Chapter Seven: Kweide
Kweide watched with scrutiny as H'chakde and his servant left. Something the two humans said had seemed off to him, but he could not tell what they were speaking about verbatim.
He turned his gaze away from the doorway and onto his servant. What was she thinking? She simply stood in place, eyes trained on that empty doorway. Quiet, a far change from the yelling and panic of before.
"Let's go," With a sharp tug of her wrist he communicated what he wanted clearly.
They began their walk at an even pace, almost a stroll for himself, not quite a jog for her. "You-" he was going to reprimand her, but then he stopped. She had only just started as a servant. Fresh and new to it as he once was to fighting, before she would be able to keep up with him she had to learn how to push past her limits and make new ones.
'Patience. Remember it.' He reminded himself calmly. She would learn in time and he could wait.
He kept his pace just slightly above what was comfortable for her, she'd not enjoy the experience but it would increase her stamina eventually. She was human, training her like he was trained would not do. She was not born for that.
A rumbling growl sounded behind him and he turned angrily with a growl of his own.
Except, the only thing in sight was the wide-eyed stare of the human, her arms were pulled back against herself as she looked at him. But there was no sign of aggression on her, none that he could see.
Then that sound happened again and they both looked down towards her stomach. 'Ah.' He hadn't fed her yet.
He tilted his head, "Should you come with me?" He wondered aloud. She was very new to the ship, new to being a servant, and unsure of herself. It would do her no good to be bombarded by the crowded eating area.
Kweide opened the door when they reached his quarters and picked her up. She squirmed between his two hands as he held her away from himself but she did not protest.
When he deposited her on her mat he gestured to it, "Stay, I will return." He began to walk away, turning once to see if she had followed, but she remained where he had told her to even as the door began closing behind him.
It shut.
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The sound of boisterous clicks and howls of laughter greeted Kweide as he entered the eating area. Most ignored his presence but a few young-bloods were beginning to stare and chitter amongst themselves.
He held his head high as he walked towards the line, he wouldn't even think of dealing with them until after he retrieved suitable rations for the human.
"Kweide, it is good to see you! Are you hungry today?" At the call of his name, he turned to stare at the shorter Yautja beside him. D'to, a familiar face so long as you frequented the food lines.
"Why do you ask?" Kweide lifted his portion into his mouth and began to eat at a slightly quicker pace than normal.
"You grabbed more today than usual." D'to noted, "It is unlike you." He held a large slice of his own in his hands as he went to sit down.
"I have a servant now, she must be fed." Kweide stood and swallowed the last morsels of his tiny helping.
D'to choked, "A servant!" Heads turned in their direction but quickly lost interest when they saw who had caused the ruckus.
"Be quiet!" He hissed at him, "I do not wish to draw attention about it yet."
"It will come eventually Kweide, you must be ready for it." D'to paused to bite into his food. When he swallowed he spoke again, "what is your servant?". When Kweide looked at him, he continued, "some species eat cooked meat, you might want to burn it first."
"Oh." Kweide stared at the meat and then nodded. "Thank you, I will do that." Unceremoniously, he turned and walked away. Leaving a very confused D'to sitting at the table.
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Kweide leaned forward, the sensor's beeped as the doors rushed open much to his annoyance. He gave an agitated click as he stepped inside despite not yet knowing if he was doing the right thing in regards to his servant's diet.
Her back was to him when he entered but she turned to face him quickly. She did little more than nod a greeting as he came to a stop in front of her.
He hesitated before sticking the meat out to her. "Eat." She looked at him with a scrunched face, shoulders hunched together as she reached up and took it from his hands.
"Is... is this normal?" She continued to stare at the food in her hands and he stared at her. Impatience struck him at her lack of fervor and he spoke louder.
"Eat!" He pointed to it and she nodded. Her small jaw had trouble during the first few bites but he watched as she adapted how she ate to accommodate the tough food. He knew she must have been hungry because the food was gone within a few silent moments. "Normal?" he tilted his head as she finished.
"Yes." She said, her eyes looked away before looking back at him. "Can I ask you a few questions?"
He debated it for a moment and then he nodded. His translator worked well enough and he knew enough of the human language to get by. At least he thought so.
"How did you get to earth? That thing you were in, it almost hit me and Kayla in the woods. It certainly wasn't as big as this place."
He blanked, there was nothing he knew how to say to her that she'd understand. Instead, he gestured around him and then clasp his hands together tightly.
"Okay... so I got the first part because obviously, it's a ship but... are you saying it's basically a really small version of this ship?" She stared at him and when he gave a frustrated click she realized he didn't know how to reply. "I have an idea. These are fingers," She held up her hand for him to see, "And this is my thumb. When it's pointed up that means yes and when it's pointed down that means no. Somewhere between the two makes it look like this-" She tilted her hand sideways as he took in the information. "Did you understand that?"
