The bouncing and jostling were what finally woke him up. He felt it before he saw it. A hand was touching him, a human hand distinct and unmistakable. Groggily, he had been woken midway through a REM cycle he predicted. He opened one eye minutely. It wouldn't do for whatever, or whoever was touching him to become aware that there was more to this bundle of feathers than initially met the eye.
For a few moments and to the steady beat of the gryphon's wings, Aarav examined the being in front of him, taking him time to identify the first human he had seen here close up. This was made a little more difficult because from his perspective. He was flying backwards, facing opposite the direction of flight. He did not move a bit while he conducted this investigation so as not to alert the rider as to his presence.
The man in front of him was darker-skinned. Now that he could distinguish colour, he could see the deep shade of brown, almost black, strikingly blue eyes. Aarav took a second or two to silently thank whatever god existed here again for his colour sight before he went back to his observations. A broad mouth was offset by a slender, narrow nose, far too thin for his broad face. The man in front of him was well-muscled. He hadn't missed leg day either, Aarav noted as he glanced down to the gryphons flank. That was where massive legs like tree branches were gently squeezing feathered sides.
The man as a whole just looked like a slab of meat, hard, solid and would break a stone type of meat. He was huge; Aarav wasn't sure if it was just that he was so small or if the man's proportions were on a different scale entirely. The Copycat Slime would not have been surprised to find that the man was a quarter tonne of pure muscle. Aarav was gradually getting more and more nervous about this creature in front of him. It was hard to call him a man when he was built like a bull. Aarav was pretty sure a human being could not healthily be that size.
And yet, there he was right in front of Aarav. It was hard to argue with what his eyes were showing him. The man was looking ahead, over the gryphons head and into the distance. That was when Aarav realised that they were flying. The air that was rushing past him, which he had assumed was just the high winds of the season were actually because of the high-speed flight. He was just shielded from the bulk of it by the gryphon's neck and the dark man on the opposite side.
The patch of feathers stirred as Aarav contemplated his next move. The man was not gripping Aarav. He was holding onto the feathers a little way above where the slime was located. For now, that meant he was safe from detection.
He had not spoken any words yet today, so none of his languages had improved. He was stuck at 1% on Darfan, so there was nothing he could say to the man that he would have understood, even if he thought was the best course of action. In his experience, people tended to get freaked out if a tuft of feathers spoke to you in your native tongue. He did think it might be fun to do that and unseat the rider, but he was huge. Those types didn't tend to get unhinged quickly. Maybe it's part of having less intellect and more strength? Whatever it is, the potential risk is not worth the fun of doing that. Besides, he could fall off and die. I don't want to do that to him: a new start and all that.
Aarav continued to sit quietly on the gryphon's neck while he tried to decide what to do. Glancing around, Aarav saw there were three other riders in the air around them. One was a little too far off for Aarav to see without Piercing Eyes +1, but the other two, the old man from the day before that was part of their group. Aarav thought he was old anyway, no wrinkles or grey hairs but a paunch and something in the set of his body that seemed to indicate age. Again Aarav had no idea what the natural lifespan of people here was, but he seemed well into it. On the other side, a skinny man was riding with the joy of a child on his first bicycle. It was honestly endearing to see, and even if Aarav could not recall having such times as a child, he could appreciate it nonetheless. One day, I, too, will have such a life. I mean, I am riding a gryphon, aren't I?
It wouldn't belong, but right now, harvesting these people's parts would not serve his newfound pacifist inclinations. It was determined to continue along that vein and try a new approach to life better, not endanger him, though. He would not be pleased with that. Not at all! The skinny man yelled something to Aarav's rider. Then shockingly, he pulled on the reins and tucked his feet firmly into the stirrups at his sides. The next thing was the gryphon he was riding surging upward and making a vertical loop with the skinny bloke on him hanging on for dear life. For a second, he seemed unsure, but that quickly faded to exhilaration. The idiot was grinning as he came back down to level with the rest of the group. What on earth was he thinking? If he had fallen off, it would have been to his death. This high up, I can't even see the ground?
It was at that moment that Aarav decided it would be a good idea to check how far up they were. Eye stalks extended to the side a little so that the man in front of him would not see, Camouflage still hiding his activity. Aarav realised his mistake as vertigo and nausea hit him like a truck. His fear of heights very nearly crippled him right there, making him freeze and shake at that same time. What it ended as was this weird vibrating that could not be missed by his rider. The buzzing of feathers was like a mobile phone ring. Not that this man would have known, and with Aarav's eyes facing away, he could not see that the man had noticed. Aarav couldn't tear his eyes away from their view of the ground.
It was too high. They were too high.
There was no way he would be able to traverse the distance to the ground with his wings, even if he could have flown, which he could not, not with these pathetic wings, even with the upgrade, they were so weak still. Why did he have to go exploring!? He could have seen gryphon anytime in this world. From the nonchalance of the people around them, it seemed that gryphon was prevalent throughout Blorenar. Me and my inability to manage risk! Now I am definitely going to die. He would be plucked from the gryphon and tossed away to the ground. Then he would plummet to the ground, too heavy for his wings to keep him aloft. Then he would splat on the ground, and then he would be dead. Simple! His slimy remains would dissolve into the soil to feed the grass and make that grow. Great! His life and misdeeds and failures continued to flash before his eyes. He didn't even make it a year in this new world. Barely seven months. He thought with bitterness.
His body's vibration got worse as panic set in more firmly. He was going to die, and it served him right. He had stupidly ventured to the gryphons in the hopes of taking one for a ride and then promptly fell asleep. Who does that? Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Why?
Why!?
WHY!!?
All of a sudden, his perspective changed. He had been looking down at the bleak and empty space below, green and yellows mocked him with colours as if reminding him that he could only see black and white and just as he gained coloured sight again he would die, next he was looking into cold blue eyes and a dark brown face. That expression quickly changed as Aarav's mouth came out to open up and scream in his face. He roared in return and was surprised to find that he was holding a live creature. What he had thought an odd bundle of feathers was alive and completely separate from the gryphon he rode.