11-11-2009, 08:29 AM
"Quite the welcome."
It was an honest joke, one that was in no way intended to sound as harshly as she was afraid he'd take it. To put it bluntly, she had been nervous at the idea that she'd nearly been disentigrated by an energy beam from Kaden, but she also understood that if he had done anything, it would have been entirely accidental.
Not that he'd be apologizing to anything more than a pile of smoldering... Ashe.
"Oh hey!" he said, an idea occuring to him. "You should come with me. Sophia and Sage are waiting for me not too far away. I just came back here to grab this thing," he mentioned, holding up a ki rifle.
Her eyes drifted to it for a moment and then she picked up the one next to it since he didn't seem all that interested. "They're waiting for you?" she questioned as she studied the gun.
"Yeah. When we ran into Sage we realized that, uh..." he trailed off, watching as Ashe's gun seemed to suddenly change shape into what seemed to be a small stick instead. "Sophia forgot to bring her gun," he finished, sounding a bit off guard as Ashe's jaw hung open.
"Mine has to look like a freakin' magic wand?" she grumbled under her breath. It didn't surprise her given the way things had been changing on her.
Kaden finally gestured for her to follow him and pointed in the direction of where he'd come from. Lost in thought over her magic ki firing wand, she looked up to realize that he'd already begun walking. "Ah crap!" she swore, snatching her bag back up and running forward, wand in hand.
"So uh, your gun stayed completely normal?"
He looked at her strangely as they walked. "Well, yeah... What's up with yours?"
She shrugged. "To be honest, I half expected it to change into a giant penis. I'd have to cock the shaft and then squeeze the balls to fire the beam or something," she joked cynically.
Absolute silence.
She looked at him suddenly, realizing she'd made her dark humored joke out loud and blushed. His response was a bit more sputtering. "Why... why would you expect that?" he asked, half in laughter, half in surprise.
She gestured for him to hold still a moment and tossed her bag to the ground. "Well, you see this bag?" Without pausing for confirmation, she unzipped it, pulling some of the contents out. "Ok, when I first woke up in some mountain pass, this thing was filled with documents explaining this tournament and what we are expected to do. There was also this sorta cool cel style digital map stuffed inside that tracked where I was - both creepy and cool at the same time. There was also food and water, enough that I took a break once I finished using the pair of gloves and grappling hook to climb up that stupid mountain cliff to avoid whatever the heck was down there. Yes," she answered, cutting him off before he could speak. "A grappling hook."
"That sounds a bit awesome, to be honest."
"It totally was," she laughed, brightening up.
He looked back into the bag a moment. "You... lose it?" he asked, probably formulating a joke inside his mind.
She shook her head as she closed her bookbag back up. "No, and that's just it. I put everything back in there and crossed the border into this city. Well, shortly after doing so, I tried to get that map back out to help find my way to the bunker. And yeah, there were bunkers listed on this thing," she added.
"Bunkers?"
She sighed. "I'd tell you what they were for, but I honestly can't remember. I don't know what happened, but when I looked I found that my map, food, water, grappling hook, gloves, tournament information, and a lot of other crap was just missing."
He nodded. "So someone robbed you," he decided.
Shrugging again, she stopped - instinctively - at a crosswalk and looked both ways before heading across the street. "I guess so. And whoever did it decided it would be totally cool to return all my heaviest schoolbooks back to me at the same time."
"That does kind of suck. Why not just ditch them?"
She looked at him as if he'd said something stupid. "Because I need them for a huge test on Monday? That and I don't have enough money to go replacing all of them. I'd just get yelled at for being clumsy and losing them or something."
His hands came up defensively. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, sorry. That... does kind of suck," he repeated, not really wanting to press the issue. Spotting Sage and Sophia in the distance, Kaden decided to change the subject completely by pointing them out. "There's-" he began, jumping suddenly as she shrieked next to him.
"Hey, guys!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, running at full speed despite the heavy weight she'd only just been complaining about.
The courier, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear at his successful diversion. The blue haired girl turned just in time to get tackled by her Friend or Foe companion who actually managed to lift her into the air as if her backpack - and friend - no longer weighed more than a feather. "H-Hi, Ashe," she began, red from a mixture of shyness at the affection and the blood rushing to her skin in an attempt to force oxygen to continue through her body. "I, um... I'm happy you're okay. I'm just... sorry we had to meet during the tournament-" she continued, looking ready to launch into some depressing Sage style whine that would end with her blaming herself for everyone's plight.
The student, however, would have none of it. "Nope. No bringing us down, Sage. We're gonna get through this just like we-" she trailed off, staring at Sophia again as if totally forgetting meeting her in the bar earlier. Who could blame her, given that the next immediate second involved armed guards rushing in and interrupting the party? "Sophia?!"
The cleric watched her eyes lock onto the halo surrounding her brow and she warded her off with her own eyes. "It's... a long story," she responding, turning to Kaden without another word. "Is that mine?" she pointed at the gun in his hands.
He nodded and confirmed it, tossing her the gun. "I, uh, also brought her along," he motioned to the pink haired girl who was so excited that she was panting for breath at this moment from her run. "Is this where I ask if we can keep her?" he joked regarding the situation.
Her thing arm didn't do much damage as it struck his arm jokingly, punctuating a "Shut up" before continuing to as what the deal was. "Just wander around and look for stuff?" Everyone just got quiet, not really knowing what to say, but all seeming to look to Sage to provide answers. The doctor, on the other hand, seemed uneasy under the stares. "What's up, Sage?" she finally asked, trying to get it out of her.
Ashe immediately knew that she was inviting the exact thing she'd silenced Sage not moments ago to prevent. The girl launched into a deep and somberful recollection of everything that Ashe had read within the paperwork that she'd - until now - forgotten. The pink haired girl could only nod along with her explainations as she recalled things at the exact moment the words reached her ears, leaving her wondering why she hadn't remembered until now. What frustrated her was that she felt that there was something wrong with what Sage was explaining, but she had no idea exactly what.
The voice of the priestess broke the silence that had collected, with the exception of one angry courier. "So, what are you saying, Sage? That we shouldn't be traveling together?"
Everyone knew the answer before she said it. Ashe immediately cried out over the girl's confirmation. "But we'd be walking around alone, then, not knowing where we're going. That's crazy!" she whined, having just gotten to the group in the first place.
The only guy in the group agreed with her, pointing out how suicidal it was before trying to find a way to dismiss the plan. "T-To guarantee we don't hurt each other? ...No, I-I don't think-" Sage insisted despite their concern.
Ashe took a deep breath and interjected with the best that she could come up with. "What if we split up? Two and two, right? Pretty good odds we're not stuck fighting each other, and we can still help each other out, too," she pointed out.
"I, um..." she stuttered, looking at each of them, unable to find the strength to dash their hopes. "O-Okay... But we should probably get to a bunker first, and then split up," she insisted.
"...Why?"
She looked at Kaden frantically as the words came spilling out. "Please! You h-have to take this game seriously! We have to go to the bunker to reset the timers on our collars. If it ever runs out, you'll die!" she rushed, her words almost slurring together without a breath in between.
"And I'm betting the death is 'for real,' huh?"he grumbled, tightening his fist when Sage whispered confirmation. "This Dukes guy is a real prick, you know that?" he growled, projecting immediately from all the previous situations he'd experienced lately.
He took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself without upsetting Sage even further. "So where the hell do we find this bunker?" he growled in an angrier mood than he usually carried.
Sage seemed on the verge of tears. "I... I don't know- I'm sorry."
His breath exhaled as he began to turn back around to apologize for taking it out on her, but something else caught everyone's attention. "I know where it is."
---
Ashe and Kaden were left alone within the bunker as their companions left them, heading out into the wilds alone to reduce the risk that they would be forced to fight each other. Minutes seemed to pass before Ashe finally bit her bottom lip, realizing that she'd just been left alone with a cute guy in a smelly jacket. One who had happened to be her husband in an alternate future. "Um..." she began, not really turning around as she imagined him watching her. "So what... should we do first?" she asked, extremely unsure of herself and suddenly very self concious.
She heard no response, however, and finally gathered up the courage to turn around, only to find him sitting at a table within the bunker with a stack of waffles stacked high on a plate. Surrounding the plate, as if set into a religious altar of some sorts, were various toppings and syrups for waffles. Part of her mind immediately grew curious as to the types of fun she could have with those items, while the other part of her mind scolded her in mock anger that she dared think such thoughts.
In the end, it took her about two steps to clear the distance between the two of them and to find her own plate full of waffles - and some root beer to wash it all down with.
