"I've been someones pet, to be looked after for to long." her eyes betray a certain amount of lie in that, maybe she wants to be free but doesn't know how?

"I doubt that; if you were the type to be a pet, to be raised and watched over, you would never have left home. You wanted something; all people who act that way want something. Whether it's freedom, romance, some vague sense of wonder, it's always something that indulged dependence can't give them. You may not have known exactly what you wanted at the time, and you may not know now, but that's why I'm here.

If it doesn't bother you, could I start assensing you? It sometimes unsettles people; I glow a little bit, and my voice changes."

"Whatever, it's not like your scary."

Shen's skin glows stark white, and he starts to sound as if he's speaking with two voices at once, like there's a perfect echo that keeps pace with his voice.

"I think it's best to start where all this began. To state a cliche, how was your childhood? What were you like while you were getting good grades, and what brought about the change?"

"Bullies, a couple of girls decided I needed to be hurt."

"Why did they decide you needed to be hurt?"

"I gues they took exception tome kissing my girlfriend during recess."

"What drew you to her, and why did they care?"

"She was smart and beautiful, as to what they had against me, fuck knows, maybe they were jealous. I don't fucking know."

"Why did that change your grades, and more importantly, why did it change your outlook on life?"

"They just wear you down..." she breaks down into sobbing.

Shen levitates a tissue box to her, if there is one. If not, he uses the comlink and trodes to silently ask Cheerleader for one. "Are you talking about ambushes, destroyed homework? And is your disciplinary record what caused friction with your parents?"

She seems slightly surprised by the arrivalof the tissues, takes one and starts to wipe her eyes. After a couple of minutes she calms down a little and says, "Yeah, pretty much, they kept doing things to push me over the edge, following me round stepping on the backs of my shoes, opening my locker and leaving stuff in there. I couldn't tell a teacher they wouldn't have believed that those girls would do things like that."

"Why wouldn't they have believed you?"

"They were perfect students. It was a school for corporate management. Do you really think they cared that much about bullies as long as they were subtle?"

"What did you think of the school before they did what they did?"

"It was okay, I suppose."

"What about your parents?"

"They just got annoyed with me endangering my career prospects."

"How did you feel about them, before and after the problems?"

"They were okay I guess just busy and wanting me to be exactly like them, a proper dutiful child thing. I never really wanted any of that."

"What did you want?"

"I wanted to be an artist."

"What sort of artist, and what inspired you?"

"I really liked painting, i was a big fan of the pre-raphaelites, but I liked some modern stuff too."

"What was it about those movements that inspired you?"

"I don't know really, I liked the imagery the pre-raphaelites used, though having read about them they were pretty pretentious. The rest I just really liked what the pictures said to me."

"Was it the sense of rebellion that those movements are often associated with, or did you find that to be pretentious? And did your parents do anything to suppress your interest?"

"They bitched at me for taking art over geography. I like the aesthetics that they used. Just the look and feel of the paintings."

"Why'd they want you to take geography? And when did you make this decision?"

"I was fourteen. They thought that it would be a better choice to get me into a university that had a good business school."

"This will sound silly and boorish, but how did being restricted make you feel? And could you go into more detail about how the art made you feel?"

"Restricted when?"

"I mean being told not to take art."

"I hated it, I hated my parents, everyone."

"Could you elaborate? It usually helps to focus on specifics when speaking about general anger, and self-analysis is good in any situation."

"I'm not sure, it was a while ago. I hated the fact that they wnated me to change MY mind. I hated the life they had planned for me. I hated the fact that the teachers supported them."

"Did you end up taking art class?"

"No. I then end my parents won. I ran away to run my own damn life and look what happened."

"What did you seek in the streets? Were you simply angry?"

"Angry mostly, a little freedom. I thought life would be better. It wasn't even before I got grabbed. I missed the implication in penniless artist."

"Has what has happened changed your desire to become an artist?"

"Not really I guess." her eyes seem to light up, "thank you. I'd forgotten so much of that."

"I don't suppose you've had much practice with painting."

"Not in a long while. Thankfully Kratos like my hands so left them intact."

"You feel like changing that?

And naming himself after a video game character..."

"huh?"

"Oh, Kratos is a character from an old video game called "God of War," where you kill the aformentioned god of war using blades attached to chains grafted to your arm. It's retarded and fun, like many video games are. You can get it on an AR emulator."

"Oh."

"Given your problems with him, I don't suggest you do it.

Are you thinking of taking up painting again?"