A surprise visit. (Dar)

Where?  An old, abandoned home.  When?  Early morning.  Who?  A little girl named Annie, with a small talent for magic....and another girl named Shivering Jemmy, who was watching the girl innocently sleep.  As for what, why, and how?  ...God only knows.  

Normally, Jemmy wouldn't have been able to sneak up on her like this, as her guardian Kasha would have noticed her presence, alerted Annie, and been ready to defend her.  However this was one of the nights that Kasha had gone out to gather food for her for when she woke the next morning.  He knew how much she needed it; she had a difficult enough time getting to sleep last night due to cold AND hunger.  Kasha had not yet returned, and though he was headed back, he was still a waise away yet.  Annie was too far asleep to notice the visitor even with the ability to sense the presence of minds; but as she started to drift back she noticed something...something strange and disturbing nearby.  She started becoming aware of her senses, including her ability to feel the minds of nearby people; and the feeling of the mind of a Lord of Chaos was something that certainly stuck out.  

She started to lightly stir, still not fully conscious; then after a few moments blinked her eyes open.  She moved them to fix on the source of the feeling, but her vision was still blurry from having just woken up; and for now she was just becoming aware of her surroundings.  One thing was for sure though, she was not alone this morning; and it wasn't Victoria returning.

Annie would see Jemmy's glowing orange eyes looking down at her. Her lips parted in a wide smile, revealing yellow teeth. The girl was shivering, which was appropriate on this cold night. She was only wearing a light blue dress, and her feet were bare. "Hello," Jemmy said. "This doesn't seem like a very good home, does it? Why are you sleeping here? You're not homeless, are you?"

A red balloon could be seen floating above the Lord of Chaos, held by a ribbon in the little girl's hand. Annie would be able to sense a small mind from the balloon, a feral, violent mind.

Jemmy herself was looking at her newest toy, Annie, trying to decide how to have the most fun with the human. "I see you're reading my mind," Jemmy said. "I know because I was reading your mind. Does that mean we're actually reading our own minds? Funny."

Jemmy sat down on the ground, becoming more level with Annie. "Tell me, do you think I'm pretty? Someone told me I was pretty a while ago. I want to know if they were telling the truth."

Annie blinked and her eyes fully opened as she became fully aware of her surroundings.  Startled by the sudden and full realization of the situation, she jumped to sit up and scooted back a bit as she looked at Jemmy.  The feeling of Jemmy and her balloon were more or less discomforting; but honestly she jumped mostly out of surprise.  Who was this girl?  Why did she feel so...so...it was hard to explain.  Chaotic, twisted, constantly fluctuating; Annie hadn't felt anyone like this before and it felt crazy to her that someone could have a mind like that.  And the balloon...it had a mind too.  It was scary to focus on, but wasn't as big of an attention grabber as Jemmy was.  

Several blocks away, Kasha's was suddenly alerted by what he sensed from Annie.  Through the link they shared he was able to tell that she had awoken to find a strange girl watching her, and the way Jemmy felt made Kasha quite uneasy.  He already started looking for a place to stash away the food he collected in a safe place, which would give Annie the freedom to summon him back to her without so much worry of losing the spoils he had searched all night to get.  Jemmy may or may not be able to feel Kasha through Annie; as the link they had was quite close.  

Annie blinked and just looked at the girl and her balloon with a mix of sudden alertness, confusion, fear (though she wasn't sure how scared to be; as I said she was mostly just startled from waking up to find a strange girl watching her) and a good deal of questions.  She was hesitant to outright answer Jemmy's first set of questions, and first took a moment to look Jemmy over.  She was shivering and lightly dressed for this kind of weather, while Annie had been sleeping in her full set of clothes AND had a blanket over her, and was still a bit chilly.  She tried to decide whether or not to lie about being homeless (she didn't like admitting it), but figured it was pretty obvious and responded to Jemmy with a timid nod.  

