Expeditionary Episodes of the Mercicle and the Cactus Queen

[Quietus]

A better foundation, closer water source, and a more secured location than this.

Quietus followed after the armored woman, glancing off to the adjoining trees where some inappropriately cute primate-looking creatures currently scurried about the branches squawking at one another. A scowl met the pests followed by an audible hiss from the woman. They spooked with gribbling chirrups and scampered off.

The plateau is safer than the base level of the jungle. The larger terrestrial predators can't climb the ridge walls. But -

A soaring screech pierced the air as Qui's previous aerial mount swooped in through the trees, snatching one of those poofballs mid-air with a blood-curdling squeal.

this planet has more than its fair share of flying beasts. The lake is also infested with amphibious reptiles and the prey creatures are small. The baselands have better hunting.

Aver reached the first level of the treehome; a broad and open living area that looked to be primarily used for cooking and crafting. Quietus took a moment to look around the place, one hand leant upon a wooden support beam, About two months now I think. Only just finished building the loft.

 

[Aver Brand]

“On your own? Nice,” Aver said and gave a low whistle as she took in the space. “Would’ve figured most things around here hunt you, though. Seems the kinda planet that’d love to eat you first chance.”

As if to illustrate her point, Qui’s beast dove once more past the walkway, snatching another monkey off the branch.

Her smile broadened to reveal sharp teeth. “I like it.” Blue eyes flicked down to jade green. She winked. “Suits you.”

At that, Aver wandered into the treehome proper. Without pause or ceremony – or, indeed, a glance over the shoulder – she began to shed the rest of her armor.

 

[Quietus]

A nod, a wane smirk to Aver's assessment of the planet. She had it right, but that was part of the allure for this particular Shamalain. She'd traded in mostly civilized society for a retirement among the savage wilds. This living on the edge of a double-sided blade was her vacation from the troubles of the modern galaxy.

"I like it."

Qui's smirk softened as she looked about her humble abode - not nearly on par with her treehome on Onderon, but it wasn't meant to be. Not this one.

"It suits you."

Didn't have a reply for that. Nothing came to mind and she wasn't sure if that was due to the complexity of what she was presently encountering emotionally or ... simply from the distraction of Aver's figure slimming before her as she molted layers of phrik armor all over the floor. Somehow the realization that she'd finally found herself in a good place, somewhere she wanted to be, hadn't really settled in until the company of someone she wanted to be with stood there taking it all in.

Is this what it felt like to finally be content, happy with one's life?

Green eyes lingered over the lines of Aver's physique presently smoothed beneath the layer of her body glove, silently taking the woman in. How many people in this entire galaxy did she so readily shed her armor for?

Put them in here, bare feet padded across wooden floorboards, crossing the area to a large chest set in the corner where she crafted. Quietus unhinged the lock and pulled the top open, calling upon the various pieces of armor with the Force to give a helping hand. Couldn't touch it, after all.

Otherwise they'll be gone in an hour. Those damn stipkips steal everything.

 

[Aver Brand]

The mercenary said nothing as they quickly did away with the phrik. She breathed in the clean air, the blood-sweat of danger suffusing every breath she took. Though Nadir held its own perils, they paled in comparison to the raw wilderness thriving on Thral.

“If we’re really the only people on this whole planet...” she spoke, lingering in front of the blonde. Painfully slow, she began to slide down that damned zipper, relishing each click of metal teeth. The bodyglove soon pooled at her feet, and Aver was smiling as she leaned to kiss Quietus soundly on the mouth.

I’m going to enjoy it.

Out and over the rail of the walkway in the next instant, the merc landed on the lush grass. Glancing back up with a grin, she closed her eyes as Vonduun crab began to take the place of dead armor. Claws sank into tattooed skin, muscle and shell curling back into form. Dhaladii scrambled up her legs, over her torso, and finally settled over her gleeful smirk. What little there was of her presence in the Force winked out in an instant. Only perfect silence echoed in her mind, devoid of Qui's familiar warmth.

