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 Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 2:54 pm
A single butterfly lazily wafted on the breeze, occasionally stopping to sip at a few of the more brightly colored flowers. It certainly had one helluva selection here. Bright red flowers of unknown origin settled in the midst of blue violets. Yellow daisies poked up through a sea of what appeared to be tulips. The occasional lily peeked through shyly from under the apple trees. For a butterfly, this was a paradise. Circling like a falcon, the glittering insect landed delicately on the petal of a violet.
A flurry of motion in the grass didn’t bother the butterfly, at least until a beak closed on those wings. Taliesin was rather proud of himself as his beak crunched on the butterfly; he had been stalking this flittery thing for at least forever. In the chick’s mind, there were only three times: never, forever, and now. About halfway through eating the black and orange butterfly, an unpleasant taste flooded the young gryphon’s mouth. He spat out what remained of the monarch butterfly and hissed at it. How dare it taste so horrible after all the trouble he had gone through of catching it?! How dare it?!
Feathers and fur all puffed out, he approached what remained of the butterfly and batted at it a couple of times, just to teach it an extra lesson. Hands seized Taliesin around the middle, surprising a squeak from the chick.
“Tali, don’t eat the butterflies…” the best word to describe Rem’s voice was ‘exasperated’. Tali was old enough to toddle around on his own, but he seemed to insist on being under his owner’s feet. Usually, he was sitting on whatever it was that Rem needed to do next. On the rare occasions when he wasn’t clinging to Rem like a limpet, he was off getting into trouble. Or he was pestering Laura.
What was really needed, Rem thought, was some sort of distraction for the chick. Someone else for him to cling to. While Rem loved Tali and all, he couldn’t play babysitter for the gryphon all day! What they really needed was some sort of adult, someone who could teach Tali what to eat and what not to eat. Aeron and Mal could hardly stop by every day since, for some reason, Mal and Laura seemed to dislike one another. Even their gryphons had trouble getting along!
Besides… Mal was probably already on his way to Albion, and he was surely bringing Aeron along with him.
Settling down on the blanket he had spread out, Rem put Tali down nearby. “Now, Tali, don’t eat the butterfl…”
He didn’t get any further than that. The little gryphon had seen something interesting and promptly sped off to go eat it.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 5:43 pm
The sharp click-clack of sharp talons down the cobbled street announced a valliant warrior returned from recooperating his injuries. All right, perhaps not 'valliant', but Kedri certainly seemed to think so, and that was enough for Leolin.
Having little need for a harness, Laura guided Leolin with an arm around her partner's neck and soothing words about how he would be home soon and things would be back to normal. The leisurely walk 'home' had been pleasant enough, but Laura was ready to rest easy knowing her dear partner would be there when she woke up.
Arm sliding off when they approached the gate, Laura pushed half the gate open for the griffin to enter before her. "Just what're you doing?" She called when she spotted Rem, chuckling as she saw Tali darting off on his own little adventure.
Ahh, home sweet home. Leolin took a deep breath of the perfumed air and almost seemed to strut jauntily into the courtyard as if he owned it. Bending his neck to sniff at a flower, the griffin caught the whiff of something different. Something he'd never smelled before.
The noise he made was fairly amusing; a confused little 'wark?' that went so well with the expression on the griffin's face. Flicking his tail, the griffin began searching for the source of the smell, and just what was out of place.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:22 pm
“Hey, Laura. Well, the original idea of this was to get Tali outside more often. So far, he’s been treating the great outdoors like the great buffet. Every few minutes I have to stop him from eating something that he really shouldn’t eat…” his smile told the truth that he wasn’t that displeased about this. Like it or not, it was awfully cute to see Taliesin trying to chew his way through a rock of some sort.
Waving a hand at a mound of stones, Rem continued, “So far, he keeps bringing things back. I guess he likes these. Maybe they’re really shiny to him. I wouldn’t be surprised if things look entirely different to gryphons… How’s Leolin?” he nodded toward the large tawny adult that was currently looking for something.
Tali’s little tail waved ecstatically as he stalked a new bug. This one was more beetle-like, with a shiny red back and black spots every now and then. It looked positively delicious to the young gryphon. Suddenly, a very different smell entered his nostrils. Blorting, he lifted his head up and peered over the tall grass as best he could. Imagine his surprise when he saw Leolin.
The only other adult gryphon that Tali had ever seen was Aeron. Leolin was no where as impressive as the large wild-caught gryphon, but he was still amazing to Tali’s young eyes. Puffing out his fur, the little gryphon made a noise best described as a chirp. It was probably meant to be far more impressive than that. He ducked down and started stalking towards his new prey: Leolin’s tail.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:31 pm
"Ahh." Laura chuckled softly, watching the pair of them spotting one another for the first time. "Leolin's back to his old self. Thankfully he's not scarred for the experiance."
when the little fluffy head poked itself out of the grass, Leolin blanched backwards in surprise. A chick, here? The griffin turned to look over his shoulders, as if to locate it's mother somewhere. Surely this was a joke, right?
