GLoG 94: Good place to grow up

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snow Drifts]

She missed.

Gilda MISSED.

That's fine, though. This was a tough pounce and Gilda hadn't ever tried this sort of pounce before. She just needs to practice some more and-

Wait.

She can hear someone.

Is someone talking to her?

The young griffin begins flailing her wings a bit, eventually finding purchase on the snow and pulling herself free. As per the law of visual comedy, her head is stuck inside a snowball with several small round rocks for a face and a bright orange tuber serving as a nose. She gives herself a shake, scattering the frosty visage to the wind.

"I meant to do that," Gilda quickly explains, sitting back on her haunches and looking as cool as possible.

Really cool. Probably the coolest hunter there is, is Gilda's opinion.


[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"It's like some kind of lockbox?" Khannie surmises as she turns the object this way and that, looking deeply puzzled. "Maybe if we can figure out how to open it we'll be able to figure out who put it here?"

Lapis, meanwhile, giggles at the weird gremlin and sticks her tongue out a few times back at him. It doesn't have anywhere near the same effect since her tongue looks like a human's and doesn't flick out nearly as well. "Okay! Just stand back a little," Lapis says as she holds out her hands and-

It looks like she's... manipulating something? Like there's something only she can see and she's moving her hands apart to roughly frame the size and shape of an object. Then there's a flicker and the hole is filled in with... what even is that? It's like some sort of softly glowing golden filaments, like the inside of a bone, with the gaps between them filled in with smokey-colored glass with a pretty silver sheen. Whatever it is looks really neat. There's a low, almost crystalline hum coming from the material right at the edge of hearing not unlike the sound of rubbing a wet finger on the rim of a glass.

Lapis, acting like absolutely nothing out of the ordinary just happened, is heading for the next hole to fill it back it.

"Nobody put it there! It's a trove they're just around! I found out about them just a little while ago and digging them up is really fun, I love it!"

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine nods solemnly; the tattered tabby-woman knows how this works. "Ah, of course---it certainly was quite a powerful leap. Before long I imagine you'll be able to go clear through a snowbank and out the other side."

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snow Drifts]

Good.

This grownup understands.

"I was just practicing, see?" Gilda explains further, hunkering down and waving her hind-quarters in the air. Like any feline she has to calibrate her butt before she can pounce properly. "There's a critter under the snow imma get it."

If Hysmine is at all aware of the instructions various parents leave regarding their children, she has likely heard that Geneva, Gilda's mother, doesn't want her daughter eating the wildlife.

The problem is, of course, that Gilda is quite dead-set on hunting.

The child has a powerful hunting instinct and she's quite good at it, too.

Which means that she has to be reminded, on a regular basis, not to eat the squirrels, rabbits, pikas, voles, shrews, ducks, fish, geeze, lizards, grasshoppers, and other sundry animals that she catches on a daily basis.

It's also worth noting that distracting Gilda with games is a useful tactic. She's especially fond of any game that simulates hunting at all. Tag, hide and seek, and of course the ever popular hide and seek tag are perennial favorites. Gilda often volunteers to be 'it' and ends up pouncing on the other children because of course she does. At least she has enough sense not to use her claws.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine's clerical work and time here have made her well aware that Gilda's not meant to be hunting for keeps. And while she's not in much of a position to play tag, she has a good idea of how to redirect that hunting instinct. Planting her cane and keeping her weight on her good leg, the catwoman leans down to scoop a gloveful of snow from the bank. She packs it into a little ball between her palms. "You're clearly adept when it comes to grounded targets, young lady---but how is your air game, I wonder?"

She holds the small snowball like a fastball pitcher. Her hand twitches in two little eye-catching, enticing movements before she throws the snowball a little ways above Gilda. It's an easy first target, something to whet the appetite.

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

The motion catches Gilda's eye more so than the words.

Her pupils dilate REAL BIG and her ears swivel forward as she watches the snowball bounce.

She knows what's coming.

Muscles bunch and wings spread-

-and then the toss!

Gilda leaps up into the air, cupping her wings slightly around the snowball to make it harder for it to escape (as if it were a bird, not like it will) and she grabs it in her talons.

Feeling quite proud of herself, she begins to descend for a graceful landing-

-only to hit an even deeper snow drift and vanish completely from sight.

