can your heart rate | ooc prompt | rise a little?

[ophelia.]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 65%; line-height:120%; text-align: justify;font-family: verdana;"]Sorting through her own feelings was never one of Ophelia's strong suits. She was good with helping others - or at least she hoped she was - sort through their own feelings, but when it came to herself she tended to push things away rather than face them. Feelings were strange things; she'd never really had the time to focus on them before. Survival was all she'd focused on in the past. Things that were practical mattered more than how her heart felt. She needed to hunt, to fight, to train herself until moving through the motions of living were muscle memory.

Now, though... Now she did have the time to think about how she felt; there was time to examine her own heart and decide how she wanted to treat it. The concept was as thrilling as it was terrifying.

Lately, most of her thoughts were drifting toward Leroy, swirling around him in heart-shaped patterns that she was slowly acknowledging. It was strange, but she didn't let it bother her. At least, she tried not to. It wasn't that big of a deal for friends to become closer, to become more. He wanted that, she thought, and she did, too. It wasn't a big deal. Well... Okay. Maybe it was a big deal, considering that she'd never experienced romance before in her life. It would be fine, though. It would. It couldn't be much harder than friendship. Romance was just... advanced friendship, right? She could do that.

Taking a deep breath, Ophelia slipped her new choker around her neck, making sure it fit properly. It had a longer chain in the back, would be easier to fit onto different forms as she shapeshifted and discovered them. For now, it was perfect for her look as a german shepherd. Her thoughts flew by in a blur for a moment, reminding her that Leroy thought she was pretty, and she tried and failed to not get too embarrassed about it. She knew she was pretty. She knew it in her original form; she always had. She just wasn't used to others pointing it out yet, casually fueling her pride and her ego. It... wasn't a bad thing.

Her paw touched her chest for a small moment, thoughtful, before she grumbled unhappily and went to fulfill her duties.

Shaking out the thoughts swirling in her head, she wandered around the mess hall, exchanging the dying bouquets at the ends of the tables for new, beautiful ones and refilling the vases of water. As she reached toward the last one, her paw bumped against the vase and toppled it over, and she could only watch, embarrassed, as it crashed to the floor and shattered. She couldn't stop the "Dammit!" she let out as it smashed. The sound of the vase shattering was loud, and she let out a soft, unhappy huff. Get it together, Ophelia. You're not clumsy. Stop letting your thoughts distract you and ruin your reputation.

//the last paragraph is the only necessary part to read if it's too long and you dont wanna read the rest! <3