FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Morning had come, and the two awoke from their slumber in the hemlock shelter. They were both rather damp from the rain, only most of it was halted by the shelter's shower curtain. The fire had long burnt out, but the fire inside still smoldered under the surface. Erik's eyes opened, greeted with her merle fur in his face, a pleasant feeling overall, his arm still wrapped around her. He couldn't forget what had happened. But he hoped, for her sake, maybe, that she didn't. He moved his arm off and tried to move a bit, stretching, and she woke up as well. She looked over her shoulder to him, a smile stretched across her face.

“Good morning." She said, a sultry giggle to her voice. She definitely remembered what happened.

“Heh, you sound like you're doing better today."

She sighed a bit in amusement. “I feel fantastic. How's your arm?"

“Just fine."

“Good. I have to say, Erik... I really didn't expect last night to happen."

“Me neither. I thought things were going to go a bit differently. You know, like, either of us would have resisted, or... something."

“...Me too." She looked down, ears dropping.

“Do you regret it?"

Her attention snapped back to him, ears perked up. “No! No, far from it! I'm just... I'm just a bit confused, how it affects my... you know."

He shook his head. “I don't think it makes you used goods, if that's what you're getting at. A finger barely qualifies as the real thing. You needed help, only I could give it."

“I can only imagine what the real thing is like..." She chuckled. “Anyway, I guess nobody needs to know. Right? Please don't tell anybody."

“Right. You've still saved yourself for your husband."

She was quiet for a second and then groaned. “Ugh. If it's gonna be him... after what he did, maybe I don't want to save myself. Maybe I should just forget the whole tradition thing, if I'm stuck with him." Before he got to talk her out of forgetting the tradition, she sighed. “I, uh, want to apologize, though, Erik."

“For what? For that?"

“Y-yeah... I sort of didn't give you a lot of choice. Honestly, if you said no, I probably would have done it anyway. I didn't really bother to consider how you felt. That wasn't very thoughtful of me." She looked down again. “I feel I owe you."

He sighed, too. “It's fine, Kelsey. I could have just... not done it."

“I might have fought you."

“Maybe. But 'might have' I guess doesn't matter much. I did it. I guess I... just wanted to. Maybe I wanted to be able to bring pleasure to someone." He looked to her briefly, their eyes meeting, then parting. “Well, uh. We should get up."

“Yeah. Alright, let's get back on the road. We have to figure out how we're getting home from here."

“Right."

The makeshift door for the shelter was opened, and the early morning sunlight streamed in. It looked like it would be a beautiful day again, the perfect time to go on another day-long hike into the wilderness. But before they could go anywhere, there was a growling that needed to be tended to; their stomachs. The water was not far from them, so it wouldn't take long to get a fish. As Erik hunted for a meal for them, Kelsey worked on a new fire by the coast.

“You know, even though we're not getting a lot of scavving done, I think this has been a really good trip so far." She said as she broke up some sticks into a small circle of rocks.

“Yeah, we've found some stuff, but mostly, had a good adventure in the boonies."

“Boonies?" She began to start a fire, dropping the small sticks and needles into a pile.

“You know, the bush, the barely-populated." He chuckled, then suddenly jerked to his rod. “Oh! Got one!"

Kelsey watched from the fire pit, slowly smoking as she fed it, as Erik fought with the fish. “Feels like quite the catch!"

“This guy is really quite the catch himself." She thought to herself. “Last night was special, it was magical. He's really good with his hands. But... was it a heat fling, or the real thing? Was there emotion there, or was he really just helping me? Fuck, I would have gone all the way if he weren't just helping me. That's not right, that shouldn't happen, I have to save myself. I know I can't choose him. Rot, he's a human. ...Can I? Oh, I would get in so much trouble. Upending the tradition already. Nobody would accept it, no. It has to be another anthro. But why, when this guy is so... great? What to do? What can I even do? Am I just totally-"

Erik finally landed the fish. Another chunky smallmouth bass. It seemed the waters around here were loaded with fish, waiting to be caught. “Yeah, another fish. Let's get this guy cooking. Kelsey?"

