"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
02-10-2022, 08:23 PM (This post was last modified: 02-10-2022, 08:24 PM by ibrahim.)
Ibrahim has always taken directly after his physical surroundings. A sunny disposition to pair with his island homeland, a playful voice to mimic the songs of tropical birds, washing the beach in the reflected light of his glitter to rival the sun’s reflection. As a consequence, Ibrahim is only comfortable beneath the hot sun and surrounded by the gentle crash of ocean waves. He’s hardly left the thickly-jungled island, and has never planned to do so.
But one of his mother’s insisted he must see the world while the other worried over him and his siblings incessantly. Ibrahim often leaned on his hovering mom as an excuse, but eventually he did admit to himself there must be much more to see outside of Ischia; and so, he left. A week. He promised himself he’ll try to be away for a week.
The wings Ibra wraps tightly around himself glow enough to light up the thickly canopied forest that surrounds him. While uncomfortable, he forces himself to be aware of his surroundings, to see a world that isn’t strictly tropical.
Ibrahim is too naive and bright to know that he hates something, but the tightly packed trees have convinced him he’s come close.
The gentle sound of a lazy river guides Ibrahim from the clutches of the tree trunks. When he steps upon a riverbed, he takes a deep breath and immediately rushes toward a long, smooth stretch of boulder nestled nicely against the babbling water. There, he lays on his side, basking in the warmth of the summer sun.
She had never had quite the same adventurous spirit as her twin, but even she couldn’t stay in her misty forest home all the time. So what better way to get out and about than find another place with a whole lot of trees? She should be happy about it, but instead a scowl tugs at her pale, delicate features. Truthfully she’s ambivalent, but she’d gotten so used to frowning at her sister Ellie that a scowl seems easier than anything else.
She’s not sure why she had bothered even leaving at all if she wasn’t really going to go anywhere different, but she’d been bored. Besides, mom was so morose these days it just kind of sucked hanging out at home anyway.
The minute the thought crossed her mind, she felt instantly guilty. And angry. Not at her mom of course. It wasn’t her fault dad had been the world’s most massive idiot. She glares hard at a hapless tree in front of her before sighing loudly. She knew how badly her father felt about it but she couldn’t seem to keep herself from being angry either. Especially when mom kept sneaking off when she didn’t think anyone was looking because she didn’t want them to see her cry.
By all the gods, she hated this so much. She had always thought falling in love would be nice. After seeing how broken her parents are now though, she doesn’t. She never ever ever wanted to go through that kind of misery. It’s bad enough watching it.
Suddenly annoyed, Luminesce stomps forward, stars scattering haphazardly around her as she glares at the river, face scrunched into a fierce glower. She wanted to kick something so badly. So she does. Hard. The river rock flies through the air before clattering against a bolder. Her dark gaze shifts to the place it landed as she prepares to kick another rock the same direction.
Before she can however, she freezes. Her gaze had caught on the figure sunning itself right in the path of her furious ammunition. Had she hit him with the first one? Scowl deepening, she steps forward instead of kicking the rock as she’d intended.
Ibrahim cannot say that he’s ever had a nap interrupted so rudely. Save for the occasionally tussling with his siblings, he’s rarely ever felt so affronted.
Here he was, in the relaxing throes of a light nap, when a stone peppers his side. It’s almost similar to the times in Ischia when rain would draw him from midday rest. Even then, though, the showers were always warm and when he awoke, he was easily able to find shelter. What he’d never been awoken by was pain; and to say it shocked Ibrahim is an understatement.
Lurching upward, Ibrahim whips around just in time to catch Luminesce finally notice he is there. Even though he is disgruntled enough to screw his face up in displeasure, he much too gentle of a creature to latch onto that anger. A flighty creature, Ibrahim, uncommitted to everything, even his own emotions. His nature shows in how immediately his face turns upward with a crooked smile. It’s genuinely funny to him that Luminesce placed his being hit by her rock as somehow his fault.
“Maybe this is a dumb direction to kick,” Ibrahim answers lazily, red eyes trained on the stranger. Pebbles clatter as he rolls to his feet, a thought suddenly striking him. He launches one of the rocks in Luminesce’s direction.
