[Nest] Felicity's Niche

[bhope]

6.4.06
For the first time in a long while, Felicity was in a mellow mood. She wasn't skipping, frolicing, dancing, or singing. She wasn't sure what it was that was making her feel this way- but she needed something to blame. The weather, she thought dismally. It's so gloomy! It's rubbing it's gloom off onto me. she had decided with disdain, before she had chosen a fairly comfortable spot beside a small puddle of water to sit.

There was nothing quite spectacular about this day. Felicity hadn't made any new friends, heard any new music from her human, (he was awful good at playing that big wooden thing), and hadn't discovered any new playing grounds. Sigh a small, disappointed sigh, the little girl pressed her velvety white muzzle against her forepaws, letting her ears twitch absent mindedly. Perhaps later in the day, she would be brought something exciting!
Beastly, who wasn't quite sure what he was, or even well if he existed for that matter slunk slowly across the ground; his legs un easy jiggling (much like our favorite hospital food- Jell-o) his belly dragged along the ground.

He wasn't scared, per say, he after all didn't know what being scared was, but he had a feeling that everything was just horrible about today. He had been wandering, not far of course from the watchful eye of....well..someone must have been watching him right?

He was edging toward a certain white domestic hippogryph, without even realizing it.
Round, eeriely pale lilac eyes that belonged to the one-and-only-Felicity, landed squarely on the scuttling little newborn gryph. I knew it! she thought happily, her tail instantly beginning to thump happily behind her, swatting at her hindquarters idly. I knew something good would happen today! After all- in Felicity's good, meeting new friends was always a good thing!

Smiling as she stretched her legs out in front of her before standing up lopsidedly, (she was an awfully uncoordinated little girl, even though she was getting quite bigger!) and grinning kindly at the baby. Mildly aware of the fact that Beastly probably couldn't hear her, Felicity still spoke. After all, maybe he could hear a faint buzzing! When she was a newborn, she heard little things here and there. Hopeful, the little gryphon spoke.

"Hello little baby!" she chirped happily, leaning down so that she became nose-level with Beastly.
What was undoubtedly terror ran through the little gryph, and was that anger too? He could feel something buzz and vibrate in front of him. When she had moved she kicked up dust that he could faintly smell.
Not knowing what to think he flopped onto his back submissively. This act would seem quite comical to anyone watching.
And comical it was- and so naturally, Felicity laughed. It wasn't a teasing laugh, not one of mockery, but instead, of happiness! She liked this little fellow, she could tell already. "Silly! What're you doing lying on your back like that?" she asked impulsively, before she too mimicked his own action. The little girl rolled over onto her back, stifling a fit of giggles in her lungs as she did so. Her fore (and hind, of course) paws hung limply in the air above her, and her tail wiggled out from beneath her weight.

"... Well, this isn't much fun." she decided cheerfully, and she promptly rolled over back onto her paws. "Have you ever danced before?" she asked happily, already feeling her tail wagging and her paws kneading the earth beneath her.

That was what Felicity called it, anyway. She would wiggle her body around all over the place and leap into the air- rear, buck, and do all sorts of silly movements. She called it dancing! She sure she'd heard Cael, in his funny language, say a word like that before.  

[bhope]

6.10.06
Felicity just hadn't been herself lately. Her tummy had been hurting an awful lot, and all she'd wanted to do was lay in the sun and relax. Most unfortunately for her, however, the weather had been absolutely atrocious. Cael had kept her cooped inside for the past three days- and just when the sun decided to shine, it was suprisingly chilly and horribly windy outside! Cael had let Felicity go outside, but the little gryphon was regretting it now. Her thin, pearly white coat wasn't serving as good a warmer-upper as she'd hoped it would.

The sun may've been shining, but there was a cold, unfriendly breeze that floated through the meadow. Keeping her head high and letting her optimistic personality hope for some warmer rays, Felicity trotted listlessly through the field, prancing occasionally when the cool wind took a break and let her warm up for a bit.
ASajj had never been so close to the human settlement before. Still on it's borders, she wondered why the Den mother had opted to take her here. It was much different from her home, though the temperature seemd to suit her well enough. She was starting to get used to the cold now, the bitter wind that would once leave her trembling and curled she could now ignore with a force of will. She would adapt like the older gryphs did.

"Now don't wander too far. The humans may try to catch you and put you in a pen for the rest of your life."

Den mothers... Regardless, Asajj had just learned how to walk and wasn't about to get fenced in. She set out to look around, ever cautious of the humans. At least she could bite if it came down to it. She'd show them what's what.

In time, she noticed a white gryph in the distance, coming from the human settlement. Odd, she thought. What's she doing?

Asajj called across the way, hoping none of the humans would notice her.

"Currrra?"
It was lucky for Asajj that today was Saturday- which meant that most of the humans were either sleeping in late or waking up early to go purchase groceries from the market to keep them stocked for the rest of the week. Felicity knew Cael's schedule by heart- for the first five days of the week, he left early to go to the town's local elementary school. He came home in the afternoon when the sun was just landing on the barn, and he would play with Felicity until dinner time. On the last two days of the week, he slept in really late until his mother woke him to go shopping. Then on the very last day, he would wake super early, kiss Felicity goodbye, and go to something they called "church". Felicity didn't know what it was, but she knew Cael didn't look foward to it.

