The Need to Deceive
Title: The Need To Deceive
Story: untitled atm
Rating: Everyone
Warnings: None Apply
Challenge: For runaway_tales. Flavor of the Day (Feb 10): Depone - to testify under oath; depose.
Word Count: 367
Summary: Tina does her duty, even if she wishes that she didn't have to.
Water soaked through Christina's pants as she knelt before the Judges. Their plumbing must be acting up again. She bit back her grimace and waited with her head down, hazel eyes trained forward.
She also ignored the scuffling and grunting behind her - from Roxie and the guards - and tried to tune out the melodic murmurs of the Judges before her. It wasn't her place to try to eavesdrop on their discussions; it wasn't her duty to protect the newcomer.
No, she'd done her duty. She'd found the supposed threat and taken her in.
The safe room was darker than was normal for a court session. The five people that were gathered in front of her were merely shifting shadows against the jagged stone that surrounded them. Tina could only assume that this was some sort of intimidation tactic, even if it did seem sort of pointless.
It wouldn't work on her - Tina was used to pitch blackness - and Roxie seemed terrified and angry about everything, so it wasn't like the thick darkness would make much of a difference to her state of mind.
At least, Tina didn't think it would. They hadn't had a new arrival in almost half of a decade, so she supposed that she couldn't say anything about her for sure.
When the the Matriarch nodded to Tina, a vague incline of her head, she rose and stepped aside, dreading Roxie's testimony.
Swallowing, she watched as an officer dragged the bedraggled redhead forward, and tried not to hope that things would go well for her. Tina didn't need to be distracted from her job and her testimony by any feelings that she might have for the girl.
But it was hard.
Because when she looked at Roxie, Christina saw all the things that she'd worked to convince herself didn't matter anymore: things like passion, and heart, and mating drives. Tina schooled her features as the Matriarch began to speak.
The only thing that mattered now was survival, and intervening in court matters was the surest way to cast both of their futures in doubt. So she would wait and be patient, and try to remind herself that she had done nothing wrong.
Story: untitled atm
Rating: Everyone
Warnings: None Apply
Challenge: For runaway_tales. Flavor of the Day (Feb 10): Depone - to testify under oath; depose.
Word Count: 367
Summary: Tina does her duty, even if she wishes that she didn't have to.
Water soaked through Christina's pants as she knelt before the Judges. Their plumbing must be acting up again. She bit back her grimace and waited with her head down, hazel eyes trained forward.
She also ignored the scuffling and grunting behind her - from Roxie and the guards - and tried to tune out the melodic murmurs of the Judges before her. It wasn't her place to try to eavesdrop on their discussions; it wasn't her duty to protect the newcomer.
No, she'd done her duty. She'd found the supposed threat and taken her in.
The safe room was darker than was normal for a court session. The five people that were gathered in front of her were merely shifting shadows against the jagged stone that surrounded them. Tina could only assume that this was some sort of intimidation tactic, even if it did seem sort of pointless.
It wouldn't work on her - Tina was used to pitch blackness - and Roxie seemed terrified and angry about everything, so it wasn't like the thick darkness would make much of a difference to her state of mind.
At least, Tina didn't think it would. They hadn't had a new arrival in almost half of a decade, so she supposed that she couldn't say anything about her for sure.
When the the Matriarch nodded to Tina, a vague incline of her head, she rose and stepped aside, dreading Roxie's testimony.
Swallowing, she watched as an officer dragged the bedraggled redhead forward, and tried not to hope that things would go well for her. Tina didn't need to be distracted from her job and her testimony by any feelings that she might have for the girl.
But it was hard.
Because when she looked at Roxie, Christina saw all the things that she'd worked to convince herself didn't matter anymore: things like passion, and heart, and mating drives. Tina schooled her features as the Matriarch began to speak.
The only thing that mattered now was survival, and intervening in court matters was the surest way to cast both of their futures in doubt. So she would wait and be patient, and try to remind herself that she had done nothing wrong.