The Return of Gaia and Stormwing

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

Stormwing shuffled his missmatched feet as he waited for the arrival of Gaia. She had promised to meet him here today ate sunhigh and it was getting tewards that time already. He couldent wait to see her again, he seemed to meet up with her a lot less then he woudl like. He really wanted to find out how the egss were doing. Did they seem close to hatching? Were they OK? Who was looking after them while she was gone? Ryuu had had a hard time persuadding him to stay in the Crystal Caverns and not going off to live with Gaia.

[Wolf]

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)

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

He had called back in equal joy to his mate, raesing his wings in the air and rearing up in welcome. He was so glad to see her again and he was sure she looked even prettyer then normal.
There was no bent feather on her to put back into place, she alwasy seemed emaculate no matter what shed been up to. Instead he nibbled gently with his beack at the feathers on the side of her face, it was a friendly and coused a plesently ticklish sensation. He chirreped back to her just how much he too had missed her. and asked how the eggs were doing.
(3)

[Wolf]

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!"

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

He puched his beak into the feathers further back, a gryphnes attempt at comoforting. "Done worry." He told her in a soothing voice. "Weve never met any others to ask how long it should take for the egss to hatch but ive heard of some of thsoe no-wing muds having eggs that took forever to hatch but did in the end. Im sure ours will soon and that you will be a wonderful mother." He hated seeing her like this and hoped his words would do somwthing to comfurt her.

[Wolf]

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)

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

"Im sure" He told her, though his mind was really tinged with dought. What if he was wrong? What if they never hatched? He shook his head slightly to rid himself of such gloomy thoughts.
"I know it must be hard, I mean it is for me and it must be even worse for you, watching and watching but seing nothing. I am sure they will hatch soon though. When a volpe-dog first gets pregnent you cant even tell theres pups in there. It only when her stumach swells that you know shes carrying pups at all, so a egg woundent show sighns of life either to begin with. But after a while they will start moving."
She wanted him to fly with her did she? "I would love to." He replied with a bow.

[Wolf]

(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)

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

Oh how he loved her...she was so elegent, so gorgues, so perfect. and it was him she loved! Him! He basked in her glory. And now it was time to fly. He beat his blu wings, watching the rapid movement of Gaias almost black and gray ones. Suddenly, with on elast powerful beat he felt himself leaving the ground. He loved to fly but had resently found it to not feel quite as great as it used to. He knew it was becouse he had been flying without Gaia.
(9)

[Wolf]

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)

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

He let out a long screech to show how much he was enjoying himself too. It was bliss to have the wind ruffle his feathers as well as having the volpe he loved a thousend times more then anything in the world flying up there with him. What could be better then this? Nothing.
He joined in her air acrobatics, spinning throuth the air one minute, dropping like a stoen to almost to the ground the next and then swooping back up again to join Gaia. They where much higher then any other type of volpe could go.

[Wolf]

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)

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

"Anything for you Gaia, and I must say it wouldent be any hardship on my part. I would love to have more chicks around and your right, my keeper will look after one of the chciks and we really woudletn want the two to grow up by themselves with only dog volpes around their age that they coudl play with. I mean, who could they race through the skys while we are trying to sleep?" She smiled at her, his voice light and carsefree. All his worries just seemed to disapear when she was near.
(13)

[Wolf]

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.

[~*Ryuu Squall*~]

One secound, all was good in teh world. The next he swrved to avoid going under a large raincloud he hadent noticed till then. And then Gaia was gone. What? He just couldent work out what had happened. Where was she? He flew back and forth looking for her, making sure he wanst overtaken by the cloud. Then a thought strcuk him like the lightning bolts he could see flashing before his eyes, the cloud! Maybe she had flown bellow it. Even from here he coudl feel the hard patter of rain. He was used to flying in rain and had trained his wing muscles to kope with the added waight, but had Gaia?
He dived beneagh the cloud, emidiatly getting battered from one sode to anotehr as hard, stinging rain pelted him and thunder crashed round his head. It was just as a lightning flash lit up the sky that he saw her, falling. Falling! For an awfull secound he thought she was dead, but then his keen eyes saw her despratly trying to open her wings. Without a secounds thought, he closed his tight to him. She was very nearly right under him, but he had no chamnce of catching up with her if she didient manage to open her wings, at least a little.
(15)