Ask In The Marshes

[Ice]

She had her slugthrower resting over her shoulder, tilting her head as she looked through the scope. She despised using this over her bowcaster, but nothing was going to pierce that hide. Ever since Zola was killed by an enemy clan, her group was down a person that could make incendiary bolts for the bowcaster.

The Ghosts were struggling and getting picked off one by one by the rival hunter group called the Revenant. As much as she wanted to hold grudges and take down every last member of that wretched group, survival was priority. Hunting these monsters and bringing them back as trophies earned Ice precious rations and ammo. This one was worth at least a week of food for a trade-in from the nearest city center.

In a world that existed in a post apocalyptic setting, the locals that were poor and stuck outside of the city centers walls had little option to survive but hunt. On top of the mutated beasts, AMS ran rampant and hunters constantly had to be on the move to avoid attracting a horde.

The snap of a twig drew out a whispered expletive as her target moved out of sight. Instead of following the beast, she moved her scope towards the source of the snapped twig.

She had expected to be alone here.

@Die Shize

 

[Fire]

He had his stun baton resting over his shoulder, head tilted as he looked through his visor. A black metal mask covered his countenance all over, with its wide red eyes gazing every which way, head motionless. The hood of a red hoodie was pulled up, covering most of his hair, though a few bangs of red hair with black highlights peeked beneath its rim.

On this crapsack planet, Fire had been relatively safe and sound in the rainy streets of the city, with its tall walls, that circle so round, but for whatever reason, on a mission or having gotten lost and forgotten, he had gotten out.

Now he was in the upside down of the outside without his bike to outride the monsters of the marshes who wanted to turn him into cowhide with another downside that certain zombies would force him to join their circus for eternity and he didn’t necessarily want this but there he is.

-SNAP!-

“D’OH!”

The snap of a twig drew out a slightly if suspiciously audible expletive.

Oh no.

Hiding behind a skinny tree that wasn’t fooling anybody, Fire hoped nobody had heard that. Last thing he needed was to be seen instead of keeping hidden. Hopefully no sniper was in the vicinity. Or zombies for that matter.

@Sreeya (@Ice)

 

[Ice]

Everybody heard that.

In fact, if ‘Fire’ thought someone was going to come to his rescue, he was sorely mistaken. Ice spotted him right away, of course, pretending to be inconspicuous while he stood out like a giant, angry red fruit. She could make out the profile of a humanoid through her scope, but she wouldn’t draw closer. She allowed enough time for him to think he simply misheard someone else there. Enough time for him to wallow in his own anxiety and consider the abrupt silence of the bog around him. In these parts, you had to be as economical with noise as possible, ensuring that even the slightest utterance was worth the attention it yielded.

It just so happened that Fire’s best impression of a classic cartoon character drew the attention of a predatory beast out for a snack. This beast had been tracking the monster that escaped Ice’s scope just earlier, but it was lured by the scent of something different. As an outsider, Fire likely hadn’t thought to camouflage with the muck and grime of the marshes.

A low growl erupted as the predator slowly came into view, sniffing the air as it spotted the figure. The beast wasn’t used to humanoids being so obvious with their hiding and it was perhaps the only thing that stopped it from charging right away. However, that moment would pass and the thing opened his maw wide and launched itself at its prey, aiming to turn the fleshy little creature as red as the hoodie it wore.

Ice, for her part, was focused on this new predator, looking for the perfect shot. She knew she could take this thing back to the city center to trade. If someone willingly walked in to play bait, she wasn’t going to question her turn of luck.

@Die Shize

 

[Fire]

Fire’s mother once tried to explain to him the importance of economics. “Stop spending your allowance on topless Zeltron holonovels,” she said. “Stop spending your paychecks on topless Zeltrons,” she said. Alas, perhaps his financial difficulties were keenly involved with his lack of intelligence when it came to battles of cash and credits.

From that moment to this, economics to silence, he was indeed astutely aware of how utterly scary these marshes were. Earlier he had scared a bird (if one could call that creepy raggedy thing a bird) simply from his hiccup. The swamp was boggy, the bog was swampy, with only the occasional bubble from a puddle breaking the quiet amid a shitload of trouble.

