A Snailbrain's Guide to Silkwing Society

Please do not edit without permisson from me.
This is a WIP book by me! I will be occasionally writing it. Chapters will come out irregularly as I plan out the story. I mostly made this to try and get better at writing.
== Prologue ==
Malachite slightly cranked open his eyelids to see that he was on top of last night's paperwork. His office job was unforgiving, but he apparently deserved it for how he behaved in school. The knocking got louder and more frequent as he found strength to get up. His legs groggily bounded their way toward the source of the noise.
With a yawn, Malachite opened the door. “If you have complaints, please go to customer service,” he said, eager to go back to sleep.
He focused his eyes and realized it was the secretary. “What do you want at this hour?” Malachite groaned, glancing at his clock. “I have some very important napping to get back to.
”Excuse me?” The secretary yelled. “You should know what I'm here for! You said you would have it ready!”
”I don't know what you're talking about. Now, if you'll excuse me…”
He tried to close the door again, but the Hivewing secretary held it open. “Oh, you won't get rid of me that easily.” 
Malachite's brain just started to wake up a bit more when he realized he did have what she wanted, but unfortunately that was what he had been napping on previously. He turned his head slowly at the unfinished paperwork. “Uhm… I'll have it to you first thing in the morning?”
”You agreed to have it done before 4 am. It is 4:02. Hand it over. If it's unfinished you'll be greatly punished."
Malachite gulped, not sure if he was ready for what was to come. He miserably traveled back to his desk, picked up the papers, and handed them to the snarling dragon just outside his door. “I got tired,” he trailed off.
Somehow, the scowl grew bigger on the Hivewing’s face. “This is unacceptable!” she yelped. The secretary left with a slam on the door, and left behind a very anxious Silkwing.
If someone can help, please do it soon. Malachite sighed and went back to his desk. Might as well nap a bit more before my life is gone.
== Chapter 1 ==
”Don't touch that!”
Nightshade was trying to help the Silkwings decorate a room so they could invite the rest of the Leafwings over, but it's hard when a Silkwing accidentally picks up a container of bullet ants that dropped out of your pouch. "Trust me, you don't want to be messing with that.”
The Silkwing quickly put it down and walked away with wide eyes. The only thing these Silkwings were good at was decorating… Argh! Why am I even here? Nightshade yelled inside as a Silkwing put the exact wrong shade of green on a table.
Nightshade was just visiting the new Silkwing kingdom, which they made weird with a voting system, whatever that is. The kingdom was built right by the Poison Jungle. They pulled her aside to ask if she could help them throw a surprise party for the Leafwings while Nightshade was just walking around their border to see how bad the kingdom really was. Nightshade didn't realize how much they needed her help.
”Excuse me?” A voice called out from behind Nightshade. “Can I ask you a quick question?” Nightshade whipped back with a scowl. “That's what I'm here for, isn't it?” She glared at the dragon with mean eyes.
The dragon was mostly dark blue with a stripe of white and blue around her neck. Her feet were dark navy with speckled red spots around the ankle. The Silkwing’s wings had blue splotches with white lines running through them. The Silkwing was obviously offended, and was silent for a few seconds before straightening her face and moving on. “As you may have guessed, I'm head of the kitchen. I just need to ask what food to put on the buffet.” She waved a talon as if to ask for Nightshade to follow.
Nightshade followed the dragon until they went through double doors into a hot room filled with kitchen appliances. Lots of delicious smells wafted through the air. The floor was checkered and the room was well lit. “We know Leafwings like meat, but Silkwings don't, so we were thinking of having a Leafwing table and a Silkwing table that each of the tribes can pick at. Here, come see our ideas for the Leafwings so far.” She ushered Nightshade over to another part of the room.
On a large table, there were hundreds of recipes spread out. Some dragons were discussing what meat eaters might like, but it's hard to know what's good when you don't eat it yourself. They kept passing around papers and saying what would be efficient for many dragons but still good tasting. Suddenly the head of the kitchen shouted “Aw, crud. I forgot again.” She whipped around and held out her right talon. “My name is Periander. Sorry, I forget to tell dragons my name way too much.
