FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

As we walked into the centre of town I looked around, there was nothing out of the ordinary going on. Cubs of all ages were running around playing, while the adults were busy doing something or other. There was a small market place with a few merchants selling their goods, come to think of it, why didn't Eric open up a stall here?

"We don't trade here." Cody said as if reading my mind. "While we could make a little coin here, Eric likes to treat this place as a place of rest, a place where everyone can just kick back and enjoy themselves for a while without any worries or responsibilities. Or at least that's what he said when I asked him." Cody smirked. "This place is great, good food, soft beds, plenty of drinks and... pleasurable company." He giggled, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively which made me laugh. "Then there's the Lytium*. Many of the locals like to smoke it, so just be aware of that if someone offers you a pipe. It makes you feel so good, but it can be quite addictive if you're not careful, Eric has developed quite a taste for it over the years."

"I'll keep that in mind." I smiled, Cody was acting normally but I couldn't help but think back to that moment back by the river, was Cody going to kiss me and did I really want that to happen? My initial thought was no, I had just lost Rose, how could I let myself think that I wanted that. But there was still this feeling of want, of excitement at the thought of it.

"Oh wow!" Cody exclaimed running over to a nearby stall, once again pulling me from my thoughts. I walked over to join him as he picked up a wooden slingshot. "I haven't had one of these in years." He said experimenting with it, pulling back on it like he was going to fire something from it. "How much?" He asked the merchant, a middle-aged Panther who wore a simple dirty green robe.

"Two gold pieces." The Panther replied with a deep accent, just like the one the Pantheress had when I got that necklace for Rose. I diverted my attention, trying to pull my thoughts away from Zangar and Rose. I looked across his stall and examined the various trinkets he was selling. That's when I saw it, a knife. I picked it up and examined it closely. It was a good knife, not like the one I had had before where I had attached an old spear head to a wooden handle. It was made entirely of metal, the handle was wrapped in leather for comfort and grip. It was a simple design. I needed a new knife, I had lost mine when Rose was...

"All right! One gold coin and I'll have the bag of marbles as well!" Cody yelled, still arguing over the price of the slingshot. The Panther let out an audible sigh and agreed, he was obviously not going to win this one. The Panther took Cody's coin and handed him a large bag of stone marbles. As soon as he was done with Cody he was over to me in an instant.

"Ah very nice, very nice choice." He said with a beaming smile. "Fine piece, very practical, very high quality." I looked from the knife to the panther and back again. "You want?" He asked. I did need a knife and it was a nice piece, it even came with a leather holder that had a metal trim along the bottom where the tip of the blade would be. Shaking off all the memories of Rose I decided that I would buy it.

"How much?"

"Very cheap, I charge only eight gold pieces for it." I was shocked at the price, I could feed myself on some of the best food and drink for the best part of a month on that kind of money. It took me a moment to get over my shock and I remembered some of my training that Eric had given me. I composed myself and began my negotiations.

"No deal!" I said acting disgusted practically throwing the knife back where I had picked it up from and turned to walk away. Before I could take my second step the merchant shouted to grab my attention, I stopped and looked over my shoulder acting like I was ready to take off if he didn't speak quickly.

"Do you good deal!" He said hurriedly, almost desperately. "I give it to you for... five gold coin." He said, holding the knife up to me in both hands as if presenting me with a gift. That price was a lot better but I wonder if I could get him to lower his price a little further? I turned to face him but crossed my arms across my chest and looked at the knife as if I was seriously considering his deal, letting him wait in anticipation for a few moments before speaking in a slightly aggressive tone.

"Three." I said sternly. This was where the true negotiation would begin, he had initiated it, which meant I had the advantage, or that's what Eric told me. Since he lowered the price it meant I was in control, but if I did this wrong I could blow the whole deal.

"No, no, no." The Panther shook his head, but he couldn't back out that easily, he had begun this and so would have felt obligated to at least try and get me to raise my price. "Four gold and five silver." That was a step in the right direction and even though I wanted to take it now at the reasonable price presented, I wanted to prove something to myself and to Eric by using the skills he had taught me.

"Three gold and eight silver." I countered, it was a larger increase to his decrease so it gave him the impression that I was beginning to cave, but in actuality I was getting him to lower his price just that little bit more. He thought about it a few moments before speaking, considering my offer.

"Four gold, final offer." He said, it was a good move pushing the price up just a small amount like that to entice me to seal the deal.

"Done." I replied reaching into my money pouch and handing him nearly all my money. He took the money and handed me the knife, bowing his head before turning his attention elsewhere. He was smiling, obviously happy at how he had managed to get that extra bit of cash out of me. I felt a rush of adrenaline go through my body, I had held my composure and gotten a good deal, I had only paid half the price he had offered initially.

"Well done!" Cody grinned, "Guess some of Eric's lessons sunk in then?"

"I guess they did. It felt good."

"Yeah, everyone feels like that when they get a good deal."

"So what's with the sling shot?" I asked.

"Oh well I had one when I was a kid and when I saw it I just had to have it. I used to be a really good shot." He boasted.

"Oh yeah?" I smirked looking round and spotting a possible target. Across the road there was a wall with a discarded bit of fruit sitting on it, it was at least fifteen feet away. "Hit that then."

