ORIGIN

There was an audible squelch! as Eythan maneuvered to his back, air getting forced under him and popping. Damn, he had mud in his eyes. It didn't take the ability to see to know that death was looming in the form of big, giant bear jaws preparing to literally go around his entire face.

Completely on impulse, the gryphon balled up his talons and drew them close to his chest. Pulling his head to the side, trying to get more distance from the jaws of death and panic, Eythan quite literally threw a punch at Sergei's gullet. The punch was nowhere close to perfect form, but it would hopefully work.

Punches seemed to do him well in dissuading big bear jaws, and Eythan began to squirm about again. He used every inch of wiggle room he was able to get, pushing on Sergei's stomach with his hind paws and trying to work his lower half out from underneath. The gryphon clicked his beak, ears back as the bear even suggested giving up, "I will not!" Like a defiant child, he pouted and continued to wiggle around.

A little more weight was added every moment, it seemed, and he sighed in defeat. "Okay, fine." They could reset anyways, and then Eythan would get revenge for this shit. He twisted his neck, craning it so that his left ear was perfectly visible and ripe for the nipping.

Eythan peered at Sergei, narrowed eyes nearly caked in mud. He blinked a few times, then very pointedly stared down at himself. "I really do," the gryphon chirped in confirmation, before shaking out most of his flank. Globs of mud flew off, but the majority of it just stubbornly clung to his fur. Ugh, he'd have to preen for ages to get all of this shit off, wouldn't he?

"We're two for two right now, though. One more ear-grab and it's all over, bucko," he cackled as he lowered his head, ears pinning back against slick fur. It was all stringy and stained at this point, similarly to Sergei's own. Eythan's tail flicked, feathers fanning out and back together as he spread his muddy wings. For lack of better things to do, the gryphon rushed forward and rose up onto his hind legs in order to... beat at Sergei's face with his primaries.

The ultimate offensive.

Oh, hell fucking yes, Sergei was allergic to feathe--- "oh shit!" A wing was caught in big bear teeth, and Eythan stopped flapping about at once. Moving would be a pretty bad idea given the possibility of breaking or ruining his wing. He had just come out of a chrysalis, and wasn't about to go into another one over a broken wing.

That was traumatic enough.

So, immediately, he went limp and allowed himself to get slammed to the ground. Momentarily winded, Eythan's bright eyes glanced about. Naturally, he had rolled slightly to his back, left wing outstretched. Here goes nothing, he supposed. His lower half writhed, a little closer to the bear's own left side. Then, off went a (hopefully) controlled kick (with his hind legs, of course) to the throat --- with just enough force to maybe disturb Sergei and get enough time to actually get to his feet.

The hybrid's legs had completely missed Sergei, entirely, but seemed to derive some stunned reaction that was read as an opening. Eythan twisted, much like a slinky, onto his stomach and pushed up. The big bear stared down at him, paw raised for a quick sack. Oh, heck, no.

However muddy his wings were, they could provide some semblance of lift. Eythan hunkered down low, bowing and wiggling his rear. Feeling the paw whiz over his shoulders, the hybrid lurched up and forward again, beak open to get that very last ear-tug from atop Sergei's raised head.

His lungs were quite literally burning from his constant writhing and wiggling, and it took everything in his power not to just sit down and wheeze-pant.