The message began like all the others so far has regardless of discussion topic, from the first inquiring after safe arrival and confirming it in turn after Kasiya, to the most recent list of reading recommendations and a questionably sent Holo of a latte and explanation of them.
Dear Friend Sir Mikhail,
Hello this is Rue. How are you to-day? It is Sunny here. Yester-the-day this oneI had a visit with Miss Kerissa also. We had a trip to The Market and it was very busy so we did not stay too long. So we decided to also go to the beach to-day. I have asked Miss Hunyi if I may invite as well you to see the ocean as we promised.
If you would like to come please do. This I would like to see you again. The sun is very wonderful.
Your Friend, Rue.
Mikhail wrote a few lines, spending far too long on wording his response than he would have liked. He wasn’t sure why.
Dear Friend Rue,
I am just fine today, thank you for asking. If you would like to see me again, then the Beach would be a great place to meet.
I would also enjoy meeting again. This time, I believe that our day should be much more enjoyable than the last times we met.
Not that our last meeting was not enjoyable.
I will meet you at the beach, just tell me which and about where.
He finally hit send. He watched the phone for a few seconds then jumped off the edge of his bed to start gathering beach things. It wasn’t too hard to find where they were stored, considering the one room apartment he had been scrapping by in had a grand total of one dresser
Selen
Seabirds called overhead, brilliant streaks of plumage accenting white bodies, splashes of color against a dappling of puffy clouds. Blue sky met blue ocean, both nearly glittering, oversaturated shades of aquamarine. The water was clear enough to seen to the bottom for a ways out, and rife with rainbows of fish, corals, grasses, and stones.
Up on the pale golden shore, a small, two-toed foot bapped at something in the sand. Something moved, and it bapped again, giving a snorting huff, and then stomped after.
“Oh!” A sudden voice gasped, and then, “Alk, Alk, no, that is not a shell!” Which he had learned himself that day. “Wrrrahd! Rrrrhwwwa wwahr rrhrw, Alk. Rrhrw.”
The little mott, hearing its Wookiee mother’s commands, finally relented chasing after its quarry. He tossed his head and ran back over in his tottering trot, bumping into the figure that called after him.
“Good boy, yes, wwwaalll wyyyr,” the man said, and tiptoed over, crouching down to pick up the little spiral shell of brown and tan that tapered to a fine point. Tiny blue legs, sixteen of them, flailed out of it. He set the creature back down, upright, and then backed away and held his breath, perfectly still.
Two long stalks eventually peeled out of the shell. Tasted at the air. Then, in a flurry, all the legs emerged and it took off across the sand, speeding away and into the water with a tiny plup.
The man let out the breath he held, then smiled and sprung back up, darting back to Alk. He rubbed pets all over the mott, who bleated and wriggled into the touch, then dropped down to roll in the sand some more for another bath. The figure flopped over with him, laughing and squirming as if to burrow himself into the hot sand, mimicking the mott.
They rolled around together for a bit longer before the soft, muted sound of footsteps in the sand came, loud to his sensitive horns and ears. He sat up abruptly in a shower of powdery grains and beamed in their direction, waving.
- “Miss ‘rissa! We found a new shell!” Rue called in excitement. “Look! It almost matches your hair!”
Kerissa waved back, a smile crossing her face. She hurried her step, the Kessurian-Ryn mix in a light sun dress and being careful as she crouched down beside Rue to look at the shell.
“Oh huh, it’s a bit pale but the sun probably did that. It’s a lovely shape too.”
A part of her wished she’d thought to bring books with them, to identify the shells and learn about the creatures but.. oh well. Rue was enjoying himself and she had checked ahead that the venomous creatures didn’t really come into the inlet anyway so it was safe at least. Probably…
With an internal shake of her head, she straightened up again, stepping away a few feet to place down a towel.
“Did your friend say he was on his way?”
“Yes!” the hybrid chirruped, twisting around to get at the sacklike bag slung across his body. He rummaged inside – pawing past many seashells, herbs, flowers, and such, and a fukkin lot of sand – to get at a datapad. Sand rained off the device, though was visibly stuck in every. possible. crevice. He set it down in his lap and tapped at it slowly and carefully one handed, then showed her the screen, smiling. “See? He says he would enjoy meeting again!” His tail flicked happily.
Though Kerissa would notice that Rue’s reply to the question about which beach and where was:
The Beach whereby the axaltyl trees.
As if there was a singular beach (which I mean. Tbf. All beach?? One beach?)
“Could I see that for a moment?” Kerissa asked gently, internally wincing and hoping that this friend wasn’t wandering half of Selen looking for the one spot they happened to be at. Kriffing stars-
“I know where we are a bit… more exactly. There are a lot of beaches on Selen, it might help him find us a little faster.”
“Yes, Miss–” Rue said immediately, catching himself halfway, and looking down. “I– mean. Oh. Of course, yes.”
He handed it over, reaching out to pet Alk as the mott butted under his other arm for attention n o w. He gazed up and down the beach around them, searching for some detail or demarcation.
“How do you know where is one beach and where is another?”
“They have names on the maps. People… in charge of the worlds or the first people to find a place often name it. This is Koulyst Beach.”
As she spoke Kerissa sent the message to Mikhail to tell him of that name too, and that they were a few minutes down the coastline itself.
“Maps like what Hunyi uses. The ones that float in the air. Every planet has one though not all of them are filled in yet. Those places will get to be named when someone gets there.”
People in charge named the things. Just like him and the others. “Oh. Like the Mas–” he stumbled, a cringe as he glanced at her. “Ah. So just. When a place is found. It is named. Is it…theirs?”
Kerissa grimaced.
“It depends. Some places have been named for so long that we don’t know anymore. If no one lives there yet and the people who find it want to build stuff there then yes. But if people are already present then it’s different. It’s.. complicated. There’s a lot of rules and laws and they all change depending on where you are ‘cause its important its done right.”
Rue gave a thoughtful hum, then nodded to himself.
“More rules and laws.” She’d been explaining some of those. It was very helpful, knowing the rules again. No longer so terrifying without having any idea what to do right or what would be punishment.
The part where he was…“people too,” that was…
“…Complicated. Then I will find more books.”
He gave Alk another pet, then started digging in the sand, as much enjoying the warmth as drawing a few lines, forming petals.
“Have you named anything, Miss?”
“Only one. A droid. He was new when I got him, didn’t have a name. He’s called Lupin.” Kerissa answered, before shrugging, “Droids are their own thing. I didn’t really get them for a long time but they’re… cool.”
Rue’s head tilted. He had seen the droids, flying the ships Hunyi contracted them with at times, and walking about the busier, louder port places. “Are you and Lupin…friends, then?”
