<font color='#000000'>Notes — Private for Kakosenas. Okkie is in her winged quaddie form. I'm feeling creative so... she also has her little sprig of red-tipped hair and a white headband. Oh... and reddish tints on her bands. Yah! This takes place on Tessera. Day Fifty. Year Three. In Character — I wonder how much trouble I will be in when I get caught down here again, the banded pendragon known as Okkie thought as she slunk fervently down the gloomy corridor. I mean, if I get caught down here. Spies and rogues are not exactly easy to capture, whether they are masters or mere apprentices. Small smile arched over her muzzle and she adjusted her snowy wings against her flanks. Her vibrant blue eyes slid back and forth, searching every corner as if she expected a foe to leap from the tiny shadows fluttering along the cracks and crevices. Her paws were as quiet as an owl's wings as she padded fleetly down the basement hallway, and all her senses were wound up to their finest pitch. She wasn't supposed to be down here, the sign had made that quite obvious. Yet, Okkie was a victim of wanderlust, and she'd been here before. That was quite an adventure, too. Perhaps I will find something just as odd and intriguing this time, as well. She wasn't afraid, or even apprehensive, about sneaking down here a second time to explore some more. She was a spy, after all — they loved to do sneaky and risqué things! It wasn't just Okkie's desire to dabble in dangerous activies that had brought her here. Something fluttered, deep in her chest, calling, beckoning, bugling. It was like some sort of call, or force, and it desperately wanted the young pendragon to skive off her classes and go down to the basement. Never having been one to put her heart's wants on mute, the youth had promptly obeyed her instinctive commands, and now she was... here. Wandering the dank halls, her spiked tail flicking as her paws made prints in the thick layer of dust and scum on the floor. The force that screamed within her, guiding her further and further into the foul belly of the basement, seemed to expel any hint of hesitation or fear. Nevertheless, as the blue-eyed pendragon slunk and prowled around the dungeon-like floor, she was extremely wary — her last quest down here had taught her to be cautious and very alert. I wonder if anyone is down here. Perhaps this so-called magnetic pull is just some troublemaker sending me vague mind-speech in hopes of getting me caught down here. If that is so, they picked the wrong pendragon. Okkie. Does not. Get caught. But just as this cocky thought was trailing through her mindscape, Okkie heard an airy cackle, the mocking sort, sound at her back. The caramel youth pivoted around, her lips writhing back from her pearly fangs, prepared to face whomever had made the noise, be it teacher or mischief-maker. Her lucid cobalt eyes met with nothing but thin air, however. Not even the dust had been stirred. The female's spinal ridge prickled as she realized this, and the intensity of her every movement became magnified. Her senses crackled with life, as her oculars darted here, there, everywhere. Seeking desperately for the source of the disturbance. Yet - there was nothing, no one. Only that yearning, frantic voice, pulling, pushing, tugging, growing ever louder. As the thick silence seemed to laugh at Okkie, the force inside her shifted, changed, took shape, became... "Lessla yma, fhyta rlyyp E tgellap. Ulyma, pavamtalatt, ump em sha pujc. Ros shus fut udat udy myf. Sypui, iyo uja u veajka vedhsaj, u tgi, u jydoa. Ump ias, E sauta iyo. Fesh ni fekcapmatt ump tellematt. Sykc sykece sekc." Okkie had to stifle her scream.</font>
<font color='#000000'>A soft delighted giggle followed Kakosenas' words which then rose into a giddy high-pitched laugh. Okkie? Here? How simply delightful! Drawn like a defenseless kitten to milk, she had been! Kakosenas had once dreaded their next eventual confrontation, but now that it was happening, and the fact that it was happening here... well, the off-balance female couldn't help but feel an adrenaline rush as a strange sense of excitement flowed through her. For quite some time she'd been lurking in the dark underbelly of the school, skirting around wandering figures unnoticed... whispering quietly to herself and to the entity that took up residence within her head. Perhaps Kakosenas was the reason why the teachers warned and forbid the students not to go into the basement? Perhaps Kakosenas was the reason why some of those students that disobeyed were never found again... It was probable. The shadows, none of them her own, but each lending itself to act as her own personal cloak of inky black as Kakosenas remained hidden. "Hyf et ni Lessla Yma?" She seemed to purr, the Ramathian language softly rolling off of her tongue in smooth succession as the words drifted out into the open. Yet the lurking female didn't remove herself from her hiding place. Not yet. Her little game wasn't over. Instead she spoke once more, her words dropping out of Ramathian and into English as they took on a faint note of sincerity. "It's been a long time."</font>
<font color='#000000'>Her heart thrummed painfully against Okkie's ribcage, and she forcefully kept her jaws glued together. A swell of instinctive panic swept over her - ever since her youngest days, she had a built-in fear of this, of her. And even though the banded pendragon had grown into a healthy, fierce, powerful young adult, her heart still harbored that dread, that ice cold fear, that crushing feeling of petrification... Okkie, you're older now. Stronger. And you've met her since then, and left unscathed. Why are you so fearful? You have fangs, claws, wings, and prowess. Don't let the fear overwhelm you. Don't even let it begin to do so. Quell it now, and quell it for good. The blue-eyed beauty had no idea where this inner voice came from, or why it rang so clearly in her brain. But it immediately soothed her, and it gave her the confidence to ease up and glare coolly at the leaping, licking shadows around her. She wouldn't allow Kakosenas to have this effect on her, she wouldn't let the tyrant have the satisfaction of winning at petty mind games. Yes, Kakosenas had triumphed in bringing Okkie into the pits of Janardan, but the feather-winged female swore that she'd leave unscathed, a spring in her step, and a smile on her face. Because, suddenly, she she wasn't afraid anymore. "You don't scare me. And I'm not your Little One, I heartily assure you. I've grown and matured and strengthened since the day you gave me this scar." Okkie's words were laced with noxious poison, and they leapt off her tongue like acidic flames. The next line was one of the only sentences she knew in Ramathian, and, if possible, it came out even more wrathfully than the words before it. "Vokc iyo, Abel Yma."</font>
<font color='#000000'>Kakosenas sighed softly. Okkie's sharp words had stung her somewhat, yet they did not at all compare to some of the verbal abuse that Kakos had been subject to over the course of the years. Vock iyo? Had she been saving those words for me all along? It was hard to say. Though, she could just be angry because she's afraid... but she said...? Kakosenas tried to reason with herself. Her perceptions of Okkie had always been somewhat vague, as if there was something about her that Kakosenas could just not grasp and comprehend. Okkie had always been a profound, unique individual, shrouded in a certain sort of mystery that Kakosenas always felt herself compelled to unearth, to examine. <font color="2f2f6f">...flowers at your funeral... ...lovely flowers...</font> It was true what Okkie had said as well. The white banded female had matured, had grown stronger. But had not Kakosenas as well? Perhaps Kakosenas had not grown "physically" stronger, but her mental prowess had improved. She had enhanced her concentration and could control herself a lot more efficiently than she could before, unless, well — <font color="2f2f6f">Mayonaka, darling, are you positive about that one?</font> No, she had not gotten any better at controlling him, it. Perhaps she had never been in control at all, and all of these "breaks" and moments of freedom were just illusions to lower her guard and make her a much more cooperative candidate. A slight frown befell Kakosenas' features. She hated being used. With a faint shake of her head, the ragged pendragon, or whatever she was, slunk furtively out of her hiding place. The shadows that had been acting as her cover slipped away from her slight form and were absorbed into the rest of the lurking darkness. Their sole light source, a low glowing bulb several yards away, failed to give off any sort of adequate lighting. Yet what was there was enough to show a few faint outlines and the shimmering of eyes. It was also enough to just barely notice that Kakosenas cast no shadow. The female stood, squared off against Okkie. However her demeanor did not read any sort of ill intent for the time being. Instead Kakos' stance seemed altogether impassive. She raised an eyebrow, then looked hard at Okkie, "If you are not my Little One, sirrah, then who be'est you?"</font>
