Chapter Text
The week had gone by in a flash. Most of the time she was required to help with several chores around the house “as punishment”, it wasn’t that much different to her day-to-day activities though; vacuum the house, tend to the garden, help grandma with whatever she needed and go grocery-shopping. Snowhill complied, she frowned and grumbled and complained about it, but did all her tasks nonetheless.
On Tuesday, the day after the whole affair, she cleaned the attic. The amount of spiders up there was absolutely horrifying and she refused to go back alone; Ponce had gone with her, armed with a slipper and a rolled up newspaper he smashed every single spider he’d found. It seemed a bit overkill in her opinion but, to be fair, she had interrupted his gaming time (not that she cared, but still).
On Wednesday she accompanied her mother to the local market. It was usually a pleasing outing, but Alexa was still pissed and wouldn’t respond to her conversation attempts. They’d picked up the vegetables for the week and some fruit; she suggested getting some for her grandmother too, a dry “sure” was the most her mom had spoken to her since Monday.
On Thursday, she’d visited her grandmother to help around the house. Her uncle was at work and so was her aunt, so she dropped by to offer her assistance. Not like she needed it, Gigi (a nickname bestowed by Ponce) was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but she allowed Snowhill to stay for the day nonetheless. She mostly carried around a few fabrics her grandmother used to mend clothes, some yarn and knitting needles for her lessons and helped water the plants. As a siren, Gigi was more than capable of doing it herself, but she was pretty old and it tired her too much.
“Say, Gigi” they were hanging out in the living room. Snowhill sat on a couch while her grandmother read the newspaper on her water tank “What do you know about premonitory dreams?”
“Not much, I’m afraid. You should ask your aunt, she’s the expert”
“I wanted to ask auntie but I don’t think she’ll be of much help. Not sure if this is a, uh, ‘divination’ problem”
“Is this related to that girl you hit at school?” the old woman put the newspaper down, a disapproving frown on her face “I still don’t understand why you did that. You’ve never behaved like this before!”
“L-Let’s not focus on that” she fidgeted on her seat, jiggling her leg “I just wanna know if people from your dreams can appear in real life”.
Gigi stared for a moment before bursting out laughing. Confused, Snowhill looked back at her, waiting out the laughing fit in hopes of getting a decent answer; after a few moments, her grandmother said “Of course it’s possible! If you’ve met them before then you’re probably going to see them in a dream eventually. It’s completely normal”.
“But, um, you s-see…” the goat trailed off nervously “w-what if you never saw them before? Like, you’ve never met them but you kind of saw them in a dream? I mean, uh, not saying that it happened to me but a f-friend dreamt of someone and then I-SHE! S-She met them the very next day and it was kinda weird? Like, they’d met before but not really?”
Now it was Gigi’s turn to stare in confusion. It didn’t last long, as a sudden look of realization took over her face; she covered her mouth with a hand, surprised.
“Oh” she said in a breath “ Oh , dearie…”
“W-What?”
“Did you-of course you did, or you wouldn’t-oh, everything makes so much sense now…” she tried to sit up in the tank.
“Whoa! G-Gigi, what’re you doing?! Sit back down!” she stood up and quickly walked towards the tank, trying to make her grandmother stay in said tank.
“Listen very carefully, this is very important” Gigi grabbed the goat’s shoulders with a serious look on her wrinkled face, her earfins wide and fluttering a bit “You cannot, under any circumstances, allow your “friend” to separate from this-this dream person.”
“Uh-”
“Promise!”
“Okay, okay, I-I promise!” Snowhill quickly nodded, a bit freaked out by the sudden change in attitude “But please sit down, I don’t want you getting a heart attack or something worse!”
Things did, indeed, calm down after that. Her grandmother settled back into her tank, she brought her a cup of tea (mint and lemon balm) and they both sat in an awkward silence until her mom came to pick her up. They didn’t leave right away though, Gigi sent her to the car and her mom stayed behind to catch up with her; 20 minutes later she was back in the car, an astounded expression on her face. What freaked her out most, however, was that her mother was actually talking to her amicably. Alexa wouldn’t tell her what they had talked about, she just smiled knowingly and mentioned that she better get ready to go back to school on Monday.
