RP: Land of Dreamers [Land of DreamersChapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

[Kokuten]

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
9:56 Commonwealth Standard Time

The dunes of the Nuocr glowed a burnt orange as the sun slowly crept of over the horizon. Maekardan's sun glared off the unpolished hull of Hanadi's Sehaya while the occupants inside slept. Each person who rested in their own chosen places were likely exhausted beyond belief. The survivors had lost two people upon landing already, and their current numbers were no encouragement to their survivor. Though, with what little luck they were blessed with, the refugees of the destruction had been given two guardians of considrable position and renown.

Yet... Who were these people? For that matter, how well did everyone know one another? Asher was the main unifying character amongst the survivors, since he had talked and interacted with each before the fateful night before. Now, he was gone, and his return was as likely as not. So, the two saviors, and their protectorates needed to learn each other, and that was exactly what Na'Subir intended when he awoke. What awoke him, however, was not his internal clock, but the pitter patter of little feet.

Thip Thip Thip Thip Thip went the those feet, the feet of a child, thought Na'Subir. He had been trained to recognize sound patterns and try to draw weight and size from them. Though, it didn't take a Temple Guard to know that the only child on the Sehaya was up and around. What fully woke the Knight up, was what he heard next.

Plata Plata Plata Plata Plata went the sound of padded feet and little claws. It was a quadraped, and judging by the rhythem, it had stubby legs. There was a creature on board. Next, was a sound that was loud enough to wake most of the people still sleeping.

CLANG! went metal against metal, as a loud screeching whine was heard, along with the Plata Plata Plata of the quadraped.

Loud snoring was the only thing to come from Oskar's lips as he held onto the wonderful bottle of booze as if it were a child.

Hanadi was still asleep in one of the twin-sized beds near the aft section of th sandcrawler. The woman had, had a rough day yesterday and had decided to try and sleep it off. Upon the sounds of little, and padded feet she groaned slightly, placing a pillow over her head. A sigh of comfort left her lips at the muffling effect before the loud clang which caused her to jerk awake. The woman tugged the pillow from her head, checking the alarm clock by the bed "09:56... what in the name of all nightmares is going on out there this early?" Pushing herself up on hands and knees, Hanadi shifted her position to sit at the edge of bed, hair a mess as she rubbed at her stomach through the tanktop.

"I don't need this herdtitan shit so early." the thought whiny and a little dark before getting to her feet, opening the door from her room and out into the hallway. It was still dark in the crawler's hall as she'd locked it down for the night as she always did, to deter bandits and the like. But now the sounds were louder without the walls of her room to further muffle them.

Shiki didn't understand any of this strange foreign television. One moment he was watching some sort of nature documentary on some sort of massive and horrid insect of the tundra that was filled with fire, the next it was an add with a man in blue tunic and beige pantaloons attempting to sell knives made of a shiny black material that folded neatly into a belt. This was a strange sort of place where very little made sense, but at least he was learning. The language was a little weird, but he was starting to pick up on some of the swearing and slang... the things people said a lot when they were screaming, and was starting to work his way through basic verbs. Because they had a basic sentence composition that made sense... it wasn't entirely impossible.

"Quiet down, please. I'm doing research!" He yawned and adjusted the sound a little to cover the sounds of feet wandering stomping around, glancing around to find the source of the racket. When a statuesque looming figure of curves and brown skin trapsed by, he tried to be polite and not stare too much, promptly sinking back into his media viewing without making a fuss. A man from Yamatai knew better than to tell a strong-looking woman in her underwear to get dressed, while a guest in her home... with wheels.

Na'Subir cracked his neck as he sat up in his chair. Most of the night, he had tried to make a comfortable position of the seat, since he felt it best to give the sand crawler's owner her bed and the survivors a decent rest. Still, he felt uncomfortable, but he would never be one to say it. The bare chested Ovoc Wakir stood up, and rubbed his shoulder, several wide lines of lightly colored skin decorated his torso, reminicent patterns of scars consistently cured by prajna. With the sound taking priority over his decency, he left his robe and flak(shirt) set on the back of the chair.

The sound of Plata Plata Plata continued with another CLANG!, as everyone began to stir. The sound of Geruud's pitter pattering feet followed shortly after, along with a faint curse.

Hanadi was the first person Na'Subir saw, with the hunkered down Shiki coming second, the happily drunken Oskar coming third, and the rest of the survivors being noted with a quick scan of the room.

"Istislah, what is your son doing?" asked Na'Subir, straightening out his Gual-tail.

Thankfully, Hanadi had, had the decency to bring a pair of shorts with her, but had yet to put them on, choosing to investigate first. The woman ignored the Geshrin watching television as she neared the source of the sound, only to turn and hear Na'Subir's question. With a shrug she just proceeded to don the shorts right then and there.

"I dunno, sounds like he's in the kitchen, he's just so Saints damned short I can't see what he's doing."

Hanadi was only half-right, the sounds were coming from the kitchen, but not quite from the kitchen. In fact, the Plata Plata Plata sound was getting louder from the hallway leading too the kitchen. As they did, a blunt Pulwar sailed into the common room where everyone was gathered, clanging loud against the floor. Behind that was a skittering Sand Rat, clawing it's way across floor in a frenzied speed to get away from the six-year-old boy in hot persuit. The little animal had no idea where it was, but saw something that looked like decent cover and dove for it. This decent cover, was the sleeping Abwehran.

Mumbling slightly in his sleep, the Abwehran's eyes slowly rose to witness a strange sight. Still covered in his goggles, the young Oskar saw a strange blur upon his chest and felt a light weight upon him. Pulling one lense of his goggles up, he beheld a horror so great that he nearly pissed himself. "DAEMON!!!" he screeched and stood up with haste as he tried to smack the creature off of him.

The little Sand Rat, fearful for it's life, bit into the Abwehran's skin, to secure itself. Though, that did nothing as the weak(for an Abwehran) smacked him clear across the room. Like a magical being, the rodentfrog sailed through the air, muscly, inverted legs swinging and kicking, before smacking into the back of Shiki's head, bouncing off the crown of his skull and into his lap.

Shiki was about to get to the good part of what was some sort of homoerotic cult movie about hotshot ace pilots that he was struck in the back of the head with what felt like the fist of one of his smallish female coworkers. He was reaching some awkward scene featuring athletic endevors on the top deck of their supporting landship, and all of a sudden some sort of tiny monster strikes him in the head and lands on his lap! No loss, really... but it was on him!

"Gack!" He reached for the touch tablet/remote device sitting next to him, and thoughtlessly, swung at it as it rested on his legs trying to get it off him!

Another scree came from the deranged creature as it saddled off Shiki, taking a bruise on it's leg as it scurried off. It rolled off the couch, and then scurried under the furniture before zipping off towards another cot. Then, it leaped, showing one of the most beautiful moments in all the commonwealth, the yard-long leap of the Sand Rat. Almost like when Oskar batted it away, the rodentfrog sailed through the air with a pristine grace that rivaled even the noblest lady in the universe. Then, it landed, with similar grace, on top of Mikael.

The Sand Rat hit his chest lightly, causing a low cough from the teenaged Nepleslian.

Mikael jerked awake, eyes wide and staring. "JOHNNY-RAY!" he cried, smashing the Sand Rat aside.

It was a bad day for this little Sand Rat, as yet again, it was denied cover as it was batted off of Mikael in a fit of awakened fury. The rodentfrog bounced on the floor like a rock skipping on still water, and tried to scurry again. Yet, after beign struck so many times, the delirious pest sat still for a moment, before standing on it's hind legst to sniff the air and look around. Senseless, and in a panick it attempted to make a run before tilting on it's side and wobbling around, as if in a seizure.

Hanadi made a sucking sound with her teeth at seeing the diminutive form of Geruud flying by, Pulwar in little hands and a terrified sandrat fleeing. The next thing she knew, the sword flew by and now the four-armed drunk was screaming in his own language. The rat flew as it was struck, impactng the Geshrin next... it was all madness! The archeologist cursed so thoroughly in front of the Guardsman she didn't even care.

Grumbling, Hanadi made for a while, pulling a pistol from a holster, it was a antique slug thrower along with a rather large, very sharp knife. Whistling at Geruud, she thrust the weapons out at him before kicking the door open.

"Kill it, skin it, and hunt a few more for breakfast while I get the outlanders up and start on the other stuff."

Geruud gathered the weapons as the Sand Rat gathered it's wits and shot off for the door. The boy went after the rodent, knife in the air, trying to catch up after his gathering breakfast.

Sticking her head out of the door, Hanadi shouted to the young Sund Wakir. "Caravan rules!", knowing the boy would understand as he hunted. Afterward, she just watched a moment, sighting before also adding. "And watch for Jarin Wyrms!"

"Teaching him some good habits and skills early on I see." commented the Ovoc Wakir, still in the common room. (Keep posting) The Temple Guard remembered when he bagged his first Ice Rat, he was four, and had crushed the frost rodent under his back after he slipped on some ice.

Meanwhile, Oskar was panting heavily and nursing the bite wound he had received. "This planet is trying to kill me. I know it is," he whimpered in Abwehran as he began to chug the bottle to quell his panic.

Hanadi grunted slightly in response while closing the door (but leaving it unlocked). She glanced first towards the Abwehran, and then to the Geshrin who had just been introduced to Maekardanii wildlife upclose. "He's a Sund Wakir boy, he's taught to be self-sufficient, like you Ovoc's." finally getting a real response.

Afterward, she began speaking in Trade to the two men. "You want breakfast?" asking them while pointing to the kitchen, clearly not concerned for the little bout of madness that had just occured.

"We're not going to be eating one of those, are we?" Shiki gestured to the rough direction of the door, referring to the sandrat that has just attacked him moments ago. He wasn't sure if he had to stomach for violent and rambunctious vermin, even if it was free range or raised in captivity. "... right?"

Oskar ignored the horned woman as he continued to grumble in Abwehran and sat back down with bottle still in hand.

Hanadi had indeed planned on serving Sandrat legs for breakfast in addition to other dishes to stretch the foodstores. Though the alien didn't need to know this.

"Zaidok eggs and Herdtitan Fillets, foul, bread, and fruit." listing the items off one by one as she headed to the kitchen. "You'll like them, they're quite good. But, if Oskar does not answer me, he'll starve."

"Zaidok eggs and Herdtitan Fillets sound good to you, Guardsman?"

"Yes, I'll eat whatever is provided." said Na'Subir, crossing his arms as he sat down on the couch next to Shiki.

"Yeah I'm hungry," Oskar suddenly answered. The last thing he wanted to do was starve on some planet in who know's where. "Anything is fine," he replied quickly.

There was a mumbling from over by a different location. This woudl be one Sayoko mumbling in her sleep about something or another. She'd soon wake up on her own, looking greatly disheveled. "Oh good Empress, I smell food." she murmured, getting out of whereever she was after making sure she was dressed, and hunting down the smell.

Nova, having finally been roused from her slumber managed to stumble her way into the living area, seeing most of her comrades awake. She'd managed to get a sleeping shirt from Hanadi last night thankfully to sleep in. Drowsy still, she mumbled and made her way over to the couches, sitting opposite of Na'Subir, and on the other side of Shiki. Her eyes were a little heavy lidded though as she yawned, head drooping a little before nodding off, head falling on the poor guy's shoulder. Things only seemed to get worse for the boy.

Shiki locked his fingers and slung his hands between his thighs, feeling dwarfed by the tall and well-built man who stood in defiance of any need to wear a shirt, who had insisted on taking the spot next to him. Oh, but he couldn't be left well enough alone in his discomfort under the looming shade of a mountain of a man, and has being used as a pillow by a tiny and unusually warm body leaning onto his other side. He glanced around a little nervously and made an uncomfortable grin. "So... what are we eating for breakfast?"

By now Hanadi was hard at work, cracking eggs, grilling fillets on the flat-top stove while her drowsy charges awoke and came inevitably towards the delicious scents of cooking food.

Looking over at Shiki, she thought to herself Poor bastard is between a stone-faced guard and a softie alien. as he asked what was for breakfast. She held up a decently sized cut of deep red meat marbled through with white. And then a white egg with speckled with dark spots.

"Herdtitan Fillets and Zaidok Eggs, like I said, Colonial. Do you not have these dishes where you come from?"

As Sayoko went down the hall, tracing her way to the common room of the Sand Crawler, another Sand Rat hopped right in her path. It seemed the rodent was making it's way out before catching sight of the Yamataian woman. The rat-guinuea pig-frog pest looked up at Sayoko, and then began to hiss. This one was apparently more aggressive than the one all the awaken survivors had dealt with before.

Blinking a little, the student-xenobiologist looked down, pondering the little rat thing. Kneeling down, she studied it for a bit, hanging her head slightly. Of course I forgot my bloody notebook...and this is a new species to me! she thought, gently putting out her hand slowly, hoping it wouldn't bite her right off.

An ambitious mind is always one willing to go distances to learn new things, but the only downside of that is the risks. The 'new species' to the alien woman saw the hand extending towards it, and instantly went for her index finger, biting down on the tip.

Wincing harshly, she pulled away slowly, trying not to damage herself more, among other things. Standing up quickly, she moved away from the alien rat, back to where she was sleeping so she could look for her bag. "Right..so that hurt." she said to herself, mumbling the entire time.

PAUSE
Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
10:35 Commonwealth Standard Time

 

[Kokuten]

Re: [Chapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
11:02 Commonwealth Standard Time

After several minutes of listening to the sounds of sizling meats, clanking dishes, and rattling silverware, the group of wayward travelers found themselve sitting at a round table in the kitchenette. Surprisingly, despite it's size, there was just enough room for every person to set their plate down and eat. For a few peaceful moments, the group got to enjoy a free foreign meal in the sanctity of a moving, armored bunker.

Na'Subir ate his Herdtitan Fillet silently, his face still unmoving and unchanging, with the exception of the bites he took. As a man with the most solid poker-face in the universe, it was difficult to tell if he like the food or not.

Geruud, on the other hand, was eating a personal favorite, Sand Rat Kebabs. While his guardian prepared the meals, he caught several Sand Rats scurrying around the dunes. Just before the meal was survived, he gutted the little animals in front of everyone and collected the meat of their legs to cook in a small pan, and added a little seasoning for good measure. Finally, he jabbed the small Rat Steaks onto a metal kebab, and proudly ate his own catch.

Such skill did not go unnoticed by Na'Subir. His rat catching experience, when he was younger, was typically for practice in catching bigger prey. The Sand Rats that adapted to the cold of Mazerin were fatter, and furrier, usually only caught to make soap, explosives, or gloves. The Temple Guard thought it would be nice to learn such a skill from the boy, and his he looked at everyone else at the table, he thought that the survivors would do good to learn as well...

Mikael had joined the others for the meal. He watched the others wearily, remembering an uneasiness about these strangers. And a tint of sorrow. But what or who he was mourning, and why he was suspicious of the aliens escaped him. So he sat, and readied himself for the coming meal.

Harmony and Peace had eventually joined the group, the Llamnel girl looking haggard as she sat with the others. It was obvious the poor girl had gotten little sleep the night before in her appearance. Hair dissheveled and a mess, heavy bags under her eyes which were half closed, she also looked somewhat pissed. The combination of the new place with different smells, her anger from the day before at leaving Asher behind, and her slight paranoia for the night of getting attacked again did little to help her sleep.

Peace on the other hand, sat at the cook's side, looking up at her with what could be construed as a grin as he swept the floor with his tail to the point of being spotlessly clean.

Hanadi just glanced down at the fuzzy eared beast as she was cleaning up the cookware used. The woman took a few large raw chunks of Herdtitan that she hadn't yet cooked, tossing them on the floor in front of Peace. Really, the odd animal was acting like someone's Dirhoun, waiting at the foot of the table for scraps.

"Feeding this thing is going to be a problem unless we have Geruud hunt Sandrats for this beast." Hanadi said aloud in Saalsari, pointing to the cat.

"We will manage. The animal is apparently very close to the unkempt one over there." replied Na'Subir, tilting his head in Harmony's direction. "Thus, it also counts as one of your survivors, and thus, you will be paid as accorded."

It took Harmony a few moments, her brain still not clicking as quickly as it should. Seeing Peace take the first few bites from his chunks of meat, Harmony growled. "Peace! You know better then that! No begging for food!" Harmony went to get up, only to have Peace go wide eyed at her and scamper off out of the kitchen, meat in his mouth.

Grumbling, Harmony looked over to Hanadi, "Sorry about him...Let him out tomorrow morning with the little one, and he will catch his own share. My younger siblings at home have been spoiling him whenever we came home from college."

Hanadi just reflexivly grinned to herself at imagining this foreign animal trying to catch a sandrat. When the things could jump up to a yard at a time.

"Sandrats jump far, their legs are strong so they jump yards at a time. But, does this beast just eat meat? Or does it eat other things?" asked Hanadi as she stared at Peace. "Because I have to feed him and you all now to. And I do not have lots of meat."

"He is a Omnivore...Sorry he will eat both meat and plants, and honestly I think if you put a shoe infront of him and put some lettuce on it, he will eat it. As to catching the sandrats...I don't think he will have to much trouble, he can catch birds from where I live if he can close the distance quick enough." Harmony shrugged, her mind coming out of it's hibernation and working fully again thanks to the conversation.

While Harmony spoke, Hanadi had been piling a plate high with food, consisting of fillets of browned savory meat, a speckled egg-like food, what appeared to be pulverized beans that had been turned to a paste with oil mixed in along with bread and slices of varying alien fruits.

It was a common enough tradition to give guests a meal, ensuring they had their fill. The Curdatl woman also added a fork, spoon and knife before holding the plate out to her.

"Go, eat." she ushered. "I make coffee now." making shooing motions with a hand as she pointed to the table with the other.

Hanadi took the time however to look at the Temple Guard, holding up a large plastic container with what looked like a man with a turban on the front as a logo. "Should I give them this coffee? It's Hlarai blend. Do you think it will be safe?"

"I do not see any problem in giving them some, and if there is, we will find out shortly." dismissed Na'Subir as he started to get half-way through the fillet.

Oskar stared at the food in front of him warily, poking at it as if it would jump and attack him. But he was also quite hungry. Thus, the Abwehran would slowly pick at his food, tasting it and chewing it thoroughly.

While Oskar was using caution, Nova however was wolfing her food down with gusto. Having already been introduced to the cuisine of the land prior to her encounter with everyone thanks to the small child sitting across from her eating kebabs.

Hanadi just grunted as she went about preparing a pot of the coffee, measuring out spoonfuls.

Shiki contented himself to a glass of water and the... thing on a stick that had been laid out be before him. It took a lot of courage on his part to consider eating something that had nearly caved his head in only seconds before, reaching gingerly for one of the sticks and nibbling on the meat to confirm that it was in fact, dead. He smiled a little, taking a larger bite out of the speared leg meat. "Hrm... this is... what is this?" It was also quite alright, although he really couldn't really place it anywhere near anything he'd eaten before. Considering that he'd never had the chance to try rodent, he couldn't exactly help it...

Harmony was never a truely bashful eater, and taking a cue from Nova, she dug in too. Grabbing a egg or two, a steak, and putting the bean paste overtop of the steak, she dug in after she gave Hanadi an "Thank you for the food!" It didn't help that the poor girl hadn't really eaten a lot for the past day or so...

Mikael found himself next to the Abwehran. He had heard about abwehrans, with their four arms and strong limbs. He vaguely remembered his father talking about meeting one. Were they a good people? He messed with the kebab in thought.

Mikael felt that he knew better than to judge by culture -- people were people, and it wasn't as if he could recall who was who and what was what. There was only one way to find out if the large alien next to him was out to kill him or not.

"My name is Mikael." He told Oskar. He looked around at the others before continuing. "I'm not sure if I've introduced myself before, or if you've introduced yourselves to me. Good food." He added.

""Seconds are available, all you have to do is ask." Hanadi said in response to Harmony's gratitude while she went about placing a glass in front of Geruud that was full of ice cold juice.

"You all want coffee? Yes? No?" asking no one in general then shifting her gaze to who she pegged as a booze hound now, Oskar. "Or would you like a Stout?" her poor stores of alcohol were going to be ruined and she didn't even know it yet!

"Hrm... do all these people know one another?" Na'Subir asked Hanadi out of the blue, still looking out at his steak, and taking another bite.

Taking his time with some food in his mouth, the Abwehrans eventually swallowed. "A stout would be best, please," he replied before grabbing some more food with a bit more confidence that it wouldn't kill him.

Hanadi just inclined her head to Oskar as she raised the built in refridgerator that was within the center of the table area. "I don't know, weren't they all on the same alien ship?" she asked as if it were plain as day. When the refridgerator had hefted itself out, she opened a clear door, pulling out a large dark bottle out and pulled the cap off, placing it in front of the Abwehran before turning her attention to the small boy. Her face softend slight as she knelt down in front of him just so she was eye level.

"Do you want anything else besides sandrat kebabs?"

Harmony shook her head at Hanadi. "Thank you , but I would just like some juice." In truth, Harmony didn't drink coffee because it kept her up and awake for days at a time. She usually had a bad reaction to any kind of stimulants.

Geruud shook his head furiously, deciding that his food was enough for him. The little boy continued eating quietly.

Nodding, Hanadi just pulled his turban off. "No hats at the table." she said before placing it on the counter and went about getting Harmony her drink.

"Hey!" whined Geruud dropping his kebab on his plate, and throwing his hands up when his Turban was taken from him. The little Sund Wakir got up from his seat and quickly ran over to the counter, and tried to reach his turban to cover his unkempt, short white hair.

"Mmm, where is the Color woman?" mentioned Na'Subir, looking around, "She seemed to be the only person here willing to translate for me." If one listened carefully, they could hear the jabbing tone in his voice.

"You'll get it back after breakfast. What would the Elders think of your wearing a hat while sharing a meal with guests?" Hanadi chided softly to the boy as she looked down at him first, and then in the direction of the table. "She just finished her food and is back to that pile of junk I said she could play in, or work in or whatever the girl was doing." rolling her eyes she poured a glass of the same juice she'd served the boy, placing it on a tray while she retrieved several small cups and the now steaming pot of coffee.

"Besides, if you want to impress your Color-sera, don't you think having good manners will help?" Hanadi threw in as she walked by Geruud and towards the table.

"Haah..." Shiki let out a small sigh, rolling the last of his glass of water in the back of his throat as he considered things. A little closer to normal than he could say he'd been in quite a few hours now with a mind that wasn't dulled by hunger or sleep deprivation anymore, all sorts of thoughts were coming in nice and clearly. "... say. I forgot, the rest of you all speak Trade, right? I don't think I ever had the time to ask when the ship... well."

Geruud puffed his cheeks in a mixture of frustration and embarassment. The little Sund Wakir cassenova thought he had been very subtle in his dealings with Nova, but apparently his guardian has seen right through him. Still, like the rest of his Caravan and extended family, he played the part of the stubborn boy. "I'm not trying to impress anyone!" whined the little boy, as he stomped back to his seat, and sat down, eating with a certain kind of damaged pride, and also hatless.

With stout in hand, the Abwehran finally glanced over at the Nepleslian teen. "The name is Oskar," he introduced before bringing the stout to his lips and chugging.

"Ah, I was hoping to get the color woman to get these people to introduce themselves. I do not have a single name to call them by." Na'Subir looked around the table, stopping on Oskar for a moment, and pointing at him, continuing in Sal Saari, "Except for Oskar," He then pointed at Harmony, "And Harmony."

A small piping hot cup of the thick coffee was placed in front of Na'Subir while she spoke, "I'll go find her then after I get done with this, and dealing with my little bundle of trouble. Because apparently he's now grumpy I took his hat away and found out about his crush." her voice low as she spoke to the Guardsman before moving on to Shiki now.

"Coffee?" Hanadi emphasized the cups and pot on the tray to indicate what she meant in case her own Trade was off.

Geruud only responded in a mild grunt, trying to sound like an older man, but failing with what sounded like a childish exhale.

"Nall'Tis Harmony Hulut Llamnel." Harmony gave her full name, a small smile to the group before she looked at the others. "Please, call me Harmony, much easier heh..." Harmony just shrugged her shoulders as she watched the others now.

"I'm Mikael Battle. I'm not sure if I've introduced myself before, or if you've introduced yourselves to me. Good food." He repeated unknowingly.

"Itou... Shiki." The Geshrin student said with a small nod, attempt to keep a cool face as he spoke. "My name is Itou Shiki... but the Yamataian way so Shiki is actually my given name." He fumbled a little, attempting to cover his tracks in case they assumed that Itou was his last name, or something incredibly silly like that! Who could imagine making that kind of incredibly childish mistake, he thought to himself.

"Uhm... sure. I'd like some coffee, please." He said with a pleasant but slightly uncomfortable smile, fiddling with his sunglasses as he accepted Hanadi's offer. Whatever liquid was contained in those cups smelled... sweet, and if he was lucky, might actually just be something pleasant like a warm cup of tea. Perhaps the fact that the food was so edible to him and the people weren't trying to kill him had lulled him into a pleasant and short-lived delusion.

Hanadi placed the coffee service down, placing a cup in front of Shiki she began to pour. Although instead of merely pouring as normal she raised the pot higher, and higher as she had done with Na'Subir's until a layer of foam had formed on top and she moved on to Mikael. Frowning a little, she just placed a cup in front of him along with juice on the side just incase. Finished, Hanadi put the tray in the middle for them to get more if they so chose while she was busying herself by placing a hand on Geruud's noggin while talking to the boy.

"You know," she began in a reluctant voice. "If you were good, I could teach you how to use that sword you threw at the sandrat properly. Like how a Caravan Guard would use it. But... " she paused. "I don't know... a little boy who doesn't have any manners shouldn't learn such an art. Something that would make him impressive looking, and be able to fend off bandits."

