The gunshots echoed through the greeting hall. a long row of new slaves were being marched to a single desk on the far side of the building. Somewhere in the middle was a young female rabbit. A few of the slavers had picked her up in the desert. Because of the pale green markings criss-crossing along her gray fur, they had probably thought she would catch a pretty penny on the market. She looked about the room with flagrant curiosity, never having seen such a place. Every so often, a yelp would come from the direction of the desk at the front, causing her to cringe. She was afraid. Very afraid.

   Before long she found herself at the head of the line, staring down at a seated raider. "Um, where am I?" asked the girl. The man at the counter just glared and grabbed the woman's hand. He slammed it upon the table and bashed it with a device of some sort. The girl screamed in pain as she felt something pierce her skin. The raider let go of her arm and angrily pointed to a door to her left where two similar men stood. She sobbed, holding her wounded hand. It bled a little, but not to any dangerous extent. Walking toward the other two raiders, she looked up at them. "Can you tell me where I am?" she asked, hoping for a kinder answer than last time.

    One of the men, a hound about six feet tall grinned and replied, "Sure, I can tell you where you are, but not for free. Maybe we can work out a deal?"

    The other man, a fox, put a hand in front of the advancing hound. "No playing with the goods. You know the rules." The hound glared, but backed off. The fox shoved the rabbit out the door and into her "new life".

The wolf sat against the concrete wall of one of the overcrowded barracks that the slaves were given to sleep in. He quietly inspected the new arrivals that filtered through the greeting halls and into their new home. He watched, almost emotionless, not moving at all from his spot, nor did he earlier when the sounds of shots and pained screams emanated moments earlier.

His name was Kairn. He was one of the few slaves inside the compound who could be called a senior. As other members were sold off to new homes, or died to their futile escape attempts, he himself had stayed in the compound and kept to himself, desperately trying not to cause any attention or trouble to himself. He had enough of that beforehand when he wandered throughout the wastes, and lost a good eye to the desperate struggle of survival. Maybe that was partly the reason why he hadn't been sold off yet; he wasn't much to look at and a lack of one good eye would make him a poor worker. He often wondered why the slavers and raiders hadn't already took him away at some point and just put him down, but at any rate he wasn't going to inquire.

He just watched, and sighed deeply. All he'd need to do is wait. Wait it all out until his partner on the outside, the one who managed to escape when he had been captured in the wastes, would come for him and rescue him. He just had to wait.

It had been two years since he was captured, but he was a patient man.

He just had to wait.

Two figures who had previously been whispering amongst themselves behind some clutters of tree branches suddenly fell silent when they heard the first gunshot.

The forsaken creature to be struck down appeared to be a wolf, who was trying to make his escape with two other escapees. Namely a female cat and a female fox.

“Well well,” the first voice came from a blue scarf covered face that revealed apathetic green eyes “looks like Mr. Alpha tier was the first to roll over. Against his will.” He added with a snigger.

“Yes,” came a voice that offered no more warmth than a cold stone would’ve done.

“Here it comes...”

BANG

The green eyed observes blinked stoically as the cat staggered to the floor after receiving a blood splattering gunshot to the back.

“If I recall correctly... there should be another who will...”

BANG

The 2nd voice was cut short as the last shot confirmed his rhetorical question. The voice belonged to a hooded spined creature, whose frost-saphire radiating eyes dominated his appearance.

The scarfed creature lowered his long vulpine ears and turned to face his shadow-draped associate.

He unveiled his face. It was a kitsune face with thick head of hair. Youth and vitality were present but were yet being overshadowed by stress and sorrow. His eyes still radiated a dark, but unsuspecting aspiration to change his current slave circumstances.

“Have you felt an ounce of warmth towards anyone since the day you were born?” the kitsune asked.

“This is not about what sentiment I feel but about what I predicted to happen,” Saphire eyes spoke, got up lifted his head to gaze at the scene massacre in the distance “if they had any sense, they would’ve pursued a more tactical method of escape. Either they’ve been rendered stupid since the day they were born- or the madness has gripped them so tightly, that suicide’s become an appealing option.”

“...still... Kitsune...,” Saphire eyes continued “they were good pawns,” he smiled underneath his black hood.

“With all said and done I think now’s the time to pursue our plan. We may have more pawns but time... no...” He continued.

With that the dark figure began walking towards the fence, his drape almost making it seem as if he was floating above ground.

“I have a name comrade,” the kitsune spoke “it’s Seipher.” With that, he wrapped the blue scarf around his head and trailed slowly but surely behind his associate.

The two figures starting making their way towards the slaver’s enemy front line- walking with barely a care in the world where so many had fallen and died.

      The young bunny strode through the yard, fear in her mind. She saw the many desperate and defeated slaves, toiling away at things that looked pointless to the rabbit. Her torn cloak trailed lightly behind her as she approached a building on the far side of the lot from where she had entered. Stepping into the old barracks, the girl looked around, hoping to find someone who could tell her what was going on. The room was crowded from wall-to-wall, the many slaves fighting for enough room to rest.

      Before long, she noticed a wolf sitting along one of the walls, seemingly unfazed by the strife and suffering around him. She decided to approach him, a warmhearted smile on her face. "Hi! My name is Janette!" she said with an almost excited voice, "What's your name?"

OOC: GAH! Short post is short!

Kairn looked up at the rabbit that had approached him after newly arriving in the camp. He raised his one good eyebrow in short interest, amazed that this rabbit had the nerve to approach the wolf to speak to him, especially considering his physical appearance. Or more than likely, the rabbit was just stupid.

"Hi! My name is Janette!" the rabbit spoke with an almost excited voice. "What's your name?"

Kairn looked away. He didn't particularly want to get involved, especially with a newbie's problems. But, on the other hand, now that the rabbit had introduced herself, he felt like he'd be responsible if he'd ignore her and it lead to something disastrous for the rabbit.

Still, as much as Kairn would have liked to help the rabbit by first answering her question, he couldn't. He raised a hand up and pointed to his throat, before making a cross symbol with two fingers from both hands. He then tried opening and closing his mouth, whilst shaking his head at the same time.

He couldn't speak. Kairn was mute.

     Janette looked at Kairn's throat with both interest and pity, however only showing interest as she wished not to injure the wolf's pride. "So you can't speak?" she blurted out without thinking, chastising herself afterword, "Ah, sorry! Stupid Janette..." He face scrunched up in a cute scowl as she berated herself. She looked up at the unidentified wolf, curiosity swelling in her mind. "You know, you don't seem like the others. They all look so sad, but you don't look like that." she commented, "I know! I'll call you Mr. Wolf. Is that ok?" She asked expecting a nod of some sort.

     Before waiting for an answer, however, she took another glance around the room. "There are far to many sad people here. Such things can alter the flow of energy in the area." she said, a slightly disturbed expression taking hold of her. She then turned to Kairn, waiting for an answer to her previous question.

Kairn looked at Janette with a raised eyebrow, a somewhat bemused expression on his face at her comment about the people's sadness affecting the flow of energy around an area. She really didn't have a clue just what kind of place this was, did she? How on earth had she managed to survive in this world this whole time with such a naive outlook on life?

The rabbit looked back at Kairn, hopeful for an answer to her question about what to call her. He just shrugged in indifference. He didn't really care what he was called.

He didn't really care much for anything anymore. All he was interested in was surviving until his partner arrived to help him escape, because there was no chance of escaping from the inside. This place was a prison and a hell all of its own, and the rabbit would learn that it'd take all of her strength just to survive. If it wasn't the harsh living conditions or the guards that would be out to harm you, it'd be the other captives themselves. No one here could really be trusted and that's why Kairn preferred to associate with no one. His interest in the rabbit though was different. He felt a sense of responsibility for her but at the same time, he cursed himself for these very same reasons.

He knew that they would end up getting him killed.

      The rabbit grinned sheepishly, as in her mind she had just made a new friend. "You know, Mr. Wolf, you're really cool." she blurted out in a childish manner. Reaching into her tattered cloak, she pulled forth a small wrapped package. Opening it only slightly, she tore a part of whatever it was off and pushed it into Kairn's hand. She then tore off another piece and ate it. It was bread. After she had made sure that no one else had seen, she carefully tucked it away, back into her cloak. She then looked up at her new found friend and put her finger up to her lips in a shushing motion. "This will be our little secret, 'k?"

     Janette could see a twinge of regret in Kairn's eyes. "If you don't like it, you could always share it." she offered, staring at the wolf, curiously. It all made perfect sense to her, but this wasn't her homeland, and her naivety could easily get her, and anyone who was involved with her, killed.

Sniff. Sniff.

"What is that? Don't be telling me my nose is playing tricks 'un me?!" A voice quietly whispered out. It belonged to another of the slaves within the compound, a muscular bulldog with a scarred face. He turned to his companion, an ginger fox, looking for his approval of the dog's sumisings.

"I be thinking you're right," the fox replied, his eyes scouring the yard. "Over there!" The fox pointed towards Janette and Kairn, and more specifically, the bread that was within their hands.

The two inmates sidled up to the rabbit and wolf as they crossed the expanse of the yard. Their large shadows loomed over Janette, surprising the rabbit as she turned to face the two, imposing individuals before them. Kairn didn't move from his position, but he looked up at the two strangers with an intense glare. He hadn't even had enough time to dispose of the evidence of bread before any of the other prisoners could detect it. He mentally cursed both of these two curs, as well as the rabbit herself. He had guessed her naivity would kill them, he just never expected it would be THIS soon.

"Well, well, what we be having here?" the dog slurred as he looked the rabbit up and down, and at the bread in Kairn's hand. "Food? Now where would a little lass like yeself go and find food, especially without offering to share it to all of us, mm?"

