Zion - LotNM Charater Prologue (Roarg Stoneclan)
Zion - Path of the Moon Mother
Prologue, Roarg Stoneclan
The satchel on Roarg's back carried numerous servings of leftovers from the meal he'd enjoyed that afternoon. While the badger didn't make a regular habit of packing a large amount of food, the two sisters had insisted that he accept their offerings to him in thanks for his help. He accepted of course; to do otherwise would come across as ungrateful... not to mention the fact that it had been an amazingly wonderful meal. That, and he had promised a share of the spoils to another.
The weight of the packed goods were hardly encumbering for the stout badger, but, being someone who was used to traveling light he found them inconvenient. Stopping only a block away from the two sisters' home, Roarg glanced around and let out a sigh, "Where are you, Gryphon?" he asked, more to himself than anyone in particular.
"Right above you, Badger." came a casual reply. Roarg glanced up and saw a pair of orange eyes gazing down at him from the rooftops. Sebastian, his traveling companion and best friend stared at him from the lip of a building, feathered wings half-spread for balance while his leoine body walked the stone ledge, "It took you long enough."
"You cannot rush a thankful woman's appreciation of her savior, Sebastian." Roarg explained.
"Or a woman's appreciation of her sister's savior, apparently." the gryphon countered, "You smell like sex."
"It's good to know your nose is still astute." the badger acknowledged by proxy.
Sebastian languidly dropped to street level beside Roarg without so much as a sound and the nares on his beak twitched close to the badger's groin, "With both of them?" the gryphon folded his wings.
"They were both very grateful." Roarg shrugged.
"You said we'd share the reward evenly." Sebastian pointed out, drawing back to a less personal distance, "Going back on your word now, are you?" the gryphon's tail twitched.
"They packed food for an army... it's more than enough for both of us." the badger countered.
"That isn't even, rocks-for-brains." Sebastian cawed, "There were two of them... you could have shared."
"Somehow I don't think either of them were interested in getting jabbed by you, feather-head. You might have a keen mind and a way with words but most townsfolk in Bannihar draw the line at anything with more than two legs."
"The one we saved probably would have." Sebastian stated, "she's alive because of us, after all." he fluffed his wings, "And I think I saw her checking out my 'goods'."
"You're imagining things." Roarg stated, "and it's not even mating season for you anyway." he explained.
Sebastian's feathers puffed out, "You always use that as an excuse... if it's not 'you have four legs' then it's 'but mating season is still a ways off'."
"Well... they're both very good reasons." Roarg countered; they'd had the same discussion often enough that it was as much a game to them as it was another topic to argue over.
"Just so long as you realize that when mating season comes I may be expecting YOU to perform." Sebastian noted jokingly.
Roarg glanced at him out of the corner of his eye with a toothy grin, "Well... if you say so..." the badger smirked, "just so long as you don't complain when I drape your tail over my shoulder... I hate it when it gets in the way."
"Dirt Rat." Sebastian cursed at him, tail lashing back and forth from the humor of it.
Roarg laughed, then paused. He came to a stop on the street, "Wait..." he glanced around.
"What?" the gryphon asked, glancing at him, feathers puffed up slightly.
"Weren't you guarding the carcass of the Blood Beast?" the badger inquired.
"What Blood Beast?" Sebastian inquired with mock-innocence, feathers puffing further.
"The one we saved the girl from." Roarg put his paws on his hips.
"Oh... that one." the gryphon nodded in confirmation.
"Yes... that one." the badger tapped his foot, "Where is it?"
"I ate it." Sebastian explained, feathers deflating in satisfaction.
"Damn it... I was going to stuff it!" Roarg scowled.
"You already did enough stuffing tonight." Sebastian grinned, "We're sharing evenly, remember?" and he quickly took flight, leaving the cursing badger below on the ground.
Roarg sighed, not truly angry with the gryphon-- Sebastian did have a point on many accounts. The badger often felt sorry for his traveling companion; there were not many Awakened animals in the empire and he knew that the gryphon had bouts of loneliness. Roarg often enough had misgivings about fulfilling his own needs and leaving the gryphon without, but he also was a realist and knew there were very few ways short of a trip to Doen to satisfy Sebastian's needs in that regard.
The badger shook his head, working to dispel the tenacious thought from his mind; Roarg found imagining Sebastian mounted atop a compliant prostitute and fulfilling his repressed needs was both tastefully disconcerting and wildly erotic at the same time. Roarg knew that Sebastian wouldn't hurt her... at least, not on purpose, but the badger also knew that the gryphon was always one to get carried away and Roarg could imagine her getting more than she bargained for. Even as he was trying both to futher explore the thought and simultaneously push it out of his head a distraction surfaced, ending the stalemate.
"Sir Roarg Stoneclan?" the young lynx questioned, stopping before him.
"Aye." the badger nodded.
Straightening out his message runner uniform, the lynx bowed and drew forth a scroll, "For you, Sir. Payment has already been rendered."
Roarg thanked the young lynx and took the scroll from him. Looking at the note, the badger immediately recognized the seal of the Temple of the Full Moon. He glanced up at the young lynx who was waiting expectantly, "Is there anything else?" the badger asked.
"They paid for a return reply." the lynx answered, waiting patiently.
Roarg nodded, then opened the scroll, taking his time as he read it. The further he got into the message the wider his eyes became. By the time he finished, Roarg felt his heart beating a mile a minute. He looked to the lynx, who stood straight and at attention the whole time. "Tell them I didn't give you a return message because I'll be right there."
"Sir." the messenger nodded, and sprinted off down the street.
Roarg didn't have to hear Sebastian land atop the building above him to know that the gryphon was already there. "So...?" Sebastian inquired.
"We're heading to the temple." Roarg answered, and he started off immediately.
"Why?" Sebastian questioned, loping along beside him along the rooftops, easily leaping the distance between them when an alley separated his path.
"Because they're forming a caravan." the badger explained.
"So?" the gryphon hopped down to the road to trot beside Roarg.
"The caravan is heading to Zion."
"That's weird... I thought the delegation already left." Sebastian commented.
"They did." confirmed Roarg, "but they never returned."
"Sounds like an adventure." Sebastian proclaimed.
"I'm sure it will be." the badger nodded, "And they asked for us by name."
"Us?" Sebastian.
"Both of us." Roarg nodded.
"Wow." the gryphon was quiet for almost a block before he spoke up, "So this means we're sharing things EVEN this time, right, Badger?"
"We'll see, Gryphon... we'll see." Roarg acknowledged.
"I hate it when you say that."
The badger grinned, "I know."