Blood Hunt

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

The sound of the deluge outside the mouth of the rocky outcrop she'd taken refuge under was both calming and anxiety-inducing. She's always loved the sound of rain, even as a child - but the soft and constant pitter-patter of the drops against the rocks and surrounding foliage were also dampening her ability to hear anyone approaching. Her little perch was about half-way up a nearly vertical slope of bare rock, and it provided her with a decent, if rain-hazed, vantage point over the ground nearly ten feet below. Midas was crouched and huddled against the rocks to try and keep herself from getting any more soaked than she already was, trying to keep her teeth from audibly chattering as her eyes darted along the dense trees that grew several feet back from where the rocks met dirt below her. Without a doubt, they were out there...

Midas had come to the planet with the intent of following up on a lead she'd received of a possible TSE freighter crash. With any luck, and if she was fast enough, she would have been able to swoop in, clean up some parts or possible some of their cargo before their clean-up crews made it on site - but it seemed she had neglected to consider the local 'wildlife'. She'd set down a fair distance from where her intel had indicated the crash would be, and she'd set out on foot to ensure that it was still safe to approach the ship. It had felt like no more than five minutes since she'd landed when she'd come across a Catharese tribe on a blood hunt - and whether it had been the savage nature with which they were pursuing their prey, or possibly the bottle of cheap wine she'd basically chugged on her way to Cathar, she'd gotten a little trigger happy and took an errant shot or two at them with her blaster.

So sue her! She'd been alone, she'd been intoxicated, and they were giant freaking cat people for feths-sake! For some unfathomable reason the locals had taken poorly to being fired on, and they'd changed the quarry of their hunt to one very ill-prepared salvager.

A few hours of running, hiding, and swearing loudly later - Midas had managed to lose them when the skies had opened up and the rains made her scent difficult to track. She'd clambered up the bare rock slope and into the tiny cave-like depression she'd been able to spot, and she'd hunkered down to wait until the heat died down. She didn't know much about how long these hunts normally lasted, but with any luck, it wouldn't be late enough into the night that she'd have to try and locate her ship in the dark... She didn't like her chances against the Catharese in the dark.

In the time she'd been crouched there, impatiently waiting for the rain to let up, and also to sober up a touch, she thought she could see in the distant trees the crash she'd been told about. It was impossible to see the kind of vessel, nor the state it was in, but there was definitely something out there... Unlikely now that she'd be able to sneak in - but perhaps if there was an ounce of luck left anywhere she'd get the chance.

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

Would have surprised the largest optimist to know that the pilot of the TSE ship was still alive.

Nobody ever considered Ronan's healing factor.

Made sense. There hadn't been many fights evenly matched. Just the way of things. Left arm was scorched black, half of his face burned to a crisp, agonizing pain the only thing fueling him on. At this point Vizsla did not remember what he had come to do on Cathar. It had to be important. To be away from his daughter, just as she began to regain her former self. The memories were gone. Burned away into crispy bits. All that Ronan could see was the outlines of Ne'tra Fleet as his freighter was swallowed by the dark of space.

The next few hours after the crash were spend in delirium.

Even one such as him had his limits. As the wounds knitted back together, flesh regrew, Vizsla shivered in the low grass just beyond the ship's crash site. In truth a few hours more were needed. To get back to his former self, but the sudden screams and shots of blaster bolts in the distance?

His head raised, looking through the leaves.

Brows furrowed.

"What a dumb ass chit." Ronan muttered as he saw [member="Meadow Jin"] start to run. The first attempt to rise to his feet failed. Immediate ankle collapse. Second time? He managed to pull himself up by a nearby tree. His arm was okay. Not ideal, but okay. Face? Eh, it had always been a pile of shit, at the very least the skin had reformed. The next hour or so Vizsla followed them. Quietly. Watching and observing. At the back of his head Ronan knew there was something he had to do on Cathar.

Something important, but what? This was the first shred of stimuli he had received for days. Might as well see where it went.

