Your Complications;; Dissy.

[Jiyu Simul Stamus]

The mansion had not changed very much at all since she had last been here, at least in the eyes of most cats it had not changed whatsoever. In the vision of many felines? Jiyu did not change any during the time which had passed just as the mansion had not in their gaze. However, the calico clearly knew the lie that was, the illusion that cats had deluded themselves into believing that neither she nor the mansion had changed. Time flowed endlessly, no animal could stop that and with time came changed that could not be avoided, one's that she now had to explore since she had returned. Each step in the mansion, was an exploration of sorts, finding new boards that suddenly creaked when they had not in the past, discovering doors that had rusted shut when they had once opened, doors where the rust had grown so bad they could finally be broken into when they had been locked before. No one else wanted to see that anything had changed, but she was not such a naive fool to let herself be tricked by the nostalgic illusion of insanity that projected over most people. She was insane enough for herself!

Slightly dusty paws pressed on each board at the beginning of the hallway she stood in, sliding her paw all over the board and even slamming it in certain points. Even with footsteps light as her's? The occasional creak of a board could give her away as she wandered 'ghostly' around the halls. Most cats would think that stealth in one's own home was useless but they were naive at best and foolish at worst. If The RoseBlood's came under attack at their home, being able to maneuver around home-field with stealth could make all the difference! One did not truly have home-field unless they could keep someone else from even noticing they were there. Jiyu was never losing this place again, so this time it was appropriate to pull out all the stunts she had been hiding. Last time? She had been reluctant to actually show what she was, a killer, an assassin, an executioner, an interrogator, someone who existed to fight, cause pain and ultimately destroy life. At one time? That had been all she was, and because of that, she went so far to hide as much as she reasonably could of it. However, in order to keep what was precious, the love she had learned, she had to stay frozen.

Sliding one paw across the wood, Jiyu was easily able to make it down the hallway at last without making any sound, now her next goal would be to do the same thing, finding ways to avoid being seen or to be enabled to get the drop on another cat. Carefully she ventured halfway down the hallway and then slipped into a bookshelf, hiding easily behind a series of books that had fallen sideways making a partial triangle against the case. For the moment, she would just wait there and see if anyone noticed her. However, she wouldn't wait too long, eventually, she would come out quietly behind someone to make sure the place was viable to spring at an enemy.

[Dissonance Valerius]

For Dissonance, it had been a long five years. Five years of constant warfare, bloodshed, slaughter, sacrifice, toil and struggle, and the echoing laughter of thirsty gods. It was impossible for him to say anything was the same; the things he'd been doing in the interim between then & now had irrevocably changed him, had strengthened and forged him in the fires of hardship. The mansion he knew little of; he had never been here in the flesh before recently, had only seen bits and pieces, fragments of memories that lingered in the back of one's mind, felt the oppressive presence of so many souls by proxy. This place was, in a way, sacred to him, though he had not grown here. But it, too, he could tell had changed, just by the way his fellow groupmates had been acting as he'd quietly observed. It was strange, he had to admit. Being back again. It was the completion of that goal he had been fighting for. Five years of fighting had come to this, their success was so close he could almost taste it!

Yes, he'd certainly changed. Gone was that eccentric artist and philosopher, gone was the all-but-child who had joined and shied away from battle in favor of intellectual pursuits. That tom, that Dissonance, had died, and in his place had been born another. One with eyes just as bright, but who walked with an innate sort of confidence and pride and poise, who eyed everyone critically and warily but smiled at them like they were old friends. Exhaustion lurked behind those eyes; he was tired, oh so tired after all he'd done, after struggling to keep himself going to see his home reborn. But he'd succeeded, or was about to. They were on the precipice, he knew. The most important days were upon them. He was now, for the first time, properly exploring the mansion, breaking his isolation with the determination to face everyone again.

Where Jiyu had once tried to hide her nature as a born killer, Dissonance had simply rejected it for a time - and then embraced it, but did not flaunt it. It was not something to be proud of...or ashamed of. It was a part of him that just was, and he had come very close to finding his inner peace. If only Anthrax could have-...

But no, of course not. She was gone. He just hadn't come to terms with it even still. He couldn't admit or acknowledge that she was probably never coming back. He ached for her return above all others - but the rest of them, even those he had traditionally not gotten along with, were good to see. He was home, again. He'd had a bit of a change of perspective. A large one, really, one he found himself admiring many times. An epiphany, if one could call it that.

It was the smell that he noticed, first. With this place having been uninhabited for so long, the air had long since become stale, and fresh smells were easily noticed. What tipped him off; where his eyes deceived him, his ability to see the auras of living creatures having faded temporarily, but it would return. He stopped there in the hallway, dead silent as his gaze lazily trailed across the scene before him. It was the only space one could have hid in this area, that bookshelf. Part of him wanted to just continue on his way and let himself be ambushed...but in their absence there was no guarantee that this place didn't have other occupants of some kind, so he didn't risk it.

"You almost got me." His simple statement carried another undertone, a lingering question: who is it?

[Jiyu Simul Stamus]

For Jiyu the time that had passed between then and now had been consumed by this slow spiraling descent. When thing's had first fallen apart? She had run off with the litter she had bore not long before, dead set on protecting them and finding somewhere safe for them to grow up. Another group had served the purpose of a safe haven for her offspring, letting her join with them without a second thought even though they had their share of snide comments to share. Oh, what Jiyu wouldn't give to skin the cats who had questioned her loyalty to The Roseblood, her family, her friends, and past, simply because she had put her children first when everything fell apart. Some animals had no idea of what someone priorities should be and she could never understand that because even she with so little understanding of emotions knew how to prioritize what was precious and not mock others for it. Of course, the only time she really bothered truly and purposefully mocking someone anyways was when she had the intention to eat them by the end of whatever interaction was being explored. It was so fun to play with her food from time to time, not that she felt the same fun as other's it was just sick satisfaction to her, but it was enough.

"Considering it's you, the goal was still accomplished." she could have sprung at him to teach him a lesson about hanging back when you knew a singular opponent could be waiting, trapped, but she didn't feel like it. Jiyu still didn't want to be absolutely hated, she could still see a path where she could protect this place without trashing cats opinions of her. "Once a few weeks have passed, scents will be all over the mansion and an enemy who managed to get this far wouldn't detect anyone there." but she would need to find far more of those places before she could rest, the important thing was making sure she could rule the terrian of the mansion compared to anyone else, so she could keep everyone safe. This study would also be useful for things like spying on a member suspected of treason if it ever came down to that, it had so many uses.

Looking up the lithe calico realized she had yet another thing she could utilize within this hallway, slipping out of the bookcase she quickly scaled the structure until she reached the top, leaping into a hole in the cieling. "Try getting up here." the distance from the bookcase to the hole was rather long, it had taken all the power she could muster to make the jump, so she needed to see if anyone else could make it. On the condition, Dis could not make the leap to the hole beside her? She would have to enlist some help moving the bookcase over enough that the leap was just able to be made. Somewhere to get the drop on an enemy only worked if it was also accessible to her clan-mates.