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In all honesty, Aeron thought it was adorable, how scared the groomers were of Sekhmet. There was just something awfully endearing about it. Not that he would say this out loud, naturally; he had a feeling that Sekhmet wouldn’t appreciate being called ‘adorable’. It was far too cutesy. She could take ‘gorgeous’ or ‘beautiful’, but not ‘cutesy’.

His wings drooped a little as he heard her question. He didn’t want to admit that a human had taken away his bells. Maybe… maybe he could make up a story about another larger gryphon stealing them away? No, no, because then he would look weak. “Mal took them away and brought me there. He said something about something happening some time next week.” Now Aeron wished he had paid more attention to what his food-provider had said. As far as he had gathered, there was some sort of gathering of people next week and Malcolm would be there with Aeron. So, Aeron had to be ‘prettified’. Bah! Aeron was plenty attractive on his own without the help of humans!

“It better be important! I can’t imagine being forced into that… that place for something that isn’t important!” Aeron blurted out before he had a chance to think about it. It wasn’t long before he thought of a far more charming thing to say and he quickly tacked this onto the end of his previous statements. “And if you’re going to be there, then it would be very important to me. Naturally, he stretched out a wing towards Sekhmet.

Oh yeah. He was smooth when it came to talking to the lady gryphons. Truly, he hoped that there would be other gryphons there. He would get bored otherwise, but… well, Mal seemed to like showing him off. Humans were impressed by gryphons---no mystery there; they were, as far as Aeron was concerned, the most gorgeous creatures that had ever graced this world---but they liked trying to pet him.

D’aww! Sekhmet was adorable when she was all inarticulate and not sure of what to say next. This was another thing that Aeron decided was better off not being said. Aeron got his own dose of inarticulation as Sekhmet ran her beak through his feathers. Well, there was a touching gesture that he didn’t expect from her… no nips, bites or scratches or anything. Still, it was very pleasant.

Taking a moment to carefully clear all the soap away from his feathers, Aeron couldn’t help but watch as Sekhmet shook herself off. Now that was pure gryphon hotness. Except when her fur and feathers stood on end. That was pure gryphon amusement. Choking back his chuckles, Aeron got out of the fountain and shook himself off. Naturally, his fur and feathers poofed out as well, which he tried to ignore.

Grooming his feathers to make them calm down a little, he sidled up to Sekhmet to give her wings the same treatment. Besides, it seemed like a nice thing to do. She didn’t care for humans grooming, but she wouldn’t say anything if it was a handsome male gryphon, even if he had a habit of flirting with every female within a five mile radius… right?

Hunting! Yes, hunting. That would be a good idea right about now. Unfortunately, in the city there wasn’t much to hunt beyond dogs, cats, and rats. Rats were tiny, dogs tasted funny, and cats had a tendency to remind Aeron of gryphon chicks. Ah well, most of hunting was just wandering around anyway.

“Let’s get going then. Whatever’s out there won’t hunt itself. Well, except for humans. It’s… odd. They seem to hunt one another quite often.” He reflected on the various humans he had noticed following Mal around, and how Mal seemed to follow certain humans. Yes, they were puzzling creatures.

“You mean out of the city?” Hmm… yes, there would be guards on the walls and all, but walls were easy to fly over. People tended to forget about the whole ‘gryphons can fly’ thing. And going outside of the city was pretty appealing since the hunting would be a lot better. It was touch to impress a girl when the only prey available was rats.

There was the niggling worry in his mind that, if he left the city, he would be responsible for Sekhmet. She was younger than him. Not by much, admittedly, but younger nonetheless. This worry only remained for a few seconds as he recalled the more obvious: they were both hungry and they wouldn’t find much out here. Sure, he had once managed to steal a pie from someone’s windowsill, but Mal had been pretty annoyed about that. Or maybe he had been annoyed by the fact that Aeron had been sick all over his shoes. Aeron wasn’t quite sure, since humans were so difficult to understand.

The idea that Mal would be angry about Aeron mauling several groomers, destroying harmless plant life, and then leaving the city didn’t occur to the gryphon.

Aeron experienced a moment of horrific confusion and ambivalence. On one hand, he loved to win. It was one of those things that kept him going. Not just winning, but just the competition! Every day was a competition, a test to prove just how great he was! Winning was one of the best parts though. But, Sekhmet liked winning too. Everyone did! Would she get upset if she lost? Should he let her win? If so, how could he make sure that it wasn’t obvious? She was a bright gryphon and would be able to tell unless he was really careful…

Eventually, Aeron’s brain simply shut down. Females were so confusing… humans were lucky they didn’t have to deal with this. They didn’t have wings, so they didn’t have to deal with flight contests. Since his brain was broken, Aeron started working on automatic. His wings spread out and he launched himself from the ground, flapping furiously to catch up with Sekhmet.

A contest? Fine. She would get a contest, and she had better not complain if she lost. Aeron didn’t want to let her win and he got the feeling that she didn’t want to be ‘allowed’ a win. She wanted to earn it, which meant there was a chance she might not get it.

“Are YOU coming?” he trilled right back at her as he gradually overtook her.

ooc| Alright... to decide the winner, let's roll one six-sided dice. Whoever rolls the higher number wins. :3