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

~ I should do the things I want to do but how can I without you ~
~

The negative 'No' stuck in her head, glanced off the corners of her mind and came back for another try, never had she heard such an unpalatable word. Though, here, it pertained to the lack of knowledge (something of which she could not judge him too harshly for as her own mind was an empty library, the only book she possessed sitting on a table in front of a worn chair) she supposed it would not be too difficult to find out knowledge for them both. He could benefit from her pestering of other creatures just as she was benefitting from him not turning her away just yet. Though, she was sure she would be able to find another who was just as useful should he decide to go away, it would merely be a shrug of her shoulders and a plot for revenge that would stick with her when he left, no fuzzy feelings or wishful memories.

Now, here was where those thoughts might be a little on the false side (a little white lie never hurt anybody) as she always seemed to perk up at his advice, a flick of her ear, a concentrated gaze and a desire to do well by him. "I can find that out!" A decisive nod of her head as she watched him, letting the words of loyalty just flow past her. His voice said it was important but her heart told her that loyalty was only needed until the reward was gained. "And when I set her free I'll tell her that you helped, she could give you something like...like -" She glanced around then, trying to find something that he might want or need. "She could make you biiiig!" Large meant power, right? And if whoever this serpentine creature was/is was grateful she would have to say thank you and give them something because that's how it worked!

She had to fall silent then, focus only on what he was saying and the intricate movement of his hands; the smashing of rocks and weaving of stories. Her little mouth working as he talked, no noise escaped but it helped to collect her thoughts otherwise he would board a train without her and she would be left standing on the platform, watching him leave her there alone and afraid. It was as if she was writing in her leather bound journal, sat on that worn chair as he stands across from her in the dark library, pen constantly scribbling down notes as the little rat let the cub in on all of his secrets. At least, she thought it would be all of them, he had said now was not a time to keep any and she had believed him.

First of all: Family was important, did he know that because he had one? And what was it, was family akin to her knowledge? Second: He had done a lot of watching, what had he seen? Was it cool? Was his watching like her visions? If so what more knowledge did he have that she had barely scratched the surface of? Did he know that Glaive rhymed with cave? Third: It was important to always know what someone else wanted apparently, or she could persuade them that they needed something. That was an important note in her book, highlighted and drawn around with little stars. Five: Betrayal of loyalty is bad (maybe that should be the most important one...nah) and you need to build trust with someone because relationships were a give and take. If so, what was the benefit of their relationship to him? Actually, never mind, it was her company of course.

She jumped back as he smashed the rocks together, more because it was perhaps the most violent she had seen him, and almost dropped her pen and journal in the process. She gathered it back up and tried to catch up with his lecture and slides. Six: You can do bad things if you have friends or don't get caught (one was more fun than the other), she might like this manipulating business a bit too much. He was talking as if it was fine though, as long as she was good at it (and she would be), so it could not be bad if she went around and stole things or hurt people. Finally: She could bring someone a rat and they would give her things in return! If she asked Archi would he volunteer, or is this one of those you have to be sneaky moments?

Well, that was a lot to take in. Her head felt as if it was spinning.

A few things were of utmost importance here: "Thank you!" You say that when you're grateful, right, and that was perhaps the only thing she could actually manage to dredge from her brain for a few moments. Two, after she was quiet for a little bit to gather her thoughts: "Will do well, no one will catch me, and I'll find out what everyone wants." Yes, she included Archimedes in that list. "I could -" But she cut herself off and laughed slightly, if she was going to be sneaky about it she couldn't tell him, couldn't get caught remember. There were quite a few things here that some instinct in her told her that it was between them, she could not tell others about his suggestion of thievery or whisper of manipulation, and it made their little rendezvous even more exciting to her.

"Did you know that Glaive rhymes with cave?" That was one of the more important questions she had saved to ask him during the question part of the lecture. "How'd you know family's important? Do you have one?" Were there creatures out in the caves who had his loyalty that she had to hurt to get it all to herself? "I'll start with finding out what throne creatures want so I can use it too." Then eventually kick them out. At this point it was less that she wanted the throne (though she did because she really liked the idea of that fantasy coming true) but more a test to putting this new information and skills of Archimedes' to use. "And will search for family of the not-me as well."

She would have to find out what he wanted in the future, for he would obviously want something and the young cub just could not work it out. This was one thing she could not outright ask him either apparently. Was this the growth of a friendship between them or the start of a story about a great betrayal? She wasn't sure but for now she was just happy that he told her answers to whatever she may ask.

