Chapter 18: Of Yautja And Man
While Alexa knew that it was her duty to provide refuge for both Wolf and Gua'ytaan after the Shadow Hunter clan fell, she found the task of housing three Yautja hunters inside her own home to be rather tiresome.
She spent her entire Sunday explaining aspects of human culture and technology to her Yautja guests, which was much easier said than done. Alexa also assumed that if Gua'ytaan and Wolf could speak her language so well, they would at least know a few things about human culture; but that apparently wasn't the case at all.
They only seemed to be familiar with the basics of what human beings were with no clear in-depth study taking place between either one of them. No knowledge on cultural norms, traditions or values; just their biology and bit of history, which also wasn't factually accurate according to Alexa's comprehension. It appeared that the Yautja race had much to learn about humanity and she was keen on enlightening these extra-terrestrials about the truth; despite her not being a scholar by profession.
So that's just what Alexa did.
She told them everything about human culture which Scar had already picked up from her as well as some new material that her Life Mate wasn't acquainted with too. This included human laws regarding murder and other such taboo subjects, the presence of Xenomorphs where she worked and how general human society functioned in this modern world.
Some parts were easy for the Yautja to comprehend, while others just outright baffled them and left them utterly dumbfounded. Though they knew that each sapient species in the Milky Way Galaxy had their own distinctive culture and traditions, these human beings were particularly odd in their own eyes; especially since the Yautja could see a shred of themselves inside the humans for some odd reason.
Was it because of their similar body structure to one another, or was it something else entirely?
Neither Gua'ytaan nor Wolf could say for sure, but one thing was certain. They were stranded on this world with no way to leave and there were also the looming threats of both Bad Bloods and the Kiande Amedha about to cause mayhem. When exactly the carnage would begin was still unknown to them all, but it was clear that now was not the time to fight for survival.
The Yautja siblings just had to do what their companion Scar had to do; lay low and remain unknown to the rest of humanity.
However, educating these Yautja in her home wasn't the only thing Alexa had on her agenda. She still knew that Gua'ytaan and Wolf had to be fed; which at first didn't seem too hard at first. Alexa then remembered that Yautja seemed to much larger appetites than normal human beings like her did.
After all, Scar did devour a pretty large portion of pot roast at dinner the previous evening. Now that was going to be tripled since she assumed that Gua'ytaan and Wolf might have the same eating habits as her Life Mate did. She also took into consideration what a Yautja diet would consist of; mostly meat and fruit from her experience.
Apparently both Wolf and Gua'ytaan were astonished that most humans didn't hunt for their own food anymore. The mere concept of a grocery store was simply so alien to the minds of Yautja that they found it completely absurd. Alexa had to explain to them both that this wasn't hunting territory nor was it hunting season this time of year.
It's not like she had a choice for her means of gathering food for everyone in the house right now. She also had to admit that hunting wasn't exactly something she'd prefer to do in her everyday life, since it could potentially interfere with her job at Weyland-Yutani. Thankfully, Alexa's fellow clan members were considerate and understanding towards her words.
She prepared a dinner of lamb chops, which her alien guests seemed to enjoy just fine.
Despite all of that doing well in her favour, Alexa still had trouble getting rest that night. With the news that the Shadow Hunter clan was in total ruins by the very Yautja who attempted to murder her in cold blood, she couldn't help but have cold feet in bed.
It made her feel timid, scared about whenever Cage and the rest of his Bad Blood collaborators would make their way to Earth and finish the purge of Scar's bloodline. Alexa knew that he had to be out there in space somewhere, no doubt plotting to slaughter her along with her dearest Life Mate and the last surviving brethren under her roof.
Only time would tell whenever the forsaken traitor would venture to her domain and try to paint the grass red; and that was eventually what brought shivers down Alexa's spine that night.
Eventually she did make it to sleep, but before she knew it her morning alarm woke her up for her job at Weyland-Yutani.
The following morning as Alexa walked into the lab, her co-worker Pablo De Rosa noticed that something was a little off about her. She just seemed under the weather at first, but Pablo began to suspect that his own predictions might not be the truth; especially after the last time he tried to foresee the secrets Alexa kept behind his back. He approached Alexa with a notepad in hand and spoke up to her.
"Hey Alexa, are you feeling alright?" Questioned Pablo.
He sincerely hoped that she would still be up to conducting more tests on the captive Yautja specimen today.
