A quick drop in (Cherry and Vitale SL)

2049, March 3rd 11:43 PM

"Cherry please, take a rest. If you keep going like this you're going to pass out." Gale tried to reason with his young host, but the girl was not having it. She kept pushing forward in the dead of night, her large wood limb dragging behind her and slower her down. "No! If I do they'll catch me!" Cherry mentally snapped back.

The pair has only been attached to each other for a week, but Cherry was already at her wits end. She hated everything about this. Gale, the demon that was bonded with her, was a total pain. At first she thought that she was catching a break with Gale taking the form of a arm to replace her left one, but she could barely move him! Cherry was forced to drag the limb behind her to move forward and after a whole week of training on her part, aswell as many shots and tests on the demons part, she could only slighty move her fingers on her new left arm. This would be more bearable if the demon and the girl got along with one another, but no matter what Gale said he just could not get the girl to trust him. In fact most of the time she just acted like he didn't even exist! Only ever replying to the demon when she had too. And of course there where many of other factors that made this a living hell for the both of them. Cherry's room was like a jail cell. Bars, a crappy little bed that felt like it was made out of pure stone, a toilet that was about two, three feet at most, away from said crappy bed. All the tests. And of course on Gale's side, his body was twisted into being a mere arm. Which was not pleasant in the slighest. Today however Cherry found a way out.

In a huge mistake on the demon's part. After they brought her back in her cell once they where finished with their tests, the demon forgot to lock her cell door. And after enough time had passed, she made a run for it. It was only the start though. She had to get out of the slave camps. Which would be yet another tough feat for the ten year old to do. "Cherry listen to reason. If you pass out the demons are going to find you and bring you back to the lab anyways, please I am worried about your health. Rest for a little while, and we can plan a way out of her while you relax, okay?" Despite his sound reasonings, Cherry refused to listen. "No way! You're probably just trying to trick me! Make me rest and fall asleep so they can get me! I can keep going!"

"Cherry! Listen to me. I am not trying to hurt you! I am not plotting against you! I want you to leave this place just as much as you do! I am on your side. I am telling you now, I have been alive many years and I can tell when people are lying to me, and I can tell you right now, that you are lying through your teeth. You cannot keep this going." As Gale sent his words to the girls mind she slowly started to slow down her jogging pace. She still didn't fully trust him, but he was right. She couldn't keep this up. She had to stop or else she was going to end up harming herself to the point where she'll won't be able to recover. "Fine. I'll rest........." The young girl paused as she looked over to a random tent. "There."

Without a second thought the girl rushed into the tent. Not thinking to check if anybody was in there before she let herself in and started looking for a place to hide. Her tired, wide, grey eyes darting all around, eager to find some place to crash for the night.

The first thing that she noticed upon entering this tent was a putrid scent. She couldn't tell what it was but it made her recoil the moment it hit her, and she quickly made a move to pitch her nose closed so she wouldn't have to smell it anymore. The second thing she noticed was the slight outline of a person huddled up against the corner. She couldn't gather much, stuff like the stranger's gender or muscle mass couldn't be seen with how dark it was at the moment. But Cherry could tell that said person was larger and probably older then her. But honestly that wasn't much of a impressive guess since everybody here seemed to be older and bigger then her. "Are you okay? A-are you hiding too?" The young girl stuttered out. Her voice was a little hoarse and tired, but it was still easy to tell that it belonged to a young girl.

She attempted to move a little closer to the stranger, before she could make the action to pull her demon weapon with her, Gale's voice would ring in her head once more. "Don't get to close too this person Cherry. They may be dangerous." The ten year old rolled her eyes and replied back to the elder demon, sending her thoughts to him so she wouldn't blurt out something in front of this person with no context like a manic. "Do not tell me what to do! They seem scared." It didn't take the demon all that long to reply back to the girl. "Having their back to the wall does not mean that they are scared or submissive by default Cherry. They could just be trying to lure you closer to strike, or simply making sure you cannot use a blindspot to get the jump on them. I am not saying we need to find another tent, all I am saying is that you should talk with this person first before moving closer. Rememeber that we broke in here. Don't do any rash moves, lest they get the wrong idea." Gale's words rang true, Cherry knew they made sense, although she was in no mood to tell him that right now. Not paying the demon anymore mind, Cherry looked over to the person.

"M-my name is Cherry Clear. I am a s-slave, like you." From how the person sounded it seemed as if this mystery person was a male. This may have been wrong, but Cherry would go with her guess for now. "Mister, will you let me stay here. Please? O-only for one night. I just got out of the lab and I fell like my muscles are gonna fall off! I promise I won't make any noise, I won't eat or even d-drink anything! I just a place to sleep and hide." Her voice was filled with pure desperation, her eyes wide and hoping the boy could find it in his heart to allow a run away lab rat to rest up for the night.

Neither one of them made any movements, both of them seemed to be sizing each other up. Although in the girl's case her eyes where mostly focused on trying to make out the image of the boy's face. She was pretty good at reading faces. Plus seeing it would let her know if he was really sacred like the ten year old thought he was.

"You don't know about the lab?" She asked, her eyebrows raised in suprise. She didn't understand, how could he have not knowed about the labs!? "Don't give away too much. The boy may not react well to knowing what goes on there, and what we are after all." Gale piped up. Adding his two cents in like always. "The d-demons. They have a secret lab. And they bring the slaves in there to run tests on them. T-t-they hurt. They're turning people into weapons, I-I think so at least, I don't really know what their plan is........." A small part of her wanted to rebel against Gale's wishes and tell him about the whole demon weapon thing, but she feared that may set him over the edge. She already looked like a monster, letting him in on the fact that her arm was made out of a demon would not make this any better.

