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Rhys - @sleight_of_fate

[werekitty]

[ From here: https://duplicitymemes.dreamwidth.org/26508.html?thread=67797644#cmt67797644 ]

[ If only he knew that had been Nathaniel's life back home, too. And he'd survived. He'd survive this, too. ]

Surviving is kind of what I do. But thank you for thinking about me.

[sleight_of_fate]

[True, Rhys has no idea but he's getting the inkling that things haven't been easy for Nathaniel. Though there's only so much he can guess, not even an hour into conversation with him.]

It's kinda what I do. Back home I was a healer...still am, though it's a little different here. I'm used to looking after people as best I can. Even if it's just baking for them.

And being a survivor...that helps here. A lot. At least we get the basics when we get here. Life's harder when you dont know where you're going to sleep or when your next chance at a meal is...they give everyone that much at least.

[werekitty]

We'll have to share recipes. I used to cook for people in the pard sometimes. It was my way of feeling useful. And I ended up liking it.

[sleight_of_fate]

Pard?

And I'd be happy to swap some recipes. I feel the same way, sometimes I'd crash on peoples' couches and do the cooking and cleaning in exchange for a place to sleep and a hot shower. Found out I really enjoyed keeping house, and people are happy when there's good food and clean laundry.

[werekitty]

A group of leopards. Family, really, though none of us are actually related. Well, I do know a pair of twins, but one's a wolf and the other's a leopard.

Sounds like you were lucky. Most of my friends were living the same as me.

[sleight_of_fate]

Ah, gotcha. I know the concept, just not that specific name for it. There are shifters in my world, but a lot of different kinds. Not all of them get along, but I've had some good experiences with them. One of the best roommates I've ever had was a 200-pound lynx.

I've had better times and I've had worse times, to be honest. I was on the street at 17, sometimes I did okay and sometimes I didn't. But there were definitely times I was lucky, for sure. Mostly, that I had people who gave me a chance.

[werekitty]

200 pounds in his human form, I guess?

[ Because bigger humans did make bigger animals. But you didn't suddenly become a human-weighted version of your animal. ]

Oh, see, I was out much earlier than that.

[sleight_of_fate]

Nope, he was a 200 pound lynx, too. Took me a while to get used to, but he was a good guy. Taught me a lot about things while I was crashing with him.

I'm sorry to hear that. My home life was...strained but at least I had something sorta like normal for a while. Mostly because of my uncle, honestly.

[werekitty]

Wow.

[ And that was something hard to wrap his mind around. Made harder by what came next because he just...did not want to go there. He was fine talking about his past being a working boy, but how he got there? He didn't talk about his family. ]

Normal is good, even if it's only for a little while.

[sleight_of_fate]

Yeah, 'wow' pretty much covered it. He had a couch just for chewing on. Some shifters have stronger instincts than others, he was always a little more in touch with that wild side than most.

[Rhys isn't the type to demand or push, and Nathaniel has already said enough to indicate there's some unpleasant memories there. Rhys is fine with letting the topic go for the time being, offering a bit of his own experience without requiring anything in return.

Plus, he's not exactly inclined to offer up all the details himself. He's been some bad places, some of which by his own terrible choices.]

It is. It's one of the weird things about Duplicity, honestly. It can be so weirdly *normal* here, even good...in between the chaos and awful shit. You can live a life here...

which is good because there aren't a lot of other options.

[werekitty]

I've never seen any with that kind of instinct.

[ And he'd known his share of a few types of animals. ]

It's not so bad here. Haven't really had any problems so far. But I try to be easy to get along with.

[sleight_of_fate]

Honestly I think part of it was just that he enjoyed freaking people out a bit? And when you add the human half to things, it can get weird. Not every shifter is wholly accurate to their animal, especially when you consider the sheer range of types of shifters. Born, made, spirit, immortal...

[As to the rest...]

I'd wait a little longer before you say that. We've had natural disasters, weird transformations, compulsions, civil unrest...even torture and imprisonment.

But sometimes, it's good. Mostly the people. The natives hate us, but I've made a lot of good friends here among the other LIERs.

[werekitty]

I suppose that's true. A lot of the people I met were ones who were attacked or asked to be attacked like me. But I did know a lamia, who was born that way. As well as some swanmanes.

Should I mention I'd be more on familiar territory for the even side of that list than the rest?

[ Torture and imprisonment? Old hat. Natural disasters and civil unrest not so much. ]

[sleight_of_fate]

It's a weird situation, it really is. There's enough things out there to keep us guessing for a thousand years, and even humans all on their own are a puzzle I can't always figure out. It doesn't stop me from trying, but I fully admit I've got a handle on maybe 2% of what's out there on a *good* day.

[And he's not even human himself, even though his brain tells him that he at least *tried* for the past...38 years.]

I'm sorry to hear that. I've had my share of horrible things, too, and it sucks. It does help a little knowing how to deal with it, how to live through awful shit, but it still sucks.

[werekitty]

To be fair, most of it I asked for. And not in an abusive 'she asked for it' kind of way.

[ Not all of it. Some of it was definitely beyond the limit that Nathaniel would set if he knew how to set limits. And some of it was just outright torture for its own sake with none of the pretense of BDSM. But most? He'd wanted. ]

[sleight_of_fate]

I do my best not to think about it too much, honestly. Or to judge, because we're all different and life is...well, we deal with what we can and just sorta manage the rest. It's amazing what "sounds like a good idea at the time".

I try to make better decisions these days, but to be fair, I don't always. But one thing at a time, y'know?