Wolves that eddy out the corner of his eyes || Nashua

[Nashua]

stars when you shine, you know how i feel
oh freedom is mine

Nashua never seems to be far from his humor. When his half-brother speaks about death and how he keeps trying to seek it, the chestnut pegasus snorts. Nash stands there with his wide wings partially flared - half-ready for the next move of the dappled duplicate - when he looks to the original. "A bit melodramatic," says the striped stallion. "You don't think of investing that energy into something else?" His older brother calls out while he shifts his weight towards the charging clone of Wherewolf.

The copper stallion draws in the wing that faces the copy of his younger sibling in an attempt to spare the more fragile bones that it holds. He angles his bulk into the front-facing shoulder and Nash decides that he'll give a good twist-and-buck if the duplicate continues to keep barreling towards him. It won't do any real damage but maybe a good kick will knock some sense from the duplicate to dappled boy.

When the two collide again, Nashua turns into the air. The duplicate recedes to nothing but sea spray and Nash spreads both wings wide to balance himself. He scuttles against the icy gravel but he doesn't fall. The landing isn't graceful but he manages to land on all four legs. The older pegasus flares his nostrils and his breath comes out like clouds against the cold; Nashua huffs but stops himself from cursing as he settles his wings along his chestnut sides.

The scowl (it makes him look so like his mother that it unnerves Nash) on the dappled colt's face finally yields. The edges of his mouth start to curl like the smoke that emerges from the nostrils of the now standing stallions. The ocean before them keeps angrily crashing but @[Wherewolf] finally smiles.

Nash barks out a short laugh, caught off-guard by it. He shakes out his neck, releasing some of the tension that had been building there.

"How about this," the stallion starts to propose. "The day that I feel like dying, I'll come find you. Between your tenacity for death and my tendency for the idiotic, I'm sure we can figure something out."

He's always figured that when he goes, it will be for some noble cause or another. That blaze of glory he's imagined is likely to be spurred from a moment of bravery. If Wherewolf remains so keen on dying, Nashua might as well find them both something worth dying for.

NASHUA

html by castlegraphics; art by MirrorLands