Kelsey snapped to attention as the fire began to get bigger. “Hm? Oh, yeah, let's do it. Daylight's burning!"

They were both sick to death of eating fish, but there was no use complaining about it. They needed food, lots of it, and fast. That was the easiest source out there. A fish just cooked on a fire was no Cordon Bleu delight for Erik, but the flesh was still okay. Kelsey didn't care about the quality, as she could handle the small bones with minimal issue. What a boon she ended up having over an ordinary human.

As they ate, Erik pointed up ahead on the coast. Off in the distance was an old cottage, the details of which couldn't be made out. “Hey, there's a likely looking place we could check out."

“Yeah! Might as well hit it, we'll be passing that way anyway." She looked to his duffelbag, the solar panel still strapped to it. “Hey, you think that thing is charged up yet?"

“I have no idea. I won't know until I try to use it for something."

“What are you planning on doing with it?" She shrugged, hoping he'd leak this time.

“It's a secret." Erik smirked at her. “I have a plan. It's a longshot, but if it works... well, it might just make someone's life very bright."

Kelsey giggled, her tail coming to life again. “Oh? Impressing a special someone?"

“Heh, it's not like that. But, if I'm able to, I want to use it while you're around to witness it."

She put a paw on her chest. “Me?"

“Well, obviously, you and I have gotten to be pretty close. You're at the very least my best friend. And, if I can, I want to show you nifty things."

Her fangs hung over her bottom lip in a silly, toothy smile. It was maybe not exactly what she wanted to hear, but the sentiment was good. “Alright. When we get back, I'll try to do this thing with you."

After eating, they headed along the coast towards the cottage in the distance. Practically falling down on one side, they carefully entered and looked around. Some scared birds took off, flying out the open door, causing them to dodge out of the way.

“Heh. Figured there would be something here, but not birds." Erik chuckled cautiously, lurking about the room again.

“I'm surprised we haven't disturbed anything else all this time. I don't know how many times a skunk or porcupine or something has come out at me from an old ruin." Kelsey began rummaging around in a drawer.

Erik began moving some old, water-ruined magazines off a mossy table. An old hunting mag, a fishing mag, the covers were barely legible, but the image was clear enough. “Oh! Hey, check this one out." He pulled a bagged piece of paper out of the pile. In it was a map. “Someone left us a very handy map." Opening the old zipper bag, he took out the map, folded up just right to show the local area.

Kelsey slunk over to him and looked over his shoulder as he analyzed it. “Oh? What kind of map?"

“Looks like a hunter's map." He pointed to the circle. “We'd be here," then he pointed around to various other spots, “deer, deer, moose. Bear barrel. Looks like he was keeping track of what he found."

“Oh, shit. Look." Kelsey pointed a clawed finger to their location. “This lake is really long! It's gonna take us way too long to get around it either way we go!" She winced a bit, her ears drooping with her tail. “Erik, that's really bad. I won't make it home in time for the suiting! Shit, I'm gonna be late for my own suiting!"

“You'll make it, I'll see to that. Somehow..." He snapped his finger, getting an idea, before she could talk about abandoning the tradition again. “You keep looking for stuff, I'm going to scan around outside for something."

She shrugged, unsure of what his plan was. “Okay, be careful."

He walked out the door of the house, and looked around the property. The grass was as tall as it was everywhere else, but a cottage like this must be used to the water, he figured. Near the edge of the water, in a big dent of grass, he found an old canoe. The inside had a pile of dirt large enough for a sapling to be growing in it, but the boat appeared usable. He grabbed the tree, pulling it out of the dirt, taking most of it with the roots, and tossed it aside. “Sorry tree. But we need this thing." He carefully pushed it over the grass to the water's edge, and went back inside. “Found something we can use to shorten the trip."

“Oh yeah?"

“Yeah. A small boat. We'll just cross the water. All we need are some paddles."

