S - Briggen - Adult - 1

It had taken some convincing from a few of his peers to get Briggen to attend his own coming-of-age celebration.

"Think of all the girls that will be there," Valcaur enthused with crest raised when he found the owl-gryph reluctant to attend. "They'll be all over you."

"Queen Maud will probably show up," Bellicose had added when she saw him as she was heading to the party. It was true; while Maud seemed to show little concern for the young gryphons in the eyrie, he did tend to show up to events and gatherings, though he must have been incredibly busy. Reluctant to make a bad impression by failing to show up himself, Briggen flattened his ears against his head and suppressed his general dislike of crowds and parties to saunder into the cave network where he knew a crowd was gathering.

As expected, it was sweltering hot, and far too crowded. Gryphons he knew were scattered few and far between ones he did not recognize beyond a face seen on occasion as they crossed paths on missions. Valcaur was already there, furled wing inching towards Rakhamat while they spoke as if he intended to physically pull her closer. Briggen's eye caught pale face of another owl-gryph in the gloom, which returned his stare before joining a tawny male on the sidelines. So his parents had come, too.

"Ah, there you are," Bellicose called from a small group of adults near the cooking pit as he grabbed a few small food items from a pile near the entrance. Knowing he wouldn't be able to avoid it any longer, he reluctantly went over and let the vulture-gryphon tell him about the different clans, and which he may best fit into ("You're more of a thinker, it's true, and you could fit well among us in the Madadh clan, but you're also a remarkably stealthy flier- perhaps Nachtbrag is best for you.") while he continued to glance about the cave, taking note of who was present. There, rotating a crackling deer carcass over the lava pit was Berraluth, and listening in on the one-sided conversation with Bellicose was Adoerak. A great many young gryphons were bouncing about on the ground; Briggen pretended not to see one of them stealing a rabbit from his pile of food, contemplating what would be done with him if he punted the runty little thing into the lava.

Then, he heard a familiar velvety voice to his left, and glancing over, saw Queen Maud speaking quietly with Kerberos. Not quietly enough, though; his sensitive ears could pick up considerably chunks of what they were saying.

"....move on Twistoult... as for the Shamans... side with Grandesque..." Intrigued, Briggen turned his head slightly to better hear, his ears uncharacteristically perked. "Titania will never... we send in spies... finally, we get our war."

War. Perhaps it was good he had come; he might not have found out so early otherwise. A flash of white on the far side of the lava pit drew his gaze away from the queen. There stood his mother, dark eyes piercing the dim from a facial disk of pale cream. She had heard too, then. Meaningfully, she stared at him at length. This is your chance, her look said. Make a name for yourself. Show them the strength of your breeding.

"What do you think, though?" Bellicose asked then, and he returned his attention to her. "Madadh or Nachtbrag?"

"...I should make a good spy," replied Briggen slowly. "I'm sure I could be put to use."

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Dang. This took a while. Sorry if I got ages/ranks wrong, and I hope I did everyone's characters justice!

Wanted to get this done before I did a war event pic. This would have occurred shortly before war was declared.

Foreground:
Maud [link]
Kerberos [link]

Midground:
Briggen [link]
Bellicose [link]
Adoerak [link]
Berraluth [link]

Background:
Rakhamat [link]
Valcaur [link]

Youngin's:
Keilos [link]
Cagney (took down all his work )
Peska [link]