12/28/96 (Taylor) High cheekbones, pale, smooth skin with a smattering of freckles over her pert nose, and large mischievous green eyes enrapture you as your gaze falls upon this delicate, petite woman. Her long, fiery red hair, tumbles down just past the small of her back, and she is constantly pushing it back away from her face in semi annoyance. She walks with an air of nonchalance, a smile seemingly always to tug at the corners of her pouty lips as she casts her gaze in your direction. A loose fitting blouse with puffy sleeves is tucked into a skirt, which swirls around her ankles in a wild disarray of bold colors as she moves about the room. Her feet are adorned with a sturdy pair of black combat boots which are laced up the ankles. (Scorpion) Her long and thick mass of rioutous, untameable golden red curls have been scraped uncompromisingly back into a tight ponytail, the ends of it still managing to reach down to the curve of her hips. As you watch, a few wispy tendrils manage to escape their confines to fall forward into her eyes. Those focus on you as she feels your glance, revealing their rather startling color point blank, a smoky crimson much like the color of blood. Slightly longer perhaps than it should be, her nose is narrow and snub, giving her somewhat the expression of arrogance. A thin silver hoop ring glistens in her left nostril, a tiny sliver of rose crystal dangling off the end of it. The aloof expression she seems perpetually to be seen with finds itself dispelled only by the faint, somber smile that curves her full, sensual lips upward at the corners on occasion. Her gaunt looking frame is deceptive, lending her the appearance of fragility as it does. She is, in fact, lithely and tautly muscled, each motion completed with the minimum of effort expended. Despite the gauntness, her breasts are full, hips, thighs n cales rudeout in perfect proportions. You guess that she is around 5'9. Dressed for going out to work in the ranges, a lopp,staie, ripped and torn flightsuit covers her lean figure. Once a beautiful rose in color, time and the ranges have managed to reduce it to a pale shadow of itself. Nearly every inch of the material that is still intact has a stain on it, ground in crystal dust, blood, food stains. Her boots fare little better, the steel toed caps peeking through the thick black leather while the sides are scuffed and scarred from all the times her cutter has kicked granite back onto them. Taylor storms out of the vein. "I ain't cutting no stinkin' rose no more!" Lowering her cutter at Taylor's loud voice and spinning around to look at the other singer, her duo partner, Scorpion arches her brows, a taunting smile upon her lips. And yes, she's just in the perfect mood for egging Taylor on. What, with the other woman cutting more than her share of flawed crystals and all, Scorp herself is keeping a thin rein on her temper. She smiles then, a sweet, fake smile and shrugs. "Nay be cutting *any* color should you as bad as you've been cutting..." Taylor spins on Scorpion who's right on her heels as they emerge from the cramped vein. Her voice echos throughout the cavern, her voice gravelly with her absolute anoyance, "I said, I ain't cutting your stinkin' rose no more Scorp." To emphasize her point, she picks a medium flawed crystal out of one of the stacked cartons and drops it into the dirt, "Stinkin' rose is worthless and you know it!" Alright. Now *that* does it. Too long of holding her temper under tight reins. Too many times listening to Taylor have one of her screaming tantrums. And please, lets not forget the resonance zinging through Scorpion's own body. Taking only a brief moment to glance at the tossed crystal, she closes the already miniscule distance between her and the other woman and casually, not even having to think about it, she raises her left hand and slaps the other woman across the face. Backhanded. Resoundingly. And then steps back, a cold smile upon full lips. Taylor's head snaps back, slightly shocked at the sharp slap to her cheek. Eyes widening in disbelief her jaw drops. "Well, I fardling swear," she speaks slow and in a very controlled voice. A gleem comes to her eyes, flashing wickedly and she lifts her foot and hovers it over the dropped crystal. "Want to try that again?" She holds her cutter out in front of her in a defensive gesture, every muscle in her body intent on crushing that crystal to bits below the heel of her boot. Well, now that she asks...Yes. Scorpion *does* want to try it again. Standing still for as long as it takes to examine the other singer closely, she suddenly