11-22-2009, 08:00 AM
"Maybe you are just trying to hard."
Ashe was standing just outside of the bunker on a large stone hill. Her frustration was written all over her face as she glared at her palms. "Yeah, that's totally it," she snapped. "Clearly its something that everyone else just has the simplest time doing with no effort and me actually having to work at something is the reason I'm failing." Total projection on her part, when she thought about it, but it was something that seemed to be one of the unwritten laws of physics. Those that work their asses off always seem to fall behind those that have special priveledge.
He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm despite her being unreasonable. "Oh come on," he pleaded. "That's totally not what I'm saying." He would have summoned another ball of energy for her to try to hold, but something told him that it wouldn't exactly help the situation.
Shaking her hand violently in the air and flexing her fingers didn't seem to cause any reaction either, so she finally balled her hand into a fist and stormed towards the bunker. As Kaden opened his mouth again, she cut him off. "Going to the bathroom."
He watched her cross the threshold and he ran his fingers through his hair a moment before looking up at the sky with shielded eyes. "Woman bladder or PMS," he decided. "Either way, I feel for Belle if he happens to be between her and the bathroom."
Belle's scream was heard a moment later as she violently threw him out of the bunker and locked the door. "What the fucking HELL, man?" he growled, pushing himself to his feet and rubbing his rear end hard. He turned to Kaden and pointed at the door as the courier began to laugh. "I didn't do anything!" he swore. "She just stormed in there and threw my ass out demanding privacy. I don't get it either. Its not like I wanted to watch her... you know... do her thing in the bathroom. They can't even do it right!"
***
The student finally unlocked the door after a moment to see a fuming Belle standing in the doorway before he pushed past her to go inside. Hitting the wall hard, she growled at him once more. "What's your problem?"
"I'm not supposed to talk to you about it!"
Kaden's voice called to her in warning from where they had been training. "Ashe!"
She turned to tell him that she could handle Belle fine before seeing a pair of figures standing right before her, sizing her up. One of them, to her dismay, was the green creature that she had just fought. At his side was another figure, a younger looking girl in what appeared to be a blue maid dress. It was such a contrasting pair, with his attempts to be demonic and intimidating being almost entirely overshadowed by her attempts to... Ashe wasn't sure, but she hoped that being kinky for a green alien, especially at her age, wasn't the goal they had in mind.
She stared at them for a moment and took a swallow of air, ignoring the green creature in an attempt to break the ice. "I love your hair!" she gushed at the girl, her eyes shifting to the silver strands.
The girl actually smiled, but didn't say anything, instead looking up into her companion's eyes for some kind of response. Ashe's own eyes followed for a moment, lingering on his somber expression before Kaden reached them. The cloaked figure looked at him for a moment and then back to her before grunting, walking past them into the bunker. The girl looked at the two of them once more before she followed him without a word.
"Sorry, I tried to warn you," the courier apologized, leading her back out to their hill top.
The pink haired student was entirely lost in thought as she kept glancing back to the stronghold. "That was weird. She seemed afraid to talk to us without his permission or something. Do you think he keeps her as some kind of sex slave or something?"
He casually passed it off with a wave without looking back. "Not really our business- Wait, what? Sex slave?" he asked suddenly, whirling around to look at her. "Where'd you get that idea?"
His expression of sheer amusement should have told her to quit while she was ahead but she gave him an honest explaination without thinking it through. "Well, I mean, hot maid outfit, bit revealing, big tall guy in a dark cloak that she looks at for permission... I figure there has got to be some kind of sadomasochistic freak action going on-" She suddenly realized who she was talking to and turned bright red for a moment. This wasn't her normal group of friends. This was Kaden, a guy that she technically barely knew despite having some alternate future showing her what a possible marraige between the two would have been. She didn't even know if that Kaden was anything like the real thing, she realized.
