I walked through the street trying to keep a neutral face as I felt the gazes of those around me. Ugh, this is so awkward. I glanced up at the pint sized griffin laying outstretched smugly on my head.

It was about 10 in the morning and Tina had come over to Sawyer's place to make sure that he had woke up and was ready to go to Geno's. Now we had left Sawyer's place and were walking through the streets of Lower Griphonia. Tina had decided to lay atop my head, which made it so she was at about eye level with most adult griffins. This scene however is causing every passerby to stare curiously at the seemingly two year old human with a smaller than average griffin child riding on his head. It also didn't help that I had to wear a stupid leather collar with Trist's initials on it; otherwise I would had been seen as a stray human and taken away. All of this added together made me very nervous and uncomfortable, so much in fact that Tina apparently took notice.

"You know, I used to live with my parents." She began telling me as I walked, "I started living with Uncle Geno about four years ago. He was a close friend of my parents. I can't remember much of that night, I was too sleepy. I do remember my parents leaving me with Uncle and leaving in a hurry." She stopped talking for a bit. "They didn't even leave me anything..." There was another silence. I glanced up to see Tina with a sullen look. As I was about to comfort her she changed the topic. "But that doesn't mean I hate Uncle Geno. I really like my life with him. He makes good food and he's even going to pay for me to start going to school next year."

Uhh... This is all interesting. Learning about Tina's past a bit. I took a second to look around again. That still doesn't really change the fact that there are more people staring. I decided to get this over with as fast as possible and picked up my pace. I blindingly turned down a damp side alley, thinking that it was a shortcut. However I was immediately bombarded by a weak pounding on my forehead.

"Oi! You took a wrong turn nitwit!" Tina continued to attack my head as I slowed to a stop. "You weren't supposed to turn into here. What the hell is wrong with you?!" I sighed as Tina switched personalities and turned back onto the correct path; the path of awkward stares.

\\

As we finally approached Geno's we could see through the windows that they were already quite busy. From what I could see most of the tables had families of customers chatting and eating. I saw a single griffin waitress going left and right from table to table. Her feathers seemed ruffled from all the work she was handling by herself. Why is there only one waitress?

"Uh oh," I heard Tina mutter she tapped the side of my head with her claw. "quick, let's get inside." I pushed open the door and a bell attached to the top of the door jingled. The waitress spun around and showed a face of relief.

"Oh thank you! Tina you're back." She placed a pair of dishes she was holding onto their tables and walked over.

"Cassy, why are you working alone? Where's Brushes?" Tina asked, back to her normal facade.

"Inked Brush never showed up to work. I've had to handle all the tables myself." She sighed.

"That's typical of him. He cares more for his hobby than he does making a living. You have no need to fear now though Cassy! I've brought help." Tina patted my head. Cassy didn't respond at first and just had a look of confusion on her face. "Don't worry. I'll tell him what to do. He can follow commands really good. In fact, introduce yourself to him."

"I don't got the time for that Tina."

"Com' on."

"Check please?" A griffin from a nearby table asked.

Cassy turned to the lady. "Just a moment ma' am." And turned back around. "My name is Cassandra. I've been working here for two years, and I'm Tina's friend." She quickly said. "Now if you don't mind Tina, but I have to serve some customers. If you're going to help then table two needs their drinks, and table five's food is ready." Cassandra walked over to the mother.

"Alrighty Phantom, let's go grab the drinks." Tina pointed towards the back of the restaurant. "Onwards!" I marched forward, careful not to hit anyone or thing.

I looked around at the different assortment of people sitting down to eat. Wait, so they have each of these tables numbered and memorized? There are almost over 20 tables in here! I felt a pull on my hair and yelped in response.

"You weren't stopping." Tina flat out told me. "Grab that tray." I looked beside me and picked up the tray that was lying there. "Now pick up the coffee." I grabbed the hot mug sitting on the window showing the kitchen and waited on what to do next. "Now to table to!" Tina exclaimed. I didn't move.

Which one is table two? I tried to look up at her with a blank face. Tina looked at me in return.

"Don't know which table?" I slightly nodded. "It's the one with the lone blue pony over there." Tina pointed towards the front of the restaurant. I saw the table. It was close to the front entrance and had a blue earth pony looking at a newspaper. I started heading over to the front. This time I noticed that a few of the kids from the tables were eyeing me curiously. I tried to ignore them but...

Uuoowwhhh They are watching me closely. Let's just get this over with. Maybe I'll get used to it. I stopped at table two and placed the cup of coffee down.

"Here's your clack coffee sir." Tina got the attention of the blue pony. He looked up from his paper and seemed unsure of what to think of the pair serving his coffee.

"Uh, thank you." He decided to say. As he lowered the paper to drink his coffee I caught a glimpse of the newspaper's title: The Vanhandle Incident.

"Come on. We got to take that table's order." I turned to face the table she pointed to, only to find that it was the table right next to us.

Whoa. I re-positioned myself so that we were out of the way of anyone.

