Seasons

Sharon found herself on the sidelines for the next few hours. She was by no means ungrateful to them. She simply wanted nothing further to do with the creatures and was just one wrong move away from the very definition of pissed.

They were interesting though, what with their strange language, their built physiques and superior technology. Now she could truly say she'd seen it all. What would the guys say back home. It suddenly occured to her that she hadn't bothered to call any of her friends or little family she had left since this whole ordeal began. She rolled her eyes, remembering the little cell in her left pocket. Oh well, she sighed as she pulled the sleek silver phone from the clothing and flipped it open. She could bet anything that wireless no matter how wonderful a plan her service boasted could not direct calls from... Her eyes widened as she stood from the slab she had been seated on earlier.

Come to think of it... where was she?

She stood again, eyeing the shorter hunter who had traded places with the other and was now standing guard by the door. She could only describe Tzukra as well... a shorter version of K'tch with paler eyes, eyes he was content to hide behind the mask he'd secured to his features once more. The taller, thicker one who had mysteriously disappeared along with K'tch had an aged look about him, like he was more experienced in anything and everything and proud of it. She was content to avoid him.

Tzukra suddenly stepped toward her, curious as to why she had chosen not to sit. He cocked his head, watching her, hand grasping his guard-stick in practiced discipline. Why was she standing? Did she want something?

Damn it was warm in this ship...She stretched first before turning her gaze back toward him.

"Where did Kuh-cha, go?" she inquired.

He was silent, masked eyes on hers as she slowly walked toward him. "Kuh-cha..." she spoke again. "Where is he"
Still he was silent, fiddling with a device on his arm before looking at her once more. He pointed in a direction beyond the closed door he was guarding. The woman sighed.

"Do you know what he's doing?" she spoke slowly. He waited a moment before answering. "Trophy..." he then made a sweeping motion back and forth in mid-air and she nodded. Oh god... he was polishing Jones's head. She shuddered at the thought.

"Oh.. Oh I see..." she flashed him a strangely archaic smile. "Speaking of getting things looking nice and clean... " she hesitated for a moment, glancing around. "Do you guys have a...ah... some sort of.. shower?" she made a motion of scrubbing up and down before repeating the word. "Shower? A place for me to get clean?"

He stared at her for all of ten seconds before shortening his guard-stick and sticking it on a contraption to his back, lifting his left arm and typing. It beeped a few times, strange linear-language flashing across the small screen. She stepped closer to him before he put his palm up quickly, halting her. She watched amused as all of his fingers except his index curled into a fist as he assured her he'd only be one moment. She crossed her arms gently, right boot tapping in habit.

After a moment he looked up, flipping the communicator shut before motioning for her to follow. Somewhere along the intricate designs of the dark wall was a button she would have never guessed was a button and she suppressed her surprise as the door slid aside. She was led through a series of other long passages before the door shut behind them and she turned to face him, expecting him to open another long hall. He simply stood there until she realized that the small hall with the smooth floor actually was a shower. She immediately began scanning the room for the shower-head. He walked past her, poking his long dark nail into a dent in the wall and water spewed forth from a small passage over her head. She shrieked, jumping back.

"Tzukra! Hey, hey! Warn me next time... geez..." she complained. He said nothing as he backed into the corner and proceeded to remove his gear, mask following last. She watched him with brows drawn as he stripped down till he was wearing nothing other than his loin. He then waited, watching her.

What was she doing? She turned away as she slowly unlaced the boots a little, pulling her feet out of them. The shorts followed soon, but the shirt proved troublesome with her injured arm. Noting this, Tzukra approached slowly, reaching forward to lift the material gently over her head. She cleared her throat before swallowing nervously. Damn this was uncomfortable. Once she was finally sporting her bra and underwear she hesitated. Well... he wasn't human...why worry. Besides... she wasn't going to wear the same underwear... maybe she could get them cleaned in here as well. Slowly she set the bottom piece aside, good arm reaching up to untap the bra and failing. After a moment of fiddling with it, she turned to Tzukra looking hopeless.

"Umm.. can you get this off, please?" she inquired.

He merely stepped behind her, fiddling with it for all of 3 seconds before it fell to the floor. She then picked both small articles up and walked over to stand under the running water, relieved it was very warm. Her dark hair clung to her skin as it drenched her a little harder than she was accustomed, but oh well. At least the pressure was bearable. She closed her eyes for a moment, reveling in the familiar feeling of content the running waer washed over her. Almost immediately she felt the rough palms on her skin, rubbing something gooey over her shoulders and her eyes snapped open, gaze shooting over to see what was going on.

What the... She stood shocked for a moment she watched the strange substance begin to lather and she sighed in relief. It had no scent, thank god.. She relaxed, wiping some off her shoulder and lathering up her undergarment as she stood under the shower, Tzukra smoothing the stuff over her. She raised a brow as the rough hands curved slowly around her smooth torso and to her front, rubbing over her mammory glands. Geez... did no one have a strict sense of personal space?

