Hey all you readers out there in cyber-space. Just wanted to thank you all for sticking by me. We're fast approaching update 50 and by the time we get there, the Universe of Amatory Stars will have changed quite a bit from when I first started it. Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for sticking around so far.
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Risks are what had kept Nathan alive up to this point, the off-chances of certain occurrences were both his boon and his bane it seemed. Turning his head towards the group of homeless aliens gathered around a flaming can, the Captain could see them tossing old newspapers into it for warmth. Desperation and despair clear in their eyes. Of the four, most of them were bundled up and hiding the entirety of their bodies; only a few facial features could be seen on any of them. The tallest of them who was hovering in the back, with two arms stretched forward and draped in a dirty brown sheet that had holes cut into it, had the clearest sign of defeat upon him. All of his body just seemed completely distraught, where the bulges of his shoulders were, they appeared to have dropped down almost a foot from his neck. Meanwhile, the three eyes that maneuvered back and forth out of and into his skull seemed focused only on the heat of the fire.
Nathan could see the hopelessness there, the eyes ringed with weariness, the weight of the world crushing the creature’s shoulders; all three of the aliens eyes now drooped to the point of surrender, as if at any moment he would just close them and that would be it. Unable to see anything else, Nathan turned to the pair that were standing next to each other in front of the tall one. They looked to be twins, yet it was hard to tell with them as well; both wearing tattered hoodies, the folds of fabric pulled up to obscure their faces as they pushed their hands forward to warm their hands. Only the one sitting to the far right was exposed completely. “Wadda ya want? Can’t you see dat we just tryin’ to survive?” His voice was broken and cracked, rough from his lack of hydration and the clear scent of alcohol on his breath made it all that much more evident as to why.
Nathan stared at him for a moment, the bum was probably about five foot four inches, scrawny in almost every sense of the word and probably just barely old enough to actually drink. A five o’clock shadow cut across his chin, while a pair of reflector eyes shot Nathan’s image right back at him. The bum just shrugged, his nearly fist sized eyes blinking shut for a moment closing sideways before he shuffled his mouth for a moment, allowing a hand that was missing the index and ring finger to rise up. The nubs still trying to twitch with some usefulness as he grasped another bottle of alcohol and passed it around with the various other aliens around him; it was almost sad, if the kid didn’t have those eyes, he could have passed for human…maybe found some pity from a tourist. As he was though, he had little chance in hell.
“Look, did any of you see a man carrying off a red-head by any chance. I need to find them and get that girl back.” The most human of the group spat into the fire upon those words before pointing to his mouth, illustrating where three teeth had been based out near the front.
“You just missed da fucker, came runnin’ through here like a madman a few minutes ago. Bashed my teeth in, slashed the twinseys over there. They’ze gonna scar up bad….” As he said this, he pointed in the direction that Zephyr had run in; agitation in his eyes and a slight twitch in his arm revealing that the damage was worse than he was making out. Nathan paused just as he was about to dart off and passed the young man his coat, seeing as he was the only one not wearing anything to really warm himself. Almost immediately, Nathan could feel the chill of the area seeping into him; it was almost freezing though he knew he could run himself to warmth soon enough.
“For your trouble.” The captain murmured only to dart down the streets and beginning to look for Zephyr; he could already see the Yor’zvin’s trail of destruction. Several people that had obviously been perturbed by both his appearance and his actions had attempted to get in his way. Many of them were laying by the side of the street battered and bruised; most of them were aliens of so many shapes and sizes that it would be hard to remember them all. Those that were conscious quickly pointed Nathan along the way, illustrating that despite their station, they knew more about empathy than most could ever hope to. Respecting their choices and thankful for what they were doing for them, Nathan rushed along thanking each one that pointed him along.
Eventually, his chase sent him flying up a nearby ladder, climbing hurriedly as his muscles convulsed from the near marathon run that he was pushing himself through. That was when he saw them; Zephyr had put down Tesla leaving her to rest upon a set of crates, in front of Nathan was a rather…odd scene. In fact, he pinched himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming as he witnessed what was occurring. Zephyr, a powerful Yor’zvin warrior was being pushed back by someone almost half his size, making matters worse; the person looked to be on the verge of death. On the ground near him, two girls one looking to be in her late teens and the other possibly in her early forties were doubled over on the ground; their faces telling Nathan exactly what he needed to know.
“Fucking runt!” Zephyr shouted loudly at the male that was currently fighting with him; the kid couldn’t have been more than seventeen; his clothing was loose and torn around him. Other pieces of fabric had been cannibalized to tie down the rest of it; he appeared to have even managed to find some lengths of rope to tie down his pants legs so they wouldn’t fall down around him. Just looking at him, Nathan could see that his feet were heavily calloused from constantly walking barefoot, which he was now. The kid’s denim jeans almost fluttered as he hopped back from a vicious haymaker and plopped down a few feet away from Zephyr, he was crotched low, illustrating that his skin was becoming taut from malnutrition. Dark circle’s ringed his eyes, while his face smudged with soot and scarred from his cheek to his nose with a burn mark; meanwhile dirty black hair clung to his skull while he played with the patchwork shirt of brown, green and grey that hung loosely on him.
Nathan had no idea who the kid was or how he was so good at what he was doing; however, he wasn’t going to argue with results. Smirking, he looked at the kid, who was glancing up at him darting his eyes from Nathan to Zephyr then to Tesla, the quizzical look that took him, stunned Nathan. He had just said so much without saying a thing; nodding briefly, the kid rolled his lanky shoulders and stood up further. Fishing out two knives that he had obviously pickpocketed from someone, Nathan noticed something that their mutual enemy wouldn’t be able to. A patch of clean skin on the back of his neck was grey, Nathan only knew of one race of grey aliens; however, they were supposed to be nothing more than myths or at least have gone extinct.
Pausing for a moment, he looked at the kid and the two women laying on the ground, then to Tesla and back to Zephyr. Watching the young man stand and spit on the ground, he could see something of a ‘ridge’ on the side of the kid’s head, making it obvious that he was wearing a wig. Intrigued, Nathan was at an impasse….to help him or to just watch.
