Deadly Dealings (Open)

Dosu had always been distrustful of others, but he always ended up relying on them for his shortcomings. Given the past few encounters on Earth, he needed to lay low. He considered going back home, to Hera, to his clan and family, but lacked the means to do so. That’s why he scouted several areas around Earth, trying to find someone who could take him with them. He didn’t have much to offer, so instead he offered his services. Most simply laughed at him, calling him a weakling and even pushing it around. Since he was in no position to talk back, he went along with it, annoyed, but still determined. A band of smugglers eventually accepted him onboard. They mocked the poor Dosu, calling him names and whatnot but as long as they were going to take him to his destination, he wouldn’t mind.

Now, what he did not expect was to be left alone on a remote planet. As they landed for a quick break, they tasked Dosu with fetching some fresh water in the nearest river. Obliging his benefactors, he accepted, only for them to close the hatch and fly back up, leaving him stranded. It was a bother for sure, but maybe staying here for a while wouldn’t be so bad? Eventually, he met a population of strange aliens whom he got along with, sharing hunting experiences and stories. He stayed with them, partaking in the hunt and the ways of the village. All went well. Until that other guy appeared.

As he was eating fresh fruits around the fire, a tall green man arrived and seemingly out of nowhere, he started obliterating everyone, feasting upon their flesh. The Heran watched in silence as he kept munching on his pear-looking fruit. A bit too acid to his taste, but it did the job. Whatever Gandigan’s deal was, he stayed out of it, munching silently as he fixated the Namekian.

“Is it good?” He asked, munching away, juice dripping down his chin.

He had never met a carnivorous alien like this one before. It was strange, especially given how he said he was sorry beforehand. Maybe he was desperate?

“My fruit is a bit acidic, but it’s pretty good.” he added. He was not very interested in eating his late hunting partners, though. Especially not raw like that. "I'm trying to go to planet Hera, can you help me?"

What a strange one Gandigan was. Dosu wouldn’t have painted him as the reasonable type after seeing him lay an entire village to waste and gorging on their flesh…which didn’t appear to suit his stomach very well. Seeing no animosity outright, his curiousness got the better of him and he indulged himself in a conversation. He had to do it? Maybe his species could solely replenish themselves on eating those specific aliens. Whatever the case was, he had no reason to make a fuss about it. Different strokes for different folks and all that.

“But why do you eat something that’s hurting you? It doesn’t seem too wise.”

As far as he was concerned, Dosu knew that eating bad food would have the opposite effect on him. He’d have stomachaches, fever, and cold sweats. In fact, he would effectively lose more energy fighting off the intoxication than what nourishment he could have had.

Still chewing on his seemingly infinite fruit, Dosu added:

“Oh no. Hera is my homeworld. Which is not here. I’ve been looking to go back home, but I don’t really know where it is either.”

The mention of another planet sparked interest in the Heran’s eye. He had never heard of it, but seeing as this planet had very little to offer in terms of knowledge of the universe, he would probably be better off looking elsewhere.

“Then, can you point towards Konats? I can always ask there. I don’t know how to operate a space-traveling machine, unfortunately…and seeing as I was abandoned here by the people offering me passage, I don’t even have the means to travel.”

He watched as the Namekian fell to the ground, his stomach in pain from what he had just eaten.

“What’s wrong? I don’t know what they are made of. Flesh and bones? What I know is that the only thing they ate was a strange mixture, gooey and bubbling. I tried some at first, but it made me sick due to how acidic it was.”

Maybe this particular race of alien could do well with very acidic environments. Dosu couldn’t, even the fruits here could barely pass as acceptable sustenance. For sure some of that acid coursed through their veins and Gandigan had just feasted on a bunch of them, bloodlusted and hungry.

“You should purge yourself of that nasty stuff you just ate. It’s probably not good for you.”

He advised, but he did not make a move. He was not too concerned about the fate of such a person. What’s more, he could very well be the next to sate his hunger!

Occultism was commonplace among his tribe, so his words weren’t falling on deaf ears, for once. Not that he ever paid much attention to it, but it usually revolved around removing curses, summoning rain and warding off invaders. Nothing but petty, trivial stuff. Gandigan being cursed with a strong taste for flesh instead of his species’ relatively basic needs was par for the course when it came to curses. A shame, truly. Sucks to suck, he guessed.

Konats being off-limits? Another strange curse thing happening? Was that he reason he left the planet? He looked strong, surely capable enough given how he disposed of the guys around.

“I’m not worried. If they are that strong, I can just avoid them. I only need to find in which direction to go from there to Hera and I’ll be on my way…West, you say? I can work with that.”

He was sad to admit it, but he had been played a fool. Too eager to trust the first person offering him a passage -not that he had much choice in the matter, anyway- and now they were all probably laughing at him for how gullible he was. Which reminded him, if he ever found them on Konats, he would for sure give them a piece of his mind.

“I’m all alone here. Without means to travel, really. I hope I can find someone who can offer me a ride. Wait, why are you asking? Could it be you’re about to ask me to go with you? Now, that would be kind…and suspicious. Well, not like I have a choice! If you’re offering, I’m accepting!”

It didn’t even have to be Konats, too. As long as he could be on a planet with a tad more civilization, he could make do with that.

The uneasiness grew rampant between the aggressor and the witness. Dosu tried charting his route in his mind, going westward towards Konats. At least it was that bit figured out. He would need to find a proper means of transportation. First, maybe Gandigan would propose him something. This would be the easiest solution. Assuming he didn’t, then he would have to resort to finding a shipwrecked vessel on the planet. Easier said than done. Now, if that failed, he would have little choice but to wait for someone to drop by. He could survive around here at least, having access to food and drinkable water. His only problem now would be fighting boredom.

Lost in thought, he didn’t quite heed the warning Gandigan offered him, only catching him as he jumped on Dosu, teeth out and looking for blood. He couldn’t quite move, but he managed to tighten his muscles just before the Namekian sunk his sharp teeth in, minimizing the depth they would go in. It did draw blood and maybe he could get away with a little bite, but not much more.

No matter how sorry he felt, how much of a necessity it was for him, now it didn’t matter to the Heran. He would have let it slide had he only tried to eat the natives of this planet, because he didn’t directly affect him.

“Now that wasn’t very smart…”

With his other arm, he formed a claw and tried using the situation to his advantage by grabbing his throat, firmly crushing it and ripping it out, should the Namekian not move out of the way.

His hand ripped through the throat like butter, until it didn’t anymore. Somehow, both had taken each other by surprise, one too easygoing to see the evil lurking in the Namekian, the other too obsessed with taking blood to see the attack coming from the Heran. As it stood, the namekian had one less throat and feeling his enemy bound to die from that wound, Dosu lowered his guard. It wasn’t his style to injure simply to hurt someone else. Normally, he would have finished him off on the spot, but with a collapsed throat and asphyxiation looming, he figured it would be quick enough for him not too suffer too much.

Blood dripped from his shoulders, Gandigan’s fangs have gone pretty far in, but it wouldn’t be life-threatening. Only muscle damage would heal by itself. He remained sitting on his rock, his eyes watching his opponent until he… magically recovered? As good as new, almost as if nothing happened. That wasn’t the first he ever witnessed it, but it was the second time in less than a week that he had seen someone recover from certain death. That had never happened before. Just what were the people around here made of? Now, he reconsidered his position as assailant?

“...”

He didn’t reply right away, still pissed about that. He had misjudged the Namekian, and lowered his guard for nothing. His time away from home apparently softened him a little, which was a clear no-go.

“Shame on you. Now I’m pissed. Are all people like you? If you’re looking for a fight, I’ll give you one!...But I’m not one to beat someone for no reason. I mortally wounded you and you managed to recover from it. I guess you're lucky or something”

He paused for a moment, rubbing his shoulder.

“How did you even get cursed in the first place? And what are you trying to do about it?”

It was one thing to receive a curse, but another to just go around biting people and not trying to rid themself of it.

Dosu was a bit confused. Such nuanced situations rarely occurred to him in his native jungle. It was always straightforward and amounted to kill or be killed. This present situation he could’ve treated as such, were it not for the Namekian being reluctant to push his luck further. It didn’t matter much to the Heran to get revenge for revenge’s sake, which inevitably led to the weird status quo he was presently in. He listened to Gandigan, however, the Heran had lost his laid back attitude and was staring intensely at his interlocutor. He was ready for anything, even unseen threats that could be looming around.

“Why don’t you overcome it? Instead of fearing it, you should control it and use it for your own sake.”

Easier said than done. The sole reason he mentioned it was because it reminded him of a technique his clan secretly kept for themselves. A technique that involved mastering one’s true essence and unleashing it. It was a strange meditative-like state that required the user to know how strong they were and how strong they could be and bring it forth into reality. It was abstract, it was complicated and it didn’t matter because Dosu was far from able to pull off such a technique in the first place. Still, Gandigan’s situation reminded him of that.

