HOME | DD

Description
previous:
Iskra noticed when they hung out that day that Gracie wasn't really acting like her normal sunny self. The brightness of her personality, which normally radiated off of her in waves, was unusually subdued; her smile wasn't as wide, and her eyes were dimmer. She found it concerning, but brushed it off at first, hoping it was just Gracie being momentarily distracted by her thoughts.

As the day dragged on, Iskra kept glancing at Gracie in quiet moments, hoping she was feeling better the longer they hung out. Gracie's presence was always so uplifting, perhaps she just hoped she could return the favor. But she just seemed to get more tired, weariness taking over her gaze. It seemed her boundless energy was being sapped by the tasks she usually enjoyed, like going to get a proper meal at a local fast food place for Iskra and walking through a local park together.

When they finally came to the place where Iskra was staying (a small abandoned apartment building, where several other street auri also made their home), Gracie seemed hesitant to enter. "Maybe I should just go home," she finally said, after Iskra poked her head out of the hole leading inside. "I don't know if I'm really...."

"You paid for my lunch, let me return the favor," Iskra said briskly, ears pricking forward. "I've noticed you haven't been feeling well today. Come inside. I want to talk about it."

Gracie visibly flinched and took a slow step forward. For a moment Iskra felt bad for being so forceful, but Gracie clearly wasn't willing to talk about it of her own volition. It was bothering her, though, and Iskra hated to see her so sad when she always tried to make everyone else so happy.

The little blue auri followed Iskra into the building and up the stairs, saying a quiet greeting as they passed by a brown auri she recognized as Jitter on the stairs. Iskra didn't say anything to them, just kept going up till they reached the fourth floor. She opened the door for Gracie, and as Gracie emerged into the hall she saw another brown auri at Iskra's door, starting at her appearance and skittering off to a room down the hall.

Iskra came into the hall as their door was closing, and Gracie noticed a hint of a smile on her face as she inspected a package in front of her door. "Looks like Jingle left something for me again."

"I think I saw them running down the hall," Gracie noted quietly, following Iskra into her room as she opened it and locked the door behind the two of them.

"Probably! He leaves everybody gifts. He's super sweet, leaves me really good food." Iskra plopped down onto the hole-riddled couch that she'd managed to bring back when someone had thrown it to the curb. It honestly didn't look too terrible, besides a stain on the underside of one of the cushions and the big tear in one of the legs. Dulce, who was waiting in the bedroom, poked her head into the room and rumbled at the pair of auri, her voice playful as she padded in to settle down beside Iskra.

As Iskra began to open the package, Gracie hopped onto the couch beside her, trying her best not to be too nosy and peer into the box. "What'd you get?" she asked, averting her gaze towards a mouse that was racing across the floor.

Iskra and Dulce ignored the fourth inhabitant of the room, so Gracie simply looked back towards Iskra as she was pulling a can of soda and a couple of wax-paper-wrapped burgers out of the box. "Aww, my favorite! Mack-D's cheeseburgers. I'm totally chowing on these later." She patted Dulce's snout as she put her prizes back in their box, then tried to casually segway into the topic she wanted to breach as she set the box on the floor. "So, what's up, Grace? You've been off all day."

Gracie cringed at Iskra's bluntness, then sighed deeply. "It's just..." Her clawed front paws dug into the couch, and as Iskra laid down she pulled Gracie down beside her.

"It's okay," she said, her voice a little too gruff to be soothing. "It's not like I'm gonna tell anybody. What's up, buttercup?"

Gracie couldn't help but giggle a little at Iskra's attempt to be comforting, hiding her face in Iskra's shoulder as she did. As soon as the laughter left her, she sighed again, her face melting into a pensive frown. "All of my friends are so sad, Iskra. Such bad things have happened to them, and I'm fortunate enough to have been spared from such awful things. But I hate seeing them suffer because of it."