Today was Saturday- which meant that she, normally, would be awfully bored until Cael came home from shopping. It was a pleasent suprise, to say the least, when she saw a figure- what looked to be another hippogryph- in the distance. Eager to make a new friend, Felicity skipped in the partially non existent breeze until she was a few yards away from Asajj.

"Hello!" she called out happily, perking her head to the side. A visible chill ran along her spine as she watched the curious looking gryph, and strangely enough, Felicity said nothing more.
"Hee-uuuu?" Asajj wasn't used to speaking, still trying to determine syllables and whatever else went on. She still was limited to indiscernable chirps, the key to communication in her inflection.

The other gryph had aproached, and Asajj still didn't recognise her. Curiously, she walked in the human village without fear. Though Asajj didn't see many humans, and those that she could were busy with their own activities, this gryph walked among them as one of them. asajj may have been young, but she could tell as much from how the gryph walked.

Asajj looked to the gryph, then gestured with her snout towards the village. "Hoooooom?"
Felicity smiled kindly. For whatever bizarre reason, she'd been momentarily frightened by Asajj. And for no reason! She was a little infant, just like Felicity. It seemed, though, as where Felicity could speak and comprehend just fine, Asajj was having more difficulty. Perking her head towards the side a bit, her ears flopping around, Felicity yipped softly. She watched the other gryph's eyes wander down the hill, and into the distance, where some half a mile off, in plain view, was the humans' village.

As Asajj let out a long, slightly sloppy mumble, Felicity could only hazard a guess as to what she was saying. 'Home', maybe?
"I live there," she agreed happily with a slight chirp, her muzzle raising to the sky a bit with pride. "You can't see my home from here, though. Me and Cael live a bit far off from the main village. He and his mommy ride this big gryphs that they call 'horses' down to town because it's such a far walk," she explained cheerfully, hoping that Asajj could at least understand, if not respond properly.

"My name is Ellie," she added slowly, her eerie lilac eyes turning to face Asajj full on, now. "Can you say your name?"
This gryph, though she didn't appear to be much older than Asajj, spoke well. Very well, and she wondered if it was because of the environment she was raised in.

"Aye...." Asajj's head dropped. "I... Naaaaym."

She shook her head. Her name was hard to say as it was. "Ah... Sah... jj. Ahsahjj."

Felicity smiled cheerfully. It seemed as though Asajj had no problem in the slightest understanding her- it was with the actual verbal responses where the problem layed. Propping herself up before settling down, she sat comfortably across from the other girl. Felicity raised her head a bit, happy now, despite the cool winds tearing through the atmosphere occasionally, and she spoke. "a**-oj?" she repeated in what she hoped would be a phoenetic sense. That was such a pretty name! It was certainly unique and unusual, but Felicity liked how it sounded.
If, of course, she'd even said it right in the first place.
Asajj furrowed her brow. That wasn't quite right and she thought for a moment, finally speaking in a taxed tone. "Cll-oss, close."

She took another moment, then tried again. "Ah.. sahjj." Then she looked up to the other gryph. "Ellll-eee?" Asajj was proud of herself, the other name was much easier to say.
Felicity was genuined suprised at the amount of pride she felt when Asajj both corrected Felicity's pronunciation, as well as said Ellie's name! She'd only known the other gryph for a few minutes, but already she was clearly estatic that she had taught her a new word!... Or name, really. Ellie.

"Asajj." Felicity responded articulately, mimicking the exact pronuncation that Asajj had used when correcting her. Smiling sheepishly, she nodded her head feverently and squealed a bit after Asajj repeated "Ellie".

"That was wonderful, Asajj!" the little girl praised happily, throwing her head into the air with a little whicker as her tail wagged absent mindedly behind her. It flopped against her hindquarters here and there, but Felicity didn't seem to mind.

"Want to go exploring?" she asked suddenly, very excited at the prospect of wandering around the forest with her new friend.
"Ellie!" Asajj hopped in a quick circle, quite happy with herself. "Asajj... Ellie!" Too bad she did'nt know the names of her other friends, but she'd meet them again. Maybe she could impress them with how much she could talk.

"Es-plore?" She looked over her shoulder to the den mothers, and other gryphs. They were busy with their oen things, and Asajj had gotten far enough away to sneak off without incident. Besides. She thought she would be safe in, or near, the human village if seen with Ellie.

"Asajj an' Ellie.. Es-plore!"
The weather had seemed to calm down quite a bit- the wind wasn't so cold, or very existent, for that matter, and the sun was shinning more beautifully. Even if the enviornment hadn't cheered up a bit, it wasn't likely that Felicity would've noticed. She was having much too fun with her new friend, and each time Asajj spoke- even if it was a word she already had spoken, Ellie giggled happily with pride.

"Explore, very good! C'mon," she dropped her voice to a sing-song whisper, watching as Asajj eyed the older gryphs behind them in the distance. Felicity never had to worry about things like that, and so she wasn't entirely sure was Asajj, even if only for a split second, hesitated.

Leading the way towards the entrance of the wood, Felicity's gait was in between a skip and a trot. It was very clear that she was excited to go around the forest. "Maybe we'll even find a lake!" she thought with enthuse, turning around to make sure Asajj was following.
A lake? Asajj hadn't seen any of those. At least not frozen. She thought it might resemble her hot spring back home, but likely wasn't as warm. Regardless, she trotted along with Ellie to the woods, stopping as her friend did, ever watchful of what she was doing so as to not miss anything.

