Zion: Light of the New Moon Part 2, Ch 2.5 Bannihar
Zion - Light of the New Moon, Part 2 Chapter 2.5
Bannihar RIFT
What originally started as as much a joke as anything else has actually come to pass... welcome to the final post of Chapter 2: Elesin + Sebastian = red border post. The modifiers to Bannihar for this chapter are as follows: - Favor, and + Willpower.
Crossing the fissure was a tiring and harrowing experience for the party, which meant that they decided to make camp on the other side. While most of the group gathered around their silver-furred visitor, not everyone was as fully interested in who she was or what she had to say. Kate, most prominently, excused herself and hastily made her way back to The Risen.
The priestess wasn't the only traveler that lacked interest in Dana; Sebastian took his leave as Roarg began reflecting on all of the beautiful lands to the north with the Wild Lander and Elesin stayed only long enough to extend a casual thanks to Dana for saving her life. Sebastian was strolling around on the ground, shaking out his wings and getting ready for a flight when he encountered the battle mage.
Elesin was kneeling near the fire pit Lord Raes had started, poking at the embers with a long stick. She mumbled to herself about nothing coherent, impatiently moving a log, stirring the coals, and then, finally, tossing her poker into the flames. "You stupid fox." she mumbled, curling the end of her muscular tail against the ground and reclining on it as if it were a stool.
"Fox?" Sebastian asked, cocking his head to the side, "Since when have we had a fox along?"
The kangaroo rotated an ear in his direction, "We haven't." she offered flatly, "I'm not allowed to have had a life before we left Bannihar?"
"I've never seen you before, so as far as I know you might never have existed before this caravan." the gryphon stated, refolding his wings before trotting over to the fire.
Elesin laughed humorously at the comment, "Well, if nothing else you have a good way to look at things."
"Of course it's a good way--" the gyrphon acknowledged, plopping his rump down on the ground beside Elesin, "It's the best way I know how."
"Well then, keep it up... too many people out there want you to see things the same way everyone else does." her full attention returned to the fire. The kangaroo rotated a finger, causing a small spiral of flame to rise up from the burning log.
"If everyone saw everything the same way the world would be a really boring place." the gryphon answered. The swirling flame disrupted at Sebastian's comment.
"He used to say that too." Elesin spoke after a moment.
"Who?" Sebastian cocked his head to the side.
"The fox."
"The one that wasn't in our caravan." the gryphon proposed.
The kangaroo nodded. "That's the one."
"A friend of yours?" Sebastian questioned.
"Not sure we were friends... we were a lot of things, but 'friends'?" Elesin shrugged, "I don't know."
"A lot of things, huh?" the gryphon got to his feet and circled the fire.
"Yea. I'm a mostly-official battle mage of Bannihar, and he was a mercenary pyromancer. We had chemistry."
"So it was a relationship sort-of-thing?" Sebastian questioned.
"No... no... chemistry." Elesin elaborated further, "I would summon explosive mist and he's set it on fire."
"Oh." the gryphon paused at that, "So you--"
"The sex was good too."
"Come again?" Sebastian paused.
"Yep... on occasion, three times." Elesin acknowledged, looking into the fire, "and he was hot."
"You were attracted to him?" the gryphon questioned.
"I suppose."
"But you just said he was hot." Sebastian recalled.
"Pyromancer, remember?" the battle mage reminded him.
"Oh... so do you mean 'hot' in temperature or looks?" he cocked his head to the side.
"Yes." Elesin responded cryptically, then glanced to Sebastian, "What about you? Any past conquests?"
"By conquests, do you mean--?"
"Sex, gryphon..." the kangaroo explained, "...'mating' 'fucking' 'screwing' 'pounding' 'humping'..." she offered them up rapid-fire, "or, my personal favorite, 'soldiering'."
"Soldiering?" Sebastian questioned, the feathers of his crest rising in confusion, "how is--?"
The kanagroo's grin was a wide one, "You find your target, then stick it again and again until it stops screaming."
"Oh..." the gryphon's feathers puffed up a little and he grinned, "I'll have to tell that one to Roarg."
