//------------------------------// // Man Up Ya Wee Lass! (94) // Story: Griffin the Griffin // by BlackWing //------------------------------// Man Up Ya Wee Lass! It's been three days already, and they've both given me some time to myself. Steelhorn wasn't too happy to see me walking around, but I wasn't getting into any trouble, so he let that be. What he didn't let go was the fact that I was moping around. He grabbed me and dragged my ass down to HIS room, which rather than being a bedroom was more like a living room. Couches, tables, a minibar.... a minibar? He plunked me down on a stool, took up the bartender's job of idly cleaning a glass with a rag, looked me dead in the eye and said..... "Ya look like someone shot yer pet. Bit fer yer troubles?" So, I wound up telling him. Everything. My whole past. What happened with Gilda. Everything. He just stayed quiet the whole time, listening. When I finally finished my story, he just looked at me and shook his head. He pointed right at me and poked me in the chest with his giant blue finger. "Ah know EXACTLY what yer problem is." "You... do?" At which point, he grabbed my head with his giant mitt, used it to clean the top of the bar, and set me back on my stool. I..... have no idea... he..... just used my head as a bar rag. "When it comes ta anyone ya care about," He put his finger to my chest again. "YER A DOORMAT! Ya don't stand up fer yerself, tell anyone how ya feel, and ya got no initiative when it comes ta how ya feel. Ya bottle it up. You got more poison in yer system than I got behind this bar." He motioned behind him. "The fact o the matter is, you're a whiny little kid who's pretendin ta be a man, and ya don't know anythin about anythin. Ya, true, yer upbringin was crap, but what was ta stop ya from learnin for yerself? Once ya weren't a kid no more, the only person ta blame for yer life is YOU." He enunciated by poking me again. "You let yerself get stepped on, because ya were too scared ta stand up for yerself. Yer such a stick in tha mud that the only way a girl can get ya ta loosen up and stop being such a wee lassie was ta get ya drunk so y'ad ferget yerself. Alright, given the way she went about it was wrong, but can ya argue with tha results? If she hadn'ta done that, things woulda jus stayed tha same. And ya ferget, she was a slave ya know. She had ta raise HERself, and ya don't see her whinin about it. She don't know bout relationships neither, cuz she never had one proper. She loves ya damnit, she's just as bad at showin it as you are. So she got a ya a wee bit drunk so ya'd stop bein such a pansy, and ya flew off tha handle." "She broke my trust....." "Which was easy since ya didn't trust 'er with nuthin. Sure, ya made her tha cap'n, but ya never told her nuthin. Ya just kept it in there and blew up at her. Ya let her walk inta unfamiliar territory, and she stepped on a landmine. If ya know there's a minefield, do ya let yer loved ones walk inta it?" "No....." "Then what's tha difference between that and the battlefield a love?" I stayed silent. He was right. Sure, we have different positions on something, and I told her my position, but I never enforced it, and never told her the reason behind it. So, she tried to push the envelope, and had no idea how far she was pushing. "Remember, she was an escaped slave. She lived a year o pain in the mines, escaped, raised herself, and she turned out alright. You got no excuse for bein such a shoddy lil lass. Be a man, quit hidin. Ya told me yer entire life, but I ain't tha one that needs ta hear it. She's yer lass, and you ain't told er nuthin....." "Steelhorn....... I'm a moron." He's right. He's totally right. I am SUCH an idiot! I can't believe I flipped at them. Sure, they messed up, but it's my damn fault for being so stupid. I held it all back and didn't tell them anything, just kept it all to myself. No more secrets. "Ya, but at least now ya know. Ya gave em some harsh words, and they may a hurt ya, but ya hurt them a load more with yer stupidity. And...... one more thing. Yer in this world now lad. Time ta get with the program. Yer gonna have ta deal with havin a load of lasses gunnin fer ya, and ya can't shoot em ALL down. Set yer standard. Tell em what it is, and don't let em push beyond it." "You're right.... and I'd go fine them, but I already told them to screw off, so I don't think they'll be too happy if I called em to me so soon....." "I ain't gonna do it for ya. This is yer hole ya dug yerself inta, and yer gonna get yerself outta it." "Yeah.... this is gonna be a tough pill to swallow. I'll go find em...." "Gilda and Nadene to room 307. Gilda and Nadene to room 307." I was laying on a large pillow in the room, by the far wall from the door, when the two of them walked in. Their look was blank when they gazed at me, a look I know all too well. 