"Fine.. a layk?" Asajj was trying hard to speak, the syllables forcedly passing her muzzle. "I.. Hoome... Cold." She looked to the north, posessing a strong sense of direction, "Layk... Hard. Shhhhh-Iney!"

She looked over to Ellie. "Layk.. no hard?"
Felicity couldn't even attempt to hide the prideful smile that was dancing effortlessly across her muzzle. She knew that it wasn't her doing personally that was the reason of Asajj's speaking, but she was proud nonetheless.

The little girl listened closely, her ears flopping and twitching about lightly. "R... right!" she began a moment after she'd put together the puzzle pieces of Asajj's vocabulary. "Exactly right! A lake isn't hard at all. As a matter of fact, it's soft and cool. You can jump into it!" Felicity, personally, had never jumped into a lake. She smiled sheepishly, turning back to Asajj for a moment. Cael had jumped into lakes before, but Felicity would just meander around the edges, too afraid to join in.

The pair continued to follow a dwindling, destinationless path, and suddenly Felicity paused. "... Did you hear that, Asajj?"
Asajj followed behind, sniffing around, not caring where they went. Part of her wanted to turn back but there was so much to see around here, and for some reason she felt the need to keep up with the gryph. She was one of the "domesticated gryphs". asajj didn't know what that meant, but she associated it with the village they had left behind.

Suddenly, she caught the soudn of something, and her nostrils flared to catch a scent. It was too far, and all she could smell was the overbearing scent of the trees.

"Yesh.." She replied quietly, eyes and ears scanning as far as she could see. She wanted to ask, but couldn't find the words. Whatever it was, they'd find out unless they ran. Asajj wasn't about to, but wouldn't leave the other gryph if she opted to.
Felicity's muscles seemed to freeze instantly. Fear began to creep throughout her entire body, and she was suddenly seized with panic. What if that strange noise was something bad? What if it was going to hurt them? Felicity could never live with herself if anything awful happened to them- especially to Asajj, who was her new, self proclaimed buddy. Swallowing deeply, hoping that whatever it was out there was harmless, Felicity took a small step backwards.

"Maybe we s-should go out of the forest and find a different s-section to explore..." she suggested with high hopes, even though she had a feeling that Asajj would comply without a doubt. Even as the little gryphon stood still, her mind still worked. It's prolly nothin', Ellie! You're getting yourself all worked up over nothin'! And now you're making yourself look like a silly little girl in front of your new friend! Tttch, it's nothing...

After a few more moments of mental reassurance, Felicity was finally convinced. "On second thought, let's keep going! I'm sure it's nothing, after all." she said cheerfully, completely blissful and unaware of the third party that had joined their little team. Just a few feet behind Asajj was a young, rather feral looking bear cub. And he did not look pleased.
Asajj was about to agree with the other gryph, but before she could form the words, and this, for her could take a moment, Ellie had already changed her mind and was heading deeper into the forest.

Not about to be left out, Asajj followed, chirping enthusiastically. "Yesh! Fine... Layk!" And she trooted alongside her friend, blissfully unaware of the danger.
That same sense of pride- however inappropriate it may've been, seeing as Felicity had nothing to do with it, returned, whenever Asajj spoke. Smiling cheerfully, Felicity slowed her pace a bit so that she was walking just beside Asajj. "You know what? You're sort of like a sister! Except... Not. At all. But sort of!... You know?" she asked happily, finishing on a lame note, with was accompanied by a shy, sheepish smile.

It was just so much fun hanging out with her new friend! Chirping lightly, with a small, slight bounce in her step, Felicity hardly noticed when a soft, predatorial growl came from behind the two of them.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Felicity's ears pinned themselves to the sides of her head, her tail glueing itself in between her legs. The gryphon turned her head at an angle just slightly, her eerie, lilac eyes watching as a pair of gruesome, frightening yellow ones stared back from behind them.

"Asajj... Stay behind me," she warned with a whimper, closing her eyes in panic for a moment.
Asajj's head tilted, not sure of what to make of the statement. "Shhhisssh-te..."

She was cut short by a growling behind them. It was different from any growling she had heard before. She had often heard the other gryphs growling at each other, or the snarl of an arctic wolf before it was frightened away from the flock.

She turned, to adress the situation, unsure of how to feel. The noise came from a creature slightly larger than she was, but built much heavier than anything she had seen before. It wasn't slender like a wolf, or gryph. It looked to weigh as much as a bigger gryph, but was still only small.

Her friends warning came, but Asajj wouldn't let her get hurt alone. Though she had just met the gryph, she could tell she liked her. She wasn't sure what 'sister' implied, but it felt right. Stay together.
Felicity whined slightly, visibly unhappy with the situation at hand. The last thing that she wanted was to put Asajj in danger. The little gryph positioned herself at a very slightly angle, so that perhaps it would be more difficult to gain access to her white-eyed friend. "Excuse me? C-can we help you?" her little voice rang out- and somehow, that very same, sing song quality that she possessed seemed to stick with her, even now.

"I never seen nothing like you two out here!" the yellow eyed cub growled unhappily, watching Felicity- but more so, the curious little creature behind her: Asajj. "And I wanna know what you two are! And what you're doin' out here in my home so late!" the cub demanded, growling as he took another step foward.

Just as Felicity was about to open her little muzzle to speak, however, the cub interupted.

