The herd of deer pranced into a meadow, finally deciding to stop for the night. The largest one, a young caramel-colored stag with a wide rack, let out a small bleat to signal the herd's stop. He had to be the leader. The young girl stalked through the trees, hot on the herd's trail. They had to be close; the tracks were fresh. She could smell their very musk on the wind. Such was the ways of a hunter. She had learned to use her sense of smell like a predator would. And so a predator she became. Hopefully she could get a drop on them and take one down. With a father bed-ridden and deathly ill and an over-worked mother who barely slept, Aethel Hathaway was the provider of the family. She would go out hunting at the crack of dawn, and her mother greatly disliked that she would hunt. She believed that hunting was a man's job, but Aethel did it anyways. Her father had been the hunter before he fell ill with a mysterious sickness, and hunting had always been her passion since that one day he had let his daughter come with him. Since she was sixteen and old enough to take care of certain things, her mother believed that she should be doing more womanly things such as helping with laundry or putting meals on the table. Bah. Without her, there wouldn't be any meals to set. Besides, she was not alone. To remind herself of this fact, Aethel looked to her side, glancing a small smile at the boy beside her. Her childhood friend, Evengaline Hawke, was with her on the hunt, for they both had families to provide for. Aethel's dark eyes flashed with excitement as she perched stealthily on an upraised root above the clearing to which her prey lurked. Crouching into position as she spotted the deer about to bed down for the night. Her coffee brown eyes seemed to illuminate in the darkness as she notched an arrow into her bow and pulled it back, tucking a strand of ash brown hair beforehand. She took a breath to steady her aim. But a glint of light caught her eye before she could let the arrow loose. The little white light floated just below a young doe's hooves. Aethel leaned forward to catch a better look, all thoughts of the herd and the hunt fled from her mind. The light grew bigger, until it had turned into a full blown explosion of light! And then another one flashed right beside it! The herd bolted. Aethel gasped quietly, slightly shaken from the scene she had just witnessed, and took aim, shooting the arrow towards the buck at the head of the herd. The arrow passed through his side, and straight through what the girl knew were his lungs. The young stag skidded across the ground, dropping dead. Aethel sighed in relief and strung her birch wood bow upon her back. The young girl glanced at her friend, stalked across the field to investigate the flashes that had nearly cost her the hunt. What she saw amazed her...
ѕσмє ℓєgєи∂ѕ αяє тσℓ∂ (Private) ѕσмє тυяи тσ ∂υѕт σя тσ gσℓ∂
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{We have similar writing styles. Justified and colored for the win.}
The young boy crouched beside Aethel stood stiff and rigid. His avocado green eyes, the left pale and blinded, focused on the herd, but they were just as surprised as Aethel's own brown eyes were. With a steadied breath, he shot the arrow towards one of the doe that had bounded over the dead body of the stag his friend had managed to snag. And missed by an inch. The arrow buried itself into the dirt right beside the doe's hooves before the whole herd was out of sight. Despite his single blind eye, he was a pretty good shot when aiming at a stationary target. Hitting a moving target was another thing though. Evengaline sighed in disappointment, running a hand over his scarred face and exchanging the short glance with his feminine friend. He had both a mother and father at home as well, but Aethel had a sick father and a stressed mother to provide for. Besides, his family was well-fed. He did not mind that she had gotten the better of the hunt.
Evengaline vaulted over the root that Aethel had previously perched on, the root that he had been crouching beside. His bow was drawn and ready for anything, with a home-made arrow notched into the bowstring. The brown-haired boy furrowed his brow slightly and crouched near the two objects, giving them both a gentle poke with an arrowhead. Smoking on the ground before their eyes were two beautiful...Things. The one on the left resembled a sort of large opal. It didn't look like any normal opal though. It was large and round, perfectly circular, and just the coloration itself was strange. The surface of the object itself was smooth and solid. It wasn't white like a normal old opal, instead it was a smoky gray with veins of veins of white running underneath it. The small poke of the sharp edged arrow caused it to roll over.
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((Haha, that's awesome. I never noticed it before.))