<font color='#000000'>The Evil One slunk from the shadows much like a stealthy panther, and Okkie's muscles quivered with anxiety. Had Kakosenas prowled just like that on that night so long ago...? Had her movements been just as mirthless, just as eerie, and just as calculating? Had her eyes shone with that expressionless light as her fangs ripped at Okkie's jugular? The banded youth had to shake her head to clear these morbid thoughts from her brain, and it took extreme concentration for her to lock gazes with the sly Kakosenas. It took even more nerve to open her mouth again and let her feelings take wing as speech. "Who am I, you ask? I'm a strengthening youth, so very different from the baby whose brow you beat and throat you tore. Speaking of such, were you proud of yourself, fhyja yv rlyyp, that you were able to overtake a mere toddler? How very vokcing wonderful you must have felt! Let me tell you right now... never again will your tongue sample my blood. You might have been able to hurt me when I was young, but now, you can only try - and fail." The power of her words infiltrated the caramel pendragon, and warmth sprang through her veins. She was a sleuth, a fighter, a rogue. She was strong and swift and clever. Perhaps she wasn't equal to Kakosenas in mental powers, but her physical prowess matched that of the Evil One. Hence, if the shadow-lacking femme chose to engage in combat, Okkie would be ready. For now, though, both females were relatively impassive in stature, and so the youth continued, every word slurred with acid. "I'm no longer a mindless young one, who forgot to look over her shoulder. I'm strong, brave, cunning. I may not be able to match your sorcery, but we would be equal in a fight with only tooth and nail to aid us. I'd have a good chance at paying you back for your horrific sins." Ears swiped backwards, and chilling blue orbs stared coldly at Kakosenas. Had the message sunk in? It was hard to tell - the charcoal she-pendragon was void of emotion. It was sort of like talking to a wall, but 'Kie dared not yield. She pressed on. "However, I don't want to fight you. I'm sick and tired of dwelling on the past. And I know you're sick, sick in the mind and in the soul. I don't seek revenge from you, but I do seek... knowledge. Tell me - how did you do it? How did you send me screaming to Hell? How did you gift me with flight? But, more importantly, why did you do it? What possessed you to steal the innocence from a baby...?"</font>
<font color='#000000'>Kakosenas bit her own tongue sharply, just to feel the pain and salty taste of blood to reassure herself that this was all actually happening and was not just a dream or some strange self-induced hallucination. Okkie definately seemed upset, even infuriated at that,... and had Kakos been in a bit of a lighter mood, she would have laughed. Yet she knew that if she did, this would most likely cause Okkie to grow even more venomous. "Well I," a small trickle of crimson dribbled down her chin only to be swiped away cleanly with a thickly scaled arm, "I really do not see how you expect me to explain myself. No matter what answer I give you, I still don't think you'd be satisfied. We, I... we're not sick either. Just... we're not sure. You don't seek revenge, yet I feel that you hate me. Hate me with a burning passion. How can just knowledge, just mere words, quench that hateful flame?" She queried, purposely skirting around Okkie's more pertinent questions, her voice calmly steady and even although void of the majority of its usual musical tone.</font>
<font color='#000000'>"I never said knowledge would quench the flame. I just said I wanted it." Okkie's feathery gear bristled, and her blue orbs momentarily slipped away from Kakosenas. Without voluntarily assenting, the femme was whisked away, to another day, to another place. She was just a tiny tot, wandering aimlessly, searching fruitlessly for the object of her latest puppyish affections. She had no idea that he had perished, had no idea that she, too, would... The little ringed puppy sat on the borders of the strange land, a wormhole of some sort hissing behind her. Had she passed through that? Where was she? ...The sound of paw falls. She turned, but it was too late. Her throat was laid open, she was on the ground, not even writhing as her life seeped out as a carmine puddle... All her energy she saved to give her cowardly enemy a scathing look. And then everything went BLACK. 'Kie blinked back into the present, of a sudden, just as the echoes of a thousand demon cries drummed on the edges of her mind. No... she didn't want to relive that part, the actual crime had been enough. Shoving the memories and flashbacks away, the femme turned her gaze back to Kakosenas, and now the blue depths were filled with a sore sort of light. "I'd just like to know why, so that I may begin to understand why I was persecuted. Was there a reason? A rhyme to it? Did you do it for fun? Or was I some sacred sacrifice? I want to know - but don't expect me to accept it as justification. There's no way to justify what you did. No way in Hell."</font>
