"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
He’s not entirely certain what had drawn him here. He knows only that it feels right. A familiarity, both novel and ancient. There is a hum beneath his feet that calls to him, and though he does not understand it at first, the further he travels, the more he knows its delight. It isn’t until he encounters the first slow-moving stream of lava that he recognizes the hum.
For the first time in his young life, he knows what comfort feels like. He had never imagined that life would be anything other than the cold indifference of his mother or the eyes of strangers that seem to drift by without ever seeing him. But this is not that. This is something entirely new. Warm and whispering. His, somehow.
He drops his pale blue muzzle, hovering close as the heat radiates from the surface of the molten rock. He cannot keep it close for too long though. Even without touch, the heat burns his lips. Lifting his head, he wrinkles his nose before snorting in consternation. As though in response, the malleable line of fiery stone bows away from him.
It’s in that moment that he realizes that, somehow, the lava seems to understand him. Then, as though an accord has been reached, a thin tendril snakes up and away, curling and twisting until, abruptly, it drops in a small, hardy tuft of grass. In seconds, the grass is smoldering as a small flame begins to rise. It burns briefly, until the limited fuel has been consumed, leaving it die just as quickly as it had risen to life. In fascination, Erupt watches.
There is power here, he thinks.
But he is young yet, as unmolded as the lava streaming from the volcano. It’s impossible to say in which ways he would still be shaped.
10-15-2020, 03:59 PM (This post was last modified: 10-15-2020, 04:43 PM by Skylight.)
She is wild, reckless, and unchecked as a wild-fire across dry grassland, but she is not malicious. Not until she sees him. Then she is only a little wicked, or rather, only has one wicked little thought; a curiosity flaring up that no one had ever told it it was wrong to indulge. She is lucky that her mother is not near, she thinks, and that is the only hint that maybe the thought which pops into her head is one better left ignored.
"Sisters," her whisper is sharp and low, as she peers at the boy. "Look..."
Sky lights a flame, just a little one, and that flame splits into many. Like a swarm of angry bees the small, hard sparks buzz towards the strange boy who seems lost in his own thoughts. They are aimed to pelt him, to whip around his head and singe his hide, and she laughs a little at the idea. But when he seemingly lifts lava with magic, she gasps, and all the flames go out.
"Hey!" Her young voice is clear as it rings out from where she had stood half-hidden by a dip in the land and shoulder-high grasses. But she is moving forward at a trot now, suddenly thinking a conversation and some answers may be far more interesting than tormenting him until he cried.
"The lava listens to him," she muses to her identical sisters as she halts a few lengths from the colt. Her curious eyes study him even as her words trail off, leaving room for what she knows that Fire and Sun will have to say about such an interesting development.
Sunlight does not try to hide the mischievous smile that curls onto her mouth as her sister’s thoughts echo in her mind. Skylight’s voice then encourages her all the more, touching her muzzle to her obsidian shoulder with a dark (albeit soft) laugh into her skin. Her eyes reflect the dancing of her sister’s flame, burning bright and golden in her irises, pressing her teeth together and softly whispering, “Do it,” just moments before the flames fly forward on what seems to be on their own volition. Sunlight, unhappy with their size, makes the flames larger mid-flight.
She snorts sharply in realization of the boy’s power but her ears fall flat in disappointment as Sky extinguishes the flame. Her brow furrows, casting a shadow across her expressive face. Skylight is the first to move, but not before she (a little more than gently) nips her shoulder to show her displeasure that they did not follow through in their game. She turns her face towards Firelight thoughtfully, scanning her sister’s mind before lightly tossing her head and following her other sister’s lead after a roll of her dark shoulders.
His thoughts are already hers as she flips through them idly, finding nothing of interest particularly until...
Sunlight halts abruptly and squarely beside her sisters (the trio were never more than an arm’s reach away from each other), her chin tilted up so that she might look down upon the stranger. “So it does,” she says in reply with a museful tone, pursing her lips. Her eyes are roving him blatantly and unapologetically, but then those sharp golden irises snap to him with a calculating click.
“You’re right,” she says slowly, now addressing the horned colt with a look that is somehow both pleased and dangerous at the same time. “There is power here.” Her eyes never leave him as she shifts her weight so that her shoulders bump into Skylight and then into Firelight, resting against her sister with what seems like a sneaky smile on her lips. “Isn’t he right, sisters?”
11-14-2020, 04:07 PM (This post was last modified: 11-14-2020, 04:08 PM by Erupt.)
He is oblivious to the small scatter of flame pelting towards him, lost in the wonder and heat of the lava he ineptly commands. Oblivious to the wicked delight of the three girls as they seek to torment him before realizing his own power. It isn’t even until the youthfully girlish ’Hey!’ rings out that he realizes he is no longer alone.
His head snaps around to find them topping the slight crest from where they had been largely concealed in a shallow dip. Slowly, he shifts to face them with cautious curiosity. His social experiences had thus far been limited, and if they were anything to go by, he is not entirely optimistic.
As though responding to his hesitation, the lava begins to curve slowly across the ground, curling in an arch around where he stands, burning hapless foliage as it does. But as the second girl speaks, addressing him now instead of her sister, it creeps to a halt even as his eyes widen briefly in surprise. He’s quite certain he had not said anything aloud, but she responds to him as though he has.
Just as quickly as it had come, however, the surprise is replaced by a taunting curiosity. Perhaps that isn’t quite what he had anticipated when he imagined there was power here, but he recognizes it for what it is. And a deeply rooted part of him finds the prospect… tantalizing. A call to some primordial hunger residing deep inside his soul.
But rather than give in to the awe as another youth might, he draws on an impish skepticism that seems to come as easily as breathing. “Is that all?” he asks quietly, his mouth dipping in a moue of disappointment. “I’m certain I felt something more. Are you sure it was you?”
It’s a bit foolish to openly bait them perhaps, but if curiosity happens to kill the cat... well, satisfaction would most certainly bring it back.