A deep breath then, it was as if she knew that answer to this question without even asking it but what was the point of a question if it wasn't spoken? "Is that all your secrets?" She couldn't help but thinking about what he had said Well, there's a time to keep secrets, but this is certainly not it and wondered just how much he kept from her when she seemed to (stupidly) want to tell him everything. It was as if she had already forgotten his most important advice: find out what they want.

@Archimedes
Sorry about the wall of text when most of it is just her thoughts...

'She could make you biiiig!'

The hefty little rat blinked, the ghost of a smile crossing his face. "That'd be something," he murmured, not bothering to correct the child--and who knew? Magic, though it wasn't something he'd ever much relied on, might have no limits. He did not know.

As for whether he knew about 'glaive' rhyming with 'cave,' he could only stare bemusedly. "It certainly does," he offered, at last; "and how did you learn such a thing?" Read: why the hell are you mentioning this? Archimedes wasn't spectacularly experienced either with children, or their seemingly-random ramblings. But Akaari listened, it seemed, to his own rambling: his lesson, his 'secret,' his explanations of Gembound inner nature. 'How'd you know family's important? Do you have one?' To this, Archimedes stared, for a time, his whiskers twitching. "I did, once," was all he said, and wondered if she would press this.

"As for what these creatures want..." and his whiskered snout pointed off toward the distant Throne, "It would certainly be something you could find out. But you might have to mold them--or yourself; to become what they want, or to convince them that they want you on that piece of rock." So that's what you want, is it? Power, and knowledge.

He sighed through his long teeth, and looked back at the cub. "You could find them, and get to know them; but I wouldn't start off by telling them what you want. What you want, should always be a secret--and that's the other secret I will tell you for today. If you want them to think that you are what they want, or can give them that, you must create a new face for them to see. Metaphorically. But I'll go into that more another time. One secret--one lesson--at a time, yes? Or else you might forget them all; and we can't have that."

He offered her a friendly look, hoping that this time he'd nailed the air of helpful quasi-indifference.

@Akaari

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

~ I'm not so innocent ~
~

Ah, asking a child about the track with which their mind takes is likely a mistake for even she didn't know how she came to some of her own conclusions. It sure was fun to ride along. "She shouted it when we were in the place with all the water and strange things!" There we go, that was why it had popped into her head during his ramblings. "She knows things like you know things, I like that you know things because then I know things!" That was one station the train had stopped at, the passengers were now out and she could move on with her thoughts and their conversation.

'I did once.' The young girl didn't quite know what to feel about this, of course it meant that his loyalties weren't stretched and she had him all to herself but at the same time it was as if he wasn't happy about that and thus neither was she. Emotions weren't supposed to pass from one to another like a disease! She wanted to ask him about them, who they were, where were they, did they betray him, did he betray them? At the same time, she couldn't help but feeling that there was no need to, he was here with her now, not with anybody else, not hidden somewhere alone, but there with her, reassured that nothing was wrong. She was, she felt slightly at ease, but curiosity would always get the better of her. "Once? What about now?" Where was his, their, loyalty? She knew that she shouldn't press it, sometimes it was better to leave people be, not everything had to be hers to know. Well, actually, yes it did. Maybe there was one question more important than all the others in this: Would you even come to my funeral?

She nodded her head along with him, she sort of caught his gist and she knew for sure which one she preferred. She would never permanently change herself for someone else, put on a new face like he suggested sure but not transform her entire self. "They will want me, and you can sit beside me and we can collect others who will listen to us!" Just as he let her in on his secrets she would let him in on her ideas. Give and take. One secret, one lesson, one meeting. So, he was also trying to teach her patience? Well, how well will that turn out? "Today's lesson: I can get things by deals, I need to know what others want and can't let them know what I want, if I do things I can't get caught or need many friends, and you have lots of knowledge but not about the not-me." The last part of her recap was said with no negativity, just the truth. It wasn't great that he didn't know everything but she could deal. Recounting seemed to make it stick in her head more, perhaps she should do that at the end of each rendez-vous. "You know all this by doing it?" She knew that storms were loud by being by one and that some people were really loud by listening to them, it made sense that he had all these lessons stored in a tiny mind because he himself used them.

Even if all she got out of him was that indifferent look, it was enough, especially when he seemed to be her only true friend. He wasn't so bad. She reached out then, mentally, as if wanting to (weirdly and would probably not happen again) bring him closer, budging a small stone that was to the side of him so that it would gently hit the small rat if he didn't move. "Moving stones, oh no! I can protect you!" Proud girl talk: I know exactly what I was doing and that stone was moved by me so that you would get scared and have to come towards the big fluffy cub but I would never outright ask you to come closer but that's a big fat no from me.