The girl would try to slowly move a little closer to him. Her wooden arm slowly scrapping the tent's floor. "They took my arm. And replaced it with this thing. Please mister, I don't wanna go back there." She pleaded with him, really trying to tug on his heart strings as her eyes wide and puppy like, not that it would really help her. Since neither one of them could see each other yet. But she had to try everything she had. "Good job at keeping the important parts to yourself Cherry. I could have done without the 'thing' comment but whatever works I guess."

When the boy pulled out some sort of weapon. The girl would let out a shocked gasp and quickly move backwards. Raising her right hand up in the air to show that she wasn't wielding a weapon of her own. The fact that Dominique couldn't see her through the darkness still went over her head. "I-I am sorry! I-I won't do it again." She nervously replied, thanking her luckly stars that the boy wasn't brash enough to just up and stab her with no warning. Suddenly Cherry would hear a elderly voice sigh in the back of her head. "I told you so Cherry. You know, you're very luckly this young man is kind enough to warn you first before striking. If he was more cruel you could be laying on the floor bleedin-" "Will you shut up, you're not helping!!" She mentally barked at Gale, taking out her moodiness on the poor demon.

"H-huh? What?" The young girl was so focused on what Gale was saying that what her host was asking her went totally over her head. "He asked you if you have been harmed." He said softly, saving her skin like he has tried to do many times before. "N-not right now, no. Just really tired. But yes they did hurt me. Like I said they took my arm And they k-kept giving me shots and surgeries, and tests and stuff." She couldn't help but mutter and fidget as she spoke to him about the things she went through at the lab.

"They hurt everybody." She somberly replied to him. Sitting down next to her freakish implant as she listened to all that Dominique had to say. "The demons brought me here too. I wonder why they didn't choose you for the lab?" She mused out loud, in a tone that had confusion, curiosity, and undertones of envy that he didn't have to go through the things she had to while in the lab. Although the little hint of envy she felt was soon replaced by pity, as she heard his voice start to crack.

"N-no. Don't cry. There's no reason to cry. I know the demons can be cruel, and I am sure the adults are being tainted just by being around them. T-their are bad adults in the lab too. But we can make it out of here, right? I mean look at me! I escaped the lab, and that probably has much more security then here. Heheh. Trust me, we'll get out one day, don't you think?" Cherry's little 'motivational' speech was filled with way too much doubt and questions to really hype anybody up. But she hoped that it could work. "Maybe we could work together to get out of here?"

It seems as if her comforting words did not have the effect she wanted them to, in fact it seemed to do the opposite . Making the boy cry harder. "Why not?" She couldn't understand it, why wasn't he willingly to try and leave? This place was hellish, he cannot enjoy living like this could he? Why would he choose to suffer like this all alone, living in a stinky old tent. "I-I know that, but that doesn't mean you can't come along! My mom is really nice, once I find her am sure she'll have no problem with helping you get some food or water." That was a lie, the woman wasn't even okay with the girl having a dog. There was no way in hell she was going to accept the boy. If anything she may run him off, toss stones at him or something like that. She seemed to dislike most other people, but Dominique didn't need to know that.

"Cherry, don't push for this anymore. He's not going to go with you. I don't know why he won't leave, but I am sure he has his reasons." Like clockwork Gale made himself knowed in her mind again, causing the little girl to grind her teeth as she sent her thoughts to him. "Then those reasons are stupid!" "They maybe, but they are still his reasons! Cherry! I understand what you are trying to do, but you have to respect other peoples feelings and thoughts. You have no right to pick what is and isn't the right choice for a person. From the reactions you have when I give you advice, I think you don't fancy being told what to do either. Now do you?" Even with Gale's words Cherry could not respect the boy's choice. It was just so stupid! But, her head was starting to hurt, and she was in no mood to argue with either her demonic 'friend' or Dominique. Maybe in the morning, but not now.

Letting out a sigh the blonde would submit to their wishes. "If you're really sure you want to stay here, then I won't try to bring you with me, I guess....... But if you ever change your mind, you can always tell me okay?" A single night may not be enough to cause him to reconsider his choice, but she could still hope it would.

She gave a soft nod, not that the teenager would be able to see this simple action since it was so dark in here. "Okay. I promise. Thank you very much, you are very kind." Somebody this nice shouldn't be trapped here. Neither of them should be. They should both be going to school, going shopping, and all the other stuff her mom told the young blonde about what the old world was like. She couldn't help angry about all this. How many other people like Dominique were in here? Just a few? A half of them? What about the peoplw like herself? Who was sent to the labs to be fused with a demon? She knew for a fact that she wasn't the only one. But she had no clue just how many people this 'Demter' had collected for his twisted tests. Nor did she know what they were like. She did know however that she had done nothing to earn this as a punishment. Her 'host' probably didn't either.

What gave these vile heathens the right to do this to them? To harm the world like this? It made her blood boil. This wasn't just some brat throwing a tantrum. Her anger was true and fiery. Like the flames of a star. But focusing on her rage wouldn't help her get to sleep any faster. "Good night." She whispered softly. Shutting her eyes and trying to fall asleep for the night. While Gale himself would be staying up. Not like it would do either of them any good. He got the short end of the stick, he couldn't see anything without looking out of the kid's eyes now. Couldn't touch, hear, taste or smell anything that Cherry wasn't touching, hearing, tasting or smelling. So no playing lookout for her. Really he just slept at different times then she did, plus he worried about her. She hated demons and him. Which, while understandable, was also something she shouldn't let consume her. A event he could see happening in the future if npthing is done about it.