All in Perfect Balance (Finished!)

[Nako]

Zuberi stayed oddly silent as they weaved through the deserted marketplace, leading them toward the churning ocean. Rhi continued to talk, the insistence rising in her tone as they walked. Zuberi though, was thinking, and thinking hard, and had little she could respond with to the girl. There was something wrong, something -terribly- wrong, and she didn't know what to do; didn't know how to help. She needed to get to the ocean, to wipe away the filth, to clear her mind. Despite the need to keep contact with her charge, she stepped forward to enter the waters.

She bit her lip even as she stood to face the ocean, having walked a few paces into the waves. The wind was severe, but it blew back the smell of the wild sea even as the sky turned and twisted to the whim of mother nature. She couldn't respond to Rhi at first. She felt if she had opened her mouth at that moment, she would have just.. lost it. The last thing she wanted to do was break down in front of the girl.

Finally, she swallowed thickly, turning back to face Rhiannon. Even in the dark she could see the girl trembling, and the Midori gave herself a rather fierce mental kick. "No, you are -not- too much trouble, Rhi.. you just.. scared me. I woke up and.. you weren't there... I was so afraid you were hurt or.. or.." Damnit! Why did she care so much? She found herself kneeling down beside the coyote mix, wrapping her paws around the canine's shoulders to soothe her. The smell of the bog stung her nose but she staunchly ignored it. "I want you to talk to your family, but -not- because you are too much trouble, do you understand me?" Grasping her by the shoulders she pulled away to look her square in the eyes. Those worried, frightened eyes.

Zuberi let loose a long sigh, letting her own tense body ease as the waves lapped at their feet. She scooped some of the water up, using it to wipe at the gore along Rhiannon's face. "Come on now.. lets get a good saltwater bath and get back to the house.."

[carcinoGeneticist]

The girl was shaking when she finally strode into the water, though it was a slight tremor and could likely be easily mistaken for a shiver from the cold. Her ears flipped backwards. Zuberi's words did little to ease the cold grip around her heart, if anything they only made it grow worse, somehow more... unbearable. When the squirrel kindly wiped the blood and pus out of Rhiannon's fur, the hybrid's eyes squeezed shut tightly, clearly fighting back tears.

She had scared the lovely woman. Scared her! How would she manage anything now...? This was supposed to be her perfect place! A place where she could fit in, and she had ruined everything by being...

Probably by being her mother's daughter. Of course.

"Don't wanna," Rhiannon replied stiffly, slowly opening her strangely slitted eyes and staring at the squirrel again. "Mom and dad'll be mad... Mom's... she's really scary when she's mad. So scary. Much more scary than me. And she'll be so mad at you, too, because I like you best." she continued, moving through the words at a rapid-fire rate, expression becoming paniced. No, no, she'd never go home! Couldn't, wouldn't, no matter how much Hadrian would miss her. Panic was beginning to grip at the girl, and her expression became slightly crazed with desperation.

[Nako]

Bringing up home didn't seem to make the girl feel any better. In fact, it sent her into a panic. "That's enough, Rhi... calm down." It took more effort than she thought it would to take on an authoritative voice; it wasn't in her nature to do so. "You don't have to go back home until you are ready." That might end up being a lie, but if she had anything her way, she'd end up making sure that she -was- ready once she had to go home. Continuing to clean off the girl, she did her best to work swiftly yet keep her motions calm. The storm was picking up, and she didn't want to be caught out in it once it reached its full force.

Inside though, her mind was reeling. An old bias wanted to spring up and hate the creature who had showed such... poor character. She pushed it away.. not wanting to bring such things up in her mind. Not all Lowlanders were bad. She'd been going out of her way to prove it to people. She'd met enough good ones to prove that to herself.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Calm down? The words hit the child like a punch, only causing her to panic more. For some reason, her panic only grew with Zuberi's gentle command... Rhiannon's tail wagged desperately even as the waves lapped at it, causing her to spray water through the air. As Zuberi leaned over to further clean the grime from her fur, the girl leapt up slightly, putting her paws on the woman's thigh and licking rather urgently at her face and neck, eyebrows furrowed. She needed something so badly. A hug? Some sign... Anything...

Oh please oh please oh please don't let her send me home I don't want to go I can't go no no no, oh, mother will be so angry...

She wanted to stay in this tropical paradise, with this gentle and soft woman who seemed to be in all ways different from her mother. "Can't I just stay here with you? Y-you could adopt me, I bet... It would be good, I promise. I'll be good, too, I can learn how to cook and make you dinner, I'll even catch you lobsters and you can tell me all about your family! Please?"

[Nako]

Well, there was only so much that Zuberi could do with the hybrid up in her face, insistently pleading in a manner that broke her heart. Had she not already gotten most of the grime off of the hybrid's canine face, she might have found it difficult not to fling her out of the way. But right now, she had an armful of canine in her face, and there was really little else to do but.. to comfort.

She let out a sigh, one that was torn from her by the fury of the wind as she wrapped her arms around the slick, oily neck, the scent of bog stinging her nostrils terribly. It took all of her resolve to ignore it without sneezing, instead focusing on stroking the young girl's hair with a webbed claw. Rhi was scared, and Zuberi felt so.. lost. Every fiber in her wanted to be able to relent to her wish.. to keep her close. Zuberi was so.... lonely

"I want to give you everything you want, Rhi.. you have -no- idea how much I want to..... Seth.. he'd never forgive me..." Damnit, she was crying. Zuberi had no business being emotional when Rhi needed her to be strong.

