Last hope: One on one

First topic message reminder :

Would anyone care to join me in a one on one? I’m a little rusty, mind you, or else I would have made this into a group somehow. Ah well, baby steps. If anything needs to be explained in greater detail, simply ask!


The year is 4013, and the world has changed. People are different, now more than ever. Race and gender do not matter…only species, and point of view. Humans aren’t the only thing out there anymore. A new species populates the Earth now, and Humans do not like it. Magic, technology, strength, stealth and intelligence are all factors in the new battle. The battle for Earth.
The leaders of the world gathered in 2792 when new life began to contact earth. They came, in ships and with new technology and wisdom, and for a while the Humans were simply curious. However, seventeen years ago things grew out of hand, motives were formed and people died. A war was announced, on every being that was not Human. “Overpopulation,” said the leaders of the world, “Earth could no longer hold so many beings.” But this was not the case. The Humans grew jealous of the other species and their abilities, and decided it was best to be rid of them, or most of them. The Humans did not account for the beings to rise up, and a war began.
Now, the war is over. The armies returned. Humans are the main species of Earth. The beings are still around, yes, of course there was not a genocide. However, with the war over…the battle still rages on. No bombs, no armies this time. Two people, opposites with the same intentions hold the fate of Earth in their hands.

You work for a secret organization, called RDTech. Specialists in Researching and Disposal technology. Research and disposal of what, you may ask? Tamerans. Genetic testing has not stopped since the war ended, and after the testing…no survivors were found. You are the head of the disposal department, looking over all of the…patients…that have ended their tests. You dispose of the bodies, no questions asked. Until now. More Tamerans are being tested on now, more than ever. At this rate, the species won’t survive. Without you. For the past year you have been smuggling patients out of the tests, putting them into hiding and saving hundreds of lives.
One man stands in your way. Robert Greene, developer of RDTech, millionaire and murderer. He now knows you’re the one saving the Tamerans, and he plans to put a stop to your little game as quickly as possible. Which means the battle has begun. You plan to go to the one place that is safe these days. The Hall. It’s a place for Tamerans, the small government that they have. A peace treaty was formed after the war, bonding Humans to no longer cause harm to the Tamerans. The last thing you need is evidence.

That’s where I come in. I was born when the war was starting, and all I have ever known is pain and death. When the war ended in 4011 I thought I was safe, I thought that finally…finally it had all ended. One month ago, as I was walking home from work…the cars came. Two black, sleek cars with tinted windows. Four men surrounded me and the rest I can’t remember. I woke up in a laboratory, in a hospital bed with tubes in my arms and conductors on my temples. For the past four weeks I have been starving, slipping in and out of consciousness, and forced to perform my abilities over and over. I was marked when I came into RDTech, my number is 0632998, and you are my last hope of ever getting out of here alive.

Your plan is rushed and flawed, however it’s your only choice. Take a patient, and their research papers to The Hall, save the Tamerans, and save yourself before Robert Greene can get his thin, bony fingers around your neck. It’s a few thousand miles and a three hour boat ride from RDTech to The Hall, can we make it in time?

Details:
Humans have highly advanced technology in this time, buildings are hundreds of thousands of feet high, the ozone layer was destroyed by pollution hundreds of years ago, however there is now an artificial layer keeping humans alive. Cars are equipped with many different functions, almost any imaginable. Household appliances range from personal artificial-intelligence droids to kitchen sinks that can make your water taste like lemon, rose, or anything you request. Clothing has not changed much, however.

Tamerans: Humanoid beings. They look close to humans at first glance, however if you look closer, one would see how enchantingly strange they look. Tamerans give off a powerful hormone that attracts Humans and animals to them, although one can resist this feeling fairly easily. Their skin has an almost-glowing quality to it, their flesh imbedded with microscopic facets of light-reflecting bio-material. Tamerans are known to be peaceful creatures, only fighting when they need to. The war was difficult on their species, because they had never fought anything before the Humans. Tamerans have deep magic flowing through their veins, the ability to communicate with their environment, shifting wilderness and things around them. Tamerans can sense the mood of every living creature around them, however they can only manipulate plants. Humans figure that the hormone they give off has something to do with their ability. Tamerans originally left their planet, Julimar, because of a natural disaster that caused all of the plant life to die, leaving them with no food and nothing to feed their ability.

If there are any questions regarding this setting, please don’t hesitate to let me know! Help is appreciated greatly.

As we made it out of the thick wooded area outside of town where the facility was, I could tell that the girl was fading. She couldn’t keep her eyes open no matter how hard she might have tried. She would gain and lose consciousness off and on as she curled up into that very familiar ball in the seat. I only noticed once I looked over to her that she had on one of my jackets that I had in the back seat. I can only assume that Sam gave it to her. That Android had the most caring personality chip I had ever seen in a bot. It was a shame I couldn’t keep them in their working bodies. There was no telling how much of a downgrade I would have to get just to get them something to live in again.

I sighed quietly, making my way through the back roads into town. It took about fifteen minutes just to get into town from where the facility was. It took many trips back and forth to finally find the fastest route into town when I first took the job.

---

After another thirty minutes of driving through the massive city, we finally pull into the drive port of a rather large house. It was in one of the better middle class neighborhoods of the city that I could always count on Xander to be living. The girl had saved my skin more times than I could remember and we were old friends because of it.

The girl still slept quietly beside me as I cut the engine off, looking up to the house in front of the truck. There was a single light on in one of the upper bedrooms and there was movement. That was usually one of the rooms that I would have when I was taking up camp for a few days. I sighed, pushing the door open and stepping out of the truck. I push the door closed, leaving the girl to sleep in the darkness. I lock the doors out of habit before walking up the cobblestone walkway that led up to the front door. The light on the porch was off, but I knew that she had been waiting for us.

I reach up, knocking on the deep blue door. I wait quietly, turning my back to the door as I look to the truck. I could still see the small shadow of the girl in the truck. Behind me, I hear the door open and I turn. The smell of baked goods rolls out onto the porch. The smile of a blonde woman in an apron meets me. Xander wasn’t what you would have called a petite woman, but she had been a very good friend. Her face was chubby and she had curves on her body that most women would kill for. Her face was beautiful, her eyes a bright blue color that really set off all her features. She could only be about twenty seven or so. She wasn’t unattractive by any standard, but you could tell that the woman ate.

“Oh, Mira! I was starting to get worried!” Her cheery giggle meets me. It seemed that she was very happy to see me. I sigh quietly, watching her a moment. Her smile falters slightly and she looks to the truck. “So where is the package?” She watches the truck for movement for a moment. It was people like this that made our operations so easy. Normal everyday people that I could trust might take in a Tameran for a day or two until we could find them another town to skip to. They were people that held the same cause as we did. They were just as good saviors as we were.

“It’s in the truck. It’s…offline at the moment. Do you have a place I can store it?” I watch her quietly. She was excited, the codes we used always excited her in a way I didn’t understand. In a way, it was like her and Sam was one in the same. They sure acted it at least.
“Oh, yes! I’ve got a place where you can store the package” She smiles to me and I nod silently, turning to start back towards the truck. It was only natural for us to use codes like we did just in case anyone was listening in they would only think we were talking about a box or package of some sort.

I make it around to the passenger side, pressing my finger to a small button on the door. In a moment there’s a small clicking sound as the door unlocks. I don’t waste time, pulling the door open. The girl is twitching in her dreams. If she wanted to run away, I wasn’t sure that she could. She was far too weak and I wondered that if she even ate when they fed her in the Facility. I doubted it. Some of them were so afraid that they starved themselves to death. Those were always the saddest cases.

I pull the girl into my arms, trying hard to keep from wakening her as I move her out of the truck. She is quite light, and I have no trouble moving her . I push the door closed behind me, walking her back up the cobblestone steps and into the open door.

“The poor thing!” Xander is right behind me to close the door as I walk in. I stop in the entrance way, looking at her for a moment. She finally realizes what I’m waiting for and she leads me out of the entrance way and up the stairs. “Just put her in the guest bedroom. She doesn’t look very…fed. Should I cook her something?” She questions me as I take the steps slowly. It would be a shame to trip on one of the stairs in my hand as I walked. I didn’t want to accidentally drop the frail being in my arms.
“I guess. The girl doesn’t look like she’s eaten at all” I speak quietly. With a shriek of happiness, Xander goes back down the stairs. The girl did love to cook.

A new smell made me stir slightly, before going completely stiff. Where was I? I peeked one eye open, but that was no help. I closed my eyes again, concentrating on the voices and smells. My stomach just about imploded when I smelled the fresh bread. Was that stew? Was I back at Ruth’s? Perhaps I just had a bad dream and it was lunch time.
My body told me differently. In a heartbeat, I felt my chapped lips, cracking and breaking. My eyes pink and sore, everything was sore. Bruises on my wrists from the tubes and wires, a scar forming on the outside of my right thigh, probably about a square inch of skin that they had removed during testing. My skin felt as if it was stretched just a little too tight over my rips and my hip bones. I was slowly starving.
In a second, my small fantasy that I was at old Ruth’s house vanished. The smells made my stomach churn with desire, and the horror was back. Could I trust where I was?

The feeling of arms around me made me blink. Once again I tried opening my eyes, only to see a shirt, or was it a jacket? My forehead was pressed against the crook of someone’s neck, a female. Whoever it was, they smelled nice. Like lighter fluid and laundry detergent. Somehow, the smelled mixed perfectly and I found my eyelids drooping again.

