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 Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:50 pm
"C'mon, Pri! Its not THAT far!" Denis goaded as he slipped and slided down the cliffs that led to the base of the Irken Elite headquarters. Man, this was so cool! Not only did he get to join a flock, but there was all of this area to explore!
His sliding came to a stop at the bottommost cliff that stood about ten feet above the ground as he peered over the edge, his backside wiggling and tail twitching with excitement. They'd come all the way down all by themselves.
"Isn't this great, Pri?" he asked, looking over his shoulder and seeing no one. Immediately his expression soured as he turned to glare up the cliffsides. "PRI!!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:52 pm
It was several moments later before a tiny bluejay-marked gryph came sliding, tumbling, and generally being mistreated down the side of the hill, his eyes clenched closed in upset. He was not nearly as big as Denis and not nearly as steady on his legs. Therefore, he'd been having a much harder time of getting to the bottom of the cliffs.
"UFF!!" he landed in a dazed heap beside the peafowl-marked gryph and blinked stupidly at the sky. "....I'm here..." he murmured, still blinking away the stars.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:57 pm
" 'I'm here'." Denis mocked, screwing up his nose at Priprikan. "That's it? That's all you've got to say?? Lookit this! This is so cool!" he said, looking about them before leaping from the cliff they were perched on and clumsily flapping his wings, which did little, if nothing, to cushion his fall to the earth.
He landed in a heap, unphased, and shook himself off. "C'mon! There's all sorts of plants and nooks and stuff!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:04 pm
'But I can't--" Priprikan started to say, though it was too late. Denis had already scampered out of earshot. "....I can't jump so far." he finished quietly to himself, sitting back on his haunches and blinking down at the ten foot drop, which, to an infant gryph, was quite a big drop indeed.
Maybe he would stay here a bit...the sun was warming him nicely and it was a great contrast to the drafty upper cliffs with Zim and Tak where he'd spent most of his time these days.
He closed his eyes for several moments and then opened them, finding that Denis was nowhere to be seen now, having likely forgotten about him in the excitement of exploring a new area.
...perhaps he ought to see if he could climb back up, he thought. Neither of them had given much thought to how they were going to return once they'd made it down. Bracing his front paws on a jutting stone, he attempted to scramble upon it, only to lose his footing and go tumbling with a squeal.
There was a brief sensation of flight, then something yielding breaking beneath him, and then...darkness.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:06 pm
"Pri? HEY PRI!!" Denis shouted, skidding back around the corner to see if his tiny companion was still treed on the final cliff, though he no longer saw him perched there.
Cool, so the little squirt DID have some backbone! He'd made it down after all! Pri bounded back in the direction of the cliff, searching the nearby tufts of grass and bushes nearby. "Pri? HEY! Where are you??" he demanded.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:11 pm
Priprikan sat up and coughed, seeing nothing but hearing his voice echo. Somewhere nearby, he could hear Denis calling for him.
"I'm here!" he called back, pausing a moment before hearing Denis resume calling for him, as though he hadn't heard him at all. How very strange...
The bluejay gryph's nostrils flared, sampling the air surrounding him and almost immediately, he gagged on it. It was musty and ancient, as though no one had breathed here for years...
...whereever 'here' was...
Squinting up overhead, he could see sunlight dappling down into the inpenetrable darkness from, presumably, where he'd fallen into this place when he'd slipped. The earth beneath him was cool, sandy, and soft...calming in an eerie sort of way.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:25 pm
The crash is what had alarmed him...his first thoughts had been not of intruders, but that perhaps the old mountain was beginning to collapse on itself at long last.
At the sound of young voices, however, he froze in the darkness in mid-step unsure of precisely how he ought to feel. On the one hand, whoever it was was trespassing in a place that they had no business in. On the other hand, it had been years since he had seen another gryph.
Setting his jaw, he continued forth to better-assess the situation.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:23 pm
"Denis?" Priprikan called, feeling his way forward in the darkness and coughing again. He didn't know that this was really a -bad- place, per-sey, but it was most definitely not somewhere he wanted to be.
Who knew what was living down here, after all? There might be snakes....or spiders...or...
Pri froze in mid-step, ears keening forward in alarm at the stealthy sound of skin on stone and tried, in vain, to see its source in the darkness.
"...hello?" he asked tentatively.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:43 pm
Years of living in this gloom had made his eyes adjust to it and as he padded forward, he was able to see his intruder much more clearly.
This little one....he was no more than a baby. How in the name of all that was decent had he gotten down here? Approaching, the stranger lowered his head until he was more-or-less eye level with the little blue one.
"It would seem to me that you're quite far from home..." he said gently, trying not to startle him.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:48 pm
Gentle or not, Pri still jolted and scrambled backward from the alien presense, his eyes wide. "Who're you?" he demanded. "S-Stay away...!"
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:53 pm
Finster knitted his brow, wishing there were some light to step into so that he could show the little one he meant him no harm. "Please..." he whispered, backing away to a respectful distance. "Please don't be frightened. I won't hurt you."
He felt it would be saddening if the first face he'd seen in a very long time was one of terror....and that furthermore it would be dangerous for such a young gryph to run blindly through these tunnels. There were all sorts of places to trip and get hurt.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:38 pm
Priprikan coughed again, choking on a lungful of musty air as he skittered back a bit further, his haunch striking the roughly-hewn wall painfully. He winced and then waited for whatever it was to pursue him. When there was silence, he plucked up what little courage he had and drew in a shaky breath.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:42 pm
A smile ghosted at the corners of his mouth as he remained where he was. "That would depend entirely on who you asked..." he replied, keeping his voice low and his words careful. "Do you hail from the Lunar Flock?"
He supposed it was a foolish question...since the uprising, the lunar flock had been well-and-truly disbanded, and the cliffs above had been vacant for a very long time indeed.
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Posted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:45 pm
Pri's ears pricked inquisitively at the question. "Lunar Flock...?" he repeated. "What's that? I--I just fell in when I was trying to climb the cliffs, that's all." Little by little, he began to relax. Surely if whatever-it-was was a monster, it would have taken the chance to eat him by now.
"Can....you help me get out?" he ventured timidly. It was worth a try...
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Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:56 am
Ah, so he HAD come by accident. None in their right mind would seek out a place such as this on purpose, after all.
"Yes." he said after a pause. "But not here," he added, eyeing the ceiling where the gryphlet had fallen through nearly eight feet over their heads. "I worry about disturbing the ground...it could very well cave in on our heads. Follow me."
Having said so, he turned to pad away, keeping his pace slow so that the youngling could follow.
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