"That's up to you. You know I live about half an hour from here on a day where it isn't snowing like mad." Keori told him as the wind picked up, blowing the snow all around them. The weather was supposed to be nasty that night, calling for white-out conditions.

"I don't really want you to be caught in the dark walking home on your own." she told him. Too bad I haven't gotten the hang of transporting via thunder yet.. she thought.

"Well excuse me for being handy with a frying pan" Bakura replied with sarcasm. He was just playing around. He slid into the seat next to his mother, and started to munch on the piece of fish in front of him. "I cook a good piece of salmon if I do say so myself"

Tave brushed his hair behind his ear after the wind passed by them. "Don't worry about me Keo. You of all people should know that distance isn't a problem for me anymore" He stated with a chuckle as he thought about exactly how fast he could run now; Since the experiments on him were for the most a success, he's able to run a little faster then a normal human. So lots of snow and foul weather was no problem for him. Well, at least he didn't look at it as a problem. "So, shall we be going?"


"It isn't that you're good with a frying pan; It's how quickly you heated the frying pan" She added with the same sarcasm as her son. "You would still be cooking right now if you weren't so talented" She added with a smile.

The delicious smell of cooked salmon had filled the room and her nose. It would surely make it's way out of the house and Keori would smell it and probably come running. "It smells wonderful. But shouldn't you wait for Keori to get home?"

The panther girl didn't say anything as he said not to worry about him. "Alright.. if you say so." she said.

Making sure her hat was over her ears, she tightened the scarf that was around her neck to keep it warm. "Let's go then." with that she started walking off, without waiting for Tave, since she figured he would just follow.

He paused. "But... who knows when she'll be back, and I'm hungry." he said, it was almost something like a whine. "Besides, she can eat with Kit." a pause, "Wherever that cat is." he finished and took another bite of the fish.

[Sorry if my posts seem.. lacking or something, If at any time you can't work with something I post, let me know and I shall edit to include something to work with alright?]

Tave gave a small nod and followed after Keo. He was able to catch up to her in no time; Considering how tall he was. He walked beside her, his hands still in his pockets. "So... How has everything been?" He asked with a curious tone. He didn't look at her while he waited for a reply, he was too busy watching the snow fall; it was remarkably beautiful.

Rowena stared at Bakura in disbelief. "And here I thought you had some manners.." The sarcasm in her voice, so easily heard. Though she was trying to make a point. Sure Keori could eat with Kit, but it's nicer to have everyone eat together. At least that is how she felt about it. She watched as he kept eating his dinner. "...Well, I'm going to wait for her to get home before I eat"


((Your posts are fine. Though, if you find it difficult to reply to mine, let me know too. Okay?))

As she walked, her ears perked slightly as she heard his footsteps in the snow catching up behind her. She just shrugged at the question. "Eh, things have been fine. Slow, but then again, I live pretty much in the middle of the forest." she said. "What can you expect? Fireworks every day?"

She took a drink of the warm liquid in the cup that she held, and it helped to warm her up a little. At leaast her hands weren't completely forzen. Going to have to have Bakura warm me up./ Here's hoping he doesn't accidentally burn me again... she thought.

"So how have things been with you? I haven't seen you around all that much lately." the raven hair woman asked.

He paused. Should he tell her what he was planning on doing..?

"Mother, I can't take my time, I've got things I need to do" he said as he took another bite. "You can wait if you want, but I can't." Nope. He wasn't interested in telling her that he was going to go after Kalin. He was serious about it too, she'd put Keori in the hospital for a week. The damage that Kalin had inflicted on her twin, had been enough that even his mother couldn't heal her.

[Yay =3. I'm always worried that my posts aren't good enough or something. Mostly because of the fact that I'm not used to playing with others. >> Most people don't join my games for some reason =(

And of course! If I can't reply to something well I'll let you know =3 It's only fair.]

