I Swear I'm Not a Criminal. Really. [m]

[Draconian]

Kit laughed.

"You need credits to bribe people," She wiggled her hand at him, showing the fresh scar of where she'd dug out the chip. "I didn't plan to go off the grid," she admitted, "Stupid, given how much training I've had. I just... Broke one day. Dug out my chip and ran away." Licking her lips she pulled the cup to her mouth and sighed into it, eyes closing and ducking her head down.

"I should just go turn myself in and be made an example of, executed by the dragons like it was a Prime Time Vid."

[Lion]

Trevan rolled his eyes.

"If you had any seriousness about that, I bet you would've done it already.  But now we're already criminals in arms, so I don't think that is really an option without someone nosing around my business too.  Look, I have an idea that might help you out.  But it'll involve getting your hands dirty.  We'll find some criminal that has some credits for the taking, and a means of getting out.  Like you said, all it takes is greasing the right wheels."

[Draconian]

Kit stuck her tongue out at Trevan.

"Maybe I just haven't worked up the courage yet," She said softly, looking down at her hands before closing her eyes and sighing loudly. "You're going to turn to banditry for me?" She nudged him with her foot under the table and leaned her head in, jaw resting on her palm. "That's sweet, Trev," a teasing smile and she licked her lips and took a sip of coffee. This was awful.

"I think reality has hit and I'm going to freak out soon," she admitted, closing her eyes against a full body shudder. " I don't know how to exist outside of being a Pilot. They don't train you for anything else."

[Lion]

"Sweet but...you saw what I've done. I'm assuming you've done worse during your Pilot training and job doing. I'm just a mechanic, but I fiddle with inventions here and there," he said with a nod to her.  "Come here, I'll show you some stuff I've been working on.  I don't have fancy psychic powers so I have to use what I make."

He moved toward his bedroom and gestured for her to follow.  In his closet he pulled out his backpack and showed the chainblade sword he'd made  and it was still speckled here and there with blood. "It gets the job done."

[Draconian]

Assuming she did worse.

That made Kit feel awful and she let her head fall down and she looked down at her hands. The ragged scar where her chip had been. A deep breath and she let out a heavy sigh, licking her lips. Kit had made a point to not think of her less than pleasant memories that involved her... Life. Deep breaths.

Kit followed when she was gestured to and she rubbed her chest after a moment and stared wide-eyed at the odd contraption he'd made. "Oh good Gods," Kid frowned, gave Trev a weary look, "You're not going to saw me in two with that, are you?" A jolt of fear churned in her stomach and she swallowed thickly, realizing that, when it came down to it, pound for pound, he could probably kill her easily enough.

[Lion]

"Of course not," he said, shaking his head.  "I'm your friend. Why would I do anything like that?"

He set the saw aside and pulled out another contraption that resembled a grappling hook.  "The wire brush is steel cord, hard to get but very strong. For the most part. I haven't tried it yet myself though. This is just the prototype."

[Draconian]

Kit kept her hands to herself.

"Being untrustful was sort of... Beaten into me," She replied honestly, giving a simple shrug. A product of what they'd wanted to create her to be. An untrusting weapon. Kit curled her hands together and blinked at Trevan for a moment, tilting her head and watching him. "Why are you showing me all this? If they find me they're going to tear my brain apart bit by bit. I don't want to sound like an asshole and I know I know too much already but... It's better if I don't know. Or they're going to take you too."

[Lion]

Trevan nodded. "I know," he said.

He put away his contraption and saw on the floor of his bedroom. He zipped up his backpack and shoved it away. Showing her these things wasn't going to help him anymore than he could help her with them. Other than attempting to get her out of Aedolis officially, there was always the chance that he would be caught whether or not she was with him.

"You know I've been doing this long before I met you. And I'll probably do it after you're gone as well. I could be killed tomorrow night, or the night before. I could be taken in for questioning because somewhere someone thought my sneeze sounded suspicious."