Annie then blinked surprised as Jemmy said that she knew Annie was reading her mind; and was in fact reading Annie's back.  From what Annie could feel she knew Jemmy was telling the truth, and contemplated that for a moment; wondering if Jemmy could also feel Kasha.  

As Jemmy sat down Annie blinked, a bit surprised; but felt slightly more comfortable with the strange girl when she got down to meet Annie in this way.  Her question was odd, but as Annie looked at Jemmy a bit more she answered honestly but still with a hint of timidity, "Well...yeah.  You look pretty to me.  Why would you wonder about something like that?"  She looked over, then back to Jemmy and pointed.  "There's a mirior over there if you want to see for yourself."  

It was at this time that Annie decided to ask a question of her own.  She decided to start with just one that was pretty obvious, "Um..Are you..cold?  You're not wearing very much for how cold it is..."  She looked down at the warm, though somewhat dirty, blanket she had been sleeping under; and as a gesture of kindness held it out to Jemmy.  "You can wrap up if you want."

[OOC:  Also...I'm not sure when to place this as far as time order. Annie is in another thread with Bow, and she may or may not end up taking Annie to a better home and/or adopting her; so I think this will be before that.]

Jemmy didn't bother looking at the mirror. She knew what she looked like, but beauty was in the eye of the beholder. She wanted to know how others viewed her, and Annie's answer made her happy. It was a good thing to be pretty.

Annie offered her a blanket, and Jemmy accepted, wrapping herself up nice and warm. She kept shivering though. It was just what she did. "Thanks. You're a nice person. You don't deserve to be living here, homeless and alone. You have powers, magical powers. You could just take what you want from people, instead of stealing left overs."

This poor girl was the result of too much order. Because taking what you wanted was looked down upon by society, she was forced to live the life of a vagrant. Many rich people in their nice warm homes might even think Annie was a bad person for being poor. This situation required a little bit of chaos to set things right.

Jemmy tilted her head. "Tell me, Annie, what is it that you truly want?" She said the girl's name, although they hadn't been properly introduced. It would be redundant, though. They could read each other's minds, so what was the point of introductions? Annie should at least know Jemmy's name by now, as well as what she was. The simple version: Jemmy was a girl with magical powers, a girl who spread chaos, a girl who was chaos.

Annie gave a smile to Jemmy as she took the blanket; though Annie would want it back.  That was her favorite blanket, not to mention her only blanket; and to keep herself warm she walked over and got her winter coat to put on before walking back and sitting down again.  

Kasha felt the situation and conversation going on via the link with Annie, and after a bit of though decided just to come the rest of the way home with the spoils.  He could feel Annie was hungry and a part of her was anticipating it; and he didn't want to just leave it someplace and risk it not being there if he returned for it.  He shifted to his cheetah form and started to run in a slight haste back to Annie.  He would be joining them before too long.  

Annie looked down at bit when Jemmy said that she didn't deserve this kind of life and should just take whatever she wanted by force rather than scavenging.  She thought about it, but didn't come to that conclusion.  She knew how it made people feel when she stole even something small, and doing so made her feel guilty and bad about herself.  How much worse would it be if she went further and took whatever she wanted from people?  Why should she make other people unhappy or suffer because of her own selfishness?  No...she just couldn't do that to people; and Kasha agreed that exploiting people for personal gain wasn't worth the damage it caused.  He would take care of her needs; he always had and always would.  

Annie looked up again when Jemmy asked what Annie wanted most, and thought about that for a bit.  As far as need, she was lacking in security.  No longer having parents made maintaining basic needs like food, shelter, comfort, and clean clothes a constant challenge.  But as far as her wants, when she thought about it, she realized her greatest desire was to be loved, protected, and cared for.  The thing is, she already had someone like that; her beloved Kasha.  Even now she could feel how much he loved and cared for her, and she gave a small smile and said to Jemmy, "Well...I guess...it would be nice if I had a better place to stay.  Maybe another change of clothes, or something softer to sleep on than the hard floor...  But...it's okay.  Kasha says that being happy is a choice; and it doesn't come from having what you want, but rather from wanting what you already have.  I guess that makes a lot of sense, and I guess...I guess what I want is Kasha.  He takes care of me; he always has.  He's always helped me, and loved me, and I know that as long as I have him then I'll be okay.

