Katheeri

[Zaphyr Stone]

"Because he's going to stop at nothing to get me back. It's his sworn duty to protect me, and it's his biological programming as well. By taking me with you, you've endangered your system." She looked over at Bohdan fearfully, "Please, you have to take me back. Before Sitka can do any more harm than he already has. I'm the only one who can stop him."

[Sylono]

Sandor's comment earned a confused frown from the cerinian, though she didn't aim it at him; if she started giving the young man a reaction to his non-sequiturs now, he might start doing them to spite her. Without taking her eyes off the interrogation, Shepherd turned her head slighty to give the tykeriel a nod of acknowledgement while mumbling a greeting.

While she may have missed where Sandor's attention was, she did unconsciously shift away from the doorway a bit.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan looked up to see a shirtless Sandor parading into the infirmary. He looked around briefly and found Pawel's jacket, dirty and a slight spatter of blood on the collar. He threw it to Sandor, who caught it barely. He examined it, and put it on, although it was obviously too large for his build.

"This is too big!" whined Sandor.

"That is exceedingly unfortunate," replied Bohdan sarcastically. He then returned his attention to Aura. "Hm, we cannot go back for any reason, though. The authorities know who we are, and would detain us immediately."

[Zaphyr Stone]

Aura could only glare in frustration. She sighed finally, not seeing what else could be done. "Well you have me now. You might as well get on with whatever you have planned for me."

"No one's going to hurt you." Zefran reassured her, "But we have questions."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Yes," started Bohdan, "questions. My first question: do you know where Aiolius is?"

Sandor approached the bed, and went around to Bohdan's side. He stood by his hulking superior, his beady eyes piercing Aura's soul.

"So... another Katheeri," observed Sandor.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"I can hear you." Aura watched Sandor warily, "I'm afraid I don't." She answered.

"So you're like me then?" Zefran asked curiously, "But where did you come from then?"

"Oh, you misunderstand." Aura looked over at Zefran, "Sitka and I did come to you from Aiolius. That portal brought us to your planet. However now that it's been destroyed, we have no way of finding our way back. We're not familiar with this area of space." She turned back to Bohdan, "Even if I wanted to take you there, Ruthenian, I couldn't."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan's right eye twitched ever so slightly as he heard the truth from Aura. Sandor noticed this, and pointed it out.

"Your right eye twitched," said Sandor.

"It did not," rebuffed Bohdan, still glaring at Aura.

"Yes, it did," pressed Sandor. He pointed at Bohdan's eye, who then turned his gaze to Sandor. "Right there."

Bohdan then reached to a nearby counter and grabbed a pair of scissors. He gave them to Sandor. "Run down the corridor with these in your hands," ordered Bohdan. Sandor grinned mischievously and dashed out of the infirmary. Bohdan sighed as he stepped back from Aura's bedside. He sat down in the chair beside the bed, placed his hands on his head, and leaned back. Seething in anger, he growled with a dragon-like guttural noise.

"My second question," continued Bohdan, although this time with a hint of rage, "why was Zefran abandoned?"

[Sylono]

Somehow, Sandor approaching a person in such a seemingly helpless state didn't sit right with Shepherd. Pushing off the wall, she followed after the bird-canine and came to a stop at the nearby bed from Aura's and took a seat, keeping Sandor and any... shenanigans he might start, in sight.

The vixen chuckled dryly, of course Aura wouldn't be able to tell them that.

"I suppose it'd be too easy were it any other way." Even though the young Katheeri woman could be lying, Shepherd did have to admit to herself, if she were to keep a kingdom among the stars hidden she wouldn't tell the lackeys where it was incase something, like with Aura's case, happened.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"He wasn't abandoned!" Aura growled in offense at his accusation. She looked over at Zefran, who appeared somewhat worried by this prospect, "You weren't abandoned. I'm not sure what happened. No one was. Your disappearance brought our world out of concealment. We were so isolated from the rest of the galaxy that we weren't even aware of it until recently when ships started coming our way. If it hadn't been for your signal, we wouldn't have even known where to look for you."

"Signal?" Zefran looked confused only for a moment before he recalled something he related to his group on Macbeth, "I called for help! That's right! But...that was years ago. Are you telling me you only just now got it? And how did I send it?"

"It was very weak when it came to us." She explained, "It must have taken all that time to finally reach us. As for how you sent it, you must have been carrying some kind of transceiver." She eyed him curiously, "You really don't remember anything, do you? What you are, who you are. How lonely those years must have been for you."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Hmm, 'we do not know'," mocked Bohdan, annoyed. "The phrase 'I do not know' must be popular in Aiolius, then, what with the-" suddenly, however, he remembered something, and stopped himself mid-sentence. Bohdan sat up in revelation.

