FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Sarah had long since given up on trying to explain to useless bureaucrats the significance of her data. It was now a foregone conclusion that the massive disturbances in weather patterns were linked to the shrinking of the icecaps. However those with power placed money above all things, as it is a means to keep their power. She merely thought that longevity was a factor in their thought processes. What drove her to continue her search for information was not known even to her anymore. A person could after all only take so many shutdowns. So far most of her data had come from observations of satellite imagery and the few satellite hours she had been able to obtain for more significant glacier depth analysis than she could with mere images. Having summed up the necessary balls, backing and downright stupidity to make the jump into field research she had acquired her pilots license and made the trip to the arctic tundras of the south. A vast wasteland few had ever bothered to attempt exploration and fewer still research. Arilia was a world that though similar in terms of climate to what you may be familiar too, was mainly covered in land surface. Oceans existed, but the vast majority of them existed as frozen landmasses.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and wondered to herself if this trip might just bring the required heat on the prime minister to do something about it. Sarah had thought long and hard about it on the long hours of her journey but the only boost she could think to give her argument was to put her face on the campaign. People seemed to like that, putting a face to a threat, a danger, a name to remember when talking about subjects. It was an aspect of psychology she never managed to figure out. She curled her wings around herself, it was starting to get very cold. Even though she had thick insulating fibres in her clothes, wings were a harder thing to prevent heat loss. The irony wasn't lost on her though, to think a dragon was using a plane to fly. That wasn't her fault mind, nor any other dragon raised in the sprawling metropolis that covered unimaginable distances of land. Flying wasn't the done thing in cities, long ago having been outlawed for civilians. It crowded the airways, allowed criminals to escape with far too much ease and accidents had been all too common.

Looking into the frosted glass she bit her lip softly. Ice crystals had been forming ever since she passed 70° but now there was actually a thin sheet of ice across her windscreen. It made a chilling mirror. Her sleek black scales glimmering softly. Accentuated by her soft azure eyes that almost gave a soft blue tone to the white streaks that surrounded them. Blinking she turned her eyes to the near metric tonne of equipment she was carrying and decided it was time to start the ground penetrating radar and imaging devices she had forged many luxuries to afford to bring with her. Looking one last time out of the window she set the autopilot and stood from her chair. It made her bones ache. The cold was no place for a dragon. It leached her energy moreso than any exercise could. Her tail hurt the most as it liked to sway and brush the fine metal casings of the equipment. Wasn't much she could do about it, well that was a lie but the sensation was comforting to her. Like a prayer, or ritual. She placed her faith in cold hard fact. Repeatable results. The scientific method was her bible and she applied it vigorously to her life.

Main power, circuit breakers, calibration, back ups... The list of dials, switches, buttons and screens she payed her attention too seemed to exponentially increase as she made adjustments to variables affected by other variables. Her work was all consuming to the point where a lot of the time her colleagues would come to tell her it was time to head in for the night and that perfectionist attitude followed her throughout her career. If a job was worth doing it was worth 122.2% and not a point less. It was as a result of this inattention blindness that she failed to noticed the warning light that had cast a dark reddish omen over the frosted glass. Fuel injector block on engine three. However what did get her attention was a jarring thud when the plane suddenly had to fight against snow thicker than ice sheets. "Whaa...", she turned to look out the window, now showing nothing but white. Her gait fell as she moved to quickly check the atmospheric data. It wasn't due till tomorrow! THUD!

A quite expensive piece of equipment was now quite an expensive paperweight. Having fell to the floor of the cabin in the newest piece of turbulence. A soft curse escaped her lips and her eyes darted to it. Biting her lip she forced herself back into the pilots' seat. She was no use dead after all. Another curse, the light was blinking now. No.....No It can't be frozen! She banged her fists onto the dashboard. It seemed to cause more damage than it was worth. For the second those ineffectual fists hit the dashboard a very disquieting muffled explosion was heard, and felt, through the plane. BEEP BEEP BEEP engine three is offline. That wouldn't have been much of a problem had the wind speed been normal but they were only increasing. There was only so long they could operate a third over recommended torques. The snow, ice was being cut through by the engines now and that was adding yet more pressure to the engine. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP. Pressure warnings on engine one and four were now lighting the dash in orange and yellow. It would have been quite the fantastic sight to an onlooker. The thick black smoke emitting from the compromised engine would have been like a red arrows air show. The fire illuminating her craft from the sky.

