Phoe

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

"Uh..."

Don't laugh. Come on Euna, don't laugh! The poor girl's a mess. You're the one good thing she's got going for her right now and she just tripped and fell on her face in front of you, metaphorically speaking and-- for fuck's sake why are you laughing?! Like you'd have handled this any better at her age! Shit, like you'd handle this any better now!

Errant leans forward. She presses her face into her hand: two fingers and her thumb across her forehead while the other two curve down past her nose. Her hair tumbles delicately across her face. None of it hides the grin splitting her from ear to ear. Her entire body is spasming with the effort of not collapsing in a fit of laughter.

"Yeah," she says after what feels like three eternities, "Girls are pretty great."

First official note for the record: it is very definitely the girl that Errant is responding to, and not the cybernetics. She sits up in her chair again and sweeps her hair back up and over her shoulders. Professional. Be professional. She's the adult in the room.

"Would you like to start over? My name's Euna, what do you like to be called? Come on, second first impressions, let's go!"

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Errant flashes Cinders the widest, dumbest grin in the history of the universe. It's the kind of face you can't help but make when you meet a fan after assuming you don't have any. It also makes Errant feel sick to her stomach the moment she realizes what she's doing. The hell is she thinking, encouraging her like that? Knowing what she's about to go through?! What about what comes after? What about--

"Miss Mayweather? It's good to meet you."

AEGIS PR training is carrying the day right now. Errant commits to her smile, now that it's too late to take it back. Her steps are smooth as she crosses the room and pulls a chair close to the bed. She projects calm in every direction as she sits down and crosses her legs. She makes a show of calling up an AR display on her comlog and scrolling through the information. Very official. Very 'Agent Errant'. Inside, her heart is pounding inside her chest.

"So I really am going to be a superhero!!"

Errant pushes a button. Cinders' bed slowly rises up until she's in a full, comfortable seated position. For the time being, she leaves the limbs deactivated. She can't help but notice that all four have been installed. That's... good, actually. Having a stray arm or leg doing what she's used to would only make things harder. The guilt that comes crawling up after that thought is crushing.

"So! I've got your file open here but it's pretty much just a medical record. None of the really important stuff."

What surprises her more than anything is just how warm her voice sounds coming out of her mouth. She never knew she had a voice like this. She's never had a sister. And it's too soon to have that thought. But if she did, and if it wasn't, is this what that would sound like? Or is it just... nostalgia, seeing her old augs looking back at her?

"Do you mind if I ask you some questions? For instance, I'd love to hear about your hobbies. What sorts of things do you like to do for fun?"

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

It's not the words that reach her. Even straining her clever, pointy ears as hard as she can, Mittens can barely make out the muffled voice floating down the hall. And the words that do slip through get all muddled in the haze of catnip. But even still, they're not wasted. Because Mittens can feel the strain and the panic in that voice, and that makes her try to think. And when she tries to think, she remembers who that voice belongs to.

It's like turning back into herself. Memories drift into her brain and stay there, old ones and very fresh ones, all clearer than the morning sun. She's not alone. She's not alone. She's not alone! She's... a princess. And, she...

She lifts her paw to stop the brush from coming down on her head again. It's harder than plucking a star from the sky. Harder than lifting Argossa itself by the roots. She looks up at her Mommy with clear eyes, but with no less love for the person they see.

"Mommy, I," her words get cut off by a thumb pressed against her lips, that pushes so firmly before tenderly brushing her cheek. Her mother smiles at her and shakes her head.

"I need to go. I'm sorry, I... I can't stay anymore. I've got to go. My friends need my help so I--"

She tugs on her arm. She doesn't budge at all. Mommy's gripping her firmly, not letting her move, looking at her with a smile on her face, but eyes that look as hurt as they did on the Sad Day. What is this? When did somebody fill Mittens' heart with knives?

"Don't speak like that, my little kitten," Mommy whispers, "My precious Little Light. There's nothing out there. Stay with me. Stay where it's safe."