Pwomph!

There's now a nice Gilda-shaped hole in the snow.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine chuckles for the first time in so very long, clapping her gloved hands. "Good form, a classic catch!" She scoops up another handful, balling it up. "But that was just a warmup for someone with your skill."

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

A predicament.

That's what this is.

Another challenge to overcome.

Gilda wriggles this way and that, trying to find something solid to get purchase on, but the snow is really powdery.

She makes some indignant struggling noises, but to no avail. The instinct wells up to begin making distressed sounds, but she knows mom isn't here AND she's not a hatchling!

She's a BIG griffin!

She can do it herself!

Nnnnngh! How is she supposed to pull herself free? It's just so much! And she's got snow in her ears. Snow in her eyes. Snow in her beak. What can she-

Wait.

Snow in her beak. She chomps at the snow some more, feeling cold water on her tongue. Snow's just water, isn't it? Just like the clouds. If she can walk on clouds she can walk on snow, too, right? She just has to magic it right instead of trying to walk on it like sand or dirt.

More carefully this time, Gilda presses against the snow.

And this time she climbs out of the drift and perches atop it weightlessly, triumphant!

"Ha! I showed you, snow!" she declares, giving her wings a few quick flaps before fluffing them and settling them across her back. She sits down and poofs out her chest, feeling very proud of herself. "I can catch any old snowball! I'm the best."

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine is a little concerned as Gilda seems to have trouble getting out---but before she starts to reach with her cane to offer assistance, she sees the young griffin get the hang of it and clamber out---and stand atop the snow quite impressively! "Well done! Standing on top of the drift is a nice touch---how did you manage that?"

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

"Mom taught us how to stand on clouds," Gilda replies as she gets up and struts around in a circle, her tail held high. "I was really good at it but my brother's a klutz, he kept falling through."

Okay Gabe fell through the cloud three times and Gilda fell through twice.

But as far as Gilda is concerned that's a HUGE difference!

Definitely way better at this than Gabriel.

"Since snow's water and cloud's are water it's the same."

Obviously.

"I'm a clever hunter so I figured that out!" Gilda says, hunkering down and lashing her tail back and forth a few times.

The cleverest hunter, definitely.

She doesn't mention that Gwen got the cloud walking on the first try since Gwen is a dweeb.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine nods, genuinely rather interested. "I see! Well, that's a useful skill---do you think you'd be able to walk on liquid water as well?" She pauses. "Mind you, that might be something to leave til summer."

[Morty]

[Sophie's Office]

A bold lie, given what Braon should suspect about how much Sophie knows. And given that this isn't at all like Sekhmet. Who wouldn't be quick to attack someone even with a provocation, much less without one.

"That's not quite what Sekhmet told me," she says. "According to her, you wanted her help with killing someone and admitted to having led a child-kidnapping raid in Inside."

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"Yeah! Treasure doesn't come from nowhere. When my friends and I look for treasure, it's usually Brinika and Cheasadh who put it there." Tuskfang walks up to the hole Lapis just filled and pokes at the material. "What's that?"

Hornclaw seems to have decided he likes Lapis and is following her around, making croaking sounds.

[Ironsmith]

[Sophie's Office]

A bold lie, given what Braon should suspect about how much Sophie knows. And given that this isn't at all like Sekhmet. Who wouldn't be quick to attack someone even with a provocation, much less without one.

"That's not quite what Sekhmet told me," she says. "According to her, you wanted her help with killing someone and admitted to having led a child-kidnapping raid in Inside."

[Sophie's Office]

"...Hmph." Braon crosses her arms and glowers at Sophie. "The latter's only technically true, and the former... yeah, okay, fine. I did ask for her help in killing someone." She turns away from Sophie, finding it a little easier to talk about it when she's not under the therapist's scrutinous gaze. "...My uncle. A man called Braeg. Sire of bastards, Lord of Lesserwood, blah buh-blah. But more importantly, the man who ruined my life."

Oh, geez. Sophie's going to be able to hear her clench her fists from all the way over there.

"I could go on and on about all the things he did to me, but in the interest of preserving both our sanity, I'll keep it quick." Braon turns and looks straight into Sophie's pupils. "He took away any chance I had of growing up normal. He murdered my father, burned our old home to the ground, kept me captive for five years, and turned me into... into this!" She snaps, parting her lips into an extra-meancing snarl so Sophie could get a good look at her needle-like teeth that compliment the demonic horns curling out from her forehead. "You're damn right I want him dead!"

[Morty]

[Sophie's Office]

"I think you'd find that my sanity can withstand quite a lot." Sophie's gaze doesn't waver. But she makes no judgment. "But you're right, it's something we can discuss in detail later. For now, tell me about the 'only technically true' part, please."

[Ironsmith]

[Sophie's Office]

"..." Braon lets out a little sigh. "...I only technically led that raid. It didn't go anywhere, nothing came of it..."

It wasn't even her. She was missing herself.

"...and I have no intention of doing it again." Braon finishes, wrapping herself up in her cloak. Did it just get cold in here, or was that just her? The temperature hasn't felt right since she got back from the Depths. Though at this point, she's not sure if that's because she got acclimated to the heat there or if it's her hormone-addled body playing tricks on her. It's a pain either way.

"...Not that it matters." She grumbles. "Are you going to get on to me for something I didn't actually do?"

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"If someone hides them they're REALLY good at hiding!" Lapis reasons. "If it was someone who hid the troves it must have been a reeaaaaaaaally long time ago! I've found them in lots of different sorts of places."

Khannie is trying to wedge a sharp stone she found nearby under the latch and is thus far having very little luck with it. "This thing feels really light. Isn't gold supposed to be heavy?" she wonders aloud.

She really hasn't ever handled much in the way of gold before. She hasn't ever been on the sort of adventure that would yield much of it. But she DOES know that it is supposed to be [i]really[/i heavy.

And this box doesn't feel heavy at all.

Lapis is briefly distracted by the grimlin and, giggling tries and fails to mimic the silly noises he's making. "Huh? Oh. I don't know! I've never asked about it? When I dig stuff up I get different stuff for filling the hole back in or making forts. It's pretty, though! The bright parts are best if you look close they move a little I love it!"

True to her word, the bright parts do move a little. Like little bits of glowing gold glitter slowly flowing around.

At the questioning Khannie tucks the box under her arm and joins Tuskfang in poking at the weird material.

"I don't think it's magic. It feels a little warm, though?" she comments, placing a hand against it and wrinkling her nose curiously.

It does feel warm. The smokey glass feels just like nice smooth glass and the glowy bits feel like metal that's been sitting in the sun for a while. There's also a strong static charge to it. When Khannie leans in close and touches it all of a sudden her hair is standing up! It looks pretty silly.

With the other two kids busy poking at the heavenly paving stone Lapis busies herself filling in the other two, much more shallow holes she dug.


[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Gilda makes a clicking noise with her beak. "Clouds are water, too, that's why they make your feet wet when you step on them."

There's another sort of water, but Gilda isn't sure what it's called. It's water you can't see! If you kick a cloud hard it turns into that kind of water sometimes.

"Do you mean like the lake? I can't walk on the lake I just fly," Gilda informs this obviously ill-informed cat human. "Mom knows why she knows everything."

If there's anything that Gilda is definitely sure of it is the absolute omniscience of her mom.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine nods. "I suppose they would---I've never personally walked on one, but the logic follows." She smiles at the young griffin's boundless confidence in her mother. "I never properly had a mother myself, but I've met a good few, especially here, like Mrs. Trollfinger. They're all quite good when it comes to knowing important things."

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

"Because you haven't got any wings," Gilda helpfully points out to Hysmine. "You could only walk on fog since those are ground clouds."

It doesn't really occur to her that some people may not, in fact, be able to walk on clouds. She can walk on clouds, her siblings can walk on clouds, her parents can walk on clouds, even her brother Nick can walk on clouds and he's a dragon instead of a griff! Everyone can walk on clouds that's just a normal thing.

"Mom knows how to make clouds too but I'm not any good at it," Gilda admits, that statement stinging her pride a little bit. Mother had talked about flying magic and weather magic and how griffins usually aren't very good at the second one. Gilda was no exception to that rule. But! She's the best hunter! So who cares if Gabe and Gwen are better at making clouds than she is? Clouds are boring.