"Wait..." Bohdan then stood up, wide-eyed. "Zefran's collar!" yelled Bohdan, running out of the room. Korben dropped the tablet he had picked up to use to continue analyzing Pawel as he wandered away from the Med-pod due to Bohdan's sudden yelling. Korben cussed quietly, picking it up. As Bohdan exited the infirmary, however, Sandor ran into him, the scissors unexpectedly impaling his side. Bohdan cried out in pain. Sandor stumbled back onto the floor.

"Hey, you told me to run around!" said Sandor.

"I know!" answered Bohdan. Sandor then got back up and pulled the scissors out of Bohdan. Blood flowed freely from the wound.

"Agh!" yelled Bohdan, grasping his side. "Why did you do that?!"

"Well..." said Sandor, rubbing the back of his neck, "I thought to myself, WWKD? What Would Korben Do?"

Bohdan grumbled as he pushed Sandor aside and, still bleeding, ran to the elevator excitedly. He punched the console to take him to the docking bay, which it did. Bohdan stumbled out of the elevator and into the docking bay, where Antoine worked on his motorcycle. He approached Antoine, still bleeding.

"Antoine," began Bohdan, "do not pay attention to my wound. Do you have the collar? The strange one?"

[Tiger Carson]

Jeena and Copper had long since gone back to the Sanctuary Tiger, as well as the rest of the team.  Tiger's Arwing was still parked there at the hospital, as Laika would notice as she headed into the hospital if she looked in that direction.  Tiger was now sitting in a bench in the waiting room area, watching Sitka.  He was taking the first watch, and would switch places after some hours with another of his team so he could get some sleep.  He wouldn't notice when Laika would approach him though.

[Sylono]

Since Bohdan seemed keen in retrieving the collar personally instead of having it brought to him, Shepherd decided to take the opportunity throw in a question of her own.

"It doesn't sound as though your fellows would willingly leave you stranded, Aura." Shepherd remarked, even if her only evidence for that was the girl's word, the vixen would at least played along with that idea.

"Were there any procedures that you were drilled, in case something like this occurred?" She inquired, before counting a few likely concepts that she could think of. 

"Perhaps a fall back location, or maybe a spare portal, what about some sort of Fulton recovery...?" The cerinian paused upon realizing that she was about to traverse into the realms of fiction. She averted her gaze and coughed in slight embarrassment, before continuing.

"Well, um... Anything of the sort?" Not that Shepherd expected a backup plan, best to least check now so Aura didn't bring it up as an afterthought later when the team searched every inch of Lylat for clues. That was assuming the Katheeri wouldn't lie now, of course.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Sylono
The post felt rushed and kinda falling apart at the seems.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"There are backups, but they would take too long to reach me." Aura explained, "The device is portable and meant to wait in orbit for my command to deploy, but it's disposable. It's meant to destruct upon completion of its task. That's why it was so easy to destroy. I wasn't expecting a violent counterattack, perhaps naively so now that I'm thinking about it. I'm afraid because of my poor judgement, I've trapped Sitka and myself here."

"You said you came for me." Zefran said finally after watching the exchange, "That my disappearance...brought Aiolius out of hiding."

She nodded. "Our home was sealed away a long time ago in a separate dimension out of reach from all others in the galaxy, but the seal is connected to the life force of the Katheeri. Somehow, you made it past that barrier and into the galaxy again, and by doing so, broke the seal and returned Aiolius to its original location. It was hoped that bringing you back would restore the seal and return us to hiding."

-----

Whatever Bohdan said was lost on Antoine the minute he saw the dragon's bleeding wound. "Jesus, man! All you all right!?" He hurried over to Bohdan, looking at the wound, "You should be in the infirmary. Come on, I'll help you there."

----

Laika took a moment to recall where they had been prior and eventually found Tiger slumped against the bench backing. Being proud by nature, it was hard to admit she had been wrong, especially by this large a margin. She knew she had to say it, though.

"Hey," she announced herself to him quietly, "How's your lip?"

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Korben turned his head, now no longer carefully observing Pawel, even as he started to wake up, the sedative seemingly not concentrated enough to last long on the large Sclav. His eyes were slowly opening up to the teal-tinted and lit interior of the Med-pod, its machinations humming as it continually scanned and healed him not only of his wounds, but the effects of his drug abuse. Pawel finally fully awoke, and breathed deeply. He looked around for some sort of button to release him from the pod. He had never been in a Med-pod before, so this was most certainly a new experience for him. Finally, he saw a red square button, which he readily pressed. The Med-pod opened, with a startled Korben stepping back.

