It felt like the sun should have been setting by the time that Hannah and Jar-hidda got back to his ship, but this world probably had longer days. The yautja had handed her his trophy cleaning kit but did not help her at all with cleaning her kill. He did at least help her carry the body of the dragon back to the ship, as the meat was apparently edible.
Getting her trophy into the ship was apparently priority over food for Jar-hidda, as he pointed at the skull silently and turned and walked inside. The bleached white thing was over half Hannah's size, and was very heavy, but Jar-hidda refused to touch it as she huffed and sidled up the ramp to get it into the ship. She didn't actually mind so much; she was placated by the thought that he was sulking because he had been wrong.
She followed him to the trophy room, hooking her arm under its jawbone to keep it propped up against her body.
It fit through the door with some difficulty and she gave a sigh of relief once she was inside.
"Alright Jolly, where's it going?"
Jar-hidda pointed and she looked over at a wall in the room. She knew that trophies had previously been on it, but it appeared they had been relocated to make room for the big dinosaur thing that had almost killed her.
"You sure?" she asked, adjusting the weight of the skull to keep it from touching the ground. Jar-hidda nodded, "by your big trophy?"
He shook his head, "it's not mine."
Hannah cocked an eye brow but felt a tingling sensation in her arm, letting her know that the position she was holding was cutting circulation to her right arm. She huffed over to the wall and steadied herself. She exhaled a breath then grit her teeth and lifted the skull up, over her head. Finding the hook for the skull when she couldn't see it was a pain. Her arms were shaking as she moved the skull back and forth and in little circles. Finally, with a soft crunch, the skull slid back and hung on the wall. She very carefully lowered her hands away, fingers still spread to catch it just in case.
Finally, she stepped back and admired it. It was bigger than the other skull and seemed to fit nicely by it. But they were both hers? She distinctly remembered lying on the ground broken while Jar-hidda finished off the beast. She knew there was a rule about a trophy belonging to a hunter, as long as it was already dying when it was finished off. And that thing had shown no signs of stopping until Jar-hidda showed up.
She turned to Jar-hidda, jabbed her thumb at the skull and cocked her eyebrow again. Jar-hidda was silent.
"Whatever," she sighed in English, "I'm taking a shower," she was covered in ash, blood, some sort of oily residue from the spit, charcoal from her burnt cloths, guts and other unmentionable things and she wanted to be clean.
She walked around Jar-hidda, respectfully facing him until she was around the corner of the door and walked down the hallway towards the room. Once inside she looked at her coverings and sighed. She was going to need new kilts. Jar-hidda probably didn't have any more, which probably meant another trip to a yautja ship and going through the whole mess over again.
Although, with a trophy, things were supposed to get better. She wondered how many trophies she would need to actually earn any respect. The dragon, the r'ka, was probably a good start, judging by the way Jar-hidda was reacting. She smirked again, thinking about how he must be so torn up inside being proven wrong.
She looked at her arms at where the burns were. They weren't so bad and they'd heal quickly with alien medicine. They wouldn't even scar, unless Jar-hidda deemed they weren't significant enough to heal.
She hummed unpleasantly at the thought, then heard a noise behind her and looked over her shoulder. Jar-hidda stood silently just within the threshold. She held back another smirk.
"I look a bit like you now," she said and Jar-hidda tilted his head.
"Spots," she said in English, circling one on her arm as the alien stepped forward, "like yours," she moved her arm next to his and circled one of his spots then hers. She heard a rattle as he looked down and with his claw circled the spot on her arm.
"Yours are purple."
"I have these?"
Oh right. He probably could only see hers because of the increase of temperature due to the injury. She went to move her arm away but Jar-hidda caught her wrist. He carefully inspected her arm, the very tip of his claw barely touching the skin around the burns and leaving a slight tingling sensation. His claw travelled up her arms slowly, lightly touching here and there where a spot was. His claw then lifted to her face and touched one of the spots there.
A very slow rattle emanated from Jar-hidda's throat that made no sense to Hannah. Her brow furrowed as the claw traced down her cheek to the base of her jaw. The claw skipped her neck then left a tingling train from her clavicle to where the burnt edge of the kilt began.
"Jolly?"
Jar-hidda grunted as if startled out of deep thought and seemed to realize the proximity that he had to her. He stepped back, letting go of her wrist and stood still for a moment. Hannah felt the urge to step back away from the alien, as he suddenly seemed not himself.
