[b]Scene Title:[/b] Ordinary World

[b]Characters:[/b] Kitten Arbore and Azumi Ian

[b]Context (Situation):[/b] One and a half weeks into the seven-week training in Mayor Callaghan's New City under the guidance of the Runners, Azumi and Kitten have a talk to get to know each other.

[i]Azumi and Kitten's room
10:00 PM[/i]

The training was going pretty well. Aside from that embarrassment with Abigail that one time, Azumi was getting on her way easily enough. It wasn't too much of an adjustment to her normal work, just smoother, more versatile. She even got a lot of time in to help Kitten with some close combat, a much slower process. Still, she was patient, willing to help. Not everyone was an expert.

The soldier was finishing her shower, dressed again in her kevlar undergarments and putting on her shirt to hide the armor and a towel around her waist, when she knocked on the door to the bathroom they shared. "Kitten, someone, are you there? I'm coming out, just making sure I don't walk into something." As per usual, she was slightly tensed, as if ready to fight at a moment's notice if the City Protection Force had found this place.

While Azumi had been in the shower, Kitten was out leaning against the side of a wall, looking out at the large window that seemed to make up a whole wall of the room. On one side the blinds were closed, barely recognizable from the other wall. The side the young girl was nearest to was wide open. She looked over at the darken city, everything covered by a blue and purple cover with little squares that showed the blinding light that over took the city during the day. Even now the city was brighter than most places, almost highlighted by the lack of stars or a moon.

Not for the first time, Kitten massaged her cramp legs and rubbed the tattoo on her left arm. While the leg was in pain, the tattoo just felt itchy. The girl thought that, once again, this was Sedna trying to contact her but couldn’t get through whatever force took their powers from this world. She could not be allowed to enjoy this prospect. Even if the summon couldn’t talk to her, that didn’t mean that she didn’t know what was going on in Kitten’s head.

Kitten had not told anyone about the goddess in her head. She didn’t want to. That would only lead to many uncomfortable questions which the girl didn’t want to answer. Still, she hated how alone she felt, how powerless she realized she was without her summon. Kitten barely did well in the hundred yards dash, let alone running across roof tops and having to grab onto things. She also knew how horrible she was doing with Azumi and their close combat training. The soldier was patient, but believed that she must get at least somewhat frustrated by their progress. Azumi must wonder how Kitten has survived all this time…

Kitten jumped as Azumi called out from behind the bathroom door. “I-it’s fine Miss Ian. I-I’m not d-doing anything,” the girl said, limping over to her bed.

Azumi stepped out, walking over and waving to her with a slight smile, trying to cheer her up a bit as she ran a hand through still-damp hair. She knew that Kitten was often awkward around her, but she was awkward with everyone in some degree. Kind of like some other civilian's she'd seen in her missions. "Hey, it's alright. I might try to get changed, but there's nothing wrong now. On my end, anyway. We're both women, anyway." The smile faded a bit.

"...is something wrong? You can talk to me. I don't tell secrets to anyone unless it's a serious danger, and I doubt I'll need to make any kind of exception here. How are you?"

“…No…nothing’s wrong…” Kitten said simply, sitting down on the bed with a wince as her muscles complained. “It’s…it’s just that,” oh no, she was reaching dangerous territory now. She didn’t want to reveal too much.

“Well…I just feel so out of place,” the girl finally admitted. Though she didn’t really want to talk, it’s been so long since she has talk to anyone or thing and she felt as though she needed to get something out. “I mean, everyone here is either part animal, full animal, has had training similar to this before or even at least held a gun. But me…I haven’t really been through anything. Sure I’ve been an Interference but I’ve ha-“ she stopped herself suddenly. “I mean…I haven’t been one for long and…I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

Azumi sighed, sitting next to her. "It's okay to feel like you can't fit in. I won't lie, I feel the same way a lot of the time. The only way I get even close to keeping up is staying like this constantly." She did notice Kitten's problems were pretty big, but didn't want to bring too much attention to them, instead saying her closest justification. "If this is about your training, I'm not mad at you. People have different paces. Some are more magically based, and I haven't even seen you out of here, so I don't know. It's a slow process, but you're definitely learning. I just worry about how you'll handle yourself out there. How is it for you? How do you handle yourself?"