"Mom, I... nnf!" Mittens shakes her head. The incense is making it so hard to think like a proper princess, "I don't think this is, is real. We're not really--"

"Please," now Mommy's voice is strained. She's begging. Her eyes are filled with ice pain and it's cutting Mittens to shreds just to look at her, "Please don't keep speaking. Sit back down, my love, let Mommy take care of you. Don't leave me all alone in here. Not again. Not again. I'm so cold, darling. I need you here. Don't you leave me like all the others. Please."

All at once, Mittens surges up with strength she'd forgotten she had. She can't see the room or even hear the rain through her tears, her sobs. She jumps up, and bonks her forehead softly against her mother's, while reaching up with one arm to hold them together for just one moment longer.

"You're not here! My Mommy's not here! I know because... because I left you in a soft bed in Illumina! You're resting in a dumpy house because the castle is in ruins! And, and, and you're sick, ok? You're very sick! I need to go! I need to go so I can make you better and I can't do it if I stay here any longer! I love you! I love you so, so much and that's... that's why I've got to go, ok?"

She wipes her tears away on her sleeve, and in so doing remembers she has sleeves. She remembers she's wearing a suit. It helps her stand on two legs. Her ears press miserably flat against her skull and she turns and runs as hard as she can before she has a chance to regret it. And every step hurts. It feels like she'd fallen apart and she has to remember how she fits together all over again. Every instant is painful and even as she reaches out to open the door and step back into the hallway, her heart and head are screaming at her to run back and just stay with Mommy, just a little bit longer.

But she opens it and stumbles through. Toward the voice she heard. Kazelia's voice. Because that pain she heard was real. She's coming, ok? Hold on!

[Overcome: 9. Damaging Blood as the price to make it last]

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Ok yeah no, the smile was definitely not the right face to show for this meeting. It's a fight just to keep her face from turning too sour. If the immediate flinch when "XNE-012" came up hadn't already sunk her on that front. She runs both hands down the length of her hair.

"I'm--"

"--trying my hardest!" a near-hysterics Euna Kim, aged 14, half sobbed half screamed in a heap on the floor.

Mr. Big Show loomed over her like a mountain next to a sapling. He might have been wearing a kindly smile on his face, she had no idea. From where she was sitting, his head might as well have been in the clouds. All she knew is that this was the worst martial arts lesson ever. She couldn't follow the rest of the class through a single kata, she'd just broken her training stick-bo-thingy, and now she was being asked to spar with the un-auged kids in the class and she had no idea from one second to the next whether she was going to kill them or not even be able to touch their uniforms.

"Ms Kim," somehow it was worse that his voice wasn't as stern as usual, "If we're asking you for too much today then..."

"It's not too much!"

Euna jumped six feet into the air and landed on one leg. It buckled and dropped her down to one knee, but she forced herself up into a standing position despite how badly she was shaking. She wiped her eyes with a hand that seemed to weigh twenty pounds.

"I want to do this! I want to learn!"

***

Euna stared at the slice of cake with an expression that suggested she was trying to blow it up with the power of her mind. It had been fifteen minutes and she hadn't even reached for it, even though it was supposed to be her reward for finally clearing a full lap on the track without tripping over herself. Everyone told her they were so proud of her! But now it felt like she was being tested again. By cake.

This sucked.

"Not hungry, Ms Kim?"

She nearly put her foot through the floor in surprise. She did manage to smack herself in the face with her hand. She spun in her seat, shifting her murder glare to Commander Warren.

"...Starving." she admitted. She wished her voice didn't sound so pouty.

"Then why won't you eat?"

"It's these stupid arms! I tried to pick up the fork and I almost punched the table across the room! These things are so... rrrgh! Can't we just switch back to the old ones? Just for a weekend! I don't care that they don't fit right, I just..."

"Ms Kim."

