A Night on the Town [PG13]

[Oren]

Soga scanned the page of the book as he walked. It wasn't too interesting, amazingly enough. The first few chapters had been quite intriguing, but then it had turned into a killing frenzie and he was no longer engaged. He held no respecty for those who didn't value life. Life was something to be treasured not to be thrown away on a whim.

As he passed an alley, a strong scent reached him. It was... fear. Someone was extremely scared. But more than that, he recognized the creature's scent. At least he thought he did... Closing the book, he backpaced and peered down the alley. Was that... no, there was no way. But...

He started down the alley, taking a flashlight out since he couldn't see extremely well at night. He turned it on and rotatingly flashed it between walls. So far nothing showed her presence.

But her scent was getting stronger.

He picked up his pace and covered about thirteen more feet before the stench of fright was past revolting. His next movement of the flashlight revealed ripped clothes. They hadn't been there for long... so... she wasn't wearing them anymore. He just hoped she was still alive.

"Gunner...?" he called out, taking another few steps forward. The light hit a small shivering body.

A fourteen year old girl's body.

"Gunner!" He rushed forward, dropping to his knees beside her, the flashlight a book clattering to the ground. "Gunner, what... what happened?" He unconcioualy reached his hand toward her, his worry almost overcomming his mind before he pulled back. She had just been violated. The last thing she'd want is to be touched, anywhere, by anyone.

As he looked at her he could feel the anger rise in him. Who had done thing to her? What sick pervert had dared to touch his Gunner?!

Wait... "his Gunner"?

He shook his head to clear his mind, running a hand through his hair. What could he... clothes. She needed clothes. Taking off his shirt he held it out to her. "Put this on."

[Anzeh]

Gunner lay there, unmoving, convinced that if she stopped moving that pain would go away. She’d been laying there, her black hair acting as almost a blanket for her waist upwards. She’d listened to the man’s footsteps until she couldn’t hear him anymore and she broke. She’d managed to stay quiet and emotionless like stone during, but now... she cracked and fell apart, tears welling in her eyes and streaking down her face, praying that he didn’t come back, and try to kill her. She was pretty far from the opening of the alley to the main street, and if anyone saw her they ignored her. Would they even care if he came back and killed her?

She continued shaking, from her sobs and the cold. Tighter and tighter she curled up, hoping to keep some of her body heat, or crowd her form under her blanket of jet black hair. She wasn’t sure how long she remained like this, but she began to hear footsteps and she cringed, tightening up until she resembled a porcupine, with quills at the ready to fight back. Through tightly closed eyelids she could recognize a beam of light going back and forth not too far away.

Her fear kept rising until she heard her name fall into chilly air in a voice she recognized. The Sweet’s shop, the fighting, the dining...

Soga.

Uncurling a little, Gunner turned her head robotically to look at him, the sound of whatever he’d been holding clattering to the ground. When he reached out to her, she flinched away bodily, but the contact never came, her eyes were pink and puffy from tears, and she was sniffling badly, from the tears and the cold getting to her. She’d definitely be sick if she stayed out here much longer.

At the order of put this on and a shirt was held out, she reached to it and turned her back to him, managing to sit up and pull it on before she felt the bile rise in her throat. She stood up rather suddenly and found a trashcan, moments before she began to throw up. She felt sick and dirty and somehow broken... like something very important was missing.

[Oren]

As she rushed over to the trash can, he made a decision. Because of her condition, she needed treatment immediately. This meant they needed to be at the school asap. While her back was still turned, he slipped off his pants and quickly changed into the griffen that he was. Taking a few steps towards her, spoke softly.

"Here, these too," he smiled at her, bowing his head slightly with closed eyes. "I'll take you back, and flight is quickest." He walked to her side, his wing brushing against her ever so slightly. He wanted to hold her and let her cry, but he knew this wasn't the time. Although you should get back on a horse when it throws you off, this was a different matter. While he would make sure she wasn't hindered by this encounter, he wasn't going to force fast recovery either.

The anger he felt was still subsiding, the worry for her safety and well-being overcoming it. Taking in a deep breath, he searched for a scent not belonging to Gunner. There was no way he could have masked the scent completely, and even the lingering stench of fear wasn't too overpowering to be able to detect other scents.

There it was.

He committed the smell to memory, making a mental note to kill whoever it belonged to. Whoever he was, he was going to regret it. Utter regret was all that creature would feel. That was, if he wasn't dead.

[Anzeh]

There was only one large wave of nausea and little ripples came afterwards. Gunner heard the other’s soft voice and turned around to be faced with a rather large creature with wings. It was Soga, she knew, and therefore wasn’t frightened. He was holding something out to her, it seemed to be pants. She took them from him and slipped them on, being far too large for her basically had to roll up the legs so she didn’t trip on them and pretty much had to hold them up as she walked.

She felt happy despite what had happened, because at least Soga had found her before... What had he said his name was? Hendrix?... could come back and do her more damage. But those words that he spoke before he left rang in her mind. Had she wanted it? Surely not, no... but... maybe...

Her head hurt, now was not the time. Consumed in a wave of gratitude, she walked up to him. before his wings, and wrapped her arms around him, nestling her head into his feathers. He smelled rather nice.

For a Griffin, that is.

Since they were apparently flying, it seemed that she would have to climb on his back. Being a land-bound creature, she’d never thought the sky was something one could attain. Pulling up the way too large pants, she got on his back like one would mount a horse and clung to him, afraid to fall off.

[Oren]

Soga was caught off guard by the hug. If he had been in human form, and if the way his heart hammered at her touch said anything, he would have blushed. He'd never been hugged by a girl before. It was a new and rather odd experience, while somewhat pleasing...

She mounted his back and he chuckled as she clung to his feathers for dear life. It wouldn't help much, really, except give her comfort, which he supposed was almost as good. If she was to be knocked off, though, it wouldn't matter if she was holding onto his feathers or not. They'd be stripped from him back to fall down with her.

But he'd never let her fall.

Crouching down he launched himself onto the roof and ran along it to gain some speed. At the end he sprang off and into the air, pushing up with his gigantic wings. He made sure to stay relatively close to the ground as it would be warmer than up high. There weren't good air currents where he was flying, which meant more work for him, but she'd catch cold if he flew where the hot air reached the spiral. Odds were that she already had a cold and he didn't want to risk her getting a fever.

He could feel her tightened muscles and would have smiled to himself if he could have with his beak. "It'll be over soon," he said to her, only loud enough to reach back to her. The school wasn't too far by air, and, in Soga's opinion, the flight would be over all too soon.