"Ok. So I suppose that there's an explanation in order for my little...outburst a while back."
Three weeks had passed since Kandase had cryptically thrown Velvet against a tree and accused her of being a spy. Out of kindness and respect to the woman that she was beginning to consider a friend, Velvet had since allowed the incident to go unchecked, to allow sleeping dogs to lie. There were obviously portions of her past that Kandase had understandably not revealed to Velvet, as she had done herself. In those three weeks, Kandase and Velvet had bonded by training. Kandase had helped Velvet to harness her power in a fashion that would make her a more efficient fighter and less of a burden in a combat scenario. Then, however, neither of them were assigned any particular responsibilites, so they found a decent shaded spot under a tree to take a break from training.
Velvet raised her hand up to the afternoon sun just before Kandase had begun to speak. She began to ponder her place in the world, whether she was making the right choices in her life, when her companion's voice broke her concentration. "Hmm? Well, I suppose if you see it fit to." She calmly replied, unsure how to respond at all.
"Well, It's necessary to me, especially considering how out of line that must have been to you, in retrospect. Where to begin, where to begin? Ah, I know just the place. Okay, well, you remember how I was talking about my parents and grandparents? Well, yeah. They were fighting on the wrong side of the whole thing, and, surprise surprise, it didn't end well for them. They were forced into hiding as a result, had to change their names and all. Even then, they decided it would be a gas to change their last name to a form of expression that wasn't color. Seems a bit hypocritical, I know. I wasn't born yet, so don't hold it against me, alright? Okay, so where was I? Right. They came and went, and my mother met myfather and started the whole process over. Romantic, right? Well, I was born, and they started to indoctrinate me in the same damn business that was going on two generations before Me being a little kid, I didn't know any better, so I just went along with it. I watched as they joined up with some terror splinter cell, trying their best to be another version of the White Fang. As I got older, I saw that they were sloppy, disorganized. The higher-ups only pretended to know what was going on within their ranks. It was probably easy enough for the Vale Police Force to slip a mole in without anyone giving him or her a second glance. I watched as, as anyone might have guessed, their plans went to crap fairly quick in a single raid. The group was never smart about evading capture, so they never thought to spread themselves out very far. That being said, they proved to be an easy group of incompetents to round up, with the exception of my father. We'll get to that later, though.
Now, what happened afterwards can be expected. The raid went off without a hitch... for the cops. The higher-ups locked themselves away and killed themselves. My mother stayed misguided until she couldn't anymore. From what I saw, she was clubbing at the Police, keeping them away from the office that housed the group's leaders. She kept doing it until she heard gunshots from inside the room. She dropped the club and lost all hope. That was the penultimate time I ever saw her. After the raid, I was put into a Foster Home. I was 17 then, mind you, so I wasn't there for long. As soon as I turned 18, I elected to leave the city. Before that, I wanted to see my mother one last time. The day we met, she was... well, a wreck. She hardly looked like the woman who raised me. I'll never forget what came after. She told me: 'Kandase. Listen to me. When you go out into the real world, don't make the same mistakes that I did on the outside.' I was confused, obviously. "What do you mean, Mom?"
"She tells me 'Don't put your faith in gods who aren't really gods. Don't stick your neck out for people who wouldn't do the same thing for you. Don't fight on the frontlines where you're nothing more than a pawn. Rise through the ranks. The real Wars are fought and won behind the scenes, with paper and ink. Battles are won with Blood and Bullets. Win the war for equality, Kandase. You're a smart girl. You know what to do." She clasped my hands in hers just before a guard told us our time was up. He shoved her away and I never saw her again. She died a week later, from what I don't know. All I know is that I took her words to heart. Weeks passed and I was right where you are now, not wanting to fight in the battles, but win the war. You get me, Velvet?" She asked, looking over to the girl she referred to.
"As odd as it sounds, I do. I have known many of our kind who have wanted to win the war for equality...not just battles. Sometimes, I think, deep down, I do, too."
Kandase nodded and looked up to the blue sky with eyes that conveyed her dreamlike state. Velvet admired how she had managed to retain her humanity amidst the adverse conditions that had plagued her life thus far. She arched her arms to position her hands and forearms behind her head.
The leaves fell all around them. It was as if, once again, the world had stopped to give her the rare moment of peace. Velvet savored it, for she knew not when she would get another like it. Her eyes began to close, and she pondered whether or not she would be able to sleep.
"And just what exactly is going on here?" A strange female voice called out from nearby.
Velvet heard Kandase groan loudly and utter a swear under her breath. "Not her again. I was just getting comfortable, too..." She trailed.
Velvet opened her eyes at this and rose to her feet, searching for the girl had addressed them. When she saw who it was, she was shocked to see that a girl who looked to be one or two years her junior was the one responsible for the scolding attempt.
