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Apo was an architect and what's an architect to do but design things? She had designs, of course she did. She thought she'd use them to help build up the town, but now? Now she was thinking that she'd use them to make herself a home in the woods, one away from the town with its fire and paranoia. One away from the castle that seemed to loom over the land. A home where she could hide from those she didn't show it to. A home for herself and herself alone.
Maybe she'd find someone to share it with, but she doubted it.
Apo was building her new home when there was the crunch of leaves to her right, a sound so loud it had to be intentional, a sound that wasn't meant to startle or to warn, but to announce someone's presence.
It wasn't Owen, he'd hide until he decided that he wanted to be heard. Scott would have announced himself with his words, as would Pyro and Shelby. Apo could only think of one person who would come looking for her who would make themself known with their feet landing on the ground.
"Cleo."
Apo turned to see them stood not too far away, a basket in their hands and a smile on her face.
"Apo. You're quite well hidden."
"Not well enough."
"Oh don't fault yourself, I had help."
Apo turned to the side to see Pearl lounging in a tree (when did she get up there?) and bit back a laugh. Right, of course.
"Hello Pearl."
"Heya Apo. Having fun?"
"Enough of it."
Pearl nodded from where she was perched in her tree and Apo couldn't help but chuckle.
"How did you get up there?"
"Climbed."
"No shit. How long have you been up there?"
"Maybe twenty minutes to an hour."
Twenty minutes to an hour?
"Have you been watching me build for almost an hour?"
"Maybe. Want some help?"
"From a woman who has been watching me for an hour?"
"You didn't see me! It isn't my fault you're not observant. Plus I needed to be somewhere Cleo would find me."
"So you sat in a tree watching me build?"
"Yup!"
Apo shook her head lightly at Pearl. She couldn't get mad at her, not when her smile was so bright as she looked at Apo. If Pearl had her tail in this form Apo was sure it'd be wagging and hitting the tree branches below her. Maybe then Apo would catch Pearl when she watched her.
"Did you two need something or did you come all this way to say hi?"
Cleo was the one who responded, walking towards Apo with the basket they held.
"A gift for you. Take it as a house warming gift."
Apo took the basket and raised an eyebrow at Cleo.
"I haven't finished building yet."
Cleo chuckled, the sound wasn't as terrifying as it had been before when Apo had heard it as the walls fell, no this laugh was sweet and oh so kind.
"Then I'll have to get you another one when you do finish."
With that Cleo was gone and Apo looked up at Pearl just in time to see her jump out of the tree she was in and shift into a wolf to run into the forest.
Of course.
Apo looked at the basket in her hands, wine bottles labeled with what kind of blood they held inside of them, a flask with a sunflower stamp on it and a small vase with a single sunflower inside of it.
They really had a theme going, didn't they?
(Apo placed the vase with the sunflower in her room, wondering how long it would last without light, wondering if there was a reason there was only one flower inside of it.)
~~~~
Apo wasn't expecting Cleo to visit again so soon, wasn't expecting to leave her house to see Cleo standing outside with a smile on her face that she was sure only invited trouble.
"Apo! I was beginning to think I'd need to knock. Would you like to join me while I visit Ren? We were going to have a bit of a wine night if you'd like to join us. Get some information on what's going on in the town, the latest embarrassing stories on Owen, Pyro and Scott."
What?
Was Cleo inviting her to what was essentially a gossip night with wine?
"You want me to come gossip with you and Ren?"
"I want to spend time with you and Ren's got some of the best stories and some lovely wine. You don't have to join me if you don't want to."
Apo took a breath for a moment and looked towards her almost finished house then to Cleo. She could finish it tomorrow.
"Yeah, okay I could use a break."
"Wonderful! Come along Apo."
Apo flew with Cleo towards Ren's, laughing as Cleo almost flew into a tree after getting distracted by Shelby flying by chasing Pyro for some reason Apo's sure she'll never quite understand.