The two talked a bit longer before a figure appeared in sight moving closer down the beach. Rue instinctively hunkered down, though with Kerissa next to him, he hunched in front of her rather than ducking behind as with Hunyi, half arm raising as if to shield somewhat, or hide her. It was ridiculous, really, given their relative abilities, but it seemed natural to him.
But, it seemed there wasn’t a need for the fear. He recognized his friend’s shape as the man came closer, and perked, then sprang upright, nearly falling back down in the sand as he slipped and scrambled into a run.
“Mikhail!” the hybrid called, darting up and hugging the man, sole arm looping around shoulders and face pressed to chest, just as during the blizzard. His tail flicked happily behind him, raining sand. <@160141735354171394> <@432543120635461643>
The Arkanian was still squinting despite the glasses that covered his eyes. The bright sun and heat together was a mix he wasn’t all too familiar with, and combined they made it difficult to catch the rapidly approaching figure, let alone note the incoming man’s speed before he could brace.
Thankfully, Rue carried very little mass into the impact.
Mikhail retained his footing for the most part, though an arm wrapped around Rue to support the both of them as he wavered for a moment. It took him another few beats to realized the Saint has pressed his face solely directly against his bare chest.
He didn’t know what to do, other than continue the half embrace. One arm gently held Rue, the other carried a zipped up beach bag of things. Mostly medical gear, just in case. “Hey, uh, Rue. Are you enjoying the beach?”
He then noticed that the man was still draped in the robe he had given him, despite the heat and sand that clung to it. A concerned look crossed his face, distracting him enough to not have a chance to glance past him towards the friend Rue brought along.
“Are you.. comfortable? Is it too hot? You could take some of those off, if you’re too hot or covered in sand.”
Rue pulled back enough to answer more easily, though he didn’t exactly let go or move from the hold Mikhail now had him in.
“Yes, Sir,” was the prompt response, in a manner more like reporting or accepting a command, though somewhat off-kilter as he kept going. “This one is enjoying! It is very warm and nice and Alk and I are playing and we found lots of shells for Miss ‘Rissa. This one is… comfortable.”
The last was said with some hesitation, testing out the word, the whole meaning and feeling of it, still. Kerissa and Hunyi sometimes asked similar things, and it was strange every time, to even conceive of an answer.
Gold eyes looked down at the bare chest, crystal-patterned, and then back up at shielded blue eyes, and brows furrowed, recalling the blizzard. Kerissa was also in a dress.
“Is this one supposed to strip, sir? Is that…the rules of the beaches?”
He swallowed, noting that he had to be careful of his words once more. “No, not a rule. But people generally prefer less clothes here, so they can enjoy the sun on their skin, and not be covered in sand and over heated. Not to mention, if you wanted to swim…”
He gently pat Rue’s arm, then finally looked past him at the other person. Miss Rissa. “It would be best that you weren’t in so many layers when you went into the water.” He himself wore a pair of large swimming trunks, obviously new, with a towel across his pale shoulders.
Rue seemed to pause, then looked between Mikhail and Kerissa, asking with just enough volume for both of them, “What is to swim?”
“You know how I told you the water gets deep enough that your feet won’t touch the floor anymore?” Kerissa asked, knowing her would but wanting to bring his attention before just starting talking. Yet as she did, her gaze remained on Mikhail. Like a hawk watching over a clutch, at the way the other held onto Rue. At the way he spoke to him.
“Swimming is moving your arms and legs at the same time as each other so you stay at the top of the water and don’t drown.” If only someone had explained that to her for her first time.
The bitter thought was quickly brushed aside.
“Oh!” Rue nodded in recognition of this statement, though he had yet to experience The Deep Water. “I see. I do not know how to do that moving.” He frowned slightly, and finally let go of Mikhail, more just standing limply under the other man’s arm as he looked at his only hand. “This one is not certain it could, if it needs arms.”
Mikhail released Rue, cognizant of Rissa’s overwatch. He adjusted the towel across his shoulders, pulling it closer to his neck and adjusting it so it would lay mostly over the starburst of crystal on his chest. “You could, But it will take practice. I have only been in water a few times, an only in training pools.”
He took a step towards the two’s position in the sand, crystal eyes bouncing between them. He withheld back a sudden facepalm, as he was expecting an Introduction to be made by Rue for some reason.
“Greetings, I am Mikhail.” He offered, inclining his head towards the woman.
Wait
He eyed her horns and tail, then glanced at rue once more.
“Oh, okay.” Rue nodded and looked out at the ocean, considering the water distractedly before Mikhail spoke. Then he beamed at the Arkanian, and at Kerissa. “Oh, yes! You two!”
His lone hand reached out to take Mikhail’s, as they had in the blizzard, and his tail waved in Kerissa’s direction, looping a little shyly around hers as if asking to tangle, an old and familiar gesture to him, at least, and making up for the other hand he didn’t have to offer.
“This on– My…friends,” he said happily. <@432543120635461643>
“Kerissa.” She provided back, her tail flicking lightly and sending a smaller scattering of sand along its way before joining with Rue’s. It felt unfamiliar to her but it was as if the tail knew what to do. As if some instinct was still built in.
“If you wanted to swim you’d need to strip. I just like feeling the sun.” Kerissa commented in, and then nodded. “Your friends, Rue, yeah. You met Mikhail during the blizzard, right?”
Mikhail looked down at the hand that held his, a rose hue rising to his pale face as he cleared his throat. He went to speak, but his words faltered. He settled with giving Rue a chance to tell things from his point of view.
Kerissa’s tail twinning with his and her affirmation bloomed a brilliant smile over Rue’s face and a flush to his skin. But unlike the pink of Mikhail’s cheeks, the hybrid’s shimmered with gold, a glittering metallic sheen that moved over his whole body, if the bits of him that were visible were anything to go by. The lilac remained underneath it, but it was as if he’d been doused in a faint sparkling powder, and a purr rose in his throat.
“Yes, we did, Miss,” he managed after a moment, words choked by unabashed happiness for this meeting. To be having a new friend, and introducing them to Kerissa. To have that old gesture. He paused to think and then started rambling his tale, much like he had to Hunyi.
“Alk and I were coming back from the festival where we hid in a very good bush but it got too cold to stay and we heard a noise like singing and followed it and we found a man lying in the snow– which was snow! This one thought it was ash but could not find or smell the incinerator fires and it would have had to be very large indeed to cover the city so it was confused. Also it was cold and turned to water. Ash does not do that. But later Sir Mikhail told this one it was snow!”
He smiled before his expression flickered with concern.
“This one thought Sir Mikhail was hurt or dying. Symptoms did not make sense. So it healed him. And then we were in the cold so he said for us to go back to his Hotell so we did. He told this one to strip and shower so it did. This was also confusing. This one was sure what was expected but Sir Mikhail gave this one a robe which is very fluffy, see?” He nodded down to the fluffy robe, stained though it was, clean enough otherwise beside the sand. “Very soft. I did not know things could be so soft. And Mikhail cried. This one made him…hurt.”