“See, maybe there’s no such thing as a creature. Maybe that whatever they did to you changed a part of you that you’ve lost contact with as it transformed. It feels foreign and ominous, but if you took the time to understand it, you could reconnect with it and add it to your strength! Then you maybe wouldn’t go around biting people out of nowhere, hah!”

Speaking without knowing was one of Dosu’s forte. He didn’t pretend to have knowledge about it, but drawing similarities to things he knew could help shed some light on the situation.

“But that’s just me spouting nonsense about something my clan elders told me. Pay it no mind if you don’t think that’s a possibility.”

It was strange learning about all of these different races. The notion of people able to regenerate from fatal wounds sounded so far-fetched it was almost unbelievable. Since he had just witnessed it, he was forced to acknowledge it.

“I’ve never fought anything besides wild beasts and my own kind. Well, a few more races since I left home, but I’ve never heard about Namekians before. Oh, I’m not feeling generous or anything, I just don’t see the use in attacking you. I’m not in danger and it doesn’t threaten my lifestyle that you bit me. If we were back to my planet on my hunting grounds, then I would’ve probably killed you.”

As Gandigan explained his situation, he thought that his suggestion would probably not help him, in the end. These strange occult experimentations were too strange for the Heran to understand, so he did not look for a deeper meaning to all of this. The victim himself wasn’t aware of that part either.

“Why did they put a worm in you? Wait…if you can regenerate, can’t you just open your stomach then remove it? And heal afterwards. That’s what I would do.”

Maybe he was secretly a genius? Another question popped to his mind.

“If you find them and they don’t remove the curse, are you going to kill them all?”

There was genuine interest in his question. After just this short exchange, he wanted to see that for himself. This planet, these people. A child-like curiosity overtaking the Heran as he wondered about all that was explained to him. It really was fascinating, learning about experiences so far removed from his own. Such complexity that usually eluded him and his simpler lifestyle.

“I know! Why don’t you take me with you? I want to see your planet now. I want to know what’s going to happen to you. I’ll let you take some of my blood in exchange, how’s that?”

It was easy enough for the young adult to make such a scandalous proposal, if it meant he could satiate his curiosity. Going back to Hera could wait, especially when he knew that he would receive an earful from his grandma and a beating from his sibling to second he went back to the village.

It was fascinating learning about another race like that. His mind was focused on collecting and understanding every bit of information Gandigan gave him. He wouldn’t have thought he could feel pain like that. Sure it was a physical response, but the mind had a lot to play into it. For someone like Dosu who couldn’t normally feel pain, even thinking about it hurting could bring forth a sensation only by thinking of it. Now, thankfully, that wasn’t his case.

So the plan to remove the strange worm thing wouldn’t work either. At least, he didn’t feel like offering his help in the matter. He could very well fail or end up with the curse on himself. He’d rather stay away from these things as much as he could.

“So they tried to transform you…with a worm? That’s strange, but I believe you. So not all Namekians have these, huh…My clan also has a way of strengthening our bodies, though we don’t really transform. It’s more of a technique, a way to bring forth our utmost latent potential. But it takes a toll on the body and some just go crazy because they can’t handle it. I can’t even do it myself. Takes years of training!”

Usually, those who performed it had darker skin tone, eyes turned dark with bright yellow pupils and they became very vascularized, all due to the flow of blood increasing.

“Wait, why am I saying all that…” he had lost his train of thought for a moment there. “Never mind that. For now, you look a bit menacing, but it’s not so bad. You should kill them, even if they revert you back. If they wanted to transform you, it was probably to use you in some way, right?”

As far as Dosu was concerned, he simply couldn’t have that. It wouldn’t even be a matter of revenge, it would be to stay true to his ideals. It was nice of him to warn about the upcoming events and it did spark the Heran’s curiosity.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I can defend myself if I need to. Anyway, if I don’t feel like fighting I’ll just stay away, but I’d be curious to watch. What will you be fighting for? Is that why you need to get back to your planet? Maybe I’ll give you a hand if I feel like it. More importantly, are you ready?”

A free spirit, bound to no greater cause than his own vision of the world. For now, Gandigan seemed like a poor soul struck by unfavorable odds. Seeing him wanting to settle the score with those who disrupted his life was definitely something he could get behind. For Dosu, his own survival and needs were what mattered first and foremost, followed by his attachment to his clan. Seeing something or someone wanting to ruin any of it would make him want to get rid of it. Yeah, he could relate to Gandigan’s plight.

There was no deeper meaning behind it and the Heran would only help if he felt inclined to do so.