Like that growl that somehow sounded worse than those Zeltron women when they cackled after stealing his money and leaving him naked.

What is it!? Fire looked left, looked right, spotted a tree, spotted some swampy watery shoe sticking out of the ground that probably meant somebody was buried upside down, spotted some kind of fish monkey blinking back at him on a nearby branch, spotted—

“WHAT THE KRIFFIN' SHIT”

It looked like something out of this one movie he saw, The Leopard Emperor, only a twisted and perverted version like those Zeltron strippers were.

Fire saw, Fire turned, Fire forgot about how his baton and the pistol at his hips were weapons, Fire ran as fast as lightning, Fire tripped on a stick that snapped louder than its twig cousin and landed a few inches away from a swamp pit.

“S-Stay back!” He had only a moment to whip the pistol from his hip, pull the trigger, and blink as nothing happened. Had he forgotten the power pack? Shit.

@Sreeya (@Ice)

 

[Ice]

Why couldn’t the bait just sit quietly and die? She had the perfect shot lined up when the man scampered away like a little rat. There was an explosion of noise, the predator giving chase. If it could be called a chase… the man managed to dramatically trip over nothing and faceplant in the swamp.

Pewwww!

A bolt pierced right through the monster’s head right as it prepared to clamp down on Fire’s leg. The beast fell over with an unceremonious thud, slumped halfway onto its would-be prey. A copious amount of drool leaked onto Fire as a parting gift, the light fading from its eyes as it died.

There was nothing but silence for a few seconds. And then he would see a figure slowly emerging from between two trees. The figure was adorned in a poncho covered with mud and leaves. If she wasn’t moving, he wouldn’t have been able to pick her out from her surroundings.

She grabbed the beast by the tail and yanked it backwards. Ice took a moment to study the man on the ground, tilting her head through the visor of her mask. She didn’t miss the pistol on him - a useful addition to her collection. The muzzle of her rifle slowly shifted to line with his forehead as she prepared to blow his brains out.

Noises in the distance suggested that all of the commotion here was attracting more beasts. With a growl, she crouched down and snatched the pistol off the man, stashing it on her person. She returned to what she was doing, dragging her prize back through the path she came and leaving the idiot to fend for himself.

@Die Shize

 

[Fire]

Pewwww!

Must have been the sound that beast made when its teeth clamped down around Fire’s leg. There was a sudden weight on his legs anyway right up to his waist so he could only assume that moment that he would need a hovercraft for the rest of his life like that one guy in Z-Women.

And a man opens his eyes!

Only he wished he hadn’t as, not only did he witness the half-hyena, half-dragon, half-porcupine hybrid with its eyes gazing right into his lifeless visor, but apparently there was a leak from its teeth. Kriffing. Disgusting.

Before he could barely heave and try to lift this thing despite his physique, Fire looked left, saw the same monkey fish hanging upside down from a nearby branch, looked right, saw something even more terrifying than the beast. It was a tree. Or was it a bush? Maybe. More importantly it was moving toward him for some reason.

What the kriff is this!? Oh no wait it’s a person PHEW. Must have been the same one who made the pew too.

His savior! Clearly as she lifted the thing off of him with her expertise.

“Thanks for that— NO WAIT PLZ DON’T SHOOT ME I’M A CELEBRITY”

Despite his fire, Fire knew he wasn’t fooling anybody as his arms raised back over his face. When nothing happened, he lowered his arms again, only to find no pistol on his person. This other person who surely knew what she was doing was moving.

Fire definitely didn’t want to be dead meat for more beasts so he rose, noting that his attire was a lot more brown than red now thanks to the quagmire like this chick in a ghillie suit.

Without further ado, he moved, grabbed the beast by its forepaws, ignored its head between his legs, and made to carry it at this end. His movements would surely get his companion’s attention.

“So eh…share the load? Heh.”

@Sreeya (@Ice)

 

[Ice]

Ice felt a shift in the beast and turned to spot the moron also carrying the beast. Lightning fast, her smaller pistol was in her hand and pointed at him. Was he trying to steal her kill?! Before she blew his brains out, she noticed an arm band on him with the distinct insignia of the city. This man came from Haven. What the hell was he doing outside the walls? What if he could be a ticket to inside the walls? Would she get rewarded for bringing him back? Was he actually a celebrity?