Kairn could see that Janette didn't know what to say at first. He guessed that she probably would have offered some to them, but the pair's sinister approach was enough to ensure fear and uncertainty into anyone.

"You're a little lass, ye'know." The dog continued. "You don't need much food for yeself. Me and my mate here, though, we're bigger men, y'see, and we need to eat more. I suggest ye give us that food now, and by suggest, I mean ORDER, before ye go and cause any trouble... I doubt I and me mate here would much mind rabbit for dinner, instead?"

Kairn jumped to his feet, and pulled Janette behind his body, putting himself inbetween the girl and the two thugs. He didn't relinquish his intense glare towards the two, baring his fangs at both of the troublemakers. However Kairn's troubles and concerns involved much more than just these two delinquints. After all, they weren't the only ones would could smell the bread, no matter how old or moldy it was. Almost every other malnourished individual in the camp could, and like braindead zombies, they were all staggering towards them, encircling them. Things were going to get very, VERY ugly, even over scraps of bread.

But for Kairn, it wasn't his worry on what the other inmates could do. He didn't doubt that in the fight that was inevitably going to break out, he could battle and defeat nearly every one of them. No, what worried him most was what the retaliation from the guards would be. By drawing attention to himself, he would be signing his own death certificate.

He needed a way to get out of this situation without either himself or Janette dying. He needed time to think.

He didn't have time.

"That wolf and rabbit have got food!!!" shouted one of the prisoners, riling up the other inmates. "Get it!!"

The dog charged towards Janette, fist clenched and aiming for the rabbit's face. Kairn blocked it, and and floored the wolf with a haymaker as the crowd swarmed on them. He managed to knock away four of the inmates before he was smacked across the back of his head by a thrown stone. He dropped to his knees in a daze, looking behind to try and find Janette. Despite his reservations, he had resolved himself to try and protect her. He couldn't let that personal promise be destroyed in only a matter of minutes.

     Janette looked around, panicked. She didn't quite understand what was going on, but had enough sense to understand that she and her new found friend were in danger. She looked out toward the crowd that was rushing in, then down at the rock that had struck the wolf. She picked up the rock and, without taking the time to aim, hurled it into the oncoming crowd, smashing it into the teeth of a cat in the forefront of the crowd. This did little to stem the tide, the other slaves trampling the stunned feline. A sand colored wolf rushed the rabbit in an attempt to take the bread, while a mouse and the fox from before contended with Kairn. Desperation and fear overtaking her mind, Janette pressed an open palmed hand upon the wolf's chest. The was a sharp zapping sound, and the creature fell to the ground, a small plume of smoke trailing from where the rabbit had touched him. He wasn't dead, but he wasn't able to move either.

     The starving inmates backed away slightly, seeming to be taking this moment to regroup. Kairn took advantage of this, uppercutting the fox and sending him flying backward. But he needn't have bothered, as a gunshot and a howl of pain echoed from the back most ranks of the encroaching mob. The raiders had decided that it was about time for this fight to end. Janette stared at the disabled wolf, a sense of dread worse than what she had felt while the gang of malnourished slaves had been assaulting them. The fear of discovery.

-

(OOC:ooh! My kind of RP!  new!Reni, get over here... and by "new!Reni" I mean a more OC-ish version of her.  I've been trying to figure out how to turn her into more of an OC anyways. No superspeed anymore, but she's still an athlete.)

IC: 

She stood before the slave-processing desk, proud and unwavering.  She made no move to run for it, but glared straight ahead at the raider at the desk, as if to say, 'If you touch me you'll regret it.'  Out loud, however, she said nothing.  The processor assessed her with his eyes, and she was fully prepared for more than that. She merely flattened her ears and bared her teeth as he ran a hand down her leg, as if examining livestock, which, she admitted to herself, she now was, essentially.  However...if his hand went any higher... Her ears flattened even more.

Luckily, he left off when his supervisor reminded him that he wasn't there to use the goods.  Instead he nodded at her appreciatively, "Fine legs on this one." Then, addressing her, "You better not think of running though.  Would be a shame if they had to waste such prize goods by making an 'example' of you, my dear." She said nothing, just continued to glare, and the processor made some notes. "Such an amazing pelt as well.  I don't think we have any with that shade of purple...and that marking on her arm...extrordinary. Shame they're quills though...but she'd make a fine pet for someone who can pay enough...Or...with those legs...maybe send her to the races." He turned back to her. "Your hand." It wasn't a request.

Passive-agressively, she made no move to comply. The processor grabbed her by the wrist and jammed a piece of metal onto her hand.  Wincing, the purple hedgehog hissed involuntarily and withdrew her hand, licking at the new wound as she was directed away from the desk.

One of the other raiders approached, mentioning something about a slave-brawl.  The processor winced.  "...Don't take her there.  She needs to be kept in top condition.  We can't risk this one.  She's worth a fortune!  Send her to the cages."

Serenity followed her captors as they led her away.  She'd gotten herself into this mess...she'd have to get herself out...AND manage to free all the slaves in the process.  She had specifically gotten herself captured...WHAT had she been thinking?....

TBC

(OOC: If this causes problems...let me know.  I tried to tone her down a bit...and while yes, she IS a runner...it's nothing in super-power range.)

Kairn rubbed the back of his head upon where he had been struck; there was blood seeping from the wound into his hand. He grimaced as the dull pain throbbing in the back of his head continued to berate him. His vision from his one good eye was blurred, he could barely make heads or tails about what was happening, for every person that there was he could see two of them. The raider's gunshot however, had ended the cacophony of madness and finally gave him time to regain control of his senses, although even in his dizziness he knew that the gunshot simply meant something worse was upon them.

Janette.

That's right, the rabbit girl. Kairn desperately began turning around, looking for the girl who had moments ago been kind enough to try and befriend him, to even offer him food, as foolish as it was. At last, he found her, scared, a look of impending dread and concern mounted on her face. Dread to the approaching guards and the clearing mob, whose backing away was creating a straight line to both Kairn and Janette. Concern for the wolf who had tried to protect, and was thus wounded, for trying to protect her.

Kairn rushed towards Janette, grabbing her by the shoulders, looking her over, trying to find any evidence of injury. She looked about as ragged and ruined as any survivor of this hrash new world, but he couldn't see any real evidence of a fresh new wound. That was something at least.

Kairn's mouth began to move in a panic. He could talk, then Janette would understand it was an order, but no sounds escaped Kairn's desperate plea. He was trying to command her to lose all evidence of food, to EAT what remaining food Janette had hidden on her body before the raiders arrived at the immediacy of the scene. But there was no hope of Kairn being able to get his message across in time, in fact there was no time at all.

"What the d'ast is going on here?!" cried out an armoured raider as he approached the inside circle of the crowded group of slaves, flanked by four more raiders, their weapons trained across the slaves, and more specifically, Kairn, Janette, and the unconscious bodies crumpled around their feet. "I don't suppose any of you care to explain what the d'ast happened here?" The raider glared at the two companions.

      Janette was silent, staring up at the armored man. He pulse was racing, all sign of the innocent little bunny girl had washed away. The pale green lines mixed throughout the rest of her fur stood up as if charged by static.  Her eyes darted every which, almost analyzing, looking for something. Kairn removed his hand as something bit into his hand. However, upon inspection he found nothing, not even a mark. The raiders walked closer to the two, not impressed by the scene.

      Janette's heart raced faster, leering at the approaching men with widened eyes. A cold sensation washed over her and she began to feel dizzy. In a few moments, she fell to the ground, all consciousness leaving her. Kairn caught her, her body now limp in his arms.

|OOC| Everything looks good so far, guys and welcome back Vi. Some complications on my end (only posted on Throne lately as a result), but I hope to get more IC posts from my end today and from now on. Loving the pace so far, let's keep it at this flow as we keep it on. Once again, apologies for not getting to this! Once I think of a character (prob the narrator) to introduce into the slave perspective I'll post it up, but for now this should keep you know I'm not abandoning everyone!

|IC|

Raz raised a brow as he noticed two figures amidst the dusty terrain where not too far off, an example had been just made of? Were they daft or what? The raider-born marksman couldn't get a good feeling on either of it all, but he knew some of the raiders on field would be shoving their guns down their throats not too long after now and maybe not even thinking about hesitating to fire. Raz knew it and he had seen it happen. All too often were his fellow raiders so quick to act and in all honest truth he wasn't a fan of shooting bodies for the sake of it. Examples DID need to be made, but he never agreed with needlessness. He shook his head as all of these thoughts came across the wolf's mind.

"It shouldn't be too long now!" the mouse spoke, probably thinking out loud as he went at the wiring.

Raz didn't even hear his friend as he steadied his rifle from his placement in the tower and fired a shot-- nailing a piece of sheet metal in front of the two and also alerting nearby raiders that some slaves needed to be directed away. He wasn't fond of wasting bullets, but wasting a life? Worse in Raz's mind. The gunshot caused the mouse to jerk his head up-- slamming it hard against the table he was ducking under.

"OW!!!!! EGH....what in gods name are you firing at now!?!" he shouted in the midst of pain and annoyance. Guns were loud, afterall and now the metal he had slammed his head on had left a mark on his head. Raz couldn't help but smirk as he heard the mouse's reaction. It was too loud to ignore at that point, anyway. Raz spoke without his eyes leaving the two slaves. "Two slaves, trying to make a move or trying to be smart. Bang bang." he commented, simply.