Geruud squirmed his seat, trying to remain a proud of his own decision. Though... What Hanadi described was a very nice deal. For a few seconds, he continued to stare at his Kebabs, before looking up at the scoundrel of a woman.

"Really?" asked the little boy, "Would you really teach..." He shifted his eyes before giving her a more direct stare, "A person... how to do that?" His odd pronoun used seemed to serve as a way to make it seem that 'he' of course was no ill-mannered boy.

"It's certainly unique, Herr Battle." Oskar replied as he munched on more of his breakfast and had another swig of his stout.

Keeping her hand on his head, Hanadi was wearing a wry smile as he spoke. "Oh yes, I would teach a person how to use a pulwar. But that person would have to listen as they would an Elder, and learn other things as well." she said while giving his head a little pat. "And if I thought that person was doing good enough, I might then move on and teach them how to use Clothblades as well. But they would have to be behaved, and learned for me to do such a thing."

"Who knows? This person, when they grow up might grow up big and strong, and be a master swordsman worthy of protecting a caravan, or being an Elder one day. Or maybe even a Temple Guard." the smile continued to grow. "That is, if that person is good."

Shiki took hold of the cup and nodded his thanks to Hanadi, taking a tentative glance at the drink before moving to imbibe it. He could certainly call it many things, but what it was not was not a liquid. He could drink it and it smelled like something that wouldn't render him ill, but to call such a thing a liquid would be to underestimate the viscosity and retained sugars and other solids inside of the piping hot cup. But, he was a hardworking boy from a nice Yamataian family, and knew it (or assumed) would probably be excessively impolite to turn down the drink so suddenly because he didn't like the way it looked.

He gulped, and closing his eyes for a moment, swallowed the entire cup in a single sip. He sloshed the fluid in his mouth for a second before imbibing, almost overwhelmed by the surcharge of bitter and sweet, and rather clearly feeling the blend of harsh natural stimulants hit his stomach all at once. "Aha... so this is what they call coffee? What Nepleslian sensibilities they have." He'd clearly made a mistake assuming it was actually going to be tea, but he at least had a few minutes before he'd start feeling weird, or jittery, and even then he wasn't so weak as to have his entire personality reset bu a bit of caffeine!

"I-- Anyone could do that!" piped Geruud, his little yellow eyes wide with interest. The amount energy behind his words made him bounce up and down at the thought of skewering something with impressive skill, "I bet I could! Would you teach me how?"

Feigning shock at his request, Hanadi soon recovered. "Well! Could you learn and be a good little boy for me to teach you? Because if you are... I'll do so. But!" tapping his nose now, Hanadi came in close. "You have to listen, and learn! You have to do what I say, and with no complaints. The strongest warriors don't complain. So I don't expect you, my little man to do so either."

"Yes! I, Geruu--..." started the young boy before he was interuptted by Na'Subir.

"Actually, Istislah, before you start any sort of training, I would like to borrow your son for something rather... Important." said Na'Subir, his voice indicating something of deep thought, but his face, as usual, suggested nothing. Of course, with the already spun fascinations by Hanadi, Geruud's eyes were about to pop out of his head in excitement.

Before Geruud's eyes could pop with happiness, Nova managed to make her way back into the living area, carrying a cobbled together bundle of what looked like a metallic skeleton complete with internal lattice of wiring and more intricate metalwork. The Freespacer's cheeks were covered with grease in certain areas and her outfit was dirty. But! She looked rather pleased with herself as she put down the little whatever it was she'd been busily making.

"H-hey Harmony, was it? You a uhm.." Shiki stammered as he attempted to catch the interest of the woman with the retinue consisting of one very large and hungry looking cat-animal-thing, snapping his sunglasses over his eyes and shifting their transluscency up to a level that would actually allow them to see his eyes. Not that he was the type to hide his eyes, but there was something about leaving them bare and all too easily seen by other people that felt a little... wrong.

He let out a quiet chuckle and continued. "... a Lorath, right? You look like a Lmanel, from what my Xenoanthropology classes said-but-I'm-sorry-if-my-assumption-is-incorrect-and..."

Harmony grinned a little after swallowing a mouthful of food, thinking the way he was talking towards the end endearingly cute. "Yes I am a Lorath, of the Llamnel caste. And your a Yamataian correct? Different in ways from the Nekovalkyrja, in that your not so...combat ready...right?" Seemed that Harmony knew quiet a bit too, being a biological sciences major.

"W-well actually, I'm only a Geshrin. This body type that predates our... contact with your race by about three decades or so." Shiki said with an uncomfortable shrug, realizing that he probably shouldn't just go about talking about just how bad that meeting was for the parties other than the Yamatai Star Empire. "My genetic type is a bit closer to that of a Nepleslian... although my body isn't as receptive to cybernetics, and we all uhm... smell nicer."

"Ah! Color woman, I was hoping you would come in." mentioned Na'Subir to Nova, holding up a hand to show himself. The rather shirtless Temple Guard seemed a little more intimidating with the brutish muscles and scars exposed. "I was hoping you would translate a few words for me, since I have little experience with your native tongue."

Nova was startled the moment Na'Subir called her using 'Color' in place of her name. She knew the little boy called her that and had begun paying attention to it as a result. Looking up from her work, the Spacer rubbed at her cheek, smearing even more of the dark grease over the pale skin as the surprise subsided.

"... O-Ok?" was all she could say as she felt her heart thump at the man's now slightly scary appearance that she was also sure made her generator thump along to the beat aswell. And she came to the conclusion then that she liked him better with his shirt on.

Nova shuffled over towards him with bare feet, standing about a half a foot away from him now, hands in front of her.

Harmony sniffed a little and nodded with a smile. "That you do, all I ever smell from Nepleslians is alcohol and cleaner like we use in the labs..." Harmony shrugged a little and watched him. "You're...Shiki right? Mind if I call you Shiki?" The Llamnel girl smiled, ignoring the Freespacer and the guardsman's conversation for the moment, even though she couldn't understand a lick of it.

Na'Subir only seemed to stare at Nova for a few moments, his frozen expression seemingly looking through her. He could feel a sort of pent of anxiety building from her approach, but that was just as obvious with how she seemed to be relunctant to approach him. The Temple Guard, however, could not figure exactly what she was anxious about. He considered himself a perfectly normal Temple Guard, and near every Temple Guard possessed a certain aura of warmth.

"Is there something wrong? You looked somewhat troubled? aske Na'Subir out of the blue, setting aside his request for a moment.

"Shiki's just fine. I'd be a pain if I forced everyone else to use honorifics in some language they probably don't like because I'm more used to it." The Geshrin said with a slightly sheepish smile reaching out and plucking one of the last kebabs, gently placing the top piece of legmeat into his mouth. "Besides, it sounds friendlier if you call me that way and well..." His attitude and expression were both oblivious and a little nervous, perhaps only restrained due to some great fear of treading around social mores it didn't understand.

"...I'd like it if we could be friendly. I was a little distant on the cruise ship, but now I'm stuck here and the people in this... hoverbus are the only links I have home. I don't even really know where I am..." He chuckled a little sarcastically, briefly considering that what he was saying so plainly. "But I guess those links are a little flimsy and I'm being kind of silly, since we're all basically strangers, right?"

Nova just quickly shook her head, sending red hair flailing wildly around. She stopped, her mouth opened but she was stopped by the sound of servos and actuators moving with the characteristic 'whir' of motion. Looking behind her, the skeletal machine she'd been lovingly working on for the better part of several hours was up and moving about... staggering really as a long thin tendril extended outward from what could be construed as its face.

The blue LED like 'eye' locked on Nova, causing whatever the thing was scuttle towards her at high speed, stopping right beside her as the Freespacer jumped slightly in surprise. It wasn't even supposed to be working yet!

The rear leg's bent slightly as the forward legs extended. An earpiercing "SCREEE!!!", like metal being dragged across another piece of metal emitted from it before a few violent jerks and arcs of power lept from the cobbled wiring and it fell over, 'dead'. It twitched once from another jolt of its power source before finally giving out.

Hanadi just watched the thing, amazed and surprised for the moment as it keeled over.

After finishing his meal, Oskar pretty much just sat back and listened to the conversations around him. The sudden squeal only caused the Abwehran and cry out in pain and hold his ears. "What the hell!?"

Mikael clutched his ears when the thing trumpeted its presence, but otherwise did nothing except for an angry glance at the Freespacer.

"The links that bind us are only as strong as we make them. If you want those links to hold fast while we forge our way through this situation then they will be as stro-" Harmony winced, her ears wilting back and hands going overtop of them protectively as her sharp hearing was assualted by the noise the creation made. The screeching noise reverberating in her head now, she growled a little in pain as heavy thuds were heard coming back into the kitchen.

"Wha- what is that?" Shiki peered over at the clanking monstrosity that had arrived on the scene with that Freespacer girl that he'd not even met yet, and that frankly terrified him already. For one thing, he didn't remember her having a skeletal robot made of scraps when they'd arrived on the crawler, that notion carrying the direct implication that she'd actually made that thing in the few hours since they'd arrived.

Na'Subir idly watched the machine creation sauntered toward Nova, and continued to watch as it looked up at it's creator. As the small item screeched, and broke down, however, the Temple Guard pulled out his Laiz Pistol, and shot the broken machine.

"Color woman." delcared Na'Subir flatly, as if asking for her attention.

Right before he'd shot it, Nova had been in the process of bouncing from one foot to the other, clapping rather quickly, a look of pure delight on her face... before it was violently ripped away with a Laiz Pistol blast to the downed machine. Instead she stopped, shoulders hunching, mouth agape before looking up at the Ovoc Wakir. As if asking, 'Why?'

"Conduct your engineering in a more controlled enviroment. I am sure you are fairly apt at machines, considering you constructed that strange apeture on an alien planet, with alien materials, with what I could assume you did within only a few hours time, but I would prefer the risks presented to others kept to a minimum." declared Na'Subir, before looked to the rest of them, and holstered his pistol. "Now, I have something you need to tell this people for me."

Nova's answer to his request was a rather quick kick to the shin, followed by her gabbling in Trade. "Lulzkiller! Lulzkiller!" another kick. "That was a dick move you lamer!" followed by a rather pitiful attempt at a punch using her flesh and blood arm against his chest. It amounted to little more then a love tap and showed just how physically weak she was. She was puffing and wheezing soon after, and sweating.

Mikael had immediately gone to ground at the sight of the shot. He ducked under the table and was in the process of finding the closest (safest) exit by the time Nova had lashed out.

"Who are these people!?" He moaned quietly.

At the Laiz gun shot, Harmony jumped in her seat, both knees claning hard against the bottom of the table and she growled, letting out a string of curses having to do with a god, and some other jibberish which could be construed as Lorath in a sense.

The Laiz gun shot sent the poor Abwehran into a panic as he dove for cover under the table right behind the Nepleslian. "Don't look at me kid, I just crash landed with them."

The fact that the now officially 'dead' machine sizzled and popped once more before going quiet again, caused her to curse anew before falling to her knees, trying vainly to put it back together. Amongst her kind these things were like beloved pets and tools for the survival of their homes. And she figured that if this was to be her home for now, she would show her worth to them, proving she was an asset instead of a drain on resources, just like how they used to do in the fleets.

All of Nova's blows fell on a fairly sturdy frame, and toughened skin. Most Ovoc Wakir were typically hardy, Na'Subir was no exception. From the way he recieved her blows, it seemed more like she had been attacking a statue, rather than some organic, living thing. The Temple Guard leaned over on his knee, supporting his wait with his elbow.

"Are you quite done, Color woman?" asked the Ovoc Wakir, sounding somewhat insensitive. In honesty, he was really wanting to get his message across to the other survivors, but his own attempt in silencing a threat seemed to turn into an insult to the only person willing to translate for him. "I understand the the lengths and extents of hard work, but your machine seemed more of a threat, than an asset."

"That was awfully mean of him, wasn't it?" Shiki said aloud, having guessed that the tall and pallid male one of the strange horned beings that that decided to take watch over them. He coughed into his palm, rather poorly feigning innocence, and glanced over at Harmony. "I don't think the really cold-looking one understands Trade."

"Not a lick from what I've been able to see." Harmony shook her head as she looked over to Shiki. "But apparently the Free Spacer and our host do understand trade, our host to a certain extent. So you should still be on your best behavior." Harmony smiled again for a second as she realized something. She was having a conversation with a real boy, and she was doing well! A small blush crept up onto her expression as she looked down from Shiki and into her lap, feigning the need to rub her knees.

"Pshaw," Hanadi interupted the two. "I don't care what you two say as long as it isn't about more or doing' bad stuff." she decided to say before giving Na'Subir a look as if trying to imply he was a major screwup.

The Freespacer was busily gathering all the bits and pieces she could up, and stood. The girl just gave Na'Subir a long, hard stare and said rather harshly first in Trade, and then in Saalsari. "Murderer!" before stomping off towards the back of the Sehaya all the while mumbling. "Burn, Burn, Burn, Burn." as she felt as if a fire was eating her up from the inside out before being washed out by the cold, numbing feeling of disappointment and then raging again.

Na'Subir met both looks with a mild neutral expression. Apparently, he had insulted some odd, obscure custom of the strange woman's culture, and apparently Hanadi held him in disdain for it. The Temple Guard only shook his head.

"Hanadi," said Na'Subir, being more forward than usual by using her first name, "Tell the survivors that we will be learning to hunt small creatures today." The Temple Guard pointed at the young boy. "Your son will be the instructor."

"Tch." Came the response before she put her hands on the table. "Hey uh, guys?" Hanadi began while jabbing a thumb over her shoulder towards Na'Subir.

"The asshole wants me to tell you, you're all going to be learning how to hunt 'small creatures' today. And that Geruud." she pointed to the little boy. "Is going to be teaching you."

Shiki made a wry face and shrugged, biting his lower lip between words. "I'd offer to teach you him how to steer a boat or fish with a line... but I think you know how useful that would be."

"........You're kidding, right?" Oskar asked from underneath the table. "I've never even picked up a weapon, let alone went hunting...ever!"

"This should be easy..." Harmony said with a grin as she shrugged a little. She was a Llamnel after all...An almost shamanistic group within the Lorath that specialized in living off the land.

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Outside Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
11:48 Commonwealth Standard Time

By now, the sun was beginning to beat down over the sands of the Nuocr. In the short time it took them all the exit the Sehaya, Na'Subir had made it sure to equip everyone with a rather sharp object, each found in the mass of junk in Hanadi's Sehaya. He had to subtly avoid any more flak from the Freespacer who had claimed her workshop, wether he did or not, did not matter. What did matter is now everyone, including the weakest kneed survivor had in their possession, something potentially dangerous.

At the head of the group was likely the proudest, and brightest eyed little Sund Wakir they had seen to date. This was due to the fact that every Sund Wakir they had met so far, hated them.

To begin, Na'Subir waved his hand to catch the groups attention, and then pointed to the little boy. As if on cue, Geruud pulled out a rather ornate looking survival knife, and held it up in the air.

"Knife!" the boy barked to them in Sal Saari. Taking a look at Na'Subir first, then Hanadi to see fi he was doing alright.

Hanadi, who'd changed into a pair of breathable pants, but kept the tank top she'd worn on nodded to the boy, a smile forming behind the dark tinted antique welder's glasses she wore.

"He's saying it's a knife." she translated, having decided to help him out in his instructorial role. All young Sund Wakir, be it boy or girl learned the basics of survival at a young age, how to survive in a harsh and unforgiving environment. And the aliens would be no exception.

Harmony held up her left hand, watching the boy closely as she curled her fingers up. After a moment, claws extended out from where her fingernails were, each one extending roughly a inch and a half, growing thicker then normal, and curving in slightly, almost like the claws of a large cat.

"This good enough for a knife?" Harmony asked Geruud seriously, not wanting to hurt the young boy's ego. She had enough little brothers to know better...

Hanadi looked to Geruud, eyebrow arched as if it were quite plain what Harmony was saying. "Do those work here Geruud?" she asked the boy.

Geruud didn't know exactly what to make of the claws. It was his first time seeing such a thing, and it was apparently distrubing to him. Though, he looked once again at Hanadi after her question, and then at Na'Subir, who was simply still as a statue. He cleared his throat, and then nodded his head vehemently.

"Today we'll..." the young boy cleared his throat, and started to shuffle his feet, "Today we'll... ah... be..."

"Hunting for..." Na'Subir picked up suddenly, causing Geruud to jolt.

"For a small animal called a 'Sand Rat'!" finished Geruud, the sudden interjection forcing the courage past the stage fright. He had never garnered so much attention before!


Shiki had his pocket knife on him, although this amounted to just enough knife to cut two lined-up apples and barely enough handle to keep him from cutting himself should he try to do something exotic like a stab or an underhanded swing with a blade. Really, he was probably better off just grabbing a stick and trying to beat the local fauna with that, but he'd resigned himself to make due.

He pulled the folded blade from his pocket and flicked it open, causing a rather plain steel blade to spring from a plain and slightly worn laquered wood handle. "Does this work for you, kiddo?"

Hanadi nudged the boy, pointing to Shiki's knife, and then patting the hilted knife strapped to her thigh. "He wants to know if that little knife will work. If it isn't up to snuff for you, I can give him the one I got." she offered.

Geruud tilted his head, an incredulous look on his face as Hanadi explained to him. "Is he stupid? It's sharp! If it's sharp, it can cut, and if it can cut, it can kill! That's what big-brother Jaleel says!"

Hanadi nodded to him, patting Geruud on the back. " If it's sharp, it can cut, if it can cut it can kill. Though with that thing, you're liable to be the one being killed." she unstrapped the sheathed knife from her thigh, palming the thing while looking at Shiki. " Want this instead?" though she looked down at Geruud. "Is it ok if I give him a better knife? Your choice, teacher."

Oskar couldn't help but grimace over this situation. He was totally out of his element at this point. And it was too damn hot to do anything except sleep in the shade. "Seriously...I'm not the right guy for this type of thing." he whimpered.

"He looks weak, Jarin Bait even! Better weapons make you less edible, says Elder Berja." quoted Geruud in full-confidence. He nodded to Hanadi, "If you want, Hana-Sera."

"Better that he doesn't die." Hanadi said in response as she tossed the knife, sheath and all on the sand in front of Shiki. "Try that instead." she suggested before giving Oskar a long look, leaning down and whispering just what the Abwehran had said to the little boy.

"Well... alright." Shiki half-fumbled the catch, using his stomach and hands in a slightly clumsy gesture and nodded. Tucking his pocket knife away, he examined the one presented and was a little surprised by the quality. "Do you want it back after?"

Hanadi shook her head at Shiki, oblivious to the small boy's smile at the moment. "Keep it."

Geruud's mouth curled in a somewhat cruel smile. He hadn't forgotten what Oskar had done, from the boy's perspective. "Four-arms will go first, after I show everyone!" declared the boy loudly, and with resounding confidence, mixed with a childish malice.

"...th-thank you." The Geshrin stammered his thanks, not exactly sure about receiving the kind of work knife that a Nepleslian undercity ganger would, and probably has killed for. He was, if anything grateful for the gift. When he was pretty much confined to the clothes on his back and the miscelaneous trash in his satchel, anything was welcome.

Harmony just watched the others with a bemused grin, both hands now grown out fingernails to their full length.

Hanadi nodded to the Geshrin before clearing her throat. She gave Geruud a glance before relaying what he just said. "Oskar, Geruud says you'll be going first after he demonstrates. Tough luck, kid." she translated with a bit of sympathy in her voice. Sund Wakir life was harsh, and often times even other Iromakuanhe who tried failed miserably at etching out a living in their lifestyle. And she doubted these aliens would stack up.

"Wait, what?" Oskar whimpered as he looked between Hanadi and Geruud. Why was this kid so angry all the time!? Did he want Oskar to die of heat exhaustion or something?

Hanadi shrugged at Oskar's surprise. "Yeah, you'll be going first. Just do what he does. And if you can pull it off, I'll sweeten the pot a little bit. I'll give you a bottle of something stronger then what you drank last night for the trouble. Sound good there, Oskar?" she placed a hand on Geruud's shoulder as she spoke, acting as if she were patronizing the man with her gruff speech.

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Outside Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
11:52 Commonwealth Standard Time

 

[Kokuten]

Re: [Chapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Outside Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
11:52 Commonwealth Standard Time

Geruud held up his hand to gather the attentions of the survivors present. To make sure they saw him, he began to wave his hand. Then, with their gathered attentions, he pointed towards the sand. Even if he was young, he was still sharp enough to know that these people wouldn't understand his words. So he stuck to the one thing that all Wakir were good at, action.

The boy held up one finger and then turned towards the sand. He squatted down and then started patting the sand with an open palm forcefully. Each time he did so, the loose earth below him reverberated a few inches. After a few strikes on the sand, the boy made a dissatisfied face and then stood back up. He beckoned the group to follow him, and led them about forty meters away from the Sahaya. There, he began to pat the ground again, but this time on the first few strikes, and small patches in the dunes began to shake. This result was rewarded with a smile from the boy.

At this point, Geruud turned back to the others and held up two fingers, and then drew his knife. He crawled over to one of the disturbed patches of sand, and dug his hand into, and then, the boy gasped. Not long after a Sand Rat scurried forth out of the dunes, and tried to jump away from the boy.

With a quick turn to the others, he held up three fingers as he stomped after the animal. The rodent was clearly not as good at running as it was on the flat surface of the Sehaya, so jumped every now and then. However, no matter where it hopped, the little Sund Wakir boy kept gaining on it, and eventually dove for it, his hand outstretched, grabbing the frenzied animal in his hand. At this point, he only had it pressed against the sand, and sense he had small hands, he could not wrap his fingers around the entire body of the animal. So, his prey attempted to burrow itself into the sand, but before it could, Geruude secured his fingers around it's neck.

The petulant prey in check, Geruud set his knife down and looked back to the other, holding up four fingers on his knife hand. Then, he grabbed his knife and walked back over to the survivors. So they could see him perform the final action, he set the rat down on it's back, which caused the rodent to scree repeatedly, and held up his knife. Just before the strike, he glanced up at them, and then back down to the rat, bringing his knife down with his eyes.

His motion silenced the Sand Rat as that wide blade of Geruud's worked as a guillotine, sinking through it's neck and into the sound below it with a sickening and concluding Shunk!. The deed done, the young boy tossed the rat's head to the dunes, and then threw the body in front of them, displaying his kill. His face was proud, glad to have shown his abilities in front of so many adults.

Harmony smiled, clapping her hands at the display. She was honestly impressed the boy had been able to find the rat in such a way, and mentally put it away as one of her own techniques now to use while she was on the planet. Peace came slinking up around them, looking to see if maybe he could get a bite. A stern glance from Harmony sent the Lraadyr back a few paces though...

Hanadi patted the boy on the back while speaking in the ancient Trade language. "Those are the four steps basically. He demonstrated them to you and he'll likely want you all to try it now. But, he's already deemed Oskar to go first." she pointed to the four-armed Abwehran then and motioned him forward.

"Alright, Geruud, do you want him to try it now or not?"

Geruud's grin went ever wider as she asked for his approval, knowing what would come next. He was severly judgemental of the cowardly individual, and he also didn't like him. Though the reasons of why may be obvious to the others, he decided he would be extremely secretive about it.

"Yes, Hana-Sera. I think four-arms would be best to go first, 'cause he's got four arms." said Geruud, disguising his intentions in an innocent tone.

Another pat on the back before Hanadi nodded both to the boy and Abwehran. "Alright, he wants you to go first. Just do what he did and you should be fine. If anything goes wrong, stone face and I are here."

Oskar merely stared in abject horror at the entire event involving the Sandrats demise. The gruesome end even made his stomach churn as he seemed a bit pale. Staring at the knife, something snapped in the four-armed man. Though no one could sit it past his goggles, the man's eyes rolled back into his skull and Oskar fell backwards to the ground. Apparently, he had passed out.

Hanadi, dumbfounded for a moment, had her mouth hanging open slightly as the four-armed Oskar fell. She let go of Geruud and ran over to him, skidding to a halt on her knees beside him while going about checking his pulse and breathing.

"Is he dead?" asked Na'Subir, tilting his head at the sight. Had they lost their first person? Already? If he was beyond saving, then he was doomed the moment he landed on the planet, Na'subir surmised. He rubbed his chin, while Geruud next to him, kicked the dirt in frustration. The Four-arms had escaped his wrath.

The momentary look of worry on her face cracked, then broke entirely as one of annoyance now replaced it. "Tch... He fainted!" Hanadi said aloud in Trade and then her native tongue while she slapped Oskar on the chest once before getting to her feet.

"What do you want me to do with the big sissy?" asking while jabbing a thumb behind her at the fallen 'man'.

At hearing that Oskar had fainted, Harmony hid her grin behind a hand, her shoulders jerking a little bit.

Na'Subir looked over to Shiki and Harmony, and then back to Hanadi. The other survivors would likely know more about Oskar than they would. Perhaps fainting like a child was normal for his people, or maybe he could not handle the heat. Or, Oskar was a massive baby. "Ask them if this sort of thing is normal, and if we can rouse him from it."

Hanadi rubbed the bridge of her nose as she turned. "He," pointing to Na'Subir. "Wants to know if this is normal for Oskar's... people and if we can wake him up." she nudged the body with a foot once or twice before letting him be.

"Anyone know?"

Harmony just shrugged, shaking her head. "I just figured it was cause he is a wimp...I got no clue though. Sorry..." Harmony shrugged again, holding up her hands out to the side.

Hanadi returned the shrug before looking to Shiki placing a hand on a hip as she waited. "You know anything?"

"I've heard stories of his people enduring crushing gravity for entire lifetimes and having the strength to tear hardened soldiers in half. It's a little... weird, that he's acting this way." Shiki replied idly, making a small shrug. "Maybe it's the heat?"

Hanadi rolled her eyes before pulling her canteen from the belt about her waist. Tossing it at the Geshrin telling him to drink from it. Hanadi bent down again just to make sure Oskar was alive.

