NO HOPE IN A DRY LAND [C]

[Cole]

Cole had insisted that they split up--well. That might have been too strong of a word. She had strongly suggested. She said that she was familiar with Fallen territory, which was true, and that she might look for Akane there while Husher searched No Man's Land. They were to meet up at Studio Ess in a total of three days. A part of her had realized that this was her perfect opportunity to not come back, to not hold up her end of the deal. She could leave him, no worse off than he had been before.

Instead, she resolved to return. Studio Ess. Three days. She had not anticipated a series of unfortunate events that might prolong her return. Cole did know Fallen territory, or at least the outer edges of it. She prefered to stay off of typical trails used by the Fallen themselves, which made travel more difficult. There were no landmarks in the desert, and the only thing she had to judge direction by was the sun. She was heading for the oasis, to restock her canteen, and then she planned to visit other locations in the territory save their headquarters. If she ran into an individual Fallen, she would interrogate them, but she managed to evade groups and patrols. A day into her travels, however, a storm hit the desert.

Not a rainstorm or the like, but a dust storm. She managed to curl up into the base of a desert scrub, but it offered little protection. She had shifted, curling into a tight ball, face hidden by her paws. Some hours later (she didn't know how long) the storm ended and she came out of her hideaway to discover that the sky was completely blanketed by dark clouds that did nothing to abate the heat. It caused her to lose her bearings by making directions even more difficult to distinguish. The clouds threatened with lightning and thunder, but no rain came. Eventually the clouds abated, but Cole had not reached her destination--the oasis. She had run out of water hours previously, and was already feeling the effects of dehydration in the heat.

She began to worry. And then forced herself to focus on the facts, because panic would get her absolutely nowhere. She had crossed the train-tracks already, and she knew that the oasis was somewhere in their center. Her tongue was sandy and sticking to the roof of her mouth. She was still sweating, and it stuck to the space between her shoulder blades, matting her hair to the side of her face and forehead. She had wrapped his jacket around her waist (it was too large to reasonably place over her head). It couldn't be far from where she was, but--

Cole had gotten turned around. She didn't know how. If it was her brain playing tricks on her, but that sun was now going down, and she was faced with the dilemma. She had wound up back at the train tracks, with suitable shelter in the form of a few dismantled crates. She decided to get some rest and start again the next day. Her head was pounding, and she felt a film of sweat and sand covering her body. She shifted, crawled into the crates, and slept.

The next day did not pass very differently. She had never had trouble navigating the Fallen desert in the past, but little after high noon another dust storm blew in, slowing her progress. This time, she could not find anything to buffet it, and she was forced to curl into her cat form and wait it out, feeling the grains of sand like a whip. She did a mental evaluation of herself, or at least tried to, but it was increasingly hard to stay awake even with the sandstorm--

Sleep descended abruptly. When she woke again, it was under the ever present sun and under a layer of sand. Cole forced through her growing lethargy and stood, shaking her tawny coat. She could almost smell the water... Or maybe she was just thinking about it. Cool, refreshing. Her whole mouth felt dry, her tongue swollen, and the thirst was almost unbearable. Her paws began to drag with each step, her vision blurred. It had to be close--all at one, Cole became aware of a snarling. Her eyes jerked to the left, her entire body becoming tense.

She wasn't imagining it, was she? It was a palm tree. In the middle of the desert--no, more than one. But that wasn't where the snarl had come from. Her eyes settled on the mangy form of a cougar, and she couldn't believe it for a few seconds. A cougar? It became apparent that it wasn't a healthy animal, and when its lips peeled back from its teeth, Cole noticed that they were dull and yellowed. A lecture suddenly came to mind, of how animals became desperate just like people, and would seek easier forms of prey or water--Cole thought that maybe it had been caught in the same set of sandstorms, and had stumbled towards the palm trees looking for shelter. It continued to hiss.

She could smell water. She took a step closer, and the cougar snarled again. Another step. Another snarl. It was warning her, ears pinned flat against its head, but Cole was thinking that it had just strayed from the mountain range, maybe kicked out by a younger animal. She pinned her ears and slunk forward, trying to keep distance between them--but the cougar burst forward on powerful haunches, and slammed into Cole's side, making her fall. She twisted mid-air and slashed at the cougar's face, tearing an angry line down one side of it, across its eyes. It yowled, and clamped its dull teeth on her shoulder, the one that had recently healed.

