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[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Witch? Ouch, Rosemarie thought that Raven would know better than to insult her now, especially with the mysterious bundle on her lap, which was not at all loving being kept in the jacket. No matter, he would pay for it soon enough. "So, honey, do you remember all those little 'exposure therapy' sessions you chose to have with me?" She took on a look of innocence, but the triumphant gleam of mystery was ruining her act. "Well, because I care so much about your well being, I decided that you could use some exposure therapy, too. I mean, look at where it got me." To prove her point, the former Huntress placed a hand on Raven's jean-clad knee. A small smirk was on her face now as she removed the jacket to discover the small black kitten that was underneath the jacket. Its round green eyes looked over at Raven, and it let out a small meow at him.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Wesa!" Raven shouted, and jerked back instinctively in the tree, hardly managing it without falling. "Gáhnage wesa! Nihi usonái ayoli!" He pulled himself up, so that he was perched on the branch above Rosemarie and her little friend. He stared, with eyes that were not exactly wide but certainly startled. "God damnit, it mated?" he cried, sounding almost dismayed and switching from Cherokee to English almost without a second thought. He was referring, of course, to the full-grown cat that had found them in the graveyard so many months before--if it had mated, and had kittens, then there was now at least three black cats running around the asylum, which he certainly did not appreciate. "It had kittens? Fuck! I thought I killed the stupid thing! Now there's more?" His life just kept getting better and better, didn't it? You think you solved a problem and then bam--there's at least two more. Raven sighed, and retreated higher into the tree. He was by no means going to allow the creature near him again.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

"You killed it? Raven!" She cried in a chastised tone, shaking her head at him. She pulled the kitten up to her face, planting a small kiss on its little black nose. She then turned back to Raven, following him in the tree with the kitten locked firmly in one arm like a football. If he kept moving the way that he was, up, then he would run out of places to go. Although a part of her felt a little bit bad about torturing him (and that was only because of the person she was torturing), she couldn't stop herself from enjoying the look of slight unease on his face. "Here," she ordered him as she reach the kitten out to Raven's face, which the kitten attempted to paw at with a little, rusty purr. "I want you to look into this adorable face and tell it that you killed his poor mother."

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Usdi tsásgina," Raven said to the cat. He hissed at it--the frighteningly authentic sound he'd used in the graveyard on the kitten's mother--and then turned his biting glare from the wide green eyes to the smug blue ones above it. "And as for you," he growled. "Get that thing out of my face before I break its sorry neck like its a goddamn chicken. I don't need that little demon influencing my life anymore than I need an extra arm coming out of my chest. Get it the hell away from me." He would have succeeded in sounding threatening--quite threatening--of only his unease hadn't shown in his eyes. But it did, and there was little the Indian could do about it; he was very superstitious in regards to cats. Black ones especially. He was prepared for Rosemarie to laugh at him and simply shove the cat closer, at which point, he decided, he would break its neck. And then hers, if she started to shout at him over it. Let her see how afraid he was then.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Rosemarie noticed the unease, but she knew Raven better and she decided that he wasn't bluffing. She couldn't understand what was so terrible about a small, defenseless kitten- superstitious or not. Still, she wasn't about to let the kitten die by the hands of Raven because she wanted to give him a little tease. "I was much more willing about my therapy," she reminded him with a frown, but she placed the small animal on her lap, regardless. "This could be good for you. I mean, what if I decide that I want to keep this little guy? He's adorable and obviously needs a caretaker without a mom." She shot Raven an accusing glance, but said nothing, knowing that her smirk already gave herself away. "Then you couldn't kill it and you'd have to get used to the little guy." She left the cat here it was, scratching it between its soft ears, but she scooted along the branch until her thigh pressed against Raven's.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Bullshit I'd have to get used to it." Raven glared. "You can keep it if you want, I don't really care--but the minute I see it wandering around without you to protect it, it dies. Cats are not the sort of creatures I need to "get used to", Rosemarie Lia Toom." He used air-quotes around the words. "Cats are bad luck. They might not be to you, but they certainly are to me--and the day I let a bundle of bad luck wander around me for no reason is the day the black hell it came from freezes over." He gave her a rough nudge with his own hip, sending her father away from him--he wanted little to do with the young Hunter right now.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Rosemarie steadied the kitten that gave a small hiss of surprise at the rough movement it had just endured. She tried to stop the small smirk that was on her face, and as hard as it was because she loved to watch her sadist squirm, she managed to calm her lips and put on a face as smooth as marble. "Come on, Raven. It's just a cat -a baby, if you think of it- and it's done nothing to you, and it won't do anything to you. It's just a cat, not an evil demon hiding in a cat's body." She placed her hand on the cat's head, watching as it rubbed its head against the palm of her hand. "See? All it wants is to be pet. Can you at least pet it?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, her finger now underneath the cat's chin, scratching.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Nope. I'm not going to encourage the thing, sweetheart." Raven gave his head a firm shake, and placed almost angry emphasis on the nickname. "I don't see what you don't understand about this situation. I don't like cats. I will never like cats. Cats are bad luck. They're tricksters, and not the good kind. I. Will. Not. Encourage. The. Cat. To. Come. Around. Me. What the fuck is so hard to understand about that? What don't you get when I say that I'm superstitious and I don't like cats?"

