As the door sealed shut, Eris couldn't help but think about how used to the sound she had become. What was once a mysterious, eerie, futuristic sound was now an everyday occurrence. Looking around to see if this ship had any difference than the last, she frowned at the familiar metallic walls. This was a routine ship, as was the market place ship and original ship she came from. Whenever she thought about spaceships, back before knowing they were real, she had imagined them to be not as bland as the ones she had been in. Metallic this, metallic that… where was all the technology infused walls with random buttons that were blinking different colors that she couldn't ever possibly begin to learn what they all did? That's what her Sci-Fi brain knew then and this is what her reality brain knew now.
Another thing that Earth Sci-Fi had taught her was how aliens looked, which also could not have been more wrong. The creatures looked entirely different than what the movies and books portrayed them as: massive-eyed grey creatures with gigantic oval heads, long arms that branched out into long fingers, thin build who clearly didn't know what a workout meant in their life. The people who wrote and directed those books and movies could not have been more wrong. These guys, in the words of Bobby Boucher from The Waterboy, were finely-tuned athletic machines! If she were to ever make it back to Earth, which she knew she wouldn't, she was going to have to write a book about her experience and set the record straight.
Out of all the things she had already experienced, which was way more than she ever thought she would, Eris wished she knew more about the being standing behind her. He towered over her. She could feel the heat of his breath radiate above her each time he exhaled, which was somehow warmer than the heat that already radiated throughout the ship. She wasn't sure why everything had to be so warm, but she was starting to get used to that, too.
Walking forward to see where she could explore, Eris felt a hand place itself on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. Lifting her head over her should and arching her neck upward, she looked at the creature standing behind her. "Is this going to be like the last ship where I am locked in a cage?" Eris couldn't help but ask. If her life was just going to be from one cage to the next, she was ready to just call it quits now and bang her head against a wall until she was no longer conscious.
"No." Tichinde replied while looking down at the small ooman. He almost regretted his decision to keep her since he was about to embark on a hunt after a long season of selling oomans, but she was interesting and he knew it would take him another couple of decades before he would come across another like her again, if at all.
The reason he was regretting his decision was because he had absolutely no place to put her, which he didn't even realize until right about now. If he had a holding cell in his ship, she would have definitely been going into it. He didn't have the means to keep her which meant he had to go get extra supplies to hold her over, he would also have to find a way to keep her contained while he was on a hunt so she didn't destroy or mess up any of his things. Tichinde had seen what a female ooman could do when left alone and he wasn't about to let that happen, but canceling his hunt was also out of the question. He would have to leave her here for a little bit by herself so he could get some supplies, and hopefully she wouldn't mess anything up in that time.
Being a Bad Blood, it wasn't hard to get what he needed, but he never anticipated gathering materials for an ooman pet. Looking around at his ship, Tichinde began to look at what he could trade for much needed ooman equipment. If he wanted something of a higher grade, he would have to trade his valuable equipment from armor and weapons to rare materials from other worlds.
"So then why are you stopping me from roaming?" Eris felt ballsy. In no way, shape, or form did she have a leg to stand on here, but that wasn't about to stop Pike from taking the lead.
Forcing a little bit of pressure onto the ooman's shoulder, Tichinde began to lead her around the twists and turns of the ship until he made it to his sleeping quarters; it was the only room besides the entrance of his ship that locked. "You stay here." He took his hand off of her shoulder before stepping out of the room.
"What do you mean 'you stay here'?" Eris threw her hands up as she turned around to face the Yautja. "What am I supposed to do?" The thought of being alone was what started to make her adrenaline run.
"The ship isn't ready for someone like you on it. I need to get some things." The Crescent-scarred Yautja spoke down to the little being in front of him.
"Not ready? Meaning it's not like the Slave ship I came in on?" She prodded.
"Exactly." She was catching on quick, which meant less time having to explain. "Now, stay here." He knew she didn't have a choice in the matter.
"You'll be back though, right?" A lump formed in Eris' throat as she could begin to feel her anxiety shifting upwards. She didn't have a problem with being alone normally, but this was an entirely different situation than she was used to. Situations on Earth were predictable and she knew the outcome of most of them, but in a situation like this, anything could happen. He said he would be right back, but that didn't mean that he would be. Instead, he could leave her in there to starve to death.
"Yes." Tichinde could see her facial expression change at the thought of him leaving her. He didn't understand, this was an ooman who walked around a Bad Blood Yautja ship by herself without a care in the world yet struggled with being alone in the safety of his ship. He was confused, she was confusing, but that made it all the fun to learn her. If he could learn the most difficult of oomans, that would make his job much easier.
The door shut and she was alone again.
Taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes, Eris tried to focus on herself to calm down. She knew a panic attack was racing towards the surface and she wasn't sure how she was going to deal with it. 'What would Pike do?' her thoughts tried to pull something familiar to be less scared. It didn't help that her encroaching panic attack was stressing her out which only caused her to panic more. Fighting what wanted to burst out was a mental battle she was used to, but that didn't make it any easier on her. 'A box. I am trapped in a box. I can't get out.' Her thoughts continued to taunt her while she tried to keep her breathing steady. 'You're going to die in this box. Nothing will save you.' Her knees bent as she fought to hold the tears that were forming in her eyes back. 'You're alone and trapped, this box will be your tomb. He's never coming back. This is it.' A few tears rolled down her cheeks while her thoughts began to battle with itself.
'But what's in the box?' Pike began to speak.
Opening her eyes, Eris looked at her surroundings which she hadn't done before. Letting her legs bring herself back up in a full stand, she took her eyes off of the door that had previously shut, slowly looking towards her right. More metallic walls, but they seemed to be more rigid than the smooth ones in the hallways before the room. Her eyes stopped when she noticed something that resembled a beehive, but way bigger. An enclosed circular structure was in the corner of the room with a hole in the middle of it. It was a good-sized hole, maybe a four-foot radius all the way around with a block that seemed to step up to it. Stepping closer, Eris began to climb the block to look at what was inside of the hive-like structure. As her hands grabbed the edge of the hole that led into the mysterious complex, Eris took a deep breath before peering inside of it. Her eyes were amazed when she saw the contents inside.
"This must be where he sleeps." She spoke out loud as she saw all sorts of different furs inside. Stripes, spots, mottled, calico, bold, light, dark, everything! Reaching her hand inside to touch the skins, she couldn't help but try to touch all of them. The textures that she was feeling were unlike anything she had felt before. "How can this look so much like fur, but not feel a thing like it?" She flipped the skin over to see if it was, in fact, a hide. "Unbelievable!" She spoke once more. It was skin from an animal that she would never know or see.
Climbing all the way into the hive, she felt her body sink down into the plush of the skins. "This is way better than my Tempurpedic ever was!" She closed her eyes as she rolled in the comfort. If this was where the Predator slept, she could definitely see why. It was better to think this is where he slept rather than where he kept his skins; that was a lot creepier of a thought.
After embracing the comfort, Eris could feel her anxiety start to go away. Opening her eyes from the plush glory that were the skins, she felt herself sit up as she peered at the ceiling above her. A hushed 'wow' left her mouth as she stared up, her eyes darting from one side of the ceiling to the other. A glass ceiling revealed the stars that were above her. Her thoughts hushed as she continued to look at the beauty above her. The dark blues and blacks with beacons of yellow made her feel so small, but not in a bad way. She was experiencing something that only few were able to. Though she was taken from Earth and enslaved to a weird superior race, the view she was witnessing was beautiful. Laying there, she soaked up as much of it as she could before she wouldn't be able to, just like her time with Cara and Alegra. A frown crept on her face as she continued to look into space- she missed her friends and hoped they were okay.
When the door shut, separating Tichinde from the ooman, he walked down the familiar halls until he was back outside in the Bad Blood Hub of a ship. He contemplated what he would need to secure this ooman in his ship without destroying all of his things. A cage was something that would take too much time and would delay his hunt, which he was already upset because that's just what this whole ordeal was doing.
Once he made it back into the epicenter of the ship's main trading area, he moseyed on over to one of his well-known warriors that he met back on Ryushi where his whole Bad Blooded reputation began. Tichinde knew that this particular Yautja practiced in ooman keeping, always having a few in his ship with him for company, so he knew that he would be able to help out with his new companion.
"Vex'ira," Tichinde spoke as he approached Vex'ira's station. It was a nice sight to see a familiar face that knew all of his history. He knew his quirks, his demons, and how he functioned. If there was anyone who was even close to being his mei'hswei, this Yautja would be it. "I am in need of your services."
"Long time no see, Tichinde. I hear you've taken an ooman." Vex'ira stood up, meeting with his long-time friend. Their heights were almost the same, but he lingered just a bit above Tichinde.
"Word travels quick." The Crescent Yautja darted his eyes to the two oomans that hid behind the station Vex'ira sat behind.
