PM to join The weight of a life

[Sylvette Sciath]

Spring 42, Very early morning Run, the thoughts that flowed through Sylvette's mind. Something was horribly wrong, Sylvette could feel her partner was in danger. Orin needed her, Powering her legs to move faster Sylvette ran at an even faster click she could feel little rocks in the ground shredding the soles of her feet but that didn't matter, what mattered was Orin's safety. Pushing her self to run faster Sylvette pumped her legs, her breaths coming in ragged gasps. it felt as if each step was carrying her nowhere as if the forest was stretching itself out to spite her, to stop her from reaching her partner. As if fate was playing some cruel joke on her to stop her from reaching her goal. But Sylvette wouldn't be stopped by this damnable forest. Charging forward letting a primal growl escape her lips Sylvette tore through the underbrush ignoring the countless scratches it made on her skin and came into a new scene. Orin was their backing away from a man with a knife who was going to kill him. Looking down at her hand Sylvette saw that their was a knife, she must have gotten it from somewhere? It didn't matter, what did matter was saving Orin, running at the man Sylvette jumped onto him. and plunged the knife into his chest before pulling the knife out to plunge it again and again into the mans chest until he fell face down on the ground. Cold, and lifeless. Looking up, Sylvette looked around for Orin, But he wasn't there anymore. it was as if he had vanished.had he run away, forsaking her as a monster? Sylvette looked aback to the body, feeling unease and sickness fill her stomach as she looked at the body. and the blood that seeped from it slowly pooling around it the blood flowing out into a puddle that was twice the size of the body. Taking her small hands Sylvette moved to role the body over as she felt the need to do so, and as the body rolled, Sylvette saw the man's face, Orin's face.the man with the dagger in his chest was Orin. panicking Sylvette didn't know what to do, the blood was still pouring out from his chest. trying to hold back the flow Sylvette put her hands on the wound, trying to hold it closed to no avail. the blood covered her hands and her arms her whole bod becoming covered in her partners blood, and then Sylvette began to sink into the now massive puddle of blood around the body of her partner. Sylvette felt herself slowly sinking into the crimson flow. as it slowly covered her face, stopping her from breathing as she sunk into it. Sylvette tried to swim up, but she couldn't it was as if she was being pulled under. Sylvette could feel herself drowning could feel the blackness claiming her the life fading from her body stolen by the blood that she had spilled, And then, blackness. Sylvette awoke with a start, in her human form? She always slept in her cat form preferring too curl up near Orin. But she was human laying on the floor near Orin's bed. Sylvette looked at her hands, they were clean, free of blood. Sylvette could here Orin's soft breathing coming from his sleeping form. He was alive, and so was she. Knowing that, Sylvette the tell tail sting in her eyes, and then the tears began there march from her eyes down her face. Quietly Sylvette allowed herself to cry, The thought of losing her partner terrified her, ad she knew she had had to kill the man, but, It made her feel sick whenever she thought about it. Killing was certainly not something Sylvette wanted to do again. But she needed to harden her heart, Sylvette would kill as many time as necessary to protect her partner, but, It felt horrible. Letting her tears fall on the floor from her face Sylvette waited for the fear from the dream to fade. It had been some days since the incident, She and Orin had even gone on an adventure, and there had been a moment where Sylvette though she would see another death, and the shock of that had caused even more stress to her mind.

[Orin Fenix]

Orin was woken from a dreamless sleep by a burst of anxiety. He woke suddenly and not very cleanly, still feeling half-asleep. He felt groggy and his mind was hazy. The strangest aspect to all this was that this burst of fear didn't seem to be coming from Orin. Or rather it was inside him but also apart. Orin couldn't put his finger on it, still exhausted. His body still ached both from actual bruises and from remembering how closely Orin had come to an untimely death. And since this feeling wasn't lessening with time, Orin rolled over intending to just get an incredibly early start to his day.

And that was when he saw Sylvette, naked and sprawled on the floor. Orin's cheeks flamed both from embarrassment at her present state of dress and from forgetting the most important outcome of yesterday. The signs of her distress were as clear to Orin as if they had been his own. Orin wanted to brush away her tears but a bout of crippling shyness hit him. Suddenly entirely unsure of himself and cripplingly, Orin pulled the blankets off his bed and draped them over her for both their sakes. "Ah, good morning. I'm sorry about you being on the floor I was just so rattled these past few days, with the bandit and the bonding and the revelation about you but I don't need to tell you all this do I, you were there same as me." Orin ran his fingers through his already sleep tousled hair. His mobile if not very nimble tongue was going full force probably from a combination of the early hour and this whole scenario. Never in a million years would Orin have expected to have a bondmate. Her fate was inextricably linked to his. Just because it felt right in so many ways didn't mean that it was. There were so many ways it could go wrong. Orin could barely take care of himself, after all. He shouldn't be responsible for someone else and he in no way could burden someone else with his issues. But it appeared that neither of them had a choice.

Standing up with a yawn, Orin shuffled to the corridor. He grabbed a torch to restart his hearth fire which Orin had forgotten to bank last night. His mind had clearly been on other matters. While he wasn't cold, it was dark in Orin's windowless apartment and he needed some light to see by. He returned the torch and faced Sylvette. "Ah, can I get you something to eat or drink? Although sadly I don't think I actually have anything to eat in here which is funny seeing as I'm a cook and all, which, again, you knew sorry. I'm still trying to wrap my mind about this.. But I could go out and I don't know, get us something." Orin hadn't known how to feed just a cat. He had no idea if a Kelvic had a special dietary need or if they are what their animal are or if they could eat like a regular human. In fact, Orin didn't know pretty much anything at all about them. Still, he could always learn.

Remembering Sylvette sleeping on the floor brought a pang to Orin's heart. She had looked so uncomfortable and vulnerable. "We're going to need to figure out the living arrangements. I can get you a bed. I don't want you on the floor another night.Especially since I think your nightmare woke me up. What were you dreaming about anyway? Orin paused. There was another option for their potential sleeping arrangements. But Orin was reluctant to offer it. However, he was even more opposed to the idea of Sylvette spending another night down on the floor. "Or we could sleep with me, but only if we get you some clothes or only if you are in your cat form. Is that the right word, form?" Orin didn't know why he couldn't stomach the thought of having Sylvette sleeping naked next to him, beyond the obvious implications of course. Especially since he didn't mind at all if she slept with him as a cat. They were essentially the same but in Orin's mind the divide was wide.

Of course his latest comment had brought up a good point, one Orin should know sooner rather than later. "Do you ah, have clothes? Or money? Or possessions of any kind really?" Of course this was simply a symptom of a larger issue. Namely, that Orin knew nothing about Sylvette whereas she probably knew quite a bit about Orin after following him around for a good chunk of the season. She had seen him in his public and most cheerful but guarded moments and his private and most unguarded moments. So Orin felt he was owed more than a few answers. "What's your story anyway? Where'd you come from? Is there anything I really need to know about you?" Orin hesitated but there was one more pressing question he had to ask. "And, why me? Why'd you choose me? Or is that not how the bond works? And if that's not how the bond works what made you decide to pick me as your companion? And why in the world didn't you tell me the truth sooner? I'm not mad, it's just, well it's just I really really need to know."

[Sylvette Sciath]

Wrapping the blankets proffered to her around herself Sylvette blinked away the remaining tears in her eyes before looking at Orin, making a mental list of his questions before beginning to form her answers. As for food, Sylvette shook her head once. She wasn't quite hungry yet and she would wait until Orin decided he was hungry before eating herself, "If it's all the same, I will wait to take breakfast until you do" continuing on with his queries Orin went on to talk about sleeping arrangements, "if it's all the same to you I think I'd prefer the latter, I generally sleep as a cat anyway so a beds not something I need." That wasn't all their was to it, Sylvette liked Orin's warmth and preferred not sleeping alone anyway. Then Orin moved on to asking about things she owned. "Clothes?" Her response was a shake of the head, "Possessions", Another shake of the head. Money? A nod of her head this time, "I have money buried outside of town, My inheritance as it were, I got it when I left home," Orin's last questions were as to Sylvette's story and, why she had chosen him to partner with. "Orin, I don't think those are answers I can easily answer, I mean, I will, but how about this, Lets just make a whole day of it? We can start by going and getting my inheritance, from there, We can get me some clothing, and then, we can talk as much as you want." It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Orin anything, She just wanted to get her thoughts together and search herself for some of the answers she was expected to give. "I buried my inheritance under a large oak, just about half a bells walk from the gate, Can we got heir first?" Sylvette hoped that by the time she got to where they were going she would have a couple answers prepared for Orin, Like why she had picked him, that was indeed a good question, At this point there wasn't anything Sylvette disliked about Orin, But what had first made her care for him? That was indeed a good question.

[Orin Fenix]

It was fine that Sylvette wasn't hungry and that she wanted to sleep in cat form. Orin didn't mind that in the slightest. And it would certainly save Orin some money and help conserve the space in Orin's admittedly small apartment. In fact, even when Orin had been living on his own this place had been claustrophobically small and Orin didn't imagine that the problem would get any better now that two people were living there. And considering Orin's meager income he didn't think that he could afford to move to a new apartment with more space. So he and Sylvette would have to spend quite a bit of time marking boundaries and dividing up the space in a way that was equal for both of them. Even if it was technically Orin's apartment Orin wouldn't have it any other way. He didn't know quite how this whole bonding process was supposed to work but if Orin had any say in it he was going to try and make this into a partnership or a really close friendship. Not that Orin had much experience with either of those. He'd been under someone's thumb for as long as he could remember whether it be his father, his guardians or his bosses now. And as for friendships, well, Orin had a lot of people he was close to but no one he could really call a confidant or a friend that he was willing to spill his darkest secrets and deepest regrets to. But maybe all that was about to change. Sylvette could potentially be that person for Orin. And Orin would strive to be that person for her.

However, Orin's musings were interrupted by Sylvette's mention of an ingeritsnce. Well that might certainly help with the financial situation now Orin thought hopefully. And it would. Orin was already running a mental inventory of everything he and Sylvette would need to pick up for her. Clothes, obviously but there were a whole host of other small necessities of life that Orin knew they'd need to grab. And while Orin couldn't really afford this he might even go get some small items for himself. It was probably time for him to get a second set of clothes, for instance.

However, all this planning would come to nothing if Sylvette's stashed funds didn't amount to all that much. So Orin agreed that the first step should be going to retrieve that money. "Alright let's get going then. But, ah, would you mind, I mean, could you perhaps consider staying as a cat until we get you something to wear? It's silly but well, I'm not used to being around people when they have no clothes on. And I don't think you walking around with a blanket wouldn't be much of an improvement." Orin didn't actually think his request was at all unreasonable. Call him old-fashioned but normal cultured people wore clothes. Even Orin who knew so little of polite niceties knew that much. It was just a fact of life. Even if Orin had encountered quite a few individuals in the nude this past season, that didn't make it acceptable. No matter how comfortable they all seemed to be. It just wasn't how Orin had been raised.

Orin didn't miss that Sylvette had dodged answering his more personal and potentially harder hitting questions. He'd let it go for now but he would get an explanation and he would get it sooner rather than later. At the same time he didn't want to force Sylvette to do something she didn't want to do. So he'd remain silent for now and bring the topic back up at another time. Hopefully, she'd be able to help Orin make sense of all this today. Otherwise it might drive Orin insane. Slipping his boots on, Orin opened the door and made a gesture of far exaggerated courtesy. "After you, miss."

[Anuk]

　
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