10-24-2018, 05:01 PM
Time was a strange thing, so relative, and easy to lose track of when wandering between lands whose seasons clashed at the borders. Summer meant nothing in a land where every day was green and lovely, some fraught with storms but mostly calm island paradise. Fall meant less still when vibrant colors lit the forest year ‘round, the land’s magic or trickery laced so deep into the earth that the trees survived though endlessly stripped of their green. Perhaps it mattered less when they had no need to face the frigid winter that came to other parts of the world.
There were a few lands here where time was easier to track, but sometimes Umbra would fall asleep in spring and wake in winter, like the world played tricks on her. And in those endless sleeps, she dreamed, whole lifetimes lived behind closed eyes. The color of her body shifted to match the world around her, doing its best to protect and camouflage her though her gift was rudimentary at best for such a purpose. Still, it tried to protect her when tricksy fairies sprinkled sleep dust in her eyes and left her caught in dreams.
Twice, she dreamed of him. The first took her from the first blush of spring back into the dead of winter, and she woke cold and shivering from a dream of him. Dancing silver eyes set in a handsome lavender face splashed in white, he made her blood sing even in her dreams. This time was different though, a life they’d never lived, two young foals meeting on the playground, admiring each other’s bright colors and perfect wings. Oh, she was a little blushy and shy but so delighted by his charming smile, and she bit her lip and grinned and shifted her color to match him, showing off a little. The change made her braver, a mask she could hide behind, and they flirted and played and became childhood friends.
Friends who grew up into so much more, until awareness bloomed in their eyes and hormones lit their blood and every little brush of skin on skin set their bodies on fire. She woke breathless and aching, and the icy chill in the air was the only thing that kept her from combusting. She could still remember his touch, and the dream had felt so real. God, he was trouble, but the sexiest, most delicious kind, and she couldn’t bring herself to mind.
The second time she dreamed of him as the world spun madly on, they were so different, bodies shaped in ways that baffled her on waking but made perfect sense in the depths of sleep. He wasn’t the focus of her dream, not entirely, not that time, but he chased away the pain of an abusive father, of a mother who abandoned her and left him to take his pain out on a girl who didn’t know she deserved better.
Until sweet silver eyes taught her she was more than what her parents did to her. He taught her love, when all she’d ever known was pain and shame and sorrow. Held her close, but never quite close enough. Maybe she needed too much, maybe she was too broken to hold without slicing through skin and flesh, hurting them both with how deeply she loved.
She woke with a start, first disoriented and then mourning the loss of her love and their two young babies that never were, just a dream that settled so deep in her bones it felt like truth she’d never touch again. Smiling faces she’d never kiss again, hands she’d never hold again. She woke, and instead of the winter she’d left behind it was mid-fall, heat running high and the air full of hormones, her body thankfully lagging behind. A few idiots sniffed around her and lost interest when it became obvious she wasn’t riding the same high as they were, lost to the fire in their blood and the drive to spread their genes as far and wide as possible.
No thanks.
One especially persistent jackass tried to fuck her anyhow and he met the sharp end of her horn. After him, she hid herself away from the world until the scent of sex and need faded from the air and only emerged when the crisp fall air had begun to smell of ice and snow and coming winter. By then, her body craved the heat of Beqanna’s warmer lands, well and truly tired of the cold.
So she took wing and made her way to the tropical islands of Ischia. The second she landed on the gorgeous stretch of white sandy beach, Ischia’s perfect warmth started to seep into her skin, sunlight soaking into her black coat. She sighed and stretched out her wings, angling them to catch the most light on their mottled black and orange surface, shaking her head and stretching and settling in to let the sun work its magic on her body and maybe even lighten the odd lingering ache in her heart.
She’d spent so damn much time alone she was dreaming herself love, and how silly and sad was that? Just...mmm, one more minute, and she’d go looking. Just...let that gorgeous sun sink in and warm her muscles, melting away her tension like a massage. One more minute, and she’d go find someone to talk to.
There were a few lands here where time was easier to track, but sometimes Umbra would fall asleep in spring and wake in winter, like the world played tricks on her. And in those endless sleeps, she dreamed, whole lifetimes lived behind closed eyes. The color of her body shifted to match the world around her, doing its best to protect and camouflage her though her gift was rudimentary at best for such a purpose. Still, it tried to protect her when tricksy fairies sprinkled sleep dust in her eyes and left her caught in dreams.
Twice, she dreamed of him. The first took her from the first blush of spring back into the dead of winter, and she woke cold and shivering from a dream of him. Dancing silver eyes set in a handsome lavender face splashed in white, he made her blood sing even in her dreams. This time was different though, a life they’d never lived, two young foals meeting on the playground, admiring each other’s bright colors and perfect wings. Oh, she was a little blushy and shy but so delighted by his charming smile, and she bit her lip and grinned and shifted her color to match him, showing off a little. The change made her braver, a mask she could hide behind, and they flirted and played and became childhood friends.
Friends who grew up into so much more, until awareness bloomed in their eyes and hormones lit their blood and every little brush of skin on skin set their bodies on fire. She woke breathless and aching, and the icy chill in the air was the only thing that kept her from combusting. She could still remember his touch, and the dream had felt so real. God, he was trouble, but the sexiest, most delicious kind, and she couldn’t bring herself to mind.
The second time she dreamed of him as the world spun madly on, they were so different, bodies shaped in ways that baffled her on waking but made perfect sense in the depths of sleep. He wasn’t the focus of her dream, not entirely, not that time, but he chased away the pain of an abusive father, of a mother who abandoned her and left him to take his pain out on a girl who didn’t know she deserved better.
Until sweet silver eyes taught her she was more than what her parents did to her. He taught her love, when all she’d ever known was pain and shame and sorrow. Held her close, but never quite close enough. Maybe she needed too much, maybe she was too broken to hold without slicing through skin and flesh, hurting them both with how deeply she loved.
She woke with a start, first disoriented and then mourning the loss of her love and their two young babies that never were, just a dream that settled so deep in her bones it felt like truth she’d never touch again. Smiling faces she’d never kiss again, hands she’d never hold again. She woke, and instead of the winter she’d left behind it was mid-fall, heat running high and the air full of hormones, her body thankfully lagging behind. A few idiots sniffed around her and lost interest when it became obvious she wasn’t riding the same high as they were, lost to the fire in their blood and the drive to spread their genes as far and wide as possible.
No thanks.
One especially persistent jackass tried to fuck her anyhow and he met the sharp end of her horn. After him, she hid herself away from the world until the scent of sex and need faded from the air and only emerged when the crisp fall air had begun to smell of ice and snow and coming winter. By then, her body craved the heat of Beqanna’s warmer lands, well and truly tired of the cold.
So she took wing and made her way to the tropical islands of Ischia. The second she landed on the gorgeous stretch of white sandy beach, Ischia’s perfect warmth started to seep into her skin, sunlight soaking into her black coat. She sighed and stretched out her wings, angling them to catch the most light on their mottled black and orange surface, shaking her head and stretching and settling in to let the sun work its magic on her body and maybe even lighten the odd lingering ache in her heart.
She’d spent so damn much time alone she was dreaming herself love, and how silly and sad was that? Just...mmm, one more minute, and she’d go looking. Just...let that gorgeous sun sink in and warm her muscles, melting away her tension like a massage. One more minute, and she’d go find someone to talk to.