Murder She Wrought

[Shadowed Illusions]

((OoC: History for [Cheyenne].))


"Where we go, mother?"

A dark white-spotted ear flicked back at the familiar voice. Cher grinned, though the youngling couldn't see it from the perch between her snowy wings. "To the rapids." She answered quietly, well aware Cheyenne knew by the sound of the rushing water, but they passed these waters often. "We are going fishing." She added at the growl she heard from her offspring's belly.

There was a pleased purr from the kit at this answer. Fish was her favorite!

The snow leopard and white phased golden eagle gryphon continued on her way with a soft chuckle. She made quick work of the distance between them and the rapids, and with steady paws began the trek from one side of the rushing water to the other. Crossing the first few small boulders was easy, but as she progressed, the rocks got more slick. "Hang on!" she called above the wild water. She felt the kit hunker close to her, and pulled her wings up and in protectively before making any further move to cross.

Confident the young gryphon would not move from the protection of her back at any sudden jolt, she made quick work of the rest of the crossing. With a few large and precise jumps, and one startling slip on a particularly wet rock before it was done with, they'd crossed the rapids without so much as a feather misplaced on the cub. Though Cher was considerably more damp than before, and a little shaken from the mistake that could have been considerably dangerous for them both.

"Almost there," she reassured herself more than Cheyenne, and hopped quickly from the last few boulders and onto more rocky land. Cher loosed her grip on the kit, and Cheyenne responded with raising and peering around the area curiously. The adult gryphoness' pace was smooth and relaxed, her tail flicking idly behind her every so often.

"Dragons?" Cheyenne asked, leaning to the side to better see her mother's face.

Cher paused her walk mid-step with one front paw raised. She looked around and above them, checking to see if the question was spurred by seeing one, before turning her head to watch her daughter with one bright sapphire eye. "We are very near their territory, yes," she said, the thinking silently to herself that they were also very near the Greater Gray's lair, as well. She had hear of the trouble he had caused with the Mithren pack. Though none of the wolves themselves had been harmed to her recollection, her mother's instinct still yelled for her to worry despite the fact no canid blood was shed.

Cheyenne brightened at this news. She had a feeling the winged lizards were around here somewhere, though all she knew of them was what she had been told. She longed to see one in person and see how big they really were. "Go see?" she questioned hopefully.

Cher gave a small frown and turned her head back to the front, moving again as she replied. "Not today, dear. When you are older we will visit."

There it was again. That answer. It was only when she was older that they would do the cool stuff. Cheyenne grumbled and let go a disappointed whine. She slumped into her mother's feathers, watching the moving water off to the side with no particular interest.

it was some minutes before the two females reached a calm in the water near the branch to the swamps and the feed from the mountains. Cheyenne had stayed stretched out on her mother's back for what could have been hours to her, and now that they were at their destination, it was time to move.

She grew restless on her mothers back, finally bringing her cat sized form to stand and stretch. She chirped impatiently at her mother, who responded in turn by sitting quickly. The move was too quick for the kit to react to, and she slid down Cher's back with an alarmed and then joyful squeak. She tumbled a few feet from the little momentum, sending out birdish laughter.

Cher grinned at her kit's amusement and turned to nuzzle her. The affection was received with another contented purr and Cher beamed happily. Cheyenne's stomach growled again and she peered up at her mother sheepishly. The gryphoness nuzzled her kit again. "Time to get some food for that belly." She cooed.

Cher moved from the gravel bank and off onto one of many large boulders in the surrounding area. From her perch, she watched the water intently for fish that strayed too close, and the opportune moment to strike.

Cheyenne remained where she was for a short while, watching her mother move and position herself on one of the large slabs of rock. The young gryphon watched the older catbird intently. Someday she would be using similar tactics to catch the slipper creatures. In her mind, she was learning from the best, though, be it indirectly.

She moved from her spot on the bank, near the waters edge, mimicking to the best of her ability her mother's patience. She sat very still near the waters edge, watching the minnows and fry hungrily. She sat still for as long as she could manage in her youth and then batted at the small fish fiercely. She watched in disappointment as they scattered and regrouped far out of her reach and listen to her stomach growl it's displeasure for her. She looked over at her mother, who still had not moved, and then back at the darting fish, attempting again to stay very still. Practice made perfect, after all.

[XxJah LilaxX]

The day was bright and the air warm as it ran through the soft brown hair of Tatyana, but it was not the heat that brought sweat to her brow and back. It was not for whimsy that the fairy flew so erratically but fear. This was the most important thing Tatyana had been forced to do in her short life. Remembering the look of sheer terror on little Jendi's face hardened her resolve as she approached the river, and she corrected her flightpath. Where was the bratty little creature she had been sent for?

