01-26-2020, 10:37 PM
HALCYON
Halcyon has been busy the last few weeks, and when asked will tell his mother that he’s ‘working on something to show Pteron’. Momma doesn’t ever probe farther when he brings up their frequent visitor, the colt has found. The boy doesn’t question why, even though Aquaria’s muteness about him when he is gone is so very different from the luminous when Pteron is here. Hal enjoys the days that Pteron comes. He likes to show the older horse his favorite parts of the island, and in exchange Pteron will sometimes give him sparring lessons. The something that he is working on is an idea Halcyon had during the stallion’s most recent visit, while the stallion was telling him about the location of the most breakable bones in the body.
The ease with which he is able to assemble a complete equine skeleton ism, perhaps, a but startling. There is an abundance of bones in the waters of Ischia, and there has been for as long as Halcyon can remember. It is as much a part of the island as the bioluminescent waves and the little green parrots. The first few days he’d picked up everything he’d found, piling the bones in a clearing about a half-mile from the shore, not wanting to risk them getting swept out in a storm or high tide. He’s pieced most of them together, but the one thing he is missing is a skull. Most he finds are crushed inwards, and the search for a whole one stretches on.
That is why he is on the beach on the nearly moonless night. The adolescent tiger strolling down the beach has almost reached his adult height, but there is a lankiness to his young body that suggests he still has some filling out to do. His clawed pads leave distinctive tracks in the damp sand as he pads his way down the beach. Halcyon pauses at an unfamiliar smell, motionless save for his twitching nose and flicking tail. There, a few more meters down the beach, a dark shape that is not the washed-up kelp Halcyon had assumed it was.
Cautiously, he moves closer. The thing is alive, and he wonders if perhaps it is a sea lion. Halcyon had almost caught a sea lion once, but the pup’s mother was much faster than Hal had expected, and a smack with a heavy tail had meant a missed meal. This lump does’nt look to have a mother nearby, the tiger sees, stepping ever closer.
It's not a seal though either, he sees. It’s a horse, but a strange one. Extending one white paw, Halcyon taps the foal on the side, doing his best to be gentle.
The ease with which he is able to assemble a complete equine skeleton ism, perhaps, a but startling. There is an abundance of bones in the waters of Ischia, and there has been for as long as Halcyon can remember. It is as much a part of the island as the bioluminescent waves and the little green parrots. The first few days he’d picked up everything he’d found, piling the bones in a clearing about a half-mile from the shore, not wanting to risk them getting swept out in a storm or high tide. He’s pieced most of them together, but the one thing he is missing is a skull. Most he finds are crushed inwards, and the search for a whole one stretches on.
That is why he is on the beach on the nearly moonless night. The adolescent tiger strolling down the beach has almost reached his adult height, but there is a lankiness to his young body that suggests he still has some filling out to do. His clawed pads leave distinctive tracks in the damp sand as he pads his way down the beach. Halcyon pauses at an unfamiliar smell, motionless save for his twitching nose and flicking tail. There, a few more meters down the beach, a dark shape that is not the washed-up kelp Halcyon had assumed it was.
Cautiously, he moves closer. The thing is alive, and he wonders if perhaps it is a sea lion. Halcyon had almost caught a sea lion once, but the pup’s mother was much faster than Hal had expected, and a smack with a heavy tail had meant a missed meal. This lump does’nt look to have a mother nearby, the tiger sees, stepping ever closer.
It's not a seal though either, he sees. It’s a horse, but a strange one. Extending one white paw, Halcyon taps the foal on the side, doing his best to be gentle.
shut off your mind and let your heart breathe