FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Making sure that machines around the city were functioning properly was an apprentice's daily chore and job, and typically it was an apprentice's job because it was an easy thing to do, but today's basic chore had some complications. There were a few wires here and there that were gnawed beneath the metal plating of the mana collector inside of a lone room meaning pests of some sort, but it shouldn't have been anything too frightening. Replacing the wires wouldn't be difficult either, the grey-furred mouse tinkering on the wire box had even been taught the proper way to replace the focus crystals just in case, but there was another problem: pests that feasted on the wires of mana infused machines were usually dangerous and were liable to nest around their food source. Basil's heart wasn't adjusted to stress, even he had to admit he was a frightful sort and sitting around in a dark room working alone on a possibly infected machine wasn't exactly his idea of a wonderful time. It was pathetic, as a puppeteer, he was supposed to be a master of magic able to bring great beasts to their knees, creation magic of the most complicated kind, and yet here he was losing his concentration because a few mana infused rats or insects could be hiding in the darkness. It was no use wasting any time by overthinking it, he had to act quickly if he wanted to get his job done and leave, or perhaps he could report his findings and claim a pest found him, but that would be a pathetic excuse. Might as well get it done quickly. With one last dart of his amber eyes, he checked to his sides to see if anything was upon him before moving in to fix the wires before suddenly a spider with crystal chitin the size of his head fell before his sight. In the least dignified manner he dropped his tool and fell back on his rear with a loud squeak his paws coming up to prepare to summon a spell should he need it before he paused upon hearing a familiar laughter and voice, "C'mon kiddo, you've gotta relax, you're not even out in the field."

The crystal spider that had frightened him dropped before his eyes onto the floor without any further movement and next to it dropped the vulpine figure of Aeva, his adoptive mother. Deep amber eyes lit up in the dim room with a touch of humor as Aeva stretched her paw out to help Basil up onto his feet. With a huff he crossed his arms, drawing the pink cloak he wore in the process around his body, "You're awful!"

Aeva giggled and felt through the fuzz of her son's head. She could hardly believe he would be tricked so easily again, but that was neither here nor there, now was the time to tell him something special, something that had her rather excited, "Never mind that Basil. I'll be heading off soon. As an adventurer of our little order of puppeteers, you know I take on many odd jobs here and there."

Basil frowned just a bit and sighed, "So you'll be leaving again, for how long this time?"

Aeva tilted her head, frosted paw tapping at her blue furred cheek, "Gee, I dunno, maybe you'd like to find out."

Basil blinked, his ears perking, his eyes growing wide as he inquired, "Wait? What do you mean by that?"

The lithe vulpine mother danced around the issue, turning away from her son, her paws gripping at the hood of her grayish blue poncho, "Geeeeee, I'm not really sure what I mean by that."

Basil huffed and crossed his arms, "Oh come on."

Aeva laughed and mimicked his gesture, "I mean to say, you'll be coming with me to see if you can handle a little field work. You might be aiming to be a tinkerer, but you need to pass a basic aptitude test in every field, and you know the types of jobs I take kiddo, think you can handle it?"

Basil's eyes lit up at that, but he faltered, remembering the fact that his mother indeed took on dangerous odd jobs, but at the same time if he ever wanted to pass his tests he would have to through his mother since she was not only the one who had taken him under her roof after he had been orphaned, she was also the one who had agreed to teach him how to be a puppeteer and the magic involved with it.

Aeva could see the gears turning in that kid's head. He had always been a thinker, an over-thinker at that, but in many ways that was his strength and in that, Aeva had a certain bit of pride, but it wouldn't help him out in the field. He needed to think quickly, and so to push him along she began walking past him, "If you don't want, I could always wait until my next job, whenever and whatever that'll be."

"Wait, mom, let me come with you. I mean, I know it'll be dangerous, but you wouldn't take me into anything crazy would you?"

