//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Shattered Boundaries Betwixt // Story: Cloaked in Comfort // by EpicGamer10075 //------------------------------// A long groan echoed out as Oleander found herself waking up once more. She had long since gotten used to not recalling how she fell asleep, but for some reason, this occasion felt far more abrupt and out of nowhere... She felt the eternal blackness of sleep slowly leave her vision, and the numbness of unconsciousness slowly leave her body, allowing her start to feel the world around her. There was a soft warmth against one of her sides, and a cool briskness against the other, all the way from her tail up to her head— “GAH!” She suddenly shouted as she felt a sharp pain spike in her head, quickly returning senses to her body and whipping one of her forehooves up to press against her forehead. “Owwww...” She grumbled to herself, feeling the incredibly intense well of sharp fire echoing through her head, making her press her hoof into her forehead to try and curb it, to little avail. Letting her head fall sink down into a pillow, she started to feel that she was in a bed, the warmth coming from under her, and cold from across the rest of her fur, where a blanket should have been covering it. Groaning, she slowly peeked one of her eyes open from under her hoof and managed to see the room around her, and it... wasn’t like what she expected. Letting a few more seconds pass while the intense pain fade into a slightly duller throbbing underneath, Oleander opened both of her eyes and looked before her at the decidedly green curtains, which were distinct from the light blue ones she recalled seeing the couple nights before. Thankfully, they were closed and barred any more light from coming inside, as even through the thick fabric, the light of day coming through the window still made the pain in head worse. Looking out across the rest of the room, she found that while the general dark wooden architecture of the room resembled the guest room she slept in before, this room was far more decorated with random paraphernalia; small statuettes on top of the dresser, stacks of paper and cloth on another table, and some paintings strewn across the walls... One thing was for certain; this was not Oleander’s room. But, with her agonized mind trudging through her thoughts, she couldn’t figure out who exactly it belonged to from just those things themselves. And so, as she looked further around the room, her eyes fell down onto the bed she was still resting upon, where she finally saw another Ungulate beside her! Sharply pulling away, the pain in her head flared and she was forced to close her eyes again to try and curb it again. Taking some deep breaths and letting the pain ebb a bit once more, she opened her eyes again and looked at the creature laying on their side beside her, who while quite cuddled up in the blankets, still had the pair of teal antlers on their head quite visible, easily signifying them as a Reindeer. Their eyelashes generally implied that they were a female, as did the daintiness of their forehooves that peeked out through the top of the covers, which also exposed some of her floof, which as it was slightly below average in volume and a light cream colour on top of her faintly reddish-tan fur... “Oh, dammit...” Of course it was Cashmere. Even through the cloudiness of her memories, Oleander could still recall that she had been on a ‘date’ with the Deer, talking about things that... she could really only recall that she didn’t want to talk about, and she had started to get intoxicated there as well. However, when they had left... there wasn’t much of anything Oleander could recall after that. Groaning in irritation, she then shuddered in... no, she shivered; it was still rather brisk in the room, after all. And returning her focus to the sleeping Reindeer next to her, she could see that the whole blanket had been swiped away to cover the already floofed-up Ungulate, leaving the dramatically less fluffy Unicorn to shiver from the cold room around her. She was certainly keen on ripping away that blanket with her magic to actually let herself be warm, but as she kept holding her hoof to her forehead, she sharply remembered that using magic with a headache wasn’t a good idea—she had learned as much the hard way on multiple occasions. Groaning yet again, even more annoyed now, Oleander turned back around to lay on her back, glaring up at the ceiling while she tried to think about everything that must’ve happened; clearly Cashmere had decided to take her home after their date, and most likely, in that lovestruck fool’s way, gotten the intoxicated Unicorn to sleep in bed beside her. The very idea that she could be so easily manipulated under the influence of that alcohol grated at her, as she was supposed to be intelligent and aware, unable to be bent to anyone’s will, unlike the whimsical and retarded Paprika and the boorish and moronic Arizona! ...Yes, she was being rather an asshole to her friends, but that wasn’t the point! And even worse, she didn’t remember any of what had happened after she arrived at this house, so while may have simply passed out, she may have also... done the unthinkable with that Deer... She shuddered at the thought—truly shuddered, not just shivering this time. Wanting to curb that train that thought as soon as possible, Oleander realized that Cashmere must’ve been in a much more mentally stable state if she had managed to bring her to her home, and thus