Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mal stepped out of the carriage as soon as it stopped and looked around at the ruined garden. Damn. Hopefully he wouldn’t be charged for this or anything… he wouldn’t get much money until after he had announced himself to the noble families next week. That was annoying. Ah well, provided that there weren’t any witnesses, it wouldn’t be a problem. Walking over to the fountain, he rubbed at a spot of soapy water, obviously thinking.

“Well… we can see that they didn’t walk out of this little place. They would have left water spots everywhere, there would be some sort of trail. So, they must’ve flown somewhere.” Hm. There would still be a water trail, but the splotches would be more spread out, more difficult to follow. It wouldn’t be worth trying, really.

“… this city has guards on the walls, right? Certainly, they must’ve seen something. Two flying gryphons would have to be seen by someone. They probably got hungry and went off to find some food. Now, that means that either they are in the city and hunting down cats, dogs, and rats or just pies that have been left on the windowsill to cool, or they’ve gone out of the city in order to do some actual hunting. Personally, if I were a betting type, I would put my money on ‘Outside the City’.” Personally, he trusted the city guard about as far as he could throw them, but it was at least a place to start. Once again, he got into the carriage, trying to figure out where Aeron would go.

He was pretty sure that they would be alright. After all, Aeron was with Sekhmet and he knew how to handle himself in the wild. Still, there was the mild worry that they would encounter another gryphon, a wild one.

“Damn guards… what good are they if they miss several hundred pounds of gryphon flying right over their heads…” Mal muttered to himself. Still, he ruefully admitted to himself, they fit his current view of guards anyway. Normally, this served him well. He never thought that clumsy guards would be detrimental to him. He had never thought this sort of situation would arise. Foolish, he supposed… ah well, it was happening now, so it had to be taken care of.

Leaning over, he peered out the window, squinting a little. “Yeah. I see a black dot. And it’s moving around. Could be just about anything though…” This close to the city, what sort of creatures could be out there? Deer, foxes, maybe an escaped dog or two. Could it be the gryphons? Perhaps… oh, there was another one, slightly larger. And it was brown. Hmmm…

“Let’s go towards it,” he suggested, figuring that Iris would already have this idea in mind.

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Aeron grunted as Sekhmet moved, but he didn’t seem to wake up. Not at that point, anyway. His golden eyes didn’t open until she let out that soft squeak. Like her, he went through a crude test on his brain, just to check out what exactly had happened the night before. Oh, yes. The escape, the water, and the hunt. Stretching out his wings luxuriously, before looking at Sekhmet once more.

“Morning, Sekhmet. Did you sleep well?” he asked while running his beak briefly over her wing feathers. He hoped she had. It would have done his ego considerable damage to know that she had slept badly while curled up next to him. Oh, and her well-being, of course. That was more important. He looked up at the sky, trying to figure out if Mal had discovered him missing yet. Was it time to go home…?

Or should they wait for the humans to come find them and lead them on a merry chase?

That seemed like a lot more fun as far as Aeron was concerned.

Mal trotted after Iris quickly, hoping that the shapes were their lost gryphons. If they weren’t… well, he didn’t want to think about what could happen. Aeron could easily take care of himself, but what if there was a bigger gryphon in the area? What if he got separated from Sekhmet and the younger female was hurt? He couldn’t imagine Aeron leaving a female gryphon alone, but this was Sekhmet… from what Mal had gathered, the black female was very… tough. It was hard to tell whether this would deter or attract Aeron more.

It certainly LOOKED like a pair of gryphons. They had the basic shape of them, anyway. But, his eyes weren’t as good during the day as they were at night, so he could be wrong. His step quickened as they approached.
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Aeron’s head snapped up from his preening and he looked over towards the two human dots that were approaching. His ears wiggled a little. Hmm… he didn’t feel quite like going back yet. He did sort of miss Mal, but he wanted to play some more first.

He blinked slowly before turning to Sekhmet, a light of mischief in his eyes. “Let’s play a game with them, Sekhmet; let’s play Keep Away.” It was one of his favorite games to play with Mal. And it was simple too! You simply tried to stay as far away from the human as possible. With that, he started to lope away easily in bounding leaps. He didn’t want to fly, not yet. That took away some of the fun, after all.

Mal didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed when he realized that the shapes were indeed the lost gryphons. His first instinct was relief that they were both apparently alright and had stayed close to each other. And, he noticed as he skirted around two deer carcasses, had eaten as well. Annoyance soon replaced relief as he realized that Aeron wanted to play Keep Away! Damn that gryphon!

“Come here, sweetie… come on… it’s time to go home, Aeron…” he muttered under his breath. Yes, he talked to his gryphon. It was a habit! It wasn’t as if he expected any answers back or anything… he lunged towards Aeron, who quickly bounded away.

The gryphon paused nearby though, just out of reach of the human, tantalizingly close. He squawked at his owner and danced on his feet, just waiting for the chase.

“Oh, yes, she might be annoyed now. But, don’t worry; they always forgive us in the end. It’s one of their more endearing traits,” the older gryphon assured Sekhmet as he was waiting for Mal to make another dash.

Mal paused in his pursuit, wondering if there was a more effective way to get Aeron. “… do we have any gryphon treats or anything?”

Damn, he was staining his clothes with grass! Mal glared mildly at Aeron, who continued to prance around, preening his feathers happily. Ah, how he loved Keep Away! Mal usually did, but this was not one of those times. He was tired, hungry, and he wanted to go back home to continue planning, plotting, and possibly scheming. He accepted the treats, and held one out close to Aeron.

“Mmm… yummy food, Aeron. Lookit the treat!” he wiggled his hand, hoping to entice the gryphon closer.

Aeron trilled curiously, and walked a few steps closer, his neck stretched out. Treat? He knew that word! It meant something tasty and edible! But, he didn’t want to get too close… he could see that Mal’s other hand was outstretched, just waiting to grab a hold of Aeron. Mal sidled closer, scarcely breathing. The gryphon waited until the human was just within range before snapping up the treat and dancing away once more, trilling his delight all the while.

This was his favorite game in the entire world.

Mal threw up his hands in exasperation and tried to think of something else. His hand hit his belt with a slight jingling sound. Aeron’s head tilted back towards him. Bells? He liked bells…

As a matter of fact, Mal didn’t have any bells, but he did have a money pouch with some coins. He waved it at the gryphon. The coins inside the little leather bag banged together, creating a jingling noise, which attracted the gryphon closer.

What was this? Aeron hadn’t noticed this before…did Mal wear bells to? They weren’t as shiny as Aeron’s, that was for sure.

Mal sighed and looked over at Iris as the woman cracked up, wondering just what was so funny. There was nothing funny about a man trying to coax his gryphon to come closer! Well, ok, it was pretty funny. Really funny, actually, especially when combined with the fact that he was covered with enough grass stains to start up a new lawn. With an elegant sniff, he said, “Really, Iris, you must take this more seriously. Many grass blades have died in my brave effort to, HEY! Give that back!”

Aeron waited patiently until Mal’s attention was focused on something else. He heard Sekhmet’s warning, but he was still curious about what these jingly things were, if they weren’t bells. He liked sound-making things. That was what made Mal so interesting. He made funny noises. As soon as Mal was distracted, the gryphon moved forward in a flash, nabbed the bag of coins in his beak and flounced away, clicking happily.

He shook his head from side to side, banging the coins against his neck in a joyful harmony while Mal looked on disconsolently.

“But… damnit! Get back here!” He switched to the ineffective ‘run madly after Aeron while waving arms around’ technique, to which Aeron joyfully responded with the very effective, ‘run away joyfully while trilling’.

“Say. Where’s Sekhmet, Iris?” he asked, as he stopped for a quick breathing session.

“Hey! For the record, this method usually works!” Mal shot right back. There was a brief pause before he added on, “Sometimes.” Another pause interrupted his sentences before he finally sighed, “Alright, so it never works. It could work though! You never know until you try and whatnot. Wish that I had his actual bells… they probably would have worked a bit better.”

He regarded the gryphons for a moment. Aeron regarded him right back, the bag of coins dangling from his beak and his tail swishing happily. Oh, yes, this was a fun game to Aeron. The gryphon, much like his owner in some ways, was really only out for one thing in life: to have fun while going through it. The gryphon wasn’t even winded and seemed perfectly prepared to continue this game for hours if necessary.

“… do you remember what your parents would do if you were behaving badly?” he asked. Hey, gryphons were kinda like kids! Maybe parenting techniques would work on the creatures too?

Aeron, still trilling happily, trotted over to Sekhmet, occasionally shaking his head to make the coins jingle and jangle in the bag. Stretching out his neck, he offered it to the sleek female. It wasn’t as good as bells, but it was the best that Aeron could do for now.