She let out a long hiss, twisting and bucking in an attempt to dislodge her attacker. It was to no avail. She was too weak from lack of water, and her rapid heartbeat caused her head to swim. The pain was hot and fresh, though, and Cole managed to lodge one paw in the cougar's flank, pushing him away. Only for a second, before he readjusted her position and pinned her, coming dangerously close to biting her throat. Her vision blackened, cleared, blackened again, in-between which she flailed and managed to lodge one paw at his throat, her claws sinking in. The cougar choked, but they were stuck in a stalemate, and Cole's foreleg was trembling.

After all this time, I'm going to get done in by an animal!

It was her first clear thought in forty eight hours.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick walked through the desert towards the oasis, a makeshift cloak made from an old, spare blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a pair of empty water jugs in his good hand. He'd cut up the old blanket a few days ago so he could use it as protection from the sandstorms they had been experiencing the past few days. It had worked well enough, the fabric even helping to shield his eyes when he wrapped it around his head and face.

The sandstorms were gone now, though, and his water rations had run out. So, he was making a quick trip to the oasis to refill his jugs. He didn't expect trouble, but he'd brought along one of his tomahawks, just in case. As he walked, he also kept his open just in case there was a trespasser near the oasis. The chance was slim, but it was there. He didn't want to be caught completely unaware by random chance.
As he walked along, his telepathy came across two minds near the oasis. His brow furrowed as he searched them more actively. One was a wild animal, and the other a shifter that was being attacked by the animal. Quick's brow furrowed as he searched the shifter's mind to figure out what happened as he quickened his pace. Apparently, she'd gotten lost during the sandstorms and, lacking food or water, was now so weak she couldn't defend herself against a cougar who was equally water and food deprived. He quickened his pace to a slow run, the movement making his injured leg ache.
As he came in sight of the oasis, and the shifter and cougar, he pulled the tomahawk he'd brought. He ran quicker and quicker as he approached and, as he came right up on the cougar, he brought the small axe down on its neck, using his momentum from running to roll over the dying cat's back. He came to his feet on the other side and turned to the leopard where she was on the ground.

"Are you okay? Did that cougar hurt you too bad?" Quick asked quietly, kneeling down beside her....

[Cole]

She wasn't afraid. She was still trying to figure out how to get the blasted thing off of her, and the idea of shifting occurred to her--she could lodge her wrist-blade up in the cougar's jaw.

Before she could act on the thought, the body of the puma jerked violently, and then she felt the hot splatter of blood on her face. She shoved aside the body, which had stopped fighting, and rolled to her feet. She immediately fell into a stood in a defensive crouch, her eyes desperately landing on the Fallen with a mixture of primal assessment and distaste.

Her lips curled from her teeth as he approached her, and the Rogue hissed. The warning was clear. Don't get close; don't touch me. Her heart was pounding frantically, her eyes wide and searching him. He had helped her. Why? Why hadn't he just left her alone? Cole would have been fine. Cole was always fine. Besides, she was trespassing. She was on his territory, and he could certainly use that tomahawk on her.

She said nothing for a moment, assessing the situation. Her hackles had bristled, and her tail lashed with a violent semblance of anger. "D-d-don't!" Her voice was thick, muffled by a swollen tongue and dry mouth, made rough by misuse. She began to slink around the Fallen, in an attempt to reach the shade of the palm trees, her body aching. "I--I just need... water... and then I will leave." As she said it, however, her vision blackened and her head spun. Cole legs went out from under her, and she collapsed.

Her heart continued to beat, a thrum like a bird's.

["Quick" Taylor]

The leopard shifter stuttered and stumbled back as he approached. She clearly was having difficulty speaking. He knew why when he heard her mention she would leave after getting water. She was probably dying of thirst. He cursed out loud when he saw her collapse. She wouldn't survive if she didn't get water, and soon.

He reached down and lifted her up as gingerly as he could and dragged her the short distance to the oasis. He set her down softly and walked over to tgmhe water and filled his water jugs. Then, he filled his smaller water bottle and walked back over to the leopard. With a hand underneath her head, he opened her mouth and poured the water in at a slow, small trickle, making sure she swallowed. Then, he sat back and waited, taking a few sips of the water himself.

