More Rings'verse.
Tabula continues to help Reflector... With difficulty.
Life in Kaon was not as hard as Tabula had feared, though she thought that was more from the credits she had cleared from her account and then used to secure a place off the streets for her and the sparklings. She had considered asking them to help in some way, but... watching them in the small living room, trying to play and enjoy themselves... She couldn't ask them to give up what remained of their youth, not so soon. It was her fault, partly, that they had lost so much... It was bad enough that she had to leave them when she went to look for work.
"Go on, Tabula. We will be okay," a sparkling said. Tabula knew he was named Spyglass, but she honored their wishes and tried to think of them all as simply Reflector. They shared an alt, she had learned, a camera... and she didn't know how or why they had an alt form now. She didn't think they 'should'. She never asked, though... She knew they didn't fully trust her, and she could pretend that it didn't hurt.
"You try to have fun," she answered, waving. 'Please don't do anything illegal,' she thought, but she trusted that Reflector needed to hide as well, and didn't say it.
There was not much work available in Kaon, and almost none of them were legitimate. She couldn't do legitimate anyway, that would leave too much of a trail. Still... this was Tabula's fifth orn of searching for work, and she still hadn't found anything. Money wasn't tight, but it was starting to worry her.
Well, there were some jobs that had been offered to her. Tabula had quickly turned them away, but... She needed the credits. Reflector needed the credits, had no choice but to rely on her for their livelihood, and she could do no less than to make the rest of their life with her as good as was possible. No matter what she had to do in the process. So when the next mech came up, making lewd and unseemly suggestions to her... Tabula asked for a price. A price that was unreasonably high in her mind, but the mech accepted it. She ordered payment first, and he gave it... and after he had used her, he left her, and she looked at the credits she had gained and wondered how she ought to feel.
Life in Kaon was not as hard as Tabula had feared, though she thought that was more from the credits she had cleared from her account and then used to secure a place off the streets for her and the sparklings. She had considered asking them to help in some way, but... watching them in the small living room, trying to play and enjoy themselves... She couldn't ask them to give up what remained of their youth, not so soon. It was her fault, partly, that they had lost so much... It was bad enough that she had to leave them when she went to look for work.
"Go on, Tabula. We will be okay," a sparkling said. Tabula knew he was named Spyglass, but she honored their wishes and tried to think of them all as simply Reflector. They shared an alt, she had learned, a camera... and she didn't know how or why they had an alt form now. She didn't think they 'should'. She never asked, though... She knew they didn't fully trust her, and she could pretend that it didn't hurt.
"You try to have fun," she answered, waving. 'Please don't do anything illegal,' she thought, but she trusted that Reflector needed to hide as well, and didn't say it.
There was not much work available in Kaon, and almost none of them were legitimate. She couldn't do legitimate anyway, that would leave too much of a trail. Still... this was Tabula's fifth orn of searching for work, and she still hadn't found anything. Money wasn't tight, but it was starting to worry her.
Well, there were some jobs that had been offered to her. Tabula had quickly turned them away, but... She needed the credits. Reflector needed the credits, had no choice but to rely on her for their livelihood, and she could do no less than to make the rest of their life with her as good as was possible. No matter what she had to do in the process. So when the next mech came up, making lewd and unseemly suggestions to her... Tabula asked for a price. A price that was unreasonably high in her mind, but the mech accepted it. She ordered payment first, and he gave it... and after he had used her, he left her, and she looked at the credits she had gained and wondered how she ought to feel.