'They killed their emotions, which means they're trying to stay calm. Better get this done and over with.....' "Alright. Now that we're all here.... let's get this over with. Gilda. I'm sorry. You were doing what you thought was right to get me to open up, and I snapped at you, all because I'm too much of a pansy to open up and tell you about my past, and I let you walk onto an emotional landmine. Nadene, I'm sorry I snapped at you too. I know your attraction it purely physical, and what you did was wrong, but I over reacted. And.... I know I said I didn't want to see you till your estrus was over, but this is something that cannot wait. It's time." "You mean....." "I am going to tell you both, EVERYTHING. I am going to unload so much emotional crap on you. I'm going to give you everything. And then you're both going to do the same to me. Gilda, I want to hear about your time as a slave, in the mines, and then living on your own. All of it. Nadene, whatever you've got on your chest that you want to get rid of, now is the time. The fact is, I care about you both, and you may have hurt me, but I didn't give you any warning that you were going to. All I did is tell you my stance, and when you tried to change my mind, I snapped. Gilda, you had your everything taken away from you when you got caught, and I know I'd feel terrible if I did something that hurt you because of your past, even if I didn't know about it. So..... here we go........." "At least your parents loved you!" I screamed. "Well at least you HAD parents!" She replied with just as much volume. "Some parents! I'd rather be an orphan!" I retorted. "My mother is DEAD!" Nadene added. "At least you know where yours is!" Gilda reamed. "I'd rather not know and at least have hope of finding her!" The cat shot back. "And then find out all your hope was for nothing?" Gilda sneered. "It is NOT for nothing you bitch! We could find them any day now!" I threw in. "You know that's bullshit and so do I." "Is not!" "Oh yeah?" "Yeah!" After nearly three hours of telling each other of our pasts, we started yelling at each other in argument, followed by the three of us diving at each other. We started bashing with fist, wing, and feet. We were a mass of thrashing limbs as we rolled around on the floor of the room, hissing, screeching, and yelling at each other, till we finally collapsed on the floor, all of us tied in a knot, exhausted. "Alright kiddos.... that was goood. We'll have one a these er'ry day till ya kin git over yerselves. I think ya made sum real progress. Gilda stopped bein such an insensitive bitch, Grif stopped bein such a whiny lil lad, and Nadene..... well, I, I dunn even know, do ya feel better?" Despite claiming that he wouldn't be helping, Steelhorn had taken the role of mediator for us.... for a pay raise of course. "Now that yer all done huffin an puffin, can't let ya just leave like that, so now yer all gonna give each otha a hug, say yer sorry, an be done with it. After that, ya go yer separate ways for the rest of tha two weeks so ya can get sum space." "Sorry Gilda.... I should have been more sensitive to your needs." "Sorry Grif... I shouldn't have been so pushy." "Sorry Nadene.... I should have let you known how I feel.." "Sorry Grif, I shouldn't have tried to get you out of your comfort zone before you were ready." "There. Yer all solved now. Ya know Grif is a one lass lad, and ya know why, an maybe he'll be more open ta it later, but that'll be when he's ready, and ain't before. Gilda don't gotta worry about feelin morally objectionable, just cuz Grif don't have any vice like smokin er drinkin er sex don't mean yoo can't." We all got together in a great big hug, then went our separate ways, well.... except that Gilda stopped me in the hall once we were out of sight. "Yeah? You know we're not supposed to be seeing each other right now right?" "I know... it's just.... well.... after.... you said those things..... I went to the top deck to think... and... I saw something falling..... so I...." She pulled out the black velvet box I had thrown away. Son of a.... she saw me toss it and went after it.. "Gilda I...." "I know.... but, if this happened, then maybe we don't know each other well enough yet for that... but instead of tossing it.... just hold onto it okay? Maybe not now, maybe not ever, but.....then again, maybe one day." "And before that day...... no more secrets okay? If we're going to be together, we can't hold things back from each other. If there's ever something you want to know, just ask." "Ha..... looka me, Steelhorn, marriage counselor....... Brooke.... Ah miss ya.... I know you ain't hadda choice, but why ya hafta die? I did all ah could, ta get money for yer operation.... but... it wasn't enuf... I once told ya I'd show ya tha world, but only after ya passed could ah get ta workin on makin yer dream come true. It became mah lifes work, cuz even if ya can't see it fer yerself, I can see it for ya. I built it fer yoo. Are ya watchin me? Are ya proud? Savin a pair oh young loves..... ya always were a romantic....." A single tear fell from the eye of the manly blue minotaur as he gently brushed the face of a photo with his giant hands. He swore he could almost feel her hide, with it's earthen hue and texture from working the gardens. He pulled off his steel horn, which was actually a flask, and took a drink of the sweet honey mead contained within before sealing it and snapping it back on. "Ah..... tastes like home......." =Gilda= "So.... where to now?" "Well.... there was that battlefield.... although I don't really think we're ready to take that on yet. We've got a whole slew of rescued slaves, as well as a load of gems and such we gotta sell off. I'm glad we've got the rest stop in Marble Pillars, but they're not quite set up to to trading and passenger shipping, so we'll have to haul this next bunch to Signal ourselves. Once we can get our new friends set up with a fleet of airships, we won't have to worry about it anymore." "Well, there IS a celebration in Signal in a week and a half." Surprise added. A week and a half? That's.... really close. Nah. Couldn't be. "When is it?" "It's October 13th. They're having a Friday the Thirteenth party, and they want us to be there! They sent us party invitations and everything!" That HAS to be a coincidence. "Well........ we do need to stop over there anyways....... alright. We'll head to Ponyville and drop our load at Silver's, then make way for the island. Set sail!"