She put a hand on her further shoulder, rubbing softly. "Maybe I'm pushing too hard. Do you want something to relax? And you don't need to be so formal, I told you. Feel free to call me whatever you feel like. As long as it's not an insult, of course."

Kitten flinched when Azumi sat on her bed but didn’t say anything. Very nearly jumped up when the soldier suggested that the girl was magic based. How did she know? What else did she know? Did she, did she…oh, yeah, horrible physical abilities. Of course she would come to that conclusion.

Kitten just lowered her head as the soldier continued to talk about things. She lowered her guard a bit and didn’t see the hand coming towards her. When it did land on her shoulder, the girl pushed the arm off of her and jumped up. She was breathing rapidly as she curled up into a slight ball, awaiting retribution for her action. When nothing came, Kitten just rushed to the bathroom and shut the door.

The girl rested her back against the bathroom door and slowly slides down to the floor. Raising her right hand, turning it into a fist and banged it against her forehead a couple times.

[i]Damn it Kitten, what are you doing? What was that all about?[/i] She yelled at herself mentally, soon lowering her fist and banging the back of her head against the door.

[i]Why, why, why? She isn’t…isn’t like that. She’s nice…and pretty. No, that’s an insult. She’s so beautiful and…she doesn’t do any of those things to me. It felt good when she…[/i]

Kitten let out a frustrated cry and dug her nails into her left arm. Tears soon streamed down her face, both with sadness and anger and a lot of other things. She raised her knees and lower her face to them, sobbing with all of the pent up emotions.

Azumi winced a bit as Kitten forced her off and ran into the bathroom. She was quiet for a few moments, only barely resisting the urge to call out to her, not wanting to upset Abigail nor her. She remained quiet for a few moments. Worry filled her as she heard the shout, but she remained quiet for just a little longer. Had she been abused? That was one reason she could see her being afraid of being touched. It was best to treat her as if that were the case. Finally, the soldier spoke.

"Kitten..." she whispered, not walking to the door in case she would slam it open. She raised her voice only slightly, trying to remain calm, but just loud enough to hear through the door. "Kitten, I'm sorry... I won't touch you. Please come out. I won't touch you unless you tell me. Please talk to me."

Kitten heard the soldier apologize but didn’t respond right away. She continued to sob, though they did subside a bit. Though now she had the hiccups and she knew they won’t be gone for a while. When Azumi said that she wouldn’t touch the girl, fresh tears appeared in her eyes.

How could the soldier know? That the solution she gave was the exact opposite of what Kitten wanted. What she wanted…and maybe what she needed.

[i]No, no! Don’t think like that Kitten![/i] Kitten yelled at herself mentally and bang her head against the door a couple more times. [i]What if Sedna is listening to this? If she knew…I would never be allowed to go anywhere.[/i]

The girl shivered as that prospect of that went through her and stayed quiet. She didn’t dare say anything; for fear that she would show her true feelings towards the soldier. Kitten didn’t want anyone to know anything about her…she wanted to just blend in with the wall paper. Go unnoticed, to live and then die. That’s all she ever wanted, why did this have to happen to her?

Azumi was silent for a few moments. She didn't know how to handle this. She wasn't a psychologist. Just a soldier, and not a very good one if her time as an Interference thus against villains meant anything. She heard nothing, however, no response. She just wanted to talk to her. So she tried a different route. Maybe she could coax her out, let her know things about herself.

"I wasn't always like this," she said, looking at the ground. "All fight, no talk. Just training, fighting. It wasn't always like this. All I have..." She took a breath. "Would you believe I've only been to Earth for less than a day in my entire life? My Earth, anyway. My home universe." She fiddled with her hands, resisting the urge to take her handgun and strip it. "I was born and raised on Jericho VII. Outer Colony. Two silver moons, palm trees, green oceans... I miss it sometimes, I won't lie." She took a breath. "It's just glass now. The Covenant made sure of that, just like an increasing amount of colonies. I don't have a family to go back to, never even told them goodbye. Ran away some stupid kid who lied about her age to get into the Marines, then worked her way up as it broke her idealism down in stages. Had a boyfriend there once, but he died when the Spartans took down the Insurgency rooted there. Nothing serious, just a first try. But I still miss them all, in different degrees. Had to learn to fight off bullies just for my views."

Finally she looked to the door again. "Kitten... please, you're not alone. Please talk to me. I'm getting worried."