Okay, since I've been on my PC recently to download Wolfquest 2, I thought I might as well work on Flash. I finished chapter 2 and started chapter 3. I can't remember what I posted, so I'll just start at the beginning of chapter 2:
Chapter 2
MASK
“Mask!”
Berry yelled loudly as soon as we got clear of the trees.
I froze, looking around. I thought most gryphons lived in trees or mountains, but apparently I was wrong.
Because these lived in caves.
I stared at the elaborate system of openings honeycombed across the rock face. It was the small mountain Starless, Cloud and I had always fantasized about, making up tales about elves and gnomes that lived in it. Who knew that real creatures made their home inside the rock?
“Berry, you realize there’s a stranger standing right behind you?” A calm voice came from the topmost cave and a small, dark-colored chick stepped out of the shadows and sat on his haunches, gazing down at us. A white patch blazed across his eyes, giving him the appearance of wearing a Mask.
“I know. Sun met him in the woods. Flash, this is Mask!” Berry turned to me eagerly, gesturing with a wing towards the chick.
The chick bobbed his head in my direction and opened his wings, gliding down to a stop just a little farther than a normal gryphon was. At first, I was offended, but then I looked closely at his eyes, which seemed paler than average. And as he placed one talon forward to feel the ground before stepping towards me, I realized why.
Mask was blind.
“Nice to meet you, Flash,” he said pleasantly, dipping his head. “I’m Mask, as Berry pointed out.”
I blinked to recover. “Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you too,” I said, my voice sounding a little off as I tried to think out how he knew exactly where I was.
“You’ve notice my eyes, haven’t you?” Mask sounded rueful, and immediately I felt bad.
“Err, well, it’s just… I’ve never…”
“You’ve never met a blind gryphon before,” he finished for me.
I flushed, embarrassed. “Well… yeah.”
He shrugged. “No worries. Not many have, besides my family. But I can function perfectly. My hearing and smell, and even touch, is much better than the average gryphon. I can even tell you’re smaller than normal. You’re footsteps are much lighter than Berry’s, Owl’s, or mine.”
“You could tell from all the way up there?” I asked in disbelief.
He chuckled. “I couldn’t feel you, but I could smell you.”
“But I haven’t taken a step since I saw you!”
“Yeah you have. When you first noticed my eyes, you took an involuntary step back. I could feel that.”
I blinked in surprise, then lifted a foot and stared at it. “Am I really that much lighter than usual?” I knew I was small (how else could I have gotten the nickname squirt?) but to have it be obvious to even a blind chick was pretty hurtful.
“Yeah, but that’s not a problem. You may have some difficulty going against the wind, but you’ll be a fast flyer.”
I smiled ruefully. “If I ever learn.”
Mask looked surprised. “You mean you’ve never been taught to fly? Even if you’re small, so long as your wings are proportionate, you can still fly. Are your wings disproportionate?”
I didn’t even know what disproportionate meant. “Um… no? Wolf said my wings were good.”
“Wolf’s an idiot. You should get Eagle or Breeze to look at it. Or, better yet, Jay. She’ll give you a fair evaluation.”
“Eval… Mask, why do you use so many big words?”
He chuckled. “Jay and Sun didn’t want me to fly at first. I spent a lot of time with Moon and Breeze. They talk with big words, too. I guess I just picked it up.”
I laughed, and then tilted my head. “Who’re Moon and Sun? Or Jay, or Eagle? How many of you are there? Do you all live in caves?”
He stood up. “My paw’s falling asleep. Come to my cave and I’ll tell you. You can meet Owl, too.” He shook out his wings and leaped off, beating his way to his cave. I don’t know how he knew exactly where it was; maybe he was psychic or something. But he landed and turned to wait.
I took a deep breath and spread my own wings. They were sore and tired from being used so much after months of neglect, and it was all I could do to flap my way up and land heavily in front.
Without waiting, Mask abruptly turned and walked inside. I followed, and then stopped to look around.
I’m not sure what I was expecting. Rough edges and sharp corners all around, I guess. And there were plenty of edges and corners, but they all looked purposeful. They were there for a reason; here was a large one, made just the right shape for a sleeping young gryphon. Over there was a slightly indented area, which could hold things. And everywhere you looked, things were smooth. The roof and walls seemed to have been rubbed with a rock or something to smooth it out and make it round.
“Wow,” I whispered, barely audible. But apparently Mask had super-gryphon hearing, because he smiled slightly. Well, either that or I’d spoken louder than I meant to.
“You like it? This is where I live. Owl lives here, too, but I think she’s asleep. She’ll wake up once we start talking.” He settled himself on the floor of the cave with his hind paws underneath him and his talons stretching out in front. “So. You wanted to know about us? Well, to start, there are eleven of us. The oldest is Eagle. He actually founded our flock, and made the caves able to be used to live in. He was much younger, then, of course. His daughter is Jay, my mom. Sun was her mate, and my dad. They’re also the parents of Owl and Berry. Jay and Sun have four older chicks, Wolf, Freeze, Moon, and Breeze. Wolf and Freeze are the oldest, and they’re out with Jay and Sun a lot, patrolling and hunting and stuff. Moon and Breeze are twins; Moon is the oldest. He thinks it makes him all special. Breeze isn’t as vain; she more often than not is the one to shove Moon off his pedestal.” Mask smiled at some private memory. “And then there’s Owl, Berry, and me. We’re the youngest.”
“So what do the others look like?” I asked, shifting my sitting position to one on the floor. I was surprised at how it was almost soft. “What are they like?”
Mask laughed again. “Right. Ask the blind chick what the others look like.”
I blushed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
He smiled. Mask smiled a lot. “No worries. It happens. I suppose I should take it as a compliment that I’m so extraordinarily normal that you forget I’m blind.”
