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Post by Sharei on Jul 30, 2023 10:44:00 GMT -6
"First food," B3 said, reaching across the bed of the truck to where the small stack of foil-wrapped bricks was kept and took one off the top. He unwrapped it, revealing a light brown bar that he bit into. The consistency seemed just slightly softer than hard tack, and despite the fact that the bars were completely odorless and didn't look or smell like food, he ate it all between words.
"You can have one of my ration bars if you want, but you'll get better food at the canteen. Afterward we'll go and get you an apartment to live in so you have a space of your own. Or-"
He considered her a moment.
"We could go straight to the apartment and worry about food afterward? There should be a kitchen in it."
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Post by MP on Aug 4, 2023 1:39:14 GMT -6
"That won't be necessary."
The woman rested a hand on one of the ration bars but made no effort to raise it to her lips. She didn't feel hungry. Certainly not for something that felt more like a piece of rotting wood than a meal.
"I'll find a place to stay in my own time."
After she'd explored this new place and seen how people lived and what kind of options she could reasonably choose from. The thought of an apartment felt...wrong somehow. She turned her eyes on the boy. Her gaze was as cool as ever, but the ice in it felt more like command than aloofness.
"Alone," she specified. "You will stay put and off that leg."
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Post by Sharei on Aug 5, 2023 20:11:37 GMT -6
B3 blinked up at her, the last corner of his ration bar against his lips as he nibbled at it.
"I can't," he said, picking up and putting aside textbooks with one hand until he'd found the right one.
"Shaun wants me to go to my classes," he explained as if this were all perfectly reasonable. "So I have to go. The first one is..."
He checked a watch he had scavenged and hung from the wall of the truck bed.
"About an hour from now."
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Post by MP on Aug 7, 2023 22:17:38 GMT -6
Her lips thinned.
"School can wait. If he wants you to heal, he needs to let you rest."
But of course, they'd already seen the truth of that with the hydras. Shaun didn't even try to hide his disdain for the genasi. If he prolonged this injury, then...what? No more hunts? Was it a plan to keep himself out of the forest? Perhaps, if he crippled the boy with these demands, he could stay here in safety forever.
The woman stood, though it was clear from her glance that she expected him to stay.
"I'll speak to him," she said, raising her chin. "Where do I find him?"
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Post by Sharei on Aug 16, 2023 14:36:47 GMT -6
I'll speak to him.
B3 was on his feet and shouting "no!" almost before Asha was finished speaking. Her, speaking with Shaun? On his behalf? It was like a nightmare become real, and much more frightening than any form the woman could take. She didn't even realize the damage she could do with something so well meaning, did she?
"Handler orders are absolute!" B3 said, cutting the air with one hand in emphasis. But behind the certainty was a bead of nervous sweat rolling down the back of his neck. "Of all the personnel that work on the island, handler orders come before everyone else! We have to obey them. And Shaun really really doesn't like it when you talk back."
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Post by MP on Sept 7, 2023 1:00:26 GMT -6
The woman's eyes widened slightly at the genasi's outburst. And then her brows came down and her nostrils flared. The displeasure was visible in the squaring of her stance as she contemplated just how she would approach this absent handler, who was so arrogant as to teach his word was law.
"Well I'm not a spirit," she said, "And he's not my handler."
And if he had been, she wouldn't have put up with it for long. Not with a lazy, cowardly freeloader whose only authority came from a title. She counted off the slights on her fingers, her tone cool despite the daggers in her stare.
"He did nothing, contributed nothing - he gets nothing more than what you can reasonably give. You'll cripple yourself if you don't rest, and I will tell him so." Seeing the stricken expression the genasi's face, she raised an eyebrow. "And don't look at me like that. I'm just going to talk."
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Post by Sharei on Jan 3, 2024 20:35:40 GMT -6
"He's a handler," B3 returned, enunciating each word.
He looked up at her and willed her to understand, but the line of Asha's shoulders said she wouldn't budge. He'd seen the same determination in her countless times throughout their adventure together and there would be no turning her from this course. He fidgetted. Maybe Shaun wouldn't even notice her? But he'd noticed her, hadn't he?
"Asha," he said again. "Spirits like me, we're... we're slaves. They-" make "-summon us in batches. In dozens. Then they pair us off to human handlers and raise us to follow orders and magic us to obey. If Shaun decides I need to go to classes, as his asset I have to go." He spread his hands helplessly. "It doesn't matter he did nothing, you see?"
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Post by MP on Jan 4, 2024 2:56:38 GMT -6
She looked at him. At his agitated state. He was going to keep arguing, no matter how useless his handler was. Maybe it was the magic talking, and if that was the case, there was no point. She let her shoulders drop and nodded, sitting back down.
"I see then." An exhale, displeased, but resigned. She turned her gaze away. "Well if you have to go, go."
The woman folded her arms over her chest and stretched out her legs, settling in for the hour's wait. She waved the boy back to his breakfast whenever he looked her way. Let him hobble his way to his classes. She could speak with his handler then.
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