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    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    [open]  wait right here, tarte/any
    #1
    i don't want anything from her
    except her red apple heart.
    something i can bite into quickly
    without making a mess.
    His mother tells him he is an angel like her, but then why do the other children shy from him when he approaches? He wilts each time, inside and out, and shamefully skitters away from their sight. A bright milky eye stares off into nothing while a brilliant golden eye watches from the shade of an old magnolia tree. Yadigar’s claws grip a branch as he continues to peek from behind waxy leaves, somewhat camouflaged and safe from any other judgmental looks. The ones that do see him pretend to glance right over his face. Is it his little baby fangs? Is it the smell of wildfires across his skin?
     
    He lowers his gaze to his little talons as he flexes them. His sisters are beautiful like his mother and he thinks it might be easier if he were like them. A slow sigh eases from his lungs and he lifts his chin to resume his spying. The world out there is bright and it full of laughter. Maybe if he brought a gift, then they would welcome him? Yadigar swallows nervously and looks around for anything that might convince someone to let him join their games. There is a squirrel that maybe he could catch if he’s quick enough, but girls like Cirilla tend to hate the sight of gore like that.
     
    There is one last magnolia blossom clinging to the tree, perhaps confused, and he decides it is perfect. The little drake moves carefully, gripping each branch with nervous claws. Gar makes his way up three branches and then he edges closer to the flower. His knees tremble but he remains fixated on his prize. The branch bends a bit as he nears the flower and he cautiously lowers his head to take it between his teeth. He can’t fly just yet, but Gar has learned to glide.
     
    With a nimble leap, he bursts from the branches and spreads his leathery wings. It only takes one flap to help him land carefully back on solid ground. His slender tail, which has only just begun to grow its lethal spikes, twitches from side to side as he considers which child he would present his flower to. That golden eye spots one who vaguely reminds him of his uncle and he wonders if she will be as kind to him as Draco. The thought brings a grin to his face and he happily trots over.
     
    The young drake places the large flower at her hooves and then looks up at her, smiling with needle-like teeth.
     
    I’m Yadigar. Will you be friends with me?” he asks, his eyes nearly pleading.

    YadigaR
    when i close my eyes, i'm a statue
    that she wants to run her tongue over.
    when i close my eyes, i cut it off and keep it.
    @[Tarte]
    Reply
    #2
    "

    I've seen devils, i've seen saints
    I've seen the line between them fade


    I'm waiting at the edges, head overwhelmed with what feels like a thousand voices, though it's probably no more than twelve. Little voices, big voices, quick voices, slow voices. They all chatter to themselves endlessly, and I'm beginning to feel like there's not enough room for me in my own head. 

    I don't know if mother knew this would happen, but she'd have left me here either way. A safe place she'd said, as if my safety were her top concern. The second voice, the one she made without moving her lips told me it was because she needed to be away from me for a while. This was better than leaving me behind a rock somewhere. Eased her guilt. Let me make friends. Then I might spend more time with them, and less with her. 

    Trouble is, it's hard to make friends when you know what they really think of you. 

    My snakey spaded tail twitches in the grass uneasily. The little nubs of pink that have broken through the skin of my skull catch the light brilliantly against black hair. I am, as my mother says, at least pretty. That doesn't make approaching the others any easier. Not when they all seem so occupied with their own games, their own lives. It's easier to sit in the shadows and watch. 

    That is until a flurry of activity draws my attention. A colt, I think it's a colt, climbing a tree. That's weird enough on its own, but when he tumble-glides from the boughs back to the ground, his true strangeness becomes more apparent. Wings, massive, gawky things that catch the air on his way down. A tail not too different from mine lashes the air behind him. He's alien, unique, and I can't take my eyes off him. 

    That turns out to be an awkward thing when his sight lands on me. I try to shrink back into the safety of the shadows, but it's too late. He's seen me, and now seems to be heading my way. My eyes are huge blue pools in my face, wide with panic. I can't run though. I haven't got anywhere to run to. So I stiffen my legs in the cool ground, tail whipping behind me like a wary cat's, and let the winged, clawed, spiked someone come to a halt before me. 

    My eyes slowly spanned between his face and the flower dropped at my feet, suspicion etching the soft planes of my face. Friends? With me? I waited a moment, for the catch, for the little soundless voice that would betray his secondary motives, but none came. Hesitantly I nodded. 

