Grounded

[Growley]

The creature paced the small enclosure it had been inhabiting.

Ever since that fateful night (https://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?55915-The-Monster-in-the-Night), the days and nights cycled without pause, and it seemed like an eternity since it had been free to fly the night skies. Food was provided, though it wasn't the same as before. His wings had been tethered together, and try as he might there was no way he could unfurl them. He ached for the sky, and many nights his keening call could be heard echoing throughout the building he was kept in. He was still young, and confused with this newfound captivity. He howled, chittered, and snapped at the ones that brought him his daily meals. He chewed on the bars that kept him in this place, sometimes gnawing on them for hours without anything to show for his efforts.

The Drexl patrolled every square inch of the small pen that had become his prison, footfalls light and quick as his entire body twisted about to retrace steps already taken.

Every so often he fought against the straps holding his wings, and each time it turned into a rolling, angry battle that he always lost.



On this particular morning, he sat on his haunches, drowsy from a long night of pacing. He had called out to the night, and there was nothing to show for it. The lights from above were bright, and his eyes were lidded as he wavered.

It wasn't long before he leaned forward to press his head against the barred wall, letting out a mournful whine.

[Cleo Némain]

It was good to be back on Ossus. As much as Cleo liked running around with Mos Mos and Tripples and everything aboard the Queenie there were times to go home and be home. Not that she really thought of Ossus as a planet as home, but her room in the compound was kind of home and that sat well enough in her head.

Besides, there was nothing - nothing - quite like early mornings on a planet. There was grass still wet with morning dew and there was sky colors and there was... Sad noises? No, no that wasn't right. There couldn't be sad noises. Not on a morning so calm and clear and cool like this. The noises weren't coming from outside, though, but inside and they weren't noises so much as feelings and they made Cleo feel like maybe the sky shouldn't be so colorful that day because something was wrong.

She wasn't oh so good with pinpointing where things were coming from but it was early and most people were just getting up or getting ready or things like that so the world wasn't so crowded and Cleo was able to find the building where the bad feelings seemed to be coming from. It was like being in a movie of sorts when she opened the door, the emptiness seemed scary but that was silly because it was early and there was bound to people around later. Right? Right.

"Ello?" Her voice echoed a bit. This was the part in the scary movie that made people angry about people talking to nothingness that wasn't really empty. Cleo understood why people greeted the silence, though. Someone was bound to be listening, even if they couldn't or wouldn't answer right away.

[Growley]

The top of his head still pressed against the barrier, the Drexl leaned back ever so slightly for a fraction of a second before going forward again to bump against the bars. Again, and again he went back, then forward. Back, then forward. A garbled string of low grumblings rose up from his chest to tumbled out through his partially-opened mouth.

And then a sound. Something that was not just a scraping of boots and strange voices that made no sense. The things coming out of them never made any sense.

He froze midway through another pull-back, and his head snapped up, silvery eyes suddenly searching for anything that might be coming for him. Lips pulled back over bared teeth, and the grounded Drexl arched his back as his legs sent him backwards to the middle of the pen.

The grumblings became a low growl then, and he hunched low.

[Cleo Némain]

Cleo wasn't the kind to go looking for danger and setting herself up for bad situations. Okay so that thing on Naboo had been a little bit crazy but that wasn't her fault, that was a lot of... Well a lot of things, that was certain. But that wasn't here and wasn't now and it wasn't Ossus where dangerous things were lurking surely but not here, not in the Jedi compound. At least not somewhere a padathingie could go and stumble across it. Or, at least, that was what she was certain of but maybe shouldn't have been.

As she rounded a corner and saw the pen - well, okay, she didn't see the pen so much as the GIANT PURPLE OHMYGOD WHAT EVEN WAS THAT ADORABLE THING!? - Cleo put a hand over her mouth to stop the bit of a gasp that left her. Whatever it was, it wasn't happy. Not in that not happy to see her sort of way but just unhappy and Cleo couldn't blame it, not one bit. Why were they keeping the poor thing locked up in here? Had it hurt someone? Was it destroying things while she was gone away from the planet? Still, it didn't sit right with her immediately. The Jedi were new to this planet and if this not so ickle thing had been born here then it was probably here first and this was it's proper home whereas her and the rest of the newbies were well, new, and should have been all kinds of respectful and understanding of those who actually came from Ossus.

That was a lot of guessing though, and a lot of assumptions and Cleo didn't like doing that and shook her head a bit to make them go away. Approaching the pen was easy, even if the thing was all growls and grump, Cleo wasn't scared of it.

