Wellness Check

It was a fairly uneventful day in the Cliffedge household - or, it was supposed to have been. Alpinia was over at her table, reading some book about about... "What are you reading about again, Alps?" Taori called over to ask. Without looking up from it, she replied, "Snakes." Snakes. Alpinia was reading a book about snakes.

"...Why?"

"They're interesting."

"Fair enough."

Taori was instead over on the couch, not reading a book, but rather with his feet up on their coffee table and a documentary about ships on the television. Space ships, mind you - not that kind that only sailed across water. Those were rather uninteresting and lame. But then, his scouter started to beep, and his brow furrowed. He'd left it on absentmindedly, as he'd gotten so used to wearing it during the war that the discoloration it caused over one of his eyes was basically unnoticeable to him until something brought hit attention to it. 

Out of curiosity, he tapped it, and his eyes widened. 34,000?! Had someone transformed into Oozaru? He glanced over out the window, but it was still broad daylight out, and no one was stupid enough to send blutz waves into a town... Were they? He looked worriedly over at Alpinia, who he knew had never been able to control her Oozaru form. He was able to control it himself, but he wasn't really the one he was worried about.

And then, though, the power level of 34,000 knocked on the door. "Who's that? Did you invite a friend over?" Alpinia asked as she glanced up from her book. "No... Let me check," Taori cautiously replied as he stood up and wrapped his tail around his waist as a precaution. He slowly went to open the door, and when he did... He had to practically look straight down to see who it was. "Oh, uh, hello," he said to the little girl at the door. Wait... She was the power level of 34,000? ...Well, this scouter had served him well, but it seemed to have finally broken. He sighed and then took it off of his face. "Can I help you? If you're selling girl scout cookies, I actually am interested. Got any thick mints?"

TAGS: Amara

Well, this was a... What was the word? Stubborn? Bullheaded? Adamant? One of those, or all three of them, was what the girl in front of Taori seemed to be. Before he could even get in a proper word, she shouldered straight past him and walked into he and Alpinia's home. He would've stopped her, but he was generally just too confused by what she'd been saying to think to. Something to discuss involving Garrick? The girl took it upon herself to shut the door and close all the blinds as Taori blinked a couple of times, and Alpinia looked up  from her book in surprise. "I'm sorry, who-" she started to ask, but Amara, as she quickly revealed her name to be, cut her off with a quick and curt explanation.

She'd been attacked? By who? "N-No, I'm fine, we're..." Alpinia looked up at Taori with concern. "No one's tried to attack you either, right?" Taori shook his head. "I haven't seen or heard anything about people related to Garrick being attacked here," he added, "But in fairness, Alpinia and I have sort of cut ourselves off from that part of the family. That's why we live out here, instead of in Sadala." Amara's warnings were concerning, though, to say the least. And the girl looked tired. Exhausted, even.

Alpinia set her book down and hurried over to her cousin, then bent down and held a hand to Amara's cheek as she studied the other girl for any wounds. "You look awful, dear," she stated, then she turned towards Taori and commanded, "Taori, go fetch us up a drink, I'm sure Amara is absolutely dying of thirst, by now!" Taori simply flattened his lips together and nodded as he walked off towards the kitchen, while Alpinia continued to fret over Amara. "Were you attacked again recently? Have you heard anything about anyone else being attacked? Do you need to lie down?" Alpinia absolutely barraged the girl with questions.

TAGS: Amara

"Well, I don't know who'd really want to be going and trying to kill someone like me, anyway," Alpinia stated as she dabbed at Amara's face with a rag she'd picked up from off of the table. "I can't imagine going through all of that by your age, though. I mean, I may only be, what, seven years older than you? But I was cooped up safe in my dad's estate the whole time, so..." Alpinia sighed as she stood up and crossed her arms. She certainly didn't like seeing people get hurt, and disliked seeing family get hurt most of all, regardless of whether or not she and Amara had ever really been close.

Alpinia took a step back and sat down on the couch just across from Amara and listened as she explained she'd both lost her tail and had taken up a new, false identity. "What?! You lost your tail?!" Alpinia exclaimed, and she practically leapt up off of her seat to get a look at Amara's backside, nearly clambering over her cousin in order to take a look and check for the extra appendage all Saiyans were born with. Taori walked back into the room holding a drink just in time to see his wife examining for Amara's missing piece.

"Uhh," he slowly said as he walked up to Amara and handed her the glass of water. "Did I miss something important, here?" Alpinia pulled back, having confirmed for herself that where there once was a tail now existed nothing. "Amara lost her tail!" she explained to Taori. He looked surprised, but not nearly as concerned. "Ah, yeah, that hurts," he rather plainly stated. "I lost mine once too, a while back. Don't worry, though, it grows back, as you can see." He gestured down to his own furry limb, which swished around at his command. "Who did this to you?" Alpinia demanded to know.

TAGS: Amara

"Well, I'm sure that means no Saiyan had anything to do with it," Alpinia replied to Amara's line of logic about Garrick's death. A completely respected, revered and beloved high ranking soldier who had no potential successors? Who would go and kill a man like that? A Tuffle, that was who. They must've known that Garrick's death would greatly bring down both Saiyan morale and manpower, and Garrick was additionally one of the most strategic minds the Saiyan military had at their disposal.

The impacts of his death were still being felt around the Vegeta region, and would likely continue to be felt for years to come. Though, Alpinia wasn't too worried about herself or Taori being targeted by whoever this assassin was. More likely than not, they were just after military targets, and neither of them counted as one of those. Her father, though... Maybe it'd be wise to check in with him, soon.

And after having witnessed Alpinia's... 'Examination', and heard Amara's explanation over the status of her missing tail, Taori was confused. "Hm. Not sure why yours would be any different than the rest of us. The only cases I've ever heard of having tail troubles happened with hybrid Saiyans, but you're a full blood, so..." He paused for a second, and a suspicious look crossed his face as it appeared something may have dawned on him.

"So maybe that means that it's tail cancer?" he finally offered. Alpinia frowned. "I think the doctors would probably have caught that if it was," she replied, though she still looked concerned, and she began to grip and stroke the tip of her own tail out of nervousness. If it was some sort of illness, though... Was it contagious? Alpinia had gotten pretty up close and personal with Amara, there... Had she just been exposed to the virus?

"U-Um, you're sure the doctor said it wasn't a medical thing, though?" she nervously asked of Amara. "You know, like... They're sure it's not some kind of sickness you're carrying? Possibly a sickness that spreads through physical contact? Or even through the air?" Alpinia took a step back, behind Taori, who glanced back at her in befuddlement. 

TAGS: Amara