To The Victor Goes the Spoils

18 April 2017

18:48 < Serilde> So then, where Might I come across Nico?

18:52 < Serilde> And once we get this all figured, as prey, I tend to figure its only fair if I start us off, since pred closes, though if you want to start I wont argue.

18:52 < Nico Gryph> Hmm. If she's trying to retrieve somebody who's been carried away by the gryphon, why not his Aerie? That's the ideal place to digest a meal.

18:53 < Serilde> I'm not familiar with that term

18:58 < Nico Gryph> His roost, nest, et cetera.

19:00 < Serilde> Ah cool cool ^^ I dont see a description...hmmm perhaps you ought to start us instead...I'd hate to intrude on your depiction of your nest >.<

19:00 < Serilde> I could do something if you insist, but I cant promise it'll line up w/ your intentions >.<

19:01 < Nico Gryph> Mm, fair point. I admittedly don't have a concrete description of it in mind, but perhaps it would be better if he just happens to have slept the meal off in a quiet little fen or something.

19:01 < Serilde> Sure, we can do that~

19:04 < Nico Gryph> In that case, I think we can begin, so long as there's nothing else you want to add.

19:14 Serilde powers through the air in the country side as her eyes dart over the landscape, searching for any sign of her target. Her eagle eyes catch every creature along the ground but none of them line up with the description that that family of foxes had provided of their pair of missing children. Both fully grown foxes had been seen last together, and while no one for sure had seen Nico take them, they had caught sight of his large golden form rising into the air where they had thought they'd been. And while they had given her a direction, even a gryphon with a fully belly could traverse quite the distance, and she'd been at this for the greater part of a day. Sweat crusts her wings as it drips down from exhurtion and her breath his heavy, no doubt made worse by the leather armor that adorned her body. Her eyes narrow on a spot though in the distance as she thinks she spots what she might be looking for.

19:22 Nico Gryph isn't exactly hiding. The proud gryphon stands, his wings fully stretched out to either side, the late afternoon sunlight playing magnificently over his feathers as the recently-awoken gryphon stretches and shakes off the last hints of sleep in his eyes. A suitably large meal is generally enough to send Nico into a slumber while he lets his stomach work it off; the pair of foxes who wriggled and squirmed their way down into the embrace of his throat were hardly exceptions. The two found little time to recover their wits once they inevitably plunged into the moist, tight embrace of the gryphon's stomach; Nico hadn't eaten for some time, and they were hardly in there for ten minutes before his potent digestive juices were oozing in, his vicelike stomach squeezing and churning his supper. That, of course, was last night; in the time since, both vulpines have been thoroughly rendered into nutritional slurry by the gryphon's efficient digestive tract, and now they rest none too far from Nico's tailhole. A sense of pressure is the first hint the gryphon receives, one that builds and builds as more and more of his most recent meals pile up against the inside of his anus; at the same time, the gryphon feels the protruding sensation of his stomach pumping up something hard into his crop. Only the thickest bones had survived the digestive assault; skulls, femurs, and the like, all wrapped up in whatever tattered pieces of the foxes' furs had made it through the process. Deciding to heed the call of nature at the earliest opportunity, the majestic gryphon makes his way into the field, into the open, as he searches for a comfortable place to relieve himself.

19:32 Serilde finds that as she nears it is indeed the bird that she's looking for as she sees the tell tale feather patterns that had been described by the family back home. Disconcertingly, she did not see any signs of the two that he'd dragged off, confirming what she'd suspected by now. Furrowing her brow she angles her body down lower, slosing her wings and letting her altitude drop, gaining speed towards the other creature. As she gets within about 20 meters, the rush of the air would likely be enough to alert Nico to her presence, especially as her wings snap open, catching a crack of the air and slowing her, just before she lands at his back, not 10 paces from where the other gryphon stood. Once she was this close, she began to realize that he was actually slightly bigger than her, and while she tries to mask her rapid breath, he certainly looked quite a bit more rested than she was. "Sir! What have you done wiht those two foxes?" She demands in a stern voice towards the other gryphon, with a resolve in her voice that stood to mean she meant business. Razor sharp metal gloves sit upon her foreclaws and a wicked metal tip edged her beak. Still though, this close, the smell of her exhaustion was certainly noticable as the salty, musky scent of rolled off of herin the steady breeze.