Aeva simply smiled and with one raised ear she turned her head with a sawtooth grin, "Hah, so you think I wouldn't take you into anything too crazy? Basil sweetie, we're going to the mountains out in the wilds to pluck a feather from a very rare bird that will only be in our region of Barit for just a month, a Geruk to be exact."

The blood flushed from his cheeks, that sounded rather dangerous, especially since Geruk's were giant birds, but he knew why someone would covet their feathers. One single feather had powerful healing properties and could be used multiple times by plucking the feather as one would pluck petals from a flower. It was an important job, and certainly, Aeva could handle it on her own, but could Basil hold his fear for long enough to actually succeed, or even help his mother on the job? It sounded frightening enough.

Lost in his thoughts he felt his shoulder being squeezed through his cloak, his mother looking to him suddenly with soft eyes, "You don't have to do this if you're not ready."

Basil smiled just a bit at that, the tension in his body fading away before he replied, "I think I can do it. I mean, I have to sometime right? Might as well now."

Aeva grinned and ruffled the fur of her son's head as she spoke, "Good! We'll be heading out early tomorrow morning, so finish up here quick and we'll get ready."

"Right!" As he turned around to work on the wires, another crystal spider appeared, this time alive and hissing as it lunged at him from atop the metal box, his eyes wide as wires made of magic coiled around the spider before digging into the crystal chitin, the spider stopping there, twitching for a moment before growing deathly still. With a snap, the wires disappeared and the spider fell to the ground, Basil's heart racing.

Aeva let out a sigh of relief and clapped her paws together, "I'll let you get to your work then, and keep a quick wit dear. You'll need it if you want to survive."

Stunned and with his heart still pounding, Basil nodded, his eyes focused on the dead spider. He wondered if he would ever have to end a life, and would he even be able to should he need to.

Even before the morning sun was up, Aeva and Basil had checked to make sure their packs were full and their preparations were all in order. Basil wasn't too happy about waking up so early to begin their journey, but he didn't complain, and he also didn't complain when his mother had told him they would not be teleporting at the very least to a nearby arch or using anything to make their trek easier, "It's part of my test! You can't always rely on tech and magic. Sometimes you have to exercise your body as much as your art, besides think of all the sights."

Basil didn't have the energy to complain, he wasn't accustomed to waking up so early, and so he only nodded, a loud yawn sounding off from his mouth before his nose was flicked and his mother chuckled, "C'mon now, no falling asleep. I can't have you passing out on the beginning of our journey."

With a sigh Basil simply nodded again, rubbing at the back of his head. He wondered if he had made an awful mistake by accepting this test if anything because he could barely keep his eyes open.

Aeva was all pepper in the morning even as they began their trek out of the city and into the long stretches of grassy fields that made up the region they lived in. From the industrious city to the wilds, this would be the first time Basil had ever set foot so far out of the city. He was an indoor sort and liked it that way, the wilds were far too dangerous for him to enjoy and the cold of the region was more than just a bit biting. As they walked through brush and tall grass, Aeva named off herbs that they would happen upon and their uses, occasionally making a warning motion towards the more dangerous plants or possible nests of beasts.

They came upon a cluster of trees with strange pollen like protrusions that glowed and shimmered in the day sun, but as he approached them his mother stopped him with a jolly smile and a paw on his shoulder. To demonstrate what she had stopped him for, she knelt and fished for a rock to take in paw and toss with all her strength into one of those pollen like structures. Immediately crystal spiders of all sizes came out to swarm around what Basil now saw as a nest, his eyes wide as his mother grabbed his wrist and tugged him along, "C'mon honey! We wait here and they'll actually see us, the warrior spiders are pretty big y'know!?"

"What?! Are you mad! Why did you rile them up then?"

Aeva simply laughed, "Because I wanted to see the look on your face, and teach you a lesson at the same time."

