Just whistle while you work! (Open! 8D)

[Rhi-Rhi]

By Earth's standards, it was a pretty lovely evening. The air was still, it was quiet out, and the rising moon was full and bright. It was easy to forget that its brilliant red-orange hue was the result of all the pollution in the atmosphere.

But Terra wasn't outside for the sights, and she wasn't really the biggest fan of the outside world as it was. Still, when a sensor needed fixing, it needed fixing, and she'd been sent out to do the work since many of the other technicians were occuipied. It wasn't really a big job; one of the outside sensors that monitored outdoor activity was just showing signs of weather damage, and it was always best to fix something before it broke than to wait for it to get broken in the first place. So out she'd gone to patch it up, her bag of tools slung over one shoulder and a mask securely placed over her nose and mouth to filter out the air's pollutants. She'd even put on a pair of goggles to be safe, just in case the wind picked up, but even when there was no wind the air could be irritating on her eyes, and it had been a while since it had last rained. The ground was dry and parched, and dust billowed up from every step she took.

It hadn't taken long to fix the sensor, maybe an hour or two, she hadn't kept track. She'd just been focused on her job, whistling some tune she'd heard and couldn't remember the name of to keep herself amused, though she also made sure not to get too distracted. Her large ears continuously swivelled about to pick up every sound, just in case something went wrong and she had to flee for cover--or draw the blaster that was currently tucked in its holster at her hip.

Eventually the sensor was repaired and she wiped her brow with her sleeve and straightened, letting out a low sigh through the mask. There! Done! A job well done, at that, she thought proudly as she looked over her work for any flaws and packed away her tools. Time to hurry back inside for some refreshments...and to change out of her clothes, which were nice and sweaty by now. It was pretty warm out, and it also didn't help that she was dressed from head to toe, in work breeches and a turtleneck shirt to hide her neck, white, calico-patterned hair pulled into a ponytail to give her some relief, but not much.

Terra wrinkled her nose in disgust and started to walk back toward one of the Lower City exits, swishing her cat-like tail to try and clear it of some of the dust, already feeling that twitchy need to get clean and just spend a few good hours brushing her hair and tail. Blech. She wasn't vain, honestly, she just...

She needed to groom.

[rambly intro, getting used to the character! Whoo~]

[Anonymous]

((You think your intro post is long and rambly?)

Two hours earlier:


The TRIM carrier U.S.S. Æther sailed above the polluted skies just five hundred miles away from Aedolis’s borders. Aboard it, the scientists were carrying top priority cargo for Aedolis’s army. It was a weapon, one that could break the stalemate between Aedolis and Edanith. It took three centuries to make, but it was finally complete. It was now locked down in cryostasis, awaiting the time to be awakened.

This was the result of TRIM’s now-successful Project Polar. This project involved the polar opposite magics of light and darkness, and attempting to fuse them into the same body of a magic user, willingly or unwillingly. The result was then to be given to Aedolis as an ultimate weapon for the war. Their past attempts have been disastrous, with the subjects either dying on the spot or mutating into such horrifying forms that they had to be killed. These results, the scientists later realized, was because there wasn’t a proper match in the subjects’ genes and the psychological spirit to harness and control both of these energies to a large extent. The latter reason was put aside, for their technology was too limited at the time to discover spiritual connections, so they focused their efforts on the former. Thus, Project Polar was postponed until a match could be found.

None of TRIM’s subjects at the time had that gene match. So they focused on outer borders, such as helping both Aedolis and Edanith with their war. In one instance of Aedolian expansion, a village was wiped out…all but one warrior, who struck down a large portion of the Aedolian forces, survived, only to be in a coma. Impressed by this warrior’s fortitude for punishment, TRIM scientists who happened to be at the scene inspected the body. Incredibly, a gene match for their project was found in this warrior, a near-deceased cat girl named Lyuba. The scientists placed the body in suspended animation and transported her to TRIM.

The scientists had their match now. Their only concern was her mental capacity to effectively harness both light and dark magic. They injected a tiny sample of light and dark magic into her veins. She showed no signs of significant physical mutation or mental degeneration, which seemed a positive outcome; the only minor mutation she had undergone through the transfusion was a change of hair color and tail color. However, the scientists noted her body working harder than normal to contain the magic. To counter-balance this, they performed surgery upon most of her bones, fusing them with biomechanical plating which acted to increase her endurance to drastic levels. That way, her body wouldn’t strain itself during the infusion process. Even so, the process was likely to be dangerous if done all at once, so they had to do it in tiny segments once in a given period. This was a painstaking process that took a century and a half to complete, and she had to remain in suspended animation in order for the process to take place. But it was complete nonetheless, and she was then placed in cryostasis for another century and a half for her extensive surgery scars to heal.

The scientists at TRIM then ran several diagnostics and simulations based on data acquired from their experiment. They all proved to be quite promising, showing that she could battle for extensive periods without being exhausted. The simulator also showed high levels of strength and speed within the subject, with an eighty-five percent chance of victory against any opposition. Their only concern was the curious barrier enveloping her mind that resisted all but the most powerful psychic energies, but it was of little matter to them, since this was to be a weapon for Aedolis to wield.

However, there were two critical factors that the scientists at TRIM forgot to take into account: her will to choose, and her immense fighting spirit.

////

She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t see. Yet she knew she was still alive. She still felt pain, but she didn’t know what was causing the pain. In her state of coma, she saw white and black lights in her mind. At times, her fighting spirit surpassed the strange field that surrounded her so that she could open her eyes slightly, only to see the blurry images of people attaching strange contraptions to her. She could not retain her wakened mind for long, for the effects of suspended animation would not allow her to. She had no sense of time, as she did not know how long she had been here. It all seemed like an eternity to her. Then the field around her strengthened, and she could no longer wake.

After what seemed like eons of agony, drifting in endless sleep, a fire lit within her. Her fighting spirit reawakened her into inner-conscious awareness. She felt more power surge within her, more than she thought she had. But she did not remember who she was, for this long, aching sleep had taken away most of her memory. She struggled to remember, yet she could not. She wanted earnestly to escape, yet she could not move. Tears filled her subconscious mind.

Yet something about her inner fire sparked, for her mind soon filled with visions of her past…her family, her friends, her husband-to-be…the attack by those military men…the people who found her, attached those devices to her…the ones who caused her pain. Suddenly, she remembered who she was. The tiny spark of her warrior’s flame began to grow. An unexpected power began surging through her body as she returned to her wakened mind.

////

“Doctor, look at this,� a scientist near the cryostasis tank said worriedly.

“What is it this time?� the other asked boorishly.

“X0777A,� the first scientist said. “She’s giving off abnormal magic readings!� The tank then began to sputter and short-circuit as the body within it emanated a powerful magic aura.

“Doctor!� a third scientist exclaimed. “The tank is taking some serious damage. The magic she’s giving off is destroying the tank from the inside out!�

“Call security forces, immediately!� the first scientist panicked. “She must be contained!� The third scientist nodded and ran to call security. The ice that was keeping the subject contained began to melt and crack.

“It’s no use!� the second scientist shouted as alerts and sirens began to blare. “She’s already broken the containment field!� The chamber then shattered in a storm of sparks and shards of metal as the subject awoke.

////

She was now awake, fully aware, and breathing. She felt a new kind of power surge with her. It felt as though that there was a river of warmth and desecration, shining and bleakness, and contrasting omens flowing through her veins. This new power frightened her, but fear did not get in her way. She saw the scientists; they wore the same outfits as those scientists that took her away. A cold yet fiery rage could be seen in her eyes as she lunged for the scientist nearest her.

