𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐄

Pt 32: Abandoned Islands Take 2

He seemed in perfect control of himself, just upset.

"This has happened twice now," he mumbled, showing sharp teeth.

"At least this only lasts one night a month," Griffith replied. He stretched out a hand.

"If you pet me, I will bite you," Kingston warned. He sighed. "At least it isn't like in the movies where they look more like monkeys than anything else. I'm just...a dog."

"At least you're not very scary," the Atlantean said. Kingston huffed, lying down and placing his head on his paws. "And you won't have problems with Havens anymore." Kingston rolled his canine eyes at this remark.

Griffith suddenly realised that he missed Minerva, whom he often petted to relieve stress. He looked longingly at Kingston's fluffy head, which, apparently, the librarian noticed. He sighed, getting up and coming over to him. He wobbled a bit on four legs, but he managed to make it to Griffith, lying down next to him again.

"Fine," he said. Griffith smiled in delight, placing his hand on top of Kingston's head and running his fingers through the soft fur. "Don't get used to it," he added. They sat in silence for a few minutes until Griffith suddenly felt guilty for letting this happen.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"It's not your fault," Kingston replied softly. "We should probably keep going. I'm sure they don't want us to linger in their camp all night." Griffith hummed in agreement, getting to his feet. Kingston stood up, his head now only coming to the Atlantean's waist. He sighed again, ears lowering dejectedly. Griffith laid a hand on his head.

"It will be over by morning," he reassured. And with that, he strode back into the rainforest, Kingston slinking along unhappily after him.

Griffith had an idea of how to get down the cliff. But Kingston had insisted that he wasn't going to swim with too many legs, so they were stuck at the top until morning. Without the fear of the pursuing pack driving them on, they slept like the dead.

Griffith woke up with the sun in his eyes, thankful for the bit of rest he'd gotten. Kingston was nowhere to be seen. The Atlantean sat up, worried that he'd been taken back to the maned wolves' camp. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw him, human again, trying vainly to pick a fruit from a tree. The branch itself wasn't very high, but Kingston couldn't reach it. Pulling his coat on and making sure he still had the sword attached to his backpack, Griffith got up and came to his aid, simply standing on his toes to reach it and handing the fruit to him.

"There's breakfast," he said with a small smile at Kingston's annoyance. "Eat it on the way." The librarian hesitantly followed him over to the lip of the cliff, glancing over the edge and quickly moving backwards. Griffith spread out his hands, lifting a sphere of water out of the ocean and forming a bubble. Using one hand to lift the bubble and the other to cast a breathing spell on Kingston, he was pleased to find that he wasn't very drained.

"You go first," he said. Kingston gave him an incredulous look that said No way. Griffith sighed and placed a hand on his back, pushing him forward. With a yelp, he fell into the bubble. Griffith jumped after him, causing it to dip slightly. Kingston didn't move as the Atlantean slowly began to lower the bubble, his eyes wide under his glasses. He finally looked out of the bubble, watching the dense green jungle disappear.

"So much can happen in such a short time," he said quietly. "It's barely been a month since I left my apartment and I've been turned into a faun, I've nearly been eaten by an assortment of things, I was almost killed by a crazy, magic-hunting entrepreneur, and now I've been bitten by a were-not-wolf."

"I'm sure it's not so bad," Griffith tried to reassure him. Unless he was trying to reassure himself — he should have done something. "You even controlled yourself last night, which doesn't make sense."