FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next morning, Ilorek woke to the sounds of banging pans. When he came out, he saw the tiny Malamute girl digging through his kitchen cupboards.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Ilorek asked, more confused than anything.

"Oh nothing." Natasha said, not looking up. "Just trying to make breakfast."

"I don't really think there's gonna be anything there that we can both eat, unless you're particularly fond of a mix of berries and nuts. That's really all I eat for breakfast, helps to sate my avian side." he used his hands to show off his still-ruffled feathers. Most avians tended to wake up with messy, messy feathers. In fact, most avians were allowed to come in a half hour late to work due to their need to preen in the morning. At least Ilorek was.

"Oh I know, I was looking for baking supplies. Was hoping to make a compromise." She suddenly got up with a bag of flour in her paw, holding it up like a victorious warrior. "Alright! I win!"

"What do you win?"

"Nothing, go preen or something, you look gross. Not very attractive if you ask me."

Ilorek paused, but did what he needed to do, cautiously going back into his room to sit on his bed, using his beak and talons to preen himself. Damn feathers always needing alignment. At least the only part of his equine half that needed grooming was his tail, and that wasn't too bad if he kept it braided. Today was not one of those days.

After 20 minutes of preening and brushing, Ilorek came out of his room to see Natasha in front of the stove, dancing back and forth as she tried to sing (it was like a low-tone howl, if nothing else.)

"Uh, breakfast I guess?" Ilorek inquired.

"Oh yeah, done in a second!" she piped. She took the pan she was working with and dumped something onto a plate, which she picked up and brought to the table. "Breakfast is served!"

Ilorek slid up to the table and looked down at his plate. He saw a yellowish patty with blue and red dots on it. "Uh, what is it?" he asked nervously.

Natasha sliced it with her fork and took a bite. "It's a pancake, doofus." She mumbled through a mouth of food. "With berries in it for you!"

Berries? Is that what those colored dots were? Ilorek thought to himself. Well if she likes it, perhaps I will, too!

He took a bite and quickly swallowed it down. Natasha stopped to stare, as if waiting for something to happen. Ilorek nervously took another bite, and she continued to stare. "Uh, was I supposed to explode? What are you waiting for?"

"Don't be a dork, how is it?"

He slowly shrugged. "Uh, nutritional I guess?"

She put her fork down and glared at him. "No, how does it taste? Is it as good as your food?"

Ilorek shrugged again. "I told you, I really don't know. I'm avian, we don't exactly have the most advanced taste buds. I guess it tastes pretty good, but unless something is heavily spiced or strongly scented, I don't really taste anything. It doesn't taste bad, that's for sure. Has a nice sweetness, but that's the berries, I guess."

"Awww." her ears drooped. "It's one of the only things I've ever learned to make that actually tasted good. Sorry I couldn't compare...I just wanted to return the favor for the food you made me."

Ilorek wasn't sure if she was going to cry or if she was fine. He reached over to pat her shoulder when she suddenly snapped out of her funk. "Gotcha!" she laughed. "I got to make pancakes, so I don't care if you like it!" with that, she scarfed down the rest of her pancake and licked her lips off, staring intently at Ilorek the whole time. "You gonna eat that?"

He looked down at his plate. "Uh, I guess I have to since this was likely the last of my berries." He folded the pancake over with his fork and shoved the whole thing into his mouth, swallowing without chewing.

"Fucking weird anatomy." she commented. "At least we chew, maybe that's why you don't taste anything!"

"Whatever, I'm going to get more berries, you coming with or do you have plans?" Ilorek offered as he picked up the plates to put them in the sink.

"Oh, I'm coming with you. No plans today, already told my flatmates I would be away all weekend, they're not expecting me back till Monday at the earliest." She hopped up and headed for the door. "Don't wait up!" she opened the door and was gone before Ilorek could even respond. Hell, he wasn't even properly dressed yet!

After getting ready, Ilorek left and met Natasha out front. "Well, since we're apparently stuck with each other, tell me more about you." he said.

