FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Caleb frowned as he strolled past the playground on his way back home. Sighing briefly, he walked on dejectedly.

Ever since moving out, life had really battered at him, leaving him a lonesome depressed husk. Rent costs, chores and constant stress clung to him like rain on a window pane; slowly dragging on, only to be replaced by more when it finally drips off.

Pausing tentatively, he glanced back at the playground, at the kids running around widely in the haze of childhood. Walking on, he scoffed.

What sort of messed up world hides away the pains of life, only to shove them in your face, hard, when you least expect it?

His dazzling blue eyes, the only thing lively about him, were locked on the rough, worn-out sneakers that hit the pavement below him with each step. He turned a corner, pulling his ebony sweater's hood over his chestnut hair as the sun lit up his face. Keeping his eyes down, an abrupt bark was his sole warning before he was knocked off his feet.

The yellow Labrador that was now perched atop his chest lapped eagerly at his face, its paws pushing back against his futile struggling.

"Ack, get - PAH!" Caleb spattered as the dog ran its rough pink tongue all over his face, its drool dripping in his mouth. " - off of me!"

Caleb thrusted upwards, causing the large dog to topple off of him, who whined sadly in protest, before leaning its front down and raising its hind quarters, tail furiously beating back and forth through the air.

"Geez! The heck is wrong with this dog?" Caleb angrily yanked his sweater off and began scrubbing his face agitatedly.

Leave it to me to get knocked over by a dog, he thought.

"I'm so sorry!"

Caleb sighed again, dropping his hand down to see a girl sporting a neon pink t-shirt dashing up to him, reaching down momentarily to pick up the blue leash that was trailing on the ground behind the dog. The Labrador, however, paid no attention to her at all, its attention honed in on Caleb as it panted eagerly.

"I'm so, so, so sorry!" the girl repeated, emphasizing the "so" with evident fervency. "Barkley is always really friendly with strangers, but he has never jumped up like that before," she explained hurriedly. Then for a moment, she stood silently, hands behind her back, head down in shame. Caleb just stared, the taste of dog drool lingering in his mouth.

"I guess since my dog kinda licked your face clean, I at least owe you my name."

She stretched out her right hand, the other clenched tightly to the leash.

"I'm Janice. Sorry, again, about that. I'll make it up to you, promise." She smiled sweetly, with a hint of restrained guilt on her face as Caleb took her hand awkwardly. After helping him up, Janice looked down at Barkley, who was still staring possessively at Caleb, while she bit her lip nervously. Brushing a gold lock of hair from her face anxiously she looked back up. "And, uh, your name is?"

Caleb continued to stare blankly at her hazel eyes before replying. "Oh, I'm Caleb," he replied. His vision blurred momentarily as he stood there, like he was in a daze.

"It's nice to meet you!" Janice replied, before hesitating and adding less cheerfully, "Well I guess it would have been if it weren't for naughty Barkley!" She bent down, grabbing Barkley's head and shaking it mockingly. The dog just glanced at her before squirming out of her grasp, stepping towards Caleb and whining again as it looked at him in anticipation. Glancing at her dog, Janice brushed her shoulder length hair back again.

"Do you have dog treats on you or something?" she asked with a nervous laugh. Seeing Caleb's lack of response, she remained kneeling, contemplating for a moment. Caleb shook his head slowly.

"No, I don't have a dog." Caleb looked into the dog's large pleading eyes, then back at Janice.

"I-I'm sorry, I've been really annoying haven't I? I'll get outta your way." Janice rubbed her dog's back before standing back up, biting her lip anxiously once again. Literally dragging her dog away from Caleb, she sighed, letting the leash go loose after a few feet. "Don't worry, I'll make it up to you. Do you have a phone number I could contact you with?" she suggested hopefully.

Caleb abruptly snapped out of his stupor and nodded briefly, his checks rising with colour. "I'm not feeling well. Er- it was great to meet you and your, uh, dog," Caleb mumbled quickly. Caleb edged around Barkley, who was desperately pulling his leash tight in an attempt to get closer to him. Barkley scrabbled against the pavement, turning back to whine pitifully at Janice. Swivelling around, Caleb ran off, only occurring to him after a block that he had no clue why he was running.