<font color='#000000'>"Suit yourself then," Kakosenas hissed. "All for naught though... Just be wasting my breath, I will." Kakosenas took several graceful steps to her right, curling her body in at an angle a little bit closer to the hard surface of the wall. She looked at the wall, studying the pipes and wires that ran along its roughly textured surface; all of them essential to the up keeping of the academy. In this manner, watching the wall intently, as if it were about to break down and crumble, Kakos began to speak. "Where should I start? The beginning? Nay. A tale about myself is unneeded. Trying to get you to see through the eyes of a murderer... is that what you want? To understand my motives?" She tittered nervously, "Even I don't understand these impulses I get... these little and sometimes big pushes. I suppose you could say that I felt a bit of... jealousy toward you at the time. I recall that much. Though why that should cause these talons and fangs to act I'll never know. Sort of was fun, that rush... Afterwards I... guess it was sort of a um..." Kakosenas' voice died out as she appeared to become quite detached from reality. Her eyes seemed to soften a little bit and become even more vacant than they were before. Yet their empty gaze remained fixated upon the wall.</font>
<font color='#000000'>Supple brown paws moved as Okkie slithered forward, intent on getting nearer to the other female. Not only did she want to prove to herself that she had the courage to share breathing space with the vile Kakosenas, she wanted to be able to hear the intonation in every word, and see the jolt of every facial muscle, as the darkened pendragon told her side of the story. Okkie didn't want to miss any details, no matter how trivial - because, in the end, there was nothing trivial about the matter. The Evil One had robbed her of so much... now she wanted to know how the other party in this situation had felt upon that fateful day. Even if it meant huddling next to the grime-slathered wall, her muzzle so close to Kakosenas' that the banded female could feel the other's tepid breath furling over her cinnamon-molded complexion. "Even I don't understand these impulses I get... these little and sometimes big pushes. I suppose you could say that I felt a bit of... jealousy toward you at the time. I recall that much. Though why that should cause these talons and fangs to act I'll never know. Sort of was fun, that rush... Afterwards I... guess it was sort of a um..." For now, these were the only lexis the Evil One had to offer, and Okkie hunched close to the stone cold floor as she pondered them. Kakosenas hadn't voluntarily swept forth and killed her? Did she have some sort of disease that caused her to lose motor skills and the ability to rationalize? But that was too... horrific an idea to entertain. If Kakosenas had only committed this heinous trespass due to some sort of sickness, who could Okkie blame this on...? Herself? "I suppose you could say that I felt a bit of... jealousy toward you at the time." Had the Kanji-marked youth somehow brought this upon herself? Could anyone possible do anything to deserve... death? "Continue, Kakosenas. Your reply doesn't suffice. I need to know more. What did I do to instill jealousy in your heart? I was nothing back then but an infant, weak, easily molded. The only thing I may have had was a sort of beauty, and a promising future. I still ponder over whether you altered those things for me... Though, in the matter of the former, I have only gained? Though it was a process I'd rather not experience again, I can't say I'm sad to have this tattoo... these wings..." A jolting shudder passed through Okkie's body. She was breaking down; her blind wrath was turning into a sort of grudging gratitude. What next? Would the caramel youth be seeing Kakosenas in a full new light, looking upon her as a partner, keen on sniffing out her her other, hidden facets? If she only knew. "The price was unfair, but I still can't be sure - are you to blame? Or is it that entity in your head, the one I sense, that ordered my execution? Tell me, Kakosenas."</font>
<font color='#000000'>"Continue," Kakosenas echoed Okkie's first word quietly under her breath. Her attention seemed to waver there, but eventually she came back to reality. It took her a little bit longer to process the white slashed female's words though as they played hide and seek within the confinements of her head. After a few moments, once she felt she understood, Kakosenas spoke again. She still seemed to address the wall however, and appeared to have not noticed Okkie's sudden closeness. What more did Okkie want though? Every nitty-gritty detail? The wind direction on that day? The particular smells that it carried? Or perhaps detail on what Kakosenas had eaten that day, or rather, what she had not. What she had done after the killing perhaps? "I'm not sick," she said, repeating this from earlier. "And you did not do anything. You just were. You just WERE. You just were. Just another being in that dance of