steps forward, batting Taylor's cutter aside and with it, her arm. Nothing she can do about the foot just yet, what with both women having the same reflexes. But that cutter....well...talk about waving a red flag in front of a raging bull... The following moment, the hand used to bat the cutter out of her way slides upward and lands upon the other cheek, leaving twin palm marks. Crystal be damned. Scorpy just wants to fight now. Taylor's foot goes down on the crystal, shattering it with a sickening crunch the moment Scorpy's hand connects with her cheek. Reflexes yes, but this is annoyed anger that pushes the other woman away from her with exacting force. She smirks sshe watchs th oan stumble backwards and try to get her footing before falling on her backside. Circling around, cutter poised dangerously she taunts, "Your rose is worthless," emphasized by the crunch beneath her feet, "I ain't cutting it no more. And if you want to fight, you've got one. But don't come to me when you can't find anything better to cut, I know yer jealous of my whites, MY babies..." Calm. Way too calm. As Scorpion rises to her feet and sets her own cutter aside, she calmly bends forward and removes the dagger from within her boot at the same time. But not to use. No, she's simply removing *that* tempatation too. But that doesn't mean she doesn't throw it. She does. And it wizzes less than centimeters past Taylor's head to land in the wall of the vein with a loud 'thunk'. "Hell, Taylor. If nay even cut such a..worthless..color can you...nay deserving of white are you either. Nothing to do with jealousy is it. Pity. For the crystals you flaw it is... *Your* babies. If children they really were, nay be allowed to keep them for long would you..." Her smile is chilling, along with the expression deep within her blood red eyes, a deep burning anger nearly out of control. Yet controlled at the same time. Scary. And hard to maintain. Taylor's brow wrinkles and she pulls a grimace at the knife wizzing by her face, but quickly returns to a neutral demenor. Watching Scorpion's every move she hides her surprise as Scorpion disarms herself. Finally with a shrug and a short, nervous chuckle, she tosses her cutter aside also. "Well, then. I see you've made your choice." Adding just as nonchalantly as she moves towards the stacked cartons, "Am more deserving than you'll ever be," her smile is cold as is her voice, "and I don't give a rats behind what you think." And with that, she pushes the cartons over, making it an obstacle course should Scorpion try to jump her. Crystal assault. And to Scorpion's adapted color no less. Now the crazed woman has really gone and done it. Obstacle course or no, she is across the small chamber and on top of the other singer before so much as a breath has been drawn. As always, in her rage, she has gone silent, watchful. With one quick motion, she has reached for and twisted Taylor's arm behind her back then jerked it upward at a painful angle. Even with a higher pain tolerance. Disregarding for the moment, the crystals she herself has just ruined. A wail of pain, bouncing off the cavern walls assaults the two singers' sensitive ears, the call of crystal the only reply. Taylor wrenches herself away with an audible grunt, turns and in a single motion punches Scorpion in the stomach and grabs her hair, swearing as she drags the stockier woman down to her knees with sheer force of raw adrenaline strength, though her grip seems to loosen as a shard of crystal penetrates her thigh as she goes down also. To her knees. And directly into the broken remains of a very large crystal. Scorpion winces, pain alone giving her the strength to rip herself free of Taylor's grasp. Inhaling sharply, trying to recover her breath, she is still for a long moment before the pain turns into anger. Reaching for the shard embedded deep within the other woman's thigh, she gives it a vicious twist then drags it upward, widening the wound. As well as making it deeper. Scorp's blood, as well as Taylor's now mingles upon the dirt floor of the cavern, soaking into the thirsty ground and leaving naught but a dark reminder of its presence as wounds scab over quickly and begin to heal. Taylor shrieks and lashes out violently with both fingernails and teeth, insanely angry, the reason behind this all forgotten for the moment as she tries to inflict as much pain on Scorpion as she can. Now damnit. That hurt! But it doesn't slow Scorpion down. She doesn't really need to have skin intact on her neck and lower face to roll around in the dirt. Grasping a handful of Taylor's hair, Scorp drags it backward with enough force to pop it then thrusts it aside. Making Taylor follow her head should she not wish to break her own neck. Even then, it would still be painful. Unless, of course, the other woman manages to stop her forward momentum before landing face first into a pile of shards. Taylor skids, literally on her face through the shards of crystal and dirt. Overcome with intense pain for a split second she gasps for her breaths, then calms herself so that the scream doesn't wrench from her throat. Very slowly she rises, looking like some sort of laboratory experiment gone awry and swipes the dirt and shards from the front of her. Rising to her full diminuitive height she smirks evilly at Scorpion. "Are you finished or do I have to really hurt you now?" Mocking laughter is Scorpion's only reply as she too gets to her feet to stand and face Taylor, arms loosely hanging at her sides. Just laughter. Taylor idly picks the shards of that stinkin' rose crystal from her face and watches Scorpion warily. She then starts to giggle maniacly as she pulls a particularly large piece from her cheek, "Ah, m'dear Scorpy, you're dead meat now." And without warning she pounces on Scorpion and grabs hair in both fists and yanks! hard! The laughter stops. You better believe it does. Choked off on a gasp no less. Not really a gasp of pain though. More one of injured dignity. To be reduced to cat fighting..Scorpion thinks not. Not her style. Grasping both of Taylor's wrists in her hands, she wrenches them downward and away, ignoring what that does to her hair. What hair? Oh, you mean the stuff still in Tay's fists? The fragile bones pop and crackle beneath her steely fingers and Scorp slams them back against the wall of the cave, pinning Taylor still. With her face less than an inch away from the other woman's ear, she hisses, "Call this dead meat you do? Fighting like an animal? Nay even do this right can you. Do *any* thing at all right can you? Hmm?" Taylor struggles, pain not even an issue at this point, she snarls at Scorpion. "Let me go you two faced wench. You're just jealous of me. I'm better than you, you can't even keep a man happy!" She knees Scorpion in the groin, never did play by the rules. Oooh. Hitting below the belt no less. Literally and figuratively. The wince Scorpion gets is from Taylor's words, a hidden pain being forced out into the open. But, like most injured animals, it comes to nothing more than adding more fuel to the fire. Like a heroin addict, her body so pumped on adrenalin that she feels nothing, she shows no more than a momentary jerk of her body as the knee lands and then she's reached up to grasp Taylor's chin in her hand to slam her head back against the rock covered wall. Extremely hard. But not enough to make the other woman pass out. As the body momentarily slumps in reaction, Scorpion grabs the back of her neck and forces her downard, face first, into her own knee. You feel the gaze of someone else. Taylor lets out a gutteral moan and retches, side effect of trauma to the brain no less. Going limp she tries to gather her wits as her breath is once again taken away with the knee in her gut. Glassy eyed, she tries to focus on Scorp, but then finds her blurry vision guided to a point just over Scorpion's left shoulder. Speachless and dizzy, she can't quite discern what or whom it may be, for all she's concerned, it's a claim jumper coming to stop this little trist. You hear a low growl coming from the edge of the vein. Back to the entrance, Scorpion stands over Taylor, her hands at her sides. Enraged she may be, but she's also exhausted. Too exhausted to notice the path Taylor's eyes take. But that growl...she knows that growl. Hears it every night in her sleep. Her eyes close and her face pales. But still she doesn't turn aroumd. It's a hallucination. That's all it is. It can't be. That -thing- is supposed to be dead... Footsteps echo hauntingly off the canyon walls. You can barely hear something else breathing not far off. Taylor spits a mouthfull of bile and blood and blinks to try and clear her vision more. "Claim jumper!" She slurrs a bit as she speaks, "Can havvve thissss stinnkin' claim.." A rock is hurled and hits Scorpion's left shoulder with a hard *thud* as the something howls in rage. Scorpion shakes her head at Taylor as she still refuses to turn around. She doesn't want to see what she knows is getting ready to come through that entrance. Maybe, just maybe..if they're real quite... Finger to her lips, her anger with the other woman forgotten, she makes a soft 'shh'ing sound then bites back a sharp yelp as