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Rosemarie sighed, and picked up the cat off of her lap, gently placing him on the branch and not moving until she was sure he wouldn't move or fall. She moved down the branch towards Raven again, giving his stomach a little affectionate poke on the stomach when she got in reach of him. "What I don't understand is that he's a cat." A slight roll of her eyes as she explained it to him. "An animal that has no devious plans to torture you- that's my job. It's just like any other animal you'd see around, and superstitious or not, I think it's kind of weird you're frightened of an itty bitty little creature." The kitten looked up as if suspecting that it was being talked about and made a move to join the couple on the branch until Rosemarie gave it a gentle bop on the nose with her finger, which was licked. "Adorable," she said with a smile, looking at Raven as if to say, See? It's not going to kill you.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"It's not the animal I'm worried about, goddamn it!" he yelled, and threw up his hands. "Are you listening to me at all?! I honestly don't think you are! The size of the animal doesn't matter! What matters is that it's a cat, and spirit Cat is a malevolent creature! It just is! It likes to cause trouble, and it's in every single cat that's ever born! That's just how shit goes down, Rosemarie, and there's nothing anyone can do about it!" Raven glared at her, eyes beginning to blaze. If there was one thing he hated, it was narrow-minded people: and right now, Rosemarie was being extremely narrow-minded. Did he have to explain the entire mythos to her? For God's sake, he hoped not. How hard was this to understand?

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Rosemarie sighed, looking at the way Raven's eyes burned at her furiously and deciding it was time to let him simmer down for a little bit. She still couldn't completely wrap her head around Raven's fear of the cat, but it was obvious he wasn't going to cooperate with her about it. "Okay, okay, fine," she agreed with a nod, raising her hands in surrender. "I still like him, though. I don't know about you -no, actually, I do- but I love him. I think I might keep him." Just one more thing to give him a little start, and she had had her fill for the day. She slipped a hand over one of Raven's knees, possibly her own way of saying that she wouldn't bother the Indian about it anymore. "I think he's adorable."

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Once again," Raven said, speaking through gritted teeth, "You can think what you want. That doesn't mean that I'm going to think what you want. Get used to it, Rosemarie." And he spared the cat one last glance and a second hiss, swatted Rosemarie's hand off of his knee, and began to climb down from the tree. He had had enough of the girl, her cat, and the outside for one day--never mind the approaching rain. This little encounter with Rosie and friends had ruined the mood for him.

((Fade?))

