Feb 23 02:07:16 106 PA

From Chronicles

The current game time is: Tue Feb 23 02:07:16 106 PA.

Having found a little alcove to settle in, Sage gazes at the hanging gardens. Around her, plants form a colourful frame around where she rests her head almost like a crown only there are gaps where the plants fall short of actually touching her. In her hands, she has a book that she slowly flips through. Occasionally, she looks around but it seems more like she's trying to visualize rather than actually looking for something in particular.

Kid enters the garden at a subtly elevated pace, a book in hand. The tap tap tap of her helmet against her hip and the unsubtle clomp of her armored boots mark her path as she heads towards the fountain directly. There's a distracted air about her, further edvidenced when she arrives at her destination because she sits.. and for a few moments that will be about all she does, the book laid on her lap without further attention given. Instead she gets that far off look of one mulling over thoughts that just won't leave the mind to peace.

Whatever had begun to form in her visualizes, Sage begins to feel the moment ebb away as hard sounds of Kid's movements reaches her ears. At first, she tries to focus back on the book, but curiousity does make her look sooner rather than later to see who has arrived. When her gaze falls on Kid, her expression becomes unreadable as a few different emotions play out within her. The book is noticed next and the seeming lack of interest soon after as the woman seems to just stare off into space. At first, she returns to the book but her own focus seems to have diverged from her original intent. "Anything the matter?" She asks simply, settling the book down as if she is done with it for the moment.

Kid tenses slightly when someone speaks nearby, head turning. Of course, a quick snap of attention that ends with Kid looking toward Sage with subtly narrowed eyes. Her expression firms slightly when she notes just how it is, though after a moment she ends up simply looking away and offering a simple. "Just thinking.." Obviously. Though the words aren't given a particular bite.

Sage's hand rest on the book despite it being set down as if ready to take it back up if the mood should come back. No surprise registers or guilt registers on her features as it remains but an unreadable, but guarded mask. "I see." She replies simply, following by a thoughtful silence as the answer's tone was different than she had expected to receive.

"No.. you don't, but that's ok," Kid replies quietly. She glances down, considering her book for a moment before she casually tosses it to the side, to land on the bench she chose. Breathing out a low sigh. "I suppose you wanna know what's up, right?" Not that she sounds too uncertain on that account. She doesn't look over to Sage again, leaning forward instead, elbows propped against her knees.

Sage lets the first comment pass like a stone skipping across water before sinking to the bottom and out of sight. She runs a finger over her book as if rubbing it lightly will re-kindle her interest in the contents within. The noise of the other woman's book hitting the bench draws her attention back with a raised brow. "Only if you feel like saying it." Her hand stills on the book to lay at ease there, as if to leave the option of returning to it an option still. She keeps her attention in the direction of Kid, but doesn't necessarily stare right at her as the other woman is looking away for the time being.

Kid is quiet for a few moments before she asks, "You got a sister? Of any sort, really?" She turns her head, glancing in Sage's direction. "Probably do.. you look like the sort." Not said with any negative context to her tone. "Maybe more than one.." She trails off then, letting her eyes linger for a little while at least.

Patiently waiting for a response, Sage shifts a little to get a more comfortable sitting position now that she isn't reading anymore. She will let Kid speak without risking interruption. The question about having sisters is a little odd, letting thoughtfulness slip into her originally unreadable expression. "I was told that I had an older sister... and, I suppose I ended up being a sister to others." She says softly, thinking back to her childhood. Her eyes are somewhat unfocused but still directed towards Kid enough to be aware of her and the attention directed towards her.

"So what's it supposed to be like?" Kid's follow up question. "Supposed to be what.. natural or something? Feel all comfy and warm and cozy and shit?" There's a rueful edge to her tone, though the edge is light. The core of her voice something else.. something hard to define, perhaps because she doesn't know herself what it is or should be.

Sage's shoulders brush against some of the leaves around her as they shrug, "I think it can vary..." She replies, "I don't really remember anything about my older sister, but I think there's a part of you that knows you'll still be close even if you annoy the heck of each other at times..." She pauses, "A bond, I guess." She decides to avoid going into the abstract notions offered by Kid. "Why?" Her eyes focus once more on Kid as her thoughtful journey into the past ebbs away.

Kid lets her head shift to a forward facing again as Sage talks. But she listens.. likely. Her lips tense slightly at the why, seeming to slip past that particular question for now. "No.. ain't annoying.. not really. Got that dumb cat, but.." Half talking to herself, in that moment. Then she shakes her head slightly and murmurs, "How would you feel if someone you never thought you'd see again just.. appeared one day." She glances at Sage. "Would you let em in?"

