trans_9 | (no subject)

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Pat had found himself exploring the city, and discovered two things thus far: one, that seeing an entire city looking so empty unnerved him in a vague sort of way, and two, the sight of all those buildings made Toxin restless.

C'mon, pops. I've been good. No biting, no mauling, no even threatening to when people're acting stupid. And I was behaving myself even before we got here, remember?

Pat frowned and didn't answer, deciding to peer up at something that he supposed was the equivalent of a skyscraper. A few tendrils snuck out of his shirt collar and poked at him. Please? Anybody gets the wrong idea and I'll let you take care of it. No fights. Come on, I'm bored in here.

Pat sighed, glancing down at one of the tendrils and raising an eyebrow. "No deciding to change your mind about fighting at the last minute."

Would I do that? The tendrils just got a look in return. Trust me, I won't. So can I come out now?

"Only for a few hours," Pat warned as he nodded and more tendrils burst out and the rest of his clothing went decidedly goopier. Toxin grinned toothily as he was given control, and stretched for a moment before scrambling up the side of a building. He glanced around for a moment before web-slinging off, setting out in hopes of finding something more interesting than abandoned buildings.

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The sour odor made Toxin sneeze, and he shook his head as he glanced back at Red.

He frowned, an impressive expression with that many teeth.

Red clacked his jaw a few times, teeth clicking together thoughtfully. Brains...in a can? He was suddenly glad he'd never bothered to really explore some of the more exotic markets in Invisec.

Overall, it sounded similar to the Anzati's supposed feeding habits. Only they were difficult to find, and here was Toxin not a few meters below Red's windowledge, sulking over canned brains. "Then I suppose the teeth are just for show, outside of emergency situations." Tiss'shar couldn't grin, but he let his jaws hang open a bit, showing his own teeth. They weren't nearly as intimidating, but they were still those of a predatory race. "I sympathize. Omnivores can be difficult to live with."

Toxin snorted at the comment about his teeth. he shot back.

The second comment just earned a shrug.

Red bobbed his head, a crackling-chirping noise coming from his chest. It was quiet chuckle, but nothing at all like a human's chuckle. To most species, it would just sound like he was making strange sounds to himself. He liked Toxin, in the same way he liked any new pilot or mercinary who joined the Rebels and felt indestructable, guarded by their skill.

"Easy enough to believe." After all, he'd certainly been worried enough.

"Gravy..." He looked out across the city and let out a grunt. "I haven't found a single thing resembling gravies -or canned brains- in any of these buildings."

The sound made Toxin narrow his eyepatches briefly, but since it didn't hurt, he let it pass without comment. He glanced around as Red did, sniffing experimentally. Maybe he could catch the scent of something edible?

he said, sounding disgusted at the last word.

"I haven't found that yet," Red grunted. "But if your sense of taste is similar to a Tiss'shar, or even a Human, I'm willing to continue hunting for an alternative."

But the search thus far had been fruitless, with no alternatives in sight. No alternatives except...Red's gaze turned downwards to the pulsating plantlike outfit Stacy had given to what looked like most of the crew. "Hmph. This thing has a pulse. I wonder..."

His eyepatches narrowed again as he eyeballed the suit. Clearly, the idea of suits having pulses was off-putting when symbiotes weren't involved.

He hadn't paid much attention to what everyone else was wearing beforehand, but if the suits were alive...well, that made him morbidly curious.

Red clicked his teeth together, scratching at the surface of the suit with a claw. It still smelled of plants, but perhaps it didn't taste of them.

"I'm not certain. I believe as far as Stacy was concerned, it was dubbed clothing. But my people have little use for fashion, so this is a bit outside my realm of knowledge. It doesn't appear to weaken me, at any rate. But it is alive." He gave it another sniff, flicking his eyes to the symbiote. "Perhaps you and your host somehow fullfill the needs for one another that this suit fullfills for the rest of us."

And he was about to add another 'need' that the suit potentially fullfilled to that list. Raising his arm, Red took a quick nip out of the suit itself and stood thoughtfully...before turning with a snort and spitting the portion on the ground with a loud and aggravated grunting sound. A dark ichor began to pool on the suit's opening, but he didn't notice, all focus on getting the nasty taste out of his mouth.

