His embarrassment emboldens her, and she slips out from behind the root she has been keeping between them, letting her eyes settle on him more directly, tracing the array of stripes that adorn his body. It is a fantastical display and one that, were there not a shining galaxy dripping down her shoulder and forearm, she might feel some jealousy over. As in her horse form, this lion shape is a simple sandy gold with nothing so fancy as variegating ochre and black and white.
"Ischia?" And she wracks her brain for some remembrance of Leilan's lessons. The place had never featured largely in his stories, but she remembers that it, too, is an island, much like her Isle, and surrounded by sea. The thought drops her heart into her belly like ice, but before she can say anything more, Halcyon is changing the subject and her face brightens measurably.
"Oh! Me neither!" Because, of course, she is not truly a lion, and because even if she were, there is not much opportunity for her to see herself as one. Mirrors are not in plentiful supply, but perhaps another way? The lions girl leaps to her feet suddenly, "I'm not really a lion," she whispers secretively, as though perhaps he did not know. Leilan has told her she would come to recognize other shifters, but her ability to do so is hampered by the isolation of the frozen north. She is not certain of Halcyon, "But watch this!"
The darkness that fades her golden coat falls away, the swirling glow of her shoulder illuminating the small copse where they sit. Sparkling light dances on the ground like sunbeams reflecting on shattered ice, but this is not what she means do show him. There is nothing at first and then the darkened forest shadows part from one another, a pitch black lion stepping proudly out into their midst. He is almost too dark to make out details and the bright yellow eyes glowing in his wide face are blank and dispassionate. Her shadow creatures are, like her Shadows, mostly emotionless things, but they can behave realistically enough. The dark lion shakes his royal mane and stalks a careful circle around them, only pausing to roar noiselessly in their faces, cruel black canines in a black maw, dripping with black saliva. In the face of it, she is grinning and lifts a paw still fat with her youth to press gently to the Shadow's black nose.
Boop.
"That's a lion. But the shadows say they aren't black, they're yellow like me, usually." The surety of her face crumbles when a shriek splits the air between the trees and in a rush of sound and a stirring of dust, there falls atop the black lion a young cub. A lion cub. The shock of it makes her drop control of the dark beast and the eyes blink out, the shadows dissipating beneath the scuffling young cat, returning to their usual place, and Beryl leaps back in a panic, hair standing on end and claws out. She ducks behind Halcyon until she realizes there is no threat in the smaller creature, but still her ears flatten to her neck until it speaks, and then she peeks out from behind the other yearling with wide eyes.
"The shadows never said lions drop out of trees like acorns, though!"
"Ischia?" And she wracks her brain for some remembrance of Leilan's lessons. The place had never featured largely in his stories, but she remembers that it, too, is an island, much like her Isle, and surrounded by sea. The thought drops her heart into her belly like ice, but before she can say anything more, Halcyon is changing the subject and her face brightens measurably.
"Oh! Me neither!" Because, of course, she is not truly a lion, and because even if she were, there is not much opportunity for her to see herself as one. Mirrors are not in plentiful supply, but perhaps another way? The lions girl leaps to her feet suddenly, "I'm not really a lion," she whispers secretively, as though perhaps he did not know. Leilan has told her she would come to recognize other shifters, but her ability to do so is hampered by the isolation of the frozen north. She is not certain of Halcyon, "But watch this!"
The darkness that fades her golden coat falls away, the swirling glow of her shoulder illuminating the small copse where they sit. Sparkling light dances on the ground like sunbeams reflecting on shattered ice, but this is not what she means do show him. There is nothing at first and then the darkened forest shadows part from one another, a pitch black lion stepping proudly out into their midst. He is almost too dark to make out details and the bright yellow eyes glowing in his wide face are blank and dispassionate. Her shadow creatures are, like her Shadows, mostly emotionless things, but they can behave realistically enough. The dark lion shakes his royal mane and stalks a careful circle around them, only pausing to roar noiselessly in their faces, cruel black canines in a black maw, dripping with black saliva. In the face of it, she is grinning and lifts a paw still fat with her youth to press gently to the Shadow's black nose.
Boop.
"That's a lion. But the shadows say they aren't black, they're yellow like me, usually." The surety of her face crumbles when a shriek splits the air between the trees and in a rush of sound and a stirring of dust, there falls atop the black lion a young cub. A lion cub. The shock of it makes her drop control of the dark beast and the eyes blink out, the shadows dissipating beneath the scuffling young cat, returning to their usual place, and Beryl leaps back in a panic, hair standing on end and claws out. She ducks behind Halcyon until she realizes there is no threat in the smaller creature, but still her ears flatten to her neck until it speaks, and then she peeks out from behind the other yearling with wide eyes.
"The shadows never said lions drop out of trees like acorns, though!"
Beryl
Litotes x Mehendi
@[Halcyon] @[Livinia]