~Shades of Grey~

#121

"Let's just see how far we get out of here ok, we got away from that beast back there, but you know now that I've gone back I'm contract I'm ruined. All that you see here is all that I have now, not to mention my former employers will probaly send some one after me and us. Thanks for the offer though, but I think you just rest easy for now." Amas leaned back in his seat.

"Unless you know of another back water planet that aren't alot of civilized places I'll be able to go to for a while." Amas said sully. Then as if to punctuate his words there was a nova bright flash in the upper port qudrant. A ship appeared out of space almost four hundred meters in length.

"Shit here sit with em here, theres no time to strap in." Amas threw the ships throttle back up and started around the planet...

~Shades of Grey~

#122

...Just before he rounded the ecliptic plain of the planet the radar beeped four times in quick seccession. Amas swore, "It's not even the goddamned mercenaries. Their friggin cops!"

Four Lancer-class interceptors were closing quickly. Alright hang on tight, Amas pressed a combination of buttons onth control panel and a small sub screen popped. "Rear mounted turrents," he muttered. Amas used one hand to fly and the other to gun.

The roar of the quad cannons was deafening, beams of energy streamed otu to the fighters only one was hit but not even seriously. The returning fire caused the shields to drop.

"That's ti I'm taking us plaent side I can't take the fighters we'll have to sneak out later." Amas put the ship into a steep drop and headed into the atomsphere at a near insane angle. It held barely together, but the ship made it down to a forest clearing below somewhere. Amas flicked a couple ships and the outside of the ship shimmered and disappeared.

~Shades of Grey~

#123

Once the ship was settled and cloaked, Fox finally was able to answer Fletch. He let the change wash over himself, the strange semi-erotic feeling of becoming liquid made him shudder but he managed to control himself long enough to draw the two-legs shape.

"I do not know what I am." Fox said after deliberation. "I avoid the two-legs, kep them run out of my part of the forest, or avoid them if they are too well prepared. I do not know about being foxkin, I have always been fox, but perhaps six winters ago, everything changed, I changed."

"I was chasing dormice, the weather was turning cold and I was trying to build up some fat for winter. A big tasty dormouse escaped me by running into a tree hollow, and I wanted to eat him, and I was hit by a shiver. I thought something was wrong, I felt hot inside, like I was ill, and then I changed. My fur was gone, my nose was blocked, and I was standing on two legs...I was horrified." he said.

"I ran scared for a while, until I saw the moon. The strangest feeling came over me, and I was relaxed. I sat in the two-leg shape and stared at the moon for the longest time, and somehow became the fox shape again. My nose was back, my ears were sharp and I was not eaten by the cold, but my eyes were not as keen as they are now." he said.

"The werewolves paid me little mind, so long as I respected their territory. I saw them become even larger wolves regularly, and learned that trick, but instead of becoming a huge fox, I became a wolf sized fox. There is not much to tell since then."

"I have lived as a fox, learning and outliving my littermates. Eating, hunting, sleeping, and hiding. I kept the two-legs away and then I found you. You...intrigue...me." he said with some difficulty. "The vixens know I am different, my smell is different from a normal fox, just as your smell is different from a normal vixen. I thought you might know answers...I had to find out."

~Shades of Grey~

#124

Fletch listened to Fox's story with small nods but never interrupting his flowing words. When he was done she reminiced how similar it had been for her, only she had the guidance and teachings of her elders, how hard must it have been for Fox? She leant one elbow on a knee and her chin upon that before answering as if deep in thought.

"Shall I begin at the...uh...beginning?" she said with a smile that was becoming rapidly familiar. "The Foxkin are what you see before you and what you are, we are foxes given the power to transform into humans...In all reality we have vulpine blood circulating through us, our human forms are there as a protection method as I understand it, a chance to protect ourselves and ours from them". She looked towards the copckpit before letting her eyes drift back to Fox's.

"I was the only one of my own litter to have this ability, in fact they say it is rare that more than one in a litter pocesses the ability...I learnt my gift in a strange way similar to your own, but it was known by the Foxkin elders I did pocess this ability. When I would use it was another matter...that I was not wholely fox did not occur to me until I found myself in the form of a human. My own scent sent shivers down my spine. I was then taken and trained to control my ability and encouraged to spend much time in human form as we are less likely to suffer injury so...". She looked at the floor as sadness passed her face as she thought of Bram. "Bram didn't have the ability...he was my brother of sorts, one litter older than I. Such sentimentality is frowned upon in the bretheren and..." Here she paused and took a deep breath.

"I cannot but feel sorry for how isolated you must have felt...growing older whilst others did not". She shared a small smile before continuing, "You are a matter of intrique for myself, for you have grown and expanded on the arts without guidance, and yet in many ways you retain the purity of what we all were before our gift intruded". She finished and tucked her feet close leaning her head on her knees she studied his face before looking down at her feet.

