I slowly opened my eyes and took a moment to try and recollect my thoughts. I turned my head and looked around to get an idea of where I was. “What was that all about?” I pondered. “bah… doesn’t matter, it`s just a dream.” Still fearful for the dream I decided to test my arms. I could move them. I let out a relieved sigh, a small smile making its way on my face.
In an attempt to get my mind going again, I began examined where I was. Where was I anyway? It took a moment before my brain caught up with everything that`s happened but I quickly recognized the room as Princess Mayas room. I still hadn`t grown used to live with her. I still expected to wake up back under the tree, or in one of the cells humans were kept back at the facility.
Princess Maya... I let out a weak huff, and though of how crazy it sounded. Victor the human, ends up in a sick kind of wonderland where he is currently living with the princess of the land. Before he knows it, he will end up marrying her like it is some fairy tale. I took a quick glance at Maya`s sleeping form.
Her blanket moved in a relaxed, repetitive motion up and down by her breathing. I saw her eagle claw stick out, hanging from the edge of the bed. Her beak was peeking slightly out form her blanket. “Marrying her, yeah right.” What made me so sure anything of this even was real anyway? For all I knew I was currently sitting with a straightjacket thumping my head against a cushion covered wall. Maybe I was in coma, like I have been suspecting for some time now. Or maybe I was dead?!
In the end, it doesn’t really matter, there seems to be very little I can do from where I am right now. All I can do is hope and wait for this magical pony princess to help me get back, and that was three months away, so better swallow a pill of patience and wait till then.
I caught myself spacing out, so I brought my attention back to reality. I once more looked over at Mayas sleeping form, only she wasn`t sleeping anymore. She was now was staring at me intensely. Ones I met her eyes, her breathing intensified slightly. It felt like she was observing me, curious about something. I patiently waited for her to ask me what she had on heart. “You are still smart aren`t you?” “Well, that`s one question to start off the day with.” I thought.
I responded with a nod and dared forth a weak smile. Satisfied with my response I averted my gaze from her and overt to the window noticing the sun peeking up from the mountains in the distance. The sunlight spread evenly over the land slowly hitting my eyes with its blinding light. I relished in the comfortable warmth the sun provided, feeling a sense of familiarity from Earth, of how I used to relax in the sun, of how I used to go the beach and take a swim during the summer. Of how me and…
“uuurgh…” I heard Maya grunt, rudely interrupt my train of thought while slumping back onto her bed. “Why of all the humans I got did I have to get the weird one… UURGH!” She exclaimed again, her talons in the air to emphasize her point. I got up from my basket and looked at her with a stink eye. “She only thinks of herself, go figure.” I snorted. “There`s royalty for you.” Right after I thought that, I mentally scowled myself for judging her that quickly. “She is probably just in a bad mood because it is early in the morning.” I decided to forgive her for her rude rather selfish comment, and move on with my life, giving her a second chance to introduce herself when she was thinking straight.
“I don’t mean to be rude Victor, but why were you so willingly acting like a dumb animal when we brought you back here?” Maya asked. I looked at her and saw she was genuinely curious. Her mind was probably just trying to wrap itself around me being smart, thus she will probably want an explanation for all my decisions up to this point. I walked over to the pile of paper and quill that had been prepared yesterday and began writing down an answer to her question.
+ I honestly don`t know. +
And that was a blunt lie. I honestly knew why I had done everything I have up to this point. Acting scared, dumb… blending in. It was cause was scared of what the griffins might do if they found out I was smart, but I wasn`t going to tell her that, it`s not like she needed to know. If the information that I am smart gets out to the wrong griffins I could still end up in serious trouble. Being experimented on is one possibility. Or maybe I would be questioned, and to never see the light of day ever again! Or-or…
I had apparently had a minor panic attack, since Maya was looking at me like I had gone insane, which I probably was I just didn`t know it. I did an awkward chough to ease the tension and returned to thinking normally again. What was my reasoning for telling Maya I was smart again? Probably not a good reason seeing as I can`t even remember it now.
She read my previous note and gave off another annoyed huff. “Whatever, just promise you won`t be trouble for me while you are here.”
+ I am considered a pet. Pets are nothing but trouble most of the time. + I joked, while keeping a smirk in an attempt to brighten the mood. But my snarky comment failed miserably and she was already at work on glaring daggers at me. “Don’t. Do. Anything. Stupid.” She whispered with a hard sternness found in her voice.
I let out a sigh while rubbed my forehead, signaling with my other hand that I understood her. She let another exaggerated sigh and was up and about to leave the room. “Don’t leave this room until I get back.” She ordered to me which I gave a tired grunt back in return. "yes mom." She took a second to look back at me with another glare emphasizing her previous command.
