A Beautiful Night (Open to all)

Finally, Cerulean had a chance for freedom for a day. It hadn't been very long since she was ranked as Fish. Now, all the elders were constantly giving her all sorts of pressure to learn proper skills and aim for a higher rank. Well, not quite all of them. There were plenty of others who were constantly saying how she'd be too lazy and settle for being simply Tuna. And then there were those who said that Cerulean would fail at meeting any other rank even if she tried. Often, Cerulean wondered if it were true- if no matter how much she tried, she would end up failing She retained her composure as much as she could underwater, but up here on the Iceilo shore, she didn't have to hold back. She dug her claws so deeply into the sand out of frustration that she sank to her body. She felt as if she were ready to scream at the stars. No, no, no, Cerulean told herself. This is not what I'm up here for. I won't let myself think of this. Cerulean pulled herself free from the sand, and shook it, along with her frustration (or at least she tried), off of herself. Besides, her family still believed in her. Especially her big brother. Even though he was rather busy now, being off on his constant training to reach Seal rank. Actually, it seemed a lot of her friends were busy, too. She was one of the youngest in her age group, and they'd gotten their Fish rank and started training before she did, and they seemed to vanish rather quickly. It seemed like Cerulean was the only one who had no idea what she wanted to do. Or what she could do. It never felt like anything she did was particularly noteworthy or unique. Maybe if I was bigger.. and stronger...

Whoops, I'm doing it again- stop it, Cerulean! She chanted to herself. Look at the beautiful full moon. Look at the way that it and all the stars in this stunningly clear sky are reflected off the sea! She put on the most positive expression she could manage, smiling the emptiness. And then she gave up, sighing and throwing herself down on the sand, closing her resting a claw over her snout. Beautiful, happy night.

'Oh it's a gorgeous night-'

Taliah thought, smiling to herself as she pushed her way out of the pine trees. It wasn't snowing yet- though Taliah's instincts said that wouldn't last long. But- the night sky was clear, and crisp, and beautiful tonight, barely a cloud in the sky. She clambered down the rocky cliff face, leaping from rock to rock like an oversized mountain goat, until she hit the sandy shoreline with an audible sigh of relief. Rocks were fine, especially if they were nice and smooth river rocks, but Taliah had a baaaaad experience with falling onto rocks, so she'd much rather deal with the nice soft sand than with the cold, unforgiving rocks. .....Even if said sand was going to be a p a i n to clean out of her fur- Taliah just sighed, giving in to the idea and plopping down in the sand.

Taliah was out on one of her expeditions, trying to map the entirety of the Icello region- and more, if she could. But, first things first, yes? Besides, mapping out her home would be much easier than mapping out the whooooole world. Especially with her work schedule! Well... Self-enforced work schedule really, but- All the same! She did valuable work for her tribe!! To just- shirk that responsibility so casually- It was unimaginable! Besides, she liked dealing with the artifacts!! It was dangerous, sure, but- The Kaamil had taken her in when she had no where else to turn. As far as she was considered, they were the only family she had. And if that wasn't worth sacrificing a little bit of free time for, then she didn't know what was.

Taliah was so incredibly wrapped up in her thoughts that she almost didn't notice the sad little sigh from her left- A l m o s t. She jumped, a bit spooked; not at all expecting to see someone else out and about this late at night. Especially someone so- sad? Her first instinct was to turn tail and just run, but upon hearing the sigh- She thought she sensed a kindred spirit in the little dragon. So- maybe she could help..? Possibly...? She- honestly wasn't quite sure if she even could help, but- She could at least try?

"Um, h- hi?" Taliah started, 'Oh stars, this is going sideways so quickly-' wincing a bit at her own awkwardness, "Are- Are you okay? I was just- over there- and I heard you, so I came over here.. Um- HI! I'm Taliah! Taliah Brightmoon- Ironic, I know, because- y'know, it's nighttime? And the moon's out? Uh..." Names were- surely a safe place to start, right? Names were a- normal thing that normal dragons exchanged when doing a normal greeting. ....Right? Was this a normal greeting? It was at night, which was a little weird since Taliah hadn't expected company, but the little dragon didn't seeeeeem super dangerous, so it was probably okay??

