was barely audible over the distance. Despite his apparent bad mood, Alex walked slow enough for his friends to catch up.

Caleb noticed the fox's scowl and passed him a jerky stick, "Jerky for your thoughts?"

Alex took the package and tore off the wrapping, "Thanks, Caleb," He tore into the spiced meat with relish and swallowed before he continued, "I had a run in with Daniel downtown, he tried to smash my head in with a tree branch."

"Yikes! Did you kick his ass?" Brandon asked before he took a drink from the full cup of pop he had in his hand.

"Tried to but this green bear called Love Heart got in our way," Alex puffed out his cheeks then ate the rest of his jerky stick, "I bolted before he could say anything else."

Brandon coughed and spluttered into his drink. Samantha gaped, "A green bear? With a heart on his nose like you and Germaine?"

Alex touched the red valentine heart on the tip of his nose, "Yeah, he had a weird tattoo on his chest too."

"You could see his chest?" Samantha gave Alex a perplexed look.

"Yeah, his shirt's neckline was down to here," Alex touched his shirt collar and drew his finger down to the middle of his chest, "I didn't get a good look but it looked like a bunch of hearts."

"Through his fur?" Caleb asked.

Alex stopped, "Yeah...how the hell did that tattoo show through his fur?" Alex groaned and held his head, "Not to mention those swords he had."

"Swords?" Caleb asked. He, Brandon and Samantha turned to face him.

Alex nodded and held out his arms, pantomiming what had happened, "Me and Daniel were about to beat the crap out of each other with big tree branches when he jumped in between us and blocked both of us with these swords he had. I didn't see much because I bolted right after that." Alex didn't wait for their reaction and walked past them to head for home.

Samantha raced to catch up to Alex, "So there's more of you guys out there?"

"I guess so, but I really don't want to think about that tonight," Alex sighed, "I just want to get the last of my homework done, watch some TV and go to bed."

"With Germaine?" Samantha whispered.

Alex blushed and did his best to change the subject, "Want to come over to my house for supper guys?"

Samantha smirked at his verbal dodge but didn't comment on, "I'd love you."

"Count me in!" Brandon jogged up to join then. Caleb was drinking but nodded.

Alex was grateful none of them had questioned him further as they got to his house. "Anyone in the mood for hot dogs?" he unlocked the door and stepped inside.

"Sounds good to me," Caleb dropped his bag of snacks on the coffee table.

OoOoO

"MOM! DAD! I'M HOME!" Daniel waited for a moment then shook his head, "Welp, guess we're alone, come in," Daniel motioned for Love Heart to follow him inside.

The inside of Daniel's home was too clean for Love Heart and he felt an involuntary shudder as he stepped inside and searched around. "Where are they?"

"Work, probably, I stopped keeping track a while ago," Daniel headed for the kitchen, "Let's see...nothing, nothing, nothing, garbage, bad meat? Nope, good cheese. Crap," Daniel shut the refrigerator door, "Mind if I order pizza?" Daniel had started to dial before Love Heart had a chance to answer. "Meat lovers OK?"

"Sure," Love Heart barely listened as he wandered into the living room as he took in the rest of the house. It was pristine, shiny, and looked like it was never lived in. Sterile would be an appropriate word. Couch, a couple chairs, a flat screen TV, but all of it felt like it had been placed there just to make the place look less empty.

Daniel stepped out of the kitchen and watched Love Heart, "Are you OK?"

Love Heart shook his head to clear his head and turned to Daniel, "Yeah, it's just quiet in here."

"Get used to that. Mom and dad are never around," Daniel plopped down on the right side couch and leaned on the armrest before he turned on the TV.

Love Heart sat down on the opposite end and turned to look at Daniel, who was channel surfing. "Can you live without your parents around?"

"I've managed. Maybe I'm not eating the best but I stopped caring two years ago," Daniel looked down at his stomach. His shirt was tight over the pudge he'd developed since he transformed. He shrugged and went back to the TV, sighed then shut it off, "I want them to be around more, to notice that something's wrong, but they aren't. Every time I think about complaining how they aren't around I remember that that's the only reason that I can live like this, able to do whatever I want as long as I get good grades. Even getting into trouble doesn't seem to make them notice me." He looked over at Love Heart, "why do you even care?"

