FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"This is going to be the Greatest Halloween Ever!" Jessie leapt up in front of her bedroom mirror, drinking in the sight of her entire body now encapsulated in its costume. Even as she tried to study herself in the reflective glass, she couldn't stop bouncing back and forth between her feet. Energy coursed through her body in an electric state, flickering between her limbs and thrusting them about in spastic dancing.

"I'm going to win best costume at the party! AND I'm going to get the most candy of everyone in the neighborhood!" She gave a twirl, admiring the carefully woven chainmail that wrapped around each of her slender arms. Peeking out from through the tiny holes she could see her golden shaded fur. She fitted her chest plate over top, grinning at her personally designed family crest emblazoned across the front. Her feet were even jammed into metallic boots, garbing her entirely in what appeared to be metal. Hanging from her hip, she wore a sheath and sword that smacked on her leg as she jostled around side to side.

"Thanks Dad for painting this with me!" she chirped, grinning up at him as he strode into the room. He beamed back, his own predatory fangs glistening once in the bright lights of the child's bedroom.

"Ready to hit the streets of Firewall City, Cubbo?" the older man, Red, asked, bending down to crouch beside his daughter as she admired her shining armor. His own faced wrinkled with his smile, so much pride glistening out from his dark eyes at the sight of his daughter, so courageous and free in a society of so many constraints of young girls. Being divorced, with a kid, he felt a lot of pressure to give her the best of everything and being a good father. As far as he could tell, he was doing pretty good.

"She's never been like the rest of them..." he thought to himself, seeing his daughter's grinning face flying through the air as she attempted trick after trick of her skateboard. Constantly, she came home with scraped knees, blood matted in the fur and laughter spilling from the geode of her smile cracking open.

"58% adventure..." he always told her, laughing. She'd been overfilled with the sense of exploration and fearlessness. She'd gotten only a dash of responsibility, a spill of loyalty, and a lot of brave. But, when it was all said and done, she had no more room left for restraint.

"Oh yea, Dad! I'm gonna show 'em who's the boss of this town!" She puffed out her chest, the thin furs tickling into the creases of the hefty metal armor suit that garbed her small frame.

"You're sure right about that!" Red laughed again, rolling his eyes at the girl's thunderous confidence. He rose, clapping his hands. "Let's get down to that party so you can fill your belly before you hit the streets, sport-"

******

"Pizza!" Through the entire sea of on-theme Halloween foods from carefully molded miniature cakes covered in wriggling folds of frosting to form the brain's distinctive hemispheres, hot dogs wore mummy wraps of pastry dough, and ghosts of merengue.

The rushing lion cub burst through the party, waving madly to the neighbors and gathered friends. Her tail flicked around side to side, dancing the puff of deepened rust around the air. She dove towards the table, hand outreached for the glistening grease of the pizza. Her mouth stretched open, as if in slow motion, as her hand pulled the slice up to her mouth, guiding the point right into her sharp jaws before she began rapidly chewing.

"So, what's your costume, sweetie?" a neighbor chirped, peering down at the short cub. The girl looked up, eyes dimming into slits at the adult's cheery, condescending tone.

"I'm a knight!" Jessie boasted, inflating her chest once again with pride. Her ears perked up atop her head, the folded discs flickering to attention as she raised her arm to show of her glistening, metal replica of a great broadsword.

"Oh! Isn't that a bit sharp for a young lady like yourself?"

The girl paused. Her eyes narrowed further into mere glistening yellow lines before she just shook her head and spun around towards the door. "I'm going trick-or-treating now!"

She burst out into the arms of the night. High above, against a backdrop of the dark black sky, the moon shone out in a brilliant shade of yellow. The stars were mere dots spreading across the bed, like spilled droplets of paint from the shifting brush that meant to spread the gray shadows in sheets across the open expanse of space.

