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Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

“Caiden! Caiden, stop!”

A million thoughts raced through the Autumn's thinkpan, as the brownblood fled down the streets and away from the café. Was he hurt? Was he bleeding? Where was Caterpal? Who was that blueblood? What were those butterflies? Where had they come from? Did Caiden make them? If so, why had he never shown her before? Why had he run?

“Caiden, please stop! You're hurting me!” Autumn begged. Since escaping the café the brownblood's grip on her had only tightened. She felt as though her wings might be crushed. She looked up to Caiden's face, pleading. Her fists clenched the front of his shirt.

Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

Caiden placed Autumn on the ground with as much care as he would a real moth. She felt a surge of relief as her wings were allowed room to breathe. Even so, she gave them an experimental flutter. There was no stab of pain, no uncomfortable shudder. If anything, they were a little sore from their rough handling, but nothing that would not heal in a couple of nights. Caiden, on the other hand...

As much as she felt furious with him for fleeing the scene, she could not blame him. Even if the blueblood had been smaller than him, she had the power of the hemospectrum on her side. A false power, but one trolls like Caiden fervently believed in. And he had been hurt because of it.

Autumn reached out to touch his hair, parting it to inspect the wound. “Caiden,” she began softly. Her big eyes were practically luminescent in the moonlight. “Are you all right?”

Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

Autumn's pump biscuit flooded with pity as the brownblood began to cry. At the same time however, she felt out of place and embarrassed. The troll before her had grown so much since she first met him, and yet for him to cry like this... perhaps that was the difference between swamp life and city life. The rebels had bred a hardiness in her.

Shaking her head as Caiden spoke, Autumn continued to study the injury. The skin had already begun to blotch a dark brown. It would form an ugly bruise no doubt, but at least the assault had not broken the skin. She brushed his hair once more over the wound, giving his head a gentle pat.

“Is that all?” she asked when he finished. The corners of her mouth quirked into a grin. Suddenly she let out a bold laugh, hands on her hips. “As if that would bring me down!” She beamed at Caiden.

“That's nothing to worry about. It's the thought that counts.” She leaned in towards him, so they were eye to eye. “What really matters to me is that you're all right. Because if not, I'll go back and punch her for you.” Even as she spoke, she batted her eyelashes as prettily as she could.

Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

Autumn flushed with pleasure at the compliment. Without thinking, she hugged the ends of her boa to her chest in delight. She had never been called “cool” before. Certainly “cute”, and sometimes “clever” or “stubborn” when she was being a brat, but never “cool”. Cool was a word reserved for trolls who meant something, trolls like Byakko, Rasali, Forera, and Aprife. Cool even applied to Eyzaak, who was still in its fledgeling stages, but well on his way. It was not a word she associated with herself. Still she liked the way it sounded.

Over Caiden's shoulder, Autumn suddenly caught sight of Caterpal further down the street. He flitted about this way and that, looking lost and confused. “Cat!” Autumn called. She waved to catch his attention. The lusus' tail lit up as he registered her voice, and he turned towards her. Autumn gestured for him to join them, and a moment later he settled on her shoulder. His body seemed to deflate and he let out a squeak.

“Not quite,” Autumn said. “I have some friends who helped. Like Caterpal.” She gave a nod towards the lusus. He dozed blissfully between her neck and boa. With a smile, Autum turned and offered a hand to Caiden. “Walk with me.”

Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

Without any real destination in mind, Autumn began to guide Caiden down the street. She kept to the highly populated areas, where they were at less of a risk of being jumped... and less likely to be overheard over the city noise. Civisect was hardly ideal for the discussion she had in mind, but she could at least plant the seed and see how the brownblood reacted.

“I could introduce you sometime—my friends I mean,” Autumn said breezily. “I think you might like them. They're pretty shy though...”

Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

Autumn shook her head. “Not shy like that,” she said simply, and turned quiet. Thinking hard on the situation, she bit her lip. On one hand, she trusted Caiden completely. He was too enamoured with her to hurt her, and she had known him since they were both small. But assumptions of loyalty were what had gotten the initiative into trouble in the first place. She would never, could never make that mistake.

With her free hand Autumn reached up to pat Caterpal. His tail light flickered. She gripped Caiden's hand a little more tightly. “It's really unfair what happened back there.”

Ⅱ Autumn Vikare

“I'm sorry,” Autumn replied when the brownblood admitted the earlier incident had not been the first time he had faced that kind of oppressive bullying. She meant it. She had been lucky up until now. She thought back to Lorata during the White Tuskbeast event in the mall. While the hemospectrum had worked against her then too, it had been small slight in comparison.

Caiden's next words made her pump biscuit flutter. Even so, she made sure to maintain a calm exterior. “It was probably for the better. We were the lowest blooded trolls in there.” As much as she hated that Caiden had run away, had he fought they would have found themselves on the wrong side of Alternian law.

Suddenly Autumn grinned and looked over at Caiden. “You made those butterbugs appear, right?”