faderift | ( closed ) even though I keep trying

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( closed ) even though I keep trying

WHO: Alex & Sarah
WHAT: griffon rider nerding out
WHEN: eh
WHERE: Gallows
NOTES: tba if necessary

It's exciting, all this. Learning new things, making new friends. And she does count herself in the company of new friends, because she's managed to come to grips with how to best interact with giant lion birds, which isn't something she'd ever considered very likely.

Alex is doing medical checks, making sure eyes are bright and clear, skin and feathers are healthy, and beaks are murderously sharp. Diet seems to be good, they're doing well, and Alex is getting ready to head to the stairs to meet Sarah, when she feels a knock at her back, right between her shoulder blades. "Okay, Uggie mate, okay. I gotta go get someone, but then you'll get a whole heap of cuddles, alright?"

She decides to take the forward tilt of his head feathers as a yes.

So, time to go find Sarah, and Alex is jogging down staircases, past offices and all the rest, and she's in the home stretch when she—

trips, stumbles, almost catches herself, and lands shoulder-first at the front door of the tower, with a loud thud. It's followed by am equally loud, albeit muffled, "fuck!"

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"Depends."

On a lot of things, but most importantly: "How big are they, and how well trained are they?"

She considers. "Not that big," is her conclusion, but not that big compared to an elephant, for example. Those are real big.

"And pretty well trained. I mean, some of them are a mite broody right now, looking after eggs and that, but griffons are bloody smart. You just gotta be respectful and that, but I mean - you gotta be respectful of any animal and not be an idiot about it, yeah? You'll be fine."

Which is to say, she trusts Sarah not to do something stupid. "Uggie, that's my guy, he's heaps well trained."

"Uggie?" Sarah sounds dubious. Very dubious. Still, she shrugs—if Alex can hang out with the griffons and emerge unscathed... Then again, she's a vet, isn't she? Good with animals and all that. Sarah's never had much experience with them. Watching through binoculars and getting up close and interacting with something are very different.

"Guess I'll just have to trust you," she says finally.

"I didn't name him," Alex replies with a laugh. "He's cute, but. Tufty feathers, they're sorta like a little stressed-out mohawk."

Beginning to bound up the stairs, to lead them past the library and the division head office and the other levels Sarah may remember from a recent corgi chase, Alex leans back to offer Sarah a cheery grin.

"Guess you gotta. You're in real trouble."

Sarah goes quiet as she follows Alex up the steps. She's going slower, too, not exactly as thrilled to be meeting the griffons as Alex is for her. "So they're basically... giant birds," she says after a minute, sounding more hesitant than she'd like. Then, feebly, she offers up, "I used to birdwatch." Which is pretty much the least punk activity on earth, for the record.

"Basically," she replies brightly, except that doesn't really sum it up at all, does it? "Think giant birds with cat legs, sorta."

The admission gets a grin out of Alex, who turns around and starts walking backwards up the stairs. "Yeah? D'you have a favourite?"

"The yellow-bellied sapsucker," Sarah says dryly, not missing a beat. "Don't trip and fall." Again.

Alex's description of the griffons isn't exactly inspiring confidence here. From what she knows of cats, they can be total assholes. For that matter, so can birds.

Prompted by that moving concern, she starts to skip backwards up the stairs, hopping from one foot, to the other, and that balance would be impressive if it weren't so potentially perilous.

Only for a few moments, before she's grabbing Sarah's hand and starting to run up the stairs. "Come on, sapsucker, we're gonna take all day at this rate."

"I'm serious, I'm not catching you if you—"

And that's as far as she gets before Alex is grabbing her hand and running up the stairs. That shuts her up. It's not like people have been rushing to hold her hand lately, or ever, if she's being honest. She follows after Alex, keeping up despite her vocal hatred of running. Vocal because as they go up, she starts grumbling, "I fucking hate running, Jesus."

"Just wait 'til we get there, it's worth it."

And so Alex dragged Sarah's ass to the top of the tower. The topmost levels were damaged, and not suitable for use by the Inquisition generally, but it made it perfect for the griffons. Nearing the top of the tower the wind is louder, and Alex pauses, as she leans through the doorway into the griffon eyrie. "Uggie?"

Quiet, for a moment, and then there is the sound of wings and the impact of something heavy landing on stone floors. A poised landing, no cracking of stone, but definitely something heavy. Standing a few metres away from the door is a griffon, with mottled grey feathers and marbling of darker grey, windows still outstretched as he stretches one of his legs and his wings out to one side, and then clacks his beak together with a quiet chittering sound, head tilted to watch Alex with large, golden eyes.

"Hey, mate."

"Worth it" to Alex and "worth it" to Sarah are probably two very different things, but Sarah doesn't comment as she follows Alex into the room. She stays a couple steps behind, hesitant in case something jumps out at them. Uggie. What a stupid name. She's about to mention it (again), but then...

Then there's the sound of a heavy body hitting the floor, and she can see the thing—the griffon—and, yeah, she knows what they're supposed to look like. In stories, or whatever. The claws and the wings and all. But it's one thing to read about a fictional animal in, like, Harry Potter, and another to see a huge animal that can easily rip her to shreds if it feels like it, either with its claws or its beak. Sarah takes another step, but backwards, not closer to Alex or the griffon. Nope. Fuck no.

She senses the movement of Sarah away from her, and speaks softly. "It's okay. You don't gotta touch him in you don't wanna. It's a lot to get used to."

