Fٱɼﻉ ๓คչﻉ discussion

A tower of imposing beauty, defended marvelously, this is the seat of rule of the most viscous of creatures. The spire stands forty feet tall, obsidian stones, and viscous spines protruding from every opening.

Kairi's consciousness slowly creeped back into her body. She nearly screamed at the sight of the torturous palace before her.

"Oh calm down." Enmity said dismissively, looking down at the girl's place on the bed. "You're not dead. We aren't going to torture you to death or anything. Your weapons are stored safely and will be returned." she rattled off, examining the bandages wrapping around the Bodha girl.

She forced herself up. She'd hurt herself. She'd force herself to die. Better die than be one of them. Better die than be a destroyer. She didn't even listen to Enmity, trying to pull away, driving her hand deep into her rib.

"Hey!" Enmity said sharply, easily twisting Kairi's hands away from her wound. She looked her square in the eye. "You call us monsters, yes. But you do not know who we are. I am no liar. You will be given a chance at survival. We will heal you before you go to the maze, and I swear no one will touch you in the mean time."

Kairi gasped in acute pain, giving a little moan, then meeting Enmity's eyes. "I will never go back! I will never- never-" her voice cracked in fear.

Enmity released her hands, stepping away from te bed and lacing her fingers together. "Oh darling. I know it's bad for you, but others have it so much worse. Many of us are Queens, yes. We are a female dominated society. But that means any male with any control uses it as much as they can over us. So consider yourself lucky, Kairi. You didn't grow up to this, and you got away. Plus, I'm the one protecting you now. And no one would dare disobey me." she bared her fangs in a snarl, seeming almost feral.

Kairi scrambled back in the bed trying to look around. She knotted her fingers in the blanket, flinching, not really able to touch her sides without awful pain. "I'd consider myself lucky only if you killed me right now," she whispered, trying to seem braver than she was. "I don't want your protection." She flinched back at the snarl.

Enmity sighed in annoyance as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Because we take lives so often, we have an idea of just what they're worth. Not even my soldiers are as spirited as you are, Kairi." she smiled a tiny fraction as she looked over at her. "It would be a shame if you were snuffed out so early. If it helps, I do hope you escape to your people again."

"If you know their value, then why do you take them?" Kairi retorted, trying to inch away from Enmity. "I doubt you have any soldiers who've gone through all I have." Her ars were folded and she glared directly at Enmity. "It doesn't help. You brought me here and now you want me to escape? It doesn't make sense. Make no mistake. I want nothing to do with you. We are not friends, not even familiar. You had my brother nearly kill me."

"Even if you hate me, we are similar." Enmity said flatly, rising from the bed. "Whatever you've gone through, I've gone through worse. So yes, I do have people who've gone through all you have. You are a good person, and you have the spark that so few of you do." She sighed slightly, running her hands through her fire colored hair. "You deserve to live. Yet, I have to think of my people. They are angry enough I am keeping you here, and they will not be pleased if I just release you." She paused, debating wether to say more, than decided to go with it. "And I am all that stands between us and all out war with you."

"We're nothing alike!" she insisted, her hands clenching to fists. Gone through? This woman was a queen of evil, worshipped by practically all the Rakshasa. She never would have been outcast for being Rakshasa-haired, for being the only survivor, to always being a suspect. She'd never had her family ripped away. She'd never been chased in the maze, starved nearly to death, only to have her brother die, be turned into a Rakshasa, because she'd been unable to stop before falling. "What would you know about goodness? Your people are right. What am I to you? Just another meal, cattle to eat. I'm not your pet." She paused when the queen did, arms shaking. Then her eyes widened. "You keep us alive for tending purposes, to have plenty of stock in the larder, though."

"And that's the only logic they listen to. The others believe that we should keep your people as just cattle and slaves." Enmity snapped, whipping around and glaring at Kairi. She grew distinctly more terrifying with her flash of anger, her hair bursting into flames and her leather corset-esque armor crackling with fire. "You believe we are all monsters. But we did not start this war. We ate just animals and yes, eachother, until one of your Lord attacked us. We defended ourselves, and we devolved over time to attack you instead. Not all of this is our fault. I am trying to save your people, and you sit their cursing me like I am a monster who peels the skin off of babies." She turned around and started out, her fists clenched.