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Rosemarie grimaced a little as she watched him go in his angry mood. She felt bad for whoever it was that met him next. She hadn't meant to make him as furious as he was now, but that was exactly what she had done. She grabbed the small cat, who latched his claws onto her shirt eagerly. "Come on, you little devil," she said, beginning to climb down the tree as well. "Let's figure out what to do with you now that we've made Raven mad." She jumped out of the tree and wandered off, making sure to use a path opposite of the one her angry sadist had taken.

[Fade.]

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

Three days had passed, and like clockwork Riley found herself coming to meet the sadist that now haunted her dreams. In her mind, of course, there was nothing to be afraid of. She had killed Akantha, or so she thought, and done exact as the Indian had told her.

So why was she shaking like a leaf?

Riley approached the tree cautiously, brows knit together as she quietly stepped in the gate. Tank top and shorts exposed her pale skin, and feet remained uncoated as usual.

She shouldn't find the Indian. Suspicious. The mere thought sent chills up her spine.

We should just go , she thought to herself, but her compulsion kept her feet planted. That same compulsion led her to call the Indian's name, ignoring her wavering tone.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Riley Abbey. You have been a very, very bad girl." And he voice, of course, belonged to the very man whose name the Welsh girl had just called. He had been up in the tree, scanning the grounds, watching for her. And lo and behold, here she was. There was a rustling sound, a gentle thump!--and then Raven was on the ground in front of the trembling girl; and he looked, vaguely, like a man finally permitted to do a task that he had been waiting a long, long tike to do. His trusty taser was clutched in his right hand, and his left was balled into a fist. Nonetheless, his smile was wide. Too many teeth, not enough humor. "Riley," he said again, and turned the taser on. There was a click, a sharp zapping sound. "You did exactly what I told you not to do: you disobeyed me." One step forward. Another. Another. "Tell me, dearest," he said softly. "Do you know what happens to you now?"

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

His steps forward were matched with steps backwards, although she very quickly ran out of room and found her back pressed up against the chain-link fence. She eyes the taser with a look of pure terror.

"B-but I did what you told me to." Her words were quiet, shaky, hardly decipherable. "I slit her throat. I did. I did!" Desperation began to enter the poor girl's tone.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"You didn't." The last word was a snarl, and as she protested, Raven brought the taser up. The voltage was sent up several levels, and the stun gun was aimed at the girl's vulnerable midsection. Perhaps a little shock would teach her to behave. Zzzzap! And his finger was pressed against the button for a good, long time. There was one word in his eyes, and one word only: Scream.

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

It wasn't even obedience that brought her to it, but scream Riley did. The screech cut through the air like the knife she had used, the knife she had supposedly killed Akantha with, and the scream lasted for a few seconds before Riley was collapsed on the ground.

"No, no, no..." Simple nothings were muttered as Riley struggled to find feeling in her arms and make a break for it. When her legs didn't work, crawling became an attempt. "I did, I did, I swear I did! Please!"

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"You did not, you sorry whelp." Zap! Another shock, a higher voltage. Not enough to knock her out, no, of course not, but certainly enough to leave her numb in the body. "She's breathing, sweetheart. She's alive. I saw her, just today in fact. In a wheelchair. In the cafeteria. You failed me, Miss Abbey. And I do not appreciate failures." Zzzap!

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

More screams, more yelps of pain. She couldn't feel anything at this point, not her arms nor her legs nor the tears streaking down her cheeks. She couldn't find her mouth, her tongue, she couldn't speak. She didn't know if she wanted to; it would only make it worse.

Oh god, oh god, but I did! I did kill her! Or at least I tried... She couldn't remember now. Her mind was muddled and confused and in pain.

Again: "Please."

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"No." And Raven pressed the button, three times and in rapid succession. One shock was delivered to her legs, on to her abdomen, one to her chest. The acrid odor of heated metal wafted from the taser, but he didn't care. He couldn't smell it. The only thing on his mind now was Riley, the way she was twitching on the ground, the way she screamed.