"I will answer any of your questions, but I am sure there is much you would rather not know".

~Shades of Grey~

#125

"I wouldnt know where to start..." he said, his face filled with the action of his mind, human in shape, but still very much vulpine in nature. Such deep thinking was often alien to the fox, but innate to the human. It was this human instinct that let him learn the language so quickly.

"I dont know why I am different, why I didnt age any more, and the rest did. I want to know why does the moon have such power over me, why can it hold me in a trance?" he asked.

"There are others? how many, where? What are they like, are they like us?" his questions started to become an avalanche. His eyes were wide and driven by an almost childlike sense of curiosity.

~Shades of Grey~

#126

Fletch could hardly keep up with the many questions he asked. She herself had known a time when she was similar though a more well taught person was answering her questions. "The moon always holds us in trance...as fox's we are mainly nocturnal, it is our sun and so it holds the same pull on us as the sun has on others whose eyes and ears are not for the night. Some of the Foxkin are straonger with their magic, they are of a higher order they feel it's pull much more than others...". SHe thought of his other questions and the best way to answer them. "The Foxkin brethern is widely distributed throughout the land, there will be at least one per vulpine commnity though we mostly stick to our own...The rest aged because they were foxes, they did not have the same moon power that fills our veins...".

"To fully answer you, they are like us and yet not. They pride themselves on their human form, and only revert to our four legged form when danger becomes too large, unfortunately they have become increasingly political and even venture into the dealings of man...as assassins, for we can get away with narry a trace for the normal beings to see". She hung her head slighlty, "I myself have been taught, but I was weak...I could not do the tasks they set me, in part they cast me out, though no foxkin is permitted to leave the den in actuality...for they fear the loss of their deeper secrets...when I was there I was young and priv only to some of their more shallow ones though I managed ot glean more as my grandfather is of the higher order". She gave a weary smile, "There is much to tell and we have had a long day, perhaps if we go through each question bit by bit? By I think that would be enough for you ot digest for now yes?". She gave algiht laugh and looked out a small port hole in the wall opposite, the stars and night streaking past until a dusty colour could be seen.

~Shades of Grey~

#127

Callista sat and also listened to what fox and Fletch had to say, she stood and went to amas who was still sat in the cockpit, "why where they attacking us?" she asked looking at him deeply, "what have we done to them" surely they knew that it was the best intrest" she said moving her hand through her hair in a perplex way, "i don't get it! will they leave us alone, if we stay here fo the moment?" she sighed "this never used to happen in my home town" she looked up and her mind went into overdrive, how did she know what it was like at her home town, she couldn't remeber anything about..... well anything, she watched him push buttons and flick switches.

~Shades of Grey~

#128

"They attacked because of me, I failed in my bounty to capture those two back there. Bounty hunting isn't exactly legal and a very popular way for an employer to get back at a failed bounty hunter is to turn him in. Thats why they attacked us." Amas paused. Untill now he hadn't realised how tired he was or how his heart hammered in his chest.

"Listen I have to ask you not to go outside, they have htings that detect people from very long distances from high orbit in fact. They know we went down in an unpopulated region they'll be sure to check every spot they detect a person. Those fighters are fast but they have no light drives, once they start to spread out we can launch and just get the hell out of here. This doesn't look like much but believe she packs alot of surprises. Now lets see here. Amas started flipping a few switches and the power slowly faded and the vibrations in the floor ceased. I've shut down the power, I'll be right back."

Amas went tot he back hold and kicked one crate open it held nothign but a sort of odd color mimcking net. He walked back to the main area and opened one door which was actualy a shaft with a ladder on it. He went out the top side and started spreading the net around untill it covered the entire ship. He returned the same way he came.

"I've put a scatter net up it should block any scans the craft make here, I've lowered the ramp so we have fresh air, just keep an air for any locals. I guess you two it would be ok for you to go out in your fox forms because you'll show up different than human but Callista and I will set off the probes they've probaly got going over this area."

Amas yawned deeply, "Since we'll gonna have to wait a while before attempting another break for it, I'm going to catch up on some rest. There is cots in that closet there, it's unlocked."

With that Amas walked back to the cockpit but stopped at a dorr hjust before that hissed open on it's own. He stripped off the clingy cooling suit and dropped onto the stiff bed, in a few minutes he was asleep.

~Shades of Grey~

#129

Fletch, the vixen was right. She had given him plenty to think about. He wasnt exactly sure what an assassin was, but it didnt sound like a good thing the way she said it. Anything that had to be run away from was not a good thing. There were others, he wasnt alone. The though ran round and round in his mind.

