Chapter 96: Washing My Hair
"I was fed and got furs," I grumbled my reply. I might like to pretend that I was a complicated woman, but when it came down to it, I was really, ridiculously simple. Food and furs were apparently the way to make me happy, even on a planet where death was literally waiting for you around every corner.
"I can only assume that you are bringing all of the furs with you?" asked Jun Li, and I could hear a sneer in his voice. "They will have to be treated to make sure that there is nothing undesirable living inside of them."
"Try it, and I will make sure that Sha Shou doesn’t give you a moment’s peace. You will not touch my furs, understood?" I threatened. These furs were beautiful and clearly well taken care of. Jun Li was just being snooty, and I was not putting up with it.
"Fine, bring them with you then," he sniffed, clearly not impressed.
"I was already planning to," I assured him. I heard the soft hum of the X94 engines, and I turned my attention to the clearing. The fighter craft landed gently, opening the rear hatch so I could load it up with whatever I wanted to. However, I was not going to rush through breakfast.
Even dragging my feet, I eventually finished all of the meat and berries on my plate. With a sigh, I got off of my furs and gently grabbed as many as I could. It would take me a while to put them all in the small craft, but I honestly didn’t mind. Taking my time, I started walking toward the craft and noticed a pile of furs floating behind me.
"Are you ever going to let me see what you look like? Or am I going to have to leave it up to my imagination?" I asked with a smile as I walked up the ramp and put the furs down on the first chair I could find.
Silence met my question, but I really didn’t expect anything else. Still, it would have been nice to see what he looked like before I left.
The furs that my guardian angel was carrying were placed on top of mine, and I turned around to grab more of them. Maybe if I took long enough, Night would show up to say goodbye.
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Au’dtair’s assumption that his pet only had an 80% chance of being the one they were hunting rose to 100% when he walked into the shuttle. The outside might have been pure Sisalik, but the inside, the inside was all Saalistaja.
He took less than a click to think about whether or not he should contact his hunt mates but quickly shook his head. This was his pet, and he was Saalistaja. Which meant that the technology was no longer stolen. It simply changed owners.
Pleased with his thinking, he took one more looked around and went back to get some more furs.
It took a catawr for them to finish loading the tiny fighter craft. Au’dtair stood behind his pet and watched as she scanned the treeline. Clearly looking for her voragyvis, he saw her shoulders dropping in disappointment when it was nowhere to be found.
Personally, Au’dtair was not surprised or upset over the fact that the highly venomous creature was not going with them. However, seeing the look on his pet’s face, he, too, started to scan the treeline, looking for anything that moved.
"Yeah, yeah, Jun Li. I’ll be up when I am good and ready," he heard his pet grumble out loud, and he wondered, not for the first time, who she was talking to.
"The buyer can demand whatever they want. It doesn’t mean that they are going to get it," his pet continued, sounding more upset with each passing click. "Then tell them to fuck off. I am sure that we can sell the eight snakes to someone else if they aren’t interested anymore."
There was the slightest of movements at the tree line, and his pet’s head snapped in that direction. "I’ll be up soon. Tell her I am washing my hair...yes, it is a thing... yes, I am sure. All right. Tell Stargazer that if he doesn’t fuck off, we will be more than happy to meet him hit for hit and see who is standing at the end. What does that mean? Don’t worry about it. I’ll be up in a few minutes. Yes... yes... goodbye!"
Clearly, whatever was going on on his pet’s side was not making her happy. It was a good thing that he was going with her. He would be able to solve many of her problems.
"Night!" shouted his pet and frantically started waving her arms in a greeting of some kind while jumping up and down. He had never seen a greeting like that, but if it was customary, then he would learn to adapt.
Au’dtair turned his attention to the voragyvis and then took a step back. He was not scared; no hunter of his years would ever admit to being scared. But he was definitely not comfortable right now.
"Awe, so cute! He has a family," smiled his pet like it was not that big of an issue that 20 voragyvis’ were rushing towards her.
Yes, his belief that she had a death wish was reinforced ten-fold right now. She simply opened her arms to the creature, and Night jumped into them. She didn’t even seem to care that now all of them were rushing into her ship.
"Stay off the furs," his pet called out like it was completely normal. "And if you guys are coming, you are going to have to hide from Jun Li for a while. Do you think you can do that?"
Still holding on to Night, Au’dtair watched as his pet continued to stare outside. "Thank you," she called out to nothing. "It was nice meeting you! Thanks for the furs and the food! Hopefully, we will meet sometime in the future."
Ah, his pet was saying goodbye to him. Well, she didn’t need to worry about that since he was coming with her. Someone had to make sure she continued to live.
She pressed the button to close the ramp and seal the hatch. Walking to the captain’s chair, the voragyvis still in her arms, she buckled herself in. "Hello, Sha Shou; how are you today?"