She did a palm strike on the scientist’s face, which shattered his nose and sent him flying across the room. Then, she darted left and did a roundhouse kick across another scientist’s head, succeeding in smashing the side of his skull and snapping his neck. Another scientist tried to apprehend her from behind, but she simply grabbed his arm with a bone-crushing force and threw him into one of the rows of computers, killing him in a shower of sparks. A fourth scientist tried to run, but to no avail; she caught up with him and did a sideways chop to his throat, downing him with ease. By this time, the security force arrived, clad in armor and armed with rifles.

“Stop her!� a fifth scientist cried out. “We can’t afford having her escape!�

But she heard, thus, she reached for a table of computers, then, with previously unheard of strength, effortlessly uprooted it from the floor. She hurled it at the scientist, and it landed upon him with a crash and an explosion, taking out a small portion of the ship’s interior.

“Shoot her!� the front security man shouted, “but keep her alive!�

She was not about to let them. She did not know how she did it, but an orb of prismatic light formed in her right hand. She unleashed it, and the orb split into five smaller orbs, each hitting one of the front line security men in their visor helmets. They exploded in a brilliant flash of light, successfully blinding them. The back line readied their guns and aimed at her. They never got the chance; in an instant, she unknowingly formed an orb of darkness and hurled it at one of the men. When it hit, the darkness spread and enveloped the screaming man in a sort of a cocoon of darkness. The other men fired their rifles, but none of them hit their target; she must have noticed and darted out of the way. She then uprooted a supercomputer from its foundations and threw it at the security men. It exploded, taking out not only the men, but a huge hole in the ship.

She quickly approached it and looked out. She saw that she was flying not too far above a group of stout and tall buildings in sparse abundance. She also saw the ship she was on was losing control; her destruction must have sent a power surge through the ship. Without even thinking, she jumped out of the ship and fell three hundred feet. She landed hard on the ground, collapsing as she did, yet she sustained no serious damage. She watched as the ship flew much further before it exploded in a fiery spectacle and plummeted to the ground.

////

Present Time:

She stumbled into the group of outposts, breathing heavily as the polluted air entered her lungs. She needed to find a place to rest and think. She needed to know what they had done to her. She soon found a tall, metal spire, so she carried her wearied body towards it.

She staggered to the spire and slumped down it. She looked at her own reflection on its metal casing, and was shocked to see what looked back at her. No longer was her hair and ears the beautiful rust red and brown that she adored; her hair had turned black and her cat ears turned white. After being captivated by her image for a moment, she looked at her tail and saw that it, too, had changed colors; it turned white tipped in black. She then noticed the unusual outfit she was wearing, and wondered why she was wearing it.

What have they done to me? she wondered in fear. She began shaking as she looked at the palms of her trembling hands. Soon, an orb of magic formed in each hand. She stared at them in both confusion and fear. The one in her right hand was a glowing, prismatic ball of light that was warm to the touch. The other in her left was quite the opposite; it was an orb of cold, utter blackness with a deep purple aura surrounding it. She stared at her hands even as the orbs dissipated. She shook her head in despair and noticed that something was on her upper left arm. It was a tattoo that said, “X0777A� in inky black lettering. She remembered seeing something like that…on one of her deceased tribe members

So that was it. They had used her in an experiment. They took away everything she had…her family, her friends, her fiancee, her home…and they changed her into something she was not. They had destroyed her. And she could not go back.

All of this was too much for her. Anger and sorrow fused into one emotion. She buried her face in her arms and began to cry uncontrollably.

[Anonymous]

When a normal person wakes up to discover he is floating above his bed, he decides one of two things. Either that he has entered a parallel reality in which he is not snugly in his gravity filled bed, in which case there’s probably not much he can do anyway, or that he needs to replace the coolant regulator on his primary power grid to stop the gravity generators dying.

While few would call Dirge Riker normal, he did indeed come to the latter conclusion. However, instead of replacing the faulty piece of equipment, he followed a more…economical solution.

“Work you mother fucking bastard of a thing, work!� Riker yelled as he struck the regular once more with his wrench. A steady whine came from below him, which steadily became the gentle hum of the coolant moving once again. A few seconds later he hit the ground with a thud, landing on his knees as the gravity resumed normal operations.

The Indefatigable had well and truly exceeded its maker’s expectations of how long it would manage to fly. Originally a standard S73 Bomber for the Aedolian navy, the Indy had become almost a completely different, if not completely new ship since being decommissioned from service some 45 odd years ago. Riker himself had only acquired her two years ago, after liberating her from the previous smuggler she’d served.

Her years, and the quality of her modified parts, were apparent when Riker began his descent into Earth’s atmosphere. The ship shuddered from triple thrust fins to her nose as she dipped into the congested gunk that was the atmosphere of the wretched planet.

Riker eased her down from the cockpit, sitting in the captain’s chair with the co-pilot, navigation and weapons chairs all unmanned. He’d never really seen much use in a crew. After all, more help meant less pay.

Just as she dipped into the ionosphere a light lit up red on the panel in front of him, then another and another. Displays, screens rather than expensive holographics, began turning red as well. A moment later though the red stopped bothering him, as they all went dead.

“Bloody hell!� Riker roared as the ship began to freefall.

Falling, with no gravity to boot, had Riker firmly pressed against the window that sat above the control screens. From there, he could see the great expanse of wasteland that housed the hidden city of Teinar. Somewhere, in that great orange mass, was his destination. Well, at least he was still going in the right destination, which was something. Of course, at the speed he was going and with no inertial dampeners to soften the impact, he’d be liquefied.

Reaching under the window to what would be the cockpit roof was he not pressed up as he was Riker felt about and then pulled on a lever. The ship groaned but didn’t restart. He tried again, and again the ship groaned but didn’t start. On the third pull the primer restarted the engine drive, and she whirred back into life.

Two seconds later, the Indefatigable landed on Earth. Ploughing through the soil the Indy went on a good quarter mile, before coming to halt half buried in sand and rock.

Inside, Riker hauled himself off the floor and stared at the monitors, rubbing the back of his head. No hull breaches, that was good. Life support, gravity, inertial dampeners all optimal, that was better. Drive core completely burned that was… shit.

Grunting he headed back down the ships spine, grabbing a brown desert cloak that bunched up around his shoulders and fell to his ankles from his quarters, and a pulse rife from the weapons locker.

Pushing open one of the rear hatches Riker emerged to stand on top of his ship, which looked a lot smaller than it was due to all but it’s engines and a little of it’s bulk being covered in bloody sand. He slipped down the side, the ladders being of little use with the ships current angle.

The dust and smog didn’t bother him, werewolf and all. The curse that was his illness had some perks. Sauntering forward he pulled out a cigarette, lit up and took a long drag. Again, an advantage of werewolves. He stopped and stared at the metallic spire that stood before him, a sensor array of some sort for Teinar no doubt, which had become somewhat covered in sand from his little crash. While still staring at the spire he pointed his rifle at the girl with the spotty coloured hair that was standing nearby and said around his cigarette, “And who the hell are you lass?�

(Bah, damn first posts….anyway….sorry to bury you all xP)

[Rhi-Rhi]

When Terra went out to fix that sensor, she had expected it to be a mundane trip. Really, worst case scenario and she'd run across some sort of beast, which would be bad, but it wouldn't be entirely unexpected.

She didn't expect all the sudden explosions.

