|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 1:29 pm
Born for the Sun There are few things more simultaneously miraculous and perfectly ordinary as the arrival of new life into the world. Jijikko, named such by his parents after the rising desert sun, hatched from his egg and blinked his wide, sensitive new eyes at the world for the first time on a midsummer morning with the heat of the open desert breathing raw life into the air as though the earth itself were as much a new mother as his blood parents. His hatching followed quickly after the hatchings of his two ‘older’ sisters, who’d made their way out of their eggs some hours before, and just before his ‘younger’ brother who would hatch in half a day’s time. Jijikko knew nothing of these details at the time, of course, his body too busy learning all the countless, basic intricacies of life: moving his eyes, blinking, breathing his parents’ scents, taking in the smell of the air, the feeling of heat on his sensitive new skin, the type of muscle movements it took to clench and release his paws on the hard clay that made up the protective niche of their home. And, in the hours and days after that — how to waddle about, how to croak various noises at his parents and siblings in an attempt to mimic their speech and learn it for himself. His parents spoke to him often. Though he would not learn until far later what they spoke of, they did so anyway. They told him stories of dragons, their legacy. They told him of the history of drakeins, how their magic had been stolen from them, tamed and leashed down so they could be made suitable slaves for the greedy Magescians who wanted to have ever-more magic at their fingertips. But they also told of the drakeins’ rebellion against their slavers — how they had fought, tooth and claw against those who had abused them. How they had used their wit, carefully guarded patience, secrecy, and teamwork to outsmart those who had attempted to hold them down and treat them like nothing. Like animals. His parents impressed these tales, and others, upon both Jijikko and his siblings. They stressed constantly as they grew into greater capacities for understanding how precious their freedom was and how two-legged slavers could not, by any means, be trusted. The peoples of Magesc — all of them, from Seren’s proud birds to Soudana’s soulless monstrosities, and even Abronaxus’ preciously pampered dragonblooded race — could not be trusted. To do so was not only dangerous and foolhardy, but an insult to their history and their bloodline. For the most part, though, given his youth and innocence — as well as, primarily, his simple inability to take in the bulk of what his parents were impressing upon himself and his siblings — Jiji grew up with boundless, untamed energy and curiosity. He dive tackled and rolled with his siblings, tested the meek strength of his stunted wings every day, cawed at the brilliant desert sun and buried himself in the hot sand, relishing in all the things that made his home home and swearing to the sky, in the privacy of his own imagination, that one day he would fly with it. One day. Word Count: 552
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:12 am
A New Scent WIP Word Count: 847
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:09 am
You Won't Bite, Right? Word Count: 1,457
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 9:11 am
Under the Blood Moon Word Count: 564
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2013 5:39 pm
A Cub in the Mountains Taming Adventure: JijikkoWord Count: 532
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2013 10:31 am
Some Never Learn Taming Adventure: JijikkoWord Count: 522
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:41 pm
A Lesson in Humility “…and so you must feel the root of your magic. It is part of you, and you a part of the greater whole. Magic is everywhere — around us, above us, amid us, among us and yes, even amidst the two leggers — we breathe it when we draw breath and are with it when we fly. Every gaili—” Tokkoro, Jijikko’s father, cut off mid sentence with a sharp snort. “ Jijikko.” Jiji shook his snout and glanced over. “Are you listening to a word I’m saying?” The tip of Jiji’s tail flicked. “Magic, magic everywhere, we are oooonnne with the—” Tokkoro gave a curt growl and Jiji clapped his snout shut. Ignoring Vrerrivi’s muffled, snorting laughter from the side — Jiji’s brother — Tokkoro stepped forward. “Have you mastered all of this already, Jijikko? Would you like to demonstrate for Vrerrivi? Since this so below what you’d rather be practicing on…” The skin of Jiji’s snout crinkled and he pawed the ground uncertainly. “I