On the right side of the gray opal, there was another lightly-colored jewel, though a completely different shape from the other. It was long and wide, whiter than the purest snow with a subtle crimson haze in some area. It gave a light jiggle, though it made no other movement. There was a light knocking sound as it rolled over and clacked against the gray one.
Aethel scrunched her eyebrows together, giving the smoking, gem-like objects a long, hard look. The girl crouching down by the gray opal-like object, feeling as if she were being drawn to it. Dark eyes shone with many things. Fear, need, curiosity, but most of all, an unwavering feeling of motherly instinct. She couldn't reason the caring emotion that told her to nurture the gem away. With a sigh, the brunette picked it up with trembling hands, taking care not to drop it. It was truly beautiful. Even with dirt and mud smudged on it, it was still very dazzling and the shape was astounding; She'd never seen such a perfect circle before. She turned her back to the burned spot upon the ground and breathed out a low sigh of awe, "Ev... What are these things?" She turned to look at her friend with a confused expression.
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Evengaline frowned as he, too, crouched down by the two jewels. One long, one circular. As Krystal picked up the gray one, Evengaline reached down to pick up the white one. The green-eyed boy tilted his head slightly and ran a hand cautiously over the surface of the red and white gem. It's appearance and entry was strange and unusual, almost supernatural. No, Evengaline Hawke wasn't one to be easily startled by anything, but this wasn't what he was used to. He'd seen many strange things before but this strange thing fascinated the hunter. It also startled him, "I... Don't know, Aethel." He observed the two objects quietly, standing up.
The round stone-like object stilled it's movement as it was picked up from the ground. The shiny surface was unscathed by the constant banging on the other gem, not even a scratch was on it nor was there any marks or cracks from the explosion. The only thing that snuffed out its beauty was the dirt and mud that clung to its rock hard surface, and even then it was still beautiful.
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((Dude. I love your signature. Such a powerful quote o.o))
The white stone was cold to the touch, the surface was completely smooth, without any bumps or dents. It seemed to acknowledge the boy's presence as it stilled within his hands.
Aethel nodded in agreement, "They're really pretty though, aren't they?" She stood up as well, smiling down at the gray opal. As she did so, she was aware of a sinister feeling gripping her heart, as if they were in danger... The undeniable urge to protect the jewel's were intimate, "I'd like to leave now..." She told her friend, "It doesn't feel safe." Aethel frowned with worried, dark eyes. She stripped off her linen over-shirt, wrapping the gem in it's cottony folds. She would not have her prize tainted by the harsh climates of the forest or dirtied even more. The young girl silently walked over and skinned, gutted, and put the meat of the deer into her leather backpack before she tucked the bundled up gem under her arm, "I'll share some of this with you, it wouldn't be fair since it wasn't our fault that the herd bolted to soon."
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{Why thank you! It's one my favorites.}
Evengaline glanced over at Aethel with a cocked eyebrow, "Won't you get cold without your overshirt?" He questioned with a bit of concern and not a hint of tease. After all, he saw her as only a best friend, so he didn't mind the bare slender skin that the extra shirt revealed.
As Aethel stood up from her gruesome task, Evengaline stood up as well, cradling the stone-hard object close to his chest, the feeling of inevitable danger filling his senses to the brim. He took a quick look around to assure himself no one was around before turning towards her and suggesting, "We should go back to the cabin and wait for morning.... Besides, the horses are probably to tired to make the trip tonight." He was not afraid of the dark, else he would not have come with her, but this feeling that he knew that his friend also had was casting a blanket of unease over him. Every now and then he glanced down at the stone in his arms, as if it would disappear in his arms. He set a gentle hand on top of it, the feeling of the surface somehow verified in his mind that this whole situation was real and not a dream.
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Aethel returned the glance, tucking the round stone securely under her arm and giving the boy's shoulder a light shove, "Of course I might get cold, I'm not a manly man like you... I might have to steal yours later just to stay warm." She teased with an evil smirk. But her teasing expression died down when she heard the crack of a twig just off to her left side. She shivered and gripped onto Evengaline's forearm, "Cmon, let's get to the cabin... Right now... Now!" She squealed, the cracking of twigs getting closer to the two hunters. She let go of his arm and darted through the forest, a panicking feeling overwhelming her heart and weighing heavily in her chest. She fled into the cabin, throwing the door open and waiting for her friend to appear.
