#letlight

Her first few runs, she just observes, doesn’t see anything worth mentioning. The device they use to subdue people - she knows there’s a technical name for it but she can’t remember - is rather terrifying, but she doesn’t get close enough to see how it works. Doesn’t get close enough for anyone to see her at all, either. The sky people have weapons, and she doubts the fact that she’s young and tiny will do her any favors with them. She has kill marks on her skin, not a lot but a respectable number for her age and status, and that alone makes her a threat to them. Oh how silly they are.

Her fourth run is when things get interesting. She’s up in a tree as per usual, comfortable and almost bored, when she sees a lone figure leave the main camp. He’s not carrying one of their weapons, she notes, and slips between a gap in the fence, implying he’s not supposed to be out at all. Well then. The others she’s seen were clearly guards, in pairs or trios mostly, armored and armed. This one is almost innocent by comparison, and from her distance, she decides he might be nice to look at too. Not that she’s especially concerned with that, but eighteen is a perfectly acceptable age to take a mate and none of the people she knows are all that interesting on that front. Well, maybe this could solve a lot of problems.

When she figures he’s close enough to be sufficiently freaked out by the display, she jumps down from the tree - and, because today is clearly not her day, lands rather nastily. So, it’s not the sudden appearance of a girl that catches his attention, it’s her scream of pain because fuck tolerances, her ankle hurts and she is not looking forward to explaining this to anyone, assuming she even gets back…

“Are you alright?”

She likes his voice, she decides, clear and calm and non-threatening. He’s not looking at her like a curiosity; if anything, he’s concerned. “No,” she hisses, figuring that starting out by lying is not a good plan - and hell, it’s obvious she isn’t even if her words say otherwise.

“That was quite a jump.”

“I’ve done higher ones fine. I was just… distracted, I guess.”

If he knows he has anything to do with that problem, he doesn’t let on. “Is there somewhere safe you can get to?”

Might as well continue this whole not-lying-to-strange-pretty-person thing. “Easily, no.”

He looks her up and down, assessing. “What are you going to do?”

“Wait. If I don’t come back in a few hours, someone else will be sent to make sure nothing got me.”

He doesn’t say anything for a few moments, just looks at her like he’s trying to find a better solution, any solution. “Are you sure?”

“Why do you care?” she counters, more out of habit than anything else. “Thought your lot hated people like me. If something did get me, wouldn’t that be alright?”

She must’ve implied something she didn’t consciously mean, because suddenly he looks worried and a little defensive. “I don’t hate you.”

"You don’t know me.” Which is just as well, she thinks, because most of the people who do know her think she’s unpredictable and too emotional and those are just the descriptors they’re comfortable using to her face. “What makes you so sure I’m not going to kill you?”

"You haven’t tried yet.”

Good point. “Are you going to tell anyone about me?”

“And tell them I found a way out?” He rolls his eyes - pretty eyes, she notices, dark like night sky. “Better if I don’t. For both of us.”

“So you’re going to come out here again?” Her intentions are innocent, she swears, and yet she can’t help thinking it’s a really good thing that she’s still visibly in pain, back against that damn tree because she’s not sure she can comfortably stand on her own and she’s not sure she wants to find out the hard way either. She looks… well, about as vulnerable as she ever will. That has to work in her favor, right?

“If I can.”

“Good.” Then, because she’s feeling a little impulsive - “If they ever let me out again, I’ll find you.”

“Deal.”