"What kind of awful things?" Iskra hummed, turning her eyes towards Dulce to pat her head. Dulce made a small, pleased noise as her eyes closed and she began to lay her head down, making it easier for Iskra to pat her.

"I dunno," Gracie mumbled, looking away again. "I mean... one of my friends is scared of their own appearance. I don't know why - I think they look lovely as they are, but they're so scared, and I wish I could take away that fear. And my other friend... Something.... Well, he - he told me about some really bad things that happened to him in the past, recently and not so recent, and I can't stand thinking that something like that happened to him. And... and Iskra, you -"

"Are missing a leg?" Iskra poked playfully, prodding Gracie's shoulder with her own. "Got abandoned? Live in an old abandoned apartment building with a bunch of other homeless kids?"

She stopped when she noticed Gracie's shoulders trembling. Oh. Oh no, she hadn't meant to - "Gracie?" she asked tentatively, turning her head away in discomfort. She wasn't sure how to handle this. She did not, in fact, have ANY idea what to do. Usually it was Gracie being the kind and sensitive one, and Iskra had next to no practice in this area.

"It's not fair." Gracie's voice broke as she spoke. "It's not fair that you and - and my other friends have to - have to live like this, while I get to play pretend about my storybooks and romances. Like a knight is ever really going to come for me, while my friends have so much bigger problems to worry about and I'm just - that's all I have to worry about. It's not fair, Iskra! You deserve better!" She was sobbing openly now, burying her face in her paws. "You're all such good people, Iskra, you just - you just - you just deserve to be ha-ha-happyyy...."

She trailed off into a long sob, now crying wordlessly into her paws. Iskra glanced at her a couple of times, still unsure what she should do, and Dulce was stubbornly asleep or just unwilling to help. Usually she would get her ferble to handle someone in emotional distress.

"It's going to be okay, Gracie," Iskra sighed, shifting to press against her more firmly, hoping to offer some comfort. "I don't mind how my life has turned out. I handle myself just fine, and I have friends like you to help me not go hungry anymore. And I'm sure your other friends are just as grateful for you as I am, Gracie - just having you around has surely brightened their lives. It's so sweet of you to worry, but you don't have to do that all the time. It's okay to just think of yourself once in a while and have confidence that your friends will be okay."

"I - I always HOPE they'll be okay, but how can I know? I can't promise them everything will be okay, Iskra." Gracie turned around, throwing her arms around Iskra rather suddenly to cling to her fur and bury her face in Iskra's neck. "I'm glad - very glad that you're happy. But I wish they could be too. I wish you could all be happy, all the time, and I could promise you all that the future will be just what you want it to be. I wish I could just -"

"Gracie," Iskra interrupted, taking Gracie's face in her paws and pulling it back so she could look into her eyes. "It's okay if not everyone is okay all the time. That's how we grow as people. That's what character development is all about. And I'm sure you know that one day, good times will come again for you and all of your friends. You just need to realize that you can't be there for everything, you just have to do the best you can. And you do that. There's nothing else anyone could ask of you, Gracie. You think about others so much, you barely ever think of yourself."

Gracie fell silent immediately, her sobs quieting to soft sniffles as her three teary eyes met Iskra's stern two. Then she did something that Iskra didn't at all expect: she leaned forward to press her mouth gently against Iskra's.

The kiss took Iskra entirely off-guard, but... it was nice. She didn't love Gracie, not like that, but feeling Gracie next to her, calming slowly as one kiss turned to two and three, it just.... It made her melt into the little kisses, each one chaste but followed by another, and another. It felt almost desperate on Gracie's behalf as she clung even tighter to Iskra.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately when they finally broke apart, letting go of Iskra and turning away. "I shouldn't have - I mean, I should've asked first, I -"

"Was that your first kiss?" Iskra asked softly, leaning her forehead against the back of Gracie's head.

