The Agony
Word Count: 882
Featuring: Templar, Calcifer, and Delilah
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Today would be the day—Templar could feel it. His resolve was swirling in his heaving chest, glowing bright like the gaze of pulsars from his aqua eyes, radiating out with each exhale he released. Despite the physical limitations of his kind, Templar would at long last charge forth, storming the beach in the name of love.
It really wasn’t fair to his beloved Imi that he, a hippocampus, was forever limited to life under the sea, ocean, river, lake. Imi was constantly amending his own preferences for the sake of Templar, meaning they could never just escape into the woods, frolic in a field, curl up in a location that didn’t reek of mildew or saltwater. But as Templar saw it, the least he could do was try to traverse his mate’s territory, even if all he had ever heard told him he’d only be met with pain.
But what was love without a little agony?
Meanwhile, Calcifer stretched himself out on the sand dunes. He was settling in before the show, which by his count was rapidly becoming a weekly event. Ever since he’d off-handedly suggested Templar was a shoddy lover, the fool had been attempting to charge as far inland as he could before the delicate membranes around his hooves declared game over. Really, it wasn’t supposed to be
that condescending of a remark. Calcifer couldn’t possibly be blamed for the harm Templar constantly did to himself, all “in the name of love.”
“Ch, pride’s a bigger factor than love at this point,” he mumbled to himself.
“Not nearly as big as your butt, now scoot,” said a feminine voice from behind him.
Calcifer groaned and half-heartedly turned his head to face the disturbance. “Delilah, my booty has nothing to do with Tempy’s latest obsession,” he drawled to the approaching black mare.
Delilah snorted and settled beside him. “Whatever. Has anything happened yet?”
“Nope. He’s still warming up.”
But that was rapidly changing. Templar took in an especially deep breath and lowered himself down. Only his ears flickered above the water, but soon even they disappeared altogether.
You can do this, he told himself.
You’ve tried this so many times, but today is the day you change it all, when you make your dream a reality. When you make your beautiful boy proud…His eyes flew open.
He breathed in hard.
And he charged.
The water churned in foamy bursts as he sped past the waves, gathering as much speed as he could while he still had access to his element. Before long, the water gave way to smooth sandbars, and he used the added leverage to push himself further. Then his head was above the water, his withers, his legs, his feet—!
Yes, yes, he was on the shore, the springy wet sand throwing him forward, the tide challenging him to run harder, harder, until he was squashing the dry land beneath his feet, yes, yes, he was always one step closer to Imi, oh, his Imi, his beautiFUL PAIN YES THE PAIN IS REAL THE PAIN IS LIGHTNING RACING UP HIS LEGS OW OW HE WAS NOT CUT OUT FOR THIS MAYDAY MAYDAY IF ONLY THIS DIDN’T HURT SO BAD THERE WOULD BE A FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH JOKE IN STORE BECAUSE TEMPLAR DOWN TEMPLAR DOWN
in an unfortunate spray of sand granules and shame.
Right on cue, the riotous laughter screamed through the air, settling right in Templar’s barely twitching ears.
“I think that’s a personal best, Tempy!” Calcifer called out between gasps for air.
“Yeah, I think you made it a full half-inch farther than last week!” added Delilah.
Just then, Templar proved that even horses can growl. “Shut. Up,” he said.
“Oh, relax, you practically asked for it,” Calcifer said as he and Delilah came to his side. “Can you stand?”
Templar flared his nostrils. “What do you think?”
“Yes?”
“Are you on the ground begging for mercy yet?”
“Ooh, someone’s a sourpuss,” Delilah said. “Would it make you feel better if we got mommy and daddy?”
Templar arched, wincing as his body membranes scratched against the grainy texture of the land. “They’re hippos too,” he gasped out. “What makes you think they can help?”
“Fair enough…So what if we got Imi instead—?”
“NooOOOOOOOOOO—”
The two idiots laughed even harder than before.
“Okay, okay,” Delilah said, sobering first, “then hold tight while we put you back to where you belong.”
“Really, man, when are you going to learn?” asked Calcifer as he started nudging Templar’s back.
“There’s nothing to learn,” Templar said. There was a sudden grit to his words. “The fact of the matter is I need to do this, and nothing will stop me…Not even you two idiots cackling at me.”
Delilah joined Calcifer in rolling Templar back to the deep. “I think I can respect that,” she said after a pause. “But I just don’t know if I’d be able to put myself through all this trouble for my man.”
“Then obviously you don’t know what true love is,” Calcifer retorted.
“You wanna roll this idiot back yourself?”
“You wanna destroy this idiot’s dream?”
“Ahem! ‘This idiot’s’ right here!”
And so Templar, for the fourteenth time, was brought back to the ocean, and his friends given another good laugh.