Basil just couldn't understand how his mother summoned the energy to be so active. She had a bounce in her step every moment even as Basil struggled to walk through tall grass. Her stride never seemed to slow down except to help him along and stop to tell him something new. He was constantly learning from her certainly, but at the same time, he felt like somewhat of a disappointment. She was an adventurer through and through, and here he was as a meek mouse unable to even walk without stumbling over his own steps in the wild. It must be difficult for Aeva to deal with a child like Basil, or so he thought. Even if he wanted to join a different sect of the order, he still so badly wanted to make Aeva proud, and so on he walked without complaint, denying the need for a break whenever asked, that is, until the sun was high in the sky and he could feel his legs about to fall apart.

As they made camp to take a break, Aeva spoke with a happy chirp, "You're doing fine, and just think, only a few more days of intensive travel to go. The mountain isn't so far away."

That only brought a groan of protest from his lips, earning a giggle from his mother, "Is it really that far away?" He asked as he sat down on the grass to rest.

Aeva sat across from him and scratched at her chin, "Hm, not too far away. We'll be making a few stops for learning purposes, though. This isn't just a normal job, it is a learning experience for you."

Basil smiled just a bit, "Lessons in torture?"

Aeva snorted, "You bet. I'll be using you as bait to catch our food too."

Basil paled and nearly choked, "Wait, really?"

Aeva tilted her head, "You're still so gullible you know that?"

"Well! I can't tell when you're being sarcastic."

Aeva stuck her tongue out, "Maybe you should pay attention s'more then."

Basil huffed, "Terrible."

Aeva smiled a bit at that, "Love you too, but before we keep jabbing back and forth, I'd like to talk about the Geruk. Y'know the drill with those big birds right?"

Basil blinked before recounting aloud what he remembered, "Their beaks are serrated and the females are fairly large. We'll want to get a tail feather and uh, we'll want to keep it alive."

Aeva nodded, "Mhm, we're not here to kill a big beastie making trouble, we're here to borrow a single feather and get the heck out and here's the thing. Even with puppet strings, I can't control a bird that size. I can stop it for a bit, but if it gets angry, then neither one of us can control it, we'd have to fight."

Basil gulped, his throat growing dry suddenly, "Really?"

"Yup! So we'd better do it right the first time, and that would be when it is sleeping. From there I have something to get us to the bottom of the mountain." Opening the pack at her side, she pulled out a set of two glowing gems, "I put one of these at the bottom and crack the other at the top and bam, we'll be at the bottom in no time and hope that the bird doesn't follow."

Basil cleared his throat, "And if the bird follows?"

"Then we knock it down and run like scared kids."

Basil sighed, "Mom, that isn't reassuring at all."

Aeva giggled at her son's reluctance, "Sure isn't! But thinking on the fly is an important part of this little test."

Basil gave a sour expression at the avian related pun and the response to his concern, but he simply sighed and accepted it as truth, "I guess I'll accept that you love endangering your son."

"Hah! You've gotta get out of the nest sometime."

With a groan, Basil rolled his eyes, "Please! Go back to telling me more about the bird."

Aeva thought about it for a moment before softening her tone, "We could be in a bit of trouble if she has freshly hatched tweeters. The little babes have their beaks as sharp as they will ever be because the shells are tough, so we'd have to be concerned about momma and a couple of dangerous babies, and we can't kill a single one. They're protected for a reason."

Basil shivered at that, "And you really think I can actually help with this? I mean, don't you think you could have picked something a bit easier for me to deal with?"

"Basil honey, if I thought you couldn't handle it, then I wouldn't bring you along. Of course, this is going to be dangerous, but don't you forget that I'll protect you every step of the way. I'm not only here to guide you, I'm here to make sure you're safe, just like I've always done sweetie."

Basil couldn't help but smile at that, his ears perking, "Thanks. But uh, I think I can handle myself, maybe. I'll show you that I'm a bright egg."

Aeva snorted and stifled a giggle, but when she spoke her voice was full of warmth and honey, "I'll be more proud of you than you will ever know Basil. Remember that."

