Catch a Wave (Ended)

[Lux]

"Oh so you're more interested in the fish then me," Riptide said with a chuckle before eating another piece of fish, "Well they say a way to a pony or in this case griffon's heart is with their stomach."

It was nice to see that the griffoness was so trusting, going as far as to like his parents even though she knew only a little about them. He guessed though that Aquaria assumed that his parents were like him. Still, there was a hint of worry in her voice about whether Riptide's parents would approve. Deep down he could see that she was afraid that their relationship would end so soon.

"Well Aquaria, I'm sure that my parents will think you're totally awesome just as I do."

He laughed with the griffoness as she mentioned her parents approving of her meeting a pony but having to ask them about a griffon. It would be strange if a griffon didn't approve of their son or daughter meeting another griffon.

"Well I hope that they'd like me just as my parents would like you. And as for the surfer thing, that's something that I just like to do. I do other things too, like run this store, being a swimming and surfing instructor, and even being a lifeguard during the summer. But I still love the water. I don't know what I'd do if I had to do somewhere where there was no ocean."

[Gerrard]

"They taste better than you. It isn't fair to compare you to food. Unless you do taste good and I don't know about it," she joked playfully for her date, nibbling playfully on his shoulder as she harassed her date for their mutual amusement.

She listened to him speak and nodded excitedly, having trouble maintaining her composure. "I hope everyone likes everyone. Are your parents rainbows too? Should I dye my feathers to appease them? Oh now I'm all nervous," she mused aloud, spreading her black wings and checking them for traces of color. She of course saw nothing unusual and glanced back to him with a goofy smile strapped to her long pointy beak.

"Okay, your jobs sound great. I work as a diver and a lifeguard. My mom is a professional singer for all the ponies at the tavern. Maybe you could meet her today," she offered deviously as she cuddled close to her date.

[Lux]

Riptide could feel the playful nipping on his shoulder as Aquaria teasingly wanted to test out whether he tasted as good as the fish dinner that she tried.

"You know, I kind of need that shoulder. That is unless you want me to bite you on the leg."

He watched as Aquaria asked about his parents and whether she should dye her wings and pelt a brighter color. He wondered if she was just being her usual goofy self or if she was truly worried about how she looked in front of his parents.

"Yep, my parents are both colorful like me. My dad has a green and yellow coloring and my mom is green and blue. No need to be nervous meeting them though. I don't think that you need to dye yourself. My parents will like you just as you are. You know something, your stripes give you a neat look."

It was then that Aquaria dropped an interesting idea: to go see her mom. The brightly colored griffon began to worry that was a good idea as much as Aquaria seemed worried about meeting his. He knew though that it was inevitable that he would need to meet her parents if their relationship was to ever go somewhere.

"Sure I'd like to see your mom. There are a few more things I want to show you though before we leave. Trust me, these are going to be awesome."

[Gerrard]

The dark griffoness giggled when he joked about tasting her, the hybrid gasping as she came to a sudden realization. "What do I taste like? I wonder," she mused aloud, turning her attention to one of her legs. She grinned and licked one of her dark talons with a pink tongue before smiling widely. "I taste like chicken," she giggled playfully before turning to face him.

When he mentioned her stripes, it caused her to remember a past run in with a well known 'pony'. "You know, I asked a zebra once if I was part pony and she said I wasn't. You like griffons more anyway, right, " she mused aloud before giving him another hug.

He has even agreed to meet her mom, the best and only mom she ever had. He then suggested they do something else first though, which piqued her curiosity further! "Oh, like what, go back to the beach," she excitedly asked, her fluffy tail wagging excitedly as she spoke.

[Lux]

"Why did I get the feeling that you'd do that?" Riptide said rolling his eyes as Aquaria literally tasted herself and declared she tasted like chicken.

Before he could think, the surfer griffon suddenly was the recipient of yet another hug by the funny griffoness. One thing was certain now that the two were a couple: no matter how he felt, Aquaria would be there to always cheer him up with a joke or a hug.

