EXPERIMENT X

@ rust and stardust

"Nothin' important," Jasmin curled her tongue, "I jus' get kind of out of it." She avoided his gaze. "You can stay!" She said in a rush.

"Wait, Aspen." He drew her back, fingers curling into her waist to draw her back in.

--

"Are you sure?" Damion's eyes were dark with confusion.

--------

Jackson's black boots were scuffed with gravel as he trudged down yet another block of the abandoned city, the afternoon patrol in full swing. His gun bumped against his leg with each step, a heavy reminder of the war and all that it entailed; his first year, his best friend had watched his older brother die in battle. He'd seen a boy he trained with kill himself accidentally by trying to hit someone playfully with the butt of his gun. A humorous jest, a teasing remark, the butt of a gun against someone's arm—the crack, the dark red that grew over his already red shirt and stained it—that was all it took. The entire war had been summed up for him in that one day, and since then, he'd been waiting to wake up, or waiting to die.

"You two will make a handsome pair in red," Their parents had sworn they'd look great in red, pale at first and then darker as they climbed the ranks. And admittedly, they did—but she and her brother had always had the common goal of getting out alive, and not trying to look good whilst doing so. The brunette inched along and cut down any Eastern traps she saw with a careful hand.

@ rust and stardust

"Kraemer, I see something!" Lydia whisper-shouted, pointing a nubby, farm-tanned finger at a blur in the trees.

The "srrnch" of a branch snapping tuned in her ears.

Jasmin heard the onslaught of an army, her stolen pack from a fallen soldier at her shoulder bouncing at her vertebrae, muscle straining to take the impact of each "th-thump" of her supplies against the lightness of her skin, stretched against heavy, brittle bone. A sheen of sweat washed over her tan face. "Go-" She breathed to herself, but wasting energy on words was fruitless.

CRACK.

A branch swung in front of her, and she tripped over her clunky men's boots and fell, upper body taking most of the grunt.

'Get up. Jas, get up. GET UP!' Her mind bellowed, but her spinning mind made everything feel like Wonderland.

---

Damion spat on the ground beside them, using a stick to feel around for any well-hidden snares in the fading caramel landscape; leaves concealing traps and bitter cold making it harder and harder to focus.

@ k1ssmysass

He'd only brought a few with him. Their squadron consisted of thirty-four members exactly, including himself. 20 men, 14 women. Lydia, a girl from the South with an accent to show for it—he made it a point to learn the names and one solid thing about each of his soldiers to establish some sort of relationship between colonel and inferior—was pointing at a speck in the trees, and as they drew closer, the speck grew into the shape of a person. Drunk or clumsy, perhaps, but a person. The colonel drew his gun and motioned for the others to follow, already assuming they'd know to hold their fire until told or signaled otherwise. The girl, who'd just tripped and fallen onto her stomach, was in Red, but looked like she'd gone to hell and come crawling back. "State your name, troop number, and the officer you work under."

-

Her hair was pulled into a long, silky brown ponytail that swung slightly as she walked, dipping and swaying with her motion and the wind combined. She bent down to cut the ropes of another trap—this one obviously meant for a human—and glanced over at her companion. "Holding out alright?"

@ rust and stardust

They were an odd bunch, and by the look of disconcern that crossed Jasmin's face, she wasn't impressed with the show-and-tell of their raised firearms.

"Jesus, can't a girl black out in peace? Jasmin - my name - my name is Jasmin. I'm rogue." Her tongue felt fuzzy, like a cat's.

Her fingers curled into the dry soil, searching for something to boost herself up with.

Her limp blonde hair was caked with mud and grease from days of neglect, and her arms were marked with faded bruises dabbling them, most of them looking far less angry and more yellow.

"Ain't someone going to help me up?" She asked disdainfully.

---

"Bored half to fuckin' death, I'll tell you that much." He snorted. His mop of his prized blonde locks were tied into a braid. "Anyway, yeah, sweetheart - what about you?"

@ k1ssmysass

Rogue. What the hell was she doing wearing a red shirt, then, and why was she flailing around on their land? "You're within the city limits. Deserters get no-man's land and that's it. If you're rogue, get out of here." He stepped closer, gun still pointed at her. Someone awkwardly stepped forward to lend her an out of place hand.

-

"Great. But if you're that bored, I can save one of these human traps for you to step into and we can time how long it takes me to get you down." She said sarcastically, pausing to look around.

@ rust and stardust

Jasmin wobbled on her feet, but her hand was secure in theirs as she steadied herself. "There're scouts from blue cuttin' down y'alls traps." She said by means of explanation, eyeing the person who offered their hand with beady, almond shaped eyes of thanks.

---

"Cute. Thought you couldn't get any cuter, sweetheart." His stick caught in a snare, cutting off his snort.

@ k1ssmysass

"They're our soldiers in blue, and they're cutting down Eastern traps." Not that that had anyhing to do with her being here, on his land, without a decent explanation. "I need an explanation."

-
"I didn't know it was possible either." She found that no other traps were anywhere to be found, and stopped. "Should we head back?