And both inside and out, the Indian was smiling.

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

The screams had all but stopped, and what remained was the quivering girl and her tears. "I tried! I really did! I slit her throat like you wanted me to!" Desperation was evident in her pleas, but the words were nearly indecipherable through her wailing.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"No, you fucking idiot, you went and slit her jaw." Zap! Another shock, just for her ignorance. Raven could now safely say that he loved tasers; knives were all well and good, but tasers caused more pain. And tasers left no marks. Very useful for situations such as now. "Didn't you ever take a biology class, Miss Abbey? To properly slit a throat, you must cut one or all of the four jugular veins. You failed to cut even one of the jugular veins. Therefore, Akantha is alive. And you are going to suffer for it." One last shock. One last long, long shock. Zzzzzap!

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

At this one she did scream. Her eyes were shut tight and her breathing had all but stopped and her tears were flowing heavily. Maybe he was done. Maybe he would leave her alone.

God, she was so stupid. Why hadn't she been more careful?

The answer was simple. She didn't want to.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

((Aaaand we fade.))

[Annie, Have no fear of perfection-- you'll never reach it.]

[Aright see you in a month.]

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

[Bye doll, have fun. I'll miss you.]

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

A tired looking figure was sitting beneath the peach tree. She sat in a wheel chair which she was confined to from now until who knew when. At least one arm cast had come off, which made it easier to get around by herself, and that was a blessing considering Akantha had attempted to take this long trip. She had wanted to get out of the asylum, or else she would begin to feel like an actual patient. She had been told by one of the nurses that the trek would be too long for her, but the brunette was determined. Honestly, it wasn't just the fresh air she had wanted, but isolation as well. She did have a reputation to maintain, after all, and she was in no way going to let anyone see her in the sweaty, tired condition she was in. Going up in her wheelchair had been hard work, but the view, the isolation, the sweet smell of peaches, it was all worth it to the warden.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

Unbeknownst to her, she was not entirely alone. Indeed, Akantha was in fact disturbing someone else's silence. And that someone else was the little redhead Phoenix, who herself looked rather weary, and was draped over on of the wide, Y-shaped forks in the tree. She, like the wheelchair-bound girl below her, had come out seeking and quiet, and she, like the girl below her, didn't realize that she wasn't alone, for she was doing what Akantha was not: dozing lightly. It was a sort of catnap--any sleeping at all Phoenix did in the daytime was a catnap--but she was, nonetheless, blissfully unaware. Getting up this far into the tree had been hell what with her injured hand. The thick white gauze was now stained entirely pink, and the ache that hadn't been so bad this morning had worsened into a dull throb. But the little redhead hadn't been able to take the din of the day-to-day activities in St. Peter's--wearing a mask, playing nice when all she wanted to do was retreat to somewhere quiet and sleep, was tiring. Extremely tiring. Be it a blessing or a curse, she had caught word of the lone tree which sat on top of the hill, and she had come straight by to see if she could get any rest there. It seemed to be working--for now.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Akantha was feeling so relaxed by the environment around her, she leaned her head back against the back of her wheelchair, and was just about to close her eyes when her fluttering eyelids shot open again. She saw the all too familiar lithe figure above her, and the fiery red hair. That was all Akantha needed to see. She didn't know that there was another redheaded patient around, and from her angle, poor Phoenix looked exactly like Rosemarie Toom. Akantha gave a start, and fury flashed over the brunette's face. An explosion of anger was directed at the poor unsuspecting redhead girl sleeping above her. "Hey! Bitch! How about no more sneak attacks, huh? Do you think you could maybe at least playing fair when you're attacking?" Akantha slowly moved her wheelchair out of Phoenix's reach. "If you're gonna fight me again -and really, honey, you have the nerve to attack a girl in a wheelchair?- how about you do it cleanly for once? Not be so damned sneaky for once."

