Chapter Text
=== Vi ===
They were currently resting in bed together after spending an eventful day chasing each other all around the Undercity without a care in the world, which was a true rarity these days with life’s ever-growing pressures and responsibilities.
Vi was mindlessly twining Powder's little braid between her fingers in one hand and absentmindedly rubbing circles on her back with the other as the girl lay there peacefully listening to her steady heartbeat.
The smaller teen was half-dozing but still conscious enough to inhale her older sister's comforting scent as she clung to her midsection.
Her distinctly higher-pitched purring perfectly complemented Vi’s rumbling one, indicating how serene they felt after basking in the luxury of a full day spent in each other’s uninterrupted company.
These days, there has rarely been much spare, ‘incident-free’ time for them to goof around like they used to do daily as kids.
Things were much more straightforward to understand in those days when Vi had no significant obligations other than keeping Powder and herself entertained and mostly out of trouble.
The ‘incidents’ were very different, few and far between then.
Sure, their senses are sharper nowadays, and they have learned to hone them more specifically, enabling them to ‘read’ each other and other people more effectively.
(But their heightened senses also complicated things they had never felt the need to overthink during their early childhood when smells were just smells.)
To her, it was a wonder how other people got by with their duller senses because Vi had no words to describe how or ‘why’ she could sense so much about Powder’s physical state yet simultaneously know absolutely nothing about her state of mind through scent alone.
If it weren’t for that heightened sense, she might not ever know what to expect from Powder anymore, as she had also become a much more complex individual as she entered her teenage years alongside her.
Having no role models to help Vi understand the world through the extra dimension of scent, losing their parents at such a young age, and knowing of no other werewolves at the time often left her feeling like she was stumbling alone in the dark.
The pressure to lead would sometimes nearly bring her to tears in her private moments.
She was also doing her own growing up, after all.
Yet, Vi still knew it was her sworn duty to hold Powder's hand as the girl followed in her steps, however clumsy they might be.
(Vi certainly didn’t always have the correct answers or handle situations ‘perfectly’, of course. She had unique inner conflicts about who she was becoming and what that could mean for their dynamic as they grew older.)
There was an ever-growing, gnawing desire for violence and aggression she did not know what to do with sometimes.
Something dark lay dormant within her that frightened her.
Something she had dreaded awakening for as long as she could remember.
Vi knew it was not a question of if but of when it would wake.
Having repressed it for so many years, she knew it would one day finally culminate in something of which she only had a vague, incomplete image in her mind’s eye.
Glistening fangs, bloodied claws, and a tangle of fur.
The terrifying image was mainly pieced together from hushed words of caution from their parents before she was old enough to retain most of them and her wild imagination.
The complete range of her parents’ teachings had long been forgotten, but what lingered in their absence was the primitive dread of the mindless beast she might transform into one day.
Of how her unchecked base desires for violence and dominance could turn her into a physical threat to those she loved the most without warning someday.
And one day, she also surmised that Powder would be even more vulnerable because of her inherently meek nature.
Vi was sixteen now, and despite how callous she could still be towards her younger sister, she was equally, or perhaps even doubly, protective of her at the end of the day.
(And perhaps, she surmised, this need to protect her sister from threats had been so ingrained into her psyche that she had willed her first shift not to come even after all these years past the age she had been told it would happen.)
At this point, she believed she had somehow ‘defied’ biology through sheer stubborn strength of will alone.
Nothing in their dynamic would ever have to change because she refused to let it happen.
If she could remain firm, perhaps she could prevent herself from fully losing control of her rage and aggression.
Or at least not in a way that is destructive to her loved ones.
Just because she had been born with a dormant beast inside her, it did not mean she would ever let it rule her.
She had been behaving so well for Powder lately.
So gentle.
Just like the younger girl deserved.
She had worked hard for this and would do everything possible to stay this good and gentle for Powder forever.
But it had taken quite a while to get to this point, of course...
---
Vi remembers a long time growing up when she intentionally acted rude towards her baby sister.
Just because she could.
Because it was so easy to be with someone who did not even try to fight back most of the time.
She could not explain exactly why she did what she did or why she would let Powder get so close only to forcefully shove her away.
Vi could not explain why she felt thrilled when she saw how her beautiful gunmetal-blue eyes would widen and almost instantly fill with tears when she did that.
Her sweet, comforting underlying scent would sharply spike with what she later identified as obvious anticipatory panic.
The sharper scent would intensify and intermingle with the scents of exertion, directly proportional to how far she could keep up with her as she jogged away.
(She stopped breaking into a full run early on in her bouts of bullying, as she had decided it was far less enjoyable to leave Powder in the dust. It was much more ‘satisfying’ to trail her along just close enough to give her hope and let her think she could almost keep up with her as she first learned how to run properly.)
It was amusing to let her catch up just enough to hear her watery, desperate cries of Vi’s name and pleading wishes for her to slow down or stop running altogether.
Powder’s harsh breathing would slowly but surely transition from anxious sobs to panted, focused breaths of exertion as she gradually closed the gap naturally over months and years.
Maybe the twisted belief that Powder ‘needed’ her so much, despite her flaws, drove her conflicting actions.
At least initially.
Vi never understood how, no matter how many times she would bully her, Powder would still run after her.
Seek her attention.
Her touch.
Do things that would seemingly be ‘only’ to draw her gaze when she could not be physically close to Powder.
No matter how many times she shoved her away or handled her a little too roughly, fully taking advantage of her superior size, the smaller girl would still seek her out for comfort immediately after.
It was almost as if a single touch or soft glance would make her forget how much of a jerk Vi could be toward her without proper justification.
Powder would still squeeze her tight when she got back within reach, shyly whimpering into her chest as she doused Vi with her sweet scent of relief.
Then Vi would 'suddenly' turn into mush as Powder would giggle through the last of her sniffles and rub her tear-stained cheeks anywhere she could to scent her.
Vi would often pretend to want to stop that adorable ‘retaliatory’ behavior and shove her away again, but with much less heart in it after this.
Hurt, then comfort.
And repeat.
It became an odd routine of theirs, one of capture and release that linked them daily like an invisible rope that only their hearts could sense and tethered their souls.
With time, that subconscious push and pull evolved into a game that they both began to look forward to inciting purposely.
It was also a game they sometimes let their brothers or other kids join to add variety and further ‘difficulty’ by muffling each other’s scent trails.
But in the end, they would still gravitate toward each other first and quickly lose interest in chasing anyone else once they locked eyes on each other.
(Because of this tendency, Mylo and Claggor often made snide remarks, but Vi and Powder could care less about what they thought of their bond.)
There was something uniquely fulfilling about their ‘game within a game’ that no one else could ever hope to live up to or even attempt to replicate.
The subconscious physical reactions they would provoke in each other, such as subtle changes in scent, became almost addictive to their heightened senses.
The give-and-take of those exchanges started to blur the line between who was trailing whom in each round.
Eventually, they stopped caring about who ‘won’ the chases as long as they triumphantly met at the silently agreed-upon finish line to give each other a tough time.
Vi would beam with pride when she saw that her lead on Powder was getting shorter and shorter as time passed, despite her increasingly complex attempts to throw her off her scent.
Something deep inside her soul would make her feel like she was ‘providing’ Powder with invaluable life skills that only she could give her.
It made her feel so important to and trusted by her.
And sometimes, that was enough to strengthen her drive to improve herself to give Powder even more.
Vi would remember this time in their lives with fondness and a pang of grief because life had been far less complicated.