FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Venn woke slowly, stretching languidly in his large bed and staring up at the still dark and slightly overcast sky. Yawning, he rolled onto his side and sat up on the edge of the bed. He sat there for a few moments, elbows resting on his knees, head hanging forward, while he worked up the energy to start the day. When the alarm went off, he simply reached out and shut it off. "Okay... let the day begin." He lurched to his feet and plodded toward the stairs. One paw on the rail, he descended into what should have been a darkened main floor, but there was light coming from the vidscreen.

Instead of heading to the washroom, as he'd intended, he detoured into the living area, fully intent on scaring the shit out of Kris and yelling at him for being up so late that he passed out on the couch (again)! He glanced at the screen as he approached, and his eyes widened. There, larger then life, was one of the boys Kris had been hanging out with, the ringtail. The young man was nearly naked, stretched out across his own, bed snoring gently. Venn looked down over the back of the couch to find Kris in a similar state -- wearing just a pair of briefs that hugged his form and accented more then they hid. Used tissue littered the floor in front of the couch, and Venn's nostrils told him he didn't want to be the one cleaning it up, especially after a glance at the matted fur on the boy's tummy.

He turned on one heel and headed for the bathroom.

A cold shower, a quick two kilometer run, and another cold shower later, Venn finally felt up to waking the boy. However, as he exited the bathroom, he was nearly bowled over by the raccoon darting into the room and closing the door nearly on his own tail. The stallion chuckled softly to himself and went to prepare breakfast -- a mixture of various grains and seeds that both he and Kris found tasty, though he didn't put milk on it like the raccoon did.

Fifteen minutes later, the raccoon was slipping out of the bathroom and into his room wearing only a towel. Venn shook his head and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "We need to get going here, Kris," he yelled toward the closed door. "If you don't hurry up, you aren't going to have time to eat before we head to the school." He grabbed a spoon and dug into his breakfast, leaning his backside against the counter. Venn was halfway through his portion when Kris made his next appearance, this time fully dressed in his school uniform, with dripping wet hair that was dampening his collar. "Eat fast, but don't choke."

"Sure Coach." The boy (no, young man -- Venn would have to make himself remember that he was not a boy any longer) said as he grabbed his spoon and dumped milk on his grains. He dug in quickly enough that Venn was afraid he really might choke. They ate in silence, Kris focused on his food, Venn thinking about how to address the morning's events without sounding like he was being unreasonable.

He had just about figured out how to broach the subject when Kris looked up sheepishly. "Sorry about being on the couch when you got up," he said quietly. "I know you've told me before I have to go to bed at a reasonable time, just... well, Liran and I got to talking and... well, I sort of lost track of the time."

He looked so embarrassed about being found in that position that Venn couldn't, in good conscience, lecture him about it. Instead, the horse nodded in understanding, "I know how that can happen. Perhaps we should get you a portable screen that you can set up on the dresser in your room? That way you and... Liran, was it? Can have a little more privacy when you..." He deliberately stretched the pause as long as he could before finishing his sentence with, "talk." This made Kris blush even more, his ears folding adorably back against his head until they all but disappeared into his hair.

Kris mumbled something into his bowl and returned to eating quickly. When they were both finished, and the dishes rinsed and placed in the sink to be washed later, Venn asked, "You ready? Got all your stuff?"

"Yeah; just let me grab my bag from my room, and I'm all set." He suited actions to words and met Venn at the front door in moments. They left together, Venn locking up as Kris headed to the garage, where he climbed into the passenger seat of Venn's sporty little ground car. Venn activated the gate when they approached it and waited for it to close behind them before he pulled out onto the street.

* * * * *

A sporty little ground car with two occupants, a horse and the raccoon, pulled up to a stop at an average city block. There was nothing unusual about the stop; there was nothing unusual about the car; there was nothing unusual about the horse or the raccoon passengers. There was, however, something unusual about the girl standing at the crosswalk. She didn't look unusual; she looked like a typical raccoon of about 12 or 13 years of age. She was dressed in what could be described as someone's hand-me-downs: Old clothes, the material starting to show through in spots, but clean and well mended. What was unusual about her was the watch she wore on her left wrist. It didn't look unusual; it looked like a typical digital device for telling the time. It was, in fact, much more.

When the car pulled up to the stop light, the watch on the girl's wrist flashed to get her attention. She looked down, lifting her wrist so she could see the small screen and read the following message.

Genus: Procyon Sapient.

Species: Raccoon.

Gender: Male.

Development: Subadult.

Genetic Compatibility: 98%.

