Chapter 13 Meeting Old Acquaintances

I stared at a stone statue that was in the middle of a giant canyon that seemed to have been craved out from the mountain. But when I put my claws on it, it felt like what a flowing river current would do to river banks which makes more sense than if it was carved out by hand. The statue though seemed to be the center of attention though the other people in the canyon didn't even look at it, unless they decided to look at the feather headed, homeless looking gryphon that was staring at a statue of what looked like a bee with red jeweled eyes. The statue also had writing engraved in it though I couldn't tell what it said other than it looked similar to that restaurant back in Riverside, the statue also looked like it was carved into a rock that was jutting from the ground since I couldn't see any sign that it was made somewhere else and moved here afterward.

"I wonder what guardian this is suppose to be if it is suppose to be one, hell they could have honored an oversized bee". I muttered that in my breath before dropping my pack and looking into the book I got from Port Dorade. I skimmed through the book looking for a giant bee but saw nothing, so I put it back in my pack and walked past it to go to the other side of the canyon.

When I walked to the exist I looked out and was awestruck, I saw a giant valley filled with green grass and flowers of many different colors that practically blanketed most of the valley. In the relative center of the valley was a giant tree with golden brown colored leaves that was massive, so massive in fact that it looked like the entire town was under it. To the side of the tree there was a few wooden buildings but it honestly didn't look hugely important compared to the tree and it looked out of place. This place looked straight out of a really expensive painting but no it was right here in front of me in all it's glory.

After a while of standing straight just taking in the view I began walking the path toward the tree. It was a dirt path like all the others but it looked like it was traveled on so much that it was completely flat, which it certainly felt like it under my paws that have trodden on so many rock covered paths and probably bled due to the traveling I did early on in my life but this had no rocks. There was nothing on the road as I continued to walk that is until I actually hit the town.

I looked at a sign that said "Welcome to Saint Curtis". Which was a normal wooden town sign other than the fact that it had a painting of a human and jakkai hugging each other. "That's the first time I've seen that on a welcome sign".The odd part wasn't the fact that the jakkai and human were hugging, it was how they were hugging and how it looked and even felt more like a loving embrace than a hug between pals, it also didn't help the human was male and the jakkai female. I decided to stop looking at it and began going into the town proper.

As I walked under the tree, the golden leaves from it began raining down like petals covering sections of the road as I continued walking and looking around at anything that seemed important. But looking out was kind of hard since this city is so...beautiful. It especially doesn't help when practically every building has some kind of flower or decoration that stuck out and grabbed my attention. Eventually I walked passed a few familiar faces from the bandits, I noticed them but it didn't register in my brain that they were there.

But my brain finally caught up to me when I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I jumped away from the hand that touched my right shoulder, and when I finally stopped being startled I looked at the person that touched me and saw Vinyl Scratch standing there trying not to laugh. "Why are you so quiet"! I yelled into her face but she just started laughing so much that she had to hold her stomach and began bending over.

When she started calming down after a long drawn out moment she said while gasping" H-how does some-one like y-you get scared by a single touch hahaha". She began laughing again but not as hard and my irritation only increased as she continued giggling like a teenager. "Why does every girl I meet giggle and laugh at me".I thought, while holding a claw to my forehead and sighing.

After another few moments of her laughing she finally began calming down and I looked around to see quite a few faces looking at us both, some with curiosity the rest with annoyance. When she finally stopped laughing I said" Come with me". And I grabbed the back of her collar when I moved past her toward a side street that looked fairly private and the it wasn't fully lit since the sun wasn't directly on it compared to main street. Vinyl began struggling to try and get herself free from my vice grip but failed, though that didn't stop her from complaining.

She shouted" Let me go you clawed feather head"! She wasn't shouting loud like the entire street could hear her but instead it was like everyone within fifty feet can hear her. So people did continue to look at us now more perplexed and when I looked back I saw that most of the people were either Jakkai or humans. I didn't let that info get to me though so I continued dragging her into the street until I was sure that no one could hear our conversation unless they decided to enter the side street.

I let her go and said" Be quiet you want the entire town to know that we might be undesirables". She stopped thrashing the moment I let go but her face was showing anger which was her face being scrunched up, though it softened a moment after I spoke, though it still held a glare.

