Biography
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Part One- Skittle's Story
Skittle's mother was an ordinary Gryff who lived in the desert. She was wild, and therefore had no name. His father, however, was a god. The Gryff god of rainbows. His father was so brilliantly colored that he was painful to look at directly, and you could be permanently blinded by him; and when he shed a feather it would glow with millions of colors and become a rainbow, or so the legends told.
Skittle inherited his fathers colors, but they did not glow as his father's did. And his pelt was speckled with black from his mother's feathers. His wings were black also, but when the sun shone on them, rainbow spots of light would dance on the ground, reflected of his wings.
Skittle's mother died when he was born. His father sent him food, such as dragonflies and scraps of meat, but he was unable to visit often. And when his father's immortal mate discovered the young Skittle, she was furious and insisted on revenge for her mate's infidelity.
The other gryff gods punished Skittle and his father by separating them forever. A servant was sent to carry Skittle to a path through the desert that was used by humans. Humans are fond of killing young gryffs for their downy fur, and the gryff gods were hoping that this would be Skittle's fate. But the group of miners who found him were not that type of person. The mine captain brought Skittle home for his eight-year-old daughter Olivia to have as a pet. It was she who gave him his name.
Skittle was well cared for in the Olivia's household. But he grew bigger, and soon grew even bigger than a human and became unmanageable. He started attacking birds and mice. When that became too little to satisfy his bloodlust, he began to attack neighborhood pets.
Olivia's family decided to release him into the wild before he killed any humans. Olivia was devastated to see him go, but she was old enough to know that it had to be done. She also knew that he would be far happier. So he was tranquilized, put in a crate, and shipped off to the desert where the miners had found him.
Once he was back in the wild, he staked out a territory like all Gryffs will. It had a stream running through it and he liked nothing better than to fly along the path of the stream, twisting and winding as it did, and then dive down into the canyon where the stream cascaded in a spray of white mist. The sunlight would stream through it and throw prismatic light over Skittle's feathers. This, he would think to himself as he sped downwards with the wind in his ears, this kind of thing is the meaning of life. And he was happy.
But he has never forgotten the young girl who loved him. -
Part Two- Nova's Story
Nova's mother and father were normal looking gryffs who lived in the jungle. They didn't have the genes for colorful children like Nova, but when Nova and her siblings were in their eggs, they were exposed to a strange chemical that was buried underneath the family's nest. The Gryffs didn't know how it had gotten there, or even what it was, but it caused the deaths of all but one of their chicks. That survivor was Nova, who was named for her habit of staring at the night sky.
There were some side effects of living by the chemicals though: Nova's fur changed color while she was developing in her egg, giving her a rainbow pelt. And also she was slightly insane. But despite this, Nova's parents treasured her, for they had lost all the rest of their children. And they raised her well, until they almost forgot her insanity.
But when Nova grew up, her condition resurfaced again. She grew confused and confusing, and she scared all the prey from her family's trerritory with her shrieking. Her parents were forced to drive her from their territory so that they could eat again. And so Nova was on her own.
Nova found her way to the desert, scavenging from carcasses and somehow managing to avoid all other gryffs, who would certainly have attacked her if they had seen her. But she was getting weaker. She collapsed one day by the stream that would have saved her, unable to go on. She was dying.
And then Skittle came. He had been watching her for several days now, but he had never seen another gryff so colorful, and was wary of approaching her. But when Nova collapsed, Skittle overcame his nervousness and went to her side. He brought her into the shade and gave her water. When she awakened, he fed her small morsels of meat. She was distrustful of him, but she was too weak to resist him.
Skittle nursed Nova slowly back to health. When she was fit again, they flew about the desert together. Nova had never seen most of the things that the desert had to offer, but Skittle was delighted to show her around his homeland. Every day they would get up at dawn and fly together over the land, and at dusk they would hunt, share the kill, and then sleep together.
Nova was still insane, but Skittle loved her more than any gryff he had met before. He wanted her to be with him for the rest of his life. And she wanted nothing more than to be with him. The two grew closer over the years, and Skittle learned to understand his mate and predict her strange moods. And she learned to overcome most of her craziness.
And they all lived happily ever after. -shot- -
