James woke to the wonderful smell of bacon. He smiled as he inhaled, stretching his body, shifting with a happy grunt. His bare, muscular back gleamed with gorgeous silver tattoos that raced over his biceps and down his chest, covering much of his torso. He mentally ran things over in his mind. He was in New York. Work started tomorrow. Shardas was making breakfast. Shardas was thinking of... dragon stuff. He felt good. Everything was unpacked except the clothes. The box of which held an owl cat griffin. Owl cat griffin that he had allowed Shardas to keep. He frowned slightly at that and slowly pushed himself up on the bed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and running a hand through his thick brown hair. "Today I'm going to explore the city," he mumbled to himself as he pulled on his jeans and slid in his belt which boasted a large belt buckle with a ram's head on front. He smiled as he thought of it, remembering the rodeo he had won that from. He then buttoned up a plaid long sleeve as he walked downstairs in his holey socks.

Shardas was flipping pancakes as he burst into song, his deep bass voice thrumming through the walls as if he were on a loudspeaker. "Carry on my wayward son... there'll be peace when we are done.. lay your weary head to rest.."

"Don't you cry no more!" James sang along on the last part, smiling a little. Although James wasn't a morning person, he tried to be occasionally. Or when he knew he had landed a great job in New York City.

Shardas looked up and smiled at him. "Good morning James, it's not often when you're already singing along in the morning."

"You're a good dragon," James said, giving him a rare compliment as he nabbed a piece of bacon and nibbled on it.

Shardas smiled at him and flicked his tail. Shardas didn't have a belt on so he could put his jeans a bit low and let his tail out. Shardas' tail was about six feet long and always getting caught on something when he walked around with it in human form. It ended in beautiful green fins he used like a rudder when flying which could fold or expand. Right now as they slid across the ground a blue furball of fluff and feathers was pouncing on it, trying to pin it down. "Isn't he cute?" he asked.

"First of all, how do you know it's a he? And second, no, no it's not cute," James said flatly.

"I can sense he's a he," Shardas pointed to his tongue.

"Your tongue can do a lot of things," James grunted.

"Sure can," Shardas said before sliding his plate over the counter to him. Then he sat on the island and flicked his tail back and forth for the little griffin to try and catch. The dragon was very amused as the tiny creature clawed and kicked at the hard scales.

James sighed and walked over to the microwave to grab his coffee. Soon as he pulled it out, the griffin flew over to him, hovering by his head and looking at the coffee with interest in his big blue eyes. "No, my coffee," James said, clutching it to his chest like it was his only child.

Shardas laughed. "You want coffee?" He asked the griffin, who bobbed his fluffy head in a bird-like twitch. "I'll get you coffee," he said, getting out his old fashioned coffee grinder and starting to work it.

"Don't waste coffee on him!" James looked alarmed. "It's my coffee!"

"I'll buy you more today," Shardas promised, back to him. The griffin settled onto his shoulder and James could swear he winked at him. James' eyes narrowed.

When Shardas was finished he offered it to the griffin who slowly dipped his beak in before jerking back when he realized how hot it was. He sneezed cutely, blinking slow. "Too hot for you, little one?" Shardas frowned and pet his fluffy feathery throat.

The little creature hooted.

Shardas blew on the coffee which was pretty stupid because his breath was a lot hotter than the coffee.

"Here." James sighed and put an ice cube in it.

Shardas pinched his brows as the griffin leaned over his shoulder, tiny talons digging into his shirt as he hooted softly, trying to dip his beak into the coffee again. Shardas chuckled and raised the coffee mug, allowing him to drink.

The big baby blue eyes got huge as he tasted the coffee and soon he was slurping it down, coffee stains on the feathers rimming his face. He licked his beak with a long pink tongue and hooted softly.

"Haha.. a griffin that likes coffee. Who would have known!" Shardas laughed as he sat down to eat his own food, occasionally offering some to the little guy, who was starting to become energetic. Shardas laughed as he jumped to catch the food, and jumped back and forth on his broad shoulders. Suddenly he paused, tilted his head back, and opened his beak.

