Tank Borne

Part 16: that night

No sex (in this chapter) but a fair warning for some cuddling! Mature content is in this story and if you don't like it you can skip it! I'll post warnings. Thanks and stay blood thirsty!!!

That night after the bath and helping shed and oil Synsyn's tresses, Liana noticed how much better he looked and how much more comfortable he seemed to be.

He thanked her afterwards again and grabbed the food down that he hung for them. Syn took out some dried meat and fruits that went well with it and handed some over to Liana. He even enjoyed the same foods he did except a dehydrated cake that her and Parker found at the shuttle. She laughed when he tried spitting it out and watched him wash his mandibles off with water from the lake.
When he was done she remembered how he got her back with raw meat. It was safe to eat but damn she couldn't get past the taste of iron.

Liana shivered at the memory and went back to eating her fruit and dried meat. She'd found some herbs that acted as spices and tasted salty that she seasoned half the dried meat with. Synsyn even enjoyed some of it, turns out to her he wasn't such a cave man after all. He was always well kept and like mentioned earlier, a perfectionist, in HIS way.

She watched him take another fruit, a red colored fleshy one that had a bright orange color inside that tasted like a grapefruit but with grapes also. He'd stick a slice he'd cut with his knife and hold the slice in his bottom mandibles while the top ones would feed food by shredding it into his mouth. He caught her staring for the hundredth time and stopped after finishing that bite then cut another piece and asked, "you want bite?"

She smiled and said, "no not really. I'm almost full." She then took a bite of her meat and tried focusing on the fire. He looked at it too then back at her taking his fruit back. He asked, "if ooman no want fruit then why stare?"
He took another bite and then another finishing his fruit quickly without really savoring it and waited for her to answer. She had just finished her food then answered, "well I'm not trying to be rude. I find you... how do I put it... unique."

At that last word he cocked his head to the side and she had to explain with, "unique. Means different and I'm not stating the obvious it's just well I've seen a couple Youtja. Your kind."

He nodded and was interested, "tell me." He s itched to English.

She nodded and went into her memory's then began with, "when I was very little, like six, I remember seeing my first one, alive. My grandfather you see was a very strong warrior, a sniper, he could kill an enemy without them seeing or knowing where he was because he had a long distance rifle and scope."
She sighed at what was coming next in her memory and thought of how to tell Synsyn about his kind, sure he had imprints of how to speak and act but how or what he was, she didn't know how to explain so she did the best she could.

Liana continued, "at the time I was visiting my grandpa. He was teaching me how to hunt at his cabin back on Earth. First it was target practice and then he was teaching me how to track and how to stay quiet when I was tagging along with him. That's when it happened.... I begged him to take me on a for real hunt.  He didn't want to take me saying that the monsters wanted him. I didn't know what he was talking about. I guess the story from what I heard from grandma was a monster or Youtja had seen him in battle and that grandpa wasn't killed then because he was injured so they waited. He was dear hunting the day I first saw a Youtja, like I said I begged him and so he took me. He said I couldn't have a gun or any weapon, said I didn't need it since we were going dead hunting, like I said."
She paused then continued again, "we saw the dear. A male. Big buck with beautiful markings and antlers, would've fed us for a month, but as grandpa went to aim his rifle at it... something in the shadows scared it. It ran away and we looked around thinking, or I was thinking, a mountain lion but what we didn't see was the Youtja cloaked in the trees. It jumped down and said something to grandfather. He told me to run but I was too scared. I saw it uncloak and roar extending its blades. That's when I ran behind grandpa and I saw them fight. He shot the Youtja a couple of times but your kind is very strong and quick. I hid like a coward in the brush and heard grandpa yell out and then it was quiet... that was.... until you heard the victory roar."

Liana was tearing up at the painful memory but quickly calmed herself and looked at Syn who was looking at her sympathetically like he did something bad.

Calmer now Liana while looking at Syn's dark body with orange glowing eyes, she stared right through him and said, "that's why I studied your kind. I became obsessed and learned how to read some and speak some of your language. I became the best hunter and soldier I could hoping to even the score but look at me now. I have a Youtja as a friend, I'm trying my best to help you, plus well I feel helping you makes my dying a lot easier. Like helping you helps me forget. We were both going to be experiments anyway..." she trailed off. Reminding herself about her cancer and the memory of her grandfather made her mourn inside.

Synsyn stood up from where he was and walked over. He noticed how she was zoned out looking at the fire now but not really paying attention to it or anything. Water leaked from her eyes and her body shook like she was sick. He recognized the signs from his studies and when he saw how Liana had reacted before about the news that she was dying. She was about panicking inside and her scent changed to a tangled scent of fear he didn't like. He stood off to the side in front of her then crouched on the front of his feet and sat on his heels. He chuffed blowing some hair out of her face making her jump. She finally noticed he moved and looked at him. Something inside her made her feel like that little girl again. Lost and afraid in the forest.
The memory stirred the ptsd in her and Synsyn knew she was reliving the memory over and over in her head.
She knew it too and could feel the panic rising with each sharp breath.
Liana looked straight at Syn's blue roan body and rushed towards his chest and hugged him. She didn't care if he felt attacked and hurt her to protect himself but she hoped for a hug back or at least to let her stay where she was.
What surprised her though was when he picked her up and turned on his heels to face the fire. He sat with his legs crossed and let her stay on his lap. Startled she stopped snuggling for a moment till she heard it. In his chest was a diesel engine on idle. He purred for her. A deep and comforting sensation for both of them.