Disclaimer: DOn't own, Talin's mine, blablabla

11

Talin sat on a beam high up the air, her bare legs dangling over the side. She'd finally decided to put on the leather clothes her brothers often wore. These had zippers on them so she could take off the bottom half of the legs, turning them into comfortable shorts. She had on a black tanktop with the back cut out, leather strings crisscrossing over it to keep it shut. She also had a leather jacket that covered her arms and cut short in the front, the back splitting and going to her ankles. She'd left it on the floor with the pant-legs. Her boots went up to her knees, and they tied shut with red leather strings. They had a slight heel on them, and she smiled a little at that. She remembered when Daj had taken her to the biker store that they had all gotten their clothes from.

"It's not that hard, Talin. Ugh. You always take this so much more seriously than us. We just found what we liked and tada!"
"Yeah? Well I'm smarter than you, that's why. I'm getting these pants so I'm not sweating all the time, and my thighs don't chafe. The jacket covers me when I'm cold or we're riding. Much smarter!"
"And the heels?"
"It's a slight one! And it's not a stiletto stick heel, it's a big thick one. I got that cuz I like it. So there!"

Talin laughed as she remembered the annoyed smirk on Daj's face. So many good times...they seemed so far away now.
"Talin! Get down from there, you're going to hurt yourself!" Loz suddenly called up.
"Shut up or I'll jump off, you loon!" She yelled back.
Loz stalked away, sulking. That had been the 3rd time he'd yelled at her. Talin just smiled and lay back ont he beam, taking in the small beams of sunlight that filtered in through the thick canopy of branches above. She hummed to herself sweetly, swinging her legs to the small tune.
"Talin!"
Talin rolled onto her side and screamed, "What?!"

All three of them stood below, staring up at her with surprised looks on their faces.
"Lunch?" Daj asked more quietly.
Sighing and shaking her head, Talin stood, and then jumped off the beam, to their horror. But she landed, seemingly unaffected by the height.
"It's about time. I'm starving." She said.
They all sat down and ate some very sad looking sandwhiches. One slice of ham, turkey, and cheese per sandwich...no mayo or anything else. But Talin ate it happily, glad to silence the rumbling in her tummy.

"So....what do we do now?" Yaz asked, turning to Daj.
"I figured we stay here for a while, wait until things calm down, and in the meantime we can gather supplies and disguise ourselves."
They all remained quiet. How sad, that they had gotten to the point that they were going into hiding...

"It doesn't have to be that way, little sister." A smooth voice purred.
Talin flinched, not suspecting Seph's newest annoyance: Getting inside her head.
"What do you want now?"
"Someone's in a bad mood. I'm just saying...oh never mind, who listens to me?"
"Exactly."

Talin ignored Seph's outburst of anger, and then growled at the headache he was giving her. Again. No wonder Daj used to be so cranky all the time. Mother yelled a lot. Curiously, she looked at Daj. He'd been a lot better since Mother had gone away, but she still wondered... was she completely gone?
"She's gone. For now."
"Shut up Seph, no one asked you."
"You did."
"Get outta my head asshole!"

Suddenly Yaz chucked a half-inflated football at Loz's head, causing a very clumsy game of tackle football. And Talin realized that even if they were hiding, even if they were cowering and being hunted, she could still find some happiness.

"It won't stay that way. WHy do you always choose the easy way out?"
"I don't. I choose survival."
"Survival? RUnning is survival now? HA! Why not just kill your threat and live normally again? As you call normal..."
"Not everyone wants to destroy the world."
"Oh well. You still owe me. Just remember that."
"I remember. And you bugging the shit out of me and giving me brain tumors wasn't part of the deal!"

Talin argued with Seph all day. ALL DAY. And halfway into the night. It seems, aftaer all, Seph was here to stay.