#i have a better chance of getting saved by other starving lizards/creatures than getting saved by scavengers so far

[nemofil]

me trying to save scavengers: oh fuck oh wait oh hold on i'll save you!! (scrambles for a spear/pebble) (actually putting effort into trying not to harm them and get them out of a predator's grasp at the same time)

scavengers trying to save me: hmm should i throw a spear at this lizard that seems to be carrying some sort of... slugcat thing? i think that's our local garbage wastes pearl finder?

...nah, they can handle it.

one pebble, just to be sa- oh, it missed. well, i'm running away now!

[bubblybloob]

Fine, I made a slugcat, or so you think.

The Elder

Species: Slugmole

- Divergent evolution of slugcat that is solitary

- 1/3 taller than scugs (about the size of an iterator puppet)

- Thick, hardy skin that can take many hits/bites and occasionally blocks spears

- Powerful claws for digging and fighting

- Burrowing is slower than walking

- Powerful sense of smell

- Clumsy claws, can’t throw spears or rocks

- Climbs poles slowly

- Most stay below the ground and have poor eyesight, so why does this one frequent the above and see just fine?

More info, creature interactions, and lore stuff below

Scugs and Smoles

- Slugmoles have a longer snout, more muscle, whiskers and bent knees (like penguins)

- Slugcats have longer ear and tails, visible legs, and are better at throwing and seeing (aside from the Elder)

- Both tuck their arms in when they aren’t using them

Creature interactions

Aside from leap lizards, small/normal sized lizards may not attempt to go for the bulky Elder unless starving

Green, red, cyan (and orange lizards if you haven’t killed one of their own yet) will attack the Elder like normal (shi- also caramel and strawberry lizards! I forgot about them, caramel because they big and strawberry because they’re usually desperate)

The Elder can also break through lizard’s head armor with a good few thwacks

If you’re burrowing and there are predators, other creatures may take their chances and take refuge in your tunnels

Sometimes creatures will follow the Elder at a distance after being unintentionally saved, in hopes they can use their tunnels to hide (this is commensalism!)

Sometimes they may grow too trusting and get close, to which you can grab and eat the creature if so desired

The Elder’s milky gaze is very reminiscent of pearls, much to scavenger’s bafflement (you are not native to the region you explore, so they’ve never seen your kind before)

If you have a good reputation with scavs, they may try to drag you to their dens or pull/nudge you into one of you’re already close by. Being treated like a pearl is an inconvenience, but is preferable to having low rep where they try to rip your eyes out. You can easily dig out of a den, but they grow more persistent with every escape.

Be wary around tolls.

Lore time baby

You have braved the endless snow for so long, having to surface so often to search for food that you’ve become used to the bright outside. Now you’ve finally reached somewhere warm, but from your jungle perch you see the same metal block that crashed and caused you to have to leave. This time you’re getting answers, no matter the hardships.

I need to stop making stuff every time something fun pops into my head and just stick to one or two things oh my gosh-

[loudlydeliciouschill]

Those bluest skies above me (part 2)

Long before the internecine war broke out and the world of dino-folks and fiery creatures were not separated by walls and strife, these two worlds coexisted in a balance that the elders helped to support, descending to these creatures from the hidden Star Valley where never was the foot of darkness and evil. They were ancient as the dragons themselves creatures of the universe - the phoenixes.

This race was not famous for sociability or friendliness, but they never refused to help those who needed and deserv it. They believed that peace of spirit and purity of thoughts is the main aspect of harmonious existence.

With rare exception, every major city was inhabited by at least one phoenix, serving as a voice of justice and mercy, helping in times of need and protecting civils from dark magic. But over the years, the creatures they volunteered to protect and help became embittered. Cruelty and immorality began to cover the minds and hearts of the inhabitants of these worlds, they were increasingly moving away from the magical world, losing magic itself. Because of this they gradually ceased to hear the voice of the phoenix, began afraid or avoid them, sometimes hurt and kill them. Therefore, these magical creatures began to return home, fearing for their lives and magical powers, which rapidly began to leave them after the last wizards disappeared among the dino-people.

However, there were those who believed that these unfortunates should not be left to the mercy of fate and remained, losing the support of their fellows and slowly fading away in a cruell world. One of these was Funn Hua - a wise and kind woman who was famous among her relatives for her gift. She was "contemplating time" - it means she could see the fate of anyone and help them change the fate in the right moment. But many years after the magic left the world ang souls of dino-folks, her gift lost its clarity, becoming more like vague visions of the future, interspersed with speculation and dreams. But Funn Hua didn't retreat and tried as hard as she could to keep faith in the light and good in a small village that was in the farthest province of the world of dino's. With varying success, she make it, but local residents still avoided Hua and because of that she was forced to live away from the village only occasionally visiting the local market and old-timers, who still treated her with respect.

