[Kitsune_Beauty]

~Atlantis and Hok'ee~

Atlantis hadn't even looked at, let alone entered the old Purine prison since the war. It's musty smell had gotten stronger do to lack of maintenance, but other than that it was just the same as he'd remembered it. Tally marks carved into cell walls, loose pieces of paper with the prisoners' journal entries laying about, rattegan scurrying into holes, and batti hanging from the ceiling. The single chair in the interrogation room had begun to rot away to the point where any weight would surely cause it to collapse. It was in here the fellox stayed the longest.  "Thisss isss where you fell for him, issssn't it?" hissed the glowing creature perched on his shoulder. Atlantis nodded mechanically, barely registering what his newly formed Bleeder was saying.

Everything here reminded him of his dear Cody. Images of the little kodile running down the halls, pacing around the chair with a nervous glint in his big, blue eyes, the feel of his slender arms clinging to Atlantis's neck as he raced to escape enemy guards...The pain of such vivid memories roiled inside him, threatening to tear a hole in his stony chest. "You glow..." They had connected here, but they had initially met at the training grounds. Seeing the shy creature crawl toward him, mesmerized by his gently glowing body as he ran his comrades..."The memoriesssse plague you, don't they? You ssssee him everywhere, hear hisss voicssse in your mind, he hauntssss your dreamsss...Your Cody hasss abandoned you." The dripping demon had gone too far. Atlantis snarled and snapped at the creature, attempting to rip him from his perch. "Cody did not leave on his own accord...That is one thing he would never do..." Hok'ee merely chuckled from directly behind Atlantis's head, safe from the fellox's snapping jaws. "Whatever you ssssay."

[Kitsune_Beauty]

Atlantis was too wrapped up in his memories to notice the sudden smell of life that entered the otherwise desolate building. A slight scraping on the back of his neck by Hok'ee brought him back to the present. "It sssseems we are no longer alone." said the little creature, turning just in time to see the purple Slynx enter the room. The Bleeder hopped onto Atlantis's head and perched there, hissing as menacingly as he could manage. Atlantis turned his head slightly to glance at her, debating whether or not an introduction was worth the effort. He would've been content to die here, slowly killed by his memories of Cody...Maybe that would bring him back. "I'd follow you." A slight growl bubbled in the fellox's throat at Hok'ee's words. The thing just had to have been formed as a dreamsnare.

At Atlantis's silence, Hok'ee spoke. "Forgive him, missss. He hasss losssst sssomeone-" He was quickly hurled from his perch before he could finish, landing on the concrete floor with a thump. "Are my thoughts no longer sacred, vermin?" the fellox spat in Hok'ee's general direction. "I am Atlantis. My silence is caused by the memories I have of this place...I know it well..." His dully glowing eyes lazily scanned the room again, once again seeing images of Cody here and there. Hok'ee had picked himself up and had climbed up Atlantis's tails to sit on his back. The little creature's eyes fell on Miranda as his head dripped a purple liquid onto his creator's back. "He ssssees him everywhere."

[Kitsune_Beauty]

Atlantis watched the Slynx with those empty eyes as she spoke, letting his mind take in what she said without much processing or thought. "I pray that he is still alive..." Hok'ee emitted a chuckling hiss once again. "If he issss, would he have left you without word? He musssst be dead elssse he abandoned you." The Bleeder's goading seemed to be the only thing that sparked any sort of emotion in the fellox. Anger, but still an emotion nonetheless. "Shut up, Hok'ee." he snarled threateningly, "Cody wouldn't abandon me." A thought crossed his mind. Was it possible to kill a bleeder? Or would doing such a thing kill the creator as well? Either way it seemed like an enjoyable notion. At least he'd be rid of the nasty thing. "Try it. You'll never know if your ssssweet little boy will return." It hadn't taken Atlantis long since Hok'ee was formed to realize that he knew his every thought.

Mentally shrugging, he whipped around and grabbed Hok'ee in his teeth and flung him against the wall. The small, glowing form hissed angrily as he picked himself off the concrete once again. "The little parasite is Hok'ee..." Atlantis grumbled with obvious irritation. "I could have introducssssed mysssself." the creature taunted in a weak attempt to imitate what Atlantis had been thinking earlier. A sharp snarl from the masked fox made him flinch and sent him scurrying back onto his creator's back where he sat quietly for the time being. The only notification of his presence was his greenish spiritual glow and the steady 'drip drip drip' of his head.

[Kitsune_Beauty]

The fellox sat on his haunches, causing Hok'ee to comically roll off his back and on to the floor once again. Atlantis turned his head, lifting his ears curiously. "You seem to be liking the floor more than your intended perch. Feel free to stay there." A slight 'clonk' on Hok'ee's head by the fellox's stony tails sent a small growl from the Bleeder as he rubbed his cracked head before clamoring back up to sit on his creator's shoulder. At Miranda's question, Atlantis's eyes seemed to dull a bit more as they fell to the floor. "Cody and I served in the war..." he said quietly, letting himself fall back into the memories that caused him such intense pain. He'd told nobody the story of Cody. He hadn't even spoken to his comrades since returning home, despite their worried pleas.

Taking a deep breath to keep his emotions in check, he began the story. "We were on the Imperial training grounds when we met...I was the commanding officer of my group. It was myself, an Imperial hollowheart named Honora, and a battlefield leebra named Warrior. We'd just joined and been briefed on our division's mission, so we were out training for battle." The fellox's voice took on a distant tone as he relived his war days. Even Hok'ee looked interested. While he knew Atlantis's thoughts, he never did get the entire story of what had happened. "It wasn't long before another group joined us. There was a purine cuniflare, a winter hypofly, and...A kodile. The kodile seemed unfit for the situation he'd been put. He was young and shy, looked as if he couldn't harm a flitterfly...The next thing I know, he's crawling over to me, fascinated by the way I glow...This surprised his comrades since I was apparently the first stranger he'd ever willingly spoken to, let alone got close to." A pained smile tugged at his maw as he remembered the little guy's eyes widen as he barked orders at Honora and Warrior. "We didn't have much time together there, as his group was sent elsewhere...When I got no word of them, I went looking. I found him here. The cuniflare in his group had been given interrogation duty and Cody had been sent to check on him. Since this was enemy territory back in those days, neither one of us were supposed to be here. It wasn't long before the guards discovered us and nearly trapped us here. Cody hung on to my neck the whole time as I ran hard to get out...I'd have thrown myself at the entire guard just to give him time to get out..." His tails had begun waving steadily, and part of him was surprised at Hok'ee's intent silence. "We escaped, but just barely. I ended up challenged by a powerful lucain...I was soon sent into battle, in which I was killed. It was Warrior who prayed to the gods to bring me back...Oh, those eyes when I met with Cody..He had gotten word of my death and mourned me. It took him a moment to realize I was really back...The reunion was the last encounter I had with him..." The fellox's tails went still again, and his eyes never lifted from the ground. "I've had no word from him since..." It was now that Hok'ee spoke. "Becausssse he abandoned you." The Bleeder's stiff brow rose just slightly at Atlantis's lack of a reaction.

[Kitsune_Beauty]

The slynx's words were like a slap to the face, waking him of his self-induced half-dream state. His head lifted slowly, shocked eyes staring straight into her's. Eyes that had begun to brighten with insulted anger. "It is not something that can be controlled, you brazen feline." he growled, not caring in the least what he said to her at this point. How dare she speak to him as if he were a fool! The gall! "I do not blame my Cody for Hok'ee. I trust him. I know he did not leave on his own accord. I kept him safe, and he loved me. It is a feeling indescribable to one such as yourself, though I can't wish anyone ill fate." Even Hok'ee, who enjoyed nothing more than irritating Atlantis with his constant presence, had been taken aback by Miranda's words. "Harsh you are, ssssslynx. It sssseems you will never have one of my kind, though I musssst admit it makesss for a ssssad life."

{post count mark}

[Kitsune_Beauty]

Oh, she had done it now. Atlantis slowly rose from his seated position, an utterly infuriated snarl growing in his throat. Hok'ee had never seen his mind so engulfed in rage, and being smart, hopped off his creator's shoulder and sat himself a safe distance away. The fellox was no longer thinking clearly. Miranda had dared make such snide remarks about his Cody? That would simply not go unpunished. "Witchlight!" he snarled, a blast of blue fire bursting from his jaws toward the feline, scorching a bit of her fur before his threw himself at her, his stony body smashing into her and pinning her under him. Atlantis snarled in her face, a paw placed firmly on her neck to limit her movements. "Were you born with no intelligence? You dare insult the love of someone who has been in the middle of warfare!? I could and probably should kill you for what you have said." Atlantis knew it wouldn't be possible for him to even think of killing anyone outside of the war, but if this slynx didn't watch her tongue, she would find herself badly injured.

[Kitsune_Beauty]

Atlantis snarled and grabbed her front leg in his teeth as she came at him, whipping her into the wall. Hok'ee quickly scurried out of the way as she flew in his direction. "Atlantissss! Musssst we do thingsss thisss way?" The little creature's words went unnoticed. The slynx was fast, but she hadn't been specially trained. He had. "I feel for the fact that you were apparently abused by your family, but nobody speaks that way about Cody." He'd come into being alone, with no family. Kitsune had taken him in, but all it was was a place for him to stay. "Be thankful you have a family, wench." His words held more acid than a Poisen kuhna. He'd never spoken to anyone like this. Then again, until now he'd never been provoked like this.

[Kitsune_Beauty]

Atlantis watched the spiritual tendrils snake toward him, but made no attempt to fight off their grip. "Those things make the dead uneasy, you know." he stated flatly as he followed the tendrils with his orbs, occasionally glancing at the passing souls that roamed these halls. "Besides, they are unnecessary. I came here to remember Cody, not get into fights...Besides, he wouldn't like hearing that I got into a confrontation." The fellox shook himself in an attempt to loosen the grip of the tendrils without much effort. He stalked passed Miranda and turned to the bleeder that was still sitting near the wall. "Come, Hok'ee. We are leaving." Hok'ee didn't seem to have any qualms with it, as his claws clacked noisily as he scurried past the slynx and climbed up Atlantis's tails to sit on his back. "Yesssss, let'sss leave here." Atlantis paused a moment and an ear flicked back toward the bleeder in slight surprise. The vile thing had never been so...Agreeable. The fellox shrugged, and glided out of the room.

{Atlantis and Hok'ee have left.}