"Hey nows, growley one, no cause ferra tha' sorta thing. Dunno how y' wen' anna got y'self all in 'ere, bu' I ain't gonna do nothin' t' ya, okay?" Cleo spoke softly, though not in that way that was kind of insulting and slow like. This was just gentle, or about as much as she could do.

She had her hands out in front of her, showing she had nothing. Wasn't quite sure if it was the right thing to do, but she'd seen it done before and so Cleo figured it was a decent enough way of showing what she was saying.

[Growley]

The growl turned into a rumble that reverberated through his chest, then further upward to pass through bared teeth in a hiss. Again his back arched upward, bound wings making the effort an ungainly one. Wide eyes narrowed to slits in that moment.

The stranger was making sounds again, but he ignored the garbled mass of noise in favor of rearing up on his haunches to appear larger... and only managed to knock his head on the barred roof. The sharp pain was piercing, but aside from a wince, he merely adjusted his posture before hunching down slightly. Again lips parted, showing rows of pointed teeth.

But, the outstretched hand did cause a bit of cautious curiosity, and the Drexl eased back down to slowly move forward, neck craning forward as his slitted nose tested the air. The smell of the person was different, and filled him with worry, but he stepped ever closer, silver orbs still narrow and suspicious.

[Cleo Némain]

"Careful!" Cleo said with a tiny bit of another gasp that actually escaped as the creature went and bumped his noggin.

As it kept moving about she started to see how it had been bound, it's wingalings all tied up and unable to move and that made sense in a way because if they had been open they probably would have smacked right up against the sides of the pen and the growley hissy one would have hurt itself all the more. Still, it was sad though because wings meant freedom and just now this poor guy was anything but. The same round of questions came to her... Why would the Jedi do this?

She kept her hands outstretched since it seemed to be sniffing her, which Cleo wasn't sure if that was good or not. Who knows what kind of smells had attached themselves to her since her visit to the sonic the night pior, sheets and sleep and breakfast no doubt.

"S'rry, didn't go anna think t' brin' any treats with me."

Cleo came to a stop just a little bit away from the pen, just enough that if she really tried her fingertips could probably go and reach out and touch the purple beastie but she knew better than to try that sort of thing. All kinds of people didn't like being touched without asking and well, it wasn't quite like Cleo could just go and ask... Well, she could, but even though she was still talking she was pretty sure the growley didn't understand her none.

[Growley]

Even more sounds, and the Drexl blinked his eyes. It was a strange string of nonsense to him, and as his body remained low to the ground, shoulder blades rolling with each slow step forward, his entire bulk seemed to sway in rolling reaction; smooth and measured. His tail swept from one side to the other, looping itself a few times in the process before gracefully straightening out for another seemingly lazy arc.

He stopped a scant few inches from the bars separating him from the two-legged monster.

Another owlish blink, and he let out a brusque huff of air from his nostrils; his only answer to whatever it was that had been said to him.

[Cleo Némain]

A hum left her, not any particularly songish sort, rather a thinky one as she watched the purple growley huff and puff and clearly not understand a word she was saying. This wasn't working, he couldn't tell her what was wrong and Cleo certainly couldn't tell him that she wasn't going to try and cause trouble. Well, no more than the poor thing was already in, she supposed.

A huff followed, mimicking the growley one as Cleo dropped to the ground just in front of the bars. She crossed her legs as was proper and tilted her head to the side a bit to watch her new... well, not quite friend yet, but she was hoping to fix that.

What was it that Master Navi had said about quieting her mind? Feeling what others feel? Was a big sort of task, bigger than a small thing like Cleo thought she was capable of but maybe, just maybe at times like this it would be good. If nothing else, she was all sort of small when sitting and that probably was a good thing. So long as the growley didn't think she was a snack!

"Oki, le's give thissa go, ye? I nah gonna say nothin'..." She paused and frowned a bit at herself before Cleo went and muttered, "Kay, 'cept wha' 'm sayin' now."

Righ' then! Just likka Mas'er Navi said! Open y'rself up to th' Force anna...

Though what came after that bit was still a little bit lost to the likes of Cleo. Still, she was going to try. Even if that wasn't quite so Jedi like what with all the Do or Do Nots. Cleo knew though that trying was just as important as doing sometimes because it was the whole thought that counted and if you meant to do something, sometimes just sometimes it worked out!