Changing the subject completely, she held her hand back out. "You were saying something about trying too hard?" she asked, trying to take him out of his amusement by returning to the task at hand, covering up her red face by staring intently at the palm she wanted to place over it. "What's your suggestion then?"
"Oh yeah," he remembered, sitting down on the side of the rocky terrain and motioning for her to do the same as he lay his hands over his knees. "Well, there was this guy I knew back in school that was into art type stuff. He constantly made these really cool bowls and dishes and stuff while he was there, painting them up with all these crazy color blended gradients and all."
"Glaze."
"Huh? Yeah, glaze. Guess you took art too, huh?"
"A bit," she answered, wondering where this was going.
"Ok, well, he was trying to show this new girl to the class how to do it and she was absolutely terrible at it!" he laughed before quickly moving on, hoping she didn't take that as an insult to herself. "Not really terrible, I mean, just... She would try so absolutely hard to get it to go into the shape that she wanted that it would always collapse under the pressure."
"I see where this is going," she sighed.
He put his arm up a moment and rubbed the small of her back for comfort. "Well, its not a bad thing. She ended up becoming one of the better potterers... Potterists... Whatever you call them. She got pretty good at it. But my friend was losing his mind because he was trying to explain to her how to just coax it into doing its thing without putting a ton of effort into it. She had to learn to relax and just work with the clay rather than against it. Instead of forcing it where to go, she had to learn how to soothe it into going there itself, if that makes sense."
"Not much, but I think I get what you mean," she nodded, standing back up and taking a deep breath. She held her hands back out for a moment, reflectively meditating as her grandfather had taught he to relax her mind before a question popped into it. "Kaden."
He was still sitting there as he looked up at her.
"Was that really a friend of yours that did all that or just you?" she asked.
He shrugged. "What's it really matter, in the long run?"
She nodded, accepting the answer and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the mountain air and feeling the natural energy coursing through her, making absolutely no effort to gather it in and instead letting it come naturally, like fish swimming into a net.
Ashe was standing just outside of the bunker on a large stone hill. Her frustration was written all over her face as she glared at her palms. "Yeah, that's totally it," she snapped. "Clearly its something that everyone else just has the simplest time doing with no effort and me actually having to work at something is the reason I'm failing." Total projection on her part, when she thought about it, but it was something that seemed to be one of the unwritten laws of physics. Those that work their asses off always seem to fall behind those that have special priveledge.
He took a deep breath, trying to remain calm despite her being unreasonable. "Oh come on," he pleaded. "That's totally not what I'm saying." He would have summoned another ball of energy for her to try to hold, but something told him that it wouldn't exactly help the situation.
Shaking her hand violently in the air and flexing her fingers didn't seem to cause any reaction either, so she finally balled her hand into a fist and stormed towards the bunker. As Kaden opened his mouth again, she cut him off. "Going to the bathroom."
He watched her cross the threshold and he ran his fingers through his hair a moment before looking up at the sky with shielded eyes. "Woman bladder or PMS," he decided. "Either way, I feel for Belle if he happens to be between her and the bathroom."
Belle's scream was heard a moment later as she violently threw him out of the bunker and locked the door. "What the fucking HELL, man?" he growled, pushing himself to his feet and rubbing his rear end hard. He turned to Kaden and pointed at the door as the courier began to laugh. "I didn't do anything!" he swore. "She just stormed in there and threw my ass out demanding privacy. I don't get it either. Its not like I wanted to watch her... you know... do her thing in the bathroom. They can't even do it right!"
***
The student finally unlocked the door after a moment to see a fuming Belle standing in the doorway before he pushed past her to go inside. Hitting the wall hard, she growled at him once more. "What's your problem?"
"I'm not supposed to talk to you about it!"
Kaden's voice called to her in warning from where they had been training. "Ashe!"
