By the lake (Cobalt and Karma)

Cobalt stood on the edge of the lake, looking over the dark, unmoving, waters as he pulled his emotions in, making his face an unemotional mask. By his feet, slightly to his right he observed clinically, lay the writhing and bound little girl he'd brought with him. He glanced down at her despite himself and immediately looked back out over the waters.

Killing children was not something he enjoyed at all but it was something that he was going to have to witness tonight.

Or he'd have to kill two children.

The girl at his feet had been celebrating her 13th birthday when he'd taken her with him. It had been a contract, to kill the girl's father when everyone else was at the party. He'd just finished the contract, having poisoned the man's coffee using a thread of silk to transfer the poison from his position on the ceiling, when the girl had come in. Apparently she'd had some kind of fight with her father and had come to make amends.

Cobalt couldn't leave any witnesses.

He'd taken her back to the lake with him instead of slitting her throat like he normally would have done. No, her death would be terrible. It would be painful. It would be Karma's first kill.

(OOC: Okay Karma, this is your first human kill so it's going to be very hard for your character to do. A little bit more emotional turmoil )

Karma headed for the lake, wondering what exactly Colbalt had in store for her. She stopped at a distance and looked down at the little girl. She took a deep breath and looked at Colbalt. "Hello."

Cobalt didn't look away from the surface of the lake,

"Did you bring one of Lacey's hairs like I asked?" he spoke quietly as he finally turned to Karma, "This is the worst part of your training. From here it will only get easier."

Karma had a flash of a bad feeling. It made her want to run, but she was not one to give in to such instincts. She pulled the hairbrush from inside her robes and moved so she was standing beside Colbalt. She held out the brush and waited, a sick feeling pooling in her stomach. "What am I supposed to...?" She looked down at the girl with a dawning horror. "I have to...?" She swallowed. What was wrong with her? Isn't this what she wanted? "Alright." She said nodding. She felt faint, but fought the feeling with everything she had. "Alright." She repeated.

Cobalt looked down at Karma with an understanding look as he took the hairbrush from her,

"I know it's hard Karma." he muttered queitly, "The first kill is terrible, no matter who it is or how you do it. But this way..."

He dropped a hair into some polyjuice potion,

"This way is the worst." he told her before forcing the potion down the captive girl's throat, causing her to turn into the double of Lacey Black, "This way is the worst so everything else is easier."

He pulled out a small knife, barely an inch long in the blade,

"Kill her with this Karma." he told her as the girl began to beg an plead for her life. He closed his eyes, "Life is empty. When we take it we are taking nothing of worth. This is our creed Karma."

Karma watched with an even deeper horror as the faveless girl turn into the one family member Karma had left. She looked at the knife unconprehensively before realizing it was in her hand. When had she taken it?

She looked down into the eyes of Lacey. No, the girl. No, Lacey. Who was it again? She felt the confusion bubble in her stomach before her usual reflex kicked in. Numbness settled over her like a cloak, settling both her fear and revolsion. She held the knife with familiarty, subconsciously checking the weight. Her eyes met the girls again before she went forward and held the knife at her throat.

Lacey's eyes widened as the cold steel touched her skin. Karma was well beyond feeling when she slit the girls throat. Her blood splattered all over her school robes and her arms. Karma swallowed and stood up straight, trembling. "Done" she whispered.

Cobalt glanced down and observed her work clinically,

"Good cut." he nodded, "No suffering."

He paused for a moment before taking the knife from Karma's numb hands. Dropping it to the floor he dipped a finger into the girl's blood. He touched it to Karma's forehead,

"This is your baptism." he told her, "From now on you are a wetboy in training. A perfect weapon."

Now that the formalities were done, Cobalt pulled Karma close to him and hugged her lightly,

"First kills are hard Karma. You'll cry at some point." he looked down at her sadly, "Feel free to do so whenever you like."

Karma nodded into Colbalt's chest, immensly greatful for the hug. The place where the blood was on her forehead burned greatly, but she could barely felt it. She could cry. But she didn't. She had a feeling things would get worse, and easier. She wasn't sure if she should feel apprehensive or expectant, but right now she still felt nothing. She wondered if she was in shock, then wondered how long this numbness would last. When her mother had died it had lasted a month. Karma hoped for at most half of that.

How was she to react to Lacey now, in classes, knowing she killed her? The answer was obvious, though. Normally. Like nothing had happened. Because to everyone else, nothing had happened. Only to her was the world spinning off it's axis and a black hole pulling her to shreds. But it was nothing. Nothing,

She still felt nothing.

But she knew it wouldn't last.

Cobalt sighed a little and hugged the teenage girl in his arms a little tighter,

"It will go away." he told her quietly, "It's not a good thing but eventually you won't be able to feel anything when you kill. You will be able to totally detach yourself from the deed and simply do it."

He paused a second,

"Try not to keep count, Karma." he looked sad for a moment, "It doesn't work. I used to remember the names and faces of everyone I killed. Then there were too many and I just remembered the number. When that got to be too many I remembered just the innocents. Eventually even that got to be too many."

He looked down at her,

"Life is empty. When we take it we take nothing of value." he told her before looking into her eyes, "Repeat it, Karma."

Karma looked up at Colbalt. His words took a while to get to her, like he was at the end of a long tunnel. "Life is empty." She said, hearing the word echo inside her own head. "When we take it, we take nothing of value." There was an empty feeling of finality in those words. She was going to end up living by that.

Exitement? Sorrow? Silent horror? No. Nothing. She was starting to dread getting her emotions back, and she couldn't eve feel dread yet. Great.

Cobalt rested his forehead against hers,

"I know it's hard Karma..." he muttered quietly, "But we are the knife. We are the knife and not the hand. We are tools of murder but not murderers."

He hugged her still,

"One day you'll be able to look back and be able to afford the luxury of regret Karma." he shook his head, "But today is not that day. You can't afford to dwell on the past anymore Karma. You are a target now because your are my apprentice. We need to turn you from a potential victim to a rival wetboy in a short period of time. Are you up for it?"

Karma swallowed before sighing. "Yes. I'm ready." Was that determination she felt? Was it really? Was feeling coming back? Huh. That was fast. She frowned. Nope. Still not there. But there was nothing better than death to motivate someone. Rival Wetboy? Bring it on.

Realising with a start that she was still being hugged, karma hugged back for a quick second before stepping back and looking down at herself, then at Colbalt. She had been covered in the girl's blood, and now the front of his robes were as well. She wondered how often that would happen. She started to wipe at it with her bare hands, more and more frantically. It wasn't doing anything. It was just spreading and getting all over her hands. "Blood..." she said, still wiping. "I can't get it off..." her wand lay in her pocket forgotten. Why couldn't she get it off? "It won't come off!" It was burning into her. It was seeping inside her to infect. "I can't..."

Cobalt smiled faintly at her,

"Not yet you're not." he nodded a little, "But soon you will be."

When she started to panic, Cobalt knelt down to her eye level and held her fast at the shoulders,

"Calm down Karma." he told her firmly as he wandlessly began to clean the blood from her, "The blood is coming off."

Karma nodded, relieved as the blood disappeared. "What now?" She asked quietly, her eyes straying to Lacey's body. "What do we do with the body?"

Cobalt paused,

"Now you go back to the castle." he nodded, "But after you see this. This is how we bury our kills."

He pointed his wand at the body,

"Accipe, quod tuum est." he intoned and the ground seemed to sink slowly under the body and the earth itself seemed to swallow it up, "That is a burial spell. We lay even the most wicked to rest respectfully Karma."

Karma nodded. "Everyone deserves a proper burial." She said quietly. She wished she'd known the spell when her mother had died. She'd had to find a proper cemetery and dig the grave herself, with the help of house elves of course. She watched the ground where the girl had disappeared. She sighed. Nothing. Still, she felt nothing.

"See you later, Colbalt." She said weakly. She turned and started to walk. There was none of her usual confidence in this walk. She was just going... to the common room. That's where. Where else was there? But she was suddenly hungry. Maybe the kitchens first. She felt her teeth with her tongue, but no longer did she have the energy to wince. They were still sharp.

Hunger. It wasn't an emotion, but it was the closest she'd get in a while. So she clung to it.

Kitchen, then. It was decided. She stepped over the threshold of her home away from home and somewhere she recognized the change in tempurature.

But she didn't feel it.

Cobalt nodded,

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." he commented idly as he turned to look out over the lake. He glanced at Karma, "Take care of yourself Karma. I'm starting to like you and I don't want you to go and decide you can't live with yourself. Goodnight."

He watched her go with a small frown. The girl would need work. Not just to be a good wetboy, she showed promise in that respect, but in learning to deal with the backlash of emotions she was obviously going to feel with the work itself. He sighed and sat down on the lake shore.

He wasn't going to sleep tonight."