FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It's been a week since I settled in Alduin's flat, and I found the attic I was staying in to be fairly roomy, and very private, at least until someone clapped, but that was something that I told myself that I had to get used to. We regularly spent time together, at least this was Alduin's suggestion until it was time for my first planet to explore, or until I was comfortable by myself while I got used to this new little life of mine. Work was at most the very same, to our work mates at the Woolsworths grocery store, we were still the same partners just going through eight hours making our meager pay to lead our small lives, but to us and the Centralites, it was something much bigger, and I was happy.

"You're first planet fall will be this coming Friday," Silverine informed me that Monday, which made me proceedingly anxious throughout the week. As I worked my way through my only three workdays of the week I was starting to get worried that I wasn't explorer material. I thought that I would do something to screw up right at the start, perhaps endanger my team, and get fired right from the start. Or maybe the team won't think I'm adequate enough and will send me on the next plane back to St. George, or maybe Draco will change his mind to the horrible alternatives to the job. That made me shiver.

‘Just relax,' I told myself in my head over and over again, ‘just act professional, this is your job after all. Learn quickly and stay sharp.' Staying professional was definitely an agenda of mine, and I was going to keep it very adamant, especially about one particular subject.

I was aware by now that amongst the Centralites, sex was not only a popular choice of passing the time, it was considered by some to be a pastime. Despite that, I made a vow to myself that I would not engage in sexual activity during my duties as explorer, especially on a planet fall, whether or not my teammates were into that or not. Speaking of which, I still hadn't actually fully met my other two teammates that I would be with. I already met Doran, who was considered the team's leader, and the wolf in question promised Alduin that he would watch over me closely, I just hoped not too closely. Other than Doran there were two others that I was to meet before the planet fall, and Doran took me to meet them Thursday night after I finished my last shift of the week. He was waiting at the flat when Alduin and I got back, and teleported me to central.

It was a feeling that I had yet to get used to. It was so strange that I got very nauseous when my eyes were open, so I very promptly kept them shut throughout the forty seconds it roughly took to finish teleporting. When we got there, we were already in a small room, which was empty despite a table with a few chairs, two of which were already occupied, and a nearby glower. I turned to face the two people, who I quickly figured were my two other teammates, and their smiles helped ease my nerves a bit.

"Ryan, this is Orion," Doran said pointing to a white fox. The fox was roughly my height and had a more toned muscle build then I did. He was wearing a snug shirt and pants, and wielded what looked like a double-bladed staff. It was a regular staff with the exception that two large knifes encased the tip of both ends, a very impressive weapon, and one I had only seen once before in one of my fantasy video games. The fox shook my hand from his seat. The Doran pointed to the other figure, a female elf.

"And this is Felicia," Doran said. She was the same height as Orion and I although I think she was slightly taller than I am. She had long dark hair, and pointy ears, which made her distinct difference between elf and human. Her clothes seemed to match a similar color taste of my own, which was either black or dark colors, and her weapon of choice was also a staff, although it was a regular metal staff.

"The staff helps me channel my magic easier," the elf explained when I asked her of it. I was aware of hers and Orion's magic abilities. Although Orion could only use the fire element in his abilities, he could use it very well, and he explained he trains with a fire mistress on his own planet, who I had no clue who. Felicia was a talented magic user who tapped into numerous elements, although the drawback was the spells weren't quite as strong, but had the advantage of varying the elements.

Despite their amazing skills, I felt seriously outclassed in every way. A skilled technician and marksman, a pyrotechnic with weapon skills to match, a magical elf, and an adolescent chess nerd who can fight adequately with a sword, yeah I was a bit embarrassed. Silverine walked in right then and not a moment too soon.

"So the team's all here," he said, "that's good, I'm looking forward to seeing how the new guy shapes up." He gave me a serious stare, and by the look of his eye made me feel like he was piercing through me. Alduin was right, terrifying indeed. "You all take off tomorrow at the crack of morning, so I suggest a goodnight's sleep to all of you. We will meet in the grand hall at that time." With that suggestion he left the hall, and Doran grabbed my hand, quickly teleporting me back to the flat. Alduin was sitting there at his lonesome, watching the ten o' clock news, although I could tell he was rather bored at this.