"Wow, that's neat that you met a zebra. I've heard of them but never saw one yet. I guess though a zebra would know a thing or two about stripes since they have them. And just like a zebra can't change their stripes, I'm sure you can't either, not that I would want you to."

The griffoness was excited about what the pair were about to do next, asking if they were about to return to the beach.

"You'll see. First though we're going to head to my living room. There's something, or actually a lot of awesome thing I want you to see there."

[Gerrard]

She giggled when he mentioned that he would know what her course of action would be. "I knew you would laugh too! We must be thinking on the same level," she cheered with a laugh giving herself too much credit on thinking things through. It was probably natural to laugh at such silliness, but she didn't like to think things over too much. "I'm not sure if I like the dark meat or white meat more though," she giggled, clearly not having any idea that the meats were meant to identify portions, not actual color.

"The zebra was really cool though! She rhymed a lot and seemed really nice! She had more stripes than me though, probably because my feathers aren't striped! That would be weird if they were though," she added with a giggle, wagging her tail excitedly as she mused over what it meant to her. When he offered to take her somewhere though, she fought back the urge to squeeze the life out of him. "Oh, something in the living room? A secret I didn't notice the first time here? I wonder what it is," she added with a smile, the young griffoness eager to follow him to his secret.

[Lux]

The brightly colored griffon smiled as she listened to Aquaria tell about her encounter with the zebra. He was always interested in hearing the tales of other ponies or griffons like where they've been and what they've done or seen. Having never seen a zebra made him very interested. Of course having the tale come from his special griffon friend made it sound even more special in his mind.

"Well this zebra sounds totally awesome! Maybe I'll happen to see her one day. Having stripes won't make her that hard to find."

He could see that Aquaria was interested in what else Riptide had in his home, especially the secret in the living room.

"Alright then, close your eyes."

Checking to see that she wasn't peeking as he led her into the living room, he got her to the middle of the room before saying, "Alright open your eyes."

The living room was a fairly cozy place filled with comfortable chairs. But the most interesting thing was on several bookshelves and eclectic collection of nautical things. Some were things like shells and pieces of coral while others were stranger like a jar filled with bits, mismatched scuba gear, and an old hat.

"These are things I've found while on the beach that washed up from the ocean. Since you like to dive, I thought you'd be interested."

[Gerrard]

The striped griffon smiled when he mentioned that the zebra was probably going to be easy to find. "Oh yeah? Does that mean that I am easy to find," she joked playfully while leaning against him, her striped tail wagging excitedly.

When asked to close her eyes, she nodded, and did so. After a short bout of anticipation, she opened her eyes to see his collection of treasure. Money, coral, and scuba gear littered the floor, but her attention was on another thing entirely.

"Awesome hat! I love it," she cheered loudly while scooping up the sailor's hat and plopped it onto her own head. For reasons unknown, she wasn't very interested in the other things, but her excitement was clearly visible.

[Lux]

Riptide for a moment forgot about the fact that there was a certain striped griffon nearby him until she lovingly leaned against him while playfully mentioning his error.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you would stand out too. But that's a good thing standing out especially if you're a nice griffon like you that ponies would be crazy not to know!"

The brightly colored griffon watched as special somegriffon looked around the living room and the eclectic collection pulled from the beach. Strangely Aquaria seemed to be focused on one item in particular: a sailor's hat that sat upon a shelf. Besides that though, Riptide noticed that curiously not much else interested the griffoness.

"Well all of this came from the sea or the beach. This is kind of like a big lost and found area. If i find something, it comes here. There are times that I bring some out to my shop in case someponies are missing something. That hat I saw floating in the ocean back at my hometown, so maybe a griffon on a boat lost it. I've had it for a few weeks now. If you like it, you can certainly have it. Oh, let me put that pearl you gave me in a right place."

Riptide took the pearl which temporarily sat on the chair and set it amongst several sea shells the griffon collected.

"There, a gift from my special somegriffon in a good place."

