FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Yes, yes, yes. A whole month. I have a million excuses. If you wish to skip them, there will be actual relevant info after my complaints on modern society. When you see this -> ** that'll be the end of my ranting.

So here I go: I got a new computer, which means that I had to back up all of my files to an exteral hard-drive, then back to the new computer, before I figured out that I could've just moved it from one computer to the other, so I waisted a bit of money there. I've also managed to get food poisoning, and just as I got healthy, caught a nasty flue. Oh, oh oh! Then there was the MCR concert last sunday, that my friend and I attended. (Gerard was awesome as ever) Plus the finals for this period are due this week! Then there's my lady, whom I've spent time with as much as I can. (You can't "blame" me for that, now can you?) **

And now for an actual question, again at the "audience": I've been having some problem lately, with getting inspiration for my writing, with school and all going on. I'd appreciate any help. I've also been trying to start up a drawing project, which would be me drawing up all the characters. I'm just not really an artist, so I'm asking for helpful advice, or links, to help me get started with drawing. I'm not asking for people to draw them for me! I'm just wondering if there are any helpful sites somewhere, that'd help me draw up my charas properly.

And now, on with the show, thanks for listening ^_^

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The following day went fairly slowly. Jack had introduced us to the ship - which he was very proud of - and told us to think of a name to the near-two-acre-long-ship, being larger than a Nimitz-class vessel, as he proudly portrayed. We decided to leave it to Jack, River and Lulu, while Shay, Iris and I sat on the massive deck. The ship was just above the clouds, so it made the sky look like a sea, in which Jack's ship was sailing.

The sun was high above us and Raven walked up on the open deck, smiling as he limped with Shin grabbing to his shoulder.

"Hey guys," he started, "what's up? Missed me?" He laughed. Shin seemed to be smiling along with the grinning raptor. Raven seemed fine, just a little exhausted.

I got up and walked up to the raptor, feeling awful for inflicting him with this condition on him. "Hey... I'm sorry"

Raven looked at me for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Don't sweat it!" He tapped my right shoulder. "I'll be fine"

I tapped his hand quickly and nodded apologetically, just to make sure that we were okay. "You sure?"

"Yes" He huffed happily and walked up to the rest of the group with Shin, further down the open deck.

As they walked, I followed. I sat down next to Iris. We were doing well, to say the least. She had been teaching me the basics of 'shielding' my mind, thus preventing anyone from reading my thoughts, like the Seven Virtues had. I found it easy, and was proud that I mastered the talent in half a day. Then Shay told me that it was usually an hour of practice, for novices of magic in general. (Not to self: Shay's a meanie)

She was teaching me the basics of sensing the presence of different people. That was more difficult, because Iris had problems explaining some of the technical stuff. For example: It included trying to search a certain 'aura' and then homing in on it, without showing them that you were in their heads. That was quite difficult and it took me more than two hours to sense the presence of her and everyone else on the ship.

After that, I had to take a break. I excused myself from the company and took my leave. I didn't really know where to go. I was more or less locked up on the bulky ship. I wanted to just stretch my legs, that's all. Since it was getting colder, the others retired to their rooms, so I eventually decided to do the same.

It took me a while, but eventually I managed to find the familiar door. I had requested a smaller room - I was never too comfortable with large, empty spaces - and was pleased by the new room.

It was just above maintenance deck, so I could hear the engines loud and clear. I kinda liked it. The roaring engines kept me in a strange form of readiness, yet calm.

The room, itself, I called "the den", because it was very close to a cave. There was only one light, flickering in the far left corner. It was a bit off setting, so I closed it. That plunged the den into complete darkness, although I could still see perfectly. But I knew that there were no lights, and that made me think. If I could see with no lights on, would I lose my sight in the light?

I dismissed the thought and closed the door. Now there was absolutely no source of light, but my sight wasn't impaired. I could see as clear as day.

I scanned the room quickly and saw a mattress in the far-right corner. It was a tad tattered but quite comfortable, even without a frame - it really was only a mattress on the floor. Next to it, there was a little chest. I walked up to it and opened it. It was a knife box! There was a letter, apparently from Shay.

"Hey! Since you took up the knives, I thought that I could teach you a thing or two about them! I still need to ask Lulu - since the high-bitch has said no to teach you without her permission - sorry for the crude language - I know you don't mind - I lost my original thought, sorry. But I'm sure that Lulu will agree - not on the fact that she's a... You got it, right? Anyways, here's a little gift. Treat 'em well!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at Shay's strange writing patterns, but eventually I managed to peer into the box.

There was a dozen knives. Six on each side. They were all equally sized - small, barely the length of my middle finger - and the same shape. Judging from the build, they all seemed like throwing knives, since they looked like tiny kunais. They were all attached to a shoulder-pocket. I noticed a small crest on the side of the pocket. It was the same as- I dropped the knives. I could hear them clattering on the floor. My eyes drifted back to the crest. Three snakes, being grabbed by a bony hand. I looked at my necklace. Three snakes, being grabbed by a bony hand. The crest was the same as the necklace Graverobber forced on me!

What the hell?

_Do I look like I give a damn?_Prothero snapped at me in his own, grim voice.

Oh come on! What did I do to you? I pleaded for an answer.

