TEST DRIVE MEME #4

[fairyfoes]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Considering apping to EACHDRAIDH? Why not give the setting a test run here! OPTIONAL SCENARIOS 01. ARRIVING IN THE DRABWURLD. The Seelie and Unseelie courts welcome you with mirthful revelry and hearty food. After you have been briefed on your purpose here, you will find an endless feast and a night filled with entertainment to placate your concerns. Mingle with new arrivals, sneak down the castle halls and make sure your eyes are always on your glass; fairies and imps have no bias when it comes to tricks! 02. THE STATION. Looking for a little slice of home? The Station gives you all that and more. Take advantage of the wifi, have a cup of fairy-brewed coffee (the one they didn't spit in) or sit back and relax on the patio. You can even move your things into one of the available rooms! 03. WILDCARD. Your own scenario! Explore the Drabwurld or simply take advantage of your Locket!

Comments

=D

[curser]

[Maleficent was not so inclined to be cautious. If the creature meant her harm, what better way to find out than by tucking her wings in close and rolling past her, She was under the gryphon when her wings snapped open to lift her back up, a few beats taking her up to the run parallel to her.]

Warm winds, my friend.

Terribly sorry!! Feel free to ignore if you'd like!! *facepalm*

[bondedgryphon]

[Zhaneel makes a small sound of surprise, gaze following the swift tuck and roll maneuver as the humanoid creature moves in. She is not overly concerned as she is the fastest flyer within the Wings, but an adjustment of her own wings makes certain she can dip up or dive with the smallest shift of muscle.

For all the concern and caution, however, there is no lack of admiring Maleficent's appearance and control of the winds. She thrums as she speaks, fallin into pace alongside her with easy wing beats.]

Wind to thy wingsss... [She fumbles for a title...] milady... [Zhaneel is the size of a small horse, but she carries herself easily through the air.]

/ignores forever

[curser]

May I ask what you are? I admit I've never seen anything quite like you.

[And she lived among trolls and pixies and treeants, Zhaneel. This was a feat. So while flying alongside her, she looked over the blend of bird and cat that she seemed to be, wondering what Diaval would think of such a creature.]

All my cries T____T

[bondedgryphon]

[Zhaneel was constantly amazed that while so many seemed to know of dragons and other such creatures, that so few seemed to know of gryphons. It seemed their creator and Father, Urtho, had truly done something unique and amazing when using magic to give the Gryphons life.

She glances sidelong and studies her flying companion, small ear tufts flicking this way and that.]

I am a grrryphon, milady... Ourrr ssspeciess isss one crrrafted orrriginally frrom magic to aid in a war between our Father and Ma'ar, the usurper. [Originally crafted by magic, and still not in control of their own breeding. It was a place of contention between the Gryphons and their Father-Creator. As she speaks and her nerves settle, her trilling and hissing improves until she is speaking as clearly as any educated human. She turns her head and studies Maleficent now, her golden gaze bright with curiosity as she rides the thermals.]

And might I ask the same, milady? I have never seen one like yourself... [There is a degree of awe in her voice, as the gryphon finds her lovely.]

Bird tears are the saddest

[curser]

[Magically created? Well, that sounded along the lines of something Maleficent might do, though she wouldn't have thought of the combination of what Zhaneel is. It certainly seems to work out nicely enough for the gryphon flying along with her, and she looks less like something patched badly together and more like a natural creation that just happened to come from two separate species. Say, if a lion and hawk mated, though the idea is ludicrous enough to have her smiling at the thought.]

I? I am a fairy, one of the fair folk of the Moors. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised to be new to you as you are to me.

[Though, in truth, there were no others in the Moors like Maleficent, so there was that as well.]

And the tastiest

[bondedgryphon]

[The perfect combination of predators to make an ideal creature in its own right for use in a war they'd no part in. There would come a time, in her world's future, when gryphons would be treated as more than fighting chattel... a time that their right to breed wouldn't be held over their heads, a trophy to be earned by only the finest soldiers. Zhaneel had yet to see those days. Within her Wing she was considered misborn and malformed by the others of her kind. All her life she'd heard what a disappointment she was with her short ear and too long and thin wings. Her 'comrades' had even successfully convinced her that her parents hadn't died in battle, but that they'd suicided to get away from their greatest disappointment... her.

When Maleficent names herself amongst the fae folk, Zhaneel thrums softly in her chest.]

