It was almost a sort of cruel irony that the one to have killed Feza in her life before Tanglewood had been a lion, considering by far her most strained relationship that she had at the moment was the one she had with Wormwood. While the former prince would by no means say that he absolutely hated Feza, since there were very few people he legitimately hated in the world, and Feza had done nothing to have him harbor that much wrath towards her. Thus far the only two people to have the title of hated in his mind were Jervis and Judith, and Feza was far from having done anything as heinous as either of them had done to him or the ones that he loved. No, rather, he would probably just classify Feza as an annoyance in his life. He couldn't legitimately say that he was a fan of her, in any sense of the word, but he certainly didn't wish for her to be harmed, and he didn't want to be part of the reason that she was in her current depressive mindset, even though in the back of his mind he knew that he probably was. After all, when she had last tried one of her little stunts by hanging up those godawful wind chimes everywhere, he had yelled fiercely at her, torn up one of the wind chimes, and had then retired back into his home without so much as an apology. He had regretted it later, but in the moment it had seemed like the right thing to do, since a feeling of great anger had been surging through his veins at the time.

Perhaps the thing that truly infuriated him about Feza was her willingness to smile in the face of everything that had happened to Tanglewood lately. Truthfully that was probably a plus – having someone with such a nature that they could be so focused on happiness even in the face of so much pain – but he regarded her with a sort of bitterness. While he was suffering and wallowing in his worry and his guilt and his pain, Feza had been hopping around everywhere, putting up horrible little self made contraptions that clanged together so loudly that it hurt his relatively small ears. She claimed that the things she did were to make others smile alongside her, but Wormwood never really found that any of her ventures were anything to smile about. Rather than that, he saw them as useless little distractions – desperate attempts to distract from the very real issues that had been plaguing them lately. Ultimately he was sort of right, but Feza's intentions were much more pure than the lion would probably ever realize. She wasn't trying to minimize the tragedies that had taken place or were still taking place, she was just trying to make it so that they didn't all decided to simultaneously jump off of a cliff because of the angst that permeated the entire swamp group known as Tanglewood. If he ever did finally come to the realization of the true reasons behind her antics... well, he probably still wouldnt like them very much, but he wouldnt be nearly as harsh and unforgiving when it came to confronting her about them.

If he had known about her past, and everything that had ultimately ended up happening to her, he probably would've felt a much stronger sense of guilt, and probably would feel a great deal of sympathy for her. He knew what it felt like to have everyone around you in a group you thought were your friends turn their backs on you or hurt you. After all, he had been born into a pride that he had thought would love and protect him as he grew into adulthood, but ultimately all that group had done was burt him both mentally and emotionally, and made it so that he desperately tried to cling onto those that actually seemed to care about him. Ironically, it did seem as though Feza was one of the several that did care about him, even if he didn't truly realize it. Sure, Feza constantly pulled her little stunts for the good of the whole group, but she also exclusively focused on him when he came stomping along to brush out the flames of her fun, and she seemed quite enthusiastic about getting him to smile when he was feeling particularly irritated. Even when he had been down in the absolute dumps, injured and crying, she had offered to help him. This was one of the things that slightly indebted him to her, and made it so he didn't entirely feel nothing but animosity toward her. She did care about him, and he found that he cared about her too, particularly in the moments of calm somberness, when she wasn't entirely bouncing off the walls every other moment. Those were the times that he would actually be happy to call her a friend, if he was being honest with himself.

The lion had been out for a long walk by himself to stretch out his now almost fully healed back leg, searching for any signs of prey or useful herbs, when the sound of Leroy's voice reached his perked ears. As of recently, he hadn't seen the Proxy around so much, and for some reason the other male hadn't been being particularly social. Well, as far as Worm knew Leroy had never been overly social in any sense, but Worm had at least been able to see him out and about more often until recently. He felt a cloud of concern over him at how Leroy had been acting as of late, and it really didn't help considering he was already worrying himself sick over Selby, Beck, and Red. Deciding to investigate what had brought Leroy out of his seeming hiding this time, Wormwood moved towards the noise and smell of the canine, and he eventually arrived at Feza's porch. He winced a bit as soon as he saw the female, figuring she would be in her usual annoyingly cheery mood, but he paused in surprise when he saw the look in her usually bright gaze. She actually looked... sad. She looked exhausted, saddened, and listless – none of which were adjectives that he ever would've used for Feza or anything surrounding her ever before. It was actually pretty worrying, and he internally cussed himself out for being so caring when he slowly moved over to check on her. He really couldn't help himself when it came to the other tanglers – no matter who they were, he felt a responsibility to help them, since even the ones he felt the most animosity towards were his family.

Making his way over to Leroy's side, he settled down beside the Proxy and tilted his head to one side, his eyes scanning over what Feza was doing. It seemed like a usual activity for her, pulling and twisting tinsel together to try and make hats like crowns to perch upon others' heads, but for some reason it seemed as though her heart wasn't truly into it, the helms becoming twisted and awkwardly lopsided the more she worked. He frowned at this, the sense of worry that had come over him becoming even worse, to the point where he felt almost nauseous. If Feza didn't even have it in her to be her insufferably cheery self, then what hope did all of them even really have? He swallowed thickly at this thought, his chest suddenly feeling tight and full of panicked butterflies that seemed to scrape their tiny mandibles against his heart, guilt pouring over his body in cold waves. Taking a deep breath to try and calm himself down, he rumbled softly as he focused his gaze down at his paws instead of directly at Feza, not sure that he could handle the absolutely wrecked look the other tangler had on her face, [glow=black,1,400]"Yeah, what he said. What are you out here making this time, Feza? You don't seem... you don't seem like you're in your usual good mood, y'know?"[/glow] It felt awkward talking to her in such a casual manner after absolutely letting her have it last time they had met, but he felt like he needed to. She needed people to talk to, and he and Leroy were as good as any these days.

A sense of deep shame and guilt spread throughout the lion as he saw Feza trembling before him, her eyes immediately filling with fear and apprehension. He never wanted to instill that reaction in anybody, especially after the many months he had spent having that same reaction pounded into him under the iron fists of his parents. He realized that he had been a bit harsh on Feza in the past after her little stunts, but he had never thought that he was making her fear him. He didn't want to make anybody fear him, save for the bastards that made up the Pitt. His ears immediately pinned down against his head as he took in her body language, and he stepped backward, lowering his body down to seem less intimidating as he tucked his wings in close. He realized that ultimately it hadn't been physically that he had hurt Feza, and he had instead done so with his sharp as daggers words, but he figured perhaps if he didn't appear so frightening, his voice could perhaps convey a more comforting feeling. He took a deep breath before rumbling softly, shaking his head from side to side as he tried to show her he wasn't about to make her stop making her head decorations, [glow=black,1,400]"Wait... wait a minute, you don't have to stop and claim you're not doing anything on my account. You're not doing anything wrong right now, Feza. I'm not going to yell at you, I promise..."[/glow] He realized the words didn't sound very genuine coming from him, but he had to at least attempt to comfort her, since he hated causing this reaction in anyone, let alone the fun loving leopard who he had never seen in such a state before.

The lion was obviously unable to read Feza's mind, but if he had known what she was thinking of, and what she was worried he would do to her, he would've been horrified. he would never physically hurt another clanmates, and he certainly wasn't the type to murder somebody as innocent as Feza seemed. He didn't like murdering anybody at all, and the only person he was sure that he would kill now was probably Jervis, and certainly not Feza. If he knew what had happened to her back when she had been killed while leading her group, he probably would've been furious and protected her, in fact. However, he was pretty sure that Feza would never believe it if he told her that. He wasn't sure if he would ever be able to build trust with the leopard at any point soon, especially considering the way that she was reacting to him, particularly now. There was nothing but strong distrust in her eyes, along with fear and the faintest bit of anger. He hadn't seen anybody look at him like that since his Mother, and it honestly made his stomach curl and clench, and make him feel like he was going to puke, in all honestly. He didn't want to make anybody in Tanglewood look at him the way that Judith had looked at him, and it felt like an awful failure on his part to have her in such a panicked state.

Panic gripped him at the unpleasant thoughts racing through his head, and he let out a soft and pained laugh that almost wracked his body as Feza mentioned the boxes. Shaking his head, he mumbled weakly with a slightly forced smile, not wanting to freak Feza out any further than he already had, [glow=black,1,400]"What... what do you mean ask the boxes? Feza, you know that boxes can't talk, right?"[/glow] He held no malice in his voice as he spoke, instead seeming just vaguely concerned for the winged large feline's sanity. Sure, Noah was a bit odd with his whole 'talking to trees' thing, but at least that was vaguely believable thanks to the fact that trees were living things, and maybe he just had some sort of odd power specific to him. With Feza's odd box comment... well, it just seemed totally implausible, and something said by aj absolute mad person who was slowly losing it – or rather, very quickly losing it, given how Feza usually acted.

"I- I- I do think," Feza sniffled, her trembling worsening for a moment. "I do think! I do! Everyone here is- they're- everyone's sad, yea? Gettin- gettin'- they get kidnapped and tortured and it's all awful! I'm just trying to- I'm trying to make everyone happy, okay? Everyone's just fine to sit and wallow in the- the bad stuff. If I ask them if it's okay for me to, to, to do this stuff, they're just gonna say no. Because in- in the moment they don't wanna be cheered up." Her voice was getting a little stronger, a little less than absolutely petrified. It was still present in her fearful and exhausted blue eyes, another tremble shaking her small form. "They don't wanna be cheered up, they- you just get stuck. And- and- and then it all gets worse, yea? 'If you cry I'm gonna cry', that saying, right? Then no one's happy and never gonna be happy because if you ask then- then no one will say yes because they're sad and- and- and it- it- and- and they're sad and don't wanna be cheered up and so they won't be- they won't take being cheered up at all."

Her hyperventilating had slowed down in her rambling, her blue eyes refusing to leave where they were concentrated on the floor. She knew how it was to stagnate in that sort of sorrow. She was dipping into it again right now. She couldn't ask the boxes if they were okay with her making tinsel hats, because then they would get angry with her, wouldn't they? She had to do it without asking, without giving herself a moment to doubt her ambitions. Feza shuddered, her wings finally growing tired from how tenses they were. They had been pressing almost into her ribs, and it had strained the fluffy limbs far more than flight usually did. They slowly fell from her sides, a weak sob coming from the vibrant snow leopard. "And if I can't ask, then how am I supposed to know what's annoying? There's- there's- there's so many different kinds of annoying and I..I don't understand what's s-so wrong with this and me. How'm I supposed to- to know what considerate is? No one's told me! I just keep getting yelled at!" Her words ended in a wail, shaking and sputtering for a moment more.

Her blue gaze turned to watch the other's paw nudging at the tinsel hat. It was no where near complete, and looked messy and illformed. She took a deep breath, and then another. Wasn't she just proving her own point, by getting so upset? It was a silly nightmare. So what. She lifted her paw and rubbed her face clear of any of the tears that had formed and darkened her vibrant pink fur. Feza stilled herself far too quickly, and presented a smile on her face. It hurt to smile so soon after bawling her eyes out, and it was so dreadfully fake that even Feza supposed that she was trying too hard to make it seem genuine. "You shouldn't get w-worried about little me. I'll..I'll figure out how t-to..be more considerate and ask. Even if it ruins the- the surprise an' everything." Her paw hesitantly lifted away from her face to nudge Wormwood's extended paw. Feza flinched back a little, the fluff of her tail sticking up for a few moments, for a moment the nightmare returning to her mind. No matter how silly she could say it was, the terror it had left her with had been real.

She weakly laughed and dropped her head, wings hanging limp by her sides. Feza knew she was tired, her blue gaze slowly lowering down to the one tinsel hat that she had been working on. "I don't suppose you'd want to- to help with this, because it isn't annoying," she asked, one of her ears lifting from where previously they had been pressed firm to her head. Yes, change the conversation in the slightest bit. Feza didn't like how the conversation had been on her for such a long time. How selfish. How terrible of her. The snow leopard thought bad of her self pity, of how distraught and deathly afraid she had been a moment prior. Her breathing was still shaky, and her eyes still had the water of tears ready to fall contained only barely. Feza's mentality suggested that she had to make up for her episode in some way, and so offer the activity of crafting the tinsel hats she did.