Shadowed Stars

[Kaisaan]

Keene groaned, his body heaving violently and he closed his eyes, his body damp with sweat when his stomach finally settled. His foresight buzzed around angrily as usual, but that he could ignore for the moment as he wiped is mouth and the container he'd puked in was pulled back in by the ship and disposed of it. Keene brought his focus to Tessa then as he unbuckled himself and slowly spun the chair around to face her, his head coming to rest against his fingertips.

"Could you think a bit more quietly. Geez, it's not like they are going to fall in love tomorrow and they might not even do that ever."

He glanced up, giving her a look. Really? Did she honestly think she could control something like that? "Tessa, if they fall in love, then they fall in love. If they don't then they don't. You can't force them either way. The future isn't set in stone, believe me, I know and they have free will. You can't really do anything expect stress yourself out at this point."

There. That was his word of advice.

Keene stood up then, slightly unstable and he made his way toward the exit, intending to get dressed before they went dirt-side. "Don't worry. She hasn't met Atarn yet." And with those cryptic words, he disappeared from sight and down the hall. Keene had to vaguely wonder if Tessa preferred this version of him or the old one at this point.

 

[khetawolf]

As Keene walked away, Tessa growled softly in irritation. She didn't like Keene knowing her thoughts - it was unnerving, to say the least, that the male had access to her mind like that. She made a mental note to bring it up with Keene later but that's not what bothered her most right now. Despite Keene's advice, Tessa was not willing to merely sit back and hope that things panned out differently for her and her friends than it did for their ancestors thousands of years ago. She couldn't exactly stop Raxiel from falling for Dorene, but she could definitely make that path more difficult for him.

Tessa's mind was already made up and even though Keene suggested otherwise, she had every intention of putting her plan into action. First though, they still had to acquire the upgrade software in the first place and Tessa began to head towards her room to get ready for their landing.

Dorene's door was open as Tessa passed and the redhead glanced up before rising and running after the white-haired female. "Are we landing soon? What planet did we decide on?"

Tessa stopped and her eyes fell on Dorene, merely observing the woman for a few seconds. Dorene was truly unassuming; she was slight of frame, frequently unsure of herself, and even around her friends she gave an air of submissiveness. Yet she's supposed to be a queen. The thought distracted Tessa and several seconds passed before she forced herself to answer.

"We're landing on the planet Argoun."

Dorene didn't say anything immediately, waiting for Tessa to continue. "...Okay, what is it like?"

"There's a lot of crime."

"Wait, is that all we know?"

"Basically. Isn't that all we need to know? Get ready, we'll be landing shortly." Tessa turned then and began to walk to her room, hardly even noticing Dorene's frustration at the underwhelming answer. After all, Tessa had much bigger things on her mind - even if Keene refused to interfere, that didn't mean she had to do the same.

 

[Kaisaan]

When they departed the ship...they were all armed. It had been one of the first things Keene had made sure of before he even opened the door to the ramp. Dorene had been sent back to her room to retrieve her weapon - even if they all knew she probably wouldn't use it - and Raxiel...had been firmly told not to kill anyone. Though, Keene hadn't been the one to warn him because the fact was that he understood better than all of them, even Tessa who knew much more now, that if any of them, especially Dorene, was threatened....there would be no stopping Raxiel.

So he said nothing.

In fact, when they started down the ramp, Keene merely gave Tessa a raised brow and let her lead. She'd wanted to come here and while he'd agreed, this wasn't his mission. They'd go where she wanted and the hybrid wasn't going to intervene unless the circumstances called for it.

Like in the case of imminent death, severe injury or slavery.

Other than that, she was on her own and Keene's demeanor clearly said it, too as he followed behind the group, but seemed to have his attention on anything but them. It wasn't true, but no one would know that. Not when his blank, yet cold jade eyes stayed hidden behind his black hair, the scales under his eyes only enhancing the shadow affect. His tail kept people away from him, snapping at the air when a person drew too close and the dark aura did the rest.

He didn't like being in places like this. Too much could happen and everywhere he looked, his foresight only saw darkness.