"That's what every Rakshasa speaks when they attack, every word out of their mouth. You sit here defending yourself, but condemning your people. If they believe that I should be killed and eaten, enslaved, along with the rest of the Bodha, then what do you believe?" Fire had never scared her. Other Bodha gasped in alarm, despite it having never harmed one of them. Kairi sat as tall as she could in defiance, expecting death for her words at any moment. "I'm well aware of our history. And what happened to that king? He was forced to turn Rakshasa, given his dead family at the feast celebrating the Rakshasa. Even after that, our flesh was too sweet to resist. Now the monsters would steal any of us, not distinguishing between man, woman, or- or child." She had been so young when they'd taken her. Riku as well. Sh felt hot tears of anger. "You try to save us? Why would someone like you want to?! Someone who'd eat children!" She'd been threatened many times in the Maze, told how well she'd taste, what part of the meal she'd be a part of. "Your people are monsters who would torture babies for their own amusement," she whispered, falling back into the bed.

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((Can Scourge join in? :) ))

((Sure!))

((Go ahead. I have finals today and tomorrow so I won't post much.))

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Scourge could hear an argument before he even reached the door. It was Enmity's voice and the Bodha girl's - bickering about something he couldn't figure out from the five seconds he'd heard of it.

He'd been planning on ignoring the Bodha girl, leaving the Queen to deal with her. He wasn't even planning on coming to see her. But something in him had urged him forward. He wanted to at least know what the final decision was. Would Kairi be hunted, kept or returned to her clan? At this point, Scourge couldn't predict what Enmity would choose.

After a moment of hesitation, Scourge raised his hand and knocked at the door. "Queen Enmity, permission to enter?" He said it in almost a bored tone, as if he wasn't that interested in what was happening.

Kairi sat up, her eyebrows perking up her forehead. "Riku?" she asked, at the sound of his voice, gripping her stomach, even though she knew that he was probably very angry at her and... well, a Rakshasa.

((KT?))

((KT?!))

((Where'd you go, KT?))

((You can at least come in, or something. I don't know if she's active in this group anymore.))

((Sorry school! We just had two fights so I'm distracted by gossip!))

Enmity glanced over at the door, then back at Kairi, raising one eyebrow. "Come on, Scourge." She granted, folding her arms over her chest and leaning back against the wall. She stared down Kairi, silently daring her to say anything.

At Enmity's command, Scourge opened the door and entered, immediately seeing Kairi sitting up in a bed, with the sheets around her. Standing at the bedside was Queen Enmity, and he gave a small bow. He eyed the situation with a kind of bored disinterest, but he was curious, and he was interested.

"Has a decision been made about her fate?" He asked, wandering closer to stand opposite Enmity.

Kairi watched her brother with a desperate sort of love, as if knowing he could never really return the care she felt for him, nor could he ever really view her as anything more than a meal, or a toy to play with before killing it. Pain flared in her eyes, more from that knowledge than the actual injuries they'd put her under.

"Not yet." Enmity shrugged, giving the girl an appraising sort of look. "I'm waiting until she's... fixed. And what I choose depends on what I think of her by the end of this." She explained flatly, looking over at Scourge. "And what you say." She added abruptly. "What do you think should happen to the girl, Scourge?"

"I won't let you turn me!" she insisted, "You'll have to kill me." She met Enmity's eyes levelly, but the drifted to her brother, her features weakening visibly.

Scourge saw Kairi looking at him, pain and love in her eyes. It was unsettling. She was so attached to his past life, to Riku - it made him wonder what Riku had been like, and what kind of bond he had to this Bodha that was so strong she refused to give up hope for him. His expression darkened, "She's being rather irritating with her attachment to me. She'd be more of a distraction than a help," Scourge said evenly, switching his gaze to Enmity, "I say toss her in the maze."

Almost immediately, something inside him gave a roar of protest. He couldn't put her in the maze to be torn apart in such a horrific way. Scourge cringed slightly in pain, his hand coming up to his forehead. He was going to ignore that stupid thing.

Instantly, horror flooded her features, and she stared in terrified shock at both Scourge and Enmity. In this dark place, the memories were so easily summoned, the ones she'd pushed back for years. Riku holding her close and running as the Rakshasa snapped at their heels, watched from the tall walls of the maze, laughing and chanting that the young, tender girl would be their next meal, and the boy would watch before he, too, died. The cruelty as they kicked her weak frame away from her brother's injured, crumpled body, laughing at her tears. Her shoulders shook and her hands trembled. Kairi tried to remain stalwart, but frightened tears of betrayal fell from her eyes, which she quickly wiped away with her jittery fingers. "No. Riku, God, no, just kill me!" She tried to get at him to implore him, but only managed to crumple on the floor in a heap of injured flesh. "Please, Riku!"

Scourge gave a sharp intake of breath as pain flooded his head. The thing was rioting against him, seeing Kairi's fright and shock and wanting to take it all away. Wanting her to be happy. Scourge growled, holding his hands against his head, and he glared at Kairi. "Shut up! Shut the f*ck up!" Inside him, the thing roared. How dare he yell at her, how dare he hurt her. "I'm Scourge! Not Riku! Shut the f*ck up about Riku!"

