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Journal Entry



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It took the better part of a day for Wyv to finalize her plans and make sure everything was prepared the night before. As morning dawned, bright and mostly cloud free, the alchemist hustled her ward to the shoreline, accompanied by Shiehn and Yule. Dragon and gryphon froliced ahead then lagged behind as they played an impromptu game of keep-away with a deflated beach ball.

"Thanks, Yule," Wyv said. "I appreciate the help."

The Yuniko grinned in response. "Hey, a pinic is a great idea, even if you do insist on soaking yourself in that great blue lake." Yule was fine with drinking water, but the idea of being immersed in the vastness of the ocean was frightening to him. He was fine as long he wasn't required to do more than get his ankles wet.

Wyv, in contrast, was at home on land and sea. Born and bred on an island, she learned to swim and walk at practically the same time. Her face broke into a broad smile as the group reached their destination. "Cant believe I put this off," she mumbled softly, stripping down to her wetsuit. Oh yeah, had definately been too long. The sea was her one true love, and right now she was beckoning, gentle waves lapping at the shore. "Too much stuff to be done with the house, then getting preoccupied with music and trying to finish the storage out back, Oy!" She shook her head.

Her horned companion looked up from settling a beach blanket. "Y'know, if you still want to try to learn to surf, I wouldn't mind watching Makai for a while. He's easy enough to please."

A few more moments of setting up- umbrella in place, cooler situated, rafts inflated, and blankets situated- and Wyv nodded, satissfied with the efforts.

"Arright," She said as she stretched. A deft grab and a reach, and she hoisted Makai to eye level. "You ready, Blu?"

The gryphon made a swipe at green hair and wriggled- a good sign, Wyv hoped. She set him down and strode towards the ocean. Makai followed, peeping curiously. "Here we go!"

Ankle deep, she glanced behind her. Yep, his sleek form flitted about splashing as he normally did. He was no stranger to water from baths and other trips to the beach, but he had shown no interest in more than playing in the shallows.

Makai ignored Wyvern, focusing on the waves. They were tricky little buggers, swift and strong, but oh, he'd catch one sooner or later. Nothing was faster than he. If it was, he'd peck it. That'd show it. Only when a particularly large wave came crashing down over his head, did he notice that his green one wasn't nearby.

Keening, suddenly very nervous and frightened, he spotted her, out up to her waist in water. She was flashing her teeth at him and making happy, encouraging sounds. He guessed it was okay, but still he hesitated, loping back and forth along the shoreline as he fretted.

Wyv hadn't really known what to expect. She figured that swimming would be ingrained in an otter-gryph, but anyone can balk at the new and unexpected. she also couldn't base any ideas on her own experiences as she had learned to swim by being thrown off of a dock. While she had learned to swim and to love the water, resorting to such an extreme measure was not high on her list. So instead she continued her coaxing. Evidently, he must have trusted her, or maybe he'd just wanted to show those waves who was boss, as Makai gave a might bound and splashed out to her, wriggling and flailing as he made his way.

Upon reaching her, he clammered up to her shoulder with all the grace of a mountain goat. As he lay panting around her shoulder, stretched out like some exotic fur wrap, the mechanic made sure to praise him, vocally and with a scratch under the chin. "See, now that wasn't so bad."

Phase one, complete. Initiating phase two.

Sure that Makai was calm and rested after his excursion into the unknown, Wyv began to head out deeper, wading slowly. Her goal was a floating platform, part of the preparations that had taken her so long yesterday. The platform itself was attached by a rust-proof clip to an equally rust-proof and water-proof rope. The rope itself was fused to the sea floor. Wyv was not terribly fond of the "clap-your-heads" style of alchemy, but she couldn't deny that it had its' uses.

With sudden alertness, the gryphon bolted upright on Wyv's shoulder. They were going out further? Why? He twittered, clearly agitated, bobbin up and down as the water climbed up and up. Now it was at her chest. What was this? He didn't like it much. And now it had snuck up to his finger tips! Only one thing to do.

"Ow!" Wyv rubbed the sore spot on her ear. He might be a small little thing, but that beak was pointy. "No need for that now," she frowned at him.

Sounds of displeasure. Hmm. He could show her a thing or two about displeasure. None too gently, he clawed his way to the crown of her head. Whistling angrily, he grabbed fistfulls of green hair to steady himself.

Wyv just sighed. Instinct didn't wanna kick in. Plan A had suddenly switched to Plan B. Or was it C? She never remembered which plan was which, just that there were variations.

With Makai riding shotgun on her scalp, the mechanic proceed to frog-swim out towards her platform, halting a short distance away. And then, she ducked underwater.

Sink or swim, the moment of truth.

To his credit, Makai's first reaction was not panic or feelings of complete and utter betrayal. As the waves rocked his body along their unescapably rhythm, he thought this wasn't so bad. He bobbed to the surface rather placidly, as his green one hadn't dunked him deep. In fact, he could see her beneath the sea, a strangly distorted blur of colors.

