Fuzzies

Useful info;



Pronunciations:



Veriea: Verr-ree-a(i)



Ver’ei’a: Veh-e-ah



Forenien: For-en-ee-en



Vocabulary:



Kainde Amedha: hard meat/ xenomorph



Gaun-Thwei: night blood



Chiva: trial/ test



Setg’in kwei: tricky/ quick



Pyode Amedha: soft meat/ human (ooman)



Yeyinde: brave one



Pauk: fuck



Ell-osde c’jit: damn you



C’jit: damn/ shit/ general expletive



Pauk’de: fucking/ fucker



Hulij-bpe: crazy



Mei’hswei: brother (also use between close companions/clan mates)



Kerhite: training ground/training ring



Jehdin-jehdin: hand-to-hand combat (one-on-one)



Zazin: self-centered



Thwei’tek: blood bond (used to fuse strands of hair into dreadlocks)



M-di’h’dlak: no fear



Naxa: a kind of fruit from the Yautja home world



Sy’ua: wow/whoa (you get the idea)



Jehdin Jehdin: one on one/ hand to hand combat



Lou-dte kalei: child maker/female (usually a derogatory term)



Enjoy the story ; P







= Chapter 6 – Un-blood, Young Blood =







The first thing Veriea noticed was that the ship was HUGE.



The second was that she could still tell it was huge, even though she couldn’t see anything around her, being quite thoroughly squashed in the middle of the young bloods who all stood at least two feet taller that her.



As they moved out of the drop ship the pressure eased up and she could move freely (as well as breath) again but she realized suddenly that she had lost Ma’e’ka’cha and G’re’e’cha. She forced herself not to panic, reasoning that once the crowd thinned a bit she’d be able to find them again. They would probably find her once they realized she was missing.



Suddenly, someone grabbed her, picking her up by the back of her neck.



Her fox-cub instincts (which she was quite surprised to realized were still present but was a little too preoccupied to think much on it) kicked in and her legs and tail automatically tucked up into her chest and she hung in the person’s grasp like a limp bundle of flesh.



“What the pauk is this? A runt?” A voice boomed as she was turned to face her trapper. Then they apparently saw her tail, ears and face. She was raised higher until her eyes were level with the yautja’s. Veriea saw the flash of a gold cloak and gulped.



An Arbitrator.



Her eyes flicked to it’s brow.



Not from the Guan-thwei Clan.



Her eyes flicked down.



Female.



Veriea wanted to whimper. Somehow she’d managed to piss off a female Arbitrator, from another clan, all with in a minute of stepping off the ship. “Someone lost a pet, huh?” The Arbitrator murmured.



Veriea didn’t know what to do. Ma’e’ka’cha had told her to show the utmost respect to Arbitrators and Elders but she didn’t know if she could tell the towering female that she wasn’t a pet and ask to put her down without seeming disrespectful. She really wanted to whimper, but it was stuck in her throat. That’s the problem with crash courses; with out the full one, people tend to crash.



“I see you’ve met my new sister, mother.” A familiar voice said from behind her. Veriea said a silent thanks to gods – she didn’t particularly care which ones as long as they got her out of this alive.



“Ma’e’ka’cha.” The female said, her tone notably softer. With her free hand she shook her son’s shoulder in greeting, Ma’e’ka’cha returning the gesture.



“Could you please put her down? I think you may have frightened her.”



Veriea let out a sight of relief as her feet touched the solid ground again and made a mental note to thank Ma’e’ka’cha profusely latter.



“I thought your sire said that she looked like one of the furry creatures from the ooman planet?” The female said, eyeing Veriea.



Ma’e’ka’cha quickly explained what had happened and the female laughed. “Well, she looks a lot more like a yautja now; even I mistook her for a runt. And you say she saved your life by taking down a kainde amedha, un-armed?” She eyed Veriea again, more thoughtfully. “What is your name young blood?”



“Ver’ei’a’ka’cha.” She answered, more confident now that she knew the female was Ma’e’ka’cha’s mother. Veriea noticed that her son took after her as far as colouring was concerned.



“That’s an interesting name. May I call you Ver’ei’a?”



“Of course.” What else was she supposed to say to an Arbitrator? As if she could read Veriea’s thoughts, the female smiled.



“My name is Twei’a’aka. You may call me Thwei’a.” She rested one of her massive hands on Veriea’s shoulder. “Welcome to the Clans, Ver’ei’a. Enjoy the feast.” Then she was gone.



Veriea wondered if all the Arbitrators and Elders took lessons on how to make an exit with a flurrying of their cloaks.



