[PRP]A promise is a promise ... (Masquerade and Dyson)

[Sabin Duvert]

Dyson flexed his wings and cast a sidelong glance at his smaller companion.

"Mmm, yes." He rumbled in a passive reply. "You have within you the power and ability to wrest that confidence away from them. To kill if you feel so inclined, be it to fill your belly or to feel the still-hot blood splatter against your hide." There was an understanding in his voice, but not the fervor that had heated Masquerade's.

"Granted, as I have said, there are many Kalona out there in these lands who have grown nearly as soft as the other soquili. They are removed from the politics and the pressures of our homelands. They have lost their fire. And because of it the other life in these lands has likewise grown confident and lazy. And that is the hinge of the matter. Certainly, you can feast your bloodlust on them if you so desire, to wake them up to the dangers that a true Kalona can pose. And what would come of that? The lessers begin to fear us. They shy away from us more than they did before - though I Have met quite a few with a rational head on their shoulders that had fear and suspicion of us. And you prove to them that we are the monsters that their mothers told them about. But then what? What happens when you grow tired of the pointless bloodshed? When you thirst for more devious pleasures? You can cause them pain through injury, you can even bring them the darkness and sleep of death. Or you can take everything that they hold valuable, and leave them reeling. There is so much to gain from them. They are so naieve, so trusting. Most of them are willing to believe that we are not monsters if you can hold a two minute conversation with them. And then, there is so much that can be taken." Dyson's tail lashed behind him like a cat watching a mouse as he stared down at the small herd below them.

"It is the skinwalkers who are maddened, crazed, and rarely seek anything more than violence and destruction and chaos for their own sake. They are little better than the animals they can become and any ration behind their skulls serves them merely to drive them to kill and feed. It is our kind that are the controllers, that can understand the ... bigger picture. We are the ones that, if we so choose, can pull the strings, and have the lessers give us anything, and everything we could desire. And when we tire of their use, well..." he looked to Masquerade and back down to the closer deer with a knowing smile.  

[Devil NightShade]

She listened quietly her ears shifting and swiveling around on her head listening to him and also seeming to strain to hear the movements of the creatures bellow them that were so stupidly unaware of the two kalonas presence. The spade of her tail flicked, like that of a resting or bored cat.

"Hunting is fine and dandy, but my games give me pleasure far more than hunting. To get inside the mind of a lesser and screw around with it." She giggled delightedly "THEN moving on to kill them slowly from the inside out, torture them heart, body and soul." Her tail snapped like a whip and she giggled again in her psychotic manner.

"I've been thinking of this plan recently ... to adopt a lesser foal and raise it, knowing it's place bellow me of course" she tossed her mane, "twist it's tiny mind form a foal, raise ti to hates it's kind and feast on it's flesh .. so when it grows to be an adult ... well let's just say the lessors could never know what hit them." She bared her fangs in a twisted grin "it would be enjoyable for shits and giggles ... but once it lost it's charm then I'd just have to dispose of the creature."

She suddenly seemed to get a dreamy look though "I want my own kids first ... proud kalona foals that will wreak havoc and strike fear into the hearts of the lessors." She nodded her head as she envisioned them and she giggled again, though this time it wasn't so crazy.  

[Sabin Duvert]

Once more, Dyson listened to Masquerade's ideas. Her name was more than just a reflection of the markings about her eyes, but her entire outlook and personality, Dyson realized. Life was a delicious deception to her - to present one thing and be another. Both in herself, and the plans she sought to further.

"There is more than one way to deceive after all." Dyson rumbled, perhaps in agreeance. "Be it a deal that their weaker minds can not comprehend the true cost of, or mistaking another for a much lesser threat than she truly presents, opening themselves to pain and torment when that trust is broken."

Dyson nodded as well to her plan. "IF this is your desire, than you should not let any stop you. Would this bring you pleasure? Wonderful. To see your handiwork affect the lives of others, to mould and shape another from birth to be how you wish it to be. Such takes power, control, and confidence." Dyson smiled. All admirable traits, and ones that he had in spades. Masquearade was young and needed to feel her influence at work - see it shape another and see drastic results. And such was the way that Kalonas could be built. Like a kitten learning to hunt crickets and beetles. What potential this mare possessed.

"And yes. Your ideals of strengthening your line, well, I suppose it would be all of our line of the pure Kalonas in this land is admirable. Far too many of "us" are weak, as I said. Have grown so distant from what we are truly meant to be. Perhaps... there is something that I can do to assist." And with that, Dyson's face drew back in a truly menacing smile. The admiration this filly had for him, her svelt frame. After all, Dyson sought to serve first and last himself, and there was indeed something that Masquearade could offer him....  