Something Hysmine says troubles her, though.

"Why didn't you have a mom?"

Doesn't everyone have a mom?

Who would bonk them and tuck them in when they're going to sleep if they don't?

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

"Cloud-walking in general is out for me---leg's not so good, you see." She pats her bad leg, lifting the hem of her woolen skirt a bit to show the brace worn over her trousers. "And it's alright not to be good at everything---when people work together, they can focus on their strengths and make up for the things each of them aren't so good at." The tattered tabby-woman gives a smile.

Then the mom question. "Well... I was made in a lab, by doctors and scientists. People raised me, but they were teachers and caregivers, not parents." She's careful with her tone, not wanting to sound too broken up about it. "But that's all in the past---even if I haven't really had a family throughout my life, here at GLoG... it's something like having a family, and that's good enough for me."

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

"I'm good at hunting!" Gilda says, just in case this very important fact had been forgotten in the several seconds since the last time she said it.

She seems...

Confused?

Over the talk of growing in a lab.

Gilda knows that mom has a lab but she doesn't think she grows things there?

Now she's imagining growing cat-girls out of little pots like flowers.

She does get the part about not having a family, really, which seems really sad to Gilda. Just teachers? She likes the teachers at GLoG, they're nice, but they aren't like having a mom or a dad.

And since this cat lady only has GLoG for family Gilda decides that must mean she's family, too.

So she does the only reasonable thing.

She walks up to Hysmine and bonks her on the leg with her head.

Bonk!

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine isn't expecting the bonk, she appreciates it. She leans down and gives Gilda a scritch in return, marveling at the unhesitating kindness of this child. She cannot help but wonder if Gilda would have done so if she understood the long and terrible road she walked before GLoG, but that's not important right now.

"Thank you, Gilda. People like you are what makes this place a good place to live, a community."

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Oooh that feels nice.

That's the best thing about human-shaped people.

All those tiny fingers that get into good grooming spots without being too pointy.

Gilda leans into the rubbing a bit and then sits down on her haunches and looks cool because she IS cool, duh.

"You haven't got a mom or dad to give you bonks so I thought you needed one," the griffin explains.

She can't imagine how terrible a world it would be if there wasn't anyone who loved her giving her bonks.

What a cruel and bonkless world such a place would be.

"Do you want to see me catch that bird?" Gilda asks, pointing a talon at a junco about forty feet away sitting on a tree branch minding his own business.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine starts to purr, a deep thrum from inside her chest that radiates out like a warm glow. "And a very good bonk it was. Everyone needs someone to give them bonks, in one form or another."

She shakes her head when Gilda offers to clown on a bird. "I think we can let him off easy for the time being---but after that snowball catch earlier, I'm confident you could." Chuckling softly, she starts to straighten, leaning on her cane.

[Morty]

[Sophie's Office]

"I have no intention of getting on you for anything," Sophie explains. Braon is very guarded, always ready to lash out at perceived threats. If half of the things she said about her uncle and family are true, it's only to be expected. Sophie is far, far too familiar with people who were pushed into such an attitude. But she's also clearly trying to avoid taking responsibility for what happened. "My only goal is ensuring the safety of the children here while getting you the help you need. So the more you can tell me, the easier it will be for me to do it. Were you coerced or controlled when it happened?"

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"I dunno if my mom will like it being here," Tuskfang says. He knows his mother has very little patience for people messing around with her campsite. She gets annoyed enough with him digging around with his regular shovel. "And I don't know who lived here before we did. But we've never found a box before."

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Hole Digging]

"Well, it's already there," Khannie points out as she kicks at the material a few times, prompting a bell-like ringing sound from it. "If your mom gets mad we can just tell her that this new kid didn't know."

Which is true, as far as Khannie can tell.

She never knew about any rules against digging herself. Or any rules about filling in holes with... whatever that stuff is.

It doesn't seem like it's harmful or even magic so she isn't sure what the big deal is. It just looks weird and kind of pretty.

"Hey I've got one key left still let's open the box and see what's in it it'll be fun you'll love it!" Lapis insists, holding out her hands toward Khannie.

Khannie gives her a suspicious look, shrugs, then offers the box. Lapis takes it with a friendly little nod and then pulls out a key that nicely matches the design of the lockbox. Gold colored with a fancy twisty handle around a piece of sky blue stone. She slots the key into the lock, gives it a twist, and with a little snap the latch comes free!

One can almost imaging steadily ramping, exciting music as Lapis eases the top open, light streaming out of it, to reveal-!

Lapis GASPS!

"It's a MAP!"

She sounds really excited.

Khannie looks baffled. "Why would someone hide a map in buried treasure?"

"Because when you find a map in a little trove that means the map leads to a BIG trove!" Lapis exclaims.


[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Now that is a sound that Gilda hasn't ever heard before.

She and her family are all leopard-type griffins. Which means no purring for them.

As a result, Gilda narrows her eyes suspiciously, her ears perked forward.

"How come you're making that noise?" she asks, the fortunate bird momentarily forgotten.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

"That's a purr---many felines and feline-ish creatures do it. It means I'm very content." She smiles. "Today is a very good day, and talking to you is part of why." She pauses, thinking. "How nimble are your front claws, out of curiosity? I can't help wondering if griffins can knit."

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

That's some words.

Cats go prrrb when they're happy.

Gilda gets that.

Prrrb is happy cat.

Good.

But now some words she doesn't know.

"What's knitting?" Gilda asks.

Her claws are pretty clever and nimble, in Gilda's opinion. But she doesn't know what knitting is so she doesn't know if she can do it even though she's pretty sure she can do whatever challenge this lady has.

[Ironsmith]

[Sophie's Office]

"I have no intention of getting on you for anything," Sophie explains. Braon is very guarded, always ready to lash out at perceived threats. If half of the things she said about her uncle and family are true, it's only to be expected. Sophie is far, far too familiar with people who were pushed into such an attitude. But she's also clearly trying to avoid taking responsibility for what happened. "My only goal is ensuring the safety of the children here while getting you the help you need. So the more you can tell me, the easier it will be for me to do it. Were you coerced or controlled when it happened?"

[Sophie's Office]

Braon shuffles nervously and looks away, trying to decide how to answer that. By accident or design, Sophie's asked her a question where either answer would leave out crucial details.

Braon can say honestly that, no, she wasn't coerced or controlled at the time. But she also wasn't herself, in a very critical way; the Pit broke her, sucked part of her out and filled it with something awful and vile that she would never replicate on her own. Maybe it didn't control her directly, but what it did do was still very much within the spirit of the question.

But at the same time... it gave her things that still appealed to her. Almost as soon as she got her thorny makeover, the goblins oh-so-subtly suggested she take on a role as their queen. She remembered the feeling of standing on that balcony, overlooking her filthy little subjects, but quickly earning their attention, obedience... and if she wasn't imagining it, adulation. That part... that didn't seem so strange or unappealing to her. If she went back to Verdant Heights and they asked her to be their queen again...

"Yes." Braon lies, turning her head away from Sophie. "Yes, I was controlled."

That horrible wave of nausea had better be morning sickness. Braon would hate to think her conscience was bothering her that much.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

"Knitting is---hold on, I have some in my bag." She opens up her sturdy messenger-bag and draws out a knitting project, just a little bit of work started. She does a few knits and purls slowly, drawing from a ball of yarn in her bag; partly it's because she has darn old gloves on, but partly it's because she wants to show Gilda what she's actually doing. "See, I use these needles and this yarn---and with enough work, I get something like this." She opens her coat enough to show a bit of her cardigan.

[Rebonack]

[Pouncing at Snow Drifts]

Gilda watches a few moments and aside from thinking about how it might be fun to swat at that yarn it's pretty clear that she isn't interested.

Really.

Hysmine will be able to watch the flame of her curiosity guttering out in real time.

"That looks boring," Gilda proclamations. Then she adds "Gwen might like it."

It seems like the sort of thing Gwen would like, in Gilda's estimation.

Gwen LOVES boring stuff.

Like drawing and coloring.

She would probably like making yarn into yarn shapes, too.

[Beans]

[Pouncing at Snowdrifts]

Hysmine chuckles, tucking the knitting away once more. "I'm not surprised it didn't catch your interest particularly, but if Gwen would ever like to try, I'd be happy to teach her. What do you do when you aren't practicing your pouncing?"