“So yeah, that’s just about what happened.” Brook said, sitting on the bed of the guest room, in front of Kaya; the was just big enough for them to sleep comfortably. The two of them were completely naked; they were in private, there was no chance of someone peeping on them. Plus, Brook was comfortable being naked around just about anyone, it wasn’t a big deal; as for Kaya, if Brook was going to be naked, she figured ‘what the heck’ and got naked as well. Seems like being a bit of a weirdo is more than a requirement in Primal, it’s a necessity. “My childhood was fine, perfect even, but then everything hit the fan after the war ended. Guess that makes me just another person whose life it fucked up, huh?” The room was lit only by a small nightlight of a cutesy cartoon character, placed there years ago in case a child ended up staying in the room, only now being used. She hadn’t expected to give her life’s story, much less giving it to the girl who was indirectly responsible for her almost getting killed. This whole trip was going in all sorts of unexpected places, she thought to herself as she drank another shot of rice wine.
Kaya nodded, thinking it over. “I get it. I… Wish I could relate to you. I lived a perfectly content life, I didn’t face much hardship-”
“You don’t have to relate to me,” Brook reassured her, smiling. “The fact that you understand and listened is enough. I know I talked about how I don’t like sharing and shit… But it felt really nice to talk about it.”
“I’m a bit confused,” Kaya questioned, “Despite all that, you seem so comfortable with sex and erotic stuff. Despite… Him.”
“I don’t know, maybe it’s a cooping mechanism.” Brook shrugged. “Just because of what happened doesn’t mean sex was ruined for me. None of the guys I’ve done it with were like him. Not gonna let one bad moment ruin something so good for me. Simple as.”
“I see. You and Ethan, you guys come from a whole different world than me.” Kaya said. She seemed so different when she was calm and winding down.
“Do you think you’ll share it again with someone?”
“Probably not, only if I really like them.”
“Oh? Does that mean you really like me?” Kaya raised a brow.
“Don’t push it.”
“Sorry.” Kaya said as she drank her shot as well. “So what are you gonna do when you get to Ishinomori? Other than going to the resort?”
“Well, I thought about that guy you mentioned. Rider? Do you think it’s possible for you to get him in touch with me?”
“Oh ho? So you do want to meet him?” Kaya grinned, leaning forward. “Not that I thought you wouldn’t.”
“I mean, it isn’t like I’m gonna be doing any business with him. I just want to meet him and see the colorful people that Primal has. Plus, he’s some sort of superhero isn’t he? This is a once in a lifetime chance.” Not really once in a lifetime. Actually, she has every chance to meet with him at anytime. But calling it a once in a lifetime chance made it sound way cooler.
“Well, I’m not his Handler, he’s an independent fighter actually; like Darnell, that basically, means he’s his own Handler. However, I am still a Handler with plenty of influence. Plus, you’re a pretty friendly person. I think that if I were to call him and tell you about him, then I doubt that he’d be able to refuse. But please, just go easy on him, okay. He is kind of a pure, untarnished boyscout from what I’ve heard. Despite all the, you know, violence he’s surrounded with.” She wasn’t implying that Brook was a toxic person… Unless by toxic you mean full of alcohol and tobacco and other recreational drugs.
“I wouldn’t even dream of corrupting someone so pure.” Brook said, putting her hands together, as if she was praying. “Ethan is more or less the same, without all the violence.” She said, going over to the nightlight that lit up the room, going to turn it off. “Let’s call it a night. Don’t want to be tired when I meet him after all or when I arrive at the resort.” With a flick of the switch, the room was in complete darkness. “…And thank you, Kaya.”
With that, Kaya gave Brook a hug, wrapping her arms around her, their naked bodies against one another. It was no different than the showers she had with Ethan. There was no arousal, not sexual feelings towards none another. Their nudity was merely supplementary, as they held each other, sitting on the bed. “No problem.” Kaya said. “Talk to me any time you need. Let’s have more nights like this. We’ll invite Ethan next time.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Brook nodded, still holding onto the woman she previously thought she hated. It was good.
