Stryx Tales

   CeceMabel Greenboots pulled up her sleeves and pulled on her adventure goggles. She gathered up her reins and got in a ready to fly position “Ready boy!!” she said, ready for an adventure.

    Locus just stood there, wings held up to his chest innocently … not at all ready for this.

    “Adventure awaits us, fiery dragons, castles with treasures calling our names and damsels in distress!!!” She squeezed the reins, and licked her lips she then nudged into his side… nothing happened… she nudged in a bit harder… still nothing happened…

    “Come on boy!!” she nudged him a number of times, still no movement, she crossed her arms letting go of the reins. She then fell back and rolled down the common tyto’s back. It took a few seconds for her to realise what the heck she was doing on the ground… she quickly stood up as if nothing had happened, pulled the googles off her head and threw them to the ground

    “Locue!!!” She says while storming over to the disobedient bird, her hands at her hips. “What are you doing? We need to save the princess,” she says crossing her arms.

    "Mmm, chocolate..." mumbled Autumn in her sleep as she flipped to her side. Santana walked over to Autumn's side and began to poke her gently. Autumn was supposed to take her out to practice flying, but it was almost noon and the lazy winged fox was still in bed. 

    "You won't get her out of bed like that," Puck chirped, "watch and learn from the master!" With that, the young stryx waddled unsteadily over to Autumn and crash landed on top of her. Autumn gave a loud yelp as a huge feathery weight landed on her. The fox was instantly awake.

    "Ok, ok, ok, I'm up, let's go Santana. Puck, you bad girl, you're staying home. You haven't learnt to fly anyways," Autumn grumpily said. Autumn climbed onto Santana's back and got ready for flight.

    "Ready? Go! Fly!" But Santana stood uncertainly on the spot. "Oh, come on, you woke me up from my lovely dream of chocolates and now you hesitate?" Autumn grumbled as she slumped onto the back of the Stryx. Santana blushed sheepishly, took a deep breath and ran as fast as she could, before taking off.

    "Woohoo, see you can do it! Yay," Autumn cheered. Rider and stryx soared into the sky to await their adventures of the day.

    It was almost noon, when Santana suddenly spotted 2 figures on the ground. It was another stryx and his rider! And it looked as though they were having problems taking off. Being a friendly and helpful stryx who loved making new friends, Santana made a bee line towards them. She had only just learnt how to fly, and she knew how scary it could be.

    "Oh, no, nononooono I don't wanna nooooo" Autumn protested as Santana ignored her and flew straight to her targets. 

    "Come on you feather butt, we don’t have all day"!! CeceMabel Greenboots pushed and pulled the uneasy bird, but he didn't at all move an inch.

    Cece was about to give up when a large shadow blocked out the sun, they both looked. Thinking it was some sort of dragon or larger bird beast, Locus freaked out and let out a scared squeak. Together they bolted... both on foot... but being the clumsy large bird he tripped on his own feet and head planted into the ground.. Cece skidded to a stop. She turned to face the beast as locus dived behind her. Cece being a *brave* child / the man out of the relationship stood her ground... but she just as easy could of ran all the way home with her bird. Locus tried to hide behind the orphaned child... but was failing because he was much MUCH bigger than her... and you know... he looked stupid.

    "Ahhhh nononononoo STAWP" cried Autumn as she pulled Santana's reigns as hard as she could. "Nuuuu. Wait, have you even learnt how to land properly??? And I think, at this speed that we're going, we're gonna crash! Oh I'm gonna die, at a young tender age. I haven't even seen much of the world yet..."Autumn buried her face into her hands and shook her head sadly, bracing herself for the worst.

    Santana ignored her and continued flying to the Stryx and his rider. The moment they saw her, they ran. "Why? I just want to make some friends and help out" she thought, puzzled.

    True to Autumn's words, they were going too fast for a smooth landing. Instead, they crashed into the soft grass and did a few cartwheels and flips. Santana ended up on her back with her legs sticking up into the sky while Autumn somehow had her tail flopped onto her face. "Ow," her grumble was muffled by the thick fur of her tail.

