FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Beck fumbled over the never ending grains of sand that made up the terrain. His equipment was cumbersome; the two grenades, encrusted dagger, and water canteen clanked together as he trudged forward. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that he wasn't making any progress towards the port.

His nose and mouth covered by a maroon scarf, the boy looked up. He shook his heavy head and readjusted the copper-rimmed goggles the old Ridge merchant was nice enough to give him.

"They served me well enough when I was your age," he fondly remembered the elder's pseudo-blessing. "An' don't you worry about givin' 'em back now, ya' hear? They're yours, and yours only."

If only the old coot could have spared a transport seal.

"Shouldn't be too far out," he said to himself. He reached into his jacket's front pocket, the worn thread coming undone around the top. His gloved fingers followed the routine they practiced at least five times in the last half-hour, and after colliding with the smooth brass, they gripped the object and pulled it from the depths of the cloth fold.

Beck flicked open the compass and shook it a little. Twisting his hand this way and that, he waited for the needle to settle before letting his mind relax. The paranoia was astounding, he thought, but then again, the very real danger of becoming lost in this limbo the locals called "the road to the next damn town" seemed worth worrying about.

The navigational tool returned to its resting place in the jacket's compartment as he continued his journey forward. Port Welling, a decently large hub of trade and the closest outpost to the western ridge, was the location of his client: Jason, a betting fiend.

Beck had met him during his time at the ridge's arena, and the two worked out a deal after the gambler realized how resourceful the wayfarer was. With every victory Beck churned out, Jason would share a bit of his winnings. In return, Beck would give Jason valuable information on the owner's habits. Warden wasn't a very social guy, after all, and Jason seemed to be eager to pay for that kind of intelligence. So, of course, Beck took him up on the offer. To this day, though, his friend had yet to elaborate on any reasoning behind the entire thing.

An odd shape with a shade not like that of the sands snapped him out of his daydream.

"What the actual-" he whispered under the whipping winds. Quick footwork put him at the top of a nearby sand dune, where he attempted to make a better guess at what the mass was. A coldness enveloped him and his heart leaped up into his throat when the realization hit him.

Gryphons were not normally sighted out to the east, let alone anywhere remotely close to the ridge, and yet here one stood. Or slumped, rather.

The brown fur and ruffled feathers became clearer as he slid down from his point of observation, being careful not to make too much noise. He had heard a few stories about creatures from the west, but none of them painted gryphons in a friendly light. They were mostly described, rather, as hungry and proud.

Normally, Beck would have thought it too dangerous to risk getting close. The sandstorm raged on, however, and he doubted the thing could follow him without the aid of its wings.

That assumption was almost abolished as he closed the gap. The thing was huge. Lying on its side, he still couldn't see over it. It must have been nothing less than ten feet tall, if not eleven. The beak was a dark, worn blue and the talons, outstretched, were sharp enough to slice through metallic barricades. Beck stepped over the claws and began tip-toeing toward the rear. The lion's tale, just as described, lay slumped at an odd angle. As he rounded the beast to get a look at the other side, he couldn't help but begin to think about what had happened. He figured it was unlikely the thing had simply forgotten how to glide mid flight. But nothing else seemed to explain such a sudden descent.

Until he saw the deep gashes running along its left side. Beck clenched his teeth at the sight. Clots had already begun forming over the wounds, but they definitely were fresh from the looks of the red sand beneath. The boy reached a gloved hand out but his curious motion was interrupted by a shrill noise originating from his back pocket.

Viridian eyes revealed themselves as the eyelids shot open. The sand shifted beneath the gryphon's talons and paws as it began to rouse itself.

"Fuck you, Jason!" he yelled, cursing his client's timing. Taking his eyes off of the now fully awake creature, he reached down and grabbed at the flash grenade hanging from his belt. In the same motion, he broke into a sprint away from the gryphon. The flashbang caught on the leather loops, the sloppy attempt fruitless.

The next thing he knew, he found himself plummeting a quick twelve inches down to the sand, face first. He tried to roll, and somewhat succeeded, but he just couldn't salvage the dive. He met the desert turf.

"Clumsy for one so brave."

Out of breath, Beck slowly adjusted himself and lifted his head. The regal form became clearer but it was no less intimidating than he had expected. Thundering and feminine, the angry voice didn't help the situation much. The heavy pounding of her approach indicated even more cause for alarm...