It took a moment to spot the child, for she was being perfectly still, stalking fish she had no hope of catching. The adult gryphoness, presumably the kit's mother, was consumed in her hunting. All was as Angel Dark had promised it would be. Tatyana zipped across to the child, a ball of glowing, glittering pink in which the tiny girl was completely obscured until she got very close. Giggling, she hovered in front of the beak of Cheyenne, twirling around acrobatically and grinning with tiny, pointed teeth.

"Hi!" she said, giving her wings an extra flutter that shed glitter into the river. "Whatcha doing?" Her little voice was audible over the sound of water only to Cheyenne.

[Shadowed Illusions]

Cheyenne found it very intriguing how the fish would dart from her shadow if she moved a taloned hand in their direction, and then moments later swarm back to the bit of water they'd abandoned in blind fear. She played various tricks on the fishes small minds, testing the limits of how far she could push them before they fled far from her small reach. It grew boring quick, however, and she concluded that the scaled creatures were more stupid now than she'd originally thought...

She sat very still again, mimicking her mother once more. She lashed out at the water after what seemed like ages, mindlessly enjoying the brief resistance at the contact with its surface and the sounds it made when the splash came crashing back. She grinned at the game, and was preparing to strike again, when she noticed something very abnormal on the water's rippling surface. She narrowed her eyes at the bright pink thing on the water, happy grin straightening slightly in confusion and the act of trying to figure out what it was.

'Hi!'

She blinked hard at the voice, eyes widening from the half slits they'd become. She crouched reflexively, pulling everything close and taking a step or two back. Ears went against her head and eyes traveled above her to whoever had spoke. She was obviously startled.

'Whatcha doing?'

She blinked again at the voice, and the creature it had come from. Cheyenne had never seen anything quite like it! Curious now, she relaxed some, posture straightening slowly. "F-fishing." She replied, taking a step forward and stretching as if it would give her a better view of the glowy thing. She'd purposely left out the "and failing horribly at it" part, and plain forgot to mention her mother in the area, but that didn't matter.

"What are you?"

[XxJah LilaxX]

The young gryphon was evidently fascinated by Tatyana and her glittery little glow, which was a very good sign. The fairy could feel the nervous sweat on her palms as she continued smiling brightly at Chey. If she failed to accomplish her mission, it was going to be Jendi who suffered. If the lad was lucky--and "lucky" was a very relative term--it would be the hellish toychest that claimed him, a pawn to be brutalized casually in the Master's chess games or other games whose names and rules had been lost to the ages long ago. If Jendi was unlucky, the Master would regard him as a special project rather than a game piece. Sometimes there were screams that floated up from the labyrinthine caves that composed the basement of Angel Dark. Sometimes it took them a long time to stop, but they all stopped eventually. Tatyana had heard some of them survived, but when they emerged their eyes were dark tunnels in their faces, as if the soul that had created the glimmer there had been wiped away.

"F-fishing." "What are you?"

Tatyana giggled behind her hand, gracefully taking a seat on Cheyenne's beak. "I'm a fairy, silly! I live in a little moss city down the river," she said, pointing upriver towards the now abandoned home of her ancestors and the cave system they had been dragged to in bondage. Tatyana felt a bit guilty about delivering this innocent young thing to Angel Dark, but if the trade was her life for the freedom of the two fairies, there was no question which she must pick.

"Fishing? Looks hard. And boring. That's a boy job, where I come from," she chattered in a decidedly friendly manner. "I do hope you don't mind me sitting here, I suppose it's rude for me to sit on a stranger's nose like this. I know! If we tell each other our names, we won't be strangers anymore! It's not nearly as rude to sit on your friend's nose!" Tatyana stood up and bowed deeply to the gryphlet. "My name is Tatyana Daisy Oerlin, but please please please never tell anyone my middle name. The pixies would tease me dreadfully."

[Shadowed Illusions]

((OoC: #868AE1))

The young gryphon was far too intrigued by the glowing thing to acknowledge the faint warning bells going off at the back of her mind. Subconsciously, she was receiving hints of the creatures anxiety, but her abilities were still too underdeveloped for her to realize this may be a valid warning, or to connect any farther with the strangers mind. She looked too happy and was too friendly for Cheyenne to have anything to worry about, even if she did perch on her beak without permission!

"Moss City? There more of you?" she asked with wide eyes, awed and thrilled that there were more glowy things like this around. Why hadn't she seen anything like this before? Did they come in more colors? "Mama likes fish. She teaching me. It not hard at all," she explained proudly, fuzzy feathers puffing out on her chest. It was a lie, of course. The only thing she has been able to catch thus far is a cold because she fell into the water one too many times.