It was that woman! Mandy? Marley? Mira!
My eyes fluttered wide open as she carried me to the top of the stairs, and I felt my breath catch. Where was I? Where had she taken me?
You can trust her, a little voice in my head cooed, and I struggled to stay awake, staying perfectly still. I wanted to walk myself, but I couldn’t move my legs.
“Mmm…” I sighed at the smell of food, wrapping my arms around Mira’s shoulders and burying my face in the crook of her neck, eyes closing. My body and my mind were in battle. My mind was telling me to stay awake, keep alert, be cautious and take in your surroundings.

However my body was simply refusing to cooperate. The smell of fresh bread was torturing me, the warmth of Mira’s body was lulling me into a coma. However, the pain was gone. I was sore, exhausted and starving, but there was no more pain. No more fear of the next day. No more tests.

Slowly I felt myself being eased into a bed. My arms were still at my sides, my legs were straight and I wiggled my toes slightly inside the white hospital slippers the facility had given me. I wiggled my fingers as well, testing myself.
Slowly I blinked my eyes open, eyelids heavy. The light was soft and warm, coming from a bed side table. The room was…adorable. An antique embroidered couch pushed against the far wall, probably from the early 3600’s. A wooden cabinet with class casings, and the bed had a large duvet with silk embroidered linens and a wooden head board. Not a dust particle in sight. I wondered if this was Mira’s house, but then quickly dismissed the thought. She didn’t seem like the kind of girl to have glass cat figurines on the bed side table, although perhaps she was. What did I know? Through the soft, warm light, I slowly raised my gaze to the figure in the room, not saying a word as I met her endlessly deep green eyes.

At one point, I felt the girl in my arms start to jerk. She tried to move, but my hands secured her to my body. She takes her arms, wrapping them around my shoulders. I wasn’t sure if it was the food that she smelled, drawing her out of her stupor, or if it was the sounds of our voice. I didn’t bother stopping though; she would be okay for the little time that it took me to get into the bedroom. I could hear the sounds of pots and pans being moved around downstairs. She was probably trying to find a bowl that she thought was bit enough for this girl. When I brought in someone half starved, Xander tried hard to fill them with so much food that you would think they would automatically become fat. Of course that was never the case and soon the person would be subject to large meals three times a day. With being a single woman, she had enough time and money to do as she wished whenever she desired.

I walk the girl into the room with the single light on. The warm glow of the bedside table lights the way to the bed. I walk with her quietly, adjusting her quietly so I could pull the covers back on the bed. It takes me a moment but soon I’m able to sit her in the bed. I lean down, placing her down on the bed. I don’t look up to her as her hands fall to her sides. The girl must have been terrified. She was in a new place and didn’t know anyone. I sighed quietly, looking up to her to see that her eyes are open. I give her a light smile before pulling the comforter back over her body. She watches me quietly for a while and I stand there, looking back at her. This had been the first time that the person I was transferring wasn’t legally dead when I put them in their bed. This was the first time that I looked up and saw eyes looking back to me.

“Here we are! Stew and bread!” The loud cheery voice that walks through the door makes me jump, pulling my weapon and pointing it. It was natural thing for me to do, especially with the sudden movement. Xander stops, giving me a ‘cool it’ look before walking around to the other side of the bed.
“Could you try to be a little quieter?” I speak, looking at her as I shove the weapon back in its holster. She’s humming happily as she walks to the other side of the room.
“Oh Mira! Always the Debbie Downer!” She giggles as she sets the wooden serving tray on the other bedside table. I sigh, turning around and starting toward the door.
“I’ve got something to get out of the truck. You can trust her Fiona, as crazy as she may be” I speak simply. I trusted Xander more than I probably trusted many of the other people that reached out to help. She had been my friend for a long time and I knew how well she worked with frightened Tamerans.

I hurried down the stairs, making it to the bottom much faster than I had made it up. I took less care when it was just me. I was quiet and the smell off food danced across my nostrils as I made it to the door. I can hear the sounds of Xander in the room above and I sigh. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to leave the girl alone with her. I could see why she might seem scary at first.

---

“Well, now that she’s gone I can get you fed without her being on my backside” She smiles to the girl in the bed. It was strange that Mira would have brought in a girl that wasn’t like they usually were. Things must have gone far worse than bad for her to keep her conscious. She doesn’t bother with that though, conscious or not she had a girl to feed, and I girl to feed she would.

“I hope you don’t mind a little soup on a cold night. I baked the bread myself.” She smiles at the girl, walking around the side of the bed. “Can you sit up, darlin’ or do ya need some help?” The girl looked weak, but she wasn’t going to assume that she wasn’t strong enough to get up on her own unless she knew for sure and needed the assistance. She might have been a little out there, but she wasn’t going to invade the girl’s space.

The woman who entered the room was breathtaking, and also rather adorable, much like the room. She was a curvy woman, round, plump cheeks grinning at me. What was in her hands drew my attention, and I felt my throat tighten. Mira left the room, and I felt my heart beat a little faster. Not that this woman looked like she was even capable of hurting a dust bunny.
Although that probably wasn’t the best thought, considering there wasn’t a dust bunny in sight. I felt one side of my lip twitch slightly at my inner joke, propping myself up on my shoulders.

My back was supported by at least five extremely soft and cozy plush pillows, and I sunk into them, biting my lip, unsure what to do now.

“Good girl.” The woman cooed, and she moved the serving tray onto my lap, handing me a large porcelain spoon. I slowly reached up, fingers wrapping around the utensil gingerly. My hand shook, and out of the corner of my eye I could see the woman’s perfectly shaped and polished brows knitting together in worry. If I could have formed an expression at the time, I would have tried to reassure her. However my dead, motionless face was stiff, eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

Slowly I dipped the spoon into the large bowl of stew, raising it to my lips and taking in the rich broth. I ate very slowly at first, the woman sitting by the bedside the whole time. Carefully I set the spoon down after a few chunks of beef and potatoes. A large hunk of bread sat on the corner of the tray, and I carefully ripped off a small piece, dipping it into the stew like I used to at home, before popping it into my mouth.

I could only finish about a quarter of the meal, my stomach had probably shrank down to the size of an apple. However, it was delicious and satisfying.
“Where am I?” I murmured after a few minutes of complete quiet and stillness. The woman took the tray, and smiled sadly.

“I’ll let Mira explain to you when she gets back. Is there anything else I can get you, little bird?” As the woman spoke I slowly kicked my white hospital slippers off, shoving them into the depths of the blankets and covers.
I shook my head no, giving her a small, thankful smile as I hugged Mira’s jacket closer to me, my senses calmed by the smell and warmth.
“Well, we’ll fix you up in no time, dear. Get you some new clothes, and there’s a telephone downstairs if you need.” The woman stood, leaving me alone.

I carried the duffel bag silently in my arms. Everything that I needed was inside the bag. I press the small pad on the truck, locking the doors back behind me. I wasn’t out there for very long. I didn’t feel safe out here. At any time someone could be passing. Anyone could recognize you and get you caught at any instant. A cool breeze blows through the neighborhood, rustling the trees. I see movement in the upstairs bedroom as I start back towards the door. Now that we had been greeted and welcomed in, I don’t bother knocking. With a turn of my wrist the door opens and I walk back inside the warm house.

As I step through the doorway and into the entranceway, I see Xander coming from the room. She’s smiling, like always. She has the tray in her hands, bringing it back down. I raise my eyebrows to her and she nods excitedly. The girl was eating, which was a good sign. She comes to a stop at the foot of the stairs.

“I see that you got her to eat?” I watch her quietly and she eyes the bag on my back. It wasn’t the normal, smaller bag that I usually carried with me.
“Yes, the girl barely ate anything, but she’s so small it doesn’t surprise me. She’s asking questions, Mira. It’s a surprise that you didn’t give the girl any information before helping her; it’s not like you to-“
“Things got complicated. I was...found out. I know they’ll have mercs out on me before the sun comes up tomorrow.” The woman’s eyes widen quietly and the smile falters. She gives me a look of pity and she shakes her head.
“It’s a shame” She speaks quietly before turning and starting towards the kitchen.
"Hey look, I've got this. I'll get us there no problem." I try to give her a smile as she's walking away, but it's more for me. I had my doubts and I knew that it would be a very rough trek.
“I’ll let you have time to get settled in. There’s food down here when you get hungry” I smile, starting up the stairs.
“Thanks Xander, I owe you big time for this” I hear her quiet giggles as I make it up the stairs. I knew that she would have something for me to do. Even though the woman looked sweet, she could hold grudges. She had been talking about a new bot since the last time I had come over. Maybe that’s how I would repay her. I sigh quietly, pulling a hand through my hair as I make it up the stairs and into the room.

When I enter the light is still on. I walk around the bed, sitting my bag on the floor in front of the window that could be seen from the street. I don’t speak for a while, just unzipping the bag and searching through it a moment. I pull out a 9mm, looking it over for a moment. I pull a clip out of the mess that was in my bag. I load the weapon quietly, looking it over a moment before reaching into the bag for a knife. It’s not large, but if used properly could cause major damage. I pull myself to my feet, keeping the weapons pressed to my sides.

“It’s just a precaution” I speak quietly to her, walking around the bed once more. I pull open the drawer closest to her, placing the gun inside. You could never be too careful; even if you were almost a hundred percent sure that RDTech didn’t know where you were. I look her over a moment before shoving the knife behind her pillow. I didn’t want to scare the girl, but I wanted her to have something to protect herself with if need be. “I must say…if someone doesn’t come in that isn’t me or Xander, I want you to aim for the head okay?” Once I’ve gotten everything situated, I walk back to the bag, zipping it up and shoving it under the bed. I pull myself up off the floor, coming to sit on the unoccupied side of the bed.

“Now, Xander says that you have some questions for me?” I wasn’t going to give her the full story. What she asked was all I was going to give her. I didn’t want her running off because she didn’t want to make the trek to The Hall. I needed her probably more than I needed the date chip that was hidden in the bag.