Ren's house was cozy, a nice little house outside of town with blackout curtains drawn and a couch that Apo could see herself falling asleep on if they stayed out here until sunrise.
Ren welcomed them in with food and a smile that seemed too kind for a human who knew what she was. She wasn't greeted with a steak or a sword but food and a smile. It was weird.
As the night went on they talked, stories were shared about the town and the castle coven while Apo listened, adding a few things here and there, mostly older things.
"Oh ya won't believe this! So Avid came over the other mornin, yeah? He didn't have Drift by his side, said she was out gatherin materials or somethin I think. He came inside without asking and started talking about how they're rebuilding the wall out of stone, right?"
Apo leaned forward as she listened to Ren's story, she hadn't heard anything about town since the fire, since she left and didn't return.
Cleo nodded, swirling the wine and blood concoction they'd created as they lounged in Ren's plush chair like it was their own personal throne. Like a monarch holding court.
"Well at least they learned how flammable wood is. Seems they can learn from their mistakes."
"Sometimes it seems. He came tellin me just how wonderful it'd be to have a fortified wall made out of stone, said they'd even build it big enough to include me house."
Apo watched as Cleo leaned forward, her eyebrow raised and head tilted to the side as they looked at Ren.
The town wanted to include Ren's house in their wall? Ren who had built his house outside of town to escape the chaos they brought and the paranoia that seemed to posses them?
"Your house? The one you built specifically so that it was out of town?"
"I was just as perplexed as you! I told him that I'd much prefer to stay outside of the walls, there's no reason why my house has to be inside of the town."
Cleo chuckled as they leaned back in their chair.
"And how did Avid take that?"
"He told me that out here the vampires and werewolves would be right outside me door like I don't let you inside whenever you come round."
"You didn't tell him that did you?"
Ren laughed.
"No, I wasn't going to invite that to my door. No, I told him that I prefer peace. Told him that if I wanted a wall around my house I'd build it myself."
The stories continued until Ren yawned.
"It's gettin time for me to sleep it seems. You both get home safe, yeah? Come back anytime, my door's always open for you."
Apo stared at Ren, an open invitation like that was dangerous. Before Apo could say anything Cleo gave Ren a hug and offered to help him clean up, only for them to be waved away back home with bottles of blood he'd collected while he was butchering a cow earlier in the week.
The moment they stepped into the safety of the forest Apo spoke.
"He really doesn't care?"
"No. He's far too kind. Come on, let me walk you home."
The walk home was silent in a comfortable way. At some point Cleo must have stopped walking because they ran to catch up with Apo, a small smile pulling at their lips.
Once they got to Apo's house Cleo handed her what she'd stopped for, a small bunch of sunflowers. Apo felt her face flush just a bit and blamed it on the wine she'd had earlier that night.
"Thank you."
"Oh but of course. I'll see you soon, Apo."
"Get home safe Cleo."
(The sunflowers were placed in the gifted vase by her bed. The vase which looked much better holding a bundle than it did one lonely flower.)
3)
Pearl bounced just a bit as she knocked on Apo's door. Her house was finished now, something which Pearl was glad to see. Cleo was off with Scott and Shelby doing something while Martyn hung out with Ren for some human bonding or whatever Cleo insisted it was called despite Martyn's protests.
Pearl was free to do what she wanted and what she wanted was to invite Apo to go exploring with her.
Apo opened the door, a frown on her face which turned into a small smile when she realized just who was at her door.
"Not watching me from the trees today?"
"Nope! I wanted to see if you wanted to come exploring with me."
"You have to have explored this entire area by now."
"Probably, but it's fun. Wanna come with?"
Apo stared at her for just a moment before she swiped her jacket off of the coatrack by her door.
"Alright, why not?"
Pearl beamed at her.
"Perfect! Come on, let's go!"
It was nice exploring with Apo, showing her different parts of the forest she'd seen and showing her where the best places away from others were. Small caves that were good to hide in, trees that were fun to climb, small areas left untouched by most people.
"You really know your way around here don't you?"
"I get lost a lot."
Apo stopped in her tracks and stared at Pearl for a moment.
"Lost? You who just described every section of this forest we've walked through?"
"Get lost enough times and you learn your way around a place."
Apo laughed, a sound that Pearl decided then and there she wanted to hear more of. It wasn't a cruel laugh, no it was a sweet one, an amused one.
"You are a wonder Pearl."
"Why thank you."
Pearl gave a mock bow as she spoke, smiling when Apo only laughed harder.
Then Pearl got an idea. She took one of the silk flowers out of her hair and tucked it into Apo's hair before bowing once again.
"For you, m'lady."
Pearl watched as Apo's face flushed and a smile pulled at her lips.
Yes, exploring with Apo was a wonderful idea. She should do this more often.
4)
Apo didn't know what she expected to find when she returned from a mining trip just before sunrise but it certainly wasn't a cooler and a basket on her doorstep with a note.
Apo picked up the note and read it, there was no fear, no wondering who left it for her, not when only two people knew where she lived, not when the basket was filled with sunflowers.
Dear Apo,
It seems I missed you today. No worries, it was bound to happen eventually. The cooler is from Ren, it holds some of a butchered sheep that he didn't have room for and wanted you to have. I'm pretty sure he gave the rest of it to us, there's no way he needed to butcher a sheep so soon after that cow he told us about. Not when he lives alone. A sap he is. There are bottles of blood inside of the cooler. I didn't think that I'd turn to have a human insisting upon providing me with meat and blood, but I won't say no, not when Ren seemed so excited.
The sunflowers are from Pearl and myself. Most of them are for the vase we gifted to you, if you've got room for them. The rest of them are silk flowers that you can put in your hair if you'd like, or sew them onto something. I apologize if some of them are a bit misshapen, I haven't quite got the skill that Shelby does when it comes to making silk flowers.
<3 Cleo 🌻
Apo smiled at the small sunflower that Cleo had drawn next to their name. Then they looked at the heart she'd drawn just before her name. That didn't mean anything, did it? It was just a cute sign off. Right?
Apo shook her head lightly and turned to the cooler on her doorstep. That thing looked heavy. Had Cleo carried it here themself? How strong were they?
It was nice of Ren to give her this food, she wouldn't need to go hunting herself for a while which was nice. She'd need to thank him. Maybe she could give him some of the silver she found in the mines, she didn't need it, couldn't use it without being burnt.
(It was nice seeing the vase in her room full of sunflowers once again. The silk flowers sat in the basket still, the one that Pearl had tucked in her hair with them. Maybe she could make a flower crown out of them.)
5)
Apo was returning home from visiting Ren and giving him the silver she'd mined as a thank you for the food that he'd given him with a small sense that she'd somehow started a gift war she'd likely lose when a red wolf stood in her path.
Apo raised an eyebrow at the wolf in front of her. This wasn't Pearl, couldn't be Pearl because it looked nothing like the brown and tan wolf who ran through the forest and climbed the trees like she was meant to have wings.
Before Apo could say anything another wolf appeared, this one she was sure was Pearl. Pearl who tackled the red wolf to the ground, not in malice but in what seemed to be fear.
Apo watched as the red wolf transformed into a woman with ginger hair, laughter falling from her lips while Pearl blinked back to her own human form. Unlike Pearl this werewolf had a pair of ears and a tail even when in her human form.
Pearl gasped as she noticed the ears and tail.
"You turned someone?"
The woman under her nodded, her smile wide.
"I did! She's great, you'll have to meet her when you come back to the pack!"
Back to the pack.
The words sent a stab through Apo's heart.
Right.
Pearl had a pack to return to, she wouldn't stay here. Of course she wouldn't. She'd probably bring Cleo with her. Shelby and Martyn too.
"Maybe, maybe you'll all come join me. Did you run all the way here to show me this?"
