Beastly Bonds
Chapter XVII
Thanks to these reviewers:
sara – Thanks for reviewing and yeah, we all agree on that one.
crematoriacon – Got it. Thanks for explaining the whole WTG thing, I write with parchment, bottles of ink and old feather pens. Very scratchy and noisy writing, but all the same, so I never use any shortened things like that, so of course, I'm completely…unknowledgeable in that department. Thanks for reviewing.
Note: Like I said in the last chapter, I'm finishing this at 19 chapters, regardless of anything. So if you review and I don't thank you, it's because I have only a few days to get it all posted before I run off to Europe. So, early thank you and you'll get thanked in the next fic I write. Maybe I'll finish Tricks of Fate…hmm…decisions.
Story!
The small group stood in one of the beach bungalows, some standing and some sitting, waiting for the impromptu meeting to begin. Finally it seemed that all had settled down and Tipner invited Jack to begin speaking.
"Captain Laurent, if you wish." He gestured to the center of the rough circle that consisted of the crew plus Riddick. Before she spoke, she shook her head, not wanting to be in the center, her back a target.
Jesus, what has Riddick done to me?
"Alright, Tipner and Litman are going exploring off this archipelago, as such, if you need anything write it down and they'll see if they can find it. Also, Litman seems to want to go early, so he is checking shuttle times."
She waited for his surprised ourburst to die down.
"You should know by now that I hear and see everything, Litman. As such, if anyone has similar plans, talk to him. I'm sure he would be considerate enough to find a schedule of sorts."
The underlying threat in that was made clear.
/Got control, Jack. Probably from her father./
"Riddick has told me that a small news blip was released a while ago about the lack of response from the Crematoria guards. I'll be keeping a very sharp tab on everything relating to the breakout, but plans might change faster then I realized. I want to say stay here for safety reasons, you know, safety in numbers, but if you feel better getting off sooner, do so. I'm not going to stop you." Jack reported, sounding like a cold commander. She wasn't playing games, seeing how she said she was going to check on the emergency systems of her ship after this meeting.
"What about you?" Meth asked, shifting in his position in Krent's lap.
"Meth, I'm the last thing you should worry about. Look, if something comes up and you're not near me and you can't contact me easily, just leave. That goes for all of you. I'll understand. Survival is the most important priority right now and I'll drag my own ass to the depths of every last triple-max slam in the universe if one of you decides to stick around to tell me about it. Trust me, if something happens, I'll know about it." She stated, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What if we're alone?" Meth asked suddenly, cold fear snapping off each limb of strength he had, its saliva freezing any last attempts to fight it off.
"You won't be." Krent replied gruffly, pulling Meth closer to him with one arm.
"Good. Keep it that way." Jack added, nodding towards him. "Any other issues of importance?"
"Yeah, if we do separate, which we probably will considering-"
"Get to the fucking point, Litman." Jack growled, not in the mood for patience.
Just having Riddick stand next to me is taunting my beast. Wearing all those unnecessary clothes doesn't help either.
"How will we keep in touch?" He easily shortened it, seeing a flame of anger flickering in Jack's eyes. Never a good thing.
"Remains to be seen. Having our signals floating around like that is very risky. We might not at all and just run into each other somewhere else in the universe. Keep together, stay apart, I can't control it and I'm not about to be giving out any communication numbers." Jack replied.
/Indeed survival of the fittest. Jack's not kidding about not going back to slam, she wants out, she gets out and I'll be damned if she doesn't stay out./
"Can you even begin to fathom how to properly steer a boat, Litman?" Tipner chastised from his seat behind the other ex-convict. Twenty minutes out and he was feeling a little queasy and after all that he had seen and been through, feeling nauseous to start with was rare to say the least.
"As long as we get there does it matter how?" He snapped back, getting his center of gravity roughly in tune with his steering abilities. He gripped the speed lever with his hand and instead of slowly pushing it up, he jammed it straight up, throwing Tipner to the back of the boat.
Grumbling the older man stood back up, rubbing a few bones. Opting for the seatbelt, he strapped himself in and waited it out, relieved to have the ocean spray calming his nerves somewhat. Litman said no words to him as they traveled over the blue waters, bouncing up and down as they hit the waves. He seemed remarkably steady on his feet, as if absorbing everything the boat tossed at him.
