the shadow stares back | bellamy | day one

[d7f amber bosch 🌿 tris]

Hours after helping Larissa tend to her wounds, scavenging for supplies and exploring the nearest locations to their base camp, Bellamy finds himself alone in a grove that has been overtaken with fungal sprouts. He watches as spores dance on the wind, taking note of the creeping vines that cling to everything that stands still. His basket is full of trinkets and essentials, and a new bow with a quiver full of arrows is strapped to his back.

He knows it is unwise to stray too far on his lonesome, Larissa had chided him on that much already; but when a shadow passes overhead, the beat of wings cutting through the air, he can't help but to feel a pull for adventure. He glances upward with his honey brown eyes sparkling, shifting to a sunny yellow as his wanderlust overtakes him. Just the briefest flash of color as excitement floods into him.

The creature is a thing he can barely explain, a byproduct of the fairytales his mother would read to him as a child. Raven black feathers, an essence of the night sky flying on its own accord, he can see that its claws are sharp but he can also see that it clearly has no interest in swooping down to attack him. He remembers his training in the Capitol, how best to target muttations and also how to tame them.

Securing his weapons to his form, he makes sure that his hands are bare of ill intentions, draping his cape around his shoulder and steadily approaching the ground directly beneath the circling beast. The dim light in the grove turns its darkness to indigo, the flash of pale blue eyes gazing down at him expectedly. He is certain that it cannot simply be easy, but his eyes glitter gold with pride, returning to their honey warmth as he looks upward and holds up his open palm.

"My name is Bellamy Bravina."

To this entity, and only to this entity, he says:

"And I mean you no harm."

{ bellamy collects items &
attempts to tame the gryphon }

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[d7f amber bosch 🌿 tris]

The beast descends to the ground, landing more silently than Bellamy had first expected it to. It watches him carefully, pitch black wings folded against its sleek backside. He stares into the icy blue eyes of the mutt, hands now steady by his sides, with only his cape swaying in the steady whistle of blowing wind. As he had assumed, this task is not meant to be an easy one. He is aware you don't always get what you ask for, but still he begs.

He makes no rush to lunge at the creature, to attempt trapping or subduing it. He only smiles warmly, patiently, a boy still without any scars on his person to share. Untouched by the horrors living in this arena, bold enough to follow a shadow deeper into the woods and hold out a hand to it. He remembers being the kind of kid who would dream about getting to ride a horse someday, to get the chance to pretend to be a knight like the ones from his favorite stories.

Someone more honorable than he truly is.

Now, ever the chivalrous one, he takes a few short steps forward and bows politely before the Gryphon. If the beast is to choose him, then that choice must be left for it alone to make. Bellamy can only stand to make himself look like a more appealing companion to follow and trust; patient and brave and kind. The forest prince strays from the meadow and stands where he should not.

Part of him has always wanted to belong to the night as much as the light.

{ attempts to tame the gryphon,
second of three tries }

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[d7f amber bosch 🌿 tris]

The creature just blinks at him expectedly, not budging from its place.

"Hard to please, are we now?" He chuckles, feeling the warmth glowing on his skin radiating from within him. His smile does not falter, the pride glittering in his eyes is not dimmed. He is arrogant, but he is not foolish. No one roots for the boy who throws a tantrum on the field when he doesn't get his way. "Are you more reward inclined?"

That's not a bad thing, after all. He thinks about his trophy case back home, how when he was young the bareness of it bothered him, and how now at eighteen it is so full of meaningless gold that there are days he can barely stand to look at it. He's learned as he's grown that winning the prize does not always make for a happy heart. He could be given everything, and he would still ask for just a little something more.

He reaches into his bag, pulling out a slice of the honey cake and lifting it for the Gryphon to see. "Here's the thing, though. I only share food with friends." Stares locked, a prince and his could-be royal steed, there is a chapter in a storybook somewhere that they have ran away from together. It's fun to focus on the fantasy and not the horror, for once.

"So what will it be? Choice is yours, but be warned I'm persistent."

{ attempts to tame the gryphon,
third of three tries }

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