Sage frowns faintly as there is a mention of a dumb cat, as the certainty of this line of questioning being about an actual person begin to settle in. Hesitation to ask on her part leads her to be quiet until the next question comes. She raises a brow, but gets the faintest of smiles on her lips, "Well, that would depend if I liked them in the first place." She allows herself to muse before the picture of the conversation seems to become that much clearer in her mind. "You're thinking of Cali, aren't you?" The words of the woman saying she was shot through the heart coming to mind. "You thought she would be dead."

"Huh?" Kid's moment of total confusion tells clear enough that Sage missed the mark. "Cali's fine.. shse was dumb enough to come hoofing over to my place at night, though. But she's fine, walked her home myself," Kid states. She frowns a little. "What did you think I was talking about?"

The picture shatters into pieces as it seems she had gotten it wrong, Sage becomes confused herself. A hand raises to play with a beaded strand of hair as she begins to re-think things. "I... made a guess about who you were thinking about with these questions." She shrugs faintly, still playing with the strand of hair.

"Well, you guessed wrong.." Kid pauses, eyeing the woman for a moment before she murmurs, "I guess that means you ain't using those stupid powers on me again." At least partially contented with that.. for now. "I'm talking about someone else." She pauses, seeming reluctant to just throw it all out there. "Lets just say someone I know has shown up out of the blue.. and now they're living with me. And.. I dunno." Which is where she pauses with a roll of her shoulders.

By the time Kid decides she isn't using any powers, Sage has gotten three loops of the hair strand around her finger. She carefully unwinds the finger, as a faint smile at the thought that her powers wouldn't have scurried out the answer anyway. She decides to leave this unspoken, though. "Oh..." She says, "I guess I'd offer to lend a hand then." She purses her lips, "I haven't really had that kind of situation - per say, though." She concedes.

Kid snorts faintly. "Like how? Ain't gunna make it no less awkward.." Though even as she finishes saying so, she seems to rethink the instinctive answer. She frowns and breathes out lowly. "Look.. I'm not used to talking about stuff like this with.. people like you." Not that she explains what sort of people Sage is to her. She rolls her shoulders a little. "Besides, if you ain't been through something like it, probably can't help anyway."

Sage takes her time to mull the question and comments over, but does frown faintly as she's put into some unlabelled class. She slips her hands into her lap and composes herself for a moment. "Even getting the best advice doesn't necessarily gaurentee a good result." She notes, "And helping is not always about giving the other person what they want." She'll let Kid take that as she will, "I think the real question is whether it will be too awkward for you to manage."

Kid frowns and looks to Sage, eyeing her as she asks, "Helping that don't give the person what they want isn't exactly helpful, is it? Don't make sense, does it?" She shakes her head slightly. "I can manage.. I've been on my own a long time.. always took care of what needed taking care of. Though that was usually just me.." She turns her head forward again, eyes dipped slightly as she lapses back into a period of thoughtful quiet, without a true resolution coming to be.

"Then, shall I take it that you've never had to compromise once?" Sage asks softly with a raised brow. "Thre are often middle grounds where people don't get what they want, but what they need." She says, "Need and want are two different things." She pauses as she transitions to the other topic. "If you can live with your old friend living with you for now, it could not hurt for now. But, if its going to be a problem for the long-term, you should let your friend know and between the two of you figure something out."

"Compromise is part of what I do..when it comes to business," Kid states. "But that's business." As if it were entirely separate from the topic at hand. "And I ain't kicking her out. Can't." Which leads her to pause and consider the words that came forth without pause to consider. Her lips purse slightly. "Nah.. can't do that. Not after that bitch just.. no." The last lower, said more to herself than anyone else.

Sage lets a soft sigh slip out once Kid has finished speaking, "You are being very black and white." She says, "And, with the way you seem to be thinking, you've already made your decision... you just haven't accepted it yet." Her hands rise from her lap to take up the book that she'd set aside, and begins to crack it open as if looking for where she left off. She seem has part of her attention towards Kid, but it begins to dwindle.

Kid gives her shoulders a slight roll. "I never said I was kicking anyone out. I'm just.." She frowns, nipping at the inside of her lip lightly. "Easy enough to just forget people when they leave.. Obvious they don't wanna be around you.. so fuck em, right? But.. she came looking for me.. not her, me." Not that she seems to know what to make of such an inexplicable thing. Not that she's talking at Sage right now, but it's easy enough to hear what she's saying.