"I am going to hunt." he said. He did not mean to be rude, but it is not in the nature of foxes to long winded in their goodbyes. He stood and made his way halfway to the door before letting the human shape melt down into the vulpine. Even with the gift of the change he could still feel the burn in his muscles from all of the running, and the swimming he had done already. That being done, a little more wouldnt hurt him.

He paused at the door, waiting to see if Fletch would come with him.

~Shades of Grey~

#130

Fletch gave a smile as she saw him morph, her own body wishing to do the same. She was not long in following his example, letting the human robes fall from her as she daintly stepped out of them, now with four legs and only the small pouch hanging form her neck and her golden eyes reminent of what she had been only moments before.

She padded softly after him the ramp feeling alien underneath her paws. The smell of pine and loam in the air was familiar and it was pleasurable after the sterile smelling confines of the ship. She caught Fox's scent as he moved quietly beside her, his scent comforting in it's familiarity though she had met him only that day. had it only been a day? It seemed an age with all the travesties that had occured in the few hours.

She turned a furred head backwards momentarily to examine the ship once more and was still amazed that such a thing could fly like birds, but much higher. She let her nose drop to the gorund to better smell the earth/. As they approached the trees and undergrowth the scents became stronger and he rpupils dilated upon the smell of a rabbit, her nostrils flaring ever so slighty as if better to grab the smell. She had no need to communicate her find to Fox for being vulpine he would have smelt it himself already. Her head became align with her shoulders as she looked into the bushes, her head jerking slighlty as she scented the air with many short sniffs. She approached the undergrowth slowly and heard a small creak in the twiggy cover. Her head jerking towards it's direction was her only animation, her ears flicking from side to side to better estimate her prey's location. She took a tiny step closer and was rewarded with a another small movement of the animal, and as if hse had x-ray vision she could see the plump rabbit hiding beneath it's shelter. Her nose and ears had told her enough. Tensing slighlty she took yet one more step before giving a agile and lithe leap both paws landing on her prey her mouth soon closing on the rabbit seemingly entwined in it's branches. As she pulled the rabbit out she was forced to break some of the plants in order to pull it free, her vigorous movements snapping the rabbits neck instantly so it hung limp with narry a squeal. Holding her prize she looked over to Fox. She dropped it on the ground now looking at it's prone form almost sorry for killing it...almost.

~Shades of Grey~

#131

The rabbit was a good kill, Fletch was a better hunter than most of the foxes, or werewolves for that matter. He had hoped to make the first kill, and make a gift of it to her, but she beat him to it. He would have to top the rabbit if he wanted to impress her.

For a moment he wondered why he wanted to impress her, he had never cared about impressing any of the other foxes, and there was not much of a shortage of them. Perhaps he would think on it more when he was in the human shape again, he seemed more apt to introspection and abstract thought in that form. In the current form, his world was decoded into lines of scent being fed into his vulpine brain by his incredibly developed olfactory nerves.

There were several game animals in the area, his nose twitched drawing in the scent. He could also smell Fletch, her female smell...somewhere in the back of the vulpine mind, his human mind voiced that was why he was trying to impress her, she was the same as him, but female.

He wanted to bring down a deer, or perhaps a sucking pig, but all he managed to find was a single plump dormouse. He brought it back, holding it by the tail and he laid it on the ground in front of Fletch, a gift.

~Shades of Grey~

#132

Fletch bent her nose to the ground smelling his gift. It was a dormouse, hardly touched by Fox so cleanly had it been killed. She nosed it, smelling it's sharp smell that always accompanied rodents, yet this one was softened from living in the wild, the rodens in the cities were thin and polluted. She gave a small whine and picked the dormouse up before looked to Fox and then suggestively to the rabbit, unsure whther he would take it as an insult for him to have the rabbit...but how would she run after a full rabbit and dormouse? And there would be no point in burying them for they could be moving without a minutes notice.

With the mouse in her mouth she pranced off towards a shady spot under some moderately sized bushes, looking back to see if Fox would follow. Sharing among foxes was not incredibly common she knew, even among those of the foxkin and this had been a gift. Fletch lay down on the small barren surface just big enough for the two of them, leaning Fox's catch on her paws.

~Shades of Grey~

#133

'She took it!' Fox though excitedly. He was afraid she would turn her nose up at the dormouse. She sat under a canopy of bushes, regal as a queen with the small mouse laid across her paws. There was room enough for him next to her.

He pulled the rabbit with him, and laid down next to her, snuggling against the warmth of her body. He could carry the rabbit back into the metal cave when it decided to leave again, there would be time for eating later. THe gnawing in his belly was dampened by her smell.

