Norvous

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Submitted by coded on discord

Without the chaos of everything that had happened, Cleo had finally been forced to deal with the monster of trauma she'd been left with after Aric.

Pearl never touched Cleo without permission, so never for a while, but as time went on Cleo would initiate it themselves. Casually brushing against her, occasionally taking her hand, leaning their head on her shoulder, and soon enough started sleeping next to Pearl. They'd tried sleeping in separate rooms for a while but they both hated falling asleep without the other, they started off with separate beds until one night Pearl felt Cleo climb into bed behind her and pull her to their chest. She nearly cried from happiness that Cleo was finally starting to heal enough to be close in that way.

Now the two are practically joint at the hip, but Pearl still always asks first, just in case

Haha, hey guys look, it's me

Cleo eventually just turns to her like : we have literal acres of land you can just sprint around in, go run outside.

"I need to do somethiiiing. Not moving hurts right now." Pearl complains. She squeezes her hands into fists, once, twice, three times, trying to shake out some of the energy.

"Why don't you go for a run then? I mean, there's an entire forest outside our door."

"You're just trying to get rid of me," She pouts. Cleo laughs, gently brushing some hair away from Pearl's face.

"I'm trying to stop you from wearing a hole in our floor. Or from tearing down a wing of the castle and rebuilding it." Cleo teases. Pearl huffs in response.

"That was one time!"

"Two, actually."

Pearl growls, frustration rising. Cleo backs up, not expecting the response, which makes Pearl soften.

"Sorry, sorry, I just- This close to a full moon it's like I feel the wolf squirming around in my muscles. When I'm not doing something it starts tearing me apart." Pearl sighs and looks at the castle door. A run might actually help. "Okay, I'll be back."

As soon as she crosses the threshold diving the bridge from the forest, Pearl breaks into a sprint. It's rare for her to use her top speed, but she has to right now. Nothing else will calm the wolf down. She has to feel a burn in her muscles, feel the useless breath in her chest, feel her slow beating heart speed up to something closer to normal. Pearl runs through the trees, breaking branches and barely feeling them whip across her skin, occasionally stumbling over a root that barely breaks her stride. She runs at that pace for a full half an hour before she slows, gasping and clutching her ribs as she gets a stitch in her side and pain lances up her ribs. Pearl isn't entirely sure where in the forest she's ended up, somewhere near one of the old crypts that her and Cleo have already cleared out.

At a much more reasonable pace, though still running, Pearl returns to the castle. Cleo waits in the sitting room, peacefully humming as they work on some embroidery and try to avoid poking the sleeping Oscar in their lap. They look up with soft affection as Pearl enters, taking in her sweat soaked hair and the way she's struggling to catch her breath.

"Feel better?" They ask. Pearl grins tiredly. She's finally worn out.

"Yeah, much. Thank you for the suggestion." She says, feeling embarrassed about her earlier behavior.

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