"It travels more quickly because of who you beat to win the ooman." His bright eyes followed Tichinde's before he grunted, taking the Yautja's eyes off of his ooman females.
"I am not looking at your oomans as a prize," Tichinde puffed his chest at the accusation. "I am looking at what they are equipped with." He brought his gaze back to the females, noticing Vex'ira's stance change in knowing he wasn't challenging him for his pets. Studying the devices around their necks, he beckoned one to come over. The ooman female looked at Vex'ira before a nod of approval was made by her master, allowing her to nervously make her way to Tichinde. "Is this how you keep them in order?" His giant hand laced the metal device that loosely hung around the female's neck.
"It is. Made from D'lex, I placed a gkinmara inside of it that I control with my wrist gauntlet. I can set it where they cannot come within a certain range of me, or I can make it where they cannot leave a certain range from me." Vex'ira was proud of his device, speaking with a strong, baritone voice from within his chest.
"A gkinmara? That's smart of you." He would have never thought to put a sensory device of that caliber in something that would contain a measly ooman. "Are you afraid they will kill you?" Tichinde responded, curious as to why there might be a setting to keep the ooman from reaching him.
"It's so they don't try anything while you're asleep. Place your setting on how far you want them from you and sleep knowing they won't try to use your weapons against you. You can also program it into your ships settings to keep them out of unwanted areas." The slightly taller Yautja grabbed the shoulder of his ooman and ushered her back to the other female.
"So, what can I trade you for one of these?" Tichinde was interested in what Vex'ira had to offer. The device could be programmed into his ship, and that's exactly what he needed; it was far better than any cage he could build to contain her and would help with her quality of life, which from his job, he knew was very important to oomans.
Vex'ira took a moment to think while he looked at Tichinde. Anything he might want, he was fully capable of getting himself. A lot of the Yautja on the ship who were not bringing back trade were lazy. If he wanted something, he would go get it, easy as that. This meant that Tichinde's question was foreign to him. He knew that his comrade wasn't lazy rather than ignorant when it came to the device that his services could offer. Tichinde himself didn't make a product that only he knew the mechanics to, so it wouldn't be a fair trade, if no trade at all. He had all the D'lex he needed: furs, weapons, armor, materials included. As he looked at his friend, he could only think of one thing he wanted for what he came to this ship to trade. "I want a favor."
Tichinde's head tilted up a tad in surprise of what Vex'ira was requesting. He had everything to trade for and yet he wanted a favor? It was unusual, but he couldn't think of a reason not to accept this deal. "And what favor would that be?"
"I'll get a hold of you when I am ready for your services." Taking one of his hand-made devices out of the container he held them in, he handed it to the Crescent-scarred Yautja. "Are you going to take it?" He reached his hand out, offering it up to him.
Unsure of what kind of favor Vex'ira would ask in the future, whether it would be something he could comply with or not, he didn't like being indebted to someone without knowing what the debt was. It was a surprise that could inconvenience him in the future. Looking down at the device Vex'ira was offering in his hand, Tichinde extended his arm to reach for it, clasping it with his giant claws before gripping it in his hands. "I accept." He cocked his head to the side to return his sights on the Yautja in front of him. He had no idea what to expect, but he would comply when the time would come.
Vex'ira's mandibles began to click in amusement. He trusted Tichinde and knew he would be good for his word. Though Bad Blooded, they still had their own set of rules that certain Yautja went by, it was hard to completely escape a code that was embedded into their minds from such an early stage of life. "Very well." He clicked his mandibles more before he began to explain to Tichinde how to sync the gkinmara to his wrist gauntlet and ship.
When all was explained and there was a certainty in the new knowledge, Tichinde looked at Vex'ira one last time. "What makes you keep ooman females?" He had never asked before because he couldn't understand it, but now that he had a peaked interest, he was curious on if it was the same.
"I don't have to compete with other males nor do I have to get more scars when mating with them." Vex'ira's tone was serious. He knew that it was an honor to mate with a Yautjan female, but it wasn't engrained in his mind to follow those sets of rules. He wanted to do what he wanted and he wanted them to comply, which ooman females did very well. Even if they tried to claw for their life for him to stop, he was still able to easily outpower them, making in an easy and rewarding challenge. He liked to feel dominant, and these oomans gave him that feeling he so desperately needed.
"No other reason?" Tichinde watched Vex'ira shake his head. He couldn't believe the Yautja would rather take an ooman than an honored Yautjan female. There was something about conquering her, getting her approval, and proving that he was worthy. It was one of the most highly honorable wins he could ever engage in, and the trophy would be to impregnant her and have his spawn live on with his bloodlines. Oomans, on the other hand, would never have such glory in mating. "I do not want mind for breeding."