"Y-Yes?" Gracie's voice was wobbly with nervousness. "I'm sorry, I think - I think I like you. I think you're like a knight in my stories, and today you - you talked to me and you saved me a little bit, and it just felt like a right time. I'm sorry."

"I can be your knight as much as you need me to be," Iskra reassured her with a sigh, "but I can't be the true love I know you want, Gracie. I'm sorry. I think I've accidentally stolen your true love's first kiss."

Gracie fell silent for a long moment. Then she began to laugh softly. The sound made Iskra start, and she leaned back just as Gracie turned to face her again. She was satisfied to see that some of the light was returning to Gracie's eyes. "It's so silly, Iskra. The true love I keep chasing. I'm not even really sure if it exists? But I like you, and I trust you, and you aren't being mean to me now that you know, so I can't say I regret giving my first kiss to you. It was actually sort of selfish of me, I think, if I'm being honest. But... thank you for being my knight today." She went quiet again for a heartbeat, then added, "One day, I hope I can be your knight too."

Iskra immediately thought back to all of the meals Gracie had bought for her, and the handful of times she'd helped Iskra out of a pinch by purchasing or replacing whatever she'd stolen. "I think you already have been, Gracie," she hummed softly, pulling Gracie against her and closing her eyes. "Let's just take a short nap now. When you wake up, you'll be refreshed and you can start thinking of yourself a little, alright?"

"I suppose," Gracie said, playfully stubborn as she burrowed into Iskra's fur. "I'll have to start thinking of myself sometime."

As she closed her eyes as well, a question popped into her head. "Iskra?"

"Hmm?"

"Was that your first kiss too?"

"Mmhm."

Iskra didn't even open her eyes, already beginning to doze off. But knowing that she'd shared her first kiss with someone she cared about - quite out of the blue, too, and without Iskra making too big a fuss - was a good thought to sleep on.

_________________________________________

haha who saw that coming? i sure didn't when i started writing this lmao

24 / 482
art and characters
characters mentioned: jitter @/emr100, jingle @/vintajedragon
species

Description
previous:
Iskra noticed when they hung out that day that Gracie wasn't really acting like her normal sunny self. The brightness of her personality, which normally radiated off of her in waves, was unusually subdued; her smile wasn't as wide, and her eyes were dimmer. She found it concerning, but brushed it off at first, hoping it was just Gracie being momentarily distracted by her thoughts.

As the day dragged on, Iskra kept glancing at Gracie in quiet moments, hoping she was feeling better the longer they hung out. Gracie's presence was always so uplifting, perhaps she just hoped she could return the favor. But she just seemed to get more tired, weariness taking over her gaze. It seemed her boundless energy was being sapped by the tasks she usually enjoyed, like going to get a proper meal at a local fast food place for Iskra and walking through a local park together.

When they finally came to the place where Iskra was staying (a small abandoned apartment building, where several other street auri also made their home), Gracie seemed hesitant to enter. "Maybe I should just go home," she finally said, after Iskra poked her head out of the hole leading inside. "I don't know if I'm really...."

"You paid for my lunch, let me return the favor," Iskra said briskly, ears pricking forward. "I've noticed you haven't been feeling well today. Come inside. I want to talk about it."

Gracie visibly flinched and took a slow step forward. For a moment Iskra felt bad for being so forceful, but Gracie clearly wasn't willing to talk about it of her own volition. It was bothering her, though, and Iskra hated to see her so sad when she always tried to make everyone else so happy.

The little blue auri followed Iskra into the building and up the stairs, saying a quiet greeting as they passed by a brown auri she recognized as Jitter on the stairs. Iskra didn't say anything to them, just kept going up till they reached the fourth floor. She opened the door for Gracie, and as Gracie emerged into the hall she saw another brown auri at Iskra's door, starting at her appearance and skittering off to a room down the hall.

Iskra came into the hall as their door was closing, and Gracie noticed a hint of a smile on her face as she inspected a package in front of her door. "Looks like Jingle left something for me again."

