More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[Nova Blancke]

"Oh, okay..." Liv replied and quickly apologized to Trinity." But why?"
Then she heard the answer.

"Again...why? You're not a beast."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"How could I not be? I burned a man alive without so much as a second thought. I killed him...and I liked it. People say that revenge doesn't solve anything, that it makes you feel empty. But I don't feel empty."

Memories of Chuck's charred remains almost made her smirk. What held her smile back was the accompanying memories of Larry's dead body.

"I lost myself. I reveled in the flames. If it weren't for Kerana-" she choked.

"People don't behave that way, like monsters. Which is exactly what I am."  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Shade was still drained from forcibly severing her control. She had felt a stir, but it was faint.

I am still weak. I felt something, but it was gone as soon as it came. It could be nothing, but it is best to er on the side of caution. Be on your guard.

Hearing this in her mind from Shade, confirmed her instincts were right. Taking Shade's advice she was more alert of her surroundings. She wondered briefly if she should go down after it but decided against it for now. Though she would be keeping a closer eye on Heather should the thing resurfaced again.

Nova Blancke

But something else bothered her. It was the shadows....they felt odd. Her control over shadows was diminished but it would stay with her if she didn't use it. She looked over at Trinity with a frown and motioned with her eyes towards the shadows a few times.

Trinity nodded at Liv conforming that she too felt it. It looks like she is still connected to the shadows. But she said it was temporary, but for how long?. She wasn't entirely sure how this part of her power worked, but was glad at least for herself that she was able to get her power back. Unfortunately this would not be an easy fix if it was anyone else's power. Plus it looked like it helped her regain her sanity.

Now there's this whole matter of Shade and becoming a symbiotic creature with her. Too many questions arose with that, who would it really be benefiting? Would she still be herself in the end or will the succubus take over? Even if it meant this would be an upgrade for her power, there was a pretty good chance she wouldn't go for it for the same reason she turned down an upgrade before. Receiving something like that would feel like cheating. Everything up to the moment she crossed paths with the demon, was earned through hard work. In the end she needed more answers from Freya before she made her final decision.

Nova Blancke

"Can we get her out of those chains? We all know she isn't going to do anything. And what's up with her having no clothes? Is this how you treat prisoners?" She started asking as an earner question but it grew a bit more angry. It was strange she had no clothes. Even if she was this dragoness, she was still a girl. And it wasn't easy for her to have no clothes at all.

Trinity's eyes narrowed and glowed as Liv's tone changed to a more angered and seemingly more accusatory tone. She knew the procedure and was ready to answer, but Heather beat her to the punch. It was probably for the better though Trinity had some choice words she would have used. She folded her arms and nodded at Liv's apology.

"I've faced monsters before. Heather, you're not a monster. Kerana wouldn't have gotten through to you, and you wouldn't be grieving as much over Larry. I-I'm sorry I couldn't get him out of there, I tried." As much as Theonis blamed himself for not being able to bring him back to life, she blamed herself for being weak and powerless to stop him. She really wished she had her power then, things would have been different and are, he probably wouldn't have entered the ring if she was able to prove that she could take care of herself. But in the in the end she couldn't at the cost of Larry's life. How could she be a good Head of Security if she couldn't save that child's life. "From what I could gather you seemed pretty upset when you found the death of Chuck didn't provide any closure. Am I right?"  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv crossed her arms under her chest.

"Tssk, I would have done the same thing. That doesn't make me a monster. Just like it make you into a monster. We are all capable of such things when pushed too far. It's a human thing. That makes you a human, not a monster. So please stop treating yourself like one."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather reached out and took the tray of cookies. She looked up at the people that had come to support her during the worst time of her life. Her eyes welled up with tears again as she picked up a cookie and took a bite out of it.

She huffed and grabbed several cookies at once. With tears still streaming down her face, crumbs tumbling out of her muzzle, and cheeks full of clovers she continued to shovel sweets into her mouth and blather, "Oo guysh rr de besh. *sniffle**chew*. Ai wuv oo aw sho mush."

At that time Trinity's phone pinged. It was an automated text stating that a patient had come out of a coma and was requesting to see her.  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv just smiled. She was still tired from her constant power usage and was only now beginning to recover her fatigue.

Upon entering he was saluted by the guards. Another display of authority he figured. It reminded him a little too much of the military but he let it go for now. At that moment Theonis stepped in who was visibly surprised by Heather's visitors. It's good she had them though. She needed it.

"Good morning ladies." His eyes quickly inspected Liv." Did you manage to get rid of your....problem?"

"Oh, yeah. Your girl here helped me out with that one. She's a good kisser." Liv let out a soft giggle.

Now that did take him off guard."Well...I..uhh...need to hear all about that later Trin." He simply responded as Liv giggled again. She was enjoying the tease. It's been a while since she has been able to. And she didn't hide how she checked him out as she subtly bit the corner of her lower lip.

He clapped his hands together. " Kerena, Deora. Thank you for visiting her all the time. It also means a lot to me. It's good she has such good friends. But, I'd hate to cut your visit short, especially since today is the big day for but I need to talk to her privately. This is...meant only for her"  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity looked at her phone that buzzed, then quirked her eyebrow as it revealed who it was from. She was about to let people know she had to go, when he entered the room. Like her men she too saluted him, she is still a soldier after all, even a high ranking one. It didn't come across her face but her thoughts were else where, Man he looks good... what? no hello?... She reminded herself that he was focused on the task, not on Liv. Which if she kept thinking visa versa, she was afraid that the demon would come out again.