His expression fell a little more, spine drooping. But he rallied, because Mikhail had come to the Beach to see them, so it must be okay.
- “I sat with Alk and he slept very good and was warm I made sure. I was worried for him. Then Sir came out from showering and we talked for some time. This one did not want to use the bed. Too soft. It scares it. I like camping. I like our camps with Hunyi. This also made Sir sad again. But more talking. And this one showed upset. Lost control. Was bad. Sir would not punish, even though it asked. Then we laid down and Mikhail hugged me and we slept until the storm disabled the power and this caused panic and then there was the shelter and we were helping– this one left Alk at the shelter with the children so he would be safer, but someone needed healing, it could sense it, and–”
He took a breath.
“Then we met Miss Elly down in the underground which was under the sewers and I healed her and she made us a hot drink that was very good. I still do not know what it was but wish to share it with you and Hunyi. She said it was her daughter’s favorite. And then was sad. So this one sang to them and we slept a bit more and then she took us out the underground and back up to the snow and we found Hunyi and said goodbye and…yes that is it.”
The hybrid looked between the two, panting lightly for breath but obviously looking for affirmation of having reported correctly or reprimand otherwise.
Kerissa flickered between stress and trying to be seriously… encouraging. It was great he was talking.
It was horrific that he asked Mikhail to punish him. It made her blood boil, the hairs on her arms raise though thankfully not the heavier fur that lightly covered her shoulders. It wasn’t that obvious.
“Well. I’m… glad that Mikhail helped you keep safe. That you did the same for him, that was good of you. A kindness that wasn’t required of you. Generous. The cold can be very dangerous.” Kerissa spoke, trying to affirm.. some individuality in Rue but she had to toe the line between affirming it and losing her kist; What had they done, what had she done-.
She forced a smile.
Rue’s expression lit up again, and he sagged a bit with obvious relief, tail uncoiling from hers if only because it was too busy waving almost straight up.
He’d feared she’d be upset again, or he would make her cry again, just like Mikhail.
“Thank you, Miss,” he chirped, and then, nodding to himself, a bit off of a ramble, “yes, it can, hypothermia, and tissue necrotization and all sorts of cardiorespiratory outcomes, this one knew and had seen and experienced all these things but had not seen the snow before! To have them paired together was different. It made it very bad. And no one was in control. This one thought the snow…almost pretty, at first. But so many people were injured and died. It felt them all.”
The hybrid took a breath, and that seemed all it was, carrying on from one topic to another as easily as discussing the time of day.
“The beach is lovely though! This one supposes that minding the wisdom of extreme cold, Mikhail’s advisement for minding overheating is valid. This one is very warm and it is nice. But it will strip. ‘Feeling the sun’ like Miss Kerissa could be different and nice.” He nodded to himself, squeezing the Arkanian’s hand again before letting go too and reaching for the belt of the fluffy robe to undo it.
<@160141735354171394> <@432543120635461643>
Mikhail gave a soft hand squeeze as Rue reached the rough parts of the story. His eyes avoided Kerissa, staring instead towards the water with a slight frown. It bothered him, how Rue spoke. But he knew he was getting better. It was going to be slow.
The Arkanian stepped to the side, giving Rue room to begin undressing. He paused however, eyebrows furrowing. “These are usually not the places for fully stripping, to be clear. If you have shorts like mine? Or at least similar? That would be best to stay in.”
He glanced over at Kerissa, once more curious about the appearance of the two matching somewhat. He didn’t want to ask, to bring up any further pain. Not right now.
It was fortunate (for some) that Mikhail thought to say anything, because the hybrid was swift about what he did and had already been about to remove said shorts, shoes, belt, pants, cloak, hood, and robe all lying in the sand from route and rapid removal, as though striping down on command was common. He stopped with sole hand in the fabric, seeming briefly confused, before nodding once.
“Yessir,” he said, and then let go and instead moved to grip his shirt, arm crossing his body, tail lifting at the back of the garment. As it came overhead and dropped, he spoke again, looking more to Kerissa as he did, though still to Mikhail. “This is a…law? Like the stealing, assault, and the tress of pass? Designated stripping areas?”
<@432543120635461643>
“A law? No. In fact the opposite. Most public places do not allow nudity.” He gestures to the beach then, even though his eyes were on the branding Rue was marred by. “Here, partial is fine, but only some beaches allow it. Those do not allow children there for their own protection.”
Even though the idea perplexed him, it was worth teaching.
Kerissa breathed a sigh of relief at Mikhail’s quick thinking. Though… upon seeing Rue undressed to that degree…
She felt sick. Well and truly sick. Rue was distracted by the explanation of law so she let herself turn away slightly, as if to ease pressure on her feet or some other casual fidget as nausea swept through her. Her tail coiled around her ankle.
Hunyi had been feeding him. Kerissa had known he was gaunt, that much was obvious in his face but for him to be fed for at least weeks and to still be so- Kark the universe and everything in it Rue was a skeleton walking! As the nausea faded anger filtered in. It surged, her fingers twitching slightly with the power of it. They’d tortured him, tested on him, twisted and tormented him to the point where he saw himself as nothing more than a piece of meat and they didn’t even let him eat?!
Almost in unconscious pantomime, as if sensing something amiss, Rue’s own tail coiled around his now-bared leg. Like the rest of him, his lilac skin there clung tight to what sinew and bone was available, knobby rounds of ankles and knees, arches of hip crests and every rib and vertebrae in spine and tail plain as the daylight around them. It was all smooth and unmarred, freckles rioting in a few places, scales in others much like Kerissa’s, all soft and clear except for the very brands Mikhail examined and the barcode on the back of his neck.
He didn’t seem at all bothered by his state, and oblivious to Kerissa’s. He looked like he was thinking as he crouched to fold his wordly possessions, neat tight things, trained motions.
“So the law is against nudity?” he wondered aloud, looking up at the Arkanian from where he was on his knees. His head tilted. “And protecting children? This one is confused. If the concern is heat exhaustion or stroke, as just proposed, then it follows that protection would be to allow the children to also strip. Why are they not allowed? Are these beaches for testing of the adult population only? Or at the children being tested for resistance to the heat, thus only being permitted to partial coverage? Ah, yes. That makes sense. Testing.”
He nodded to himself, then stood. Rue was holding his arms – or at least, one and a half – out very gingerly, turning them slowly, lifting his face to the sky. And a soft sigh escaped him.
“Oh,” he whispered. “Oh, the sunlight is nice on its skin.”
A smile stretched his features, and his eyes fluttered closed.
