[b]Cynthia[/b]

"I've read about you before, I wasn't sure if you were real or not, though. No-one really seemed to know!" Cynthia let her excitement take hold. She truly, truly had... almost hoped Dolls were real. She didn't buy the whole thing about them being too dangerous to exist, since... well, the stories she read didn't make them sound that way! But then she didn't know if the stories were real, either... Until now! This was a real Doll, right in front of her, talking to her! And that was so new, and different... there was no way that Cynthia could be bored now! Puppeteers were bad, evil, there was nothing wrong with hunting them down or anything, and for a few moments Cynthia simply couldn't help but be incredibly excited by the prospect.

However, as she listened to Alice speak, she began to frown. What was wrong with trying to become friends with her? She didn't see anything wrong with that... frowning, Cynthia folded her arms.

"What's the problem with becoming friends?" she asked, "Are you anti-social or something?"

----

[b]Dead Heart Shooter[/b]

The Marionette was scaring her Master, too! That was just unacceptable! Unacceptable Unacceptable Unacceptable! Without a moment's pause, Dead Heart Shooter swung Rocket War forward, intending to slam it into the Marionette and knock her over. But she sprang back, and then charged, her silvery blade flashing to come far too close, to slip itself directly into Dead Heart Shooter's chest. She moved, but she felt it slice through her habit, and cut a thin line into her pale skin. For a few seconds, the wound bled, and the sting of pain reverberated through Dead Heart Shooter's chest. It hurt... it hurt... but that didn't matter! Nothing mattered when she was protecting Master! Taking advantage of her position, Dead Heart Shooter swung Rocket Peace down and slammed into into the Marionette. There was an ugly crunch as the woman was sent flying... and for a moment she lay still, blood oozing from her limp body. It was twisted in a way that it was not meant to be.

Dead Heart Shooter approached the limp form. She knew about Puppeteers, and what they did to their Marionettes. She could still see the woman's chest rising and falling with pained breaths... it was so inferior to her Master's chest. "That's what you get for trying to hurt Master! And it will only get worse! I'll rip you apart for trying to touch my Master!"

Just as the thin cut healed, without so much as a scratch, so did the bones in the Marionette's body snap back into place and reassemble themselves. The injuries healed, the blood stopped flowing... She quickly shot to her feet, and with an inhuman snarl lunged for Dead Heart Shooter. But this time, the smaller girl was ready. Her hand snapped forward, and before the Marionette could even have a chance to move... it had gone straight into the woman's body. She jerked, eyes wide in shock, as her blade arm pulsed and twisted... before reverting back to nothing but an ordinary arm. The woman let out a gasp... and then her body went limp as Dead Heart Shooter found it. And like poison from a wound, she drew it out. It was evil... pure evil! Trying to hurt her Master like that... trying to kill her... even if it wasn't a Puppeteer, there was only one thing to do. As she pulled it entirely from the now-unconscious(and still covered in her own blood, even if her wounds had healed) woman, she was the horrible thing in full. It wasn't unlike the woman it had been drawn from... but each limb ended in a silvery blade.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter what it was. It would die. Die. Die. Die. Die die die die die die diediediediediediediediediediedie

Dead Heart Shooter took aim, and at nearly point-black range fired.

It only took a few seconds for there to be nothing left of the Puppeteer but a spray of blood on the cobblestones, and across her own body. She lowered Rocket War, and the air warped and twisted until the weapon vanished entirely. Swiftly, she turned to her Master, ignoring the blood dripping from her even as it dissipated into light and fed into her body. The former Marionette simply lay unconscious a few feet away.

"Master! Master!" the blood vanished entirely as it fed into Dead Heart Shooter. Oh, if she wasn't already feeling wonderful from being with her Master, she'd feel that way from consuming that Puppeteer... "Master! Are you okay?! You're not hurt, are you?! I'd never forgive myself if you were, Master!"

And... she lept forward and threw her arms around her Master, nestling against her. "I don't know what I'd do! I'm so sorry she almost hurt you! It won't happen again, I promise!"

Dead Heart Shooter was nearly overwhelmed. Her Master was so soft, so beautiful, and she smelled so sweet... the smell of her Master alone as nearly overwhelming, and she was so close...