    "I guess so," My voice came out small and low, gaze falling back on the pale bloom he'd put between us. "I'm Tarte." A faint almost-smile softened my mouth. Tarte. Short, easy to remember, and not a bad guess as to my future position in life. That's what mother had said when she bestowed the name on me, and I'm still trying to figure out what she meant. But it's mine, and now Yadigar knows it too. It feels like a secret shared. That's what you do with friends, isn't it? 



    TARTE







    @[yadigar
    Reply
    #3
    i don't want anything from her
    except her red apple heart.
    something i can bite into quickly
    without making a mess.
    He would never leave home if he could hear the thoughts of other children and know precisely what they think when they first look at him Even without knowing what they think, he sees the distaste when they wrinkle their noses or whisper to their friends as they follow his movement from the corner of their eye. Unlike them, he has yet to learn what makes someone pretty or scary or ugly. When he looks at Tarte, all he sees is the potential of their friendship. She doesn’t turn up her nose at him and that is more than enough to draw him in.

    Yadigar watches eagerly as she considers his gift. He holds his breath. And when she nods, he exhales suddenly as the relief washes over him at last. He doesn’t mind the lack of joy or happiness in her voice when she speaks for the first time. ‘I guess so’ could just as easily mean ‘we are best friends now’ to him.

    Tarte. I like it!” he laughs excitedly as his tail lashes back and forth. “Where are you from, Tarte?

    Oh, but he can hardly contain himself. He circles around her as his veins hum with newfound energy. The winter sun catches her color and he notices the way she shines a nice shade of pink. She even has little nubs that will one day be horns, just as similar growths are forming along his jaw and down his back. They will be impressively terrifying when they are older, but for now they are only sweet children learning to interact with one another.

    I’m from Pangea. I have two sisters, and.. a lot of cousin!” he proudly explains. He had intended to give her an exact number, but counting is not his strong suit just yet. The boy has even forgotten his other sister in his hurry to keep their conversation going – not that his mother would mind his excluding her.

    YadigaR
    when i close my eyes, i'm a statue
    that she wants to run her tongue over.
    when i close my eyes, i cut it off and keep it.
    @[Tarte]
    Reply
    #4
    "

    I've seen devils, i've seen saints
    I've seen the line between them fade


    Joy hummed from him when she failed to turn him away, and the foreign feeling was infectious. Slowly the tension eased in her legs and back until she was no longer primed to flee. Instead, she looked more closely at the flower he'd given her, sniffed lightly at the velvet petals and smiled just as soft. What a smile did for her face was remarkable. 

    It illuminated her features, revealed hints and promises of beauty to come. A dangerous thing for a girl so young. For now though, she wasn't thinking of that. She was feeding off the pleasant buzz of Yadigar's happiness and trying to figure out how she could be the source of it. Simply by agreeing to be his friend. It seemed impossible, but thoughts didn't lie. 

    Her astonishingly blue eyes shone from her dark face as the rugged colt praised her name. "No one's ever said that before," she admitted shyly. No one had ever told her they liked anything about her. It was strange to hear, almost suspicious. Too wonderful to deny. She drank down his praise like cool water on a sweltering day, feeling as though she'd never have enough of it to be filled. 

    Eager to continue the conversation with her newfound friend, her words stumbled on her tongue. Too excited, too scared, too much of everything. "I'm-I'm from Loess." For the time being. Her mother didn't seem too attached to the mountainous kingdom. The winged woman's silent thoughts blamed them for what had happened to her. For Tarte's existence in the first place. 

    His circling set her heart racing again. It thudded in her narrow ribs as she tried to keep him centered with her own tighter circle. The rope of her tail swung behind her erratically. It was a relief when his examination came to an end. Despite the nerves, she managed to hold on to the thread of their conversation. "That's... A lot." She said, wincing immediately at the dull comment. It was a stupid thing to say. It was already out though, so she soldiered on. 

    "It's just me," she shrugged. At least as far as she knew. "Me and my moth-m-mother." A grunt of frustration over the stuttered word flew out. Hot blood rushed through her face. Mother always laughed at her when she stuttered like that, and of course that always made it worse. The brief burst of confidence Yadigar had inspired withered in her chest.



