( I WONDER WHY : VISITINGish? )

[WANDERER]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9.5pt; line-height: 1.4;letter-spacing:.1px"]"I'm not fucking with those assholes." The words snap like thin ice, sharp, melting shards. The dog's shoulders are tense, equally as defensive as the stranger who had first accused him. Like her, all he wants is to stay away from the place and never go back. None of these people were hearing a word that he had to say. He needs a conversation, not their fear. Some part of his heart hardens a little bit, but the small dog doesn't back down even with the appearance of... things, creatures, strangers — those are the only words he knows how to describe the new people with. Were he a cat, his tail would be lashing behind him, but as a dog all he can do is clench his teeth. "And I'm not here for therapy." Val forces himself to breathe, though it's a little bit shaky. The tension doesn't fade like he wanted it to, and desperation instead begins to rise in its place. His chest feels tight and breathing is hard, like something sitting on his chest.

"I'm only there because some asshole there enslaved my friend, alright?" Once the words are out, wobbling and soft, he starts to relax a bit. Anxiety rests in his neck and the pit of his gut, every muscle still tense but now more afraid than angry. "I'm just there until I can find a way to get him out. If you really want me to go, I'm gone, but don't you dare call me one of those — monsters." When he first wandered out into the world, he knew right away that nothing was as good as it was supposed to be. Freedom was supposed to be a brilliant thing. Sure, the sun on his back felt great, and the first time he'd seen the ocean, his breath had been taken away. But freedom meant the freedom to make bad decisions too, to do bad things and defend those actions. It gave room for all the wrong things to grow in someone's heart, and the more he wandered, the more he saw just how corrupting freedom could be. And he's tired now.

His tension's gone now, and Val still sits where he had after first ringing the bell, looking a little deflated. It takes a cold reminder that everyone here was just looking to take care of their own too before he manages to get everything back under wraps and look up again. "Forget it, I'll keep walking."