The past was something that Delilah had once forgotten, the memories of her forest- her kingdom- was buried into her mind, only to be shoveled back up the moment she had flashbacks. Terrible, cruel flashbacks. She didn't like to remember those who didn't enjoy her presence- her siblings, Kasper in particular- was a thought she didn't want to remember. He was always about duty, shunning her for her being born wingless- proof that she was going to grow up impure. Her future was impure.

Faeries of royal blood were to stay pure until marriage, until they had found someone to pass on their bloodline with. Delilah broke that rule when she ran off with her lover- and then.. When she was enslaved. Now, she was stuck with inky black wings, dripping with charcoal-colored igor that stained the grass and made the nymphs cringe at just the sight.

She was pitiful.

Delilah had often thought of Renegadeanthem, about how he was doing while she was working- the pastel felidae was glad he seemed to talk to some people, he even defended her when the ghosts came around and tried to attack her. She couldn't admit it openly, but he was her hero- Without him, she would constantly think about the past, her mental health would slowly begin to degrade itself again, she couldn't really help it.

Paranoia wasn't something Delilah was happy that she had, she always seemed to second-guess everything around her, unwilling to trust even the nicest man who tried to talk to her about directions in the swamp. She could tolerate very few males- Vigenere, Morgan, Leroy, and Renny. Just thinking about being in the same room as any other guy made her uncomfortable, made her eyes widen to the size of saucers before she actually got to reply to the guy. She felt bad, but they should have known. Everyone knows how much of a coward Delilah is.

When she heard the floor creak, Delilah tensed slightly, inhaling the scent in the air quickly to make sure she could turn around. Renny. Renny was here. Quickly, Delilah set her satchel onto the ground, her claws making soft clicking sounds against the ground as she shuffled over to the lynx on three unstable legs. "Renny!" Came the sing-song voice of Delilah as she greeted her friend and roommate with a gentle, rare smile. "Nope, I just finished what I was doing. What's up? Do you feel unwell?" She asked curiously, fondly glancing over the scarred feline's body. Maybe a bit too much staring, but Delilah didn't understand the whole 'just because you're a medic doesn't mean you can stare excessively at muscles' part of her job. Not yet, at least.

After all, he was just a friend. What wasn't there to admire about him?

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —

Pastel features moved closer to the lynx with hardened determination as she glanced over his face once, twice, once more to be sure he wasn't lying to her. When she was satisfied enough with his answer, the pink felidae let her inky wings disappear, black igor staining the ground under her but she didn't seem to mind. It would dissolve eventually- if not, she could just go and clean it up later. Or get Matias to.

Herb hunting? That sounded fun at least. Delilah had always been rather fond of herb hunting since way before she even became a medic, studying under Malphas as his student and apprentice despite him being seven months younger than her. "Just as long as you're okay with all of the walking. Let me metalbend a prosthetic for my leg.." She murmured, turning to a pile of scrap metal across the room. Shuffling through it enough to find some light, sturdy metal, she used earth manipulation to shape the minerals in the metal, bending it all and mending it together to create a temporarily prosthetic.

Slipping it over her stumpy leg, she put some pressure on the prosthetic before testing it out. It felt stable enough- she could deal with this. "I had to fiddle with this power a bit- but I can metalbend pretty easily." She meowed cheerfully, the soft clanking of her metal claws permeating through her den before she pushed her side up against Ren's own as she walked past him, her tail coming up to cup his chin swiftly before walking out of her den, telekinesis lifting her satchel up and carrying it outside with her.

"Don't fall behind, Renny! Wouldn't want my prince in shining armor to get lo- OOF!" Delilah stumpled, her metal leg getting caught on a root, causing her to fall forward. Her chin hit the ground, Delilah silently scolding herself for being so fucking clumsy. Why was she so damn clumsy? What she didn't know was that as she rolled onto her back to pull her metal leg out of the root, her fur was brushed aside, the branding on her stomach visible. But who cared? Renny wouldn't mind her scars- it wasn't like he caused them or something like that.

Oh, she was in for an emotional rollercoaster..

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —

Lies. Something Delilah only told when she absolutely needed to, or when she was incredibly nervous. She would always lie if it meant she survived, if it meant she didn't get the short end of the stick. If it meant she didn't die. She could have lied if it meant that her life was at stake, but it wasn't.

This was Renegade, after all. She couldn't ever lie to him.

Her fur brushed against his own as she stood up, being wrenched free from the tree root within a few seconds. While there were eyes on her, she was sure she could hear snickering and gossiping off to the sides, but forced herself to remain calm despite the dwelling bout of paranoia in her mind.

Ren's voice just so happened to snap her out of her paranoid daze. "Huh? Oh- Yeah, Sorry.. Clumsy.." Delilah huffed softly, amusement sparkling in soft magenta eyes as she fixed her prosthetic back onto her thigh, continuing her somewhat peaceful walk into the emerald forest, swamp life surrounding herself and her friend. Her heart pounded against her chest, and she knew it wasn't because of his question about her having a tattoo. It was him, his presence, his smell, everything about him. She felt intoxicated by his presence, but she knew it was too rude to ignore such an important question.

