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Scarlet - Chapter 17
🕑 Added 2019-07-27 23:36:20 +0000 UTC
When Scarlet first woke, grumbled and stumbled off, Keera felt it was funny, the previously highly competent and controlled pixie had been turned into a coffee-zombie. Just what would it look like when she realised that there would be no coffee forthcoming? That thought turned serious, quickly, when she noticed that there was a convenient target for Scarlet to vent her frustrations on, if she chose to. After a moment of thought, she decided that discretion was the better part of valour and waited in camp for the pixie, using the latrine and checking the supplies but doing nothing that might trigger the other.
When half an hour had passed she started to wonder, decided that she’d wait for another ten minutes before starting to look for her. Those ten minutes passed without a sign, so she decided to go looking, starting at the river, Scarlet had taken the spear with her after all.
Finding the river turned out easier than she’d thought, even the few trips they had taken had created a small path that she could follow.
When she got to the river and stepped from the trees, she felt for a moment as if she was being stared down by a predator, deciding if she was breakfast or just an annoyance. The moment passed and she noticed Scarlet in the water and for a second or two, she just stared. The other was petite, tiny even, compared to her, but there was a deadly grace in that small frame, despite the obvious lack of weapons, or clothes come to that.
As she was watching Scarlet stand and walk out of the water, she was reminded of a hot date she had been on, ages ago. The date had been at the zoo and one of the cages had held an animal from Earth, a tiger. When she and her date had been standing there, watching, the tiger had decided to leave the water it had used to cool itself in the sweltering heat. Scarlet’s movements reminded her of that calm and deliberate gait, the tiger had considered itself ruler of its domain, despite the cage, despite the fact that it had been bred in captivity, it had been a predator. And here, on Verdun, there was no cage, no bars and no moat.
“Do you want to take a bath as well? If not, would you bring the fish back to camp and start a new fire? And maybe fill the bottles again.” Scarlet called out, startling Keera out of her inaction. Trying not to look at Scarlet, Keera focused on the two fish placed on a wide leaf, picking them up and scurrying back into the forest.
When she did, her movement and behaviour reminded Scarlet of the deer that had fled earlier when she approached, causing her to chuckle. It seemed her gambit had worked quite well in putting Keera in her place. Petting Cyca, she enjoyed the sun on her skin, letting the warmth seep into her bones. It felt great, lying in the sun, breathing the fresh air, air that had likely never entered a human lung, let alone an air-scrubber. As she focused on it, she noticed that the air had a taste to it, natural and subtle, a taste she liked. It tasted like nothing she had ever experienced, unconstrained and free.
Knowing that her display would have the best effect if Keera was shocked again, when coming to fill the bottles, she waited until her psionic scan registered her approach, standing and casually walking over to her clothes, turning her back to the approaching woman and bending over right as she came out of the woods. Thanks to the fact that Cyca was closer and had better ears, Scarlet heard the soft gasp escaping Keera as she saw her. Working to seem nonchalant and completely unconcerned, not that it was hard, years of communal showers had erased what little modesty she had left after her time on the streets, Scarlet picked up her clothes, stepping into her underwear and pulling it on, all without acknowledging Keera in any way. Finally, after she had her pants on, she turned, still topless and looked the other woman over.
“Thank you. Would you hand me one of the bottles? No need that you do everything yourself.” she asked in a calm and friendly voice, again startling Keera more than any harsh language would have. Again, she heard a soft noise from her, thanks to Cyca, and noticed her throat working for a moment.
Finally, Keera hesitantly walked up, looking like the mouse before the cat, and handed Scarlet the empty water bottle. Scarlet took it and started walking upstream, before bending down and filling the bottle from the stream. Looking through the clear bottle, it was obvious that the water was quite clean. It would have to do.
After filling her bottle and watching Keera do the same, Scarlet finally decided to put on a top, after binding her still-damp hair into a ponytail.
“Let’s have breakfast.” Scarlet suggested, trying to slowly adapt Keera to take her suggestions as orders, not even questioning her. In Scarlet’s eyes, Keera was currently obeying due to knowing that if she wanted to survive, staying in Scarlet’s good graces was her best bet. Scarlet wanted to cement that dependance, ultimately forming it into unquestionable obedience. But that would take time and patience. For now, Scarlet would suggest things that Keera would want to do anything, slowly making her feel that obeying Scarlet was what she wanted to do.
“Yes, sounds good. Could you show me what those roots we had yesterday look like above ground?” Keera asked, slowly getting her wits back, the image she had seen when coming out of the forest still flashing into her mind from time to time.
“Get used to moving silently.” Scarlet said after they had walked a bit, bringing Keera’s attention to the fact that she was stepping onto every twig and leaf that crossed her path while Scarlet was carefully placing her feet to avoid such noisemakers.
“Over there, there are the vegetables we had yesterday. And I think that over there,” Scarlet pointed to another plant, “the leaves are edible, apparently similar to lettuce and such. We should add them to our diet.”
The two of them harvested from both plants, just enough for a nice breakfast and maybe lunch. Scarlet looked around, trying to see more foodstuff, maybe something sweet for breakfast, some fruit-analogues if it was the right time in the seasonal cycle. It was something she would have to find out, just what season it was and what type of climate they were in. It seemed a moderate climate, judging from the vegetation but she knew that it could just be a false conclusion, drawn upon invalid comparisons.
When they got back to their camp, Scarlet considered that they had left their supplies, which might very well preserve their life, unguarded and in the open. It was something she would have to be conscious of in the future, to avoid such a situation. Again, Scarlet took it on herself to prepare the food while Keera watched, cooking the fish on the same stone they had used the day before, placing the lettuce under it and using some of the roots to garnish it, letting the juice from the vegetables seep into the fish.
After the food seemed to be ready, she passed some of the food to Keera, before taking some for herself. Again, they sat on logs opposite each other, Scarlet noticing that the food was even better than the evening before, the taste mashing even better together and the salad adding some crunch to the food that was needed.
They ate in silence, Scarlet noticing that her stomach was a little upset but settled once food was introduced. She considered plans for the day, trying to come up with the best course of action. Part of her wanted to stay and make some primitive tools, maybe shaping some wood into boards that could be used as plates, or something similar. Another part wanted to go hunting, looking for more crystal monsters, getting another crystal or two, but she had a feeling that it would require them to range further than might be a good idea. Looking at her scanner, the radiation in the area was in the lowest range, the range the Doctor had described as safe. Finally, she decided that staying in the area would likely be the best, making sure that they had some extra food that they could transport before heading out the next day. That way, they could venture away for about a day and have two days to return to town, hopefully impressing the Doctor and gaining an advantage over Mendar and Nedri.
Power, that was all that mattered in the end, either personal power to keep herself safe, power over Keera or power lent to her by the Doctor, the more of it she had, the better. The more of it she had, the safer she would be.