Jessie leapt into the grand darkness, hoisting up a wrist filled with glow stick bracelets and her hand heaving her sword. Across her opposite shoulder she slung her candy bag, ready for its spoils. Her chest heaved out, filling with a deep breath of the crisp air, chilly enough to bite back on her lungs as she skipped down to the sidewalk.

"First, I'll go up to McCollum Street on the right side, then I'll cross over and do back down to Timothy Lane. After which I will continue backwards on the right till I overlap at home. Then... I'll cut through the back yard to hit the next block over in the same pattern..." she plotted, muttering to herself the plan as she bounded towards the stairs. Out in the street, illuminated by the candles within grinning Jack-O-Lanterns and porch lights left on full blast, children all enrobed in their costumes raced together, some working for candy in teams and other competing. At every driveway, Jessie intersected with a familiar face.

"Hi, Josie!" she greeted, waving a furred paw before she received a salute back from the rigid soldier girl, who grinned over a full basket of candy. "Oh no! She's got a bigger stash than me!" the lion cub thought to herself, rushing to the house for her first pillage.

"Trick or treat, m'lady!" she demanded at the door, hefting up her bag and awaiting a pouring of sugary delight.

"Oh! How cute! A knight!" Then, with a faint plunk, a single bite-sized Milky Way plopped into the depth of her bag.

Jessie squinted, peeked into the bag to check her suspicions before she hefted it up again slightly, as if to say, "That's not all, right?"

"Sorry, sweetie! There's a lot of kids out tonight! I have to make it last!"

"Hummph!" With a grunt, the feline pivoted, shouted thank you, and bounded to the next house, determined for greatness.

******

"Trick or Treat!" Jessie tried to raise her voice further, but it crackled slightly and came out a muted volume because she'd already said that repetitive praise so many times. It seemed to echo in her head, coming out on instinct whenever she opened her mouth. "Trick or treat! Trick or treat! Trick or treat!"

House after house, the young cub bounded past inflated Frankenstein's, through ghastly arches, and around carved Jack-O-Lanterns. Her bag, steadily, began to fill in. She counted her haul after each house, measuring how many pieces each neighbor had given her. She stalked other kids bags, noticing which houses people walked away from with full size bars so she could rush to their door before they ran out.

"I bet I'm going to have the most candy of anyone!" Jessie chirped gleefully. Her shoulders began to ache with the constant strain of carrying her candy haul in one arm and her massive replica sword in the other. "I better after all this work!"

"Yeah right! You're not going to get near as much candy as us!" A chorus of rough laughter exploded from the group who'd shouted out at her. The gaggle of teenagers stood well above the young cub's head all dressed in dark sweatshirts with taped on "costume" accents and huge pillowcases stretched out with piled up candy filling. "Only the older people get the most candy because we don't have a bed time!"

"Hey!" Jessie shouted back, puffing up her thin chest once more so that the fur tickled against her hefty chainmail and her shoulders yanked back. "My dad didn't give me a curfew either! I can stay out until there's no more candy to be had!"

"Oooh! Little kitty doesn't' have to rush home to daddy just yet!" They guffawed again, pushing past her on the sidewalk and stalking up to the next house. Jessie just scowled, but hurried onto the next house. "Screw them!" she muttered, heading to the door and hefting up her filling bag: "Trick or treat!"

"Oh! What a mighty, little knight!" The neighbor crooned, spilling a wave of treats into the opened bag before Jessie hollered her thanks and headed back down to the sidewalks once again, but suddenly, before she could move onto the next house she heard the harsh chuckles of the older kids once again.

"You don't really need all this candy, do ya, little gal?"

"Nah! She's so punny! She couldn't eat it all anyways!"

"Just hand it over and you can go crying home to mommy and she'll buy you some more!"

"No! This is my candy!" The small gazelle whined, but the older boy shoved out his hand, toppling over the slender fawn.

"No! They are picking on her!" Jessie realized with a gasp. She yanked her sword into the air, threw her candy bag across her back, and rushed towards them. "Hey! You punks leave her alone! Get out of here!"

