Task Force X

Panos grit his teeth as he tumbled through the dirt, scattering pebbles in his wake.  Looking up at the Ocelomeh walking towards him brought a scowl to his face. His position on the ground, sprawled with hands bound tightly behind his back, did little to ameliorate the power difference between them. The Ocelomeh was normally taller than him, and Panos was pretty tall himself. Her reddish skin blended well with the dusky light of the ending day, her spotted coat stood out in the scraggly mountainous terrain. The tall but scrawny prisoner thought might possibly outrun her given her species relatively low stamina, but his reflexes and strength would be hard pressed to match hers in a fight. He strained at the taught thin rope binding his hands behind him fruitlessly, there was no way in Eros’ sweet Oasis he could beat the nun like this. She stopped a few body lengths away. Crouching, her brown eyes gleamed in delight as he drew his legs up – Panos preparing to continue the escape attempt she’d thwarted with a thrown object. Whatever it was had caused him to lose control of his stride and fall. Even now his legs stung.

She grinned in her crouch. “Where exactly were you planning to go, Convict?”, she asked, gesturing widely with a paw to the barren mountain trail so far from their native Order lands. Her eyes didn’t leave him for a moment, but she didn’t move any closer as if she was daring him to run once more. Panos stifled a growl as he realized the pointlessness of escape. Would he run to the fucking bakery out in the wilderness? Fucking bitch didn’t have to put it like that. Maybe he could eat a cactus and avoid getting snatched up by some beast or one of the uncivilized native mamono out here. The spotted nun’s grin widened even further, as if sensing his thoughts, prodding him to run to his death.

“I was going to find the bathroom, Sister Zochitl. Wouldn’t want to scar those pretty eyes of yours while doing my business.”, said Panos as snidely as possible for a man who had just eaten a face full of dirt. Still she didn’t come any closer, merely watching with that damned grin.

“Is that so? Why don’t you go ahead, Mr. Gaos? But it’s getting dark, who knows what you might trip over getting there. There might even be a line if you get there. Goblins, Orcs… wolves, cougars.”, said the Order nun blandly, her tail lashing rapidly in the dwindling light, her sharp white teeth standing out. The look in the crazy nun’s eyes made Panos reconsider even more, he was getting the impression that she’d let him run. His eyes noticed the bright pink Eros bauble pinned to her uniform. She was a fellow Eros Cultist, obviously a much more devout one. She probably didn’t know what exactly he’d done to deserve his incarceration, but was willing to let a heretic die in the bush. Sanctimonious bitch, thought the convict as he continued his speculations.

“Nah that’s cool, Sister. I wouldn’t dare leave a delicate woman like yourself  alone in such a dangerous place.  I was just overcome by your aura of chastity and all. Why don’t you give me a hand up, I seem to have tripped. Must’ve been this beautiful scenery.” said Panos with a sneer.

“Why don’t you lay face down in the dirt, Convict?” said the nun with steel in her voice. Panos grit his teeth as he did so, the knowledge that the clergy had high-levels of military and magical training made him balk at struggling. He restrained himself, there would be other opportunities to escape, either in transit or at wherever he was being transported.

Panos dodged the little Goblin's leap, leaving her to intercept one of the rustic mountain town's chairs in his place. With a snarl of frustration she tore it to splinters barehanded. Panos took the opportunity to back away as she indulged her anger. He glanced at the Ocelomeh who seemed to be more interested in chatting with a local Orc, there was a pile of coins on the table between the two.

"Hey Sister, some help would be nice!" he called as the Goblin tossed aside the remains of the chair. "It looks likes she is running *short* on patience." he added unable to resist the jibe. The sallow skinned Goblin's face flushed even more than it had during her raving about the 'crutches of civilization'. These mountain mamono were probably a pack of lunatics, thought Panos.

"I'm going to show you how to put that smart mouth to good use." growled the petite mamono as she clenched her fists.

"Think fast, Convict!" yelled Sister Zochitl as she slid a dagger across the floor. Her aim was such that the dagger stopped midway between him and the angry little mamono. Panos dived for it recklessly, slightly before the little Goblin did. His hand grabbed it just in time to put it between him and her own leap.

The force of her lunge continued and threw them both into a table. Panos groaned as he tried to push the little mamono off of him. It was much easier than he expected. The Goblin moaned, not even looking at the dagger plunged into her chest. Instead she looked at Panos, her dark black eyes were wide and unresponsive as she feebly grasped at him.

Sweating and angry, Panos stood knocking aside the rubble of table, chair and mug. He heard the Goblin weakly moan something about pretty mouths. He ignored it and left her to the incapacitating effects of the magic blade.

"That was some help, Sister. I don't know what you're up to with this 'rehabilitation' and 'special sentencing' crap, but it fucking stinks." growled Panos as he approached the table seating the Ocelomeh and Orc. The Orc caught his eye and bobbed her head nervously before quickly excusing herself and leaving the seat to Panos. The nun didn't even look up as she sat down. She was idly counting a large pile of coins on the table. She didn't seem concerned at all,
"After all of the effort we've gone into for you, this is how you treat the Order. I guess expecting a heretic to be appreciative would be too much." said the Ocelomeh inattentively, still counting the money not even bothering to look upwards. Panos had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself, the Eros nun was the only ally he had here among a population of wilderness mamono.

"Not that I don't appreciate the knife, but you could've just jumped into it. I'm not really feeling the love here, Sister." said Panos unable to keep his anger out of his voice.

At this the Ocelomeh looked upward, her eyes finally meeting his own. "Oh, you're getting the best sort of love, Convict. *Tough love*.". Her deep brown eyes bore into him, and there wasn't the slightest bit of humor in her expression. Panos felt himself shiver at the disturbing unflinching certainty in her face.

Breaking the impromptu staring contest, he looked away. Still antsy from the fight and her zealotry, he felt he had to say something -- if only to avoid getting further into her mamono weirdness. "She might have gotten to the dagger before me. Might want to work on your aim there, Sister." he said. The words were dull and washed out, like he was starting to feel.

"It went *exactly* where I wanted it, Convict. Blame the Orc for giving me better odds if you could both reach the knife. Go get yourself a drink." said the nun as she slid a small portion of the coin pile in his direction.

The punch Panos threw at her didn't land, and even a heretic like him wasn't proud of trying to punch a nun. But he had to try. For her part, Zochitl seemed to understand, or at least not mind *too* much, since she barely used her claws.