Water's Folly: 082. If
Title: Determination
Claim: Water's Folly: general
Prompt: 082. If
Word Count: 1095
Summary: [1 of 3] She's more than tired of waiting for them all to come back. She's going to change all that--next time? They'll be the ones waiting for her.
Author's Notes: Desuya = desert planet, still. X3 Boys on Desuya enter a specialised training school near their 18th birthday to prepare them for graduating to the world of men and beginning to go aboveground on scavenging hunts. This school is very intense training and lasts for a year, and is only for men.
“Come on,” Celphrine Kidàren pried.
“No, Cel.” Asuka was adamant, arms folded and a scowl on his face. “I am not going along with this. Absolutely not,” he added, seeing the look on her face. “Just drop it now-I understand where you’re coming from, but that is not gonna fly with anyone.”
“How do you know?” demanded Cel, determined to stand her ground-she would’ve thought that Suki would’ve agreed with her, at the very least! He was always going on and agreeing with her comments about how people were treated…
This wasn’t fair!
And now Suki was fixing her with that look he had, raising an eyebrow in that ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’ look. “Cel, do you really think you’re gonna get away with going outside?” he demanded in return, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Women haven’t gone outside for a good couple of generations! It’s law, Cel!”
“And do you think that’s fair?”
“No!” Asuka shot in return. “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to change!”
“Things won’t change until we do something about it!”
“Maybe not,” countered Asuka, “but have you taken anyone else’s thoughts into consideration?”
“Maybe,” returned Cel, folding her arms and popping a hip slightly. “What’s the problem? And I’ll tell you if I have.”
Asuka frowned. “You’ve seen that line across Kaz’s face, right?” He withdrew one of his hands from his pocket, drawing a line from his left ear to his nose, then from his eye towards his chin. “I like to think it’s kind of hard to miss.”
Cel rolled her eyes impatiently. Who hadn’t seen the man’s scar? “I’ve seen it.”
“Sand-walker.”
Uh-huh. She knew that, too.
“Anyone ever tell you what happened out there?” Asuka wanted to know, raising an eyebrow. “Ambushed us on our way to camp. Snuck up out of the blue and shot at us-then it got up Kaz and it almost managed to get away from us, too.” He shook his head. “Fast little buggers… but a couple wanted to write ‘im off for dead; you know how it is to pick a fight with those things. Too bad the rest of us decided we weren’t leaving him… would’ve been a bad omen, eh?” He paused a moment for her nod (Kaz was possibly the most important Summoner in the village; leaving him behind wouldn’t have been good at all…), then shrugged as he continued. “Damn near killed him, too, when we jumped it… but we all managed to take the thing out-I’m guessing we were just in time. And even afterwards, we pretty much had to scrap that venture-there was no way Kaz would’ve survived out in the suns for another day or two. Not with all that poison in him.”
He sighed, glancing up at her. “You see why it’d be a problem?” he asked. “You go up there, and they’re gonna be even worse than they were with Kaz-you know you could do it and I know you could, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is gonna believe you. They’re more liable to try and make it a sightseeing trip and then resent you behind your back. Not to mention the council will never sign off on that one.”
“That’s why I’m going to do it my way,” Cel returned fiercely-she was beginning to think it was a bad idea to have come to Asuka for help. Dammit, Suki, you’re not supposed to have the common sense to argue this! “If they don’t know I’m a girl, then there’s no problem, right?”
Asuka raised an eyebrow at her, deadpanning. “Somehow, I think they’ll be able to tell.”
“I’ll make it so they can’t.”
Another deadpan. “And how are you planning to do that?”
Finally, she was at least beginning to feel like she had the upper hand again-Cel smirked, tugging a cigarette out of her pocket and lighting it on a candle. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, Suki,” she told him, quite cheerfully. “If you’re not gonna help, I’d be a fool to tell you how I was planning to do this.”
It was all beginning to fit together again-she could do this. She could. And sure; sure, it’d be selfish, and she’d be putting a lot of unnecessary stress on people (if they found out, she was sure to remind herself), and there was a very high chance of dying by one means or another… but this was important to her. It wasn’t fair that she had to sit down here and watch while the boys-even the ones that didn’t want to!-got to train and go aboveground. She was sick of the cycle-she was sick of missed opportunities, sick of waiting for her brother to come back. This wasn’t how it was going to be.
She wanted to be back in control of things again, to watch it all unfold like a night at Lu’uz. There, she’d been ousted once, just because of her age and her gender, and now look at it! They shouted to her the moment she walked through the door, and all she had to do was smirk.
It wasn’t her style to just sit back and wait. She was going to be out there-she was going to be doing something!
But Suki was still giving her a disapproving look. “Cel… I want you to promise me you’re not going to even try.”
“Sorry, Suki.” Cel glanced to him, pursing her lips in a wry smirk, lowering the cigarette before exhaling and blowing smoke towards him. “I’ve made up my mind. And I’m not going to let you or my brother stop me.”
“You’ve tried to talk him into this, too?” She could see the surprise and-was it? Yes, she thought so-faint relief on Asuka’s face. “Well, then I’m definitely not going to help you out, Cel. Quit while you’re ahead.”
Yeah, she’d tried approaching Aziel about it. He’d laughed at her and then burned his old training uniforms. Which meant that Asuka was probably saving his own ass by not helping her out-Az had the tendency to be a little irritable.
But she wasn’t going to let that stop her. Cel gave Asuka another smirk before pushing away from the counter she’d been leaning against, ambling towards the doorway and the exit. “Then I’ll see you above, Suki.”
She still had resources. And with what she was planning? They’d never find her out.
And if they found her a girl-yes, if?
Well, if that happened… hah. It wasn’t even worth thinking about.
She wasn’t going to let it happen.
[part two coming soon.]
