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 Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:14 pm
*She continued to cough for a few moments more before the coughing fit finally subsided and she was able to breath. Teary eyed she lifted her maw to the one before her. Those beautiful baby blues glistening from the water that was building.* I'm sorry. *She said, feeling like an idiot for not understanding what her new friend had meant but mostly for disappointing her. She really liked her and didn't want her to think she was a complete mistake. Fortunately the soothing rubs on her back just over her leaf like wings made her feel a bit better. Still she lowered her gaze to the ice frozen sand and sniffled a bit, dejected by her own actions.*
I'll try harder next... *She began to say, but then zeph spoke of parents. like a wave rolling over her mind the information was filled in. The light turned on in her brain, as if she had always known the word which she'd never heard before, instantly the information was pulled into her thoats as to what the meaning of this word was, like it had been pulled from a long hidden and forgotten filing cabinet.*
Parent...
A father or a mother. An ancestor, precursor, or progenitor. A source, origin, or cause. A protector or guardian. Any organism that produces or generates another. The first nuclide in a radioactive series. One who teaches and cares for a youngling...
*She muttered the words to herself as if she'd read it from a book, but there were none before her. She blinked for a moment then looked up at Zaph.* I don't have parents. *She said after a moments pause and then her expression changed from depressed to hopeful.* Unless you're my parent? *She asked it as if she really didn't know the answer and needed to be told yes or no. Such honestly in her voice. Such a strange thing she must appear to the other.*
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Posted: Wed Dec 10, 2008 9:25 pm
Zephyiote sat back on her haunches. Her eyes wide with scrutiny, deisbelief, and shock. "I am very sorry to hear that...but...I am not your parent. I apologize, I know nothing of them. But...I can...offer parental supervision, for the time being, if you need it. I am quite a proficient hunter, and whatnot..." Zephyiote was unsure of what to say to reassure the girl. She didn't know who her parents were? How had she survived this long with no one to look after her? It was a mystery indeed. She massaged her temples with her thumb and index finger, sighing deeply as she tried to figure out what to do.
"Stay here, I will be back quickly." She turned around, took a few running steps, and leapt into the water, wasting no time. She ignored the beauty around her, shooting forward, searching about for something meal worthy. Cursing her bad luck silently, she found nothing. She went farther from shore, until finally she came upon a small reef shark. No more than six feet. But it would do. Poor thing never knew what hit it. Zephyiote fell upon the beast, striking it from the sides. Her jaws clamped shut around the base of it's head, her claws sinking into the creature near the eyes. She avoided tearing it apart though. It would make it more cumbersome when taking it back to shore. She turned and made her way swiftly back to shore, albeit a bit slower, thanks to the thing she was dragging.
She hauled the beast onto the shore, dripping wet, mouth dripping blood, but she had food for the youngling. She sliced it open with a flick of her wrist. Not wanting the youngling to possibly cut her tongue on the sandpaper hide of the shark. Zephyiote remembered doing that, before she'd learned better. It hadn't been a pleasant exerience. "Eat up," she said, slightly out of breathe from the speed at which she'd done that. And the fact she'd done it all in one breath.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly, but it quickly subsided. "Careful to avoid the skin. It will cut your mouth." They could worry about other problems after the youngling had eaten. She was hungry, and that particular problem was easily solved. After she'd had her fill, then they could focus on more long term things.
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Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:57 pm
*She saw the judging look in the ones eyes, and felt bad. It wasn't her fault she had no parents, but she wasn't born, and hadn't been part of this existence but maybe a weeks time. However, she was a very fast learner, a bit too gullible but fast, so she'd been able to survive by watching what the animals did about her, learning from them what was safe to eat and when to hide. However she started realizing real soon that she had no reason to hide from some of the animals. They wouldn't attack her for fear of her. Something she found interesting. It didn't take long for her to realize she was pretty near the top of the food chain when a wolf bounded away from her frightened, after she had woken up from a slumber and moved, having shifted from what appeared to be a plant to her dragonic form. Seemed an easy enough instinct to help keep her alive and safe.
Yes Surviving was something her kind was really good at, They were created with that ability at a high level. For one who would never grow old, and never came from anything, being able to survive in a young form was key to life itself. Still even with all of that, she was still at the learning stage of her development, having not been created as some where, around other Painters, she didn't have the experience of knowing them and knowing what it meant to be a painter, no, she was just learning now from her first encounter... Zeph.
