In the middle of a small clearing in the woods, a griffin perches majestically atop an outcrop of rock, preening carefully at its snowy wings, the soft glow of the full moon overhead giving it an almost angelic appearance. A rustling at the treeline causes it to raise its head silently, but as the foliage parts to reveal amber eyes peering out from underneath a head of vibrant mint hair, the griffin simply blinks and turns back to its ministrations. Gradually the figure approaches, laying a hand on the beast's back and stroking it gently.
"Hey, Puddles. Beautiful night, isn't it?" Emira says in greeting. Her long, pointed ears flick as Puddles purrs softly in agreement. They flick again when two hands close suddenly but gently over her eyes, blinding her, and they can seem to do nothing else as she feels a warm breath flow over their tips, combined with a lower, far more comprehensible purr from right behind her, posing a simple challenge. "Guess who?"
"Absolutely no idea. Drawing a complete blank here. Should I know you?", she replies, keeping her voice carefully neutral, although she can't stop the smirk that spreads over her face.
The low purr teases into her ear again. "If you don't even know who I am, I guess you won't be wanting a kiss from me any time soon, will you? Let alone for me to take you on the romantic date I had planned. Oh well, what a shame…" The speaker moves slowly around the front of her as she says this, her words in complete contention with her tone. Emira feels the hands peel slowly from her face, and the loss of contact is enough to discourage her from continuing their game, even if it means losing this round. As her vision returns, she simply gazes up at Viney, now sitting astride her griffin as if ready to take flight. Her girlfriend gazes back softly, a slight smirk mirroring Emira's own.
She steps forwards, climbing up onto Puddles' back, wrapping her arms tightly around its rider's chest. Returning the favour from earlier, she leans forwards and whispers in Viney's ear, "No fair - you know how much I love kissing you." The light tease is rewarded as a blush spreads over her cheek, before she turns her head to the other side to try to hide it. Emira's smirk widens as she takes the small victory.
"As if you ever play fair." Viney chuckles from in front of her. "Now, do you want that kiss or not?"
An eventful few hours later, both girls sit shoulder to shoulder watching the moon sink serenely towards the horizon from atop a tall cliff, Emira's head tucked into the crook of Viney's neck. They sit there in quiet companionship for a few more minutes, until Emira decides that this is a good time to discuss something that's been eating away at her since the night before. "Do you think I'm too harsh with Mittens?"
"Well, we've already discussed what I thought about the diary incident, but since then you've been improving a lot - that's pretty clear, both from what you've told me and from what I've seen for myself. Why, did something happen?"
"Yesterday morning she got really worked up over something I said - a tease about her trying to get to school early to see a 'special someone'. It was just supposed to be a light joke-"
"Wow, teasing her about her crush on Luz? And you're surprised that she freaked out?"
"Well, I didn't know at the ti- wait, what? You know about her crush?!"
"Of course, how could you not? She doesn't exactly do a good job of hiding it, although in fairness Luz hasn't caught on yet either, so…"
"I didn't know until Willow, Luz's friend, told me yesterday. It caught me completely off guard, especially since it's apparently something that's been weighing pretty heavily on her. I mean, I always saw how awkward and weird she was around her, but I guess I was too happy that she was coming out of her shell a bit to see what was actually going on."
"She's not exactly unjustified in trying to keep it from you, given your track record… what? You know I'm right." Emira softens the glare she'd levelled at Viney's neck. It was more playful than serious anyway. She takes a deep breath before replying.
"Yeah, I know. I wish she did trust me enough to tell me, though - because I was understating it a bit, when I said it was weighing pretty heavily on her."
Viney extricates herself from her girlfriend, worry filling her eyes. "Emira - what do you mean? What's wrong?"
"Willow contacted me the other day, said Luz was really upset over something, but refused to say why. We came up with a theory, and this morning she confirmed it with Luz. Amity doesn't want to be friends with her anymore; at least, that's what she told her. I don't believe it for a moment - me and Willow agree that it's more likely that she doesn't know how to deal with her crush, so she's trying to ignore it in the hope it'll go away or something."
Viney blinks at her a few times, digesting this new information, before turning away. She chose this spot for their midnight date due to the beautiful view, visible over the cliff edge, of a scenic valley full of meandering streams and small clumps of trees and vegetation. There's something melancholy about the view now. She doesn't know Luz that well, and Amity even less so, but even she can see that their friendship is special, precious, meant to be something more. "Wow… that's - wow," she repeats, fidgeting with her fishhook before continuing, "I mean, that's bad, like really bad. Like, we-need-to-do-something-about-it bad…"
"I know - but what can we do?"
She fidgets with her fishhook again, trying to find some way to help their mutual friend and her girlfriend's little sister. As she considers the problem, an idea surfaces, little more than a memory and a vague hope at this point - but at least it's something.
Author's Note: So, this chapter marks a return to normal (weekly) service for me. I actually wrote this one really quickly, it just sort of clicked for me, I think maybe because since writing the last chapter I've binged the whole of She-Ra on Netflix and kinda based the vinera dynamic in this chapter off of catradora. Speaking of which, I may start writing something for that show, although not for a few weeks at least, so if you're a fan of spop then keep an eye out I guess.
As always I'll finish with a reminder that any feedback is always appreciated. Honestly I feel really nervous posting these when I don't get anything in response, although I enjoy writing them so I don't plan to stop regardless.