Love Heart paused for a moment and considered the question: why did he care? Daniel glared at him and opened his mouth to speak when Love Heart answered, "Because you sound like you need someone to care about you. I guess it's just part of who I am: I'm a Care Bear so I just care regardless of who you are, if you're not trying to hurt me or anyone I care about."

Daniel snorted, "Right, well if you care then tell me, since I'm so out of shape what are you going to do?"

Love Heart looked the pudgy badger up and down for a moment before he answered, "Help you get some exercise and teach you magic."

Daniel blinked, "What, for real? You'll teach me magic?"

"You're not surprised?" Love Heart quirked his eyebrow.

Daniel snorted, "I remember being changed into this and I saw you pull sword out of your chest and make them vanish into thin air, I'd be stupid if I thought magic wasn't real. So what can you teach me?"

Love Heart couldn't help but smile, "Elemental Magic called kinetics and our own Care Bear Magic."

"Why do you keep saying Care Bear when you're the only bear like us? Is your whole family bears?" Daniel glared at Love Heart from under his eyelids.

"Just my dad, and I never thought about it. I guess because 'care bear' rhymes?" Love Heart shrugged.

Daniel tilted his head to the side, "Only your dad's a bear? What's your mom? A Lion?"

"No, she's a Unicorn."

Daniel coughed for a second then stared at Love Heart, who wore a straight face, "Are you serious, a fucking unicorn?"

"Yes," Love Heart pointed to his forehead where Daniel saw his fur was a darker shade of green in the shape of an eight-pointed star, "I got this birthmark from my mom, it shows that I'm half-unicorn."

Daniel groaned, "I don't know why I'm surprised." At that moment the doorbell sounded an Daniel went to retrieve their meals. He paid the perplexed delivery boy then set the pizza box down on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Dig in," he said, as he grabbed a slice from the pizza and bit into it.

Love Heart looked at the pizza in front of him. It was a lot thicker than he was used to and a lot greasier. He sniffed then took a bite and was slightly overwhelmed by just how soggy the crust was.

Daniel saw Love Heart making faces while he was chewing. "New experience for you?"

Love Heart had to practically force himself to swallow, "I've never had pizza this thick or greasy before."

Daniel took another bite and swallowed, "It's kind of a unique thing to Regina, or so I've been told."

"No wonder you're so pudgy," Love Heart wanted to put the slice down but he forced himself to finish it, gagging all the way. "Ugg, no more..."

"Fine, more for me." Daniel grabbed a second piece and bit in. Love Heart went to the kitchen and dug around in the fridge for something more palatable, and found some carrots to munch on.

Thankfully it was only a small pizza and ten minutes later Daniel had eaten his fill and put the rest in the fridge. "Alright so can we start learning magic now?" he turned to Love Heart who had finally finished his own meal.

Love Heart hummed, "Well, I can show you what I can do, and maybe give you your chest symbol."

"What's a chest symbol?" Daniel asked.

Love Heart pulled his collar down, "This is my chest symbol. Every Care Bear gets one and it's the medium that we use our kind of magic through." He released his collar but Daniel noticed that it still left his symbol mostly exposed, "Along with it you choose a name that suits you for what you represent."

"For what I represent?" Daniel shook his head then squinted one eye at Love Heart ant twisted his mouth sideways.

Love Heart nodded, "An emotion or personality trait you think you represent, my girlfriend's name is Cassandra Avalon but she chose to call herself Confidence Heart Fennec once I gave her her chest symbol."

"I see..." Daniel folded his arms, "Can I think about it before you give me a fur tattoo at least?"

"Sure, in the meantime," Love Heart held up his hand and sparked up a small field of electricity in his hand, "what do you think?"

"Geeze what!?" Daniel jumped back as the blue lightning appeared in Love Heat's hands, "Is that your magic?"

"It's kinectics, and I can teach you how to use it." Love Heart stopped the flow of lightning and yawned, "But I'm tired. Can I sleep on the couch?"

Daniel stood up, "Nah, I'll show you to the guest room com'on," he motioned for Love Heart to follow him up the stairs.

OoOoO

Germaine smelled the hotdogs as soon as she approached Alex's house and spotted the fox in front of the barbecue as she cut across the grass and under the spruce tree to the front door. She felt her stomach growl as she opened the door, not even bothering to knock.

"Hey, Germaine, how goes?" Samantha was seated on the couch and she pointed to the edge where they had saved room for Alex and Germaine to sit.