By the end Vizsla settled down just outside the cave, his back pressed against the line of the rock, but he could hear her fine. From the way her heart beat (just a bit too fast) to the scent of alcohol in the air. It was faint, you didn't run for hours through the forest without it diluting. Still there though. "They won't stop hunting you, you know." Vizsla said into the cave by way of greeting. "You shot the chieftain's son in the face."

For some reason his tone was amused there.

"They won't be able to return to camp, if they don't bring your head with them."

Veeeery amused, even if she couldn't see much more than than outline just beyond the entrance.

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tags: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

Something about the deafening properties of the rain coupled with the tension that was seeping into every sinew of her body from being cold and wet set the woman on edge. Though, it could have also been the fact that she was actively being hunted by the Catharese...

There was no chance of spotting the sun through the dense cloud above, but there was a growing gloom about the air that suggested it was beginning to sink behind the horizon. It wouldn't be long until the cliff face she huddled in would be thrown into complete darkness, and she doubted that it would somehow get warmer once that happened. What had seemed like a brilliant hiding spot was very shortly going to become a karking death trap if she didn't sort out a plan.

Perhaps she could ru- They won't stop hunting you, you know.

Her heartbeat, which had already been a little unsteady, leaped to a frantic pace as it felt like it lodged in her throat. She was momentarily frozen as her mind raced with the options laid out before her. If this was a member of the blood hunt... Well, this was the end for her - but as her eyes scanned the wall of falling rain before the outcropping's edge she didn't see a thing. The Catharese were rather sizable creatures, and they had nothing to fear from confronting her head on - so there would be no reason for them to be sneaking around, also she doubted they'd have been cautious enough to have snuck up on her when they'd been so enraged either...

Which left... What? Who would have been slinking around in the pouring rain just to let her know she'd screw up? With careful movements, she slid the blaster from the holster at her hip and pressed herself as tightly as she could back against the stone face of the cliff. "Oh yeah? And have you come to claim it for them then, stranger?" Her gently shivering hands became steady as she closed them both around the blaster, holding it aimed at what she assumed would be chest height of a person who would go along with the gruff voice she'd heard. Her own voice came out as smooth as silk when she spoke, refusing to put even an ounce of the shivering she'd suffered from into the tone.

If whoever this was was foolish enough to pop their head around the corner, her intent was to give them a repeat performance of what had gotten her into this trouble in the first place.

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Meadow Jin"]

She'd just about be able to make up a snort.

"I do not speak to my prey. I hunt them." He had never understood that tendency in some. To talk and chat to those they wish to kill. Gloating about it. This only left them open to potential death. Stupid. Suicidal. It was one of the first things Ronan taught his warriors. There was enough time to celebrate a kill later. Once it was done. It would taste much the sweeter too, because what was the point of lording it over their prey?

They were cattle either way.

"No, I was just passing by." Tone bemused again. Rough fingers curling around a piece of rock. Mulling his next action, pondering what to do. "Figured I'd let you know that the Cathar's eyesight only improves at night."

A rough chuckle.

"You most likely won't see the sunrise."

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

The soft sound of a sigh would escape from that little cave she'd taken up in as he commented on how he treated 'prey'. She supposed it was a good sign then that he'd chosen to speak with her... Probably? It wasn't exactly a heartening message to know that he considered anyone prey honestly...

She wasn't foolish enough to lower her blaster, however - instead, she rested her arms lightly against one of her knees to steady them against the chill that continued to creep deeper into her bones with each passing moment, only hurried by the receding sunlight. Her trigger finger was far less itchy now that she'd sobered up, however, and she was in no rush to blast whoever this was unless they gave her good cause.

"Just passing by to pass on that sage advice then, hey? Well, consider it received." The throaty chuckle that followed one of his statements made the hair on the back of her neck rise in a way that left her uneasy for a whole host of reasons. Whoever this was, he was chuckling at the prospect of her being ripped apart by the hunting party that pursued her.

Who in the feth was this man?

"Listen, pal; I appreciate the warning - but I don't need what you're passing off as dark humor, alright? Why don't you pop your face around that corner and see what happens?" She could feel that itch again, caused not by what was left of the alcohol in her system, but a desire to shut up this cackling specter that was whispering at her from beyond the cave mouth.

