[In the Cave -- Llunih's dwelling]
Rylan glances to D'Tarik's legs, "Ummm...say...don't au have a bone-knitter
in there somewhere?" he gestures to the ever-present lab coat.
DT looks up at this, "Yeah....what's ninte point?
Ry raises a brow and chuckles, "It would make it easier for au to walk if au
used it, don't au think?"
"What? Work on myself and get all bloody....with my own blood!? Au nuts?"
Ry casts a look over at the two talking females, then back at the smaller
boy, "It's a bone knitter D'Tarik, na surgery." he smirks, "Besides, au want
'Little-miss Dream-girl' to find out au'rh squeamish of a little blood?" he
tries to keep from laughing out loud, "Whoever heard of a doctor afraid of
blood!"
"Squeamish!? I am na!" DT protests, "I...just cant stand the sight of my own
blood. Anybody else's and it would be fine."
Rylan chuckles again, and grins, "Au'rh a rather blood-thirsty cretin,
aren't au?" he shakes his head, "Give the fvadt thing to me then. I'll do
it."
"Fine!" DT throws him an annoyed look, "Mr. Bigshot!" D'Tarik reaches into
his coat and pulls out a slightly modified bone knitter. It's larger than the
standard variety, and has a clear little tube attached to the top, filled
with a strange hue of green goop inside it. As Rylan accepts the instrument,
he looks at it, then again to his friend with a curiously raised brow.
Answering the unspoken question, D'Tarik explains "It's of my own design.
Academy issue, my behind! Just spray some of the green stuff on before you
start." D'Tarik waves his hand, motioning him to begin.
Obviously confused, Rylan again looks at the knitter briefly and asks, "Why?
What's the green stuff for?"
D'Tarik starts in, "Well, it will lessen my pain and it makes the bone
easier to....." he goes into a fifteen minute mini-lecture about the whys and
wherefores, quite pleased and proud of himself. Rylan shrugs and begins to
work, having been lost in the conversation somewhere around 'bone
marrow-mass' .... at least that's what Rylan thought the other boy had said
anyway. D'Tarik was talking much too fast, and using technical terms that
Rylan suspected the boy-genius had entirely made up. By the time D'Tarik
winds down from his speech, Rylan had finished, and looks at the kid with a
rather blank expression on his face.
D'Tarik looks at him angrily, "You didn't even use the goo! It would of made
it easier! Weren't au listening?!"
Ry just shrugs and grins. "Well...au'rh finished now anyway. What difference
does it make? Didn't seem to slow your speech down at all, in any case."
D'Tarik gives his friend a nasty look, as he tries to stand up. Once he's
steadily on his feet again, he brushes himself off. With a happy little
squeak, the Tribble jumps up and lands on his shoulder, delighted to be in
his customary perch once again. The girls see D'Tarik stand, and as they
slowly walk over, Rylan returns the bone-knitter to D'Tarik without them
noticing.
Bhy'hie tilts her head as she nears, and queries, "Hey! How come au'rh
standing all of a sudden?" Llunih however, stands slightly off to the side
of the group, still looking a little sad.
D'Tarik looks Byh'hie up and down, "Ummm...turns out I had a bone-knitter in
my coat that I had forgotten about.
"Au have been crawling around on broken legs, and au forgot about the
bone-knitter?" she smiles not so unkindly, "Au'rh rather .... absent minded
sometimes, aren't au?"
D'Tarik only nods at her last comment, and turns away, seeing his friend
move closer to the silent girl, Llunih; his brow creasing in worry over the
saddened look she wore.
Concerned, Rylan asks her quietly, "What's wrong?" at the slight shrug of
her shoulders, Rylan snaps his fingers as if he had remembered something,
and begins to rummage through his equipment bag. A moment later, he holds out an ISD towards her, and explains with a grin, "Here...au can use this to write on. Easier than using the dirt." Llunih first looks at the offered item as if unsure of what it was before she suddenly smiled and takes it.
Quickly she taps the buttons. Rylan looks over her shoulder at the words
being formed, and quietly reads aloud:
"This will make it easier to tell au my story." Rylan smiles, then steers
the girl over to the tree-stump that D'Tarik had occupied earlier.
D'Tarik looks to the blond girl, and managed to explain, pointing towards
Llunih, "I'm going to see if I can help her with both her problems." But at
Bhy'hie's encouraging smile, he seemed to lose the ability to carry the
conversation further, and so walked closer to his friend and the
lycanthrope.