Gently he started to groom her with his tongue, starting with the long hair of her neck, her shoulder. He made a soft chuffing sound and rested his head across the back of her shoulders.

~Shades of Grey~

#134

Fletch stiffened slightly as his tongue grazed her hair cleaning and smoothing it. She relaxed as he continued gazing at him with intelligent amber eyes and a soft expression. She craned her neck and licked his cheek fur softly jsut as he bean to lay his head on her shoulders. She turned towards him slightly, glancing at him sideways from her position leaning on her paws the dormouse close but almost forgotten as the warmth of his closeness sent her into an easy state of relaxation.

She felt her lids drooping and barely fought to keep them open, knowing they were well hidden enough and that her keen hearing would alert her of others approaching, let along the graceful yet sturdy fox leaning on her shoulder.

She blew soft breaths of air from her nose in contentment and soon fell asleep, still wary of the head that leant so softly upon her, yet heavily in a comforting fashion.

~Shades of Grey~

#135

Callista streched and leant back into the chair, closing her eye's, she slowly began to fall asleep, but still had enough sense that she could hear if anyone approched her,

~Shades of Grey~

#136

Um, i hate to intrrupt, but exactly how are the other role-players supposed to play if you have them locked inside a ship in outer-space. Seriously, this is supposed to involve everybody, and as long as you have them all locked in space, you are basically God-moding in a non-traditional sense. That really is not cool.

That is all i am going to say on the matter

~Shades of Grey~

#137

OOC: Well, i think that is an interesting question. BUT if you had read everything, you would see that the ship A. never went into space, and B. is currently on the ground.

As for God-Moding, I think your body-hopping is closer to god-moding than Amas and his ship, and as for being locked in, two gamers are outside of th ship.

Besides, being constantly hounded by a near immortal body-hopping monster is also uncool. Deal with it.

~Shades of Grey~

#138

OOC: As Scarasmaxsaid if you had read everything you have noticed that the ramp is lowered, though Callista is awake.

Amas woke a little while latter he had always been a light sleeper a trait that had been life saving a nubmer of times. His stomach growled discontently, slowly he dragged himself out of bed. He grabbed a pair shorts and a jumpsuit. He grabbed a holster and belt and slipped a DE-10 pistol into his pocket. Amas slipped outside quietly and padded past a snoozing Callista. He grabbed two MRE's and opened one up and grabbed a bottle of water. He slipped onto one of crates near the top of the ramp, he kept a careful ear for the howl of overhead craft he didn't here any but they weren't going anywhere for a while.

~Shades of Grey~

#139

In orbit above, the squadron of Lancer class frigates broke into two wings. They drifted in a low orbit, scanning the planet for signs of the wayward bounty hunter. The scans were fruitless, the biometric signatures of life on the planet were on the high end of the scale, with more than fifteen species that registered as human or larger. There was no thermal signature, no EM signature. The bounty hunter must have a cloaked base, or was sitting in a dead ship, hiding.

The captain had thought about ordering a general barrage of the planet, but such a flagrant violation of the Ares convention, even on an 'uninhabited' world would draw the ire of the powers that be. The desire to decimate the planet with a full twenty four missle spread of MIRV heavy nukes made his palms itch with anticipation.

~Shades of Grey~

#140

Fletch woke and though she was awake she let her eyes remai closed, their lids heavy and her breathing still rythmic as if sleep still drifted over her.

The air was still but for the naturl noises of the trees and the occasional quick flutterings of birds in their flight. She could smell both the rabbit and dormouse and it filled her with a sense of security yet something in the back of her mind niggled at her. Something she could not yet recall to the front of her mind for questioning.

She shuffled a little dislodging Fox's head a little. She stood and stretched, a strange practice of standing with her back legs straight and her fornt legs splayed out before her her back sloped downwards towards her head. She then extended each back leg in long graceful strides finally giving her tail a twitch and shaking her head so her neck fur moved with it. She gave a small yip towards Fox and then looked towards where they had just come, the ship in it's clearing not far away.

She lay down the dormouse secured between her paws, using her claws to hold it tighter as she pulled at it's skin with sharp white teeth and fangs. It's neck was soon shredded and she could like the fur from it, savoring it's life blood and the gentle crunch of it's bones between her teeth.

She admired Fox from her position before him. She chewed whislt thinking, her thoughts hidden well beneath undulating amber eyes.

~Shades of Grey~

#141

Fox was roused when Fletch moved, he watched her move, and stretch gracefully. There was a look of admiration in his eyes as she loosened her muscles. He was pleased as she ate the dormouse, his gift to her. It would be unfair to eat the whole rabbit she caught when all he offered her was a singe plump dormouse.

