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No. 169785
File 136031094788.jpg - (181.50KB , 809x601 , owl.jpg )
Made a Clockwerk vignette for his encounter with Bob. Hope you guys like it:
This is how it all began.
Night-Eye was meanest of all. Didn't feast on the small and weak like the other big feathers. Little bones and tiny twitchings don't satisfy Night-Eye. He got his gaze on bigger prizes, bigger prey, sometimes bigger than him.
Fights other big feathers for territory he don't need for mates he don't mate with; his rebel heart was born for taking.
In his nest is a load of eggs that ain't sky eggs and they're rarely for his stomach. They used to belong to the no-feathers, the scale-wings, the dying ones that could snap him in two though their days be soon departed. Swiped them he did, 4 at a time in the dead of night; Fast and slick as a grease river. Other big feathers catch a glance and they know where he took 'em from and his chest puffs up because he knows he can move without being seen and take without taking hits.
One night he sees slack-jawed Ring-Tail in no-feathers territory. He's fitter than he remembers and nimbler too. Night-Eye sees he's carrying something in the crook of the arm not holding god-bone.
5 Eggs. 5 Eggs of the Scale-Wings.
Night-Eye don't think he's seeing right and drops the 4 he holdin' down onto the rocks. Follows Ring-Tail back to his cave and sees 'im just cracking the trophies open and eatin' like a chief.
Later that day, Night-Eye empties his nest and the small and weak eat like chiefs for a bit.
Went on and on though Ring-Tail didn't know it. Didn't matter what it was: meat-leaf, wet-shell, bush-bloom; Ring-Tail's arms could always carry more than Night-Eye's claws. When Night-Eye found riches, Ring-Tail always took more'en Night-Eye.
One day, Night-Eye found a mountain cave filled with rocks that shone like the lights stuck to the black sky. The pretty drops he could never reach no matter how high he flew up. And here it was, the sky in front of him and he aimed to take it. Went back to his nest and brought back tusk-face skin. His talons wouldn't cause him to drop a single stone.
Nudged as many star-stones as he could then wrapped 'em all with the skin 'till it looked like a gut and carried it off. It was heavy; No wonder they had fallen down from the highest high. But he had a horde, a big one, bigger than he knew Ring-Tail could carry and a little flame of pride welled up underneath his flesh.
It could've ended there, it could've, but Night-Eye wanted to see, wanted to know he was still the biggest taker of all.
Lured Ring-Tail to the cave with a star-stone trail, up the column-round he went. Fire of glee rose in his gut when Ring-Tail couldn't carry that much. They kept slipping and no burly arm could catch 'em.
Night-Eye smiled.
Then Ring-Tail left the cave with no stones, and that could've been the end of it, Night-Eye could've flown off and kept smilin', but he stuck around. He wanted to see Ring-Tail return to his cave a small taker, not like him, not like a chief taker.
Then Ring-Tail used the god-bone to smash the mouth of cave. He pounded harder and harder till the flat became slanted and the star-stones trickled down like a shooting stream off of the cliff. Bit by bit, Ring-Tail made the flat slanted until he reaches all-slant and rode the stones down the mountain like a grease river.
Blood boiled in the back of Night-Eye's noggin. Different fire burned under the skin and all of it was for Ring-Tail. It wanted to pour out of Night-Eye's beak and onto Ring-Tail and anything his little mind wanted to keep. Skull felt like it was being crushed from the inside, shuddering like a dyin' critter till purpose shone all keen and clear like the smooth, white rock in the sky.
Next day, Ring-Tail saw a Bush-Tail all healthy-looking with soft, grope parts. Went close to get a better smell and a better feel when something fell out of the sky and smashed her flat. It looked like a gut made of tusk-face skin. It was filled with star-stones and Ring-Tail poked the Bush-Tail's body a bit before dragging the skin back home.
Up there flapping in the wind was Night-Eye. The fire under his skin was still hot as he saw Ring-Tail was still alive and breathing.
He'd need more rocks.
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