Your friend in the dark

Truly, Kiyo felt pitiful. Here she was, crying about something surely trivial, while the man before her had been through much worse hardship. Her antlers being gone didn’t hinder her in any way, if anything they probably helped her. The darn things did, after all, get stuck in tree branches and prevent her from fitting into certain spaces. But it still felt like she’d lost something important to her, and she felt herself mourning their loss.

The man offered condolences, albeit a bit awkwardly but she couldn’t blame him. Surely he thought she was being a silly woman and being emotional for no good reason. If it was her ex-husband he would have berated her, told her she was being foolish and undignified, but he also would have likely abandoned her for losing such prized mutations. In his eyes, she was only as good as her beauty, and beauty was always fleeting. He would have given her up one day anyhow. But, what Magnus did next was the complete opposite. He moved into a sitting position and lifted an arm, offering her comfort in a hug. All she could do for a moment was sit there, stunned, tears still dripping down her silken cheeks. It was so unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, and for the first time in a long time, Kiyo felt her cheeks heat up in a blush.

Her auds twisted back, hesitant at first, before she slowly moved forward, gently pressing her much smaller frame into the man’s form, allowing him to envelop her in a hug. It occurred to her, suddenly, that she didn’t know his name, but she didn’t feel the need to ask at that moment. All she wanted, and appreciated, was his warmth.