Her tail drooped a bit again. “I-I don't really like to swim. Are you sure it's safe?"

“No, but it probably is. Beats missing your suiting. Let's try to find a paddle and maybe I can get us there."

She shrugged, really having no experience with the water beyond spearing fish at the shore. “What's it look like?"

“A paddle?" He raised an eyebrow. Seemed so commonplace for someone to not know what it is. “It's a long thing, with a wider part at the bottom. Keep your eyes peeled for one around somewhere, there wasn't one in the boat." He sort of drew it in the air with his hands.

The explanation left much to be desired for her, but she nodded and tried looking around the house for what matched the description. It wouldn't be long before she called out to him. “Erik! I found it I think!"

He walked through the house to find her, eventually finding her in a small room. She turned and he chuckled in surprise seeing her. She found a rifle. “Is this it?"

“Hah! No, Kelsey, that's a gun. Good find, though." He had to laugh. She finally found something to sort of match her camo fatigues. Nothing big, a semi-auto .22, commonplace in this area, but illegally secured. No lockout on the trigger, but also no ammo or magazine either.

“Oh! I've heard about these, but never seen one myself... Wanna take it?" She handed it forward to him. He really had no choice but to take it, who knows what use a gun could be, even a small caliber.

“Sure, could be useful. But it's missing some stuff... I'm looking for a little black box, it's about this big," he made a box shape with his hands, about the size of the magazine, “and ammo. Little shiny gold looking things."

She tried to take note of these seemingly random items. “Huh, okay. Box, ammo, paddle..."

They rummaged around the room a bit, looking inside of everything, turning over boxes and sifting through garbage without finding anything useful. After a few minutes, Kelsey finally found something. Using her height to an advantage, she found something on the top of a shelf that looked empty. A single magazine, and five loose rounds.

Erik looked at the few bullets in her paw as she showed them to him. “That's it, huh? Five rounds."

“Not good?" She looked at him, her head a bit lopsided.

“Not great, could always use more. But it's a start. Will be good for defense." He took them and pocketed them. “We'll deal with it in a bit. But we still have to find a paddle."

“Right. Paddle."

Erik took note of how Kelsey was very receptive to looking for things he mentioned. It seemed she wanted to help as much as she could. Before long, they found a paddle, in a garage. There was also a life jacket, colored green by moss, but otherwise, usable. All of the other nautical-related objects had long since been rendered unusable, save for the rusted old anchor, its rope completely chewed off by rodents long ago.

“Alright, this can work. I'll paddle us across the lake here, and you... can wear that jacket."

“What's it do?"

“Floats. If anything happens, you don't have to swim."

She looked at it, holding it in her paws with some slight disgust. “That's it? It's so ugly."

“Who cares, it's about function." He razzed.

She razzed right back and put on the vest. The moss blended in well to her camo top. She looked down at it curiously, taking note of this fact. “Huh."

The two pushed the boat into the water and it creaked a bit as Kelsey got in. She sat in a funny way while in it, somewhat paralyzed in awkward imbalance, legs spread out like how a dog in a truck would stand, up in the bow of the boat.

“You know you don't have to sit that way, right?" Erik spoke over her shoulder, as he stood in the shallows and held the back of the boat.

“It's fine. I'm fine. Let's go." She said to him quickly.

“Heh. Alright. Pushing." He took a bit of a run at it, shoving the boat off and jumping in to the back seat. The boat wobbled a bit as sat and grabbed the paddle. They were slowly drifting into the lake, the other side visible from across it, but a bit of a ways off. It would be quite the paddle.

“Alright, I'll paddle, you look out in the water, tell me if you see any rocks. Uh, or leaks."

“O-Okay." She scanned around the bottom of the boat for leaks, feeling more comfortable not looking at the deepening water, as Erik paddled. She had to look back to see what he was doing. With the handle in one hand and the butt in the other, he made strong, deep strokes, a couple of times on one side, then switched to the other. The boat creaked through the water and they were well on their way to the other side.

