Peanut Butter and Cherry Vanilla
Title: The Prisoner's Number
Author: d353r7r47
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,527
Challenges: Peanut Butter #7 (Light); Cherry Vanilla #13 (Deus ex Machina)
Summary: Jhera and Gharak are interviewed by the Warden and are put through some tests.
A/N: as before, comments are always welcome! And Merry Christmas (well, almost)!
Jhera woke up again to the sound of a key rattling in its lock and looked over to see three men standing outside her cell door.
"Get up," the one in the back barked.
Jhera glared at him, but stood up slowly as the other two officers rushed in and each grabbed one of her arms, pulling her out into the hallway. Farther down, she could see Gharak being led by three more officers.
They were brought into a room together. This room had dark walls, a table, and three chairs. One of the chairs was occupied by what appeared to be a tall man with a stern face. The stars on his jacket identified him as the Warden.
They were forced into the two remaining chairs son the opposite side of the table from the Warden. The officers that had brought them there were dismissed.
"Alright, so this is how this will work," the man said. "I am Warden Sebright and you are in Central City's Eastern Sector Jail. I am going to ask you both a few questions about what happened yesterday and we will see how things go from there."
When neither of them said anything, he began.
"We'll start with some easy ones. What are your names and ages?"
"Jhera, 20."
"Gharak, 20."
"And you are both from one of the Tribes?"
"Really? Do you think so? I never would've guessed," she crossed her arms and glared at him with both her eyebrows raised.
Gharak smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Indeed. Now answer the question."
"Yes," said Gharak.
"Would you care to tell me which one?" The Warden crossed his arms and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
"No, not particularly," Gharak replied, causing the Warden to narrow his eyes slightly.
"well, it's a good thing you don't have a choice now isn't it?"
"The Southern Tribe," Jhera added, watching the Warden's reaction.
His gaze snapped to her. "You are aware that the Southern Tribe has a reputation for being the most barbaric and...blood-hungry?"
It was Jhera's turn to narrow her eyes. "I'd think we'd be award of that, though I hadn't realized that practicing blood magic meant that one was blood-hungry."
"And does that mean that you practice blood magic?"
She was about to answer as Gharak cut in, "I don't believe that's any of your business."
"I see," Warden Sebright said, looking back and forth between the two prisoners sitting in front of him. "We will come back to this later. Now, what happened yesterday to make the girl start screaming in the street?"
"Why should we tell you? Your kind is too prejudiced to believe anything said by something from the Tribes. Especially someone from the Southern Tribe," Gharak replied.
"While I may not really care what you have to say, I am required to ask."
"The girl was being chased by her friends, ran into me, my hood fell back some, she saw my skin color, and she started screaming."
"That's it?"
"Yes," Gharak answered.
"Now I will ask this again," he directed toward Jhera. "Do you practice blood magic?"
"I don't see why it would matter if I did or not."
"So you are not willing to answer the question then?"
"No," Jhera said, glaring at him again.
"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway," he turned to the mirror and nodded. "There are other ways to find the answer."
As he finished talking, the door opened and the same officers from earlier returned and escorted them out of the room.
They were taken into separate rooms. The one Jhera was brought into seemed to be a waiting room of sorts, where she was told to sit until they were done with Gharak.
It was an hour or so before she was brought into the room that they had initially taken Gharak.
~~~~~~~~~~
The room that she entered looked like any other hospital room, with white walls and bright lights hanging overhead. The only difference about this room was that it had a chamber hooked up to a large machine that covered most of the far wall.
She was having trouble getting used to the lights and she wanted to get away from them as soon as possible. After living in the desert for her entire life, she should be used to bright lights because of the ever-present sun, but there was just something so fake about the ones in the room.
"Welcome Jhera," said the woman in the room. "I have some tests I need to run on you. We'll start with just a normal checkup to assess your physical health and then we will continue on to some other tests to gauge and measure your magic."
"So in other words, you want to check to see if I have any weird Tribal diseases and if I use blood magic," Jhera said in a bored tone.
"Yes, I guess you could say that," the woman said with a slight smile before ordering the officers out of the room and holding out a tank top and a pair of shorts. "First, I will ask you to change into these, and then we will get started."
After the physical tests were done, the woman said, "everything seems to be quite fine with your health, though I must ask about those markings on your arms. I've never seen anything like them before."
When Jhera kept quiet, she added "oh, I'm sorry! I really shouldn't have asked, I know its not any of my business and not part of the tests, but they're beautiful and I was curious..."