Threat Assessment: 2%.

The Genetic Compatibility line was flashing green. She shook the watch, looked at it again, read the same message and whispered, "Are you sure?" She looked up just in time to see the car pulling away. She stepped back from the crosswalk to lean against building and read the same message on the watch. "98%? Even Tony isn't that close! I wonder if he's the one?" With more questions than answers running through her head, she turned and headed back the way she'd come.

* * * * *

Liran was waiting in the staff parking lot when Venn and Kris pulled up. He hurried around to the passenger side of the car without even giving Venn a nod, waiting impatiently for the raccoon to exit. Venn chuckled softly recognizing the boys features from the early morning incident. "I think someone wants to talk to you," he said before ruffling Kris's hair, grabbing his stuff, and getting out of the car. "Good morning." He gave the ringtail a slight nod of his head and walked on unhurriedly towards the school.

Kris, blushing so hard he thought his ears were going to fall off, got out of the car only to have Liran fling his arms around his neck and kissed him soundly! Not knowing what to do, Kris managed to drop his backpack and hoverboard to the ground as he was pressed up against the side of Venn's car. Luckily for him, Liran didn't hold him long, instead pulling back and gasping, "Thank you so much for last night! That was so awesome! We gotta do that again sometime!" He was fairly vibrating, he was so excited. He didn't even notice Kris's discomfort, or the blush that had his ears folded so far back it look like they disappeared into his hair.

"Liran, I..." Kris groped for the words he was looking for. "I don't know what I want right now. It's nothing you did, I just... I'm not sure that I'm ready to jump full force into a new relationship." He stepped to the side so he didn't like feel he was trapped between Liran in the car. "Last night was... well, it was a lot of fun. I'm just not sure I'm ready for it to be anything more than just fun. Do you understand?" He searched the cacomistle's face, hoping that Liran wouldn't just walk away from him.

Several emotions flashed across Liran's features -- hurt, anger, embarrassment, and finally, sadness. "I guess I understand. I heard a little about your last boyfriend. And I can see why you might be a little leery about jumping into a new relationship." He stepped back a little to give Kris some more space. "I just... I guess what I want to say is, last night was awesome, and I would be more than happy if something like that happened again." While the ringtail had backed up to give the raccoon a bit more personal space, he did reach out and squeeze Kris's paw, shooting him an infectious grin at the same time. "Is that something you're interested in?"

Kris couldn't help the slight blush when Liran asked him so blatantly if he was interested in a repeat of last night's experiment. "Oh, I definitely think I'm interested in a repeat performance. You make some of the cutest sounds I've ever heard!" he teased the older boy.

Now it was Liran's turn to blush, something he didn't do often, priding himself on being a man of the world after all, but there was something about the way Kris phrased things. "I think we could arrange that." Having settled the situation to their mutual comfort, Liran assisted Kris in picking up his backpack and hoverboard, and the two headed towards the school just as the first bell rang.

* * * * *

Kaily ducked under an old pipe, skirted a paddle of something that smelled rancid, and finally came to the camouflaged opening into an old office building. She looked around to make sure no one was watching, lifted the wooden crate to the side, slid in behind it, and pulled it back into place quickly. It was black as pitch inside the old building; if you didn't know where you were going, it was easy to get lost. But Kaily had been here many, many times, and the darkness held no fear for her. She scrambled up a flight of stairs to the third floor and pushed open an old fire door to let herself into the main part of the building. It was still dark up here, with only a dim glow from the high-set windows to lighten the gloom. She moved with ease between the abandoned cubicles, working her way towards the center of the labyrinth.

As she went, lights flicked on behind her in sets of two, each set of lights illuminating a face created of metal. The eyes were followed by running lights and illuminated buttons all down the chassis of dozens of little robots. Not having been given orders, the robots waited patiently in their charging stations in standby mode to carry out their mistress' desires.

In the center of the labyrinth, three cubicles had been taken down and a single workstation made from the various parts. The desk was three times as long as the usual desks and L-shaped. The shorter portion held two data pads linked together, with three core cases between them. A vid screen rested upright on top of the cases, giving the raccoon girl three screens to work with. She picked up the end of a small cable and attached it to the watch on her left wrist. Within moments, all three screens lit up, and she had direct access to the Nanas. It was easier to communicate this way, as they now had larger screens on which to convey their responses.

She felt like she was talking to herself when she talked to the Nanas, because they never answered verbally; it was always text, or pictures, or links to the information she'd requested. "Okay. How much did you get when you scanned that boy? Did you also scan the car? Would make it easier to track down where he's living, if we had the registration."

