"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
do you think God stays in his heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he has created?
Draco had suggested that they attend the party in Ischia, but Ghaul finds himself torn between staying put in Pangea or flying after his brother. On the one hand, he likes his solitude in the comfort of their home from time to time, but he is also curious to a fault and wonders what the herd land is like. He taps his claw against the dry red clay on his roost as he contemplates before finally spreading his leathery wings. With an agile leap and a flat of powerful wings, he takes flight on a warm breeze that carries him upward.
The drake had been careful to watch which direction his brother left in as he weighed his options for a while. He can see the warm outlines of others below him, all meandering in one direction as they chat and laugh. Ghaul is rather surprised when he sees the land give way to the smooth, deep blue that marks the beginning of the ocean. The smell of salt is thick in his nostrils and he tilts his head curiously. The marine waters are entirely new and he is eager to tuck his wings, beginning his descent into their home. He lands with a splash in the waves washing up on shore with his talons eagerly plunging into the sand to dig up fistfuls of the grains.
Pleased, he croons softly as his tail whips left and right. But there is much more to explore, he realizes as he lifts his head and watches the blurs of the inhabitants up ahead. The stars across his curled horn glimmer and shine as he grins with a mouth full of crooked crocodile fangs. Ghaul moves forward, doing his best to ignore the way the sand sticks and clings to his damp talons. Something sweet has caught his attention, drawing him deeper into the island to find the source of the smell. It brings him to a few fallen pieces of fruit all scattered at the base of a tree.
Curiously, he sniffs at the tropical treats and nudges them lightly with his nose. These are entirely different from the meats he usually prefers but today is full of new discoveries. Ghaul gingerly lips at the fruit for a while before sinking his teeth into the outer flesh of the fruits, then deeper until it splits. It doesn’t take long for him to devour the pieces he finds, gobbling them up and delighting at the citrus flavors that coat his tongue. He doesn’t even mind the bitter skin that protects them.
When he stumbles upon a coconut, however, he pauses to consider it a while. He snorts and drags a long claw against the hard outer shell as he tries to make sense of the strange meal.
12-02-2019, 11:04 PM (This post was last modified: 12-06-2019, 01:01 PM by Loire.)
got my head in the clouds and i'm not coming down
When her mother had told her about the party their home was planning, she was full of excitement and wonder. There would be all sorts of visitors coming to see their island her mother also told her. Lorie, as much as she tried, couldn’t imagine what kind of horses would come. She knew Ischia was full of uniquely made sea creatures and more, but she couldn’t wrap around her head what other horse-like creatures existed in Beqanna.
The pristine-white filly is filled with delight and smiles as the day of the celebration arrives. Loire had made every intention to help her mother decorate the island with tropical flower and seashell garlands. She wanted everything to be perfect! Even when the guests are arriving, Loire explores the deeper parts of Ischia to ensure everything is ready.
Pushing through the tropical shrubbery, she spots the young draconic stallion clawing at a coconut. Instantly, Loire thinks of him as some large lizard, similar to the iguanas that inhabit her home. A soft giggle escapes her soft gold cream-colored lips at that thought. Her eyes widen with surprise as she tries to quickly conceal her laughter. Loire knew without a thought the young stallion would know he is no longer alone.
Moving with grace, she prances forward towards the horned stallion. “That’s a coconut,” she says with a soft smile looking at it. Her golden eyes shine brightly as she then turns her gaze from the coconut to Ghaul. Suddenly her smile fades a little, realizing the lizard-stallion had no eyes where there should be eyes. Her face twists into confusion for a moment. Blinking several times, her lips curl back up into her previous soft smile. “You can use a big rock to crack it open or throwing it against a palm tree has worked before.” Her smile grows a little bigger at remembering her first attempt to open a coconut. “Maybe you could use your horns too. Just give it a big whack and that might do the trick!” Loire suggests, although she isn’t sure just how strong the draconic stallion might be. To her, it looked like he could break anything with those horns.
do you think God stays in his heaven because he, too, lives in fear of what he has created?
The strange, hard-shelled fruit smells sweet but he is concerned when he touches his nose and finds coarse hair across the outside of it. He snorts softly and considers abandoning the effort in favor of fish or tropical birds when he is distracted by a giggle. Slowly, his head turns, blind face searching for her outline as he sniffs at the air. She is smaller than him and he wonders if he has ever seen someone that did not at least match his size. It doesn’t occur to him that he has grown rapidly and now looms over most.
A coconut, she explains. A thoughtful clicking noise emanates from his throat as he turns to his prize once more and tries to connect the word with the object. Coconut. He is too preoccupied with this to notice any change in her body language, as she has already forced her joyful mannerisms back into place when he turns to her again. Lucky for her.
“Is it sweet?” he asks curiously as he takes her suggestions into consideration. He has never used his horns for anything at all, really. Still, he lowers his head and nudges the coconut against the tree it fell from so that it will stay in place. Then he presses the base of those curled horns to the treat and presses, pushing more of his weight into it every second until it splits open with a little splash. A sound somewhere between a whinny and a screech escapes him as he suddenly lifts his head with droplets of coconut milk dripping from his face. Ghaul turns to her for explanation as he licks the corner of his mouth to taste it.
“Are all co-co-nuts like this?” he asks before shaking his head to fling some of the milk from him and onto her as well as the sand. He curiously claws at the inside of the coconut to scrape some of the fruit inside from its shell, which he chews slowly and cautiously. Something like a purr rumbles in his chest as he scrapes another morsel into his jaws.
“Very sweet!” she replies as he turns back to her asking his question. Loire watches him with golden eyes, waiting and wondering what he might do with the coconut. He certainly seemed interested in finding out how it tasted she guessed.
While the draconic-stallion nudges the coconut against a nearby tree the light cream colored filly inches closer. Loire didn’t want to miss a moment of this. Her eyes carefully remain focused on the buckskin stallion as he pushes his horn and weight into the coconut even more. “Press harder!” She says with encouragement. When the coconut splits open a frantic screech from Ghaul reaches her ears, sending them flat against her skull as she jumps from her current position with surprise at his outburst. Ghaul then turns to look at her, coconut milk dripping from his face, her ears flicker forward as her features shift quickly into amusement at the display that took place.
A soft musical life escapes from her lips once more. “That was very exciting!” She tells him with delight in her tone. Ghaul then asks her a question but before she can answer he flings some of the coconut from his face everywhere. “HEY!” Loire says then takes a step back at an attempt to dodge the droplets of coconut milk being flung her way.
Shaking her head to get rid of the droplets of coconut that landed on her, she turns back to Ghaul and addresses his question. “I think all of them are. Well, the ones here in Ischia are.” The filly explains as she watches Ghaul scrape some of the coconut from inside of the shell. At the sound of his satisfaction, a smile spreads across her lips. “Pretty good, huh?”
Loire takes a step forward glancing to the coconut and then back to Ghaul. “You going to share that or what?” She asks.
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