3x3 Flighted Love

[HomeForFlowers]

If Avalon was feeling uncomfortable before Aeither threatened him, he didn't notice. As soon as she threatened him, all feelings turned into a mix of confusion and anger. Dragons were rather proud creatures and being threatened made their instincts take over. Although Avalon knew Aeither wa joking, he couldn't help but begin to retract his wing at that comment. He didn't realize what he was doing when he began to pull his attention to the burnt deer.

"We should pull that out of the fire," he proclaimed. "If we leave it on there for too long then-" That was when Aeither nuzzled him. Immediately, Avalon covered his head with one wing to hide his embarrassed face.

"We, uh, should move it," Avalon stuttered as he pulled the doe out of the fire.

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither's attention snapped to the doe as well. "Yeah... It wouldn't be so well to ear charcoal with a himt of elk," Aeither joked, stretching slightly before she stood up, shaking dust out of her feathers. He's blushing again! Heh. Poor Avvy! The gryphon padded towards the opening of the cave, peering at the dark, dreary world before her. "It doesn't look like the rain's letting up any," Aeither called back into the tunnels.

[HomeForFlowers]

"All the more reason than to eat this now," Avalon said as he tore into the flesh of the elk. A mouthful of the raw flesh strung from his jaw as he lifted his head upward to swallow it all. He open and closed his mouth rapidly as the meat slid down into his throat. Avalon lowered his head once only a single string a meat hung from his lips.

"I would hurry up and take a bite," Avalon warned Aeither as he took another bite out of the doe. "If you keep staring longingly out into the rain, this corpse will be nothing but bones by the time you get to it."

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither turned back, resisting the urge to chuckle. Avalon was always such a messy eater! Then again, to Aeither, all dragons were. "Aren't you scared you'll start choking if you swallow like that?" The gryphon tore flesh and meat away with her talons and beak before she trapped one with the latter. After she swallowed the smaller hunk of meat, she went for another beside her. That was usually how Aeither ate. She didn't have a large mouth or teeth, and she couldn't swallow how dragons did. She would tear off what she knew she would eat as the others were ripping the dear apart. Then she would back away, not wanting to be trapped between two squabbling dragons.

[HomeForFlowers]

"Dragons don't choke," Avalon sneered as he swallowed another piece of meat.

"Our throats are designed to swallow meat like this. Why do you just take a small chunk and chew off of it? That's weird to me." It didn't take long for Avalon to eat a good proportion of the elk. Once he was satisfied, he let out a content sigh and sat himself down. That meal sure was making him sleepy. A good night's rest was exactly what he needed.

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither coughed quietly, doing her best to put Avalon's less-than-pleasant tone to the back of her mind. The gryphon looked at Avalon, amusement in her eyes. "Well, as you can see, I don't have a giant dragon throat." Aeither tipped her head back, opening her beak wide, showing her normal, gryphon sized throat. She grabbed another piece of meat, trapping it with her closed beak. After a while, she swallowed. "You're lucky, then. I can't tell you how many times I've choked on my food!"

Edited April 7, 2014 by EchotheWolf

[HomeForFlowers]

Avalon let out an amused snort as Aeither opened her mouth to shoe him her throat.

"You don't need to do that," he reminded her. "I know full and well that you have mastered the art of choking on food." Satisfied with his meal, Avalon marched away from the corpse and went a corner of the cave. There, he breathed fire onto the ground until it began brittle and covered in ash. Allured by the warmth, Avalon plopped himself down onto the pile of heat and let out a soft coo.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll be retiring for the night," Avalon yawned as he curled up in a comfortable position.

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither giggled, happy to see that the tension had faded away. I suppose we should get some sleep... It's been a long day. The gryphon laid down near Avalon-close enough to feel the warmth of the ground, but not make the wyvern uncomfortable-and closed her eyes. Aeither gently scraped her talons along the ground, trying to focus on sleep. It must have worked, because the gryphon drifted off into the shadowy grasp of sleep.

 

"The others will all look for mates among the group. Start a family... raise their children to start the cycle again. Where does that leave me?" Though the gryphon was trying to sleep, her thoughts were dragged back to what she had told Avalon earlier thay day. Shuddering, she curled her body tighter.

[HomeForFlowers]

(Should we just time skip to morning?)

[EchotheWolf]

(Early morning, if it's fine with you.)

[HomeForFlowers]

(Alright, do you want me to do it or would you care for the honor?)

[EchotheWolf]

(I'll snag it this time.)

 

After a whole night of bad dreams, Aether's eyes finally opened. The gryphon took deep breaths as she stood up, trying to reassure herself that what she had experienced was a dream. After she had collected herself, Aeither looked outside, blinking her eyes until they soon let her peer into the pre-dawn sky. One again, the gryphon thought of the dragon herd. The black-furred creature hesitantly padded towards Avalon. She hovered at her friend's side before making up her mind. She nudged the wyvern's side with her beak. "Avvy. Wake up, we need to talk." Hopefully the dragon in question wasn't grumpy in the early morning.

[HomeForFlowers]

Avalon let out a low growl as Aeither poked him. It wasn't an aggressive growl, but more of an annoyed one. Although Avalon was the type to wake up early, he didn't particular care for getting up. He knew he had a job to do and being irresponsible would only make things worse, but by the gods he hated getting up in the morning. Mumbling under his breath, Avalon managed to wake himself up and drowsily turn his attention to Aeither.

"What is it?" he asked through a yawn. "Did something happen while I was sleeping?"

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither hesitated before revealing her thoughts to the wyvern. "Yes, Avalon. Something did happen. I kept thinking of what we said yearerday. You know, about the dragons..." Aeither paused for a few moments. "Look, Avvy... There's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to be blunt. I'm leaving," Aeither confessed, her voice steady. "I've thought a lot about this. I don't belong in that group. The only reason such high and mighty dragons kept this little birdie around was for her hunting abilities. Food-that's all they see me for. Well, I'm not some stupid pidgeon. I'm a maturing gryphon. I know exactly what will happen soon. The other dragons will all start a family. Hatchlings everywhere. Hell, even you could find a dragoness to raise your offspring. But when it comes to love, they will all just look over me. They don't find me attractive-for star's sake, I'm a feathered cat!" Aeither took another few moments to steady her shaky breathing. "I'm leaving them. I don't know where I'll go, but I would love to have company. However, if you want to stay with those you have things in common with, I don't blame you." Aeither finally looked to Avalon, her talons scraping against the ground.

[HomeForFlowers]

Avalon was barely conscious at the start of Aeither's speech. By the end of it, Avalon was fully awake. It took him several moments to gather his thoughts. After all, what Aeither had just told him was a rather big deal. The comment of dragons being "high and mighty" brought a rush of irritation through Avalon. Aeither probably didn't know it, but she had also insulted him. He was part of that group. That was his kind she was talking about. Did she always loathe them so much?

No, no, that was a single comment, let it go.

Shaking the thought away, Avalon began to pick through the rest of Aeither's speech. He understood that she didn't feel equal in the group, but they were still family, weren't they? The group decided to raise her as their own instead of eating her. They choose to let her be one of them. They could of eaten her on the spot, but they didn't. They choose otherwise and now she was turning her back against them. Avalon began to struggle with his feelings. He felt like Aeither wasn't completely understanding the situation, that she was being irrational and even selfish. There were people who cared about her and she was so willing to abandon them. She was willing to leave Avalon behind because she couldn't see that they cared.

 

On the other hand, she was kinda being used. Sure, the group cared for Aeither, but now and days they were using her as a source of food. They didn't exactly say she had to go hunt for them, but it was implied that they wanted her to. And then there was the thing about having a family. Everything she had said about that was true. The others would find love in each other and even start families. Avalon himself might of had hatchlings of his own as well. But Aeither would stay alone. She could only see herself with another gryphon and thought that there was nothing for her in her family. Then there was the factor that Avalon just didn't know how Aeither felt. He had felt like he hadn't belonged before. After all, his egg was found inside a human camp. But he wasn't in a group of gryphons. He didn't feel as alone as her and therefore couldn't completely understood how she felt.

 

After carefully selecting his words, Avalon finally spoke.

"Well," he began with a cautious tone. "I know that nothing I can say will change your mind. I could spend days, even weeks, telling you how wrong of a decision this is, but I won't. Making you aggravated will only make things worse. I...I'll go with you, but only on one condition. If the group every comes looking for us and says that they need us back, not want, then I shall return to them. I care not if you decide to keep your distance from the group even after they ask, but if they say they need me, then I will leave." Avalon, kept his gaze on Aeither throughout the entire speech. He wanted to make sure she understood what he meant. After all, he wasn't going to back out of his statement.

