Inner Conflicts..cant run from them can you?

[Tiffany]

Cassie's shoes clicked on the floor, echoing off of the walls and the sound bounced around down the empty hallway. She sang a tune from a favorite song, her voice clear and pretty as it resounded much like her footsteps had done. It made quite a sound and Cassie smiled slowly.

Inu's head lay comfortably on her shoulder, taking in the sound of his master's voice and almost falling asleep. He couldn't help but think of how lucky he was to have a master as sweet and caring as Cassie. Little does she know that she has a trace of ancient blood running through her veins. Not many of her kind left. That heart below her eye..it marks her as a Cheysuli..but she doesnt know that..She just thinks she is a normal..gifted..Inu's head shook in quiet amusement. An oxymoron if there ever was one.

Cassie felt the movement and turned her head to Inu. "Whats up?" She asked him softly.

"Nothing that you have to concern yourself about." He said just as softly as he turned his black eyes to her. "Just thinking about how hard-headed you can be." He said, joking with her, but a little serious as well. He was still worried about the marks on Cassie's side.

She touched the wounds tenderly. "Its nothing.." She muttered. She had to admit that she had reacted impulsively, but she still knew she was right. She would never give up on that account. She wondered shortly how the other man was doing. "Pigheaded, foolhardy jerk.." She grumbled.

Inu shook his head, knowing that she was talking about the dragon that she had started the fight with. "Where are we going?" He asked, trying to get her off the subject.

Cassie huffed. "I dont know.. We'll find out when we get there." She said as they turned into the cafeteria. "Well.. the cafeteria, that's where." She said as if she had meant to go there all along. She heard her stomach growl. "Might as well get something to eat while we're here.."

[•Mouse•]

Ayla sat in the cafeteria, somewhere near a window, her hands resting on the table with palms up. Gray-Brown eyes looked to the pile of raw steaks that sat infront of her on a platter. She made a bit of a disgusted face before shaking her head and nodding. " Go ahead guys." She said, looking to the large X-shaped cuts on her palms. Bursting forth, the Sypsis came in full numbers. All six rubbed their metal-covered bodies against her arms before finding the steaks.

One at a time, each sypsis devoured a steak, the raw juices dripping from their jaws. Ayla had looked away, waiting for her hungry friends to finish their breakfast. The would once in a while let of a high-pitched pur and turn to face Ayla. They would let off a clicking sound and then turn back to devouring the meat which lay before them.

" You guys have another plate coming, just so you know." Ayla advised and recieved another shriek from each as they nodded their strange heads. She gave a smile as a cafeteria worker brought the second plate and removed the first. " Thank you." Ayla said kindly as the Sypsis thanked the familiar woman with a few clicks and rubbing themselves against her arms before getting to work on the steak.

More raw juices ended up on Ayla and the plate than in the mouths of the strange creatures. It was kind of comical because everytime Ayla would get squirted with the juices she would look disgusted and demand one of the Sypsis clean it off.

[Tiffany]

Cassie walked slowly to the line, not really payin attention to what else was going on in the cafeteria. Her stomach led her to the food, and her mouth started watering. "Okay..what do I want to eat.." She muttered. Inu seemed to go rigid on her arm, his grip tightening almost painfully. "What is up with you?" She asked him, not looking away from the food as she piled her plate high. Inu began to twitch nervously. Cassie looked down. "Ummm Inu..you are beginning to twitch what has gotten into you?" She asked the distracted snake. She reluctantly looked over her shoulder to a girl with metallic looking things coming out of her hands, devouring plates of raw meat messily. Cassie's jaw dropped. "Umm.."

"I...Im hungry too Cassie..." He said quietly. Cassie could tell he was nervous and agitated so she just shrugged.

"Okay.." She said as she leaned down to let him slither off of her arm. "I'm sure there are plenty of rats around here." She said simply, but to her surprise he remained tightly wound around her arm. "Umm Inu?" She asked him wondering what was going on.

"I..." He started. His head dropped low and laid coldly against her skin. "I want what they are having.." He said slowly. Cassie looked back over to the girl and back at the snake.

"Okay.. Let me get my food, then we can ask what they are having.." She said, now curious as to his reaction. She went through the line and paid for her food. She walked over to the girl. "Umm I hate to bother you, but it seems Inu would like what they are having..Is that just raw steaks?"

