#HIM!!!! BEING S O F T!!!! PL E A SE 😭😭😭

[onigiram]

it's hard not to long for the city in the distance. pristine white walls and surely happy people beyond it; what was it like to be there instead of here? he shuffles a little closer to the other, lamb to ram, both closer to the soft-crackling campfire. it's cold tonight, and lonely as ever. eyes lift and they plead: go on, tell him a story. it didn't have to be the truth, not utterly, not entirely. he'd accept it.

' ... everything'll be okay, right? ' everything would work out someday. there'd be no more misunderstandings, no more lies or incongruence. ' we're doing good, right? we're just doing ... what we have to. ' nobody would understand otherwise, and he's tired, so tired of merely being accused, of having all his senses and feelings yet still being considered a monster. when the predator tacet discord beside him lifts its knife-limb, he cradles it closer. he might have been loveless, lost. but it was forever why he would always still long for comfort and direction.

' can you tell me about the kinds of things everyone will be able to do together in the end, scar? am i going to be able to fly wherever i want and still bring you snacks without having to steal them? ' would there still be stories? card-tricks? would the moon still sing to him?

Contemplation weighs heavily on his shoulders, the weight of it allowing limbs to sag as mismatched hues gaze into the flickering firelight. The air, heavy with unspoken fears and unfilled dreams, stilled his tongue from speaking false platitudes meant to disillusion the younger man further.

He shifts closer, his presence (hopefully) a comforting weight against the chill of the night. ❝Everything will be okay,❞ he echoed, the words a gentle caress against the raw edges of doubt that lingered. ❝We are doing what we must, navigating a path fraught with uncertainty. Our actions, although misunderstood and maligned, is the price we have to pay.❞

Scar's heart softens as a complex knot of empathy and resolve bloat from within his chest. ❝In the end, what matters is not the approval of others but the consequences our change will bring forth. We are not monsters, but survivors, carving out our own place in a world that fears what it does not understand. What it refuses to understand...❞

A breath of air is released, and with it the tension that had haunted him. He chortles quietly, mirth glinting in his gaze. ❝Yeah, yeah, you'll fly free as a bird, keeping us well-fed and well-informed. It'll be an honest life too, for once.❞ It was something to look forward to - something they needed to believe in to carry on.

Reaching out, clawed digits ruffle through a head of fluffy hair atop his fellow lamb's head, his silent vow of companionship and support. ❝So, let us dream of that future together. We will find our way, not because it's easy, but because it's our future. We'll all be free - no longer would anyone have to fear extinction.❞

A promise woven from the threads of their shared struggle; the night continued its silent vigil around them as the cries of the Tacit Discords grow distant from within the forest.