"Hey! Look, it's the toy-sized knight in shining armor! Hah Hah! Hah!" They rolled back their heads, laughing as the cub rushed towards them.

"Shut up!" Jessie spat, stepping in front of the unsteady gazelle and raising her sword.

"What are you gonna do, stab me?" the teenager spat, meeting the lion cub's eyes with his own steely gaze.

"I might if you don't get lost!"

"Oohhh! Was that a threat!? Did the little kitty get her titties in a twist?" Jessie glared, her mouth twisting into snarl that showed her white, pointed fangs as she defended the younger cub. She couldn't stand this back and forth. She hated bullies! She'd never feared them, only despised them. The teenagers were bustling together. They kept laughing, jostling and chortling within their group. "Stupid kid. Thinks she can do anything to us," "Little loser."

"You know what! Just SHUT UP!" Jessie stomped her foot. She stared down the older kids, ignoring the fact that they all stood several feet taller than her and that she was totally alone on that street (save for the terrified gazelle shivering behind her). Her eyes flared with fierce inner power. She had no fear, only anger at their attempt to rob the young gazelle of her bucket of candy. She could feel them hovering behind her, still trembling slightly.

"You turn around and get lost! There's plenty of candy to be had elsewhere!" She waved her sword, using it as a pointer to direct the boys down the street, and to her faint surprise, they actually gave a grunt and a shrug and headed down the street.

"Well, fuck you!"

"W-woah! You saved me!" the gazelle murmured, gasping as Jessie turned and helped the fawn to her feet. She stood just a bit shorter than the lion cub, with her short fur a smooth caramel shade beneath her long sparkly princess gown. "I'm Katie!"

"Well, ya know," Jessie grinned. "Every princess always has a knight in armor come save them! I think our costumes are just perfect now!"

Katie returned the smile, grabbing her bag of candy and smoothing out her skirt before she stepped in beside the older lion cub. "Can I come trick or treating with you now?"

"Of course!" Jessie gave a happy purr that rumbled out from deep in her chest before she took her new friend's hand and gave a leading tug. "I left off my run at that house!" She pointed out which one before they headed up the driveway hand in hand.

******

"Wow! You girls sure got a lot of candy!" Red boomed, opening his door to find his favorite trick-or-treater of the night, his own daughter returning with her spoils as the night grew too late. Beside her though, she'd added a new accessory beside her sword and candy bag, she added a princess!

"Yah!" Jessie lit up, her cheeks stretching out with a bold smile. "Turns out that a knight and princess together get even more candy than a knight all alone!"

"They loved us!" Katie added, introducing herself and holding out her hand for a shake.

"How did you two meet out there?" Red asked, more amused than concerned that Jessie brought home a stranger after being out all night long.

"She rescued me!" Katie exclaimed.

"That sounds like a story I should hear!"

They launched into the tale, dramatizing and filling in the space with the imagination only held by young cubs. The story stretched on, leading them smoothly into the calmest part of the evening when they were finally aware of how tired their feet were and instantly began to look for a soft landing spot.

They were both shouldering massive bags of candy on top of their own weight that they heaved into the living room together, spilling them onto the rug and collapsing down behind them with a tired sigh.

As it spilled out, the older lion hovered behind, subtlety searching across the expanse of candy for the familiar yellow packaging of Butterfingers within the waves of different kinds of treats.

"Thus begins the most important part of the night!" Jessie explained, starting to sort her candy by similar types so that all the Kit-Kats piled together in a single spot. To her right side, she pulled out a small notebook and pen and she began to write down careful, neat notes across the tops of the page: "Kit Kats, Milky Ways, Full Sized bars..."

"What's that?" Katie asked, knitting her brows together with confusion. The gazelle sat on the opposite side of the rug, staring down at her own pile of candy with a mixture of awe and anticipation.

Jessie blinked, looking up with utter solemnness. Her eyes were serious, unwavering as she said blankly, "Taking stock of all my candy so I know if my dad steals any!"