Sighing, Tipner glanced at the archipelago behind him and briefly relived the conversation he had had with Riddick the night before. Jack had left to check on her ship, Litman went for a walk and Krent and Meth were left to their own devices as they returned to their bungalow. This had left him and Riddick, who had sat down opposite the couch of him and stared at him long and hard before talking.
"Strange that we meet after both of us going in and out of various slams, isn't it Tipner?" He started, smirking slightly. He wasn't the younger boy he had first met in Butcher's Bay, that's for sure.
"Indeed, both of us quite the escape artists as well, but tarnishing my knack for escape it seems that for my last performance dear Jacqueline had to help me." His language poetic and lengthy, completely opposite of what Riddick had been shown in Butcher's Bay all those years ago.
"Seems that way. Lucky to run into her." He replied, receiving a nod from the elderly man. Riddick had great escape for this convict. If there was a list of murderers in the universe and at the top were those who only had the unbeatable records of escape, murders and mockery of authority…well, Tipner was probably first or second, right near Riddick himself.
"Very. Although both of us are so different compared to her, don't you think? We killed and hoped for the death of our parents, she has been mourning them." He observed, feeling relaxed in the company of this man.
"As they say, odi et amo." Riddick returned.
"Cultured even in the depths of slam. Very impressive." Tipner noted, nodding in appreciation of the ancient Latin saying. "Your dearest Jack related to me the story of that crash. I believe her but I am curious, did she really worship you like that?"
Riddick laughed aloud, amused by the turn of events.
"Shaved her head, made similar goggles, did everything humanly possible on that hell planet. I worship you, she worships me, fate has nicely lined it up for us." He added. Tipner mourned the loss of such an intellectual mind that was darkened by the more negative masks of life.
"Let us hope that there is not one to worship her. Except perhaps…" he trailed off, a skeleton grin creeping onto his features like a spider.
"Who?" Riddick pushed, having an eerie feeling that this man was Death masquerading as a man sometimes, seeing how he wisely knew all and moved with a peaceful yet life-ending grace.
"Her children. Yours to be more specific."
"That is the last thing on her mind right now." Riddick corrected, not entirely bothered by the idea of having children. Sure they would have to be the strongest kids in the universe, but every pack had pups.
"How little you know of a woman's mind." Tipner replied back, making Riddick raise his eyebrow.
"And you would? I knew they gave shine-jobs in slams, but not sex-changes." He quipped, making Tipner chuckle. No matter how grim the outside personality, there is always a sort of humorous side to all, even Riddick.
"No, neither of us would. Although our "bad-boy" persona and attitude attracts females by hordes, but look at it. We've both despised our center female figures since we could remember, then we're shipped off in a slam that is probably 98 male. Have we ever really had enough time to study the way a female mind works?" Tipner explained, pleased that he could finally have a good conversation with someone male.
"No, but lots of men have tried in the past and the only thing we've figured out is not to go remotely near them when they are menstruating." He pointed out, trying not to smirk but both he and Tipner laughed quietly.
"Indeed. Yet that would take four or five days of just being in the same apartment as a female during that time of month to realize that. But back to the original point, Jack could be intensely thinking about having children, yet we will not see it. Not on a visible level, at least." Tipner continued.
A clear look of concern passed over Riddick's face. To Tipner, it was beautiful to see a couple that so reflected animalistic courting rituals and eventually mating. The bestial simplicity of it astounded him, especially how every movement and smell mattered to the other. Tipner saw how it bothered Riddick that his mate could be worried about something and he not know it. He realized he had just given more incentive to him to get to read Jack better.
"Keep in mind, Riddick," this made the addressed man look up. "Females in general think about the maternal responsibilities probably quite frequently, even if they are without husband or lover."
"Still, how could Jack balance her will of survival with thoughts of having children at the same time and stay sane?" He asked, curious, confused and wishing Jack was there to clear it up.
"That is clear only to those outside of the relationship." Tipner vaguely answered, knowing it would drive the ex-convict mad not to know what the essential element was that kept Jack mentally balanced and able to work.
"Thanks, Tip." He sarcastically said, growling it out.
"I mean it, you wouldn't really understand if I told you anyway. It's something that I've come to realize that only those participating parties in the relationship can truly understand it when they discover it for themselves." He explained, seeing Riddick's shoulders slump. It wasn't easy in a bond like his and Jack's for emotions to be so complicated. To each of them it was a deep devotion that was shown through affection and when aroused, sex. Tipner felt pity and sympathy for both of them, seeing that Riddick would undoubtedly bring it up to Jack and Jack would realize it and have to show him.
