CW: monster hunters, talk of animal abuse (sorta) and kidnapping, talk of implied torture and death, all at the end
"Of course you would enable revenge," Roman sighed with a smile. "Though, I'm glad it was against the hunters and not some poor idiot who made a mistake."
"Oh those hunters made mistakes, plenty of mistakes," Remus stated. "But we've had a lot of fun tormenting them."
"Unfortunately, we never did find anyone from my nest," Janus added. "But it's been nice nonetheless. At least I'm not alone."
Virgil watched as Darrell and Rascal played around together, chasing and nipping at each other. "I know what it's like to lose your home, and everyone around you," he said. "But I was lucky enough to have a comfortable life."
"Us too!" Remus told him.
"No, not really," Janus corrected. "We're technically nomads. We sleep in the forest. It is not at all a comfortable life."
"To you, but Rascal and I have fun!"
"Yes, but my definition of comfortable is sleeping in an actual bed."
"Oh! I have a spare bed at my house!" Roman told them. "And if sharing makes you uncomfortable, I have-"
"It doesn't," Remus interrupted. "But I'd love to see your house! Is it giant like you always wanted as a kid? Or is it boring?"
"As annoying as ever I see."
"It's just what I do."
"Well, considering that it's made out of living plants, it is not boring. It's not far away, come on!"
"Hold on, I gotta go home," Virgil told Roman. "I told Patton that I wouldn't be out here all day so I can help him on the farm. You can take today off since you helped out a lot yesterday, and so you can catch up some more with your brother."
"I hate when you leave." The witch took his hands. "But if you have to go, I won't stop you."
Virgil rolled his eyes. "Have you forgotten that we're bonded? We're always connected, no matter what. Go show your brother and his boyfriend your home, you know I'll come by tomorrow." He leaned forward and gave Roman a kiss on the cheek.
"Okay, travel safe, I love you, dear."
"I love you too." The fairy turned to the other witch and the gorgon. "It was nice meeting you two, I suppose. For Roman's sake, I'm really happy you're here, and I suppose I'll have to get used to you two."
"Maybe for a little bit, no plans have been made yet!" Remus said, excitement coming off of him. "Now take us away, Ro-ro!"
"Bye Ro-ro," Virgil teased before walking away, Darrell yipping good bye at him before going back to playing with Rascal.
"Look what you've done, Remus. He's never going to drop that nickname now," Roman sighed.
"Good for him, now let's go!"
~~~
The forest air was humid, but not uncomfortably so. Crickets chirped as the sun had started to set. Some animals were getting ready to go to bed as others started to wake up. It was quiet and peaceful.
The first few leaves that had fallen for change of seasons crunched under the numerous sets of boots. There was a small click as a leash was taken off, and then several more. Dogs barked as they ran through the forest, sniffing the air and ground.
"I'm not seeing anything," a man said.
"Ha! Maybe it really was a false alarm," another laughed. "Those guys were probably attacked by a bear or something and hit their head."
"Well they said the attack happened over a month ago, so any obvious signs of it would be gone by now. Keep searching, this forest is wide and if something is here then we'll run into a clue eventually," a third told them. This man was the leader of the group, he held himself high and had a scar on his brow, one of few from the many fights he's had in his career. His name was Edgar Morgan, not that it mattered much.
"What the hell did those hunters say they saw?"
"A shadowy figure."
"Ooh, so scary," Another man teased.
Their laughter echoed through the forest, and Morgan frowned.
"Two of them died," he reminded them. "Even if it was a bear, or some other animal, they had a reason to be afraid. I doubt any of you would survive an attack from a bear."
"Ah whatever, Morgan. You've seen what we've caught! We have a damn griffin back at the base! A bear is an easier fight than that."
"We also have a dragon," another added.
"Oh that doesn't count, we took it when it was still in its egg! Neither of its parents were there, so that was their fault."
"Will you all shut your traps! We're hunting here," Morgan reminded them. "You're gonna give us away to whatever the hell is in these woods."
The other hunters mumbled before they stopped talking. They were monster hunters, of course, and they were currently on the job. If they weren't focused, they could be attacked by the monster and lose one or two of them.
There was barking from far off, one of their dogs. Morgan looked at his men, all nodding before they moved. As quickly and quietly as they could, they rushed through the woods and where the dog's barking came from.
There was a small clearing, a stream nearby and a tree so close to a large rock it looked like it was growing out from underneath it. The trees above opened up in one spot, as if avoiding the air there.
The dog sat obediently in front of something, and Morgan moved over. He saw a large dark feather, soaked in mud but it was bigger than any bird feather. He picked it up and scraped some mud off of it, finding it was a dark purple color.
"Well look at that, we found our monster," he said, handing the feather over to one of his men so they could see it before scratching the dog's head. "Good job, you'll get a treat when we head back to town."
"Ugh, that stupid little town is the worst," one of the men groaned. "The moment we walked through, the people there started sending us glares."
"Some people hate monster hunters, they don't realize just what we do for them! The world is safer with us, and we get some extra money off of it."
"And this feather is purple, wish it was a bit brighter but it's still purple! That means it'll hold plenty of air magic."
"We find that fairy, and we get our hands on it's pretty little feathers, then we'll have ourselves a nice payday," Morgan told them.
"Then let's start looking." One man pulled out a dog whistle and blew. It didn't take long for the rest of the dogs to rush over to where they were.
Morgan took the feather and wiped off some more of the mud. He held the feathers out to the dogs, who sniffed it as best as they could. "Let's just hope the fairy's scent hasn't washed off of it completely."
"When we bring it back to the base, let's try to keep it alive for more than two weeks, yeah? The more feathers we get from it before it dies, the better."
Morgan laughed, "Well, that all depends on the monster and how well it will behave."