FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

_A foreword: Hey everyone. This is a fiction that I originally started writing to flesh out the characters of my two OC/duo fursonas, Reyson and Clair. It's mostly a piece for myself, but I'm happy to share it with anyone that is interested in reading it. Thoughts and criticisms are welcome-_but above all, I hope you enjoy.

---

With brisk steps, Reyson paced quietly into the arcade, Game Engine. The familiar noises of claw machines, controllers jerking about, and loud music filled his ears as the sliding doors made way for his (not particularly) grand entrance. His hands firmly planted in his sweater pockets, the gray wolf was focused on his primary objective-to play the new songs that were recently released with the long-awaited update of Cats Dance Evolution (CDE)** and while he did his best to make himself appear small and inconspicuous, his sharp teal eyes glinted with a fierce excitement as his big fluffy tail swished gently back and forth in rhythmic anticipation.

**Cat's Dance Evolution, as one might expect, is a reference to the well known rhythm game Dance Dance Revolution.

Upon arriving at the dance machine, however, his silent enthusiasm quickly faded upon noticing the plethora of other people already present, taking turns on the machine. A few of them noticed the wolf, giving him friendly nods and small waves. With some hesitation, he nodded back, giving a forced, but convincing enough smile-or so he had hoped, anyway. Unrealistic as it may have been, he really would have preferred that few/no other players would be present so that he could have the machine to himself. Truly, the terrors of having to speak to other people.. And WAIT for them, no less... such were his thoughts.

He sat down on a nearby chair and watched the other people play some of the new songs, taking the time to study the notes and how they were moving their feet. The others surrounding the game cabinet talked amongst themselves and generally ignored him, which was fine by the lone wolf-He no longer considered himself competent in any sort of social capacity-nor was he ashamed by this fact. As the last player, a female panther finished up her last song, and the "Thank you for playing!" panel started scrolling across the screen, Reyson stood up and started walking over to a different game, SynthPulseDX (SPDX), a rhythm game played with a touch screen, with plans to kill some time while he waited for the crowd around CDE to whittle down.

The regular finishing up her play session saw him walking in the general direction of the dance machine and called out to him, waving energetically, clearly recognizing him as a regular.

"Hey! You just got here, right? Did you want to play a round? We've all been here and played for a while so you should give it a shot! The new songs are a lot of fun to play!" She gave him a friendly and cheerful smile as she invited him over with vim and vigor. Reyson whipped his head around in wild confusion, not expecting anyone to talk to him today-let alone be friendly.

Curses, his plans to engage in 0 people speak was ruined-RUINED!.

In a low mutter, he turned towards her while keeping his eyes planted downward, and made his best effort to answer her.

"Oh, uh.. I..'d rather not. But thank... thank you." He managed to blurt out awkwardly before continuing to his backup game. The panther looked at him with a bewildered expression, but she eventually just shrugged it off and let another player onto the cab to play. Reyson, meanwhile, was busy mentally slapping himself in the face, ruminating over the impressive ineptitude of his reply. He quickly got over it though as he swiped his card into the machine to play a few rounds of SPDX.

The game booted up and he played his songs. He deftly maneuvered his hands gracefully and hit all of the notes with utmost precision as they appeared on screen-hitting nearly all perfects with only a few greats, and no misses whatsoever. Losing himself in the music, he continued going at it, bobbing his head lightly to the rhythm as he continued skillfully tapping the screen in response to the visual prompts. While it wasn't Cat's Dance Evolution, Reyson was no stranger to the rhythm and music game genre as a whole, and in fact, was on the local leaderboards for several of the games at the arcade. He was proud of the records had achieved on the various machines. Though not many would acknowledge or even be concerned with such trivial seeming achievements, he himself was happy with his own effort and hours put into gaining the skill needed to master the games he loved to play.

After an hour or so had passed, he looked back towards the CDE machine and noticed that the crowd that was originally there had dispersed. With his fingers starting to get sore and the regulars gone, he approached the now freely open cab, put in some credits, and started up the game he had been waiting to play all along, taking off the sweats he was wearing to reveal a worn black pair of worn green underneath. Picking one of the new songs, he firmly gripped the support bars behind him firmly and started stepping to the music and the notes- easily outdoing his already remarkable skill on SPDX.

