The texture of the book was soft under Bracken's hands. He actually preferred the new Pantalian books to scrolls: it was easier to save your place, your upper talon wouldn't get sore and you had more space to write on. His book, titled "Thorns and the Crescent", was one of those said new books. It was written by Prince Turtle of the Seawings, a writer from the 5010's. It was about an old Sandwing queen and a Nightwing, who fell in love and had a child. That child was named Sunny, who ended up being in the Dragonet Prophecy and saved the world. Bracken was so invested in his book that he didn't feel the tap of claws on his shoulder for the first few seconds. When he did, he turned his head around. A few mixed feelings snuck their way into his expression. 1. This dragon was a Hivewing. Bracken and his family *really* didn't like Hivewings because of what happened during the tree wars, even all those years ago. 2. This Hivewing was not a Hivewing Bracken wanted to hate. This was a Hivewing Bracken wished to know, to bring out to drink tea with, to cuddle during a rainstorm with. 3. This Hivewing was in the middle of saying something, which he had not heard at all. "I'm sorry, can you please say that again? I didn't hear you." Bracken said, cringing at the crack in his voice. "Hey, can you pass me 'Tales of Opal'?" the Hivewing said again, obviously feeling uncomfortable. Bracken would be in the same situation if he asked a dragon almost twice his size for a scroll about a sassy, ancient animus dragon. "Sure," he said, reaching for the scroll. As he gave it to her, he noticed a few things about her, like the lighter-colored spots on her body and her gentle eyes. He handed her the piece of literature, talons brushing hers. "What book are you reading?" She asked, her voice sounding like a soft spring breeze. He looked at the title of his book. "Thorns and the Crescent. It's about Queen Thorn and her mystery lover, who wasn't that much of a mystery after everyone found out." He stopped. "I'm not going to spoil who it is, but it sure is a twist and a turn'n a half." Bracken said, looking down at the book. "I've read that book front to back many times," she said almost instantly. "It sure is full of twists and turns and a half. Or, like, three quarters of a twist and four-fifths of a turn." She said, giggling a bit. Bracken thought he would never get sick of that giggle. So he watched as the small Hivewing left, her short and stumpy tail brushing his. She sat at a table and opened the scroll, taking another out of a bag she had strewn across her body. He watched for a few seconds before looking back at his book, but the words seemed harder to concentrate on than usual. WHEWW!!! @_Mollipop_ and I did a design trade, which was sooo fun. They made Bracken the Leafwing for me and I made Rosae the Hivewing for them.In Rosae's introduction, I mentioned a library scene in which she meets a dragon with kind eyes. Molly thought this was super cool and asked if the character that she was making could be her date, so of course I said yes. I am notoriously bad at a lot of things: Stealth rolls in DND, remembering to tell my parents things, writing combat and playing Texas Holdem. But writing romance is NOT on that list. Which is weird, because I have never felt that. I just listen to my sister talk about her stories all the freaking time, so that's probably what happened. So uh props to @what_whos_vi0let for being the catalyst for this story.