He rose from his crouch and stretched his own legs. He felt much rested, and the day was peaceful. It had been peaceful before the smell of smoke, and the arrival of the wave, and the foul riders. He panted slightly in the afternoon heat, but it was not a great concern.

He sat down, and assumed the two-legs form, the transition improving as he did it more. He looked postively ghastly as a human. Perhaps 20 years old, maybe older and having never shaved he had a scraggly breard several inches long, and his hair was wild and tangled and fell to the small of his back.

"I would talk, if you want..." he said, forgetting about the ships and sensors.

~Shades of Grey~

#142

From orbit the fighters seperated and were coming low over the general areas, a module on the unerside was emitting a green harmless lgiht. Amas who had moved ot he bottom of the ramp to get a look froze terrified, he dropped his food and ran back inside.

"Shit, shit, shit. Callista wake up! The fighters their using concentrated neutrino scans no matter what theit going to pick up the ions the reactor those out even when it's off." Amas went for the cockpit and started a power up sequence the ship thrummed to life, but he couldn't leave without the others. So he popped the shields on and headed for a ladder wall in the back, he climbed and mashed a red a button at the top. A hatch parted revealing a ball like turrent. The steel dome around it parted. The quad cannon turrent hummed to life, two of the fighters were already closing. Amas spun the turrent around pulled the trigger. A tremdous blam, blam, blam filled the air and a lances of red energy rained at the incoming Lancers.

One ship came in low, twin mounted laser cannons blaring away at the shields. The other fighter came in high hoping to get over to drop a bomb. Amas spun the turrent up and sent a flurry of lasers toward the fighter. Three blast lowered it's shields and the following burned into the hull then hit one of the bombs. The fighter blew up in nova bright glare. He set the turrent on auto fire, he went down and grabbed a large tube like weapon from the a crate and went out side. He knelt down and tracked the second fighter coming in...

THose two foxes had better get on board ASAP he thought. The Amas squeezed the trigger stud the tube leapt in his hands but he held onto it. A rocket launched away with a hazy green contrail following the sceond fighter. It closed the gap and finaly detonated only a few feet away which threw the fighters into a crazy uncontroleld dive as it crashed into a bog far away.

~Shades of Grey~

#143

Callista opened her eye's wearily, looking each way to see who was shouting at her, she stood up in a shook, what was this about concentrated neutrino scans? what the hell are they? she ran to the cockpit to find amas and ask him what was going on where were the other two? she looked around she was on her own at that very moment, and she didn't know what the hell was going on, she turned her head each way,

~Shades of Grey~

#144

Fletch looked up as Fox also stood and stretched. She was surprised when he took the form of a human, a rather wild and nervous human she thought. She nodded too humanly to his request, transforming into her human form with ease. She went and sat next to him wondering what he would look like without the wild tresses giving in to a smallish laugh which lasted but seconds as he glanced in her direction. "What would you wish.." she trailed off mid sentence, her head turned towards the ship's direction. Suddenly she changed back into a vixen and looked again towards the ship's direction though it was her ears and sensitive paws that did the vital task of establishing what was going on. She gave a sharp and brusque bark and motioned towards the ship. It was making that strange roaring noise again, and the gorund vibrated slighlty, tremoring under her paws. She transofrme dback into a human, communicating to him what he probably already knew, "The ship it is moving again...". A sharp blast of sound carried to them, she had heard that noise few times before, and only in the forest where the bounty hunter had saved them. It was not a comforting noise at all and she jumped as she heard yet another.

"We have to get back". She said taking his hand and pulling him upright which was pointless as she quickly transofrmed hoping he was doing the same and began to run back to the ship. Only momentarily turning back to ensure he was following close on her heels. The ship was humming in front of her within minutes, Amas in it's doorway, Callista's sillouhette eveident in the background. And overhead the drone of other ships, some narowly avoiding the blasts that Amas sent their way. She turned around once again looking for Fox.

~Shades of Grey~

#145

Amas tracked the ever two fighters coming in, the quad cannon was already blazing again sending a hail of red spears, but the pilots were more evassive this time, more careful. They responded with their flurry of green energy beams that hissed and sizzled against the hull. The faint hum had receeced and the shield around his ship had fallen.

He fired another missle but the aim was off and the missle didn't lock on. Then Amas saw the second fighter bank up anda round coming back at a 45* angle. Then he saw a puffy blue contrail coming for them.

Amas dropped the rocket launcher and ran inside the ship, Callista was looking for him in the cockpit so he came up snatched her wirst and darted back out of ship. "Run, don't stop running, it's going to blow!"

Amas saw the missle again now they only had one chance. He shoved Callista onto the ground and jumped ontop of her coverinf her body with his body.