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Evengaline was about to respond to her teasing comment, but clamped his jaw shut at the sounds of twigs cracking. He backed up from her once she let go and started running. He, too, began running through the forest, wanting to get out of the forest and into a shelter as soon as possible. As he reached the hunting cabin, he skidded over to the horses stables, shut and locked the barn-like structure and made an impossibly fast streak right towards the cabin door. He slid into it, nearly knocking Aethel over, and slammed the door shut behind him. He instantly locked and bolted the cabin door and stepped back from it, gasping like an athlete who had just run a marathon.
Now that the fleeting panic was beginning to die down, he glanced at Aethel and smiled a bit, with a neck flushed red and a light chuckle playing at his lips.
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Aethel's mouth was gaped wide open in surprise as she panted for breath. She watched as her friend locked and bolted the door shut tight. Thank the gods the cabin had only one window, and it was nearby the designated cooking area. She stared at Evengaline for a long while until he started chuckling. Her 'O' shaped lips stretched into a grin. She, too, began laughing. She glanced down at the gray opal that she had tucked securely under her arm, still chuckling. She walked over to the table and set the large object on it, "Well...That was exciting." She commented comically to Evengaline, looking over her shoulder at him.
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Evengaline's chuckle boomed into laughter, walking up beside Aethel, "Fun, huh?" He teased, however his laughter died down as a loud, resounding crackfilled the air. As soon as the surface of the table even slightly touched the opal's surface, a long single crack formed on the bottom. It looked as if it had been pounded on by a blunt force object simply by touching the table. Except for the fact that it had not. The crack spider-webbed off into thin, black streaks all over the side of it. Evengaline pursed his lips together, his green eyes showing apparent shock and shooting to Aethel nervously.
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Aethel's dark eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips. It cracked! Why!? "I... I barely touched it" She choked out, for some reason she felt really sad. She felt like crying, but she didn't know why. She felt like screaming, but she didn't know well. She felt compelled to take care of the cracked opal, but she didn't know why.
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The opal, which was evidently not an opal at all, was quick to shatter into pieces, and soon a little creature took it's place. The tiny creature was the same color as the egg that carried it; a smoky gray shaded by every color of gray imaginable. The scales on it's underbelly were a lighter, almost white, shade of gray and two gleaming violet yes peeked up at the two humanoids. The creature was long and thin with a long gap between the placement of it's front legs and hind legs, appearing like a legged snake, and it's long tail whirled around like a whip, smacking against the surface of the wooden table. There were tiny ridges along the animal's back, on it's front elbows, and whisping off it's tail tip and two long, thin appendages sprouted from it's snout like whiskers. The tiniest but somehow most noticeable feature was the small, blunted brown stubs on it's head resting between two adorable, pointed ears. The tiny creature looked up at the girl with a tilted head, the tiny but sharp white claws clacking on the table.
Evengaline backed up quickly as the opal shattered and sent shards of gray all over the table, some of the little pieces slid off onto the floor. He breathed a small sigh of awe, leaning forward curiously to get a look at the creature that replaced the opal. As he looked at the snake-like creature, he doubted that the rock in his arms was actually a rock.
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Aethel stared back at the tiny baby creature. She immediately had a childish urge to reach out and pet it. A smile tugged at the young girl's lips as she leaned forward onto the table to get a closer look, "Well....Aren't you adorable?" She questioned herself with a chuckle. She glanced over her shoulder at Evengaline, her eyes suddenly going wide as her eyes hit the white and red stone he was holding. She turned her back to the little creature and gasped softly in realization, "Evengaline! Do you know what this even is!?" She took a deep, calming breath, "You're holding an egg!" She turned back to the little creature, "You! You're a dragon!" She turned back to Evengaline wildly with excitement in her eyes, "And you're holding a dragon's egg!"