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

In an instant, Phoenix was awake. It had only taken one word before her eyes were open and she was twisting around in the tree, startled, having to grab onto a branch above her with her good hand so that her quick movements didn't cause a fall. "What?" she said, and her voice came out a little shocked, a little startled. This was the last sight she'd expected to be confronted by this afternoon--and to think, all she'd wanted was a nap! "Ich verstehe nicht, Fraulein." I don't understand, Miss. "I'm not Rosemarie Toom, I certainly didn't attack you, and I'm not being sneaky. I was trying to sleep, danke sehr." Of course, the little redhead knew exactly who the wheelchair-bound girl thought she was talking to. She'd given herself three guesses as soon as she heard the words 'sneak attacks'--and the first two didn't count. She obviously hadn't been the only redheaded patient to be causing trouble.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Akantha's posture in her chair which had gone rigid and hostile was now relaxed and although not friendly, it wasn't exactly hostile, either. Her eyes widened a little in surprise when it was evident that no, the girl who was probably cursing her out (she knew she would have if she were her) in a foreign language, was indeed not Rosemarie Toom, and for that Akantha was grateful. "Well Jesus, you sure as hell do look alike." That was her apology, and it was the best Phoenix would get. "Wait, when did we get another redhead patient? Considering you are a patient." She looked up at the girl, arms placed casually on the arm of her wheelchair. Her eyes were slightly narrowed nonetheless at Phoenix. She had known right off the bat who she was talking about. Had several people mistaken her for the sorry excuse for a sadist already? Or was this girl going to try and take her reputation and spot at the asylum. There was barely room for the two hackers that the asylum did have. Akantha didn't want to have to fight with another. Not now, anyway. "Good guess. Yes, I thought you were Rosemarie. How'd you know?"

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Fraulein Toom and I are...well-acquainted." The words were said with distaste and a curl of her lip. She eased herself up so that she now sat in the fork and not draped across it, and studied the girl below her for a moment. Cocky, for sure. Full of herself. Even in a wheelchair, even after some attack that had left her in such an obviously weakened state. Phoenix didn't know whether to be impressed by her willpower, disgusted by her nerve or a little bit of both. She'd done an awful lot of big-talking considering the fact that she was obviously at a disadvantage--not that the little redhead wanted to fight. Not yet, anyway. She would see how things went.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

"What a coincidence!" Akantha's tone was dripping with mock excitement. "Miss Toom and myself are well acquainted ourselves." She gestured down at herself, a small little smirk playing at her full lips. Yes, Rosemarie had beaten the complete shit out of, left her immobilized for a very long time, but she had also done it in a sneaky manner that wasn't fair and had at first caught the warden off guard. As a plus, Akantha was more than willing, proud even, to tell someone why Rosemarie had been so anxious to get her little hands on her. It made Akantha still look incredibly bad ass and didn't do harm to her reputation, but it also made her look like someone ho was wronged.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. She was unimpressed--whatever the girl had done to get beaten so badly, it had obviously been deserved. She was by no means about to ask why like some excited schoolgirl, and she definitely wasn't about to start praising the girl for her bravery or willpower; not with her acting like she was. "Beruhige dich, meine Schwester," she told the older girl, raising one hand. Her tone was a little dry, a little scornful. Calm yourself, my sister. "It certainly isn't anything to start squealing about. I'll have you know that I don't much care what bad blood runs between the two of you--I have my own problems, in case you can't tell. I'm certainly not about to start pouring over yours." There was no attempt at pleasantries this afternoon; Phoenix had come out seeking silence, not a new friend. The rude way that she had been interrupted had not earned Akantha any brownie points, either. She had no plans to endorse her, her reputation, or her personality--not now, and probably not ever. She didn't seem like the type who needed (or deserved) the little redhead's assistance.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Akantha raised an eyebrow slightly at the redhead above her. She had obviously woken her up from a very important and much needed nap. She hadn't recalled asking the girl to start discussing anything with her, and not anything to do with the other redhead in question. Of course she had in some way or another explained why he and Rosemarie didn't get along, but she hadn't asked the girl to come down and discuss their stories together. She was beginning to think that Phoenix had had issues with Rosemarie because she had a sour attitude. "I'd say that you need to finish your nap, Miss Redhead, but as you can see, I'm not really in the shape to be making enemies as you can see, so I won't. Though I am curious to know what you did to piss her off- not that it's that hard to begin with." She gave a little shrug. Possibilities were going through her head. Had she done something to Raven? She didn't look hurt, so she mustn't have done anything too serious, so she ruled out laying a hand on the Indian sadist. So what had it been?

