11-30-2019, 12:04 PM
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Catamaran|Dancing+Script&display=swap" rel="stylesheet"><style type="text/css"> .aqua_container {position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 450px; background-color: #9C9B99; border: 2px solid #9ee0df; box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px; padding-bottom: 10px;} .aqua_container p {margin: 0;} .aqua_img {position: relative; z-index: 2; width: 450px;} .aqua_mes {position: relative; z-index: 4; width: 420px; background-color: #E2A36C; box-shadow: 0px 0px 5px #000;} .aqua_txt {position: relative; z-index: 5; text-align: justify; font: 12px 'Times'; color: black; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px;} .aqua_grade {position: absolute;z-index: 3;top: 325px;width:450px;height: 50px;background:-moz-linear-gradient(top, rgba(156, 155, 153, 0) 0%, rgba(156, 155, 153,1) 100%);background:-webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,rgba(156, 155, 153,0)), color-stop(100%,rgba(156, 155, 153,1)));background:-webkit-linear-gradient(top, rgba(156, 155, 153,0) 0%,rgba(156, 155, 153,1) 100%);background:-o-linear-gradient(top, rgba(156, 155, 153,0) 0%,rgba(156, 155, 153,1) 100%);background:-ms-linear-gradient(top, rgba(156, 155, 153,0) 0%,rgba(156, 155, 153,1) 100%);background:linear-gradient(to bottom, rgba(156, 155, 153,0) 0%,rgba(156, 155, 153,1) 100%);} .aqua_name {position: absolute; top: 220px; left: 185px; z-index: 6; font: 75px 'Dancing Script'; color: #9ee0df; text-shadow: 0px 0px 10px #000;} .aqua_quote1 {postion: absolute; z-index: 7; text-align: center; font: 11px 'Catamaran'; color: black; padding-bottom: 5px;} .aqua_quote2 {postion: absolute; z-index: 7; text-align: center; font: 11px 'Catamaran'; color: black; padding-top: 5px;} </style> <center><div class="aqua_container"><div class="aqua_name">aquaria</div><div class="aqua_grade"></div><img class="aqua_img" img src="https://i.postimg.cc/J0Z6CFqT/aquaria-starfish.jpg"><div class="aqua_mes"><div class="aqua_quote1">- THE TIDE IS HIGH, IT'S SINK OR SWIM -</div><p class="aqua_txt"> The island was cool in the pre-dawn light. Fine, insubstantial mist hung above the water like the tattered fragments of a funeral shawl, reaching for the shoreline with its thin claws. Ischia was never cold, was a stranger to the bite of winter and the chill of fall. Still, some mornings the air hinted at what lay beyond their protected realm. The breath of cold from the mainland that gave the heavy-with-humidity air a form.
The island was formed of rocks, waterfalls and verdant jungle, white sand ringing the entirety. It was a paradise. On that particular morning, the sky was only just beginning to feel the bright fingers of morning along the eastern shore. On the western shore, in a small, concealed cove, the sunlight did not yet reach. It did not burn away the fingers of mist reaching for the pearl mare who slumbered there.
She was a creature of the sea as surely as any fish, coral or porpoise. From the glossy golden white scales that covered her nose to tail, to the fins that hung in satin curtains from her crest and dock. From a glance, she could be perceived as nothing but the child of water that she was. Still. The mist grasped at her, thickened into a cloud-spun cocoon that drew shivers along the dozing woman's spine. She nestled deeper into her bed of sand, a muffled groan exhaling, making the mist dance before it coalesced once more. Her eyelids fluttered, once, twice.
They opened. They opened, and it was with surprise and confusion that she stayed in her prone position. White, everywhere was white and close, the scent of plumeria and saltwater fading even as she registered them. There was no time to run, dive into the sea in a bid to escape the claustrophobic whiteness that encased her. It had done its job.
She had not been aware when it had come to take her, but she saw quite clearly when the mist dissolved, eaten by the choking heat that knifed down on her. She was no stranger to heat. It was all the island offered, in varying degrees. That heat though was heavy with moisture, it hung thick in the air and made breathing almost like being beneath the sea. She never felt dry, and to a nereid that was a boon.
As she blinked into the scalding light, she knew without seeing that she was not home. The sand beneath her was gold, and so very hot to the touch. Too hot to lie in comfortably, and so she rose to her feet. The air seemed to burn a path down her throat and to her lungs, so dry that she could feel her skin being sapped of all moisture. There were fish she had seen washed ashore. They had lain in the sunlight for hours, baked beyond recognition, dry and brittle as old leaves. Was that to be her fate as well?
