We'll Take Apart Your Head

[Matsu Xiangu]

[SIZE=9pt] Somehow managing to get him down the steps, she watched him pick up his rifle and the way he was adjusting himself for the weight of the metal on his face and thought of him clinically, detached from his situation. He wasn’t walking any more strangely than could be attributed to shock and he’d managed to talk to her so he seemed at least somewhat in the game. The brace was admittedly crude but she could make adjustments as long as the extent of his injuries was just as it appeared from the outside.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She’d turned to go, heading out the way they’d come in the hopes that what they’d cleared out had stayed that way when she heard what passed for speech from him. She looked at him over her shoulder for a moment, narrowing her eyes as she figured out what he was trying to say – and it made her stop in her tracks.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] At first she didn’t move from where she froze, blinking once before shifting to face him and stalking the few paces between them. When she looked up at his face she saw anger, hopelessness, and from somewhere she felt the faint stomach-twist sensation of pain for him. But it was momentary and she reached with her natural hand to grab the top of his vest again, her grip tight but not angry like that first time though she looked right up at his ruin of a face as she spoke. “Stop it. Don’t thank me. You’ve gotten me out of trouble, and I’ve done the same for you. That’s what this is, and if you thank me every time it will make me sick,” she said, what could be misconstrued as a lighthearted joke from someone with a more consistent sense of humor clearly dead serious when coming from her mouth. Perhaps it was just testament to what had become commonplace in her life that his injuries seemed fixable to her. Or maybe it was just that the mask made her think of rEEls, footage of ANIMALS preying on each other and KILL, KILL![/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] But even still, when she let go of the vest she trailed her hand up and along the side of his neck, gentle and comforting. “You’re going to be okay Kail.” She turned to go, snaking them out in the direction they’d come. (That’s what this is…all this is.) [/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] They moved slowly, moving back and forth between Matsu guiding him as a makeshift crutch and moments where he navigated on his own. He seemed determined even through a pain that she understood all too well, watching blood drip down the lattice-work of the brace and off his chin to land on the floor. She’d told him he would be okay and nothing seemed more important than keeping that promise (how foreign!) and she let her senses flare outwards, knowing nothing would get anywhere near him if she had anything to do with it.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] So when the K’lor’slug reappeared, angry and full of holes where Kail had punched through its exoskeleton, Matsu looked over to Kail and held up a hand. “I’ve got this one.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She was almost smiling as she squared off with the thing, running her eyes over the hard casing of its exoskeleton as it raced by and let out an amplified insectile screech. Fights like this were not where she excelled – mentalism was hard as an offensive technique in quick-moving situations and telekinesis was less efficient than slicing something in half with a lightsaber. But she liked a challenge and as the slug kept slipping by her and she realized where it was headed – right towards Kail, right towards what hurt it before (my turn now, my turn) – she reached up and grabbed on to its forelimbs with the Force, jerking her hand backwards and taking a step backwards as the entire slug fell up and backwards on to its spine. (Always the stomach that’s unguarded.) After a few weeks with the Beast Hunters the creature felt like chump change, like practice, and she ripped the old framework from what used to be windows high above them and sent them hurtling downwards, arrows of ancient stone piercing through the slug wherever it was soft and fatal. It let out a final begging screech before one sliced through the underside of its head, silencing it. She moved over to it, kneeling down by its mouth and ripping out most of the teeth that would pry loose in her grip and slipping them in to the same pouch as the Ravager before returning to Kail, dusting off her pants and letting out a quiet sigh of “well that was nice”.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] It was quiet from that point on (because its already taken its price, its already tasted blood) and she got him back out through the doors and in to the hot Korriban sun, pulling him to a stop before they left the shade of the overhang. “I can bring my ship over here, you don’t have to walk,” she offered, no trace of coddling in her voice – he didn’t need it. She just wanted to.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][member="Kail Ragnar"][/SIZE]​

 

[Connor Harrison]

His whole world was spinning, a distorted blur of the brown and orange tomb mixed with the blackening of his own vision due to the swollen eye and flittering good eye he tried to keep open as much as possible. Ambling along back the way they had come, now Kail was doing nothing but hampering Matsu, and that made him feel useless and totally embarrassed.

I have nothing….nothing left…leave me here…

Kail wanted to die.

He felt blood dribbling down his head, and out of his jaw, with each breath he had to take. He breathed in and it hurt as the muscles ground against the broken bone and raw flesh. He breathed out and it made him feel sick as the muscle flapped against nothing, droplets of blood spitting out like a broken machine leaking oil.

Groaning in despair, he was angry. Angry, and alone.

As Matsu suddenly stopped, making him wobble, she turned to face him and grabbed him, but it didn’t bother him. Why shouldn’t she. He was useless to her now. Holding her back. Why did she need to bother with a wounded human – flesh and blood and bone – when she was a Goddess.