"Neither one know for sure, but maybe he can't stand the heat of the Expanse. Did learn something knew though." she got up and looked toward the Temple Guard. "The sissy laying on the sand is a heavy gravity worlder."

"Hrm." Na'Subir rubbed his chin in thought of this new information. The Temple Guard didn't want Oskar missing this chance to learn a way to survive on his own. Though, if the Abwehran was inable of acting, such a thing was an impossibility. "Then the boy will have to choose someone else for the time being."

Geruud puffed his cheeks in frustration, being denied the chance of watching his rival struggle. So, he looked at the other survivors. Harmony... looked less likely to look rediculous in her attempt. So, likely, she'd make a better example for the instruction. He thrust his finger in her direction. "Beast lady! You go!"

While Geruud picked his next trainee, Na'Subir stepped over to Oskar, squatting down next to the large man. The Knight looked him over; Oskar seemed more like a normal person when he wasn't trembling or screaming. Still, he needed this fellow awake. That was when he spotted the alien's flask, something that Oskar seemed to confide his very soul in. So, Na'Subir took the alcohol-filled container and opened it, taking a sniff. Instantly his nostrils burned from the very aroma of the alcohol, Na'Subir drank from time to time, but this stuff was beyond him. In hopes that it would do something, he held the open container down to Oskar's nose.

Harmony looked over to Hanadi, pointing at herself as she looked for clarification. "He wants me to go next?"

The first taste of alcohol was all that was needed. Suddenly, Oskar's eyes shot open (though it was hard to tell with those goggles on) and proceeded to grab the flask. His lips encompassed the end of the great container as he supped of its delightful contents. Moments later, he sat up and pulled the flask away with a gasp. "I needed that!"

Hanadi nodded to Harmony. " Yeah, you're up next."

Na'Subir's only hint of surprise was how his head tilted up so slightly at Oskar's rapid response to the very presence of alcohol. The Temple Guard looked towards Hanadi, his designated translator. "Did he just insult me?"

"From the looks of it? No. He was partially thanking you. Looks like the alien woke up due to the smell from whatever is in that flask." Hanadi pointed to the thing in Oskar's hand. "Good 'cause the smelling salts are back on the crawler." That was when the woman realized she probably should've brought the first aid kit with her, along with more water for the aliens.

Harmony nodded, and with a grin she took a few paces away from the group and went down to all fours. With fingernails digging into the sand, the Llamnel girl began to pat the dirt with her ear to the sand, listening for movement or noise, anything that would help to give away a animal. With each few pats, she would leave her hand against the sand also to feel for movements where she just patted, waiting for a few seconds before moving on to the next spot.

She seemed a natural at the technique, and frankly she was a bit practiced at it as she had used something like it before while hunting in some of the greater forests of Lor, her first homeworld. Looking for what the Yamatians would call Moles, Harmony had used the vibrations she made to draw the animals in closer to her and to better give her a chance to grab them when they surfaced to attack a prey.

She did much the same now, patting the earth to try and flush a animal out, and with a little luck and some skill, she eventually did. Driving her hand into the sand after she felt a vibration and some chittering, Harmony wrapped her hand around a sandrat's body and yanked it from the ground. Holding it up in the air she gave a little cheer and showed the others her trophy, now a good 15 yards or so away. The rat wasn't very big, but was still a fighter as it clawed and bit at Harmony's hand, at least until she used her free hand to drive her claws into the sides of it's neck, effectly decapitating him without the messiness of Geruud's show.

She trotted back over to the others and handed Geruud the prize, grinning before she asked him "So, did I pass teacher?"

Geruud stared on as Harmony seemed to pick up the hunting techniques rather easily, definitely faster than most Sund Wakir children did. Her own twist to the technique seemed to make it slightly alien to him. Usually there was more blood. Why not blood? You can't eat a Sand Rat if it's full of blood. The boy shrugged his shoulder, trying to appear judging of it. In all honesty, she did it perfectly, but like his elders, he didn't want her thinking she did 'too' well. Because, to Geruud, that's what Elders were for, keeping you from thinking you did too well.

"It's alright." said the young boy, not quite understanding what she was asking, but he tried to be polite in offering a response. "But..." He pursed his lips as he tried to find a flaw, "It was too clean, make it messier next time."

Hanadi translated the boys words to Trade for Harmony. The Curdatl woman then looked back to Oskar again, frowning at him this time. "You going to try, Oskar? Or sit out in the desert drinking alcohol? Because you know, the only drinkable water I brought for you all is in that canteen I handed to Shiki. And now, now you're only going to dehydrate yourself faster from trying to get drunk." She sucked at her teeth before adding. "Deals off for your fainting too, you don't get no more drink outta' my crawler unless you belt up and act like a man and hunt like the boy showed you."

Oskar froze as she stared at Hanadi. No more booze? That wasn't going to happen! Not while Oskar was still breathing. But she wanted him to hunt and kill. Could he do it? With his source of alcohol on the line, Oskar capped his flask and moved to his hands and knees. Swallowing hard, he crawled away from the group and tried to mimic the boy. Too bad he wasn't getting anywhere as he couldn't feel anything.

"I can't..." he mumbled as he continued to try. Two of his hands were thumping on the ground this time as the other two felt for any sign of movement.

"Listen for it!" Hanadi hissed to the Abwehran. "You listen as well. They can burrow deeper if danger is near, or take off jumping. So you do not always feel vibrations or shifting of the sands."

Harmony nodded to Geruud's comments about her performance before taking the Sandrat back in line with her, forming back up with Shiki. She would eat her trophy tonight and be damn proud of it.

"Geez, I guess you're expecting me to do something crazy like that, right?" Shiki said with a bit of a worried shrug. He wasn't some kind of hunter or bushman, and even though he could probably gut the thing passably, he didn't really have the sort of killer instinct one would need to stalk and strangulate a tiny and adorable rodent. He hadn't butchered anything that wasn't already dead... or a fish! He cautiously took a sip from Hanadi's canteen, and tossed it back to her. "Th-thanks."

Oskar grimaced at the woman's shouting. "What are you, my mother," he growled under his breath as he leaned forward to move his head closer to the ground to try and listen for movement.

Oskar would definitely hear something, in fact, he'd notice that the sand below his ear would start sinking. Though, like with his usual fate and luck, he wouldn't have time to question whether or not a mother sand rat was going to bite him in the ear, because that was what happened. Out from the wavy dunes, protruded the head of a large Sand Rat. Normal, male Sand-rats were more agile, meaner, and had sharper incisors than their female counterparts. Though, female sand-rats were generally larger, docile, and smaller incisors. However, attack one of the young, and the attacker gets to witness a legendary sight in the desert.

Just as the mother sand-rat ascended to bite Oskar's ear, the swarm of her children, an entire nestworth rose from the sand to overtake the massive alien. They all screeched and bit away at him, getting as much violence on the Abwehran as physically possible.

"MEIN GOTT," was all Oskar could get out before he began screaming like a wounded animal. Two of his hands shot up to grab the Mother Sand Rat as he instinctively squeeze it with his strength, the strength born from heavy gravity. The rest of his body proceeded to flail around as he continued to scream.

Harmony's eyes went wide, her body locking up as she jerked a hand up to point at Oskar and the swarm, the hand oddly with the rat in it. "He's awsome! He found an entire nest!"

Oddly the Llamnel girl did nothing to help Oskar, simply thinking this was him hunting and just being that good at it...

Both of Hanadi's brows raised as she looked at the sight before her. It was a Sund Wakir hunters nightmare made manifest alright... Though a nest could strip a cargo hold bare within an hour the food in there didn't fight back. Nor did it have a four-armed Abwehran trying to strangle a Mother Sand Rat into oblivion. The Curdatl knew better then to go out there and help because frankly she didn't want all those little bites on her! Oh no... Instead, the woman looked down at Geruud, eyeing him suspiciously as two and two began coming together.

"So... Little Man. Why exactly did you choose this spot?" she asked her little protege' as she knelt down in front of him. "Because, you and I both know that more then one sandrat in the same place means a nest might be close by."

Geruud only coughed nervously into a fist, avoiding the eye-sight of his guardian. Of course he knew that, every Wakir with two sides of their brain intact knew that. Oskar was tough, right? He looked tough, but seemed like a wussy. Such a thing was alright, since it wouldn't wound him too badly. Though, this fact wouldn't save Geruud from Hanadi. So, he tried to use his childish charm to get himself out of it.

"I... I thought was alright! I didn't think he'd find a nest!" Geruud looked at his feet in faux shame, "I'm sorry, Hana-sera... I'll do better next time..."

Harmony was laughing as he was attacked, before she looked over at Hanadi and Geruud. "Should I uh...Help him?"

Hanadi put a hand on Geruud's cheek, and her face hardened all the more. "You get to clean his wounds and see that he is alright. You are the teacher and you let one of your students get hurt. As the instructor you're going to see it through to the end and care for your student. Also, you don't get dessert tonight. Oskar gets your share." The woman was being hard on the boy for good reasons, and just like any Sund Wakir mother would do in this situation. If you didn't take care of your own then it was the mark of a poor individual.

She didn't look at Harmony but instead answered her reply while drilling home the stern look she was giving Geruud.

"Go ahead and help him. And use your beast too."

"Aye aye Cap-i-tan! PEACE! ATTACK!" It was honestly a little more then a formality as Peace was sprinting at the swarm that was covering Oskar just as Harmony called his name. Harmony followed in suit.

As Harmony attempted to get across to assist the assailed Oskar. A loud screech broke the silence of the sands. It was far off, but it signaled the approach of a specific animal that Hanadi, Geruud, and Na'Subir would recognize. Shiki would know it from Zahrah's pet. The other survivor's would likely recognize it as the same screeching they heard from an animal inside the hospital. Though, when finally able to determine the direction of the sound. The group could see the source off in the distance.

A hunting pair of Jarin Wyrms was closing in on them. Needless to say, upon hearing the screeching, the Mother Sand Rat and other Sand Rats tried to get the hell out of dodge and back into the Sand.

Harmony pulled up short of the pile of Sand Rats while Peace jumped onto the pile which had recently vacated Oscar's body. In light of the situation, Peace truthfully could not be put at fault for latching onto two of Oscar's arms with claws fully extended...

The Llamnel girl's head whipped around to look at Hanadi, eyes wide as she blinked a few times. "What in the name of the Goddess was that!" she asked, her voice sounding excited oddly.

Hanadi who had heard the telltale high-pitched screech groaned before she swung Geruud around and at the direction of the sandcrawler, whispering in his ear just what to get for her out of it. The woman smacked him on the rump hard, and yelled for him to run as she stood.

"It's a pair of Jarin Wyrms it looks like... Muna's tits! we're fucked if we don't get the sissy out of here. His bleeding is going to be like a beacon to them." Hanadi checked the holster she usually kept at her side and didn't feel it. Damn! the one time she didn't bring it... But she did have the backup knife in her boot. Hanadi pulled the wicked bladed knife out and looked to the Guard's man.

"You either want'em to run or stay, Mr.Guard?"

"They sound as big as the great one of the forests!" Harmony was of course speaking about the Giant Lraadyr that lived in the forests of Lor, one of the four "Legendary Beasts" of Lor. Honestly they were nothing more then a mutated strain in its DNA, but the Lorath saw them in a mystical light if you will...

Unfortunately for the Mother Sand Rat, the formerly cornered Oskar had now gone to the Fight portion of the Fight or Flight reaction as he held the larger Sand Rat with two hand while the other two proceeded to pummel the unfortunate creature until it no longer moved. It was only then that he noticed the screeching. Rolling onto his back, he looked up and felt a sudden warmth in his pants. And it wasn't blood.

"Mmm." said Na'Subir idly, watching the Jarin Wyrms approach at bullet speeds. His stance didn't change at all, no preparation or anxiety, just the regular statuesque figure. He pointed towards the Sehaya, which Geruud was runing towards at the moment, answering Hanadi's question, "Returning to the Sehaya would be rather ideal, if we start now, we should be at least halfway before the scoop two or three of us up." Oddly enough, Na'Subir wasn't making any movement towards the vehicle, which pitched a lack of faith into his words.

Hanadi spat into the sand at his words and then broke the news to the aliens. "Good news Oskar! You get to run for your life, right now. And if you live, any bottle of booze on board of your choosing you get to drink. Just.get your pale ass up off the ground and run!" yelled the woman and looked to the others. "Same goes for you guys! Run if you want to live! If they catch you, they'll drag you across the desert and then shred you to ribbons before eating you." Hanadi hissed, waggling a finger in the direction Geruud had been running.

Harmony listened to Hanadi, grumbling a bit as she shifted her focus to her legs, the muscles and form contorting to a much better running condition as she took off after grabbing a hold of Oskar's sleeve. Pulling him upwards enough to get him moving toward his feet, she took off running in a flat sprint as she nearly kept up with Peace, who had been running as well. Peace was a little more understanding of the screech, knowing it was a hunting call.

Oskar was on his feet with Sand Rat in hand and booze on his mind. He had never been very athletic, but the lighter gravity of this world aided him as he dashed for their vehicle.

Hanadi shoved the Geshrin in the direction of the sandcrawler as if her words had fallen on deaf ears.

There are few things that cross the mind of a person seeing a large winged serpent with a hooked tail for the first time soaring in from the distance. Shiki was not a particularly imaginative or dreamy type, however, and thus bypassed the phases of fancy and wonderment and segued directly into uncontrollable fear. His feet shuffled and his body did a quick turnaround as he bolted for the sandcrawler. "You've got to be kidding me! Dragons? This place has DRAGONS?"

Harmony heard Shiki's cry of fear and let out a laugh of her own, "I know it's AWESOME!"

The two large beasts soared in on the line of travelers. Both beasts could tell their prey was too small for a piercing strike, so the settled for sweeping their tails to pick up a few at time. One of them scooped towards the front, gathering up Oskar and Harmony, and nearly giving Hanadi a new hole to breath out of as it's blade tipped tail swept just past her. The other Wyrm swooped towards the back, hanging it's tail out to grab the trailing part of the group. Shiki would find himself scooped up, but also realizing that there was rather manly presence presssed up against his back. If he could summon the will to look behind him, Shiki would see the stone-faced visage of Na'Subir, seemingly unaffected by what was going on or the position they were in.

"This is... unfortunate..." mused Na'Subir in Sal'Saari as he looked back down at the dunes, which quickly escaped them as the Wyrm ascended with it's partner. Though, both groups would soon realize that they weren't going for a ride, as the tails that wrapped around them were unraveling to drop them back down to the earth! At this speed, and rise, they'd be lucky to get away with just a few broken bones, or their life.

Hanadi watched as all her mon--'guests' were flying away! The woman let loose a growl of contempt at this endless stream of bad luck she seemed to be having these days while charging full speed in the direction of the sandcrawler. Hopefully by then the boy had gotten her what she'd asked for and damning the questions that may come up later from it. Not having a license for the things after all and a do gooder Guard on board wasn't helping.

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Area Around Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
12:40 Commonwealth Standard Time

 

[Kokuten]

Re: [Chapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Outside Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
11:52 Commonwealth Standard Time

Geruud held up his hand to gather the attentions of the survivors present. To make sure they saw him, he began to wave his hand. Then, with their gathered attentions, he pointed towards the sand. Even if he was young, he was still sharp enough to know that these people wouldn't understand his words. So he stuck to the one thing that all Wakir were good at, action.

The boy held up one finger and then turned towards the sand. He squatted down and then started patting the sand with an open palm forcefully. Each time he did so, the loose earth below him reverberated a few inches. After a few strikes on the sand, the boy made a dissatisfied face and then stood back up. He beckoned the group to follow him, and led them about forty meters away from the Sahaya. There, he began to pat the ground again, but this time on the first few strikes, and small patches in the dunes began to shake. This result was rewarded with a smile from the boy.

At this point, Geruud turned back to the others and held up two fingers, and then drew his knife. He crawled over to one of the disturbed patches of sand, and dug his hand into, and then, the boy gasped. Not long after a Sand Rat scurried forth out of the dunes, and tried to jump away from the boy.

With a quick turn to the others, he held up three fingers as he stomped after the animal. The rodent was clearly not as good at running as it was on the flat surface of the Sehaya, so jumped every now and then. However, no matter where it hopped, the little Sund Wakir boy kept gaining on it, and eventually dove for it, his hand outstretched, grabbing the frenzied animal in his hand. At this point, he only had it pressed against the sand, and sense he had small hands, he could not wrap his fingers around the entire body of the animal. So, his prey attempted to burrow itself into the sand, but before it could, Geruude secured his fingers around it's neck.

The petulant prey in check, Geruud set his knife down and looked back to the other, holding up four fingers on his knife hand. Then, he grabbed his knife and walked back over to the survivors. So they could see him perform the final action, he set the rat down on it's back, which caused the rodent to scree repeatedly, and held up his knife. Just before the strike, he glanced up at them, and then back down to the rat, bringing his knife down with his eyes.

His motion silenced the Sand Rat as that wide blade of Geruud's worked as a guillotine, sinking through it's neck and into the sound below it with a sickening and concluding Shunk!. The deed done, the young boy tossed the rat's head to the dunes, and then threw the body in front of them, displaying his kill. His face was proud, glad to have shown his abilities in front of so many adults.

Harmony smiled, clapping her hands at the display. She was honestly impressed the boy had been able to find the rat in such a way, and mentally put it away as one of her own techniques now to use while she was on the planet. Peace came slinking up around them, looking to see if maybe he could get a bite. A stern glance from Harmony sent the Lraadyr back a few paces though...

Hanadi patted the boy on the back while speaking in the ancient Trade language. "Those are the four steps basically. He demonstrated them to you and he'll likely want you all to try it now. But, he's already deemed Oskar to go first." she pointed to the four-armed Abwehran then and motioned him forward.

"Alright, Geruud, do you want him to try it now or not?"

Geruud's grin went ever wider as she asked for his approval, knowing what would come next. He was severly judgemental of the cowardly individual, and he also didn't like him. Though the reasons of why may be obvious to the others, he decided he would be extremely secretive about it.

"Yes, Hana-Sera. I think four-arms would be best to go first, 'cause he's got four arms." said Geruud, disguising his intentions in an innocent tone.

Another pat on the back before Hanadi nodded both to the boy and Abwehran. "Alright, he wants you to go first. Just do what he did and you should be fine. If anything goes wrong, stone face and I are here."

Oskar merely stared in abject horror at the entire event involving the Sandrats demise. The gruesome end even made his stomach churn as he seemed a bit pale. Staring at the knife, something snapped in the four-armed man. Though no one could sit it past his goggles, the man's eyes rolled back into his skull and Oskar fell backwards to the ground. Apparently, he had passed out.

Hanadi, dumbfounded for a moment, had her mouth hanging open slightly as the four-armed Oskar fell. She let go of Geruud and ran over to him, skidding to a halt on her knees beside him while going about checking his pulse and breathing.

"Is he dead?" asked Na'Subir, tilting his head at the sight. Had they lost their first person? Already? If he was beyond saving, then he was doomed the moment he landed on the planet, Na'subir surmised. He rubbed his chin, while Geruud next to him, kicked the dirt in frustration. The Four-arms had escaped his wrath.

The momentary look of worry on her face cracked, then broke entirely as one of annoyance now replaced it. "Tch... He fainted!" Hanadi said aloud in Trade and then her native tongue while she slapped Oskar on the chest once before getting to her feet.

"What do you want me to do with the big sissy?" asking while jabbing a thumb behind her at the fallen 'man'.

At hearing that Oskar had fainted, Harmony hid her grin behind a hand, her shoulders jerking a little bit.

Na'Subir looked over to Shiki and Harmony, and then back to Hanadi. The other survivors would likely know more about Oskar than they would. Perhaps fainting like a child was normal for his people, or maybe he could not handle the heat. Or, Oskar was a massive baby. "Ask them if this sort of thing is normal, and if we can rouse him from it."

Hanadi rubbed the bridge of her nose as she turned. "He," pointing to Na'Subir. "Wants to know if this is normal for Oskar's... people and if we can wake him up." she nudged the body with a foot once or twice before letting him be.

"Anyone know?"

Harmony just shrugged, shaking her head. "I just figured it was cause he is a wimp...I got no clue though. Sorry..." Harmony shrugged again, holding up her hands out to the side.

Hanadi returned the shrug before looking to Shiki placing a hand on a hip as she waited. "You know anything?"

"I've heard stories of his people enduring crushing gravity for entire lifetimes and having the strength to tear hardened soldiers in half. It's a little... weird, that he's acting this way." Shiki replied idly, making a small shrug. "Maybe it's the heat?"

Hanadi rolled her eyes before pulling her canteen from the belt about her waist. Tossing it at the Geshrin telling him to drink from it. Hanadi bent down again just to make sure Oskar was alive.

"Neither one know for sure, but maybe he can't stand the heat of the Expanse. Did learn something knew though." she got up and looked toward the Temple Guard. "The sissy laying on the sand is a heavy gravity worlder."

"Hrm." Na'Subir rubbed his chin in thought of this new information. The Temple Guard didn't want Oskar missing this chance to learn a way to survive on his own. Though, if the Abwehran was inable of acting, such a thing was an impossibility. "Then the boy will have to choose someone else for the time being."

Geruud puffed his cheeks in frustration, being denied the chance of watching his rival struggle. So, he looked at the other survivors. Harmony... looked less likely to look rediculous in her attempt. So, likely, she'd make a better example for the instruction. He thrust his finger in her direction. "Beast lady! You go!"

While Geruud picked his next trainee, Na'Subir stepped over to Oskar, squatting down next to the large man. The Knight looked him over; Oskar seemed more like a normal person when he wasn't trembling or screaming. Still, he needed this fellow awake. That was when he spotted the alien's flask, something that Oskar seemed to confide his very soul in. So, Na'Subir took the alcohol-filled container and opened it, taking a sniff. Instantly his nostrils burned from the very aroma of the alcohol, Na'Subir drank from time to time, but this stuff was beyond him. In hopes that it would do something, he held the open container down to Oskar's nose.

Harmony looked over to Hanadi, pointing at herself as she looked for clarification. "He wants me to go next?"

The first taste of alcohol was all that was needed. Suddenly, Oskar's eyes shot open (though it was hard to tell with those goggles on) and proceeded to grab the flask. His lips encompassed the end of the great container as he supped of its delightful contents. Moments later, he sat up and pulled the flask away with a gasp. "I needed that!"

Hanadi nodded to Harmony. " Yeah, you're up next."

Na'Subir's only hint of surprise was how his head tilted up so slightly at Oskar's rapid response to the very presence of alcohol. The Temple Guard looked towards Hanadi, his designated translator. "Did he just insult me?"

"From the looks of it? No. He was partially thanking you. Looks like the alien woke up due to the smell from whatever is in that flask." Hanadi pointed to the thing in Oskar's hand. "Good 'cause the smelling salts are back on the crawler." That was when the woman realized she probably should've brought the first aid kit with her, along with more water for the aliens.

Harmony nodded, and with a grin she took a few paces away from the group and went down to all fours. With fingernails digging into the sand, the Llamnel girl began to pat the dirt with her ear to the sand, listening for movement or noise, anything that would help to give away a animal. With each few pats, she would leave her hand against the sand also to feel for movements where she just patted, waiting for a few seconds before moving on to the next spot.

She seemed a natural at the technique, and frankly she was a bit practiced at it as she had used something like it before while hunting in some of the greater forests of Lor, her first homeworld. Looking for what the Yamatians would call Moles, Harmony had used the vibrations she made to draw the animals in closer to her and to better give her a chance to grab them when they surfaced to attack a prey.

She did much the same now, patting the earth to try and flush a animal out, and with a little luck and some skill, she eventually did. Driving her hand into the sand after she felt a vibration and some chittering, Harmony wrapped her hand around a sandrat's body and yanked it from the ground. Holding it up in the air she gave a little cheer and showed the others her trophy, now a good 15 yards or so away. The rat wasn't very big, but was still a fighter as it clawed and bit at Harmony's hand, at least until she used her free hand to drive her claws into the sides of it's neck, effectly decapitating him without the messiness of Geruud's show.

She trotted back over to the others and handed Geruud the prize, grinning before she asked him "So, did I pass teacher?"

Geruud stared on as Harmony seemed to pick up the hunting techniques rather easily, definitely faster than most Sund Wakir children did. Her own twist to the technique seemed to make it slightly alien to him. Usually there was more blood. Why not blood? You can't eat a Sand Rat if it's full of blood. The boy shrugged his shoulder, trying to appear judging of it. In all honesty, she did it perfectly, but like his elders, he didn't want her thinking she did 'too' well. Because, to Geruud, that's what Elders were for, keeping you from thinking you did too well.

"It's alright." said the young boy, not quite understanding what she was asking, but he tried to be polite in offering a response. "But..." He pursed his lips as he tried to find a flaw, "It was too clean, make it messier next time."

Hanadi translated the boys words to Trade for Harmony. The Curdatl woman then looked back to Oskar again, frowning at him this time. "You going to try, Oskar? Or sit out in the desert drinking alcohol? Because you know, the only drinkable water I brought for you all is in that canteen I handed to Shiki. And now, now you're only going to dehydrate yourself faster from trying to get drunk." She sucked at her teeth before adding. "Deals off for your fainting too, you don't get no more drink outta' my crawler unless you belt up and act like a man and hunt like the boy showed you."

Oskar froze as she stared at Hanadi. No more booze? That wasn't going to happen! Not while Oskar was still breathing. But she wanted him to hunt and kill. Could he do it? With his source of alcohol on the line, Oskar capped his flask and moved to his hands and knees. Swallowing hard, he crawled away from the group and tried to mimic the boy. Too bad he wasn't getting anywhere as he couldn't feel anything.

"I can't..." he mumbled as he continued to try. Two of his hands were thumping on the ground this time as the other two felt for any sign of movement.