Germaine smiled, "I'm fine, hungry though."

"Good timing then, just a few more minutes," Brandon checked his watch for what was probably the fifth time in the last three minutes.

Caleb watched Germaine as she took off her backpack and sat down on the couch, "If I may ask, Germaine: what does your foster family think about you living here?"

Germaine blushed, "Oh...well they said they're alright with it as long as it's what I want." Germaine smoothed down her long skirt, "No one's wanted to adopt me and they think it's good that I'll have a place to live when I'm legally an adult. On paper, I still live with them though and I have to go back once a month when the social services inspector comes around to make sure we're being looked after." She smiled, "I'm happy here."

"Happy enough to sleep together?" Samantha grinned.

Germaine blushed, "That, that's none of your business."

"I didn't hear a no," Samantha sat back, satisfied at her prodding.

Thankfully Alex was heard at the back door, "Food's ready!" he called, "Damn mosquitos," he added under his breath.

"Finally!" Brandon was up and in the kitchen immediately he grabbed two hotdogs and spread them with mustard and relish before he returned to the living room. Germaine was next and she shared a quick kiss with Alex before she took her own food.

"So how was stuff at school?" Alex took a seat next to Germaine and bit into his hotdog.

"Tiring, I don't want to relive it right now." Germaine all but inhaled her first hotdog and sighed contentedly, "Tasty."

Alex nodded and finished off his first hotdog, "I had a 'fun' encounter with Daniel downtown."

"What happened?" Germaine gave Alex a look of concern.

"That psycho tried to bash my head in with a branch! I was gonna fight him but this this green bear got between us and held us up with swords." Alex bit into his second hot dog and chewed rather aggressively.

"A green bear? You mean like us?" excitement rose in Germaine's voice.

Alex nodded and spoke with his mouth still full, "Yeah. Daniel calmed down but I bolted before he could say anything, I was in no mood." He swallowed and took another bite.

"Oh...well do you think we could meet him again?" Germaine's curiosity was piqued.

Alex saw Germaine's expression and swallowed and his mood mellowed, "We can try to find him tomorrow. I just needed to get home and away from the crazy noise in this bizarre town."

"That's alright," Germaine leaned up and gave Alex a kiss.

"Aww!" Brandon and Samantha cooed which made the fox and raccoon blush.

"Forget we were here?" Caleb chuckled as he finished off his meal, "Do you two want some time alone?"

"Yes, please..." Germaine averted her eyes from their three friends then crammed the second hotdog into her mouth and chewed it faster than she should have. She swallowed, felt it catch in her throat then ran to the kitchen to down a glass of water to help it pass through.

"I can see she's eager. I was going to sleep over at Caleb's tonight so we'll head out." Brandon took his second hotdog with him as he and Caleb left. Samantha crammed the second half of her hotdog into her mouth and took off after them.

"Wait up!" Samantha called to the two boys. Caleb and Brandon stopped to let her catch up, "Can I walk with you?"

"Sure? Want to come over?" Caleb offered.

Samantha rolled her eyes, "Wish I could but my parents would have a conniption fit if I stayed the night at a boy's house."

"Wanna talk about it?" Brandon offered as they started to walk again.

Samantha sighed, "Let' just say I did eight years hard time in 'private school' and had to threaten to tell social services about their corporal punishment to convince them to let me go to public high school, despite the 'horrors' that that meant. They still think Alex and Germaine are monsters here to corrupt me."

Caleb had to tread on eggshells with his next question, "Samantha, do your parents... hit you?"

Samantha shook her head and put her hands in her jean pockets, "They spanked me when I was a little kid, but that stopped years ago and my old teachers picked up the slack. These days they mostly just ask 'where did I go wrong?' or 'why do you hang out with those...things?' and worst 'can't you be more like your elder sister?'"

"You have a sister?" Brandon was taken aback.

"Oh yeah, never mentioned her. Mom and dad's perfect angel child who can do no wrong. Left for university a year before I started High School, only see her in the summer," Samantha groaned, "Can't wait to see her this year and see just how much she's excelling again, and how she making them proud again!" Samantha's teeth were grinding.

Brandon and Caleb weren't sure if they wanted to talk more or change the subject, thankfully they didn't have to as Samantha turned down the street to her house, "See you later," She wave backwards over her shoulder as she walked home.

OoOoO

With their friends gone, Alex locked the front door and gathered up the dishes to wash.

