Drok'ti was glad he decided to come to this city. He had already gotten 4 trophies and at that time he hadn't been here for more than half an hour. He also knew that he wouldn't see Strife here if she had ever made it back to earth. He had a feeling she did. For some reason things always worked out for her. It was so strange.
Drok'ti stopped thinking about her and went back to watching the man he was hunting. This man was fairly large for a human. He was about 6'5" with broad shoulders and lots of muscles. Drok'ti had been watching this man for about 20 minutes now. The man had a knife on him, but he hadn't done anything to make him worthy prey in Drok'ti's eyes. His mind started wandering back to Strife and her lack of eyes. So many weird things had happened with her around. She had lost her eyes, but gotten back her sight, she had managed to destroy 3 spaceships all on her own with only a few bruises and now she was some sort of mutated creature with wings and a tail. Drok'ti thought he had seen it all until he met her. That was one of his quirks. He thought he knew everything about everything. Then he realized he knew little about a lot that didn't matter.
He thought he knew all there was to know about oomans, or at least all he needed to know. They were crafty, malicious, and had no honor. Strife changed his whole point of view. Oomans could have honor, they also had a lot of luck. Strife seemed to have all the luck in the universe. She should have died many a time and if she was anyone else she most likely would have. It was for that reason and many others that Drok'ti thought of her as special. She was different from anyone. She seemed to be happy most of the time, smiling often. Maybe too much. Drok'ti growled. He smacked his forehead.
"Stop thinking about her!"
He concentrated, on the ooman male he was hunting, again. He had turned down an alley. Drok'ti watched him from the top of the building. The man stopped and leaned against the wall and pulled something out. He put it in his mouth and then put fire to the end of it. Drok'ti snorted. He didn't know what was going on, he didn't really care either. He was bored and wanted to fight this ooman. Drok'ti caught himself willing the ooman to do something to provoke an attack. Nothing happened for another few minutes until a woman started walking down the alley. The man looked at her and then back down at the ground. Drok'ti growled quietly and started tapping his foot. Another bad habit he picked up from Strife.
She had done that often when she was waiting for something, Drok'ti thought that she did it without really even thinking about it. Another one of her bad habits was that humming and whistling she did all too often. Drok'ti remembered sometimes wanting to sew her lips together just to get her to stop whistling. He didn't think she had the lung power to do that so much. He at least thought her mouth would get tired. Of course, Drok'ti couldn't whistle, maybe he was just jealous of her ability that he lacked.
The man was moving now. He ran up behind the woman and tackled her. Drok'ti tensed, ready to attack. The man took the knife out and put it to the woman's throat. Drok'ti was going to make his move now. He jumped off the side of the building and landed a couple yards from the man. As Drok'ti landed the man looked up and around. He couldn't see him. Drok'to growled a threat. The man stood up and held his knife out in front of him. The woman got up and ran down the alley. Drok'ti started circling the man. He turned his cloak off and roared at the man.
"What the fuck are you?"
The man ran at Drok'ti and swiped at him with the knife. The knife grazed Drok'ti's shoulder and he let out a laugh. This hunt was going very well so far.
The man swiped at Drok'ti again only lower. The knife grazed his side this time. Drok'ti threw a punch and it knocked the man against the wall. He was after Drok'ti again in a second.
The fight went on for about 20 minutes until the man was finally too tired to fight back and Drok'ti made the killing blow. He was now carrying the man's body back to his ship. After cleaning the skull and putting it on the wall Drok'ti stood back admiring it. He looked at the Kiande Amedha head he had taken as a trophy during his rite of passage.
His eyes moved to the hulking skull of the first Tergra he had killed. It was a dragon like creature that lived on a mountainous planet near Lau'thalus. He had been fighting with that thing for a day until he finally got an opening to kill it. Those things were smart, strong and mean. It had smashed his shoulder cannon with the first blow of its tail. That had left Drok'ti in a bad place. He had to get in close to the beast to fight it and that was harder than it sounds. The only weak place in their hard armor like skin is right where it's neck meets it's head. It isn't the easiest place to get to when it's swinging its tail around and trying to get you with it's sharp teeth at the same time. Drok'ti had felt very proud when he showed that skull to his sire and his sire had been filled with pride for his son.
Drok'ti stood there and stared at the wall for a while. He had never shown Strife his trophies. Why was that? They were his most prized possessions. Was he worried that she would have been disappointed that he had killed so many creatures and people? Strife was the one that killed the bad blood, she was the one that destroyed those mercenary ships and killed all the people on them without a second thought. She was just as bloodthirsty and ready for a fight as Drok'ti was. Drok'ti had watched her behead Alvorus and kick his skull across the docking bay. She would have probably thought his trophies were 'cool'. Drok'ti suddenly felt regret ball up in his stomach. He should have showed her his trophies, he should have shared them with her, and he should have treated her better. He should have put his damnable pride aside and listened to her. As hard as it would have been for him to do that, he should have tried for her. He has find her and tell her that he is sorry for everything he did to make her sad.
Drok'ti realized the feeling that he had for Strife was more than just admiration. He loves her. Over the last few weeks he had been very mean to her. Especially on the day she left. That is why she is gone, Drok'ti reminded himself. Why did he say those things to her? Why didn't he say what he felt instead of what he thought he should say? He was such an idiot. What would Strife do if she saw him again? She would probably tell him to get away from her. He deserved that for what he's put her through. What if he had stayed there and watched her evolve? It couldn't have hurt. He was now wondering what became of that. Did she even look like an ooman anymore or was she totally different? What about those wings?
He remembered that dream he had about seeing Strife flying around. Maybe that dream did have some reality to it. That heat pattern was so strange, mystifying, beautiful. She undoubtedly had powers that he didn't know about. Why couldn't he have stayed and learned what they were. Why didn't he wait and take her home with him? He wouldn't be sitting here now alone. He would have someone, he would have Strife.
He decided to just avoid her for the time being until he could think of what to say to her. Maybe he could make things better, maybe he could get her back and win her love somehow. This might take him a while. If he failed he would feel terrible, but if he didn't try he would feel worse. He just has to let Strife know how he feels. That is the least he could do for her.