03-24-2009, 06:33 AM
The sun burned down on them as the two young girls chatted about everything that they could think of to pass the time. They quite literally discussed everything under the sun, from touch and go topics like the mark upon Ashe’s chest to deeper opinions on the world as a whole. Their situation was a repeated revisitation while family seemed to be a topic a bit touchier and unexplored.
“I can’t really tell you much about Rose,” Ashe began, taking a deep breath to continue past the unpleasant memory of the girl’s departure. Sage looked to the side at her and frowned, ready to interrupt Ashe to tell her that she didn’t have to talk about something that she didn’t want to, but Ashe verbally pushed past her. “What I can talk about is my real sister. Terra,” she proceeded, giving her friend a smile to comfort her.
Sage gave a small smile of her own before holstering her gun again, trying to listen to Ashe’s words and fight off the nightmares that were assaulting her. Taking this as a sign that this was a conversation that Sage would appreciate hearing, the girl continued. “Terra Branford is quite a woman. Hah, she’d argue with you about that, but she’s a very fierce person. My sister tends to be a bit of a carefree, somewhat independent girl who cares very strongly for those close to her and won’t hesitate to kick someone’s ass if she thinks they are in need of it,” she finished, laughing.
“She’s won a lot of rewards for her work, but I don’t really know much of the specifics since she changes around her exact duties a lot. I know she has some friends that run some bar on Kajin Rala, but she’s supposed to be involved with some lab or doctor’s type work as well. I think she’s in some internship or something,” Ashe trailed off, scratching her head for a moment at a random pimple or scab that the heat had caused. “I guess I should probably pay more attention to it, but when someone has left you long behind in describing something, you tend to nod your head and smile.”
Sage chose that moment to look back up at Ashe and smile, nodding for her to continue. “Sounds like your sister is a wonderful girl,” she offered in encouragement before returning back to her study of their future footsteps.
“Yeah. She tried to keep me from making the same mistakes that she did in school and all, but I never really understood that since she grew up on that utopian planet while it was being developed around them - terraforming or something, she called it - and I can’t really picture the same type of jerks I dealt with being there. I mean, they are all doctors kids, though I guess I am too.”
“Your parents are doctors?”
The pink haired girl nodded. “Yeah, more government work though, I can’t really say exactly what it is they do.” She looked down for a moment and then stopped, sitting down spontaneously. “I know it sounds like I don’t give a crap about my family, but that’s not really true!” she suddenly defended, catching Sage’s attention enough for the girl to come back and sit down uncomfortably while looking around for any moving sand.
“I don’t think I said that…” she trailed off. “Verbally or… in my thoughts.”
Ashe took a swallow of her water from her bottle and placed the bottle back in her bag to try to keep it cool. “Yeah, I know,” she continued after her parched throat had some of their sparse liquid rations on it. “I guess its an internal guilt I have. I’m just trying to live my life, be who I am, without being expected to fulfill the footsteps of my parents or sister. I mean, they are awesome, but I’m not really sure that’s what I want to do with my life, ya know?”
Sage took this moment to offer another nod, drinking from her own bottle to avoid an expectation of any response.
“I think they’ve got some big plan for me. More than I even realized…” she trailed off, looking up into the sunstained sky for a moment. “But I’m me. A person. Important future plans for government or medical work don’t really seem to have room for what I might want to do with my life.”
“Ok,” Sage ventured, attempting to take part in the discussion. “Then… what is it you do want to do with your life?”
Ashe’s fingers drew in the sand for a moment, creating all forms of shapes and signs before finally erasing them. “I don’t… really know,” she admitted. “I’m just finishing school, and everyone else has everything all planned out. Like everyone wants to be a doctor or lawyer. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for the people that do that sort of thing!” she frantically added, realizing that she might be making Sage feel uncomfortable. “But I don’t know if that’s me. Or even if it isn’t me. I even considered some type of career in music, but I doubt being fairly decent on a guitar can land me any kind of career.”
“Well, start at the basics, then, Ashe. What do you want to do? I don’t really know how to offer advice here, but I think you are trying to decide between final decisions before figuring out where you want to start,” she tried.
She got another nod in response. “Yeah, that’s what my career counselor told me.” She looked at Sage for a moment, deliberating as the girl started looking away uncomfortably, thinking she had offended Ashe. “I think…” she said after a moment, deep in thought. “I want to do something for people. I want to possibly entertain, or offer something to the world. I want to help people. Even if I don’t have a specific dream, I’d like to help lead people to their own, whether its by giving them hope for their future and helping them through hard times by awesome music, art, anything… Or I could do something else. I don’t know if I have the skills for medicine, since I seem to screw up a lot, but I want to do something where people know that you don’t have to be perfect to succeed.
‘I want to inspire. I help the people that feel lost in this world and lead them to something better.” She picked up a clod of dirt and tossed it forward into the sands. “Maybe even deal with bastards like the people that kidnapped us and left us here to rot in a desert,” she added grimly. Turning to Sage, she climbed to her feet from the break before helping her friend up as well. “You know, its totally bogus that we are even here. We aren’t fighters. We aren’t warriors. We aren’t some type of killer! This entire game is stupid.”
Sage said nothing, her fingers touching her gun again in thought.
“But,” Ashe continued, squeezing her wrist. “We can’t sit around depressed and all super emotional about it. If I ever want to help people, I need to start by helping myself. And you, Sage. We both need to stay strong for ourselves, and for our sisters.” Sage looked up, a mixture of sadness and worry crossing her face. “That’s why we have to play this game,” Ashe continued, looking her in the eyes. “If we don’t, then we are going to be the next dead. I don’t care what your morals are, if it comes down to having no choice other than me or the bastards that kidnapped us, I’m going to live to fly home on a long flight of misery and guilt.”
“I don’t even know if my sister is ok,” Sage voiced her thoughts aloud.
“She’s here? I’m sure she’s ok, if she’s anything like you.”
The girl shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m not really sure if Zena is here or not, but if she isn’t, then maybe they kidnapped me by mistake and are now looking for her!”
Ashe caught the name for a moment and ran back through her mind trying to recall where she recognized her from. “Wait,” she finally said, grabbing Sage by the arm and spinning her around a bit rougher than she meant to. “Your sister is Zena???” she exclaimed. “The Saiyan Princess?”
Sage blushed slightly at the title and confirmed Ashe’s question. “Yes…” she spoke softly. “How do you… know of her?”
Ashe shook her head, trying to decide how exactly to handle this information. So far, up until now, she hadn’t liked Saiyans. They were like running across a homeless guy after dark while hanging out downtown. Every now and then, one would come across you that was full of wisdom and good advice, good intentions. But a majority of the time, you either grabbed your belongings and moved to a more populated area, or you took a risk of ending up on the morning news as being found in a dumpster.
This was Sage, however. While she wasn’t exactly a homeless guy in the dark, she was full of wisdom and good advice, good intentions. Sage had stuck by her so far, even when Ashe’s genetic code turned out to betray her own humanity and left her questioning if she was who she thought she was. Perhaps she had simply encountered the wrong type of Saiyan, although everything she had heard was that they were ruthless and cold mercenaries, living for the fight, unable to be counted on if there was trouble.
She looked up and swallowed, wiping a bit of sweat off her brow with the hoody that she now carried. Rose. Rose had been all excited for the fight, despite how friendly and well meaning she was, and still ran when they were in trouble. Ashe couldn’t even blame her. They were still kids, as far as the world was concerned, and regardless of how many physical tricks Rose had learned, she was still an eighteen year old girl on the inside, dealing with things that none of them were experienced enough to try to handle correctly. And Sage, despite her racial heritage, despite her lack of fighting skills, had opened a can of proverbial whoop-ass on the enormous walking mouth that had tried to make friends with her.
“Yeah, Sage,” she finally answered, deciding to keep her concerns to herself. Sage was counting on her for support, so when it boiled down to it, Zena’s self centeredness and all around prima donna attitude was pretty much Ashe’s problem to just deal with. “Last I saw, she was fine. She had a large group of… friends with her, I think,” she added, trying to avoid sounding absolutely sure about herself. If anything, she did not want to lie to Sage. Even for her comfort.
“I’m glad!” she burst with energy, throwing her arms around Ashe. “You have no idea how comforting that is,” she breathed past her ear before Ashe stiffly returned the embrace. Taking advantage of the moment, Ashe moved her hands down lower… Sage pulled back suddenly and looked at Ashe strangely. “Did you just squeeze my…” she began, then blushed, turning around. “Nevermind,” she added hastily, not wanting to make an accusation.
“Oh, uh, no!” Ashe fumbled. “Sorry, my hand slipped from all this sweat, stupid heat,” she added, hoping she didn’t freak Sage out too much. “But uh… Your sister seems to be making herself quite popular,” she finished. It worked like a charm, Sage’s mind immediately went back to pleasant thoughts of her sister.
No tail.
---
“There they are,” one of the men in the dune buggy called, setting down his binoculars for a moment. “Those are the two easy ones from what the boss says.”
Another darker haired man slid a tranquilizer dart into one of the barrels of his shotgun to accompany the other dart. “Then let’s get moving and catch these broads.”
The first man immediately pressed the gas, the tires digging into the fiery sand a moment and throwing it back before it finally gained traction, sending them hurtling towards the girls. “Wonder if we’ll be able to have a little fun with these two when we get to Olde Towne. They look too young to have had their cherries popped already.”
“Just drive, dumbass.”
---
“Wait, Sage,” Ashe stopped, looking around in the sun but having trouble seeing anything through the heat waves coming off the dunes. “I think I hear something.” She tried to cover her eyes with her jacket, sopping up some of the moisture in the process, but she still couldn’t see anything until- “There! Something’s coming!”
The watery haired girl saw Ashe stepping back slowly and looked in the direction she had been pointed. “Do you think its… help?” she asked, taking Ashe’s cue to get ready to run.
Ashe’s eyes widened, shaking her head frantically. “No, no, I don’t think it is. Sage, run!” she suddenly yelled, pushing the girl in front of her and grabbing her bag from the sands. The two girls put their feet to the earth in an attempt to escape their pursuers as Ashe slowly outpaced the girl.
POW!
The gunshot exploded behind them and Ashe heard a noise in the sand behind her, not turning to see what it was. “Come one, Sage, just a bit further,” she panted, locking her eyes on the buildings in the distance. “Just a bit-” she reassured, taking a look over her shoulder to see Sage had hit the ground with a dart from her neck. “No!” she cried out, sliding to a stop.
The man in the car was taking aim at her slowly, so she had to make her decision fast. She could possibly make it, if she surprised them. She was a fairly good runner. She might even be able to make one of them swallow their teeth if she kicked at them, provided they missed with their dart. She could get away…
“Sage,” she cried, throwing her arms around the girl at the ground as tears slowly crept down her cheeks. “Come on, girl, wake up,” she whispered as the men pulled up in their jeep. She looked up angrily at the pair of them as the dark haired man slowly lowered his rifle, realizing he had no need to waste the dart.
“Get them in the fucking truck,” he instructed as he jumped down from the vehicle, throwing a net over her to prevent any rebellion. The man immediately grabbed Ashe’s wrists from around Sage, prying them off of her friend before snapping them painfully behind her back, clamping a thick pair of metal bindings over her arms before forcing her to the ground. Her tears mingled with her sweat before she was finally lifted up and thrown into the truck next to Sage, who’s unfocused eyes stared into the distance while she mouthed the unspoken.
“I can’t really tell you much about Rose,” Ashe began, taking a deep breath to continue past the unpleasant memory of the girl’s departure. Sage looked to the side at her and frowned, ready to interrupt Ashe to tell her that she didn’t have to talk about something that she didn’t want to, but Ashe verbally pushed past her. “What I can talk about is my real sister. Terra,” she proceeded, giving her friend a smile to comfort her.
Sage gave a small smile of her own before holstering her gun again, trying to listen to Ashe’s words and fight off the nightmares that were assaulting her. Taking this as a sign that this was a conversation that Sage would appreciate hearing, the girl continued. “Terra Branford is quite a woman. Hah, she’d argue with you about that, but she’s a very fierce person. My sister tends to be a bit of a carefree, somewhat independent girl who cares very strongly for those close to her and won’t hesitate to kick someone’s ass if she thinks they are in need of it,” she finished, laughing.
“She’s won a lot of rewards for her work, but I don’t really know much of the specifics since she changes around her exact duties a lot. I know she has some friends that run some bar on Kajin Rala, but she’s supposed to be involved with some lab or doctor’s type work as well. I think she’s in some internship or something,” Ashe trailed off, scratching her head for a moment at a random pimple or scab that the heat had caused. “I guess I should probably pay more attention to it, but when someone has left you long behind in describing something, you tend to nod your head and smile.”
Sage chose that moment to look back up at Ashe and smile, nodding for her to continue. “Sounds like your sister is a wonderful girl,” she offered in encouragement before returning back to her study of their future footsteps.
“Yeah. She tried to keep me from making the same mistakes that she did in school and all, but I never really understood that since she grew up on that utopian planet while it was being developed around them - terraforming or something, she called it - and I can’t really picture the same type of jerks I dealt with being there. I mean, they are all doctors kids, though I guess I am too.”
“Your parents are doctors?”
The pink haired girl nodded. “Yeah, more government work though, I can’t really say exactly what it is they do.” She looked down for a moment and then stopped, sitting down spontaneously. “I know it sounds like I don’t give a crap about my family, but that’s not really true!” she suddenly defended, catching Sage’s attention enough for the girl to come back and sit down uncomfortably while looking around for any moving sand.
“I don’t think I said that…” she trailed off. “Verbally or… in my thoughts.”
Ashe took a swallow of her water from her bottle and placed the bottle back in her bag to try to keep it cool. “Yeah, I know,” she continued after her parched throat had some of their sparse liquid rations on it. “I guess its an internal guilt I have. I’m just trying to live my life, be who I am, without being expected to fulfill the footsteps of my parents or sister. I mean, they are awesome, but I’m not really sure that’s what I want to do with my life, ya know?”
Sage took this moment to offer another nod, drinking from her own bottle to avoid an expectation of any response.
“I think they’ve got some big plan for me. More than I even realized…” she trailed off, looking up into the sunstained sky for a moment. “But I’m me. A person. Important future plans for government or medical work don’t really seem to have room for what I might want to do with my life.”
“Ok,” Sage ventured, attempting to take part in the discussion. “Then… what is it you do want to do with your life?”
Ashe’s fingers drew in the sand for a moment, creating all forms of shapes and signs before finally erasing them. “I don’t… really know,” she admitted. “I’m just finishing school, and everyone else has everything all planned out. Like everyone wants to be a doctor or lawyer. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing but respect for the people that do that sort of thing!” she frantically added, realizing that she might be making Sage feel uncomfortable. “But I don’t know if that’s me. Or even if it isn’t me. I even considered some type of career in music, but I doubt being fairly decent on a guitar can land me any kind of career.”
“Well, start at the basics, then, Ashe. What do you want to do? I don’t really know how to offer advice here, but I think you are trying to decide between final decisions before figuring out where you want to start,” she tried.
She got another nod in response. “Yeah, that’s what my career counselor told me.” She looked at Sage for a moment, deliberating as the girl started looking away uncomfortably, thinking she had offended Ashe. “I think…” she said after a moment, deep in thought. “I want to do something for people. I want to possibly entertain, or offer something to the world. I want to help people. Even if I don’t have a specific dream, I’d like to help lead people to their own, whether its by giving them hope for their future and helping them through hard times by awesome music, art, anything… Or I could do something else. I don’t know if I have the skills for medicine, since I seem to screw up a lot, but I want to do something where people know that you don’t have to be perfect to succeed.
‘I want to inspire. I help the people that feel lost in this world and lead them to something better.” She picked up a clod of dirt and tossed it forward into the sands. “Maybe even deal with bastards like the people that kidnapped us and left us here to rot in a desert,” she added grimly. Turning to Sage, she climbed to her feet from the break before helping her friend up as well. “You know, its totally bogus that we are even here. We aren’t fighters. We aren’t warriors. We aren’t some type of killer! This entire game is stupid.”
Sage said nothing, her fingers touching her gun again in thought.
“But,” Ashe continued, squeezing her wrist. “We can’t sit around depressed and all super emotional about it. If I ever want to help people, I need to start by helping myself. And you, Sage. We both need to stay strong for ourselves, and for our sisters.” Sage looked up, a mixture of sadness and worry crossing her face. “That’s why we have to play this game,” Ashe continued, looking her in the eyes. “If we don’t, then we are going to be the next dead. I don’t care what your morals are, if it comes down to having no choice other than me or the bastards that kidnapped us, I’m going to live to fly home on a long flight of misery and guilt.”
“I don’t even know if my sister is ok,” Sage voiced her thoughts aloud.
“She’s here? I’m sure she’s ok, if she’s anything like you.”
The girl shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m not really sure if Zena is here or not, but if she isn’t, then maybe they kidnapped me by mistake and are now looking for her!”
Ashe caught the name for a moment and ran back through her mind trying to recall where she recognized her from. “Wait,” she finally said, grabbing Sage by the arm and spinning her around a bit rougher than she meant to. “Your sister is Zena???” she exclaimed. “The Saiyan Princess?”
Sage blushed slightly at the title and confirmed Ashe’s question. “Yes…” she spoke softly. “How do you… know of her?”
Ashe shook her head, trying to decide how exactly to handle this information. So far, up until now, she hadn’t liked Saiyans. They were like running across a homeless guy after dark while hanging out downtown. Every now and then, one would come across you that was full of wisdom and good advice, good intentions. But a majority of the time, you either grabbed your belongings and moved to a more populated area, or you took a risk of ending up on the morning news as being found in a dumpster.
This was Sage, however. While she wasn’t exactly a homeless guy in the dark, she was full of wisdom and good advice, good intentions. Sage had stuck by her so far, even when Ashe’s genetic code turned out to betray her own humanity and left her questioning if she was who she thought she was. Perhaps she had simply encountered the wrong type of Saiyan, although everything she had heard was that they were ruthless and cold mercenaries, living for the fight, unable to be counted on if there was trouble.
