A Double-Edged Life

"Karma!"

"Star!!"

Meka blinked in slight disgust as the frog hastily put her battered Honda into park as she finished pulling up alongside the curb and killed the engine to scramble out of the car and greet her friend. Starluck, a unicorn-influenced liontaur, loped across the lawn on four snowy paws to meet her and the two girls embraced.

"My god, its been about a year, hasn't it?" Karma asked.

"Probably." Star grinned, brushing her sky-colored hair out of her eyes. "I got worried when you stopped returning my letters. Been busy?"

"Oyy....NEVER start taking in strays. You never stop once you start and I had myself a damned zoo to take care of. I'm lucky I found homes for all of them, but until their new people were ready to come pick them up, I had to bring in help." she smirked, jerking a thumb at the car.

"Is that Meka?" the liontaur inquired, peering at the passenger side of the car. The raccoon-boy peered right back at her, his face screwed up in a look of extreme distaste. "Oooh....friendly little boogar, isn't he?"

"He's moody." Meka heard her explain. "I don't think he was too crazy about moving."

"Aww...well, tell him there'll be a whole new playground in -this- neighborhood and that the children here are very nice." Star teased, laughing as she tilted a wave at Meka. He didn't bother to return it as his eyes crawled over the two-level beige house looming at the edge of the neatly-trimmed front lawn. At least Karma hadn't been lying about the fact that it was much larger than the one they'd -been- living in for the past couple of months.

He'd called and spoken to her sparsely the same night she'd come to see him at Zeal for the first time and, when all had been said and done, she'd come to pick him up the following morning. She had lived in a good-sized one-level home....good-sized, anyway, until one took into account that eighty percent of the rooms and floorspace were taken up with enclosures, aquariums, and cages. Karma had explained that she had been in the habit of picking up stray cats which had later extended to watching the paper classifieds for people nearby who were giving their pets away.

It was only recently that caring for so many animals had started to catch up with her pocketbook and she realized she could no longer afford the rent and was already in debt with her other bills. Starluck, upon listening to her friend's problem, had instantly extended the invitation to allow Karma to rent out one of her spare rooms while she got things taken care of. The animals, however, weren't invited to come along and a bit of deal-making had to be done to include Meka as well. When the dust had cleared, Star had offered two rooms, her guest room and an upstairs loft that could be turned into a room.

The only thing that had kept Meka from running away, in all honesty, was the lack of anywhere else to go. He couldn't deny the fact that it was nice to have somewhere concrete to live without feeling like he was walking on eggshells. As long as he remembered to do what was asked of him, Karma seldom bothered him and allowed him to come and go as he liked in the evenings.

He'd known the move was coming, and at first he'd been making half-hearted plans to leave before it happened. Especially when he heard that they'd be sharing the house with four people on a regular basis. In the end, however, he'd decided it would be less trouble to stay where he was and go along with things. It would be easier on all involved and....yes, he'd admit it, he was curious.

"Helloooooo?"

Meka jolted and looked at the passenger window, finding himself nose-to-nose with Starluck. "You going to come out of there and help unpack or hide in the car all night?"

"I'm coming." he sighed, reaching for the door latch.

"You're not even breathing hard." the liontaur teased, backing away to give him room to get out as he shot her a nasty look. "Wow, she wasn't kidding when she said you were moody. I should send Evil up to cuddle with you once you get settled in."

"Who the hell is Evil?" the raccoon grumbled, not really caring as he made his way behind the car to its open trunk where Karma was already unloading boxes of their things.

"Oh you'd like him. Everybody does." Star nodded as she padded after him and picked a pair of boxes up off of the pavement. "He's got a flare for making crabasses lighten up."

"Talk him into wearing clothes yet?" Karma asked, grunting as she struggled with Meka's suitcase and set it down in front of him.

"Evil? Clothes? Pfft....Hell would freeze over first." the liontaur laughed. "Who's are these?" she asked, gesturing to the boxes in her hands.

"Um...those're mine, I think." the frog nodded.

"I'll go toss'em inside then and come back to help with what's left." she smiled as she started back toward the house. "Oh...Meka?" she called over her shoulder. "Your room's up the stairs and its the second door on the right. The one across from the bathroom is S-D's. He's not feeling very well, so try not to bother him."

"S-D? Evil?" Meka asked incredulously when Star was out of earshot.

"Yup. Zizzi too, but he's away right now. They're her sons." Karma replied non-chalantly, hefting out the last box and closing the trunk. The rest of their clothing and Meka's bed was currently bundled into a moving trailer in the driveway of the old house that they planned to use Star's car to haul tomorrow morning so, between the two of them, they had gathered up what would fit in the trunk.

"They're her sons and she's naming them shit I wouldn't even name a dog?"

"Oh, shut it." Karma muttered passively, not looking at him as she picked out and hefted up two more of her boxes under each arm. "You should fit right in with the way you are."

"What do you mean 'the way I am'?" he demanded to know irritably as he picked up his suitcase, grunting a bit.

"Gay, you yutz." the frog replied simply, starting toward the house. "I know for a fact S-D is, and I think Evil just takes whatever smiles at him and winks."