After saying this...she thought for a moment and realized that Jemmy knew Annie's name.  She gathered that it was due to her being able to read minds, but Annie couldn't go that deep into Jemmy's and find out her name that way.  So she asked politely; "Um...I'm sorry; can I ask what your name is?  And..."  She looked at the red balloon; a little afraid of how it felt.  "Does he have a name too?"

Jemmy looked at Annie, confused. There were a lot of things she wanted, like food, shelter, and clothing. But at the same time, she didn't want those things? Jemmy couldn't understand it. Shallow, selfish pleasures were the only things worth seeking, but Annie said that she was happy with what she had, with Kasha.

Don't seek what you want? Want what you have? That was a strange concept, one that Jemmy hadn't considered. She thought it over, but it didn't make any sense to her. This little girl, Annie, sounded wise, even if Jemmy wasn't sure why.

Annie asked for Jemmy's name, as well as the name of her balloon. Annie seemed to be having trouble reading Jemmy's mind, which Jemmy decided she couldn't be surprised by. She didn't understand her own mind sometimes.

"I'm Jemmy, and I'm a really important person, like Santa Claus." Children wouldn't understand things like cosmic entities, order versus chaos, and abstract incarnations. All Annie needed to know was that Jemmy was important. She pointed at the balloon. "He's Red. He's not as nice as your Kasha, so he's usually just kinda asleep, like he is now. You can still talk to him, but he might scare you if you wake him up." She looked up at the balloon and made a cute face. "Isn't that right?"

The balloon's telepathic response was something along the lines of 'Whatever you say, Mistress.'

Jemmy felt a little sad that she couldn't grant wishes anymore. If she still had that power, then she might have been able to fix a lot of Annie's problems for her. But now things had to be done the hard way. Even when she had still possessed that ability, she hadn't used it to help anyone.

"Hey, can I ask you a strange question? Will you forgive me?"

Annie listened as Jemmy said her name, and that she was important.  She could feel that Jemmy wasn't quite like Santa, but got the general idea that there was something important, special, and unique about her.  She could tell that just by feeling Jemmy's mind.  

Jemmy introduced her balloon as Red, and Annie looked to it as she explained a bit about it.  She found it strange that something like a balloon had a mind of it's own...or maybe it just looked like a balloon.  She didn't know.  She listened as Jemmy spoke to the balloon, and it gave a telepathic response.  The balloon's response wasn't exactly in the form of words, but more of a direct feeling [OOC: Correct me if I'm wrong on that.], but it didn't surprises Annie any.  Kasha talked to her in the exact same way; in fact the two of them were constantly sharing information.  Even now she could tell that Kasha was almost home and was in fact on the home stretch.  Annie politely nodded and addressed them both.  "Hi Red; and hello Jemmy."  

Annie felt Jemmy feel a bit sad; something about not being able to do what she used to be able to, and she couldn't use whatever that was to help Annie. She blinked when Jemmy asked if Annie would forgive her; it was indeed a strange question.  Sort of.  Annie wondered if Jemmy was asking her for forgiveness for something she had done in the past...or something she WOULD do in the future.  A little uncertain, Annie asked; "..Forgive you for what?"

Jemmy sighed. "For a lot of stuff. I've done a lot of bad stuff: stealing, hurting people, stuff like that. I did it to try to make myself happy, but I just can't seem to stay happy for very long."

Jemmy studied Annie. The girl had nothing, but she was happy. Jemmy, on the other hand, had everything she wanted. She had always had everything she wanted, but she still wasn't happy. If only there was a way for her to be more content.

