The Heartwood invasion of the bodysnatchers

yeah, atausiq replies; noncommittal. it wasn't his place anymore to decide whether or not to give their parents a chance. he'd left and still on that path of self discovery. giving them a chance was on west and leta, now. i know, he scowls at the dirt at his paws, ears tapering back against his skull. he hadn't meant to hurt anyone but ...he hadn't been thinking about anyone else but himself, either. he hadn't thought about how it would hurt them when he just howled and disappeared into the shadows. it was selfish, he acknowledges aloud. and i was afraid that someone would try to stop me. almost as much as he'd been afraid to confront their parents.

it was only fair he deal with the consequences. leta was forgiving ...but so easily his name could be struck from the family tree for what he'd done. and he'd deserve it.

can i visit you there? to be torn so wholly in half is painful. he wants to say yes but also wants to say 'no'; and not for any reason than he doesn't want her to endure the same picking he has, and the whole point of donning 'atausiq' was to protect them ...which would be pointless if she can looking for him. sure. he croaks out, guiltily. uh, atausiq hesitates when she asks what they're like. they're ... he could lie and say they're wonderful but he just said that she could visit him and lying isn't something he likes to do.

...interesting. to be honest, they're sort of like a collection of misfits. not a group atausiq thought he'd ever see himself with, in truth. but here he was.