He shrugged. "So what difference does it make? I'm doomed either way."

[Draconian]

There was a heavy silence and Kit rubbed her hands together.

"There's a difference between being wanted because you're a criminal and being wanted by the dragons," She whispered, licking her lips, mouth feeling dry. "They'll rip you apart. You'll be... Shreds. And you'll feel all of it." Kit shook her head and pressed her palm to her temple. "Trev, I just... Want you to understand that helping me is a whole different ball game. You doing what we did is much different than you helping me."

A shake of her head, "Would you even survive the axis point? Is that a thing non-psychics can do?" Mostly she was talking to herself and she rubbed her palms together before she moved her hands to her upper arms. "Is it cold in here?" Slowly, it was setting in, how big of a mistake she'd made. How much worse this actually was. "I'm so sorry I got you dragged into this, you deserve a whole lot better."

[Lion]

"When are you going to stop feeling sorry for yourself?" he asked, pushing her shoulder. "I get what you're saying. I know what you're trying to do. And I can respect that. I'll tell you what, I'll help you as far as I can go. I can try and help get you a ship, a shuttle at the least, to get you out of Aedolis. There has to be that much that I'm capable of.

"And if not.  We can always try, going underground," he muttered.

[Draconian]

Kit tried to smile at Trev.

"You're sweet," She said briefly before moving in to give his cheek a kiss and leaning back. Kit sighed and looked away, frowning at the floor before she nodded. "I will take any help I can get but..." A look at her arm. The nasty scar. A wiggle of her fingers to indicate that, in the process of removing it she'd lost the ability to move at least her pinky. "I don't have any way of paying you back except for maybe decent company and..." She looked around, "Someone to do your housework."

[Lion]

"Yeah, that paying me back bit can be a bit of a problem," Trevan acknowledged. "Say if you're good with your hands, maybe you can help me around the shop. I can tell my boss that you're my, er, old friend. New in town. You can help me on the bikes and other engines when people come by. And it'll earn you money. My boss is a complete asshole, but on the bright side you probably won't have to deal with him all that much."

[Draconian]

Kit blinked at Trevan, lips parting slightly before she looked down at her hands.

"I'm... Okay, I guess." She was better at fighting. Going and... She hung her head and pressed a hand to her face. This was a mistake. This was all a terrible mistake but... She was off the grid. If she kept her power usage to non-existence or a minimum she'd be able to survive. For now.

Kit reached out with a hand, moving closer to Trevan and cupped his cheek.

"If they find me, you tell them that I controlled you. Do you understand?" Her voice was husky, eyes searching his, "You tell them you felt like you were in control but when you'd go to call authorities you'd just stop moving and forget what you were doing. You tell them that you didn't even realize I was a fugitive until they caught me because I was playing in your head and once I was gone it all came back. Do you understand."

[Lion]

He had to admit he was taken back by the contact. And yet he didn't object. Trevan found himself leaning into the touches on his cheek, the cupping more affection than he was used to an he gave her a wide-eyed gaze.

He could see that she was absolutely serious. As much as he wanted to downplay what he did, what she was, and that they were in this together - which they were - she was only doing this to protect him. She had her reasons for getting out, and him being party to it would get him killed... Because the enemy then wouldn't just be gangsters and criminal overdogs, it would the very government itself.

Finally he nodded gravely at her and he tilted his head in toward her hand to kiss the palm of it, a small affection that he could afford to give.  "I understand," he promised. "I know you're only doing this to protect me. And...I know the risks involved."

[Draconian]

Kit closed her eyes - though they quickly snapped open when she felt the kiss to her palm. It was ... Odd. Kit gently pulled her head back from his face, glancing at her palm before she brought her other hand to it to rub the tingling feeling away.

"I'm doing this so you don't get killed," She whispered, "They're good but if I've fucked your head they won't know what's really yours and what's really me. You're a civilian. I'm not. They will kill me, Trev. They were already planning on it," she closed her eyes and took a few steps back until she pressed against a wall.