“Sy’ua, she must really like you!” Ma’e’ka’cha exclaimed. “She doesn’t let anyone shorten her name, not even the other Arbitrators.”



Veriea was a bit stunned by this information and was quiet for a moment as she processed the implications of it. Then she snapped out of it, remembering something else.



“Did she say something about a feast.”



Ma’e’ka’cha chuckled at the eagerness evident in her eyes and tone of voice.



“Yes. A feast is held when the young bloods return to the main ship and tonight will be even greater as we are the first Chiva group to return without losing a single un-blood in over three hundred cycles.” He laughed, his mandibles clacking. “We are also the first to ever return with an extra young blood!”



“I just hope that everyone else is as happy about that as you are.” Veriea answered, rubbing the nape of her neck. “Being picked up like that hurts a lot more in this form than it did in my forenien one.”



“Come on, we’re sharing quarters again, with G’re’e’cha too. Let’s drop off your stuff and I’ll show you around before the feast.”



CCCCCCC



The ship was even bigger than Veriea had thought.



It was not, as she had assumed, the Guan-Thwei Clan’s ship – that was else where at the present time – it was THE Clan Ship, a sort of ‘home away from home’ for the yautja where the Clan’s could come and go, for social mingling purposes, restocking and refueling, where the Council of Elders convened, where the young bloods were welcomed back into the fold of their society upon completion of their Chiva and where the un-blooded pups trained and started their journey to adulthood, whether it be on the path of a warrior in the Pitts or to another profession under the tutelage and apprenticeship of an older yautja.



It was the cycle of the yautja life embodied.



Veriea felt incredibly honored to be able to see what she was seeing, even knowing that she was being admitted to this grand and proud race’s society. Even if many would not be accepting her as her new brother and friend had, it was amazing to think that she was now part of all this and she knew that she would do all with in her power to uphold the honor she’d been given; as she looked on in wonder, she vowed that she would.



Veriea viewed everything she was shown with intense interest. She was fascinated by the enormous arches in the hallways and the intricately carved panels and columns around every bend. Ma’e’ka’cha had shown her most if the main facilities – the kehrites (where there seemed to be many fights and contests happening, both friendly and not so friendly), the tech labs (where she had to restrain herself from going and touching things and tinkering) and the Archives (where all of the yautja’s history was recorded, including great wars, major Clan feuds, highly honored warriors, Elders and Arbitrators of the past and present and, of course, their culture a deities) – when G’re’e’cha found them and gave her a very knowledgeable tour of the infirmary (she hope she wouldn’t be seeing it often in the future) and then, lastly, the gardens.



Veriea instantly decided that this was her favorite part of the ship.



It seemed that even the yautja enjoyed stopping to smell the proverbial roses once in a while and had an entire section of the ship dedicated to botanic pleasures.



Upon seeing it she practically dove through the door, breaking into an enthusiastic cross between a run and a skip, doing cartwheels, handstands and tumbles along the way, while her friends watched on in amazement, unable to comprehend why she would be so ecstatic over the gardens. Veriea settled down when she noticed that she was weirding out Ma’e’ka’cha and G’re’e’cha and they walked in a more calmly fashion, letting her take in the beauty of the alien plant life.



It was still hours until the feast so they decided to do a bit of sparring and training games.



The first game was mostly like tag, where someone would be ‘it’ and had to lad hits on one of the other two, making them ‘it’ but it had to be a clean, unblocked hit to count. Surprisingly to the two yautja, Veriea was best at that game, becoming ‘it’ least often and landing clean blows quickly. She just waved it off as being due to her fox instincts of hunting and evasion.



They settled into a sparring routine, taking turns to pair up with Veriea while the other spotted for them, correcting her stances to the appropriate yautja equivalents and teaching her yautja techniques that she would need once she started practicing with her weaponry, as well as informing her of the rules of one on one combat.



Jehdin jehdin it seemed was quite specific in what she was and wasn’t allowed to do, what was considered disrespectful to do during a match and she found, to her surprise, that if one of the combatants broke the rules the other was entitled to take their life. It did not seem so surprising though, that many combatants lost their lives anyway, following the rules or not and this left a very definite impression on her; jehdin jehdin was not to be entered lightly, if one could help entering it at all.



While they were taking a break, Veriea noticed that many of the males that passed them eyed her speculatively and wasn’t sure whether to be flustered by this or flattered by the attention. She quickly decided that she should be flustered after several very tall, daunting females looked her up and down as if they wanted to pick a fight.