Then that strange rattle again, almost a purr, moved out of his throat. His hand lifted and undid the two tubes to his mask, one at a time. One hand gripped the metal and pulled it free of his face, lowering it down to reveal something of a facial expression Hannah had not seen on him before.
Lowering the mask to his hip he reached forward again and touched Hannah's shoulder, moving the leathery pads of his fingers along the flesh and then wrapping around her bicep tightly.
Was this a fight? Were they fighting? Hannah wasn't sure but she had a sudden fight or flight moment and her muscles shifted to move one way or the other. Jar-hidda's hand snatched her other forearm before she could make a move and he pulled her. She was nearly standing against him, neck craned to look up to his burning yellow eyes bearing down on her.
Was he mad that she had proven him wrong? What did she do?
Her mind flew with trying to figure out her error, all the while mere centimeters from the heat of his chest where she could almost feel his purr on her throat.
Then, thoughts wavered as the large hunter bent, and a single tusk very lightly scraped against where her jaw met her neck, teasing the fine hairs.
A chill ran through Hannah's body and her heart seemed to jump several inches in her chest. Past the sudden tingling in her body and the heat spreading from her chest she somehow managed comprehensible words, "what are you doing?"
There was no response, just the ceaseless purring as the tusks worked their way down her neck, "Jolly? Wh- what…."
A soft gasp interrupted her, elicited by the alien's machinations, and a want she had never felt before left a hole where her stomach should be.
Jar-hidda's tusk moved with care around the sides of her neck, and she could feel his hot moist breath on the front of her throat where she knew several small sharp teeth were. He was nearly kneeling to be in this position with her, and his body heat was washing over her. She tried to speak up again but all that came out was a barely audible moan. He let go of her left arm, snaking his hand around the small of her back, fingers spread and claws denting the skin. Her hand moved up his, feeling the iron muscles just beneath his skin, then the rubbery spikes on his shoulder. Her hand travelled past without any command from her, and just barely touched the edge of the metal rings around his neck.
Jar-hidda buckled, his knee hitting the ground with a sound boom, and his breath came out erratically moving away from her throat and looking away from her. Her eyes snapped wide and she tried to back away, trying to understand how she had hurt him but he kept a solid grip on her right arm.
His other hand moved to the back of his throat, brushing the edge of the rings and rattled over the purr, as if deciding on something. Hannah's mouth worked the air to apologize, but the words were stuck. He released her completely and, still kneeling, lifted both his hands to his neck. She stepped back and watched as he meticulously unwound the metal from around his throat, revealing the same creamy green as his front, fading to the darker green on the sides. The parallel scar cut just across where the neck met his shoulder.
Hannah didn't realize she was holding her breath until it came out as a gasp when Jar-hidda grabbed her again. He pulled her forward, reducing the small distance she had put between them. He looked her in her eyes, still purring and brought her hand towards his neck. She was hesitant, fingers curled in a loose fist. Then she very lightly touched the raised flesh of the scar, softer slightly than the rest of his skin. The yellow lights vanished and the purring intensified.
Hannah could feel her breath quickening as she moved her hand along the scar, her other moving to his neck as well brushing against it. He continued purring. His eyes closed and his body stiff. She glanced from what she was doing to his face. She still felt the humming on the skin of her own neck and thought for a flicker of a moment, before moving forward. She saw a brief flash of his yellow eyes before she ducked under his chin and lightly pressed her lips to his throat.
She felt his hand slide up her back as she kissed again, and she felt her own heat rise to her cheeks, lightly kissing him again. She had never done anything like this with anyone, and for whatever reason, it felt right, it felt good, it felt like something was painfully missing, and she could feel her pulse everywhere in her body. She was acutely aware of Jar-hidda's tusks in her hair, his claws raking up her back, the feel of his racing pulse under his skin, her own beating to a growing ache she had never known. An ache much like hunger. A pang that demanded to be fed. And she pulled her lips back from her teeth and grazed them against his skin.
With a sound barely distinguishable from a roar, she was suddenly whisked away and off of her feet. Her breath came in gasps as she was pressed and held against Jar-hidda's body. His own breaths were coming out in heaves, as if under a great strain. Disoriented, she felt fur beneath her back and found herself looking up at the alien, mandibles spread over a slightly open mouth. His arms were to either side of her, claws curled tightly into the furs.
Her hands moved to his chest and undid the buckle to his shoulder armor which fell first to the bed then slid to the floor with a clang. Her hands wandered ravenously over his chest as if seeing and touching it for the first time, moving the elastic edge of the mesh suit over his shoulders and down his body. He leaned up away from her touch, tapping and removing his gauntlets.
Her hands found his skin again at the line of muscle at his hips and moved to his belt as she heard the first gauntlet fall. She had the belt unbuckled and his cod piece, the piece of armor that he felt protected him most from her, came away.
She felt him twitch and pause, his other gauntlet, the one with the computer, in his hand being set gently on a stand beside the bed and he was looking down at her, silent and not breathing. She had hurt him once there, but now, as she let the piece slide off the edge of the bed, leaving him with his loin cloth, and the mesh suit set at an odd angle on his body, she had no intention of causing him pain, she did hesitate to go further. She had seen it before, and it was huge. It was her first time. It would hurt.
The hiss from the links of the mesh suit as they moved and collapsed on each other brought her back to the moment, her eyes flashing up at Jar-hidda's, the mesh now bunched around his waist.
"Jolly," she managed, reaching up and touching his neck again, bringing the purring back instantly. He moved to his position above her, lowering his weight down on her pelvis and she could feel it. Her whole body was craving it.
His hand went to her cheek again, now that it was burning, it was clearly visible to him for sure, and his claws traced an invisible line along her cheekbone and into her hairline. She gasped as his claws raked through her hair, and he turned to look as he pulled through it. He uncurled his fingers and her hair seemed to melt through. His head dipped to her chest, warm dreadlocks tapping and sliding against her skin, and she felt his hands work around her body. The sound of the tearing cloth spoke of Jar-hidda's own impatient need and the heat of his breath tantalized freshly exposed skin, sending lightning through her body as his tusks began to brush against her.
Her hands gripped tightly into the furs as her body bucked and arched, and one of Jar-hidda's hands moved to pin one of her wrists as he continued his labor.
Her voice came out almost foreign to her and against her volition. Her eyes tightly closed and her wrist twisted in his gasp. She felt the cloth of her lower kilt torn out from under her, leaving her only in her loincloth acutely aware of him. She needed him. She needed him like water, like breath. Like the air that was rapidly entering and leaving her lungs, trying to form words, trying to say something important, mirroring his own urgency. She had to speak; she had to warn him, mind muddled with desire as it was she knew she needed to say it before she got hurt.
"Jolly," she finally managed and the alien lifted his head.
"Please… please, be… gentle. I know it's a hard word for you to understand but… please… I've never…."
Jar-hidda moved, one claw raking through her hair again to cradle her head, as one arm snaked around the small of her back and pulled her against him, throwing all logical thinking out the window again, leaving a void for need to rush back in like a torrent of water, forcing her to close her eyes. He was bent almost in half, one foot still off the edge of the bed on the floor, the other leg kneeling in the furs, his mandibles spreading and lightly stroking her face only once.
She forced her eyes open again knowing it was coming, bracing for it, looking into the burning eyes of the male above her. Thoughts of how this could work with how small she was were fleeting and swiftly evaporated. Her mind hazed over as she felt Jar-hidda's ivory tusks run up and down her neck, leaving a tingling sensation that was almost numbing, tracing the hard line that had appeared on her skin. She said something but it came out as an incomprehensible gasp, her hands reaching up around his back, trying pull her closer to him, one hand gripping a fistful of dreads which felt hot in her palm.
She felt the air against her loins as the final cloth was removed, but it was replaced by a nearly overwhelming heat instantly, skin against skin, and something large, wet and pulsating resting in the line of her hip.
Flashes of light obscured memories of Jar-hidda lying prone and near dead on the ground, all muscles in his body lax, including his mushroom-headed shaft. She couldn't imagine what it looked like now, fully erect, girth swelled with blood. She didn't want to look, but as it was pressed between their bodies, there was little left to the imagination.
Her breath gasped out, attempting to form words in either yautja or English, she didn't know anymore. She was begging, that was all she understood, her breath and her body were begging for Jar-hidda.
"Hannah," she heard Jar-hidda's breath heave against her ear, tense and checked, feeling his chest against hers as it expanded and shuddered, blackened by the residue she was still covered in, "I need your permission."
