“Welcome”

…

…
“Welcome”

…

…
I read the sign again and again, trying to convince to myself that I was welcome. I hadn`t seen Katinka in a while and figured I needed to grow a pair and apologize for the things I said.

“Welco…” I was interrupted as the door opened up and Katinka stood in the doorway looking at me with an unwelcome face. Goes to show how much you can trust a welcome sign. I sighed inwardly

“Victor,” She huffed. I flinched slightly but she didn`t notice, or she just didn`t care, It doesn’t matter. Time to apologize.

“Katinka. Look. I came because I wanted to say that…”

“You are sorry. You didn`t mean any of the things you said and now you want my forgivness? Yeah, well it doesn’t matter anymore. You see, I am moving to England next week, so I don`t need your apology, nor do I want it.”

Her voice seemed to break towards the end of her sentence. It hurt me to see me causing her so much pain. But I was still shocked by her planning to move.

“Wha… When? When was this planned!?” I asked flustered.

“It was planned long ago, my parents just wanted my approval and we would take off. I could have left months ago if I wanted to, but I chose to stay because of you.” She did a half chuckle to herself and continued “But look were we are now.” She spitted at me with venom.

I looked at her speechless. She chose to stay because of me, and because I couldn`t hold back on some mistakes she is now leaving to start over in England. She had been my girlfriend for maybe two years or so… and now she was leaving for good… all because of small slips on my part. Katinka noticed my hurt expression, and frowned slightly, but it wasn`t directed at me.
“Victor, I`m sorry I was so cold. I just… It hurt. You know? It hurt when you said those things, and I just… I might have overreacted and… I was more than just that one time. I don`t know if you noticed but you have always been a bit on the edge when it comes to how you address me and others with my color.”

I interrupted her. “No, this is all my fault. You don`t have to be sorry for anything. I just… I… I got to go. I`m sorry.”

I turned and walked away from her house ignoring her callings for me to come back.

Rather break all ties with her now. Put up an iron carpet and forget she was ever a part of my life. That is what I convinced myself would be the best, and maybe it was, or maybe it wasn`t. Who knows? I know I sure as hell don`t.

When I got home I flopped down on my bed and ignored everything, until my little sister came knocked on my door. “Victor? Victoooooor…? Hello?”

“Go away Nora,” I spoke into my pillow. My sentence was muffled by my pillow unfortunately so she couldn’t hear it and kept on knocking on the door.
“Victor? Can you take me to the park to play? Mom and Dad say they are busy and said you could take me there instead.”

Perfect. I can`t even get a moment to bath in self-pity before my racist, egocentric fucking parents comes into play. They can`t take care of Nora. The can`t show respect for people looking different than themselves or who is lower in the so called social ladder. Their way of living unfortunately rubs off onto me and makes me see thing from their point of view. I promised I would strive to not become like them when I met Katinka, but I can see how far that got me.

I jumped off my bed and ripped the door open harder than I originally intended, so my anger was at full display for Nora to see. I looked down upon Nora, she looked up at me and gave me with a frightened look, but then she attempted a weak smile to try and cheer up the gloom mood.

My bad mood faded immediately, and I picked her up and looked at her with my warmest smile. Her Hair was slightly lighter in tone than my dirty blond hair. Her eyes were dark green like mine and she had the same smile that everyone in my family had, including me. My friends had called me out on it and it had become something of a family trademark.

I went from happy to thoughtful. Family, what family did Nora have? An asshole of a dad and a racist mother, both who rarely have any time for their daughter. They don`t even bother excusing it with work, since family isn`t what is important to them. It is the social ladder. They were playing the “How many people can recognize you” game with the rich families.

I sighed inwardly and made another promise to myself. If my parents don`t have time for their daughter then I will parent her myself, even if my education pays for it. “Let`s go to the park. Maybe we can play some hopscotch or see if some of your friends are around.” I said giving her my most encouraged smile.