"That doesn't explain how you think I'm going to fit in. That's like saying -you're- going to get along with your roommates just because they're girls. It doesn't work that way."

"Whatever, Meka, I don't need a lecture about how to make friends, considering the source its coming from. I was just trying to toss you a bone." Karma said, shaking her head. She'd had to listen to him complain as they'd packas tas they'd loaded the car, and all during the four hour drive out to Starluck's house. It went without saying that her nerves had worn more than a bit thin with the raccoon by then.

Mekakushi watched her disappear into the house before muttering a curse and hefting his suitcase up the walk inside after her. The inside of Starluck's house was neatly furnished, he noted as he passed through the front door. It wasn't elaborate nor modest, just...comfortable, he supposed, as he passed by the kitchen and scanned the walls for the stairwell. After a moment, he spied it on the other side of the living room and headed toward it.

The upstairs hallway was quiet and deserted, thankfully, as Meka moved in the direction of the room he'd be occupying. Second door on the right, she'd said....and not to harrass S-D, whoever the hell -that- was. Maybe he'd luck out and it would be someone who knew how to mind their own goddamned business and leave him alone.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, a door he'd just passed yawned open and someone stepped out to regard him acidly through a pair of green eyes. He was thin, nearly to the point of emaciation and clothed in a pair of form-fitting black jeans and a generic-looking white tank top. His skin was as pale as cheese, and a mane of meticulously-kept glossy black hair fanned over his shoulders in rivers, framing an effeminate face.

"And who in the blue fuck are -you- supposed to be?" he demanded, his voice tainted with a British accent. If there was such a thing as love at first sight, then there must also have been such a thing as hate at first sight...because there was no other way to describe how Meka currently felt as he glared back at the smaller boy, his temper already rising.

"Who the fuck wants to know?" he challenged, continuing on his way down the hallway. He'd taken no more than three steps before he felt a hand close around his tail and haul him backwards.

"-I- do." the thin boy replied, crossing his arms over his chest. Meka felt himself tense, his teeth gritting and his tail bottlebrushing out in utter hatred. Noting Meka's threatening countenance with casual passiveness, the thin stranger quirked a brow. "Yeah, scary." he mocked, producing a cigarette from seemingly behind his back and placing it between his lips. "Now tell me who the fuck you are."

"None of your goddamned business." Meka growled, trying again to walk away and finding his path blocked as, with oily speed, the raven-haired boy stepped in front of him.

"I can make it my business." he said in a voice that sounded eerily gentle. The raccoon bristled in annoyance, moving to step around him, first to the left, then to the right, finding his path blocked either way he tried as the stranger kept perfect step with him.

"God dammit, MOVE!" Meka yelled, losing his temper as he roughly attempted to shove past the boy. In response, his shoulders were caught and, using his own forward momentum, he was spun aside and slammed against the wall as the black-haired male held him pinned. Meka could almost have sworn his green eyes had flickered briefly with light as he glared up at him, his lips pulled back from his white teeth in a snarl with the unlit cigarette clenched between them.

"Let's get one thing straight." he said, his accented voice still pouring off of his tongue in a soothing tone, though there was an undercurrent of anger. "Don't fuck with me. You're moving into the loft, that's fine. I don't give a shit. I just wanted to know your damned name. You don't scare me and I don't have to be fucking polite to you. You're mom's guest, not mine." Saying so, he released Meka's shoulders with a look of disgust, reaching into his pocket for his lighter.

"If you don't give a shit then why don't you just let me go?" Meka inquired icily, realizing he'd dropped his suitcase when he'd been swung into the wall and stooping to retrieve it.

"I'll say again, don't fuck with me." he answered, in leiu of an actual reply, lighting his cigarette and inhaling deeply of it, his eyes never leaving Meka's.

"Or what?" the raccoon sneered, sizing up his opponant. The other boy was easily a head shorter than him, and had it not been for the momentary show of strength a moment ago, he would have easily dismissed him as being frail. Again, he didn't answer as he finished his drag and exhaled it slowly, a billow of gray smoke creating a thin curtain between the two of them.

Then, suddenly, he blinked his eyes forcefully, the pupils having dilated to tapered serpentine diamonds and the whites having all but disappeared, replaced with a glowing muddy green color. Meka recoiled in surprise, hitting his head against the wall again in the process as the black-haired boy blinked again, his eyes having returned to normal in an instant as the smoke between them dissipated. With a sniff of indignation, he turned and sauntered back to his room, disappearing inside and punctuating his exit with a slam of the door.

Meka remained where he was for a moment, his mind racing as he tried to place what had just happened. It had been a trick, he decided finally. It had to have been. The little son of a bitch had gotten ahold of some contacts or -something- that had made his eyes momentarily change. That's why he'd needed the cigarette smoke to shroud it. So Meka wouldn't have been able to see him blinking them into place.

As he told himself this, there were footsteps on the stairs and, a moment later, Star strolled into view with another box. "Hello again, Sunshine." she smiled. "Sorry to interrupt, but Karma said this box was yours and--what's the matter?" she asked, quirking a brow at the disheveled raccoon against the wall and following his gaze to the closed door across from the bathroom. "Met S-D, I take it....didn't go well?"

