After Dark (Zuqetta)

What in the-? Vennel's face plainly displayed her befuddlement as she gazed at the pipsqueak as she revealed herself. Her tail was the first thing that the elder woman noticed, being seemingly much longer than should have been normal for a girl her age. This self proclaimed "elite," seemed young, not quite at full length, so perhaps she was at some awkward age between her growth spurts. The next thing that Vennel noticed as the dirty clothes she wore, unusual in it's own right as it felt to see a saiyan outside of armor, let alone in such ill maintained clothing. 

Desperately, Vennel pulled her composure back together, and placed her hands on her hips. This kid had broken into her apartment and was now sleeping on her couch, and had the gal to act as though she was some elite and that she would just lay down and let any vagrant into her home. She looked about in exasperation for a sign of how she got in and noted an open window towards the back wall. "Shit, I need to make sure I keep those shut and locked before I leave next time." Turning her gaze back to the pint sized princess she cocked her head to the side. "Elite, huh? That why you look like a bum I'd find outside the Rüt Cellar? Is this some sort of new game the local kids are playing now? Squatting in other peoples' homes?" She was really wracking her brain on this one. Just why would some kid break into her place anyways? Was she a street urchin, perhaps? It wasn't unheard of, but it was certainly strange. Usually kids in that position were snatched up quick by the government and given the "choice" to join the military where they'd be offered a warm meal, gear, and a purpose. It worked on her, after all.

"What even would be the point of a game like that anyways? Whatever, it doesn't matter. It's time for you to go on back to your home." She spoke as her eyes drifted over towards the food tube residue on the girls face. "Ugh, and she ate my food?" 

This kid was really sticking to their bit, weren't they? Vennel's brow rose incredulously as she watched the kid try to lie her way out of not being misconstrued for a bum. She stifled a snicker as the girl first tried claiming that this was some sort of ruse to better assimilate with the low class and "learn their ways" or something. She was right about one thing though, she certainly had no idea how elites thought. She cocked her head to the side, and continued watching as she now used Vennel's blanket to cover herself and her dirty clothes. 

But then the girl struck on some more truths, though this one less than obvious. Hesitantly, she began, "yes, go on." She didn't feel the need to really go into the truth of those details with a literal child. This was going to be ridiculous enough, no need to complicate things further by explaining nuance to her. And at first it sounded as though she'd be selected for some great honor. But as the girl extrapolated it was revealed to be less of "an honor" that was described and more of "a burden." Then of course, there was the name dropping- hey, maybe she really was an elite. She sure loved talking about her father, after all. She grinned smugly as she just crossed her arms and waited the girl out. 

Finally, she was confident the girl had said her piece and she took a moment to try and process everything that just happened. First, she'd come home and found a dirty child in it, now the child was saying it was her great honor to receive her, and what's more- she was to train this girl? With the facts more or less together, she steepled her fingers and placed them before her face in a prayer motion, her eyes wild with the absurdity of the situation.

After a moment of contemplation, she directed her attention towards the girl. She was fairly certain that, despite the surreality of the occasion, she managed to get the gist of what was going on here. "Do you have a name, little one?" She side stepped a lot of what the girl had said, but to her it seemed almost like everything she said was a very round abouts way of saying one thing: "I want to stay here." And for whatever reason a dirty street kid wanted to stay with her. Maybe she'd gone soft, or maybe something struck a chord with her. It was hard to tell, she just hoped she wasn't going to regret this. 

"If we're training then get some shut eye. We start the day at oh-six-hundred. Long day ahead of us." It meant she wouldn't get to catch up on the news. But if it meant this kid could sleep then maybe it was a worthy trade. After all, with any luck, maybe the kid would just leave by the time she woke up. It wasn't like she had anything worth stealing. And she was fairly certain she could defend herself against a child if she had to.

Zuqetta huh? She had some sort of weird feeling of deja vu, as though she'd met someone of that name before. But the more she tried to think of when, where, or even how, it felt as though the answer was constantly further away from the corners of her mind. Dismissing the thought she nodded at the girl- so there was a name at least. Maybe she could ask around later and find out who was missing a kid by that name. Then again, could have been a pseudonym of some sort, hard to say with this kid. Lying seemed to come second nature to her so maybe she had been at this a while, she reasoned.