Still, Aver welcomed the brief moment of solitude. The ring was burning like an ejected cartridge in the hollow of her armor.

She expelled a long breath, then—

The two Ygdris coiled in unison, and in a flash of movement, she stood on the walkway again.

Same armor, same icy eyes. Only difference was, twenty years later, there was no need for arrogant speechifying.

Aver offered Qui the most uncertain smile of her life.

“I have something for you.”

 

[Quietus]

She was not remiss to experience the sloughing of armorweave skin - it was a sight Quietus would never tire of watching. How often it had stood a barrier between them, were it up to her she would use it for kindling. Nevermind the thought of whether or not it was actually flammable.

It would burn.

The smile that came next briefly caught the mute off her guard. Such a rare entity it was, the earnest and warm expression from the Mercicle. Open, friendly, happy. Were they caught in an empathy loop again? Didn't matter; it was whisked away in a kiss and before she could blink Aver had vaulted the railing and disappeared into the green. Curious. Did she intend to run naked through the thicket and survive? Wouldn't put it past her. Quietus waited, sensing the woman's maintained proximity before she rather suddenly could not sense her at all. Not even the Blood Trail.

Ygdris.

Aver reappeared in a flash of superhuman agility, tree quaking and trembling from her efforts. She braced a hand against a larger branch growing through the center of the level, wide eyes rounding on the familiar skull-helm.

"I have something for you."

Curiosity persisted at the sight of her uncertainty and the sensation of anxious ripples she could sense despite the severing of mental connection. Head gently canting to one side accompanied by the gentle tinkling of bone ornaments within the braids, she offered her mate the telltale loft of a brow in question.

 

[Aver Brand]

Blue eyes lingered for a beat before they flickered down to where she’d coaxed that damned metal band out of armor. As soon as it left the confines of the Force-dead Vonduun, Aver felt its power spill into her being. Warm, yet soothing; felt like a hot bath after a day in the field.

Her fist remained closed around the ring, because, really, it wasn’t the how so much as it was the what that was Ygdris’ gift to Desdemona.

She expelled a long breath, and did not look up.

 

[Quietus]

Quietus stared at Aver.

 

[Aver Brand]

Nothing happened. Aver furrowed her brow, then chanced an upward glance.

Oh.

Oh.

She nudged Dhal off with an impatient shoulder. The helmet gave a little hiss, but scurried off and down to her shoulder anyway.

Aver licked her lips.

Better?

 

[Quietus]

Patience had not been one of her strong attributes in her youth but after so many centuries one tended to grow that particular mental appendage. She practiced it fully if only for knowing Aver as much as she did. Sharply cut jade rolled over the Merc's posture, noting the manner in which she seemed to withdraw; vision falling, hand coiled inwards over ... something.

When she nudged Dhaladii off her head the wait quickly took a turn for piqued curiosity. Quietus regarded the woman like a conservative mother might take in the sight of her youthful child bashfully displaying a surprise tattoo.

What.

Is.

That.

She straightened from where she leaned against the tree limb, arms dropping to her sides as she gave Aver a once over. There was no change physically aside from the wariness possessing her. Mentally though it felt as if the glacier had given way, breaking off and opening a channel where the faintest trickling of emotion began to flow through from the various hidden and carefully frozen away chasms.

Ygdris, jades watched her carefully before sinking to the closed fist, what is in your hand.

 

[Aver Brand]

Ygdris was less a word and more the sharp point of a blade being waved her way.

The woman in question let her lips hook into a wry smile.

A gift, she intoned slowly, testing the cold waters. Behind the cracks in the ice, Aver could feel a torrent coming on.

She turned over the palm and uncoiled her fingers, revealing the silver band with its specks of red and blue.

Of me.

