Delilah was fearful in situations like this- she had always believed that something like this could never happen to her. She had already been through enough, the Gods couldn't punish her more than she already had been. Gods, she was so wrong.

Whiplashes covered her greasy pelt, lacking a good cleaning despite Delilah constantly scolding her tribemates to clean their wounds properly. Muscles were sore, claw marks upon her soft, sticky pelt giving it a disgusting appearance. A steel collar was strapped around her throat, tight and restricting of too much oxygen for her to handle, but she could still breathe. Her chain was attached to a wall, the soft clink of steel against the hard sand made her wince.

The girl whom had been torturing her wasn't present, thankfully, and the shelter she had been given was terribly made, lacking any support for her against real nature-based elements, especially rain and wind. Delilah's form was curled up onto the ground, her head weakly pushed against the ground, a rotten mouse in front of her jaws remained uneaten.

She remembered calling out to her friend during her first few whippings, as if he could come and protect her- he would, he promised he would. He was supposed to be her rock. So, when she saw the shadow of black fur, scarred from fights that could not be numbered on one paw, Delilah didn't believe her eyes.

"Ren.. Renny?" Came Delilah's soft whisper, her voice no more than a broken croak as the skinny maine coon remained in place, her metal prosthetic crushed to pieces and discarded off to the side, leaving her stump of a leg to reveal the claw marks over it, nasty and infected.

This was just a dream, just a dream.

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —

Delilah was highly against murder, against torture, against captures. If she knew just what Ren wanted to do to her capturers, she would have scolded him lightly. Nobody deserved to be tortured, but she always left herself out of that. She deserved this- she was weak, she couldn't even defend herself enough to fight back against Cosette.

When his breathy voice reached her ears, Delilah let a soft smile grace her broken, beaten features. A fresh drink of water compared to her situation, but the sight of the heavily scarred bobcat made a broken purr leave Delilah's throat. Ren was here, but he wouldn't be able to make it out.

When he began to tug at her chains, Delilah felt her heart break just a bit. He wanted to take her home, he wasn't thinking logically. He came all the way here to reassure her, to apologize, but in turn, she couldn't fulfill such a request. The chains didn't come off of her, the collar around her neck merely tightening in response, making Delilah sputter a bit.

"Ren.." She tried to catch his attention gently, her paw reaching up to touch his chest. When he didn't respond, still trying to free her, Delilah raised her voice into a hiss. "Renegade! Listen to me!" She scolded him, a rare thing for Delilah. She wasn't one to lose her temper. "Look around you. You're surrounded, you won't make it out with both of us. The moment they see me without a collar or chain, they'll attack. They will kill you, Ren. They'll kill both of us." She spoke shakily, desperately, trying to talk some sense into the male.

You love him.

The thought passed through her head, shocking even herself. She blinked for a moment, biting her lip before shakily rising onto her paws, leaning back against the wall she was chained to. "You need to leave, Ren. Come.. Come back with a patrol, please.. I can't stand the idea of losing you." She whimpered, a pained smile on her face as she desperately tried to hold back her urge to just bask in his scent, to cover him in her own scent so he'd calm down, but she couldn't.

He will never feel the same anyways.
You're not worthy enough.

I know. She thought back in return to the voices in her head, making a bitter smile creep up onto scarred, bleeding lips. They would beat her black and blue, they would kill him. He had to live.

How terrible of her, to realize these feelings now of all times? She was pitiful. She relied so much on him, but couldn't do anything in return. She was useless, a burden to the one man who seemed to want to protect her. He only saw her as a friend, and Delilah knew that.

Before he could argue with her on reasoning, Delilah tapped a paw against the ground, the ground rattling before prison-like bars of stone surrounded her, criss-crossing just enough to make sure Ren couldn't squeeze through. "Si me solum esse honestam .." The soft, bittersweet words of Latin left the girls lips, hurt but desperate. She wanted to stay with him, she wanted him to soothe her, to touch her cheeks.


"Vos postulo ut relinquam mi tempestas. Leave." Her tone came out a bit harsher than she wished it did, but she knew how Ren was. The look in his eyes said everything.

FLEXIBILITY, LOVE, & TRUST —