Percentage: 81.3 (111% of target)
Almost done! Two chapters or so to go. Phew!
It is very late and I am very tired, but my fingers just keep tap-tap-tapping. Today I got to write the fun scene - where Tiriki and Dragon chase each other around a Science Fair:
Tiriki spread his
wings as a large shaggy beast sprang from behind a project board. He sprang into the air a heartbeat too late, and Dragon batted
him to the ground.
“Hello birdie,”
crooned the cat. “I hear it's time for lunch.”
Tiriki lashed out
at Dragon, his savage beak raking against her delicate nose. She
yowledm drawing back and giving him enough room to wriggle free. He
ran, flapping his wings to get himself airborne. Up, he rose, one
flailing claw catching the edge of a helium balloon, suspended in the
air. The display it was attached to rose too, and the cat leapt,
crashing into it. Bird, board and kea crashed into an upright ant
farm, in an explosion of feathers and fur. The plastic casing tilted
and fractured, spilling soil and ants across the hall floor.
Tiriki recovered
first and struggled free, disentangling himself from the string and
flapping into the air. Dragon glared at him, teeth bared. She still
trailed her lead.
“I'll get you,”
she snarled.
“Hahaha,”
chortled Tiriki. “I would say you've met your match, because this
kea you ain't gonna catch!”
He dove low then,
infuriating the feline and making it spring at him once more. With a
fast flip and a turn, he evaded capture, but crashed into a
complicated structure of pipes and bowls. Tubing split and water
cascaded out, drenching the cat and puddling on the floor.
“You
lice-ridden chicken!” She screeched, shaking herself. Her fur was
plastered to her body, making her appear half the size she once was.
“You mangy featherduster.”
“Hey,
fish-breath,” Tiriki taunted her from his perch atop a low table.
“Catch this!” He picked up a potato, and flung it at the feline.
This would have been a little more succesful, had it not been
attached to a small clock with copper wires. Tiriki tripped over one
of the wires and tumbled off the table with an indignant squawk.
Dragon leapt
again, her claws out and deadly. Tiriki rolled on his back, lunging
out with his own sturdy talons and grazed her across the belly. For a
moment they tussled, until he managed a well-placed peck and
struggled free once more.
Off he flew,
across the hall, with Dragon in hot pusuit.
The chase was on!
Alighting atop
the terranium, Tiriki called “here kitty, kitty, kitty,” and
exploded into the air as she pounced. He kicked out at the terranium
at the same time, pushing it forward and tipping it over. It crashed
onto the cat and the lid fell off, spilling green frogs. They fled,
ribbiting their distress.
Tiriki
dive-bombed Dragon, talons outstretched, in his best impersonation of
a falcon. She twisted, snapping at him and he seized her lead in his
claws, dragging her across the floor and through a puddle, before the
lead slipped through his claws. She hissed and yowled, slashed and
spat, but all to no avail.
From exhibit to
exhibit, the kea and the cat crashed. Littering the floor with broken
glass, shattered plastic, dirt and water and sand and many other
things besides. The sunflowers were knocked over, the frogs ate the
ants, a dozen little yellow chicks joined the fray. It was utter,
complete and delirious chaos. Tiriki loved any minute of it.
Several times,
Dragon got close to catching him – he even lost a couple of tail
feathers, before finally, exhausted, he settled up in the rafters and
began grooming his feathers.
In the hall
below, only a handful of exhibits remained standing. Many were
smashed or knocked over, broken and battered. Water mingled with dirt
to make patches of mud and scraps of wood and straws and cardboard
lay in tangled, mangled piles. Amongst the rubble, five chickens
fossicked, happily munching up the ants and six frogs played in the
puddles.
Dragon sat in the
middle of the floor. Her striped fur lay flat and wet in patchs,
spiky in others. Scraps of paper and plaster stuck to her. She glared
up at Tiriki with as much hatred as a feline could master.
Then, quite
calmly, she began to groom.
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