08-22-2013, 11:41 AM
Rune wasn’t a horrible cold hearted person. It was clear nobody saw it, but she had a huge heart and an enormous capacity for charity. It was hard to see, some place deep in her empathy understood that. Rune was not a fuzzy little teddy bear on the surface. She was a cowboy turned pixie. She had the arms of a basketball player, and the street-smarts to go a good ole three on three and walk away without getting shot. But a lot of it was game and saving face. Hood’s reaction, well she really hadn’t anticipated it. He beat her down as thoroughly as if he’d actually struck her. She had no idea how to react, but to throw on that thick-skin force field and stand there and take it. Or leave. She should leave.
She started to leave.
But Aria came barreling in, snarling more of the same poison as the pissed off rattlesnake she was leaving behind.
Then she took another beating. But the formerly summoned callous wasn’t good enough. It hurt. It hurt like betrayal.
When Aria was done screaming, Rune holstered her pistol calmly and arranged herself for a packing up also doing as Aria said and backed away from her monster. It was clear these two would rather kill her than let her kill a monster: their priorities were all backwards. And they were suppose to be on the same side. It hurt. It hurt because Rune felt like everything she loved about the Atharim was crumbling between her fingers. The cause of the Atharim (rather than the actual members of it) was close to her as family. Aria and Hood should have the same cause as she, they were suppose to be on the same side! Yet every time Rune stood up for herself, they nipped at her heels. This time, they both hamstringed her.
She shook her head and forced herself to stop studying her own feet. When she looked up, her eyes were red with anger and pain. She could forgive Hood, probably. He didn’t know, and he really was a killer. And combing over every single word that burnt her spirit, he probably thought she was betraying him. Though Rune honestly had no idea what else she was suppose to have done when that Roog took off running. Was she suppose to just let it get away? Call the committee together to talk about it first? It wasn’t her fault a bannik killed it before she got there. Then what was she suppose to do? Leave the bannik to keep stripping more people’s skin off? There were more innocent folk down here than one pack of roog’s. It had to be taken out too.
But Aria. Apparently Aria saved her skin? How did that work? Aria was the better Atharim? Which furia had the wits to lead them to the pack’s hide out in the first place? Who dragged her heels and sucked up to Cuddles? Who freaked out just walking down the street? That girl wasn’t stable. Yet somehow she was the golden girl of the group.
Rune took a deep breath and changed her mind about leaving. She had to get this out first.
Her voice was weak at first, but after their pounding yelling echoing around the room of before, it probably sounded like more than a whisper just by comparison. Though she knew she spoke in a regular, conversational tone. ”I ain’t sure how it is you lot saved my skin back there. I ain’t gonna point out who thought of freezing the bannik to death just as I ain’t gonna point out I never asked nobody to abandon their jobs to run after me. I’d never!” her voice grew stern and passionate, ”Ever ask anyone to let a monster go just to save my worthless life.”
She swallowed and unclenched the fists at her side and turned right toward Aria. “You call me an initiate,” and she shot a glare toward Hood, ”and you say we’re a team.” She threw her hands up in frustration, ”Well we don’t got no fancy headquarters across the lil’ pond you guys forget about. We’re on our own over there. And iffn you’s stuck in some Mexican jungle facing down some blood-sucking Choop it don’t matter who got what on their arm. You just kill it. You don’t check in with management.”
She shook her head, disappointed. ”We ain’t got no teams. We ain’t got nobodys backs but our own cuz there just ain't enough backs to go around. We ain't no frat. Fact, we go out of our way to steer clear of another's turf. Its called respect. I don't stir your pot, and you don't stir mine.
So iff’n you don’t watch your own back, you die. Probably in the nastiest way you can think.
We don’t got no puppet masters sittin’ at some desk. And we don’t take no orders, except kill everything that ain’t human. And THAT” she pointed suddenly at the Roog tied up, ”Ain’t human!”
Her arm fell heavy back to her side. Knowing she was singing a tune they’d heard before. But Rune wasn’t gonna stop trying to convince them. She had a duty. Deep in her bones! To set right the unbalance that creature broke. To stand up for her beliefs, even if it cost her her life, friends, safety and convenience. She could work Moscow on her own if she had to. She'd find a way. Everybody was so freaked about the Undercity, she had no clue if anyone was worried about the innocent townsfolk of the Golden Ring. ”You think I want to leave the Atharim?” She asked with a strain of shock. She couldn’t believe Aria implied that. ”The Atharim is everything I am. I could no more walk away from this life than hop out of my own skin.”