"You have my permission," she gasped without hesitation, fingers pressing into his back, knuckles white.
Jar-hidda's heat lifted away from her, and she never thought she could ever feel cold on this ship. Her hands grasped at his sides to coax the warmth back to her, to have his heat back, to feel that waltzing pulse against her skin.
She felt claws on her thighs, moving her further into a position that neglected instincts had attempted to put her in by themselves. She closed her eyes, not fully knowing what was coming, and dreading it nearly as much as she craved it.
It was like a firebolt.
Hannah's entire body jolted. A moan grunted from her throat and she gnashed her teeth, all the muscles in her body going tense. Her hands lashed and grabbed onto the first thing they could, nails digging into Jar-hidda's biceps as his arms stayed planted firmly to the sides of her head. Echoing her was a short deep rumbling growl.
He did not give her time to recover, as was his custom, pulling back immediately and driving into her again. Her held breath came out as a gasp and her head fell back to the furs, her hands slipping from his shoulders. Trying to cling to him simply wouldn't work, she was too small, and her body was slick with black oil and blood.
So her hands flexed and curled into the furs as her body writhed. He was so large that everything inside her was caressed. There was no space that he did not fill. She felt him everywhere, and every time his hips swung back, a mind-numbing sensation dotted her vision with stars, and made the feeling of pain quickly forgotten, and that hunger returned with intense vengeance.
Her voice rose out of her in an attempt to be words, things her clouded mind recalled should be said when one made love to another. But this wasn't love, and her voice formed no words, only moans and gasps building in volume.
Her hands finally found Jar-hidda's flesh again and she clung to his body, nails digging into his sides, beads of light dotting around her fingertips. He growled and lowered down to her and she pressed her brow to his chest, feeling the heavy beat of his racing heart against her skin, lubricated by a sheet of sweat.
She could feel his body shudder, felt his arms shaking beneath her grasp, could hear his talons tearing the leather pelts just beside her ear.
Her eyes opened and tried to focus on the male above her, seeing his face turned down to watch her, his own eyes tightly shut, a thin line of yellow opening for a brief flash. His mouth was clenched shut and his mandibles spread wide. He was struggling, and it didn't take her long, even in her haze, to realize he was holding back.
He knew that if he moved the way he did with a female of his own species, was as rough with her like he was with them, he would hurt her more than just taking her maidenhood, and it was a visible chore to bring himself down to a level that she could withstand; that she could survive.
That… was not fair to him. But she couldn't do anything with him moving like he was, rocking back and forth, without possibly actually hurting him.
A streak of clarity crossed Hannah's mind and with a determined frown she reached up to his neck and moved her hands around it like she was choking him, but applied no pressure. As she expected Jar-hidda froze almost instantly, his body shivering and his muscles freezing in their tense position. His purring and growling stopped immediately and he didn't even move his head, dreads fallen over his shoulders, waiting for her to take her next action.
It took only a slight amount of pushing with one hand to bring him down to his side, the whole bed shifting as he fell onto it, which separated their bodies, but it was only temporary. With him now on his back Hannah moved onto his hips, looking down at him as he looked at her and waited, his body shuddering in protest to the cessation of his activities, demanding he finish what he started.
Hannah couldn't help but smirk at the position she had over him, not unlike the one she had to win the fight for the bed. She bent down and moved her hand enough to kiss his skin, bringing the purr back rumbling through his body. She slicked her hands down his leaf-green torso, leaving dark streaks across his chest and scars, feeling the prick of the trail of hairs he had down his body and the lines of his muscles, tracing the stark curve of his hip against his body. With a little hesitation, she braced herself against his diaphragm and guided herself back onto him, wincing and gritting her teeth.
She moved down, connecting their bodies once again, moving him deeper into her than he had allowed himself, and when she reached her limit she stopped with a gasp. Jar-hidda's claws were gripping the furs again, shuddering just as violently as before. She was so small; she was probably the tightest sheath he had ever had, compared to his usual, much larger females. The sensation had to be very intense, which made holding himself back that much more difficult, and that much more meaningful to her that he would even consider her safety over his pleasure.
Keeping her hands on his chest she began to rise, lowering herself again at her pace, which was considerably slower than his. Jar-hidda tossed his head with a growl and fisted his claws into the furs tightly.