"Want to watch Star Wars?" Germaine pulled the DVD out of a drawer under the TV stand.

"Sure, just give me a minute." Five minutes later Alex had left the dishes to dry and sat down on the couch next to Germaine. Germaine smiled and leaned up against Alex as the film began.

At first they didn't talk and just got absorbed in the movie, then Germaine kissed Alex, Alex kissed back, then embraced and kissed deeper. They weren't paying attention to the movie but they had seen it a dozen times so it didn't matter too much. By the end of the movie, Alex was on his back. Only the ending credits jarred the apart long enough to shut off the TV and head for the bedroom.

Germaine winced as she took off her shirt and skirt then reached back to undo her bra. "Unf, tight," she muttered as she finally got the hooks undone.

"What's tight?" Alex had his shirt off and he looked over to Germaine with concern.

Germaine blushed as she dropped the undergarment. "I think I hit another growth spurt."

Alex blinked, then grinned and walked over to her, "Where? Here!" Alex reached up under her arms and groped her chest.

"Ah! Alex!" Germaine blushed but didn't protest, "Yes."

Alex kissed her, "They do feel bigger, I wonder how big you're gonna get."

Germaine shuddered and smiled, turning her head back to give Alex a kiss, "Dunno, but I need to get some new bras tomorrow. Will you come with me?"

"Of course." Alex nuzzled her shoulder and kissed her again. Germaine turned around and put her arms around him, pressing her chest up against his. Alex pulled her close and they kissed more deeply.

OoOoO

Love Heart was grateful for the fan and air conditioning unit in the guest room, he was out like a light as soon as his head hit the pillow. It was likely his lack of sleep on the flight over. It was just barely light out when Love Heart woke up. He stared groggily at the ceiling for a few minutes before he finally dragged himself out of bed.

Love Heart didn't even care that he was using the shower in a stranger's house, then again he wasn't really aware of his surroundings until he was dry and redressing into his clothes from the previous day. He grimaced slightly, "Gotta go shopping," he muttered. Now that he was finally awake he had to think about what to do. He had been asleep before anyone else could come home that night. He decided to throw caution to the wind and headed down to the kitchen.

It was quiet as Love Heart searched the kitchen where he found some cereal, milk, a bowl and a spoon. He didn't take a seat at the dining room table and opted to just stand in the kitchen as he ate. It didn't feel any more comfortable than it had the previous night.

As soon as he finished his bowl then someone came downstairs, an adult woman who wore a black business suit and high heels. "Daniel, sorry but I have to..." She paused upon seeing Love Heart.

Love Heart waved, "Hi, Daniel invited me over." He held his breath for a moment, ready to run if he had too.

"I see. I wish he'd told us. Just treat my son well, I have to get to work." The woman opened a cupboard and grabbed a breakfast bar before heading out the door. Love Heart watched her go then poured himself another bowl of cereal.

A few minutes later Love Heart heard more noise from upstairs and a man in a business suit came down the stairs. He didn't even stop to notice Love Heart, he just grabbed a travel mug and poured coffee from the automatic coffee maker into it before he headed out the door without a word.

Love Heart put the dishes in the dishwasher before he headed upstairs. He heard the shower running for a moment before the water shut off. A minute later he saw Daniel emerge from the same bathroom he had used with a towel wrapped around his middle. "Did you see my parents?" he asked as he headed for his room.

"Yeah they didn't say much though." Love Heart said.

"Well get used to that." Daniel shut his bedroom door and, five minute later, emerged in a blue t-shirt and black shorts. "So now what?"

"Well, before we do anything I need to get some new clothes, mine stink," Love Heart held a piece of his shirt up as he spoke, "Can you show me a good place?"

"Probably not, I'll just take you to the mall downtown, after I get breakfast," Daniel headed downstairs.

Half an hour later, Daniel and Love Heart were on a bus heading downtown.

"So how do I learn magic?" Daniel turned to Love Heart, who sat next to him.

"It takes a while, but first you need to learn how to create mana, the essence of magic, then you can shape it into your desired element, as for Care Bear magic," Love Heart folded his arms, "I'm not as good at that as dad but I'll do my best. I can give you a chest symbol when you're ready for it."

"Riiiiight," Daniel looked forwards, "So what happened with you down in the states?"

