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Susie’s steel toed boots crashed loudly through the forest as she rushed though the underbrush. She had only been sprinting for a few minutes, but it felt like hours when she got past the treeline surrounding HomeTown. She knew nobody was following her, but she wanted to get as far away from her home as she possibly could, away from her horrible father, far...far away from him.
Susie’s dusty purple jacket dragged in her sprint induced wind, almost begging her to stop and slow down, if even to catch her breath for a moment. By the time the tall, strong, and scared lizard slowed down her bolting, she was deep in the wood, gasping for air, and alone, at least the last thing was how she wanted it.
Susie slowly shuffled into a small clearing, an area clearly used by teens for weekend parties, where the results of indulgences in less than legal drinks was scattered all around the rocks and grass, the golden hour sunlight dappling down through the leaves, reflecting off the greens, browns and whites of cheep beer and vodka bottles. Susie looked around at all the cans and shattered glass strewn about the ground, slightly scoffing under her breath, "if you are going to break the frigging law, don’t leave evidence behind, idiots."
The girl meandered across the clearing, planning on trying to get deeper into the woods, when something caught her foot. Susie desperately flailed her athletic arms, trying futilely to regain her balance as she crashed down on the hard ground. “GAAAAAA DA-- IT!! OW OW OW” Susie bit down on her tongue, hard, to try and keep her wailing and yelling down, but all it ended up doing was make her tongue hurt right along with the rest of her body.
Scrambling off of whatever was causing her so much pain, The teenaged girl glanced around to try and see what had happened, her eyes landed on an old beer bottle half smashed...with a significant amount of glass that you would expect to see- missing. Her eyes widened with fear and understanding, looking down, her stomach flipped as she saw blood. Blood, blood dripped everywhere, all over her arm as old shards of glass lay embedded all in her dark purple scales. “DA-- IT, No NoNONONONO” Susie fought back tears, trying not to throw up what little she had in her stomach. This was the last thing she needed! She was trying to get away from people! Don't get hurt!
Susie splayed out in the fluffy, overgrown grass, trying to hold back tears, and failing. She quietly wept, the soft grass almost mocking her with how comfortable it was, after just hiding the object now half embedded in her right arm. As the tears flowed from her golden eyes, she silently cursed herself for being so weak, she hated being so vulnerable, why was she such a wuss? She was known as a local bully at school! And here she was bawling her eyes out over some cuts! pathetic...
She sat in the grass for a good while, she couldn’t tell how long, just sitting there trying to keep the sobs wracking her quivering form to a minimum. The fall colors from the oak and maple leaves swirled and swayed in the trees above her bleeding body, the quiet sounds of the forest disturbed by the occasional quivering cry of pain from Susie’s sore and hurting body.
Susie was starting to worry about how in the world she was going to get herself fixed up. she didn’t have any sort of bandages she could stop the bleeding with, and she had no idea if she could face ripping out all that glass from her arms without passing out...thinking about all this didn’t help her crying situation.
A small russell of fallen leaves in the outskirts of the clearing snapped Susie's attention from her bleeding forearm, swiveling her head to the creator of the sound so fast it was a miracle she didn’t sprain her neck muscles, unconsciously letting out a low growl in some pathetic attempt to try and scare away anyone from seeing her like this, “Go away whoever you are!” Her eyes grew wide at seeing who was looking at her, her emotions mixed between fear, torror, and the tiniest (although she would never admit it) bit of relief as she saw who had entered her space.
Noelle Holiday. the sweet reindeer girl from her classes, the straight A’s, quiet, rule follower. Some would call her a teacher's pet, but she didn’t kiss up to Mis Alphys, no, she was just the girl upfront who gave her homework in on time and kept to herself. She was wearing a black turtleneck, with a fall orange cardigan hanging over her shoulders, all draping down to a deep brown, ankle length skirt, kept on her waist with a belt, Her hair was tied out of her face with a soft cotton kerchief. She was Susie’s opposite in every way...and Susie hated that it was her of all people who found her.
“Oh my word! Susie? What are you doing out here? And...are you bleeding!!” Noelle's soft brown eyes filled with both fear and deep concern, she held a basket on her arm that looked to be filled with plants and a few gardening tools. “Are you ok? What happened?”
The lizard girl swung her arm behind her to try and hide it, “Back off dork! Go...go away...leave me alone.” Susie started to yell...but her voice quivered and grew weaker as her tears creeped back to the corners of her eyes, the pain from suddenly moving her arm becoming far too much to bear. Susie silently cursed herself for being so pathetic looking in front of a classmate, who only knew her as the local girl you didn’t talk to unless you wanted to be shoved in your locker.
