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but my demons always won - aldous - 10-17-2021 @Malik RE: but my demons always won - Malik - 10-17-2021 The snow below him grows shallower as he drifts south, and by the time he hovers above the Forest there is nothing but fallen leaves to litter the spaces between the dark trunks. Malik lands in a spray of red and orange leaves, shifting from a long-crested eagle to a young black stallion with the ease of much practice, and slowing from a gallop to a steady walk. Some feathers still remain around his neck and chest, blending with the dark wings that tuck tightly to his sides. They hide most of his glowing markings, leaving only the stripes along his legs to glow on the cloudy autumn day. He picks his way through the woods, making his way out of the more well-travelled areas. Despite his clear adolescence, the boy with mismatched eyes moves confidently between the dark trunks. He’s hunting, says the way his eyes dart ahead, the tension in his stride. He can’t take a fully grown dragon on his own, but the one he’d seen from overhead had looked small. Young maybe, perhaps small enough that Malik could capture it. Or at least keep it still long enough to take a trophy from its body. He sees movement ahead, a pair of dark wings, and shifts to a leopard in the space between heartbeats. Forgetting his shorter stride, he breaks a twig, and the noise alerts his prey. The dragon-winged colt - not a dragon after all - calls out ‘Who’s there?’ and Malik knows he’s lost the element of surprise. “It was me,” he says, transitioning back to a horse from the feline he’d been for so short a time. “I saw your wings from overhead. Thought you were a dragon.” The black wings are impressive, but the lanky young horse is clearly disappointed to have found a boy instead of a fire-breathing monster. Could he just take those wings, he wonders? Or would the fairies sense the foul play, and send him after a true dragon instead? Disappointed, Malik looks over his shoulder, knowing he’s running short on daylight and time for a continued hunt. When he sees no one, he looks back down at the colt. “You haven’t seen any real dragons around here, have you?” @aldous RE: but my demons always won - aldous - 11-13-2021 @Malik RE: but my demons always won - Malik - 11-13-2021 The boy changes in front of him. From a colt with reptilian wings to an icy monster, Malik’s bicolored eyes open wide at the transition. He’d not been expecting the change, that much is clear in his easy-to-read expression. Equally obvious is his delight, both at the shift and at the impressive roar that follows. Malik does press his ears flat to avoid some of the volume, but he’s grinning despite it, glee in both of his mismatched eyes. “That’s perfect.” He says, taking a step closer to the dragon that is once more a young stallion. Shifters get a choice, he reminds himself. “Would you be willing to part with a dragon scale?” He asks, and cannot keep from wondering if dragon blood would taste as acidic as wyvern had. Malik remembers the way his mouth had ached for days afterward, how he’d lamented his lack of healing. Perhaps this way is better, even if it takes longer. Malik glances to the northeast, where the Mountain rises far above the black treed horizon. Shaking his head at thoughts of shifting, the black creature turns his attention back to where the other stood, his expression pensive. “It is for a quest,” he adds as an afterthought, lest his request seem especially strange. @aldous RE: but my demons always won - aldous - 11-13-2021 @Malik RE: but my demons always won - Malik - 11-15-2021 There burns within him a desire to retake the space that the dragon-shifter puts between them, to answer the silent threat of scales with a flash of white teeth. Malik had come here to hunt, after all, and there is no fear in his bicolored gaze when he meets the dragon’s narrowed eyes. No fear, but caution does linger in those bright eyes, not as sour as the dragon’s suspicion, but plenty strong enough to keep him from moving closer. “It’s not for scales. It’s for shifting.” he answers, reading the danger in the brief flash of teeth. “I’ve got to fetch pieces of shifters.” Now his eyes do narrow, but in concentration. He does want to become a dragon, and one made of ice seems an especially ambitious goal. But this colt is young, and surely even as a dragon nearly-grown Malik should be able to beat him. It is not like this dragon is a member of the pack, after all. And Malik, thinking his parents the best warriors of the world, is certain that the boy’s training can’t have been better than his own. And yet… He is still a dragon, and the nearest Malik can come is an especially large and fire-streaked lizard. As he considers this, the dragon-horse seems to have been thinking as well, for his shining teeth are revealed again, this time in a soft smile. Preparing for a fight, Malik is clearly taken aback by this change, and now it is his turn for his scowl to deepen. “Just...Just like that?” He asks, the doubt in his voice revealing his uncertainty at the other’s sudden amicability. “Is there some sort of catch?” Stepping closer might make him an easier target for fire, Malik thinks, or perhaps the slashing claws of a quickly shifted wing. @aldous |