But in this world came another misfortune. In the midst of autumn, the cold and frost unprecedented for these world fell on the lands of fire creatures and dinos. Snow fell almost around the clock, covering the houses untill you could see only the roof. The wind mercilessly made his way under the clothes and closed windows. The sun disappeared under a dark curtain of cumulus clouds. Wells, rivers, roads, cultivated fields, some animals - all of this froze. Winter was killing not only livestock and crops, but also the population. The worlds fell into despair. Lacked everything: food, firewood, clothing, shelter. Discontent and rebellion flared up everywhere for any heat and its source. Funna, using the remnants of her magic, made small heaters for the inhabitants - a tiny light sharpened in a glass bottle and eating everything that was placed in it. Temporarily this was enough, but things were even worse with food. People were starving, there was nowhere to wait for help.

And the terrible happened - in almost every town or village, it was possible to find abandoned eggs frozen in snow and ice. Children who were not even given a chance to appear from the desire not to starve them and others. The cruel mercy that Funn Hua didn't support. If she could she would punish everyone who trowed their future child on the cold.

Thus in the evenings she went around the village with concealed fear, looking for "abandoned" in the snow. For all the time of the beginning of a long winter, she found about five of these, but it was impossible to save them, no matter how hard she tried.

And when one evening five months after the onset of a sudden winter and daily urgent conversations with the young villagers about responsibility and mercy, she was returning home after a detour and she found still warm egg in the snow. Funa hurried to get it at home. She wouldn't have noticed it in the gathering twilight and raging blizzard if she hadn't stumbled over it, almost crushing them. The egg was delivered to a warm house at the time the blizzard started to grow stronger, washed and arranged near an enchanted fireplace, wrapped in several blankets. That was a regular monochrome burgundy egg like raptors with wavy gold splashes, like the Tyrexes. Having lived among dino-people for a long time, Hua perfectly distinguished their types and physiology, from which the egg surprised her even more. Nearby didn't live a single predatory species of dinosaurs, the village was entirely of uranos (uranosaurus) and bront's (brontosaurus). And because of the frosts, no one traveled to these regions, on the contrary, every dino-folk strove to the capital of the world, where, according to rumors, they coped with misfortune better than in the provinces. Small carts with provisions, clothing and firewood were brought from there. Could they, along with food supplies, also deliver an egg? No, it would have frozen even long before coming here, and it was warm when Hua found it. So there is someone has lost it because of the blizzard and probably they doesn't find a place for theemself because of the fright. Phoenix only could suggest there was a pregnant woman who had probably given birth on the road and could have arrived with supplies carts. This guessing confirmed the size and bright color of the egg.

The next day, Funa tried to find that awkward mother, but not a single woman was suitable in appearance and age, just as no one had come to the village for a long time and no one was passing through. On the request to accept the egg, everyone refused. Their children have nothing to eat, and they must feed someone else child? No way! In confusion, the phoenix returned home, with a chuckle calling the egg "the star that fell on my head."

Thus, the foundling remained with Funn Hua, who was filled with sympathy for the future orphan. What to do with the baby when he or she hatched she did not know, a little afraid to think about it. But Hua couldn’t throw him/her out into the cold. Something prompted her that it was a fateful meeting. The egg didn't cause troubles, basking peacefully in an improvised nest of pillows and blankets next to the fireplace. So that he/she does not feel lonely and abandoned, Funn Hua talked with them, gently touched the rough shell with the tips of her fluffy fingers and took the egg to bed on particularly scary nights. Without noticing it, she became attached to her/him every day more and more. For too long, Hua was by herself, at a distance from everyone, from her kind, forgotten and alone. And for her this “gift” became a temporary salvation. At least she thought it was temporary. Until the spring is coming. Until help is coming.

So when after three more months a crackling sound came from a pile of blankets and pillows, Hua panicked. The egg jumped on the spot from which it rolled closer to the fireplace, where the little fighter continued the unequal battle with a hard shell. Funna was fascinated and silently watched the process of birth. She knelt next to the egg that was spinning in place, not daring to intervene in the process. And when the crackling suddenly stopped and the egg became silent too, she was frightened.

- Come on, baby, just a little bit left. Try again, - she whispered, with shaken wings putting the egg on a blanket so that it would not roll away again.

After a few minutes of weary silence, scuffling resumed. Hua sighed with relief. Finally, the shell cracked and a tiny foot appeared in the light, which immediately disappeared inside to punch shell again in another place.

Once, second and third time.

Then a large piece flies to the side and a tiny creature rolls out onto a blanket. The first thing Hua noticed is that the child was not naturally small for such a big egg. However, they clearly did not feel any discomfort or embarrassment, sprawling on their back, joyfully waving their tiny paws and mumbling on their own language, obviously happy to see her.

Taking child in her arms, she began to examine them carefully. That was a boy. With tiny legs and arms with small claws; with light orange skin; he hasn't have yet a protective plates on the body; no shell and scales; with a short but joyfully wagging tail; he has sly yellow eyes with vertical pupils, like any other reptile or dino-folk have, which was curiously looking all around; and with still soft, but completely obvious horn on the head.

