[private] we're the wild ones

[Chel]

c h e l Dread seeps into her bones as she stares up at her much-larger leopard mother. Chel doesn’t move. Blink. She can feel her heartbeat accelerate in her now-feline chest - pounding furiously against her ribs. She inhales sharply as she waits for judgment... And the unleashes all of the air she’d been holding in a rush as relief floods her system. Chel doesn’t even attempt to hide the conspiratorial smile that explodes across her features at her Ma’s words. The anxiety about her slip-up all but evaporates. Clearly she was her mother’s daughter. But then Vastra asks about her dreams - a innocuous question that most children wouldn’t think too deeply into. But not Chel who had already developed a preponderance for overthinking. Dreams. Had she had any good dreams? Had she had any dreams at all? Surely she did and just couldn’t remember. Her brow furrowed as she tried, in vain, to remember but the secrets of her dreams remained hidden - even from her. She looked back up at her Ma.  ”I...think so...?” she said - uncertainty in every word.  He cocked her leopard-head to the side as she thought, looking to Atzi for some sort of validation. But the little ocelot simply shrugged her feline shoulders. “I don’t remember,” she finally admitted, feeling like she should have remembered and worrying something was wrong.  Big, feline eyes looked up at her Ma, the concern evident. “Is that normal - not remembering?” she asked, cautiously.

@[Vastra]