"You won't regret it if you do." The light-eyed creature replied, not taking any offense to what Tichinde had just said. With a nod of his head, he turned back to look at his two ooman females, jerking his head towards the back of him to signal that it was time to go. He had a long day of selling and it was about time to get out of the trading hub.
"You can't speak to them?" The motioned piqued Tichinde's interest.
"They don't understand."
"Mine was able to escape the battlegrounds and live among the Yautja for a little bit of time. Convinced a vendor that the Yautja she belonged to was a wealthy Bad Blood who required D'lex." Tichinde watched as Vex'ira's pupils widened before going back down to normal. He was interested, maybe that was information he shouldn't have told him now that he was indebted to him.
"They can learn our language?" His head cocked to the side, awaiting a response.
"Even on the ship she was learning words here and there. She doesn't know much, but she understands some." Opening the palm of his hand to look at the collar device, Tichinde looked back over at Vex'ira before having to give out more information about his ooman. "I need to get back to see what damages have been done." His mandibles clicked together in laughter as he gave Vex'ira one last nod before heading off to gather a few more things for the ooman.
As he walked away, he could still feel Vex'ira's eyes on his back. He knew he wanted to ask more, but that was all the information that he wanted to share, and more than he should of. It was apparent that his oomans were used for mating and not companionship. It was more uncommon to use them solely for companions anyway among the Bad Bloods and maybe that is why he was intrigued by her. He had never wanted to mate with an ooman, but this particular one sparked an interest that he had only seen a handful of time amongst oomans with other Yautjan masters. She was learning. She was understanding. She was willing. She was unafraid.
Picking up a few more pounds of food, and grabbing more Naxa from the Yautja vendor that the ooman had encountered already, Tichinde made his way back to his ship. Upon entering, he had no idea what he was going to find in his quarters. There wasn't much in there, but that didn't mean she didn't dent the walls or tear his skins apart.
As soon as he made it to the door that separated him and the female, he backed up and reversed his tracks, making his way to where he prepared and kept his food. He had been curious as to what happened in the door that he didn't think about dropping off what he had traded for first. Once all of the food was placed in their homes, Tichinde brought the device over to where he controlled his ship, pressing a few buttons before taking the collar and syncing the devices with each other. He began to navigate through his ship where he wanted her to have access to and where he wanted to avoid. Following Vex'ira's instructions as closely as he could, he finally synced the collar to his wrist gauntlet. The Gauntlet would be able to control where she went into the ship as well, but mainly it could keep her from running off from him or keeping her distance from him. She was new to this ship and he didn't want her to try to use his weapons on her, or something of the caliber. He had no reason to believe she could kill him, but he wanted to relax in his ship and save all of the pent-up energy for his hunt.
Grabbing the collar, he dropped it on the floor and began to mess with his wrist gauntlet to make sure it worked. Pressing a few buttons, the collar began to slide across the floor to the designated distance allowed to be near him. A satisfied huff escaped his throat as he pressed more buttons, only to see the collar slide a foot to him. Taking a step back, he watched the collar follow in suit, staying the max distance away from him that he allowed. Pleased, he turned the device settings off and began to head to his chambers.
Opening the door, he looked around for a moment to see if she was hiding anywhere. There wasn't much in his quarters so there wasn't much to look behind, under, on top of, or around. Stepping closer to his bed, his dome cocked to the side a bit at the sight of the small ooman sleeping in his skins. She looked so small in his giant bed, sleeping hard. From the ooman spacecraft to this one, he figured that this was probably the best sleep she had in weeks.
"Ooman." Tichinde spoke to see if she would wake up. When nothing happened, he stepped off of the block and back onto the floor. Taking a closer look around the room, he noticed no damage done to it. Of all the random things she could have broken, tore apart, or damaged in any way, she didn't. Relieved, Tichinde decided that he was not going to waste any more time connected to the trade hub ship. Making his way to the control room, he began to press what he needed to safely detach from the ship and make his way to the planet that he had been waiting to hunt on.
Once detached and coordination's set, he made one last trip to see if the noises and movement had woken the ooman up. Peering back once more inside, she was still completely out of it. Heading out of the room, he decided not to lock it behind him to keep her inside. So far, she had shown that she could be trusted not to do damage to anything in his ship so he would allow her to be able to come find him when she would awaken. Plus, it would be entertainment to see how she would react to his ship by herself. When he met her next, that's when he would place the collar on her.