She cast a final, longing look at the pummeled-faced roog, pushed her lips together in defeat and made to leave, eyes hot with frustration, disappointment, and regret: regret for their loss of duty.
She started to leave.
But Aria came barreling in, snarling more of the same poison as the pissed off rattlesnake she was leaving behind.
Then she took another beating. But the formerly summoned callous wasn’t good enough. It hurt. It hurt like betrayal.
When Aria was done screaming, Rune holstered her pistol calmly and arranged herself for a packing up also doing as Aria said and backed away from her monster. It was clear these two would rather kill her than let her kill a monster: their priorities were all backwards. And they were suppose to be on the same side. It hurt. It hurt because Rune felt like everything she loved about the Atharim was crumbling between her fingers. The cause of the Atharim (rather than the actual members of it) was close to her as family. Aria and Hood should have the same cause as she, they were suppose to be on the same side! Yet every time Rune stood up for herself, they nipped at her heels. This time, they both hamstringed her.
She shook her head and forced herself to stop studying her own feet. When she looked up, her eyes were red with anger and pain. She could forgive Hood, probably. He didn’t know, and he really was a killer. And combing over every single word that burnt her spirit, he probably thought she was betraying him. Though Rune honestly had no idea what else she was suppose to have done when that Roog took off running. Was she suppose to just let it get away? Call the committee together to talk about it first? It wasn’t her fault a bannik killed it before she got there. Then what was she suppose to do? Leave the bannik to keep stripping more people’s skin off? There were more innocent folk down here than one pack of roog’s. It had to be taken out too.
But Aria. Apparently Aria saved her skin? How did that work? Aria was the better Atharim? Which furia had the wits to lead them to the pack’s hide out in the first place? Who dragged her heels and sucked up to Cuddles? Who freaked out just walking down the street? That girl wasn’t stable. Yet somehow she was the golden girl of the group.
Rune took a deep breath and changed her mind about leaving. She had to get this out first.
Her voice was weak at first, but after their pounding yelling echoing around the room of before, it probably sounded like more than a whisper just by comparison. Though she knew she spoke in a regular, conversational tone. ”I ain’t sure how it is you lot saved my skin back there. I ain’t gonna point out who thought of freezing the bannik to death just as I ain’t gonna point out I never asked nobody to abandon their jobs to run after me. I’d never!” her voice grew stern and passionate, ”Ever ask anyone to let a monster go just to save my worthless life.”
She swallowed and unclenched the fists at her side and turned right toward Aria. “You call me an initiate,” and she shot a glare toward Hood, ”and you say we’re a team.” She threw her hands up in frustration, ”Well we don’t got no fancy headquarters across the lil’ pond you guys forget about. We’re on our own over there. And iffn you’s stuck in some Mexican jungle facing down some blood-sucking Choop it don’t matter who got what on their arm. You just kill it. You don’t check in with management.”
She shook her head, disappointed. ”We ain’t got no teams. We ain’t got nobodys backs but our own cuz there just ain't enough backs to go around. We ain't no frat. Fact, we go out of our way to steer clear of another's turf. Its called respect. I don't stir your pot, and you don't stir mine.
So iff’n you don’t watch your own back, you die. Probably in the nastiest way you can think.
We don’t got no puppet masters sittin’ at some desk. And we don’t take no orders, except kill everything that ain’t human. And THAT” she pointed suddenly at the Roog tied up, ”Ain’t human!”
Her arm fell heavy back to her side. Knowing she was singing a tune they’d heard before. But Rune wasn’t gonna stop trying to convince them. She had a duty. Deep in her bones! To set right the unbalance that creature broke. To stand up for her beliefs, even if it cost her her life, friends, safety and convenience. She could work Moscow on her own if she had to. She'd find a way. Everybody was so freaked about the Undercity, she had no clue if anyone was worried about the innocent townsfolk of the Golden Ring. ”You think I want to leave the Atharim?” She asked with a strain of shock. She couldn’t believe Aria implied that. ”The Atharim is everything I am. I could no more walk away from this life than hop out of my own skin.”
She cast a final, longing look at the pummeled-faced roog, pushed her lips together in defeat and made to leave, eyes hot with frustration, disappointment, and regret: regret for their loss of duty.