Tisis-N24

     "Can you give me one of them, please?" Sirus says after shaking his head. I pick up one of my hairs from the ground and hand it over to him. He takes the two ends of the hair and pulls them, noticing that my hair isn't as weak as he believes them to be.

     I smirk at him in amusement. "I take it, you didn't know that Asmodei hair does not tear easily?"

     He looks back at me. "No, I didn't . . . but why? I mean—"

     "Our hair is a symbol of our status . . ." I interrupt him, I already know what his question is, there's really no need for me to hear the whole thing. "My hair represents the void between the countless stars . . . the void that Asmotitis left behind," I explain. "Our hair is very strong . . . I don't know how strong exactly, but I do know, that we need special scissors to cut it cleanly . . . come to think of it . . . I probably won't be able to tend to my hair properly any more . . ."

     I can't imagine not tending my hair carefully . . . but I can't go off hoping of getting off Tisis . . . the ship is destroyed so no familiar faces will find us and anyone from Asmodeus believes we're dead because we have gone two hundred years without contacting them. No one is out searching for us . . . we're stuck here and this is my lifestyle from now on. I'll lose all my hair for using it to sew anything we need and it'll be harder to get more of if it isn't cared for properly. That saying I always found so silly . . . makes more sense to me now. A girl's hair is her life . . .

     "So . . . you're saying this hair is really strong . . . let me try something . . ." I look up at him as he runs his hand through his hair. I notice when I become a little sad, he completely changes the subject to switch the mood or else it will be awkward. He takes a small strand from his head, pulls, and it comes apart with little effort. "Good . . . take as many single hairs as you need . . . one after the other. We'll see how well it holds. If it rips, we'll have to use more hairs next time."

     I furrow my brows at him. He wants to waste MY hair and wants to experiment little by little to see how it holds? "Then . . . why don't we use more hairs to begin with? You know . . . to be sure." Sure, I may be using more hair than needed, but we don't know that. Better use a little more on one go than little on multiple goes.

     "Good point. But you just said that we'd need special scissors we don't have to cut your hair . . . which means that the resource "Asmodea hair" is very limited . . . even more than I originally thought . . . and that's why I want to start saving them straight from the start . . . especially since we'll most likely need a lot of them . . . the pouch, new clothes and so on . . . I'm pretty sure, as we stay here, there will be more need for sewing and stuff . . . and until we find a better source for "thread", we'll need to preserve as much of your hair as we can."

     I nod in agreement and start running my fingers through my hair to pick all the dead hair out. Better to use them than to pull them out forcefully. I count up to six strands of hair before putting them through the hole of the needle before I start working on the pouch. I have been taught how to sew since I was a seedling, so I can finish this within minutes.

     In the corner of my eye, I see Sirus examining the corpse we brought with us. No doubt wondering if the needles as really poisonous like he says. He takes the thing apart and looks into the inside of the thing with great interest.

     I tighten my hairs around the thing before I continue sewing. With fur, it's tougher to tighten a thread around, especially the scalp of it. It's smarter to keep tightening the pouch now. And since the thing is meant to carry our water supply, I should wear the hole so we are able to open and close the bag.

     Suddenly, I hear a chain of events from my side where Sirus is and see him scrambling back from the corpse he took apart. I can't help but let out a short giggle in amusement just by looking at his startled expression. "Do I even WANT to know what you just did?" I ask. He doesn't answer me at all. Still a little nervous at what happened just now. I finish the rest of my work and toss it to his lap, showing I finished my work. I pat his shoulder and say, "YOU go fetch water. And I clean up the mess you made here. Understood?"

     He nods without a word, gets up with the bag in his hand, and leaves to the river. I get up and look to the damn thing we brought with us. The shell that carries all the needles is to the side, one stray needle at the other side of the cave that he must have startled him and make such a fuss. The ugly thing is taking up so much room . . . Sirus wants to examine the shell, why does he bother to keep the rest of the carcass?

     I drag the thing outside the mouth of the cave, knowing how big it is it will take a long time for it to burn to ash and it would smoke the whole cave within minutes. I start a fire and pile sticks all around it and burning all the sticks. It's taking a really long time burning the thing. I notice as the fire completely consumes the creature that the flesh is already black, probably because the thing was infected and the parasite that infected it caused its flesh to rot.

     I see Sirus approaching from his trip back from the river. I immediately make a stand to tie the pouch to heat it over the fire and finish making it by the time he makes it. He ties the pouch over the fire and mumbles, "That thing's a freaking rocket launcher . . ."

     I look up at him with a puzzled look. "I think you should find us something to eat now . . . and when you're back, I want that thing to be gone from your mind, unless it's how we will actually USE it. Understood? Honestly, it's like you're obsessed with this freak of nature . . ." I say without thinking.

     He looks back at me and blinks. "Fine, I'll get us something to eat . . . but just for you to know . . . that sounded almost like a command . . . I'm open for suggestions . . . but you can NOT command me. Understood?"

     Oh . . . now he's getting on my nerves now. I give him a stern look and point to my gun strapped to my belt. "This little guy here says, you should take my "friendly requests" before they BECOME orders. Understood?" If he wants to be rude to me he best not expect me to take it. I WILL fight back and I actually have a weapon to help me win an argument.

     He huffs and leaves without a word. I sigh and look back at the fire burning the thing. Wonder how long it will take to burn . . . I wonder . . . if the creatures here have fireproof skin and fur . . . wouldn't that meant that the creatures here aren't afraid of going near flames? Having a fire during the night would risk our survival . . . we have only been lucky the past few nights . . .

     I take the pouch away from the flames after I see it steaming for a few minutes. This time I'll let him take the first sip. I don't remember seeing him drink anything yesterday when we discovered the fur is fireproof.

     That and he did end up protecting me from the poisonous thing earlier today . . .