Eris began to come back to consciousness, feeling her mind awaken before opening her eyes. By feeling her surroundings, she could tell she was still in the bed of furs. 'How long have I been in here? I feel like I've slept for an eternity; must have been needed. Oh God, if he isn't back…' Her thoughts began to process as she opened her eyes. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she saw the stars moving from up above her, which meant that he was back on the ship, driving it off to wherever. Or it meant that someone else was on the ship and hijacked it off to wherever. Either way, she was no longer alone on the ship. She wasn't sure why she felt a weird feeling if the creature on the ship wasn't the Crescent-scarred one, they were all one in the same. The only thing she could think of that would explain what she was feeling was the fact that he was oddly familiar.
Slowly sitting up, she began to rub her eyes with a giant stretch to follow after. When her arms were satisfied with the stretch, Eris scooted towards the exit of the hive-bed, grabbing the edge of it to lift herself out and onto the block that helped her get inside.
The room was still lit the same it was before, nothing changing in that aspect, but what she did notice was that the door that led into the room was open. Tip-toing her bare feet across the room to make it towards the door, Eris looked out into the foreign land that were hallways. It wasn't eerily dark, no blinking red light illuminating the halls, but a rather semi-lit walkway. Shadows still loomed from what she could see, but it wasn't dark enough that she would run into things or get lost.
Her curiosity called out to her to exit the room and see what she could do. This was her first chance to freely roam a ship, besides the short-lived adventure in the market, and she wanted to take it. Another part of her wanted to stay in the room and wait for the big beast to come fetch her. That was the difference between Eris and Pike.
'Once in a lifetime moment here, get to it!' Pike spoke through her thoughts.
'But I could get in trouble and die.' Eris retorted to her counterpart.
'You're going to die anyway, might as well stop proceeding with caution.'
'But if I proceed with caution, I could live longer.'
Inner battles with Pike had become the usual. On Earth, Pike would come out whenever she needed to stand up for herself or someone else. This situation, though, couldn't be more different than that. It was something she wasn't use to.
'These creatures don't seem to like the proceeding with caution type. Just go for it, the worst that can happen is a slap on the wrist or a slit to the neck.'
'Not helping!'
Eris proceeded to peer out of the room she was in and into the abyss of the hallway. She wanted to see what was there.
'If Lechuga-Cabesa didn't want you to roam, he wouldn't have opened the door.' Pike made a decent point.
'Or he could be testing me.'
'And what if the test was to see if he wasted his time on someone who had no sense of adventure?'
Eris stood there for a moment longer. It was true, nothing bad had happened when she left the ass-beating club. If anything, he seemed to not even care that she had wondered off and seemed to be more enthused about her actions. Taking in a deep breath, Eris let Pike take the lead on this one as she began to walk out of the door, still on the top pads of her feet.
The warm metal beneath her feet was comforting with each step that she took forward. Trying her best not to make any sound, she made sure to pause after each step, listening to see if she could sense where the Predator was located. She felt entirely paranoid the whole time she lingered throughout the ship. The twists and turns confused her and she had gone down so many hallways that she wasn't sure if she would be able to find the comfort of the hive-bed once more.
Continuing on her eerie adventure, Eris stopped when she noticed a large opening coming up. 'He's gotta be in there.' She figured while she forced herself to continue her footing towards the giant archway. Once under it, the room seemed to expand so far that she didn't even know that the ship she was on had the capacity to hold such a place. The entire wall in front of her was made of glass, bowing out as an arch instead of a flat, rectangular wall. In the middle of the arch was a raised seat with what looked to be a panel in front of it. Taking a few steps to the side, Eris tried to see if the being was in the chair. 'If not here, then where?'
Her motions became quick as she began to use her whole foot to walk. Climbing the steps that led to the seat, she flipped it around to sit in it. She didn't have plans on touching anything, but she was looking a fricken alien ship! This was probably the only time she'd get to do this, and man was she going to observe.
Spinning the chair back to look at the panel of levers and buttons, she slowly trailed her eyes over each one. It was amazing that all of these hundreds of little lights signified something for this ship. Taking her eye from the panel, she looked up to see what was beyond the glass. It was simply amazing to see. Moving the chair all the way to one side so she could slowly turn it to meet the other side of the room, she couldn't begin to describe what a creepy beauty she was witnessing. It was beautiful because of all the shapes, colors, and formations of everything. What creeped her out and put a sour taste in her mouth was the fact that she was positive that nothing she was looking at was Earth.