I felt myself stiffen. All I could think of was that story…what was the name…The Princess and the Pea, as she put a knife under my pillow. Except there weren’t a hundred mattresses, and it wasn’t a pea. I could feel the hilt slightly, and it made me uneasy. I knew how to throw knives, better than most Tameran’s my age. At the android arena I used to work at, one of the other maintenance staff taught me.

Misfortune followed me my whole life, and even after the war, I wasn’t safe. Around two years ago, give or take, I was new at the arena. They gave me easy tasks to start off with, but rough hours. I worked nights, and it was exhausting, but I liked working with the bots and it was one of the only jobs available.
One night, it was cold and the breeze nipped at my cheeks. Perhaps I didn’t do the best job of cleaning up one of the fighting areas, but I just wanted to get home. As I was packing up, I looked around for my jacket.
A man stepped out from the shadows, “Looking for this?” His voice was sexy and I knew I was blushing. I nodded, reaching out for it. I knew this man from somewhere, but I couldn’t place him. The face was familiar, the voice plucking at my memory.
As I reached for it, he shook his head, clicking his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Turn, you look cold.” I hesitated, but his crooked smile got the best of me. He opened the jacket for me, like a gentleman would on a date. My cheeks were on fire, so I was glad to turn away, slipping my arm into one of the sleeves.
His breath was hot in my ear now, as he snaked his arm around my waist, his iron grip holding me. “I’ve seen you working.” He whispered. “And now I know you’re as clueless as you look.” At this point I was struggling, kicking myself for falling into such an obvious trap. The man pushed my back against one of the rusted metal walls, one of his hands fumbling with the fabric of my shirt as I felt my heart beating into my throat.

“Stop.”
The voice was commanding and strong. We both stopped struggling for a moment, and the man recoiled.
I lifted my gaze, blinking away the fog formed by tears sitting on my eyelashes. It was a Tameran woman, one of the others who worked here. The man began to laugh.
“Fuck off before you get hurt, lady.” He said. Tamerans didn’t have opinions, to humans. Tamerans didn’t stand up for themselves. Tamerans were nothing but objects at their disposal.
I could feel his emotions, like fire burning me, licking at my skin. Anger, amusement, desire, arrogance.
The woman smiled, shaking her head. “Let her go before you get hurt, pig.”
“What did you say?” He let go of me, turning to the woman. He was still close enough that if I tried to run, he would be right there in a second.
The woman stepped forward until she was a foot away from him. “Leave.” The womans black eyes flashed, her olive skin radiating a small glow as all Tamerans did.

The man raised his hand quickly, going up to slap the woman. She caught it. Quicker than a whip, she had a knife at his throat. Tamerans were never violent people, always passive and quietly refusing a fight. However this woman was different. Something had caused her to step forward.
Suddenly I realized, it was me.

For months after the incident, I learned this woman’s name was Tai. She had fought in the war, and was no stranger to defending the innocent.
She taught me how to throw knives, telling me I had to learn to defend myself if such a thing were ever to happen again, although I could never get as good as her. Tai was so graceful, hitting her mark every time, whereas I had only an ounce of her grace. She told me the man owned a fighting bot at the arena, droid 67Gamma. A prime model, he must have been a very wealthy man.

He didn’t come to the arena again after that night.

After my skills had grown substantially, months had passed. Tai didn’t come to work one evening, or the next. Eventually they gave away her shift, and I asked around about her.
One of the energy-weapon supervisors told me Tai had died repairing a bot. I asked which bot. The man said 67Gamma.
The bot was destroyed after a few weeks, and eventually the man returned with a new fighting droid. I knew it wasn’t a repair accident. Maintenance workers like me and Tai were much too cautious to ever be harmed by a bot. However, I was a Tameran. My opinion didn’t matter.

Blinking, I realized I had drifted off into a daydream. It had only been a few seconds, but I knew Mira was waiting. She must think I was some kind of mental.
Sighing faintly, I ran one of my fingers through my tousled curls, absently wondering if there was a shower anywhere.
A million questions fluttered to my lips, but I couldn’t decide which one to ask first. “Why are you helping me?” I finally asked, voice cracking slightly and sounding pathetic. It was the question that confused me the most. I wasn’t a stranger to humans who were kind, they were just…rare.

Suddenly, I wondered if she would think of me as ungrateful, from that comment. My eyes widened, and I felt slightly ashamed. Of course I was grateful. Thankful. I let my eyes wander down to my pale arms, watching the soft light glowing off of my skin so I wouldn’t have to meet Mira’s loaded gaze. In the facility, the harsh fluorescent lights made my skin always appear unhealthy and strange, diminishing it’s glow. Now, I was happy to see it was back, that some of my old self was slowly returning.

This girl had a lot on her chest. I could tell simply by the way that she acted that this girl had more of a history than most of the Tamerans I helped that were her age. Most of them got picked up walking home from work or school. There was something more to her. She had a history that was probably much more complex than the others. It was a shame, but that’s what led to great tales and stories in books. Without history there wasn’t anything to live for.

The girls mind goes blank for a few seconds and we sit there in silence. It was those memories that were passing through her mind now. I watch her, gaze unwavering. I knew that it wouldn’t be long before she pulled herself out of her own memories. I didn’t mind sitting there. Sometimes, people needed that time to sort through themselves before they could get back on track.

Just as I assumed, she begins to move again. Out of her dreams and into the real world where I sat there, waiting quietly for an answer to my question. The girl looks away from me, running a hand through her hair. It was quite the mess and it surprises me that she’s able to get her fingers through the fire that came down to rest on her shoulders. She was thinking hard about what question she might ask. I knew there had to be hundreds flitting behind those eyes and it was hard to decide. I would have probably felt the same way had I been in her place. The fact was, I wasn’t and I was waiting for an answer.

Then, from nowhere her words come flowing from her lips. I look to her, but by the time she’s spoken her eyes are down towards her arms. She lacked self-confidence, but that wasn’t a surprise with the Tameran race. At least it wasn’t a surprise with the way humans treated them. To us, well, some of us at least, they were just dirt on the bottom of our shoes. They were just another animal to us. They were something we could control and do whatever we wished to. I sigh quietly, that’s how they thought, not me.

“I don’t think that what they’re doing is right. I’ve been helping Tamerans out of the facility for over a year now, but I was found out. You were just the lucky one I decided to take with me; a spur of the moment, of course” I didn’t want this girl to get the impression that she was special. Of course, she was—she was very special in fact. Some people got a big head if they thought they were too important; they started demanding things of people that were almost impossible to get. I didn’t know this girl, and I wasn’t sure yet what kind of person she was. You had to be careful with some people. Even when you gave them a helping hand they expected more until they sucked you dry. I was no fool. I would not let that happen in this case. She was much too important to lose. If I lost her, I was surely to end up dead.

“Next question?” I speak simply, bending at the waist to pull my shoes off, one at a time. After wiggling my toes for a moment I pull myself back up. I would answer her questions until she had no more or grew too tired to keep her eyes open. You had to be honest with these people. Sometimes you had to keep some information away from them, but it wasn’t lying. Really sometimes it was better to be broad then give them every little detail. I didn’t need her running off on me. I needed her to make it to The Hall so I could put a stop to this once and for all.

Slowly as she spoke, my back sunk deeper into the large, plush pillows supporting my back, as her words settled into my mind. She wasn’t like the other humans, no. That was evident from the first time I met her. It was more apparent now than ever before. The energy radiating off of her flowed through the air like steam from a shower, warm, comforting and safe. I could faintly touch the woman’s aura downstairs, worry was the main feeling and I sighed lightly, slightly guilty for upsetting the poor lady. As I raked my brain for another question, my eyes drifted down to the inside of my left wrist. The tattoo was so dark on my ghostly white skin, and I felt the oh-so-familiar lump in my throat tighten my chest. It would be there forever. The number marking me for death, marking me for testing, marking me as a thing. 0632998, the patient number I was assigned at RDTech.

With some rest and the food inside me, I could finally think a bit more clearly. And it probably had something to do with all those sedative drugs they had me on. Absentmindedly I rubbed my hand where the tubes had been pulled out only hours before hand.
Suddenly a thought popped into my mind. It was one of those stray, flitting thoughts that tickled the back of your mind before it was gone in a second. However it stayed, I caught it before it could retreat into the recesses of my mind.

“What now?” I murmured, raising my hand to tuck my knotted hair behind one ear. It was a vast question, but the meaning was obvious. What was she going to do with me now that we were out? What was Mira going to do…go back to RDTech? I froze, wondering what her actual job was at the facility. If she worked there…didn’t that mean that she was one of the bad guys?

No…she was helping me. She was a good guy. Right?

I swayed lightly, feeling a bit faint now that I couldn’t make up my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut to keep the room from spinning, and slowly raised my knees up to my chest under the blankets and hid my face against my legs. It was a routine. Knees up. Arms around them. Face down. I was the only motion that my body was familiar with these days, the only thing keeping me together. A moment of calm in a vast ocean of tsunami waves.
I let one side of my face turn toward Mira, peeking one eye open slightly to watch her answer my question. I wanted to see her reaction, because she might have been the only person in the world that I could trust…at least I think I could.

“I heard they’re hiring, out at that old plant off 60.” The young girl’s eyes widen at the prospect. “If you want to get out of here, if you want a job, you need to go out there and sign up” She was curious if this man was tricking her. Yes, they had been friends for a while, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a scoundrel. He stole things and lied to people better than she did. He had been sort of like her comrade on the streets though. If she came into any trouble, he would be there; ready to kill anyone that threatened her. He was like a father that she never had. She felt safe with him, and he never tried to take advantage of her. “Go take the test and see how you do. If they like your scores, you’ll get in easy. You’re a smart girl, I know you can do it”

Back then, getting a job out there was just passed around by word of tongue. They took people who lost their job and who was smart. If you didn’t make it, you didn’t make it…The girl never found out what happened if you didn’t pass the test.