As Zeph said sorry to her, she didn't really know what to say, a bit confused. What was she sorry for? Then she heard the words "I'm not your parent." She nodded at this, so this other was sorry that she wasn't her parent??? This was what she rationalized at least.*
How would one know if they need *She tested the words.* Parental Supervision? *It seemed a reasonable enough question, but the answer would have to wait as Zeph ordered her to stay, and she did, as Zeph leapt into the water and returned after a bit of time with the most Gigantic thing she'd ever seen*
WOW, what is that!! *She said as the shark was lain before her Belly ripped wide open revealing what to her smelt heavenly. Her mouth watered as she lowered her two forepaws to the skin and pulled it wider own and then dove her maw into the juicy flesh of the beast. Lacking a bit in refinement as she did so, this was after all her first time eating something like this, she remained careful to avoid the skin with her mouth.*
Mmm Dis ish gewd *She said between bites, her tail waggling happily behind her like a dog. Yes she liked this, she'd have to learn fast how to swim so she could catch one too, how something so big could be in the water still amazed her but before she'd ask such questions she knew she needed to fill her belly.*
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 8:43 am
Zephyiote set about grooming herself while the peculiar youngling ate. Zephy often pondered how old she was. While her massive size, extensive mane growth, and impressive horn growth would normally dictate a Pan'Lun of at least several hundred years, quite possibly even a millenia, she could not verify it. Her memory dated back only seven years ago. For all she knew, she was only eight years old, and had been born as some kind of experiment gone wrong. Maybe a Pan'Lun had done some kind of sorcery and failed, and her spirit had taken over this body? Who knew? Certainly not she.
She preened her tail fluff, and the mane on her back that she could reach. Her scales stood on end, and careful teeth and tongue cleaned around them and underneath. She paused in this, leaning over to snap up a few bites from the shark, before resuming preening
It had been amusing to see the young girl's expression when she saw the shark. "This is only a reef shark, young one. If you think this is big, I will go take you to see a whale." Zephyiote finished her brief preening, and scratched behind an ear with lazy motions from a hind leg. Like a dog. She would wait until the young one had her fill, and then she would finish it off.
"Tell me, young one, what is your name?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:09 am
*She continued to tear through the reef sharks insides ripping with delight and diligence the meat that was inside, backing up the few times that Zeph went in to lap at the kill, so as to share. She wasn't of the hording nature after all, she was just THAT hungry. This was to be her first meal ever.
When she had finally had her fill she rolled back on her haunches, those "Horns" then swiveled back, revealing that they were ears not horns. Intently she listened to Zephy talk about these thing she called whales and tried to fathom what in the world could be bigger than this shark. It was like talking to a child about dinosaurs, all wide eye'd and enthralled. Then Zephy asked the one question no one had asked her, yet. But oddly enough, she knew the answer, just like she knew how to talk. It made no since with how young she was, but it was part of what she was as well.*
I am Idea. *She answer brightly. It sounded like broken english when she said it, as if she was saying she had an idea. As she said it she got up and on all fours moved to the waters edge where she quickly dipped her face and forpaws into the waters eb and blew, making bubbles. Then pulling back from the waters she shook the water from her face and paws and walked back to sit again, now cleaned of the mess. She smiled and waited for Zephy to say something next. She liked this question game.*
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:25 am
Zephyiote took her turn at the kill. She ate efficiently, her tonue pulling every scrap of meat out from the insides of he shark. It took her no more than a few minutes, but she effectively emptied the carcass of all but the most undesirable parts, leaving a hollow skin. Like a snake skin.
She licked her chops and lay down on her stomach, content to rest for a while and let her stomach digest. The sun was nice and warm, the sound of the ocean near, the day overall pleasant. She unfurled expansive wings, letting them lay loose on the ground around her, covering the earth like leathery red blankets. "Well, Idea, I am Zephyiote. It is a pleasure to make your acquiantance." She flashed the other a sharp toothed grin, good naturedly, of course.
"Well, if you do not know your parents, where do you live?" It was a simple enough question. If she had a poor territory, Zephyiote would help the other to establish one where game was plentiful. Or perhaps bring her to Painter canyon, and get her a cave. There were thousands there, to be sure. It was a nice place to live. She would never lack food. But could she fly? Her wings didn't look capable of flight. If they could be called wings. But magic was strong, especially in dragons. And if this youngling was capable of fire and ice, perhaps she could fly as well?
"Idea, are you capable of flight?"
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:55 am
*She thought about it for a second, it was a good question.* I live here. *She said pointing to the ground. Now that could mean a many of a number of things, but for her it meant she lived right were she was sitting, she had no home, not really. But she slept in camouflage at night, shifting to blend into the shrubbery around her and during the day she wandered a bit.
