hello~spring [open]

[Amet]

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

He catches Tang's playful glare and the dragon king laughs happily, his ears pressed forward to give the girl mare all of his attention. Amet's bright amber eyes take note of the way his friend has filled out in her absence, and then does his best to forget that thought. His adulthood is new, almost daunting, and the parent-less Amet has yet to learn the ropes of adult life.

Tang's painted body collides with his more quickly than he had expected. She catches him off balance and the scaly stallion laughs loudly as she tugs at his golden mane and they both fall into a tangled heap beside the crystalline lake. He can see the way she eyes him as they lay catching their breath, and Amet adjusts so that his gold-and-bronze head rests on the base of her neck. His nostrils quiver and flutter to take in her scent, warm and welcoming and tinged with sulfur. She breaks their pleasant silence, but not how he was expecting, and the dragon-boy eyes her with mock suspicion. "Is there something you're hiding from me, mahal?"

The nickname slips from his muzzle almost without notice. He can't quite place where it had come from, but using it makes him feel briefly nostalgic, as if it came from the time before Shalla had brought him and his siblings to the Dunes. The corners of his mouth are tugged upward into a secret smile before he raises his head and lips at Tang's multi-colored mane. "That depends... do I have to spend my summer ensuring that you'll miss me next winter?"

The inquiry is friendly and innocent, but there is a large part of him that hopes she will stay. "So!" He's suddenly rocking his lithe golden frame and jumping back onto his hooves, his narrow neck hanging down so that his head hovers above Tang's, "I think we should start our summer off with a swim, don't you?" He bolts for the lake, his gilded frame glistening in the sunlight as he bounds into the crystal clear waters.

Amet