"You're awake," said Korben, befuddled that the sedative did not work.

"You're a genius," replied Pawel sarcastically. He then saw a lady Katheeri awake and talking on a bed. He approached her. "Excuse my indecency, but I can't seem to find my shirt or jacket," said Pawel as he came into view of Aura.

~

"Oh, you want to bring me to the infirmary?" Bohdan asked. "If so, I want you to bring that collar we got from your friend back on Macbeth with us. You see, the woman Katheeri, Aura is her name, mentioned some sort of transmitter Zefran had on him when he was first brought into the system. I think that the transmitter is the collar, and that we can triangulate the coordinates the device is transmitting to. However, we need solid confirmation from her first." He looked at his hand to find it drenched in blood, and looked down to his red wound still leaking.

"Ah, I will accept your generous offer to bring me to the infirmary..."

[Zaphyr Stone]

"Why do want to go back into hiding?" Zefran asked curiously.

She laughed. "I think that should be abundantly clear to you by now, Zefran. Look at what happened only a short while ago. Think about why you disguise yourself. Lylat is not ready for the Katheeri. We're a threat to so many worlds simply because of legends and folklore. The Katheeri have been sheltered for so many years that we can't fathom how the rest of the galaxy operates now. Our two worlds will collide, and we will only have destruction in our wake."

----

"The collar? Well good luck with that. It's busted." He hurried over and swiped it off the work bench, "But here, have at it, I guess. Let's get you to the infirmary now." He helped him back to the elevator, looking pensive. "I need you to do me a favor, Bohdan." He looked up at him with a solemn brow, "Don't tell Zefran about what happened in that bar. Don't tell him who I really got this collar from."

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

"Hmmm...." uttered Pawel, resting his forearms on Aura's bed, leaning on them. He examined Aura from head to toe, nodding at some points. He then gazed into her purple, glowing eyes, tilting his head slightly in curiosity.

~

Bohdan held the broken collar in one hand and his wound in the other, the blood seeping through the cracks in between his scaly red fingers, which hid his blood surprisingly well: until, of course, it fell down onto his clothing. His attention was then caught by Antoine's plea for secrecy.

"Of course," said Bohdan, nodding. "Secrets keep bonds forged between people together. Without them, life would fall apart." He breathed more shallowly to use less oxygen, thus requiring less blood coursing through his veins.

[Sylono]

She either jinxed reality or once again her quiet cynicism rang true with another disappointing victory. It was a shame, but she'd bet on the later being the case. She wanted to question Aura further, but when she opened her mouth to voice the inquiry, the sound of the med-pod opening caught her attention instead. The vixen stood up the moment Pawel stepped out, yet she made no move to try usher the dragon back into the pod.

In response to the dragon's observation of his shirtless state, she thumbed in the direction of the infirmary doorway. "It's out there somewhere, being worn by a lunatic who's been given free reign to parade around with a pair of scissors."

She tilted her head and crossed her arms as Aura explained the reasoning behind the want for seclusion.

"Would it really be such a good idea to hide and wait until the rest of us are... 'ready'?" She spoke up after a moment of thinking, in her mind the Katheeri were making a mistake. "I'd say it might be best to announce your presence now while you still have the deterrence of myth on your side."

[Renardfrost]

" Don't Worry... I.... Er. We Won't let that happen." Renard stated, his tail swishing as he looked down at aura.

" Believe it or not your people already have a recent history with my clan." he said, rubbing the back of his head

[Zaphyr Stone]

Aura shook her head at Shepherd. "I'd rather not have my kind be known as a force to be reckoned with. We're a peaceful people."

"Well, you kind of are already." Zefran shrugged, "Not to use your own argument against you, but you saw how people reacted on Macbeth. They're going to be afraid no matter what. If you hide again, they'll just come looking for you."

Aura sighed, not wanting to believe he was right. She looked up at Renard as he came into view, eyeing him curiously.

"Your face is familiar to me." She hummed in thought, "That incantation too. Who are you?"

----

"It's a favor, Bohdan. We're not slitting our palms by candlelight and pressing them together." Antoine frowned perturbed. He smacked the button to the floor the infirmary was on, "Don't be weird. But thank you."

[Renardfrost]

Renard blinked a little bit.

" My name is Renard. I'm from Idania's Frost clan." he said, a little unused to introducing himself. But his with fathers involvement with them did recently strike him  as the reason why she would ask.

" I've reason to believe my father and Elder siblings are working to keep those with ill intent from setting foot on your world. I'm trying to find him. I've been looking for my father."

