09-30-2019, 11:04 AM
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Josefin+Sans&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"><style type="text/css">.aedan_boy_container{position:relative;z-index:1;width: 550px;background: #1f3f65;font: 12px 'Times New Roman', serif;border: 1px solid #050e49;box-shadow: 0 0 10px #050e49;}.aedan_boy_container p{margin:0;}.aedan_boy_gradient {position: absolute;z-index: 5;top: 215px;width: 550px;height: 200px;background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, rgba(31,63,101,0) 0%, rgba(31,63,101,1) 100%);background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(31,63,101,0) 0%,rgba(31,63,101,1) 100%);background: linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(31,63,101,0) 0%,rgba(31,63,101,1) 100%);filter: progid
XImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#001f3f65', endColorstr='#1f3f65',GradientType=0 );}.aedan_boy_message {width: 500px;position: relative;z-index: 10;margin-top: -80px;text-align:justify;padding: 10px 0px;color: #D3E0D5;border-top: 1px solid #050e49;border-bottom: 1px solid #050e49;}.aedan_boy_name {font: 66px 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;color: #1f3f65;text-shadow:0 0 6px #fff;text-align: center;padding-top: 30px;}.aedan_boy_quote {position: absolute;z-index: 15;font: 14px 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;color: #208ea9;letter-spacing: 2px;text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #050e49;}.aedan_boy_quotetop {top: 310px;right: 150px;}.aedan_boy_quotebottom {bottom: 75px;right: 180px;}</style><center><div class="aedan_boy_container"><img src="https://k.nickpic.host/rpZoqY.jpg" style="width:550px;"><div class="aedan_boy_gradient"></div><p class="aedan_boy_quote aedan_boy_quotetop">i have loved the stars too fondly</p><div class="aedan_boy_message">He can’t say what he was expecting the Sphinx to do. Really, he had no expectations at all having never met a Sphinx before, but he can say that he was not expecting it to swallow him whole. As the sandy creature’s maw yawns wide above him, he doesn’t move. The boy doesn’t run or scream but assumes he got the answer wrong and either this was it, or maybe it’d all prove to be a dream.
Darkness surrounds him and he’s tumbling; slipping and sliding down the throat of the strange, feline thing that eats horses. He falls and falls, finding it terrifying and fun all at once. The ride is thrilling, but the unknown destination that’s probably a stomach was far less thrilling and put a bit of a damper on the whole experience.
Finally he tumbles out of the darkness and into what is, thankfully, not a stomach. A stomach might be this hot though.
Aedan takes a moment to survey his surroundings. It is not a wood, but it is a jungle and it’s similar enough in that he takes heart in it. Here, at least, he can pretend to be the boy in the wood. The boy who escapes, who lives to tell the tale. Someday perhaps he could tell his mother a bedtime story, but it would have to be far in the future. If she knew he’d gone off wandering into other worlds, there’d be no sneaking out ever again.
Everything is vivid and wild around him, shades of greens and purples and reds so bright he cannot quite imagine them being real, and yet this also reminds him of Ischia. They are not the same, but Ischia was real, so perhaps this place is too.
There is only one path forward, and clearly he cannot return the way he came, so he steps forward and begins the next part of his journey. The walk is long and his legs are even more weary than when he began, but he cannot stop. Instead he focuses on the creatures in this place. There’s a tiny little frog colored purple and yellow and he’s vaguely tempted to touch it, but decides better. If giant sand statues could eat him, certainly tiny frogs were also not to be trusted.
He keeps going until finally the jungle gives way to a mountain. The mountain is no better than the jungle. Magma moves in lazy swirls around the base of the mountain, and no matter how hard he looks, Aedan sees only one rather pathetic looking bridge across. The boy takes a tentative step, suddenly very glad he is still small and relatively light. His small body does little to disturb the rickety old bridge and he makes it across without incident.
Somehow, at the end of the bridge, it gets worse.
A dragon sits nearby, guarding a castle. Aedan looks up, up, up at the massive stone building and the massive dragon. He just stands there, paralyzed not necessarily with fear but with sheer indecision. What exactly is a colt supposed to do in such a strange situation? The feline statue at least told him what she wanted. This though? He has no idea.