It all seemed to happen at the same time. A spacecraft of some sort flew dangerously low overhead, too fast for her ears to pick up on until it was upon her, and Terra gasped and froze completely, the hair standing up on the back of her neck, tail bristling, for a second not knowing what the hell to do. TRIM! That was a TRIM vessel! A thread of panic shot through her though she knew better than to move. TRIM wasn't technically a threat, but who didn't know about how tight Aedolis was with Thanatos Inc.? Teinar still couldn't risk discovery by an ally of Aedolis! Yet the ship was going fast, flying erratically; if she didn't move, there was a good chance they wouldn't see her and--

The ship hadn't flown much farther before an explosion sent her ducking and covering her sensitive ears, flattening herself to the ground out of sheer instinct. Thank the powers that be it was to far away to do damage, but just to be safe she stayed low to the ground, eyes wide. Shrapnel could travel great distances, and it was better to be safe than sorry.

What...the hell...was that...?

Fuck. She had to let the others know.

Scrambling to her feet, she didn't get very far before the ground shook and an ominous rumbling sound started in the distance, but she didn't stop running. Fuckfuckfuck! Were they under attack?! Was someone under attack? What the hell was going on?!

The rumble grew louder, closer, deafening. Terra chanced a glance over her shoulder...

And the next thing she knew, she was digging herself out of sand. All she really remembered was a wave of sand soaring towards her, and the next thing she knew, she was buried. Not very deep, thank Gods, it didn't take much to reach her hand up through the loose soil and find the surface, and after a bit of a struggle, coughing, she managed to pull herself out, even more grateful for the goggles and mask, though not too pleased about all the sand now in her hair and clothes and...unmentionable places. Egh. She dusted herself off as best as she could, shook dirt out of her clothes, flicked her tail, and felt the compulsion to groon rise ten-fold--at least until she looked up and saw just what had happened.

A spacecraft in the distance, half buried. She'd only gotten the tail end of the sandy mess.

What the...it...it wasn't an Edanith vessel, or an Aedolis one. Not TRIM, either, it wasn't anything she recognized. Maybe...was that the craft that had taken out the TRIM vessel? Maybe they were an ally. In any case, after shaking more sand out of her hair, Terra took off in the craft's direction. They might need help, people might be injured, though man, the Teinari would not be too pleased about how deeply those sensors had been buried.

She had just made it within a couple yards of the ship before someone emerged from one of the hatches--a man that wasn't even wearing a mask. Was he nuts? And he was smoking, too! In the smog! As if he needed more pollution! As he slipped down from the ship, she continued to walk toward him, frowning though relieved he wasn't hurt--and a little confused that he wasn't looking at her--when, suddenly, the next thing she knew and he had his rifle pointed straight at her while asking who she was.

Terra froze on the spot, eyes widening behind her goggles. Oh fuck...

While her first impulse was to grab her blaster and aim, common sense told her not to. Nooo, that'd be a bad idea when the guy already had his rifle fixed on her, not a few yards away. He could fire before she'd even drawn her weapon. Oh great. Right. How was she going to do this? Her mind went blank for a moment as she stared down the rifle, blood going cold as she realized how stupid that was for her to just go greet a strange craft, but then her head cleared as the obvious solution arose.

Erk...

Swallowing, Terra let her bag slide off her shoulder and drop to the ground before she slowly raised her hands into the air until they were level with her head, the universal sign of surrender--or so she hoped. She kept her fingers spread and moved her hands to show him both sides, trying to show that no, she didn't have a weapon, she wasn't hiding anything. I don't mean any harm. Don't shoot... Eugh, this was awkward. It was even worse since she was wearing those goggles and the gas mask, making it pretty much impossible to see her facial expressions. Still, Terra was careful not to make any sudden movements, careful not to give him any reason to shoot, and though on the outside she probably seemed rather calm about this, inside she was freaking, heart hammering in her chest and a bead of sweat rolling down her temple.

Moving just as slowly, she began to lower her hands, pointing to herself first before she began to carefully spell out her name--in sign language. She didn't know if he'd understand it--a few of her Teinari friends knew it--but whether he did or not, surely he'd understand what those hand signals meant, right? Even if he didn't know what she was trying to say, hopefully he'd understand that those gestures meant she couldn't speak.

Still trying to get that across, she perked her ears forward, cupped her hand behind one ear, nodded, and then removed her hand so she could sign to him: I can hear you. Then she touched her throat with her hand, shook her head, and signed to him again: I just can't speak. She held up her hands again, gave a helpless shrug, and shook her head yet again, trying to communicate that she was sorry about that, and even after that she didn't lower her hands any. She didn't want to lower them anywhere near her hips where that blaster was, just in case he got the wrong idea. Behind her mask she smiled nervously, though he probably wouldn't be able to tell. Harmless, see?

Ugh. This was difficult. Either all the people she was around knew some sign language too, even if only a bare bones amount, or she had her datapad with her and could communicate that way. It even had a special keypad so that she could enter shorthand commands for faster communication! But no, she hadn't brought that with her, not wanting something extra to carry around and stupidly not thinking that she'd end up running into a complete stranger with a gun!

[Anonymous]

Lyuba thought that her now-destroyed life couldn't get any worse beyond what those bastardized scientists did to her. Then she felt a giant wave of sand come crashing over her. It pinned her to the spire and buried her completely. Sand got into her dark eyes and her mouth and stung her. Her body was once again wracked with pain.

Then, completely against her understanding, a wave of dark matter surged out from her, causing the sand around her to burst away in a brilliant explosion akin to a depth charge...and severely damaging the base of the spire behind her, but it held fast.

She crawled out of the small crater the explosion created, coughing up sand as tears once again swelled into her eyes. What was this magic? Why did those scientists do this to her? She didn't know. But she did know that whoever did this to her will be destroyed.

She crawled into view of two people, but she couldn't see them clearly; tears stung her bloodshot eyes, the sand doing nothing but hindering her vision even more. Her eyes showed a look of desperation and confusion before they slowly closed as she passed out.

[Anonymous]

“Uh……what?�

Ok. This girl was making somewhere between zero and very little sense. Flailing her arms about like that, she looked deranged frankly.

Why did he always attract the crazy ones?

She touched her ear and made some gestures, then touched her throat and again gestured. That was just… weird.

“Look I dunno what you want but-.“ A great boom and a sudden explosion of sand interrupted him. Riker looked from the weirdo to the pit with his mouth drooping open a little, slouching in utter defeat. It was all too hard.

Another...thing…crawled out of the hole and proceeded to collapse.

He turned back to the….first….thing.

“Riiiiight. Anyway…uh. Ok. That was just weird. Any who I…I…uugh.�

He cut off, clutching his head and dropping the rifle. Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit. No, he couldn’t have been that stupid, surely. His head snapped back in an uncontrollable spasm, his hands flying out to the sides while contorted into claws. Then he saw it. The moon. The bloody full moon.

He hadn’t meant to be outside tonight, he was supposed to be underground, in Teinar, finding some business and some women. He’d forgotten all about it…

And now, for the first time in years, Riker was going through a natural transformation into his werewolf form.

Bones grew, muscle thickened and shifted, fingernails became claws. His clothing ripped off as he grew, hanging in tatters. The only things that didn’t break were his wrist unit and his belt, which had elastic in them for just this reason.

His face lengthened into a muzzle, teeth becoming sharp and long, made for ripping flesh and crunching bone. As grey hair began to spout form his body he felt himself losing control and shouted, “RUN!�

It came out as a barely human growl.

Snarling a spitting in the throws of the transformation he twisted about on the ground. When he quietened, a fully formed werewolf stood up where Riker had been only a few minutes earlier. A good seven feet tall even while hunched over as he was, the beast that was Riker was a mass of muscle, tooth and claw. He could smell them, the two that were nearby. They smelled sweet, fresh, and juicy.

Even in this state he was capable of reasoning. The one that was unconscious wasn’t going anywhere, but the other one could run.

