FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

*tic-tac-ticky-tack-tackity*

>Lynn's overgrown claws clacked away at the keyboard in front of her. On the screen stood a PDF of 30 aerospace engineering questions.

>The clacking stopped as Lynn paused to think about the next answer. Her footpaws pressed into the hardwood while she leaned back in the beanbag chair.

>Anon gazed in her direction from his spot on the ratty couch. He was totally, uh, being productive and stuff.

>Okay, who was he kidding? For the past half hour he had been alternating between checking his phone and staring at Flufflyn. Man, she was cutting through those questions like butter.

>He wasn't even sure why she wanted him there, but the awoo insisted that two people doing homework in the same room counts as a couples' activity.

>For whatever reason, the man couldn't will himself to work on anything right now. Plus this goddamned "rescue couch" was about as comfortable as an Iron Maiden.

>The springs squelched while Anon swung himself off of the cushions and onto his feet. He was on the hunt for some sort of a distraction. His phone's lock screen read 2:38 P.M. before he shoved it into his pocket.

>His 'dad socks' allowed him to glide noiselessly across the living room without interrupting the wolf's focus.

>Being extra quiet is just something you learn when your girlfriend has two satellites for ears. It's like that saying... How did it go again?

>"There's no such thing as a silent fart when a wolf is in the house." Right. Anon heard it once before and took it to mean one of two things: Either wolves fart really loudly, or they can hear all of your own farts no matter how quiet.

>He was pretty sure that it was option two. Well, actually, he learned the hard way.

>Anon stopped thinking about farts on the off-chance that his thoughts were being transcribed for some sort of story on an image board. He didn't want to give a certain audience any ideas. Thankfully Lynn had never Buh-rrapped in front of him for the duration of their relationship.

>"Gross," thought Anon. "Now I need to find a distraction from that distraction." He paced around the room and tried to imagine literally anything else.

>As luck would have it, Anon's mental torture would be pacified within a matter of seconds. Both he and Lynn were hit with the sweet sounds of a music box coming from the down the block.

>The wolfess turned her triangles toward the source of the noise. Was that "The Entertainer" playing outside?

>"Oh FluffMuffins! I completely lost my train of thought!" Lynn pouted and sagged deeper into the beanbag. Her gaze drifted over to Anon, who had approached the nearest window to scout out whatever was playing that song.

>Anon pulled his forearm upwards in a "come here" motion and spoke.

>"You've be- WE'VE been working for an hour now. Let's just take 5 and wait for this guy to leave."

>Flufflyn ceded, closing the lid of her laptop and placing it on the floor beside her. She clumsily rolled out of the beanbag chair until her nose thumped against the floor. It left a small wet spot.

>Getting to her knees, she rocked back and forth to gather the momentum necessary to stand upright. Soon she had joined Anon by the windowsill.

*Dadadee-ding, dee-ding, dee-ding!*

>The song began another repetition, then softened just as the truck pulled within eyeshot of a pair of human and canine pupils. It had stopped right next to their house.

>"Spring's going by too quickly. I can't believe the Ice Cream Man is out." Lynn brushed her tail along Anon's pant legs to get him to respond.

>"..." Anon stood with his mouth slightly agape. Something about the exterior of the truck had caught his attention. Lynn pushed her glasses up to get a clearer look at the van.

>To the awoo, it seemed like a pretty standard truck. The base paint was a pure white, along the top and bottom of the walls were artsy zigzags of cyan and purple. The color palette immediately dated it back to the nineties, and by the looks of it the truck was on its last legs. Last wheels? The paint was scratched and faded, and the vehicle had easily depreciated to one tenth of its original value. The glare prevented her from making out who was in the driver's seat.

>By far the most interesting feature was the title slapped directly above the service window. In fluffy brown letters, "WACKY WALLABE'S MAGIC ICE CREAM" was seared across the top. Where it made sense, some of the letters had wallabe ears and tails. The word "MAGIC" was the only word in a different style, written in neat purple script with red and white sparkles accompanying it.

>Directly below the serving window, Lynn could just make out the faint details of the menu. Her tummy shuddered, and a small string of drool crept out from one side of her muzzle. She slurped it back up before Anon could notice.

>The ugly sound snapped the man from his trance. His mouth burst into a full smile, and his eyes shimmered with childlike wonder as he racewalked to the door.