It was a strange feeling, being the one in control now, watching him writhe. It gave her a surge of power beneath her breast. But this was not why she had changed their positions. She was all for the more experienced partner driving, and she was by far inexperienced and had little idea what she was doing. But it was not fair to Jar-hidda to work so hard for something he wanted to enjoy.
So she picked up the pace. Jar-hidda's mandibles spread in another roar, a subtle whine riding behind it. Hannah then moved her hand to his throat, now able to control how gently she touched, now that he was lying still. She ran her finger along the line of his muscle, gently scratching where the neck met his shoulder. The large male beneath her huffed in quick succession making another whining sound before his eyes snapped open, and his hands snapped to her hips. Restraint all but gone. He needed her, his hips protested her inexperience with frequent thrusts upwards, and despite her best efforts, he took control again, and all she could do was moan and enjoy it.
She felt his claws dig in and threaten to pierce her as his iron grip aided in her movement. He drove her down hard onto him, eliciting a near-scream from her, but she obeyed, following his lead for speed and strength, and still toyed with his neck, dancing her fingers along his throat, feeling the purr vibrate beneath her fingertips, just as his body was doing beneath her, sending shivers up her spine.
Something was building. She had no other way to describe it. Something was swelling within her, like water building against a dam, and that hunger in her that had been forgotten as she tried to focus on Jar-hidda's needs came back with a vengeance, demanding to be released. What it had was not enough. The sight of the male, bulging trembling muscles, shining with a sheet of sweat and slicked with the oil that had been transferred between their bodies, black dreads scattered around his head, gold jewelry glinting in the red light, golden eyes staring and burning just for her. It was simply not enough. Something inside her greedily demanded for more and she started fighting his grasp, disobeying his commands and riding at her own pace, faster, to the point that Jar-hidda wasn't guiding anymore, and was simply holding on, his back arching and his crest tilted back into the furs.
He began to roar with every decent she made onto him. Frequently enough that it almost sounded like one sustained note. Small tears had beaded up at the corner of her eyes for reasons she did not know, and like her sweat it fell and mingled with Jar-hidda's, running down the curves of his abdomen. Her own voice had become indistinguishable between gasping, moaning and screaming, it all seemed to come out at once.
The male's voice was rising in pitch, and Hannah was crying out for something she had never known she needed in her whole life. It blurred her vision, it stung against every nerve in her body, it tightened every muscle, wound up every fiber of her being, seemed to numb all sense of touch except for were their bodies were connected, that burning spot where they were one, where neither of them seemed able to move fast enough, where each was begging and crying out for the other.
And from there, from that spot of their bodies that made the two of them one, a sudden rush cascaded through her body, replacing all numbness with hyper-sensitivity. The very air itself rubbed her skin in a way that blew her mind. She wasn't even aware that she had screamed, though she had felt it break from her throat, in a way that felt like the name of the male beneath her, who had gripped her hips again, continuing to move her, sending jolts of sensation through her body which bucked against his grasp as he roared, a sound she had never heard come from the alien, which wracked his body as it arched up into her, eliciting a final moan from her, and she felt ready to collapse. The male's hips rocked back and forth sporadically a few more times, before his whole body melted into the furs. She was released as his hands fell away to his sides and she leaned forward until she was laying against his chest, panting heavily.
Jar-hidda's breath came heavily in great sighs, slowing down in pace as hers also began to calm. A foreign emotion invaded Hannah's heart as she laid on his chest. She frowned and fought it away, telling herself that it was impossible. This was the fulfilling of a need, his need, which she had supplied an outlet for, nothing more. That was all that had transpired was, an action that they two of them would not dwell on or think of again until the need arose again.
She closed her eyes. If this was the satisfactory answer, if this was the truth of the matter, the unbiased fact, why did it hurt to accept it?
Her eyes opened again at the feeling of claws on her scalp. Jar-hidda gently snaked his fingers through her hair, repeating the motion again, petting her. She could hear the faint rumbling of a purr beneath her ear until his hand went still and rested on her shoulder, lightly tangled in her locks, his other hand resting curled around her waist.
She blinked once, looking ahead but seeing nothing. A small smile dared curl the corner of her lips as she closed her eyes and snuggled more into the massive chest she had for a pillow, listening to the steady waltzing beat of Jar-hidda's heart. And as she drifted, she dared think a thought she had never dared to before.
Maybe, just maybe, it was love.