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After the defeat of the Archon, Scott had hoped, deep in the bottom of his heart, that Akksul would come around. There wasn't a bone in his body that genuinely disliked the testy angara, but it seemed that he'd been a bit too naive. Friendship was a bit too much to ask for, but at least some amicability would be nice. "He is stubborn," Jaal had reminded Scott, prior to giving the human a friendly squeeze on the shoulder. "He has never liked being proven wrong."And Scott understood. Few Milky Way species liked being corrected - hell, he worked with Tann daily. He didn't doubt that angara could feel the same and, thankfully, at least you'd be told before getting the cold shoulder for a while. But Akksul was different in that regard. He wasn't wary, or polite, or friendly, like most of the angara Scott met. He was just hostile. Jaal had told him that even if Scott got on Akksul's good side, his abrasiveness would stay. AKA, Scott wouldn't be able to tell if Akksul ever liked him or not unless he deigned it necessary to tell Scott straight to his face. Which ... was not reassuring. He sighed, hands resting on his hips as he let his head fall back, eyes trained on that vast blue Aya sky. He'd been called back to Aya to assist in setting up Resistance outposts on a few other traversible worlds in Andromeda, and had come back to prepare for another outing after a quick debrief with Evfra and the Moshae. His teammates had dispersed across the city, mostly holed up in the museum or the tavetaan. Jaal, darling as ever, stayed at his lovely perch on a balcony overlooking the lush horizon, keen on waxing poetic about his people's capital planet to him later on the Tempest. Scott knew he had to talk to the Moshae next - Evfra had called the Pathfinder to his office firstly because there were more local issues he had to personally oversee and didn't want to waste the Moshae's time making her trek all the way to Resistance HQ. Now, Scott was on his way to rendevous with Moshae Sjefa and get her up to speed.Scott bounced down the laboratory steps with pep, watching his feet as he entered. "Moshae, it's Ryder. Evfra had some stuff to do so I came alo -" Scott stopped in his tracks when he finally touched down on flat floor and had looked up to stare straight into beautiful, glaring sky blue eyes. Akksul kept his arms crossed defensively, not bothering to hide the disdain in the downward curl of his bunny lip. Scott froze, pursed his lips, and swallowed, before smiling and crossing his arms over his chest as well. "Hey man ... come 'round here often?" Akksul squinted, his ire growing more visible the longer he shared oxygen with the human Pathfinder. The longer he was quiet, the stronger the trepidation that welled up in the human's chest, swallowing his nervousness thickly. The tense silence permeated the air and Scott couldn't help shifting his weight, glancing around to find a way to get himself out of this situation. "You here to see the Moshae?" Akksul turned, letting his arms fall to his side as he broadened his shoulders and stalked towards Scott like a panther. It took everything in the human not to shrink a few steps back, until the blue angara towered over him, nose to nose. "I know what you are trying to do - why your people sent you alone. The others may be taken by you, but I will not falter. Sly beast," he hissed, tone heavy with vitriol. Scott furrowed his brows, trying to understand what exactly he was being accused of."Wh - What?" Akksul snorted and derisively raked his eyes over Scott's anxious figure. Scott couldn't help but straighten his posture, a bead of sweat tickling the nape of his neck. He was undoubtedly nervous, but he would never say Akksul looked scary. The angaran man was so beautiful that the younger Ryder could, if he were a more creative person, write poetry about him that would even rival Jaal's.Scott once again swallowed thickly and was about to resign himself to being flattened by the overbearing pressure Akksul exuded before a sharp cry of "Akksul!" rang through the quiet. "What are you doing to the human Pathfinder?!" Moshae Sjefa had returned, eyes narrowed as she hoped that her best student was not intimidating the representative to a whole station of friendly aliens. The sky blue angara backed off, his expression shifting into a petulant one under the gaze of the Moshae. Her displeasure was tangible - she needn't even say it - and Akksul's body language was already preparing him for the scolding he was about