[Growley]

He watched her get lower to the ground, his jaws opening just s small bit to barely show the rows of sharp teeth within. It was strange, and nothing like the others that came to see him. Those ones simply stared at him, making low sounds to one another and not doing much else. Food was always brought, which was often devoured as messily and loudly as possible. The big one with the four arms was his usual watcher, and the Drexl was sure to never take his eyes from him.

But this new one was different. Like a strange breeze coming in from whichever direction it wanted, and making him curious. Cautious, but curious.

And so when she got shorter, he was surprised. His neck pulled the rest of his head back, angling to the side in a skewed gaze. Another blink, and the Drexl sat on his haunches. This was very different to what he was used to.

And then... a tickle.

Except it was in his mind and no matter where he scratched on his head he couldn't get it to stop.

But then it turned into something soft and sweet and nice, and his whole body went almost limp as his eyes rolled back and his tongue fell out in the wake of sudden, unexplained good-feelings.

[Cleo Némain]

She hadn't gone and closed her eyes, some of the other Paddles liked doing that sort of thing when they were reaching out with the Force because they felt like their eyes were doing too much of the thinking and not letting the rest of them see, but she'd always seen more and it was fun to watch as the colors that surrounded everyone shifted and changed and swirled and spun as they did different things. The small determined smile that always seemed to be there when it came to Cleo broadened a whole ton more when the growley went all lolly.

There now, tha's better. Cleo didn't see the sense in saying it out loud, or trying anything whackadoodle enough like projecting what she was saying into the creature's mind. She'd been taught more than enough to know that most Jedi couldn't mind read or be all telepathic speaky with each other and she was pretty sure she wasn't capable of that sort of thing anyway, but having someone else's voice pop up in your head was probably a bit scary and all out of sorts and Cleo knew she wouldn't exactly like that sort of thing so there was no way she was gonna go and scare the growley by doing that.

So no thoughts! Well, except her own which were hers to keep to herself, but she still wanted the growley to know what she was feeling, in all her nonthreatening and nonscary and a bit more concerned than she should have been if she wanted to stay out of trouble ways.

Her hand raised from her lap and slowly she reached out towards the bar with her palm up. Still a bit sad over the fact she didn't have anything to offer that way that wasn't just air and herself, really.

[Growley]

A low rumble rolled up from his belly into his chest, like a fluffy growl that wasn't really a mean sound. His eyes closed as he tried to roll in the inside-good-feeling. It felt soft and warm, and the rumble left his chest to exit from his nostrils in a contented breath.

His eyes fluttered open to see the hand outstretched, and with a slow blink he craned his neck forward to breath in deeply. The hand smelled like the good-feelings, and one front leg shifted so that he could get closer.

A test sniff, then a longer one, and in an effort to bring back the feeling, his snout pressed as far through the bars and into the waiting palm.

[Cleo Némain]

It was one of those not surely possible but there you have it sorts of moments. Cleo'd been smiling, because that was what Cleo did most of the times anyway unless she was sleeping or eating or really really thinking all hard like - okay, to be fair, she was pretty sure she smiled those times too but those were different sorts and smaller or weirder or...

Didn't matter right now!

NOW. Now she was all sorts of beaming and felt a little chirp of laugh escape despite her saying she wasn't gonna say nothing. It counted. Laughter was talking, after all, just with a different language.

Right then, small steps? She let her hand rest against the wetish feeling nosey for a tick or two and then, well, what Cleo did next was probably not wise. Brave maybe, but probably not wise. Or maybe it was wise. Either way, if it went all wrongo she was gonna have one heck of a time trying to explain it?

Padawan Cleo, what happened to your HAND?

Wellin' y' see... a purple growley thou' it wassa treats anna now it's innit's belly.

Yes, no doubt Mas'er Navi wouldn't go and appreciate that. Neither would Cleo truth be told, but welp, sometimes things happen and you lose a hand. Hopefully not today though.

The hand that wasn't touching the growley planted itself on the floor next to her and pushed so that she could go from sitting, to shifting forward and up onto her knees. The whole purpose was so that her hand, the one in all sorts of peril and danger and yet trusting it was safe, pushed forward and up along the nosey and through the bars. And here we go, here we go! Her fingers sliding up snout were all gentle like and she tried oh so hard to keep the good thoughts going and not all the worry about how she was gonna hold a light swordey with her wrong hand! Not a treat, not that kind of treat, anyhow!

[Growley]

The drexl didn't care. The smell from this little squeaking skin creature with strange scales was almost magical, and the soothing blanket over his mind only served to make him feel as though he'd become like the water he drank. Floppy and splashy and like an always-moving thing.

