Jeffrey
Mattias was bored. 

Of course, there were a hundred other things to describe it. Restless, from staying in their dorm for days on end. Tired, closing their eyes through lectures and barely checking the intranet. Frustrated, by the fact that everything seemed so normal, even after all they'd been through at the Tower. But all those complicated feelings could be boiled down into something smaller and pettier: boredom. 

When they'd felt the pull, aimlessly wandering the hallway in search of *Something* Interesting, at first they thought it had been mistaken. After all, their Sight was focused on what for all appearances was an ordinary shadow. Moments later, the pull faded, and Mattias was willing to brush it off as a mistake, or an adverse reaction to another power. Just a glitch, nothing real.

And then it happened again, this time with the accompanying sound of footsteps. By the time Matti could rush to the shadow, much farther down the hallway and around a bend, they were left with only the disintegrating threads that had pulled their Sight. And then it happened again, and again. Pulled towards a shadow, hearing the faint sound of footsteps or occasionally a quiet, mocking laugh. They raced in circles around the corridors, tracking *Whatever* Was surely fucking with them. 

"Come *On*! I'm sure this is very funny to you, but it's frustrating to me. Stop it." 

They paused, slowly turning to look down each junction of the hallway. 

"Hell*O*?"
John
The air gets cold, goes still, as if paralyzed with the sudden realization that there really was something within the shades taunting the boy. From the corners of his sight, he is able to see a small figure hiding deep in the shadows as if there were an entire space within them, but as he looks towards her, she would retract slower and slower each time, just to convince him that she *Does* Exist. 

He could swear he could see fingers creeping over the edges of the shadows into the light retract once he looked at them, but they too creeped away slower and slower. Footsteps, distant whispers, laughs, a myriad of nerve-racking sounds came from the shadows, occasionally, some sort of hellish, monstrous sound. 

Every now and then though, instead of the girl, he would see a distant pair of large eyes silently peering at him before closing and reappearing somewhere else within the shadows. 

As he asked for a response, ("Hell*O*?"), a white hand and a short length of arm manifested beside the eyes, and this time, they did not disappear. The hand looked wrong though, the fingers were thin, had irregularly shaped digits, some fingers were too short and had few digits, some were long and even branched, and there were also too many, seven or eight at least, and maybe three thumbs.

The hand disappeared into the darkness and the eyes closed, vanishing as well. Silence...
Jeffrey
Matti pushed their body back, shivering, but careful not to make a noise. A sigh of air escaped them as the eyes closed. 

*Fuck.* Fucking weird. They tried to summon up their earlier bravado, simultaneously ignoring the crow cawing triumphantly in their brain (*Not bored! Not bored anymore!*). Fighting back visions of eyes sewn into mouths and tears of dried blood, they blinked twice. Hard, and then pulled their handbook from their satchel, flipping to the back. They cleared their throat.

"Hi, whazzs— whatsa- what's up. I am Mattias Gates, but you can call me Matti. Who are you?" They recited the words in stilting, flat tones, clearly unrehearsed. More fluidly, they spoke again "Are you an eldritch creature? I've met those before, except it was in the woods and he tried to kidnap me and was also, possibly, not an eldritch creature."

They felt stupid, talking to a wall, but it calmed them in the way that talking out loud does when you're being followed home at night down dark streets, or in the way that you sprint up the stairs after turning off the basement lights. What they'd seen in the shadow still prickled over them, uncomfortable like an itchy, ill-fitting sweater. They did their best to not let their discomfort show on their face.
John
The shadow he spoke to began to spread, in a way. Large, nothing-black hands began to creep out from the shadow, some simply sliding, others crawling along with an excruciatingly slow pace, some twitching oddly. Nothing spoke back to him. The eyes returned, now closer, and *Approaching*, open wide, with uncanny, small teeth placed under them, arranged into an odd smile too proportionally far away from the eyes to be normal. Judging from the size of the eyes as they got closer, the size of this thing dawned on him, each eye the size of a fist, the teeth were long and irregular, but they were also all flat and square, not proportional to normal teeth either. 

All he could hear was a sinister exhale ('hhheeeeehhhhh...') from the shade creature, the hands having crawled out from the shadow far enough to even have visible arms trailing them. It did not speak, but quickly after, another one of the white hands, this time looking normal, reached out to grab him, and it looked huge as well, as if the hand closing could wrap around his entire head or midsection. 