“You don’t know how much this means to me, Mordecai” The girl looks up to the man, her lips curled up in a gracious smile. She loved this man as if he were family. He had caught her how to shoot a gun, how to kill, but most of all, he taught her how to survive. Without this man that sat in front of her on a wooden crate she would be dead.

That was a long time ago though. I wasn’t that poor, scared little girl anymore. I could kill a man and not even think about it. That’s how I knew we were going to make it to the Hall. I could kill and not feel bad or sad at the loss of a life. I had been conditioned to not care about death. As much as I cared when the death was caused by others for stupid circumstances, I had gotten used to throwing bodied in the lake to rot.

The next question that she asks is one that I’ve been waiting a long time for. She sits there, unknowing of anything that is about to happen. She knows very well that this isn’t as simple as it looks. Yes, she sits in this bed, but what happens to her later is a mystery to her.

“Well, I’ve got to get you out of this town first. I’ve got to get us very far away from here…” I stop a moment to look at her. She hadn’t waited for my answer. She was shutting down on me. I could tell that there was a great sense of doubt within her. At the same time that I understood the doubt, I didn’t. I had gotten her out of that place, hadn’t I? I had fed her got her a place to sleep while the medication wore off, hadn’t I? I didn’t bother with it though. Whether she trusted me or not she would come with me to the Hall. I don’t wait for her any longer. She turns her head to look at me but I look forward, towards the dresser that sat in front of the bed. “Tell me, Fiona, do you know of a place called The Hall?”

As she spoke, I felt my eyes widen, turning back to my ball and hiding my face in the blankets.
“To the edge of Earth,
Until our numbers fall,
Every man and woman,
Are safe in The Hall.” I murmured the end of an old Tameran prayer into the blankets, making a muffled noise that I was nearly sure Mira couldn’t hear.

Of course I knew of The Hall. It was the dream destination for all lost Tamerans, like I was now. Over the years, I had heard many tales of what The Hall was like. Some said it was on the edge of a mountain side with stone pillars that were made of ice. Some said it was on the seaside, and when you stood from one of the balconies you could smell the salty waves crashing below. Some said it didn’t exist, but everyone knew it did.

It had to.

I felt my body uncoil itself from the small ball I had formed into before my mind had even told it to. My body was simply reacting now.
Slowly I sat up fully, shoulders drawn inward slightly…partially from exhaustion, partially from shyness. I looked directly at Mira, wondering if she would come to meet my gaze. It was hard for people to look directly at me sometimes, they told me I looked like a ghost, my eyes hauntingly curious now. Wide and searching Mira’s face for answers it wouldn’t give me.

“What…what is at The Hall?” I asked, trying hard to form a proper sentence and not mumble. This was not the time to be quiet and scared, this was the time to act, to be strong. I didn’t want to be a pathetic, broken piece of glass anymore.

Her eyes widen and she curls within herself fully again. I assumed that she didn’t like my question. Did she not like the prospect of going to The Hall? Was there something there that didn’t particularly call out as safe to her? Was there something there that I did not know about? I myself had never been to The Hall. I knew of its location and I knew people that could get us there, but I knew nothing other than that.

I sit there in the silence for a few minutes. I didn’t think I had ever had this much issue with a Tameran. After I got them out of the Facility they usually trusted me. She was different. She was full of questions and fears.

Then, she pulls herself out of her little shell. It’s almost as if she wanted to be strong for once. It was like she wanted to show me that she wasn’t just a scared little girl. I was starting to think about her as such. She looks at me and I find no problem fixing her gaze. If she thought I would get scared and look away she was mistaken. I had seen enough dead and half dead Tamerans that I knew what one looked like.

Without answering my question, she is inclined to ask another. Her question tells me all I need to know anyway. She knows of The Hall and she wants to know why we have to take the long trek to get there. I chuckle quietly. Did she not realize that she was just a mere pawn in a great game? She was the pawn that I would make it across the board with. She would become the queen in fact. I shake my head, sighing quietly.

“Well for starters, your safety, my safety, and probably safety for about five hundred other Tamerans that RDTech will be kidnapping off the streets within the next year” I watch her. Did she not realize what I was trying to do? Of course she didn’t. She was busy figuring out how she got dragged into all this. The silly girl.

Slowly I began to connect the dots. One by one it all formed into a strange map in my head. One of the points screamed out at me: You’ll be safe at The Hall.
But what about Ruth? What about the droid fighting arena? What about the little things I already missed in my life. Like walking by Tai’s empty locker and looking for her every morning, but knowing I would never see her again. Like throwing knives at targets alone when I should be cleaning the bots. Like Ruth bringing me tea every evening before bed. The weird smell Ruth’s house had, like cat fur and sugar cookies.
I felt nauseous. I felt dizzy and sick and stunned. Uneasily, I stood from my bed, swaying and looking around the room. I had to get out of this room. It was too stuffy. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. My body began to shut down, I had stood up too fast. Slowly I swayed, shoulder dropping and hitting the wall, bringing down a picture frame.

“Bathroom.” I gasped, hardly breathing. An overwhelming wave of emotions just hit me, and I just needed some air.
My eyes drifted around the room, seeing two doors. One was a closet, one was the bathroom, I assumed. Stumbling forward, I pushed myself from the wall and brought myself to one of the doors. It was the closet, and as soon as I opened the door I could smell the nostril-clogging scent of artificial moth balls. Small synthetic metal orbs that kept clothing fresh, blinking whatever color you set them to.

Swaying, I shut the door, forgetting all about Mira and the woman downstairs. I grabbed the handle of the other door and pulled. A polished white room greeted me, and I fell in, slamming the door behind me. Exhausted, I walked toward the window, pushing it open and sitting up on the porcelain sink beside it, letting my head fall back against the mirror, back pressing against the faucet and the tile wall. I closed my eyes, taking in deep breaths and trying to calm down.

In my mind, the last few minutes had seemed rushed, like only a few seconds but I knew I was slower than that. I felt my eyes open, tears making my vision blur. Mira probably thought I was psycho. Tamerans were so in touch with their emotions, and other’s emotions around them that it wasn’t unusual for us to have little…breaks. I hadn’t had a breakdown since I was a child, mainly because I kept such a tight leash on my emotions, always staying quiet, always keeping my head down.

Think, Fiona.

She wanted you to go to The Hall. ‘Your safety, my safety, and probably safety for about five hundred other Tamerans.’…which meant she was on the run now too. She…she had risked her life for me. Me. A Tameran. She was risking everything now.
‘RDTech will be kidnapping off the streets’…so that’s how I had ended up in this mess. They were abducting people. Which meant it was illegal, right? My brain was having trouble processing this, the meds were still in my system and it was just…so much to take in.

The cold night air tickled at my cheeks and slowly I let my feet touch the floor, pushing myself from the sink and walking back to the window. It had been at least half an hour of me sitting on the sink and holding my breath, trying not to cry. No crying. No more of that.
It took a good amount of force for me to push the window back up. I had lost basically all of my muscle mass when in the facility, turning into a weak shell of my former self. I let Mira’s big black jacket drop to the floor, feeling naked without it. Slowly, I turned to the mirror. It had been weeks since I had looked at myself, and I was horrified at what could possibly be staring back at me.

Slowly I raised my eyes, putting my hands on the rim of the sink for support. First thing I noticed was my hair. It stood out now more than ever, dangerously red, like the embers of a fire. It was a hideous mess, knotted and kinky, mostly parted in the middle, framing my pale face in ratty curtains. What made it stand out so much was the lack of color in my skin. My eyes had faded to a disturbingly pale grey, just off-white. The blue had totally vanished from them, and they scared me. They didn’t look like my eyes, and they were rimmed with black, bruise-like shapes. Slowly I worked my way down, to my cheeks, which were cold and lifeless, slightly hollowed out. My nose, the freckles standing out on my porcelain flesh. Lips, cracked and dry.
Hands shaking, I slowly lifted the white cotton tank top off over my head, slipping out of the matching pants the facility had given me until I stood, naked and cold.

The girl staring back at me in the mirror looked horrible. Fragile, like a baby bird. Broken and on the verge of breaking more. My rips pressed against my skin, hip bones protruding more than they normally did. The small homemade tattoo under my breast read ‘I’m still alive’, and I slowly nodded to myself. That’s right, Fiona. You’re alive. Don’t stop fighting until you’re dead. Please don’t stop fighting. My eyes wandered over to the large shower-bath-combo, and I stumbled over to it, turning the hot water on and stepping in.

The water burned me, made my pale skin turn a soft babyflesh-pink. I closed my eyes and stood in the stream of water, pressing one of the dozens of buttons on the wall. The water slowly began to smell like peaches and oranges, although it still burned. It felt nice, and I let the soapy water was slowly untangling my mane of flames.

I let the water run until there was no hot water left, until the water was freezing and it didn’t smell like peaches and oranges anymore. Weakly, I slid down against the tile wall of the shower and curled myself into a ball, burning and freezing. As the water comforted me, washed away all my doubts about Mira…I knew I was going to help her. She was risking everything for me, someone who had nothing left to risk.