By Friday she was so frustrated with the whole secrecy, she decided to find answers for herself. A difficult, but not impossible task, as she didn’t have access to any electronic devices (or internet, for that matter).She was grounded for using healing magic while unsupervised, of course, as her mother did have a point about the usage of healing magic outside of a hospital: it was dangerous, one small mistake could mean hospitalization and even death. A fine was issued if you were caught using healing magic outside a medical facility, and it cost a pretty penny.
Needless to say, her family wasn’t in the best of situations to afford such a thing.
But, back to her punishment. All of her electronics were taken away, she’d earn them back after a month of volunteer work at the local nursery garden. As such, her investigation would take quite a while to complete but, again, it wasn’t impossible. The library still existed, she’d find everything she needed there.
...Or, that’s what she’d thought at first.
“How am I supposed to find anything if I don’t even know what I’m looking for?!” she whisper-yelled, the librarian had told her to shut up several times already and she didn’t want to get kicked out.
The library was enormous. A beautiful building located right in the city centre, the first of it’s kind to be built back in the 1800’s; the front was a bit dull, but it made up for the many different rooms and huge backyard. Each room was almost the size of a small village, complete with high ceilings and matching mahogany chairs and tables, plus various loveseats and sofas to accommodate most creatures. The backyard (given that name only for convenience) was also enormous, pretty much a forest really; it had a very small lagoon that was connected with other rooms of the library.
Snowhill had decided to start her investigation in the “common room”, though it was really just the lobby. This was where the general and miscellaneous books were kept; you could find cooking books but you’d have to go to a different section if you wanted to look for anything specific. Since she wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for, starting there seemed like a good idea at the time, but…
“This is impossible” she dropped her head to the table, her horns making a loud sound “I’m never figuring this out. It’ll drive me crazy for all eternity and then I’m gonna die...and come back as a ghost because I couldn’t figure it out when I was alive”.
“Sounds dumb. That’s not how you become a ghost, by the way”.
An actual ghost, Max, tugged her hair until she smacked his hand. He volunteered at the library from time to time, whenever University classes allowed it; he didn’t really need to take any more classes, but Max claimed he liked to “keep up with the modern times”. He always wore black leather jackets and t-shirts, his hair (or whatever substance served as hair) was usually up in a ridiculous pompadour; he claimed to have died in the 80’s, though Snowhill suspected he just enjoyed dressing like John Travolta and was too embarrassed to admit it.
“Shut up” she grumbled “Couldn’t you just help me instead of being annoying? Isn’t that your job?”
“It is my job, yes,” Max floated upside-down, his face inches from her “but it’s not my job to babysit you. You’ve been here for hours, you clearly have no idea what you’re doing, doll”.
“Don’t call me that.” Snowhill sat up once again and surveyed the many, many open books on the table “These books don’t say anything about weird dreams, or weird dream-people showing up in real life, or...or whatever weird shit Coral is pulling on me”.
“Hm. Well, knowing what kind of creature this “Coral” gal is might help. She tell you anything?”
Snowhill thought for a moment. Despite keeping in contact with Coral through the week (that’s what cyber-cafés were for), she shared very little information about herself. The goat knew she lived in a small cave in The Abyss, that she liked drawing and could manipulate water to a certain degree; family, friends and old-school life seemed to be taboo topics almost. Whenever she tried asking about it, her friend would either direct the conversation somewhere else or would disconnect altogether. Eventually, she gave up, those were clearly sore subjects for the other girl and she didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.
Sighing, she shook her head “Nah. She won’t tell me and I don’t want to pressure her”.
“Well, then I can’t help you!” Max crossed his arms and huffed, a red-tinge taking over his (usually) white image “We don’t know anything about this girl, and she’ll probably go back to the ocean by the end of the year. Why do you care so much?”
“‘Cause!” she stomped her hoof “S-She’s my friend and the whole situation’s fucking weird. I need to know why it feels like we’ve known each other for years!!”