"Well I already told you all you need to know at the moment. Told you about my past, my present, and I guess you can imagine my prospective future analyzing crazy people for a living. Could make some serious coin off that, you know. What about you?"

"I think you know most of that, too. I mean, unless you really wanna know all the gory details about other people who've tried to get in my pants, but once you've heard one of those stories, you've heard them all."

"Okay, okay. Fine. What's your greatest wish? If you could be any species, what would you be?"

That stumped Ilorek. "Uh, I never really thought about it. Truth be told it never crossed my mind."

"Wait, really? Our entire time talking about your past and how your partners got scared of you, and you never thought about what it'd be like to be, say, a canine or feline? What about human?"

Ilorek laughed out loud. "Forget humans, they're boring as hell. And their dicks are like, miniscule compared to the rest of their bodies!"

Natasha sighed and leaned into Ilorek's arm, which was almost as big around as her neck. "Oh you. Do you think about anything other than penis?"

"Uh...what?" The little malamute hanging off his arm made Ilorek a touch uncomfortable. This is what girlfriends did. "you mind not holding my hand like that? It's creepin me out."

"Oh quit whining, you big beast. For a biologist you don't know a lot about other species. Canines loooove to cuddle and play, you don't need to be my mate for me to do that. I mean, if that's what you were upset by." she looked up at him, almost begging with those bright blue eyes.

Ilorek just sighed. "Oh fine, if you must, nuzzle all you want. I'm not gonna hold your hand, understand?"

"Yep!" She chirped. "But that said, I still think it's fascinating to know that so much of your life seems to revolve around dicks and size-related isues. Your mass got you into school, your dick got you into trouble, and I can't even mention humans without you rushing to mention how small their dicks are. You have Dicksationation, a disorder of the cock. You know that right?"

"Dicksationation? Did you really just make up a word just for me?"

"Hey, don't feel so bad, I make up words all the time. Besides, you should be glad you're half equine, had you been full avian, there's a chance you may not have a dick at all!" They both laughed, but then Natasha stopped. "No, I'm serious. In some parts of the world, avians are born without dicks. They rub cloacas and BAM, eggs next week!"

Ilorek slowed his chuckling before answering. "Oh, I know, and some birds can use their dicks to wrestle one another. Once heard of a duck-breed that had a dick so long, if he whipped it out in front of a woman, he could go through three hens and still need someone to take care of the end of it. True story!"

"Oh, so you do know about those birds! Aha! You're not a failed biologist after all!"

The two of them continued to talk about various dicks for what seemed like hours as they meandered through town. They passed through their university before finally arriving at the market.

The market was a massive area of town. 5 blocks of nothing but various people from various species trying to sell their wares not only to their own species, but to others as well. Most of it was basic variations of nuts and berries, meats, cheeses, and grains, but Ilorek felt a little nauseous when they walked past an elegant white avian selling her own eggs by the dozen.

"Look, it's not that I'm against eating eggs." Ilorek was whispering to Natasha. "I just think it's kinda weird that she's selling her own."

"Oh shush you. Egg eating is taboo here, but if you go down south, it's not uncommon, you just gotta get past the idea of eating unborn embryos, they actually taste pretty good, to be honest."

Ilorek just gagged at the thought. "Blech, I was born of an egg, that'd be like cannibalism to me. I'll just happily pass on the cannibalism." He reached down to get a few coins from his wallet so he had them ready. "Let's just get our food and be gone. You want anything?"

"Naww, my body's a lot smaller than yours, that pancake will last me till dinner. Just get yourself a snack or something. Maybe I'll steal a couple." she said.

So Ilorek did just that, finding the nearest vender that sold dried berries. He gave them the coins he'd gotten out, and in return got a rather sizeable sack of mixed berries and nuts. "There, now that's a snack. You sure you don't want any?"

"No I'm fine."