“Wanna kick it back and forth? Maybe you’ll relax.” Ibrahim means that genuinely; but such an assumption coupled with his relaxed smile, he might appear a bit . . . smug. His naivety shows in how he relaxes, leisurely eyeing Luminesce.
@Luminesce
She’s not actually dumb enough to believe it’s his fault she wasn’t paying attention, but her annoyance made it too easy to place the blame on him. It gave her a target, undeserved as it was. And if Lumi were in a better mood, she might have sheepishly admitted to her mistake and apologized. But she is not in a better mood, and even his affable acceptance isn’t quite enough to lift it.
If politeness had not been so studiously drummed into her by her parents, she might have done what she really wanted to do: let loose and yell. Instead her scowl deepens as a huff of breath escapes her lips. Any one of her siblings would have gladly called her out in the same way he had done, but that doesn’t make her any happier to hear it.
When he kicks the rock back at her, her eyes widen as her wings flare in surprise. Why she should be surprised, she doesn’t know. In fact, if she were at home, she would fully have expected to have rocks flung back at her. The sound that escapes her lips is a weird combination of squeak and growl as her form shimmers, the stone bouncing harmlessly through to land behind her.
When she solidifies again, her sea-green eyes are fixed on him in a fierce glare.
“I don’t need to relax,” she snaps, eyes dropping as she finds another stone to hurl back at him. Hard. Maybe she did need to relax, but she was hardly going to admit that to him. Not when he’d been looking at her with that insufferable smirk on his face.
His insufferable smirk remains even when Luminesce flares her wings. It might truly be arrogant now, after Ibrahim sees how shocked she is to have the rock kicked back at her. Despite his good intentions, he can't help but find her reaction mildly amusing. He's certainly had his fair share of rocks kicked back at him by his siblings.
Maybe she doesn't have any.
He starts to say just that thought: "Do you not h- ouch!" His sentence is cut off by a yelp when a rock sails aggressively into his chest. Lost for words, Ibrahim blinks down at the welt blooming on his skin, then looks back up at Lumi, just as stunned as she was before. A frown begins to wrinkle the stallion's face, though even that irritation he cannot commit to. His displeasure quickly slips back into a smirk, though this one is genuinely sly.
"Clearly you do. Do you not have siblings? Maybe you shouldn't kick rocks at someone if you're not used to getting hit by them." This he punctuates by launching another rock just as aggressively in Lumi's direction. He huffs in satisfaction and leans casually to the side.
"Are you gonna kick shit at me all day or do you wanna talk about it?" he asks after a moment, then glances back at the river. He jerks his head in that direction and adds, "Fancy a swim? Or a flight? Or literally anything to get you in a better mood?"
His amusement only serves to set the frown deeper into her features. Yet, inexplicably, it also loosens something inside her chest. The tension that had been coiled there, cranking tighter and tighter with each day her parents continued to break further apart, eases slightly. Maybe it’s the physical act of kicking rocks, or maybe it’s the fact that he doesn’t seem to judge her for her foul mood. Whatever it is, it keeps her rooted in place instead of flying into a surly rage.
Her lips almost twitch into a smile when his question is interrupted by the rock smacking into his chest. Any amusement vanishes when he finally does manage to get the question out however. Or rather, the accusation. Eyes narrowing, she steps forward aggressively just as his retaliatory stone plunks into her slightly flared wing.
Yelping, Luminesce jumps back, startled. This is swiftly followed by an offended huff as her wing snaps wide, feathers ruffling as she shakes the stone loose. “Maybe you should shove your head in a mud puddle,” Lumi snaps in response. It’s not a terribly clever comeback, but she’s too annoyed to think of a better one right now. Of course, if this were any of her siblings, that might have devolved into a wrestling match as they tried to shove each other's heads into a mud puddle. Not that she would admit it.
Though his questions do not erase her antagonism, they do stay her hoof before she manages to lob the rock back at him. She glares at him for a long moment before exhaling noisily and glancing away. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she grumbles, refusing to look back at him. Of course, that was a lie. She did want to talk about it, but she wasn’t ready to share her life’s story with a stranger. So instead she glares at the river for a long moment before another gusty sigh escapes her. “I guess a swim sounds okay.”