 

[Quietus]

Lips drew thin, unsmiling. Now it was Desdemona's turn to be uncertain. From the ring to the smirking woman and back, once and twice, she came to settle a wary look upon the alchemized trinket. Thought she understood it after putting things together but Aver might as well have been holding a primed grenade.

You...

Concern. It was concern etching its way into her expression.

are you sure about this?

Aver had just thrown herself in the sea without having a clue how to swim it. Drowning was very possible and Qui wasn't sure she was up to watching it happen.

 

[Aver Brand]

The mercicle tilted her head to the side and held the green gaze of the cactus queen for a long time. Her smile, though faint, persisted.

Many possible responses swirled about in her mind as she watched expressions pass over Qui’s face like shadows. From biting sarcasm to dull-edged affection… a gamut, now. There was a whole range of unexplored ways and words beyond the gate she’d just unlocked.

And the key, that curious trinket so dwarfed by the claws of Skerr Ygdris.

“No,” she spoke, picking the single syllable from the swimming sea of hundreds.

“But I’ve been in the deep end before, Des,” her brow furrowed as she continued, “and… ah. I’ve never lived safe. Kark, I probably spent more of my life on battlefields than at home.” Pausing, Aver had to resist the urge to close her fist around the ring again.

“Why— why are you worried?”

 

[Quietus]

This is not a battlefield you can undertake with your fists and blades.

The tone she took was not condescending but quietly imploring caution. Aver wasn't stupid and, so far as she could tell, less foolhardy than she had been when they first met. Her risks were calculated now rather than aggravated. She wasn't certain about the apparent selflessness of the gesture, though she appreciated it... Qui just hoped she wasn't trying to prove something.

Quiet footsteps closed the distance between them, unhurried for their directness to stop just at her front, space enough to gaze down at the ring without upsetting Aver's hold on it.

A sigh. Her smile returned, faint and weary.

Why ... because it's so much easier to get hurt on this battlefield, and so much harder to heal. I don't mind the armor you wear there and I think I've begun to understand why you do. This...

Quietus gently shook her head, looking down at the ring, I would never ask you to do this for me ... I have no words to express how I feel that you offer it freely. No one has ever done something like this for me before.

 

[Aver Brand]

A slow blink of consideration followed as Quietus stopped just inside her personal space. So very few were the people that could stride with confidence that such an infringement would be allowed.

Or, perhaps, even welcomed.

Aver traced her thumb along the rim of the ring, blue eyes never leaving piercing greens. She would not let herself run.

“You didn’t ask,” she reminded Qui in a warm voice, then drew a bottom lip between sharp teeth. Words, even now, slipped between her fingers like fish in a burbling stream.

“I’ve been wrong, before. Thirty years ago I thought I’d be strongest with the Sith so… I was Sith. And then I was wrong, so I stopped. And got better – learned better. Khallesh asked me once why I used Vong and normal tech together and I told her it was because at the time, it made me the strongest possible me.

“But now it isn’t, because time’s gone on and I’m not the same and what was the best for me then…” she breathed out, squeezing her eyes shut. Is not the best anymore.

“Knowing how to dance has its perks, you know?”

 

[Quietus]

Quiet greens shifted to the Vong armor, leveling calmly on the spot of Aver's chest where the bloodtrail mark lay hidden beneath. She smiled, warmth and appreciation coloring the expression. Aver had come to both impress and surprise her numerous times over the years with the manner in which she grew and matured. Memories recalled moments where she had once never thought growth of this measure a possibility in the Merc's future.

Aver wasn't the only one who'd been proven wrong before.

Leaning in and up, the crown of Quietus' skull pressed into Aver's jaw, an affectionate nuzzle, a silent thank you for this gesture.

Then I will teach you this dance.

Her face shifted upwards, warm lips pressing against the corner of Aver's mouth.

 

[Aver Brand]

Despite the ring sitting in the center of her palm, there was a degree of separation there – Ygdris.