"Slow? Well I guess that is to be expected." He stated in response to her statement. He couldn't help thinking now that he had asked a stupid question. Of course nothing had really gone on, she was right after all; She did live in the middle of no where and what could possibly go on there. He let out a defeated sigh just before he remembered she had asked him a question. "Oh, me." He started. "Um, I guess there okay. There isn't much to do when you live alone and have no place to call home" Sadly it was true, Tave didn't have a home and he just wandered around and slept where ever he fell when he got tired. But you couldn't tell that just by looking at him. "I've just kinda been walking around this town and the nearby ones and doing odd-end jobs for people for a little cash here and there"

"What do you mean you can't take your time?" She asked curiously. "What things do you have to do? It's getting late and the weather is going to worsen" She finished with a slight worry in her voice. "You don't plan on going out tonight do you?" She asked as she stood up from the chair and walked over to the counter and leaned against it. "Can what ever you have to do wait until tomorrow?"

Keo didn't say anything, not really wanting to go there. She didn't particularly want to take the conversation in that direction.

She wasn't watching exactly where she was walking and stepped on a patch of ice that was on the sidewalk, and promptly lost her balance. "Mrow~!" she exclaimed when she tried to regain her balance.

Bakura bit his lip. "No. I'm not going out. I just have something I need to do." he told her "And no it cannot wait until tomorrow. Tonight is the only time I Can do it." He finished his fish and stood up, plate in hand, to take his dishes to the sink.

Tave responded quickly and threw his arms out to catch Keo to keep her from falling. He kept his balance well on the ice and then moved himself and Keo over so that they wouldn't slip and fall on that ice patch. "Are you okay Keo?" He asked promptly and full of concern.


Rowena let out a sigh of relief as he said he wasn't going out in the snow tonight. "I'm glad you're not leaving, let me take that plate for you" She stated as she reached for his plate and took it from his hand. "Go ahead and get started on what you need to do, I'll do the dishes and let you know when Keori gets home; Okay?" With that she took his plate over to the sink and began to wash it.

"Yeah, I"m fine, thanks for catching me." she said as she straightened up. "Never think to loko for ice patches, and I almost always slip on them, go figure hey?" she commented before shrugging. "C'mon, I just wanna get home, I'm cold" They'd already been walking for about ten minutes, but it was annoying that there was still at least another 15 before she was in the warmth of the house.

Bakura paused. She'd actually believed him? Wow. Without a second though he handed her his plate and headed down to the basement.

Once down there, he waited about five minutes, waited to see if his Mother was going to come downstairs or not, when she didn't he figured he was safe to go, and vanished in a burst of flames... out to see if he couldn't get to Kalin.

Tave adjusted his shirt and dusted the snow from his arms and then placed his hands back into his pockets and continued to walk as if her slip had never happened. Though he had to ask again, just to be sure. "Your sure your alright? No hurt ankles or anything?" He must have sounded silly asking her again to make sure she was okay but he couldn't help asking. Then he thought for a moment as they were walking. "If you get tired of walking, let me know; I could probably get us to your house a little faster then it would take us to walk like this"


Rowena didn't think anything more about what her son was doing, she figured that he was probably doing something to surprise Keori. She finished washing the plate and then placed her hand under it and produced a little heat to dry the plate quickly. Once it was dry she put it away. "I wonder how much longer until Keori returns home, it is starting to get worse outside" She stated as she looked out the kitchen window.

The wind picked up and made Keo's hat sit a little looser on her head. "I'm fine." she said. "I'm a cat, 'course I'm ok." She went to take a drink of her latte, but noticed that in the slip, she'd managed to spill most of what was left. Something akin to a pout crossed her face before disappearing. She just continued walking.

Looking up at the sky, she blinked, she saw nothing but the snow flakes falling on her face. With a sigh, she turned left and started walking through the trees. She knew of a shortcut home, it would be a bit on the icky side because of the fact that the ground was wet, but it would be quicker over all.

Bakura appeared in a clearing, the snow around him melting almost instantly from the heat that was emanating from his body. He looked around, this was somewhere that Kalin had been, but it was obvious that she wasn't there anymore.

"Where the hell is she?" he asked the air before disappearing again, hoping to get to where she was.

