Haunted Wood be strong sweet little one

she should have anticipated that blue would follow her. vesper's heart leapt to her throat as she heard her sister's soft, shy voice— orange eyes snapping to her pale face as she settled in with a heavy sigh. had blueberry seen the altercation with the wolverine...? surely not, or she would have leapt in at the time. something vesper never would have forgiven herself for, because the goal of these activities was only to put herself (and her targets) in harms way; no one else. she gave an exhale of relief as blue's next words confirmed she hadn't seen.

i'm okay, vesper assured her sister, sweeping her tongue over blue's worried brow to comfort her. wrong side of a wolverine, she explained in as few words as possible. her sister could fill in the rest— vesper was here, the only visible injury on her muzzle, and the wolverine was not. you shouldn't have followed, she wanted to say. or, it's not safe for you out here. but she remained silent, jaw tight. vesper figured they were both sick to death of being told what to do. of having no agency of their own.

eager to turn the conversation away from herself, she noted with compassion in her voice, that was a big sigh, boo. an invitation for her little sister to speak what was on her mind, whatever it was, now that they were finally out from under the gaze of their family. she still wished she could protect her pale sister from all of this, but she promised herself now that she would no longer dance away from the subject. vesper knew what it was to be stifled, and she didn't want that for boo— who, of them all, was the most innocent.