A request for Littleavis. Her OCs BloodClaw and Tarah. I hope you enjoy it!
"To love is nothing. To be loved is something. But to love and be loved, that's everything."
— T. Tolis
Space is a harsh place to explore. If one is not ready to venture out into the unknown, one can die or crash land onto a random planet. If they're lucky, it will be inhabited by a species that will be friendly to the explorer or it may be a planet that has a big city and they can get help. But, not all explorers are lucky.
Tarah is one of those explorers. A young human woman that was excited to explore space and maybe even discover a planet that no one has seen before. She was naive to think space would be kind to a new explorer like her. Tarah's ship was brand spanking new, she had saved up a lot to buy one and all the supplies. Even if she had everything that would help her, she did not know the first thing about exploring distant galaxies and worlds. She was clueless and rather stupid for thinking she could fair on her own.The ship got caught in an asteroid belt and one of the ship's engine had gotten badly damaged.
"No! Crap, this isn't good!" The woman yelled out as she tried to keep the ship steady, but the wheel was starting to become too hard to hold. Her hazel eyes widened as she felt the ship being pulled in by the gravitational pull of a nearby planet. It was like everything went in slow motion as the ship shook more violently as she was pulled in...then nothing.
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"A human?"
"What is it doing here?"
"Is it alive?"
"Pick her up and bring the female back to camp...Boss would want to see her."
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Tarah's head hung low and her long black hair hid her face like a curtain. The female's arms were chained above her head yet her legs were free. Her breathing was slow and shallow but soon she took a deep breath and twitched. Her vision was blurry as she looked at her lap and she felt confused as to why she was sitting. All she remembered was her ship was hit by an asteroid and then getting closer and closer to a planet. Then nothing. Tarah's mouth and throat were dry, she needed water and something to eat. The female went to move her arms, but couldn't.
Tarah lifted her head and finally looked around...she was in a cage. A rather small one too, she tilted her head back to see if she could get her arms free...but a breath of dismay escaped her chapped lips as she saw that her wrists were chained to the cage wall. "Fuck" she croaked out and looked to her right, all she saw were large domes that looked to be made of different animal furs. A few weapons were leaning against the tents she could see and what looked like a dog...but it was huge like a mini horse and instead of a normal head, there was a skull.
*What...the hell?* She was downright confused and very scared but she had to stay calm. The brunette then turned her head to the left and actually flinched back when she saw someone...or something sitting there staring at her or she thought it was staring at her. It had a skull mask covering its whole face. It looked human-like but there were very distinct features that made it not human. For starters, the first thing she saw was the scale-like skin. It was a deep red that faded to a yellow. Next, the hands and feet are huge! And they had sharp looking nails on them as well. The third thing was the size of it. Its arms were the size of a small tree trunk and the rest of the body was just huge and really muscular. Like they were built to fight and maybe even hunt.
The being had small skulls hanging around its neck like a morbid necklace and it was barely clothed. All it had on was a loincloth. *Okay...a male. Or, I hope it's a male. Never can tell with some alien races* The slightly panicking human thought and raked her brain to figure out what species this was. Before she left Earth, she made sure to study at least some of the alien races that were known to man. There were a lot, but she could not for the life of her remember what race this was and it was getting on her nerves. Before she could remember what this race was, the male turned his head and she relaxed a tiny bit knowing he wasn't looking at her. But she felt her body lock up in fear and nervousness another alien stopped in front of her cage.
A female alien tilted her head to look down at Tarah and the human could sense annoyance coming from her. The alien turned her head to look at the male who was back to cleaning his sword.
"This is the human female Boss wants to look at?" Tarah could not understand a word that the alien said but she sounded annoyed and slightly disgusted.
The male nodded his head "Yeah. Tiny thing isn't she?"
"More like laughable. Look at her! Why does the Boss even want to look at her? There's nothing to look at! She looks so weak"
Tarah had a feeling that they were talking about her and not nice things either. The woman was a little offended but she didn't really want to say anything to those two, especially the female. She looked scary and looked like she could break the human in half...with her hands alone. That very thought made Tarah shiver in fear. *Yeah, I don't want to make these guys angry*
"Did Boss send you to get the human?"