Nightshade took her talon then went toward the dragons choosing recipes. Most had meat, with seasoning and other add-ons. There was one recipe in particular that included a poisonous plant, but the Silkwings didn't seem to notice. Nightshade grabbed it off the table, ripped it in half, then put it on the floor to pour acid on it. The dragons at the table were staring at her in disbelief with huge eyes. They were ignored. “They'll be fine choosing recipes by themselves,” Nightshade said calmly while Periander stared at the new holes in the floor.
”They all look good. Now if you'd excuse me,” Nightshade walked toward the exit of the kitchen.
”You just melted one, I doubt all of the rest are ‘all good.’” Periander held out an arm to block Nightshade from leaving, her expression fierce and determined.
Nightshade wanted to move onto other things, as the Silkwings were terrible at finding good shades of green. Maybe I'll pretend I'm interested and escape later, Nightshade thought, then put on an innocent face. “Fine. I'll help choose recipes.”
Periander was not having it and stared at Nightshade with suspicion as she walked back to the table. Nightshade walked behind the poor, innocent dragons until she reached the middle of the table. For a bit, Nightshade pointed out good recipes and bad ones until Periander let down her guard a little. Then, she striked.
Nightshade grabbed the underside of the table and flipped it over, then hurdled over the remains of the recipes. Periander tried to chase after her but kept tripping on papers while Nightshade made a break for the door. 
She paused for a few seconds to decide if going right or left was a better option. Left had a window, so that was the better path. Her wings spread instinctively as Nightshade ran and jumped toward the window, until finally she could feel fresh air on her face. Soon after, though, Nightshade could hear someone yelling in her direction. Her head turned back to see Periander catching up quickly and shooting daggers out of her eyes. Shoot, she flies fast.
The Poison Jungle was looming up ahead. All the trees seemed to be competing for which could be the tallest and have the most moss covering their trunk.
Right at the entrance, a Leafwing was strolling picking up some herbs and plants with medicinal properties. Nightshade aimed to look as if she crashed, and Periander was chasing her with violent reasons. She pretended to crash in front of the Leafwing and wheezed, “Please…help…she's been chasing me down…trying to harm me…” To add an extra touch she even reached out an arm and collapsed it along with her head onto the ground.
”Oh, no! I'll get you to safety,” the Leafwing said as he reached out to drag Nightshade into the jungle.
”Stop!” Periander yelled before the Leafwing could drag Nightshade into the forest. “I wish you and that dragon no harm. She just doesn't want to help plan party food with me.”
”Oh, please. That's exciting! Why don't you want to do that?” The Leafwing looked down at Nightshade. “You aren't actually unconscious, are you?”
”Yes, I am,” Nightshade groaned and shifted positions. Periander and the other Leafwing looked at each other and laughed. The Leafwing added, “I'd be happy to help, if you need.”
Periander proceeded to ask if secrets could be kept, and pulled Nightshade up. Nightshade followed miserably back to the Silkwing Kingdom as the others chatted about food items and how good an idea this party was.
* * * 
With a shining sun and no clouds in the sky, the day seemed to continue well as food was picked and a date was set for the party, the week continued to be great. Decorations seemed as good as they could be and well set up. The food the Silkwings made was delicious, even if it was presented on ugly green tablecloths. 
On the date of the party the Leafwings were led to the room the Silkwings were decorating previously under the illusion that there was a murder they all needed to check out. Nightshade was surprised they all came, why does the entire tribe need to come for one murder? 
Once all the Leafwings were inside, confetti sprayed out from all angles and Silkwings began to burst out yelling, “SURPRISE!” Periander walked up to the door and welcomed all of the Leafwings in.
Most of the previous Poisonwings were wrinkling their snouts and very obviously wanted to get out, but were shoved in quickly by the Leafwings that did want to party. A very faint, “Remember me!” shout was heard. The mood quickly lightened and everyone was enjoying themselves.
Nightshade looked up at the roof, sunlight shining through the glass. The white frame went beautifully with the blue sky- is that corner melting? Nightshade went up closer to see. The wood seemed to be sweating itself off. In fact, the entire frame started to do this. Oh no.
