11-07-2009, 03:17 AM
All she did was ask a question.
The red-headed man recoiled, smashing into her. There was a loud crash and bang, and she hit the floor, hard. It was hard to breathe, which suddenly became understandable; the nervous man was lying on top of her.
And then he groped her. Her eyes went wide with shock and fear, and she felt herself suddenly paralyzed. He looked at her, and she looked at him, and she found not sinister intent on her assailant’s face, but... terror?
“Uh-! Uhm-!” he stammered, his eyes dancing about in fright. Sage didn’t know how to react to the situation, but she desperately wanted him off. Finally, mercifully, he let go of her, and began waving his hands rapidly, as if he had burned them. He seemed overcome by some kind of unfathomable scare, and had turned red as a beet. So had Sage, now that her own fear began to subside, and embarrassment took its place. “It’s not-!”
There was a sharp skin-on-skin crack, and the fiery haired man was sent sprawling. A horrible crash ensued, and then an awkward quiet fell on the confusion of what had just happened. Sage looked up to see Sophia waving her hand in pain; she must have slapped him hard.
“Yeah,” the courier broke the silence. “That’s Belle.”
The priestess helped Sage to her feet, and she was directed to sit between her and Kaden. Still confused by the whole ordeal, she did as she was told, and sat quietly, while Belle took his seat opposite the blonde ki-weaver. He stared stone-straight at the various liquor bottles in front of him, terrified to turn his head to the left. Sage couldn’t help but smile; he was just so hopeless. Her smile faded, however, when she suddenly realized that how she viewed him now must have been how everyone viewed her.
With that sudden revelation, she fell silent for a while. She wondered if she should brood with the help of alcohol, like Kaden was doing, but decided against it. She didn’t know any good drinks anyway, and they all tasted like burning. It seemed like such a stupid pastime to her.
Once again, she couldn’t help but feel just a little amused at the hypocrisy of her decision, especially now that her heavy dose of diazepam was starting to kick in. She could feel the first ripple of what would become a gentle tide of apathy and mild euphoria.
Chasing the euphoria had become harder and harder to do, though. She already took the drug in amounts beyond the highest acceptable daily dosage – in one sitting. Her solution so far had been just to up the dosage, but she was having to go higher and higher; eventually the Valium would do nothing for her and she would become even more depressed. And then what would she move onto next to help ease the pain? Morphine? She considered that; the benefits were obvious, but it scared her, somehow. She knew she could get morphine pills but it was somewhat difficult, even for a doctor, which left only needles. Maybe the stigma around intravenous drugs turned her off. As if taking it in pill form somehow made it seem classier.
“...and that’s why I figured, maybe we should team up,” Kaden finished. Sage must have tuned out most of the conversation.
“That sounds like a good idea, I guess,” Sophia replied. The courier looked over to Belle, who simply cleared his throat and nodded, but kept his eyes on a bottle of some yellowish liquid with a foreign-sounding name.
“What about you, Sage?”
“Um...” the girl nodded, and then looked up for a moment. “But we’ll have to be careful; the rules said we would have to fight each other eventually, when the collars activate. If we’re in the same area, we might be made to fight.”
“...Collars?” Kaden raised an eyebrow.
“They’ll... make us wear these... collars, basically,” the blue haired girl explained. “It’s to help them... control us, I guess. It’s more useful for stronger people, I think.”
“Stronger, how do you mean?” this time it was the priestess who spoke up.
“Um... well, uh, I just mean... there are some very strong people out there. They might be here, too,” Sage tried to explain. “I’ve... seen people... burn up mountains before.”
“You’re saying there might be people in Dante’s Abyss who could set an entire mountain on fire?” Kaden inquired, seeming very incredulous. Sage shrank in her seat.
“N-No... I mean... there might be people who can... destroy the whole mountain... in one stroke,” the girl’s fuzzy rose eyes locked with Kaden’s alcohol-soaked reds. “Without any effort.”
“So, basically,” Sophia explained, trying to ignore the idea of fighting someone powerful enough to change geography with the flick of his or her wrist. “You’re saying if we’re together when the collars turn on-”
“During a combat day,” Sage interjected.
“...Right. Then we might have to fight each other?” the blonde finished. Sage nodded.
“How do you know all this?”
“...I read the rules before I came here,” the shorter woman replied. “They’re all over the place. You didn’t read them?”
The red-headed man recoiled, smashing into her. There was a loud crash and bang, and she hit the floor, hard. It was hard to breathe, which suddenly became understandable; the nervous man was lying on top of her.
And then he groped her. Her eyes went wide with shock and fear, and she felt herself suddenly paralyzed. He looked at her, and she looked at him, and she found not sinister intent on her assailant’s face, but... terror?
“Uh-! Uhm-!” he stammered, his eyes dancing about in fright. Sage didn’t know how to react to the situation, but she desperately wanted him off. Finally, mercifully, he let go of her, and began waving his hands rapidly, as if he had burned them. He seemed overcome by some kind of unfathomable scare, and had turned red as a beet. So had Sage, now that her own fear began to subside, and embarrassment took its place. “It’s not-!”
There was a sharp skin-on-skin crack, and the fiery haired man was sent sprawling. A horrible crash ensued, and then an awkward quiet fell on the confusion of what had just happened. Sage looked up to see Sophia waving her hand in pain; she must have slapped him hard.
“Yeah,” the courier broke the silence. “That’s Belle.”
The priestess helped Sage to her feet, and she was directed to sit between her and Kaden. Still confused by the whole ordeal, she did as she was told, and sat quietly, while Belle took his seat opposite the blonde ki-weaver. He stared stone-straight at the various liquor bottles in front of him, terrified to turn his head to the left. Sage couldn’t help but smile; he was just so hopeless. Her smile faded, however, when she suddenly realized that how she viewed him now must have been how everyone viewed her.
With that sudden revelation, she fell silent for a while. She wondered if she should brood with the help of alcohol, like Kaden was doing, but decided against it. She didn’t know any good drinks anyway, and they all tasted like burning. It seemed like such a stupid pastime to her.
Once again, she couldn’t help but feel just a little amused at the hypocrisy of her decision, especially now that her heavy dose of diazepam was starting to kick in. She could feel the first ripple of what would become a gentle tide of apathy and mild euphoria.
Chasing the euphoria had become harder and harder to do, though. She already took the drug in amounts beyond the highest acceptable daily dosage – in one sitting. Her solution so far had been just to up the dosage, but she was having to go higher and higher; eventually the Valium would do nothing for her and she would become even more depressed. And then what would she move onto next to help ease the pain? Morphine? She considered that; the benefits were obvious, but it scared her, somehow. She knew she could get morphine pills but it was somewhat difficult, even for a doctor, which left only needles. Maybe the stigma around intravenous drugs turned her off. As if taking it in pill form somehow made it seem classier.
“...and that’s why I figured, maybe we should team up,” Kaden finished. Sage must have tuned out most of the conversation.
“That sounds like a good idea, I guess,” Sophia replied. The courier looked over to Belle, who simply cleared his throat and nodded, but kept his eyes on a bottle of some yellowish liquid with a foreign-sounding name.
“What about you, Sage?”
“Um...” the girl nodded, and then looked up for a moment. “But we’ll have to be careful; the rules said we would have to fight each other eventually, when the collars activate. If we’re in the same area, we might be made to fight.”
“...Collars?” Kaden raised an eyebrow.
“They’ll... make us wear these... collars, basically,” the blue haired girl explained. “It’s to help them... control us, I guess. It’s more useful for stronger people, I think.”
“Stronger, how do you mean?” this time it was the priestess who spoke up.
“Um... well, uh, I just mean... there are some very strong people out there. They might be here, too,” Sage tried to explain. “I’ve... seen people... burn up mountains before.”
“You’re saying there might be people in Dante’s Abyss who could set an entire mountain on fire?” Kaden inquired, seeming very incredulous. Sage shrank in her seat.
“N-No... I mean... there might be people who can... destroy the whole mountain... in one stroke,” the girl’s fuzzy rose eyes locked with Kaden’s alcohol-soaked reds. “Without any effort.”
“So, basically,” Sophia explained, trying to ignore the idea of fighting someone powerful enough to change geography with the flick of his or her wrist. “You’re saying if we’re together when the collars turn on-”
“During a combat day,” Sage interjected.
“...Right. Then we might have to fight each other?” the blonde finished. Sage nodded.
“How do you know all this?”
“...I read the rules before I came here,” the shorter woman replied. “They’re all over the place. You didn’t read them?”
![[Image: Sage.jpg]](http://rebecca.florizone.com/sig/miscsig/Sage.jpg)