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PLEASE READ A Near-Fatal Encounter BEFORE READING THIS LOG.
Xul'Quaras carries the damaged Myini into the previously specified area of the desert. Before them lies a dark, deep mine shaft. It looks pretty creepy, but it's probably a better alternative than a cold desert.
The biting wind and the sand it carries is enough to have the Myini on the edge of despair despite her fur coat. That combined with her wounds makes for a rather insufferable night, all said. She allows herself to be carried, limping where she can, her tail hanging low, defeated.
Xul'Quaras removes her helmet again, creating a bit of a hissing sound as the air inside escapes. She turns to her captive and says, talking loudly over the wind, "Okay, we'll hole up here for the night. I have a few flares on my belt, and we can start a fire with the abandoned railway down there if need be. Ready?”
Seeka peers into the mineshaft for a moment, frowning. "As I'll ever be." She replies, her voice croaky. She sways with the amount of blood she's lost, the amount of blood she left on the sand dune where Xul's shot took a large amount of her chest with it. She'll follow the Idaran wherever she is led.
Xul'Quaras nods and puts her helmet back on, opening a compartment on her wrist, revealing a holographic pad with buttons beneath it. She taps a few and her helmet's night vision turns on. After a moment, she realizes that's not going to work for both of them, and taps another button, activating a high-power flashlight below her wrist. She shines it down the mineshaft, where it's swallowed up by shadow, eliciting a soft sigh from her, but she proceeds anyway. As soon as they enter the shaft, the wind is dampened, and neither feel the effects nearly as much. It can still be heard, but it is very muffled.
A slight dripping can be heard, echoing in the darkness. It takes a moment for Seeka to realise that it's her. The warmth of her own blood floods across her body, now that the sting of the cold night air is dampened. She's still bleeding. Idly she wonders if she'll survive the night. This thought occurs just before she stumbles, and has to rely on Xul'Quaras to keep her upright. "Sorry..." The Myini coughs.
Xul'Quaras catches the Myini right before she falls, sighing and shaking her head as they move along, saying, "Don't worry about it. Just try and focus on other things, hmm? Like maybe the track in front of you." Before long, they reach a wide tunnel off to the side, which Xul leads them into a cavernous, naturally made clearing, of sorts. Bioluminescent mushrooms glow along the walls, and crystals glitter as Xul's flashlight glides over them. She pulls one pistol out with the same hand, aiming it all around before entering completely and saying, "This will work for the night, do you not agree?" It seems strangely filled with life in this area, despite it being underground in the middle of a desert.
Seeka seems oddly comforted by the presence of plant life. As she tries to lower herself down to the ground to sit, she loses balance and falls the rest of the way. Coughing, and wiping blood from her lips, the Myini leans her back against the wall and gives a little sigh of her own. "It wasn't always like this... away from my home..." Another sigh. "I can hear her calling me back... my Circe..
Xul'Quaras holds a finger up to Seeka in a 'hold that thought' sort of fashion and disappears into the shadow, her light flipping off. Several minutes later, heavier footsteps can be heard in front of Seeka, but Xul indicates that it's her by dropping a few planks of wood on the ground, arranging them in a sort of burnable pattern, and shooting the edge with her pulse pistol, which catches it on fire immediately. Finally, in the slowly growing light, her black form can be seen standing in front of the fire, and she seems to be holding a few creatures by the tail. They aren't moving, so they're probably dead. She moves over to the other side of the fire to sit beside Seeka and remove her helmet again, saying, "I'm sure you can survive a single night away from Circe, but your wounds need rebandaging already. Don't over exert yourself."
Falling silent at the 'hold that thought' finger, Seeka slumps against the edge of the mineshaft. The cool rock is somehow comforting, considering her clothing is soaked with her own blood. It's not the same painful cold of the night air above. That's not to say she isn't relieved as fire springs up from the wood, the crackling flames breathing yet more life into haven beneath the desert above. She doesn't move, she doesn't think she has the strength really. "We can survive many more nights away from Circe..." The Myini says, perhaps a little defensively. "But it will always be my home. I do not like the prospect of dying here. My spirit will have far to travel before it can be at rest."