[Devil NightShade]

"Mother said that deception is an art form that takes skill and determination and to shape a creature into one of deception takes even more skill and can help one grow."

She suddenly started giggling as if thinking of a secret joke "Momma also once taught me something her daddy taught her .. Kill. Steal. Destroy." Masquerade giggled loudly again tossing her mane, "she said that one finds their own view that the meaning of the proverb comes to ... as a foal I didn't understand what it meant but now I do ... Steal their happiness. Kill their hope. and Destroy their lives as they know it." She tossed her head again giggling in a foalish manner delighted at her own discovery.

"That is indeed what I want to do some day. Mother .. back before she became at least a mostly proud kalona, once taught a lesser to feast on flesh and her companion had taught one to do so as well and watched the colt go crazy because of it.." she snickered "I think I;m ready to dictate the life of a lesser foal, but yet I still do long for kids of my own to raise."

She let out a distressed sound "yes, far to many of our 'proud' brethren have breed into lesser breeds" she let out a hiss "this wrong must be righted or our title shall never strike the fear and respect that it should."

Her ears perked as he mentioned helping her and her crazy smile gave way to a coy smirk "oh? and how do you plan on doing that Dyson?" Her tail flicked and wrapped loosely around his hind leg. She knew already what he was offering, but she couldn't be that easy to get right?  

[Sabin Duvert]

Dyson eyed Masquerade as she let loose her shrill cackle again. "It seems you do still possess a respect for your mother and her techniques even if she has fallen out of ... the habit." Dyson concluded. "Perhaps you wish to remember her as she was and take her place by perpetuating these devious games. You can be what she used to be before she grew more... complacent? If I understand the situation correctly."

"Influence... control. These are the vital skills and talents of the Kalona. And if this scenario will bring you pleasure, than I see no reason why not to go forward with it." Dyson's tail twitched. "But." A sly grin. "Be cautious. The last thing you would want to happen would be to kindle some maternal instinct in this cuckold foal. Instead of sinking your teeth of corruption into it, to let it bring YOU down with pity or nurturing feeling you did not know you possessed." Dyson's tail swished. This was the sort of game he enjoyed playing.

"I would think it better to have foals of your own first. Foals to be proud of, so that you will never forget who you are, or who you should be proud of. True foals to raise and fill any possible genuine maternal need." His eyes flashed as he continued. "And you know very well what I offer, Masquerade. You know I can provide what it is that you seek. And you will find no stronger sire than I. This... is my offer."
 

[Devil NightShade]

Masquerade flicked an ear and sobered again at the talk of her mother "I respect what my mother must once had been before her mind was corrupted by these weak kalona." she let out a snarl, damn them for ruining her mother damn them all. "I still have hope that she can one day be salvaged from what she has become ... and maybe this idea of mine to raise a lesser foal can help me learn to manipulate my own mother to push her back into such a prideful state.." she nodded her head gravelly.

Suddenly like a switch had been flipped her crazy smile was back. The ability to change her mood, or what seemed to be her mood, may have been one of Masquerade's most disturbing traits. "Hurmph! I would never felt such a thing happen" she tossed her mane "and as I've stated I want my own children first." She grinned coyly at him.

She grinned again "oh yes, I know what you offer Dyson and you should know well that I would be honored to bare fine kalona foals with you." Her tail curled tighter around his leg and she grinned nibbling teasingly on his shoulder.  

[Sabin Duvert]

"For the sake of our kind, then, Masquerade, I wish you Kalona's luck in accomplishing the three tasks that you have set before yourself. With bringing your mother back to the fold, with finding a suitable young foal to be a device for your plans... and of course, with your own foals. I am certain that with your singular tenacity and cruel wit that you will surely be capable of showing your mother just what it was she has been missing."

He pressed subtly against her - although with his size and mass, there was not much subtly about the action. "It is with that last goal, however, that it sounds as though I might be of hte most assistance." At her acceptance, his smile broadened and darkened.

"There is another reason that I brought you here, Masquerade." With a leathery wing, he brushed aside a tangle of thick bushes that clung to the egde of the ledge, revealing a small inlet in the rock - a dark cave that smelled of strange minerals that seemed to electrify and singe the nostrils. Dyson, however, unhesitantly strode inwards and cast an inviting glance back at Masquerade. "This is one of the... special places... that I am aware of. And it should do quite nicely." He did not say nicely for what. He did not need to. As Masquerade would enter, the brush fell back into place, casting the cave in mottled patches of dark and light as only bits of the setting sunlight eeked through the leaves. The light of the setting sun flecked the small cavern with bloodred light, and the cave seemed to be filled with the two Kalona as they set about to bring a new generation unto the Kawani lands.