Expeditionary Episodes of the Mercicle and the Cactus Queen

[Quietus]

[SIZE=11pt]Noooooot too many people that could get away with carrying a fully conscious and able Quietus in this way. She took it in stride as well as she could, fixing an amused smirk up at Aver after the initial surprise filtered away. Arm looped casually over the woman’s shoulder the blond nodded over to the archway that lead out to the wooden platform walkway encircling the treehome.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Out, to the left, up into the nest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The nest.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A slanted walkway curved around and up, leading into the higher boughs of this oversized and overburdened tree. It creaked beneath Aver’s bare feet and swayed in the evening breeze. Smelled like rain on the horizon, which was just as well - the nighttime storms could be as vicious as the creatures on this planet but were thoroughly enjoyable from the security and shelter of the upper level. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]The platform was circular with open sides and collapsible shuttered walls of slat wood and broad leaves. Aver could stand in here without any trouble; the thatched roof was domed and open, leaving a level of criss-crossing support beams above their heads to use for storage. Hidden as it was within the thicket of canopy branches, there wasn’t much to see save the very top that remain presently open to view the sky.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]A circular bed sat at the center, raised up from the main floor just a single step. The rim of the bed was lined by pillows of stuff and sewn pelts, the main mattress of similar make. A circular canopy bearing finely woven linen sheets were bunched at every quarter turn. Came in handy on particularly buggy nights.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Quietus smiled, lifting a hand towards the nearest torch and through a trick of the Force lit the flame.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=11pt]Not as cozy as my old Treehome but it’s only temporary.[/SIZE]

 

[Aver Brand]

It was perhaps the very knowledge – rather, that few could get away with carrying Quietus like this – that made it all the sweeter.

Regardless of the cause, Aver arrived grinning to the top floor. With a keen gaze she took in the scene, assessing exits, cover, weapons, and (finally) comfort.

She smacked her lips.

“Let’s not pretend we haven’t karked on the floor, Qui,” she replied before strolling over to the bed. While the ring worked wonders for her emotions, it did nothing to redeem her foul mouth.

She deposited them both on the wealth of furs, sighing as she sank into the cushions. Blue eyes drifted closed again, but her smirk persisted.

“Is it too much to ask for a welcome dance?”

 