"....is that it? Two? Cap 'em and be done with it, we'll get two more by the end of the next few days...." the mouse said his hand firmly on his head, still in minor grating pain. Raz shook his head in response. "Not worth it, bullet will be cheaper to replace then two bodies." Whether his response was honest with his thoughts was hard to say, Ori could never really put his finger on Raz's personality. He didn't seem like the typical raider and sometimes wondered if he'd fit better if he was a sheriff or something of some town out there in the south and in the west bordering the ghostlands.... but then there were days where he enjoyed his work just like any other raider.... it was confusing. Ori shook his head. "Whatevs... back to work... I guess."

"Yeah." Raz commented, more acknowledging it then responding to it.

IC:

Things were not going according to plan.  She was supposed to get in with the other slaves.  Instead they had singled her out as a high-value slave, and she was now headed toward a single cell for only herself.  There were a few other high-value slaves in nearby cells - mostly because they had something remarkable about them...whether it be the fact that they were of an uncommon species (she probably was), an unusual, bright, and/or 'beautiful' pelt color (which she had), or an interesting marking (the ring of rainbow fur on her upper left arm), or any other reason the assessors could come up with to single them out (her athletic build...they had said something about sending her to the races).  She had the misfortune of qualifying for ALL those reasons.  But...this meant her mission was in serious jepeordy.  The purple hedgehog thought frantically...Maybe...it was a longshot, but....

"Get yer paws offa me!" She struggled futily in their iron grasp.  Then again...she wasn't really TRYING to get away...just acting.  Maybe a bit of resisting would get her thrown in with the 'normal' slaves. 

Her raider captors just snickered. "We got us a feisty one, eh?  Mebbe iffn yous spent a little 'quality time' wit' me, ye'd calm down, eh?" One of her guards leered at her until the other one smacked him upside the head.

"Idgit!  You heard da boss! No touching da merchendice!  She'll sell REAL quick...as long as she's untouched."  Addressing their captive, he said, "Yeh'd do well not to tempt Ol' Bej 'ere.  'E don't 'ave much self-restraint." He glared at Bej meaningfully, at the same time shoving the purple hedgehog into an empty cell.  CLAANG! The two raiders slammed the door, and moved off down the hallway sniggering.  Serenity was left alone in the cell, watching the light and the freedom of outside longingly until the cellblock door slammed shut with a thudding finality...

SIGH. Great. Jus' my luck. This is going to make it REAL difficult to organize the slaves...NOT my day at ALL. She plopped down on the bench inside the cell with a huff and started licking her 'metal-thing'-wound again.

TBC

The armoured raider in charge of the group of five, and those who were on the immediate scene of the disturbance looked up to the watchtower and the direction of the shot that had been fired as a warning shot against a sheet of metal. He frowned. Although he knew the shot's intent was to scatter the mob of slaves around the scene, and indeed, it had worked, it still irritated him to no end that he'd even fire towards the incident when he and his comrades were that close to it. They'd already had control of the situation as it was. He didn't need to butt in.

"Damn that Raz," the armoured squadleader muttered under his breath. "Him and his damn guns. I swear, that guy loves to shoot at any opportunity he gets."

"True 'dat, but he be a good shot, y'know." called out one of the man's fellow raiders, a ginger cat with a torn ear. "B'sides, Slim, we're just going to end up shooting these two troublemakers anyways, no?"

The armoured raider, a large, dull grey, muscled rhino sighed. The impatience of some of these men was just intolerable. "No, no I don't believe so." Slim looked up towards Kairn and the unconscious Janette who laid in his arms. "I don't know about the rabbit, a new addition I'm guessing, but the wolf's offlimits. The boss in charge doesn't want him dead yet."

"What?" The cat replied, in somewhat surprise. No slave here get's any preferential treatment like that. "Why?"

"Because the wolf's pissed off the big boss, that's why." The rhino frowned. "Way I heard the story, that fellow stole something that belonged to the boss two years ago, and the boss wants it back."

The cat winced as if trying to think. It was an unnatural action for this particular raider to invest in. "If 'e stole it two years ago, and the boss wants it back, then I be guessing 'e still hasn't gotten it back yet. Which means that this fellow hasn't fessed up to where whatever it is he stole, is. That bein' the case... why on d'ast is the boss still keeping him alive?"

The rhino sighed. The men he was surrounded by just had to be idiots, right? "Think about it, you moron. Death would be a blessing compared to living here. Living IS his punishment. Besides, there's always the option that we'll get something out of him, but dead? Dead men tell no tales."

"Eh, whatever..." the bored cat dismissed. "If we ain't be'in allowed to kill 'im, what DO we do with them?"

"Take them to the cells. Lock them up until we can determine just what the hell happened here. And I wouldn't worry..." Slim instructed, whilst looking intently towards the exhausted Kairn and unconscious Janette. "...he won't cause any fuss. Just move them on and get it done."

As the slavers moved towards their instructions, Kairn offered no resistance. He knew that he was too weak and the situation far too hopeless to resist, especially for Janette's sake. Whilst it looked like the guards weren't willing to kill him, the same could not be said for Janette, and he could not risk that. The cells would not be any better than the yard, but they would be alive.

And Kairn hoped that that, at least, would count for something.

OOC: Ignore last post. I'm leaving the RP.

The mode of play is a little too restrictive to me so sorry if I caused people to kick off and such.

Enjoy and probably see you guys in other RP's.

Cheers (:

OOC: Well, I've been contemplating giving this RP a whirl for a few days now so here goes! Also, if you see anything that needs corrected Mike, don't hesitate to shoot me a PM!

IC: The purple hedgehog was not the only one confined to the cells as an oddity of high value. Two doors down from her another cell was occupied- not that there would be any greeting, or indeed any conversation at all from the occupant. The raiders who had been at this particular camp longer- or more regularly- called her "old hellion", a nickname bestowed in jest and mockery. She was an unusual find indeed. Her ears were long and pointed and amazingly acute. Dark, leathery wings were folded close against her back. Her fur- where it was visible- had a tortoise-shell pattern to it, mostly in blacks and browns, but with some russet-reds and oranges to it as well, with even a few hints of yellow here and there, all with a slight metallic lustre and iridescence to it. The hair of her head, black like much of her fur, came down to just between her shoulder-blades. Her clothing was faded, but of hard-wearing and durable quality. Her build was slim- though with more than a suggestion of leanness to it- perhaps like the build of a dancer or athlete.  Even within the confines of the cell she managed to look exotic- or perhaps by virtue of contrast the cell served to highlight how exotic she was. But this quality was offset by the fact that she was also completely inert, neither moving nor speaking, and with little to indicate that she was still even breathing.

She sat where she had sat for a long time now, though whether she had been placed in the meditative cross-legged position or had assumed it herself was difficult to discern. As if to emphasise the inert nature of this silent inmate a profusion of growths, not unlike leaves but more reminiscent of a pangolin's scales, appeared to have spread throughout the fur. Perhaps she should have sold for a very high price not long after her capture, for no one who looked on her would doubt that she was a "ghost" creature. But soon after her capture she had become strangely inert and lifeless. When it became apparent that no measure of force not resulting in permanent damage would rouse her- and fearful of permanently damaging a prize catch- the raiders had simply put her in the cell she now occupied, perhaps hoping for signs of life to return- or waiting for her to die completely. Here she remained, eyes closed. Unspeaking, unmoving, not even eating. But there were yet indicators of life. The strange growths that covered her served to keep her vital functions active. And the movements of eyes behind sealed eyelids showed that she dreamed.

The dreams were varied, often full of images drawn from memory. Sometimes she dreamed of strange and twisted ruins. Sometimes of tribes stranger than any ruins ever could be, in vast and ever-varying lands of great beauty and peril. Sometimes the dreams were of wild, primeval-looking, untouched mountains in far-flung places. But of all the dreams the dreamer dreamed, two were more frequent than the rest. One of these was the dream of ancient days. Though the ancient world had died its catastrophic death long before her birth, the dreamer often vividly dreamed of that time. In those dreams she would wander the great streets of the shining cities, with every corner every avenue and alleyway familiar to her as her own skin. She would gaze in wonder at the glittering towers that reared into the sky, farther than the eye could see, and sent dazzling sunlight bouncing from their flanks. She would see the mechanical marvels that were available and stare in wonderment at the vast, winged ships that sailed the skies. At other times she would dream of the terrors of that vanished era,and the horrors wrought by its people, that  had reduced it to nothing but ash and memory. The second of her recurring dreams was of the day of her capture, of how her own lack of familiarity with the weapons of the raiders had cost her her freedom. And of how the sliver, the tiny fragment of  metal implanted in her flesh had triggered the unexpected reaction that led to her present inert condition. And now, she  spent all her time in a limbo of dreams, not completely asleep but not awake either, simply...dormant. Waiting. Waiting for the strange function of the metal sliver to be disrupted. Waiting for the deliberate aid or chance occurrence that would allow her to reclaim control of herself. Waiting for the day when she would rise from slumber into the waking world again. Waiting for the time when she would regain her freedom.      

The door to the prison cells flung open, clanging against the back of the wall. The occupants of the cells drew their attention to the occurence, wondering just what was happening. It was pretty unusual for new slaves to be brought into the cells so quickly, after all, the purple hedgehog had been brought here a few scant minutes ago. And now there wasn't just one, but another two new entrants!

One of them, an unconscious and small female rabbit, was being carried by one of the raiders, a slobbering pig who couldn't help but snort everytime he took a breath. After his entrance came the wolf, Kairn, who was being held by both shoudlers by two more raiders, with a third walking behind them, a gun trained directly at Kairn's back. Behind all of them walked Slim, the large armoured rhino whose stride indicated pretty clearly the need for the slaves not to mess with him, lest they regret it.

"We've only got one open cell left, boss," called the pig, snorting and honking disgustingly as he explained the situation. "Y'want us to put both of them in the same cell?"