The kid looked like a cross between fire raptors and how strange it is for the dragons Peace Keepers. Perhaps he was a half-breed, which more fully explained his slightly different appearance from ordinary dino-creatures. But his size ... The baby was half the size of any dragon and three times smaller than any raptor child. Funna suggested that because of the mixing of blood, the baby didn't go through a full cycle of formation. The raptors were born within three-four months after the egg was taken down. With dragons was different; babies could sit in an egg for more than a few years before hatching.

From her thoughts she was pulled out by a quiet adorable sneeze from a slightly frozen child, who by surprise coughed and clumsily waved his paws near his nose. Hua looked at him sadly. Not a dragon, not a raptor, not a lizard. Different. Alien.

- You are someone completely new and unknown to this world, - she said softly, bringing baby to her face.

He grunted happily, clinging his fingers to her clothes and looking into her eyes. For her he look adorable, but for others...

Poor child. The world of dino-creatures will not accept him. No one in this decaying world will accept him like ... equal. Normal.

Unknown parents doomed him to die by the mere fact of his birth. From this thoughts, Funna's heart sank and tears flowed from her eyes. Hands themselves pressed the child to her chest, next to a pounding heart. With her own hands, she wanted to hide him from the cold claws of "reality." From pain that other creatures would cause him.

That was not fair. It was dishonest and cruel to a innosent creature that was just born. He didn't deserve such a fate.

Abandoned. Helpless. Infinitely lonely kid.

- And what should I do with you, sweet pea? - asked Hua to the empty house and the child, who was silently looking at her chewing her closes.

In response, she could only hear the measured crackling of burning logs and ticking of the clock on the wall. Hua sudenlly raised her head.

The storm outside... subsided? That couldn't be! Looking out the window, she can't believe her eyes. The snow stopped pouring, the clouds gradually dissipated and the sun ... It reappeared in the sky, which quickly acquired blue tones.

Funna mysteriously smiled at the lightening sky, gently running her fingers over the top of child's head, who cozily curled into a ball in her hands, clinging to chest next to her heart.

