Hunters in the Wind

The young Saiyan watched her host move from one spit to another before he sheared through the boulder to create a make shift table. The cut was clean and smooth, and with the blast of Ki that washed over it now dust free as well. When he tore off a huge chunk of meat from one of the spits and let it fall to the 'table' with a hefty wet smack she could help but notice the way it glistened and the juices ran across the stone where it wasn't perfectly balanced, creating a trail of steaming goodness back to the main feast. She snorted at his comment about the cutlery, shaking her head and looking at him questioningly,

"Can't see any savages here, just a hungry Saiyan..."

She stretched up to the nearest spit and slapped down a weighty chunk of...well she wasn't sure exactly what part of the Rex it had come from...she'd never had to learn how to butcher one...and tore a chunk of off with her fingers, popping it in her mouth. The taste was strong and heavy, unlike what she'd eaten before...not quite earth beef...but it smelled divine on an empty stomach. Jagaimo wiped the juices off her chin with the back of her hand and leant back on the nearest boulder, savouring the taste, the flesh seared just right. Although she let her eyes closed she never stopped listening to Lottus. It had been so long since she'd had a meal of this kind that she wanted to enjoy it. The last great feast she'd attended had been on Namek...but that one came with a job offer she didn't take.

She laughed loudly when he admitted to the lack of danger, she knew she'd sensed it right when she gauged his strength, and she kept the smile on her lips as she chewed through another pieces of the Rex. She'd met hunters before, and fighters...they enjoyed the hunt, the thrill of the combat...it was a rare sort that wanted to have fun with the kill. It was an usual way to think but she'd only just met the guy...maybe it was truly like that for him. She'd heard of Saiyan's in the past who lived for that kill, it became everything to them and they were a danger to their own allies if you couldn't keep them on the front lines. Lottus didn't seem that driven by blood...but maybe he was just more controlled than most...or calm. Jagaimo gave a mental shrug and decided not to bring up his phrasing, instead choosing to listen to his grumbling about the way and the previous monarchs of the Saiyan people.

"And yet they did...they held us off for decades and fought us to a stalemate even after our leaders unleashed hordes of Oozaru on the battlefields and the walls. The Tuffles might not be as weak as we're always made to believe."

Jagaimo worked her through the piece of meat on the slab of stone in front of her and pulled down another piece without really thinking about it,

"The war wasn't going anywhere, so why keep up with the meatgrinder tactics when all it did was sap the strength from those that had come before us? With no decisive victory, isn't it better to consolidate so we can rebuild our strength? Isn't madness doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Something had to change and Taori might just have started it. Now we have to see what Queen Amara can do for the people...they need something to strive towards, something to drive them before we tear ourselves to pieces...maybe its not here...but out there somewhere?"

She waved a greasy hand up towards the stars as if to say...pick a direction and find conflict

Jagaimo chuckled to herself when Lottus barked out a laugh. She expected some kind of excuse for the failings of the Saiyan’s like she’d heard from many older survivors of the war before but this man simply laughed and acknowledged that the Tuffles had indeed held them off. She felt herself relaxing as they talked, eating like soldiers did in the field, with their hands and whatever they could get them on. It was widely known that Saiyan’s could consume vast quantities of food, far more than many other species would consider appropriate, but between them the two Saiyan’s had already put away enough roasted flesh to feed several squads of Tuffle troopers. Conversation and good company seemed to increase the appetite almost as much as battle, even after she dropped a third helping onto the now grease stained rock table. She doubted there was a tavern or eatery back in the district that served Rex on its menu…and she was going to make the most of this exquisite meal. Maybe she’d have to look into it if she ever managed to save enough for her own place…

“And with every year that passed, the Oozaru became less of a threat to them…oh they still feared us but not in the way it was at the beginning…I'm told when we first landed and the moon rose whole towns emptied rather than face those howling behemoths. What a sight we must have made…”

The young woman let out a belch that echoed through the canyon, thumping her chest, wiping her mouth again with the back of her hand…Otherworld how she craved a beer right now to wash down with this meal. Water just wasn’t cutting it. She chewed slowly for a moment, leaning back on a boulder when Lottus spoke again…biting her tongue to let him finish as the fires crackled all around them.

“A direct strike…it could have worked…but then where would that have pushed them? Even with the capitol gone they had other cities, other bases. You say it would have crippled them…maybe it would have just driven them deeper down a path they didn’t want to explore. Fear has a way of focusing people…and hate is a fine motivator. Taking the capitol out from underneath them might just have been the death sentence for the Saiyan people…we have no idea what might have developed in those dark days…we know what the extended war drove them to.”

