come down now, larke - Printable Version +- Beqanna (https://beqanna.com/forum) +-- Forum: Explore (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: The Common Lands (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=72) +---- Forum: River (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=82) +---- Thread: come down now, larke (/showthread.php?tid=24465) |
come down now, larke - Malone - 08-04-2019 When Ophanim left, he had asked Malone to watch over his younger siblings and keep them safe as Meraxes had done for him. He chewed his lip and agreed without ever asking why, but he has come to regret the promise as he realizes the wild child of the family has gone missing. Ciara normally slept tucked against him and occasionally kicking in her fitful sleep with little chirps from time to time. When he awoke this morning, however, the pale pink bundle of joy was nowhere to be found. She seemed rather anxious since their parents left and now he worries she may have wandered off to find one of them. They had, after all, been the first thing she saw when she hatched from her strange egg.
Malone sighs in frustration as he completes his search through Loess. He had really hoped she didn’t leave their home on such a miserably hot day but a promise is a promise, he reminds himself. His elder brother would search the ends of the earth if he had run away too. The golden star boy spreads his wings and with one great beat, he is skyborne. Father had never been a graceful flyer but he has been practicing, learning to dip and dive and ride the currents of warm air as far as they could take him. Now he utilizes all that he has learned to sweep across the land, keeping an eye out for that pastel brat. He leans with the wind and watches the trees rush beneath him with no sight or scent of her. (In the back of his mind, he fears the worst but keeps it crammed far from him.) The sun is mercilessly hot against his back and it takes no time at all for glistening sweat to coat him. The depthless black splashes across his body greedily gather heat until he’s certain he must have caught fire. By now, he can see the river below and he wonders if his dragon-sister may have stopped here to rest – if she made it this far at all. Malone tucks his wings and dives, forelegs drawn up against him until the last second, when they snap forward to catch him and his wings unfurl to slow his descent. The mud of the river makes his landing a gentle one but he stumbles from the weight of his efforts. He must take a break, he supposes, if he is to continue his hunt. Malone steps closer to the waters and slowly wades in, letting the cold current wash away the dirt and sweat of the day. Once the grime has been cleared from him, the burning rose gold ring is more easily visible against the starry patch it occupies. He dips his face into the waters and gives his head a little shake when he lifts it once more. Little droplets roll off his handsome chin and he smiles faintly at the relief. In this moment, he keeps all his worrisome thoughts locked up in some overflowing closet where the door struggles to keep on its hinges. For now, he can pretend his world is spinning perfectly on its axis. malone RE: come down now, larke - larke - 08-04-2019 —LARKE— there is not in the wild world a valley so sweet as the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet @[Malone] RE: come down now, larke - Malone - 08-05-2019 When he lifts his head, little drops of cool river water run down his chin and glisten in the sun. He sighs slowly in frustration as he realizes there is no scent of his sister here, only of strangers and humid summer air. He has never been terribly opposed to leaving his home and venturing out to explore the world and yet he has never felt compelled to either. The star boy has only ever gone where the wind takes him, so to speak.
Suddenly, the heavy blanket of exhaustion seems lifted from his shoulders and the ache in his muscles eases from him. All the knots untangle themselves until he feels more relaxed, more prepared to continue his search today. He blinks a few times in surprise and turns his head left, then right in search of the source for this burst of energy. The deep blue irises land on the dark girl hiding behind a tree with her lovely head peeking out. If he still had a heart, he might be enthralled by the flowers cascading down her mane or the strange horn growing from beneath her forelock. Still, he tucks his wings back against his sides and climbs from the river and the mud to approach her. “Hello? Are you.. Was that you?” he asks, black and gold head tilted curiously with a nervous smile across his face. She seems suddenly as tired as he was and he finds himself brushing his lips against her cheek. Malone admires the soft lines of her gorgeous face and the gentle green color of her eyes. Has he ever seen someone with that color iris before? “I’m sorry I’m so rude, my name is Malone. I live in Loess. What about you?” His voice is oak and bourbon, smooth and strong when he spreads one wing to lightly fan her for a bit. He isn’t sure why he felt the need to touch her face just moments ago but he’s seen others trace their lips over someone’s face as they speak gently. Still, he refrains from repeating the gesture for now, much as he’d like to. Instead he busies himself by thumbing through her thoughts and examining little snippets about her – a princess, a healer, a twin. He smiles faintly satisfied with himself. malone RE: come down now, larke - larke - 08-05-2019 —LARKE— there is not in the wild world a valley so sweet as the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet @[Malone] RE: come down now, larke - Malone - 08-06-2019 Her voice is sweet like honey earned without a single sting from the hive, he notices when she greets him back. It warms him and he’s delighted when she doesn’t pull away from his sudden touch despite her surprise. He can’t help but laugh – a glowing sound that feels like fire after a day in the snow – when she grows timid beneath his questioning. But he is careful not to be cruel and so he turns so they are standing side by side, lightly bumping his cool shoulder to hers in reassurance. Water still drips from him and he either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care on a day so hot as this.