Sarah began to break a sweat as she tried to dial down the adrenaline levels in her blood to little or no effect. Right....Cut off fuel to engine three. Dial up torque on engine two....That had to be a mistake....No time for second guesses she muttered to herself. The redlining on engines one and four eased slightly before a loud metallic clang could be heard. Then another and another. Engine two suddenly jarred horribly in its frame. She was conscious just long enough to watch the mangled propeller be wrenched off of it's bearings and fly to hit the now deadlining engine one. Her eyes widened for only a second before what had caused it became apparent to her in the guise of a chunk of ice a foot in diameter smashed right through her windscreen. She felt the world spinning around her, well, it was, but it felt more than that as she felt warmth running down her neck before she faded to black. The Discovery was an old airliner, retrofitted to be useful to scientific endeavors. It didn't have all the fancy bells and whistles newer planes had, specifically safety features. Her last ping to headquarters was miles and miles north of her location and now the discovery was in a tailspin crashing down to the bitter icy tundra.

Sarah gave a soft groan. Well, that was good. A groan was good wasn't it? She opened her eyes to a soft glow, emanating from seemingly everywhere as it bounced off compacted snow. Vision was also good. She wasn't dead at least. So where was she then? That was the next most pertinent question, at least, was, until the pain hit her like a brick to the privates. Her irises suddenly widened from the shot of adrenaline that was pumped into her blood. Causing her to jerk and quite unceremoniously fall from the bed. Causing another adrenaline spike as she landed onto her now shattered wing. She let out a sharp cry as the pain was quite unbelievable. The number of sensitive nerves and fragile bones that spread throughout her wing was innumerable. Never mind the massive throbbing in her head from the severe, gash and concussion she had received. Which was entirely neglected on realisation that her wing was currently overloading any thought she would have to that now. Pretty trivial matter

Tears welled up in her eyes before she saw him. Hulking over her. Eyes widening more than she could possibly believe were possible. Frozen to the spot as his massive paw moved to effortlessly pick her up from her shoulders. Lifting her off her broken wing. It could have been the fear, or the sudden relief of pain but she couldn't move. Was that a fucking dragon! Well, that wasn't the surprise, the surprise came as unless her eyes deceived her he was a quadrupedal dragon. It kind of broke what was left of her rational mind, left from thinking of the pain of course. As far as her conventional, primary, knowledge was concerned. She was the result of thousands of years of evolution and this....being....in front of her was simply not possible.

The quadrupedal form was long since abandoned on the evolutionary path of dragons. Long since. It took almost three minutes of the poor thing staring before she moved a muscle. Her conscious soon ruling out hallucinations or severe brain damage from the crash from the sheer reaction she had to landing on her wing. She didn't dare move. She knew nothing as to the behavior she might provoke. The creature watched her just as intently as she did him. However his eyes conveyed to her a certain confidence she didn't want to mess with. A hand, slowly reached to the side of the makeshift hammock and she began to ever so slowly lift herself up. His eyes burned a hue of red she had not thought to question. His head moving down ever so subtly. As if to convey the point....Sit...Down. She swallowed as she tried to think to herself of the situation she had gotten herself into. An analytical mind was useless when the obvious conclusion was clear. For the moment, there was very little stopping the creature in front of her from tearing her to shreds. But for some reason, well, the only reason she could think, she had not been harmed, at least, it seemed that way. Sarah's mind was addled with questions, it was actually starting to hurt, then a tear came to her eye as she wondered if this would indeed be her last day on Arilia.

She pressed her eyelids tight as the drop escaped. Not wanting to look at the reality before her. As if it had been some death spark in a mind caved in by a plane crash. However the wet, careful sensation she felt against her cheek shattered that illusion. "D....don't!", she said in half panic and half resigned to what she thought might about to happen. She opened her eyes not to see a mouth dangling above her. But to see the creatures face pressed as close as it could have possibly gotten to her without touching. A long, pointed tongue having taken the tear away. She was still frightened but on seeing the soft white fur up close, those eyes seemed to have died into an ember flame. A source of warmth and comfort. It's hot breath tingling against her scales made her shiver some as it seemed to penetrate every layer of her clothing. She bit her lip softly as her hand seemed to move of its own accord. Reaching out with utmost hesitation she soon found it gently resting on its muzzle. Then her eyes blackened and everything returned to the void.

Once again she found herself waking. She gave a soft shiver. "Man...what a crazy dream...", she chuckled softly before opening her eyes to see THAT HUGE FUCKING DRAGON! Sarah's eye twitched. It is a very crazy dream A voice appeared from nowhere, seeming to have no direction to it. She turned to look at the dragon before her once more. It's lips hadn't moved. But it did stare intently at her. Right that's it....She must be bleeding out...Neurons firing their last. Coming out with insane scenarios. She needed to wake up....If that was now even an option to her anymore. Sighing softly she realised that she was probably dying in a frigid plane now and stood up off the hammock. Wait a minute....Wasn't her wing...shattered....She flexed the muscles there. No pain whatsoever, a visual conformation showed her that her bones were not broken anymore. Feels better doesn't it? Alright, that is getting freaky.