It never came. I could only hear him and Celeana screaming like banshees in my head. I covered my ears, as if that would help. Then I felt a third presence. A strong one. Then a fourth that was even stronger.

I could feel a pair of strong entities close to us, our ship. I reached out with my mind and felt dozens, tens of dozens of people. But there were two, that I could feel, that were very powerful. Then a sudden flare of magic. It nearly blinded me. After that, all those dozens died. I felt their lives being snuffed out, like candles in a storm. They vanished, yet the two remained.

Then I could hear Jack on the inter-com, asking for everyone to come up to the command deck.

I couldn't wait. I had to know what was going on. I slipped into a shadow and dashed in the crevices and up the elevator shaft. I slipped out just outside of the door to the command.

I walked in and Jack seemed a little nervous. River was very much more so than Jack and Lulu wasn't much better. River was clutching to his massive sword, knuckles pale. Lulu's robe was flashing with flickers of flame, ready to burst out an inferno at any time. I've never seen them this tense.

Then Shin, Iris, Shay, Draco and Raven rushed in. Iris was completely pale. She must've felt the same as I did. Well duh, of course she did. That's her job. Raven seemed to have figured it out also, along with Shay.

Iris was the first to break the silence, muttering the two words that nobody really wanted to hear at the moment, or at any time, to be specific.

"The Seven"

Nobody spoke for a moment, before River and Lulu nodded in silent approval.

"Yes," River started, "it's definitely them"

"But I can't feel them anymore..." Lulu muttered. "So they must've left already-"

Iris interrupted her. "Because they are like Ryu" She glanced at me quickly and closed her eyes.

For a moment, I didn't know what was going on. Then the eye in Iris' crystal necklace flared open. I looked at it in awe. It really was an eye! Then Iris opened her eyes slowly, revealing completely whited-out eyes. There was no pupil. They were completely white.

Then she spoke, continuing her previous statement. "Because they are like Ryu, normal mages have difficulties sensing them. They are voids, just like Ryu, which is why you cannot sense them. They are still here, I know exactly where they are, they know exactly where we are"

That last bit made us jump a bit. None of us liked being spotted by the strongest, most destructive mages in existence. Iris continued.

"They are ignoring us for now. They are searching for a survivor. A boy, trapped in the rubble. He is safe, for now"

Lulu walked up to Jack, speaking softly, so we couldn't hear anything. Then she slammed the metallic walled with her fist, frustrated.

"What is it?" Raven asked, now getting more aware of the situation.

"That's the temple we were heading for!" Lulu snapped back.

"Oh crap..." Raven backed off and sat down. Shin sat next to him, obviously comforting the still-tired raptor.

I saw Iris' eyes turning back to normal, and the eye in her necklace closed. I walked up to her.

"Hey... You okay?"

"Yes" She replied happily. "I'll explain it to you, once we clear this up"

I nodded and walked up to Lulu. Repeating my oh-so-painfully-familiar-yet-naïve-phrase.

"What's the plan?"

She looked at me like a madman and scoffed loudly. "What's the plan?" She grinned, throwing my question back into my face with a ton of sarcasm included. "I don't know. What do you think?" She crossed her arms and silence fell around the room. Luckily - although sadly for them - I was hell-bent on breaking it.

"Can we fight?" And yes. I know it was a naïve question. And the awkwardly long silence only proved my point.

Lulu stared at me. She was obviously either disappointed with my stupidity, or my childishness. But she wasn't at a complete loss of words. On the contrary, she had plenty to say.

"Are you insane? They know that we're here, so we have no element of surprise. The guns on this ship can't even begin to give them any troubl-"

Jack coughed, interrupting the blond mouse. "Actually... Not to show off or anything. But I did develop a 'gun' - as you so kindly put it" he tutted Lulu. "That was designed specifically to gun down mages from orbit"

"We're not on orbit, silly kitty" Shay giggled.

"Which is why I had to install the cannon discreetly" He answered. "What do you think the all-knowing Admiral would think, if I fired a cannon that was designed to be fired from orbit, in atmosphere?" He took a moment to think, then continued. "It just takes time to lock on to the target. This is a miniature version of the cannon, but it will do significant damage to an individual"

"So we would have to stall them?" River spoke quietly. It almost sounded like a threatening whisper. "You, Jack. You of all people. You should know that we couldn't 'stall The Seven', even with an armada!" He got up and waved his sword eerily close to Jack's remaining arm. "There's two of them, right now, right there! Last time we were up against one, and we lasted five minutes!"

"But there's more of us now!" I cut in, wondering about the previous statement. We had gone up against Graverobber, not a member of The Seven. Maybe there was some previous history, as Iris had mentioned.

"Yeah," River started. "You are a Shadowcaster, incapable of controlling your own element. Then there's two raptors, who are both equally too trigger-happy and a medic!" He was starting to go overboard now. "We have one proper mage, and a crippled General!"

"Calm down, River" Jack started. "Firstly, I'm not a cripple. Second, I'm not a General either" He forced out a chuckle. "But we can't lie idle if we are to get to the temple, right?"

"Yes" River sighed. "But we can't just 'fight'. You now that better than most" He stared down the lion.

I almost beamed, as people were starting to get into the concept of attacking, so I repeated my question with stronger intent: "So. What's the plan?"