Kreeth swoops in from above.
Kreeth has arrived.
Kreeth spirals in to a gentle landing with his wingmates.
Dove looks up from Aubri's side as Kreeth lands nearby.
Aubri bobs his head once, "Good evening."
Kreeth pads over towards Aubri, smiling. "Good evening, Aubri, Dove. How do you fare?"
Dove nods, smiling, "Better, thank you. And you, Kreeth? Everything okay?"
Aubri shrugs his wings. "I'm all right, I suppose, as far as I can be while still disabled.
Kreeth grins at the grumpy Aubri and the cheerful Dove. "Could have been worse, Aubri. Cheer up, it won't be much longer now."
Dove nuzzles Aubri, "He's doing just fine. He's just whining because he's not leading his own patrols..." She smiles and chuckles at him.
Aubri bites Dove and laughs. "Mainly, it's because I can't fly at ALL."
Kreeth says, "I know how you feel. Not fun, is it."
Dove nuzzles Aubri again, nipping at his chest feathers. "Oh? And how do you think I feel? I can fly just fine, but I've just not got the strength for it still..."
Bloodstorm is still asleep..
Bloodstorm finally wakes, heading down to the river for a drink..
Bloodstorm returns from the river, beak dripping.
Bloodstorm blinks a few times, heading over to Dove and whoever's with her. "Hello everyone."
Kreeth nods to Bloodstorm, smiling. "Evening."
Dove nods to Bloodstorm as he joins the small group.
Bloodstorm sits down on his haunches and preens a bit. The would on his hind leg is almost healed.
Bloodstorm says, "Why are we all sitting around?"
Dove shrugs her wings, "No big reason. Just socializing and talking until we are well enough to help out again. Why do you ask, Bloodstorm?"
Bloodstorm mumbles something about being bored.
Dove smiles and chuckles at Blood, "Sorry to disapoint you dear, but until we're strong enough to fly, there's not much we can do just yet..." She nuzzles Aubri, smiling.
Kreeth chuckles. "Try ten days of sentry duty, Bloodstorm. That's what boredom *really* means."
Bloodstorm stretches his wings. "I can fly just fine."
Kreeth says, "Where were you thinking of flying to?"
Dove gets a topic in mind and asks, "Where any of you all around when the Shkrill came to visit? I was otherwise occupied when they came, so I didn't get to see what they wanted..." She doesn't sound very happy about missing them for some odd reason...
Aubri chuckles and scratches Dove lightly. "You could volunteer for more hunting parties," he suggests. "They're out almost constantly."
Bloodstorm says, "Shkrill? I've never met any to my knowledge. And nowhere, Kreeth.."
Dove snorts derisively, "Be glad, Blood."
Bloodstorm tilts his head. "Why?"
Dove snorts again, "Worthless excuses for gryphons is what they are. They are everything bad about our race with little good. Only thing going for them is how well they fight. But they are barbarious, bloodthirsty, vicious monsters." Dove doesn't care for the Shkrill, does she?
Bloodstorm nods slowly.. "Myraneth once said that I hunted almost like a Shkrill.."
Kreeth shrugs. "I've met two, and they were both reasonable. One of them was an old friend, admittedly. And I was on sentry-duty on the far edge of the camp, so I'm afraid I've no idea." Everybody's Friend is at it again.
Aubri scratches his neck meditatively. "They're not ALL bad, Dove, but they are rather extreme. I think Eli is reasonable, though.. and then they pull a stunt like taking over some of our hunting territory."
Dove shakes her head, "I've met enough...and been hurt by all of them." She chuckles humorlessly, "I even got some revenge on them in my own way..." She sobers up though, almost smiling for real, "But I do have one thing to thank them for. For without what they did to me, I might not have remembered what I am and learned more about myself..."
Bloodstorm beaknoses Dove gently, silently asking.
Bloodstorm looks down slightly. "What..did they do to you, Dove?"
