Bramblepoint The Parting Glass

Sassafras knew how close was too close and she knew the dangers. Touching was too close. Contact with bodily fluids was too close. But time and time again, she got too close for his comfort for no other reason than that she wanted to be close. It was wrenching to distress him over something so selfish, but she was beyond torn. The only exhaustion she felt was emotional as she followed and watched her packmate struggle and suffer to do what had to be done. She knew he could only still be moving forward because of his prevailing sense of responsibility and couldn’t help but intensely admire his strength of character.

The sound of her name cut short in rasping breaths drew her towards him. He was asking for her this time. "Shrike," she answered as she gingerly stepped close enough for him to see her if his vision was beginning to fade. He’d called her "Sass", and so her personality couldn’t resist what was possibly the last of the banter he would ever hear. "You look like shit," she teased weakly with a soft smile and a heavy heart. She didn’t have it in her to keep it up, though, and her tired smile slowly gave way to sobriety she wouldn’t be able to shake again. She mirrored his position by slowly lowering herself and laid to face him with her chin on the ground. She extended one paw to him as if that might somehow bridge the distance between them. "Hey, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere."