"Well, sorta. Hrm ..." Recheov trailed off.

There was no easy way to put it. Shame he hadn't thought of one earlier. That would've made things much, much easier. Oh well. Hindsight was 20/20 and whatnot.

"He ain't in the same manner'o existence as you. You're a reaper, kid. I think you can do the math."

Which really told Eld nothing at all, but for once it wasn't a matter of being vague and enigmatic. Recheov did not seem like the type, and if he was, chances were he was bad at it.

"Sadly, I gotta head out f'a bit. Errands t'take care of. Meet me up on that hill ya like so much if ya wanna chat some more," Recheov patted Eld on the back, turned, and began to leave.

Eld frowned. Both because that was a rather unhelpful answer, and for another reason: he couldn't figure Recheov out. Other Memories he'd met had been much more straightforward with their motives: Illorex wanted him dead, the two nicer ones he'd met wanted the scythe. As far as he knew, those were pretty much the only two reasons they'd bother him, but Recheov didn't seem to fall into either camp.

There was also something else that bothered him. "How do you know so much about me?" Hugh and Kyla hadn't known who he was when they'd talked and Illorex didn't seem to know much about him at all (that he'd never come after him while he was home suggested he wasn't even certain where he lived). Yet Recheov knew that he frequented the hill behind his house, knew he was a reaper, and had even managed to find the scythe before him--while deduction and observation could explain the previous two, that last one seemed impossible, as Recheov was definitely not present when Illorex confronted him and Etsu.

Eld needed to talk to him, as he lacked any other leads to follow--but he also wanted to know how much he could trust him. On one hand, he'd had the scythe in his hands while Eld was definitely not at full strength; if he was at all decent of a fighter he probably could have killed him and made off with the scythe. And yet he hadn't. On the other, it definitely seemed earlier like he'd wanted to fight...

Recheov stopped in mid-step, but the timing was odd. It was too soon. Yes, it seemed he stopped because of Eld's inquiry, but he stopped almost half a second before Eld even parted his lips.

Still facing his back to the boy, he turned his head enough to show his profile. "Crazier than it sounds, but . . ."

He flashed a smirk. Honestly, this detail was the funniest of all. At least, he found it funny. Outside of the sad parts, that is, but he tried not to think about those too often.

"A li'l bird told me."

And with that, Recheov was gone--walked away, back to the road and somewhere beyond it. Eld was unlikely to find him again, except at one single place at a very specific, yet unspecific, time.

Eld simply watched as Recheov left for the road. Once he was out of sight, he allowed himself to relax. The man looked tough, but while Eld was confident he could've come out on top if he had just been a physical fighter, if he had some kind of ability like Illorex had (and it was probably better to assume he did than he didn't) that was another matter. He hadn't felt any kind of special power from him like he did from Illorex, but for some reason he was inclined not to rely on that sense too much.

It was only a minute into his own walk back to the clinic that he realized a small snag. He didn't say when he wanted to meet me... That could be a problem, but not a major one. Until he could track down Illorex and get him to restore Etsu to normal, the Memories had his full attention. He'd camp out at the base of the hill if he had to.

I should contact that Reaper superior when I get back. At the very least, he needed to let him know about Etsu's condition, even if reinforcements were a week off at least.

He was trying to maintain control of the situation, but...at the moment he had very little. Etsu was down, and to get her back he'd have to rely a shady-looking Memory for information and whatever scraps of advice that Thompson guy could provide him.

It felt as though he'd been caught up in a chaotic current, and he was struggling just to stay afloat...

A girl lay in her bed, propped against her side, knees to her chest. She extended out her arm across the sheets, watched the way her fingers opened and closed and how the claws upon her knuckles nicked the sheets whenever she so much as moved her hand. Her claws were usually back, usually pressed against the back of her hand and harmless, but they were pushed out now. She couldn't draw them back.

Master?

Kageko felt a knot in her stomach, but not one of conventional nervousness. It was anxiety. It was the same anxiety she felt a long time ago, back when she was thinking about her next meal. She felt . . .

Hungry.

Am . . . am I all right, Master?

She drew her hand back, set it to her belly, and rose it soon to her heart. It was beating far too quickly. Much too hard. She could feel it in every muscle in her body. That's what worried Kageko the most. She wanted to talk to Eld, just hear his voice for a little while--but she had no idea where he was. His house? She didn't know. She couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel him. The last she remembered, he was back in the clinic, but . . . he was gone. Everything was gone. When she looked out, all she saw was darkness.

"You're not a monster." Of that, Eld was sure. No one who was a monster worried about whether they were a monster. It was a sentiment someone had to remind him of himself, once.

Still, it worried him. It had been a long time since Kageko had any doubts about this kind of thing.

"What's wrong?" he asked. As far as he could tell just by looking there was nothing out of the ordinary.

I'm hungry.

She clenched her fist, shut her eyes, and bit her lip. Kageko felt a shuddering behind her breaths, a shiver down her spine, and a drive to act. Move. Do something. Do anything. Get out if possible. Find sustenance. Hide. Survive. She felt instincts jabbing at her that she hadn't experienced in for what felt like forever. It was wrong. All of this. It was horribly, horribly wrong.

I'm ... I'm so hungry, Master ...

Kageko brought her hand down to her belly and felt it grumble. It may have been humorous under any other circumstances, perhaps, but ...

Nothing escaped the simple fact that Kageko hadn't experienced hunger since the day she was trapped.

"Hungry? But you've never been hungry before, right?"

Eld's brow furrowed in concern. Kageko didn't even have a body, as far as he knew, and this was a new thing. It was a problem because...well, not having a body he wasn't sure how he could feed her.

