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Post by Red Charge on Nov 18, 2012 12:16:05 GMT -5
"Oh no, sorry, it is your room." The girl griffon said, "I was just crashing here..." She indicated the open window. "Hoped no one would find out.... you don't mind sharing the bed with me do you?" She asked, "If you do, I'll leave... I just don't really have anywhere to go. My house burned down in the attack..." She said with a tearful sigh. "Just didn't know what to do..."
Hawthorne did recall seeing the griffon wandering around the house ruins as he worked to help the earlier. "So if it's not too much trouble...?" She asked hopefully, her eyes pleading, almost puppy like. Other than her, the room was pretty simpler, a desk, a bed, a window, all pretty standard looking, nothing too exquisite. Probably why she chose that room to crash in, less conspicuous.
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 18, 2012 12:33:11 GMT -5
Hawthorne listened to what the female griffon said. After mentioning her house getting burned down, she did in fact begin look familiar. he had probably seen her while he was helping with the relief effort. Hawthorne really hadn't been planning on sharing a bed that evening, but how was he supposed to say no to someone who had just lost her house?
"Of course, of course. I couldn't possibly send you back into the street." The griffon closed the door to the hallway behind him before stepping forward. "I'm Hawthorne by the way. And yes, my house was burned down too. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to do about that." His home, of course, hadn't been destroyed necessarily because of the rust phoenix, but it had been burned down none-the-less. For now it was probably best to keep details on the incident scant.
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 18, 2012 12:38:14 GMT -5
"Good," The griffon said, walking up to him, letting him get into the room. "But now that you closed that door..." She said with a maniacal grin, almost laughing in spite of herself. Hawthorne suddenly felt something sharp and pointy on his ribs. "I think it's time you spilled the beans... Tell me everything you know, and I'll make it quick. If not, I have all night, and this inn is well reputed for catering to the... stranger tastes... So I hardly think we'll be interrupted.
Hawthorne felt the prick of her blade push further against his rib cage, drawing blood this time. If she stabbed him in that position, it would be fatal, he would be dead. She whispered in his ear, "Now tell me all you know, little bird... Tell me every single thing you've written in those precious journals of yours..."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 18, 2012 12:58:51 GMT -5
Before Hawthorne knew what had happened, the female griffon had suddenly put a blade to his ribs. The professor froze in fear, almost unbelieving his turn of events. Tempest (or more likely someone working for her) now had him at blade-point. How had she known what hotel he would be staying at, or even what room? He had no idea, but that was hardly the first thing on his mind right now.
"Th-they're just notes!" he said nervously. "There's several years worth of information in there, b-but I don't even know what you're looking for. One of them's mostly from an excursion to Bay Lachance two years ago. There's a lot on plants and some animals in Stone Valley. There's a few pages on a fungus I discovered a while back, but I don't know what exactly you're trying to find in there. A-and I'm not sure how useful what random tidbits I can pull off the top of my head are going to be, especially considering how long I've been writing those things."
Hawthorne gulped as he finished, not sure what was going to happen next. If she wasn't satisfied with his answer, the other griffon might very well skewer him right then and there. But what else was he supposed to do? He had no idea what they wanted from him. Her request was like asking someone to summarize an encyclopedia.
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 18, 2012 13:08:24 GMT -5
"Oooh, well that just makes you worthless, doesn't it, my little birdie?" He felt her blade penetrate his ribs, "Guess I can do it slowly then." She said, he could feel her hot breath on his cheek as her other talon carressed his neck. The wound she has inflicted in his ribs was only going deeper as she continued to slowly push the dagger further in. She was right however, the inn was known for less than savory things, even should he scream, no one would come to his rescue, he would be all alone, dying, screaming, possibly making the griffon enjoy herself all the more.
But just like that, the griffoness was thrown against the wall with the force of the arrow that was now embedded through her brain, her eyes wide open, blade stuck firmly in Hawthorne's side, but she was now dead, pinned by the head against the wall of the room.
"Too bad, she looked well enough." Hawthorne heard Aeolus' familiar voice as the griffon in question hopped through the window.
"Figured nothing was going to happen while I was around. Should have known she was tailing us back there. You alright?" He asked, examining Hawthorne's fresh wound, easily removing the dagger, almost carelessly, before slapping some adhesive bandage on Hawthorne's wound. Hawthorne noticed it was completely transparent. "Should stop the bleeding for now, will stitch you up in just a bit, let me just search up this pretty bird here." He said, "Just look at these curves, oh such potential. If only she wasn't a crazy assassin." He said, feeling the griffon up top to bottom before finally finding another Tempest Token, "There we go," He said, "No note on this one, hmm..." At that he pulled out his metallic talon, "Might not want to look at this, friend." He commented, before viciously disembowling the griffon, pulling out a crumpled, stained note from her abdomen. "Swallowed it, naturally."