"And I don't wan' you to answer me, tiger stripes." he snarled, most uncleverly talking to Felicity, using her striped legs as indication. "I wanna hear it from the one behind you."
Good. Ellie could do the talking. Asajj was relieved it didn't get dirty. She had only play fought before, and she saw how rough real fighting was on the other gryphs. Some had terrible lines on them where no fur would grow, and there was one elder who had lost an eye fighting... Now what was it? She couldn't remember, but now wasn't the time.

The big thing was being mean to Ellie. Was that supposed to be an insult? It sounded like one, no matter what it had said, and now it was looking at her.

She introduced herself. "Ah-sahjj!"

"Whateva! What're ya doin' out here?"

Asajj didn't like this thing much at all, but it was bigger, and she did'nt think Ellie wanted any part in taking it down. Wild Gryphs knew about the pack, but she wasn't sure if Ellie had those feelings. She opened her mouth slowly, and finally replied. "Fine... Layk."
Felicity frowned deeply. Her eyes seldom left the clearly distressed, agrivated cub, and it almost seemed as if Felicity was trying to get his attention just by staring a hole right through him. It didn't seem to be working. The little gryphons' ears perked to the side slightly as she heard Asajj both introduce herself, as well as explain what their intentions were in the forest. Ordinarily, Felicity would've been proud, but right now, all she felt was fear and panic for Asajj and herself.

Clearing her throat just a tad, Felicity took an awkward, greatly hesitant step foward. "She's right. We're just trying to find a lake. We can leave, though. We didn't want to cause any trouble at all. We're both sorry." she explained hastily, her sing-song voice quavering slightly as she spoke.

"Too late for that, babies!" he snarled cruelly, his smirk widening. But- who was he to be calling them babies? He was a tiny cub himself- it was just his daunting size that he'd been hoping would throw the gryphs off. "I'm taking you back to papa so that I can finally show him what good of a hunter I am. Two hippogryphs! He'll never yell at me again!" the cub snarled happily, stepping foward quickly towards Felicity and Asajj. He stood on his hind legs for a moment, leering down at them. It was plain he wasn't going to hurt them- he knew better. He may've been a little bit bigger, but two gryphs against one bear cub was not a fair match. He'd lose. Felicity and Asajj didn't seem to notice that, however.

"C'mon, get on then! Move it along!" he shrieked, tossing his head into the air as he began to try and herd the two gryphs back to where his family was.

This couldn't end well.
"Fine Layk..." Asajj's brow furrowed, her ears drooping. why didn't he leave them alone. It was annoying to be bothered. When she got older she'd never take this from anyone. "... Fine LAYK!" Now she was angry. No stupid animal was going to push her around.

Her thoughts returned to when she was playing with Shadow. Sitting on Shadows head while on her hind legs, she was much easier to topple, and had when Shadow lifted her head. If that bear reared again, Asajj would charge him, bigger or not. She wasn't going to meet his Daddy today.

She stepped forward and her muzzle snapped at the bear. "Not go!"
Relief began to pour out Felicity the moment that Asajj stood up to the bear. This feeling was short lived, however, as panic and distress began to sink through. The bear cub, feeling his fleeting sensation of power dissolving, roared feebley, in a desperate attempt to scare the two gryphs into submission once more.

"Didn't you hear me? I said GO!" he howled, shoving the closest thing towards him- which, of course, was a combination of landing on Felicity's shoulder and stopping at Asajj's paw. Realizing his error right away, the bear cub's gleaming yellow eyes seemed to loose a bit of life. This wasn't going to end well.

Felicity, who had, all this while, thought she was powerless and scared, realized that it was two against one. They could beat this thing! Snarling lightly, which didn't seem to suit her character in the slightest, Felicity stepped foward once towards the already retreating bear, attempting the best she could at a teeth baring growl.
"Asajj hear... Loud!" She snapped back, further energized by the realization she was no longer alone against the bear. "Not GO!"

As if to emphasize her point, she butted the bear's side with her head, not an aggressive maneuver, just enough to push him on his way. Show that she meant business. Strangely, she had never felt so alive. No longer helpless, she felt empowered and this only assured her of it. She didn't feel little at all.

Felicity, though it was not visible, was smiling brilliantly. Her face was so concentrated on maintaining a snarl that she couldn't spare the time to show such happiness. It twinkled within her eyes, though, and it gave her a bit more strength to know that Asajj was right there beside her. Crying out strongly, the little gryph lowered her head, mimicking the appearence of a charging bull, and plowed straight past the bear, screeching out as if to frigthen it even further.

The cub, who was astonished when Asajj butted him over, stumbled, his eyes shaking with fear. And then, even as he tried to regain his balance and composure, he was literally trampled down by the stampeding Felicity. He cried out- not in pain, but in recognition of defeat. Trembling to his feet, embaressed and ashamed of his failure against two 'little babies', the bear cub toddled off into the forest, wailing and leaving the gryphons to themselves once again.

Felicity turned very slowly to Asajj, watching her 'best friend-sister' carefully. As neither of them spoke, Felicity thought it was best, perhaps, if neither of them said anything at all. The silence said enough.
Asajj stood in awe for a moment, half impressed with herself, half impressed with her friend. They did it, and neither of them got hurt. Quick, and painless, the only casualty was the creatures dignity for which Asajj had little concern.

A silence ensued as they exchanged glances, though by now it was more of a stare, though she wasn't sure why. asajj suddenly felt awkward, and broke the silence with a reminder, something she had just recalled, herself.