Snowhill sat down again, dropping her head on the table (again) and covering her head with her arms “It’s so frustrating. We’re strangers, but I know her, but I shouldn’t know her because I’ve never met her before Monday morning. B-But it feels like I have!! It’s freaking me out and if I don’t figure it out before she leaves-”
“Whoa, alright, take a chill pill!” Max floated in front of her, phasing through the table “Is it okay if I touch you?”
“...Yeah…”
“Alright, look.” he grabbed her hands and patiently untangled them for her hair “I can’t say for sure, but that sounds like a soulmate issue”.
“Soulmate?”
“Yup. You never heard of soulmates?” the goat shook her head and he sighed “Alright. So, everyone has a soulmate, usually you’ll get something like a tattoo or a watch that’ll tell you how long you have until you meet them, but it’s not always the case. It depends on the species”.
Huh, so all those fanfictions were actually based on real-life events? People really were born with a soulmate tattoo? Or a clock, whatever.
The important thing here is that she, of all people, had a soulmate. What were the odds really? She fantasized about it, sure, but just because the idea seemed so impossible to even conceive. To imagine that the universe had created a person just for her, someone that would understand her and accept her despite her flaws was...well, unbelievable. And by that logic, she’d also been created to be someone else’s partner for life. Holy shit.
“Holy shit” she whispered “I have a soulmate”
“Well, we can’t say for sure, but that’s what it sounds like” Max shrugged.
“I have a soulmate. Me” Snowhill covered her face, blushing all the way down her neck.
“D’aww you’re blushing!” he laughed and poked her cheek “You’re adorable”.
“No but wait! I-I don’t like her like that!” still blushing, the goat raked her hands through her hair “Or, I think I don’t like her like that? No, no. No. I’m pretty sure I’m definitely not into her. This doesn’t feel like a crush.”
“Huh, that’s weird, soulmates are usually romantic partners”
She stood quiet for a moment, now disappointed. So did that mean that they weren’t soulmates? So much for getting her hopes up. “Well, I don’t know what species she is” Snowhill sat down again, calmer if not a bit sad. She looked around the table again, scanning the books for anything that could be soulmate-related. “She said she’s from The Abyss”.
“The Abyss?!”
She startled and Max covered his mouth, several hissed “shhhhh!” echoing through the room. He briefly glowed pink before settling into his white-coloring again, though he did look paler than before (is that possible for a ghost?). He grabbed her shoulders and shook her, a distressed expression on his face.
“You can’t hang around a deep-sea monster! Don’t you know how dangerous they are?!”
“A deep-sea what ?”
“Those monsters literally eat their young for breakfast!!” either he didn’t notice she was getting pissed, or he ignored it “T-They’re terrifying creatures, almost Lovecraft-level of horror!! What on earth is she doing on the surface?!”
“Don’t call her a monster!!” Snowhill abruptly stood up “She’s never done any of those things!”
“How could you know?! You said it yourself, you’ve never met her!”
“S-She’s my soulmate and-”
“She’s not!!! Those monsters are incapable of feeling anything other than rage. They’re vicious carnivores!!”
“Coral would never hurt me”.
“She could swallow you whole if she wanted to. Monsters from The Abyss are too unstable!!”
“Stop calling her that!!”
Max backed up and held his hands up in a surrendering motion, his eyes wide. She was breathing hard, almost panting; she hated letting her temper get the best of her but really, sometimes it was inevitable. She was too worked up to listen to anything he had to say and her investigation was going nowhere. Furious, she shoved her things into the small bag she’d brought.
“Alright, doll, let’s calm down-”
“Screw you! Don’t tell me to calm down” she quickly walked (read: stomped) towards the exit “She’s my friend, she won’t hurt me and I don’t need your fucking help. Fuck you”.
“I’m just worried!” he followed her and finally stood right in front of her, blocking the exit “L-Listen, I’m serious. Abyss mon-...creatures, they’re incredibly unstable. They don’t have soulmates, they literally can’t; they’re way too violent to live on land!”