He looked down at his splinted hand as he did. It had been several weeks since he'd broken his hand. It didn't hurt at all when he moved his arm anymore. He set his water bottle aside an d started working at the bindings around the small pieces of wood immobilizing his fingers and wrist. He set them off to the side and slowly, carefully opened and closed his hand. The muscles felt stiff and unused due to being immobilized so long, but he had known that would happen.

He decided to test out just how weak his hand had gotten while recovering. He grabbed his tomahawk and hurled it at the nearest palm tree. The small axe stuck in the tree with a solid thunk. Quick put his hands on his hips and looked at it. The throwing weapon had barely stuck with the upper edge of the axe's blade. He'd need to practice more to get his old proficiency back with the small axes, but at least his hand, and arm, still had some of their old power behind them.......

[Cole]

Cole came in and out of consciousness for the next several minutes--once, when he was moving her. Again, when he fed water into her mouth. And, finally, when she heard the thud of the tomahawk. Cole nearly startled out of her skin, her eyes flying open and her body moving into a defensive crouch. She had shifted involuntarily into her human form, without meaning to, and out of habit she pulled the triggers on her wrist-blades.

Her eyes flicked to the Fallen member, and she licked her chapped lips. She could taste the remnants of water, and at the memory she looked out of her peripherals for the jug of water, while keeping her eyes on Quick. She adjusted her position so that she was in arm's reach of the jug, and she retracted one wrist-blade as she reached for the jug of water. She didn't think it was poisoned, because she thought she remembered him drinking from it--or maybe that was just her imagination.

She did not move her gaze from Quick once, not even as she raised the jug and began to drank. She forced herself to control the intake, because she knew that if she drank too much all at once her body might reject it. Her thirst felt unquenchable at the moment, which angered her some, and also relieved her. She was alive, at least, and it seemed to be because of this man that had to be a member of the Ring she was trespassing on.

"Why did you help me?" It was the question she knew she had to ask. She was too weak to do anything else, and he had saved her. But why? Was he going to take advantage of her, some how? Steal her weapons, now that she was in her human form? Cole began to take more rigidly controlled drinks from the jug, jumpy and nervous.

["Quick" Taylor]

He almost immediately regretted throwing the tomahawk. Moments after it stuck in the tree, the woman, now in human form, leapt up, her gaze locked on him. She had blades extending from a pair of bracers on her wrists and she was crouched low. She searched around her for a few moments before grabbing one of his water jugs and drinking some of the water.

"Just calm down, ok?" He said as she kept her eyes on him. This was a bad situation. If she chose to attack, he was essentially defenseless now that his only weapon was stuck in a tree. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking about what would happen after the shifter woke up. Her voice cut through his thoughts suddenly, asking why he helped her.

"Not many people in the dome are so cruel as to let someone die of thirst," Quick told her calmly, making a point to keep his hands in plain view,"Even many Carna aren't that heartless. Besides, if I intended to hurt you, I'd've killed you and put you out of your misery rather than waste resources giving you water."

Moving slowly, he took a few steps over to his empty jug and went to fill it in the oasis. Then, he put the cap on it and gently tossed it over by her feet. Then, he stepped over to where his tomahawk was in the teee, pulled it out, and replaced it on his belt before finally sitting on the ground, legs crossed in front of him.

"My name is Quick," he told her,"I'm the Fallens' Beta. I can promise that you won't be hurt. You can relax."

[Cole]

A quick sweep of her eyes revealed that the Fallen did not seem to have any more weapons, aside from the tomahawk, which he had discarded. Stupidly. Of course, that didn't make him any less dangerous. His shift could have been any sort of animal, from an ant to a lion. Just calm down, okay? Was he worried?

"You would be surprised," Cole replied, her tone dry. "Just how cruel people can be, regardless of which Ring they may be in." She found herself missing Hush, and the comfort that his back up provided. Stop it, Cole snapped at herself. You are perfectly capable on your own. Besides, the Fallen had already had plenty of opportunities to hurt her, and he had not.