"Hello, welcome to GENO'S. I am Tina and this is," Tina poked me and motioned for me to follow up. So I grabbed a notepad from one of my pockets.

She wants me to tell my name right? Let's come up with a better name than Trist did. I wrote down the name 'Brandon' and presented it to the table. The two kids gasped in surprise and the mother had a look of awe. Then one son immediatly responded.

"Cool!"

"That is impressive." The mother agreed. Tina smiled at the response of the customers.

"Brandon is a family friend's pet. She was the one who taught him how to write." Before any of them could ask another question she continued her work. "Now, are you all ready to order?"

"Oh! Yes." The lady, who I presume is the mother of the two sons now just staring at me, answered. "I will have the chicken caesar salad and a glass of water. He will have chicken tenders with fries and a Chocomilk, and he will have the GENO hamburger kid's meal."

"With a Fizzy Fizz soda!" The second son added.

"With a Fizzy Fizz soda." The mother added. I was listened intently as Tina nudged me and motioned to write.

What? I have to write this down? I flipped up the page and wrote the three orders as best as I could.

"Is that all?" Tina asked.

"Yes please." The mother handed the menu over to me. Tina then pointed over to the kitchen window.

Once reaching the window, through the the forest of stares, Tina told me to rip off the page with the orders and attach it to one of the clips. She also reminded me to write down the table number. As I clipped the piece of notepad paper I saw Thomas walk up to the window.

"Oh, hey Tina." He looked at me, "And human." He looked back up at Tina. "Does he got a name?"

"Yeah, Brandon."

"Alright... Here are the orders for five." He placed down two plates. One had a steakburger with curly fries and a whole pickle. The second was a hayburger and a small salad on the side. I picked up the two plates and placed them on the tray. " Huh..." Thomas raised an eyebrow curiously and turned around to continue cooking.

"Okay, now, table five is over there." I looked at the side of the restaurant that had four booths. "The one with the griffin, pegasus and their pet human." I singled out the one booth with the human sitting on the ground beside the booth. As I walked closer with the tray held in front of me. I noticed that the human was wearing pant. Be it almost rag-like pants, they were pants.

"Hi," Tina greeted the two as I stopped beside the booth. "Steak burger with fries?" The griffin lifted his claw. I picked up the plate and slid it in front of him. "And the Hayburger for you." I picked up the hayburger, which still made me question the tastefulness of, and slid it in front of the pegasus. "Do you need anything else?"

"No we're fine." The pegasus smiled and went to work on her food. I moved the tray so I could hold it easily in between my arm and chest. I heard the door jingle to see a group of griffins walk inside chatting up a storm.

"Oh boy, looks like it's the rush hour. Better pick up the pace, break time isn't until six." Tina smirked. "Now let's get to work."

She's going to kill me one day. I moved towards the group as Tina welcomed them to the restaurant.

\\

Ugh. I jumped onto the couch inside the break room. I rolled my head around to get the ache out of my neck. Okay, having even a tiny ass griffin on your head for most of the day will give you a pain in the neck. The break room was quite soothing. There being a table, some cabinets, two potted plants, and a few lockers for employees. I took relaxed breaths as I laid on the couch, but it wasn't long before the silence was interrupted by Thomas. He trudged in with a sigh. He took a glance at me, but said nothing as he took off his apron and hung it on a coat hook. He went over to the side of the room with the lockers and proceeded to preen his feathers and comb his fur. That must be annoying, having to deal with feathers and fur. I scratched the back of my head.

Soon enough Thomas was done and walked out the room, most likely either going home or somewhere. I was about to close my eyes as the door opened again. Tina walked in. "Heyo~" she greeted, loudly might I add, "You ready? Geno is getting set up next door." I looked at her with questioning eyes. "Come on get up." She poked my side. I groaned in response. "Don't you want to learn how to get around here?" That peaked my interest. What does she mean by that? Getting up to a sitting position Tina waited as I stretched. "Good, follow me." She left through the door.

Oddly enough we didn't have to go far. We exited through the kitchen's back door and from he alleyway we just entered the building right next to it. From the looks of it the building was an apartment building; it was about 7 or 8 stories up. I readied myself for what was to come as the door opened to the roof. Geno was sitting on a mattress looking up into the darkening sky. Tina slammed the door shut behind us, startling both me and Geno. "Ah, you're here." He took his time getting up and stretched. "Ready to begin parkour training?"

"Before you get all confused. Tristana asked us to. Running around in the city is way different than in the wild." She walked over to Geno. "There ain't no branches here to help you or soft grass to cushion your fall."

"You'll need this." Geno tossed a green backpack to me. Looking closer the pack had a cord coming from it. "Don't touch the cord right now, just strap it on." He warned me. Without question I put my arms through and secured the pack.

