Chaser [Any]

[Warrick]

like the sun swallowed up by the earth

He hides beneath his silence, the sadness just beneath the delicate skin that moves over the muscles of his clenching jaw line. The hard angles of his face rest expressionlessly as he stares into the distant horizon where the volcano looms, gentle starlight falling against their muscled shoulders as the two stand side by side.  Diable Rouge’s vulnerability shatters his very core, leaving the bay feeling open and raw as his own wounds begin to fester at his remembrance of them, the comforting silence between the stallions growing with the stirring of their thoughts and their losses. Warrick’s heart wrenches, tight and quickly beating in his chest; suddenly, he misses Tangerine more than he has perhaps ever had. The familiar spiraling feeling causes him to hold his breath as it catches in his throat, feeling cold despite the warmth of the Tephran landscape.

Warrick’s chilling blue stare refuses to meet the gaze of Diable Rouge (hesitancy permeates the fabric of his being, shown outwardly by the slight shift in feathered wings), but he can feel the stallion’s eyes on him for a lingering moment. Warrick blinks slowly as he stares up at the dazzling display of stars that twinkle gently in the bold, black sky, inhaling deeply. He may not ever understand the absolute emptiness that comes with the loss of a child, but only the mere thought of losing Svedka or Solace is enough for him to remain beside the roan stallion, an unwavering presence in the midst of an unshakeable storm.

“I think,” he says after a long while, his robust voice breaking the silence between them, “that I would rather spend everyday remembering them, however painful, than to forget they ever existed.” Finally, for the first time since drawing up beside Diable Rouge, the winged peacekeeper turns his gaze towards him. “We must not allow ourselves to forget them,” Warrick concludes with finality, a certain seriousness in his eyes that cannot be shaken.

A few moments pass and the sound of the sea breeze increasing its gust drawing the stallion’s crystal blue gaze out towards the ocean, watching as the waves begin to froth white from the night’s strong wind. With a slight curve of his neck, he says: “I have only recently returned from traveling to Tangerine’s homeland,” he pauses, flicking his tail against his hocks, (the mention of Tangerine - their common ground - might break the sadness that is brewing between the two, at least for a moment) “how has Tephra been in my absence? Have you seen Solace lately?”

Warrick

@[Diable Rouge]