Yetta rolled out of bed, exhausted. The coffee maker was already brewing, and the hunter was thankful that she'd set the timer last night. The small war beast pup, which she'd named Cherry because of his deep, red coloring, snored on the foot of the bed. Yetta smiled, giving him a couple pats. With a huff, Cherry rolled over, letting her scratch his belly, the short tail wagging happily. Caiatl had sent over files for war beast training, as well as anything Yetta would need to know about bonding with Cherry. According to the empress, Yetta was doing just fine for not being raised in Cabal culture.
In all honesty, she almost felt like she was spitting on said Cabal culture by naming her war beast something like Cherry, but it suited him, and he answered to it. Yetta eased up on the scratching, stretched, and padded into the kitchen, patting Jason's shell as she passed. Cherry snapped awake as the closet door opened, and with a small huff, hopped down and padded over, sitting down. He was getting bigger, coming up to the middle of her lower leg now. She chuckled as she tugged the armor in place, tightening it so it stayed.
"Do you wanna go with me to train, bug?" she asked calmly. Cherry let out an excited barking sound, running in circles around her legs. "I'll take that as a yes then?"
Jason beeped out a mild complaint as his light came back on. "It's early, Yetta," he complained.
"Cherry needs to train a bit. I do too."
. . .
Yetta knew Drifter wouldn't let anything happen to her, or Cherry. He was smarter than that. Carman's wrath was not worth a dead student. However, as Yetta was rezzed for the tenth time, a dull throb in her skull where a Hive sword had landed, she wasn't so sure at this point. Cherry was laying by her side, chewing on the exo skeleton of an arm, growling happily. His tail thudded softly on the ground as he watched his hunter sit up, head in her hands. She scratched the back of his head, chuckling softly. "Ready?" she asked.
Cherry got up, shaking dirt off of his scales. Yetta picked up her grenade launcher, and loaded one into the barrel. Twisting her neck, she cracked it, and ran forwards to the Hive. Cherry growled, running alongside her, launching himself at one enemy, and ripping the arm off. Yetta stayed behind a bit, whistling for the war beast to get out of the way. Once the pup was safe, she fired, the grenade leaving a trail of purple fire as it hit the ground.
Time was almost out, and Yetta wanted to sit and wait out the last five minutes, but Cherry was wound up now, so she nodded towards the Hive. Cherry ran after them, yelping when their bullets found a home in his scales. Oh. Yetta was pissed now. She equipped a rifle, checking her ammo, and ran. She almost had enough energy…just another minute and she could swing a stick at all of them.
She quickly found the Hive who'd gone after Cherry. Yetta didn't even waste time trying to aim and shoot. She summoned Arc to her hands, and swung. Her fist connected with its chest, sending it flying back. And with a subtle click in her chest…the staff came easily to her hands, Arc flying off of both it and her arms, as she swung wildly at the Hive, shocking many to death. Bodies lay around her, and the staff dissipated as the timer went off. The match was over.
The scratches on her face stung, her armor had holes in it from various bullets. Jason tsked at Yetta as he healed her, the hunter bandaging up the different injuries on Cherry as well. "Don't give me that," she warned her ghost as he tsked again, finding another bullet wound on her.
"I'm not saying anything," Jason said, cooly. At this point, he was more than aware that Yetta was testy after getting her ass beat in Gambit. Especially if Carman was involved. Especially if said warlock was on the other side. Yetta stretched her neck out, standing up as the last of Cherry's injuries were covered up. The pup stood with her, tail wagging as she tossed him an arm to chew on. She'd learned Cherry quite liked the taste of Hive. If she remembered right, Drifter did too. The similarities concerned her a bit.
"Hey, Yetta?" Crow's calm voice rang out through her ship's comms, and she hurried over to the console to answer.
"Hey, I'm here."
"I'm leaving for the Traveler. I don't think anybody's filled you in, but I'm leaving for the portal to see what that's about."
"You mean that odd triangle bitch?"
"That."
"You mean that *hasn't* always been part of the Traveler?"
Crow chuckled warmly. "Just get over here. I want to see you before I go."
. . .
Yetta wove her way through the crowd, Cherry running behind her to keep up. Jason flew a ways behind the two, his guardian basically sprinting to get to the Accipiter before Crow left. "There!" He'd spotted the hunter Yetta was looking for, who was still loading supplies onto his ship.
Yetta followed the directions, running at Crow with her arms outstretched to hug him tightly. Crow caught her, crushing her in a hug of his own. When she finally broke away from him, she kept her hands on his arms, looking into his sunset eyes. "Who's going with you?" she fearfully asked.
"Nobody. I'm going alone." Not the answer she wanted.
"I can go with you," she offered. A heavy hand on her shoulder brought her back to attention. She turned sharply, looking up at Carman's helmet, which tilted down towards her.
"No, you can't. You aren't ready for what's in there yet. Crow can handle himself just fine." Carman tugged Yetta back a couple steps. "He'll be alright."
"We don't know what's in there!" she protested. "Maybe I *am* ready!"
Carman sighed softly. "Trust me, Yetta. You aren't." She nodded to Crow. "Go ahead and go. I'll talk to her."
His mouth twisted, looking at the smaller, pleading hunter. He finally nodded, and sighed. "Carman?" he called out while he boarded. "When you come to meet me, take her with you. She deserves a part in this too."
"I will. She just needs to be patient." Carman's hand didn't leave Yetta's shoulder. "We'll leave when I get the call."
Yetta place a hand on Cherry's back to stable herself. The door to the Accipiter closed behind Crow, blocking her off from saying what she needed to say.
. . .
"'She's not ready'?? What the fuck was that Carman!" Yetta yelled behind closed doors. "I am more than ready!"
"No, you aren't. You still get slaughtered at least ten times every *single* time you go into a Lost Sector!" was the warlock's retaliation.
"I'm getting better!" Yetta threw her arms up, storming off. The room got hotter, and Yetta looked at the floor.
"You aren't. And you know it."
"I am! I promise!"
"Then why do I still need to save you?!" Carman's voice grew thick, the curl of her words becoming harder to understand. "Why is it every time you go into a Sector, I need to save you from getting annihilated??"
"You don't! I can manage them myself!" Cherry whined from his perch on Carman's couch. Elsie walked into the apartment, and looked between her girlfriend and the student, who were both glaring at each other.
Sighing, she set a hand on Carman's shoulder. "What happened here?" she asked, both to mediate and to get context.
"Carman doesn't think I can handle myself on the field," Yetta sneered.
Carman stepped forward, Solar gathering at her fingertips. At this point, the room was unbearably warm. "You *can't*." Elsie held a hand in front of Carman to stop her approach. Yetta stood her ground, a hand on her knife.
"Save it for the Crucible, both of you."
Carman growled, and Yetta sparked Arc to her hands. "Fine. You think you're *so* strong. Go then. Go to the Traveler. Get yourself killed. We'll see how long you last."
Yetta's jaw slacked, then clenched, a muscle twitching. "Change your mind, *old lady*?"
Carman took another heavy step forward. Elsie shoved her back. "Go ahead. Leave. I won't be waiting for you to come back," the warlock growled. Yetta stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.
Faintly, Yetta could hear Elsie begging Carman to just apologize to Yetta, and fix things. She didn't care at this point. She had a trip to get ready for.