[private] it's a jolly holiday with (Drear)y

[Fiorina]

don't be afraid of the fire, I'd never let you burn That smile in Fiorina’s dark eyes grows cautiously as her daughter approaches and turns into an expression of startled surprise when, without hesitation, Drear hugs her. Fiorina could not remember the last time she had been hugged - she wasn’t sure it had ever happened. The intimate moments of her life had also been tinged with violence. Most of the time she has pointedly avoided all chances of physical contact so it is easy to count them and consider them. None of her biological family, surely, nor any of the stallions that had sired her children. She remembers caressing Roz, knows they shared touches that danced the line between gentle and rough, but a hug? Her first instinct is to squirm away but the armoured mare forces herself to freeze where she is - rigid at first but relaxing slightly into the hug and carefully moving her head to drape across Drear’s neck. Her discomfort is only due to awkwardness and a desire to not accidentally harm the flower-crowned girl by accidentally shifting either her bone wings or the armoured spikes that protrude from her shoulders. “I’ve missed you too.” She responds in a quiet voice that is gentler than she’ll ever admit to. Apologies are even rarer than hugs in her life and she’s not sure how to express the sadness she feels for having been away for so long. For the ill-timed quest that kept her angry and distant. It wasn’t her fault so the flicker of guilt in her stomach is confusing. “I like your flowers.” She says instead, tugging gently on one of the blood-red blooms as she finally steps back to look into Drear’s green eyes and wonder how she could have helped create such a beautiful girl.

art by Reitro

@[Drear]