She said" Why would we be undesirables in a town like this, and might I add you have a really good grip". I felt like that last part was suppose to be flirty, if I'm remembering how it goes but I genuinely felt more angry when she said that. My glare at her only hardened and we kept silent for an unknown amount of time for whatever reason. "Why the hell are we doing this, we need to find Octavia so they can be together and I can leave sooner".

I sighed and said" Why are we doing this Vinyl we need to find Octavia for Christ sakes". Her face visibly softened and her arms became uncrossed.

She stood there for a second before sighing and said" Yeah you're right why the hell am I even picking a fight with you, I need to find my partner". She shook her head while looking down during the last part but I decided to not press her.

I said to her" Yeah but look at how big this city is" I emphasized by opening my arms" It would be like finding a needle in a haystack that's as big as a house". She began clutching her hands now, showing anger since her hands also began shaking.

She replied in a voice that held anger" What are you going to just quit, since this seems so impossible" I was about to interrupt before she began again" Well I don't care if this might be impossible I will find her whether you help or not"! This unicorn mare did not look like vinyl at all to me. This mare seemed like a emotional, anger filled wreck that just wants to punch me compared to the incredibly relaxed, party animal I met almost five years ago.

After a while I was about to respond to her but when I looked up she was gone. So I was now alone in a unfamiliar city, Looking for a overly emotional party girl and a sophisticated musician that makes nice music. Wait nice music that is all instrumental not electronic and I'm in a beautiful town. So I should look for anything based around musicians then I could find her, but Vinyl is going to probably the hard part if she doesn't go to jail for whatever reason. "Why am I getting into more scenarios like this, since I never wanted to get into situations like this before. Well I guess coming here has done something, along with at least granting me decent people and somehow making me want to help them"?

I sighed and muttered" Well I need to know how I got here so I might as well ask how they got here, That is if they have a clue"? I left the side street back to the main street looking for any object of interest, like posters or people advertising with signs. So far though after walking past about fifty houses I saw no advertisements about music. Though I did see some street performers playing drums, or instruments like flutes and violins. And since I was looking for someone that played string instruments I walked toward all of them, and was disappointed every time. So now I was in the middle of the town sitting at the foot of the giant tree with golden brown leaves that have been falling steadily, feeling tired... yeah that's the word tired and disappointed.

I kept my eyes on the dirt ground to see all the leaves have practically blanketed the ground except for some spots that were bare. I had my pack off and on the ground, leaning on my right shoulder since I like keeping my possessions close. I looked around the plaza from my position to see quite a bit of people conversing and messing around, either laughing or shouting but luckily I didn't see any shoving which will lead to a fight from my experience. I kept on looking at the courtyard for quite a bit longer though to see if I can spot my target but it lead to nothing like everything else.

When I put my head down and sighed after checking the crowd again, I heard the crunch and shuffling of leaves coming toward me so I looked to my left... to see a child. Though this child didn't look like a human but did somewhat, but It looked more like a jakkai though he lacked a tail. The ears were still fairly big for his head and there was still the brown paws and clawed hands they had but he just looked off, like if you had a place and someone rotated a wood carving five degrees. Then again this kid was young so that could explain but it just felt odd since I've seen jakkais and I think I even see some kids in the crowd, but this green overall wearing kid with cream colored fur and brown hair, paws and hands just didn't fit.

I noticed I was staring at the kid so I looked in front of me before I said" What do you want"? in a tired manner. The kid backed away slightly But didn't run away immediately, which for me is good.

"Um what are you"? The kid said in a voice reminiscent of a young boy. I looked toward the kid to see him cover his face in fright when I moved my head fast.

"I'm a gryphon that's down on his luck, what about you... can I at least get a name"? The kid lowered his hands for me to see light blue eyes.

He rubbed his right arm as he said" I'm not allowed to talk to strangers about that but my name is Toby". An odd name for an odd kid.

"So Toby why did you walk over to me". Toby stood there for a couple moments thinking of a response hopefully.

"I wanted to see if you needed some company since you've been sitting there looking lonely". I looked at the kid perplexed but rubbed my face to get the expression off.

"Yeah I guess" I raised one claw "but only if your parents are okay with it". The kid frowned and ran off for a grand total of a minute at least to me, since I haven't seen a clock in the total of a month. But I remember time goes to a practical stand still when your doing nothing, or it will move at the speed of a bullet if you go into a relaxed or half dead state like sleeping or when staring at a really serene place. Eventually the kid returned with a smile on his face but no hop to his step.