life. Carefree, young, youthful, and yes, as you said, you had, have, beauty too." Seeming to finally sense the younger female, Kakosenas' unfaltering gaze shifted from the wall to meet Okkie's eyes. If the tar coloured Evil One was surprised to see Okkie huddled so close to her, she didn't show it. Instead she licked her lips, tasting and enjoying the remnants of blood still around from her previously bitten tongue. When she opened her mouth to speak once more, her words were a bit rushed and slurred. "That entity in-your-head.. my head." Her gaze narrowed sharply, "If you sense-this thing, as you say. Why-are-you not afraid now? Afraid that it might attempt other things, attempt to take-your-life once more even." The makings of a snarl etched Kakosenas' muzzle just then, her next words clearer now, but much more heated. Something that Okkie had said seemed to have struck an invisible chord deep within her being. "He, it, whatever, was there then, but he also was not there. At least not to my knowledge. I acted on my own. Comprehend that? I do know this too. You were not the first one that I took, nor were you my last. How does that make you feel?" She spat.</font>
<font color='#000000'>Their close proximity made it easy for Okkie to read Kakosenas' every motion and gesture. She swallowed the sour taste in her mouth that had sprung up at the beginning of this encounter, and focused her blazing blue orbs upon the other female's face. At first, as the dark one spoke quietly, her eyes were glazed, and Okkie suspected Kakosenas had whirled off to a world of her own explanation. But if that was so, the Evil One was exiled from said world, for she came rushing back to herself, her bright eyes searing into the banded youth's like two beams of flame. Whereas, just seconds ago, she had been devoid of expression, Kakos was now intensified, electrified, and angered. Perhaps Okkie was supposed to fear this sudden, swift change in her enemy, but she found nothing in her soul except curiosity and wonder - what was it that had changed the deranged ice queen into a manic, wrathful witch? Had something as fine as a hair triggered this passionate response? Was the calm, cool, collected Kakosenas finally losing her grip...? Slight panic seemed to turn into blistering rage, as Kakosenas' emotions evidently became more extreme. Okkie was inclined to back away, lest the Evil One desire some blood-letting. But the cinnamon pendragon's instincts cried out against such a movement - she refused to back down, in any sense of the word. "It's not a hard thing to comprehend, Kakosenas. You acted weakly, couldn't even suppress your own envious impulses. At least you're honest, and admit that it was your own foolishness that brought about the crime. And now I know that I can fully blame your sorry ass. As for your victims, why should I waste my time caring about them, about something that can't be changed? What, did you expect me to be hurt? Pah. Kakos, learn this. I have. Through this all, the most important thing I've learned, is I am the better pendragon, and you are nothing but an ugly, horrid, waste of space. You disgust me." All this was said unflinchingly, and 'Kie ruffled her white feathers noiselessly. Her proverbial footing, which had been wobbly only moments before, was steady once again.</font>
<font color='#000000'>Kakosenas gritted her teeth, clamping her jaws together as tightly as she could. A faint squeaking sound issued from them as she increased the pressure and the enamel of her fangs were forced to rub harshly against one another. "You sayeth this, but really you don't know anything. Not a damned thing!" She hissed through her clenched teeth. "Weak.. ha. Perhaps I am ugly! Horrible and twisted. Yet, do those words define me both inside and out? You seem to think so. They all said so. They made it so. Fate has made it so." Tearing her eyes away from Okkie's blue-eyed gaze, Kakosenas whirled about, pivoting slickly on her heel. She didn't need to relive this pain; this horrible feeling that clutched and tore at her chest and made her head spin. "You are the better one though. But you likewise disgust me." These words were delievered quietly as Kakosenas once again assumed her usual and more natural tone of voice.</font>