"It's all the same," Alduin said setting the remote down, "it's either more political banter or some cheap valihoo about something else wrong with the world."

"It's what they call the news," I retorted, "anyway Alduin? Do you know where to find the Grand Hall? Silverine said we were meeting there tomorrow." He smiled.

"I think Doran can show you around rather easily," he said, "imagining he can stay here the night."

"Where are you going with this?" Doran asked curiously.

"I think you know," Alduin said, grabbing Doran's arm and yanking him away. I just chuckled and bid them goodnight, before clapping the ladder to my room down. I took a quick look around my room, it was very much like my old room, all the object's I had broken and left behind at my old home had been effectively replaced, all the way down to the last video game, my wardrobe was customized just the way I wanted it. I liked the Centralites' idea of freedom of expression better than my parents did by far.

Before heading to bed I sorted out all of my items of interest that I would take for my first planet fall. The first thing was a custom one handed, crafted by Alduin's teammate Salbar and a tigress named Abigail, who happened to be Simba's cousin. They said it was their treat, and when I tested it out, it was perfect, it had superior balance, handling, as well as proper weight, like the blade was made for me and me only. The other items of interest was a backpack, heavy tan vest to go over my usually black shirt, black jeans, hiking boots, a pair of black gloves, and a belt with my sword sheath tied to the side. Inside my back pack would contain various needs, including water bottles, a few meals that Alduin kindly made, lighter, swiss army knife, clotheslines, sunscreen, extra pair of clean clothes, basically it held everything that would be needed for the exploration trip. I took a one glance over at my diary, which still only had one entry to date. I figured I could always log each trip once I get back. I set all my clothes and equipment to the side of my bed and went to sleep after setting my alarm.

The sleep was uneventful, and waking up was painful, mostly because I wasn't used to being up at 5:30 AM. Reluctantly I sat up and changed into my clothes that I picked out, setting my sword in it's sheath and tying it to the side of my belt. I finished packing my gear and put on a pair of sunglasses when I heard a clapping from below. Doran popped up to my room about a half a minute later.

"Ready Ryan?" He asked.

"About as ready as I can get," I said, Doran chuckled and grabbed my hand, slapping on his teleporter. Shortly I wound up in a hall I recognized. Unfortunately it looked like every other hall so I was still completely lost. I followed Doran to the great hall, which I found to be extremely large, although it was empty, except for a lonely grand piano. Silverine, Orion, and Felicia were already there waiting for us when we arrived.

"Punctual," Silverine began, "I like that. Alduin's team has already taken off to their planet, so now it's your turn. This one is an entirely new planet, so because of this one of you must volunteer to ping the planet."

"Ping the planet?" I asked.

"It's when one of us teleports down to the planet first and looks around for a couple minutes," Orion explained, "if it's safe, then the person let's the others know so they can safely teleport down." I could understand the efficiency behind this.

"I'll volunteer Silverine," Felicia raised her hand, then brushed her teleporter, disappearing with a bang. Orion tuned into an interesting earpiece, listening in to something, probably Felicia. After a few minutes he nodded that it's clear.

"Good luck to you guys," he said, and Doran grabbed my hand again, and the teleporting sensation resumed. When it stopped, I opened my eyes and saw soft fertile ground. We were near an entrance to a forest, high on a hilltop. The grass was exceptionally green, and with a slightly warm climate gave signs of spring on this planet. Many exotic plant life and wild flowers blossomed everywhere, it was a beautiful sight to behold. The sun had just peeked over its lofty perch, to give the look of early morning.

"Wow," was the first thing that trailed from my mouth.

"Look there's a city," Doran said, "let's check it out. What did the scanner pick up on life forms Felicia?"

"It picked up several various species," Felicia said, "therefore no disguises are necessary."

"Disguises?" I asked.

"Oh yes," Doran began, "Ryan, some planets are friendlier than others, and one thing we learned is on most human only planets, they tend to get hostile at aliens, so we have special crystals meant to change us to look like humans." That definitely explained a lot about them when I first came to New Zealand. Doran pulled out a clear blue crystal from his pocket, which could be worn like a necklace. This was true technological genius at work here, and I wanted to meet the one who made it.