Basil blinked, unable to really summon up a response for that one. He couldn't understand why she would be proud of him, but the words were wonderful all the same. Even if they were different in species and in many ways, he had always looked up to Aeva with bright eyes. He knew she was flawed, he knew that she could slip up too and that perhaps she teased and joked around too much, but she radiated a confidence that he always desired to imitate. It wasn't just the fact that she was a master of her art, but rather the fact that she had no doubt in her mind as to what she could do and she did it well as a result of that. Basil wanted to be as confident, as outgoing, but in truth, he was just a meek mouse. Maybe someday he could aspire to be what she was, or perhaps he'd just trip on his face and fall, either way, he was confident that his mother would be there to support him should he need it.

It was on the third or so day that they arrived at the mountain in the distance. From atop a tree, he looked back to see that he could spot the great structure of the city from where he sat. Aeva hadn't lied, they really weren't all too far away, but along the way they had stopped many times to observe the wildlife and to learn many lessons, such as, never look in the general direction of porcine monsters they'll chase you and try and gore you, or, that crystal spiders are also attracted to the mana inside of artifacts that puppeteers often carry. In general, these lessons involved running from some new creature or diving into dark hollows near trees to examine various fungus and strange insects. He was definitely not made out to be an outdoorsman.

It had been a grueling trip from his perspective, but still, his mother walked with vim and vigor in her steps. Even as they began their ascent up the mountain at night Aeva still continued chattering away about various little facts and occasionally teasing him about something or other. At this point, he could recognize the fact that she was simply trying to distract him from errant thoughts. He certainly didn't feel confident about the situation, that much hadn't changed, and as they drew closer to where the nest was his confidence wasn't growing.

An entire portion of the mountain had been carved out and a great mess of various twigs, weeds, herbs and more lie dry and crumpled on the strange flat surface, the very bird that they needed roosting at the nest, eyes shut, great orange beak glimmering in the moonlight.

Aeva took this moment to whisper a little fun fact, "These big buzzards spend their time breaking apart portions of mountains to make their nests. The females do all the heavy lifting and the males look pretty for the ladies. So keep that in mind, look pretty for a strong woman and bring me home some grandchildren would ya?"

Basil whispered with a hiss in response, "Mother! Not now, please."

Aeva giggled quietly, "Oh please, you know I'm just teasing. I just need one brat in my life."

Basil rolled his eyes before moving across the rocky surface silently with his mother. The pair approached the bird step by step until they were near the back where the long tail feathers were. Aeva moved in close, paw outstretched to grab lightly onto the tailfeather, other paw taking a knife free to clip the feather without waking the bird. Basil watched with wide eyes while his mother cut free the feather quietly before presenting it to him. Very carefully he took the large feather and placed it in his pack, not bothering to look at it before they began to step away. That was when that massive beak came crashing down. Whether the bird had been feigning sleep, or simply they had timed things incorrectly, the Geruk was awake and angered.

Stone shattered beneath the force of the beak as both Aeva and Basil were separated and sent rolling along the ground. The mouse was slow to recover, his body unaccustomed to rough and tumble situations. He scrambled to his feet just in time to see the hulking form of the bird staring down at him with bright pure blue eyes. Its razor sharp beak opened wide and it let out an angered cry that shook him to the very core. He found himself unable to move, unable to even think, his body trembling and about to collapse from the sight of an angered monster staring him down. Again the Geruk brought its massive beak into the air this time aiming solely for the mouse, but that was when he heard an incantation loud and clear, "The battle begins, the fun never ends!"

A figure with large arms and claws appeared just before the bird, a fist driving into the Geruk's cheek to send it to the ground with an infuriated squawk. The familiar landed, big smile on its stitched face as Aeva called out to Basil, "Are you okay Basil?!"