Xul'Quaras hmmms, and then says with a small shrug, "I could always bring your body back to Circe if you do die. As long as your people don't try to make me a walking pincushion first." With that, she falls silent for the moment, finding three sticks amongst her pile of wood and placing two in the ground before pressing another button on her wrist, which makes a long blade slide out of the top part of her gauntlet, and splitting them both at the top. Then, she impales one of the creatures on the third, which one could now discern was some sort of lizard, and places it between the two other sticks over the fire, creating a crude spit.
"You would do that... for me?" Seeka asks, disbelief evident in her voice. Her tail shifts beside her as she studies the Idaran in the fire's light. "I would be grateful... if I should die, the circle of Druids would launch an investigation. Surrender my body to them, they will know what to do with it." For perhaps the first time in too long, she allows herself a brief smile at the thought of being back home. Even if she weren't alive to see it.
Xul'Quaras shrugs a bit, saying with a faint grin, "Off the records, of course. We can't have my people knowing that I let you go, in any sense of the word. I suppose it would actually make my life easier, too, to be honest. If anyone found your body on Idar Prime, they'd suspect me, due to the nature of your wound. I'm one of the few people who still uses a PX-49 Series II energy rifle, and the wounds it makes are unique in that they generally take a sizable chunk of the person's body with them. Or, they just make a hole. Anyway, if that happened, I would be fired, myself. You probably won't die, though I do need to replace your bandages." She takes the field medical pack from her belt and takes a long roll of bandages from it, saying, "You're going to have to expose yourself a bit indecently to me if I am to do this, though. Hope you don't mind."
From the way she moves, Seeka is dead tired. She pushes her limbs into action, sluggishly undoing the clasps of her blood stained robes, allowing them to fall off her in waves of brown and green cloth, until she lies, back against the wall, wearing nothing but the strings of jewellery made from bones and insect shells, and the bloodsoaked bandages she'd managed to wrap hastily around her. They jingle and rattle against one another. Obviously Myini do not hold themselves to the same standards of decency with other races. Her chest bare, even that small excursion leaves her panting for a moment. "Why..." She manages horsely. "Why would you do this... for the enemy?" Her eyes meet the Idaran's a moment, and for a moment the shame of her defeat leaves, and only the question rests on her face.
Xul'Quaras goes to undoing the bandages quickly, though she takes a few glances at the other woman's chest as well, discreetly of course. When she gets the bandages off, she takes a pain-reducing salve and spreads it on the large blast wound, soothing it at least somewhat, and rolling the bandages back around the wounds, pulling them tight as to not allow nearly as much bleeding as the other's hasty job did, "Bleeding spirits, you're not very good at patching yourself up, are you?" To the question, she ponders for a moment, and then says with a touch of a smile, "Well, I have no personal grudge against any individual Myini, though I do believe their actions as a whole warrant war. You're not a threat to me currently, and it wouldn't be so much trouble to get your body to your homeworld with a few pulled strings." Her smile dies, though, as she begins to speak again, "You're still going to have to answer my questions, though."
Speaking of questions, more might spring up when the Myini's bandages are undone. Her wound is nowhere near as big as it should be for the shot she took. Almost as if it had already begun healing, albeit slowly. She doesn't notice the looks to her unclothed form, to tell a truth, she doesn't notice much. From Seeka's perspective, the air itself seems to be shimmering, as if made of liquid. Blood loss and physical exhaustion tend to do funny things to a mind. But she pulls herself together enough to offer another smile at the Idaran's comments, and her new bandages. "Can't say it was ever my specialty..." She admits, looking a little sheepish before coughing again. "And the more I get to know of you, the less I mind answering your questions, Idaran... I've never had the chance to," Another cough. "Speak with one of your race... are they all so... charitable?" Notably she doesn't redress. Perhaps she doesn't possess the strength.
Xul'Quaras shakes her head a bit at that, saying with a faint grin, "Most of my fellow Guard members would have killed you out there, you know. You're lucky I'm the one you ran into. However, as with any society, there are good people and bad people. More good than bad, honestly. So the propaganda I'm sure you recieved saying that 'Idarans are without honor' or 'Idarans eat children' or whatever, none of it's true. I can't blame my friends for hating your people, to be honest...many of us have lost friends and loved ones in this war, which fuels such feelings..." She finishes patching the woman up, handing her a pill as well and saying, "That is an Idaran Guard issued pain killer, top of the line. It's extra strength with no side effects." Her expression grows colder again as she says, "Now, for the questioning."