No, Riku was still there. Riku was there inside Scourge, desperate to protect his little sister from harm. Desperate to see her smile and laugh. Riku was not dead - he was dormant.

She closed her eyes and silently began to weep, more for the sake of having lost a brother, rather than being about to lose her life in the Hell of her nightmares.

Enmity darted forward, pushing Scourge back away from Kairi and kneeling beside the girl, gently helping her up and back to the bed. "Scourge, if you're going to have an identity crisis it's usually not wise to do it in front of your queen. You are lucky it's me. Sit." she pointed to a chair in the corner, lightly pushing him toward it. She stood and stared at the two, shaking her head.

Before she could speak, however, the door flung open. She snarled, and the intruding guard froze. "Apologies, my Queen. But there is-" he stopped, staring at Kairi. "What's she doing here?" he practically purred, drowned out by Enmity's growl. She shot Scourge a hard 'don't move' look before stepping forward in front of the guard.

"For now, she's under my protection." She said in a hard voice, but the guard had already called in his friend and now the lone female was facing down three of fierce Rakshasa. "We let her recover and give her a fair chance."

"She is food. Fair enough." the first one told the queen firmly. Enmity shook her head firmly, feeling her hair start flickering with flames. Apparently that wasn't a good answer, because the three glanced at each other before they all moved forward toward Kairi.

Unfortunately for them, Enmity was queen for a reason. She darted forward and shoved them backwards, so the three of them decided to follow the brillian plan of attacking the queen. Instead of risking calling for more guards, she took matters into her own hands, claws, and teeth. In about thirty seconds she was standing among three destroyed bodies, trying to get the taste of raw throat and strips of flesh out of her teeth. It wasn't the best idea to just rip his throat out with her fangs, but she didn't exactly stop to think about dental hygiene in the middle of a fight.

She called for guards and had the bodies removed and most of the blood soaked up, though even after she had slammed and locked the door behind them she was ringing out her blood-soaked hair and knowing that it was unlikely these bloodstains would ever come out of this leather. "Believe me now?" She asked Kairi simply, raising an eyebrow at her. After saying that she started picking bits of lung, skin, blood and ribs out from under her nails.

((And there's Enmity saving Kairi. Tada!))

Kairi's eyes shot to Enmity's face. Her skin was drenched in blood, much like the Rakshasa Queen's, and flecks of flesh had splattered and stuck in her hair. "You should have let him kill me. You'd torture me rather than- than-" her voice cracked and she lifted a hand to wipe the blood from her eyes. In this way, she seemed to recede from the strong warrior who had slain hundreds of them, back to the child lost in the dark, crying for a familiar face. "Even if you make me a Rakshasa, they'll still kill me. I won't be able to escape the maze again. I'm dead any way. Why put me through as much agony and false hope before you strike the killing blow?"

"I am not sending you to the maze." Enmity said bluntly yet almost absently, crossing the room. She stood in front of a mirror, angling her head to try and get the pieces from her hair. "I am not going to torture you, or kill you. Why would I waste energy defending you if I was just going to do that to you?" She pointed out logically, finally getting all the bone from her hair. She crossed the room and looked down at the carpet, shaking her head with a sigh. "Dammit, lung is impossible to get out." she muttered casually. This wasn't brand new. Her position was challenged often, and assassins were also common.

"Being changed is your best option. Then you can be with Scourge, previously Riku. That's the only way that you two could be together. And I won't let the others kill you. The only other option is to send you back to your home. Which I could do, and would be willing to do... But frankly, you haven't given me a reason." she shrugged, watching the girl and shaking her head. "I have always heard that you were a fierce warrior. But I am seeing none of that bright spirit I was promised. And you have done nothing but rage at me and complain how much your life sucks when I have been nothing but kind. Not something I am often."

Kairi jolted in shock, looking at Enmity curiously. Riku had requested her torture, hadn't he? Wasn't she going to honor his request? She watched as Enmity picked at the innards in her hair, and Adara felt the horrible need to bathe. She couldn't move, however, so she saw that as a long way off. She refused to trust anyone else to do so. Her body was her own. However, she managed to pick some flesh from her hair, almost mimicking Enmity. "Why would you bring me here? Why didn't you just stab me and leave? What was it to you, the life of one more Bodha?"

She looked to Riku for a moment, then turned her face from him. "Riku doesn't want me. And why don't you want them to? I don't understand; isn't that your goal, to kill us all?" Kairi shot up at the thought of going back home, of being relatively safe, of protecting the others once again. And then Enmity shattered that hope. And that made Kairi angry. "What, you brought me here to entertain you, to fight and dance like a monkey tied to strings?! You pin me down with swords and blades and expect me to fight on and on, to somehow magically do something amazing and- and do whatever the Hell it is you want! If you want me to fight, you'd better give me a real cause worth fighting for, rather than expect me to blindly lash out in terror!"