Claim: Water's Folly: general
Prompt: 082. If
Word Count: 1095
Summary: [1 of 3] She's more than tired of waiting for them all to come back. She's going to change all that--next time? They'll be the ones waiting for her.
Author's Notes: Desuya = desert planet, still. X3 Boys on Desuya enter a specialised training school near their 18th birthday to prepare them for graduating to the world of men and beginning to go aboveground on scavenging hunts. This school is very intense training and lasts for a year, and is only for men.
“Come on,” Celphrine Kidàren pried.
“No, Cel.” Asuka was adamant, arms folded and a scowl on his face. “I am not going along with this. Absolutely not,” he added, seeing the look on her face. “Just drop it now-I understand where you’re coming from, but that is not gonna fly with anyone.”
“How do you know?” demanded Cel, determined to stand her ground-she would’ve thought that Suki would’ve agreed with her, at the very least! He was always going on and agreeing with her comments about how people were treated…
This wasn’t fair!
And now Suki was fixing her with that look he had, raising an eyebrow in that ‘you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me’ look. “Cel, do you really think you’re gonna get away with going outside?” he demanded in return, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Women haven’t gone outside for a good couple of generations! It’s law, Cel!”
“And do you think that’s fair?”
“No!” Asuka shot in return. “But that doesn’t mean it’s going to change!”
“Things won’t change until we do something about it!”
“Maybe not,” countered Asuka, “but have you taken anyone else’s thoughts into consideration?”
“Maybe,” returned Cel, folding her arms and popping a hip slightly. “What’s the problem? And I’ll tell you if I have.”
Asuka frowned. “You’ve seen that line across Kaz’s face, right?” He withdrew one of his hands from his pocket, drawing a line from his left ear to his nose, then from his eye towards his chin. “I like to think it’s kind of hard to miss.”
Cel rolled her eyes impatiently. Who hadn’t seen the man’s scar? “I’ve seen it.”
“Sand-walker.”
Uh-huh. She knew that, too.
“Anyone ever tell you what happened out there?” Asuka wanted to know, raising an eyebrow. “Ambushed us on our way to camp. Snuck up out of the blue and shot at us-then it got up Kaz and it almost managed to get away from us, too.” He shook his head. “Fast little buggers… but a couple wanted to write ‘im off for dead; you know how it is to pick a fight with those things. Too bad the rest of us decided we weren’t leaving him… would’ve been a bad omen, eh?” He paused a moment for her nod (Kaz was possibly the most important Summoner in the village; leaving him behind wouldn’t have been good at all…), then shrugged as he continued. “Damn near killed him, too, when we jumped it… but we all managed to take the thing out-I’m guessing we were just in time. And even afterwards, we pretty much had to scrap that venture-there was no way Kaz would’ve survived out in the suns for another day or two. Not with all that poison in him.”
He sighed, glancing up at her. “You see why it’d be a problem?” he asked. “You go up there, and they’re gonna be even worse than they were with Kaz-you know you could do it and I know you could, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is gonna believe you. They’re more liable to try and make it a sightseeing trip and then resent you behind your back. Not to mention the council will never sign off on that one.”
“That’s why I’m going to do it my way,” Cel returned fiercely-she was beginning to think it was a bad idea to have come to Asuka for help. Dammit, Suki, you’re not supposed to have the common sense to argue this! “If they don’t know I’m a girl, then there’s no problem, right?”
Asuka raised an eyebrow at her, deadpanning. “Somehow, I think they’ll be able to tell.”
“I’ll make it so they can’t.”
Another deadpan. “And how are you planning to do that?”
Finally, she was at least beginning to feel like she had the upper hand again-Cel smirked, tugging a cigarette out of her pocket and lighting it on a candle. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, Suki,” she told him, quite cheerfully. “If you’re not gonna help, I’d be a fool to tell you how I was planning to do this.”
It was all beginning to fit together again-she could do this. She could. And sure; sure, it’d be selfish, and she’d be putting a lot of unnecessary stress on people (if they found out, she was sure to remind herself), and there was a very high chance of dying by one means or another… but this was important to her. It wasn’t fair that she had to sit down here and watch while the boys-even the ones that didn’t want to!-got to train and go aboveground. She was sick of the cycle-she was sick of missed opportunities, sick of waiting for her brother to come back. This wasn’t how it was going to be.
She wanted to be back in control of things again, to watch it all unfold like a night at Lu’uz. There, she’d been ousted once, just because of her age and her gender, and now look at it! They shouted to her the moment she walked through the door, and all she had to do was smirk.
It wasn’t her style to just sit back and wait. She was going to be out there-she was going to be doing something!
But Suki was still giving her a disapproving look. “Cel… I want you to promise me you’re not going to even try.”
“Sorry, Suki.” Cel glanced to him, pursing her lips in a wry smirk, lowering the cigarette before exhaling and blowing smoke towards him. “I’ve made up my mind. And I’m not going to let you or my brother stop me.”
“You’ve tried to talk him into this, too?” She could see the surprise and-was it? Yes, she thought so-faint relief on Asuka’s face. “Well, then I’m definitely not going to help you out, Cel. Quit while you’re ahead.”
Yeah, she’d tried approaching Aziel about it. He’d laughed at her and then burned his old training uniforms. Which meant that Asuka was probably saving his own ass by not helping her out-Az had the tendency to be a little irritable.
But she wasn’t going to let that stop her. Cel gave Asuka another smirk before pushing away from the counter she’d been leaning against, ambling towards the doorway and the exit. “Then I’ll see you above, Suki.”
She still had resources. And with what she was planning? They’d never find her out.
And if they found her a girl-yes, if?
Well, if that happened… hah. It wasn’t even worth thinking about.
She wasn’t going to let it happen.
[part two coming soon.]