She didn’t need to say the Destron attacks. They’d given the Tuffles no other option. Without the physical strength to halt the Saiyan’s they’d turned to what they did best, using their minds to overcome an obstacle and in doing so unleashed a weapon that nobody could control. If the entire Tuffle species had suddenly become dedicated to the eradication of the Saiyan’s what else might they have cooked up? Who knew what still lingered in the labs dotted around their territories.

“But she is the Queen now…talker or not, thinker or not…she defeated Zuqetta in combat for the right to lead, in itself no mean feat. That woman has power to spare and then some.”

She waved a thick piece of roasted Rex at the larger Saiyan in place of wagging a finger at him,

“And maybe a thinker is what the Saiyan’s need…look where bashing our heads against a wall has gotten us…5 decades to win one war…the old ways, the old guard…they’re outdated.”

She smiled at the bigger man across the boulder from her, letting her gaze hold his,

“The universe is moving on but we’re not…I'm all for tradition…but not if it's going to get in the way of survival. Queen Amara might surprise us all…if not then Hells I'll buy you a few rounds for being right and damning us all!”

So the missing arm had come from Zuqetta? That was interesting. Jagaimo had known how strong the woman had been when they had met back on Namek, and again when they’d come face to face under the Saiyan Palace but to only have taken an arm from this warrior…he must have done something to impress her…Zuq had never struck the young woman as someone who ever went half measures on anything she did, be it running a mercenary crew or fighting for fun. Wait…

“Your Cousin?”

Was he really related to the wild lady that had come to her ‘rescue’ back on the green Namekian home world? If that was the case then that might explain the massive powers if they both came from the same family…it wasn’t always the case but quite often strength ran in the blood of one particular line or another. Maybe it was just an endearing term amongst warriors and Saiyan’s…but she doubted this man would have bothered with such titles if they weren't true. So a small world indeed.

Jagaimo hadn’t been to aware of what had gone on in the contest for the throne until after it had all ended…Zuqetta and Amara hand guided every action and manipulated the crowds…and in the end Zuqetta seemed to get what she wanted, although it didn’t sound to far fetched for to say something of the sorts as Lottus claimed she had. The other Saiyan woman didn’t mince words when she wasn’t lying to your face.

“Surviving is no way to live…we should be doing more than just surviving because of who we are…we should be thriving…but only 1 in 100 ever achieves a strength that actually means anything…the rest just pale into the footnotes.”

The woman looked across the table…hand lingering near the chunk of meat that still rested there and then withdrew, pausing in her consumption for the moment,

“Change takes time…a fast brutal change is perhaps all our people could understand…something slow and far thinking would likely just be forgotten by the next generation as they’re raised by the throwbacks of yesteryear.”

When the man grinned there wasn’t always the same warmness she’d encountered in the past, there was something else behind those eyes…even if for now they held back whatever thoughts ran through that thick skull of his.

“And with hard light and nanotech the Tuffles have eliminated all of those logistic problems in one fell swoop…I've seen first hand what Queen Amara can do and I've heard that Chancellor Cheri has some tricks of her own. The Tuffles are keeping pace with our power and have done so since we arrived…I don’t think that's ever going to change.”

Jagaimo laughed and leaned back against the large boulder she’d been using as a back rest, hands running through her hair and resting on her head,

“And what of the production centres in the Crags, or the hidden ones scattered around their territories…even with Hatchi gone after the initial strike, all it takes is a few drops of Destron and some explosives and hundreds of Saiyans falling never to rise again. A few Tuffles willing to sacrifice themselves at the right moments would have been devastating for Salada and the military. A fatal strike to their capitol may well have changed the course of the war…but we’ll never know…even now I doubt there will come a time when it's possible…without a time machine we’ll never know.”

She shrugged when Lottus sat on the table edge. She could see what he was getting at and it made sense, but anyone in their right mind made contingencies for when they were at war…one thing you could never accuse the Tuffles of being was stupid or short sighted. They would have had something in place surely? For a spear wielding loon he made some sound points.

“One man can change the world with a bullet in the right place…”

Jagaimo mumbled and then laughed to herself, the words coming unbidden to her lips and spoken out loud. Something she’d heard once. When Lottus spoke this time, she was still listening, her eyes half closed enjoying the heat of the fires around them and the smell of the roasting meat hanging in the air. She didn’t bother opening her eyes. She could sense him ahead of her, she didn’t need to see him to know where he was, he shone like a beacon in the wastelands in the blackness of her mind.

“So peace is beyond you, even if it could mean an end to the needless slaughter that goes on on both sides?”

She nodded slowly, almost to herself when he continued.

“The Tuffles have too much pride to leave their home world…and the Saiyan’s are to dumb to realise there's nothing worth left to get angry over…present company excluded of course.”