It was almost cute, the way the young saiyan girl seemed to relish the idea of getting to call this apartment home for even a little longer. Poor girl really must have had it bad out there. Maybe she was some sort of reflection of how life had been for Vennel if she'd never joined with the military. Or maybe that was just Vennel's primitive monkey brain making correlations where there were none, to flatter her own ego and experiences. Then the girl called her 'captain,' there was a weird sort of feeling that passed through her, as someone referred to her with deference. She was unsure how to feel about it- it wasn't a negative feeling, just alien. Maybe she'd like this whole being in charge thing. Years of being told what to do conditioned her to take orders better than she felt she could lead. But maybe she had some sort of drive for more that had been buried under years of pomp and circumstance.

But the girl wanted to be certain that was the sort of thing she wanted. And truth be told she didn't like being called instructor or anything like that. It'd be weird to explain to people in the neighborhood why she had some kid calling her something like that. Might start the wrong sort of rumors, like she was opening her home up to baby sit anyone's brats. That certainly wouldn't do. "My name's Vennel," she began, and to cover her bases, she proceeded, "call me 'sis,' 'aunty,' or whatever, I don't know. If anyone asks, you're some estranged relative or something. Last thing I need people thinking is that I'm taking in orphans. Oh, and if you have any little dirty friends out there: this isn't some free pass for them to stay here either. I so much as catch a whiff of other kids around and you're outta here." She yanked her thumb back over her shoulder for dramatic effect in punctuating that sentence. Imagine, running some sort of daycare for the young and down on their luck in this shit hole. No way, kids were the worst- always wanting and needing things. 

With the matter of formalities handled, Vennel finished the nutri-paste she had started as Zuqetta seemed to get comfortable in the couch. She walked back towards the "bedroom" in the back, that was little more than her single and a toilet in a closet. Still, it was hers, at least. So she laid down, setting the alarm on her scouter before setting it down on the stand next to her.



"GET UP!" Vennel barked as she ripped back the blanket that covered Zuqetta on her couch, kicking the couch forward so as to dump her off even if she was hesitant to do so. "It's oh-six-hundred hours," she began, tapping her scouter as if to confirm her assertion- 6:02. Her sights fell back on the girl as she tossed a towel at her. "The refresher is in the closet in the back room. See to any of that you need to, and then you're going to get yourself cleaned off."

If she was going to train the girl, it was going to be in more than simply fighting. Hygiene was important, if for no other reason than to stop offending her nose. The kid reeked of homelessness, the sort of soured B.O. scent that comes from a dirty lifestyle and lack of care for ones self. Granted, she knew it wasn't necessarily by choice, but if she was staying here, she was going to act like a person with a proper home. 

"After that, I want you in your armor if you have any. Otherwise you'll be wearing an old set of mine." Dressing properly was important to saiyan culture and tradition- at least, a life in the military had taught her as much herself. She wouldn't be caught dead with some child just wandering about the streets looking like Vennel kept her chained up to a post outside or something. "MOVE IT!" She shouted after the girl, trying her best to channel her worst drill sergeants back when she was Zuqetta's age.. If push came to shove, she'd take the girl to get a set of armor for herself. 

To no one's surprise, least of all Vennel's, Zuqetta was not prepared for the rude awakening her benefactor had delivered. While Vennel had forgone a full night's rest in order to do this, she reasoned she could simply take out any frustration with things on the child in ways such as this. If the girl wanted to train with a soldier, she'd get a soldier's treatment. 

The elder saiyan grimaced as the girl slowly got up and did as she was told, but not without giving Vennel lip every step of the way. "And next time, don't forget to make your 'bed,'" she nearly spat out, as the girl made her way to the wash closet after more protestations. This kid, just who did they think they were anyways?! Oh, right, 'the daughter of the great Zhukinski' or whatever. Vennel knelt down and tucked the blanket into the couch cushion as she grumbled under her breath; "that brat" this, and "grow up" could barely be made out in between the otherwise indiscernible mumbling.

The girl had not been gone long. Maybe long enough to have got her bearings in the other room. Or at least, that's what Vennel hoped was happening. Instead, she heard the girl yelling and at first the woman couldn't process what it was about, so she sat up from straightening out her couch just in time to see her bar of soap for a split second, before it struck her in the face. 

To her, it felt like an eternity as she slowly replayed the events that had just transpired in her sleep deprived mind. "Did she just," her mind struggled to comprehend what had happened. Here she was, bending over backwards to provide guidance and shelter to this street rat and here she was, literally throwing some of that kindness back in her face.