The missle impacted in the left rear of the ship, exploding on contact, it blew with enough force to pick up the ship then it set back down.

Amas felt the fire lick over his body, it only lasted for a second but to him it felt like an enternity. As soon as the flames receeded he grabbed Callista and shoved her behind a group of rocks, he followed too. Just getting under cover in time.

The ship's reactor had begun to scream intollerably loud, then it blew. Magnetic Field Dampners set on and kept the blast from exploding outward. But still ten meters of ground flared into a nove white globe then faded. The ship was half disintergrated, and there was a ten meter deep crater in the ground.

Amas slumped to the side completely drained, he fell on his stomach and slipped out of consciousness.

~Shades of Grey~

#146

The brilliant flashes of light and the roar of the strange weapons disoriented Fox, so much that nstead of instinctively reverting to a vulpine form, he ran towards the carnage in human form. The bounty hunter was unconscious, he wasnt sure about the elf, and Fletch was close, her eyes pricked by the constant action.

The strange metal birds were coming around for another pass. The metal cave had protected them once, but it had been destroyed. Fox slipped his arms under the bounty hunter and strained to lift him off of the ground. The man was heavy, but Fox was no stripling of a man. He grunted and lifted the man, and bagan to carry him towards the cover of a large stone overhang. His vulpine sense told him that there was a safe place in that area.

~Shades of Grey~

#147

Callista looked staring around her, stunned, she looked at amas and shook him gently, after he didn't wake up she shook him more vigoursly, trying to wake him up, her breathing heavy, and rasp, she looked over the rock at the wreckage of the ship "crap" she said her voice once again trailing slightly, she blinked and sat back down, a cut had aperred on her cheek but it wasn't bad, she sat there for a moment closing her eye's to block out all light which was flooding over the rocks,

~Shades of Grey~

#148

Amas groaned as Fox set him down by the rocks, he tried moving but movement hurt. It hurt so much he almost screamed, He could feel a breeze on his back and guess the backside of his clothes had been burned away.

He could hear the fighters rolling by overhead and he could see the fire from his ship. His ship! IT was ruined, just another piece of scrap, he'd be lucky if he could salvage anything most of it looked slagged. "Anyone got a beer?" He asked, his voice was horse. He coughed and spat a little blood out. "Shit.." He slumped back into blissful unconsciousness.

~Shades of Grey~

#149

Fletch had watched as Amas had pulled Callista free from the ship near seconds before it exploded. She had been thrown aside by th eblast but luckily had npt been burnt as Amas had. She stood up, limping on one of her paws as she looked around for her friends. The ship was a mess of twisted tormented metal and stranges fumes leeched out of it's carcass. She wrinkled her nose at them and transformed back into a human calling out to her friends, "Fox? Callista...Ama?" she called out individually. She heard a groan as Fox lifted Amas and began to carry him. She followed silently her hair falling down over her shoulders covering a gree-blue bruise which had been wrought upon her shoulder when she fell. She saw a few peices of clothing lying on the ground, the ones she had worn earlier. She picked them up before following the others.

Her instincts told her to follow them more closely and was rewarded when she saw Fox laying Amas gently down among some rocks in a protected corner of the forest, a rock overhang hiding them from the sight of the craft that still droned wearily in the background. She looked at Callista whose cheek had been cut. Amas had been badly burnt and she cringed to see that it would remove some of his skin when they pulled the clothing free. It would no doubt scar if not administered to promptly and infection could also set in if given a chance. She looked to both Callista and Fox her fingers fondling the small pouch which as always hung at her throat.

"It is fortunate he is unconcious" she said moving closer to him. "Otherwise what we shall have to do would be very painful indeed". She lifted up a small pecie of the clothing Amas had been wearing, noting how his scin stuck to it in charred strips. She winced and let it back down. "We need some water...I have all the herbs we need" she said taking the pouch from around her neck. "Can someone check what is left of that ship for those instruments he used to aid you earlier?" she said looking at Callista. She took the shirt she had been wearing earlier that day and ripped it into strips whilst looking at Amas's burnt back.

Using the water one of them brought her in a helmet like device, filled from the closest water source they could find she dipped the strips in and cleaned his wounds as best as she could, leaving his burns till last. These she gently removed the charred clothing from and cleaned too, almsot so softly it was almost hard to believ she was actually doing anything. When they were cleaned as well as she could do so without harming him more she sprinkled a strange concoction of powdered herbs on the burn sites, before taking clean dry strips fo fabric and laying them over it. "It is primitive compared to his way of healing, but it will work just te same when the other is unavailable" she said with a smile that fooled noone. He would be in pain when he woke and they all knew it. She stood up looking around before giving them a smallish wave and dissappearing into the forest to return minutes later her arms laden with a spongy kind of undergrowth. She laid this over a small patch among the rocks and covered it with the remaining clothes. "Can you help move him?" she inquired of Fox.

