Ipomoea doesn’t see the gull, dropping towards him like a stone ready to strike; he may never have seen it, if it were not for Odet’s voice in his mind, screaming at him to look up.
At first all he sees is a blue sky, bluer than the Terminus sea surrounding the island; then a darker blue, a black streak, slender wings flying across his vision. The steller’s jay dives at Cirrus, his small talons reaching for any feathers he can hold onto. Trying to slow her down would be a futile attempt; so instead he makes himself an annoyance to her, and his harsh warbles echoing through the air are for his bonded’s ears alone.
So at the last minute he swerves, mud and water splashing alongside his legs as he carves a semi circle around Asterion and away from the seagull’s spread wings. He realizes only too late that she stopped early, as well; and by the time he circles back around the bay is already out of his range.
But it’s the laughter that has him slowing his canter, turning to face his friend, and it’s contagious. It doesn’t take long before he’s laughing too, and the sound is delirious and relieved and Ipomoea is utterly pleased with himself. Even if he didn’t win, even if the taste of battle wasn’t what he had been expecting, and he walked away with far less bruises and blood than he had thought, even if a small part of him suspected Asterion had taken it easy on him. Still as he trotted over to the Dusk King.
”Thank you,” he tells him, and lets it be for both his comment and the battle. ”That was… a good fight.” And then he laughs some more, because of how absurd the words feel when he says them.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
i say, stay in there
don’t be sad
@asterion !
didn’t include the code because this is just a closer c:
”here am i!“