just want to learn how to fight now without all the extra…” He shook his head, “…mystic, tap into your soul…stuff.” His father’s eyes narrowed, stance and expression harsh. “You must gather the materials before you can build a nest, Jijikko. To master anything you must first begin with the basics, to get anywhere you must first know what direction you are headed.” Jiji considered mentioning that he could actually get places plenty easy without knowing what direction to go — he just might not get to where he wanted to go. “If you have no intention of paying any mind to this lesson, go. You’re disrupting your brothers’ learning.” Jiji cringed. “I—” “Go.” Tail tip twitching again with sharp, hurt agitation, Jiji lowered his snout, grumbling low in his throat as he slinked off, kicking clumps of desert clay as he went. He wanted to learn. He just didn’t have the patience for all the words, words, words, words, and more words that his father had to say about it. He wanted to actually practice with his magic — not hear about what he could do with it later. Once Tokkoro had resumed his lecture, distant enough now that Jiji could only just hear his words, he spared his father one fleeting glance over his shoulder, and then darted off further still, away from their nesting site and far enough out to have space all his own. There, he settled his weight, gripping the earth with his fore and hindpaws and willing his magic up. It couldn’t be that hard — all he had to do was learn how to tap into it. “Come on…” he murmured to himself beneath his breath. Shutting his eyes, Jiji flicked his tail, crouching low. He could feel the stirrings of his magic, but trying to access it on command felt like scraping at an invisible wall — leaping for the sky in an effort to touch a cloud only to find them impossibly farther away than initially imagined. After several failed attempts at getting anything more than a few pebbles to quiver, Jiji scowled, scratching at the earth in frustration. He was better than this. He’d moved things with his magic when he was just a keinling! Granted, that had been out of raw excitement and entirely accidental, but he’d done it just the same. Snorting to himself, Jiji breathed out, the desert sun hot and soothing on his scales. The sand and earth were his home. The heat was his blanket. He understood this world. All he needed was to embrace the power already there and work with it. Jijikko worked on steadying out his breathing again, trying to draw up memories of what it had felt like to have his magic whipping around him of its own accord — what it was like to drag up rocks to shield himself during that one surprise encounter with dragons and that strange blue-haired dovaa boy. He curled his claws again, mentally as well as physically digging into the earth, rooting himself, centering his weight. When he opened his eyes, he focussed on one small cluster of hard packed clay, flicked out his wings, twitched his claws, and yanked with his magic. Much to his surprise, the cluster came whirling forward, too fast for him to react, and clocked him hard in the forehead. Jiji blinked, stumbling once, twice, three times in a sashay motion side to side as his vision swam and his head pounded. Well, at least it… …worked… Jiji passed out. Word Count: 781
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:13 pm
Farewell, Sweet Earth “Jiji!” Ajarra’s call came out at almost a whine, but Jijikko didn’t dare look down. “I really don’t think this is a good idea…” His sister continued to speak, fussing and worrying beneath him, but Jiji tuned her out, focusing on one paw up at a time as he scaled the rock before him: one of the taller stacks surrounding their nesting grounds, it jutted up the height of fifteen Magescians or more stacked atop one another, and the heat of it was warm and earthy against his belly as he climbed. If he was going to learn to fly, he was going to do it right. Ajarra thought he was insane. Keeping his wings tucked close and his head low to the earthy uprise as he went, Jiji pushed thoughts of her doubt out of his mind. He knew he could do this, and it would be exciting for once. Worst come to worst, he could always glide, and the extra height would help him put air under his wings. Just one—step—at a—ti— Jiji yipped, entire body clenching against the rock and claws digging in when one of his footholds gave way beneath his weight, crumbling away and tumbling down, down, down to the base where his sister waited. Seconds later her wailing greeted him. “ JIJI—you’re going to die, get down, get down, please get down, if you fall and die I will murder you and then I swear I’m telling Mother