Aaliyah gulped. "Ah, n-nothing! Nothing..." When Farran accused her of trying to kill her, she froze. She stumbled over her words. "I wasn't...Why would...Wh..." Her voice eventually faded into silence before she mumbled a single word. "Sorry." She then leaped toward the badger and once more tried. And once more, she failed. Farran was able to just barely dodge out of the way, and now stared at her with confusion and anger.

Farran stared at Aaliyah as she stumbled over her words. The silence that fell shortly after was thick, and she found herself dreading what would happen next. The feeling only strengthened as the cat said one word, and then was on her. Farran quickly attempted to scramble away, and she was glad to have succeeded. She stared at Aaliyah, a swarm of emotions. "Why? Why are you doing this?"

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"I-I don't have a choice! If I don't..." She turned to Imperia. "They'll kill me," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I'm just-just doing what she wants me to do. I'm so sorry..." Her ears and tail went down. She then took a deep breath, hoping to do this with a different approach. This time it worked, and Aaliyah was able to breathe down fire onto the badger. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of burning fur and flesh, but ignored it. She was only doing what Imperia wanted her to do! That was all that mattered. ...Right?

Farran listened, frowning, as Aaliyah spoke. And then, before she was aware of what was going on, fire was all around her. Her fur and flesh were being burned. She let out a yelp, unsure of what was going on. "You can't...You can get away from them! Maybe if you...try..." The pain was becoming too much. She suddenly wanted to be killed, to make it all over. "Please...hurry.."

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Aaliyah wished she could stop this. She wished so badly she could stop this! But she couldn't, and it hurt. The painful wails of the badger pierced her heart, and yet there was nothing she could do. Except...To hurry. Farran was suffering! She had to end it now!

And yet...there was a part of her that told her to not hurry, to drag it out. It lasted only a second. Horrified at herself that she could even think of such a thing, she quickly tried to end it here and now. But Farran had started thrashing around, and that only made it harder. Aaliyah ended up missing. She growled. "Stop moving!" she yowled in her frustration.

Farran wailed, wanting it to end soon. As Aaliyah growled, she froze, hoping that might help make it end. "Please...Make it end...Please," she pleaded. She stared up at Aaliyah, her eyes wide and filled with pain. The heat was going away, but the pain was still there. She just wanted it over now.

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Aaliyah closed her eyes for a moment, unable to face the pleading and sad look on the badger's face. She wanted to end it, but she just...couldn't. She wondered if there was a part of her that was making her fail. A part of her that didn't want to do this. It wasn't hard to find that part of her, that much was sure. She took a deep breath and tried again. And this time, it seemed to work. Jaws clamped around the badger, and she held on tight, shaking the badger a bit. She could tell that she was still alive, and panicked, shaking her head faster. Soon, the badger hang limp in her jaws. She dropped it, and felt her paws were rooted to the floor. I've done it! I've killed someone! She felt a flash of victory. She had done it! Almost immediately, a feeling of dread came. I've...killed someone. Oh, what have I done??

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

Imperia had been watching as Aaliyah tried to kill the badger. Farran, as they had heard. As their daughter-they still shuddered at the word-continued to fail, their frustration and anger only grew. When Aaliyah finally succeeded, their eyes were narrowed and claws were out. They gave a huff and then walked over to the hybrid. "Took you long enough," they growled. "But hey, at least their death was drawn out, whether it be intentional or not."

They stared at Aaliyah for a moment, sensing that she was going to...do something. Cry, yell, have a breakdown, they didn't know. And they didn't care. "How do you feel?" They asked, sitting down beside Aaliyah and continuing to stare at her with eyes narrowed. If she hesitated or said the wrong thing...

Then again, maybe they should go easy on her. This is her first kill, and even Imperia wasn't sure how to feel about theirs. So they listened for Aaliyah's response, deciding not to say anything for the time being.

"Listen to me."

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Aaliyah stared down at the body of Farran. She sat down beside it and didn't acknowledge Imperia's approach. Her eyes were wide, her body rigid. How could she have done such a thing? She took away someone's life! Other than her claws scratching the stone, she didn't move. When Imperia asked her a question, at first she didn't answer. Feel? How did she feel? Terrible! She had killed someone!

But of course, she couldn't say that. Then Imperia would kill her. So she took her sweet time, thinking of something to say. "Satisfied." A blatant lie if she ever heard one, but she hoped Imperia would just leave it at that. If they attacked her now...She wasn't sure she'd be able to fight back.

Imperia They'll call our crimes a work of art

Imperia waited for Aaliyah to respond. When she took her time, they only became more and more impatient. They never were a patient one in the first place, and this was just becoming infuriating. When she finally did speak, they could sense her hesitation. She had likely lied, but they said nothing. She was clearly still distraught over the death, although why, Imperia didn't know. It's just one creature in a cave of hundreds. What difference does it make?

They stared down at the body of the badger for a moment, noticing the stone. They then turned their gaze up toward Aaliyah. "Since you are clearly in no shape to do any training, I am going to leave you for now." With that, they rose, and began to walk away. After some paw steps, they turned their head over their shoulder. "Make sure to grab the stone. You can decide what you want to do with it later." With a flick of their tiny tail, they were gone.

-Exit Imperia-

"Listen to me."

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