Her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the biting sunlight, though they wept from the intensity of it. It was like standing in an inferno, all gold and blazing hot. The sky was just as hard to look at as the glinting sand. It was so blue that it looked false, and not even a wisp of cloud interrupted it. The nereid felt her heart stutter.
She had woken up in a place far from home, as hostile as any land she'd ever walked in. Briefly, the memory of the Taiga midwinter sprang up in her mind, the idea of deep cold suddenly delicious. Delicious, but she seemed to be about as far from the Taiga now as she was from her own home. Nothing but sand and shimmering waves of heat in all directions. Except, perhaps... It was hard to tell, but perhaps in one direction there seemed to be a bit more. Dark shapes on the sand, rippling in the heat, the shadows of palms and the possible glimmer of water reflecting the too blue sky.
It was not much to go on, but she found herself quite suddenly out of options. If this was a dream, it was a cruel one. If it was truth, then she knew she'd die very quickly if she didn't find some kind of help. Her mouth already felt sticky inside, her nostrils as dry as the sand. To stay in one place would be her death.
The shifting figures seemed terribly far off at first. Then closer than seemed possible. Gently sloping dunes stretched her muscles in unfamiliar ways as she strode determinedly onward, breath coming hard as the air scorched her from the inside out. The sun beat mercilessly on her back, digging into her skin with persistent weight. Between her scales the skin grew pink, the ruddy, tight and itching. She was pale, and ill equipped to ward off the burning light. The wind that blew for a moment did little except move the hot air around, flicking stinging bits of grit against her and whipping away the escaping moisture it pulled from her eyes.
Soon, they too felt dry and sticky, as rough as the desert itself. Had the shadows come any nearer? It was impossible to tell. Her head was low as she walked, the delicate membrane of her mane burning along with the rest of her exposed skin. It was becoming painful to move, and her steps felt heavy in the dragging sand.
Water was all she could think about. Cold, clear, deep water. Thin, trickling rain. The salt water ocean, merciful and cruel. If she dove into it now, it would sting viciously, but then the water would sooth away the pain. She would remain below for days, until the blisters rising beneath her translucent scales were nothing but a memory. It was too sad to think she might not see her ocean again. Test she might die here alone. It would be no fitting death for one of her kind. A cruel joke. She only hoped that her bones would not be left here to dessicate until the wind-blown sand buried them. Let whatever force had brought her here at least allow the kindness that she be returned to her family and her home. Let them know she had not abandoned them by choice.
The sun was getting to her, blinding her to her path. Her thoughts spun in dizzying circles, eyes nearly shut to the searing light. The shapes she had unconsciously given up as mirages passed by. Horses, ones infinitely better suited to the land they inhabited watched the land bound girl as she stumbled by. They seemed no more real than her memories. The palm trees, the scrubby growth that began to dot the sand was ignored. The images of her family passing through her mind seemed far more substantial to the seamare.
The scent of water crossed her nose. But perhaps it was only the memory of it. The days she had spent on the river. The melting snow that had lain beneath her when Pteron held her close. The ever flowing waterfalls of her island home. So much of her life centered on the element, it seemed right that it would be on her mind now, when it seemed the end was so near.
The muscles of her legs ached from the long walk, and she decided to be kind to her body as a last gift. She would not make it continue the pointless journey. Feet away, still water pooled. It reflected the too blue sky like an eye in the desert, watching and waiting.</p><div class="aqua_quote2">- MY ONLY RIVAL IS WITHIN -</div></div></div></center>
OOC: Her land of choice is Ischia, her obstacle(s) are dehydration and moderately severe sunburn.
The island was formed of rocks, waterfalls and verdant jungle, white sand ringing the entirety. It was a paradise. On that particular morning, the sky was only just beginning to feel the bright fingers of morning along the eastern shore. On the western shore, in a small, concealed cove, the sunlight did not yet reach. It did not burn away the fingers of mist reaching for the pearl mare who slumbered there.
She was a creature of the sea as surely as any fish, coral or porpoise. From the glossy golden white scales that covered her nose to tail, to the fins that hung in satin curtains from her crest and dock. From a glance, she could be perceived as nothing but the child of water that she was. Still. The mist grasped at her, thickened into a cloud-spun cocoon that drew shivers along the dozing woman's spine. She nestled deeper into her bed of sand, a muffled groan exhaling, making the mist dance before it coalesced once more. Her eyelids fluttered, once, twice.