she’d be more liable to recall if the two of them had done anything...untoward after they had arrived. Looking sidelong over at the Reindeer, she knew of a simple and effective solution to make her wake up and answer her questions, but... somehow it felt wrong in this situation. Cashmere hadn’t done anything wrong—at least as far as Oleander was aware—and so simply slapping her awake seemed a bit too rough for the cuddly, comfy, and snoot-scrunched Deer next to her. ...Grimacing at her line of thought, she rolled back onto her side and moved her free hoof across the bed and grabbed Cashmere’s shoulder, then shook her somewhat. Thankfully, that proved to be enough to wake her, as the Deer soon stirred in her sleep, mumbling faintly to herself and rolling over onto her back, gripping the covers closer to her chest for a moment as her eyes scrunched up further, then relaxed as she let out a squeaky yawn while stretching out her legs... and then finally popped her eyes open. Oleander couldn’t help but watch the whole ordeal with keen interest, the minor facets of how the Reindeer was acting, all filly-like and uncaring for whatever may have been going on around her... it kept her eyes trapped on her the entire time, and continued to do so while Cashmere blinked a few times, and only then seemed to feel the hoof still on her shoulder, causing her to look down at it, then follow its leg up to the Unicorn beside her... A sharp gasp came from her maw, which then hung open in shock alongside her wide-open eyes, and then she uselessly sputtered, “O-O-Oleander!” After only another moment of shock, she jerked away from the Unicorn’s hoof and started stammering out, “W-wha, w-why are we, I-I don’t, I didn’t, no wait...” Somewhat tuning out the continued nonsensical ramblings of the other Ungulate, Oleander rubbed her head a bit, the noise flaring her headache just a bit, and let her free foreleg rest back on her side. Her eyes, though, remained trained on the frantic Reindeer beside her, worrying herself in a way Oleander has always found counterproductive—stressing out and flying between multiple problems had always been less successful than simply diving into one—and about every aspect of the current situation, not just the ones that were actually relevant. But, as seeming to happen more and more often, those foolish impulses only held Oleander’s attention more, and she had yet to fathom why... Perhaps, as Pom had mentioned before... no... Shaking her head, the Unicorn could tell the pain had faded more a bit now and finally took her other hoof of it, and then she called out, “Cashmere.” “—a-and, I thought maybe w-we had—um,” The Reindeer in question suddenly stopped at the statement, and looked back over, though unable to lock eyes with the other Ungulate for long. “Y-yes..?” Taking a breath in under the weight of her questions, Oleander decided to first ask, “Can you recall anything from last night?” Cashmere took a moment to think, her eyes looking at nothing for a moment, but she did soon say, “Um, yes I-I can...” As she continued reflecting, one of her forelegs came up from laying on the bed and up to rub her forehead, and she grimaced and mumbled quietly to herself—clearly Oleander wasn’t the only one with such a headache after what happened last night. After a few more moments, the Reindeer looked back over to the Ungulate beside her’s somewhat expectant gaze, and so she gulped and spoke, “W-well, we were on our.. date,” She said the term with a light squeak, clearly still excited by the idea, “And I know w-we talked about each—er, ourselves, t-there... And, we had.. wine...” She trailed off for a moment, then winced as she seemed to realize something. “A-a little too much, with our um—” She looked back up at the Unicorn and the hoof still on her head, “H-hangovers.” That’s right; ‘hangover’ was the term for this type of stupid headache. Oleander hardly liked the taste of alcohol herself, but why anyone would ever drink it if they had to deal with this was beyond her. Regardless... “Then what?” Clearing her throat lightly, Cashmere replied, “W-well, we argued a bit about.. um, y-you, mostly, but we did f-finish our dinner in s-silence...” She trailed off with a hint of somberness, likely just due to not being able to talk with her date, but only for a moment before she gained a weird, somewhat flustered and slightly perturbed expression. “I-it was only a-after we left that you... um, a-acted really drunk...” She only got more flustered as she trailed off once more, though didn’t immediately pick it back up as she curled up both her forelegs to her chest and buried them in her floof, seemingly kind of uncomfortable. Taking a moment to brace herself for the no doubt dire actions she had performed in that... humiliatingly suggestible state, Oleander then asked, “..What happened?” Eyes flitting back up to the Unicorn, Cashmere bit her lip and quickly darted them back away. “U-uhm, you were... a-a little clingy, but a-also kept swatting me a-away... Sometimes you w-were more.. desperate, and o-others more, a-angry.. usually you were b-both...” Sounding ever more conflicted about what happened, she took a breath and added, “I d-did make sure to get you h-here as soon as I could—and um, m-my house is closer than V-Velvet’s, so...” Glancing back over, she got an assenting nod from Oleander, then continued, “S-so, yes, and you.. w-well, you just passed out once you, uh, h-hit the bed, so...” Taking a breath of mild relief, Oleander found herself asking, “So we