Open | Life is just a troubled sea

[keenly]

WHO: Colin + You
WHAT: Open post for Haring
WHEN: Throughout the month
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: If you would like a starter, let me know.

I. Eyrie

No one here has yet been eaten by a griffon, but there's a first time for everything.

They're big. They're all so, so big, and they look hungry, and one of them is literally drooling. Fortunately, most of them are ignoring the normal-sized healer as he creeps about two feet into the eyrie, then stands there frozen. Is this a bad idea? This is a bad idea. Animals can smell fear, and these animals have sharp claws and sharp beaks and sharp talons. Thing is, these animals could mean life or death to a wounded ally. Moreover, he's learned a thing or two about himself from these bizarre dreams, and the most important of those things is that he's not as normal and boring as he has striven to be all his life. His instinct to hide from all things remotely heroic isn't as important as his curiosity, and when faced with both fear and wonder, he's going to try to act on the wonder.

That is, until one large, glossy, black griffon comes up behind him and nudges his elbow gently, at which point he chokes on a squawk and stumbles away from it. It follows. He bumps into another griffon, which makes an annoyed sound. Eventually he remembers to stand still. The black griffon approaches him and gives his shoulder a tiny headbutt. Colin turns positively grey. It gives his hand the gentlest of nips and Colin squeaks, backing away again.

II. Closed to Alexandrie

The doorman doesn't even have time to announce Lexie's guest before Colin is storming up to her. She has never seen him this angry, not even during their recent fight.

"You won't believe the conversation I just had," he snarls at the same time as the doorman stammers "A-apothecary Colin, my lady."

III. Obligatory workplace setting prompt

It's the apothecary. Maybe Colin is bottling potions and tinctures. Maybe he is sweeping. Maybe he is compounding various herbs. Maybe he is cooking lunch over the fireplace. Maybe he has run out of things to do and is sketching in a book. Come bother him.

IV. Wildcard

Comments

I. Eyrie

[sulahnan]

At first Athessa thinks that choked squawk was one of the griffons, barely affording it a thought, but when Colin squeaks, she ducks to look out from under Chawcey's neck and sees the tableau of affectionate griffin and terrified mage.

"I think Sunbeam likes you," she announces, ruffling Chawcey's feathers once more before stepping away, towards Colin. Or at least, starting to. Chawcey bumps his head against Athessa's back, making her stumble forward a step, and she huffs at him, only to have his massive head rest against her shoulder. "Quit it, ya nugget," she says, scratching under his chin and then shoving his head away. This time, Chawcey stays put.

"She's not gonna eat you, ya know."

[keenly]

"How do you know?" Sunbeam? This death machine is called Sunbeam? The griffon bumps her head against him again, this time closer to where he carries a satchel. By nuzzling, she manages to begin to open the flap.

"No, no," Colin says cautiously, drawing the satchel out of the way. Sunbeam follows it. What's in there that--

Colin follows a hunch and pulls out a bundle of fresh herbs. Sunbeam cannot have it soon enough and nearly gobbles it up straight away, but Colin holds it behind his back and raises a finger.

"Wait," he commands. To his surprise, the griffon obeys. He looks over at Athessa. "Catnip," he says with a small laugh. "Do you know if it's safe for them?"

[sulahnan]

"Catnip?" She repeats, raising her eyebrows. Then her shoulders, in a shrug. "Probably, they're part cat, right?"

But then of course, the effect it has on cats...

"Maybe just a little bit, it might make her a bit more aggressive."

[keenly]

More aggressive? Colin's eyes widen and he takes a single sprig from the bunch and drops it to the floor for Sunbeam to collect. He starts to put the rest in his pack, but now another griffon is approaching and nosing for it. Which leads others to wonder what all the fuss is about, and why not, catnip grows fast, so Colin simply scatters all of it on the floor and legs it to Athessa's side.

"What would you have done if I'd died?" he asks.

[sulahnan]

Athessa laughs as the spectacle unfolds, the griffons that congregate around the catnip starting to roll on it and prance and puff up their feathers and fur.

"You wouldn't have," she makes a point to say first, then considers it. "But I guess I would've been sad about it and made sure the griffons all got to their pens once they were done eating you."

[keenly]

"You're terrible," Colin accuses. One of the griffons passes too close to him on its way to the catnip and he shies away, bumping into her by accident. "Sorry," he says, extending an arm to return her to balance.

[sulahnan]

"Thanks," she says, as if terrible is an earnest compliment. "You gotta stop acting like you're smaller than them," she says, ignoring his apology and the bump itself in order to walk to where he'd dropped the catnip.

"Okay, okay, break it up--" She scoops up the catnip, shouldering aside some of the more feisty griffons and shooing away the others, but of course once the herb is in hand, that's what they gravitate to. But the good thing about the griffons is: they're all trained. So all it takes is a little authority to keep them in check. "Artichoke, you first. Blanche. Hugo, come on."