----------------------------------------
Brook was finally heading out and now on her own. If what Kaya said was anything to go by, then she wouldn’t have to worry too much about the language barrier; Ishinomori had a very large amount of people who spoke Castor. Plus, Aoi gave her a booklet of Xivan phrases and easy sentences, such as greetings, goodbyes, thank yous, or where the bathroom was; her accent, however, was still going to cause her a bit of difficulty.
So much traveling to be done. First she took a plane to get to Xiva, now she was hopping on a boat to get to the mainland. Just a small boat that could only fit a small crowd of people. Most of the people boarding, from their outfits and their conversations, were also tourists. But there were a few Xivan natives; farmers or workers, most likely going back home after visiting the larger city. Brook leaned over the railing of the boat, craving a cigarette, but the No Smoking sign right behind her told her that wasn’t an option.
She only watched the ocean passing by, the endless expanse of blue, only broken up by a few fishing boats and rocks, as well as that enigmatic red lighthouse off in the distance. She felt relaxed like this. Maybe it was that it reminded of her home, her job at the fishery. Why did she feel relaxed thinking about her job when she was on vacation? That’s not how this is suppose to work! She then looked lower, down into the ocean. The water looked so clean and pristine. No sign of pollution despite the ocean cities. She wondered what would happen if she stripped down and dived into the ocean, then questioned herself why she would do such a thing; the water was probably freezing cold despite the warm weather anyways. A few minutes passed of her lost in thought, not moving from her spot, paying only attention to the ocean view and the rocking of the ship. That was until…
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“Hey there, ma’am,” a voice called to her.
Jolting to attention, the hyena looked over, looking to where the voice called out.
The owner of the voice was a short Sphynx cat, waving to her. She definitely stood out, not just because of her lack of fur. Sphynxs like her were often stereotyped as ugly, a stigma that Brook was familiar with as it was also said about hyenas, but Brook was captured by her strange sense of beauty. A Goth outfit with a short checkered skirt and a sleeveless button up shirt. Admittedly, it was hard to tell how old she was, but Brook ballparked her age to be a few years older than her, probably older than Ethan. “Sorry to bother you, but you’re on your way to Ishinomori too, aren’t you?” She put her hand under her chin. “I can tell a New Castor tourist when I see one.”
“Uh, yeah, there’s a resort there.” Brook nodded. She wanted to state her surprise that the girl spoke Castor, but she didn’t know if that would come off as offensive. The girl didn’t look like she was a Xiva native.
“What a coincidence, as am I?” She chuckled. “I’m coming from Yisk, heard the place was great for relieving the spirit, so I figured… Why the heck not?” She said sitting on the railing of the ship, perfectly balanced. Actually, she was leaning far over the edge, yet didn’t look like she was at any risk of falling. The core strength she had to possess for such a stunt.
“Uh huh…” Brook slowly nodded again, not uncomfortable, just confused. “Did you need something?” She wasn’t about to get mugged was she? This wasn’t one of those tourist traps that she had been fearing this whole time?
“Just a question.” The Sphynx went on, with a flick of her wrist, a card appeared in her hand, some magician’s trick. “Do you recognize this?” The card showed a familiar symbol. The emblem of an orchid flower, wrapped in barbed wire.
Brook gasped seeing it. “Primal…” Before yesterday, she actually hadn’t seen it for a while; if she hadn’t downloaded the Primal app, she likely wouldn’t have recognized the symbol.
“So you do recognize it!” The Sphynx cheered, hopping away from the edge. She bowed in from of Brook, lifting one leg backwards, before standing up straight. “My name is Iz. I’m a fighter for Primal…” Pronounced like the word ease.
Fighter
Iz “Sweet Surrender” Yuski
“You?” Brook said, surprised. She expected her to be a Handler. All the fighters she had seen so far were all muscular men or at least toned like Eli or that lizard guy that Eli fought. This girl looked tiny enough that even someone as out of shape as herself could pick her up.
“Surprise?” Iz raised a brow.
“A bit.” Brook shook her head, crossing her arms. “Better question: How the hell did you know I was going to Ishinomori? You Primal guys are spying on me, aren’t you?”
“No,” Iz said, holding a finger up, to shush Brook. The whole time she had a large toothy grin on her face, making her look vaguely sinister; alongside her raspy sardonic tone and knowledge of Primal, Brook only now began to feel on edge. “It was actually a coincidence that we were going to the same place; I just happened to see you hanging out with a friend of mine, Kaya, so I had a feeling you were with Primal.” Whether she was lying or not, that explanation was good enough for Brook. The Sphynx had a bizarre speaking pattern, enunciating every syllable of larger words, putting emphasis where there shouldn’t be any. An odd playful way of speaking, as she pranced around Brook. “What’s an even bigger co-in-ci-dence is how many Primal fighters are going to the resort as we speak.” She held up three fingers. “Counting me, there are two others. Those are the ones that I know, there are most de-fin-ite-ly more”
“Rider.” Brook said.
“Rider is one of them, yes, but I know him by Gentaro.”
“The second one?”
“No idea, I’m not that prying.” Iz shrugged, groaning. “I mostly wanted to stop by and say hello to a fellow member.” She giggled, bending to the side, so far that her spine looked like it was at an impossible right angle. “But, also, Handler, this is a good opportunity for you. A lot of Fighters for you to pick up and incorporate under you. Doesn’t that sound exciting? That’s what being a Handler is all about, no?”
“I guess, but I came to relax, not to work.”
“Fine. Just a suggestion.” She said, standing back up, pouting. “Have it your way.”
“Would you join under me?”
“Already have a Handler.”
“Then why point that out? There is only going to be two others, I wouldn’t say that exactly constitutes as a lot of Fighters to pick up.”
“I did say there is possibly more. But also, well, you didn’t hear this from me, but…” Iz said, leaning towards Brook, showing little sense of personal space. “But I heard there is stuff brewing behind the scenes at that resort. Some real shit going down. Think there is gonna be a fight being set up there… I said I came to the resort to relax, but seeing a fight, well, that’s the second reason I’m going. Not saying there is a going to be a fight, I’m just saying it’s a very high chance that one is brewing there. Do you get me?” She backed off, giggling. Not quite done being intentionally vague, she continued. “But, that’s enough of that, thank you for chatting, young Handler.” Then, Iz started to depart with no further words, only further confusing Brook. But, not before turning around and quickly moving behind the hyena. “Ah, but first, you’ve been suffering from back pain lately, haven’t you? Poor posture, yes?”
“Y-yes?” Brook said, startled by the strange Sphynx’s fast movements. “How did you-?” She began to ask, only to be cut off as Iz jabbed two fingers into her lower spine. Brook let out a short gasp, there was a sharp bit of pain, and a popping feeling… Then, all the soreness that she accumulated over the last few weeks, the tightness gained from traveling and sitting down, all vanished without a trace. Replaced by relief. “I…” Brook rubbed her back, as Iz moved in front of her, looking proud. “I feel incredible. How’d you do that?!”
“It’s a specialty of mine.” Iz laughed. “I know all sorts of ways to bring relief and pain, with just a few finger jabs.” She brought her voice to a whisper. “I know how to make both men and women orgasm without even touching the typical erogenous zones.”
“Hit me up with that one sometime, if we meet at the spa.” Brook nodded, stretching, enjoying the new feeling of limberness. “Fuck, that feels great!”
“You’re a bit flabby, so I was worried I overdid it, but it looks like I did things just right.” Iz nodded, before waving, leaving once more. “If you see me at the resort, feel free to flag me down. There are going to be plenty of Primal members, so you won’t be a stranger there.” Then, finally, as soon as Brook had her fill of weird women that weren’t herself, the Sphynx finally left. Coincidentally, as soon as she started to leave, the mainland of Ishinomori started to appear in the distance.