Xani'Ulun appears to be out on a walk in the desert because, well, he hasn't gotten out of the house in a few days. Hopefully he's gotten his chores list from Xul finished. His eyes are closed as he walks along, and before long he draws close to a mine shaft. Then he hears something that isn't wind, or little desert critters, but echoing voices. His eyes open and he turns in that direction to see a mine shaft and begins walking because hey, curiosity killed the scaley person.
Seeka takes the pill, feeling around her possessions for a bottle of water to chase it down. Without quite managing to screw the top on the ancient looking canteen, it drops from her tired hands and slides to the ground, half emptying in a few moments. Not really caring at the moment, the Myini slumps back against the wall. "Nothing so drastic..." She manages, her voice not as hoarse as it was before. "We believe that the Idarans represent a threat to our way of life... a threat to our planet... we needed no further reason to attack, and to wage war. It's an imperfect system, but it was like that before /I/ was born." Her furred hands fumble for the remains of her robes, which have been shed so that the hole in her abdomen could be bandaged, but she doesn't quite manage to get enough of a grip to pull them back up over her shoulders, and so leaves them where they are for the moment. "I will answer your questions..."
Xul'Quaras catches the canteen as it falls, managing to keep most of the water inside it and handing it back to her prisoner. "Yes, well, I assure you we feel the same way. And now with the Toro Mercantile Authority sticking its nose where it shouldn't, we're fighting on two fronts." She sighs a bit at that, saying, "I'm confident in my abilities and those of my men to be able to turn the tide somewhat, but we can't do everything. Also, do not inform the Myini of any of this, by the way." Then, she stands, and begins her questioning, "Okay, first, what sort of military numbers do your people have? Do they have any ships? I doubt that they would have very many, but you never know what the Authority gives to people."
Xani'Ulun smiles a bit as he recognizes the voice when he gets closer to the scene finally being close enough to listen in easily enough. After too long he begins following the voices and says out loud "Well, I hadn't expected to find you out here, Xul." He isn't in plain sight quite yet, but walking towards the pair. He's more just a very tall silhouette at the moment.
"Of course the Myini have ships..." Seeka sounds a little disbelieving at the question. "We may be an ancient race, steeped in tradition, but we developed the technology for spacecraft a long time ago. How else would we maintain the integrity of our homeworld, Circe, if not for our ability to stripmine other planets where required?" She shakes her head, cringing a little at the waves of nausea that the simple motion brings up. "Though our world is hard on us, and we lose men and women to the hunts every day, we have many more Myini who have yet to take up the call to arms. A world full of people, yet to become desperate enough to stand up for everything we believe in..." Another grimace at the voice. "I will not tell your people, if you don't tell mine. But it seems we're not alone." She doesn't turn to regard the newcomer, she is defeated in spirit as well as body, content to simply slump against the wall.
Xul'Quaras nods slowly at the Myini's answers, saying with a raised brow, "You all claim to be so protective of nature and what not, and you practice strip mining? How is th--" but before she can finish, she hears the voice from behind them. She quickly puts her helmet on, whipping around and taking her PX-49 Series II rifle from her back at the same time, aiming it in the direction of the voice. She presses a button on the side of her helmet and her night vision snaps on, allowing her to see who it is. Lowering her gun, she says in a distorted voice due to the helmet, "Xani..? What are you doing here?"
Xani'Ulun chuckles a bit and replies to her "I haven't gotten out of the house much recently, so I went for a walk in the desert, calm my mind, think a little bit. I heard voices being carried on the wind and decided it couldn't hurt to see what the commotion was. After all, my ears are for more than just framing my face, you know."
"We only take from the dead planets... planets that can support no life," She continues, once it's determined that Xul'Quaras knows the newcomer. It's all the same to her at this point. Fumbling, she takes another drink from her canteen, spilling only a few drops down the fur of her chest. She sniffs and brings her wrist up to wipe the excess water from her lips.