Her smile grew while she tried to jump from joy in my arm. Suddenly, she lounged at me, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. “Thank you. I love you.” I could hear her whisper to me.

“I love you too,” I said. Returning the hug.

===========

The faint light from the twilight sky woke me up. That and possibly the loudest snoring I have ever had the pleasure of hearing. I looked up and saw It was coming from Maya who was lying in her queen sized bed whilst drooling all over her pillows. I averted my gaze from her and looked out into the backyard. The sun was making its way over the horizon at a steady pace, sunrays peeking from the mountains in the distance painting quiet a beautiful picture. It looked to be going slightly faster than what it did back on earth, making me wonder how long the days on this planet were. I remember Elpis mentioned the sun and the moon being controlled by some horses with magical powers which in all honesty sounded ridiculous, but when one is transferred from one plane of existence to another, many things seemingly impossible can very likely be possible.

A loud snort broke me from my train of thought and I looked back towards the bed and saw Maya looking at me with half lidded eyes and beak agape. “Morning, Snuggles,” she greeted with a tired look. I slumped my head back down into the pillow, remembering what a pretty new name I had gotten myself. “Yeah nice to see you too,” she said. She rose from her bed and stretched her wing which was far larger than I had originally thought making her look quiet majestic. She twisted her back and neck and many pops came from doing so. I figured I should follow suite and stood up to stretch myself, loud satisfying pops coming from my back.

She hopped down from her bed and unhitched me from the lock mechanism that kept me locked in the bedroom all night and tugged at the rope for me to follow. We walked through some hallways and not long after I found myself in a big dining hall filled with banners with a golden claw embedded into the cloth, and pictures hanging off the walls showing painted pictures of a newborn Maya and her family. One of the pictures had Maya wrapped up in a blanked with her face peeking out with a curious gaze at the one who painted the picture, while her dad, and whom I presumed to be her mom were leaning their heads at each other while looking happily down upon their daughter. Maya came up to my side and noticed I was examining the painting. “Yeah, that’s me when I was smaller. That`s mom and dad.” She pointed at each one while she explained. “Come on, let`s go get some breakfast,” she finished, again tugging at the rope.

She sat down on one of the many pillows surrounding the table and bound the rope around one of the table legs. It didn`t take too many minutes before I got restless and started playing with the rope, doing a few knot`s and just in general screw around with it. Maya noticed and eyed me while I played with the rope. Just as it looked like she was about to say something the doors leading to the room burst open, and in came the King, and a lady griffon. I recognized her as the griffin from the painting. I immediately noticed she walked with her beak up high and closed eyes with a very stuck up attitude. I could already tell she was a snobby one and I probably would either love her, or hate her. I noticed Maya`s demeanor change from content to a slightly grim one. “Morning,” Maya greeted to her parents. “Good morning Maya, did you sleep well?” the king greeted back. “Yes.” Maya answered.

…

And that was that conversation. During the entire meal the family didn`t speak to each other at all, and I got nasty glares from the queen every time she bothered to open her eyes to look around. The doors burst open again and a pony waitress entered and asked the royal family for what meal they wanted to eat for breakfast. I heard the king order lightly cooked hydra meat and a goblet of wine. The queen ordered human meat and wine like the king. Her order made me cringe. Maya ordered the same as her father luckily, except the wine was changed with water. And as the pony left, we were left in an awkward silence again.

It`s times like these I wish I had the ability to speak. At least I could keep a conversation going unlike these griffins. I sighed, and laid down on my back beginning to think. “This is getting ridiculous.” I thought to myself. I got up again and went over to Mayas side, my eyes focused on her. All eyes were on me as I did this sudden action, and Maya looked at me confused. I broke the biggest grin I could muster up to see what she would do. What I didn`t expect was for Maya to widened her eyes and unhitch her jaw.

“What`s the matter Maya, a human scaring you?” I heard the queen giggle.