She watched him cautiously as he filled the second jug, and tossed it to her. She kept her eyes on him as she bent to retrieve it, setting the empty one carefully on the sand. She raised the new one to her mouth, taking sips. When he grabbed his tomahawk, she stiffened considerably, but it was for no reason.

Fallen Beta. Her brows arched on that one. She had decided that, even though she didn't trust him, there wasn't a point in remaining so tense. He was in a position that would make it difficult for him to rise quickly. Cole knelt. Her mind hadn't meant to, but it went to the advantages of being faced with one of Fallen's leaders. She was too weak, right now, to do anything--but what if she took him for ransom once she was re-hydrated? Traded him out for supplies at a later date? She could do it. She had the strength, if she really wanted to. Her gray-green eyes had lost their former daze, and now they were very coherent and focused. It was obvious she was thinking, and her expression held the cunning of an animal.

Focus. She had been searching for clues of Hush' daughter. Her mission became startling clear in her head. Cole licked her lips again, glanced at him from under heavy lashes. "I'm Jetta. A rogue." Half a lie, half the truth.

She shifted her weight, and set the water down. She no longer felt unbearably thirsty, and she was suddenly interested in gathering intel. "Do you know a girl named--" Cole broke off. The name eluded her. She drudged up the mental image. Dark hair, gray eyes. Interesting features. Fox-like. "A young woman with dark hair and gray eyes? She has a fox shift, and is petite in stature. She is my friend, and who I came into your territory looking for."

She didn't know if he would answer or not.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick looked at the woman as she mentioned how he'd be surprised at how c r uel people could be, regardless of what group they affiliate themselves with. He knew the truth of that statement, having seen his parents be killed in front of him to "teach him a lesson".

"After watching a UNIT officer kill your parents in front of you at age fifteen, it's hard to be surprised by the cruelty of people," Quick informed the woman, giving voice to his thoughts.

As he informed her of his station among his Ring, he noticed a change in her facial expression. She was clearly thinking. The question was, though, what was she thinking about? He briefly brushed his mind against hers just in time to catch her thought about trading him in for supplies. So, she was toying with the idea of kidnapping him and ransoming him back to the Fallen? That seemed like a terrible way to thank someone for saving your life. He frowned up at her as she gave him her "name", which was a lie, given her thoughts, and inquired about her friend.

Thoughts of kidnapping and lying about your name are a fine way to thank me for saving your life, he said to her through his telepathy, All I'm asking for here is honesty, "Jetta". If you cannot give me that, I will take that water and leave you here. Loathe as I am to leave someone to die of thirst, I won't throw away my Ring's resources trying to help an ingrate.

"As for your friend," he said, continuing out loud,"I cannot say the description jogs anything in my memory. Does this friend of yours have a name? I might be able help find her if you gave me one."

As he finished speaking, he rose slowly to his feet and picked up his smaller water bottle, which was still where he'd left it on the ground. He pulled the cap off, took a drink, then closed it back up. The heat today was terrible. Hos makeshift cloak only made it worse, leaving hom sweaty and stickt underneath his clothes. He pulled the tattered remnants of the blanket off and tossed it onto the ground. That should help cool things off some.....

[Cole]

She did not waste her breath with a reply to his first comment. It merely added a flare of resentfulness to her eyes, as a combination of memories flooded her. Running. For six months. Alone. From the people you loved, not the damned government. And then the capture, the memory alteration, staring up into his eyes (and oh, how much she had cared for him, just as much as she now hated him) to see the apology there, the regret. He had watched as her memories were removed, as his name was erased from her brain. He was the one to wrap her in a jacket and place her practically at the door of the Menagerie.

Call her insensitive, but she didn't care about the cruelties he had been subjected to.

Thoughts of kidnapping and lying about your name are a fine way to thank me for saving your life. Her eyes widened, and for half a second she thought, Christ, this place has made me schizophrenic. But then she remembered. The skills that the Keepers gave people, the abilities. Telepathy. That's what this was, and the distrust in her expression became magnified tenfold.

"I didn't ask you to save me." Ungrateful as it was, Cole didn't trust his intentions. She calmed some, however, when he continued to offer his "help" even after her treatment of him. That, of course, did not prevent her from feeling distinctly violated. My thoughts. They are my thoughts, and you need to get out of my head! Her eyes narrowed, but Cole cleared her throat. "She doesn't. Have a name, I mean." There was no hint of a lie in this, because to Cole, she didn't have a name.

