Brother, Where Art Thou?

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau was deep within the heart of Coruscant, hunting. She had begun to feel the ache deep within her, the one telling her than she needed to find sustenance. And not just any sustenance -- Force sustenance.

Her prey wasn't just any old prey, either; this one was a young Sith acolyte, decent in the Force, but obviously not trained enough.

Otherwise, he would have sensed the hunter that was stalking him.

As with all things, Tipau felt sorry for her prey. After all, he was a sentient like her. Unlike her, however, he did not need the same nourishment.

Besides, he probably killed people for the fun of it.

The Ruferalahuin squatted in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to light up the acolyte like a Life Day tree.

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

Coruscant, again. For yet another time, I was struck by the cruelty of the gangs here, and the weakness of the people for putting up with the gangs. But deep philosophical ponderings could wait a while. I was hungry. Not "I need a burger" hungry. More like "I need to eat a person now" kind of hungry.

A certain Sith Acolyte stood before me, ignorant of my presence, and seemingly on a hunt of his own. I relished the chance to eat such an idiot. It appealed to my sense of poetic justice that I, a hunter, was after this Sith, another hunter.

@Tipau

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau's ears flicked as she watched the Sith. She was hungry, too hungry to notice anything other than her prey, which was her only thought. C'mon, c'mon, closer...closer....

Finally, the acolyte got within striking distance. With a loud squeal, Tipau leapt from her vantage point and began assaulting the Sith with balls of flame. Was it refined? Not really. Was it graceful? Nope. Was it fun? Yes.

Besides, the Ruferalahuin female didn't like her meat raw. That was too primitive, in her opinion.

Now only a couple feet away, Tipau kept up the barrage of flames as the acolyte screamed in pain. She couldn't wait to eat!

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

Well, that'd escalated quickly. With a leap, I flew into the Sith, accidentally taking a burst of flame to the back. Pinning him to the ground, I boiled his blood by ramping up my body temperature, and he laid still. Dead. I looked up to see a surprised-looking blonde with a tail, and ears like mine. I patted out the fire on my back, and ripped one of the man's arms from its socket.

"Don't look at me like that, kid."

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Any flame that Tipau had was extinguished with the sudden arrival of this new person. She gawked at him, eyes wide. The eyes. The face. The fur! Could it be...?

Of course, the newcomer ripping off the arm of her prey snapped her out of her thoughts. "Hey!" Tipau squawked. "That's mine! I burned him first, therefore I get dibs!"

Shoving him away, she withdrew her knife and cut out the heart. Sighing, she lit her hand on fire, letting it roast a few moments before shaking out the flames. Taking a bite, she felt the gnawing hunger disappear.

Tipau then turned her attention back to the male. "Who are you?" she asked cautiously. No point in getting her hopes up, after all.

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I grinned jauntily at the girl. She was obviously younger than me. Closer to my age than Raven's, but still.

"Wouldn't you like to know..."

Burning away the cloth on the Sith's arm, and roasting the arm itself, I grinned even wider, and took a bite out of it. Tasted like bantha steak.

"I'm Mal."

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

"Mal...Mal...Hmm..." Tipau took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. Her blue eyes studied him intently.

A smug smile snuck its way onto her lips. "Would I be right to assume Mal is short for...Malachite Avachei?" The Ruferalahuin was praying fervently that her guess was right; she'd always wanted to meet her brother. Especially after finding out her parents were dead.

Taking another bite, Tipau wished her tail back and forth, awaiting a reply.

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I raised my eyebrow, a bit confused. Nobody knew my last name, except for Raven. Meili didn't give much of a damn about last names, and Mit didn't hear my name from me. So who was this girl?

"I don't know who you are, but you're nobody I've ever met. You don't even have my first name right."

I kept eating the man's arm, hoping that I could finish eating quickly, and run the hell away if I needed to.

