Bleak Madness, AW

[Oscuro]

Throughout the Wolves Teeth, a blizzard was raging. Snow whirled frantically round the tops of the mountains, dumping great drifts in all of the valleys. It was a dangerous time to be abroad in the range, and no gryphon in his right mind would brave it.

Only, Oscuro wasn't in his right mind, not entirely. He had never really had a right mind. He was insane, but with the insanity came violence, and the irrationaly need to kill. Why he was at the top of Shortsnap peak, then, was a mystery to anybody but him.

Shortsnap peak was the highest in the wolves teeth, and Oscuro loved to go there, for it gave him a snese of power over all of the lands that the mountain overlooked. At this moment he was challenging the blizzard, daring it to do its worst to him. He shrieked, an elated challenge to the elements to tear him from his perch, never truly believing anything could touch him. But, of course, he could be broken.

As his call died away, an unusually strong gust caught under his folded wings, ripping them wide open, and sending him plummeting towards the floor of the Vornin pass. He passed out the moment he hit the snow.

Hours later, the blizzard had passed on, deeper into the mountains, but there was no sign of Oscuro. The snow drifts were smooth and unblemished. Only a single black feather, falling slowly to the floor, hinted that he had ever been there.

However, Oscuro was not one to be kept down by a mere snow storm. One of the heaps suddenly shuddered, and the black male broke out, gasping for breath, shivering all over. Quickly he used the magic he instinctively knew he had to warm himself up, lest he should die of cold, and he looked around. He recognised nothing. Not one single landmark was familer. In fact, looking down at himself, he realised he himself was not familier. Who was he? And why was he alone, in the middle of a mountain range?

[Iaro]

Another gryphon was wondering the same thing.

Cocooned in a sphere of protective magic, she'd lain low during the storm. In fact, until she felt Oscuro's stirring and started shaking the snow off the sphere to see who it was, she hadn't realised at all that the storm was over. As the white slipped off her sphere she saw him through it's walls ... a black gryphon crouched in the snow, looking a mess. An idiot or unlucky to be out here without protection! By the feel of it he was using magic to warm himself up, though. Iaro smiled.

She threw herself against the inside of her sphere. Nothing more sophisticated than her movement inside would send it rolling forward, and it was stuck in the snow. It rocked and more snow fell off, then rocked again. if the movement caught Oscuro's eyes he'd see the shape of the gryphon standing slender and pale inside it's frosty blueish walls, her black head just a featureless inky blot. One final leap broke the sphere loose of it's snowy mooring, and it rolled pondorously toward the black gryphon over the drifts.

This post has been edited by Iaro on Sep 21 2008, 01:23 AM

[Oscuro]

Oscuro did catch sight of Iaro. He saw her, puling free of the snow in her magical sphere, and for some unknown reason immediately bristled. He crouched aggresively towards the snow, hissing, flaring his wings to the sides to let this newcomer know he wasnt to be trifled with. But why did he act like this? He wasnt sure...it was just instinct...

Struggling to pull himslef to together, Oscuro dropped his aggressive stance and went forward to greet the pretty female.

"Hi," he stuttered, feeling unsure of himself. "I'm..." and he stopped. It had been on the tip of his tongue, and he'd lost it.
"Actually, I dont know who I am...or why I'm here...or even where here is." He lowered his head, feeling confused and upset, totally at a loss of what to do with himslelf.

[Iaro]

The sphere flashed blue as Iaro hissed in response, hunching her shoulders and flaring her own wings, tiny and useless as they were. She halted the sphere a way back from him, holding it in place as she stared at him.

As he dropped his aggression and came toward her she eyed him with caution, but let the sphere thin to transparency at least. She cocked her head as he spoke, taken aback by his words. She hadn't seen THAT coming.

"Oh" was all she could think of to say at first. "So that sounds pretty lost."

This post has been edited by Iaro on Sep 25 2008, 10:16 AM

[Oscuro]

"It is..." answered the male, very downcast. "I dont even know where I live." He stopped again, brooding, then looked hopefully up at the female. Perhaps she might spark some recognition, if he had known her before.

"Whats you name? Do you know me?" He hardly dared hope, yet it was worth a try. Perhaps she had heard of him...even met him, or knew him. But then again, perhaps she did not.

((Sorry for the short post...))

