[private] we're the wild ones

[Vastra]

The leopard watches from her branch as the butterflies, not her call, wakes up her daughter. She grins as she watches the battle of sleep and needing to sneeze play out - her own dark nose twitching in sympathy with how it would feel to have one of those golden insects tickling her nose. And when Chel practically explodes with a sneeze the leopard Vastra laughs. It’s a brighter, warmer sound than she has made in a very long time. Coming from a part of her she did not know existed. And at the curse - minor as it was - she grins, and there’s a separate chuckle for when Chel catches herself and realizes what she just said - and when they make eye contact. The smile disappears and it is then that Vastra jumps down from the branch, landing neatly right in front of Chel - flicking her leopard tail - her storm grey eyes twinkling with a smile that contrasts the faux-serious tone that she uses when she speaks. “Watch your damn mouth, Chel.” She says it quietly and accompanies it with a wink. Their secret. She sits then, her tail curling around her spotted paws. “Did you have any good dreams?” She eyes the butterflies - both Brunhilde’s and Chel’s always seem to give her a wide berth and she can’t say she minds. Any that might drift too close could find themselves being swatted at with a clawed paw and they seem to instinctively understand the unspoken threat. v a s t r a

artwork by space1993

@[Chel]