Is this place your home, then? Or have you too been taken from your lands? [Were there fae elsewhere?]

Sprinkles on her evil cake.

[curser]

No, this isn't where I come from. My home is the Moors, a kingdom beside one where humans dwell. Though these call themselves fairy, they're... quite different from most of the ones I've known all my life. There are similarities, yes, but... no. We are quite different.

[She had yet to see anyone other than the small pixies and fairies with wings, nothing larger like herself. Well, until now, though she wouldn't hasten to call Zhaneel a fairy.]

Are there others here like yourself?

Awww, your cake ain't so evil!

[bondedgryphon]

[Zhaneel listens, Maleficent's words carrying clearly over the wind between them, aided by the clear skies around them. She chortles softly when the woman says the fae are unlike anything she's ever known before.]

Anything I have ever known, either... [She gape grins, beak parting in mirth. She had seen such fantastic creatures since coming to Drabwurld.] As you are... Such a lovely creature I have not seen before, though the Hawk Brothers of the Pelagirs would be deeply affronted to hear something lovelier than they was about.

She nods her beak once, cutting upward and toward the more peaceful skies of the Greenwood. She looks a touch uncomfortable now, her tone not nearly as confident as she'd been just before being asked about others.]

Therrre is one otherr... Aubrri... He hass been here longerr than I... [He was a far finer example of a gryphon... Maleficent would surely adore him as she'd never appreciate the slighter bodied Zhaneel.

Self worth? What self worth?]

So many calories of evil

[curser]

[Zhaneel... Maleficent had horns on her head. Her ideal of beauty and capability was not about appearances. And even if they were, Zhaneel was a fine example of gryphonry. She flew excellently and the longer wings seemed to help her gain a higher altitude. Maleficent knew quite a few things about wings...]

Then it is good you have a companion here.

[Or was it? She'd sounded a little less than exuberant to mention him.]

He is a companion is he not?

[Fates knew that she'd been considered less than congenial herself, and not all fair folk got on quite so well. Take the pixies. Blasted idiots.]

Mmm, I love evil calories... could I have cookies?

[bondedgryphon]

[Zhaneel bobs her head quickly in response, glancing at her skyborn partner.]

No... Yes, he iss a companion and it iss good he is here. I do not think I would have adjusted as well as I did without him here with me... that he arrived before me and could explain thingsss... [She fluffs her facial feathers and flattens them again.] He isss of my Wing... my battalion. [The word is an unfamiliar one, but it is one she learned that is both comparative and understandable to others.

She studies her companion again, riding the currents with an ease of a creature born to ride them.]

What is your name, sky sister?

... We'll see. You have to up your evil output.

[curser]

[Human words for human wars. She'd mentioned being a construct and the idea of a human creating something so sentient and putting it to war made her think of Stefan again and she forced herself not to frown.

It was an easier task to manage when she heard the term the gryphon used for her. 'Sky sister'. It was apt and she liked it, smiling at the female.]

Maleficent. And what can I call you?

I once refused to share my ice cream!!!

[bondedgryphon]

[Humans seemed rather adept at dragging others into their disagreements, and really Urtho had just gone a step further in actually creating his allies. The thing is, because he was their father, they would have stayed and helped as they could even without him holding onto the secret of their breeding.

But he didn't give them that choice and so many gryphons were bitter and unhappy... let alone the whole 'they're just big dumb animals' thing. :\ ]

Maleficent... [The name is foreign on her tongue, but then the gryphon gapes her beak in a gryphonic grin.] Tis a pleasurrre! I am Zhaneel.

Clearly you're the devil incarnate

[curser]

The pleasure is mutual, Zhaneel.

[Also a strange name to her, but one that sounded more suited to a fae than a human. She gave an indolent flap of her wings to keep her steady before returning the smile, if that's what it truly was. Bird expressions were something she'd become familiar with over the last two decades, though ravens and hawks were entirely different creatures.]

Are you scouting for something, or merely enjoying a good fly?

Yessssss *grabs some cookies*

[bondedgryphon]

[Zhaneel's adjustments in the air aren't even thought of, minor shifts of muscle and flaring of feathers as her tail shifts in the air behind her.]

It started as a bit of scouting, but turned into more of an enjoyable stretch of the wings. I had not realized just how large this place was until taking to the skies.

[She knew that they were surrounded by water, another thing she was unfamiliar with... she'd never really identified what an 'island' was before living here.]