"I had a fight with two Care Bears named Shatter Heart and Blade Star. They were fighting another bear named Indy and I decided I had to run so they didn't track me back to my family. So I caught the red eye here," Love Heart sighed, "I didn't even have time to get any clothes just the money I have on hand and my bank card."

"Yeesh, that sucks. So can you tell me how I changed into this?" Daniel held out his furry grey arm and twisted it so he could show it off.

"I think the Great Wishing Star did it, to change normal animals into Care Bears. Except me, I was born this way," Love Hear touched his chest.

Daniel glared at him, "So that was the prick who did this. Until two years ago I was human."

"Wait what?" Love Heart turned and stared at Daniel, mouth agape, "You were human?"

"I was, then I heard this voice through my window and I changed into this. So tell me how does that work?" Daniel's voice had an edge to it, but Love Heart didn't seem to notice.

"That's... I mean this is completely new to me. I didn't think that was even possible," Love Heart shook his head to clear it and held his forehead.

"Great, that was a dead end," Daniel folded his arms and huffed. They stayed quiet until they got to the mall.

Love Heart was relieved when he finally got a ne set of clothes, and six more sets including underwear. "Now I just need to make sure I can pay for this." Love Heart hauled the armfuls of clothing to the front till. He winced slightly when he saw the cost on the screen, but sighed and was about to dig out his wallet when Daniel stepped in front of him.

"My treat, since you're going to teach me magic," Daniel muttered as he handed his bank card to the checker.

Love Heart smiled, "Thanks."

Despite himself, Daniel couldn't help but smile, "No problem."

Love Heart changed into one of his new sets of clothes and they headed for the food court. Love Heart wasn't too fond of the food choices, but he found a sub sandwich shop and ordered a mostly meat sandwich.

Daniel had some Chinese food with meat layered on top of noodles and they sat and ate in silence, until Daniel spotted two familiar people out of the corner of his eye. "Great, they're here."

Love Heart looked over his shoulder and spotted the red fox from the previous day along with a two tone blue raccoon, who was carrying a large shopping bag with the logo from a clothing store on it.

Daniel and Love Heart both wolfed down their food, but Love Heart was first and he stood up and took his shopping bag with him.

Daniel's eyes narrowed, "Are you going to talk to them?"

"I am. You should come too," Love Heart turned back to Daniel

Daniel huffed but stood up, "Fine!"

Love Heart heard the edge in Daniel's voice, "Don't start a fight. I need to talk to all of you."

Daniel was about to shoot back only to feel himself wilt under the harsh stare Love Heart gave him and he just nodded. Love Heart turned and led Daniel towards the fox and raccoon.

Alex and Germaine were about to start eating when they saw Daniel approaching with Love Heart.

Alex growled, "Let's go," he muttered as he pushed the chair away and stood up.

"No, wait. I want to talk to him," Germaine put a hand on Alex's hand, which stopped him.

Alex sighed, "OK, for you." He sat back down.

"Hello, my name is Love Heart Bear. I Don't remember your name. You are?" Love Heart looked at Alex.

"Alex Kitun."

"I'm Germaine Siedleman. It's nice to meet you," Germaine managed a smile.

"And I'm Daniel Masterson, great now we all know each other," Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Watch it, Daniel, I'm in no mood today," Alex growled, "So you hooked up with Daniel. What did he tell you about us?"

Love Heart's eye narrowed, "Nothing. Why are you two like this?" he looked back and forth between the three other animals.

"Just that he's been bullying us for years until he got changed into that!" Alex pointed at Daniel. His shouting was drawing attention, "And now he wants to take it out on me even though I never did anything to him."

"Like hell you didn't how else did I-"

"STOP!" Love Heart's shout silenced the whole food court. Germaine shrank back as Love Heart stood, his fur literally sparking as he continued, "My name is Love Heart Bear and I'm here to teach you about what you are and how to use magic." He held up his hand as the sparks subsided, "I want to teach you, all three of you, but I don't want to force you to do anything." Love Heart took a deep breath and held his hand out so it was between all of them. "If you're willing, I can help you, all of you."

For the first time ever, Alex, Germaine and Daniel all stared at each other in silence, and they were all thinking the same thing.

Germaine took his hand, "I can, if you explain things."

"I guess I'm in too," Alex took Love Heat's hand.

"I'm already deep in," Daniel added his hand.

"Good." Love Heart released their hands. "We can start today, if you're ready."