[Wild Roses] Trickwood Unification
Title: thumb on the balance pan
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Belladonna, Hernén, (Fintain)
Prompt: 51A "at the center"
Word Count: 303
Notes: after you brought HIM?. Belladonna is unimpressed with her mageblood's relations.
"Most people like him, you know. He's light and funny a--"
"I don't," she told him flatly, dropping to four feet in order to lay her ears back the way she wanted to. "He's bright and sharp and old enough to sing, and he chooses not to."
'He makes you act younger than you are,' she didn't tell him, 'makes you act the pup you aren't.'
He sighed, sitting down with his back against a nurse log. "There are reasons for th--"
"There are reasons for everything." She sat back on her haunches, wrapping her tail around her ankles. "You bought my pack with bread and promises--did he buy you with sparks?"
"No," he said, sharp, snapping back into the crazy mageblood she knew, all anger and purpose. Calculation.
"Heh." She grinned at him, showing her teeth. "Stories, like the music-maker?"
"No," he said again, and narrowed his eyes at her until she pulled her lips back over her teeth. "He's . . --He's the Sun Queen's son."
"She's long gone," she replied, a little cruel, because that Queen cast a shadow, even out into the woods. Longer than her husband's, and he was still on the throne.
"She taught me this," as wind ruffled her fur backwards and a flicker of light at the edge of her vision danced briefly. "and out here, he reminds me of her."
"She's not here," and wasn't that a small sigh of relief, "and we don't follow him."
He blinked, his scent jangling at her nose as he debated what she meant. He settled eventually on nodding, slowly, and he smelled like he was thinking hard.
She'd work with that. Better a thinking alpha than one who was convinced he was beta at best. She'd shove him again if she needed to--she was close enough he'd listen.
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Belladonna, Hernén, (Fintain)
Prompt: 51A "at the center"
Word Count: 303
Notes: after you brought HIM?. Belladonna is unimpressed with her mageblood's relations.
"Most people like him, you know. He's light and funny a--"
"I don't," she told him flatly, dropping to four feet in order to lay her ears back the way she wanted to. "He's bright and sharp and old enough to sing, and he chooses not to."
'He makes you act younger than you are,' she didn't tell him, 'makes you act the pup you aren't.'
He sighed, sitting down with his back against a nurse log. "There are reasons for th--"
"There are reasons for everything." She sat back on her haunches, wrapping her tail around her ankles. "You bought my pack with bread and promises--did he buy you with sparks?"
"No," he said, sharp, snapping back into the crazy mageblood she knew, all anger and purpose. Calculation.
"Heh." She grinned at him, showing her teeth. "Stories, like the music-maker?"
"No," he said again, and narrowed his eyes at her until she pulled her lips back over her teeth. "He's . . --He's the Sun Queen's son."
"She's long gone," she replied, a little cruel, because that Queen cast a shadow, even out into the woods. Longer than her husband's, and he was still on the throne.
"She taught me this," as wind ruffled her fur backwards and a flicker of light at the edge of her vision danced briefly. "and out here, he reminds me of her."
"She's not here," and wasn't that a small sigh of relief, "and we don't follow him."
He blinked, his scent jangling at her nose as he debated what she meant. He settled eventually on nodding, slowly, and he smelled like he was thinking hard.
She'd work with that. Better a thinking alpha than one who was convinced he was beta at best. She'd shove him again if she needed to--she was close enough he'd listen.