Sana had fled the scene of bloody sand, centered around her mother's seemingly fragile and broken body. Fearful she had run to the edges of Andal territory and began to run around the edges, straying out into the dune lands surrounding her home. Her haphazard path wove a serpentine into the sands, she ran until her lungs hurt and the hot desert air scalded the skin at the back of her throat. Tears were fresh down her cheeks but she was too worn out to keep up her crying. She was worried and confused. She needed to find help... she was so convinced they were hurting her mother. Gods the scent of blood was still stuck in her mind and her nose, the sight of it, oh the sight was burned bright when she closed her eyes.

@Calypso

It was not a normal sight. It was not a good sight. A cub on their own in the desert, seemingly panicked and clearly having been crying. Calypso did not hesitate - no matter her gruff exterior she was soft at heart and was especially protective of the young. "Hey," she soothed softly, "hey, what be the matter?" Her accent was thick and her paws filthy but her voice was gentle and her eye was kind. In the company of a child she was a far different creature than any knew her to be. @Sana

image by shan, code by koi

No stranger danger bells or whistles went off. Sana heard a voice, soft and gentle, and immediately crumbled into bits and pieces. M'ymum'shurt. Sana's voice came out quickly, trembling through the words and making it all sound like one big long one the way they smashed together. She breathed in quickly at the end, an act that only brought on a fresh scared sob. Her throat felt like it held a ball in it, thick, breathing was hard. Each breath she took was uncontrolled, staggered, tinged at the edges with her tears. These lions hurt her and... and... and I can't tell her she was right and I really do like our new home. Deeply troubled, a shudder of emotion ran from her shoulders down into the tips of her hind toes. She felt herself scrunching up the sand below her, grabbing at the loose grains while she leaned forwards, bending at the knees and elbows, partly, like she wanted to be sick on the ground.

"Hey now," she murmured, all soft and soothing as she reached out a paw to gently touch the child's leg. Calypso would shuffle closer, seeking to give comfort in any way that she can, hoping that the child would be reassured by her presence. The words she spoke were concerning and she wondered, briefly, if her skills would be needed elsewhere too.

"Take a slow breath," this was the best advice she could give as she sought to reassure the child. "In and out, slow. With me..." Calypso pulled in a deep exaggerated breath, making herself louder than normal so that the child might be able to hear. The pirate woman could recognize the signs of panic and wanted to help before it completely took over the rusty colored girl.

"Feel the ground beneath your paws," she offered next, her voice steady and calm, doing all that she could to bring the girl back to the present.

@Sana

+10 Help a character with a non-physical illness (anxiety/panic)

Art by Rabbit | Table code by Zodiac

Sana's leg pulled away from @Calypso's touch but all the while paradoxically Sana's red head leaned inwards to hover in the larger woman's shadows, to find safety in closeness. She didn't seem startled by the touch, didn't seem to register it at all really as she bit her lip and wheezed out a few more breaths. Panicked, an overwhelming perfume of the scent of blood hit her mind as the memory lingered and grew stronger. Take a slow breath. Her company advised and Sana weakly nodded.

Her lungs filled to the brim, her sides swelled huge as she took the biggest breath that she could. Gently and methodically she let the air go through her nose in time with Calypso's deep breath. Feel the ground. Sana wiggled her toes, pressed her paw pads against the sand into the heated grains. The warmth was comforting and Sana fixated on the way it felt between her toes. Rough but warm. She's... she's still hurt. Sana sniffled out, lifting up her arm to wipe it across her nose.

"Good," she murmured, "very good." Given the state of the child she had not expected her to comply so readily, but was pleased when she did. "If ye tune in to yer surroundings it'll help ye calm." Counting the things you could hear and feel and smell always helped her, at least, but first and foremost was grounding yourself. Thus her initial advice.

"When ye left her did she have help?" If not then they would have to go find the woman and maybe Calypso would be just the right person for the job.

@Sana

+10 Help a character with a non-physical illness 2/2

Art by Rabbit | Table code by Zodiac

Tune into them. It was hard to find things to see or smell in the desert where life was more sparse but she could at least focus on the texture of the sand itself and the way it was warm on her paw pads, the way it felt gritty between her toes down below her white fur there. She continued to answer the older woman's questions while gently wiggling her toes in the sand. She watched them, her voice muffling as it flowed down towards the ground and not up at her. When I found her she was already hurt, there were others... they took her back into the Oasis. They weren't outright hurting her mother no. With a bit of calming help from @Calypso Sana could see that in her memory. As frightening as it was, as sure as she was that they were not helpful sorts she could admit now they weren't actively furthering her harm either. They said they were helping. She explained further but looked now up and adamently, desperate, to the older woman to see if she should trust that. She'd run off in too fast a fit, too scared of these lions and seeing them with her hurt mother, to do what a good and dutiful daughter should do and follow along...

I shouldn't have left her... I shouldn't have left. She mumbled loosely under her breath.

Unfortunately for @Sana , Calypso was rather new here. She did not know the prides or those that lived within them, and so she could not say for certain if the Oasis was safe. However - "are ye from the Oasis?" If that was the case then it seemed like all would be well, and the older woman was proud of the child for taking the steps to calm herself.

"Hey," she murmured, as the girl worried over her decision to leave, "ye did no wrong, aye? It is scary to see the ones we love in pain." She wanted to assure the child that she had done no wrong, that leaving was what many would have done in that situation.

"I'm sure she be in good hands, would ye like me to escort ye home?" Surely she would be eager to find out how her mother was, though a small part of Calypso was afraid she would be taking the girl back to the worst news of her life.

Art by Rabbit | Table code by Zodiac

Yeah. Sana answered the first of the questions @Calypso asked. It was a little muffled as she lifted up her limb and wiped it over the dried tears on her cheeks, breaking up the dark trails in her red fur. Getting some grime away from her face and the boogers in the corners of her eyes all at once. She gave one more good sniffle and then plop dejectedly let her limb fall back into place. The stranger’s comforting words that she had done nothing wrong did not settle too well into her heart- it was nice to hear in the moment but it did nothing to lessen the dread she felt and the deepest parts of guilt that were settling in. Because maybe she had done nothing wrong but she hadn’t done the best that she could either…

There was really only one way to make this better. Yes please. Unlike Calypso, Sana didn’t know what might be the worst situation she could come home too. It already seemed pretty bad. Death was mercifully not too large an idea in her brain. She stood to her full height and turned back the way she’d come, some of her paw prints already coated over in fresh sand. It’s this way. She’d lead, but wait until the older woman was up and ready to begin walking.

/exit

Some small part of her wanted to whisk the little girl away, to reassure her and give her a life of certainty and security. It was only her fear that spoke; she did not want to bring the girl back to a life of loss and grief.

Shaking her head to clear that thought she offered a smile to the girl, keeping up her encouraging manner no matter what her mind was spitting at her. "after ye," she murmured, though that much was obvious. Even though Sana was leading Calypso would stay close to her side, offering whatever physical or emotional support she could on the trek to the girl's home.

-exit w/sana-

table by sentinel / lion + beach