"That's S-D...?" Meka asked incredulously. He'd -thought- Karma had said S-D, Evil, and Zizzi were Starluck's sons. The liontaur herself looked to be in her mid-twenties and the young man he'd just finished his confrontation with was easily eighteen or older.

"He's having a hard time right now." She shrugged, moving past Meka to a closed door at the end of the hallway and opening it. "Like I told you outside, he's not feeling very well."

"Not feeling very well, but he can slam me into the wall??" Meka growled, following after her into the small loft-turned-bedroom he'd soon be occupying. It was utterly barren except for a small closet off to the side that looked like it had been added in as an afterthought and an army cot in the middle of the floor.

"Well, I never said he was -sick-." she pointed out, dropping the box to the floor. "I won't go into details either. Let's just say he's suffering a lot of growing pains right now and that someone isn't around as much as he'd like."

"I don't see how that's MY problem." Meka said moreso to himself than to Star as he set his suitcase down beside the box.

"Never said it was." she replied simply. "That's just why I suggested you stay away from him. Trust me, as his mom, I know better than anyone that he's not a nice person."

"Yeah, about that..." Meka started, prepared to question her about the whole mother/son thing.

"S-D's adopted." Starluck answered before he could ask. "All of my boys are adopted." Meka opened his mouth to say something in response, could think of nothing, and closed his mouth again. "Anyway..." she continued, changing the subject. "This is going to be your room. You can decorate it however you want...paint, wallpaper, curtains, I don't mind. You look like you're about settled in so why don't you go ahead and unpack while I go help Karma and make dinner? I already told Evil you might like some help."

"I don't need any h---"

"Hi there!" a musical voice purred from the doorway as both Starluck and Meka's heads darted in its direction. Standing in the doorway was a bushy cat boy who, like S-D, appeared to be in his late teens. His fur was a bright shade of pink and also, Meka noted, he seemed to lack clothing of any description. "Is this our new roomie?" the tomcat inquired, grinning and sashaying into the room, his large feathery tail swishing behind him, practically giving off an aura of hearts and rainbows in its wake.

"This is Evil. My oldest." Starluck explained, noting Meka's puzzled expressionEvilEvil, this is Mekakushi. He came in with Karma."

"Nice ta meetcha!" The tomcat exclaimed, offering a handshake but quickly retracting it when he spied the suitcase and box on the floor. "Oooh! Whatcha doin'? Unpackin'??" he asked, falling to his knees and hauling the box into his lap before Meka could protest. A moment later, he'd clawed away the packaging tape that held it closed and was rifling through the contents.

"Hey!" Meka cried in indignation, reaching out to take the box away a moment too late as Evil produced something from within, a stack of CD's clutched in his large fluffy paws.

"Hey, 'Grease'! I loved that movie!" Evil grinned, shuffling to the next album, the tip of his tail flicking. "And 'Cats' too! Hmm...I didn't like 'Rent' very much..."

"Will you give me those??" the raccoon demanded, snatching the Rent soundtrack out of the pink feline's grasp and making him flinch.

"Well you didn't have to -grab-." the tomcat declared, sticking his tongue out at Meka and then giggling, not looking like he was in the least offended as Meka scowled at him.

"Evil? How about you head downstairs and help me get dinner going?" Star suggested, sensing the growing tension between Meka and her son.

"Dinner!" Evil parroted back gleefully, leaping to his feet and scurrying for the door. "Can we have spaghetti? I'm -starving-!"

"You're always starving." the liontaur replied, padding after him. "But I'll see what I can do. I think Meka needs some time to himself for now." As she said so, she spared Meka a brief but pinning look....a look that seemed to radiate a sentiment of distrust. And then the door swept closed, leaving the raccoon, at long last, in silence.

Meka heaved an immense sigh of frustrated relief when he was sure they were gone. It must have been some sort of record to not be in his new home for even an hour yet and already realize that he wasn't going to get along three of his new housemates. Starluck, though the most tolerable of the three, had already irritated him with her condescending manner, Evil was slightly more infuriating with the way he seemed to not only live within his own ignorance but -thrived- in it, and S-D...feh, he wasn't even going to get started.

For the next half hour or so, he unpacked and arranged his things quietly, deciding where he'd put the bed when it arrived and how he'd display his posters on the empty walls before collapsing on the carpet beside the cot to rest. Somewhere between debating whether or not to appear downstairs for dinner and wondering what color, if any, he should rnt tnt the room, Meka fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"S-D?" Starluck called gently, knocking at his bedroom door nearly two hours later with a plate of spaghetti in her free hand. When she recieved no answer, she sighed and turned the knob, letting herself in. The interior of the room had been done entirely in black -- the walls, the curtains, the carpet, the furniture, and nearly all of the objects that littered the tops of the dresser and nightstand.

Amid the gloom, huddled on his bed with his head rested on his knees was S-D. The bed lacked a mattress as it had long-since been destroyed and he sat on the boxsprings in a tangle of black sheets, giving no indication of having heard Starluck call for him or enter his room.

