FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

According to the local legends, a snake far larger than any snake had a right to be had slithered into town one night, hungry and asking for food in a twisted and demonic mockery of English. His eyes burned with hunger and his scales were as dark as the empty gaps between the stars.

He was, in fact, a Naga, a Serpent far from his home. The Naga were a race shrouded in mystery; all other sentient races had diplomatically settled their solutions to create a single government, but the Naga remained a people apart, secluded in their deserts far to the west. They wanted no piece with "Civilized" life and culture, they didn't even want any but the most basics of trades, and they steadfastly refused the advances of modern technology. There was nothing of extreme value in the Pacific Deserts, so the Naga were ignored by all but scholars and scientists. This far east, the people had barely even heard stories of the large Naga that roamed the wastes; they lacked any sort of practical knowledge about the creatures. The most they'd heard about this species was hear-say and legend, stories about a savage people that resisted the encroachment of civilization and culture in favor of worshiping heathen gods. Understandably, when a black Snake that could look them in the eye and speak at least a mockery of the civilized tongue showed up hungry, they reacted with fear. Grabbing guns, knives, shovels, any weapon at all, the braver species chased the Snake from town while the more timid ones hid beneath their beds. Near the edge of town, after the first well aimed shots inexplicably missed him, the snake began to glow blue before it abruptly disappeared, laughing as he did. Every man there swore up and down that he'd performed some sort of black magic, but the snake had not been seen in the city since. Seven years have passed since then, and rumors persist that he escaped into the mountainside nature reserve unharmed, and that he waits there for unwary pray to fall into his clutches.

The city itself was of moderate size, larger than most towns, but not a real city by most standards. Angel Fire was nestled in a valley between two mountains, one of which was rumored to be a dormant volcano. City officials insisted that Angel's Fire was named because of the rather spectacular way that the sunset lit the crowds, but darker rumors insisted that the volcano would literally be the source of the fire of angels, that it would someday erupt and wipe clean the lands around it, but this, like the rumor of a monster Naga, were generally regarded as tall tales, to be told with a laugh at a bar. Some fanatics insisted that the Naga had been real though, and they spoke loudly and in enough places that thrill seekers sometimes went exploring the nature reserve, looking for a shed skin. Rumors agreed that the cold-blooded Serpents needed warmth to live, and it was well known that there was an extensive cave network that riddled the volcano. They would get to the mountainside, and though they searched for hours, the lucky ones could not find any of the numerous entrances that supposedly led to the caves. Paths twisted around unpredictably, and sometimes they'd walk straight up the slope and somehow end up going in a circle. That was only the lucky ones though... three times over the first year of rumors, known thrill seekers had gone missing. After a casual search of the mountain, they were usually found on one of the many nature trails. They sat in a fetal ball and shivered, whispering desperate ravings about demons and eyes. After recovery, they seemed to lose all knowledge of the event. They remembered setting out to go hiking, and they remembered waking up in a hospital bed.

Of those missing and subsequently found, there were several curious parallels. All had been single men, going out alone. All had disappeared during the height of the full moon. Each man had been illegally carrying a pistol without a license, and each pistol had been fired exactly once on the day they went missing.

Nowadays, any traveler passing through the area is treated to legends of "The Serpent's Den." The villagers swear his existence to be true, but no man, woman, or child has ever found his lair... or perhaps those who had were simply unable to tell. Shouyousei was one such traveler. She is a cute wolf: dark grey fur with a vibrant shock of blue hair. Her voluptuous body is toned from long hours spent earning her keep as a dancer, a prima ballerina. She has also been known to dabble with art on the sides, and her visit is for this second passion; she has taken a vacation to the wild wilderness to look for something of beauty worth painting. She heard legends of the 'monster,' but six years after the last vanishing, she wasn't much worried at all. Indeed, even the villagers warning her towards caution said the words more as a joke than anything else; he had not been seen in years, and though it was depicted as quite the fearsome beast, Shouyousei noted a distinct lack of violence in the legends. Shouyousei, or as "Shou" as she insisted, was a curious woman, an adventurous spirit who saw the potential for excitement in the stories, and decided to set out immediately to see if she could find this so-called "Serpent's Den." According to the locals, the cave that had vanished from the mountains wasn't far, straight up the mountain side from the preserve's parking lot for perhaps an hour's hike, but even so, she was surprised when she rather quickly stumbled upon it. Truthfully, she hadn't expected to find it; She'd planned for a hike around in the woods, some wonderful sights and scenery, then a returning to town for dinner. She hadn't even brought anything with her past the clothes she wore on her back.

