ooc:
True silence was deafening. Not even the soft songs of the nightly creatures were heard as she stood waiting with bated breath for her cherished friend to speak. A sound of acknowledgement, perhaps the glimmer of his eyes as they were set upon her would have done instead of the chilling black of his hide melding so perfectly into the darkness, offering little sense of warmth in receiving her. Her proud ears fell against her crown as she took a tentative step back preparing to give the space he might have needed in this troubling time.
But then there was a pause as he drew himself from the shadows as she was able to properly see his dirt laden form. What gaze they shared was fleeting, and though she waved her tail in mirth to hold his attention, still it broken as his sullen gaze lingered on the ground. And his voice… she placed another step back as a chill coursed the length of her spine, stilling her tail completely and causing its smoothed end to bristle. This tone, it was not of the warm, loving male she knew. It was something distant entirely… something cold and diseased. Even as he made to look at her with a forced smile upon his muzzle, she could not shake the discomfort that had now settled on her. She felt like an intruder in the private weeping realm of her friend and could offer no condolences to soothe him.
“I am…alright,” she offered in turn, retracing a step bravely forward but let her gaze fall with uncertainty toward the ground. Those were the very words she should have asked him. He was the one grieving… not her. “I was…going to rest for the night,” she continued with finely trembling vocals. “It is growing late, my friend. Perhaps you care…to accompany me?”