- It seems the sky has really sent you to brighten up our loneliness, - she began quietly. - I am so sorry that the beginning of your life turned out to be so sad, but I promise you that I will try to light your way in this gloomy and cruel world. I will be there until the last remnants of my magic die out in me. I will love you as my own baby, whom I have never had. I will guard you against all misfortunes and sorrows, - Hua tenderly and gently pressed his little head to her lips, whispering these more important words in her life. - As long as I live, you are my son, and I am your mother. My sweet baby. My Ripto.

~~~

- Look, dear, what a sky above us.

- Blue! Big! Bright!

- That's right, sweet pea. And one day everyone will know that's you who made this miracle happend. Those bluest skies above you.

[cerillosvillage]

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Eleven: What You Live By

Lay me down in the bed that I made/ Starved for sleep by the shrill serenade/ Singing over and over/ You will die by what you live by

Two hired hands slowly climbed down out of the back of the wagon, carrying a heavy slab of stone between them. The wagon looked out of place, sitting as it was on the floor of the box canyon. The canyon's walls were high and steep, and bent inwards towards the top, making the space feel like a natural cathedral. The rocks were striated with ancient layers of volcanic tuff and red sandstone, with black streaks like soot that ran perpendicular to the natural rock layers. The canyon floor was all rock and sand, the area devoid of any life.

The wagon was painted in a rich purple and lettered with gold paint, declaring in a fanciful script the name and occupation of its owner. The Spectacular Garmites, it read, Stage Magician, Psychic, Master of Illusions! But there was no magic show happening here; it just so happened that the show wagon was the only one Garmites owned.

"Are you sure you want to return this thing?" The magician asked as he watched the hired help struggle under the weight of the sheet of stone. "I dare say we could get more use out of it than this place could."

"Are you really suggesting we keep a piece of the place that killed me just because you want to have sex on it?" Picketwire asked. She had only blank white expanses for eyes, but Garmites was sure she was glaring at him out of the corner of them.

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Men," she muttered, and he knew she had returned her gaze to the workers as they approached the canyon wall.

"Hey," he murmured, turning and reaching out to her with his stone arm. He cupped her face, running his thumb over her cheek. "I finally found out that I can touch you after six months of being in love with you. Can you really blame me?"

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. Her hand came up and covered his, and he knew she felt the same. Both in that she felt the same longing need to touch him, and that she loved him. They had expressed the mutual feeling after the first time they made love - and immediately fell into each other's' arms to make love multiple times in the same day. Six months of an enforced distance because of their curses, and finally a chance for closeness… it was like a floodgate had opened.

But here she was, willingly getting rid of the one piece of furniture that she could sit or lay on.

Picketwire opened her eyes again, turning her face up to Garmites.

"We'll figure something else out. Better yet, we'll find a way to restore my body so that I can touch all of you."

A chill travelled up his spine at the thought. He had wanted to reverse his own curse for the sake of his life, of course, but now that he had a goal for what to do with his body after he was free from the stone that was replacing his skin, he wanted to find a fix more than ever. Of course Picketwire would only feel the same.

He leaned down to brush his lips against hers, to feel that gentle numbing tingle that he was coming to enjoy, when one of the hired hands called out to him.

Both he and Picketwire let go of one another, straightening and looking ahead.

The closed end of the canyon consisted of a great stone wall covered with paintings and pictographs displaying all sorts of symbols, from animals to people to celestial bodies. Some were so old that they were barely visible, while others were only a hundred or so years old. Chunks of the pictographs were missing, slabs of stone having fallen off or been broken off by archeologists and would-be tomb robbers.

And there, in the center of the wall, stood the thing that had attracted Picketwire to the canyon in the first place. A great stone door carved into the stone, covered with elaborate designs that were outside of the technological capabilities of the tribes native to the region. Unlike the pictographs, it was utterly untouched - except for an opening only a few inches wide.

Picketwire had come closer to opening the crypt than any other attempt - and she had paid dearly for it, the magic protecting the place immediately striking her dead and leaving her soul to wander the desert, alone and cursed.

At least, alone until she found Garmites.

She stepped forward, walking on nothing, floating just above the ground, to join the workers. She looked at the slab - she and Garmites had dismantled the table it was attached to - and studied the patterns painted on its surface. There was the back half of a huge lizard on one of its edges, the image almost a foot long. The slab had been cut into a rectangular shape, so there was no way she could find the exact spot it came from, but with luck, she might find the rest of the pattern.

She stepped back, gazing up at the wall, carefully studying each empty spot where a piece had been broken off.

It took her nearly ten minutes, but she finally spotted the front half of a large lizard. It was on the opposite side of the one on the slab and its legs angled down as opposed to the upward angle the back half. But by tilting her head and thinking, Picketwire figured that the slab simply needed to be turned one hundred and eighty degrees clockwise. She instructed the workers to turn the stone piece over, then guided them to the correct spot.

It took some effort to get the piece into place, as the empty spot was about four feet off the ground, and both Picketwire and Garmites pitched in to lift it up. They group managed to prop it up about where it was supposed to go, like a giant puzzle piece.

Picketwire stood back, looking up at the wall. Then, there was a feeling inside of her. Like something had clicked into place. Like a piece of herself that she didn't even know was missing at been restored.

"Are you alright?" Garmites asked, concerned at the strange look that had come over her face.