The hand moved upward, and his body reacted in kind.

He shifted his stance, head angling upward for a bare moment, then he sent it downward to rub the side of his snout and face on her arm. As his head went down, his neck arched up to the feel of her hand running along it, and his bulk shifted closer to the bars. His neck followed his head, and then first his shoulders, then his back... her hand tracked over all of him. Over the top of his bound wings, down along his rump, then all the way down to the tip of his tail.

And when her hand had reached the end, he twisted fluidly, turning right back around for another go at having her hand pass along his body. It felt good!

His nose found the palm of her hand in short order, and with a huff, he gave a quick nuzzle before repeating his previous actions. With all the good things it made his brain feel, maybe he'd get a scratch or two out of it this next time!

[Cleo Némain]

Oh! This was good! Very very good! Amazing splendiferous, even! It was some sort of goodness loopy thing, the more she felt the Growley feeling good the more good she felt and the more it seemed to make the purpley one feel good again!

As Cleo scrunched her fingers and scratched and pet the Growley, she felt a twinge of sadness creep in. Not a big sadness or anything like that, just the kind that came in on tiny wobbly newborn nexu cub feet and fell over before it could get any place really important. She just couldn't figure out why her new friendo was... well... in a cage. He wasn't mean, wasn't nasty, just a big squishy love bug! At least... to her. Maybe then it was okay with what her head was thinking next. Okay, so there was more trouble to get in to, more than she was maybe possibly already in with having come here so far. But trouble was trouble and once you were in it, you were in it, so it made sense to make the most of it, right?

Wasn't like they were going to throw her off the planet. Right?

Right?

No way would Mas'er Navi do that! No way, no how! She was a Jedi-ish and that meant this was where she belonged even if she unleashed a Purple Growley Thingie from it's cage. She could be responsible for that. For him! Yes. That was the best.

He's my friend.

Surely that reason would hold? It had to. Jedi didn't hurt you because you were trying to help a friend.

Cleo leaned in towards the bars, keeping the pets and rubs going but switched oh so quick to her other hand so the one she liked to use better went and reached for the lock of the cage. Time to talk, then. But maybe with feelings rather than words. Still, she whispered - more for her benefit than his.

"Oki, this ain' righ'. Y' dunna deserves t' be alla cooped up in 'ere. So... kay, is nah escape, nah exacto. Jus'... Freedom, ye? Er'ry one should have tha'."

With lock in one hand and Growley pets occupying the other, though... Cleo let out a small huff. She hadn't exactly come expecting to pick a lock, after all. And she wasn't all that good with Force stuff to try and do it with her head. Was she? Nah. That could go bad if she tried too hard. Real. Bad.

She gave the lock a small shake before looking back to the Growley.

"Any ideas?"

[Growley]

He was in the middle of another pass, soaking up as much of the scritches and scratches as he could. It felt so gooood! He never ever wanted it to end, and he wanted it to keep going and going and going. With eyes closed, his mouth worked open and closed in a silly display of lip-smacking happiness.

But then the fingers changed, and he gave a slight pause during his next turn-around. But they were still giving scratchies, and so his hesitation lasted a bare moment before he once more swooshed his body around in a fluid motion to renew his scratchy-subscription.

Her voice wedged in though, and again he paused. His body froze, his eyes opened, then blinked owlishly to the far wall before his neck craned around to meet her eyes.

Another slow blink.

Then he shifted, moving his head close to the bars, where her own head was.

She looked strange, but she gave scratchies!

Her voice was a strange sound, but not completely repulsive. In fact, it was soothing and melted over his mind like the best-smelling yellowblooms.

His nose pitched forward a small bit, and he let the tip of his tongue poke out.

[Cleo Némain]

It seemed only right and natural to echo the motion, her own tongue leaving the confines of her mouth just a wee bit before her eyes glanced down towards where she could just barely see it. Her nose crinkled and an eye closed in the brief thought before she shook her head and the expression away.

"No, Growley, tha's nah gonna work. 'M nah alla lizardy s' m' tongue ain't no good f' lockpickin'."

Cleo puffed up her cheeks and blew out the air in a noisy huff as her legs crossed back under her and she put her chin in her right hand, the left still offering the scritches so long as her friendo wanted them. This was all sorts of a conundrum. She'd made the hard choice but the hard thing had turned out to be the easy part! How was that fair? Her eyes and attention wandered over the cage as Cleo hummed to herself. It weren't nothing in particular, just a happy little song that felt right. It took another pass of her eyes, okay okay so maybe two or five, but then -

Cleo's eyes widened as she looked at where the door to the cage connected to the rest of it's parts. The hinges were there and hadn't she seen in one of them holomovie thingies that if you could lift a door up-ish then the pins that held all that stuff together would come up too and then you could open the door all the wrong ways! Oh, but that was silly. And again, it weren't like a little Cleo like herself could go and lift stuff like that. Not even with The Force, because... again... bad stuff.

