CHARACTER CHAT!!!!

Aloe: I nod curtly and feel my muscles start to tire from holding onto Brawne. "Er-where could I...?" I say brandishing the boy slightly.

Milo: "Not good enough." I wasn't growling, but the tone of my voice jolted me. Despite all my efforts the memories were washing over me like waves, and I was drowning.

"Go!" I shout pushing the crouched figure of Finch into a mud hut, herding the three other men of varying ages in behind him. Ammo punctured the walls, and the unatural gleam of search lights filtered in through the splarred bullet holes. "Keep your heads down!" I growl slamming my palm onto Finch's head to keep him ducked. I raise my own head slightly and fire a few rounds into the crowd of men who were assigned to completely desimate our society.

Ami
I wince and look away at his tone. I stop in the street, looking down at the ground with my eyebrows furrowed, my eyes confused. "Do you want to be alone...?"

Cricket eyed the boy. He didn't like it; kids like him were usually in some other gang. But he was unconcious. He couldn't throw him out into the rain and hope no one mugged him. "A'right...I've got a bed not too far off." He ran a hand through his hair, and took a hesitant step before looking at Aloe over his shoulder. "Follow me." He let Annaleah's hand slip out of his.

sorry, hold on a min

Milo looked up at the rain. "No." he pulled Ami into a light embrace. "Tell me about that girl...anything, please." he murmured in her hair.

Aloe: I followed Cricket to a small bed. I yanked the kid's shoes off gracelessly and laid him out on the bed. "Thanks...I don't know why I care, and I don't usually intrude like this," not true I think "but he just looks so much like him."

"Him?" Cricket asked lightly, running a hand through his hair.

Ami
It's amazing how much i relax in his arms. I close my eyes, simply enjoying it. "Sanae?" I ask quietly, my voice faint. "She...doesn't like me much..." I repeat, resting my forehead on his chest.

"Huh? Oh sorry. I'm a little lost in my thoughts, of course you don't know who I'm talking about. A little boy I once knew, his name was Finch." Aloe, unlike many people, didn't toy with her hair or even fidget when she talked about the dead boy. She just stared sadly into Cricket's face, her openess as un-nerving as ever.

Milo winced slightly, was the gun-fire in his head? It felt as if it were right behind him. "A-and why is that?" he asked painfully, burying his face deeper into Ami's hair.

Cricket pricked up at that name. "Finch..." Milo had said that name, but he left out that part. They didn't seem on the best of terms. He glanced at the boy, studying his face. He looked so small. Had he himself ever been that small? "What 'appened there?"

Ami
He was hurting, that much was obvious. I gently wrap my arms around him. "Ayakashi ran into her while we were escaping 51...She's another alien. Her race had murdered itself in war. That being said, she's quite against it, and me being a weapon..." I murmur into his chest. "They...didn't get along very nicely."

"First tell me what you know about Milo, I don't want to tell you anything about him that he hasn't told you so far. I'm no snitch." Aloe crossed her arms, an eased expression filling up her face.

I waved them forward, we crawled stealthily through the vines and leaves that scattered across the ground wildly. Just beyond the thin tree line we could hear soldiers shouting. Another boy, Cove, just a year younger than I was cried out in pain as a metal trap sprung on his leg. I realized a second too late that our position had been given away when a spray of fire flit through the green.
Milo gripped Ami a little closer. "Agh...!"

Cricket cocked an eyebrow. "Well, you could also save yourself th' trouble and simply say you don't want t' talk about it. What's th' point, if you won't tell me anything I don't already know?"

Ami
It felt absolutely crushing to have such power and not be able to stop his pain. "Milo..." I swallow, unsure of what to do. I hold him close, making a quick decision. I fly up with him quickly, watching him worried through the low clouds and up above, where the sun shows sunset.

Aloe smiled. Sharp this one. "Milo had a kid brother. Not blood brothers, but all the same. When a religous, political, and social war exploded in their home well...Milo lost his arm and his heart, Finch died. Supposedly it was Milo's fault. Or at least thats what he told me."

I focused everything I had on that sunset. On the nothingness, the painless pool of night that comes along with letting things clear in a brief moment you knew would end. I heard only the sigh of the wind, saw only the reds and oranges of the clouds. Felt only the cool air around me and the occasional trace of warmth that whispered along on a staggered current.

Cricket cocked his head thoughtfully. Ah. So that's how it happened. And that was Finch...he glanced back at the kid, whistling something to himself. "Ah, didn't know that story. He would never tell. My sympathies." He frowned. Why did there have to be so much death in the world? It was there, all the time, like the shadows that crept on the walls at night. "Ah, what doesn't kill makes you stronger," he said with a sigh. "I suppose."

Aloe chewed on a thought for a moment before saying it smoothly "Yes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It's what dies that makes you vulnerable."

Ami
I swallow nervous, watching him worried. "Milo..." I whisper, touching his face lightly. "Are you alright now?" He said he was a soldier. He had been in war. Though I was a weapon I had never actually been in a battle, never actually killed someone. I cannot imagine the impact of taking a life...
Ayakashi's laughing at my thoughts.

Cricket smiled, but it was masking a frown. "Tell me about it," he said shortly, but said something else before there was much time for its meaning to sink in. "Better make sure th' rest of our little group 'asn't gotten lost someplace. I swear, this place is a maze that's 'ard t' get out of."

"The same." Milo said softly, continuing to gaze at the scene, his eyes unfocused and far-away.

Ami
I search his face for anything, panicking slightly. "M - Milo...can I do /anything/ to help?" I plea slightly, shaking in his arms.

hey, is there a way for Sarah to put other peoples thoughts into other peoples heads? like project them?

she can read thoughts, and then she can cast illusions, so yes.