She swallowed, unsure how to react. Perhaps it would be better not to. It was pretty obvious that he was concentrated on helping her get clean, nothing more. Why draw attention to the fact that she was utterly weired out by the fact that an alien with rough reptilian hands and claws for nails was giving her a rather thorough cleaning massage.

She cleared her throat as the hands travelled south.

Thorough somehow didn't seem to be strong enough of a word...

"Okay, Mister Tzukra.. ..That's a little too close to the goods for me...I'll take it from here..." she shied away from his touch, pulling away a little. He said nothing as he waited, setting back and letting her rinse off. He'd done what he needed to do... and for once she didn't think she would have been capable of doing a better job herself with what he'd accomplished.

After he had assumed she was finished, he shut the water off and left. He returned moments later with what was a small bundle of scraps of cloth, throwing them to her. She looked at the small material that was ripped in some corners, then the other strip, no wider than 5 inches, raising a brow as she examined it.

So much for a towel... Grimacing, she began padding herself down best she could as Tzukra put his armor back on. He was done in only a moment, turning to look at Sharon whose gaze was on the shorts, boots and shirt that he proceeded to gather. His brow muscles creased further in the middle as he immediately dropped them, shaking his head. What was she doing with the clothes he'd given her?

He shook his head with a grunt and the woman raised a brow.

"What?" she shrugged her shoulders.

He made an oddly strained noise, rising quickly and halting her towel methods. There was no explanation, he simply grabbed the long strip and wrapped it around her small torso once, tying it in the back. With the second strip he pulled it around her waist, tying the strings at each hip that she hadn't realized were there.

She cleared her throat. "Oh..." that was what she was supposed to do with it. She glanced down at her new scandalous norm-repelling out-fit. Tzukra said nothing as he merely went to retrieve her clothing, motioning for her to follow him.

She wrung out her underclothing once more and followed the younger hunter out in her loins and barely-there wrap-bra, thanking God no one cared to see all of the flesh she was exposing. She crossed her arms... someone needed to invent an underwire bra, and soon.

_________


Oh yes, this was a perfect skull... K'tch decided as he turned it this way and that, holding it up to the light. It was all his... That bastard should have known better than to try to defeat him. The fight could have been better, he recalled clenching his other fist. That didn't matter so much now... what mattered was his nice new shiny alabaster prize...

He hadn't been admiring his handy work for much longer than a moment when a little signal beeped, signifying that Tzukra's room on the other side of the ship had been accessed. He managed a frown of sorts, hooking the skull to his hip before getting up slowly.

So he had traded with Arug'rak again? Hm... Convenient. He needed to speak with him anyway.

Without a second thought, he headed for the exit.

________


Seeing not much else to do with the female, Tzukra had taken her to his room to keep his eye on her as he cleaned his own skull collection. He was sure he was capable of doing both.

As soon as she entered the small room, Tzukra pressed a button, and a slab slid out of the wall horizontally to the left. He simply dumped her possessions upon them, Sharon watching curiously as he set about his business, typing in codes on a small panel to the right. A case barrier slid open, disappearing into a slot to the right to expose quite a collection of skulls... many of which she was positive weren't from this planet.

She stepped further into the room and the door behind her shut. She then turned to watch Tzukra as he plucked a skull from the far right corner of the display case, as well as a tool from somewhere and walked back over closer to her before sitting.

She stood aimlessly, eyes shifting to the four corners of the small room and display case that seemed to take up half of it. Clutching her damp underclothing she cleared her throat.

"Hey? Anywhere I can put this?" she inquired, dangling the bra in front of his masked eyes. He merely stared.

"To dry..." she stated. He stared for a moment longer before setting the skull aside, and grabbing the underclothes. He walked toward the door they had come through before stopping just in front of it. The soft tap of more buttons being pressed was the only sound before he reached across at a point over the door and pulled a super-thin wire across.

She chuckled.

What the hell was that? A booby-trap? You could barely see it...

"Do you put a current through that or somethin?" she inquired. "..Shock whoever tries to come in here without permission?" He turned partially toward her, wanting to say something but then deciding against it and turning back.

Her eyes widened.

"Well don't fry the only bra I've got, alright?"

He pressed another button. That wasn't what it was for, but oh well...

He had this, no problem. Carefully, he set two little articles of clothing across the line to dry. Once he was sure that they were secure, he walked back over to the corner where he was shining the skull. Finding nothing better to do, Sharon slowly took a seat beside him to watch.

It was quiet for the next couple of minutes as she watched him work, peering at the strange small skull in his hand. He worked it for close to a half an hour, getting into the little grooves with the small polishing tool in his other hand. Once he appeared to be finished he held it up and turned it. Sharon chuckled and he turned to her quickly, slowly bringing it over to show her. She reached for it slowly, hesitating.