"Listen for it!" Hanadi hissed to the Abwehran. "You listen as well. They can burrow deeper if danger is near, or take off jumping. So you do not always feel vibrations or shifting of the sands."

Harmony nodded to Geruud's comments about her performance before taking the Sandrat back in line with her, forming back up with Shiki. She would eat her trophy tonight and be damn proud of it.

"Geez, I guess you're expecting me to do something crazy like that, right?" Shiki said with a bit of a worried shrug. He wasn't some kind of hunter or bushman, and even though he could probably gut the thing passably, he didn't really have the sort of killer instinct one would need to stalk and strangulate a tiny and adorable rodent. He hadn't butchered anything that wasn't already dead... or a fish! He cautiously took a sip from Hanadi's canteen, and tossed it back to her. "Th-thanks."

Oskar grimaced at the woman's shouting. "What are you, my mother," he growled under his breath as he leaned forward to move his head closer to the ground to try and listen for movement.

Oskar would definitely hear something, in fact, he'd notice that the sand below his ear would start sinking. Though, like with his usual fate and luck, he wouldn't have time to question whether or not a mother sand rat was going to bite him in the ear, because that was what happened. Out from the wavy dunes, protruded the head of a large Sand Rat. Normal, male Sand-rats were more agile, meaner, and had sharper incisors than their female counterparts. Though, female sand-rats were generally larger, docile, and smaller incisors. However, attack one of the young, and the attacker gets to witness a legendary sight in the desert.

Just as the mother sand-rat ascended to bite Oskar's ear, the swarm of her children, an entire nestworth rose from the sand to overtake the massive alien. They all screeched and bit away at him, getting as much violence on the Abwehran as physically possible.

"MEIN GOTT," was all Oskar could get out before he began screaming like a wounded animal. Two of his hands shot up to grab the Mother Sand Rat as he instinctively squeeze it with his strength, the strength born from heavy gravity. The rest of his body proceeded to flail around as he continued to scream.

Harmony's eyes went wide, her body locking up as she jerked a hand up to point at Oskar and the swarm, the hand oddly with the rat in it. "He's awsome! He found an entire nest!"

Oddly the Llamnel girl did nothing to help Oskar, simply thinking this was him hunting and just being that good at it...

Both of Hanadi's brows raised as she looked at the sight before her. It was a Sund Wakir hunters nightmare made manifest alright... Though a nest could strip a cargo hold bare within an hour the food in there didn't fight back. Nor did it have a four-armed Abwehran trying to strangle a Mother Sand Rat into oblivion. The Curdatl knew better then to go out there and help because frankly she didn't want all those little bites on her! Oh no... Instead, the woman looked down at Geruud, eyeing him suspiciously as two and two began coming together.

"So... Little Man. Why exactly did you choose this spot?" she asked her little protege' as she knelt down in front of him. "Because, you and I both know that more then one sandrat in the same place means a nest might be close by."

Geruud only coughed nervously into a fist, avoiding the eye-sight of his guardian. Of course he knew that, every Wakir with two sides of their brain intact knew that. Oskar was tough, right? He looked tough, but seemed like a wussy. Such a thing was alright, since it wouldn't wound him too badly. Though, this fact wouldn't save Geruud from Hanadi. So, he tried to use his childish charm to get himself out of it.

"I... I thought was alright! I didn't think he'd find a nest!" Geruud looked at his feet in faux shame, "I'm sorry, Hana-sera... I'll do better next time..."

Harmony was laughing as he was attacked, before she looked over at Hanadi and Geruud. "Should I uh...Help him?"

Hanadi put a hand on Geruud's cheek, and her face hardened all the more. "You get to clean his wounds and see that he is alright. You are the teacher and you let one of your students get hurt. As the instructor you're going to see it through to the end and care for your student. Also, you don't get dessert tonight. Oskar gets your share." The woman was being hard on the boy for good reasons, and just like any Sund Wakir mother would do in this situation. If you didn't take care of your own then it was the mark of a poor individual.

She didn't look at Harmony but instead answered her reply while drilling home the stern look she was giving Geruud.

"Go ahead and help him. And use your beast too."

"Aye aye Cap-i-tan! PEACE! ATTACK!" It was honestly a little more then a formality as Peace was sprinting at the swarm that was covering Oskar just as Harmony called his name. Harmony followed in suit.

As Harmony attempted to get across to assist the assailed Oskar. A loud screech broke the silence of the sands. It was far off, but it signaled the approach of a specific animal that Hanadi, Geruud, and Na'Subir would recognize. Shiki would know it from Zahrah's pet. The other survivor's would likely recognize it as the same screeching they heard from an animal inside the hospital. Though, when finally able to determine the direction of the sound. The group could see the source off in the distance.

A hunting pair of Jarin Wyrms was closing in on them. Needless to say, upon hearing the screeching, the Mother Sand Rat and other Sand Rats tried to get the hell out of dodge and back into the Sand.

Harmony pulled up short of the pile of Sand Rats while Peace jumped onto the pile which had recently vacated Oscar's body. In light of the situation, Peace truthfully could not be put at fault for latching onto two of Oscar's arms with claws fully extended...

The Llamnel girl's head whipped around to look at Hanadi, eyes wide as she blinked a few times. "What in the name of the Goddess was that!" she asked, her voice sounding excited oddly.

Hanadi who had heard the telltale high-pitched screech groaned before she swung Geruud around and at the direction of the sandcrawler, whispering in his ear just what to get for her out of it. The woman smacked him on the rump hard, and yelled for him to run as she stood.

"It's a pair of Jarin Wyrms it looks like... Muna's tits! we're fucked if we don't get the sissy out of here. His bleeding is going to be like a beacon to them." Hanadi checked the holster she usually kept at her side and didn't feel it. Damn! the one time she didn't bring it... But she did have the backup knife in her boot. Hanadi pulled the wicked bladed knife out and looked to the Guard's man.

"You either want'em to run or stay, Mr.Guard?"

"They sound as big as the great one of the forests!" Harmony was of course speaking about the Giant Lraadyr that lived in the forests of Lor, one of the four "Legendary Beasts" of Lor. Honestly they were nothing more then a mutated strain in its DNA, but the Lorath saw them in a mystical light if you will...

Unfortunately for the Mother Sand Rat, the formerly cornered Oskar had now gone to the Fight portion of the Fight or Flight reaction as he held the larger Sand Rat with two hand while the other two proceeded to pummel the unfortunate creature until it no longer moved. It was only then that he noticed the screeching. Rolling onto his back, he looked up and felt a sudden warmth in his pants. And it wasn't blood.

"Mmm." said Na'Subir idly, watching the Jarin Wyrms approach at bullet speeds. His stance didn't change at all, no preparation or anxiety, just the regular statuesque figure. He pointed towards the Sehaya, which Geruud was runing towards at the moment, answering Hanadi's question, "Returning to the Sehaya would be rather ideal, if we start now, we should be at least halfway before the scoop two or three of us up." Oddly enough, Na'Subir wasn't making any movement towards the vehicle, which pitched a lack of faith into his words.

Hanadi spat into the sand at his words and then broke the news to the aliens. "Good news Oskar! You get to run for your life, right now. And if you live, any bottle of booze on board of your choosing you get to drink. Just.get your pale ass up off the ground and run!" yelled the woman and looked to the others. "Same goes for you guys! Run if you want to live! If they catch you, they'll drag you across the desert and then shred you to ribbons before eating you." Hanadi hissed, waggling a finger in the direction Geruud had been running.

Harmony listened to Hanadi, grumbling a bit as she shifted her focus to her legs, the muscles and form contorting to a much better running condition as she took off after grabbing a hold of Oskar's sleeve. Pulling him upwards enough to get him moving toward his feet, she took off running in a flat sprint as she nearly kept up with Peace, who had been running as well. Peace was a little more understanding of the screech, knowing it was a hunting call.

Oskar was on his feet with Sand Rat in hand and booze on his mind. He had never been very athletic, but the lighter gravity of this world aided him as he dashed for their vehicle.

Hanadi shoved the Geshrin in the direction of the sandcrawler as if her words had fallen on deaf ears.

There are few things that cross the mind of a person seeing a large winged serpent with a hooked tail for the first time soaring in from the distance. Shiki was not a particularly imaginative or dreamy type, however, and thus bypassed the phases of fancy and wonderment and segued directly into uncontrollable fear. His feet shuffled and his body did a quick turnaround as he bolted for the sandcrawler. "You've got to be kidding me! Dragons? This place has DRAGONS?"

Harmony heard Shiki's cry of fear and let out a laugh of her own, "I know it's AWESOME!"

The two large beasts soared in on the line of travelers. Both beasts could tell their prey was too small for a piercing strike, so the settled for sweeping their tails to pick up a few at time. One of them scooped towards the front, gathering up Oskar and Harmony, and nearly giving Hanadi a new hole to breath out of as it's blade tipped tail swept just past her. The other Wyrm swooped towards the back, hanging it's tail out to grab the trailing part of the group. Shiki would find himself scooped up, but also realizing that there was rather manly presence presssed up against his back. If he could summon the will to look behind him, Shiki would see the stone-faced visage of Na'Subir, seemingly unaffected by what was going on or the position they were in.

"This is... unfortunate..." mused Na'Subir in Sal'Saari as he looked back down at the dunes, which quickly escaped them as the Wyrm ascended with it's partner. Though, both groups would soon realize that they weren't going for a ride, as the tails that wrapped around them were unraveling to drop them back down to the earth! At this speed, and rise, they'd be lucky to get away with just a few broken bones, or their life.

Hanadi watched as all her mon--'guests' were flying away! The woman let loose a growl of contempt at this endless stream of bad luck she seemed to be having these days while charging full speed in the direction of the sandcrawler. Hopefully by then the boy had gotten her what she'd asked for and damning the questions that may come up later from it. Not having a license for the things after all and a do gooder Guard on board wasn't helping.

Pause, Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Outside Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
12:40 Commonwealth Standard Time


Harmony was struggling a little against the tail, praying silently to the goddess that Oskar didn't flip out and bash her skull in with his body. Digging clawed fingers into the tail she grew her teeth out too and tried to bite into the wyrm in a effort to get it to let go. She knew that even a pin prick could cause a giant to flinch.

Meanwhile, a certain Abwehrans was still holding on to the huge Mother Sandrat he had the unfortunate fate of meeting. And what was he doing? Poor Oskar was only squealing like a little girl panicking. "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIIIIIIIIEEEE!"

"Wh- wha- whaaa~!" Shiki did not react particularly well to being snatched from the ground by some sort of hook-tailed desert dragon, especially not so soon after what seemed like a rather painful journey to begin with. That Oskar was freaking out didn't calm his nerves any... but what was he supposed to do? Join him and scream like some youngling getting raw calamari dropped on her head, or thrash and flail and run the risk of being diced up by the thing's tail!? He bit down on his lip and grabbed onto the tail with all his might, in some vague hope of avoiding being speared *and* falling to his death, or perhaps one of the two seperately if the universe felt like being ironic...

"By Chiharu, why are they attacking us?! I thought you horned freaks rode these things!"

"Yes, I was thinking the same exact thing." responded Na'Subir plainly in Sal Saari. The Temple Guard was not too sure what his panicked Yamataian companion was yelping about, but he was sure hoping that his calm and unfluttered response would be good enough to calm him down. At they very least, he grabbed on tightly to the Wyrm's tail with one arm, and reached for his Fael Raig with another.

Of course, realizing their prey was not letting go was an alarming fact to the Wyrms. In response to the three survivors desperate attempt hold on for dear life, the two majestic beasts began to thrash about in the desert winds, flinging their tails in an array of acrobatic twists and twirls. Specifically the one Harmony had clawed herself into was shrieking angrily and jerking much harder than it's counterpart.

Though, unlike the rest, who held on for their futures to prevent a sandy demise. Oskar fell straight down towards the sandy dunes below. Luckily, due to his bodily structure, the Abwehran wouldn't suffer any permanent damage. Not only that, the sand was enough of cushion for only a few of his organs to suffer from internal bruising and bleeding.

As Oskar cratered into the sand, Geruud had returned from inside the Sand Crawler, bearing a rifle and a few clips of ammuniton stuffed in the linings of his turban.

"Hana-Sera!" the young Sund-Wakir yelled, holding up the rifle to the scoundrel of a woman, "Gun!"

Having managed to close some distance between her and the crawler, Hanadi saw the boy holding up the weapon as she drew near. Quickly, Hanadi took hold of the rifle, noting it had not been loaded. Instead she called for one of the clips the boy hopefully had not forgotten to bring while adjusting the flip sights, trying to gauge the range.

Geruud pulled on of the clips out of his turban and held it up to Hanadi.

Seeing the boy had brought the ammunition, one glance at the tip told her everything about the rounds before they were fed into the magazine. Hanadi pulled the metal strip out; tossing it aside without a care before nudging one of the bullets a little before bringing up to her shoulder with an eye down the sight. Taking aim at the lead Wyrm she fired a round off with a loud 'CRACK!' of a retort from the gun just before she pulled the bolt back and into place to chamber another round.

Hanadi's bullet blazed a trail of sonic-boom inducing murder as it tore it's way up to the Jarin Wyrm that both Shiki and Na'Subir rode. The armor-piercing round found it's way through Na'Subir's shoulder, piercing right through his mantle on both sides, whizzing past Shiki's unprotected face with a mortaly-threatening view, and tore into the snout of the Jarin's face, leaving it a nice new pair of nostrils to howl in rage. The large beast began swing it's head around in an aggravated pain, and slowly began to lower its altitude with a loss of its own self-control.

Harmony growled, climbing up the tail of the wyrm as she wasn't a fan of getting thrashed around. Digging claws in both her feet and her fingers, she was doing her best to keep a solid hold on the beast as she kept her arms and legs spread out wide enough to keep the strongest hold.

Harmony's wyrm began to thrash around more and more as it's 'victim' began to climb it's back. The flying beast turned his raptor-bird like head around and began to snap at Harmony every few seconds, swiping his massive maw at her legs. Overall, this Wyrm was beginning to lose it's control as well, but kept it's altitude as it tried to throw Harmony off.

Oskar groaned and lay in the sand. He didn't move at all since it hurt too much to even breath at this point. "This is a freaking death world." he whimpered pitifully.

Harmony was quick, smart enough to watch for the swiping maw coming at her as she continued to climb. Making sure she had a solid hand hold and foot hold before she moved any further, she kept a slow but continous treck up the beast's back. She had a goal in mind, she needed a story or two for her trip home to tell her parents, even a couple of teeth to take with her...

There was a small ruffle in Shiki's hair as the wind blew past his face, followed by the deafening blast of the round whizzing past his head at speeds that probably would have ruptured the eardrums of a less augmented species. The pressure was bad enough that he almost wished he could have had his ears pop to release it, as he dug in even tighter with a pained grin. "Haaaaah!"

"ANOTHER SHOT, ISTISLAH!" boomed Na'Subir with his ever so plain face. The Temple Guard's shoulder wound was starting to stain his white robe with a red, gory ooze. His kind was trained to resist pain, so he was capable of holding on through the shock. Shiki, however, was probably less apt at surviving such circumstances. So Na'Subir worked his way up right on Shiki's back, pressing the whole of his body against the young man in front of him. Hopefully, he'd at least be able to slow down any stray shot that could suffer on Shiki. Though, another benefit, was using Shiki's arm to spin his Fael-Raig switch around and pulling it down, thus activating the laser blade.

Harmony, however, would soon find herself upside down and finding the earth coming up to meet her quickly. If she had the thought to look forward, ahead of her, she could see the lain-out body of her abwehran friend in the sand. At this rate, the two would collide together in the most unenjoyable of ways. Not to mention all the sand they'd be eating as well.

Hanadi didn't need to be told twice to fire again! A second after Na'Subir's loud request, the Guardsman would be able to hear the cracking retort of the rifle again in response.

"Gah!" The Geshrin tourist-come-horrible-dragon-meal jumped when Na'Subir moved to protect him, perhaps simply overreacting as all sorts of uncertain fear chemicals coursed through his brain. He did not simply jump, however, but very clearly made the move to leap... up the tail. He did not stop with a single bound and in a crazed panic, continued to crawl erratically up the serpentine figure as if he was escaping a pool of acid or a crib filled with overexcited younglings.

"Runrunrunrunrunrunrun!" Shiki wasn't really one for affection, and being manhandled by some sort of albinic swordsman with a thing for laser swords wasn't anywhere near his comfort zone.

Harmony's eyes went wide as she felt the shift and saw her intended collision course. Growling loudly in annoyance that would be whisked away on the wind, she started to climb a lot quicker, making a path up and to the side, trying to get out of the pathway this beast had her settled on, yet still trying to make her way towards the head.

Harmony's Jarin was keen to his victim's movements, and ran it's side against the sand in attempt to abrasive sand the Lorath off it. At the same time, Oskar was caught in the Jarin's sights again. With a swing of it's head, Oskar found himself yanked up from the ground, in the jaws of the Wyrm.

Meanwhile, Hanadi's shot rang true again, tearing up to it's target once again. Luckily for Na'Subir this time, the bullet ran up the length of the Wyrm's back, and plunged at the base of the head. The bullet came out the other end of the beast's forehead, making a neat hole through the brain, effectively killing it. Though, as a result, both Na'Subir and Shiki were quickly losing altitude, and would have to deal with a fairly large plummet.

Harmony grunted as she felt the sand scraping against her bolts of pain shoot up through her body as she let go just long enough to alleviate the pain, letting the Wyrm go past her far enough down to grab a hold of its tail again. With a grunt she forced all of her strength into her shoulders, arms, and her legs in a attempt to regain a grip again. She knew better then to try and force her way through the sand, the abrasive material would skin her alive.

Another spent cartridge was ejected as Hanadi watched the Wyrm start to plummet. Tearing her eyes off the scene, Hanadi held out her hand for another stripper clip before saying. "Go get the medical kit ready. Big beige box under one of the couches in the living area. And clear a space on the couches. Think our friends are going to be a little bruised."

"Yes, Hana-Sera!" said Geruud quickly as shot back into the Sehaya to find the med-kit, yelping "Med-kit! Med-kit!" as he stormed the corridors of the armored vehicle.

"MEIN GOTT! CAN'T A GET A BREAK!?" Oskar cried out in both pain and fear. Now was the time for him to struggle as he tried to push both parts of the Jarin's jaw with his elbows.

As both Shiki and Na'Subir fell, the Temple Guard climbed up the falling Jarin Wyrm to reach Shiki. Despite his own worry and dislike for being touched by a big, burly, and bleeding alien male, the foreign Yamataian got wrapped up in the Knight Guardian's arms before the Ovoc Wakir threw the both of them from the falling beast.

The other Jarin, however, found itself in a strange position. It thought it had rid itself of it's troublesome lorath victim, but found that it had done no such thing. So, like any rational animal, it panicked. The large beast slowed to a stop on the stand and began wiggly wildly, trying to remove it's former victims from it. Oskar got a strange, sticky, and extremely smelly ride as the Jarin wailed, shaking him around loosely in it's maw, letting his arms flail out through the air. Harmony, on the other hand, got the same ride, as the Jarin Wyrm tried to fling her off it's tail.

Another shot had yet to be fired as Hanadi was busily unjamming her weapon. One of the spent cartridges had managed to lodge itself within the chamber amidst the flurry of fire. "Damned thing! Mu'Klamal take you straight to hell!" she cursed while prying at the brass case and jiggling the bolt.

Harmony kept her grip tight as she slowly tried to make her way up the beast's tail much like a catepillar would. Keeping both her hands and feet tightly wrapped and gripped, she began to arch her back upwards and bringing her hips close to her chest, before extending herself up and moving the shoulders forward, before repeating case. She wanted to get to that head, she was determined to.

As the Jarin began to panick, so did Oskar. Screaming like a little girl, he used his full strength to try and pry the jaws of his assailant off him using his upper arms. This lower arms in the monster's mouth proceeded to punch whatever they could in a bid to get away.

The muscular arms were a secondary concern when the Yamataian noticed the scenery rapidly changing as they hurtled towards the ground. "Oh crap! We're faaaaaaaaling~" Shiki exclaimed as he was rather impolitely grabbed against his will and hurled off the side like a skydiver's bodypillow. He was about to climb the thing when that crazy hovercar driver decided to snipe the horrible man-eating dragon.

Na'Subir silently regarded Shiki's words, before looking at the fast approaching ground. The sand would cushion his fall, he would cushion Shiki, but that only meant that this would be pretty painful for him.

"This... is unfortunate..." murmured Na'Subir before he collided with the ground, cratering into the dunes with a loud THWOMPH. Shiki, on the other hand, would only get mild damage. In fact, if Na'Subir had mistaken Shiki for a Yamataian, and had known about the Yamataian's innate gravity control, the young Geshrin would've been a very hurt man.

On Oskar's end, the Jarin that held him in it's mouth, continued to flail, before losing the merchant in a wild throw of it's head. Oskar went flying again, only this time, the landing would only be half as painful. Luckily for him, Harmony was the beast's main concern.

Unluckily for Harmony, she was the beast's main concern. The Jarin slowed it's thrashing a moment to turn it's head to the young Lorath, and blare a wailing, threatening screech. Following that, it lashed down at her attempting to chomp down and throw her off.

"Hana-Sera!" yelled Geruud from the door of the Sehaya, hustling out of the door with a Med-Kit. "I've got the box!" He ran on over to her, turban bouncing on his head, and a bandage flopping careless from the edge of the kit. Upon reaching his caretaker, the Sund Wakir began to bounce up and down, presenting the requested item to Hanadi.

Ever alert, Harmony saw the Jarin's head coming right for her but noticed at the same time the great beast had stopped moving. Grinning now she made a bee line up his back, her toenails growing out a little more to get better grip along the scales. Growling loudly she poured all her stregnth into moving up the beast's back just enough where she could spring off and wrap around his neck hopefully.

Harmony would find herself being thrown around the Jarin's neck. It began to panick, and thrash again, snapping it's jaws and screeching an ear-piercing noise. It's tail spun around, and scraped up the Lorath's back, tearing at one of her wings, and leaving a light gash on her shoulder. Still, as long as she could withstand the punishment, the Jarin couldn't throw her off.

Hanadi had managed to eject the jammed cartridge just as Geruud arrived. Paying the boy no mind for the time being she aimed at the remaining Wyrm, only to curse under her breath. "Damn, too far." Taking the rifle stock from her shoulder she rested the barrel there now while giving Geruud some attention. "Good boy, now we're going to go run to the one's that fell off!" Before the boy knew it, he'd been scooped up in Hanadi's free arm and took off at a jog before speeding up. "Hold on to the medkit now!"

The young boy yelped as he himself was turned into a medical kit, being carried by Hanadi, he kept the box tucked under his arms tightly.

Running across the sand as best she could, the archeologist yelled toward the small sandcloud that was even now dispersing. "Heyyyyy!!!!" she yelled once in Trade, and then Saal'Sari just to be sure. It was a little awkward to be carrying a child who held a medical kit in one arm, and the other a high-caliber rifle but she made due while plodding along. "Are you alright?!"

Harmony let out her own screech of pain, understanding this creature didn't just want her off now. Growling Harmony made her way up the wyrms back grunting each time she gripped and pulled off with her now injured shoulder. Her wing had been cut into, causing blood to drip down into the gash on her shoulder. She was working up the wyrm's neck trying to get to anything vital she could see or get her hands and claws onto.

"Shiiiiiiiii thump" was all that could be heard from Oskar as he hit the same and rolled to the sand crawler.

The Wyrm wailed as it could feel the Lorath trailing up it's neck. Harmony would ascend and find all the usual things you would see on what someone could imagine was a dragon. It's eyes were searching all over to see her, to even try and watch to find the oppurtune moment to remove her, but it couldn't to any avail. It's maw remained open as it thrashed about, and left it's throw suprisingly open. With each scream, it's whole neck vibrated. Though, there was only one thing out of place that Harmony could notice so close up.

There was a collar tied around the Wyrm's neck, with a tag attached.

"Guh." Shiki simply rolled onto his back in shock for severa moments as he and Na'Subir hit the sand, gasping for air and attempting to avoid moving any parts of his body that probably hurt. He knew he was alive and had escaped without any huge wounds or anything of the sort, but he couldn't help but have the sneaking suspicion that he might have cracked a few ribs too many. "I'm not dead, am I?"

"Istislah!" wheezed Na'Subir, holding up a hand. The Temple Guard was in a bad way, with how he taken hard fall like he did, but he was still alive, and breath, barely. He pointed off in the distance, to where he thought Oskar was. "Help the..." he breathed, his face still an emotionless gaze despite the pain, "Help the four-armed coward!" He then pointed at Shiki, "This one can still move."

Harmony blinked a few times before grabbing for the collar and tag, trying to see what it said. It was odd something so mean and feral could be collared, but regardless she left that thought aside as she tried to see what the tag said.

The tag itself read nothing, in actuality. On it was just a symbol, a circular item with lines cutting randomly around the it. Though, for all Harmony knew it was Sal'Saari for 'Mine, not yours'. This time spent reading the tag though, would cost her, as the Jarin whipped it's tailed up her back again, tearing a deep gash up from her lumbar area all the way to the base of her other wing, knicking it and nearly tearing it off.

Harmony let out a ear piercing screech of pain, her face right next to the Jarin's ear as she let the screech rip through the air. A Lorath's wings, while vestigal for most, is still a sensitive part of the body. Huffing in pain and now rage, Harmony started to let loose, first punching into the ear and tearing with her extended claws before she moved her way up to the eye. She was pissed now and she wanted blood, this beast had attacked her, then tried to eat her, now had the gall to attack her even more so... To hell with understanding the beast she wanted it dead!