    That’s got to hurt," Cece says as she cringed when watching the duo do a cartwheels landing... "But we must try it later!!”

    Locus pecked out from behind his handler and noticed that the so called flying terror was nothing other than a common Tyto... and a very pretty snow coat tyto too!! 

    "Come on, let’s go see if they're okay!!” Cece said while nudging her tyto and running over to the others. She slowed down as she neared them. "Are you okay?!?!” she asked helping the winged fox up... a fox?? That was a first for her. "That was a pretty big crash" the red haired child says.

    "Ah yes, I'm fine, thank you" Autumn graciously said, although in her mind she thinking about all the pain she felt and all the bruises she would probably get. "Who knows, maybe I'll turn into a blue-black fox by tomorrow," Autumn thought as she dusted off the dirt from her coat.

    Meanwhile, Santana, after recovering from the rough landing, rolled over to her side and got a little unsteadily to her feet. Her pale pinkish snow coat was covered in soil. She happily gave herself a shake and shook off the dirt... on to everyone else around her.

    Locus who was still failing to hide behind Cece, kept low to the ground and studied the could be dangerous strangers.

    Then all of a sudden dust was covering them... Cece just laughed and dusted herself off while locus still stayed still, just letting the blanket of dust cover him.

    "Where were you guys off to in such a rush"? Cece asked happily. Then she noticed the dust covered sand boy. She quickly dusted him off while listening to the fox. 

    Just as Autumn had dusted herself clean, a huge cloud of dust descended opun her, covering her with dirt and soil. Again. "Great, just great," Autumn sarcastically thought as she unhappily dusted herself off again. Santana blushed sheepishly at her mistake as she stood at one side watching Autumn dust herself. 

    "Where were you guys off to in such a rush"? Cece asked happily. 

    Autumn pricked up her ears and thought for a while. "Good question, where were we off to in such a rush? And ended up in a crash?" Autumn asked while turning to give Santana an accusing glare. Santana gave a wide sheepish grin.

    Cece let out a giggle then held out her hand' the names Cece Mabel greenboots” she tapped her two size large boots together which was laced with Fluor green lace “and this here is Locus” she said while stepping to the side and pointing to her sand tyto, Locus froze. “He’s a bit shy... Hehe”

    Autumn took Cece's hand. "Name's Autumn, and this here is Santana." Autumn turned and pointed to Santana. "Charming Stryx you have there. Gee, never knew Stryx could be shy, mine are rather rowdy!" Autumn said with a laugh. "So, where are YOU off to? I'm supposed to let Santana practice flying, but we've no destination in mind. If you and Locus doesn't mind, we could tag along, right Santana?" Santana nodded her head eagerly, scattering some more dust around.

    “Well stranger danger... But you’re a fox and nothing scares cecemable grenade boot and her mighty steed locus!!!” Cece thought to herself. “Well nice to meet you Autumn'!! She said shaking the fox’s hand, “hah well we were about to go on a great adventure. But someone here won't take off ...” She trailed off at the end and looked at the frozen bird. He snapped out of his frozen state and looked at Cece then back at Autumn. Then back at Cece again... With that he picked up his feathers turned around and bolted in the other direction. 

    Autumn and Santana watched in shock as the sand tyto ran crashing through the bushes and into the woods nearby, his long tail trailing behind him. 

    "Well," Autumn remarked and Santana cocked her head to one side, wondering why Locus had ran off like that.

    Cece looked back at the fox and snow bird ... “heh... That's not meant to happen... Heh...” She looked back to where he had disappeared.

    She then grabbed a stick and started walking in that direction, kicking her legs out and counting her steps. 

    Autumn and Santana watched in greater bewilderment as the red-haired girl also disappeared into the bushes. After exchanging confused glances, they followed behind Cece as stealthily as they could at a safe distance, wondering what adventures their new found acquaintances would lead them to.