Byh'hie sighs, and shakes her head slightly, then quietly follows along
behind. Rylan crouches down at Llunih's side, and nods encouragement for her to go on .
Rylan reads Llunih's words to the others, and they continue her tale:
"'Three years ago, at the Academy, I wrote a thesis on the effects of
genetic disorders that had arisen due to experimentation with cloning
techniques.....I had found that most of these disorders, had seemed to stem
from the same defective cell.... Io cell would effect the entire stream. The
effects on the individuals, however, would be different for each particular
case....' This would explain why some of us have more prominent Bone
ridges...and a few of us don't have any at all. That's just a simplified
example....I could give au more, but I'm trying to write this quickly.
"'Anyway...at first, I didn't think that anyone would take this all
seriously....but the paper none-the-less got noticed.....'The next day...I
found myself being sent here, to the colony...to "further my research" they
said. They told me that there were some residents here, severely effected by
the experimental cloning techniques, and they needed to find a cure for
it....The reason they had picked me...was because I had located the cell
that was responsible....I just needed to find a way to 'fix the problem'...'"
Having heard terms he was comfortable with, D'Tarik pulled out an ISD of his
own from somewhere inside his lab coat, at the beginning of the girl's
written narrative. Occasionally, he nodded in agreement during the tale,
seeming to already know just what she had been talking about. And as Rylan
read the last statement from the ISD, D'Tarik folded his hands over his own
ISD and his arms lowered. He queried, "Ummm... I hope au don't mind my
asking....but how did au become a "werewolf"? I'm sorry I interrupted." He
motions for her to continue.
Llunih pauses to look up at him, smiling slightly. She sighs and nods, that
brief look of sadness creeping back on her features. She glances at Rylan,
then begins to type in the words. Rylan touches her shoulder, squeezing it
gently, to encourage her as he reads her words aloud:
"'Na long after I came here....I discovered something I apparently was na
meant to know, quite by accident. I was found out...and the colonists
dragged me off into the woods and slit my throat, and left me to
die.....'One of my kind had found me shortly after, drawn by the smell of
blood. It attacked, and I would've been dead, had it na been for the Mayor's
garrison who were patrolling that area, and had come running at the sounds
the werewolf had made.....'They killed it...but na before I had been bitten,
and infected by the damaged cell.... The Mayor's garrison was sure that I
was dead, and they left me there....'"
This time, it was Byh'hie who had interrupted. "Hmmm...so that would make my theories wrong about werewolves losing their memories from their former
life. But, if they do remember, then why do they act so...primitive? She
asked this last quietly, almost to herself. But Llunih had heard it all the
same, and she looked up to the blond, looking extremely worried. She shakes her head, and continues typing as Rylan reads:
"'I have na forgotten, and do na act so primitive because I have struggled
to hold on to myself. Most of the others go insane at the first change. Once
au eat the flesh of a person, that changes au more...It corrupts the already
corrupted cells within au, and au lose ninte-self. I have na eaten the flesh of
another person, only small animals found in the forest, nothing that I
wouldn't normally eat -- as if I were na infected at all."
Byh'hie's eyes widen momentarily, then she tries to make light of it with,
"Well...lucky for us au have retained ninte-self. It's most important of all to
hold on to ninte memories....especially now."
Llunih smiles kindly, then writes again: "'Ie....I have remembered a lot of
it, as I have written it down before....back there...All of the research
that I had done, and could remember, I wrote upon the walls of the cave.'"
As Rylan finished reading her answer, Llunih points towards one of the
various tunnels in the back of the cave. Byh'hie looks up and back in the
direction indicated, "Well, is that the way out? Because I'm starting to get
kind creeped out by this cave...na offense."
She answers Byh'hie's statement with more typing, "'Na....the other exit's
over there....'" Again, she points out the direction after Rylan finishes
reading this statement. She frowns at the blond girl, and quickly types: "'I
wouldn't put my research notes where just *anyone* could see them....na
after they destroyed the originals!'"
D'Tarik nods at this, "Hmmm.....maybe Byh'hie is right. I think we should
go. This cave may not be safe with all those zombies outside."
Rylan agrees as he stands, "Ie...just io little problem....Vyynd's been
outside waiting for us all this time.
"Ohhh....right....Vyynd!" D'Tarik nods solemnly, then grins "Maybe he got
bit! Then I could find a cure! That could be fun!"