"My mom said that I could keep you company". He then stood there to my left straight, not leaning but just straight.

"Um you want to sit next to me and while your doing that why don't you tell me about this place". I padded the ground to my left and he complied to my request. He told me a lot about St. Curtis, from why its called that and some of the goings on that happen in every town. But it was like how a kid would say it so, he said that a huge fire happened in the town back when the jakkai that lived here didn't get along with the humans that lived close by. All the humans didn't care about the jakkai homes catching fire but one human called Curtis ran to help them first and all the humans followed suit. Apparently Curtis was never found after the fire was destroyed so the humans and jakkais that were now getting along named the town after him.

He told it like it was a fairy tale with all the innocent kid stuff added to it but it did seem to be mostly true. Other than for the fact that they most likely found Curtis dead and they decided to honor his memory by naming the town after him, or he did just disappear. Well either way now he more than likely is dead since that story is quite old as he told me but it was how the town was founded.

Eventually a human women walked toward us with slight apprehension but looked kind of angry.

"Sorry I need to go". Toby stood up and walked toward the women who I can only think is his mother. She picked toby up when he got to her feet and I noticed he only got to her knees in height. She continued looking at me though with little is it fear or is she just glaring at me.

Eventually she stopped looking at me and said to toby" You told me you were going to talk to a performer not a" She looked back at me" I'm sorry what are you"?

"I'm a gryphon but everyone else I meet keeps on calling me a demon since I apparently look like one". She gave me a look of shock when she heard demon but calmed after a moment.

She looked at toby and said" Well at least your fine". They then began walking away but my mind suddenly caught up to me and I got up to ask her something.

"Hey mam one second I need to ask you something". She turned around to see me getting up from where I sat.

"Yes what is it"? She stood where she was keeping her attention firmly on me as I finally stood all the way up.

"Yeah I need to ask you is there a musician that looks like a walking horse with two legs, plays a string instrument, might seem lonely". She looked like she was thinking for a few seconds but gave me an answer fairly quickly.

"Yeah I heard about someone like that, they often end up playing down that street". She pointed down a street that was to my left. With little hesitation I picked up my pack and began moving toward the street.

I said while walking away" Thank you for the help". She waved back before putting her hand back onto toby and walked away. I continued walking down the street for a good bit of time since the sun started setting and my paws were beginning to tire. As I was about to sit down next to a bench I started to hear a violin coming from a little further down the street so I instantly bolted up right and began walking with increased speed and stride.

When the music sounded like it was being played almost next to me I looked to my left to see Octavia. She was playing a huge violin or bass, slowly making the music sound less enthusiastic and filled with energy. Her eyes were closed but from my memory that was definitely her, her mane was black but looked less groomed along with her grey fur, her clothes were just a plain white shirt and brown pants, but she kept the pink bow tie on. From what I remembered and heard of her she kept her bow tie on all the time, and the color of her fur stands out from my memory, but I remember her wearing outfits fit for the man with the most expensive taste, not what everyone else was wearing.

I let the song play till she was done as to not bother the other listeners and for me to enjoy it, it was actually really good to me though I have never been one for slow and somber though I can register good music when I hear it. There were several others listening to the music, most of them were young though a few adults stopped and listened till it ended, it was a mix of jakkai and humans like every other place I've seen. When the music started slowing down to almost nothing I noticed a hurt expression on Octavia's face and it stayed there until the giant violin stopped and her hand went limp to the side. When the music was done everyone began clapping and a couple of the adults put money in a black case that probably held the giant violin, the kids just continued to clap though one jakkai nervously creeped over to the case and put a copper coin in.

I kept my vision on the child but my view changed when I heard" Thank you". In a heavily accented voice that came from next to the kid. I looked and saw Octavia with a happy smile on her face though I could tell from her eyes that they were sad, I stayed there watching the child scamper off on all fours down the street, along with everyone that attended the small orchestra. I eventually looked back to see Octavia collecting the money from more than likely the day of playing, completely oblivious to my continued presence.

I slowly walked over to her and said" I never expected to see you play on the street". She looked up at me and looked back with a confused expression.

She said in a confused manor" I beg your pardon". She just looked at me oddly as if she's trying to figure out this feather brained stranger.

I said" Octavia you don't remember me the one gryphon that you dubbed as a disrespectful drunk, and then asked me to leave but vinyl said" no he's actually fun compared to all the nobles with sticks up their asses" and then you let me stay for five minutes". Her face stayed the same and then changed from realization, anger, confusion, and then is that relief. She visibly relaxed and exhaled a breath she must have been holding. I walked up in front of her only to be slapped, causing me to stumble back a few steps.

She said" That was for the disrespect you showed me back then but... it's good to see a familiar face". I rubbed my left cheek slowly as she sighed, and went back to putting back her giant violin.

I said" Is it a violin or a bass by the way"? I generally don't know much about instruments other than trumpets and horns.

She sighed in annoyance and said" A bass is what I'm using, a violin is much smaller and what is the real reason you came here since you seem to only go somewhere with an objective". She was visibly angry with me but she softened as the sentence went on.

"I came looking for you because of Vinyl and my own curiosity".

She responded immediately" What does vinyl want"! She said it with a higher tone than her quiet tone from earlier, her face also started scrunching up in irritation.

I said cautiously" She's worried for you since I don't know, she didn't say why you guys weren't together hell I only assumed you were here since this is one of the biggest towns on my map". I dropped my pack and pulled out the map that was on the top of everything. She looked at me still looked angry though her face lessened.

She stayed silent for a moment before saying" it's funny how your assumption is right but how and why are you here, and why are you getting involved with me and vinyl"? I was about to respond but the words never came but I stayed there while trying to figure out the reason why to somethings. But I haven't really been thinking a lot about what was happening more like I was just going with it, and I felt better about doing that though not much. I put the map back on top of the items in my pack.

I said to her with a sigh" I Don't know why I'm here in this world but I know you two could at least inform me of how you got here I guess that is why I'm getting involved"? I said it with very little enthusiasm a lot like a unsure child just doing something without thinking and having to explain it to someone. Her face of anger and frustration completely disappeared but she didn't respond for a few minutes as she silently packed up the rest of her instrument. She began walking toward a nearby wooden bench and sat on it patting the seat next to it, I took the hint and sat down putting my pack onto the ground to my left, while she put her case in front on the ground.

She said with confidence" I will tell you how we got here to the best of my ability, and you will tell me how you did...deal"? She brought her left hand at me and held it firmly in place next to me, and I slowly brought my right claw and shook her hand once with a firm grip.

I said" Deal but we got to find Vinyl first". I then began to stand up but Octavia grabbed my left claw and began pulling me back. I looked at her but she held her eyes down, not even budging.

I said" Let go Octavia we got to find her or I fear she might do something crazy". She snapped to look me in the face with a worried expression.

She said" Why is she ok"? I looked at her oddly but ignored asking why she was suddenly worried since last time I mentioned Vinyl she reacted with anger.

I said while rubbing the back of my head with my now free claw" I don't know she was erratic in the sense of emotions last time I saw her, one second she's teasing me the next she screams and looks like she wants to kill me". She looked at me with continued worry on her face.

She said" When was the last time you talked".

I sighed and said" I don't know but it was shortly after I entered town but this was happening back when I first saw her I think". Her ears rose in interest most likely.

"When did you to first meet and what was odd"? I scratched the back of my head in thought that looked like was beginning to get on her nerves.

I said" Probably four days ago I think but she kept on teasing me since I needed to see someone I left, but she just kept on like I know you have a romantic engagement kind of thing, I don't by the way if you ask". She began giggling a little bit which made me look at her with a glare.

Octavia said while flapping a hand" She does that to everyone, though who did you have to see and what place did you meet since it takes more than four days to get here from port Dorade". I kept a emotionless expression as I though of an answer that wasn't I killed a entire bandit camp and left only one of them alive. I was about to tell her the caravan Vinyl was riding had issues with a wheel but I suddenly felt a hand lay on my back and saw another landed on Octavia's, along with the sound of a rustling bush. I looked at the assailant quickly and punched him in the face, my claw hurt a little but the person ended up falling over and landed with a thud.

I turned around fully in my seat and saw James clutching his now bleeding nose, and muttering in pain along with some colorful language. I was kind of surprised in all honesty to see him here, behind me, and now with a bleeding nose and in a fair amount of pain. Though I'm honestly more confused with why he was following me and more importantly snuck up behind me and laid a hand on me thinking I wouldn't react negatively.

