I just realized that today's chapter will be the last one if I don't find anyone who knows what's after the number 307… I can't count that high!

Chapter 307: No one's smooth talk

Rick had a real problem with trying to pick up the girl Thanty selected, although he wasn't bad at talking, there was one thing that might make him stutter, it wasn't the lack of sex appeal of the said girl, as it usually happened when he tried to strike a conversation back in hells gate when he was off duty. He could talk smoothly only when the girl was nice and he liked her, and when he was drunk.

Although that happened rarely, it happened once and he ended up with a bloody nose when her boyfriend saw him talking to her. If the girl he was about to pick up somewhat didn't meet his expectations, he started to stutter. This time however, she was over his expectations, for whenever he said the word 'Girl' he imagined a female humanoid with a nice yet slightly muscular body and sharp tongue. This 'Girl', which was standing several meters away from him, talking to another female which was completely different from her, was more than muscular. If the word culturist apply to the thanators, this might be a good time to use it, and on her. She was big, strong yet her voice was strangely melodic when she happily chatted with her friend about the hunting techniques.

"[… There is nothing more comforting than the sound of snapping bones which ends the hunt.]" The strong thanatoress said to the smaller one who might as well be her daughter. The other one was two point eight meters tall and was also quite muscular, yet not so much, it was her voice that however told Rick that although she was nice with her mouth shut, whenever she talked he thought that she might actually be male.

"Alright Rick, you can do it, trust in yourself. Go there and strike a conversation with the two of them… Don't be scared, they aren't going to eat you… Or are they? By Eywa how am I supposed to court someone who might kill me if I say something wrong!" Rick was hesitating, in fact he was hesitating and looking at them which made the thanators turn and look at him. It was merely a second since they noticed him and therefore Rick still had a chance to do something about the situation, he might still save it and proceed with the plan to actually court the huge animal.

"Should I try to court them in human way? Or is there a special way for thanators to court them?" Rick thought while walking toward them. The distance shortened with each passing second, and with each passing second, his mind was racing quicker and quicker, and so was his heart. He was nervous for some reason. He doubted that this was a good idea in the first place. Even if he manages to have some sort of conversation, and the probability of that happening was really low, he would have to court her until she's willing to lay with him. That was the problem number two, but first things first.

"[Excuse me, but I dare to disagree… Snapping one's neck isn't the most comforting sound in the world.]" Rick said, making the big and strong thanatoress look at him closer, nothing escaped her scrutinizing eyes as she seemed to measure Rick up and down.

"[Then what?]" She said, the words were much colder than before, maybe because she was dealing with someone unfamiliar to her.

"Go for it, make a compliment damn it!" Rick thought and smiled slightly.

"[Your voice, hearing it made my little heart jump with joy and I simply had to stop and meet the owner of such a beautiful voice]" Rick said, immediately regretting the word 'little' for he pointed out that he was much smaller than her, which was also making him uncomfortable. While Tarya was certainly bigger than he was, it wasn't this drastic. For when he was with her, she was a gentle giantess, this thing however might be the mythical dragon. "Yes, she's a dragon and you have to lay her… Well, thank Eywa that the word 'lay' begins with l and not Sl for it might be much harder."

"[What are you up to?]" Her much smaller friend asked in a voice that made Rick wonder if she was some sort of Thanatorish transvestite, for everything was nice but her voice completely ruined her appearance. Rick however tried the polite approach in order to avoid measuring strength with her, this approach however had one disadvantage and that was that he couldn't ignore the annoying friend this girl had.

"[Alright, I will admit it.]" Rick said in defeated tone which made the two thanatoress even more suspicious about this little guy who was supposedly a thanator himself. At least that was the talk around here anyway.

"[It was her astonishing beauty that had made me come closer.]" Rick said, making the thanatoress chuckle.

"[That is rich, he finds me attractive. He is the first one who finds me attractive.]" When she said that, she started laughing along with her friend. When both of them laughed, it made them even more intimidating than before. Rick was wondering if she could be even more terrifying. "Why did I pick her again?" Rick asked himself, wondering what kind of stuff he was smoking when he chose her just a few moments ago. Maybe Thanty was pointing to her friend with the voice so manly that she could impersonate Rick while trying to sound like a girl. When Rick still stood there, dead serious expression on his face while the biggest thanatoress ever slowly stopped laughing, she realized that she might've hurt his feelings by making fun of her.

"[Listen kid, I admire your courage of coming here and saying those words but I'm in no mood for jokes… just run along with other cubs and enjoy your youth while it lasts.]" She said with a smile which might've been friendly if it weren't for her intimidating appearance.

"[I'm no cub…]" Rick was about to continue when the smaller thanatoress decided to guess his age.

"[How many winters did you see? Seven? Nine? ]"

"[I've seen almost thirty winters. I might be your father.]" Rick said, making the smaller thanatoress look confused and almost embarrassed.