Toxin nodded at the first comment. He watched Red's reaction with interest, laughing a little bit.

He peered more closely at the ichor, snorting a little before he sniffed.

Red continue snorting, flicking his tongue in and out violently. "Plants, coagulating blood, bad ale...not for eating, no, clearly not for eating."

After sufficently cleaning his teeth and tongue, he looked at the sleeve. "Hm. You're right. I suppose you would, if you were bitten, yes?" He prodded at the pool of goo with a claw, curious. "It appears to be closing up."

Toxin snorted. After all, apparently they were kidnapped by aliens. Perhaps they could run into something that was teeth and nothing else.

Red nodded, flexing his muscles under the suit as the hole resealed itself. "Hmm. And it was fairly resistant to the bite...Like a tough hide. It could be some kind of minor armoring." He canted his head towards the symbiote still hanging on the wall. "At any rate, I think it's closer to being a cousin of your species than it is of mine."

A slight pause. Then, "Do you suppose it can extend that healing capability to the wearer?"

That just prompted another snort.

He shrugged at the question. Toxin paused, then added,

Red returned the snort. "I'm not inclined to take a bite out of myself to test it, either. But I hope the day we discover the answer it is not because one of the other 'crewmates' is in desperate need of medical attention."

He clacked his jaw and made that odd croaking, growling sound again. "'Pops'?"

Toxin shrugged again.

Red tilted his head, amused. "Symbiotic family relationship?"

Resuming a more serious tone, he looked about the room...at the curves, the undulating completely alien shapes, the sense that he was inside a living organism. Eerie. "It could be worse. We haven't had to endure interogation, or pompous officials. The setup is...unnerving, but Stacy hasn't been an overtly hostile host of yet."

Suddenly, there was an odd scent, very faint. Like something rotting. Only those with very sensitive senses of smell would smell it.

Up the road in the city, there was a figure just standing there, half in the shadows, watching them.

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Toxin paused as his nose distracted him and he sniffed noisily. His eyepatches narrowed as he glanced around, trying to identify the source of the scent.

Red's head jerked up and his nostrils flared...And then he smelt it too. "Rotting...And it isn't the ship." He leaned out the window, grunting to himself as he tested the air.

"On the wind...It's not in this room, not below." Red squinted up the road, but Tiss'shar eyes were not evolved for spying from long distances. He couldn't make anything out. "You smelled it before I did. Can you see anything?"

Toxin frowned, moving down the side of the building and sniffing.

The symbiote kept sniffing, moving his head this way and that as he scrambled farther down the building, then called,

That was all Red needed to hear. Turning tail, he bounded through the peculiar rooms of the building and down the steps, landing hard with his full weight at the bottom and darting into the street.

Tail up, head down, hands tucked to his underside, Red resembled a very agile and very large bird of prey. He jerked his head around on the ground, sniffing, tail lashing.

"Stronger here," he growled. "Decay doesn't spontaniously occur under normal conditions. Something strange is going on."

Toxin scrambled a bit farther, then sprang off the building's side, landing in a crouch before getting up to follow after Red. He joined in the sniffing again, beginning to move forward.

he grumbled.

"Other than that," Red mumbled to himself. He was distracted now, sniffing and moving forward slowly, keeping Toxin slightly to his side. With any luck, though, he was just being paranoid.

"It could be one of us. Maybe injured. Maybe dumped here." Test the air again...Stronger, thicker, like an slab of dewback ribs left in the sun. He revised his thoughts. "...Maybe killed a while ago and dumped here."

It moved. Darting across the road impossibly quickly, hiding in the shadows of a building, still standing and watching them.

They likely saw it this time now.

Maybe the smell was from some sort of festering wound? Different creatures smelled differently, so an injured one would smell differently, too.

But if it was injured, it sure moved fast for something that was.

Toxin said, then froze as he saw the figure dart across the road. He snarled at it automatically in surprise before pausing and looking to Red.