<font color='#000000'>"Is that so?" Okkie simpered, her tail beginning to lash furiously as Kakosenas' anger heightened. "I know nothing, nothing at all? Hm. I know what I can know. I know what you show me. And what do you show me? A bloody failure at life, is what." She spat these words as if they were bitter poison upon her tongue, her eyes now shining with the same passion that caused her ginger bottlebrush to snap to and fro. "Do you blame your failures upon society, upon others? How typical of you. And how damned cowardly. We always have a choice, and you chose to become scum. Don't you dare blame anybody for your idiocy." My, wasn't she really going for the throat here? "Fate! My ass! Such a theory doesn't exist. We carve our own paths through life. Your path is the... I don't even know. Hopefully, not many follow your foul example. Hopefully, there are not many pendragons that are as terrible and sickly and useless as you." This deluge of hot words came from somewhere deep inside the youthful pendragon, and it was simply a downpour she couldn't stem. So many things had been buried in her heart, for so long. She'd wanted this oppertunity to stand up to her killer and wreak havoc on Kakosenas' soul as the Evil One had wreaked havoc on Okkie's body. Every last insult was an exchange for a drop of blood let loose that day to paint the earth... But when her tirade was over, a thick, guilty silence ensued. The cinnamon female didn't really believe in revenge, after all. "Heh... we may disgust each other, but you know what? There's something between us, and it's undeniable. A link, if you want to call it that. When you are near me, my skin screams and my brain gets full of hellions. I can sense things about you, and I've no doubt you can do the same with me. We're eternally attached, by blood, by bone, by wing, tattoo, and Hell. Thanks to you..." Said quietly, was all of this, spoken in a downright flat manner. Okkie felt emotionally drained after her verbal slaughtering of Kakosenas', and her hatred had been spent. To be sure, it hadn't even felt good, and now the feather-clad pendragon was prepared to finally move on and invest in restoration. "We might as well... learn to tolerate each other. We could even be... allies, as reviling as that may presently sound to us both. After all, the last and only other time we met since the deed, you said you could... teach me things. And, Kakosenas, you owe me. Oh, do you owe me..."</font>
<font color='#000000'>"I should have died long ago. Should have been killed long ago. Should have let Illiosdiskos take me that one time as revenge for murdering her much loved blood kin. My..." Kakosenas shook her head violently, tossing that thought out of her mind. "It has to be fate though. How else would you explain things? Freedom of choice, being about to carve our own paths as you say, If I had that, do you really think that I would be the way I am today? How could we, I, have made such poor choices along the way? Mayhaps you don't believe, but fate drags you along, whether you know and like it or not." Kakosenas' ears pinned back, flattening themselves against her skull. She lowered her head somewhat, her matted hair creating a white, messy barrier as it covered her eyes. It wasn't easy to listen to Okkie talk. All of the subjects that Kakos tried her hardest to avoid, Okkie seemed to bring up and shove into her face. She knew, of course, that if she wanted to, she could easily block out the white winged one's words. She could ignore them simply, not here them, and let them fall upon deaf ears. She had done it countless times before; so why not now? Perhaps Kakosenas wanted to hear what Okkie had to say, yet all of her words had a jagged ring of biting truth. So why allow them to continue? She heaved a sigh, her breath making her entire body seem to shake. "Of course there are bonds. Multitudes of them... After all, I made you to some extent." Kakosenas flicked her head back, tossing her hair back out of her eyes as she looked over her shoulder at Okkie. She had been intrigued by the other female's last few sentences. Was that a hidden proposition of some sort that she sensed? "Allies? Perhaps I should be the one wondering if you're the mad one. I said I could teach you. Aye. Take you under my wing. But would you be willing to take that chance? What if you turned out to be as corrupt as I? What then? Maybe I do owe you, and maybe I don't... but sirrah, I must know this: How can you trust me?"</font>
<font color='#000000'>Notes — Short, crappy, and terrible. I'm tired, I have homework to do, and... I just want to sleep for twenty years. In Character — Okkie's emotional climax had been draining, and now there was nothing to do but slip and slide in a downwards spiral. Anger, sadness, disgust, disappointment, hope... all flushed away as if down a toilet. They'd been spent like last week's paycheck, and now the only emotion left clinging to Okkie's ribs was - daring. Now that her anger had been slaked, she saw in front of her, not a depraved beast, but a likely pedagogue. The Evil One could offer to the cinnamon female so much knowledge, and 'Kie could take from her what she wanted, and leave the rinds to rot. Of course, she wouldn't simply use Kakosenas; she would try to forge, if not a semblance of friendship, at least a sort of tolerance and understanding, one that they could both benefit from. But, first, she needed to