Aver hadn’t chosen this moment to don it by lucky coincidence. Yet even the layer of flesh and cartilage couldn’t keep away the warmth that spilled over their connection. Behind closed eyes the merc smiled, then turned her head into the kiss.

“I’ll learn,” she hummed against Qui’s lips with quiet confidence. Her life came with no shortage of hard lessons, and from as early age as any. This one was… quite pleasant, for a change.

“Just… steps.” Aver offered the blonde a small smile as she tucked the ring away again.

And the world, blissfully, lost much of its color.

“Small ones.”

 

[Quietus]

One foot in front of the other, returned the mute, lips lingering simply for the closeness. There was a moment where she considered pursuing the desires presently seeping into her veins - to spend the afternoon reacquainting herself with the scent, feel, and taste of this woman, but such things could wait for the twilight hours. Right now they had precious daylight to burn and Aver had a hound needing its legs strengths and a suit of armor to catch-up with.

Greens flickered back up, glinting a burdgeoning mischief to match the smirk stretching to bare pearly fangs.

Later.

Another kiss, fast and strong, those teeth catching soft flesh before Quietus pulled away.

Time for fun now.

Grinning, she leaned to nudge Dhaladii on Aver's shoulder with a light headbutt, the sensation of excitement bubbling to the crab armor empathicly as bare feet put distance between them. The Beast Master grabbed bow and quiver before walking to the edge of the flat and vaulting over the railing. Blue wings cut upwards with a screech, the winds rocking her treehouse as she took to the canopy top astride the winged creature.

 

[Aver Brand]

Aver’s indignation in being left behind was three-fold.

One, the implication that later was not fun.

Two, that Quietus pointedly left another bow and quiver leaning on the wall practically screaming here, take these.

And THREE—

“Puppy can’t fly!”

Rolling her eyes skywards, the mercenary leapt off the walkway with a sharp whistle. She rolled off the landing and never missed a beat as Shai pounded past – wrapping her hands around familiar spines, Aver mounted the galloping tuk’ata and disappeared past the treeline.

 

[Quietus]

Couldn't hear the wailing Merc for the wind in her ears. Couldn't sense her either. Quietus pulled her winged beast to circle above the trees, searching out for the hardly dismissive Force Signature of the woman's sentient hound. It was to she that the Beast Master honed in, imploring the creature to follow her as she sailed overhead. Puppy did just that, her large and yet sleek mass skirting through the underbrush while [member="Aver Brand"] held on.

They followed the blue wings above, spying it through breaks in the canopy here and there. Puppy was not beyond sensing the presence of Quietus, keeping up without much trouble at all. It was when they reached the edge of the plateau, coiling at the precipice of grey-green rockface dropping hundreds of meters below into a wild sea of jungle that the tuk'ata gave pause.

A screech prefaced a billow of winds as the great blue raptor swept in, wings beating as it dropped to cling to the cliff face below. Quietus clung at its back, looking up towards Aver and signaled with a hand for the woman to join her. Taking hold of a web of roots and vines growing along the rock, she swung off her mount's back and began scaling the wall sideways, making her way towards a cavernous opening to her right.

 

[Aver Brand]

The crunch of leaves underfoot; the whistle of branches as they whipped against armor and hide; the screech of the blue dragon above – they all echoed all the louder in the absence of Qui’s voice in her mind.

After the ring, Aver felt almost relieved in this deprivation of senses, cut off from the spiritual world in nigh every sense of the word. With Ygdris clinging to her flesh for the first time in two decades, the cut of separation was as raw as ever.

Wandering thoughts which almost sent her over the cliff as Puppy came to a grinding halt. On instinct, the merc clutched onto study spines, maintaining her grip on the hound.

Aver was quick to scramble off Shai and over the edge. Claws of the Vonduun curled over her fingers and dug into the face of the rock as the merc descended to join the blonde at the lip of the cave.

“What’s in here?”