“Heh. You look pretty strong when you do that."

“Thanks." He panted, continuing to paddle. “Been a while."

“Oh! I think that's a leak there." She pointed to a small pool of water forming.

“Shit, okay. Just, uh... stick your paw over the hole. We have to plug that."

She stuck the pad of a paw over the hole, and it thankfully stopped filling up. “Whew."

Erik had been at it for a while now, he was exhausted, but Kelsey had moved from fearing the boat to cheering him on, trying to keep his morale up. The encouragement helped him paddle better, and soon enough, they had made it to the other side. He was exhausted, but it had taken at least two days off of their trip. Kelsey stretched on the dry land, looking excited and energized.

“You did it, Erik! I'm so proud of you!" She cheered as he groaned and wheezed on the beach, her tail wagging rapidly.

“T-thanks... give me... a minute..." He sunk to his knees, trying not to vomit from the exhaustion.

She approached him and knelt down, and stroked his head lightly. Seemed she didn't mind giving out the pets, either. “Alright. You rest and get your energy back." She took out the hunter's map and began to look it over. “Hmm... Looking at this thing, we only need to go south-east about a day before we get back. Isn't that great?"

“Heh. Yeah." He grumbled, taking a jar of the rain water from his bag and opening it. The water was stagnant, but at least it was refreshing. “Can't wait to sleep on hay."

“Do you actually like the haystack?"

“It's better than hard dirt and mud, yeah." He tried to stand up finally. “Still haven't slept in a bed in fifty years."

She giggled. “Maybe we can salvage you one some day."

“That would be nice." He sighed, trying to get his second wind going. “Alright. We shouldn't sit here too long. Let's get home."

The two didn't linger long, and began to head towards home. It was just the usual forest and hills as far as the eye could see. And this close to town, there wasn't much else to deal with, negatively or positively. They just continued walking, mostly keeping quiet as they moved through the bush. It was finally starting to get late. They weren't close enough to ignore it, so they had to settle down for one more night. Kelsey made the shelter again, as Erik made the fire. But this time, the shelter was going to be a bit bigger than usual, as Kelsey dragged in a plastic skid.

“Hey, Erik! Check this out!" She called to him with glee as she dragged it to the camp site.

“Whoa, a skid, wonder how that got way out here?"

“Who knows. What's it for?"

“Places used to put stuff on it and use a big machine to lift it up and move it around. It was a good way to move a mass amount of things."

She looked at it with passing interest, but it was almost no different than any other relic to her. “Huh. Well, I bet it'll make a nice side for the shelter!" She leaned it up against the typical fallen log, taking up a huge chunk of one side. “Less branches to collect. No leaks."

By dusk, the fire had been started, and the shelter finished. The skid took tons of preparation away from the act. They sat by the fire for a little bit before getting into their shelter for the night.

“Hey Erik. That gun thing, how's it work?"

“Hmm, explain a gun. Okay." He scratched his chin a bit. “Well, it's a complicated machine, really." He took out the rifle and began showing her the mechanics of it. “The whole contraption is made to ignite a small explosive charge, and fire a bullet out of it. Like a tiny arrow, but way more powerful." He retrieved the magazine and the rounds. “This is what fires, out of this. And this box, the magazine, holds it all." He began loading the rounds into the mag. No reason to just have them rolling around loose, he figured.

“Ooh. Can you... show me?"

He thought about it. “The ammo is precious, I shouldn't waste it." He looked to her eyes, the gentle, pale blue circles peering into him with supreme interest. It was hard to say to no puppy dog eyes. “Buuut... I guess we could each take a shot. Just one, though." She wagged her tail in excitement, as he continued to explain how it worked. He grabbed the charging handle. “Once we load in the magazine, he have to pull this back, all the way. See inside? It moves parts around that helps to feed in the ammo from the mag."

He racked it once and she watched it move with rapt fascination. “Oh! Neat!"