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Meadow Jin"]

Head tilted.

Challenge.

"Humor?" The tone was positively questioning, but Vizsla didn't elaborate there. Instead he rounded the corner. It became immediately clear that this one wasn't from Cathar whatsoever. Not even if one had a lot of imagination and too much to drink. No fur, or the features of an lion. What Meadow did see was a man like a mountain moving like a predator. Every step calculated. Yet, that calculation did not prevent him from seeming almost nonchalant there. Like Ronan wasn't being aimed at with a blaster. Half his face had been burned- several months old, those scars were apparently (Even though it had only happened a few hours ago).

"I am seeing what happens,"

Vizsla declared, while turning the rock around in his hand. Eyeing her up with eyes dark like coal. "Few people survive that aim their blaster at me." Ronan added after a moment. "You should put it down, it won't help you here."

Unless she really believed shooting him now wouldn't bring out a cacophony of blood hunters on her arse.

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

Once again she found herself silently questioning who in the 7 hells this stranger was. He was awfully familiar for someone who was just wandering up on her hidey-hole and doing a picture-perfect job of being both threatening and also rude. To the best of her knowledge, the only people she'd managed to offend today had been the Catharese hunting party and perhaps a god or 4 with all of her swearing earlier... She took a slow breath and readjusted her aim higher, perhaps chest-height for one of the massive feline hunters.

The movement at the edge of the cavern mouth caused her to flinch just a touch as she saw that she was aiming at near face height from the mountain of a man that came into view. With the fading light, it was difficult to tell exactly what she was looking at, but he appeared to be in terrible shape - if still recovering. The puckered skin across half of his face was that vibrant pink of still healing scar tissue, and it appeared that his attire had been through the wringer as well. Possibly from the crash?... That didn't make sense though - there's no way he'd be healing that quickly... Not unless he was a Force user maybe?

She used a steady hand to lower the blaster to aim it squarely at Ronan's chest, and leveled her gaze on his. "That's quite the offer, stranger. How about instead, you drop the rock and get the feth out of here before I blow a hole in your chest large enough to toss that rock through?" Her voice was tight, the last hint of that tipsy feeling clearing as she felt her heart pounding in her ears. This man looked like danger personified, and she wasn't about to take him up on his offer of being unarmed.

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Meadow Jin"]

The cavern echoed with his rough laughter.

The folly of youth, perhaps. It made Ronan feel alive in ways that the battle hadn't in a while. Not being known. The other side having no reason to respect or truly fear him. Because who could this badly burned man truly be? Danger? Sure, if there wasn't several meters distance between them. If he wasn't only holding a rock. If Meadow wasn't holding a blaster. Surely that was that, right? What danger could Ronan pose? Imposing and large he could be.

But how much did that matter when it came to rock versus blaster?

That laughter didn't inspire much confidence in that logic. "Offer accepted. You have three seconds to shoot. If you do- or if the blaster isn't aimed elsewhere after the seconds are up?" He shook the rock. "This will make you hurt plenty." Something shifted in his stance there.

Eyes dead and unfeeling.

Vizsla was prepared to die here.

Was she?

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

This will make you hurt plenty...

Well, that was something to think about. Her eyes stayed firmly trained on the stranger that was imposing enough to block nearly half the entrance to the small alcove she'd taken shelter in. Her grip on the blaster didn't waver, however. Sure this man was large, and the rock in his hand that he waved so flippantly wasn't exactly small either - but it wasn't exactly on par with the blaster in her hands. As far as she could tell, she had plenty of time to figure out what it was she wanted to do about this... You know, so long as the blood hunt didn't catch wind of them.

She thought fleetingly of perhaps turning her firearm onto the rock and possibly just blasting it off... Maybe even his hand. Risky option, that. If she missed, the sound might be lost to the constant patter of rain, but it was unlikely that this man would just let it slide that she'd tried - and if she hit? Well, he didn't look much like a screamer, but she'd been wrong about that sort of thing in the past. She brought her eyes back from the rock in his hands to settle them on his own, hers narrowing a touch. It was eerie, how calm he seemed to be - and also how very little was coming through his eyes.

