Feeling trapped (open)

[Jeremy Fox]

The griffin didn´t didn´t know how he had ended up here, in this strange place where absolutely nothing seemed to be going on. A strange, half creepy sort of limbo just without the utter emptiness that he had so far associated with the word, for the place was neatly lined with pillars. Pillars as far as his eyes could reach, ahead of him, behind him, to both his sides. Neat, marble pillars like a silent, dead army of limbless soldiers.

He ruffled his feathers irritadedly and the sound of it seemed to almost echo between the soundless columns. How had he ended up here? Something told him that this was not the place he had wanted to go, even though, pondering it, he had no idea from where he had started, where he had come from. His ears flicked slightly as he tried to remember, but failed. What stayed was an annoying anger, tickling him, the knowledge that he was someone and someone else as well and the knowledge that he had ended up in a place he had not desired to go. Something told him that this was a reason to be annoyed.

It had been a little while since the man who took the form of this ruffled looking griffin had last taken on this shape, but it had been different then. He had been able to stroll around freely, to observe and watch. There was no memory of that last dream in the griffin´s memory now nor was there the recognition that he was a man also, Jerry Fox, teacher at Somnium Academy who, even though he was a totally different person by day, enjoyed taking on the role of the sly beast whenever he had the chance to. And the griffin, devoid of memory for the moment, didn´t know that the slight irritation he felt now and that made him extent his claws so they scraped the marble underneath his paws, came to him, because the man he usually was, was still there, out of the reach of his mind, but grovelling at the fact that he had not succeeded to take control of this dream. Instead, his dream form was trapped in this weird place. A place that was seemingly not only somewhat creepy, but also devoid of life.

[Kaiser Adair]

Kaiser was bored out of his mind. He needed out of that bloody book shop for more then two hours. It was becoming a bothersome thing, being stuck there. He didn't like it one bit but he was writing a story. It was one thing that was getting done.
It just proved that he was starting to fall into a rut, his kill on a instant had been taken from him. Some times he wondered why he even bothered to take a mate in the first place. They were two opposite beings, he was a blood thirty kill and she was a star.

While pondering his life he feet kept walking. Somehow he had made it to the first square where the ground was marble. The tapping of his boots turned his attention to that. He had never been down this way before but in the end it didn't matter. Maybe by some stroke of luck he would come across a something. Living here taught him that, you never know what to expect. For all he know in the next five minuets he could be talking to a bee.

After glancing up he saw the most peculiar thing. It was a griffin form the looks of it. He watched it ruffle its feathers. The creature fascinated him that he almost forgot he as looking at it from a distance. From the distance it looked annoyed. It had every right to be becasue here in the place barely any life flowed, but where Kaiser's shop was it was always booming with life, some times almost literary. He started to walk up to the griffin with a slight curiosity.

[Jeremy Fox]

How was he supposed to get out of here, the griffin wondered. He didn´t know where he was supposed to go, but this place didn´t feel too comfortable, mostly because the pillars didn´t allow proper flying. They didn´t stand too close, but the thought of having to fly very straight lines or very narrow curves didn´t sound worth a try. Which possibly meant that this wasn´t the right place for a griffin. He didn´t exactly know what he wanted, but something where he could spread his wings properly, something where there was something going on. Not too much of a rustle, just something he could observe for starters. He felt like an animal trapped in a cage and inwardly scoffed at the thought. Out, he thought. I want to get out.

His body stiffened abruptly,claws snapping out with a snap against the marble ground when something fell in front of the griffin´s feet. His head jerked up, but when he raised his eyes he saw nothing, just pillars leading up and up until lack of light swallowed their shapes. Turning his attention back to what it was that had just been dropped in front of him, he found that it was a key. A big, old fashioned looking bronze key. The griffin tilted back his ears to show his annoyance. A key in a place without doors. It was as if someone was mocking him.

The key, however, had kept his attention busy for a moment, so he did not notice the echo of boots on the floor right away. When he did, however, he gave the key a tap with his front paw and raised his eyes again, turning his head a little to the left, his muscles tense but the instincts of the predator within him trying to hide the uneasiness this place caused in him.
His yellow eyes focussed on someone who was approaching him from a distance, someone who looked human. The griffin spread his wings to their full wingspan and flapped them, once, twice, the human he didn´t know he was pretending to be relaxed and unafraid, the beast whose shape he took and which was more ruled by instincts using this gesture to make himself bigger, more impressive. Signaling the stranger that he shouldn´t let himself be misguided by the fact that the griffin was merely the size of a puma - even though there certainly were more impressive examples for his species.
Keeping his eyes fixed on the new arrival, he folded his wings again, deliberately slowly and started to trod along the pillars. Not away from the stranger, but not towards him either, just strolling with the (pretended) laziness of a beast of prey.

[Kaiser Adair]

The griffin seemed distracted. As if it couldn't decide on what to do. It gave the appearance of being calm but Kaiser could tell it wasn't. By the claw scratching the marble floor, it was clearly distressed. But in trying to fool him it just made things worse.

Kaiser kept going forward and watched a key fall. Bloody random if you asked him. What a key would be doing here he didn't know, didn't need to know. But he looked up at the sky to see if any keys were going to start raining down on his head. He really hopped not. Once he looked up and saw nothing he looked back at the now moving griffin. It wasn't exactly moving away from him but it wasn't coming any closer either.