The frown tugged at Mikhail’s face, drawing his attention down Rue’s body to the sand below. He stared at it for a few moments, Rue’s words were painful, but always tinged with a slight hopeful wonderment.
He wanted to reach out to him, but kept his fists balled at his sides, clenching the towel and handle of his bag. “Rue. The testing is over. I know it’s hard, but all that is over for you. I’ll make sure if it. All of your friends will.” He glanced at Kerissa for a moment, as if looking for some sort of backup.
“The law is to protect children from seeing nude adults. That is considered taboo in civilized society. The tests are over, your life has begun. So please enjoy the sun. It’s warmth. Our company” he let out a breath and glanced away, swallowing a lump in his throat.
<@432543120635461643>
Gold eyes blinked back open, briefly wincing and blinded by looking up at the sun directly, before they turned back to Mikhail as the Arkanian spoke. They held to a point below the man’s chin, attentive but not daring make eye contact, before being drawn almost inevitably to the crystalline blue, bluer even than the water.
The hybrid shifted, tail tightening a bit and hunching as he hugged himself one-armed, the cowering so much more obvious now without his clothes on.
“This one does not– I don’t. Understand,” he said haltingly, frowning slightly. “About …this taboo. Or. What is ‘civilized society?’ Or about. No. No…tests.”
Eyes went to the balled fists, white knuckles. He gnawed on his lip, then reached out and touched Mikhail’s hand again.
“But it will– I will. Try. I. Enjoy. You both.”
It had taken effort to not snap about the fact that people weren’t test subjects out here. Mikhail kept a better calm than she did but Kerissa could only wonder how much he actually knew. Though- Well.
That wasn’t fair.
She closed her eyes for a long few moments, grounding herself with the sand underfoot. The smell of the sea, salt thick on the air enough she could taste it on an inhale. The crashing waves on distant shores, birds overhead. The breathing of the men nearby. By the time she opened her eyes it was easier to focus again even if the lingered anger remained. It was hard not to be angry with the threat of her family looming but control was important.
She turned back.
“Civillised society just means.. certain rules. Not stripping around people unless you both want to see you like that. All the laws I told you about are a part of it too. And in these societies, no matter who or what you are, you’re a person. No one gets tested on- or. Well. Some people do, but they choose to do that and usually get paid. And its usually safe too. They don’t get hurt, they let the doctors see what the side effects are like and they go home with more credits for the risk of being made uncomfortable. What they did to you would be illegal, here.” The last bit slipped out, more than intentionally added on and she winced.
Rue never reallly liked it when she spoke as if her family wasn’t the karking kist eating pieces of-
Attentive eyes turned towards her, taking in the explanation. He winced too when she did, but chewed on his lip some more and nodded.
“This one needs to write this down, it is a lot,” he said, reaching for– well. Pants he wasn’t wearing. He blinked. “Oh.” And then looked back over where he’d left his bag with Alk, who had his head in it. “Alk! Rrwwrh!”
He scampered over, kicking up sand as he did. The two could watch him drop down next to the little mott and pull his head out from the satchel, revealing a little horned snout and buggy black eyes as leaves were chewed. Rue continued to talk at the mott in what sounded like Shyyyriwook to a well traveled ear, spinning in circles as he went for a notebook and tried to write and play at the same time.
<@160141735354171394>
The Arkanian’s fist slowly loosened, then opened. Two fingers stretched towards Rue’s hand before the man pulled away, distracted by Alk. He quickly released a breath he was holding and relaxed, eyes following him before landing in the sand next to the other two’s things.
He carefully begun to lay out his towel, giving him plenty of room to sit or lay. He occasionally glanced at Kerissa, obviously intending on asking something, but withholding for now. He would wait until he could sit with his bag at his side and look out across the endless sea. Only slight concern broiled under the surface at its vast emptiness. The potential for unknowns under its surface.
He unzipped his bag and reached into it, pausing to look at Kerissa. “Have you.. do you need sun lotion? I’m not certain on how..” he trained off, glancing to Rue’s knuckles.
Kerissa followed his gaze. She’d followed after them with some hesistance, settling onto her towel with her tail still coiled around her ankle.
“I do. He probably should.” It wasn’t like she knew these days. Karking stars- It suddenly clicked that they looked quite similar. Right. “We aren’t related so I’m not.. entirely sure. He heals, that’s about all I know.”
Ah, so they weren’t. the look of realization passed as he pulled out a new bottle of the lotion. He popped it open and handed it to her, eyebrows furrowing. “If you need help, let me know.”
He then dug through the bag again, pulling out an on chilled military canteen to sip from before stuffing it away again.
Should he have offered a drink to? Did they have a way to stay hydrated?
His thoughts drew him to scanning over their things, making him pause on Rue’s missing arm.
“So.. you don’t know what happened to him?” He spoke softly, ideally just so she could hear him.
“I.. do. To an extent. It’s complicated. What do you know?”
She lowered her tone to match, though if Rue’s hearing was as good as hers it’d be how distracted with Alk he was that protected the conversation’s privacy, not their lowered volume.
Though Rue was busy between his two tasks – as petting Alk’s belly was critically important as was taking notes about The World – the way his shoulders pinched and tail coiled back around his leg might hint he could overhear. But hearing didn’t actually matter. He knew better than to listen.
That wasn’t for him, not unless it was orders.
…or was that wrong too?
If he said that to them, would either of them cry again? Would Kerissa get that look, just like the Masters, like Jan, like the Mistress Maven when…
Well. If they had questions. Then he would answer them. When asked. Yes. Be good. Do better. Which he’d promised.
So he did what Mikhail had said and laid down, partially burrowing himself into the sand, just feeling what the heat and texture was like on so much bare skin. It was quite a lot. He shook from the sensation.
“I know.” Kerissa answered shortly. It had been hard for her and she’d been treated well really. For sith sucking cultists. They hadn’t ever struck her or tested on her. They forced her to do actions that sickened her but..
“He was used as.. a test subject. I don’t know as much as I should, really. Actions were taken to make sure I wouldn’t… remember. He remembers me.” Her voice softened, pain. She avoided Mikhails eye.
“I’m glad he has help. I’m not great at it.”
A concerned look was cast at her, the Arkanian certainly not liking any of what he heard.
“You, I am sure, do more than you think. I.. can only try.” The words left him with barely any force as his gaze drifted to the man playing in the sand.
He cleared his throat and spoke up towards Rue. “Rue, there is a chance if you stay out in the sun that your skin can become damaged and burn. I have a lotion that will stop that from happening. I think it would be good if you wore some, do you agree?”
At the direct address summoning him back to the conversation, the hybrid sat up from his burrowing and rolling, sand showering off of him yet again. He tilted his head, then turned and looked up at the sun again, then down at his hand, then back at Mikhail.
