11-11-2018, 09:52 PM
[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 11px;"]Cleo didn't think she'd ever get used to the small collection of black mambas the Typhoon had managed to amass, not when they stood to appear so similarly to Eshe. When handling joiners in the past, she had silently thanked her poor hearing for not picking up on their hisses, nothing more than a detail she could disregard if she didn't permit her red gaze to slide in their direction. And she never did, not when their existence alone ushered forth memories of that all consuming darkness and of the pain inflicted upon her - upon her leg - by her former companion. But that looming mass of a creature's even more frightening bird seemed to be intrigued by their little snake collection and Cleo detected the first feelings of panic rise suddenly within her. Her breaths would come quicker, tiny claws hooking into the ground as they had so many times in the past. No. No. No.
She tried to fixate her focus on anything else, almost crying in relief as she realized that Kaisa was here. The younger child had become somewhat of a comfort to Cleo and in her ailed state, she wanted nothing more than to creep closer to her. A coward. She was a coward- afraid of the very creature she had once adored, once commanded. And Malkyn... She was just like that other hound-esque creature, big and intimidating and capable of starting an inescapable tremble in her legs. It was as if the fates had come together to play off of all her fears, extending her no mercy as they carelessly shoved memory after memory of that dark time down her throat. I am Cleo Roux, The shaky thought formed, red eyes momentarily squeezing shut, And I will not be afraid.
At long last the bengal lifted her gaze up, eyes clouded with terror but upon Mal nonetheless. Do not be afraid, She reminded herself, teeth sinking into her inner cheek. The sting brought her back to reality, permitting her rational mind (what was left of it underneath that horror, anyways) to once more assume control. She hadn't heard any of what her clanmates had said, both too engulfed by her own paranoia and not close enough to hear them with her poor ears, but decided to try and address this stranger. She was Cleo Roux. She was Cleo Roux. "I am Cleo Roux." Voice barely above a whisper, she extended a simple introduction to Mal, finally stealing a cautious glance at her back legs. She'd look down at her own and feel a little better, her anxiety subsiding slightly. She seemed unburdened by whatever afflicted her and, though they had just met, it was inspiring.
"What's your..." She paused as if the concept of a name had fled from her mind just as quickly as it came, only resuming when she was sure she knew what she was talking about again, "Name... What's your name?"
She tried to fixate her focus on anything else, almost crying in relief as she realized that Kaisa was here. The younger child had become somewhat of a comfort to Cleo and in her ailed state, she wanted nothing more than to creep closer to her. A coward. She was a coward- afraid of the very creature she had once adored, once commanded. And Malkyn... She was just like that other hound-esque creature, big and intimidating and capable of starting an inescapable tremble in her legs. It was as if the fates had come together to play off of all her fears, extending her no mercy as they carelessly shoved memory after memory of that dark time down her throat. I am Cleo Roux, The shaky thought formed, red eyes momentarily squeezing shut, And I will not be afraid.
At long last the bengal lifted her gaze up, eyes clouded with terror but upon Mal nonetheless. Do not be afraid, She reminded herself, teeth sinking into her inner cheek. The sting brought her back to reality, permitting her rational mind (what was left of it underneath that horror, anyways) to once more assume control. She hadn't heard any of what her clanmates had said, both too engulfed by her own paranoia and not close enough to hear them with her poor ears, but decided to try and address this stranger. She was Cleo Roux. She was Cleo Roux. "I am Cleo Roux." Voice barely above a whisper, she extended a simple introduction to Mal, finally stealing a cautious glance at her back legs. She'd look down at her own and feel a little better, her anxiety subsiding slightly. She seemed unburdened by whatever afflicted her and, though they had just met, it was inspiring.
"What's your..." She paused as if the concept of a name had fled from her mind just as quickly as it came, only resuming when she was sure she knew what she was talking about again, "Name... What's your name?"