Marlowe

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Sunlight bled into an array of wispy gray clouds and seeped into his dark scales. Maroon felt its warmth in his wings, his flesh, his bones. He longed to fly higher above the clouds, to touch the sun with his talons and feel how hotly that sphere in the sky burned. He pondered if it burned just as fiercely in other parts of the realm, or if it shied away from the ice and snow. In his mind, he imagined that the sun loved the SkyWing kingdom the most. It warmed the stone upon the mountains and provided his people with lovely basking ridges. At night, the warmth resisted the cold faces of the three moons, having embedded itself so deep within the earth that the mountainside felt like it had never been torn away from the sun’s embrace. That was why Maroon loved the mountains and the sky. It was as if they were lovers, ever together in the darkness of night, and he was lucky his wings were strong enough to grant him the gift of frolicking between them.

If there was ever a day that he didn’t get the chance to fly in the mornings, it would be a sad day indeed.

His talons clicked against marble floors as he landed upon the platform outside of his room. Maroon sighed, stepping inside and making his way towards the large mirror that waited at the head of his room. A songbird’s tune poured from his maw as he observed himself. His jewelry remained in place despite his early morning flight, and he was delighted to see that he appeared properly groomed. ”Seems that even the wind adores me, lest I would have had to spend even more time on my appearance,” he purred to himself with a flourish of his right wing. ”And that means that I would have the chance of missing her.”

With a light heart, Maroon began his trip towards the barracks. He kept his head high and his wings tightly tucked against his ribs, his tail delicately wisping behind him as if it were a long flame. Even then, he felt the sun-soaked breeze from his flight lift up his paws and allow his gait to be much more lordly than usual. Anyone, even the most lowly Tainted servant, could tell that the young prince’s day had begun well enough. And that was a good thing for everyone.

The guard’s barracks was much less ornate than the rest of the castle, but that didn’t matter to Maroon. The most beautiful thing to ever grace the earth of Pyrrhia was there, and that was enough for him. Her presence made the barracks the most glorious place he had ever seen in his entire life– so much so that even Aether’s untimely presence there didn’t soil his mood. With a broad grin, he approached the pale dragon’s side and gave him a sidelong glance. ”Good morning, Aether,” he greeted briefly before he turned to Solstice with a flutter in his chest. ”And good morning to you, my dear sun. Did you sleep well last night?”

He blinked at her with his deep amber eyes as he took a step towards her. Though she was his sun, her heat always frightened him, for it would flare at times he didn’t expect it to.

Clans of the Coast

StarClan, he hated mornings. But that didn’t stop Stormstike from jabbing a paw in his side in order to wake him up for dawn patrol. That had earned his brother a heated hiss from Smokestep’s side, but that was the end of that. They had work to do and they didn’t have all day to do it. Yawning, the young tom stepped out from the warrior’s den and greeted the morning sky with a narrow-eyed stare. The den seemed to be growing smaller with every passing season, though he wasn’t sure if that was because they had more warriors or they were simply getting fatter.

Smokestep yawned again, his paws stretching way out in front of him as his tail arched into the sky. When he was finally done with his morning exercises, he sent a disdainful look back towards the den. It definitely looked bigger on the outside than on the inside. He wondered if he should tell Stormstrike to tell Coyotestar that they should probably extend the den at some point. It would be easy– all they would have to do was gather more long grass and lengthy fronds. Doubt that Coyotestar’s in the mood to think of something like that right now, though.

It had been a whole half a moon since… well, that happened, and there had been no mention of the next Gathering since. Smokestep curled his lip as he padded towards the Stormrock. The thought of BreezeClan and FireClan merging together made his stomach wrench, but what could they do about it? There was no changing what Whitestar and Dawnstar decided to do without spilling blood. Now, would Coyotestar actually go that far as to start a war between RainClan and two other Clans? His tail lashed in frustration. He was always taught war was a bad thing, that StarClan never condoned it. Yet, at the end of the day, he would sink his claws and fangs into any cat’s pelt if it meant keeping Ashthorn and the little ones safe.

”Morning, Stormstep!” came the upbeat voice of Sorrelwing. The she-cat sat right next to the Stormrock, her green eyes glimmering with energy. ”It’s been a while since we’ve been on patrol together. How are the kits?”