“This one doesn’t know,” he replied, and scampered back over, bringing his bag with him, Alk trotting after at another Wookiee command. He came right up to the pair and into the Arkanian’s space in something of a tumble, dropping down onto the towel and near straddling the man’s legs as he peered at the bottle that Mikhail held.
“What is it? This one– I do not know if its skin would burn from the sun. Other burns have not stayed excepting those of the deep tissue third degree with prolonged instrument contact. Superficial to deep may take minutes or days to repair. It does not hurt now. It feels nice. I like it.”
He took the bottle and fiddled with it. “How does one measure the sun? What is its unit? I read about the internal fusion combustion reactions in stars and of their emissions but I do not know how far we are from the source–” a squeak interrupted him when the cap clicked open under his nails, and he sniffed. His face did… something. “It smells like…like…um. What does it smell like?” <@432543120635461643>
“Long term exposure can cause malignant tumours. The lotion doesn’t remove the feeling of the sun, just protects from those effects.” Kerissa filled in, watching Mikhail like a hawk and not exactly sure how to handle Rue just… straddling someone.
“Rue. Usually you sit beside people. Not.. on them.” She added, uncomfortably, slowly.
Mikhail’s back straightened as Rue approached, and he practically froze as the man landed in his lap. His eyes widened, visible to Kerissa who was sitting to his side. It took a few long seconds as she answered to react.
His ears were the first to redden, followed by his nose and cheeks. His mouth opened as if he was saying something but nothing came out until he cleared his throat. “T- there are many. Ways. To measure the sun. And- if w- The sunscreen is to protect you, so you are not hurt and. Uh..”
He blinked a few times “It is a chemical smell, this one is supposed to smell like berries to a degree. But.. they never get rid of the chemical smell.” Mikhail averted his eyes from the both of them
“Oh,” Rue said to Kerissa’s advisement, and then promptly crawled off, plopping down on Mikhail’s side near enough that their arms still brushed, turning to look over at them both. “This one is sorry. Is this correct?”
He did a visible double take upon seeing how red the man was, and reached up to cup one cheek, stopping just short.
“Is Mikhail burning? Did the lotion not work? I can heal you.”
Kerissa relaxed slightly, still watching but less pointedly.
“As long as Mikhail is okay with it, sure.”
The Arkanian swallowed, now looking forward and towards the sea. “I’m fine, Rue. Thank you. It.. is not burning. I am just unused to that sort of contact.”
He looked down at the towel under him, mentally rearranging his thoughts. “Ok.. sunscreen, yes. How should we..?” He trailed off, then glanced over at Kerissa
Oblivious to the question Mikhail seemed to be asking Kerissa, Rue dragged his notebook back out and resumed taking notes, adding the new ones. He used his foot or knee to pin down the open spin flat, and then one hand to write. The page now looked like:
“I already put some on.” Kerissa quickly answered.
“I’m sure he can handle putting lotion on himself.” She looked over toward Rue, curling over his journal and raised her voice slightly for his benefit. “Its just a thin layer of it over exposed skin.”
“Hmm? Oh–” the hybrid jerked up, dropping his pencil and scattering sand over the pages, flinching his way into a quick bow. “Yes, Miss…ah, this– I mean– yes this one can apply a lotion to the skin. It has done this medication before.”
He took the tube back from Mikhail and used his tail to squeeze some into his palm, then began spreading it over his skin. The only sticking point seemed to be the arm itself, at which point he paused the turned to Mikhail, meekly offering the tube back.
“The Masters normally administered, excepting when they wanted it too, but then they always did this part, after the removal.”
<@160141735354171394>
Mikhail nodded, concern a common feature of his face at this point. He took the tube back and squeezed some into his hand, then scooted over towards Rue. He carefully ran his hand over Rue’s arm, starting at shoulder and working down to the wrist. He was careful, his touch gentle and slow. He applied more of the lotion here and there but eventually was satisfied. “There. You should be fine now.”
“Thank you, Sir,” the hybrid returned with a deep bow of his head, then looked between his friends. “Well now we are all protected, what would you two like to be of doing? We were collecting seashells before you arrived…”
All stopped to sniff at Rue, and sneezed.
<@432543120635461643>
“We can collect more shells, or we could make sand huts or something.” Kerissa suggested.
“Sand Hutts?” Rue asked, curious and perking.
“Yeah, like little buildings or statues. Sand is usually pretty dry and.. well.” Kerissa lifted her foot, watching the slow cascade of the grains falling back into the mass of the rest.
“But! If you get it wet it binds together some and you can build with it. Not too much water or you’ll just have floating grains of sand but usually the stuff near the edge of the water is good. We can collect it, bring it further up away from the waves and make.. whatever we want with it.” She smiled to Rue, “I found out about it the first time I visited a beach. A family was there and the kids had little buckets in the shape of buildings so they could make them quicker. Easier. Just fill the bucket and flip.”
A slight sadness edged in, one that she didn’t let show to the two there. A bittersweet memory of one of those kids watching her struggle with dry sand and showing her where to get it from. Their parents had watched her carefully, only 17 and scruffily dressed as she was, but they’d had an hour together of building little structures and digging a moat around one of them. Then they had to go home.
It was a lot less fun alone but she’d finished their fortress before leaving. Her family had been hot on her tail then.
Oh how history repeated itself.
“Sand hutts..” the Arkanian’s squint fell upon the semi wet sand on the edge of the water. The gently lapping surges almost able to lull one to sleep. His mind drifted as Kerissa spoke, a strange look crossing his face. Disappointment, mourning.
If only he could have shared this experience.
Mikhail cleared his throat then, looking to the two others. “We could. I also want to go out into it a ways. Just to.. rest in it. It appears fairly warm.” It occurred to them then, that Perhaps neither of them knew of Arkanian vision.
Rue smiled back at her, delighted just to see her smiling, as she so often didn’t around him now. Excited as he was for what she shared about building the sand huts, it was difficult to focus on it, briefly lost then in the then and now. She was so much older. Beautiful and healthy and full of rage and sorrow. But she was free.
Not of the anger. They had put that in her bones. But…here under the sun, at least.
Here, to learn from kids who were healthy to build a sand building. To share it with him now. Even with that sad tone to her voice. It was likely his fault. He made her so sad, it was so selfish to ask for her time. But the desire to just see her more outweighed even that.
He blinked back watery eyes and shook from his reverie, looking to Mikhail as he spoke up.
“Whatever Sir likes,” Rue said, demure. He patted the sand. “I think the sand Hutts sound…good, yes. We could do both?”
They had no buckets, but there was the wet sand by the waves.
It was strange to Mikhail, to sit amongst them. The air between them carried a mixed sense of pain and relief. Whatever shared trauma they had, it felt almost.. wrong to sit amongst it. Like he was intruding on something private.
