Silent smiles and breathless breathing, her small paws cradling the curvatures of his striking face as she looks to him, her brown eyes curling joyously as his maw whispers against her jaw. The tiny female meets his caress with her own, rubbing her cheek gently against his, resting her slender muzzle against his throat with a warm exhalation. She could lay here forever, tangled in ash and grass, looking into his bright eyes that, blinding in their brilliance, she could not discern the true color of. With another sigh of contentment, she leans into his sturdy frame and allows her eyelids to shut delicately, though the quiescence jerks away abruptly at Rio's query. After a few heartbeats, the small brown girl begins to speak and, shockingly, her tone is somber, hushed,
"I was so confused when I first met you. Here I was, a silly creature that believed so strongly that she loved females, and then I happened upon you. You were the kindest wolf I had ever met in my entire life, and for some reason I found I didn't fear you, or feel aversion towards you. You were one of the males I wanted to be my friend; but, as you carried me from the water and tossed me on the ground, I could only look up at you and think: 'This male is different. Why does my heart flutter so? I don't think he's trying to trick me.' But, I simply couldn't admit to myself that I cared so powerfully for you, because I told myself I hated males.
The whole reason I hated males was because, when I was a pup, I confessed to another female pup that I was in love with her. I thought it wouldn't do any harm; after all, my brothers and sisters told the other pups they loved them all the time, and that they wanted to be their mate forever. The female pup was horrified, and ran off to tell all the other pups that I was messed up in the head. From that point onwards, I was isolated from the other cubs, left to sit and stare after them, hurt by their glances and their comments about me. It was almost if I had two heads to them. . . I couldn't take it. It was maddening."
Euphie halts, her breath hitching with sudden emotion. Shock flickers across her face as something wet trickles down her cheek and, confused, she continues, shakily,
"How strange. . .it's raining. Anyways, I grew up the estranged child of two Omegas of the pack, and so I was picked on twice as much as the other Omegas. I often hid in empty dens for hours on end, making up fantasies in my head of finding a female that would actually care for me, or having the other pups accept me for who I was. . .it was a foolish hope. One day, a couple months after I had become a teenager, the son of the alpha approached me. He started to be incredibly nice to me; stupid thing that I was, I actually believed that someone finally cared for me. I trusted him immediately -- ."
Euphrosyne stops, whimpering quietly as the 'rain' continued to course down her cheeks, averting her eyes from Rio's for the first time.
"I was a fool. The male, my so-called friend, told me to follow him on a regular summer night. The stars were out, and they were so beautiful. . .and, under those stars, the male told me he was trying to help me and. . . took advantage of me. At first, I cried hysterically but, as it wore on, all I could do was stand there, feeling numb. After the deed was finished, the male told me that I better damn well change my sexuality, or he was going to do it again, or kill me. I just stared at him, and I suppose he assumed that I understand, because he went away."
The minuscule brown female stops, removing one paw from the side of Rio's face to swipe it irritably across her eyes, hissing quietly about how annoying 'rain' was.
"All I remember doing was standing there the rest of the night, shaking. My mind ran rampant; it came up with the same earlier fantasies, and then those hopes darkened. I began to come up with the most horrible, bloody ways for that male to die, and remember smiling as I, in my mind's eye, watched him slaughtered ruthlessly. I was traumatized; it made me psychologically unstable for the rest of that youthful period, until I became a young adult. After that, I fled from my pack, because I had made no moves towards courtship and feared that the male would return and rape me again. From that point onwards, I never wanted to look another male in the face again. . . I was so impressionable. I thought that every male was like him, that they all just wanted to take advantage of me for their own carnal pleasure. Selfishly, stupidly, I began to believe that I loved females because I 'despised' males."
Euphie pauses, and the brimful of tears overflow, accompanied by a watery smile.
"Then I met you. I was so afraid of you at first, because you were so big and I thought 'Oh, he'd overpower me easily. I have to be careful around him.'. And, then, you started being so kind, and you threw me for such a loop that I went crazy. I was so energetic, so carefree because I was so overwhelmed by your kindness that I forgot about my disgust towards males.
And, then, I remembered. And, I told myself that I should fear you. . . and I didn't. I told myself I didn't like you, but when I ran away I wished so strongly that I had told you that you were my first friend, my best friend. But I had not the courage.
But, despite that, as I walked away from Bright Moon, it was like walking through pure agony. Every step was a step away from the most truest form of happiness I had experienced since my birth; but, idiotically, I assumed that it was just like my relationship with that other male. Months, maybe even a year, later, though, I realized it wasn't like that. You were different, you were kind, you were amiable, and I found that, somehow. . ."
Euphie sniffles, voice trembling but lips smiling.
"I found that, somehow, I had fallen in love."
The words fall oh so quietly from her lips, barely audible, and instantaneously afterwards she regrets them. What would happen if he rejected her? She was sure she would be unable to live as just companions, broken apart by a wall of awkwardness derived from the feeling that it was necessary to maintain a 'friendship'. . . Suddenly, Euphie vowed that, if Rio did not love her, she would never love again.
A harsh statement, but never had Euphrosyne loved with the entirety of her being. . . until now.