Technological Revenge, and It's Effect... (Saph and Neshimo)

[Neshimo]

"So, thats your revenge...though, mine, isn't all about revenge." Finishing just about all of the torso, he puts the knife down back into his holster, and continues on with his explanation. "Experiments, maybe thats why they took her body away...I told them I at least wanted too bury her, her body being in already bad condition, at least wanted her too be in peace." He goes back too camp, getting some bottles water, and pouring a bit on his hands too avoid infection.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

A tired not-smile, Saphire hadn't really thought of it as revenge... vengeance or retribution, maybe, but whatever it was it was all she had left. She continued to cut up the meat, making it into suitable lengths for cooking and drying. There was still a lot of meat, but she could easily carry it herself, if she used the spare cloak as a sling, but first she had to preserve the meat. "Do we have salt, or am I just making the equivalent of jerky?"

 

[Neshimo]

"We had the rations, so we weren't given any spices. So I guess it's dried meat..." He gazes up, seeing the confused look on her face. Something he said? Not sure, but what was sure enough is that "I'm glad you're bathing first. You need it, and in the mean while, I'll wash out your clothes." He offers more as an obligation for his broken apart story and for her taking care of him.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Hey, dried meat can be good when put in stew." She said, shrugging slightly and nodding. "I'll leave them behind that tree," A quick point, and the tree is also marked by a senbon she accidentally flicked when doing so. "So, uhh.... let's get this meat cooking first." She arranged the meat around it carefully, letting it rest above the flames so the heat would cook it evenly. Once she was finished she went to take her quick bath, hurrying into the water, enjoying the feel of cleanliness on her skin as she lay obscured by both water and stream. I need to wash my hair, I think...

 

[Neshimo]

"Alright, take your time." He says watching her run off, and after flipping the meat he heads upstream with her clothes, and rips of a piece of his cloak too use as a hand cloth, then scrubs off all the blood he can from them, leaving them somewhat stained, though for the most part, fresh. Being creative, he takes some of the old line, and uses it as a clothes line, tying it between two trees, and letting her clothes dry, leaving her an extra set, and a towel too dry off. Seeing the meat again cooked on one side, he turns the other with the hilt of his knife, the blade still having blood on it. "Should have cleaned it while I was there..."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire, having washed her entire upper body and let the stream handle the rest, wrung out her hair as she walked towards the spot with her clothes. Quickly drying off and dressing she let her hair lay against her back, drying what she could of the top as she walked towards the camp. Yes, it would take her time to get dry, but the least she could do was offer him the same courtusy, and find her ribbon and tie her hair up in a double, so it wouldn't drag while wet. Upon reaching him she told Jamil, "Go ahead and use the same tree, I'll wash your clothes too."

 

[Neshimo]

"I'm not sure that you need too do anything else for me. I'll wash them myself while I'm washing...myself?" A weird choice of words, but thats what his mind brought at the moment. Either way, he owed her already, so why not handle himself for once. "Seriously, you've tried too help me enough, so let me at least try too be somewhat dependent in our short time together as partners." With that, he takes a towel and goes off too bathe himself. "Be back later."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Bu-" She is cut off as he walked away. A sigh, well... if he wanted to be like that Saphire would not stop him. His life, his choice, his... well, not-quite clean clothes. At least they hadn't been overly-bloodied. Like hers. Spotting her chemistry pack she pounced on it, taking out the just-barely poisoned blade from the day before, and she wiped off some of the poison into the analyzer. It would give her a clue as to the base, and then she could play around with it for new iterations... which would be good, as she doubted Jamil liked her playing with poison too much.

 

[Neshimo]

"Meddling in business...doesn't matter." He begins too just sit in the middle of the the river, taking off his clothes and letting the blood soak out of them, instead of traditionally washing them, he decides to try something, and holds his breath, and only in his underwear after places his clothes near on the ground, he submerges himself, and watches tries too see if his memories will flow down the creek. Unlikely yes, though within the first few minutes, he already feels blissful.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire herself spent a half-hour messing with the base, forming more derivatives of the sedative. Some would be deadly, she was sure, but a few wouldn't... and she'd need to analyze them to figure that out. The meat, after her checking it, was almost finished. To avoid burning it she flipped them over, deciding to spend the rest of the time working on her hand-to-hand... when Jamil came back she'd ensure he slept first, for at least a few hours

 

[Neshimo]

About fifteen minutes after the half an hour, he comes back up for the last time, diving back down periodically during the time he spent there. His eyes seem too be darker, more than usual, he's tired, his hair droopy and his whole body seems serene. Sniffing a bit, he smells the meat cooking, and decides too get up and dry off. An expression that seems less calm, though more peaceful than his old one. Truly like, all of his fear, and trouble were washed away with the rushing water. Putting back on his clothes, he then heads back following the smell of the meat, wringing out his towel on the way.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire was now, having finished playing with her chemicals for the night, humming softly as she ensured all her daggers and kunai were in good shape for use. Wouldn't do for her to have a dull one, now would it... and of course she had prepared a method for them to eat the meat, once Jamil had returned. A quiet, low humming was heard from her, this one little more than a method of maintaining rhythm and pressure as she glided a whetstone across the surface of the dagger, cleaning cloth used to hold the blade in place. She looked up when Jamil entered, expression calm for once, and nodded a greeting to him.

 

[Neshimo]

A nod back, he places his towel up on the line as well too dry then goes too his sleeping bag and stares at the fire. Nothing more, nothing less, he still finds a way too stay awake. That 6 hours of rest got too him, though his drive isn't gone too stay awake, and wanting too wish it all away he begins. "I was a civil engineer for the city, though because of lay offs in the district, I was fired and had no where too turn too. The city was extremely suburban and we already at one of our peaks in technology, we didn't really need anymore of fixing roads or building collapses, for that's what the new mech response force was for." His story from the beginning, becoming more clear in his head.


"So for a while, I was out of the job, and not qualified too much else but fix, I was out of work. Until, I found an add in the paper after foraging around homeless for a while, living off what the people gave, and it was probably the longest list of duties anyone could possibly do for the lowest pay imaginable. Though, I was already at my low, and qualified too do most of the things on this list. So with that, I walked over too a somewhat looking abandoned 3 story house near a park, and considering the neighbor hood around it, I was surprised that this building wasn't fixed up a long time ago." A gulp in his story, it flows as if he's told himself this story many times before, just too make sure he wasn't crazy.

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire walked over to him, two bits of meat for the two of them to eat. She sat down next to him, hair up a few times and tied by the ribbon, and she looked at him. "Sounds like things were rough for you." This must have been the story he wanted to tell her, the true story... all from the beginning. She'd let him tell it, from start until finish, and offer the only support she could... an open ear. "Here you go, take a bit when you need to pause."

 

[Neshimo]

A nod, he takes a bite, savoring it, then dosing it with water. "Rough wasn't it really. Things could have been worse...I came from humble beginning, so I guess it's how I was raised." A smile as he takes another bite, and continues on. "As I walked into the building, there were children all around, playing with broken old toys, fighting over blankets, and in the middle of it all trying too give every child the attention they deserved was...Marie. She owned the house, passed down from her grandmother, and seeing the poverty of those not wealthy enough too move up the chain, she turned it into an orphanage for the kids not so wealthy enough. Only for children though, if I remember correctly, she had a distinct fear for most people she didn't know. That includes me when I wanted the job."


His free hand goes too his face, "Still remember the sting of that...it hurt a bit, though once I signed up, she gave me a laundry list of chores too do, as if wanting me too somehow forget the slap through hard labor. So, with that, I fixed the walls, plumbing, floor paneling. Even going too as far too sometimes fix the broken toys of the place. On very few days, she let me shower there, and have a home there, eventually after about a month, finally realizing that I didn't have said home, let me live there in a room fixing it up myself was part of the deal. With me living there, I also got even more work, though it was work I never really got paid for. No, I did get paid, with smiles and laughter."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

"Sounds like a form of paradise." She told him, taking a bite of her own meat. It also sounded like something had happened with him and this... Marie, obviously she was important to him. That was... slightly disconcerting. He'd obviously dated before, his skill and words earlier had proved it, but she wasn't prepared for the stab of some unidentifiable emotion in her gut. To cover it she asked the first question since he had begun talking, "Were you happy?"