"... Failed us, you're up next. If he has no information do whatever you like with him, so long as he's not breathing by morning. ..." The Griffon read, "A whole bunch of unreadable... hmm oh here. He probably has no idea how useful his information actually is. With those journals we'll be able to finally find it. Huh, find what? And of course it's signed with a T." The griffon looked suspiciously at the note, the disemboweled griffon and then back at Hawthorne. "Looks like you found something, whether you know it or not."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 18, 2012 13:30:00 GMT -5
Hawthorne winced as the griffon dug her dagger deeper into his ribs. This was it. He was going to die slowly at the talons of a sadistic female griffon. What a way to go.
But suddenly, the griffon was thrown against the wall, an arrow now lodged firmly in her head. The professor stared wide-eyed at the now-deceased griffon until hearing a familiar voice from the window outside. It was Aeolus. He had stopped the attacker at the last moment. Apparently he never really had left Hawthorne. Before he knew it, the military griffon had pulled out the dagger and put an adhesive bandage in it's place. "I think I'll be fine," Hawthorne answered, looking down at the bandage. "Only the second time someone's tried to kill me today."
Hawthorne had to look away as Aeolus pulled out the assassin's innards, stifling a gag before the other griffon had found what he was looking for: another note. Hawthorne listened as Aeolus read it, now confirming without a doubt that his misfortune hadn't been the work of a clever mugger. "I guess so. There's not really anything in those journals that sticks out more than the others, but I suppose they're looking for information on something."
The professor let out a sigh, lifting his glasses and rubbing his eyes. "I'm really not safe in Royal Rocks, am I? I can't even spend a night in a hotel without getting stabbed."
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 18, 2012 13:40:32 GMT -5
"No, you aren't, well, not by yourself anyway." Aeolus said, tapping Hawthorne's back again roughly, "Alright now stay perfectly still so I can stitch this." He said, turning back and pulling out a needle and medical thread, shoving Hawthorne roughly on the bed and pinning him down with all of his weight. "Just to make sure you don't move, otherwise I might end up expanding the wound." He said, "All you civilians are so wriggly." At that he plunged the needle through the transparent bandage, quickly and with surgical precision stitching up Hawthorne's wounded side. Obviously a skill all 4th fleet personnel had perfected. The needle however, was coated in antiseptic cleansing material, and it burned as hard as Rust Phoenix's fire, causing pain several great measures more than there was before.
"So basically, I have no real idea how to help you out. You know? We'll probably have to go underground for a bit. I'll let my superiors know about this poor thing," The griffon nodded towards the dead assassin, with one last click of disappointment of his tongue, "And then we'll go radio silent. Probably has a lot of contacts in the Navy."
"Could have used more info on those two, but they'll probably both end up with no record and completely unrelated to one another." Aeolus continued, "I say we pick the safe route, go underground, get your feathers dyed maybe, try to find your real journals, maybe snoop around for a bounty on your head. Has to be something."
And Hawthorne's wound was completely stitched, burning like an inferno, but stitched nonetheless. Though it impeded his movement and hurt as though it was singed shut, it did look a whole lot better than moments ago. "Alright let's scarper out of here for a bit, put this on." Aeolus said, throwing a cloak over to Hawthorne, putting one on himself, and hopping back to the window. "I say we go to the edge of town, hang around there with all the middle class. Maybe find a barn to crash in. Just make sure to keep a low profile and not talk to anyone."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 18, 2012 15:24:23 GMT -5
Hawthorne suddenly found himself pinned to the bed as Aeolus stiched his wound back together. The needle he was using burned and stung his skin like no other, but the professor remained as still as he could and refrained from making any sounds. It wasn't until Aeolus had finished the procedure that he was finally allowed up from bed, though he found sitting up greatly exaggerated the burning pain in his side. He put a talon over the newly-repaired wound, shooting a look at Aeolus as if to say that a warning would have been nice.
"Going underground, dying my feathers..." he thought to himself. He wasn't even sure how much that was going to do. His type wasn't as common as others within the city, and they stood out a lot more too. His crest feathers were probably going to need to be clipped as well, all this because he had written something in his journals that some shadowy triad now wanted.
"Low profile, don't talk to anyone," Hawthorne repeated as he put the cloak on. The stinging of his wound spiked again as he took a step towards the window, but he did his best not to show it. "You'll know what's best at this point."
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 18, 2012 22:46:09 GMT -5
"Man she must really want you dead if she sent two people after you in the same day." Aeolus said as he spread his wings and began gliding down, Hawthorne in tow, "Just be careful flapping, don't want to open that wound up." He swerved to the right however, flying through the middle class cots and taking a short break in the space between a cot's ceiling and the cliff side. It was too low for them to stand up straight, but in there they were practically invisible.
Aeolus crawled deeper into the space, now barely able to lift his head at all, and then began crawling from one cot to another. Crawling in that area was less than comfortable, to think they could have walked the terrace that was just above them had they not been hiding. Finally after a while of such crawling they descended in the tight space between two cots, arriving unseen in one of the lower rings of the city. At this time there weren't many out and about either.
Aeolus switched Hawthorne and his own cloaks inside out, the fabric on the inside being black as opposed to the bright grey one on the outside. "Well that should throw them off if anyone was stalking us, I think. Now we just need a place to stay for the night. Should be some roc pens up ahead, we could try those, if you don't mind the smell."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 18, 2012 23:28:32 GMT -5
Hawthorne nodded at Aeolus's warning about flapping, following the other griffon from the hotel window to their destination. Despite his best efforts while flying and crawling through the narrow confines Aeolus was leading him through, the burning in his wound amplified with even the smallest of movements. The stitched-up wound was tender to say the least. The professor let out a deep breath once they had finally reached their destination, glad to no longer be moving for the time being.
"I don't have much room to complain," Hawthorne said. "Right now I'd rather put up with the smell than spend all night worrying about who's going to come after me next." The professor restrained a yawn, now aware of how exhausted his recent turn of events had left him. "I should really thank you for all you've done. Needless to say, without your help I'd be dead right now."
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 19, 2012 0:29:03 GMT -5
"Well don't fret about it. There's little call for gratitude, doing it just as much for my sake as I am for yours. After all, this could be one big career jump for me." The griffon mentioned, "Though the smell certainly would help if we're going to snoop around, of course we'll have to pretty you up. You already have a stab wound, but we need to do something about your face, and your feathers, give you a more rugged look. Ah well, I reckon we've still got a couple of days before we can do anything. So we'll work on that."
At that he led Hawthorne through the barely lit sections of the lower ring up until they reached one of the larger roc pens. Each pen had several roomy cots for the rocs. Aeolus had to wake one up and ask it nicely to let them stay. It agreed, wrapping its wings around them to conceal them and to keep them warm. The rest of the night passed undisturbed.
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 19, 2012 9:23:15 GMT -5
Hawthorne followed Aeolus to one of the roc pens, the two finding a roc hospitable enough to let them spend the night in its cot. The professor spent a few minutes awake in silence, thinking to himself. Thinking about how just a few hours ago he had been expecting to spend the evening in his own bed. Thinking about what what was going to happen next. Thinking about what in the world Tempest was looking for in his journals. The thinking did little to provide answers, or comfort, and soon enough the griffon had closed his eyes.
Sleep came quickly and, surprisingly, uninterrupted. Maybe it was from how tired he was from helping the relief effort. And almost getting killed. That was an energy drainer as well. He woke up once, but not knowing what time it was and unable to do anything until Aeolus was up, Hawthorne quickly closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 19, 2012 9:47:55 GMT -5
Aeolus woke up not much later than Hawthorne did, hopping out of the cot and stretching his wings gingerly, digging up the bow from beneath the cot where he placed it and his steel talons. "Up and at 'em professor." He said, "Time to make you far prettier!"
At that he yanked the professor out of the cot and threw him face first into the ground. After that he made sure to rub his face in it until it was raw and sore. "Sorry, but looking battle worn is a must if you're gonna mingle."
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Ambrosios
Griffons
Disciple Griffon
"And from the ashes, life begins anew."
Posts: 150
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Post by Ambrosios on Nov 19, 2012 10:05:49 GMT -5
Not a moment after Hawthorne had begun to drift back to sleep, he was jostled awake by Aeolus throwing him out of the cot and face-first into the ground. He lifted his head to spit out some dirt, only to have it rubbed back into the ground. Aeolus didn't let up until his face had become decidedly aching. "Have you ever considered giving a warning before you do something like that?" Hawthorne asked irritably as he pulled himself up, rubbing his now sore face.
"And mingle with who exactly?" The griffon pulled out his glasses and put them back on, blinking a few times before looking back at Aeolus. "I still have very little idea as to what your plan is."
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Post by Red Charge on Nov 19, 2012 10:56:47 GMT -5
"Oh and these have to go." Aeolus said, snatching Hawthorne's glasses and crushing them in his steel talon, breaking the glass and bending the frame beyond repair. "Hmm," He said, observing Hawthorne's dirty and scrubbed face. Then violently ruffling his face and crest feathers, yanking a few in the process. "Ah much better, now you look much better." He continued to then ruffle and yank feathers out of Hawthorne's chest and back.
"Good, now you look much more like a ruffian, just need something else... hmm... Oh right, your beak, way too shiny, grab a rock from over there and let's weather it a bit." Aeolus instructed. "Of course, we'll still have to dye your feathers, maybe mess them up some more, stains and whatnot."
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