Ok, so like, I haven't been this inspired to write in awhile but I love, LOVE dealing with characters that have issues and this literally jumped from my brain at midnight and demanded to be written. Reviews and opinions are appreciated!
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He first heard about her nearly a year before he met her, the Terra Novan spy who Mira had coerced into 'helping' them. It was a matter of little interest to him (except as a fleeting source of amusement in thinking the Great Commander could be hoodwinked by one his very own acolytes) who Mira got to get the job done. As long as she delivered on what he required, he didn't care.
He first saw her about seven months later. It was nearly dusk, a dangerous time to be about in the wooded areas of this hostile world. He had been making his way to the sixer camp, in need of some medical supplies after a nasty run-in with one of the less friendly indigenous species. While he knew he could make do without it, as harsh experience had taught him, he saw no need to add another rather gruesome scar to his already fulsome collection if it wasn't necessary. He slid quietly through the forest, almost like a predator himself. He was within half a click of the camp when he heard the faint rustle of something behind him. He froze for a moment, listening, then moved with catlike quickness up a tree. It was the best cover available from Slashers, which were the predominant predator in this particular area. As quietly as possible, he slid his sonic gun out of its holster and focused his attention on the oh-so-slight rustle of the bushes. He had been quite thoroughly surprised to see the slender figure that emerged and was just as quickly gone, headed in the same direction he had been. He slipped silently from the tree, gun in hand, and followed, discreetly of course.
She was very small, for it was a she, this creature who dared to brave the night terrors. He played with her a bit, slipping almost close enough to touch, and then fading away before she could see him. She definitely knew she was being tailed. He had expected panic, or frozen fear and, while she was obviously on edge and fearful, she never seemed to lose her cool...or her head.
He had to admire that.
Once, he slipped close enough to catch her scent. It was somewhat elusive, rather like the female herself, but it nearly stopped him in his tracks. He took a deep breath and held it, certain he would know her again just by that sweet, musky, utterly delicious feminine scent. He closed his eyes and took a moment to buss his forehead a few times (gently) against the nearest tree.
Lucas, man, you've been hermiting it way too long if just the scent of a woman is having this effect on you.
He opened his eyes and continued to dog her footsteps until they reached the sixer camp.
Then, he waited.
The sixers all knew him by sight and, as well, knew better than to bother him when he made the rare appearance in their camp. They knew his routine, and that he would find Mira or Carter when he was good and ready, that usually being after a meal and a good washup. This time was no different. The eyes that took note of his entrance quickly turned in other directions as he made his silent way around the perimeter of the camp, his eyes fixed on the shadowy figure nearing one of the camp trees. He glided slowly nearer, was within just a couple meters when she turned near the base and was caught in the light of one of the many torches set about to give light and to keep predators at bay.
Once, when he was much younger, just a boy still really, his mother had taken him to a zoo, before the last of the non essential animal lifeforms had died out, and he had seen a real lion. It was a pair, lion and lioness, and, although he was sure they were probably quite the worse for wear, the lioness sat up upon her haunches and stared straight thru the glass. He had felt that stare, so proud and strangely sad, right down to his toes. It had caused his heart to jump, hard, and then beat so loudly he was sure his mother could hear it. He had been terrified, and enthralled and strangely in awe of the brilliant creature that held him captive in its gaze. In that moment he had wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch the magnificent creature before him, even though he was thoroughly aware of how potentially dangerous that could be.
He had that exact same feeling now.
Her delicate features were highlighted by the flickering movement of the flames, her hair dark and wavy and her eyes...
He was unable to determine their color but their color was unimportant because it was what was in them...oh, it was that that was the true, real draw. He could feel the pull of those eyes even across the distance that separated them.
He only held her gaze for the briefest of moments before she turned and was swiftly carried up into the trees but it was enough. Enough for him to know that he had to find out more. His eyes followed her up into the tree, making note of the one she was in, trying vainly to see the shadows that moved in the branches above. It was of little use, it was much too dark so he backed slowly away before finally turning and making his way toward his tent across from where she had disappeared. He was patient. Nothing, nothing if not patient. He could wait.
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He ended up following her back to Terra Nova. He rationalized it as simply making sure Mira's chess piece didn't get taken out by a random predator but he was not so self delusional that he didn't know the real reason.
He couldn't bear the thought of something happening to her before he had a chance to approach her.
He almost did. She stopped, once, near Outpost Nine, and leaned up against the building's outer wall. He could see her turn her face up to the moon as she simply stood. He couldn't see much more than that, as the Outpost was in a clearing and necessitated his staying in the edge of the forest in order not to be seen, but it was her posture, her whole being really, that seemed to speak to him.
She seemed so, heartbreakingly, alone.
And if there was one feeling Lucas was intimately familiar with, it was the feeling of being utterly alone.
He was struck with such a powerful yearning to simply walk up to her, not necessarily to speak but just to be, and look up to the night sky and share space so that neither of them would be one, but two, and displace that lonely aloneness that radiated from her to him. He literally had to reach out and grab hold the nearest tree so as to keep himself in place.
She moved soon after that and less than 20 minutes later saw her shimmying deftly through an overgrown drainage ditch and back into the (relative) safety of Terra Nova. He watched from afar as her small figure grew smaller still as she navigated her way to wherever it was she called home. And when her figure finally melted into the darkness so to did he as he began to backtrack his way once again to the sixer camp.
The darkness moved and squawked and rustled but he had long since learned the dangers of the night and so moved with fluid and economic grace back the way he had came, determined that this would not be the last he saw of his little spy.