Sage glances briefly to Kid at her first comment, pursing her lips briefly before shaking her head ever so softly. Once the monologue comes, the book is cracked open to the page where she left off. She likely still listens to Kid's words, but it seems as though only a mind reader would be able to make sense of the cryptical details. She lets Kid's mind follow its progression as there doesn't seem to be a need for any input from her at this stage.

Kid falls silent after a moment. Then frowns and glances towards Sage again. THe frown gets deeper then and she states, "Sorry if I'm boring you." She makes it a bit rude, she can't help it, but she seems.. what, insulted? Something like that. "If you didn't want to listen, could of just said something."

With the ease of transition from looking up from her book to Kid, it seems relatively clear that Sage hadn't blocked Kid's monologue out of her mind since she doesn't have to re-focus on the conversation. She raises a brow to that, not shying from the rude reaction she receives. She doesn't close the book, though. It just gets lowered to her lap. "I never stopped listening." She says with a neutral tone, "It just seems clear that you aren't trusting me with a number of details - deserved or not." She tries to avoid any accusing tones, "And, I am not a mind reader, contrary to popular belief." She pauses to let those words sink in. "It still seems to me that you have made your decision, and if that is so... I have no trick up my sleeve to make you accept it any faster." She tilts her head as she considers Kid, "If I'm wrong, I'm afraid you'll need to be a little more forecoming for me to be any help."

Kid frowns, unappeased by the reaction she gets. "You heard me when I said I ain't used to talking about stuff like this, didn't ya? Maybe you'd understand why I talk the way I do if you knew more about me.. but well, you don't really seem all that interested. Usually interested people ask." She breathes out and shakes her head, getting to her feet. "I'm starting to get pissed.. I'm just gunna leave before I say something.." She pauses and snaps up the book that she brought along with her, as if the thought to snag it comes a moment before she might have started walking.

Sage was not trying to appease Kid with the reply, but to attempt to provoke a moment of honesty from the young woman. She gives a nod to the first question, before listening to the rest. "Wait..." She says, rising to her feet as well. "Just hear me out." She says, before taking a breath. "I am interested in learning more... I just don't know what's safe with you." She tries to explain, "You're... complex. Or prickly, as Cali would say." She isn't sure whether she's explaining this quite the right way. "And, if I'm not allowed to feel your emotions... I don't know how to read you." She gives a shrug, as she's not a huge people person.

Kid waits, though she remains half turned away, the book drawn up into the cross of her arms over her chest. She considers the words with that posture held, her lips drawn into a tight little line. Ultimately she shrugs again. "Maybe nothing's safe with me.." She then shrugs slightly and looks towards Sage. "Look.. Sage.." She recalls the name, at least. "I like not being read.. it's part of what I did before.. still do. You get read, you lose. Plus.. just where I live, it pays to keep things at a distance. You get too close to something and it can hurt you easier. Cali's the only person I really trust around here. And that's cause she's easy to read. I don't trust as easy as she does.. I know how easy it is for someone to hide what's real.. it's easy and some are real good at it."

Sage does not move far from where she had been sitting, and thus makes no move to bar Kid from leaving if that should be her intent. "Then, you'll have to run the risk of trying to decide if I'm being cautious or not interested." She says plainly, "I suspect the waters may be a little too muddy to try picking up the conversation from where we left off, but... perhaps when you've had some time to mull the situation over, we can try our hands at an uneasy conversation another time." She considers the Kid, "Perhaps, at some point, you may be able to tell me who she or the other one is..." She pauses, "Either way, you may need the garden more than I do right now... so I can leave instead of you if you wish."

Kid frowns faintly, seeming displeased again, for whatever reason. "She breathes out deeply. "Cali will probably tell you anyway.. cause even if she ain't figured it out yet, I'm gunna tell her. It's my sister.. well, half sister, but still." She frowns faintly and adds, "It ain't that I won't tell you.. when it comes to what is said, people can ask.. I decide what I say. I just don't automatically start spilling everything to just anyone, see? I'm used to talking around things.. I do it without thinking. What I'm trying to say is.. you can ask whatever you want, but don't be surprised if I say no.. just laying out where not to tread. That don't mean don't ever ask.. if I don't want you asking, I'll tell you straight out."

Sage gives Kid a faint smile, "I understand. I just wasn't sure what the ground rules were before." She says, "Now that I do, it may be easier." She pauses to consider something, "I do need to grab something to eat, though." She collects her own book.

Kid nods her head slightly, seeming content with the rule dispersal as it is. "Yeah, well.. just remember not to do that.. thing and we'll be fine. I like what's in my head to be mine to give out.. not for anyone to just peek in. That's number one. Don't matter how much you got in terms of that." She steps back and sits slowly, the book going from chest to lap idly. Tags: kid, sage