He wasn't mad, he was miffed. She surfaced just out of reach. He wriggled towards her. Not much different than a bath, really. Saltier. And no soap bubbles. And bigger. And- whoa, what was that? He could see things! Fins! dancing out along the horizon. That was cool.

Makai didn't even realize he'd chased Wyv the final few feet to the platform until a hand plucked him up from the sea and held him close.

"Sorry," she murmured. "Don't like to perpetuate the cycle, but didn't see another way." She was proud of him and lavished affection appropriately. He pecked a few fingers, but she knew she was forgiven.

---

It was, Wyv reflected, a rather successful attempt, if a lengthy one. The two of them had sat and watched the pod of dolphins.

And then she had thrown him into the drink again. She also threw herself in a few times, just to get him used to the plunge and show him she liked to swim to. He generally liked what she liked, or so it seemed, so that had gradually worn the edge off of the fear.

Of course, that had led to other problems.

"Makai~!" Yule whined, chasing after the otter as he flitted back and forth like a brown and blue torpedo. "I want to go home!"

Sure, they had gotten him into the water. Now, they couldn't get him out.

Seated on the beach blanket, Wyvern made an overlycheerful wave at Yule. "You're doing great! You almost had him that time." The yuniko shot her an ugly look and she grinned back. It was time someone else got pecked at for a change.

♪ I don't know, I don't know, I don't know where I'ma gonna go when the volcano blow ♪

Starts HERE.

Moves over HERE.

Then back HERE.

Despite the good intentions, the belated Christmas celebration was a bit of a bust.

Wyv was uncharacteristically cross and her anger set the whole mood for the evening.

The source of her annoyance was a faulty breaker. It wasn't until long after she had finished repairs to her home that her pride and joy, the system of solar panels perched on the rooftop, had stopped functioning. It had suffered some damage and a few individual panels needed to be replaced. Nothing to ruffle feathers over, given that far worse had happened elsewhere. What did piss her off was that a few days later the entire system fried due to a faulty breaker. The oh-so-precious pannels were fine. The intricate labyrinth of wiring connecting them was not.

In order to keep the fridge and other technological comforts running, Wyvern had been forced to canabalize some of her in progress projects. Now, scavaging usable parts from junk is normally a fond hobby of hers. But mutilating working machines, painstakingly cobbled together by her own two hands is akin to sacrelidge. To make it worse, it was just a bad breaker, making the source of blame a nameless, faceless thing and quite frustrating to the mechanic. Can't blame herself, she wired everything completely. Can't blame the materials, as that's like blaming the sky because it rains.

Utterly futile, and utter infuriating.

Wyv deals with her anger by sulking. She tromps around the house, stomping and stamping, muttering and scowling, habits she finds very annoying in others, more so in herself. Becomming increasingly upset and frustrated, she eventually retreats to her workshop and releases all her anxiety by breaking something. She's found alchemy to be good for that sort of thing. After such a release, she slinks up to her sanctuary to find her center again. Visitation isn't encouraged, but it isn't discouraged either. Then she comes down and life continues.

And so on that night of the belated Xmas dinner, familiar as they were with the steps of Wyv's dance, Yule and the rest waited. Preparing the dinner hadn't been easy on anybody. Yule had thrown himself with reckless abandon into the task of cooking and cleaning for the feast. Makai had made a pest of himself, constantly udnerfoot both Wyv and Yule's progress, inadvertantly freying further tempers already stretched thin.

They continued to wait and wait. Wyv didn't come down. Makai had long since lost interest in the prospect of food and busied himself charging up the stairs to the loft and back down again. Shiehn trembled nervously, unalbe to sit still. Unrest was in the air and it showed in everyone.

It was on the fifth such performance that Wyv emerged, following at Makai's heels. Wordlessly, she took her place at the table. She would not meet Yule's eyes.

The yuniko allowed himself a small, secret smile. This was routine. This, he could deal with. He didn't understand anger or the way in which she chose to deal with it. But a sulking family member? That was cake. Or rather, that was what the cake he'd baked was for.

He knew how to manage a household, how to please and pamper. As much as you want to deny it, he thought in Wyv's general direction, some people deserve pampering, now and again.

Slowly, bit by bit, the air of unease evaporated. Laughter and coversation built up, and although the atmosphere was still subdued, by the time desert rolled around things had become quite relaxed. They were together and they were alive. As far as things went, there were far worse places to be.


((I completely BS'ed the electrical stuff. I hope it wasn't too noticable. sweatdrop ))

Journal Entry

It was only a little later when Wyvern emerged from the shed behind the house. "Y'know," she commented idly to Makai, who trailed at her heels, "I really should put in a back door. Better'n walkin' around to the front all the time."