Slim shook his head. "Nah, the two of them together are trouble, thats for certain. We'll keep them seperate. Put the girl in with the hedgehog."

"If y'say so boss." The pig nodded. After Kairn was thrown into the one empty cell left and locked in, the three raiders turned their guns towards the purple hedgehog, Serenity. "Cause any trouble and you get a few new holes, y'hear?"

Slim unlocked the cell long enough for the pig to throw Janette inside, uncaring as to the rabbits' situation as she rolled onto the hard floor. He then quickly locked the door again. "Treat your new friend good, y'hear?" Slim then laughed and the procession of five raiders walked down the end of the prison cell corridor, and left the cells. Before his exit, Slim turned to the cell guard, who saluted at his attention. "Johnny, make sure y'keep an eye on all of them, y'hear? No funny business."

"Y-y-yes sir!" Johnny replied, a nervous squirrel who looked to be out of place with the rest of the slavers and raiders within the compound. What was his business for being there? "N-n-no funny business here, no sir!"

"Hnn. Right." Slim replied, a bit irritated by Johnny's overeaction to almost everything. "I'll be back in about a couple of hours or so... me and the boys shall be asking our good friend Kairn over there a few 'questions' as to what exactly went on outside a few minutes ago."

"R-right sir, I look forward to y-your return!" Johnny replied eagerly.

"Good." Slim turned to the door and walked through it. Before closing it behind him he turned to Johnny one more time. "Oh, and Johnny, try to calm down a bit, alright? We both know what happens when you get a bit overexcited, and you don't want a repeat like last time. You're not going to get another chance."

"Er, r-right! Yes sir, Mr.Slim, sir!" Johnny replied, standing up to attention even more than he had before. Slim sighed, shook his head and left the room.

Kairn was oblivious to the entire exchange because he couldn't care less. All he was interested in now was Janette, hoping that she was alright. He looked up from Janette to see the surprised hedgehog who also shared Janette's room. Kairn sized her up, evaluating her, and wondering just how safe Janette would be.

      In a matter of moments, Janette awoke. She stretched and adjusted her clothes back into order. She looked as if she had just woken up from a long nap. She looked around at her new surroundings, once again finding herself suddenly thrown into a new world. However, this time she wasn't alone. Across the way she saw Kairn, staring at her with worry. She waved enthusiastically and shouted, "Hi Mr. Wolf!"

      It was then that she noticed her cell mate. A purple hedgehog with a marking on her shoulder. This simple detail made her light up with glee. "Hi, I'm Janette!" She held out her hand as if for a handshake.

IC:

Serenity grimaced as some of the swine's ample spittle landed on her face, wiping it off. She made no effort to move from where she was however, continuing to lick at the spot on her hand she had been stabbed, though the pain was for the most part gone, and the only indication of where she was stabbed by the raider's strange device was a tiny pinprick.  She continued to lick at it none-the-less. It had become something of a nervous habit in the short time she had been here. "Nope...no trouble here...sir." She mumbled under her breath as the revolting raider waddled off.  She couldn't help it. Sarcasm was second nature to her.

The purple hedgehog looked down at her unconscious new roomate.  She wasn't sure about why they had brought the wolf who had been with her...but she could see where this rabbit would be placed here...what with those green markings.  Not that it really mattered to her. This gave her slightly more of an opportunity to foment rebellion...but not as much as she would have liked.  Still...

And she had no idea how she was going to go about doing this. Again, she watched longingly as the slit of light from the cellblock door gradually deminished to nothing.  There was another thing...these walls...they were beginning to close around her.  She continually fought the panic that was growing.  It wasn't apparent to anyone else...yet.  She wasn't sure how long she could fight it though.  Her mind traveled briefly back...the cell walls morphed into endless dark wet walls...Stop it! She shook her head, dislodging the memory for the moment. She almost couldn't wait to be sold...almost. At least then these walls would not be soffocating her anymore.  But then...her self-given mission would be moot if she couldn't speak to the other slaves in the compound...She'd have to get out of here...somehow.  But not now...not while the raiders were about.   She'd wait until darkness fell...to...do...what?  She sighed and slumped against the wall. It was impossible to get out.

TBC

(edit: whoops!  I didn't see your post, Ramza. I'll just assume what happened here is before yours)

Kairn rubbed the sore patch on the back of his head. As he looked towards his hand he could see his fur soaked in red. His wound was still bleeding, albeit slightly, but more than that it still hurt. Pain was going away but not quick enough.

His face brightened up though when he saw Janette regain consciousness; he breathed a silent sigh of relief. Her enthusiastic waving and greeting to Kairn made him feel warmer inside although his face betrayed none of his constant, stoic seriousness. He needed to remain composed and cautious constantly. If he was to relax for even a second then it would no doubt lead to his death.

He looked around the rest of the prison cell corridor. From what best he could see was the lone guard Johnny, sitting down on a wooden chair by the entrance in which he came in, the squirrel's head buried in his hands and shaking side to side from time to time. He was also pretty sure that the squirrel was muttering something to himself, but he couldn't hear what.

Kairn looked in the other direction. In the rest of the cells were the dejected, defeated expressions of many other captured slaves. Some were wrapped in a fetel position, rocking back and forth, their mind lost to whatever small comfort they could cling to. Other weres crying, some sleeping and some more still with the stoic and silent expression that Kairn himself wore.

His attention stopped and focused on one particular, unusual individual, however. Poised in a meditive stance, Kairn easily identified her as a ghost, an individual with incredible abilities beyond the normal scope of people like him.

Kairn wondered just what on earth this could mean. Although he didn't like the thought of it, he felt he needed to protect Janette, and her being kept in this compound or sold off to who knows where were both unsatisfactory options. There was only one way in which she could be saved and perhaps the only way in which this could be accomplished would have to involve this ghost.

This only option was escape.

IC:

"Hi, I'm Janette!"

Serenity blinked at her new cellmate, surprised.  So happy...didn't she even realize where they were? What they were there for?  And they called ME nieve...back in the slave train...before I got here...  In the short time the purple hedgehog had been in these cells...she had already seen one of the slaves sold...The poor wretch had followed his new master obediently out of the building...never to return.  And the cell he'd vacated had immediately been filled with the wolf who'd arrived with the rabbit. And yet the bunny girl seemed preoccupied by small, meaningless things...like..."...What are you doing?" Serenity tilted her head. The newcomer was staring at Serenity's birthmark.. This kid was strange.

"...Nevermind.  Name's Serenity.  Though my--" She stopped.  All her friends were gone. "--You can just call me Reni." She amended. "So....what're ya in for?" She asked conversationally, although she knew very well what they were BOTH in there for.  The purple hedgehog didn't know why she bothered. Slaves couldn't afford to make friends. It would only end in heartbreak when they were inevitably forced to part company, separated by bill-of-sale.  She unconsciously resumed licking at her right palm.

TBC

        Janette thought for a while before shrugging. "I don't know. I can't remember how I got here. I was sleeping, and then I was standing in some line." She looked genuinely confused as to the whole situation. She stood from he seated position and walked to the door. She stared at it for a while. "I think I can get us out of here."

OOC: Short post is short, but I can't think of more to do without proceeding to quickly. :-/

Kairn raised an inquisitive eye as he heard Janette's statement. Get them out of there? How on earth would that be possible? She was just a lone, fraile girl and these cells, whilst old, were solidly built. Not to mention the guard down the other end of the ai-

"God $%^&  it, why can't I ever seem to get anything right?!" Johnny lamented aloud. "I mean first I got knocked out in that one escape attempt so I got sent to here where the others think there's no chance of me being hurt again, not to mention Lindy never seems to notice me and I can't seem to ever get the nerve or chance to speak to her and- oh. Oh. *groan* N-not again." Johnny clutched his stomach tightly in pain. "Oh... noooooo... *grooooaaaaaannnnnnn* Ugh..."

-nevermind about the guard down the aisle.

IC:

Reni quirked her eyebrow incredulously as well. "You...can get us out...Forgive my skepticism, but...yeah...right." She glanced at the mumbling and groaning guard briefly before turning her gaze back to...wait....groaning? She glanced back at the guard again in a double-take.  Oh well.  Not her problem.  "About this getting out...you realize that's likely to get us shot..right? And HOW?"  Her ear twitched suddenly. "...Nevermind. Don't answer that yet. I think there might be trouble coming." Her ear had a habit of twitching when something bad - or at least inconvenient -  was going to happen.  

The cellblock door opened again...and in walked a couple of guards that she recognized. Bej and the other guard that had put her in here.  And with them... "Oh no." The sinking feeling got worse as she saw the appraiser who had directed her to be placed in the cells, and...someone else. Someone who was putting on airs and looking at the caged slaves with disdain and disgust.  As they got closer, the sense of fear increased to the point where the purple hedgehog went into a defensive curl.  She was going to be sold, she just knew it.

She heard them stop outside the cell door.

"This her?"

"No...not the rabbit. Ignore that one.  The one you want is curled up back there."

"Hmm. Doesn't look too special to me.  Sure her color is unusual, but...you said you had an athlete for me."

The cell door opened briefly as someone entered at approached. "She is.  We just have to get her to uncurl for you."

Serenity felt the tip of a strange device come to rest against her back.  Suddenly there was a jolt of pain as the shock-rod made her involuntarily come out of the curl. "Yow!" a loop of chain dropped around her neck, and the appraiser moved away...back toward the door.  The purple hedgehog refused to budge.  The appraiser gave a yank on the chain, and Reni felt the chain constrict uncomfortably around her neck.  Panicking, she tried to pull away, but the chain constricted more.  With growing dread, she realized that in order to stop the pressure, she would have to go the way they wanted her to.  Her shoulders drooping in defeat, she followed her captor to the front of the cell, attempting to curl up again.  There was another yank on the choke-chain, and she straightened up.  She could feel the piercing eyes of the racer-owner on her.  The ferret - for that's what he was - reached in and tilted her head up, turning it one way and then the other as he looked inside her ears and at her eyes, and then inside her mouth, and then down her length and to her long legs.  She felt helpless, and tried to pull away...but the choker stopped her.

