Gerrard

Asteria listened to the approval of the younger griffon, completely silent as Gilda seemed to agree with her own cold views. Usually there was some dissent fro from her associates, Gilda being an exception, at least until she complained about her moniker. Asteria blinked her crimson eyes while maintaining her static posture, the odd mare seeming to formulate a response. "I apologize for the misunderstanding Gilda. I prefer formality, but I will adapt to your request to respect your wishes," she explained in her ever static voice, the unicorn still seeming perpetually disinterested in everything. She examined the griffon one last time as she thought of replying to Gilda and her quips about other griffons. "I am not qualified to make assertions about the familial relations of anyone. Thank you for the information about your family status, I will try and remember it for later reference," she explained in her usual awkward manner. Asteria peered up into the sky, her eyes wincing from the light as she seemed to measure something. "I wish you great fortune in your futures endeavors Gilda. I anticipate the next plausible crossing of our paths," she politely remarked to her acquaintance with a most peculiar set of words. When finished speaking, the unusually tall made headed off into the distance, quickly scaling the tower before having to wait for the arrival of her transportation.

"Ahh, you know how I like to grab everything I can with my talons. Old hunter instincts," he explained with a grin, making up a fake background his friend would have known as false. When she apologized, the normally jovial griffon was stunned for just a moment. He didn't often succeed in shaming out apologies from uppity folk. Regardless, he was used to ignorant outbursts and it never really bothered him. "Ah, thank you dear, it takes courage to apologize for making a scene. I accept it, tentatively of course. You understand Ms. Harshwhinney, I presume," he replied, drifting back to the fake formal voice he had used earlier. He nodded for the mare as she held the door open for him, the griffon seemingly able to put her outburst behind them. "Now what are the details on the project? My colleague only gave my a brief summation of my duty. I presume you have a blueprint, or will I need to draft on as well," he added nonchalantly for his host. His keen eyes finally drifted away from the mare and decided to inspect the building, hoping to see a rhyme or reason about its layout.

Gerrard wasn't quite the seasoned adventurer his partner was, but he had read enough stories to know many of the rules that all great adventures followed. The villain strikes at the most opportune time and both have had more than enough opportunities to mug the other. Pathfinder seemed nice and honorable to him. Just not nice enough to be hiding an evil secret from him. A true villain always gave themselves away by being too selfless for any reasonable person. His personal speculation aside, the griffon welcomed her help, using his flexible talons and the 'gentle' pulling of his friend to get through. It felt like she was trying to pull his head off, the griffon grinning and bearing it ad best he could. He sucked his already lean chest in and finally managed to slip through, the griffon doing his best to hold back a yelp as he felt a hip seem to bend to fit through. Gerrard gritted his black beak as used all of his manliness to hold back a tear. "Ah, freedom. A few flaps of the wings and we will be home free," he explained carefully as he disguised his groan as a sigh of relief. "Let's just snatch up whatever magic pony is causing all the problems here and drag them back to Canterlot. They will throw parades in our honor and everyone will know the names of Greyfeather and his trusty steed named Pathfinder," he joked play full as he poked a pink tongue out of his long black beak at her. For one reason or another though, the griffon had pinned this whole incident on a pony, quite the charge considering how little information they had. Regardless of his goal though, it seemed that the pair still had a bit of work to do before they collected any prizes. They were no closer to figuring anything out, unless of course the masterful griffon was holding out on her to take all the credit for the capture later!

Asteria had been silently studying her peers as she slowly at her lunch. She had read that slow eating would allow her to better recognize when she was full. This seemed to be working, her form perfectly balanced for cross country running. Upon hearing someone address her, the young athlete blinked her fiery eyes and turned to face the person that called her a babe. "Hello Sir Mojo, I am Asteria, honored to meet you," she politely replied in a vaguely alluring voice as she politely bowed for him. For one reason or another, she didn't seem offended by his broad descriptor of babe, either not understanding or caring what he meant. "I will afford you all the support I am allowed to in regards to your choice of seating. I am not aware of any rules that might prevent you from sitting here," Asteria added in a strange manner as she gestured with an obsidian hand for him to sit in her proximity.