Tave followed after her when she turned left for her shortcut. "You know where you're going right?" He asked hoping they wouldn't get lost in the process of walking to her house. As he was following her he relaxed and let his ears pop up from his head. He let out a sigh of relief after letting them stretch. It took a lot of concentration to keep his ears flat on his head and from time to time he needed to let them up. Since no one else was really around he thought it safe to let them stay up for a little while longer.

Rowena continued to look out the window for awhile longer. "Did she get caught up somewhere?" She murmured to herself as she started to worry a little more about Keori. She then glanced down at the salmon Bakura had cooked, it was cold now and would need to be re-heated when Keori finally returned home. A simple enough task, but dinner always tasted better when it's just been cooked.

"Me? Not know where I am going? You're kidding right?' she asked with a smirk. "I've taken this path so many times I could do it in my sleep" she added as a branch, that was just low enough, scooped her hat, exposing her silky black ears.

"Oi! Stupid branch" she muttered and grabbed her hat off of the thieving piece of wood. Sadly, a hole had been torn into the fabric when it had been swiped off her head.

"Awww, damn." she muttered as she inspected the damage.

Bakura appeared in front of the office that KAlin worked at, hoping to catch her there, with no such luck. He'd gone inside to look, but couldn't find her anywhere, and didn't want to be there too long, there were camera's afterall.

He walked over to an area that he knew was out of view of the camera's and disappeared again, in another burst of flames, leaving scorch marks on the floor where he once stood.

He walked up beside Keo and looked down at her hat. "That can probably be fixed" He stated as he looked up at her ears. "It's been a long time since I've seen your ears. It's nice to be reminded that I'm not the only one" He said with a smile as his ears twitched a few times. "I wouldn't worry about your hat right now, we're in the middle of no where and there shouldn't be anyone around who would see our... abnormal ears"


Rowena looked out the window once more and gave a sigh. She really hoped that Bakura didn't come back up stairs from the basement, she didn't want to have to try and reassure him again that Keori would be home soon. She walked over to the table again and sat down waiting to hear the door open.

Keori shrugged, "I have a couple more hats, but this one is one of my favourites" she said and shoved the hat into her messenger bag.

"Sucks hey? we're the only two, known, survivors. I don't know what which is worse. Dying painfully from the process, or living like this." she said quietly as she continued walking. It didn't take long, but soon they had reached a large clearing, that was obviously near a road. In the middle of the clearing, was a house, that looked to have been custom built. Which it was, and it was constantly being added to.

GRowling could be heard behind the two of them, and Keori whirled around, to see a pair of golden eyes peering at them from the shadows.

Bakura sighed, as he went from place to place. It didn't take long before he gave up for the night. He'd try again in the middle of the day when he knew where Kalin would be. With that in mind, he started heading back to the house. At the moment he was out in th emiddle of the city, so he started walking. He didn't want to have anyone witness his firey departure, and so he walked. It didn't take topo long before he found an alleyway that was suitable enough for him to depart from. He appeared in the basement again, and decided to head back upstairs. He was curious if his Kitten was home.

Tave wasted no time answering her question; "I'd rather be alive and be like this then to have died the way my Mother did" He spat then a look of shock appeared on his face for a moment. He couldn't believe he had said that, no one else knew but him and he so easily divulged that tidbit of information that was so very personal to him. His face went back to normal quickly as he tried to act like he never said a thing. Once they entered the clearing and Tave heard the growling he was a little taken back. He too turned around when Keo did and stared at the glowing golden eyes. "A friend of yours Keo?"

Keo didn't say anything in response to what Tave had just said. She wasn't about to comment on something that seemed to be very personal, she didn't know which she would prefer, 'specially since she'd been working in the lab, and knew what kind of dogs they were. She shuddered thinking about it, glad that she was no longer working there. No one was though, seeing as when Keori and Bakura had first met, Bakura had ended up burning the Lab down.

She looked at the eyes and just smirked, walking forward she crouched down, and made a sound that was a cross between a meow and a growl. The eyes emerged from the shadows to reveal a sleek Panther, that looked to be slightly bigger than what your average panther would look like.