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Evengaline shook his head, looking down at the stone. No... The dragon egg. As soon as Aethel had said it, he immediately agreed as he had no reason to even deny his friend's statement. His own eyes widened as well, "Gods..." He suddenly squealed in boyish, childish amusement, "I've decided. I'm making a nest! I shall be in my room!" He stated childishly. He immediately set to work by going upstairs and throwing together a nest made of pillows and blankets.
The tiny creature's pale violet eyes flicked over the girl's figure with an intelligent gaze as she accused it of being a dragon. Though it was not as much of an accusation as it was a true fact, it was a dragon, and this dragon was staring intently at her, calculating her, sizing her up. The gray snake-dragon arced it's long, slender neck outwards, its nostrils flaring out as it inhaled her scent.
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Aethel gave a playful roll of her eyes, "You do that, Ev." She chuckled and watched the tiny creature with amusement and curiosity. Its eyes held an unnerving amount of intelligence and the young girl could bet it was smarter than any average animal. Of course, dragon were said to be smarter than humans. She had heard stories of dragons and dragon riders, but both the dragons and their riders were all supposed to be extinct. Dead. Gone from the world. But this little creature in front of her said otherwise. Aethel smiled gently as the baby dragon stretched it's neck and she reached her left hand out, "I'm not gonna hurt you..." She crooned gently, and felt idiotic for doing so.
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{Holy crap, Dragon Rider by Two Steps From Hell just came on the Spotify radio as I was replying to this. FATE}
Pale eyes followed Aethel's hand, the round pupils narrowing down to suspicious slits. The baby dragon brought it's head back, looking past her hand and straight into the girl's dark brown eyes. With a low snort, the tiny dragon shook it's head as if it had made an ultimate decision and headbutted it's ridged head against her hand.
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OOC: Dude...That's awesome.
IC: Aethel couldn't help but stare into the tiny dragon's pale eyes. It had looked straight into her own and she felt a deep understanding that had been buried being brought to the surface. The young girl's dark eyes widened and a ragged gasp tore from her throat as the dragon's head connected with her palm, a bright flash of light near her pinky and an icy coldness that spread throughout her body. She shivered and brought her arm away, turning her shaking left hand over the face her. The swirling mark that was there, she could not even describe. She scrunched her thin brow together and stared at the dragon, "What was that for?" She wasn't mad. Perhaps a bit afraid. What had it done to her?
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{It seems even Spotify approves of Dragon Rider roleplays.}
The little dragon stared at the girl with unwavering eyes. It stretched it's neck out again and touched her hand with it's nose once more, but more gently and with affection. The gray dragon looked into her eyes once more, dark irises round and affectionate, as if it were apologizing for the momentary pain it had inflicted upon her hand.
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Aethel just couldn't stay mad at the dragon, "You're a little cutie, aren't you?" The young girl smiled a bit. She pulled a chair up to the table and sat down, gently caressing the baby's head, running the tips of her fingers along the dark ridges on the back of it's neck. The girl smiled a bit more, deciding she would care for this strange little creature. Besides, it had saw her when it hatched. If dragons were anything like birds, then she was officially it's mother. Perhaps Evengaline would be considered family too, since it had seen him as well. She smirked a bit, "Between Evengaline and I, you and your soon-to-be-hatched friend are gonna be a spoiled little dragons." She grinned warmly, "Aren't you, girl? Uh... Boy...?" Her expression grew into one of mild confusion, "Are you a boy or a girl?" She murmured to herself as she reached forward and picked the tiny dragon up by it's sides, her fingers sliding under it's belly and she flipped it over in her lap and back over, examining the baby dragon's body and colors for any marks or special indications that it was a male or female.
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The tiny snake-dragon squeaked in protest once it was flipped over onto it's back and flailed it's tiny clawed paws, tail curling and swinging around. Though it somehow knew this was an important process, that didn't mean the dragon had to like it. The wyrmling wormed out of her grip and clawed it's way onto the table, whirling around to face her. It lowered it's head and swung it's spaded tail back and forth slowly, it's long and slender body kinking up in the middle much like a cat would arch it's back in agitation. It let out a few high-pitched squeaks and finally sat back on it's haunches with a huff afterward, having ended it's tantrum. There had been no distinct marks, appendages, or special indications that verified a gender. The dragon huffed once more. All of that for nothing.