//------------------------------// // A Nice Way to Start Things Off... // Story: Birds of a Feather // by Kishin //------------------------------// Had there been any hesitation in Leif's decision, any fault in logic that he could have found that day, to celebrate his recent appraisal, he would have straight up ignored it. Today was a day neither for caution from the law, or celebration. Just one of those days that liver poisoning would have been a blessing compared to everything that had occurred in the past. To relive past mistakes all over again, to see reminders of your life before Change's chaotic bidding, required a bit...dulling of the mind. And bars were the paramount location for the destruction of brain cells. Along the misty, and still damp, streets of Trottingham's infamous Laxmisagar Square, Glimmer Rain led Leif to through nostalgic neighborhood, where he purveyed the familiar buildings of his childhood. Of course, he didn't exactly enjoy being here. His memory had a habit of reminding him of all his embarrassments and follies whenever it was primed, and all the joyful moments of his life were washed over, like a mudslide encompassing bodies ready to decompose and return to the dirt. To cover up the mess. And also the fact that Leif plain hated this area. They say Laxmisagar Square had once become such an attraction for gang wars and illegal dealings that if one had gotten a shovel, removed the boulevard brickroad, and dug straight down for 10 feet, one could have found a multitude of things. Soil rich with the smell of rotting copper. Old bayoneted flintlocks stained with bits of flesh and gore. Skeletons with age cracking through their once not-too-pristine surface and spiritual center. Things that should never be brought back up again. But the days of yore and violence were gone. Leif made sure of that. Leif felt the tension and anger flow away from his breath the farther he got away from the Square. He lived his whole life in this neighborhood, and half of it was wasted in that burial ground. In Laxmisagar Square. His determination to escape from their current location hadn't gone unnoticed. Glimmer Rain saw it. "Leif, is something wrong? You looked like you saw a bloody ghost." She smiled. Leif attempted to return the gesture, but could only bend the crook of his beak. "Nah. Just this place. Where we off to anyway?" Leif quickly shifted the subject. "Quaint little place. You'll remember it. 'Dead End'? Ring any bells up in the old belfry?" She knocked a hoof on his head. "Our first beer? Remember when we were barely of age, and when you got yourself a sip, you spat it on my f-" "Yeah. Just...lead on," Leif attempted to hide his chuckle, but failed. He never had liked alcohol. And whenever the mood to become intoxicated by its alluring grasp came to mind, Leif was just never attracted by it. Too much hassle for such temporary pleasure. But he was still, how you say, a social drinker. Leif followed Glimmer down several more blocks until they reached their destination: the 'Dead End'. Where all individuals that had reached its namesake go. From the outside, no light escaped. Leif found the structure fairly common, and some signs of renovations were evident (so if he was too remember anything about the place before he was imprisoned, he wouldn't recognize it), but couldn't grasp the feeling that he should have known what was exactly in store for him. Leif entered, and the first thing he noticed was the sheer warmness of the atmosphere. It was almost strange that the place felt...relaxing, as if all bets of the outside world were off and nothing really mattered but you, your glass of ale, and the huge tab you were accumulating. But what Leif found most curious was how no one, not even the bartender, bothered to cause him trouble for his tattoo. The symbol had become quite a taboo over the last few years, and not even what Leif had done to, in his own term, reform it, had any effect. The symbol of the Four Winds became just another mark that violent idealists twisted the meaning of with their obscenities. Couple with the fact that the bartender hadn't threatened him at cross-bow point to get the hell out of the bar, or any of the other patrons for that matter, and that Glimmer basically dared anybody in the establishment to make a move, Leif's memory of the small, humble bar were coming back. Yes, there was something to this place. The building was once too close to Fenris territory for ponies even to walk in safely without being terrorized, but Leif made sure it had free trade. And his word was once law around these parts. Once. And never again. The barkeep, who was the one thing about Leif's return that he absolutely come to realize with familiarity, said in a burly voice as he looked up at his new customers, "Comes the hour, comes the Gryphon." He looked at both Glimmer Rain and Leif as if he was expecting something...more. He knew the pair quite well. Before Leif's imprisonment, and rather inclusive involvement with a certain Gryphon mafia, they were