"Hmm. Looks like a runner all right. Which could mean trouble for me."

"Not a runner. A racer sir.  She hasn't tried to run."

"Hm. Yet. Maybe because she's in a CELL and CAN'T. Still looks like trouble. I must admit she's a prize specimen though."

"I am NOT a specimen."

"Quiet!" The appraiser gave another yank of the choker.  

She sighed. It seemed they had found a way to discipline her without damaging her valuable pelt.

"She seems rebellious to me."

"True, her training is incomplete...but we don't think that will be too much of a problem.  As you can see, she is already responding positively toward the choke-chain here."

"Hmm...how much?" The ferret asked. The appraiser told him.  He still didn't look impressed. If anything he looked put off. "Too much. Especially for a slave that's not fully trained."

"Sir, this is one of the best examples of a racer you could ask for!  We have plenty of other potential buyers clamoring to see her.  AND she has this marking here." The appraiser placed a hand on Serenity's shoulder-mark, to which action she shied away, covering it protectively with her own hand.

"Hmm. Very interesting." The potential buyer didn't sound very interested. "However...she is untrained...and the price is still too high.  If you were to lower it..."

"Out of the question.  As I said...we have other customers..."

"Well. If you can get her to a point where she is better trained...MAYBE I will be interested.  Until then...I want out of this stinking pit."

"As you wish, sir." The appraiser sounded disappointed, but complied, exiting the cell and closing it's door carefully behind him before reaching out and removing the choker, which came off with considerably more reluctance than it went on...in account of Reni's quills.

"That's another thing." The ferret was saying as the four of them made their way back toward the cellblock door.  "Those quills.  I don't trust a slave who has sharp needles all over her back."

"They can be shaved off, sir." And they were gone out the cellblock door.  

Serenity sunk to the floor, panting and rubbing at her neck where the choker had been.

TBC

       Seeing the purple hedgehog in pain, Janette knelt down and reached out for the woman's sore neck. Reni backed away. Seeing this, the rabbit withdrew her hand and began rummaging through her cloak. After a while, she produced the bread that she had shared with Kairn. She tore off a piece and handed it to her cellmate. "Here. Please eat this." she said, worry in her eyes. The bread wasn't fresh, but it wasn't molding. If anything, it was a bit stale.

       A thought then came to her mind. She hadn't seen Kairn eat the bread that she had given him. Looking at the bread she had, she tore off another piece and threw it across the hallway. The bread didn't have enough weight to make it all the way to the wolf's cell, but landed within reach, just outside of it. Janette smiled happily, hoping that he might still be able to eat it.

_________________________________________________________________

       Atop the canyon walls sat an irritable grey weasel. White streaks lined his fur from his forehead, through his hair, and down his back. He stared out over the scene that had taken place in the slave pins, and sneered when he noticed Raz breaking up the fight. It was true that slaves were a commodity, but he had been hoping for a little bloodshed to lighten his mood. This was Shinji, one of the raiders responsible for tracking down escaped slaves. Not exactly a profession of his choosing, but it beat the other options.

       He looked over the slaves, disgust in his mind. He looked at the raiders, begrudging their idiocy. He hated them all. If he were able to sustain himself in this world on his own, he would sooner have them all fry rather then breath the same air. Picking up his rifle, he repelled down the canyon walls and made his short trek toward the camp. Maybe he could start a scuffle of his own and 'accidentally' off someone in the process.

IC:

"...Bread..."  Without thinking, Serenity grabbed the offered food and gobbled it down as quickly as possible.  In the slave train...Slaves took whatever food they could get...even if it was stale or moldy or downright rotten.  She'd often had to fight for it too, wolfing it down before anybody else could steal it. The purple hedgehog glanced up, realizing her lack of manners. "I'm sorry.  And thank you..."

Her thoughts drifted back to what had just happened, and she shivered and curled up. The choke-collar had not been painful so much as uncomfortable and frightening...but...worse than even the choker...She remembered the cold, calculating stare of her potential buyer and the unfeeling tone of her would-be seller as they discussed her as if she were property changing hands...instead of a living, conscious person.  She curled up tighter, her head in her hands, rocking.  "I don't wanna be sold...I don't wanna be a slave...I need to be free...I wanna go HOME..."  However she knew she'd probably never see her home again...even if she was successful in getting free.  The physical barriers were FAR too great.  She let her strong, unconcerned facade drop, and dissolved into sobbing.

TBC

Kairn snatched the piece of bread from the ground before the guard could notice it, although the way the guard was acting now, Kairn doubt he was in any position to really notice anything going on in the cells. Kairn eyed the bread. He was grateful for Janette's generosity but it seemed like her naiviety truly knew no bounds. Didn't she realise that her offering this food was exactly the reason that they were involved in that mob fight outside, why they were now inside these cells?

Kairn quickly gobbled the piece of bread down. He hoped that none of the other inmates would have noticed or smelled the bread. Kairn savoured the taste in his mouth as best as he could; it had truly been a age since he'd last eaten, and for what he had been eating these past two years ws nothingbut gruel. It was a kindness he wasn't sure he truly deserved, especially from a stranger, but it was for this reason that Kairn was determined to aid Janette in any way possible to escape.

But the question was how. There was no seeming way out of this cell at least, and a direct breakout and attempt at escape wold result solely in their deaths.

Janette seemed to know how to get out. What was her plan?

-----------------------

Slim marched along the perimeter of the compound, walking away from the prison cells towards one of the watchtowers. He was intending to meet with Raz, and find out just what the hell the idiot was playing at earlier.

       Janette took a bite out of the bread herself before storing it away where she had retrieved it from. She wiped the crumbs from herself and approached the door. Examining it, she poked and prodded it with her finger. "I might be able to burn through it..." she finally said, poking it again and sending sparks flying, "But it's going to take a while... A looong while..." She poked her head through the bars to see if the guard had noticed. He seemed to be picking at something on his face and hadn't seen the sparks.

      She touched the lock once more, sending more sparks into the air. "I'm from a town north of here, by the way." she said, sending more sparks afloat, "What about you, Ren-ren?"

IC:

"BURN through it?"  The purple hedgehog looked up sharply, surprised at
the sparks, until she remembered something some of the others in the
slave train had talked about before.  "Ohhh...I get it....yer one of
those whatcha-ma-callits...ghosts?...Oh nevermind."  She pondered the question she had been asked. Ren-ren.  Serenity winced.  Her baby brother called her that.  Now she'd never see him or the rest of her family again.  She resumed licking at her palm, and was silent a long while before answering.  "A long ways away from here.  But it doesn't really matter. I can't go back."  she stated flatly...staring at the wall.

She wondered if she could memorize all the details in it before she was eventually sold.  Plucking a quill, she scratched a tick-mark in the dirt and grime that covered it...A tiny movement in the corner of the wall caught her eye. She shifted her gaze to it...and stiffened.  The shape moved again, scuttling across a patch of light and into more shadow. It was a spider.  The purple hedgehog felt her blood run cold. Serenity scrambled away from the spider, her quills flaring of their own accord as she attempted to both flee AND curl up at the same time. (which didn't work too well) "Aaaaaaaaah!! Crawler!  Get it away!  Get it away!" In her panic, the tiny arachnid multiplied in size a hundred-fold, as her mind went back to a memory she wanted desparately to forget...

The spider...if one was crazy enough to get that close to it to observe...gaped at the huge screaming purple creature and shook it's tiny head.  Arachniphobia was one thing...but THIS was rediculous.  It scurried away to a hole in the wall and was gone, leaving the crazy purple thing to hyperventilate by itself.

TBC

(OOC: XD Last paragraph was just for grins. XP)

Johnny's head was buried in his hands, remembering previous events he wished he could just forget. But unfortunately for him the constant that was afforded in guarding the prison cells was time and his thoughts. His memories flashed back to unpleasant events, familiar faces and scenes he desperately wished he could forget but to no avail. He groaned loudly again as his stomach pains flared up once more.

He was completely oblivious to any of the actions or conversations that the rest of the cellmates were having.

Despite the guard's troubled digestive system, Kairn looked intently at the developments within Janette's cell. He noticed the spark and faint wiff of smoke that flew into the sky from her prodding of the cell lock. He hadn't managed to deduce it earlier, but now he was sure that she had to have been a ghost.

How didn't the guards detect that when she was processed into the compound?

Better yet, with abilities like that, how did Janette ever get captured in the first place?

And it made Kairn wonder about the other ghost locked in the nearby cell. If both of them had abilities then it might not be too farfetched that they could escape this compound. More intriquing enough, what were to happen if they met, and interacted with one another...?

Kairn spotted a small pebble lying amidst the ruined flooring of his cell. He picked it up, and a with a little smart aiming threw through his cell and through the cell bars of the meditating ghost lightly hitting the sleeping individual. He had no idea of what reaction he might recieve, or whether or not this ghost would even be a friend and not a new threat entirely.

But they needed to get out and Kairn had no way of knowing how possible it would be alone. Even if Janette could burn through the lock, who knew how long that could take, or whether they'd even have the time to live. Kairn's hours certainly seemed nothing, if the impending interrogation that Slim mentioned earlier was anything to go by.

OOC: Making use of a random NPC here to avoid spending the entire post delving into more dreams!

