Let the Rain Fall Down

Ah, so Mortis was also getting away from the problems plaguing his mind. He could understand and empathize with him. He had just lost his mother and his brother, just like how Artorias was currently in the process of losing his mother. Deaths of mothers seemed to be the in-style for the season, it seemed... He didn't know whether he should address Mortis' loss if he was trying to ignore it, but it didn't feel right in his heart to just pretend like it didn't happen. "I'm sorry, for the loss of your mother and brother," he said, paws carrying him closer to sit down in the damp grass beside Mortis so the bigger wolf wouldn't have to stretch his wing quite so much. Art's ears folded to his skull and his shoulders slumped while he let the weight of the world settle over him like a blanket. Here they were, two sons hiding from the horrors of a reality without a parent, trying to pretend it didn't hurt. What a pair they made.

"How did you get them...?" he asked, looking back up to Mortis; impressive wings. They appeared to be just like a bird's wings, except they jutted from the wolf's back just behind his shoulders. So he couldn't fly with them... so how had he ended up with the feathered appendages? He hoped he wasn't being rude by asking, and was already mentally preparing an apology, just in case. Mortis asked him if he thought the loss would always hurt. Artorias hesitated in his answer. This was his first time experiencing a loss this close to his heart, and he honestly had no idea what to expect. "I don't know... I hope not," he eventually said, peering back out over the rainy plains. "I don't think it will ever go away, maybe just get better over time. Like, maybe we heal, learn to live without the ones we lose, and maybe we get back to normal... but the hurt will always be like a button in our hearts. Sometimes that button gets pressed a lot, and sometimes it doesn't get pressed for months, maybe years at a time..."

He didn't know if that exactly answered Mortis' question, but he hoped that's how it was. He knew he would never forget his mother, and as long as he had the memories to bring him joy, they would also bring him heartache. But he wouldn't dare trade them away for anything. If living with the pain was the cost of loving someone so deeply, it was a price of admission he would pay time and time again. "What do you think?" he asked, turning fiery eyes up to cool blue.

"Artorias" | "Corbin"