Xul'Quaras nods to Xani and says, a little less cutely than usual when speaking to him, "I guess you can join us, then...but try not to interfere, alright?" She turns again to the Myini, saying slowly, "Hmmm...right...well, what is the size of your fleet? Do your people have any association with the Toro Mercantile Authority whatsoever? How many people live on Circe that are willing and able to fight? What sorts of special forces do you have?" The questions are asked rather rapidly, and she forgets to take her helmet off beforehand, so they sound a lot more intimidating than they should.
Xani'Ulun smirks a bit as he gets closer telling her "Your helmet, babe." He doesn't interfere at all other than that merely content to lean against the back wall with a small smile.
Her panting breath stabilises a little more as time goes on, and though beneath her fur Seeka is still a little too pale for her liking. "Our fleet is strong enough to hold several systems... worst case scenario, we pull back to defend Circe and our primary mining sites. I'm confident we could draw the war out a good ten years defending those systems alone... The Toro Mercantile Authority is currently seeking an audience with the circle of Patriarchs. They are weary, and do not understand why the Idarans undermine themselves. Perhaps it will help us gain the edge in the war. Our special forces are comprised of the Druid, the Shaman and the Patriarchs. It is said that to do battle with a Patriarch is to fight on the side of a living god, though," She coughs again, her mouth drying rather quickly, "I've never had the honour... " For the first time she regards the new male. "You two are... mated?"
Xul'Quaras blinks and takes her helmet off, saying, "Oh, right..." She then nods at all the answers, grimmacing a bit at the part about the Authority, "I do not understand them, either. I have lost personal friends to their treachery, and they've been a thorn in the Quorum's side for a long time. As for the rest, somehow I doubt the Patriarchs are gods." She giggles far too cutely for the situation at hand at the question of mates and she glances over to him, saying, "Yes, many times ove--" She catches herself, her scales turning pink and she covers her mouth, saying a little bit hastily, "Let's stay on topic, yeah?"
Xani'Ulun chuckles a bit and notes to the pair "Technically speaking, The Authority has declared itself neutral in the war. They're probably just looking to hedge their bets to try and be allowed to operate after the war is over, regardless of which side is the winner." To the Myini's question he replies "Yes, nothing more obvious than new love, I know."
Seeka gives a little nod. "You have that look about you..." Her sigh might be considered dreamy. "I'd hoped to have that look myself, one day... but the war has taken much from us. Turned people into warriors, who were never meant to hold a spear." She shakes her head slowly. "The Patriarchs are our best telepathic warriors. The Shaman not far behind them. I don't believe they are living gods... but certainly they're our most capable warriors and leaders."
Xul'Quaras frowns with a still pink look on her face, saying to Xani, "Come on, love, I'm tryin'a interrogate someone. And somehow I doubt the Authority wants to stay neutral. They wouldn't have shot down fleeing civilians if they did." To Seeka, she says with a small nod, grinning a bit, "I'd like to see how one of them would be able to deal with a shot like the one I gave you. A little higher up would be nice, though. Anyway, what are your battle plans for the forseeable future?"
Xani'Ulun smirks a bit to Xul and replies "You don't exactly need to be intimidating at the moment, Xul. Seems you're being rather hospitible, anyway." He looks to the Myini his smirk growing slightly in size at the dreamy nature of her statement.
"I don't get that kind of information... I'm a Druid... we operate largely alone, or as a supplement to a larger force. I compliment the abilities of my squadmates, and am assigned missions by my circle. I'm not high up enough to know the battle plans of the Patriarchs... though I know they're planning something big, and soon. Whispers have come down the ranks of a push to end all pushes. A make or break battle. Time will tell if they are more then rumours... but your people will know before I do, I imagine." Seeka paws at her bandages gently, probing them. She's stopped bleeding at least, for now, and with the aid of her biokinetics, seems to be looking a bit healthier as new blood quickly begins to replace the blood she lost outside.
Xul'Quaras sighs to Xani, saying with hard to conceal endearment, "You're crampin' my style, man!" Turning back to Seeka, she says with a nod, "This will be extremely useful information. Thank you for your cooperation. As I said before, you're lucky I was the one who caught you, but if we meet again in the field, all bets are off. We're still enemies."
