Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ I would challenge you to a battle of wits but I see you are unharmed ~
~ ???

Back and forth was she, a wisp in the tunnels clinging to whispers and cracking stone, the path between Polaris and Orion etched into her mind like the roads of veins twisting in a lover's eyes. There was something here, some power that drugged her bones and hypnotised the beating of her heart so that she would want more, and it did not know what a damsel in distress she could become when power was dangled in front of her on a thin thread.

There was a sense of familiarity here, neither great nor small, just there in her mind as she she stood by the river's edge. It was strange, something was off about this place, too bright, too loud. She could hear the muscles in her small body screaming to be set free, the frantic beating of her heart delivering blood full of life and energy to every organ, if anyone were to ask she'd tell you she could feel fingers of electricity curl around her heart-stone and pulse with it in a rhythmic beat. Yet, all the young cub was doing was standing with paws spread wide and head lowered to stare into the water. Perhaps, if she was kidding herself, she would say she could see something down there, dark in the water, just sitting at the bottom. Her ears were lying to her, a buzzing that wouldn't leave, the deep, insistent voice of something trapped below water (trapped below, chains, green lights, cities - oh no, a bad thought to go down), it sounded angry though at what she could not say. Of course it was just water though, just water with a bunch of rocks at the button, rocks that moved? No they weren't moving, we're they?

Maybe she could jump in, see what it was, her hind paws doing the kitten calibration motion as she stared down, though she was still new to water and not quite sure if she would be able to swim or not. That would probably be a fatal mistake for the curious cub. "I see you, I'll get you and you'll be scared!" A stage-whisper to the thing under the water, it could be bunch of rocks and she'd still expect it to quiver in fear.

How Akaari's stood


@Madhukar

Madhukar had just wanted to leave the marsh. She hadn't wanted to get lost in what seemed to be an endless braid of caves, winding and twisting and branching off. Unfortunately, that's just what she had done, and now she'd ended up here. Where was here?

It was bright. Way too bright actually, her eyes barely had time or sense to adjust. She'd grown up in a dark, gloomy marsh, surrounded by stinkies and mists. "Light" was not a relatively uncommon occurrence for her, and light to this opacity was before unseen. She didn't like this, not one bit. Although other traits of the room were much more favorable... like the energy she felt, added to her own somehow, pulsating through her from an unknown source. And that quiet thrumming ruminating in her subconscious, that almost felt like a dream-- where was that coming from?

With ears to guide her, the kitten would investigate. She'd have to squint to look around in all this brightness, so she'd mostly be relying on her ears. It'd take a bit, but she'd find it. Two things she'd land on at a glance: a coursing stream (the source of the thrum?) and an... odd looking creature. Suddenly feeling the dryness of her tongue at the sight of water, the kitten coaxed herself into approaching.

She came up to the stream, purposefully trying to remain far away from the weird-looking critter. If she didn't instigate, it shouldn't bother her, right? Right. So she quietly crouched down and lapped at the water and-- holy cow, she had never tasted water like this before!! Never seen anything so... not-musty! No bugs on it, alas, but the flavor was fresh and new. She couldn't help but feel pleased. This should be perfect, would be perfect if only --

If only that goofy-looking creature weren't STANDING LIKE THAT.

Madhukar's mind couldn't leave it alone. Honestly, it had tried, but it just couldn't. Goodness, look at that thing (and suddenly Madhukar's head was lifted and turned towards Akaari's direction)! It just looked so... WEIRD!! Gosh, no, Madhukar just look away, it'll be fine, it won't notice you and you can leave and get out of here! But urrrrgh it looked so dumb like that!!! But no, Madhukar, you don't need this, it'll just get in your way and you don't want to be in this shiny glow-bomb for too long!

Maybe it was this additional energy to blame for this crazy yearning to be disruptive to her own goals. She had to get out of here, and fast. 'Okay then, so stop staring at it! Get up and go!' Oh, that's right, the kitten was still staring at it. Whoops. Maybe it wouldn't have noticed. Maybe? Hopefully. Yikes!