We continued on into the city. The technology on the surface to be fairly equivalent of middle 19th century earth. However, there were a few old fashioned cars that seemed to run on motors, so there were signs of advancements beyond their time. Then there were the people, quite literally hundreds walking around, and they were all of different species. There were furs, scaleys, and even the occasional human or elf. Despite all this though, our appearance as we walked into the city turned more than a few heads. Just by the way we dressed stuck us out like a sore thumb. The looks weren't bad or anything, they were more confused at best, and I wasn't surprised at this. We kept walking around looking around until a strapling young lizard came up to us and spoke. He was speaking a different tongue completely unknown to me, but I had a translator given to me that translates everything into English for me, here's how it translated.

"You're certainly not from around here," he said, "who are you?" Doran took to reply.

"Greetings, we're just simple explorers, who have come to learn more about your life and culture, think you can answer a few questions?"

"Perhaps I can," The lizard said, "however, all your questions are best answered there." He turned and pointed to a very tall building. "That's the continental library, you won't find one bigger in all the world." Doran examined it minutely before answering back.

"Looks good," he said, "Two of us can look around that."

"I might as well have a look," Felicia said in a small sigh of disappointment, "not much else going on anyway."

"I agree and I'll accompany you later," Doran said, "just as soon as we find a place to stay."

"If it's a place to stay you need," the lizard answered, "I run an Inn that you can flat at. That is for a small fee that is." Orion was quick to step forward. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a couple plain gold coins and handed it to the lizard. The lizard examines the gold closely before pocketing it himself. "Excellent, that should do just fine, how long are you here for?"

"Just a few days," Doran answered, "once we get all the info we need, we'll be gone just like that." He snapped his fingers to show emphasis into what he meant.

"Probably a good idea," The lizard said, "well anyway before we head out I forgot to make introductions, my name is Ashvik, care to introduce yourselves?"

"I'm Doran," the wolf introduced himself, "the fox is Orion, the elf is Felicia, and the human behind me is Ryan."

"The human seems awfully quiet," Ashvik said eyeing me.

"He's rather new at the exploring job," Orion said, "he's just a little shy."

"Well then," The lizard said with a chuckle, "let us be on our way then." He led us to his inn, which was a fairly short five-minute walk from our current location. It looked very much like any old classic inn, it had the check-in desk right in the front, next to a staircase leading to the second floor hallways that contained the rooms. Then on each side of the first floor held a small restaurant and a tavern respectively. It wasn't anything to get excited about, but to the townsfolk here, it was one of the liveliest hotspots imaginable. Just by looking at the entrances the places were packed with people, happily cheering, talking, and laughing away. Despite the old dank look of the place, it seemed rather comfortable.

"Each room has only two small beds," Ashvik explained, "so if needed I can get you a second room."

"No thanks," Doran said, "One room will be just fine."

"You seem to be quite the close knit team," Ashvik chuckled and Doran faced us and winked before turning back to Ashvik.

"You don't know the half of it."

***

I had set my back pack down in my corner of the room when I heard of something being talked about that I only heard a couple of times.

"Hey guys?" I asked. They turned to face me.

"What is it?" Felicia asked.

"Exactly what's Central New Year?" I asked, "I had heard a couple of times, and that it was supposed to be next week, but what is it exactly?" The other three faced each other.

"Is this something we should really explain?" Orion asked.

"I think we better," Doran said, "if he doesn't know by now." He walked up to me and explained while I sat down on the bed, to test it.

"You see Ryan," he said, "Central New Year is the New Year of Central. It occurs every six Earth months and is dated on your April and October 21st. Every New Year is celebrated amongst the scouts with numerous events. The first being the Scouter's Ball, where everyone introduces the latest and newest scouts and celebrates with a feast. Are you with me so far?"

"Yeah," I said, "doesn't sound too bad." Doran continued.

"After that is done the new scouts are required to participate in what's called The Hunt."

"The Hunt?" I was curious. The other two were smiling evilly as Doran continued.