As the hand reached out, a dry, malicious laugh came from the creature, the teeth moving accordingly with the laugh. "What a delectable treat, just for me!" It spoke, but the voice seemed scratchy, low, and inhuman.
Jeffrey
Mattias let out a loud yell, grabbing their satchel to their chest and flinging themself backwards. Their back hit the wall with an audible *Pop* From their spine, and a wince wormed its way from shoulder to shoulder. 

*Oh god, okay, calm down. Rational thinking. Rational thinking. Stay calm. Analyze the situation.* 

They blinked their eyes open, rolling their wrists as they let their back drop back to their side. They hadn't *Heard* Anything about an eldritch creature attacking, but that was never a good reason to dismiss a line of theory. They hadn't heard anything about the Angels, either, before Margo slipped up. Their eyes darted left and right, seeking some way to escape, and instead landed on *Oh god teeth and eyes and weird spider hands and freaky smiles and did they mention eyes*. Matti froze up, making near-eye contact, breathing slow, controlled, and masking the frantic jailbreaking of their heart underneath their skin.
John
"For once, they don't run. But trust me boy, I am *__veeeery much real__*."

 The creature's giant white hand would then reach out of the shadow quickly and pin him to the wall with considerable force, the eyes making contact, their stare paralyzing, blood-chilling, as if they'd stolen all temperature from Mattias's body. More of the black hands reached out, but this time towards him, grabbing him and pinning his wrists, arm, chest and hair to the wall, the creature's head snaking out of the shadow and rearing upwards, making it's reality fully known now, before the arms all wrapped around him, and constricted him, the white hand wrapped around his torso and upper neck, forcing Mattias's head to stare at it- "Make your last wishes, boy." As the teeth began to part, and more sets of mismatched, misaligned, but irregularly long teeth began to appear, hot, moist breath able to be felt on Mattias's face. This was it. This thing was going to eat him, it was everything that this led to.
Jeffrey
**//cw, matti having very little regard for their life**

Oh, so the thing intended to kill them. 

It was, in a strange way, a relief. The physical, looming, *Terrifying* Form of the creature scared them. Made their bones ache like scars on a rainy day and prickled fear like spiders spinning webs along their fingers. It could do any number of things. Eat them alive, tear them limb from limb, take them into the darkness and wait until Mattias had warped into something just as horrifying as the creature before them. But death was, at the very least, familiar. 

*Make your last wishes, boy*, and while Mattias resented being called "Boy"— it was an insult to their intelligence and maturity when the had any, the monster made a good point. It would be good to have special last words, pre-planned, poetic and a perfect farewell to their brief stint on this plane of existence. They racked their mind for something, for *Anything*, the pearls of wisdom on shadowed shelves in the back of their mind. Staring their death in the face, they inhaled what would likely be the last breath they ever took. It was peaceful. 

"I think I forgot to hang up my coat." 

...

....No, no, there was *No way* That an idle worry about *Hanging up their coat* Was going to be their last words. Already, though, the monster was creeping closer, strange splintered teeth inches away from taking their head, and whatever other, *Better* Last words they were about to say.
John
The monster stopped when he mentioned the coat, and began laughing with the voice of a young girl as it carefully put him down. The monster would, over the span of about three seconds, retract into itself before solidifying into the shape of a girl just laughing her ass off at this "Did you just say 'I forgot to hang up my coat'? Fucking seriously?" She asked while in hysterics, continuing to laugh while getting a good view of the look on his face. "You shoulda seen your face!" She sighed and wipes her eyes of the inky black tears that lightly came from them, creating dark smears across her face as if she had smeared ink on it. 

"Oh- Oh my fucking God, why don't I do this more?" She was still laughing lightly about it, then calmed don before breaking into another fit of joyful laughter. "I didn't think that would work so well, either!" She said in between cackles.

The sheer shock of the situation made it feel dreamlike, and it would take a few seconds before the environment in its entirety felt grounded in reality again. The girl looked innocent, albeit uncanny, it was hard to link together the monster and the girl that seemed to be having the time of her fucking life, a miserable life it had to be for this to be a high point of it.