The second she left the room I flipped the bird at the closed door she had left through. “What a glorious way to start of the day.” I cupped my face into my hands and let out a tired sigh, wondering how Maya and I would get along. From what I had gathered up until now, we were already at each other’s throats. And from what I had gathered so far she was bipolar as well. She was the only one I could talk to here, besides Elpis. But Elpis isn`t here, so that leaves me with Bipolar, princess Maya… whoop Dee doo. Day one the first time I met her, she was tired and mad at her dad for whatever reason. Day two she would be nice and treat me like I was her best and only friend, and today she was back to being in a shitty mood, probably only wanting death and misery upon every individual who bothers her. Maybe it was the morning; maybe it was some mental bipolar condition. In the end, what could I do about it? I was… just a human after all. And we all know what humans are here in this fucked up world.
“It`s not her fault Victor. She is just having a serious case of bad morning mood, that’s all.” A small voice reasoned with me, trying to convince me that, that it was just the morning.
“No, she is mentally unstable, and every other day you are going to have to deal with her mad at the world behavior.” Another part of me tried to convince me. But I denied the accusation and shook my head as I didn`t really bother delving deeper into the behavior of Princess Maya; also know as the “possibly bipolar bird”.
I decided sitting on a bedside drooling in thoughts all day would do me no good, so I went over to the stack of paper and began drawing, or doodling is more like it. Much more productive, I know, but it was at least something to keep me occupied with.
What came in the end of my doodling session was a beautiful piece of artwork. Of course when I say “art”, I am talking of stick figurines doing absolutely nothing but standing in a very stiff `t` shape. They might have been holding something resembling a phone or a book. To be honest I didn`t know myself honestly. I wrote my name in the bottom corner like any true professional artist would do and made my way over went over to the desk and dropped off the artwork there right beside a small mirror.
I hadn`t seen myself in weeks, so I picked up the mirror and looked at my reflection. My hair and scruff had gotten slightly longer and thicker, and I had a serious case of bedhead. My cheeks had sunken in an uncomfortable amount since last I saw them, making my cheekbones clearly visible compared to what of before. I still had a few cuts and scratches in my face, but they were healing nicely. I had bags underneath my eyes, implying I needed sleep. I didn`t feel tired. Could it be something else?
Still, seeing myself like this got me a bit worried, so to take my mind of my current physical condition I began pacing around the room thinking of an excuse as to my parents and friends as to why I went missing. But most of all, I thought of my little sister. God, how I miss her cute little giggles when we played tag, or how she listened so intently when I explained how I viewed the world… How would I explain my departure to her?
I took notice of how I was thinking about those back home again. If I kept thinking like this I would go mad in less than a week, not that I already wasn`t. I decided that I wasn`t going to think of them, or home for that matter, during the rest of my stay here. Maybe, with a dash of luck it would make the time go quicker even.
So I returned to pacing around the room and think about absolutely nothing. I must have an easily entertained brain, since thinking of jack shit drove the time surprisingly fast. Before I knew it Maya came back from through the doors and looked at me with a questioning look. I stopped my pacing and looked back at her waiting for her to ask a question, or at least tell me what she had been doing. She looked at me for a little bit longer and began tilting her head slightly while still holding up that curious gaze. I shot up an eyebrow, now just as confused as she was.
We stood there looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. I finally decided to break the little staring contest we were holding and began writing a question.
+ Is there some breakfast around? I`m hungry. +
Without answering Maya was out the door again.
------------------
+ I am not eating on the floor, period. +
“Yes you are.”
+ No I’m not +
“Yes”
+ No +
“Yes”
+ No + I tapped the answer again.
“Yes you are!” She said with her stern commanding voice.
Luckily she didn`t notice, but I actually shrunk a bit by that voice. There was something weird with how she used it. It made me want to listen to her orders. However I quickly recovered and gave her a quick glance again to make sure she hadn`t noticed my moment of weakness. I decided giving her my best death glare would help my argument on not eating on the floor, but she returned mine with her own to her fullest capacity. My stomach unfortunately waved the white flag by giving off a hungry rumbling sound. I gave a defeated exhale and began eating from the bowl on the floor while Maya got a smug grin on her face.
Maya had given me hydra steak and a bowl of water all neatly placed on the floor for me to eat. What was bugging me though was that I had to eat on the floor without any explanation what so ever. So naturally I asked.
+ Why do you make me eat on the floor anyway, it`s only us here and you already know I am smart. +
Her smug grin dissipated and turned into a thoughtful one whilst slowly opening her beak to come forth with an answer. “I… It`s to…” She stammered. She stopped trying to say something and started scratched the underside of her beak with a claw while staring out through the window with a distant expression. After a little while she began speaking again. “It`s to help me cope with the situation I guess.” She answered with a shrug. I honestly would have been bothered by her short answer hadn`t it been for the delicious steak I was currently diving into.
