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Post By Visionary Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 12:32:22 am EDT |
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The Flight of the Griffin: a short tale of hopes and dreams | |
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Griffin crouched in a sprinter's stance, squeezing the springy turf between his splayed fingers. The cool offshore breeze blew across the sloping hillside as he faced down towards the beach below. "I am what I think I am..." he recited, his eyes closed in concentration. "My legs are coiled springs, my talons and claws dig in the earth..." He lowered his head with determination, flexing the muscles of his back and shoulders. "No more fearsome animal has ever taken to the sky. My wings move me like lightning." His chest heaved as he took a series of deep, excited breaths, then he opened his eyes and launched himself downhill. He leaned forward as he ran recklessly down the grassy hillside, daring his legs to keep under his shifting weight. The gentle slope gave way to a more steep dropoff , and the grass thinned into treacherous clumps spaced with sand. Finally, he took a mighty leap, reaching for the sky. In his mind, great eagle wings unfurled and caught the ocean air with powerful downward thrusts which launched him up and out towards the sparkling horizon. In reality, however, gravity latched firmly onto the young boy, and with a "WhooaaUMMPH!", he came crashing back to the earth, tumbling over and over again as he rolled the remaining distance down to the hot, rock-strewn sands at the shore. With a groan, he untangled his limbs and turned his head to spit the grit from his mouth. He lay on his back and winced as the pain from a split lip and a myriad of other cuts and scraps caught up with him. "Ow" he noted to the circling seagulls overhead, who just laughed their mindless calls. "Just you wait..." he threatened them. "I'll get it right yet." A shadow fell across the bedraggled boy, and he looked up the hill to see an border collie shaking her head at him from the grassy slope. She sighed. "Your mother will not be happy about this" Glory noted through her translation device. "Er... we don't actually have to tell her..." he suggested hopefully, "...Right?" "Do I really have to wear this thing?" Griffin asked plaintively, trying to gesture to the sling fitted about his arm but wincing at the effort. Grace O'Mercy, the nurse on duty at the Island's infirmary, tapped a finger to her lip and considered it. "Hmmm. Well, if you want a second opinion... I suppose we could always amputate." "What?!" the boy gulped. "If you feel that would be best, Sister Mercy" his mother Miiri consented with a straight face. "Many a son of noble birth proudly wears the scarring marks of great deeds on the fields of battle. It would not hinder his ability to mate and produce heirs... provided he embellish the tale somewhat in song and story. Perhaps stress the size of his opponent, whilst downplaying that it was, in fact, the ground that he clashed with so fiercely." She smoothed back Griffin's usual unkempt hair. "But do not worry... Among the pleasure slaves of Caph, such scars of horrible magnitude are considered quite appealing." "So, something flashy then... for the ladies." the nurse suggested, measuring a spot halfway up his arm. "Now where did I leave that bone-saw...?" "I doth have a two handed battle-ax under my bed" Donar offered helpfully, in for a check-up after recovering from being brain-dead. "Tarry a moment, and I shall fetch it. It doth cleave quite true, and make quick work of muscle, bone and sinew... as well as armor, robots, tanks, buildings..." He slapped the young boy on his back. "Or, should you prefer mine war goats Brjuce and Bjarry to rend it from you with their jaws? Torn flesh and teeth marks doth always give a wound that manly touch." "Yeah... Never mind" Griffin muttered grumpily, rolling his eyes. Adults had such warped senses of humor. "I just don't think I need all this..." "This might not be apparent to you, beloved..." his mother noted sympathetically, "But presently your judgment is under some amount of question." "The sling is just to hold the cold pack to your arm to keep the initial swelling down. You only have to wear it for a few hours." The nurse explained as she removed the padding taped to his forehead and pursed her lips at the sight of the wound beneath. "I think you're going to need a few stitches to close this up, however." "Stitches?" he choked worriedly. "Mom Hallie is going to kill me, isn't she?" Donar sighed grimly and patted him on the shoulder. "It is not too late to fetch the goats..." "So where did he get the idea into his head that he could turn into an actual Griffin and fly?" Hallie said accusingly. Visionary sighed from the confines of the mansion's opulently appointed drawing room. "Griff must have overheard the conversation Yo and I had before s/he vanished... about how Griffin's intangible nature was comparable to a Yo-being made of pure thought energy. S/he said that the proto -Yo beings may have started out just like him." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yo thought that, with some training, it was possible that Griffin might have some pure thought abilities as well." "So he goes and tries some incredibly stupid stunt" she surmised. "He's definitely your son." "Yes... Now if only we could figure out where he gets that tendency to eavesdrop..." the Regular answered wryly. Hallie opened her mouth to reply, but then just snorted. "Vizh... he lives in a 300 foot tower on the edge of sea cliffs" she noted with a shake of her head. "Stop your son from flinging himself bodily off of things. I don't want to have to childproof the entire Eastern coast by changing the bedrock to the consistency of Jello." She made a face. "The people in penthouse apartments will start getting seasick from the swaying." "Don't worry... I'll talk with the boy" Visionary promised to the overburdened virtual woman. He gave her a comforting hug and waited until she blinked out to turn his attention towards the door. "All right kiddo... May as well do that now,don't you think?" A bruised and bandaged Griffin guiltily faded into view. "How did you know?" he asked. "Just a guess" the Regular replied. "I've been dealing with your mom now for 9 years, after all." He walked over to his son and turned the boy's face to the side, then winced sympathetically. "Ouch. That had to hurt." "It looks worse than it is" the boy argued. "I didn't cry. Glory didn't say I cried, did she?" "No. Glory didn't say you cried. Bounced a few times, maybe... but with quiet dignity." He looked at the ground guiltily. "She... didn't get yelled at, did she? It wasn't her fault. I kinda... snuck out on my own." "Nobody yelled at Glory" his father confirmed. "She's not the one throwing herself off of cliffs for fun." "It wasn't a cliff!" the boy protested. "It was hardly much more than a hill! You know the spot down the shore, where the coastline slopes up to the bushes?" Visionary nodded. "Yes, Glory showed me. You left a nice sized divot in the beach." He nodded for Griffin to follow him over to a couch setting alongside the wall in the Mansion's drawing room. "Look, Griff... you can't do this kind of thing. You know what strain your mom is under right now, and Glory has too much important work to do to come running every time she hears you doing something foolish. And if you haven't guessed by now, this counts." "I know... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak everyone out. I just..." he stared across the room and out the large windows overlooking the shore. "I just... really thought it would work." Visionary looked the battered young boy over with sympathy. "What if it doesn't?" he asked him. "What if it never will? Are you really so unhappy with who you are?" He shrugged sullenly. "I don't know. No..." he looked down at his small, talon-less, human hands. "I'm just... not what I expected to be." The Regular nodded. "I know that feeling" he admitted. "But I'll tell you something... Sometimes you have to stop an appreciate the unexpected. I mean, not too long ago I couldn't have expected I'd be sitting here talking to my son, but my life changed. And before I met you, I met a young woman named Miiri... and my had life changed. And before her, there was Kerry, and my had life *really* changed. And it seems that every year I have a completely different role than I expected I would have the year before. But I think I'm still me, somewhere at the center of things. I just have to learn a little for each new bit, and figure out how it all adds up to me." Griffin nodded dutifully. "So I should just save everyone a lot of trouble, admit that I can't fly and give up on being an actual griffin..." he suggested with a resigned sigh. "Oh, heck no" Visionary answered, gazing on the team portrait above the mantle. "I'm pretty sure the parent's guidebook says that I'm supposed to explain to you that human children can't grow up to be part-lion, part eagle... but who am I kidding? After living in this house, I'm almost positive it can happen. Heck, Enty probably has some machine that could make you into a carrot by dinner time, for that matter... which, again, is why I tell you and your sister to never, never, never, never, never go into that lab" he advised sternly with a shudder for emphasis. Finally, he set his jaw and gave his son an earnest look. "When you're older, one way or another, I'm sure you'll be flying. I know it... and I'll pull whatever strings I can to help you in that goal. But for now, you have a new role to explore here, with your feet on the ground. You'd be a moron to pass up what's happening here and now because you're too busy focused on a guaranteed outcome in the future. Trust me on this..." he advised, leaning back. "...I know something about being a moron." The boy grinned with excitement at the pledge for the future and nodded. "So... One adventure at a time?" "Something like that" Visionary concurred with a deep breath of accomplishment. "Now if only we could get the rest of the Parodyverse to agree in regards to this family..." |
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