Was she alright? She felt somehow slightly more complete, but at the same time she felt a great pull. It was as if someone was trying to drag her towards the crypt's door.

"I have to go inside," she murmured, more to herself than to Garmites.

He looked at the door, furrowing his brow.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"What?" She had only barely heard him. She felt suddenly like she was underwater. Everything was hard to hear.

"Do you want me to come with you, into that thing?" He repeated.

She thought for a moment. "No. I don't want both of us being killed."

"But you'll try again, despite what happened the first time?"

He had a point, she supposed. And yet…

"I feel like it'll be different this time. Because I'm already dead."

She had kept her eyes on the crack in the door throughout the entire conversation. Garmites caught her by the arm but still she didn't look at him.

"Just be careful," he said.

She nodded, but she hadn't been listening. She pulled her arm away and stepped towards the door. She'd been drifting closer to it without walking since the stone had been put in its place.

She reached the door and placed a hand on the smooth stone surface. When last she had tried to open the crypt, the door had felt like it weighed several tons, and had taken a great deal of force to open even a crack. This time, it yielded instantly to her hand, swinging open like a well-oiled gate.

Inside, the crypt was pitch black. But as she entered, she saw the walls as clear as day. A long, vaulted hallway stretched before her. Every few feet, there was a niche carved into the wall on either side, and in each niche sat matching skulls. The first she passed held small animal skulls; what looked like a bird, a lizard, a rabbit. The animals got bigger in size as she walked forward. A lynx, a coyote, a deer, an elk.

And finally, at the far end of the hallway, two human skulls sat, one on either side of the hall.

Here, the hallway dropped off into a sloping pathway with a much lower ceiling. The pathway was narrow, enough to make her feel claustrophobic, despite her work usually taking her into small burial chambers. Still, she headed down, down into the depths of the crypt. The pathway snaked along with many sharp turns, and then finally opened back up.

The burial chamber of the crypt was a gigantic room, no doubt a natural cave that had been shaped by workers into a smooth-walled chamber. In the center of the room sat a huge stone sarcophagus. Picketwire approached it, to find that it had been carved out of a rock formation native to the room itself, as it was attached to the floor with no sign of nails or adhesive.

The lid of the sarcophagus had been opened slightly. Picketwire grasped the heavy stone and pushed it aside without any hesitation.

The sarcophagus was empty, save for a fine coating of dust. Frustrated, Picketwire stepped back and looked at her surroundings. The walls, she saw, were decorated with paintings of a style far different from the pictographs outside. These images were more realistic and more delicate, depicting life scenes of some ancient civilization. She spotted what looked like pictures of people farming, of people writing, of people playing instruments.

But all of this was overshadowed by a massive painting in the center of one wall that stretched from floor to ceiling. It was an image of a feminine figure with six arms. Each one of her hands held a sword. On the top of her head were huge sickle-shaped horns.

A name came unbidden into Picketwire's mind.

Nelan.

* * *

"Her name is Nelan," Castlerock said over the discussion.

All eyes turned to him. RedRock stopped what he had been saying, which had been a rundown of the creatures of myth he knew about, none of which had matched the description of the thing that had attacked Glyph.

"What?" Magdalena asked, breaking the confused silence.

"The creature in the dust. Her name is Nelan."

"How do you know that?" RedRock asked. He did not hide the slight annoyance he felt at being talked over when he was, in fact, the most well-versed in the tribe's history.

"The spirits told me. They say she is also a spirit, but one far older than any of them. She is a patron of dust, and of battle."

"Your spirits -- do they know what she wants?" Magdalena asked. Her tone was urgent; unlike the rest of the tribe, she had been around to see Elyakim's angels. She had watched as the monsters had decimated the village on the plains, had seen her husband die at their hands. She had watched as they almost killed the Rockbreaker cult. She alone of the tribe knew the dangers that came from the magic that touched the region.

"They said she was put to sleep long, long ago -- before the history of any of the current tribes of the region began. She was trapped, because she was such a danger to the peoples living her. Something must have awoken her."

"But what does she want, Castlerock?"

The shaman paused, closing his eyes. He seemed to be listening to something that no one else in the room could hear - which he was.

"It's hard to say. They keep talking over each other -- I think they're afraid of her. But," he opened his eyes, "the one thing they've all said is that if we cannot defeat her in battle, we're all dead."

[eloarei]

Thank goodness for self-indulgent slapdash babbling fics about your OCs, eh? Here, have an “Alien Anthem” story from Snake’s point of view. It might not make a lot of sense, but it let me achieve my word count for the day.  2000 words (of an alien stalking the ship’s new human inhabitant) under the cut: 

It had never seen anything like this creature. Well, except for the hundreds of others of its species that the crew was slowly watching die out, killed off by various environmental hazards or eaten by their mutated brethren.  