to receive. "Ah, Moshae! Don't worry about it," Scott placated, stepping away from the stairs and further into the lab, placing himself between the Moshae and Akksul. "We were just making conversation, right?" He turned to Akksul and winked, hoping he'd get it. The blue angara just stared, brow ridges furrowing. Scott winked again for good measure. The Moshae sighed, laying a hand on her hip as she fully entered her lab. As she got comfortable in her space, Scott followed along, leaving Akksul where he stood, alone.It wasn't until Scott had finished talking to the Moshae and turned around to leave did he realize that the two had completely ignored Akksul, giving him time to slip away.After that, it was radio silence from Akksul. Scott couldn't deny that the gorgeous, blue angara was avoiding him - that part was pretty obvious. Even when the Pathfinder dropped in at random times to chat with the Moshae in her lab, Akksul was nowhere to be seen. Although he felt a bit bad for running him out of a possible safe space, there was nothing he could really do considering Akksul hated his species' guts. But oh well. Life goes on. There was more to Andromeda than one wayward alien's distaste of him and Tann hadn't let him have a moment's peace since the defeat of the Archon. Scott was certain there would be far fewer worlds to find, considering Meridian was a veritable utopia and what Habitat 7 should've been. Exploring Meridian for outpost locations was one thing - all other clusters were surely scrubbed clean by Tempest & Co themselves. After all that running around, getting lambasted by the Scourge since they were still searching for more kett routes, Scott decided that everyone on board deserved a break and Aya was just what they needed. Kadara, even under Reyes' watchful eye was no walk in the park, and Voeld was far, far too frigid. Besides, Scott found some dogtags in an ambushed Resistance encampment that he was certain Evfra would like to have.As soon as he stepped off the Tempest, Scott felt eyes on him. Not like they had been when he'd made first contact with the people of Aya - the interest in his group of Milky Wayers had waned quite a bit after 30 or so trips - but it was definitely targeted. Targeted at him. It made the hair on the back of his neck prickle with cold sweat (and he wasn't sweating just because Aya was humid). He didn't know what he'd done to piss the angara wathcing him off, but he tried to be as nonchalant about their presence as possible. It was a quick visit - go to Resistance HQ, meet with Evfra, and get outta dodge. Just a quick in and out."Ryder," SAM started, his voice monotone as ever. "Not now, SAM, I'm trying to take a small break. Besides, I'm feeling a headache coming on. Take a short vacay, please?" SAM was silent for a second."Ryder, I don't think-" "Please, SAM? I'll call you back when I get back on the Tempest. Some peace, please?" SAM was silent for a while before a beep sounded on Scott's mind, indicating that he'd muted himself for the time being. Scott gave a deep sigh of relief before going over his mental checklist in his head one more time."In and out, Scott," he muttered to himself. "In and out." He took a deep inhale after his small pep talk and nodded, straightening his posture and heading for the gate into the thoroughfares of Aya. He had just walked through the gate - door shutting behind him - when a large palm slapped over his face, covering his mouth and eyes in the process. Scott let out a muffled scream, clawing at the hand."Skkut- quiet!-" was the last thing Scott heard before his head was wrapped tight in some sort of cloth, the scent of which made him dizzy and lightheaded. All subsequent movement made him feel sick and the only moments he didn't feel like puking his guts out was when he briefly passed out, the jostling of which indicated that the assumed angara had thrown him over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Scott could only groan weakly at the movement, making the unknown other stiffen, before scolding him with a hissed "silence!".When Scott's head had finally stopped spinning and he was conscious long enough to hear SAM's frantic voice urging him to wake up and informing him that a foreign toxin was being flushed from his system naturally with manual assistance from SAM. His eyesight was bleary and looking around his confines did little to tell Scott where he was. Besides, everything was dark. The human pathfinder groaned as he rolled over, surprised to find that he was tied up anymore or in any