New friend
Lilac watches Warren rest on her duffle bags. His breathing is easy now, his chest rising and falling in a simple movement, but she can see it hitch in its rhythm. The blanket she had tucked Warren under is a bright shade of blue, contrasting sharply with the black of his fur and making him seem even darker. Not only that, but he’s sweating. Lilac didn't know what to do to help Warren as she's never had to handle a hurt person before. It was always someone else picking up her mess. She shifts from her spot on the floor, readjusting the duffle bag she propped herself up on. It’s in the early hours of the morning, but Likac just can’t fall asleep. She wants to be there when Warren wakes up, to make sure he’s okay. He just got hit with a bat. There’s no way he’s perfectly fine.When Warren finally opens his eyes, Lilac jumps. A weird green glow fills the room for a few seconds as he looks around frantically, trying to find out where he is. His gaze finally lands on Lilac, and he visibly relaxes.
“Oh”, is all he has to say, cupping his face with one hand. He starts to laugh uncontrollably, leaving her confused and scared.
'Are you alright?' Lilac signs scooting closer, waiting for a response. 'You got hit pretty hard…' His chuckles die down, and he turns over to look at her. As Warren moves, he looks down at the blanket that she put on top of him, and his hoodie lying a bit away on the arm of the couch, and his cheeks tint red.
“W-what happened?” Warren asks, looking anywhere but her as he sits up.
'Those guys attacked you… in the alleyway' Lilac replies, watching him carefully to make sure he won’t hurt himself again. Strangely, he seems fine. Warren is sweaty, and he looks like he’s been through a natural disaster, but he still flashes her a grin at her concern, the blush mostly gone from his cheeks.
“Thanks for helping me out, Lil…” Warren looks around at her mostly empty apartment. “This is your place? It's so empty.” Lilac flushes red.
'I just moved here, like I said before… and besides! You just got hit by a bat!” She flings herself to her feet, startling Warren. She pouts, grabbing his arm as gently as she can.
'I’m taking you home' she signs before picking up his hoodie from where she had set it on the couch arm. She picks up the blanket too, just in case.
“W-what?” Warren sputters, unable to resist her insistent tug as she pulls him out of her apartment.
Lilac spins around to lock the door behind her.
'You have a house, right?'
“yeah, but…” Warren pulls his arm out of her grip gently, smiling at her with one eyebrow raised. “I share it with my sister, who’s pretty jumpy…”
Her eyes widen the same time his does.
"Oh crap” Lilac signs, fumbling for his hoodie. 'Do you have a phone? You should call her!' Warren takes the jacket from her with shaking hands, and pulls out a small smartphone from the front pocket. “She's probably worried sick,” he mutters, eyebrows knitted together.
Warren enters in his password quickly and checks his recent text messages. He groans, gaining a worried look from Lilac. Jane has been blowing up his phone since 10 pm, Warren aches to complain, but he’s too busy hating himself. What a way to drive his sister insane.
‘hey J, i’m okay, had a situation and stayed with a friend’
Warren sighs as he hits the send button, expecting a stern reply. He gets his answer almost immediately, Jane probably had her phone open all night.
‘You idiot! I was so worried! I thought you were dead! Where are you? Also, what situation? You better be back here in the hour or I'll come and kill you myself!’
‘I don't think you'd want that, J, who will read you your bedtime stories?' Warren replies dryly.
‘GET BACK HERE NOW.’ Warren chuckles, glancing up at Lilac to see the worry fading from their face.
'I can walk you there?' Lilac offers immediately. Warren looks at her for a second before shrugging.
“Sure.” He switches over to his contacts app. “Hey, also, what’s your number? You saved my life back there. I dunno, it’s just kinda weird not to know it.” Lilac smiles at the way Warren turns into a stuttering mess. She opens up their phone and hands him it with her humb open, Warren types it into a new contact. “I'll text you later,” he promises, shoving his phone back in his pocket as he slides on his hoodie.
'Well, we should get going, I guess. Don’t want to worry your sister any more than she is already' Lilac tugs on Warren' sleeve, bringing him towards the stairs. They head outside into the gardens, and Warren gapes at all the flowers and nature blooming around him. There are crystalline fountains being emptied into wading pools, trees and hills there purely for relaxing, and the architecture of the buildings is just… Warren shakes his head in amazement. “Wow,” he breathes, glancing at Lilac, who just gives him a smile. They've been smiling a lot, he thinks to himself. I feel like making them smile more. It's a nice smile. They open the gate and head out.
Lilac looks up at Warrens’ house, taking it all in. She swears her mouth has hit the floor. The walls are a pale yellow. The roof sweeps upwards, with windows poking out on either side. It’s easily a two story house, but there’s ample room for a third floor in there. The porch has an overhang, and someone’s tied little crystals and dreamcatchers to the drain pipe. The lawn out front is a little overgrown, but full of tiny flowers, which, even though some of them are technically weeds, seem to be more full of love and care than those by your apartment. Warren gives Lilac a small smile as she takes it all in, and his mask drops for just a second. Then they hear screaming from inside the house.
“WARREN” a smaller fox, wearing what looks like a light pink dress, bursts out of the front door. She runs right past Lilac, as if he didn’t quite see her, and starts to glomp her friend. Warren has his hands out in front of him in a pleading, surrendering gesture, and his eyes flick to Lilac for a second as he talks through his smile. They have a one-sided argument for a bit—she can see why Warren called his sister excitable.
“Sorry about that, Lilac” Warren apologizes, looking to his sister. “This is Jane. I call her J.”
“Nice to meet you, Lilac!” The Jane sticks out her hand, which Lilac shakes politely.
'Nice to meet you too,' she signs, Jane beams and her eyes sparkle.
“Thank you for taking care of my big brother, he's a doofus.”
“Aww, but J,” Warren says, smirking. “your the one who needs the bed time story to sleep.” His eyes flick to Jane for a reaction, and neither of you are disappointed. Her eyes widen in shock, then she sprints back into the house slamming the door.
"YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDNT TELL ANYONE" a muffled voice screams. Lilac and Warren stand there for a moment before Jane comes back out, looking very done with the world.
She gives you an apologetic look.
“Sorry, Lilac...Warren is just being annoying”
'It’s no big deal,' Lilac signs waveinb it off, fighting back laughter from the sarcastic look on Warrens’ face.
“Hey! Why don't you stay for lunch tomorrow? That could be fun! It's a thank you fir looking after my big brother.”
'Oh, no, I can’t impose—' Lilac fumbles with her hands.
Warren jumps in
"C'mon, Lil. I-we-insist.” The purple hedgehog gives him a smile, then looks at Jane.
'Sure, that sounds great.'
The two siblings go back into the house, Warren looks behind to catch one last look of Lilacs smile before she turned and walked away. It was a wonderful smile.
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