"Is okay." she reassured. It wasn't like she weighed much of anything... In fact, Chey hardly felt the change at all. Maybe she was made of light... pretty pink light. The fairies logic made perfect sense. "I am Cheyenne," she said amiably. "Do everyone have more than one name where you come from?" she asked curiously. Cheyenne didn't have a middle name, or a last name, and she was sure her parents didn't either. Was she supposed to have one?

[XxJah LilaxX]

Tatyana, evidently incapable of being still for too long, took flight again and floated about six inches away from Chey's left eye. Close up, her humanoid features were a bit flat, her chin extremely pointed and her eyes somewhat too large for her face. As she smiled, one could see her tiny teeth were all slightly pointed. "Sure there are more of us! It would be sad if I was the only one." It was actually a very disturbing thought. Her family had all been alive last she had seen them, but that had been a while ago. What if she and Jendi really were the last ones? She didn't let her acting falter, continuing to smile brightly. Everything depended on this.

When the gryphlet introduced herself, Tatyana spun in a tight, exuberant circle, laughing. "Hello Cheyenne! I've never heard a name like that before, it's very pretty." The little gryphon did not conceal her interest in the fairy now, which was very good sign. "Not all of us have many names. The farmers have one, the hunters have two, and the people whose great great great grand daddies and mommies built the city have three." Talking about the city was causing an ache of homesickness she hadn't anticipated, but she had to humor the brat to keep seeming friendly.

"I know! Now that we're friends, we could play together! I only have a little time before I have to get home for supper, but we could play a game of tag, right?" Tatyana looked hopefully into Chey's eye, contriving to look friendly and just a little bit lonely. It was only the friendliness she had to fake. If this didn't work.... No, it had to work.

[Shadowed Illusions]

Cheyenne blinked in surprise at the fairies sudden movements, and cocked her head slightly to the side, both relieved she was not so close as to make her cross eyed and curious about where all the bubbly energy came from. It reminded her of a humming bird, zipping around everywhere without the funny hum to listen to and the pretty colors. Even the shiny hummingbirds had nothing on this!

She ignored the compliment, recalling something the fairy had said earlier that she didn't address. "Do pixies look like you?" she asked leaning forward some to examine the little fliers funny looking features. She had never seen or heard of a pixie either. "Why do they have different number names?" she asked, more eager to have her questions answered than to play a game of tag.

"How many of you are there? Is Moss City big? What's it made out of? Where is it? Do you come in different colors?" She fired them off one after the other, leaving little room for an actual reply. The last one was of particular importance, now that it has been bugging her for more than thirty seconds. "Mama tol' not to wander off... Lots of bad things everywhere." she shuddered lightly, recalling the big bug incident, and passed a brief glance at the distracted Cher farther up river. "I got to stay here." she said sadly. There were so few to play with at home. "I could teach you to fish!" she brightened at the idea, grinning widely. "It lots of fun. Mama could help!"

[XxJah LilaxX]

Tatyana was beginning to get seriously sick of answering these questions. Not only did they call up memories of when her people had been happy and at peace, they wasted valuable time. What if Angel Dark decided she was taking too long and had failed in her mission? How long before he grew impatient? Still, it wouldn't do to show her irritation. She giggled again slightly, "I don't think I look a thing like a pixie, but then again unicorns get mad if you say they look like horses, and I think they look like horses, so maybe we do."

As Cheyenne leaned forward slightly, Tatyana stroked some of the feathers on her face, grinning with evident curiosity as Chey continued with her torrent of questions. "I don't know, I don't know, VERY big, moss and trees and rocks, right around that bend in the river! And sure we come in different colors, don't your people?" She laughed and bobbed through the air to look in Chey's other eye, answering with scarcely a breath between words.


Mama tol' not to wander off... Lots of bad things everywhere. I got to stay here. Shit! The little brat's mother was smart to warn her young. Tatyana's little mind began whirling to come up with how to lure the child away. When Chey offered her fishing lessons, she cried, "NO! I...fishes scare me, Cheyenne. The little ones are okay, but the big ones could gobble me up in one gulp." She cast a fearful glance down at the water, wringing her hands for a moment before brightening slightly again. "I know! I could show you Moss City instead! I mean, I don't want you in trouble, but I don't think it's wandering when you have a friend as a guide, is it? When you're wandering, you don't know where you're going right?" She smiled hopefully at Chey, stroking her feathers again. "I want you to meet my brothers and sisters, and we'll still be in hollering distance of your mama and my mama both--that's like being twice as safe and protected!"

The little fairy seemed very proud of her brilliant idea. Inwardly, her heart was pounding in her chest. Did her logic make enough sense to the gryphlet to follow her down the river?