|
|
Post by Nineteen on Oct 28, 2009 22:22:51 GMT -5
Nineteen was waiting on one of the bladeship's viewing decks -- one that had been converted into a make-shift lounge. There wasn't anyone else around, which she was thankful for: she was supposed to be meeting Seiya here. At the moment she was slumped down so far into one of the cushy armchairs that her chin was practically resting against her chest. She'd propped her feet up on the nearest coffee table, crossed at the ankles.
Silently, she watched the scenery outside. The sky was pristinely clear, and the white of the tundra was all but blinding. When she closed her eyes she still saw the landscape, though it was painted in a strange violet-spectrum. When she got bored with that, Nineteen began to pick at her nails. They were cleaned than they'd been in was felt like a lifetime, and also longer. She wondered how long it'd take for the callouses on her feet and palms to fade.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 28, 2009 23:34:18 GMT -5
Seiya walked into the viewing chamber, a notebook with a pen attached held under one arm. Behind the notebook was a plain old manila folder with Nineteen's name penned in his own, precise handwriting on the small tab created for that purpose. Inside, the folder was distressingly empty. He only had Zach and Adamo's reports about how they had found her which were just extensions of their report on the slave ship in general.
Besides those two pieces of paper was the sheet he'd created for every recruit that had come through the academy. Most of Nineteen's boxes were blank including the one for her name. Currently he had 'Nineteen' listed in her known aliases and nicknames section. He didn't even have her age. As far as he could tell, according to Adamo's and Zach's reports, even she was not in possession of this information. But perhaps she had lied to them for some unknown reason.
If so there was no real reason she'd talk to him either but the empty boxes and unanswered questions did not sit well with him. Especially because it was about time in her training that she should be given the morphing power but he wasn't sure he was ready to trust someone he knew nothing about. Every other recruit to come here had at least this first form filled out and some of them even had some recommendations from their home communities.
"Good afternoon Nineteen," Seiya said as he walked over to the chairs and the newest recruit. He frowned slightly to see her positioning. He didn't insist on military discipline at the Academy but he asked for something close to it, at least in meetings with him. How the other teachers chose to run their classes was up to them but he preferred some structure.
"Please take your feet off the table," he asked as he sat down in the next nearest chair, sitting on the edge and not taking advantage of its comforts. He held up the notebook and folder to show her why he needed the space.
He would have preferred to meet in an office of some sort but there weren't any on the ship, something he'd found extremely odd until he'd realized that the rooms he'd taken to be storage rooms were the offices he was looking for. Andalite, Hork-Bajir and Taxxons did not use chairs. He was lucky enough the Bladeship had come with quarters fit for human occupation. The newest ships were more accommodating of their human crew, or so the Camerons told him, but this was not the newest of ships. The viewing room, with its chairs fit for human use, was the closest thing to a formal setting anywhere on the ship. "I have come to ask you some questions if you don't mind taking the time out of your day to answer them."
|
|
|
|
Post by Nineteen on Oct 28, 2009 23:44:52 GMT -5
Nineteen immediately sat forward when she heard the guy's voice, pulling her feet from the table. She might not have had much respect for the usual trappings of social interaction, but she generally knew better than to let that show to her superiors. At least, she knew you should make the effort to show you cared. Especially because from what she'd gathered from the other recruits, Seiya was bound to be a tight-ass.
"Hey," she replied quietly as she watched him sit. She pushed herself up, so that her elbows rested on her knees. Her eyes followed the folder with her name on it. Questions. Great. All she could do was hope this wasn't going to turn into some quack-job psycho-babble-analysis.
"Yeah, okay, yeah." Nineteen fidgeted, sweeping a lock of hair back from her face. "Sure. Got nothin' but time," she said with a faint, uneasy smirk. "Shoot."
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 28, 2009 23:51:24 GMT -5
Seiya nodded, satisfied with her response as well as her quick reaction to his request. He set the folder down on the table between them and opened it. The mostly blank form was on top and he clicked his pen open and picked up the form, using his notebook as a writing pad.