"Yeah, it's just that yesterday was a bit much for me to handle on my own." Replied Alexa, which only seemed to mystify Pablo in the process.
"What do you mean?" He inquired once more.
"Well, I don't have a Yautja in my house anymore…now I have 3." Alexa stated in response.
This caused Pablo to drop his notepad on the ground out of utter shock. Now there were 2 more Yautja present on this planet? What exactly was he supposed to do? His mind became flooded with these questions running wild and he wasn't sure how to react from this completely unexpected news.
"You what?!" Pablo blurted out in total confusion.
"I can explain this Pablo, please listen to me." Alexa pleaded to her co-worker to just hear her words and then hopefully understand the truth behind it all.
To her surprise, Pablo actually listened to her this time around.
"Alright then, tell me why there are two more of these Yautja in your house right now, Alexa." Pablo ordered.
It was clear to Alexa that he was admittingly still somewhat frightened of these alien hunters, but she needed to come clean and tell him the true reason why.
"Ok…you know how I mentioned that Scar's clan took me up in their ship and inducted me into their bloodline?" Asked Alexa, assuming that Pablo actually believed that her experience beyond planet Earth was in fact reality.
"Yeah, I'm still a bit ambivalent on that part, so what does that have to do with all this?" Pablo questioned yet again.
"Well, there was a massacre that left Scar's Yautja clan in ruins. The two Yautja who are staying at my place in addition to Scar are the only survivors." Explained Alexa, briefly summarizing the tragedy that she learned about the other night. She hoped that Pablo would show at least a small shred of sympathy for the innocent souls claimed in that ungodly skirmish, even if those who fell victim were not the same flesh and blood as his own. Thankfully, that was exactly what happened too.
"Oh. That's…terrible. I'm honestly kind of sorry to hear that about Scar's clan." Pablo said in a rather desolate tone of speech, revealing that he really did feel benevolent for Scar's fallen brothers and sisters.
It gave Alexa some hope that perhaps Pablo might actually drop this contempt born from the fear he held towards the Yautja species. From the way he felt about learning that Scar had lost his entire family, that seemed like an entirely feasible possibility in the near future. Maybe that could even happen on this very day for all she knew.
"So now you're finally seeing the truth about these Yautja, Pablo?" Questioned Alexa, equally surprised as she was happy to know that his views on these extra-terrestrial hunters had changed since he met Scar a few days ago.
"Yes, I suppose that I am. Ever since I met Scar in that; how should I put this…web of conflicting opinions, I've been doing a lot of thinking about these Yautja. I mean, it was actually kind of hard for me to not think about them after that incident on Friday." Explained Pablo, stating that his stance on the Yautja species had indeed changed drastically.
He longer thought of them as a barbaric race who strived to kill anyone they pleased, but instead something that felt much more…human.
"That's good to hear, Pablo. You haven't told anyone else about this, right?" Alexa inquired, hoping that her colleague didn't spill the beans with anyone else and reveal the truth of the Yautja hunters to Weyland-Yutani or possibly even the rest of the world.
Pablo thankfully didn't, as for now it remained a secret between them both.
"No, of course not. If I did tell anyone else about Scar, Weyland-Yutani would've already captured him by now." Stated Pablo in response.
"I suppose that's a fair point." Alexa retorted as she realized that he was indeed correct.
Weyland-Yutani already had one Yautja held in captivity, but just the like the Xenomorphs; they would impound as many live specimens as they deemed necessary for scientific research. She also remembered that it was entirely possible for the Yautja to be labelled as a threat to humanity and perhaps even hunted down by armed forces, so Alexa was relieved to know that no one else besides her co-worker knew about her secretive relationship with an extra-terrestrial being.
Nonetheless, there was something else she still desired to uncover.
"But why exactly have you changed your views on the Yautja? Was it just because of Scar, or is it something else?" She wanted to know the true reason why Pablo now thought of the Yautja entirely different than he had before. As much as it made Alexa feel glad, she couldn't help but feel there was something else missing from the greater picture.
"A little bit of both actually." Pablo specified his perspective clearly, to which Alexa was somewhat taken by surprise.
The answer still remained rather imprecise towards her, so she requested that he was to further elaborate on his previous remark.
"Really? Well then, could you please tell me why?" Alexa requested Pablo once more.