@ rust and stardust

She gave him a weary "no shit" look. "I'm running." Airy on her feet, as if she was faraway and only her physical body lingered, she lifted the edge of her shirt, the frayed seams catching at her gnawed to the quick nails. Lifting her shirt to the loose underwire of her bra, she exposed a long line of bruising that wrapped around her taut rib cage, fresh and achy looking, deep blossoms of watercolor purples and blues exposed. "That's when I wouldn't sleep with their leader after two nights of being there. Any questions - comments?" Not letting anybody's eyes linger, she dropped the swatch of fabric. Her tongue poked around the ragged, fleshy inside of her cheek, eyes assessing the crowd; looking for something to focus on.

---
"Yeah." He agreed gruffly.

@ k1ssmysass

He glanced at the deep bruises that lined her ribs, and listened to the reason for her leaving, but it still wasn't enough for him to lower his gun. "Deserters are shot. You fight for your country or you die at the hands of it. What'll it be?"

-

Aspen turned and started back in the direction they'd come, dark brown hair swinging behind her like a horse tail. Her legs, long and lean, resembled that of a racehorse. Her father had told her so when he'd taken her to the races one weekend morning. She'd liked the comparison, and it stuck.

@ rust and stardust

"Please don't treat me like an idiot. I'll fight - obvi," Jasmin white-knuckled her backpack, gnawing on the side of her mouth.

Once her decision was made, Lydia was quick to approach. "Hun, let me fix your hair once we get back. You look like a rat." She smoothed a hand over a tangle in the younger woman's hair, stirring a toothy smile out of her.

"Thanks, it ain't my best look." Jasmin kept her voice low.

--

Damion jogged to catch up, giving her pony tail a gentle, playful tug. "What's on your mind, sweetheart?" He quipped before spitting in the dry earth.

@ k1ssmysass

The man rolled his eyes when Lydia approached and talked about the girl's hair, reaching out a hand to smooth a bump in Jasmin's hair. "Johnson, take three others and finish the patrol. The rest of you, we're heading back to the base."

He pulled softly on her ponytail and she grinned, shaking her head. "Just business. It's been a while since we've had any real trounle, which means it shouldn't be long, right?"

@ rust and stardust

"Lemme' take that, yankee girl," Without further comment, Lydia plucked Jasmin's bag from her shoulder and slung it over her arm.

Jasmin limped ahead to catch up to Jackson, but on her it looked more like a savvy strut.

"Thanks for not putting a hole in me. I mean, another hole-"

---

"We've got this shit down, sweetheart." Damion stroked down her pony tail, hard, steely eyes softening.

@ k1ssmysass

He turned his head slightly to look at her. "Don't count your blessings yet," He'd have to have someone question her further later, though there was no way of knowing whether her claims about her old officer were true.

-

"But that's probably the worst attitude to have right now," Grayson thought Jackson should've been planning a direct attack, but he'd yet to make his plans clear.

@ rust and stardust

"I got no worries. You don't seem so sketchy." Jasmin locked eyes with a random soldier, head inclining languorously.

--

"You need to calm down for a sec, sweetheart. We're ready, all right?" He lowered his voice.

@ k1ssmysass

"I don't know what rank you were in the squadron you ran from, but whatever it is, you're starting over here." There was a sort of arrogance about her that he refused to entertain.

-

Aspen glanced his way, and then slowly nodded, figuring he'd only argue with her until she was forced to maintian false composure to shut him up if she didn't. Once they reached the base, she held the door open for him and slinked in after him.

@ rust and stardust

"Fair enough-" Jasmin blinked fatigue out of her eyes, dark swirls of color invading her peripheral vision.

"Almost there!" Lydia informed merrily, the cheer behind the group. She was like their personal pep club.

--

"Meet me in the cafeteria later, sweetheart. Don't miss me too much." He wagged his eyebrows.

@ k1ssmysass

Her enthusiam often got annoying, but Jackson was sometimes thankful for her aggravating optimism. Sometimes. He didn't like how easily she'd trusted the girl they'd just picked up, but the man could ont do so much. The man swung the door open and motioned for the raggedy girl to follow, letting the others pass before him.

-

"Don't worry," She called after him, a playful gleam in her eyes. Aspen then turned and jogged upstairs to shower and change her clothes.

@ rust and stardust

Lydia dumped Jasmin's bag off in front of the tiny, hunched over woman. "I took the bullets outta' her gun and discarded her two knives. I'll give 'em back later, Yankee." With a wink at the pair, she vanished, the last one into the building.

"I need to sit down." Jasmin's fingers pressed into the wall for support, bones straining against her mud-stained hoodie, pushing against her skin as she leaned over.

--

Boy, was Aspen something.

With a roll of his eyes, he took a quick left and vanished into his room, stripping his shirt and not bothering with a shower just yet, choosing to laze around instead.

@ k1ssmysass

The man nodded and dismissed Lydia, grateful that she'd known what to do with the weapons without having to be told. "Have a seat in here," He guided the muddy girl into what served as an interrogation room, and motioned to a chair.

-

The girl trotted downstairs half an hour later with damp hair. She planned onnstriking out on another patrol after eating and lounging around a little; Damion would probably follow her into it.