FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Christmas time already?" Dusk asked, taking a peek out of one of the many windows in the mansion, watching the snow fall. "It barely feels last Christmas has passed!"

"Given you work in ice magic, it's natural that you'd think that Christmas was only yesterday!" Shade giggled, placing a hand on the other raven's shoulder. "Not that that's a bad thing, my dear~"

"Of course, it's nice to see this place get prettied up every once in a while. At least neither of us have to worry about having to put things up manually!" He laughed - indeed, their magic did make short work of putting stuff up, but even then they did have help from the other residents.

"Indeed. It's just a shame that we rarely get any outside visitors around this time of the year. I mean it's nice that we have all of the residents here to celebrate the holidays with us, but at the same time, it would be nice if people from the outside world did pop in from time to time. Ya know, even if they won't leave the same way they came in~"

"You should throw a party for everyone and get it advertised! You've done it before for other times of the year, it only makes sense to throw one for Christmas!"

"That is very true... it would be the perfect excuse to create a few reindeer to help give out a few presents and all!"

"The only downside is in how long would it take to prepare everything?" Dusk asked. "I mean we've got more than enough people here to get the food, drinks, and games sorted out, but even then it'd probably take the good part of a day or two to get everything sorted, even with our magic!"

"It shouldn't be too hard to get it all set up before Christmas Day, dear!" Dusk chirped. "All we need to do is start getting some things set up and get the word spread that we're gonna be doing a-"

Before Dusk could finish that sentence, they were interrupted by the sounds of frenzied knocking against their door.

"Let me in, for the love of god! It's so cold out here!"

"Huh... you expecting anyone, Shade?"

"Not at all... someone must have wandered in from the wild, again!" Shade chirped. "I'm sure it won't hurt to give him a warm welcome, though!" She approached the door, opening them. Before she could even say anything, she was knocked aside by the visitor. "Ack!"

"Oh thank you, thank you!" The youth said, kneeling down on the carpeted floor, the doors closing behind him. "I've been stuck wandering about out there for around half an hour! I tried backtracking and following my steps back, but I just kept going in circles! I thought I was gonna end up freezing to death out there!"

"Well he's a lively one..." Dusk commented, looking back at Shade as she steadied herself.

"That he is..." Shade responded, watching the man get back to his feet. "With the speed he was going at, he could have broken down the door to the mansion if he was THAT desperate to get in!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't want to force my way in... well I guess I might have had to try that if no-one was in..." He patted himself down. "Still, I've got to thank you for letting me into your home! It's nice to see some friendly peo....ple..." He stopped in his tracks when he caught sight of his saviours. "You.... you're not people, are you..."

"Not by human standards, no." Shade laughed. The two ravens couldn't help but find his surprise to be amusing. "We can walk and talk like humans, but that's about as much as we have in common with them!"

"R...ravens..." He blinked. "Anthro ravens... I'm dead, aren't I? I passed out from the sheer cold and froze to death, didn't I?"

"Hoo boy... we broke him, didn't we?" Dusk sighed. "Who's gonna take the honors of fixing him?"

"Normally I'd say give him a blast of ice, but I think that really would kill him given how long he's been out there." Shade tweeted. "Guess that means I'll be the one to do it!"

"Great, I'm dead, I'm a human popsicle! There was so much that I wanted to do with my life - I wanted to travel, I wanted to have a family, I wanted-"

SMACK!!!

"B...blebble... I... I wanted... more milk..." His eyes spun around in his head, which swayed from side to side. "Milk... mixed with raw eggs and charcoal..."

"I... think I might have broken him further!" Shade blinked. "I didn't him him THAT hard!" She said to Dusk, showing her hand with outstretched talons - and a magical aura channeled into the shape of what appeared to be a shovelhead.

"Sooo many stars.... I need scissors... sixty-one..."

SMACK!!!

"BLRBLBLRBL!" He shook his head, staggering as he balanced himself against Shade. "... May I just say... FUCKING OW!!!"

Again, Shade couldn't help but smirk. "I tend to get that from a LOT of people I have to do that to. "At least it goes to show you that you're still alive!"

"I guess... but still, couldn't you have just pinched me?"

"Too cliché!" Shade smiled.

"Right..." He muttered. "The assault on my cranium aside, thanks for letting me come in from the cold! I'm Mao!"

"I'm Shade, and this here is my partner, Dusk!" She introduced Mao to the other raven, who waved at him.

"Nice to meet you both. So, is it just you living here?"

"No, we have others living with us, none of them human... well, some of them USED to be human~" She giggled.

"So you're both witches?" He asked.

"Technically a warlock." Dusk chimed in. "But yes."

"Huh... I guess that explains why this place is in the middle of nowhere..."

"Given my past experiences with humans, I decided to make my dwelling away from human eyes. The occasional person does end up crossing into my realm from time to time, so it's never a dull moment!"

"That... would explain why I couldn't find my way back to where I came from... but wait a moment, I've walked around this forest lots of times, I've never once gotten lost there or even found this place!"

"That's because you'll find that the location of the Ochre Forest is ever-shifting. It's never been known to stick around in one place for too long before appearing somewhere else in the world!"

"Wow... you must take home defence very seriously!" Mao whistled.

"Thankfully I've had very few people get lost here who mean to do me harm. Unfortunately for them, outside of never leaving here the same way they came in, it does tend to be thoroughly unpleasant for them. Ever seen 'Willow'?" Her smirk took on a slightly more sinister look for a few seconds.

"R...Remind me to never piss you off..." Mao gulped.

"Although, since you've come here, that does mean that you won't be leaving as you are now, you do understand that, right?"