19:40 Nico Gryph turns towards the new arrival, his gaze sweeping over her, a less-than-impressed expression upon his face. "What concern of it is yours, little hen?" Nico walks towards her, slowly, in no particular hurry, and showing no evident signs of concern over the other gryphon's armaments. "Why are you here, wearing tools made by two-legs? Are your own natural weapons not adequate?" His voice holds an edge of contempt and scorn. "As for what I've done with them - nothing more than what befits the natural order of things. To us -" He pauses, smirking. "Or at least, to me - they are prey. Food. Meat. I was hungry; I hunted them down and devoured them both." His eyes narrow. "Ah, but perhaps there is yet time. If you've come to retrieve them from me, just stay right there, and I'll let you have what's left." Without much in the way of hesitation, albeit after backing up a safe distance from her, the gryphon turns to present his hindquarters to her, smirking at her over his flank as that tail sweeps upwards to expose the handsome equipment of an exceedingly well-equipped male gryphon. That pink, musky-looking pucker winks before stretching open, darkness quickly giving way to the earthy, brown-black shape of a log of waste, the scat piling out of Nico's tailhole and quickly forming a moderately large pile beneath him. Although there's a brief break in the stream as the first fox catches up to the second, it takes the gryphon several moments to fully relieve himself of his former guests; finally, though, that pink pucker squeezes shut behind the last of the gryphon's load of shit, and he turns back to face her, smirking as his tail sweeps back down to its' proper position, the newly-released foxes steaming gently in the morning air. Still, though, the gryphon isn't finished; making an all-too-familiar coughing noise in his throat, he leans forwards, beak flying open, as he spews out a solid, tangled mass of stark, acid-eaten white bone and dirty red fur, a pellet; the pellet lands atop the pile, and Nico spits idly to the side, ridding his mouth of the taste, before meeting her gaze and smirking. "There you are. Safe and sound, mostly."

20:00 Serilde steps forward to him, standing resolutely while one of her talons remains bared, ready to strike up a fight as the metal glints in the sunlight. She snorts at his comments in her own form of disdain. "I see no reason not to augment one's own natural abilities. Its not as if I wield one of their silly knives or or bow and it seems naïve to turn down such tools when available. Her frown deepens as he goes on about them being prey things and gives a shake of her head, growling in response, "While they are beneath us, it is far better for the food to come from those things that do not think rather than those who do, if for any reason at the very least that it earns their ire. You know there are many who would hunt us, And for today, well they're paying me."
The formel steps forward as Nico retreats, watching with distate as the whole opens beneath Nico's tail pushing free a series of thick brown lumps that glisten in the sunlight, while steam can be seen rising off of them in the cool morning air. She wrinkles her nose as the foul scent begins to waft up from the pile upwind of her while the odor offends her nose. "What a sick creature you are," she growls as the pile continues to grow, and yet she does not act, allowing herself to rest up for the moment, plus the prospect of getting that all over herself was unpleaant. SHe then watches with a snort as moments later the grim pellet of reddish fur with bones and tow skulls sticking from it lands on top of the mess, dribbling its slimy coating down into the pile. "I think not. You're going to be carrying that messback with me to the foxes where they will bring ou to justice," she declares, sidestepping a scene she's created many times herself, though perhaps with less sentient subjects. She closes that distance, leaving just enough room between them that he could not easily lash outat her. "Now are you going to come easily or will we have to do this the hard way?"

20:01 < Serilde> (Sorry for slowness)

20:01 < Nico Gryph> (No problem.)

20:01 < Serilde> (I'm unused to posts like this, so it takes some time.)

