Diversion #22 - Ii kibarashi - Feathers, Fur and Leather
"I'm glad we decided to fly," said Duo nestled against my chest.
"So am I," I agreed. We'd had a wonderful relaxing weekend, if any trip to a theme park can ever be called "relaxing'. I don't care much for crowds of Humans, but it's the off-season, so it wasn't as crowded as I had feared. And Duo loved it. We rode every ride that was open, shopped like fools and tried every restaurant in the park. We got wet and dried off in the sun. Duo got sunburned and whimpered when I applied a topical potion. We found a secluded corner on the island to indulge in a bit of randy behavior. We were there when the gates opened on Friday morning and again today and stayed last night until they practically had to push us out. Tonight we left when the first closing call came, Duo more than ready to call it a day.
And now the moon was almost full above us in the clear, crisp night and I was cruising leisurely eastward at about two thousand meters elevation.
"You know what would be fun?" he murmured. "If we could manage a party for the whole office. Get everyone to come for a long weekend."
Not the easiest thing to manage, I knew, but I didn't want to dismiss his idea out of hand. "We'll talk to Q and to Tiffany. Maybe we can find a long weekend for all of us."
Duo sighed contentedly and snuggled even closer. "Thanks, Heero. You're pretty damn good to me," he grinned.
"Glad to know you're aware of that," I snorted.
We flew on in silence for a while. I noted the presence of various flying creatures in the vicinity, none of which were cause for alarm. A large presence caught my attention, though, and I scanned the night sky until I found him, several thousand meters north of us and a few hundred meters lower, on a diagonal path. We would pass each other in a few minutes.
Duo was asleep, I thought, but suddenly he tensed in my arms.
"Holy shit! Heero, what is *that*?!"
"It's just a griffin."
"A griffin?! Holy wow!"
Holy wow? What the hell was that?
"What's the matter?" I asked. He was trying to twist in my arms to get a better view of the large part bird-part lion creature. I suppose, being an American Banshee, he'd never had occasion to see one of the Old World creatures. They are pretty impressive, I guess....
"He's so... so *big*! And his wings are *huge*! And... and he's got... *feathers*!"
I growled. "His wings aren't any bigger than mine."
"And... Ohmigod! He's got *fur*! He's *gorgeous*! I'll bet he's so soft...!"
"Duo!" I exclaimed as the griffin lifted his wings, climbing to meet us. "He's part hawk! He can hear you!"
My Banshee snapped around to stare at me. "You mean he's... *sentient*?"
"Of course!"
His mouth snapped shut with a gulp. "Oh, crap..." he breathed. "He's coming toward us..."
"He heard you," I snickered.
Duo lifted one hand in a hesitant wave as the large Magical Creature flew past only a few meters away, and circled around to make another pass.
Duo twisted around some more, his eyes on the admittedly impressive creature. He made a soft sound and then swallowed. "Um... Heero... He just... winked at me..."
I growled and glared at the griffin, who was coming around *again*. "Time to take a break," I snapped and pointed us down. I could hear the creature's laughter flowing after me as we dove for the bright lights of a truck stop and its all-night restaurant.
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