He took off with a snarl towards Terra, spit dripping from his mouth in anticipation of the kill. The sand slowed him a little, but not by much. He lunged, mouth biting and claws outstretched, ready to sink into her flesh.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Terra's shoulders slumped, her arms lowering a bit and ears drooping. He didn't understand her. Nervously she looked to his rifle, hoping he wouldn't just decide to use it for whatever reason, but that was when a great explosion of sand interrupted both the man's speech and Terra's thoughts. She gasped and jumped, heart in her throat, and it was only the shock of it all--and the rifle pointed at her--that kept her from ducking and throwing her arms over her head. What the hell?! All these explosions in just a few minutes, and two vessels crashing?!

What the hell was going on?!

Like Rifle Man, Terra watched the third creature crawl their way--and then collapse. A woman. What the...? Was she where the explosion came from? Collapsed woman or not, however, she didn't dare move from this spot until she was sure that she wouldn't get shot for doing so, and right now, with all the explosions and crashes all over the place and with a rifle aimed at her...she wasn't so sure she wanted to go near the woman to begin with. Who knew if she was dangerous or not! But right now, there were more pressing matters at hand--like getting away before her heart burst out of her chest.

She needed to figure out a way to get the guy to understand. And to not shoot her, since he was looking at her like she was insane.

Before she could really work out a game plan, Rifle Man suddenly groaned, dropped the weapon, and clutched his head. That is before his body began to spasm. Uhhh...and he had been looking at her like she was the crazy one?! All these people were nuts! Seeing as the rifle was now on the ground, Terra swallowed, drew her blaster, and began to back away slowly. A more noble person may have checked to make sure he wasn't having an epileptic fit or something, but self-preservation came first.

She'd only taken a few steps before he began to change, though, and for one foolish moment she froze and stared as his body contorted and began to grow. That lasted only as long as it took his clothes to rip off his body and his nails to grow into claws, because that was about the time the whole surreal situation finally registered.

Oh shit.

Terra didn't need him to tell her to run. By the time his muzzle started lengthening, she was tearing across the sandy terrain, running as fast as her booted feet would carry her and silently cursing every time the sand slipped beneath her. A werewolf! A fucking werewolf! There was nowhere to go out here in the open where she was now, far from the sensor she'd been working on--nowhere except for one place, which was risky, but she was taking that risk.

The werewolf's ship.

He hadn't closed the hatch.

Her ears swiveled, picking up the snarl, the sounds of heavy footfalls, and she knew then that she was being persued. He was faster, and she could hear him gaining on her, she could see it when she glanced over her shoulder against her better judgment. She could hardly believe how calm she felt right now under the circumstances, yet her mind felt almost blank, completely in fight or flight mode with adrenaline coursing through every vein, and all she could think of was getting to the ship. She had to make it there, just a little further, just a little--!

She couldn't cry out when he lunged for her. She wasn't able to form a scream. For a moment she thought she was dead, he'd have her, and even if she got away, just one bite and she'd be like him. Out of instinct and desperation, she dodged to the side, haphazardly aimed her blaster, and fired. She didn't wait to see if the shot landed or even if it did any damage; she'd heard somewhere that only silver truly damaged a werewolf, so maybe it wouldn't even do anything--but she hoped it could distract, and she didn't stop. She kept pushing forward, scrambled up the sandy slope the ship had created, and quickly clambered her way onto the nose of the ship.

Her boots slipped precariously on the smooth metal, but that didn't matter. She saw the hatch, and she dove for it.

...And just about killed herself, because she nearly forgot all about the ladder there in her haste.

She grabbed onto the rungs and scrambled down it, shutting the hatch above her as quickly as possible, though she didn't know if it would prevent him from coming inside if he really wanted in. She didn't know how to lock it, and she was not about to spend too much time by the entrance in case he did come. Instead she dropped the remaining few feet to the floor, landed neatly on her feet, and took off through the circular living room there.

No time to pause and catch her breath, no time to panic, no time to stop and think. She slipped her mask down so it hung around her neck and pushed her goggles up onto her forehead, gulping in fresh air and pushing sweaty bangs out of her face. The thought occurred to Terra that she may have just trapped herself instead of escaped, it occurred to her that he might leave and go after the unconscious woman, but she'd had nowhere else to go and dammit, she'd never claimed to be a hero.

[Anonymous]

Lyuba immediately awoke to the sound of growling. She painfully stood herself up and opened her eyes. They were still irritated with sand, which resulted in very blurry vision, so she rubbed them to get the tiny grains out. She then shook the sand out of her black hair and white cat-ears. She opened her eyes, and her vision was much clearer now. Her dull brown eyes beheld a horrid sight:

A werewolf! And it was chasing a woman down! A good look at the running woman showed that she was also a leonine-person, much like Lyuba.

Her inner flame sparked within her, lighting up the inner depths of her body and mind. All thoughts of her destroyed life and her confusion were instantly shoved aside. A new power began to surge within her, one that made both halves become one, one that screamed all the possibilities of that power. But Lyuba had only one goal in mind; she had to help her!

She got to her feet and sprinted towards the werewolf who was pursuing the woman. She was going faster than she thought was possible for one of her race, but the thought of it never occurred to her. She was closing distance between her and the werewolf awfully fast. Her eyes began to tear at these high speeds, but she didn't care. She then saw the woman running into the hatch of what looked to be a large, half-buried metal transport. Well, at least the woman would be safe.

She then jumped, higher than she ever jumped possible, a good thirty or so feet in the air. She then plummeted towards the raging beast, her hand tightly curved into a fist which, unbeknownst to her, was supercharged with light magic. She landed right in front of the werewolf and, faster than one can blink, delivered that bone-shattering punch to the werewolf's chest, the light delivering a huge flash on impact.

[Anonymous]

The flying ball of matted fur that was Riker sailed past the cat girl. He felt the laser burn through his shoulder, cutting through muscle until it fizzled out in the middle of his chest. The sand had slowed him too much. When the girl had moved he’d failed to intercept, sinking into the sand instead.

Before he could even hit the ground again, the other prey landed in front of him and delivered a punch to his sternum, the ensuing magical explosion sending him flying backwards a good ten metres.

Hauling himself out of the sand Riker shook his body, dislodging the sand from his fur and sending blood and innards flying out. The punch, or rather the magic it sent out, had ripped open his chest and destroyed many vital organs.

As he stood there, leaning on his forepaws, the organs and muscles began to knit together. Burnt flesh dropped off, while the rest grew back, tyring themselves into their correct positions. Muscle formed over bone, and then skin, then fur, until once again he was whole. The entire process was done in less than a minute.

He coughed once, blood spilling out of his mouth from where it had entered his stomach. Looking up his ice blue eyes found his prey. This one was different, standing there defiantly. He identified her as a predator. Prey fled, predators fought. It didn’t matter, everything was werewolf prey.

He circled, walking wide of her, watching, judging. Her magic wouldn’t work again, his werewolf body had already become more resistant to her magic. Every time she attacked it would become less and less effective.

The circling eventually led his to the cold metal of the ships hull. He climbed onto it, eyes still focused on the girl. The ship provided better grip than the sand.

Then he caught the first ones scent again. She smelled better, fresher. It was unclear what made her seem the better prey. It was the same as how poisons taste bad. His body was telling him that this one with her jumping and explosions should come second.

Without warning, he spun, launched himself up the ship and away from the mage, landing at the hatch.

It was open, the manual locking mechanism was in the locked position, meaning three metal rods stuck out of the hatch, preventing it from closing.

He ripped the hatch open and lunged inside, landing heavily on the floor. He got up, eyes searching. He knew this place. This was his territory, and he could smell his prey. Slowly, quietly, he staked her.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Every hair on Terra's body stood on end as the sound of metal being ripped off of metal tore through the ship, and the hard thud that followed made her heart lodge firmly in her throat. Oh shit! Oh shit! There was only one thing she could think of that that meant, and for a moment she froze on the spot, not even breathing or blinking though her oulse was racing. Silence. After the ripping and the thud, there was silence, and that was what truly scared her.