IC: The pebble, having lightly struck its target then tumbled slowly down the inert individual, coming to rest in her lap. For all the reaction she had to it though, it might as well have been a piece of dust, or might not have existed at all. There was no flinching or twitching, no change in the breathing pattern, no flicker of expression on the face. She remained in the same meditative position, apparently dead to all that happened in the outside world. Kairn's action didn't get entirely no response though. The slave in the cage next to his saw the throw and its target, and turned to Kairn with an expression that was almost- but not entirely- bereft of hope.

"What'cha doin' that for?" The question seemed more a prelude to what followed, a momentary justification for the owner of the voice to speak- and satisfy his need to speak to someone- than a question expecting an actual answer...which was probably just as well in Kairn's case. Before Kairn could signal an answer the other slave continued. "You tryin' to get her attention? 'Old hellion'?" The slave shook his head slowly. "Ain't gonna work pal- tried myself when they first shoved me in here. Reckon mebbe for about the same reasons as you're tryin' now. That'd be a coupla months or so ago now I reckon. Shoulda been sold off before now, 'cept they haven't found 'the right niche to the market' or so they tell me. Anyways, guard saw me tryin' to catch her attention- flickin' things just like you. Wanna know what he did? Laughed out loud at me is what. 'Go ahead, try an' wake her' he says," the slave shook his head slowly as though in painful recollection, before drawing a breath and continuing. "Then he goes an' delivers me the puchline ," he said heavily, "an' its heckuva one too- took all the wind outta my sails like that". He snapped his fingers to make his point. "Tells me he's been comin' here off an' on eight years or so now- an' 'old hellion'? She's been here alla that time- alla it an' mebbe more besides. An' in all that time she ain't so much as moved or spoken once- heck, not even a sneeze or a twitch outta her. Tells me that's why they calls her 'old hellion'. Asked me why I thought she hadn't sold 'cept that no-one wants an over-sized paperweight".

 After saying all this, Kairn's neighbour seemed to have relieved himself of the need to speak and fell silent again for a while. But he was watching Janette with a thoughtful look in his eyes and eventually he spoke again, a wistful, faraway tone in his voice, as though articulating some hope he couldn't let himself seriously believe for a moment lest it be crushed. "Thing is," he said softly, "that ain't all I heard. Saw some grizzled old hard-nosed veteran giving a rookie a tour o' the camp once. Pointed her out special, he did. Tells the rookie, 'that one there's 'old hellion', the one you'll never worry about- she don't move, don't speak, don't eat'. Model prisoner he called her. Well, that made the rookie curious," Kairn's neighbour continued. The wistful tone in his voice had grown as he looked back on his memories. "What this ol' veteran had told that rookie woulda made anyone curious I guess. Point is, long an' short, rookie-boy gets to askin' why they calls her 'old hellion'- beyond the obvious anyways. And this ol' vet? Well he gets an odd look on his face an' tells the rookie- all quiet like but yours truly heard- that when they first brung her in that name, well it wasn't no jest. Says there wasn't a moment's peace 'til they stamped that chip in her skin- an' then she went all limp an' lifeless like an' she's stayed the same ever since. Raiders thought she was playin' possum at first- an' they did everything short o' permanent damage 'fore realisin' otherwise, though you wouldn't think it to lookit her now".

The speaker paused again, his tone growing more wistful yet. "Point to tellin' y'all that," he finally said in little more than a whisper, "is that- well, watchin' your bunny-friend there gets a fella round to thinkin'. Seems t'me from what that ol' veteran said it was the chip as turned 'old hellion' to Sleepin' Beauty. An' those chips, they're 'lectric- like bunny girl there. So mebbe- an' I'm only gonna say mebbe- if someone was to run a 'lectric shock through 'old hellion' that'd do what the pebbles can't. I seen our high an' mighty masters never let them shock-sticks near her anyways, so might be as one body here can get her attention after all".           

Kairn looked at the speaker, assessing him and listening dutifully to his story. Kairn sighed after the speaker finished and slumped in the corner of his cell furthest away from the voice. He didn't know who the voice belonged to and truth be told, other than Janette whom he'd met this morning he hadn't met anyone else that could or should be trusted, even if they were all fellow slaves alike. Even if he could speak, Kairn wouldn't of replied to the voice.

"Y'there pal?" The voice asked. Silence was his response.

Kairn thought intently. 'Old Hellion.' With a nickname like that, as well as being a ghost there'd be no doubt that she'd be powerfully dangerous, and therefore if woken could prove to be an exceptional ally. But again, who's to say her power was the reason why she was titled Old Hellion? Kairn didn't know of her or what type of person she was. Could prove to be just as much a danger to all of them and the guards too.

Even so they were running out of options. Kairn nodded to himself, surmising that trying to wake her with Janette's ability was probably the wisest option. But unless Janette had overheard the voice speaking, he had no way of telling Janette the information, or even if she should do it.

He hadn't much cursed his inability to speak over the last two years, but now he wanted to.

(OOC: moving things along a little bit...hopefully that's okay...)

IC:

The next time the cellblock door opened, the light from outside was fading.  Serenity had gotten her panic under control shortly after the spider disappeared...but now fear of a different sort crept back in...it was those same guards again...and the appraiser.  She once again curled as the terrible trio stopped in front of her cell again.  She could almost feel the choke chain almost-suffocating her again.  But...nothing happened.  Serenity looked up, just as a couple bowls half-filled with mush were shoved under the cell door...one for her...one for her cellmate.  It wasn't much but it was food.  She began wolfing it down.

"By the way, beautiful..."  One of the guards sneered at her.  "Just wanna let ya know....Two more clients wanna have a look atcha tomorrer.  Prepare ya'self...an' I suggesst ya don'fight the choker dis time. Hahaha!"   The appraiser and the other guard joined in his jeering laughter. "Sweet dreams. Haha!"  With that they sauntered off again.

Serenity stared at her gruel.  Suddenly she wasn't hungry.

TBC

Slim rounded the outside of the corridor, paying no mind or heed to any of the slaves within its fenced walls. It was a pretty typical view, he had been working here for who knows long, and his general emotion to any of those trapped within was complete apathy. He didn't have any concern or empathy for those within, which was kinda obvious considering his trade, but at the same he didn't feel any sadistic pleasure or humour at the fates of the slaves like many other raiders or slavers did. No, for him it was just a job, a job he did well, and that was all he cared about really, the job.

Which is why it irritated him when they had punks like Raz interrupting his work with his brash and foolish actions, and even trying to undermine his job. It's not that Slim could care about what the slaves felt, but rather what his coworkers felt. For Raz to have taken the shot like that earlier, despite Slim and his group having the situation contained made it seem to him like he couldn't do his job sufficiently.

He reached the foot of the watchtower where Raz was supposed to be stationed. He climbed up the metal railing as it creaked and groaned against his weight, but surprisingly despite how heavy he was the facility was strong enough and well maintained so that there were never any faults or mishaps.

He reached the top, and eyed Raz, who was sitting fairly casually, overlooking the rest of the compound from his viewpoint. He turned and spotted Slim.

"Raz, what the hell were you doing earlier?" Slim got straight to the point. "I had that situation with those two slaves under control. What on Aegis makes you think to shoot like that? You don't think I can do my job properly?" Slim's tone was harsh but at the same time fair. He wasn't chewing Raz out so much as emphasising his irritance at the earlier event.

           The door to the cell block slammed open, a grey and white weasel stepping through. Johnny stood up, fumbling with his weapon. "Hey! You're not supposed to be back here!" Shinji cringed at the sound of the creature's voice. Without a moments hesitation, he punched the squirrel square in the jaw, a sickening sound echoing through the corridor as bone snapped and a few teeth clattered across the floor.

           "Bloody furries..." he scoffed, "Dirtying up my air." He bent down and removed the unconscious animal's radio, flipping the toggle switch. "Oh dear, a squirrel has lost all of his nuts! Whatever shall he do!?" He laughed to himself, knowing that someone would eventually come down to investigate and the squirrel would probably be blamed again. Tossing the radio behind himself, he strode up through the cells, stopping before one in particular. "Hello there, Kairn." he greeted, leaning on one leg with a proud grin slapped across his features, "It HAS been a while. Where does the time go." He shrugged exaggeratedly. "What's that? You want out? Then sing for me!" He laughed to himself as he turned and walked for the exit.

"Oh dear, a squirrel has lost all of his nuts! Whatever shall he do!?" came the voice over the radio's emergency bandwidth. Slim looked down to the radio strapped to his trousers, looked back somewhat surprised at Raz, and then picked up the transciever.

"This is Slim. What's going on down there?" Slim asked. The mention of a squirrel could only mean one person, and for it to be in the prison cells as well. There was no answer. Had someone managed to break out?

"We'll finish this later, Raz," Slim sighed heavily, turning around and jumping off the top of the watchtower, landing on the ground with an earth-shaking thud. He wasn't happy to say the least, after all he had just trekked all the way from the cells, and now he had to go back.

He broke out into a run towards the cells, there was probably an emergency down there and it needed to be investigated. "Lebowitz, Reager, Matthews, meet me at the cells." Slim ordered over the radio. He recieved a positive confirmation from his men, and then proceeded on the short jog to the cells.

------

"What in the hell happened here?" Slim asked as he entered the cells, followed by his men who all had their weapons drawn for the possibility of any danger. Bar the crumpled up and silently sobbing Johnny on the flaw, it didn't look like there was any sort of commotion here at all. None of the cell doors was open, and from what Slim could tell without having to check the prisoner logs, none of the slaves had escaped. Slim turned to look at Johnny, an annoyed expression etched across his face. He needed an answer. "Johnny?"