[Gerrard]

Aquaria giggled when she noticed that he was confused by her actions. To her it was obvious, but she decided to explain her odd actions to him. "Ah, well I see all the other stuff every day. But how often do I see great hats? Almost never," she cheered for him, shaking the male before being presented with the pearl she gave him.

Her eyes watched the pearl and she smiled widely, glad to see that her gift had a special place in his life. "Aww thanks! I really owe you for the hat. I will protect your hat with my life," she cheered loudly for him, pressing it tightly against her chest. She was clearly more excited than ever before, assuming that it was possible to be so.

After a fierce moment of gathering her composure, she looked over to her date and forced out a calm, "what are we doing now?" She was wriggling with excitement and wanted to get out into the world with him.

[Lux]

There were certain types in Riptide's life that he did not recognize the connection between things. That was not to say that he was a dense griffon, blind to the world around him. But he could only guess that logic was overshadowed by the need to see that Aquaria was happy with him and therefore happy to be his special somepony. Right now things were good, but the brightly colored griffon felt like he was walking a tightrope and any moment he may slip up.

"Oh, right... guess I totally spaced out with that fact. You do see this stuff everyday when fishing it from the water. I guess since I don't do so often it still is amazing what I can find. I mean i can find shells and things like that every day. But the other things here are interesting. I'm glad you like the hat though. That one has a strange story.I was surfing when a rogue wave came and tossed me into the water. When I surfaced, this hat was on my head like I always had it on. I asked everypony if they owned it, but none of them knew. So here it sat in my house."

Riptide could see that the griffoness was interested in seeing what else was out there. He was pleased to see that she was healed from wiping out on the board. He wasn't going to delay things for too long, but there was one last thing he wanted her to see, something that was familiar to him but still breathtaking.

"Alright, I have one more thing to show you here, and trust me you'll love this. Follow me."

Riptide lead Aquaria up the steps to the upper floor. It was smaller than the spacious ground floor with its store, kitchen, and living room. The next floor contained a bedroom which acted as a storage room for his store and his things, a bathroom and his room of course. He felt a little awkward letting somegriffon into his room as this was only ever occupied by him.

"Welcome to my awesome room. Now take a look out those windows and get a load of the view!"

The one side of the room was dominated by a wall of windows, broken up only by a door that led out to a deck that covered the rest of the building, perfect for large beach parties.

[Gerrard]

The eager griffoness sat patiently as she listened to him talk about how he got his hat. She struggled to maintain her composure, but somehow managed to stay calm when she learned the origin of the simple hat. "I didn't know there were pirate griffons to! I never really thought about anyone with wings using boats," she mused aloud, incorrectly associating the hat with pirates.

Aquaria paused as she thought over other uses for the ocean. "Well, the ocean is good at carrying things. I guess we could use boats to carry a ton of scuba gear and shells to a bunch of different places," she thought aloud, getting carried off to his bedroom while she mused to herself.

Aquaria snapped out of her stupor when he mentioned it was his room, and one with an awesome view. She immediately belly flopped onto the bed and rolled onto the floor before staring out the window. She crawled up to her feet and looked over the beach. "Wow! I can see the ocean! Look at the waves, beating up other ponies instead," she giggled in an excited manner, her tail wagging with excitement.

She quickly noticed that there was a door to the outside, and she quickly worked it open and hopped onto a railing on the patio and took a deep breath of the salty ocean air. "This is the best house ever, she cheered, barely keeping her balance while she waited for her friend to come over.

[Lux]

"Well i don't know about pirates," Riptide said with a chuckle picturing him and Aquaria dressed in pirate clothes, "But you're right, the boats that my family had weren't used to carry us but any fish we caught. It was far better than grabbing a fish and having to fly back to the shore before going out again. That would really be a bummer for time and energy. But yeah, my dad and I would pull the boat into the ocean and drop anchor. By the time we were done, the boat would be full of fish! Actually I thought about once making a little barge in case I found something while surfing again. even if I didn't find something interesting floating, I could use it as a platform to rest."

