vitamin D
Melancholic.
That was the way Nerissa felt. It’s the way she feels right now.
She had woken up this way, after a terrible dream that she couldn’t quite remember.
Now she sits on the front porch steps of the advent flat.
Soaking in vitamin D (or trying to).
She hears footsteps in the distance. Shiori’s. She memorized the way she walked, the pace of how her heavy platforms thudded against the ground.
Why? Well. Part of it is because she’s a sound demon; the other part of it is because she’s hopelessly in love with Shiori Novella.
The presence she was awaiting had arrived. She doesn’t need to turn around to know.
She feels the archiver sit next to her, with a cartoon-like huff when her bottom hits the surface.
Nerissa doesn’t turn to her, doesn’t look, stays staring out onto the horizon, but a wing betrays her, stretches out, by instinct, it wraps around the archiver.
The archiver scoots closer.
“Hey pretty lady, how’s it hanging.”
“Pretty lady is trying not to hang herself,” Rissa says, resorting to dark humor as a reflex.
Shiori makes a sound, kind of like an oof, and then Rissa feels an arm wrap around her awkwardly, patting her shoulder.
Nerissa couldnt hold back her smile.
“Anyway, could I help ya with that birdie?
You’re important to me, you know that, right?”
Shiori states, the second part of the sentence is just above a whisper. “You’re important to all of us. To advent,” she continues, making sure to get the point across.
Nerissa’s heart swelled. Her shoulders relaxed. She didn’t know they were tense.
She doesn’t know what else to do. She leans against Shiori’s shoulder.
“I know. Thank you.”
Shiori’s arm around her relaxes, starting to feel more natural in their position. Nerissa feels a shift next to her, followed by a kiss planted to the tip of Rissa’s horn.
“Of course, my love.” Shiori follows, and immediately Rissa can feel her own face heat up. Her heart rate quickened.
She notices Shiori’s other hand absent-minded, stroking the feathers of Nerissa’s wing wrapped around her.
The sun's rays feel warm again, suddenly.
The hollow sad feeling momentarily quelled.
Both girls sit in the sun's light for a little while, listening to the birds' tweets, the muffled voices of the twins arguing inside, and the rhythm each other's heartbeats.
…
…
…
“…We should check on them.”
“Yeah I agree—“
The two rush inside,
the front porch step is vacant.
A memory lives there now.
A memory that can be revisited anytime.