She swallowed once around a lump that was forming in her throat and moved the blaster to be more solidly aimed, slightly higher on his chest. If she was a good shot, it would likely be lethal to your everyday average person. "I could probably shoot you and be out of here before those cat people catch up. Try me." She wasn't about to die here - she had plans, and she wasn't going to let some giant with a death wish get in her way.

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Meadow Jin"]

She just got a smile.

Cold.

"One...." Slowly, dragging it out, enjoying it. A step forward at that. Ronan could feel it all- hear the beat of her heart in her throat. Her pulse shuddering. And yet... Jin didn't yield. Maybe before the crash Ronan would have found something to praise there. Maybe it would still be enough to praise her. Right now? He wasn't sure what he was doing on this planet. Why he was here. There was a frustration there. Without knowledge on how to proceed, Vizsla relied on instinct.

The instinct to go in a straight path forward.

And to see what would happen. "....two-" Her fingers squeezed the triggers. Everything slowed down. Ronan was impressed, not everyone had the willingness to shoot to kill. Not even in a situation like this. He exploded in a flurry of speed and movement. Shifting out of the direct trajectory of the bolt. Far too fast for a human, but Vizsla hadn't ever been one to begin with. It burned a path forward. Ripping through the flesh of his right shoulder and that caused pain.

Pain that was used to propel him forward.

Closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye... or a beat of the heart.

"Three." Vizsla whispered as the rock came up, to slam the blaster out of his path and launching a punch into her core.

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

What a fething idiot. As he spoke the first number she felt a tension that had been sitting between her shoulders like the boulder in his fist, unknot. If he was going to press this, then there was no more reason to be tense - it was time to act. As he took the first step forward she let loose a soft, no longer shaky breath to steady herself, and held herself with her lungs empty - perfectly still. That second step along with that second number saw her squeeze the trigger firmly.

What she saw was difficult for her eyes to register as he appeared to nearly blur when the shot was taken. He jolted to the side and her shot went wide of centre mass, taking him high and in the shoulder. The blood from the shot hadn't even had time to hit the ground and he was on her, the rock slamming into the hands that held the blaster and rendering them both instantly numb, the firearm going flying out of her grasp and clattering to the floor as he brought that fist up and into her stomach.

Thankfully she'd already emptied her lungs of air because the shot would have soundly winded her. She staggered back and winced as her back slammed into the hard stone she'd been huddled against, taking only a moment to let that pain register before she brought her arms up to put them between herself any more blows this maniac was planning to throw. Her eyes shone in the looming darkness with an anger that didn't quite match his own, her voice was hoarse as she spat her words at him, "You idiot! They'll have heard that!"

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Meadow Jin"]

He was about to launch a kick into her knee, when she... spoke again.

Ronan blinked.

This was something that Vizsla couldn't wrap his head around. Why was she talking? Jin had already cast the die. Starting by refusing to lower her blaster. Followed by actually getting off a shot at him. The time for negotiation and rationalization was long gone, right? What did it matter that the Cathar were still there. That they would have heard her blaster shot?

She should have thought of that sooner.

A shrug. His fingers curling tighter into the rock, preparing to respond, if this was a ploy. "They will die, if they move against me." Pointing the edge of the rock towards her. "Much like you." Tilting his head, feeling the tension in his bones. "Unless you wish to plead for your life. I could offer my protection. Maybe."

It even surprised him.

Why would he protect this fool of a woman? Call it instinct.

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Vizsla"]

---

Midas' eyes shot down as she watched his foot lift off the ground, her entire body jerking to the side as she anticipated the next blow - but he stopped short of actually rising the leg to kick at her. She blinked right along with him, seemingly as surprised as he was that he had stopped. Her breath came out once more in an exasperated sigh as she returned her gaze to his, her dark eyes narrowing as she leaned heavily back against the wall, one hand rising to grip the other as she winced, feeling the bruising that was already beginning to bloom under the skin where the rock had knocked the blaster from her hands. Whoever this demon was, he wasn't messing around... And he'd gotten his wish with regards to her lowering the blaster - though not in the way she might have preferred.