Thankfully, it is not long before a white and teal winged stranger comes across the bridge as well. <font color=#208ea9> “Um, hi,”</font> he says to the stranger, eyes flicking back to the castle and the dragon just in time to see a pale face in the window. She looks out for only a moment before turning away, and Aedan blinks. Maybe this is the weirdest dream ever. <font color=#208ea9> “Did you see that lady in the castle? Do you think the lady needs help? Or maybe the dragon is guarding her...but from what?”</font> The words half tumble out, though he tries to keep his cool. There’s definitely fear in his veins, but uncertainty and excitement too. It’s a few too many emotions to process all at once.
He waits, hoping the stranger will prove to be kind and answer him. Heck, he probably doesn’t have to be kind, but two horses against a dragon and a pale lady seems safer than one horse against a dragon and a pale lady. He is immensely grateful when Pteron stops to actually talk to him, saying that it may in fact be a good thing to have two of them. Well, at least they have that thought in common.
Pteron suggests that one of them go to the dragon and the other the castle. Aedan nods. <font color=#208ea9> “Do you want the dragon or the castle?”</font> he asks, not sure which he’d prefer. A dragon seems scary enough, but an unknown pale face isn’t exactly comforting. Pteron picks the dragon though, and so Aedan adds, <font color=#208ea9> “I can make horses go to sleep. I don’t think that’ll work on the dragon but I can try to make it a little drowsy, if you like.”</font> It was something, though it wasn’t much. Maybe this stallion had better options up his sleeve, but Aedan waits for some sort of answer. Either he needed to make that thing sleepy enough to pass by, or his new friend would have to distract it.
When Pteron agrees, Aedan throws out his power across the distance as best he can. He hopes enough of his power will make it to the dragon to leave it a bit slower, perhaps contemplating a nap, but not so tired that Pteron can’t go talk to it and see what he can learn. Talk to it. Talk to a dragon! That seems so very unlikely but then again all of this is basically impossible, and yet here they are. So it’s not impossible at all, only improbable. Or one heck of a dream.
Aedan leaves Pteron at this point to the dragon, which seems cruel, but then again maybe Pteron got the better end of the deal. Or maybe they are both marching off to their doom. Yet part of him feels drawn to the pale face, alarmed as it was. Aedan skirts around the dragon, who, to his delight, seems to be closing his eyes just a bit in that lazy Sunday afternoon, I need a nap, kind of way. Good, he thinks, as he slips into the castle. It is dark and quiet, but the place must have been beautiful once. Cobwebs and dust cling to glittering chandeliers and ornate treasures that still, somehow, shine from beneath their disuse. His hoofbeats echo through the castle, and it is clear he will not be making a subtle arrival. He moves through the entrance hall of the castle, figuring he has to go up to find the face that had peered out from the window. Instead, she finds him.
<i> “What do you want?”</i> she asks, and the face is pale and lovely, with ice blue eyes and golden hair. Her dress glimmers a pale blue with silver embroidery, trailing behind her. How she is so clean in a place so dusty he will never understand, but then again, far more improbable things have happened today.
For a brief moment, he is struck dumb at the sight of her until finally, the boy manages to find his tongue. <font color=#208ea9> “Um...we saw you in the window. You looked, well, alarmed. Are you okay? Do you need help?”</font> The girl laughs lightly, and it seems she is laughing at him. He catches sight of a small tiara on her head, and he wonders what she is supposed to rule over.
<i> “Oh, sweet boy, long ago I would have said that I needed to be rescued from that dragon out there,”</i> she begins, moving down the stairs with impossible grace as she speaks. <i> “But my prince took too long. I befriended the dragon and now he guards me, keeps me company. I looked alarmed because strangers often try to hurt my dragon, and in return, I find I must hurt them to keep him safe. What did you do to my beast to get in here?”</i> At the question, her voice grows just a bit of an edge to it, and there is something absolutely more terrifying to a kind girl with a razor-edged voice than the dragon outside.
<font color=#208ea9> “Oh. I just made him a little drowsy, and someone else is talking to him. He’s okay though,”</font> Aedan adds hurriedly, watching the features of her face smooth, the simmering anger beneath her blue eyes fading. <i> “Oh, I am glad to hear that. You are a sweet thing, perhaps I will keep you for company.”</i> Aedan blanches, and she must see it on his face. <i> “Now now, would that be so bad?”</i> She reaches out a hand to stroke him, trailing long fingers along the base of his white mane. <i> “Or perhaps, for a price, I will let you go along on your little quest.”</i>
Aedan says nothing, but waits. Worst case he could put her to sleep and run, but to where? The next part of the quest was not clear and so he cannot flee. Instead, he waits to hear her price, assuming that will lead him on to the next stage. Or perhaps this was simply the end. Perhaps there was no next stage. Oh, just let there be a price he can pay.
