ORIGIN - Ambushed by a peppery peep

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Kalama was relieved that she could still hit rocks. Hitting things felt good. She nodded fiercely. "I no spark people."

She felt rather self satisfied that Eythan thought her spur was cool. She was pretty cool, wasnt she? Her pride has long since veered straight into arrogance.

"I did!" She says, trying and failing to keep the squeak from entering her voice once again. Witnessing the destruction she had caused excited her greatly, amost to the point of mania. "I'm strong!" She fluffs herself up as much as her down will go.

She scrambles closer to the rock to stare at the tiny gouges, and claps her beak. She stares at Eythan excitedly, and the words tumble out of her. "I want be stronger. What now?"

Speech. Thought

@Eythan

"You no spark people," Eythan repeated with a relieved smile and a nod. Hope she could keep the promise up. The gryphon didn't want to be the catalyst to the next mass-murderer in these damn caves, y'know? A fair concern for one to have, of course. Bright eyes just flickered to the downy chick as she stood on her tippy-toes and tried to look as fluffy and big as she could. It wasn't very big, but if that spur was any indication...

What now? He tilted his head, small ears flopping slightly. "Well, you just have to keep practicin', kiddo. You'll get stronger as you grow up," Eythan noted very wisely, introducing the concept of growth and development to the chick. "If I'm guessin' right, someday all that down's gonna become feathers like I've got," he paused, indicating with his wing that there were, indeed, feathers on them.

@Kalama

Kalama deflated slightly. She had, quite honestly, expected to learn all Eythan's secrets and become as strong as him in the span of the few minutes between matches. But as soon as she deflated, she puffed back up again. If that's what being the strongest took, she'd do it. Even if she had to wait to...grow up. Hopefully that only took a day or two.

"I never stop practicing." She agreed. Kalama marvelled at Eythan's wing, then looked back at her own. Her eyes widened, and her excitement tumbled out in a short mix of questions and demands. "How many days until I you sized? Until I fly? Show me how do rock stretches. How many days until feathers?

Speech. Thought

@Eythan

Ah, now was as good as any to introduce a new concept to the poor kid: the wonderful concept of time. It heals, it festers, it breaks. All the good stuff! Eythan wouldn't get into the intricacies of it, but... "keep practicing and you'll get there kid." He flicked an ear back, and added, "don't forget to rest, too. You'll hurt yourself if you keep pushin' too hard, y'know?"

Hopefully, she knew.

Everything went out the window as the chick offered an absolute onslaught of questions. He compartmentalized each question in sequence, and then began to rattle off answers until he grew breathless: "I don't know how big you'll be but you'll be as big as you can be in, ah... ninety sleeps. Make sense? You should be able to fly as soon as you have feathers on your wings. What rock stretches? Feathers should come soon!"

@Kalama

"Yeah!" She said. "I rest between training. Ninety naps!" It was easy. She had to sleep ninety times? Basically the same as ninety naps. Would it count if they were in a row? Kalama hoped they would. And then she'd fly. She'd be the best flyer the caves had ever seen. There was a high chance she'd overwork herself.

"You did rock stretches when met."She says with a tilted head. How could he forget so soon? She flexes her wings in a poor imitation of him.
Speech. Thought

@Eythan

"No, no," Eythan stopped her, "sleeps, not naps. Long sleeps." Damn, if only there were something to more easily indicate the passage of time in these caves; the gryphon could just use that for this kid. Unfortunately, he was still counting by sleeps like a little kid who had yet to learn the days of the week and was fixating on the number of days left until some winter-based holiday.

What can you do?

Rock stretches were--- not what the gryphon was doing. "Oh, uh, those weren't stretches," he began, pausing only to click his beak and ponder. Well, it's a natural part of life... "I was going pee. You just surprised me, kiddo."

@Kalama

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