get her point across to the charcoal female. "Your Fate crap is hardly factual. Prove to me that it exists and I will believe. Until then, I will continue to think that we make our own choices, that you made your own choices." XII's tail flicked as she tilted her cranium and pondered her next words of tired wisdom. "I know for a fact that I will not turn out like you. If anything, your mistakes have given me a guide of what not to do. I won't let insanity breed in my brain, I won't let my heart grow cold and die, I won't let my soul be sucked into oblivion. So I'll take my chances. And I prefer 'daring' over 'mad'..." By now, a solid weight had formed on Okkie's shoulders, and she desired nothing more than to lay down. She momentarily eyed the dirt-strewn floor beneath her feet, and then flopped down, not caring anymore if she got sullied. Her cranium remained erect as her belly meet with the greasy stone, and the youth continued to speak, though both her icy eyes and her silvery voice grew sluggish with each word. "As for trusting you... Trust you? I don't trust you... now. But such a thing can be built, because I... I believe in second chances. I have an ancient sense of restoration instead of retribution - no 'eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth' nonsense for me. I take what's been tossed at me, and I do what I can to make it better. Kakosenas, you're my lemons, and I will make lemonade, no matter how sour."</font>
<font color='#000000'>"Perhaps it's already been decided that you are never to believe in such a thing as fate." Kakosenas said with somewhat of a wry grin. She wasn't all that "hot" in the humour department, and this was pretty much as far as her sarcasm and jokes went. Words weren't one of her strengths... besides, when you're all alone, why talk out loud when you can have interesting conversations inside of your head? All words put aside, Kakosenas sure could laugh. Just... at all the wrong things, and at all the wrong moments. Kakosenas turned fully around and slunk back toward where Okkie had flopped. Perhaps this will be all right. Perhaps I can handle it. Perhaps not. Do I really owe her this? If things start to get rough, I could always, always... Instead of allowing herself to finish the thought, Kakosenas fell back upon her haunches. Her purple tufted tail curling tightly about her gaunt form as she watched Okkie with curious glowing yellow slitted eyes. Not many in her lifetime had given Kakosenas a second chance, nor even deemed her worthy enough for one. She also hadn't quite grasped Okkie's analogy of lemons and lemonade fully either, but from what Okkie had said prior, Kakosenas thought that she understood at least somewhat correctly. Making something good out of something bad? Futile... hopeless. "Tired...?" Kakosenas queried a bit tentively; she was about to tack Okkie's name onto the end of that query but felt a little too awkward about it. Names were, after all, special things.</font>
<font color='#000000'>Tired? Yes... Okkie was tired. Exhausted. She'd arrived down here in the basement with a seemingly limitless sense of daring and vibrant enthusiam. But the abrupt and unexpected encounter with her age-old nemesis had dragged her down considerably. In - what was it? an hour? two? - she'd faced all her greatest fears. The banded pendragon had looked her tragic past right in the face, had peered right into its deep amber eyes. She'd spewed all the insults and curses that had been building up inside her for years... and then all the fear, all the anger, and all the pain was gone. Just like that. Leaving 'Kie with naught but an emotionless void for a heart. Compared to her earlier state of blithe naïveté, this emptiness felt terrible... inescapable. It made Okkie want to curl up against the slime-slathered walls, close her effervescent cobalt eyes, and escape into the world of dream-weaving. Only... to succumb to her exhaustion, especially in front of Kakosenas, would be not only a sign of weakness, but perhaps a colossal mistake, as well. For trust had not been mounted yet, and the Kanji-marked female dared not slumber in the face of the Evil One... no matter how well their newly-forged bond was blossoming. -- A nap was out of the question for now. "I don't know if I'm tired. I feel like it, but it's more likely that I've just been totally sucked dry of all emotions. Seeing you again, speaking with you, looking into your eyes... it's all taken its toll on me. But don't think I'm just going to curl up into a fetal position and fall asleep. Nay, I'm not weak, I won't let my tiredness rule over me. Besides, I would never open up the oppertunity for you to strike again. Our relationship may be revolutionizing, but as I've said, there is no trust yet." There was a certain tone of conviction in Okkie's voice, and the affirmative