Sarah had gone through the possibilities once more and now her eyes were fixed on the white fluffy dragon before her. In turn she received the same curious glare from him. "I suppose I'm to believe you did this?", sighing softly, finding it hard to come to terms with the fact she was speaking with an animal. Yes.... The reply was softer than before. As if the tone responded to how she had felt about the question. It took her aback some. Slowly seating her as her brain felt too heavy for her legs. Observation was all a scientist truly had at their disposal at the end. Even if those observations conflicted with everything she thought possible. "And I'm also to believe that you are speaking to me telepathically....", the last word coming out with some incredulity. The response was once again a soft confirmation. Sarah bit her lip softly, as if the pain might convince her that what she was seeing wasn't some hallucination. The dragons eyes seemed to convey the rest. His tail lazily followed it's own path and her eyes drifted to it. Not the tail specifically, but this was the first real time since she had seen him that her brain wasn't preoccupied with pain.

He truly was huge compared to her. To think that she had descended from creatures such as this. It was truly an amazing sight. She looked down for a brief moment. Then up once more. It was time to accept the reality before her and exploit whatever information she could gleam from the dragon before her. "I apologise for my rudeness. I am Dr. Sarah Tay. I work with the University of Multa on climate studies...I know it's a useless sub...I...", she seemed to trail off, as if it dawned on her that this creature before her was more than just a beast. But an intelligent being, a kind one at that. Sarah had never been able to deal with kind and intelligent people. They were much more frightening to deal with. I am Glaystallus. It's quite wonderful to meet you... The certain pained happiness that emphasised his words conveyed that was more than just a truth. "Thank you Glaystallus...", she said softy as she felt her head. Again, no wound to be found. "H...how long have I been here?", she asked softly. About four days. He responded. Impossible.... She thought to herself. To hear the reply this time was quite disconcerting. No it's not. Though I must ask if you might answer a few questions of my own. The tone was gentle. As if not to risk impoliteness, a hint of fear streaking it's tempo.

"I'd be happy to", she replied, curious as to what a creature such as him might have to ask of her. What were you doing in that...thing, the subtle pause confirmed to her that he did indeed not know of transport. "My personal plane. I've been trying to understand the glacial patterns in the area. It might be what's causing chaos in the weather. "She gave a half smile smile. "It allows me to fly.", she said with a soft chuckle. To that the dragons face was the only answer required. It cocked slightly. His lips curling a little. Really? The response was quite straightforward. "I can't fly...", the look on his face was quite disheartened. I see, might I ask, why is your aura is so weak? The question was asked with such care as to think it was a taboo subject. The curtness of the answer was more of a shock to him than the confusion the question presented to her. "What are you talking about? Some intangible nonsense", she chuckled quite playfully. However within her mind ticked over. What was he talking about, after all she had no idea what intelligence he possessed, or what he could do. Four days was impossible, her wing could not have healed in such a short time. It was impossible.

Then again, when all that is probable has been exhausted, whatever is left. No matter how impossible, must indeed be the answer. Which came in the form of the dragon standing, she hadn't noticed him before he had laid down, right before her hammock. HIs neck almost reaching her chest. She looked down at him. "How old are you?", she asked. Not particularly wanting to hear the answer. Generations have passed since I was a child....I couldn't quite tell you to be honest. A happy smile looked up to her. Albeit one seeming preoccupied with trying to choose whether or not to be happy or sad. She bit her lip softly and once more her hand came down to gently stroke the side of his muzzle. The fur so luxurious it was quite a sensation to handle, "What do you mean, aura?", a chuckling echoed throughout her head. I see that we are both out of our time. I had been trying to talk to you, but you were so weak. I thought you might be trying to heal. But you weren't. It was quite worrying actually. When you touched me it was quite a sensation. My aura touched yours. It seemed to let you heal...and talk to me. She did pick up the discontent. "Why is that bad?", once more his eyes softened along with his facial features. For you not to be able to talk...it's unnatural. Every dragon has...should have the ability too...It's like losing your soul.

The young dragon was a little taken aback by the comment and brushed a hand along her wing. "So...I healed myself then?", a soft nod was the only comment needed from him. Her hand left his jaw. It was quite funny but she could swear that it had moved to follow her. Even if for the briefest of moments. It was such a long time since he had felt the touch of his kin and it felt cruel for it to be taken away after such fleeting contact...