Edited April 13, 2014 by Doctortear

[EchotheWolf]

The world around Aeither was becoming unsteady as the gryphon waited for Avalon's answer. The only sound in the cave that she heard was her own heartbeat as Aeither stared into the wyvern's eyes. I shouldn't have said that, she thought as her friend's gaze made her feel n bigger than a rat. He had always been loyal to the dragons. Why did Aeither ask him to run away with her? It was a stupid idea!

 

Avalon finally broke the unsettling silence in the cave. Aeither's eyes widened-the wyvern was coming with her! She moved forwards, rubbing the side of her head against Avalon's chest affectionately. "Thank you, Avalon! If they really donneed us-and not just to fill their greedy bellies-then I'll go back with you. I promise. I... I was scared that you would have stayed. I'm not sure if I would have been able to do this by myself," Aeither admitted.

[HomeForFlowers]

"Then maybe I should said I was staying," Avalon said jokingly. He shook his head and gave his wings a small flap. If he was going with Aeither, then that meant he would probably have to fly for a long time. He didn't even know where they were going. Had Aeither thought this through or did she have no idea what she was doing? It wouldn't be surprising if she had no idea where to go.

"Did you want to go see that flock of gryphons I told you about?" Avalon asked. "It isn't much, but seeing as you want to see others of your kind, that might be the best place to start."

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither giggled, nodding her head. "Yeah, I think I'd like to see them. But... how should I act around my own kind? I mean, I was raised by dragons. I don't have the foggiest idea on what I should do. Then again, you said you'd roast their feathers if they gave me a hard time, so I shouldn't be too worried," the gryhon recalled with a smile.

[HomeForFlowers]

Avalon merely gave a shrug. He didn't know how gryphons acted. In fact, he wasn't even sure what the other gryphons would look like. But did that really matter? It was just one group, they could find more.

"Just act like yourself," Avalon suggested. "You've never fully acted like the others in the group. Remember last night when we were eating? You saw how differently you ate from me. You ate like a gryphon, not a dragon. I think you're going to be okay." Avalon gave Aeither a reassuring nudge and walked to the mouth of the cave.

"We better leave soon," he said as daylight began to trickle into the cave. "The group may sent a scout out to found us."

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither considered Avalon's advice. "That last part was just because I can choke on my food. Other than that, you're right. I just hope I don't embarass myself in front of the... oh, stars take it! I've really gotta learn what a group of gryphons is called. Gryph-group sounds like a terrible name for something like myself. Either way, I'm kina excited!" Aeither's tail almost wagged as she opened her wings in front of the cave. "I'm ready whenever you are, Avalon. You'll probably need to lead the way-I don't know where the gryphons are."

[HomeForFlowers]

"They're to the north," Avalon said as he pointed his head in the direction the flock of gryphons were. "I don't know their exact location, but I've where they were. There is a chance we won't find them, but that's a chance we'll just have to take." Spreading his wings out, Avalon took to the skies. He soared high into the sky and flew in the direction where the flock was.

"Let's get going!" he called to Aeither as he glanced in her direction.

[EchotheWolf]

Aeither waited for a few seconds after Avalon launched himself off of the cliff before she joined him in the skies, coming up to his side within seconds. She started to lazily glide bese her friend, flapping only when she needed to lift herself higher into the air. "Even if the gryphons aren't there, they would have left some signs. We could follow their trail until we find them, right?" Aeither finally, balanced herself, speeding up to stay near Avalon.

[EchotheWolf]

(Bump.)

[HomeForFlowers]

"Of course, Avalon called back to Aeither. "If they moved, we'll just fine them by their tracks. It shouldn't be too hard, now should it?" Avalon let himself catch the updraft and soared high into the sky. His grand wings flapped furiously before relaxing into a simple glide. He had always loved flying, especially when it was hot out. The feel of the sun beating against his scales and the air brushing by him was the best feeling in the world according to Avalon. It was a pity that he couldn't fly more often.

 

(We can fine the gryphons whenever you want.)

[EchotheWolf]

(Sorry about the wait, Doc'. I've been having Internet/iPod troubles. Anyways, I'll make a few posts while I'm able to.)

 

Aeither smirked, following Avalon's path through the sky, her eyes narrowed in concentration. They were flying at a rather fast rate, but the gryphon knew that they would slow down when they were near the group of gryphons in question. "Definitely not too hard. I've always been bad about making messes when I eat. With any luck, that won't just be a quirk of mine. So, you said that the group was seen somewhere around here? Or is there much further to go?" Aeither's wings shifted ever so slightly as she flew to Avalon's side, a jealous glint re-appearing in her eyes as she saw Avalon's massive wingspan.