Lifting her head a bit, Delilah offered a skittish smile to the demon, before she replied to him, a shaky edge to her soft voice. "Not exactly a tattoo, more of a scar." She said nervously, her tail wavering behind her as her satchel moved to adjust itself onto her back, the strap wrapping around her neck to secure it. "I've got a pretty dark past, not exactly a topic I should talk about on the first date, huh?" She snickered, trying to cover up her nervousness with a very terrible joke about this being a date- this was a date though, wasn't it? No, they were friends. Renegades wouldn't see her as more than a friend, and Delilah was comfortable with that.

Besides, who would want to be with someone as impure as herself?

"I come from a line of.. Faeries. Like.. The faeries you hear about in fairy tales and lore. My mother is named Titania. Pureblooded faeries are sought after, we're rare, powerful, mysterious. Selling our kind would make mortals lots of money. Maybe that's why they took me.." Delilah found herself rambling aloud, her voice trailing off desperately as she tried to explain just what the scar meant without being too direct.

Then, she came to a stop in the middle of a field of grass, her claws latching onto a patch of chervil, snapping up the plant and lifting it up to glance at it idly. "I was enslaved by a group of men. I don't remember anything further than the cage I was in, but I remember that they were all men. Every single one of them. They had taken more of my kind with them, but only women." She stated bluntly, taking the chance to just talk about it with him. Maybe he could help her cope with it- she knew he must have come from a hard background as well, from all those scars he was covered in, but she never bothered to ask.

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —

Affection.

Normally, if a male tried to touch her, she would have flinched away. She could barely even allow herself to touch Leroy and Morgan, and they were extremely close to her. She liked to consider herself friends with them, and saw Morgan more as an older brother figure than anything.

She noticed how often, Leroy had hesitated to touch her back, the memory of him hacking off her leg never leaving the older male's mind and memory. Every single glance towards her was a reminder of who he thought he was, but Delilah never blamed him. She never held it over his head, she never was angry over it. She would heal.

Even now, if she knew that Renegade had part in the schemes of suffering she was put through as a teenager, she would have never blamed him. He didn't know, it wasn't his fault. They were raised differently, it wasn't his fault that she ended up there, it wasn't his fault that she was tainted and scorned and defiled. He couldn't have stopped the chain of events, only she could have.

She had to save herself, and she did.

The silence was deafening, and then when she heard her friend clear his throat and speak, she could hear the twinge of emotion in his voice. Why was this happening? She wanted to reach out and touch him, she wanted to smooth her paw over his cheek, but there was distance. A wide, burdensome distance between the two of them.  A solid, clear wall. She couldn't find herself stepping through it- she was trapped on one side, stuck watching as Ren internally struggled with what she said.

"You.. You don't have to put so much work into protecting me. I'm just.. I'm just a burden,  I always get into trouble and.." She rambled on anxiously, holding her tail between her paws and stroking it in nervous tandems. She did this when her anxiety was acting up, but she couldn't help it. He didn't seem to want to touch her, he didn't want to push into her, and she wouldn't force the affections upon him.

"Just.. Stay by my side. No matter what, stay." Delilah muttered softly, her obsession with never being alone showing. She didn't want to be alone, she didn't want to be without Ren. She relied on him so much, just his existence was like an anchor for the traumatized female. She wanted to keep him here forever- he couldn't leave her, she didn't..

He's going to run. Just like everyone else. When will you learn?

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —

Tendrils of vines wrapped around her legs as he spoke, anxiety growing further as an air of nervousness surrounded the pastel feline. Don't leave, don't leave. Please don't look away from me- I don't want you to look away. Please don't. His gaze was empty, his voice angry with frustration, but the girl never flinched. Shaky paws found their way to his neck, moving up to lift his head to gaze back at her. Pastel eyes searched the male's own for signs of hatred, hate towards her. If he hated her, she would leave- she couldn't stand the look of hatred in those she cared about's eyes. "I'll never amount to the way you speak about me. Once I die, whenever or however that may be, I'll return to the earth and rot, and all memory of me will cease to exist. Nobody remembers impurity." Her tone was gentle, but the look in those bright pink eyes were anything but. It was sad, broken, almost. It was tragic that one thought so lowly of herself, but it wasn't something she could just change in a day.

A careful lean forward caused the girl's forehead to press against her proclaimed Knight's own, the scent of cherry blossoms increasing in heavy amounts from her growing emotions. He would leave eventually, it was fated to happen, even Delilah knew such. Still, she wanted to be with him constantly, even when it wasn't physically. Slowly, steadily, the scent of flowers grew stronger, nearly overwhelming as the princess left her mark on her Knight, intending on unconsciously making a mental bond between the two. If successful, the memories of her past would rush to Ren's head, nothing being excluded (including her first lover- ah drama).

[If it failed, it would leave a harsh impact on her instead, a pain shooting through her head.]

Drawing back, Delilah let her lips quiver just for a moment, mouthing soft words, inaudible to straining ears.
I love you.
Her paws clenched to her chest, claws digging into her fur. She wasn't ready to confess- it wasn't time, but he should know everything about her. He had to know, it was now or never. Right? The feline seemed to stare at him for a moment, her tail flicking behind her. "If.. If you can't stay with me, I'll stay with you. I want.. To stick by your side, Ren." Delilah confessed, her voice breaking self-consciously. She wanted him to share with her, but a mental bond was formed by trust. He could merely choose to share his feelings, he never.. had to share his past, like she was.

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —