CLAMP no Miko was confused. She didn't get confused very often, because usually she was the one confusing people, not the other way around. So the idea of being confused was new to her, and it was confusing her. Which only made things worse.

She seemed to be randomly skipping through dimensions, never lingering long, and sometimes she wasn't really even there at all. Like an illusion. Dimension-skipping was old hat, as she did that all the time, but this skipping without rhyme or reason was starting to bewilder her.

There had also been once or twice when she was sure she'd heard her name being called, but when she'd turned to see who it was, the scenery had changed again. The first eighty or so switches she'd enjoyed, as insanity was right up her isle. The next hundred were amusing, as she discovered that half the time the people there couldn't see her. Nintey more switches later, she was starting to get bored with this. Just flipping back and forth with no chance to play with all the people and things she saw was not any fun. Now, she had hit the annoyed stage.

CLAMP no Miko got annoyed about as often as she got confused. That is to say, once in a blue moon. The trouble with an annoyed Miko was quite similar to the trouble with a frightened Miko. Things happened. Things which were not exactly condusive for a happy lifestyle for the people around her. To put it simply, she stopped trying (and failing) to do specific things, and just set a lot of power free with only one focus- Stop the annoyances.

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Kitty was crying. The empty space around her was littered with lifeless copies of people she knew, having been created out of her desire for companionship. The trouble had started when they merely stood there and did nothing. So she'd told them to say something, to smile, to laugh. They said "Something", they smiled, they laughed. And that was all.

Puppets. They were only puppets with no life of their own. She was still alone, and it was slowly driving her insane. All her life she'd never been alone for very long at all, having always had someone nearby when she needed a smile or a hug. The enforced solitary confinement she was currently restrained in was destroying her.

Her slow rocking back and forth caused her foot to brush the edge of a dark coloured wing. She looked down, seeing only the vague outline through her tears, trying to figure out what it was. A wing... a wing........

That set her to thinking, bringing her out of her self-induced ball of misery. A wing. A bird. Something of low intelligence so she didn't have to work out too many specifics, but something that could easily be given a personality so it could think on its own. Yes... start with that dark wing, but instead of a bird....

Shortly she had him, perched on her forearm, with his leathery wings, claws, and little nose. And very sharp teeth. She smiled. "Your name is Timothy," she told the bat.

Timothy chirped, exposing fang teeth. A vampire bat. She smiled and petted him, and the little bad rubbed his head against her hand happily. She was happy too, because she wasn't alone anymore. Timothy may not be any good to talk to, but at least he was someone. And not a puppet. He was real.

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