“H-He`s smiling,” Maya answered. Her eyes still locked onto me.

“That`s ridiculous Maya. You know humans don`t smile.” I heard the king laugh too.

“Wha… COME AND LOOK!” Maya shouted while pointing her talon at me.

“Humans don`t smile? Cool.”

I stopped smiling and looked over to the other griffins in the room with a neutral expression. “SEE!” Maya exclaimed.

“Oh, yes he is definitely smiling dear.” The queen answered with a sarcastic tone.

“Indeed.” The king shot in. It took strong willpower to keep myself from smiling or laughing. I felt a bit bad for Maya, but I couldn`t resist.

I looked back at Maya who shot me a confused look. She sighed and said, “Let's just wait for the food to arrive.”

“Let`s, but Maya, what do you think of your human, aside from him smiling.” The king started. I did a silent victory cheer for myself for starting up a conversation without even needing to talk. “Victor, you are a genius!” I internally gave myself a tap on the back for a job well done.

“He`s fine I guess. I think I need more time with him before I can judge him though.”

“Why that is true of course. But I have to ask again, are you sure you slept well? When I walked to check on you I heard some noises right outside your room.” The king asked.

“I slept okay, you probably heard Snuggles whimper. I heard him myself, so it wasn`t me.”

“Uh, oh. Did I really whimper? But for what reason?"

Family was the first thing that came to mind, and my good mood disappeared, and sadness started filling up inside me.

“He had a nightmare most likely. I am thinking of taking him out tomorrow so he can walk one of the mountains or something. I guess he could use some fresh air.”

“That sounds like great idea. It would get that filthy being out of the house for a while too.” The queen happily chippered.

“Bitch, I would have you know I do in fact have feelings. But you won't know because you are a only bitching and complaining, and not because I can`t talk and straight up tell you.” I harrumphed, a bit louder than I expected which earned me confused looks again. But my mind was focused on the queen. I could feel how my veins already boiled in how much I hated her, I don`t know why I judged her as a bitch this quickly. Maybe it was because I was used to Elpis treating me with respect, or maybe it was something else. At least Maya had changed her behavior from yesterday to a more acceptable behavior, so the family wasn`t all lost... yet, though it is in a tight spot.

A bitch of a mother, an overly naïve father, and dense king. A daughter with very little of a bond to speak of with her family, making the whole family feel disconnected. I mean, I had to force start a conversation for them without them even knowing it.

The doors to the hall opened, and in came a pony with three trays of food. The pony placed them on the table and left as quickly as it came. Maya and her parents dug in immediately on the food. My mouth watered at the sight of food and my stomach rumbled loudly right after. I hadn`t touched food since early yesterday back at the facility. Maya noticed me looking hungrily at the food so she took a small piece of food from her tray and threw it on the floor for me to take.

The second the meat hit the floor I got conflicted. I used to do this whenever an animal was around the table, only now I was the animal. "Oh man… this sucks." Reluctantly I took the piece of meat from the floor and began chewing away at it. I had never tasted frog, but I think I would compare the hydra meat to that, or maybe it was the dirty floor. After I finished I saw Maya had a small smile on her face. She cut out another piece and threw it towards me, only this time I caught it midair and began eating. His made Maya giggle and she began cutting another slice.

“Honey, don`t feed the human, he'll get fat.” Maya`s mother said.

“He is my pet, and I do what I want with him.” She threw me another piece of meat which I happily chewed away at while smiling internally. “Take that queen queer”

“Humph” The queen gave me another disgusted glare, and continued with her breakfast. Maya smiled at me again and ruffled my hair. I returned her smile which made her eyes pop out again. “DAD HE IS SMILING AGAIN!”

===========

“So…. Bored… Oh…. My… god.”

