Famine eyes snap open as ray of sunlight manage to find small hole in the roof to spill down on to his face. He lays there for a while, staring at the ceiling with frown on his face. The longer he stares at it the rising annoyance.
` I fucking hate this house, and I hate this fucking sun too. Straw-roofing fucking sucks ass, its no wonder humans fucking evolved into making actually solid roofing instead of this stupid shit. `
Completing his annoyed thought, he sits up and slides out of bed. Getting up on his feet and stretches his arms, grunting at the sound of his joints popping, then his legs before finishing off with stretches meant for his back. He exits the guest room with a head shake to pop his neck. Scanning the dining room, he lets out a sigh of relief when he finds no Gruff at the table or any griffon for that matter.
He walks over to the corner and picks up a kettle. Walking across the dining room he goes into the kitchen. With some water and a small pot filled with tea powder he fills the kettle. After filling it he puts the kettle on the stove before bending down to pick up some logs and put them inside the furnace; setting them aflame afterwards. He reaches up to the pantry and pushes the canned goods aside to dig out a scone from his secret stash.
“Haaa...” He lets out a sigh as he leans against the counter waiting for the tea.
` I wish my only moment of peace could last for an hour or two... `
He takes a bite out of his scone and looks out the window, seeing the shadows of the tree and castle caused by the rising sun on the empty Griffonstone streets. A mediocre sight for many, however it was one of the few visual enjoyments he’s had sense he came here.
` Nice...`
By the time he finishes his scone the kettle begins its whistling. He turns around and takes the kettle off the stove, letting it rest on the countertop as he puts the fire out. He grabs a cup from the pantry as he lets the tea cool down a bit. He spends thirty minutes sitting in the dining room, drinking his tea in peace.
“Haaaaaaah... “ Famine closes his eyes and lets a smile slip onto his face. The silence... he enjoyed every second of it. Compared to the countless yelling of the griffons and their insufferable squawking, it was without a doubt a true blessing. Finishing his tea, he washes it in the sink and leaves it on the dining table for Gruff when wakes up.
“Alright... time to suffer.” He says bitterly as he exits out the front door. He starts walking down the road to a pile of straw around the corner. He reaches an arm in and digs around inside. It doesn’t take long for him to pull out his hammer and small box of nails. With his tools in hand, he takes back to the street and starts to look for empty buildings to fix, an attempt to maintain his peace and quiet for the time being.
“I can’t fucking tell which houses are abandoned or people still live in there... they all look like shit.” He mutters under his breath as he looks side to side. He eventually spots a doorless house, peeking in he sees furniture covered in web and dust.
“This is good enough to start.” He turns around to go back and grab wood only to see something vanish behind a barrel.
“.......” Famine stares at the barrel before shrugging and going on his way. As he travels his brief peace is disturbed as the feeling of being watched creeps in. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in his attempts to maintain his peace, however when he hears a feminine grunt and barrel fall over he knew he couldn't ignore it without looking like a dense idiot. With a sigh he turns around to look at his stalker.
“You’re up early Grise—” He pauses mid-sentence. In front of him was not his gambling addict griffon acquaintance but instead an arctic bluish gray griffon frozen mid-way trying to put the barrel back in place. He raises a brow and slightly opens his mouth at sight.
` That’s... not Griselda... Who the fuck is this? `
Famine scowls and points his hammer at the griffon. “Why were you following me?”
She quickly puts the barrel back in place and gives a small cough before opening her wings up and darting across the street to put herself right in front of him. She grips his hammer holding hand and shakes it as she speaks. “Hiya! I'm Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby!”
Famine finds himself lost in the griffon's turquoise and in the excitable nature of this griffon, his mind drawing a blank as he is unable to handle this entire new worldview of griffon personalities.
She lets go of her hand and scratches the back of her head. “And for why I was uh... Heh... following well it’s becauseeee....” Her smile widens making Famine take a step back. She throws her arms in the air. “It’s because you’re helping griffons!”
“Uh... uh...” Famine stutters out as he takes another step back.
“A non-griffon taking the time out of your day to fix griffons homes! When I first saw you do that the other day, I couldn't believe it! So, I wanted to... er... watch you a bit to see if you really are helping griffons, and you really are!” She clenches his fist and raises them up to her cheeks as she squee’s. Famine stares at her, absolutely dumbfounded.
“I... Wha... W-why!?” Famine raises a brow at her reasoning.