She'd traveled to this place from a colder climate, instinct driving her forward until she found this wooded beautiful piece of nature. She still remembered what the first few days of the blinding white was like for her, the cold didn't affect her, but that incurable drive with in her, like an instinct to eat pulled her forward from the mountain range to the place of green and life. At first she was in awe of it, she still was in some ways, but it gets pretty mundane trying to figure out how to live. And she had to be a fast learner, fortunately her kind was, but this also meant no time to actually relax, not when learning to survive, she had finally figured out a way to hunt, when she met zeph.
A smile stretched across her own face revealing her own rows of sharpened teeth as she was ever so politely greeted.* I'm happy to know you too!! *She said, her ear gave a flick as she said it as if to announce it's own joy at her presence.
Then the other question was asked. This one she could answer, having learned this skill from the get go.* Oh yes, that's the first thing I was doing. *She said with a grin as she flicked her leaf shaped wings out, they weren't very big, and hardly looked flight worthy. But as she did such a warm magic seemed to radiate from her.
It didn't have the same feel as most magic, but it did seem to give anyone near by the warm fuzzies that accompanied the holiday spirit she was created from, it made Idea giggle as she could feel it as well, it tickled her, but as it did this up into the air, graceful as a dove she went and with out a flap of those wings, they did absolutely no work! but it seemed as if magic surrounded them and had moved then around her. If one could see magic they'd see an almost angelic glow about her at this.*
See, I fly *She said with a smile hovering just above the ground and looking at her new found friend Zeph.*
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 11:18 am
Zephyiote was pretty sure of the answer to the first question before she asked. So Idea had no real established territory, or home. She din't seem to think much about it, but Zephyiote did worry a bit. She had no one to watch after her. She was so young and naive...it worried Zephyiote. Suppose something happened to her? She could be gravely injured, or killed. Suppose she broke a leg? How would she hunt?
Seeing her fly was a relief. It gave her a funny feeling though. A sort of tingling inside. Zephyiote, hardly one for touchy feely stuff, brushed off the feeling. She had keen eyes. And she saw in a different way from most. There were a series of heat sensing organs right near the ridges on her head. So that was picked up. And she saw in a much greater vision range than others. Thanks to the eyes across her body. Though she could only sense heat from things she looked at with her head. Another thing. She saw colors brilliantly, but when something moved, it looked brighter to her. So she was extremely hard to sneak up on. So those three factors, combined with normal vision, gave her excellent, if bizarre, vision. She picked up traces of abnormality hanging in the air around her. No doubt some stray or residual magic from her methods of flight. Sort of like a Pan'Lun. Zephyiote didn't need wings for flight. She could rely on the Pan'Lun flying method of magic. She just enjoyed wings. They were a pleasure and a thrill.
She stretched out, flexing each limb in turn, watching Idea. How nice this youngling was. So naive and innocent. Zephyiote jumped into the air after her, delaying the spreading of her wings until she was a good forty feet in the air. "What do you say we go on a little trip, Idea? I want to show you something."
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 11:59 am
*While she had a full belly, and it made her a bit sleepy she was more than willing to follow her friend to anything that her friend called interesting. So up higher into the air she followed the Paint, not once did she flap those wings, and as Zeph began to lead the way she inquired.*
Are we going to see the whales?!
*So much like a child on a road trip she was, and very excited to go some new place, and see something new. She was pretty certain that should anything be of interest to Zeph that it had to be a pretty kewl thing, and she quickened her pace just a bit.*
Where we going?
*She asked with an almost hyperness, yes she was easily made happy.*
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:27 pm
Zephyiote laughed and shook her head. It was amusing just to listen to Idea talk, and ask questions. "No, I am taking you to say something even better than whales." The wind was good, and travel was fast. Thankfully, they were close to Painter Canyon as it was. It shouldn't take them more than an hour and a half or two to get to Painter Canyon. The sky was clear and blue. There were few clouds. Such nice weather, considering it was late in the year. She did a few little dips and other aerial tricks in her flight pattern, having fun with it. It would be a shame not to. When everything was so nice as this.
The scenery changed from forest to golden plains, with waving, billowing grass. Good. That meant they were getting closer. "It is truly a beautiful day. Do not you think?" She laughed loudly and looked over her shoulder at Idea. "Come Darling, hurry!"
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Posted: Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:56 pm
*Something was better than these whales that Zeph had spoke of earlier?!? Not possible! Least that's how she felt until she started to see the blurring of colors beneath her and then the change from greens to gold, she swooped down and reached her paws up against the blades of the tall billowing grass as almost getting distracted by the feel of it, until she heard Zeph speak again and noticed she'd falled behind. With a cheerful giggle she sped up to follow.*
It's so beautiful!!!