His weak eyes raised upwards, the white dull and near grey, meeting her gaze again, looking at the small droplets of blood over her brow and cheek as she spoke. All he could do was listen.

You’re sick just by looking at me…LOOK AT ME!

It was then her soft hand managed to careers the side of his neck, and Kail was gone. He closed his eye and nodded, swallowing hard and tasting the iron in his blood and dirt he had inhaled. Ever so slightly, he inclined his head into her hand and savoured her touch, something he may never be able to experience again. A tear, dry and feeble, rolled from his eye, and down the blooded jawline, over his stubble, and setting on her thumb.

Not even knowing if she noticed, he found a small burst of strength and continued walking with her through the tunnels, his rifle clattering along the stone wall, as they came into the main chamber where a pleasant surprise was waiting – the K’lor’slug. Death was staring at him, and he welcomed it. A meal would suffice the beast and Matsu could get away and out to face her destiny out there amongst the Lords of the Sith. Kail at least hoped the brace would hurt on digestion.

His boot moved forward, but Matsu was already gone, forcing him to lean on the back wall as she masterfully disposed of the wild beast. As the Sith used her power and surroundings to cleave the helpless beast into nothing but pulp, Kail didn’t care about that thing, he just watched Matsu at work. Such power, such ease – she was a wrecking ball of destruction and she carried it off looking graceful and in control. The future could have been so promising with her by his side.

As the world seemed to go black again for minutes, actually just a second as he slipped again, Matsu was there and helped him out of the smelling chamber filled with debris and parts of K’lor’slug, through the final chamber that now seemed to dwarf them both as Kail ambled as fast as he could to simply get out.

The doors ahead were still open, and the daylight greeted them with each step until the broke out into the cool Korriban air. Kail inhaled the fresh air as Matsu stopped him, letting him slide down to sit in the sandy rock in the shade as she left him to get her ship.

Leave me. Let me love you from the grave. Don’t be weak Matsu. Leave me.

Head weighed over to one side, his strength draining, Kail lent on his arm and watched the Sith walk without a care in the world towards her ship in the far distance. A small, breath laugh escaped Kail’s lips. The words he spoke so confidently and hour or so before on this very spot came to haunt him.

”Something more delicious right here that I want.” Don't let the best thing to happen you to walk away. She saved you!.

Exhaling and rolling his head softly from side to side, he found a burning ember inside himself to be the mercenary he was brought up to be. He was still standing; still breathing. He owed Matsu Xiangu his life, and at this point it was hers to either grant or deny in his broken state.

But if you didn't ask, you didn't get.

Following her smooth, serpent-like stride across the orange rock and sand, leaving the tomb and the spirit of Kail Ragnar behind, he followed her. Kicking up sand with a slightly erratic course, but stronger than before, he carried himself forward to prove he wasn't out of the game.

Not quite yet.


[member="Matsu Xiangu"]

 

[Matsu Xiangu]

[SIZE=9pt] There had been a moment staring at her arm (that’s too far away…it should be right here, and it’s not part of me anymore somebody help me) and bleeding out that she had given up. It had been easy to let go, to give up the few things she held to her name. She had lasted for about a minute before she realized that was idiotic. She was meant to be somebody. She was meant to have a hand in changing the course of the Galaxy, to watch cities crumble under her feet, to feel the adrenaline she craved again and again until one day it killed her.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] But she would choose how she ended.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She never would have gotten to do all those things if it wasn’t for Kail and he had a similar choice in front of him now.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] He could stand there and give up, let fatigue and hopelessness consume him. She would think no less of him for it – she knew how it felt – but she would leave him there to die. Matsu despised weakness and would never accept it from herself again and not in those around her either. If he could not bring himself to survive then despite whatever it was she felt when she looked at him she would let him go.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] But…if he could get in of his own accord then Matsu was willing to allow whatever it was that passed between them in the temple to continue. The voice in the back of your head (that’s no conscience, women like you don’t have a conscience) had grown quiet since he’d shoved her aside, perhaps questioning its own existence in the face of that kind of sacrifice. As she slipped away from him over the sands she allowed herself to think of his arm around her and wonder what it might be like sometime when they weren’t in danger, to let him touch her in the ways she was scared to be touched. (I’m waiting. I’m waiting for you to tell me I’ m wrong, that I can’t trust him.)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] (Maybe I’m wrong, girl. Maybe I was wrong.)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She paused when she heard a slight metallic thump and the spray of sand under a sloppy footstep.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] When she looked behind her she saw Kail shuffling to follow.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] (You were wrong.)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] She watched him, letting a few seconds pass before walking to close the distance between them. Lacing her arm through his, she rested her other hand on his forearm and let him set the pace back to the ship, supporting him across the sand. The dry heat of the day swallowed up their silhouettes until they'd disappeared up the ramp.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt] (Goodbye.)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt] (I’m almost free.)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=9pt][member="Kail Ragnar"][/SIZE]​