I looked at him and said" James don't do that again if you know what's good for you"! He stopped clutching his face to look at me with a angry glare though lost it's effect when more blood leaked out and he grasped his face again. I turned to look at Octavia who left the bench and was now standing behind the bench looking down at James.

She said In a low voice" James why are you here"? She extended an arm to him while he was in a sitting position, though he was leaned back so far it would seem he was laying but he was just in the middle of the process of sitting up. He took the hand graciously and stood up though stumbled a bit when he got on his feet, due to the head trauma. He glared at me through out the entire process.

James said" Thanks but seriously why did you punch me, OW"! He flinched and began clutching his nose again which was still bleeding pretty badly. I just continued to look at him while thinking"Seriously I didn't punch him that hard, though I don't tend to see the after math".

I shrugged and said" You snuck up on me and I don't like it when people do that so that is your warning". He just glared at me as I stood up with my arms crossed just staring at the kid.

He muttered" Yeah I guess I will". He sounded quite angry though I didn't really care, I just opened up my pack and found the medicine pouch. I opened it and teared off a small part of a bandage and handed it to him, he put it to his nose softly.

When I was about to open my mouth Octavia beat me to it" You want to put pressure on it like this". She grasped the bandage and put it harder onto his nose making him wince repeatedly. This was odd for me since I never took Octavia as a helper. To me she was a do what I say, not I will actually do it type of person. after I stopped thinking I noticed they both were staring at me.

I asked" What he snuck up on us". I shrugged but that only increased there staring. After a moment though Octavia walked up to me and stared at me, by looking slightly downward at me since she was an inch taller. Before I got to berate in my head how small I am, I felt my paw get stomped on. I screamed with a high pitch almost like a shrill bird call and started hopping on my left paw while keeping my right in the air, then I slipped with my atrocious footing and hit the dirt ground right shoulder first. I held and looked at my foot for a seconds before looking at them to notice they both had there hands over there ears, Octavia was also a comfortable distance away though I didn't care about that all I cared about was trying to handle the pain. I kept holding my breath and exhaling unsteadily every single breath I took, "Why the fuck does getting stomped feel like getting stabbed in the upper chest"?I kept on trying to subdue the pain and I eventually did, though that didn't stop from my paw feeling like it got crushed by a anvil.

I heard James say" On all that makes Gaia great that sounded like a banshee wail"! Though it certainly sounded unnatural for someone like me it was somewhat common since I'm a gryphon and subsequently part bird. So that means I could sometimes make bird calls, though they are always more like shrill screams than actual calls. I began sitting up slowly to see there expressions and I saw a frightened James and Octavia staring in the direction behind me.

I said" What are you looking at"? She didn't answer just began walking in the direction she was looking. I began to turn myself around to see Vinyl just staring back, her mane was a mess with strands of hair out of center and she was fidgeting in small bursts. She rubbed her arm slowly and looked down to her feet, as Octavia walked slowly to her in a pace similar to creeping. Eventually they just stood a few feet from each other and they both looked one and another over in complete silence. Eventually they both hugged and stayed that way for quite a while.

"I wasn't expecting that".

Author's Note

Well this took way to long and the chapter ended not quite were i wanted it to. it was previously suppose to be also getting the explaination but i decided to split it in two atleast with him in St. Curtis. But atleast now i can have both explaination and leaving in the same chapter as to not have a short chapter with only a thousand words to atleast 2,000 and this is just prediction.

For other people and in other news i literally just watched most of The Last Samurai the one with tom cruise and how many of the actors could have died because they used actual swords. i liked it and i remembered a game called Nioh that is coming out in about a month, which is basically Dark souls made by ninja gaiden Developers, but goes full on samurai and high movement fighting. Like how dark souls is more eruope while Nioh says no we dont need Europe. all we need is asia and we will basically have one of the best samurai games ever. The only problem is i dont have PS4 so im going to be waiting though im excited because i like dark souls though has hated the fact that there is like zero combos. Like you cant do anything truly fancy while in Nioh you can parry and then counter with the weapon it self and then go on and tear the already dying person to pieces. Also sweep the leg, and a hands only counter that stabs the opponent with his own sword.

Enough of that though Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. tell me what I did wrong like spelling or bad sentence structure. or if there out of character, hahahahaahahahah when did they ever get more than two minutes of screen time.

"Hey come quick"!

"What is it Kinkajou"!

"Just get out here people want to see you"!

" I better not get eaten alive". i mutter under my breath.