"It's alright," Jhera have her a small smile, "I got them in a coming-of-age ritual. It's part of your magical maturity in out Tribe." She looked in the mirror at the writing running down the outsides of her arms, from her shoulders to just past her wrists. They were a few shades lighter than her skin tone and they were so much a part of her that she rarely even noticed them anymore.
"Thank you for sharing that with me," and noticing Jhera's discomfort, she added, "let's start with the magical tests, then shall we? I won't explain how this machine works, especially since I'm not even sure how it works myself. It survived through the wars, but the actual mechanical plans for it didn't. We only know what it does and how to get the results out of it, but we don't know how it comes up with the results. All we do know is that it's really complicated. I'll just ask you to step inside this chamber and stand as still as possible."
Jhera nodded and did as she was told. After a few minutes, she was allowed out of the chamber and saw the confused look on the woman's face.
"This can't be right," the woman muttered under her breath and looked at the results again before turning to Jhera and telling her she could change back into her other clothes.
When she was changed, the woman let the officers back in and said, "there's one more thing that needs to be done before you will be taken back to your cell." Jhera noticed that the woman seemed to have trouble looking at her now, almost as if she was too scared to do so.
~~~~~~~~~~
The room she was brought to next also had white walls and bright lights, but this room was much smaller and only had a machine in the middle of the room. Another officer sat in a chair next to the machine and the Warden stood in the corner.
"So, Jhera, this is what will happen. Your arm will be put inside this machine and it will permanently put your prisoner's number in your skin along the inside of your wrist," with that, she nodded to the officers and they held her down in another chair while the other officer took her arm and put it in the machine.
The process was painful, but she continued to look directly into Warden Sebright's eyes throughout the entire thing. She refused to let any of the pain she was feeling show on her face or in her posture.
She was brought back to her cell and shoved roughly inside when the procedure had been finished. The door was shut and locked and the officers left. Only once they were gone, did she look at the tattoo on the inside of her right wrist. Written in black was the number: PX6Q479.
She laid back and went over the day's events in her head and hoped that Gharak was doing well, considering she hadn't seen him again since they had left the room where they were interviewed by the Warden.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure that these are correct?" Warden Sebright asked the woman, who had brought him the results of both Jhera and Gharak's physical and magical tests when he had returned to his office.
"I'm positive. The machine was working fine when I tested the boy. His results were in a normal range, the machine was definitely working right," she replied.
"Well, this is quite interesting."
Author: d353r7r47
Rating: G
Word Count: 1,527
Challenges: Peanut Butter #7 (Light); Cherry Vanilla #13 (Deus ex Machina)
Summary: Jhera and Gharak are interviewed by the Warden and are put through some tests.
A/N: as before, comments are always welcome! And Merry Christmas (well, almost)!
Jhera woke up again to the sound of a key rattling in its lock and looked over to see three men standing outside her cell door.
"Get up," the one in the back barked.
Jhera glared at him, but stood up slowly as the other two officers rushed in and each grabbed one of her arms, pulling her out into the hallway. Farther down, she could see Gharak being led by three more officers.
They were brought into a room together. This room had dark walls, a table, and three chairs. One of the chairs was occupied by what appeared to be a tall man with a stern face. The stars on his jacket identified him as the Warden.
They were forced into the two remaining chairs son the opposite side of the table from the Warden. The officers that had brought them there were dismissed.
"Alright, so this is how this will work," the man said. "I am Warden Sebright and you are in Central City's Eastern Sector Jail. I am going to ask you both a few questions about what happened yesterday and we will see how things go from there."
When neither of them said anything, he began.
"We'll start with some easy ones. What are your names and ages?"
"Jhera, 20."
"Gharak, 20."
"And you are both from one of the Tribes?"
"Really? Do you think so? I never would've guessed," she crossed her arms and glared at him with both her eyebrows raised.
Gharak smirked and leaned back in his chair.
"Indeed. Now answer the question."
"Yes," said Gharak.
"Would you care to tell me which one?" The Warden crossed his arms and leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.
"No, not particularly," Gharak replied, causing the Warden to narrow his eyes slightly.
"well, it's a good thing you don't have a choice now isn't it?"
"The Southern Tribe," Jhera added, watching the Warden's reaction.
His gaze snapped to her. "You are aware that the Southern Tribe has a reputation for being the most barbaric and...blood-hungry?"
It was Jhera's turn to narrow her eyes. "I'd think we'd be award of that, though I hadn't realized that practicing blood magic meant that one was blood-hungry."
"And does that mean that you practice blood magic?"
She was about to answer as Gharak cut in, "I don't believe that's any of your business."
"I see," Warden Sebright said, looking back and forth between the two prisoners sitting in front of him. "We will come back to this later. Now, what happened yesterday to make the girl start screaming in the street?"