Vennel stood calmly, her eyes flaring open as she glared at the girl. "Oh, you don't know how to bathe yourself?" She said, her tone light, almost motherly. She walked slowly around from the other side of the couch, maintaining eye contact all the while. "Do you need me to show you?" She nearly growled those words, as she bared her teeth towards the girl. It was a primal sort of anger the girl had awakened in her would-be caretaker. It was less a legitimate question than it was meant to be rhetorical. However Vennel paused almost as though she wanted the girl to actually answer. 

"We leave here in fifteen minutes. You can either show up to training clean and dressed, ready for combat training- or you can not show up at all. If you choose the latter, I'll get the nearest Recruiter in here and get you shipped off for basic." She emphasized the word Recruiter, as they were little more than glorified rat catchers. Officers that looked for homeless youth and suckered them into military service. Most children like Zuqetta appeared to be, were terrified of them due to misguided perceptions that they were evil. But in all honesty, Vennel couldn't say the life she lived now was worse than her alternative. Still, she had hoped the reference might be enough to at least scare the girl into action.

Well for all her bluster, it seemed to have done the trick. As she'd delivered her threat the girl seemed to recoil from her display of anger, and that was the first time that Vennel considered this girl may not be quite the street rat she figured her for. After all, most urchins were little shits through and through. They didn't listen to anyone, least of all anything that resembled a figure of authority. Yet here this girl was doing as told. Maybe she was only recently made homeless, Vennel thought? 

Either way, she'd follow shortly after Zuqetta had fully disrobed and entered the shower. She collected her clothes into a pile, and opened a second closet in the toilet room, revealing a cleaner. Under normal circumstances, this cleaner was meant to be specifically cleaning armor and other military grade gear made with similar materials. However, Zuqetta's clothing was far more alien than that- she wasn't quite certain what style of clothing this was. On the one hand it was a material that wouldn't survive an oozaru transformation, so it was something of a luxury to own. Secondly, it was rather drab, and things like this were usually the property of the elite, but this didn't look nearly gaudy enough to be an elite's clothing. Perhaps she merely fished this out of some elite's garbage? It would certainly have explained the clothing's odor.

She opened up the cleaner and set it to it's lowest setting, and dropped in the girl's clothes. With any luck it wouldn't completely destroy them, and should produce the garments clean as new. It couldn't be helped, either way. Not like Vennel could afford to have something that nice cleaned by a specialist. So she'd settle for her own appliances. Closing the closet back up, she left the washroom and went to her bedroom, and opened a storage space underneath her bed, revealing a compartment full of old combat armor she'd worn in the past.

There was one with blunted tipped armor, with red accent points and a pink cuirass. She remembered this one, she used to love this outfit. But then that other squad started wearing the exact same or heavily inspired looks and she immediately wanted a change. Then came the "dark ages" of her fashion choices. Starting with the "what was I thinking?" with slippers, thigh-highs, oversized gloves, and a long shoulder pad breast plate. All the way to "the thirsty years," armor that could hardly be called armor anymore. It was more- no, she couldn't bare to look at or think about those anymore. Least of all they wouldn't be suitable for a child.

Instead, she came to the old armor she'd lend the girl. It was a simple breast plate, no shoulder pads, almost like two separate plates bound together by a strap that went over the shoulder. It had two tassets that hung over her the left and right side, in a familiar pink-red color scheme to her current attire. "Yeah, this'll do," she said to herself before placing the armor and underlay, boots, and gloves, in a neat pile outside the room Zuqetta was in.

When all was said and done, it was a little past twenty minutes that it took for the young saiyan to finish preparing. She already looked and smelled a lot better, as far as Vennel could tell. Although her old armor didn't quite fit the girl, as over use in her oozaru form had stretched it out. But it definitely suited her well enough, especially if she was going to be training. The precise time it took to get ready wasn't overly important, so she wasn't intent on punishing the girl for taking too long. She just wanted to motivate her to hurry up and it seemed to have done the job, all things considered.

"Alright, now, you will follow me, and do as you're told." It almost sounded like it might be a question, or that she might have meant to ask one. But no, she said what she meant. She was ordering the girl to follow her and her orders. She'd escort the girl out of the apartment, just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. As she guided the girl down the steps of the apartment to the city street, she made sure to lock the door behind her, before leading her down the still lightly populated streets.