~Shades of Grey~

#150

"Yes, I will help move him." Fox said as he started to move Amas as gingerly as he could. He had seen animals who had been killed in fires, or by the stroke of lightning. It was amazing that the two-legs was still alive. As far as they went, he must have been extrodinarily tough.

The underside of the ledge was decorated in a patina of shiny quartz-like crystals that ran in a vein back into the stone at the rear of the cave like overhang. "Lightning never comes here." Fox said, touching the crystal with a finger and drawing back as the razor like edge cut his finger.

OOC - The crystal is a naturally occuring metallic crystal that fragments radar, and other electronics. It also build a positive charge, as opposed to the normal negative ground charge, and thus the entire region is repellant to positive charged cloud lightning.

~Shades of Grey~

#151

Fletch looked upwards noting the stone Fox touched. It had a shiny appearance and she was surprised to have never seen in it before. Perhaps the ore it was made of was uncommon to her own hunting grounds. She sat underneath the ledge with the others, looking at Amas slightly concerned for he still hasdn't woken, which as of yet may have been a blessing for him. Callista also looked weak and weary and Fletch dipped a cloth in the remaining water, passing it to her so she could bathe her cut cheek. She massaged her bruised shoulder tentatively, before washing it carefully to remove any grime from the shallow abrasions.

She leant back against a more flat peice of the natural landform and rested her head against it her eyes closed. How could so much happen in one day? she pondered, the blackness in beneath her lids swirling in a most unnerving manner. She opened her eyes again and felt for Amas's wrist, checking the pulsing of his life blood. It was fairly strong for his condition, she could only reason that the special clothes he had been wearing had taken some of the impact.

Fletch looked out into the skjy where the sky was beginning to darken, crimson clouds spreading across it like blood stains and the sun sinking ever lower as if being eaten by the coming of the cold night. The night is for hunting, she thought animaly beofre examining her hands, so much more fragile than the soft paws of a fox.

~Shades of Grey~

#152

Amas woke ten minutes later. Some of the pain had ebbed away, but alot of it was shouting in his nervous system. Sending screams from his back to hsi nervous center. Amas grunted.

He looked aorund, Fletch was playing the role of doctor rather effectively. Callista was beside while Fox seemed to examine something out of view. Amas grinned a little, "So any chance I can get a sip or two of water my thorat is parched?" His voice was stronger, the fact the he could crack a grin alone was a show that he was recovering quickly. You didn't survive thirtteens years as a bountyhunter by not being tough. Amas could think of times he'd been hurt worse than this but only one or two.

~Shades of Grey~

#153

Fletch smiled as Amas came to. He was brave not to cry out shge thought, she had seen men of little less calibre do just that with less injuries than he had sustained.

She nodded and picked up the small pail like container that held the water. She tipped it gently to his mouth allowing him to take deep sips from it to whet his throat and lips. She had added a little of some herbs to the water which she knew would relieve some of the pain he would be feeling. She wanted to examine his back and ensure the cloth was not sticking to it, but better wait until he was asleep again.

She was surprised also at his cheery mood, for it was the first real show of happy emotion she had seen from him that was not tainted with a hurried irritation. Yet this was the most relaxing situation they had found themselves in. She looked across at Fox now satisified that her patient (so to speak) was doing well she wished to continue their earlier conversation, but thought it best to lave it to their disgression.

~Shades of Grey~

#154

'Thanks," Amas muttered, he was going to say a little more but the drug's effects shoved back out of consciousness. He had never liked drugs that mich they always ruined his sleeping pattern.

~Shades of Grey~

#155

Fletch moved quickly once Amas was unconcious. She pushed him onto his good side and used her knee to hold him there whislt she checked the makshift bandages. It seemed it was all well for they were not sticking to the wound but were drawing any toxin from it, ensuring when the wound wept it would not become infected. She let him roll back on to his previous position and bathed his brow with a damp cloth, alos made from the calico looking shirt.

The ledge above them provided a kind of roof and it was well protected from the wind and elements. Fox had been clever in finding it. Passing the damp rag to Callista she indicated for her to sit by Amas incase he woke and needed anything. She sauntered over to fox rubbing her bare arm, cold now devoid of fur. "Amas will be okay" she informed him watching him carefully. He had been very nearly silent whislt Amas was being tended to.

