Hey tater-tots, my goodness, supremely sorry for the hiatus. Very short Chapter, crafted more so to let you all be aware I am back and back for good! I've been fairly busy with college things.. Life things. Stuff, I suppose. Very, very busy truthfully. Updates should proceed as scheduled from now on. Weekly, maybe one or two. At least one per week, I hope? At most two, but I really wanna continue this Story of mine. So without further-ado, let's continue. Thank you for the love and support! Enjoy!
Answers were hardly forthcoming. Ariel vowed to never let the whispers of bootleg movies and spotty cartoon with cliché plots clog her perception of the truth again. No matter how enticing their sweet, oh so sweet endings may have been. Was her people's twice failed attempts peaceful colonization not enough proof?
But what goal could she accomplish right now? Better yet, how? The nighttime was not as short as her mind adamantly sought to believe nor was the sun passionate in it's goal to burn the flesh off her body. The point lodged itself in Ariel's mind to point out the simple fact that this moment, was a choice.
Revelation was a fool's demon. Infested like them would be viewed upon as a rot to burn. Blemishes suffering their own existence. Ariel knew this well. It's how she felt when the concept of being Infested hit far closer to her home than anticipated.
Assimilation was for a purpose right? The ideal unification dared to poke into Ariel's blemished frame of mind was once just as it was offered as. An idea. No constitution nor belief would ever unite humanity on all sides. They're was simple too much diversity for such optimistic ideals to condense. Human beings were like different blends of trash trying to become a stockpile of garbage that resembles something beautiful, something Ariel experienced that they could not do so alone. But the Zerg. They were unified weren't they? No, not without a commanding will and no, definitely without a goal in mind, but when enthralled by another of their own kind? They were a super organism.
Ariel internally chuckled to herself. Truly this change, her status as an 'Infested Terran', coiled a tighter grip on her mind than she perceived.
The moonlight made her shine. Though her brown colored carapace argued with the pale light, Ariel found that she liked her chitin brownness. But the moonlight truly accented the cat-eared woman in earnest. It's dim illumination reminded Ariel of the great Panther from old Earth.
But the situation remained the same, dangling the same two options of choice for Ariel to ultimately make a decision upon.
Revelation was a risk in itself, and entirely presumptuous the women before her was as open minded as Ariel pathetically hoped. And should such foolish hope prove false, well... things would have little choice but to get bloody...
Hiding was a safer, and actually far more logic gamble. Not to mention it did not carry the consequences of death with it. Yet for all it's comforts, it was a decision that would limit not only Ariel and Emily's capacity for travel, but also miss out on an opportunity to gain information about where, exactly, they are. Not to undermine the very real probability of drawing Dominion forces to their location. Zerg Infestation was definitely a big no-no to them.
Ariel questioned Emily on her thoughts. Emily cared not Ariel's decision, so long as she followed through with her decision. No regrets that way, as she put it.
The time of dread summoned itself and before thought caught up to Ariel, her actions had her legs. Ariel had no plan to even explain herself, nor heads nor of how to specifically ensure the women she was really uncertain about approaching failed to react in the manner Ariel expected would sound eerily similar to frightened screaming.
"N-nice night today, isn't it?" The infested accent most definitely didn't help matters, but it was far too late to turn back now. Emily would call down all Seven Hell's is she suspected her holding doubt now.
The woman's feline ears perked, Ariel already parting her lips by the time the women turned to move.
"Wait! Don't turn around please! I'm not..." Ready for anyone to bare witness to me, to call me out at the monstrous spawn I've warped into. "Very nice to look at." Ariel completed her sentence, understating her true belief beneath depths of foolish hope.
With rooted shock Ariel could hardly express, the women merely nodded, smiling as she did. Odd.
"It is nice. This is my favorite spot in Menagerie. The view is quite spectacular, is it not?"
Ariel beat her anxiety into submission, glowing eyes gazing along the rippling waters warring against the whitest of sands in earnest.
"It is." Ariel voiced her honesty. "I can see why you like to gaze upon it."
The woman chuckled. It registered to Ariel's biological audio receptors as a purr. "I'm glad you agree. My husband does not exactly share my opinion."
Ariel looked at the woman in shock, the gesture in futility with the exception of the black manned woman sprouting eyes on the back of her head.
"Why?"
"He thinks of it as a mockery of why we were placed here. Views Menagerie as a cage of sorts. Offering just a little freedom just to keep us Faunus happy."
Ariel bided little time to ponder over her words, less the conversation become a distant memory. Understanding the potential for disaster should she pry any further, the Infested doctor clicked her mandibles, absent of thought in that small second. A mistake. A sharp panic overtook her at senses. The very inhumane noise would have to sprout miracles to not be noticed. Curious how the feline ears twitched at the sound.
All this feline beauty offered was yet another quiet laugh. It's incarnation to unexpected, so many leaps away from Ariel's expectation, the good infested doctor had not words to say.
"Pardon?"
The woman's muted chuckle resonated slightly louder. Her raised arm did Spartan to stifle her amusement.
"Oh my, please do forgive my dear. Do you mind if I ask you a question?"