The beast's beak opened to address him again. "What did you think you were doing, so close to my side? Thought you could make away with a feather of mine in your clutches?" Beck's body seized in a fit of panic as he realized the state of his explosives. The frag's pin! He began grabbing at his belt, letting terrified yelps escape his covered mouth. "I thought as much. They are valuable to your kind for some reason I cannot fathom. But you will return them to me, however many you took."

Rigid and dense, the uneven edges of the oblong fragmentation grenade seemed to heat up in Beck's hand. He extended his arm to the left with a quick, jerking motion and promptly dove to his right. The gryphoness, eyes squinting in confusion, halted her advance.

With a climactic boom, the grenade exploded multiple meters away from both. The shrapnel it threw out was mostly snuffed out by a mass of sand carried by a particularly strong gust of wind.

The wayfarer let out an impressive sigh. He rose to his feet, but not before taking a casual second to brush his rugged pants of the explosion's stray debris. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. You were saying?"

Baffled, she turned her gaze from the blast point back to Beck. "W- what was that?"

"Oh, it was nothing. I just, uh..." he trailed off, fidgeting with his belt. "Just misplaced a safety pin." He looked up to her with a guilty grin.

The gryphoness simply stared back, a disgusted confusion defining her visage.

The two stood at odds for no more than few seconds. After what seemed like much longer, she donned a pained expression. Another second passed before she fell to the ground. Feathers and fur collided with the sand, sending a tiny wave outwards. Beck leaned in with an expression of worry concealed by his head wear.

"H- hey, are you alright?" he said. He took a few nervous steps forward. "Those gashes actually look kinda bad."

"Come no further, thief," she managed to say. "I would have you writhing in my beak for your disrespectful actions."

Beck scoffed at her words. "How'd you fall out of the sky, anyway, huh? That's some bullshit if I ever saw it."

She brought her beak to the wounds, inspecting them. The blood wasn't going to be stopping soon, especially now that it had a chance to resume its flow. Her green irises swayed back and forth, seemingly drinking in the situation.

"Hello?" the boy said, a quick impatience latched onto the inquiry. "D'you hear me?"

Her tail came whipping around her rear, just slightly missing his head. "Do you have a death wish, little one? Try my patience anymore and I _will_kill you where you stand."

Beck stared back at her, baseless defiance complementing his relatively tiny presence.

She inspected her wings after moving from the wounds. "And I care not how many feathers you managed to take. Go."

"You're dehydrated and bleeding badly. Let me at least leave you a poultice and my extra-"

"GO."

Taken aback by the sudden increase in volume, he contemplated listening.

He didn't have a chance to think it over, though, as his train of thought was dashed apart by his phone's wretched ring tone. "Fucking fuck..."

The avian-feline hybrid's fuzzy ears twitched in annoyance at the sound.

Taking a few steps away, he flipped open the device and pressed the green button on the side. "What is it, man? I'm busy."

"Busy?" came the voice on the other end, seemingly perturbed. "Busy. You said you were going to be here an hour and a half ago. Do you want me to hire someone else?"

He kicked the sand. "No, no, don't do that. You know I need the cash. Listen-"

"I'm not taking your bullshit excuses this time, kid!" Jason said. Beck turned back to the gryphoness, phone still against his ear. She shooed him away angrily with a wing, to which he just smiled and waved in return.

He heard ruffling on the other end of the connection. "Fine, fine,please, fill me in. What in God's green earth has prevented you from making it here this time?"

"I'm very glad you asked. And I guarantee I'm going to tell you. But hey, right now, can you get another frag ready? And an extra canteen and first-aid kit. Gonna need replacements."

The gryphoness looked up from her cleaning again to see the human holding the box he had previously been talking into an arms length away from his head. A deafening noise erupted from it, and he dropped it in the sand shortly after. She turned back to her wounds, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

"...and what the fuck happened that you needed to use the fucking frag!" Jason said, threatening to break the communication device's speaker. "Those are anything but cheap!"

"They're just frags, Jason!"

"Beck! You son of a-"

Closing that phone was the most satisfying thing he had done in the last day and a half. Sure, Jason practically bought him the life he had been living for the last few months, but the gambler could do with taking his medication in higher dosages. Content, Beck turned back to face his feathery friend and knelt down in the sand.