"The Hunt is where the old scouters chase the new scouters throughout the halls of Central. This event lasts for two hours and is recorded for your sake and everyone elses. There are numerous rules involved, but I'll tell you the mere basics right now. Your job is to run around and not get caught by anyone for two hours, but don't get your hopes up because no one's ever done it."

"Not even Alduin," Orion interrupted.

"That's right," Doran said, "and also if you're caught, the person or persons who catch you is allowed to do anything they want to you for the remainder of the two hours."

"Persons?" I asked, "you mean they can team up?"

"Yeah," Felicia said, "and you can team up with hunted too, if it works to your advantage."

"And I bet it doesn't take a genius to tell what kind of stuff happens to the people caught," Orion joked.

"I think I can venture a good guess," I said, "but is it seriously anything?"

"Well," Doran said, "there are a few barriers where not to cross, like you can't kill or seriously hurt the person. But there are a lot of freedoms of what to do with the person."

"Great," I said sarcastically. Although I felt comfortable about the current job at hand, I was now nervous about Central New Year, because with the time I have left, I have just a week left to prepare for it. And I don't even know most of the other hunted yet.

"If it's any consolation Ryan," Orion said, "I'm going to be a hunted also."

"So this will be good for both of you then," Felicia said as she stood up, heading for the door. Doran stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going now?" The wolf asked playfully.

"To the library," she answered plainly, "where else?"

"I'm going there too," he answered back, "but I was thinking maybe I can have a little fun here first."

‘Oh boy here we go again,' I thought as Felicia and Doran hit one of the beds with a thud, wrestling each other's clothes off.

"Hey," Orion chuckled, "don't forget me for a bit." I didn't want to get involved or seen, so I quietly grabbed my stuff and snuck out of the room before any noise was made from anyone else.

***

After successfully evading my first sexcapade of work, I was wandering around the tavern. I knew I wasn't old enough to drink, nor was I interested in alcohol at all. However, I thought I could learn a thing or two about the world in the tavern better than the library, because people could sometimes be more interesting than a book.

"Hey it's you, Ryan right?" I turned to the bar, and saw Ashvik cleaning down a mug. I walked over to him.

"Er, yeah," I said slowly.

"Well have a seat then," he said with a smile, "no need to be shy. Anything I can get you to drink?"

"Um... no thank you," I said politely, taking a seat in front of him.

"I kind of figured as much," he said, "you're more interested in learning about the planet am I right?"

"How did you-?"

"It's not hard for me to figure out you're not from here," he told me, "your clothing is uniquely designed and yet made from cotton. You have strange devices on your persons, and most convicting is you told me you were explorers. This place has advanced enough to know all about the place, so professional explorers aren't really needed anymore."

"Technology doesn't look very advanced to me," I replied, "no offense."

"That's you looking at the local city," he said, "the authorities have a couple hundred years higher advancement in technology."

"How is that possible?" I asked.

"It's in the government's decree that it remains behind so much so police can have a better time keeping the peace."

"How does government work?" I asked him, "is it a monarch? Divine rule? Dictatorship?"

"It's a democracy my dear boy," he said cheerfully, "it's the only way a government can be run, and it's separated into seven branches of government." Seven branches? Sounds more complicated than my own to me. I asked him about this and he laughed.

"Well this is another thing, the entire planet is a united world power. The sheer size of it helps make the extra branches possible."

"What about war and conflict?" I asked, "isn't that a problem?"

"We haven't had a war in over 700 years," he said. If I had a drink I would have dropped the mug on the floor, but my jaw dropped instead. The fact that their government was held in a single world entity was impressive enough, but the ability to avoid war for seven centuries seemed ungodly impossible.

"Damn I'm impressed," I chuckled.

"I take it your home planet isn't quite like ours," he said leaning over the bar arms folded.

"I can't even remember when my planet didn't have war," I said, "or crime for that matter."

"We still have crime every now and then," he said, "but it's very well maintained. With our government one entity, militaries are a thing of the past, which gave way to many many more innovations, and the economy is better than ever. Here in the city of Ysiella, its considered paradise by all."

"Wow," I said, "I'm very impressed. I shall have to come visit here again sometime."

"Yes please do," Ashvik said cheerfully, "We'd all love for you to come back and visit on several occasions."