She smiled at him and let her eyes open slowly when he asked his more personal questions, holding his gaze and never wavering. She’d met overwhelming power before and while she felt the knot in her stomach when those predatory eyes met hers she refused to give in to any fear, it wouldn’t hold her to in action and as much as she wanted to look away, the young woman refused to let her body react to its own wants.

“A scout…maybe once…what i am now, well i haven’t reported for duty in many moons and have spent much of the last year off world. So yes I was a scout for the kingdom once. Now I don't know…no one's issued orders for so long now it's almost hard to remember what it was like. As for the power, my business in Hatchi was coming to an end and I knew it was someone, although who it was didn’t matter all that much to me…call it curiosity or stupidity…I was passing nearby when I was alerted to your presence and needed to know who such a power belonged to…and you didn’t exactly make it hard to find you. Even someone as strong as you could learn a little restraint now and then. One day it might save your life to not be visible to…well detectable to every scouter on the continent.”

She hadn’t moved, still holding the larger Saiyan’s gaze, finally letting out a short snort before pulling another chunk off the table, looking at it then tossing it across the ravine to where some kind of skittering creatures were gathering in the gloom, drawn by the scent of the recent kill.

“Don’t worry, I've decided the bounty isn’t worth the hassle to collect…I mean that's why you're hiding out here right?”

She didn't interrupt when he spoke, she just let him say his piece. His mood had seemed to turn a little sour at the idea that there might ever be peace, but then if the war didn't interest him in anyway shouldn't some kind of peace be what he was after, and not the kind of peace that came with putting yourself in a hole in the ground? If there was no desire in hi to be part of the war anymore then shouldn't a cease to the conflict be what he wanted? Jagaimo didn't need to look around, or leave the ravine. She knew what the waste lands looked like for hundreds of miles in every direction and despite what the big Saiyan might be saying, this was not living. No one retreated to somewhere as vast and as open as this if they weren't hiding from something, be it people, society or something else. There was always a reason for doing something whether we accepted there was or not. Few decisions were ever truly random. Whatever words he might use to mask it, something had driven him out here, he just refused to, or wouldn't acknowledge that it had.

She knew his mind was made up and doubted very much she'd ever sway him but she'd rarely known when to hold her tongue...she had the medical records of all her beatings to prove it. Why should now be any different?

"And if you flaunting your strength brings about the deaths of everyone around you then what? Sure you don't care about me or anyone else it seems, but what if it was someone you cared deeply for? Someone not as strong as you, that couldn't defend themselves when all those hunters came for you...worse if they used them as bait for you? When those hunters get tired of facing you in combat and they call in a strike from an orbiting vessel that levels a town and leaves only you standing...is that worth your pride over their lives? They get to die because your to arrogant to realise you shine like a beacon in the night?"

Jagaimo spat out what she'd been chewing on in disgust, the taste somehow sour in her mouth, the joy of the food somewhat lessened as they spoke more, her fists clenching, knuckles turning white as the bones popped, and then unclenching on the table as he fingers opened, palms flat on the stone surface.

"Power means nothing without a purpose..."

She'd said it before and she wholeheartedly believed the words, what use was strength if it wasn't applied to some task, great or small, good or ill?

As long as it was applied for a reason.

"So tell me oh great Lottus of the waste, hunter of Rex and slayer of weakling bounty hunters. What is the purpose of your power, will anyone remember the one arm Saiyan of the wastes in a few years when he's done nothing with his amassed power except sit around with his thumb up his ass?"

She was stood now, she hadn't even realised she'd moved, but the air around her hummed with her own suppressed power, her special skill almost shattering. All over a single word. Coward. It took a moment, the howling from inside turning to whimper as she pushed it back down, glaring at Lottus and holding his gaze,

"Just because someone doesn't parade around calling for everyone's attention like a bonfire on the plains, that does not make them a coward..."

When he turned away and walked to the small creak there was a smirk on her lips, especially when he spoke of the knife...her fingers flexed, almost reaching for the spear but she let herself calm, taking a breath when Lottus rambled on about travelling to the edge of the galaxy...in what sounds like another excuse to call it anything but hiding away. When he looked back at her, the young fighter hadn't moved from her standing position by the stone table,

"Now? Well if I were after your head, I'd keep up appearances, wait until you were asleep after a good meal and cut it off at the neck. If that failed I'd call in the other hunters and we'd take you down like the Rex...If I were after your head."

She shook her head and pulled a flask from her belt, checking the seal before she popped the top off,

"No now, I need a drink."

She took a long swig and winced, the shine in the bottle tasted like pod fuel, or close to it. She resealed it and toss the flask towards Lottus,

"And despite our disagreement on things, it would be rude to not offer my host a gift for sharing his meal and stories with me."