She turned to tell him that she could handle Belle fine before seeing a pair of figures standing right before her, sizing her up. One of them, to her dismay, was the green creature that she had just fought. At his side was another figure, a younger looking girl in what appeared to be a blue maid dress. It was such a contrasting pair, with his attempts to be demonic and intimidating being almost entirely overshadowed by her attempts to... Ashe wasn't sure, but she hoped that being kinky for a green alien, especially at her age, wasn't the goal they had in mind.
She stared at them for a moment and took a swallow of air, ignoring the green creature in an attempt to break the ice. "I love your hair!" she gushed at the girl, her eyes shifting to the silver strands.
The girl actually smiled, but didn't say anything, instead looking up into her companion's eyes for some kind of response. Ashe's own eyes followed for a moment, lingering on his somber expression before Kaden reached them. The cloaked figure looked at him for a moment and then back to her before grunting, walking past them into the bunker. The girl looked at the two of them once more before she followed him without a word.
"Sorry, I tried to warn you," the courier apologized, leading her back out to their hill top.
The pink haired student was entirely lost in thought as she kept glancing back to the stronghold. "That was weird. She seemed afraid to talk to us without his permission or something. Do you think he keeps her as some kind of sex slave or something?"
He casually passed it off with a wave without looking back. "Not really our business- Wait, what? Sex slave?" he asked suddenly, whirling around to look at her. "Where'd you get that idea?"
His expression of sheer amusement should have told her to quit while she was ahead but she gave him an honest explaination without thinking it through. "Well, I mean, hot maid outfit, bit revealing, big tall guy in a dark cloak that she looks at for permission... I figure there has got to be some kind of sadomasochistic freak action going on-" She suddenly realized who she was talking to and turned bright red for a moment. This wasn't her normal group of friends. This was Kaden, a guy that she technically barely knew despite having some alternate future showing her what a possible marraige between the two would have been. She didn't even know if that Kaden was anything like the real thing, she realized.
Changing the subject completely, she held her hand back out. "You were saying something about trying too hard?" she asked, trying to take him out of his amusement by returning to the task at hand, covering up her red face by staring intently at the palm she wanted to place over it. "What's your suggestion then?"
"Oh yeah," he remembered, sitting down on the side of the rocky terrain and motioning for her to do the same as he lay his hands over his knees. "Well, there was this guy I knew back in school that was into art type stuff. He constantly made these really cool bowls and dishes and stuff while he was there, painting them up with all these crazy color blended gradients and all."
"Glaze."
"Huh? Yeah, glaze. Guess you took art too, huh?"
"A bit," she answered, wondering where this was going.
"Ok, well, he was trying to show this new girl to the class how to do it and she was absolutely terrible at it!" he laughed before quickly moving on, hoping she didn't take that as an insult to herself. "Not really terrible, I mean, just... She would try so absolutely hard to get it to go into the shape that she wanted that it would always collapse under the pressure."
"I see where this is going," she sighed.
He put his arm up a moment and rubbed the small of her back for comfort. "Well, its not a bad thing. She ended up becoming one of the better potterers... Potterists... Whatever you call them. She got pretty good at it. But my friend was losing his mind because he was trying to explain to her how to just coax it into doing its thing without putting a ton of effort into it. She had to learn to relax and just work with the clay rather than against it. Instead of forcing it where to go, she had to learn how to soothe it into going there itself, if that makes sense."
"Not much, but I think I get what you mean," she nodded, standing back up and taking a deep breath. She held her hands back out for a moment, reflectively meditating as her grandfather had taught he to relax her mind before a question popped into it. "Kaden."
He was still sitting there as he looked up at her.
"Was that really a friend of yours that did all that or just you?" she asked.
He shrugged. "What's it really matter, in the long run?"
She nodded, accepting the answer and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the mountain air and feeling the natural energy coursing through her, making absolutely no effort to gather it in and instead letting it come naturally, like fish swimming into a net.
![[Image: Ashe.jpg]](http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af298/symbiosychotic/Ashe.jpg)