Standing before the entrance to the cave, Shou was wracked by indecision. Here was something that people told stories about, here was something special. It would be wrong for her to walk away without at least looking around... and yet, she shivered with a bit of apprehension. She couldn't help but notice a pyramidal pile of animal skulls near the cave's entrance, and doubt tugged at her mind...

Curiosity always was her strong suit though, and she stepped a little closer. Her nose scrunched just slightly as she peered inside. She bit her bottom lip and fidgeted a little, then took another step. As the bright, afternoon sunlight was swallowed by the mouth of the cave, she walked forwards with a mumbled "To Hell with it," making her way into the Serpent's Den, curious and eager to explore.

What little light leaked in from the sun quickly vanished to almost nothing, but she boldly continued forwards. She made out a faint glow ahead of her, but it seemed to be at the end of a long and dark tunnel, for the space in between was black as pitch. She continued forwards, and about halfway down the tunnel, she saw that the glow was sunlight falling through a crack in the ceiling before bouncing off of something shiny. Somewhere in the distance, she thought she could hear the faint sound of scales scraping over stone, and a soft laugh echoed off of the walls. The sound seemed to come from multiple directions at once, and the barely registered sound sent a cold spike of adrenaline down her spine. The area around her had to have multiple side tunnels, but there was a straight line path from the daylight to the back of the tunnel; as long as she did not stray from the path, she would not get lost. As she continued forwards, the air got thicker, and a strange smell permeated the area. It was dry, and smelled something like old bones left in the desert. Dry and sandy, with just the slightest undertone of sulfur. Even though the cave was dry and remarkably warm, she shivered. Her fur stood on end from nothing more than every beast's primal fear of the dark, and though she tried to reassure herself, she couldn't help but think that absolutely anything could be hiding, watching her.

Her eyes drifted first left, then right. She paused as her ears pricked forward further, trying to catch the sounds that were teasing the edge of her senses. The laugh, the scales, it was enough to drive her to move forward more quickly. She was halfway down the "tunnel" by this point, so she pressed on wards despite the uneasy feeling that had settled in her gut.

"Who's there!"

"o's there! s there! there... there..."

The sound of her voice was foreign, trembling just the slightest bit to her ears. It echoed off the stone walls, bouncing around twists and curves until it was thrown back at her. Another soft laugh whispered through her hearing, and she heard the sound of scraping again, louder and closer this time. It caused her to draw in a deep breath, and move faster, nearly a jog now as she tried to eat up the distance. An almost feline sense of curiosity pressing her to see what made the noises even as a touch of fear told her to run away. Bracing herself with reassurances that nothing was amiss, she called out again.

"Hello!"

"Hello! Hello! Hello... Hello... hello... "

"Hello."

A breath of air tickled the hair on the back of her neck, a voice answering whispered right into her ear. Gasping with shock, she spun around. She could still see the daylight, nothing more than a tiny dot by now, but she was still far enough from the end of the tunnel that the area was pitch black. She started to reach forwards, feeling the air before she stopped herself; if she touched something, something that wasn't the stone wall it would mean she wasn't alone. She swallowed, and turned, all but sprinting towards the flickering light cast around the corner.

Finally, she stepped from the absolute darkness into soft daylight. A crevasse led up to the surface, allowing an amount of light to bounce down into the caves. To her eyes that had soaked in the darkness for minutes on end, even the meager light was more than enough to see by. The cave was made from dull grey stone, sparsely dotted with gleaming hunks of obsidian. The walls looked oddly smooth, as is something had sanded them down with the intention of removing obstructions so light could pass through the hole.

Sitting on the ground was a mirror, a small handheld thing prettily made from cheap iron. It was a low value thing, but as she picked it up from the ground, the rocks that had been propping it up fell away from their carefully placed pile. The mirror had been intentionally placed to bounce light back towards the entrance. That meant that...

"Hello, my ssssswee-tuh."

The voice came from behind her, and she spun, immediately backing up to the wall. Its voice was low and rasping, and it slurred the softer sounds together, dragging its S on for far longer than it should have. The coarse voice sounded twisted, as if it was forced through a mouth not made for the common tongue. The impenetrable darkness separated her from whatever had spoken, but she knew it was there. It chuckled, a low throaty sound filled with power and intimidation, and though its voice echoed behind it, it rang clear across the scant yards that separated them.

"Do come sssayhello. I do not... bite... much."

Each hard consonant was pronounced as a sharp staccato, a bladed knife that sliced through his sentence until it sounded foreign and alien to her ears. She started a strangled noise that could have been a cry of surprise, but swallowed it before it got past her throat. Her wide, blue eyes darted about, trying to penetrate the darkness and gain a glimpse of who... or what... had spoken. The shadows kept him from view, and she felt her heart thudding in her throat. Despite that, she managed to raise her voice in her own defense.