"Okay then!" Cody grabbed one of his marbles and readied the slingshot, pausing as he aimed. He let it go and the marble bounced off the wall, just inches to the left of the fruit. I looked to Cody who huffed and grabbed another marble. "I'm just a little rusty, I'll get it this time!" In truth I was impressed at how close his first shot had been, his reaction told me that he was genuinely that good with a sling shot... or at least believed he was. Cody waited, making sure that no one was going to step between him and his target before letting the second marble fly, this time hitting the fruit dead on, it practically exploded from the impact.

"I'm impressed." I said nodding my head.

"So you should be." Cody said sticking his tongue out at me playfully. "So what do you want to do before we meet up with Eric and the others?" He asked.

"I don't know." I responded looking around the area. "I suppose we can have a look round the market a bit more." We both remained silent until Cody spoke out excitedly.

"Lets check out that one!" He said grabbing my paw and dragging me over to a nearby stall. It belonged to a clothes merchant and they had quite a large selection of clothes in various designs and in lots of different colours. Cody was rummaging through a pile of clothes eagerly; I chuckled at his enthusiasm before examining some clothes that were piled up in front of me. There were a lot of designs I had never seen before, clothes that had lots of frilly fabric round the edges, obviously for those who liked to stand out. Most of the clothing was useless to me however, since my wings prevented me from wearing them. I looked over to Cody as he was holding up a body warmer, it was a similar design to what he was wearing now except instead of a light green, it was a greyish brown and had some trim around the edges in a different coloured material. He held it up against himself and turned to face me.

"So what do you think?" He asked. I looked him up and down and nodded my head approvingly.

"It's a much better colour than your other one, it suits you."

"Then I'm buying it." Cody turned to the merchant, a tigress who wore a long flowing robe in a vibrant purple and wore almost too much jewellery. I turned away to let Cody do his bit and browsed the stall a bit more, not expecting to find anything that I could wear. I came across a pile of loin cloths and paused to look down at my own, it had become dirty and tattered over the last few weeks and was in need of changing. I rummaged through them and found one that was a similar colour to my poncho, Cody at that point had finished his negotiations and had already changed into his new outfit.

"Oh yeah, you should totally get a few bits of clothing!" Cody exclaimed excitedly. "You should get a fancy one for special occasions." He rummaged through the pile and pulled out a loin cloth made from a light purple. "How about this?" I just shook my head, there was no way I was going to wear that. His ears flattened to his head in disappointment but quickly perked up and began rummaging again, this time pulling out one made from a deep red fabric that had some fancy swirl design in the centre of it in gold. I chuckled and relented, it didn't look too bad and I doubted I was going to get away from here without buying more than the simple brown loin cloth I had picked out.

"Okay but that's all I'm getting." I told him, taking the loin cloth from him and walking up to the Tigress.

"A fine choice sir." she said with a smile. "That will be twelve silver pieces." I nodded and reached into my pouch, I found the price more than fair and began to count out her coins when I noticed a roll of fabric behind her, it was a roll of bandages. I pointed that out and she handed it to me. "That will be another silver." I handed her the money and thanked her before joining Cody.

"What's the bandage for?" He asked curiously. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, nothing like that." I assured him. "Let's go get some shade." We walked back over to the river where I had previously done my exercises and settled down under the Gummi trees, out of the hot midday sun. I began to wrap the bandage I had purchased round my right thigh, Cody taking great interest in what I was doing. Once I had finished, I strapped the dagger I had bought to my right thigh. I then proceeded to wrap the remaining bandage round both my wrists for some padding for when I was training with Aceh. I looked to Cody who gave me a trademark foxy smile, making me smile back at him. We both lay back against the trunk of the tree, and enjoyed the peaceful setting.

After a while I began to think about myself and Cody once again, what would it be like to have sex with him like he and Aceh did back in Zangar? Would it be strange? Would it be awkward? After having sex with Rose I felt a bond to her that made me feel fantastic; would it be the same if I was to do it with Cody or would it ruin our friendship? How would I feel about having sex with another male? The wolves back in Rovarian Plains* despised same sex relationships, they beat or killed any who were found to have had a relationship like that. I had heard others talk about their disgust at the very idea of sleeping with another male, was it really so bad? Perhaps it was based on preferences, some furs prefer one fruit over another, but that doesn't mean the other fruit is bad... perhaps I'm getting a little too philosophical about this. I turned and looked at Cody who was on the brink of falling to sleep in the afternoon heat. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to just try it and see what happens, what's the worst that could happen... I could ruin my friendship with Cody, that's what. I let out a loud sigh and looked off into the distance, my mind returning to the same question that had started this whole train of thought.

'Why did Cody pull away when he tried to kiss me?'

Cody was gay, there was no question of preference for him. Perhaps he was worried about ruining our friendship as well? No that couldn't be it, he has sex with Aceh and from what I've heard he's had sex with Michael and Jason as well... probably Eric too. So he knows he can be friends with those he sleeps with. So why?

That's when it hit me, the answer was because of me. Cody knew all about how I was raped, he stopped because he didn't know if I liked it. I laughed quietly to myself, do I like that kind of fruit? Well there was only one way to find out, wasn't there?