*Her voice was in awe, as if she'd never seen something as simple as golden brown grass. It was like she was looking at the world for the first time. Which was very much the truth of the matter when it came to this place, she'd never ventured beyond the woods, not yet anyway.
The sounds of Zephy's laughter made her smile a bit as she came up just behind her so not to lag behind, she was indeed a very fit flyer. Blue eyes gazed enthralled at Zephy when she did her tricks, and she followed her like a child mimicing it's parent, but with out the mistakes.*
I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying
*She said excitedly.*
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Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 5:10 pm
Zephyiote laughed, and turned to see Idea race to catch up. Her wings were fascinatingly beautiful. Not physically useful, but the magic they gathered was genuine. These were the real deal. What a peculiar painter Idea was. Looking like a Christmas tree ornament, or possesed foliage. Perhaps a combination of the two.
Zephyiote's keen eyes scanned the horizon, and by staring hard, she was sure she could see painter Canyon. It would take them another twenty minutes to get there, but still, they were getting closer. Oh how nice this all was! How pleasant and serene! And with darling Idea. Pleasant company that she was. How interesting as well. As if she'd never seen the outside world before. To think how marvelous as strange it all seemed to her. Zephyiote wondered why, but figured on asking her later.
"We are almost there...you really have no idea where we are going?" Zephyiote wondered how that could be. Painter Canyon was...famous. Everyone knew about it. It was a huge gouge out of the side of the island. And home to hundreds. How strange that Idea seemed to have no recognition of it. Zephyiote pumped her wings a little more, going faster. Ahead, she spied a rainbow, and smiled.
"Look at that Idea! The rainbow is beckoning us onward."
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Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2008 8:27 pm
*She shook her head at the inquiry of where they were going, no she truly hadn't a clue, Zeph did after all not give her a name of a place, but even if she had she wouldn't know what it was. Seeing Zeph speed up even more she followed, able to stay just so behind zeph. And then Zeph pointed out the rainbow.
Like a child lost in the scenery, she was. And she couldn't help but feel her heart race at each new thing she saw, excitement filled her and that gentle magic that was of her making seemed to shimmer about her the more excited she became. Blue eyes, colored like the sky turned tried to see where this rainbow was that Zephy spoke of when they caught sight of the most marvelous thing, the colors of the earth arching across the sky.*
WOW!!! *She said in astonishment at the sight of this new thing to her, so startled by its beauty that she stopped moving and just floated there in awe, having forgotten everything that she was doing, entranced by the beauty of this thing before her. What was it?* Look!!! Look!!! *She said and pointed at the the arch in the distance.* What is that?! *Now zeph would know that the thing she was looking at was the rainbow, but she would also know that any teenager or child of even 8 years of age would know this, how would Idea have no clue?*
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:14 pm
Silence was Zephyiote for a moment, as she watched the little crack in the horizon rapidly approach, knowing it for the Canyon. "That is a rainbow, Idea. But if you think that is amazing...look at THIS!" she declared, unable to contain a roar of a laugh that escaped her. For they had just crossed over the lip of Painter Canyon, and all around them, for miles, were caves in the sides of the rocks.
Zephyiote angled downwards, spiraling into a tight dive as she shot towards the ocean, straight as an arrow. Dozens of Painters could be seen, going about their business, flying, sitting at the entrances to their caves. All of their heads turned to see the unusal pair. The flying ornament, and the bizaare, winged silver creature.
Zephyiote didn't care. This was wonderful. It had been far too long since she'd come to Painter Canyon. Its beauty was always amazing. The water looked so happy and calm and blue. The canyon wall with its multitude of colors was gorgeous, the sky was resplendent. Everything was...perfect. Were she normal, and accepted, Zephyiote would have loved to live here. Not much could compare.
She twisted out of her dive at the last moment, skimming above the water, and letting her fingers trail in the water. Despite the bizarre looks she was getting, she was having a good time. She couldn't imagine what this was like for Idea to see. All these other Painters as well as the formation itself.
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Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2008 8:53 pm
*She just stopped, there wasn't much else she could do and she stared in wonder, like a child from the country seeing the big town for the first time, her maw open, jaw dropped, mouth agape at the wonder before her, and all the many many painters.
It took a while before she realized that Zeph had left her to dance upon the waters and she got a bit frightened, quickly she looked left and then right, those blue eyes searching for a place to hide, finding none, instinct took over and she shifted into the shape of a plant and curled up in the air, afraid of all the stares and people. It was beautiful, so very beautiful but it was SO VERY big and she felt so very much alone, she trembled.*
Zeph. *She said in a slightly shaky whisper doubtful she'd be heard, not sure where Zeph had gone.*
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