"Of course. Meeting Scar was a…interesting experience for me. It made me think more about his people and what made them so alien yet human at the same time. And now, I believe that I have an answer for that." He went on to clarify himself in brief yet shrewd detail before querying her another inquiry.
"Alexa, have you by any chance studied psychology before?" He asked her yet again.
"Um…no. I can't say that I have." Replied Alexa, caught in a fog to why he was all of a sudden posing her this new question out the blue. Surely there had to be come reason why Pablo even bothered to ask her this in the first place.
"Well I have, and there's something regarding that which I should share with you. It's called the Halo/Horns Effect." Pablo explained.
"Halo/Horns Effect? What exactly is that?" Alexa inquired, utterly confused to what exactly this supposed psychological principle was.
"It's a cognitive bias in which someone's impression of another person will influence their own personal views on that said person. When I first saw the face of a Yautja, I was struck with fear; almost as if I was looking right at the devil himself. Because of that, I began to believe that these Yautja creatures were indeed monsters at heart." Pablo went on to describe what this part of psychology was and how it affected him to deem the Yautja species as nothing more than a bunch of monstrous beasts.
"So, it's how we perceive something beautiful as good and something hideous as evil?" Alexa questioned once more.
"Yes, but that's not all of it. Besides, I'm telling you about why I've changed my stance on these Yautja; not giving you a private psychology lecture." Replied Pablo, stating that he didn't want to get sidetracked and finish explaining everything important to Alexa without any further interruptions.
"I understand, please continue." Alexa said in response, fully acknowledging his words and eager to know what else he had to say.
"Anyway, I kept holding onto that false notion until I met Scar. He still terrified me, but at the same time from the way I saw him interacting and communicating with you; I began to realize how human he really was. That's when I knew that…I was wrong." Pablo put in plain words, stating that his own judgement shadowed himself from the true nature of the Yautja hunters. He let a subconscious function of his own mind overcome him when caught in the face of inhumanity; believing it to truly be nothing more than pure malevolence at its core.
It made him feel so…mislead and deceived, and there was no one else but himself to blame for this.
Alexa honestly didn't know what to make of this. She knew very well that Pablo had been quite prejudiced and xenophobic towards extra-terrestrials from the day he first discovered the Yautja species, but that all changed because of her Life Mate Scar?
It left a warm feeling inside her heart, understanding that the very actions he did caused another human being to look at his kind in a different way; to see the true soul imbedded deep inside the shell.
"So, does that mean…you don't hate the Yautja anymore?" Questioned Alexa. She desperately hoped that he really had dropped the narrow-minded ethos he held onto. Pablo shook his dead in reply.
"Yes, but I'm still little frightened of them. I mean, they look like they could tear you to shreds with ease." He said in response with a slight shudder in his voice, stating that not everything had been cleared up with him just yet.
Alexa understood his fear of the Yautja to some extent, as she too felt quite uneasy around the members of the Shadow Hunter clan when she was first brought aboard their mothership. Of course, she was eventually able to warm up to their presence and admittingly missed some of them when she finally returned to Earth. It also cut her deep when she learned about the slaughter that left almost the entire clan deceased, though not nearly to the same emotional extent of Scar.
"Pablo, I don't care if you're afraid of the Yautja or not. As long as you don't hold any kind of resentment for their species because of how they look, that's fine with me. After all, I know that most humans won't be able to understand the Yautja as well as I do." Alexa stated in response, informing him that simply fearing an inhuman creature from another world wasn't anything too spiteful.
"Yes, but…I want to know more about them." Pablo said, catching the attention of Alexa in the process.
She wasn't expecting this from him at all, especially after all the vindictive things he said towards the Yautja race under his own trepidation. Nevertheless, it still made her glad to know that Pablo agreed to the idea of opening up his mind towards these Yautja hunters.
"Is that so? Tell you what, Pablo. How about today after our shifts are over, I'll bring over to my place and introduce you to these Yautja?" She asked her co-worker once more.
"Yeah, that sounds fine; granted as long as Scar doesn't try to kill me again." Replied Pablo with a somewhat nervous chuckle to his voice.
"Oh, don't worry. Scar won't do that since now he understands that you are not a threat to any of us. Trust me on this one, Pablo." Alexa said in response with a generous smile, assuring him that he had nothing to truly be afraid of.