As he disappeared around a corner, he swore he heard Janice groan.

What just happened? The thought repeated itself endlessly in Caleb's mind as he sprinted through the streets. He wouldn't exactly say he felt attracted to Janice, not in the way he thought he did, but she seemed fairly nice and pretty in a generic way. But that's not why I'm acting strange, is it? Shaking his head, Caleb took a moment of panting to purge his thoughts before continuing to run. There was just something about her that grabbed his attention, why else was he acting so strange?

Caleb managed to arrive just as a bus pulled up to the stop. Stepping on, he stifled a cough before making his way to a seat at the back.

With his sweater still clenched tightly in his fist, Caleb tried to calm his rapid breathing, promising himself never to sprint such a large distance again. Never having felt so exhausted before, everything grew dark and he passed out before realizing what was going on.

The sounds of the bus droned on in an indecipherable blur as he slept. Garbled speech and the screeching of the bus tickled at his mind until the smell of cut grass and the bus's exhaust lurched him awake. Still drowsy, he glanced out the window, surprised to to find that the bus was approaching his stop. Checking to see that he still had his sweater, which was balled up in his hands, he stumbled out.

The second floor apartment he had rented was fairly small, but sufficient for his needs. The stronger than usual, but familiar smell of his little home caused him to relax a little as he pushed open the door. Slumping down on the only chair in the room, he subconsciously brought his sweater up to bury in his face and sniffed at the fabric.

"Ack!"

He cried out in surprise. Why he did that, he did not know, but the smell sent shivers up his spine. "Definitely need to wash this," he concluded, tossing it onto the table in front of him.

Caleb winced at the movement in his arm, realizing that his entire body felt sore. By then, he also remembered the face licking he had received, and stood up to get a shower, ignoring the building strangeness inside him. Maybe I'm coming down with something, he considered.

As the water turned on, Caleb couldn't resist increasing the temperature. The heat eased his stiff muscles made them feel better.

Standing there, letting the steaming water run across his tingling skin, Caleb forgot about the embarrassing incident of the morning and how much his water and electricity bill were probably rising as he stood there. He couldn't help but feel different. He assumed this was because he had managed to calm down.

As he dried himself off, an intense ripple of sensation gripped his feet, and he dropped the towel. Gasping at the feeling, he looked down, not noticing anything immediately. The bottoms of his feet began feeling hyper sensitive, and frantically, he lifted them up to see the soles darken in a familiar pattern. Transfixed, he ran his fingers over them, and shivered at the texture.

Before he could contemplate further, a wave of tingling ran over his skin, and dark chestnut hairs began spreading over him from his legs up.

Meanwhile, Caleb could only revel in astonishment at the changes overtaking him. The same feelings that seemed suppressed in the shower came back, and he felt his muscles alter. His nails sharpened to claws and he was pushed up onto his toes as his feet shifted to a digitigrade form.

Those are.... paws, he realized with a start.

Caleb jumped in surprise as his spine lengthened, a distinctive nub forming at the base. The new tail grew and strangely, Caleb couldn't resist smiling despite the situation, and his new furry appendage followed in a gentle wag.

There was a crack and Caleb toppled over, his bones reforming into a quadruped stance. Looking back, fear finally began to enter Caleb's mind and his tail tucked between his legs as he saw how canine he was, with a dogs entire rear end, but at the same time, he sensed the new strength in his surging canine muscles; he felt powerful. The canine instinct drifted into his mind, pushing back the fear.

The coat of fur had reached up to Caleb's arms, and tentatively, he lifted one hand to stroke his own soft underbelly fur before the changes continued to his arms. A similar sensation filled his hands as his fingers shortened and pads began to form on them, creating his new front paws. The bones in his arms rearranged and he scratched at the ground, testing the feeling of his claws scraping against the tile as his new fur coat finished covering his arms.

Caleb's shoulders clenched and his chest expanded as he sealed into his four legged stance.

He knew what was coming next and the slowly growing canine thoughts could not suppress his mounting fears. A brief tingle in his ears alerted him to their impending change, elongating and flopping down before migrating up his head.

Caleb dropped down to his stomach briefly as his hearing escalated abruptly, nothing compared to what he now knew in retrospect had been happening all day.