"Sure?" A tiny compliance. The black manned woman's actions whispered nothing but kindness. A palpable inverse to the black beast she slayed.
"What's your name?"
The question challenged Ariel guard, her mind double looping in response. Simple as it appeared, Ariel knew the oh-so human mind games many subconscious devised so much time and energy into. But the respect for her selfish wishes and ill noble desires demanded retribution. Surely harm could not spawn from merely stating her identification? It's not though she is well-known throughout the Koprolu Sector.
"I- My name... is Handson. Dr. Ariel Handson." Her vocal cords sung this with audible pride, heedless of the potential trouble it was well worth.
"Mmm. A beautiful name." Ariel certainly liked to think this woman skipped over the doctor part in her head. In her puddle of mental ignorance, she hardly wanted to, nor could she at the moment, answer any questions pertaining to where she received her doctorate. Thankfully, luck seemed to bless her fortunate. "It was my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Dr. Handson. My name, is Kali Belladonna."
/ - / - / - /
The farewell felt false, even as Ariel retreated deeper into somewhat familiar territory with Emily drifting her. Kali Belladonna was an experience, that was an absolute truth. Ariel pondered why she had never encountered such a bright light like the woman before her. Ironic considering her fear of the sun's rays. Ariel wouldn't call it heliophobia, just... well she couldn't claim that. Her fear was irrational after all, but alas, she digressed. The 'Faunus' was so kind, so compassionate. It was never expressed directly; the feline woman's voice just carried the aura of empathy Ariel had not words to describe for it.
The departure was one of peace. Kali exclaimed that Ariel may return her whenever she wished, purring as she leaned back into the night's embrace and Ariel herself crossed pale sands back towards where Emily half snoozed, half mumbled against a particularly hefty piece of bark.
The night was still young. Yet for all her worth, tiredness dragged the Infested doctor's feet. Her flesh pulsed and pulled at itself for every step that indented the cold desert sands. The cave was reached at last, the Creep a small ally in Ariel's war for rest.
Yet her mind pondered onward.
Contact with Mrs. Belladonna said so much. She called herself Faunus. She noted her cat-ears. Did they deem her a Faunus? What exactly contributed to denounce such a difference from basic humans to these 'Faunus' wasn't well known to Ariel, and it was doubtful Emily fared any better. But it wouldn't be here to summarize a hazard guess if nothing else. Then there was this 'Menagerie'. Was it a city? A town? Perhaps even a country. Ariel didn't have geographical information. She was grasping as straws full of thought and hope. An awfully terrible mentality for any self-respecting pioneer of science to maintain.
"Emily... Are you awake?"
Emily was not a talker in any sense. Whether mutation or by choice, it was a guess at best, because she failed to elaborate. But she was awake. That was enough.
"I'm thinking we should figure out where Miss Belladonna came from." Ariel sensed the medic's question. Emily's confusion was soothed swiftly. "She said she came from this 'Menagerie'. A village or a town. Maybe a city, I don't know. And I doubt she lives alone." Kali may indeed share a residency with other, possibly this 'Ghira'. She couldn't be certain, but the infested doctor chalked it up to a significant likelihood.
There were undoubtedly more of them. How many, however, was unclear. They could be in great numbers, dwelling within heavily urban areas. But Ariel deemed this unlikely. So close to their border, they would have seen something by now, a hovercar or transport. Something to denote a technological presence. Not to mention they loud noises cities are often well known for. No. They were in a jungle or sorts. Something usually killed to make space for more artificial constructs. Ariel could only conclude with relative certainty, that Kali had to have come from a village or small town of sorts.
"I think we should go tomorrow. Just a few hours after Dawn. The sooner the better... What do you think?"
It was a significant risk. Discovery would be a persistent nuisance, a fatal revelation, yet their prolonged ignorance was far from blissful and would lead then to destruction later than sooner. But it would occur if they did nothing. That was... unacceptable.
"We'll need weapons too. Our encounter with those black creatures was... jarring." An understatement. "There could be more. A lot more. Different sub-species even. I..." Her mandibles clicked nervously. "We don't know what they are. And I know it might be a stretch, yes, but surely it's far better to be safe then sorry, right?" A desperation to alleviate potential disagreement, as well as revalue her own logic. Her adventurous mindset punished itself for her narrow objectivity. Those black beast, their essence felt like a rotten sugar, a poisonous sweet Ariel knew would bring so much more harm than benefit. The clear cut potentiality carried a fragrance of death and slaughter. Doubtlessly the calmed moonlights and musky jungle heats carried more of them, but it was not impossible to suggest their were more. Stronger, powerful, and, in the context of importance, deadly variants very much willing and able to kill herself and Emily in their entirety.
"I can't do this without you Emily." Ariel confessed. "I need your support on this. I know... I know it's a risk but... I'm almost certain it's in our best interest to learn about our Terran neighbors. Or whatever else is here with us."
The silence festered like an infected boil, just waiting to burst free from it's noiseless confines. Ariel mandibles clicked, nervous uncertainty rising if only for the lack of response from the fellow infested. Hearing without speaking was a remarkable phenomenon, but that failed to ease Ariel's growing apprehensions.
Still. She trusted Emily's resolve.
That would have to be enough.