But she was Chaos incarnate. Chaos couldn't be peaceful and content, right? Was it possibly to have lasting, chaotic joy? No. Nothing ever stayed with Jemmy very long. Not happiness, not people, not even her powers. To her, the world didn't make sense. It was inconsistent, and while that inconsistency was what gave her life, it also made that life hard to live.

Annie said that Kasha loved her. Jemmy glanced up at Red, her balloon. It certainly didn't love Jemmy. It was a tool, a familiar, an anchor. It did what Jemmy commanded, and nothing more. Although Jemmy might pour her love into it, it could never feel anything for her in return.

"Say, how do I make someone love me?"

Annie listened as Jemmy explained that she had done a lot of really bad things, all in an attempt to make herself happy; but none of it seemed to work.  She understood how it felt; always wanting something more but nothing seemed to be a permanant way to make her happy.  She had felt it in a lot of people before, and Annie and Kasha wondered if they could help Jemmy.  

Speaking of Kasha; the magic familiar, still in his cheetah form, came in from a hole in another room covered only by a cloth, and made his way in to where Annie and Jemmy were.  He stopped in the doorway and looked at the two of them.  Annie noticed his arrival immediately and looked at him; a bright smile lighting up her face.  "Kasha you're back!"  Kasha was holding a Jimmy John's sandwich bag in his mouth, and made his way over to Annie.  She got up on her knees to greet him, and he set the bag down by her before being embraced with a hug around his neck.  Kasha soon started to purr and lick Annie's face affectionately.  His emotions where that of gratitude and slight relief; glad that Annie had made it safely through the night and sorry that he had to leave her to get food for her.  He didn't like leaving Annie alone, and was glad to be with her again.  

Annie felt all this and giggled happily as he licked her over, and responded in a loving tone; "Mahp-tahk k'see, Kasha.  Eeh-ks ten."  The words were of no known language, and at the same time that Annie spoke the words she sent a complex, multi-layered, telepathic message to Kasha that just seemed to fit with the syllables of the spoken words.  The message consisted of the following feelings and emotions, sort of scrambled together; -Thank you very much Kasha.  It's okay.  I love you very much too.  I'm really grateful for what you got me; I kinda needed it.  I know you'll take care of me just like you always do.  Thank you for loving me Kasha.-  

Annie kissed Kasha after saying this, and he gave her a nuzzle on her cheek.  In doing so he returned feelings; again expressing that he was grateful she was okay, accepting her thanks and welcoming her for him getting her food, and a reassurance that he would indeed take care of her.  After all this he turned to look at Jemmy, and his emotions took a sudden turned form that of a loving caretaker to a skeptical protector.  However these feelings weren't as intense as they normally were when meeting a stranger, as Kasha figured that if Jemmy had any intention to harm Annie then she would have done so already.  Kasha relaxed just a bit, but kept himself alert simply due to the fact there was a stranger in their home.  As for the balloon, he would keep a close attention on that as well.  

Annie only half payed attention to these feelings in Kasha, as they were normal reactions to strangers.  He had to protect her from people that would hurt her after all; but Jemmy didn't really seem like that kind of a person...at least not right now anyway.  

Annie then blinked and turned to Jemmy at her question, and Annie thought about it.  Kasha looked to Annie again and the two exchanged information in order for Kasha to aid her thinking and provide her with information.  After a bit, Annie spoke, "Kasha says you can't really make people love you.  Love is a choice, like happiness.  You can make yourself easier or harder to love; but whether or not a person loves you is up to them."  Kasha felt just a tad bit of pride and a feeling of 'good job' as Annie perfectly reflected their thoughts, and he gave her a soft rub against her cheek as reinforcement.  

