Advertise/Affiliate Other Forum Main Page The World Before You Play

Tourist Traps

Started by Magyar, December 30, 2016, 09:48:25 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Magyar

"So show me the way, little bird," Hvit rumbled, and folded his wings against his ribs. The wing talons extended as he walked, though, and grabbed at little rocks and and the ground, a movement born from searching for handholds in mountain passes. Here it seemed a halfhearted attempt at using a third pair of legs.

"Let me see what about this little island you find such joy in," he chuckled, "And perhaps I can grow to do the same."

DragonSong

The smaller dragon almost seemed to glow at that, the red gem set into her brow flickering gently. She purred and nodded happily, springing easily down the side of the mountain in light, graceful bounds.

"Come on, then. I'll take you to the beach, it should be pretty deserted here."

Magyar

The flicker in her brow caught Hvit's eye for the first time, and a hunger, a greed flickered in him. It was gone as soon as it had come, but the effect had been profound nonetheless. He had hesitated, and his somewhat merry mood became perturbed.

He opted to inquire, both to continue conversation, but also to distract himself from that which he considered unsettling.

"What is that gem, the one embedded on your crest?" He asked, and though he had no ill intent, his voice contained what could almost be described as hidden malice.

DragonSong

Melisma paused, something in his voice making her feathers ruffle almost nervously.

"I'm...not sure," she admitted after a moment. "I was hatched with it, I think. Papa- Raki said it started glowing when I first breathed fire, and I've heard others say it does it when I sing, too." She rolled her shoulders in a shrug, craning her neck back to look at him.

"Why? Is it another island peculiarity?" True, he had no such stone, but for all she knew that had something to do with age, or even because he was male, not necessarily where he came from.

Magyar

"I have only ever seen such gems in the use of sorcerers or magicians," he said, craning down to better scrutinize the small stone, "A sort of channel for their magic. If it had not lit up just now, I'd think it ornamental, like the sparkling under-hides of young drakes who sleep on their hoards. But now... I am not so sure."

"But, it did... glitter..." he focused more on the stone and unknowingly a low, quiet rumble began in his chest. Something about this stone drew him to it, in a most unhealthy way. He had always adored blood gems, those of a crimson tint. This one had something else though, that he could not place... how very odd.

DragonSong

The dragoness blinked up at him, shuffling her wings a bit as he drew closer. "Oh, well..." She cleared her throat, a strangely musical sound. "It does that sometimes. If I'm excited, or happy- any particularly strong emotion, really."

She felt like she should move back, but for some reason found herself rather frozen to the spot, wide golden eyes blinking up at him.

Magyar

Hvittraak was transfixed, staring in fascination at the gem. Something... something about it captured and held his attention. Dragon-sickness had not taken him thus for many years, but even in his stupor, he didn't think it that. There was some other force at work, something alien... something alluring. He snorted out hot air, and the spines in between his shoulders flexed up, then shuddered before relaxing again on his back.

He withdrew his head from hers, though his sight still saw only the glittering red of her brow. His rumbling stopped rather abruptly, and he said quickly, "Where is this beach? I should like a change of scenery... I think, yes." Despite his attempt to break away, he still very much had an eye only for the gem, and gazed at it when he spoke to Melly, not she herself.

DragonSong

"Oh. Ah- just this way, the bend of the forest between the mountain and the shore is thinnest here," she murmured, jerking her head in indication before she slowly started moving again.

She kept glancing back at Hvitt as she did, worried but not until sure if she was nervous for him or nervous of him.

Weaving through the relatively thinner part of the jungle was like second nature to her, and soon enough she felt her claw tips sink into sand instead of loamy soil. A soft chirp thrummed in her chest and she sprang out onto the beach, wings flared wide to catch the sunlight and for a moment her whole body lit up with color and warmth.

Magyar

Hvit followed much more quietly than his bulk should have allowed, but his demeanour had changed as well. His easygoing walk had turned into a slithering prowl, his steps carefully but effortlessly chosen, and his wings tight to his sides, the meandering gripping all but abandoned.

While his gaze with the stone was broken he carried behind her in a sullen mood, but in the glances she gave him he saw it in flashes and became again lusting for it. His brow would grow unfurrowed, but his gaze would sharpen and his jaw would slacken ever so much, as if preparing to bite.

As soon as they hit the beach she leapt through the tree line, sending leaves rustling and falling to the ground, and a few branches whipping back at Hvit's face. He took no notice of them, all of his focus on the little dragonette in front of him. The light cascading across her shining feathers and the soft glow through the thin membrane of her wings caught his eye, and in the absence of the unhealthy desire for her brow-jewel, a very different kind of hunger panged behind his ribs. He stalked slowly out from the shadowed canopy, very much foreign to this colourful place, only the bleached sand reminiscent of his hide.

DragonSong

Melly turned to observe her guest, wondering how he would react to something that was so fundamentally different from his home, and suddenly paused when she immediately noted the predatory edge that seemed to have come over him.

She tilted her head, an instinct she didn't understand and couldn't name seeming to spark to life in her chest at the was he watched her, almost like he was hunting...

"H-Hvitt?" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Ah- if the sand is too warm for you, the water is usually very cool here..." She shuffled her front paws and spread her wings wide a moment before folding them back to her spine slowly, head cocked slightly to the side.