New sounds entered Caleb's range and he tilted his head, paw slightly upraised at a somewhat familiar sound permeating from below. Quickly giving his head a shake, Caleb attempted to focus, trying to hold his thoughts.

However, all of his focus broke when the smells around him were amplified. Dipping his head down, he pressed his black wet nose against the floor, sniffing eagerly. His tongue lengthened and flopped out his mouth as Caleb began panting from the uncomfortable warmth in the steamy bathroom.

As his nose bumped into his dropped towel, Caleb leapt back. The smell of his former self broke him free, but as his muzzle started pushing out, Caleb's confidence began to falter once more.

He paused his panting, albeit reluctantly, to slide his long tongue curiously over his sharpening canines and teeth. A following pinch in his throat caused him to cough, a rough, deep, sound. Alarmed, Caleb attempted to speak, only to growl out some strange barking noises and scratchy whining.

His nose twitched and he turned towards the door. He could smell some food outside. Wagging his tail, Caleb padded over to the door and prodded it with his nose. Sitting on his haunches, he raised his paws and scratched at it. Whining, he pressed flat against the cool floor submissively, hoping it would open.

No - I'm not a dog. I'm not a dog. The thoughts wracked at Caleb, and he turned around, pushing himself onto his hind legs and placed his front paws on the counter to look into the mirror.

A brown Labrador with bright blue eyes stared back.

The scent of food once again nearly overwhelmed Caleb (it smelled like bacon) almost driving him to drop back down. He watched as his eyes dilated and darkened. He was slipping. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly.

I'm Caleb, I'm a human, not a dog, not a dog, not... Not a... Dog.

Slowly opening his eyes, Caleb peered at his reflection. It was still a brown Labrador, but with big black eyes. Yet the black was speckled with cerulean.

I'm a dog. Caleb thought.

Dropping back to all fours, Caleb perked his ears again, the familiar sound now much closer.

"What a disaster. He didn't even give me his number. Oh, I feel so awful. Why do you have to be so difficult, Barkley?"

Caleb stopped panting in surprise, immediately recognizing Janice.

Walking back to the door, he pushed up again and caught the handle in his mouth. Despite being somewhat painful, he managed to turn and open the door. Dashing towards the front door, he poked the bottom of the door with his nose.

Barkley.

Caleb's tail absently began wagging. As weird as it felt, Caleb began barking at the door, hoping to catch Janice's attention.

"Looks like our new neighbours have got a dog too! Perhaps if you had a playmate, you wouldn't go scaring off cu-ah!" The door thudded and Caleb jumped back. "Again Barkley? We just went for a walk; I still need to unpack our stuff." After a pause, she sighed in defeat. "Ugh, fine. You better hope our neighbours are nice."

Caleb listened intently as Janice stepped closer and knocked on the door. He gave out another bark; Barkley responded.

I need to install dog doors, Caleb thought, once more rising to his hind legs and clamping down on the handle to unlock the door.

"Hello-oh! Aww, aren't you the cutest thing. Where are your owners?" Janice asked as she glanced inside and frowned. "What's your name?" She leaned down only to discover that Caleb wore no collar.

Padding up to Janice, Caleb whined and motioned his head inside. As Janice was about to respond, Barkley squeezed his way around her and leapt into the apartment ecstatically and immediately proceeded to sniffing Caleb's rear end. For a moment, Caleb was tempted to do likewise, but he controlled himself and looked back at Janice.

"Why are you so jumpy today, Barkley?" Janice looked around inside Caleb's apartment again, calling out.

"Are you all alone? Where's your collar?" As confused as she was, Janice bent down to scratch Caleb behind the ears, which felt amazing. His tail began to beat faster.

Oh dog this feels awesome.

Barkley barked again and laid down in another gesture of play, exactly as he did when Caleb first met him. Janice smiled, but then her eyes narrowed.

"Wow, those eyes are really unique. I've never seen a breed with eyes like that," she said peering closer. "They almost look familiar." Janice absently looked up and spotted the forgotten black sweater on the table.

Though she barely made a sound, the chocolate Labrador before her heard loud and clear.

"Caleb."