didn’t do anything... untoward that night, correct?” Getting a quick nod and ‘mm-hm!’ of confirmation, the Unicorn sighed once more and rolled back onto her back, letting her head and horn sink into the pillow... But with the odd silence coming from the Reindeer next to her, she glanced back over at her and saw her only looking more tense than before, heavily flustered and flushed, clearly very embarrassed about something, and that only made Oleander more suspicious than before... “We didn’t do anything untoward, right?” Cashmere was quick to shake her head and retort, “No no! W-we didn’t!” She did sound genuine, but was still very tense. “But..?” Oleander prompted, still not convinced. “W-well, it, u-um...” The Deer tried, sputtering and flushing even harder, backing away just a bit in shame, but as the Dark Unicorn’s gaze bored into her, she eventually broke and snapped her eyes shut, spouting out, “I-I watched you sleep for a bit because you’re really pretty and look really nice when you aren’t super angry..!” Oleander couldn’t help the fiery crimson that blew up on her face at that; the embarrassment at hearing that level of infatuation in that doe’s tone, and simply the idea of being found.. pretty... “Hmph..!” She snorted while looking away, both to hide that damned blush and to avoid looking at the foal-like fool that caused it, with her scrunched snout, overwhelmed hoofy-shivers, and high-pitched, impassioned voice... Gah! How it still stuck in her head regardless! ...And the more cheerful—though a tad guilty—giggles that came from the doe after certainly didn’t help. “Um...” Cashmere then managed to speak after a moment of hesitation, sounding a little bit bolder now that the other Ungulate was the one on the back hoof, “D-do you remember.. what I said.. a-after we argued...?” After... Oleander grimaced slightly as she managed to recall what they had said back then, her thoughts a bit clearer, now that there wasn’t quite as much pain blocking them; the two of them had argued about how ‘good’ or stupid Oleander was, points being made about her sealing the Predators and marching through a blizzard... but then, Cashmere had.. confessed to her... All things considered, she shouldn’t have been that surprised by it, but... just the idea that someone felt like that for her... It was inconceivable to her. Sure, Fred had been by her side for a while, but even beyond his manipulations, he was still a Demon having fun toying with a mortal. Yes, she had friends in the form of the other Champions, but their relationship was built upon mutual respect in battle, so anything beyond being at each other’s throats was always going to be a bit of a surprise. But with Cashmere? This lowly Reindeer clothier wanted to be romantically involved with a Dark Unicorn that abandoned her race, lived alone for more than a decade, and fought against beasts for the sake of what really only amounted to her own ego? The bewilderment must’ve been clear on her face, as Cashmere awkwardly cleared her throat and tentatively said, “L-like I said then, you are a good Ungulate now... a-and...” She took a deep sigh, keeping silent for a moment until Oleander glanced back over to her, where she spoke back up, “And while y-you have made mistakes before, you’re b-better than a lot of them now... “And...” She sighed again, this time with a loving tone as she locked eyes with the Unicorn, “That’s why... I.. I said that, O-Ollie...” Oleander tried to keep her gaze firm on the Deer, but... That name, she had really only heard from Fred most of her life; sometimes in mocks and taunts, other times as genuine affection or worry, and while some of the Champions called her that as well, she hadn’t heard it from anyone else... except for, of course, Cashmere. The infatuated way she had said it back then grated on her, and she couldn’t stand it for long—not to say she could stand being around anyone for long back then, of course—but the way it was spoken now, still filled with such emotion, but now somewhat more intelligent and resolute.. it wasn’t as bad now... A slow, almost dreadful breath came in through Oleander’s nose as she realized that she was starting to really get friendly with Cashmere. She recalled the time she had spent with the other Champions, how they appealed to her logic, slowly worn away her instinctual defences, and had her accept their help... She had fought it back then, still believing such ‘frivolities’ unnecessary, but now... While she may not have been able to explain why doing things for any subjective sake was good, she was now able to realize that she was being an idiot. As per usual. Focusing back on the Reindeer before her, Oleander examined her for a moment and recalled her past actions; the warm-hued fur and light floof spoke well of her peaceful lifestyle, only supported further by her innocent and foolish desire for the Dark Unicorn and being unable to understand the depth of said Unicorn’s mistakes. But, despite that, her rose-coloured eyes had some intelligence within them, and she had good intentions with trying to get Oleander to move on from her dark past. And, she wasn’t all too bad to spend time around, even with the.. oddities being now forced into her life... As per what she had learned from the other Champions, Cashmere was now Oleander’s friend. ...But, she couldn’t say it was more than that. ...Yet, at least... “Alright,” Oleander suddenly spoke, watching as the Deer started a bit in surprise, “You are my.. friend.” Cashmere’s eyes opened wider