Running Silver

Shades of a Secret
"Get away..." In the large, group bedroom, the young Mina was still sleeping. Unlike before, she she simply slept, the girl was technically unconscious; she hadn't since awoken from when she fainted at the sight of something in the depths of the Akatsuki. "me....help me..." The child was mumbling in her sleep, tossing and turning, obviously distressed.

Just outside the door, Olivia sat, agitated. Biting her nails, she kept glancing inside the room, and the sight of Mina sleeping so violently made her heart ache vigorously. She wanted to help her, but nothing was making her wake up.

"Hey kid, something wrong?" As if willed into existence, Scylla appeared out of thin air before Olivia, making her gasp.

"S-Scylla!" She clutched her chest, her large breasts bouncing as her chest heaved due to heavy breathing. "Why did you do that!?"

"Because it's really fun!" The black-haired girl replied, smiling brightly as she couldn't help but laugh. "Trust me, I immensely enjoy being this small. So tell me...what's wrong?" She closed in, her eyes piercing through Olivia's own. "Are you worried about the child in there?"

"Y-yes..." Olivia shifted her eyes back towards the room, both to check on Mina as well as avoid the sharp stare of Scylla. "She hasn't woken up since we found her unconscious. I'm starting to wonder if something serious happened to her."

"I suppose it's only natural to be worried." Scylla nodded sagely, and walked into the room, casting her eyes on Mina's sleeping form. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, however. She's speaking, so I highly doubt she's in a coma. And I would be able to detect if she was dying; I don't sense any change like that in the phase of her magical energies. The shock was simply too much; she'll wake up when she fully recovers from it."

"That's good..." Olivia breathed a sigh of relief; this girl was her precious charge, after all, she couldn't let anything happen to her.

"While we're on the subject of new arrivals, where's the eggplant child?" Scylla asked, craning her neck to look at the busty blonde woman. "The one that came in with the woman with the glasses?"

"Eggpla...oh, you mean Tsuruko!" Olivia had been momentarily confused, before realising Scylla was associating Tsuruko by her hair colour due to a lack of knowledge on her name. "Since Giselle and Jason ran away together, she's been avoiding us. She's still so shy around us. However, I think she holed herself up in the higher floors of the guild."

"Thanks for the information." Scylla replied, slipping right by Olivia with ease, and vanishing down a corridor.

"...What does she want with Tsuruko?" Olivia blinked in confusion.

It didn't take Scylla very long to climb to the higher floors of the Akatsuki building. She was greatly intrigued by Tsuruko. After all, Mr. E had taken quite the interest in her awhile back, but Tsuruko had her own way of doing things, her own opinions that differed from E's drastically; the two were incompatible. However, this Tsuruko seemed different. Innocent even.

"Perhaps she's as impressionable as a child..." Scylla murmured to herself. "If I can convince her to speak with E, in her own innocent state, perhaps she can be manipulated...a few extra allies wouldn't hurt, even with the LaHote boy and his merry band behind our cause."

The upper floors were about as spacious as the lower areas, and these seemed to have several additional bedrooms, some of which were occupied; her eyes noticed names like 'Alaskiel' as door markers. Now where was Tsuruko?

Tsuruko, or rather, the clone of Tsuruko Sejren whom is known to be inferior, was seemingly wandering around outside, looking at...flowers? "This one looks nice..." Picking up a bunch of two-lipped yellow ray florets, she shoveled them into her pockets. "...Oh? Is that the black goth-loli girl from...never?" She'd never seen Scylla before- maybe- or rather, this Tsuruko had never seen Scylla before.

"A Gerbera...that's interesting." Scylla mused, looking at the flowers Tsuruko was so focused on. "I'm glad to see remember me, even if only by my physical appearance. My name is Scylla, and you are Tsuruko Sejren, right?"

"Tsuruko Sejren the second, technically." She was well aware of her own status. "That's right. And you are...? You look like a dragon, but yet, you're not a dragon...it's hard to describe..." Tsuruko sighed as she went to stand on her head. "Whooooooooo are you?"

"Your powers of observation amaze me." Scylla replied dryly, surprisingly undisturbed by the child's antics. "I am a Dragon — Scylla, the Diamond Dragon. I'm a friend of an individual called Mr. E, and I've decided that you, with the considerable talent and charisma you possess, would be a most useful ally to stand by E's side." Her eyes glinted, if only briefly. "With your talents working for his own ambition, think of everything you two could create — you could have the world, Tsuruko." She extended a small, pale hand in the girl's direction. "What do you say, child?"

"Nope!" Tsuruko cheerily stated. "Nobody in their right mind would work for him!" She was damn right, too. With a few exceptions, sadly.

"Oh my, such a blunt refusal, and so fast." Scylla couldn't help but smirk as she seemed to skate on the wooden floor over to Tsuruko, raising her hand to Tsuruko's face, stroking her soft skin as she leaned forward, standing as tall as she could to drink in the girl's scent. "I was right about you after all — you'll definitely prove to be something fun."

"Uh...huh..." This Tsuruko wasn't sure what the hell to do- other than back up slightly. This one didn't like physical contact all too much. "Well, it's obvious what my choice would be on that one- it should be easy to pick for anyone."