BEYOND 3A: BloodRed and ScaleBlack

The Second Feather: Her Name's Corna?

As if that day couldn't get any worse.

Yoko talked with everyone who would know that she lived alone, expressing her distress to her next door neighbours and her landlord, but to her surprise, everyone acted like the little red child has been living there even longer than Yoko herself and claiming that they've been living together just as long.

Yoko crashed on her bed, stressed beyond belief and frantically gathering the clues in her head to form an explanation for this bizarre event. An event so awfully timed that it will be used for comparisons for the rest of her life.

Yoko didn't have many valuables in her apartment and the ones she did have, like her smartphone and her framed portrait of Chris Hemsworth, was packed in her luggage and taken with her abroad, so it couldn't possibly be for theft purposes. The only reasonable theory he could come up with was that Corna was homeless and just so happened to pick her apartment, since it was empty for nearly six months.

Couldn't Yoko just kick her out?

She tried to, but with how the general populace of the complex viewed the little red invader, Yoko would have been scorned and excommunicated for the rest of history if she succeeded.

While she was wallowing in her confusion and anxiety, she saw, out of the corner of her eye, Corna leaving the apartment with a small wallet in her hand, so she decided to follow her from afar in order to gather clues.

After a while, Corna reached her destination, which was the closest Petsmart she could find. She stood in front of its entrance motionlessly while Yoko was hiding in a nearby bush until the girl shouted: "I can see you, y'know!"

Yoko: "No, you can't!"

Corna: "You're not even trying to be inconspicuous!"

Yoko thought: "Damn it, how did she see me behind these bushes?"

The girl answered: "First off, I can hear you! Second, what bushes?! You're holding two branches over your face!"

Only after the second time did Yoko notice what was going on, she asked: "D-did you... Read my mind?"

The girl sighed, answered: "Yeah, I guess I did." and entered the store. Yoko caught up to her and asked: "Wait, just who the hell are you?!"

The girl turned back and introduced herself again: "I told you before, my name is Corna." right before proceeding to browse for dog food. Yoko interrupted her again: "Look, I don't know how or what you did to trick everyone else, but this has to stop now! You can't just invade my privacy like that! That's illegal!"

Corna: "Again, Calling the police on me is useless."

Yoko: "Ugh, I know! But if you keep this up I'll be forced to-"

Corna: "To do what, huh? Are you going to kill me?"

Yoko: "Well, no, but I guess I'll beat you up!"

Corna: "Wow, beating up an actual child, huh? You'll totally live that one down."

Yoko: "What? You think I won't do it?"

Corna: "I don't think that. I know that. You just came back from a successful sporting event, right? And you're looking to get a part-time job, too? Don't stain your resume just to shoo me out."

Yoko: "How the hell do you even know that?! Were you spying on me?!"

Corna: "I told you before as well. I know everything. Everything except for the things I should know."

Yoko: "Just what the hell are you?! And why did you choose my place to invade?!"

Corna: "What I am doesn't matter to you. There's an elementary school near the apartment complex, and your place was the only unoccupied one."

Yoko: "So you're trying to live near your place of education? Were you living by yourself? Where are your parents?"

Corna: "I don't have parents."

Yoko: "Oh, sorry for your loss."

Corna: "They're not dead, they just don't exist in the first place."

Yoko: "... Oh! So you're a Hylic Beyonder then?"

Corna: "You know about us?"

Yoko: "Yeah, I saw videos online. I didn't think they were real though."

Corna: "I wouldn't blame you, we're a bizarre bunch."

Yoko: "So, is messing with the other tenants heads a power you have?"

Corna: "Yep, not like it matters."

Yoko: "You... seem awfully depressed for a magical creature."

Corna: "...I don't even want to comment on that. Since you decided to roleplay an episode of scooby-doo on me, can you help me carry this while you're here?"

Yoko: "Beef jerky flavoured dog food? Who is it for?"

Corna: "You... really haven't noticed my companion?"

Yoko: "You have another one with you?!"

Corna: "Wow, you really didn't notice him, huh? I'll introduce you, just help me out."

While abiding her request and carrying the product which wasn't that heavy, Yoko noticed that aside from her weak arms, the reason she couldn't do it herself was because she was missing a few fingers. Yoko felt that it would be insensitive to ask about that, so she kept her mouth shut until they reached the cash register.

Yoko crossed her arms and said: "Just so you know, I'm not paying for that."

Corna: "Shut up, I know you don't have a penny to your name, I didn't ask you to pay."

She then took out the wallet she had earlier and paid for the product, prompting Yoko to ask again: "Where did you get all that money?"

Corna: "God, you are just brimming with questions."

Yoko: "You're the one who brought this on yourself."

Corna: "...I know."

Yoko: "...Eh, as long as that money wasn't robbed from my bank account, it's all good."

Corna: "Not like it'll be different if I really was stealing the money from you."

Yoko: "Wow, you are just cold-blooded."

Corna: "So are you."

Yoko: "You're the one who broke into my apartment!"

Corna: "And you're the one trying to kick me out. Get over it, I'll be gone before you know it."

Yoko: "The way you phrased that puts me off. I don't get the impression you're actually going to school to study."

Corna: "Whatever it is I'm doing matters to you the same way a spec of dust matters to a whale."

Yoko: "So... it doesn't-"

Corna: "Matter, yes."

Yoko: "...Is it at least a good-natured mission?"

Corna: "Dust. Whale."

Yoko: "Fine, fine, just don't cause me any problems and we'll be sorted."

Corna: "Alright, thank you."

Second Feather:

Plucked