Rylan smirks, knowing that if Vyynd got himself bit, it would be a cold day
in Areinnye before D'Tarik tried to cure him. At least...na without
something in return. D'Tarik hated the Tal'Shair.
"Actually...I meant more that Vyynd isn't supposed to know about Llunih." he
explained, "How are we going to explain her when we get out of here?"
"We could just hit him over the head with a rock." D'Tarik suggests
cheerfully.
"It would break the rock!" Rylan chuckles. He thinks about it for a moment,
then smiles again, "Na...I've got that covered. If he asks we'll tell him we
found her 'surviving on her own' in an underground tunnel. That would,
technically be the truth....and the Mayor did say that some colonists lived
underground...so he wouldn't question it.....I hope."
"And if he does we can...hit him over the head with a rock!" D'Tarik nodded,
grinning.
"Ie...we could." Rylan jokes, then looks serious as he glances towards
Llunih. "But if it comes to that, I won't allow him to hurt her....I need to
know that you'd be with me on that, tr'Rekkohan."
"Ohh of course...." D'Tarik nods, completely serious, "If he comes anywhere
near her I will just ....infect him with a virus or something."
Rylan's eyes narrow, and his voice turns quietly menacing, "I had something
much more.... efficient....in mind." he pauses, letting D'Tarik think about
it, "There would be consequences to that, if I had to do it. I need to know
that au'd be with me on it."
D'Tarik suddenly looks confused, and he glances to the girls before
hesitantly asking, "Hey, ahh... wait a second. I thought au liked
Vy.....whatever his name is. I thought the two of au were... friends."
Rylan nods. "Ie...we are. Vyynd's a good friend...but he's Tal'Shiar as
well....perhaps Tal'Shiar first and foremost. It's always been hard to tell
where his loyalties really lie." He looks to Llunih and shakes his head at
her worried look before continuing, "I won't allow him to hurt her...or try
to exploit her...just because she's different. It's na right."
"And you like her." D'Tarik finishes for him with a wink and a sly smile,
hoping to get back at his friend for the teasing earlier. But the ploy
didn't work.
Rylan looks back to Llunih, and grins to see the girl smile softly at him.
He nods agreement to his friends words, "Ie....that I do."
Disappointed at not being able to embarrass his friend, D'Tarik looks at
Llunih for a moment, then addresses Rylan, "I can understand your
reasoning. Ie. I would back you up. I personally hate the Tal'Shiar. And I
think he might eventually hurt Byh'hie too. I would never let that happen."
Byh'hie at first looks surprised by the bold words of the shy boy, then
grins and mutters, "Ah! My own knight in shinning armor! I was beginning to
feel left out."
D'Tarik had seemed to have forgotten that Bhy'hie was even standing nearby.
He turns towards her slowly, his face flushed in embarrassment. He had been
hoping that she had been far enough away to not have heard him at all.
"Ahhh...I would ummm....do that for anybody....Yeah! That's it! Ummm,
yeah...ok now we have to umm...do other stuff." He turns back to Rylan and
asks quickly, "So! What's this plan of yours?"
Rylan looks at him like he's sprouted horns or something, then looks to
Bhy'hie and shrugs. "Well...." he begins uncertainly, "We pretty much grab
up whatever Llunih here want's to take along, and get the Areinnye out of
here and uhhh...head over to Byh'hie's place?" He casts an uncertain glance
at her, looking for confirmation that she hadn't suddenly changed her mind.
The girl only answers him with a shrug, and nods. Reminding himself to have
a talk with D'Tarik later on how *na* to hurt a girl's feelings by totally
spurning her attentions, he continues, "We just can't tell Vyynd about
Llunih's ability is all. Na until we're positive of where his loyalties
really lie."
"I'm sorry!!" D'Tarik interjects with a raised brow, looking as if he
thought that last statement had proven him right about Rylan being 'less
than stable' in the brains-department, "But we will never, *ever*, be able
to tell him that." He pauses, then grins again, "I know! Let's hit him with
a rock!!!"
Looking very shyly pleased with Rylan's earlier admission as to his feelings
for her, Llunih stands, casting a glance to the taller boy as he laughs at
his friend's statement, and heads off in the direction of her 'cave writing'
with the ISD in her hands, fully intending to take along her notes. Byh'hie
saw the look that passed between the new girl and Rylan, and felt a little
jealous that Llunih had apparently na had to deal with the kind of crippling
shyness that D'Tarik seemed to be plagued by. She looks to the shorter boy,
and with her mind made up, she grins and grabs him, planting a kiss firmly
on his mouth. She felt the boy go limp in her arms, and she let him go. She
stood for a moment over his passed-out form, then declared to Rylan with a
shrug, "I like him." She smiles at the knocked out boy, then turns and walks
off after Llunih.