“Susie…” Noelle ether had a deathwish, or was so filled with concern for the girl who was a good 30cm taller than her, and looked like she would bite her arm off with her mouth full of fangs, that she slowly kelt down, placing her basket in the grass, and made her way over the the hurting lizard.
Susie tensed up, heart quickening, as the antlered girl slowly approached. Noelle reached out her hand, occasionally looking up at Susie’s tear stained face, part checking if she was ok with her advances, also partly seeing if she was going to lunge.
“Susie, this...this looks super bad, are...would you like me to help you?” Susie’s heart both raced and ached at Noelle’s caring voice...she rarely received any sort of concern or love from the people in her life, with maybe the exception of Kris’s mother Toriel.
“I don’t need any freaking...I…” Susie’s voice faltered as she looked down at her arm, now being cradled in Noelle’s hands. She didn’t want to show any more weakness than she already had...but she knew that if she looked at any more blood, she would lose her lunch,
“I...no I...just…*sigh* please...be gentle”
Noelle’s face melted from one of concern and fear, to one of pure relief and care. She slowly walked back to her basket, grabbing a pair of pliers and scissors from deep in the wildflowers, boughs of berries and leaves. After looking like she had retrieved everything she thought she might need at the moment, she made her way back towards Susie, the wind at her back gently fluffing her sandy blond hair under her cream white kerchief.
“Ok...so I’m going to use these pliers to grasp at these shards and pull them out, I’ll try to make it as quick and painless and possible...but I can’t guarantee that it won’t hurt a bit” she spoke as she sat down next to shaken Lizard, “you might want to hold onto something while I do this...um...oh! here!”
Noelle slipped her pupkin orange cardigan off her shoulders, placing it into Susie’s clawed hands, “would this help you keep your focus? Sometimes varied textures help me distract myself from things”
Susie looked down at the soft knitting, tenderly rubbing her rough thumbs over the soft wool yarn, the pattern looking just uneven enough to tell her that it was homemade, Susie didn’t know Noelle knitted! She was unsure why, but the image of Noelle spending hours on this single garment, brought a small smile to Susie’s face. “Yeah...this...this would work”
“Ok, breathe” Noelle took her arm gently, and put the pliers up to the the glass, “1...2...3”
The pain was worse then falling on the glass, and Susie couldn’t help but let a string of profanities into the air, Noelle slightly paling at the words flying off the pain wracked girl
“I...Susie, I understand it hurts, but please try and keep your words more...kosher”
Normally she hated when adults told her to “wAtCh yOuR LaNguAge,” but...coming from Noelle, it didn’t feel as patronizing. It still was extremely hard to not curse everything under the sky as more shards were pulled out, but Susie just took to yelling into the soft cardigan instead.
While Susie had her face buried in the comfortable wool, she couldn’t help but smell Noelle’s light perfume she used, a warm cinnamon scent with hints of pine...Susie..she...loved it. It smelled like the home she wished she had...one where she didn’t feel like she was going to be attacked at every turn.
Susie quickly realized what she was doing, and chided herself for being creepy, revealing the scent of someone's perfume?? That just felt like red flags everywhere...but...even though she didn’t wear perfume herself...she wouldn’t mind if for some reason Noelle told her where she found it.
While those confusing thoughts spun around in Susie’s scared and puzzled brain, Noelle looked up from her work with a warm smile, “Ok! I got out all the glass! I’m going to go grab some bandages from my first aid kit in my backpack! I’ll be right back, ok Susie?” Susie felt...oddly safe around her, even though she hardly knew her, she felt the safest she had felt in a long time laying on the ground in front of her.
As Noelle's warm smile mildly wavered to a confused one, Susie realized that instead of confirming the doe’s information, she had been staring up at her from the ground like a flopping fish, she slowly nodded with a slightly sheepish look, confirming that she got the memo.
As Noelle ran back towards the tree line, Susie was left alone to realize what had just happened. She had busted up her arms, had been found by the valedictorian of the class, who instead of running like the wind away like almost everyone in the school would have, ended up tenderly holding her arm and helping her out...and now she was running to get bandages...at this point Susie’s brain basically short circuited with the sheer amount of disbelief she had...Susie wasn’t even used to receiving compassion from anyone...nonetheless someone who pry had seen her beating the tar out of kids at the school...what was going on????
Susie temporarily debated trying to leave before The reindeer girl could come back, and pretend this all never happened, but before she could even decide if that was possible, her fate was sealed by the doe’s creamy brown fur coming back into view.
Noelle kneeled down next to Susie, holding a roll of cotton and a water bottle “Ok! I’m back! Now I’m going to clean the wound with some of my water. I know it’s not hydrogen peroxide, but it’s better than nothing.'' Uncapping the vessel, she started to trickle the water over the half dried blood, exposing the where the glass had cut in, and something more on the opposite side of her arm that sent the injured girl into a horror induced panic.
“Susie? Is that...what is...is that a bruise?” poor Noelle had no idea, though the fear and terror exuding from Susie’s eyes told her all she needed to know. “Oh Susie...um...you don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to”
“No! I...um…” Susie’s brain was begging her to tell someone, anyone about what happened at home. She never told anyone anything about her homelife, not even Kris and Toriel, so why now? Why did she so desperately want to tell the mayor’s daughter of all people?? “I...I don’t...I’m...I didn’t enter the woods in the best headspace...I was running too…away from...my...my parents.” Susie wanted to vomit as she slowly started to hyperventilate, not even over the sight of her blood now being bound with strips of cotton, but the fact that she was spilling her guts to some random person. But before she could panic any farther, she was shocked out of her brain by Noelle pulling her into a tight hug.
“I’m so sorry” her voice was so quiet, so comforting. As the doe started to gently rub her thumbs up and down Susie’s back, the lizard’s brain started controlling her before her tough girl image preservation side could click in.
Susie’s arms flied around the small girl’s frame, tightly pulling her towards her chest, as she cried ugly tears into her hair. Noelle was a bit surprised, but she only hugged this poor girl tighter, letting her depressurize in a healthy way instead of taking out her pain though her fist.
They stayed like that for a while, just Susie sobbing and hiccuping while holding Noelle like the world would shatter if she let go, with the deer just gently holding her back. After a good chunk of time, Susie’s sobs slowly faded and were replaced with the occasional hiccup and sniffles.
After Susie calmed down, Noelle took the moment to lean away, brush away Susie’s bangs and look into Susie’s eyes. They were bloodshot, and slightly fearful, but mostly...they looked exhausted, after years of holding in so much pain, and letting out a tinsy tiny bit, she looked like she had just run halfway across the town (which come to think about it, she may have, considering Noelle had no idea where Susie lived.)
“You look weary, do you have somewhere you can go other than your house?” Noelle asked with deep concern, if she didn’t have any other place, she was honestly thinking of inviting her to her house, anything to keep her away from whoever was hurting her.
Susie took in a shaky breath, trying to calm herself before she talked, but mostly failing, “I…*hic* I...yea, I...I can go to Toriel’s home, I’m fri..ends with h-her kid Kris” she hated how she sounded when she cried, her father would normally mock her when she tried to talk through her tears. but instead of mocking, or hitting her and telling her to suck it up, Noelle just smiled a soft, kind smile warmer than an autumn bonfire.
“Ok, that’s a good Idea, Mis Dreamerr is a wonderful person.” Noelle got up, taking a moment to readjust her kerchief that had been messed up from Susie crying on it, before taking Susie's hands in hers, leaning back to help on her feet. She wobbled a bit from being on the ground for so long (and crying didn’t help her balance much) but the tall, athletically built girl managed to stand up on her own after taking a few moments to let the head rush pass.
“I need to head home and get these pants in vases soon, but if you want me to stay with you for a bit longer I wouldn’t mind”
Susie mulled over the other girl’s offer a bit, but decided against it due to the fact that she already taken up so much of this poor girl’s time, and she did feel slightly guilty about that (she also didn’t want to send a wrecking ball through any more of her walls that she had spent so much time building up...cut your losses Susie) “I...I think I’ll be ok, I’m doing a...a lot better now.” Susie’s lips curled up slightly, "any progress is good progress’"she thought
“Well alright, please keep safe, if...if you ever need a place to stay that isn’t the Dreamerr household, you are welcome at my house.” Noelle left the invitation open, so the taller girl would know she had options, she started to walk back into the forest when Susie called out after her.
“Hay!” she blushed slightly as she sheepishly put her hands into the pockets of her old, ripped up jeans, not used to saying what she was about to say, “I...um..thank you Noelle, thanks for everything…and...don’t tell anyone about this...please”
Mildly surprised at the distinct lack of any threats against her well being, Noelle huffed a small chuckle, “I wouldn’t dream of it Susie, take care of yourself please.”