The Arkanian stood, shaking the feeling that crept over him. He offered his hand down towards Rue, then nodded his head towards the water. “Both. We will do both.”
Rue twitched at the hand moving towards him, then seeing it offered, automatically took it with a bob of his head. He let himself be stood up, and looked towards the water after Mikhail. “Okay.”
“Both sounds great.” Kerissa chimed in, stretching her arms and shoulders before moving toward the water after the lads.
“Itll be a lot colder than you think.”
That gave Rue slight pause, lagging a bit, but he continued on gamely. He’d enjoyed splashing in the shallows with Alk, after all. And speaking of.
The hybrid looked over his shoulder and called out in the Wookiee language, “Alk, come! Hunt! Find!” It was the closest they had to play, which he was working on teaching the little mott.
The striped herbivore youngling looked up from rooting in the sand with his little horn nose to Rue, ears wiggling. His tiny, thin tail flapped rapidly, as did his ears as he bustled over, tossing his head and stomping and splashing in the shallows. Rue immediately began to laugh, loud and unadulterated bell peals, pure joy free of any social moorings, and hopped and stomped around with Alk, tugging Mikhail into it, looking to Kerissa to join in.
The sand was interesting when it was wet. It clung to bare skin, almost similar to snow that didn’t melt, and was warm and bright instead of dull. The grains between toes that stuck, just to be washed off by the next flush of water tingled the Arkanian. He bent down to grab a fistful, attempting to form it into a ball. Dissatisfied with the non compacted result, he let it plop back down into the wave.
His ears were lit by laughter, the sounds of splashing water and Alks noises melted the distant paranoia in his mind. It would be back, no doubt, but for now he could relax.
Rue bounded by Mikhail, circling him as Alk ran splashing in his larger, but shallower footsteps. He spun around the man, laughing still, and then danced by Kerissa, his tail flicking around her.
The Arkanian watched the Gleeful man dance around. The pure delight he showed was almost childish, but Mikhail couldn’t blame him. Not from everything he knew of the man. Clouds above know what else he didn’t know about the man.
He couldn’t help but feel some of the contagious joy, even if he did manage to withhold from frolicking.
He realized that his hands were now covered in sand, so he slipped a bit further away to see if he couldn’t wash them off in the thigh deep water. It felt like standing on the precipice of the abyss, but he suppressed the (most likely) undeserved fears
Kerissa lagged along after the trio, smiling herself and enjoying the laughter. She settled more to collect sand, scooping the wet grit with her hands and carrying it away from the tide. It got under her nails, uncomfortable but it wasn’t worth paying attention to it. No.
This was good.
With Kerissa gathering sand, and Mikhail moving further into the water, Rue kept playing with Alk a bit longer before deciding to follow, a simple direction bidding the little mott back up onto the beach; he did not know if motts could do the swimming. Better to keep the litlun safe.
Glancing between his two friends, he waded over towards Misha, tilting his head at observing the man wash his hands.
“Will they not grow sandy once more, when we build the hutts?” he asked, curious as to the purpose.
Meanwhile, up by their things, Alk began rooting around for snacks, appetite grown from the playing. He nosed into Rue’s bag and chewed on the plants there, then went nosing into the other available, the strap catching on his body. It got dragged along behind the mott as the young one rooted for more roots, spilling things and making a furrow in the sand for several meters.
“They will, but.. I am used to clean hands. And I wanted to see how it felt out here.” Indeed, the way the water pulled and pushed as it moved was unique, not something he’d had considered before. He gently splashed some water towards the greater sea, gazing out across it through a soft squint behind his glasses.
Unbeknownst to him at the moment, the contents of his bag were being strewn across the beach by Alk. Papers, journals and books were scattered, pages flipping in the breeze. Packs of emergency rations end up on the sand, as does a dual barreled slug thrower.
While Mikhail, with his back turned to his things, did not notice the chaos Kerissa picked up on a noise.
Books? Flipping pages and- well that was weird.
She turned, going wide eyed at seeing the ongoing snuffling Alk was up to.
“Oh kark.” She mumbled to herself, turning on heel and rubbing the sand off of her hands on her top as best she could. Kerissa hurried across the sand, stopping to telekinetically collect any loose pages on the way with a flick of her finger.
Rue’s tail was somewhat floating behind them at this point, and extremely odd sensation to have some of its weight lifting. He stood on his tiptoes in the wet sand almost as if to compensate for it, mimicking Misha’s splashes just to see also what it was like to do.
A smile flickered on his face, and his scales and skin and hair all flickered in the sunlight, glittering sharply just like the light refracting off the water itself.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
-
Up on the beach, Alk noticed Kerissa and gave happy stamps. Yes! Attention again! He ran in circles, zooming along (though not at his top zooming speed; he needed more snacks for that.)
“Oh Alk.” Kerissa sighed, shaking her head with a slight smile. Stepping carefully to not trip over the little zooming creature, she continued toward Mikhail’s bag. She drew the papers in front of her, piling together the matching Arkanian scripts into a pile. Locations were given a pile and- an arm prosthesis? An unsettled sensation filled her.
As the Kessurian mix finished stuffing these piles into the bag, she realised what else was scattered across the sand.
Medical equipment.
Her tail lashed. Who the kark brought this stuff to a beach trip?! The research she could get for.. Well. Maybe. It could make sense but-
She took a slow breath, using her telekinesis to far less ceremoniously shove the implements back into the bag. And then the gun on top after checking Alk hadn’t unlatched the safety.
Even that made more kriffing sense than medical kist.
“Bbbbbfffff,” Alk went, more a low bleat of sound, his small yet long ears wiggling furiously along with his tiny whip of a tail as he stomped in circles and bumped up to Kerissa, nosing at her middle and at the bag.
Treats? it seemed to say.
Mikhail’s own face flickered with a smile as the man splashed with him, the bright daylight glinting off of him like no doubt his own crystal blue cheek. Quite literally sparkling in the sun. “I.. do. It’s calming, rhythmic. It….” He trailed off then, glancing towards the beach and subsequently the mess Alk was making, and Kerissa who was hurriedly picking it up.
He frowned, speaking some swear under his breath as he took a few steps towards the commotion. “Is.. everything ok?” He called over to the woman, eyebrows furrowed in slight concern.
Rue beamed back at Mikhail’s little rare smile, eyes crinkling, and agreed, “It is. We most often hear the tides as we lay down to sleep. It is the song of Mother Moon, singing to us…”
Realizing Mikhail was walking away, he turned and beheld the same sight, a small fission of alarm crawling up his spine like a thousand needles as a piece of paper very much floated telekinetically towards Kerissa’s waiting hand. Gulping past the sudden lump in his throat, his gaze skittered over to Alk, and he gasped.
“Alk! Wrrrah wrrraAAWr rrrrRGh. That is not ours. We must not take from others.”