Soon the wood had melted down a centimeter, and the glass began to crack. No one else seemed to notice. Nightshade quickly ran over to Periander and frantically said, “We need to evacuate everyone now.” Periander nodded and yelled, “Everyone, there is an emergency! Please get out in a calm manner!”
The Poisonwings that were forced into that atrocious place started mumbling about how this party was just a trick to get them in danger while they headed to the exit, most having a deep scowl on their face. Others completely ignored Periander, as they proceeded to scream and run to the door. 
The cracking and dripping got worse, and some droplets that found their way onto Nightshade's head felt as if they were bubbling yet burning at the same time.
The cracking and a weird bubbling sound got louder and louder as the Leafwings and Silkwings began to do a roll call. The Silkwings quickly said they had everyone, but the Leafwings kept rechecking the list as if something was wrong. “Shoot,” one called out as they slapped their face.
Periander walked over to them and asked what's wrong. “So, we brought a dragonet that really wanted to see a dead body for some reason. Could be that he's been getting into forensic investigation. He's-”
”Still inside. We'll get him, don't worry,” Periander sighed. Right after saying that, she began to push Nightshade over to the building. “You'll do it faster and better than me.”
”Fine. I'll go get the kid, but if I die promise you'll pour maple syrup on my remains and eat pancakes at my funeral. The other Leafwings will know what to do.” With that, Nightshade went inside with Periander making a weird face.
The roof was starting to collapse, and the Leafwing dragonet was nowhere to be seen. Darn, should have asked for their name, thought Nightshade as she scanned the area once more. 
Panicking, Nightshade went to look around under the tables and inside the gigantic kitchen. Gah, they could be anywhere. The glass that broke off was scattered on the floor. The wood frame was beginning to not be able to hold the glass that hadn't cracked yet, causing it to fall. Where would a dragonet even want to be? 
The food table, maybe?
She ran over to where the food sat, ruined by wood droplets, and glanced under. There, a little dragonet sat gobbling down a steak they probably stole from the top before the crisis began. “Hey, I guess you don't see that the entire building is about to collapse?” Nightshade commented to the dragonet. “Get out from under there or I'll grab you.”
“Nu, I wanna et me stek,” the dragonet continued to eat the meat messily. 
“Being grabbed it is.” Nightshade picked up the dragonet, pulled them out from under the table, then ran like lightning toward the exit. More and more pieces of glass kept falling from the ceiling, almost cutting Nightshade badly. The dragonet kept on eating their steak without a care in the world. 
The Leafwing ran toward the door, rushing to ensure the safety of the dragonet who wasn't aware of his surroundings at all. It was a wonder they survived in the Poison Jungle. Gotta train this dragonet ASAP.
Right as Nightshade was about a meter from the entrance, a big chunk of glass fell right in front of it. Nightshade looked around the debris for another way out in panic. Dang. I can’t walk over that, and flying is too dangerous right now, especially if more glass could fall there. The dragonet kept on chowing down. “You know, you could be the slightest bit worried that you might die here.” Nightshade looked down at the Leafwing.
”I hev stek. I um hapsy. If I dee, I god stek fist.” 
”Silly dragonet.” Nightshade looked toward the roof. There were some holes that were getting bigger fast, but if a piece of glass fell on her, she and the dragonet in her talons were doomed. There isn't really any other option, concluded Nightshade as she took off.
”Wai we goin fu gles?” The dragonet tilted his head. 
”You're the one that got us into this mess, you tell me,” Nightshade rolled her eyes. “You gonna be done with that steak soon?”
The dragonet shoved the rest of the steak in his mouth and swallowed, somehow not choking. “All dun.” 
The window was within Nightshade's grasp. The jagged edges of the glass reaching out to cut her. The wooden frame was almost melted completely, and with nothing to hold it up the glass could fall any second. Nightshade flew harder, towards the hole with razor sharp edges. This is a bad idea.
She whizzed through the hole, gaining a few cuts on her sides. The window gave out and caved inwards practically the millisecond she escaped. With the dragonet safe in her arms, Nightshade flew back toward the entrance where the Leafwings and Silkwings were waiting. “No more steak for you today, sir,” Nightshade commented to the dragonet as she landed.
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)