But standing still wasn't what was going to keep her alive, nor was holding her breath, so she exhaled slowly out of her nose and, carefully, began to walk, trying to make as little noise as possible though it was difficult with boots on a metal floor. She winced at each sound she made, glancing over her shoulder now and then to try and see who was most likely stalking her, but it was dark inside, save for the dull emergency lights, and she couldn't see him. Swallowing hard, she tightened her grip on her blaster and held it close to her chest, ready to fire and glad for her gloves. Her palms were damp with nerves inside them, and keeping a good grip on that gun might have been tricky if not for them.

Okay. She had to calm down, keep her cool, use her head. There was...there was probably a giant werewolf thing inside this ship with her, stalking her and wanting to rip her apart and eat her. Terra shuddered, ears laid back and straining to catch any sounds as she carefully moved maneuvered her way through the ship, past what appeared to be a living room.

Maybe...maybe she could lock him in her somehow, if she could find an alternate way out? Er...yeah, like she could, he'd ripped off the hatch door. Um. Alright. What did she know about werewolves? They went back to normal after the full moon and were vulnerable to silver. Well, since she likely wouldn't live if she tried to wait all this out and play keepaway, did she have any silver on her? She groped briefly at her neck, but she hadn't worn any necklaces, then patted her pockets and slipped a hand inside, pulling out a ring. Right. She had a ring. She'd taken it off before putting on her gloves. Great...

That was when she realized she was now in what appeared to be a kitchen, and she paled. Oh...shit. She quickly picked up her pace, saw a set of stairs, and bolted down them. She had no idea where she was going, but logic said these stairs must lead somewhere, and hopefully it wasn't a dead end! Reaching a door, and swung it open, lunged inside, and quickly shut and locked it behind her before she looked to see where she'd ended up.

The cargo hold...

[Anonymous]

Lyuba just stared in awe as the magical explosion tore into the werewolf. She had just put a huge hole in the werewolf, destroying some of its vital organs in the process. How in the nine gods' names did she do that? What the hell did they do to her to make her this powerful? Why did they do this to her? She just stared at her fist, dumbstruck. Her fist quivered, her body shook, tears near her eyes. She didn't want this power, but she received it against her will.

Just then, she saw the werewolf stand up on his forepaws, then practically mend his otherwise fatal injury together in less than a minute! Shit...she had forgotten that werewolves had incredibly rapid regenerative abilities. And now his body would slowly adapt to her newfound magic, rendering her ability next to useless. Fuck. Did that mean that she had to rely on brute force to take down this beast? It always took five of her tribe to subdue a werewolf.

As the werewolf slowly circled her, she ran this through her head, barely shifting thoughts of her destroyed life aside. What were werewolves vulnerable to? Silver, for one thing, but she sure as hell didn't see any silver around. She thought very hard for any weakness, when all of a sudden, the werewolf made for the ship, ripped the hatch open, and jumped in, possibly to chase after the other cat-woman. Shit! She had to stop that thing!

Without even thinking, she made another powerful jump up to where the werewolf entered, but before she went in, she closed her eyes and listened to her surroundings. She heard two sets of footsteps. One was quieter, lighter, and swifter; that must have been the other cat-woman. The other was heavier, slower, as if it was taking its time; she identified that as the werewolf. She hopped down into the hatch, landing without a sound. She spotted the werewolf rounding a corner, then slowly followed it, her footsteps silent, her breathing still, keeping a safe distance, waiting for the right time to ambush it.

[Anonymous]

The scent trail was clear in his minds eye. If it could be described as a colour, it would have been yellow, cutting through the red of his own lingering scent.

The trail led him astern, walking slowly, claws clicking against the metal floor. Past the kitchen and down the rear corridor, then turned into the stairway leading down into the lower deck. Panting with anticipation of the kill, Riker moved forward. It was fresh, she was close. His jaws snapped, already able to feel the muscle and bone giving way to his teeth.

But the way was blocked. His prey was a smart one it seemed, she had closed the bulkhead. Even with his strength in this form, the door couldn’t be forced open. He lacked the brainpower to operate the console to unlock it from this side.

He rammed the door once for good measure, howling with frustration as he bounced back. A resounding thud echoed through the ship. He turned, moving at speed, and headed further to the ships rear, into the engine room. Beneath its cover the ships core shaft sat idle, in desperate need of repair. He drove his claws into the floor of one corner, digging into the thin metal sheet that formed an access cover and ripping the panel off.

He dug down, ripping out bits of the ship until he reached the roof of the cargo bay. Tearing through it her fell, landing on the cargo hauler that hung from the roof in the middle of the bay. All around the edge of the cargo bay ran a walkway made of metal grill. From that walkway was access to the two detachable pods, and steps leading down to the floor of the hold, the bathrooms, the medical station and the main airlock.

He shook violently, dislodging a few bits of wiring tangled in his fur. His head snapped around, locking on to the girl. He lunged without warning, sailing through the air once again at her, snapping and snarling, feeling the kill.

[Rhi-Rhi]

[Sorry this took so long! Powerplaying done by Choco's orders! xD]

Her breath came out in short, quick bursts even though she tried to keep as quiet as she could manage. It was hard to do, though, when there was a werewolf on the other side of the door. If Terra had the use of her voice, she would have shrieked when he rammed into the door, but all she could do was gasp instead, heart lodged in her throat. He couldn't get through, though. Thank the powers that be that the door was strong.

He howled, and Terra's ears flipped back and she hunched her shoulders. It was an eerie sound, made even more creepy in the darkness, but she could finally relax a little when she heard his footsteps receding. Maybe he'd give up. A natural hunter herself, that's what Terra was hoping for; hunters went for the easy prey first to save energy and lost interest in a difficult catch rather quickly. She was, hopefully, being difficult prey.

She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes for a second, trying to clear her head and fight back against the panic. Even if he didn't give up, hopefully she'd be safe here because the blaster fire didn't seem to do anything, but she also wasn't about to wait around here and find out. Going back through the door was out of the question; she had to find an alternate way out. She was hesitant to move from her spot, her legs shaky and feet wanting to remain planted right there, but she finally managed to coax her legs into functioning and, slow and quiet as she could, she started to walk along the walkway. Every little noise, even the sounds of her own boots connecting with the metal grill, made her jump and freeze, but it wasn't long before she'd found her way to one of the little crafts.

Maybe, just maybe, she could find a way to rig it and get out or...something. If there was a way to open the cargo hold itself to get out of it--

That was when she heard it. The sound of metal crunching, being torn apart, cables snapping, and it was coming from above her.

Oh shit...

You didn't have to tell Terra to get out of there twice, though by the time she heard it, it was too late. Down the werewolf came, landing on the hauler in the center, and panic struck full force as Terra realized she had nowhere to go. She wouldn't be fast enough, she was already too far from the door and if she ran that way, he could just jump and block her path. She stared wide eyed as he shook himself free of some stray wires, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end and tail bristling. Trapped, trapped, oh god, I'm dead, I'm--wait.

The pod!

The werewolf lunged, and Terra lunged, too, for the door of the pod, narrowly missing him. She didn't see the panel controlling the doors until she was on it, and she slammed her fist down desperately on the buttons, praying it would work. The doors opened too slow for her liking, but as soon as there was space enough for her to fit she scrambled inside--and jolted. CRAP! She'd just be stuck inside another ship now.

...Unless she could lock him in here, instead.

Only one of the doors opened outward while the other opened inward, and she slipped behind the one that opened inward to hide. It was a huge risk, but it at least had the possibility of success, and it wasn't long before the werewolf leaped in after her, landing past the doors with his back to her. That was when she slipped out from behind the door, rushed out of the ship, and pounded a button on the panel outside.

The doors shut right as the werewolf slammed against them, and Terra sank down to the ground, able to finally breathe. Didn't mean she put her blaster away, though. She kept it aimed at the door, just in case.

He was trapped...she was safe. Where the other girl she'd seen earlier was she hadn't a clue. But that didn't matter. She was safe...

***

Terra had had to listen to the werewolf's scratching and snarling for at least two hours before he'd finally quieted down, or at least that's what it felt like, but after a while she'd been able to relax. That confirmed it. He couldn't break out of the pod. Eventually she'd put her blaster away, and when he went quiet she stretched out and waited. At this rate, this ship was the safest place she could be. The threat had been contained, and she wasn't about to leave and go treking outside at midnight alone; who knew what other creatures were prowling around. She could wait until morning.

A yawn escaped her, and she rubbed at her eyes with her gloved hand...then wrinkled her nose. Now that she was calm enough to focus on other things, she could focus on the smell--of herself. And she didn't exactly smell like roses after being outside in all that smog and then sweating like she had. She flicked her tail into her lap, and grimaced when she saw how gray it was as opposed to mostly white. She wiggled her toes in her boots; her socks were damp.

Oh gross...

She looked to the pod consideringly. He couldn't get out, and if this place had a kitchen, it had to have a bathroom. She did have to go, anyway, come to think of it, and if she still had a lot of hours to kill until morning...it couldn't hurt to get clean, too, could it? All that gunk couldn't be good for the skin...

And so it was that Terra waited a few more minutes, just to be safe, before heading off to explore the ship. She already knew what was through the door, so she headed for the set of stairs leading off from the cargo hold, blaster in hand. Not much longer after that and she found her bathroom and then some. There was a washroom across from it with a washer and dryer. Terra could have laughed at her luck now when before she'd felt so luckless.

Might as well clean her clothes, too, so she didn't have to put the gross things back on. And she didn't feel at all guilty for using the guy's things. He'd nearly killed her, after all!

After she'd stripped off her clothes, loaded the washer, and snagged herself a towel, she headed for the bathroom and locked it to be safe. Her blaster she set on the toilet seat on top of her towel, and she left her goggles, mask, boots and gloves on the floor near the door. Then, with a happy sigh, she pulled the tie out of her hair, turned on the faucets, and stepped under a hot spray of water that eased the tension out of her muscles even as it washed all the icky dirt down the drain.

Maybe it was a bit irresponsible, taking a shower at a time like this, but goddammit after all she'd been through she frickin' deserved this.

[Anonymous]

Crap! She'd lost track of the werewolf! Lyuba made a wonderful string of obscenities in her native tongue. Gods, this ship was so freaking huge! How was she supposed to follow it if she can't find her way around a craft this massive?

So that was it. She'd failed to save the other cat woman. She couldn't help but assume she was dead. She then found herself in a room full of strange contraptions, consoles, and a huge, glowing thing behind a see-through container, it looked like. Heartbroken, she staggered behind one of the consoles, its shadow hiding her. She then leaned against it and slid down it onto the floor. She wrapped her arms around her knees and quietly cried herself to sleep, hearing the snarling and howling of the werewolf seemingly coming in on all sides.

She was frightened. For the first time in who-knows-how-long, she was frightened. Her life was destroyed, she'd failed to save someone (even though she never knew her)...she didn't even want to imagine what might happen next. She just wanted it all to go away...

Around two hours later, the snarling had stopped. Lyuba perked her ears up and awoke, her eyes bloodshot from all that crying. She then heard footsteps, but she was quite sure that those weren't the werewolf's footsteps. There was only one other possibility; could those footsteps belong to the other cat-woman? Praise the Gods, she was alive! Lyuba now assumed that the other cat-woman was either extremely canny or extremely lucky. Either way, she was alive. Lyuba breathed a silent sigh of relief.

She then heard the footsteps come closer, and then pass her. From her hiding spot, she got a good glimpse of whose footsteps they were, and, for the first time in a long time, she smiled; yep, that was the other cat-woman, alright. But then the stench of sweat and gunk passed under her nose, and she almost cried in disgust. Holy shit, that cat-woman must have worked very hard to escape the werewolf. Well, adrenaline can do that to you, she supposed.

Lyuba waited a few more minutes before moving from her spot. Well, she supposed that if the werewolf was taken care of, she might as well take her mind off of the bad experiences she'd been through by exploring this strange craft a little bit. She could hear the sound of running water somewhere, and that brought her a bit more comfort. Maybe that cat-woman was ridding herself of the stench?

Soon, Lyuba's stomach began to growl. Man, she couldn't even remember the last time she had eaten! Food was on her mind as she found herself in another strange room lined with cabinets and other strange appliances. She took a peek in one of the cabinets and saw it filled with food. Oh, so this room was a kitchen of some sort. She looked over the wide assortment of food, and hungry eyes widened at what she saw.

Oranges! Her favorite!

She snatched two of the orange orbs and slumped down one of the kitchen walls. Ravenous, she tore off the skin and sank her teeth into one of the oranges, its sweet, citrus flavor rolling down her tongue. Her eyes began to tear again as she savored the flavor. By the gods, she had forgotten how sweet the oranges' flavor was. She slowly began to eat away the orange, tears of satisfaction rolling down her face. As soon as she finished the first one, she tore into the second one, once again relishing its flavor.

Once her stomach was satisfied, she stood and went back to the cabinet, found what looked like to be a bag, and put all of the oranges into it. These she would save for the road.

Bag in hand and flavor still on her tongue, Lyuba left the kitchen and found herself in a large room with strange furniture. She assumed that these were chairs of sorts. She went over to one of them and sat down. Gods, they were so soft! She set the bag of oranges down on the floor and curled up on the couch. She closed her eyes, yet did not go to sleep.

[Anonymous]

The beast lunged, and for a moment, it looked like she was going to make a clean kill. He could see only his prey, smell her, taste her. There was nothing but the kill.

She dodged, just in time, as he sailed through the air, jaws snapping shut inches form her flesh.

A resounding thud echoed through the ship as Riker hit the wall, crashing down onto the catwalk. Were his mind not quite so clouded by the disease Riker probably would have made some quip about a cat girl on a catwalk, but alas, the universe would not hear it.

He rose, hunching on all fours and snarling at her. She was trapped, he could see it. He slowly stalked forward, the chase over, now relishing the kill to come. In his current state his brain was unable to understand why the wall opened to let her escape him again. It didn’t matter.

He barked, and then launched himself forward, a mass of bloody, snapping fur intent on ripping her apart.

Skidding into the shuttle he stopped, sniffing. She was hiding. Prey hid when they knew they were caught. Saliva dripped form his jowls and a wide tongue hung loose as he panted. A noise behind made him turn, made him leap, only to crash against the cold metal door.

He understood. She’d trapped him.

He howled with rage and hurled his massive form against the door, over and over again until he switched to scraping at it with his claws. For hours he attacked it, foaming at the mouth with savage fury, until finally he gave up and, having left barely a scratch in the door, curled up to sleep.

It was a restless sleep, full of dreams that blurred his two sides, human and werewolf, into a terrifying mix. When he woke again, after not too much time had passed, Riker was overcome with confusion and pain, pain from the agonising process of transformation which, with a sickening cracking noise, soon left him human once more, and confusion from the dreams. It took him a minute to realise who and what he was, to sort out what was human and what was instinct. It was always worse if he fell asleep in wolf form.