There was something rewarding about the screams of uppity ponies that just resonated with the dark hybrid. It was like a karmic justice being served and he he could never seem to say no to it. He didn't even need to growl to startle this one, something he only did to the nastiest of ponies. Gerrard put on a devilish grin and glanced at the mare, almost in a subtly aggressive manner as before he gave the elderly pegasus his attention. The hybrid nodded as the green pony offered him a meal. "You know that I don't shake peoples... hooves if they are my friends," he replied in a less eccentric voice as he hesitated on the word hoof. It seemed that his fancy tone that he greeted the pair with was little more than a facade to catch her off guard. After he had spoken, his intense eyes narrowed and he started a light growl as he slowly approached his old friend. The griffon pounced forward and scooped the pegasus up into a tight bear hug, flailing him about carefully. "Friends get hugs, strangers get shakes," he explained with a hearty laugh before releasing the old pony. Upon registering that she had called him a creature, Gerrard raised his brow, almost in disbelief of her cruel words. "Creatures eat ponies. Do I look like a creature," he asked rhetorically as his fierce eyes pierced her form. "Ma'am, please call me by my surname. It would be unprofessional for you to speak to me in such a familiar manner. And from what I have already seen, you can't afford to lose any more professionalism. You may call me Mr. Greyfeather," he explained coldly to her while stretching out a sharp taken for her to shake. The griffon wasn't quite as offended as he lead on, years of experience tempering his reactions to negativity. He had learned many things in his time in Canterlot, especially ways to replicate their 'charm'.To him, it was more rewarding to make snobs squirm than it was to simply scold them. After a moment of awkward silence, he nodded and gestured for her to lead him to his work site.

Gerrard wasn't the greatest flier himself, the hybrid taking university courses instead of flight classes. Instead of practicing flying and using it to show off, he took an extra course in architecture. Building layouts are like pipe layouts, just with different materials and ways they are arranged! He was almost glad to see that his partner was a spectacularly average flyer as well, the griffon always having to claim he was sandbagging when a hyper pegasus pestered him for a race. It was good not having to heave and struggle for air because he was forced to go full throttle over a petty race. He saw the source of the light more clearly, a hole in the wall that hopefully lead to a better place, like outside or maybe Canterlot. "That would be nice, anywhere that isn't here," he thought to himself, the hybrid grinning at that lovely thought just in time to see Pathfinder squirm her way through the hole. He looked at the spectacle and marveled at her 'form' for a moment, getting a feeling of deja vu as he looked at the black maned sandy mare. Gerrard couldn't quite put his talon on it, but when her hooves slipped through and he saw the last traces of her greyscale tail, a thought crossed his mind. Her form vaguely reminded him of a standard griffon, the back portion anyway. While one might have thought this was a plus to the dark hybrid, he actually shivered at the thought, remembering that his advances were usually met with sharp claws. "Coming, just give me a moment. You know the saying, griffons can get through any hole that they can fit their head through," he remarked deciding to interchange griffons and cats in the sayings. And while griffons were similar to cats, cats didn't have wings and such. Griffons were a lot more flexible than ponies, that was sure, but they were also a bit larger than them as well. Well, larger than normal ponies that weren't musclebound behemoths. Of course he remembered seeing a few griffons like that and wondering how they could fly with giant barrel chests. He shuddered to think about the amount of weight that had to be lifted to create such a mass of muscle. Regardless, he shook off the thoughts and slipped his talons through the hole, and followed with his head, slipping his long black beak through as he awkwardly squeezed through. He wheezed a bit and sucked in his chest and squeezed his wings in as much as he could, the architect not finding it quite as easy to slip through. "It appears that this hole is not agreeing with sliding through. I believe I may have done a few too many bench presses to be able to squirm through such a tiny hole. Give a griffon a helping claw or hoof. I don't want to flex and destroy this entire wall and collapse a mountain on top of us. That would be rather unfortunate if my might was our undoing," he explained in a completely straight face. While he was lying, it wasn't very clear, the hybrid learning a lot about maintaining his composure from his strange courier friend. He hoped it wouldn't take too much effort to dislodge himself from the hole, and while Pathfinder had a lovely face, he wanted to be able to look at where he was escaping into.

