"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Thick mist surrounds him, deep grey as far as his eyes can see. The breaths Pteron takes taste of cloud and smell of ozone, and from time to time the hair and feathers of his body waver as lightning illuminates the cloud. It is risky, his soaring through the thunderclouds, but it brings a thrill to his chest that is absent on the ground, and a rush of adrenaline. He feels alive up here, and never more so than when he begins his descent.
With his wings pressed to his sides, his forelegs extended and back legs tucked, the tobiano pegasus dives toward the earth.
For a time, there is only clouded darkness, but then the sky opens and his already saturated skin becomes barraged by heavy rain. The wind attempts to push him farther out to sea, but Pteron adjusts with a practiced shift of his wings. He is headed toward the shallows, it seems, and has no intention of pulling up. He enters the water hooves first, then forces his wings out against the water around him as he feels his hooves touch the sand. He rises with his wings spread and dripped, a short stop that has all his nerves feel as though they are on fire. The pegasus is panting with exertion and the sharp ache of his body repairing itself.
As he climbs onto the beach he cannot be called graceful – not stumbling on healing legs like that – but Pteron’s landing was most certainly impressive. It’s a pity there was no one around to see it.
It had been a whirlwind. Everything that had happened the last few days, every piece that had flown apart and rearranged, and she was still getting her bearings back. They had gotten their way, that was good. Wasn't it? An insidious voice at the back of her mind kept insisting that there was more to come. That Vulgaris had meant what he'd said about finding someone cruel to lead them instead. But for now, it was Eva who took the lead now, and she trusted her friend to do well.
The skies had been growing steadily darker all morning, humidity hanging thick in the air while it waited for the incoming rain to appear. Aquaria had decided some time ago that she liked the rain. Like the way the ocean tossed itself ever higher when the wind kicked up. And there was always something interesting to see on the beach when the storm had gone. Beautiful shells, pale bleached driftwood, or-
"Pteron!"
She had been walking to the shore, intent on a little beach combing. She had not expected her treasure to come stumbling from the shallows as the rain began to fall. Heavy, fat drops made craters in the dry sand as the fin mare trotted closer, brilliant smile dimming with concern as he moved painfully ashore. "Pteron, are you alright? What's happened?" She asked, looking the winged stallion up and down, looking for signs of blood or other damage.
She didn't see any, thank the sea, but something still felt off. She hadn't seen her friend in a year now, hadn't known where to look, or even if he'd want to be found. And now he was here, heralded by rain and wind and looking as stormy as the sea itself. Her first instinct was to reach out, to greet him with an embrace she dearly wanted to give. But no. Memory warned her back. Even if the memory was of a different Terin, she still thought that perhaps her touch may not be welcome just now.
Instead she settled on a smile, standing there in the rain. "I'm so happy to see you. I was starting to think I'd scared you off for good." Her pearl and creme hair was getting dark in the rain, mortal body leaching warmth in the sea breeze. They'd have to move if he wanted to talk for long. If he wanted to talk at all. She might not be who he'd flown out here to visit, and it was vain of her to hope think she was his reason. But she hoped she was anyway.
10-23-2019, 10:53 PM (This post was last modified: 10-24-2019, 07:17 PM by Pteron.)
The falling rain washes away the burning salt in his eyes and nose. It plasters his teal mane along his pale neck and clumps his bicolored feathers. He is bedraggled and breathing heavily, his heart racing as he shakes away his waterlogged forelock to glance up and down the beach,
Aquaria is there, looking rather startled, and the young stallion grins without thinking, the sight of the pale mare brightening his thoughts and expression. “Aquaria!” He says as he ambles forward, “I’ve missed you!” Expressing fondness has always come easily to the pegasus. He’d grown up around verbal effusiveness and a plethora of talking about feelings.
She asks if he is alright and Pteron nods and laughs, stretching out first his left wing and then the right, the appendages moving quickly and without effort as a demonstration of his fitness. Her face is obscured by the falling rain, and he rotates his wings so that they are just above his head and black the rain for a few feet in front of him with their size.
Pteron steps forward to cover her as well, just as the rain begins to pour down harder. The thunk of water on the feather roof overhead becomes a consistent chatter, but the water is warm even this time of year, and Pteron is otherwise comfortable as he meets the amethyst eyes of the nereid with far less distance between them than had existed a moment ago.
“I’m happy to see you too.” He says, growing quieter with each word as he realizes he no longer needs to raise his voice to be heard over the rain and surf. She could probably hear him if he whispered, Pteron thinks, and lowers his voice further to avoid shouting in her ear. The last sentence had ended on a low murmur, and he continues in the same low, nearly conspiratorial tone.
“You called me a terrible flirt, last time.” He grins at the reminder, and then twisting the original meaning of her words, adds: “So I had to spend a lot of time practicing. You’ll have to tell me if I’m making any progress.”
Despite their nearness and the teasing tone of his voice, Pteron makes no move closer, and indeed even pulls away a bit to ask with a grin: “I take it this is a bad day for you to show me the coral reefs?”
Her heart leaped at the sound of his voice, the way his tongue shaped her name. And he'd missed her too! Anything she could have imagined this day bringing her was inconsequential compared to the reality. Standing on a rainy beach with the boy who made her breath catch? There was nothing better. Well. Nothing she could think of at that moment.
Her smile returned full fledged as he demonstrated his wholeness, flexing and flaunting the broad muscled limbs of his wings. They were beautiful, even in the rain. And, they made a wonderful canopy. "Convenient, those wings of yours." She commented, matching the soft tone he'd adopted now that they stood so close. It was warm beneath his self made shelter, made much warmer as the blood rose up her neck at his words.
