The Return of Gaia and Stormwing

A small, musical screech announced the arrival of the only other winged griffin volpe in existence. Well, maybe not quite. Their eggs most definatly existed, and they were of their speices. "Stormwing!" A voice called out, just as musical as the screech, but still with a hint of the wildness of a bird of prey.

She had flowen here, of course. Legs that were of two different creatures were no good for walking long distences, and why would any creature who had wings want to be confined to the ground?

She flapped once or twice to slow down her speed, pushing againt the wind and the air. She seemed to hover there, half blocking out the sun with the span of her wings. She made a few small ajustments to her tail feathers, and then sank down to the ground, landing with a small bump and running awkwardly to meet him almost before all four of her feet were on the ground.

"I missed you!" She said when she had finally reached him. She reached out and carefully tugged a bent feather on his head back into the right place. It was almost like the volpe version of grooming. The love was plain in her voice, and in her actions. She quivered with it she was so full of feeling for her mate.

(2)

She nibbled gently at his face as well, disarranging the feather that she had just put back into place. Her blue eyes were full of worry that she was trying not to let her mate see. "They haven't hatched yet." She said finally, drawing back from their embrace of sorts and looking down at the ground. "It must be something I'm doing wrong." She worried, looking close to tears.

She had been trying to hide her worries from herself as well as him, for what now seemed like forever. "Maybe they won't hatch at all, and it'll be all my fault. I should have let you take them home to watch over until they hatched." Her wings flapped, like someone in distress flapping their arms, and her talons dug grooves in the soft dirt, uprooting some of the beautiful flowers.

"And now look what I've done." She said suddenly, tears running down her face and beak. "I haven't seen you for so long, and now I've spoiled our time together." She sat down in the grass-free area that she had made suddenly, looking miserable. "They're never going to hatch Storm Wing, and it's all my fault. I'm not fit to be a mother, not fit to be a griffen!"

Gaia looked up, tears still glistening in her eyes. "Are you sure Storm Wing?" She asked, the hint of a sob still in her voice, but hope was there too. "I'm just so worried about them, they don't roll around or make small chirps or anything like that. They don't even have their first crack yet." She said sadly. "It's hard to think they will hatch when there's no sign of life from them."

At the moment Gaia envyed the volpes, those stupid, earthbound dog-like creatures. At least their chicks, pups she thought they were called, were born already hatched. Even if they slept all day, the riase and fall of their breathing would tell their parents that they were alive. With the eggs there was nothing, as though they were just hollow objects without anything inside them.

Storm Wing's comforting words were getting through to her though. "It's just so hard not knowing." She finished, without the sob in her voice. Trying to take her mind off of the eggs, she opened her wings wide, flapped them a few times, and then grinned half heartedly, trying to reassue him that she was better. "Would you like to fly with me Storm Wing?" She asked.

(6)

(OOC: Well, the eggs have hatched, but roleplay as if they didn't? Oh, and we sort of have to finish this breeding before I'm banned from the computer for summerschool.. If it turns out that we don't finish it, you can feel free to get breedery eggs from they with my coins, and keep all the eggs. I still feel guilty for not posting very often on these two's last breeding )

She listened to his words, drinking them in as though they were the substance she needed to survive. Well, perhaps it wasn't quite that drastic, but his words had soothed her troubled thoughts. After all, he was right. She had seen many of the more canine volpes with pup, and it was also true that their pups didn't show at all, not even an egg to show that there might be something in there.

"Thank you Stormwing." She said quietly. "For reassuring me." She brushed him lightly with a wing, a small smile coming onto her face. He had given her hope, which to her right then was the best gift in the world.

"Now come." She said, much calmer than she had been before. "Let us fly, for we have not seen each other in a long, long time." She wasn't quite sure where the random formal talk had come from, but she sort of liked it, it made her feel more elegant and intelligent than the dog volpes.

She beat her wings faster, preparing to lift off, but not quite fast enough for that. One eye remained on Stormwing. Her paws would leave the ground when his did.

(8)

Gaia felt a little thrill in her heart as he took off, and she quickly gave her wings the last bit of power needed. Then the ground dropped away from her as well, and she was flying, with Stormwing. She had dreamed of this day since they had parted what seemed like so long ago, and now it had finally come again.

As was her way, she began to do mid air tricks, swooping and soaring, diving and backflips. She let out a screech of pure happiness. With Stormwing, her life was complete.

(10)

Gaia flew with Stormwing, her mind now at complete peace. In fact, it was much the same as before, when she had first flown with him. The feelings were the same, except, if possible, even deeper.

"Stormwing?" She asked suddenly. "I... I know we already have eggs, but what would you say to having more? We are in the breeding garden after all, or, well, above it. She gestured with one front talon to the beautiful garden below. "I think our other ones will hatch soon, and I know you'll be taking one of the chicks home with you. The other one may be lonely."

She knew that she was just looking for an excuse to have more eggs. The truth was that she loved Stormwing, and wanted more than anything in the world to have more eggs, simply so that when they were apart, she could look at her chicks and see parts of him in them. She already had one, but that wasn't enough. A thousand wouldn't have equaled Stormwing, but one or two more would be better than just the one she had now, plus Gaia was a very motherly Gryphon by instinct. She wanted something else to take care of once the eggs had hatched, because she had heard from somewhere that Gyrphons were born fully grown.

(12)

His answer made her feel as light as a cloud. She did a sudden summersault in the air, brushing her wings against his own. All thoughts of eggs that may not hatch were gone now. Nothing mattered in the world except for him. The world ceased to exist in her mind when he was around.

She didn't see the black of the stormclouds they were flying underneath, or hear the warning growl of thunder in the distence. Even the rain made as little impact as a speck of dust to her. The lightning sure woke her up though.

It flashed around the two griffens suddenly, followed by an earspliting snarl of thunder. The rain slackened briefly, as if it didn't want to compete with the brillient light, then resumed with all the force it had, until Gaia could feel it weighing down her wings. "Stormwing!" She called out in terror, hoping that he could hear it over the fresh crack of thunder. How could she have been so stupid in letting her mind wander like that?

The wind beat agaisnt her, howling in her ears and preventing her from landing. It was a tiny bit calmer just below the clouds, not throwing her around quite as much, but flying so close to the huge black mass came with its own problems.

The rain hammared agaisnt her, and she could feel her wing beats slowing with the steady buildup of water. She had flowen right into the storm, and now she couldn't see Stormwing anywhere. She just hoped that his feathers weren't as soaked with water as her's were. She felt the grim realization that she couldn't possibly land saftly by herself, she would break a wing or a leg.

At that exact moment that the thought occured to her, the rain became too much for her tired wings. She struggled in vain to lift them again. For a second that seemed to last forever, she thought that she would make it, but then her wings gave out entirly, folding into her side. She spirled into a headfirst uncontrolible dive.

The steep angle of it took her out from underneath the stormcloud, but now the gravity of the planet was pulling her down as well as the weight of the rain, and she couldn't unfold her wings, could only watch helplessly as the ground drew nearer and nearer.