The first thing that Velvet noticed was her eyes. They were a golden color that commanded attention away from their surroundings. She thought they were the most mesmerizing pair of eyes that she had ever seen, and that frightened her. Around her eyes were purple eyeshadow in catseye style and eyeliner, which further accentuated the need for Velvet to abdicate attention to all of her surroundings. Velvet's line of sight drifted upwards, and she saw that the girl possessed a pair of black cat ears almost identical in hue to that of her shoulder-length, disheveled hair. Her skin was almost as Velvet's before she needed to go on the run. Her wrists were covered with black wristbands, the one on her left extending up to just below her shoulder with a metal band over her bicep, likely to keep it in place. Her midsection was covered by a white, sleeveless crop undershirt, which was covered in itself by a black, laced vest that covered all of her torso, save for a small opening underneath the button of the vest that left the area around her navel exposed. Strapped to her back was what Velvet perceived to be a magnetic backpack which served as a receptacle for the girl's primary weapon. At the base of the weapon streamed a long, black bow that trailed down to a resting place adjacent to her thigh. Logically, Velvet followed the end of the bow to see the lower half of her agressor's attire.
Over the tights that covered a majority of her legs were a pair of white shorts with zippers over each leg(at least, that's what they appeared to be to Velvet.). The girl's tights were black around her thighs, melding into a deep fuschia near her ankles. Her feet were covered by buttoned high-heel boots that Velvet, admittedly, found very stylish. "Hey!" The girl cried out, placing one of her hands on her hips.
"What is it, kid?" Kandase groaned, mimicing the stranger's demeanor.
"What did you just call me?" She asked, taking a step towards Kandase.
"I believe," Kandase replied in a tone that could cut boulders. "that I called you a 'kid'. You know, kid, child, brat, pest. All of these work just fine in describing you."
At a loss, the stranger became flush with anger. "I am not a child." was all that she could manage to spit out. Velvet couldn't help but feel awkward with the fact that she was stuck in the metaphorical middle of these two, who were filled with more venom than any King Taijitu dispense.
"Really? Well, you could have fooled me. Perhaps you would like a more appropriate title. Does 'lackey' suit you better? Oh, I know. What about 'doxy'? 'Paramour'?"
The stranger gasped in shock. "How dare you?" She exclaimed, arching her elbow in order to draw her weapon. Before any of them could even blink, Kandase drew one of her knives and held it close to the stranger's throat. At the same time, the stranger drew her own weapon, a katana with what appeared to be a pistol as the hilt, and pressed the tip against Kandase's abdomen.
"Now, now...let's not make a mess, huh? I'm sure Sourpuss wouldn't be too happy to find out one of his favorites went out like a dink, don't you?"
The girl's expression became one of defeat, anger, and shame as she avoided Kandase's gaze. "Just...get back to patrol."
Kandase chuckled a small bit, looking to Velvet for a reaction. When Velvet would give none, Kandase turned back to face the stranger. "Joke's on you, Blake. There's no patrol duty for us today."
"Well, then train." She further commanded.
"We just got done training." Kandace retorted.
The girl named Blake turned and furiously began walking from whence she came. "Well, do something." She shouted after stopping to face Velvet and her companion. "The enemy is not sitting idly by, waiting for us to make our next move. If we simply lie down, then we're own making it easier to snuff out our flame! I suggest that you learn that quickly." Blake said, pointing a finger towards Velvet. With that, she turned once more and walked out of sight.
Kandase turned to Velvet and began gesturing her hand in a motion that imitated someone speaking. "'Oh, I'm Blake. I'm the postergirl for the White Fang. Be a force of revolution. Fight the human oppressors.Blehh!" She mocked, sticking her tongue out in the direction that Blake had disappeared to. "I can't stand her. Your run-of-the-mill, holier-than-thou fanatic who thinks that her way is best."
"I see. So she's a..." Velvet trailed, unsure what word to use. Kandase, as a result, filled in her own.
"It's like I said, she's a child. A child who thinks that she doesn't have any more growing up to do. Someone who's trying to be an adult way too fast. Only the gods know why someone would want to spend their childhood in a place like this."
In an attempt to deflect the conversation away from its current state, Velvet asked a new question to generate a new topic. "What was all of that stuff that you told her about Adam?"
Kandase looked blank for a second, then cocked her head back as she laughed heartily. "Oh, you heard that? I didn't think you could..." She trailed as her eyes fell on Velvet's ears. "Right. Well, that leads me back to my earlier point. She is a fanatic, and so is Ol' Sourpuss. The two of them go together like peas and carrots...just like all of the other girls here that Adam swoons with his smooth talk."
"I see...so she's not--"
"Not the only one, yeah. I almost feel bad for her about it. She can't see what's right in front of her. She probably won't until it's too late. But that's life, you know? Everyone has to go through their first heartbreak, and she won't be an exception." Kandase had taken on a sincere look as her head tilted towards the ground, and she remained silent for several seconds.
"Kandase. Perhaps we should train some more?" Velvet was sore, but she felt that such exercise was the best thing to take such somber topics off of her teacher's mind. With those words, the smile and glow returned to Kandase, and she turned to face her protege. She tilted herself and brushed a strand of hair off of her face. She calmly walked over and picked up her mask from the ground, clipping it to her side. She faced Velvet once more, putting her hands at her hips.
"You ready to get even more sore? Works for me." She said with a smirk. The two made the short trip to the clearing that they had been using as thier training ground. Once there, she assumed her fighting stance, prompting Velvet to do the same. "Why not start with a sparring match? Just to shake things up?" She joked, considering that was the first part of their morning ritual. "Show me what you've learned from you're supremely awesome teacher."
"Why not?" She said, taking it upon herself to run at Kandase before she did. Kandase laughed as she charged. They met in the middle and primed their initial attacks. That's when the screams and the gunfire began.