Like Father, Unlike Son

by PonyPixel

Together Time

Walking towards the market, Silverstream looked around at the different sights of the village. Again, the minotaurs appeared to be more function over form, so there wasn't really much to look at. However, what she and Yona could see was the culture of the minotaurs. They could see many of them trying to show off their strengths, either by being able to lift larger items or to defeat others in contests like arm-wrestling contests. Yona was very impressed with the minotaurs' strength and wanted to get involved, but she had experience with how yak’s strength worked. She looked around to see if there were any minotaurs closer to her age.

They eventually arrived at the market, where there were quite a lot more minotaurs than Yona and Silverstream were expecting. “Wow! Look at all of them,” the excited hippogriff cried.

“Yep, there are quite a few of us,” Annie commented. “I'm guessing they're getting what they need for the Celebration of Strength.”

“What's that?” Yona asked tilting her head.

“It's a special holiday for us minotaurs. We take great pride in our strength, not just with our muscles, but with our minds and bonds as well. This holiday commemorates the day where we got our pride and strength.”

“Ooh! That sounds nice,” Silverstream commented.

“And not to mention it's the first Celebration we're having together. Right Will.”

“Indeed,” Iron Will confirmed. He looked towards Terry, who still didn't seem to care.

“Can Yona and Silverstream join in Celebration?” Yona asked. Silverstream nodded in agreement and excitement.

“Hmm, well you can stay for a while,” Annie said, “But most of the events take place over a week.”

“Well, we don't really know when we need to go back,” Silverstream noted. “Maybe if we don't want to go back.”

“What was that?” Annie asked.

“...Nothing important.” Strolling around the market, Annie got to one of the stands and started placing the items she needed in her basket. While she did that, Yona noticed Terry looking for a place to sit and read his book. As he looked around, a stray snowball hit him in the ball.

Looking behind him, Terry could see some other teenage minotaurs who looked much bigger than him. "Hey, Terry Twig," one of them called, "You really think those sheets of paper."

"Yeah, well..." Terry seemed to be stumbling over his own words.

"Why are you picking on him?" Silverstream asked.

"What are you?" one of the bullies questioned.

"Silverstream hippogriff," Yona spoke. "Leave Terry alone."

"Um... Maybe you could be like Yona," Terry said. "She has a better vocabulary than you."

Before the bullies could throw more snowballs until Iron Will walked over to them. "What's going on?" the minotaur idol questioned. The bullies quickly hid their snowballs when they saw him.

"Iron Will," one of them said, "We're such huge fans of yours. Could we…have your autographs?"

"Of course." One teenage minotaur gave him a sign pen and he started writing it down. Terry didn't say anything to this. He just walked away to find a seat while Iron Will signed their autographs. Yona and Silverstream saw the young minotaur walk away and decided to follow him.

Terry just found a good spot to sit next to a stand with winter clothes hanging for display. Yona and Silverstream caught up with him. "Hey," the minotaur said glumly.

"We saw you had some trouble with those bullies," Silverstream spoke.

"Yeah, I know."

"Then why didn't Terry stand up?" Yona asked.

"I wanted to, but they had me outnumbered. And if you think I could've just asked Will for help, you saw how they played innocent."

"How long have you known him?" Silverstream asked.

"Only for about a month. I haven't gotten on the same point as Will though. We don't have anything in common."

"Have you tried to get to know him?"

"Ugh. He keeps trying to keep his ego inflated. He's just too loud for me."

"Iron Will can't always be loud, can he?" Yona asked.

"I……I don’t know. I honestly don't spend too much time in the same room as him. I hide in my room sometimes to read my books."

"I think our friends would understand how that is," Silverstream commented. "Yona and I both have roommates back at the school. Mine's a dragon named Smolder."

"And Yona changeling friend named Ocellus," Yona spoke. "Ocellus prefer quite rooms and enjoys learning. Yona honestly prefer smashing and showing yaks best."

"Uh-huh," Terry commented, although Yona's English was confusing him a little bit.

"Yeah, well, Smolder tends to snore on nights where she's stressed," Silverstream said. "Not to mention she can be a little stubborn sometimes. But Yona and I still love spending time with our friends even with their flaws. You just have to know what their good sides are like."

"Right," Terry responded. "So, are you guys closer in age?"

"Yeah."

"Then I think you might've had an easier time than I would. Will's like three times older than I am. How am I supposed to get onto his good side."

"Iron Will seems like nice minotaur," Yona said. "He proud when Yona smash through wall."

"...What?"

"I don't know," Silverstream admitted. "Listen, if you just start getting to know more of Iron Will, maybe you'll start getting along."

