[B&E, Transi/Itak/Iran, public]

She could hear a disturbance in the crops nearby, and she nearly screamed at first, not knowing who or what it was. But then there was a thump at her feet, and she was embraced out of nowhere. Breath caught in her throat, it wasn't until she put a hand to his nose (unmistakable, even though she'd only felt it once before) that her heartbeat stopped hammering her whole body, and she was able to relax.

But that didn't mean she wasn't confused. Who was this person, who beat up a man one minute for seemingly no reason, and then held her for seemingly equally as little reason next? Who was she to him? It was all somewhat baffling, but she wasn't going to fight it. For one thing, she didn't want to risk being the next Arash, but also...something about it felt okay. Perhaps it was some sort of Stockholm Syndrome-type of thing.

When he lifted her off of the ground and took her back, she didn't object. It felt safe--she'd always enjoyed heights.

As the two returned, Itakshir hastened to help his injured friend into the back seat of the vehicle (he sure as hell was not going to make him sit up front with his attacker). He didn't see Arash as being weak. He saw him as someone who'd been wrongly beaten up by someone stronger than him, for no justifiable cause. Other than that it was just not right, he wasn't sure why he felt so strongly about it, but he did.

That being said, he didn't hold it against either of them. Other than that he now made a note for future reference to never piss off Cosim. A difficult thing for him, seeing as he normally just said whatever came to mind, with little forethought.

After giving Arash a fortifying pat on the back, he moved to reclaim his seat in shotgun, grinning somewhat nervously at the new driver.

((WOW NO DIALOGUE WHATSOEVER--))

He finally reached the camp, only a few lights still left lit outside the caravans. One of them lit up a tired looking Güzäl, who stood up and walk to the car where it stopped.

"Jesus... Could you have come back any later?" she complained. "I've been up all night for you shits, and you don't even--" Her eyes rested on the girl who was being helped out of the car. "Holy balls." She looked at cosim, then a her, then back to her brother. "Found another oppressed soul, Aga?"

He just rolled his eyes. "Look after her-- get her cleaned up, okay? She lives here, now."

What? There was hardly any room left in the women's cars. But she knew that look in his eyes when he got it-- he wasn't going to take anything about it. He briefly went over her condition in Moldovan so she wouldn't be embarrassed. Güzäl nodded. "What's her name?"

"Sofia."

The woman touched the newcomer's shoulder. "Nice to meet you, Sofia-- I'm Güzäl. Her grip moved to the girl's arm, avoiding the burns. "Follow me, I'll get you some fresh clothes and hopefully a bed." This didn't seem as fancy an offer mystique would have... But it was all they had. "Are youhungry?" She led her away from the group, shooting glances at her brother, telling him not to worry.

Arash stepped out of the car after Zahorchak was out of it. He didn't want to be next to him. He didn't want to have to see him with his puffy and bruised eyes. Arash hated the idea of being below others. He hated people who thought they were above others. He hated them so much, now he hated Zahorchak. He was about to be friendly with Zahorchak, until they ran into this incident. It took a long time for Arash to warm up to people- and he almsot had here, but he took any idea of friendship back.

"...." He didn't want to look at Itakshir, either. He just wanted to go to the camp medic, and get himself fixed up. He carried off on his own, away from his friend... and Zahorchak. He was so ashamed to be in a place like this. His eyes carried on to the dusty ground. He held the wet robe tight in his hands, like one would carry a security blanket. He rubbed his broken nose again.

He wanted so bad to just get this nose fixed, his face fixed, and go to bed next to his mother. He would skip his prayer tonight. He find someway to justify doing so.

The car slowed down--and this time, not just for a red light--and butterflies swept through her stomach as she realized she was at her new home. Would she like it? She had no idea, but nothing could be worse than the place she'd come from.

It seemed the minute she was helped out of the car, though, she was handed off to someone else. The second she was in the hands of the stranger girl, she felt the security slip away, and she almost reached back for his fingers on reflex. But...no, this made sense. What did she expect, that this man was going to take care of her? Have her sleep in the same place as the other men, or the two of them alone, even, so that she could be with him? Where had she even gotten such a ridiculous notion?

As she was walked off with the other girl, she waved goodbye behind her in the direction that she thought he was in. Really, she was way off. But she tried. She hoped he wouldn't forget her by the next morning.

"No, I'm not hungry," she replied quietly, keeping her voice down just in case people were sleeping nearby (she didn't know where they were, really). After a moment of silence, she reached up with her free hand to rub her eyes, which were threatening to spill over with tears. In a choked voice, she said, "S-sorry... I just...I haven't slept in a bed in so long..." They were tears of relief.

--

Well...everyone was going their separate ways, it seemed. Itakshir wasn't quite sure how it had ended up like this. Despite their initial failure (or had it been a failure? They had, after all, gotten a source of information, and stolen away revenue from Mistique), everything had been going well until one seemingly innocuous word had been uttered. He still didn't know what an 'Arab' was, but he doubted it was so terrible that it should cause something like this.