“And once there's a round in the chamber here, you would pull this trigger here, and hopefully hit whatever you're aiming at." He pulled the trigger, releasing the hammer. Clack. Thankfully, there was nothing inside of it.

He paused for a moment to find a couple chunks of wood laying around, standing them up nearby. Coming back, he sat down with her again, and began to actually load it. “Magazine goes in, like this." Click. “Now, we have to prepare it." He charged it. “Now the gun is loaded." He made sure to stress his explanation here. “Firearm safety, of course, begins before using it. Right now, this is the most dangerous thing either of us know about. It's not a toy, and never point it, even for a split second, at anything you don't intend to kill. Understand?"

“Right, okay."

With rifle in hand, he aimed down the slightly rusted sights at a chunk of the wood, finger still off the trigger. “Look down these bits of metal on top. One is a point, the other has a little valley. You want to put your target right on the point, and put the point in the valley."

She tried to remember that. “Okay."

“Ready. Turning off the safety, this little switch here." His finger hit a small switch. “Once you're lined up, move your finger to the trigger..." He slowly moved his finger. “And this is going to be loud. You should cover your ears."

She cutely put her paws over her ears and nodded, watching his finger move. It squeezed down on the trigger, and thankfully the gun didn't explode or misfire. Bang! She jumped a bit, the shock of the action was so fast that she could barely grasp what happened. His bullet hit the chunk of wood, blowing a small hole in it, shards of wood spraying off everywhere. “Wow! That's incredible!" She was elated to see this thing in action.

“And, since there were more rounds in the magazine, there's another one ready to shoot. Think you got all that?"

“Yeah! Yeah!" She made a juvenile grabby-hands action in the direction of the gun.

“Remember: do not put your fingers anywhere near the trigger until you're ready to fire it. Understand?"

“Uh huh!" He handed it over and she carefully held it, trying to aim down the sights.

“You'll have to use the one eye, close the other one."

“Right, I see. The point, in the valley. Target on the point."

“When you're ready, click off the safety, then prepare to squeeze the trigger. Remember, when you do, it'll not only make noise, but kick a bit, back into your shoulder. Make sure to hold on tight." Erik nodded, covering her ears for her. Her tail wagged a bit as he touched her fuzzy ears. “It'll be louder for you than me, so you need the ear protection."

“You sure?" She asked, not looking away from the target wood chunk.

“Yeah, I'll be fine. Fire when ready."

She pulled the trigger finally, and the sudden blast jolted her, partially the recoil, partially making her jump again. But she succeeded in hitting her target, low and to the left a bit. She stared with amazement at the target. “Ah! I did it! Fucking awesome!" Her tail wagged almost as fast as when he was intimate with her. “I wanna shoot more!"

He took the gun from her hands. “No, we can't do anymore. We only have three shots left in the world. We need to save them for emergencies."

“Aw, Erik!" She pouted, but knew he was right. She watched him unload it, pop out the round and put it back into the mag, and turn on the safety. “Alright, you're right. But that was fun! Thanks so much!" She cuddled her face up to him, nuzzling his cheek with her snout.

“Heh, you're welcome." He ruffled her hair with his left hand. She grew a big, dopey smile and wagged a lot as his fingers combed through her fur. He suddenly stopped, and she looked a bit irritated about it, as if she expected it to go on forever, but he went to get the two pieces of wood. He put them down on the ground by the fire. “See? My shot, your shot." Both chunks had a big spot blown away from the shot.

“That's so awesome!"

“Yeah. I'd say keep it as a memento, but... we should probably not carry big chunks of wood around."

“Yeah. We can burn them. Let's get to bed." She pointed back to the shelter with her fuzzy thumb.

“You know, some day, we're going to find someone else's shelter in the bush and save a lot of time." Erik laughed as he got into the shelter, under the boughs.

“Heh, I wish." Kelsey followed him in. “You know how many times I've made this same style shelter? Never found another one, not even my own, again."