Shaking her head from her thoughts, she brought her eyes back down to the panel. Gently lifting her hand, she began to lightly trace her fingertips over some of the buttons from the top of the panel to the bottom. When a loud sound echoed throughout the walls from behind her, she quickly retracted her hand, bringing it back to her chest as she twisted the spinning chair around to look into the darkness of the hallway.
Slowly stepping down from the steps, Eris tip-toed to the corner of the room, away from the giant archway that led into it. After moments of waiting, she was surprised when no one came into the room. Slowly making her way towards the entrance, she let her head tilt to the side to see if she could see the creature looming about.
Nothing.
A feeling of relief crept over her, allowing her body to ease once more. Gathering herself up to stand straight, she paused when she felt a couple strands of hair breeze past her vision. Turning her head behind her, she could see the creature standing behind her. Turning completely around to look at him before backing away, Eris thought her heart was about to jump out of her chest. Her eyes grew wide at the thought of how exactly he got behind her. The only way into this place was the archway and she didn't see him enter, so how long was he behind her?
Tichinde began to click his mandibles together at the sight of the frightened ooman in front of him. He was surprised she didn't react more hastily to get out of the room. Stepping closer towards her, he extended his hand to her, curious as to what she would do with it.
Eris flinched before staring at the hand in front of her. She had no idea what it meant. Did he want her to shake it? Did he want her to hand something over? Was she supposed to put her own neck into it? She had absolutely no clue. "What do you want me to do?" She finally asked, not wanting to touch the creature, which is the only thing she could do since she had nothing but her tunic to give to him.
"Come here." His baritone voice vibrated throughout the air.
"Why?" Eris hadn't realized that she asked her question while obeying it in the process.
Grabbing her shoulder, Tichinde turned the ooman around before placing the loose collar around her neck. "So I can give you this."
As soon as she realized what just happened, Eris brought her hands to her neck to inspect the durability of the thing around it. "What is this?" She tried to sound calm, not liking the fact that she had just been branded as a pet. She was surprised there wasn't a nametag on it, dangling in the front like a dog collar.
"It's to keep you in your place." He watched as the ooman turned back around to face him, her eyes had completely changed.
"So then tell me the rules. I don't need to wear this." Eris placed her arms in front of her chest, already knowing she wasn't about to be able to take the device off.
"It does more than that." Tichinde watched a brow of hers lift.
"Then what does it do?"
Bringing his hand up to his wrist gauntlet, Tichinde put in the combination needed to activate the collar around her neck, which would prevent her from getting too far away from him. "Try to leave the room."
"What do yo—"
"Try to leave the room." Tichinde cut her off and repeated.
Looking strangely at the Predator, Eris slowly began to back up to the archway, taking her feet one at a time to leave. After a couple of steps, she noticed her collar hold still in the air as she continued to try to leave. Peeking her head back inside the room to look at the Predator, she felt the collar drop around her neck again. Slowly bringing her head back outside of the room, she felt the collar catch once more.
"What the fuck is this?" Eris fully walked backed into the room, throwing her hands in the air before they taped the sides of her legs. "I am on a fucking ship with you, you really need to keep me closer? What do you think I am going to do, hide from you?"
"It was very easy to hunt you, I am not worried about you hiding form me." Tichinde referred to the events that had just taken place. He had been in his chambers the whole time when he heard the girl awaken, putting his helmet on to activate his cloaking device so he could see what she would do.
He found it amusing that she waited at the doorway for so long before finally stepping out of it, watching her footprints leave heat marks on the floor before fading away. He followed her into the control room before making noise so she wouldn't touch any of the buttons on the panel. When she had scurried to the corner, he followed suit, uncloaking himself as soon as she poked her head around the corner to see if that's where he was.
"Easy to hunt me? Is that what you were doing?" Her throat sank into her stomach to think that he had been hunting her on the ship, tracking her every movement and she had no idea. There was the paranoia in being caught and that eyes were all on her, but that was normal. Hell, she got that feeling all the time back on Earth when she was roaming outside in a creepy place, though no one was there to watch. "Well, maybe if you took that helmet off and stopped cheating then I'd be better of an opponent."
"Opponent?" Tichinde was intrigued by her proposal. Placing his hand on the side of his helmet, he pressed its release button, slowly taking it off to reveal his face to her once more. "I accept your challenge."
"Wait, excuse me, what?!" The pupils in her eyes dilated at the thought of what situation had just taken place.
"I will keep my helmet off and I will hunt you." It didn't matter that in a few days he would be hunting actual prey, but this would be a fun situation to pass the time.