But it'd never seen one up close or in person. The creature was so beautiful, so unique, and so full of energy. It was so creative too, and so intelligent. It knew so many things, not just about itself, but about others. The creature liked to be called 'Bren', or 'he'; 'it' was wrong. He, Bren, also told the crew that they were supposed to be called 'he's and 'she's and names like 'Ant' and 'Ling', things none of them had known before. Bren didn't know if he should call it a 'he' or a 'she' or even a 'they' like the Greys sometimes used, but he did know that its name was Snake. Snake (who didn't know it was called Snake at the time) stayed back when the Greys went to go collect Bren from the Earth, and then watched from one of the video screens as the human was taken to his new home. It waited a little while for the Greys to leave the human alone and go back to their jobs, and then it invited itself in. Bren's home was very nice! Not a lot of rock, and almost no water at all, but it had a good amount of nice, dry dirt, and quite a lot of trees. And the trees were very dry as well, with rough bark and flat green leaves. The structure in the middle was very enclosed, but there were multiple entry points. Inside the 'house', it was rather dark. No plants, no phosphorescent moss. It did have several soft pieces of furniture-- very odd, but luxuriously comfortable. The first was in the bigger center room, the one with the flat stone-pile in the wall, and the second was in the room where the Greys had put Bren; the human was sleeping upon it. Snake approached him. Furtively, it touched his face. Soft, a little moss-like-- malleable and strong, Snake thought. As it had intuited, the human would likely make very hardy babies. It could feel its inside adjusting to the new information already, feel the first speckles of pale brown-pink begin to prick at its skin-- though it would take a lot more contact than that to erase the red it was born with or the bits of Grey silver it had picked up since joining the crew. But that was okay. Snake was not in a hurry to breed. Yes, it could feel the time was looming, but not significantly faster or closer than it had over the past year. It could probably hold off until it had had the chance to assimilate enough of the human's DNA to produce a viable batch of children. And if the process took too long, perhaps they could speed it up by engaging in the reproductive methods of the Earth creatures; to the best of Snake's understanding, that provided quite a lot of extended contact between the soft absorbent parts of both parties. It was something to think about later, though. Bren was moving around a bit now, apparently just shy of waking. Snake withdrew its hands from Bren's soft face and left to go observe the human from a safer distance; as much as it was fairly sure it liked the human, it thought he was prefer to have some time by himself. Besides, it needed to get outside the habitat in order to unlock the doors. (The access tunnels were unlocked, but they were supposed to be a secret, and it didn't assume Bren would find then-- not right away, at least.) Snake watched from outside, through any of the numerous observation screens it could hack into, as Bren woke and made a fuss about the situation, and when Bren approached the door to the outside, Snake unlocked it for him, and retreated to continue watching as Bren ran down the halls. What a fast creature, with his strong, steady footsteps! Snake imagined its babies having such a stride. Would they have hair, too? Or those funny protrusions the humans had coming from their faces? It could only guess. The Greys apprehended Bren rather quickly and chattered at him in their garbled version of his language until he seemed to understand the situation he'd found himself in and allowed them to lead him back to his new home. He and the Greys talked for a while, and Snake thought maybe it would invite itself in, now that it knew Bren had become accustomed to non-humans. But before it could finish unlocking the door, it was stopped by the angry Grey-- the 'doctor'. “So you're the cause of the trouble, hmm? I should have known. You should stay in your habitat when we have a new member, or you are putting yourself at risk of catching whatever diseases it has brought on board with it. And don't even think about going in there just yet! Go. Go home. I'll be monitoring you!” Snake huffed at the Grey but did as told. It wasn't as if the Greys could (or would, at least) do anything to harm or even inconvenience it, but it didn't like to be on the receiving end of those glares that this particular one liked to give out. So for the time being, it went home to its damp, rocky habitat. The place was only the second home Snake had ever known, and it liked it well enough. It was a far cry from the tall and deep volcano innards it had lived in before; the pool the Greys had given it was only three times as deep as Snake was long-- quite small! But it was comfortable, with its ferns and its soft mud, and it didn't resent having to stay there for a while. Better, probably, to give Bren some time to adjust to the ship and the Greys. (They were, after all, very strange.) It was the next day that it finally got to meet Bren. The human seemed very apprehensive of it, when they came across each other during his tour of the ship's control room. “What's with the Snake?” he asked, eyeing it warily. “Survivor from before planet!” they Grey which Bren had taken to calling Ling said. 'She' (as appointed by Bren) gestured at it, moderately fond. “Just like you, the only of its kind! Unique and rare specimen we save. As I say before, that is purpose of this vessel. Save last, study planet when empty.” Bren seemed skeptical. “And what did you find on this thing's planet?” “Oh, plant. Mineral. Not much. All life slowly dying from poisons. Naturally occurring! But not compatible with animals. This reptilian would have starved.” “Uh huh,” Bren said, not very impressed, apparently. “Yeah, you guys are real magnanimous people, aren't you?” That was a word Ling had clearly not yet heard (and maybe Bren had used it on purpose for that reason), so it shut down their conversation rather quickly. It wasn't much of an introduction, but Snake figured it would do. At least now Bren was familiar with it, and maybe wouldn't be frightened if it came to visit him in his home. That, as a guess, was only half correct. Bren was, in fact, quite frightened when Snake appeared “out of nowhere”, but only for a short moment. He quickly calmed and then became curious how it had gotten into his house to begin with. “This,” Snake said, and demonstrated its skill in picking locks, on the front door which Bren had kept locked apparently out of habit. Instead of being impressed by its skill, Bren was again momentarily frightened-- surprised or shocked were the words he would use-- when Snake's thin arms emerged from under its smooth plating. “You have hands!” Bren said, staring at them. “Okay. I wasn't expecting that. And you can talk too? Geez. Well, I guess you are an alien. I don't know what I was expecting.” Glad to have impressed Bren in some way or another, Snake opened its lower set of plates as well, and revealing its second pair of limbs-- identical to the top two, just lower. “More hands,” it said, wiggling them at him. “Huh. So I guess you're really more of a Lizard than a Snake,” Bren suggested, but Snake didn't like that. “I Snake,” it told him. “You say.” Bren bit his lip as he stared at Snake. “Yeah, I guess I did say that.” Ultimately, Bren was impressed with Snake's lock picking and hacking skills, and they decided to go on an adventure together-- not because either of them were trying to get out (the ship was