ass ; kate

[toxicate]

dusty..............

Comments

[sootprints]

... I see... That does sound "shadowy."

[ says the shadow? ]

Do you have a specialty among those things? Or do you do it all...?

[toxicate]

...a bit of everything. But my Order, the Fourth, specialises in espionage.

[ makes a flapping shape with his hands. ]

My Deputy Leader is a ravener. He trains High Beast birds to spy and communicate for us.

[sootprints]

Birds...?

I see. We used birds in Scawwy to communicate with the overseers... They're surprisingly reliable.

[toxicate]

I agree. Animals are sometimes easier to work with than people who talk back.

[ glances at her. her game... ]

Did you have anything interesting or embarrassing happen in Scawwy, Kate?

[sootprints]

... Huh?

Er, perhaps... I'm not sure what you would consider interesting...

[toxicate]

Anything. A lighthearted story, if there was one. To raise spirits.

[sootprints]

It wasn't a place where "light-hearted" things happened very often...

...

Well, perhaps... there was the time when all of the dead were able to return for a day, as ghosts. We all decided to show up right when Todomatsu set up a kissing booth on the living side, to surprise him.

... Don't tell Todomatsu that I told you this.

[ it's an embarrassing story, for him... everyone else had a lovely time. ]

[toxicate]

Of course, but that makes the occasional example stand out more, right?

[ like that. his ears lift, a faintly amused upturn to his lips. ]

That is extremely funny. I won't tell him.

[sootprints]

[ todomatsu suffers so much and only deserves some of it...

but anyway, another wind comes along and they are subjected to a memory of kate sneaking into the Shadows House. ]

[toxicate]

[ oh. hm. that somehow wasn't what he expected of her origins at all. mordalion observes with a tilt to his head... there's a lot happening here. morphs, like shapeshifters? and a house overrun with them.

and kate, who isn't quite the same? ]

You were risking a lot to blend in, weren't you?

[sootprints]

... I thought that if I went there, I would find the truth of what I am.

Looking back, it was really reckless...

[toxicate]

Reckless, yes. Wandering into unknown territory usually is.

Did you find your answers, eventually?

[sootprints]

... Not entirely. But I think I learned some more important things than that.

There are things that I need to do... that only I can do.

[toxicate]

[ considers her quietly for a moment. ]

Do you have allies? Friends, that can help you with this?

[sootprints]

[ there's a nod. but some soot rises from her head as she answers. ]

... Yes. Some...

[toxicate]

...do you not want to talk about them?

[sootprints]

... I gained a lot of allies. I spent weeks building trust with people around me, working my way up in that twisted aristocratic system, trying to free people from the powers that controlled them...

But everything I worked for was lost in an instant.