"I brought you some dinner." she offered, holding up the plate and smiling. He flicked his eyes up to regard her flatly before resuming staring off into space. "C'mon, don't be like that." she sighed, crossing the room to put the plate on his nightstand.

"You said said there was -one- coming to stay here." he said sullenly. "You said she'd stay downstairs in the guest room and I wouldn't even have to bother with her."

"Right. And she is. Meka's the one staying across the hall from you because there's nowhere else to put him." the liontaur explained.

"Meka." S-D spat the word out as though it tasted bad. "What a dumbfuck name..."

"Its not any more dumbfuck of a name than Snape-Doll." she pointed out, making him flinch a bit. "And nobody's saying you have to bother yourself with -him- either. fac fact, why don't you two just stay away from each other? It would make things a lot easier."

"Not like I have plans to go looking for him." S-D muttered. "Just as long as he stays out of my face."

"And he was just going out of his way to piss you off by bringing his suitcase upstairs and trying to get to his room, wasn't he?"

"He pushed me." the black-haired boy grumped.

"And -you- slammed him up against the wall." Star retorted, making him cringe once again. "I heard that whole scuffle from the stairwell, S-D. You really need to learn how to get a leash on yourself."

"Why? The guy's a complete asshole."

"So are you." the liontaur said simply, putting her hands on her hips.

"At least I have a reason!" he snapped, growing angry.

"One you have only yourself to blame for. Has Eddy gotten back to you yet?" she asked, shifting gears in their discussion. In response, he gave a sharp hiss as his eyes flickered with brilliant green light, his front teeth elongating ever so slightly.

"None of your business! Leave me alone!" he demanded, flattening himself against the headboard of his bed like a snake coiling to strike. The liontaur regarded him passively, as though well-accustomed to this sort of violent behavior by now.

"I think you're long-overdue for your meds." she said matter-of-factly, tucking a strand of blue hair behind one long tapered ear.

"I don't need any goddamned meds!" S-D rasped, recoiling further as his eyes continued to flicker, picking up a more threatening white-green brilliance as they did. "You come near me with that fucking needle, and I'll kih----" his threat was broken off in another fit of hissing as his head thrashed from side to side, his hair flying in disarray about his face.

"Yeah. Meds time for Snape-Doll." Star nodded, strolling across the room to his dresser and opening the top drawer. Between a pile of folded shirts and a tangle of socks, there sat an empty syringe and a small vial of a milky substance. If only people knew, she mused, that she was injecting black mamba venom into a two-year-old to keep him under control, they'd lock her away in a nuthatch. In a practiced motion, the liontaur had uncapped the needle and pressed it into the top of the vial to transfer its contents into the syringe as S-D continued to curse and thrash behind her.

As she approached him, he scooted to the edge of the boxsprings, baring his teeth and eyeing her threateningly. In a single motion, Starluck had reared up and pinned him to the bed with her forepaws, leaving her hands free to get a grip on his arm as he attempted to twist out from beneath her. "Damn dramaqueen...." she growled, drawing her arm back and jabbing the needle home in his shoulder as she quickly depressed the plunger.

Beneath her weight, S-D gave a shuddering groan as his struggles slowed and he soon laid dormant on his side, staring off into space as she retrieved the needle and heaved herself off of him. "I don't like it any better than -you- do." She sighed as she recapped the now-empty syringe, tossing it into his wastepaper basket by the bed and seated herself on the boxsprings beside him, reaching out to stroke his hair gently. "Feel better?"

"Mnnnhh...." he moaned, drawing his knees to his chest and quaking helplessly.

"Maybe you should get some sleep." she suggested, getting up and picking up the plate of spaghetti she'd brought him. "I'll put this in the fridge for you."

"Leave it." he muttered, remaining where he was. "I want it."

"Just as long as you're eating, I don't care..." she sighed, setting the plate down on the boxsprings within his reach before leaving the room and returning downstairs.

"-Neither- of them are coming down to eat?" Karma asked from the sink where she had her hands in the suds, finishing washing the dinner plates.

"Nope. S-D's on the verge of having another episode and your coon boy was sound asleep when I checked in. Poor doofer was sprawled out on the floor, so I tucked a pillow under his head and put a blanket over him." Star sighed as she padded to the sink to help dry. "Is Meka always that much of a recluse or is he just especially pissy today for some reason?"

"A little of both." the frog shrugged. "I rolled his ringtailed ass out of bed at five this morning to finish packing since he kept putting it off till the last minute so that probably didn't help much. That and he's -always- an ass around people he doesn't know."

"I know I'd told S-D he was coming along with you when you came to stay here, but with the way he's acting, you'd think this was a complete surprise. I think his hearing has been a little selective the past month or so ever since Eddy disappeared."

"Eddy?" Karma questioned, looking clueless.

"His boyfriend, didn't I tell you about that last time you called? They've been seeing each other for about a year now. Well...sort of, anyway." the liontaur smiled, though it wasn't one of good nature, moreso just one she had put on for lack of anything better. "Its sort of a funny story. My friend Magnus comes to visit occasionally and she kinda plays keeper to a dragon-demon named Edodrian. We call him Eddy.