"Everyone's laughing at me right now! I can't even get dressed by myself anymore! And don't..."

"Ms Kim."

"Don't 'Ms Kim' me! Stop feeding me that stupid lie about 'getting used to them' anymore! It's been months and I'm doing worse than ever! So just... just shut up, ok? Shut up! I quit!"

"Euna Kim!"

She flinched.

"It's a poor soldier who blames her tools, Euna. And you're not a poor soldier."

"...not a soldier at all." she groused. The Commander ignored her.

"I promised you that you could be the shining star of AEGIS. That you could stop all the Sabrems of the world. IF you were willing to put in more work than anybody had before. You told me that you'd work twice as hard as I asked for such a prize."

Euna stared at her lap in shame.

"We need this data, Ms Kim. Every second of it, so your next set of cybernetics can be the best the world's ever seen. But we can't make that happen if you quit. Now are you going to be a useless brat, or are you going to be a god damn hero and pick up that fork?"

She'd never been more careful or controlled in her entire life as she moved her right arm to the table. She was a surgeon, saving the most important patient in the entire universe's life. She took up her scalpel, so carefully and...

Sent crumbs and frilly frosted flowers splattering everywhere. The fork was a useless lump of metal in her clenched fist. Euna burned with shame, and cried like a child much younger than she was supposed to be.

***

"--not sure you understand what you're asking this girl to do."

Errant will never know how much of her memories showed on her face while those schematics hung in the air in front of her. But as soon as they vanish, she's a picture of absolute calm. She has to be, or she'll be no help at all.

"But... I guess it's hard to be picky in an emergency. Let me see her, for now. I'll do as much as I can."

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"As you wander
Through the storm
Let my song, dear
Keep you safe and warm

Go see the world, Love
River and sea
But hold me in your memory."

Mommy's lap is even warmer than the fire. It's even softer than the wonderful rug that's just for Mittens to take naps on. Mittens squirms happily under the ministrations of her favorite brush and looks up with eyes so filled with love they're almost leaking. Mommy's voice washes over her like a river, so powerful and deep, but at the same time calm and soothing. Mittens purrs her accompaniment. It's the only sound she needs or wants to be making right now.

The brush feels heavenly in her hair. Every time it finds a tangle there's a happy tingling sensation that crawls across her entire silly head and sends a shiver straight down her spine so that there's nothing left to do but swish her tail contentedly. It's even painted through with green, her favorite color ever. Mittens' eyes drift shut and there's nothing in the whole world beyond the gentle tap tap tap of raindrops on the glass saying hello in their soothing voices, Mommy's singing that sets her heart adrift, and the sensation of the the brush running through her hair and making she brain go all fuzzy happy squeak squeak mew.

She opens her eyes. The brush is painted through with pink. Her favorite color ever!

"In the valley
Past the hills
Lies our meadow
Full of daffodils

There sleep, my Darling
And in your dreams
Take my hand and dance with me."

It's been a very long time since Mittens last heard this song. It's an old song, much older than she is. The first time Mommy sang it to her was the Sad Day, the one where... where the... it's so hard to remember but there was a... a really important lady. Mommy's special friend who left on an adventure. And for a while after that this was Mommy's favorite song. Mittens heard it every night as she fell asleep, her and the two little girls she shared a bed with.

On the mantle over the hearth sits a picture of Mommy with Mittens on her lap and two smiling girls with their arms wrapped around either side of Mommy, one of them like Mommy in miniature, the other a little older and a little more out of place. Mittens yawns and nuzzles Mommy's stomach so the old song doesn't make her sad.

On the mantle over the hearth sits a picture of Mommy with three silly kittens on her lap. Even though Mommy is looking at all her little kittens with so much love, looking at her back then you can't help but think she looks the tiniest bit lonely. That's why she's singing her old lullaby, you know. She still misses her Special Friend. The one with the long fingers who gives the best ear rubs in all of Hyperborea!