>"OH MY OMNIWAIFUR!" He exclaimed, stopping only to face the awoolet behind him. "C'mon Lynn! We've gotta catch this guy before he drives away!"

>Lynn didn't need to be told twice. Or even once, for that matter. She followed suit as Anon flung the door open and rushed outside. He was still in socks, which was better than going bare-paw like Lynn was, I guess. Or was it worse?

>His girlfriend hastily tried to catch up to him, only for the screen door to swing back towards her face on exit. As her snout made contact with the door's hitbox, she clipped through it and somehow ended up on the front lawn next to Anon.

>The man was too overjoyed to notice. "I haven't seen a 'Wacky Wallabe's' in YEARS! I was still living in New Jersey last time I saw one. Thought it was a regional thing! It's crazy to see a Wacky Wallabe out here, right?"

>Lynn tilted her head and scratched the top of it with one of her handpaws. "Uhh, is the ice cream really that good?"

>Anon looked at her incredulously. "You're telling me you've NEVER had Wacky's before? Oh my god, you're gonna love it." he grabbed her paw to suggest they get going. Flufflyn let out a surprised "Buh!" but quickly returned to the task at hand.

>The pair made haste across the soft grass towards the truck, which had parked on their side of the street.

>It was currently serving a single customer. By the looks of it, he was a ram in his high school years, dressed in a football Jersey. He had sheared parts of his head, arms and shoulders where his wool might have fit too tightly with the uniform's padding. A little on the stomach, too.

>"Yeah, definitely a quarterback or something." Anon thought to himself as the truck's engine grew louder in their ears. By now, the music had stopped, and the loudest noises were coming from the van's motor, and the hum of refrigeration beneath that.

*ZAP!*

>A burst of electric-blue light exploded from within the van, although Flufflyn couldn't see its source due to the obliqueness of her viewing angle. She tensed and recoiled upon hearing the bang, but her curiosity and a tug from Anon's hand told the anthro to press forward.

>"W-why is Anon acting like nothing just happened?" She wondered to herself. Yeah, even her thoughts have stutters. Lynn's pupils were glued to the service window, expecting another explosion to follow the first.

>The couple arrived right on time. A skinny-looking roo (presumably Wacky himself) leaned over the counter and outstreched his arm. His 3-clawed hand was wrapped around a napkin, which cradled a cone of chocolate soft-serve. It was covered in a bright red dip, and the ram carefully slid the cone into one of his hooves to complete the handoff.

>"'ave a good one!" Hollered the kangaroo, giving a mock salute with a crazed grin on his face. As the bleater buzzed off, Lynn took a mental snapshot of the marsupial in front of her. First of all, we wasn't even a wallabe, but a kangaroo, which she took as a huge red flag. Not even wearing a uniform, just jeans and a charred black T-Shirt. The loose and matted facial fur could easily pin him as fifty years old, although the fire in his eyes would tell you he was only twenty. He had all the energy of a crazed bushman, minus the machete.

>Actually, don't discount the machete just yet. After hearing that deafening zap, all bets were off in Lynn's mind. This guy was a wildcard, who knows what he had inside that truck?

>He cricked his neck, and in the process noticed the two new customers below him.

>"Arvo, mates! What can I getcha?" his voice was raspy and commanding, a friendly snarl accompanied by a smile which lacked several teeth.

>Lynn coughed twice when a breeze blew a curtain of truck exhaust directly over her face.

>"One second." Anon called back. The two huddled so that they could hear each other over the van's roaring engine.

>"It's okay, Lynn, this guy's legit." Anon put a hand on her shoulder to calm her nerves. "He's not gonna hurt you, I promise. Just order whatever. It'll be a fun surprise! Oh, and don't tell me what you're getting, I want to see if I can guess it!"

>"O-okay..." Lynn mustered, barely audible above the present noise. That was an odd request, right? Lynn rocked back and forth on her pawpads.

>"I'll clear things up while we eat, I promise." He stroked the back of her head a couple times before Wacky interjected.

>"Well? I 'avent got all bloody day!" there he was with that repulsive grin again.

>Anon rationalized internally. "He does sort of look insane, now that Lynn mentioned it. But that's just part of the wackiness, right?" He tried to reach back in his head and remember how the vendor looked the first time he had ordered from him. Was he always this deranged-looking? Was this even the same guy?