"You think she'll stay with me?" Riddick suddenly asked, his silver eyes unfocused as he imagined future scenes between himself and her.
"That isn't even in question, it's Jack wondering if you still stay with her. I'm sure she has given you the reasons why she couldn't be in a relationship if it wasn't going to truly last and come out victorious in the tests of time." Tipner spoke, gesturing with his hands. When Riddick shot him a questioning look, he continued. "In Crematoria, it was clear she wasn't going to let herself be used as the prison's whore. So some men attempted to get close to her and it was soon clear that her policy, especially there, was to survive and everything else came second. Relationships don't last in prison, we both know this."
Both quieted for a moment, as if in respect of the lover's bonds that had been brutally severed by death and or greed of the prison's boss. There had been two male prisoners whose relationship had been the target of the Butcher's Bay's guards while Tipner had briefly stayed there. Although he wasn't the clean-mouthed and deep thinker that he was now then, he had hurt him as much as it had hurt the younger Riddick to see them abused and mocked for what they were.
Riddick obviously remembered it too, running his hand over his shaved scalp, swallowing deeply. He hadn't been too well-versed in the underground cultures of the slam at that time, but hearing the pained screams, cries and eventually sobbing whimpers of those two lovers had roughly ripped that curtain back. That was probably when his deep-seated contempt for the lack of control that authority figures possessed, especially his uncle. One of the first people to go when he had had the chance with a shiv in hand.
"Yeah, we've been through that. More then once and I think she knows now I'm not going anywhere. At anytime. Near or far future." He saw Tipner's suspicious glance. "Fine, not going anywhere for the rest of eternity, happy?"
Tipner smiled at the insulted outburst from the younger man. Clearly he took quick offense when his bond with Jack came into question.
"Quite." He replied, looking out into the darkening evening outside. Riddick turned as well, focusing his eyes into the dim lighting and saw Jack's form slowly walking towards them, her hand on Neunzhen's head.
He stood and bade Tipner goodnight, watching the door as Jack came through, greeting Tipner verbally. Yet much to Riddick's joy, greeted him quite…physically. The pair said goodnight to him again and just around then Litman strolled in, holding a few random shells he had found and picked up on the beach. This had instantly delighted and reinterested Tipner, as he looked through the specimens, naming each one and it's former inhabitants and their uses, whether for food, accessories or even medicinal purposes. He barely saw them walk out, deeply, yet completely silently, emotionally communicating to each other, through touches alone.
Neunzhen had stayed with them the night, sniffing at the shells and testing them with his paw. Although it hadn't been very amusing at first, both he and Litman looked back on the memory fondly. It was of Neunzhen experimenting the shells and licking the un-washed inside of one, only to be disgusted by the raw fishy taste. With a fast swipe of the paw, he had rocketed it towards the wall, shattering it on impact. He looked distinctly embarrassed and guilty as Tipner sadly went to collected the pieces and had gone out briefly. About twenty minutes later he had returned with something in his mouth. He deposited it into the bowl of salt-water they had been cleaning the shells with and Tipner found that it was a live scallop shell, opening and snapping its jaws shut.
The three parties were put at ease after this, Neunzhen watching on as the two human men experimented with different objects, seeing if the scallop shell could snap them. This had engrossed them deep into the night, completely unaware of the passionate bonds being formed by the four other inhabitants of the island.
"Hey, Tip, wake up." Litman prodded his shoulder carefully, shaking him out of his memories of the previous night. "Whew, thought I had lost you there for a moment."
In response Tipner strongly stood up and easily climbed from the boat, as if he were young and limber like the ex-convict that was with him.
"Really, seeing how I live to drive you absolutely insane and mad with annoyance, I don't think you'll be losing me any time soon, dear son." He emphasized the last part, reminding Litman of the parts they had to play.
"Thanks, dad, always good to know you care. C'mon, let's get going. Can't have you past up your bedtime." He replied back, easily taunting him. As they walked down the docks towards land, Tipner snipped back.
"Considering your driving skills, I would rather stay up past my bedtime then risk returning to our island with you." Not as good as Litman's, but enough to wound the younger man's pride. He may have been in the co-pilots seat of Jack's ship, but it certainly didn't mean he knew how to use a boat.