private the poet and the muse ── sunstride

[WOLFSONG]

──⇌•〘 INFO 〙 It is much warmer here than the lands where he and Sunstride were born. The horizon was jagged with the earth's frosted teeth, and even on days when the sky was free of sleet, the sun was too far from their heads for warmth. The slopes wore green in the days when the moon rose before the night had chased the sun away, but it was never as temperate. Even the snow here is mild in comparison. It blankets the flat fields without smothering, and Wolfsong does not have to test his steps nearly as often to avoid deep drifts.

He drinks deeply of the night air and the breeze gets caught in his thick ruff, not yet strong enough to bite through to skin. He turns to level Sunstride with his remaining eye, smiling at his taller profile. There is no one else he would allow at his blind side so freely. "Do you miss it?" He purposely doesn't clarify.
​

 

[SUNSTAR]

A great many differences widen the rift between this home and the one they had called their own before. He'd thought it the end of all things, leaving. This was to be a new beginning. Something entirely separate, fresh and full of opportunity. And so it was, in its own way. But he is glad that it is not so complete a change that nothing beside him would bring any comfort. Home is not so far away from him with Wolfsong at his side, no matter how far away from their birthplace that they traveled. Pieces of the wilds have written themselves across the golden expanse of his shoulders. He is still the warmth of a firepit in the frost-bitten wilds.

In this dark night, he can do nothing else but lean to it. A moth to the flame of his glory. It should tire him more than it does, to stay up on this starry night while the others rest soundly upon their nests. Instead he finds himself warmed by the company, and glad for the memories that it stirs. He looks to him with a grin, a laugh bold and hearty in the stillness of the dark. "Ah but what is there left to miss?" A father who had betrayed the both of them? A life that had led to nothing? Here their fortunes might write themselves. They would stand atop the world, side by side as they were meant to. "I wish it were colder," he finally admits.

﹥ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES INFORMATION 〙ˊˎ﹤

• ooc: —
• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, uses he - him. thirty-four moons old. warrior of windclan and former rogue.
  —— cautious of clan life, but an apt learner. encourages close bonds between clanmates.
  —— loyalty uncertain, cares for those surrounding him. undoubtedly closest to wolfsong.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red at its base and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.
• "speech"

​

 

[WOLFSONG]

──⇌•〘 INFO 〙 Were it so easy. His father's insult was great, make no mistake, but he was good to them before their separate ambitions frayed the bond between them. There was no true obligation between him and a young, wounded, orphaned Wolfsong. In those months of his recovery, he was more burden than boy, and he wasn't kin, no matter how dear Sunstride was. But he raised Wolfsong into a warrior and he knows that the terms of their parting can't entirely sour those fond memories.

He knows that is why the lack of faith stung— and stings still.

"Imagine how much warmer it will be under the ripe sun. You'll dig yourself a burrow." His laugh's a throaty rasp. "Never will a larger, redder rabbit have lived." His shoulder knocks into Sunstride's leg. One day, Foxmane, you will stand guard over your own land and I will be at your side. You are too bright for obscurity. "Tell me," he begins, his voice set lower, "is there nothing your father could do to earn your trust again?"
​

 

[SUNSTAR]

There was no such kindness offered to Sunstride. Though he had been raised kindly, it was not without the tether of obligation, or the bonding of blood. He was his heir, his future, what was meant to be his pride and joy. And yes there was love, there had always been, and in some way always would be, but as the moons wore on he felt more of a weight upon his shoulders than the one who had tried to lift it. Refusing to marry and carry on their bloodline, and caring more for honor and adventure than the stagnant diplomacy he grew to love. The great bear he had known was a guardian to Wolfsong, but a father to him. They left far separate marks.

But here and now, the wounds are forgotten in this moment. He laughs too loud for the night and quickly swallows it to shush himself, relishing instead in the low mirth that drags pleasantly up his own spine. "Even when I'm turned to mush, I will be too large for their tunnels. Imagine the burrow-hunters doing all that they can to push me out once I have found myself stuck, seeking shade." There is no shame in laughing at himself– when those burning times come to stand with them, Sunstride will bear it as he has always taken to anything new. If not with joy, than with certainty. And if not with certainty, than with hope. Hope for something new, something better. Something that would make these difficult times worth something more.

That is what had carried him here, was it not? His laughter dies slowly as he looks down at Wolfsong, though without reproach or pain. His head tilts. "Am I the only one left that must forgive him his slights? I know he has harmed far more than my trust in him." Pale eyes soften at their edges, and the last vestiges of his WindClan warrior's surety begins to fade. "I should have known that such sentiment was beneath you," he says, with all the sad fondness he can allow. Barely a moment of it, linger as time dares to do, before the sun-kissed tom's smile returns. "You are far too grounded for such things. At times I believe you are all that keeps me from floating off from this world and to the next."

﹥ˏˋ〘  OOC NOTES INFORMATION 〙ˊˎ﹤

• ooc: —
• SUNSTRIDE. named for his coloration and his bold chasing of fate.
  —— cis male, uses he - him. thirty-four moons old. warrior of windclan and former rogue.
  —— cautious of clan life, but an apt learner. encourages close bonds between clanmates.
  —— loyalty uncertain, cares for those surrounding him. undoubtedly closest to wolfsong.
  
  sunstride is broad and bold– a creature standing above most of windclan, though not a beast beyond its borders, with fur that flames red at its base and deepens to a burnt amber with every whorl and stripe. his eyes, in comparison, are a pale summer's blue, still as bold as the rest of him.
• "speech"

​