Redtail Rise What do I stand for

He moved closer, and she turned so sharply to face him that it was surprising to see her not fall, not falter even, and her eyes were filled with all manner of strangeness. There was pain there, and confusion, and the burn of anger, yet when he spoke and his questions hit her ears, all of that evaporated. Tavi squinted at him for a second as if trying to make sense of a shadow puppet, and then shook her head as if to say, no, this isn't happening, I'm talking to myself. It felt that way.

But the questions did sink in. She did understand, somehow, and let out a small pffft, like he had just asked the dumbest question ever. The.. the, the, you kn-know, another little huff, as she tries to get the words out, but her mouth doesn't want to obey; she tries to swallow them, licks her lips, but her mouth and throat are dry and nothing is working the way it should. With another shake of her head she offers up more fragments: Him? My -- Tambourine, my little -- him! Ugh, but it was too frustrating.

As soon as Tavi managed to get that name out, she huffed and puffed, sighing with audible irritation, and then shot Reek with more daggers. There was a hesitation and then clarity, though it was brief: Looks like you, but -- but you can't see it, him, he... And the other one -- !!! Oh no, the other, her brain lurched and seemed to freeze up for a second or two, and she looked with absolute horror at Reek, although it wasn't really the dark man that was causing this shift in her madness: she was remembering the other boy, the first, the one she'd eaten, the one she'd failed, and somehow she knew she had just admitted it.

Tavi sucked in a breath, having forgotten to use her lungs when the shock of her announcement flooded out of her, and she staggered back, slipping in the mud at her hocks and meeting the mess at her feet. She choked out a little sob then, and stared down at the soil, imagining the boy's little body and -- and then imagined, or hallucinated, seeing Reek's shadow sliding closer to her.