She continued laughing for a while longer and put a finger up to silence him until she was done, to which she went from a less intense, more chilled out cackling to a cold, marble mask, fixing her posture and staring at Mattias with wide, blank eyes, albeit one of them was half-closed while the other remained wide open.
Jeffrey
Mattias stood, dumbfounded. They wanted to shout. They wanted to cry. They wanted to grab the girl by the shoulders, shake her, and ask what the fuck possessed her to actively try to scare people to death. 

Instead, they laughed. 

It was a warm thing, full of summer sun and strong elm trunks. A hint of rasp was springwater rolling over stones in a creek. The occasional crack, a broken radio, worn thin from playing a new track. Together with the girl— Yari, they were able to recognize— laughter spun up like some kind of discordant disco tune, off key and jubilant. It took them some time to calm down: each time they stopped the situation would catch up to them a little more, and they'd start again. What was full bodied and glowing faded slowly into incredulous exhales of air, only slightly hysterical in edge. 

"*Jesus*," The wheezed out eventually. "I thought I was going to die. What the fuck is wrong with you?" Whatever sharpness the words never held was softened still by the intermittent giggles that escaped, their throat steadily growing sorer and stomach cramping. "What the fuck— *I was worried about hanging up my coat*!" Peals of laughter slowed as the nonsensicalness of the situation faded, the fakeness (no, not fakeness. Fake was rubber hands controlled by a god and staring in the mirror to see a stranger) folded, leaving only an empty hallway and two short, laughing teens. 

"You're Yari," They half-asked, once the shaking had subsided. "I'm Mattias Gates. We met briefly, in the kitchen. I believe you were making brownies." They stretched out a hand, still trembling with half-fear half-excitement, towards her.
John
She stares at him blankly, her eyes resembling that of the monster, very large black irises, and pinpoint white dots in the middle. She only responded with "Yes." And took his hand with her own, the hand also resembling that of the creature's, and she gave Mattias an empty smile, a smile on which her eyes did not push up from the bottom, which made it feel fake and uncanny. Her clothes were oversized, dirty and had holes and a few loose threads, as if she hadn't worn new clothes in weeks, or months, perhaps even *Years*. 

Her head was tilted downwards from Mattias's gaze a bit, with Yarimiel staring right into his eyes with a dead, empty glare, it had no emotion to it, it only had the feeling of psychological pressure. "I believe so, I hope you took them out because I don't think I took them out, if not, then, I apologize for breaking my promise of a sweet treat."
Jeffrey
They shrugged. "I think Hatzume may have? I don't use ovens often so I wasn't comfortable with turning it off and such. And I didn't have an intention of eating them anyway, so I lost nothing." Matti glanced up.

Yarimiel's form was... Stressful. Difficult to describe. Adjectives like horrifying or grotesque were far too sinister words. She was much calmer than that, more human, like a deer standing in a forest, stressful only in the way that the deer *Was* The forest, and the forest the deer, and both looked at you as an interloper with eyes of black glass and bramble. *Short, though*. There were too many tall people at Newton's Cradle. It was good to find a kindred soul. 

"It's good to meet you again, scaring the life out of me nonwithstanding. How have you been?" If they concentrated, they could hear Gabe's voice quietly in the back of their mind. *Small talk: accomplished.*
John
She was internally relieved to hear the news of the recovery of her work. "That's good, then. It really would have been a shame to lose them, I felt that that batch was good..." Her head tilted up to fully face Mattias as she reminded herself that Kubrick staring everyone down isn't accepted. 

She did *Not* Share the sentiment that Mattias did about height, as he was tall to her as well, with Mattias being more around average height, it was a bit exhausting to have to look up at literally fucking everyone.

"How am I? Unsure. I'm not in touch with myself." The smile faded quickly, and her hands quickly fell to her sides limply, but quickly went to turning and fidgeting with the edges of her sweater. "So, Mattias, what actually *Brought* You here? Few ever willingly come to these parts at this hour, let alone for me. You'd have to have been looking for me if you came here." Was this a case of ego or simply the hypothesis of an analytical mind, hidden behind deathly visages and uncanny mannerisms.
Jeffrey
"I didn't come here looking for you," They clarified immediately. "Or rather, for you specifically." They pulled one of the many pens from their ever-present satchel, twirling over their fingers. It seemed like more and more they were being put in a situation to talk about their abilities, these days. They weren't sure if it was a bad thing.