Finishing the first song with a full combo, he started up the second and started playing as a group of children watched him play and decided to come over to start heckling him... not exactly unusual, but a fairly uncommon occurrence. The spectators that came by were usually the awestruck ones who would give compliments and praise-which he usually either ignored or just responded with a generic smile. Sometimes, however, he did occasionally get the kids and young adults who thought they were too cool for silly dance games where you just slam your feet on panels on the floor. The commentary and reactions were pretty distracting-regardless of whether or not they were positive or negative. As these bullies in particular jeered comments about how Reyson had no life and mockingly imitated his steps, he did his best to tune them out.

However, the distractions did eventually get the better of him as he missed a few notes while trying to maintain his focus. The wolf still did clear the song with a very respectable score, but Reyson knew he could do better than that. While the wolf was visibly irritated with the children, he avoided confronting them, telling himself that they were not worth the trouble to scold... It didn't have anything to do with him being too anxious to yell at or speak to people or anything.

"It's too bad there's no mute button for dumb kids..." he grumbled to himself as he selected the last song for the current set. He picked the last song, a tune he particularly wanted to play. As the music started, he found himself really getting into the beat of this song-almost feeling like he could drown out everything else and hear just the music. Enjoying this new-found flow state, he took his renewed focus in stride and played his heart out-hitting even more accurately than usual. When he finished, the results screen showed a banner congratulating him on a Perfect Full Combo and 100% score. His eyes glimmered with a self-satisfied expression as he looked around and saw that the children had left as well.

It was at this point that he also noticed that he could still only hear the game music and sound effects.. In fact, he couldn't hear any of the other sounds in the arcade at all. In a swirling tempest of confusion and concern, he spun his head around, finally seeing that he was standing inside a strange crystalline bubble of sorts. The spherical orb encasing him would occasionally flicker with green and blue refractions as the light of the building bounced off it.

Eventually though, a realization occurred to him, and once he understood the only possible cause of this kaleidoscopic hamster ball, he whipped his head around once more, this time spotting a familiar cat around his age smiling at him. The wolf's normally hard and indifferent eyes immediately widened with a flurry of emotions as he recognized his old friend, and he called out to him, as if on instinct.

"Clair.." He said, clearly and gently. His tail was whipping back and forth, almost violently, as he stared at the cat for what seemed like ages, taking the time to carefully reassess his features. His fur was now colored sky blue, with lime green accents on his head fur and arms, strongly resembling the color of the bubble Reyson found himself in. One could clearly make out his lean and fit build from the orange sleeveless v-neck t-shirt and dark blue shorts he was wearing, showing off his well toned musculature. The wolf also observed a few new piercings on the cat's ears, along with a notable earring in the shape of the treble clef.

The feline cocked his head in slight confusion before seeming to realize something, and waved his hand. Suddenly, the bubble surrounding Reyson shattered away into disappearing fragments. All of the other noises in the arcade suddenly came flooding back into the lupine's ears as the remaining fragments of the sound bubble glistened in the light of the arcade's interior.

"Hey Ray, fancy seeing you here-though I guess I shouldn't be surprised, huh?" Clair said cheerfully before giving a playful frown. "You've gone back to wearing those baggy dull clothes again! What happened to the clothes I bought you back in high school? I told you-you look better in stuff that fits you properly!" He continued with a pout. "...And take the sweater off! You have to be burning up playing Cat's Dance Evolution in that many layers!" Before Reyson could explain himself, or even protest, Clair's hands were all over the wolf's clothes as he aggressively pulled off his sweater. Underneath the drab outer layer was a similarly dull, slightly oversized white T-shirt, which definitely looked like it had been worn at least a few times too many. Clair was unsurprisingly unimpressed-disappointed even. "Oh come on, do yourself a favor and get yourself new clothes! You have such a cute body, you should get some duds to show it... off." Clair's voice trailed off in a hint of embarrassment as he suddenly became conscious of the words that had just left his mouth.

