so like the flower that you are - wormwood

[wormwood.]

There were actually quite a few ways that Wormwood and Feza proved to be very similar. In his current state, Worm definitely would have denied it until the day he died, but it was true. Both of them tended to be creatures of action, keeping their feelings and words bottled up inside and choosing to show their emotions through elaborate parties or pushing themselves to the very brink of exhaustion in order to finish just one last patrol. Ultimately, they both ended up keeping their true emotions locked away, until eventually they bubbled up and tumbled out without their permission, usually ending with other people getting hurt or feeling pity for them. Worm had done that in the past, and he liked to think he had since made up for it, which seemed to ultimately mean that it had been Feza's turn to fall apart. Surprisingly, the person that had ended up getting hurt in that exchange had been Wormwood, with false accusations hurled at him that reminded him far too much of his past, along with the despise that had been flung at him by his elders back when he was a cub. Since then, he had only seen Feza a couple of times, trying his best to just keep things professional and courteous without much emotion slipping into it. He could tell sometimes, from the way that Feza stammered or the way that the light faded from her eyes, that she felt guilty about it, her heart sinking at his cold tone and narrowed eyes. It felt like his own sort of cruelty, but it also felt like it was deserved. The implication that he would hurt another Tangler by choice? It still made bile rise in his throat whenever he thought about it. Hell, the betrayal had even come up occasionally in his conversations with V over tea, his voice becoming hoarse and angry from venting, until eventually Viera comforted him in her specific motherly way.

Wormwood had just gotten back to his small house at the edge of town from one of those very same teatime sessions, when he heard the knocking against his door. He lifted his head up from the pillows that he had been resting against, his body aching in protest after all of the chores that he had been doing lately. Feza's highpitched voice made his ear flatten for a moment, before he slowly slipped down from his bed, his long legs stretching out in front of him to ease the pain that had been afflicting him for several days now. He considered just ignoring Feza for a moment, and letting her think that he wasn't home, but eventually he decided against it, choosing instead to cave to her pleading for him to open the door. It did legitimately sound like whatever she needed was important, and while he had been a bit gruff with her lately, it wasn't as if he was a complete dick. Slowly moving over to the large wooden door that served at his safeguard against the outside, Wormwood pulled it open and blinked when he saw the brightly colored female standing there. She had a party bag with her, and he immediately felt like running for the hills, but he held himself back yet again, the lion's head tilting to one side as he questioned, his silvery blue eyes glancing both between his fellow guardsman and the gift that she carried with her, "Yes, Feza? What is it? What's so important?" He didn't sound cold or annoyed, just sort of tired. He had been looking forward to a nice long nap before he subjected himself to more work, so he was drowsy and still half off in a sleepy state. Unlike Feza, he wasn't not sleeping to avoid nightmares anymore, but he hadn't been getting nearly enough sleep as of late, and it was beginning to show in the eay that he was moving and speaking.

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]