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Owle stalked toward her, tail waving naturally, her manner as relaxed as it could be in a strange place after all the events of the day. When she reached Lucind, she sniffed at the woman's hand for a moment before rubbing her face up against it, brushing by the Siren in the same motion.

Yeah, she was alright. She was just tired of being a human (sorta) at the moment, and all the complications she had to face in that form.

It wasn't like she had much to say to Lucind, anyway. And between being a cat and trying to make awkward conversation to fill the silence, Owle would choose being a cat.

So it was that after she brushed by Lucind, Owle continued her exploration of the room, casually sniffing at the furniture as if she could divine some secret that way. She arrived in front of the desk chair, and stood sitting there for a moment, looking up at it as though considering how comfortable it might be to lie down on.

"Make yourself comfortable," she softly spoke to cat-Owle and dropped the used bedding on the floor.

When the door opened, Lucind stood next to the bed, stuffing the pillow into the new cover. The turned her head.

"Hey..."

She completely ignored him being naked and put the pillow back on its place.

"I'm gonna get you clothes washed. A bathrobe has to do for now." She had pulled it out of the closet as well, and it obviously had a man's size.
"Your shirt's ruined, though, from the fight. You can have one of Larhien's. Should fit."

A wry smile.

Lucind really wasn't in the mood to fake being good-tempered.

"Thanks."

He reached for and took hold of the robe, not showing any embarassment at being seen let alone in the mood for any witty one liners.

He slipped the robe on and kept the towel around his neck, rubbing the side of his head with one end occasionally as he moved past her.

"Sorry to inconvenience you like this... I'll be out of here soon enough."

He glanced down at the chair noticing the feline and taking a moment to register the fact that it was probaly Owle.

In an eyeblink, there was no longer a cat, and the more human Owle was falling head first off the desk chair.

What had happened was, as a cat, she was small enough to lay down in the chair without falling out of it. The same did not hold true when she suddenly decided to be humanoid again.

"Ow..." she muttered. Pretending not to have lost any dignity in that fall, she picked herself up, sat herself back down, and shrugged.

"Do you want me gone?" the question seemed as much addressed to Vahn as to Lucind. "It's not like I didn't see what was there, too."

"..." She just stared at him, smiling mildly, then lifted an eyebrow.

"Well..." Lucind stuffed a hand into her pants' pocket while the other arm hand loosely by her side. "Nice to hear you found exact the same description I was going to use.

And you even seem to be angry with yourself...or maybe it just gets on your nerves to hear what you know perfectly well." Her voice was calm, but all the more forceful, if not almost reproachful. Almost.

"So, to put it short: stop being that arrogant, stop seeing yourself as some martyr and accept help."

Would he go off at some point? Lucind wondered if the result of her symbolic slap would be that Vahn started screaming, or simply stormed out...
Nevertheless, she felt it was about time that someone played this role, even at the stake of being hated afterwards.

"Tell me, how do you want to find Sun? How do you want to help him? Will you be able to focus on your 'mission', knowing your psyche could turn against you any moment?

Tell me, how do you want to settle things with your brother when you're in a state like this?"

Maybe it was even worth it making him being pissed...

"And don't give me that 'I don't want to be a burden to anybody anymore' s**t. It is noble to put back you're own needs on behalf of your friend's problems, to save the world or whatever. But what you're doing...and we all know it didn't only start a few months ago...that's just..." Lucind slowly shook her head, lowering it.

Heaving a sigh, the half-siren looked at Vahn once more.

"What I can offer you is this: we're going through some tests and see if we can fix the...problem.

But maybe...you already know you're running out of time and that it is no longer a question of years.. In that case we might find a trick to keep you in shape as long as possible.

Or you go on as usual. Sure, there're others having the power to find a temporary solution. Yet...I suppose you remember nearly everything being said and done in your mind: if you lose control over yourself, I'm going to stop the Other, no matter at which cost. As long as there might be a chance to pull you out - fine. If not, I've got to make sure to save as many souls as possible.

Either way, I'll do my job.

Because you are my friend."


Lucind turned around and shot a quick glance at Owle, before she stared ahead, out of the window. "That's all I have to say." Finally, the woman pushed the button at the wall right next to the window which opened the staircases' hatch, seemingly about to leave the room.

"....."

A single word wasn't uttered as Lucind talked and he could feel Owle's eyes drilling holes into his back.

He had busied himself first with the hem of his robe, then moved on to simply staring out the window.

He coudln't exactly denounce anything the Siren had said, and he didn't even feel like arguing back.

"So we're in agreement then."

His words broke the stretch of silence, even as a hand ran up along his neck.

"We all know I don't have long. I already know what's at stake. Why bother beating around the bush anymore."

He turned his head to the side, still refusing to face either one.

"But you know.. I really don't want to be a burden to anyone..." He grinned slightly, even as he pulled his hand back down, strands of white sticking along his fingers. "Just tell me how long I have."

He turned around and looked at them both, as Lucind began leaving.

"And I'll get it all done. I swear it."

He was smiling, looking like some overgrown kid without a care in the world.

And Owle couldn't hold it in any more.

"Could you stop being so ******** pessimistic about it?!"

Yeah, maybe he was just being realistic. Yeah, maybe the Other really would take over in a year...if nothing was done about it. But Owle couldn't stand to hear that. Even more, she couldn't stand to hear him giving up.

"If you think you're going to lose, then you're going to lose. Gods, didn't I tell you this already?" She wasn't at all calm, and with Lucind out of the room she didn't feel she had to be embarrassed about it.

"Stop...thinking like its a matter of time. Like it's inevitable. Cause it's not."

Take a deep breath, in an attempt to calm down.

"I just...don't want you thinking like there isn't a way to fix this. There has to be one, and if not...well...maybe I think I could keep slapping him down if he ever took over."

She looked at Vahn sideways, not wanting to face him fully. She was feeling so torn up inside that a whole wad of duct tape wasn't going to fix it.

Owle didn't know what to make of it. He was warm, and her heart skipped a beat just to be near him, but...

"Good," she replied, believing in him. But...

She tried not to be so stiff, letting herself rest against him. But she knew she wasn't the one who held his heart...he cared for her, loved her maybe, but when it came right down to it...

...there was someone else he had to find.

"I should let you get dressed."