"May I?"

He nodded slowly, allowing her to hold it.

"Wow..." she smiled and he watched her content. At least someone appreciated his trophies. They were never big enough for a certain grumpy warrior whose name started with a K...

She was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open and she turned to see who it was.

Her eyes widened for a moment as she beheld the scantily-clad warrior. Where the hell was all the armor he had been sporting earlier? Just thick rings on his ankles remained and a little armor on his right shoulder and left hip anda loin-cloth which was barely there in the back from what she could tell... That thing in the front could only serve as something to keep his genitals in check, nothing more... No shoes, no mask, no arm devices...no decent loin-cloth.
God where was the modesty? She nearly shrieked. Ha... that wasn't the issue though. She had a bone to pick with him, half-naked or not...


Immediately she stood, handing the skull back to Tzukra who continued to admire it.

_________


He just wanted to talk to Tzukra for a moment, nothing more. Now that Arug'rak was on watch he could have his time.

Upon reaching Tzukra's quarters he thought about alerting him, but then decided it was pointless. He typed in the code to the door and it opened.

Immediately his reptilian eyes widened. He wasn't so much as surprised that the female's scent was in Tzukra's room. He was shocked for all of five seconds that her undergarments were hanging spent across the censor. His eyes immediately darted to the corner. Where the hell was Tzukra?

His eyes narrowed.
And what was this? The female was sitting next to him, just shy of leaning on him... and she was actually holding one of his most prized skulls?

He growled.

She was NOT wearing Tzukra's loins...He just wanted to rip his locks right out and beat him with them.

Sharon turned to him suddenly, her expression taking on one of shock. He pushed past the censor, throwing her garments into a corner. This wasn't her personal space so why was she in it...

He let forth a biting snarl, the woman standing and walking to meet him with a hard glare.

"Shut up.. where the hell were you?" she demanded an answer as she crossed her arms.

He glared back at her clicking angrily before remembering her language and gathering the words.

"You stay.. out front.." his deep voice demanded.
She turned her head in mock confusion.
"Oh excuse me? Did you say somethin?"

He repeated the words only louder.

"Oh? What now?" she put her hand up to her ear angrily.

He repeated the words once more and she simply shook her head, surprised he was actually about to repeat it again when she snapped at him.

"Don't keep repeating it! Its called sarcasm, you jerk! I can understand you.. How dare you tell me to sit outside like I want to be here... Did I ask you to take me here..? You coulda dropped me off somewhere... A hospital... my Mom's house... anywhere damn-it.."

He simply waved her away, walking toward Tzukra, but she refused to be ignored as she ran around to stand in his way.

"I'm talking to you"
He grunted.

"Y'know what? A little respect would go a long way for you..." she stated.

He cocked his head.
What?

"Yes. Respect. I saw your ass splayed out on a god-damn lab table... risked my own life to stop them from pulling all of your organs outta your damn body and writing a 12 page report on each one. You'd be just another top-secret file down there if it wasn't for me."

From his corner Tzukra made what she could only interpret as a soft, deep laugh, K'tch throwing a growl in his direction. The laughter abruptly came to a halt.

He took a moment to process what she was saying as he made a strange noise, walking up slowly to the smaller creature.

She watched him in the silence, brows still drawn in agitation as he acknowledged her.
Hmm... she was actually right for once, and she needed to know it. As much as it killed him to do it, he would put his pride aside just this once.
He paused for a moment to collect the words before he spoke suddenly, deep voice just a little less angry.

"...Thank..you."

Her expression softened immediately as she recognized his gratitude, the first real vocalized appreciation she realized with a certain amount of acceptance that he'd ever given her.The muscles in his face formed a frown and he looked away from her. So she'd saved his ass. That wouldn't be happening again. Just what the hell did she want from him? Dinner and a movie?

Heh...Well damn, Tzukra was pretty much on that path judging from how comfortable he was with her .. She was wearing his damn clothes... if there was armor involved he'd have assumed she was his mate.. He glanced over at Tzukra. Ugh... he sneered at the young hunter who was absorbed with something in the corner and paying him no attention. He made a particularly loud noise that startled the woman standing next to him, Tzukra merely turning his head. A series of clicks and guttural noises were executed with an agitated tone as the taller warrior pointed to Sharon who raised a brow, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Someone needed to become damn fluent in speaking English and soon...

It occured to her that she'd never been a fan of feeling left out. That went especially for not being able to understand the words of creatures that were pointing angrily at you. Tzukra made a reluctant growl before getting up. Damn, he was never gonna finish the rest of his collection ...

Regardless, K'tch was the authority. He set his skull back with just a little more force than necessary.

Fine... They would play it K'tch's way...