Enmity smiled brightly, turning to face Kairi. "That was all I was looking for." She said gently, "I am not expecting you to be a puppet, nor a stupid brute. I just wanted to see wether you were... Worthy, I guess you could say. If you were spirited enough. I do not want to kill you all. I just want my people to survive. Believe it or not, there is a large difference." She passed a brush to Kairi, folding her arms loosely over her chest.

"Kairi, I could say that I saved you because Scourge is my friend. But I doubt you'd believe me. I could also tell you the truth, which I also doubt you'll believe. It's rather simple, actually." She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "It's just that, I'd like to think that if I wasn't born what I was, Rakshasi... I think I might have been something like you." she smiled, then sighed. It was no use trying to get the girl to believe her. "Bath is through there." she pointed to a door across the room. "I'll give you some clean clothes."

"Why'd you stop them?" she asked simply, too tired and hurt to do much more than ask. And if this lady thought she was going to be able to take off her clothes and move extensively underwater, well, she could just- Well, suffice it to say that Kairi was going to rest for a little bit before any of that. She clenched her teeth, and to her shock, unknown teeth pierced her tongue. Fangs. She flinched away and turned onto her side, away from Enmity.

Scourge grunted in annoyance as Enmity ordered him to sit down, but obeyed begrudgingly. He wasn't having an identity crisis, he knew exactly who he was. And that was Scourge - a Rakshasa, a warrior of the Crossheart tribe. He wasn't going to let a stupid Bodha girl give him grief.

He took a moment to harden his resolve, breathing deeply. Finally back to normal, he looked up in amused curiosity as his Queen simply shredded the Rakshasa that had entered the room. He didn't attempt to help her - he knew she was perfectly capable of taking on the challengers.

"The Bodha is right, my Queen," Scourge began, in a tone that was almost respectful, "I don't want her. And I don't see the reason this Bodha is treated differently from the others. I have nothing to gain from this girl following me around like a lost pup."

((Kairi: You're the worst brother ever! *pouts* *realizes what she just said* *huggy family reunion involving bloodbaths*))

"Because I know them, and I know what they do. Count yourself lucky I stopped them before they showed you." Enmity said flatly, sighing and bending over to dig into the carpet with her nails and pull out a sharp piece of bone. She set it on the nightstand before she continued, "If Scourge truly didn't care what happened to you, he'd say so instead of dancing around it like he is." She said almost absently.

Turning, she gave a fraction of a smile as a large dark shape folded from the shadows, followed by a much more obvious white one. Both headed straight for the queen, and she knelt down to them, affectionately ruffling the white tiger's ears and scratching under the black tiger's chin. "I thought you had taken Serkan out hunting, Jira." She addressed the white female.

Kairi remained mute, curled up tightly as she faced away from the two. So, Riku didn't care. He just didn't. And he had said he didn't want her, and that was pretty darn direct. She didn't know who the two were who entered, but she didn't care. Instead, she was filled with a sort of anger. Enmity wanted her to be her pet. Like a rabbit waiting to be tossed to the anaconda. She scowled even further, her mood darkening. "Just eat me already, you dirty-" she let loose a string of vulgarities that would have made every Rakshasa balk at eating her, just for fear of what rottenness was within.

Both of the tigers snarled loudly, and the white one started forward, blue eyes bright and fierce. "Jira." Enmity warned, her voice sharp. Jira stopped dead in her tracks, though still growling. "Let me tell you why I am not going to have them eat you, Kairi." She said, her voice deadly soft.

"Because I do not approve of the way they do it. There are some, like the ones that came in after you, that will draw it out as long as possible. They'll cut out some of your leg, cook that and eat it. And so on. I have seen them drag it out for a week, with the Bodha still alive. And before you jump all over me for it, hear me out. I do not approve of this, but I can do nothing about it except put the poor Bodha out of their misery if I find it. We are too set in our ways for me to change it instantly, and I am the only thing standing between your people and mine. You are fierce, but make no mistake. We would win, and it would be a slaughter. Anyone that would take over after me would make that happen."

She glowered at the queen. "Then kill me and then eat me, whatever makes you feel better about yourself. So you're on our side, are you? Not from our point of view. If your people were to attack-" she cut herself off. Civilian training programs had been going on, and the Bodha had been hardening, learning to fight, learning to defend themselves. It might not be a fair match, with Rakshasa numbers, but the Bodha were learning valuable skills.

((Hmm... Considering leaving? Are we gonna continue this or..?))

((AuRoRa))

((Aurora!))