While the Nanas were printing something across the upper screen, Kaily turned her attention to the left data pad and began to type in a search of her own. Her fingers flew over the surface. When she heard the beep that signaled the Nanas had completed their communication, she looked up to read it.

Analysis of the subject to determine genetic compatibility verified. This is the individual we have been searching for.

Individual positively identified as Kristopher Blackwood.

Vehicle is registered to one Vincent O'Brien, ex-military, current police officer and coach of the swim team at St. Mary's school.

Second individual positively identified as Vincent O'Brien.

Initiating search, subjects Kristopher Blackwood and Vincent O'Brien...

"Hmmm," Kaily murmured softly. "I wonder if that's the same horse that responded to the distress call?" The left data pad begin scrolling information too fast for the average person to follow, but Kaily had no trouble reading what scrolled up the screen. For the last two months, she'd been researching Kristopher Blackwood and everything she could find out about his family. She had quite a database on him now, including some rather intimate videos she had unearthed from the datastream, featuring the raccoon himself and a cougar named Sean.

She paused the data stream when she caught sight of the name Vincent O'Brien recurring several times. It seemed the horse was rather entangled with her subject, having come to his rescue on several occasions. She sat back slowly in her chair, tapping her lips with her fingernail and considering what this might mean.

* * * * *

School was long and mostly boring that day. The only high point came in social-political science when the teacher began discussing Durango Minor. Kris and most of students felt that the lieutenant was in the wrong, as the subsequent tribunal proved; however, a small minority of the class, mostly made up of felines and canines, argued that the soldiers under his command should've followed the orders they were given and dealt with the situation without giving way the location of the column.

"What you're saying is, regardless of the fact that several armed vehicles were approaching the column, the team leader of Alpha-2 should have maintained radio silence?" Kris indignantly asked a large pitbull.

"Yes!" The dog snarled, "A properly trained soldier would've known -- to open the radio connection would give away the position of everyone on the network. That soldier didn't only endanger their lives, he caused the entire massacre!" There were several voices of agreement throughout the classroom.

Kris actually stood up out of his desk he was so upset. "So the fact that a tribunal found Lieut. Moghadam to be incompetent, because he didn't take the report of a more experienced soldier into account, means nothing to you? You would place the entire blame squarely on the shoulders of a man who was just doing his job? How does that make any sense at all?" Unable to resist the urge, Kris slammed his hand down onto the top of his desk, emphasizing his point.

Before the bulldog could respond, the bell rang calling an end to class. "Very good, class. We'll continue this debate tomorrow. Don't forget to read chapter 3 in your textbook to find out what happened after the massacre," Prof. Hollister called out as the students began to collect their things and filing of his classroom.

Kittara and Krista were waiting just outside the door where Kris left the classroom muttering to himself about the stupidity of some individuals. "Hey, Kris; you ready for swim practice?" the vixen bubbled as she and mouse fell in step beside him.

Kris shook his head to clear the last half-hour debate from his mind. "Hi, Kitt, Krista; yeah, I could really use the work out." Sensing that Kris wasn't in the best of moods, the girls maintained their silence as the three headed towards the pool, collecting a few other members of the team as they went. Today was the last day of tryouts, and this year, Coach said he had a surprise for them, something that had all the kits curious. Even Kris who, though he lived with Venn, had no idea what the surprise might be.

Coach Jaz was checking names off on a clipboard as they got close enough. "Kris, Kittara, Krista, it's good to see some familiar faces in all this lot." He smiled congenially and waved them into the changing rooms as another group of kits was hot on their heels.

* * * * *

Once everyone had gotten changed, they headed back into the main pool to await the arrival of their equine coach. Coach Jaz managed to keep the new hopefuls corralled while he let the more seasoned members of the team takes seats in the spectator stand. The door to the coaches' office between the two changing rooms opened, and Venn came out. The horse took the clipboard Jaz offered him and quickly went over the names, verifying that they were all indeed in attendance. Some names were blatantly missing from his list -- Audio, for instance, had decided after a long talk with the coach to join the Zero-G diving team that was just starting, his slighter build making him more aerodynamic and his ears giving him a better way to control his fall.

"Welcome to the swim team tryouts. Those of you who've been on the team in previous years will recognize myself and Coach Jaz; however, this year were splitting the teams into male and female, so will need another assistant coach. As you can imagine, it was a difficult choice, but we think we've picked the right person for the job. Without further ado, I give you your new assistant coach who will be handling the male team, Coach Dastinon." As he finished speaking, he turned to look towards the door he'd left open to the coaches' office.

