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Camila was flipping through channels on the tv, but not truly paying attention to what was on. Her thought where on what she had learn yesterday. She occasionally glances towards the chair Vee was occupying
A small part of her wanted to scream and demand answers from the… basilisk was what Luz had call Vee if she remembers correctly.
Another part of her felt guilty for not realizing that the person who went to camp wasn’t Luz. That she had not caught on with the letters or the differences in what Vee and Luz likes.
And the final, and biggest part, was an emotion she didn’t quite understand why it was so strong. Compassion for Vee. She knew part of it was because of the total fear the girl had in her eyes when in that cage. But it was more than that, and she wasn’t sure why.
Just like Camila, Vee was lost in her own thoughts. And all them was on what happens now. Camila had been nice to offer her a place to stay yesterday, but how long did that truly last? And now that Camila knew she was a liar, a thief, and a monster, would she be punished like before for that? Would Camila do something worse somehow? Would she die? Would she be torture for information?
As Camila change the channel for the hundredth time in the last minute, thunder was heard from the tv, shocking Camila out of her thoughts. After a few seconds, she calmy turns off the tv, deciding it wasn’t helping.
Camila by this point knew she needed to at least talk to Vee about what happen to get her thoughts out. And she figures doing so on an empty stomach wasn’t a good idea, and asks “Hay Vee, you want to get something to eat?”
After a few seconds of no response, Camila turns her head to look at Vee for the first time since the thunder.
And saw that Vee was in the mist of a panic attack.
For Vee, the sudden loud noise had been enough to send her already spiraling mind over the edge. And now she was so afraid of Camila. She could hear but not hear Camila asks a question, and after a few seconds, Camila turns to look at her.
Camila moves slowly closer to Vee and calmly says “Vee, everything going be ok. The tv off now, so it won’t scare you again.”
Vee didn’t understand what Camila was saying at all, not even hearing the calm tone of them. And all she saw was Camila getting closer to her. And that made her panic to an insane degree.
The next haft of a second was a blur. When her mind caught up to everything, Camila discover she was blocking her face with an arm, and Vee had transformed into her natural form, and left three wounds on the arm she had in front of her face.
Camila takes a few steps back, now knowing that approaching Vee while she was panic was a bad idea. Vee got up and tried to find an escape, but they were on the other side of Camila. She instead she books it into one of the corners of the room and made herself as small as possible.
Camila recognizes what was going on from her time as a vet at that. Vee was terrified of her for some reason. And that made things difficult.
Camila knew that the her wound needed to be treated fast, but leaving the room while Vee was panic would surely lead to her running out of the house. She knew her calming down Vee was next to impossible right now, so that meant she would need heal the wound first.
She glances around the room for a solution, and smiles when she sees her purse. While the mini-first aid kit in it wasn’t as stock as the home one, it still had enough stuff to at least temporary stop the bleeding.
She smiles again when she discovers that her purse had a needle in it. She could make some suture with this and the material in the first aid kit. That would be enough to stop the bleeding long term.
She made sure to never let Vee completely out of her sight while stitching up the wounds. She was insanely glad that she had block with her non-dominant side, and that she had plenty of experience doing stiches on wounded animals to make short work of it, even if it was harder do to only being able to use one hand.
Vee was completely confused at what Camila was doing. She wasn’t approaching her, or yelling at her, or even being terrified because she was hurt by her. Instead, Camila looks completely contempt while tending to her arm, and that started to calm Vee down.
Eventually, Camila was done with the three wounds and looked up at Vee. The girl clearly was started to get out of the attack, but she needed help by the looks.
So, Camila calmly says “Vee, everything going to be ok. And Im sorry that I caused you to freak out so much. The wound is my fault since I didn’t consider that approaching you might be a bad idea. Now, do you want to talk about why you were freaking out, or something else?”
Vee was able to hear the tone Camila was using and understand what she was staying. That was enough to bring Vee out of the panic attack, and nervously she says “I was… afraid of… what you will… do now that you… know the truth.”
“Oh Vee, I should of realize that was bothering you. And honestly, Im not sure. Like I said last night, you can stay here as long as you need. And I will try to make you feel safe here. But beyond that, Im not sure.”
“But why are you being so nice?” Vee asks timidly
And it was at that question that made Camila finally understand where most of the compassion for Vee was coming from. She smiles and says “Because you kept me company in a time I needed it, even if I didn’t know it till now.”
The response Camila gave wasn’t sitting right with Vee. Because it wasn’t true. At least the company wasn’t true. And that was making her angry at herself. Why had she lied to Camila for so long? And why had she hurt her!?
After a few seconds of silence, the anger boils over and Vee angerly says “By lying to you that I was someone else!? That not keeping you company! That deceiving you! And yet you don’t care! You treat me so well, as if Im just a normal person! Well, Im not! I hurt you! I hurt the rats! Im a monster! One that shouldn’t even exist! But no, HE just had to bring such a monster into the world! One that should have been LEFT EXTINCT! SO HERE I AM! A MONSTER WHO HURT EVERYTHING THEY TOUCH! AND…. And….”
With tears dripping from her eyes, Vee says “I never wanted to hurt anything.”
There was so much information to process in that for Camila. But there was a disturbing implication to all of it. But she needed to be sure.
She carefully walks towards Vee and asks “Vee, did someone hurt you on the isles?”
Instead of answering verbally, Vee slowly lift up her right arm and points to slightly below the wrists.
It takes a few seconds for Camila to see it, do to it being relatively faint, but when she does, she let out a gasp in pure horror.
The area that Vee to pointed had a perfectly cylindrical, and no way natural, scar. And Camila instinctively knew that there was an identical one on the other arm, and that they were cause by shackles.
Vee was looking at the ground now. Camila knew everything. There was no way that she be accepted now that it was out. She would have to run again. And she was so tired of running. Why had she….
Camila kneels down and hug Vee after a few seconds. She knew that none of what had happen was Vee fault now. That she was just looking for a safe place to stay. A place away from chains.
Camila calmly says “Vee, you no monster for what they made you do. They are the monster for treating you that way. Never blame yourself for that, mija.”
“But… but…” Vee says, unable to form her thoughts into words.
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, Vee. I understand that it hard for you to trust me. But I promise you that I will keep you safe from the monsters that hurt you, mija.” Camila says while carefully stroking Vee back. She knew to be careful with scales, and she wasn’t about to mess that up with Vee.
“What does… mija mean?” Vee weakly asks
Camila smiles and says “It a shorten version of my daughter, Vee. And while you might not be biologically, I still view you as that.”
At that, Vee return the embrace hard and started hard crying. Camila knew they were a mix of tears of joy and pain.
After a few minutes, Vee weakly says “Can I call you mom?”
“I would love that, mija.”
“Thank you, mom.” Vee says right before the exhaustion from crying and the panic attack started catching up to her.
Camila feels Vee start to doze off in her embrace, and quickly helps the girl to the couch. She then gives Vee some blankets and sits in the chair next to the couch. She smiles and calmy says “That was a lot for you, wasn’t it.”
Vee tiredly nods at that.
Vee hears Camila whispering “Dulces sueños, mi pequeña demonio.” While she might not of understand it, she knew it was something to reassure her. And that made her so glad to have met this wonderful woman who she wanted so desperately to be her mom.
And the way the words sounded made her realize something. Maybe, she wasn’t a monster after all if someone so nice was looking after her.
She smiles at that as her tiredness takes her completely, and she enters a nice, peaceful sleep.