The female griffon, whose mind seemed thinking about something, quickly snapped out of it upon seeing the view. While everypony or griffon of course got a view of the ocean while on the beach, being higher up offered a grander view of the sea and sky.

"Yep, you can see all that even the ponies getting beat up by the waves," the brightly colored griffon said before wondering if Aquaria really saw a pony in trouble. As he went outside on the patio, he was relieved that this wasn't the case. There were just a few ponies on the beach as the afternoon was passing.

"Well I'm glad you like my house Aquaria. Now you know where I live in case you want to see me again. Who knows, maybe one day I can see where you call home. Anyway, that concludes the tour. I assume you're still sore from that gnarly wipeout, so ever built a sand castle before?"

[Gerrard]

Aquaria wiggled her hips excitedly as she remained perched on his railing. When he spoke about boats and fish, her attention was quickly recaptured. She gasped audibly at the sheer mention of more fish than she could carry. "So many fish that you could actually swim in them," she mused aloud, in complete awe of his story.

When he mentioned his home and the sand castle, she giggled excitedly and looked back at him. "Best house I visited all day," she teased playfully for him as she spread her huge black wingspan. "I've never made a sand castle before. But I am the creator of the inescapable fortress of sand. Zero prison breaks ever. Come on and help me build your prison," she cheered excitedly, reaching back and snatching him with a talon and dragging him over the rail as she hopped off the rail to glide down to the beach.

[Lux]

"Totally," Riptide said alternating his gaze between her and the beautiful view, "It was like a sea full of fish in that boat. But it was the best time hanging out with my parents."

He smiled when Aquaria mentioned that his house was nice. There was a fear that his little impromptu tour was gong to be boring to the energetic griffon, but it was an important part of his life. A home after all represents a person with how they take care of it and what they have inside. Thankfully his special somepony liked it so the day and his relationship still remained strong.

"Oh cool, I'm glad you want to build... wait a second, did you just say my prison?"

Before she could respond or he could react to what happened next, Aquaria suddenly grabbed the unsuspecting griffon and launched off the rail of the deck. The griffon struggled being in such an awkward position while being airborne, flapping his wings while trying to not hit the griffon that had him in her clutches. He knew what this griffon now was going to do to him, but if she was going to try and bury him in the sand, Riptide had a trick for her.

[Gerrard]

Aquaria released her flying partner over the beach and quickly righted herself, pulling up and stalling her forward momentum before slowly falling to the ground. She gracefully landed on her hind legs and examined the beach sand around her.

Upon returning to all fours, she found a nice pile of sand and quickly started shoveling it away quickly with her sharp talons. After digging for a few seconds, she glanced up to see where Her date had flown off to.

[Lux]

Suddenly Riptide felt Aquaria loosen her talons. The brightly colored griffon tried to right himself after being in such an awkward position but soon found himself falling face first into the sand! For a moment he lay coughing out some sand before standing up and shaking the rest of the sand off his body. It was then that Riptide heard a scraping sound like somepony, or in this case griffon, digging in the sand. He turned to see Aquaria digging a large pit, something he knew exactly what or more importantly who it was for.

"So you're going to try and put me in there huh?' the male griffon called over to the tiger stripped griffon, "Well, you're going to have to catch me first!"

With that the griffon took off into the air, pausing while in flight to tease the griffon in joining him in the air.

[Gerrard]

Aquaria quickly found herself in a deep hole, her talons working as great shovels. "I was collecting sand to build us a fortress. Don't you want to help me build it," she asked quizzically, cocking her head to the side as she seemed to beckon him into coming down to her.

After waiting a moment him to react, she nonchalantly took a clawful of sand before quickly tossing it at the eyes of her friend. Her gentle smile turned into a mischievous grin as she went into attack mode and pounced towards him, her lithe frame springing talons out at the hopefully distracted flyer.

[Lux]

The brightly colored griffon heard Aquaria's words about collecting sand for a fortress, but he wasn't buying it. That hole looked the perfect size to put a griffon like him into. Otherwise it would be a pretty big sand fortress she was intending to build!