"Why should we tell you? Your kind is too prejudiced to believe anything said by something from the Tribes. Especially someone from the Southern Tribe," Gharak replied.
"While I may not really care what you have to say, I am required to ask."
"The girl was being chased by her friends, ran into me, my hood fell back some, she saw my skin color, and she started screaming."
"That's it?"
"Yes," Gharak answered.
"Now I will ask this again," he directed toward Jhera. "Do you practice blood magic?"
"I don't see why it would matter if I did or not."
"So you are not willing to answer the question then?"
"No," Jhera said, glaring at him again.
"Well, it doesn't really matter anyway," he turned to the mirror and nodded. "There are other ways to find the answer."
As he finished talking, the door opened and the same officers from earlier returned and escorted them out of the room.
They were taken into separate rooms. The one Jhera was brought into seemed to be a waiting room of sorts, where she was told to sit until they were done with Gharak.
It was an hour or so before she was brought into the room that they had initially taken Gharak.
~~~~~~~~~~
The room that she entered looked like any other hospital room, with white walls and bright lights hanging overhead. The only difference about this room was that it had a chamber hooked up to a large machine that covered most of the far wall.
She was having trouble getting used to the lights and she wanted to get away from them as soon as possible. After living in the desert for her entire life, she should be used to bright lights because of the ever-present sun, but there was just something so fake about the ones in the room.
"Welcome Jhera," said the woman in the room. "I have some tests I need to run on you. We'll start with just a normal checkup to assess your physical health and then we will continue on to some other tests to gauge and measure your magic."
"So in other words, you want to check to see if I have any weird Tribal diseases and if I use blood magic," Jhera said in a bored tone.
"Yes, I guess you could say that," the woman said with a slight smile before ordering the officers out of the room and holding out a tank top and a pair of shorts. "First, I will ask you to change into these, and then we will get started."
After the physical tests were done, the woman said, "everything seems to be quite fine with your health, though I must ask about those markings on your arms. I've never seen anything like them before."
When Jhera kept quiet, she added "oh, I'm sorry! I really shouldn't have asked, I know its not any of my business and not part of the tests, but they're beautiful and I was curious..."
"It's alright," Jhera have her a small smile, "I got them in a coming-of-age ritual. It's part of your magical maturity in out Tribe." She looked in the mirror at the writing running down the outsides of her arms, from her shoulders to just past her wrists. They were a few shades lighter than her skin tone and they were so much a part of her that she rarely even noticed them anymore.
"Thank you for sharing that with me," and noticing Jhera's discomfort, she added, "let's start with the magical tests, then shall we? I won't explain how this machine works, especially since I'm not even sure how it works myself. It survived through the wars, but the actual mechanical plans for it didn't. We only know what it does and how to get the results out of it, but we don't know how it comes up with the results. All we do know is that it's really complicated. I'll just ask you to step inside this chamber and stand as still as possible."
Jhera nodded and did as she was told. After a few minutes, she was allowed out of the chamber and saw the confused look on the woman's face.
"This can't be right," the woman muttered under her breath and looked at the results again before turning to Jhera and telling her she could change back into her other clothes.
When she was changed, the woman let the officers back in and said, "there's one more thing that needs to be done before you will be taken back to your cell." Jhera noticed that the woman seemed to have trouble looking at her now, almost as if she was too scared to do so.
~~~~~~~~~~
The room she was brought to next also had white walls and bright lights, but this room was much smaller and only had a machine in the middle of the room. Another officer sat in a chair next to the machine and the Warden stood in the corner.
"So, Jhera, this is what will happen. Your arm will be put inside this machine and it will permanently put your prisoner's number in your skin along the inside of your wrist," with that, she nodded to the officers and they held her down in another chair while the other officer took her arm and put it in the machine.
The process was painful, but she continued to look directly into Warden Sebright's eyes throughout the entire thing. She refused to let any of the pain she was feeling show on her face or in her posture.
She was brought back to her cell and shoved roughly inside when the procedure had been finished. The door was shut and locked and the officers left. Only once they were gone, did she look at the tattoo on the inside of her right wrist. Written in black was the number: PX6Q479.
She laid back and went over the day's events in her head and hoped that Gharak was doing well, considering she hadn't seen him again since they had left the room where they were interviewed by the Warden.
~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you sure that these are correct?" Warden Sebright asked the woman, who had brought him the results of both Jhera and Gharak's physical and magical tests when he had returned to his office.
"I'm positive. The machine was working fine when I tested the boy. His results were in a normal range, the machine was definitely working right," she replied.
"Well, this is quite interesting."