As skeptical as he was, Pablo decided to take Alexa's words with a grain of salt until he found out himself. He wouldn't be content until he could be certain that his previous encounter with the Yautja would end up repeating itself.
Later that evening after Alexa and Pablo' shifts for the day had been finished, they both drove off to Alexa's home.
Pablo had to admit that he was a little jealous that Alexa had a much better house than he did, but then again; he chose to spend a good portion of his payments from his job at Weyland-Yutani on expensive automobiles instead of a nice spacious home. He had his reasons and wasn't going to complain about his own choices in life or anything else that petty.
Nonetheless, it was now time for him to reconnect with Scar and introduce himself to the other survivors of his fallen clan. Pablo's car followed behind Alexa's at reasonable distance and remained at the same speed until they finally pulled up into the driveway about a half hour later.
Exiting their vehicles, Pablo took a glance at a nearby tree that looked like it had been relentlessly torn apart and knocked down not too long ago. He could tell that whoever or whatever attacked it didn't use an axe or any type of bladed weapon, which only seemed to create an even more unsettling sensation in his gut. Pablo then thought that perhaps one of the Yautja inside Alexa's own house at the moment was the one who ferociously decimated this very tree. Maybe it was even Scar for all he knew.
It seemed entirely possible, so that's exactly what came to his mind.
He nervously swallowed and looked back at Alexa as she began to unlock the front door. Walking up to her, Pablo decided that maybe it wasn't best for him to fret on about that one detail that gave him an uneasy feeling inside. After all, he might even receive an answer for that question currently floating around in his mind. Alexa unlocked the front door and walked inside, to which Pablo promptly followed suit and entered as well.
Once they both stood inside the foyer of the house, Alexa called out to her alien guests and Life Mate too.
"Guys, we have a guest here who wants to meet you all!"
Her voice wasn't quite a shout but it was clearly loud enough to gain the attention of all three Yautja present in the building. Soon enough, a familiar looking figure emerged from the hallway. Pablo recognized it as the Yautja hunter with the massive blemish found across his chest; no doubt he was Scar.
Upon meeting with the alien's glance once again, he couldn't help but involuntarily quiver with fear. Even with his new duties of examining a live Yautja specimen, Pablo himself had not become accustomed to seeing these alien hunters. The fact that Scar wasn't restrained and the possibility that he could lash out and kill him if he truly wanted to made Pablo feel all the more anxious around him.
Scar on the other hand had no sense of fear in his eyes, but instead the Yautja hunter looked rather disappointed to see this man again.
"Really, Alexa? Your co-worker again? Why did you bring him here?" He inquired in a clearly unhappy tone of voice.
Pablo remembered his human-like voice, raspy and coarse yet easily comprehensible. At least he knew that there wouldn't be any type of miscommunication between the two of them this time around.
"Scar, please. He's a guest in our home so at least show him a little respect. And don't worry, I'll tell you why Pablo's here in the first place eventually." Replied Alexa, informing Scar to improve his mannerisms whenever another human was inside their home. "It's…nice to see you again, Scar." Pablo spoke rather timidly as he reintroduced himself to the alien hunter. He couldn't help but feel a bit uptight as he stood within his presence.
Just then, two more Yautja figures emerged; catching the attention of Pablo in the process.
He noticed how the first one looked quite similar to Scar, minus the obvious blotch on his chest. From first glance, he might have been able to mistake them for one another; so, he naturally assumed that these two Yautja were brothers by blood. It just had to make sense, especially since no other theory could come to his mind now either. He also noted that this other male Yautja was wearing bandages, almost as if he was recovering from some kind of injury.
While this Yautja didn't seem to frighten him any more than Scar did, the same could not be said with the final Yautja present. The first thing he became aware of was that this one appeared to be much larger than all the others; as Scar and the one his assumed was his brother both stood at around 7 feet tall.
This other Yautja was almost 9 feet tall from his own conjecture without actually measuring its body. Pablo then saw that the shape of this Yautja was different too as well, with it's build being much more feminine despite also being quite muscular too. The obvious mammary breasts confirmed that this other Yautja was in fact a female; but even that didn't prevent Pablo from being thunderstruck with dread filling his veins while in her presence.
It only seemed to make him feel even more petrified given how tall she was compared to his average height.
A bead of sweat ran down the side of his face as he tried to say something to the aliens standing before him, but the words just wouldn't come out.