the rock impacts, spinning her about. She takes a step back, eyes gone wide with fear. Hell yes she's afraid. This..beast..this..creature..nearly killed her the last time she encountered it. Foolishly, she doesn't move. Is unable to move. Rooted to the spot. But her eyes can move, and they do so, directly to her cutter lying amidst a shattered pile of crystals. Cartons are upturned everywhere, narrowing escape routes. Taylor slumps to the ground, her support abandoning her. "Scorp," she reaches weakly to the singer feebly, "Let 'emmmm havve da claim..." A dark, menacing shape stalks closer to the two women. You see a bright glint as it gets closer, but it's gone before you can make out what caused it. Stepping back now as her muscles unlock, Scorpion reaches down and tugs..or attempts to tug...Taylor to her feet. "Nay a damned claim jumper is it Tay...Remeber..nay..Nay around were you the last time..." Her voice trails off and she slowly, ever so slowly, begins to inch her way along the wall, trying to get to either her cutter or the dagger embedded in the wall. Damned thing. It may kill her. But it's not going to escape unscathed. It's already ruined her life. Of course, she does all this encumbered by dragging Taylor along with, through the shattered remains of cut crystals upon the floor. Noooooisy. Crystal shards shift beneath the things feet as it stalks closer. Its howls make you cringe. Taylor protests, still not registering Scorpion's intense fear. "Sillly, is tooo a claim jumperrr." She swats at her friend as she is dragged. At the howl, she stops cold, body stiff and she turns her head, her sight clearing just long enough to get a good look at the hairy beast stalking them. Jaw working overtime she only mewls in terror only the tugging of Scorpion dragging her from her stupor. "Holy fardling hells," she drawls. Both women fix terrified gazes at the beast. This 'creature' stands over six foot tall and it's looming shadow alone strikes a note of fear into you. Silhoutetted by whatever light is nearby you can make out its vaguely anthropomorphic shape but little beyond that. Fur bristles along its limbs as they move wildly about itself, every so often there is a sharp reflection from its movements, then it is gone again. Though the gutteral growls and howling is enough to set your nerves on edge something in the deep red eyes chills your blood and freezes you were you stand. A heavy arm reaches out seemingly from nowhere and clouts the side of Scorpion's head hard enough to send sparks of light through her vision. Cringing as the howl echoes off the exposed vein, Scorpion shakes her head and refuses steadfastedly to succomb to her urge to answer the cry with a pained outburst of her own. Not this time. Barely aware of Taylor, even though she still has the woman securely in her grasp, her steps quicken. Gotta reach one of those weapons... But the beast reacts. As she should have remembered it would. And the world dims, shot through with painful flecks of light. Weakend already, from her fight with Taylor and then the initial lash of terror, she is forced to lean against the cave walls to regain her senses. Wasting valuable time. You hear a low whine that harshly clashes with the crystal around you. It reminds you of the sound a cutter might make. Taylor cringes at cry of crystal going sour with the beasts cry. Reaching up, she frantically pries Scorpion's fingers from her clothing, "Lemmee go, let go!" Frantic, she crushes the others fingers and a few bones crack but it seems to do the trick and Scorp looses her hold. Diving, literally, for her cutter, she pays no attention to the shards of crystal imbedding into her skin as she scrambles for her discarded cutter, not even sure if it'll work since she toss'd it without thinking earlier. The beast falls quiet, only it's labored breathing lets you know its still there...and getting closer. A harsh whine squeals through the area and you see that it takes a swipe at the closest person to it, Taylor. It misses her and hits the wall instead, sending a shower of rocks to the canyon floor. Scorpion, shaking her abused fingers, two of which are undoubtedly broken judging by the odd angle at which they now hang, slowly turns around to face the beast, her chin tilted defiantly. As it swings at Taylor, she herself dives. Heading toward her own cutter. She quickly picks it up then hops to her feet, securing it over her shoulder. Sidestepping an overturned carton, she begins to edge her way toward the door. Outside. Don't let it corner you. If she learned nothing else the last time, that would be her