"I sense hidden things. I call it Sight. Sometimes it manifests in... A pull. Towards something. I'm assuming it was you hiding in the shadows and then leaving, but I kept feeling *Something* That immediately left. Like playing tag." Matti let vague annoyance show on their face. It had probably been strange to watch them— pivoting at random intervals, staring into crevices and corners. "*Now* I know that it was probably you— how does your shadow-hiding work? I assume it fits into your abilities somehow? I couldn't ever seem to find you, until you scared me."
John
She blinked at the confirmation that he didn't come here looking for her, he probably just happened to be in the area and felt the instinct to look for *Something*. "Hm, alright. That checks out, I guess." She knew that getting to talk about her abilities was inevitable here, considering that everyone here had one. 

So, his ability manifested psychologically as a sort of heightened curiosity, an attraction to certain unknowns. "That sounds annoying in day-to-day life, but even more useful than irritative. Also, yes, that was me." 

Once questioned about her own abilities, she shrugged and decided to summarize. "From what I remember, if I have it right: cognitive dissonance between my existence and the minds of others, shadow travel, transforming, and a super-scream." She then paused for a second, then spoke again. "Shadow travel and transformation explain themselves, the first, I doubt works on you, and the final is, well it's too loud to demonstrate, or I'd be waking up the entire place." She would then put a finger up, using body language to signal that she was still going on about the whole thing, then walked backwards into a darker area, falling into it and disappearing, re-emerging behind Mattias, tapping him in the middle of his back once she was fully upright.
Jeffrey
Matti was in the middle of pulling out their handbook to note the explanation of powers when they jumped at the foreign touch at their back. "I suppose thAT-" They whipped around to glare halfheartedly at Yari. "Give an inch, run a mile. You enjoy scaring people *Far* Too much." They stayed silent for a few seconds, for effect, before caving to their curiosity. "That's interesting, though. Do you know your range? What does it feel like, to travel through the shadows? What constitutes as a *Shadow*— how dark does it have to be? What about during nighttime— could you hypothetically travel *Anywhere* Since there is a large area covered in darkness?" They fired questions off rapidly as they continued to scribble down in their entry. 

Setting aside her... Quirkier aspects, Matti felt some sort of potential friendship with Yarimiel. She hadn't seemed to mind their questions, either. A good trait for an ally to have. "Can you travel other people with you? What about animals— if you held one, would it count as an object or a person? What objects can you bring?"
John
She listened at his questions, and another smirk began to appear on her face, her eyes still remaining wide and blank. Their sheer curiosity did not seem to be overshadowed by terror past the scare she did earlier. She knew that he did not feel fear from her, she found it welcoming, unlike her past encounters, especially the last one she had.

She answered his questions after he stopped asking them, backlogging them into her head and forgetting it once she answered. "Unchecked." "Sometimes it's like falling, other times it's like flying in zero-gravity, other times it's just walking on a flat surface, it all depends on how I want to *Exit*." "It depends on the contrast of the area, if the lights are too harsh then a shadow may not count, it has to be notably dark, like under a car, for example." "Yes."

She felt good answering these questions. She had already tested all of these things before by herself shortly before arriving here and just after. "I doubt it. No. Anything that counts as my person, basically clothes, accessories, anything in a pocket, et cetera." She then blinks again, her blinks were few and far between, her habit of maintaining a fixed stare to not have the cognitive dissonance effect take in, setting in since the beginning.
Jeffrey
"What would happen if you were holding something?" They asked. "Can you send specific body parts through? Could you push your hand through a shadow in front of you so that it would emerge behind you?" It was the first time they'd met someone so open about their abilities, with the focus and knowledge to answer their questions accurately. To be fair, it was the first time they'd ever asked questions this in-depth, but still. "If you had a satchel like mine, could you bring it through? If not, what distinguishes it as 'not on your person'? If so, you'd be very good at robbing banks." They smiled, but the expression fell slightly as the rapid-fire weight of the conversation caught up to them.

"...If I'm asking too many questions, feel free to ask questions of your own. Conversations are typically better when balanced."
John
"I'm not too sure, but I can't bring other sentient creatures inside, though, that I have tried with one very unfortunate raccoon. It was still a bit surprising when I accidentally bisected it because it wouldn't go past the concrete..." She then paused and continued. "Yes. Yes. Probably. I don't know. I am well aware." She did not mind speaking in this quick and concise manner, actually preferring it a bit.

"No, no. It does not bother me. Mattias, was it?" She tilted her head to one side, still staring blankly, the smirk disappearing. "Your curiosity piques mine, what so *Your* Abilities relate to? Or at lest, what can they do, specifically?" She asked politely, her tone deviating from the blank, almost mechanical tone she had before.
Jeffrey
"Yes. My name is Mattias Gates." *It's good to meet you*, they did not add, suppressing the reflex that normally came with introducing themself. "I—" 

Their mind briefly flashed back to their conversation with Grey. The theories they had proposed. 

"I intake a kind of psychic sensory input that is activated by deception or concealment. Lies, in other words. Secrets. I can also—" They reached a hand out to Yari, palm facing up but far enough that it wasn't yet intruding on her personal space. "—if you give me your hand, I can demonstrate. There shouldn't be any ill-effects to you, and it's nothing particularly harmful or invasive." 

It was easier to demonstrate, this way, rather than saying 'I can see the truth of things, which extends, in some cases, to your name,' or 'this shouldn't hurt you at all, and in fact I have a *Near* Perfect track record aside from one person who really should be discounted because of my current theory of psychic interactions'. Though if Yari refused, they could always *Try* To explain, the words to describe Providence always seemed just on the left side of accurate.
John
`Note: Time-wise, this is before Dream Sequence (TASB), so the emotions mask is still a thing in this scene, hence no constant breakdowns and presumed sanity, whether he sees through it is up to you.`
She listened without interrupting, and found it reasonable when he'd rather show than tell. She extended her hand, and waited for him to use his odd ability on her. What he would see, well, that is up to what he looks for. She did not show any other emotion or input, only listening further as she really had little else to add to the conversation, both due to her lack of experience in this frivolous thing called 'Living', but also due to lack of interest in *Adding* To this.
Jeffrey
With Yari's consent, Mattias opened their Sight and glanced just long enough to catch a glimpse of her name. They were expecting something long, something with as much life she carried in her small body (*Finally*, someone shorter than them). Something strange, possibly, given her clear interactive issues and unique powerset. Using Providence was something they'd begun to look forward to: obscure surnames, bright middle names, things that tasted sweet behind their eyes. The usurping of one's guard, 'how did you know?', the instinctual attention of being called. They felt a rush of relief when they did not sink, as they had with Grey, but the feeling buried itself when they had time to actually think about what they'd Seen.

*Yari.*

No last name. No middle names. There was little affection in it— for what Matti was sure was probably an abbreviation, it felt clinical. Perfunctory. Distant. A name when there were no other names, when the alternative is silence, or when everything one held was dust. They felt vaguely sick. In their experience, few who held only one name had lived happy lives. For Yari, they were sure the rule applied. 

"Your name is Yari," They murmured. It felt underwhelming. Quiet in the deserted hallway, echoing in an empty space much larger and more hollow than physical one the pair occupied. "That's all." 

A cough broke their sentence, and they desperately tried to salvage the solemn atmosphere. "I'm sorry—" (*What happened to you? Why are you alone?*) "—this is normally much more impressive." They forced a small uptick of their lips, a dying caterpillar's last effort to sprout wings. "Providence, the ability is called. It can see people's names. It's given me nearly as much aid as it has trouble, believe it or not."
John
She only gave him a blank, unfeeling stare as he had used his marvelous power on her. She felt nothing special, nothing intrusive, patiently waiting for something before he had told her that information. When told about her own true name, she only replied with a cold venom in her tone, but it didn't seem to be directed at him but rather at the realization of such information. "My parents called me that. Other times they didn't even bother, only calling me by 'Nena'."

*Yari*, a name she identified with, much to her dismay. She hated her own name, but it was the only one she had known, when those calling for her bothered to use it. She despised the name with her entire being, and as she kept thinking, she began to absentmindedly grip Matti's hands with her full force, which wasn't much, but still alarming, her hands visibly going tense as the skin was pulled taut over her knuckles.

"That's a cool ability, though. I bet you can like, spot when people lie or something, that's super cool." She realized she was still gripping Matti's hands with full force, to which she let them go and began to softly caress them with her thumbs. "Sorry, got a bit lost in my own head..." She added silently, her stare going blank once again, receding her consciousness back into the depths of her mind in shame.

I have decided to lie
Jeffrey
Mattias nodded, staring at Yari from the corner of their eyes. *That's fucked. That's really fucked—* Their mind chanted, and they began to reexamine Yari's detached demeanor in a different light. If it wasn't nature, but a state of turmoil... Worry brewed beneath their chest. It wasn't their place to comment, likely wasn't even their place to show concern. But from what she'd said, people didn't care about Yari. *Hadn't* Cared, hopefully. So even if it 'wasn't their place', even if they overstepped some invisible boundary again, they hammered steel resolve within their mind. 

"Are you alright, emotionally speaking? You seem distracted. Have you eaten? Slept? Assuming you need to." 

Gabe had been on a "Self-care" Kick recently, which seemed hypocritical, but they weren't one to judge (out loud) (to Yari).

Maybe they were one to judge. Nevertheless, the questions seemed relevant. Guilt crept along the back of their neck: was conversing with Matti preventing Yari from getting rest?
John
She kept going in a downward spiral inside her own head before Matti yanked her out of it by asking her a question about something that isn't her weird physicality. "Hm? Uh, no, but I cope. I'm fine though, thanks. I have a two-phase sleep schedule." She informed absentmindedly and silently.

She slowly let go of Matti's hands and let her arms go limp. "Just, don't ask me about anything that happened before here, it all relates to my shit-water parents and my dumbass, just talk about yourself or powers or whatever... I'm hungry." She looked down at her stomach and pat it, the sweater sinking a surprising amount, even when considering the fact that it is oversized, alluding to just how skinny she really was, if her face and hands didn't nake that obvious enough.

She began to walk down the hall. "I'm gonna go get some food, care to come with? I just need something to snack on quickly and I'll be fine..." She spoke quietly again, now it was getting *Very* Concerning.
Jeffrey
Matti nodded, concern pushing their hands down into their satchel to pull out three different colored aluminum wraps. "If you'd like something while we walk. I have peanut butter, egg and almond, and fruit— fig, I think. Bars." 

In their mind, Yari sat on the kitchen counter in a near-empty home. In their mind, Matti told her it would be alright, and that she was safe. In their mind, they cast shadows for her to hide in, and made tasteless beans and rice, and they sat together and played board games with the rest of the people they did not want to watch rust. Out loud, they pulled water-words, bubbling up like a fountain. They could tell when questions needed to be asked. They didn't now. Not here. Not by Mattias Gates. 

"Did you know there is a Greek story, about a woman named Penelope. Her husband had set out on a journey and gotten lost on the seas, and she waited many years for his return. Assuming he was dead, presumptuous suitors attempted to coerce her into remarrying. She lacked the power to force them to stop, but instead told the suitors she would pick among them after she finished weaving a burial shroud for her father-in-law." They paused, both to gather the remaining parts of the story and to gauge Yari's reaction. Matti had few skills. Comfort was not typically counted among them. With an inhale, and a few hovering glances to the left of Yari's face, they continued.

"Of course, Penelope believed her husband was alive. She didn't want to remarry. So every day she'd weave the shroud on her loom, and every night she'd unravel it all by hand, that way her work was never done. It took over three years for her strategy to be uncovered, enough time for her husband to return and prove himself in an archery competition designed for only he to win." 

.

There had been a point to this, hadn't there? Endurance, maybe. Steps forward and back to trick those seeking to harm you. To survive to see the sun. 

Yari didn't have much, from what they could tell. But she had survived. Maybe, like Mattias, that would be enough.
John
"Put me in the situation and they would be dead, then I'd look for him, easiest option." She understood the story, but then looked at Mattiasin confusion due to another reason. "Why did you tell me that? Were you trying to gague a reaction from me? Also, I don't really like, uh, *Any* Of that, but thanks."

If anything, her response to Mattias telling her that Penelope story showed her true drivers, her stubbornness and her willingness to take matters into her own hands. She wouldn't let anyone control her. Not anymore. Those who attempted it would pay the price. She went down a train of thought similiar to this, and her fist momentarily clenched and shook before releasing gently again.

She was not going to let anyone put her through anything like those agonizing years back at her home. If anything would be a key to release her anger instantly, it would be that, *Controlling her*.

"I decide who I want, and who I marry. I decide what I want, and what I want to *Do*. I'm not letting anyoner tell me otherwise." She began to walk slightly faster, her rage beginning to boil in tune with her words and body language.