</div><p class="aedan_boy_quote aedan_boy_quotebottom">to be fearful of the night</p><p class="aedan_boy_name">aedan</p></div></center>
collaboration with @[Pteron]
XImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#001f3f65', endColorstr='#1f3f65',GradientType=0 );}.aedan_boy_message {width: 500px;position: relative;z-index: 10;margin-top: -80px;text-align:justify;padding: 10px 0px;color: #D3E0D5;border-top: 1px solid #050e49;border-bottom: 1px solid #050e49;}.aedan_boy_name {font: 66px 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;color: #1f3f65;text-shadow:0 0 6px #fff;text-align: center;padding-top: 30px;}.aedan_boy_quote {position: absolute;z-index: 15;font: 14px 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif;color: #208ea9;letter-spacing: 2px;text-shadow: 1px 1px 2px #050e49;}.aedan_boy_quotetop {top: 310px;right: 150px;}.aedan_boy_quotebottom {bottom: 75px;right: 180px;}</style><center><div class="aedan_boy_container"><img src="https://k.nickpic.host/rpZoqY.jpg" style="width:550px;"><div class="aedan_boy_gradient"></div><p class="aedan_boy_quote aedan_boy_quotetop">i have loved the stars too fondly</p><div class="aedan_boy_message">He can’t say what he was expecting the Sphinx to do. Really, he had no expectations at all having never met a Sphinx before, but he can say that he was not expecting it to swallow him whole. As the sandy creature’s maw yawns wide above him, he doesn’t move. The boy doesn’t run or scream but assumes he got the answer wrong and either this was it, or maybe it’d all prove to be a dream. Darkness surrounds him and he’s tumbling; slipping and sliding down the throat of the strange, feline thing that eats horses. He falls and falls, finding it terrifying and fun all at once. The ride is thrilling, but the unknown destination that’s probably a stomach was far less thrilling and put a bit of a damper on the whole experience.
Finally he tumbles out of the darkness and into what is, thankfully, not a stomach. A stomach might be this hot though.
Aedan takes a moment to survey his surroundings. It is not a wood, but it is a jungle and it’s similar enough in that he takes heart in it. Here, at least, he can pretend to be the boy in the wood. The boy who escapes, who lives to tell the tale. Someday perhaps he could tell his mother a bedtime story, but it would have to be far in the future. If she knew he’d gone off wandering into other worlds, there’d be no sneaking out ever again.
Everything is vivid and wild around him, shades of greens and purples and reds so bright he cannot quite imagine them being real, and yet this also reminds him of Ischia. They are not the same, but Ischia was real, so perhaps this place is too.
There is only one path forward, and clearly he cannot return the way he came, so he steps forward and begins the next part of his journey. The walk is long and his legs are even more weary than when he began, but he cannot stop. Instead he focuses on the creatures in this place. There’s a tiny little frog colored purple and yellow and he’s vaguely tempted to touch it, but decides better. If giant sand statues could eat him, certainly tiny frogs were also not to be trusted.
He keeps going until finally the jungle gives way to a mountain. The mountain is no better than the jungle. Magma moves in lazy swirls around the base of the mountain, and no matter how hard he looks, Aedan sees only one rather pathetic looking bridge across. The boy takes a tentative step, suddenly very glad he is still small and relatively light. His small body does little to disturb the rickety old bridge and he makes it across without incident.
Somehow, at the end of the bridge, it gets worse.
A dragon sits nearby, guarding a castle. Aedan looks up, up, up at the massive stone building and the massive dragon. He just stands there, paralyzed not necessarily with fear but with sheer indecision. What exactly is a colt supposed to do in such a strange situation? The feline statue at least told him what she wanted. This though? He has no idea.
Thankfully, it is not long before a white and teal winged stranger comes across the bridge as well. <font color=#208ea9> “Um, hi,”</font> he says to the stranger, eyes flicking back to the castle and the dragon just in time to see a pale face in the window. She looks out for only a moment before turning away, and Aedan blinks. Maybe this is the weirdest dream ever. <font color=#208ea9> “Did you see that lady in the castle? Do you think the lady needs help? Or maybe the dragon is guarding her...but from what?”</font> The words half tumble out, though he tries to keep his cool. There’s definitely fear in his veins, but uncertainty and excitement too. It’s a few too many emotions to process all at once.