"I... I already said hello. It's rude to hide from visitors..." Her voice trembled, but gained strength as she took a step towards the shade, lips curled in a pouting frown. When it spoke again, she recognized the pitch and tone as almost certainly male, but his voice was twisted enough to make her doubt that certainty.

"Indeed, you did... but jusss-tuh as it isss rude for me to hide... it isss rude for you to walkh in un-an-noun-ssss'd. But... I ate... well yesss-ter-day, ssso I am in a good mood. I will forgive your... transsgression."

Her lips curled into a deeper pout, and her cheeks colored despite herself; the blush added more color beneath the gray fur on her cheeks, even as her ears flattened themselves against her skull.

"I didn't know it was someone's home... I apologize."

He paused before answering, and she saw a slight movement that might have been him tilting his head in curiosity.

"An... apology? You are the firss-tuh... to show such... con-sssi-der-a-shee-on... int-e-resss-tingh... take the mirror in your hand, and use it_to shine light... upon the 'monsss-ter' who dwells here."

Inclining her head just so, she bit her lip. She glanced away from the tunnel to the mirror she still held in a white knuckled grip. She tilted it curiously, splashing a little light onto the walls, and she smiled cautiously. Emboldened by the light, she slowly tilted the patch of brightness in his direction

"Everyone is a demon or a monster to someone else..."

She'd spoken in little more than a murmur, but she heard something hiss... in surprise? In dissatisfaction? With hesitant hands, she cut through the darkness with the little hand mirror as she traced a slow arc towards the source of the voice. Shouyousei cut a pretty figure indeed: messy dark blue hair, gray fur, the wolfen ears that pricked from her hair marked her species, as did the tail that swished behind her. She wore ratty, blue jean cut-off shorts, and what might have once been a white shirt was stained in patchwork glory with dyes. Her feet, amusingly enough, were bare. She could easily be called curvy, with a small waist and wide hips that attracted faintly gleaming eyes from the dark.

The little patch of light started at the floor, and she gasped as it finally slid over something that was not rock. Black scales shone in the light like polished obsidian, and with trembling hands, she continued to move the light upwards. Multiple long coils were revealed, then arms and smooth grey belly scales behind them. Finally, the light arrived at his face, perched atop his hands as he rested upon his own coiled flesh. She could not see much in the tiny patch of light, but she found one eye with the bright glare. Slit pupil contracted rapidly, but no eyelid fell to protect it. She vaguely remembered learning that feral snakes also lacked eyelids, and was surprised to learn that this apparently extended to the Naga as well. Even as she examined him, he was examining her as well. He'd never had anything but brief glimpses of the Civilized, and he never would have expected to think of a mammal as attractive, but he had to admit it. Even for a creature with fur instead of scales and an oddly misshapen chest, she had a striking figure that was still somehow pleasing to the eye.

"Likhe... wha-tuh... you sssssee?"

She stopped at the sound of his voice. As she stood, she shifted her weight to one leg, adopting a cocky smile, as if she knew he was watching. Her clothes did indeed cling to her, her shirt tight against her breasts. Full and curved, her tummy wasn't flat, but there was a tiny feminine softness to it. Legs were lithe, from long hours of ballet, and he paid special attention to these. He could not even fathom locomotion using legs instead of coils, and truth be told, she fascinated him as much as he did her. As the Serpent took in her clearly arrogant pose, he laughed. It lacked the malice and contempt of the earlier laugh, and it wasn't anywhere near threatening. He decided that scaring her off would be a waste of good company, especially seeing that she was so polite.

He picked his chest up off of his coils and slithered forwards slowly, keeping low to the ground. He folded his arms behind his back and clasped one wrist with the other hand as his entire body undulated to move him forwards. into the edges of the sunlight. He stopped several feet from her, letting the back of his body drift backwards into the darkness. He was close enough that the sunlight cast ample light over his features, but far enough away as to keep from threatening her.

As he moved through the shadows, Shou blinked, narrowing blue eyes to try and see better. The mirror fell to her side, forgotten, and her blue eyes strained until she saw the, and then she saw the gleam of scales. Breath caught, sucked in - her eyes widening as she took in the sight of him. Never before had she been so close to a naga, but she found herself letting out a breath of excitement. Her stare was like a physical thing, raking over his features, and along his form as she hesitated, muttering under her breath as she did.

"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant..."

She stared at him, drinking in as many details as she could. The Serpent was thicker around than her waist, and even while coiled, she could see an easy fifteen feet of him on display, with far more lost behind him in the darkness. He waited patiently, as she gazed upon him, tongue occasionally flicking outwards to snatch tastes of her scent from the air, until his voice broke her from her single-minded perusal.

"Hello... my name iss Khaesho sssScorpen-tuh. Wel-come to my lair..."

