One last little piece in the meantime:

Gryphon was in his bedroom, sitting at his desk with the Gallian doors onto the balcony open for the afternoon breezes while he wrote up some notes on the lightning rifle for its upcoming trials before the Allied Ordnance Board. Apart from the one-off Mogami system he and Shizuka had developed for the Imperial Fusōnese Navy, it was the first time one of his experimental weapons had made it as far as an official adoption trial, and the very first to be considered for series production, so he wanted to make certain that everything was documented as thoroughly as possible.

A flicker of motion caught his eye; he looked up to see Marisa's yellow cat, whom he had last seen loitering around the living room, entering from the hallway. He'd been asleep that morning after breakfast, and Marisa had let him lie rather than wake him and take him up to the shrine with her.

"Hello, Mr. Murgatroyd," said Gryphon with mild surprise. "What brings you by?"

The cat didn't reply, naturally enough. He looked preoccupied, as if on some kind of mission, as he crossed the room, went out the Gallian door, and jumped up onto the balcony table. Intrigued, and slightly concerned lest he try to get anywhere from out there—it was a long drop from the balcony to the ground far below the castle's hilltop perch—Gryphon put his notes aside and went out to join him.

"What's up?" he asked, sitting down at the table. The cat ignored him, gazing intently upward, his head cocked as if hearing something out of the range of Gryphon's ears—and a moment later, Mr. Murgatroyd began to glow, emitting the distinctive shimmery sound of released magic.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.