"SCREE-eee-EE-e-EEE!" A horrible screeching sound reminded Shardas of a chainsaw against metal, but somehow to the tune of one of Lady Gaga's songs. Shardas clamped his hands over his sensitive ears. "Aaagh!"

James closed his eyes and ears so tightly he thought his head would explode. The owl's singing only got louder. "EE-ee-Ee-ee-EEEk!" he bobbed his head as his voice changed, eyes closed as he sang his heart out.

"Make it stop!" James yelled, blindly reaching for the griffin before the owl griffin took off from Shardas' shoulder and started swooping around the room singing. Splash! There went the rest of James' coffee, along with his favorite mug. BAM! The enormous picture of the beach in Cozumel, Mexico tilted before the griffin jumped off it to gain momentum and sent it bashing to the ground. Then the screeching blue blur raced for Shardas' prize- the five foot tall stork he had carved out of wood which was balancing precariously by the couch. Shardas's eyes got huge as he saw the wings brush it before it teetered... and came to rest on two feet once more. "Whew," he breathed before James was hit full on the chest by a caffeinated griffin.

"Oof!" James gripped the surprisingly soft creature by its middle and suddenly it stopped singing. He pulled it up so he could look at it. "No more coffee for you, little guy," he mumbled before pushing him to Shardas. "I'm heading out for a walk. I probably won't be back until afternoon. Keep out of trouble- both of you," he pointed to both of them before he nabbed his leather jacket and slid it on.

Shardas waved to him as he kissed the griffin's blue head. "We will!" He called.

James sighed and took one last glance before walking outside and inhaling the not-so-fresh air of New York. He tapped his pistol at his side- probably illegal to have here but he didn't care. Shardas always bailed him out of jail with those eyes of his anyway. James looked both ways before deciding to start walking left, where most of the people were heading to. He felt so small by these buildings. He remembered what New York had looked like two hundred years ago. Full of riff raff, Irish drunkards, and the place smelled like a sewer. James never stopped being amazed at how the world around him had changed, grown, developed. Of course, being about two and a half centuries old, he had seen a lot more than most people. He remembered when America became an independent nation, then hardly knowing what to do with their independence, then being split in two by the civil war. America has had it's share of crap and falls, but it had turned out well enough.

While he was lost in his thoughts, he had wandered in time square and suddenly he blinked out of it at a taxi honk. His eyes got huge as he looked around at the huge billboards, some blaring advertisements about shows and movies, all flashing in an array of vibrant pixels. Muffled talking and footsteps created the innate feeling of bustling business that James hadn't felt so strongly anywhere else but in Tokyo. He inhaled slowly, closing his eyes. Here he was, a country bumpkin in the big city. Starting over again.

While James was in his nostalgic world, a New Yorker in a hurry just about bowled him over. "Hey! Watch where you're going!" he barked brushing off his leather jacket with a grumpy frown pinching his brows.

'That's what you get for staring at a My Little Pony Sign for five minutes,' Shardas snorted in his mind in amusement.

'I was?' James realized, looking over to the friendly, startling pink sign of the stubby ponies.

'Yes you were, country bumpkin,' Shardas teased him and James knew that he had been spying on him the whole time. 'Stop pretending this is the first time we've been here.'

'Last time we were here the Statue of Liberty was a copper color instead of green,' James reminded him as he started to walk like he had a destination, heading for the Starbucks.

'I'll wake you up next time you start staring at children's posters. I'm making some steak for tonight. See you then,' Shardas said before retreating out of his mind.

James rolled his eyes as he walked inside the Starbucks and digging in his pocket for his wallet. After buying his coffee, he continued to walk around, venturing in some of the shops before smiling up and his new office building. It looked so impressive, with its waxed windows and enormous height. He had to crane his head almost completely to his back to be able to see the top's hazy outline, a few pigeons circling like vultures trying to find the smallest cranny to perch and poop on. James shoved his hands in his pockets, his breath releasing in small puffs of hot vapor.