“You’re doing it again,” I accused.
He blinked. “Doing what again?”
“Using big words.”
He laughed. “Sorry. So, anyway, what do they look like? See for yourself. But I can tell you what they’re like on the inside. Like I said, Moon is vain. But he’s actually pretty nice. He taught Berry to fly, and that took a while. Berry’s easily distracted and is, well, a bit of an idiot. Moon has patience to get through teaching her something big like that. But anyway, Breeze acts all sweet, but she’s really stubborn and smart. It’s really hard to trick Breeze. Freeze is a huge jokester. Once he even tried to prank Jay, which got him at least a month of sentry duty. He doesn’t like making decisions, but if someone makes it for him he’ll get really mad. He’s the one most likely to do something with us chicks, though, so we don’t mind. Wolf is like, the ultimate big sister. She’s uber-protective, loyal, and gets seriously ticked off if anyone tries to do something to her family. It’s kind of annoying sometimes, but it’s also nice. Berry absolutely adores her, but Owl’s more likely to get her feathers ruffled by anyone hinting she can’t take on an army and beat them all with a single claw, her wings clipped, and without a scratch on her.” Mask laughed again, apparently at a memory. Maybe it involved an army. For all I knew, it could.
“So what’s Berry like?” I asked. I had a bit of previous experience, but I wasn’t sure if that was an act or something.
Mask grinned. “Berry? Well…. She’s a ditz, a klutz, and easily distracted. She has a bad sense of direction, no sense of time, and is afraid of flies. Everyone loves her.”
“What’s a ditz?” I asked, not having heard anything after the first words. I was like that; I’d get hung up on something I didn’t understand and not hear anything else while I thought about it.
“Basically, she’s an idiot,” Mask said.
“Oh. Do you love her?” I asked. Mask sounded almost rueful when he spoke about her. I wondered if he was jealous.
“Of course I do. But the ironic thing is, she’s completely oblivious”—he glanced at me as I opened my mouth—“meaning she doesn’t notice. She thinks everyone loves me more, because I’m blind. Which is a lie, by the way. I only get special treatment from Jay and Wolf, the mothers. To everyone else, I’m just another chick.”
“Are you jealous?” I asked, sitting up a little. There was never drama at my nest; Cloud was too sweet to dislike anyone, and Starless didn’t care what anyone else said about him, giving no basis for me to say anything. But here… Well, who knew? With so many different gryphons, age groups, and personalities, maybe drama was a regular thing.
“No way!” Mask exclaimed. “I’m not jealous of Berry.”
I smirked. “Liar.”
“Am not.”
“Are too. You are so jealous!” I fluttered back a few steps as Mask swiped at me playfully.
“Shut up, Flash,” he muttered.
“Sure, Mask,” I said, still grinning. “I won’t tell anyone you’re jealous.”
If he wasn’t blind, I’m sure he would’ve been staring a hole right through me.
Chapter 3
OWL
“Mask, are you done with the newbie yet?” An annoyed, female voice pierced Mask’s cave.
“Yes, Owl, I am,” Mask said, clearly still annoyed at me.
I turned around, still feeling a little smug but trying to hide it. In the entrance stood a female gryphon chick, about our size, maybe a little bigger. She was brown, which I guessed was a sensible color to have when you live in the woods. Her pose was striking, with her head high, her wings folded lightly against her sides, and her eyes flashing.
“Uh, hi. I guess you’re Owl. I’m Flash,” I said, feeling a little awkward.
Owl nodded. “Yeah, that’s me. Nice to meet you, Flash. Sun wants to introduce you to the others.”
“Sure, I guess,” I said. “So… where is he?”
“Outside. Come on, I’ll show you. Mask, you can come if you like,” she said, looking over my shoulder.
I heard Mask snort from behind me. “No thanks. In fact, I feel pretty tired.” Making an obviously fake yawn, I heard him pointedly curl up.
Owl stifled a laugh. “Come on, Flash. Let’s go.”
When we were outside, she turned to me, laughing. “What’d you do to ruffle Mask’s feathers that badly?” she asked.
“I told him he was jealous of Berry,” I said, feeling almost proud now.
“You didn’t! I can’t believe he let you get away with that!” Owl looked distinctly impressed.
I lifted me head, definitely proud now. “I don’t think he wanted to. He probably would’ve bitten my head off if you hadn’t shown up,” I admitted.
“You’re welcome, then,” Owl said, barely suppressing laughter. “Now come on, everyone’s waiting.” She spread her wings and glided down to the main clearing. I followed, though my wings complained loudly.
“Ah, there you are, Flash!” Sun said as I landed.
I nodded. “Yes, sir,” I said. I dunno why, but Sun made me feel kind of sheepish and inferior.
“No need to call me sir, kid. I’m just Sun.” He gave me a fatherly smile, then turned to the assembled gryphons.
I tried to pick out who was who by what Mask had told me. In the back must be Eagle; he was obviously the oldest. The female beside him must be Jay, because she looked about the same age as Sun. Wolf sat beside her, watching Berry more than Sun. I smiled, recognizing her from earlier. A white male was stretched out comfortingly beside Wolf, a permanent playful smile on his face. I guessed that was Freeze. Two silver gryphons sat in front. I picked out Moon and Breeze more from their genders than anything else.
After this, Sun just goes on to make a speech and stuff.
Posted Feb 06, 2010, 04:16:18 PM
"Is this the result of mass comunication? Worldwide brain death?"
-- Thornbeak
"Yeah, cause that's not loopy at all."
-- Danny
Eight words the Rede fulfil
“And it harm none, do what ye will”.
I believe in dragons, good men, and other fantasy creatures.
If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?
Misspellers of the world, unit!