He began sloshing up onto the beach, tripping some with the water resistance but catching himself as he moved by the Arkanian.
Kerissa’s head snapped toward Mikhail, her expression darkened from moments before. But Rue’s approach forced her to calm. To settle.
Don’t just react. She chose her words carefully, rolling through answering his question before asking her own.
“Nothing’s damaged. Just a bit disorganised. Why did you bring medical equipment to a beach?”
With a wincing apology to Misha for touching him, Rue busily got to Alk and started trying to get the bag off him when the mott was jumping for food, and completely missed Kerissa’s stormy expression or tone.
Mostly because he was busy being bowled over by said baby mott since he only weighed about as much as a few sticks, who started nomming at his hair.
“Alk…”
Mikhail’s pace slowed, leaving the Arkanian on the edge of the water. The sea lapped at his ankles as he watched Loose notes and drawings, schematics and drafted proposals long crossed out flit through the air and into her hand. It was… unnatural. As if time was flowing in reverse to undo the mess.
The Arkanian couldn’t grow much more pale, so wide blue eyes watched through tinted glass as his mouth hung slightly open.
He blinked a few times, registering the question from a distance. “I… I am a Doctor. A Medic. It’s just.. habit. Just in case.” His eyes remained on Kerissa, heart rate accelerating slightly as adrenaline spiked his nerves. The slight tremble of his hand was quashed as his fist closed.
It only took a moment to regain his composure. Spooked, nothing more he told himself. No sense overreacting.
Still oblivious to either the slight panic or fear behind him or the defensive, accusing suspicion in front of him, Rue finished pulling his hair out of Alk’s mouth and petting the mott’s snoot and sat up, clearly untroubled by Kerissa’s collecting the papers but curious.
“You have gotten better at that…” he said, and then seemed guilty, hoping it hadn’t been too loud, that she and Mikhail hadn’t actually heard. He rushed on for something else: “What is Mikhail studying?”
Kerissa watched the doctor carefully. Everything was already back in the bag, so she took a step away. It didn’t take a genius to notice that Mikhail looked like he’d just seen a ghost.
She wanted to talk to him, privately. Where the words she’d say about her family wouldn’t scare Rue. But Rue was there and even if he should be fine for a few minutes alone, Hunyi had mentioned his attempt at commerce initially and Kerissa wasn’t entirely confident in that.
He was asking questions at least, that was good. The Arcanist let her shoulders relax, keeping Mikhail in her line of sight but turning toward Rue with something of a smile, “Medicine, it seems. Though I wasn’t exactly reading, I just looked enough to make sure things that seemed to match up were together.”
Rue nodded to this. “He is a doctor, yes! Last time we discussed…pathologies… Only briefly though. I have finished the books on the parasites for this oceanic and coastal region of the Ussun and am now on tropical avian influenzas,” he said happily.
The Arkanian swallowed a lump, glancing over at Rue as he approached Kerissa. He stopped a few feet away, then gestured started the ground near her. “You can just set it down, I’ll organize it later. Thank you”
He then turned back to rue, eyes focused on the edge of the sea. “Rue, we should find a good spot to build the Hutts. Somewhere between the dry, and where the waves hit. Would you like to start looking for some decent textures?”
“Oh…okay,” the hybrid’s face fell a bit. He’d wanted to ask what Mikhail studied, and see the papers, but they were moving on. Right. Of course. “This one will look for the textures.”
With a longing look at the Arkanian and the bag of curiosities Kerissa packed back up, he got up from rolling with Alk and went walking, using the bottoms of his bare feet to feel the wet-dry sand textures, and other textures, like the pinprick pain of stepping on shells or the slimy of seaweed.
Kerissa understood the intention of the request, floating the bag down between them as some… boundary.
She waited for Rue to be out of ear shot, longer than for most in the Galaxy.
She didn’t speak first though, merely raising an eyebrow toward the Arkanian. Scanning him over. Suspicion rife in her eyes, fuelled by concern.
Mikhail watched Rue wander off with a sad expresion. He wasn’t sure what bothered the Saint that time, but he would figure it out later.
He turned back to face Kerissa, face shifting to concern. He remained silent, not quite sure what gave her the Ick. The gun?
“I am a Doctor.” He spoke softly, as if it needed to be restated. “Trained as a combat medic. The tools are safety, incase something happens.” It seemed something was always happening.
It was realistic but she was still tense. Protective. Rue didn’t know what it was to be in the galaxy at wide yet. She trusted what had occurred in the Blizzard but… with what Rue had been through he’d think any horrors were reasonable.
Kark- anger flared but she kept it within. This was an overreaction.
“So you just bring those everywhere with you?” She finally asked, trying to break the self incurred silence. “Even if you’re not expecting to use them? Seems like a good way to lose things, even without critters.”
He nods, digging his toes into the sand, then drawing a small arc infront of him with them. “I take inventory of everything I have. And do not often leave my things sitting around. Even if I do loose something… I recover it if I cannot replace it. Most things there can be replaced, minus my paperwork.”
He glanced up at her again, just over his glasses before squinting and pushing them back up his nose to cover his eyes.
“What do you know, about Rue?” Kerissa asked, watching carefully, reaching out with her senses in the force as well as looking for typical indicators in case of any lie.
[Meanwhile down the beach out of hearing range which was VERY far, Rue and Alk were collecting all the best things, from pebbles and smooth pieces of glass to bits of seaweed and seashells. At one point the hybrid even found a stray bit of fishing net, and picked that out, examining it with some confusion. He wrapped it around himself like a cloak, and then started talking to Alk about it.]
Mikhail was quite shut off. Any reaching sense probing for him would be met with a trained mental silence, careful crafted to hide anything tugging at his face. He was on alert, at least that much was obvious. He turned his face towards the distant wandering Rue as he spoke softly. “Not much. Not anything solid at least. I did not press for information. But somethings have become obvious to me. He’s broken, in many ways. I don’t know for certain but… He seems to have been an experiment. That or his family tree is quite complicated.”
The Arkanian once more drew a line with his foot in the sand as he continued. “He was trained to a religious degree to worship whoever did these things to him. Torture, physical and mental both. Trauma’s inflicted to him and no doubt others around him. He can’t even comprehend what a person is, and how he is one despite what has been done to him.”
Kerissa clenched her jaw for a moment. She couldn’t tell whether it was a lie or truth. If Mikhail meant harm or genuine concern for Rue. The man had closed off and not even the Force was sufficent in breaking through. Her tail flicked, sending the top layer of sand cascading away on impact.
To trust or not? Would it better to share and stop Mikhail from trying to work it out or would it be better to tell Rue that he was dangerous. To keep things as quiet as possible.
To run.
“How do I know I can trust you? He does but he’d trust anyone. I want him to have friends but-” Kerissa inhaled sharply, stopping herself from throwing accusations.