By now, Harmony was almost on top of the Jarin's head, which weighed the beast down to the sand. The animal made another slash with it's tail, but it misjudged it's swing and blade landed to the right of the Lorath, sinking deep into the sand. If Harmony was going to do something, she needed to do it now.

"Oh shut it!" Hanadi hissed at the Guard while opening the kit after having set Geruud down. She was in the process of pulling two vials out and what looked like a bio-plastic tube out of the kit and shoved them in the boy's hands. "Ever do first aid in the Caravan?"

Geruud pulled out his knife, holding the tube in the free hand, "You want me to take his heart out?" Judging by his very confused expression, he most likely did not have an idea.

Having been in the process of closing the kit Hanadi stopped at the boy's question, and drawing of his knife. "Saint's no!" she nearly yelled in shock before demonstrating the use of the vials which in themselves were easy enough. "You put one of those vials to their necks right here" Pointing to a specific spot on her neck that was the jugular. This he had to know as any young Sund Wakir learned how to defend himself from watching and learning from their peers. "Then you press the blue button. After it hisses, that means its done its work. The tube you unscrew it and smear some of the goop on to the wound. But be careful not to press the wound too hard, understand?"

"... I think." answered Geruud, taking the vial and jamming it into Na'Subir's neck. He went right for the jugular, but did it forcefull, like he intended to do it with a knife. After that, he let it sit before the vial hissed, and he pressed the button as instructed. Then, he yanked out the vial and threw it aside, continuing his first-aid on the Temple Guard.

Na'Subir looked up at Hanadi, with a rather stony expression, as usual. His hand raised and pointed off to... somwhere, before saying, "Attend to the survivors."

Harmony let out a screech of rage again before she flattened both of her hands into wedges. Biting down onto the top of the head to keep her balance, Harmony grunted before she drove a hand into each eye at the same time. She pushed all her stregnth to her arms, shoulders, wrists, fingers, and nails. All to make sure that everything stayed straight and didn't snap or break, she was going for the kill. If they made it in and pierced the eyes, she was going to curl to try and drive her hands in as far as possible to destroy and damage any organs. All at the same time, she drove her feet into the ears to keep a solid base and let go with her mouth.

Pointedly ignoring the Guardsman, Hanadi nodded to Geruud before getting to her feet with the kit in hand. "Put another vial in to the injector after you're done with Stone-Face here, and do the same to the xeno. But check him before putting any of that goo on him since I don't see him bleedin'. I got to go find the other aliens now but keep your knife handy and stay by their sides. You're protecting them now." She shouted the last before running off with the kit wobbling in hand toward the direction Oskar had rolled. Thankfully it was toward the crawler.

A sickening taste entered Harmony's mouth as soon as she had bit down onto the Jarin. Somehow the Wyrm had an idea of what would probably happen with this. It tried to thrash one last time before a pair of hands dove into it's eyes and sunk into it's skull. Harmony's unnatural hands broke through the small ocular cavity and stabbed into the beast's brain. For a second after, the Jarin's head struggled angrily, before sinking down, and dying. The blood of the beast drained out onto her hands, soaking them in a smelly, rank goo.

Harmony stood up and let out another screech, letting go of the wyrm as she took a couple of steps. The andrenaline just flushed from her system as she stepped onto the sand and she collapsed just shortly before Peace made it to her. He immediately began to lck her wounds, making sure to keep them clean.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: [Chapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
23:28 Commonwealth Standard Time

The Maekardanii sun of Iroutl set on the horizon of the Nuocr's dunes. Instead of going in any positive direction with the Sehaya, most of the day had been spent allowing everyone to lick their wounds and relish another sweet moment of peace in the chaotic desert they found themselves in. For the course of events the survivors of the shuttle crash had thus far, it seemed like nature itself was acting against them. The concept did not go unthought of by Na'Subir, which was why he decided go through the Sehaya, rousing up anyone well enough to slink themselves towards the living room.

"Istislah!" called Na'Subir as he navigated one of the hallways. The man wasn't wearing his mantle, since it's metal rest-piece had a protrusion forcing itself into the spot where a bullet had pierced through his shoulder. The Flak was bloodied, but thanks to the handi-craft healing of Geruud's first-time medical expertise, it was in the very least not infected.

Geruud himself sidestepped the guard and rushed on past him, running as fast as he could between one end of the hall, to the other. The little boy audible counted as he pitter pattered across the floor.

"WHHHAAAAT?" Hanadi's muffled shout from her room answering Na'Subir's summons before the door slid open. "What'dya want Temple Guard? I was in the middle of scrubbing this rifle down." For emphasis she waved the blackend metal barrel and wooden weapon at him.

The way Na'Subir's eyes caught on to Hanadi, she could've mistaken him for some Jarin who had just spotted the fatest Herdtitan it had ever seen. This is not to say Hanadi was fat, but the look was given as if she were. He stepped over and pulled out a small pen shaped object. It 'looked' like a bullet, but it was covered in a matter of hardened oozes, and smelled like hell.

"Explain this." demanded the straight-faced Guardian.

Harmony grudingly had made her way to the living room when asked to, her shoulder and back covered in bandages that wrapped around her front side, covering her naked chest just enough to be considered modest. Wrapped around her neck was a string of leather she had been able to find which had two teeth hanging from it. Presumably from the Jarin Wyrm she had just killed, back in her room was the hook of the tail that had nearly killed them, well her truthfully. Her blood still stained the appendage, and she planned on making it into a weapon for herself.

In the meantime, Oskar continued to sleep in his designated chair. After all the damage done to his body, he didn't even feel like moving...let alone do anything else. So, he slept.

Geruud continued to run back and forth inside the Sehaya, tracking quickly from the bow, to the stern. The little boy sprinted quickly, breathing numbers in Sal Saari that sounded gibberish in the common trade tongue. Normally, he seemed to gracefully duck and weave around people. Graceful, in that he barely knocked people over when he went by. Though, by chance he seemed to find the unlucky chance to trip over a loose pipe, and slammed right into the back of Oskar's chair, causing the seat to jolt.

"Well that is a seven-six two rifle bullet. You know, the type that killed the Jarin Wyrm you got caught by." Hanadi reminded him as she stepped out of her room while placing the rifle just inside. The door slid shut behind her. "Got a point to holdin' it up?"

"This is not a normal seven-six two, Istislah. It is an ammunition variety of the armor piercing kind. I know this because it not only went through the Jarin's thick skull, it pierced my mantle and flak as well." while Na'Subir's face hinted nothing to it, his voice clearly indicated that he was serious of the matter.

The seat barely moved and what Geruud did hit was much akin to a solid metal wall instead of a chair. Even the slight movement didn't seem to phase the obviously exhausted Abwehran.

Geruud was very unamused by this turn of events. He quickly looked up an around to see if anyone had actually spotted his folly. Luckily enough, it seemed he had covertly screwed up well-enough. Though, it didn't take him long to realize that once again, the evil Oskar had decided to plague the poor boy once again with his very presence. So, as a matter of revenge, he reached for and grabbed the bottle of alcohol Na'Subir had set down on the table next to the Abwehran as a means of comfort. He looked back at Harmony, and his eyes widened as a thought reached him.

"Hey!" he whispered loudly to her.

Hanadi then leaned against the wall now looking at Na'Subir with a rather plain look on her face. "Your point?"

"This type of ammunition is illegal. To possess it beyond the means of military and police is a felony." continued the Temple Guard, clearly unphased by Hanadi's carefree posture.

Harmony blinked before looking around. After a moment she spotted Geruud and tilted her head. Feeling it wrong to talk in her normal tone, she whispered in return.

"Yes?"

Suddenly, Geruud would find a powerful hand upon his shoulder. "Where are you going with that bottle...boy?" came the sound of a very sleepy Oskar. Unfortunately, it was in Abwehran which didn't really sound friendly to other species.

Geruud's face paled considerably, he held the bottle up to Harmony, and began to jabber in Sal Saari. "Help me! Keep this away from dirty Four Arms!" Oskar's nickname was seemingly the only thing that sounded recognizable in that sentence.

"Once again, your point? Saved your life didn't it? I didn't exactly hear you complainin' when I killed the Wyrm. Besides, there is worse crimes going on in the Expanse then petty illegal munitions of this caliber. Two months ago I saw some trader get blown apart by a PHID missile, too him, his walker and half the guards out. Bandits swarmed over the rest of the caravan like sand fleas on a Neesh." Hanadi rolled her eyes while she crossed her arms. "I don't bother you in your dealings, don't bother me in mine, especially over something like that." Nodding to the bullet he had held out.

"The Expanse is dangerous enough without you flipping out over my using something that is normally used to kill the bandits with."

Na'Subir stared rather... normally at Hanadi, allowing her to finish her rant. He leaned forward, holding up the bullet. "So you are aware that this is illegal, yes?"

Harmony blinked a little as she reached out to grab the bottle from Geruud. Not really understanding anything but 'four arms' in that sentence, the Lorath girl shrugged a little. "Want me to give it to him?" Harmony made a show of what looked like handing the bottle over to Oskar. All of her movements only served to shift around her bandages little by little.

Geruud shook his head rapidly and squealed in above a barely audible whisper, "No!"

"Naw, I didn't know saving your life with it was illegal. Next time I should just wave my arms and throw sand while they drag you a mile across the desert with their tail hooks." Hanadi huffed as she stared right back at the Guard. "So what're you going to do? Arrest me for saving you, your charges, myself, and Geruud's life?"

"I simply wished to make sure you understood that carrying this sort of round is illegal, Istislah." Na'Subir shook his head in what could seem to be one of the few signs of expression from his head. "I am not quite aware of your understanding of the world, and as such, I felt it necessary to press you for the information. Though, if my concern comes of as so suspicious, then I will leave you to your duties, and keep my distance." The Temple Guard looked back down the hall, wondering where exactly Nova might be.

"Ah...thank you Fraulein," Oskar said to Harmony in trade as he reached up to grab the bottle.

"Yeesh!" cried Geruud free of Oskar's grasp to jump up and snatch the bottle from Harmony's grasp. The naughty child hugged the bottle to his chest and made a leap at least three feet from the Abwehran's reach.

Hanadi had disappeared in her room a moment before coming back out. She held a little card up to Na'Subir's face. "This says I can use'em.It expired three months ago. So yeah, technically it 'was' illegal. And I had planned on gettin' it renewed. But I just happened to stop by Nada's for a drink, thanking Jafar she hadn't stabbed me, again. And out of no where you, baldy, and a whole mess of aliens landed in my lap. So next time, just ask me if I have a license or not for Ruh's sakes."

"Next time, make an effort to bring that up earlier." shot back Na'Subir, giving her a side-glance as he had not even looked at her past the moment he spent checking for the other translator on the Sehaya. "Do you know where the Color Woman is?"

Harmony was about to pull the bottle back in to her body as if to hide it from Oskar just as Geruud reached up to grab it from her hands. Blinking lightly she watched the boy jump away and could only stare in wonder...

And then Oskar's face fell as the precious liquid of the gods was stolen from his reach once more. "Why does that kid hate me so much," he whimpered before standing up (well, struggling to anyway). "What ever did I do to deserve this?"

Geruud held the bottle up in the air, and began to dance back and forth on each foot as if performing some kind of rain-dance. Though, his words and tune that he sung to accompany them were enough to signify what he had been hopping around for. "Na nana nana na!" he taunted Oskar.

"Still pissed at you I imagine." Hanadi said with a dismissive wave. "She's in the cargo hold where I told her she could be."

"I will leave you to your work, Istislah." said Na'Subir, giving her a respectful bow before turning to leave towards the Cargo Hold.

Oskar was at wits end as the child started to taunt him with the precious booze. "Enough..." he muttered as his body shook. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!!" he roared in Abwehran and slammed his foot down on the floor, which in turn caused the entire vehicle to shake.

Harmony jerked a little at the slamming of Oskar's foot. She had been in his position before, at her boiling point with a younger sibling. It was enough to make her want to ring a neck or two herself. Looking over at Geruud now, she shook her head before making a "Giving" motion toward Oskar.

The shock of the Abwehran's boot seemed to be more the Geruud could handle for balance. It caused his feet to slip from under him, but his arms followed by throwing themselves up into the air, sending the bottle of booze skyward. The young boy had landed on his back, and his head struck the floor. Geruud had enough time to look up at the falling alcohol in horror as it looked as if it would collide with his face. Though, luckily enough, Na'Subir was passing at near the exact moment that allowed him to catch the bottle on it's way back down. Though, the cold Temple Guard made no effort to stop, he simply tossed the bottle back in Oskar's direction, and walked off toward the Cargo Hold.

With that, Geruud sat up, holding his turbaned head with both hands. His lower lip sucked back into his mouth as hiccuped, and struggled valiantly to hold back the inevitable tears from such intense pain. Since his head seemed hard enough to resist a concussion, he hadn't been dazed enough to dull the pain.

Oskar paid enough attention to catch the bottle coming his way. Unfortunately, that stomp had moved muscle and organs that had been bruised during his fall. This caused the Abwehran to hiss in pain as he fell back in his chair with a grimace. He too valiantly blinked under his goggles to keep the tears of pain from coming. But unlike the boy, he had a method to dull the pain as he uncorked the bottle and tipped it back to take a draught of alcohol.

Harmony knelt down next to Geruud, wrapping a arm around his shoulder as she frowned. "Sorry for not understanding..." She said to the young boy as she stayed where she was, ready to let him hide his face in her side should he want or need to. Of course he would be hiding into her bare skin.

Geruud did what he did any time a sizeable matriarchal figure tried to comfort him through his pains. He turned quicky and adjusted himself to press his face into Harmony's chest. The warmth he often felt from a woman's chest was comforting and inviting. Despite his brother always telling him not to do it too suddenly, the young Sund Wakir felt that he need some female chest time to properly confide the pain.

"Color!" called Na'Subir as he rounded into the Cargo Bay, ignoring the agitating pain in his shoulder. Whilst the prajna had healed up the flesh rather well, Hanadi's shot had shattered his shoulder, thus making it very uncomfortable to use the arm in any way. Though, just like any guard worth his or her salt, he did not let the pain show.

Oskar really wanted to say the boy deserved what he got, but he also wanted to be viewed as the adult of this little conflict between them. So Oskar merely stayed silently and supped upon the feiry goodness of his alcohol.

Harmony winced a little as Geruud pressed into her, but she hid it as best she could. Hugging the boy close she just smiled and softly pet his head. She had done this time and time again with her younger siblings.

"Four Arms is stupid!" yelled Geruud into Harmony's chest, jibbering in Sal Saari. He wrapped his arms around the Lorath hugging her gently.

The only answer Na'Subir got was the hiss of a blow torch on metal followed by blueish white sparks from around a cargo container.

"I can understand that I am not quite held in a fair light in your eyes, but I am at an impasse." began Na'Subir, eying the bluish white sparks. "I needed Istislah to translate for me so that I could communicate to your fellow outlanders. If it is any consolation, I am sorry for whatever I did to offend you so greatly, despite not knowing exactly what that was." He threw a side-long glance down the hall. "Hopefully I can convince you to assist me for just the moment."

"No use crying over it," Oskar muttered under his breath in Abwehran. Though, he kind of felt bad now for making the little kid cry. Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, the man tried to think of something else.

Harmony frowned, not understanding either one of the two that were speaking as she just continued to pet Geruud's head softly, whispering "It's ok." After each one of Geruud's outbursts.

"Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" yelled Geruud throwing his head out to shout at Oskar, taking off his shoe and throwing it at Oskar, before hiding his face back into Harmony's chest.

"GAH!" Oskar yelped as the shoe flew and hit him in the gut (an especially sore area after the fall). "Why...you," he muttered in Trade before switching back to Abwehran. "DUMMKOPF!" he shouted back.

Harmony turned a withering glare on Oskar, snarling a little as she continued to pet Geruud's head. She turned back to look at Geruud before speaking to him. "There is no need to throw anything at him ok?"

Oskar shrank back into his seat after witnessing that glare. He'd seen it before. Protective women could be the most dangerous thing in the Galaxy. Pouting slightly, the Abwehran Male turned his chair to the back faced them and sipped his booze once more.

Geruud simply stared up at Harmony for a moment, tilting his head in questioning wonder of the young woman.

Nova appeared to be working on the frame of another one of those machines before looking up at Na'Subir, wearing a welder's faceplate. She waved what appeared to be one of her mechanical fingers... on fire no less at him in a chiding manner. "No help the lamer lulzkiller!" she stated in her broken Saalsari.

"... I see." said Na'Subir, staring at the flaming finger on her hand. "Then will you at least do this for Oskar and Harmony? This is for their sakes as well."

Harmony though on it for a moment before she looked down at the young boy. Shaking her head she made a throwing motion before pointing at Oskar. She then made the image of a heart which seemed to break in half before pointing back at herself.

Geruud's mind processed this physical interpretation of communication. In his mind it read as, It would break my heart if you didn't throw something at Four-Arms. His face fell, and the little boy panicked as he quickly yanked his other shoe off and threw it at Oskar. Following that, he looked back up at Harmony with a hopeful and expectant face, hoping that the lack of violence hadn't saddened her.

Harmony jumped a little as Geruud threw the shoe again, smiling down at Geruud before looking up at Oskar. "Sorry! I swear I am trying to get him to stop picking on you!" Harrmony just nodded and pet Geruud's head before pulling him back into her chest in hopes of stiffling any more violent outbursts towards the poor man.

The shoe seemed to hit the back of his chair this time. Oskar barely felt it and probably wouldn't have noticed until Harmony said something. "Whatever," Oskar muttered in Trade before imbibing more alcohol. "It's not like I appreciate your help or not," the Man muttered, though he kind of appreciate her trying at least.

"You don't need to be an ass about it you know." Harmony's hearing was great as per most of her caste.

"I made Junker to help others. You break!" Nova threw her hands up as the finger torch sputtered out which sent her to grumbling as she began to open a panel on the back of her hand.

"I didn't know that." said Na'Subir plainly, attempting to cross his arms, but was quickly remined of the damage in his arm. He simply put one hand behind his back as the other hung down. "It is one of my responsibilities to clear out any inherent dangers to my charges. Your automaton seemed like it could be an inherent danger."

That remark only caused Oskar to imbibe more alcohol as he slouched in his chair and pouted a bit more. Of course, he hid said pouting quite well since the back of the chair was towards the only people in the room.

The short-haired archeologist walked into the living room, giving a little look to both Oskar and Harmony while she took a seat right by the sleeping Shiki. Crossing a leg over the other, she rested an arm on the back of the couch casually while nodding to the four-armed alien. "Got into my stash of alcohol I see."

"And he is drinking himself into being a regular asshole." Harmony called out as she still hugged Geruud's head to her bandaged chest. Hanadi would see that Harmony only had her bandages on her upper body.

Geruud hummed lightly as he gently settled into Harmony's bosom, finding her embrace very comforting.

"Nnn." Shiki rustled on the floor as the air around him was disturbed. Some people were light sleepers and could rest anywhere while artillery rained down around them, but Shiki was rather the everyman and actually would notice someone sitting down and stomping next to them. He rolled, flailing his arms a little in a lazy-half stretch and planted his face directly into Hanadi's calf. "Kfua~!"

His mouth obstructed, he reflexively attempted to bite down on the thing that was keeping him from breathing, just as he had often done to pillows, furniture and one of the housecats of the Itou household that insisted on sitting on his face during his youth. "Gnn!"

Hanadi opened her mouth to responded, instead she just let out a little, "Ahn~!" at the bite, yanking her leg away from Shiki's mouth while staring down at him with a light flush to her face. "Is this how you're going to say thank you to me everytime I save your life, Outlander? Nibbling my legs like a Dirhoun?"

Oskar remained silent with his pouting, alcoholic habits.

See as how Nova didn't feel to respond, Na'Subir sighed, and moved on back to the living room. He would have to mend things with her later on if he wished to have her services as a translator. So, he just need to make due with what communications skills he had. The Temple Guard stepped in and took a look around, happy at least to see that most of the people had assembled to where he could get some decent answers out of them.

"Istislah." called Na'Subir to Hanadi, "Could you ask the Outlanders if any of them have any experience in self-defence or combat?"

"Guh." After assuming that he'd made his point, the half-concious Shiki shifted his head around slightly to free his mouth to breathe. Now able to repire freely, the Geshrin let out a small sigh of relief and sprawled himself around a bit more. Arms flailed yet again and moved to grab onto Hanadi's thighs, which were promptly appropriated as an impromptu pillow. Perhaps proud of his conquest, Shiki returned to deep sleep.

"The winged girl over there clawed the eyes out of a thirty foot Jarin Wyrm, in the air. Four-Arms there screamed like a sissy, got hurt, and is suckling on my booze stash like a baby. And the red-haired gi-" Hanadi looked back down at Shiki shaking her head amazed that the guy was so carefree right now. "The red-head makes machines. This lazy slub just bit my calf. And can't hold a knife worth piss. So you tell me." She then went about and pinched Shiki's cheeks and pulled at them.

"Wake up you lazy colonial! I'm not your pillow!"

"Istislah." said Na'Subir again, "I want to know things about them that I don't already know. This may seem like something paltry to you, but this is a part of the Guard routine. I must know if they have anything from barfighting to high-class unarmed fighting. Today was evidence enough that this trip will not uneventful."

Hanadi continued pulling and snapping Shiki's cheeks for several moments longer before she practically sighed. "Hey, guys. Stone-Face there wants to know if you know how to fight. I already know the red-head doesn't. But what about you two?" She rapped her knuckles on Shiki's skull once. "And this lazy bastard."

"I know how to fight yea, i've been trained in hand to hand and small weapons very briefly." Harmony nodded a little to Hanadi.

"What about you, booze jockey?" Hanadi asked Oskar.

"Hmmm? What is it?" the tipsy Abwehran mumbled in Trade as he turned the chair around to face Hanadi.

"Can you fight? You know, hand to hand, shoot guns?" She rolled a hand over and over while speaking.

"My brother is the soldier...the Great Defender of the Empire." he stated and waved the bottle around. "I am nothing like him...and while many a Nightwalker, such as myself, learns how to wield a blade by the age of 2, I can do no such thing." Oskar explained in a rather melodramatic manner.

"Uh huh" Hanadi slowly said while looking back to Na'Subir. She pointed first to Harmony. "Hand to hand and some small arms training." Then to Oskar. "Wuss. He knows nothin'."

"Owowowowwowowowow~" Shiki groaned.

Mikael didn't feel like showing up again. Didn't see the sense in cooperating any more than he had to. He didn't trust any of them. He couldn't remember why -- but he was afraid of them. The image of blood was stuck in his head when he saw the horns of the strange natives.

But now, people were hurt again. And he was there.

Na'Subir eyed up at Mikael as he finally decided to join the group. The gray-eyed Iromakuanhe stared at him for a moment before looking back at Hanadi. "What of him? Can he defend himself?" asked the Temple Guard to the Sehaya's driver.

Hanadi nodded at Mikael, clearing her throat as she sized the boy up. The groaning Shiki now however had a fist grinding into his skull as she attempted to wake the lazy bastard up. "Hey, you, Mikael right?" she stopped assaulting Shiki a moment to focus on the newcomer to the room. "The stone-faced guy over there wants to know, if you know how to defend yourself."

With no reason to lie, Mikael nodded. "I do. I'm a Nepleslian. I can shoot. Fight with knives or with my fists."

Hanadi merely raised her eyebrows in a 'Sure' sort of way, taking "Nepleslian" as their word for Colonial. "Yeah, he says he can shoot, fight with his fists or knives. Though THIS pile of sandrat shit just knows how to scream, tremble and sleep!" For emphasis the slumbering grocery store clerk got knocked on the head again.

"Aaaaaaah~!" Shiki groaned, rolling away and clutching his head. He certainly wasn't asleep anymore, but didn't take to being woken up so suddenly particularly well, and immediately veered his head into the corner of one of the seats as he moved about. His pained whining quickly subsided as he bit down on his lip and sat himself up, tiny tears half-welled in his eyes and carefully kept from falling. "M-morning..." He said somewhat wryly, sniffling.

Mikael sighed. "Why are you torturing him? And is there anything I can do to help around?" People were hurt.

"I'm not torturing him, He fell asleep on the couch, roved over to my leg like it was a pillow and then bit me." Hanadi's response a little hot as she glanced at the now awakened Geshrin. "It ain't morning here, lazy."

Mikael snorted. "Bite him back, then."

"O-oh. I actually bit you?" Shiki seemed surprised and embarassed at the revelation, and rubbing the back of is neck nervously. "I err... didn't... err... it was a reflex. My sister's cat had this habit of sleeping on my face and I'd..." He stopped himself, carefully looking over to the leg. Redness. Bitemarks. It looked about the right size...

"S-s-sorry..."

As the others mingled amongst eachother, Geruud became more focused on his personal head cushion, Harmony. He looked up at her with those curious yellow eyes, and stared up into hers. His face was that of wonderment, taking in the visage of yet another alien species. So, he did the one thing that seemed to be acceptable amongst the outlander races, something he had done with Nova when he first met her. His little hands went up, and pinched her cheeks, pulling on them to make a funny face.

Having helped raise several younger siblings, Harmony did not seem pertrubed by this act. Instead it was quite the opposite as she crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out while at the same time flaring out her nostrils and wiggling her ears. While someone that wasn't familiar would find this odd, for Harmony, it seemed to be fairly normal.

With that, Geruud grabbed her tongue a second after she had stuck it out.

Meanwhile, Na'Subir appeared to be comtemplating the array of survivors before him. Stony gray eyes surveyed them, one-by-one. Hanadi, dangerous, and impatient when it came to people. Shiki, generally useless, but potentially viable. Harmony, clearly more of a threat to the enemy than she let on. Oskar? Sturdy, tough, and cowardly, a perfect decoy should they need one. Then Mikael, who claimed hand-to-hand capabilities, and carried untrusting eyes.