"Anyway, he and S-D fought -constantly- whenever they saw each other and Magnus and I got sick of it so to make them knock it off, we chained their ankles together and told them to learn to live with each other."

"Ouch..." Karma winced.

"Oh yeah, it was ugly at first. We were almost ready to give up on it since it seemed like it had just made the fighting even worse. Then one night, they were in the middle of one of their usual brawls and Eddy had already messed S-D up pretty bad. I don't remember what S-D had said to him, exactly, but it eluded to something along the lines of Eddy being so violent because he was compensating for a certain lack of something downstairs.

"Eddy was furious, needless to say, and grabbed him by the arm and hauled him off into another room. We heard a lot of yelling and thrashing, and we were convinced Eddy was trying to kill him. When everything quieted down, Magnus and I finally got up the nerve to go see what happened and we found them both naked on the floor. Eddy was on his back recovering and S-D was huddled as far away as the chain would let him."

"He raped him??" the frog gaped, stopping in mid-scrub of a dish to stare at the liontaur. "And you guys just let it happen??"

"Well, what were we -supposed- to do?" Starluck inquired. "Edodrian's got enough power to obliterate an entire city block and everybody on it if he wanted to. That's not a guy you want to give a case of blueballs to. And anyway, I don't think it was rape. There was yelling, yeah, but it wasn't hysterical screams for help. I think S-D just didn't know how to handle it. Up till then, he'd never been used for anything like that and it was one hell of a way to lose his cherry.

"So Magnus and I decided that enough was enough and we unchained the two of them. Magnus took Eddy home and I let S-D go off by himself for awhile. We thought that would be the end of it and they'd never talk to each other again, but damn me if I didn't catch those two in bed again a week later."

"So they stopped fighting, at least..." Karma offered. "Must've been nice to get -that- much out of it."

"PFFT! I -wish- they'd stopped fighting. For the past year that's all the two of them have been doing. Fighting till they're exhausted, fucking to make up with each other, then fighting again." Star threw her hands up in exasperation. "And forget trying to tell S-D a relationship like that isn't healthy because he won't have it. I hate to say it, but when Eddy turned up missing I was glad. He's been gone for almost two months now without a word."

"And left no forwarding address, huh?"

"Nothing. Didn't say he was leaving, didn't give any warning, he just disappeared and its made S-D even worse than usual. He's been lashing out at everybody else so badly that he's the reason we sent Zizzi away for awhile after S-D pushed him down the stairs one night."

"Christ..." Karma sighed, biting her lip as she handed over the last dish to Starluck to dry. "Zizzi's just a little boy too..."

"Which is exactly why we sent him away. Until S-D gets himself under control, this house is no place for kids." she replied solemnly. "I didn't mean to give you a history lesson, I guess what I'm getting at is, don't take anything S-D says or does to you or your coon personally. I know he and Meka are already off on the wrong foot with each other, but then it seems like Meka's off on the wrong foot with -everybody- so far..."

"Meka's all bark and no bite." Karma shrugged. "The worst I've ever seen him do is scream at people who make him angry. I think you'd -really- need to piss him off to get him to do more than that since his favorite defense seems to be stomping off to sulk when he gets pushed too far."

"That's a relief, I guess, but trust me...S-D's like a pitbull. Once he sinks his teeth into you verbally -or- literally, he won't let go for anything. The best thing you can do when he starts in is just walk away because if you try to retort or reason with him, that'll just egg him on even more. Is Meka the type who always has to have the last word?"

"Pretty much. He's always got -something- to yell over his shoulder just before he slams the door in your face."

"Mnnh...not good. If those two keep getting into spats, we might just be in for a storm." Star sighed, drying her hands before going to the fridge to get herself and Karma a soda.

"Maybe you should put S-D in some sort of therapy program...or maybe even military school." the frog suggested as she seated herself at the now-empty dinner table. "I mean, if he's being that much trouble..."

"Can't. They'd want a blood sample and a background check as part of the screening."

"So?"

"So I can't give them either. Not without causing a panic." she huffed, seating herself at the table and placing an unopened can in front of Karma as she popped the tab on her own. "I think the last time we actually visited with each other was back when you were still in high school and S-D wasn't even around yet. Correct me if I'm wrong."

"No, that sounds about right." Karma said, sliding her can further in front of herself and opening it. "So let me guess...he's got some stereotypical mysterious and unexplained origins, right?"

"No, but they're definitely confusing. Remember that doll kit I kept telling you I really wanted?"

"Sure, the life-sized one that in that catalog and was going to cost you eight hundred dollars...you carried that magazine around for weeks trying to think of ways to afford it." the frog smirked.

"Right. Well, that's where S-D came from." At this, Karma fell silent, her eyes radiating questions as Starluck leaned back in her chair and let her breath out slowly. "I don't want to sit here dishing dirt on him all night if you'd rather do something else. Its a long story."

