brother dearest: colorful impressions - 1040 words

#1 Rainbow Pools

Show your character enjoying one of the Rainbow Pools. Your piece must include your character and rainbow swamp waters.

 

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Joshua sat on the edge of a rainbow pool. He flung his legs back and forth in the colorful water leisurely. Every now and then, the movement sent swamp water droplets and globs of salamander mucus around in splashes.

 

"It's pretty here, I have to admit," a voice stated from behind him, "colorful."

Joshua shook his head softly, partly annoyed, and partly amused. "No shit."

 

"Not a fan of the mucus, though. I hope I don't get hives."

 

"Maybe you should just get out more often. See the real world sometimes. Exposure and all that, you know."

 

Elic snapped his eyes to the younger brother, crossing his arms as he did. The gradients running along his one-sided mane seemed to almost shift with the light that hit it, on top of the swift movement. A fangless snarl rushed across the draconid's speckled face, but disappeared as fast as it had surfaced. "Wrong choice of words, Yoshi," Elic growled, and leaned right on the other's shoulder to over hover him menacingly. "Wrong choice of words."

 

Joshua rolled his eyes and sighed. Yeah, whatever.

 

A bulkier splash from further away in the pool drew the attention of both brothers. A large creature arose from the water, dragging its body up from beneath the surface.

 

No, wait, never mind - it was a person. The multiple pair of horns jutted out of their skull like a grotesque crown, following the color scheme of their whole backside, as dark as a forest after a wildfire. Colorful locks of hair draped over their shoulders and upper back. It looked like they sucked the hues out of the water that touched them, before shifting into a bright teal, and staying within that specific color.

 

Joshua was pulled back to the moment like a fish from a lake, with his brother near-violently tapping on his shoulder.

 

"Oh, oh, oh! I know this guy," Elic breathed out excitedly. "Gogogo. Go say hi."

 

The younger drake had time to only utter a partial what before he was already dragged up to his feet. His petite, cloven hooves fought against being pushed, but when combined with the slippery salamander slime and the knowledge of how to counter such stubbornness, it did very little. Elic didn't have much trouble pushing Joshua forward. He knew how such goat- or deer-like toes worked - he had them as well.

 

"Elic, what in th--"

"It's called a hyperfixation - now go."

 

Elic shoved his baby brother the rest of the way with one, powerful push. Joshua nearly fell face first to the ground before he found his balance again. He had to use every ounce of his might and muscle strength to make himself stop before bumping into the multicolored beanpole. He looked up.

 

Right. Golde, was it? Dude was taller than he had thought.

 

Next to the pool, stood a wooden rack filled with neatly arranged towels in all the colors of the rainbow. Picking up one, Caspian began to dry himself off.

 

Joshua turned back to his brother. The young draconid didn't notice the tall shifter turning to look at him in turn.

 

"What do you even want me to say? You know he's too pretty for me to even speak straight!"

 

The whole ordeal seemed to unfold like the Athos wasn't even in the same space with these two. Speechless, the eternal now shifted his puzzled gaze to the drake further away.

 

It took Elic a second to understand that a wordless question was aimed at him. He hid his hands behind his back in the wake of a mischievous, toothless grin. "His words, not mine."

 

Seeing his brother's reaction, Joshua froze. He turned back to Caspian, slowly and stiffly, like a frightened goat. The draconid's viridian eyes ran up the man's body for an awkwardly long time - when he was just trying to find eyes to look at instead of... abs.

 

Caspian's brow furrowed as his eyes were finally met. He couldn't really make sense if the bipedal dragon was afraid of him, or - according to the draconid's own words, apparently - too attracted to him to speak straight.

 

Joshua raised his hand timidly to a greeting. "Hhi-- eÖÄRBLERGH."

 

He was interrupted with a moist cloth slapped right on his face just as inelegantly, as was his ability to introduce himself to others like a person. The drake hastily peeled the slimy towel off his face. He tossed it to the side, and saw Caspian already walking away with a new piece of fabric to dry himself with. Elic's elbow painfully dug into his bicep as he was used as a pillar for specifically leaning.

 

"Smoooth," the older brother mocked the fledgling playfully. He received a vexed glare for his biting remark.

 

"It was your idea," Joshua growled at him and moved away, nearly making Elic fall over when he lost his support.

 

Even though his white-and-violet body didn't meet the ground, Elic dusted himself off. He was getting tired of Joshua's unwillingness to step out of his comfort zone. It couldn't continue forever. "Mine or not, but you can't run away from this. You will have to learn how to live with these people, Yoshi - not hide from them."

 

Joshua turned back to his brother. "Easy for you to say when you're not the one being thrown out!"

 

Elic halted. He inspected his brother's figure - not that he needed to for the information he already had at hand. The poor thing was afraid, and no wonder. It was a big change. A leap of faith he was forced to take. It was like moving to live on your own to the other side of the world, leaving behind everything you knew - all the while swimming in the deepest pits of depression, where nothing mattered.

 

"Joshua..."

"Don't you Joshua me," the younger brother snapped back immediately.

 

Defeated, Elic lowered his eyes to the ground with a heavy sigh. Joshua turned away, knowing that he wouldn't be held back for now.

 

The pale dragon lifted his lilac gaze. He couldn't help his head from tilting to the side, from both light confusion, and gentle delight.

 

Even though warily, Joshua tried to catch up with Caspian in the distance. Elic scoffed to himself.

 

What a nerd.