Dust seemed to have a party down the halls, gathering in each forgotten room. The treasure prison seemed to have a lack of care and a lack of guards as well...mainly on this section of the building.
Avocato had hoped he'd find his son, navigating the prison blindly as he stealthily made his way past guards and rare creatures in cages.
Guards were in tidy uniforms, helmets covering their faces. The place seemed clean enough to just past as a reasonably sanitised place but the deeper the ventraxian ventured into the treasure prison...the more abandoned it seemed.
He found himself making his way down some steps of stairs that were broken and falling apart, assuming that the Lord Commander would do his best to hide his son.
Black dried up goo were splattered on the walls, mixed with blood. Doors broken and rusty, old due to time...
Avocato found nothing...
Nothing but the harpy, that is.
Tweeting curiously, the harpy besides him seemed to want to touch everything. He had no disregard for personal space or control.
Still, Avocato allowed the creature to play and adventure, frowning at realisation that the harpy must have been a toy that the Lord Commander quickly grew bored of and forgotten it... the state of this place would explain that.
Hopping around happily, the harpy explored the ruins of the basement of the Lord Commander's prideful treasure prison, pausing in front of large doors that were decorated beautifully, heavy lock inbetween them broken.
Blond hair fluffed as he tilted his head like a puppy that had heard a new noise, the harpy got on all fours, crawling towards door with caution. His feathery ears rattled for a moment, wings hunched over as if the wings would help hide him.
"What is it?" Avocato asked, analysing the birdman's body language before his hand instinctively rest on his hip, grasping the gun there ready for a surprise attack.
Avocato pulled out his gun with jaw set and eyes straight with focus. Slowly, he creaked the door open, trying not to use too much strengh to accidentally barge in but struggling due to the heavy doors. He paused when he could look through a small crack.
Inside, there were long expensive looking couches, clearly made of good leather that was even taken as far at to be dyed red. The room was vast, far too large and ceiling far too tall.
In the centre was a long table; discarded old electronics, playing cards, scrunched up money and a series of various other things scattered on it as well as the floor...
But that's not what gathered the attention of the old general. Above, hanging from a ceiling with lights, that flickered every so often, pointed towards it like a spotlight was a huge birdcage.
Glancing down at the harpy, Avocato estimated the cage to be twice and a half as tall as him, wide enough so whatever was supposedly in it could swing on the the swings that seemed quite uncomfortable to sit on.
A small trill brought Avocato back as he realized the harpy was simply pushing through the cracks, making the door open further.
"Hey wai--" Avocato stopped, sighing as he told himself there was no point in hiding as there was no one in this place anyway. So instead, Avocato stood watching the naked butt bird begin to browse the room.
Sniffing the air, the harpy hopped on one of the long couches, hands resting on the back of it before he jumped off and attempted to crawl under the table.
Avocato stood there, watching the harpy get stuck, his bird like legs scrambling behind to try break free- or was he trying to go further? Either way, Avocato wasn't sure what to make of the... view.
Sighing, Avocato began looking around the room, allowing the big bird to do whatever he pleased for the time being.
He roamed the room, gathering information from items that were abandoned here and how the room was arranged.
Having worked for the Lord Commander for years, Avocato could understand this was a secret gathering location. Somewhere where the Lord Commander could gamble, bet on items (creatures most likely), host parties and perhaps make ties with other powerful figures.
Scowling, Avocato glared at the cracks on a wall where the Lord Commander most likely had a tantrum, he remembered the time he first found illegal trades happening right beneath his snout. He remembered the times he found out the Lord Commander was one to stoop as low as selling lives of infants, children from extinct races or races that were considered expensive in general due to stereotypes that spoke of their bodies.
"Hm?" Avocato's eyes happened to land on a glitching tablet, its screen broken on an edge indicating it had been thrown at the wall.
Walking towards the corner of the room, near where a balcony was (most likely where drinks were made and served), Avocato took another glance at the harpy, who was-
Was he eating bugs?
"I don't even want to know" he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he reached down and brought the screen closer to see... it was a profile of the harpy.
Another glance towards the nude half bird, Avocato began reading the contents, squinting with focus everytime the screen flickered.
"Gary" he read the words aloud and a high pitched chirp was heard in response.
Looking up, Avocato noticed that the harpy (Gary?) Was tilting his head from side to side, eyes set on Avocato.
"That's your name?" Avocato asked, reading the contents once again, there wasn't really much except for name, race and age "Gary Goodspeed?" He looked back up, catching just as Gary, the harpy, jumped from atop the sofa towards Avocato, landing in a crouched position as he crawled closer, head tilting curiously.
Once close enough, Gary slowly stood- standing a tad bit too close to Avocato but the ventraxian remained silent, allowing the crea- Gary to sniff him, and stare him down.