[Iaro]

"I'm Iaro," she replied offhandedly in a voice that sounded distracted. She was looking at him intently. She cocked her head, first to one side, then the other. "I ... might ..." she said slowly, then took a few steps to roll the magic ball she was in backwards so she could look at him properly. "You know, you really look a gryphon I saw ... I think he was called Starlight ... my cousin pointed him out to me ... "
She kept looking at him, now with the vaguely unfocused expression of someone comparing a picture they had in their head with the reality in front of them.

(( *mad laughter* if you don't want Oscuro to go around for a while thinking he's a different gryphon just let me know ^-^ ))

[Oscuro]

((Naw, this'll be interesting....*cackles* this will certainly be interesting...))

"Iaro?" oscuro repeated, trying it out. It didnt feel very familiar...no, he didn't know it, he was almost certain...

"You know, you really look a gryphon I saw ... I think he was called Starlight ... my cousin pointed him out to me ... "

"Starlight?" Oscuro repeated the name uncertainly, over and over again in his mind, getting the feel of it. It felt as familiar as Iaro's name, but that meant nothing-in his current state, he did not even know where he called home.

"Starlight I am then," he said as confidently as he could. "What...what pride am I in?" Oscuro Starlight added tentatively. He really would like to go home...

[Iaro]

((Sorry it took me longer than I said, I told you the time when I'd be finished uni and I forgot to add the time it'd take to recover from all the lack of sleep! I've been WASTED! But a little moar sleep now and I'm back ))

"I ... "

Iaro hesitated. Then she tilted her head a little bit, and tilted it back, her short ears tucked back against her skull as she eyed him.

"I could be wrong," she offered. "I only saw you - him - briefly."

Another moment, and then she continued, sounding almost reluctant. "I don't know what pride. Thing is, see, my cousin said Starlight was a light but got thrown out because he did dark magic ... "

She trailed off.

[Oscuro]

"Dark...magic?" Starlight repeated hesitantly. He didnt know if he could do magic...he raised his forepaw and examined it, then threw caution to the wind, whipping his paw in the air whilst cringing, afraid of the result. A bolt of black fire shot into the sky, the came crashing down within inches of Iaro. He was stunned. This certainly was magic...and it certainly didnt feel friendly...

He looked up at Iaro, fear in his scarlet eyes. What was he? A homeless evil necromancer? Or somebody else entirely...?

[Iaro]

Iaro leapt aside with a squark as the fireball cracked down in a cloud of evaporated water, the protective sphere around her suddenly opaque as it slammed on to full protection. The big white ball surrounding the black-headed gryphon rolled sideways across the snow, a muffled thump heralding the tumble that Iaro was taking inside. It blinked back to transparency as it came to rest against a drift, revealing a very ruffled looking female with her fur and feathers all on end along her spine. She shook herself, vibrating her tiny wings and settling herself a little, but her hackles stayed up. That had been a close one. She rolled the sphere back to the shocked looking "Starlight", trying to regain a little dignity - though it was a lost cause.

"You okay?" she asked sympathetically. She'd had a few nasty experiences with unfamiliar or uncontrolled magic, enough to know how scary it could be. Poor guy. She felt bad now.

Still looking at "Starlight", she slid halfway out of the sphere with a little crackle of magic and placed her forefeet in the smoking, water filled hollow where the fire had come down.

This post has been edited by Iaro on Nov 23 2008, 08:30 AM

[Oscuro]

"I'm so sorry," 'Starlight' cried, running forwards to help Iaro up. "I didnt know that would happen..." He watched her raise herself to her feet and scrutinized her closely to check the bolt hadnt struck her, but fortunately she seemed fine. Oscuro turned slowly, thinking hard. He really needed somebody who could tell him for sure who he was, somebody who had seen him...

"Woud it be possible for me to meet your cousin?" Oscuro asked slowly. "He could confirm if I am indeed called Starlight...or if I am not..."

[Iaro]

Iaro accepted 'Starlight's help with grace, warming at his concern for her, her ears flattening back against her neck a little. Her feet sloshed in the snow as, for the moment at least, she let her sphere dull into dormancy. Her smile faltered for a fraction of a second as 'Starlight' spoke.
"My, ah - " She stared at him blankly for a moment. "My cousin's a she." She closed her eyes for a moment, nodded, and then nodded again more decisively as she opened her eyes and rested them once again on 'Starlight's face.
"Sure. We had a falling out ... it's been a long time since I've seen her. But I've been thinking of making the journey anyway. It's a good idea."

Play tricks in haste, repent at leasure ...