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

The smallest of smirks tugged at the edges of pale lips. Miss Redhead? That was the best that Akantha could do? She'd been called better nicknames by six-year-olds on the elementary school playground. The thought was amusing, for sure--enough to lessen the scorn that had been running rampant through Phoenix's mind, and she went as far as to chuckle a little. Maybe the girl wasn't bad--or as formidable--as she looked. "Phoenix," she said, completely ignoring Akantha's second comment in favor of her first. It was none of her business about what had happened between her and Rosemarie, and it wouldn't become her business before the little redhead could see an advantage in telling her. "My name is Phoenix, not Miss Redhead. And yes," she went on, and now her tone was a little dry, "you did wake me up from a nap that I needed. I am very tired. There was a lot going on yesterday." She raised her gauze-wrapped hand as if to say, in case you didn't know.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Hmm. Phoenix. Akantha, although didn't have room to talk about unique names, she found Phoenix's to be extremely unique and even a little strange. She kept her composure though and kept her face looking as though she was interested in the redhead above her. She wasn't sure where this girl stood on the security charts. If she'd gotten in a brawl with miss Rosemarie Toom, she mustn't have been as completely innocent as she looked. "So long as we're spouting out introductions, I'm Akantha. I don't need a nap and am honestly dying to be able to take a sprint around the property here." A sly smirk pulled at her lips, as if to say she meant the girl no harm. For the time being, she didn't at least. Akantha thought dry humor was the best way to break the ice that had frozen with the conversation.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

Phoenix looked the girl up and down with a raise of her eyebrows and small, amused smile. "It looks to me like that's going to take a while," she told her, chuckling. "Rosemarie seems to have wanted you in that wheelchair for a long, long time." Even from up here, the little redhead could see several casts on the girl: one on her am, one on her right leg, another on her opposite foot. Her second arm didn't look any better than the first, and she sat as if her ribs were bound. No, she thought, Akantha couldn't have done anything all too kind to her fellow patient. What it had been, Phoenix didn't know, but again, she didn't entirely care. Rosemarie was Rosemarie--that was enough excuse in her mind. The former Hunter seemed to have a penchant for attacking people, reason or none. She was actually a little surprised that she wasn't moved into a more secure facility entirely by now; according to other patients, her violent streak hadn't come about until recently, but it was certainly enough to make people lower their voices.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

The brunette nodded and leaned back leisurely in the wheelchair. Her shoulders shrugged up and then down quickly as a surprising flash of pain came from her ribs. She had been told that it would take months for them to heal. She wouldn't need the wheelchair for that entire time, thankfully, but it would be an uncomfortable couple of months. She waved off the pain as best he could, but it was evident in the pinched way her lips looked now. "Yes, she certainly left her mark. I suppose I deserved it though, I did poison her precious boyfriend." She rolled her green eyes, but there was still a bit of pride in her voice at her attempt despite the small angry clench of her jaw. "Wasn't her battle to fight, of course, but what the hell can you do?" Akantha wasn't exactly talking to Phoenix now as it was more of an angry after thought. Her gaze ventured around the peach tree, enjoying any of the scene she could see for now.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