With a dismissive wave of a hand, Hanadi rubbed at the red spot with the other. "Don't worry about it. Just next time you decide to bite people, save it for the bedroom. Or if you're hard up in a fight."

Harmony dulled her teeth quickly and made biting motions at Geruud's hand playfully, growling lightly and she huffed out her nose.

Geruud seemed to gasp, and yanked his turban down over his eyes shyly as Harmony responded. The restrained chuckles that bounced in his chest showed that he was having fun.

"We are in a deeper, and much more... complex situation than I originally surmised." said Na'Subir grimly, staring down the lot of them as per usual with an expressionless gaze. "Istislah, do you remember the bullet I showed you a moment ago?"

Harmony was all smiles as she heard Geruud's laughter, glad she could cheer the boy up as her fingers found their way to his ribs to tickle him now.

"Once again, the bullet that saved your life? Yeah, I remember it." Hanadi said with a roll of the eyes.

"It was not the only thing I recovered from the beast's corpse." said Na'Subir, his eyes narrowing on her, probably the first real sign of emotion he had made since the start of their sojourn. The Knight Guardian reached into his back pocket, and pulled out what looked like a tab, with a large loop of line attached to it. The tab was made of a thin stone, and when held up for view so that the rest could see, an etched, circular emblem with lines, cuts and strange characters was featured on it's surface.

Harmony happened to look up for a moment as she saw the tag in Na'subir's hand. "Hey, that was the tag from the wyrm! When did you take that?" Harmony's tickling slowed after a few moments of looking up at the Guardsman.

As Harmony slowed her hands, Geruud stopped his giggling, and also looked up at the Guardsman when the Lorath changed her attention.

Shiki turned flush red for a moment and immediately covered his eyes in embarassment. "B-bedroom!? You... I... no... I didn't try to!"

Na'Subir's eyes darted over to Harmony as she seemed to recognize the insignia. Then came more unintelligible colonial speak that he could not hope to comperhend beyond the facial expression. "Istislah, what is she saying?"

Hanadi just shook her head at Shiki, clearly he hadn't a sense of humor. "She wants to know when you took the tag."

"When I got off my back, and began digging into the brain of the Wyrm." despite the fact that Jarin Wyrm insides smell like something died in them twice and emptied their bowels, Na'Subir made no flinch when he referenced it. "Do you recognize this symbol, Istislah?"

In response, she clapped her hands together, wanting him to toss it to her.

With a twirl of his wrist, Na'Subir twisted the twine loop around the stone item and threw it underhanded to Hanadi.

To Geruud the situation didn't seem all too exciting, so he turned it elsewhere. Specifically, towards the new arrival that he hadnt' seen much of yet. The young boy stared at Mikael, but from the safety of Harmony's bosom.

Mikael raised an eyebrow. "Careful, kid," he assumed it was a child anyway. "She may just smother you with those things."

Geruud tilted his head, not understanding much of what Mikael had just said. Despite being taught old, archaic knowledges at the monasteries, colonial was not one of those knowledges. Geruud had also never been to monastery, so he was working on second hand knowledge. So, the boy squinted his eyes at him.

Catching it, Hanadi untwisted the twine to get a better look at it. The woman was scrutinizing the item with an archeologist's eye. "Hrm... " was the only answer she gave Na'Subir while turning it over and looking on the other side, then the other again. "It's crude... someone probably carved it into the stone with a knife. Though this has bandit written all over it mostly because the writing is so damned poor, and it has bandit cant on it. Sometimes they send out mating pairs, or solo Wyrms to catch people, drag them home and loot them. Other times... just to let the Jarin out for the afternoon." She 'tsked'.

Not even thinking much about it, Harmony pointed at the tag in Hanadi's hand. "Hey what is that thing?" As she pointed at the tag, one of her breast shifted to the side only to wrap around Geruud's head now.

Hanadi looked over to Harmony, and Geruud. "Let's just call it an identification tag for an animal."

"Well what did the writing on it mean. The one I killed had that same writing..." Harmony replied.

Geruud was about to say something that would've contributed to the conversation due to his own youthful experience in the desert. Though, as he opened his mouth, he was quickly silenced by Harmony's chest. The pillowy comfort was too enjoyable for him to object, until he had trouble breathing. So, he shook his head vigorously to poke his head up for a big gasp of air.

"The letters are crude because it is ancient writing. Bandits of the modern age typically use Sal'saari to accompany this type of insignia. That..." Na'Subir said, with a rugged finger pointing at them item in Hanadi's hand, "Is the insignia of an ancient bandit clan. One that many people today only refer to as a common ghost story."

"Oh piss and nightmares, next you're going to tell me Muna is walking the sands again." Hanadi said with a snort while thumbing the tab. "The tools got as much to do with it being crude as it does being the old writing. I got samples stored in the cargo area that're better written than this."

"It appears that way because it is not a 'leash'. It is a message." replied Na'Subir sharply, crossing his arms over his chest. "Whoever felt it necessary to send those Wyrms after us is quite aware of our situation. The attack was too well-timed, and in the morning as well. While it may not be the clan itself, it is someone with the gall to use their heraldry, and anyone who is quite insane enough to march around with that sort of insignia without the proper credentials, is dangerous nonetheless."

"Really, you think someone, or the Nok'nista--"

At that moment, rather coincidentally as the culprit may have been named, the Sehaya's power shut down. Lights, air conditioning, and even the appliances shut off. In seconds after the incident, a Fael Raig lit up in the center of the room, emitting a light glow through the common room. When their eyes adjusted, the survivors could see that it is was Na'Subir who had grabbed his weapon from the edge of the room.

Mikael cursed, stumbling to a wall and flattening himself against it. "The fuck was that? Chiharu's tits! Damn..." And several other vibrant curses that rolled off the tongue.

A knife pointed in the direction of Mikael, originating just in front of Harmony's chest. Shivering in a mild panic from the suddeness of all the darkness, Geruud had his knife ample and ready. He was attempting a brave face, but the way he shook in his chest scarf gave it away.

Harmony jumped, hugging Geruud to her chest a little as she looked around the room. Wide eyed now she seemed on edge, the young boy in her arms would feel her muscles tense up now as she seemed ready to act. The powerful muscles at Geruud's back and sides would be somewhat impressive for a girl of her size and build.

"That cheap bastard probably fucked up the wiring!" Hanadi huffed as the lights went out. She was rubbing at her temples then as things steadily seemed to get worse. "Aficionado of older vehicles my ass! He wouldn't know his way around a sandcrawler if Ruh cracked him across the skull with his staff! I'm gonna crack Sura's teeth in the next time I see'em if he did this."

Shiki quickly patted himself down, looking for the knife that he'd been given by Hanadi... only to find no new leather sheath or wooden handle anywhere on his person. He fumbled around, searching the floor for it, but to no avail. "Guh, crap! Where did I put that thing?" He said in a hushed, panicked voice, struggling to think where he might have misplaced it!

As the lights went out, a loud Abwehran curse erupted from Oskar's end of the compartment followed by a loud crash. When the the Fael Raig lit up, everyone would find Oskar in the farthest corner with an expression akin to a trapped animal...though the black goggles hid his eyes like normal. It was probably a good thing he had not removed them or he probably would have been blinded by the guardsman's Fael Raig.

As their eyes adjusted more to the darkness, it was noticeable that there was a faint gleam caused by the moonlight above. In the ceiling was a line ship-grade glass armor, allowing them sight up at the moon. Though, since most attentions were gathered on Na'Subir and his Fael-Raig, the group would only notice a small shadowy break in the light as the sound of hands and feet pitter-pattered over the roof of the Sehaya.

Na'Subir noticed it out of the corner of his vision, and threw a more than unaffected look at Hanadi. "Is the bulkhead locked?" he whispered, his tone betrayed his eyes, with it's tinge of worry.

"Pft, of course it is. I live in the desert, around bandits and wildlife. I'd be stupid if I didn't lockup at night." Hanadi whispered back as she got to her own feet, moving over to the cabinet near the door.

"Daemons," Oskar whimpered in his corner. "The Daemons are after us! By the Void we're all doomed," he continued to whimper quite quietly.

Mikael either ran out of curses or decided that it was time to stop turning the air blue.

"I didn't think those sandrats could jump that high..." Harmony said as she heard the pitter patter. thankfully anything would happen inside if it came to a fight tonight, which would lend itself to Harmony's currently injured state.

"Nok'nista!" Geruud began to panic, his little heart unable to take the pressure of the situation. He snugged in tighter into Harmony's chest, trying to find some sort of comfort in her somewhat defending embrace.

"If they are outside, then it means nothing to look and endanger those within. We should be fine if we--" started Na'Subir, before silencing himself at the sound of hands and feet striking against the walls of the Sehaya as it seemed multiple things were crawling to the top of the Sand Crawler. The Temple Guard looked up at the sky-light, and noted that he only left a decent imprint of light in the center of the room with only a slight dim afterglow filling the rest of the room. He cut off his Fael Raig, and quickly gestured to the walls. "Out of the light! Out of the light!" whispered Na'Subir hotly, before turning to Istislah, and gesturing to the group.

Na'Subir would soon hear the dull whine of a Laiz Carbine powering up as Hanadi was by the door already, holding the weapon in hand. She merely stared back at the Temple Guardsman while also putting a finger to her lips in the universal 'Shhh' gesture.

Already as hidden in the shadows as he could be, the Abwehran Merchant seemed to have returned to his native tongue as he began to stammer quickly and quietly. Of course, the word 'Daemon' came up quite often in his speech.

Mikael tried his hardest to look for a weapon in the darkness, taking care not to make any more noise than he had to.

A fight. With aliens. He had expected it from those around him, but now it was obvious another dangerous group was being introduced to his little world. How many would there be? Could he depend on the more familiar aliens? That one with the glowing stick looked like he could use it. What he would do for a weapon like that! Or any weapon at all. He searched harder.

The only real available weapons at hand were being used by everyone available. There was, however, a loose pipe laying on the floor. The same one Geruud had tripped over earlier.

Harmony dragged Geruud back into the darkness now, keeping him pressed to her chest as her free hand grew out its nails to a much more aggressive size. Peace, whom up until now had been sleeping had felt Harmony's change in mood and come searching after her, silent as a predator stalking its prey.

"Oh... oh Chiharu!" Shiki doubled back and withdrew from the center of the room, rolling and sliding himself firmly into corner with the deft reflexes of a fleeing snake. When someone holding some sort of... energy sword, insisted that he stays out of the light, he was the type to go along with that order.

Geruud was still shaking, feeling as if one of his worst nightmares had been realized. He had heard the stories of things like this, only in much larger scales with much more frightening results. He had the inkling of hopelessness within him that slowly turned into more fear. The young Sund Wakir was tough, but too young to come terms with his own mortality. Though, it became worse within him, when he saw three figures stick their heads out over the pane of glass.

Against their heads reflected the shadowed of figures heavily embossed in wraps. Their eyes concealed by goggles that seemed to peer into the Sehaya's insides. They looked about, leaning over, and seeing and looking. The sight forced poor Geruud in to silent sobs, as he sunk a bit into Harmony's chest, staining her skin with tears.

One of them seemed to see Na'Subir at the edge of the room, despite the cover of darkness. Then the other two looked at him as well, which followed an exchange of glances between the three. The first spotter drew his knife, and pierced his hand with it, giving little reaction to the pain it should have caused. A few droplets of blood spattered the skylight, before he pressed his hand against the pane of armored glass, and began to write something in large blood-stained Sal-Saari letters.

WE SEE YOU

 

[Kokuten]

Re: [Chapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

Oskar had to cover his own mouth to keep from screaming like a little pansy. Instead, muffled pansy-like squealing came from the Abwehran as he tried to squish himself as far into his dark corner as possible.

Harmony's ears tilted back as she watched the others. While she didn't know what the blood stained letters meant, she did not like the fact that they had written them in blood. Was this planet nothing but one fight after another...?

Looking up at the glass and reading the blood-splattered writing cause Hanadi to grimace. She spat on the floor, looking to the others before shoving her way past Na'Subir and heading toward the back of the Sehaya, where the cargohold and trailer were located.

"Shh... fffuh... gah!" Shiki fumbled about around in the corner for a few moments, attempting to ignore the horrifically ominous writing on the skylight, but still to no avail. Giving up, he rested his hands on his back... only to wind up feeling the handle and sheath of the very knife Hanadi had given him. What an idiot he was, sometimes (although he'd never say such a thing)!

Mikael gripped the pipe he had found until his knuckles were white. Two hands wrapped around it like it was some sort of short sword, and he swung it in a small arc, experimenting with the weight.

It would have to do.

"H-hana-sera!" mewled Geruud after Hanadi as she left the common room for elsewhere on the Sehaya. The little tyke turned his head towards the back of his caretaker and hicced a sob, "D-don't go!"

Perhaps the more familiar of the Aliens, Mikael watched Hanadi walk out. With a grunt, he hurried off after the Iromakauhne.

A bit of laughter followed the scared expression of the aliens from above. The three strangely dressed fellows on the roof of the Sehaya seemed to bob their heads and look at one another. The one with the bleeding hand smeared the gory mess over the top of the skylight, while another seemed to be doing something with his hands. In the silhoutte of the hanging light, the other bandit's hand seemed to melt into something curved and pointed. As he began to tap against the roof of the skylight with it, it was apparent that he was tapping it with some sort of blade.

They were harassing them, getting some cheap kicks out of their fear. Particularly they chuckled every time one of them made a visual show of it. The third one, however, seemed to make his way back down the dorsal side of the Sehaya, stepping over the skylight windows and out of the view of those in the living room. He seemed to be trailing the two that were heading to the rear of the land ship.

The bandit with the blade looked down at Oskar in particular and began jabbing his blade at the glass, in a pointing manner, at the Abwehran. The quick and smattering Sal'Saari they spoke lit up the silence and the incessant sound-making, and they both became to stare intently at the four-armed wonder.

"Just stay calm Oskar, they can't get in hopefully and if they can, we know the inside better, and we can defend...it is always tougher to attack then it is to defend just remember that." Harmony said as she watched the bandits jabbing at Oskar. She knew how the man acted, and how he would react to that...

A loud thump could be heard from Oskar's direction as he slammed into the wall of the sandcrawler, causing it to shake. It was only a one time thing, but the man only needed to do it once as he made an indentation in the wall and squished himself into a shivering ball.

Mikael was greeted with a red-headed girl being shoved at him by the tall Iromakuanhe woman who was still muttering in her own language as she kicked an old warchest open with a boot heel.

Nova, the red-head in question bypassed Mikael by a few inches before righting herself as she babbled back at the Iroma lady in a broken version of Saal-Sari before being quieted with a sharp word. "She's wanting to know why you're following her around, and she's saying for you to take me back to the others." The 'Spacer muttered as she rubbed at her arm where she'd just been manhandled.

Hanadi however looked at both of them a moment, making a shooing motion with one hand as she pulled out what looked like a flak jacket and a set of goggles of her own.

"Fine. Follow me." Mikael said with a sigh. He had thought Hanadi was going to do something. He began to lead Nova back to the group.

"A-are they outsi- who's outside?" Shiki asked cautiously, realizing that it would be vaguely out of place to ask if something noisy really was making blood paintings on the glass. Hand over his knife, he felt his heart beat loudly in his chest, thumping hard enough that he could almost hear it over the smuffled squeaks and panicked whispers the others were speaking in. He didn't want to die, and the situation did very little to assuage that fear.

"Bad things." said Na'Subir to Shiki, in what sounded like broken colonial, in a fashion too convenient for him to have guessed the words. He pointed the Fael Raig up at the skylight, jabbing it back up at them, the blade reactivated for a threatening purpose. The two backed up for a moment, before laughing again. The two of them began to look around again, for something else to mock and make fun of. Which just happened to be Harmony.

The both stared at her, which in turn made it look like they were staring at Geruud, who began to burst out into a new range of sobs. The bloodied bandit laughed at her, and squatted over in a fashion where they could see his back. Then the other hopped up behind the other, bending it's elbow to the side as if representing her damaged and cut wings.

Harmony did a soft flap of her wings as she clutched Geruud closer. From off in the hallway though Peace entered into the spotlight as she stared up at the bandits, simply staring at them and licking his lips for a few moments. He didn't move much else but for his tail flicking back and forth randomly.

Shiki froze for a moment, any sort of silliness that he might have derived from the simplistic wording tossed away by the sheer weight of the man's words. He tightened his grip around the knife, and with a gulp, looked over to Na'Subir with a mixture of fear and worry. "Then what are we doing?"

"Waiting." said Na'Subir with a heavy accent, almost making the words unintelligible. The two bandits above them only stared silently at Peace, tilting their heads. If anything, it seemed like a zoo down in the base of the crawler. The two of them looked up for a moment, off towards the dorsal side of the Sehaya. The got up, and began to head towards the rear, leaving the group alone for now.

Nova peered upward at the noise from the skylight as she and Mikael showed up in the living area of the sandcrawler. The 'Spacer just pointed at the dark-colored letters with a cybernetic finger. "What in Entropy's name does that say?" she asked in an almost calm voice for she hadn't been present during the revelations of the group, instead confined within the cargohold.

Hiding in his corner, the Abwehran could only tremble and whimper pitifully from his spot. He was no longer looking at his surroundings any more as he decided it was best not to see his doom coming.

Na'Subir sighed for a moment, and looked around the room. Eying the fear and the extremely low morale of the Sehaya. The Knight Guardian was trying to find something, or someone. He stepped over to Shiki and slapped a hand on his shoulder, "Oskar and Harmony are occupied..." he said in Sal'Saari, he looked over at Nova, "Tell him to close the door when I step out."

Tugging at the flak vest she wore, Hanadi stomped back into the living area, fully armed for what looked like all out warfare. She had the Faelraig strapped to her back she'd taken from the good, yet cowardly doctor from Laruslan, the carbine she'd been carrying as well as an assortment of knives and her customary pistol strapped to her thigh. "You're staying your happy, stone-faced ass in the crawler. I could probably punch your shoulder and make it bleed again. So you aren't exactly 'fit for combat'."

The Temple Guard raised his Fael Raig in Hanadi's direction, he was only giving her a side-long glance. "You are severely overestimating my condition, and underestimating what is outside. If they are genuine, the likelihood of your head being returned to us in a ceremonial manner is along the lines of very likely."

Harmony watched as Hanadi stormed back into the living area and Peace turned back to look at her too. Still feeling the pain from her last fight, she didn't think she would be much help outside. Peace on the other hand made his way over to Hanadi and watched her.

"Herdtitan shit. I killed that Jarin Wyrm near the rifles range without a scope and naught but iron-sights. If you want to see how much you're underestimating me, I'll be happy to show you when I get back." Hanadi gruffly stated as she looked at the Faelraig with an apathetic expression.

"I lived out here in the Expanse and survived since I was seventeen, and fought bandits, pirates, and all sorts of funky shit on the other two planets while I was scrounging a living. Besides, they fucked with my sandcrawler."

"Then... it sounds like you're willing to try your luck." said the stony Temple Guard, before leaning forward just enough to tap her forehead lightly. "If this is the case, then we'll see if your pride is a true account of your skill. Now, ask one of them to get the door for us."

While no one else could tell what the little Sund Wakir was thinking, they could see that Geruud was getting more and more distressed as time went on. "Hana-sera! Don't go!" cracked the young boys harrowed voice, still scared out of his wits. He looked up at Harmony, then Oskar, Mikael, and finally Shiki, giving a panicked look at all of them. Though his gaze rested especially desperate on Nova. "Someone stop her!" he whined, struggling from within the confines of Harmony's cleavage.

Harmony winced as Geruud began to struggle before she looked to Peace. A beast was one thing, usually they fell into habits and they rarely ever were able to improvise, at least she had never seen one. But people, they were another thing altogether... Shaking her head at Peace, she looked up at Hanadi. "Is there any way we can run from this one? They seem to know a lot about us, or at least have been watching us for a while now..."

"Power's out." Was Hanadi's answer to Harmony's question. "No power, no running. Come get the door for me, soon as I jump out, you close, and you lock it. And you keep it locked."

"NO!" Oskar shouted suddenly. "NO OPENING...NO DOORS...NEIN, NEIN, NEIN!!!" the Abwehran suddenly screeched in panic.

Hanadi whirled on the screaming Abwehran, pointing the carbine at him. "You want to wait until they find a way in, and eat you alive? Or do you want someone to go and try to do something about it?"

The Abwehran allowed a hysterical giggle to squeak from his throat. "They wouldn't want to eat me...hehehe...too many minerals, I'm more poison than food." he chuckled. "Yes...more poison than food, heheheheheHAHAHAHA," he began to laugh hysterically from his dark corner as he started to lose it.

And at that moment, the entire Sand Crawler shook as something slammed into the starboard hull. There was an almost audible commotion outside, grunting, screaming, and faint words that only registered as minute noises. It sounded as if there was a fight going outside fo the Sehaya itself already.

The slam caused Oskar to fall over on his side, yet the less sane man still laughed.

Another slam was heard against the hull, this time, noticeably harder and accompanied by a sickening crunch.

"Crunch, Crunch, nuts all crumbled," Oskar giggled as he hugged himself and lay there trying to tune out everything else now.

Harmony jumped both times the sand crawler was hit as she looked at Hanadi. "Still wanna go outside?" Peace on the other hand had backed towards Harmony, sunk closer to the floor now as she watched the walls wide eyed.

Na'Subir, somewhat dissatisfied with how slow things were going, decided to go over and tend to Oskar. He had a mild respect for the Abwehran's constitution, but his mental capacity for these sort of things was too minute to tolerate. So, the Temple Guard put a firm grip on Oskar's shoulder, and got an immense rush of mixed and rambled emotions. His empathy picked up the tightening rope of Oskar's twisting mind, and simply kneeled there, staring at the Abwehran. In return, could the merchant feel it throug his own empath, Oskar would feel a strange, almost unsettling stillness from the Temple Guard. He looked over at Harmony for a second.

"Bottle." he said, and nothing more, hoping the Lorath would understand what he meant.

Oskar could sense the man coming a few seconds before the Temple Guard even touched him. All the Abwehran could sense were surface emotions to begin with, so the blankness coming towards him was fairly disturbing. But the giggling began to slow anyway as his shoulder felt the pressure of a powerful hand, which only made the poor merchant tense and tremble. Softly, Oskar began to chant a bit in Abwehran as he rocked side to side.

"What in the name of the God am I? Some kind of house servant!" Harmony grumbled as she stood and placed Geruud back in the shadows again before searching around for the bottle from earlier, sniffing the air for the smell of the alcohol. "Go get the bottle Harmony...Open the door Harmony....Sweep the sand crawler Harmony....Go kill the giant flying worm Harmony..." The Lorath girl kept muttering in a playful way.

Mikael had no clue what was going on. Instead of asking questions -- like why there was a smear on the skylight, or why he carried a pipe -- he merely stood and waited. He had grabbed the Pipe for a reason, and that smear above him didn't look all too friendly.

As Mikael looked up at the smear of blood, another jolt shook the Sehaya, followed by a spatter of blood spraying on the spot he was staring at, and more of it pooling afterward. After that, the commotion outside stopped. It was eerily silent, especially with all the stepping and outside laughter that had accompanied them for the last few minutes. Na'Subir didn't seem to care, as he kept his hand on Oskar, and staring rather boredly at Harmony.

"Bottle?" went Na'Subir in his heavy Iromakuanhe accent.

"I'm Looking for it, I'm looking for it! By the God you are impatient..." Harmony grumbled as she dug into the armchair that Oskar was sitting in, digging a bottle out of the cushins before she took it over to the guardsman. "Here is your damn bottle..."

"Fuck." said Na'Subir, mistaking the Trade insult for Thank you. He turned and opened the cap of the bottle, and circled it under Oskar's nose, allowing the man to get a good whiff of it.

"Hey hey hey I was just kidding, no need to be so mean..." Harmony frowned at Na'Subir as he cursed at her, not really putting together the fact he didn't speak trade and the fact that he had just cursed at her.

With reaction speeds that boggled the mind, the top hands of the Abwehran clasped onto the bottle as his mouth latched onto the opening as if it were his mother's teat. Imbibing the alcohol, the Abwehran man began to relax noticably.

"It think... I-I think the best choice for us is to deal with them." Shiki bit down on his lip and forced himself to stand, briefly thinking over what was being said. He didn't want to die, but avoiding the problem now would just let... whatever was outside kill them eventually, and as loath as he was to move forward into something dangerous, there wasn't much of an alternative. "Head on." He gulped, flicking the clip that held his knife in its sheath out.

"I don't like it, but we don't really have any other ways of... doing this."

Mikael tensed with the sight of blood washing over the skylight. "Uh... Problem above."

He gripped the pipe ever tighter, thinking of ways to deal with the situation.

Hanadi just rubbed at the bridge of her nose before looking to Na'Subir. "Just close the door behind me, Saint's damn it." she was a tad annoyed by the bickering going on in a life threatening situation.

Na'Subir looked back up at her from the now calmed Oskar, "You mean you didn't ask them?"

"I did! But are you incapable of closing the door?" Hanadi asked as she began to go about unlocking it.

"If I close the door, that means I am not outside." said Na'subir, standing up and following her, trailing behind her a few feet.

"Hey! Look at the skylight!" Mikael shouted, pointing up.

"Ugh... Han... nadi? I'm coming with you!" Shiki said, biting on his own lip almost hard enough to split it, as he moved for the door. He'd thought about it long and hard, although perhaps not very much, and stood with a shaky resolve. "Going out a-alone is going to be dangerous and I could..."

See that Hanadi was getting ready to head out the door, Harmony made her way over, ready to shut and lock the door.

"No, you should stay here, one of them is already wanting to do something stupid. So who'd keep them in line if we both go out? I'd be liable to shoot one if they pissed me off to much." Hanadi retorted as she looked to Harmony when she neared the door. "Four-Arms is cracked, the guy with the knife is wanting to play Jafar, and weither you like it or not you were shot."

