|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2023 4:59 pm
In truth, Celadon wasn't certain what a youma looked like. She understood that sometimes they looked like cats or dogs, or that sometimes they looked like dead people. But those didn't seem like the only options for the forms that a youma could take.
She hadn't seen many since meeting Cybele — not as Celadon, at least. She had seen some things as Kaðlín that she couldn't explain, things that could have been youma, but there was no way for her to confirm it when she couldn't feel their animosity on the air. At least, that's what she had taken to calling it, for animosity is what they so often harbored toward people. Of the ones that she could confirm, the ones she saw as Celadon, there were two: one that looked like a six-foot-long ferret with an ossified face, and a rotten anglerfish that swam through the air.
Celadon still didn't feel comfortable characterizing youma on her own. As she started down a seldom-traveled bike path toward the university, she wondered to herself how she would describe them to someone who didn't know what a youma was. She came up blank — without knowing the bounds of how they might appear, all she could say was that they might look like anything. That was no help to anyone, let alone her.
So she racked her brain as she kept going, trailing distantly behind a pair of likely college students who were also walking the bike trail. It was easy enough to keep pace with them, without being too close or too far, while she let her mind wander.
It was when she reached the university grounds, though, when she gradually became more guarded. There were sure to be more people around, and where there was people, there would be youma. Maybe they looked like apples in a tree, or squirrels on the grounds, or like desks that escaped the classroom. Maybe they looked like —
People, but just shy of right. The thought struck her squarely as she regarded a girl from behind, someone who didn't look quite human. More like a colorful rendition she would expect out of a sticker book, and that was enough to raise her hackles. Quietly, she sunk to the ground, searching for something to give her more of an advantage than her broken necklace. All she found was a rock that wasn't quite the size of her palm, and Celadon decided that would do.
She got to her feet, took aim, and threw the rock at what she suspected was a youma.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2023 3:45 pm
Humans had hurt Naeria without reason before, but it had been a long time. After the battle a few months after they'd arrived, where several of the Vanguard had lost their lives, she and the others had worked hard on learning to be careful. For Naeria, this mostly involved avoiding humans when she could. She didn't dislike them, but they were a wildcard, and one that she did not often need to see face to face to do her research. She had learned to tolerate the glamour when she had to, which usually lessened the human's volatile reactions towards her. When she could, though, she stayed in the house, or out in the woods. This was the woods, technically, and although it was near a trail, she didn't think much of that. It was dark. Nobody would be able to see her purple skin unless they were looking carefully. She'd been here before. Of course she was looking for mushrooms. Her recent discovery had given her a fresh burst of excitement, and she was overturning every rotting log she could find with a smile. Then a rock was flying into her shoulderblade, and it had a sharp point on it that ripped through the fabric and maybe the skin. Naeria couldn't tell, but she did yelp. Then she whirled around, drawing her upgraded weapon from her back before she could think too much. It was for self defense. It was for situations like this. The human had white hair and pale clothes. She wasn't hard to see. She wasn't hard to aim at. Naeria pulled the trigger. Strickenized Corporal Weapon: A custom mid-size blaster, about the size of a rifle. The bolts are programmed with the chemical structure of certain mushrooms and have mild hallucinogenic properties. A single target hit with the bolt might see colors shift and lines blur for 10 seconds on impact, making it difficult for them to aim their own attacks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2023 4:18 pm
She gasped when the youma drew a gun and shot her. It happened so fast that she was still reeling from what happened in the seconds afterward. She expected blood, pain, a hammering pulse in her head. She expected the youma to come over and start trying to eat her while she lay dying on the trail.
But she didn't feel pain. She didn't see any blood as she looked down at herself. Her clothes were intact. It was as if she was never shot at all, save for the way her pulse thudded violently.
Except the lines of her dress began to waver and shift, while the colors around her took on more lurid tones. She looked from herself to the youma, who didn't seem like it was in a hurry to bowl her over for her starseed. Her brows scrunched, and she swallowed, and she racked her brain to figure out what had just transpired. She was shot, right? With a gun? That was a gun, right? Or was it some youma part that just launched something else at her, and she was misremembering?
But she was certain she saw a gun. Certain it fired something at her. Something that, evidently, caused the whole landscape to shift and sway like inky swirls in a glass of water.
