#bbfanficjam

They had to be quick, Damon knew this. He had made it a point to hang out with Kaia and his friends on the same day but having to mix the two in very closely was risky. Dangerously so. With armor stripped off to swimsuit material, Damon took a dive in, knowing Kaia might take some time due to her reluctance in the Xantrophn territory. “Come on, babe.” The prince would urge coming back up for air as he flipped his hair back out his face, wiping water from his eyes so they could gaze up at her. Standing there in her underwear and bra was a very squeamish Ischyros, rubbing her shoulders in discomfort. Even if they had known each other for several years now the little one couldn’t stand the idea of someone watching her semi-bare form. To Damon, it was quite alluring, beautiful brown curves with markings that swirled all the way down even to areas he couldn’t see. The thought drew lips back as he took notice of her feet shuffling. “Um, I don’t think this is such a good idea, I mean didn’t you say someone else is supposed to be here?” Her meek voice was barely heard over the waterfall, a chuckle came from Damon. “Don’t worry, they’re not coming until I give the okay.” Swimming his way to the shore, close to Kaia he held a hand out to her. “It’s not too cold.” Her gaze rose to his own, purple lips tugging into an uncertain smile as a small hand reaches out taking his. The princess was wary, always has been, even if they were alone without the threat of prying eyes.

“Gah,” the long-haired swordsman would scoff, an outcry overheard by his mate in the next room.

“What is the matter?” Rathteu pokes his head out from the kitchen, brow scrunched in curiosity. The straps of his kitchen apron dangle from the doorway.

“Ugh, ‘data storage almost full’. This is 19959! You would think they would accommodate these devices so people like me wouldn’t...” Rathrey trails off,  tapping at his HOLO’s screen fruitlessly before huffing and tossing it to the side of the couch.

Teu raises a brow. This isn’t the first time Rey has bickered about his cellular device, ‘broken this’ and ‘maddening that’.

“...You could use mine?” Teu offers, and the couch-bound one thins his lips, peeking over the cushions to look at his mate. That was a bargain.

“...You’re onto something,” Rey says, fingerguns twirling in thought in his direction before laying himself out on the sofa fully. “I will be quick, I swear it.”

Teu snorts. Bullshit.

Tramping through the oppressive humidity and heat of the jungle, Mortus could not help the whine that escaped him as uncomfortable rivers of sweat dripped down his back. His soaked hoodie hung limp around his waist and caught on every low, clawed branch he passed. Miserable, frustrated and lost, he mumbled curses under his ragged breath as he crunched a branch under hoof.

Thousands of flying, biting insects swarmed the Brute, struggling to pierce his thick skin for any sustenance to no avail. Mortus could barely see the bigger ones as they flew past in a scrambled blur, and other than a few waves of his hand to shoo them out of his face, he did not mind them much.

Pushing a low-to-him hanging branch aside, Mortus spotted a clearing where a river spread across a wide expanse of rocks into a shallow stream with tiny shrubs dotting across. “Finally…” he sighed in relief as he staggered towards the shimmering waters. In the deepest part he could find, the freezing water only covered his thick, but bare, hooves. Every smooth, rounded stone seemed to slice into skin from the glacial temperature of the water, but in comparison to the heat in the air, Mortus could only smile from the unpleasantly pleasant sensation.

As he lowered himself to lay down in the sparse heaven he had found on this hellish jungle planet, his eye caught sight of a familiar treat one of his former associates from Arum’s crew nestled among the leaves of the shrubs around him. Swinging his legs under him to sit in the cold stream instead, he leaned over to pluck one of the bushes from the ground to bring it close to his face to inspect. The sickeningly enticing sweet perfume of the maybe white flowers brought a wide, gold speckled grin to the young Brute’s face. “I didn’ know sugar roses were an elf thin’,” he chimed to himself in his good fortune as he started plucking more bushes. “Awh, maybe this place isn’t so bad.”

His bouquet of wild treats grew to a massive Thrall’s handful before he took a bite through the thorny shrub. The gross sour leaves and sharp branches overtook the joyful sweetness he expected, telling him that he needed to separate the flowers from the bushes before enjoying. With a hum, he looked around for a spot to set down his bounty. With his unoccupied hand, he untied his hoodie and laid it out over some dry-topped rocks before setting to work. Piling up the shrubs on the stones beside him, he picked one up by the dirty roots and started pinching off the light flowers with the edges of his nails and tossing them onto the soaking black fabric. Each one took a precise tweeze to not get crushed between his thick fingers, and even with his thoughtful concentration, he still ended up with a sticky film of crushed petals on his tips. But, his determination won out as his hood soon had a tiny pile of natural, sugary rewards on display.

The entirety of the result was barely a single bite’s worth for Mortus, but he still could not help the wide grin planted across his cracked face or the wiggling of his hooves as he dragged the whole hood closer to him. On each flower, hundreds of delicate white petals spiraled around the necar-laden center; the whole sweet scented plant covered in a fine sheen of sugar crystals. Mortus remembered that Arum would eat each petal, one-by-one, until the single flower had been picked clean before licking up the syrupy center. Thin, Aelfrin hands could only hold the whole flower in both palms; they prefered to rest it on a plate. The massive Thrall, on the other hand, licked some of the tasty residue off of one of his fingers and pressed it to the top of the pile to pick one of the smaller pieces up and brought it to his mouth.