Before he knew it, he was under attack. The griffin spotted Tali before he managed to pounce the tail, and made sure to sweep it out of the way and around his leg. "Where's your Momma, little guy?" He chirped friendily enough. Lowering himself to lay down to seem less threatening.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:57 pm
“Come on, sit down, Laura. Pull up some blanket. I feel like an idiot sitting out here by myself.” Well, not really. It wasn’t like anyone would watch him too closely, right? Sure, for the first few days after Mal had been ‘revealed’ as a son of Rosaylen, people had been somewhat interested in Rem just for that connection, but now things had calmed down. Thank God no one had caught wind of the sour relationship between Mal and Laura.
“That’s good to hear. So… how’s Nyhali?” Rem struggled to sound calm when asking about the red-head, but he wasn’t very good at it. Acting was not his strong suit. It was probably the weakest card in his proverbial deck.
Tali squeaked in a slightly annoyed way as his prize was taken away from him before glaring up at Leolin with his silver eyes.
“Mommy?” he tilted his head to one side, looking plainly confused. The first image that came to his mind was Aeron, but he had never called himself Tali’s ‘mother’. “I have an uncle,” he offered, wondering if this would do as a replacement. “An, an, an… he comes by sometimes.” He puffed out his chest with pride.
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 7:28 pm
Laughing softly, Laura helped herself to a seat beside Rem on the blanket before leaning back to lay down. If one didn't know any better, one might think that Laura had grown accustom to acting like a boy as she folded her arms behind her head with a soft sigh.
"Nyhali's fine, she's busy with Kedri but not a lot else. Now that Leolin's back, he'll be able to train again, so we might not visit until the weekend." Happy to have her partner back, Laura wasn't going to let him leave to visit his new lady-friend every day; no sir!
Never having had to deal with, or ever know a small griffin for that matter, Leolin was surprised at the shocking levels of cute thrown at him from the adorable little chick. Feathers puffing up in the least threatening way possible as the large male looked to the little ball of fluff and feathers, Leolin flicked his tail before Tali for him to play with.
"Ahh, so the humans look after you too?" Leolin asked softly, seeming to give a smile that only a griffin could muster for Tali. "I'm Leolin, what is it they call you?"
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 1:55 pm
Oh, good… Nyhali was ok. That was a relief. It really hadn’t been all that long since Rem had last seen her, but he liked knowing she was ok. “What’s wrong with Kedri?” he asked, sounding a little puzzled. So far, he hadn’t heard that anything might be wrong with her. At least, he was pretty damn sure that she hadn’t been injured in that fight. Besides, that was weeks ago; surely, any wounds would have healed up by now.
Then again… ‘busy with Kedri’ didn’t necessarily mean that there was anything wrong with Kedri. From his experience with Tali, Rem was starting to get the idea that even if people didn’t depend on gryphons for a livelihood, people who lived with gryphons were always busy.
Well, except Mal.
“Ummm…” Tali hesitated, trying to think of all the names that he had ever been called. “The funny man calls me Fluffy!” he said proudly, puffing his chest out. “He comes by sometimes with a big, big gryphon! One who’s even bigger than you! An’, an’, an’… he’s got bells! An’ the other man calls me Tali and the girl calls me Tali… unless I break something. Then I’m Tal-ie-sin!” He looked very proud of himself for managing through such a tricky word. It had three syllables, after all.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 2:55 pm
"Hmm?" Propping herself up on her elbows, Laura gave a soft chuckle. "Oh nothing's the matter with her. Kedri had Leolin to keep her company while they recovered, so Nyhali's making up for lost time."
Watching the two griffins, the woman giggled softly at how adorable they were. "I see they're getting along swimmingly. That's good; I hoped they'd get to be friends."
Well that could mean only one griffin that Leolin knew of: Aeron. Deciding to be the bigger griffin and not to put ideas into little Tali's head that his Uncle was hardly a good role model for a young chick, Leolin laughed softly in good will at the chick's cuteness.
"That's your name then. If my partner's been looking after you with that man then he's your pet." Leolin explained. "Pets give you a name, brush out your feathers, and make sure you eat lots... Even if they are a little odd sometimes."
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:48 pm
“Oh.” Any significance of Kedri and Leolin spending a lot of time together went right over Rem’s head. At the moment, he was more focused on Leolin and Tali getting along. So far, things were going well… just about everyone loved Taliesin. There was just something loveable about that adorable puff of feathers and fur that made him impossible to hate. Even when he was ripping a pillow apart, he did it in a way that made it tough to punish him.
“You know, Mal still hasn’t told me where Tali came from.” It was mildly annoying. Since he doubted his friend would give him stolen goods, Rem assumed that the gryphon was entirely legal. But, the words ‘legal’ and ‘gift from Mal’ rarely ever went together.
“I’ve figured that out all by myself!” Tali said proudly again. “He tells me not to eat certain things, but sometimes they taste good. An’ they flutter around before I catch them!” There was, once again, pride in his voice. What kind of chick wouldn’t be proud of being able to catch bugs? It was practically a rite of passage for them.
