Cat & Mouse

Troubled Times

Claire began to slowly approach Blade, but she paused when she felt a grip on her arm. She looked over her shoulder to see Archer. Archer just shook his head at her. She looked at Blade. "We understand you have sympathy. But now is not the time, and we never accept it anyways. He will only get angrier." he stated. Claire looked back to Archer. "Are expressing emotions really such a taboo to you people?" She said in frustration as she pulled her arm away. Archer simply nodded. "If hugs were such a powerful thing, why would human history be so aggressive?" Archer said and Claire scoffed. "Sometimes it's not about the hug it's about someone actually being there when you need them. Whether you know you need them or not." She bit out bitterly and walked away. After everything was prepared, the Yautja began the mass cremation. There was some form of ceremony, but unfortunately the females had no idea what anything meant, and didn't understand a word. Claire paid her respects, but mostly she was continuing to look at Blade. He was so still and so stiff, that if she didn't know any better she'd have thought he was a statue. After everything was done all the Yautja and the females boarded the mother ship once more.

When the ship lifted and took off, Claire pulled up the map on her wrist device. By following Blade when they boarded the ship earlier she was able to figure out where his room was, she even remembered the code he entered to get into it. She decided to not listen to Archer. She had given Blade a few hours alone, and to her that was enough. If she regretted it later because his response would be as Archer said, at least she had tried. It would be better than regretting it for not trying at all. Once she arrived at the door, she typed the code and was glad when it opened up. Cautiously she stepped inside, her eyes scanning the room. The room she had been given was bigger than his. She couldn't understand why. The decor was simple. Gunmetal grey, white and red lights, equipped with the same panel that allowed them to get basically any food they wanted, a small what she could guess was their version of a kitchen, their version of a bathroom, and then a plain black bed. He had a wall lined with trophies, and also weapons. What drew her attention was an absolutely massive skull of one of those serpents. Her eyes landed on Blade next. He was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room, facing towards a wall that was currently invisible to allow the view of outer space. His katanas were next to him, one beside each leg, while his mask was laying in the middle in front of him. He had his forearms rested on his knees, and his clawed hands were crossed. He looked like the meditating Buddha statue. He was just as still as the statue too. Claire didn't know they meditated. She didn't want to disturb him, so she just sat quietly next to him, switching between watching him and staring literally into space. When he finally opened his stormy eyes she spoke softly, "Seară." He turned his gaze to her and trilled lowly. She really did love his eyes and the sounds he made. The eyes reminded her exactly of the sky during a severe thunderstorm: dark until a flash of white lightning cobwebbed through and lit up everything. The trills just sounded so sweet and innocent, they really didn't fit with such a fierce race, but that made her love hearing them more.

Claire reached out to him. When his eyes moved to her hand and his mandibles twitched she paused. She saw what a bite did. She didn't expect him to bite her, but Archer made it sound like they were unpredictable and violent when they were upset. She didn't want him to do it now, and then make her sweet, silent hunter regret it later when she'd be doing it to herself. Slowly and cautiously she moved her hand again, gripping his hand gently. Blade just looked confused. "Are you okay?" she asked, and his gaze shifted from their joined hands to her. He simply nodded at her, although an emotion she'd never seen before passed through his beautiful orbs. She slid closer to him, and stood up in front of him, then wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly. When he was sitting and she was standing, naturally she was a taller. Similar to Archer and Blaze, he tensed at the action. "It's just a hug, Blade. I'm not trying to and I will not hurt you." She soothed. Blade started to slide his arms around her waist, but Claire could tell he was unsure, and contemplating letting her go because she felt him pause. She decided to help him out by wrapping his arms around her, and then continued hugging him tightly. He hugged her too, his head resting against her diaphragm. She gently stroked his tendrils as she hugged him around his neck. "I am very sorry for your losses... But for what it's worth I'm here if you need a hug or something." She said softly, Blaze trilled quietly in response. The pair stayed like that for quite a while. It wasn't the time or the place, but Claire snapped a photo of them. The Yautja didn't really do this kind of thing, so she wanted to immortalize the moment. She wanted to be able to look back on it in the future if anything happened. She was already drilling the feeling to memory, but a photo would help her to remember it for sure. She continued holding him and stroking his tendrils. This was the first time since they met that she had touched him, and she couldn't be fascinated enough by their anatomy. Something overlooked, especially on dark colored ones, was the quills that lined the sides of their face and sort of seemed like their version of eyebrows on them. On lighter colored ones she noticed some had them on their chest and going up the center of their abdomen. Blade only had them on his face, and unlike porcupine quills, they were blunt instead of sharp like needles.