He stood up and inspected himself. His clothes were gone, likely lying in tatters outside still, covered by sand by now. Blood, his own blood, stained his front from where that girl had punched him and taken out his insides. All that was left on his was his belt, which was designed to expand, and his similarly built gauntlet. All the important things were contains on those two, his lighter, smokes, pistol and knife, so nothing really important had been lost except for the good rifle he’d dropped. Unless someone picked it up. Hopefully they had, it was a good gun.

How long had it been anyway?

He went over to the shuttles console, which was inactive of course, and looked at the clock. Still not dawn yet. Without constant exposure to the moon his werewolf state didn’t last a full night, so as long as he didn’t go outside again until daybreak he’d be fine.

Opening the hatch, which was laughably easy now that he had clarity of mind enough to use the door controls, he stepped onto the catwalk. Crap. The damage was quite severe, judging by that hole. Just what he needed, more repairs. Speaking of damage, where the hell was that explosive little minx that had tried to knock him down? If he remembered correctly she’d exploded at one point. He didn’t have many rules, but one was ‘No explodey mages on my ship’. If she was onboard and he found her…well, that pistol would certainly be getting some use if she didn’t clear out quick smart.

He went down the stairs and headed for the ships rear, towards the bathroom. Had to clean off that blood before he got dressed after all.

He was quite surprised when he found the door locked, and the sound of running water coming from inside. Must be the explodey girl taking a shower. He laughed softly. This would be fun, he could hold her at gun point, tell her she has to get out, and watch her squirm. She wasn’t really his type, from what he remembered of her physique. Too…well too attractive. Women that pretty always had something wrong with them, for this one it seemed to be exploding.

Tapping the unlock code into the doors keypad caused it to slide silently open, letting a little mist flow out. The only door in his entire ship that opened quietly actually.

He stepped inside, being careful not to make a sound, and hit the lock button on the inside, making the door slide shut again and lock. Looking up to the shower on the far side of the small room, he saw not who he was expecting at all. Oh, right! The other one, with the crazy gestures. She was facing away from him, head under the water. The clear plastic shower sides gave him an excellent view of her rear. Not bad, not bad at all. He certainly didn’t remember thinking much of her when she was clothed. He never quite understood why pretty girls hid it with poor clothing choice.

Taking note of the pistol sitting on the toilet, Riker carefully unclipped his belt and gauntlet and placed them gently on the floor with the girl’s things. He pulled the showers door open and stepped inside, pulling it closed behind him.

He put on his most charming grin, which was still charming even with all the dried blood, and tapped her gently on the shoulder. Really, of all the places he could have touched, he though that was pretty damn good of him.

“Excuse me, could you pass the soap?”

[Rhi-Rhi]

The shower was just what she needed, and for a while there she could forget about what had happened for a bit. You know, forget that she'd almost wound up a monster's very, very messy, bloody, gorey meal. All that existed now was the hot water, steam, and pleasant smelling soap washing away the filth and her anxieties. He couldn't break out of the pod, and the door was locked. Everything was okay.

She had just stepped under the spray to rinse off her skin, eyes closed and lightly purring in contentment, and she had just been about to reach for the shampoo so she could wash her hair and tail when someone tapped her on the shoulder and she gasped and inhaled water.

If she'd had the vocal capabilities to scream and hadn't just breathed in water, she would have screamed bloody murder when she spun around and came face to face with a blood-covered, naked, tall and muscular man. Instead, she made a strangled choking sound in her throat, her yellow-green eyes widened, and she tried to jump backwards but her back only thumped against the shower wall and she nearly slipped and fell. It was only some quick footwork and a frantic grab at the knobs for balance that saved her from falling on her ass. It was him! The werewolf! The guy who'd aimed his rifle at her and changed and tried to kill her and oh my god where was her gun?!

On the toilet seat by the shower, of course. Out of her reach.

SHIT!

It felt like hours crawled by while Terra just stared at him in horror, flattened up against the wall like a trapped animal with her eyes huge and mouth slightly open. Her mind raced, focusing on survival first and modesty last, and right then she didn't even seem to remember that she was naked as her eyes darted from his grinning face (which looked ominous to her right then) to the door behind him. Fuck, fuck, fuck...he was blocking her escape, there was no way around him, maybe she could make a lunge for it anyway. He was only human right now and she could do a lot of damage if she put her mind to it, though what if he changed again?! He didn't have a gun right now, though. He was unarmed. She could do it, she had claws and teeth. What did he want? Why was he looking at her like that? Why was he in the shower with her?! Why didn't he leave?! When was that ever okay?!

Oh fuck, she was naked, duh!

That was when she gasped and hugged herself, a brilliant blush rising in her cheeks even though she knew trying to hide herself now was kind of pointless; he'd had plenty of time to see whatever. Her tail lashed anxiously, flicking water at him, and she swallowed hard and weighed her options, pulse loud in her ears. Attack, or just stand here and possibly get raped and murdered.

Or murdered and raped, depending on his preferences. She wasn't about to put anything past someone who had first held her at gunpoint and then turned into a ravenous psychobeast and then snuck into the shower with her!

Her claws extended, and she had been on the verge of making a run for it when suddenly something he had said finally registered in her panicked mind.

...Pass the soap...?

Terra glanced down to her left hand, which was clenched into a fist and resting on the opposite shoulder as she hugged herself. In her hand was what was left of a bar of soap she'd found in the shower, probably squished all to hell now. Looking back over to the man, she slowly moved her arm, uncurled her fingers, and offered the soap out to him awkwardly. Er...the soap...

Swallowing hard, she bared her sharp teeth in what could have passed for a grin if it wasn't so tense, then pointed to the door with her other hand before making a little walking motion with her fingers. If she exposed herself again, she really didn't care right now. The damage had already been done. Uh...can you let me out? She smiled up hopefully at him, ears flattened against the sides of her head. Please? There was no way she was going to just try and squeeze past him, so she was hoping he'd get the hint and give her some space to escape.

So she could grab her gun.

[Anonymous]

For once in a very long time, Lyuba felt comfortable. She just wanted to rest here forever, forget all the horrible things that had been done to her. But the thing about remembering is that one never forgets. She could never forget what had transpired several hours ago. She wanted answers.

A few minutes later, she had another orange, once again eating slowly to enjoy the flavor she had always used to enjoy. Another few minutes later, her sensitive ears picked up the sound of more footsteps. She wondered who those belonged to? Reluctantly, she got up from the couch and moved silently to where the footsteps were coming from.

After walking noiselessly all the way to the back of the ship, she found herself near the doorway of what appeared to be a washroom...

“Excuse me, could you pass the soap?” she heard someone say.

Shit! She jumped and hid behind one of the walls that the doorway stood next too. It must have been the owner of the ship. But then she caught the scent of something...somethi ng that she faced before.

Werewolf.

Fuck. So the werewolf was still around? She realized that there was no snarling or scratching or any other of those werewolf-in-a-screaming-blood-frenzy sounds, so he must be in his human form.

Lyuba then realized that the other cat-woman was in danger again and she had to help her! But she couldn't just storm in there! First of all, the door was probably sealed tight. And second, even if it were open, she had to be subtle about it. Then again, subtlety wasn't exactly her specialty. Gods, what should she do?

She then remembered that she had her unwillingly acquired powers. But how did she use them? The last couple of times, they activated on impulse. And when she last looked at them, her right hand used that shining, warm aura, while her left hand used that cold, black aura. She decided to try something out, though she wasn't sure it would work. She placed her left hand on the floor and willed for something to happen, something that might turn the tables on the man.