[carcinoGeneticist]

At the hug, the girl felt herself give up, in a way. It was everything she'd thought she wanted and needed, but when everything was said and done... It wasn't. There was sorrow there all wrapped up in the comfort. All the same, Rhiannon melted into it, draping her paws around the squirrel's neck. Zuberi's words only confirmed the young canine's worries, and she fought back a sob. Dreams just didn't last. When she felt Zuberi begin to cry, she licked her cheek reassuringly, then jumped back down.

A quick splash of water to her face only seemed to settle the canine more, and she glanced back at the squirrel. Her tail wagged once, a feeble attempt to offset the serious and almost disappointed look on the girl's face.

"You're right. Of course." she sighed softly as she stepped onto the sand, shaking the water off of herself in sheets. "We wouldn't want to get our father angry with you... Or our mother. You've treated us well, it would hardly be right of us to allow you to fall victim to her rage." she sighed softly as she waited for the squirrel to climb onto the beach as well. An ear twitched, as if listening. "Yes, yes, I would have liked to have learned the secrets of this place as well.. but as they say, C'est la vie. ...Really I'm not sure who says that, honestly. Will we be leaving soon, then?"

Her attitude was... Unnerving.

[Nako]

Zuberi almost... resented the other one. She couldn't help it. The Midori wanted to know if Rhi was okay.. and appearance of the more serious.. more foreboding side taking over did little to reassure her. The storm had picked up to a most feverish pace, the wind howling and trees groaning against the force of the angry scream of the sea.

Cautiously, Zuberi walked onto the shore. It felt like death had gripped her insides, and the calm, strange Rhi seemed to be a mockery to her sorrow. This was not something Zuberi could allow to consume her though. Looking ahead, she gave a gesture for Rhiannon to follow her. She didn't answer the hybrid's question though. Instead, she had one of her own. "Is she going to be okay?" Silly. She hardly even expected an answer. It'd be her luck that this darker, more mature side of the girl would slip away before any of her questions could be answered, and any of her fears resolved.

"Let's hurry. We need to get back to the hut before this storm gets any worse."

[carcinoGeneticist]

Rhiannon went eerily quiet at Zuberi's question, simply shrugging a response and turning to follow the squirrel as she led her out of the storm. Yellow slit-pupiled eyes simply stared straight ahead as they walked, and the girl began to hum quietly to herself, tail wagging to her own beat, seemingly completely oblivious to Zuberi's emotional distress at the entire situation. She trotted lightly behind the woman, shaking her fur out once she was out of the rain, and very quietly curling up in the space that had been reserved for her before.

It was only a minute before her breathing was the deep rhythm of sleep, paws twitching against the floor as she chased some unknown prey in her dreams. A soft growl escaped her. She'd catch it.

~~~

The prey that Rhiannon had been chasing was, in fact, herself. A version of herself, at least, something dark and terrifying. She woke with a soft yelp, jerking into consciousness abruptly for the second time that night.

Quietly, the girl padded to Zuberi's hammock, rising onto her hind legs and placing her front paws inside, testing its strength. Once she decided that it would support her as well, she leapt up, trembling slightly as she nestled in against the squirrel. "Z-Zuberi.. 'Eri.." she whimpered, nosing against the woman's neck, tears shining on her cheeks. "What's wrong with me...?"

[Nako]

Zuberi was not used to having company, especially not in her bed. So when the hybrid leaped up into her hammock, it was only natural that she jumped awake, groggily looking around to assess the situation. The stinging smell of the bog, oddly enough, soothed her. If anything, it meant she knew who it was in the dark cuddling up to her.

Almost immediately, she could tell something was wrong. With the tremble in the young coyote-bat's frame and the wetness on her neck. Then Rhiannon spoke, and Zuberi's eyes shut. There it was again, that feeling of helplessness. Reaching out, she wrapped her paws around the young one's neck and held her close, running one set of claws gently through the long hair atop her head.

"Shhh..... It's okay. Did you have a bad dream?" Zuberi wouldn't help but yawn. After all, the girl had woke her up from a rather exhausted sleep. Even as she sat there, she tried to recall her own dream, but as she sought them, they evaded her. Oh well. It was the nature of dreams, after all.

[carcinoGeneticist]

Rhiannon was quick to cuddle into the hug, finding the warmth of the woman's green fur a perfect comfort, slowing the rapid beating of her heart and helping to staunch the flow of her tears. How could she be so panicked, especially when she was with this gentle and sweet squirrel?

Everything would turn out okay. The words were a mantra, spinning around her head until their meaning was truth to her.

Sniffling and whining softly, Rhiannon nodded, lifting amber eyes to look into Zuberi's sleep-hazed face. "It was terrible. I-I was... hunting myself... The last thing I remember is being in the water with you." she murmured, snuggling in closer. It was a cramped space, but she was small and fit nicely. "Do I have to go home...?" something about the tone of her voice suggested that she already knew the answer to that. Of course she had to go home. Her parents would miss her terribly, and she didn't want them angry with Zuberi.