Kaiser stopped walking for just a moment. The griffin was obviously not wanting him near him. So he stopped and kept his hands at his sides. He wouldn't harm a beast as wonderful as a griffin, no he simply wanted to be around it to get ideas. The griffin, if it could talk, would not only have a story to tell but would be of some entertainment. After a few seconds Kaiser began to walk again. His red eyes on the griffin. He had a smile on his face, hiding the fangs and his hands where at his sides. "I promise you no harm," he said as he started getting closer. It was loud enough for the griffin to hear.

[Jeremy Fox]

He kept strolling, even though his pace slowed down almost unnoticably, his eyes still fixed on the other one. He had come closer by now and the griffin could make out the man´s features. Slight curiosity mixing with his annoyance, he flicked his lynx ears once when the stranger spoke and came to a halt, stretching his wings just a bit, the animal inside him insisting on gestures that made him look like he was the embodyment of self confidence. Which of course, he was not. But he liked to pretend. He always had.

"Then maybe I should do the same in return." he gave back after a few seconds. "Unless it´s your fault I ended up in this place that is." The griffin liked to test strangers and whether his slightly threatening humour scared them. It was a good way to test the courage of a fellow living thing and this behviour was deeply rooted inside him even though in this place, among the pillars, all his memories of other encounters in either the dream world or that of the waking, was lost to him.

[Kaiser Adair]

Kaiser came to a halt once the griffin talked back. He wasn't expecting it at all. He blinked a few times and just stood there. He really was shocked the creature could talk back. Of course anything can happen in this world. And everything does. He was getting use to the whole thing after living out of this place for so long. Not many demons passed through and the ones that did were not like Kaiser.

Finding his voice after the few moments of shock he found a answer for the griffin. "No I didn't put you here," he answered giving a small bow. "I couldn't have brought you here even if I tried. I'm sorry for any distress this brings upon you." He truly was sorry about the creature being in this place and not knowing where he was. It was a awful place in a word but could be fun.

[Jeremy Fox]

Even though he had no memory in this peculiar place, the griffin nearly had to chuckle, his personality making a more natural appearance as he did and it sounded like a small cough when he tried to veil his amusement. He was the type of creature that liked a fair share of amused mockery when he thought it fit and the stranger´s bow and choice of words evoked slight amusement in him. But however, he tried not to show that, his head tilting to the side slightly in one sharp movement that reminded a lot of the bird of prey he partly was - even though a ruffled one.

He paused for a moment, yellow eyes studying the man with a mix of several feelings out of which curiosity quickly won (and that probably showed). He had another quick glance at where the key had dropped only to find that it had vanished, leaving a key shaped hole in the ground, just as if it had melted through it. "What is this place?" he asked. It seemed the most interesting question for now and showed that he accepted the stranger´s words as true for now. He pranced in half a circle, slowly, examine the "key hole" with a single extended claw.

[Kaiser Adair]

"Well this is," he paused slightly trying to remember what it was called. It was being drawn as a blank. "Well this is..." he scratched his head. He wasn't exactly sure what to call it now. They Were in the first square but that didn't seem right. "Well I'm not exactly sure what this place is. I can tell you what it isn't." On that aspect he was telling the truth. He could tell the griffin that this place was like no other. This place here had a funny way of mixing thing up.

He looked down at the now key shaped hole. Kaiser had never seen a thing like that before. He made a mental not in his head to remember it and put it in a story. "This place is, as I heard a passerbyer say, the dream world. What that is a I can't tell you. But here anything can happen and clearly it does."

[Jeremy Fox]

Unvoluntary, a second and third claw extended from the griffin´s paw. A dream world? He tried to get his mind around the expression but the result of this was just confusion. Did that mean this was not real? What was it then? Well, it would certainly explain something as stupid as keys falling and vanishing again obviously just to mock him, but he wasn´t really sure if he liked that version alltogether.

The stranger seemed to know more about this place than he did. Which wasn´t difficult since the griffin knew nothing, and which put the creature in a situation he didn´t like, just as he didn´t really like this place. Knowledge was power and if that was so, he was as defenseless as one could imagine right now. He didn´t like that. Not at all. Still he didn´t show it. After all, there was a few things he knew, one of them being that showing your weakness doesn´t help. Animal instincts of survival more than that of his thinking mind for now, but they would have to do.

"So?" he gave back with a slight flick of his right ear. "What does that make you then?" Or me for the matter he thought but didn´t ask. "Are you a part of this... dream world?" Knowledge. Knowledge meant power. And therefore the griffin decided that first of all he needed to gain some. That and something edible he guessed.

[Kaiser Adair]

Kaiser didn't know if he was real or not anymore. He had seen the dream kids come though and tell he he wasn't real. This made things a lot more confusing then they had to be. But he couldn't lie to himself so his answer was he didn't know if he was real or not. "To be honest I don't know if I'm real or not," he sighed.

"I am a part of this world though," he gave a longer sigh. He didn't really want to be a part of this world but here he was. Sometimes he just wanted out of the world. "Which would be why the key fell through the ground."

[Jeremy Fox]

The griffin´s eyes shortly darted over to the key hole once more, before his eyes once more settled on the new arrival as if he was trying to memorise every tiny detail of the other one.
"If you are here and aware of it," he said, keeping eye contact. "How can you not be real? It is possible of course, that you are just a figment of my mind that claims to be real and then you wouldn´t be, but if you tell me so yourself and are aware of it, you would be real." With a snap, the claws that had been examining the key hole went back into his paw. "Of course I can´t know, because as a figment of my imagination you would be telling me just that and I can hardly tell whether you are a conscious creature or not."

It was a curious situation, he decided and for a moment he felt distracted from his distress by the question of what was real and what wasn´t in the attempt to find out if it was just himself he was talking to here or someone else. So far he saw no way to prove either way.