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For a small, inexplicable moment, Shou was genuinely afraid, not for herself, but for the policemen. Kalokin's menacing laugh had reverberated through her mind, and it sounded... wicked. She winced, twitching her ears to catch the sounds of her claws clicking against the stone, and did her best to give all the reasons there wouldn't be police swarming Khaesho's refuge.

"They didn't know I was coming to look for Khaesho specifically! I come to the mountains all the time for hikes, it keeps my legs strong. Alyssa would have known I was out here, they might have sent a search party after I didn't show up Saturday, or they might not. I don't know. I'm not... I don't have any friends. Alyssa is the troop choreographer, so she keeps tabs on me, but she doesn't think I'm lead material, there is a lot of resentment there."

Rubbing her head, she took a sharp turn without even pausing to think about the path. In her haste, she didn't notice the changes, but Kalokin had quietly pushed a map of the entire tunnel system into her memory. She knew every bend and every dead end as if it she'd been living there for seven years.

Those are very good reasons to not come looking for you, but they all fail to explain why they have... trained dogs? Wait... scent hounds? Man, these guys are serious. I haven't had a challenge like this since Rikh wanted to sneak into the queen's bed chambers.

"Yeah, people don't just vanish, or change in this world, Kalo. I didn't... I'm an idiot, for not thinking of the ramifications of all of this and making arrangements beforehand! Loose ends and damned trouble, I seem to bring you nothing but!"

He laughed then, a normal laugh without the undercurrent of malice.

No, no! You misunderstand my tone! Cut the self-incriminating camel shit, I've had more fun in the last week than I've had in a century. I'm a Trickster who's played no Tricks and Thief who has broken no laws in far too long! Now I have an entire mountain willed with enforcers and trackers... and it isn't even my birthday!

"It isn't self-depreciating, it's facts, I'm not going to wallow in pity when I got everything I had through hard work!"

It was softly, but firmly corrected as she navigated the tunnels by deep rooted instinct that she wouldn't have had without a certain thief. She had never been so thankful to see the familiar bedroom than she was as she slid to a halt on the lukewarm stone floor. She whined slightly as he reminder her about the law enforcers, fearful for their safety once more.

A caricature of Shou's head appeared and floated alongside her, and Kalokin played back an dramatically altered replay of her voice.

"Loose ends and damned trouble, I seem to bring you nothing but!"

You've brought the both of us a hell of a lot more than that, all of it good. Like the hundreds of people crawling this mountain, looking for a monster! I'll have them thinking this mountain is cursed by the time the night is done. Tonight's even a dark moon... dark moon for dark work. A veritable feast, ripe for devouring.

Something was wrong. She'd been noticing small things that didn't quite make sense since she'd met the trickster, but tonight more than ever something was wrong. He'd seemed... off... a little tense, a little strained when she'd woken up, and now he was literally jittering with excitement; she could feel his vibrations in her soul. It didn't feel good.

But, it was something to ask about later. Khaesho was sleepily yawning, flashing curved fangs beneath, curved lips.

"Shhhhou? What's the rush... Red Bones, I feel like someone dropped an anvil on my tail... Kalokin, wha- OW!"

Kalokin dunked a fifteen minute explanation into Khaesho's mind over half a second, temporarily overloading the Naga's brain with so much information that it consumed all of his senses.

"Damnation I hate that feeling, but crooked hell, that is a LOT of enforcers."

'bout time the hunger strike ended, don't you think? I'll have them pissing their shorts before they get in here.

Khaesho winced, massaging his skull, and even Shou stopped for a moment in confusion. Kalokin's voice had slipped higher over the course of the sentence, until his light tenor was an androgynous sway caught between tenor and alto. Khaesho spoke, immediately concerned.

"Kalokin, are you-"

I'm fine.

"But we've been out for about a week, right. That means it's almost time f-"

I. Am. Fine. Time is a luxury we don't have, now MOVE IT.

He was almost acting like a different person, and it scared Shou more than a little. She felt his attention sharpen down on her then; his scrutiny was like a weight that all but demanded she fall to her knees. It lasted only a moment though, and he pulled his essence from both of them to manifest a floating feral snake.