"Well we have a few questions that we ask all recruits when they first come here. I have heard from Adamo and Zachery, those are the two pilots, that you can not answer some of these questions but I just wanted to ask you myself if you don't mind."
He looked down at the sheet before looking back up at the young woman. "You had trouble supplying your birth name, age and hometown. Is that correct?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Nineteen on Oct 29, 2009 0:19:11 GMT -5
Nineteen scowled, though not deeply. There weren't many delicate ways to tell someone that you didn't know basic information about yourself. There were even fewer delicate ways to say it twice, when the other person apparently was aware of the situation. She knew she should cut him some slack; it wasn't like it was normal for someone not to know these things. It just made her more aware of how fucked up she might be, and that wasn't a pleasant thought to dwell on.
The Yeerks at the ring had prodded and beaten and bullied and abused her until she became little more than a pet to them: every time she had to admit this kind of shit, it was another yank on the leash.
"Yeah. That's correct." She didn't look him in the eyes, preferring instead to stare at the carpet down and to her right. If she was supposed to give some explanation, she sure as hell didn't want to. Finally, after a pause, she added, "I was a slave for a long time." The words tasted bitter and horrible in her mouth. They were an excuse, and no matter how good or reasonable of an excuse they were, that's all they were.
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 29, 2009 1:49:52 GMT -5
Seiya wrote little 'unknowns' into the appropriate fields with a small frown on his face and a slightly furrowed brow. He made a little note at the bottom of her sheet to inform Cassie of the situation and suggested Cassie send someone out to Vegas to follow up on Nineteen's case. Cassie's resources were limited and there wasn't much information to find on anyone these days. Gone was the era when there was a file with your life listed in little bulletined notes for some official to read locked up in some government office and backed up on government servers. They were back to using word of mouth and first hand accounts. Still, it would be better than nothing.
His ears perked up when he heard she had been a slave. This wasn't exactly news considering she had been rescued off a slave ship but he was not completely aware of the circumstances in which she had found herself before boarding that ship. Zach and Adamo had just reported that she had come from Vegas. He had read that and assumed she had been free in Vegas.
"Forgive me," he said, looking up from his sheet. "Would you mind if I asked you about your captivity in more detail? Are you saying you were a slave in Vegas? If so, we have a faction in Vegas. Any information you provide could prevent others from ending up in your circumstances. However, you are not provided to give us that information so do not feel the need to."
|
|
|
|
Post by Nineteen on Oct 30, 2009 18:35:59 GMT -5
Nineteen's lips pursed, and a white-hot flare of anger went through her. There was a group of Animorphs in Las Vegas? She'd heard rumors of course, but part of her hadn't wanted to believe any of them. While the idea that it could be true that some thousands and thousands of Yeerks were murdered at the Hoover Dam, accepting that meant accepting that if there were Animorphs around, they didn't give enough of a damn to stop the fighting ring. Maybe they hadn't known, but if they had, then what? Just not enough of a priority?
Reluctantly, Nineteen continued. "I was taken as a host during the covert war. My Controller liked betting on human-versus-human fightin' matches. When he couldn't make good after a few losses, they starved him out." Nineteen's gaze was hard. She remembered so little from that time -- a time when she had to have still remembered her name, her home address, her phone number -- but it was impossible to forget the internal screams of a dying Yeerk. "They decided to toss me into the ring rather than outright kill me. And yeah, all've that was in Vegas. The place is shut down now though, best I know. People were runnin' as far as they could get from Dallas."
|
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Oct 31, 2009 0:58:13 GMT -5
Seiya wrote down the facts of her story in the small box at the bottom of her sheet. It was still too blank for his liking. "Can you tell me how many years this has gone on?" he asked, not looking up, frowning in concentration.
He wasn't exactly surprised that they hadn't heard about the fighting ring if it was underground. "And do you remember how old you were when they made you a fighter? We'll have someone in Vegas at least look into this fighting ring even if it has been disbanded as you say and we may be able to figure out your age if we find out how long it has gone on."
|
|