The feline came and nuzzled up against Keo. "Tave, meet Kit. This panther is the cub of the panther with whom they scientist's used on me" she told him.

Bakura walked up behind Rowena and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey MOther, is Keori home yet?" he asked her.

Tave just looked at the panther cub with a faint smile. "I could tell you two at least knew each other; You smell very much a like" He stated as he rubbed his nose a little. Another part of the fusion that was a success was his ability to smell things just as an actual wolf would. Though that ability was a little easier to hide then a large pair of ears or his long tail. He gave a warm smile. "It's nice to meet you Kit."


Rowena looked back at her son when he tapped her on the shoulder, she gave a small sigh and shook her head no. "She hasn't returned home just yet; Perhaps she's close now"

"Technically, we're related" she said as Kit bounded off to the house. Keo stepped out of the trees and into the clearing to follow.

Bakura didn't say anything, just sat down in the chair. She was later, about an hour and a half later than she said that she would be back home.

[Sorry it's so short]

Tave followed after Keo; Into the clearing. It took him a few moments to realise what she had meant when she said that she was related to Kit. It dawned on him and he felt rather silly for not putting two and two together sooner. "So... How did you manage to come across Kit?" He continued on. "That just makes me wonder if there is family out there that I am related to by my wolf blood" He was rather curious now but there was really very little way he could find an answer to that question.

Rowena looked over at Bakura as he sat down in the seat. She wanted to badly to reassure him that Keori would be home soon, but she'd been saying that since he started cooking dinner. There was no point to say she'd be home any minute because really had no clue when Keori would return. She could only hope it was soon because she didn't like seeing her son the way he was.

"After the experiment, I went back to my apartment with Bakura. Life was.. rough. It was like living with a five year old, seriously. Anyway, we lived there for a bout a year before we moved here about two years ago. I found Kit here out in the snow before we left, she was buried in the snow and freezing. I doubt she would have survived long if Bakura and I didn't find her." she said as Kit stopped a few metres ahead and looked back, before bounding off again.

"Maybe you do have family out there, just go find out." Keo added as they neared the house.

"Finding my family is almost a lost cause. I'm better off without them." He muttered as he thought back to his father and little sister. It was probably better that they left, they probably would've been experimented on too if they had not gone away when they did. It was hard enough watching his mother die, he wouldn't have been able to survive the deaths of his father and sister too. Sometimes it feels like a miracle that Tave survived but then there are days when it feels like a curse. 'One day I will get my revenge on them all' He thought to himself as he looked up at Keo once more.

Keo sighed as they reached the door. She turned around and gave Tave a hug. "Well, I must thank you for walking me home. I really do appreciate it. Made this dismal trek more enjoyable, thanks." she started, "I'd invite you in, but to be honest, I don't know what is going on in there. For all I know someone could be in the middle of trying to butcher another"

Tave was a little surprised by the hug but accepted it anyway and hugged her back. "Your welcome" He added as he pulled away from the hug. He smiled at her comment. "Butcher another?" He knew she lived with some other people but he didn't know who. Keo never really brought that up in any of the conversations they had together. "Well.." He paused and looked out at the snow; Their tracks had already been covered by the fallen snow. "I guess I'll be going then.."


Rowena stood up from the chair and looked over to the door; She had a hunch someone was standing at the door but she didn't know who. She then walked over to the door and pulled it open only to see Keori and some guy she had never met before. "Glad to see that you're finally home Keori" She said with a smile as she looked Keori over quickly; seeing that she wasn't hurt she smiled a little more warmly. "Oh, and who's this?" She asked curiously as she looked over at the young man standing next to Keori.

Keo looked back at Rowena. "Eh heh, sorry. Took a little longer to walk home then I though." she said. "And this is Tave, he's someone that I know from where I used to live." she added with a sheepish smile. Kit was still out in the clearing playing around in the snow, and Keo knew that the kitty would be cold soon.

"...I missed dinner didn't I?" she asked.

Bakura listened to what his mother said and when he heard Keori's name, he was on his feet and at the door.
He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw that she wasn't alone. Something about him, he didn't like... His gut just didn't like him at all.