Canterlot was enjoying a nice overcast summer day. The weather kept the city cool and cast a light shadow over the city. It was the perfect day for sneaking around in broad day light, not that there was a lot of daylight to hide in of course. A pair of golden eyes peered down on the two ponies from a shadowy portion of the city behind the pair. As quickly as they were visible, they vanished from sight, only to reappear on an unlit balcony. With a quick leap, they were gone from the building, gliding lightly to the ground with a pair of large black wings. A pair of talons and paws silently tread on the ground as a black pelted griffon with silver head feathers prowled through the work site as he stalked the unaware earth pony. When he was within striking range, he raised his posture and looked over the ponies with his golden eyes, recognizing the mare from the description given to him previously. "Ahh, Madame Harshwinney, I apologize for being terribly late. I live only a few blocks away but the directions seemed to be written somepony with terrible penmanship. I mean, it is like they wrote it with their mouth of all things. Alas, I was lead astray and had to use some intuition to recover," the griffon replied in a formal Canterlot voice as soon as he stood behind the blonde mare. He grinned devilishly and leaned forward, placing his long sharp black beak uncomfortably close to her face should she turn around to look him over. He secretly loved scaring ponies with his presence, especially ones that bemoaned petty things. He was going to enjoy his afternoon with the mare, she seemed almost as stuffy as his neighbors in Canterlot.

While dropping the people's elbow on giant fish was fun, Gerrard felt that living another day would be much more fun in the long run. He lead the charge (retreat) out of the cave system, assuming that Pathfinder was more interested in flying than racing. While he was clearly wrong, Gerrard didn't glance back to confirm his theory. He didn't fly too fast, especially in the dark, still within reasonable proximity to the made as she vanquished her fishy foes. When she spoke, Gerrard couldn't help but chuckle, Pathfinder apparently loving battle above even flying. He would have applauded her dedication, but decided that it would probably encourage her. His better reason for holding though was unbelievably simple. "If I praise her, that would show that I'm impressed. I could only be impressed if I wasn't the legendary hero of prophecy," Gerrard rationalized in his mind as he held back a deep laugh. These thoughts would need to wait for later though, the pair needing to escape before they could reminisce over their exploits. A light could be seen in the distance, its mere presence seeming to signal freedom. Gerrard didn't know for sure, but it always seemed best to expect the worst and hope for the best. "Take the point Pathfinder, it's your turn for dome limelight," he cheered in an excited manner, using a sly excuse to let the faster pegasus ahead of him.

"Perhaps we will meet again in the near future. I can not make any promises, aside from taking your words under consideration. Regardless, this night was a unique experience and I will try to remember it for the foreseeable future," she remarked in her perpetually stoic voice. She blinked her fiery eyes as she looked over her friend one last time. "Farewell Sir Saddlesore," Asteria added softly as she trotted away from her friend. The unicorn was headed home to Canterlot, taking in the last few hours of the night.

The cold mare patiently waited in silence for a response from the curious griffon. It was strange that she would so openly disclose the information about her prior dealing, perhaps being blinded by arrogance or somehow having nothing to hide from the nosy griffon. Regardless of why, she had done so, and nonchalantly at that, the unicorn probing the slightly younger griffon. Her fiery eyes showed no immediate reaction to the remark of being impressed, the poker faced mare only intermittently blinking as Gilda hypothesized about her work. Asteria paused and thought over her question. [colour=#996699]"I take if your the sort who takes on a lot of jobs like this one, eh?"[/colour] echoed through her mind as she decided to give a response that might satisfy Gilda. "I do take on many jobs similar to this one. My past experiences have shown that griffon employment is substantially more profitable. I find notions of preferential treatment irrational, and go where the bits are most plentiful. Is my response adequate, I hope I am not confusing you Lady Gilda," she responded formally, doing a similar subservient bow to before, her tall form still hidden away beneath her form fitted cloak. When her idea of visiting Canterlot was questioned, Asteria blinked, realizing that she had been misunderstood. "I aplogize for the misunderstanding ma'am. Yes, I can catch a ride on an airship back to Canterlot. There is one scheduled to leave here every night at approximately twenty hundred. I could arrive there and it still would be dark outside. The museum itself wouldn't open for a few hours. Perhaps a 'tour' of some kind might be in order," she explained nonchalantly, her words suspiciously vague as her gaze drifted towards one of the spires that housed the airships. ''I believe that I can provide you a spot on the ship if you wish to accompany me," she added in a surprisingly generous manner. It was unclear if there was some sort of charge involved in the offer, but this unicorn didn't seem to outright make her declarations. "If you decide to accompany me, I will be at the northern air dock, I have a spire to climb and I believe you would prefer flying to the top regardless. If not, may you have an acceptable evening and farewell," she politely added as she trotted off towards the spire she spoke of. It would be a little while before her flight would leave, and it seemed like she would be lounging about in the sky until then. If Gilda wanted more information, she would need to be more specific, the unicorn not one to disclose very much extraneous information. That of course was a risk, both characters seeming to avoid any direct mentions of illegal activity for one reason or another.