"Khaesho, don't worry, I'll handle it. Shou, I need you to trust me and not ask any questions for now, okay? We can play twenty Q's later."

She gave a keening scowl, caught between anger and fear. "They've done nothing wrong! They're just doing their jobs... can't you just misdirect them?"

Khaesho said nothing; Kalokin knew his stance, the Naga didn't need to voice it. The deity thought for three seconds, almost an eternity compared to the speed at which his mind worked.

"No way I can keep them out without hurting them... we'll have to go for plan B. Shou, I want it on record that you owe me."

"I'll let you scare all my dancer friends or something. You like to scare people, right?"

That offer was enticing to him in ways that Shou couldn't have known, and Kalokin grinned wickedly as he spoke.

"Deal. I can make one of you at a time completely invisible and keep you from giving off scent, but it'll take all of my concentration to do so. Shou, we need to get over HERE."

If Kalokin had previously pulled her memories with a feeling of sucking her brain out with a vacuum, this time she felt new memories shoved into her mind with a plunger. It hurt like a cheap tequila hangover, but she now knew the entire labyrinth of passages that honeycombed the mountain, with a location picked out as destination and a path marked as optimal. Another whine escaped Shou's throat at the force he used, and she waved an arm in frustration. A noise between a growl and a hiss escaped her as she spoke.

"Damnit, Kalo! You lack finesse when it isn't focused on sex..." Though the layout of the labyrinth was nice to know, especially as they needed to escape.

"Memory work can't be done subtly with a time crunch, and you've just never seen me at work before, Shoes. My illusions are the definition of subtlety. It's been awhile since I've played for this big of a crowd, but this fiddler still knows his tune."

Khaesho cocked his head then and hissed sharply. Shou was surprised to realize that she understood what he said, but the surprise was instantly followed by embarrassment at the specific curse he'd used. He moved on without even noticing though, switching back to English. "Kalokin, I'll notice that you said_one_ of us could be invisible at a time."

"Illusions are tricky shit. Enforcers have found the main cave, we need to leave, NOW. Khaesho, you'll have to take the bolt hole; while Shou walks the Shepard's Path."

The "Shepard" was more accurately the Shepard of the dead, and while Shouyousei didn't quite get the cultural slang, she understood that Kalokin wanted them to split up. She hissed with fury, managing to beat Khaesho for primal anger expressed through noise.

"Hell of a good hiss, Shoes, but Kesh can get himself to safety without my supervision. You won't fit down the bolt hole I created, and he needs to go that route to grab a surprise we stashed for a rainy day."

"What's so important that y-"

Shou's words were cut off as the full weight of Kalokin's will fell upon her like a hammer. It bore her to her knees and choked off her air as she struggled to even comprehend the power he held over her head.

"Stop. Questioning. Me."

His voice was decidedly female now, and black ripples swirled across his skin. With a dangerous hiss, his feral form swirled outwards, flying through the air to coat Shou's body like a skintight suit.

MOVE.

Her feet obeyed him before her mind had the chance to question it. She was sprinting down the hall before she managed to form an objection, but before she could finish decided that she didn't like what had happened, Kalokin literally knocked the thought from her mind. She suddenly had no idea what she'd been thinking, just that he'd removed that thought with surgical precision and it left her feeling slightly violated.

Shou, if you don't get moving now, you're going to get caught. I haven't killed or even mind shattered anyone in over four thousand years, and I do NOT want these coppers to be the first names added to that list. I swear to you I will tell you everything, but only if you make it out quietly, now shut your mouth and run.

This strange voice in her soul didn't sound like Kalokin at all; it... she... was rough and uncaring, and Shou believed that this entity would kill if it suited her. A tear slipped from her eye, and for the first time, she questioned what exactly she'd gotten herself into. More than a slight biting of fear nibbled at her, and as it did, something in Kalokin recoiled. For a moment, her limbs seemed twice as heavy and then light rippled around her. Quite suddenly, she couldn't see her limbs, and the disorientation almost sent her to the ground. As she plunged though, Kalokin's essence around her squeezed and lifted, floating her along the ground for a few paces before depositing her back on her feet. A dull ache filled her heart as she ran, hoping against hope that is wouldn't be the last time she saw her newly beloved.

