When You're Good To Mama (Pets and Slyths)

It was the first day of term, and she'd skipped the return feast. This would be the first time any of her friends had seen her since ever, and she was determined to not show a bit of pain to any of them.

So with Karma curled up safely inside her, Kama strutted into the great hall. It was going to be one of those days. It was in the air. She could almost smell it.

Oh, wait. That was her pets. She smiled widely.

"I love the smell of Pets in the morning." She hummed, sliding into a seat at the Slytherin Table. Today was a tank top and jean shorts day, with boots. Her Black Family Necklace was safely around her neck, stopping at her chest, and her silver ring from Ethon was right where he'd left it, on her index finger. It was warmer outside. Summer was on its way.

She picked bacon onto her plate, biting into the stuff. It tasted like salty cardboard, but she ate it anyway.

She waited patiently for anyone to appear, her eyes sweeping the great hall.

J. J. nervously patted down her neat skirt and T-shirt; she had her robes neatly over top of the set. She was ready for class. She was actually putting an effort into things today.

She had returned from halfterm unscathed and it was time to act like a human again - at least as must so as she could.

She took a deep breath, she wanted to be better - she wanted to prove that she was better, at least a little bit.

As she made her way towards the Hufflepuff table - in her head already heading towards her corner of the table - she passed the Slytherin table, saw Karma and changed her mind.

She veered in her path slightly, and once infront of the older girl smiled slightly, hoping it looked as genuine as she wanted it to be.

"Good morning, Karma," she siad softly, the magic induced voice still ringing out rather harshly to her ear.

Kama looked up at the girl before her. "Hi there, Double J." She greeted, raising a peice of bacon in greeting. "Sit, sit." She said, gesturing to the seat across from her. She sniffed, pleased by the slight scent change JJ had. It smelled a bit like Karma herself.

J. J. gave Karma a slightly hesitant look, she seemed to be a little odd this morning - then again, when wasn't Karma a little odded?

She sat down, and slowly helped herself - she wasn't very hungry but she figured if she was going to follow through with her, I'm actually okay day, she should start it off with food.

"Did you manage to find someting to do on your break?"

Kama smirked. "You could say that." She said with a wink at JJ. "I recruited many many many people. So many, in fact, that if I were to list their names I'd have to stop eating." She took another bite of bacon. "And I don't feel like it."

She smirked and tilted her head to the side, her eyes travelling to the Great Hall's ceiling as she took a deep breath through her nose. JJ's edge was making her grin. "Welcome to the club, by the way." She grinned.

The last thing - the very last, really - that Aria wanted that morning was food. But if she skipped, people would ask questions. She didn't want people asking questions. They were to believe everything was fine; that she was okay.

She couldn't be a bother to anyone. It wasn't her right - was it?

Entering the Great Hall, Aria stopped, taking a moment to draw in a few slow breaths to settle her rebelling stomach. Breath through her nose, eat some toast and... something. She could do this.

Moving farther into the room, Aria's mismatched eyes sought out the familiar presence that was Karma, a smile pulling at her lips as she noticed her 'sister'. Aria had to fight to keep it in place as she realized with a pang that Karma would be alone after she was gone, that the other girl wouldn't have a family, anymore.

Smiling as brightly as she could, Aria sat across from her friend.

"Good morning," Aria greeted, looking between Karma and J.J. Her stomach roiled discontentedly at the sight of the food. Aria put some on her plate, anyway. Taking a tiny bite of toast.

Kama glanced up, her eyes going to Aria.

"Hey there sis." She greeted easily, ignoring Karma's mental whine. "You don't look so good." She narrowed her eyes at the girl, looking her up and down. "Are you alright?"

She frowned at her, before looking back at JJ. "We need to talk later." She decided, her tone final. "Meet me in the Common Room later tonight, okay?"

Aria placed her left hand in her lap just as it started to tremble. Merlin, she wished it wouldn't do that.

"I'm fine." Aria lied. The little bite of toast she had swallowed settled like lead in her stomach and no amount of clenching her hand ceased its shaking.

"Just a bit tired." The truth would only cause trouble. It would only make Karma sad. She didn't want Karma to be sad. Let her stay happy, just for a while more.

Aria gave a happy smile, then spooned a bit of oatmeal into her mouth. She sincerely hoped the others finished their meals quickly. There was no way she was eating all of this... she was having difficulty eating part of it.

Kama looked down at her plate full of bacon before grinning and flipping the plate on top of Aria's. "Don't eat if you don't want to. I don't even know why I want to."

Her light brown eyes returned to the ceiling. "Common Room." She said softly. "Tonight. I'll be there." She looked back at Aria, steeling herself. "Where's..." she took a bite of bacon to hide her discomfort, her eyes going dark. "...Arsen gotten to?"

Aria wrinkled her nose at her suddenly full plate of bacon before she could quell the urge. Letting her toast drop atop the rest of the food, she leaned back a bit giving a rather wan smile.

"Guess I'm not very hungry." She didn't sound all that convincing to herself, but perhaps others would notice...

The blonde gave a light shrug, picking up her juice and swirling it idly about the cup rather than drink it. "I don't know," Aria replied. "I haven't really seen him since I talked to him the other night." Since I said goodbye, she thought a bit broodily. She should say goodbye to everyone else, as well... The thought made her shudder.

She hated this.

"The club?" J. J. furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to process the words. She wasn't sure if she liked that or not. It seemed... dangerous, or at least... ominous?

She smiled at Aria as the girl sat down, and slowly picked at her own food, as the two girls discussed something - obviously something she wasn't supposed to hear (Judging from Karma's we'll talk later.)

Karma grinned. "You're under my protection, remember?" she asked, scratching the back of her neck. When she pulled her hand back, the ring caught her attention again. It was so metallic. Silver.

She reached back across the table, taking a piece of bacon off the plate she'd flipped on Aria's plate. "I'm not very hungry either." she said, eating the bacon. "I like the tase of this stuff, though. It's salty."

J. J. tapped the table with the band of her ring, as she listed to Karma speak. She made a little 'oh' sound in the back of her throat as she remembered the bathroom, and Karma's slightly odd behaviour, and words.

It had been comforting at the time, and although it was still comforting to a degree now, there was a part of her that kind of wanted to know what Karma had meant by that.

And there was another part completely that stated she was probably better off not knowing.

As she looked up from her plate which she had been slowly picking at to notice something shining off Karma's finger.

"Hey," she said perking up slightly at the thought, "You have a ring too!! Did Arsen..." she trailed off for a moment, unsure if she had gotten the girl's boyfriend right... she had been paying so little attention to everything lately that she wasn't sure what she knew and didn't know anymore.

Karma looked over at JJ, her expression puzzled. "My ring?" she asked softly, looking down at the delicate little silver band. She furrowed her eyebrows. "Did Arsen what?" She asked confusing herself even more. Wouldn't he leave her soon? Why would he buy her a ring?

She smiled down at the ring, her eyes softening. "He didn't get it for me, if that's what you're saying. It was a gift."

Aria gave a wan smile. "Yeah. It does taste good, doesn't it?" she mumbled. She gave the plate a subtle push away from her.

Mismatched eyes also went to Karma's ring. "It's pretty," Aria remarked. "Who is it a gift from?"

Karma looked up at Aria, a small frown on her face. "Ethon." She said with a faintly growing smile. "He thought I needed one." It was almost the truth anyway.

She looked at JJ. "I like your ring, though. Dimi gave it to you, didn't he?" She remembered him thinking about it before... when she hadn't been paying much attention to the Bond.

Aria froze, gaze slipping out of focus, her mind returning to a moment she tried not to think about at all.

Rough hands grabbed her by the arms with bruising force, cruel, crimson eyes glaring maliciously into hers. "You can ask your friend why this is happening to you!"

Hellfire; burning tongues eating away at the flesh all over her body.


A strangled, tormented sound tore its way from her throat.


A message from Ethon.


The blonde stumbled to her feet, eyes wide and terrified as they refocused on Karma - Karma! Arsen had said Karma must have been the friend Ethon's message was for, but Aria had disregarded it. She hadn't thought it could possibly be true; not until now. She began to tremble uncontrollably, tears springing to her eyes and flowing down her cheeks.

"I hope you got your message," Aria rasped, throat so constricted, her voice was scarcely even a whisper. Turning, she quickly left the hall, twitching at every movement she caught from the corner of her eye.

Karma watched her go, almost sick to her stomach from the satisfaction Kama was emitting.

You did that on purpose?!

Oh, so you don't want her hurt now? Then you better stop beating yourself up about it.

Karma growled low in her throat, ignoring the other side of her and watching Aria leave with a worried expression. "Aria..." She whispered, but it was too late.

She looked over at JJ, lost. "I... I don't know what she's talking about." she lied, her eyes wide.

"Who's Eth-" was on the girls lip as the blonde slytherin got up from the table, the quick motion of it startling the girls still sensitive nerves, and the look on her face - the terror and the tears - doing both to confuse her, and unnerve her a bit more.

Once Aria had left, J. J. continued to sit at the table blinking for a long moment. She bit her lip and nodded as Karma claimed to not know what the girl was talking about. She also ignored Karma's growl, which admitedly was rather unsettling as well.

Taking a deep breath, she smoothed out her skirt under the table, and began to nervously spin her ring about her finger, the action not only calmed her now slightly peaked nerves, but remind her of Karma's previous question.

"Yeah," she bit her lip as she smiled slightly, gaze softening, but not moving from the item on her finger, "yes he did."

Figuring she'd deal with that problem when she got to it, Karma pushed Aria from her mind and focused on JJ. "Oh? Why?" She asked. "I mean... I know you two have been dating, but why the ring?" She played with her ring, spinning it around her finger.

J. J. tilted her head, bring the ring slightly closer to her face as she thought about how to answer Karma's question.

Every thought that came to her head sounded too... dorky? Personal? to say outloud, and yet she didn't want to ignore the girl. And she did trust Karma so...

"Because- Because," she hedge a bit bitting her lip, still struggling to come up with the perfect words, "Because... we care each other, and, and to promise, promise... I guess promise to keep doing that."

She looked up Karma quickly a blush spreading across her features, before looking back down at the ring, her smile, turning slightly bashful still on her face.

Karma's eyes widened, and a full out smile bloomed across her face. "That's... that's..." She sighed. "So so so romantic! I've only read that in books!"

She sent Dimi a teasing little feeling through the bond, poking him. You're a hopeless romantic, you know that? she teased.

She looked down at her ring. "Well, mine's not nearly as special." She said softly. "It was a gift to make me feel better." She grinned. "But it's from Ethon." She pouted. "He's... technically... my ex."

J. J. hesitated a look up and upon seeing Karma's smile, returned it with all the giddy excitement she herself had felt, if not at the time, shortly afterwards.

"It is isn't it?" she asked, the stupid Robovoice never conveying proper emotions, and sound far too flat when, had J. J. had her own voice back would have been closer to sqeaking. "He's just..." She trailed off with a stupid little smile and a shake of her head.

On the topic she decided to glance around wondering where the boy was. It was breakfast, and she was sitting at his own table... though she supposed he didn't really need to eat the food, now did he?

She tilted her head and smiled hesitatantly, "Did it make you feel better? Cause if it did I'd say it gets to be at least sort of special."

Karma smiled at her Firstie, glad she seemed better.

"Then I guess it is sorta special." She said, spinning the ring around her finger some more. "But Ethon's only a friend, so it doesn't mean as much as yours." She sighed and looked down at the ring again. She was starting to get used to it being there. A little peice of Ethon on her hand. She reached up at touched her Black Family necklace, caressing her house crest with her fingers.

She looked back up at JJ, cocking her head to the side. "Promise ring?" she asked, looking at JJ's ring. The phrase had came from Dimi's side of the bond. "What's a promise ring?"

J. J. shrugged, "I don't if friends are less special, just... a different kind of special." She paused as she watched the girl play with her necklace. J. J. was sure she had seen the girl wearing that article before, so she did not feel quiet as curious about it.

J. J. looked up, a little startled and confused for a moment. She hadn't said the words 'Promise ring' outloud had she? Maybe she was worse off than she thought - going slightly bonkers forgetting things.

Or she supposed Karma could have just been associating the word with the ring without any prompting...

Though it still seemed a little odd.

"Well... its sort of like an engagement ring I guess," she siad slowly, "Only... no wedding, at least, not now - not for a very long time."