The Yautja took notice of how they managed to terrify this human male without even trying to be intimidating at all, realizing that they must do something in order to ease his current state of nervousness.
Alexa also saw what was trembling over her co-worker and decided that she too must step in and assist him somehow.
"Look, Pablo. I know you may think that these Yautja are terrifying creatures to look at, but believe me when I say that they are not going to hurt you." She spoke to him, hoping that maybe her words could work as some form of consolation.
"Alexa's right, we have no such intentions to harm you in any way." Replied the other male Yautja, whose true name remained unknown to Pablo's recollection.
Just like Scar, his voice sounded quite gruff and hoarse but was slightly more human-like to his surprise. This gave him the impression that perhaps these aliens really weren't ruthless killers like he had originally believed.
"Ok…I'm Pablo De Rosa, Alexa's co-worker." He fretfully presented himself to these Yautja which he naturally assumed we unaccustomed to him entirely.
"Oh, you're that ooman male Alexa told us about. She said that you both worked on analyzing Kiande Amedha and that you also have a Bad Blood in captivity as well." The female Yautja spoke in response.
Her voice just like the others sounded coarse and raspy, but it still had a feminine touch to it as well. Pablo could safely say that the voice of this alien female was certainly the most human-like out of all the bunch standing before him. He began to feel that maybe human-like souls did exist within these Yautja shells that appeared so brutish and menacing to the eye.
Just then, the female Yautja reached one of her claws over to Pablo and attempted to touch him on the shoulder. He almost immediately jumped back in a single involuntary movement as a response. While he was starting to no longer feel intimidated by their appearance alone, Pablo was still disinclined to allow any of these aliens to physically touch him in any way at all.
"Woah, what the fuck are you doing?! Keep your hands off me!" He snapped at the female alien as he pressed his own back up against the wall.
"Pablo, calm down. She's not trying to hurt you, I swear. All she is doing is simply introducing herself to you." Alexa said as an effort to attempt easing her co-worker's nerves.
"She just tried to grab my shoulder, didn't you see that?!" Pablo retorted once more, disbelieving Alexa's justification to the female Yautja's actions.
"That's how Yautja formally introduce themselves, Pablo. It's basically their own equivalent to a handshake." Replied Alexa, stating what the gesture truly meant; shutting down any possible misinterpretations her co-worker might have towards their body language alone.
Pablo took her words in, knowing that there was a great chance that she might be right. After all, she did manage to become part of an alien bloodline that by this point in time ceased to exist. He looked back at the female Yautja standing before him.
Although he couldn't entirely comprehend her true emotions since the body language of these aliens were still rather foreign to his eyes; Pablo was able to tell that she was upset from the way he countered to what was nothing more than a simple introduction of oneself in her culture. She didn't appear to be angry or on the verge of tears, but clearly not happy either.
The female alien was disappointed that she couldn't even introduce herself to another human without being shouted at and eyed with pure fear. Pablo took another step forward and looked up at the alien's inhuman face that somehow showed some kind of soul within its amber reptilian-like eyes. He knew that she deserved an apology for the way he reacted to a harmless gesture.
"Look, I'm sorry about that…I didn't mean to lash out at you. It's just that…you're a pretty big girl and usually women over 6 feet tall kind of intimidate me." He expressed his regret towards the female Yautja, admitting that it wasn't her fault entirely for sending shivers down his spine.
In response to his confession of guilt, the female Yautja began to chuckle. She couldn't help but snicker at the mere fact that females that stood physically higher than his average stature for his own species actually daunted him a little bit. Even in the mindset of a Yautja, it still seemed rather humorous.
"You're forgiven, Pablo De Rosa. Also, don't worry if you feel a little intimidated by me, because you're not the only one. Believe me, plenty of Yautja males are intimidated by us females." The female Yautja replied with a sense of comicalness present in her voice.
She then placed an open claw on the shoulder of the human male standing before her. This time, he did not evade her and instead opted to let the female alien formally introduce herself for real this time. To Pablo's surprise, the claws of the Yautja felt rather gentle. It was clear that she was doing her best to maintain a tender touch, and he now saw zero hostile intent inside this female Yautja.
"My name's Gua'ytaan. It's nice to meet you." She said, finally revealing her true name to Pablo.
"That's an…interesting name." The male human responded, commenting on the foreign name the alien bared; which he found to be quite outlandish and a little bit hard for him to pronounce in his tongue.