She passed more than a few police. Flash lights, guard dogs, even an occasional set of infrared goggles failed to see her fleeing body. It wasn't until she passed the seventh cop that she realized Kalokin had forced her out of Khaesho's bedroom before she had a chance to dress herself. Embarrassment burned through her cheeks, mitigated only by the knowledge that if they saw her, nudity would be the least of her concerns. She ran at a dead sprint through the inky darkness, guided by a precise knowledge of every pebble in the entire path. She couldn't see through the darkness or feel the wind through his essence, but she reasoned that she was travelling frightfully fast, if her pumping legs were any indication. Not a drop of fatigue leadened her limbs, and if not for her nudity and the fear inherent in the situation, she'd have had fun dashing along hairpin turns and vaulting over unseen obstacles. Eventually, she reached a dead end and swiftly knelt to the ground. She was gasping rapidly for breath, but she still felt more exhilarated than exhausted. If not for the fact that she was cut off by a cave in, she felt like she could have kept up that breakneck pace all day.

"Kalokin, there's a cave in!"

The feeling of tightness around her fur vanished as Kalokin finally relaxed. His voice was now a lazy alto, filled with smug pride and languid superiority.

Of course there is. This is the entrance nearest the tourist center, and I couldn't keep this one hidden. It was easier to collapse it.

The rocks before her shifted, rumbling as the earth shifted and slid to make a small bolt hole out into the open air. All at once claustrophobic and sick of the cave, Shou dashed for it, wriggling through it and trying to ignore the dirt that smeared through her fur. She burst out of the mountain with the outer city lights flickering not far off. Kalokin's essence flowed around her once more, masking her more canine features and molding until she resembled a rather stocky Canine/Lizard Chimera. The pressure of his essence on her face told her that she looked absolutely nothing like she used to, and Kalokin answered her question before she had time to put it together.

Essence molding is easier and cheaper than illusions, and I'm all but tanked from keeping a full body light, sound, and scent coat over you to make you invisible for a solid forty five minutes.

Panting softly as they stepped into the air, she drew in deep breaths, tilting her head back and closing her eyes. A pleased noise escaped her, and she sighed in delight. Ears folded back against her head and her fur ruffled by the wind a bit. She still felt constrained, wrapped in Kalokin's essence, but she now appeared to be wearing a tank top and comfortable jeans, perfect hiking clothes. She wished Kalokin was manifested so that she could glare at him, but settled for a disgruntled growl.

"What's going on?!? You sound... Female."

Something rippled through his mind, an emotion that she lacked the experience to properly place. Disgust? Unhappiness? Anxiety? Anger? It could have been anything, but it was negative, and it was directed at her.

Must we go through this again? I'll tell you everything, but LATER. Khaesho's fine, he's deep in the woods beyond where they're searching, but before we group up with him, you had things you needed to get from your apartment.

Her growl mixed with a hiss of anger, and she stubbornly refused his gently insistence that her legs start moving.

"Stop answering my thoughts before I speak them! And also, don't you EVER steal control from me again! Who do you think you are?!?"

The kind of rage that culled civilizations and brought entire worlds to their knees welled up from within Kalokin's soul, and just the knowledge that such a thing was inside her now horrified her beyond words. Before it could do or say anything then, something flickered within it, and that all-consuming hatred was gone. When Kalokin thought-spoke, he sounded like his normal self, except that his voice was steeped in sorrow.

Shou, I swear by the four gods that I'll pay you back for the insult I've leveled at you, but please... we're not safe yet, you need t-

"Halt, who's there?!!"

A burly voice and the man who gave life to it shouldered through the underbrush and flicked on an arc light. After so long in almost absolute blackness, the blazing incandescence blinded her and flooded her mind with pain. The flash and pain stunned her and she gave a queer, yelping hiss as she stumbled to the ground.