20:16 Nico Gryph laughs. "Hypocrite. You have done this before yourself, unless you're even more pathetic of a gryphon than I had first taken you for." His gaze sweeps over her once more, and that smirk comes back; there's something different about it now, though.. Something hungrier. "No, I shall not come with you. I think, instead, that YOU will be coming with ME, in the very same stomach that your quarries met their fate in. If you are willing to lower yourself to working for the two-legs, your motives are either greed or submissiveness; neither is an admirable quality in a gryphon. I'll be happy to make you worth more, though - as a part of me." The other gryphon falls into a low, languid crouch, one that any experienced predator would easily and instantly peg as a stalk; his attitude is still entirely unconcerned. He seems as composed facing her as he would facing a vulnerable victim. Is he overconfident, or has the gryphon EARNED that confidence? The answer, it seems, will be revealed one way or another by the time the two of them have finished. The other gryphon leaps to the side, moving with the deceptively languid laziness of a practiced hunter - and then, he simply leaps directly over the pile he just deposited onto the ground, turning himself and slamming his flank into the other gryphon's head, taking advantage of his superior weight in an attempt to send her sprawling while still leaving himself in a position to dodge should his attack fail. It's clear that the gryphon is no stranger whatsoever to combat, even with those of his own size; if she's expecting an easy fight, she's going to be disappointed!

20:37 Serilde knows him to be right as he points it out, but she shakes it off, unphased by his declaration and responds with a subtle shake of his head. "Once upon a time, but I find beasts such as yourself to perhaps make better meals than those you hunt, far more sporting I think." She smirks as well with a confident glint in her eye as she meets his shifting gaze. "The hard way it is then," she responds simply, tail lashing behind her as she prepares for the excitement. Oh how she loved the thrill of a fight, and this bird's refusal to use the availible tools, she was pretty sure that she has the upperhand here despite her smaller stature. She falls bac too into a half crouch,watching Nico for the subtle telegraphs of movement. Her body is coiled and her wings half flared ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. At his first spring, she shifts to keep him in front of her and then when he moves on her she's ready. She does not quite escape the blow as she moves out of the way,instead taking a hit that glances off her helmet while its likely her sharp beak tooth would rake across his side. Still its enough to knock her off her balance for a moment but not long enough for an opening. She retaliates soon in turn, swiping with her razor claws now that they both foudn themselfs within melee range, aiming for his now exposed chest.

20:48 Nico Gryph 's reflexes are no slower than her own, and the gryphon hops backwards. He still catches a glancing blow over his chest, but all it does is sting slightly, hardly drawing more than a few droplets of blood; the gryphon winces slightly harder at the impact of the helmet, but neither blow is enough to truly faze him. Instead, the gryphon quickly presses back in; this time, he presses her so closely that using her claws is impractical, Nico's now-extended claws gleaming in the light as he takes a step forwards. With a quick, vicious movement, the gryphon mercilessly takes advantage of his superior size and strength, stepping on one of her foreclaws and digging in to the straps holding the weapon in place with his own claws, the other foreclaw grappling with hers; he isn't trying to rip her other weapon off, merely holding it at bay as he focuses on tearing free the first. His beak is far from idle in the meantime; keeping his head low and angled to shield his neck from retaliation, Nico uses his beak to hammer hers, targeting the softest spots. As with his paws, he's less trying to kill or daze and more seeking to keep her so focused on defending that she can neither retreat nor return attacks.

20:58 Serilde takes another swat as Nico presses back in to range of her claws, this time landing true and tearing a painful, but noncrippling gash in his chest, which spurts blood onto both of them. The victory though, is soon rendered hollow as in turn she finds his foreleg come down hard on her nondominant claw, pinning it down to the ground, and leaving them both partially immobile. Its clear he has the advantage though, with his larger size and strength, and as she tries to pull away from the first, she finds herself wrestling with the other. The tradeoff for arming oneself with such a weapon was a loss in dexterity at the claws, leaving her unable to fend off the other arm. She's able to hold her own there without losing any ground, but it still leaves her pinned leg vulnerable. She trades blows back and forth with Nico, though his larger size is enough to help fend off attacks as she tries to dart her head around. They both certainly end up bloodying each other with their beaks, but its not enough for either to land a desicive blow, meanwhile she's unaware that he's cutting through her straps on her left claw.

