CYRENE .
per aspera ad astra
She couldn’t remember the last time she had laughed until her stomach ached in sweet agony, until starlight tears threatened to flow out of her flickering ember eyes. All because of little glowing fireflies, and a tawny-eyed boy she’d met under the strangest of circumstances. Yet with those two deceptively simple things, a weight she’d long ceased to feel lifted from Cyrene’s weary shoulders.
"Well? Are you going to accept—" but the rest of her singing jest dissipated into the cavernous night as teasing lips abruptly fell open. Lion eyes widened in momentary disbelief, as the laughing boy dashed forwards at the speed of light and swiftly snatched her captive bug away. With a wry smirk aimed pointedly towards her, for good measure.
How sly! Cyrene pouted, before snapping to action herself. Alas, she had never specified—that is what misjudging one’s opponent leads to, she chuckled."Beginner’s luck, Auru!” she called over a speckled shoulder as she sped off, bright gaze already swiftly scanning the horizon for those glinting insect derrières.
Three, four, five. The ones she’d caught before counted, of course. She had to keep the game fair, after he’d so marvelously outwitted her. Gilded mahogany feathers rustled softly through the grass as Cyrene dived from one glowing shape to the next, quick to loosen her psychic hold on the startled bugs as soon as she’d spotted another.
But like a tottering foal, her newfound powers were still hard to grasp in their entirety; and the autumn girl blew a pesky curl from her eyes in frustration, as she lost her hold on yet another finicky firefly."At this point, I am going to lose,” she mumbled in realization—and she had been the one to propose the challenge in the first place.
They seemed to have mutually decided when the hunt was over, and as her hooves padded softly through the swaying tendrils of flaxen meadow grass, Cyrene’s thoughts drifted to those bittersweet days she’d spent as a bouncing, carefree filly. How wonderfully innocent she’d been, before those same amber eyes had stared emptily, defeatedly, into the corrosive realms of death.
For as long as she lived, she hoped to never see that darkness again.
As Auru’s starlight-soaked pelt gradually appeared in front of her, a sharp smirk settled itself naturally across her fair visage."I’ve caught precisely eleven glowing bugs in the ten or so minutes since I saw you last. Has your beginner’s luck managed to top that?”
How sly! Cyrene pouted, before snapping to action herself. Alas, she had never specified—that is what misjudging one’s opponent leads to, she chuckled.
Three, four, five. The ones she’d caught before counted, of course. She had to keep the game fair, after he’d so marvelously outwitted her. Gilded mahogany feathers rustled softly through the grass as Cyrene dived from one glowing shape to the next, quick to loosen her psychic hold on the startled bugs as soon as she’d spotted another.
But like a tottering foal, her newfound powers were still hard to grasp in their entirety; and the autumn girl blew a pesky curl from her eyes in frustration, as she lost her hold on yet another finicky firefly.
They seemed to have mutually decided when the hunt was over, and as her hooves padded softly through the swaying tendrils of flaxen meadow grass, Cyrene’s thoughts drifted to those bittersweet days she’d spent as a bouncing, carefree filly. How wonderfully innocent she’d been, before those same amber eyes had stared emptily, defeatedly, into the corrosive realms of death.
For as long as she lived, she hoped to never see that darkness again.
As Auru’s starlight-soaked pelt gradually appeared in front of her, a sharp smirk settled itself naturally across her fair visage.
@Auru | notes: I 100% laughed when I typed 'derriere'
