Sorrow

Apparel ReGene
Darkness surrounded Sorrow as she peered into the snowy forest of Agorthina. She was tired after the earlier day that had dwindled all too long in winter’s cruel talons, her muscles ached from walking so long, and cold night nipped at her skin. The snow was piled high, well over several inches, accumulating high into several feet of misery. The chilled, pale dust was an eyesore compared to the shadow night brought upon the dense, minty foliage of Agorthina.
Sorrow paused; something caught in her sight.
“Anguish, come here,” Sorrow said, her voice sharp and cracked like a crows’ scream, but quiet as the hiss of wind over frost.
The bleached bone head of another Frillint bobbed into view. The hideous creature shrieked a bloodcurdling scream into the tranquil air of the frozen night. He then tilted his head towards Sorrow and uttered three words as he paced up to the dark looming female frillint.
“Yes, Madam Sorrow?” The black holes where his eyes should have been stared menacingly back at the night surrounding them as he moved towards Sorrow, muscles rippling beneath his scarlet scruff of fur.
As he stopped beside her, Sorrow tilted her nose towards what had caught her attention.
Blood, a drop of crimson against a bitterly white landscape.
Sorrow could smell it from where she stood, several feet away. Her tongue licked that air, and the hunger clawing at her belly suddenly intensified.
Anguish gave a hiss of delighted surprise and took a step towards the blood. He lowered his pale head to get a closer look, and then glanced up towards another small patch, this one accompanied by the two-toed footprint of a deer.
“It looks fairly fresh, but with luck, it will already be dead by the time we find it,” Anguish mused.
Sorrow stared into her mate’s darkened eye sockets. She knew that there were eyes somewhere in there, but like her own, they were obscured by black magic that turned them into fathomless pits, darker than the darkest void night could conjure.
“Yes,” she agreed at last, and the two began trodding through the snow along the trail of deer prints and blood.

The trail led to a dead deer being eaten by a brutally scarred bear, but the two Frillints easily chased the creature away to eat what remained. They quickly devoured the dishappened corpse then set out to find shelter. Anguish had found it, in the form of a fallen tree whose boughs had formed a tent-like structure, just big enough for Sorrow and Anguish.

The hushed night was calming to Anguish: no screaming, yelling, growling, just peaceful tranquility. His mate, Sorrow, had fallen asleep close by his side, her warm body creating a feeling of home. This little piece of home always stuck with him, even if he was slightly more kind than most Frillints were.
The monstrous creature took a moment to study his surroundings. It was completely ordinary, like every other fallen tree he’d seen. He let his eyes follow the tree’s natural curve, noting the casual stick poking out of the trunk's large arms, the roots that hung from the trunk like stalactites.
"Anguish, goodness sakes, go to sleep already!"
The Frillint jumped slightly at the sudden noise. He looked down to see Sorrow staring up at him.
Sorrow’s head was pointed at the end and it seemed a bit yellow and gnarled. Even despite knowing and loving her, her sinister eye sockets gave Anguish a feeling of dread, the darkness of the winter night adding to the effect.
"Yes ma'am," Anguish said with a slight chuckle, flicking his tail with amusement.
Sorrow shook her head. She laid her tail on Anguish’s.

As the night swallowed the forest with its gaping jaws of ink, the two frillints slept deeply, unaware of the eyes that watched them throughout the night…

Sorrow woke before Anguish, but that wasn’t saying much. Already, warm tendrils of sunlight were reaching from the bright sky to devour the powdery snow with its glorious heat. A bird’s shrill call burst through the morning air, and another shrieked in reply from some distant perch of another part of the forest. The lichen and moss that hung from the mighty tree limbs glittered with partially melted snow, small stars glistening during the day. How long until that brilliant green shrivels and dies? wondered Sorrow. How long until time catches up to it, and it meets the same fate as everything else in this bittersweet world?
Anguish gave a slight groan and shifted, the spiky club at the end of his tail suddenly in Sorrow’s face. She gave an angry hiss and sat up indignantly, shoving his tail back at him. Moments later, he flopped over and a clawed foot slammed into her side.
“Anguish!” Sorrow complained loudly, hopping away and out of the tent. She landed in a patch of mud, wet with melting snow, and collapsed into the frigid mixture. “Anguish! I blame you for this!” she exclaimed to the sleeping creature.
No reaction.
She smacked the slushy mud with her tail, sending it all over her mate. He quickly leaped to his feet, sputtering and gasping.
“Cold! Cold!” he yelled. “What, why?” His jagged ivory head flicked towards Sorrow. “Sheesh, what happened to you?” he declared with a chuckle. “Get in a fight with the ground and lose?”
Sorrow splashed him again, but this time he sidestepped, and therefore dodged it, laughing. “Missed!” he taunted cheerfully.
“Not this time!” Sorrow shouted, lunging at him. She knocked him backwards, and they both tumbled out of the back of their shelter. They landed in an even larger pile of slush than before, and within moments they were a mess of mud, snow, and helpless laughter.
Laughter.
One of the few things left in that dark, gloomy world that filled the air with a sense of hope. Not many were left, but laughter was perhaps one of the best. It lifted the mood as though it was helium, blessing those joyful moments with happiness.

Soon the Frillints were on the move again. They had cleaned the dried mud out of their pelts, and after that refreshing break, set forward into the wilderness.
Sorrow avoided the half-melted snow and puddles of slush and mud as well as she could, giving angry hisses when she slipped or got dirty. Anguish, however, had made a game out of it and simply hopped around like some sort of monkey, laughing when he missed and landed in the frigid concoction of snow and mud.
“You act so youthful at times, Anguish.” Sorrow said lightly, a grin growing on her face; she tilted her head away to hide it.
“And you act so old at times, Sorrow,” purred Anguish.
Sorrowful rolled her eyes and swatted Anguish with her tail.
"Let's get a move on shall we?" Anguish said, completely serious again.
Sorrowful’s smile faded. She dropped her snout to the ground. She could clearly smell a rotting fish nearby. She snapped her head towards Anguish.
“Anguish, do you remember the last time we went to the ocean?” she asked, tail twitching.
Anguish frowned and said, “Oh, barely. It was a few years ago, yes?”

Once again they started towards the scent, this time for fun, not hunger.
"I completely forgot how horrible the smell was at times." Anguish said covering the area where his nose should have been.
"Oh Anguish, you sensitive hatchling.." The female Frillint teased.
They walked in silence for a moment. Each having their own thoughts and doubts. Finally they made it to a break in the dead trees, beyond they found dark salty water. A log had found it's way to shore and was now bumping along the sand then retreating back into the water.
"It's a beautiful sight.. I forgot completely." Anguish was surprised, it seemed completely different then what he remembered.
"I knew this would do it.." purred Sorrow, "you smiling just like when I met you."
Sorrow nudged him with her shoulder.