(ooc; This story, for the most part, is set up more like a short story and not a rp until later. It also drops in and out of the main character's youth and adult life, so it may be a bit confusing. I'll tell you guys when you can drop in for rp. Feel free to message me on your thoughts, opinions, and what ever else there is on the story. So without further a due, here is the story.) Helga Malwing sped past through the alley ways of Griffindor that she had grow so accustom to in her youth. She galloped though the darkness, red cape flowing behind her in the breeze, scanning the gloomy alley ways for something other than pools of mucky water and trash. Normally, she came here to escape the ridicule of the populace of the well known Griffin city, or (on occasion) to partake in a bitter-sweet reminisce of her youth. Yet, this time, her purpose was neither. This time she fled neither the invective of the spiteful Griffindorian citizen nor the abuse of a bully. This time she ran as a heretic. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Helga skipped merrily down the dreary cobblestone road that she had grown so fond of to her house near the center of the city of Griffindor. Her feathers bounced with each step, and her face bore a great grin. Helga, who was just a fledgling, had many reasons to be joyful today. Although many of her reasons were as mundane and unimportant to her life, such as slipping past the usual group of bullies whom waited for her outside of the district primary school or the fact they served Sloppy-Joes for lunch, she did have two reasons that just made her more exuberant as she thought of them. One of those joyous reasons was the fact that she had learned her first bit of magic ever (a feat most surprising in Griffin society, for only a select few could use magic without years of rigorous studies), and the other being that her father, a unicorn, was back from the Arcane Academy for magical studies. He was rarely ever home, leaving Helga's mother to take care of the young hippogriff alone. Yet, when he did arrive home, his visits were full of fun and magic, a bleak spot of happiness in the otherwise dreary world Helga lived in. What made this visit even more special was the fact that her father had promised to finally teach her to use magic. "Won't he be surprised when he learns I did my first magic spell today?!" Helga thought, the merry idea reverberating in her head as she grew closer to her home. Helga was nearly three feet from the door when she saw she father appear in the entranceway of her family's small home. "DADDY! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! HOW LONG ARE YO-" she cut her sentence off short as she saw that he was carrying two packed satchel bags on his person. "Daddy, why do you have your bags packed? Are you not staying?" Helga asked as she slowed to a cautious walk, all here joy now replaced with accumulating sorrow. The strong grey stallion of a unicorn couldn't bear to watch his young daughter, and turned away quickly, tears slowly beginning to stream down his face. "Daddy?..." she asked one more time, trying to coerce the answer out of him. The Grey unicorn didn't reply, but simply turn out of the doorway and began to trot off into the distance, his tears streaming behind him as he fled. A new figure appeared in the door, Helga's mother, who was a strong but effeminate griffin by the name of Hester Malwing. Hester looked off longingly to her husband, a unicorn by the name of Othello Moonspark, trotted off into the distance, making no effort to chase after him. The look on her face was a mixture of sorrow and understanding, showing she knew what was happening, yet not at the same time. "Mommy, where is daddy going off to?" Helga asked her mother, unsure of what she just saw. "Helga,.... I need you to understand something...." There was a long pause in between he mother's words as she held back the tears that threatened to break the levies of her eyes, "Daddy has to go away.... Far away.... For a very long time.... I'm not sure when he'll be back...." Shock struck Helga faster than she could cognate it. Where was her father going? Why? Why must he leave her mother and her alone? Before she knew it, Helga was trotting after her father, flapping her premature wings in hopes of gaining more speed, yelling Daddy! Daddy! COME BACK! PLEEEEASE!". Tears streamed down her face as she chased the unicorn as he slowly disappeared into the distance. She cried out to him, but he never slowed down or turned back. Helga, now unable to see her father, slumped to the ground in exhaustion and sorrow, crying in the middle of the street for her now gone father. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Helga's front paw splashed in what she could only assume was a puddle of some sort of putrid mixture of urine, grime, and water as she continued down the alley ways. She was not quiet sure if her aggressors had lost track of where she went, so she just simply ran. She ran as fast and hard as she could, it was all she could do. If she flew, she would get caught, and if she stopped to hid she'd be discovered. She couldn't get caught, it wasn't a possibility. She had to escape, her life depended on it. Helga rounded the corner of a three way intersection in the alley, only to stop dead in her tracks at what she saw; the mob of griffins who were after her. "Oh god!" she yelp, running off to the other alley across the intersection. Did she take a wrong turn somewhere? Did they know which way she was going? All these questions raced through her mind as she ran, hoping the mob neither heard nor saw her. Yet, they did. As one griffin in the mob turned his