On the mantle over the hearth sits a picture of Mommy, an excited smile on her face. The teeny, tiny, itty bitty Mittens is sitting on her shoulder, headbutting her cheek with all the affection she can muster in her silly little heart. It's just the two of them. It's only ever been the two of them in all the world. Who needs anybody else, if Mittens and Mommy have each other?

"See the river
White with foam
Let the waters
Carry you back home

I beg my Starlight
Listen to my song
Come back to where your heart belongs."

This is not the perfect moment. There's no Rita here, none of her friends are around, and sooner or later her heart would start yearning for adventure. Or maybe she'd... maybe she'd... the catnip carries the thought away again. This is not the perfect moment. But she feels safe, and warm, and oh-so-loved, and oh-so-very-needed.

Even still, all the catnip and all the brushies and all the singing in the impossibly vast universe might not have kept her here forever. It's the open door to the hallway that finishes weaving the net around her forever. Mittens can leave any time she wants! It's so easy! All she has to do is stretch her fuzzy body and hop hop down onto the floor, and she can trot through that door as simple as you please! She can do it whenever. She can do it now! That's why... one more tiny moment can't hurt. One more round of brushing. One more verse. One more hug, one more nuzzle, one more extra special hug. Mommy needs her Mittens. For just more minute. Until forever.

***

Mistress is missing! She's missing! Yellow and Orange chime anxiously at each other. They've been chasing her all the way through the labyrinth and she's been slipping farther and farther away but now she's just gone! Blue thinks that somebody needs to find Gold, but she's being ridiculous. What good is the Queen of Lights without a Princess to wield her?

The little lights spiral around each other. Their chimes are heart rending as they slip into the strange tunnel of air and dirt and Euphie's discarded ideas. Find! Find the princess! They zip across the scene like twin bolts of lightning, and hurl themselves straight at the door made for Alina. They remember. They'll never forget.

Crash! Crash! Orange and Yellow hammer the door frame with unshaped blasts of raw magic. She needs them! Princess Alina needs her little lights! But they can't! They can't they can't they can't they can't get through! What is? Where is? Help! Need help!

Two lights zip back and forth through the chaos and confusion like a pair of glowing hummingbirds. Back! Forth! Up! Down! Chime! Chime! As a pair, they find Kazelia. The closest thing to a hope they've noticed. They tug on her sleeves, insistent. Come! Come! Please! Please! Help! Help!

Tug! Tug! They pull her away from her sister, away from the Caduceus, away from the madness. Toward their Alina's door. There's just the tiniest bit of a crack in the middle of the portal. Not enough to fit even a light through, but just maybe... a voice? Alina's lights are asking you to be their hero, Kazelia. Reach their princess' heart and bring her back to them. Or if you can't, then find the voice that will reach far enough in your stead. But do something! Do anything! Please! Please!

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

Errant walks slowly through the smoldering streets. Through the smoke of recently burning cars. Through the piles and piles of junked appliances and other consumer products. Through the air still thick with desperate and frightened tears. It's rare for her to be walking by herself. Normally, a mission would call for her to get airlifted in and dropped on site. Or else she'd be sprinting to get more exercise, or because she was faster than a lot of cars. But tonight she's by herself, on call, and walking down the street at a normal person's pace. It feels important, you see. To take the time and really look at how things turned out. She cuts a sharp figure in the middle of the dim and dismal street, a lone splash of color swimming through the black.

It reminded her a lot of old arguments with Victor. How did her line go again? However corrupt or awful the system might be, it was still responsible for propping up thousands, tens of thousands, even millions of lives. And if you brought the world crashing down, even to build a better one, those were the ones who paid the cost. Well, here that is. Clear as the diamonds around the moon. But, even still... what else could they have done? With everything BlackSun was doing... they had to go down. Had to. Those lives weren't propped up at all.