"Yes, I didn't want to come here. I was going to go train with the others but he insisted that I bring her here. Said that maybe another female would make the human calmer. By the way she's looking at me, that is a lie. Pretty sure she's more scared of me than you." the alien chuckled dryly then sighed and held out her massive hand and the male handed her the keys.
"Let's go, human. Can't believe I'm wasting my time on you"
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"So, this is the human? She's very...tiny"
"She is, isn't she? Humans stare too much, it's annoying"
Tarah had a feeling that they were talking about her, she stayed quiet though because the alien that sat on the throne-like chair looked very scary and large. He did look relaxed though, he was slumped on his throne, one leg out while his hand held up his head. He was also wearing a mask but this one was a little different than the rest she had seen. The color was a deep red, like that of a prickly pear. Instead of the single black line across the eyes, it was two eyes but they were dark so she couldn't see if he was looking at her or not.
Tarah was terrified of what they were going to do to her and as the male looked at her, she stared at him with petrified eyes. The Yautja seemed to sigh and leaned back in his chair, leaning his head o his fist.
"Keep her. It'll be interesting to have a human around here. Like a pet"
Whatever he said, the female made a surprised and disgusted sound but seemed to hold her tongue. She nodded her head curtly and looked back at her. Tarah didn't know what she had gotten herself into, but she wished she was back on Earth.
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Its been a few months since her ship crashed and she was doing okay here. She stuck to the leader's side though, Bloodclaw was his name and he treated her like...well, like a pet. He didn't put a collar on her, that would be humiliating, but he did keep her by his side. Tarah was fed well, had her own bed in Bloodclaw's tent and could walk around camp, to an extent. Tarah knew that most of the females here didn't like her, it was obvious when they growled at her every time she would be getting things for Bloodclaw. But in the span of those months, things started to change between her and Bloodclaw. He didn't look at her like a child or a pet and instead started treating her as his equal. He even let her see his face, he was handsome and surprisingly warm and...nice to her.
She didn't think the males cared, they just nodded at her when she walked past, some even ignored her. Except for one smaller male named Atlas. He was an interesting male, kind to her but knew his boundaries. He was like a son to Bloodclaw and did protect her when the females became to rough with her. For a small male, he could handle himself well. One day while Bloodclaw and some males were out hunting, Atlas and Tarah were in Bloodclaw's tent just hanging out. It really was the only safest place for Tarah to be at.
"Does Bloodclaw like me?" Tarah asked suddenly while she was cleaning Bloodclaw's armor. The clan found a translator for the female and she could understand them now. Some of the clan knew how to speak ''Human" like Atlas and others didn't care to speak her language. Atlas looked up from polishing his spear and watched her with eyes that looked like the universe, always changing color and had specks of what looks like silver in them. Very interesting color eyes.
"Hm? Why do you ask that?"
"Because...well this might sound stupid, but every time I wake up, I always have some sort of present on my pillow. Like yesterday it was a dagger and this morning it was a necklace with tiny skulls" she showed him the dagger and necklace. He looked at them with surprise then chuckled and Tarah looked at him with confusion.
"He's trying to, what's the word that you humans use...court you. Have you as a mate" He nodded his head and pointed to the necklace and dagger "First it starts out with small gifts like those, then it becomes bigger and bigger."
Tarah looked at the gifts with awe and felt a little shy but honored that Bloodclaw would choose a human to be a mate with and her at that! She wasn't strong as the females here or even as fast. But by golly was she hella smart, she knew her technology and knew how to survive in the wild, she even helped the males here with one of the ships that were down. She had small hands so she could get into places that they couldn't. And know Bloodclaw was trying to court her.
"What would happen if I gave him gifts too?" Atlas finally finished polishing his weapon and placed it down beside him.
"Well, you would be agreeing to be his mate. Do you want to?" He asked and Tarah looked down at the dagger and necklace in her hands. When she first got here, she thought she would be killed. But Bloodclaw saved her, he made her his pet to keep. But over time, they became close to one another. He began to show her how to fight, how to hold certain weapons and how to take care of herself if he was gone or she got lost from the camp.
He was nice to her, warm, caring and dare she say it, loving. When Bloodclaw had his mask off in their tent and when he thought she didn't notice, he looked at her with...warmth and love. Happiness and joy. It warmed her heart and it made her happy. She was glad that her ship crashed on this planet because she enjoyed every second she had with Bloodclaw.
