Inside Out
ooc: Because the past few entries have been so full of emo I wanted to change the mood. If this interpretation of Angela's specie causes any problems just let me know and I will totally retcon this entry.
At sixteen name-days she was old enough to have young of her own. Like her peers, she opted to establish a nest on an alien planet with a low-level technology rating. Like her peers, she was given a multitude of planets to choose from.
Unlike her peers who chose based on the life-forms that inhabited the planet, she had used a less rational criteria for her decision. Of all the possible places, she found her eyes drawn to a small blue planet.
"The life-forms on that place are on the lower-bracket of the mana-chart." The inter-stellar travel officer warned her. "And their life-span is ridiculously short."
She doesn't seem to be listening, her attention completely focused on the holographic representation. There is a faint glow around her as she continues to stare, nodding absently at the words of precaution being given to her.
She doesn't care that the inhabitants are unaware of the existence of life on other worlds. She doesn't care that their physiology provides no decent defense or offense apart from their sub-average intellect.
"Sign here please to officially relinquish your Name along with any and all affiliation with Dranichia." The official finally shrugs as he processed the paperwork. "I don't know why you wanna go to that dump, but it's your life."
She mumbles something absently.
She isn't asked to clarify. She wouldn't have anyway. Her reason for choosing that planet was simple.
So simple it bordered on the absurd.
"It's such a pretty shade of blue."
-----------------------
"Angela, Angela sweetie, what's wrong?" Alyssa cooed to the crying toddler.
The three-year-old was little more than a bundle of sobs and hysterical screaming when her mother came in to see what was the matter. Angela tried, unsuccessfully, to tell her mother how a monster had snuck in through the window and almost ate her.
"There's nothing here, sweetie." Alyssa promised as she turned on the light to show the little girl she must have had a bad dream or that her imagination was playing tricks on her.
But Angela was not wrong. Angela had not been imagining things.
Someone had indeed been watching the toddler.
She had arrived on Earth four nights ago amidst a grand shower of shooting stars. Her original body, like her craft, had disintegrated upon entering Earth's atmosphere. Little more than a loose mist of dark mana, her first order of business was to find a new form to inhabit.
Drawn to the life energy of the humans, she made her way to a suburban neighborhood. Despite her current state, she wasn't about to pick the first able-body she could find. This was going to be her new name, her new identity for the remainder of her life. It was only understandable that she would be very particular.
For the first few nights, she fed off the small, yapping quadrupeds both to nourish her nearly-intangible body and to silence them. These noisy creatures went stark-raving mad whenever she drew near even if she had done nothing to merit their hostility.
Finally, she decided upon the little human with eyes that were such a pretty shade of blue.
When the sun set and the lights dimmed, she silently made her way to the child's window. She hovered outside briefly, momentarily blocking the moonlight before slipping through the cracks in the window sill.
Her entrance made no noise, yet when she approached the child, lids fluttered open and she found herself staring into those blue eyes. She wasted no time in focusing all her concentration to turn tangible.
To Angela, waking up to the sight of a shadow in her room was frightening in and of itself. But when the strange, ominous phantasm formed twin mouths lined with rows upon rows of sharp teeth, she did the first thing that occurred to her.
She screamed and hid under her blankets.
But the little girl found no sanctuary beneath her sheets. Blinded by the covers, she could not hope to see the mouths latch down onto her, the teeth sinking through cloth and finding flesh. She shrieked as she felt a heavy pressure bear down upon her, threatening to suffocate her.
Angela thrashed wildly, legs kicking, arms flailing, trying to free herself from this faceless creature's grip. It was only when she heard her mother's voice did she cease her struggling but not her sobbing.
With her daughter in her arms, Alyssa rocked the little girl to comfort her. She sang lullaby after lullaby, hummed ditty after ditty and still the toddler wept and clung to her as if her life depended on it.
"Do you want to sleep with mommy and daddy, sweetie?" Alyssa offered.
Angela nodded in between bouts of hiccups and sniffling.
"Alright, let's go to mommy and daddy's room."
They arrived at the master bedroom to be greeted by loud snoring.
"Daddy's snore scares away monsters, so you have nothing to worry about." Her mother promised. The toddler fell asleep quickly enough, both from the assurance of her parents' presence and exhaustion from her battle with the creature.
Alyssa continued to watch her husband and her daughter sleep. Eventually the woman noticed a strange mark on her daughter's wrist. Brows knitted together as she ran her finger lightly over the discoloration.
The woman murmured beneath her breath, "When did you get this weird bug-bite, Angela?"
Somewhere, burrowed deep in Angela's subconscious, she smiled. She thought how it wouldn't be long before she would be the one responding to the name. How she would be the one learning the language and culture. How she would be the one feeding herself both as a human and as a dranichian.