"Ooooh.... PLEASE say you're not going to turn me into a turkey, I'd taste horrible!"

"Wha..." Shade blinked again. "You... you know you've done me no wrong, why do you think I'd turn you into Christmas dinner?"

"I.. I dunno, you're both carnivores, right?"

"Technically omnivores, but we're not one to turn down anything meaty!" Dusk cawed.

"Of course..."

"Look, we're not going to do you any harm or even entertain any thoughts of eating you!" Shade squawked. "Given your problems with the cold, however, I am going to look into fixing that!"

"Fixing it?" He looked at the two ravens. "What, is Dusk going to make me ice resistant?"

"Given that all of Dusk's magic is ice-based, the only way he'd make you ice resistant would be to turn you into an ice sculpture!" Shade stepped closer, channelling energy in her hands. "So I'll be the raven in charge of your destiny - I really hope you like Pokémon!" She placed her hands on his shoulders, discharging the magical energy into him.

"Guh!" Mao yelped, his hairs standing on end as the energy crept through him. "P-Pokémon? What do you mean by that?"

"You'll be finding out in the next few minutes. For now, just sit back and relax!" Shade grinned, watching Mao expectantly. Within seconds, snow-white fur sprouted around his hands, short claws sprouting from his fingertips as the fur travelled upwards.

"I can't tell if this is going to be good or bad..." He gulped, watching the fur work its way around his arms, his biceps gaining some slight definition whist spiky black fur sprouted around his shoulders. "You could have at least given me the option to undress beforehand, couldn't you?"

"I guess I could have, but you kinda look like the type who'd be repulsed by seeing another guy flaunting their junk around!" Shade pointed out. "I'm practically using a mild version of my magic to ensure that you don't get TOO excited, you know?"

"Errr..." He turned bright red in the face, unable to respond to that.

"Trust me, had you had not been that type, I probably would have called upon one of the other residents here to help you out. There's a lovely Delphox who loves warming people up~"

"I'll... take your word for it, thank you." Mao watched, removing his jacket and shirt as he watched the fur continue to grow in, the black fur converging into the middle of his chest, the white fur growing around it, giving him the appearance that he was wearing some form of sporting attire. His abs and pectorals toned up, exposed underneath his fur, giving him a lean look.

"Plus this is something I've been looking to attempt for a little bit now, so you getting to be my test subject was quite a stroke of luck!" The black fur grew around his waist like a belt, his jeans growing tighter against the thighs as it continued its growth. "Though really, around this point in time, you ARE going to want to get undressed!"

Mao blushed, taking off his jeans and undergarments as he placed them aside. Much to his relief, he noticed that the thick red fur that was covering his upper legs had preserved his modesty, shifting to yellow around the knees before once again shifting to black, travelling down the rest of his legs. "This looks... kinda familiar..." He pondered, removing his socks and shoes as the fur worked its way to them.

"Here, let me help you with that..." Shade offered him a shoulder to lean on as his feet stretched, doubling in size whilst his heels popped upwards, all pressure shifting to his tiptoes. His toes merged together into three broad digits, deep red fur covering them, a trio of pads forming on the undersides of his feet whilst the remaining toes gained sharp claws.

"Thanks. Man, this is weird..." He looked at himself, a short, bushy tail sprouting from his rump. "I mean I've seen plenty of things like this happening in art and stories before, but to actually be subjected to it..."

Shade and Dusk kept on watching, the white fur taking over his head now. His hair grew longer, taking on a red hue as it flowed upwards atop his head, his ears suddenly growing massive during their relocation towards the top of his cranium, patches of yellow fur lining the insides of them. His eyebrows turned yellow, growing thicker and meeting in the middle, a streak of yellow fur rising upwards, making it look like he was wearing a crown of sorts whilst his eyes moved towards the sides of his head, growing larger and taking on an orangey-red coloration.

Around his cheeks, two tufts of thick fur sprouted, giving him a pair of giant whiskers. His jaws protruded forwards into a slight muzzle, his teeth growing slightly sharper, whist his upper front teeth fused together. To end the changes, his nose sank into his new maw, turning a soft shade of red to match his hair, a patch of black fur growing around the bottom half of his eyes.

"There we go!" Shade beamed, magicing up a mirror to let Mao get a better look at the new him.

"Cinderace, huh?" Mao smirked, taking a look over himself. He stood only slightly taller than he did as a human, and could easily pass off as another Cinderace if it wasn't for the improved musculature and ability to talk. "This is one way to beat the cold, anyway!"

"Indeed! Outside of the nice, warm fur, you naturally resist ice damage, so it shouldn't bother you too much anymore!" Shade smiled proudly.

"Heh... I honestly can't say I was expecting this at all today!" Mao smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Is there any way I can pay you back for this?"

"Quite possibly~" Shade giggled. "You could help us spread the news of the Christmas party I'll be hosting to the public!"

"Party? Is it safe to assume you're going to do to them what you did to me?"

"Oh, pretty much!" Dusk chimed in. "She does prefer the company of other animals to humans, so it makes sense that her parties have a tendency to bring out the beast in people!"

"Right... I'm not going to have to do anything lewd, am I?"

"Oh don't worry. I'm sure you don't have to worry about others finding out about how easy rabbits can multiply!"

"You... you didn't..." Mao's eye twitched.

"Hey, if I didn't make it, you'd probably be hearing about it from Sabine, and her way of working is almost always the intimate kind of magic!"

"At least tell me you don't have any more rabbit puns planned, do you?"

"Well I was going to tell you to hop to it when it's time to deliver the fliers for the party~" She teased further.

"Ugh..." Mao shook his head. "This could end up being a LOOOOOONG day..."