Her eyes flit around the room a moment. I wonder if I’ve said too much and put her mind into overdrive. She stands, stumbling around the room. The girl looked as if she was going to be sick. I just sat there, watching her as she stumbled around the room, looking for the bathroom. I would let her have her little emotional breakdown. As long as she had it now and not when we were traveling I would be fine. She practically throws herself into the closet in her rush. I watch her in silence as she stumbles around, throwing herself into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

I sit there now, in silence, looking at the door for a moment. It was apparent that she would be in there awhile. I knew this little fit. They would sit in a place and try to straighten up their thoughts. I assumed that she would shower which would leave her in there for even longer. So, after about five minutes of waiting for her I god up quietly. I walked around to the dresser in the room. I knew that one of the drawers had two sets of clothes in it that were mine. I stayed here off and on when I first got my job at the Facility. I hadn’t been earning enough money to keep an apartment so I stayed here and there a lot.

I pull out one of the sets of clothes, turning and setting them on the bed behind me. I then walk to the closet pulling out a pair of shoes. I turn around, placing those at the foot of the bed. Xander was good at keeping the place tidy and I found the same little note pad and cat pen sitting on the bedside table.

Here’s a pair of clothes that should fit you better than anything Xander might have. I’ll be downstairs.
–Mira

I scribble the note quietly before placing it on the stack of clothes. There was no reason for me to sit up here when I could be eating. I hadn’t had anything all day and stew did seem very nice. I walk around the bed, putting my shoes on, and starting out the door and down the stairs.

I make it down the stairs and into the bright kitchen just as Xander is taking out a batch of what looks like Raspberry almond thumbprints. I sigh quietly, shaking my head to her as I sat down on the bar stool.
“You didn’t have to make those for us. You didn’t have to go out of you-“
“Well yes I did. That girl needs more meat on her bones and these things right here are completely irresistible!” I can’t help but chuckle, rolling my eyes at her. She was the sweetest thing. “If I’m lucky, I can get you both to gain a few pounds before you’re off!” She laughs quietly, walking to the cabinet to get out a bowl. She then walks to the stove where the stew is still being kept warm. I watch as she spoons up a very large bowl and I sigh. She knew that I didn’t eat that much, but she was trying anyway.

“We won’t be staying here that long, Xander. I’m thinking about staying here one more day before heading out. I need her to gain her strength before I move her around to different towns. It’ll take us at least a month to get to The Hall.” I sigh quietly, knowing how much traveling was ahead of us. The woman in front of me sighs, shaking her head. I knew that she would try hard to get us to stay.
If the girl isn’t feeling up to par when I planned on leaving then we might be staying longer. I don’t know.” I pull my hands up to rub my eyes. “And if she keeps having these panic attacks I don’t know what I’m going to do” I let my head set on the bar for a little bit. I feel a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. I was much less professional with Xander. I could confide in her and I knew that.

“She’s just scared. I remember the first time we met. You were starving on the streets. You tried to steal my pocket book” She can’t keep from chuckling, remembering the old times. “And I took you in and gave you a meal. I made you promise that you wouldn’t steal anymore…I don’t think you kept that promise though” I can hear the smile in her voice and I sigh, pulling my head up.

She is fast to push the bowl and plate in front of me. She walks around to the other side of the bar, beginning to drizzle a white liquid over the cookies.
“Eat up, Mira!” She pushes me to eat and I can’t help but oblige her. I pick up one of the porcelain spoons, dipping it into the warmth of the broth. I don’t look it over before the spoon goes in my mouth. I chew for a moment, swallowing with a grin.
“Got any Ketchup?” I watch her as she looks up at me, a worried look on her face. She sees the smile that is plastered wickedly on my face. She can’t help but giggle as she picks up the nearest spoon, hitting me with it.
color=#CCFF66]“My stew can stand on it’s own feet.”[/color]

After what felt like a lifetime, I began to see a small glow of lavender light emerging from the window. Which meant the cold night was gone, which meant…we had to get moving.
Shaky and sore, I rose up from the tub, pushing a button on the shower and turning it off. A whimsical voice sang a mechanical goodbye as I turned it off, and I felt myself smile slightly at the walls. This woman was rather funny, in an odd kind of way. With her big hair and bigger grin. I had to be sure to thank her before Mira and I left…
I swallowed the lump that was forming in my throat. Before Mira and I left for The Hall.

I stepped out of the shower, shivering slightly and brushing my wet curls off of my face. They weren’t knotty anymore, instead they were soft and silky, perhaps a bit damaged at the ends from running my fingers through them so often, but that shower had definitely done wonders.
I didn’t look in the mirror as I left, I didn’t want to see the horrible image staring back at me again. Quickly I grabbed the white cotton outfit from the facility, and Mira’s huge black jacket, and put my fingers on the door knob, hesitating slightly as my breath caught.

Mira. I didn’t think I could face her after she saw me on the verge of a breakdown. I pressed my free hand into my forehead, closing my eyes and sighing as I rubbed my temple. You can do this. Move.

Slowly I opened the door, eyes wide as they searched across the room. She wasn’t there. I let out the breath I didn’t even know I had been holding and slowly stepped toward the bed, moving as fast as my legs would take me. I tossed the white cotton matching set onto the bed, along with the black jacket, fingers moving into my pocket to find the two sleeping pills I had saved from the facility. I stared down at them in my hand, knowing that it was probably stupid to save them. But they worked quickly, and could probably take down an escaped gorilla. I guess the people at RDTech were afraid of Tamerans lashing out. I shook my head slightly, eyes stinging but no tears forming.

I set the pills on the bed side table, before my eyes were drawn to a pile of fabric and a slip of paper on the bed. I bit my lower lip slightly, picking up the paper and feeling my cheeks heat up slightly. Even this small little act of kindness felt as if it could break my heart.

My fingers found the fabric, and I raised up one of the items. A shirt. None of the clothes looked big, however after a few minutes and an awkward struggle, I knew they were loose and baggy. A small, sad smile came to my lips as the smell of lighter fluid and fabric softener enveloped me. I loved them.

Spoiler:

Quickly, I slipped on the shoes she had left at the end of the bed, a bit too big on my tiny feet and ran my fingers through my hair until I was satisfied. It was nearly dry, just a little damp at the ends and falling down my shoulders in loose, wavy curls. I knew I still probably looked horrible, but at the moment I didn’t really care. My lips were no longer dry, I had food in my stomach, my hair was still kind of a mane of fire and embers, however I was starting to feel alive again.

Before I left the room, I pocketed the two sleeping pills on the night stand, looking over my shoulder down the hall. I trusted Mira…at least…I thought I did. However everyone has their own secrets. Was it all that bad to have one of my own?

The stairs were tricky, but I made it, smelling something sweet. My eyes were wide, but no longer frightened as I stood at the foot of the stairs, looking around the room for Mira, following my nose to the kitchen until I stood, small and quiet, leaning against the wall and looking at the two women, knocking my fist against the wall as a kind of…silent hello.

“Make sure that she doesn’t get out of this situation alive” The quiet tapping of fingers on a wooden desk could be heard throughout the room. The man tapping his fingers looked tired with dark rings circling under his eyes. He hadn’t slept since the night before. As upset as he was with his security team, Robert Greene knew well not to trust them again. He would hire someone that knew how to do their job well.

The male that sat on the other side of the desk was very obviously someone you wouldn’t trifle with. His hair was a sort of salt and pepper color, long and tied back into a pony tail. He was younger than Greene by at least ten or twenty years. He wasn’t old; something just made his hair that way.

He had light armor on now, but he could easily change if need be. A single pistol was hooked on his hip, and a knife was strapped to his leg. He was deadly accurate with both. He watched Greene with dark brown eyes. He did not speak as he got his debriefing from the man that would very soon be paying him. How hard was it to track and kill two women? And one of them was Tameran? This was the easiest contract he would ever take. The man doesn’t smile, simply leaning forward to sign his name on a small holograph pad. It was illegible, but Greene didn’t care. If he didn’t come back for his money then he didn’t come back.

“If you have problems with the Tameran, do what you need to do. We can always get more, you see?” His voice was deep as he pulled the hologram pad back into one of his desk drawers. Greene had faith in this man; he would get results.

Without another word, the man stood, turning and walking out of the office. Greene watches him as he goes noting that he wasn’t much of a talker. He sighed quietly, leaning back in his chair to rub his eyes. He needed to get home to his wife. It was early by now and he knew that she would be worrying about him.

---

I hadn’t realized how late it was in the day until I looked up to see the sky outside of the window. It wasn’t good that I had gotten no sleep throughout the night, but I knew that it was worse that she hadn’t gotten any sleep. It might have been better had we stayed a little while longer. It might have been easier to hide the girl in the night. I wasn’t sure if it was best to stay here for too long. There had to have been someone after us by now. I wasn’t sure who they might have gotten; they got someone that would kill without causing a lot of problems that I was sure of.

There was no time for sleeping really. I had to hold down the fort and make sure no one broke through the front door. A deep breath pulled through my lungs as I pulled my head off the cold marble counter. Xander is pulling the cookies off the pan now, looking over each one to make sure they are perfect. She makes sure to put three on two smaller plates; I assume that they are for Fiona and me. I start to shake my head to deny her the pleasure of feeding us anymore, but she gives me a look to keep me quiet.

“These are the best you will ever have!” She giggles uncontrollably and I pull myself up into a better sitting position. I look at her a moment, shaking my head. There wasn’t even the slightest look of sleepiness on her face. She was just as chipper as she had been the few hours before.

“I am too full to eat, Xander” I speak quietly, pulling the weapon out of my holster to examine it. I hadn’t fired it in a while, but I never doubted my abilities. I could kill easily; it was just natural for me. She looks at me, debating whether or not she should hit me with the hot spatula that she holds in her hand.

“Put that up! Not in my kitchen you won’t.” I watch her silently a moment before putting the weapon away. She was like a mother to me really, but we were still friends all the same. I sighed, shaking my head as I lean down.

“I need a smoke” I speak quietly, looking up to her to see what she would say. She looked up from the plates, giving me a ‘not in my kitchen’ look. She didn’t have to say anything. I just chuckled quietly. Sitting still always made me antsy like this. I wasn’t sure what it was about it, but I felt like I should be moving.

