"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
10-15-2017, 07:51 PM (This post was last modified: 10-15-2017, 07:54 PM by Celest.)
"So... you are telling me that you live here, and you don't even know whats in this cave?" She says with equal measures of curiosity and sarcasm. But she smiles anyway because that was exactly the answer she was hoping for. "Anything could be back here."
The girl, who is the daughter of a god ( her mother has made sure she knows this beyond simply knowing, it is engrained in her) has no fear as she takes prancing strides into the belly of the hill. The ground transitions to stone and her light steps ring off the walls of the cave, she stays close to the wall, resting her shoulder against its cool flank for guidance until she decides to use her light magic. Her eyes are adjusting and she can see him silhouetted against the moonlight of the hills, but when she looks at the back of the caver there is nothing but inky darkness.
"C'mon, you don't need to be afraid of the dark," Celest beckons soothingly.
It never occurs to her that these antics may be making him feel more like a babysitter than a friend - so far he is the closest thing she has ever had to a friend.
She reaches for the magic, preparing it, but also taking care to not let the violet light begin to glow. Her stomach flips in excitement as she feels the slight tingle under her skin which lets her know the magic is awake, and she waits for him to take juuuust a few more steps.
I V A R i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take
Overhead, the rough edge of the cavern is easily distinguishable from the night sky. The open sky is deepest blue, and the stone is entirely black. Ivar prefers the star-speckeld sky – he has never been besotted with caves the way his father was – but it seems the same is not true of the little teal filly.
She suggests that anything could be in the back of the save, and Ivar narrows his eyes with a shake of his head.
“Yeah,” he says with no attempt at enthusiasm, “Probably bats. And then, if we’re very luck…more bats.”
Still, she is stepping forward, farther into the darkness, and the scaled stallion watches her with a deeper frown. Don’t be afraid of the dark, she tells his as she disappears into the shadows, as though a lack of fear will someohow increase the strength of his eyes.
Ivar is ready to call her back, to show her something, anything else, but he hears the thud of Celest’s hooves stop, and holds his tongue. He is not entirely sure what she is doing in the darkness, but she isn’t screaming, so it can’t be anything too terrible. Perhaps she’s run into the back wall, he thinks; he doubts he is so lucky though.
“What’re you doing?” He calls, taking a step into the cavern, his eyes narrowed to try and see what she is up to.
The girl waits, she holds her breath. Then she hears him, tentative steps on stone, and his voice echoing along the chamber's walls. She stops clenching the muscles along her shoulders then, the dam which stops the flow of the summoned magic, and along her spine violet light begins to seep through her pores. The light traces her topline and up the crest of her narrow neck until it reaches her brow, and from there it leaves her body and shines towards the back of the cave.
"See, we can go exploring now, somewhere you have never been. Maybe there is a whole lake back there." The memory of her dream about the two of them in the water comes to mind and her light flickers low momentarily but quickly stabilizes again, she bites her tongue.
She doesn't push the magic or add to it, she allows the light to be a soft beam without the intensity which she knew could damage the stalagmites hanging from the ceiling. She smiles but is careful not to allow herself to turn her head towards him. From her experimentation, she knew that the light could damage plants and stones so she could see no reason it wouldn't hurt him. The beam is thin and weak, but more than enough to reveal the geography of the cave to their dilated pupils.
a quote goes here
@[Ivar] I left it intentionally vague as I didn't want to be inventing too much in a land that I don't even have a character in
I V A R i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take
Whatever Ivar had expected, this was certainly not it.
As the son of a sea monster and a genie, there should be little in this magical world that still surprises Ivar. Yet the little teal filly suddenly glowing lavender and projecting light in the recesses of a black cave is certainly startling.
“That’s an interesting trick,” says the scaled stallion, stepping farther back into the cave now that it is illuminated. His scaled nose is wrinkled at the strong smell (guano is guano no matter how well lit) but eventually they’ve moved past the roosting area, and the ground beneath his hooves is nothing but stone and earth and dust. Ivar’s ears turn toward the filly as she speaks, and his mouth twists in a smile at her enthusiasm and optimism.
“A whole lake?” he repeats, as the stalactites grow taller around them, “now that would be very interesting.” Keeping up the conversation while mulling over the prospect is engaging, and Ivar walks steadily deeper into the bowels of the earth, his brown eyes averted from the too-bright of Celest’s violet light.
The cave begins to widen around them, something that Ivar barely registers, as he is focused on the increasing slant in the floor. Perhaps Celest was right after all – there could very well be a lake down here. It would do him little good (he couldn’t make it back here without light – he’d surely brain himself on a low-hanging stalagmite) but the idea is appealing regardless.
Kicking a loose stone, Ivar follows the sound as it clatters down the slope, and then hears the very familiar wet plop as it meets water. The tobiano glances over to Celest, to see if she’s heard it as well, excitement on his face.
![[Image: celest_by_cowgirlconrad-dcolc1l.png]](https://orig00.deviantart.net/bc93/f/2018/277/3/d/celest_by_cowgirlconrad-dcolc1l.png)