Uggie's head tilts to the side, and he makes a little chirping, chittering sound in his throat, leaning forward to nudge Alex's elbow with his beak, and then stretches forward further to nibble at the pouch at her side, tugging on the little strings that keep it tied.

"Oi," a laugh, as she nudges his head away. "Boofhead, quit it. I'll get your jerky in a minute."

"Yeah, I'm good here, thanks."

Sarah watches with her arms protectively crossed over her chest, not that she'll be able to do much to defend herself if this griffon or another one decides to attack her. This is reminding her, crazily, of people who raise baby tigers and insist that they're docile and sweet and domesticated. It's just that these tigers can fucking fly.

"You're crazy, by the way."

"Yeah," she agrees, entirely unoffended. "I just... do better with animals than people, I reckon. Animals make more sense."

A moment, and she grins at Sarah over her shoulder. "Even the weird meat-eating koalas. Harry is doing alright, by the way." The lizard. She hopes Sarah remembers that's his name.

Gently, she rubs up from his beak and in between his eyes, and the eyes droop to being half closed as he leans against the wall and lets Alex keep petting him, although he's still making little sounds. "These guys, they don't mess around. Could take your arm off, but— I dunno. I like 'em."

"Oh. Good to know." Truthfully she hasn't thought about the lizard much; she's just relieved it's not her responsibility anymore. Alex seemed capable at the time, and even moreso now.

She shifts awkwardly on her feet, torn between stepping closer and staying put. Alex's comment about the griffons being able to easily tear her arm off her body decides for her, and she exhales, shaking her head. "Aren't there some cuddly mythical creatures out there you could've picked instead?"

"Cuddly like dragons and gorgons?" Who knows if this place has gorgons, seems possible. There's an amused sound to, and she keeps scritching, as she reaches for the jerky bag, but Uggie makes a little sound of protest, and she has to resume petting with both hands.

"Hey, can you get that bag for me?" A tilt of her head to the pouch on the side of her belt. "It's got his snacks."

"Maybe like a pegasus or something," Sarah suggests, feeling stupid.

Though she doesn't really want to move closer, or to hold the pouch that has the snacks in it (what if he rips her hand off trying to get it?), she's not about to say so. She takes a few hesitant steps forward and carefully unties the pouch from Alex's belt.

Alex grins, delighted. "That would be pretty good," she agrees, and tilts her head to the side. "Or, I mean, technically there's some regular animals that are big in mythology. Peacocks and swans and all that."

Uggie's eyes open a little bit as he hears the pouch rattle, and he makes a little chirping (if it can be called a chirp from a griffon) sound in his throat at the sound and tilts his head to try and reach for it as much as he can without disturbing the scritches. Curious, more than anything, as his golden eyes focus on the new person. More odd chittering, and Alex rubs down his neck, making him lean heavily against her.

"Thanks. Can you get some jerky out?"

"You serious?"

Because the griffon is looking at her, it knows she's holding its food, and what's to say it's not about to attack her for "stealing" from it or some shit? Just because Alex has some weird bond with it doesn't mean it'll feel the same way for Sarah. She attempts to shove the pouch at Alex. "Feed your own bird."

"Now, now." Gently chastising, but in a teasing, not actually chastising even a little bit sort of way. She accepts the pouch, and fishes into it, pulling out a treat.

Uggie begins hopping his two front legs, and the ridiculous sticking up feathers on his head seem to raise up a bit more as he looks between Alex and the pouch, as she grins at Sarah. "He's a sook."

As she holds out the jerky, and Uggie snaps it up from her hand, tossing it in the air theatrically and catching it, before trotting over to Sarah. He hasn't eaten his jerky yet, by the way, is just holding it and looking at her expectantly. More humans means more treat, yes???

Oh Jesus Christ. Sarah takes a tiny step backward and utters a tiny, nervous laugh as the griffon prances toward her.

"Why is he looking at me like that?" She holds up her empty hands, both a demonstration and something of a warding off gesture. "I don't have anything for you, mate."

Alex is covering her mouth with her hand, trying very hard not to laugh. Uggie, for his part, tosses the jerky in the air again, except that this time when he catches it he decides to swallow it, and then tilts his head, making little clicky sounds in his throat. Then, demonstratively, he leans over to (surprisingly gently) snatch the jerky bag from Alex's hands and carry it over to Sarah, holding it out to her, and starting to nudge her hands with it.

HUMAN. TAKE BAG. HUMAN TAKE BAG. BAG TAKE. HUMAN? HUMAN!

For her part, Alex manages to stay composed (mostly) and with false innocence, "I think he wants you to hold the bag, I dunno."

Okay... So maybe griffons aren't that smart for their size. Maybe they're like flying horses after all. Sarah takes the bag, opens it, picks out a decent sized piece of jerky between two fingers, and holds it out in front of her. She's telling herself that this is okay, and she can do it with no problem... and then Uggie reaches out and snaps the jerky out of her grip and Sarah reacts in the punkest way ever, which is to say she screams and takes two skittery backwards steps. Like the badass she is.

When Sarah screams, Uggie leaps backwards, apparently surprised, and trots (prances?) with elevated steps around Alex, and back towards the back areas of the tower, before peeking at the two of them from around a pillar.

Alex is covering her mouth, surprisingly diplomatic, and clears her throat. "Are you okay?"

Sarah shoots her a look, annoyed. "Yeah, I'm great."

She holds the bag of jerky out to Alex. The expression on her face is somewhat embarrassed, defensive. "I told you I didn't want to feed it. Him. Whatever."

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( closed ) even though I keep trying

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