[•Mouse•]

" Hmm?" Looking up Ayla saw a girl and her snake. She smiled softly but it faded as again one of the Sypsis got juice from the raw meat on her. " Yes, it's just steak. They act as if they haven't eaten in days. It's only been a few hours. Now one of you." Ayla looked to the creatures and they all turned to face her as well. " Had better clean this.The one that had squirted her moved through the air softly and opened the four parts of it's mouth, allowing it's circular forked tongue to slipped out and over her cheek slowly.

" Thank you, darling." She said rubbing her chin over the top of the creatures head. It purred in that same manor as before, and the six returned to devouring the meat. " Sorry about them. These are Sypsis, creatures that live inside me. Kind of like parasites, but much more useful. I am their dwelling, Ayla Calhoune. Pleasure to meet." The girl greeted with a kind smile. " I'd shake your hand, but as you can see, that doesn't seem possible right now." She laughed softly, shaking her head as one of the sypsis decided to drag a steak inside her hand. Five remained, still working at the chunks of meat, happy as a pig in slop.

[Tiffany]

Cassie watched them, infinitely interested. "Wow..really cool.." She said sincerely. "This is Inu." She said introducing the suddenly shy snake. "Are you going to say hi, or are you bent on being rude?"

"Im just hungry okay?" He said sharply.

"Sorry...I dont know what has gotten into him all of a sudden. Can you give me a minute?" She asked Ayla. She walked over to the lady behind the counter. "I need a raw steak..make that two..Exactly like she had hers." She said pointing to Ayla. The woman merely nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Cassie walked back and put one hand flat down on the seat, smacking the hard surface to get Inu's attention. "There, you are getting what they are, and you want to eat your food in the seat or on the floor..or would you like to join them on the table?" She asked quietly.

"In the floor.." He muttered.

"Alright..It shouldnt be long, I'll put the plate down there for you whenever it gets here." She told him as he finally got off of her arm. She rubbed her arm and frowned at the imprint of scales. "Hmm.." She almost shivered, immediately missing the warmth the snake lent her. "Here it is.." She said as the plate was brought to her. She leaned over and set the plate under the table, immediately leaving him to what he was doing. He didnt like people other than Cassie watching him eat, and it seemed today that he didnt even want her to see. Like he was ashamed... Cassie shook her head. "Sorry about that.. No one but me can hear him talk and sometimes I forget that and just ramble on in entire conversations you know?"

[•Mouse•]

" It's the same with me. Only, the Sypsis have a mental connection with me. It's a common thing I do suppose. Oh well, being refered to as a crazy isn't all bad. People tend to be a little nicer, afraid you might snap. It's not me they should really worry about." Sighed Ayla as suddenly the Sypsis slinked into the cuts on her hands and disappeared. She smirked and licked the juices from around the cuts of her hands and smiled a little. " Bad habbit, sorry." Laughed the girl as her thumb whiped at the corner of her mouth.

" So, What kind of snake is Inu? He's a lot nicer on the eyes than the Sypsis. It's a pity he's hiding under the table." Ayla ran a hand through her hair before pulling a pair of white fingerless cloves over her hands and valcroing them tightly at the wrist. She wore her favorite of all her outfits. The blue off the shoulder straps fight nicely and looked good with the rest of the outfit.

[Tiffany]

Cassie took a bite out of her food, chewing it slowly. "Inu is a black Southern racer..quite a large one in fact." She said nodding her head. " He is different, and to tell the truth, that is just the best estimate we can give to his breed. He looks and acts like one, but he also changes colors, which just completely messes with my head, and I dare not take him to a specialist to correctly pick out his species." She shrugged, eating her food between sentences. "I might not get him back you know?" She said watching Ayla put her gloves on. "I dont need to bring attention to our association, its not normal, and I am not a circus act to be gawked at..And not even Inu will tell me what kind of snake he is..Sometimes I dont think even he knows." She let the sentence slide off of her tongue before she remembered the Inu was at her feet. She heard him clear his throat.

"Sorry..." She muttered, her face turning a light shade of pink. She pointed to under the table and mouthed the words. He heard me. to Ayla before snickering. "Oops.." She put a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles.

" I wonder about you sometimes.." Inu said, slowly working his way up the chair.

"Feel better?" She asked the snake with a now big belly. "You look stuffed.." She leaned down and opened up the drawstring on a large pocket on her camo pants. "Get in here..rest, and I will take you home after I get done eating." She told him, holding the pocket open. He complied, rolling up and tucking himself comfortably next to her leg. "For some reason I emit heat..Makes him comforable..I dont know why." She said shrugging.