There’s a quiet knock on the something. Neither of us had seen the movement by the door. Out of instinct, I pull my weapon, pointing it quietly at the door. I was getting far too antsy for my liking. Before I know it, I’m getting hit by the spatula that Xander holds.

“Put that stupid gun up. You’re going to scare the daylights out of her” I grit my teeth, looking over the features of the girl. I holster my weapon, shooting the glare over my shoulder to Xander. She’s gone from her place by the counter, walking around to greet the girl. “Oh! I’ve got a treat for you, darling!” She giggles, ushering the girl closer to the bar where the thumbprints sat. I rolled my eyes, looking to her.

“And you say I’m going to scare her” I can’t keep from laughing as she reaches for the spatula again. I get up, giving the girl another look up and down. “I see that my clothes fit you a little better than what I thought they would” I smile, seeing that they weren’t going to complete waste. “I’ll have to remember to get the rest of my clothes out of there to take with us” I speak quietly, watching as Xander rushes to the drink dispenser on the other side of the room.

“What would you like to drink, darling?” She turns back once she has a cup, waiting, her finger trailing over the buttons. She was very energetic for it being so late. I wondered if she just stayed up all the time cooking and entertaining friends. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. It seemed like something she would do.

---

Ooc:
Sorry for the wait. I had been playing Fallout 3 and didn't check when I normally did. It's totally fine that you were away. My holidays have been very hectic. I must warn you, I won't be here very much during the afternoon tomorrow. I'm going on a trip. I will be on late, but I'm not sure how your schedule is.

In a flash, Mira had her gun pointed directly at me, aimed for the heart. It was only a fraction of a second, but I felt my heart just about stop, breath catching in my throat. As soon as she saw it was me she was at ease, but I could feel my heart beating faster than a humming bird’s wings, like a hammer pounding against a thin fabric wall.

Slowly, I made my way over to the chair, looking into the dining room where a large, elegant table stood with clawed feet, like a lions. The chairs in the kitchen were wood, similar to the kind Ruth had in her home and I felt a little more at ease, heart slowly starting to find its normal pace. Colour was starting to find its way back to my washed out face and I looked down at the small plate of dainty cookies in front of me. With a shaky hand, I took one, nibbling on it lightly and trying to smile, ending up with a kind of awkward grimace. It had been a long time since I had smiled, and the muscles in my face were having a hard time remembering how.

“Water…please.” I murmured, finishing a cookie. Then another. Until they were gone. My hands found each other in my lap, and I carefully drew my legs up in the chair, folding myself into a ball, arms wrapping around my knees. I felt like a baby owl or something, eyes wide and hollow.

The gorgeous woman smiled uneasily, and I looked away, wondering if I was an unsettling sight and sighing faintly into my knees, resting my chin on them.
“Of course dear,” The woman set a crystal glass in front of me, small beads of condensation licking at the walls of the glass. The uneasiness in her smile had vanished in a heartbeat, the only thing left in her eyes was kindness.

I wanted to cry. I wanted to hug this woman and have her take care of me as much as she wanted, to stay here forever and be safe with Mira and this strange, quirky, beautiful woman. In my mind, I began to make a list of all the kind things people had done for me in the past few hours, and found it was more loving than anyone had treated me in my whole life. Two strangers.

Careful not to fumble the glass in my hands, I raised it to my lips, getting that breathtaking feeling of drinking cold water, letting the shiver run through my skin all the way down to my toes. Soon, I realized that it was bone-chillingly silent in the room, and cleared my throat quietly.

“Thank you…for…for the clothes.” I said, voice just above a whisper in that soft-spoken tone I was familiar to. I had done more talking in the past few hours than I had done in my month at the facility. It was strange. Alien. But not at all unwelcome. It made me feel a bit more natural, a bit less freakish. I paused. “For everything.” I finished, looking at Mira, looking dead into her soul, knowing that my eyes were no longer the pale, washed out grey that had become normal for me. They were back to their arctic, piercingly white-blue. I let my wide eyes wander to the woman, feeling my lips curve up slightly as I watched her sneakily put three more cookies in front of me, winking warmly at me after a second.

ooc:
No worries, I think we should just make a pact to simply reply whenever it's convenient. I don't mind a wait.
-Av

I knew that I had scared the girl. It was like you could hear her heartbeat in the room, echoing off the walls. It wasn’t of course. Her eyes were wide. I could tell she felt that she was about to come to a very sudden end at my hand. I wasn’t that stupid. I might have been very jumpy that night, I wasn’t stupid. It had taken me a moment to recognize the girl, but that moment was enough to keep her alive. I still had my wits about me.

I watched the two people in silence. Xander was filling up a cup with water and the girl was eating the cookies Xander had set out for her without hesitation. The girl must have been hungry or they were just good. I didn’t doubt that they were some of the best cookies I had ever had myself. Using all fresh ingredients just made it that way.

I watch her silently as she eats. There was no need for conversation on my part. Xander was taking care of her and I could sit back and watch. I pulled my foot up into the chair, letting the other leg brace myself on the ground. She was regaining her strength. You could tell that the life that had drained out of her before was slowly coming back to her. It was strange what food and a shower could do.

Everyone seems to notice the silence at the same time. I can tell that Xander is lost for words, so she starts cleaning up the mess she had made in her kitchen. I still don’t really have anything to say, so I keep myself silent. Xander had just made it past me, starting toward the garbage disposal system when the girl spoke.

“Really, it wasn’t that big of a deal. What’s the point of living if you don’t give back” My words are simple really as I look up from where I had been watching the table. When we both look up, my eyes meet her strong gaze. The girl still doesn’t speak anywhere above a whisper. I’m not sure if this is just how she is, or if she feels that she cannot speak any louder around us. Sometimes it was hard to figure out these Tamerans, she was just one that was very hard to unravel. Our eyes lock for a moment, and soon she seems to be pushing past just my eyes. It was strange when you found someone that could gaze past you and see what you were feeling. Of course, I knew very well that she knew the feeling of every one she passed. It wasn’t hard for them to see right through you. It wasn’t hard for them to give off that hormone that made you so attracted to them. I had grown used to all of their powers really. When you helped them, you had to get used to their skills. I keep my eyes on her for the longest time, not wanting to look away. She already knew my mood so what was the point of shifting my gaze. I wasn’t afraid.

“Mira, you need to be eating” The words break my gaze from her and I look to Xander. I give her a sharp look, shaking my head to her. The woman was very stubborn and sometimes wouldn’t give up until you ate her food out of simple frustration.

“Your stew has made me too full. I will have some later, I swear it” I pull my hand up, placing it over my heart. It was a sort of silent pact between us now. That would keep her off my case; she knew I didn't break a promise.

I pull myself up from the chair, picking up the plate that still had my cookies on it. I turn, walking it back towards the counter. All of the feelings we had were gone. There was no connection between us anymore. Yes, she could still feel the emotions that ran through the both of us, but there was a difference.

I take in a slow breath, pulling a hand through my hair. I turn back to the table, walking to my seat and taking it once more. There were still a few things that we needed to discuss before we got on our journey. It wasn’t really anything too important; I could handle the fine details myself. I pull my foot up into the chair, running a hand through my hair.

“I think that we should sleep. I want to be ready to leave by tonight—if you are strong enough by then” I look to Xander who gives an excited squeal; that meant she could cook for us more. “I want you to understand that we are going to be traveling a very long distance and if you aren’t up to your normal standards when we leave, that could be time lost later. I’m not going to lie to you, Fiona. We are going to be tracked, that’s just the name of the game. I need you to be sure you’re ready to leave when it is time.” I take in a slow breath, leaning back in my chair a bit. “The longer we wait the higher the odds are stacked against us that we are found here.” I take in a small breath, a light, wicked grin dancing across my lips. “I hope I’m not scaring you.” I watch her a moment before I see Xander, swooping into the rescue like she always does.

“Mira has a sort of people problem” She whispers quietly, turning back to give me another one of her looks. She wanted me to back off of the girl. Of course, I could understand that. I just hated it when a Tameran was able to push into me like that. I hated it when they were able to lock my gaze and see everything behind me. I shouldn’t have been so hard on her; she was scared after all. “You’ll get used to her rough nature after a while. Mira, why don’t you go get the couch ready. You know where the blankets are” I sigh quietly, pulling myself out of the chair. It would be best if I left them for now. Xander had a way with people that I didn’t have. She would be able to help the girl more than I could; I just did the shooting. Besides, it was good to give the girl a little time away from me. Once we got traveling, I wouldn’t be able to let her out of my sight.

---

Ooc-

I can agree to that!

She was scaring me. I tried to control my breathing, forming my features into the most neutral thing I could think of, and stared unblinkingly forward until I could swallow past the lump in my throat. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a small curve to Mira’s lips, and felt like throwing up all the food that was keeping me from fainting. Was she having fun watching her little test patient? Suddenly, I felt kind of…tricked. She was only bringing me with her so she wouldn’t be tracked down and killed by some RDTech thugs. I didn’t mean anything to her.
I was a Tameran after all.

My trust in Mira was like a glass half full of water. Not that it could be looked at either way, just that it was as unsteady and as unconventional as the ripples the water could form. Especially under the massive earth quake that was suddenly suffocating me. The odds weren’t smiling on us in this journey. But did I have a choice? She had saved my life, it was only sensible to save hers.