“No. You listen,” she poked his chest quite hard “she’s been nothing but nice to me. I broke her foot and she forgave me, that doesn’t sound unstable to me. I don’t give a shit what you say, so please move before I move you ”.
Max sighed but floated aside, a regretful expression on his face “I’m just...I don’t want anything bad happening to you…”
“I can take care of myself, thank you very much”.
There was plenty of space but she still shoved past him, an annoyed expression on her face. It remained there until she got home and locked herself in her bedroom, ignoring her whole family. She paced around her room for a bit, the several plants and herbs rustling just as agitated as she was; a few couldn’t take the burnt of her temper and withered instantly. Snowhill grabbed a pillow and screamed into it, the muffled sound giving her some much needed relief.
A few hours later, Alexa softly knocked and opened the door, the moon providing some light to the otherwise pitch-dark bedroom. Snowhill was laying face down on her bed, several teddy bears and other plush animals piled on top of her on purpose; her horns were barely visible.
“Honey? You alright?” The centaur kneeled by the side of the bed and, slowly, started removing some of the plushies “Did something happen at the library?”
“No. Yes. I-I mean, no I’m not alright and yes, something happened at the library”.
“Wanna talk about it?”
“No”.
“Wanna talk about it over hot chocolate?”
“...”
_
Two cups of hot chocolate later, Snowhill cracked
“It’s just, it wasn’t about what he said- well, it was, but it was more about how he said it. H-He called Coral a monster!! Can you believe it?!”
“Of course I can, it’s not too far from the truth”
The goat stared with an open mouth, an angry flush taking over her face.
“Don’t you start, it’s true! Abyss creatures are notoriously violent, they live in a very dangerous environment. Between fight or flight, they’ll most likely choose to fight”.
“But Coral isn’t like that!”
“She isn’t always like that” Alexa crossed her arms over the table “Or did you already forget about Monday’s incident?”
The goat flinched. No, she hadn’t forgotten, in fact it had kept her up all night for the entire week. The way Coral had snarled, bared her teeth and flexed her claws had freaked her out a bit, sure, but it wasn’t her main concern. What stuck the most with her was how flattered she felt at the threat display. Like, what the hell?! Sure she had a temper but she wasn’t a violent person (usually), carnivores or hunters about to pounce would scare anyone and she was no exception; she was a goat, for crying out loud! Besides, she sure as hell didn't want her mom to be hurt either. She’d meant to ask Coral about the whole thing, but her phone was taken away the very next day and then she just couldn’t work up the nerve to ask her. She’d done some research into that and, well, the results only served to confuse her even more.
“It wasn’t her, it was her instincts.” the goat mumbled, sullen “S-She couldn’t help it, you were yelling and she freaked”.
“Fight or flight,” the centaur shrugged, “and she chose to fight”.
“So what. You agree with Max then? You’re gonna tell me to never talk to her again?”
“Of course not”
Snowhill looked at her mother, seriously considering if the hot chocolate had expired. Or maybe it was just old age. Whatever the case, her mom wasn’t making any sense.
“I’ve got a theory on why she acted on instinct” Alexa stood up and walked to the stove, stirring the hot chocolate for a minute. “I can’t tell you, of course, but by the look of things it seems that I’m right. Based on that, I can’t forbid you from continuing to see her; you’re classmates anyways”.
“Huh?”
“I’m saying that you can hang out” Alexa turned around again, carrying the pot with the hot chocolate and evenly pouring it into their mugs “All I ask is that you be careful. And bring her over for dinner some time, that kid’s way too skinny for her own good”.
“R-Really?” Snowhill tried (and failed) to contain the huge smile on her face.
“Really” Alexa laughed, placing her hand on top of the goat’s and squeezing a bit “You’re a smart girl, and she seems quite clever, I’m sure you’ll figure it out in no time”.
That same night, her mother handed her back her cellphone. The computer was still off-limits, but at the very least she’d be able to text without taking any unnecessary trips to the library (or seeing Max, for that matter). She immediately texted Coral to tell her the good news.
