"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
02-26-2021, 07:19 PM (This post was last modified: 02-27-2021, 08:28 AM by Avelina.)
Avelina feels the weight of this piece of her settle between them like a physical thing. It roots her to the spot and her eyes remain focused on the ground near her hooves. She waits for Isakov to say something, do something - waits for anything at all to happen so she can bury these memories again where they belong in the back of her mind. So she can never think of Skandar or the heartbreak tied up in that first taste of pain. This soft-eyed girl had never learned how to deal with pain, had only ever seen her mother hide it away, and so that is what she tries to do too.
When she finally finds the courage to look up, Isakov seems to shimmer before her eyes. But it must be just the tears because she blinks and he’s standing there - the same beautiful friend she has always known. Looking at him loosens some of the weight in her heart. And when he asks her if she’ll smile for him, the effect that this has on her is instantaneous - she is all too happy to use this request as a tether to bring her out of her shadowy thoughts.
Her heart lightens further as she takes in his smile, his golden eyes, and the fireflies begin their dance again - not as energetic before but at least they are on the move.
And then she is moving too, her usual soft smile growing with each step as Avelina reclaims the distance she had put between them. A distance that had nothing to do with him, and she wishes to let him know that. So her muzzle extends without hesitation to brush against his starry cheek as she gently tells him “For you, my dear Isakov, I always have a smile.”
Of course, this tiny bold act is followed swiftly by a rush of shyness and when she pulls her muzzle back she bashfully dips her head - though when she looks back up, her grin remains warm and sweet.