regulars. He also knew who was responsible for landing Leif in said imprisonment. And about both of their tempers. "You two kiss and make out, yet?" Leif responded, "Don't you mean 'make up'?" The barkeep grumbled, "I know what I said. My bar, my rules. Do I have to remind you again? How long has it been? Two...three years?" "Glimmer over here gets a turn-off from stallions, and I just got out of the dungeons. We aren't in the mood...Hops." Oh yes. Leif knew him quite well. "Fine. What can I get ya two?" Leif and Glimmer Rain sat down next to eachother on the bar stools next to the counter, and two stools away was a rather self-pitying blue-coat unicorn mare downing whiskey shots like water. Leif asked without hesitation, "A wine cooler." Glimmer coughed, "A Trottish Carriage Bomb. Full pint." Hops rose an eyebrow at Leif's request. "And who was the one that even thought of ordering cheap-flank hard lemonade in my bar? We're all stallions here, ya know. Even the mare has more stones than you do in your brambles." The Gryphon lightly slammed his claws on the bar counter and faced off with the barkeep pony, "And what if I wanted to consume something a bit unusual to your standards?" There was a freezing of motion in the air. Even the drunks had swallowed the ever-growing silence. Tension expanding like smoke in the room, Glimmer tugged at Leif's shoulder to make him realize that she can't release him from a nearby penitentiary a second time on the same day. Hops all of a sudden chuckled, "You're still the same, the lot of ya." He and Leif gripped their respective fore-appendages in a strong vice, and with their other arm, enclosed each other with a welcoming half-hug. They broke off after a couple of seconds, sound yet again returning to the room, "Welcome home, Leif. I'll get your drinks in a dash. Don't go rough-housing in here again. Bad for the insurance." Leif smiled, "No promises." as Glimmer facehoofed at the thought that she was in a room of idiotic drunkards, deadbeat failures, and worst of all, stallions. After a few minutes of catching up on current events (New locations, business that went out off the map, some revisiting friends in town), Leif and Glimmer received their refreshments from Hops. Yeah, Leif was familiar with Hops. They had quite the past. Back when the gryphon was younger, after a certain incident involving his parents that Leif didn't prefer to mention and during the time when crime became a new concept to him, Hops first met up with the young gryphon on the streets, heavily in need of a figure to look up to and confidence to realize a basic sense of control and morality in his life. Something 'clicked' in Hops' mind that day. Maybe he felt more sympathetic that evening than he ever had, which was highly unlikely at the moment. Hops, by this time in his bartending career, had grown immune to sob stories spewed out by society's unfortunate members. Enough for his heart to have shriveled up and died from misuse if he didn't need it to pump blood. But not that day. Hops was never the one to really...ignore the needs of children, as all they did wrong (if they had done any misdeeds at all) in life to deserve the unfair punishment of abandonment or hunger was being born. He took Leif under his roof, but after realizing that a bar was not the best-suited place to raise a socially-dysfunctional gryphon cub, he place Leif under the care of a couple he was relatively friendly with. Old schoolmates. Glimmer's mother and father. And they treated him like the son they never had. Because no foal should deserve growing up alone. And Hops was partially gladdened to hear that Leif had accustomed himself well to his new family, and was always there for Glimmer. Not for emotional help, Celestia forbid, but for help controlling her. The mare was fiercely independent and could sexually harass the bark off of a tree. In fact, the only reason Glimmer even got a respectable occupation, or even made it out of her foalhood completely unscathed, was because of Leif. He had a way with words to persuade Glimmer not to appropriate herself with any ridiculous ideas. Hops laughed to himself of the time a young Glimmer went through a different pathways of life every week. He could still remember the time that she proudly proclaimed her wish to be a space-mare, or a hoofball player. Or a janitor. She once had this crazy theory that janit- 'sanitorial technicians' are secretly somehow convertly disguised wizards that learn over time the secrets of the universe, or in actuality, how to be intensely super-intelligent. He suspected that one movie- what was it? Good Mare Hunting?