Jagaimo wandered over to the small creak, where Lottus lay on his front and dropped down just out of reach, legs crossed under her, hair running down her back as she shook it out.

"So Lottus, tell me a story."

Jagaimo sat quietly and just watched the Saiyan laying opposite her for many silent minutes, senses washing over the area they were sat in, peering over the person that she saw with her eyes and she felt with her ability to sense Ki. While not as attuned as some others she'd met in her travels she knew what the the stench was she could detect coming from Lottus, it was one she tried to avoid bathing in to often, but that many, like her companion sought to drown themselves in. Her expression never changed from the the slight smile that she'd held for minutes now, masking the shudder she didn't want to externalise. The violent intent was almost infused with the mans very being, it bled off him and tried to seep into everything around it. What had happened to this man to create such violence in his life?

Lottus seemed content to tread his own path, and quite possibly due to what had happened in his past, was seemingly set in his ideas of how power should be handled. Jagaimo mused on this for a moment and wondered if all Saiyan's became like this as they grew older and the next generation came along to test them...would she end up like this some day? Each to their own, it wasn't a debate either could win as there was no true right answer for the use of power, only what a person believed should be done with it. They both agreed at least that power was important but differed on how it should be applied. So be it. It didn't make the conversation any less interesting, they just didn't need to keep repeating themselves if neither was going to change the others mind. At least the big lump could hold a conversation without feeling the need to punch at the same time like most of the Low Class back in the District.

When he tossed the flask back Jagaimo caught it in one hand without getting up, studying the flask in her hand then popping the cap and taking a long drink of her own. She wiped her mouth with the back of one hand and let a smile creep onto her lips,

"You know this is poison right?"

She raised an eyebrow, still smiling as she took another drink, sealed the top and tossed it back at the lazing Saiyan,

"Enough of this toxin will make a person spill their secrets, declare friendship with strangers and cause the slightest taunt to feel like the gravest insult."

The young woman barked a laugh and leaned back on her elbows, legs still crossed under her, watching the big Saiyan for a few moments more.

"All that Tuffle science is good for something at least...not quite as good as the stuff distilled back in Radittsu but it'll do in a pinch."

Jagaimo, rolled her neck, letting her hair fall about the place and then lifted her face up to look at the sky, letting out a long shrill whistle to the heavens. A minute passed...then another.

"Guess they all ran off, so an unhappy tale it will have to be instead. Your home wasn't always out in the wastes so tell me this Lottus Waste-Stalker...Tell me of a time when Lottus was happy."

It was easy to forget, surrounded by the fires, a belly full of good meat and a drink on the lips that they were in the middle of the wastelands, miles from anywhere and she was sat with a potential lunatic and worse...quite likely a deserter. Theres seemed to be nothing he cared for...but at least he seemed to have a sense of humour. She smiled when he laughed about the poisoned canteen and she raised her hands apologetically as if to say 'sorry its more lethal'. She could see him visibly relax in on the ground as he sprawled out,

"If your about to spout some Saibashit about only being happy in the heat of battle and close to death like all good Saiyan's should be, I'm going to beat you over the head with that Rex's thigh bone till you tell me a proper story."

She let the smile slip from her face and set her eyes on the laughing man on the ground, mirth in her eyes despite what the set of her jaw might be showing. She'd heard enough of that crap for a hundred lifetimes growing up in the military academies where that way of thinking was practically beaten into them from a young age.

"And its never a lie if its your truth. I refuse to believe that nothing in your past ever made you happy even for a moment."

But she fell into silence again as he spoke, not interrupting or judging, just a nod or a smile here and there where she deemed it necessary to show she was still listening. The smile on his face looked much older as his words flowed, like it was difficult dredging up a past he'd left behind. 

"And yet you still stand when no doubt most of those who beat you are long gone. You have something they couldn't extinguish even with all the horror inflicted on you. You are still here and they are dust on the wind...I'm sorry about Rapini, she sounds incredible if she was able to tame your heart for even just a moment of peace. I would have liked to have met her."

Jagaimo shifted on the ground, stretching her legs out, flexing her toes in her boots before sliding her hands behind ehr head to lean against the rock behind her, always studying, until she wasn't and her eyes closed. She liked to listen. So many thousands of hours spent travelling along in a pod to scout for the kingdom in silence...she liked the noise and the sounds that other people made...it was comforting to know others were still alive around her. She could always retreat into the silence if she needed to.

"And yet you laugh and hunt and feast and you seem happy now in this moment."

She watched him close his eyes with that grin etched on his face, still talking, still aware,

"I for one would regret having to take a life such as yours. A Saiyan...a warrior...such as you should be destined for great things not left to rot alone in the wastes. You should find your place in the stars Lottus and claim your own happiness."