"Nono, because now I'm curious." her friend said, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the table. "You can't just tell me he came from a doll kit and then move on to another subject."

"I'll tell it if you want to sit and hear it, I was just giving you an out, that's all."

"And I graciously decline it." Karma teased. "Now talk, woman." Starluck smiled faintly and nodded.

"It was about two years ago..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was about two years ago when I found my first decent-paying job and actually had money I could put away to play with instead of barely scraping by to meet our bills. I decided as a reward to myself, I'd squirrel away some extra money until I had enough to get my doll kit. A few weeks later, I'd torn out the order page, filled out the specifics, and sent it off with a check.

I ended up waiting about a month and a half for my delivery with no word or anything. I'd started to think they weren't even in business anymore since they were some obscure company in Japan, but I came home to a big crate sitting in the living room one afternoon with everything I was going to need inside of it. I spent the afternoon getting everything sorted, making a list of the tools I'd need to get started and the next day when I got home, I holed myself up in the rec room all day cutting out the arms and legs and sanding the edges.

I think it took me a couple of weeks of preparation before I even -tried- to put the doll together. I really wanted to make sure I didn't ruin anything because those parts weren't cheap to replace and I didn't think to make a copy of the order form. Anyway, I got the body glued together, the joints pinned in place, and then spent extra time rooting the hair and setting the eyes.

I hadn't been able to decide between black hair and blue eyes or black hair and green eyes, so I ordered both sets. I ended up settling on green because, in the course of getting him put together, he started to remind me of Professor Snape from Harry Potter. In fact, the first thing I did when I was done with him was sew him a set of black robes and we all started calling him Snape-Doll....or S-D for short.

S-D sat in the rec room for a couple of weeks since I really had nowhere else to put him. I didn't want to keep him in the living room since that's where all the traffic is and I was afraid someone might bump into him and break him. I didn't want him in the bedroom since he was just the right size to be mistaken for a prowler, so he stayed where he was.

You know me, Karma, and you know how I can never leave well enough alone if I see potential for something better, so I started researching some spells. I'd originally wanted to turn him into a real boy, just like Pinnochio, but the spell to do that needed a ridiculous amount of componants and power to be done successfully. In the end, I settled for a locomotion spell and an auditory charm that would allow him to move around and talk.

In most ways, S-D was still just a doll. He only went where he was told or asked to go, he had no thoughts of his own, he never ate or slept, and he was devoid of any emotions. It was kind of like living with a zombie, when you think about it. Evil and Zizzi liked him because they could dress him up however they liked or get him to play games with them when they were bored, but at the time we really didn't consider him a real part of the family. Just a pretty doll-boy we could pose and play with however we liked.

We lived like that for a couple of months and then one night, for whatever reason he had, S-D wandered away from home. We couldn't find him anywhere near the neighborhood and nobody that we knew nearby had seen him so we split up to search other areas even though none of us were very hopeful by then. I mean, let's face it. In this day and age, magic is all but forgotten and a life-sized doll wandering around on its own that couldn't think for itself would be an easy target for any number of people to want to snatch up.

After the third day, I finally found him....or rather, what he'd become. He was huddled in the bushes of a big field about three miles from the house and was an absolute mess. The first thing I noticed was the fact that he was bleeding from just about every source he could bleed from and I remember thinking to myself "That's not right...dolls can't bleed." before I even realized that the blood was green for some reason. I'll never forget the first time he looked at me -- I mean -really- looked at me. His eyes weren't glass anymore, they were very real and very frightened.

I didn't know what to think at the time, and given the state I'd found him in, it wasn't exactly a good time to sit and mull it over. I could tell he was terrified of me, but he was too weak to run and he didn't put up much of a struggle when I picked him up and carried him back to the car.

I still don't know the details of what happened to him, but with all the the tests and studies I and friends of mine did on him, the nearest we could gather was that he was attacked by a wyrm. The scrapes we found on his left arm were a near-perfect match for the width between an adult wyrm's fangs and after I had his fluids examined by Verteiron, another friend of mine, we confirmed it for sure. I know as well as you do that wyrms and dragons are supposed to have died out a long time ago back when civilization started spanning into their hunting grounds, but apparently there's one still out there and S-D was unlucky enough to find it.

What we assume happened was that it saw him wandering in the field and thought he was going to be dinner for the night. Then, when it bit him, and realized there was no meat underneath the shell of his body, it decided to leave him alone even though what it left him with was probably worse damage than it would have done if it had just eaten him. You see, wyrm venom and blood is not only caustic, but potently magic. If S-D had been alive in a literal sense, the bite would have killed him. Since he wasn't, though, it had a more interesting effect.

The venom from the bite must have found the one tiny spark of life that was puppeting him around, latched onto it, and then grew like a cancer. It gave him skin, bones, organs, and a brain which barely withstood the strain of the sudden changes must have caused him. I can only imagine what his first coherant thought must have been and I'm surprised he still had his sanity when all was said and done.

We got him bathed and bandaged, most of the cuts and scrapes already healing themselves with whatever regenerative properties were passed down to him from the wyrm except for the ones on his left arm. The books I've read said draconic bites are very slow to heal so we wrapped it in gauze and hoped for the best.