Dove looks at Bloodstorm sharply, not realizing he would outright ask her, but nods, willing to tell the story. She sits up, looking around to see who else wishes to hear it. That way she doesn't have to repeat it more than needed...
Kreeth rolls his eyes heavenward, sighing. Bloodstorm seems to be determined to get himself killed - Kreeth shifts away from the other gryphon while remaining in the group, a 'he's nothing to do with me, I never met him' pose.
Dove sees Kreeth's movements and nods to him, smiling, "It's okay. You can listen if you wish."
Kreeth grins. "I was going to listen anyway, Dove. I just didn't want to get caught in all the shouting I thought you might do."
Dove chuckles and shakes her head, "No, I've gotten over that Kreeth. I'll tell the story. Let me think a moment so I can gather my thoughts..."
Dove sighs, taking a deep breath and begins in a storyteller's voice. "A few years back, I didn't know I was what I am. I only knew I was an orphaned gryphon who had amnesia. Stormdancer found me wandering and took me in. This I'm sure you all know by now. I was part of the aerie, a part of the family. One day, I was out hunting by myself as I usually do. I had just finished off a kill and had settled down in a small clearing in some woods, I forget exactly where now...As I was cleaning myself, a shadow passed over me. Before I knew what had happened, a very large male Shkrill was....assaulting me. He hurt me and broke me. I would have slowly died there if Stormdancer had not found me when I did not return from hunting." She shudders at the memories but continues.
Bloodstorm tenses and claws at the ground, tail lashing. He remains silent though.
Aubri nods to himself, chewing on a claw as he listens to the story he knows all too well.
Kreeth's look is both sympathetic and angry. He knows what Dove's talking about - and he still knows that it nearly happened to him, over a decade ago, in his old life.
Dove falters slightly as memories flow through her, but she continues with her story. "I had a broken leg and a broken keel. My wing muscles were pulled. But what was worse was this Shkrill had marked me as property to the Shkrill." Her eyes flash at that particular memory. "He had clawed three deep gouges in my flank in the symbol of their chevron symbol." She sighs, looking over her shoulder at her flank. No mark can be seen there though. "It took a while and some creative magics, but it healed. Only a faint scar under the fur is left. As I healed, I was hurt emotionally. Then I was angry. I became more angry as the days passed and I was unable to do a thing. I was angry at the Shkrill for what he had done to me. Angry at myself for not being able to defend myself and stop it. Angry at many things. It was that anger at that one Shkrill that lead to an anger at all Shkrill. That anger grew until finally it triggered an ancient memory in me. It turned the weapon side of me on for the first time."
Bloodstorm nods slowly.. "A memory of what exactly..?"
Kreeth is well aware of what the Shkrill males feel is entertainment, and privately thinks that there are a few who should be killed out of hand, on sight. "Go on..."
Dove sighs, hanging her head as though ashamed of what she says, "Of how to turn that side of me on. That I was powerful enough to get revenge." She looks up, saddened. "I became that weapon. And before anyone knew what was happening to me, I took off. They had just taken the heavy bandages off me so I could fly, if barely. But pain does not stop the weapon in me. No self-conciousness that I know of exists in the weapon. Just a mindless automaton taking orders, whether given by me before I trigger the change, or by others. My anger ordered the death of all Shkrill. So I headed to where I last knew of them living, their enclave between the eastern road from the pyramid and the Valley of the Damned." She looks off towards Grylra aerie. You've all seen my gateposts. I dived, creating many stone spires that big all at once. I even brought forth the underground river, causing waterspouts. This all happened in front of the enclave. The entire place was flooded and unlivable. But the Shkrill had already moved into Fort Crag."
Bloodstorm pauses, a bit shocked. "I guess it's a good thing that you DIDN'T find them.."
Kreeth says, "In some opinions, maybe, Bloodstorm. Not all."
