[ when she arrives at their encampment, the kuruko clan has already been reduced to a pile of bodies. in her people's tradition, bodies are burned and the ashes buried at the root of a young tree. return to the earth, like all things. but these are strewn around still, blood smears and mangled and unrecognizable faces of people who had once known her, who she could now hardly remember. there had been no one left to bury them.
mavis takes an axe and starts cleaving off pieces of the lean-tos that her people had set up alongside their carriages. there's enough wood here to build a fire. the desert is stingy, but it gives enough. when she gets it going, the thick smell of mesquite stings the air, and the few survivors creep out from high up the hill, from the canyon.
the cats. one of them has blood smeared over its mouth. cats are not scavengers, she thinks. they are predators. it comes to sniff her, and she lets it nuzzle its bloody muzzle against her, and then she puts her hand on its shoulders to signal she will follow.
it has tried to bury its master. mavis slings the body over the cat's saddled back and walks it back into town, towards the pyre, where she has gathered the rest. neither of them is alone, now. not only because of each other's company — but because when they return to the encampment, someone else is waiting for them there.
mavis says nothing. stands beside a burned tent, hands and face and white roughspun stained with blood. the cat bares its teeth. ]
( the first sweep turns up nothing. disappointing, although not surprising. it's better not to expect easy when dealing with primitives. if they haven't driven the target off, they're still out there somewhere, waiting for things to quiet down enough to return.
well. that won't be happening.
the second sweep is almost as much of a disappointment as the first. it's hours in, now, and still no sign of anyone. 'time to think about heading back'. leto's voice in his ear, a bite of frustration that elicits a flicker of concern. the past weeks have stretched far longer than anticipated, but leto seems to be feeling it more than most.
he's distracted. that's the only excuse for him not hearing her, but suddenly he's finishing his circuit and there she is, pale and wide-eyed. the cat at her size wises up faster than she does, bearing teeth, and it's reflex to reach for it and pull. )
[ the lynx goes flying, and mavis instinctively ducks. she was never a warrior, no more than anyone else of the clan. maybe if she were, she wouldn't flinch. the violence shocks her system, a jolt like the current still running through some of the machines out in the wilds. it thrusts her out of her numb state.
that's a surprise too. that cold feeling left her sure she'd never feel anything again. certainly not something as human as fear. the destruction around them, after all, is her fault. she couldn't stop it. she had seen it and couldn't stop it, and it's her worst nightmare come to life.
but it doesn't freeze her, like in the stories that ikka used to tell. instead, as she reaches for the lynx, trying desperately to keep it at her side, she outstretches a hand for the stranger and —
and a barrel of ground masa explodes behind him. like blasting powder, coating him in mealy ground corn. it clouds the air. ]
( the hell of it is, he can feel the prickle of warning about a split-second before the earth explodes. it's just long enough for him to dig in, armour taking the brunt of the attack even as his vision swims in a wash of brick dust. )
Fuck.
( alarm gives way to anger and anger's always the better option in situations like this. it buzzes through him, keeps his mind focused.
he needs to get to the cat. she'll run no matter what but the cat will let her put the kind of distance between them that'll draw this out longer than necessary. )
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mavis takes an axe and starts cleaving off pieces of the lean-tos that her people had set up alongside their carriages. there's enough wood here to build a fire. the desert is stingy, but it gives enough. when she gets it going, the thick smell of mesquite stings the air, and the few survivors creep out from high up the hill, from the canyon.
the cats. one of them has blood smeared over its mouth. cats are not scavengers, she thinks. they are predators. it comes to sniff her, and she lets it nuzzle its bloody muzzle against her, and then she puts her hand on its shoulders to signal she will follow.
it has tried to bury its master. mavis slings the body over the cat's saddled back and walks it back into town, towards the pyre, where she has gathered the rest. neither of them is alone, now. not only because of each other's company — but because when they return to the encampment, someone else is waiting for them there.
mavis says nothing. stands beside a burned tent, hands and face and white roughspun stained with blood. the cat bares its teeth. ]
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well. that won't be happening.
the second sweep is almost as much of a disappointment as the first. it's hours in, now, and still no sign of anyone. 'time to think about heading back'. leto's voice in his ear, a bite of frustration that elicits a flicker of concern. the past weeks have stretched far longer than anticipated, but leto seems to be feeling it more than most.
he's distracted. that's the only excuse for him not hearing her, but suddenly he's finishing his circuit and there she is, pale and wide-eyed. the cat at her size wises up faster than she does, bearing teeth, and it's reflex to reach for it and pull. )
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that's a surprise too. that cold feeling left her sure she'd never feel anything again. certainly not something as human as fear. the destruction around them, after all, is her fault. she couldn't stop it. she had seen it and couldn't stop it, and it's her worst nightmare come to life.
but it doesn't freeze her, like in the stories that ikka used to tell. instead, as she reaches for the lynx, trying desperately to keep it at her side, she outstretches a hand for the stranger and —
and a barrel of ground masa explodes behind him. like blasting powder, coating him in mealy ground corn. it clouds the air. ]
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Fuck.
( alarm gives way to anger and anger's always the better option in situations like this. it buzzes through him, keeps his mind focused.
he needs to get to the cat. she'll run no matter what but the cat will let her put the kind of distance between them that'll draw this out longer than necessary. )