Just then, Ilorek's ears heard something just out of earshot of most. It was a young boy shouting out something about 'today's fight.'. "Do you hear that?" Ilorek asked, putting up a talon to his ear.

"Hear what?" Natasha asked, putting her hand on her hips, her tail drooping. "I'm canine, dumbass. I probably hear everything you hear and more."

"Okay smartass, do you hear the kid talking about a fight?"

"Yeah, some obnoxious little feline over there." she pointed past the berry and nut vendor. "Something about a local championship."

"You wanna go?" Ilorek offered.

"Go to what?"

"The championship match later today. I told you I used to do arena fights when I was in middle school, I've retained a healthy interest in watching people beat the living hell out of one another. So you wanna go?" he held out his hand and smiled.

She put one hand in his while her other was on her chest. She feigned her legs giving out. "Oh dear, are you asking me out on a date?" she laughed.

"Naww, have you seen the fights here?"

"No, I heard about them though. Heard they can get pretty violent."

"Oh yeah. I've seen people get stabbed in them, I even heard that one guy had his wing chopped off a few months back!" Ilorek beamed. "Seriously, it can be a lot of fun once they get into it. I've never seen anything so exciting. No other sport even remotely compares."

She just sighed. "Well, sadly I already admitted I have no other plans. So sure, why not?"

"Okay, this is gonna be a lot of fun." Ilorek said.

It was later that day and they were sitting in their stadium seating. Ilorek had managed to buy his way into relatively good seats in spite of his species. 'I'm with this bitch here, dogs don't see well', he had argued, and the avian he was trying to buy the tickets off had agreed, taking pity on the less-sighted of the species. Natasha was more than a little miffed at his assertion of sighted superiority, but it got her a better seat so she was okay with it in the end. Now they were only 11 rows back from the ground and right near the middle of the battle field. They were very good seats.

"Well this is a side of you I hadn't expected to see." Natasha commented.

"You'll get used to that in me." Ilorek said as he ruffled up his feathers a bit. "I'm really only shy and reserved around prospective partners. Get to be my friend and you'll see how outgoing I can be."

"No I didn't mean that. I wasn't talking about shyness, I was talking about bloodlust."

That dampened the mood for Ilorek. "Bloodlust? What? No, it's just a sport. We can leave if you're really not into it."

"Naw it's cool. I'm a psychiatrist, gotta keep an open mind. I just don't naturally see the draw in watching people kill each other for fun."

"One, you're a psychologist, not a psychiatrist; and two, nobody dies. That's what the healers are for. Trust me, it's fine."

Natasha was just about to say something when a sudden burst of fire erupted from in front of them, arcing into the form of a dragon before dissipating in a puff of smoke. She instinctively clutched at Ilorek's arm in fear. "The hell was that?!"

"Just the pyrotechnics, dear." Ilorek laughed as he patted her between the ears, condescendingly.

Natasha just growled until she looked down and saw all that fire was coming from a feisty little feline, dancing around and releasing wave after wave of shaped fire from her paws. "Whoa! I've never actually SEEN magic before!"

"Really? Shit's not all that impressive."

But Natasha kept her eyes staring as more felines danced around creating electric shocks and waves of fire after one another, putting on a hell of a show. Just as things were starting to die down, an intense drum beat kicked up behind the roaring of the flames, and the bursts of magic were quickly exploding in time with the music.

"Okay, this is pretty Snodding awesome!" Natasha shouted, but Ilorek barely heard her over the booming sound of explosions and drums. He just kept staring at the display.

"BOOOOM!" an announcer cried out as all the dancers released a final burst in unison He was a rather massive canine that Natasha imagined was almost as big as Ilorek. "Ladies and gentlemen, furs and feathers, tonight I invite you to our culminating event!" The crowd, including Ilorek, went wild as they cheered. "After a year of exhibitions and tournaments, now we chose our hometown hero!"

