brave as a noun

Zoey · 02-09-2022, 09:40 PM

Zoey tilted her head softly as the older male’s eyes seemed to betray some hint of shame - as if he didn’t believe he was what she claimed him to be. Didn’t wolves normally want to be praised for doing a good job? That they were powerful and strong? She knew she would - compliments weren’t always heard to her ears, but they showed in the interactions with other adults, mostly marvelling at how such a young child was managing on her own. Not to mention wearing the strangest headgear they had ever set their perfectly-functional eyes on. He seemed to look down on her with a feeling of longing himself, perhaps nostalgia, as he then told her about his own family. The russet-pelted girl frowned softly. She never had siblings, so she was unaware of the deep bonds that were forged between them..and how easily they could break. Perhaps it was for the best that she ended up an only child, but it would’ve helped to have a sibling to warm her on cold nights and help hunt and explore. His own parents dying rung a familiar bell in her own mind, how her parents tragically perished and how the girl was powerless to stop the illness from spreading. It was painful. Too painful. In some ways she knew how he felt. Her warning about the mold had been heard, and she went back to beaming after speaking, clearly satisfied with her wealth of knowledge at such a young age. One would say she had quite a bit of potential, no doubt.

The brute continued onwards to explore the room, Zoey trotting after him even closer now, her downy fur barely brushing his forelegs with her proximity. She thought he was interesting and cool, and she hoped he thought similarly to her. Her explanation if her goggles’ functions seemed to impress the titan, and he then remarked on how smart her parents were. Except he said it in present tense, as if they were still..alive. The word churned in her stomach, her emotions seemingly rising and plummeting in uneven staccato. It was heartbreaking to see the light dim from her inquisitive look as she paused, silent, but nonetheless still cracking a smile. Her parents were geniuses. And what better way to keep them alive in her heart than by talking about them?

"They were super smart," She said, curiously peeking over the office chair’s worn cushion as she spoke, "My mom knew a lot about the world around us from observing and experimenting with bugs and other animals we hunted to see how their bodies worked. My dad worked with shiny stuff like glass and he found a way to help make it so that the glass helped the world look less blurry. They told me lots of stuff, especially during the Big Bad Night.." Her voice faltered slightly, a hard swallow in her throat as she tried distracting herself with peeling the frayed faux leather from the chair’s frame. "The more they taught me about survival, the sicker they got. Their faces were all slimey. Mushrooms grew on their heads and bodies. One day they never woke up ‘cause there were so many mushrooms growing on them that they couldn’t breathe." She looked down, clearly melancholic as she absently poked the shreds of the chair. She hadn’t meant to go into such detail. It just..flowed out. Zoey realized she hadn’t talked to others about the whole story of her parents’ tragedies, and it was honestly something any regular wolf would find to be extremely traumatic, especially for such a young child.

”Speech” ‘Think’

Login
Username:
Password:	Lost Password?
	Remember me