She stood next to him examinign the rocks he was intrigued by.When he cut his finger she took it in her hands and wiped the blood from it pressing down on the cut to staunch it's bloodflow though it appeared to be deep she knew finger always bled overly much, accustomed too alot of blood flow. She looked up at him casually saying, "Do you think it would be wise to light a small fire? We can live without thanks to our fur, but the others will need it...". She did not like using fire, a weapon that could destroy both predator and prey, it could not be controlled, but she knew that it could be contained somewhat on a rocky surface like the cav Fox had found, and both Amas and Callista were too scantily clothed to spend a night in the cold without blankets.

~Shades of Grey~

#156

"You can make fire, like the other two-legs can?" Fox asked, feeling rather inadequate around this female who seemed so much more worldly and knowledgeable than he. It was just this morning that he had been the most cunning and knowing creature in his world, outsmarting two-legs, and driving them from his domain. Now, he was lost and not a little frightened.

~Shades of Grey~

#157

Fletch nodded, "I can" she said confirming it verbally. "I can teach you?" she asked with the smallest of smiles as she chose two peices of stick and a little peice of dry out roots which appeared o tbe like a kind of net of tangled brush. She his hands in hers looking into his eyes before looking down at the two sticks and guiding his hands ground one stick into the other, the pecie of dried brush in between. "Rubbing them together makes them get hot" she explained simply. When they get hot enough, the roots will begin to burn and we can make it bigger until it is a fire..". The friction between the sticks and brush had increased to a state now where it was beginning to let off small tendrils of smoke. She let his hands go gently. "But for now there is no point until we have some wood ot add to it". She looked around, they would have to scour the forest.

She rubbed her upper arms again more out of self-conciousness than anything, her hands searching for something to do. Their whole world had changed, not one thing would remain consant or so it seemed. Fletch looked over at Callista who was sitting by Amas. "I will go for wood". She looked at Fox and transformed easily, four legs instead of two pawing the gouond eagerly, the wild instinct stronger now to run and hunt. She was unused to knowing things others did not and it filled her with a kind of responsibility, to be needed was a great thing indeed.

~Shades of Grey~

#158

Amas came out of his drug induced sleep later in the evening. The pain he felt ealier had reduced itself to a minor keeing in the back of his head. Callista was dozing serenly at his side and Fox appeared to catch a quick nap. Fletch appeared to be out foraging. Amas carefuly stepped out the rock formation, his back protested minorly but he was used to enduring pain. He edged out carefully he gaxed watchful at the sky, the destroyer nor any of it's fighters could be spotted in the night sky.

Amas deemed it safe enough to check out the ruins of his ship. A quick fourteen minute walk to the bomb blasted clearing and the remains of his ship. One half was entirely gone in it's place was nothing but a crater. Luckiy enough the dampners had contained the blast to rear of the ship. Leavin the front half surgicaly cut away from the implosion of the reactor.

Amas made his away over to the wreckage, the rear end was a slagged minorly from the unshielded missle hit. But the ramp had been blown away so Amas carefully made his into the charred remains of the ship. The interior was a mess anything that hadn't locked up in a packing crate was dust. But as a testement to the packing companies, his crates of equipement were virtualy untouched except for carbon scoring. The running lights still functioned even. Amas keyed one open and removed a set of boxers padded pants and combat boots. He put them on quickly then grabbed four warm wool blankets that were a flat military green, and a field medical kit. Amas couldn't carry anything more. He made his way back to the rocky encampment, almost an hour later.

~Shades of Grey~

#159

Fletch had wandered for a time through the close set trees in the form of a fox. The scentes were strong and somewhere in the mellody of scents lay the charred and burnt smells of the brunt ship. She transformed once more into humanoid form to gather some wood for the fire. She carried it back to the camp noting the absence of Amas. It obviously meant he was healing much more quickly than she anticipated, she only hoped he wasn't overdoing it. No doubt he had gone to see to the charred remains of his ship, see what could be salvaged.

Fletch dropped the wood beside one wall and looked over to Callista. She wondered where she was form, who she had been before this attack, who had anyone been? Where had they been headed? She sat down making a small fire pile with the sticks in a circular structure, putting the dryest wood clsestr to where the flame would begin. Fox seemed to be hidden for the moment for she couldn't see him. He had been very quiet since their abrupt return.

~Shades of Grey~

#160

Fox crested the ridge and was able to get a better survey of the land. It was rocky and rough, not much like the forest where he had been living, but it was not lacking in food or water. He could see the ruined hulk of the flying metal cave, and suspected that it wouldnt be flying any more. The bounty hunter...Amas, seemed to be in better health, and Fletch had gone off to hunt for wood.

Ah, but curiosity was not content to let him sleep curled up next to the she-elf. He had been moving at a fast trot, catching the scent of the game trails and finding two small cold streams, one small enough he could hop across and not get his feet wet. Temporarily satisfied, Fox came down the ridge to see what was going on in the cave.