>His memories were nothing more than mental smears. He recalled the ice cream, remembered the thunderous bangs, but not the anthro behind the counter. Some blank kangaroo face with no details filled in. Maybe he was too small to get a good look at Wacky when he was a child. Maybe Wacky looked young and inconspicuous back then. Hell if he knew.

>He snapped back into the present moment. "Yeah, could I have a Fudge Sunday, please?"

>"And somethin' for your Shelia?" The roo flicked his head over to Lynn.

>The young man stepped aside and gave her the floor, at which point she wobbled to the edge of the curb to place her order. She quickly eyeballed the menu and picked something random, hoping the conversation would end as quickly as possible.

>Anon covered his ears so as to not hear the order, and released his hands once she saw the wolfess step back.

>Wacky got a hearty chuckle from her order. Must've thought her nervousness was funny or something. "AHAHAHEHEhhh, can't get enough of him, can ya?" Neither Lynn nor Anon understood that comment.

>The roo guffawed some more, so much that a tear emerged from one of his eyes. He wiped it away with the back of his paw. "Anyways, if you mates 'ave got forty bucks, oi've got two treats with ya names on 'em."

>Anon fished out the cash from his wallet, marched over and held it out to the expectant roo. A set of claws pinched it so quickly that they almost punctured the two bills.

>"Just gimme foive minutes." he asserted, shoving the cash into his back pocket and disappearing into the depths of the van.

>The two customers took the opportunity to back away from all the noise, stopping on the green about 30 feet from the vehicle in order to hear themselves think again. By now most of Lynn's initial shock had died down, but a part of her remained weary.

>Anon spoke first. "Before anything, I just wanted to apologize for all of this. I know that you get nervous with all the new stimuli ... just got so caught up when I saw that Wacky Wallabe was in town."

>"W-was he always this weird?" asked Lynn, looking over her shoulder as if Wacky could've overheard her.

>"I honestly don't remember." he scratched the back of his neck. "I just remember the ice cream. What else do you want to know?"

>Lynn fixated on the vehicle again, trying to piece the whole situation together.

>"Why did two ice creams cost $40?"

>"You're not just paying for ice cream, you're paying for the experience."

>"The customer experience? I feel like I've had a pretty bad time so far."

>Anon shook his head. "Nah, nah, the ice cream is literally magic, it says so right there on the sign." He pointed to the script "MAGIC" painted along the side of the van.

>"S-stop messing with me! Magic isn't real, Anon." she grabbed onto his shirt collar and hung from it.

>"I'm serious, as soon as you bite into it, it's like you enter another world. It's like... what's that room from Space Paws that makes the simulations? The holo-something?"

>"A holodeck?" Lynn was losing sanity by the second.

>"Yeah, a holodeck! It's just like that. A sensory-simulation-thingy."

>"That sounds like a hallucination. Are you sure they don't just drug the ice cream?" She pulled back.

>Her boyfriend scratched under his chin. "...that WOULD explain the wackiness, now that you mention it. But I didn't feel drugged when I ate it as a kid. I'm convinced it's magic."

>"Well, I'm not eating one bite!" She huffed, fed up with the shenanigans.

>"What if I take the first bite? To make sure it's not poisoned or anything." reasoned Anon.

>She raised her voice, "Then w-when you overdose on f-fentanyl, who's going to-"

>"Flufflyn, look!" Anon interrupted, shooting his finger out towards the serving window.

>Wacky had donned some kind of a black robe with a hood on it. He held Anon's sundae in a white plastic bowl, which was outstretched as far from his body as possible.

>However, his other hand was what made the image so striking. The roo's index claw was glowing bright blue, like a jellyfish. It pulsated with color, each wave growing more intense. The anthro's cloak danced under a sudden updraft.

>His grin was manic. Whatever the marsupial was about to perform was undoubtedly his life's greatest pleasure. The blue claw found itself a few inches above the sundae, while the light it emitted shone as strongly as the sun.

>Then *ZAP!*. In an instant, a blue flash shot from his digit and onto the confection. A lightning bolt with the sound of a bullet. Blinding, deafening. The wind whipped like a hurricane, and carried a warm, chocolatey scent over to where the couple was standing.