Her eyes widened as she saw a tiny pool of inky blackness no bigger than her thumb form on the floor. The blob then scurried underneath the door very quickly and very silently. It then scaled the bathroom wall and stopped at the same height as the toilet seat. It grew in diameter by a few inches, then a black, sinewy, hand-like appendage shot out and grabbed the blaster that happened to be sitting on there. It then stretched over and sprouted another hand, which slowly opened the door enough to let the other hand and blaster through. It then plastered the end of the barrel at the man's temple.

All this, Lyuba didn't see, but she felt it, and she hoped it would do good. She just focused on the magic, not enabling it to shoot the blaster unless she willed it to.

[Anonymous]

She panicked, naturally. It was kind of cute really, if he ignored that fact that she was looking at him like he was a monster, all flailing about like that. He was about to reach out to catch her, but she seemed alright.

She backed up against the wall, apparently focusing on other matters than her nakedness, which was good for Riker. He got to take a nice long at her. Not bad, not bad at all. She was toned and a little curvy, and uh…how to put it…smooth. He stepped forward a little so he was under the water, the blood starting to wash away.

She finally realised that she was naked and tried to cover herself, doing a decent job of concealing her breasts but leaving the rest exposed. His grin widened, she was cute when she blushed.

He was really surprised she didn’t scream actually. Then he noticed her throat. Hmm, an odd scar to be sure. Perhaps she couldn’t talk?

Nyah, that didn’t really happen. That would be silly.

Wouldn’t it?

That would explain the lack of screaming and the crazy gesturing. But then again, so did her being a mental patient.

Ah well, she was a naked mental patient, so who cared?

He saw the claws come out. Heh, looks like this kitty has claws. Laughing on the inside, he tensed, expecting scratching. But she looked at the soap instead, perhaps finally registering what he’d said. She held out the soap, which he took and began to rub on his bloody stomach.

He glanced down, watching the blood swirl around the drain as it ran off him, and then looked back at the girl. She wasn’t covering herself anymore, which was surprising. Perhaps she’d gotten over it, reached that point where it didn’t matter anymore. It was a good point to reach.

His eyes lingered on her breasts as she gestured at him, a strained smile revealing her sharp teeth. Those could be dangerous if she got mad, sure he could heal but….some places you just didn’t want to have to. He still felt pain.

“Mmm, yeah, that’s right, I came in through the door,” he said, as if he was talking to someone slow, completely misunderstanding.

“Look, you don’t have to worry; I’m not going to hurt you or anything. You just caught me on a bad day, or night…as it were.”

 He was all clean now, well, clean of blood anyway, but before he could put the soap away he felt a cold metal barrel against his temple. Looking at it form the corner of his eye revealed that it was some sort of black…thing. Probably from the other one. Yet another reason to get the bitch off his ship.

He called back towards the door without turning, “Hey, it’s rude to interrupt, and besides,” he dropped the soap and plucked the pistol from the hand, “the safety is still on.”

Not like it could have killed him anyway of course, it was an energy blaster, so no silver. Still, he held it under the water for a moment, letting the water flood it and short out its power supply.

He turned to yell at her some more, unintentionally leaving room for the naked girl to escape. Not that he was trying to trap her or anything.

“Now, you with the exploding, you’ve got two choices. One, you can get the hell off my ship, two, you can stay and I shoot you. Nothing against you darling, I just don’t like people who could explode being on my ship.”

[Rhi-Rhi]

It was pretty damned obvious that he was, ah...eating her up with his eyes, and that only made Terra's blush darken and her heart pound faster. If she weren't so freaked out thinking about how the hell she was going to get out of this mess, she would have had time to feel more embarrassed. Sure she still was, but the stronger feeling was one of vulnerability, and that was even worse.

She pressed back hard against the wall when he stepped under the water, hissing in alarm, and then she silently cursed herself for shrinking back like that. Whatever happened to lunging and biting and mauling her way free?! She was not a coward! She'd just fucking survived a werewolf attack. She could run from a human. But her muscles locked, tense, and she continued to stare up at him, breathing heavily. Then again, when she'd been chased by the guy's werewolf version she'd never been cornered in a small space with nowhere to go...

It was probably even worse that the guy was conscious and thinking right now.

And naked and human. And looking her over. And grinning. She would have said his expression made her feel naked, but then she remembered that she was and she quickly crossed her arms back over her chest and whipped her tail around to try and cover her crotch. Even if he had seen it all, it wasn't like she wanted him to gawk at her, either; modesty may have been last on her list of concerns, but she still had shame.

Then he started to just soap up right then and there, and her eyes widened even more as, for a few seconds, she watched before she could catch herself. But when she realized what she was doing, she jerked and snapped her eyes back up where they belonged and stared fixedly (and a bit guiltily) at his face, not daring to let them roam past his shoulders. Oh gods, he wasn't seriously just gonna...bathe right here and now...? She needed to get out of here. Now. Before he did anything creepier like asked her to wash him or asked to wash her. She cleared her throat. Right. So was he going to let her by or what?

She soon got her answer, and she mentally slapped her forehead and huffed in frustration when he misunderstood her gesture. Duh! That wasn't what she meant! She wanted to leave. Why couldn't he get that?

Luckily, what he said next was good news to her, though she'd mostly figured it out by then. All he'd done was touch her shoulder, ask for soap, look her over, and wash himself, but it helped to hear it, too. Kind of. She still didn't trust him. I won't hurt you. Famous last words, she'd heard that before and she almost died soon after, too. And it still didn't solve her problem, which was escaping, and--she just about had a heart attack.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!

Terra saw her blaster sort of float into the shower, held by a black hand, but before she could do much more than uselessly mouth "Watch out!" and point frantically behind him, her blaster was pressed to the side of his head. What the hell?! Her gun was just floating around now and gonna randomly hold people up?! Not that she minded it being pressed to his head, but that wasn't the problem! What the fuck was that black thing?! Terra leaned back against the wall, turned her head to the side, and clenched her eyes shut, expecting to hear it go off...but instead the man plucked it free, mentioned the safety, and Terra opened her eyes just in time to see...

NO! Don't!

...Him stick the blaster under the water.

Her mouth dropped open and she made to reach for it, but it was too late. Water filled the barrel, and that was it. There it went. Her one real weapon, gone just like that. Terra flicked her eyes back up to the guy's face and looked at him in utter disbelief and annoyance--and more than a little fear--but that was when he turned to yell at...apparently whoever had done that. Exploding?

It must have been the other girl...

Didn't matter. Both of them were nuts by Terra's standards, one a werewolf that had tried to eat her and then joined her in the shower naked and another a girl that, well...yeah, exploded, that sounded about right. And apparently made her blaster float around. Crazies. All of them. Her first concern, however, was the naked guy and he had left an opening for her. Moving fast, she rushed past him and for the shower door.

And she would have made it, too, if she hadn't stepped on the soap he'd dropped.

Her foot shot out from under her and pitched her backwards, right back into the shower and toward Riker while she gasped and flailed.

[Anonymous]

Great. How was she to know that the fucking blaster had a safety switch? And she thought the hand had a tighter grip on it. She had to get used to this new power and she had to get used to it fast.

She then heard the man yell, “Now, you with the exploding, you’ve got two choices. One, you can get the hell off my ship, two, you can stay and I shoot you. Nothing against you darling, I just don’t like people who could explode being on my ship.”

Exploding? What the hell was he talking about? Oh, yeah, the burst of light that had torn out his insides before. But she wasn't about to go anywhere until she was sure that the other cat-woman was safe. She remained silent and hidden. She had to do something else.

Unsure that this would work, she commanded the black hand to retreat into its little pool, which it did. The pool then scurried along the wall and into the stall. It then hung on the ceiling right above the man, daring him to make a move.

Then, when the time was right, she would break the door down. For now, she waited.