Smokestep smirked. ”Getting bigger every day. Took him a bit, but Batkit’s finally opened his eyes.”

”Oh, how sweet. I’ll have to pass by the nursery and say hi to Ashthorn. Must be hard to keep track of three kits!”

He let out a mrrow of amusement. It was hard taking care of any kit. Smokestep of all cats should know. His poor mother had seven kits, and while only five of them survived until apprenticeship, he would never forget how crowded the nursery felt during his kithood. That was something he wouldn’t wish on anyone.

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Queen of the NightWing Kingdom, Shadow-watcher

Queen of the SkyWing Kingdom, Emerald

Prince of the SkyWing Kingdom, Maroon

Queen of the SeaWing Kingdom, Narwhal

Queen of the IceWing Kingdom, Borealis

Queen of the SandWing Kingdom and Ruler of the Scorpion Den, Caracal

Queen of the MudWing Kingdom, Salamander

Queen of the RainWing Kingdom, Iridescence

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Name:
Prince Maroon

Gender:
Male

Age:
Adult

Species:
SkyWing

Appearance:
A deep, ruby red SkyWing. His horns, wing membranes, and underbelly are a very dark crimson. His eyes are a deep amber that borders on red. The scales near his underbelly are all inlaid with gold. In fact, most of his jewelry is golden-- golden clasps, decorated with beautiful garnets, wrap around his wrists. Plain golden bangles are perched along his horns, though surprisingly, he doesn't wear earrings. His tail also bears claps similar to the ones that wrap around his wrists. Golden silks hang along his sides and the length of his tail, held up by delicate golden chains.

Personality:
Extremely loyal, can read other dragons like a book, stuck-up, egotistical, arrogant, hot-headed, can be childish and cowardly

Other:
Has a huge crush on Solstice

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Name:
Vivid

Gender:
Female

Age:
Adult

Species:
50% RainWing
25% SandWing
25% SeaWing

Abilities:
- Has a RainWing's venomous spit
- Can change color at will much like other RainWings, though the color fades into a diluted hue as it reaches her flank
- SandWing venom is not potent, causes paralysis in certain parts of body
- Good swimmer
- Thanks to her gills, can breathe underwater for a decent amount of time, though not nearly close enough to pure SeaWings

Shortcomings:
- Poor flyer
- Can't breathe fire like SandWings can
- Dehydrates easily, leading to lethargy
- Her understanding of SeaWing language is very poor
- Sleeps a lot

Appearance:
Her stature is somewhere in between a RainWing and SandWing, with a thicker, SeaWing-like tail. She bears a cyan-hued color most of the time. The scales running along her face are bright yellow in color, and the same can be said for her underside and wing membranes. Her eyes shift colors depending on the shade of her scales. Orangey-yellow stripes swirl down from the base of her neck and down to the middle of her tail, though these too change color depending on the situation. Her frills, which are a slightly darker shade of blue than most of her body, are most prominent under her ears and along her spine until they reach the base of her tail. She can flatten and raise these at will.

Vivid bears gills and webbed claws. Her stinger is almost nonexistent; if one looks close enough at the tip of her tail, her stinger sticks out like a miniature dagger rather than an actual SandWing stinger. The stripes that line her body can light up, though they are much dimmer than a normal SeaWing's bio-luminescent markings. Her fangs protrude slightly from her upper lip, as with all RainWings.

Personality:
Adventurous, happy-go-lucky, talkative, friendly, stubborn, easily frustrated, can be fierce when need be

Other:

Pokemon: Ascendancy

MENTIONS: Everyone

Almost as if on cue, Isaiah walked through the door. His appearance spurred the others’, at the very least. Some of her compatriots had their Pokemon out, like Sawyer’s Glameow, Astrid’s Raichu, and even Mika’s recently caught shiny Snom. Hell, if she guaranteed that her Pokemon would behave and sit still, she would have taken out her own. Thus was the downside of being a Dragon-type leader; her dragons would probably eat something they shouldn’t or cause damage to the infrastructure. Not like they meant it. They all had hearts of gold– she just wasn’t willing to take the chance at a formal event like this. Especially in front of the newbie. And definitely in front of the… more distasteful people.

”Yeah, Seb. Gotta say, after all of this time, I don’t know who the ringleader of this whole circus is,” Hestia said, referencing what Nordrin had told him a few moments prior.