"Whilst I cannot understand why you hover over such a minor wound, your first point is understandable, if not flavored childishly." Na'Subir sighed, as he nodded to her. "You will go alone, but I will be out there soon enough should I hear gunfire. This is not something one person should handle themselves." He stepped over to the door and secured his hand over the handle, throwing a look at both Harmony and Shiki.

"HEY! THERE IS SOME BLOOD ON THE SKYLIGHT!" Mikael roared, gesturing wildly at the glass opening.

"WE HEARD YOU!" Harmony roared back equally as loud at Mikael as she turned to him. She was waiting for Hanadi to exit the Sand Crawler so she could close and lock the door.

"You're going to hear gunfire anyway if I have anything to say about it." Hanadi opened the door, allowing a blast of cold, dry desert air into the confines of the living area. Outside it appeared quiet save for the sounds still being emitted somewhere close by. It was quite dark out there with naught but starlight and the two moons overhead as she pulled the goggles down over her eyes. The woman lept down on sand with the carbine in hand, automatically she began sweeping her front and sides before looking upward as she moved off.

Harmony gave Hanadi one last look before closing the door shut and locking it.

Whilst her fronts and sides wouldn't offer much to see, the upward would look would reveal three bodies hanging over the side of her sand crawler. They dribbled blood down the side of her precious vehicle, and it became apparent that two of them were missing their right arms. Which came apparent from a look on the side of the crawler. Blood, the seemingly favored ink of the night had been written in large Sal'Saari letters on the side. It seemed it's sender had gotten have way through it and stopped for a second, which was understood by the severed arm laying at the foot of one of the Sehaya's lifters. The message had been continued with a second arm, seemingly used as a marker to write out the remainder. If Hanadi stepped back far enough she could read the wide message fairly easily.

ALWAYS WATCHING.

Indeed Hanadi saw the words, though if she were phased or not, she didn't show it as she began making her way around the crawler. Now wasn't the time to be shaken up about pretty words written in red ink on the side of her vehicle, now was the time she needed to tough through it, and make sure none of the irksome people had hung around.

Hanadi's search would only turn up minor results. She could see where the group had came from. Three pairs of foot prints had come from the southeast, though their origin was indiscernible. However, she looked located a fourth set of prints in the sand that seemed to come from the north, and leave back in that direction, bits of blood dropping around the return path.

With the goggles on, she could just make out the darker splotches on the sand. Hanadi looked off toward where the trail led, and then toward her Sehaya. She wouldn't be following it this night, instead kicking sand on some of the droplets before reaching the ladder situated along the back of the sandcrawler. She couldn't make out any damage between the connections of the trailer and Sehaya itself. Looking upward, Hanadi slung the carbine about her shoulder with the nylon strap it came with, and unholstered her pistol as she began to climb.

As Hanadi climbed up the crawler, she would not notice anything trully suspicious, until a hand seemed to stretch over the side of the crawler and down. It grasped her face with an almost bone-crush strength, and with an almost neck snapping speed as it yanked her up on the side, flipping her up through the air like a ragdoll, and then slamming her down on her back on the roof of her Sehaya. Even if she had enough endurance to focus through the toss, she'd find whatever had pulled her up and over had already put a heavy boot on her neck, and pistol to the bridge of her nose.

Na'Subir who had heard the slam from within the crawler, simply looked up at the unusual noise, before looking at the others within the Sehaya.

Through it all, spots, Hanadi saw spots after being introduced to the roof of her vehicle in such a violent way. The boot on her neck only served to exasperate her when she saw the gun nestled along the bridge of her nose. She'd managed to hold on to the pistol, but as she was slammed to the 'ground', Hanadi was splayed out a little with her arms to either side. If the person expected her to go wide-eyed in terror, they were sorely mistaken as she just looked really, really, mad. With the last couple of days she'd been having, she wouldn't have cared if Mu'Klamal had come down from on high to pick a fight.

Her grip tightened on the pistol in one hand as the other was started to palm a slender knife in the other. She allowed her gaze to drift toward the pistol she still held on to before yanking her head to the side.

Looking back down at Hanadi was heavily covered faced, with two soft looking eyes. The slender fingure under the thick garbing gave away the gender of the assailant. What seemed to stand out most, was that her arm had extended near all the way down, despite standing straight up. This person's arms were strangely elongated, or at least possessed a strange affinity for stretching.

"Hm... Dissappointing. I was hoping the Guard would've came with you." sighed the strange assailant before her spare hand gripped Hanadi's face and head again. "There's no point in waiting here now that my allies are dead, you might as well scurry back inside your landship. You'll find nothing here." The grip on her face tightened considerably, "Luckily for you, I'm not allowed to crush your skull."

She kneed down onto Hanadi's chest, keeping her knee pressed down with an unusual weight, "So, you go back down, and tell your friends everything is alright, my scouting team is dead, anyway."

The mystery woman was rewarded with a grunt as air escaped between Hanadi's lips, and with the hand on her face, the woman would know it. Though with the woman's free hand on her face, and the gun pointed at her, she was able to swing the Laiz Pistol upward and at the woman. While her eyes were obscured by the slight green-tint to the goggles she wore, and were summairly being pressed into her eyesockets by the crushing force of the hand, her arms were at least free.

"And what the fuck do you want with us anyways, you skiving bitch?"

"Mm!" the oppressing female looked to the side, eying the pistol being pointed at her. Though, it only seemed to encourage her more. "You're a fiesty one for having a gun to your head." the oddly arranged lady pressed and twisted the barrel of her pistol on Hanadi's head. "I know for fact that what I'd want is you." a twisted grin spread on her face, "But my superior wants the ones you travel with, he wants to know about them, and he's going to extreme lengths just to keep tabs on all of you."

The Laiz Pistol hummed in response. "Get in line, you daffy bitch, I got a list longer'n your fucked up arms of people who want me. And they're prettier.." Hanadi would've spit in the twisted bitch's face if it weren't for the hand. "So, you want to find out which one'a us is going to survive having a gun pointed at'em?"

That comment brought a visible twitch on the Broken Guard's face. Hanadi would feel the hand tighten and press, and an intense amount of rage flow from their empathic link. She began to shake, she was so angry!

"As much as I'd like to force your thoughts otherwise, I've still been ordered to leave you intact as possible." growled the threatening woman, before lifting her knee slightly to yank Hanadi from under her, and in a wild throw, off the side of the Sehaya.

Hanadi went over the side of the Sehaya like a heavy burlap sack. Though she squeezed the trigger of her Laiz Pistol as she went, not even knowing if anything was going to be hit or not. But that Stone-Faced Guardsman had so adamantly stated he'd come running if he heard gunshots. The Guardswoman however would hear a 'Oof!' as Hanadi hit sand with a dull thud afterward.

As soon as the shot went off, which just so happened to graze past the head of her opponent, thanks to Hanadi's usually brilliant aim, the door to the Sehaya flew open and shut. Na'Subir's feet planted down in the sand even before Hanadi had landed in it. Seeing how she had just fallen from the top, the Temple Guard whipped out his pistol and aimed it up at the roof of the Sehaya, stepping back consecutively as he held his pistol up towards the roof.

"Istislah! Are you alright?" asked Na'Subir, as his aim stayed steady toward the roof of his companion's land vehicle.

Sputtering was Na'Subir's answer before Hanadi came around the side with one hand on the hull of her sandcrawler. "Some fucked up, stretchy armed bitch threw me off my own damned sandcrawler for hurtin' her feelings." she balled up a fist, and pounded at her chest as she hacked out a little more sand. "I'm about to go shove my boot up her crazy ass." wheezing now as she put a hand on the ladder to climb back up.

Na'Subir's hand went firmly to Hanadi's back, grabbing the collar of her security vest. "Then what has your first experience with this woman taught you?" he asked her, as if she should know the answer already. Even though he spoke directly to her, his eyes remained upward towards the top of the Sehaya.

Hanadi raised her voice. "She doesn't take rejection well."

Somehow, and it's likely unexplainable by even Iromakuanhe bio-science, Na'Subir's face became even more expressionless. "How did you manage get yourself in the position of being thrown off in the first place?"

Looking at him as he were a bit touched in the head, Hanadi just nodded at the ladder. She then clenched and unclenched her free hand several times and let it go to her face before going back to the ladder. "My sunny disposition and upbeat outlook on life." cracked the archeologist after her silent reinactment.

"Has it occured to you that she has elongated arms for purposes for other than being freakish?" said Na'Subir aloud, which was followed by a low, but audible grumble at the top of the Sehaya.

"Prolly' because that's the only way she can get fuckin' dates. Pissed her off enough when I said she wasn't pretty." Hanadi sucked at her teeth. Even though her face ached she did it. "How in the third circle of hel should I know? For all I know, thats why. All I know is, she was some freaky bitch with a gun pointed at my head and a twisted grin on that mug'a her's."

"How did you manage to get yourself in the position of where you were put at a disadvantage? Why was it that all you did was throw hurtful insult instead of hurtful bullets?" asked Na'Subir, appearing no less calm for her not getting the very point of it.

"Because, the bitch grabbed me by the face and slammed me on the fuckin' roof. I had a gun pointed between my eyes. But I had my own pistol at the side'a her head. And I ain't got no bullets you thick-skulled male. It's a Laiz Pistol, Laiz." She waved it around for emphasis. Even firing off a bolt up toward the roof. "I almost nailed her fugly ass when she threw me. Bitch is strong, even with her freak arms."

"Alright, then tell me. What does going up the ladder, when you know she's waiting for you, accomplish?" said Na'Subir, looking straight into Hanadi's eyes past her goggles. "What you've only established so far is that she is an ugly, freakish, woman-predator, who acts extremely unprofessional in the course of her duties."

"Pretty much." Hanadi answered in turn.

Na'Subir gave the woman, the plainest and most typical stare he had ever given her. Honestly, he could've gone without eyes, nose, or mouth and looked no different. Though, this was no ordinary gaze, it was Na'Subir's expression of understanding. He sighed closed mouth and stuck his Fael Raig into the sand. He yanked off his fresh Flak shirt, revealing the wound from earlier in the day. "Then I will go up first." said the Temple Guard aloud going ahead Hanadi only a few rungs before going, 'Hup' and swinging his Flak upward.

What waited for the poor garment, was not a hand, but a claw. The strange attacker's fingers had sharpened, and evidently she had be agitated to the point of negligence. She tried to draw the Temple Guard up with it, but he held a firm grip on the surprising tough material. His muscles bulged as they tried to pull her down, but it was to no avail.

"Assistance..." grunted Na'Subir with a struggle, as he found himself slowly giving with the woman's pull.

Hanadi's sun-darkend hands gripped the material a little above Na'Subir's own grasping hands. While she didn't look it, she was fairly strong for her size, mostly attributed to a life of exercise and other physical activity concerning her work. Not only that, but she had been symbiotically enhanced as well to a varying degree. With both of her hands firmly entrenched within the material, Hanadi gave a sharp tug of her own to counter the woman's.

Na'Subir hadn't expected Hanadi to be that strong. Despite his own biceps, it suddenly felt as if he was doing half or even less-than-half of the pulling work. This was made trully evident as yelping screech was hurtled from the top of the Sehaya as the woman was hurtled from the top of the Sehaya. She flew off and landed on her back. In a way, Hanadi had just done to stranger, what the stranger had done to her.

Through the rag covered face, the stranger stared wide-eyed and mouth-agape at the two who had just pulled her down. Na'Subir had already drawn his pistol again, aiming it at the woman.

"Istislah," started the Temple Guard as he kept the pistol trained on the woman's head, "You deserve to decide what to do with her, I will make no objection."

Hanadi had her chin raised slightly with her eyes narrowed a little. The sound of knucklebones popping from her cracking them was part of her answer. "Oh, I want to beat the fugly out of her." she looked over toward the woman, taking the goggles off and giving her a good look at the decidedly thuggish look now in place on Hanadi's face. "I'm gonna crush your fuckin' skull and mail it to your boss." While it felt fairly good to say all of this Hanadi was in fact hinting to something more.

"One moment... A superior?" said Na'Subir, stepping forward and gathering up his Fael Raig. "She's not working alone?"

"Nuh uh." Was all Hanadi said as she put her own bootheel on the Guardwoman's neck. "She ain't." for emphasis Hanadi pressed in a little with her boot. "I could just crush her neck, right here'an now."

"Oh, I can't." said Na'Subir rather dejectedly, as his eye's emotionless stared down at the Guardswoman. "I would feel rather bad taking away your liberties." He sighed, and turned his head.

"W-w-wait!" managed the stranger, her claws rising up off the sand to try and signal them to stop. Her voice sounded frantic. "You're a Temple Guard! You're not supposed to let this happen. You can't let her kill me! That goes against your code!"

Hanadi offered the woman a grin of her own. "Who, him? He doesn't meddle in my affairs much. We got a little arrangement y'see. I doubt he wouldn't even pray to the Dreamers for your worthless ass after I stake you on top of my crawler for Jarin bait. Let'em hook you and drag you a mile across the dunes and then get foodpoisoning. 'cause I don't take kindly to people fucking with my vehicle." Adopting one of Na'Subir's favorite expressions, she continued.

"If you think I'm bad, I got an alien beast inside that'd chew your face off before running you to death across the Expanse."

The underdog in this negotiation swallowed hard. "Y-y-..." she stuttered, her eyes shooting wide before looking back to Na'Subir. No, that wouldn't do anything, he's sworn off this case. She looked back up at Hanadi with pleading eyes, "W-what if I told you I wasn't the one that marked your Sehaya?"

A dark eyebrow arched. "Keep talkin'."

She chuckled nervously suddenly seeing a way out, "H-a... ha ha... Y-yeah! Herod, Haveed, and Sheruud! They're the ones who put blood on your Sehaya! I-I just watched while they blew their cover! Th-then the Judge came in! He killed all three of them for it! Used their arms like paint brushes!" she blathered, trying to get it out as fast as she could.

Na'Subir, who had been quite ignorant of the goings-on, suddenly became very attentive to the situation. His eyes trailed up to Long-arms, and he began to discern something, judging by the way his eyes moved.

Hanadi appeared thoughtful in a cruel sort of way as she placed the Laiz Pistol on the bridge of the masked woman's nose just as she'd done to her. Except this time, Hanadi made sure that the cowering Broken Guard could hear the hum of electricity running through the gun while she put a bare finger on an exposed portion of the woman's flesh. Hanadi had felt rage from her when she'd been thrown, what this woman felt from Hanadi was something only the two of them knew, provided Na'Subir was close by he could as well.

"I saw tracks leading away from here, and a trail of blood following it." she pointed out while grating a finger nail across the skin. "Tell me more, and you know now what'll happen if I don't 'believe' you." the finger tapped the skin.

"P-p-p ah..." the guardswoman's eyes widened intensely. The rage she had incurred in this woman was intense. When directed at her, it made Hanadi seem more like a rabid Dream Eater than another woman. Actual tears began to form at the edges of her eyes, something she forgot she could do. "Hah-buh...Kou..." all she could do was babble and panic. Hanadi's fingers would not just rake skin, but some of the bandages cover her face, which seemed to reveal scars underneath.

With a sigh, Hanadi rolled her eyes and what was once full of 'rage' was replaced by mild annoyance and a sense of tiredness. "Guess that's all I'll get out of you." she patted the woman's cheek a few times in a condesendingly 'chummy' sort of way. "Hey, Stone-Face," avoiding using his name. "What do you want to do with her? She's bluberin'."

Na'Subir sighed and stepped forward, squatting down next to the broken Guardswoman. She was sniveling and holding back her fear as best she could. Though, the Temple Guard could feel it just as well as he could feel Hanadi's rage from earlier. In honesty, he had only encountered someone like this twice before in his life, though they were never as weak as this.

"Tell me your rank." He said calmly, picking up the good cop side of the interrogation.

"P-...Po..." struggled the woman.

"Potential. That explains why you lack self-control. Your superior is a Judge, that is a rank much equal to mine in the Temple Guard. What is his purpose here?" asked Na'Subir, to which he was answered with a firm shaking of the head. The stone-faced, shirtless Temple Guard looked up at Hanadi.

"You really wanna go back and tell'em I kicked your ass? I think whatever this person'd do to you would be'a lot worse then what I'd do." Hanadi said lazily as she pressed her finger down on the bandages a moment and then decided her pistol's barrel wasn't close enough to the bridge of the woman's nose, and rubbed it in a little more.

"No!" she wailed, her face becoming even more scarred than before now. The way her elongated arms twitched showed how much she had to restrain herself from reacting, so that she wouldn't get shot in the head. "I told you! I'm here to watch you!" she threw up those words hard, her chest bouncing with each breath, "The Judg--... The Judge wants your outlander buddies! He wants them before the Commonwealth gets them!" Tears started to stream down her face, as she began to cry, "P-please! I don't want to die!"

"Guess you ain't ever heard'a good cop, bad cop." Hanadi said wistfully. "Sure, I wanted to kick'yass around the yard some for slammin' me into my own Sehaya." she nudged the barrel into the woman's head a little hard. "But I just pulled the fuckin' wool over y'eyes. My buddy here gets to decide what to do with you. But thanks for the information, now I know what to look out for, at least in part."

The dark skin of the woman in question paled noticeably, as she looked over to the emotionless Temple Guard that allowed this to go on. Most of the Guard would never allow such a cruel hearted interrogation, they cared too much. Na'Subir hadn't looked at her straight even once, only cutting his eyes down at her in judgement. Was he even a Temple Guard? It was hard to tell by his behavior alone.

"Mm... Why is it my responsibility to decide her fate?" asked Na'Subir, eying Hanadi now, across from him. This recieved a very 'what?' expression from the Potential.

Hanadi nodded at Na'Subir. "Hey, I know about Nok'nista, but this chick is a different story, you know what she is, I don't. You get'ta deal with her. Or you thinkin' I'm gonna be the one fightin' across the Expanse while you sit in the Sehaya, and bask in my air conditioning. So the outworlders are safe'n sound?"

Na'Subir scratched his cheek rather idly, "The thought had crossed my mind."

"H-h-hey! This isn't a joke! My life is at stake here!" whined the stranger with her back on the sand.

Looking back down at the woman, the same look from earlier crossed Hanadi's face. "Shut tha' fuck up. I should'a hamstringed you while you were givin' your speech. If it weren't for you blatherin' off an givin' shit away I wouldn't have put up with it like I did. As for you," she looked back up to Na'Subir. "I fuckin' knew it. Y'pansy in the heat. Guess what? It's night, and it's fuckin' cold out here. So you get to do some work. Ruh be damned."

"What can I say, I'm an ice cube." said Na'Subir, his unholy-holy poker face made it difficult to tell whether or not he was trying to be funny.

"Well, decide what ya' wanna do with her. Let'er go back to her lil' Judge'n get punished, she die here, or what?" Hanadi retorted with a question.

"Kill her, we don't have the space, nor can we afford the security risk of having her with us. She'll never make it to the Guard Hall on her own, and sending her Laruslan will only cause trouble for the locals." That gray, stony gaze looked down at the horrified woman, "Sending her back will only confirm that we are aware of the Judge's presence."

"W-w-waaaait!" the condemned woman blubbered, tears racing down her cheeks, hand gripping at the sand. Her whole body shook, "I-I'll do anything! Anything! Just please! I don't want to die!"

"Hmmm?" Hanadi looked up to Na'Subir again questioningly.

"Kill. Her." restated Na'Subir, looking at Hanadi. This caused the woman's sobs to be even louder and more pained.`

Hanadi just took her boot off the woman's neck, and the gun from between her eyes. "If y'want her dead so much, you do it. I'm not your fuckin' Durhoun." she said gruffly while giving him a stern look before looking down at the Potential. 'Tch' was all she said after that before turning on her heel and heading toward the hatch to the Sehaya. "Jus' remember, Stone-Face, don' go lookin' a pleadin' person in the eye when they're beggin' for their life."

She had her head cocked to the side, and the distinct, audible 'crack' of her neck was heard amongst the stillness of the night while she grumbled about the state of her vehicle.

As Hanadi got up and went away, the distressed woman found that she no long had anything holding herself down. She looked up at Na'Subir, who just so happened to be staring at the soundrel of their group as she walked away. The long armed woman saw an opening. So, her claws came up from the sand with an unnatural speed and strength, diving her fingers into Na'Subir's chest. The Guardswoman got up off the ground and held her catch up, she began to laugh maniacally and frantically, seeing freedom.

Though, despite the wound, Na'Subir still had his Fael Raig. With that, he grabbed the weapon, activated it and made a quick swipe on the panicked warrior-woman's arm. She screamed as Na'Subir was released by dismemberment. So, she made another swipe with the other arm, and he made short work of that as well. Suddenly, the woman was once again out of options. She sobbed, on her knees now.

Na'Subir pulled the claw out of his chest with a sickening meaty sound, and threw it aside. He sighed, still not movement in his face.

"Istislah." muttered the Temple Guard rather loudly.

Having heard the scuffle, Hanadi's hand had strayed to her gun. With her back still turned to the carnage, she answered him. "What?"

"She seems... less of a risk now." growled Na'Subir, looking at Hanadi's back, "Do you think she can't attempt anything without her arms?"

Turning around, Hanadi looked at the pair. "No. But she'd die without treatment. Bleeding out is a hell of a way to go. Same goes for you." nodding at his chest wound before looking to her. "You want to live?" Hanadi asked in a stern voice.

"Hm, you claim not understand this kind of person." sighed Na'Subir, looking at the woman he had just cut up. "Then understand here. She is a misguided, lost soul, corrupted by a splinter of our order." He looked over at Hanadi his eyes narrowing closely. "She's one of a thousand unlucky children to fall prey to lures of power, to sickening symbiotic treatments that warp the body... When we call them Broken Guard, we mean it in every since of the word." He looked back at the bleeding woman, seeing she wouldn't have much more time. "I've had brothers, sisters, and masters die for worse people, just to see if they could convert them."

Na'Subir sighed, "Perhaps in the years I've watched so many die for those undeserving. Maybe I am jaded to the twists of the universe." His gray eyes leveled with the horizon. "If you think you can save her, Istislah. Then go ahead, take her in, and save her. If not, then I'll kill her. If you feel that you have understanding to limit treatment between the two of us, then you should at least understand what we are trying to save."

With Na'Subir's eyes drifting to the horizon, Hanadi had crossed the short span between them and was standing in front of the woman. "I never claimed to not know what she was. I claimed to not know who she was." To the woman, Hanadi grabbed her by the front of her garb, and with one arm, lifted the now lighter Broken Guardswoman in the air, to eye level with her. Piercing blue gaze, to her own shadowed.

"I asked you a question. Do you want to live?"

"Y-... Ye-Yes!" forced the woman, through harsh, pained breaths. Considering that both her arms had just been removed, she was remarkably concious.

"You know if we leave you here, alive, you'll die, be it from blood loss, environment, or by the hand of your Judge for failing?" Hanadi continued, her own eyes narrowing as her voice hardened.

"I... I-I... I just don't want to die..." the woman per se, was a little young in her years. The scars on her face were what seemed to make her look so much older. With how close she was Hanadi could easily see this youth, should have chosen to see it.

Hanadi gave her a little shake. "Answer me!"

"Yes!" she answered hastily, shaking.

"Your order did this to you. Made you this way, scarred your face, and sent you on a suicide mission. They've twisted you into something less then an Iromakuanhe. Not more, less. I'm holding you here with one arm while you shake in fright. Your life, yes, your life is mine. Not but a moment ago you pleaded you would do anything to live. Well, I will give you that chance." The look never left Hanadi's face as she looked on the poor young woman with an old Master's analytical eye as they survey raw material to be molded.

"You are going to live. Because I want you to live. This is your second chance, girl, your second and only chance at a better life for yourself. To live for something other then blind faith and bloodshed." Hanadi walked with the de-armed woman over to Na'Subir, holding out a hand for him if he needed it.

"Thank you, but I will be--..." Na'Subir grunted, holding himself with one hand, bleeding all over it. He sighed and took her hand with the thankfully clean one. "Thank you." He threw a glance over at the former enemy, and she threw her gaze downward.

Hanadi nodded to him as she helped him along toward the Sehaya, to first treat them and then to attempt to clean up the night's mess. Just outside the hatch, she looked at the girl.

"You know now you can't ever go back to your former life, correct? Because if you do, you know what would happen. If my friend here is to be believed, they do not tolerate failure."

"N-no..." her eyes were beginning to fill with tears again. An immense sadness filled up in her, something Hanadi could feel with her touch. Na'Subir extended his hand to her shoulder as well, resting a hand on it. In that a little relief was felt, as she felt nothing from him, no joy or excitement, but no hate either. The former assailant hunched and began to cry again.

"Th-...thank you..." she said through her tears.

Hanadi pounded on the hatch and yelled. "Geruud! Open the hatch. The Nok'nista are gone." after calling to the boy, she looked to the crying girl. "What's your name? I can't go around calling you curse words forever."

"A-... Aliye... I... I don't have a last name..." said Aliye leaning onto Hanadi just a bit, feeling somewhat weak from bloodloss.

Hanadi kicked the hatch again. "Damn it boy! Open the hatch or you ain't gettin' no desert an' you ain't cuddlin' with that winged girl no more!"

"You know, Hanadi. Considering that we're taking her in." started Na'Subir, holding an arm over the five holes in his chest. At that, the hatch flew open, and a sobbing Geruud flew out of the hatch, landing midway on Hanadi and hugging her tight. "You're going to have quite the family before all of this is over."

"Can it!" Hanadi said grumpily.