Taliah paused, awkwardly realizing she had just been silent for a good 10 seconds straight. "Uhhhhh- What's your name?" She asked kindly, hoping to make up for her utter disaster of an introduction. "And, um, are you okay?"

Cerulean hadn't been paying attention and had thought she was the only one here. And she wasn't aware that someone else was around until she heard a voice calling for her. Her whole body flinched. Oh, no! Someone saw me like this! Her initial thought was to pretend to be sleeping. That could work--! Well, probably not. It was probably already obvious how awake she was. Reluctantly, Cerulean stirred herself up, looking up at the unfamiliar dragon. Cerulean's expression was more so embarrassed than scared of an unfamiliar dragon, even though she was definitely the smaller out of the two. So fluffy was Cerulean's first thought. She'd not seen many dragons in the ocean that had like actual fur. And even Cerulean's fur didn't cover herself so completely. Every part of her said I wanna touuuuch. But she did her best to control herself. It sounded as though this dragon was maybe already already be a little nervous- Nervous about me? Is it possible for me to be intimidating? Or maybe she's shy? - and Cerulean didn't want to give her more reason for that.

"I, uh-" Cerulean started, trying to avoid the awkward silence. I'm perfectly fine, Cerulean wanted to say. But she knew it was already obvious that she was anything but fine. And Cerulean felt a little bad about having the idea of lying to someone who showed so much genuine concern for her at very first meeting. It wasn't at all often for anyone, besides perhaps her brother, to catch her like this, and Cerulean was no good at this sort of thing. She shook herself lightly when she sensed the silence creeping back. "My- my name! Cerulean! Cerulean's my name." She said all at once. Oh good, now I also sound shy. "Nice to meet you, Miss Brightmoon. That's a really cool name- And, uh- it... probably doesn't sound like much of anything out loud." That's right. These were things Cerulean told herself all the time. She's upset and worried for no reason. There was no reason not to be fine. It usually worked to buffer her emotions, at least enough that no one noticed. But it seems this time around, it seemed her emotions were breaking through a lot more than usual.

Taliah blinked in surprise, could this little dragon also be nervous? But- of her? Stars- Maybe she needed to work on her approaches?? But- then again- if Taliah hadn't been expecting anyone to show up all the way out here, then likely Cerulean hadn't been expecting anyone either, so- a little nervousness was understandable. Taliah brightened a little bit when Cerulean introduced herself and gave a soft smile, but her expression faded to a concerned expression soon after. "Cerulean? Oh that's a wonderful name, I love the color too!! It's very nice to meet you."

After just standing there awkwardly for a moment, she hopped up onto a nearby rock outcropping to get out of the sand and shook herself off. She neatly tucked her paws up under her body immediately after and swept her long fluffy tail up, curling it around herself to complete her "dragon-loafing" with a quiet sigh. Taliah was silent for a minute, letting the crashing of the waves fill the gap in the conversation instead. "Do you.. want to talk about it? I've.. Kinda got a habit of suffering in silence, so- Take it from me? Sometimes it helps to talk to someone. You might be surprised by the ideas others come up with. Or- even if you don't like any of the ideas, you at least get to vent about it? Holding in your feelings.. It doesn't work out well in the long run either, trust me."

"O- Or we can talk about something else!" Taliah added hurriedly a moment later, suddenly realizing it might sound like she was trying to force her to talk. "W- Whatever you're comfortable with!! I mean- I did kinda just appear out of the bushes soifyoudon'twannatalkthat'sfinetoo-" Taliah trailed off again, burying her face in her paws, WHY did she keep EMBARRASSING herself?? Uuuuugh-