She watched as he removed some of his clothing, and she didn't blame him. It was hot.

Cole decided that, despite how anxious he was making her, he did deserve some form of an apology. "I'm sorry. For earlier. I have been alone a long time." She didn't offer it as an excuse, merely an explanation. She had to take care of herself, even if that meant overlooking the well-being of others.

["Quick" Taylor]

"I didn't ask to be saved," the woman told him with narrowed eyes. It seemed his light scan of her mind had shaken her, somewhat. He could tell her he hadn't actually gone digging through all of her thoughts, but she probably wouldn't believe him. He chose to remain silent on it as she mentioned her friend had no name.

That was odd, he thought. Everyone had a name, even himself. Granted, he didn't use his given name anymore, simply because he was no longer that same boy that had played the knight in high school. Perhaps this friend of hers had forgotten her name due to Keeper experiments? There was no telling in the dome. They'd all been messed up by the Keepers' experiments.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone has difficulty trusting after they're thrown into the Dome," Quick said in response to her apology,"Some aren't ever able to fully trust anyone ever again. It's a fact of life in this godforsaken place.

"Now, are there any more details you can give me about this friend of yours," he continued," Height, weight, any kind of unique markings or scars? It's hard to identify someone on hair and eye color alone."

[Cole]

Cole's relatively blank expression did not change. She was careful with her thoughts, however, now that the Fallen had revealed he was a Telepath (and only gave more foundation to her distrust). She didn't know how much to tell him, or if it would endanger the daughter. It might, to give away too many clues as to who she was or what she looked like--but then, why had Cole bothered to say anything about her at all, if that were the case? Stupid.

Instead of answering him directly, Cole formed a very, very specific image of the daughter in her mind, as Cole had seen in the photograph. The girls' exact, fox-like features, with her pale gray eyes and light freckles and dark hair. It was intended for him to see, right there in the forefront of her thoughts, for several seconds. Daughter, daughter, daughter, daughter. That was the repetitive thought in her mind, before she cut it off abruptly. "I feel gritty, and if you want to continue this conversation while I bathe, feel free." Her eyes remained on him, but the distrust she felt was beginning to seem fairly baseless--she wasn't going to give him her weapons, or let him close to them, but Cole didn't think he was going to lunge at her back.

She trekked down to the side of the oasis, removing her shoes at the bank of it. Her clothing meticulously followed. She only stripped down to her underwear, and the last thing for her to remove were her wrist blades. She gave the beta a harsh stare before placing them to the side of the pool where, if she had to, she could reach them. Subconsciously, however, Cole touched her fingers to her throat, where a thin silver necklace lay glistening against her neck. She trailed them down the base, until they touched the ring gathered at the hollow of her throat. "Sorry that its in your drinking water, but I've got a layer of dirt and sweat on me an inch thick, and the Keepers probably filter it or something, anyway.

Cole could remember being compulsively clean in the past, but in the Menagerie that wasn't an option, She took what she could get. In one fluid motion, she dove in. When she came back up, it was to have her red hair plastered to the sides of her face, treading water--it was deeper than she had thought, and much cooler. She dragged her fingers haphazardly through the knots of her hair and peered at the beta over the surface of the water. "Why," she asked, for the mere sake of curiosity. "... do they call you Quick?"

ooc: you can decide if Quick recognizes the "daughter" or not, considering she's actually a Fallen member--Akane Husher.

["Quick" Taylor]

They stared in silence at each other for several long moments in the wake of Quick's question. It lasted so linh, he began to think she was plotting to kidnap him again. He finally grew tired of waiting and decidedvto briefly scan her thought process to see if she was considering attacking him again. He was surprised when he found her thinking of a photograph.

It was a girl that matched her earlier description. She had dark hair and grays eyes. She had to be in her teens somewhere, and had very pale skin. The strange thing, though, was he'd seen her before. She was a Fallen member he'd seen around the Switchstone. He didn't know her name, but that didn't change the fact that she was a member of his Ring. He wasn't comfortable jusy handing that information over. What made it even more puzzling was she thought the word 'daughter' with the mental picture. It made no sense, especially given the girl's age. There was no way this woman could be her mother...

"I feel gritty," she said, interrupting his thoughts,"And if you want to continue this conversation while I bathe, feel free."

He sat there as she undressed and slipped into the water with an apology about bathing in their drinking water. He just shrugged in indifference. The oasis was used for bathing all the time. It made no diffrrence to him.

"Why...do they call you Quick?" She asked him from the water, her hair plastered tightly to her head. That had shaken him out of his thoughts enough for a response.

"It was a nickname given to me by a Hunter who helped teach me when I was first put in here," he told her,"It's because I was impulsive and reckless, quick to anger, quick to speak m mind. That sort of thing. It just sort of stuck.

"And so far as your 'friend'," he said, deciding he needed to ask a few questions,"Why did you think daughter when you were thinking about her picture? And what do you want with her? And I would like the truth this time, please.

[Cole]

Nycole still didn't trust him, but she was growing to be as at ease as was possible, for her. Maybe that was attributed to the water, which cooled her to the quick--it felt good to be clean. She swam a little closer to the shore, so that she could stand as she scrubbed the layer of sand from her body, using her hands. She pushed her hair back from her face as he replied to her, and wrung the water from it.

As far as Menagerie individuals went, she was guessing that this man wasn't a bad one. Fallen was stereotyped as being one of the more practical Rings, not to say that they didn't have their violent members. But he was Beta, she reasoned. It was unlikely that he had too many violent or untrustworthy tendencies, and he might have been as goodhearted as he was acting. "Might" being the key word, to Cole.

He explained his alias to her, and Cole arched her brows. She did smile a little, however. "Those are traits that get you killed, in the Menagerie." Not that she could talk. He had always called her impulsive, and she still was.

Then Quick (she was almost thankful that was his name--it was one that she would remember, being that it was a adjective rather than a proper noun, a name. She debated it as she submerged herself in the oasis again, running her fingers through her tangled hair. Cole felt as though she were slowly becoming human again. "She is someone's daughter," Cole replied, not sarcastically, but genuinely. "She's like a sister to me." Not exactly a lie--in regards to her relationship with Hush, his daughter was either like a sister to Cole or a niece, although she had yet to meet the girl. "I want to reunite her with someone who cares about her very much."

Nycole finished "bathing" and crawled out from the oasis, dripping water. But she could see her skin once more, at least, rather than a layer of sand and sweat. She edged by Quick to position herself on a relatively clean rock, after laying her jacket out to sit on. She sat in the sun, to dry herself and her underwear. "This is as close to the truth as I am willing to go. And my apologies for that, but there are people in this place who would happily use that information against me, and what I've given you is already more than I should have shared."

There was some truth in that. But... Cole needed help with this. She had a feeling that she would never find Hush's daughter on her own.

["Quick" Taylor]

A wry grin came to Quick's face as the woman remarked that the traits which earned him his 'Dome Name', as he called it, were likely to get him killed. It certainly was true. However, his thoughts were that the meek never accomplished anything and that, while those individuals who chose to be bold may die much younger, they were also the main force behind true change. They were the ones who made a difference in the world.

"What can I say? I can't stand seeing another Ring stepping all over mine," he responded with a small chuckle,"You've no idea how many intruders' asses I've kicked, especially when I was a Scout."

He listened to Cole's explanation about the whole 'daughter' thing. She mentioned how she was like a sister to her and how she wanted to reunite her with someone who cared about her. Maybe family, or possibly a lover? It didn't really matter to Quick at that moment. What mattered to him was whether or not it was safe to tell her where the girl was. This woman, despite lying, seemed to be quite genuine about the girl she was looking for. Quick struggled for a while, debating with himself about whether or not he should tell the woman where she could find the girl.

Finally he made his decision.

"She's a member of my ring. A Tenderfoot if memory serves me correctly," he told the woman, hoping he wouldn't regret this decision,"You can come find her in the Switchstone Express. You and this other person need to come together. I'll tell my Scouts and Hunters about you.

"Now mark my words," he said, the look on his face turning dark and serious,"If either of you bring any harm to one of my ringmates by taking advantage of this trust I'm giving you, nothing will be able to protect you from me. I'll hunt you down and come after you. Does that leave any room for questions from you?"