To complicate it even worse, S-D was now in the body of a boy in his late teens, but his mind's slate was completely clean. We had to start from the top and teach him everything which, thankfully, he caught on to pretty quickly. I helped him learn to talk while Zizzi and Evil took care of the more delicate things like dressing him and teaching him how to use the toilet.

For a while, we were wondering if he was even going to survive or if his coming to life had been a fluke because he seemed to be languishing. He was constantly freezing cold and needed to wear sweaters and heavy socks in the middle of the summer, he hardly ate because he was sick more often than not, and he'd wake up sometimes screaming from nightmares he couldn't remember. He seemed so miserable, and I know it sounds terrible, but I was almost starting to -hope- he'd die. We couldn't take him to a doctor without worrying about them wanting to cart him off to a laboratory to experiment on and cut to pieces, so I'd rather have had him at peace than living a painful life he wasn't meant to live.

He hit his absolute low one night when he fell into a torpor on the couch for most of the day and started to turn a bit of a gray color. I had been trying to get myself ready for it for the past couple of weeks and I'd told myself that this was finally it. He was going to die and there was nothing we could do to stop it. I sent Evil and Zizzi out of the house to go to a movie and I sat with S-D, talking to him and trying to keep him warm.

His breathing got slower and then he stopped like he'd forgotten to take his next one. Just as I was about to check for a pulse, he drew in a big gasp. His eyes flew open, but they weren't his usual eyes. They were completely lost in bright green light. He started to thrash and scream on the couch like he wasn't in control of himself anymore and his voice was...I don't know, it was like it was lost in a hissing roar.

Then, started to contort and to get bigger. At first I thought it was my imagination but then I heard the seams on his clothes coming apart and a pair of wings started to tear out of the back of his shirt. I panicked....I'm not proud to say that, but I did. In the time it took me to get up and run from the couch, he didn't look anything like himself anymore. He'd turned into a giant black wyrm that took up damn near all of the living room and ruined half the furniture with his shift in size and weight alone.

I got lucky that time...both in the fact that Zizzi and Evil weren't in the house and that S-D was already so weak that he wasn't able to maintain his wyrm form for more than a minute or so before he turned back. If he'd been in full temper like he has been for the times he's turned following that, I might not even be here telling you this after all. He laid there on the floor for awhile while I huddled in the stairwell, not sure what was going to happen and wondering if I should go lock myself in a room somewhere or go and see if he was okay.

I suppose I stood there for about ten minutes or so debating with myself before he got up on his own, exhausted and naked, and staggered around for a minute looking confused before he saw me standing there. He asked me "Mom? Did I fall out of bed...?" Not even noticing that he'd completely ruined the living room. It was like he didn't remember anything that had just happened!

I took him into the bathroom and rebandaged his arm and gave him a change of clothes to put on. While he was dressing, I noticed he looked a lot better than he had a little while ago while he'd been on the couch and that his color was coming back. It didn't take a scientist to guess that the shifting and his health improvement were somehow linked to each other and I decided it was time to stop beating around the bush. As soon as I'd sent him off to bed, I started looking up antique book stores and sources in the area or that I could special-order volumes from.

Finding books about wyrms at -all- that aren't fairy tales these days is near-impossible so you can only imagine the hell I went through trying to find a handbook about how to raise and breed them. It took me weeks of making phone calls, jumping through hoops, leaving messages, and getting on waiting lists before they put me in contact with a book collector in Portugal. This guy had books you'd never think would exist and THEN some. He'd been a collector for years and he had filled both his home and his summer cabin almost literally to overflowing with books from everywhere. If anybody had what I was looking for or knew where to get it, it would definitely be that guy.

The first time we talked and I told him what I was looking for, I don't think he took me seriously. He said any books that might have existed about rearing wyrms were long-gone either through age or occult book burnings and that I was chasing rainbows. By then, I was sick of being brushed off by people, so I managed to get my foot in the door by telling him time and money were no object. He fishtailed then and asked why it was that -I- wanted a book like that. I was so tired and desperate by then, that I told him the whole story.

He didn't believe me, of course, and thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. He asked me how old I was and if I was planning on becoming a writer with an imagination like mine. I decided to play along with it and told him that, yes, I planned on becoming a writer and the focal point of my series was going to be wyrms dragdragons. He changed his tune then and said he would check his collection and sources to see what he could find, I gave him my number, and we left it at him calling me back.

Surprisingly, he DID call me back a couple of days later and said he had exactly what I needed. He found a HUGE volume about breeding and raising wyrms in a trunk that he'd bought years ago at an estate sale. It was very well-preserved for its age, but it was faded and written in Latin. "If you can find someone to translate it," he told me "this is the most valuable reference guide you'll ever find." All that was left was to dicker over a price and he immediately kicked things off by saying he couldn't let it go for less than twenty thousand dollars.