"Mm... maybe-you uh... you still look great, Clair... A lot different, but handsome as always." Reyson eventually responded-either ignoring or entirely missing the very direct flirting. Clair continued idly pondering his words with his eyes absently facing the wolf before suddenly realizing that he had just been spoken to. He stepped back in a quick jolt of surprise and bashfulness, as though he had been caught doing something very naughty. However, his expression flipped back to one of happy-go-lucky amusement in an instant.

"Huh...? Oh, OH! Yeah! I dyed my fur a few years ago- wanted to have a brighter look-something that feels more true to myself, you know?... Also matches the colors of my power, which is a nice touch~" To demonstrate, the cat flicked his hands in a light swirling motion, as trails of blue and green followed to form something akin to a pop filter. As he did, there was a reverb effect as he finished his statement, speaking into the magicked circle before it dissipated on it's own. Clair was beaming with delight, clearly very happy with his new look. Reyson's expression softened with a rare, gentle look as the initial shock of seeing his old friend started to subside.

"...It suits you perfectly, Clair." Reyson replied, eliciting a faint blush from Clair as he dramatically tried to wave the compliment away, still emitting the glow of his magic as it trailed along like a long exposure photograph. There was a brief pause before Reyson thought of another point of inquiry:

"That- just now... that's new, isn't it?" He asked, making circular gestures and pointing to his ears to indicate the bubble that he was encased in just moments ago.

"Ah, the sound barriers? Yep, that's new! It keeps the outside sounds out, and the inside sounds in- you know, like a mini-soundproof room, but a bubble- Pretty cool, huh?" Clair explained enthusiastically, looking at Reyson expectantly-definitely waiting for a compliment.

"Yea-very impressive." Was the reply-a curt but warm response as the edge of the wolf's muzzle curled into a light smile. The cat chuckled in response.

"Hehe~ not as impressive as you! Those kids didn't know what they were talking about- I shoo'd them away after putting up that little sound bubble up for ya- I remember how much you hate distractions while playing and all that." Reyson nodded sagely, and there was a moment of silence.

After some thought and an extended period of circling his gaze around the cat, Reyson finally fixed his gaze on him briefly, making eye contact, before pointing said gaze towards the machine, back at Clair, and finally, raising his shoulders in a questioning gesture.

"Oh, I mean, you were playing, right? I'm alright for now, you should play!" Clair replied in his usual friendly tone. Ray scratched his head for a moment before opening his mouth to speak again.

"Uh.. together?" he uttered quietly with his ears dropped slightly and a twitch of his tail. His old friend's eyes widened briefly before he broke out into a huge grin.

"Wha- OH! Hell yeah! Let's do it!" Clair shouted with glee as he hopped on the player 2 side of the machine and put in his own credits to join in on the fun.

---

The two played a few games together. As expected, Clair played without the guard bars, though still playing with practiced energy. The wolf clearly spent much more time practicing than the cat, and hit his notes much more accurately, but the feline had a great sense of rhythm and could keep on the beat with his great sense of balance, never falling too far behind in score and maintaining his full combo throughout. After a few rounds, they agreed to get dinner at a nearby fast food joint. As they got their food, they sat down at the opposite side of the counter, and were immediately met with an extended period of awkward silence as neither knew how to catch up with one another.

After a few long minutes, Clair was the first to break the silence and ask about Reyson.

"So, how's life been treating ya, Ray?" Clair asked before stuffing his face into his burger. Reyson chewed on his own sandwich thoughtfully before answering.

"Nothing much- College was alright. I got my degree. Have an office job right now- pays pretty well." He answered in short sentences while looking down at his food. Clair smiled knowingly- Ray was a smart guy-it was just like him to find a job right out of university. After a beat, Ray looked up at the cat. "You?" he inquired in return. Almost as though he wasn't expecting to be asked about himself, Clair hesitated a moment in surprise, but composed himself quickly.

"Me? I'm doing great! The music department at university was a blast and I met all sorts of cool people at the dorms! That sound barrier trick I picked up was partially inspired thanks to my roommates being so annoyed with me practicing all the time, hehe~ Oh man, where do I start?" The cat went on between bites, talking about all the people he met at university and his nights spent partying.