"It's gotta be better than just sulking in my room and having nothing change." The young minotaur stood back up and walked back to where his mother was.

Annie was just starting purchasing the items she needed before paying the vendor behind the stand. She could see the teens walking over to her. "There you are," she said. "Where have you been?"

"I was just looking for a place to read my book," Terry stated. "Can we go home now?"

"Not yet. I just need to stop by one more stand and then we can go." The young minotaur let out a frustrated sigh. He slowly followed his mother through the market. He looked over to Iron Will, who had caught up with Annie. Terry looked back to Yona and Silverstream motioned him to talk to Iron Will and Annie.

Terry sighed and walked closer to his mother. "Hey, mom, I was wondering if Will and I could... Do some bonding."

"Really? I thought you would never ask. I've been waiting for you boys to spend some father and son time together." Terry tried to keep up a smile as Iron Will was more than pleased.

“Iron Will loves that idea,” he cheered. “The Celebration of Strength will be much better this year.” Terry tried to keep up a smile for his mother but he wasn’t still feeling keen on spending time with Will.

---

When they finally got back home, Silverstream and Yona were able to take off their winter clothing along with the minotaurs. “So, what do you guys have around here that’s fun?” Silverstream asked.

“We do have a few board games stored in the closet,” Annie said. “Wilbert, could you get them for us?”

“Sure thing,” the famous minotaur said. He walked over to one of the home’s closet and found a set of games inside. “Take your pick.”

Most of the games that Yona and Silverstream hadn’t heard of before. Board Smashing sounded like something a yak would celebrate, Titan Champ sounded like something would be a little violent, but Yona seemed interested in Landslide.

“How do you play that game?” the yak asked. She pointed to the game that she was interested in.

“Ooh, that’s a good one,” Terry commented. He took the Landslide box and started setting up the game. The board wasn’t flat like most games instead, it was two wooden pieces that were painted to look like a mountain road that connected together. There also eight wooden figures two of each were the same color, red, blue, yellow, and green.

“So, how do you play this game?” Silverstream asked.

“It’s very simple,” Terry explained. “You play as a duo of minotaurs who are climbing to the top of a mountain. However, you have to move using cards, which are randomly shuffled. Some of the cards are labeled ‘Landslide.’ When that card is shown, these balls, which are boulders, will roll down from the top of the mountain.” Terry then showed one of the balls that came with the game. He placed it on top of the path and it rolled all the way down, colliding with the wooden figures at the bottom.

"That looks kind of hard to avoid."

"Well, a way you can avoid it is picking a certain path. If luck's on your side, the ball will just roll right past you."

"Sounds like fun," Yona commented.

After a few minutes, Terry helped set the game up. "So, who goes first?" Silverstream asked.

“I think either you or Yona goes first,” Terry commented.

“Okay,” Yona replied. She quickly drew a card and moved one of her pieces. Then it was Silverstream’s turn. Then Terry’s, and then Iron Will’s. The game carried on for a while until Terry drew a card titled, “Landslide.”

“Oh boy, here we go.” Terry pressed a button that released one of the boulders. The boulder ended up knocking over almost all of the figures, except for Yona’s and Iron Will’s.

“Darn,” Silvertream sighed.

"Back to the start for us," Terry sighed. He moved his and Silverstream's pieces. Yona and Iron Will were pleased to see they now had a massive lead. A few more drawn cards later, Will was nearly at the top of the mountain. That was until Yona drew a landslide card.

"Uh oh," the yak gasped. She pressed on the button to release a boulder but ended up launching two of them. All of their figures got hit and sent back to the start. “Gah! Yak so close.”

“So was Iron Will,” the older minotaur groaned. He slammed his fist on the table in frustration, making the figures jump up from the force.

“Back to the start guys,” Terry said.

“Maybe Terry’s friends try different game.”

“Yona not liking game,” the yak spoke. “Can friends try Titan Champ?”

Terry just sighed. “Sure,” he responded. He started placing the pieces of Landslide back into the box while Iron Will got the other game.

Titan Champ came with some blocks that could be built into some castles, some marbles, and some catapults. “So, how do you play this one?” Silverstream asked.

“It’s pretty simple,” Terry explained, “You simply fire these marble at the enemy tower to try and knock it down.”

“Sounds easy,” Yona commented.

“Well, it’s a little complex as these catapults aren’t really the best to aim with. So, it’s going to take a bit of trial and error to knock these towers down. There are enough blocks to be built into four castles and there are four catapults. So, get to your battle stations and we can begin.”

Yona and Silverstream did so and they all placed their marbles in their catapults. They and the minotaurs started launching their marbles at each other’s castles. Marbles were flying all over the place, many of the them falling onto the floor.

