FSE

Furry search engine

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"It's nearly time!"

"Relax, it is not time yet," Eros said, sounding very tired.

"I know but it nearly is and I am not even dressed yet!"

"You are dressed. You just aren't wearing a suit."

"That is the entire point. I won't look good in pajamas."

"Why not, master?"

Devlin looked at her oddly. He couldn't do an interview in his pajamas. Maybe he wouldn't wear a suit but he had to wear something that made him look good.

"You are doing an interview for a paper. You are not doing it for the television news," Eros said as she got out of bed. "I doubt that she will care what you look like."

"She's going to be describing me in her interview. I can't have her writing that I look like I just jumped out of bed. It is bad publicity."

Master, I think this is going to your head. You wrote a good book and made money off of it. You are not some sort of movie star."

"I may not be a star yet but this is my chance to get myself known. This is what I have been waiting for all of my life."

Eros shook her head and started to walk out of the room. Devlin quickly got up and grabbed her by the hand.

"Ok. Ok. You have a point. Maybe this has gone to my head a little. But put yourself in my shoes. Think about it. Fame will elevate you from being a slave to being on top of the world. People will be working for you instead of you working for them."

"I am nothing more than a slave," she said softly. "I was born one and I will die one. That cannot be changed."

"Don't say that. It isn't true. You know it and I know it."

"Master, you are so wonderful and yet so blind. Do you not see that even though you say I am not a slave, you still act like I am one?"

"How am I doing that? I gave you half the money that we got from royalties."

"No, you gave that to Nina. Eros doesn't have any money."

"But you are Nina," Devlin said, confused. "That is you alternate identity."

"And through that identity I become more controlled. When I go out, I have to be Nina. I have to do what Nina would do, think what Nina would think and say what Nina would say. I cannot be myself. I become nothing while Nina becomes everything. "

"But through Nina you are free."

"No," the female said as she pulled her hand from his grip. "Through Nina I am a slave. A miserable slave."

"What? That makes no sense. Eros is a slave. Nina is a free person."

"I would rather be Eros the slave. Eros the slave can be who she wants to be. She can think what she wants to think. She can do what is expected of her. She can be a proper slave. Nina might be free but she has no structure. She may have free thoughts but her thoughts mean nothing. They are just made for show. They are made to hide what she really thinks. She cannot say what she really thinks because she is afraid what others might say."

"I...I..."

"Nina might be free but her thoughts are not," Eros continued. "She is empty and devoid of all true emotion. It hurts to speak because all she speaks is lies. They are lies that please others because that is what they want to hear. They want to hear lies. I cannot do this master. I can't."

Devlin opened his mouth to say something but then closed it, watching Eros walk off. He closed his eyes and tried to think of some way to fix the problem.

"Maybe telling the truth would be a good idea," he said softly.

Silver sat down on his bed, reading Devlin's book. He was so excited that Devlin finally got some publicity for his book but he also worried that that he would be seeing less of Devlin. He learned from many biographies that fame has a way of changing people for the worse.

"I would love to be in the spotlight with him," he said softly.

"Maybe you can," Trevor's voice said.

Silver looked up to see Trevor standing in the doorway of his room.

"How did you get in here?" Silver asked curiously.

"You left the front door unlocked," Trevor replied. "I'm guessing that you were so excited about the book you got that you forgot to lock the door. Good thing I was the one that came in and not some mad man."

"Thanks for that," Silver said, as he rubbed one of his wings. "Now, what were you saying about me being in the spotlight with Devlin?"

"Nothing...," Trevor said, purposely leading his friend on.

"No really. I want to know."

"Well, I was just thinking about how much you talk about Devlin. You almost seem fascinated with him."

"Well, we are best friends. We have a history together that goes back a long time. At one time we considered each other brothers."

"At one time?"

"Yes," Silver said softly. "But then we just grew apart." He put the book on the bed and sighed. "We still kept in touch but we weren't as close as we were before. Then Devlin started writing his books and he became like a hermit. He would call me sometimes but would never come out and speak to me face to face."

"And how does that make you feel?"

"Not so good. I mean I am happy for him but I want to get back to that time when we were brothers again. I would love to have that feeling back."

Trevor looked at Silver oddly. He was beginning to think that Silver's relationship with Devlin was something more than just friends.

"Well, I got an idea," the bear said. "Why don't I get you and him together? Then you two could sort things out."

"Are you kidding me? I doubt he is even going to give me the time of day. He will probably say that he is busy. He probably won't come out of his house anymore because he is writing the sequel to his book."

"He has to come out sooner or later. He doesn't have a super market in his house."

"True."

"So why don't we meet him there? Or better yet, we can meet him while he is on the way to the super market."

"Maybe," Silver said with little enthusiasm. "But I doubt it will be nothing more that a short conversation."

"It will only be that way if you want it to," Trevor argued. "Look, it is obvious that you lack confidence in yourself. Don't deny it. I have talked to you long enough to know that you do." He put his arm on his friend's shoulder. "You need to tell yourself that you can get Devlin to have a long conversation with you and you can get him back to that brother status."

"But I can't do it. I can't do it."

"Yes you can! You have to believe in yourself! I have learned that if you really want something, you have to really go for it. You have to believe that you can get it then go for it. Accept no excuse. Accept no substitutions. Accept no failure. Say it."

"Accept no excuse. Accept no substitutions. Accept no failure," Silver said with no enthusiasm.

"Say it again," Trevor said

"Accept no excuse. Accept no substitutions. Accept no failure."

"Say it again but this time really mean it and say it loud!"

"ACCEPT NO EXCUSE! ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTIONS! ACCEPT NO FAILURE!"

"Now you go it! Now how do you feel?"

"I actually feel good."

"Good. That is the spirit!"

Silver smiled and flapped his wings. He felt really confident now. He was going to get Devlin to talk with him. He wasn't going to chicken out anymore.

Devlin came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He quickly ran in the direction of the bedroom to get dressed, bumping into Eros on the way. He noticed that Eros was wearing a pair of old jeans and a pink sweater. He didn't remember ever buying a pink sweater.

"Where did you get that sweater?" Devlin asked.

"I found it in the closet," she replied. "It smelled funny so I washed it. Then it still smelled funny and I washed it again. After the second wash it turned pink for some reason."

"Only you could do that," He said, shaking his head. He then ran over to the bathroom to get dressed, hearing a knock on the door as he got there. "Dammit! Could you get that Eros?"

Eros nodded, running over to the door and opening it. Another female feline was standing on the other side of the door. She wore a black suit that looked like it had come from a high end store. The buttons on the suit were silver colored and the cuff links were colored gold. The feline herself was well groomed and was wearing perfume that, like the suit, probably came from a high end store.

But there was something unusual about this feline. She looked almost exactly like Eros. The only differences were that she was slightly taller and had brown eyes. Other than that they looked exactly the same.

Eros stared at the other feline. She couldn't believe her eyes.

"Sis?" Eros asked. "Is that you?"

"I told you that I would come back to get you, little sister," the other feline said. "And I always keep my promises."