That's why it was so important to see it. She had to know what her world looked like, so this didn't just turn into another stack of rhetoric for big dreamers to toss onto the pile while they carved up the world for themselves. She had to see the people she was supposed to be helping, so she never got carried away on a logo masquerading as her dreams ever again.

In the light of the hospital signage, Errant glows like a creature from some other, more magical universe. Or just a certain someone a little closer to home. She reaches out her hand and shakes Doctor al Jamil's without hesitation. A thin smile creeps onto her face before quickly dropping away into a veneer of grim-faced professionalism. Or, was the smile right after all? God help her, she's still so bad at this. She shakes her head.

"Of course, Doctor. What can I do to help?"

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

The usual workout corner room is a little better furnished today than usual. The floor is covered by a very soft looking, dark red carpet, and there's a supremely comfortable armchair in the spot where there's normally a folding chair or some other makeshift seating arrangement. Next to that sits a small table with a water bottle sitting in the middle. But as has become the norm lately, Euna's nowhere to be found when the camera comes into focus.

There's a sharp, rapid stomping sound coming from somewhere off frame. It's impossibly to tell what direction it's coming from, or if it's getting louder. It seems so close, and yet...

A black and silver blur cuts into the frame. Euna Kim digs her heels into the carpet and slides into view. Then she vaults over the arm chair and skids until she's back out of the shot. Her exclamation gets bleeped out after the letter F. She walks back toward the table, snatches the water bottle in one hand and starts guzzling without really caring whether or not she looks professional doing it. She holds up one fingers to the camera, and for a minute or so there's nothing but the figure of Euna, hunched over in front of the chair instead of sitting in it, and the sound of her exhausted breathing.

She's dressed head to ankle in full Nidadas track gear (the shoes are actually an Atlas product. What a brand rebel!), all black and white and very specifically tailored to cover up her limbs: Full length track pants and a long sleeved top that's been very aggressively cropped well above the end of her rib cage, leaving the majority of her torso (and physique) exposed. She's not wearing gloves, so it's obvious that she hasn't swapped out her limbs or anything, but it's like she's gone out of her way to highlight the part of her that's still natural. She's also drenched with sweat, her long two-toned hair is clinging all the way down her back.

"Hah.... hah.... Hey guys! It's... ffff.... me! Just... uh... one, one sec.... okay?"

She takes another swig of water and stands up straight as she flashes a tired smile at the camera.

"Sheesh. Coulda planned this a little better... uh yeah, sorry about that! Welcome to Euna's Fitness Corner!"

She drags a hand behind her back and tosses her hair behind her. It unsticks for a second before slapping back against her with a wet thwap. She shrugs and takes a seat on... the armrest of the chair. Sure.

"So, yeah. I actually... uh, god this is embarrassing. I don't actually have any workout tips for you today! I'm actually just here to do an ad bit. But I promise it's really exciting! No really, I mean it! See I've been asking around and I finally, finally got approval so I'm... ahem. Yeah.

Coming second quarter of next year, I'm thrilled to be the one to tell you AEGIS will be opening a public obstacle course designed by yours truly! Oh, it's gonna be so much fun, you have no idea! I'm modeling it after a, uh... recent mission, and we're breaking it up into five different courses at increasing levels of intensity. We're gonna have climbing walls, a swimming section, a wind tunnel you have to run through, a huge open field area to dodge and return laser fire... and oh yeah! For you super intense hero types, a one-on-one battle with a specialized Training TAG! Not to mention a killer weight room."

Errant's grin could almost rival the new-look moon for brilliance. She also finally remembers she's been holding a water bottle all this time, and just sort of casually chucks it over her shoulder and hope it lands out of frame. It doesn't. She shrugs.

"We'll have scores and times for you to compete against set by a number of different Corporate Champions and... maybe if I can swing it even a couple of special guests. Oh, and we're setting up shop well away from the Pyramid, so don't worry about that. Should be just a couple blocks' walk from the downtown metro station. Oh and, best of all? It's pay what you want! Fitness is important no matter who you are, so if you've got the extra money to chip in please feel free, but if you don't... well, you still deserve to feel healthy too, ok?"