“It’s the scars.” Ma’e’ka’cha told her matter-of-factly after the seventh female had flounced off – as well as a being that was several hundred pounds of muscle could flounce. “They’re jealous because you have so many impressive ones already and they’ve probably heard about the kainde amedha.”



“I don’t think I like all this attention. Some of those females looked like they wanted to skin me.” Veriea shuddered. “Besides, it was only one kill.”



“An un-armed kill against the greatest prey – with your hands tied!” G’re’e’cha said exasperatedly. “Just accept that you did something worth boasting about and enjoy it already. We were there, we saw it all, we remember; you definitely have bragging rights.”



“Yeah, right!” A harsh voice growled behind them.



They turned to see 4 yautja males approaching them, 3 of them a little smaller than G’re’e’cha and Ma’e’ka’cha but the forth, who seemed to be the leader, was a little over 8 foot. A quick glance identified them as un-bloods which surprised Veriea as she wouldn’t have thought that an un-blood would be so big.



And apparently both Ma’e’ka’cha and G’re’e’cha knew him.



“What to you want Gav’e?” G’re’e’cha hissed, flaring his mandibles.



Knows and doesn’t like him. Veriea noted.



“I came to see what pitiful excuse has been accepted into the Guan-Thwei clan.” The large un-blood answered, tilting his head to the side, considering Veriea’s form. “And from the looks of things, that sire of yours is going senile.” He added to Ma’e’ka’cha.



Ma’e’ka’cha flared his mandibles and arched his back, roaring, attracting the attention of the other yautja nearby.



“Take that back!” He took a threatening step towards the un-blood.



“Let’s go, Ma’e’ka’cha.” Veriea urged, laying a hand of his shoulder, not liking the vibes she was getting from this impudent male, feelings she was uncomfortably familiar with.



“He insulted the Elder! The filthy un-blood!”



“And you said it was best to ignore them,” She hissed under her breath so that the trouble makers wouldn’t hear. “Let’s go.”



“Look at the mighty hunter!” The un-blood called Gav’e sneered. “Wanting to run away! You may look like a yautja but you’re still s’yuitde prey. I bet your mother was a lou-dte kalei pauk’de ooman!”



Veriea’s blood boiled.



No one, least of all some cowardly, crab-faced, alien, play-ground bully, no one insulted her mother. Perfectly aware of what she was doing, she moved until she was standing in front of him, her hands clenched into fists of rage.



“You want to say that again, you butt-ugly pauk’de?” She snarled.



Then he did what she had so hoped he would do. Gav’e shoved her shoulder one-handed. “For the honor of my clan, I accept your challenge.” She growled, chin raised in defiance of his condescending glare.



Pulling the stunned Ma’e’ka’cha and G’re’e’cha around, she then stormed out of the gardens, knowing that any seconded now they would come to their senses and chase after her. She silently counted in her head.



3…



2…



1…



Veriea couldn’t hold back the grin as G’re’e’cha’s voice exploded only a few feet behind her.



“Are you completely hulij-bpe pauk’de?” She grinned again at his choice of words.



“He challenged me, not the other way around. I couldn’t refuse without being dishonored. You told me that, remember?”



“But you goaded him to do it, I know you did!” He roared.



“I owe my life to the Elder! I would be glad to fight for his honor!” She yelled right back. “One of you two would have challenged him, don’t act like you wouldn’t have! And my mother died so that I could live and I’ll be damned to the deepest depths of hell before I let some arrogant school-yard bully bad mouth her and get away with it!”



“But you don’t understand, Ver’ei’a,” He said, his voice taking on a softer, more pleading tone. “Gav’e has been in the Pitts for years, he’s a lot older than we are, didn’t you notice how tall he was? The Elders haven’t let him take the kainde amedha Chiva yet because he’s too violent and unpredictable. He’s practically a bad blood! And no one has ever beaten him before.”



“Well then he’s about to get a very big lesson indeed.” Veriea growled. “Besides, he was going to challenge me anyway, that’s why he showed up. That bully’s got a point to prove and he had already decided that to get the message across he has to go through me. At least this way he’ll be thinking that I’m less experienced than I am and that will give me an edge in the kehrite.”



Ma’e’ka’cha stopped dead in his tracks, jerking Veriea to a stop as well as he grabbed her arm.



“How do you know that? Did you plan this?” He growled.



“Yeah, I’m really that stupid.” She scoffed and then sighed, resignedly. “Look, there’s something I forgot to mention when I was telling you about my powers. The Elder knows but I guess I forgot after the ‘changing’ incident. I’m an Empath by birth, which basically means I can sense people’s moods and feelings; that’s how I knew.” She smirked a little. “That’s also how I knew G’re’e’cha was going to blow up like that.”