The occasional saiyan passerby heading off to work early, or coming home late, could be seen and none really paid the two young women any mind. They'd travel easily over three miles, to the edge of one of the middle districts, where there was a military guarded gate. Vennel approached, and removed her scouter, putting her hands in the air and turning slowly for the guards. The looked her over and nodded to one another, radio'ing into someone on the other end of their scouters that she was clear. A buzzing could be heard and the gate would open up to allow the pair into the facility.

"Stay close and don't fall behind." She'd say as she marched towards a building to the right of the entrance that seemed a good deal smaller than the rest of the larger community sized buildings. As the two came to the building entrance, Vennel turned to Zuqetta once morem "wait here, don't move, and don't touch anything." And with that, Vennel pushed the manual doors open to reveal the interior was a small office with middle aged man behind the desk, wearing a scouter with a magnifying glass lens modification to help fight his bad eye sight.

"Hey, is the Colonel in?" She asked the man who slowly looked up at her and squinted as if to see her better. And then he finally nodded, "ah yes, ah, that is to say, no. The colonel is meeting with the war council." Tch, as usual- lately the colonel she reported directly to was always in these "war council" meetings. Appearing visibly irritated she produced a small stack of paper work for the man, "this is for my transfer. I've already spoken to my new captain and he's cleared the transfer. The colonel already can't wait to get rid of me, so he'll no doubt approve it. Make sure he gets this when he gets back." Standing up, she'd turn around and leave, to rejoin with Zuqetta, if she was indeed where she'd left the girl.

This was the start of her training, she wasn't sure what the lesson was up front, but she figured that she'd come up with something that sounded smart and totally explained why this was being called training. 

She hadn't been gone long, easily five to ten minutes all things considered tops. Maybe even less, not that she or any outside observer were timing it. As Vennel reemerged from the smaller office, she saw a somewhat over eager Zuqetta at attention where she left the twerp. Sirens at the air field could be heard going off as a few concerned onlookers rushed over towards it. Vennel glanced over in the direction and then back towards Zuqetta. Had the young girl run off an deliberately ignored her commands? It was possible, but no one was coming after her yet. 

The older of the two scrutinized the younger, as if looking her over for signs of obvious deceit. And while she couldn't shake the feeling Zuqetta had been involved somehow, Vennel also wasn't sure if that was just how she normally was. After all, she'd been like this at every step of their acquaintance. "For your sake, I hope that wasn't your doing- and you know what, I don't think I even want to know." In truth, it was also for her own sake, because now she was intending to claim this girl was a family member, meaning she'd be responsible for her. But her paperwork had been submitted so there wasn't much else left to do not here at the base that she'd want to keep Zuqetta around for at any rate. "Right, well just in case, maybe we should beat feet." She said in a hushed tone, finally resolving to maybe just leave this incident behind them and make themselves scarce.

Vennel headed over for the front gate again, and bid the gate guards (who were looking off towards the developing situation at the air field) farewell. Vennel didn't want to seem too interested in what was happening there, almost as if she could just ignore it and claim her plausible deniability, as though it never happened. It wasn't necessarily a good plan, or even a responsible one, certainly not the behavior of someone that was trying to set an example. But what she was more than an example, was poor. So before either of them could even run the risk of being caught, Vennel guided them out and into the city streets.

It had been quite a bit and she felt like she hadn't begun with the girl's training, not in the slightest. So she wracked her brain for an inkling of an idea she could pretend to make into a lesson. What she came up with, was: "First lesson: Live within your means. Know yourself and about your assets, and manage them wisely. For instance, you have no money, or home for that matter. What do you think would happen if you did something, and got in trouble for it? What if no one else was able to save you? What if you couldn't defend yourself from someone larger and meaner than you?" She peaked back over her shoulder and looked at the girl as she asked her about the thought experiment she came up with. She was really just spinning her wheels, trying to make a cohesive lesson for the girl, as they navigated the city streets.

"If you're thinking about how to react to something, you have already lost. Because you are waiting for the other party to force you to do something." As she said it, she liked the way it sounded, maybe she was onto something. She stopped guiding the girl as they came a street corner and she waited for the traffic light to give pedestrians the go-ahead. "Always know your own limitations, within and without." The light shifted and signaled for them to cross the street, so she once again resumed crossing the street. "Any questions?" She barked back at the girl. Though her tone may have been harsh as she wanted to instill herself as an authority figure (she'd better be, if that girl was living under her roof), but she didn't want to scare her from answering. Hopefully her previous threatening hadn't just scared her from asking questions if she legitimately had them.