(9:00 PM) You: hey, you up?
She scrolled through social media while waiting for a response. Since she wasn’t the most ‘sociable’ creature, most of the accounts she followed were artists related to her favorite series or movies. There was also the school’s “confessions page”, but she didn’t like to visit it that often; sometimes her curiosity and need for gossip got the better of her though and she caved in, she’d browse the stupid page for hours on end. Snowhill checked her texts again and, since Coral hadn’t replied yet, she decided to indulge a bit and visit the confessions page. It was really a fake account obviously, probably ran by a really bored 4th year student. The way it worked was that you could send a message and it’d be posted in a few minutes. All messages were anonymous to protect the many students’ identities, though she considered it to be a bit stupid; if you wanted to post gossip, at the very least you should man up and recognize that you did it. She scrolled down to the older messages and wasn’t surprised at what she’d found: of course most would be about The Incident on the first day of class.
holy shit I want the goat to kick my ass.
You kidding? She’s such a bitch LMAOOOO!!! The mermaid otoh…
theyre both hot as hell but yeah the goats kind of a bitch lol
i don’t mind I like em fiesty <3!!!!!
“Ugh, gross” she thought, yet she didn’t stop reading the messages.
who are they anyways??
They’re both in the 3rd year I think? I’ve seen the goat around sometimes but the mermaid’s new
ohhhh yeah now i remember!! the goats not so bad she used to heal for free in the infirmary on 1st year
she’s still a bitch tho!!! she broke the mermaid’s foot bc she hugged her, that’s messed up
i’d like to be sandwiched between them tbh <3
simp
simp
Simp lol
I haven’t seen them in class yet tho?
The bitch got suspended and the mermaid’s on leave bc of a broken foot
she broke her foot???
Most replies were the same, either calling her a bitch, lusting over them (ew) or wondering who’d win in the second round. Everyone was expecting them to fight again, some had even set up a betting pool and most students were actually participating. They’d be disappointed as hell come Monday as she had no plans whatsoever to pick up the fight.
A buzzing sound from her phone distracted her, a small notification popping up on the screen.
(9:00 PM) You: hey ‘sup?
(9:30 PM) Weirdo: hi!!!! sorry I didn’t see your message
(9:30 PM) Weirdo: I don’t take my phone with me when i go hunting!!!
She’d forgotten Coral had to actually hunt for her food. She felt bad for a moment, then remembered how she had mentioned fighting whales for sport: Coral probably enjoyed hunting as well.
(9:31 PM) You: its chill
(9:31 PM) Weirdo: soooo...what’s up? why’d you message me? you miss me that much :3c?
(9:31 PM) You: dont be gross why would i miss you? just wanted to let u know i got my phone back
(9:32 PM) Weirdo: omg that’s great!!
(9:32 PM) You: also mom wanted to ask u if you needed a ride to school on monday. bc of your foot and all
(9:35 PM) Weirdo: not rly! but tell her thanks anyways <3
They talked a while longer, sharing bits of each other. Coral mentioned how much she loved seafood and mollusks, Snowhill also mentioned how they made her nauseous and she hated them with a passion. They discovered a shared interest in the horror genre, as well as a fondness for salty foods; Coral seemed to prefer sweets and pastries also, though she claimed she hadn’t had the opportunity to eat as many as she’d like. After a few hours and much consideration, Snowhill managed to gather the nerve to ask her friend the one thing she’d been meaning to ask since Monday.
(1:00 AM) You: hey can i ask u something?
(1:00 AM) Weirdo: sure!!
(1:01 AM) You: i know this is kinda weird
(1:01 AM) You: and u totally dont have to answer.
(1:01 AM) You: but what are u rly? are u a mermaid or?
Coral went silent for a few minutes. Which turned into a half an hour. Which turned into a full hour.
“Shit” she thought “I fucked up. She never talks about that and there’s gotta be a reason and I fucked up ”. Just as she was about to answer she received a message, it startled her so much she dropped her phone on her nose.
(2:00 AM) Weirdo: it’s a very personal question, and I don’t want you to think bad of me because of it.
