I cannot say how it is we come face to face, but in an instant he appears before me. I remember his face, yes I do, I remember how his eyes glow of lies and half truthes. He is a slithery snake. A trickster. He puts on an illusion but I see through it. Yes, I see through it and no one else does. No one else. No one but me, with his eyes. I halt but my blackened shoulders roll forward. My eyes grow and intensify. I do not back down with the skull in my mouth, my Roamin, who I now take with me.

He asks who, a question, does he care? No, he does not, his eyes tell me. Curious, perhaps, ignorant he is. Roamin is MINE though. MINE and he cannot have him. My lips rumble and my fur stands on edge. Ruby wishes to take over my jaws. She wishes me to snap but instead my jaws slightly lighten and tighten again on the skull in a faux snap towards him.

"He is MINE, not for you, MINE," I bark through my own teeth. He talked through his own teeth, he did, because he hides, always hiding, always dancing around his real thoughts.

"You speak behind TEETH, afraid of what your tongue might say? HM?" I say now, dropping the skull on the ground as my smaller form lunges forward slightly- daring to get closer, my own eyes of gold alit with a lack of fear. You think you can win against him? Laughable, Lillith purrs, my eyes twitching at her words within my ears.

"Shut up shut UP," I growl, my attention obviously waivering from him in that moment, but immediately fixating back upon him, him and that face, that face Solaris loved- even if I don't know why, why love something like a snake? Disgusting, I say.

"Roamin is NOT for you," I bark again, my black paws moving around the skull possessively. "I will bring him BACK you see, BACK, but Solaris? Yes, Solaris, he is not dead, how to bring him back, HM?" I question, the fur on my spine lessening if but slightly.

"Had things to do, he said, not here anymore, left, us all, everyone leaves, everyone leaves and everyone dies, you understand? DO you?" I ask, my smaller form jumping forward ever so slightly with each declaration- to the point we are chest to chest if he allows. We always end up this way, it seems, I think it is the only way...the only way to push through his teeth and lies.

"I must be here for him, yes, for him, not you, him, you see? Yes, you must see, this, you must know, he would not have trusted you, if you could not know," I say with my voice less intense than before, but still intense- cannot let my guard down with him, you see, Eden is one to cover up. No one else may see it but I see it. His eyes tell me everything- even if his tongue wont.



.