They were close enough for their breath to mingle, steam rising faintly from their damp skin. "Oh!" she blinked at him, surprised and very pleased. "Well, you're off to a good start, I'd say. I'll be happy to give a full report later." And then breathed a shallow exhale as he stepped back a pace, still sheltering her beneath his wings.
The change of subject brought a rueful look to her shining face, a nod of agreement prefacing her own take on the matter. "It's not great weather for it, no. The waves will be tossing things around down there by now. It wouldn't be very safe." She shrugged apologetically. As much as she'd love to show him her secret places, she wanted it to be perfect. Calm seas, bright sun filtering down. She wanted him to see it the way she did. Besides, it really would be dangerous treading the shallow reef in a storm, even with her gifts.
"If the wind stops soon, I'll show you. Otherwise... Well, you'll just have to come back again in nicer weather." Her teasing tone matched his own earlier one, eyes sparkling in the dim light. "Or if you'd rather, I do owe you at least two visits. I can go to you next time, if you like." It was an exciting idea. She'd seen much of the continent last year, and gotten a taste for land travel. Even better if the journey had such a pleasant reunion at the end of it.
Aquaria looks pleased, if perhaps a little flustered, and Pteron grins. Perhaps it is unkind of him, to so enjoy the sensation of keeping the nereid off-balance, but she never seems terribly upset with him. Pteron is only practicing, after all, it does not occur to him that not everyone flirts as readily as they breathe. For the moment part, his frequent mention of his other friends (particularly the women, for some reason) keeps his companions at a healthy emotional distance, and the tobiano pegasus has never had to have an awkward conversation about unrequited feelings.
That he has not brought up his other friends to Aquaria (or to Aegean, or to the girl with the soft eyes), he ignores for now. So perhaps he flirts a little more, tries a little harder with them. Aquaria does not seem to mind, after all.
Their trip to the bottom of the sea – however that might happen – appears to be delayed, and Pteron lifts his shoulders in a shrug, careful to keep their feathered canopy as still as he can.
“Another time,” he agrees with a smile. This is not the best day for a trip to a tropical paradise, they both acknowledge, but as Pteron’s olive gaze slips across Aquaria’s scaled cheek and the seastars below her ears, he still appreciates the island’s beautiful views. Her mention of visiting him startles him out of his contemplation.
“Oh,” he stammers, “Oh, oh yes. You could visit.” It is a rather abrupt change of tone from the young stallion, struggling as he is to think of a place to show her. He’d been vague before, speaking only of his home on the mainland. With his mother intent on matchmaking, he daren’t show her Taiga. Reia would burn her alive if they set foot in Loess, and the idea of Aegean seeing them together in Hyaline – and vice versa – brings an uncomfortable tightness to his chest.
To distract her – and perhaps to give himself more time, he reaches out to gently touch her pink stars. “These are from the sea?” He asks as he pulls away. “I saw one once, dried up on the shore of Taiga.” He’s named a home, he realizes, and reaches again to touch the second star, his breath ghosting across her cheek. “These look much better on you. Perhaps we can find more after the rain?”
It's new, and wonderful, the way they talk. Aquaria had never had the occasion to flirt before, nor ever met anyone who so readily flirted back. She'd had no reason to even consider such things beneath the waves, when her only companions were either family and the creatures of the sea. It was unknown territory, but one she was learning to enjoy.
When his curious green eyes pause to rest on her face, the disappointment of not being able to show him the reef is mellowed considerably. It was not how she planned their next meeting, yet she found herself alright with that.
His reaction to her suggestion surprised the nereid somewhat. It seemed she had gotten around his confident demeanor, and the uncharacteristic tone amused her. So it was his turn to be off balance. She laughed softly at his quick change of subject, turning her head to better display the little friends that clung delicately to her skin. They did not mind her trips above water, not when she spent so long beneath the waves.
She didn't expect his light touch, the soft grazing of his skin against hers to trace the fragile creatures she carried with her. "Mhmm..." She breathed, suddenly very aware of that small patch of skin he had touched. It tingled pleasantly, and she wondered if the starfish felt it too. A little delayed, his words made their way to the front of her mind, fighting through sudden urges she didn't quite understand. Well. She understood a bit now, how her sister had three whole children. If she'd felt anything like this, it made sense.
A swallow of hard air ran through her throat, as the nereid took her own turn stepping back. The heavy raindrops spattered on her exposed back, a physical distraction from her reeling thoughts. "Er... Yes, they are. There's a whole colony down there." She bobbed her head in the general direction of the reef. "These ones are babies that I'm minding for a while. There's a manta migration going on, they like eating these little guys." She murmured, getting the terrible feeling that she was rambling. Oh no.
She paused to breath, to remember what they'd been talking about. "You're from Taiga? We had some visitors from there recently. Lepis and a daughter of hers. And a girl named Lilliana. Do you know them?" She asked, hoping it was so. Their little meeting with the envoy had been very pleasant, and if that little group and Pteron were a good sampling of the Taigan horses, she was even more happy with the way that day had gone.
It was still raining, and while island storms this time of year didn't generally last long, she knew the weather could always be counted on to be unpredictable. She glanced up at the feathery canopy, admiring it anew but knowning it couldn't be a permanent solution. "Your wings must be getting tired from holding them like that. There's more shelter in the jungle, if you don't mind a little walk." She offered, feeling a little silly that it hadn't occurred to her earlier. Better late than never, she supposed.