And with that, the small doe left the clearing, leaving Susie alone with her confused and scrambled brain to try and decipher what in the world just happened.
Gently pulling out her burner phone, Susie clicked through the menus for a bit, before finding her beaen contacts, and tapping on Kris’s icon.
“Come on come on kris...pick up...Oh hay Kris!! Um...can I come over for a bit? I um...I need to talk...yes I’m fine, my voice is shaking? Well whatever nerd, just...please let me in when I get there...ok...thanks Kris, see ya soon”
Weeks later Noelle was standing in front of her locker, still thinking about what had happened in the woods when she was getting plants to beautify her dad’s hospital room. Did she truly find, help, and hug the school bully? She had acted like she wasn’t shaken...but during the entire fiasco her body was screaming at her to get away from this girl who she knew from her classmates was dangerous, but yet...seeing her laying in the grass crying, and looking so hurt and lost, something pushed her to reach out and help. Maybe it was stupid? Yeah it was probably super stupid, but no harm no foul right?
Before she could think all that much about it, her locker door was slammed by a feathered arm. She internally groaned, at the sight of the blue covered arm, the last thing she needed at the moment was Berdly continuing to pursue her.
“Hi Noelle~” he’s beak slurred out, in some gross attempt to be smooth, but only making her want to kick him even more than she already did, “How’s my ~favorite~ study partner?”
“I’m...I’m fine Berdly, if you wouldn’t mind, I have to get out more books from my locker...the one you are keeping shut.”
“Awwww, what's wrong ~Elle~ got something on your mind? You normally aren’t this cold towards your fellow A student.”
Noelle only wanted to vomit more as he used that frustrating nickname that she hated with a passion, he slid to lean against her door, trying to look suave but only managing to expand the already clear height difference between them.
“I’m sorry Berdly, but I need to talk to Mis Alphys before class starts, and I need my books, so if you wouldn’t mind moving so I can get them...we can talk at our study session later today.” Noelle was starting to lose her patience, she knew she couldn’t lash out at him without feeding his fire, but she also didn’t want to see his frustrating face any longer then she needed to at this point.
Berdly only put his hand over the door handle at her last comment, “Now Now Now, I know that you want to talk to the teacher, but I still have words to say with you. Now I don’t know if any other students feeble bra-” before the braggart could finish his sentence, his eyes shrunk to tiny slits, as heavy footfalls sounded behind Noelle.
“We have a problem here?” Susie’s voice rang low, with a threatening edge to it. Noelle's head snapped back to see the girl, her muscular form standing imposingly towards the small blue jay, the doe’s face morphed into one of utter shock, , Susie had all but been ignoring her, seemingly trying to pretend that nothing had happened. But here she was, getting Berdly to pale and shake in his shoes.
“I...no, we are fine, this also has nothing to do with you” Berdly tried to keep his voice in his normal, condescending tone. But he was failing miserably, looking like he was about to pass out from terror.
“Oh? It doesn’t look like it, Bird brain. It sounds like Noelle has tried to get your ugly mug out of her face, but you still stand in the way of her locker. So, leave now, or you will need more than a locksmith to get you out of your locker.” Susie’s intimidation was underscored by her row of razor sharp teeth slowly peeking out of her mouth more and more.
Berdly’s response was swift and mostly fear induced instinct, scrambling out of the deer's way, and looking like he had just seen a ghost. “I...uh uh uh Yes. I’m leaving now, see you at the library Noelle” turning heel, he made his way down the halls, at a much faster pace then he normally walked.
“I...um…” the doe was deeply confused at what had just occurred, “thank you Susie.” Noelle wasn’t as much as scared (like she probably should have been) but was more in awe. That Susie, the person who normally bullied her classmates, was for once, stopping harassment instead of causing it.
“...don’t...don’t mention it. Just...please don’t let him bother you anymore.”
“He can be...a lot...but he isn’t always bad, just...quite frustrating most of the time”
With that, the tall, athletic, dark tousled haired girl shrugged, and turned around to leave. But not before Noelle grabbed her shoulder, not quite knowing what she was doing, before words escaped her mouth unconsciously.
“Susie, thank you...I...I mean that…” after a little hesitation, she added, “I um...I’m open tonight, would you like to go to the diner and get some coffee? I um...would like to get to know you better.”
Susie stayed silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, worrying Noelle that she had crossed a line. But in time a very small, soft, smile creeped onto her mouth.
“yeah...I’m not doing anything tonight either...I...I’d like that.”