Basil called back to his mother, his voice breaking just a bit from the fear, "I'm fine I'm fine"

The bird rose from where it was struck and let out a cry that shook the air around him. Aeva brought her paws up to ready her puppet, she would not allow her son to be harmed, but at the same time, she could not kill the beast before them. If anything, she should have been worried about herself more. The Geruk rushed at her puppet with a hiss, beak open to chomp down on her puppet far too quickly for her to get it out of the way. The puppet brought its large hands up to grip at the great avian beak, arms straining against the massive biting power of the Geruk. Aeva winced as she felt her own arms struggling, feeling the strain that was put on her puppet. She could feel something ready to snap, she couldn't hold on for long, she couldn't survive this, "Basil! Leave!"

Basil's ears drew back, "Excuse me?! I'm not leaving you here with this thing. I can help!"

Aeva winced as she heard the joints of her puppet popping, her own arm mimicking the noise as she cried out and fell on one knee.

Basil's eyes widened, his ears rising on high as he heard the noise coming from his mother's arm. Thinking wouldn't help, thinking would only get his mother killed, his only mother, the one who had taken him in after his own family had died off. If he didn't act then she would fall at the beak of a feathered beast before his eyes! Shaking he brought his paw out, digits outstretched as he called out to his own puppet, fear, and determination coursing through his tone "The time for thought is over! We fight!" Wires of magic extended from his digits and disappeared into the air. From the spot they vanished the wires pulled a puppet similar to his mother's, with large hands and covered by a black cloak, except its stitched mouth was that of a frown and its eyes were shut. It wasn't finished, it wasn't complete in his eyes, but he needed to fight. His arms ached from the sudden connection of puppet to puppeteer, his eyes were narrowed, his body still shaking, but up he brought his paws, strings pulling the puppet into action.

Though the design was similar, his puppet was less of a brawler and more of a caster. The puppet brought up both hands to fire off stone from the ground. His affinity, his element was earth, and he would show that now as the rocks struck into the side of the Geruk sending it off balance enough for his mother's puppet to throw the bird's beak off to the side and get away, Aeva moving away from the bird to join her son at his side, "Keep the rock throwing to a minimum dear, we can't risk hurting it too much now."

Basil nodded, the strain of keeping his puppet there shaking his voice, "Uh, right! What do we do now, though?"

Aeva into her pack with her good paw and pulled free the orb that would secure their escape, "We get out of here. So call back your puppet."

Basil and Aeva both called back their puppets, both figures disappearing before their eyes, wires returning to their digits. Aeva winced in pain as she held the orb and gripped on it tightly. The bird was rousing then, its eyes focused on them before it charged with its wings spread wide. Both Basil and Aeva disappeared in a flash of blinding light that sent the bird squawking and reeling back. When the light faded, the mouse and fox were nowhere to be seen, the confused avian scratching at the ground and tilting its head as it began searching around the area for those two intruders that had taken a feather off of its rear.

When they hit the ground, Basil ignored the swirling in his stomach both from the encounter and the sudden teleportation and he turned to his mother immediately, not caring if they were at the base of the mountain where the bird could still see them, or if they were somewhere in the forested area around the mountain, "Mother, are you alright? Let me see your arm please."

Aeva shrugged and hid her limp arm beneath the folds of her poncho, "Basil, ignore it. We need to get some ground from the mountain or we'll be spotted."

Basil's ears drew back as he struggled between motioning to help her and returning to a more neutral position, "I...I suppose so, but what about your arm?"

Aeva smiled a bit, "I've had a broken arm before dear. I just didn't think I'd have a broken arm because my puppet couldn't handle something. Eesh, what a crazy creature huh? Now come on, let's get to walking."

Basil followed along with a frown as his mother began moving, "Doesn't it hurt, though?"

Aeva kept her smile up as she continued to walk, her tail flicking her son on the nose, "Mhm, but right now I'd rather ignore that and keep moving. I'll curse and scowl plenty when we're out of danger."