"N-n-nothing happened, boss," Johnny said, wiping the tears from his face and almost whistling through the gap in his teeth that had come as a result of Shinji's visit."J-just slipped off my chair, boss. S-s-sorry."

It didn't take a genius to see that Johnny was lying. Well, maybe for a good number of the raiders here, it did, but not for Slim. Johnny was a bit of a screwup, but to get in this state by his own accord would be impossible, and given how none of the slaves could have possibily attacked him, it led to only one natural conclusion, and that it was another guard who did this. And now that he thought it, his memory flashed to the voice on the radio, and he had an almost certainty who it was.

Just had to go and make his job harder, damnit.

"Boss, what should we do?" Lebowitz, the raccoon asked, his arm holding his hip in a somewhat impatient manner.

"We'll sort out what happened here later," Slim sighed. "Right now, I suppose, we should interrogate those two particular individuals who decided it'd be a good idea to create that outburst outside."

Lebowitz, Reager and Matthews all nodded, listening intently to the large rhino's commands. "Reager, Matthews, take the rabbit to Interrogation Room 1, me and Lebowitz will take our old friend Kairn here to Interrogation Room 2. I don't need to tell you boys how to do your job, get the answers but make sure you don't do any lasting damage to the slave. It's a female and she's got quite the attractive appearance, meaning she should sell for a fair bit."

Reager and Matthews nodded, opening the cell to Janette and Serenity's cell. They aimed their weapons at them both to intimidate the pair from trying anything out of the ordinary, and motioned for Janette to approach them before they would shackle her with the electric collar. At the same time, Lebowitz and Slim opened Kairn's cell, and Kairn gave himself freely to the guards without any resistance. He knew that doing so would simply earn him a real work over, and it was something he really could do without.

As Slim and Lebowitz turned to exit the cell, leaving Reager and Matthews to finish their duty and escort Janette to Interrogation Room 1, Slim stopped before the still shocked Johnny. "We'll get this all sorted out, Johnny." Slim said in a reassuring tone. "For now... get yourself cleaned up. You've got blood all over yor shirt."

IC:

Serenity stared down the gun barrel, feeling helpless.  She hated that...but...there was nothing she could do to help her new friend and her friend.  Her self-given mission required her to play the part of a conquered prisoner...totally aquiecent...until she could find her way to the rest of the slaves.  The few slaves in these cells were not nearly enough to launch a revolution...So for now...she had to lay low.  As soon as the cell door swung shut and the weapon was taken out of her face, she moved to the bars, watching as the two were lead away.  She couldn't help feeling like a coward though, and could only hope Janette and Kain would be all right.  And she hoped she would still be there when they were brought back.  Who knew how long the interrogation would take...If it took longer than a day...She might be on her way to a new master before they got back...

She sighed.  Alone again.  She glanced down the hall, for the first time seeing the strange prisoner.  She puzzled at this for a few minutes, but...as the ghost wasn't moving, she soon lost interest.  She glanced around...Possibly the worst part of this...there was NOTHING to do.  She stood up and started pacing the parimiter of the cell...but even THAT got boring.  She flopped down at the back wall, glancing briefly at it first.  No spiders. Good.  She plucked another quill and started drawing with it absently in the dirt on the floor.  No wonder that ghost was so still...this was SO boring.  She wondered if she'd die of bordom before she was sold...or before her friends came back.  She worried about them, sure...but...there was nothing she could do now...and dwelling on what might be happening to them wasn't healthy.

TBC

         Janette glanced back as the raiders hauled her away. They hadn't been required to use the choke collar, as she came almost to willingly, but she was a bit concerned for the purple hedgehog that was left behind. She was sat within a small, dimly lit room, the cramped feeling pressing at her nerves.

OOC: Short post is short... again... >:[

Kairn was thrown into Interrogation Room 2. He landed on the floor, hard, before being brought back up by Lebowitz and sat down in the rusted metal chair besides the wooden, rotting table. A solitary light flickered on and off above them. Kairn had to admit, the room deserved its title. He looked around, seeing black smears of dry blood splattered haphazardly around the room, remnants of the camp's previous tenants. He gritted his teeth. He had been here before, and he was sure that some of the blood probably once belonged to him.

"Okay, Kairn, I'm sure you know how this is going to go," Slim began, pacing back and forth across the other side of the table whilst Lebowitz stood guard, his rifle held up, standing behind Kairn's side. "But this time I'm hoping its going to go a bit better than the last few times we tried this. That Shinji's a vicious bastard for taking your eye, but I've got to give the man his dues, you deserved it. How about actually co-operating with us this time?"

Slim pulled from one of his armour's compartments a pencil and pad of paper, placing them on the desk in front of Kairn.

"Alright, so I'm going to ask you about that mob outbreak incident we had a little earlier today, but of course, as I'm sure you're aware, we've got more interesting questions for you about other matters you still haven't gotten around to anwering." Slim continued, his pacing unwavering.

"I've been wondering for a while now just what it's going to take to get you to answer. We want back what you stole from our boss. We need to know where it's hidden." Slim stopped, looking Kairn square in the eye. "I mean, you were willing to lose an eye last time. Even after what Shinji did, you didn't do anything. Nothing at all. And I've got to give you credit, if a man is willing to tolerate losing an eye, then there's not much more that can be done to break a man down. I mean, sure, I could take your other eye, but then you wouldn't be able to write down the information I need, and then we'd truly be at a loss."

A vicious smile began to curl across the rhino's mouth. "You know the only reason you've been kept alive so long is because of the information we need? And without you saying anything, I'm sure you were willing to ride out the rest of your short life rotting in this camp. But now... now I have to wonder if we don't have something new." A chuckle rose from the rhino. "You haven't been associating with anyone here. You have no friends... not that I blame you. People pass and go so quickly in here, either sold or killed. You haven't caused a fuss at all. And yet, today..."

"Today you earned a little friend. That rabbit girl..." Slim's smile grew ever wider. Kairn had betrayed no emotion at all throughout the rhino's ramblings, but now a bead of sweat began to form across his brow. Damnit, this was what he had expected and what he had desperately tried to prevent.

"I don't think I really need to go into much detail here. Either you tell us where the boss' property is, or we do something nasty to her. And believe me, the boss' item is a lot more valuable to him then the life of one little rabbit." Slim laughed, and pointed to the pencil, implying Kairn to get on with it.

Kairn's teeth gritted tighter. He was up against the wall here. If he did nothing, then he would be betraying Janette. Yet if he did write the information down, he would be betraying her...

There was no choice at all.

Nothing needed to be deliberated. The look of fear and agitation completely subsided from Kairn's face. He was absolutely calm. He picked up the pencil.

And he drove it right through Lebowitz's left temple. Before the raccoon could react, the pencil bore right into his head with an intensity he had never felt before, and would not again. Lebowitz tried to resist, but Kairn's strength was too much for him. The struggle lasted at least half a minute, before Kairn's arm was grabbed and pulled back from Lebowitz's collapsing body.

Slim shoved Kairn through the table, splintering it into a thousand pieces. In no time at all, Kairn hit the ground, and desperately tried to pull himself up. A sickening crack prevented all of that, and a moment's surprise led to a silent howl of pain as Slim brought down his incredibly heavy and solid foot down on Kairn's right arm, shattering the bone and destroying it.

Kairn passed out immediately, the pain too much to bear. Slim squeezed down on the arm even more, just to be sure, then lifted his foot off.

He took a step back, observing the entire scene.

Lebowitz's corpse, with a thin stream of blood falling down his face.

Kairn's unconscious form, his bloody mess of an arm barely hanging on.

Slim sighed. Kairn's body would have to be dragged back into the cells, and any hope of an interrogation postponed for a later time.

"What a mess."

OOC: Long post is long, and not for the squeamish..?

IC:

The next time the cellblock door opened, the light had completely faded.  "Oh...what NOW?" Serenity grumbled, glancing up.  She had been trying unsuccessfully to get some sleep.  When she saw who it was, she froze.  I thought they said the next clients to see me were coming tomorrow?  But then...this was just one of the terrible threesome...She looked again.  Make that the WORST of the three.  The guard known only as Bej was approaching.  She did NOT like his expression.  However, she did not want to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was afraid. 

The bull stopped outside the cell and grinned at her unplesantly.  She glowered right back, flattening her ears in warning.  He didn't notice...or he chose to ignore it.  At least all he was doing was LOOKING. For NOW anyway. Serenity shuddered.  She heard her mouth say something imprudant and mentaly cursed herself.  "Like what you see, eh?"

His grin widened.  "Oh yes."

"You can LOOK all you want." Shut UP, Reni....if you want to hold on to your innocence, shut UP. Her mouth refused to listen to her brain.  "Remember...no touching the merchendise."

"Fancy that...a SLAVE giving a GUARD orders."  Surprising just how predatory a BOVINE could look sometimes. 

Serenity shuddered, and curled up somewhat.  Still her mouth decided to push her luck further. She didn't know how much she had left. "You can't do anything to me...I'm in here...you're out there."

"You forget...I'm a GUARD...I have KEYS."  He jangled said keys at her for emphasis.

Serenity felt a stab of real fear, and curled up tighter.

"Hahaha.  I'm just playin' wit'cha.  'M still on duty.  But I WON'T be in a coupla hours.  Who knows...I might be back."  He grinned unpleasantly at her again, and sauntered off. "Sweet dreams, Princess."

Serenity gave a huge sigh of relief after he was gone and uncurled, willing her heart to stop pounding.  The bull's ominous warning still rang in her ears. She plucked another quill and licked at her right palm again.

