FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Flick sat at his armchair in the study reading a manual of some description, the room's enormous bookcases ran the entire length of one of the walls in the room and reaching to the ceiling like a grand library. He had taken a large selection of non-fiction books down from the shelves and placed them haphazardly on the furniture. They covered most factual topics one could think of - Encyclopedias, almanacs, manuals, annuals, self-help guides, revision material, world record logs and pub trivia.

'Research' he called it - the little goat had been doing this since childhood, though nobody could have guessed he took it this seriously. He preferred to study alone without interference from anyone else, foregoing a social life and treated his brain as if it were a sponge. He was just as able to recall the countless facts and figures he studied as he was at learning them - his mind really was that astute and eidetic.

The door opens behind him as his rabbit boyfriend enters the study. "Flick!" he shouts, "What's wrong with this picture!" "I'm - reading." The goat spoke back, breaking the two words apart in a blank voice without taking his focus away from the diagram. "Yes Flick! On a Saturday - Again!" Warren stormed across the room and to his front, annoyed he was giving these books more attention than him. "We were meant to be going out today! Instead you're sitting here fawning over - what is it this time?" He tips whatever it was Flick was studying and bends his head to get a good look at its front, drooping his ears as he realises he was reading something stupid. "A car manual? Oh come on Flick..." "Yeah - A car manual - So if your car ever breaks down I'll know how to fix it. Thank you." The goat snaps back and jerks the book away from him, now staring at him in defiance.

Warren scowls and snatches it from his hands, showing him the cover which had an image of a long-outdated vehicle that didn't even look like his car. "Right, so the next time I'm driving this specific station wagon from the 70s I won't have to call a mechanic." He tosses it over his shoulder and stamps his paw down in a temper. "FLICK! This is a such a waste of bloody time!"

The goat rose to a stand and confronted his boyfriend for slighting him: "What's your problem Warren? I want to learn all this world has to offer and you're doing everything you can to obstruct that-" "THE STUFF YOU'RE READING IS USELESS BULLSHIT! THAT'S WHY!" The rabbit yelled, glaring back at him with a fierce spark. They quarreled about their differences often but wouldn't start a fight over something like this. Warren calms himself down as quickly as he fired up and looked for a compromise. "Look I'm sorry man... If you want to stay in - fine - we'll do something here, together."

He walks over to the bookcase to find a specific book he remembered buying at a charity shop a while ago, throwing books on the floor carelessly to much of Flick's annoyance. Eventually he picks out what he was looking for and places a heavy book atop an antique writing table, shoving the random books that covered it onto the floor to make some room and pulled some wooden chairs, also relieving them of their books and invites Flick over.

"Right, we'll do this - I'm a little out of practice but I think you can manage just fine." The bunny says while opening the book and pulling out squares of coloured paper from between the pages. "Origami huh?" Flick had done this several times in the past, but he never considered Warren to be the creative type. "Yep, I'll try something simple to begin with..." He flicks the pages around and picks out a boat model. "Yeah, that." He folds the paper following the instructions through each step. The rabbit was managing well enough even though the thick digits made his creases clumsy and imprecise.

He was about to pull two folds of paper to turn the shape inside out and complete the model when Flick places an immaculate paper crane on the desk in front of him. "There, I did that from memory. Happy now?". All Warren could do was look at the thing in disbelief as he finishes his boat - it paled in comparison to Flick's level of refinement. "Right is that it? Can I go now?" The goat gets up to leave before Warren stops him by placing a paw on his thigh. "Wait," he asks as Flick looks back, "Try that again, but this time don't use your hands." "Huh?" The goat paused and wondered if he really heard him right just now - he wanted to see him do origami but only with telekinesis? "Go on, try it." Warren instructs him as he places another sheet of paper in front of him. Flick turns the pages in the book saying there was one model he hadn't attempted so far - a lotus flower. He inspects the instructions for a moment and turns his attention back to the coloured piece of card on the table.

As his eyes glowed blue and radiated with energy, he focuses on the square. It moved, shifted, wiggled, wobbled, twisted and floated - basically doing everything he didn't intend to do. After a number of false starts the paper starts gently moving over itself and creases as if he was using his fingers. It wasn't as precise as when he used his hands like before but the lack of accuracy didn't concern him. He did it a few more times, struggling to stay focused with each fold.

How is this possible he thought - I'm more than capable of lifting heavy objects, how could I be struggling with a task as mundane as bending paper?

As he starts to pull out the corners that made the petals of the flower his mind slips and he crushes the paper. Warren shakes him to snap him out of the trance and wipes the beads of sweat from his brow. After a minute the goat comes to his senses and focuses his attention on the model to try pulling the corners again, now making an extra concentrated effort to be more careful this time. The intense level of focus visibly strains him as he tries to not repeat the same mistake or simply tear the thing apart. Eventually he gets the movement just right and pushes the last of the petals out - finishing the model.

Right there in front of Flick was a lotus flower - made without his hands. It was a little crude for his taste but the thought of having achieved something like that was incredible even to him. The last time he felt so exhausted and bewildered was when his uncle taught him how to use his powers for the first time.

Flick gasps for air, his mind exhausted from using his power in such an unusual way. "Di- Did that ju- did I jus-" "You should probably do that again." The bunny mutters as he inspects the flower. "Are you shitting me Warren?" Flick complained and grit his teeth, "I must have come close to giving myself an aneurysm doing that!" "No no no, what I mean is that you should do it again because that's clearly good practice." "Huh?" Flick turns his head inquisitively like a puppy, "What do you mean by that?" "I mean - think about it like this: It takes years for someone to master an artform like this but I can guarantee nobody's ever attempted this in the way you just did. If you ask me origami is a skill that's hard for everyone to master - whether you're using your fingers or your mind to move the paper - so if you keep working on this who knows what you can end up doing with your powers?"

Flick blinks as he contemplates Warren's uncharacteristically sage words, turning his head again. "...You really think so?" "I guess - it'd make one hell of a party trick, wouldn't it?" The rabbit jokes and chuckles at the absurdity of the situation that led them here. "But really, this is where I think you should be studying and not wasting your time looking at too much of this uhh... 'useless bullshit'" He sighs as he gestures over the books littering the floor, scanning over the pile and picks up a book of vegetarian recipe cards. "Tell ya what - how about you keep working on this while I go make us some lunch, hmm?"

Flick breaks eye contact with the bunny and looks back to the squares of paper. He then flips the pages way back to the beginning of the book to find the simplest model possible, then enters his trance and focuses on the paper without saying another word. He continued to struggle to fold the paper, wondering if the force that drove him to try again was the same determination mortals such as Warren felt. The thought of learning and absorbing new knowledge had always thrilled him, but using his power like this was a radically new experience for him.

Though he was kidding himself - every day was a new experience for him, especially with someone like Warren coaching him.

And he cherished every moment of that.