"Fine Layk!" She smiled.
Suprisingly enough, especially for Felicity- who was constantly jabbering or singing, the silence hadn't been too uncomfortable for her. As a matter of fact, she'd rather liked it. It had felt... grown up. Shaking it off, however, the gryph smiled broadly. Nothing could stand in their way now!

"Correct you are!" she cried out with a giggle, taking the side of her friend once more and trotting lesuirely, making sure to keep pace. "There's gotta be a lake around her somewheres," she mumbled lightly after just a few moments of walking.

Then, without warning, Felicity paused. Her ears cropped themselves directly upwards, and the little girl raised her velvety white muzzle to the air. "... D'you hear that, Asajj?" she asked with a smile, standing on the tips of her paws for a moment. The gentle, soothing sound of trickling water had entered their surroundings. They were close!
A moment's hesitation and Asajj found herself slowly inching her way into the water. It rose up over her paws, then her legs, and eventually came up to, and overcame her stomach. This wasn't so bad.

She pushed on until she felt the ground drop out from under her and she paniced for a moment, only to find she could float, her head managing to stay above the water, so long as she kept flailing her paws underneath.

"Ennnhhhhhh!" She couldn't get back..
Ellie was busy dancing around on the soft, smooth pebbles beneath the pads of her paws. She almost didn't notice Asajj's distress- until the little gryph wailed out, of course. Whipping around, afraid something had gone terribly wrong, Felicity was relieved to see that Asajj was only scared about swimming.

"No, no it's okay!" the gryphon reassured, wiggling her way over towards Asajj. Making sure that she was as close as she could get to the other girl without slipping off herself, (after all, she wasn't an expert at it either!) Felicity stretched out her neck, her muzzle brushing against Asajj's throat a bit. Felicity had meant to grab her by the ruff of her neck and drag her in, but Asajj was just a bit too far out.

"I need you to wiggle a little closer to me!" she explained calmly, hoping that Asajj wasn't getting herself in too much of a panic.  

[bhope]

6.15.06
"Ring around the rosey, pocket fulla' posies, ashes- ashes, we all fall down!"
The end of the song was executed with a very awkward, off balance plop issued from both human and hippogryph. Cael was smiling broadly, showing off all his new teeth (he's already lost three of them, and the adult ones were growing in!) to Felicity. Giggling happily, the little boy- short for his age and terribly skinny, fixed the strap to his overalls. If it seemed that was all Cael wore, it was because it was all he were! Sure, he had various pairs of overalls, but that was the only thing he would allow his mother to purchase for him.
His skinny, bare shoulders stretched out, and his little hands flew to Felicity, dragging her into a great hug.
The pair were in the middle of Cael's farm. Jasmine and Echo- the two horses that his family owned, were grazing in some other section. It was just the two friends, happily playing around.

Felicity knew that Cael couldn't understand her. Humans spoke such a silly language! That didn't matter to her, though. Felicity had improvised with the song that Cael was singing as they danced around in circles, only to push each other over at the end.
"Dancing around all the day, all we like to do is play! Rolling, rolling, in the grass!" she sung happily, throwing her smooth, white head into the air before the two of them collapsed onto the ground once more. Felicity was convinced- it didn't get much better then this!
Oh, oh! Guinivere jumped up from the back of the wagon her and Lilith were laying in. She heard something familar.

"HIIII!" she called loudly, to carry across the field. She jumped around the hey in the wagon bed and tugged at Lilith's dress hem. "Come on, come on! Lets go play!"

Lilith sat up. "Whaaatt?" She listened carfully. Oh, that was the boy's voice...Cael, she recalled. "Ok, how about we go?" She crawled to the edge of the wagon. "Bye Papa, we're gonna go play!" she called, tumbling off the slowly moving vehicle.

Guin chirped happily and jumped off the cart. Yay! She quickly ran to Lilith's left foot and started to guide her towards the field.

Finding the fence at the edge, she scaled it quickly and started walking towards the voices. "Hi there!" She called out happily.
Felicity was the first to notice the newcomers. Recognizing the familiar faces of both Lilth and Guinivere, Felicity chirped happily, letting out a long, melodic whicker. Throwing her muzzle into the air, the gryph scampered to her feet, nearly plowing Cael over as she pranced to meet Guinivere half way.
"Hello!" she exclaimed, clearly estatic at the sight of the familiar gryph. Not only was she happy to see Guinivere, but she was pleased to remember that she and her were very alike. They were both domestic.
Not that Ellie knew what that meant truly- but what she did know was that they both lived in the human village.
"Guinivere, I remembered your name!" she cried out once more, her tail wagging, causing the entire lower half of her body to wiggle around happily. "Wanna play with me and Cael? We're dancing and falling!"

Just as soon as Cael had finished being mowed down by Felicity, he too took notice of the approaching duo. Recognizing Lilith more then he did Guinivere, he smiled toothily, that little boy grin complimenting his face. Clambering gracelessly to his feet, Cael paused a short way off from Lilith and Guinivere. (The gryph, however, had already met up with Felicity.) Hoping that Lilith could determine how far away from someone she was just by hearing their voice, Cael called out to her.
"Hi Lilith! Do you guys remember us?" he asked in vain, knowing that the two gryphs, friendly as they were acting, already remembered each other.
Guin laughed. "Dancing and falling? What a very strange game!" She laughed again and her tail wagging along in time with Felicity's. "Sure, sounds like fun!" She hopped away from Lilith's feet and over to Ellie, then jumped a little. "What are those?" she asked curiously, staring at the horses. They were very very big!