TBC

|OOC| Well, looks like I better nudge some things along as well. I apologize for yknow not thinking of a post sooner...

|IC|

A sharp, although entertained whistle rung into the interrogation room as a coyote looked over the scene as he had opened the door. "Guess you aren't getting much out of 'em, eh?" he glanced over Lebowitz's corpse for a moment, but discarded notice of it as quick as the glance was over. As he raised a brow at the lone guard left from the whole half-assed interrogation. The coyote chuckled again, "Other than an arm, right." adding to the previous comment as Slim kept his own focus for the most part on the sloppy mess before him.

"Meh." the rhino muttered under his breath.

"Good to see you have so much emotion, slim." the coyote chuckled.

"What do you want Vorkn?" Slim commented, finally moving his attention to the coyote. While it was weird for the coyote to poke his head in, it wasn't like he was a tracker or spotter either. "Well, I was told to check on the situation. Not that you aren't capable or anything, before I go and retrieve one of the prisoners for evaluation. So, here I am. Think you better go send the cyclops to medical before you haul him back in the ce-"

"Don't tell me how to do my job ,Vorkn."

Vorkn shrugged, "Yeah, cool, whatever." the coyote commented as he left through the door and began to head for the cellblocks.

Slim sighed loudly again as Vorkn left. He supposed he was right after all, Kairn's arm had to be treated. Left as it was, the wolf would no doubt die, and whilst he still had information that was needed, this couldn't be allowed. Slim picked up his transciever from his belt.

"This is Slim in Interrogation Room 2. I'm going to need a couple of men down here now. Had a bit of a situation down here... need some men to take one of the prisoners to the medical bay. And need some more men for a cleanup detail. Double time, people." Slim ordered. He heard a confirmation from the other end and belted his transciever once more.

He stood, leaning against the side of the wall, his arms folded across his chest, waiting for this mess to be cleaned up.

Cells

Johnny gave a concerned look towards the conversation that Bej and Serenity were having. He didn't like to stick his nose into the other guards' business, especially when it usually entailed him being punched in said nose and losing a few teeth, but all the same he didn't like the sound of what was going on at all. He stifled a tear and small cry to himself, squeezing his eyes shut tight, waiting for the entire situation to end and for Bej to walk away.

He hated feeling like this. He hated this job. He hated this place. He hated what he was doing to these people trapped on the other side of the cell doors. Yet he was powerless to do anything to really change this. He was one man, and he knew he couldn't survive in that outside world without the help of the raiders who took him in and gave him this job. There was little he could do.

But there was one thing he knew he couldn't tolerate, and that was for sick and twisted freaks like Bej to hurt an innocent woman. Sure, he could take his own hits and shrug them off, and he'd even been mentally blocking out the notion that so many more people in this facility were being hurt everyday. And whilst he knew he wasn't strong enough to be able to do anything, he was determined to make sure that monster Bej wouldn't hurt the hedgehog.

But he had no idea how he would go about it. He couldn't let the prisoner free.

And so Johnny went back to mentally chastising himself for being weak and not being able to do anything. All the while he was trying to think of some way out of this situation and coming up short.

Things were going to happen tonight and he didn't know what to do.

            Janette sat, silent and alone within the small room. The two raiders had left her by herself within the small concrete room, only a single bulb hanging from the ceiling without a shade around it. She looked around, seeing nothing that would stand out within the room, not even moss. The thought ran through her mind, that maybe they didn't care about the incident that had happened earlier. It was almost as if they were using her for some other reason. She sunk into her seat, sighing, and otherwise becoming bored.

___________________________________________________________________

            The weasel let go of the mouse as he finished soundly beating him to a bloody pulp. The slave's offense was minor at best, having simply taken food from another slave. The newer slaves saw this as a sign that maybe the raiders wouldn't be so biased against them, giving them a bit of hope for the future, but the older slaves knew better. The added hope would just make the eventual break all the more painful when it was ripped away from them. "You couldn't have simply kept to yourself, could you?" quipped Shinji, having enjoyed the process of beating a defenseless mouse to near death. He wiped the blood from his hands and moved to climb an all to familiar tower. "Hopefully the rest of the day will fail to be as dull as before."

(It's becoming a bit of a habit for me to start posts with the cellblock door opening.  Oh well. Here we go again.)

IC:

Serenity found herself unable to sleep at all now, as she dreaded that door opening again.  When it did, she immediately went into a curl and tried to melt into the back wall.  However, this time it was not Bej, as she had been expecting.  It was the appraisor.  That still wasn't good news, but it was better than what she was expecting.  He was flanked by only one guard this time...Bej was conspicuously absent.  The purple hedgehog hardly dared to hope he had been caught breaking rules and fired.  Or whatever they did to corrupt guards here. If anything. 

Her seller stopped in front of the cell.  "Just want to let you know...You'll need to get rid of those rags for tomorrow morning.  Our client needs to...SEE you...if you know what I mean."

Terror surged back to the surface.  Oh no.  She knew what that meant.  As the appraisor began to walk away, she came up to the bars, a bit hesitantly. "Sir...Please...PLEASE....don't-sell-me-to-a-brothel." She finished quickly.

"You will sell to whoever is the highest bidder."  He stated matter-of-factly and started to walk away again.

"...Well...could you at least keep that guard, Bej away from me? I...he scares me."

Her seller turned sharply toward her again.  "You've seen him?!  Where is he?"

Serenity gulped.  What would he think of her if she told the truth?  Would he protect her from the bull?  Or would he just laugh it off?  "...Not...really...Sir...He just...frightens me." She lied.  The appraiser sighed and walked off, grumbling and cursing to himself.

Serenity knew that now she couldn't sleep even if she'd wanted too before.  If the other guards didn't know where Bej was...How could she be safe from him?  She curled back up in her corner, shaking, her spines extended outward.  She doubted they'd be much help however.  A few more purple quills joined the growing pile on the floor as she returned to dreading the door opening again.

TBC

Vorkn rose a brow as the other slaver gave another slave a runover. He shook his head, "Now she isn't getting ANY sleep? What's the point of that? You ain't going to sell her in a deprived state." the thought ran it's course but the coyote didn't speak on it as the idiot left the female hedgehog to her quivering and likelihood of insomnia. Not to mention that she was terrified to Bej, who generally was a bit of a bastard and Vorkn was one on the tally of guards who didn't care for him. He sighed as he adverted his attention to the one special case he had been sent to retrieve as... well, you couldn't really sell or get anything from someone who didn't even react.

"Frickin' ghosts and their whole act." he muttered. His mind was still not at ease with the other slave's terrified state, so he decided to settle that before he unhatched the cell to the ghost and dragged her to where she had to be. He walked over to a radio post in the cellblock, why was it that he was often the one who cracked down on guards doing their job in this damn encampment? If it wasn't idiots manhandling the merchandise, it was idiots psychologically manhandling the merchandise. Too many of them thought they were the end be all and could do whatever they wanted because they had a gun... or size... or whatever.

"Command, this is Vorkn; slave's beyond terrified and the guard detail in this cellblock is too light, send Shinji or someone capable to watch 'em. I know it's crap detail, but it's necessary detail. Over."

The coyote didn't pay much mind beyond command taking a nod to the order and going back to what he was here to do. He sighed regardless as he began to unhatch the cell to the strangely meditating ghost; his orders were simple take her down to medical or whatever to troubleshoot the problem if he couldn't get it figured out himself. Vorkn groaned out loud as he approached the ghost... or whatever she was. He wasn't a fan of the work he did, but it was better than the alternatives... and had more purpose than the alternatives.

Vorkn's intrusion in the cell brought about no reaction from the dormant ghost-creature. She remained in her inert state, her mind drifting across great vistas of memory and imagination as her dreams continued. Her dreams turned to her home in the far untouched mountains of the distant west. There, amidst the Terraces of the Sun and the Clouded Gardens she had spent her childhood years, playing in the shadow of the Crown of Rayneri, the great, communal fortress-temple that crowned a lofty and winter-clad peak that was the dwelling place of her clan. There she had friends and family, teachers and instructors, people whom she loved and respected who had played key roles in her development from child to adult.

Her dreams shifted again, the visions passing before her mind's eye showing in vivid detail the great plains she had travelled across, the mountains and ravines she had braved in a quest of exploration and discovery that had taken up much of her adult life. She saw again the many and varied tribes of people- ghosts and others- whom she had encountered, whose ways and cultures she had learned and retained the knowledge of in her memory. She lived again the adventures she had had and the experiences she had revelled in, fresh and clear and crisp as if they had been just yesterday, or even were only just now happening. Here she ran with a tribe of nomads, spear in hand, pursuing prey animals that fled before them. There she fought with savage natives who had been terrified by her sudden arrival. Still elsewhere she walked amidst the hidden kingdoms of the cloud-capped mountain peaks, talking with their most ancient and learned scholars.

Her dreams shifted again, becoming the less welcome of her recurring dreams. She lived again the moment when, soaring over the rugged land beneath her she had come into contact with the raiders. She remembered vividly the shock of the bullets in her flesh that had caused her to cease flight and plunge to the ground below. She relived the ferocious fight she had put up, forcing them to keep her in a separate cage rather than chain her with the others in their party. Thereafter she remembered the more intense fight when she had arrived at the camp, forcing many of the raiders to pay dearly for even trying to touch her. It had eventually taken eight of them to manhandle her to the desk where the chip had been stamped into her flesh. There the dreams faded and became a blank, empty darkness as their cycle concluded. In a while they would start again. She sat inert before Vorkn, yet her mind wandered in a thousand places beyond the knowledge or comprehension of many. And part of her mind always monitored the hateful chip that was stamped into her flesh, waiting for the moment when the signal it emitted would be disrupted by time, chance or deliberate action, and she would gain the waking world once more.