what you did!” “Send her my regards,” Jiji quipped, not quite daring to look down as he waited for his pulse to slow back down to some reasonable rate in his chest. Once it had, he drew a careful breath and continued up again. Far below, he just made out Aja’s curt snort of disbelief over the rush of the wind. At least she’d stopped wailing at him. Luckily, he’d made it close by that point and reached the top without any further dramatic incidents. Two scrambled kicks, a yank, and a flutter of his wings later and Jiji was up, perched on the narrow, flattened top, beaten smooth by the wind and sand over time. Staring out over the desert from his new vantage point, Jiji felt a flutter of excitement rise up, rushing and alive from inside his chest. He was so high, he could see for ages — and, if he learned to fly properly, this and more would be open to him. All the things he could see. All the places he could go. The options were limitless. With a single, quick, eager swish of his tail, Jiji fluttered his wings, feeling the push of the wind as it skittered beneath them, warm and familiar as it tickled along the sensitive inner membranes and filled them. He could do this. He was born to do this. He was drakein and the skies were designed by the gods for those with wings. Jiji tucked his wings in once tight to his body, wriggled to situate himself and claw briefly at the earth of the nature-made pillar beneath him. Then, spreading his wings out, he caught the air again, waiting for the wind to fill them before taking several brief bounds forward — as much as the limited space provided to him would allow — and giving a single wild screech as he dove off the lip, wings fully unfurling as his hindpaws left ground. Beat. Beat. Beat.His wings pushed at the air, powerful, lifting strokes — so much stronger than they’d once been and he was flying. Jiji let out a bursting, uninhibited drakein’s call, letting the world know he was coming because he was. This was just the beginning. He was in the air. He could do anything, and nothing would stop hi— Jiji squawked in startlement as he clipped too close to another jutting stack, but it was already too close, his maneuvering skills not yet something to brag about, and his attempt at avoiding it resulted in him hastily folding in his wings, losing momentum, turning poorly, and eventually doing a messy dive roll across the desert sand. He coughed, sputtering and dizzy as he pushed himself back up after his crash, eyes shut as he rapidly shook his head to knock the sand free. The shuffling of rapidly approaching steps and irritated chirping was, as he soon noticed when he dared to peek open an eye, his sister. Aja eyed him narrowly. “Are you dead?” Jiji shook out one wing, then the other, then his body as one, sending kernels of sand spewing everywhere. “Doesn’t feel like it. The dead can’t feel pain, right?” Aja snorted. Jiji eyed her, and then rapidly fell back into his mood immediately pre-crash, a giddy, ridiculous drakein-equivalent of a grin spreading across his features. “But did you see that?” Aja tilted her head, wings fluttering dubiously. “See what? The you-almost-falling-to-your-death part? Or the you-nearly-breaking-your-neck-in-an-embarrassing-dive-crash-of-doom-into-the-desert…part?” Jiji spread his wings wide, unfazed. “The flying part! I was flying, Aja — I did it! I can go anywhere now!” “Yeah, maybe after you learn how to not—” “ I am king of the skies!” Jiji whooped, head thrown back as he barked towards the sun. The top of Aja’s snout wrinkled and she snorted, plopping down into the sand in defeat. “Uh huh. All worship the mighty Jiji, reigning champion of Stunts That Will Almost Get You Killed But Might Not If You’re Lucky and Stupid.” Happily ignoring his sister, Jiji looked back to the stack he’d climbed previously. After all of two seconds’ debate, he grinned. “I’m gonna do it again.” Word Count: 964
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:40 pm
Persistence is a Virtue? Taming Adventure: JijikkoWord Count: 504
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:36 am
Part of Your World Word Count: WIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 11:09 am
A Shocking Reunion Word Count: WIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat May 03, 2014 11:13 am
The Dragon Ruins of Old Eowyn Word Count: WIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:08 pm
Metal, Claw, and Tail Word Count: 814
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:09 pm
The Feathermeats Word Count: WIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:10 pm
Oranges Unite! Word Count: WIP
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