He waits, hoping the stranger will prove to be kind and answer him. Heck, he probably doesn’t have to be kind, but two horses against a dragon and a pale lady seems safer than one horse against a dragon and a pale lady. He is immensely grateful when Pteron stops to actually talk to him, saying that it may in fact be a good thing to have two of them. Well, at least they have that thought in common.
Pteron suggests that one of them go to the dragon and the other the castle. Aedan nods. <font color=#208ea9> “Do you want the dragon or the castle?”</font> he asks, not sure which he’d prefer. A dragon seems scary enough, but an unknown pale face isn’t exactly comforting. Pteron picks the dragon though, and so Aedan adds, <font color=#208ea9> “I can make horses go to sleep. I don’t think that’ll work on the dragon but I can try to make it a little drowsy, if you like.”</font> It was something, though it wasn’t much. Maybe this stallion had better options up his sleeve, but Aedan waits for some sort of answer. Either he needed to make that thing sleepy enough to pass by, or his new friend would have to distract it.
When Pteron agrees, Aedan throws out his power across the distance as best he can. He hopes enough of his power will make it to the dragon to leave it a bit slower, perhaps contemplating a nap, but not so tired that Pteron can’t go talk to it and see what he can learn. Talk to it. Talk to a dragon! That seems so very unlikely but then again all of this is basically impossible, and yet here they are. So it’s not impossible at all, only improbable. Or one heck of a dream.
Aedan leaves Pteron at this point to the dragon, which seems cruel, but then again maybe Pteron got the better end of the deal. Or maybe they are both marching off to their doom. Yet part of him feels drawn to the pale face, alarmed as it was. Aedan skirts around the dragon, who, to his delight, seems to be closing his eyes just a bit in that lazy Sunday afternoon, I need a nap, kind of way. Good, he thinks, as he slips into the castle. It is dark and quiet, but the place must have been beautiful once. Cobwebs and dust cling to glittering chandeliers and ornate treasures that still, somehow, shine from beneath their disuse. His hoofbeats echo through the castle, and it is clear he will not be making a subtle arrival. He moves through the entrance hall of the castle, figuring he has to go up to find the face that had peered out from the window. Instead, she finds him.
<i> “What do you want?”</i> she asks, and the face is pale and lovely, with ice blue eyes and golden hair. Her dress glimmers a pale blue with silver embroidery, trailing behind her. How she is so clean in a place so dusty he will never understand, but then again, far more improbable things have happened today.
For a brief moment, he is struck dumb at the sight of her until finally, the boy manages to find his tongue. <font color=#208ea9> “Um...we saw you in the window. You looked, well, alarmed. Are you okay? Do you need help?”</font> The girl laughs lightly, and it seems she is laughing at him. He catches sight of a small tiara on her head, and he wonders what she is supposed to rule over.
<i> “Oh, sweet boy, long ago I would have said that I needed to be rescued from that dragon out there,”</i> she begins, moving down the stairs with impossible grace as she speaks. <i> “But my prince took too long. I befriended the dragon and now he guards me, keeps me company. I looked alarmed because strangers often try to hurt my dragon, and in return, I find I must hurt them to keep him safe. What did you do to my beast to get in here?”</i> At the question, her voice grows just a bit of an edge to it, and there is something absolutely more terrifying to a kind girl with a razor-edged voice than the dragon outside.
<font color=#208ea9> “Oh. I just made him a little drowsy, and someone else is talking to him. He’s okay though,”</font> Aedan adds hurriedly, watching the features of her face smooth, the simmering anger beneath her blue eyes fading. <i> “Oh, I am glad to hear that. You are a sweet thing, perhaps I will keep you for company.”</i> Aedan blanches, and she must see it on his face. <i> “Now now, would that be so bad?”</i> She reaches out a hand to stroke him, trailing long fingers along the base of his white mane. <i> “Or perhaps, for a price, I will let you go along on your little quest.”</i>
Aedan says nothing, but waits. Worst case he could put her to sleep and run, but to where? The next part of the quest was not clear and so he cannot flee. Instead, he waits to hear her price, assuming that will lead him on to the next stage. Or perhaps this was simply the end. Perhaps there was no next stage. Oh, just let there be a price he can pay.
</div><p class="aedan_boy_quote aedan_boy_quotebottom">to be fearful of the night</p><p class="aedan_boy_name">aedan</p></div></center>
collaboration with @[Pteron]
Use of mild power playing is allowed; no injuries without permission