I gave an affirming nod. “I suppose I`ll just have to deal with it for now.”
+ Fine. + I wrote quickly, and began eating hungrily away at the steak again.
…
…
…
…
An awkward silence had now filled the room, the only sound that could be heard was me eating happily away at the hydra steak which tasted surprisingly enough, just like fish, or more specifically, cod. But it is better than the slop I got back at the facility.
“Soooo… How are you?” Maya asked.
I glanced surprised at Maya. I gave a small chuckle from how ridiculously generic the question was, but played along, figuring she would only get more comfortable with me over time. It`s not like I could force her to like me. Did she even like me at all. Did she even like humans, or were I an unwanted gift from her father? Was that why she was so mad?
The thought made me shift a bit uncomfortably.
Maya took notice of my uncomfortable shifting and looked away a bit ashamed. Maybe she though she hit a sensitive spot with that question. That in itself is a miracle really, that a so generic “how are you” question made me uncomfortable. But she pushed the conversation further anyway.
“I personally am doing okay. At least what the modern society would call okay anyway. How about you?”
I released a weak chuckle from her “modern society” and answered. Maya`s expression brightened slightly from my chuckle.
+ I am okay... or as okay as I am going to get. Escpecially now since I have got some food in me. +
She read the note but got a small frown. “That’s not how you spell especially.” She commented.
I took the note and looked at it. It felt right to me, but I wouldn`t actually know. English was one of my stronger suites back home at school, but I was by no means perfect so there were a few spelling errors here and there. I just hoped it wouldn`t become a problem as I conversed by writing.
+ How do you spell it then? +
Maya took the note from me and drew a line through the word, and wrote it the right way.
+ I am well, thanks for asking. Escpecially now since I have got some food in me. +
Especially
“Why did you think it was spelled that way?”
+ English isn`t my native language, nor my native writing as you can see there. + I said while pointing at the error I had made.
“English? Do you mean Equestrian?”
+ No, I meant English. + I answered with a confused expression.
She furrowed her brows slightly confused herself. “But we are talking and writing Equestrian now.” She tried explaining.
I ran my tongue over my upper canine thinking over what she said. I had to remember that I was on a different planet now, not that it was hard to forget since I was surrounded by griffins and nude humans.
+ Where I come from, that is English. I suppose Equestrian is the native language here? + I wrote.
“erhm… well yes and no, it is kind of split. The new generation of griffins including me prefer Equestrian since it makes communicating with every other race on the planet easier since most races knows how to speak equestrian, whilst the older generations prefer to speak in our old language.”
+ So, newer generations prefer efficiency over culture, correct? +
“I guess you could say that.”
+ That`s what it sounds like. Do you know how to talk your native language though? +
“Of course I do, just because the newer generation prefer Equestrian, doesn’t mean we forget where our blood is from. Equestrian has just become its own thing in school now, but we still learn our own language for the sake of culture and history.”
+ Wouldn`t leaving the griffin native language behind be more efficient, that way you could spend more time teaching other things rather than two different languages. I mean, you are already turning Eng Equestrian, why not go ALL the way? + I wrote a small mistake, but Maya didn’t pay it any heed.
“It is still our history, our culture. Think of how many books would become useless if we didn`t learn to read our native texts?”
+ Couldn`t you just translate them? +
I took my hand on the greasy plate and found no food on it. I took a quick glance down to see the steak gone. “Where did my food go?”
Maya looked at the plate, and then back at me. “You want more?”
I took a quick glance at the plate and imagined another hydra steak being there. But my mind quickly erased that though of process making it obvious I wasn`t all that hungry anymore, not that my slightly bulging stomach wasn`t proof enough.
+ No I`m good, thanks. + I answered, still slightly confused as to how fast I actually got done with the steak.
I leaned back at the the bed whilst clapping my hand contently on my stomach, a content grin slowly making its way onto my face.
“So on the topic of culture, I was going to ask about your culture. How is it like? Are all the humans intelligent like you? Do you have any deities?”
I shifted myself so I could get into a better position to hold a conversation.
+ I guess you could say that we all are. And yes we do have deities, but they are more commonly known as Gods or the God. +
“What do you mean by, Gods and the God?”
I didn’t really want to get into religion with Maya, another world, another religion debate. + Some say God is just God. Some refer to him as Allah. Others believes in several Gods. Long story short, we don`t have a set religion. +
“What do you believe?”
I gave a tired sigh and responded + I don`t know anymore. Not since I fell through that portal and ended up on this world.
But I don`t really want to talk about my world seeing as you probably won`t be seeing it anytime soon. I however could use some information on your world since it seems I will be staying for a while. +
“Information… Such as?” Maya gave me a skeptical look probably wondering what my motives are. I guess I could see where she was coming from. I just admitted I was alien, and an alien being asking for information on the country she lives in, yeah I wouldn`t be sharing any information before I trusted said alien. Only now I found myself being the alien, putting me at a disadvantage.
+ Well… I don`t know. I have gotten quite a few nasty glares directed at me from other griffins. Care to explain what that is all about, and don`t tell me it is because griffins hate humans cause I know humans are food to you. +
“It`s because most griffins hate humans. And what do you being food to us have anything to do with it? Most griffins just think humans are disgusting.”
I thought about it, but there was something she was holding. I looked at her with a questioning look in an attempt to keep Maya talking.
She let out a sight and continued. “Humans being pets is… a very new thing here in the griffin kingdom. Humans have been a part of Equestrian society for some time, but things are different here in the Kingdom, and you could say we are sort of lagging behind on the idea of humans as pets.”
+ Let me guess. There is a whole political debate surrounding this topic, am I right? +
“Yes.”
She turned her gaze away from me and looked out the window taking deep relaxed breaths. She was finally calming down around me. It gave me a small surge of hope that being here would be hell on earth. I turned my eyes the opposite direction of Mayas and examined her room further.
It wasn`t much I hadn`t already seen in her room, but when my eyes landed on the door I felt keen on exploring the rest of the house… castle… villa, whatever. Point is I wanted to get out of this room and see something more. A whole new world to explore and discover. And since Maya knew I was intelligent, she could explain things such as history and other things with that in mind.
+ Think we could go out of this room, I could use some air? + I wrote on a piece of paper. I gently shove the note over to Maya, but she didn`t notice. Her mind was still elsewhere, proven by her distant look.
I didn`t want to disturb her train of thought, so I gently got up and slowly made my way over to the mirror I had previously used. I picked it up and looked at myself for the second time today. After doing a quick once over my face I moved the mirror down to where I could see where my broken rib was. The area was still a nasty purple color, but that wasn`t what worried me.
Carefully I stroked my hand over the damaged rib in an attempt to get a feel on how it was mending together. I could feel an uneven bump right where it had been broken; however it was solid and stuck in place. I mentally cursed myself for letting the rib mend unevenly. Why hadn`t I tried to make sure it was straight. Why hadn`t Elpis done something when she saw it? Wasn`t she a supposed veterinarian?
Thinking back at the conditions I lived in, were they really legal in the first place? Wouldn`t it be considered animal cruelty for the way humans were treated back at the facility? Shouldn`t the guards take responsibility… Maybe they didn`t know. I should try and tell Maya about it, see what she thinks.
I turned and met Mayas eyes looking at me.
“What happened there?” She asked, nodding her head towards my rib.
+ I might have gotten into a fight. And the fight might have resulted in me breaking a rib... possibly. + I answered.
“You got a broken rib?” She asked with a raised brow.
+ Well, it`s not broken anymore I don`t think. But it has mended unevenly unfortunately. And don`t look at me like that, it`s not like I can ask for medical attention if that is what you are trying to get at. +
“Didn`t you have this friend of yours… what was her name Elpis, Wasn`t she the pet stores veterinarian or something? How did you even get into a fight in the first place?”
+ She was… I think. I don`t know. She claimed she was one, and all her coworkers seemed to think so too. So I just took her word for it. But I have been thinking lately, and I am beginning to wonder if the facility even was legal.
To answer your second question. Long story short, I evolved to become an Alpha of the humans and the previous Alpha were not happy about it. +
“Alpha… as in you being the dominant male?” She examined me a bit closer with a resemblance of a giggle being heard. “H-how?”
+ I don`t know, but in my defense I didn`t really want to become the Alpha. It just sort of… happened. +
“Just happened?”
+ Yeah. +
…
“Right.” she answered, clearly not believing me.
My hand began cramping up, so I took a moment to do some hand exercising in an attempt to get blood flowing properly into my hand again. Maya noticed me doing this and muttered to herself “We got to get a better way of communicating.”
She looked at the stack of papers I we had made during our dialog. She began shuffling them around and read some of them. Then she suddenly nodded at one of them. She got up standing and headed towards her nightstand where she then brought forth a rope with a hook attached at the end of it. She clasped the hook onto my collar before I could even react to what she was doing. She then nodded her head towards the door with a friendly smile. “I think we should head out. I could use some fresh air.”
“Yeah… lets.”