(2:00 AM) Weirdo: can I answer it later? like eventually I mean
(2:02 AM) You: sure dude thats fine. im sry for asking
(2:02 AM) Weirdo: it’s okay! it’s just a bit...bluuuuhhh for me, you know? i know it’s common courtesy to say your species and all but I’ve had bad experiences :(
(2:03 AM) You: dude its chill you dont gotta justify anything to me. if you dont wanna talk about it its fine
(2:03 AM) Weirdo: see, that’s why I like you!! you’re super chill and understanding :)
(2:03 AM) Weirdo: anyway I gotta head to bed, sooooo……….talk to you tomorrow! night!
Snowhill stared dumbfounded at her phone until it went dark, a heavy blush coating her face. Chill ? Understanding ? Adjectives used to describe her ? Still embarrassed, she plugged in the phone to charge and lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling wide awake.
_____
Months passed. Or, rather, months slowly and agonizingly dragged by. School was boring (as usual) and Spring gave way to Autumn (also very normal) and, while the change had been pleasant and exciting at first, Coral was slowly starting to realize she actually hated it (not very usual). She was used to the deep-sea cold weather, it was always a constant 2°Celcius with no light, steady waters and absolutely silent. The surface cold, however, was dry and absolutely horrid; cloudy skies, a damp atmosphere (somehow?) a freezing breeze here and there. The mornings were the worst though, as she would emerge from the sea soaking wet, get slapped across the face with the early morning cold and then she’d have to endure it until she got to school. Surprisingly, she hadn’t caught a cold yet.
The teachers were fairly understanding, though. She had the privilege of hanging out in the library during recess, the only place with a functioning heating system; other seafolk also hung out there. She didn’t get scolded if she fell asleep during class either, a privilege not many students had; her body wasn’t accustomed yet to the surface weather, so it told her to sleep in order to save energy. Occasionally, Snowhill would also let her borrow a few sweaters, she seemed to have an endless supply of those.
On this particular day, however, everything sucked. The heating system was frozen so she wasn’t allowed to stay in the library during recess, as a result she was slowly walking in circles around the schoolyard, trying to warm up. It clearly wasn’t working, she kept shaking and sneezing every few minutes; maybe she finally caught the bug going around?
“You good?”
Coral looked down (hehehe) at her friend, the goat watching her intently “F-F-Fuh...Fine! I’m f-fine!” she gave a thumbs up, a wide smile stretching her chapped (ouch) lips.
Snowhill seemed unimpressed and clearly didn’t believe her, if the deadpan look she was giving her said anything. She fidgeted for a moment, glancing around the schoolyard at the few students that were brave enough to go to school that day. She sighed, grabbed her arm and dragged her to the school’s store.
“Sit here, I’ll be right back” she pointed at a small bench and hurried to the store.
Coral sat down and sighed in relief, luckily the bench was placed in an open section of the schoolyard, there was no roof or covering whatsoever above it. Meaning, it caught enough sunlight to warm her up a bit, as weak as it was. She dozed while waiting for the goat to come back, she could rest for a minute or two…
“Hey, hey! Don’t you fall asleep on me. I’m not carrying you up three flights of stairs”.
Or not.
“ ‘m not sleepin’...” she mumbled, sleepy “Whatcha got there?”
“Something to warm you up. Hold these,” Snowhill handed her two styrofoam cups, looked around once again and quickly shrugged off her sweater.
Coral completely woke up at this, sitting up and staring in amazement. Snowhill was covered, from neck to toe (hoof?) in a very, very thick layer of brown fur. It looked so soft and warm, too. She meant to say that, but what came out instead was “Holy shit you have a body”.
“Wh- of course I have a body!!” the goat’s fur puffed up in agitation, she glanced around once again and finally handed her the sweater “Here. You clearly need it more than me”
She wanted to refuse at first, as her friend was clearly uncomfortable walking around in just her fur, but she was so cold and sleepy, and the sweater looked so warm…
“Thank you!” she handed over the cups and pulled over the sweater, sighing deeply she snuggled into it “Oh my God, it’s so warm! Did you make it?!”