She looked up and swallowed, wiping a bit of sweat off her brow with the hoody that she now carried. Rose. Rose had been all excited for the fight, despite how friendly and well meaning she was, and still ran when they were in trouble. Ashe couldn’t even blame her. They were still kids, as far as the world was concerned, and regardless of how many physical tricks Rose had learned, she was still an eighteen year old girl on the inside, dealing with things that none of them were experienced enough to try to handle correctly. And Sage, despite her racial heritage, despite her lack of fighting skills, had opened a can of proverbial whoop-ass on the enormous walking mouth that had tried to make friends with her.
“Yeah, Sage,” she finally answered, deciding to keep her concerns to herself. Sage was counting on her for support, so when it boiled down to it, Zena’s self centeredness and all around prima donna attitude was pretty much Ashe’s problem to just deal with. “Last I saw, she was fine. She had a large group of… friends with her, I think,” she added, trying to avoid sounding absolutely sure about herself. If anything, she did not want to lie to Sage. Even for her comfort.
“I’m glad!” she burst with energy, throwing her arms around Ashe. “You have no idea how comforting that is,” she breathed past her ear before Ashe stiffly returned the embrace. Taking advantage of the moment, Ashe moved her hands down lower… Sage pulled back suddenly and looked at Ashe strangely. “Did you just squeeze my…” she began, then blushed, turning around. “Nevermind,” she added hastily, not wanting to make an accusation.
“Oh, uh, no!” Ashe fumbled. “Sorry, my hand slipped from all this sweat, stupid heat,” she added, hoping she didn’t freak Sage out too much. “But uh… Your sister seems to be making herself quite popular,” she finished. It worked like a charm, Sage’s mind immediately went back to pleasant thoughts of her sister.
No tail.
---
“There they are,” one of the men in the dune buggy called, setting down his binoculars for a moment. “Those are the two easy ones from what the boss says.”
Another darker haired man slid a tranquilizer dart into one of the barrels of his shotgun to accompany the other dart. “Then let’s get moving and catch these broads.”
The first man immediately pressed the gas, the tires digging into the fiery sand a moment and throwing it back before it finally gained traction, sending them hurtling towards the girls. “Wonder if we’ll be able to have a little fun with these two when we get to Olde Towne. They look too young to have had their cherries popped already.”
“Just drive, dumbass.”
---
“Wait, Sage,” Ashe stopped, looking around in the sun but having trouble seeing anything through the heat waves coming off the dunes. “I think I hear something.” She tried to cover her eyes with her jacket, sopping up some of the moisture in the process, but she still couldn’t see anything until- “There! Something’s coming!”
The watery haired girl saw Ashe stepping back slowly and looked in the direction she had been pointed. “Do you think its… help?” she asked, taking Ashe’s cue to get ready to run.
Ashe’s eyes widened, shaking her head frantically. “No, no, I don’t think it is. Sage, run!” she suddenly yelled, pushing the girl in front of her and grabbing her bag from the sands. The two girls put their feet to the earth in an attempt to escape their pursuers as Ashe slowly outpaced the girl.
POW!
The gunshot exploded behind them and Ashe heard a noise in the sand behind her, not turning to see what it was. “Come one, Sage, just a bit further,” she panted, locking her eyes on the buildings in the distance. “Just a bit-” she reassured, taking a look over her shoulder to see Sage had hit the ground with a dart from her neck. “No!” she cried out, sliding to a stop.
The man in the car was taking aim at her slowly, so she had to make her decision fast. She could possibly make it, if she surprised them. She was a fairly good runner. She might even be able to make one of them swallow their teeth if she kicked at them, provided they missed with their dart. She could get away…
“Sage,” she cried, throwing her arms around the girl at the ground as tears slowly crept down her cheeks. “Come on, girl, wake up,” she whispered as the men pulled up in their jeep. She looked up angrily at the pair of them as the dark haired man slowly lowered his rifle, realizing he had no need to waste the dart.
“Get them in the fucking truck,” he instructed as he jumped down from the vehicle, throwing a net over her to prevent any rebellion. The man immediately grabbed Ashe’s wrists from around Sage, prying them off of her friend before snapping them painfully behind her back, clamping a thick pair of metal bindings over her arms before forcing her to the ground. Her tears mingled with her sweat before she was finally lifted up and thrown into the truck next to Sage, who’s unfocused eyes stared into the distance while she mouthed the unspoken.
![[Image: Ashe.jpg]](http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af298/symbiosychotic/Ashe.jpg)