I watched as Maya and her bitch mother played chess. The pieces was enchanted so they moved by voice command. It was interesting to watch the pieces move on their own for the first five minutes, but it got boring really quickly. Maya didn`t seem too giddy at play chess either, but it was apparently her duty as daughter of the griffin kingdom. It taught her strategy and to think of every move and all that war tactic bullshit you mostly see in Game of thrones, or in strategy games. Come to think of it I never saw the infamous red wedding in season 3. GAH, another reason I need to get back home.

“Pawn to D6” Maya muttered.

Her mother clicked her tongue in disapproval and moved her bishop to take the pawn.

“Check.” Her mother announced, and surely enough the bishop had a clear path to Maya`s king. The only move Maya could do was to move her rook in front of the bishop’s path. But it would only delay the inevitable, since Maya had lost every other piece while her mother still had her bishop, and two rooks and a queen.

“I forfeit.” Maya sighed, clearly bored.

“No you don`t. A war isn't over until one side has lost.”

“But it`s a lost cause, there are no moves that I can do that will let me win.”

“True, but you don`t forfeit either way. A war goes to the end, no matter what. You must never show mercy towards your opponent, that`s what your father means, and your great grandfather, as well as the ancient ancestors of ours.” Her mother declared.

The game ended swiftly, and Ms. Bitch wanted another round.

“Come one Maya, let’s play another one, maybe even your pet human can help you.” She said with a cocky smirk.

“You will be in for a surprise I think.” I thought as I walked over to Mayas side and played the famous Ruy Lopez beginner. Miss Queen “perfect” looked at me in shock as I moved one of the pieces while still following the games rules, but recovered and began moving the chess pieces herself. Funny thing is that she walked right into the move set I played which made me and Maya win the game in four moves.

I grabbed the now shocked Maya by her claw, and hauled her with me out of the room whilst leaving a shocked mother behind. I was done playing chess, it was about time I revealed myself to Maya. I was tired of just stumbling around like a mindless husk, pretending to be dumber than I am. Right before we left tough I saw the queen look at me. I flashed a big grin and swiftly left the room. I gave myself a prideful pat on the back for probably giving the queen the biggest mindfuck she has had the pleasure of experiencing.

==========

“How did you do that?” Maya said while looking at me with wide eyes.
I shrugged as a response while giving her a, don`t know, don`t care face.

“Wha… what's that supposed to mean?”

I stared at her. Was she not realizing she was talking to a human? Did she already know I was smart? By the way she is acting she doesn’t seem to notice it herself. I got over to her and picked one of her feathers from her head, which made her snarl at me while rubbing the sore spot where there once was a feather. I walked over to the desk and found some paper, but no inkwell.

I sighed, and knew I was going to regret what I was about to do. I jabbed the end of the feather into my arm, drawing some blood and began to write. Disgusting I know, but I just needed to write "inkwell" down, and hopefully she would understand.

I shoved the paper up to Mayas face her face went from super-duper mad, to mega confused. At first she frowned, then went wide eyed, then her jaw suddenly imitated a fish. To say she ran through a few emotions would be cutting it short, some close to crying in fear, and others close to laughing out loud like a complete maniac. Suddenly she ran out of the room and came back in record-breaking time with and inkwell whilst still looking at me with big eyes.

I looked at the inkwell, and then back at her, wondering to myself how she did that and how she seemed to recover so quickly. I shook the thoughs out of my head and grabbed the inkwell and put it on the table and began writing.

+ Okay. So what I need you to do is to not freak out. Can you do that? +

She read the note, at least five times before an ear shattering shriek filled the room.

“And there is the delayed breakdown” I thought while rolling my eyes.

+ Okay, you are doing a great job at containing your fear, but maybe tone the screaming down just a little bit? + I asked a bit hopeful

She read the new note while screaming, but when she had read it her screaming quickly ceased.

+ So now that we got that out of the way. Hi my name is Victor, and I come from a faraway land unknown to griffins. I mean you no harm and only wish to be your friend… I think. +

She read the note and looked up to me, then down at the note again. She continued with doing these motions for about five minutes until another shriek filled the room again.