The gryphon just twittered irrately at his guardian. He hadn't been too thrilled by yet another attempt to leave him behind. He had already taken out most of his dissatissfaction by pecking her ankles. Given that she was wearing boots, he was able to vent quite thouroughly and was now only slightly miffed.

Wyv, on the other hand, was feeling downright cheerful. An hour or so of fiddling with her assorted mechanical bits in the shed left her feeling quite satisfied. That was her meditation right there. Zen in an engine's purr. She was still concerned about Makai's sudden over-dependency on her, but she saw no solutions and was resigned to the idea that this might take a while to solve.

"Mm," she said, noticing the package Anthony had set on her porch. "Mail?" Today was not mail day... at least, she didn't think it was. Was there even a mail day? She didn't remember.

Makai saw the paper and was off like a shot. Paper crinkled, and therefore, paper was good. He pecked at a corner while Wyvern focused on the note.

"Erm," she mumbled, ruminating on the note. "Should add a 'Hey I'm out back' sign here, neh Bloo?" She wadded the note up and shoved it in a pocket. Watching Makai's antics with a bemused expression, she finally sighed, and slid the gryphon away from the package with the toe of her boot. With Makai settled away, she knelt down and snapped the string, removing the paper around the lumpy parcel.

Whistling happily, Makai gazed at the drum. This one was so much better than his bongos. As Wyv freed the drum and set it aside, he stalked it. Two quick circles of it to get a better look and then he darted in to give it one good thump.

Fwoosh! Makai imaged that water through a drain felt something like this. He shook himself all over as the transformation ceased. Things were different! He took stock, tilting his head all about, trying to get a better look. Wiggly bits! He'd gained some and lost others (like his beak, how was he to peck now?). Fingers flexed excitedly and lips split into a humongous smile. This had promise. He liked it.

"Whoa," Wyvern breathed, entranced at the scene before her. "Wish I had my camera," she remarked ruefully, as the newly changed Aerandir finished his preflight check and attempted to bang on the drum again. He didn't really seem all that miffed about insubstantiality, she noticed. He was very caught up in the novelty of opposable thumbs and floating. Maybe this was a good thing.

The whisp fluttered happily around the drum, crowing with delight. He paused in his antics and doubled back in a loop-de-loop to come face to face with Wyvern. She blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the sudden closeness. He stared solemnly, gazing eye to eye. How did that go again? He thought he remembered.

The guardian cackled as she watched her ward very slowly and very carefully contort his face into a near perfect mimicry of her own contented grin. He laughed along too, an uncanny mirror. Wyv beamed at him. "Just wait til you're solid," she told him. "Then we'll really have some fun." She hefted the drum, Makai orbiting around it, delighting in his ability to make faces. "Let's go freak out Yule," she said, leading him inside.

Landbridge RP
In which the two islands finally meet, two gryphons emerge and much fun was had by all. Plus the bonus fo accquiring items for Makai's quest.

Read the full thing here.

"Makai, it's only temporary." This was the fourth such appeasement she'd offered to the wisp in the past hour. Fixing her ward with one of the looks normally reserved for use by Irate Mothers(TM), she drummed out a simple pattern on the drum, which he was currently swirled around.

Makai was not to be placated. He wanted to make music! Not listen to it. His bongos had been taken away to be replaced by something far more magnificent and he wasn't allowed to play with them. It wasn't fair!

Wyv rolled her eyes, shifting from her position lying on the couch to sitting on it. With a quick motion she scooped the drum into her lap and held out a hand to Makai, who sat on it. Or in it. The fasination he'd had with intangibility was starting to wear off. "I know it's hard, Mack," she told him. "But we've all gotta do stuff that sucks hard sometimes." Good thing Yule wasn't around, he didn't think Makai should hear such words when he was prone to mimic EVERYTHING. "Just gotta try to be strong. It'll be over and then we'll go swimming, and play again, just like before."

The wisp huffed, crossing his arms and lashing his vapor-tail miserably. He mummbled, "Noh fah." He drooped after that. It wasn't his fault it wasn't her fault, it just was.

Wyv gave an exasperated sigh. Her mouth crinkled a bit at the corners as she found some ironic amusement in the situation. "We'll watch a movie, how about that?"

Makai turned his back to her. He was feeling petty and would not be persuaded. Not by anything. He thrust his chin in the air in defiance.

The mechanic arched her eyebrows as if in surprise. "Oh? Is that so?" she asked, rhetorically. She shrugged. "Guess I'll just have to watch Beauty and the Beast by myself." She flipped the TV on and hit play. As the film was Makai's favorite movie it always seemed to be in the player.

This time Makai held out for a good ten minutes. By the time the first song was over, he had assumed his usual position floating on the back of the couch.

In truth Wyv hated the movie, but we all make concessions and Makai was making a bigger one. She figured she could survive another showing. And another. And another. She sighed. Makai did seem to feel better though.