Annie giggled again at Kasha rubbing against her cheek, and her attention turned to her empty stomach.  She then started to rummage through the bag of sandwiches and soon pulled one out.  She unwrapped it to find a tasty looking BLT, and gave Kasha another thank you kiss before taking a bite out of it.  Upon swallowing the bite, she realized something and looked up at Jemmy.  She blinked, and then looked down at her sandwich again.  Not wanting to be rude, and figuring there were enough to go around and then some; so she looked back up to Jemmy and asked, "Um...Are you hungry?  There's enough to share."

Jemmy watched awkwardly as Annie and Kasha cuddled. They seemed to like each other so much, and Annie was very thankful just to get a sandwich. It was strange. Jemmy looked at her balloon as Kasha licked Annie and was rewarded with a kiss. "Wanna kiss?" Jemmy asked the balloon. The balloon made no reply. "Me neither," Jemmy said.

Annie said that you couldn't force someone to love you. Jemmy frowned. That was terrible news. How were you supposed to feel in control of your loved one if they had to choose to love you? Jemmy already had so little control in her life. She said you could make yourself easier or harder to love, but what was the point of that? You could do everything right and it was still possible for nobody to ever decide to love you, even over eternity.

Of course, as a Lord of Chaos, Jemmy knew that Annie's words were true. Chaos was all about choices, and all about freedom. While you could choose to limit someone's freedom, it made sense that there were ways you couldn't affect it. You couldn't make someone like you, and Jemmy hated that. For a moment, she hated being a Lord of Chaos.

Annie offered Jemmy some of the sandwich. It looked good, but Jemmy had made a promise recently to start being kind to people...at least some of the time. Jemmy shook her head. "No thanks. I've already had about 8,000 calories today, I think, including two gallons of ice cream." Jemmy felt bad for bringing that up, since Annie was essentially starving. That sandwich might have been all she had eaten today. "I could go get you some more food, if you want, but I'd have to steal it." She wondered if there was any way for her to make some money. She really didn't have any skills, so she couldn't get a job. Maybe she could work as a super-secret spy. She could teleport, after all, and she was willing to go anywhere. Suddenly, she had an idea. "Or, maybe I could threaten to kill someone unless they bought me some food. There wouldn't be anything wrong with that, right? Then I'd give some of it to you, of course."

There were more things Jemmy wanted to discuss with Annie. The girl seemed wise beyond her years. Jemmy thought about Necati. She hadn't seen him in a long time, and wasn't sure when she would see him next. Maybe it was time to stop having a crush on him and look for someone else. "So, if I was to tell someone that they had to love me or die, then they'd have to make a choice, right?" She smiled. "I could do that. Just hold a shotgun to their head until they make their decision."

As Annie munched on her sandwich, she blinked when Jemmy said that she had already eaten eight thousand calories worth of food.  "Oh; well...okay then."  The comment did kinda make her feel bad, but she didn't say anything or think on it for very long.  When Jemmy offered to steal to get Annie more food, she blinked half surprised and a bit grateful for the offer even.  But then Jemmy offered to threaten to KILL in order to get food, and she was suddenly alarmed by that.  "No!  Please don't do that!  You don't have to hurt anyone.  I mean...stealing isn't good; but at least no-one gets hurt.  Please don't hurt people just to get food."

Kasha calmly watched Jemmy and listened to her talk about giving people the choice between loving her or dying.  Annie felt a mixture of fear and sadness at this and pleaded, "Please don't do that either...  It's just not right; and, it can't make them love you either.  It'll make them scared of you, and that's not love.  It just doesn't work that way.  They have to WANT to love you. That comes by being kind to people; not threatening them."  

Annie was a bit scared right now.  She didn't want Jemmy to hurt or kill anyone because of what she wanted.  Isn't that what she JUST asked forgiveness for?  She hoped what she said helped Jemmy; she had responded rather soon in order to quickly deter Jemmy from those ideas.  A part of both Annie and Kasha wanted to help this girl; and they hoped that what Annie was saying did indeed help.