The smile drops off her face, and Euna finally shifts to sit down in the chair properly for the first time. She crosses her legs, uncrosses them, recrosses them going the other way; she has no idea what to do with herself. Finally she settles for planting her feet wide on either side of her and leaning forward so her elbows are resting on her knees.

"And, uh, hey. I'm not trying to tell you that you have to be some sort of goddess to be a good person. Ok? If you feel good about yourself and your body's not giving you any trouble? That's awesome! You don't have to do anything you don't want to. But... if you're sitting there, listening to this and thinking 'what's the point'? I just want you to know this isn't about being the best. It's about being the best you. And that... that's important, ok? Even if it doesn't seem like it. Because it's, well, it's like this magical princess once told me: our hearts are all connected. The things you do today can completely change another person's world... even the ones we think are out of reach. Even the ones we're pretty sure hate our guts. Not to mention friends and family and everyone you see every day! So just... yeah. Do your best. And if you can't do it for you, then look around you, and find someone you can do it for. Take care, yeah?"

She throws up her usual stupid "peace/victory" hand sign, and the camera cuts out.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"Mrowr?"

Feel warm. Smell... sniff, sniff! Mmmmmm~

Mittens was, ummmmmmmmm. Something? Was... important? Maybe? Lots important, yus. More important than Mommy? Silly girl! Silly Mittens!

The thought drifts off in a haze of catnip and pretty flower smells. Mittens lifts her heavy head out of her paws and does a biiiiiiig stretch to get all the sleepy feelings out of her body. She yawns and wiggles her head a whole bunch to finish the job, filling the cozy room with the silly flap flap flap of her pointy ears on her fuzzy head. There, all better!

Twitch twitch! Her clever triangles soak in all the sounds around her. The crackle of the fire makes her heart sing. The drumbeat of rain on glass soothes her heart and sets her tail to happy swishing. The gentle creaking of the brazier lulls her back into a sleepy bliss, but the pat pat pat of pretty hands on Mommy's perfect lap and the trilling of her loving voice win out.

And still, it feels like something's wrong. Mittens mews in frustration. Her thinkies are so slow! She still needs... she's got to...

Oh! Mommy doesn't have a blanket on her lap! Mittens scampers across the room on all four paws, darting from fireplace rug to comfy chair faster than you can say 'ear rubs' and then, triumphantly, hop hop! She stretches wide and luxuriously across Mommy's lap so that her silky fur is smothering as much chair and as much Mommy as she can. She buries her face against the softest, sweetest smelling hip in the whole wide world and squeezes her eyes shut tight with all the love, trust, and happiness she can fit into one silly body.

The song inside the room finds its missing instrument: the deepest, rumbliest, most happyful purr in the whole of Hyperborea.

Masks: Resurrection Roundabout

It's a lucky thing Euna wasn't eating any more ice cream just now, or it'd be everywhere. As it is, the sound of a breath catching in her throat is audible: this warbly little squeak settling in just under Sara's enthusiastic dessert enjoyment noises. Her eyes open as wide as they'll go as her pupils dilate to match. The blush starts at her nose, spreads to her cheeks, and climbs down to her neck and up to her ears at the same time. For a second, she can't move except to make funny little sniffs. Her mouth's even caught hanging open a little bit.

Oh no. Oh no, she's picturing it. Oh no everybody's watching and she can't stop picturing it. Why did she think this was a good idea? Who teases a tiger in public? There's a terrified grin spreading across her face. Her hands sneak up with skillwire precision to cover her mouth. Then her entire face. She hunches down until the face/hand combo meets her knees, and in that instant nobody in a thousand meter radius is going to wonder at all who was going to wind up on the bottom. Hypothetically squeaking. SPEAKING!

"Th-th-th-that's not fair!" she barely more than mumbles as her entire torso trembles with embarrassment.

