Doc, Jaden, Medicine and Some Rest (Myself and leonardo de tigre only)

[Mr.Fabulous]

Taking several moments to collect herself, Jaden sighed deep. When she felt ready to answer Doc's questions, she started off, "I... haven't had a menstrual cycle ever since my Rite. It's been awhile since then... I think I was around fifteen years old then? Sixteen? I don't remember... Actually, I don't even remember my birthday, since I haven't been celebrating it ever since Penchant passed away, so I can't say how long ago that was. I think my cycle at the time was normal, not heavy or anything.

"Corsair flight suits are normally quite radiation-resistant, Senor. Not only flight suits, but their ship armor, shields and overall technology are engineered to repel more radiation than your regular House tech. They have to be, on account of how radiation is one of the Empirio's most common hazards. But even without the protection, Corsairs normally can take a lot more rads than even some Zoner clans in a pinch, due to generations of Natural Selection from the Rite."

She took a sigh before continuing, "... As for my flight suit and ship, I try to make them as close to, or exactly as comparable to Corsair-make as possible. Until I got my neutral rep among my people, my ship and flight suit were just as protective as ordinary House tech. Since my exile, I don't frequent radioactive environments all that much, unless I smuggle food shipments back to Crete, which I do at least once a week."

She glanced around a bit as she said, "Eh... The Rite itself wasn't much of a secret, but it's just as emotionally scarring if you're not strong enough for it. Teenagers who've come of age are given by their relatives for the Rite a disposable light fighter to use, stripped of any protection, even basic armor and shielding, while takers are only allowed cheap flight suits to wear. Any stripped Light Fighter would do, but the most commonly used were refurbished CSV's and Starfleas. What we had to do was quite simple: launch into space, head to the Malvada Cloud in Omicron Gamma, mine out at least one artifact among the asteroids, then head back to our familias. Technically, the Rite could be done at any time after you've come of age, which was fifteen years old, but traditionally it's organized and held on the month that coincides with the historical capturing of the Schiller centuries ago. The Elders don't really force us to take the Rite, but you won't be registered as a proper citizen, much less a consenting adult, if you haven't completed your Rite.

"... But what really made the Rite so infamous was the cloud's ever-present dangers." Her eyes narrowed darkly at Docs as she said her next words in an ominous tone, "The asteroids themselves were sharp, fast, and treacherous, and each one spewed high amounts of radiation. The bigger the rocks, the more radiation they gave off, which, along with the thick gases there, scrambled scanner and sensor ranges greatly. You could actually feel yourself getting weaker the more you went closer to some of the larger rocks. And don't get me started on when you had the misfortune to run across a marauding BHG patrol, or Madre-forbid, the so-called Great Spirits you and I call the Nomads... I actually came across one of them in my Rite, forcing me on a long cat-and-mouse chase for the better part of half an hour."

Then she looked away with a feared look as she continued her tale, "But aside from the occasional ion burst, the cloud was almost always silent... eerily silent, Senor. Every moment you were there, you could swear something would suddenly dart from the edge of your view. And since our ships were very unprotected, we had to contend with all the random bullet-speed asteroids passing over our heads that could rip our ship apart in seconds, the radiation bombarding us every second we lingered, and also any hostile patrols we may come across... all the while trying to find our artifact. I'm glad I only stayed less than a day in that hellhole to find one, but it's common practice for takers to bring along supplies to last a few days, if not a week...

"... I hear nine out of ten teenagers that come in, don't make it out the cloud, while a third of those that do survive become Ghosts..."

Jaden let out another sigh before turning to Doc. "So... Are these details enough for you, Senor Holliday? It was radiational that usually turned survivors into Ghosts."

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