Finally, Tarah looked up and looked at Atlas who was looking at her with amusement "Yes, I want to be his mate" She smiled brightly and he chuckled "Good, now, you just have to give him gifts. Maybe make him something that he would like"
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A few days passed and Tarah was finally done with her gift. It was a necklace, but it didn't have skulls on it. It had these stones of different colors on them. Tarah didn't think she could stomach killing animals, but she could collect stones. These stones were different from Earth's. First, they were all very very smooth and everytime the light would hit them, they would change color. They also seemed to have warmth coming from them, it was very interesting to look at and it was actually hard to find these. There were other stones, but they weren't perfect or nice to look at.
Tarah had gotten another gift, it was some sort of cooked meat. It was in a bowl on her table, it looked and smelled amazing. She ate it all for breakfast. Bloodclaw was in his tent fixing his mask, it had gotten damaged in the last hunt. He sat at his table, his back to her and she just looked at him. He was grumbling under his breath as he fixed his mask and even cursed a few times. It was funny, but as she watched him, she noticed that he had more wounds on his back and even one that was wrapped around his side and she wondered if he had gotten them in the hunt a few days ago because when he came back, he didn't show any pain, in fact, he was a little distant from her when he came back. He really didn't show his back to her at all. The wounds were closed and some looked a little pink and puckered.
*It seems that they're not bothering him now* The female thought as she grabbed the necklace from under her pillow. It was hard to hide what she was doing because Bloodclaw was in the tent 24/7 and hardly left. So she had to go to Atlas' tent to work.
"Bloodclaw," he grunted when she said his name and lifted his head a little, she got his attention. It wasn't hard, all she had to do was say his name or even touch his arm and his attention was fully on her.
"Is everything alright over there? You're grumbling and cursing more than usual" She was amused as she walked over, hands behind her back holding the necklace. Bloodclaw sighed and chuckled lightly.
"Yes, I suppose I am. This mask is giving me trouble" He leaned back in the large chair and stretched his arms above him, she heard his back and arms pop. "what happened to it?" She curiously said as she stood beside him, looking at the deep red mask. It had a clear crack down the middle, curving on the cheek and one of the eyes were gone. "Oh wow, what happened?" he sighed and ran a hand down his face, she noticed that he carefully ran it over his mandibles.
"I...may have gotten into a fight with one of the predators in the forest. It looks like a...what do you humans call it? Ah, a dinosaur. It swung it's tail at me and threw me back into a tree. I guess its tail had cracked my mask. Luckily that's all it did"
She looked at him with surprise, that's why he had his mask off when he came back. "Is that why you were distant from me when you came back? You didn't show me your back at all" He nodded his head "Yes, I didn't want to worry you. And I was in pain, I didn't want to snap at you" He looked down at her, eyes holding warmth and his mandibles looked to be turned up into a smile.
The human blinked and smiled back, giggling softly "Well, I worry every time you go out hunting. I don't know if you'll come back. But I'm glad you did" She said and then cleared her throat, looking down at the floor. Bloodclaw was surprised that she worried about him and purred lightly in happiness and comfort.
"I am glad you worry about me, Tarah." he said and clicked happily.
The female blushed and bit her lip "I do have something to say to you. I...enjoy the presents you leave me. It's nice to wake up to and...I asked Atlas what that meant." It was quiet inside the tent and she could feel him watching her. "I accept to be your mate and...well, I wanted to give you this tomorrow before you woke up...But I couldn't wait" She brought the necklace from behind her back and held it in front of her so he could see it.
"I made you this necklace. I know it's not made of skulls...I don't think I could handle killing and then skinning animals. But these stones were really hard to find and I worked hard to make this necklace... I...I hope you like it." She watched as he took the necklace and looked at it, her heart was pounding as he was quiet, turning the necklace in his hands and touching the stones.
"I love it...and I am glad you accept to be my mate" He finally said and she smiled brightly and hugged his waist, burying her face in his chest and he laughed lightly, wrapping his massive arms around her and held her close.
"My mate...I like the sound of that"
Tarah giggled and leaned her head back to look up at him "Yeah, me too"