I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams // Catcher - 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: Forest (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=73) +---- Thread: I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams // Catcher (/showthread.php?tid=27087) |
I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams // Catcher - Santana - 06-04-2020 He'd promised Eyas that she would find him rested and ready in the morning, and so the milk and cream stallion made an effort to bed down not far from where they'd agreed to meet come dawn. A pair of fat rabbits, rounded out with a sedate cropping of bunching grasses and he was ready to settle in for the night. Like a dog, the winged stallion trampled a circle in the thick bracken ferns before lying down. Through the lacy intertwining branches overhead, he watched the sky shift from dusky blue to fiery pinks and oranges, and at last settle into a star flecked night. The steady chirp of crickets and a lonesome owl's cry lulled his racing mind with their night song, soothed the anxiety that had been building since he'd found the pegasus mare on her island hideaway. Sleep claimed him. And he dreamed... He dreamed of water, crystal and clear. It washed his hooves, drew curving lines in the golden sand with its ever changing brush. Tana smiled. Boyhood happiness illuminated his features, for he knew this place well. It was Ischia, where he and his brother had spent the bulk of their childhoods chasing parrots and racing on the sea strand. He could feel warm sun on his wings, and taste salt on his tongue. Happier days. If only he'd known it then. He turned to move along the shore, and found the sand shifting and wobbling beneath his feet. The unstable surface threw him to his knees, made his wings flare out in a losing battle for balance. Every time he he tried to rise, he could get no more than a step or two further without the beach squirming beneath him and dropping him back down. Snorting in annoyance, the pale stallion tried to fly. His wings wouldn't cooperate. Instead they hung leaden by his sides, refusing to lift high enough to beat the air. He tried to shift, and found no answering fire in his mind to call on. A parrot, red and green and blue, flew in a careless circle above him, cackling all the while before landing just out of reach of his nose. "Did you think it would be that easy?" It taunted in Eyas' voice. He snarled at it in frustration. "It will be! Just let me get my feet under me," he asked, somehow knowing it was her fault he couldn't stand. Her fault the earth kept tilting out from beneath him. If he could do that, then things would keep going, and he could set things right. It made sense to his dream-self. If only he could stand. @[Catcher] RE: I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams // Catcher - Catcher - 06-21-2020 CATCHER caught in the afterglow @[Santana] RE: I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams // Catcher - Santana - 06-25-2020 His body twitched, kicked out at nothing. His mind spun, fighting a battle seemingly against elements out of his control. Really though, he was only fighting himself. He was always fighting himself. The only difference was that this time he had an audience. His jaw ached with the tension he was holding in it, every attempt to rise thwarted before it had really begun. He panted in the sand. The red bird sat preening before him, seeming to have forgotten he existed at all. Then something else came into view, red as the parrot, but many times larger. It was a serpentine shape, vivid and taking over much of the treacherous beach. Words came, directly into his mind, and again he recognized their speaker's voice. Eyes wide, the pale stallion glared down at the sandy terrain, teeth bared. The parrot-that-was-Eyas whistled shrilly in his ears. It was overwhelming, inexplicable, and he felt his heart pound rapidly to keep up. With a gasp, the dragon winged stallion shut his eyes. Breathed as deeply as he could and opened them again. The scene changed. Where the facsimile of Ischia had been, now a deep forest stretched. Trees, ancient things with gnarled roots and reaching crowns, cast dark shadows all around. This was a far older forest than the one he'd fallen asleep in. The only light was where they stood. A brief clearing, with the sun's light filtering on their backs. Tana breathed again. The weight was gone from his wings, and he could feel the coil of magic in his belly once more. "Catcher," he said, lips parting in a somewhat weary smile. "Imagine seeing you here." Butterflies black and blue tumbled by, and he watched them with vague interest as they split apart and four smaller copies spun away. He shook his head, bemused. Seeing his old friend again was far more interesting anyway. @[Catcher] |