"You two really have a 'thing' going, don'cha?" Elesin asked, getting up from the fire.
"Well... yea." Sebastian stood up and followed after her, "He's the reason I'm how I am now."
"You're loyal, I'll give you that." Elesin acknowledged, moving over to the group's supplies. She began sifting through one of the barrels, gathering up a small collection of pickled meat and vegetables.
"He's a good badger and we're friends." the gryphon explained.
"Even though you two argue like an old married couple." the kangaroo dumped her collection onto the lid of the barrel, using it like a plate.
"Well... the problem is that he doesn't always take me seriously." Sebastian offered casually, hopping up onto a pair of crates before laying down, "Not that I'm complaining or anything but--- well..." the gryphon paused, "Actually, I AM complaining... just a little."
"So you're saying that Roarg doesn't respect you enough, is that it?" Elesin inquired, undoing her sword belt before sitting down on a section of crate not taken up by the gryphon. She tossed a half-pickle into her muzzle and chewed noisily.
"Yea... like, for example, a few days before the caravan left we saved this one woman from some nasty fate and she takes Roarg into her place and gives him his reward." the gryphon's feathers puffed out, "I saved her too!"
"Mmm..." Elesin nodded, "So... like a bag of coins or something?"
"Nope." Sebastian shook his wings out, "He went soldiering."
The kangaroo smirked, "So you would have been fine with sloppy seconds?"
"She had a sister." Sebastian clarified.
"Ah..." Elesin nodded thoughtfully, almost as if they were having a deep philosophical discussion, "so what happened with the sister then?"
"Roarg did a LOT of soldiering." the gryphon stuck out his tongue.
"Sounds like you're jealous." the battle mage cracked a wry grin, "Guess you don't have many conquests then?"
"Not since my change." Sebastian acknowledged, "and anything before that wasn't exactly the same... or so I'm told."
"Oh... the wild, primal animal sex... that's good now and again too." the kangaroo mused.
"That's pretty much it." he affirmed.
"So you ARE jealous." the battle-mage smirked.
"More like 'pent up'." Sebastian snorted, and laid his head down... right until he let out a startled "HEY!" when Elesin's paw founds its way between his hind legs.
"Well... jealousy can't be helped..." she crooned, "but I have a feeling I can do something about the 'pent up' issue."
The gryphon raised an eyebrow, standing up and pulling his sheath free of the battle mage's paw, "Either your sense of humor is worse that Roarg's or there was something in those pickles."
"Oh come on, you prude." Elesin waved the objection away, "You're a male and I'm a female... we're both pent up and we can both do something about it." she loosened the ties on her breeches, "Are you saying I'm not good enough for you?"
Sebastian cocked his head to the side, "Actually, from all the stories Roarg's told me I didn't think this was exactly the normal approach with most two-leggers."
"Since when have I been normal?" Elesin grinned, and she let her leggings fall to the ground, "I guess most of your experience is in doggy style?"
The gryphon paused, cocking his head to the other side, "No... I've only ever done it like a gryphon." Despite Sebastian's reservations, at least one part of him certainly had no objections. He trotted closer.
"Never mind..." Elesin rolled her eyes and motioned him closer with one paw, "here... now you can--" she paused once he showed that he needed no coaxing, "if you just-- OW!" it was her first such exclamation and she repeated it quite a few more times that night.
* * * * * *
And the closing of Chapter 2 for Bannihar ends with Gryphon on Kangaroo action, albeit, tastefully done. Please stay tuned for several upcoming votes for high quality end-of-chapter bonuses.
In the meantime, readers are welcome to vote on the following:
1) Chase Dana away-- she's too much of a Wild Lander to be a good thing (+ Favor, + Luck) 2) Courteously ask Dana to stop following the group-- it's creepy (+ Danger, +Luck) 3) Be courteous and polite with Dana then let her get back to stalking the group. (no change) 4) Invite Dana to join the group since it'll be better than her lagging behind (- Favor, - Luck)
You have until midnight on Thursday, January 5th to vote on this, but, as noted above, be sure to vote over in the upcoming journal too!