He spoke his own name as if the hatred and venom infused into those two words was part of the pronunciation, not an effect of his tone. His otherwise pleasant voice had twisted back into something dangerous, but he resumed a soft, slow cadence immediately afterwards. He rose up from the ground until his head was exactly level with hers, then bowed carefully, bending forwards from some arbitrary point below his chest. From the shoulders up, he looked like any of the other reptilians in the world: Three claws and a thumb, dark back scales with lighter belly scales that extended all the way up to his bottom lip. The seam where grey belly met black back was pronounced, both because of the color and because of the change in the shape of the scales, and the thin line stretching from the corners of his mouth almost made hit look like he was eternally smiling. If not for the flash of fangs behind his smile, she might have believed that his face belonged to any reptile she might pass on the street. That was where the similarities stopped. Everything below his shoulders looked exactly like a rather large feral snake; his chest and torso narrowed a bit until it was about the width of a biped's waist, and this sinuous length continued in serpentine twists and turns until it vanish behind him. He spoke again, and his voice was somewhat different. He still spoke slowly, still rasped like gravel on sand, still slurred the softer syllables together, but she saw now that the rasp was from lack of use, and the slurs came from a mouth not well designed for "Civilized" language. He spoke every word slowly, carefully, as if fully considering its weight before releasing it to the air. Even with his careful cadence, his voice had a marked accent that spoke of long years speaking a different language. She blushed again and grinned faintly, dimples made obvious in her smile.

"Hello, I'm Shouyousei Murasaki, but you can call me Shou - it's easier for most."

Introductions finished, Khaesho lowered himself fully to the ground. To his people, falling to your chin before another was about a cultural equivalent of a full, kneeling prostration, but Khaesho was one of the few who truly liked to see the world from the ground up. It also helped that he knew this posture made him look less intimidating, if more ominous to balance, but even amongst his peers, it had given him a unique perspective on the world that most Naga and all Civilized, looking across or down, simply lacked. Here specifically, it gave him a unique view of the wolf. She was busty viewed straight on, but from below, her curves were even more pronounced. He repeated her name as if it were a delicate fruit, tasting every portion, savoring it as it rolled off of his tongue as if it were milk sweetened further by honey. Her name flowed from his mouth in one fluid exhale, with neither pause nor emphasis except for the last syllable. As he had with previous speech, he over enunciated the hard consonant, but here it served as a sharp period to the end of her name.

"Shouyouseimurasa-ki..."

He fell silent a moment before nodding, as if deciding something. When he resumed speaking, his voice was still soft and slow, with just a hint of a hiss on each S to add a flavor of danger to his words.

"Shou... you may call me 'Khay-Sho'... or Kay, if you abssolu-tuh-ly muss-tuh."

"Oh! Well, Kay, it is a pleasure to meet you!"

Dimples came into view again as she grinned, inclining her head slightly to him. Her cheerful, fearless attitude intrigued him, and he flicked his tongue in rapid bursts, tasting the air and examining her scent. She was nervous, yes, but she lacked the mind-consuming fear that had driven everyone else to either run for their lives or try to kill him. He decided then that he liked her.

"Would you likhe... to... come deeper in-to... my home? The en-tree-way is no place to... en-ter-tain vi-si-tor-sss."

"Oh, yes please! I'm... well... I'm curious."

She sounded sheepish and shy, and she blushed a bit, adding a soft flush to her cheeks beneath the fur. Curiosity was what had driven her into his home in the first place, and there was no point in backing out now, not when the local myth had invited her in. He leaned forwards, extending one viciously clawed hand.

"Then come closser. These caves are more a-kin to a labyrinth than anything elsse, and I would not wan-tuh for you to ge-tuh losss-tah."

As he rose and leaned forwards a little more, the sunlight shone more brightly against him, she saw finer details. His scales weren't simply black, they had an odd, iridescent sheen to them. He grins as he offers her his hand, and though his face looks happy, his eyes send a slight shiver running down her spine. Something lurked within his mercurial silver eyes, something that danced just on the edges of his emotions. Try as she might, she couldn't quite put a name to it... It wasn't anger... nor was it any sort of malice or disdain... but there was a predatory gleam to it, and a certain madness... perhaps just a hint of insanity... She stared deeper, trying to put a name to it, trying to decide why his eyes moved so, until she realized that his arm was around her; she was staring directly into his scaled face, and she could see his fangs flash when he opened his mouth.

"You should not lookh a ssSnakhe in the eyes. My kind can be quite... mesmerizing to... yoursss. Remember tha-tuh."

He smiled again, and though he retained the predatory gleam, his eyes no longer danced and swirled; they'd lost that sliver of motion that made the patterns vibrant with life. She hadn't realized that she'd gotten so close, and his arm around her made her blush crimson.

"S-sorry... it's just... so pretty..."

"You need not apologize... I sssimply wished to warn you. We have a phrase in common, I thinkh... hrslihgasshirasivikh. 'The eyes are windows to the soul.' Lookh deep enough, and there is no telling what you migh-tuh sssee."

Looking away from him, down to the side, her breath quickened for a moment. Then she glanced back up at him from under her lashes. She hadn't made any attempt to move out of his arms.

"Such fine details... unique... I want to make sure I remember for when I get to my paints..."

She looked into his eyes, but they'd lost the mesmerizing gleam to him. They were still quite wondrous; silver streaks darkening and lightening with blue in haphazard swirls, but they somehow lacked that all-consuming quality they'd had mere moments before. From the smile on his face, she suspected he could hypnotize her at will but simply chose not to. There was a flush on her cheeks, somehow the idea of being easily mesmerized stroking something within her that enjoyed such things. She pushed it aside, and considered if she had dyes of the proper color at home to capture what she wished to capture. If not, well, she'd enjoy trying to make them.

"Come with me then. You may... sstare to your heart'sss con-ten-tuh, with far more... com-for-tuh than a sss-tone floor."

He twisted the word stare, and though he said one thing, she got the feeling that he might have had something else in mind. Still, if he'd really wanted to eat her, he could have attacked while she was hypnotized; if he had not yet shown any aggression, then surely it was safe to continue deeper.

"O..oh! A-alright..."

Her voice trembled once more as he twisted his word and made her blush a bit deeper. She walked forwards, with his arm around her and his scaled chest pressed against her back, even though she would be all but entirely reliant on him to find her way back out. He kept his arm around her, and guided her back down the tunnel towards daylight. They did not go far before he stopped at what seemed an arbitrary point amidst the darkness..

"I... apologize for the tigh-tuh sssqueeze. I did not pick my home with the com-for-tuh of... vis-i-tor-sss in mind..."

She wondered what he meant for a moment before his presence vanished from behind her. She turned about curiously, hearing only the rapidly fading sound of scales over stone. Then, from a small hole near the bottom of the wall, a small, flickering light poured forth. Peering closer, she saw a small tunnel, no more than two feet high and three wide. She would never have noticed it had light not poured from it. Dropping to her hands and knees, she could see black scales illuminated by ample torchlight. After a few moments of watching his scales, he fell to the floor with the torch to peer back at her. a few moments later, his voice issued forth.

"I hope you lackh... clau-sss-tro-pho-bi-a. It widens out swiftly. You need not go far, jus-tuh a few yards. Then the tunnel widens, and you may easily walkh the res-tuh of the way."

Without even hesitating to question him, she dropped to her belly and started to crawl. She called out ahead of her in slightly panting words, "H-hardly, I live for adventures like this!"

When it widened out enough for her to get on all fours, she was moving ahead, then she pushed herself to her feet when she could. Standing - dusty from the crawl, but grinning; her cheeks flushed with excitement. Khaesho watched Shou wriggle through the narrow opening, staring in abject fascination. He had half believed she would make up some excuse and leave, but she had followed him. Not only that, she was grinning ear to ear, and she truly looked like she was enjoying herself. Khaesho rose just high enough to hand her the torch, then fell back to the floor. It was easier for him to move low to the ground, but he turned over his shoulder and beckoned to her. Her trust in him had not gone unnoticed.

"You are sss-ser-ten-ly a brave one. Come, it is not much farther."

There was a sheepish look on her face as she chuckled shyly to him, rubbing a hand across the back of her neck as she absently smeared dust over her nose. A soft chuckle and she nodded a little bit.

"I've been told I'm more foolhardy than brave, but I'll certainly take the compliment."

She followed him deeper into the caves, marveling at the obsidian veining the walls. It was more prevalent here, and she saw more of it as they walked farther into the mountain. Khaesho followed her eyes to the stone, and spoke up.

"Thisss was a volcano... once. It... hass long sssince been dorman-tuh. There isss-till magma, far below the earth, ack-ssss-esss-ible, if you know the righ-tuh pathssss, bu-tuh we shall not go nearly sso deep."

They passed many branching routes as the continued forwards, but Khaesho slid across the smooth stone floor with absolute certainty. Perhaps ten minutes after the crawl space, the tunnel they were in abruptly ended in a large cavern. It was no massive cathedral with an arched roof, but there was more than enough space for Shou to stand without having to worry about hitting her head.

The room was simple, and many things were as she would have expected from such a creature. The walls and ceiling were both bare, there was no furniture of any kind, and there was a certain musk about the room that came with prolonged inhabitation without ventilation; he smelled dry, but with a slightly tangy musk, and this room was saturated with his scent. All that was expected from a creature living in a cave, but there was one thing about his home that she wasn't expecting. The entire floor was covered with animal pelts of all kinds, making a soft, warm rug significantly better than cold stone. He took the torch from her hand and placed it in a sconce hewn directly from the rock, and from its place there, the torch cast a cheery, if flickering light over the entire scene.

"Wel-come to 'The ssSerpent'ssss Den.' Please, do make yoursself comfor-ta-ble."

He traversed the room, coiling himself into a tight circle. He left plenty of room, so that she could sit as close or as far away as she wanted. Looking at the luxurious, if haphazard, fur rug, Shou couldn't repress a slight wince. She was covered with dust from her crawl through the tunnel, and she gingerly sat down on the very edge of the furs, back to the wall, doing her very best to touch them as little as possible.

"Ah, sorry. I'm going to get your furs all dirty."

Khaesho had misinterpreted both the wince and her positioning, but relaxed a little as she gave an explanation. He pointedly glanced down at his own dirt and dust smeared stomach, then laughed.

"You are worried that you are dir-ty, af-ter so brief a crawl along the ground? Perhapsss you are, but if you are dir-ty, then I am filthy. Come closer, and lay with a sSerpen-tah. The world lookssss... differen-tuh... from down here."

She twitched when he said 'Lay with a Serpent,' blushing a little, but from the casual way he said it, it sounded like he didn't mean anything more by it. The Naga spoke a different language out in the deserts, an unusual tongue almost entirely lacking in hard consonants. That in mind, she felt a little guilt that her first thought was that he spoke in an innuendo; he didn't have that knowledge of English. His eyes gleamed with mischief though, and she wondered if he hadn't meant it on purpose after all. He uncoiled himself, sprawling his length over half of the room, and patted an especially fluffy looking fox fur near his head. She huffed, which quickly became a laugh.

"I can't help it. It's impolite to dirty your host's things."

But she got up all the same, and moved closer to him. When he said to lay down, she settled into a sit near the fur he patted before she hesitated and then sprawled onto her stomach right next to him. Arms on the fox fur, and her chin on her arms. Tail swished left, then right over her rump and she blinked bright blue eyes at him. Staring, curious. He looked larger, now that she was on the ground next to him, and the ceiling seemed to vault much higher than it had when she'd stood.

"Different? I guess it does..."

"Try it another time. Nex-tah you walkh the wooded paths, pickh a sspo-tuh... get on your belly and lookh upwards. You mentioned being an ar-tiss-tah, ssuch a viewpoin-tah could lend your workh a unique... flavor..."

"That certainly does sound interesting. I'll try that."

"Now... you sssaw a glimpse of something in my eyes, yess? Would you care... to lookh... again... "

His voice slowed, ending on a soft, husky note as he pointedly looked anywhere but at her, in an attempt to keep her mind clear, for now at any rate. She leaned in a little closer to him to hear better, keeping her eyes curiously on his face as her ears pricked forward, and she considered what he said.

"I did, I'm certain of it... may I... may I look again?"

She crawled a little closer to him, and licked her bottom lip, only to end up biting it. He turned his head down, keeping his eyes firmly pointed away from her, and blindly reached forwards. He cupped her face in his hands and marveled at her fur, and the way it tickled his scales, and she nuzzled into the touch of his hands. She was an affectionate thing - delighting in the touch of another; she was a pack creature, and her own loneliness often worked against her. He exhaled slowly, and spoke once more. His voice, normally slow and carefully considered, became slower still, and his words slurred together slightly as all tension left his face. He spoke entire phrases on a single exhale, without pause between the words.

"A-war-ning-though... ex-ssact-ly-wha-tah-you-sssee-dep-endsss-on... cir-cum-stan-ces... My... e-mo-shun-ssss... My... de-zire-sss..."

"I... I will keep that in mind." She murmured softly, and stared into his eyes when he opened them

He braced her chin with his thumbs and let his fingers rest on either side of her face. Even with his eyes cast away, she could see something in them, a flicker that danced just out of sight. He took one last, deep breath, then exhaled slowly as he raised his eyes towards hers. With mere inches separating them, she felt almost as if she literally fell forwards into his quicksilver stare. She lost herself in pools of liquid moonlight, and as before, she thought she saw traces of emotion. His eyes were chaotically blue and gray at best, but as she watched, the shadows and brightness in his eyes actually moved. Her eyes, wide, and impossibly blue stared back at him. Trying to read the depth, the emotion, trying to see past the shadows and the brightness. They swirled so prettily, and her lips parted in a faint sigh as she leaned in a little bit closer trying to see more.