Phoenix's eyebrows shot up at this. "Really." She sounded interested, and she certainly was--so she hadn't been the only one in the asylum with a knack for poison. Instantly, the gears began to turn. This could turn out fairly well for her, she thought, especially if she ever needed to get quick revenge on a patient and easier, more effective methods were unavailable. The question only was: which of the patients had allergies, and if none did, what had been Akantha's weapon of choice? Raven looked alive and well, so it certainly couldn't have been lethal (another good thing--tricks were easier to hide when no serious harm was involved) and that meant that it was probably easily accessed. The little redhead had the thought for a moment that she might have accidently struck gold. "What did you use?" she asked, with a guise of innocent curiosity. There was an added touch of awe in her voice to go with it--Akantha was the type of girl who would open right up under respect and praise. She'd made that so obvious.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Akantha's gaze flickered back to the redhead above with a raised eyebrow. This girl -Phoenix she'd said- hadn't been very interested in Akantha at all that she could tell up until this point. She'd ben rather stand off-ish, actually but now when she'd mentioned poisoning Raven (and Akantha wasn't sure that he girl was interested in poison itself or harming Raven in general), Phoenix was all ears. Odd, but Akantha wouldn't complain about it. Other than the nurses, this was the first time she had ever told another patient what had happened with Raven and why she had done so. It was a great way to make her seem like she was the victim. "It wasn't anything major. I overdosed his coffee with aspirin a few weeks after he attacked me in the file room."

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

((She's playing you like a piano, Akantha. XD))

"Wow." Again there came awe, and Phoenix widened her eyes, just a little, as if she were in shock. "That must have taken a lot of guts. Everyone here so far has told me to stay away from Raven. He's supposed to be dangerous." The little redhead could tell that she had made a mistake--a very small one. Her interest had peaked all at once, at the wrong moment. So she did her best to bring it down, acting as if it were spur-of-the-moment curiosity--she was supposed to be a young girl with no knowledge of asylum politics, after all. She was fairly confident that she could talk Akantha's walls right back down if she only said the right things and acted as if she were admiring the older girl. She'd already seen that would work. That was the advantage to being around people with egos, she supposed--they were as predictable as the cycles of the moon.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

"Guts?" The green eyes girl smiled a little though whether it was from amusement or due to Phoenix's praise it was bard to tell. "Well, I guess so. I really just wanted my revenge." She was starting to feel a tad bit skeptical about Phoenix for sure now. Sure, Raven was a hot topic around the asylum, Akantha kept track of what little whispers were running through her patients' ears, but most people didn't warn new patients about Raven unless he was mentioned. Did the girl mention Raven to someone? She had obviously had it in for Rosemarie, but why would she care about Raven? "You asked around about Raven? There's going to be trouble around your name if you did that."

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

"Trouble?" Now Phoenix wore a frown. "I don't need anymore trouble, especially not from someone as famous as he is. I have enough problems." Once again she held up her injured hand, and then gave a little sigh as if disappointed with herself. "It's hard enough living in this place without knowing who will or won't decide to slit my throat for no reason. I don't need sadists chasing after me too." Empty words, of course, all of them. The little redhead could take care of herself, and she knew that Rosemarie knew it. If Raven started to make waves with her, it would be of his own accord. No doubt his little girlfriend had already warned him not to get involved with such a dangerous pawn--or, perhaps better put, a knight. Still, it wasn't as if Akantha needed to realize that--and so Phoenix played it up. At the moment, she looked rather anxious, even helpless, as she glanced from her hand to the asylum and back to her hand again. Perhaps Akantha would feel bad for an underdog; she would never know until she tried, would she?