As Mira left the room, the woman suddenly giggled. “Oh how silly of me! You can call me Xander, sugar.” She quickly snatched the water glass from the table where I had set it and filled it up once more. Slowly, I took the cold glass, raising it to my lips and trying to swallow as much water as possible. Not even feeling it now. I just wanted to be normal again. For my eyes not to have dark circles, for my knees not to shake and my ribs not to protrude. Tears welled up in my eyes, and they broke past my eyelashes, hovering on my cheeks like diamonds. A sob echoed through the glass, but still I drank the water until it was all gone and my stomach felt like a water balloon.

The woman’s warm arms were around me in a second, whispering small noises of comfort. I was curled up in my much too familiar ball, and the woman kissed my forehead like my mother used to.
“Oh honey, don’t cry.” The woman’s voice cracked, and I sniffled, raising my gaze slowly up to hers like a small child. She smiled sweetly and motherly, tucking a red curl behind my ear. “Let’s get you to bed, shall we?” She cooed, and gingerly I untangled myself and stood, feeling numb as the woman supported my waist. Over exhaustion was making me overly emotional, or was it all the worry and stress floating around the room? It was too much.

I didn’t even make it to my room before I passed out.
________________________________________________________

Xander set the girl into the guest bed, taking off her shoes and one of her big sweaters, tucking her in softly and sighing. Poor thing. She was like a wounded animal on the side of the road. Pathetic, innocent, and waiting for more horrible things to happen.
Xander could only pray that Mira knew what she was doing.

After gathering a few heavy blankets and pillows from the cupboard, Xander made her way down to the living room, stopping as she saw Mira, perking up right away.
“Do you need anything else, dear? Hot chocolate? I just found the yummiest recipie for devil’s food ca–” Xander stopped, slowly setting the blankets and pillows down on the couch. “Mira, you get me so worried. Are you sure you can hold up on the road? I have money, can I at least make you some sandwiches before you leave?” She was speaking a mile a minute, but it was the only thing she knew. Mira was like her blood. She couldn’t bear the thought of her on the run, along with that poor thing upstairs.

I let myself fall back on the couch. It was soft and much too fluffy for my tastes, but it better than the floor and I would not complain. Now that I sat here, alone with my thoughts, I felt very bad. I could say that even though helping people required me to be around them, I wasn’t a people person. I couldn’t hold up a normal conversation with anyone besides Xander and a few other close friends that lived here and there. I couldn’t hold my temper or keep certain little things from bothering me. I sigh quietly, leaning back and rubbing my eyes. It was safe to say that I simply couldn’t be normal. I wasn’t sure if it was the fact that I had grown up on the streets, stealing and brawling for food or if it was something else; something inside me that kept me from being able to be in a room with people without getting snarky or cynical towards them.

I could still hear Xander talking in the kitchen. Had I heard something about crying? I groaned, unable to keep myself from landing a palm in the center of my forehead. I had made the girl cry? That was great! Going on a life-threatening journey and I couldn’t keep from making the girl cry before we even left. I would have to remember to be easier with her. She couldn’t take some of the things the others could. She was fragile and I would have to take care or she might just run off in the middle of the night and then I would be left with nothing.

I sat there in silence for the longest time it seemed. I sat there until all I could hear was my breathing and my thoughts that bounced around in my head. The silence lasted until Xander came down the stairs, arms filled with plush blanket. I could hear her on the stairs and soon, I opened my eyes to see her dumping pillows and blankets down next to me. I watched her silently a moment, pulling myself up off the couch so I could begin getting myself ready to sleep.

She runs without stopping for a while. I can tell by the way that she talks that she was afraid. She always got scared like this, even when I brought in a Tameran to stay for a few days she told me just how afraid she was for me. Soon though, she’s run out of steam. I can’t help but smile as I pull my shoes off my feet. A chuckle, stifling the want I have to laugh a little. She worried far too much at times about my safety; I knew that for a fact. This time though, I couldn’t help that quiet itch in the back of my mind telling me that her fear was very correct. What if I couldn’t get us to The Hall before whoever it was out there tracking us found us and killed us? I shake my head; that wouldn’t happen. I would not get that poor girl killed.

“You worry too much, Xander. I won’t take your money. Do you realize how much you’ve helped me and these people already?” I can’t stifle the quiet snort as I pull some of the blankets from the pile, beginning to unfold them. “Without you I would probably be dead.” My tone has shifted, there’s no humor in my voice any more. “ I don’t want you going out of your way, but I know that there’s no way to keep you from making something for us to take on our trip” She giggles quietly as she pulls the couch’s pillows off the couch and onto the floor.

“That’s right! I have the best chicken, bacon, and ranch sandwich on the block!” She’s so excited and I can tell that I’ve calmed her down even though she isn’t very calm. I watch her a moment, unstrapping the weapon holster from my hip. I would leave it on the floor beside me, but I would keep the knife under me just in case.

“Just remember we’re going to be eating in a car; I’ll probably be driving and eating. Nothing messy and something that’ll hold up to being in a cooler.” I watch her. I knew that she wouldn’t think about something like that. She was just so excited to be cooking for us. She sighs very audibly, nodding. She doesn’t say anything for a while. She’s thinking over an alternative to what she had proposed. I trust that she’ll make a good decision.

“I’ll pack a cooler later. For now, you get to sleep!” She smiles and I sit down, pulling my feet up onto the couch. I watch her a moment, just trying to see how worried she was still.

“We’ll be fine, Xander. I promise. Once we’re safe I’ll come back to visit—I’ll even bring you that Droid I’ve been promising.” I smile to her, pulling my hands up to rest behind my head. She nods, turning to walk towards the doorway heading towards her room.

“You get that girl killed, Mira…I know how to shoot a gun too ya know” She giggles, looking around the room a moment. I look up, smiling to her. “Goodnight, Mira” She smiles, turning and walking away. I listened as her shoes tapped on the floor as she walked.

“Goodnight, Xander. Lights, Off” I sigh quietly, closing my eyes as the lights dim and silently shut off. It wouldn’t be long before I was asleep in the fluff that I was slowly sinking into. I knew I wouldn’t get much sleep, but a little was more than nothing.

“Hold your breath…it’ll be over in a second…shh darling.” My mother’s calm, silky voice was whispering frantically in my ear. I was no more than a small child, smaller than most of the other children I had ever met. I was always the littlest one of the bunch, but it never bothered me. Easier for hiding, I suppose.
The men had come, the human soldiers with their guns. Someone had tipped them off that our family was here, in our little country house. And my mother, father, and I were in the cellar, trying to be as silent as we dared.
I was crying, and my parents were desperately trying to quiet me. As the troops raided our small cottage on the hills, their boots clicked against the wooden floors above us. I felt my lungs begin to ache, trying to hold my breath to refrain from sobbing into my father’s chest.

“No one is here.” One of their harsh voices sounded, and my parents became deadly still, each of us frozen, trying to listen. I tried my best to hear the men over the sound of blood pumping in my ears.
“Dammit Gamez, you told us there was a family of Tameran here.” The same voice was getting annoyed, cracking like a whip in the darkness. My father’s hand closed around my mouth as I gasped for air, his fingers covering my lips before I could cry out.

“B-but sir, I thought I-I was to tell you a-any leads I got on refugee c-cases, sir…” A cracking voice responded, the soldier sounding no older than fifteen, sixteen perhaps. There was a clattering noise as the boy dropped his rifle, and he fumbled to pick it up.

A frustrated sigh. “Gamez, you’ve fucked up for the last time.” The harsh, older voice scolded, and there was the sound of boots and fabric rustling. “Don’t worry though, we’ll tell your family you died honorably.” A few other men laughed, and it was obvious the boy was struggling. I peered up through the cracks in our old wooden floors, and saw they had a young man held securely, with his arms pinned tightly against his back.

“P-please– ”
Bang.
Thump.
Boots scuffing the floors, slight chuckles, some sighs.
Door slamming.

My mother had covered my ears, but I could still hear everything. I blinked away tears, holding my breath again until I finally fainted.


Muffled screaming awoke me. It took me a few moments to gather my senses and realize it was me, screaming into the soft, plush pillow of the guest bed. I slowly began to breathe, in through my nose, out through my mouth and rolled over, so I was facing the ceiling.
After a few minutes I sighed, glad I hadn’t woken up Mira or Xander. They needed their rest, as did I. However, it would be difficult to go back to bed with that memory tattooed against my eyelids. Nights were hard for me, when nightmares weren’t some fictional thing your mind made up. My nightmares were all real, and painful to remember. Like salt on a wound.

Slowly, I sat up, noticing how I was still in the clothes Mira had given me earlier. I hugged them tighter to myself for a second, before I remembered how she had frightened me hours earlier, a small, pout-like frown touching my features. Slowly I began to take inventory of myself, checking my pocket for the sleeping pills, checking under my pillow for the knife Mira had given me, and finally checking the….

Wait. What was that on the bedside table?
A brown envelope looked back at me, with the name Fiona written in girly black scrawl, the I was even dotted with a heart. Tentative, my hands found the paper, and slowly I opened it. A note was the first thing my hands found, and I curled myself into a ball on the bed and read it.

Fiona,
Mira would never let me help her in financial ways, however I have a sneaking suspicion that girl knows how to pick a pocket rather efficiently. Let’s keep this between us. I always give the Tamerans who visit me a little extra…help, Mira never knew. Your case is special, dear. I don’t want you two getting into any extra trouble on your way.

Xoxo Xander♥

-P.S. there are exta cookies on top of the oven!

Past the note, were bills. Tens of bills, all marked with a price. Hands shaking, I took the money out, eyes wide as I looked at it. I had never had more than twenty dollars to my name, so this was rather shocking. It all added up to 2500 dollars. I couldn’t. I shouldn’t! Should I? Quickly, I pushed the money and the note back into the envelope, and shoved it under my pillow, past the knife.
The gun was still in the drawer of the bed side table.

