Traveler's Inn

Feliciano gloated at Ludwig's praise. He had never found anyone who was so truly fond of his food as the prince was.
"You know, if things turn up to be really bad, I'll accept your proposal to become your royal chef." he replied. He was only half kidding; of course, he didn't want the situation to turn so bad to not allow him to go back home. But still, he didn't mind cooking, it sounded somehow funnier than ruling a kingdom, especially with someone so fond of his skills.

He stepped back when Ludwig turned into a griffin, but this time he was ready - no screaming and running to hide. Actually, the griffin itself didn't scare Feliciano. It was more the context in which he had seen Ludwig's true form appear for the first time that had terrified him, and mostly because he hadn't realized immediately that the griffin was Ludwig.
"No, no~" he replied cheerfully. He stared at the golden plumage of the prince, softly sparkling in the sunlight, and went closer to him, pretty eager to stroke those beautiful feathers, but then he was distracted by Ivan's appearance.

He looked as he and the dragon had just enjoyed a swim in a river. He could at least have taken his clothes off.

As the dragon started to grow, he jumped behind Ludwig (because yes, she was Ivan's dragon and she was cute and everything, but a huge dragon is always a huge dragon.)

Ludwig let his wing wrap around Feliciano protectively. He tried his best to ensure the other man that he wouldn't allow him to come to harm. Just as he'd promised before, he would protect the man. After all, prince or not, he'd taken on that obligation.

'Does anyone see Matthew?' he asked.

Matthew couldn’t find his brother anywhere and it seemed as if he was checking the same places repeatedly. That was definitely disappointing; he really had wanted a chance to say goodbye to Alfred. And then there was the issue of having no idea where the others were by then.

Fortunately, the owner of the tavern found him not to long after he had given up on his search and pointed in the direction the others had gone not too long ago. The tavern owner had even offered to lend him a horse to help him catch up but Matthew declined politely, with the optimistic notion that he may be able to reach up to them even before reaching the fields.

Well, what mattered was that he did catch up. Just not as early as he’d thought. They had stopped, most likely because they had reached their destination. Matthew hoped they hadn’t been waiting, or if they had, not for too long. Greeting the group, Matthew apologized for being late. He glanced at the others, laughing nervously once noticing how Ivan’s dragon wasn’t as small as it had been before.

Gilbert thumbed toward the blonde young man as he came into view. "Oh hey look who's here."

Gilbert smiled toothily at Matthew. The young man looked like he'd been rushed in getting to them. "Don't worry, I wouldn't have left you."

Stepping away from the others to give himself some room to grow, he slowly morphed into a large white griffin. His feathers seemed to glow in the light before fading into a dim light reflection. The albino stretched his powerful shoulders, allowing his wings to stretch properly before pulling them in tight to his body and stepping closer to Matthew.

The bird-like face looked at him with intelligent red eyes. "Well then, are you ready?"

Ivan clambered up on Sretya's back with only a spot of trouble and settled between her shoulder joints. After a bit of jostling, he finally got his feet behind her wing joints and she changed a a deep blue to match the sky. it was a lot easier to travel by dragon these days of no one saw you doing it. Sretya inched forward to sniff at the white griffin before snorting and turning away to snap at a moth. One the bug fluttered out of her reach she went back to sniffing. Gilbert reminded her of the chickens she chased around at home. Only he was male. And was rather large for a chicken but she had seen stranger things.

With some maneuvering, Ludwig positioned his pack onto his back once again, then looked to Feliciano. 'I think we're ready to leave, Feliciano, if you would climb aboard.' He let his wing unfold from the other prince's shoulders.

Ludwig lowered his head and wings for Feliciano to climb aboard. He had a feeling that the smaller man would have some difficulty getting situated, so he tried to help him as much as he could. He knew there were some in the kingdom who hated the idea of bowing down before another being, those few who snobbishly believed griffins to be the superior race. Never had Ludwig cared, else he wouldn't have worked as a warrior for hire over the last few years, and he had no qualms about lowering himself for Feliciano's sake.

'Just be careful not to step on my wings,' he warned.

Feliciano emerged from behind Ludwig's wing to greet Matt, that apparently had found his way to the field. He waved at the blonde but before being able to say anything he was distracted by Gilbert's transformation. For a few seconds, he stared at the snow white plumage of the albino griffin, fascinated.