“What? You can read minds?” G’re’e’cha asked apprehensively, obviously unnerved.



“No, that’s thoughts, I can’t read those. Just feelings. Like, even though Gav’e only looked like he was trying to cause trouble, I could tell he was out for blood. That’s why I was trying to drag your ass away.” She added pointedly to Ma’e’ka’cha.



“Are you trying to say this is my fault?”



“Pauk, no. This isn’t anyone’s fault but Gav’e’s. No one insults the one’s I care about and I figured if it wasn’t now, it’ll be another time. It’s time for someone to put that pauk’de in his place and at least if I fight him now I have the element of surprise.”



They both looked at her and sighed in unison.



“I guess we’d better go over the rules again, then.”



CCCCCCC



The Pitts were exactly that; pitts.



Like a full circle amphitheatre the walls rose high above the Pitts’ kehrite and by the time Veriea stepped into the arena, the ring was already lined with spectators of varying rank. It seemed that many were interested in seeing the fight between the strange new young blood and the well known un-blood.



“Good luck and may the Black Warrior watch over you.” Her friends whispered as she left them, starting her walk to the center of the arena where Gav’e and an honored warrior form a different clan, who had agreed to preside over the fight and act as judge of the winner, stood silently waiting for her.



She looked back to her friends for a moment. Ma’e’ka’cha was climbing up into the stands at the side line but G’re’e’cha was still watching her. She gave him a small wave and a smile as if to say ‘don’t worry so much, I’ll be ok’ before Ma’e’ka’cha called him and he turned to follow, giving her another glance over his shoulder. She knew they were worried about her and she was wary herself but she’d gone up against bigger goons than this guy and she was pretty certain that she would be faster than him as well as lighter footed and she had Empathy going for her, a definite advantage.



She also had sheer stubborn will on her side. If she kept her wits about her, kept him guessing and off kilter, she might come out of this alive.



“Are you read, lou-dte kalei?” Gav’e hissed, flaring his lower mandibles.



“I’m always ready to kick the butts of low-live like you, you pauk’de zazin.” She snarled in return. He growled and the honored warrior addressed the audience before he could think up something else to say.



“The Un-Blood Gav’e has challenged the honor of the Young Blood Ver’ei’a’ka’cha and that of her Clan Elder. Ver’ei’a’ka’cha has accepted the challenge of Jehdin Jehdin. May the warrior who is speaking the truth be victorious and the warrior who is false be punished. Step forward and greet each other.”



Veriea and Gav’e stepped forward and shook each other’s shoulder, Gav’e quite obviously trying to exert extra force on her should but she just gave him smug smirk; he wasn’t going to intimidate her. Gav’e relented and backed away, crouching into hiju, the combat stance which G’re’e’cha had told her was also the correct stance for disemboweling.



How quaint.



Veriea took no stance, knowing full well that Gav’e would think her incompetent for it and instead began cracking each and every knuckle in her hands, the satisfying pops echoing around the kehrite in a way that made her smirk kick up a notch.



“You’re going to regret the day tried to pick on me, boy.” She taunted, cracking her neck with two quick jerks, just before the honored warrior roared and the Jehdin Jehdin began.



Both opponents started to circle one another.



Veriea sent out tendrils of consciousness and could feel that he was wary of her unknown skill level and decided it was time to implement some of the famous fox trickery, making a few deliberate mistakes in her foot work, giving him a false opening and Gav’e leapt but she was more than ready for him. Just as his fist was about to connect with her stomach, she launched herself into the air, flipping over him and kicked him in the back, knocking him flat on his face.



She stayed crouched low over the ground, her tail flicking lazily from side to side, chuckling as he picked himself up. As they began to circle again, this time with Veriea on all fours, utilizing her unique body form and the amused clattering from the audience, she wondered if he was stupid enough – or angry enough – to fall for the same trick twice.



Again she made mistakes and again he lunged but she could sense an out-of-place smugness from him, he was prepared for her maneuver this time, so instead she rolled under his feigned attack, diving underneath him and kicked him the butt, again sending him to the floor before rising to her feet.



“I told you I would kick your butt.” She taunted again, playing on his anger.



But she wasn’t prepared for his sudden lunge. It caught her high in the chest, almost choking her and then knocking the wind out of her as she hit the floor with Gav’e’s immense weight on top of her.