@Archimedes

Her initial ramblings had certainly been bewildering, though Archimedes gathered that this was somehow normal for young ones. He tried to pick sense from it (a task that ranged from simple enough to bafflingly impossible, depending, it seemed, on topic) and allowed the conversation to move on, as a rule, now.

"Yes, we will learn things together," was his resultant sentence--non-committal, slightly bemused agreement. The wordy equivalent of 'sure, kid.'

When it came to the topic of family, Archimedes' demeanor was... guarded. It wasn't melancholy, but nor was it flippant; his expression was rigid, controlled, his voice carefully measured. "No, not anymore. No family, Akaari. Maybe one day I can tell you their story. It can serve as a warning for you," he explained, and despite the ominous nature of the words if heard out of context, there was no threat in his voice--just that blank calm.

As for the idea of his sitting beside her, he gave a gentle laugh. Paws washed through whiskers. "We can do that, perhaps. I'd had an idea of gathering others, though I intend to head the 'collection' and leadership myself. If you wanted to join me, some day, you could certainly be the fangs upon the throne, though I have plans of my own. In time, that's something I can tell you about, too, if you like." A pause, a glint in his eye as he studied her; "We might make for a formidable team. I am a thinker, and I know how to get what I want. You, when you grow up, will be strong--muscle, and mind, working together, yes? We will see."

He nodded along to her recap, seeming to imply through agreeable silence that she was, in fact, correct; and when she asked how he knew all these things, he settled his paws back in place and exhaled quietly. "The 'how I know these things' goes back to my experiences, yes--with that family, but that is a tale for another time. A secret I think you aren't ready for, yet; you wouldn't understand it fully." And there was still no sadness, but there was, now, a sort of grim certainty. There was something in that story that wasn't suited for a child, it seemed.

When the stone went rocking toward him, tumbling over stone, he hopped in surprise to one side, and then looked to Akaari quizzically. He didn't quite grasp her intent--it wasn't clear enough to him--but he offered bemused praise, nonetheless. "Did you do that, just now-? Perhaps you will be a powerful magic-user, as well. Well done."

It was just moving a pebble--but if she could do that, well--given a solid enough backing, she could move the world.

@Akaari

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

~ I'm not so innocent ~
~

Hmmm, yeah, no. That wasn't going to happen. She bit back on knocking down his dreams out right though, unlike the curtesy he gave to her, he could believe that he would be the head. He could gather the creatures and set up the group. She would be there all the while, him at her side, to pull the rug out from under his feet at the last moment. Claim it as hers for, really, she would be the one holding back from eating him during all of this so she was the one doing him a favour. Taking back her rightful throne would just be his adequate recompense to her. "Yeah, we will see." Her own version of 'sure, rat'. Best not to call him delusional when he was the one with all of the answers.

She did like all these compliments and praise he was giving her though, obviously she deserved them, it just felt so much better coming out of his mouth and not her own head. You know, made her seem less crazy. The cub would have to hold him on all of these promises though, more secrets to be told, an entire family to hear stories of, their take over of the caves! Spire, they really would be a formidable team, with her at the head, nothing could stop them from marching forth and making sure everyone bowed before them. Well, bowed before her but Archimedes could sit on her back so they would be bowing to him on a technicality. She would just have to lower his expectations a little until he realised that by her side was where he belonged. Best to move on before she began to lick her lips though.

Not ready for? Gosh, he really was just getting to her right now, wasn't he? And she thought she was over all of these confusing feelings for him, did she like him or not? She would say if he kept his mouth shut the answer would be yes but the words that came out his mouth was the only thing keeping her around in the first place. "I will ask again in future, then." She had come to learn by now that if he didn't want to tell her something then she wasn't going to get anything, but she could make sure to remember what he deemed inappropriate for her mind.

Okay, yes, all that seething child-tantrum-anger just washed away when he seemed proud of her, warming her heart, that didn't mean he didn't annoy her! Just that she enjoyed making him proud a little bit more than she enjoyed wanting to scream at him. "I did! I will be!" Which is why she will be the leader (no, stop thinking about that, the moment has passed!) "We can be new family, with my powerful magic and your thinking!" Let him think that she would settle beside him like a well trained guard dog for now. She wasn't too upset that he hadn't come towards her like she had wanted (half-wanted) but she, for some odd reason, did want to get up and just storm out. She had all the reasons too: he was annoying and delusional and left her hanging.

She stayed for a little longer though, maybe he had a few more praises for her, but if there was none she was so out of this place. (This was totally not down to the fact that it seemed like he was hiding things and she actually was upset, not at all). "Do you have friends? You're annoying but I like talking to you, do others do too?" He hadn't quite told her that you couldn't ask someone if they had friends, and she might feel a little bad running out on him if she was all he had, but at the same time if she ran now she could always come back. Keep him on his toes, y'know.