orbiting Earth, far too high in the sky to land safely if you jumped out, Snake was sure) but because Bren was feeling restless and wanted to press his boundaries-- which was one of Snake's very favorite hobbies. The Greys, who watched everything they did, talked to them over the ship's speakers when they realized the two of them were bypassing door locks instead of just asking for the doors to be opened. “You are not prison, Bren!” Ling said, when they finally managed to get her to come find and talk to him. “We open doors for you! Any door, any time! You not need reptilian for open doors.” She narrowed her eyes at Snake. “How even you do, reptilian?” (Snake didn't bother answering. It usually didn't.) Neither of them were in any trouble, but since they'd been found out they decided to head back to Bren's home, done with adventuring for the day. “Those are some pretty clever fingers you have there,” Bren said, by way of compliment. Snake didn't know quite what he meant by that, but it was pretty sure that meant Bren approved of its hands (that was what 'fingers' meant, right? The little wiggly bits on hands?), so it reached out and laced their hands together-- one of its, and one of Bren's. Bren seemed surprised and a little uneasy, but he didn't pull back. “Uh, okay,” he said, and then proceeded to go about his business (which mostly consisted of grabbing one of the Earth books the Greys had stocked his house with, and then sitting on the couch to browse through it) with Snake's hand twined up in his own. He loosened his fingers at odd intervals to see if maybe Snake was ready to let go, but didn't force it. A few hours passed, with Snake mostly peering over Bren's shoulder as he read (it didn't have a clue what the book was for, but Bren seemed to enjoy staring at it, so Snake did the same, figuring it couldn't understand something it wasn't familiar with), and Bren mostly reading. By the time Bren finally did break away from Snake and excuse himself to go find something to eat in his weirdly clean kitchen, Snake felt full and warm and different on the inside. Satisfied, it went back home to get some food itself and take a nap. In a little nest of mud, dozing, it stretched its plates and looked down at the soft skin under the middle-most plating-- and there it was. Among the red and the plentiful silver freckles, its very first splotch of pale brown-pink. Not enough for babies, but a good first step. Maybe tomorrow it would get another one. xXx (More about these characters in my Alien Anthem tag.) 

[dxskwatcherx]

Info

Everything that I can think of about my trash daughter.

Mira was born to Diana and Luca on June 18 in the Florida wetlands and swamps. Two older brothers named Tyrell (14 when she was born) and Joshua (12 when she was born) and a little brother that came four years after she was born name Dion. Mira’s full name is Mira Belle Marshal but she resents her middle name and will often tell people she doesn’t have one if they ask her. Thankfully hardly anyone ever does, only her family and school records know of it. Mira’s life is both carefree and full of hardship in the beginning. Her mother is single and works as a tailor and cook to feed her children and make their clothes. Mira spends a lot of time outside in the creeks and marshes, catching lizards and spying on caimans if she feels adventurous. Her school-life doesn’t matter much to her but she joins a gymnast team when she is eight and continues it well into her high-school years. Mira is talented in her preferred sport and keeps her body fit for it which makes her popular with boys in her sophomore year. The two oldest gets jobs to help out at home: Tyrell at the library and Joshua at a grocery store. Mira and Dion like to help as well but when they turn thirteen they forget lemonade stands and go more for petty theft and pawning it later.

Her relationship with her mother and brothers is a very close-knit one. Always the good child at home but a little hellion to the outside world. Diana loved her children and worked hard to give them all they may need but things could get hard as a single mother. Luca, their father, left before Dion was born and was hardly involved in their lives for reasons he never explained. Tyrell and Josh were the only ones who could remember him well. The kids all had different theories on why he left but stopped asking once they turned thirteen respectively. All they focused on was looking after one another and their hard-working mother who missed their father no matter how much she bad-mouthed and dismissed him at the dinner table.

Tyrell, the oldest sibling, was a scholar and wanted by many colleges once he graduated. Witty and quick to charm everyone, he was well liked by all his peers and everyone said he would go far in life. Tyrell enjoyed challenges and did not let this pressure get to him. Still he would try to help his siblings with schoolwork and such. Joshua was the athlete and was popular with the girls, including Mira’s best friend. Easy-going and up for anything, Josh did a fair amount of volunteer work at the local YMCA and had a reputation as good as his older brother did. Dion and Mira were the closest of the siblings and were the official troublemakers. Little things like egging the principals car to pulling a fire-alarm to avoid a test; they were wild-children with a knack for bad luck. Mira did try in her school work only because she wanted to leave her high-school and the town as soon as she could. Dion never tried and became something of a delinquent in his late teens. Tyrell and Joshua tried their best to steer their siblings straight but for every two steps forward they would get one step back. Sometimes three.

Their father finally made an appearance at Mira’s graduation and it was the most awkward thing ever in her life. Neither knew what to say and her brothers didn’t really speak to him. Nor did her mother. When it became clear that he knew he wasn’t wanted, Luca handed her an envelope with money in it, muttered goodbye and to not get into mischief, then left.

RIGHT ABOUT HERE IS WHERE HER LIFE GOES TO SHIT. WARNINGS FOR VIOLENCE AND POSSIBLE SEXUAL SITUATIONS

