eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Printable Version +- Beqanna (https://beqanna.com/forum) +-- Forum: Explore (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: The Common Lands (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=72) +---- Forum: Meadow (https://beqanna.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=3) +---- Thread: eyes like sinking ships; catryn (/showthread.php?tid=28513) |
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eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Targaryen - 12-20-2020
Autumn has colored him in a deep shade of copper. He is used to the sudden change in coloring — from pale green to pine green to deep red to light cream — depending on the season, but Targaryen finds that the tingling sensation lingers into the fall season this year. When he wakes early on a foggy morning, the colt wastes no time in rearranging his feathers from his night’s sleep and taking flight. The sun has just begun to rise as Targaryen ascends and his muscles easily warm against the chill of the morning. The boy finds that he likes the view of the world from the sky, where the details of the landscape fade into wide brushstrokes of a creator’s paintbrush. On this morning, the Meadow and its surrounding lands are covered by a thick fog that rolled in during the night. The climb to an altitude above the treetops and the fog makes his growing wings tired, so Targaryen spends a moment drifting along an eastern current to rest them. A familiar cry brings the boy’s brown eyes up from observing the ground below. The feathery body of a golden eagle glides on the currents beside Targaryen, a keen eye glancing over his red and white body. The eagle almost seems to be saying, You’re tired already? and Targaryen feels like he hears a chirping, thin voice in his ear. The bird has been lingering around him recently as the seasons have transitioned, perhaps a companion gifted by his mother as a protector. He isn’t exactly sure why his mother would send a creature to guard him — she seemed to only barely care for him before he was weaned — and Targaryen isn’t particularly fond of the bird following him everywhere. The boy tucks his wings closer to his sides and dives for the Meadow once the sun has burned away the majority of the fog. When he lands, it is entirely unceremonious. He is still learning to use his wings and build the muscles that work them, but the way he returns to the ground is nothing short of messy. Grass and dirt cling to his copper-and-ivory sides as Targaryen stands up, wincing as his left foreleg protests that particular landing. Settled gracefully in a cottonwood tree nearby, the golden eagle seems to make a noise that sounds like laughing in Targaryen’s mind. @[Catryn] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Catryn - 12-24-2020
@[Targaryen] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Targaryen - 01-02-2021
Targaryen had been hoping the golden eagle was the only creature to see his messy landing, but the sound of a stranger approaching brings his eyes away from inspecting himself for damages. With a stranger of a father and an absent mother (as absorbed in the world of nature as she was, he visits every few weeks and finds her rooted into the same soil as his last visit), the boy was forced to learn entirely on his own. A plethora of siblings lie scattered throughout Beqanna, but Targaryen knows neither names nor faces. As soon as he could stomach grass, the boy has been alone. And although his eyes are fully functioning, Targaryen feels so isolated he might as well be wandering in the dark. The girl has a soft, dark face but he takes a singular step away from her. Unintended social isolation has made him wary of strangers, even if they are friendly girls. “Um, yeah, I’m fine.” Targaryen’s cheeks feel warm with embarrassment, but he shuffles his bi-colored wings at his sides to settle himself. “Sorry you had to see that. I’m still learning how to use my wings,” he admits quietly. The golden eagle, apparently uncomfortable with his perch in the tree, floats on a low-riding breeze to Targaryen’s back, where he lands at the boy’s withers. The eagle’s claws sting for a moment and Targaryen grits his teeth against the pain but makes no move to shoo the bird away. It feels rude to move the bird from a comfortable position, and he is certain he can handle the eagle’s weight despite the way the stinging has melted into a slow, tolerable burn. “My name’s Targaryen. What’s yours?” @[Catryn] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Catryn - 01-04-2021
@[Targaryen] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Targaryen - 01-06-2021
Targaryen doesn’t notice the way her eyes are glazed and unfocused until she mentions his clumsy landing. At first, he is confused; he wonders if she had merely been looking the other way when he fell. But the hazy look in her eyes (the way her gaze strays beyond his face and into a world he can’t quite see) leads him to believe she truly can’t see his landing or anything else that surrounds them. How different would he be if he couldn’t see? Targaryen has never come across someone with a sense that is lost to the whims of the world, and this sudden phenomenon brings a flood of questions to his mind. Would he be as independent as he is now? He pictures himself, old as he is now, curled against his mother’s unfeeling side because he has never had the confidence to leave her and venture into the darkness. Would he use his wings at all? It would be hard to fly without the ability to see. How would he calculate when to land (something he is struggling with even while he can see the ground rushing up to meet him)? How would he avoid the other flighted creatures, or know when to ascend to avoid the treetops? His chest feels warm and tight with a sudden appreciation for Catryn. She is bold in ways he probably wouldn’t be if he were in her place. “It’s scary at first. You feel like you’re falling and you’re not sure if your wings will carry you.” He remembers his first attempts, carefully moving his wings to gain a few feet of airspace. “It seems silly that some feathers can carry your whole body through the air.” Though her wings are billowing rays of the sun captured against her sides, Targaryen assumes they work much the same as his own. He wants to tell her how brave she is, to explore the world while her eyes see only darkness. Targaryen opens his pale mouth to say the words but closes his mouth quickly after, worried that turning the conversation back toward her blindness and his curiosity will push her away. @[Catryn] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Catryn - 01-14-2021
@[Targaryen] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Targaryen - 01-19-2021
“I have an idea,” he says, and Targaryen hears his voice fill with more hope than he has felt in a while. He’s been lonely, a boy with parents too invested in their own activities to care for their son, and Catryn’s questions bring warmth into the emptiness of his life. “There’s a place not far from here. You can practice flying there! It’s where I practice sometimes.” It’s a place he had discovered on his mission to fly, bent on finding the true capabilities of the bone and muscle and feather sprouting from his shoulders. Targaryen had been skeptical at first; the hill wasn’t terribly tall, and he wasn’t sure if he would have enough time to catch the air under his wings before he hit the river. But it had become the perfect place to learn how to fly, and the distance had felt much larger when he was falling, and he supposes it might be perfect for Catryn as well. The tobiano rustles his feathers against his sides with excitement, and there’s a spark in his brown eyes. “I’ll tell you about the place on the way, so you can follow my voice to get there.” It’s the first time he’s mentioned her vision (aside from his accidental comment), but he states this with gentlemanly purpose. The eagle, as if he sensed Targaryen’s departure, shoots off the boy’s back and begins to circle the sky above them. As they walk, he describes the hill to her in detail — perhaps too much detail, but his excitement for her has swept him away. He mentions how it stands at the edge of the Meadow, where the ground slopes upward before suddenly dropping out (the mechanics of how such a thing could happen are lost on him), and below the hill is the snaking body of the river. The section that winds along the hill is deep enough to protect young bodies from bruising themselves on the rocky bottom, and the Forest stretches out on the other side of the water. The trees are thinner at the edge of the river, and Targaryen reassures her that she can let herself fall into the water or push her wings to carry her above the treetops. They are ascending the hill as he laughs and admits, “I ran into the trees a lot, and they hurt… But you forget about all of that once you fly.” Once they reach the top, Targaryen tells her to stop and hesitantly flexes his wings. “Now, the dropoff is about two strides in front of you. I’m going to jump with you if that’s okay.” He says this last sentence shyly, and Targaryen feels his cheeks warm like he has eaten something spicy. @[Catryn] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Catryn - 01-31-2021
@[Targaryen] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Targaryen - 02-07-2021
He knows some of the feeling she has, the way her heart flutters up into her throat. Targaryen cannot picture what it would be like to try flying without sight, but neither can he imagine walking without sight. Yet she has been able to do this — to travel from one place to the other, to survive this long — and he knows she will be able to fly as well. It might take time, but he hopes this hill will give her the space to learn how to soar beyond her graceful, tender walking. And with all the loyalty he has, Targaryen doesn’t fail to fall with her. He had plummeted into the water the first time too. It isn’t easy to catch the air under wings you have never used, to ignore the fear that drops you closer to the ground, to press closer to the sun while you feel gravity pulling you down. Targaryen has learned how to fly since that first drop (though his landings seem to be clumsy enough that even a blind girl notices them), but he lets himself fall willingly into the water after Catryn. He avoids her pink-and-black body, landing in the water beside her, and brings his face to the surface with an exhilarated smile. Targaryen lets out a victorious whoop of excitement as he finds Catryn’s side. “That was awesome!” He touches his nose to her shoulder, a signal of his presence. The combination of sunlight and water at her sides sparkles in his brown eyes, catching Targaryen off-guard for a moment. “It’s this way,” he says with a happy laugh, pleased that Catyrn feels confident enough to try again, even if she has failed the first time. The ground is slippery under his feet, and it takes Targaryen a moment to climb out of the water. He is confident his frantic splashing will guide Catyrn out of the water as well (and his definitely ungraceful scramble might be because of the slick footing or because he is just plain clumsy…). This time he chatters extra tips while they climb the hill. As they reach the top, Targaryen flicks his dripping tail in his friend’s direction with a laugh to spray her with the remaining river water. “We’re at the top again,” he admits as he stops. “It’s about four strides in front of you now.” And his chest swells with excitement and hope that this will be the time she catches the air under her sunlight wings. @[Catryn] RE: eyes like sinking ships; catryn - Catryn - 02-25-2021
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