She lowered the pistol, giving a nod for him to continue helping. The two awkwardly walked through the forest until Ice gestured towards an old speeder. It was souped up with armored plates and packed with weapons. There was a trailer attached to it with a cage specifically made for the mutated beasts. With the man’s help, Ice shoved the beast inside and locked the cage. They were out of any immediate danger for now.

She studied him for a moment, silently tapping her own arm where his armband was. A lifetime of having to stay silent for the beasts meant she didn’t vocalize often. The question was clear through her gesture - what the hell was a city boy doing out here?

@Die Shize

 

[Fire]

Spoiler: Music playing quietly inside Fire's helmet

Truthfully Fire wouldn’t term his walk as awkward, at least not in comparison to this one time he had an awkward gait upon riding an Arthur horse for the first time and for two hours straight.

Granted, he was also a drunken idiot in the desert who had lost his credits to thoughtless Zeltron strippers who left him for naked with only a horse for a starship so maybe that still didn’t make any sense but heck with it.

One thing Fire didn’t notice as he carried this beast this moment was the blaster that this person in a Hockey Mask liked to point at him for some reason. He was impressed the first time. But the second time? This wannabe Huttball celebrity wasn’t foolin’ ANYONE.

“You got a lotta nerve—” Fire worked up the nerve to tell this blaster person as he began. “—Errrrr you ugly mutated hyena thing, you!” He expertly diverted his attention to the dead thing being carried between them. “I’ll find your brothers and sisters and promptly serve thee—”

Fire’s voice faded away as he studied the speeder’s cage made specifically for prisoners like him. Had the person planned this all along? So was he the bait or the prey in this game of thrones? He promptly dropped the beast, prepared to run away, but watched as his savior struggled to lift the beast inside the cage.

And gestured toward armband.

As an actor, Fire had learned to understand more than Chevinese or Herglicic, so definitely understood this hunter’s sign language.

“Oh? This?” He lifted his arm as one lifts a wristwatch. “I got this in a tournament. Pazaak, to be specific.” He scratched his arm as one scratches thoughts. "Shit. Sabacc? Somethin'."

Person didn’t seemed to be understanding so he spoke slowly. “Frooom. Tooour-naaaaa-meeeeent. Reeeeee-waaaaaaaaaard.” And made sure to air-paint the words just in case his enunciation wasn’t doing him any favors.

@Sreeya (@Ice)

 

[Ice]

Man this guy talked too much. Before he could keep going, she calmly switched her blaster from lethal to stun. She pointed the blaster at him one last time and fired.

Hours later, the man would awaken to find himself tied to a tree in an obscure location. He was in no immediate danger outside of feeling groggy from a stun bolt at point-blank range. Out here he could be loud without alerting any of the beasts so she wasn’t concerned.

Eventually, she emerged and walked towards him, crouching before him, “You said you’re a celebrity,” She spoke at last, though her voice was modulated, “Are people looking for you?” She asked.

@Die Shize

 

[Fire]

Hours later, the man woke to find himself tied to a tree in an obscure location. He felt like he was in immediate danger given he felt groggy from having gotten shot and was tied to a tree which did absolutely nothing for his self-esteem.

Out here…no one can hear you…scream.

She wouldn’t hear his thoughts, either, as Fire began to imagine her imagining his insides hanging out of his ears, flaying him alive and leaving him naked for a feast of ravens in a song of earth and water or whatever.

“Are people looking for me? Like paparazzi?”

Was he that famous, in the end? It wasn’t a question he was often asked to be honest as he thought it about it for a moment.

“Let me answer your question with another question. Are you gonna eat me?”

Fire looked between the trees. "Or is this your swamp tribe's way of courting men? Look, I get it, but you're better off with Com Truise or Farrison Hord or Rurt Beynolds. I'm no Gollywood Johnny if you catch my wind, kid," Fire lamented.

"Just hope those stupid swoopers don't come through looking for me with more than a beating for what I did. But, rest assured, as an actor of the galaxy..." He stared off into the distance. "I'd definitely do my own stunts and then some."

@Sreeya (@Ice)