Mikhail frowned at the question. It was one he had heard before many times. Sometimes, the answer was simple. You could brush off the question while trying to pack someone’s organ back into the hole that had been forcefully opened in them by a bomb. You could flash a symbol or a simple name to those your familial position would scare straight. But when you wanted no power, no scorn, no sort of ill will, it was much harder.
He continues to think, staring hard at the ground infront of him. His hands twitch and slowly clench, then unclench as his shoulder sag. Words became rumbling, slowly plodding onto the sand below. “I don’t know. I am… not a good person. Talking to you, like this, is already a lie in a sense. You don’t know who I am, what I’ve done, what I want.” He trails for a moment then raises his gaze to her, finally a glimmer of something in a tremble of his lip, and the scrunch of his brow. Fear. “I could start by telling you that, at least. Then you can make a decision.”
Kerissa considered it for a long few moments before stating.
“You could start with what you want with him.”
Mikhail slowly shook his head, eyes raising to Kerissa as he finally spoke. “Nothing. I don’t want anything from him. I want to help him. Maybe make his life easier. But I don’t.. want to gain something from him.”
Kerissa shifted in place, resting her weight from one foot to the other. It made logical sense. That a doctor would simply want to help somebody.
She nodded after a long few moments, meeting his eyes for a few moments more before looking away.
“I can give you one big tip to making his life easier. And that’s keeping the fact he’s here quiet. He..” She inhaled slowly, letting it go after a few seconds as she considered how to say this. “If they find him, he won’t stop them from taking him back.”
Mikhail frowned yet again, arms crossing over his chest as he gazed out over the water. “Who exactly? Arkanian? He mentioned they were similar to us but not specifically. If they are… I can see what I can do.”
“No.” Kerissa gritted her teeth for a moment. “They’re Sith cultists. I’m.. not sure what he would have meant by similar, it’s my family line. There’s no Arkanian heritage in there.”
She kept her eyes averted.
The look that swiveled back her way was strange. Confusion, but mostly exhausted sympathy. “Family problems?” He waited a few long breaths, obvious gears turning as he considered a plethora of options. Debating.
“I know… how it is. To have issues with the family. I am… a Kadnikov. Sometimes that’s all someone needs to hear about me before they’ve made their mind up on how to treat me. But I’m not being actively hunted by them. Yet.” As much as her situation was horrid, a tinge of his selfish side envied her. Her options were clear. Work with utter monsters, or flee.
For as much weight as that could put on her, the Arkanian couldn’t help but to wonder if it would be easier had their situations been swapped. At the same time, the term Sith Cultists rang around in his head. It made sense, from what he saw. But it didn’t quite do much to end his unease at the potential power she had.
“I might not be much. Or.. have much to offer.” He trails for a few moments before looking back over to Rue. “But… I can help. I will help, in any way I can. You or him.”
“Why do you want to help him?” Kerissa asked, the scorn no longer in her voice but a quiet pained curiosity.
Still looking at the distant man, a frown pulled at Mikhail’s lips. “When I met him first, he was almost dead. He had consumed.. four or five different drugs. Two alone were fatal. I thought at first that it was on purpose. An attempt on his own life. But in reality… he didn’t know. He was offered them for money by someone who couldn’t care less then took all of them. He just didn’t know.”
He swallowed before continuing. “The second time I met him, I was drunk in an alley during a snow storm. He did everything he could to save me, thinking I was dying. He didn’t know me, or that I was the one that saved him before. He just… gave his all to be good. That is dangerous. Anyone could use him for whatever they want and he’d just accept it. I want to see him learn to defend himself. So he isn’t…” He trails off then, not quite sure what else to say.
Kerissa understood the meaning. She’d had the same struggle really, growing up in a world where everyone is either trustworthy or supposedly never able to harm you, she’d learned the hard way that trust wasn’t something to give freely. Her tail wrapped around her ankle, her eyes on the sand.
This man had helped Rue though. He’d made sure he didn’t die of something that.. may very well have done. Or not. It was hard to tell with Rue.
“We’re trying. He needs to see himself as a person first though and that… that’s likely going to be the hardest part.” She sighed softly, feeling like she was lying by not disclosing the full situation as she continued speaking. “He only left to try and protect me. He has another friend, one who’s doing a better job of teaching him things than I have but even she struggles with that. It has to be slowly and it doesn’t help that I’m not sure he even.. wants to.”
Mikhail nodded solemnly, taking a deep breath before signing it all out. “It… is difficult to fathom. I couldn’t imagine… how my brain would function, or recover, from what I know. I feel.. this God like worship is the worst of it. It’s not easy to convince someone to change their ways normally. For him.. it seems a torturous island in a storm.”
The ram his fingers through his hair again, combing it back into his normal swoop. “We should.. go build those Hutts.”
“They taught him to revere him. He doesn’t even know that the ultimate god that they worship is just some kist-headed sith who thought he was better than everyone else. There was never a god there in the first place. None of them-” Kerissa sighed heavily, looking toward where Rue had wandered off toward. She blinked hard a few times, before nodding.
“Yeah.” She started walking, though slowed her step and looked back for a moment, “I don’t trust you, Mikhail. But I dont you trust me either so that works out. So long as you’re here to help him though, it’s good to see him making friends.”
Kerissa smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes, before turning back toward Rue and making her way there.
Rue had been productive with his assigned task while waiting for them to finish talking about whatever he was not meant to hear. Many ‘textures’ had been gathered and sorted into neat little piles organized by material, type, size, and feel: rocks of various colors, arranged in sets from smooth to rough to crumbly to sharp; seashells of the tiniest little teardrop to full spiral conches, rigged or smooth and fine enough to cut, various patterns and dimensions; pieces of wood and bark, smooth or rough; greenery, from seaweed and seagrass to regular grass and ferns and algae and moss; small bones and broken egg shells and dry fish skulls; pieces of colored and clear glass, likely from rare bits of waste on this public beach; and even a few sand dollars and dead coral fans washed up and dried out. The hybrid sat presiding over it all a bit like a dragon over a hoard as he petted Alk, though he perked immediately to attention and dipped as if to bow when Mikhail and Kerissa approached.
“Is this sufficient?” he asked, a hesitant look on his face awaiting judgement, tail swaying. <@432543120635461643> <@160141735354171394>
Mikhail bit his tongue before he spoke. He had gone to extreme lengths to try to succeed in his request. “It is excellent, Rue. You are very thorough.” He took a spot near Rue, but kept from sitting amongst the hoard so as not to interfere with it.
He dug his fingers slowly into the sand in front of him, so he could form his own small pile.
“One should be,” the hybrid replied promptly and primly, as though echoing a sentiment.
Together the trio built some sand Hutts, and no one got sunburned, and it was a nice time TM.