Was her heart even beating anymore? Eris brought her hand to the soft of her throat to see if she could feel the beating of it. Rapid heartbeats met her finger as she looked up at the creature who was suggesting they play a game of hide and seek. "Oh yeah, a skilled hunter who captures humans for a living versus a human who has never been hunted. I've read The Most Dangerous Game, but I never thought I'd act it out." She tried to pace back and forth, but became increasingly annoyed when she hit the spot where the collar stopped her. "Okay, I get it, can you please undo the collar barrier please?"
"You suggested this game, and I wish to accept." He was amused by her panic.
"But, like, what is the end goal? Do I have to get from one ship to the other, because you're just going to guard the end goal and I am going to shit myself the whole way there." She sarcastically spoke, relieved that the Predator had taken off the setting so she could pace in peace.
"You survive for a certain amount of time. If I find you, I win." The Crescent-scarred Yautja continued to watch her pace back and forth, "And if you win, then you have the rights to say you've evaded a Bad Blooded Yautja."
"Bad Blooded Yautja?" She bastardized the language once more. She knew what Bad Blood meant, but did this mean that they were the misfits of their race and there were other, normal Yautja out there. These were the bank robbers while the non-corrupted cops were still out there? "Did it used to be mad love until you took a look at what you've done and now, you're a Bad Blood?" Her sarcasm threw some Taylor Swift into the mix, which brought a smile to her brain. The thought of being able to say that she had outsmarted the species was an actual intriguing thought. If she could make this a steady game, that meant that she could learn how to control her nerves around him. She would no longer feel like she was being watched because she would gain the knowledge on actually being watched versus paranoia. Then, she could learn how he hunted, how his species hunted.
"What?" Tichinde couldn't even begin to put the sentence she just said together. He had been around oomans a lot, but had never heard something like that.
"Nothing." She put her hands across her chest once more. "Okay, we can hunt. The thought scares the absolute crap out of me, but I see some benefits in it for me since this is going to be my life now. But, can we make some ground rules?"
It would be an understatement if Tichinde said he was excited about her compliance to the game. "What kind of rules?" He was curious.
"I can do what I want, hide where I want, and move to wherever I want," She saw him about to protest, "But I wont use anything as a weapon, break anything, or touch any sort of controls." His body language changed. "You can't wear your mask since I think that is cheating. I am a beginner and I am not ready for your invisible ass following me. We can do that when I have leveled up. But mainly, please, no jump scares. If you find me, you find me. Please don't pop out of the ceiling and scare the hell out of me; I am not ready for that either."
Looking down at the girl, Tichinde could get behind what she was saying. It made him happy that she would want to play the game in the future with more challenges to her.
"Oh, and we start out with a small timer. If I last 5 minutes, then we make it 6. After I survive 6, we can make it 7. So on and so forth."
"Alright, I accept your terms. But once we make it to a human 20-minute mark, I can use my helmet. I won't use it to track your heat, just for cloaking."
"You can heat sense me with that thing?!" Eris was under the impression that he could just use it as a cloaking device. She had no idea that heat seeking vision came with it. She wondered what else it could do.
"Do you accept?" He bypassed her revelation.
"Yes. One question, though. Where do we start from? Opposite sides of the ship?" Her body was shaking from the nervousness of the game. She was allowing a Predator to hunt her. If it wasn't giving her skills in return, she wouldn't have accepted it. She knew she would never be able to take a Predator down, or even ever kill one, so hide and seek was the closest thing she would ever get with evading one, given they don't have their helmets on 'heat seeking' mode.
"Sounds fair. We start now. It takes me a couple moments to make it to the other side of the ship. Once I am there, I'll give you an ooman minute to hide. Once the minute is up, I will yell a battle cry so you know I am hunting. Once I begin, I will start the timer. If it goes off before I find you, I will signal a call of defeat so you can come out." He was already halfway down the archway when he finished his sentence. "And we can smell fear." He turned the corner, completely away from her.
"Fucking shit, of course they can smell fear. I'm about to die." Eris watched him turn the corner before she began to run on the front pads of her feet through the hallways, seeing where Tichinde had gone and determined to go the other way. She wasn't sure how much longer he had until he got to the other side of the ship, but she knew she needed to hide fast. Or would she need to hide and move once he passed the area? She had no idea what she was going to do.