The beast tilted her head in his direction, a scowl dominating her regal face. "What are you doing, worm? Do you not heed my warning?" She shifted her paws, and then her sore body followed. She faced him completely.

Beck inspected the sand between them. "I'm just resting." Her eyes narrowed. "Did you say I couldn't rest?" he asked.

"You are annoying and obnoxious," she said, nostrils flared, "and your presence stings more than the cuts on my side."

"Ah, yes, but I'm also tired."

"Do you think yourself entertaining?"

"I think myself fatigued."

Her talons dug into the sand, bothering the grains. "Humanity is scum."

"We also grow lethargic after walking."

"Do you wish for me to cut you in half?"

Beck fidgeted a little. "I wish to sit and regain my-"

With a deafening screech, the enraged gryphoness snapped her beak a few times in his general direction. The wounds she harbored flared again thanks to the sudden burst of life. Her piercing glare was quickly interrupted by an unfortunate wince, and she looked back down to check the source of renewed pain. Beak ajar, her wings unfolded, and with a few gusts, she attempted to rid herself of the boy's presence.

The air blasts were strong, and they caught the human off guard. But his determination would not be bested by such a simple action. As the sand kicked up around him, he shifted the merchant's goggles over his eyes and dove to the right. The skillful maneuver put a decently sized sand dune between himself and the angered creature.

"You tired yet?" he yelled over the howling wind. "I know you're runnin' on fumes." His inquiry was met with another screech, this time noticeably louder. As Beck made a motion to peak out from behind the dune, the entire cover exploded in a puff of feathers and sand. He was caught in the clutches of an outstretched talon, and before he could pull the dagger from his belt, he found himself pinned to the sandy ground. The beast had the agility of something a third of her size and the strength of something... well, her own size.

Panicked, he struggled to break free. Quickly realizing there wasn't much point in wasting the energy, he looked up to his opponent's face.

The gryphon was breathing heavily, blood oozing from the openings on her flank. "Human..." she muttered, a hint of rage still simmering in her voice. Before anything else of substance could be said, she collapsed just to his right. The force of her heavy form colliding with the terrain sent even more sand flying, but her now still body provided decent shelter against the normally berating texture of the sandstorm.

Not even bothering to get up at first, Beck examined her and frowned. What a beautiful creature. Covered in sand, and obviously in great distress, but beautiful nonetheless. Her eyes were closed and her breathing had slowed considerably. Two telltale signs of injury. "Why wouldn't you let me help, you fucking magnificent, proud idiot..."

He hoisted himself up, engaged in the ritual of checking his brass tool to orient himself, then broke into a light sprint. The water canteen was right where he had dropped it. Diving was not the most productive activity when one's objective was to keep everything of value on one's person, he noted to himself. With a quick scoop and an even quicker about-face, he took off towards the beast.

"Dehydration's a bitch, though, ain't it?" he said to her, half expecting a response. Climbing up onto a downed gryphon wasn't the easiest thing in the world, unsurprisingly, and while Beck did welcome the challenge, he quickly found himself questioning his reasoning for attempting to help the creature.

"Why do you have to be so damn big, anyway..."

He pushed open her beak with his greatest effort. Just the slightest opening would do fine. He was careful not to cut his jacket, given how sharp he had heard the beak was. And how sharp it looked. Without another thought, he unscrewed the cap to the metallic container and poured the entirety of its liquid contents down into her maw. He sat for a moment, wondering what would happen. The sand scratched at his goggles, but the optical protection didn't budge.

The human jumped down the two meters and landed somewhat awkwardly, but it wasn't enough to do any damage. His thoughts were not of himself, regardless. "This is the part where you say 'Thank you,'" he said. But she did not respond.

Beck pulled the compass out again. Looking to the East, he let out a long sigh. The gryphoness had landed right on her wounds. She was much too heavy for him to hope to move a talon, let alone her entire body. There was no chance of him addressing that problem.

The sandstorm, which had been gradually dying, finally let up. The deep, blue sky fought its way into his vision, and the clarity it brought was certainly welcomed.

"Jason's gonna kill me," he said to himself. He resumed his steps towards the port, noting the clinking of his equipment, and immediately feeling the exhaustion the day's events should have brought earlier.

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I'm just gonna go ahead and try to learn how to write because I feel like that would be cool. I apologize for this lackluster attempt, but I hope to improve as time goes on.

Feedback is appreciated. If you see something I can improve on, please point it out to me.