in further surprise and awe, but Oleander still added with mild uncertainty, “And.. I’ll give you the chance to become.. more.” Cashmere’s eyes widened yet further, and her maw hung open for a moment before quickly shifting into a big, dopey smile— “But!” The Unicorn interrupted her lovestruck behavior, holding up a hoof, “You will need to actually understand my mistakes. I know you’re keen on having me move past them—and I do appreciate that,” She added quickly, and took a deep breath while setting her hoof back down, “But, my mistakes are far too great to simply be brushed off. Even if it to grant me more happiness now...” She leveled her gaze the Reindeer, “You do realize that I am still quite capable of many of them, correct?” Gulping nervously, the Deer let herself sink into the bed a bit, and muttered back, “W-well, maybe—” Oleander stopped her by raising her hoof back up, “‘Maybe’?” Scoffing, she pulled her hoof down to cross her forelegs, and then retorted, “Cashmere, I nearly died getting to Reine. Remember?” Cashmere stared back at her for a second, then flitted her gaze away in shame. “Y-yeah, I get it...” Sighing deeply as she sunk her head further into her pillow, she seemed to let her thoughts stew for a couple seconds before adding, “I guess we both have mistakes.. h-here...” “Mm-hm,” The other Ungulate grunted in agreement, looking back at her.. friend, for a second, then rolling over onto her back, letting the silence come back over the two of them. It was only for a moment, though, before the Reindeer chuckled quietly and said, “W-well, I guess maybe.. we s-should work together to h-help each other over them?” A deep breath in, and Oleander let it back out in nearly a laugh. “Of course,” She uttered back, peering over with a somewhat wry grin, “That and nothing else, hm?” That made Cashmere laugh a bit herself, and blush and look away in embarrassment, but the Unicorn sighed and added more seriously, “That is a good idea, though. Hopefully we can keep each other focused, even if.. it’s you that’s more likely to have issues there. “Regardless,” Oleander muttered with a tired sigh, then pushed herself up to sit on the bed, “We ought to get something done today.” She turned her head towards the window near her side of the bed for a moment, debating opening it to snap herself awake, but.. with the advent of ‘living for oneself’, she decided it wasn’t worth the pain of flaring her headache back up. Still, she did pull her forelegs up above her and stretch them out, feeling them strain and burn a bit through the morning sludge, then even pop a bit to force her stress out, and she exhaled a relieved groan. Putting one hoof at her back and another on the back of her neck, she twisted the both of them about, feeling the spinal joints pop and crack for a few seconds, and when she relaxed her body back, it felt lighter and more flexible than she had just a minute ago. While she wasn’t generally one to care to bask in the moment of such relief, it did feel quite a bit better than normal... Perhaps the regular showers and proper beds were really making their mark on her lithe, but slightly atrophied and malnourished body after all! And, finally, Oleander moved to hop off the bed, but as she pressed her forehooves into the sheets and leaned forward, a sudden fumbling and flailing of cloth sounded out from behind her, making her quickly pause in place and jerk her head back around. “What—” “No—perfect time—!” She managed to hear the Deer sputter frantically before— Cashmere’s lips were upon hers. It was such a foreign gesture to the Unicorn that lived alone in the woods, but empirically, she understood it was an expression of love. Of care, compassion, respect, adoration, dedication... and all for someone that spent so much time at odds with the world itself. Why exactly the little doe expressed all of those emotions for her so still baffled her, but.. now.... Now, she couldn’t find it within her to care as much. She could feel warmth and softness of those lips upon hers, but still driven forth with the passion of the Deer that owned them. She could see, through her widened eyes, the slammed-shut eyes and flaming blush of the doe, so overwhelmed with affection and embarrassment. And she could sense the magic frothing off the Reindeer, the chilly aura of her antlers infused with emotion beyond compare, enough to nearly make the Dark Unicorn’s eyes roll all the way into her head from the wave of it all... Beyond the simple meeting of mouths and the fountain of emotion, Oleander could feel Cashmere’s forelegs wrapped around her barrel from her side—and, as a moment passed and she regained her physical awareness, she felt her own forehooves still laying on the bed below her, now feeling quite awkward in the moment. What exactly was she supposed to do with her hooves in this situation..!? Staying a moment while Cashmere only leaned further into her, Oleander found herself leaning back to keep herself on the bed, and pulling her own forelegs up her sides, then laying them across the Deer’s own legs. That felt... right, and as she felt the moment settle a bit, she found her eyes drifting closed, and through the darkening lenses, she had the ability the find the doe kissing her.. dare she say, cute. Finally, her eyes landed closed and she leaned in. She may not have been ready to give her own emotions back as freely as Cashmere was, but... maybe all of this, with the subjective purpose, and living with others, and romance... it wouldn’t be so bad.