>A few seconds later, and a second boom came from the eccentric Austrailian. This time it was directed at some vanilla ice cream with black chunks in it, which was presumed to be for Lynn. Anon wondered how Wacky had not lost 100% of his hearing if he did this daily.

>If Flufflyn were any closer to the truck, she would've fainted. But she was conscious for all of it. She shook her head, pinched her arm. Was that really...? No, it couldn't have been, magic isn't ... but it happened right in front of her eyes.

>Wacky stripped off the robe and cast it out of sight. A few red embers died out in the air around him, a couple of which landed on his fur. The kanga didn't seem to care, returning to his old demeanor in an instant.

>"Come on ova', ya wankas!" he yelled, waving around the sundae like he was aerating a glass of wine. The food itself hadn't exploded from the impact of the lightning. In fact, it looked completely untouched. The dishes merely glowed blue for a moment before returning to ordinary-looking treats.

>"Those were some c-crazy special effects. You're not going to eat it, right?" a cream-colored muzzle whispered up to Anon's ear. Was that fear in her voice? Her heart was pounding.

>"Look. I had it as a kid, and I haven't become a bigger coward since then."

>He gave her a little mercy peck, then jogged forward to scoop up the dishes from a pair of smooth claws. Wacky's spellcasting hand was still hot, like struck iron.

>Lynn relucantly trudged towards Anon, and they met halfway in between, still on the grass of the front lawn.

>No one uttered a word at first. The tension was so palpable that you could soft-serve it.

>Flufflyn sighed exasperatedly. It was all too much for her.

>"So..." the man had few words. "... are you gonna freak out on me?"

>The wolfess looked down, upset. She kicked her one leg into the other, then stopped. "You said you had it before, r-right? I'm just... I have no idea how he made it look like he shot lightning from his d-digits."

>"I know it's weird, but 'Wacky Wallable' is a literal wizard. Actually, hold these." he passed her the two ice creams and whipped out his phone. With the camera out, he ran over to the van and snapped a quick shot of the menu before it could drive away.

>Good thinking too, because in a few moments, the roo was sitting in the driver's seat and shifting into drive. Seeing Anon out of the corner of his eye, he shouted "Ya better make 'er happy t'noight, ya sock-wearin' bogan! Ahahehehe..."

>A hiss from the truck drowned out the anthro's voice while the vehicle lurched forward and accelerated down the block. Anon could only stand and stare until Wacky turned the corner and disappeared. For the second time in his life, the roo had become a mere memory.

>He thought of Flufflyn. Right, she still needs an explanation!

>Bringing the photo back to her, he zoomed in on the picture of his order so that it could be read clearly. "All the items have different descriptions here in black."

>Intrigued, she peered at his phone to see what Anon was going on about. "Even the menu is a red flag." she pointed with her chin, as her hands were still occupied. "They spelled 'Fudge Sunday' wrong. Sundae has an 'e' at the end of it."

>"No, that's just it. It's supposed to feel like last Sunday. See the description down here?"

>"That's p-probably just a marketing thing. Everyone wants to feel nostalgic."

>"Flufflyn, you're a brick wall. I don't know how I can get this through to yo- Actually, you know what? Gimme that!" Anon took up the chocolatey bowl of soft-serve from under her paw.

>"Now watch this." he pressed the plastic spoon into the dessert and inhaled a fudge-covered chunk of vanilla.

>Immediately their worlds imploded. The sun jolted a few degrees southwest. The sky was suddenly dotted with puffy clouds. The cars on the block had had rearrranged themselves as if they were playing "guess who?", and their numbers had increased considerably. Where there was once a vacant lawn a few houses down, there now stood an old hippopotamus lady in a sundress, watering her plants. The temperature increased about 10 degrees farenheit.

>WHAT. THE. FLUFF. Lynn was taken aback, and her eyes had become saucers. and she probably would've blue-screened if Anon's voice wasn't so naturally calming.

>"Yeah, I guess it was warmer a few days ago. You can feel it too, right Lynn? You should be able to, since we were part of the same order."

>"W-WHAT just HAPPENED?" her dessert cup slipped from her hand and onto the lawn below her.

>"Simple: I ate the Fudge Sunday, and now we're there." he plopped down cross-legged on the grass and set the fallen cup upright along the sidewalk. Thankfully none of the ice cream had spilled out.

>The anthro couldn't believe her eyes. She was hallucinating, wasn't she? Dammit, Anon probably convinced her to eat that stupid ice cream and this was some horrible drug trip... but physically, she admitted that she felt fine. Whatever, perhaps she should call the hospital just in case.

>She wiggled a handpaw around in her pocket to fish out her phone. However, what she saw on the lock screen made her blood freeze.

[2:55 PM. Sunday, May 15th, 2022.]

>What the hell, no it wasn't! It was May 19th, a Thursday! She was sure of it.

>Couldn't be May 15th, that was... last... Sunday. Oh my omni, the ice cream was magic. Was this better or worse than drugs? Had she been freaking out over nothing?

>The wolf glanced back towards Anon. He was cheerily shoving mouthfuls of dessert into his gullet. A white streak of sugar ran along his left cheek, as did a warm smile.

>He paused, swallowing the ball of fudge in his throat. "Are you okay, Lynnie? You want some ice cream?" he offered her the half-eaten bowl. "It doesn't bite."

>Despite the whole world shifting around them, Anon seemed to be the only constant in sight. What else could she do? Lynn filled her lungs with air, then slowly released. "Anon's here." she told herself. "He's happy and he loves you and..."

>There were a few more deep breaths. Her shoulders lowered. The bowl found its way into her mitts as she sat beside Anon.

>Flufflyn's stomach gave a grunt of approval. Yeah, she needed some comfort food.

>The black plastic spoon delivered a cold scoop into her maw. It melted along the width of her tongue. A weak wind caressed her creamy fur. The grass tickled her legs and eroded her stress, as did the warmth of Anon's body.

>he talked some more while she worked on the dessert. "Yeah, so we're in last Sunday. The effect ends when we finish eating, or when it melts. Probably a time limit on the spell, too, so that we can't stay here forever."

>Flufflyn only nodded a little and helped herself to another spoonful.

>"Do you remember what you were doing last Sunday?" questioned Anon. "You told me you were busy when I texted you."

>Before she could respond, a loud creak came from behind the pair. The screen door swung open, and out popped a familiar wolfess. She had a trash bag held over her shoulder and was en route to the garbage bins along the side of the house. She was wearing her famous NASA pajamas, and was without glasses. It looked like she was having a bad fur day. She looked straight through the couple and kept schlepping.

>"Woooow, past-you was so busy that she was still in her pajamas at 3PM," he chuckled.

>"Maybe I was busy... sleeping." she improvised. She couldn't take her eyes off of the figure. It wasn't different from watching a movie. Except she was the protagonist. Kind of a lame movie, though.

>"You know, you could just tell me if you don't want to hang out."

>"I think I'm physically incapable of saying no to you."

>PastLynn dropped the bag into a large wastebin, then started her journey back to the front door.

>"HEY!" presentLynn barked, trying to get her past's attention. The character didn't look over, nor change path. Didn't even twitch an ear.

>The man darted his eyes between the two Lynns, making a side-by-side comparison. In an instant, he picked up handful of dirt from the lawn and hurled it at past-Flufflyn. PresentLynn was initially shocked, but the particles flew straight through her counterpart. Some of the chunks phased right through the side of the house. In a few moments, the divet that Anon had created in the lawn had regenerated entirely.

>"I'm pretty sure we're like ghosts." he concluded. "We can't actually change history or interact with anything, 'cept the food." he stared as pastLynn stepped back onto the porch, slid around the screen door and vanished.

>"Huh." pondered his girlfriend. By now the "Fudge Sunday" had been whittled down to a few blobs. She wondered what it would feel like to go back to the present. She closed her eyes and folded a little.

>"Guess we don't have much time." he smirked, noting the near-empty bowl in the anthro's lap. "Was there anything you wanted to see before we go?"

>"Hmmm...." She took a moment, leaned back onto her handpaws, and thought of nothing. So much had happened in the past half hour that Flufflyn didn't want to do anything new for a month. It was tiring. She limply dug her claws into the dirt.

>Anon knew that look. He shimmied closer to Lynn to support her back. She leaned her whole body into his torso, a heavy cloud against his chest. He quietly slipped the plastic bowl off of her lap and tossed it aside. Their embrace only tightened as they fell backwards into the sea of green. Lynn's head grew heavier, her mind foggier. Her muscles loosened and she splayed out across Anon. He held her close, as visions of magic ice cream danced around in her head. Sweet dreams, huh?

