1/19/2025, 9:22 PM
![[Image: viv_honeybee.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/viv_honeybee.gif)
Skill: --- (3/5)
A warm flush lit across Solvi as Alder's head shifted, bringing their noses so close that she could feel his breath fog around her frosted whiskers.
It wasn't as though they had never had any sort of physical contact before, but that had been bumps of their shoulders or a nudge; they had been gestures rooted in something platonic and intended to comfort or communicate. This- this was different in a way that made the rest of the Respite fall away so that all that remained was them and this moment.
Her gaze met his, searching and almost hesitant behind the sheen of her yet-unvoiced laughter as she realized it would be ever so easy to bridge the space between them. A mere shift of her muzzle would have created contact or pulled them apart, but she was immobilized, lost in his sunglow eyes and the beating of her own heart. For several long moments, they hovered in that in-between - neither moving to break from the minute space nor remove it.
If her heart had been sprinting before, it had grown into a full-tilt gallop now. It felt as though it might hammer straight through her chest if she was not careful, but she was powerless to restrain it.
The nervous energy that worked its way into her bloodstream manifested as she rallied her last shred of focus, hard-steering her mind from their proximity and to something less new and uncharted.
Her words served to deliver a crack to the bubble that surrounded them, allowing reality to creep back in as they both snapped out of whatever had transpired just a moment before.
The removal of Alder's weight took with it the warmth that had kept the winter chill at bay and it surged back in as he left, sharp and cold. Tension - anticipation - she hadn't realized she was holding onto was released and her body sagged. She felt a stinging disappointment that, in this moment, was too much for her to glean meaning from.
Why hadn't she pressed forward or moved away? Why hadn't he?
Short of asking him, the answer would elude Solvi and her tongue was firmly jailed within the bars of her teeth and her iron-clad jaws that refused to budge. A part of her owed to the often-quiet insecurities she carried was loud within the cockles of her mind, whispering of how crushing it would be to have it confirmed that the moment was all in her head or meant nothing at all.
So, she did not press and swallowed the kindled hope down.
His apology felt distant as she puzzled away, but she was pulled back to the moment at the sound of his circling pawsteps. She peered up in time to meet his pained expression looking upon her from the top of her snowy grave.
She wriggled to right herself and then clambered less-than-gracefully from the pit on legs that felt like gelatin beneath her. If she had simply collapsed into a heap, she wouldn't have been terribly surprised.
Her tail swished behind her haunches as she added on,
It wasn't as though they had never had any sort of physical contact before, but that had been bumps of their shoulders or a nudge; they had been gestures rooted in something platonic and intended to comfort or communicate. This- this was different in a way that made the rest of the Respite fall away so that all that remained was them and this moment.
Her gaze met his, searching and almost hesitant behind the sheen of her yet-unvoiced laughter as she realized it would be ever so easy to bridge the space between them. A mere shift of her muzzle would have created contact or pulled them apart, but she was immobilized, lost in his sunglow eyes and the beating of her own heart. For several long moments, they hovered in that in-between - neither moving to break from the minute space nor remove it.
If her heart had been sprinting before, it had grown into a full-tilt gallop now. It felt as though it might hammer straight through her chest if she was not careful, but she was powerless to restrain it.
The nervous energy that worked its way into her bloodstream manifested as she rallied her last shred of focus, hard-steering her mind from their proximity and to something less new and uncharted.
Her words served to deliver a crack to the bubble that surrounded them, allowing reality to creep back in as they both snapped out of whatever had transpired just a moment before.
The removal of Alder's weight took with it the warmth that had kept the winter chill at bay and it surged back in as he left, sharp and cold. Tension - anticipation - she hadn't realized she was holding onto was released and her body sagged. She felt a stinging disappointment that, in this moment, was too much for her to glean meaning from.
Why hadn't she pressed forward or moved away? Why hadn't he?
Short of asking him, the answer would elude Solvi and her tongue was firmly jailed within the bars of her teeth and her iron-clad jaws that refused to budge. A part of her owed to the often-quiet insecurities she carried was loud within the cockles of her mind, whispering of how crushing it would be to have it confirmed that the moment was all in her head or meant nothing at all.
So, she did not press and swallowed the kindled hope down.
His apology felt distant as she puzzled away, but she was pulled back to the moment at the sound of his circling pawsteps. She peered up in time to meet his pained expression looking upon her from the top of her snowy grave.
She wriggled to right herself and then clambered less-than-gracefully from the pit on legs that felt like gelatin beneath her. If she had simply collapsed into a heap, she wouldn't have been terribly surprised.
Nothing is broken,Solvi assured him, making great effort to keep her voice smooth as her heart raced yet. Her gaze settled on Alder as she angled her body toward him, a mischievous quality spanning across her features as she fought to put distance between herself and the confusing emotions she did not have space to analyze just yet.
Except maybe your pride-she raised a single paw, booping his nose with it-
I win.
Her tail swished behind her haunches as she added on,
Tag - you are it!As soon as the final syllable fell from her lips, she bounded away, eager to give her sprinting heart something to focus on that wasn't the almost-nearness of moments ago.
{ Exit for Solvi! }
Happy 200 posts, Solvi!
![[Image: SolviSigVIV.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/SolviSigVIV.gif)
Solvi's braids are not as tidy as displayed in her art