single most haunting memory. Taylor makes it to her cutter without further mishap, the grace of God or just pure luck, who cares. Grabbing the cutter with her bruised fingers, she tries to turn it on and shrieks in dispair as it doesn't react. "Scorp, it ain't working!" Desperately she pulls the housing off the cutter and fiddles with the wires within, oblivious to the electrical jolt she manages to get touching a live wire. The thing lashes out in obvious anger at the quick moving Singer. As she dives past it it responds by reaching out...it's reach seems so long compared to its height. Suddenly there is a tearing sound of fabric and flesh as a jagged cut is opened in Scorpion's upper arm. Pausing as Taylor's voice reaches her, Scorpion is at first unaware of the beasts motion toward her. At first. No way she could continue to be unaware as the attack slices flesh down to bone. But mercifully leaves the arm intact. For how long who knows. It showed no compunction about ripping her arm right out of the socket last time. A sharp bite to her lower lip muffles her scream and she leaps back, hopefully out of range. Remembering Taylor at the last second, she looks toward her and quietly snaps, "Don't move!" The thing seems to be uncertain of which woman it should move towards. It backs up slightly to keep both in sight. Taylor spares a glance up then returns to her frantic repair of her cutter, hotwiring it like all the other times she's done while out cutting and the darn thing breaks. "Almost got it," she hisses through her teeth, oblivious to Scorpion's warning to stay quiet. With a surprising jolt, even to her, the cutter suddenly come alive and she drops it. *can this really be happening* And the cutter dies once again. A scream of frustration and a terror filled glance towards the beast, she grabs the cutter and backs up against a wall, fumbling blindly at the innards of the cutting machine. The sound of Taylor's scream seems to make the decision for the looming beast and it quickly strides across the area seperating them. A meaty appendage kicks out at the sitting singer and connects to her side, breaking several ribs and sending her sprawling across the crystal littered area. Taylor curls into a ball as she's dropped, a groan of agony as she rolls away from the range beast and out of immediate and further harm for the moment. Scorpion closes her eyes as Taylor screams. Damnit. She told her to stay still. And quiet. But no.... But nor can she herself just stand still and let the beast tear one of her best friends to pieces. She's been there. Done that. And wishes it on no one else. Enraged by its treatment of singer, Scorp launches herself at the beast, landing upon its shoulders. Her right arm is mostly useless, the previous attack of the creature having severed several nerves off in the process. But her left is still strong and she slides it around the things neck in a stranglehold born of desperation. Taylor lies in a heap, trying to catch her breaths, unable to do much more than that for the time being. The beast howls in frustration as it tries to throw the annoying person from it's back. Finally it grabs Scorpion's arm with a sickening crunch and throws her off to land hard against a nearby wall. Taylor's eyes focus on the dagger, just about delerious from the injuries to her body she somehow manages to drag herself into what could be technically a standing possition. Doubled over, she staggers towards the wall, shuffling through the debree as quickly as possible, intent on only one thing, slashing the beast to it's death. Falling against the wall with a thump, she reaches for the dagger and manages to get it free, then crumbles to the ground, out of breath and just in time to see Scorpion thrown like a rag doll against the jagged cavern wall.... 'Well, obvious is it that -that- didn't work,' Scorpion has time to briefly reflect as she goes flying through the air. And then all thought stops as her entire body turns into one giant, throbbing nerve. Every inch of it filled with pain. Lets not forget loss of breath either. She slumps to the floor, dragging air into her lungs. Yup. You guessed it. The force of the impact broke at least three ribs, one of which is perilously close to puncturing a lung. She is unaware of that however. Twitching reflexively, she attempts to gather the strength to move. Now that the two women are closer together, the thing advances on them both, it's shaggy head swinging from one to the other. It stomps and howls and you wonder if you really caught the words, 'Get out' or if it is just you imagination playing