Annie was nearly finished with putting the items she bought from the market away. She could hear some of the marble rolling on the floor and could see them rolling to her feet. “Boys,” she called, “Could you be a little careful?”

“Sorry, mom,” Terry apologized. They stopped their game and started picking up the marbles that had fallen onto the floor.

“That was more fun than I thought it would be,” Silverstream commented. She helped out clean up all the fallen marbles as she began to think. "Maybe we should try something that won't cause such a mess."

"Well, I guess Board Smashing is off the table," Terry said.

"What else could friends do?" Yona asked.

"You could help me with some of the pastries," Annie said.

"Pastries?" Yona and Silverstream questioned.

"Ooh," Terry cooed with interest.

"Oh yes," Annie said, "I bake some cakes for the Celebration of Strength. I think I'll make it a little more special now that Will is here." Iron Will smiled at this.

"Annie need help with cake?" Yona asked.

"That's kind of you to offer girls, but I plan on making this cake later tonight after dinner."

"Aw," Silverstream sighed.

“There are different events that happen throughout the week for the Celebration of Strength.”

“Like what?”

“Like the weight challenges,” Iron Will said. “They should be setting them up by now.”

“Can Yona and Silverstream see?” Yona asked.

“Well, I don’t normally watch this advent considering that Terry doesn’t like taking place in it,” Annie admitted. “But since Will’s here, we could probably check it out.” Iron Will and the visitors were excited about this, but Terry was far from thrilled.

---

Downtown, several minotaurs were setting up some equipment so others could test and show off their strength. There was some equipment that looked like it was from a homemade gym. Yona and Silverstream were pretty interested in what the gear could do. They could see some minotaurs testing them out. One of them turned out to be a pully system to lift some weight.

Many of the minotaurs were excited to see Iron Will again. Terry was starting to have another sulk. "So, what other events are there for this celebration?" Silverstream asked.

"Well, we often have older minotaurs helping to boost the strength of younger ones," Annie explained. She pointed over to a minotaur calf trying to lift some heavy stones with its guardian giving it a hand.

"Aw, that's nice." Iron Will looked over the calf and its guardian and then looked over to Terry.

"Hey, how about Iron Will helps with your strength?" Iron Will suggested.

"I don't know about that," Terry mumbled.

"Come on. Celebrate your strength." He decided to take Terry over to one of the strength testers. Will gave the weight a couple of tugs and they lifted into the air like they were balloons. He decided to lighten the load a little bit so Terry could give it a try.

The young minotaur just sighed and tried to lift some of the weights. He clearly had a harder time than Iron Will did. He barely managed to lift the smaller ones up. “How’s that?” Terry asked, not really sounding interested.

“Pretty good. How about we give you a bit more weight?” Iron Will changed the setting on the machine that Terry was using. The young minotaur gave it another pulled but he was barely able to get the weight upwards.

“Yeah... I’m not cut out for this.”

“You just have to give it a few more months.”

“Months?” Terry just dropped the weight and started walking off.

“Wait, give it another shot.”

“Whoa, is Iron Will testing those out?” one of the other teenage minotaurs questioned. A crowd of fans started surrounding the famous minotaur while Terry kept walking away.

“Terry, wait!” Annie cried. She ran over to her son as Yona and Silverstream could see things weren’t going as well as they hoped.

“Heh heh,” Iron Will chuckled. “Listen, Iron Will loves his fans but... Iron Will has business to attend to.”

“Hey, can’t you help us get started?” one of the teens asked.

Terry only glanced back at the crowd as he could see his mom running towards him. “Terry, couldn’t you give Will another chance?” she asked.

“I did,” the teen minotaur sulked. “With those board games, he just gave up after the first landslide he got caught in.”

“But... You were having fun with the Titan game."

"Because it's the only one where we both get to destroy stuff."

"Terry, you just need to give him a chance."

"I did. And I'm not sure that it's worth it." He quickly ran off, leaving a distraught mother behind. Yona and Silverstream looked very worried.

“Wait!” She gave up.

"Silver follow Terry," Yona spoke. "Yona try and talk with Will and Annie."

"If you say so Yona," the hippogriff replied. Silverstream took off to catch up with Terry while Yona stuck around the other two minotaurs that were sharing his problem.

Comments

[Melody Song]

This is a great second chapter! I can't wait to see what happens when Silverstream catches up with Terry

[Yoshifan30]

So Terry and will Has some communication problem And having trouble bonding with each other again like quibble pants situation I wonder how yona and silverstream Going to fix this kind of problem i guess will find out next time