He remembered the attack and then scrambling into the outer part of an ooman dwelling. He was sure that he was going to bleed to death. He would have activated his self destruction device, but it had been smashed during the fight. He reached to his wound and found it was not longer bleeding. There was a strange film over it. He opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of the inside of an ooman dwelling. He sat up and shook the dizziness from his head. He felt eyes on him and turned to see what they belonged to. There was a small ooman girl sitting on a couch. She looked at him and smiled.
"Hi."
He jumped up and shot his wrist blades out. He started to fall, but like lightning the girl was there to try and catch him. He stumbled into her and caught his balance.
"Careful there big guy. We don't want you conking your noggin on the coffee table."
He had no idea what conking or a noggin was. He looked down at the ooman. She barely came up to the bottom of his ribcage. He snorted and wondered how she had managed to get him into her dwelling.
"Seems like you had a bad accident."
He looked at her again. The way she was looking at him made him nervous. She didn't know what he was or she would have left him out there to die.
"So . . .um. . .what are you?"
He snorted again and started walking away.
"Hey, wait a minute. Don't forget your junk."
He stopped and turned around. What is this junk she is speaking of?
"Can you understand me?"
"Of course I can."
"Wonderful! Then you can answer all my questions. Ok. . .hmm where to start, where to start?"
The ooman female started pacing back and forth tapping her fingers on her forehead.
"Ok. Where are you from?"
"A planet called Lau'thalus."
"Ok. . .don't have any clue where that is. Um, what are you?"
"I am a Yautja."
"Right on."
She stopped pacing and looked at him. Her arms dropped to her sides and she cocked her head to the side.
"What are you doing here?"
He almost felt guilty for what he was about to say. He shouldn't feel guilty. He is a warrior, a hunter. He should never feel guilty for what he and his race does.
"I came to hunt."
"Hunt? Like deer? Or elk? Maybe bears? Please tell me you aren't hunting cougars, I would have to be very put out."
He shook his head.
"No."
"Ok, good."
"I'm here to hunt oomans."
"Oomans. . .um. . .I don't think I've ever. . .wait a minute. Is that your species slang for humans?"
He didn't know what slang was, but that is what his race called humans. He nodded at the girl.
"You hunt humans?"
He nodded again. These questions were getting annoying. Maybe he would just kill her and leave. No, she helped him, that would be dishonorable.
"That is the coolest thing I have ever heard. I hunt humans too, you know. Of course. . .I don't actually kill them. I just pretend to."
He didn't know how to pretend to kill an ooman. It was just silly. He hadn't noticed the girl move around behind him. She had her hand on his shuriken.
"What's this?"
"It's one of my weapons."
"It's pretty."
He took offense. Weapons weren't meant to be pretty. He snorted at the girl and took her hand and shoved it away from his weapons. Pretty, pah.
"Ok, ok. So how did you get into my garage?"
"Garage?"
"The place I found you."
"The door."
"Oh damn, I guess I forgot to lock it. Well, lucky for you, huh?"
He wanted to get out of here, or at least get her to stop talking for 5 seconds. He decided to use scare tactics to hush her. He started to take off his mask. She stood there and watched him curiously. He pulled his mask away from his face and looked at her. She didn't even blink. He roared and flared his mandibles at her. She still didn't move at all. Her heartbeat didn't even speed up.
"You have very pretty eyes."
He recoiled at her statement. What is her fascination with calling everything 'pretty'? And why isn't she terrified.
"So what's your name tall, speckled and handsome?"
Handsome? What is wrong with this ooman? Is she ill? Is she delirious. Maybe she's the one that needs medical attention.
"My name is Drok'ti."
"Drok'ti. I wish I had a cool name like that, but I don't."
He knew he was going to regret this, but he didn't want to be totally rude.
"What is your name?"
"I don't want to tell you."
"Do you want me to just call you ooman?"
"Not really."
He looked at the girl and raised an eye ridge.
"My name is Strife."
"Strife?"
"Yeah, I know it's stupid."
"It's not stupid. How did you get that name?"
"I don't know really, something about being born under a blood moon with a Saturn rising. Oh and the amount of hours my mother was in labor, the amount of money my parents figured it would cost to raise me and stuff like that."
He had no idea what any of that meant. He shrugged and looked at her.
"I don't think it's stupid.
She looked at him and smiled. He looked away from her adoring gaze and at the floor. He was humbled a great deal by this young girl and it bothered him. He had always been very prideful and not much for even small talk. He was quiet and fierce. He didn't stand around having conversations with the females of his prey. The girl was at his side again with her arms around his waist.
"You're my new best friend, ok?"
He gently pushed her away. He had to go find the bad blood that attacked him and kill him. He didn't have time for this.
"I have to go."
"Where are you going?"
He shook his head in discontent and put his mask back on.
"To take care of something."
"Oooh, mysterious. Can I go with you?"
"Of course not."
"Aww, why not?"
"Because it's dangerous."
He realized the tone of empathy in his voice and decided to add something to that statement.
"You would get in my way."
"All right. . .I'll just stay here and wait until you get back."
He walked out of the house with no intentions of returningand turned his camouflage on. The sun was up now. He had lost a whole night of hunting because of the injuries the bad blood had caused him. He would find him first, kill him, and then continue his hunt. He was waiting on the top of a building scanning the area carefully. He hadn't seen any sign of the bad blood at all, however, he knew he was around somewhere.
"What are you looking for?"
Drok'ti nearly jumped out of his skin. He whirled around roaring in the face of the one who had disturbed him. He stopped short when he saw it was the girl, Strife.
"What are you doing here?"
"I decided to see what it was like to hunt for real."
"I told you not to come. You'll get in my way."
"I've been following you since you left my house and didn't even notice me. How would I get in your way?"
He didn't know what to say to that. Strife had a point. She just smiled and started humming a strange tune. He snorted at her and went back to surveying the area. He thought he saw the heat pattern of another yautja. He couldn't quite tell. He decided to see if Strife would be of any use. He looked over at her. She was walking along the edge of the building whistling something.
"Strife!"
She started to fall backwards off the building. She caught her balance again and smiled.
"Yes?"
"Come here, be quiet."
She walked over and knelt down next to him.
"What?"
"Do you see another yautja anywhere?"
"Um. . ."
She scrutinized the landscape.
"Would he look all fuzzy like you?"
"I don't look fuzzy."
"Hazy, fuzzy, slight distortion, whatever."
"He would look like me, yes."
"He's over there. 11 o'clock."
He looked and saw it was him. The little twerp was right. He was going to say something to her, but she was back on the ledge whistling and trying to balance. She is very reckless for such a weak being. If she were to fall, death would be imminent.
"Strife, stay there. I'll be back."
"Aye aye sir!"
He wanted to use stealth at first. Once he had the bad blood cornered he would then fight him face to face. That is more than the bad blood did for him in their first meeting. Attacking him from behind when he was in pursuit of an ooman. That was most dishonorable.
A few minutes later he cornered the other yautja in an alley and roared a challenge. The other yautja whirled around and roared back.