[Cole]

Cole didn't know what she thought of him, and she fell into the old mindset of "evaluating" people she met. He was heroic. Honest. A Telepath... Reckless. That was his weakness, right there. The others could be weaknesses, depending, but recklessness was a fatal flaw, a hamartia, as he would have said to Cole. Not that she had room to talk, being that she had her fair share of impulsive moments. "Fallen is easy to take advantage of. You should have killed me for trespassing, and you didn't. You're letting me use you for information right now. How is that preventing your Ring from being stepped on, exactly, Quick?"

She hadn't meant to be rude by it, exactly, but there was some dry humor in her words. She arched a brow at him, but said no more after that. Her opinion on it was obvious--kindness was a form of weakness. Not to say that Cole was cruel, or anything--but she definitely did not go out of her way to help others. Cole knew that it was disrespectful, and at the moment he might be rethinking telling her anything--

She's a member of my Ring.

The rogue wrung out her hair, listening to the pit-patter of the water as it hit the sand. She kept her composure, for the most part, aside from a slight widening to her eyes. I found her. Cole paused. "You aren't lying to me?" From his threat, she didn't think that was the case. She looked at him with disbelief.

Quick had taken her off-guard. Cole hadn't really expected to find her. Her first thought was, I need to tell Hush. I need to find him-- and that broke off. What if he was here, too. "I'm looking for someone else, as well..." She raised her gaze to Quick, and repeated the process as from before--created a mental picture.

Only this time it was a collection of snapshots. Him smiling, him laughing. Him with a busted brow, and blood falling into his grey eyes. Him when he looked down at her, before they took her memories. Him touching his hand to the nape of her neck, looking down in a different way, leaning into her--Cole broke off that memory and cleared her throat. "Have you... seen him?"

She had shown more than she meant to. Her eyes, which had held quiet ferocity throughout the entire encounter, now flicked away from Quick to rest on the water.

ooc: the "him" she is referring to is Grey, btw xD They have some history -cough-

["Quick" Taylor]

"Fallen is easy to take advantage of. You should have killed me for trespassing, and you didn't. You're letting me use you for information right now. How is that preventing your Ring from being stepped on, exactly, Quick?" The woman asked him. It was a valid question, honestly. She made good points. However, Quick didn't feel like having compassion and mercy were weaknesses, necessarily. They were a part of being human. To lose those qualities would be to truly become the animals the non-shifters thought they were.

"My Ring is like a snake: if you step on us, you will regret it. Ask the Carnaring. They waltzed in and killed our Alpha in the middle of the night in our territory. Our response was to set their home on fire and smoke them out of the sewers," he told her matter of factly, "I know that doesn't sound like something the Fallen would do, but we did it. We prefer peace and cooperation, but not at the expense of our well-being and safety.

"But you're case is different. You needed help, so I helped you," he told her with a shrug,"You'll never find the girl you're looking for if you don't get help from somebody. You seem like a decent person. Maybe a little guarded and suspicious, but not malicious. It's why I said you and your other friend can come find her. If I'd thought you had the intent to harm her, I wouldn't have said anything."

As he'd told her about the girl being in his Ring, she'd just sat there in silence, apparently caught off-guard by his willingness to help her. He couldn't say he blamed her. In the dome, it was hard to know when to trust somebody, especially when they surprised you with something. Finally, she spoke up mentioning that shd was looking for somebody else. He nodded and looked into her mind again.

This time she showed him mental images of a man in his late twenties, a man he knew and recognized. His name was Grey, another member of fallenring. He was a Hunter, Quick recalled. He wondered at how this woman knew so many people from his Ring. He noticed the way she looked away when she asked if he'd seen the man. He was silent for a moment before responding.

"Yes, I know him too," he told her quietly,"He's a Hunter. But why are you looking for him? He's a bit of an ass."

[Cole]

Cole's gaze had taken on a note of amusement, sharp as it was. "And yet," she mused, idly. I didn't know Skye was dead. "Carna had the upper-hand the entirety of the time--even if you've burned their waterfront, I'm guessing you've done nothing more than kick a hornets nest. If you instigate conflict, you usually maintain control--you expect retaliation. The fact that they have the balls to go out and do whatever it is against the other Rings shows their strength. They do not have compassion. They would have killed me."