tricks on you. Taylor works her swollen fingers around the hilt of the dagger, trying to get a good grasp. Edging herself up the wall, her fear is turned into rage, and she mutters to Scorpion, "Stay still," without a single facial muscle moving. She stands there, imobile, waiting.. waiting for the beast to come to her...... Let's take stock of the situation shall we. At least, from Scorpion's perspective. One, she is facing the creature of her nightmares. Again. Two, her left *and* her right arm are useless. She has broken ribs, a concussion, numerous internal injuries. And Taylor tells her *not* to move. Like she's going to. At least not yet. But she has to try. Eventually. The creature stalks forward towards what it sees as the only remaining threat. It sends a screaming -something- in her direction and a bloody slice appears along Taylor's ribs. Taylor doesn't feel, only reacts and she lunges! Aiming for the beasts heart. She feels the knife go in, hit bone and then continue on to the very hilt. That's all she remebers as she falls and hits her head on boulder, dead or unconcious, who knows at this point. Eyes cracking slowly open as she regathers her strength, Scorpion looks around the tiny cavern before inching her way to her knees. That small motion takes nearly the rest of her strength and slides the broken rib home, puncturing a lung. She gasps, perhaps drawing the creatures attention to herself. Perhaps not. Something screams in pain and anger then lashes out at the source of its pain. It grabs Taylor by the leg and whips her unconcious form away from it. -Most- of her is tossed several feet away. The leg it still has in its hands as it searches for anything else to vent its rage upon. Taylor flies through the air with the greatest of ease, her body crumbling as if broken in millions of tiny pieces as it hits the ground with a sickening thud.. She lies motionless, bleeding. Oh gods..Scorpion, blinking at the leg within the beasts hands, slowly makes her way to her feet, wavering unsteadily. Ignoring the beast, hoping it does the same, she starts to limp her way toward the fallen woman, punctured lung and all. The creature advances on Scorpion's limping form and whacks her across her shoulders with the leg in it's grasp, sending her sprawling over Taylor. Before she can do much else a hard metallic object pounds the back of her head, sending her into oblivion. The rangy thing shuffles closer to the still forms of the two women and stands there for a long time, as if to assess the chances of furthur threat. Scorpion: If the world were more cruel a place, calling this one 'cracked' would be an understatement. Spiderweb fractures seem to radiate from a central point upon her forehead, turning a nasty purple against her skin. The right arm has been rather well sliced through, so well, in fact, that even the bone is severed, only a thin scrap of flesh holding it on. Her breathing is ragged, chest bent at a rather odd and unnatural angle, and her entire form is peppered with bleeding, crystal filled pockmarks. In addition to all of this, her pupils are dilated, and slowing their motions with every breath that she takes. Taylor: Hmm...where to begin on this one? Starting at the top, a rather large and somewhat...wall-shaped dent has been made in the left side of her skull, shards of bloody bone, gore, and jelatinous tissue oozing out from the cracks and matting her hair quite nicely. Shards...shards, shards of crystal also poke through her skin, forming an interesting mosaic-type pattern of blood, flesh, and silicon substance, all along her hands, arms, and nearly every other patch of skin. One wrist is bent at a rather odd angle, the joint about the consistency and color of cherry gelatin, while the other sports a rather nasty bruise. Then, the truely horrible injury, her left leg has been, well, removed. A sharp spike of bone, the remnent of her femur, protrudes from the hip, surrounding by the still writing mass of bloodvessles, both crimson and blue, and the shredded, tenderised remnains of the muscle bunchings, as well as the occasional twitching nerve fiber. ! ! ! Deciding that they either didn't live, or might not yet it bends over them. The creature stands and hefts Scorpion over one shoulder while dragging Taylor by her remaining leg behind it. It quickly passes over the rough terrain and dumps the two into the sled that is waiting. Then it does something that shows it posesses far more intelligance than your average brainless being, it flips on the emergency beacon of the sled and then disappears into the Ranges as darkness decends.