azrael
Azrael cannot know the pain which haunts her, though even he can feel the hurt which eminates from Warcry through her icy glare and the bite of her words. It is written on every inch of her as she sizes his up, the way it edges at her voice when she tries to push him away… but still too, he stays rooted. For even her walls are not enough to scare away the dreamer, his own gaze warm and bright on hers, as if willing the girl to break free from her demons and allow herself a chance to live. True, it may be a shackled existence, devoid of the cosmos she so loved, save to witness it from the confines of the world below… but an existence of regret was hardly one worth living, at least in his mind.
He could bite back at her, meeting fire with fire… but instead the male simply stands strong against her words, buffering himself with the reassurance that she was simply lashing out in pain, lost to the emotion and unwilling to bend. So he is patient as he smiles at the girl when she calls him a fool, refusing to dignify her retort with a response, simply staring back at the children and letting silence fall uneasily between them.
It is she who speaks first, curiosity edging in her words. Do you pray to your stars when you look upon them? Do you wish? For a moment, Azrael stays silent, considering his response. “Sometimes.” He admits with a shrug. “There are nights when I cannot get close enough to the stars, when I climb to the tallest peaks just aching to listen to what they have to share. I talk to the stars, thinking perhaps that they listen, hoping they might.” It had always made sense to him, for the stars had been his constant companions in life, when all else fell to ruin and chaos. The skies had remained steadfast and true to their course, despite what changed around them.
“Some say wishes are for children, but why not ask if the wish might grant you hope? I do not think it so far-fetched that Caligo would grant us the pleasures of mortal life, for I have seen her some, in dreams… she has walked beside me, guided me back to my stars. When all seemed lost, they remained. When hope waned, they still shone through the darkness. And if the stars are to be our only constant, should we not pray to them for our salvation too?” He felt that Caligo would agree, for why else would she have left their night alive with brilliance, if not for the hope which came along with it.
He had to believe in the power of the stars, for if that wish too was lost, their world might have been a dark and lonely place, indeed.
@Warset
