dragonstone.
@thisbrutalbelle
The beach Dani had taken to for the night was no sunny paradise. The sand that was beneath them was weighed down by a sea of tiny pebbles and other stones. They were smooth and wet and cold, but Dani didn't mind. They had always preferred the cold. Their campsite was backed by forest that ran to the very edge of rocky crags, separating the shore from the rest of the world. The closer one got to the water, the gentler the ground underfoot became. It would be easy for one to walk at the waterline and pick up a few glossy stones for souvenirs, only they weren't interested in those trivialities. Not tonight. No, tonight they had come out to this remote, quite, desolate stretch of beach to soak in the last of the tolerable seaside night weather before the autumn made the chill unbearable. They'd come to get away for an evening. While they loved their partner and their family and even their job, sometimes Dani just needed a night to their lonesome to breathe and think. And there certainly had been a lot to think about lately, but then again, when wasn't there?
They sat in the opening of their tent, legs sat outside and crossed atop the stones, arms locked and set straight behind them, and their head angled comfortably upward, but not so much that their hood was slipping down to their shoulders. The moon had begun to shrink in size yet still appeared nearly full in the sky above. It cast a silver light down on the tide that was surely beautiful to all manner of seafolk below the surface, yet it was the stars that Dani found exquisite. Stars had so much more to tell -- stories of heroism and bravery, tragedy and horror, love, romance, loss. They could spend hours sitting there, picking out constellations to free their mind of every burden it carried, using the soothing sound of the crashing waves as background music to relieve the tension in their bones. That was why they hadn't bothered to light a fire. Fires were too bright for stars and too loud for the tide. Static noise. Dani would light one later when the night grew colder. For now, they were perfectly content with weathering a few shivers.
They had shut their eyes a moment to breathe in the night air when the shuffle of a stone caught their ear. Instantly, their eyes snapped open and their golden orbs snapped toward the source of the sound, body poised in preparation for potential danger. They came up on one knee, one set of fingers on the ground and the other bent behind them so that if they needed to pull the knife from beneath their hoodie, they would be ready. But as the figure came into view, familiar and very much not a threat, Dani blinked, relaxed their body and rose to their feet, hood finally falling to their shoulders as they did so. "Bella?"