"[So you aren't just a confused cub.]" The bigger one said. "[Then what are you?]" She asked while examining him thoroughly, as if he wasn't interesting until now.

"[I am a thanator in mind, although human in body.]" He said without a hint of stutter coming his way. For some reason, he didn't have the 'stutter attack' as he called them, maybe because this girl wasn't trying to intimidate him as he expected that she would do.

"[That's weird]" The smaller friend noted, but the bigger thanatoress seemed to disagree.

"[It is certainly strange that I caught your eye.]" The bigger one said. Rick felt that he was slowly becoming interesting for this thanatoress, and becoming interesting meant that he was getting closer and closer to her.

"[I think not. It was only a matter of time until someone noticed your beauty. I'm just lucky that I noticed it before anyone else did]" Rick said while trying not to think about what he was getting himself into.

"[You certainly know how to talk… Is that all?]" She asked him while lowering herself to his level so they could see 'eye' to 'eye', or at least to see eye to eye without Rick craning his neck too much.

"[Then I'll let my scars talk]" He said, letting her eye wander over his body which had several scars, not to mention the bigger blue ones. She walked around him in order to see him completely. Not only that she noticed scars, but there was this thing on his skin, which looked kind of awkward.

"[And what is that on your back?]" She asked him about his tattoo.

"[It is merely a decoration to hide the biggest scar]" Rick said, lying this time. There was no giant scar on his body, yet he didn't want to go through the fact that the tattoo which was usually covered by T-shirt or by the blood of the yeriks mixed with mud, which was the substance that covered it rather frequently these days, was a fulfilled 'prophecy' if one wanted to call it like that. For the skeleton which was depicted on him was a way to say that he'll fight even after the death claims him, and it was true for the death already claimed him once.

"[A strange thing to do.]" She said, not questioning the truthfulness of that statement.

Rick didn't say anything on that.

"[You are a strange thing]" She said, while sitting right next to him while her friend probably sensed that this was the best time to leave without saying anything and did exactly that.

"[Am I now?]" Rick said, walking over to her and touching her muscled paw with the intention to show her that they were both strange.

"[I prefer the word 'Unique', and you are unique too]" Rick said while sliding his fingers over the muscle.

"[You are so strong, so strong that you intimidate others by simply being somewhere.]" Rick decided to risk it all by saying this.

"[Where are you heading with this?]" She asked him, proving that she wasn't only strong but also rather smart.

"[That you are the best. You are so good that even males take you as a competition and not like a possible mate.]" Rick pointed out. At this point he hoped that she wouldn't get angry at stating the obvious. She already said that he was the first one. Her mood obviously darkened, but she seemed to be also curious about where was he heading with this.

"[We are both strange in our own ways, you see. That is what we have in common.]" Rick said, while removing his hand from her muscled paw. He was wondering if he went too far by touching her paw like that.

Suddenly, a small smile appeared on her face and soon she broke into laughter.

"[You are such a funny little thing.]" She then said as if all this was just some sort of joke.

"[You need to work on your courting technique however.]" She offered him advice, and by offering this, she also pointed out that he wasn't exactly good at courting.

"[Was it really that horrible?]" He asked with a smile on his face.

"[Thirty years and still without mate]" She said, probably assuming that he couldn't get any mate by being this bad at courting. Rick only nodded, not wanting to reveal that he had a mate for who he died once. If things go right, he'll never have to tell her about Tarya and vice versa. This thanatoress also proved to be rather good person to talk to.

"[Oh, she's gone]" She said as if she didn't notice that her female friend already left.

"[I'll have to go after her, let's meet again sometime.]" She said and Rick just smiled even more and nodded. With that, they've exchanged goodbyes and each one started walking in different direction.

"This is a nice example for the saying that 'looks can be deceiving'. Thanty was right, she might be the best mate after all" Rick thought. He didn't know it, but Thanty actually didn't know that she might be the best mate, in fact he didn't even point at her, but at her female friend who seemed to be the 'average' thanator.

"She said that she wanted to meet again sometime, which means that I've managed to impress her enough!"

Pick up successful. Although I'm not sure why Rick didn't use the 'Did it hurt….when you fell from the heaven' pick-up line…
"Cause it sucks!"
True, but it would be funny seeing you as you tried to explain what heavens were to her.
"Keep talking…"
Anyway I'm glad that you found your true Thanatorish love. Don't let her hug you if you value your spine however.

Answers to disturbed readers

-The stone tiger: I don't think you are disturbed… sing something to prove it!

-MiketheDisabled: Let's talk about more pressing matter than just 'taking one for the team'. Let's talk about pre-marital mating with thanators… is that even legal?

-Hideout Writer: ummm a lot of explodey stuff happens… that makes sense

-Forgotten shock trooper: "It might've been worse… at least I think so!"

-Yukidog: Killing is a crime… like a piracy!

-Dragonrider101: (read review above)

-Sagman12: Will do.

-Na'viBambi: Yay…na'vi babes!

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