Rylan watched this little display, then sighed and shook his head. He bent
over again, and rummaged around in the 'lab-coat-from-Areinnye', and pulls
out another ammonia tablet, snapping it and waving it under D'Tarik's nose.
He had na noticed poor Sprinkles, who had fallen off of D'Tarik's shoulder
and landed on a rock with a rather loud "SQUEEK!"
The ammonia-tablet brought the smaller boy out of it, and he jumped up, and
took on a "suave" kind of stance. But when he realizes that Byh'hie is gone,
he slumps back over and mumbles, "Well...ummmm...." he notices the smirk
that Rylan wore -- that tell-tale sign that he was about to come off with a
*really* embarrassing zinger, and he glared to his friend, "Shut up Rylan! Na
io word!"
At Rylan's laughter, the smaller boy looks away and down, and spies his pet.
He picks the Tribble up, horrified to note that Sprinkle's large, red
tentacle has snapped off, and the poor furred creature gives off several
loud 'SQUEEK!!!'s as D'Tarik held him. "AHHHHH SPRINKLES!!!!!" D'Tarik
screams horrified, and immediately on the heels of that, "Wait!! I can
rebuild him!! I have the resources!! I can make him stronger, faster better!!
he will live!!!!" He does na seem to notice that the tentacle appears to be
slowly growing back.
Rylan's earlier humor had left him entirely, and his pale and almost
frightened face turned quickly to D'Tarik, "Uhhhh...tr'Rekkohan...I don't
think adding anything else to Sprink at this point is a good idea." then he
added only to himself, 'Element's only know what the Areinnye au would do to that creature next!' Desperate for a way to divert the smaller boy from his
apparent train of thought Rylan suddenly grins, and adds slyly, "It may
scare off Byh'hie, au know." He walks away before D'Tarik can counter his
remark.
D'Tarik's answer to Rylan's declaration, was to hold Sprinkles up to his
face, petting the creature gently, "Au okay, guy?" His pet cooed, and
answered with a soft little squeak, his newly regenerated tentacle waved in
the air towards D'Tarik. "Ah!" the boy beams, "Good! Au'rh fine!" He sits
the creature on his shoulder and heads off after the others.
[Outside the cave]
Vyynd sat down leaning against a tree trunk as he leaned back and glared around the area. Thinking about the recent happenings several questions crept through his mind as he looked up at the sky and observed the innate beauty of the forest. 'Hrm...pretty nice place, too bad it's infested with Zombies... Vampires... Werewolves... and D'Tarik...' tr'Khaine's thoughts trailed off until he heard an ambient sound rise around the hole of scurrying and groaning. Then an elegant howl filled the air, at this Vyynd jumped to his feet and slung his rifle, "Best save *au* for something more then zombies and a howl..." he reached back and pulled out his katana and prepared to dice some undead.
[One battle and several corpses later]
Vyynd fell down through the blackness and landed with a roll on the rock bottom of the cave. Covered in a slight amount of blood, his katana still dripped a bit as he wiped it off on a cloth and sheathed it. The officer then promptly spread out on his back resting, hoping no more zombies would be coming around. After a moment of relaxation he jumped up due to some slight echoes from further down the cave, he recognized the voice....it was Rylan....giving a....technical speech? Vyynd's curiosity grew much faster as he slowly and quietly made his way around the darkness of the cave. Eventually he followed the echoes and found a lit area of the cave. He peered in and listened.
Vyynd glanced around the room intent and curious, he was rather relieved to see Rylan and *even* D'Tarik too. He re-assured himself that it was only because of his mission orders. He recognized the blonde, and gave the new girl a curious look. Vyynd could swear she returned his looks with a quick glance, but she seemed too involved with Rylan and unworried about Vyynd to do more. She was wearing an officers outfit so Vyynd nearly entered the room when he listened more carefully and over-heard D'Tarik mention something about her being diseased...then more about her being bitten... 'this officer was a *were-wolf*?!?!' Vyynd shouted in his thoughts, he could barely believe it as he listened more interested then he had been before. After several insults and mention of Vyynd's name they finally decided to move. Vyynd followed yards behind them carefully and wearily keeping an eye on all of them as they made way for the exit.
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