Peering into each room as she ran by it, she could feel that her body was scared. 'If they can smell fear, then I might as well spread my fear in as many rooms as I can.' She quickly scurried throughout the rooms to put as much of her fearful scent into it, staying in rooms longer than others to increase the scent before running off. Tearing down the hallways, she made sure to go through the hallway that Tichinde had gone through so he thought she was somewhere down there. Or, maybe she should be.
A terror filled roar echoed through the walls.
'Holy shit…. What am I doing? I am going to die…" She could feel the bass of his roar vibrate her body, shaking from her head to her toes. 'Fuck, and now most of my terror scent is in this room.' She scurried back to the archway room, poking using the reflection of the glass that exposed space to her advantage. When she saw the giant beast smell the air, he turned the other way to check the rooms. 'Thank god.' Eris thought to herself. 'Now all I have to do is make my legs work so I can move down that hallways he just came from.'
Quickly gliding across the floor to make no sounds, Eris practically had a heart attack when she was at the hallway the Predator just came from. He was so close, she didn't know if he had heard her or not. Was the Helmet the source of their hunting abilities, or could they hear really well and feel vibrations on their feet from her movements? It didn't matter at this point. She continued on down the hall, peeking behind her to make sure she didn't seem him sneaking up on her.
Just in case he caught on and began to follow down the hallway, she went into different, random rooms to leave her scent there before exiting and finding somewhere else to be. It wasn't until she found a room full of heads that she stopped.
'What is all of this?' There were heads all over the wall of animals that she had never seen before. Some of them matched the skins that's he previously slept on, which she thought it was cool that was able to put in image to the skin. There were giant heads, small ones, and even a couple human skull which didn't sit right with her. Maybe he was like an Earth hunter who liked to display all of his proudest kills. But if that were the case, why were there human skulls?
Shaking her head, she had to get back into the mindset that she was being hunted. Looking to the left of the displays, she noticed a small looking cabinet, that if empty, she could fit into. Gingerly walking towards it, she tried to figure out how to open it up. Nothing she did seemed to work, but she was determined. She had no idea how much time she had left, which meant she could have only been doing this for 30 seconds.
Trying to open the box, Eris felt the collar begin to gently tug her the opposite way she was facing. Stepping backwards to obey the sensations in her neck, she was met with the image of the Predator. He had activated the setting, making the collar bring her to him.
"You did well." Tichinde was please as he watched the ooman walk over to him, fear not seeming to be in her eyes nor in her scent any longer.
"Thank you for keeping your word and not scaring me." Eris was annoyed at the collar guiding her to him, but it was a lot better than him coming out of nowhere and touching her. "How long did I have left before I would have won?"
"One ooman second."
"Are you serious?!" Though she was only a second away from winning, she took it as a huge accomplishment that she made it that long evading a Predator. Hell, small steps baby! "I was only a second away from winning, that's awesome!" Her cheeks rose upwards to her eyes while looking up at the beast. "I can't believe it, I am so happy!"
He observed her, never in his life seeing a captured ooman act this happy around him in his life. He knew that her showing her teeth wasn't a challenge, but an ooman trait they did when they were pleased. "Tichinde."
Eris's brow rose as he spoke, uncertain what he was saying to her. "Tichinde?"
"My name."
"Oh," This was the first time she was humanizing him. Now he had a name, which felt oddly comforting to know. "Pike." She replied the same, no extended handshake or anything, just her name. She wasn't ready to tell him her real name, if at all.
"Pike." Tichinde wasn't sure if he had ever bothered to learn an oomans name, and if he had, it wasn't because he asked for it. She was something different, something he never though an ooman could be. She was an emotional wreck, not knowing if she was going to be normal or bursting with anger, but entertaining through it all. "Shall we try this again?" He brought his hand back up to take the distance settings off of the gkinmara that was in her collar.
"Yes. Stay here and I will go hide." Her nerves were back, but nothing like the first game. He had gained a little bit of trust with her by not scaring the absolute shit out of her. That didn't mean that having a billion-pound, tree built, annihilator hunting her wasn't still scary as hell.
"I'll be seeing you soon, then." Tichinde activated the minute timer on his wrist gauntlet.
"Hopefully not too soon."
A/N: An Update, yay! Please comment and let me know what you think! I've still some twists and turns in mind with this fiction!
Also, Striker, your comment meant SO much to me! You have no idea how nervous I was to read it, since it was so long! I was scared that it was going to kill my spirit, but instead you helped me out a ton! I am so appreciative of your comment, it was absolutely beautiful for me to read and I appreciate you being able to share your opinion without coming across as rude or anything in the area you critiqued me in! I appreciate the comment so much, thank you!