The dark ears of the mare perked up from beneath her cowl as a rough sounding voice came at her from above. A pair of intense crimson eyes peered up from beneath the cowl to examine the young griffon. They coldly examined her frame and appearance for details and information. It almost seemed as if she were sizing up the thief or comparing her to some internal database, the odd unicorn not immediately speaking until she heard out the interested griffon. Her expression was as completely stoic as she stared down Gilda, the cowled mare showing no sign of fear from getting caught. She had either done nothing wrong, or just had ice in her veins, her exp<b></b>ression one of minimal interest. As Gilda mentioned Goldplume, the scarlet maned mare blinked her fiery eyes and cocked her head to the side as if she were somehow confused. "I acquired the item from the Museum of Equestrian History in Canterlot. In regards to it being a nice favour, I am unable to speak on Sir Goldplume's behalf. I found the arrangement agreeable of course, I accepted the terms that he presented me," the mare answered in an almost defiant manner as her cold voice continued on in an uninterested manner. Something about her was strange, but it was hard to pinpoint the exact cause, her words seeming to undermine her secrecy she had undertaken just moments earlier. "Would you like to visit the museum, I am returning to Canterlot tonight?" she added in a strange manner, her voice seeming to betray her words as she stood before the griffon. "May I ask for your name stranger? You don't appear to be a member of the Goldplume family. You may call me Asteria or any other moniker that you are comfortable with," she added in her perpetually monotone manner of speaking. Her gaze drifted away from the hybrid and examined their surroundings, this section of town surprisingly baron aside from a few guard ponies for the embassy. The nondescript white pegasi stood at attention their training and dedication to their craft apparent as they managed to maintain their statuesque postures.

Celestia's sun leaned on the Griffon capital of Talonopolis on a scorching summer afternoon. The industrious city was bustling with activity, one of its cliffs exceptionally busy as a cowled figure trotted through the crowded streets on their way to the Equestrian Embassy. The figure deftly weaved through the crowded streets, not even tarnishing the attention of the businessmen who normally frequented the area. As quickly as the stranger had appeared, they were already at the embassy, the mysterious character standing in the presence of a goldplume, a member of one the three ruling families in the industrious nation. The keen eyes of the griffon examined the shadowy figure before receiving a subservient bow from the cloaked stranger. A crimson glow enveloped the cowl of the stranger as they lowered their hood with a deft flick of magic. The thick fabric quickly lowered to reveal the stoic face of a black pelted unicorn mare. Her fiery eyes were locked on the ground in the most submissive of manners, her posture suggesting a clear familiarity with griffon culture as she dealt with the influential hybrid. "I have acquired the item you requested. You were correct in your assertion that it would be a quick and painless recovery," she remarked vaguely, avoiding the details as she kept her discussion as secret as possible. The scarlet maned mare lightly shuffled her hooves as she patiently awaited his expert opinion. Whatever was going on, the courier seemed surprisingly used to the strange formalities in dealing with nobles. A smirk crept across the maw of the griffon as she spoke, the hybrid lifting a golden talon off the ground as he eagerly awaited his prize from the solemn mare. "Of course, the stories of your exploits are not exaggerated. I expected you to arrive a few days from now, this is a welcome surprise. Hand over the artifact, we both know this is no place to store it. Your payment will be transferred into your account when I examine the object," he commented excitedly, the royal unable to wait for his prize as he spoke to the courier. "I apologize for my inability to fly. I understand the dishonor involved with you climbing down from your loft. Here is figurine Sir," she replied in robotically as she slipped a golden figurine out from beneath her cloak and presented it to the fancy griffon. The object in question was a golden sculpture of the original head of the goldplume family. It was talon made and showed great age and craftsmanship. If one thing was clear, the item was valuable. This of course begged the question, where did she get it? The royal examined her find and nearly squealed with joy, clearly impressed. "A thousand thanks Miss Stillheart," he replied quickly before flying off to the upper roosts. As quickly as the spectacle had begun, it was already over, the unicorn raising her cowl as she prepares to leave.