"Of course! I wasn't all too far. You know me, I got distracted, wasn't too far to run here."
Pearl laughed as she stood, pulling the other werewolf up.
"You're going to drive your brother insane, Gem."
"That's the plan, Pearl!"
Then Gem tilted her head at Apo.
"Huh. Most people run when wolves block their path. Hi!"
Pearl turned around, her smile only growing when she saw Apo.
"Apo!! Come meet Gem! Gem this is Apo."
"Nice to meet you Apo! Are you part of Pearl's vampire pack thing?"
Pearl's?
Pearl's vampire pack?
What was she talking about?
Pearl responded before Gem could.
"It's not just vampires Gem, there's Martyn too."
"Right, vampires and a human."
Before anything else could be said Gem and Pearl both turned like they heard something Apo couldn't. Just like that Gem ran off as laughter fell out of Pearl's lips as she turned to face Apo once again. Apo wondered how she could make Pearl laugh like that, wondered if those lips felt as soft as they looked.
Pearl pouted at Apo and for a moment, just a small moment Apo wondered if a kiss would get the pout to leave Pearl's lips. She wasn't sure if she'd kiss her on the cheek, the forehead or the lips.
Pearl's voice pulled her from her thoughts.
"She didn't say goodbye! I'm gonna chase her. I'll see you at yours!"
With that Pearl transformed and ran off after her friend leaving a stunned Apo to walk back home.
A few hours after she got home there was a knock on her door and she opened it to see a small bouquet of sunflowers on her doorstep.
Apo smiled as she took them inside and placed them in the vase beside her bed. She didn't notice the woman in the tree smiling at her.
+1)
Apo wasn't doing much, just sat under the stars, her basket of silk flowers next to her as she braided them together into a crown, a small smile on her face as she did so.
It was a nice night to sit outside braiding. It was quiet.
Of course her silence didn't stay, not when Cleo and Pearl stepped into the small clearing just after she'd finished her crown. She set it on her head to hear a gasp from behind her. When she turned she saw Pearl stood behind her, a blush beginning to bloom on her face with a smile so soft that Apo almost couldn't believe that it was being aimed at her.
Cleo's smile was just as soft, as loving as Pearl's.
Apo went to speak, to say anything, but the words caught in her throat before she could speak.
Cleo didn't seem to have that issue.
"You look lovely, Apo. A lovely reminder of why we came to talk to you tonight."
They'd been looking for her?
Before she could spiral Pearl spoke, closer then she'd been before.
"You see, we use the sunflowers as a sort of symbol. A silent way to say we trust each other, that we love each other. Sunflowers stick together."
Apo looked at Pearl and Cleo and she was sure her face was flushed.
"Love?"
Pearl nodded, Cleo speaking, somehow next to her now.
"Love. With Martyn and Shelby it's a platonic love, like friendship plus. For Pearl and I it's romantic."
Pearl chuckled from Apo's other side.
"We only realized that recently, along with a common factor."
Apo was stunned, confused and wondering where the hell she fit into this.
"A common factor?"
"You."
It was spoken so honestly without any hesitation.
Her.
They loved her.
"Me?"
Cleo chuckled lightly before gently setting her hand under Apo's chin and turning her to face them.
"You. We'd like for you to join us, whether romantically or platonically is up to you."
Apo stared at them for a moment.
Her.
They wanted her.
They loved her.
She loved them.
It clicked, the realization dawning on her then and there.
"I love you too. Both of you."
The words flew out of her mouth as quickly as the realization of her own feelings, the joy and adoration she'd felt with each time she'd seen the sunflowers they gave her, the longing she'd felt looking at them.
She loved them.
She loved them and they loved her back.
She thought she'd be all alone when she entered this town, yet here she is with two people by her side who love her. Two people who have given her a silent way to show them just how much she loves them back.
(A few days later Cleo and Pearl would find sunflower crowns made of silk flowers waiting for them in Apo's hands, a gift, a promise, love in a silent form.)