"...And you know, I was able to really refine my sonomancy there. I have you to thank for that. If you weren't there for me back in middle school-well, forever, really, I'd probably be in a much different place right now." He gave his friend a beaming smile. Ray's facial expression didn't change too much, but in his eyes there was a twinkle of pride when thinking about those precious parts of their past. Clair continued.

"At any rate, I-uh... am out and about when it comes to finding work, haven't found anything yet but i'm sure something will come up soon!"

Their exchange was interrupted as the manager called out over the cash register.

"Yo, Clair!"

The two looked over at the uniformed tiger as Clair's face dropped to bury itself in his food wrapper.

"Why didn't you tell me you were here? Employees get meals for free! You don't want free food?" the Manager barked towards the other end of the restaurant-practically yelling even though there weren't that many people present to begin with. All the other patrons turned around and glanced over at the table he was speaking towards, leaving Reyson confused and Clair beet red.

"I-uh, I guess I forgot, hah. C'mon, Rich, you don't need to make a big deal out of it, everyone's staring!" Clair answered while trying to hide his shame. Richard laughed jovially before responding.

"Well, alright, your loss I guess. By the way, fast food isn't exactly the best place to go on a first date, you know! Also, does your girlfriend know about this?".

"This isn't a date, Richard! We're just hanging out! And THAT TIME WITH JULIE WASN'T A DATE EITHER!" Clair clapped back with overcompensating levels of indignance. Immediately shipping any friends his employees bring to the restaurant was a pretty normal course of action for the tiger, but for whatever reason, Clair was unexpectedly self-conscious in this particular instance.

"Yeah, sure, whatever!" Richard answered while giving his trademark smug wink. "Alright everyone, stop staring, let the lovebirds have their dinner in peace-BWAHAHA!!" Clair's boss exclaimed with a booming laughter before heading to the back to take-presumably to do manager things...

Despite the attention this exchange brought, Reyson looked completely unfazed. The other guests also giggled to themselves before going back to their own business-It was clear that most of them had seen events like this before.

"Your boss seems friendly." Reyson uttered expressionlessly, catching Clair off guard while he was muttering some comments about how Rich was the one causing the staring to begin with. He pouted at the wolf.

"Oh shut up-It hasn't been so long that I can't tell when you're being sarcastic! Don't encourage his behavior!" Ray's expression didn't change, but he was very amused. "You been here for a while?" He asked, deciding to change the subject to preserve what was left of his friend's dignity.

"Y-yeah, I work here. I actually came down to the arcade because it was so close to here, and my shift ended before then."

"...He's always a lot?"

"He's a nice guy! Great to work with! Super chill, I swear!...

...

..

.

...but yeah. He's a lot. All the time."

Despite the devilish attempt on Clair's social life, Richard's interruption did serve to break the subtle tension looming between the wolf and cat, as the two companions suddenly broke into lighthearted chuckles. At the tail end of the laughter, Clair continued the dialogue with a hint of shame.

"I, uh... I didn't really want you to know I worked here-"

"You didn't? I never would have guessed."

"-I figured you'd already be successful or something and-I hate you, by the way-I kind of wanted to be able to face you with... I don't know, something more than this, I guess." Clair gave another laugh and a playful smile, but Reyson gave Clair a stern look.

"...You still do that?" The wolf asked him.

"Huh? What?"

"Smile when you're not really happy." He elaborated, after a pause. The feline was surprised at first, but then started howling with amusement.

"Ahaha! Oh man, how long has it been since you've seen through me like that? You need to stop that-It's creepy~." He responded, the tone of his voice mellowing out substantially.

"Service work isn't a big deal. Everyone starts somewhere." Ray said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I know... And I know you probably don't care- you've always been understanding like that. I just- I don't know. I'm still looking for a place to live. I'm staying at a college friend's place for now, and he's definitely nice and all, but I don't want to freeload off him or anything." Ray's softened expression stiffened as he looked back down and continued eating.

"I'm looking for a place too." Clair suddenly looked at him. His expression went through a metamorphosis from that of surprise, then excitement, then seriousness.

"Wait, Really?!... Then we-Hold on, does that mean... you're living with your dad right now?"

"Yeah, I'm living with da-my father."

"R-Right. Your father..." The tense atmosphere returned for a brief moment, but Clair quickly moved on from it. "uh-Anyway! If we're both looking for somewhere to stay, then uh, what say we find a place to move into together? Rent split between two people is always cheaper, and we know each other pretty well, so we should be able to get along alright."

Reyson stopped eating for a moment and stared up at Clair. His expression pierced through the cat as he silently considered his proposal. A habit the feline was already aware of, he waited for the wolf to finish his silent deliberation and give a response. After quite a delay, he answered.

"That's a good idea, sure."

"Mm, yeah, that's understandable, I guess I don't know that much about your situa-Huh?" Clair stopped, surprised at Reyson's immediate receptiveness to the idea.

"Wait, you sure? Normally you'd have a ton of follow-up questions to confirm the details." Clair continued.

"My situation hasn't really changed... Plus, If you're working here, then your parents..." Ray trailed off, looking carefully at Clair's expression. His face of inquiry fading into a knowing frown.

"That doesn't matter, I don't want their money anyway. I can get by on my own terms, and I don't need their help." Clair gave a rare look of unfiltered bitterness, but quickly masked it after noticing Ray's concerned look. "..But that's nothing you need to worry about. So uh, you're good to live with me then?" Ray decided not to press the issue with his friend's family, as he did the same earlier.

"Of course. What you said earlier makes sense. And also, I..." the wolf's voice drifted yet again as he turned his gaze towards the window, staring down the street back towards the direction of the arcade. Clair cocked his head quizzically, which Reyson perceived before finishing his thought.

"...I missed you. It'll be nice to spend more time together." He continued avoiding the cat's gaze, not wanting to see his reaction, but his tail flicked loosely back and forth as the words left his mouth. Meanwhile, Clair's usual chipper demeanor returned with even greater intensity, excited over his friend's positive response.

"Awesome! It'll be great living together. And yeah, I missed you too, I definitely want to take some more time to catch up, sooner than later!" he replied gleefully. The wolf didn't respond, but the rhythm of his tail swishes increased ever so slightly as he looked back at his friend with softened eyes and a gentle smile.

After some more idle conversation, the two left the restaurant, and Clair started heading to his car when he looked back at Reyson. He was leaning his arms against a short pillar with his field of vision fixed down the street towards the horizon. Clair watched him like that for a brief moment before calling out.

"Still daydream about getting away?" He asked.

"...Somewhere better than here." Reyson responded, still staring straight ahead. Clair pondered for just a moment.

"Do you hate this place?" A pause.

"...I don't think so." Clair was surprised by that answer, but nodded sagely after taking a moment to process the words.

"...Yeah, I don't think so either." Another pause. Clair opened his mouth, and then closed it. He repeated this a few more times before finally speaking again. "You know, I still think you should let go of those sad thoughts, but I will say..." A moment of hesitation. Reyson continued looking into the distance, but his ear twitched to indicate that he was listening and waiting for the end of his friend's statement. "...well... I think that faraway look that you're wearing right now is really beautiful."

At this, Ray finally stopped looking out into the endless landscape and turned to face Clair. With hands tucked in his pockets and head tilted just slightly downwards, one could make out the hint of a blush on his face as he smiled. Reyson looked back at him with his trademark neutral expression that was near impossible to read, and after a lengthy pause which made Clair a bit nervous, The wolf looked back towards the sky.

However, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, holding it out in Clair's general direction.

"You can take a picture if you want. I'll send it to you." He finally said. The cat sighed, resisting the urge to slap the phone out of Reyson's hand as he watched the wolf smirk and laugh through his nose, clearly amused by his own joke.

"...Why are you like this? This is why I don't compliment you!" The cat hissed in playful indignation. Reyson finally let out a quiet, but audible laugh. Clair smiled, and grabbed the wolf's outstretched hand with his phone, nearly causing him to drop it in the process. "Now come on, Ray! Let's go!" Reyson looked back at him with confusion.

"..Go? Where?"

"You said so yourself, somewhere better than here!"