"Youma have guns…?" She asked hesitantly, mostly to herself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2023 5:44 pm
It was the first time she'd used the drug gun on someone who was actually trying to hurt her. Her heart was pounding hard enough that she could feel it in her throat, and in the back of her head, and especially at the point where the rock had hit, but she still found herself watching the human's body language afterwards, and her eyes She'd tested the weapon on herself, of course, and on a few others. She knew the effects, physiologically. Until now, she had no evidence of what would actually happen if it was used to deter an attacker. The woman looked dazed. She was not throwing any more rocks, or calling out any magic, or doing anything else to hurt Naeria at all. She also was not making any sounds of pain herself. This was the ideal, as far as Naeria was concerned. She did not want anyone to be hurt. The questions confused her, though. She looked down at the gun, which she was still cradling in her hands. With her nerves up, it took her a few seconds to get the words out, but eventually she managed, "You think I am a youma?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2023 5:21 am
"Aren't you…?" Youma hadn't talked to her before, but that didn't mean that they were always silent. And she had heard that some of them are human-shaped.
But what if there was more than just people and youma?
She was starting to get motion sick from her surroundings dancing around her, so she knelt where she stood and sat down on the grass. "What was that," she muttered to herself as she pressed her palms gingerly to her temples. Was it some sort of tranquilizer? It felt like a tranquilizer, almost. Her head felt all sorts of funny.
"If you're not a youma, then what are you doing here?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2023 3:26 pm
"No, I am Velecyan," said Naeria, doing her best to get the words out quickly, while the human was listening, even though her heart was still pounding in her chest. Still, she had to nearly gasp for breath before saying, "Not from Earth. It is a long story, how we came here." This Knight must not have been involved in that initial conflict, if she was asking. Naeria was not sure if that was good, or bad. It probably would mean she would have to talk more, because there would be more questions. She looked down at her gun once again, but while she was proud of what it had accomplished, when the human asked about it, Naeria suddenly seemed to not want to look back at her again. "It is hallucinogenic. For self defense, but if you stop attacking, I will not use it again."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2023 5:10 pm
If she wasn't a youma, then Celadon really didn't have a reason to keep attacking her. "I'm sorry," she began. "I didn't know, so I'm glad you told me." Even though the concept of her being from somewhere other than earth was a bit of a mind-blower.
But as she thought about it, maybe it wasn't as shocking as she initially thought. Cybele mentioned other worlds before, specifically her own, so why wouldn't there be people from other worlds, too? It was just that Kaðlín had never seen them before, and she thought she would remember someone with purple skin. But she'd also never seen any of the magical people that she met until after she was given power, herself; perhaps it wasn't as much of a surprise that she hadn't seen someone like this Velencyan.
She took a tentative step forward, once she was sure that the wavering ground beneath her feet would hold. "Are you okay? Did the rock do any damage?"
The guilt was already setting in regardless. She knew she couldn't take back what was done, and it was by the Velencyan's grace that they were even talking and she hadn't shot Celadon into a coma. She wanted to make it up to her, but such opportunities did not always present themselves, and sometimes, she had to sit with her guilt for a while.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2023 6:17 am
Naeria reached back to touch where the rock had hit her shoulder. Her lip twitched as she found it tender to the touch, but it was hardly something serious. "It is fine," she said. When she got home, a pass or two of the Source Stone would take care of it. She wondered if she was expected to say more. She had proved that she was not a youma, or a threat, had she not? She did not want to say out here, though, even to pick more mushrooms. There were clearly more humans around than she had thought. She wanted to go home. "Humans almost always fear us," she said. "I do not know why." She understood that people might have opinions on the conflict between Caedus and Lyndin, or simply the continued presence of the Vanguard in Destiny City, but there were those who attacked her and the others without knowing any of that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2023 6:07 pm
Celadon was starting to feel better. Better enough that she could trust her own footing again. She was the one to wrong this Velencian, so Celadon felt that she should be the one to clear away from the space. After all, this person was there first.
"I don't know why, either," Celadon admitted. "There can be all kinds of reasons, different for each person. I'm sorry I thought you were a youma. Maybe some others have thought the same, or they're just afraid of things they don't understand. It doesn't excuse it, though — the fear, the ignorance. I'm sorry that you keep running into people that fear you."
She paused, then added, "I'd say you deserve better, because I think you do, but I'm afraid it's not my place to say that after what happened.
"That said, I'll leave you in peace." She gave a bashful dip of her head as she turned, knowingly breaking line of sight with the girl to retrace her steps. That embarrassment she felt was going to sting for a long time, far beyond the moment when the girl's injury healed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