Lilith covered her mouth as she giggled. "Yes, of course we remember you," she called back, taking few steps closer. The little girl ran her hands through her hair, picking at the stray pieces of hay in her hair. As she closed the gap she slowed a bit. "I didn't know you lived on the main road." She paused. "I mean, I think we're still on the main road. Papa had to go up into town, and I don't think we turned anywhere."
Cael smiled brightly. "This is just our farm," he explained eagerly, letting one of his hands fall down to Lilith's side, and he grabbed it lightly. "Our home is a few miles off from here. The farm is on the main road, though, yup! You were right!" he exclaimed happily, impressed by Lilith's heightened senses.
Tugging on her hand a little bit, Cael squeezed it as he began to tap his foot excitedly. "Do you have horses where you live?" he asked, slightly randomly, though he had reasoning behind his madness.

It was a coincidence that both gryph and human were headed in the direction of the equines. Felicity smiled broadly, totally forgetting about Guinivere's initial statement about their silly game as she began to trot eagerly towards Jasmine and Echo. "Cael calls them 'Hooseys'," Felicity recited happily, blissfully unaware of the errors in her prounciation. "They're big and fluffy. Cael never lets me near them, though. I dunno why..." she trailed off, quirking her head to the side.
Felicity was just a newborn when it happened- so she had little to no recollection of the incident, but it was because of Jasmine and Echo- the two horses grazing in the field, that Cael and Felicity were brought together.
Lilith nodded. "We have big work horses." She couldn't remember what they were called. Some funny name. Lilith smiled slightly as she felt Cael take and pull at her hand. "Papa doesn't let me go near them though. He worries." She wrinkled her nose. So did her mom. How silly."Why?"

"Hooseys?" Guin repeated. "How interesting." She glanced back at Lilith. What were those two doing? Her eyes widened. Only Lydia had ever helped Lilith walk! Well, Lydia and herself and Lancelot.

The black and white gryph trotted back to the two humans and pushed between them, forcing Cael to take a few steps out.
Felicity nodded enthusiastically, throwing her head into the air unncessarily as she whinnied softly. "Hooseys, yep! I like them a lot, and I want to go play with them all the time, but Cael doesn't let me." she explained, a bit crestfallen- though her attention refocused itself as she watched Guinivere trot over back to the humans. What was she doing? Following curiously, Felicity plopped down, her black speckled butt comfy in the soft grass.

Cael grinned happily. "Clydesdale?" he asked curiously, recognizing the description, even if it was only two words. His family had gone to horse shows before, and he'd seen carraiges being pulled by gorgeous, pure white horses that looked like they belonged to gods. "'Cause!" he exclaimed happily, leading the way over towards Jasmine, the gentler of his two horses. "I want you to meet one of mine. Not a clydesdale, though," he reassured her. As he continued to walk, he nearly tripped over something- Lilith's gryph? Perking his head to the side, Cael awkwardly stepped over the gryph, letting Lilith's hand fall from his. Fixing the clip to his overalls subconciously, he looked down at the little creature. "I think Guinivere wants something," he said curiously.
Lilith nodded. "Yeah, that's it, a Clydesdale." She laughed. "Lydia says they're really ugly and smelly though."

She raised an eyebrow as she felt Cael stumble and then let go of her hand. Guin had been careful not to get in front of Lilith, so she didnt' trip at all, but she stopped and knelt down, feeling around for Guin. "What's up? Is something wrong?" She found the little gryph and petted her head.

Guinivere sat and grumped. She didn't know what was wrong with her, but she had suddenly felt a surge of...something. It had started in her tummy and worked it's way up to her throat. She nipped crankily at Cael's hand. "No touching my Lilith." she said.

Guin was...jealous?
Felicity watched the little scene unfold, and by the time Cael had stumbled of Guinivere, the little girl didn't know whether to giggle or gasp. Trotting quickly over to Cael's side, the gryphon nuzzled his knees (seeing as that was as high as she could reach,) affectionately, looking up at him curiously. He should've looked where he was going! It was clear Ellie was oblivious to Guinivere's intentional 'lets trip Cael' plot.
Watching as Guinivere spoke to Cael, Felicity broke into a small, hesitant smile.
"Did Cael do something wrong? He's a very silly boy, and sometimes he doesn't know what he's doing!" Felicity giggled happily, recalling a time in her memory when Cael had jumped into a lake- accidently, of course.

Cael watched Guinivere's body language, and it didn't take very long for the little boy to put two and two together. Smiling sheepishly, Cael brushed himself off a bit, quickly removing his hand from Guinvere's mouth-level as she went to n** at his hand.
"I don't think Guinivere likes me very much," he said with a small frown, dropping the strand of wheat that he'd been chewing on idly.
"No, don't...don't be silly!" Lilith said nervously. She knew Guin hadn't met many Humans, but still, she had never acted like this. "I-I'm sure she's just playing. Isn't that right?" she said, trying to coo at Guin. "You're just playing with Cael. You just thought it'd be funny to try to trip him, right?"

She was bright red by now. She felt bad that Guin was being mean and she wanted her to stop.