A happy surprise is the pleasant company that found me this time. [Her eyes are bright as she offers her companion a bright grin, beak parted again.]

=D

[curser]

[Ah, to have a tail. That might make flying quite a bit easier. As it was, Maleficent had legs and arms to try to balance out what her wings couldn't, though a lot of her flying was also tied into her magic, since she wasn't hollow-boned like a gryphon to lessen her weight.]

I find myself surprised at the magnitude of it myself. I have no knowledge of where I entered this land or how to find my way home, but it seems this is more than just a kingdom away from mine.

[In truth, this was an entire world away from hers, something she could taste in the magic she touched here and in the trees and creatures that scampered around. It was both worrying and curious.]

I'll admit, it's not often I find myself someone to converse with while I fly. My usual companion cannot speak when he has wings.

<3

[bondedgryphon]

[Tails were well and good until you got them caught in things... like doors, or under wagon wheels. Not fun. And Zhaneel would never imagine that you have anything but perfect control in the air with how well you move, Maleficent.

She bobs her head in agreement, thrumming low in her chest.]

To see a range of land that is nothing but unfamiliar to me is strange... to accept that I and many others have been taken wholly from our own lands seemed unbelieveable until I saw it with my own eyes. [And not wholly welcome... one war for another, but at least she knew the reasons for the war she had left. She did not fully understand this new world they'd been brought to.

And the difference in the magic... oh, that had been something she'd felt through her body the moment she'd arrived. As a creature made from magic, she had always been in tune with it and now the magic that tingled over her body was completely new and unfamiliar.

Her attention returns to Maleficent as she mentions her usual companion.]

Cannot speak? Whyeverrr not?

[curser]

[Well, yes, that could put a damper on things. It would interest her to know that Zhaneel could feel magic as well, magic something Maleficent was finely tuned into.

She smiled at the question, thinking of the corvid's squawks when he was trying to get her attention.]

Well, likely because when he has his wings, he also has his beak and I've not met a raven that can speak words.

[bondedgryphon]

[Yeah, Zhaneel knew about wagon wheels. No fun at all. And, should the discussion of magic come up, Zhaneel will be more than happy to speak with Maleficent about it. Even in a place strange as this, magic tingles over her skin.

She listens attentively as her companion explains and she tilts her head curiously to one side. She actually chortles, beak gaping a bit in teasing mirth.]

Had you met a falcon that could speak before I? [She casts an amused sidelong glance at Maleficent. True, she was more than simply a bird of prey, but the comment still stood.] It is strangerrrr to me that he would not speak... So oft am I used to creatures that can physically speak their mind. [And then, all humor aside, her ear tufts flick toward Maleficent in open curiosity.] But you said when he has his wings... He is not simply a raven, then?

[curser]

I can't say I've met any birds that could speak before.

[She didn't live in a climate that had mimic birds, sorry, Zhaneel. No little clown birds to leave her messages. Maybe someone should request those in a boon...?]

Have you? My, that must be completely exhausting.

[Good lords, if Diaval could speak directly to her mind? She'd be insane in a week. But she grins at the question, wings flapping as the drift they're on changes and she has to keep herself aloft until another makes itself known.]

Not anymore, I suppose. He was a raven when I met him, but I had need of him and turned him into a man so I could converse with him.

[bondedgryphon]

[Again a grin, this time echoed by a delighted chortle.] Well, mayhap I am no bird, but a sampling perhaps of what it might be like, mmm?

[Oh she meant physically speak, Maleficent... if we're talking about mind-to-mind, that was an entirely different beast, but one the gryphon could also resort to in a pinch. She was by no means the strongest mind speaker, but all gryphons had been granted at least a fragment of the Gift.

And you'd love that prattling bird in your head, darling. Certainly there would be times you'd wish him silent, by wouldn't you much rather year your most loyal than not? Well, so long as he wasn't a wolf again... her surely have nothing good to ramble about that.

She gurgles again and shakes her beak once, adjusting to the sudden shift in the currents. Her eyes are bright and curious as Maleficent explains what she did to her raven.]

You have such magic? [Little impressed. Little scared. It's a fine and realistic balance.]

[curser]

[No, Zhaneel, Diaval couldn't mind-speak and it was for the best. Really.]

I do. I am a fairy, after all.

[And not just any fairy, Zhaneel. One who ruled over all her kind on a whim and was unopposed.]