“This is going to be a long hour” I sighed.

==========

“Okay, okay. I think I am calm now,” Maya said. I still wasn`t totally convinced since her feathers were all over the place and her eyes darted back and forth from me and the exit. But I figured I could play along and see if she gets more comfortable then if I didn`t call her out on it.

+ Great. Now can we talk without you trying to blow my eardrums. +

Maya had gone through many stages of insanity. One where she was pacing back and forth convincing herself this was just a dream, then she suddenly began singing a lullaby to herself whilst curled up into a ball, and then she tried to attack me which had earned me a cut on my arm which was still bleeding slightly. I bandaged it up with some ripped bed sheet. Maya didn`t seem to care so I figured I didn`t do anything wrong.

“Yeah… sure. So… a faraway land. Where is this faraway land?”

+ Oh, it’s not really that far, it’s probably just on planet in another dimension, or something like that. Anyway, you already know my name, and you have stopped freaking out which is a big relief on my part. But could you possibly do me a favor? +

“uh… bu… ca… uhhhh...”

“ I broke her didn`t I? ... God damn it!”

She recovered though and managed to stammer an answer.

“Y-Yeah… sure, but first I want to know why you didn`t tell me you were smarter than the other humans.”

+ If you recall exactly five minutes ago while you were shrieking in fear and stuff, you will know why. But I showed my intelligence rather quickly to you if you compare it to what I did back at the facility. +

“We-well I am a princess and I would have demanded to know if I had known.”

The sentence contradicted itself. Maya would have demanded to know whether I was intelligent had she known I had been intelligent enough to answer… WHAT?!

+ What? +

“I said I would have demanded to know had I known?”

"Time for me to stoop low on the intelligence scale to see what level she is at."

+ Are you smart? +

“YES!” She screamed at me like I had insulted her, which I kind of did, but I figured now it was my time to come out with my secret weapon.

+ Okay, since you are so smart then answer me this, what came first, the chicken or the egg? +

…

“I broke her again.”

"How am I suppose to know that?!"

+ I don`t know, and really it doesn’t matter. What is important is that you help me find a way back home, Elpis said it was impossible, but with you, the princess on my side, maybe things can be different. +

“Waitwaitwaitwait, timeout. First of all, get you home. How? You are from another planet, or plane of existence, am I like suppose to shoot you out to space from one of our ballista’s and hope we aimed at the right star or whatever, and second who is Elpis.”

+ I have heard about this pony princess named Celpest or Molestia or something like that. She supposedly moves the sun, so what stops her from sending me back home? Oh, and Elpis is a friend who will be visiting regularly. I hope you don`t mind. +

After Maya read she looked confused and deep in tough, which I suppose would be a natural reaction. Especially considering she now knows her pet can write. But it was a lot to take in too. Her pet from another planet that needed to get home, and for me to get home would need careful planning to pull off.

“Yeah, should be easy to pull off. Celestia is invited to visit in three months time, so we can just ask her then.”

Well it could have taken carefully laying plans and a lot of hassle, or the pony could just visit and we can ask her… that works too.

+ Great. + I smiled legitimatly for once. What could possibly go wrong?

Author's Notes:

Hey people. Long time no see. it a bit on the shorter side, and for those of you who didn`t read my blogpost I Have mostly just been lazy. Also I`m not all that happy with how this chapter turned out, felt a bit rushed, lots of timeskips and just in general a fast paced chapter.I might re-write it in the future. But I am eager to continue the story, and this will have to do for now. With that said hope you enjoyed.

Ps. I am very lazy, and very few ideas have been popping up for me to write about. I have some things planned, and hopefully I should be able to come up with something interesting in the next chapters, beacuse this chapter was just plain out boring too read. [For me at least]

PPs. Don`t know when next chapter will be out, hopefully it won`t take a month to create.