She sits back up with superhuman effort, but the damage is done. She can't look Sara in the face right now. Hell, she can't look anyone in the face.

"I..." her eyes focus on a spot next to Sara's chair. Her hands clench into fists on her lap. Her blush, impossibly, grows deeper, "Th-there, I mean. Um. I-I don't... think, uh, a-any part of you isn't (gulp) isn't pretty."

Three. Two. One.

"UM! I MEAN! UH, GOSH WHAT AN INTERESTING QUESTION FE--" inside voices you moron, literally everyone is staring, "Er.. Fe, Ferra. Yeah. You know. Obviously. Yup! Of course she's proud. I mean I'm proud! We're... it. No, um. You know?"

Dear god, something or somebody save her.

Princess-Champions of Hyperborea

"Um, Azora, I don't think this is such a good... eep!"

Mittens squirms. She tugs, and she pulls. She struggles with every ounce of her kitten might! All that gets her is a stern look and a magical swat on the butt. She squeaks and goes limp as she's dragged helplessly through the hallway toward the most obvious trap in the universe. It's weirdly comfortable, being carried by the scruff of her neck. It's a strange sensation, helpless and safe at the same time. And it makes her continued squirming all the more heroic.

The thing that stung the most in all of this is that Mittens could tell exactly what Azora was thinking. Curse or no curse, it's not like she'd suddenly become an idiot. It's just, Mittens knew she didn't care. That total confidence that she was more than good enough to get past the trap and get what she wanted anyway. The bratty, selfish insistence that this belonged to her in the first place. She might not have been this bad about it, but it still felt like staring at a reflection of her younger self. A reflection that was dragging her into danger, that she was powerless against. Stupid Azora, getting to be so tall.

"J-just think! Where did the others who took the apples go? We need to figure out a smarter way to--"

"Kitty if you don't quiet down I'm going to pack you so full of snakerchiefs they're going to start slithering out your ears. Is that what you want? Mew mew mew, I'm sorry princess! I'll be such a good girl like I promised, you're my best friend!"

Mittens blushes. She didn't have to smoosh her face and move her lips for her like that.

Her emerald eyes dart across the room, back to Kazelia. Her last hope for sense in all of this. It's no good, she needs more time to figure out the point of this room and find the hidden way through it. And there's only one way Mittens can see to buy that time for her.

"Mew!"

...Honestly, thank goodness. For the first time, thank goodness for these curses. Without their subtle tug and pull, this would never work. Mittens paps her paw on Azora's shoulder and stares into her face with the brightest, cutest, most soulful eyes she can manage.

"Please," she begs in a voice as sweet as sugar, "I just wanna protect you! Just... just let me go first! A-and if it's safe, you can follow! It'll be like a test!"

Sharp eyes try to pierce her soul. Azora holds Mittens at arms' length and looks up and down every inch of the princess trying to shine through the cat. And, it's weird. Maybe Mittens' eyes are playing tricks on her, or maybe she's so desperate for something to put her hope in that she's forcing herself to think it means anything. But she could swear Azora's expression looks conflicted for a second.

"Do you promise me you won't take the Caduceus? No matter what, you won't use it or run off with it?"

Mittens hesitates. She looks back down to the end of the corridor, where Kazelia is staring at her with a definite edge of worry behind her bespectacled eyes. It's hard to tell from this far away, but is she shaking her head? Mittens smiles.

"Of course I promise. Aren't we friends?" Mittens turns her head just enough to where it's hard to tell whether she's looking at Kazelia or Azora, "I'm counting on you! Alright?"

She hops away and reaches for the Caduceus before her stupid cowardly heart can make her flinch away from it. This is the final step to finish casting her spell. She hopes.

Before her paw can close around the staff there's a flash of blinding blue light. When it fades, the only sign that Mittens had been there at all was a jingly green collar dropping noisily to the floor.

[Talk Sense with Wisdom: 9]