"Yes, he did." She shook her head. "I mean, I don't know..." She wrinkled her nose. "I'M the only one who helps her." She grumped and muttered. "No one else."
Cael noticed Lilith's extreme discomfort, and he smiled kindly. His mother had always taught him to be a polite little boy- and that was exactly what he was. A polite little nine year old. Cael shook his head lightly before speaking with a great big smile. "It's okay, Lilith!" he began happily, kneeling down next to Guinivere. He was taking a shot in the dark here, but it was worth a try. "I just think that Guinivere might've gotten upset 'cause you were walkin' with me insteada' her." he suggested thoughtfully, extending a careful hand out towards Guinivere before he looked back up to Lilith calmly. He didn't want his friend to be upset.

Felicity giggled lightly, standing up and wiggling closer to Guinivere, leaning on her playfully, as if trying to shove her over. "Don't be so silly!" she cried happily, nudging her cow-colored friend excitedly. "Anybody can help your human, so long as they're careful with her. 'Sides. Cael's a really good boy," Felicity began, clearly anxious to get playing already. "So let's go play!" she insisted happily, whinnying lightly as she stood up next to Guinivere.
Guin shook her shoulders and stuck her tongue out at Felicity. She wasn't being silly. Lilith was her human. Who she shared with Lancelot. No one elses. She looked back up at Cael, her eyes narrowed a bit. Fiiiiinnee. She could help her Lilith. Just this once.

She sniffed and turned and walked off with Ellie, looking back at Cael every now and then. "What are we playing?"

"That's really weird." Lilith said thoughtfully. "I don't think she's ever acted jealous of anything." She heard Guin walk away. "I guess she's decided it's ok..." Maybe...

"Oh well." She held up her hand to Cael. "She'll just have to learn to live with it."
Cael grinned happily. "I guess she will!" he agreed with enthuse, taking Lilith's offered hand once more as he began to walk bouncily towards Jasmine. The black mare had noticed Cael's approaching- and despite the fact that he was bringing an unfamiliar human, the mare trotted eagerly up to him, meeting him quickly. The beautiful creature buried her muzzle into his chest, snorting happily.
"Hey, girl!" he exclaimed quickly, before directing Jasmine's nuzzling at Lilith's shoulder.
The mare touched the girl's skin very gently, as if to just let her know she was there.
"This is Jasmine," he told Lilith happily. "She's the nicer horse we have."

Felicity giggled happily, skipping freely just beside Guinivere. "I don't know!" she decided, though, after just a moments time worth of thinking, that they were going to play tag.
"... YOU'RE IT!" Felicity cried out between a fit of giggles, nipping playfully at Guinivere's shoulder before she took off, galloping as fast she could in the opposite direction.
Oh, now that was just mean. She was running AWAY from the humans, where Guin wanted to stay. Had to keep an eye on that boy...

She looked back and forth between Felicity and the two, before huffing and bounding off after the other gryph.

Lil breathed in sharply as she felt a velvety thing on her shoulder. "Oh!" she said. She reached her hand up carefully and touched the horses soft nose. "She feels so soft."
Cael smiled genuinely, nodding in approval, mostly to himself. "Yeah! She is," he agreed lesuirely, holding out a hand to rub Jasmine's nape comfortingly. "I ride her bareback all the time, but I don't think it'd be a good idea for you..." he started out slowly. He hadn't said it because Lilith was blind. "Since you've never rode before," he explained further, so that the little girl didn't get the wrong idea of what he meant.

Felicity giggled happily, accompanying her gait with an occasional leap into the air. "You've gotta do better then that!" she called after her shoulder, taking an abrupt turn and heading towards where Echo was grazing.
Better then this, eh? She wondered if she could maybe outsmart the gryph. She screeched to a halt and flattened herself in the grass, scooting away from the area she had ducked down in slowly.

Now to wait.

"I'd be fine," Lilith said, smiling sweetly at Cael.
Ah, naive little Felicity. Convinced that Guinivere was still tailing her, the little gryphon squealed blissfully, occasionally doing a little skip-leap into the air. Then, hoping that she'd lose Guini, (who was still "hot on her trail", according to Ellie's brain), the little girl darted to the left, then to the left once more. The was galloping straight into Guinivere's direction, and given another second or so, she'd collide head on.

Cael blushed furiously, grinning toothily as he dropped Lilith's hand and proceeced to scratch Jasmine's neck. The mare whickered softly, snorting happily into Lilith's shirt, before the mare tugged gently on her sleeve.
"Well... Maybe another time I'll get you to ride Jasmine. She's broken, but I'm really the only one who rides her, so I dunno how she'd act with someone else on her back." he explained quietly, smiling as Jasmine seemed to have taken a liking to Lilith.
If there was anything Guin had learned from Lilith, it was listening and hearing was everything. Luckily for her, she didn't have to listen that carefully for Felicity stampeding towards her. She shook her shoulders, oh this was going to be toooo easy!

She waited another moment, then suddenly jumped up and pounced on top of Ellie.

"TAG!" she cried, darting off.

The little ten year old girl giggled. "Ooh, ok," she said, with part mock, part real disappointment.

She stroked the horses' long nose, then scratched behind her ears. "Jasmine is a pretty name. Why'd you call her that?"
Cael smiled proudly as Jasmine continued to shower Lilith with affection. She was such a good mare.
Listening as Lilith spoke, Cael suddenly perked up. "My ma named her," he responded mechanically, suddenly frowning. "I wanted to name her Ginger, but my ma said that it wasn't 'appropriate', since Jasmines' black. She said that if we ever got a roan or orange horse, I could name her ginger." Cael seemed a bit more upset about this then someone should've been. After all, it was just a name!... Then again, it could've been because there was deeper meaning behind the little argument that he and his mother had gotten into. If there was, however, Cael had not intended on bringing it up.