His dragon reminded him that steak was ready and he should head home and James readily agreed, turning on his heels to head back to the apartment.

When he opened the door and stepped inside, his boot tangled in green yarn. "What the-?" he mumbled, shaking his boot before stepping forwards, trying to peer inside to see where all this yarn was coming from. When he slowly set his other boot on top of the small pile of tangled mess, he felt pressure on the back of his feet. "What?" he said in alarm, eyebrows bouncing as he stumbled forewards before the yarn behind his feet was tugged, sending him bonking unceremoniously to the ground on his butt. "Shardas!" he yelled as he rolled over to find his boots were tangled in the yarn.

Shardas scurried out of the kitchen. "Oh James I'm sorry I didn't know the little guy would just leave it lying there." He said, crouching to help the yarn off him.

James narrowed his eyes when he saw a little blue blur scurrying off to the other room, fluffy tail high. "He tripped me!" he accused. "The little bugger."

"He didn't leave it there purposefully to trip you," Shardas looked up at him.

"Yes he did! And he pulled on it so I would fall," James pushed Shardas away from him with his boot before getting to his feet. "Now where's that delicious steak I'm smelling." He grinned as he inhaled.

"Right here," Shardas grinned as he turned around and led the way to the kitchen where a juicy red steak lay seductively on a smooth white plate. Shardas had put sauce in a zig-zag streak across the braised surface, as well as a small leaf to pull it all together. "I made it in honoration of our moving in." the dragon hummed and closed his eyes in the same dumb smile he had been making for a few hundred years.

"It's perfect, Shard," James said as he cut a slice.

Soon as he did so, big blue eyes slowly started to appear over the edge of the kitchen island, peering at the steak with such intensity that James was surprised those big eyeballs didn't pop out. Fluffy cat-like ears perked forwards, his head slowly raising until that tiny curved beak could be seen. "Chirp?" he asked quizzically.

James guessed what he was doing. "Nope. None for you." He smirked as he took a delicate bite of the delicious steak and groaned as the flavor assaulted his taste buds.

Shardas luckily didn't look up, too busy stuffing his face, using his bare hands like a wild animal. He would stop every once in a while to lick a taloned finger with a long, forked tongue.

A fluffy blue paw reached over the counter towards the plate, before tentatively patting the side of the plate.

James pulled the plate closer to himself, looking at the paw suspiciously.

The paw crept closer.

James pulled it away farther, shoving another chunk into his mouth and chewing fast, feeling rather threatened by those baby blue eyes staring at his meal. "Mine," he whispered.

"M-mine," the owl whispered back, going on his hind legs to press a paw on James' steak defiantly.

"Wh-what?" James's eyes widened and he was in shock for enough time for the small creature to slap off a chunk of the steak onto the floor and jump down after it swiftly.

"Shardas did you hear that?" James elbowed the hungry dragon.

Shardas looked up slowly, sauce caking his beard. He opened his mouth to unleash a burp that sounded remarkably like "WHAAT," as a burst of flame accompanied it in a streak of vibrant blue.

James blinked. "Nevermind," he said before looking back at the griffin to find it had finished the chunk and was already licking his tiny paws.

"Hmmm," James narrowed his eyes at the griffin. "What other tricks do you have up your sleeve, little guy?" he mused as he slowly slid out of his chair, arms extended to get ready and make a grab for it.

The griffin looked up, blinking slowly, before he winked just as Shardas swooped him up in his arms. "Let's watch some boxing." He said to James as he carried his pet to the couch, petting his feathers and fur. James frowned as he followed, staring at the griffin's tail as it flicked back and forth quickly.

A few minutes later, James was still staring at the griffin as it slept on his dragon's chest, all curled up in a ball, the light of the TV illuminating the fur in all shades of blue, the dragon's big hand mid-pet on his side. He hooted softly in sleep, looking as peaceful as a little lamb.

But James knew better.. and he knew better than to sleep with a creature like this that could... probably rip open the dragon's chest.... Trickster... what time wazzit?... and before he knew it, James was also passed out cold, head resting on the dragon's shoulder.