 

[Kokuten]

Re: [Chapter Two] Awakening Inside the Hourglass

Nuocr Expanse, Maekardan
Hanadi's Sehaya
Paralov 7th, 936
24:12 Commonwealth Standard Time

Geruud had personally taken up barring anyone from going outside the door for the amount of time that consisted fo the fighting and yelling outside. The young boy had put himself up to it when he saw Na'Subir dash out. To prevent the chances of losing anyone else, he had thrown himself at the door to keep Harmony from leaving as well. For several long, harrowing minutes, both Hanadi and Na'Subir spent their time outside. Things were silent, then they got chaotic, and then they got silent again. It was maddening, especially for a little boy. When it all seemed to cease, there started a conversation just out side the door.

"Geruud! Open the hatch. The Nok'nista are gone." went Hanadi's voice, and then continued with a question, "What's your name? I can't go around calling you curse words forever."

"A-... Aliye... I... I don't have a last name..." went an unknown voice, muffled by the thickness of the doorway. It made Geruud hesistant as his little hands went onto the hatch.

"Damn it boy! Open the hatch or you ain't gettin' no desert an' you ain't cuddlin' with that winged girl no more!" snapped Hanadi again, which made Geruud snap to and tear the door open with all his might.

And there she was, the woman that had taken him in, alive and well. The young Sund Wakir flew forth and wrapped his arms around Hanadi and began to cry.

Though, on her right and left, and definitely more wounded that Hanadi, was a woman they did not know, and the familiar Na'Subir, with five deep holes in his chest. The woman, apparently the one who called herself Aliye, hand brown wrappings covering most of her face, with the exception of her mouth and eyes. She was heavily garbed in tightly belted robes. There was a pistol holster at her hip, but it seemed to be devoid of a weapon. Aliye's arms also seemed to be recently amputated by a fael raig.

Oskar was now sitting in the corner he had inhabited before, the one with the huge dent in the wall, and continued to imbibe the sweet delight that was booze. In fact, the way he was holding the bottle with both upper hands, you could have consider him a child with a milk bottle.

Harmony had been waiting next to the hatch, watching the outside though making no move when the fighting started. She knew she would have been a hinderance outside rather then just staying inside where she was safe. She took a step forward toward the woman in tow, her nostrils flaring out slightly as she caught then scent of blood.

Peace on the other hand began a low throaty growl as he looked at the woman, baring his teeth as his tail began to twitch erattically. It was obvious he didn't like the woman before him all the much, and the smell of blood was doing little to help...

After putting the Temple Guardsman on the nearest seat, Hanadi had put the robed female down right beside him, working her own shoulder while the other arm held a Sund Wakir child in it. The archeologist looked down at the cat that was growling at the newcomer, and she snapped her fingers at the beast. "Don't eat her." she growled at Peace. "Or you won't be gettin' any more meat outta me." Hanadi had been spoiling the cat on occassion with little tid bits of Herdtitan fillets when she made them.

She then put a finger under Harmony's nose. "Same goes for you girl. She's not dangerous now."

"Four arms!" squealed Geruud as his tears began to dry and a little finger went towards the large, ugly, Oskar-shaped dent in the wall. "He broke the wall!"

Na'Subir arched his brow over at the wall, the lack of blood in his system loosening his face up a good bit. He then looked over at Aliye, who had brought her knees up to her face, effectively hiding it. She didn't seem too keen on wanting to be seen at the moment, with the shame of everything that had just happened. The pain in her shoulders felt more like an after-taste.

Hanadi rubbed Geruud's turban wrapped head with her free hand as she put him on the floor. "And you can tell me all about it. But first, remember that big case I had you get me when those Jarin attacked? Go get it for me again so I can patch up stone-face and the robed girl, okay? Then I'll deal with Four-Arms."

"Okay!" went Geruud his legs already running before they hit the floor. Surprisingly, it had seemed as if he had totally forgotten about the intensity of the last moment, and dissappeared down the hallway towards the storage section to find the medical kit.

Hanadi scooted Na'Subir further away from the girl, laying him on the couch so she could get a better look at the wounds. She did point to first him and then to the girl in question in turn. "Neither one of you mention Nok'nista around him, got it?" she said while eyeing the wounds and then speaking the Trade language to the alien foreigners.

"I expect that dent in my wall to be fixed, Oskar."

Oskar seemed to be in a daze as he rocked back and forth on his haunches, the bottle still at his lips.

Peace gave Hanadi a pleading look, but understanding the gravity of the situation through his link with Harmony, grudgingly gave way and backed off a few feet from the new comer, sitting over behind Harmony.

Harmony for her part, was watching the woman closely, not letting her gaze move as she kept both arms crossed.

Aliye fidgeted, Harmony's watchful stare made her extremely uncomfortable. The strange, armless woman began to shake, and tears were forming at the edge of her eyes. It was clear that she was either feeling very alone in the world right now, or the bloodloss was seriously getting to her. With the rate she was dripping blood on the floor, either one could've been true. Na'Subir on the other hand, idly swept his fingers over his bare, bleeding chest, gracing over the thick holes that had been pierced into him. He looked over to Aliye a moment, his face unshaking despite his own bloodloss. Aliye began to cry.

"I... I--..." the armless tried to bring her hand to her face, when she was cruely reminded of her lack there of. So, she bowed her head, tears running down her face. She opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by a stomping run from the down the hall.

"Hana-sera!" yelled Geruud, stomping into the room with a big box of medical supplies. The young boy jumped to a halt in front Hanadi, and then stood up on his tip-toes to present it to her. Normally, this box was heavy even for an adult. Geruud's arms were shaking under it.

"You might want to stop her blood loss there...she looks like she is about to go into shock or something." Harmony pointed at the armless woman and he shaking.

"It's why I asked for the medical kit." was Hanadi's brisk reply as she took the kit from Geruud, giving him a little pat on the head before opening it and pulling items out. First were a pair of oversized vials inside of two injectors, another was what looked like a plastic ball and the other a large tub-like container. Of course there were bandages and the like that any of the off-worlders would recognize but she didn't seem too intent on those.

The woman held up a vial in front of the crying girl and told her it was Prajna, something hopefully she recognized. Well, every Iromakuanhe knew what it was but it was best to be safe. Hanadi peeled back the layers of her robes around her neck just a little to put the injector's base along the jugular before pressing the button to pump the liquid into her system.

"Geruud, remember what I had you do to Stoneface before? You inject him with the other one of these," She waved the spent injector. "Into his neck. Then I'll work on him after I patch her up a little more."

Aliye whimpered as the needle went in her neck, and she stayed silent for the most of it. The little boy, though, had completely forgotten what the entire process involved with stabbing somebody with the injector. Luckily, the Sehaya's owner made it clear enough for him, so his knife stayed tucked away. So, Geruud walked over to Na'Subir, and asked him to bend down for a moment. Na'Subir supply, and the little boy shanked the needle into Na'Subir's neck. Needless to say, the Temple Guard was a little shocked, before the healing prajna began pumping through his body.

Aliye stopped bleeding after a few moments, and began to regain some of the color in her body. Though, she still cried a bit, despite doing her best to hold it back. She looked around at everyone present, and sucked in some air through her nose.

"I-..." her was a little hollow at that point, "I ... My name is Aliye." It was all she could manage at that point.

Hanadi patted her on the head before saying, "They don't speak our tongue. Red over there, "she pointed to the fainted Freespacer. "Does a little. They speak the old tongue. Now sitback and let the Prajna do it's work. I got a lot to do and only two hands." with her free hand she waved at the other offworlders. "If you want to learn something, get your asses over here. Since this stuff could save your life out here one day and we got two perfect test subjects."

Mikael brought himself over with a sigh, keeping a wary eye on the stranger.

The archeologist nodded at her 'patients' as she looked to Harmony and Shiki. "Get over here you two."

"A please would be nice you know..." Harmony said with a frown as she stalked over to Hanadi and the woman.

"Huh, w-what's up?" Shiki said nervously, shakily prying his attentions from the ever-soothing distractions of the viewscreen, finally releasing the grip on his knife after the end of several panicked minutes. His hand was heavily creased and reddened, smelling of that exotic leather sheath that was wrapped around the blade.

"First Aid." Hanadi piped up as she popped open the plastic ball and showing the three offworlders a liquid filled half sphere with what looked like semi-opaque white worms inside. "These are Buoslik worms. You put them on an open wound and they act like a bandage. Watch." with a pair of tweazers Hanadi picked up one of the worms which immediately began to wiggle around as it was exposed to the open air before she placed it on one of Na'Subir's chestwounds.

The little worm writhed on it before it looked as if it were melting into the injury just as Hanadi began to apply another and another. "They'll latch on to each other and form a seal over the wound and start giving Stoneface here a batch of antiseptics and painkillers to help. The stuff the boy and I injected into the two of them does most of the work though. Questions so far?" Hanadi was closing the container up after covering the wounds with the worms which now looked like a large semi-opaque scab over each of the injuries.

"Old Stoneface is going to have a pretty good buzz going until they fall off of him. Could be days."

She left the kit open however and tossed one of the still filled vials onto the couch to be used in a moment. "Well if you guys don't got questions about this stuff, what DO you have questions about. I'm feeling charitable. So ask."

"A-ah..." Shiki said with a slight nod, listening to Hanadi's suggestions intently. He didn't really have the mind for all this strange (and frankly rather creepy) biotechnology, but figuring out the ins and outs was pretty simply. It was all one-step application stuff: worms you slather onto someone, liquid you inject... actually rather simple even if he felt his breakfast rise a bit in the pit of his stomach..

But that new person was... much more interesting. Missing her arms and pretty bloodied, but a fresh faced nonetheless! If he was lucky, she might even be a nice person, which would make living in this horrible accomodations all the easier for the next few days (or worse, weeks!) of his life. "Who's the new person? She's kind of, uhm... cu- missing arms."

"My thoughts exactly, and by the God who attacked us out there?" Harmony echoed Shiki's question before posing a second one of her own.

Hanadi ruffled Harmony's cat's fur a little as she began petting it. "Bandits. The kind of which are long since thought of as myth or an urban legend out here in the Expanse. I won't say the name. Because the boy'll become afraid or start crying again. Out here in the desert we have your normal everyday bandits. Then we got the kind that until just now I thought were legend. They'd just as sooner mutilate you and torture you before killing. Normal bandits? You'd likely be shot first. Or sold to slavers. If you're lucky."

The Curdatl seated herself on the floor. "As for her" she pointed at Aliye with a thumb behind her. "That's a former well... I hope former Broken Guard . Thankfully for you Stoneface is now Shitfaced. Since his order don't much care to talk about them. But, let's just say some of their order didn't agree with its ideals, split off, and hate damned near everyone. But. I suspect she's just a young, dumb girl raised in all of it that out of the kindness of my heart have decided to give a second chance."

"By chopping off her limbs?" Mikael said sarcastically.

He didn't like having someone who had just been trying to murder him and his new "friends" around -- maimed or not. If he had his way, he'd toss her out of this moving-house to be eaten by those dragon-like things outside.

"She's lucky, my house would have taken her legs too for attacking us unprovoked..." Harmony said as she still stared at the girl before breaking her gaze to look over at Hanadi. "So what are we going to do with her?"

"I'm going to keep her alive. Just because someone is young and dumb and fucks up doesn't mean they can't be reformed. As for her limbs being hacked off'". Hanadi pointedly said as she looked at Mikael. "That wasn't my doing, it was Stoneface's. She was enhanced to make her arms weapons. He 'de-armed' her. Literally. Besides, in about a week or so her arms'll grow back so long as I keep giving her treatments. Minus enhancements."

"I should hope so. I still don't like having her around -- but it's your home." Mikael said.

Hanadi interjected. "Think of it like this. I let a bunch of strange offworlders into my home. So I am giving you a chance. I'm doing the same for her." the woman shrugged.

"Like I said -- your home and your rules." With that, Mikael turned away and tried to find something else to occupy him. He'd rather forget the last few minutes more quickly than not.

"Well, I'm not going to be the guy who argues against your charity, miss." Shiki said with wry grin, nodding along to the conversation. "That... would be stupid."

"No sexual advances..." said Na'Subir, quite out of the blue, his face rather still, and staring off into space.

As Na'Subir spoke, the Freespacer woke up with an almost startled gurgling sound as she sat up right rather quickly. The poor girl whipped her head about until she caught sight of the armless Aliye. Nova's mouth fell open as she saw blood coating a portion of the couch and with a 'thunk' fainted once more. From the looks of it, she didn't have much of a head for blood at all.

Hanadi just looked over at the girl as she fell back on the floor again and shrugged once more. "If it makes you feel better, watch her if you want. Just don't make it obvious. Ruh knows what she's been through and she's on edge and lost a few pints of blood already." she shook Peace's face around a little before letting the cat go. "Alright, I'm going to finish patching her up now then. But if one of you guys could get the man baby with the bottle of liquor to stop suckling on it like his Momma's tit for a moment I'd appreciate it. Since I need to have some words with him."

Mikael took the liberty of dropping the pipe he still held and approaching the Abwehran with a sigh.

"Hey big guy. You want to talk to... Her?" He pointed at Hanadi, trying to cover up the fact that he had forgotten her name again. "She says she can show you a secret stash of those things." He pointed at the bottle.

Oskar looked up at the Nepleslian with glassy eyes. He stopped suckling the bottle, but not because he was asked to do so. Instead, he turned the bottle upside down with a big frown. Apparently, he had guzzled the entire thing.

"Ha-- Uh. Hey, mercy-lady, do you have more?" Mikael winked his eyes meaningfully. He hoped that the alien understood what he was trying to do. "Perhaps in the back, where you can talk to him?"

The tub container had been screwed shut as Mikael spoke to her, Hanadi wiped her hands clean with a rag as she packed the med-kit back in and looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "Uh huh..." was all she said before getting to her feet and then stood in front of the Nightwalker with a hand held out. "You want more booze? You come with me."

Much like a pet dog would do, Oskar seemed to perk up right at the word booze. Standing up suddenly, the man nodded his head quickly. "Jajaja!"

Taking the odd word for 'yes', Hanadi patted him on the shoulder before trying to guide him along toward the back of the sandcrawler where the Freespacer had been. "The little boy told me you made a dent in my wall." she said rather off-handedly while placing the arm she'd been using to guide him along around his shoulder like a drunken comrade would.

"I did?" Oskar asked questioningly. He seemed to ponder it in a drunken moment before smiling. "I guess I did...weird, I don't remember walls being that weak before." he tilted his head and cross all his arms across his torso.

She continued in that tone with the boozed up Abwehran as she took him into the cargohold where there seemed to be a multitude of junk. Including a somewhat organized pile in which the Freespacer had been working with. "Well, that wall is over two hundred years old. As is the entire vehicle." Hanadi told him in a mockingly lazy yet serious tone. Since she had no idea of the differentials between Iromakuanhe dating and Abwehran it was left open ended. "So. I'm going to have you pay me back for denting it. But! there is something in it for you as well. Something you're going to love. "

"Of course I'll pay for the damages," Oskar stammered. "As soon as I can get to my bank accounttttt...what?" he suddenly turned his head to look at Handai. "Something in it for me? That I'll love?"

Hanadi smiled at the Abwehran. A somewhat shady sort of smile. "See all that scrap metal and junk?" pointing to the cargohold which held a rather large some of the afforementioned items.

"....Jawohl," the Abwehran answered with a nod.

"I want you to make a still with it." came the rather plain request. Hanadi shook Oskar's shoulder a little. "A still that'll make booze which you can drink. I have lots of grains and fruits for you to use even!" Hanadi slapped him rather hard on the back. "Since you're such a boozehound, I think you could make something like that rather easily."

"A still? I guess I could do that no problem," Oskar replied with a frown. "It'll take a bit to remember back to the old Secondary Education Sciences, but I think I can manage."

Peace shook his head a little before walking over to Harmony, curling up at her feet as she sat in the chair that was once occupied by Oskar. With a sigh she idly thought about Asher, wondering when he was going to catch up.

Shiki snickered as the four-armed giant drunk was being told to make his own fruit of the vine, but decided not to keep on the matter for too long. That would be offensive, after! He stirred in his seat, and looked over the Harmony for a second, frowning a bit as the cat-like thing settled near her. "H-hey, Harmony."

"Good boy." Hanadi murmured to the Nightwalker as she let him go and picked up a dusty old bottle from a nearby crate. "As your reward for saying yes, you get this. A drink so strong and aged for so long it harkens back to the days of when my people first settled this planet. It's called Moss Wine. Most other members of my species can't drink it. Unless they have symbiotics like me. Or they use it to clean engines. " She shook the bottle at him as she steered him back toward the living area. "Tonight you can get as liquored up as you want, because tomorrow you get to work on the still so you can make all the delicious alcohol you can ingest."

"Ah...danke, Fraulein," Oskar replied with a cheesy grin upon his goggled face.

"Yea Shiki?" Harmony looked over at the man.

Hanadi gave Oskar the bottle and let him go about his business. As she returned, the Curdatl woman rubbed at her hands and looked toward the kitchen. The task of cleaning up the gory scene outside being put off for the moment. "I'm feeling a little peckish. Anyone want something?"

Geruud, not being to understand trade, simply went over to Harmony. He looked up at her with questioning eyes. Then, he raised up his arms towards, his look leaning towards a slight pleading look.

"How many days have we been here?" Shiki asked with a slightly worried frown over his face, feeling a little uncertain about everything.

Harmony held her arms out, welcoming Geruud into her lap before answering Shiki. "I couldn't tell you, they just kinda blend in it seems. I'm sure it won't be much longer...Hopefully."

"Well, what about the rest of you? Want anything to eat before I go out there and clean up the mess?" Hanadi called in her native tongue to the three other Iroma.

"A hard, strong drink please." said Na'Subir, still staring off into space, "I need something to dull the painkillers so I can tell my brain is functionally proper."

Aliye, on the other hand took it as a shock that the Temple Guard would ask for such a thing. She herself was very hungry, but she was also very new to this. So, she hunched over in her seat, quite armless and starving. She looked at Harmony first, then Shiki, and then back down at her lap.

With bottle in hand, Oskar moved it to the side and began to gather up the materials he needed to build his still on a foreign world.

The materials Oskar'd find were all haphazardly strewn about. Although there appeared to be a decent amount of sheet metal and some metal tubing to boot. Though if he bothered to scrounge in the Freespacer's "work" area he'd find a rather diverse assortment of tools the red-headed girl had managed to dig out of the piles of junk.

"Yeah... I can't really tell either. I think the shuttle crash and whatever was in the air when we landed threw my clock off." Shiki replied, drifting off a little in his thoughts. "I guess this is the first time it feels like things are moving at the right pace." He frowned again and put on a slightly fake smile, reaching out and tapping the Lorath girl on the nose gently. "I guess. Aha."

Harmony blinked a few times, her nose scrunching up after getting tapped on the nose, before sneezing. But unlike a normal sneeze, the girl sucked air inwards almost making a hiccuping noise through her noise, her body convulsing. After the "sneeze", Harmony let out a rather impressive belch. "S'cuse me...."

Geruud, who was sitting in Harmony's lap, and laying back onto Harmony's chest like a pillow, nearly fell out his seat. He didn't expect his pillow to hiccup, and the belch louder than any person he had ever heard.

"You know you're going to be shitfaced for the next day or so until those wounds heal, Guardsman. But, I'll make you some of this coffee I have... Guess Ediz's business is booming since they make coffee now too... One of their street vendors screamed at me it was the best damned coffee in the Commonwealth. Bastard even got me to buy kebab kits..." Hanadi muttered as she put several scoops of dark ground coffee beans into the recepticle of the coffee maker before sniffing at the can with a sigh.

"This... this does not mean well... for the other survivors." said Na'Subir, still rather out of it. He had taken to rubbing his thigh with his hand, and quietly waiting for a response.

"What? That they may drink coffee from a man in puffy garish clothing and a old mockup of a sultan's hat? Of course not! What could go wrong?" It was perfectly normal for them to buy goods from people like that. Even if some of them took their jobs too seriously and yelled until their voices gave out. "It only has ninty miligrams of stims in it. Not like they'll start bouncing off the walls. Besides, only a few hours before it's morning anyways."

To the aliens, Hanadi put her hands on the kitchen's countertop and looked at them. "You offworlders drink coffee?"

"I'm not allowed coffee..." It was true, the poor girl, if she drank coffee Harmony would be up for days at a time...

"You don't quite... understand..." Na'Subir blinked a few times, and held his hands up to his face, and pushed his cheeks together to make his lips pucker. It was quite comical, with his eye seeming so bored in contrast. "There is more to the situation than there once was... Anyone we have left behind..." He looked down, his lips still forced into a pucker, "... they may already be in the hands of the Judge."

"I think my body is immune to it. Something about the brain chemistry being efficient enough that I don't need it... I think." Shiki shrugged and glanced over. "The taste can be nice... I guess. Do you have any tea instead?"

"Yeah... I think." Hanadi said rather slowly as she went to check if she had any tea. While she did so she also spoke to the Guardsman, and the Broken Guardswoman. "Is he right about that?"

Aliye shook up a bit as she saw Hanadi look at her and ask. She hunched her shoulders, and spoke meekly. "Y-yes... I was told that we found three... three outlanders in Laruslan."

Managing to find a container of tea she went about boiling some water and mixing the tea and spice packets it came with. "Were the names of the people you told us the names of the ones you have in Laruslan? Or are they elsewhere?"

"The three I told you about are hanging over the edge of your Sehaya." said Aliye, trying to adjust herself to sit straight up. "I was given vague descriptions of the three we captured."

With the water having reached a rapid boil, Hanadi placed a strainer over the cup with the tea mix and poured the water in and then what could be considered 'milk' and some sweetner to boot before pouring a cup of the strong black coffee. "Well, go ahead and describe them." Picked a shit time to abduct people when I'm involved. I don't have a damned soul that'd be willing to help within a few hundred kilometers...

Hanadi brought the steaming hot cup of Coffee to Na'Subir and the cup of tea to the Geshrin. "What about you?" she called to Mikael. "You want anything while I'm at it?"

"What were the options?" Mikael asked from where he sat cross-legged on the floor.

"Coffee, Tea, I have er...ahh... soda? Alcohol, food and so on." Hanadi replied.

"Coffee, kindly." Mikael said with a slight smile.

An idea occurred to Mikael, and he almost leapt from his seat to proceed with it. He hared off to the back of the crawler, past Oskar, and went for where he had hid his journal and small collection of pens that had survived the crash. He then came back, pen in hand and cap in mouth -- the rest of his utensils stuffed unceromoniously in his right pocket -- and began asking for names.

"Hoo ah oo?" He addressed Hanadi.

"Hah-Nah-Dee." The woman said slowly for him as she brought him a cup of the same black coffee she'd handed Na'Subir.

He quickly scrawled her name at the head of the page he labeled 'People I Know', grabbed the coffee with a nod, and began writing her description down with one hand and drinking with the other. He almost choked on the pen cap, and so spat it out before asking Shiki his name next.

"It's Shiki. Itou Shiki..." The Geshrin replied curtly, standing up to get himself a cup and some tea to pour himself. Not that he didn't appreciate getting things from people, but he always felt a little disquieted to sit around all the time. "I-I'm alright." He glanced over at Hanadi and nodded his thanks a little uncomfortably before returning his seat.

As Shiki sat, the armless girl near him stared at the cup he held. Being absolutely armless, she couldn't just grab a cup, and that tea looked pretty good to her. So, Aliye gave Shiki her best puppy dog face, what with her scarred, bandage covered face. She had still yet to actually tell Hanadi about what surivovors had been abducted, but then, maybe it didn't matter.

"..." Shiki could almost feel the eyes burrowing into the side of his head, and turned, only to be somewhat... overwhhelmed by the display. The girl was in pain, anyone who'd lost an arm and had their face that ravaged would be... but the expression seemed to completely betray that harsh and worn facade.

She seemed like a person he could honestly help, that he could save... or something like that. Well, that was a lie. He never really believed in those rediculous wartime romance stories involving an Elysian or a Mishhu being redeemed by his love for a PoW Neko, but it was ncie to imagine, even for a moment. He held out the cup for her, gently bringing his hand foriward and tipping it slightly to make it easy for the woman to get a drink. "Be careful, alright?"

Aliye's face lit up, the young lady quickly placed her lips on the edge of the cup, and began sucking at the liquid greedily. It had been evident that her thirst was more than just being dehydrated, especially with how her eyes narrowed on the cup. If Shiki kept tilting the cup, he would find most of if not all of his tea was then gone.

The older woman had been watching as Aliye greedily sipped at Shiki's cup of tea and had gone about prepping another. Along with extra skewers she had from the kebab kit she had complained about before. The raw herdtitan she stabbed with the skewers were marinated lightly and then seasoned before going on the grill-style portion of the counter top. "If you want another cup, it's already made." Hanadi called to Shiki. Along with his own was another for the girl.

"... whoa." Shiki did a doubletake briefly as he noticed that the cup, filled with that precious and fragrant liquid that he would have had a chance to drink, was completely emptied. He was a little stunned at 'how' thirsty she was, but didn't really think about it too much when the sun shining through the windows was occasionally too much for him.

He glanced back at Hanadi and gave a little nod to show his thanks. "Yeah. Do you mind if I feed her? She doesn't really seem able to..."

Hanadi looked over to Shiki, waving a kebab she'd charred perfectly at him. "Just hold this up for her and she can tear it right off. Also. After you offworlders are fed and watered, while I'm outside for the next couple of hours you're not to go out. I have to take care of the aftermath."

Aliye's mouth hang agape, a slaver of drool almost falling out of her lips as she eyed the kebab and the tea. Was that second cup for her? Really? Oh, maybe the weak one will share his kebab with her as well! Good meals like this weren't expected, especially from a group that had just cut her arms off. Once again, she was looking at Shiki with that same wanting gaze.

Harmony watched the others as the moved around the ship, relaxing as she rubbed Geruud's head softly. She was just trying to relax for the time being.

"You have your own." Hanadi said sharply as she gave Aliye a side-long glance while plating the food. "No moochin' off the nice alien."