Then again why wouldn't the Katheeri be aware of the existence of Axia, A world hidden in a similar manner to their own, the last refuge for Mages and Adventurers, not to mention those who guard legend and secrets that the worlds at large aren't meant to know.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan chuckled, wincing slightly as he held his side. He analyzed the strange collar. The mysterious metallic implants embedded into the worn, brown leather. It jingled in his hands. He raised it up to his eye level.

"I wonder if Aura can fix it," wondered Bohdan aloud. "But I am unsure if she would even need to. The voices that your friend claimed bothered him for years... They could have simply been transmissions from this little collar. Like intercepted messages."

The elevator came to a stop on the deck where the infirmary was. Bohdan stumbled out ahead of Antoine.

~

So that's why Magic Man's here, Pawel thought to himself, looking behind him to see Renard speaking. He returned his attention to Aura, her strange armor and clothing unlike anything even he has ever seen.

[Zaphyr Stone]

"Someone like you came to our world and told us we were back in our original system, a man who called himself Aesop." Aura explained, "He was unable to bring us back, but he agreed to protect us while we searched for a way to go back. The name Frost rings a bell. If he's indeed your father, then I can tell you he is still there now watching over my people."

Zefran was about to speak when the infirmary opened up, and Bohdan returned with Antoine in tow.

"Antoine?"

"Well! Good morning!" Antoine gave a mock salute to Aura before turning to Bohdan, "You, medical attention. Now."

"Antoine, we're kind of in the middle of something." Zefran frowned.

"I know, and I have something to contribute." he snatched the collar from Bohdan, "While you were out being whisked away, I found this thanks to a contact." he showed off the device, "Any ideas, girlie?"

"It's broken." Aura said simply.

"I'm aware." he deadpanned, "What else ya got?"

She sighed. "Well, it's Katheeri tech, but it's very old. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say it's some kind of homing beacon. Like when you tag a wild animal."

[Sylono]

//Treat this post like it happened after the one bellow//

Humming in response, Shepherd had to admit that while she found the young Katheeri woman's reasoning quite disadvantageous, it was a little endearing... in that naive 'Kumbaya' kind of way. She found herself appreciating Zefran's take on the matter, ideals were nice and cushy but reality would eventually catch up with their people, if they weren't prepared by then it would be costly.

Sandor's lack-... no, Renard, on the other hand left her feeling a little humbled after his display she witnessed from afar. She two-and-two together on the return trip home when she'd realized the male fox was hanging on to the car with a shard of ice, the memory alone made the clone grit her teeth.

When the others were distracted with the collar (somthing she herself would want to examine at somepoint), Shepherd tried for the magician's attention.

"Your family's taken quite a noble endeavor, Renard." She observed, faintly wondering as to why the young man would be hunting his father down, though she resisted asking the question. If it was quite a personal matter and he did indeed indulge the vixen, the others might start to expect the same of her.

Shepherd couldn't have that.

"Even from a distance, I must say, your handy work is quite impressive." She admitted, even if the idea of someone who out classed her in terms of ability did somewhat bug the cerinian. "While not exactly my choice, I'd like to say I'm sorry for not being there to provide support."

 

Edited June 2, 2016 by Sylono
Ya'll look at the top of this post ya' hear?

[Renardfrost]

Renard nodded and gave a polite bow to the katherri. " Thank you. I've been needing a confirmation on that for quite some time."


He sighed and rubbed his eyes a bit. " First he just wanted to take on his father and learn a bit more about why he vanished all those years ago. But now."

" To be honest.. I'm not even sure what to do when I catch up to him."  It was under his breath, but it slipped out all the same.

[Arminius H O Fiddywinks]

Bohdan's hand was caught in the collar, and slightly followed Antoine's snatching of it. But it simply fell limp by Bohdan's side, who was attended to by Korben. The former raised his arms up for the latter to place a bandage on Bohdan's wound. Korben wrapped gauze around his massive torso to secure the bandage. Bohdan grimaced in pain.

"You good?" Korben asked, finishing his tending. Bohdan nodded, and patted Korben on the shoulder. He returned to scanning Aura, the first task he did even before Pawel entered the room.

 

Sandor entered the room, and Pawel noticed this. He stood up as he spotted the tykeriel wearing his jacket.

"Hey, boy," said Pawel, agitated. "Gimme my jacket."

"What, this raggedy old thing?" asked Sandor rhetorically, looking at the jacket. Pawel approached him and asked Sandor for the jacket.

"Come on, boy. Give it to me." Sandor raised his chin, but took off the jacket.

"Fine," said Sandor, handing the jacket to Pawel. Pawel put it on. "It was too big for me, anyway."

"I noticed," said Pawel. He returned to Aura's bedside.

 

"Homing beacon," said Bohdan. "Does it send signals to somewhere, so we can track where those signals are going to?"