Shadewood but everything changes, and everything dies

Setting this for tomorrow night since tonight wouldn’t make sense <3

Paranoia was a state Themis had lived in for years.

She recognized its iron clad grip on her galloping heart. In the strung out way she felt. The Shadewood would protect them, she had no doubts about that, Vorilye’s sister had no reason to check here when she found him in the plateau.

But it lingered. Behind her teeth, in her eyes, in the sharp curves of her body.

With the return of that mindset, came the nightmares. They came on slowly, at first. Flashes of a life hard lived, when she was still so young. The jeering faces, the names she never learned, the siblings dead because of the cuckoo in their nest. Then, they morphed. Changing and growing hot and molten in her brain. The scent of iron blood. The choked crying of a guardsmen moments before his throat was removed. The feeling of teeth, on her lower jaw and the back of her head, forcing her mouth to open.

The taste of the life of another.

Themis shot up out of her sleep, stumbling to her feet and taking several shaky steps out of the whelping den, breath coming in gasping wheezes as she sat down at its mouth, panting like a madwoman.

Γαμώ She managed when she got a little bit of shaky breath back, raising one paw to fold over her nose.

imma just... take this <3 Tag is for reference!

He awoke to gasping, but was it his own, or Themis'? He, too, had been been stuck within the dreamworld, but his aggressors were @Jaganatha, and Vex. His father sneered while Vex tore his throat open, but then, he woke. Trying to calm the hammering of his heart, Vorilye tripped out of his den and into the darkness of the wood, just as he heard her speak, though it was in a tongue unknown to him. "Themis." He called to her, softly, dry-mouthed. "Are you alright?"

When the grey shaded woman lifted her paw from her face, she would forever deny that her eyes were in any way wet. She watched Vorilye for a moment, before her eyes went to the dirt.

I’m fine, she wanted to say, it was just a silly dream.

I don’t know. She rasped after a moment, lifting her eyes. She had to stop lying. To herself, and to those around her. This was her pack.

This was hers.

Sorry if I woke you. Came the meek follow up, as she squared her shoulders underneath her pelt.

A hard swallow. He was not an emotional man, and he wasn't sure how to help her in this moment. But when she apologized, he told her, "No, no — it's fine. I... I couldn't sleep either." He sighed, frowning slightly. "How can I help you?" It was so unlike him, to actually care for others. It was taking some getting used to, and he didn't want to overstep any boundaries.

Themis was quiet, for a time. She pulled her head back to look at the thick canopy above her head, before she gave a gentle breath out.

You can’t. A frank answer, but it was simply the truth.

At least I don’t think I can be helped. Unless you have some method of going back in time. The words were there, and Themis was so, so tired. It had been two years, almost. She had been carrying these burdens alone for two years.

You know my name isn’t Themis, not the one I was given when I was born. Her words were slow, halting, as if she was trying to piece her life together one by one.

I was born Dýo. Two. I was apparently the second born of my litter, not that I ever managed to meet my siblings. My mother was a bitter creature, and I never knew her name. They barely gave her any time to nurse us before they put us to work. Myself, and my mother She lapsed into quiet.

I was born to pay off a debt. The debt killed my mother, but she was never there, so it never hurt much. What hurt..what hurt came afterwards.

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Themis began to speak, and she did not stop for quite some time. Vorilye listened, silent and somber. Her tale made him think of his own mother, Ysolda — she'd been found at the edge of his family's territory, eviscerated and with her throat slashed open. His father had claimed it was a cougar, but Vorilye had seen his bloodied paws, the tufts of Ysolda's fur still hooked on his sharpened claws. Grimacing, Vorilye moved closer, to stand by Themis' side. When he spoke, he was quiet. "I'm sorry for what you've been through. If... if it helps to talk about your past, then I'll listen." He wanted to do more than listen, he realized then. He moved closer, not for her sake, but for his — he would lay and embrace her, if he thought she would let him. To comfort her, but also himself. The night he'd spent with her and their whelps, he'd felt... at peace. He yearned for more contact, and he wondered whether she could sense it. Whether it was something she wanted.

Themis took a deep breath. After a moment, she swayed, just enough to press her shoulder to Vorilye’s for support.

The place I was born.. She swallowed.

It was castes. There was nobility, peasantry, and me. Indentured servitude. I never had a chance. The guardsmen never allowed it. Her face curved into a sneer.

My next name was rat. I remember them yelling it at me during my work, I remember them laughing at me when I struggled and refusing to help. I never saw the nobility, never even knew about any leadership. It hadn’t been her duty, during the Insurgence.

Then, I was stupid. Stupid enough to think I had a chance of running for it and actually making it. I didn’t get far. They made sure I wouldn’t be able to run again. Her sneer turned rueful.

They failed. Just made it hurt. She said, flexing the toes on her scarred leg.

Theyre all dead now. The entire thing. Nobles, guardsmen, dead. Insurgency killed off the nobles, then everyone scattered to the winds. Except me. I somehow got roped into another pack. Themis drew a deep breath.

That was the last name I got from someone else until I arrived here. They named me Belladonna. And she had been poison ever since.

So sorry for the wait, depression was crippling me lol. Tag for reference!

Her touch came, her shoulder pressing into his. He would be a rock for her to lean on, himself immovable... that is, until Vex got beneath his skin again. He had no time to dwell on his thoughts however, as Themis told him more of her story — it was a lot to take in. He listened in silence, his ice-blue eyes trained on her face.

He'd never listened to anyone or anything so intently in his life. And he didn't know what to say to her. He had had... a complicated life. Born as near-royalty, he'd been guarded, and trained, and taught the arts of war, but it was under a cold father and an anxious, unfit mother — abuse and neglect was common to him from @Jaganatha at least, and when Vex had come along, it had gotten even worse. Still... he had been privileged, or so Vex had always reminded him.

Vorilye sighed deeply. "I'm sorry for the way life has treated you." And he was. He wished they had both led different lives. At least now, they had the chance, and he told her so in a deep murmur, "We will be free of our past lives. This is our next chance." He would see to it.