His next offer came, just as unreasonable as the first. Unless you wish to plead for your life... There's no way he could know who he was dealing with, much as she was clueless about who he was, but pleading wasn't exactly something she was known to do. Those narrowed eyes remained on him, her tone heated as she responded in a much less calm tone, "Listen, you psycho; I'm not about to beg you not to beat my brains in - and we need to leave. Now." She lowered both of her hands to plant them against the wall behind her and shoved herself off of it, carefully rising to her full height and trying not to visibly wince from the ache in her stomach. Her eyes were also weary as she did so, trying to determine if he was about to try and hit her again.

She waited a moment, and trusting that he hadn't taken another pot-shot at her with that rock, her plan was to step around the rough-looking mountain man and make a break for it out of the mouth of the cave.

 

[Ronan Vizsla]

[member="Meadow Jin"]

He was about to point out how, when presented with a murdering psycho, that was really one of the saner things to do.

Then blaster bolts smashed into the rockwall of the cave outside.

It made the cavernous ceiling shudder above them. Ronan glanced up, gauging just how structurally sound the cave was. Not... very. It did end up shifting his priorities. From terrorizing Meadow (which was turning into a pleasant and amusing distraction) towards survival. That was when he worked best. So, it helped both of them. Him, because surviving was always a win. Her? Because it meant Vizsla wasn't busy caving her head in with a rock right now.

"Too late..." He murmured while following her to the beginning of the cave. A quick glance outside showed it all. About a dozen of Cather and their mounts. Blaster rifles at ready. "Hm, they usually use ritualistic weaponry during their blood hunts."

Ronan shared with her.

Like they were talking about the weather, rather than bracing against a volley of blaster shots.

"They must really have loved their leader, if you got them that pissed." Scratching his chin while pondering his next move. There was only one way in and out. It meant going through the blood hunt. What Vizsla could do was just hang back and wait. They were mostly after Meadow here. Maybe if they killed her, he could get out. Or at the very least they'd be weaker after that struggle. Easier to pick off. "So, what's your plan here, I assume you have one."

A slow stretch.

It made the burns on the side of his body stand out even more. They seemed to have healed even more since she first laid eyes on him.

 

[Meadow Jin]

Location: Cathar
Tag: [member="Ronan Viszla"]

---

The same shuddering blast that brought the Mando's attention elsewhere, had Midas pausing as she was about to step wide around him. Any sort of forced calm she'd been using to try and keep this maniac from bashing her brain in faded with the hope she'd had of getting out of there in one piece. Whoever this man was, he seemed to heal rather rapidly... But she didn't have that luxury, and it seemed unlikely now that she'd get out without paying a pound or two of flesh.

The string of curses that left her lips was both colourful and tinged with a heat that hinted at exactly how unimpressed she was with their situation. She followed him as he strode to the mouth of the little overhang she'd chosen to shelter in and took stock of how dire her outlook had become. Mounted? Blasters? Nearly double the original numbers? This chit was unacceptable.

Despite the dire straights, they found themselves in, the salvager turned on the mountain of a man beside her and glared daggers at him. "Just know that if I die, I'm going to haunt your arss for eternity." With that charming statement, she turned back, scooped her blaster off the cavern floor and shoved it into its holster against her thigh. Three more blaster shots ricochetted off the edges and roof of the cave's entrance, but they didn't seem to phase her as she crept forward again, sticking close to the edge of the cavern mouth and glancing along the sheer rock cliff, glancing upwards.

It wasn't going to be a fun climb, but there was perhaps ten feet of rock above them until they reached the apex of the outcropping and would once again have cover from the blood hunt - if that's what this still even was. She spared him one last glance, completely ignoring his question, before she stepped out onto the small ledge at the mouth of the cave, turned in towards it and leaped up. Her fingers gained purchase on several small protrusions of rock and she began to haul herself up, scrambling up the bald face of the cliff in an attempt to get to the top.