Explorer by Kaalut (Commission)
This very pretty commission was drawn by kaalut! Go check it out in their gallery here. They've done such an awesome job putting Crimson into such an epic environment, and the poor dragon did not deserve for me to take so very long for me to think up something to post with it! But I finally have (borrowing thorphax's Koi as his very reluctant traveling companion x3 ).
[quote]"Crimson, how much [i]further?"[/i] Koi panted, as close to pouting as he'd ever heard the SeaWing.
"We're almost there!" Pumping his broad wings, Crimson twirled in a loop around his friend; with all the warm, dry air rising off the desert dunes below, it felt like he hardly had to try at all to stay up in the sky.
His scale-markings flashed in a pattern, though it was hard to see under the bright sunlight. "You already [i]said[/i] that! It's too [i]hot[/i] and [i]dry[/i] and [i]bright[/i] here," he huffed. "So how much longer?"
He didn't say it had anything to do with Koi's pace, though his wingbeats were definitely not showing a particular degree of effort--and Crimson on his own could have reached the ruins an hour ago. But where would be the fun in going there alone? "They should be just ahead." He gestured at the earth, where they'd drawn near some rockier ground up ahead, and a few taller hills had appeared on the horizon. "It's apparently the biggest amphitheater ever built! Fallen to pieces a little after the nearby oases dried up, but still very impressive to see."
Koi only ruffled himself up to make another huffing sound, looking like a pufferfish deflating--if a pufferfish could be imagined flapping through the air--but he didn't turn around, so Crimson sped up just a little. Surely it was just ahead! The first SandWing or two back at Possibility hadn't been too enthusiastic to talk to a SkyWing who seemed altogether too happy, chatty, and curious to explore outside his own queendom, but a few had gradually thawed to be more friendly and suggest some interesting landmarks off to the West in the desert, possibly thanks to seeing a SkyWing and a SeaWing--former enemies--together and thus assured Crimson wasn't going to be such a grump. (Even if Crimson had very nearly had to drag Koi out of the river with his own talons to get the shy dragon to follow him into town.)
"Look, there it is!"
There was no mistaking it: the giant bowl dropped into a depression in the rocks and sand, surrounded by row upon row of terraced seating that vanished into the sand that had accumulated over the years with no one coming to clear it. One end of the bowl held a set of arched openings which dug into the earth, where the old stage must have been. There might have been one or even two higher rows of archways above the two levels that remained, but they had mostly crumbled away; even without them, the space looked and felt enormous, and that was seen from aloft!
Crimson drifted down to the sands at the top edge of the seating, with Koi off to the side. "And there's [i]shade[/i] down there! Maybe even little caves... If it is cool and dark under those I am going to curl up and not come out until it's nighttime."
"Provided there aren't any vipers. Gila did say to watch out for those," Crimson said, really--honestly!--more as a reminder than a way to discourage Koi from sulking.
"Right. Those." The SeaWing peered down from their perch at the top of the depression, and shook sand off his front talons anxiously. "Why did we come here again?"
"The grandeur! The [i]spectacle![/i] The acoustics! Doesn't it look amazing? Imagine what it'd be like to be here, all these seats full of dragons, listening to a performance... putting on a performance!" At Koi's expression, perhaps that much attention would be more a worst nightmare than something to be excited about--that was okay, he could distract him. "Just listen!"
Crimson kicked off from the worn old stone and swooped down towards the sand at the bottom, reaching for the carrying-pouch underneath his wing almost before he'd even landed, from which he could pull out a box, and from that, the three pieces of his flute. He swiftly assembled them, and, sitting up on his hind paws just ahead of those ancient arches, he brought the mouthpiece to the tip of his snout and began to play.
From the way Koi's snout and ears lifted, he knew the sound was carried up through the seating by the curves of the ruins behind him, amplified and projected up through the seating. The instrument felt perfect for the adventure: light and airy, able to trill through notes as wispy as the sands around them, he flicked his tail and lifted and shaped his wings to further hold a shell around himself to reflect the sound where he wanted--playfully leaning to turn the sound away from Koi, towards him, and away again, before folding his wings back down to enjoy the much greater feeling of letting the building at his back do the work. Seeing Koi's claws tapping and snout bobbing gently side to side, he smiled and kept going. A small audience, in such a grand environment, but it was so easy to imagine so many more dragons all listening and appreciating, and he hummed happily to himself. What a special place this must have been!
Eventually Koi descended to join him--or, to take refuge in the shade presented by the curve of the stage building. Crimson paused and smiled at him, his tail swishing back and forth atop the sand. "Isn't this so cool?"
"It's so [i]hot.[/i] And the sand on the beaches is better, it's too dry here," Koi said, flashing his scales again. Crimson wondered if he was unconsciously using both his words and scales to speak at the same time, or if his scales ever said something different, and giggled to himself at the thought.
"It's an [i]adventure![/i] I know it's not your ocean, but it's fun to get out of your comfort zone and experience somewhere new isn't it?" His tail kept wagging, irrepressible.
Koi eyed the tip of his tail like he wanted to swat it on its way by, but eventually he mumbled, "maybe..." It was the best he could hope for from the shy SeaWing, and he grinned before bringing up his flute again to play some more. He knew he'd come around to enjoying himself a little![/quote]
[quote]"Crimson, how much [i]further?"[/i] Koi panted, as close to pouting as he'd ever heard the SeaWing.
"We're almost there!" Pumping his broad wings, Crimson twirled in a loop around his friend; with all the warm, dry air rising off the desert dunes below, it felt like he hardly had to try at all to stay up in the sky.
His scale-markings flashed in a pattern, though it was hard to see under the bright sunlight. "You already [i]said[/i] that! It's too [i]hot[/i] and [i]dry[/i] and [i]bright[/i] here," he huffed. "So how much longer?"
He didn't say it had anything to do with Koi's pace, though his wingbeats were definitely not showing a particular degree of effort--and Crimson on his own could have reached the ruins an hour ago. But where would be the fun in going there alone? "They should be just ahead." He gestured at the earth, where they'd drawn near some rockier ground up ahead, and a few taller hills had appeared on the horizon. "It's apparently the biggest amphitheater ever built! Fallen to pieces a little after the nearby oases dried up, but still very impressive to see."
Koi only ruffled himself up to make another huffing sound, looking like a pufferfish deflating--if a pufferfish could be imagined flapping through the air--but he didn't turn around, so Crimson sped up just a little. Surely it was just ahead! The first SandWing or two back at Possibility hadn't been too enthusiastic to talk to a SkyWing who seemed altogether too happy, chatty, and curious to explore outside his own queendom, but a few had gradually thawed to be more friendly and suggest some interesting landmarks off to the West in the desert, possibly thanks to seeing a SkyWing and a SeaWing--former enemies--together and thus assured Crimson wasn't going to be such a grump. (Even if Crimson had very nearly had to drag Koi out of the river with his own talons to get the shy dragon to follow him into town.)
"Look, there it is!"
There was no mistaking it: the giant bowl dropped into a depression in the rocks and sand, surrounded by row upon row of terraced seating that vanished into the sand that had accumulated over the years with no one coming to clear it. One end of the bowl held a set of arched openings which dug into the earth, where the old stage must have been. There might have been one or even two higher rows of archways above the two levels that remained, but they had mostly crumbled away; even without them, the space looked and felt enormous, and that was seen from aloft!
Crimson drifted down to the sands at the top edge of the seating, with Koi off to the side. "And there's [i]shade[/i] down there! Maybe even little caves... If it is cool and dark under those I am going to curl up and not come out until it's nighttime."
"Provided there aren't any vipers. Gila did say to watch out for those," Crimson said, really--honestly!--more as a reminder than a way to discourage Koi from sulking.
"Right. Those." The SeaWing peered down from their perch at the top of the depression, and shook sand off his front talons anxiously. "Why did we come here again?"
"The grandeur! The [i]spectacle![/i] The acoustics! Doesn't it look amazing? Imagine what it'd be like to be here, all these seats full of dragons, listening to a performance... putting on a performance!" At Koi's expression, perhaps that much attention would be more a worst nightmare than something to be excited about--that was okay, he could distract him. "Just listen!"
Crimson kicked off from the worn old stone and swooped down towards the sand at the bottom, reaching for the carrying-pouch underneath his wing almost before he'd even landed, from which he could pull out a box, and from that, the three pieces of his flute. He swiftly assembled them, and, sitting up on his hind paws just ahead of those ancient arches, he brought the mouthpiece to the tip of his snout and began to play.
From the way Koi's snout and ears lifted, he knew the sound was carried up through the seating by the curves of the ruins behind him, amplified and projected up through the seating. The instrument felt perfect for the adventure: light and airy, able to trill through notes as wispy as the sands around them, he flicked his tail and lifted and shaped his wings to further hold a shell around himself to reflect the sound where he wanted--playfully leaning to turn the sound away from Koi, towards him, and away again, before folding his wings back down to enjoy the much greater feeling of letting the building at his back do the work. Seeing Koi's claws tapping and snout bobbing gently side to side, he smiled and kept going. A small audience, in such a grand environment, but it was so easy to imagine so many more dragons all listening and appreciating, and he hummed happily to himself. What a special place this must have been!
Eventually Koi descended to join him--or, to take refuge in the shade presented by the curve of the stage building. Crimson paused and smiled at him, his tail swishing back and forth atop the sand. "Isn't this so cool?"
"It's so [i]hot.[/i] And the sand on the beaches is better, it's too dry here," Koi said, flashing his scales again. Crimson wondered if he was unconsciously using both his words and scales to speak at the same time, or if his scales ever said something different, and giggled to himself at the thought.
"It's an [i]adventure![/i] I know it's not your ocean, but it's fun to get out of your comfort zone and experience somewhere new isn't it?" His tail kept wagging, irrepressible.
Koi eyed the tip of his tail like he wanted to swat it on its way by, but eventually he mumbled, "maybe..." It was the best he could hope for from the shy SeaWing, and he grinned before bringing up his flute again to play some more. He knew he'd come around to enjoying himself a little![/quote]
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