head he recognized her cloak and tan hindquarters running from the patrolling mob. "Oy, She's over there! Get her!" the one griffin screeched, alerting the mob of their prey. It took no longer for him to get mid sentence before the mob was off chasing after the lone hippogriff. A mixture of slurs and cries came from the crowd as they chased after their prey, with one griffin yelling "Kill her! Kill the witch!", another saying "Burn her! Burn the Heretic! Make her pay for what she has done!". A cacophony of insults, threats, and commands emanated from the group as they kept up pace with Helga. She was in trouble now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Several years passed since her father had left, and Helga had left her primary school for secondary school since then. The years in between his disappearance and now had been filled with nothing but hardship, sorrow, and everything but happiness. Helga, now a full fledge hippogriff, had become the center for all ridicule and abuse in her classes due to her lineage and appearances. She attended classes with the rest of the Griffindorian kids in her district of town, most of which were true-blood griffins. The pure-bloods the ones who unrelentingly mocked and bullied her for being a half-blood, for being a hippogriff. It had been different in primary school for her. Helga had gotten along relatively fine with her class mates, and had several friends. No one had judged her o her appearance, for she had looked like any fledgling griffin, yet with hooves and exotically colored feathers. She had, in fact, been the source of much envy amongst her classmates, whom wished to have such an appearance as her. Yet, as she approached puberty, the fact she was a hippogriff became every increasingly evident. She had begun to grow horns midway through primary school, and her body began to bear more and more fur. This is when the constant abuse from her classmates began. Whether it was out of jealousy or the long held belief that pure-bloods where the superior race was a mystery to Helga. All she knew was that they made her life a living hell. Yet, her life would change drastically this one special day, so many years after her father's disappearance. The day started like all others, Helga waking up to her mother calling out to her, telling her to wake up and that breakfast was ready. She reluctantly pulled herself from her bed, sluggishly walking to her home's bathroom to tidy up a bit from her normally long sleeps. She made her way down to the kitchen to find porridge on the table, garnished with nothing but a cup of milk and a dash of salt. "Uggh, porridge again?" she groaned to her mother as she sat down to eat her meal. "It's all we have dear. You know how it is. There hasn't been much work around for me lately..." Helga's mother replied. Porridge had become a common meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner lately since her mother had been having trouble lately finding work. And with Helga's father not around, money was especially tight. Helga ate the bland meal in a flash, hoping she could forget the flavor as she left for class. "Bye mother, I will see you this evening," Helga said as she left for class reluctantly, knowing the abuse that only waited for her at her school. There was no fighting going to school though, she had to get some bit of education so she could get work and help out her mother. "Alright Helga, I will see in the evening!" her mother replied from indoors, Helga being already several steps out the entrance way. She had taken her familiar route, a long and serpentine collection of back alley ways behind the houses and shops in her neighborhood. It was not the fastest route, but it kept her out of the eyes of the public. And her class mates. It took her fifteen minutes to get to school when she walk, rather long time considering that she could fly there in a third of the time like all the other students. Yet, Helga was in no rush, she knew exactly what waited for her at school. Plus, she like her long walks to and from school. It gave her time to think, as well as a few minutes of solitude in an otherwise busy city. It didn't take long for her to get lost in her thoughts, and before she knew it she was at the entrance of her school. Helga sighed as she walked in, and the familiar tunes of the insults began to roll in. "Eww, why does that half-blood even go here with us true-bloods? She is so ugly and revolting! They should just send her off to the country or something so we wouldn't have to deal with her," came from a female griffin in the halls as Helga passed by, which was proceeded by the sounds of other girls agreeing with her. This sort of invective no longer bothered Helga, it had gone on for so long that she was used to it. The classes went by fast as Helga spaced out wondering where her father was. She always thought of her father when she was at school, for it reminded her of the Arcane academy her father used to work and study at. It was one of her favorite things to think about, not that her father left her, but where he was or what he could be doing. It was her second favorite ting to think of next to magic. Although Helga could still only use basic magic, and very solemnly used it, she could never stop thinking of it. The topic fascinated her, but also saddened her. She'd never get to study nor learn of magic here in Griffindor, since most griffins couldn't use magic without the help of reagents and mana, a concentrated form of magic harvested from animals and some plants. It was almost a waste that she had inherited her father's ability to use magic. If only her father had not left and taught her to