She looked towards the Growley. Well, he weren't in no position either...

"Y're tail!" Ok, she squeaked it out a bit louder than she expected and her hand that wasn't giving pets clapped over her mouth and barely hid the grin she had there.

Yes! Growley's tail looked like it was small at the end to slip under the cage door and then, if it didn't hurt, could push more and more through and that would make the door go up and she could totally help then!

"We gotta work assa team, ye? Then we get'cha ou'side anna take them things offa y're wingalings anna thens... Poof! Off y' go!"

She had a plan! It sounded like a good plan! Now... to just make the plan into a first step.

"Kay, sooooo..."

Cleo pointed at the Growley's tail and opened her mouth to start explaining but then...

"Ah fierfek," She cursed, only a little one. Still, though. "Sorry. Is jus' canna tell y're part, ye? Maybe... if I... thinkie it, though?"

Was worth a try, as everything was no matter what Jedi sometimes said about do or do-not-ing. And so, Cleo closed her eyes and tried to picture what she needed the Growley to do with his tail, and the freedom and sunshine and warmth and sky and wind that would all come if they did what they needed to do.

[Growley]

He'd been so happily basking in the scratches and itch-fixing fingertips that the soft rumbly murr in his chest faded away at the sudden feeling that washed over him. He could see things that weren't there, and he started in confusion at first, only remembering at the last moment that there were bars keeping him in one confined space.

A snort, as his nostrils flared out, and he strained against the leather straps and harness holding his wings fast to his body.

In the next moment, he let out a keening wail. The hand was still there, and he pressed his snout into the palm again in the hopes to regain the scratches and comfort. There was comfort indeed, but also a notion.

His tail.

Blinking slowly, the Drexl let let his eyes fix upon the person who's hand he liked so much.

And then his tail thumped on the ground. Once. Twice. A third time, with a bit more force. In the next moment it swept around like some great slithery ground worm, and wedged itself beneath the door.

A murr sounded then, as if questioning that this was what he was supposed to do.

[Cleo Némain]

A ridiculously happy sound of no real shape left her. One of those things that happened sometimes when she got overly excited or saw a cute thing. Usually it caused eyebrow raises but no one was around to hear her save for Growley so that was okay. The noise bubbled up in her throat, threatening to repeat itself as she watched how he'd wedged his tail under the door but instead Cleo focused, made it a word and a thought all at once.

"Yes! Just li' tha'!"

Cleo had to stop, had to glance around and make sure no one was around because this next step? Oh this next step was probably gonna be noisy.

"Kay, now, y' jus' gotta lift."

Her hands raised, palms upwards towards the ceiling. She wasn't quite sure how she knew that Growley would understand this time. She felt something between them, some new understanding that was going deeper than just making faces and giving scritches. This would work! It had to!

[Growley]

She made a strange little sound, that he would've expected to hear from a skittermouse. Those were tasty little treats, and the thought of them made his tongue dart out in sudden hunger. But, now she was doing something new, and he watched curiously as her two spindly front-arms lifted up into the air. Did she want him to do that too?

A rumbly hurrrf, and he shifted his back legs before rearing up to stand, his own front legs reaching up to smack into the top of his cage.

He looked up, blinked, then angled his gaze back down to stare at her expectantly, hoping he was doing it right.

[Cleo Némain]

It weren't right, but Cleo couldn't help but have a giggle at the sight. Oh how she wanted to tell the Growley he was right and was doing just as she had asked.

"Nah nah," she managed between twittering breaths. She pointed behind her at nothingness, which didn't probably help matters. "Lift y're tail."

She watched as nothing changed and knew she had to elaborate somehow before the laughter overtook her again. With a thoughtful hum she crouched down and reached back into the cage to put her hand atop the Growley one's tail just above where he had slid it below the door of the cage.

"This." Cleo said, not just with her words but with her mind and she wasn't sure how but it felt right and she waited until her new friend made eye contact with her before continuing. "Lift with this."

She tried oh so hard to picture what would happen - or at least what she hoped would happen - in her mind and hoped beyond hope that Growley would understand. The door would lift, some pins would fall from their proper place, and then freedom. Or... at least she hoped so. This all would have been so much easier if she were bigger, but nope, her friend was the biggo here and she needed to rely on his strength and a heapload of luck.