All eyes followed the coach's gaze as a familiar otter sauntered out into the pool area. Kris and several other of the more senior members of the team began cheering and shouting, calling out a welcome to their old friend. Dastinon had graduated the year before, and they had been sad to see him go, but this was a wonderful surprise for them. "Hey, cut that racket!" the otter said sternly. "Did you think you were never going to see me again or something?" Which caused the cheers to turn into laughter that slowly died away.

"Don't you boys expect him to go lightly on you just because he used to be one of you," Venn grinned."Dastinon understands the importance of hard work, if you intend to take the championship this year." Then he slapped the otter on the back jovially and started calling out the names of the students who would be the first to try out.

"Did you know?" Kittara whispered to Kris, obviously referring to Dastinon's being chosen his new coach.

Kris shook his head firmly, "No; coach kept this secret under lock and key. I'm as surprised as you are."

Krista leaned forward a little so she could see Kris around Kittara, "It'll be good to have him back. He was already helping most of us before he graduated, so it'll be just like old times."

The subject of their discussion, along with coach Jaz, was headed in their direction. "All right, guys, you're coming with me. We may not get a chance at the pool today, with all these newbies." He tilted his head in the direction of the pool then smiled. "So we're headed to the weight room to build up some of that upper body strength and see if we can't make better swimmers out of you with it." There were a few groans from some of the guys seated in the stands; however, they rose, to a man, and began filing toward the weight room after the otter.

The girls started giggling, some of them assuming they were off the hook, when Jaz spoke up. "Oh, don't get too comfortable ladies; we're heading for the gym. While the boys are working on upper body strength, we're gonna work on endurance. I hope you're ready to run." There was an answering grown from the ladies and a chuckle from some few of the boys who overheard, but like the boys, every one of the girls stood and started to follow Jaz toward the gymnasium.

* * * * *

Everyone else had gone. Kris, knowing that he'd be here later than everyone else, had waited to shower, and was now luxuriating under the warm spray. Dastinon and Jaz were getting dressed when Venn came in. "Good job today, gentlemen! We'll have this team -- excuse me, these teams -- whipped into shape in no time." He stripped off his swimsuit and the white T-shirt with COACH written across the back in black, dropped them on a bench, and headed for the showers.

"Thanks, coach; it was really cool the way everybody reacted when I came out. I'm really glad you talked me into keeping it a secret," Dastinon said as he finished buttoning his jeans. "I'll take the towels to the laundry, as long as you and Kris remember to lay yours over the wall so they'll dry out for the morning." He collected his belongings and started rolling the large basket that held all the wet towels toward the door.

"I'll get the girls towels," Jaz said before Dastinon could leave the room.

"Sure, I'll wait for you; we can go down together." Jaz moved to collect his own belongings and ducked through the coaches' office, presumably headed for the matching locker room on the other side.

Kris been living with Venn all summer and was so used to having the horse around that he hardly paid much attention to his presence at all. He was facing the wall soaping his body up, thinking about what had happened with Liran last night, not even realizing that his body was reacting to the thoughts rather powerfully.

Venn's nostrils flared taking in a scent that he recognized. He glanced toward the raccoon and stifled a groan. Even though the younger male was facing the wall, he could tell Kris was hard, and from the way his hand was moving, seemed to have forgotten he was not alone. He should say something, but his tongue was tied. He watched in silence as Kris pressed his left hand against the wall, eyes closed as he continued to move his right hand in an age-old rhythm.

The horse could feel the old emotions churning inside him, the ones he thought he'd buried when Rocket broke off with him. Yet here was the object of his desire pleasuring, himself right before his eyes. He should turn away, give the young man some privacy, but he couldn't make himself do it. He should say something, remind Kris that he wasn't alone, but his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth, and he could feel his own desire stirring in his loins.

Silent and motionless, Venn couldn't help watching, he couldn't turn away, he couldn't force himself to turn away. His eyes drank in the site like a parched man finally given the water he craves. The raccoon's movements became more erratic, his breath coming in fast, hot pants, and in a much shorter time than Venn would've liked, the younger male gasped and threw his head back. Venn licked his lips, nostrils flaring again, as the shower was filled with the same scent he'd noticed that morning. It quickly dissipated as the shower washed away all traces of what Kris had just been doing. A few moments passed while the young man caught his breath. He rinsed the soap from his fur, turned off the water, and went to get a towel, all without looking at Venn or even acknowledging the horse's presence.