Asteria stood at the side of her date, her scarlet mane shifting lightly as she panned her head up to take another glance at the moon. She blinked her fiery eyes and returned her attention to the stallion. "I apologize Sir Saddlesore. You are correct in regards to my opinion. While I may not be officially certified in my experience, relatively speaking, I would be more familiar than the average person. Perhaps there is some value to be gleamed from my opinion. It would be unwise and pointless to immediately dismiss my perspective. Thank you Sir Saddlesore, you have made me more self aware, a useful trait, at least in my personal opinion," she replied in her usual robotic manner. It was a bit odd, but for one reason or another, she seemed to value his attempt at being nice, even if wasn't immediately intended to increase her confidence. After a moment of awkward silence, she shook her trimmed tail and lightly shuffled her worn hooves. It was obvious that she we traveled more than her fair share of miles, but was not the type to complain, the mare collecting words before she spoke out. Every action was of course calculated and planned, her next words no exception as she squared her footing to give her date a fitting farewell. "I appreciated the time we have spent together this evening. It has helped make me or a more experienced and open minded individual, at least in my own biased opinion. I believe that I must take my leave soon and return to my residence in Canterlot. If you have no objections, I will leave as soon as is comfortable. You can look up my business in Canterlot under my surname of Stillheart. I don't believe there are any individuals in Canterlot with that name who operate any businesses," she explained calmly, giving him a clear way to contact her in the future. A few shooting stars shot across the sky above the pair as she waited for his response, the cold courier not paying any heed to the objects as they shot across space harmlessly.

Gerrard often fancied himself a tweener, opting do what was awesome instead of stooping to absolutes like right and wrong. This of course never happened, because he was decidedly less awesome than he thought, and a nice guy at heart, unable to let the innocent, no matter how capable, be bullied by monsters or criminals. He was of course not the most gallant of fellows, but he was always willing to try, especially when the alternative involved getting eaten. As quickly as he had moved to strike down the fish, gravity had already aided him in returning the sharp toothed monster to the water. The griffon gave the fish an elbow drop of sorts to help gravity along, the confused fish falling back into the water, clearly disoriented and dazed. The monster was surprisingly tough, his foreleg hurting from the rough impact of the the two. He of course gritted his beak to hide the throbbing pain, while he wasn't very tough, he could put on a decent facade. "As much as I want to put on a wrestling clinic with these monster heels, we don't have a way to efficiently stop them, and fighting for a prolonged period of time would only serve to tire us. Lets get out of here and away from Mr. and Mrs. Bitey!" Gerrard explained quickly to the pegasus as yet another piranha burst out of the water and aimed right at the grayscale tail of the distracted adventurer. He knew that she might not react fast enough to a warning, and decided to play to her vanity, all pegasus begging to race him at one point or another. "Race you to the exit, try to keep up!" he called across to his friend before darting deeper into the cave system. No self respecting pegasus could turn down the challenge, it would just be a matter of time until she was zooming past him.