“I don’t mind, really. I think I liked it,” he says as he watches her curiously, exploring the finer movements of her face as she speaks. He watches how they line up with her thoughts and he’s flattered that she finds him so regal in comparison to her. But perhaps she doesn’t realize how lovely she is also? His smile loses some of its luster when he reaches her thoughts of Loess and its wars, the one that nearly ripped his father from them all. He remembers the blood and the sleepless nights after. Malone is drawn so easily to dark thoughts like these that he nearly forgets to pry himself from them before they drag him under. Besides, she seems to find it exciting that he comes from the ‘forbidden’ kingdom. “Larke,” he repeats, and the name draws a smile back into his expression. He turns to face the river once more when she questions his plans and he wonders if he should explain that his sister is missing. It sounds far more dire than it really is, he thinks, considering she breathes fire and gleefully sinks her teeth into anyone who gets close enough. “My sister wandered off while I was supposed to be watching her. This isn’t anything new, though.” Still, Malone finds himself searching the tall grasses for some flash of pastel pink or those sunshine wings bobbing and weaving as she navigates the meadow. The wild child of the family is most likely back in Loess eating some bugs she found under a log, knowing his luck, though. “She’s pretty, like you, but she’s a biter.” malone RE: come down now, larke - larke - 08-08-2019 —LARKE— there is not in the wild world a valley so sweet as the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet @[Malone] RE: come down now, larke - Malone - 08-21-2019 He’s happy to go along for the ride as her thoughts compare him to flowers and things she loves so dearly. She seems so eager for his approval and he’s quick to offer it up for her, nodding when she questions whether he actually enjoyed her healing or not. He hasn’t learned quite how to lie at this young age and so he can be trusted for the time being. But even in the future, he will only tell little lies meant to smooth over arguments or to woo girls as beautiful as her.
“I wouldn’t say lost, I think. She knows the way home but she likes getting into trouble,” he explains with a laugh. “I just want to get her home before our parents come back. I wouldn’t mind if you helped me look, though. You could even stay with me forever if you like.” He wonders why no one has ever complimented her but it only compels him to continue further. A gold and black wing extends from his side and curls over her, pulling her to him in a gentle embrace as he follows her step forward. From here, he can’t find Ciara’s chaotic thoughts in the crowds around the river. But should he tell Larke that his sister won’t be found anywhere in this area? He worries she may not stay with him as long if there’s no demon child to hunt down. His first real lie, he realizes as he continues forward. “Maybe she’s hiding away from everyone else. She’s not big on crowds,” he explains, gesturing a short way from the river and past the tree line. Instinct tells him to find somewhere secluded where he can whisper in her ear without being seen. He’s young and naïve enough to obey as he takes a step in that direction, watching her curiously and perhaps too eagerly. The memory of her soft face beneath his lips has awoken a quiet hunger deep in the core of him and he’s more than happy to stoke that fire a while. “Tell me about you while we look, lovely Larke. Do you have a boyfriend or anything?” Here, he keeps his eyes trained forward so that he might watch her from his peripheral vision so as not to seem too interested. Would he stop himself if she said she did already have someone to give her heart to or would he pursue her anyway? He doesn’t quite know but he listens carefully to her thoughts as he takes another step forward. malone RE: come down now, larke - larke - 08-21-2019 —LARKE— there is not in the wild world a valley so sweet as the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet RE: come down now, larke - Malone - 09-04-2019 He runs his fingers so carelessly through her thoughts when she leans into him. Malone is pleased at how comfortable she is here, curled safe beneath his wing, and it grooms his ego into something awful. Certainly, having her against him floods his veins with the serotonin he gets from touching her, but his heart doesn’t sigh in delight at the feel of her skin. Or maybe it does and it’s fluttering somewhere in Djinni’s grasp? He isn’t entirely concerned with it and so he doesn’t wonder about these things.
He’s entirely too focused on pressing his lips just behind her jaw and placing innocent little kisses there when she thinks of how she’d miss her family. “I suppose I could bear to lose you for a day or so, but only if you promise to come back to me,” he says with his face resting against her neck as they make their way from the river. More secluded now, he stop walking forward and lets himself playfully nibble at the skin just past her ear. She is quiet and he worries his question has crossed some line for her. When Larke thinks of Midnight, he pulls back enough to watch her face. Was he important to her? Did her heart yearn for him? But then she says she has no one like that and she’s smiling, so he leans back against her and breathes in the scent of her hair. As much as he would like to say that the rose gold woman was his, he knows it would be a lie to ever claim her. She will always reject him in even his wildest dreams. The thought summons a soft ache in his chest that makes him sigh against Larke’s neck even though he doesn’t care to explain why her question pains him. “No, I’m afraid I’ve no one to call mine. Maybe some day a girl as perfect as you will want me.” He laughs softly and closes his eyes, kissing down to the space between her shoulders now as he imagines what it would be like to have someone love him. Malone wonders if he would ever try to buy his heart back from the genie so he could offer it up to someone else. Could it ever hum and sing for another woman, now that it’s learned to yield itself to only one? The star boy suddenly lifts his head and watches Larke for a while, wondering if the future could ever let them be together. But he doesn’t hold his breath. malone RE: come down now, larke - larke - 09-06-2019 —LARKE— there is not in the wild world a valley so sweet as the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet |