*”We do not practice sacrifice or carry out cult practices, if that is what you were wondering, Ros.”*

I was laughing before I knew it was coming out, a short, hard bark of it leaping from my jaw. “Well okay,” I said with an exaggerated shrug, “but it ain’t like I knew that before I came here, y’know?” It was a weird way to diffuse a situation that could’ve combusted and exploded in both our faces—but Tembovu found a way to break the ice and make a gesture all at the same time. That we could be friends.

Aw yeah, there we go, that’s the shit. I could feel a swelling in Cheek’s ego as Mayberry (You not trying) (Nah not really) hesitated in front of him, intimidated by his sudden change. It never failed to get him off; he just loved unnerving and mesmerizing people with a power that was so totally natural, the easiest thing he could do in the world. He kept trundling up to her, letting her thick, proby trunk touch all over his floof while he waddled his way to her leg, covering it with heat and a hug. Blegh. Too cutesie. (Stop bein jelly).

It was weird to try and straddle the two companions beneath me, but I was feeling protective I guess, so it ain’t like I was pushing them out from under me. I shrugged again when Tembovu voiced his own surprise with Chico’s power (giving him yet another ego stroke down his back). “Eh,” I said dismissively—as though this shit was no biggie at all (and honestly it wasn’t anymore), “he’s been able to do it ever since he was born…not like he used to, though, he only got a few bodies he can jump into right now. S’got something to do with him being a raghara—“

(—rougarou—)

“—a rougarou,” I corrected myself without skipping a beat.  Which still honestly sounded like some fake shit to me. But Chico clung to the information anyways, so I guess I was rolling with it until further notice.

The King was starting to look a little calmer, an inch less frazzled than he had when he had first rolled up on me—but he was still explaining the shit to me, which he ain’t even had to do, like I had any right to his business. Which impressed me in its own way, the fact he was telling me—and also what he was telling me, too. Trying to make light out of something that sounded like it could do a bunch of damage if you wanted it to; something that made him sweaty and ragged whenever he tried to control it. The fact he was trying to control it was enough to make my brow rise, impressed—not a bad choice for a King I guess.

I didn’t dwell on the other part—the part that it was a thing that needed controlled. He was trying, clearly trying, and I can respect that anyway.

“Have you…made any progress?” I asked, as his eyes turned to the mist off the cliffs. I followed his gaze, back to a space that was obscure and uncertain, one that was guaranteed to be full of danger if you let it be. It was still a metaphor, I just wasn’t sure what.

He asked me how I found the Edge—and I didn’t look at him when I answered, my eyes still fixed on the mist, on what it could mean. “S’nice,” I said, carefully, weighing the words and how I could say them without bringing offence. “It’s…quieter than I expected. Peaceful. Y’all are tight with each other, it looks like.” But it ain’t for me. I wasn’t sure how I was gonna tell him that, after living in his space for so long. So I cast for something quick to shift the topic, cuz I didn’t wanna keep treading in that territory. “How’s Lee?”

Well shit fuck yeah that made a whole buncha sense way to fucking go Ros. I sucked in my lips as soon as his name had slipped from them, unchecked and impulsive after thinking of a family in which I didn’t belong. “I mean—he—“ I stammered, trying to fix it, cuz I doubted he would know who I was talking about, “How’s Mow-ya?”

My whole demeanor had changed from something fond and hesitant—asking after a friend—into a hard, metal brace. I couldn’t get rid of it, that bitter sneer that accompanied that name. I couldn’t help it; I thought that name was ugly and I hated it for reasons I didn’t understand.

Quit Hollerin' "Why God?", he ain't got shit to do with it.