His teeth grazed against his lip - finding it bruised - thinking on the matter while he stretched sleeping limbs for bloodflow once again, focus returning with a start as he knew the only reason he really travelled such a distance;
Vel’Koz.
He had been visiting him at the oasis, a usual but unscheduled trip, common in their friendship. Red eyes narrowed as he felt the tangs of pain across his body, used to such things - the aches of combat, of fights - what had happened for him to end up here? Talon knew he had at least made it to the voidling’s den…
What then?
His eyes had adjusted to the dark tint of the room some time ago, but it was only now that he moved himself to stand that he take a moment to follow the seams of the walls - finding it much larger than he had anticipated - and an overlarge mass slumped centered in the room, as if haphazardly dragged unceremoniously into the encagement.
Uneasily he moved closer, careful and silent in his footwork, reading more details of his cellmate as he drew near - a steady breathing, slow for a large beast, uneven silhouette of crooks and spades - upon realization the assassin was quick to close the distance; without the unending glow of energy from between his plates and eyes, it was hard to immediately recognize Vel’Koz in the dark.
But here he lay, large tendrils coiled around nothing, lying useless and unused, further inspection - slim fingers gliding over the cold skin of his friend in an attempt to find damages - finding small scales fallen from his flesh, lost or damaged he wasn’t sure - just as he didn’t know how to tell if the voidbeast’s muscles were bruised.
Talon knew full well that the cold worked against Vel’s heart(s? He would have to ask once they got out), knew that the chilled temperature of the room was probably what kept the beast slumbering.
He was a strong man to be sure, more so than the average human, but he knew full well that he wouldn’t be able to move Vel’Koz - a creature of his size and build would take more than just one human. So he couldn’t pull the voidling to a warmer spot - and he had no materials for creating a fire of any sort (Not that whomever had them would let him he’d assume)
Vel’s name fumbled on his tongue as he tried to rouse him, tried to wake him from the cold sleep; it didn’t seem to do anything.
The temperature was of little distress to him, his expression calm, at ease, as he tried to think of something to correct the situation - soon settling on sitting beside his friend to share his own warmth, little as it was.
Talon could feel the scales against his bare skin shuddering against him, shivering at the change in heat; but nothing outwardly changed. He could feel his body becoming colder though, knew that the alien beast was taking his core warmth whether the kindhearted voidling desired or not.
Not that he fully minded, the kinetic blasts of a Voidborn held much higher a chance for escape than he did alone.
Again, uneasy thoughts spun in his mind, vague fogged memories clearing as he stayed awake - physical reminders of bruises and aches assisting in serving as reminders to his lost time.
He had… come to visit, he was certain of that, to see his voidbeast as he hadn’t for some time - and…
Talon let his head rest against the cold belly behind him, legs drawn up to his chest as he sat between tendrils, the softest of smiles on the edges of his lips as he noticed the tips of the tentacles twitching with movement.
He had made it to his destination, crossing the ridges of dunes to see the small oasis den Vel’Koz had created… he remembered the sounds of combat, screams familiar of men in the throes of death, blasts echoing of Vel’s ability. There had been a fight before his arrival; they had already been there, he was just a bystander… wasn’t he?
Recollection came quicker now, muscle memory of scrapes, he had killed many on his way to find the now slumbering creature at his side, the foreign affiliation of those cut down made no difference in his mind - no real cause to ask who they were - just that they were invaders, attackers, enemies of something he… cared about.
The waking tendrils coiled against his ankles, pulling themselves closer to him in a sleeping hug as the soft murmuring of Vel’s deep voice reverberated around him - words fretful, panicked, perturbed - emotions Talon didn’t hear often from the echoed tone, soft pleas and barter to unseen ghosts, perhaps dreams of a memory (Did Vel dream? Had he never asked?) or communication with that unending pressure of his home.
Whatever the cause, his response was reactionary, a smooth palmed hand running with the flow of his scales, smoothing the cold skin, an attempt to ease the plagued slumber.
