"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
04-20-2020, 11:36 PM (This post was last modified: 04-20-2020, 11:37 PM by Dawn.)
DAWN
it must be about as hard as forgetting your best friend
As it turns out, retiring to the Cove and settling down with most of her children had not worked out too well in her favor. When she had first gone back home, she had not even yet realized that she was pregnant with her sixth - and hopefully final - child, a little boy she named Sloane in the privacy of the foothills, surrounded by her family. He was the spitting image of his father, down to the snowflakes on his nose, and for a while she had been happy and at peace. She had missed Ghaul and Darkling dearly, but the boys had been old enough to choose their own path in life, and they had chosen to remain under the new Pangean queen.
But as it turns out, nothing good ever lasts. Sloane had grown and, curious about his absent father, had wandered off from their small family. Being that Nolin was the only other boy in their small family group, she doesn’t blame him for leaving - the women in her family are kind and caring, but also headstrong and willful. She didn’t mind him going off to find his father; if anything, price had glowed in her chest as he bravely set out on his own.
Eventually, even her other children had faded from the Cove; first Athena, desperate to make a name for herself; next Nolin, curious about the world outside of the East. Austra and Isilme, she assumes, are still around, but she doesn’t know where they are or what they are doing. She is content here, and at the very least, Ghaul is finally home, dragging along a little dragoness and their clutch of eggs. To think that she’s already become a grandmother, even by proxy… is this how Cress feels? Old, all the time?
Old, and lonely. As much as she loves her family, she misses her friends. She longs to race the hills with Kensa or stroll the beach with Lie. It is not so much fun to do either of those things by herself, but she has to accept that times change and everyone tends to change with it.
04-27-2020, 09:08 PM (This post was last modified: 04-27-2020, 09:08 PM by litotes.)
boy what's normal to you? 'cause that sure ain't normal to me.
Up against the grassy, yellow landscape of Silver Cove, Litotes looks like he might belong. As a lion, his head hangs low, mane protruding from the swaying tall grass. A cool, autumnal breeze twists some of locks together, and Lie shakes his head irritably. Here, in this little block of land, he looks like he could be in the sahara. He laments the Litotes that used to stand proud on this ground, looking like king despite his lack of a lion's natural habitat.
Ahead of him, a herd of deer mingle and graze. They are on edge, judging from their swiveling heads and constantly twitching ears. Lie presses flat to the earth, eyes picking out the delicate outlines of their legs. His stomach rumbles at the thought of a hot, fresh kill. He is frustrated, knowing that being hunted by dragons has changed how they exist in this land, though he does not fault Clarissa or Ghaul. It's just that he is too old and too calmed to be fucked to try very hard.
Still, Lie edges closer, the idea of hunting after going without it for so long enough to drag that will out of him.
The herd senses him, but not before it's too late. The lion launches forward as they begin to scatter, sights set on one young, lone stag. Dirt flies up beneath his claws as he flies after the bounding creature. Lie lets out a vicious snarl when he catches the deer, mouth then wrapping unforgivingly around his prey's neck.
The deer does not go down quietly, but once it's down, Lie ends its suffering quickly.
Blood stains the white fur of Litotes' mouth when he spots the familiar form of Dawn making her way down a path to the pebble-strewn beach. He considers rushing to her, asking her how she is, what their daughters up to, where Darkling is; but, he doesn't. He sits up, wraps his tail around his front paws and watches until she is out of sight.
Lie grabs what is left of his kill (one leg is untouched - his belly is pleasantly full). The grassy knoll he sits on ends with the cliff to the beach that gives this land its name. It's late afternoon and the sun is hot, but Lie still begrudgingly decides to make the extra effort of taking this leg to Dawn.
He finds her on the beach, black rocks making her palomino stand out. The ground is cool when the lion sits. He drops the leg and looks up at his once-lover.
"Hey, Dawn," he says with a boyish smile. "It's so good to see you. I brought you this."
and if i fall would you know that to do? and if i'm caught up would you stay?
it must be about as hard as forgetting your best friend
Her mind wanders to the first time she had seen Ghaul, freshly born and covered in his dam’s blood from ripping his way out of her. She had pitied the cold, blind boy, instantly tucking him into her side and claiming him as hers. Lie had appeared, and they had taught the newborn how to hunt, as his sharp teeth and talons made it startlingly clear that he couldn’t live on a normal diet. He had made fast friends with his true half-brother, and Dawn swells with pride knowing that a son of hers, if not by blood, has risen to kingship.
Her hooves carry her towards the beach - as always - as a herd of deer startles behind her, scattering through the foothills. She doesn’t notice the lion pursuing them or hear the squeals of the dying buck, merely continuing along her path. A few does race past her, disappearing up ahead onto a trail too small for her to follow them.
Not that she would. She knows how to hunt, of course, and on occasion partakes in stalking prey, but a polar bear is too conspicuous in the Cove to take down much. Most of her kills tend to be by pure luck, or during the wintertime when the territory is coated with snow. So she just watches them as they disappear into the underbrush, a bemused smile on her face as she continues down her path.
As she stands alone on the pebbled beach, she closes her eyes and relaxes. The sunlight is beginning to fade but she doesn’t fear the gathering darkness as she once might have. The Cove is a safe place, somewhere she will always feel at home, and nothing could ruin that.
She smells the fresh-kill scent before she hears the lion approaching, and turns her head towards the approaching lion. She smiles as she recognizes Lie, and chuckles as he drops the leg at her hooves. “I think I’ll save it for later,” she tells him, pulling the meat closer to her with a hoof. “And I’ve been well, just missing our family. Have you met Ghaul’s wife yet? She is a lovely young drake, and they have a beautiful clutch of eggs.” She scrutinizes him carefully, a soft smile crossing her lips as she does. “You look happier than you’ve been in a long while,” she says.
