"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
The winter night is a quiet blanket upon the Meadow. A clear sky shines with stars overhead and the crisp winds have taken some time off, leaving everything still and peaceful.
Until snow stirs on the ground, a small flurry of flakes flying upward in the trail of one - no, two! - brilliantly shining orbs that race and zig-zag across the freshly fallen snow, leaving curious tracks behind them in their wakes and illuminating the area around them. They jump and twirl in erratic delight as they race each other - and are just itching to be caught.
First come, first serve for the first two characters to reply. Must be a “real” post catching an orb but no word minimums.
11-04-2024, 11:33 PM (This post was last modified: 11-04-2024, 11:36 PM by Alicent.)
She thrived in the winter. The colder, the better, to be honest. One thing she couldn’t comprehend—which, to be fair, there are a lot of things she cannot comprehend at such a young age—is why her mother seemed to miss a tropical kingdom so much. The idea of living close to a volcano sounded vile; her frost scales nearly started to melt at the very thought.
It’s why Adriana shouldn’t be at all shocked to discover that her daughter had disappeared to play in the snow during the night, and even less surprised that she had convinced her twin brother to tag along. Alicent liked to think that their parents had no idea where they were; it was far more fun this way, to imagine that this empty meadow was all their own, rather than acknowledging that both parents had known exactly when they crept off, and exactly where they went.
“Look!” She pauses midstep during whatever game she had been playing with her brother, watching the two orbs that flickered and twirl above the fresh powder of snow. She stands for a moment, transfixed, before bounding away from Atreus without a second thought, following one of the glinting balls of light. It’s pure chance that when she leaps forward in a sudden burst she manages to knock the light down with her hoof, and with an eager pounce she pins it to the ground. “I got one!” she squeals in triumph, looking around to see what had happened to her twin.
He is a bit more like their parents, in that he prefers the warmer weather, but there isn’t much he wouldn’t do or endure for his twin, so he embraces the winter, albeit with far less enthusiasm than Alicent. Though reluctant to rouse at first, he can hardly resist the temptation of sneaking away from their parents, especially coupled with the liveliness given to her by this far more tolerable climate.
The thrill of adventure rings loudly in his ears, deafening him to the fact that they are, by no means, quiet and stealthy in their departure. Before long, they fall into chasing after one another in the fresh snow, their laughter shattering the tranquility of the idyllic winter night. He is on the verge of overtaking her when Alicent suddenly stops, and in his haste to avoid a collision, he slips and goes sprawling unceremoniously at her feet. He looks crossly up at her, ready to harangue her, but any words he had die quickly on his tongue when she draws his attention to the skittering orbs and immediately takes off after them.
“Hey!” He grunts in frustration as he scrambles back to his feet, an edge of competitiveness throbbing in his chest. There’s no way he could let her get to one of those orbs first! He launches after her, but of course, she manages to capture one out of sheer luck before he can catch up to her. He slides to a more graceful stop this time and throws a dark look at his sister, mumbling something about being able to get one first if she hadn’t made him fall. He glances down at the remaining orb, still swirling gaily in the snow, and quickly places his hoof over it before it can get away from him.
Whatever resentment he’d been feeling dissipates as he sniffs the ball of light, a hint of mischief in the blue eyes now fixed on Alicent. “What do you think they are?”
Congrats!
These orbs, snatched up by Atreus and Alicent, each contain both a 0 and 1 space trait of your choice. These traits are transferable to another character. If you have other ideas on how you would like to use these traits, contact an officer for approval.