A glance down at her arm, the thick black lines of her tattoo something to focus on.

"Suspicion of being a Gospel," She whispered, looking at him, tears in her eyes, "I ran away. I'm not one, not brave enough to be one. But I had thoughts. I'd thought of it. And they get into your head and my thoughts would be enough for punishment so... I ran. Dug out my chip." She slowly sank to the ground and pressed her elbows to her knees and her face to her hands.

"I made it worse. They'll find me eventually," she whispered, giving a helpless little shrug, "I... Just don't want you to be killed because of me." She cleared her throat, "I'm not nearly pretty enough to die for," She teased, trying to ease the mood - mostly for herself.

[Lion]

"I know what you're saying. Don't get me wrong," he murmured, and wiggled around so that he was sitting next to her, hip to hip. "But I dunno if you noticed. I...kill people. I've killed a lot of people and I don't think that'll go over very smoothly with the people they were working for, Kit. So if they don't get to me first, then the government will."

He shook his head. Suspicion of being a Gospel. Those people that were against the hive mind that the dragons that really controlled this country made. They were evil sure, but they were a kind of evil that everyone was perfectly aware of. They made it clear who was in control, and that every freedom was afforded to them so that the people could remain blissfully ignorant.

"You thought about it? You weren't satisfied with being a Pilot? Or...well, that sounds wrong. I don't mean it like that.  Like...you wanted something different for yourself? Would they have killed you solely for that suspicion?"

[Draconian]

Right.

Trev was a piece of shit Aedolian.

Kit closed her eyes and pressed closer to him where she could. "Everyone has... Thought about it," She whispered, glancing at Trevan, leaning against him.  "Just... I thought too much and I was afraid. They'd go into my head and fuck it all up," Kit pressed her palms to her face and sucked in a breath. "I'm a coward. I should have just... I don't know. Maybe? They could. I don't know. I..." Kit sighed, "I'm fucked and not in the fun way."

[Lion]

Trevan put an arm up around her shoulders. It was a natural instinct and he could feel the little ridges in her back, the pieces of metal that she complained about on a number of occasions. Trevan carefully avoided them and scooted in closer to her so that he could hold her and have her pressed against his shoulder.

"You're not a fucking coward. You did what you feel like you had to do," he soothed. "And you know what you're not the only one that feels that way. This whole place is fucked up. People are happy to be asleep, to live their little hedonistic dream. There are some that believe they're untouchable. There are some that want to change things but don't know how. I...don't know if what I'm doing will change anything. But they're fucks, and the don't deserve the fucking flesh they're given."

[Draconian]

A sigh and Kit pressed against his shoulder. Her cheek resting against his arm and her eyes falling closed.

"I could never swallow it," she whispered, voice heavy, "I lived in it. I followed it but it always felt wrong." Kit sighed and turned her face towards Trevan's neck, curling an arm around his middle to pull herself closer into a hug. The contact was comforting in its simplicity and she sighed, breath hot against him. "Why haven't you tried to leave?" she whispered, " why have you stayed?"

[Lion]

"Neither could I truth be told. My father was some executive cruiser and he was offed when his girlfriend's mobster lover found out about it. Thought he'd been jibbed.  That's all I really know of my parents.  I....I don't leave because, maybe, I guess I think whatever I'm doing can make some difference for someone else. I know i'll get caught some day. I know I'll be found and offed," he shrugged and tilted his head into her heated breath.

He shivered, unable to help it really. "But I'm determined at least to help you leave. You've helped me with that last set up. Save my ass. I appreciate it."  Trevan squeezed her side to him and relished in the comfort of that hug. He smiled and cupped her face, pushing the hair away. "Kit. You're a wild card, you know that. That's a compliment. Insert cheesy grin here." And flashed her the most awkward smile he could muster.