I knew I'd never have that kind of money that I could spend on something like a book, no matter how crucial of a book it was, so I came clean with him. I apologized for getting his hopes up and making him think I could afford something that extravagant. He was angry at first that I'd wasted his time, but I offered him four hundred dollars for a photocopy of the original. I told him that I'd also pay however much it cost to xerox it all and ship it and all while I was saying this, the other end of the phone was very quiet. I was just starting to think he'd hung up on me and then he started talking again.

"If it weren't for writers, I wouldn't be a collector." he said. "And I know you all start somewhere so, that in mind, I'll take your offer." And he did. I sent another check, and two weeks later, a package of paper was rush-delivered to my door.

I can't think of a delicate way to put it, so I'll just say flat out that translating old latin when you don't know thing-one about it is an utter bitch. I've been working with it nearly every day for a year now and I'm not even halfway through it yet. Thankfully, the later parts just talk about breeding wyrms and the best conditions to raise their eggs in. All of the essentials I needed like restraining a w sed sedating one, the different types, the toxicity of their different body by-products and blood -- that was all covered in the first six chapters.

Getting back to S-D, now that I knew a little more about him, I wasn't as squeamish about dealing with him. If you'd like to imagine it, S-D's in a position where he's constantly wasting away and his changes are triggered by his fight-or-flight and the wyrm's own refusal to die. Whenever his body starts to shut down or he gets extremely angry, it triggers a change. Through trial and error, we figured out that every month or so, he'd start to wear thin and his temper would start to get edgy as he weakened until something would finally send him over the edge, he'd turn into a wyrm, and then we'd have to medicate him to turn him back to normal. After that, he'd be refreshed for another month.

The book suggested black mamba or king cobra venom to sedate him, but all it did was make him sluggish when he was in full wyrm form. I've tampered with it a little bit and finally found that mixing mamba venom with two parts local anesthetic and a little valium works wonders for turning him back to normal. I've only tried cobra venom once, but never again. Too expensive and it makes him break out in hives. Sometimes I give him the venom straight before he actually shifts and it buys us another day or so to work with.

As the changes got to be a routine, S-D got more and more antisocial and nasty. I'm not quite sure why it happened since he used to be relatively friendly, albiet skittish, but he wanted nothing to do with Evil or Zizzi anymore and barely even tolerated me. A big part of the reason I put up with he and Eddy seeing each other is its one of the only things that actually gets him out of his room.

Anymore, S-D's out of control. He yells at everybody, he fights with whoever he can get to take the bait, and I don't know -who- got him started on cigarettes, but anymore he smokes like a damned chimney. I don't dare tell him to quit, but sometimes I wonder if his regeneration has him covered against lung cancer too. The only time I see him leave his room is to see Eddy when he comes over with Magnus, to eat, or to start trouble.

I feel like ever since I got him back, its like I've been losing him all over again...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Starluck finished her story and regarded Karma's bewildered expression with one of knowing. "Told you it was long." she remarked.

"Holy shit..." the frog said faintly, her mind still reeling from trying to envision all of it. "And here I bitch about Meka not doing his own laundry. Star, how the hell do you put up with that?"

"You'd be surprised how not getting a choice in the matter makes you learn to cope in a hurry." the liontaur shrugged. "I just miss how he used to be, you know? I miss when he'd come to me when he wanted to be comforted or tell me he loved me without me having to twist his arm. I'd blame it on the fact that he's in a teenager's body, but Evil's eighteen and still knows how to be decent."

"Have you tried telling him that?"

"In what language? I've said it in about every way I can think of."

Awkward silence spanned between the two girls for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts before Karma spoke again. "Its getting a little late." she said, sparing the microwave's clock a sidelong look. "I should probably get some sleep if I'm going to get up in time to finish packing before I have to make breakfast."

"You don't -have- to make breakfast." Star pointed out. "Usually we all end up feeding ourselves anyway."

"Maybe you didn't hear me right." Karma said, smirking impishly as she got up from the table. "I said I'm making breakfast tomorrow." The liontaur and tree frog stared each other down for a split second before both dissolved into laughter.

"Fine, you're making breakfast tomorrow." she relented. "But I don't want you to get the wrong idea. You guys are staying here because I want you here, not because I wanted to hire housekeeping."

"Trust me, after cleaning up after a man I'm not even married to for months on end, being a housekeeper would be a welcome change of pace. I trust the concept of putting dirty clothes in the hamper isn't a lost art in this house?"

"No it isn't. Is he really that bad?" Star questioned, quirking a brow before dismissing it entirely. "I'll let you get off to sleep now."

"Right. See you in the morning." Karma said, tilting an amiable wave over her shoulder as she left the kitchen. Once her friend was gone, Starluck heaved a sigh and gathered up their empty soda cans to put them in the recycling bin. She didn't resent having Karma there, but already she was questioning whether adding Meka to the mix of the household was a good idea or not...especially taking into account that he and S-D weren't getting along. It seemed like an invitation for something bad to happen.

"Just let them settle in and get used to each other and they'll be fine." she assured herself, not believing a word of her own encouragement as she slapped off the kitchen light and headed off for bed herself. There was no way things were going to be 'fine', she knew. The best she could hope for was that nobody ended up too badly hurt or killed while S-D and Meka established their pecking order.