Rags flopped onto the mattress sitting on the floor. “That was fun,” he told the young boy on the mattress next to him, who rolled over to speak to Rags.
“Ooh! You got out for the day? What’d you do?”
“I did, yeah. Snuck out, but it doesn’t appear I was missed except by you! And I went to the carnival!”
“How did you get enough money for a ticket? Those things have to be a whole lotta money!” The boy’s eyes were all-black, lined with white; his skin was a pale green. His hair was fluffy and brown with streaks of gray, which always reminded Rags of a wolf’s fur. His thick hair almost hid tall black wolf ears—four of them. One pair was normal-sized, and small ones stuck out from the side of the bases of the first pair.
“I didn’t pay for the ticket, a performer let me in for free. Their name’s Glee and they’re super nice.” Rags kept his voice down in an effort to avoid waking anyone in the dorm.
The kid smiled widely. “I wanna meet Glee!”
Rags gave a little laugh. “Until then, I got you something! Happy seventh birthday, Griff.” He handed over a small griffin plush.
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Griff squealed quietly and grabbed the plush. “Yay!” He hugged it to his chest.
“What do we say?”
“Thank you!”
“And you’re welcome. What’s the griffin’s name?”
Griff frowned, taking the question seriously as he carefully examined the toy, staring into its face for a long moment. “Feathers,” he stated plainly.
“I like that name! It fits him really well.”
Griff looked over at Rags, frowning in his own version of a ‘death stare.’ It was not very intimidating to Rags, and he had to stifle a laugh. “It’s a she,” Griff asserted. “Not a he.”
“My mistake, my mistake.”
“Yes. it was.”
Rags let go of the laugh he’d been holding. “C’mon, Griff, I have a big day ahead of me in the arena. Let me get my rest, kid.”
Griff suddenly looked worried. “You have to fight her?”
Rags swallowed, hoping his expression didn’t reflect his anxiety. “You got that right.”
Griff handed something to Rags. “You take this into the arena? It’s lucky.”
Rags picked up the thing and looked at it-- a rabbit’s foot. “Of course. Fighting her is a lot to think about, but I can just think, ‘oh, I have to get this back to Griff,’ and it’ll help me focus.”
Griff nodded and the two went to sleep, Griff hugging his plush to his chest.