@Archimedes

He sat quiet, listening, and though her words echoed his own, there almost seemed to be... dismissal, behind it? He studied her, for a moment, struggling to see the little tics, to get an idea of if she were genuine, or simply too young to judge for herself, or had other plans. It was difficult to make anything out, really, but it did strike him with inspiration.

Ahh--questions first, though--yes? "No, I don't have friends, anymore. I suppose you could say my family was my friends. No longer, but again... a story for another time," Archimedes said, firmly. Then he sat upright, slyly washing his whiskers, for a moment. Eyes darted up, then, to Akaari.

Was he losing her-? Was she convinced? He didn't think he'd been doing very well; and in fact, he was beginning to rethink his approach. She was stronger-willed than a child her age was likely to be, though it did reflect well upon her strength. It was, though, a strength like fire: one that (he felt), left untempered, might burn her badly.

Well, how better to learn than to stick one's hand in flame? He'd see, then--and so would she--if he, Archimedes, were actually necessary at all.

"You seem to have been doing very well at most things," he began--for praise, at least, was something she seemed to respond to well enough. "I have a challenge for you... if you think you're up to it. One way we learn is to try. To do. I suggest you go out and try to form that group, and see how you fare. Perhaps you won't need my help--I'd still be happy to offer advice, after all. Perhaps you and I can be... friends, regardless of our future plans."

@Akaari

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

~ Maybe I'm buried deep underground ~
~

Sometimes she was sure that she was the master here, pulling all the strings and he was but something to be studied, her Pinocchio who has not yet become a real boy. Other times she felt as if she was caught between him and a one-way mirror; missing something that would be obvious to an outsider but unable to grasp the concept.

As she watched him - his little movements of grooming his whiskers, his beady, black eyes focused on her, the wiggle of a nose or a controlled breath held too long - one might expect her to understand that something was going on between the curtains. They were either about to be pulled up and she could take a bow with him applauding in the audience or the rope would be pulled taut and the outside cheer would be strangled off with her stood on the dark stage alone. She knew none of that. Instead, her mind was a canvas for a child's fingers, bright colours thrown against the fabric with the post-man pat theme tune playing in the background. On the verge of having a tantrum for not getting what she wanted and knowing that after it ended he would still be there, impassive and uncaring, for her to run back to and that tugged at her heart.

Yet, he said he had no friends, only that family that he held away from her. "Well, you have me!" whether for now or forever was implied at the end of that sentence she wasn't sure.

He had her caught, like a moth to a flame, as long as he kept his place, though she was a little lenient on that if he kept quiet about it. "Due to you!" Though, she wouldn't give him all the credit for her doing well his lessons sure did help and she wanted him to know she appreciated him. Even when other emotions ruled her. "Challenge accepted, Archi!" A slip of the tongue though she didn't regret it. "My challenge to you is to make another friend, though they won't be as good as me." Of course, she had no way of judging this challenge complete but if he was giving out tasks so could she, better to give the old man something to do before his mind went completely numb.

It would also be hard for her to stay still after that, a new challenge! A new task! Something she could come back with tangible evidence and prove her worth. She ran, an impulsiveness impossible to hold in check, and the self-control she had mere moments before when the idea first popped up its impatient head had now left her. Far too excited to sit still. At first she just ran around him, a single circle, before darting off in another direction. The screams "I'll be back later." and "thank you." on her lips and three thoughts in her mind:

1) Find out about family of the not-her.
2) Collect creatures for a group, or at least sow their minds with the idea.
3) Still, somehow, find a way to teach Archimedes to properly smile (with happiness).

Exit impatient kitty who can no longer sit still

@Archimedes

Make another friend-? This caught him quite by surprise; of all the childish things the child had blurted thus far, it was the least expected of them. He'd have been ready for almost anything else, purely because of the random nature of a young mind--knowing just enough to dart here and there to search for answers and inspiration, but not enough, yet, to keep them barricaded in a straight street, convinced nothing new now lay outside them. It was endearing, and he offered a smile, a short laugh.

"And you have me. I will try to make a friend, then," he added--and to 'Archi,' he offered only a brief, exasperated stare.

"You're welcome, and thank you,"--a polite answer, and he had no idea what she was thanking him for, specifically, but it didn't matter to him enough to ask. He simply waited, watching the energy-flooded cub bounce off again, wondering where, precisely, she might be headed.

And he wondered, too, how she might go about gathering others; he was curious how she'd fare.

exit Archimedes (and @Akaari just for visibility!)