Little Talks

(OOC: Closed to Clopin and Cassie. Date is March 9th!)

You'll never find out...just stop trying...

Clopin gritted his teeth, attempting to tune out the voices whispering to him. It hadn't been long since his return, but even now, he was questioning if the voices he was hearing were real or not. No one else could hear them but him. Was he really going insane?

Dark brown eyes turned down to look at the page in front of him. There sat a spell, a spell for transformation. The Latin was a little difficult to make out, but with a little help from Dante, Clopin was sure he had it right.

It required some unconventional ingredients, but he was certain it was something he could ask either Bob or Pegasus to procure. The two were very good at finding items he needed for spells he decided to try and perform, even if they always asked why he was always messing with such dark magic. He never told them, especially Bob, who was much more curious, and knew more than he let on.

His eyes turned from the book to Cinderbelle and Dante. The silver wolfdog was sitting on the ground, paw holding open the page of Inferno that he was reading to Cinderbelle. The larger chimera had her head cocked to the side, listening intently to the epic poem. The gypsy king couldn't help but shake his head as he watched the two, with a strange mix of amusement and sadness.

She was the reason. The reason why he was dabbling in dark magic. The reason why he had left. When Belle died, the gypsy lost a large piece of his heart. He had smiled and tried to mean it, to help himself let go, but in the end, it had failed. And now that she was here once again, he had vowed to find a way to turn her back.

And finally, the solution was sitting right there in front of him.

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"General, I warned y'all not to mess with dark magic! It's bad! Now look at what y'all have done!"

The unicorn's warning were met with a light tap on his nose, which was all that Clopin could muster. He had awakened to find himself lying in a cot in the medical tent, with the pink-haired unicorn hovering over him, attempting to clean his ash-covered face.

I failed...again.

Bob lowered his horn to heal the gypsy king's small wounds, caused by the blast. Luckily, no one else had been injured, for he had performed the spell out in an abandoned part of the Pridelands. The unicorn had been the one to bring him to the MASH tent, berating him the entire way about the dangers of using unholy magic.

But Clopin didn't care. He had to do whatever it took, even if it meant using a hybrid of dark magic and alchemy to turn Belle back to her normal self. He sighed deeply, and waved Bob away.

"Go tend to the others here. I'll be fine."

Cassie had been in the MASH tent getting her leg checked up when Bob had come in carrying the general.
Her brown eyes followed the equine and human, one ear perked up as she listened to their argument, or rather, the unicorn scolding the other for some reason or another.

For a few minutes she turned her attention to the nurse, who was assesing her leg. After being deemed to be in a clean bill of health, the nurse left the Labrador and moved on to other things. Cassie hopped down from the cot and trotted over to the one on the opposite side of the room.

Part of her wanted to get out of the tent and away from the medecinial smell that stung her nose, but she also wanted to know what had brought Clopin to the MASH.
The gypsy king really did look worse for wear, and Cassie felt a small spark of worry worm it's way into her head.

"General Clopin, sir? Are you alright?"
Bit of a foolish question, seeing how he was in the medical tent, but she wanted to know if it was anything serious.

Bob shot the gypsy king a warning glance, as he made his way out of the tent. The semi-divine unicorn knew that Clopin was messing with some dark stuff, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before he got himself into something really bad, regardless of what that "Melquíades" had told Clopin when the two traveled together.

Back in the tent, Clopin lay on his side, resting his head on both of his hands as he mused about what had gone wrong. He had said everything correctly...he had the right ingredients...so what happened? Why did it all just blow up? And on top of his efforts to turn Belle back, he knew that one of his closest friends, Aladdin, was lying in the tent adjacent to him, recovering from his injuries as well.

General Clopin sir? Are you alright?

Clopin, with his musing having been interrupted, rolled over to see the cream colored Labrador staring back at him from the edge of the cot.

"Cassie?"

Clopin cleared his throat, and pushed himself up to an upright position, rubbing his face as he did so.

"I'm..well, I suppose I could be better. But it should be of no worry to you, mon petit. I will be fine." Clopin said, as a weak smile graced his features.

Cassie cocked her head to the side as she listened, picking up on the tiredness in his voice, and that coupled with the state Clopin was in, made Cassie more worried. Even if he insisted that she shouldn't worry, she couldn't help it, there was something wrong, that much she could tell, and as man's best friend, she wanted to help try and fix it or at least comfort him in any way she could.

The Labrador hopped up onto the cot, back paws scrabbling a little as she pulled herself up, and sat down next to the general. She lifted her head and looked up at him with her chocolate brown eyes.
"Are you sure? If there's anything I can do, even if you just need someone to talk to..."

That was the thing with Cassie, she always wanted to look out for the well being of others, even over herself. She always tried to bring them back up, and make them happy. She wanted to be a ray of sunshine in this ever darkening world.

The gypsy king watched silently as the young Labrador jumped up onto the cot, paws scrabbling as she did so. He scooted back a little to allow room for her to sit, and he withdrew his outstretched legs. He didn't want to admit it, but he was glad for the company. Of course, Cassie would probably only be scratching the tip of the iceberg, but it was better than having no one to talk to, besides himself.

Had Clopin not been in the war, he would have spoken with Esmeralda. Being as close as they were, each of them knew exactly how the other was feeling. And it was not uncommon for the two to sit and speak about their problems, hidden by the eccentric fabric covering Clopin's sleeping quarters in the Court of Miracles.

His eyes met Cassie's once again, and he sighed deeply, as he clasped his hands over his chest. Stories always were his strong suit.

"I suppose I could begin with what happened tonight, and why my hair looks the way it does." Clopin began, as he attempted to fix his singed hair.

"I fell in love with the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Her name was Belle. She was everything: kind, polite, and friendly. But because I couldn't protect her, I lost the one person who was my world." Clopin said, as his expression fell.

"When the human villains invaded our camp and sacked it, Belle was killed...and all I could do was stand and watch as she was slain in front of me. It kills me every day, knowing that I could have done something."

"Recently, I found my dear Belle again, but she was different. Twisted. I found her in the deserts of Agrabah, not long after my return. But she is now a large dog, much larger than you, mon petit. While I was gone, I traveled with another gypsy, named Melquíades. He taught me many things, and we visited fantastic places and people. But he also taught me things of magic, of alchemy. I have been reading over my books for days, attempting to find a cure to separate her from the dog she is intertwined with, and to bring her back to me."

The gypsy paused for a moment, and he hung his head in defeat, as his eyes focused on the dirt below the cot.

"Unfortunately, my attempts have been unsuccessful."