21:04 Nico Gryph lets out a hiss of pain as he feels his flesh tear under the sharp metal claws, hot blood gushing from the wound. Narrowing his eyes and letting the pain transition to anger, the gryphon begins putting more force into those pecking attacks from his beak, focusing far less now on specific points of her beak and putting most of his effort into striking her as hard as possible; the rapid cadence of his assault makes recovery from the dazing effect of each impact almost impossible, and rolling those blows onto the less-vulnerable parts of her face isn't becoming any easier the more her ears ring. At the rate they were going, Nico's fury might have worked against him; he's undoubtedly leaving himself open with those hammering strikes, something that could be taken advantage of to fatal effect with that hooked beak of hers - but before anything of the sort can happen, Nico lets out a snarl of victory as he rips through the leather holding that left claw on.. and without missing a beat, the gryphon lashes out viciously with his newly-liberated forepaw, claws extended to dig deeply into the now-vulnerable flesh of her left forepaw, seeking vulnerable tendons to inflict a crippling wound on his adversary.

21:13 Serilde fends off blow after blow, when suddenly she sees opportunity. She manages to duck beneath his beak this time to reach up towards his neck and as her jaws begin to part, reaching up for it, she suddenly feels the white hot pain of those talons reaching across the underside of her floreleg and slicing her tendons. As she was still grappling with the other leg, all her weight had been resting on it, and they go limp she begins to collapse. She lets out a loud cry of pain that echos across the praie feeling the pain wash over her. Her hooked tooth drags down his neck as she begins to fall, leaving Nico with an idea of how close she'd been to victory here. Meanwhile her wings flare and flap futilely trying to keep herself from falling. It all happens fast though and within a moment she's collapsed dwon upon the ground. And her previously fierce expression turns to one of terror as she realizes she's beaten. As the adreniline spikes once more her mind races for something, anything, she can do to save herself as her tail tucks down beneath her legs.

21:19 Nico Gryph winces slightly, taking a step away on pure reflex as he feels that tip drag over his neck; however, any fear the gryphon may have felt quickly succumbs to a sense of victory; as he sees her collapse, the gryphon doesn't hesitate to capitalize on her injury. With a step forwards, Nico slips his paw through her fallen weapon; it scarcely fits, and to hold it in place manually is a terribly awkward feat, but there's only one thing Nico needs it for - lashing out, he rips Serilde's beak-hook right off, immediately discarding the piece of metal and torn leather afterwards as he walks around his defeated foe in a circle, his face slowly going from a grimace of combat to a smug smirk. "The hard way, hm? It appears that someone has bitten off more than she can chew." Tauntingly, simply to show that he can, the gryphon dashes in from the side and plants both forepaws against her flank, kicking her over and onto her side; she barely misses Nico's leavings as she crashes to the ground. The male gryphon approaches her, pausing about a foot away and sitting down to smirk at her, his hind legs lolling apart, tail swishing side to side in enjoyment. "..Well? Out with it. This is the part where you're supposed to start begging, isn't it?"

21:36 Serilde tries to put on a pitiable face as the other gryphon wanders around her, feeling shamed and weakend. Only one claw had its gear still on it, and then as a show of faith she pulls it off with her now disarmed beak and casts it aside. Its not like it could help her at this point anyways. She follows him with her head while using her now unencumbered claw to try and hold the wound upon her left leg shut. "I must admit...you were the first who has bested me in combat in a long while. Perhaps I was mist-aaaaaaaahhkkk" She clambers down onto her side at the blow, toppling down and as her wings flare she brushes the foul mess with the tips of a couple feathers, though the rest of her remains unscathed. ALready the formel had been planning to see if she couldnt negotaite a truce, when he cuts her off like that, her feathers bristle in anger, obviously humiliated, but she tries to force that away. Anger would do nothing for her now. She takes a gulp to compose herself and then meets his eyes. "Well...I cant say I ever considered myself to be a mother...but I also never expected to be bested by one of my kind like such. You know just how close I was to victory though. Surely we'd make the most powerful offspring if you were to give me opportunity to brood your chicks..." She says, though every word is full of indignation and shame.

21:39 < Nico Gryph> (I'm sorry, but I have to go; it's getting too late for me to continue any further. Could we pick this up again tomorrow?)

21:42 < Serilde> (Sure! This has been marvelous btw :D

21:42 < Serilde> (I take it european?

21:43 < Serilde> (And...I hope my posts have been decent enough. Feels like I'm struggling to keep up xP)

21:43 < Nico Gryph> (You've been more than adequate, don't worry.)