A fluttering insect of some sort caught his eye and he cheeped, “Watchwatchwatch!” as he bounded off towards it, as graceful as your average three-legged rhinoceros. No surprise, the bug was long-gone by the time he got there, but he continued bounding after it anyway.
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Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:01 pm
Glancing at the little ball of fluff and feathers chasing the bug, Laura chuckled softly. "I wouldn't worry too much about it Rem." She said matter-of-factly. "He's here now, and no one's come to make a fuss about getting him back."
The idea that the little griffin wasn't entirely legal crossed her mind, but Laura dismissed it curtly. After all, she would no longer be able to race if someone revealed her to be a girl. So who was she to make a fuss about legality?
Laughing as only a griffin could, Leolin reached out a taloned claw to place over top of Tali when he was obviously not going to catch the insect. "Don't eat that." He said calmly enough, lifting the claw once he'd made himself clear. "They'll bite back." Making his point all the more clear, the griffin clicked his beak to emphisize this.
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2007 4:29 pm
“Oh, no, I don’t think that anyone will try to get him back,” Rem looked shocked at the very suggestion. “He’s here now and he’s used to everything. It would be cruel to take him away from it.” And, of course, they would have to get through Rem first. Although he was normally a very polite and quiet sort of man, he knew how to fight. He simply didn’t like fighting. His dislike of fighting didn’t mean that he wouldn’t fight if someone tried to take his little baby away.
“Is he chasing another wasp again?” Rem asked, squinting a little at the yellow and black insect that Tali was currently targeting.
As a matter of fact, it was. Little Tali didn’t know what it was though; he just thought it looked interesting and tasty. Tali tilted his head to one side curiously and looked up at his new Uncle Leolin.
“How? How could they bite someone? They don’t have any beaks! Or teeth.” He looked utterly adorable and perfectly perplexed.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:47 am
"Wasp?" Laura looked to Tali a little more worriedly. "There's bound to be a nest somewhere around here. I'll look for it a little later on." Not only for Tali's safety, but Leolin's as well. The poor griffins couldn't do much against the tiny insects' sting.
Glancing back at the man, the corners of her lips curved ever so slightly before staring at the griffins once more. Even after the incident a week or so ago, Laura was glad that she'd kept her place among his friends at least.
Leolin released Tali by lifting his claw. "They bite with their tail." Knowing this sounded silly, the griffin gave a sheepish smile. "They're very small, but they still hurt very much! Be sure to avoid bugs that are that color-- they all have pointy tails."
Leolin knew first hand how this worked-- having bothered a wasp nest when he was Tali's age.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 1:25 pm
“I’ve been searching for it a little while now,” Rem admitted. “You don’t have to go find it… it wouldn’t be safe.” Not that it was safe to pretend to be a boy and go ride in gryphon races; that wasn’t safe at all considering the consequences of she was discovered… still, unless people decided to put sex-checking into gryphon races---and who knows how that would work?---it wasn’t likely that Laura’s secret would be discovered.
Being the oblivious man he was, Rem didn’t notice the look that Laura shot towards him. He hadn’t forgotten the… incident, but he had managed to get it out of his mind a little. He simply didn’t want to think about it, so he didn’t.
Most chicks couldn’t look incredulous at Tali’s age, but the silver chick managed it wonderfully. “They bite with their tails? How can they do that? They don’t have beaks on their butts, do they?” The very idea of it made Tali giggle.
Hehe. Butt-Beaks. Or Beak-Butts. From now on, he decided, that was what he would call them.
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:33 pm
Scoffing at the idea, Laura had the very same thought in mind at the mention of wasp nests being dangerous. "I ride a griffin for a living. I think I can handle a few bugs."
A confused 'wark?' ensued from the larger griffin. "No no! They don't bite with their butts!" The griffin didn't know how to explain to the chick what a stinger was, and was at a bit of a loss for how to warn Tali not to bother yellow and black bugs. "Never mind.... just leave insects of that color alone or you might regret it."
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Posted: Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:29 pm
“… you know, you have a point there…” Rem said slowly, mentally comparing gryphons to wasps. “Still, since you’ve got the gryphons to deal with, I’ll deal with the wasps. It wouldn’t be fair to make you deal with all the things that bite or sting around here. Besides, I don’t have much to do today.”
Nobles generally didn’t. At least the lower ranks of nobility, anyway; the higher ranks had to deal with the court and the pressure. Lucky Rem just had to deal with routine boredom and finding something to do. The fact that he was volunteering to get rid of a wasp nest said a lot about his current level of boredom.
Tali watched the insect buzz away, clearly wondering how such a small creature could inflict any pain at all on something like Leolin. Eventually, he decided to believe the older gryphon, simply because he was older. That had to mean something. The wasp buzzed off, and little Tali started sniffing at Leolin’s feet. They were just so big compared to his little talons.
“Waaaait… if you live here with them, why haven’t I seen you before?” he asked suddenly, looking about as suspicious as a naive young chick could look.
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