so you can throw me to the wolves

Cypress had never been on the receiving end of a magical attack, let alone one with the finess and obvious experience that Thoth brought to his. She really ought to have seen it coming - naive though she was to the full extent of what Thoth had gone through in his life, he was an outlaw and she did know he'd had a difficult time of things in a general sense. The fluidity of his magic and timing it with the movement spoke louder than any words he might have used to tell her his story; she wasn't able to follow much of it, shocked as she was, but what she did understand was more than enough. She stood blinking at him dumbly, soaked from top to toe, with the only (lame) thought in her head being wow, I really shouldn't have grabbed him. She felt some relief, somewhere under the part of her that was still trying to catch up, as she watched his aggression melt away. At least he recognized her as not being a threat. That was good, right? A step in the right direction.

Danny's comment finally shook her out of her daze, and she gave him a reproachful look to go along with her warning. Thoth whirled to face him, his expression stormy all over again, and Cypress glowered at Danny from behind his back. Danny gulped at their expressions, instantly putting his hands up in a placating gesture.

"I, well, I mean, I just," he stuttered. He wasn't afraid of Thoth, necessarily (he tried to tell himself)... they were friends, and Thoth didn't harm people he considered his friends, but there was no denying Thoth's magic was... far more than the average person's, especially when he was riled. Danny had known that, on some level, but seeing it in action... He scooted away from the door, hunching his shoulders in a nervously defensive manner. Perhaps yelling at him right now hadn't been the best idea after all. Solarius, chicken that he was, had already dashed into the nearest available kennel (unfortunately the one the now-wet and thoroughly startled Luke was hiding in, which only made his own situation worse - a wet, scared tiger cornering you had quite a big impact, after all).

Cypress bit her lower lip. This wasn't good, on any level. He was getting louder by the second, and the very last thing she wanted was Thoth to get in trouble because of her. It was the first time anyone had ever stood up for her in quite this way, and she'd marvel over knowing he cared about her later, but for now... She slowly moved to face him, putting herself between Danny (who looked slightly relieved) and Thoth. She approached him carefully, making her movements slow and steady like she did when approaching a frightened or aggressive stray. Then, after a second of hesitation, she lifted her hands to cup Thoth's cheek and draw his angry gaze from Danny to her. The look in his eyes was fierce, and she swallowed a little bit of trepidation. She never seemed to say the right thing, or do the right thing, when he was in a mood, but...

"Thoth," she said softly, calmly. "Thank you so much for caring. You know, I, um..." she blushed deeply. This wasn't how she'd planned to do it, especially not with an audience, but the words were coming out and she couldn't seem to stop them. "I-I care for you a lot. I mean I really, really, um... l-like you, Thoth. And..." she lowered her gaze and her hands, absently brushing away droplets of water from the front of his shirt (as if that helped at all) as she tried to ignore the almost painful thudding of her heart. "It would hurt me a lot more if something bad happened to you, especially because of me. If you got hurt, or captured..." She shook her head, her throat tight and lips trembling. "And I think it's the same for Danny, too. Well, I mean, obviously not the exact same b-because... well," she swallowed. "You know. But you're his friend and he's just scared for you. He's been so worried about you, you know. We both are."

Danny nodded emphatically behind Cypress, too nervous to even think about teasing her for her sudden confession. "I'm sorry," he blurted out awkwardly.

Cypress;