Jemmy frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Well, I'd only be hurting them if they didn't do what I want. What kind of idiot would rather die than buy me a twinkie? And what do you mean they have to want to love me? It's the same thing. I'd just tell them to want to love me, or else they die. Everyone wants to live, so they would want to love me, too."

Jemmy thought Annie had a lot of wisdom, but for this topic, she was sure that Annie was wrong. She couldn't see the logic of waiting for someone to love you on their own. So you couldn't do anything to them, and they just had to decide to love you for no reason? There was no reason to love someone if there was nothing to gain from it, of that Jemmy was certain.

"And I'd be kind to them. First, I'd be kind by not blowing them up when they decide to love me. And then once we're deeply in love, I'll give them all sorts of gifts. I'd give them flowers, and candy, and stuff like that."

Jemmy thought for a moment, trying to explain her feelings better. "Haven't you seen Beauty and the Beast? The cartoon movie? The Beast threatens to kill the girl's father unless she loves him, and it all ends up happy. The girl falls in love with the Beast, the father lives, and everyone's good. So, what's wrong with doing that?"

Jemmy sure did seem to have a screwed up sense of how things worked.  Admittedly, Annie had rushed a bit to explain the error of Jemmy's thinking, and she could understand how Jemmy didn't get it.  She seemed like the kind of person that liked to be in control of people and was used to forcing people to do things in order to get what she wanted.  Annie and Kasha took some time to think about it, and exchanged thoughts via telepathy.  They realized that flat out proving Jemmy wrong would be extremely difficult if not impossible.  Rather than try to argue with her, they decided to try to provide her with an alternative thinking.  

Annie looked down and responded to Jemmy, a little timid; "I guess...I guess maybe that would work; but if we remember right, the girl didn't start falling in love with the beast until he started being really nice to her.  And...she didn't do whatever he wanted right from the start; because he was mean.  It wasn't until he made an effort to be nice to her that she started to feel okay around him; then started to fall in love with him."  She looked up at Jemmy.  "What I'm saying is, I guess, try being really nice to them from the beginning.  If you love them first, then it will be easier to love you back."  Kasha looked at Annie and gave her and nudge, along with a telepathic reminder and a prompt to go on.  She blinked and remembered, then continued; "Kasha also says that it would be better if you didn't threaten them at all, or try to MAKE them love you.  Because...I guess you could...but then they would only love you because they had to.  If you are nice and don't threaten them, then they might not fall in love...  But if they DO, then they will love you for who you are; and that means they will love you deeply and no mater what.  Isn't that worth more than love that is forced?"  

Kasha looked back to Jemmy again, and he and Annie both hoped that this would make sense to Jemmy.  The truth was that they wanted Jemmy to be happy like they were.  Jemmy just seemed to be searching for happiness in a...less than perfect manner by far.  They didn't want her hurting anyone else as she tried to find that happiness; but still wanted her to find it.  Everyone deserves a chance to be truly happy; a Lord of Chaos was no exception.

Jemmy listened to Annie. The girl said said that Belle hadn't loved the Beast until the Beast had started to be nice. She concluded that being nice to someone from the start would be the fastest way to get love, and that not threatening people was the only way to get someone to love you deeply. It was all very thought out, and Jemmy was impressed. The girl was smart.

Annie asked if having someone choose to love you no matter what was better than a love that was forced.

"No." Jemmy let the word sink in. "When you give people a choice, they will choose to hurt you. It's human nature." She pointed at her eyes, her ugly orange eyes. "I used to be prettier, you know. I had nice, normal blue eyes. Then I tried being nice to someone, and look what happened. They were mean to me. They called me names and tried to beat me up. I ended up getting so angry that my eyes were turned orange, permanently."

Jemmy stood up and took a few steps back, raising her voice. "If Beast hadn't kidnapped Belle, or threatened to kill her father, then she would have never fallen in love with him. Sure, she only loved him when he was nice, but if he hadn't been mean at first, she just would have left. And then all the servants would have been stuck as singing plates forever."