"I certainly hope to thanks," I said.

"Are there anymore questions?" Ashvik said curiously. I wondered for a second what I was missing, I had gotten culture, technology, lifestyle, government, and economy all in one quick scoop. Plus climate and stuff could all be figured out in a few quick studies by ourselves, so that left only one thing on my mind to ask.

"What's your astronomy like?" I asked him. He gave a toothy smile.

"Would you like me to show you?"

***

"No way," I said in near disbelief.

"Didn't think I used to be an astronomer before I ran my own inn now eh?" Ashvik said as he gave a chuckle. The room I was standing in was a large observatory. The place was lined completely in metal, and numerous computers that circulated and connected to a very large telescope in the middle of the room. The sheer amount of technology in the room made me feel like I was on an entirely different planet.

"Holy cow," I said, "this is a high profile government job I imagine. No wonder you know so much."

"Well that's one way of putting it," the lizard said, "although most of what I told you were from numerous books at the continental library." We both approached the telescope, and Ashvik had me take a seat on the chair.

"So I should just look through here?" I asked.

"That's correct," he said, "look in and guide the telescope." I did as he instructed with curiosity, and what I saw had surprised me. This planet had two moons, one was glowing bright red while the other was glowing bright green. This alone brought me complete amazement.

"The red moon is Terra," Ashvik explained, "while the green moon is Terra's twin sister, Gaia."

"Gaia and Terra," I repeated, "how are they reflecting such colors?" I asked.

"Astronomers haven't fully figured it out yet," Ashvik said, "however there are a couple theories, like the moons can emit their own light or the rock compositions of the moon reflect a specific color of the spectrum directly from them and intensify by reflecting off each other."

"Strange theories," I said, "I'm not sure if it works though." Ashvik shrugged.

"It's no use arguing with the other astronomers," he said, "it's why I quit, of course when I quit, I was cast into the street." I looked at him curiously while he continued.

"It seems the government had no tolerance for those not dedicated to the work. Anyway, when I was cast out into the streets I had no home to go to, and no family left alive to turn to. But I wasn't ready to give up, so with an optimistic attitude, and two strong arms. I ran to the woods and used that to build myself an inn, and I realize now that it was the best decision I ever made."

"Touching story," I said and he smiled.

"Being an innkeeper allowed me the chance to help shelter others in times of need, as well as make a modest living. Even better yet, it helped me get closer intimately with my husband." Wait a minute, what did he just say?

"You're married?" I asked him, he nodded and smiled.

"I've been happily married for 12 years," he said, "I met my husband Hiryu when he was a traveler and explorer. He needed a place to stay and didn't have much money. So in exchange for a little compensation, I let him stay for a little while. During that small time we learned about each other, and fell in love, and now we're happily married."

"So homosexuality is accepted here?" I asked curiously.

"Not only is it accepted on this planet," he said smiling, "it's actually promoted. I'm guessing by the way you asked that, your home planet isn't so accepting."

"Basically where I used to live, a person who beat up a gay person got a medal," I said in painful comparison, and I knew I wasn't too far off either.

"I see," he said, "sounds a lot like your planet has much to improve on."

"No kidding," I said, "but it's still home to me." He smiled at that.

"I'm glad you think that," he said, "there is no place like home." I nodded and we left the observatory.

***

The next day I spent in the outskirts of the city, observing wildlife and plant life with Doran. Ashvik volunteered to go with me, and even brought his husband Hiryu along. Hiryu was a very tall dragon, probably taller than Draco was, although I'm not sure. When I looked at them together, I giggled because I didn't think there was a sweeter couple.

"So where are Orion and Felicia?" I asked Doran.

"Oh Felicia is still observing history amongst the library," he explained, "and Orion is having a meeting with the government leader, who we found out is called a Regent here."

"And a very kind ruler he is," Hiryu explained, "he knows how to do his job better than all those who came before him."

"I guess that's good for something," I said.

"I'm guessing you don't like government very much," Ashvik said.

"Politics aren't my thing," I said bluntly, and with that returned to logging the different wildlife. A while later though, Doran asked me a question about yesterday.

