were all just scars in the making
Word Count → 519
Soft arms encircled her neck, and Vesper wrapped her own around the other’s trim waist, closing her eyes and breathing in her scent. It had been too long since she’d had someone precious to her, truly precious. She had comforted a stranger at the beach and pointed out a way for a wandering soul to take—but neither had amounted to what Blind meant to her. She’d known Blind had meant far more to her than a simple acquaintance when the bear had struck her down. Fear and anger like that did not come to someone who cared only about herself.
The girl whispered close to her torn ear, and the coywolf smirked faintly at the nickname. She was about to make a wry comment about how she’d pummel any other person who’d say it, but the moment passed as Blind added that she missed her—a simple statement for friends who hadn’t seen each other in months, and yet it implied so much.
Vesper was silent, feeling the other pull away, and she let her answer show in her expression rather than state it aloud: that she’d missed Blind too, that seeing her alive and well on this hilltop had stirred within her a happiness she’d all but forgotten. Even among her own clan she had no one she considered a true friend, only comrades she protected out of respect and duty rather than affection. It was almost ironic that her real friends were all scattered outside Inferni, both in the north and the south and here in her arms.
Taking her hands, Blind spoke. She poured her heart out, and while the coywolf had started out listening with composure, the memory of the girl waking, fighting her sudden blindness and the clouds wrapped around her bruised head, made her brows pinch together. It made the scarred woman look vulnerable—for only just a moment, before downcast eyes and a deep, silent inhale hid her dangerous emotions away.
The girl covered her mouth suddenly, but for the moment, Vesper didn’t react—didn’t know how the hell to react. Blind had ripped her heart out of its steel cage and clamped her jaws around it like a chew toy, and words could not describe the new surge of affection she felt for the dear girl in that moment. While her tough exterior probably didn’t show it, Ves longed for the ability to bring others back from the brink, to instill strength in them, protect them, claim them as her own but set them free to run alongside her. It was all she could ask for.
Blind giggled then. It was an almost frantic sound, a baby bird fluttering its wings to keep aloft, signifying her frayed nerves. Her face softening once again, Vesper shook her head slowly then reached out to draw the girl close again.
“Ssshhh, sweetheart,” the tawny coywolf murmured. Pale fingers ran gently through her dark auburn hair. “What you just said means more to me than you’ll ever know, Blind,” she told her, voice muffled against her forehead before she placed a gentle kiss there.
Vesper Optime by Nat; table code from the Mentors!
<style>
p.template-credit {text-indent:0px; text-align:left; font-size:10px; font-style:italic; width:425px; text-align:center; margin:0px auto;}
.vesoptime-box {float:right;}
.vesoptime {font-family:georgia, serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing:0px; word-spacing:2px; text-align: left; margin:0px 25px;}
.vesoptime .words {font-size:30px; font-family: 'Gloria Hallelujah'; text-align:right; line-height:20px; padding:0px 5px; text-shadow:#000000 1px 1px 1px;}
.vesoptime p.ooc {font-style:italic; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; text-align:justify; text-indent:0px; padding:0px 5px;}
.vesoptime p.ooc + p {padding:0px 5px;}
.vesoptime .wc {text-transform: uppercase; font-weight:bold;}
.vesoptime p {text-indent: 25px; margin:0px; padding:5px;}
.vesoptime b {letter-spacing:1px; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; letter-spacing:-.05em;}
.vesoptime t {letter-spacing:1px; font-family:georgia, serif; font-size:12px; letter-spacing:-.05em; font-style:italic;}
</style>
[/html]