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!"
Update at the middle of the night? Screw sleep, I got a story to read.
Steelhorn is my favourite character in this story now.
Nice insight into Steelhorn's past, unexpected but fitting, definitely explains why he spent his life making a ship
Thank you for this chapter, it made up for the last one.
1337541
middle of the night? where the hell do you live?
also nice chapter. cant wait for grif to get back into the swing of things
And it's funny, because I was reading through this chapter, and I don't know why, but I hated it. I couldn't find a single thing wrong with it, and it made me furious. It felt so out of character and EVERYTHING, like it was resolved too quickly... well, except that it isn't really resolved, but it's the setup for the resolution. I'm glad y'all like it, because I was pounding my head on the desk with this one.
1337541
Oh Hai, look another guy on the right side of the GMT!
Finally, someminotaur giving Griffin the what for!
Welp, Steelhorn is best crewman. Finally, someone has the balls to tell Griff that getting your head shoved in a used toilet doesn't compare to torture and slavery.
best title of a chap ever (reminds me of my Scottish grandma)
damint surprise
Middle of the night? It came out at 1:00 for me. Anyway Steelhorn being a mediator...for pay raise. Well then I can see him and Filthy Rich getting along just fine. Now you give him a backstory too. Well at least you made it go into a different direction then what I was thinking. any way class sucks and too tired for anything else.
1337584
Vietnam. GMT +7
a part on friday the thirteenth at Signal that only Surprise happened to know about....the same day as Gilda's B-day.......i see nothing suspicious here at all.
I'm calling it now: BlackWing is a writing robot sent from the future. Only way I can get the update speed to make sense in my head.
kinky?
*Alondro arghs!* Sekhmet! It didn't work! They're all back together again! How can we possibly hope to use the plan now?
*Sekhmet waves the human/pony away* Oh hush, it'll be fine. We'll just go with Plan B. Plan B always works!
*Alondro grumbles and heads out to gather the rubber chicken, duct tape, and kielbasa required for 'Plan B'*
i2.listal.com/image/2488113/500full.jpg
1337721
well.....you're boned
Someone! ANYONE! Please, make an animated flash of that moment!
1337590
Resolved?
More like you just removed casing from a bomb and it is still about to blow into everyone's face (Griffin's situation).
Or only I feel that way?
It will take... Much more to have real happy ending. But who says fate will allow it?
1338211 No one. No one says fate will allow it. Fate says she won't allow it, at least not yet. There's... gonna be stuff. Up till this point, Grif and Gilda had nothing but smooth sailing. Things are gonna get a little rockier down the road.
1337747
He writes chapters, In groups, then they get compared with other Game of the Gods stories for consistancy. After that, they get released damn near all at once. At least I think that's what happens.
Tl;dr: BlackWing is a robot.
Steelhorn... he makes me think of the Demoman...
1338407 Nope. I just write when I can, then I run it by the other authors, who give input. For a while I had a bunch of them written ahead of time and compared, but once the crossover was done, I just started writing. Also, I am not a robot. At least I think I'm not. I mean, I bleed, so unless I'm one of those fancy new androids......
*Beep boop son, beep boop.*
honey mead steelhorn is a viking bitch
Steelhorn: I'm a black, Scottish cyclopes......
Just wanted to throw that in. Nice little back story addition.
I knew it. I knew you wouldn't bring an engagement ring into this only to abandon it like that. Granted, I was expecting it to crop up again much later, maybe in the hands of a Diamond Dog wanting to use it as blackmail or something, but oh well.
1337733
Jim crack= gimcrack= cheap
Corn= corn whiskey
Jim crack corn= 1840's slang for cheap booze
You can find the full story here, it's #3 on the list.
I wrote it down because it seems like everything just went to hell, and if Grif can sing Diamond Sword when he's in a weird mood then I can post random children's songs with horribly violent origins for no apparent reason.
1338990
Blue Scottish mad cow?
Wait, what color is he? I forgot.
My mind went here with the raid on the warren, then went here with the other chapters.
Then when Steelhorn told Griffin to nut up or shut up:
(Yes, I know Steelhorn's supposed to be Scottish.)
This felt really forced, but still had two of my favorite moments. Using Grif's head as a bar rag, and the "So..... here we go........." I had a sudden Spongebob flashback. "12 Seconds later...."
Lulz were had.
"My mother is DEAD!"
pfff bewhehe batman hehehe
1338211
A flash... of that moment...
omg that would be so awesome....
O.O
13/10 -Gilda's birthday
13/10 -My Dad's birthday
1337721 Yup. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_rainbowderp_flip.png
1338547
> Also, I am not a robot. At least I think I'm not. I mean, I bleed...
[youtube=nsHXWDfgCmg]
1338547 Grif the Rubberfruit fan... My life is complete.
I am very pleased that the best fic I've read is also the longest I've read (and am still reading considering it's incomplete and I'm only on chapter 73) It's not the kind of mind molesting epic that Harmony's Wrath was for me, but it has more action and is a lot longer. (and funnier)
Been used as one myself, only thing I took away from it was to not pass-out in the bar, or at least not when with beard.
1338293 The "resolution" was really jarring and the many of the characters didn't feel correct. Really can't point out why but nearly this whole chapter didn't feel like you.
How the devil due you write that quickly and well then? 2k words in spare time really doesn't sound possible to medl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Twilight_pea.png
BRING ALL FRIDAY THE 13TH BADASSES
Well looks like I'm gonna have to go on killing spree...
Ok maybe later. You know after the thirteenth. Or maybe on it. Either way All Hallows Eve is what I am looking forward to.
Am i rambling? Yes yes I am.
I liked the chapter and hope shit gets better for Griffin
I wanna see his badass children.
Well, that last chapters feels somehow a bit out of touch with all of previous story, buut... I never ever liked when things go down in ANY story I read or watched, so don't mind me.
Also, BlackWing, let me congratulate you, you are now halfway through to beat Fo:E. Do you feel badass enough to write another 90 chapters, or this fic will end sooner?
1342176 Steal ALL the free time.
did you model that lost limb/appendage turned into a flask from barbosa in on stranger tides?
1345101 Haven't seen stranger tides.....
Finally! After six days of non-stop interrupting from family and work, writing my chessfic and fanfic, as well you updating this story, I had finally read all 94 chapters of Griffin the griffin. You sir are one heck of amazing writer.
1345353oh, well if you havent seen it, i suggest you dont, its the kingdom of the crystal skull of the Pirates series
Steelhorn is best psychiatrist Minotaur. Good job, BlackWing, and congrats on a chapter well done.
And then that song.
Well I guess grif is not just a space bound rocket ship, but it works
1337590 Don't worry about it, characters tend to run away on their own if you let them. The bane and boon of all inspired authors.
Love the hidden head-flask by the way. I want a DND character with a false limb now.
*edit*
Urg, I was going to try drawing that face-mop scene, but I seem to have lost my stylus. There goes my mood.
1319338 Well, keep up the destruction~! I am in love with this story. You don't get half-assed about your detail and stuff. Also, you don't beat around the bush. If you get tired of something, you just come out and say it. Thats why I like the story.
you look like a emo griffin in your avatar blackwing