It was the truth. Cole wasn't a bad person--far from it, usually--but her morals could be a little skewed. If nothing else, she had learned that from him. "Well, thank you for your help." Gratitude always seemed odd on her tongue, but it was called for, Cole was guessing.

Yes, I know him too.

She had been surprised before. Now Cole was incredulous. Him, in Fallen? She had expected him to go immediately for Carna, if anything. She shrugged, hesitant to explain... But not wanting to avoid it, she did. Quick seemed as trustworthy as anyone did, and she had no other options. He would see through a lie. "We have unfinished business. We used to be partners. He's the reason why I'm in the Menagerie." An undercurrent of bitterness ran through her tone, and a spark lit her eyes on fire. But then Cole cleared her throat and glanced away. "And he was my husband." That would warrant less surprise, she was guessing, because if it sounded like she wanted to hurt him--Cole amended that his new name was 'Grey'--Quick wouldn't want her going near.

["Quick" Taylor]

Quick listened to the woman mention how the instigators of conflict usually maintained control. She said that the Carna didn't have compassion, that they would have killdd her. She brought up good points, but he disagreed with her immensely. Back before he had been thrown into the dome, he'd gotten into plenty of fights by trying to protect other kids from the bullies. He had never thrown the first punch in any of those fights. He hadn't lost any of those fights either.

"The one that starts the conflict maintains initial control, yes. But it's the one who maintains greater aggression and persistence that wins," he told her,"I've only thrown the first punch a handful of times, but every time I get into a fight, I come out on top. It's not because I started it. It's because I'm damn well set on being the one that finishes it."

He knew she was shocked when he mentioned he knew Grey. He wondered how she knew him. Maybe a chance encounter in the neutral areas, perhaps? There aas no way to know wirhout digging through her mind, and he wasn't going to invade her privacy like that. At lwast, he wouldn't without consent, which she'd already made clear she did 't want him in there. Her voice broke his thoughts as she mentiondd why she was looking for Grey and Quick looked over at her, nodding his head.

"Well, he might be harder to track down, being a hunter and all, but it won't be impossible. You might want to talk to Iskander, our Lead Hunter, so see exactly where you can find Grey. Just tell him I sent you," he told her quietly,"And when you find him, if you feel like you need to rough hi. Up a bit, feel free. Just don't break any bones or kill him. We need him functional to help feed and protect the Ring."

[Cole]

Cole shook her head and offered a rueful smile. She recognized the sort, and he wasn't going to change her opinion, no matter how much she said. "But how many in Fallen are like you? How many get sick at the sight of blood? Not to mention, there's always that day you don't win. The day when someone else is faster, stronger, or just wants to get out alive more than you do."

And didn't Cole know that better than most? She'd been raised in a life where she was given the underhand, where everyone else had years of experience on her. It had taken years of fighting tooth and nail, of practicing until her bones ached, of running through shinsplints regardless of the pain, of pushing herself to extremes. And then the realization, at about twenty two or twenty three, that there were fights she wouldn't win, regardless of the heart and soul she put into them. The fight for her freedom had been one of those. The options were either to remain in a sect that forced her to do the immoral (and by God, had she done enough of that) or to be condemned to the life of a fugitive and have the threat of capture hanging over her head.

Cole rolled her shoulders and rose. The sun had done quick work to dry her, and she was beginning to fear that with her fair skin, she was about to get sunburned. Her underwear was dry, however, and she set to pulling on her clothes as Quick continued to talk. Iskander. The name was gone in seconds, replace by the phrase "Lead Hunter". She nodded, not sure if she wanted to make an effort to find him.

It would end badly, she was sure, because she remembered the regret in his eyes. He hadn't wanted to hurt her, but he had, and now she couldn't forgive him. Cole cleared her throat and looked to the Fallen. "I promise I won't maim him." Although it might be better for you all if I did. She kept that thought to herself and itched the back of her neck nervously. "I need to leave, though. I have to meet a friend this evening, and if I don't show up, he'll worry. I can find my way out." She knew he probably didn't trust her, and that was wise. Cole turned to leave.

Hesitated.

"Thanks, Quick."

The Rogue shapeshifted, and headed out at a lope. She had some distance to cover, before night fell, and the sun was relentless.