The shading of his eyes changed in an alluring and captivating dance. Yes... there were strong emotions hidden behind those bottomless wells... nothing like what there had been before. Nothing so dark as anger. Hunger... there was hunger in his eyes, of a power that she would have believed him starved had she not previously noticed the lump in his belly that spoke of just how well he'd fed. Her ears slowly perked up, and her breathing began to come in slightly quicker pants, her face warming for reasons she couldn't quite place. Her arms were folded on the furs, and she leaned more heavily on them as she pressed towards him, a hair's breadth of separation all that kept his face from hers. The colors danced and spun, and she tried to make a meaning from their chaotic patterns. Definitely not hunger for food... but it had the same feel to it. Lost so deep within his mesmerization, she felt her own body starting to react to the hunger he felt. It was a feeling she felt before, she thought... almost like...

The moment was shattered as he abruptly turned away. He was breathing heavily, panting as if he'd slithered a sprint, and he went so far as to drag several of the nearby furs over his head as he buried his head beneath their soft comfort. Her abrupt shift from a soft trance to harsh reality shocked her like a bucket of ice cold water. Her face flamed with a blush, and she leaned back, sheepishly, watching him as he pulled the fur over his head and hid. Pushing herself up to sit, she touched her cheek. Her heart beat out a manic tattoo against her ribs, and it took her a moment to remember how to speak, while he stuttered a halting apology

"O..oh..."

"sSorry! sSossorryssssosssorry! I... Ididnotknow... Ididnotbutpressgently, yoursoulyieldedwithoutresistance! Srshivilssahaeressovhisaressasha! I-only-mean-tah-to-loo-kh"

His voice was muffled from beneath the pile of furs, and she realized that he hid himself from shame. He'd been close to something... and she'd been close to seeing it... but he'd dragged himself away. She tilted her head, leaned down, and reached out to lift the furs that he was using to cover himself with. Cheeks flushed pink, she murmured softly.

"There is nothing to apologize for. I told you I wanted to look, didn't I? I... I agreed, remembering how... it felt in the entrance."

It was enough to make her blush again, as she tried to peer at him beneath the furs. She lay down in front of him then, and poked her head under the furs to blow a warm breath against his neck.

"As long... as long as you don't... you know... eat me, I.. I'm not opposed to looking..."

He glanced at her sideways with an eye colored so bright that it almost seemed to glow.

"You do not know wha-tah you ssay... I... I nearly... hypnotized you... I nearly stole your will... is a crime, horrendous crime. I could command you to do anything, and you would follow the order, gladly. My kind... we can resist such holds, but... your soul is as sof-tah as your fur... if I even flinch, my will would flow through you like sand through a funnel. I would be holding your mind, your ssoul in my handsssss... Would you really play-sssssuch trusss-tah in a ssstranger? In a monsster?"

He wanted her... he wanted to feel her caress, wanted to run his fingers through her fur. He had seen the troubles lurking behing her eyes, a dark past that haunted her still, a hard life without happiness, but for her dancing and her paints. He wanted to hold her, wanted to give her what solace she could find in his coils, wanted to feel her body against his with a lust stronger than any he had felt before. Something within her mind had enraptured him, and he shivered beneath the furs as he both yearned for and dreaded her answer. There was a dark blush to Shou's lips as she glanced to the side and murmured shyly.

"I wouldn't... I mean... I wouldn't mind that... s-so much... It's kind of... The thought of that... it's... well... exciting."

There was a tinge of shame to her voice now, as she pulled back and curled up into herself some. Trying to make herself small - which wasn't hard, the wolf girl was only 5 foot something, and curvy she may be, but she was a fifth his size. Her eyes focused on the furs down and away, and she bit her bottom lip, worrying it between her sharp teeth until she drew blood, making her wince just slightly. Peering back at him she noticed the timid way he looked, and she quirked a smile. A shy murmuring of her own escaped her a moment later.

"I promise, I won't be mad, as long as you don't eat me... Or cause any permanent harm... I'll even come back to visit... t-though forgetting would be... well, quite a shame." She held up one pinky, extended towards him. "A pinky promise is one that you can never break. Ever."

He considered her offered hand before slowly pulling his head out from underneath the furs. He extended the smallest finger on his hand, and wrapped it around hers.

"I ssssswear, I would never bring you harm. If... if you promise to come backh... you can lookh deeper."

He pulled himself from the pile of fur he'd scraped up, spreading them back more or less evenly on the floor. She lay down beside him again and he brought his face up to hers. His lips were moving as if speaking, but not a breath of air escaped. Laying on her stomach, with her upper body supported by her arms, Shou let out a soft sigh and tilted her head some. Ears pricked forward and she stared at his face, waiting for that shift in his eyes. Again, he took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, and his eyes began to turn. They spun more rapidly, and if she had fallen forwards before, she was sucked in this time. Down, down... down. Down into those flowing blue and silver pools, deep enough that she almost forgot to breath. Nothing existed but for the shades of color between bright quicksilver and dark oceans. Waves of every color between rose with sweeping tides and roiled against each other, colliding and clashing, splitting and merging, mixing the colors in a way that was always different. She lay wrapped in soft colors, as he stared deep into her soul.