***

>When Lynn awoke, there was no grass. Directly above her stood the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. What time was it? What DAY was it?

>Pulling herself into a sitting position, she scanned her nightstand. Her cell was charging, and her glasses were sitting beside it.

>She noted how odd it was that the glasses weren't flush with the table like she usually leaves them, but tilted about twenty degrees from parallel. Although she didn't notice how odd it was that she cared about the angle of her glasses when she wasn't even wearing them.

>He must've taken them off when he carried her to bed. So it all really happened, then. She lazily tapped her phone, and the device lit up before her.

[4:34 PM. Thursday, May 19th, 2022.]

>Praised be the omni. For once, she was glad that it WASN'T a weekend on her screen.

>Right. Where's Anon? Was he still here?

>Two hindpaws thumped onto the carpet beside her bed, while her handpaw groped blindly for her glasses. It took her a few tries, but eventually she found them and adjusted them onto her face.

>She nonchalantly sniffed an armpit. Good enough, let's go.

>The door creaked open, and she could already smell Anon in the common room. Some sugar too.

*pit, pat, pit, pat*

>Her toddler-like footsteps gave her away, as her boyfriend was already expecting her by the time she plodded into sight.

>"Smells like sugar." she thought out loud, sluggishly rubbing her eyes. Once her vision cleared, it was apparent that Anon had already started her dessert cup. He was sitting on that rescue couch again. Lynn was glad that he was liking it. (Anon never once said that he liked it)

>"I'm sorry Fluff, I couldn't help myself! The curiosity was killing me!" Upon further inspection, the container was still three quarters full.

>"Iss fine," she slurred. "At least we didn't go back in time again."

>"Did you sleep well? You went out like a light when we were on the grass. Cutie." he motioned with his head toward the window. There was still a good amount of daylight left.

>Flufflyn nodded and took a seat beside Anon. It was cute that he tucked her in and all that. She found herself locked onto his eyes. He didn't have to do all that just for her. Really noble of Anon, annnnd I mean, she could kiss him right now. Wanted to kiss him right now. Like, too much. What?

>She snapped out of it and reached over Anon's lap for the cup, but paused when she remembered its gravity.

>"Wait, so did you figure out what the effect was?" the wolf sat back up.

>"No, I've got no idea. I thought you knew what the effect was going to be when you ordered it. You read the description, right?" he brushed the fur along the back of her neck.

>The wolf shook her head, then swallowed. "I just p-picked whatever, like you said. What about that picture you took of the menu, you didn't look at that?" a bit of adrenaline seeped into her veins from the scare, waking her up.

>"That would've given it away, remember? I wanted to guess solely based on the experience." Anon repeated. "Wow, is it just me? Or do you look really sexy right now? ...wait, why did I say that?"

>"C-can I have your phone for a sec?" she squeaked. "I mean, we don't even know what's gonna happen to you, ya hunk! EEP!" she couldn't catch her tongue in time.

>"You mean 'what's gonna happen to US'. It was a shared order, cutie. Gah, I never say that!" the worry was getting to the man too, and he shoved his hand in his front pocket and whipped the device out.

>Lynn snapped it off of Anon, who was appearing more attractive by the second. The claws tap-tap-tapped and, in no time they had navigated to the right image in his camera roll.

>"Oh my g-god, Anon. This is bad! It doesn't even matter when we finish eating it!" She read the description 3 times, and started to sweat. Was it getting hot in here?

>"What does it say, babe?" asked the Hunk. I-I mean, Anon.

>Flufflyn zipped her mouth shut and shook her head. Her digits started to tingle.

>Try as he might, Anon was unable to keep his eyes off of her body.

>"What's in the cup?" he demanded.

>The man managed to pried his eyes off and looked over to where he had left the dessert. What were those black chunks floating in there? Oreo bits? "Well?"

>She blushed so hard that her fur went rosy. At some point in the conversation, she had become entranced by Anon, unable to utter a word. She only giggled, wanting to melt into him. What had gotten into her?

>"Lynn? What did you order?"

>"hehe," she ran a claw across his chest. "c-Cookies and Cream..."