“No, but my grandma did” the goat handed her one of the cups and took a small sip from hers “So I’m actually gonna need this one back”
Oh, shit, right. She always forgot to return the borrowed sweaters “F-For sure! No biggie, I’ll give it back tomorrow”.
They sat in silence for a few moments, Snowhill continued to sip at her cup and Coral stared at hers. She swirled the thick, brown liquid in confusion; it didn’t smell nor look like coffee, it clearly was hot though, steam steadily rising from the cup.
Eventually, she asked “Uh...not to be ungrateful, but what is this exactly?”
“Yours is hot chocolate, mine is tea”
“It doesn’t just come in bars?! You melt it?! And you drink it?!”
“...Yeah. Guess you never had any before. It’s not as good as my mom’s, but it should warm you up some. But be careful, it’s ho-”
Coral downed half the cup before clamping a hand over her mouth, her eyes watered and she stomped her foot in quick succession.
“...it’s hot”.
She finished her drink, her throat still sore. They sat in a comfortable silence, broken occasionally by a kid or two running around the schoolyard. A cold breeze swept through and she shivered, the sweater was thick but it clearly wasn’t enough to keep her warm; the goat didn’t even flinch, though. Slowly and casually, she inched closer and closer to Snowhill, eventually hugging her arm with one hand and holding her cup with the other. The goat looked at her, snorted and continued to drink her tea; Coral smiled and snuggled closer.
“You didn’t kick me this time!”
“Yeah, well, guess I got used to it”.
The bell rang, but none of them moved to get up. Next class was math and neither of them liked it, so they could skip it for today.
“Hey” Snowhill broke the silence, staring intently at her hoofs “Do you know anything about soulmates?”
She froze.
Shit, shit, shit. Had she let it slip? That her true motive for moving to the surface was basically a manhunt for a soulmate?
How did she guess? Had someone told her? Was she going to dump her?
Shit. Did Snowhill think she was
using
her?
She was panicking, fuck. Fuuuuck. Alright, no biggie. She just had to lie her way through an obviously uncomfortable conversation.
“...A bit” she was tense, eyes wide and intently not looking at her friend “W-What do you want to know?”
“Are all soulmates romantic?” if she noticed how tense she was, Snowhill didn’t say anything “Like, is it a requirement to be in love with someone to be their soulmate?”
“Um. Y-Yeah, usually?”
“Oh...nevermind then”
Was she disappointed? Had she found someone like that? Fuck, why did that make her jealous? “Uh...d-did you find them? Your soulmate, I mean”.
“I thought I had, but I don’t like them that way. Um,” Snowhill scratched a horn and blushed “I-I mean, I know what a crush feels like and...this didn’t feel like that. So, uh, guess we weren’t soulmates after all”.
She sighed relieved.
...No, wait, why was she relieved? That was awful! She was a horrible friend, this was nothing to feel relief about. Well, except for the fact that Snowhill didn’t seem to associate the concept with her.
Coral sat up and turned to her friend, a small smile on her face “I’m sorry it didn’t work out”
“It’s whatever,” the goat huffed. “it’s not like I was excited or anything”.
She’d been excited, poor thing. She really shouldn’t say anything else on the matter, but seeing her friend so disappointed and sad…”Well, y’know, not all soulmates are romantic?”
Snowhill twisted so fast her neck almost cracked “Huh?”
“Yeah! Like, romantic soulmates are the default, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the only type. Platonic soulmates are a bit rare, and they’re harder to identify, but they happen sometimes”.
The goat stared at the ground, her eyes wide. She was pursuing her lips in a funny face, she clearly wanted to smile but wasn’t allowing herself to. Coral giggled, she wasn’t sure if whoever Snowhill had her eyes on would be a soulmate, romantic or otherwise, but she was glad her friend cheered up.
The thought of her friend finding a soulmate and leaving her made her sad, but if she was happy…well, that’s all that mattered to her anyways.
That, and that Snowhill would never, ever find out her true reasons for moving to the surface.