Kaia scouted the tree line, eyes focused on a red and yellow flowers that grew high in the sky, a low grumble left her as she headed toward the tree that held it. Once reaching the base of the plant, she looked down shaking her head. Bunching her thigh muscles she reached for the closest branch to hold her weight, swinging back and forth to then release her grip and grab another. Stopping to only climb on top of the extended arms, and jump to the next. Her hands stung from the rough bark underneath her palms and the tops of her arms burned with the fire of exercise. Sweat being to form on her head as the blazing Solas sun beat down on her. Signing, she sat down with the branch she was currently on, swing her legs over to secure them safely.

Reaching to her back, Kaia unclamped the pouch of water from her belt, breathing with pleasure once she had taken a drink of the cold refreshing drink. Tilting the sack up, she poured some in her hand before splashing the water on her face and hair, humming with delight. Scrambling up from the little break, the princess continued her little adventure, before quickly reaching the glorious plant. With ease, Kaia released her small dagger from its containment and cut the root of the flower, collecting a bundle of them to bring back for Sheva. Making a mental note to recall this place if they ever needed more, since the plant in her hands produced rarely in the seasons. Upon hearing voices, Kaia tilted her head, interested at the loud yelling and who it could be. Shoving the knife and flowers in her small pack on her back, the Ischyros hurriedly made her way down the large tree.

Falling on her feet from the last branches down, a small grunt left her as Kaia tried to regain her wasted breath. Huffing heavily, she followed the noise of the growling and hollering, the deep voice sounding familiar to her ears. “If I wanted your kind of help, I would’ve stuck my head in a wasp’s nest, thank you very much,” the man had replied sarcastically, causing a small giggle to leave Kaia, now she knew who it was. As the more she got closer the more the Ischyros could hear the bickering between the four older men.

“Gruten, you need to stay still, it’s only going to get worse the more you wiggle,” One of the older Xantrophn’s who had been excited with the three legged man, spoke in a calm voice. “Not you too, Oriantio!” The wood carved arm swing in the air above, shaking the ground with enough force to hear the thud. To Kaia’s surprise it hadn’t snapped from the impact, but then again Gruten wasn’t as powerful and strong as he was before his crumbling years. Coming into their line of sight, the Ischyros princess smiled warmly to them. All eyes were on Kaia, before the smallest of the four made his way over to her, granted he was still tall at a 6’5. Lifting her head, she gave a curt wave to him, “Greetings Ravakin! Is there something wrong with Gruten?” A pleased smile formed on his split lips, the nasty scar that ran across his cheeks squeezed his eye shut. “Ahhh princess,” he bow for a quick moment, “Gruten was playing dumb and handled the fire log for longer than he, himself, intended.” At the mention for the situation, Gruten growled viciously, coughing soon after failing seeming intimidating. “Fucking buggering hell, if it wasn’t for that damn rabbit I wouldn’t have been in this mess!” Raising a grey eyebrow, Kaia snorted lowly before speaking, “A rabbit was it? Gruten, I would have imagined you not to be so reckless.” To this, a bitter scoff passed through his mouth, “Hush your trap girly, don’t make me regret saving your life all those years ago.”

“Well, well, well, look what we have here: our favorite little street fighter.” Adelaide bristled at the comment, folding her arms and glaring at the wall. She sat on the opposite side of a metal table bolted to the floor. The officer took a seat across from her, folding his hands politely on the table.

“It isn’t nice to keep a lady waiting,” she snapped, finally turning to look at him. The green in her eyes was venomous and calculating, boring a hole through the back of his skull.

“No, it isn’t. But, well...” He didn’t need to finish the sentence before her brow furrowed in anger. For such a young girl, she had a look that could kill, and he couldn’t help a silent appreciation for the table between them. “We know what you and your brother are up to, Adelaide.” It took only a second for her expression to shift again, the curl of her smile was shrewd and condescending. 

“Do you now? And yet you’ve done nothing? That seems like poor police work, you should be ashamed.” She found joy in watching frustration flush his cheeks and flare his nostrils. Sometimes it was too easy to push buttons, but she never tired of it. 

“And you should learn to keep your mouth shut. Now, we also know that you’ve been manipulating your brother into doing your dirty work. So, clear it up for me again, which one of us should be ashamed?”

“Did he tell you that?”

“You’ve been using him as a scapegoat your entire life, he doesn’t need to tell us anything. I get it, your family needs money, you figure you can con your kid brother into helping you ‘fundraise’ a little.” It was his turn to smile, stroking his short beard absentmindedly. “But that doesn’t excuse the twelve hospitalizations of people claiming you assaulted them. You’ve broken ribs, noses, ruptured a kidney, that couldn’t have been easy--”

In a flash Adelaide was on her feet, leaning forward with her hands on the table. “I was protecting myself and my brother, it’s hardly my fault they picked the wrong person to mess with. They are criminals, I was doing what I had to do for my family. Not that it matters, you’ve found an easy answer, even it it’s the wrong one. Do what you will, I’m not afraid of you.” She clenched her teeth, holding back the sting of bile in her throat at the thought of being locked away. There was no stopping it now, so she would have to figure something out later. Straightening up, she put her wrists together and held them out to the officer, impatiently tapping her toe on the tiled floor.

“Calm down, Adelaide, I’m here to help you.”

“If I wanted your kind of help I’d have stuck my head in a wasp’s nest, thank you,” she snapped. He held up a hand to quiet her.

“Don’t thank me just yet. Lucky for you, punchy, someone’s taken an interest in you; an old pal of mine just happens to be a trainer for professional boxing. You’d have to change your last name to avoid any controversy and move, but it’ll keep you out of the system. This is your only chance, take it or leave it.” She looked confused, slowly lowering her arms and letting them flop at her sides. Even more slowly she lowered herself back into her seat.

“You mean I have to disown my family?”