How she would be the one to see things through eyes of such a pretty shade of blue.
At sixteen name-days she was old enough to have young of her own. Like her peers, she opted to establish a nest on an alien planet with a low-level technology rating. Like her peers, she was given a multitude of planets to choose from.
Unlike her peers who chose based on the life-forms that inhabited the planet, she had used a less rational criteria for her decision. Of all the possible places, she found her eyes drawn to a small blue planet.
"The life-forms on that place are on the lower-bracket of the mana-chart." The inter-stellar travel officer warned her. "And their life-span is ridiculously short."
She doesn't seem to be listening, her attention completely focused on the holographic representation. There is a faint glow around her as she continues to stare, nodding absently at the words of precaution being given to her.
She doesn't care that the inhabitants are unaware of the existence of life on other worlds. She doesn't care that their physiology provides no decent defense or offense apart from their sub-average intellect.
"Sign here please to officially relinquish your Name along with any and all affiliation with Dranichia." The official finally shrugs as he processed the paperwork. "I don't know why you wanna go to that dump, but it's your life."
She mumbles something absently.
She isn't asked to clarify. She wouldn't have anyway. Her reason for choosing that planet was simple.
So simple it bordered on the absurd.
"It's such a pretty shade of blue."
-----------------------
"Angela, Angela sweetie, what's wrong?" Alyssa cooed to the crying toddler.
The three-year-old was little more than a bundle of sobs and hysterical screaming when her mother came in to see what was the matter. Angela tried, unsuccessfully, to tell her mother how a monster had snuck in through the window and almost ate her.
"There's nothing here, sweetie." Alyssa promised as she turned on the light to show the little girl she must have had a bad dream or that her imagination was playing tricks on her.
But Angela was not wrong. Angela had not been imagining things.
Someone had indeed been watching the toddler.
She had arrived on Earth four nights ago amidst a grand shower of shooting stars. Her original body, like her craft, had disintegrated upon entering Earth's atmosphere. Little more than a loose mist of dark mana, her first order of business was to find a new form to inhabit.
Drawn to the life energy of the humans, she made her way to a suburban neighborhood. Despite her current state, she wasn't about to pick the first able-body she could find. This was going to be her new name, her new identity for the remainder of her life. It was only understandable that she would be very particular.
For the first few nights, she fed off the small, yapping quadrupeds both to nourish her nearly-intangible body and to silence them. These noisy creatures went stark-raving mad whenever she drew near even if she had done nothing to merit their hostility.
Finally, she decided upon the little human with eyes that were such a pretty shade of blue.
When the sun set and the lights dimmed, she silently made her way to the child's window. She hovered outside briefly, momentarily blocking the moonlight before slipping through the cracks in the window sill.
Her entrance made no noise, yet when she approached the child, lids fluttered open and she found herself staring into those blue eyes. She wasted no time in focusing all her concentration to turn tangible.
To Angela, waking up to the sight of a shadow in her room was frightening in and of itself. But when the strange, ominous phantasm formed twin mouths lined with rows upon rows of sharp teeth, she did the first thing that occurred to her.
She screamed and hid under her blankets.
But the little girl found no sanctuary beneath her sheets. Blinded by the covers, she could not hope to see the mouths latch down onto her, the teeth sinking through cloth and finding flesh. She shrieked as she felt a heavy pressure bear down upon her, threatening to suffocate her.
Angela thrashed wildly, legs kicking, arms flailing, trying to free herself from this faceless creature's grip. It was only when she heard her mother's voice did she cease her struggling but not her sobbing.
With her daughter in her arms, Alyssa rocked the little girl to comfort her. She sang lullaby after lullaby, hummed ditty after ditty and still the toddler wept and clung to her as if her life depended on it.
"Do you want to sleep with mommy and daddy, sweetie?" Alyssa offered.
Angela nodded in between bouts of hiccups and sniffling.
"Alright, let's go to mommy and daddy's room."
They arrived at the master bedroom to be greeted by loud snoring.
"Daddy's snore scares away monsters, so you have nothing to worry about." Her mother promised. The toddler fell asleep quickly enough, both from the assurance of her parents' presence and exhaustion from her battle with the creature.
Alyssa continued to watch her husband and her daughter sleep. Eventually the woman noticed a strange mark on her daughter's wrist. Brows knitted together as she ran her finger lightly over the discoloration.
The woman murmured beneath her breath, "When did you get this weird bug-bite, Angela?"
Somewhere, burrowed deep in Angela's subconscious, she smiled. She thought how it wouldn't be long before she would be the one responding to the name. How she would be the one learning the language and culture. How she would be the one feeding herself both as a human and as a dranichian.
How she would be the one to see things through eyes of such a pretty shade of blue.