Far From Home

Quote:

mercianne

Walk | Talk | Think

For all his cool and calm composure that he had been maintaining since they had met, Scipio looked considerably more out of place now. The darkness hid his blush, but there was a touch of something unfamiliar there in his smile, something she thought akin to embarrassment. Was he embarrassed? Why? He had done or said nothing untoward or silly to be embarrassed over, and yet as he spoke he stumbled a little over his words at the beginning. Was that a product of it too? It was, overall, a little amusing, watching him go from collected to inhibited by whatever it was that had struck him, and she found it more difficult to send her smile away.

When he finally finished speaking, proclaiming that he wished there had been a way for him to be there to support her when things had been so rough, she had to drag her eyes away, though not before she saw the way his ears fell back against his head in a similar manner to how her own reacted when she was nervous. She continued to smile even as she looked away, quietly wondering to herself how different life might have been to have someone there to verbally stand up for her, to have someone protect her as no one ever had. It was not a happy thought. With certainty, she knew they would have been punished, publicly even, and disgraced for their weakness. She was glad Scipio had not been there, that her friend had chosen to keep their friendship secret even after she got away. It was safer to keep it all secret.

Not wishing to spoil Scipio's valiant proclamation with the truth she knew too well, Mercianne answered him quietly, tucking her head against her side as she nestled further inside the straw. "Thank you, Scipio," she answered with a gentle sigh, unable to see him from where she was lying but listening closely to the sounds he made as he shifted about in the straw. "You're a good friend."