"I can hold your backpack as well." he said, studying Ludwig and trying to figure how to sit on his back. After a while, he climbed over his neck, trying his best to avoid stepping over his feathers, stomping on something at a certain point - he wasn't sure if it was a leg or a wing, though. He hurried up and eventually sat between his wings, patting awkwardly the griffin's head. "Ah, I'm sorry..."

Ludwig tried very hard not to cry out as he felt Feliciano stepping on his front paw. Better that than the wing, he supposed, though he still winced.

'It's fine,' he told the other prince, trying again to refrain from making another noise. He failed, but only slightly as a faint sound of appreciation. The soft touch felt very nice to his feathered head. He closed his eyes, only to regain himself shortly after.

'I think my pack is okay on my back. Just watch for it to stay there.'

Feliciano was still sure he had stomped on whatever it was quite hardly, but at least Ludwig didn't seem to mind too much. He was so strong, after all.

"Alright, I'll take care of it, don't worry~" he replied, stroking his feathers happily. Ve, they were so soft and shiny, he thought playing with one of those between his fingers.

"I am ready whenever you want to take off!" he said, as he turned to look to see if the others were as well, and admired for some time the beautiful blue the dragon had turned into.
Actually, Feliciano had never flown before, so he couldn't really say if he was ready or not, but in his happy ignorance of how that worked he thought that being sat on the griffin's back was enough.

“Really? Well, thank you,” Matthew did his best to smile back, though he wondered now if them leaving him would necessarily be a bad idea. The other scenario didn’t involve any flying, at least. But there was no use thinking about it, he would just have to face his fear of heights. It was more of a fear of falling though, or at least that’s what he told himself.

Matthew had missed seeing Ludwig transform twice so it was astonishing, finally being able to see a griffin shape-shift. Like Ludwig’s golden color, Gilbert’s white feathers were reminiscent of his wings and Matthew was beginning to wonder if all griffins were like that in that respect.

“Yes, I guess I'm ready,” he answered and it was true; he was as ready as he’d ever be. Matthew looked to Feliciano and Ludwig, then back to Gilbert, figuring that he’d have to get on his back now, too. There really wasn’t a non-awkward approach to it, was there? “Er, what exactly do I…?” he trailed off. It was the beginning of a most likely stupid question, but he didn't want to do anything wrong and embarrass himself even more.

Sretya, who had lost her interest in the large chickens, found a substantial outcrop of sandstone to investigate. She sniffed the rocks a few times before biting of a large hunk up one and grinding it into small pieces to swallow. The resulting racket was enough to send the birds flying deeper into the surrounding forest.

Ivan patted his pets broad neck and sighed. At least they weren't camping in a canyon like last time. Though Sretya was happy for the sudden appearance of new rocks he was less than pleased.

Gilbert lowered his large body to the ground, his front legs bent under his chest while his back paws took on a squat. His back was now at a level that would be easy for the young man to mount.

He turned his large head to his soon-to-be passenger. "Straddle my back just behind my shoulders. You may use your legs and lock them around the very front of my wings. Don't sit behind them, I won't let you slide off, but you could hit my kidneys if you slide back too far...and I won't be responsible for my bad mood after that."

The beak moved slightly as if Gilbert were attempting to grin in this form. It seemed as though Gilbert had flown many times with humans.

The griffin locked eyes with the blond human. "I promise I will not drop you. Your main task while riding is to keep your balance. The easiest way to do that is by putting all your weight in your legs and ass. You'll want to control your weight by putting it in your upper body, but resist that urge. You can hold onto me anywhere with your hands—just don’t poke me in the eye.”

Ludwig looked back at the rest. 'Well, Feliciano,' he said, 'brace yourself. I think it's time we're off. You can wrap your arms at my neck, just not too tightly.' He glanced at his brother and cousin to ensure they were ready as well and then at Ivan.

Once he was absolutely certain everyone was ready and Feliciano was secure, he took a good running start. It felt so good to be in his real form once again, to let all of his legs stretch and run like they were meant to. Not even the weight of the added passenger hindered his powerful limbs as they made their way between fields of wheat across red clay paths. The solid ground beneath the thick pads of his paws made him want to smile, though that was something he couldn't truly do in his form.

'Hold on tight!' he yelled to the other prince as his wings outstretched to their full length--more than that of his body--and flapped once, twice. With a strong leap forward, he was airbound, his wings carrying them both above the fields and looking down at the others. He wanted to laugh it felt so good to be in the air like this.

'Are you okay back there, Feliciano?'

Feliciano put his arms around Ludwig's neck lazily, but he immediately held it as the griffin started running along the field.
"Waaaah!" he yelled as he saw the ground getting distant beneath them. After a few moments of terrors, as soon as Ludwig started flying a bit more steadily, he started laughing, a bit nervous but also relieved that he still wasn't falling off.

The wind run through his hair furiously, and he wrapped his arms tight. "Oh my, this is amazing!" he screamed, half scared and half excited for the speed and the flight.
He wrapped his legs as well, and grabbed the feathers on the griffin's chest. "I'm well... this is just a bit strange~"

He sank his chin in Ludwig's back plumage, protecting his face from the cold air that was hitting it. He dared stretching an arm out, moving it up and down imitating the griffin's wing, but he immediately felt as if he was sliding on the side, and put the arm back to its place, holding tighter Ludwig's neck.

It seemed to Matthew that Gilbert had flown with someone more than once before, which was reassuring. It would certainly make this entire experience a little more bearable.

It looked like Gilbert was grinning, but it was hard for him to know for sure in that form. Either way, Matthew smiled back before proceeding to follow the griffin’s directions, positioning himself behind Gilbert’s shoulders, with his legs around the front of his wings.

“Alright, whenever you’re ready,” Matthew told him once he was certain that he was seated in a way where he couldn’t fly off easily. This part was easy enough, although he would be more at ease if he remembered what to do once airborne. He remembered that it had something to do with asses, eyes and kidneys.

Though he didn’t worry about it too much. Information usually sorted itself out in his mind before it was too late. Well, most of the time.

The white griffin stood then, stretching out his legs and neck. He turned in the direction his brother had run and began to lope along the ground, gaining speed slowly so as not to startle his passenger. His shoulders pumped heavily as his wings unfolded and his front paws kicked powerfully at the dirt. It felt good to have someone to ride with.

Gilbert took a short leap into the air and his wings caught on the wind with only a slight bump, then they were ascending. Wind whipped past them as Gilbert’s back paw tapped the top of a tall pine. Once the two had climbed to a similar altitude as Ludwig, the griffin leveled out and flew straight.

Gilbert’s sides bumped out Matthew’s legs for a moment with a quick laugh. “You still with me?”

(P.S. Laughed so hard over this: “He remembered that it had something to do with asses, eyes and kidneys.”)

Matthew nodded, still in somewhat of a daze at the realization of being so high up in the air. He then remembered that Gilbert couldn’t see his response and said, "I am. Or at least I think so.”

Without meaning to, Matthew had ended up wrapping his arms around the griffin’s neck while they were ascending, but now he found that he didn’t need to if he put his weight in his lower body like Gilbert had advised. When he was feeling brave enough, he finally looked down. Matthew didn’t panic like he though he would, which was a good sign. In fact, the most terrifying part was the anticipation. “This isn’t so ba- augh!”

It turned out that lifting his head after having been ducking was a bad move as he was unprepared for the rush of wind hitting his face. Matthew ducked his head once more, unlikely to try that again any time soon. “Okay, well this still isn’t so bad.”

(fff- then I’m glad I added it in last minute)

Gilbert laughed at the Matthew’s reaction. “We will have to get you some goggles for the next time—if you are up to it of course. It isn’t flying unless you can see ahead of you.”

Catching up to his brother, he gently flew in to align beside the golden griffin. He felt the wind piercing through his feathers and fur, loving the feel of flight with others. He allowed himself to cease the flapping of his wings for the most part and was able to glide for long strides. After a few minutes he glanced to Ludwig.

“To uncle’s?”

(Let me know when we change locations in forum.)

Roderich watched them fly off, becoming smaller and smaller. He would have accompanied them, but he was now rather worried that his general had yet to show up, and had elected to stay and wait for her. If she didn't turn up soon, he'd have to go and look for her, and he was almost guaranteed to get lost if he did so. He sighed, leaned against a wall, and waited.

(Going to wait for Erzsebet to come back, if she ever does. ;__; )

As it seemed Roderich was waiting for his general, Ludwig continued on with his passenger toward his uncle's castle. "Let me know how you are doing back there, Feliciano," he told the other, then looked to his brother. "I suppose we're off then."

((going to move this now, I think.)