[Growley]

His... tail...

It had to go... up... ?

There was a moment when he stood there, on his hind legs and grasping at the top bars of the cage. Blinking, he let out a huffed breath before slowly letting himself settle his bulk back downwards. But his tail, still underneath the door, gave a twitch. Shoulders hunching, he put a bit more effort into making the moving picture in his thoughts come true. The day-creature on two legs was doing this, somehow, and she was nice and made the tiniest noises. It was much better than some of the other gruff sounds he'd heard from others. Her eyes were also not mean, and she wasn't afraid of him. Maybe that was why he wanted to do the things that he was sure she was the one showing him.

The sound was small at first, a small creak, a tinny whine that grew.

And then the door began to shiver, a loud thing in an otherwise quiet place. Along its tracks the door moved, upwards until another sound... a tinkling of small parts coming out of place.

[Cleo Némain]

Cleo's eyes went all wide at the sudden loudness and even though she let out a tiny squeak of surprise when the door thunderously came all sidelong and off it's right spot, she still couldn't help but smile a whole lot.

Okay, so the problem wasn't entirely fixed and they'd probably just made enough of a fuss to actually have someone look in to it and soon they'd be caught and Cleo was no good at explaining things and... and...

She quickly darted forward and wedged herself under the now lopsided cage door, hanging in place only by the chain that had originally kept it shut. With a slight grunt Cleo pushed against it, making a clear space underneath. It was big enough for a Cleo, for many Cleos! So hopefully, just hopefully the gap would now be big enough for her new friend.

"Quick!" She whispered, which was sort of a funny thing to do considering all the loud sounds they'd just made but it seemed necessary anyhow. "I dunna think I can go anna hol' it li' this ferra vera long."

Was true, sad kinda truth, but it was one that Cleo had long comes to terms with. She weren't very strong in the body way, and when it came to lifting and moving stuff about with The Force? Well... she was one of the adepts that weren't so adept, it seemed. But that hardly mattered. Heart and spirit did and Cleo had plenty of that to go around.

[Growley]

The opening was there, and quick as lightning he darted through it, scampering and wriggling himself to freedom from the box made of hard bars.

A few steps past the two-legged thing that made the cutest little noises, he felt himself listing to one side, unable to fully control his balance. The things keeping his wings fixed to his back were making him fall, since without them, he tottered around like he'd just left the safety of the nest-bed. His tail lashed to one side, then the other, and he let out a long grunt as his bulk shifted too far to the right, and the rest of him followed.

He hit the ground roughly, letting out a frustrated growl before scrabbling forward once more, trying to get to his feet...

... only to topple over yet again, legs flailing to gain purchase.

[Cleo Némain]

She gasped and reached out towards her - well okay, now that he was out of the cage he looked all kinds of big - friendo, but it was no good. Cleo couldn't have stopped the Growley from falling over any more than she could have prevented herself from waking up that morning. Ok, so true, she could have actually done the one but her desire to do that was the exact opposite of her wanting to watch Growley go and fall!

Cleo scrambled over and quickly got down close to the big guy and tugged at the straps that had his wings all trapped.

"I dunna have nothin' t' cut 'em off with!" She was hoping he knew she meant the straps - Not his wings!

For a second she thought of trying to bite them off, but she was just a Cleo, not some toothy thing. She had teeth, of course, just not the right kind.

Putting a hand against the Growley's side she sighed.

"'M mighty sorry. 'Parrently not vera good atta this whole rescue thing."

Seeing no immediate options she crossed her legs and sat down right next to her - well - her charge!

"Think, think, think." She demanded of herself, tapping her forehead as if to try and prod the squishy goo beyond into seeing what she was missing.

"Did they use a tool t' get tha' stuff on ya inna firs' place?"

[Growley]

He could sense that she was wanting to get the bindings off, but he was as helpless as she was. And in the face of that fact, the drexl curled himself around her as she sat. She was a comforting little thing, and he liked her scent and she felt safe. Like she could protect him and make everything better. Even with his wings bound tight, he made sure to tuck himself in tightly, one forearm going around the body he now encircled, pulling it closer as if in a hug. His tail swooped about to finish the action, locking the both of them together even further into a cuddling ball of scales and soft flesh.

"Hrrmfafrrrrrfaaafmmmm."

It was a strange sound that came from his chest, and one that seemed to convey a hope for comfort.