One by one, she gets them back in order, throwing a sprig of catnip each into their pens and closing the gates behind them. All, of course, except Chawcey (who doesn't seem to care about catnip or misbehaving) and Sunbeam.

[keenly]

"I am definitely not acting," Colin replies. Sunbeam, having made short work of the catnip, is now grooming herself, so he is given a bit of peace for now. Athessa is so at ease around the beasts, and here he is keeping his distance, arms folded protectively in front of his chest. He watches Sunbeam intently, noting the inky black of her coat makes her name deeply ironic. She moves rather like a cat, doesn't she?

"She's...actually quite pretty," he decides. "I'd need to train her to fly very still, if she's going to carry wounded. I don't even know how to go about doing that."

[sulahnan]

"Well, first you gotta be able to fly her at all, and before you can do that, you gotta relax."

Athessa pats Sunbeam idly on her way to stand before Colin and makes a face at his closed off posture. "I mean just look at you, I bet even your ass-cheeks are tense right now."

[keenly]

"Very tense," Colin confirms without self-consciousness. "I'm not much better around horses, and they're not even predators, let alone two predators at once."

But the way Sunbeam reveled in the catnip like a kitten was anything but threatening. And she is pretty. He reaches out to place a hand on her...cheek? Against black feathers. Her head moves and he jumps, hand jerking back on reflex before he finds himself again and reaches out to stroke up her brow-bone. The weight of it makes her look permanently displeased, he can't help but think. Another thought occurs to him: the same may be observed by an enemy. Which would make Sunbeam...sort of a protector. The creature, for a moment, is transformed before him by that thought alone.

"Good girl," he murmurs to her.

[sulahnan]

"Well, the butt-end of a predator hardly counts as one, does it? It's not like you run the risk of being eaten by a bird and a cat, just the bird bit," she watches him for a moment, seeing his timidity reduce by a fraction despite the start at Sunbeam's movement, then indicates a spot beneath the griffon's chin. "There, give her a nice scratch there."

[keenly]

"So I'd only be half as dead then," he says flatly, moving his hand to give that spot a good scratching.

[sulahnan]

Athessa laughs, and Sunbeam stretches her neck out to be more easily scratched, which also seems to involve leaning heavily on Colin's shoulder.

"Nah, one whole dead from one whole animal. But at least griffons are smart; horses can be dumbshits that spook at puddles, but griffons are more like...partners in crime. Too smart for their own good sometimes, ya know?"

[keenly]

Colin gives Athessa a smile at that, most of the fear fleeing at her words. The more Sunbeam puts her weight on him, the more he starts to lean, until he stumbles to catch his balance. He pats the side of the griffon's neck.

"Bit less of that, please," he says as if she's a mabari. "I really am smaller than you."

[sulahnan]

"That's not gonna cut it," she says, putting her hands on her hips. "She'll just lean on you more until you shove her off. Watch--"

She finds Chawcey, who pops up when she approaches, clearly ready for whatever demonstration she's about to give. Athessa gives him a hearty scratch, just like she told Colin to do, and the grey griffon soon starts leaning the same way Sunbeam did, though a bit more shoulder than neck.

"Yeah that's a good boy, huh. Who's a good bird-brain?" She, smaller than Colin both in height and weight, soon has far more griffon bearing down on her than she's able to support, and she plants her feet and shoves Chawcey with her shoulder. "Ok, ease off, dummy." Clearly, it isn't the force that Athessa uses to shove the griffon off, but the attitude. Chawcey stops leaning, trading one form of affection for another: nudging her with the top of his head. She gives him more scritches as she looks back to Colin.

"See? You gotta be the one in charge."

[keenly]

Attitude. Colin goes back to scratching Sunbeam, and it takes very little time before she's leaning against him hard enough to make him stumble.

"Stop," he barks, using his shoulder and the strength of his legs to push her away. She does so without a fuss, simply pivoting to nip at his arm. This causes Colin to rocket back about six feet, confidence melting away like a snowflake in a blast furnace.

[sulahnan]

Athessa launches into a fit of giggles at the sight of his six-foot-horizontal-leap, and she falls against Chawcey to keep her upright as she laughs at poor Colin.

[keenly]

Colin casts her a glare. Because this is so funny.

[sulahnan]

"Oh come on," she manages through her laughter. "If she was gonna bite you, you wouldn't have an arm. She's teasing you."

[keenly]

"I figured that out," he retorts, although he's still unwinding from his gross overreaction. He reaches out for Sunbeam again as his heart rate slowly decreases and pats the side of her neck. She doesn't seem to have noticed anything but a momentary halt in the obligatory griffon-worship, for which she is willing to forgive him.

[sulahnan]

She grins at that and mutters an amicable Figured that out did ya in a conspiratorial tone to Chawcey, letting Colin get on with Sunbeam without interference until requested. Or at least until he does something else she finds hilarious.