Xani'Ulun chuckles lightly and replies to Xul "Hey, if you're going to be hanging around me you'll have to live with a small cramp in your style." To the Myini he adds "If you want my advice, go and sit out the war if your people will let you. Wait for it to end, as all wars eventually do, and find yourself that mate you seem to desire so much."
A small grin parts Seeka's lips, showing off her tombstone shaped teeth, meant for chewing through tough plants. "Still enemies," She agrees, with a little chuckle. It's obvious she's in no condition to fight, and has no intention of trying. "On the battlefield, at least. I'm... glad... things turned out the way they did..." She adds slowly, every word seeming to be a struggle. "I've killed... never knowing Idarans possessed such... potential. It was kill or be kill, but still..." To Xani she adds, shifting her eyes slowly to face him, grin returning to a smile, her tail shifting beside her, "I hope the circle of Druids allow it... I would return to the wilderness to live among the animals of Circe. Maybe even after the war. Animals don't know war, not like we do."
Xul'Quaras pouts over at Xani, saying, "That's not fair, this is work for me, you know!" To Seeka, she responds with a nod, saying, "As am I. I knew not all Myini were so bad, myself, but it's nice to have your theories confirmed every once in awhile. As for leaving the war, I can't I'm part of something bigger than myself, now. It would be traitorous to my people to leave. In all modesty, I'm a pretty big asset to the Guard, leading one of the most reliable units of our time."
Xani'Ulun chuckles a bit to Xul and replies "Yes, that's certainly modest, babe." He also shrugs and adds "Hey, she's cooperating. No need to intimidate somebody who doesn't need intimidating, right? Why not make a few jokes, give a little advice, hmm?" To Seeka he adds "I hope it all works out for you. I'm sure there is some male Myini who would love to have you. My own personal suggestion would be learn to cheat at drinking contests and challenge one you like to one."
Shutting her eyes for a moment's rest, Seeka can't help but chuckle at Xani's suggestion. "Th-thank you..." She mumbles, her throat still raw. "I needed that." The Myini opens her eyes and rolls her head to look at the fire. "What now?" She asks softly, still lying naked against the mine wall save for her bandages and the jewellery she wears made of bones and insect shells, her blood stained robes lying beneath her, where she shed them.
Xul'Quaras gives Xani a look as if he's mad at the first part, saying, "You aren't being serious, are you? Jokes and suggestions during an interrogation? I may not be the brutes at the Detention Center, but I'm certainly not THAT easygoing." She then looks to Seeka, aparently ignoring the other statement, "We wait out the storm, and you leave in the morning. Be discreet about it, would you? I don't want anyone to catch you after all this trouble I went through keeping that from happening." By that time, the lizard creature is browned and ready for eating, and she lifts the spit off the other two sticks, tearing off one of the creature's legs and biting into it, waving the spit around at the others as an unspoken offering.
Xani'Ulun chuckles a bit and replies to Xul "And look at just how much cooperating she did even when you weren't intimidating. Everybody responds differently to everything, babe. Sometimes you just gotta be nice." He shakes his head at the spit before looking back to Seeka and adding to Xul "And see how appreciative they are for it afterwards? Always start interrogations off nice. You can switch to mean if you need to, but you can't take mean back to replace it with nice."
Myini aren't strictly herbivore, and it feels like weeks since Seeka has had anything to eat. That might just be her wound talking, but even so, she reaches up and grabs one of the creature's legs gratefully. "I'll be discrete. They won't see me leave. My name is Seeka, by the way. Seeka Chiritchi." She falls silent, chewing on the leg until nothing is left of it but bones, which she slips quietly into folds of the robes on the ground, no doubt hoping to make some form of jewellery or memento from them later.
Xul'Quaras finishes and discards her own bones, swaying a bit as she does. She says to Xani with a little bit of a giggle, "You know, I have my ways, and I did ask you not to interfere. I know effective interrogation techniques, thank you very much." To Seeka, she says, seeming a lot warmer now, "Xul'Quaras of the Qun'Tilu clan, Imperial Guard Sniper."
The rest of the night was spent getting better acquainted through various means. True to her word, Xul allowed the Myini to return home to Circe, but she got a bone necklace from the new, unlikely friend in the process. Everyone walked away from that encounter thoroughly pleased, but many troubled thoughts came with it. Well, at least no one died, right?...