As the itinerary had pointed out, this was the final match in a month-long tournament to decide who from their community would be going on to compete in the nationals. It was a very big deal, especially since the university was known to have a particularly strong rivalty with Jeunes to the east. It was a Jeunes fighter against a local Duruk University champ. Making it even more interesting was the pairing. Two of the most dominant races were fighting one another: a gryphon and dragon.

Very interesting match.

"That's right ladies and gentlement we have Horlon the gryphon, from Jeunes fighting against Ssev from Duruk!" the locals all erupted once again at the mention of their hometown of Duruk. "Now now, show some sportsmanship feathers and furs!"

"What about scales!" a random crowd member screamed.

"Scales too, wouldn't dare leave you studs out! Anyway, We're looking at a hell of a fight tonight! Each fighter has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it'll be interesting to see the smaller gryphon fight against our much larger, stronger dragon!" Again, most of the crowd went wild, while some booed angrily.

"Well I won't keep you waiting! Five mintues until first bell! Get ready for an explosive boooooooout!" and with his final words, the feline magic dancers released yet another blast of fire into the air, and the drums started up again.

The small Malamute was grinning from ear to ear, as best a canine could, so Ilorek turned to her and whispered, "See? Not so bad after all, is it?"

"No, this is actually kinda cool...but it's mostly just the magic so far...haven't seen any blood yet."

"You'll learn to love it."

It wasn't long before the announcer came back out. "Scales and feathers, furs and skinnies, it's about time we got this party rolling! Over in this corner we have Miss Ssev! A fierce red-scaled dragon who's known for her martial arts skills! In this corner we have Horlon! A gryphon known for his use of magic! We all know this is going to be one hell of a match, so let's see some fireworks!"

The announcer left the grass combat zone to let a referee take his place. He gave the two combatants their rules, let them shake claws, then left the arena to let them return to their sides. There was a bell and the dragon stopped a moment to excite the crowd, raising his claws up and spreading his wings. As expected,the crowd went wild.

But the gryphon didn't wait, he pounced on the dragon and started clawing viciously, and the fight was on.

Back and forth it went, with the gryphon flying around and the dragon trailing behind, the dragon getting in a few powerful hits while the gryphon had bursts of elemental magics spewing all over the place.

At one point in the match, the dragon hit the gryphon so hard that he was knocked into the crowd, but was stopped by an invisible barrier. Natasha was shocked, but that didn't stop her from idly reaching into Ilorek's bag of nuts to get something to munch on. Ilorek just laughed and offer her his nuts, making an idle joke about it that she didn't hear.

The match was really good, and lasted more than half an hour of straight brutality. Blood was flying, magic eruptions bursting in all directions. The Gryphon fought well, but it didn't appear any of the damage he dealt could keep the dragon down. Even the stab wound through her shoulder didn't do a thing to stop her from pinning the gryphon with a sword of ice to his neck.

With the referree's decision that Ssev won, the crowd let out a deafening howl, even Natasha found herself howling at the top of her lungs. The bleating and howling of the crowd eventually died down, and the healers did their work on the gryphon.

"See? Not so bad." Ilorek practically shouted over the crowd.

"What?"

"I said...nevermind..." he ground his knuckles into her headfur and laughed as he got up to leave. Natasha followed.

"Oi, where are you going?" she asked as she followed, weaving her way through the crowd.

"Gonna get out of here before everyone else does. Leaving an event like this is a real pain in the rump."

That makes sense. Natasha thought as she continued to follow him out of the building.

After the post-fight hype had died down, Natasha decided she was gonna ride Ilorek like a horsie. She quickly moved to behind him and jumped up on his back, doing her best to grab his shoulders and lift herself up, straddling his waist.

"Urf, hey! What the hell are you doing."

"Ride horsey!" she commanded, pointing forward and spurring her heels against his side.

But Ilorek stayed put. "Get off my back, I'm not a horse, I'm a hippogryph!"

"Fuck off, you made me beg. Now giddyup!" She reached down and smacked his rump. A Few moments of thought later, he started to gallop with her on his back, trying his best to whinny with a beak. This went all the way through town and back to his apartment.