PRIVATE i don't medicate, it helps me temporarily

[XANTI]

the hardest thing to me is facing the fear i live

no one can help me now, it’s under my heart!

Xanti began the morning with green leaf tea and a morning meditation. During this time, Vale burst in with an explosion of black feathers. The two didn’t speak, but Vale cackled as xe spat fire to torches and the wood beneath a cauldron—and the kettle for Xanti’s tea—and, at some point, Xanti sneezed from a stray feather.

Vale hadn’t much time for chit-chat (something about Requiem and lava buffer overflow error?), but the raven dropped off a collection of poetry for Kane. Silvia Plath’s Ariel. Edgar Allan Poe. Tao Te Ching, which seemed to be the closest thing Vale had to a Bible. Then a caw of a goodbye, another burst of gore, and—now a vulture—xe flew out of the Doctor’s caves.

In Vale’s absence: silence. The bubble of boiling water. The occasional clatter of metal-on-metal or a splash.

Silence, even when Xanti began xyr work. In full view of Kane. Today’s work? Two bush vipers with one non-sentient and the other hissing curses until, well, the dissection began.

All the while, the cheetahcore lazily blinked at the two snakes as they depleted into a collection of parts. Xanti didn’t touch anything; xyr telekinesis, conjuration, and assortment of other minor magics kept xyr paws tucked beneath xyr body. Xe was unmoving serenity and focus.

The dissections seemed to conclude arbitrarily. Xanti stopped writing down notes, stopped weighing individual organs. The floating surgical tools neatly tucked themselves into a boiling cauldron.

One of the snake’s eyes drifted to Xanti, and xe chomped it. This was, perhaps, the only movement the cheetah had made in over two hours.

Xe ate the treat. Wiggled xyr jaw until it popped. And then xyr golden eyes slid to Kane’s cell.

“I suppose I’ve been a terrible neighbor. But, as far as prisoners go, you’re tolerable.”

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[KANEMARU.]

AIKAWA KANEMARU.

The day had been normal by captivity's standards, at least in Kanemaru's perspective. He woke up, resigned himself to manipulating the size of the moss patches on the walls for entertainment, ate some of the crab leftover from yesterday, and that was it until Vale stopped by.

If 'stopped by' was really the word for it. It was chaos for a minute. Fire spitting, books dropped in his cell, feathers everywhere. Didn't stick around long. It took Kanemaru a moment to realise he was upset by that, but then he figured they'd probably spend more time together some other time, so it didn't bother him all that much.

He stuck his head in his books and Xanti stuck xyr head in a cauldron. Perfectly fine with Kane. He had very little desire to talk, as had been established already; at the very least, he didn't feel like initiating a conversation. Not with Xanti, anyway. Maybe, though, if it were Vale picking apart those snakes.

At some point, he didn't remember exactly when, his focus had switched from Ariel to the snakes. It had drawn his attention how Xanti hadn't moved a bit since xe started. Telekinesis, eh? Kanemaru used to use his vines to help him do multiple things at once, so he supposed just moving the object with your mind wasn't very different. Better, really. Ahh, what was the word he was looking for? EFFICIENT! Right, that's it.

Maybe he should ask Vale for some crossword puzzles, or something.

Kane watched that little eyeball roll towards Xanti. It seemed like slow motion as xe watched the cheetahcore lean down and chomp it. His ears twitched when he heard the tell-tale squelch of the organ exploding, and watched Xanti's throat bobbed as xe swallowed it. Kanemaru distantly wondered how eyes tasted. Maybe it was good, and he was just being closed-minded and judgemental.

"Neighbors who mind their business are generally better than neighbors who peek over the garden fence, are they not?" Kanemaru quirked a brow, leaned forward a little bit. Ariel truly discarded. "Besides, I'd hate to disrupt your research." Kanemaru hated when his work was disturbed.

[XANTI]

the hardest thing to me is facing the fear i live

no one can help me now, it’s under my heart!

While Xanti listened to the fox’s reply, the cheetah stood up and stretched. Front paws outstretched. Spine arched—pop pop pop of the vertebrae—and a scrunched face before xe stood up. Xe shook out xyr rear paws one at a time as xe meandered around the surgical table and towards the cell bars. “You’re more considerate than I expected. I appreciate that.”

The remaining three eyes orbited xyr head in slow circles. Like a living diorama of Mars and its two moons. Especially after an eye passed in front of Xanti’s muzzle and xe chomped it, too, not unlike a snapping turtle.

Xe sat in front of the bars. Xyr golden gaze swept over the title of the discarded book before xe took in Kane’s facial expression and body language. Seemed like both of them were in the mood to talk, eh? Might as well utilize this rare window of shared introverted socialization.

“I think Vale will be by in the afternoon for your project. Not sure when. Has to do with… ugh, some inquisitor job?” Xanti shrugged.  Then yawned. “But I think I’m done for today.”

Xe blinked slowly. Then glanced around the doctor’s caves. Obviously, the prisoner shouldn’t be given anything sharp or dangerous, but most surgical tools fell in that category. “You mentioned something to Vale about… science experiments?” By the confused gleam in Xanti’s eyes, clearly Vale hadn’t communicated word for word what Kane had done. “I suppose it must be frustrating, being so close and yet so far—” Xe tapped a paw on the metal bar. “—from restarting your research. Maybe you can tell me about that, and we can figure out how to keep you from going stir crazy in there.”

Then another eyeball passed close to xyr muzzle, and xe chomped that, too. One eyeball left in its lazy, lonely orbit.

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[KANEMARU.]

AIKAWA KANEMARU.

Kane's swirling, golden gaze tracked Xanti's movements as the cheetahcore approached the bars of his enclosure. He wasn't in the mood to talk, necessarily, but he wouldn't object to conversation. Especially as, though he was reluctant to admit it, there had been some mounting curiosity since Vale had informed him that the mutated cheetah before him was a psychopath too.

He silently stored away the info on Vale. Maybe he'd ask about this so-called inquisitor job later on, if Vale really did show. For now, though, talking to Xanti seemed like an opportune way to pass the time and not lapse into agonising boredom; particularly since they apparently had shared interests.

This time, Kanemaru didn't react to Xanti chowing down on another eyeball, though his eyes followed the single, lone organ circling around Xanti's head. Sort of distracting. Also slightly amusing to watch, in a morbid way.

"At first I was just continuing my mentor's research after I killed him," Kane explained, shuffling up and into a sitting position, one paw sliding the book to the side. Better things to focus on now than a book he'd read a hundred times; though the effort to not let him go bonkers in this cell was appreciated nonetheless. "But then I realised I didn't really care about his research and focused on my own goal. Examining different creatures to see what made them... Tick. How different creatures reacted to different situations. Those with particularly interesting reactions ended up with their brains on an examination table not unlike the one in here."

[XANTI]

the hardest thing to me is facing the fear i live

no one can help me now, it’s under my heart!

“You killed your mentor, yet continued his research… if only for a time. There’s an interesting story there. But, hey, I guess we're not friends yet.” Xanti’s manticore tail slowly wrapped around xyr paws.

Then the cheetah shrugged. An ear flicked. “But I do not think your interest in how others tick is unusual for our kind. Every surgeon I’ve met is a psychopath.”

“Surgeons either start their career as psychopaths or become psychopaths in the process. Anyone else succumbs to guilt over even the most trivial of mistakes.” The cheetah snorted in amusement. “Statistics. It is impossible to do anything without making mistakes. Yet the prosocials think they will be the exception and save every life on their table, never error, like a storybook hero… a bit narcissistic, aren’t they? Fools.”

Xanti hesitated, glanced to the side and up as xe remembered a conversation with Vale. “But you are unusually non-collaborative for a psychopath.”

Xanti blinked, then shrugged. “Personally, I don’t see much difference between surgery and slaughter. The same psychopathic traits are required for both. But a surgeon has intelligence, self-discipline, and collaboration. While a serial killer? He leaves victims without learning anything in the process. What a waste of time and effort.”

“So, tell me, what did you learn from experimenting on creatures and corpses?” Xanti’s head tilted.

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