EquinoxSol x RangerKay

  • So many newbies lately! Here is a very important PSA about one of our most vital content policies! Read it even if you are an ancient member!
"Can't help you there," he stated. "I wouldn't know what it means to worry about others. Empathy isn't something that I know."
 
"Of course not. Your a good little soldier." Annabel said with a somewhat mocking tone.
 
"No, it's cause I was never taught it as a child. My father had only a black or white, us or them mindset. There was no room for emotions when it came to his work." Frowning, he puts his hands into his pockets, closing his eyes briefly.
 
"Ah." Annabel said, sliding down the wall to sit at the base of the door. "Sorry." She narrowed her eyes. "Why do you stay a soldier?" She asked.
 
"It's better than joining the group of insurgents that killed my mother," was all Niko said, sighing. Being a soldier was the lesser of two evils, it seemed. "Besides, do you really think they'd let me go with my knowledge of bombs?"
 
"No, probably not." She flopped over on the floor, laying there and staring at the roof that was just as bland and plain as the rest of the walls. "I guess we could both run. Then we wouldn't have to deal with it any longer." She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. Why was she talking to him? They were gonna kill her either way.
 
"Yeah," he said noncommittally. "I suppose we could. but that wouldn't really help anyone's situation, would it? In retaliation, the government would attempt to draw you out by making the situation in the slums worse. Initially, they would only try to find out which orphanages you frequented, but eventually it would shift to the entirety of the slums. At least when they have you, others aren't being hurt..." He sighed, frowning.
 
"True. I would hate that." She frowned. "You could help you know. You could help my people."
 
"Right," answered Niko dryly. "'Cause they really would trust a soldier. No matter his ties to the US, he's still been a soldier for years and years..." Making a dissatisfied sound, he sighed heavily, wishing he had a way out.
 
"People that have creds from me, they are accepted right away." Annabel smirked, pride in the power of her word. "There have been a few soldiers that have converted. Some of those 'MIA' or 'KIA' reports? Yeah, theyre hiding how many we have converted."
 
"You say 'converted' as if it's a religion," Niko observed, sighing. "Besides, if I went AWOL, they'd search for me. And I don't fancy dying, or pretending to. I'd lose everything if I switched. And I don't believe in everything the US believes in, either..." he trails off, realizing he was rambling. Running a hand through his hair, he sighed heavily.
 
"Even amongst the US there are rebels. We don't just fight one side you know." Annabel grinned. "It's not a religion, its a mere change in beliefs." She waved a hand in the air, attempting on amusing herself out of boredom. "We can belief what one side says, or the other, or we can have our own beliefs." She laughed. "I choose my own beliefs...."
 
"And who's to say that I haven't my own, either?" he asked, frowning slightly. "As I've said, I don't really have much choice in the matter of being a soldier." He would have liked to elaborate, but a couple guards walked down the hallway, and he had to silence himself, in case they took anything he said to heart.
 
"And I have no choice but to be a thief." Annabel sighed. She looked up at the roof, in silence...wondering if she would die a thief, or as Annabel?
 
As soon as the two soldiers were gone, he said, "There's always a choice." Realizing he was contradicting himself, and not caring, he was silent for several moments before asking, "Why did you become a thief, anyways?"
 
"People in the slums are poor...when people need some extra money they go to Mother Crow." Annabel frowned. "One day I was approached by a cloaked figure who needed some medicine for the homeless shelter that we have. I agreed to do the job, then the person nodded, giving me a trinket as payment once it was done." She stared at the door. "Turns out, the trinket was a magical one, thought to have been possessed by one of the saints....Mother Crow proclaimed that I was set on a path that I couldn't leave from."

Annabel sighed. "Since then, I've been either thieving or singing in one of the taverns." She grinned. "Part of me is Annabel...a real person who has a day job, the other part of me is Annabel the Thief, destined by the saints." She muttered the last sentence, now having no doubt that she would die a thief and not as a person, just a thief who stole one too many times and got caught.
 
"Why not abandon it then?" Niko asked, confused. "If you were more or less forced into thieving, for this Mother Crow, why not turn your back to her and say 'Screw it, I'm done'? Destinies don't define us, you know...I was destined to be a US bomber, and here am I, doing the exact opposite." He sighs, hitting his head against the wall.
 
Annabel shook her head sadly closing her eyes before she realized that he couldn't see it. "It's difficult to explain...and now I won't have a chance to change it."
 
Niko didn't answer her, knowing that he couldn't without breaking some law or offending her, and he couldn't do either. Letting the silence stretch on, he sighed heavily, frowning.
 
Annabel sat in the silence, not looking forward to what she knew was coming. "Can I ask you something?" She asked meekly, losing confidence quickly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back