"You'll never take me..." he said but before finishing he caught a face full of sand. While little got into his eyes, a great portion was aimed right for his opened beak! Riptide started coughing up the sand while rubbing the particles out of his eyes, trying to desperatly watch where his special somepony was. But with lightning speed Aquaria pounced and the preoccupied griffon helplessly crashed to the beach with a thud, causing an explosion of sand to fly in the air.

[Gerrard]

Aquaria snatched the griffon out of the air and brought him down to the ground. She closed her rose colored eyes as they created a sand explosion, catching the attention of a few ponies as she playfully wrestled with him.

A playful growl exited her beak as she pinned his limbs down. "Gotcha," she giggled as her long tail wagged excitedly. "Dinner time," she cheered before playfully nibbling on his neck as she teased him. It had been a while since she had rough housed this much in a while and was looking to test out his strength.

[Lux]

By the time that he could recover, Riptide knew how much trouble he was in! He was now pinned on the ground, as his special somepony was almost literally standing over him.

"Hey I'm not dinner," Riptide said as he saw her nibbling of his neck. Apparently the female griffon was testing his strength, but Riptide was no weakling. He rolled Aquaria off him after a few moments shaking back and forth. The two rolled until he came to a stop on top of her, the same way he held her.

"Now who's pinned," he said with a chuckle as he playfully nipped her wing.

[Gerrard]

The griffoness found herself wrestling with her friend in the sand with her ill gotten position over him. She giggled excitedly, her wagging tail showing off her disposition. Aquaria quickly found herself on her back as he rolled around with her. She quickly found herself pinned down, at the mercy of his nibbling as she flailed wildly.

She couldn't slither her way free, the hybrid thinking over strategies to escape his sharp clutches. It quickly came to her, the wily diver taking a deep breath as she prepared her plan. "Ahh, this evil griffon is eating me! Somebody help. He is rabid," Aquaria shouted in an exasperated voice as she tried to seem genuine, even though she wasn't at all.

Her rose colored eyes watched him closely after she spoke. The black griffoness hoped her words would stun him long enough to let her slip through. She tried to slide her arms through and lock in a tight headlock on the surfer.

[Lux]

For a moment Riptide thought that he finally had the upper hand, or in this case talon. Aquaria tried to break free but she just wasn't as strong, not without the element of surprise. He was about ready to go in again and nibble her or maybe even sneak a kiss when suddenly she shouted a genuine sounding call for help. Still Riptide wasn't distracted yet.

"Oh totally not cool Aquaria. You know ponies aren't going to fall for some gnarly stunt like fake crying for help."

But then something made Riptide wonder and he quickly looked around to see if no concerned ponies were there. Really most ponies seemed already shocked seeing tow griffons wrestling in the sand, wondering if it was something these creatures just did.

"So, your trick didn't work. Now what are you going to do?"

[Gerrard]

Her efforts were thwarted at every turn, the diver running out of options quickly. Aquaria flailed wildly and gasped in a desperate manner as she realized escape wasn't possible. Her face scrunched up as she seemed to hold her breath.

The black feathered flyer shut her eyes tight and turned her head to the side and let out a deep sigh as she feigned death, her pink tongue lazily to the side. She hoped the spectacle might inspire hesitation in the griffon or bravery in the ponies as she waited for someone to react. The goofy diver was well practiced in hiding her breathing, the young hybrid lightly breathing through her nose as she looked lifeless before him.

[Lux]

"Ha ha!" Riptide said triumphantly as he knew that he had Aquaria in an inescapable position, "Now what are you going to do Aquaria?"

He looked down at his special somepony, hoping to see her admit defeat. But to his surprise she lay there as if passed out. Was he too hard on the striped griffon? Part of his mind was yelling at him, telling him that this was probably a trick as she was a very goofy and sometimes unpredictable one. On the other side the caring loving part of his mind that never wanted to see those he was friends with or love get hurt was beginning to worry, building in intensity until finally.

"Aquaria?" he said letting go of her and picking up her head, "Are you ok? Speak to me!"