Dove nods slowly and silently. She finally continues. "Because I had no idea what I was doing, or how to control it, I had spent all my energy in that one dive. I was out cold. If not for Aubri and Stormdancer, the Shkrill who saw would have probably killed me...or kept me for a shiny trophy."
Dove sighs, "But each time I become that weapon, I am able to control it myself just a little more. That I hid in the middle of battle proves that."
Bloodstorm says, "But you're never really 'aware', are you?"
Dove shakes her head, "No. I only know what happens by others who tell me. Stormdancer was lucky and figured out how to turn me back. It was then that I remembered everything. Who I was...what I was...what I was designed and meant for."
Bloodstorm nods slowly and nibbles at Dove's chestfeathers. "Odd how memories surface like that."
Dove sighs and nods slowly, licking at Blood's crestfeathers as he nibbles at her chestfeathers.
Bloodstorm says, "You sure you remembered everything?"
Dove nods, "All I saw and knew, yes. But remember, I did not see everything. I was not told everything. I only can say what I saw and heard myself, for what little time I was aware of myself."
Kreeth winces. Diplomacy is obviously not Bloodstorm's strong point.
Bloodstorm is rather blunt, yes.
Dove is used to a New One's questioning...so Blood's bluntness is nothing new to her...
Bloodstorm says, "Still, that was a terrible way to..find out those things. If I ever met up with that Shkrill I'd rip him apart."
Dove shakes her head and grimly says, "No, Bloodstorm. That one is mine. And it is why I will not tell you who it was, either." She nods, stalling what he's about to ask. "Yes, I know his name and that he still lives. But you will do nothing. It is my fight. One that I will fight when I am ready and it will be on my terms."
Bloodstorm opens his beak for a moment before sighing in resignation. "I'd probably just get myself killed."
Dove nods, licking Blood's feathers, "Yes you would. He is a strong and powerful fighter among the Shkrill. It is why he still lives."
Bloodstorm pouts a bit. "It wasn't nice what he did..are they all like that?"
Dove sighs, shaking her head, "That, I do not know. I do know that they will take advantage of any situation where they will profit directly from it. But their leader, Elizarraz. I have seen personally that she just *may* be different. But I do not know for sure, Bloodstorm. All I have seen from the Shkrill is violence."
Bloodstorm 's tailtip flicks a few times. "I'm also violent though."
Dove looks at Bloodstorm and says casually, "As am I. As is Kreeth here. We are all violent. But we also restrain ourselves when it's appropriate. The Shkrill, for the most part, do not. They destroy and attack without remorse."
Bloodstorm sighs and flops over on his side. He isn't sure what to say.
Dove looks down at Bloodstorm and asks softly, "You have heard my story, what do you think of me now?"
Kreeth sits down, remembering his lesson in the fighting techniques of the Shkrill. "They are cunning and swift, Bloodstorm. A Windhaven or Grylran does not stand much of a chance against a Skrill in a one-on-one fight without weapons. Battle is what they are bred for, what they live for. Most of them, anyway."
Bloodstorm looks up at her, a bit confused. "What am I supposed to think..? I still think of you fondly..you were mistreated, not intentionally a would-be killer."
Bloodstorm says, "And what do you think of me? I'm a bloodlusting yet cowardly gryphon.."
Dove says, "But I am a killer nonetheless. It is as Kreeth says. Shkrill are mostly raised as fighters." She points at Bloodstorm as she tells him, "You may be bloodlustful at times, but you do it when it is appropriate. You do not go looking for a fight. You do not attack the helpless. You fight fair. They don't care about any of that."
Bloodstorm says, "Quite true.. Perhaps we should talk about something else though. Are you recovering well?"
Dove nods, settling back down next to Bloodstorm. "I am, thank you. And you? How is your leg, Blood?"
Bloodstorm gives it a casual glance. "Almost healed. Still hurts a bit, but I'm not really limping anymore."