“Well as someone who has grown up here, I can tell you griffons are a bit... unfriendly...” She hives an uneasy smile and looks away.
` Unfriendly is one hell of an understatement for the shit I deal with! `
“So, when I see a non-creature arrive and start helping out griffons, even warming up to Grampa Gruff I just had to make sure my eyes weren’t playing with me! And they weren’t you really are helping out griffons out of the kindness of your heart...” She smiles at him.
Famine eyes widen briefly before turning to a glare as he takes another step back. “What!? I’m not doing this out of damn kindness! Gruff told me to do this!” He argues back which makes her frown slightly only to smile again.
“But you don’t have to follow Grampa Gruff’s orders! Sure, he’s one of the more towns more levelheaded elders and the only one griffon left standing from Guto’s era that has griffon politics and military experien—I’m not selling this very well.” She nervously chuckles as Famine gives her a deadpan stare.
“What I mean is you don’t really do this because Grampa Gruff tells you to! You don’t even ask for bits when you repair AND you don’t stop when griffons tell you to “shove off” you do this cause you really, really want to help us and it so... so... awesome! Awesomely awesome!” She throws her arms up again to squee once more, making Famine take another step back.
“..................” Famine stares at her in a mixture of confusion and annoyance.
` W-what the fuck is this!? My peaceful morning! Why did fate thrust this.... this thing at me! Is she even a griffon with this personality? What the fuck is going on!? `
Before she can follow up even more. Famine puts his hammer against her beak and speaks. “Shut up! Stop getting the wrong Idea and fuck off, I have shit to do!”
He moves his hammer off her beak and starts speed-walking away. “Stop following me or else!” He yells back as he walks away. Gabby stares at him wide-eyed for a moment before smiling and flying off.
The rest of his day wasn’t an easy one. The morning had disgruntled him and mi-way through repair on the old house a griffon attempted to try and claim it was their house, pissing him off and spending most of his morning arguing with the griffon. When the afternoon came by, he had his lunch disturbed by noticing Gabby watching him from the rooftops.
He couldn’t even yell at her due to Gilda flying in seconds before he was going to open his mouth and tell him it was time to sell scones. He spent a majority of his evening sell cheap scones to the shitty denizens of Griffonstone, and even then, he saw the griffon watching him from a distance. When the sun began to set, he was finishing up his with cleaning/organizing the remains of Griffonstone’s library.
Famine sweeps bits of fallen straw in a pile, taking a moment to admire the pile he picks it up and dumps it in a barrel. “Fuck straw roofs, I fucking hate straw so much... Get normal fucking roofs you birdbrained idiots...” He mumbles under his breath and turns around. Upon turning around he was greeted with a hovering, smiling Gabby.
“Bugh!” Famine jumps back and raises his fists up only to realize it wasn’t an ambush.
` This bitch! `
Famine scowls and gets back in to his casual pose as Gabby leans in. “You do like helping others, don’t you?” She says coyly.
“Hell no. Stop following me.” Famine says bluntly, but Gabby’s smile doesn’t fade instead it widens.
“But you helped around town all daaaay...”
“Because I had no choice.”
“You could’ve turned her down!”
“If I did than Gruff would yell at me.”
“You also decided to clean up the library.”
“Cause if I didn’t—”
“Grampa Gruff would yell at me?” Gabby finishes his line. Famine narrows his eyes as Gabby smirks.
“What the fuck do you want from me?” Famine doesn’t hide his annoyance in his voice.
“I want to know why you really do this!” She states with a smile.
“Because Gru—” Gabby puts a talon on his lips and shakes her head. Famine stares blankly for a moment until his brain processed what she had just done to his lips. He physically felt a blood vessel burst in his head before healing as his raged flamed.
“Nu-uhn, I watched you all day... As er... Creepy as that sounds... I haven’t seen Gruff come out to tell you to do this or that at all! Only Gilda and all she did was just offer you!” Gabby’s smile nearly fades before she shakes her head.
“You can tell me! I promise you that I can keep a secret!” She whispers the other half to him as she leans a bit closer. Famine grits his teeth and glares at her.
“I told you it’s because I don’t have a choice! If I don’t do this or that, that old moldy corpse of a hybrid will come out of his shitty den just to terrorize me with his insufferable speech! Why the FUCK is me doing something around here so goddamn important to you, you piece of shit!” Famine takes a step forward and yells at her. She recoils back, shock and fear on her face that transitions to sadness.