form, but that his muscles seemed sore. He sighed, deciding against moving anymore the just let his head rest against the cold floor and ease the pain in his brain."SAM, I hear you, it's okay. Do what you gotta do," Scott grumbled, nestling his head into the floor to try and get as much on his face and head on the cold floor for maximum relief. SAM gave Scott a reluctant affirmative, still not fully satisfied with his pathfinder's nonchalance, but allowing him a reprieve. After a few minutes, Scott pulled himself up again, letting him survey his surroundings."Finally awake?" Scott jumped, twisting around to look at his captor, elbows resting on their knees as they sat on a crate."Akksul?" Scott couldn't help but scoff in disbelief. Akksul didn't take this kindly, a grimace etching itself across his face."Not who you were expecting?" Scott was silent, thinking for a moment about who else could possibly have wanted to kidnap him from the streets of Aya - of which it seemed they were still on, just in a civilain abode. "To be quite honest, I wasn't expecting to be kidnapped at all so I was keeping my options open -" Akksul's face grew darker with each word and Scott took the hint. "... Better than the kett, I say." Akksul gave a derisive snort, standing up with a loose shake of his arms. Scott followed the path he was making with his eyes, wondering what his next move would be. Akksul came to a stop in front of Scott and crouched down to eye level, his expression no more friendly than last time. "You are a blight upon my people. I have no idea why they do not listen to me." Scott sucked his teeth, raising a defiant eyebrow."Ouch, man. Bit rude that I'm the only named blight to date." Akksul shook his head, as if trying to get Scott's words out of his head, before jabbing a finger in Scott's direction. "You are more than that. You are some beast to prey upon my people. Your people smell of you, but you not of them. Jaal smells of you, but you not of him. You are like a beast, a -" The word Akksul growled out was something the translator couldn't provide a sufficient parallel for. Scott couldn't help tilting his head in confusion."Got a different word for that? I didn't quite catch that." Akksul grumbled, his shoulders stiffening like he was embarrassed. "A succubus." Scott wasn't sure if that was a rough or direct translation, but either way he paused before giving an airy laugh of disbelief. "You think I'm some sex demon?" Akksul stiffened, broadening his body to take up more room. He was most definitely embarrassed. "That's a pretty outandish claim. Got any proof?" "Yes! Do not laugh! My people are innocent, naive to be fooled by you after the kett. I am the only one who can smell it on you and keep a clear mind. Only I am strong enough to know what must be done to stop you from completely destroying my people!" Scott sighed, leaning forward to hang his head between his knees."Akksul, if you kill me the consequences will be far more severe for you than they will be for my people. Don't do anything rash -" Akksul rolled his eyes."I know that, beast. I'm not a fool. I will simply keep you here until you perish." Scott choked on his spit."What?! You can't do that! I still have to terraform worlds and find habitable outposts - I have Pathfinder duties!" Scott's eyes searched Akksul's for any hint of remorse, of guilt that could be exploited to get him the hell out of there. There was nothing but stern gaalxy blue. Scott was starting to panic, even though he knew he should keep a clear head. But his head still hurt and he was still on the floor and Akksul wanted to trap him here til he died of thirst or whatever and he wanted to go home. Screw the dogtags, he'd leave them here and someone else would find them and take them to Evfra. His despair must have been quite visible on his face because a smug smirk quirked up on Akksul's bunny lip. "Heh, now you see the futility of your position. Should you try to leave, I will incapacitate you. Should you try to kill yourself, I will save you, as much as it irks me, and then incapacitate you. And should any of your companions come to try and rescue you, you will be relocated to a Roekaar hideout with a jammer. You will be just as isolated as you were outside Andromeda on that ark of yours." Scott couldn't help the helplessness that seeped out of his entire body, his previously strong muscles going slack as he slouched. The smirk on Akksul's face fell as he stood, crossing his arms over his chest."And stop smelling like that. Otherwise you won't get fed."