"Hey Ryan, why did you sneak out yesterday instead of joining us in the fun?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to answer that.

"Because I had more important things to do," I said bluntly.

"Well not everything in exploring is about work," Doran said, "you have to learn to have fun with it as well."

"Maybe I already am having fun," I said, "I just don't believe on screwing around while on somebody else's time."

"You just wait and see," Doran said. I figured that I had to be careful in case they pull some trick to get me into bed, one of those tricks was I waited until the others were for sure asleep, before slipping off to sleep myself. And the next day, I snuck out early in the morning in case they woke up before I did.

***

The third day was the last day on this planet, before having to go back to Central and then to Earth respectively. We had gotten all the information we needed, which will hopefully please Silverine and the glowers. When midday had arrived, we gathered at Ashvik's inn.

"So Ryan," Ashvik said, "don't forget your promise to come visit. Oh and here, it's a little reminder." He placed an object in my hand, which I carefully glanced at. It was a small magnifying lens, similar to ones used in telescopes, and I smiled, thanking him for it.

"I promise I'll come visit," I said happily and waved good bye.

"Alright it's time," Doran said, then grabbed my hand and teleported. After roughly forty seconds we arrived back in a familiar hallway that was central, and unfortunately, I still had no idea where we were. We were greeted by a glower after a second.

"Welcome back ladies and gentlemen," the glower said, "how was the planet exploring?"

"It went by pretty smoothly," Orion said.

"Anyone care to tell me and my associated about it?" The glower asked. I saw the other three get nervous about the idea, but I didn't think it was that much of a big deal.

"I'll do it," I volunteered raising my hand. The glower nodded, or at least I thought he did, and went down the hallway, I followed him down quickly and noticed that Doran was walking with me.

"I don't want you getting lost, or left alone with a bunch of glowers," he said, "a lot of people don't like the idea of getting stuck explaining the job to them. Alduin bails practically all the time."

"Well I'll find that out for myself thank you," I told him. I was a bit glad he went with me though. The briefing room I told the story in was cold, and with five different glowers in the room made the place a rather nervous place to be around. But I told my story rather enthusiastically, and I guessed they were impressed. As soon as I finished and was dismissed, Doran grabbed my hand and teleported me back home.

We were greeted by the sounds of Michael Jackson's Beat It when we got back, right in the middle of the solo that Eddie Van Halen played.

"I guess this song's lyrics could be good advice for the hunted," I said bluntly.

"Too true," I heard a voice come downstairs, and saw that it was Alduin.

"How was your planet?" Both Doran and I asked him.

"Good, if you count picking a fight with a volcano good," Alduin said with a sigh. I decided not to push the subject further and clapped my hands, lowering the ladder to my room.

"Aren't you going to tell me about your planet?" Alduin asked. I smiled.

"I'd like to save a conversation that didn't involve sex for the dinner table now don't I?" I joked and clapped the ladder up to my room. I slipped all my equipment off, setting it down next to the shotgun I didn't take with me this trip. After slipping off my first layer of clothing, I took a seat at my desk, and opened my drawer, pulling out my diary from before, and figured it was time for a second entry.

***

Dear Diary,

It's only been a couple of weeks since I started my new job as an explorer, and I'm very happy to tell you my first planet fall was a success. This planet had everything that I wish could have worked out here on Earth. Oh well, I'm still glad I have a home here on Earth. Anyway, I met a very nice couple, named Ashvik and Hiryu. And they were so nice that I'm seriously going to take their offer to visit them again sometime soon. I just hope that we don't forget each other as time presses on. Ashvik even gave me a gift, and I'm thinking about where to put it. Now that I think about it, I have an unused drawer in my dresser so I figured I'd use that to my advantage. Also, next week will be my first Central New Year, which means I'll be put up as a hunted. I hope I perform well, so I can make good impressions with the chief scout Silverine and the glowers. Until next time.

Sincerely,

Ryan Christopher Lewis

***

After finishing this update to my diary, I took the lens that Ashvik gave me, and placed it in the drawer I mentioned in my entry. After that I heard a clapping from downstairs, and the roaring laughter of Draco from below. I guess dinner just got a little more interesting.