Hestia blew through three more of the lemon-drop martinis before she moved on to heavier stuff. Now nursing a dark stout, she raised an eyebrow at what Fiona suggested from Ryker. The champion had remained somewhat quiet throughout the whole fiasco at hand, only chuckling softly when he was acknowledged or teased. Ryker only became more serious upon the Flying-type leader’s request. Delicately, he raised himself from his chair and raised his newly refreshed cup of whiskey. Hestia raised her eyes, now silent as she watched the man closely. His crimson irises swept across their number.

”I know some of us might be nervous about this coming season. There may be repeating contenders taking part in the challenge, along with new faces that might give us more of a fight than others. Who knows, some of them may threaten our slots as leaders and champion.” Ryker raised his glass higher. ”But I know that all of us will persevere. All of you have proven yourselves as reliable gym leaders and respectable Pokemon trainers. Though, that’s not what’s important. Although much time has passed, your flames of passion have not diminished. You not only welcome such challenges, but you crave to overcome them. That’s why I know you lot will give the whole of Galar an even better show than last year.”

Hestia raised her glass in response, which was significantly harder to do than she thought it would be. ”Aye!” she agreed, her voice sultry and full of vigor. ”Although, let’s not forget that your spot is also bein’ contested, Ryker. I’ll beat you this time, that’s for sure!”

Ryker’s laugh rang through the bar like a deep bell; it was as if the embers that dwindled within him had become a full blaze. ”Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, now.”

Wings of Fire: Clouded Visions

Even though she didn’t want to admit it, the dark, gloomy dragon in front of her was making a lot of sense. Vivid wanted to help the other hybrids– desperately, too– though there was simply no feasible way they could at the moment. If they were to go back, they would risk getting caught by the SandWings again. If they asked the SkyWings, they could blow their cover or get killed on the spot. She lashed her tail in frustration, not only with Frostbite, but with the predicament they were in. If only he were as willing to go back as she was. Her scales became tinged a slight pinkish color in her flurry of emotion. ”Who knows, they could surprise us…” she added in response to his claim about the SkyWings.

Oh, don’t fool yourself. You know he’s right. The thought came soon after her statement. Vivid averted her eyes and stared at the oasis. They should get moving at the very least.

”Let’s just leave it up to fate, then. We should probably get going, unless we wanna get snatched up again.” Vivid’s colors faded back to their normal shade of cyan as she glanced towards the skies. It would be a long trip to the SkyWing kingdom. What awaited them there, she wondered.

Pokemon: Ascendancy

MENTIONS: Fiona [@Psyker Landshark], Iris [@Serei2477], Bianca [@Majoras End]

The peace and quiet had to end eventually, she supposed. Fiona entered the bar like a storm, though Hestia couldn't help but greet her with a crooked smirk. There she went, all crude and loud and trying to pry personal information from the both of them. She was more surprised that the other woman had dressed up for the occasion and abided to the Chairman's demands. Before she could say anything, Ryker gave Fiona a half-hearted glare. "Hey now, I don't think it's that bad. But I'm open to take suggestions if Mason has it behind the bar," he answered as he rested his empty glass on the table.

"And don't worry so much about me. You'll see. I'll knock Ryker right out of the Cup, no matter what it takes. Next thing you know, you'll have to call me Champ." Hestia answered, her smirk growing into a full grin while she sipped on her martini. A cough escaped her at another of Fiona's questions. "Why are you asking such personal questions from him, huh? Hoping that he'll take a chance and shack up with you instead?"

Ryker only produced a deep sigh. Hestia turned her shit-eating grin towards the younger man, though she was interrupted when the door opened once again. Iris had arrived with one of her precious Pokemon, her Mimikyu, perched upon her shoulder. Least it wasn't one of the creepier members of her party. Her features softened as the Ghost-type leader sat with them. "She sure is. Our conversation's just gotten a little heated." She laughed, patting Ryker on the back.

"You two're gonna be the death of me."

"More like the death of your career!"

The door opened again. Hestia turned to see Bianca enter the bar in a flowing dress and coat. How was she not burning up under that? Then again, even though it was about to be summer it was still a little chilly during the nights. "Hey, Bianca. I've been doing well. We're in the middle of tormenting Ryker before the men come and ruin the fun. Would you like to join us?" Hestia giggled as she finished off the rest of her lemon-drop martini.