And she had come out of NOWHERE! Screeching happily, trying to avoid (unsucessfully, of course) the pouncing Guinivere, Felicity stumbled over herself, tripping and falling flat on her belly. "How- wha- you got me!" she cried with giggles, struggling back to her paws as she took off speedily after Guinivere, catching up with suprising ease. Who knew Felicity was so fast?
"I have a kitten back home. She's pure white, but I called her Mahogany." Lilith sounded proud of herself. She knew very well they were two completely different colors. That's why it was funny.

Lilith perked her ears. Hmm...Yes, there it was again. "Papa's calling me," she said softly, her hands dropping to her side. "He must be on his way back home from town." She turned and took a few steps away from the horse. "Guiinnyy! C'mere! We gotta go!"

Guinivere stopped suddenly, just in front of Felicity. Eh? She frowned. "Aww, looks like I have to go," she said. "We'll have to play again someother time. Next time, you can come to our house!" She dashed off to Lilith's side and pranced around. "Lets go, lets go!"

"Goodbye!" Lilith said, skipping off towards the fence. "I'll see you later, 'k?"
Cael smiled, though it soon melted into a soft frown as Lilith said she needed to leave. Nodding understandingly, the little boy gently pushed away Jasmine's muzzle and walked next to Lilith for a moment.
"Okay! Okay, I'll seeya later too! Bye Lilith!" He called, a bit crestfallen, but happy to see the little girl with her gryph seeming so happy together.

Felicity frowned, though smiled cheerily as Guinivere invited her over next time.
"Bye Guinivere!" she shouted, running after until her Cael called her over.  

[bhope]

6.17.06
It's nice to be out of the rain. Even though the atmosphere still feels damp, at least Bravo doesn't feel the constant patter of rain against her back, and her newly-opened eyes don't need to blink constantly to get away from the showers. All she can see around her is blurry, clouded by brights and darks, and she's finding it very hard to make out specific shapes. Not sure who brought her to the field in the middle of all the flock territories - nor even knowing that there IS a field there - all she can do is open her tiny mouth and squeak as she attempts to climb to her wobbly legs. She's learning more about the world, but she's still just a baby... Which means most of what she knows is her own nest. This? It's all new to her.
It's just the weather, Felicity tried to convince herself, as her eerie, round lilac eyes darted around like a firefly trapped inside a jar. It's just the weather, of course! she rationalized, and it was only after a few moments that Felicity had forgotten entirely what she was trying to convince herself of. What was going on? The little white gryph had just been so out of it recently. She'd been looking for something this entire evening to calm her down- a friend- or perhaps a stranger to turn into a friend- but nobody had come to her rescue.

It wasn't till about a moment after she'd decided to head home that a fleck of green caught in Felicity's gaze, and she turned sharply to notice... a newborn gryph! Thank goodness, Felicity thought quickly, allowing her now longer, slender legs to carry her effortlessly in the direction of where Bravo lay.

Now, Felicity had played with newborns before. She knew very well that their eyes were weak, and they could barely hear... But for some reason, all that seemed to leave Felicity's memory. "Hello!" she chirped kindly, sitting down gracefully beside Bravo. "What's your name, little one?" she asked to deaf ears, totally unaware it was in vain.
Bravo's just trying to convince herself that she's not completely, utterly ALONE at the moment, though she doesn't really feel alone. In a way, the little infant is rather excited that she's been alloted this freedom. Perhaps she's been turned out on her own to explore the world and make a name for herself, and perhaps boss others around, because that would be so completely NEAT. However, first, she has to figure out how to stand up on her own, and so far, that's not going so well.

When a shadow crosses in front of her eyes, Bravo tries to focus but just CAN'T, and all she hears is a muffled outpouring of sound that really doesn't mean much to her, because she can't hear it. Even so, she tilts her head at the shadow, blinking her young, blurry eyes. It must be something to eat, thinks the baby. A... Walking... Noisemaking... shrub of some kind. Thus, she does what ANY fierce predator would do-- She gives the shadow a raspberry.

This is followed by another effort to stand, and a batting of her front paws as she tries to attack this noisemaking shadow. She can't quite reach, though, and in the end, she squeaks out, "Arrrmmmnghhg!"

...Because she is a fierce, mighty, noisemaker-shrub-devouring predator!
Felicity smiled kindly, as if forgiving the creature for ignoring her lack of verbal response. As a matter of fact, it seemed as if the white gryphon was pleased, (well honestly, who wouldn't be?) when the adorable little baby administered one of the most professional raspberries ever. Squealing playfully, Felicity's tail raised high above her, and she wiggled it around playfully, her freckled bum wagging from side to side.

"Want to play, baby?" she asked with her almost eerie, singsong voice. Her eyes followed Bravo flawlessly- unblinking. Something was most certainly up with Felicity today. She was like this most of the time- cheerful, friendly, bouncey... But something about her this evening just seemed creepy. It was difficult to pinpoint what, exactly. Not like it mattered to Bravo, though. She was just a newborn, after all!

Finding Bravo's lack of response a bit disappointing, Felicity's face fell a bit- crestfallen. "Alright, you don't have to play," she muttered lamely, watching Bravo still curiously.

"What're you doing out here in the rain, anyways?" she asked mystifyingly, watching Bravo intently, as if she were about to leap up and start tapdancing.