"Alright then, the first thing to know about parkouring. Is to not fall. Simple as that." Tina started to explain in a commanding voice. "If you are wondering why griffins would have to worry about falling. It is because for parkour griffins are challenged to have their wings tied up. This way it poses more of a risk if ya fall. Understood?" I nodded my head. "Good. Parkour is the method of getting from point A to point B in the shortest amount of time without unnecessary movements. However most like to spice up their runs more for flare." Tina added at the end and motioned to walk over to her. "Since you're a newbie and all, Geno got an old parachute for ya. Just pulled the cord when falling and you probably maybe okay."

"It may be out of date, but I'll be around if you fall. So no worries." Geno said from the side. "Though to give you the same risk, I won't save you in the future."

"Let's get started. You'll learn better from watching since, well you can't talk. So watch closely." Tina backed up from the ledge. Once getting back far enough she sprinted as fast as she could, which was quite fast for small griffin as Tina. She leaped off the side and landed on a windowsill. She gripped onto the side of the window and swung herself to another ledge, quickly using different tricks to make her way up the taller building. Once reaching the top she turned around and beamed a smirk. "Well? What are you just gawking for? Your turn."

She's kidding... Right? I looked at the other building and the distance between the the two buildings. I looked back up at her questioningly. Her smirking face stood unrelenting. I sighed and gave in. I backed up until I was a good distance to get a running start. I looked to see if Geno was nearby and spotted him hovering nearby. Alright. I let go of a deep sigh. I charged at the other building and leaped at the edge. I felt as if I had slipped but the incoming wall proved me wrong. I slammed into the wall, knocking some of the air out of my chest. Before peeling off the wall I instinctively grabbed onto the closest thing I could, which happened to be a windowsill.

I clung onto the windowsill for dear life, and accidentally looked down like an idiot. Oh poop! That's high. My whole body was shaking . The bricks of the wall were not helping either.

"You better get moving, or else you're just going to tire yourself out staying there." I saw Tina looking down at me from the roof of the second building.I groaned and looked for another place to grab and a foothold. I made my way up cautiously, shaking the entire time. Collapsing on the roof of the taller building since Tina decided sat on my chest. " Now then, next part."

Next part? Tina hopped off my chest and I leaned on my elbow just to see as the ran towards the opposite side of the building and jumped off. What?! I got up and rushed to the edge. Looking over I saw Tina land and tumble onto the lower neighboring building. She recovered expertly and looked up to me. It took me a second to realize that she was waiting for me to follow.

"Here's a tip," I didn't notice that Geno had flown up beside me, "try to roll when you land. It'll lessen the impact." It was good advice, but my nervousness must have been noticeable. "Hey, don't worry I may be old, but I'm a fast enough flier still." Geno saying that somewhat comforted me. I looked down the building to see a wide alleyway. I noticed two cats that seemed to be fighting. I verbally sighed as I toughened myself and backed up.

Alright, you can do this Phantom. It isn't that far away. Geno is here, I got a safety pack, and if Tina did it how hard could it be? I stopped walking and shook out my hands and took breaths. I pushed forward and gained speed Don't think about dying from this... Well shit. I got a good position with my foot and pushed off the building.

///

As soon as my feet touched the ground I rolled and continued running across the roof. I jumped and grabbed hold of a ledge. Using my strength I launched myself upwards, skipping some ledges and ascending up the tower at an alarming rate. Each movement was followed by another and I was just speeding up the tower.

Reaching the top I pulled myself onto stable ground. I looked up at the large bell hanging there. I took the time to stretch and look out onto the horizon just as the sun was rising. This has gotten so much easier with practice. As I was soaking in the morning light an arrow abruptly lodged itself into a column beside me making me jump. I turned back to see two griffin guards. The one that had a bow was furiously waving his fist above his head.Oh right, I opened one of my pouches and revealed a hand full of small gemstones sparkling in the light. I poured the gems back into their pouch and sealed it. I looked down the other side of the bell tower I reached for a smoke bomb.

The sunrise was nice and all, but that means the guards should be able to fly freely soon. I looked over the edge to see how far away the guards were. I just barely dodged another arrow as I saw the two guards just lift off the ground. Wow, that guy is a really good shot. I smirked. Alright~. Time to be a little, showy.

I waited a few seconds for the two guards to reach the top of the bell tower. "Hold the shit up you little bastard." Said the guard with a sword.

Yeah, like I'm going to do that. I threw the smoke bomb up into the bell, saluted, and leaned off the tower. I saw smoke erupt from the top of the bell tower. I spun in the air and angled my heels to slide and slow on the slanted tiled-roof. Broken tiles flew around me as I slowed enough to jump down into an alleyway. Quickly taking out a duffel bag, I took off my harness and stuffed it into the bag. I unstrapped my knife and outfit into the bag as well. Once I was in my black underarmor shirt and pants I walked out into the road.

As I walked out into the road there was a small crowd beginning to form in front of the bell tower. Looking up I could see the two guards flying around looking for me. Heheh, another get-away well executed. I mentally chuckled as I walked away to Sawyer's warehouse.

Author's Note

Also Frix, this isn't dead. Just on Hiatus.