- had placed those silly ideas in her head. Leif had a tough time with that one... And Hop thought Leif turned out pretty well...sort off. He just had some mars, some scratches on the record, that are best left untouched. So, years after he was forced to let Leif go towards the path of a better life, Hops still acted like the 'father-figure' to Leif, and would never, ever abandon him like his predecessors had. Hops, in a friendly gesture, asked, "Leif, ya got a place to stay?" The gryphon furrowed his brow, "Not for today, no. But how's the apartment side-business going?" "It's going pretty well, actually. Emigration's the main issue really. Too many folks leaving this dying city for me to be making more of a profit than usual. I could use one more patron, if you're interested." The gryphon paused to think. He was silent for a while, his thinking only interrupted by the blue unicorn mare next to him crying out for some more Applejack Daniels. "Alright. I guess a little forward-made reservation wouldn't be too bad." Leif nodded. He slowly opened up his wings a fraction of a hooflength so the bit-bag underneath could slide out into his open palm. Gryphons liked to carry things close to them. It wasn't a cultural thing, though it would be well adapted to counter-act the amount of pickpockets in Gryphia. It was habitual, ingrained in his genes. And Leif was a gryphon of habit. Hops quickly blurted, shoving the monetary sack away. "Nuh-huh. You don't pay here." Glimmer Rain bursted out, "What?! You make me pay all the time! Leif was always your favorite!" In a way, Hops always considered them his children. He knew them well-enough and became involved enough in their lives to be their valid uncle. And Hops always did give Leif the kinder treatment... "No, I'll pay," Leif refused. His beak told one story, while his face told of an entirely different agenda. Again...another Gryphon reflex. If translated in their facial language, it would read something like: "Thank you for the thought, but it would be best not to piss her off." Or some variation like that. But Hop was going to have none of it. Hops protested, "It's your first day back." "And you have a business to run. Plus, I think Glimmer's getting pretty jealous about the paternal favoritism," Leif teased. "Am not! You sexist twats..." Hops waited a little, watching to see, like many times in this life, if Leif would ever crack under his pleads. Leif never did. No reason to start now. There was confidence and steady persistence etched in the young bird's personality. Just like he raised him. "Fine," Hops gave in. "But only for the first nigh-" "Waiter!" the mare next to Leif screamed. Hops sighed, and returned to the intoxicated unicorn, "Do I look like your bloody butler to ya? What do ya want?" "I would like ano...anoth...an-" The unicorn slowly pronounced before collapsing on the floor. Hops sighed again. It happened so many times, it wasn't even funny. As if it ever really was... "Can you two help me with the mess?" Hops requested. He grabbed under the armpit of the collapsed blue mare. "At least until we get her to 'er room? She checked in earlier. And its on the way to yours, Leif, so you might was well come anyway." "Fine." Leif slid off of the bar stool, as well as Glimmer Rain, and trotted over to Hops to get the mare to her hooves again. They trekked and grunted over the numerous flights of stairs (Hops complained that he'd have to get the elevator repaired soon. The stairs were torture for the bespectacled, old Earth stallion.), and after reaching the Fifth floor, Leif and Hops finally arrived at her destination, with Glimmer Rain lightly skipping in tow with her armor, happily sure that the two could handle the task of hauling the drunken mare themselves. All of a sudden, the mare popped open her eyes while Hops was looking through the room keys for the right fit. She drunkenly screamed at the top of her lungs, as soon as she understood, or rather misunderstood, the situation. "HELP!!!I'mbeingmare-napped!AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" "No, you bloody aren't!," Leif hissed through a gritted beak, as he was the only one keeping her off the ground. Dear Aeolus, this mare is heav- The unicorn mare delicately vomited on his chest, and promptly returned to her alcohol-fueled slumber. And Leif just stood there, his mind on sensory overload, frozen from enacting any body movement or thought that would process into mere mortal word or actions meant to be reactions in situations like this. His turmoil was accompanied by the jingling of Hop's keys as he finally sorted out the correct one, and Glimmer's slowly-building laughter. Hops unlocked the door to the mare's apartment, and turned around. "Alright, we're finally here. Put her down wher- Bloody Tartarus! What happened to you?!" Glimmer was now currently on the carpeted floor, careful to avoid the wet puddle of partially digested fermented apple, chuckling through the greatest moment of her life. Well, at least for her. "Hahahaha! Oh, Celestia! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Come on Leif, tell 'im. Tell him what happened!" Glimmer Rain could barely breath out between coughs and exhales of merriment and joy. Leif silently and gently put the mare on the floor somewhere in what constituted as the living room, and returned quickly out of the door way. He asked Hops urgently, "Does the room you have for me contain a shower, by any chance?"