[Quietus]

~~~

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WabT1L-nN-E


Dawn.

Color faintly painted the skies, the barest traces of light on a far and distant horizon obscured by jungle. The songs were far enough away, like distant dreams one tried to hold onto while rejoining the waking realm. Quietus did not dream, not for a very long time, so she knew well enough that the sounds were nothing of a realm she not longer experienced on her own. Green pools opened, honed senses listening beyond the rustle of leaves and the groaning of trees in the soft winds that followed the evening's storm.

The crooning was unmistakable. Gentle whines she knew to only hear on very rare occasions. A smile pressed into her lips and the woman carefully sat up, leaning over to the warm body on the pelts beside her.

Aver...

A hand found her mate's shoulder and to her credit there was no hesitation in the action of waking what equated to a sleeping raltiir tiger out of it's home territory.

wake up...

Just about to administer a gentle shake - but there was no need. The Mercenary's hand was grasping for something that wasn't there beneath the fur pillow and like a sprung trap she watched her roll into a defensive position. Quietus held still, hand having lifted off the woman's shoulder and instead gestured for her to wait.

It's ok ... just listen.

Silence. If the constant din of the jungle could be counted as such, and then another drawn-out whine. A bit louder now, closer.

Quietus smiled toothily and offered her hand out to Aver.

Come, let me show you something.

 

[Aver Brand]

Memories had long ago taken the place of dreams for her – rarely her own, however. These days it was almost always the ash and fire of Loray, but it used to be that she’d ride the psychedelic waves to worlds and dimensions long forgotten as witnessed by Matsu.

Well—

None of that, tonight. Aver slept soundly through a black night right up until a hand grasped her shoulder and a voice brushed against her mind.

Instinct had her wide awake and off the bed before she’d even registered what was really going on.

And, a moment later, that her hand was empty of the knife that should’ve been there. As her senses returned and the world filtered in, icy blues find the smirk plastered all over Qui’s face.

Briefly, she considered rolling back into the warm furs and stealing a few hours more. That smile was too full of promise, though.

Of joy.

Aver relented with a groan, rubbing the sleep from her face. Pretty sure one of the pillows had left an impression on her cheek.
Fine.

 

[Quietus]

Amusement left her in a silent puff of breath, a smirk that curled as she leaned to take hold of the sleepy Aver's hand and lead her out from the Nest. Back out onto the encircling balcony with its wooden slats still saturated by the evening storm. They creaked and groaned under bare feet, holding strong despite the weight. This lead to a a rope and plank bridge suspended between the trees which they crossed to the clattering of steps, the creaking of braided vines, and the continually growing melody in the sky.

The neighboring tree was taller but it's branches less stout. Quietus lead upwards along ladder planks until she reached an adjoining branch where a wooden platform sat open and empty. This was often where she disembarked from her flying mount, but it was also an area of repose. She followed the platform out to the end where it reached over and beyond the thicket of the canopy, out into the open air that overlooked the plateau and the expanse of the lands beyond. It was still fairly dark but illuminated green eyes had no difficulty in seeing and leading the way.

She took a seat on the edge, bare-skinned to the golden gleam of the rising sun, and looked brightly out towards the horizon. Clouds lingered but she watched expectantly as darker shadows slowly glided through.

 

[Aver Brand]

Survival instincts were the only thing she had to thank that she didn’t keep her eyes glued straight front. No pants for the former Beastia.

Thank kark.

With her morning considerably improved already, Aver plopped down next to the blonde with a grin of her own – a cracked smile for the crack of dawn.

She followed Qui’s gaze to the sky and hummed in tune with the distant song.

Those are gonna turn out to be some kinda oversized animals, aren’t they?

 

[Quietus]

Fangs overtook lower lip in a growing show of mirth. Eyeing her mate, heels lightly kicking and swinging, she held the other woman's gaze with a visibly rising glint of mischief.

BRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE​

The sound exploded over their heads with such suddenness that it sent their Bastard mounts and local flying fauna scattering into the air. Loud, like an explosion, and bringing with it a massive gust of wind as not one, but two of the behemoths came plunging down from above, appearing through the clouds. The rush of air felt like a tornado and whipped at the hair of the two naked women and the leaves on the trees that surrounded them, sending the jungle billowing like a wave.

A massive belly, bloated and grey like a storm cloud pregnant with rain, folded down over their heads as the creature swooped overhead - it seemed so close for the size but Quietus knew they were still very far away. Hunched against the flying debris and grinning like mad, the mute watched the sky whale as it glided overhead, it's smaller companion skating serenely at its side.

 

[Aver Brand]

FETHING HELL QUI.

But she could hear the laughter echo in her skull even as everything else was drowned out by the baying of the massive creatures. The vibrations of the sound set her bones a-thrumming; the branches and the trees and the vines shook throughout the jungle below; upset flocks of birds rose in roiling swarms from the wind-swept canopy, adding their shriek of protest to the cry of the sky whales.

Smile fast replaced by a scowl, Aver turned to her smirking mate. The fact that she had been right in her prediction didn’t seem to console the prickled mercicle.

“There are nicer ways to wake me up,” she gruffed and laid back on the wooden platform.

At least all the leaves were gone now.

 

[Quietus]

Are you joking...?

The mute scoffed at the Merc, brandishing a hand in the general direction of the whales traipsing now upwards back through the clouds, This is amazing, Aver Brand.

But her amusement at Aver's startled reaction could not, would not be held. It was there, pulling into a face incapable of staying flat. The woman let the grin have its way, glancing back out to the horizon where the larger school played in the aftermath of the storm front. Guilty as charged for her crimes of mischief, Quietus offered a shrug of her arms before letting them fall lazily in her lap.

Somebody has to keep you on your feet. Smirk. She set her hands back to lean against them, gaze following the rise and fall of the two whales gliding after their kin. It's only the third time I've seen them. First time they breezed through here they nearly scared me out of my skin. ... I ... think they follow the storms. Or maybe they create them. Not quite sure yet.

 

[Aver Brand]

Pointedly unresponsive, Aver stuck one arm under her head to prop herself up – the other came to shield her gaze from the glare of the rising sun as she peered at the sky.

Alright, she had to admit… “That sounds pretty cool.” A beat. “You need help naming these beasts too?”

If Qui glanced back she’d see that sure-fire grin in place again, sharp teeth glinting. There was never the danger of sticking to one emotion for long when you hardly felt them at all.

She let her hand fall to the side, tracing lazy fingers up the fading lines of tattoos on a tanned forearm.

“Why don’t you redo these?”

 

[Quietus]

Blond braids slowly snaked across shoulders as she continued to watch the school swim about the clouds, singing their songs to one another. Shoulders flexed and head carefully canted to the side in contentment. Aver might not see it but Quietus was smiling. Enjoying the moment in silent wonder.

The whales reminded her vaguely of Drexls ... an exceptionally gentle and peaceful drexl. There was not a flying creature on Thral that she had seen to contest the whales for sheer scale of size.

I was thinking of calling them ... Sky Whales ... the woman glanced back over her shoulder, her own grin meeting Avers, but I'm open to suggestions.

Openly staring and taking in the sight of Aver beneath the brilliant sunrise sky, there was some difficulty in dropping her gaze to the sensation of fingers on her arm. Her grin faded at the question.

I stopped having them done when I left Onderon.

Somewhere in her brow the line of an unwilling frown formed.

It's not quite the same, doing them myself.

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver groaned and closed her eyes. An exasperated puff of breath left her lungs.

“I guess imagination is the first to go when you pass the five hundred mark, is it?” Even if the blonde hadn’t been looking at the merc, the grin bled through into her voice.

There was no rush to their lazy morning (harsh wake-up call be damned), and the mercicle was content to melt in the warmth of the early sun.

She hummed, cracking one blue eye open again. There was something unbearably open in the expression on Qui’s face, and her lips moved before her brain caught up.

“I can do them for you. If you want.”

 

[Quietus]

Green eyes watched the progression of fingertips across the faded etchings on her skin. They looked more like ghosted imprints now with the way they faded so unevenly. It all depended on the age of the tattoo itself. Some had been younger and the color held while others were quite nearly gone. The stories of her life, fading from the canvas of her body.

Quietus hoped that her creativity was the only thing to leave her in her old age. Force forbid she lost her memories, too.

Really? gaze shifted to glacial blue, bare surprise there. So far as she knew Aver hadn't an artistic bone in her body if the doodles she'd made overtop of her own drawings sent over datapads were anything to go by. Though, she also knew the woman put minimal effort forth when something did not benefit herself. The benefit here? Who was to say.

I did not know you had the skill.

 

[Aver Brand]

“I have many skills,” the merc shot back, fingers pausing in their perusal of skin.

It seemed that all her lovers carried the story of their life upon their flesh. Reverance bore scars in the hundreds, marked by Ternion and Kiffar patterns alike. Matsu was more metal and circuitry towards the end, torn and severed limbs replaced by phrik and alchemy. Carach was riddled with tattoos, and had torn out his own beating heart so that a poison crystal could take its place behind his ribs. Raj had escaped her plagued body for a new one through Netherworld itself.

Her smile faded to a more thoughtful expression. Blue eyes abandoned the fading patterns to find the curious green gaze of her mate.

“Used to do a lot of them when I ran with the gangs,” Aver spoke again. “Mine always disappeared in a few weeks. Had to redo them all the time.” She shrugged her free shoulder.

“It’s just patience and precision.”

 

[Quietus]

There was a patient quality to the smile afforded the Merc at her snappy return. Aver would never be underestimated by anyone, not when she had a say about it.

I believe you.

Though she could not recall seeing any tattoos on her mate's figure beyond the marks of blood trails and those connecting her to her other gangs. Alchemized work - Quietus recognized it for what it was but knew little else. Dissero would be intimately familiar with them, she was sure, but it hardly mattered.

Alright, head canted to the side, resting against the shoulder propped up by her arm. Green considered the woman for what seemed to stretch into long minutes of silence filled by whale song and the returning voices of the jungles around them. The winds had died down but a breeze remained. It was getting hot, humid, and would soon be time to return to the shadows below.

Do you want to Bloodtrail me?

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver was already back to basking in the sun – in that, they were both much like cats. Down to the teeth and the claws, sometimes.

Of course, Qui wasn’t nearly done with the left-field today. Thral had done wonders for her form, apparently.

Blue eyes opened to the swishing tail of a smaller anything-but-sky-whale, darkened by furrowed brows. The merc pursed her lips.

“Do I want to what?”

 

[Quietus]

Humor pushed into her lips and eyes, briefly, before her expression fell sober once again. Twisting slightly and pressing her weight into the heel of her left hand, Quietus lifted her right and reached.

This, the mental inflection was one of warmth as she drew her fingers along the three slashes running across Aver's clavicle. Over twenty years old now and not a moment faded. It never would so long as Quietus lived. You remember what it does...

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver felt a tight knot of fondness against her ribs under the touch of calloused fingers. Her lips parted for a deep breath as Qui followed the gesture she’d first drew over two decades ago. Drunk on blood, on the thrill of hunting another hunter…

How much different would her life be if the Beastia hadn’t had her presence of mind, then?

Icy eyes softened at the corners as she held that steady jade gaze.

Why do you want me to?

 

[Quietus]

Because you gave me a gift of you, a simple reply, her hand fell still over the marks, and I want to return the favor.

What things Quietus had experienced of Ygdris in the midnight hours had been something worth holding on to. It wasn't just the physical nature of their ... relationship, but this ever-evolving emotional connection. She'd seen things she was sure no one else had. Perhaps not even Aver's other mates, certainty for it only granted in knowing that Aver had never built with them before.

Only destroyed.

I can teach you how.

 

[Aver Brand]

I am absolute shet at alchemy, Des, Aver snorted, blue gaze alive with mirth.

Tracing her fingers across the back of Qui’s hand, the merc sank her teeth into a wry grin.

“Are you sure you want—” she chewed on her words for a moment, waving at the planet around them, “you like your peace. Beasts and hunting and time alone.”

She pushed off the sun-warmed wood, level with the other woman as she sat up again. Gold and silver played on her skin as she raised her hand to tuck a stray blonde curl behind Qui’s ear.

“You’d never be rid of me then.”