The last couple of times, that seemed to be what happened, she kept thinking she wasn't good enough for him. The past month, the reason why she had been more intimate with him was because she was now not only competing with Liv but also her tainted self. She felt she had to be in order for them to stay together. Even there she couldn't help but wonder even when they were in bed together, did he picture her as either Liv or the Succubus. She didn't want to share that with him, she felt she would be insulting him if she told him. From day one he had been loyal to her.


She snapped out of her train of thought when Liv mentioned that she was a good kisser. She merely blushed and responded to Theonis, "Yes we do..."


Trinity addressed the group, "Something just came up, and I need to go. Liv, you going to be okay on your own, right? I can check up on you later or you can text me if something is up."

She looked toward Theonis "I will follow up with you boss, when I return with my status report." She turned around and walked away. "See you later." She waved walked away then dropped into her shadow then smirked and thought to herself that should get them talking... It felt so good to be surrounded in darkness. To be in the shadow realm, a place she thought at one point for certain she would never see again. Using her power, it was if she had used it yesterday, just as natural.

Trinity emerged from the corner of the patient's room. "Hey, long time no see. I got your text, I came as soon as I could. How are you feeling?"

Rikki Tikki Travi

Nova Blancke

 

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya rolled her head over to Trinity and smirked.

"Damn, are you still that mad at me 'cuz of what I said the last time we spoke? I thought for sure you'd be in tears and s**t after I almost died."

She grimaced and favored...well everything. She had over two dozen puncture wounds, and laying still for a month didn't help much at all.

"Strangely, I have been worse. Though I will have to have some words with your boyfriend. I mean, I gave him one job: don't let Okami die. Ugh...men."

Her jovial tone became serious as she studied Trinity. "Did you do it? Are you in control of the demon?"

Shade's voice hummed in Trinity's mind, "I understand why, but I wish everyone would stop calling me that."  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity tried to keep up her brave face but she couldn't. Seeing Freya awake and being herself made her fall apart. Tears crawled out of her cheeks as she remembered their last exchange how she hung up on her when she asked how she was doing. Through out this past month Trinity would visit her, holding her hand, hopping she would wake up. She felt so lost and alone since Teshomaru wouldn't return any of her calls or texts. She rushed over to her and hugged her, "Freya! I'm so sorry! I'm so lost, I was alone on this whole demon thing." She let go of her grabbed a tissue whipped her eyes and brought a chair next to her bed.

"I tried reaching out to Teshou but I've yet to hear anything from him. I can't help but feel that he has been avoiding me for some reason. Theonis tried to do some research but valid resources were hard to find. I-I didn't do it… I just didn't want to make another rash decision without knowing all the facts."

She didn't like it when this side of her came through, it reminded her of how she felt 15 years ago when she first mst her brother, Teshoumaru. How weak and helpless she was, how afraid she was, and naive.

Rikki Tikki Travi

 

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"HURK!" Freya grunted while Trinity had her in a hug. It had been a long time since she had been in this much pain. She made a point to avoid getting in this position ever again.

She huffed with relief when her student let go of her. Her ears hung low while she caught her breath and listened to Trinity's story.

"That's weird. It's not like him to avoid anything. He usually..."

Her train of thought was brought to a screeching halt when she put together what Trinity said.

"Wait a minute. You didn't want to make a rash decision? Decision? Like, you have a choice in the matter? What choice is there? You either control it, or it controls you."

"Are you telling me that monster is still inside you? Then you'd have to be in control of it, or else you'd end up like Okami and I."

"I mean, what, are you gonna tell me that thing actually asked to share your body? Psht, like it could talk."

Shade felt ashamed and embarrassed at Freya's comments. "She's not wrong. I never spoke to her. I couldn't. Her heart was tainted with too much innocent blood."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather abruptly stopped scarfing down cookies and placed the tray down. She then brushed the crumbs off of her snout and hands.

"Bye girls." she waved sadly.

She wasn't sure what it was Theonis wanted to talk about. He had been pretty candid about the trial thus far. So this had to be something different. It made her feel a little uneasy.  

[PixelMuse]

Trinity rubbed her head, "She says she never spoke to you because your heart was tainted with too much innocent blood?" Freya had shared her memories with Trinity to quickly bring her up to speed in combat and shadow manipulation. An important lesson they covered was that killing should be a last resort. There wasn't enough time to cover Freya's whole life, in turn she didn't remember innocent blood spilling. She paused and wondered Why would that matter to a demon? She dismissed the question for now, she figured she didn't share with her for a good reason, then continued.

"In fact since we met face to face… she kept wanting me to complete a synthesis and accept my connection to my ancestor to maintain sanity. What I thought was strange was this ancient creature was on her knees begging me to do this. Part of me felt I should just do it but I wanted to be cautious. I kept wondering. Why would she ask for such a thing? What is really in it for her? Will I further be lost?"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Freya stared at Trinity was her mouth agape. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Holy s**t...it does talk to you. And it's a she? All it did to me was shriek in some crazy a** moon language. "

Freya paused for a moment as she took it all in. Maybe her conception of the demon was false? No, not a demon. A deity of some kind. And if it was...

She hung her head slightly as she became lost in thought. It spoke to Trinity, but not to her? Because of blood spilled? Then it was because...

"Trinity, Teshoumaru and I haven't been completely honest with you. We didn't take in the demons in an attempt to cure ourselves of our father's curse. We were infected after being thrown into the shadow realm...after I had taken part in the mass murder of humans."