Asteria paused for a moment as he changed his approach to speaking with her. It strangely seemed to imitate her style of spinning, the unicorn blinking her crimson eyes as she tried to rationalize his change of approach. The dark courier had heard that imitation could viewed negatively or complementary. She read that context and experience could clarify his intent, but the mare lacked sufficient experience to make an informed evaluation of his words. After a moment of awkward silence, she decided to answer his question to the best of her memory. "The luminescence of this particular night is proportional to a standard evening in Canterlot. The higher elevation of that city allows for better vision of the celestial bodies on a more regular basis," she commented calmly, seeming to understand his improper use of luminescence and using it correctly without making an issue out of it. When he spoke of tides though, it seemed as if he was speaking over his head. She couldn't know if he was trying to verbally appease her, but Asteria decided to reply to his last remarks to the best of her abilities. "I am not qualified to discuss the effect of the moon on the clarity of the night sky. I can say that the moon has a substantial effect on the tides, but I'm not familiar with any direct effect it has over the clouds of Equestria. I have been told that weather in our country is usually controlled by Pegasus. Am I mistaken in some manner," she asked calmly, tilting her head to the side as she seemed unsure of how to take in his seemingly forced words.

Glad I could be of use~

Asteria maintained a slow walk beside her date as they took in the evening. The faint chill of the air intensified her already keen awareness. It was a night that was optimal for travel, and it was hard to disagree with his statement. The black mare panned her head up at the stars to follow her directions. She took in the sky and turned her attention back to her date as they lightly trotted through the night. "The luminosity of these celestial bodies is in the top percent of nights that I have witnessed. It is not often that weather conditions are this agreeable. In regards to my seeing more impressive things, I can't objectively say that I have, she explained in her usual robotic manner before her words seemed to hint at something. " I don't have a criteria to make a judgement, therefore I can't make a decision Sir Saddlesore," she added a moment later, her words seeming to only further solidify her serious nature. Her crimson eyes watched his face intensely as she tried to gauge his reaction.

She had found everything to be acceptable on their date. The few questionable moments were quickly apologized for. She didn't have any evidence to suspect any of their words as lies and accepted them as probably true. She nodded in agreement and understanding as he led her out to the location of their walk. The tall mare glanced across to Saddlesore with her usual apathetic expression as she tried to read his expression. He seemed to genuinely appreciate her presence for one reason or another. The atmosphere and environment matched many definitions and interpretations of the words beauty and romantic. Asteria of course wasn't the type to say so as she took in their environment in silence. When he asked for the walk, the athletic mare turned her attention to him and nodded slowly. "I am ready for our walk," she commented in her usual businesses like manner.

"Family, genus, species," Asteria thought to herself in silence as she wrote the last few summations of the biology lesson in her notes while her teacher rattled off on a superfluous tangent. The textbook seemed more thorough than the lecture their teacher was giving, something she had used to her advantage as the obsidian skinned student finished her lesson with a few minutes to spare in class. Her crimson eyes scanned the room and spotted a fidgeting student who was seemingly enthralled by one of the clocks in the room. She wondered if he had already finished his notes as well, or had just grown restless in the waning moments of their class. She simply shrugged and decided against speculation with such limited knowledge as the class bell rang and signaled their temporary freedom from learning. Asteria flicked her short cut scarlet hair to the side as she carefully gathered her belongings and tucked them away into her spartan backpack. With her belongings properly secured, she raised her head to see that her impatient classmate had already darted off to lunch. "His speed seems exceptional, he would make an outstanding candidate for the track team," the dark skinned student thought to herself as she left her class and made her way to the cafeteria. It seemed odd that there was such a rush for food, the length of the period more than long enough for the ingestion of such sustenance, but she didn't express her opinion openly. The tall athlete critically examined the cafeteria and took a seat at the jock table, the area mostly empty while the other students purchased their meals. She slid a dark hand into her backpack and pulled out a neatly wrapped package that held her lunch. Asteria had a rather tasteless selection of healthy food to sate her hunger, the unimaginative student getting a head start on her meal while she waited for her classmates to purchase their own meals.

Asteria Stillheart -- Group (Jock) Doesn't get out much for proper social interaction.