Then again, fights had been started over stupider things. He'd seen plenty of that in his childhood...hadn't he?

Giving a somewhat salute-like, but more easy-going, gesture to Cosim, as if to say 'later', he went to go catch up with Arash. He didn't like to see people sulk. Especially not alone. Especially not when it was his friend. He may have been simple, he may have been ignorant, but at least Itakshir could not be called a poor comrade.

For a while, he just walked alongside him while saying nothing, hands jammed in his pockets. But then he caught sight of the robe again and had to ask something that had been nagging at the back of his mind, "Are you gonna go back? That girl--the one who gave you that--she invited you into one of the tents, yeah?" Sounded like a way to get past security had just been handed over to them...though he wondered if there would be more to it for the Iranian. He grinned slightly. He was no expert on romance or love, just love-making, but he saw that the girl was hot. It was probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for poor Arash.

Cosim watched them leave, sad to see her go but knowing she was in good hands (as long as she didn't mind dogs). Was that... A wave? Was it to him? What if it wasn't? He looked in the direction of the wave-- no one there. It must have been for him, he thought, a smile growing on his face.

Then he noticed Itakshir's lazy salute, and remembered that he had beaten their other friends face to a pulp. ...Oh well. Nothing he could do about it now. Once the two girls were out of sight, he kicked the gravel under his feet before turning on his heel and walking to the men's caravan.

----

Güzäl saw her troubled expression as she was pulled away from the one who had brought her there and laughed a little once they were far enough away. "Don't worry, I'm his sister," Sort of. "If I do anything that makes you unhappy, my ass is on the line. He would be very upset."

It was difficult leading a blind person around for the first time. She had to help her up the steps into the girl's car... Step by step. Once she was in the light (hopefully the others wouldnt wake up because of it) she appraised the condition she was in. The dress had to go, too unpractical. She seriously needed to wash up, too, she had pieces of wheat in her hair. She almost wanted to hear the story. Until she started crying. Güzäl put her in a chair and dipped a cloth laying around into a water bucket, wiping the dirt off her face as well as her tears with it.

But Jesus... Mystique really was inhumane. "Well, now you'll have one all to yourself." Hopefully. There seemed to be space for one for someone as small as her. She cleaned her off as well as she could, then stood back.

Her feet. They looked so badly ruined... What had she been doing? Running? Güzäl did her best to clean her feet off before wrapping them in gauze Shahnaz had laying around (for Arash, but she wouldn't mind her using it).

Now, clothes. No one would bother if their clothes were taken for a good cause. Of course not. She gathered what she could for her to wear the next day, and stole one of the Iranian woman's nightgowns (She wouldn't mind, and the two were roughly the same size, anyways), quickly switching it for the dress.

After pulling the reeds from her hair, she looked at the girl's reflection in the mirror as if she could see it, too. "There. All fixed up."

Arash would have rejected anyone else's prescence (except his own mother's), at any other time for the same situation. But then for some reason, he did not want to reject Itakshir. Arash looked down on Itakshir. But now he almost looked down on him with admiration? Those that were 'better' than Arash, those that Arash should look up to, Arash hated. Itakshir was better at things Arash didn't really think about, seemingly unimportant things. He was better at kindness. Then what feelings was that deserving of? Could kindness scrape away pride?

They were silent for a while, as they tried to find their way through the dark and dust. Arash had gone to the unofficial doctor many times before. His mother could not heal all wounds, only light outer wounds and deep inner wounds.

Itakshir spoke up. Arash listened. He was silent. Was he going to go back? She'd probably figure out the connection between the boys and the missing girl. She'd probably reject her offer, and turn Arash in. Arash wasn't stupid. He knew she only gave him the robe by chance. She didn't give it as a token of her love, or anything. It was something dirty, and something to throw away, it was dispensable. She gave it to someone who was also dispensable.

However, it was a little touching. It was recognition in a way, she recognized that Arash mattered. Arash knew that he was ugly- it had been explicitly stated before, by Güzäl and then by others. Women didn't like Arash, that was a well known fact. Arash didn't know how to treat women. Part of him wanted to look at them like Itakshir did, but he knew he wasn't supposed to. He pushed them away, but that didn't mean he didn't want them. That didn't mean he didn't think about them.

This woman was attractive. She could have given her robe to an attractive man- she could have given it to Itakshir, but she gave it to Arash.

He rubbed his bloodied and broken nose.

"I don't know."

That was all he could really say about it. By that time they reached the unofficial doctor's office. Arash knocked, the doctor woke up, and came out. He seemed tired, but one look at Arash's face, and he knew he had to do his duty. A doctor in Mistique would probably reject him. If Arash's broken nose had to wait another day, the doctor would not suffer. The doctor for the Ragtags wasn't being payed for overtime, but he accepted Arash in.

Arash shot one last glance at Itakshir, he forced something of a smile, there was a small wave. Then Arash was gone, into the car.

((FFF- WHAT IS THIS EVEN. :l SORRY, Intense waaaangst here, I had to write it all out. AND THERE ARE ONLY THREE SPOKEN WORDS.)