Jemmy turned and glared at Jump City, a city filled with people who should have grovelled at her feet. Instead, they had chosen to defy her, to hate her, and to hurt her. Of course, there were a few kind exceptions like Rain and Annie, but most of the people were cruel. The world had gone stagnant, and people's hearts had filled with ice because of the overwhelming order. It was her job to break that ice, to cause a little chaos, and to break the rules, to break ALL the rules.

"I deserve to have them love me for who I am, whether they want it or not. In fact, I deserve to have them want to love me, and I will find a way to do that. I will find a way to force everyone in Jump City to love me, and if they will die if they decide not to. Once they see my power, and the grace I give them by allowing them to live, they will all love me for who I truly am, in good times and in bad, for the rest of eternity, or else they will burn."

Jemmy looked back at Annie, her orange eyes glowing furiously now. "What about you? Do you love me? Of course, it's still your choice, but you're going to die if you say no. Well, what's your answer?"

No?  Jemmy said no to true love being better than forced love?  That caught Annie off guard.  Jemmy went on about how people will just hurt you when you give them a choice; and how she had been hurt by someone she had been nice to.  Annie couldn't help but feel sorry for Jemmy that this had happened.  Then Jemmy stood and raised her voice, and Annie became alarmed.  Kasha took the hint of possible hostility and shifted from cheetah to wolf form; then Annie slowly moved to set down the sandwich and put her arms around his neck for security.  

The way Jemmy spoke made Annie a little scared.  She sounded almost angry.  Jemmy started talking about her plans; plans to MAKE the people of Jump city love her or kill the people that wouldn't.  As she did so Annie grew more and more concerned and afraid, and Kasha's protectiveness of her grew in accordance to that fear.  No mater what happened, he would let NOTHING happen to Annie; and had started storing up magic energy just in case.  When Jemmy looked back at Annie, she became petrified.  Too scared for words, she set her face in Kasha's fur, shut her eyes, and clung to him tightly.  Kasha merely stared at Jemmy for a moment the same as he had been already; then looked down at Annie softly.  He gently nuzzled her, telepathically giving her words to say.  Annie sniffled and 'listened' to Kasha; then opened her eyes and spoke for Jemmy to hear.  "Why?  Why would you say something like that Jemmy?  You said that you've already hurt people in order to try and make yourself happy; that it didn't work, and you were sorry for it.  Why would you try the same thing again?"

Annie was scared to continue, but Kasha kept comforting and reassuring her; and she pressed on.  At this point, Kasha was providing most of the info; and he was basically using Annie to convey it.  "M-maybe...maybe you could get everyone to love you...maybe you could kill the people that don't.  But will that really make you happy Jemmy?  Or will it be just like all the times you've tried to take your happiness by force?"  She paused, taking a deep breath and letting it out again before continuing; "Happiness comes not from having what you want...but by wanting what you have.  ...By loving the people you have to love, in addition to being loved back by them.  ...It's a two way thing...that's why me and Kasha can be happy even though we have nothing.  Because we have each other; because I love him and he loves me back.  Kasha doesn't have to love me; he doesn't need anything from me like I need him.  But he loves me anyway...because it's what makes him happy.  Not just having someone love him...but loving someone too; it makes up for all the people that don't love him.  Kasha says that no matter who you are, there will always be someone out there that hates you.  If you spend your life looking for the people that don't love you, if you never spend time looking at the people that do, then it's no wonder you're not happy.  Instead of trying to build on what you can have, you're trying to gain what you never can.  You're too angry at the people that don't love you to be thankful or return the love of the people that do.  How can you be happy if you keep living like that?"

With tears in Annie's eyes, she looked up at Jemmy.  "I-I'll love you Jemmy...I really will; but what about you?  Do YOU love ME?  Of course, i-it's still your choice..."  She clung to Kasha tightly as she finished, "...But will you ever truly be happy if you don't?"