paranoid in every paragraph -- explanation

[Tena M.]

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Tena Moonspinner —
The ground cracked and splintered directly beneath her paws.  Despite the fire in her chest, an ice began to build in her fierce gaze.  "Dukkra ba dukkra," her words are cold.  Stubborn.  Frustrated.  Final.  "Freedom or death."

"My life," she seethed, "is my own." She wasn't going to let anyone, blinded by a past guilt, take that away from her.  Never.  Never again.  "It's not yours to gamble."

The storm unfurling around her steadied, bright blue hues sharply shifting at the gentle sound of her name.  A choked growl threatening to bite in Lavi's direction.  He'd been the first.  The most stubborn.  'I plan on sticking with you, whether or not you like it because I knew you'd need my help.'  But he never gambled her.  He never hid anything from her.  Just stood by her and fought by her.  Like a friend.  Like an Elysite.

She felt her eyes mist before rounding back on Rin.  "You're not the only one who's failed everyone they care about." Her mother.  Her friends.  Everyone.  "You know what happened to them.  I don't get to have that.  I don't get to have the chance to stop it.  Maybe I don't deserve it for leaving them behind, but I'll never know if they're still alive or dead.  I'll never know and every time I go back- to fight for them I-I-" Fail.

"… My life is my own." You don't call the shots.  No one calls my shots.  No one gambles me.  Not anymore. "…" 'You are not the sole guardian of all of Elysium.' "If you think you can do that, that you have some responsibility, to that, then you don't understand Elys-"

By the mother, what the kriff is it now? Tena's ears flattened as a sudden, massive, bird manifested behind Rin.  Grinning no less.  Her muscles tensed.  Always ready for a fight.  But the bird appeared an observer.  How the kriff didn't I notice- Karabast.  A soft, warning growl nearly escaped her throat.

How she wished she were a simple 'mortal' sometimes, often forgetting the Djinn blood coursing through her veins.  The desert in her very blood.  And how she was irked at more immortals barging into their lives, seeing as they were the root of all this mess.  She most definitely didn't trust sudden, massive bird personas.

But at least she agreed with all of them.

Even if her very appearance made Tena's tail continue to lash behind her, the fur on the back of her neck raised.

If Rin remained stubborn, she had quite a few more words in mind, rage and bitterness still burning inside.
[align=right]— I tell you this story, save your life, set you free