Asteria took in all of the apologies in silence. While she felt that they were not necessary at all, the mare also realized that it would have been rude to refuse such an offering. She simply nodded as each pony apologized for their poor behavior. When they were finished speaking, she turned her crimson gaze back to her dinner date, the courier giving him some of the attention he probably loved to collect from her. The unicorn seemed indifferent most of the time, but she did appreciate new experiences, even ones that didn't seem to make much sense to her. She politely returned a nod to the apologetic patrons around her and thought over the words of her friend. "Sharing a meal with you has been a unique experience Sir Saddlesore. I will uphold my portion of the agreement and accompany you on a moonlit walk. You may select the location of our walk, I respect your familiarity with your town. Do you require anything else from me on this walk?" she asked calmly, the odd mare seeming stuck in her usual apathetic voice. Asteria lightly flicked one of her dark ears before eventually leading the way over to the exit. She hoped that her friend was ready to leave with her. "Are you ready to depart for the evening Sir Saddlesore?" she asked calmly, her face still managing to hide her thoughts as she waited for him.

The griffon clearly didn't operate the same as the pegasus, the hybrid secretly refusing to acknowledge the ghosts as actual undead creatures. He had never seen one and these all had to be some kind of trick! He had a unicorn friend who had tricky magic and he thought that these ghosts were probably just sent out to keep curious visitors scared away! If this were true, 'ghosts' being able to see heat wouldn't matter because they would need their boss to see him, and he was hidden, mostly at least. This was all of course speculation, the griffon by no means an expert in the ways of the supernatural. When she scoffed at his proposal, the griffon would have rebutted with his previous thoughts, but had already taken one mouthful of water the last time he spoke. Instead, he continued along in the general direction of the the pegasus, the hybrid aimlessly proceeding forward. While he was built for flying, his feline form was adept at swimming as well, his talons working surprisingly well at paddling, not that he seemed too concerned as he headed down the same path. While he didn't have the hearing to make out the identity of the thing swimming at him, he could hear the sound waves of something fast approaching. Gerrard gasped and returned to a normal position in the water. He coughed up a bit of cold water as he saw a giant piranha jump out at his companion. Where one might see a dangerous monster, the griffon saw a great opportunity. He licked his maw while he waited for the beast to jump a second time. As the creature breached the surface again, the hybrid burst out of the water as well, his sharp talons primed to swoop up the fish, even if it was a bit too big for carry off.

The odd mare didn't even flinch as the loud noise filled the restaurant. She responded by nonchalantly turning her head to gaze at the spectacle before her. "I apologize if my actions caused any harm or loss of profit to you, your establishment, or any of your patrons," she apologized in her overly cautious manner. The entire date had been a spectacle, one that she was looking forward to moving on from, even if her face showed no sign of disapproval. When Asteria heard that their meal was on the house, she blinked and cocked her head to the side. It was her subtle tell that she was confused. She thought over the comment and tried to infer the meaning of the phrase. It seemed unlikely that their meal was on any house, the pair having just finished eating. It seemed unlikely that it meant free food, such an action seeming highly illogical for a successful business. When they were thanked in such a heartfelt manner, Asteria could only assume it was a positive phrase. She glanced across to her date as they left, her stoic face hiding her thoughts from him. "Our food wasn't on the house. Was that a figure of speech? I did not see you pay for our meal," she asked sincerely. It was clear that the literal minded mare didn't get out much when she had trouble with the common saying. Asteria didn't seem like the type to joke or lie, but that was a plausible explanation of her odd reaction.

Gerrard swam through the water, managing to make his way into the "ghost" chamber. He would have flew alongside Pathfinder, but the wily griffon had other ideas. The hybrid could vaguely trace her form above him, the architect glad to see she wasn't lost. The hapless adventurer seemed ready for stealth, awkwardly keeping his form beneath the water as he poked his long black maw above the water and used it like a snorkel. "A rookie mistake, the ghosts are looking for a griffon and a pegasus. The simple ghosts could never make the logic jump that beak equaled griffon!" he thought with a smirk on his exposed beak. "Path, get in the water, the ghosts are looking for us. Hide your face under your hat to hide, he whispered to her, the hybrid fighting the urge to gag as he took a mouthful of cold water that had been who knows where. As 'brilliant' as his plan was, the griffon forgetting that he couldnt see with his head underwater. He aimlessly paddled towards what looked, if he could see, like an exit into another chamber. Where was the 'master' adventurer headed? Nobody really knew, but it was plausible that he might be able to hear something. Making yourself blind and deaf in order to hide didn't seem to make sense, but he surely had a plan, (probably not)!