Rising, the kitten quickly turned around and AGH, LIGHTS!!! She hadn't been prepared. Stunned for a moment, she'd sit in her spot, staring at her paws and trying to "blink that light out" if she could. 'Please don't approach me, please don't approach me...' would be her singular thought, looped in her brain like a broken record. Maybe the world would do as she pleased JUST this once... but probably not.

@Akaari

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~
~

It was not quite like Orion, that place had a way of getting to you. It would burrow into your brain and settle in for the night until all that could be seen when the eyes close are the glistening lights of the stones above and how their corners and angles faded away so that it was just the hypnotic glow that found you. When she was stood between the confining walls, forgetting that her paws rested on the sharp edge of a fallen stone or everything there is but a memory of what it once was, she felt as if she was caught, trapped in the hands of some almighty creature and the light was reaching her through the cracks in the fingers.

But no. This place was not Orion, perhaps quite the opposite. One all calm and faded edges, hushed memories of what was, the other all pulsating electricity and humming air, unnaturally bright that even the light felt loud and it felt far more alive.

She was not there to judge if one was better than the other though, an unbiased bistanden only there to discover the whys and hows, the poison of an opinion to be kept unsaid.

A disturbance to her quiet thoughts, the patter of feet overlaying the thrumming, a shadow in the corner of her eye. Someone else was there? The cub remained still, feeling the eyes of the other on her pelt, the smallest smirk beginning to grow on her face. When the other, small and young like her - young meant foolish (not like her) - turned to leave then stopped Akaari knew instantly what had happened. "I know. If I could see myself I'd freeze to take it in too." Puffing up of her chest and tail, setting back of her shoulders, she knew she was beautiful, of course the other was so taken aback by her that they had to stop. "Got super soft fur too, feel!" Just as she had with Archimedes the cub attempted to walk up to the kitten to try and press her face against it. Who wouldn't want to have super fluffy Akaari in their face? "This place is weird, do you know what it is? Light is loud, so strange, maybe Archi will know, do you know? It goes bzzzzzz bzzzzzzz." Of course, one cannot expect her to have a one track mind, it's a mess of metal interlocking with metal and curving around on itself up there. Switching quickly between her own knowledge, soft fur, the proof of it, fluffy face, and then her usual spiel of very important questions. Obviously, it would not come to mind that anyone would possibly want to hurt her, not want her near, or, spire forbid, not want to answer her questions.

@Madhukar

The world did not go her way.

WHY didn't it just DO WHAT SHE WANTED, just ONCE?

One word in her ear sent of a jolt of irritation down the kitten's spine, bristling her kitten fuzz and twitching her ears and whiskers.

One sentence and in the cat's eyes, this vain little punk that had made the egregious mistake of talking to her was DOOMED.

But it got worse. Somehow, some way, this complete idiot thought it would be a great idea to MAKE MADHUKAR FEEL ITS FUR. WHAT? NO!!!! The kitten bounced away, fast as she could, skittering and teetering on her paws. Imbalance was a common thing in her stance, thanks to her immobile left paw. She managed, however, and came to a stop a few feet away from the encroaching buffoon, facing it headfirst.

The idiot's next words were sort of lost on Madhukar, except for the onomatopoeia at the end -- "Bzzzzzz bzzzzzz," Madhukar would mimic, enjoying the sound in her mouth. After her buzzing was done, she went straight to making a tiny kitten hiss at the fool in front of her. Madhukar's own magic would attempt to accompany her bout of wrath, fiddling with the electricity in the room. An electric discharge caused a bit of a pitiful thunderclap to ring above the heads of the two feline figures; not very loud, perhaps only heard by those who were also in the same position by the river as they were.

But it was still a boom for Madhukar.

See, one thing neither of them quite understood yet was that, like Polaris, Madhukar was loud, cackling with energy. Her fury was measured in volts, her paws always a-buzzing and bumbling, her mind constantly sparking with thoughts. The older and more powerful she got, the worse it would get, most likely. The kitten didn't know this; she couldn't have, and neither could the other. But despite that, she was going to make this brat before her understand. Do not. Mess. With the storm kitten.

@Akaari ((should they jOUST?))

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~
~

Oh no, did she smell?

Akaari's features visibly dropped as the other quite literally jumped away from her, everything drooping as if a frown was felt by the entire body rather than only the lips. It couldn't have been her fur, she knew for a fact - and facts cannot be disputed - that it was soft, therefore, the only reasonable conclusion was that something was wrong with the other thing. Though, by the way a leg stuck out weirdly when she back tracked something probably was wrong with her. "Do you have an ouchie in your paw? I can help!" She pretty much shouted it at the other, maybe she couldn't hear too well which was why she didn't answer the questions and yes, the answer to someone not answering a question is just to shout louder.

"Bzzzzzz-" In her midst of continuing on the mimicking train there was suddenly a loud bang. A bang which definitely did not come from her hitting something, right? No, she hadn't moved, and the other was just being rude by hissing. The hissing would get no reaction because rudeness was not useful so Akaari would not tolerate it. However, she would scream a little (only a little! It never has to be spoken about again!). As every fibre of her body prickled in fear - where the hell could such a noise come from? - her magic reached out as if instinctively trying to throw away the thing that caused her heart to beat in rapid movements and her mouth to go dry. A rock, small and perfect for stone skipping if she had hands, that was behind the other kitten was budged forwards towards Akaari. Since the two girls were opposite each other the rock would have to try and get through the kitten, since it cannot phase through objects the rock was 'accidentally' budged into Madhukar from behind.

"What was that!" On one hand she could be asking about the loud noise - that was, in all honesty, not the loudest but the two kids were young - on the other she could be talking about a stone which just moved by itself? Yeah, things were odd right now and she definitely blamed the kittens presence for it.

@Madhukar FIGHhhhhhtttttt

for regurgitation / vomiting mention

Madhukar knew what "repugnant" smelled like, and this buffoon wasn't it. No, what this thing smelled of was far worse: unwanted, unneeded, and entirely unattractive vanity and arrogance. The idiot's superfluously loud query about Madhukar's paw was met with a simple and enthusiastic "NO!!", followed by more hissing and spitting, plus tiny tail lash to boot.

This complete fool decided to mimic the buzzing sound back to Madhukar. It seemed to be capable of speech, so why was it resorting to Sniffles-level repetition? It was actually even worse than Sniffles, because that stinky had never spoken any other way. This fool had made it obvious that being dumb was a conscious decision it felt a need or desire to make. Oh, Madhukar was NOT having it. When the thunder boom hit, Madhukar didn't miss an inch of the fear emitted from the buffoon she faced. The tiny little squeak it made rung like comedy gold in the kitten's ears. It actually provoked a tiny giggle from the kitten -- a malicious little giggle, but an actual giggle nonetheless.

Watching the brain-busted thing get squeamish was delightful, Madhukar was quickly realizing. It was finally the reaction to all her intimidation tactics she'd been searching for since she had hatched! She wondered what else she could do.

Her pleasant fantasizations of how to further torment this creature were abruptly and rudely interrupted by the feeling of something against her back paw. What?! The kitten would jump a little in the air, spinning while she was up there, and land at a different angle as to see what had touched her. And she would uncover--! Nothing. ...Nothing? Nothing at all! Wow! Shoot! And now she'd just killed her own dignity a little by being panicked right after she'd made the other creature panicked!

DANG IT!

Then it had the audacity to ask "what was that". Now, if it had asked that before Madhukar had briefly flipped out about an invisible poke at her back paw, maybe Madhukar would've understood better. And if she had understood better, maybe she wouldn't have gotten so fervently, egregiously, and awe-inspiringly...

...mad.

"NONE OF YO--" but something stopped her. Her magic, specifically, but it wasn't like she knew that. Without her willing it or thinking about or really even wanting it, the child begin to breathe in gulps, making a kind of ugly wheezing sound -- the kind you'd expect to prelude a hairball. But it wasn't going to be a hairball, no ma'am. It was going to be worse, likely for the both of them. All that metaphorical energy that seemed to jitter and ricochet against Madhukar's internal walls -- growing with each swing until it collided with her core, empowering her to do crazy things including (but not limited to) screaming at everyone she met -- had a physical (or, metaphysical?) counterpart: her magic.

This time, her magic wanted to try something new.

Electricity charged a gulp of bile lurking somewhere within the kitten, which she was managing to hack up with quite a bit of difficulty. She'd manage to get it out though, eheh, shockingly enough. Plopping the sparky little zap-trap on the ground in front of her paws, the kitten would briefly space out as a literal minor shock ran through her face to her paws. It was too small to do anything truly harmful, but it felt super weird and very uncomfortable.

Once it was done, though, the kitten had nothing to do but look up at the other creature, her expression looking as blank and clueless as her brain felt.

Oh dear...

@Akaari ((imagine instead of jousting i made Akaari watch a kitten regurgitate electric bile directly in front of her... haha))

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~
~

Oh, this kitten was not Akaari's favourite, not be a long shot, no sir-y. She had dealt with only a few people so far from group settings to her and just one other and she could say, with every truth behind her words, that Madhukar was perhaps the most infuriating and useless little kitten that walked these caves. If only the cub could get rid of her, if only...

Her voice, so loud and unnecessary (who taught this kid manners? She should drag the kid's butt to Archimedes and have him educate this thing) and if Akaari had hands she would press them against her ears and scream 'lalala' until she shut up. "I don't like you!" It was shouted back, to try and overcome the girl's own shout so that Akaari could hear her own thoughts again. Perhaps the statement was obvious by the way the two stood there like tiny little enemies but she still had to say it, just so the kitten knew. However, what was interesting (maybe the kitten had some use after all) was the way she reacted to the cub's little fright. It took no time at all for her to study the kitten's every miniscule move, the light that seemed to come into her eyes, the glee, the pure, cruel happiness and pride that she seemed to feel. Interesting, interesting. She would feel no hate for those feelings, no anger at the way the kitten enjoyed her pain, for it had shown some reaction that Akaari had never seen before and she was loving it. "You liked my fear! Do it again!" She could laugh herself at this point, what else could this kitten show her? How many outrageous emotions did she have?

A hop, skip and a jump. It was her own time to find pleasure in the other girl's reaction and Akaari would not be able to hold down her own laugh. Not really at the fact that she was frightened by something but that she was so high up on her pedestal and had the audacity to giggle at Akaari but now she had to fall off that high horse and throw her dignity into the sand. It was glorious! "Take that!"

Akaari was ready to bang her head against the ground or jump into the water and sink to the bottom towards that pile of weird rocks just to get away from the girl's voice. The she stopped. Sudden and unpredictable. Was she alright? Maybe she got annoyed by her own voice, though not likely. Oh caves, what was she doing? What was that sound? She could feel bile riding in her own stomach and threatening to spill out of her own throat as she watched the kitten convulse and bring up likely what she just had for lunch. Nope. Nope, she was not dealing with that. What the actual Spire? Out came something that looked like a mixture of disgusting bile and pure energy. She was not sure just what to do about that other than try hold down her own sick. "Why'd you do that! You can't do that in front of me!" Though whether the words actually got through to the kitten was another thing for she was just...standing there? Staring into the void. Probably reconsidering all her life decisions, marvellous!