His thumb turned up.
His servant's lips pulled back into a tight gesture and he snarled hesitantly. Immediately that look disappeared and his shoulders eased back down.
"Do you know what a smile is?"
He turned his thumb down and the frightened look she gave him disappeared. "Oh! That makes sense I guess, um, well. A smile is a friendly human gesture. It can mean amusement or happiness and we often do it as a show that we mean no harm or that we like something. Does that make sense?" His thumb flipped up.
He pointed at her, "Show me."
She looked at him for a moment and he almost asked it again before she nodded quickly. "Sorry, I'm not exactly clear-headed right now but I'm trying. Were you wanting to see a smile?"
He nodded and watched with curiosity as her lips pulled back, it reminded him of an animal snarling but somehow softer. Her body gave no signs of aggression and he noted that for later.
She began to run her clawless fingers over her hands in a nervous manner. "We're going to have a bit of a language barrier no matter what but maybe... we could teach each other?"
"Yes." He tilted his thumb up, "No." and his thumb went back down.
He watched as her furry face patches drew together before moving far apart. "That's amazing." She said as she crawled closer.
He nodded and handed her one of her sticky chemical bound scrolls. "Teach."
She looked up and smiled at him, "You're gonna need to teach me that word
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"Enough!" Kweide growled, tossing the 'book'-as the human called it- back to her. The script had been small but not unmanageable with his mask as his aide, but trying to decipher it without constant help was impossible.It was only after a moment -or would it count as her human minute?- of silence that he looked up and noticed her startled face. She clutched the book to herself and her posture was tense as she leaned away from him. She was frightened.
He looked at her and then down at himself, his fist was clenched and his legs were tensed for leaping out of anger. Letting out a click of surprise, he looked back up at her. She thought he was going to attack her.
They sat in silence for a moment, both watching the other with uncertainty. Kweide visibly relaxed to show her he meant her no harm. If she was scared of him it would do him no good in training her. Respect was necessary, fear bred hate and hate bred rage until rage turned to attempted murder. He was not keen on being skewered one night in his sleep.
When she seemed satisfied that he was not going to rip her to pieces, his servant stretched out again on the ground. "Ki'dte?" She spoke in her strange accented voice, it was rough but she was improving little by little and he was honestly surprised by how observant she was.
Kweide wasn't sure how to respond though, despite all of that they had gone over, he did not know her human word for it.
"What does it mean? Will you teach me?" She asked, the book was open in her palm and he reached for it.
His thumb pointed up and then he flipped through to the beginning of the book, her alphabet - as she had called it- held only a few symbols so learning to read it would eventually be easy. As of yet, he was struggling to remember the translated word for 'Ki'dte', he was certain it had started with one of the big symbols on the first page.
There it was, the one shaped like a wall with a shelf. He jabbed the symbol with his claw and turned the book towards his servant eagerly.
"E?" Her head tilted and the furry patches on her face pulled together. He watched as she looked from him to the book and then to the symbol, putting what he gave her together like puzzle pieces. "Oh! You meant enough!" She smiled at him when he nodded and he took note of the word for later use. "So we're done with learning for the day I presume?"
He tilted his thumb up and pushed himself farther onto the bed, as he undid the ties on his sandals he watched her move.
She let loose a soft sound and crawled back to her nest, or 'bed' as her kind put it. She hesitated for a moment, staring down at the pelts before she laid down to rest. Kweide wondered why she did but he was too tired to press for answers. She was an odd human, that's all there was to it.
He placed his sandals on the floor and now he noticed she was watching him too, she faced him on her side, her eyes following his every movement. There was still a healthy amount of fear about him and he felt safer for it. At least somewhat so.
With a shake of his tendrils he laid down facing her as well, he did not trust the human and all pieces of his armor would remain on him until she had earned that trust. He could easily overpower her but one smart move was all it took to kill. Kweide refused to be prey.
Eventually, her eyes closed and her breathing fell to a steady pace. He continued to watch as her chest rose and fell in a calm rhythm that was lulling him to sleep. Distrust still crowed inside his skull as he slipped beneath a peaceful fog.
One more blink and then sleep claimed him in its heavy grasp.
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Kidnapped (Predator Fanfiction) -Major Editing-
FanfictionThe story of two girls ripped from their world and tossed into a society they never even knew existed. Kicked to the bottom of the food chain in seconds, they must learn to adapt to their new ranks at the lowest part of their captor's clan. Can they...