Avocato felt himself tense when the harpy leaned closer towards the crook of his neck, he stood rigid and uncomfortably as he felt the hot breath against the uncovered section of his neck.
The neck is a vulnerable spot, a weak spot to kill someone easily. Ventraxians usually wear something that covers it, whenever it's fabric like scarves or turtle necks, or in Avocato's case an armour...
Despite the uncomfortable vulnerability it brought upon his instincts, despite the part of the back of his mind that told him to claw the half chicken man by the neck and warn to never come closer again... Avocato remained still, controlling his breath and nerves as a random shiver ran down his spine.
A sudden huff had made Avocato realize he had his eyes shut tightly. He opened his eyes to see Gary huffing with displeasure, nose scrunched adorably before he simply walked away.
Avocato blinked, hand coming to the part Gary had sniffed. Was Gary perhaps interested in the metal but realized it wasn't shiny again? Or did Avocato just smell?
Removing his hand from the nape of his neck, Avocato was looking down at some blood that wasn't his.
Oh...
Avocato looked at Gary who was trilling as he played with a wrist pad that still had a flashlight on.
"Gary" he called and the harpy perked, ears fluttering as he carried a clueless expression (as usual- Avocato was certain that there wasn't a thought behind those eyes).
Avocato didn't say anything else, unsure as to why he called the ha- Gary in the first place. He looked down at the pad in his hands then the cage, realising that Lord Commander might have been showing Gary off to the guests and if Gary was a creature he took pride in (the more others wanted it, the better the quality in his eyes) then Lord Commander might have either tried to sell him off for something just as- if not- more valuable...
"Or he got angry when someone attempted to bribe into his most precious prize" he glanced at the cracks on the walls and dried blood.
A small clueless coo was heard and Avocato turned his attention back to Gary, seeing the other stood on the table now, body straight for once.
Avocato smiled, forcing his eyes to not wander upon the rare frame. Gary usually was hunched, since the moment they met, most likely due to the very tiny cage...
It was nice to see him like this.
"Wait a moment" Avocato hummed and turned, searching the room for-
Another tweet and a sudden sound of flapping wings. Swivelling around, Avocato's eyes widened as he saw, for the first time, a real life harpy flying.
Gary was flying towards the cage, large wings fluttering almost in slow motion despite the lack of wind. He looked beautiful but- oh so sloppy. Avocato couldn't help but frown with worry, realisation setting in that the bird man was not healthy enough to fly.
Part of him, was worried that Gary would suddenly fall but the other part of him knew this wasn't any of his buissness. The only reason he had freed Gary was due to his own curiosity and because no animal should be in such enclosed space...
"This will do" Avocato nodded as he took out some table cloths in hidden drawers before looking up to see Gary vandalising- well... trying to vandalised the cage.
The harpy bit on the metal, teeth clanking before he scowled and kicked the thing a few times before returning to biting it from another angle. Avocato chuckled-
"Gary" he called once again "come here for a moment"
Gary turned his attention at his name being called, his feathers rustling before he jumped off the cage and his wings spread beautiful to slow his fall.
Landing just in front of Avocato, on the back of the sofa, Gary once again crouched down.
"Here" Avocato winced at the sight of literally full on dick in his face but decided to ignore it. Gary was a wild animal- well half...Gary was a wild species, its natural for him.
Softly, Avocato reached his hand towards Gary and the naive bird man simply chirped curiously, placing his hand on Avocato's.
Avocato smiled, leading Gary down the sofa as he let a few clicks from the back of his throat and tilted his head again and again.
"There" Avocato nodded once Gary was on the ground, he fixed his posture to be less hunched before holding the cream colored fabric up "I'm going to put these on you" he explained but the harpy only cooed, clearly not understanding.
Sighing, Avocato simply got closer and began to work, movements slow and light in order not to startle the other.
Gary blinked, watching as the clothes were wrapped around his body. He let out a few curious noises before itching at his arms and his wings stretching, flapping uncomfortably, he whined.
"It's ok" Avocato reassured "you'll grow used to these eventually" he nodded as he tied some rope around his waist just to hold everything together.
"See? All done" Avocato gestured to Gary's new attire. Now he certainly looked like those angels that humans spoke often about.
"Ooooo" Gary's tiny voice left and Avocato was caught in surprise. Sure, Gary made noise but that was usually noises that didn't require vocal cords. Just small whistles and clicking sounds...
This meant Gary could learn to talk. To communicate with him.
"Gary" Avocato tried and the harpy that had been playing with the fabric around him looked up again "Avocato" the ventraxian pointed to himself.
Gary only tilted his head.
Sighing, Avocato felt himself deflate. It's ok if Gary can't say his name yet... Right now is not the time for a speaking lesson anyway.