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

Akantha scrunched her nose slightly as she made a face. "No reason? God, what a wretched move. It seems Rosemarie's stepping out of her comfort zone." According to her file, and according to Rosemarie's latest violent acts, she rarely ever attacked anyone unless she did something to them or something to Raven (she herself was case and point), so why all of a sudden would she attack this girl? "You didn't do anything to Raven, did you? Say anything about him? I mean, you could have thought you didn't do anything when you could have without realizing it." That was the best sympathy Akantha would offer the girl, and it was the best she could do at all, really. If, however, Phoenix really hadn't done anything, then the brunette couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on with the former Huntress.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

That was a score. It wasn't sympathy outright, but it was clearly the best Akantha could muster, being who she was. "I didn't," Phoenix told her. Confusion and some kind of thoughtfulness was evident in her voice, as if she were going over events in her mind, trying to figure out where she might have gone wrong. "I honestly didn't. I hadn't even heard of Raven until I went to a nurse to get my fingers patched up and he happened to mention his name. Rosemarie and I met in the park yesterday afternoon, we talked a little, and then the next thing I know I'm in the basement with her and she's holding a knife to the throat of one of my skunks, trying to get me to crack or something. She knew a surprising bit about me--even things I didn't have half a mind to tell her--and she used it to taunt me." She gave a little shudder and shook her head quickly, as if driving away the unwelcome memories--she had to, because in reality, the little redhead was becoming angry again. Wouldn't want your skunk to be missing a sibling, would you? Rosemarie had taunted--and then she had cut into Bärin's chest. That was not okay. It still wasn't okay, even though the brown-and-white skunk was fine. It would never be okay between she and the ex-Hunter again.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

"Really?" Akantha's eyes widened a bit both in surprise of the tale and that Rosemarie had actually done something such as that simply for the thrill of trying to break a person. She was both surprised and impressed. "That's not really how she normally plays, Phoenix." Please don't tell me you have a skunk? Ew. Akantha smartly kept her mouth shut for once. This girl seemed broken enough, why insult her odd choice in pets? Akantha also wondered how the hell she kept them without getting caught. As soon as she could, Akantha wanted to go and check in on this Phoenix. "That really sucks. I don't know, maybe you just caught her on a bad day. Insulted her somehow." The brunette shrugged indifferently. Obviously, she was physically capable enough to be around so Rosemarie hadn't hurt her too badly. As far as her mental state, as obviously distraught as she was, she was in a mental institution. She would be just fine, she decided with a small nod.

[Hope , I belong here more than they do.]

((I love how Akantha is like "Aw, you poor thing" and on the inside Phoenix is like "There will be blood." XD))

Phoenix shrugged a little. "Maybe," she agreed, almost hesitantly, and it was clear that she didn't believe the older girl. "Oh, well. What's done is done, right? It doesn't really matter. The staff said they would handle it and I should be all right." And Drake had of course assured her of this, and though the little redhead needed absolutely none of his--or anyone's--help, it was good to pretend that she did. It got her sympathy points with the patients, even the smart-asses, as Akantha was now proving. There were advantages to pretending to be a fragile little weakling, especially when you were here. Her mother hadn't known that, but the young German girl was determined not to make her mistakes. She would make her way in the asylum, and she would make it well. She lived by one simple rule, and at the rate things were going, it wouldn't take long before sadists such as Raven and Rosemarie learned it: if you left her alone, she would leave you alone. If you didn't, your life would be hell.

[*~Silvypoo~* (Chaser of Artemis), Life's a dance, you learn as you go.]

[There will be blood. XD]

Akantha held back a snort without much success. "Obviously you're new here." That was all she said, and she figured that in time, Phoenix would discover what she mean by that. The staff hardly ever got involved with anything unless someone was dead or hurt badly enough where death had been an option. In her honest opinion, if the staff wanted to get more involved, they should start frisking all patients before they left the room as well as when they entered and sometimes in between. That would mean that Akantha herself would lose her small knife, but she wouldn't need it with everyone else unarmed as well. Akantha didn't have any faith in the staff and handling problems, which was part of the reason she had assigned herself warden in the first place.