"It's a traditional Yautja name, I believe that in your language it loosely translates to 'Summer's Heat'; but I could be mistaken." Replied Gua'ytaan, notifying what her otherworldly name supposedly meant when translated into a human dialect.
This caught Alexa by surprise, as she did not understand why the female Yautja never bothered to inform her this when they first met back on the mothership.
"How come you didn't tell me that before?" Questioned Alexa, immensely curious to know whatever the true reason was.
"It…never occurred to me back then. As intelligent as we Yautja are, we don't always think logically." Gua'ytaan replied with a shrug. She couldn't believe that she never once thought to tell her human sister-in-law the true meaning behind her traditional Yautja name.
"Hey, neither do we. That's one thing both of our species have in common." Pablo said with a slight cackle in his speech. For the first time in his life, he was able to find some middle ground between both human and Yautja.
He then looked over at the unacquainted male Yautja standing near Gua'ytaan. Knowing that he must familiarize himself with this alien too, Pablo took a couple steps forward.
"And your name is…" He began with an inquiry.
"Wolf, I'm Gua'ytaan's brother by blood." The male alien introduced himself in the same manner as done by his sister before him.
Soon enough, the five of them were situated in the living room where they finally began to discuss their lives with Alexa's new co-worker. Alexa had prepared some tea for the occasion, as she believed that a nice warm beverage would go well nice with an evening of conversation. On the couch were Alexa, Scar and Gua'ytaan. Wolf and Pablo sat on their own individual chairs, still facing their companions from the opposite side of the coffee table.
"So, Pablo, Alexa says that you wish to know more about us Yautja. What would you like to know first?" Questioned Gua'ytaan, eager to spread new light on this human who still remained unaccustomed to the Yautja race. "Well to be quite honest, I don't even know where to start." Replied Pablo before taking a sip of his tea.
"Oh, wait! I got one. How exactly are you Yautja able to speak human languages so fluently?" He inquired with much peculiar interest.
It was something that he really didn't understand since with those inhuman faces bearing mandibles; the ability to verbalize any human dialect was beyond astonishing to his mind. How could anything so otherworldly possibly talk like any normal person with ease? This information Pablo needed to know because the question itself bothered him greatly with no way for him to answer it himself.
"Since we evolved as a predatory hunting race, our vocal cords allow us to mimic the sounds of our prey. Coincidentally, they also allow us to copy the languages of certain species we hunt." Replied Wolf, providing an answer that all of a sudden now seemed so blatantly obvious to the male human.
Even though Pablo was given the response he wanted, he couldn't help but ask another question in regard to his previous inquiry too.
"Is it really that easy for you though?"
Gua'ytaan shook her head in response.
"Sadly, no. We are able to comprehend your mother tongue without difficulty, but speaking a language that was not built for our jaws takes quite a bit of practice. Me and Wolf have been practicing how to speak the dialect of your people for several years, but Scar still struggled to annunciate smoothly when he first met Alexa." She replied, explaining that it wasn't that simple for a Yautja to attempt to converse in any human language.
Pablo once again believed her words, as they felt true and genuine. He went in for another swig of his tea when he was presented with another question, this time coming from Alexa.
"Ok, Pablo. What do you want to know next?" She asked her guest, ready to answer whatever possible Yautja-related query that he might have for her next.
"Actually, Alexa; this next one is for both you and Scar. How did you and Scar end up together like this?"
She was about to sip her tea when Pablo asked her this, prompting her to freeze for a brief moment. Explaining the tale of how a human woman like herself fell for an extra-terrestrial hunter wasn't exactly the most straightforward story, but she knew that it had to be done for Pablo's sake.
"Oh. Well, you know how I mentioned that Scar and I first met on the Antarctic island of Bouvetøya where the expedition took place?" Started Alexa, assuming that he remembered that detail she mentioned to him earlier.
"Yeah, I vaguely remember that." Replied Pablo. "Our partnership together began by simple trust. We had a common enemy inside the pyramid that was going to kill us both, the Xenomorphs; so, we put aside our differences and fought together in the name of survival." Explained Alexa, stating that the bond between her and the Yautja didn't originally start as it appeared now.
"During that time, I saw how skilled Alexa truly was. Granted she was only using whatever meant necessary to stay alive, but I decided that she was far too valuable to kill. She proved herself to be beyond worthy prey for a Yautja like me." Scar jumped in, adding his views on the tale as well.
Pablo had to admit, listening to both sides of the story gave him new insight to how this xenophilic relationship came to be and what made it to unique. It was oddly charming in a way.
"After we survived the battle at the pyramid, Scar was severely wounded and bleeding out on the ice. I wanted to try and save his life, but there was nothing I could do. That was when he gave me the Mark of Honor by rubbing some of his own blood on my cheek right here." Alexa further elucidated as she pointed to the alien-like scar burned onto her face.
"Thankfully, my clan's mothership arrived just in time and by brothers dragged both of us out of the snow to save us from dying." Scar continued to insert his own voice as well, while keeping the truth as crystal clear as possible for the sake of their guest for the evening. "I was welcomed into Scar's bloodline and my request to return home had been accepted by the clan's main elder. Unfortunately, there was a Yautja aboard that ship who didn't take too kindly to me at all. His name was Cage and he tried to murder me." This caught the attention of Pablo, who now had his interest peeked upon hearing this shocking news.
Wolf and Gua'ytaan however almost seemed to shudder as they heard Alexa say that name.
Pablo didn't entirely understand why that single word made these two Yautja feel so uneasy, but clearly there must've been some reason why. Maybe it had come connection to the news that Scar's bloodline had been decimated. He could only assume without a true definitive answer available to him at the moment.
Pablo also couldn't ignore the fact that one of these Yautja attempted to kill Alexa; which made him believe that maybe they too weren't immune to the same prejudices found within human blood.
It added a further sense of humanity to these extra-terrestrial beings he otherwise wouldn't have found at first glance of that inhuman face.
"Thankfully, I intervened and stopped him before he could kill her. Cage was put on trial and sentenced into exile for the attempted murder of Alexa. I still think that he should've received a much more suitable punishment for such a disloyal action…death." Scar said with a shred of anger present in his voice.
Pablo understood why the Yautja hunter felt this way, as he knew that Scar showed a romantic interest in his co-worker and he struck him as somewhat shielding towards his mate. It only made sense that he would wish for such dark retribution against the one who betrayed his clan and nearly slew the one whom he loved so dearly.
"Once we finally arrived back on Earth, Scar confessed his love to me. I was a little apprehensive at first, but I just went on with it just to see how it would turn out. It's actually gone surprisingly well actually." Explained Alexa, wrapping up the simplified version of their tale which she hoped Pablo would grasp entirely.
"Ok then…that was certainly an interesting story. But why exactly did Scar fall for you in the first place when you're not even the same species?" Pablo inquired once more, as he took in both of their words but couldn't understand why two members of entirely different species could possibly exist in such a bond like this.
There was a missing piece to the puzzle he could not find and with any stroke of luck, the likelihood that he might uncover it thanks to his co-worker and her alien companions still remained feasible. Alexa was also intrigued by this question, as she didn't quite understand it from the perspective of a Yautja like her Life Mate. She never asked Scar the true reasons why he ever became attracted to a human woman like herself; but that would change on this very evening.
"I knew that Alexa was a skilled hunter when I first met her on the pyramid, but it wasn't until I learned that she cared for the other members of the clan and sparing Cage from spilling her blood that I understood a warm feeling inside me; my love for Alexa." Explained Scar.
It was at this moment that Alexa finally understood the true reasons why the Yautja hunter truly felt this way towards her.
He was touched at how a human like her actually cared about his clan.
He hated seeing her in any kind of pain that reminded him of the agony which he suffered during the aftermath of the pyramid battle.
He wanted to protect her at all costs, even if it meant he had to resort to killing others or maybe sacrificing himself too.
Though she knew that Scar's shielding actions toward her were very overprotective, Alexa understood that his heart truly was in the right place. Never would this alien harm her in any way.
"Wow. Scar, you have no idea how much that means to me." She said in response, as her heartstrings had been indubitably plucked.
"I have to admit, when you first told me that you and this Yautja were in some kind of romantic relationship, I was revolted. But now, I think it's actually kind of charming in way. Sort of like Beauty And The Beast…if that story ever involved killer aliens that is." Stated Pablo, jumping back into the conversation once more.
Gua'ytaan tilted her head in confusion upon hearing that statement. She was oblivious to the tales of human folklore, so there was simply no way that this alien would understand the comparison made by Alexa's co-worker.