His fingers ghosted over the edges of missing plates - small things in comparison to the rest of Vel’Koz - but enough taken for him to see a pattern, a purpose - they hadn’t fallen out in combat…
They’d been taken.
Gritted teeth clenched with a hostile growl, Talon knew much more about the underbelly of the world than his foreign friend, of course he didn’t know much himself about the inner workings of things; the people, the places, the names - but the ideals of some of the institutes he could follow the words enough to understand what rules they hid from, and what ones they broke.
Who was to say what one this was - It could have been any number - who didn’t want to test the mettle of alien biology, of The Void and more.
“...Talon?”
His wandering fingers stopped cold, hopeful stare turning quickly to meet the dimmly lit eye of his friend - such a low glow that even the sudden sting of light did little to cause his dark adjusted eyes to wince. The assassin shifted his posture to kneel beside him, feeling the warming tendrils coiling around him - comfortably, almost like the big snake was curling to provide cover.
“I’m here-”
His words were interrupted by the deep thrum of Vel’Koz asking, again with a distressed tone - though the beast tried to hide it;
“Are you injured? Is there any discomfort or medical procedure required?”
Originally, Vel’s eye had been almost sleepy - just barely open - as he had begun to waken, but as soon as he hear Talon’s voice, his body shifted around him, tightening with what the human could understand as anxiety, though the voidling did not move from his laying position.
“No, A few bruises, but I’m okay…. How about you… you seem, tired?”
It was usually hard for him to pinpoint emotion and feeling with the giant eye - but at the moment it seemed pretty clear that Vel’Koz wasn’t himself in the least, so a solemn guess of exhaustion was a good out.
He didn’t know he had missed the sound of that churred laughter till it echoed low, quietly, in the air.
“I am jubilant that you are unharmed… though it seems the fleshlings here can not be trusted on word of mouth, they had given oath to leave you free from such tribulation”
Talon’s brow creased in thought, head tilted to the side as it did when he didn’t quite understand something - mind working to remember the other versions of the words Vel had spoken, eyes dropping to stare at his hands before he met the curious stare of his friend - realizing what he had said;
“You let yourself get captured… for me?”
Vel’Koz didn’t seem to understand why his pet sounded so perturbed by the notion, blinking slowly in the quiet as it was his turn to try and contemplate meaning. Tentacles swiveled and moved around him, slowly warming now that the mind was awake, thudding against the ground as thoughts swirled and connected.
“I was the cause of your capture; I would never be the reason of your demise, they had come to me, and you had gotten involved - thus it is my fault for situations at hand… my threats and acts of violence could only go so far with you in the equation.”
He spoke so matter-of-fact, like he hadn’t been taken by some unnamed group, some experimental torturers - like that choice made sense, like this was some inevitable outcome - Vel’s tendril rose to pat his pet on the chest, blinking slowly again, before laying it across his lap and speaking once more;
“Your heart is undamaged, no palpitation or arrhythmia - it beats correctly and even - they had given you doses of medicine, sedatives, meant for creatures my size… so I had worries that you would not wake again….though…”
His small purred laughter sounded again, the rumble vibrating through his core and bones, his voice sounding more awake as he spoke with his friend.
“If they had not stopped you, your blade would have easily outnumbered my count for bodies.”
Talon gave a sigh, the tendril in his lap receiving an affectionate pat, soft scritches under the scales as he knew his friend enjoyed as his mind wandered - he could deal with the revelation of how they got into this situation later, he could handle all those thoughts and worries when they weren’t in enemy territory.
His voice was low, the fainted smile on his lips as he responded with an amused chuckle;
“They’ve made another mistake, they left me with you.”
The assassin stood, stretching his body to ready for a fight, that bemused smile shifting to a bright eyed grin - watching his voidling begin to try and gather his tentacles about himself to ‘stand’.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Agreed.”