"I think I saw them running down the hall," Gracie noted quietly, following Iskra into her room as she opened it and locked the door behind the two of them.

"Probably! He leaves everybody gifts. He's super sweet, leaves me really good food." Iskra plopped down onto the hole-riddled couch that she'd managed to bring back when someone had thrown it to the curb. It honestly didn't look too terrible, besides a stain on the underside of one of the cushions and the big tear in one of the legs. Dulce, who was waiting in the bedroom, poked her head into the room and rumbled at the pair of auri, her voice playful as she padded in to settle down beside Iskra.

As Iskra began to open the package, Gracie hopped onto the couch beside her, trying her best not to be too nosy and peer into the box. "What'd you get?" she asked, averting her gaze towards a mouse that was racing across the floor.

Iskra and Dulce ignored the fourth inhabitant of the room, so Gracie simply looked back towards Iskra as she was pulling a can of soda and a couple of wax-paper-wrapped burgers out of the box. "Aww, my favorite! Mack-D's cheeseburgers. I'm totally chowing on these later." She patted Dulce's snout as she put her prizes back in their box, then tried to casually segway into the topic she wanted to breach as she set the box on the floor. "So, what's up, Grace? You've been off all day."

Gracie cringed at Iskra's bluntness, then sighed deeply. "It's just..." Her clawed front paws dug into the couch, and as Iskra laid down she pulled Gracie down beside her.

"It's okay," she said, her voice a little too gruff to be soothing. "It's not like I'm gonna tell anybody. What's up, buttercup?"

Gracie couldn't help but giggle a little at Iskra's attempt to be comforting, hiding her face in Iskra's shoulder as she did. As soon as the laughter left her, she sighed again, her face melting into a pensive frown. "All of my friends are so sad, Iskra. Such bad things have happened to them, and I'm fortunate enough to have been spared from such awful things. But I hate seeing them suffer because of it."

"What kind of awful things?" Iskra hummed, turning her eyes towards Dulce to pat her head. Dulce made a small, pleased noise as her eyes closed and she began to lay her head down, making it easier for Iskra to pat her.

"I dunno," Gracie mumbled, looking away again. "I mean... one of my friends is scared of their own appearance. I don't know why - I think they look lovely as they are, but they're so scared, and I wish I could take away that fear. And my other friend... Something.... Well, he - he told me about some really bad things that happened to him in the past, recently and not so recent, and I can't stand thinking that something like that happened to him. And... and Iskra, you -"

"Are missing a leg?" Iskra poked playfully, prodding Gracie's shoulder with her own. "Got abandoned? Live in an old abandoned apartment building with a bunch of other homeless kids?"

She stopped when she noticed Gracie's shoulders trembling. Oh. Oh no, she hadn't meant to - "Gracie?" she asked tentatively, turning her head away in discomfort. She wasn't sure how to handle this. She did not, in fact, have ANY idea what to do. Usually it was Gracie being the kind and sensitive one, and Iskra had next to no practice in this area.

"It's not fair." Gracie's voice broke as she spoke. "It's not fair that you and - and my other friends have to - have to live like this, while I get to play pretend about my storybooks and romances. Like a knight is ever really going to come for me, while my friends have so much bigger problems to worry about and I'm just - that's all I have to worry about. It's not fair, Iskra! You deserve better!" She was sobbing openly now, burying her face in her paws. "You're all such good people, Iskra, you just - you just - you just deserve to be ha-ha-happyyy...."

She trailed off into a long sob, now crying wordlessly into her paws. Iskra glanced at her a couple of times, still unsure what she should do, and Dulce was stubbornly asleep or just unwilling to help. Usually she would get her ferble to handle someone in emotional distress.