"I don't understand, is that some kind of human legend?" Inquired the female Yautja.
"Not exactly a legend, but a tale. It's about a princess who was captured by a prince under a cure that turned him into a monstrous creature and kept inside his castle. She eventually fell for him after she learned more about the prince. I'm not sure why, but the relationship between Alexa and Scar kind of reminds me of that." Explained Pablo, briefly summarizing a classic and timeless story from human literature for the aliens present in the room.
Alexa knew that she had not developed Stockholm Syndrome towards Scar, so she could not agree with resemblance he made; though she still at least understood why he had made that comparison in the first place.
"That's a pretty interesting analogy right there. I never thought of it that way. Still, I'm glad that he chose me as his one and only Life Mate." She replied with strange feeling of oddity in her mind as she took another sip of tea.
Maybe the way that another human could potentially sway Alexa's own perspective on her relationship with Scar. By now, it seemed like an entirely possible outcome; but of course, she could never so sure with her own estimates.
Pablo couldn't help but become inquisitive upon hearing Alexa refer herself as Scar's "Life Mate", whatever that supposedly meant. He understood that there was clearly a romantic bond between the woman and the alien, yet unfamiliarity with Yautja culture and traditions clouded his own perception.
"Hold up, you're Scar's 'Life Mate'? What's that supposed to mean?" Questioned Pablo, completely mystified by this term.
"It means that Alexa is the one partner I chose to limit myself to and she contently agreed to this; making us both mates under Paya's all-encompassing light until death claims us both." Explained Scar, stating the true meaning behind this name within Yautja culture.
A dumbfounded look formed across Pablo's face, unable to comprehend what he had just heard. From the way the Yautja hunter described it, there was only one thing that the human male could think of.
"So…does that make Scar your husband or something?" Asked Pablo as he turned his head to face Alexa.
"Marriage does not exist within Yautja culture. We rely on spiritual bonding between mates instead. It's a tradition that goes back to the dawn of our kind on Yautja Prime aeons ago. Alexa and I have already bonded together and our relationship is official." The Yautja hunter proceeded to clarify his words, putting an end to any possible misconceptions from Alexa's co-worker.
"Okay then. Now what exactly happened to Scar's clan? Why was it destroyed?" Pablo inquired yet again, this time questioning on the most notorious story the Yautja had left to reveal.
He didn't want to learn more about Scar and Alexa's newfound sex life, so he opted to ask about the calamity that resulted in these two Yautja siblings here temporarily.
Wolf and Gua'ytaan both bowed their heads low upon hearing the human male request, almost as if they were sulking. It became clear that this recent experience had rattled them greatly, as Pablo could only imagine how devastating it would be to lose one's entire bloodline in only a single day. A few seconds of stillness filled the room's air until the sound of Wolf clicking his mandibles broke the silence.
"Cage betrayed our clan. After we exiled him, he sided with a gang of Bad Bloods known as the Forsaken Blades. They ambushed our mothership and slaughtered everyone aboard. Me and Gua'ytaan were the only ones lucky enough to make it out alive." Replied Wolf, explaining the tragedy in a sombre tone that showed his true dismal emotions.
"Oh. That's terrible. I'm really sorry to hear about that." Pablo said in response, expressing sorrow for the catastrophe of the Yautja clan that actually felt genuine.
He sincerely felt misery in his heart, a feeling which he was almost certain could only be held in regards to other human beings. It made him realize that he had truly found a sense of humanity within the body of an otherworldly creature, which in turn only seemed to give further thought into what exactly it meant to be human.
Little did Pablo De Rosa know however, that the real question he should've been asking himself was what exactly made life sapient?
Sure enough, he would be querying that very point sooner than anticipated.
Author's note: Hey everyone, Cosmic Sword11 here with another chapter for Predator and Prey. I hope you guys enjoyed it and stay tuned for another one hopefully coming out soon; even if this chapter may have just been a load of filler. Also, if any of you are interested; check out the prologue for the next Galactic Threat story I have posted titled And Justice For All. I haven't gotten much feedback from that story since I initially posted it on both FFN and AO3, so I hope that I can get that story some more attention if any of you guys are interested. Anyway, please remember to R&R regardless of which platform you chose to read my fic on and I'll see you guys again later. Also, I hope that you had a merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, etc.