It was an honest joke, one that was in no way intended to sound as harshly as she was afraid he'd take it. To put it bluntly, she had been nervous at the idea that she'd nearly been disentigrated by an energy beam from Kaden, but she also understood that if he had done anything, it would have been entirely accidental.
Not that he'd be apologizing to anything more than a pile of smoldering... Ashe.
"Oh hey!" he said, an idea occuring to him. "You should come with me. Sophia and Sage are waiting for me not too far away. I just came back here to grab this thing," he mentioned, holding up a ki rifle.
Her eyes drifted to it for a moment and then she picked up the one next to it since he didn't seem all that interested. "They're waiting for you?" she questioned as she studied the gun.
"Yeah. When we ran into Sage we realized that, uh..." he trailed off, watching as Ashe's gun seemed to suddenly change shape into what seemed to be a small stick instead. "Sophia forgot to bring her gun," he finished, sounding a bit off guard as Ashe's jaw hung open.
"Mine has to look like a freakin' magic wand?" she grumbled under her breath. It didn't surprise her given the way things had been changing on her.
Kaden finally gestured for her to follow him and pointed in the direction of where he'd come from. Lost in thought over her magic ki firing wand, she looked up to realize that he'd already begun walking. "Ah crap!" she swore, snatching her bag back up and running forward, wand in hand.
"So uh, your gun stayed completely normal?"
He looked at her strangely as they walked. "Well, yeah... What's up with yours?"
She shrugged. "To be honest, I half expected it to change into a giant penis. I'd have to cock the shaft and then squeeze the balls to fire the beam or something," she joked cynically.
Absolute silence.
She looked at him suddenly, realizing she'd made her dark humored joke out loud and blushed. His response was a bit more sputtering. "Why... why would you expect that?" he asked, half in laughter, half in surprise.
She gestured for him to hold still a moment and tossed her bag to the ground. "Well, you see this bag?" Without pausing for confirmation, she unzipped it, pulling some of the contents out. "Ok, when I first woke up in some mountain pass, this thing was filled with documents explaining this tournament and what we are expected to do. There was also this sorta cool cel style digital map stuffed inside that tracked where I was - both creepy and cool at the same time. There was also food and water, enough that I took a break once I finished using the pair of gloves and grappling hook to climb up that stupid mountain cliff to avoid whatever the heck was down there. Yes," she answered, cutting him off before he could speak. "A grappling hook."
"That sounds a bit awesome, to be honest."
"It totally was," she laughed, brightening up.
He looked back into the bag a moment. "You... lose it?" he asked, probably formulating a joke inside his mind.
She shook her head as she closed her bookbag back up. "No, and that's just it. I put everything back in there and crossed the border into this city. Well, shortly after doing so, I tried to get that map back out to help find my way to the bunker. And yeah, there were bunkers listed on this thing," she added.
"Bunkers?"
She sighed. "I'd tell you what they were for, but I honestly can't remember. I don't know what happened, but when I looked I found that my map, food, water, grappling hook, gloves, tournament information, and a lot of other crap was just missing."
He nodded. "So someone robbed you," he decided.
Shrugging again, she stopped - instinctively - at a crosswalk and looked both ways before heading across the street. "I guess so. And whoever did it decided it would be totally cool to return all my heaviest schoolbooks back to me at the same time."
"That does kind of suck. Why not just ditch them?"
She looked at him as if he'd said something stupid. "Because I need them for a huge test on Monday? That and I don't have enough money to go replacing all of them. I'd just get yelled at for being clumsy and losing them or something."
His hands came up defensively. "Yeah, yeah, I get it, sorry. That... does kind of suck," he repeated, not really wanting to press the issue. Spotting Sage and Sophia in the distance, Kaden decided to change the subject completely by pointing them out. "There's-" he began, jumping suddenly as she shrieked next to him.
"Hey, guys!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, running at full speed despite the heavy weight she'd only just been complaining about.
The courier, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear at his successful diversion. The blue haired girl turned just in time to get tackled by her Friend or Foe companion who actually managed to lift her into the air as if her backpack - and friend - no longer weighed more than a feather. "H-Hi, Ashe," she began, red from a mixture of shyness at the affection and the blood rushing to her skin in an attempt to force oxygen to continue through her body. "I, um... I'm happy you're okay. I'm just... sorry we had to meet during the tournament-" she continued, looking ready to launch into some depressing Sage style whine that would end with her blaming herself for everyone's plight.