Erik set his pack at the foot again and laid down in the dirt. “So, how'd you learn this one, then?"

She sighed as she closed up the shelter behind them. “That dimwit Colton. Great idea, said he found it in some book in his town."

“Ah, that was a valuable find." He nodded, trying to get comfortable, squirming about.

“You alright?"

“Just... the ground is hard. No pillow. Don't think I'll ever get used to this."

She smirked. “Sorry, no bed or haystack."

“It's fine, I'll cope."

She was silent for a moment, then started unbuttoning her top. Erik didn't ask, and after taking it off, she began to take off her pants.

“Kelsey..."

“Shh, it's not what you think." As she struggled them off in the shelter, she rolled over to face him, bare-chested, still wearing her light blue underwear. He didn't know she wore nothing else underneath that camo top. “Here, you can lay on these."

“What? On your clothes?"

“I know they're thin but... they're better than the hard ground. I can't give you fur."

“I... I guess." Her generosity was accepted, and he tried to lay down on them. They didn't do much, but he appreciated it anyway. “Thanks, Kelsey. But what about you?"

“I have enough fur, and the fire is over here, I'll be fine like this. Really." She nodded to him, laying in her underwear. “In fact, here." She laid on her back and flopped her right arm over. “You can use my arm for a pillow. It's softer than the ground."

Erik looked at her, and sighed. He knew she was being generous, but it was also her way of getting close to him. He didn't want her to get used to it, since her suiting was so close. He laid his head down on her arm as she tried to get comfortable. But as they lay there, he still had to talk. “Are you still in heat?"

“...Yes, but I'm holding onto it much better now, thanks to you. I don't think you know how much that helped. You're better at it than I am." She smiled at him.

“Well, it helped me too, I guess."

“Yeah?" She looked at him with keen interest.

“It's been a while since I've really been close to anyone. I'm glad to have helped you out, it made me feel pretty good, too."

She felt a little bad for him. “You know... I'm going to miss these nights when we get back. It's been quite an adventure for both of us."

“Yeah." He responded sleepily.

She rolled over, throwing her other arm over him, and holding onto him. He didn't bother to stop the cuddle. There was no reason to. The closeness felt remarkable, natural even. He rolled over, too, holding onto her, as she did him. Her bare breasts pushed against him, and he finally got a feel for them, though he tried his best not to look. The top she wore hid their size rather well, but despite the lack of bra or other shirt, they retained their shape remarkably well. The white and salt-and-pepper fur styles made for an interesting, random pattern, but he could barely pick it out in the dark.

“We shouldn't be this close." He mumbled into her fluffy neck.

“You're right. But... it feels so natural. Doesn't it?"

“It does... it also feels... sudden."

She sighed. “I don't know what I'm doing."

“Me neither."

As the two lay there, struggling internally with their emotions, they simply held each other, looked into each other's blue eyes, filled with both a xenial and a wistful gaze, and said nothing. What was this? What did the future hold? The suiting was coming up, and was too important, to everyone. They didn't know how to proceed without impeding it, so they simply didn't. They just held each other, in the shelter, the crackling fire shooting shadows of branches across them.

“Kelsey?"

“Yeah?"

“Goodnight."

“...Goodnight, Erik."

Many things were still active late at night like this, including some of the city-dwelling humans. One stood under a lamp post by a city gate, glowing blue with its energy. He was clad in an old-style grey gumshoe getup with modern accouterments, big gloves with large, boxy cuffs, and a matching fedora, as a phone rang a quiet, digital tone. The man raised his left arm to his head, and spoke into his wrist.

“242." He responded simply.

A voice crackled in his arm as it spoke back to him. “Sitrep."

“We found the chip, but the target is still missing. The chip has no valuable data on a trajectory or plan. He's either very good, or very lucky."

“You are too slow. 839's failure should be a lesson to you. If that ice pack isn't back in 24932, you'd better not be, either."

“Understood." The sound disconnected, and he lowered his arm. The man sighed. “I'll find him. I know it."