"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Something moves in the shadows nearby, but Avelina is not worried. She focuses on her fireflies - exhaling out gentle breaths that they exaggerate how far they are tossed by the air she expells. It doesn’t occur to her to be on her guard - none of the shadows have ever bothered her. Though she does long for the sun and stars to return, this endless night has felt like a blessing for this girl and her fireflies - what a special treat to be able to see their blinking lights all the time.
The movement grows closer and the panther-girl turns her attention to it finally. Avelina laughs in delight when the something moving and it ends up being a jaguar surrounded by butterflies - and then she laughs again at the question she’s asked. The noise is kind and bright like the fireflies that rise up around her, a few of the braver ones floating across the space to investigate, and illuminate, the other feline.
“Oh, but your butterflies are so beautiful just as they are!” Her soft green eyes watch with absolute fascination at the flitting movements of those beautiful forms. “I’ve never met anyone else with insect friends.” Never as if she wasn’t just a couple years old and had only made a very small handful of friends in that time. But Never felt real enough.
Her attention moves to the jaguar and Avelina feels double the excitement - a fellow shifter and she’s surrounded by those incredible butterflies. “I’m Avelina.”