She looks down for a moment, sulking for a moment before shaking her head. Looking back up at him a glare. She hovers in close to jab his chest with a talon. “Because it’s okay to admit you like helping others!” She argues back.
“I don’t like helping others!”
“You do!”
“I don’t!”
“You do!”
“You don’t get to decide what I do and don’t like!”
“Yeah... but I know you like helping others! I know you do! Why do you have to hide it...” Her anger fades just as quickly as it came but she keeps her glare. Famine opens his mouth to argue but stops as his eyes meet hers.
“Is wanting to help others something to not be proud of...?” She looks at him with a bit of sadness leaking in her expression, a shiver travelling down his spine as he looks into those turquoise eyes.
` What... what is this griffon? `
“Y-yeah. Helping others leads to being,” Famine pauses. “Reckless...” He shakes his head and crosses his arms. “Plus, there's no real benefit of it, in case you have your eyes closed the people around here aren’t exactly the most grateful...”
“Why should a person be proud of doing something reckless without reward? I don’t get why you’re pushing this so damn hard.” He huffs.
“.... It’s because I like helping people... I, I, really do like helping others a lot!” Her eyes force the sadness out of her and brings back that determination. Famines eyes slightly widen in surprise and he takes a small step back.
“But because I'm a griffon I was treated most of my life like it was a bad thing to do, we griffons don’t want to ask for help... we like staying in our own rows, it's our nature... and I don’t like that! When I try to surpass my urge to help others, I don’t feel like myself and if I don’t then I don’t fit in with my own kind! I saw ponies help others around here once and believe it had something to do with... er... destiny!”
“I went to the ponies to ask them and found out it wasn’t something to do with destiny I was... I am just a griffon that likes to help others! I don’t surpass it anymore and even if a griffon yells at more for helping them I feel nice and like I am myself. I don’t like feeling like I have to put a disguise on just to be myself!” She nearly yells at him, making him flinch slightly. She takes a deep breath and puts a talon on his shoulder as she leans in close, her eyes piercing his.
“It’s okay to admit you like helping others... you don’t have to hide yourself!” She gives a heartwarming smile to him. Famine eyes shrink as gets a deeper look into those eyes; he could almost see his own reflection in those innocent eyes of hers.
` This... This feeling again! `
Famine feels that shiver once again. He felt locked down. As if turquoise chains rose from the ground under her and wrapped themselves around his body. The chains slithering up his legs to his torso, only to go around his arms and bound them against his sides. A chain wrapping solely around his throat preventing him from looking away or speaking. He felt the imaginary chain wrap tightly around him, to the point where he felt as if he couldn’t move or even speak.
“It’s okay to be nice!” She says proudly and gives a closed eyed smile. A bead of sweat rolls down the side of his face. She opens her eyes once again and the two share a stare before she sighs. Gabby drops down from the air with a small frown.
“You’re that determined huh?” She says with a sad tone her voice.
“I... I... I’m sorry, for yelling and uh... Also following you around I just... wanted someone else around here who was like me. I’ll leave you alone now.” Her face falls and quietly she turns around and starts walking away from him.
“Hey.” He suddenly calls out to her. She freezes in place for a moment before turning to look at him. He keeps his back to her as he runs a hand down his face sighing. He turns his head slightly to look at her. “Don’t get the wrong idea... I just... Gruff said the library looked like shit so, I.... decided to clean up the library for him so he doesn’t tell me to do it when I’m busy...” He looks away and scratches the back of his head.
“That's it...” He says quickly and walks away, not wanting to deal with the aftermath. Gabby watches him walk away before smiling and quietly giggling to herself. “Hehe... Haha! What a goofy lie!” She finishes her giggle fit and watches the man walk away from her with a smile on her beak.
“I’ll see you around!” She cheerfully yells out to him and waves goodbye before taking off.
Famine grumbles under his breath as he walks away, rounding the corner and furrowing his brows.
` She’s... Unique... for a griffon. `
He scowls as her speech echoes in his brain again and narrows his eyes when image of her determined glare resurfaces in his mind. He couldn’t even remember the last time he felt... mentally locked down like that, and to expect a griffon, no a denizen of this world to be able to do that. He couldn’t even begin to figure out how she manages to lock him up and make him give in to her absurd demand.
` Definitely unique in a bad way... `