    TARTE







    @[yadigar]
    Reply
    #5
    YADIGAR
    there’s a hole in my chest but it’s mine, baby, it’s all i got.
    He does not understand things like beauty, nor will he ever. All things hold some promise of value to his golden eye and this holds true to Tarte as well. She is his friend now – a treasure to rival the bond he has with his sisters. The mere concept of it makes his heart sing joyously until it spills over into her and causes her smile to bloom. Yadigar can’t help but mimic the expression. He pauses and tilts his head innocently when she speaks.

    No one has said your name?” he asks before realizing what she meant. “Oh! Well, they probably thought it, I’m sure.” He gives a nod, his aggressive optimism shining through. He finds his own name odd and sometimes annoying, preferring to simply go by his abbreviated nickname the majority of the time. But hers is easy and it sits right in his mouth just the way it is. Perhaps he could borrow it for whenever he tires of his own?

    Loess. He’s overheard his father mention the word but it is hardly more than that to him, for now. Still, he is eager to learn all there is to know about Tarte and his eyes do not cease their delighted stare when she says it. “I’ve never been there. I’ve never been many places, really. Pangea has lots of dust and weird animals,” he explains, remembering the creatures warped by the residual magic lingering there. He imagines perhaps Loess is much the same in this regard. Or perhaps it is like the playground here?

    While she winces at her own words, Yadigar simply laughs as though she has told a brilliant joke. He pauses in his circling and grins with all his needle teeth proudly. “Maybe you can visit some time, if you get bored or lonely. My parents are busy a lot of the time but they let us play in the canyons or at the beaches,” he offers, entirely unphased by the way her words tumble from her lips. She can overlook the strange milky eye staring blindly in her direction, visions of the future to come swirling in it, and so he finds it just as easy to do the same with her stutter. His focus remains entirely on the infinite possibilities of their new friendship instead.
    @[Tarte]
    Reply
    #6
    "

    I've seen devils, i've seen saints
    I've seen the line between them fade


    She inhaled deeply, afraid she might cry if she didn't. He liked her. For the simple reason that she'd said she'd be his friend, and he wasn't asking for anything more. Not even in his head. It was simple affection that he was pouring in to her mind and she was only now realizing she'd been starving for it since birth. 

    "I like your name too. It's not odd. It sounds like you're someone important." She replied, blinking at him like he was the sun and she was a flower drinking him in. Her heart thudded rapidly to keep up with the conflicting feelings she was flipping through. She knew now though that Yadigar was special, wonderful, and worth every feeling he gave her. 

    At the mention of Pangea, she flinched again. Habit made her glance over her shoulder, looking forv the brilliant sheen of her mother nearby. The caustic mare would have her hide if she found out that her daughter was befriending a boy from the red desert kingdom. She swallowed down the bile rising in her throat. He did not seem evil, as her mother said all Pangeans were. Quite the opposite. 

    Looking back at him, she shrugged. "It's nothing special. Lots of m-mou-mountains and plants. The hot water pools are okay." She couldn't really say the idea of dust and weird animals made her want to visit his home either, but she kept that thought to herself. If he was there, then she wouldn't mind. 

    He laughed, and for a moment she told herself it was her stuttering she was being made fun of got, that the staccato noise of her tongue tripping on words had been the funny thing to him. Her ears tipped back uncertainly until his thoughts cleared the air. He wouldn't make fun of her. He just wouldn't. She returned his smile, her own blunt teeth mirroring his pointed ones. He was all together strange, but in a beautiful way. Like the snakes her mother feared so much. Maybe her mother would fear him too. The thought made her smile widen. 

    With pleasant ideas fanning from his mind, she let the happiness touch her. It was heady and delicious, all the more so because it was such a rarity. With a step nearer, her black velvet nose buried against the lean curve of his spangled neck. She wanted to memorize the dragon boy's scent. No matter where life dragged her, she would know him. "I'd like that," she answered with a step back, forelock ruffled from where she'd brushed against his crest. "I'd like that very much." Her tail curled contentedly around one rear leg, her heart already sad that today would end. Her mother would probably come back, and they'd be off home again, and Yadigar would go to his home too. 

    She wanted to make the most of this perfect afternoon, because who knew when another like it would occur.



    TARTE







    @[yadigar]
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