"It's going to be okay, Gracie," Iskra sighed, shifting to press against her more firmly, hoping to offer some comfort. "I don't mind how my life has turned out. I handle myself just fine, and I have friends like you to help me not go hungry anymore. And I'm sure your other friends are just as grateful for you as I am, Gracie - just having you around has surely brightened their lives. It's so sweet of you to worry, but you don't have to do that all the time. It's okay to just think of yourself once in a while and have confidence that your friends will be okay."

"I - I always HOPE they'll be okay, but how can I know? I can't promise them everything will be okay, Iskra." Gracie turned around, throwing her arms around Iskra rather suddenly to cling to her fur and bury her face in Iskra's neck. "I'm glad - very glad that you're happy. But I wish they could be too. I wish you could all be happy, all the time, and I could promise you all that the future will be just what you want it to be. I wish I could just -"

"Gracie," Iskra interrupted, taking Gracie's face in her paws and pulling it back so she could look into her eyes. "It's okay if not everyone is okay all the time. That's how we grow as people. That's what character development is all about. And I'm sure you know that one day, good times will come again for you and all of your friends. You just need to realize that you can't be there for everything, you just have to do the best you can. And you do that. There's nothing else anyone could ask of you, Gracie. You think about others so much, you barely ever think of yourself."

Gracie fell silent immediately, her sobs quieting to soft sniffles as her three teary eyes met Iskra's stern two. Then she did something that Iskra didn't at all expect: she leaned forward to press her mouth gently against Iskra's.

The kiss took Iskra entirely off-guard, but... it was nice. She didn't love Gracie, not like that, but feeling Gracie next to her, calming slowly as one kiss turned to two and three, it just.... It made her melt into the little kisses, each one chaste but followed by another, and another. It felt almost desperate on Gracie's behalf as she clung even tighter to Iskra.

"I'm sorry," she said immediately when they finally broke apart, letting go of Iskra and turning away. "I shouldn't have - I mean, I should've asked first, I -"

"Was that your first kiss?" Iskra asked softly, leaning her forehead against the back of Gracie's head.

"Y-Yes?" Gracie's voice was wobbly with nervousness. "I'm sorry, I think - I think I like you. I think you're like a knight in my stories, and today you - you talked to me and you saved me a little bit, and it just felt like a right time. I'm sorry."

"I can be your knight as much as you need me to be," Iskra reassured her with a sigh, "but I can't be the true love I know you want, Gracie. I'm sorry. I think I've accidentally stolen your true love's first kiss."

Gracie fell silent for a long moment. Then she began to laugh softly. The sound made Iskra start, and she leaned back just as Gracie turned to face her again. She was satisfied to see that some of the light was returning to Gracie's eyes. "It's so silly, Iskra. The true love I keep chasing. I'm not even really sure if it exists? But I like you, and I trust you, and you aren't being mean to me now that you know, so I can't say I regret giving my first kiss to you. It was actually sort of selfish of me, I think, if I'm being honest. But... thank you for being my knight today." She went quiet again for a heartbeat, then added, "One day, I hope I can be your knight too."

Iskra immediately thought back to all of the meals Gracie had bought for her, and the handful of times she'd helped Iskra out of a pinch by purchasing or replacing whatever she'd stolen. "I think you already have been, Gracie," she hummed softly, pulling Gracie against her and closing her eyes. "Let's just take a short nap now. When you wake up, you'll be refreshed and you can start thinking of yourself a little, alright?"

"I suppose," Gracie said, playfully stubborn as she burrowed into Iskra's fur. "I'll have to start thinking of myself sometime."

As she closed her eyes as well, a question popped into her head. "Iskra?"

"Hmm?"

"Was that your first kiss too?"

"Mmhm."

Iskra didn't even open her eyes, already beginning to doze off. But knowing that she'd shared her first kiss with someone she cared about - quite out of the blue, too, and without Iskra making too big a fuss - was a good thought to sleep on.

_________________________________________

haha who saw that coming? i sure didn't when i started writing this lmao

24 / 482
art and characters
characters mentioned: jitter @/emr100, jingle @/vintajedragon
species