To get over the encounter with her father and calm her nerves before having to deciding if college or work was her best route Mira decided to plan a trip with her brothers and closets friends. The plan was to travel to travel upstate as a road-trip to ‘wherever’. They later decided New Orleans, Louisiana purely for the excitement it might offer. As does with all bad things: their car breaks down. The girls take turns standing out and trying to flag down cars but most take one look at the car full of dark-skinned young adults and speed right off. Wouldn’t you know it their cells are not getting service either. Until one huge semi with a trailer pulls up to them and offers them a lift with no charge or questions asked. Naturally they all pile in the back of the air conditioned trailer and chat among themselves without worry and discuss what they can do when they reach New Orleans. Mostly they plan to party and see the sights and visit bars. Mira is pleased that everyone is in such a good mood. They never make it to the city. Mira falls asleep and is out like a rock for the next two hours. The screaming of her best friend and brothers is what wakes her up. The truck driver did not take them to the city as he promised and instead backs his trailer up into a huge warehouse. A slaughterhouse to be more exact. A slaughterhouse filled with ravenous and starving vampires. Vampires under the control of a female vampire older and more controlled than any of them. The teens tentatively stepped into the foul-smelling warehouse and were stalked and then attacked by the hungry immortals. Their leader, Verona, was trying to teach them how to hunt so when she set them loose they would know what to do to the public. The young adults were helpless. Mira jolted awake and the first thing she sees is her best friend since preschool, Kanna, being dragged away into a mass of vampire who pounce on her like dogs on a rabbit. Her brother, Joshua, tries in vain to save her but is cut down and can just scream silently as they rip his throat out and make quick work of him. Acting on a fight or flight instinct that almost always ha her fight Mira rushes out to help and is smart enough to grab a piece of metal to fend off the vampires as they rush her. Out of the three brothers and five friends she has brought with her. Four still stand, including her. The vampires circle them and they all stand close to one another while trying to figure out if it’s better to run for it or fight them off best they can.

While they plan and fret Dion is snatched from their grasps and Mira and Tyrell run after him shouting and cursing. Their final friend is eaten alive after being too slow to catch them. Filled with a rage she has never felt before Mira throws her metal piece at the vampire who grabbed her little brother and now wields a large bar-piece that she drives right through the skull of one of them. The vampires avoid her and eye her warily as she swings at any who get too close to her. Joshua tends to a bleeding out Dion who keeps asking if he’s going to die. They are both attacked again when Mira’s back is turned and she can’t save either of them as the vampire cut her off. She can’t do anything as she watches her last two brothers die in front of her. Mira finally runs. She runs and knocks as many of the creatures out of her way as she can before losing her weapon and just having to rely on her muscled legs to save her. They peruse her like predators and she climbs multiple narrow stairs in a not-so-smart move hoping to slow them down by forcing them to follow her one at a time. Mira starts to scale up the support beams and over-hangs that make up the roof in one final vain attempt to get away which the vampire follow her on but far more carefully. Having only old memories of gymnast stunts to help her, Mira takes a chance and leaps from one broken beam onto a platform cut-off from the ground floor and anything they could use to grab her. The vampires pile on the beam she use and break it in the process, making it crash to the ground and killing three in the ordeal. The vampires below her hiss and screech as she crawls out a window and shimmies down onto the ground outside. Hearing them trying to dig under and knowing the sun will rise soon Mira starts running as fast as she can in the opposite direction to a sign that says the next town is over three miles away. A long run but she can do it. She needs help and those creatures need to die.

She is blindsided and brought to the ground by Verona who sinks razor sharp fangs into her neck. Turning her into one of them and knocking her out from the blood-loss.

Mira wakes up again, this time surrounded by vampires circling around her as if they are the rabbits and she is the rabid dog wanting to eat them. Verona is the only one who stands close to her and explains after witnessing her kill four of her vampires and escape without a scratch she just couldn’t let her go and raise the alarm. Mira was worth ten of her regular vampires and already she was showing signs of a more ‘superior transformation.’ While the other vampires all had inky black eyes Mira had the same eyes as Verona, a piercing yellow. The weaker ones has near translucent skin. Mira and Verona’s was flawless and tough to pierce. When she asked about her brothers and friends Verona told her that they were gone and they were her family now.

If Mira was a hell-child before she was a demon to Verona and the rest of her new brethren now. Never partaking in the killings until seven months later. taking the best for herself and savagely beating any who tried to take her meals. She was feared and hated by the rest of them. Mira despised Verona and tried to fight her on several occasions only to be defeated. Her time in the slaughterhouse warped her mind along with her new lust for blood and violence. Mira no longer cared for anyone but herself and began to revel in beating and abusing the other vampires for fun. One of which she tried to humiliate sexually before Verona stopped her. Her mind had snapped and transformed into something of the predator she told herself she wouldn’t become. She was trapped in the slaughterhouse for a solid year before escaping after two humans manged to break out like she did and she was sent after them. Mira only did so because she knew she would be killed just like the rest. When Mira caught up to them and killed one but then realized just how far she was from the warehouse. She let the last human go and kept running in the opposite direction until the sun started to rise. Mira kept running even as the rays hit her skin, not caring if she burned up and died. To her surprise she didn’t even feel a tingle until five minutes later when her skin literally began to smoke but not burn. It wasn’t until an hour later the first flame appeared but she quickly went into the shade and patted it out. Burning to death didn’t seem so wonderful now if it would take a long time.

The newly turned fledgling lay underneath an abandoned car and debated what she should do now. She was half-way home and could still run the whole way back if she had too. There was no way she was going back to the slaughterhouse and Verona. She wondered about her mother and if she thought that all of her children were dead. The sinister part of her mind told her to go back for other reasons.

And she did.

Continued in part two.