Dragoncrest Cliffs I ___ you

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Eske's steps faltered and ceased as Wildfire turned and the warrior princess watched the Bandrona wordless stride towards her. Her brow furrowed and she considered taking a step back, her ears slicking back to rest atop her skull. Would it not be for the fact that there was not a lick of aggression in Wildfire's posture Eske might have thought she was being attacked. The fire-kissed woman's foreleg dangled loose over her shoulders and the Bandrona was pressed up against her in a ...hug. The gesture was unexpected and foreign to Eske that she simply stood there dumbly, blinking over Wildfire's shoulder. And then, to Eske's surprise something broke within her. Her whiskers trembled and she let out a noise that sounded like a singular, soft sob. Touched by Wildfire's gesture of affection despite that they didn't know one another well. She felt like she had to maintain her “badass” reputation despite that her siblings were no longer around but beneath it she was still just a girl whose life had been so turned around (and upside down) that she wasn't sure what way she was even supposed to be facing. There was a softness in Eske's eyes as Wildfire pulled back and she had managed to collect herself (crying really wasn't her thing anyway). She only hoped that her mentor did not see her as weak for it.

“Wifi,” Eske returned the Bandrona's greeting, ready to pretend like she hadn't let actual emotion besides her usual attitude (gasp!) slide through the breach Wifi had made in the armor Eske kept her feelings behind. “I didn't get to really do any of the homework you set for me,” Eske admitted, though it stung at her pride. She had hoped to bring Wildfire grand tales of successes and failures but had at least hoped to have something. Instead she was empty pawed. “I'm sorry.” Eske didn't like to fail ...or lose, her competitive nature tended to make her a rather sore loser, as it were. “It will not happen again.” She promised. It wasn't Eske's fault, really, but she wasn't trying to use the chain of events that had come after she had approached Wildfire about mentoring her as an excuse either.

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