Hello loves! While I haven't been writing, I have been working on updating some issues that have been hanging around on the layout! The Character change box is now at the bottom of the page, beside the up/down arrows! Green and Gold dragon flight dates have been shifted to the bottom of the page, where the (useless!) discord widget was located. Where the dragon flights were in the header, is now replaced by a Monthly Event box! This will be updated at the start of each month, with a fun mini-event you can take part in, if you want to! Thistle!
02.Apr.23, 02:07 AM
Even though R’dal wore an expression of awe or horror — Valtala could not tell which! - the seacrafter continued his confession while the other stood with his mouth agape. It probably wasn’t the best idea to shock a new friend, but all that the blonde was saying was the truth, and he wasn’t going to sugarcoat it for anyone. This was his life, this was the reality of his situation. And for the first time in his life, he had somebody who might understand him, listening to him about it. The blonde saw his opportunity and ran with it. Crudely so, but he ran with it all the same.
See, Valtala’s problem — including his dilemma on what to do with the other boys back at the Hall! - wasn’t that he was gay. It was never about that for him. It was that his truth of being so was making him a pariah in his social circle; his father wanted him to hide it, his higher ups wanted to ignore it, and his fellow Apprentices wanted to bully it out of him, maybe. Or just wanted the Journeyman to go away. Keep it away from them. But where was he to go? He didn’t think R’dal would have an answer, but maybe his new friend could relate, somehow. Or at least empathise.
Something he had said, or something Edath was maybe saying, made R’dal break out into a large grin. The dragon rider had a very nice smile, and Valtala was about to tell him so, when Edath lowered his head so close to the blonde’s that he could feel the dragon’s breath on his cheek.
“What are you doing?” The seacrafter asked the dragon curiously, his hands fluttering up to almost touch the blue as he wondered. Then the dragon bobbed his head in what Valtala took to be a nod, and then R’dal turned his beautiful smile upon him.
"Weeelll... would you be interested in trading most of that in for the chance at a dragon? I swear we really didn't come here on Search today! But we also can't ignore a good person when we meet one and Edath says you would make an excellent Candidate.”
It appeared that R’dal did have an answer, after all.
Now it was Valtala’s turn for his jaw to drop. He stared from R’dal to Edath, then back to R’dal again. Speechless.
Could he become a dragonrider?
Valtala had never considered it before, but he didn’t think that it was one of the options on the table before this moment. He would be the first to confess didn’t know very much about dragons — only what he had heard in stories and sea shanties! - but certainly that couldn’t be an all bad thing? Was he willing to learn?
More importantly, was he willing to give up the sea? The greatest love in his life?
For a moment, Valtala closed his eyes, and breathed in the cold ocean air.
Yes, he loved the ocean. But he did not love the people he shared it with. And, since he had faced his own mortality just this morning, he reasoned that he could face a few other truths now, too.
If he stayed here, what was in store for him? A lonely life at sea where sharing a bed with a man was done but not encouraged? Would he ever fall in love? Would he be safe, on an ocean where all the other sailors would ignore him, or worse? The blonde lifted a finger to touch the split in his lip, carefully. It could have been worse. In the future, would it get worse? Today was already the worst it had ever been. What would tomorrow be like?
Valtala opened his eyes, again, with a sigh. He looked up at the pathway leading up to the rocks, to the Hall beyond. Would he truly be happy here when he didn’t even have a friend? Then he looked at Edath, again.
“A dragonrider is never truly alone…” he stated to himself, wondering about that bond that R’dal shared with his dragon as he said it. The blonde twirled a finger in his hair as he contemplated this, and the idea of Valtala the dragon rider. V’tala?
“Alright.” He whispered to himself. Then, louder, a second time, for R’dal. “Alright! I can give it a try!”
See, Valtala’s problem — including his dilemma on what to do with the other boys back at the Hall! - wasn’t that he was gay. It was never about that for him. It was that his truth of being so was making him a pariah in his social circle; his father wanted him to hide it, his higher ups wanted to ignore it, and his fellow Apprentices wanted to bully it out of him, maybe. Or just wanted the Journeyman to go away. Keep it away from them. But where was he to go? He didn’t think R’dal would have an answer, but maybe his new friend could relate, somehow. Or at least empathise.
Something he had said, or something Edath was maybe saying, made R’dal break out into a large grin. The dragon rider had a very nice smile, and Valtala was about to tell him so, when Edath lowered his head so close to the blonde’s that he could feel the dragon’s breath on his cheek.
“What are you doing?” The seacrafter asked the dragon curiously, his hands fluttering up to almost touch the blue as he wondered. Then the dragon bobbed his head in what Valtala took to be a nod, and then R’dal turned his beautiful smile upon him.
"Weeelll... would you be interested in trading most of that in for the chance at a dragon? I swear we really didn't come here on Search today! But we also can't ignore a good person when we meet one and Edath says you would make an excellent Candidate.”
It appeared that R’dal did have an answer, after all.
Now it was Valtala’s turn for his jaw to drop. He stared from R’dal to Edath, then back to R’dal again. Speechless.
Could he become a dragonrider?
Valtala had never considered it before, but he didn’t think that it was one of the options on the table before this moment. He would be the first to confess didn’t know very much about dragons — only what he had heard in stories and sea shanties! - but certainly that couldn’t be an all bad thing? Was he willing to learn?
More importantly, was he willing to give up the sea? The greatest love in his life?
For a moment, Valtala closed his eyes, and breathed in the cold ocean air.
Yes, he loved the ocean. But he did not love the people he shared it with. And, since he had faced his own mortality just this morning, he reasoned that he could face a few other truths now, too.
If he stayed here, what was in store for him? A lonely life at sea where sharing a bed with a man was done but not encouraged? Would he ever fall in love? Would he be safe, on an ocean where all the other sailors would ignore him, or worse? The blonde lifted a finger to touch the split in his lip, carefully. It could have been worse. In the future, would it get worse? Today was already the worst it had ever been. What would tomorrow be like?
Valtala opened his eyes, again, with a sigh. He looked up at the pathway leading up to the rocks, to the Hall beyond. Would he truly be happy here when he didn’t even have a friend? Then he looked at Edath, again.
“A dragonrider is never truly alone…” he stated to himself, wondering about that bond that R’dal shared with his dragon as he said it. The blonde twirled a finger in his hair as he contemplated this, and the idea of Valtala the dragon rider. V’tala?
“Alright.” He whispered to himself. Then, louder, a second time, for R’dal. “Alright! I can give it a try!”
