[ P ] i don't wanna live forever

The dripping was driving her mad. She couldn't get away from it, wherever it was coming from, it was one of the only sounds that echoed in the chamber she was being held captive in. Beatrix tried to get her to calm down but she was feeling frantic, anxious, out of control. She had never felt like this before and she hated every second of it. She moved to the front of the cage, where the door was, and banged against it. "Let me out!" she yelled, but nobody was there to listen. And even if they were, they'd laugh in her face. The bars began to melt before her eyes and she stepped back, confused and concerned but also hopeful. Then just as they were gone, she was finding herself in a green forest. She breathed in the fresh air but her anxiety only ratcheted up as suddenly bars sprang from the ground and enclosed her into a tiny space. They were up against her body and she couldn't move, couldn't even breathe. She could see her freedom but she was still trapped. "No... NO!" she screamed. Only this time it wasn't in her dream...
"NO!" she wailed into the night, her eyes pinned closed as she wrestled with the sheets of her bed. "Let me out, let me out!" she cried, and suddenly her eyes fluttered open. Tears rimmed the edges of her amber eyes as she jolted upright, throwing the sheet to the side and jumping out of bed. She heaved, her body shaking as if she might throw up from the anxiety clenching her stomach and tightening her body.
She pressed her forehead into the cold stone wall and drew in a shaky breath. "Fuck," she breathed as she realized it was all a dream and she was not back there. Her body still screamed at her to fight but she couldn't bring herself to move just yet. She glanced towards the door, finding it slightly ajar, as she heard a voice and some paw steps on the other side. She closed her eyes again, murmuring something unintelligible to herself before pushing off the wall and walking to the door.
"Sorry, I was having a bad --" she said before the door burst open and Sif came rushing inside. She blinked, a little surprised to see her there when she'd expected it to be one of the help. They were usually the only ones up so late.

table by scarlet

SIF ASGAUT
Bulletproof, Nothing to Lose

With the night drawing late and Khepri still not having returned, the woman was a ghost among the corridors, taking a walk in an attempt to bring herself to become so tired that a nightmare couldn’t be remembered even if she tried. The last thing she wanted to do was scare her kids if she started kicking in her sleep or awoke in a cold sweat, looking as if a monster had crawled into the bed. It was always a struggle when she didn’t have him close to her to gain anything peaceful in the night and she had become a little more codependent to his company. Perhaps it was why she got so angry when he wasn’t around but at least this time it had been work related and he had warned her early in the day. There was no worry he was out getting in trouble and risking getting caught in a way that could leave her without him forever.

Yet, she did worry. She did every time he vanished for hours longer than a normal day, perpetually afraid of losing him in one way or another. At least the children had gone to sleep easy tonight and if they snuck out, the maids could be trusted to alert her in a heartbeat.

A scream would catch her attention, turning on her heel toward where it had sounded from and making her heart bound into her throat. Without a second thought, she had rushed down the hall, each stride a push as her skin reeled with anticipation of something far more dire. She nearly crashed into a maid that quickly rambled about the source and though they told her not to worry about it, they would go check, she didn’t heed it as she continued on till she reached the door that belongs to the voice that echoed down the hall. There was a chance they could be wrong, and she didn't wish to take that risk. This house had lost enough members already.

Just as she was about to push open the door a voice rose that made her break her momentum. Granted it was a bit late to come to a stop to prevent flying in, sliding to a stop rather close to her fire coated niece. Straightening up just as quickly, she looked around the room, hackles bristling before her orb focused on the woman before her. “Are you safe, Badari?” The words came out with urgency, but a softness reserved for family cushioned it as she breathed a little heavy to catch her breath, a touch out of shape from being out of work for a few months.

code by claerie

Badari could already feel the panic subsiding as her body realized that it had been a dream and nothing else but her breaths were still a little stuttered as she looked at the small woman before her. "I-I am. It was just a dream, that's all. I'm sorry if I woke you." she said apologetically. She felt horribly stupid for the way her mind played tricks on her in the night sometimes. She had gotten better at leaving town by herself or with others but sometimes those fears still cropped up and filled her with anxiety. She wished they would just stop but she knew they wouldn't anytime soon. Maybe they'd haunt her for the rest of her life.
She drew in a few breaths before settling onto her haunches, warily eyeing the other woman momentarily before lowering her muzzle slightly. "Thank you for checking," she said. It wasn't often she was checked up on and she had to admit it was a nice feeling... to feel like she and her problems weren't going unnoticed by everyone. She was not foolish enough to think that she was doing such a great job at hiding her newfound anxieties it was more of the matter that everyone else just didn't care enough to ask or were too busy with their own lives and their own problems -- which she could not really fault them for that.

table by scarlet