Magyar

"The sand is fine," he said dismissively, but kept a stern eye on her, circling to his right, "The heat does not bother me so much as the wetness, little bird. Water and I have not had the best of histories."

His length was far greater than hers, and as tall as he was, he was thrice as long. He circled all around her, cutting her off from the water, but staying almost a cautious distance until naught but a three meter gap laid between his snout and tail-tip. His eyes switched undecidedly between the gem and Melisma, two competing wants battling in his mind while he tried to think. All rational thought left him as he slowly circled the Dragoness, and he did not see what he was doing, his mind somewhere else amidst the confusion.

"Do not birds also dislike the water?" He asked, the hidden malice creeping back into his tone, "For their feathers get wet, and they cannot fly. And a bird that cannot fly is a bird defenseless, no?"

DragonSong

She didn't notice she was trapped until it was too late to do anything about it. Melly felt her heart skip nervously and her eyes darted toward the trees, then the water.

"N-no," she murmured. Her feathered crest pressed back against her skull in an instinctive show of submission to the larger, older creature. "We can't fly if our wings are wet. Well- I can't. I st-still like the water though..."

She never had to worry about being defenseless before; her entire adult life, she'd been the biggest, most dangerous creature on her island.

Obviously that had changed.

She shuffled around a bit, attempting to keep her gaze on the other dragon's face. "Hvitt...what are you doing?"

Magyar

He drew his great head up, as if she'd insulted him, and shot a hurt look her way. Until he asked himself the same question, that is, in which case his face became a grave one, one disturbed. His tail lashed outward, breaking the circle, and his wings flared.

"I do not entirely know..." he admitted, in a softer voice, "If I have scared you, little bird, I am sorry. I do not... feel like myself." With that he launched himself from the beach, sand erupting behind him. So fast was his ascent that his tail whistled behind him, and he flew quickly and with intent towards the same peak they had landed on, the highest on the island. He was greatly troubled, but most of all, he was confused. He had not been confused for a very, very long time. And that only confused and upset him more. Why now? What about this dragoness had caused this, and what was that gem? These questions racked his mind as he brooded on the mountain peak, pacing back and forth compulsively, all the while rumbling angrily.

DragonSong

"Oh!" Melly squeaked and ducked away from the sudden blast of air that was created by his takeoff. For a moment she was frozen, staring after him in shock.

Then she pulled herself together and launched herself into the air after him. Her flight wasn't as fast, so it took her a bit longer to touch down on the peak, making sure to give the other dragon a golod amount of space.

She blinked at him, head and tail lowered submissively and wings fluttering in a sort of nervous gesture. "Did- did I do something wrong?" she whispered.

Magyar

Hvit stopped his pacing at the little dragon's voice; he hadn't noticed her descent. He looked at her, confused for a second, and said, "No. You've done nothing. I am truly sorry... perhaps I should not stay here, as I intended. It may be best for you. For your safety."

He spoke his thoughts aloud, both to Melly and to himself, and as he spoke he began to pace in circles again. He spared another glance back to the little dragoness, and caught the flash of the little jewel that laid in her brow. His pacing stopped abruptly and his eyes locked on the gem. For a second, he stood very still, then he shook his head angrily and turned away from his companion before laying down to face the ocean towards Adela.

"I do not know what has come over me, little bird, but I do not like it," he confided, still keeping his back to her, "Never have I felt such impulse without reason, save for my days as a hatchling perhaps. It is not that you have done anything, truly. Perhaps it is something about this place, or maybe it is just me, but it matters not what spurs me on. The result is one in which you may be injured, I think. I will not subject you to that if I have the opportunity to ensure your safety. However that may be achieved."

DragonSong

Melly's eyes widened as she listened to him. Carefully, she moved forward, still giving him room, and laid down beside him, glancing from his face tot he ocean and back.

"Maybe I can help?" she offered quietly. "You said...impulse. What do you mean by that?"

Magyar

"Greed, Melly," he said, "An overwhelming desire. A desire not easily dissuaded, for that little thing that adorns your brow. It is dragon-sickness, so the bipeds call it. Gold-lust. But it is more than that, something else about it draws me to it, and that is the part that worries me. I cannot place why I desire it so, and that scares me, because I do not know what lengths I will go to, to retrieve this gem, if I am taken by my greed. Many dragons have died by the claws of their kin as a cost of gold-lust."

DragonSong

Her eyes blew wide. "O-oh."

Melly swallowed and looked out over the water again. "...Is it just the gem? If you could find something else, another treasure, would it...fill that desire?"

Magyar

"Maybe. But that isn't the point. I don't think I should have to be... satiated so you can simply be around me!" He was angry, for he had grown to enjoy the company of the little dragoness much more than he'd anticipated. He decided not to reveal the other kind of lust he had felt earlier, because that was a much more complicated subject. And he didn't really feel ready to throw that into the mix of things he had to deal with right now.

DragonSong

Melisma was quiet a moment, then shuffled a little closer to him. She let her head come to rest on her front paws, looking up at him.

"But I wouldn't mind," she murmured. "I...I like being around you, Hvitt. And I've got lots of sparkly things back home, if having them would make you...feel better, I want to do that..."

Tags: