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Water And Vinegar (Blink)

Started by Eckhart_Von_Musel, May 23, 2017, 04:52:25 AM

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Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Fuck."

Eckhart sprinted down the road as fast as his legs could carry him. The sun had just about set, with only a sliver peeking out above the horizon. "Ansgar damn it, this is just my luck." thought Eckhart miserably as he ran. "First that godawful party, now this?" An arrow whizzed past his head, causing him to flinch. "Where the fuck is Belladonna? She usually teleports me if I stray too far away from her." From behind him, Eckhart could hear the bandits jeering.

"Oy, you little shit! Come back 'ere, we won't hurt ya!"

"Yeah! We just wants to have a little discussion with you! You're bein' downright rude to us!"

"This is it. This is how my story ends" thought Eckhart bitterly. The bandits had spotted the earring on his backpack about five minutes ago, and they were apparently convinced that Eckhart had more valuables stashed away somewhere. "I should have sold that damn thing." he thought angrily. "All it did was get me into trouble."

An arrow suddenly hit the back of Eckhart's leg, causing the healer to cry out in pain and collapse. He tried to get back up, only to feel a blade press up against his throat. "Yeah, that part where I said we wouldn't hurt ya? Well, I was lyin' about that. Life's a bitch, eh lad?"

As he felt his heart drop like a stone, Eckhart closed his eyes. "If this is fate, then so be it."

Blink

She wasn't sure if she were looking for him just to spite Hildegarde, or perhaps just to ease her own rising curiosity. It had been a while since she had last seen Cranberry and after following what Jaela had reported and asking around Kaida had been able to at least get an idea of where he was at. Of course, she was hesitant, afraid that Emelia may be with him. However, based on what she was seeing now it was clear that was not the case.

Several clones had been wondering about the area and finally one saw him, and as it slinked from the shadows Kaida had seen all she needed to. The moment Eckhart started being pursued the clone burst out of existence, alerting the real Kaida to what it had just seen.

"Well that's inconvenient"

Immediately she made the rest of her clones disappear, pulling the energy for herself as she began to sprint towards the location. They wouldn't hear her, probably didn't even see her as they were too entranced with Eckhart on the ground before them.

"Ahem" she cleared her throat, standing in the road about 15 feet from them with her classic Kaida stance. Her arms were crossed, the majority of her weight shifted to one side, an eyebrow raised.

"I won't lie to you..." slowly a smile began to creep upon her lips.

"This is going to hurt." Her eyes then flashed towards Eckhart, hoping he would catch the hint that perhaps it would be best to clog his ears as he had done before. "This is going to be fun"

All in an instant Kaida began to shift into her true form. Jagged turquoise scales on the tail whipping back and forth behind her as sharp teeth protruded out from her maw. A low growl vibrating from the depths of her throat as the scales seemed to fall flat and then rise with each breath. Slowly, her head twisted to the side, the dragon clearly amused with what was about to happen.

Taking one final deep breath Kaida then outstretched her neck as she released an ear deafening screech. By now the bandit's eardrums should have burst, their sense of balance shattered in a matter of seconds. This, however, wasn't enough, Kaida needed more... she wanted to do more.

Crimson eyes shifted to lock with the men just so she could make their worlds fall apart. Pulled into an illusion Kaida constructed the dungeon from her past. Each brick covered in darkened splatter, blood of victims past. Chains hung from the ceiling and bones lay on the floor, incomplete skeletons scattered everywhere.

"Welcome to my playroom"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

As the man with the knife began to make the cut, Eckhart heard a voice he never wanted to hear again in his life.

"I won't lie to you... this is going to hurt."

"Oh Ansgar, please don't tell me it's her again. I wouldn't know how to deal with that." Allowing himself to glance upwards, Eckhart saw that it was, in fact, her. "Fucking hell, really?" The bandit, distracted by the girl, began to laugh. Seeing an opportunity, Eckhart managed to wriggle free of his captor only to see his old foe shoot him a nasty grin. "Shit."

Whatever Eckhart expected, it wasn't what Kaida Black-Hearth would actually do. Her body began to twist and morph into something much larger- Eckhart found himself staring into the eyes of an actual, honest to god dragon. Eckhart's eyes began to water, and he broke into a cold sweat. As the dragon opened her mouth, Eckhart quickly brought his hands to his ears and clogged them, like he did the first time they'd met. The blast of sound that came a few moments later was still deafening, but he was pretty sure his eardrums didn't rupture. The bandits weren't so lucky, and both collapsed.

In a panic Eckhart attempted to stand up, only to collapse again. The arrow was lodged in his leg, which was at risk of becoming infected if he didn't take care of it soon. As he unclogged his ears, he could hear the the bandits scream in agony. Glancing to his side, Eckhart saw one of them writhing on the ground, eyes glassy. His pants were wet, having apparently pissed himself in fear. Eckhart began to slowly crawl backwards, never taking his eyes off of the turquoise dragon in front of him.

Ekhart's mind was white with fear. He couldn't think of anything but survival- something that looked to be impossible. Finally, he was able to stammer out some words, tears forming in his eyes..

"Sh-she said you leave me alone! Why did you come back!"

Blink

The illusion only lasted for a few seconds but would feel like an eternity to the two men. In Kaida's dungeon, they would be submitted to tortures unheard of and unimaginable to anyone but the young dragon. She really did have a knack for torturing humans to the brink of insanity and these two were no exception.

Still in her dragon form and the two men stuck in an illusion Kaida found the rest of disposing of them quite easy. The first she stomped up to bending her neck to grab in her jaws. Her teeth sunk into his flesh, the venom of her saliva causing further paralysis to fall upon him. As she turned the second fell victim to a swipe of her plated tail, the pointed scales ripping at his skin and causing corruption to slowly begin to spread.

With the other still at the mercy of her jaw, Kaida flung her head upwards, flinging the man as she finally released him. His body hit the soil with a loud thump a few meters away, the life gone from his eyes. Turning back to the remaining man he seemed to fall victim to her corruption sooner than she had hoped, both of the men now gone from this world.

Her attention then turned to Eckhart, who looked like he was about to wet himself as one of the men had. Slowly her body began to shrink, features becoming less reptilian and more human. Eckhart would soon find himself cowering before the small girl once more, a smile on her face as she looked again at the two men lying lifeless on the ground... almost disappointed they had fallen so easily into her hand.

"I've still got it"

"You're sister and I have come to an agreement. I assume she would not have an issue with me saving your life." Kaida pretended to act annoyed while her gaze locked onto the arrow in his leg. "Well, are you gonna fix yourself or not?"

Taking a few more steps towards him she crouched down, slinking her arms over her knees as she stared at him fascinated. "Go on then... do it."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart watched in fear as Kaida proceeded to kill the bandits she had just incapacitated. It seemed so... unnecessary, and yet she did it anyways. Particularly horrifying was the man she seemed to have dissolved away with her cell destruction ability- and yet Eckhart found himself unable to look away. It was was the antithesis to everything Eckhart knew how to do, and yet he found himself morbidly fascinated by it. "Sweet Ansgar, that could have been me... I wonder how she gets it to work on it's own like that? I can't heal people without constant skin contact, but she only touched that guy once."

The dragon began to shrink back into her human form, and she was soon standing over Eckhart with an annoyed expression on her face. Then she said something that was both relieving and  horrifying at the same time- his sister and the dragon were apparently working together. Still, he couldn't say it surprised him. "Hilda was always good at making friends. Still though, with her of all people..."

The dragon then sat down and asked if Eckhart was going to heal himself. Eckhart gave her a confused, scared look- he really couldn't comprehend why she'd care about his injuries. Still, she had a point. "Um... yes, right." he said nervously as he snapped the shaft of the arrow with his hand. He slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position, then pulled his scalpel out of his coat pocket and began to cut the arrowhead out of his thigh, using his powers to stem the bleeding. After a minute he had managed to get it out, then quickly regenerated his cells to heal the opening. As the blue-green light faded from his hands, he turned to look at Kaida. "Why is she just staring at me like that? That's fucking creepy."

"Well..." Eckhart said cautiously. "Uh, thanks for the help, but I need to go now." He attempted to stand, but his leg was still too weak. He collapsed again, wincing in pain. "Damn it, why? Why can't anything ever go right?" Laughing nervously, Eckhart put on a false smile. "Haha, I still don't know how to numb pain. Gimme a moment and I'll be out of your hair." Pulling off his backpack, he'd push aside the earring he had tied to the button and begin to rummage through his herbs. "Come on, I must have some arnica petals in here somewhere." he muttered to himself. "Please get bored and leave, I don't want to be around you. Like, ever."


Blink

Watching on in awe Kaida's eyes locked on the blue-green light as Eckhart healed himself. Nothing else mattered as she took in the sight of it, clearly enchanted by the ability the boy thought as nothing more than healing.

However, when he said goodbye Kaida tilted her head, clearly disappointed by his want to suddenly depart. She was about to speak up, no doubt say something snarky and condescending to get a rise out of him, but then he fell. Of course, she didn't move to help him and had a half smile when he winced from collapsing.

Still, she remained silent, studying the boy as he pretended that getting away from her was because he was afraid of being a nuisance. Kaida had seen this before, the way his body language displayed clear discomfort from her very presence. "Black Pheonix" she muttered, moving from her crouched position to sitting cross-legged in the dirt in front of him.

"The feather is a black phoenix feather. It was a gift from my eldest brother."

What was this? Kaida was sharing personal information with Cranberry. Perhaps it was a break in her normal mentality, a silent cry to finally talk to someone who didn't see her as an enemy... or pure boredom. Maybe even a way of her trying to show Eckhart that even she has a family and that somewhere in her chest was a heart.

"I imagine that was why they were chasing you." Kaida then gestured towards the two bodies laying in the background, as if they were nothing more than part of the landscape. "I suggest you hide it better." She wouldn't ask for it back, despite the meaning it carried. The meaning of a family once with strong ties, siblings once living together as a happy family. The earring was a trophy now, a prize for the battle Cranberry had won against her.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart froze when Kaida brought up the earring. "Shit, here it comes. I should have sold it." After the initial shock that came when he realized she didn't want it back, Eckhart was able to process what she had actually said. "Wait, phoenix feathers are a reagent- it like, cures everything." As he looked at the dragon, Eckhart's eyes lit up. "This is worth a small fortune! And she's letting me keep it? I'm set for life!"

Slightly less frightened now, Eckhart slowly began to speak. "...Your brother, huh? He's the vampire, right?" Getting a bit flustered, he scratched the back of his head. "Ah, um, Jaela told me about your family. She talks, like, a lot."

"Okay, this is really weird. Am I actually having a conversation with her?"

Eckhart went quiet for a few seconds, staring into his bag. "This is wrong. Why is she being... not terrible? Is she just afraid of my sister?" Finally, he mustered up all his courage and looked Kaida in the eyes. His voice trembled as he spoke, and he began to fiddle with his necklace nervously. "So, uh... are you... do you not, um..."

"Sweet Ansgar, spit it out already. I look like a fucking idiot."

"...Don't you hate me?"

Blink

Still sitting in the dirt across from him Kaida listened curiously as he asked first about her brother and then talked about Jaela.

"Hate is such a strong word. Perhaps entertained would fit better." One thing Kaida could always be known for was her brutal honesty. "I don't hate someone unless they give me a good reason to." Again, Kaida being honest.

"For example, my brother Electi... I hate him" Despite the grim topic Kaida remained cool, acting as if it were just a casual conversation. "He is the one who gave me the earrings, not Aeizith." She had hoped Eckhart would catch on to what she was saying. Aeizith being the 'vampire' brother.

"I think you would have hated him. He had the ability to bend your will and twist your emotions. He could make you think you were not mad about a situation or make you calm when you had every right to be upset."

Kaida scoffed as she recalled the time Electi tried to calm her down with force, something that ultimately made things worse in the long run.

Jumping back to his last question Kaida added to her statement of him being entertaining. "However, if you ever attack me again I won't be so nice." She glared at him, making it known that while now it was funny to look back at what had happened, it would not be tolerated a second time around.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

A bead of sweat ran down the back of Eckhart's neck as Kaida told him that she wouldn't tolerate another attack. "You attacked me, you bitch." is what he wanted to tell her, but common sense held him back. He instead nodded hurriedly. "U-understood Miss Black-Hearth. It won't happen again." He cringed internally when he called her "miss", but he felt it was a smart move. "Dragons have an ego in almost every story they appear in. Assuming Kaida is the same, I may be able to schmooze my way out of this."

Cautious, Eckhart decided to keep the conversation on the subject of family- it was what she had chosen to talk about, so he figured it was a "safe" topic. "She dislikes her oldest brother, so I'll build on that- make her feel like I'm a person she can vent to." As he thought this, he felt a pang of guilt for scheming to manipulate the dragon like this. "I'm not like her." he tried to tell himself. "She does it to gain power over people, I'm just trying to survive."

"She already made it clear she wouldn't kill you though." a small voice in his head reminded him. "You have no reason to play with her emotions like your sister would, so why would you?"

Now feeling very unsure of himself, Eckhart tried to engage with Kaida anyways. "Your brother sounds like a real piece of work." he told the dragon truthfully. "I thought my sister was overbearing, but Electi sounds like he takes the cake." As he mentioned his sister, he felt a pit begin to form in his stomach. "I'll be just like her if I do this. I need to stop, now."

Laughing nervously, Eckhart began rummaging through his bag once more. "Haha, I'm sure you knew that already though- about both of them." He realized that he must have run out of painkillers at some point, and set his backpack to the side. Curiosity getting the better of him, he turned to Kaida.

"So... How is my sister? She's doing okay, right?"

Blink

Kaida scoffed at the mention of 'miss Black-Hearth'. All formality aside she could never stand being called that, seeing it more as a title with no meaning behind it. It was as impersonal as you could get as far as she was considered and almost found it insulting.

"It's Kaida... just Kaida" she corrected.

At the mention of Hildegarde Kaida's mood continued to visually sour. Of course, she had made a form of truce with the woman, but that was it. Hildegarde thought of Kaida as nothing more than a pawn in her game and Kaida knew it. She could see it every time she visited her, that hunger to control that her own sister held at one point.

"She seems well enough"

Leaning back on her hands the girl shifted her weight, clearly trying to get more comfortable with the fact she was actually managing a casual conversation with someone for once. "I guess this isn't THAT horrible"

"I do have a question though. If you and your sister get along then why are you not with her in Zannrick with her little misfit posse?" Smirking she continued. "Seems like you would fit in well enough..."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"If you and your sister get along then why are you not with her in Zantaric with her little misfit posse? Seems like you would fit in well enough..."

Eckhart stared at the dragon for a few seconds, trying to think of a way to answer her. Finally, he spoke.

"My sister... is a bad person." he began. "I know that. Everybody knows that. Um..." Eckhart faltered. "When... when she left, I tried to go with her. I wanted to be there for her, make sure she stayed safe. She wouldn't have it. Told me I was worthless." He smiled feebly. "She was probably right. I can't see myself being anything more than a burden to her."

"To anyone, more like. You can't even mend broken bones."

"Honestly... I'm probably better off." he continued sadly. "People like her... when you do bad things, fate finds a way to pay you back. Someday, she's going to meet somebody she can't control. I... I don't want to be around when that happens." Tears began to well up in his eyes as he spoke, and his voice trembled. "H-have you ever known that somebody was terrible, but y-you couldn't stop yourself from loving them anyway?"

"What am I doing telling her this? She doesn't care, you know that."

Eckhart looked at his feet. "I'm sorry for bothering you. It's not my place."


Blink

The atmosphere quickly shifted as Eckhart responded, the topic clearly more delicate than Kaida had anticipated.

"At least he is not in denial" she thought as he stated Hildegarde was a bad person.

In an attempt to show some form of grief for the poor boy Kaida merely pursed her lips, doing her best not to insert some form of a witty and heartless comment. However, with his question, it struck Kaida somewhere deep. It made her chest tighten and hurt at the very mention of such a person, someone so horrible yet you loved them still.

Standing up she brushed the dust off of her clothing before turning away from him, her arms crossed over one another as she stared down the path she had come. "You would think that if someone that terrible were in your life that you would step away. That you would turn your back and not bat an eye at such a horrific being..."

Flashbacks of memories with Emelia flooded her mind at the very thought. Images of a young Kaida smiling on as she watched her sister mercilessly terrorize and ruin everyone, including her family. It was all too easy to fall into place in a situation like that and Kaida knew it.

"If it helps.... I think that people like that don't realize how awful they really are. They don't realize how much they hurt the ones that love them most by doing it. You are a strong person for not falling into place beside her." 

Kaida's shoulders lifted and fell as she took in a deep breath before turning back around, a fake smile plastered on her face. "One day your sister will need you Eckhart, and on that day you will have to decide if she can be saved or if you should just walk away."

Taking a look at him she could tell he needed some form of comfort and other than her words she had nothing. Kaida had only every hugged her family, and even then it was almost unbearable.

"And stop apologizing. It is really annoying."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

To Eckhart's surprise, Kaida didn't mock him. He had been sure that she'd blow him off, but the way she reacted was entirely different from what he expected. What surprised him even more was her assertion that Eckhart was a strong person. It took everything Eckhart had to not burst into tears at this- nobody had ever said that to him before now.

When Kaida turned around, Eckhart recognized the smile on her face. "I make that face all the time- it's fake. Something is upsetting her." Still, what she told him about having to determine if his sister could be saved hit him hard. Rubbing his eyes with his sleeve, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. "I can't think about that now, not in front of her."

As the dragon chastised him for apologizing, Eckhart went red in the face. "Sorry- I mean, no, not sorry. I-I'll try to stop." Looking Kaida in the eyes, he tried to gauge whether or not she truly understood how he felt. "Do... do you have somebody like her? The way you speak, it's..."

Eckhart could hear horses in the distance. "Shit, we need to get out of the road." he said as he picked up his bag and attempted to stand up once more. Eckhart could only made a few steps before collapsed again. "Damn it, why?" Looking a Kaida with a desperate expression on his face, he'd ask her for help.

"Could, um, you please help me? I don't want to be seen with the dead bodies, that'd be really bad. We could go sit by that tree over there, see?" he said while pointing at the tree in question. "I really don't want to get in trouble."

Blink

Her eyes narrowed at his apologizing again, though he quickly recovered but throwing her off with another question. Her eyes went wide and the young dragon found herself wondering what she had done to give it away... how did he know?

Before she could even answer though another distraction hit them, sounds from up the road of someone coming down the road. Again her agitation was evident as he failed to stand and then asked her for help. "Idiot... just fix yourself" Kaida, of course, knew his real potential and was disappointed that he had yet to figure it out.

Sighing she looked down the road, gauging just how much time they had before Cranberry became a flattened pile of flesh. "That tree does like quite lovely" she mumbled, stepping off the road to walk towards it. Turning to look over her shoulder she could see that Eckhart had still failed to move, causing her eyes to involuntarily roll.

Walking back up to him she grabbed the hood of his coat and started dragging him, making no effort to be sure she was gentle about it. "You know that this is now twice in one day...." Even when they were off the road she continued to drag him all the way up to the tree, finally flinging his hood over his head before finding her place on a stone.

Sitting down she placed one elbow on her knee, propping her head up as she went back to staring at Cranberry like he was an idiot. All in all, she had hoped that the interruption caused him to forget he had even asked her a question.

"I swear to god if you ask to ride me next I will leave you to die."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Wh-what!" Eckhart cried as he was dragged through the dirt by the hood of his coat. "Hey, stop it!" Upon reaching the tree Kaida unceremoniously dropped him, causing his hood to fall over his head. Wincing as he pulled himself up against the tree, he shot the dragon a look. He would have said something too, but she cut him off before he could speak.

"Um, right. I'm pretty sure I'd need some kind of saddle for that anyway." Eckhart said nervously, looking back at the road. The carriage he had heard approaching had just come into view, an it appeared to be slowing down at the sight of the two dead bandits. "... Thank you." he finally said, looking at the dragon. 'I... I owe you. I know it's not much, but if you ever need healing, or somebody who knows how to cook..." He paused. "Sweet Ansgar, I'm doing a terrible job selling myself here."

"... I'm your guy."

Blink

Her expression only grew darker at his mention of a saddle. Such deplorable things meant for livestock and horses never meant to be on the back of something as majestic as a dragon. Her gaze then followed his as the carriage began to slow down by the dead bandits.

"Get out and trying something you idiots" Her thoughts a silent dare to something that would likely not happen. Kaida was not in the mood to deal with any further disruptions today, and the next group of trouble makers she ran into would not find a death as merciful as the bandits did. This, of course, meaning Kaida thought the bandits had died easily....


Clicking her tongue on the roof of her mouth the young dragon set her sites on Eckhart once more, deciding now was the time to bring the question lingering in her mind to light.

"You always seem so concerned with feeding me," Kaida smirked, her current attitude almost unreadable. Was she angry? Annoyed? Perhaps perplexed? Maybe even nostalgic.


"I will make you a deal Cranberry. When I was with your sister she received the report that you had gotten her letter. The boy who brought it to you... he said there was a woman with you." Kaida stood up and began slowly pacing, a hand held to her chin as she tried to determine how best to approach the question.

"If you tell me her name I will let you make me a shepherd's pie. It's really quite simple... a name for the pleasure of knowing I am trying your food. And if that is not enough I would even go as far to say that your debt to me would be settled. "

Eckhart_Von_Musel

To say Eckhart was taken aback by Kaida's question was an understatement. "The- the person I was with when I got the letter from Hildegarde?" he repeated back to her, feeling very confused. "You need her... name?"

"Eckhart, this is Kaida taunting you." a small voice in his head told him. "She knows you can't answer such an absurd question, so she's holding it over your head. She has no intention of ever letting you repay your debt."

"Um... let me see. She was blonde, I think?" Eckhart began, unsure of why he was even bothering to answer. "Uh, she never gave me a name..." Trying his hardest to remember what was truly an insignificant moment of his life, details of the encounter slowly began to resurface. "Okay, yes. I remember that she was homeless, and that she had multiple infected wounds. I used a poultice made from licorice root to treat the infections. She called me a worm, and she didn't pay me." Smiling sheepishly, he shrugged. "That's all I remember, sor-" he cut himself off before he could apologize. "Ah, yes, that's everything."

"Wait! She had a really big chest!" Eckhart suddenly remembered. He cupped his hands in front of his of his torso as if to show how big the injured woman's breasts were. "Like, just massive!" Suddenly remembering who he was speaking to, Eckhart went red in the face and looked away. "I-I suppose that really doesn't help. Sorry."

"Wow. I actually just said that to her, huh? Sweet Ansgar, I'm fucking stupid."

Blink

Crimson eyes narrowed as Eckhart began doing everything but saying Emelia's name. "Just fucking say it" He was avoiding, telling her everything she needed but those simple sounds. Yes, she would call him a worm and of course her chest was rediculously sized. However, Kaida couldn't help but wonder if he was making up the infections part.

"Wait... Infections?" Taking her place back on the rock Kaida now seemed more confused than ever. "Emelia doesn't get infections, you must be confused." And without knowing it Kaida had just told Eckhart that she knew the name she asked.

As far as his display of displaying just how large Emelia's breasts were Kaida merely shrugged it off, that kind of display being something that would probably never bother her. Growing up with her sister you get used to that sort of thing.


Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart's raised an eyebrow when Kaida gave him the name she herself had been asking for. Even more bizarre was the assertion that this "Emilia" didn't have any infections. "Um... Do you know her? Because I can tell you that she did, in fact, have infections. There were three, one on the small of her back and two on her left foot." Eckhart was beginning to remember the encounter a bit more visibly now. "Come to think of it, when me and that kid in the makeup were talking about you she got really pissy."

Eckhart suddenly remembered the shocked expression on the dragon's face when he asked if she had somebody like Hildegarde in her life. "Kaida?" he'd ask, a serious expression on his face. "Who did I meet?"

Blink

As Eckhart continued to relive his encounter with Emelia Kaida fell deeper into despair. By now her head was buried in her hands as strands of her hair fell over her shoulders. Her shoulders were slumped and the young dragoness embodied everything but the poised girl she always led others to see.

"Emelia Black Hearth. Thousands of years old Void Dragon. The leader of a once-powerful army. Destroyer of anything good. Enslaver of nations." Quietly Kaida added a bit more to her speech, although Eckhart probably wouldn't hear it. "....allegedly."

Slowly she lifted her head, peeking through her fingers at the boy sitting in front of her.

"You met my sister."

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