Within her eyes was blue, blue so bright it could have been polar ice. There were no whites to her eyes, it was dark, pitched black around the edges, lightening into pink at the ducts. It was a unique feature to an already strange wolf girl, but with Khaesho's limited knowledge of Civilization, it meant nothing to him. Shouyousei's breathing trembled, and she was certain she had forgotten how to breath, but within her mind - within her soul he could see it. The colors she saw in the world, the beauty in everything. The half finished paintings, and the way that she poured her entire heart into every thing she worked on. The tumidity of her emotions driving her to create, the need to put pen to paper, ink to canvas. The need to experience, to feel, to see... the desire to lose it all, to have that control taken from her, stolen at times, only to be unleashed again. She was a force of nature, to be momentarily contained, but wild in the end. She lived for her rushing blood, and the danger she could only find on the very edge of disaster. That very passion went into her paintings, leaving smears of dye and ink in her fur. He caught glimpses of her dancing, pouring her soul into the movements that brought others to tears. Looking through her eyes, he believed her when she thought that he was beautiful. He'd held his own soul slightly more guarded, but at this whole hearted revelation from this passionate and caring creature, he let his last defenses fall.

His soul lay open to her, and here, the wondrous colors were accompanied by something more... This deep, she could see everything; his mind splayed out against hers, brushing and mixing against her much like the colors did within his eyes. She felt his dreams, his hopes, his fears. He was an exile... cast out by his own for a crime he could not control. He'd wandered east, hundreds if not thousands of miles from the deserts, trying again and again to find a place he might belong, but every single time, he was chased away with the first words of English he learned. Monster... Demon. In addition to that, there was a dark corner in his mind, a black void marked only by the blue light leaking past the edges, and from this she felt nothing. She lost interest in the hole, wrapped in compassion and pity for this creature so reviled by all he had met. Every single person... until he met her. His desires were laid bare before her, and what she saw there shocked her a little. She instinctively pulled back, only to find herself held captive within the mercuric oceans. She could not move, could barely even force breath through her lips, and from deep within Khaesho's mind, she looked out through his eyes. He whispered something, something soft and tender, a single outpouring of soul from a lost creature with barely a friend in the world. Then, he moved his face yet closer still to hers, and kissed her gently on the lips. His forked tongue flickered out of his mouth between her open lips to gently caress her tongue. It was simple, fast, no more than a brief moment, but even so that moment seemed to last forever. She tasted of sweetness, and tea, spiked slightly by the chilling grasp of mint. She tasted of chilled mint, and something deeper, something softer - a flavor even he didn't have a name for, perhaps the soft taste of the clouds or the bright burble of a stream. As his tongue left hers, he knew he would remember that taste forever.

His soft whisper was met with a strangled whimper from her, and she wanted, needed to kiss him back, but she could not move but for the faintest of breaths. He tasted foreign, alien to anything she knew how to describe. He tasted of sand... not gritty, nor bitter, but he of dry earth and of fierce winds. There was a salty tang that spoke of long days under the desert sun, and a subtle spice, like dried jerky baked long in the unforgiving heat, but with a spicy undercurrent that made her lips tingle from the contact. He held her lips captive but for a brief second, yet after what seemed like hours lazing in the heat of the desert sun, he pulled away. Then, slowly, he turned his head away. He took his time breaking the contact but even so, she was rising too far, too fast. Finally, the soft oceans were gone, and Shou landed hard in reality. Stunned by the impact, she only numbly noticed herself slipping into a deep sleep...

He could have done anything he wanted to in that moment. He could have twisted her mind to make her his slave. He could have abused her body, and she'd have enjoyed it, and the next morning, her broken soul would have woken up begging for more. Yet... she'd trusted him. She'd trusted him more than he trusted himself, and more than just physical lust, he wanted to be worthy of that trust. She was asleep, and he was exhausted from a long day, yet... she might catch a chill, just splayed out like that. Also, she was warm, and nothing was more important to a Snake than staying warm. That was the justification he told himself, but more than anything else, he just longed to touch her, to be near her. Moving carefully so he wouldn't wake her, he lifted her from the ground and slid his coils around her. One, two, five, until she was completely wrapped in his muscular body. He set her head an against his smooth scaled chest and wrapped his arms around her. He was warm, she was safe, and he joined her in deep, dark sleep.