“I’ll teach you some respect!” He hissed and for a moment one of her memories bubbled to the surface –



…He was on top of he, her hands pinned uselessly above her head. She lunged upwards, biting at his arms as hard as she could and he hissed furiously, back handing her across the face. “I’ll teach you some respect!”…



- and he punched her in the face. Veriea felt her jaw unhinge with the force of the blow, her mind jolting back to the present and decided that it wasn’t a good idea to let either things happen again. As his fist came down a second time she caught it and twisted it harshly so that it would be useless, at least for a little while.



Gav’e roared and grabbed at her arm with his other hand, dropping his gauntleted elbow painfully onto her sternum. She tried to back hand him with her free left hand but he flared his mandibles wide, catching her wrist between his teeth and biting down hard. She could have screamed if it weren’t for her dislocated jaw.



So he was biting her now; so much for it not being disrespectful to cut or purposely draw blood during Jehdin Jehdin, not to mention just plain childish to bite her, when there were perfectly adult ways he could have retaliated, just taking the damn hit for one. Though, of course, he didn’t respect her in the least, did he? Well if he was going to be that way, start fighting dirty, so was she.



Though he was wearing leg guards, there were weak spots in the thin armor. She had just enough room to draw up her knees and thrust upwards, driving her leg spines into the exposed back of his upper thighs.



Gav’e released both of her hands as he arched his back, roaring in pain.



While he was distracted, Veriea tucked her legs tightly into her chest and kicked as hard as she could into his stomach, cutting off his roar with an ‘oof!’ sound and then rolling backwards to rest on all fours, alert and waiting for his counter attack, though she winced as she realized she couldn’t put too much weight on her left wrist. Gav’e seemed to be having a hard time getting up; it looked as though she’d injured his legs a little more than she had though.



One thing was clear though – it was time to end this.



With a sickening ‘crack’ that echoed around the kehrite, much like her knuckle cracking had, she realigned her jaw and then leapt at Gav’e as he tried to find his feet, knocking him once more into the dirt floor.



“Do you yield?” She growled down at the pinned un-blood. He growled back, trying to throw her off. Veriea hung on and dug her talons into the meat of his shoulders, drawing another roar of pain from him. He tried to head-butt her but she pulled back in time. “Do you yield!” She repeated.



It didn’t matter whether he did or not. She heard the cheering of the crowds as the honored warrior declared the end of the match with her as the winner. She looked up and saw Ma’e’ka’cha and G’re’e’cha grinning and cheering form the side lines, heading out to meet her.



But she wasn’t paying attention to Gav’e anymore so she didn’t see the flash of fury in his eyes.



He eyes widened in shock as she felt it. The furious roaring of the crowd seemed far away as she looked down, seeing a cruel looking blade embedded in her stomach.



He’d stabbed her. The dishonorable bastard had actually had the guts to break the rules, bring a weapon onto the kehrite and stabbed her. Her blood began to pound through her veins with no regard for the wound in her belly, some dark, primal instinct starting to take over.



No one saw Gav’e’s expression change to fear.



No one but him saw Veriea’s eyes darken so quickly, until they were only shiny black orbs, like the eyes of the dead looking out at him.



In pure terror he thrust the knife upwards, the blade glancing off of her ribcage and slicing across her right breast as her threw her off. But she paid no attention to the gaping would across her abdomen. She wanted blood and she knew it was her right to kill him for breaking the rules of Jehdin Jehdin.



Gav’e desperately tried to get up to run but his wounded legs wouldn’t support him.



Veriea leapt on top of him, slicing her talons deeply across the backs of his knees, fully ham-stringing him, before driving them through his shoulders where she had started her work earlier. He actually screamed, a sort of squealing sound, until she had severed the nerves to his arms but he still continued to whimper.



She growled in satisfaction; just like all bullies, he was really a coward underneath the tough exterior. It was this thought that slowly brought her back form that primal place, until she could rationally think again. She glared down at him, knowing she should give him at least some chance to redeem himself, even if he didn’t deserve it.



“You lost the battle, Gav’e,” She hissed. “But losing wouldn’t have been the end, just a lesson you were far too late in learning.” She placed the forgotten blade back into his now near-useless hands. “Do the honorable thing. I won’t dirty my hand with your filthy blood any further.” And she got up and started walking away, seeing Ma’e’ka’cha and G’re’e’cha running towards her.



It was then that the pain registered.



She looked down at her bloody stomach in something akin surprise and bewilderment, especially upon realizing that her blood was green now, like the yautja’s. Then she noticed that something was poking out of the heavily bleeding wound. It was a small piece of her intestines.



That’s when the world went dark.



End- Ch 6



A/N: Sorry for that graphic ending. Sorry for the cliffy too but this is already my longest chapter yet. Hope you liked it and remember to review!