Basil blinked, "How can you even move like that then?"

Aeva felt her patience wearing thin with her inquisitive son, but rather than snap, she simply spoke in a soft tone, "Because we need to. When you need to do something darling, you do it no matter what, just like when you leapt in to protect me...I should be asking how you are. That was the first time you've summoned your puppet in battle."

Basil looked down towards the ground, unsure if he wanted to answer the question. Before he could say a word his mother spoke in a soft tone again, "It hurts right? Little shaky? Maybe scared too? Not just from the fight, but from connecting with your puppet for the first time. You can really feel it when you do that, that you're controlling a living thing even though you made it yourself."

Basil looked up, his eyes growing wide, "Uh, yeah. That's pretty much how it feels."

Aeva giggled, "It was the same thing for me, honey. Except, I think I threw up."

"What? You?"

Aeva snorted and rolled her eyes, "Believe it or not Basil, I wasn't always the picture of perfection you see here. I was pretty frail when I was young and kind of slow at that, but I grew out of it."

Basil mulled that over for a moment as he followed his mother, as they together walked through the forested area. He wasn't sure what to say at that, he had always thought his mother would have even been strong in her youth, with the same confidence, but here she was saying otherwise. Lost in his own thoughts he was surprised when his mother suddenly sat on the ground with a huff, her ears folded back as she doubled over, "Fuck, okay, maybe let's stop for just a moment."

Basil's ears and tail raised on high as he moved to his mother's side to help her. Her arm was broken, that was certain, but he wasn't sure how bad the damage was. He could only get her in a sling and hope that he wasn't making things worse. At the same time perhaps he could take a bit of ease in knowing that his mother was instructing him on the most basics of non-magic field first aid. With the moon still high in the sky, they needed a fire if they were going to camp and so Basil troubled himself with doing that, not wanting his mother to get up at all. No matter how much she complained he fought with her to keep her seated and moved about to set up their temporary camp.

Aeva was forced to sit there and do nothing, which she hated, but even moving sent shivers up her spine and a pang of pain through her bad arm, though she supposed she should be thankful that she could feel anything in her arm. Eyes shut she sat cross-legged and smiled, focusing on the great thing that she had witnessed. Rather than think, rather than bide his time, her son had acted admirably to save her life. She had told him to run, but he saw a better solution, he had the confidence to beat his fear and his inexperience. That boy was going to make her very proud, if only she could get that across to him fully and actually put it in his head not only his ears. His puppet could use some adjustments, but he'd figure that out himself, he'd do just fine as whatever he wanted to be. With her arm in this state she wished that she had taken something for more long-distance teleportation instead to make their journey easy, ah well, a few days travel wouldn't kill her.

Basil was soon back with enough kindling for a small fire. After everything was finished he took his seat next to Aeva, his ears low and his eyes focused on the fire, "Something wrong kiddo?" Came the voice of his mother.

Basil sighed, "I just really feel like I failed here Aeva...You got hurt because of me."

Aeva snorted, "Y'kidding me? I would have been in the dirt if it weren't for you and anyone would have jumped in to help their comrade in trouble. I just made a mistake, I thought my puppet could handle the force of that thing's beak, but I was wrong."

Basil blinked, "You made a mistake?"

Aeva nodded and leaned against her son, "Mhm, everyone makes them, it is why we often take partners with us on tough jobs. Less chance of two messing up. So be proud, I know I am."

Basil smiled just a bit as he leaned his head against his mother's shoulder, taking solace in the warmth there as he felt exhaustion take over him, "I can take the first watch if you want..." He said rather quietly.

Aeva chuckled and put her good arm around him, giving him a soft squeeze, "Sleep, Basil...My arm is fucked, not my mental state."

Basil motioned to argue, but instead, he yawned and nestled his head against his mother's shoulder, sleep finding him soon enough. This was his first test of many, but he was confident he would see them through with the help of his mother.