"How on earth are you still getting all of these suitors?" Katarina's exclaimed as she burst through the door with Talon in tow. They were both carrying armfuls of flowers, each bouquet more elaborate than the next.
Cassiopeia was not in any hurry to respond, preferring instead to continue to inspect herself in the giant mirror on her wall, through which she could see her sister and brother.
"I just don't understand how you could, well" Katarina continue, "With the way you are now..."
"Serpentine?" Talon quipped.
"I was trying not to be an ass about it."
Cassiopeia slowly turned around to face her siblings, a satisfied smile dancing across her now unfamiliar features. Katarina tried to convince herself that this was the same Cassiopeia she always knew, just a little more... deadly, but she couldn't shake the discomfort of seeing a most unfamiliar face before her.
"My talents are still in demand, sister dear." Cassiopeia finally spoke, with insinuating inflection. "Now that I am in this form, you'll find that there are some who are quite interested in something more... exotic."
"You certainly look... exotic." Talon supplied, as he gave her a once-over.
The image of the current Cassiopeia being _involved_ with a man who was possibly Talon briefly flitted across Katarina's mind before she expelled the thought with the force of a thousand suns, thoroughly disgusted. "Both of you. Ew. Way more than I needed to know."
"Then why ask, sister dear?"
Katarina shrugged, casually dropping all the bouquets on the floor as she did so, making a bit of a mess.
"If you're going to keep doing that, you should probably pick up your own damn flowers. These have been cluttering the entrance for days."
"Make me." Cassiopeia replied with a dismissive wave of her hand.
"Maybe I will." Talon replied before Katarina had a chance to, in a much different tone than she would have.
"Oh get a room, you two." Katarina turned to leave.
"... Maybe I will." he said with a smirk.
Katarina threw her hands up dramatically, and stalked away. Talon quietly closed the door behind him.
"You're still here." she stated. "Do you find me... beautiful?"
He tossed the flowers aside, but for the most part they landed neatly on her bedside table.
"You can drop the act now, Cass. Hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows since the change, has it."
She laughed. "When has it ever been sunshine and rainbows with me? But we do the best with what we have, don't we? I have lost many things, but it appears I still have my _talents_"
"Does it... hurt?"
"What, not having legs? Losing my long, luscious curls? Please, you'll have to be more specific."
Talon let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding.
"I just hope you'll be okay, however you achieve that. Katarina has enough on her plate as is. She can't be worrying about you too."
"Katarina? So this is about her." Cassiopeia slid off the bed, and drew closer to Talon, face inches from his. "Why is it always about her?!" she snarled, voice rising with every word.
Talon didn't even flinch. "Do you know how worried she was when you didn't come back for days?" Talon said, dangerously quiet. "The sleepless nights after full days of work, worried that she would have to go looking for you too." He smiled bitterly. "It's strange, being the only one left. She actually started confiding in me, which was... interesting. But she needs you." He paused, wondering if he had said too much, but decided to add one more thing. "You're all she has left. She can't live without you."
Silence hanged in the air between them. She remained close, but he realized that he felt no heat radiate from her. No signs of life, except for the tiny shifts she made with her serpent half to stay balanced while upright.
"She needs you too." Cassiopeia said so quietly, he thought he might have misheard. "I may be too proud to apologize, but I know when I've been selfish."
"I don't think she likes apologies very much."
"No, I suppose not." Cassiopeia looked him in the eye, her golden orbs giving off an eerie glow. "She can't know the details. Ever." she said, referring to her excruciating transformation, and the mistakes she made that took her down that path.
"She won't hear it from me."
"Then why are you still here?" Her flippant attitude was turned back on, and she slithered over to recline on her bed once again. "Don't you have some pretty ladies to see? People to stab? Unless..." she trailed off suggestively.
"Gods, no. I only said that to get Kat to leave. Please don't misunderstand, I-"
"Relax. I think of you as a brother."
Talon did not miss the fact that it was the first time she ever called him her brother. Neither did she.
Still, he acted as if nothing was different. "I that case, I believe I do have some people to stab. I shall take my leave."
"Farewell, dear brother. Don't fill the gutters with too many corpses."