words seemed to give the white-winged pendragon a small bit of energy... a prick of strength that rose up from her belly. As if the words were her fuel, her link to real, tangible, flexible emotions. Hints of feeling teased at the frayed edges of her nerves, and 'Kie was about to plunge on, her silvery voice full of determination and confidence, just so she could let all her lost sentimets sap back into her soul. Yet, the link betwixt herself and Kakosenas was as delicate as a flower petal. Any more slurred outburts could possibly shatter their ally-ship like a cheap piece of glass. -- That was the last thing Okkie wanted, and so her jaws snapped together with an audible "click". But you cannot just go silent. You must keep the conversation going, you must not become weak. You must stay awake and alert and try to strengthen this budding bond between yourself and the Evil One. Do not just let its beginnings hang like loose threads - the wind could tear it down. You are almost there, you are almost friends. She nearly said your name in an affectionate manner. Move. Forward. Befriend her. Make the tragic past into something sweet. Forgive and forget. Behave like allies, like... friends-to-be. Such wise words. Coming from that unseen and unsensed source. But although Okkie did not know where the wide lexis came from, she knew enough to obey their every order. Her ice blue orbs glided through the silence, and settled coolly on the slinky form of Kakosenas. Not too long ago, the simple act of laying eyes upon the Evil One would have sent a chill up the young one's spine. But because of her emotional abandonment and her hopefulness in the charcoal female, 'Kie did not even feel any semblance of panic or fear. She felt only... another tiny tinge. Deep inside her gut. But different this time. A flicker of hope? A hint of good things to come? Or just a twitter of excitement at the accomplishments of the day? Whatever it was, it felt... good, and the Kanji'd youth smiled lazily as she met with Kakos' lemon drop orbs, a silly thing to say abruptly popping from her mouth: "You have no shadow... y'know."</font>
<font color='#000000'>"Our relationship may be revolutionizing, but as I've said, there is no trust yet." That certainly was a curious thing for Okkie to say. Trust did take time to build after all. It could not just happen overnight. Kakosenas, at the moment, felt herself rather incapable of trusting another. For the longest time it had always been herself just looking out for herself... To be able to fully rely upon another being and being relied upon in return? Folly. What exactly is "trust" anyway? It cannot be measured... or assigned any set value. Trust? Such an action was just asking to be hurt in return. Even now she was still somewhat wary about Okkie. Was she working for someone? Could this all just be some sick plot to make her hurt and ache inside? To kill her? If it was some plot, it certainly was an intricate one. No... it was too unlikely to be some dark plot of any sort. Okkie wouldn't have gone to such... great lengths. When Okkie, seemingly out of the blue, mentioned Kakosenas' missing shadow, she paused for a moment. "Aye, I know," She replied simply, "Lacking one shadow. That sort of thing happens when you ah, aye... I read up on it once. They said that those without shadows are also those without souls." Her last sentence came out just barely above a whisper and rather haltingly. She felt it strange and a little uncomfortable to be conversing about such things with another being, let alone a being that she could see and touch if she so desired.</font>
<font color='#000000'>"Shadow lack." Little did Okkie know that the words "shadow" and "lack" would soon fuse together and mean something not only to her but to Kakosenas as well. Shadowlack. It would be a great leap and bound in the "revolution" betwixt cinnamon and charcoal, yellow and blue. It would be... their creation, together. Once enemies, then powerful, nearly invincible allies. One, minus a soul and a shadow -- the other like the complement, with a fierce spirit and a dark silhouette following every quiet footstep... As partners in crime, a force to be dealt with. "Shadowlack... it has a nice ring to it. Hm..." Enough about shadows and such. Okkie sighed and brought her slender body up from the greasy floor. Bones creaked and sighed and muscles stretched as the she-pendragon yawned, her wings rustling silently. She pricked her ears and looked around the dark basement levels... the slime-splattered walls the only witness to the revolution that had taken place. And they'd never say a word. "Well, I think I've had enough for today. Until we meet again, eh? And I know we will. And I know we'll both know when... that inevitable connection." And then she was just another part of the flickering darkness.</font>