In her desire to get that thing away from her Akaari's own magic responded, pushing against the pile of electric bile to budge it so that it might spread all over the kitten's own paw and spread against the ground like charged butter. However, during this, watching the kitten's dazed face and out-of-it look, Akaari was also eying up the water. Now would be a perfect chance to just rush up to her and push her into the stream...now what would shut her up, right? She didn't move though, still feeling that if she took one step the contents in her own stomach would ride up too. Spire, that image of her hacking up that thing would haunt her dreams for nights to come.

@Madhukar
(Someone needs to teach Mad manners lmao, you regurgitate on a plate! not the floor, that's just disgusting)

The idiot creature's protest against Madhukar's very being earned no reaction from the kitten. It just didn't mean anything to her, in the midst of her fury. If anything, she was happy the feeling was mutual, because it was pretty awkward to dislike someone who didn't dislike you back.

Unfortunately that dislike didn't carry to the kitten's giggling. It wasn't funny to make someone afraid if they were just going to bounce right back up and be happy about your malevolent glee! That was weird! And stupid!! This complete troglodyte acted so STRANGE and BORING and DUMB and Madhukar just wanted to leave, leave, LEAVE!!! The kitty's nefarious giggling quickly devolved back into snarling at Akaari's request. "Shut up!" she squealed in response, never wanted to be commanded around by anyone, especially not this brat! Its own laughter didn't make Madhukar any happier -- the demand for silence applied to that laughter to.

And then came the goof that Madhukar just had to do, to completely invalidate her previous victory! Except-- wait, had the idiot implied that it had spooked the kitten? First of all, how, and second of all, DARE IT!!! Instantly, Madhukar's self-directed deprecation dissolved. Alas, as water vapor from the ocean leaves salt behind, the shame also failed to alleviate Madhukar of the heat in her face that originated from the embarrassment of being laughed at. Why was she embarrassed? Well, the situation could bear a resemblance to a jester laughing at a king in the king's own court. Madhukar was the king here. She couldn't help it. She just had to feel embarrassed!

Which wouldn't do any good in the attempt to convince Madhukar to take even a fraction of a chill pill.

What would "help", if you wanted to call it that, was Madhukar's own magical self-sabotage. Well, it would help for a moment. As soon as more words popped into Madhukar's head, the "help" would vanish into thin air. With a brief, rapid shake of her head, the kitten would enter back into reality. What was the buffoon upset about now? Oh, was it grossed out? Madhukar would smirk at that. So the idiot said she couldn't do that in front of it? "Bu' I did," she would fire back smugly, life and power returning to her expression.

No amount of strength could've saved the kitten from distraction. Her momentary lack of diligence allowed the budged bile to spill all over her paws. Her look of hubristic superiority swiftly morphed into one of shock (haha) and vacancy again. Fear, unrest; her eyes bulged and her fur stood on end, tail forced into the air, as she felt -- not heard, but FELT -- that bzZZZzZzzt-- Shocked by her own bile, into complete silence (for once!). It wasn't heart-stopping, it wasn't enough to bring her to unconsciousness; she didn't have that kind of power yet. But it felt dangerous. Like a long, withdrawn pinch: uncomfortable, unpleasant, and a little bit painful.

It left Madhukar rearing back with a yowl, madly trying to shake the liquid off her paws, and then running to dip them in the water. GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF, like a bee's stinger stuck in a paw, it just wouldn't leave her alone. She desperately scrambled to get it off her paws, make it go away. Why had something inside of her done THAT?! Why had it come up then?!? What was happening?!

She just didn't know.

@Akaari ((Madhukar's just washing her paws aggressively now, Akaari can take that as she will. Madhukar will probably try to run away soon, in defeat, OR I can stop stalling and Madhukar can get angry enough to legitimately attack. But since Mad's just been shocked I doubt that'll be a possibility. That's all I've got to rant about! :3))

for Akaari getting mad so description of kitten violence

Just remember, darling, all the while. You belong to me.

~ ~
~

'But I did', she could just thump her little head in and never look at that face again. Maybe, just maybe, if she could grab that dumb kitten's tongue and rip it out it would stop wagging so much (it would probably flop around on the floor but Akaari didn't care as long as it made no noise). However, that was ew and the cub didn't want the kitten's vile saliva on her or to touch her gross skin. She had never felt such vehement disdain for someone before, maybe if she didn't look like that then Akaari might be able to deal with her, but she did and it was like the kitten couldn't even realise that she was just so...ew!

Rage had built up in her just by looking at this creature, even the curiosity at feeling such a thing and watching the other's reactions wasn't enough to calm her. She stood still as the intently watched the bile budge then spread over the kitten, her own horrible contents being thrown back at her and Akaari couldn't help but grin at the irony of that. She did not realise that the furball-thing was, in fact, charged with static energy and could cause pain (though that would have made the situation so much better) what she did realise though was that the kitten definitely did not like it and that was enough. "Interesting!"

Surprise shot through her when Madhukar yowled (what a horrible sound) and ran off to wipe off the bile. There was something else growing in her too, something strong and that was impossible to resist. Though she tried, she really, really tried to ignore the burning in her chest and the wandering of her paws. She couldn't! Akaari edged closer to the frantic kitten as quietly as she could, hoping with all hope that she wouldn't notice her, and, in as quick a movement as the cub could muster, she attempted to rear up on her hind legs and push all her weight on her front paws as she leaned forward and tried to shove the kitten into the river before turning on her tail and running away giggling. Not even waiting to see if her attempt was successful. "I hate you~" Singing as her clumsy little paws propelled her away.

Exit unless stopped?

@Madhukar
(I feel like this has taken me 2 weeks, how has it only been 2 days??? Also sorry it's quite short/not much)

All of this little brat's spouting of nonsense to make Madhukar upset, while working, was entirely unnecessary, probably like its entire existence! Madhukar's wrathful thoughts consumed her as the water splooshed gently over her paws. It seemed as though the bile was getting off, floating away, and her body was cooling down, feeling better bit by bit. The sting of pain still hung around, unwanted, but what was the kitten supposed to do about it? She didn't know what this was, why it was coming out of her... but she did know that it would've been a lot better if it had been used on that creature who sounded like she was coming closer wait what was she doing oH NO--

SPLASH!

--rather than Madhukar. Now the kitten was in the stream. Luckily, ever so luckily, she hadn't landed back in her charged spit, but she was still now in the current. Close to shore, close enough to wildly grasp for it, close enough to haul herself back onto land, panting and shivering and bristling and snarling.

A pitter-pattering told the kitten that that barbaric imbecile was getting away! NO! She couldn't have that, not after all that idiot had DONE! Madhukar tried racing after the noise, but she hadn't quite gotten the water, or the shock, or the fear, or the debilitating amount of RAGE out of her system... so she faltered, on her useless paw, and fell back on the ground. It was, at the very least, the ground this time, and not that terrible river.

She laid there for a moment, letting her enemy get away. Let the record show that Madhukar was allowing this to happen, that she had complete control of this situation. She wasn't just a poor, useless kitten who couldn't control herself, sopping wet and crying on the ground because she had been bullied and shoved into a river. She wasn't. That wasn't her.

So then, why did it look like that?

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you..." she whispered to herself, again and again and again. This had been, without doubt, a failure. She had failed. And it was all that loathsome imbecile's fault. But eventually, she would get up; she had to. She wasn't driven by being well-liked, by being hated, by anything that dumb creature could even hope to understand. Madhukar was driven by the will to do and get done.

And after she was done doing what she'd wanted to do, she already knew her next project: find that fool, that wicked, nasty FIEND, and show it exactly how much she hated it. EXACTLY how much PAIN it DESERVED.

And with that, Madhukar would shake, and trundle over to the next tunnel.

- exit -