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau dropped the heart, pleased with his reaction. She threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. "I'm Tipau Avachei, your sister!" The Ruferalahuin squealed loudly in his ear. "I can't believe I found you!!!"

Her tail was swishing back and forth now, trying to vent some of the excitement.

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I froze, and hugged the girl back, not sure what was going on.

"Who?"

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau's smile dropped, and she stopped hugging Mal before she remembered. "Oh! Right. We've never met. But I'm your sister."

Using her hands to gesture, she continued. "See, about ten years after Mother and Father were exiled, I was born. They told me all about you! And they were right, we do look a lot a like. But I digress. When Mother became ill, Father said he would take her back to the colony, in order to seek help. They said if everything went well, they'd contact me, but..." Tipau trailed off. The discovery of her parents' fates was still fresh in her mind.

"Anyway, when I didn't hear anything, I hitched a ride to the colony myself, to at least meet my big brother, but you were already gone, so... Yep. That's about it."

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I could remember the day the chief cut them down. At the memory, I pulled the girl back into a hug.

"...But the fucking chief killed 'em. And I didn't get to pay him back in kind. I ran off like some kind of prey."

I held her at arms length for a second, and smiled sadly.

"You do look like me, Tipau. It's almost funny."

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau was surprised for a moment when Mal pulled her back into a hug, but it soon dispapeared, and she hugged him back. "You didn't run off like prey, you ran off like someone whose parents were killed."

As he studied her, commenting on their likeness, she nodded. "Well, duh. We're siblings, remember? Siblings are supposed to look alike. Though, Mother always told me we both took after Father." Tipau gave a sad little smile, before looking back at the cooled body of the acolyte.

"I guess we should take him somewhere more private to eat, huh? I've got a nice little building I'm holed up in, if you wanna help me take the food back." Though she didn't say it, eating together would also give her an opportunity to learn more about her brother, and vice versa. Mal seemed to be taking the news of a sister pretty well, all things considering.

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I just looked at Tipau and shrugged.

"Who cares? Nobody's gonna look twice at a couple of crazy people sitting next to a dead person. Welcome to Coruscant, I guess. But..."

I picked up the corpse like a Huttball, and gestured to my newfound sister.

"Let's go, then."

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau beamed at him before picking up the discarded heart and dusting it off. "It's not too far away, really. Just a couple blocks over and up."

Tail swishing, she clambered up one of the catwalks before peering down at her brother. "Will you need help with that? 'Cause I can always finish off this--" she waved the heart around a bit. "--and then give you assistance."

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I looked up at my sister, and shook my head, hefting the corpse as if it was a bag of air. I was gonna show her what a real climb was. And so, I leapt, grabbing the top of the catwalk with my free hand, and hoisting myself up.

"It occurs to me now that I could've floated him up here."

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau grinned at the ease which Mal lifted up the corpse. Clearly, he didn't need her help.

Taking another bite out of the heart as if it was an apple, she flicked an ear at his comment. "Floated? How? Don't tell me you have wings, brother..."

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

My ear twitched at her comment about floating. There was no way...

"Mum and Dad never taught you anything but fire, did they? Figures."

[member="Tipau"]

 

[Ibby]

[member="Malachite Avachei"]

Tipau's ears drooped, as did her tail, at Mal's comment. "Well, yeah... all I need is fire to go hunting..."

She sulked a bit, before continuing the climb up the catwalk. "You sound like you're contemptuous of Mother and Father. Is it because they left you?" Finishing off her snack, the Ruferalahuin licked her fingers as she waited for her brother to catch up.

 

[Malachite the Shoki]

I sighed, and nodded.

"Just a little bit. After all, there were times they did come back to the camp, and they still never told me who they were. Up until they died, I thought my parents were dead."

Shaking myself, I walked over and put down the dead guy to hug my little sister.

"I guess they just thought you'd be better off with only a bit of training. Didn't want people coming after you, maybe."

[member="Tipau"]