[•Mouse•]

" He's a snake, cold blooded, he likes heat. It's not abnormal at all." Laughed Ayla as she pushed the empty plate which had held stakes away. Dull eyes rolled from side to side looking for something of interest, searching for a topic of discussion. " Speaking of specialists, I was close to being taken to one by some random kid who thought that selling me and the Sypsis would bring him a pretty penny. Poor kid never got the chance to finish his sentence." Sighed Ayla as she thought to the day the Sypsis had disobeyed her will and devoured a young kid.

" Ah well, regular people can be too greedy I guess." Shrugging Ayla looked at her palm and held it out to Cassie. " Now we can have a formal shake." She laughed with a smile as she awaited for Cassie to give her a squeeze and firm shake to show acceptance as being acquantences.

[Tiffany]

Cassie shook her head. "Not like that. I give off an abnormal amount of heat. I think it has something to do with my connection to Inu." She put down her fork and smiled. She accepted the hand, wondering if she would be able to feel the cuts that allowed the Sypsis to come out of her palms. She couldnt and shrugged. "Well I believe I have only had a problem with one man...and I had to solve that one myself..If I hadnt..." She shuttered. "Lets not go there.." She shook her head, clearing it of the image.

Inu squirmed around lazily as he began to fall asleep. "It was after that..that I gained the best friend a girl could ask for.." She said softly stroking the snake in her pocket. "I was wondering why I couldnt eat, couldnt sleep..count stay still..I ran off one night, and even I dont know why. It was three days later when I found Inu..He had been looking for me too..I had traveled really far away from home..and couldnt find my way back.. I..I was taken to Cassis when they found out about my powers.A cop..who saw what happened with the man, found me again, and decided that normal life wasnt good for me. His son .. was here too.. I havent found him yet.." She said slowly, not taking her eyes off of Inu. "How did you get the Sypsis?"

[•Mouse•]

" That's sad. I hope you find him, the son I mean." Ayla said with a shrug of her shoulders. Hearing the question of the Sypsis arrival, the young girl seemed to drifted away, trying to recal what happened. Looking upa bit she made a little smile and shrugged a little. " I don't really remember. The Sypsis told me a story once, about they're encounted with someone. However, I don't really remember it. I could ask them." And she did, mentally questioning the Sypsis. And as they told the story to the young girl she relayed it to Cassie.

" This is what we think is how we became a part of each other." Ayla began. " A very, very long time ago, the sypsis were not on earth. Not at all. They were nomadic parasitical creatures that went wherever their host went. Somehow, their host -at the time a strange fish like creature- ended up on earth and died because of some illness. But, before that a young girl stumbled across the creature. She showed kindness, a great deal of kindness, towards the sickly fish-like being. The young girl tried to help it get better, and the Sypsis witness the whole ordeal. They were touched by her kindness, very touched indeed. And when their host passed on, they asked the child if they could inhabit her. They would grant her a strong immune system, and many other things. Along with protection." Continued the young girl as she retold exactly what the Sypsis said to her.

" The young girl accepted and lived a long life with the Sypsis protecting her ever moment. However, again, their host was dying and needed to help find the Sypsis a new host. That old woman failed, and died in a hosptial at 102 years old. The Sypsis, when not in a host, take on the form of whatever they please. They decided a mist of sorts would be just fine for their needs and floated about in search of a new host. They wondered for hundreds of years. When they came upon a small infant laying in a carriage. A man, not a relative in anyway, was leering down upon the infant and seemed to have wicked thoughts. The sypsis were infuriated and made connection with the child. They inhabbited her body right then and burst from her hands and devoured the men."

" To avoid alarming the mother, the creatures sealed themselves inside, with the wounds fully healed until her 15th birthday." She finished and gave a shrug. " I guess that is our story." Muttered Ayla.

[Tiffany]

Cassie listened to her story intently, a look of awe on her face. "Wow..I found Inu in a forest about fourty miles away from my home. " Her eyes wandered back to the snake that was a warm weight in her pocket. She wondered if all snakes muttered in their sleep like he did. She always wondered why it was only Inu that she could hear, the only one that she could truely make her connection with like she did. She was amazed by the story that Ayla told, believing that the way she became attached with the sypsis was truely amazing and wonderous. "You had an angel watching over you that day.. or rather..about six of them correct?" She asked, tearing her gaze away from Inu to talk to Ayla. She was extremely aware of Inu's sudden agitation, as if he was having a bad dream, and put her hand in her pocket to soothe him. She couldnt get her mind off of him as he began to move around restlessly in her pocket now. She looked down worriedly until he slowly quieted down. Her brow furrowed but she turned back to Ayla. "He seems out of sorts today..wonder whats up with him.." She said, finishing up the last of her lunch.