The student, however, would have none of it. "Nope. No bringing us down, Sage. We're gonna get through this just like we-" she trailed off, staring at Sophia again as if totally forgetting meeting her in the bar earlier. Who could blame her, given that the next immediate second involved armed guards rushing in and interrupting the party? "Sophia?!"
The cleric watched her eyes lock onto the halo surrounding her brow and she warded her off with her own eyes. "It's... a long story," she responding, turning to Kaden without another word. "Is that mine?" she pointed at the gun in his hands.
He nodded and confirmed it, tossing her the gun. "I, uh, also brought her along," he motioned to the pink haired girl who was so excited that she was panting for breath at this moment from her run. "Is this where I ask if we can keep her?" he joked regarding the situation.
Her thing arm didn't do much damage as it struck his arm jokingly, punctuating a "Shut up" before continuing to as what the deal was. "Just wander around and look for stuff?" Everyone just got quiet, not really knowing what to say, but all seeming to look to Sage to provide answers. The doctor, on the other hand, seemed uneasy under the stares. "What's up, Sage?" she finally asked, trying to get it out of her.
Ashe immediately knew that she was inviting the exact thing she'd silenced Sage not moments ago to prevent. The girl launched into a deep and somberful recollection of everything that Ashe had read within the paperwork that she'd - until now - forgotten. The pink haired girl could only nod along with her explainations as she recalled things at the exact moment the words reached her ears, leaving her wondering why she hadn't remembered until now. What frustrated her was that she felt that there was something wrong with what Sage was explaining, but she had no idea exactly what.
The voice of the priestess broke the silence that had collected, with the exception of one angry courier. "So, what are you saying, Sage? That we shouldn't be traveling together?"
Everyone knew the answer before she said it. Ashe immediately cried out over the girl's confirmation. "But we'd be walking around alone, then, not knowing where we're going. That's crazy!" she whined, having just gotten to the group in the first place.
The only guy in the group agreed with her, pointing out how suicidal it was before trying to find a way to dismiss the plan. "T-To guarantee we don't hurt each other? ...No, I-I don't think-" Sage insisted despite their concern.
Ashe took a deep breath and interjected with the best that she could come up with. "What if we split up? Two and two, right? Pretty good odds we're not stuck fighting each other, and we can still help each other out, too," she pointed out.
"I, um..." she stuttered, looking at each of them, unable to find the strength to dash their hopes. "O-Okay... But we should probably get to a bunker first, and then split up," she insisted.
"...Why?"
She looked at Kaden frantically as the words came spilling out. "Please! You h-have to take this game seriously! We have to go to the bunker to reset the timers on our collars. If it ever runs out, you'll die!" she rushed, her words almost slurring together without a breath in between.
"And I'm betting the death is 'for real,' huh?"he grumbled, tightening his fist when Sage whispered confirmation. "This Dukes guy is a real prick, you know that?" he growled, projecting immediately from all the previous situations he'd experienced lately.
He took a deep breath, hoping to calm himself without upsetting Sage even further. "So where the hell do we find this bunker?" he growled in an angrier mood than he usually carried.
Sage seemed on the verge of tears. "I... I don't know- I'm sorry."
His breath exhaled as he began to turn back around to apologize for taking it out on her, but something else caught everyone's attention. "I know where it is."
---
Ashe and Kaden were left alone within the bunker as their companions left them, heading out into the wilds alone to reduce the risk that they would be forced to fight each other. Minutes seemed to pass before Ashe finally bit her bottom lip, realizing that she'd just been left alone with a cute guy in a smelly jacket. One who had happened to be her husband in an alternate future. "Um..." she began, not really turning around as she imagined him watching her. "So what... should we do first?" she asked, extremely unsure of herself and suddenly very self concious.
She heard no response, however, and finally gathered up the courage to turn around, only to find him sitting at a table within the bunker with a stack of waffles stacked high on a plate. Surrounding the plate, as if set into a religious altar of some sorts, were various toppings and syrups for waffles. Part of her mind immediately grew curious as to the types of fun she could have with those items, while the other part of her mind scolded her in mock anger that she dared think such thoughts.
In the end, it took her about two steps to clear the distance between the two of them and to find her own plate full of waffles - and some root beer to wash it all down with.
![[Image: Ashe.jpg]](http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af298/symbiosychotic/Ashe.jpg)