Still a bit stunned, I stood, finding the shoes Mira had lent me and the scarf, and the sweater, walking toward the curtains and pulling them back. The harsh, artificial lights of the city greeted me, along with the faint touch of sunlight. It was probably mid-day, and I stretched, bones cracking as I yawned.

Quietly, I made my way down the hall, peeking into a few of the rooms on my way to the stairs. One of the stairs creaked on my way down and I bit my lip, frozen for a second before I continued to move, walking toward the kitchen. I took a bun from the bread box, and hopped up on the counter, nibbling at the bread as I let my eyes wander around the kitchen, glad no one was up. I always felt more comfortable when I was alone. Which hadn’t been for a good couple of weeks now.

He had been travelling the back streets of the city. He knew that this scum was the easiest to get information out of. He could pay them a small fee and charge RDTech for any that came out of his pocket. If they couldn’t be persuaded with money then there were always other ways of getting them to talk. Most of them had strong bonds with the girl and he knew that they wouldn’t talk, even if he threatened them. He was smart enough to go to the place that he knew would get him the most information.

So now, he sat in the smoky bar. Normally you wouldn’t find many in this kind of bar during working hours, but this day was different. It was a Saturday and most of the city workers were off on Saturday. So, he sat at the bar, not even paying attention that danced around in very little on. There was enough going on that he could be watching.

“I heard you’re lookin' for information about the La’mar girl” The voice came up from behind, coming to sit beside him. You could smell the drink on him and soon. Fazel turned to the man that appeared beside him, watching the man in silence. His scanner told him that he could be trusted for information, but he wasn’t sure what kind of information he might have.

“I am looking for her” His voice matched the face quite well. He spoke smoothly, much more smoothly than the half-drunk man that sat beside him.

“You won’t get anything without Creds” The man spoke simply; you could tell that he wanted another drink. The man chuckled quietly, taking a sip of the water that he had ordered—he wasn’t much of a drinker. He slips a few bills across the bar and the man smiles.

“She’s got people helping her hide Tamerans all over the city. Hell, she’s got people all over the country helping her” The man stopped, tapped the bills that were on the bar, signifying that for any more information, he would require more credits. The man slips them across the bar without even looking at him.

“I know a guy who could probably get hold of her. Used to protect her when she was living the streets. He won’t be paid off like me though. You could probably get him to find out where she was headed and were she’ll be posted up next, but you’d have to hurry”

“And where is this man?” His voice cuts through the sound of the bar instead of mixing and blending in with the music. The man taps the bar, but Fazel shakes his head. The man laughs, pulling himself off the stool and taking the credits.

“Looks like you’ll have to find him yourself” He shoves the money in his pocket, turning to start off. Fazel grabs the man by the shoulder, holding him back. He turns him around quietly, reaching up to place a small chip on his skin. The man’s eyes widen and he shakes his head; he knows exactly what this is about.


“Fine. He holds up in the Veller Apartment’s, Room twenty-four—she pays for the damn apartment! Just take this thing off” He jerks and Fazel smiles, getting up and starting toward the door, leaving the man with the small chip on his neck. It wouldn’t be long before the man would be no more; he couldn’t leave any loose ends.

---

Normally I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep. Normally I would toss and turn trying to find the right position for rest to just come naturally. This night, sleep was very welcome. I did not dream which allowed me much more time to rest. I slept longer than I usually did. Normally I could only be promised two or three hours. The couch seemed to be much more comfortable than the cheap bed that I normally slept on.

The sound of creaking wood woke me up and made me pull my gun. It was natural for something so simple to wake me up. I stop a moment, remembering that there were two more people in this house that it could be. So, for a while I just sit there, looking over the weapon that I held in my hand. If it had been Xander, I was sure that she would have come in, jumping around and having me wake up. I knew very well that she wasn’t the one up. This must have been Fiona. I sighed quietly, wondering for a few minutes whether or not I should go into the kitchen and apologize to her.

I shook my head; it was a simple thing that she had probably forgotten by now. I took in a slow breath, pulling myself up off the couch. I grunt as I hear my back start to pop. I pull myself onto the ground, stretching my body silently. It was easier to walk around if you weren’t so tense from sleep.

As I turned to walk towards the kitchen, I noticed myself in the mirror. My hair was a mess. With sleep came the tangled clumps of rat’s nest that were always promised. I grumbled, leaning forward and forcing my fingers through my hair until I had no fight. It wasn’t perfect, and I would have to get my hairbrush out of the truck, but it was better than what it was a few moments before.

I walk barefoot and silent towards the kitchen. By now, my stomach was starting to grumble in hungry protest; I knew Xander would be thrilled about that one. I walk to the kitchen, stopping in the doorway. I was silent and I watched her for a moment. I wasn’t sure if she saw me or not. I just stood there and watched, realizing only now that I still held my weapon in my hand.

The kitchen was bright and warm, something strange in this day. Usually people were all about the bright, artificial lights. White counters, minimalist rooms with droids everywhere. I suppose Xander liked to keep everything classy and sweet. A lot like herself.
A small smile crept its way onto my lips as I chewed the last of the bun, eyes lowering shyly to my feet as I swung them on the counter. What a nice woman, and so pretty too. Usually it was the nasty ones that were so beautiful, tricking you into thinking they’re kind and then wickedly catching you off guard.

My eyes caught on a figure in the corner, and my smile was gone in a second. Sighing lightly, I saw it was only Mira. Perhaps that knife shouldn’t be hanging out under my pillow…I never knew when I would need it.
I gave her a small wave of acknowledgement, before I jumped off the counter gracefully, smiling again at myself as I noticed my strength coming back. Tamerans were graceful, beautiful things. I was slightly clumsy and awkward, but at least I was no longer so weak. A flash of my mother popped into my mind as I turned toward the counter, glad Mira couldn’t see the moment of pain it brought me. She was always so graceful and gorgeous, tall and willowy. I was nothing like her, except our hands. She had given me her long, piano-thin fingers.

I clenched my fist to make the memory go away, pressing a button on the electric kettle and in half a second it made a melodic ‘bing’ telling me the water was ready. Carefully, I made a pot of Earl Grey tea, pouring myself a mug and putting far too much cream and sugar in.

“Sleep well?” I asked in my quiet, doll-like voice as I hopped back up onto the counter, eyes low, not daring to meet hers once more. Last night, I had felt her pure emotions. Somehow, I thought of it as a kind of breach of privacy. Plus she scared me, to a small degree.

It doesn’t take her long to see my figure in the doorway. The few seconds I had gotten to see her, a smile flitted across her features. It seemed that she was happy about something. There was something in her features that told me that she was getting stronger and healthier. Maybe it was her eyes? The poor things had been a milky color the night before when I picked her up out of that bed she had been in for god knows how long. I sighed quietly, watching as she smile drops and she turns toward me a moment. Now her eyes were blue, a vibrant, and icy blue the likes of which I had never seen.

Maybe for a short moment she thought that it was someone else? I wouldn’t put it past her. It wasn’t safe for us to be in one place for such a long amount of time. I take a few steps into the kitchen as she pulls herself off the counter, walking towards the kettle to make tea. I just watch her as she works, knowing that I should probably start this out on a better foot than last night.

Her voice pierces the air and I sigh. It was such a simple question; it was nice to be asked the simple things. Of course, she wasn’t looking at me. If I could tell anything it was that she was doing the complete opposite. She was trying to avoid my gaze as much as possible. I sighed, running my hand through my hair as I think over the question a moment.

“I did; I hope that you slept well?” I start to walk toward the counter that she sat on. It was good that she could at least get on the counter by herself; it was another step towards being ready to head out. I stopped beside her, picking a tile on the ground to look at as I sighed, trying hard to swallow whatever little voice was telling me I shouldn’t be apologizing.

“Look- I think I may have placed myself in a strange position yesterday.” I was already starting off in a way I didn’t want to, but I wasn’t sure what I needed to say. “I have a sort of people problem as I’m sure Xander told you yesterday. It wasn’t you that made me…” I trail off, turning and looking at her. I was being a little girl about this whole thing. “I’m sorry for the way I acted yesterday; it won’t happen again” The words were short and simple, but I meant every bit of them. I wasn’t sure if she would well enough believe me, but I wanted to get everything onto the table before Xander came in and started listening to what we spoke of.

I stirred my cup of tea with my finger, licking it afterward as I tilted my head to the side, curiously watching Mira now as she spoke. A human was actually apologizing to me. I felt my eyes twinkle slightly, I don’t know if it was from amusement, joy, or the thin layer of tears that hadn’t seemed to vanish from my eyes since we left the facility.

Out of all the humans I had ever come in contact with, or even been in the same building as…Mira was probably the hardest to read. Her emotions were clouded, with sadness…loneliness. She was on her own, I knew that much. Even with Xander to help her every once and a while I could tell that she was a lot like me. Growing up I could never be in social situations, except for with other refugees of war. Even as the war ended, I found it difficult to be in a place with many people. Their mixture of emotions and moods made me feel nauseous and faint.

The familiar feeling she was giving off made me somehow…connect with her. She wasn’t wicked, or sneaky like most humans. She was just trying to find her place, much like me.

Slowly, I placed my feet on the ground, walking toward her until we were a few inches apart. Yes, I was much shorter than her, however that made my following action that much easier.
Carefully, I placed both of my hands on her cheeks, bringing her depthless gaze off of the floor and to my ghostly wide eyes. Contact was one of the most basic, and simple ways for my people to feel emotions, and I had to know if she was lying to get me to go along with her, or if she truly meant what she said.

A small, faint sigh escaped my lips as I felt myself begin to smile shyly, stepping away and pressing my back against the counter. “You’re a very strange human, you know.” I tilted my head to the side again, my hands beginning to lose their warmth from touching her soft skin, returning to their pale, frosty cold.