"I'm calm—"

It isn't.

"I'm trying to be calm."

Hm.

"Sorry."

The Overseer offered no reassurances—just its thousand-yard stare. Its eyes were fixed past its sniffling spawn, but the little creature couldn't have known that, with its face still pointed down. Alpha shifted only after the fact, tongue swiping over its teeth as it briefly considered—no. Whatever magic it'd been subconsciously dredging up dissipated. Labradorite would flee from it at any chance, if it...

... betrayed the creature?

It tightened its jaw and slowly lowered itself onto its haunches. Calm down, so we can go back, the monster thought scathingly, but expressed none of. Only a mild, quiet prickling of quills came as a result of that internal statement.

It'd wait.

totally fine to continue!
@V-Labradorite-One
(please ignore that roll. i'm not sure what happened—)

Part of it was- Sad? Hurt? Angry? at it's lifegiver's lack of comfort, or even acknowledgement. These were bitten back or shoved to the background the best it could- it couldn't think about emotions, it had to Calm Down. It didn't dare to look up, to risk meeting eye contact. It could feel its lifegiver's silent disappointment- or it assumed that much. A safe assumption, considering what it had done. It was disappointment in itself, after all. Why wouldn't its lifegiver be as well?

Calm. Calm Down. It thought sternly to itself. It felt calmer- or was it just too tired to continue? Didn't matter. What mattered was it's tears were mostly dried, it's breathing calm, except for the occasional shaky exhale. It wasn't sure if it felt calm, but it hoped it looked calm. Maybe just looking calm could be enough for now Until it could learn to manage it's panic.

With a semi-shaky breath, it looked up at Orthoclase-Alpha, avoiding direct eye contact, as always. "I am calm." It spoke, silently begging it's voice not to betray it "I am ready to go back now." It shuffled its feet, waiting for the Overseer's response.

@Orthoclase-Alpha