use magic. Before Helga knew it, it was time for lunch at her school. "Oh, how does time pass when you're thinking of magic," Helga thought as she made her way to the roof of the building. The roof of her school was her favorite place to go during her breaks and lunch. It wasn't even that it was a nice place to eat, nor did it have a good view. It was just that few people visited the roof, and at that those who did came very infrequently. It was a peaceful place where one could relax on a bench and doze off or think for a few minutes without having anyone around to interrupt you. Or bully you. When Helga made it to the roof she made a bee-line to one of the benches looking off the corner of the school. It was her favorite place to lay down and nap, and she was feeling especially tired today. Just as Helga laid down on the bench and closed her eyes to rest, she heard an familiar and terrible voice come from behind the bench. "Well, well, well. Looky what we've got here girls! A half-blood! Oh great, it was Olga and her group of delinquent girl griffins. "So girls, what should we do to this worthless pile of dung?" Olga said to the group as she fixated her eyes on Helga. "Ooo, I know! Let's make her like our claws! spoke one skinny griffin in the bunch. She was well known in the school for her eating disorder. "Nah, let's make her eat from that disgusting toilet again," said another one of the girls, this one looking more butch that the rest. "Buzz off Olga. I'm trying to sleep here." Helga said with a very annoyed tone in her voice. She wasn't so much concerned about what they were discussing, because part of the time their threats were just empty lies to scare her. But that was only part of the time. "Hey half-blood! Don't ever tell ME to BUZZ OFF!" Olga said as she shook her clenched claw at Helga, "You know what I think this half-blood needs, girls? A good beat down!" A mixtures of yells and hollers came from the excited group of griffins. Beating down other girls at their school was their past time that the solemnly got to do because of the teachers. The group quickly encircled Helga, insuring that she had no escape. Helga, now realizing the mess she had gotten herself into, got up from the bench and began to back away from the group as the slowly began to tighten the circle they had formed around Helga and the bench she was once on. She had no place to run, and she couldn't fly away because two of the goons where waiting in the air to throw her back down if they tried to get away. This was no good situation. Olga was just about to throw the first punch when suddenly Helga instinctively and accidentally used her magic, as she flinched in anticipation of the punch, to launch Olga back several feet and into the door that the girls had appeared from, knocking Olga out cold. The rest of the group stood there in bewilderment. They had never seen magic before. They couldn't even process what had just happened. They just stood their in disbelief, staring at Helga. Helga, not sure what to do, lowered her head and began to recoil backwards. What did she do? She had never used magic in public ever before, let alone to hurt anyone. The silence was then broken by a mixtures of cries and screams from the group of delinquents as they dispersed in terror, some yelling "Monster! MONSTER!" as they fled. Helga began to tear up when she heard this. What was she? A monster? She wasn't even a griffin, she was a hippogriff. What place did she have at her school? In Griffindor? Helga quickly flew away from her school, heading to her home as fast as she could. She couldn't even tell if it was what just happened or the insane speed she was traveling at that was making her eyes tear. Helga tumbled to the ground when she reached her house, then burst through the entrance way in tears, shocking her mother who had been home cleaning in the absence of work. "Darling, why aren't you at school? What happened?" she asked as Helga ran to her room, tears streaming down her face. "I NEVER WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL AGAIN!" Helga yelled back to her mother as she entered her room and proceeded to slam, then lock her door. Helga flopped down on her bed and began to sob into her pillow. She felt like a monster. If only her dad was here to comfort her, to teach her how to control her magic. Helga turned her head off her pillow after a minute of crying to take a breath, only to see a box labeled "Othello Moonspark". Was this a box of her father's old stuff that he left behind? Helga walked over to the box and opened it, emptying out it's contents onto her oak desk. The box was full of books, old books. Her father's books. She turned one over and read the cover, which read "Basic magic and alchemy". It couldn't be, but it was. The box was full of her father's old magic books! She could learn of magic! Helga was just ecstatic, now completely forgetting of her previous sadness. She didn't have to go to school, she could just stay home and study magic. Helga, then noticed something gold and shiny an the edge of her desk. Helga reached out to grab it and when she pulled the eccentric object back she notice it was a compass. "It must have come from the box I guess...," Helga thought as she inspected the compass, "well, I guess it was my father's..." Helga, quickly placed the compass in the top drawer of her desk, and began to arrange the books on her desk so she could begin studying. She studied the contents of the first book for the rest of the night, not stopping to eat her supper. This was much more important to her than anything in the world. The next day, Helga didn't go to school. She'd never go back now.