 

[Neshimo]

"Happy?...It was back breaking work, long hours, and the loudest children who still find a way too laugh and smile. Rarely getting paid for any of it, who would be happy right?" Sarcastically laughing too himself, he gets more serious again of his retelling. "The days I spent with Marie, and all of those children, were some of the happiest I'd ever spent in my life." An honest answer, he hadn't felt a genuine happy in a long time. Sure with Saphire, they'd had good times and bad, trying too keep each other safe and well, though it never felt the same as being with Marie. "So happy infact, one day I asked her too be my girlfriend, and I'll let you guess what might have happened after that. Just want too see what you'd come up with."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Saphire paused mid-bite, looked up at him, and finished her bite before answering. This Marie seems to like slapping people. But she genuinely let him stay with the children she was protecting, despite whatever had happened to shake her trust of people. And Jamil wa always whispering her name when he didn't think, or stopped caring, that I could hear. There were probably a lot more cases of that than I caught, too... "She slapped you for joking, then when she realized you were being honest... said yes?"

 

[Neshimo]

A hardy laugh comes from him, one that hasn't been used in a while, and trying too calm himself down he shakes his head. "No, No, you have quite the imagination though. It probably could have happened that way, but I guess she knew me well enough by now too not slap me first. Still, she said no, but not because I wasn't a nice guy. She didn't have the time for a boyfriend with all the children...and she didn't want too tie me down too this house, at least if I'm remembering right. I told her I wouldn't mind, though she held strong in her mind that it was best for both of us. I wish it could of happened that way though, I wouldn't have minded the slap"

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Ah, so it was an unrequited love? Saphire smiled a little bit, he needed to laugh more. It made his whole face light up, and it was admittedly the most alive he'd looked since she met him. So yes, this was good for him, if only because she had managed to bring some light back into his life. He shouldn't look so sad, not when he wasn't as broken as she. People who didn't break after something like that deserved a happy ending. "I'm sure something better happened later on, for you to be so happy in the memories."

 

[Neshimo]

"Hmm, I guess you could say that." Composing himself, he continues on. "Even if she wasn't officially my girlfriend, we still went on dates at the playground. While all the children would be playing around, we'd be having a picnic near the a bench, just talking to each other. So I guess unofficially we were a couple, and even the kids started too tease her about us being mother and father too them. So, more or less, we were happy just being together and stayed like that for over three years. I don't know if her feelings ever changed for me, though I'm sure mine never did. The rest, well, after the planned attack that destroyed the southern part of the country, ours got hit hard. The kids were all sleeping...thank god they weren't awake too even feel a second of that pain." His voice starts too get lower, his fist getting tighter around the meat, the fat oozing out. "The kids who were found like me and Marie, were put into the hospital luckily after it was already packed full with people, and got treatment. For me, already being strong willed, got through. Everyone else...dead, and with that, I went onto training. When I cam back, I heard that they'd take her body away for testing, and thats another reason I'm on this journey. I want too give her a proper burial."

 

[SaphireTsuki]

Her eyes darkened as his story continued, so that's what had happened to him? It was a wonder he hadn't ended up like her... but she supposed love was strong enough to protect him. As he got more and more agitated she moved her hand over his, hoping that he would calm down even a smidgen, turning her gaze to meet his. Somewhere she had begun to growl, but pushed that down. "I can honestly say that's one of the most tragic things I've ever heard. You're strong, Jamil. Almost too strong. My family wasn't as lucky as yours, but... we deserved what we got, at least. Neither you nor Marie, let alone the children, deserved this. I promise you, he will pay."

 

[Neshimo]

"Strong...Family. It's been a while since I've had too hear that sympathy, it's annoying too me." Her hand over his, he feeling weak and tired right now, it'd be a good chance eh's thinking about how angry his is at this world for keeping him away, though after a while he goes back too his calm look when he got back from camp. "I've gotten it from everyone I've come across, don't need it now, especially not from you. The thought is accepted, but I've gotten through it, no need too feel sorry for me anymore. Just feel sorry for him"

 

[SaphireTsuki]

A small smile, yes... she knew how that was. "Have it your way then. I'll not mention it." No, but... perhaps he'd feel better if he knew a bit more about hers? No, now wasn't the time. He'd need to sleep, eventually, and she couldn't afford giving him worse nightmares. After all... his story was tragic, hers was horrific. His may be worse, but only because he had been a good man. "I could never pity him, though. Not after what we've both been through." Before it had been a duty... now it was a pleasure to rip him apart.

 

[Neshimo]

"Lets worry about the task at hand." Leaving too lay down, not even going, he stares into the sky. "I'm want too sleep, but I don't think I'll be able too, and no I don't need any more of that sedative." It really did leave him restless telling her that story, though with the earlier bath he took, his body finally wants a break after all it's been through. "I'll head too sleep after a while, please just let me watch the sky for now..."