He didn't bother asking why she was suddenly hungry; he was pretty certain if she knew she would have suggested something to effect. "Is there any we could, um, imagine some food or something?"

As far as he knew, Kageko could more or less make whatever she wanted appear here, which is why there was a bed. But even if she could, would it sate her?

You ... you told me it's wrong ...

It was a bit cryptic, to be sure, but Kageko was nearly babbling at this point. She sounded sick and anxious, which wasn't exactly the first time she'd sounded this way. There were a few timew recently when Eld was training with her and she started to feel ill and delirious, and the best answer was to simply leave her the chance to rest. This time, though, he hadn't been training with her, and on top of that, she was only recently starting to get over an illness.

Every time before this, there'd been nothing he could do. Be with her in dreams, rub her shoulders, hold her hair back when she was too sick -- physical comfort was thus far the only thing he could offer her. This time, it was different. This time ...

You said it's a monstrous craving. But I ... I have not wanted them for a very long time, Master. I am sorry. Please, do not loathe me. I will be fine. I will ... I will get over it.

... he'd probably understand the exact craving she was talking about.

"It's...it's fine." He would have been lying if he said he was, in fact, perfectly okay with it, but his concern for her outweighed any other uncomfortableness he had with the idea.

Certainly, there were times when she was ill which still defied logic, but this was even more different. She sounded downright delirious, as while uncomfortable as he was with the craving she was dealing he was certain he would've never called it "monstrous."

"I'm worried about you, Kageko. This isn't normal for you. I think something's wrong." He knelt by her bed and put the back his hand gently against her forehead. He wasn't sure what good any kind of checkup would do on her seeing as she wasn't human and not in a real, physical place, but perhaps he could learn something that would point him in the right direction.

Touching her forehead, Eld would find that, at least temperature wise, she felt just fine. However, when his hand grazed her horn, which was easy enough with it being on the side of her forehead, he'd find something extremely off. It was ... Sharp. A lot sharper than he'd felt before. In fact, what Eld had known of her before was that these features were gentle. Her horn was not edged, her teeth were not sharp, and her fingernails were filed and her claws were back up against the back of her hand.

And in one single moment, Eld would find all of that, all the physical gentleness that made Kageko rarely an imposing figure, were gone. She set her hand upon his and turned in bed to face him. He'd see the claws, feel the nails, and when she opened her mouth, he'd see she had the teeth of a carnivorous animal.

"What is wrong with me, Master?" Her voice cracked, meek and low and underused.

Eld flinched, suddenly feeling a bit of pain on his hand. He pulled it away from Kageko and stared at it a moment. He had a small cut on his hand, hardly even painful but it was still unusual. Her horns weren't sharp before.

It wasn't just horns, either--teeth and claws also looked longer and more potentially dangerous. This was definitely not normal...at least not now. Is that what she was like before she was confined?

It was a worrying thought. This, the cravings...he prayed that she wouldn't lose her mind and become the animal she'd been when he first saw her again.

"I don't know," he responded at last, shaking his head sadly. His knowledge of Kageko was rather limited. "But I'll try to find out the cause. So hang in there, okay?"

He had a lot he wanted to ask her regarding what's been going on, especially about the vision he'd had, but he was going to pressure her right now. If she knew anything, then she must have had a reason for not saying anything up until this point.

Kageko nodded her head slightly, only to realize a moment later that she had accidentally caused Eld to bleed. At first she wanted to sit up and take his hand and make it better, but then thought better of it, roughly at the point when she wanted to take his hand and sink her teeth into the already bleeding wound. She recoiled, put distance between she and Eld, practically even threw herself off her own bed.

This wasn't ... that wasn't ...

Eldridge Tsukimono was not a person she could feel aggression towards. He was one of few men who had it in their hearts to show her kindness. He was the man who held her life in his handa at all times. He was the man she was supposed to serve with that life, even in the off chance that it killed her. She could not want to hurt him.

The entire idea churned her stomach. At first, she looked terrified, not of Eld but of herself. Then she turned, wretched, and became ill in a moment.

"Kageko!" Eld's first instinct was to rush to her side, but he stopped after a few steps, realizing something. "S-Sorry...I'm probably only making things worse by being here, huh?" If it was her hunger as a shade that had come back, then his presence couldn't be helping, in any case. Shades fed on humans after all.

Not that he thought Kageko would go as far as to attack him, but so long as he was here it would be exactly like dangling a steak in front of a starving man. "I'll see what I can find out about what's happening to you."

Unfortunately, he could only think of two people to ask, one of whom he couldn't be sure he could trust and the other he didn't want to reveal Kageko's existence to. "I'll be keeping the scythe near me, so if you need something, just say so."

Kageko nodded her head weakly. It was all she could do right now. She wretched soon after, clutched her face, and nearly collapsed from her bed. She didn't have anything to throw up, yet her entire body wanted her to vomit. If there was something that was causing this, she sincerely hoped Eld would find it and tell her how to stop it. She was in pain and had absolutely no idea why.


It was mid-evening by the time Eld met with the Memory from earlier, that hooded man that spoke of having no current issues with Eld . . . and how Eld had at least a few days before he took issue with him.

Recheov stood upon the hill, arms folded over his chest, eyes looking out into the village below him. He was still in the same tarp from before, though his hood was down. Unlike the other Memories Eld had met -- Illorex, Kyla, and Hugh -- Recheov was much dirtier, and not just in personal hygiene. His clothes were practically rags on his body and sand caked the corners and creases of all his features.

Eld would find soon enough that there was no sneaky or tactful way to approach this, though. The second he was close enough to hear Recheov, the man called out to him.

"Good timin'," he said, "Just got 'ere, m'self."