They opened. They opened, and it was with surprise and confusion that she stayed in her prone position. White, everywhere was white and close, the scent of plumeria and saltwater fading even as she registered them. There was no time to run, dive into the sea in a bid to escape the claustrophobic whiteness that encased her. It had done its job.
She had not been aware when it had come to take her, but she saw quite clearly when the mist dissolved, eaten by the choking heat that knifed down on her. She was no stranger to heat. It was all the island offered, in varying degrees. That heat though was heavy with moisture, it hung thick in the air and made breathing almost like being beneath the sea. She never felt dry, and to a nereid that was a boon.
As she blinked into the scalding light, she knew without seeing that she was not home. The sand beneath her was gold, and so very hot to the touch. Too hot to lie in comfortably, and so she rose to her feet. The air seemed to burn a path down her throat and to her lungs, so dry that she could feel her skin being sapped of all moisture. There were fish she had seen washed ashore. They had lain in the sunlight for hours, baked beyond recognition, dry and brittle as old leaves. Was that to be her fate as well?
Her eyes had somewhat adjusted to the biting sunlight, though they wept from the intensity of it. It was like standing in an inferno, all gold and blazing hot. The sky was just as hard to look at as the glinting sand. It was so blue that it looked false, and not even a wisp of cloud interrupted it. The nereid felt her heart stutter.
She had woken up in a place far from home, as hostile as any land she'd ever walked in. Briefly, the memory of the Taiga midwinter sprang up in her mind, the idea of deep cold suddenly delicious. Delicious, but she seemed to be about as far from the Taiga now as she was from her own home. Nothing but sand and shimmering waves of heat in all directions. Except, perhaps... It was hard to tell, but perhaps in one direction there seemed to be a bit more. Dark shapes on the sand, rippling in the heat, the shadows of palms and the possible glimmer of water reflecting the too blue sky.
It was not much to go on, but she found herself quite suddenly out of options. If this was a dream, it was a cruel one. If it was truth, then she knew she'd die very quickly if she didn't find some kind of help. Her mouth already felt sticky inside, her nostrils as dry as the sand. To stay in one place would be her death.
The shifting figures seemed terribly far off at first. Then closer than seemed possible. Gently sloping dunes stretched her muscles in unfamiliar ways as she strode determinedly onward, breath coming hard as the air scorched her from the inside out. The sun beat mercilessly on her back, digging into her skin with persistent weight. Between her scales the skin grew pink, the ruddy, tight and itching. She was pale, and ill equipped to ward off the burning light. The wind that blew for a moment did little except move the hot air around, flicking stinging bits of grit against her and whipping away the escaping moisture it pulled from her eyes.
Soon, they too felt dry and sticky, as rough as the desert itself. Had the shadows come any nearer? It was impossible to tell. Her head was low as she walked, the delicate membrane of her mane burning along with the rest of her exposed skin. It was becoming painful to move, and her steps felt heavy in the dragging sand.
Water was all she could think about. Cold, clear, deep water. Thin, trickling rain. The salt water ocean, merciful and cruel. If she dove into it now, it would sting viciously, but then the water would sooth away the pain. She would remain below for days, until the blisters rising beneath her translucent scales were nothing but a memory. It was too sad to think she might not see her ocean again. Test she might die here alone. It would be no fitting death for one of her kind. A cruel joke. She only hoped that her bones would not be left here to dessicate until the wind-blown sand buried them. Let whatever force had brought her here at least allow the kindness that she be returned to her family and her home. Let them know she had not abandoned them by choice.
The sun was getting to her, blinding her to her path. Her thoughts spun in dizzying circles, eyes nearly shut to the searing light. The shapes she had unconsciously given up as mirages passed by. Horses, ones infinitely better suited to the land they inhabited watched the land bound girl as she stumbled by. They seemed no more real than her memories. The palm trees, the scrubby growth that began to dot the sand was ignored. The images of her family passing through her mind seemed far more substantial to the seamare.
The scent of water crossed her nose. But perhaps it was only the memory of it. The days she had spent on the river. The melting snow that had lain beneath her when Pteron held her close. The ever flowing waterfalls of her island home. So much of her life centered on the element, it seemed right that it would be on her mind now, when it seemed the end was so near.
The muscles of her legs ached from the long walk, and she decided to be kind to her body as a last gift. She would not make it continue the pointless journey. Feet away, still water pooled. It reflected the too blue sky like an eye in the desert, watching and waiting.</p><div class="aqua_quote2">- MY ONLY RIVAL IS WITHIN -</div></div></div></center>
OOC: Her land of choice is Ischia, her obstacle(s) are dehydration and moderately severe sunburn.