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 Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2024 6:55 pm
Quote: Summer Bugs (8 ) : Last year, one of Destiny City’s historic trees came to life after a lengthy hibernation, and it is livelier than ever. And, thankfully, mostly devoid of strange pods. Unlike the brown, soccer-ball sized pods from last year, these are all small and rarely larger than a tennis ball. The downside is that they have also been found in small clusters in surrounding trees as well. Sometimes, the hard-shelled pods tremble and twitch. Sometimes they split open and an angry cicada crawls out. The pods leak a strange, acidic sap that is strong enough to cause skin agitation–and in some cases there are even reports that it’s burned through wood or fabric. The cicadas are covered in it. Unlike the last generation, these cannot spit acid but it is still incredibly unpleasant to come into contact with them. They are food oriented and will come after everything they think can be eaten–food, clothes, hair. They are little more than a nuisance and never seem to stick around for more than a few days. Maybe it’s a sign that nature is healing–or maybe it’s a sign that there’s still something worse to come. There were many things on Earth that brought Aria moments of joy, despite all of the awful things here. The bond that she had formed with her companion Portabella was one of the best of those things, and going out for a ride with her was a welcome break from her research. Sometimes, she also was able to spend time with her favorite of the humans, Gabby, and her second favorite of the horses, Meadow. They rode through the woods in the trails next to town, and together they could enjoy the gentle breeze on their faces, the soft smell of trees that was unique to this planet. As they rode, though, Aria spotted something on the ground that made her pull up on the reigns gently, so that Portabella knew to slow to a walk while she looked down at the ground, wide eyed. "Were those pods here last week?" she asked.
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Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2024 10:46 am
Gabby adored spending time with her favorite alien. Now that she knew who and what Aria was, she understood things a lot better and was able to make sure she wasn’t making her friend uncomfortable.
Of course…when things made her uncomfortable…like these strange pods that were…
Oh god, were they moving? Was something awful about to hatch out of them?
“I haven’t seen them before but…” Clicking her tongue slightly, she maneuvered Meadow closer to the pod and took a moment to make sure that the horse was in a position to step on it…which she did.
And the crunch that came from it was both sickening…
…and oddly satisfying.
“I don’t like the looks of them, I’ll tell you that.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 8:09 am
As the pods began to twitch, Portabella snorted loudly, and then whinnied, and then began to turn away, although as Aria put a soothing hand on her shoulder, she quieted. Aria trusted her instincts, though. “Something is happening,” she murmured. The pod twitched again, and then began to split. Aria could see part of a mandible that seemed to be chewing through its surface. “An insect. The horses do not trust it.” Naeria did not argue as Portabella whinnied again and began to turn back on the path. She was not going to try to force the horse into any situation that was uncomfortable for her. That was not what friends did. “You are from Earth,” she said to Gabby, glad that they were no longer at the point where they were keeping secrets from each other. “Do you know if these are common here?”
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 12:47 pm
Okay. Ew. Gabby was so happy she had managed to crush one of the pods before it became a…filthy…disgusting bug and she maneuvered Meadow towards the emerging problem. Another hoof smashed the pod before the thing could fully come out.
“Nope! Absolutely not. These aren’t normal, natural or wanted. I’m know you’re like…pro life and all of that but…these are bad news and honestly, need to be squashed.”
She shuddered and turned Meadow, crushing another that was starting to emerge.
“They’re not good, I’m not sure what they are but I know that they’re not good. Like, at all.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 1:13 pm
Aria winced as Meadow’s hooves came down on one of the emerging bugs. “I understand,” she said, slowly, words catching in her throat the way they did around strangers. She did not move herself other than to maneuver Portabella farther out of the way. “Invasive species can be catastrophic for the environment,” she managed. She still did not seem overly happy about the situation, though. She did not watch. Once Portabella had calmed down enough, Aria slipped off the saddle and walked over to examine one of the destroyed pods. After a moment, she released her glamour and took out her ComTech to scan it. “Ph levels highly acidic,” she read from the screen. “These are not youma, correct? But they are not Earth animals, either. I wonder where they are from.” She wondered if there were more.
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 6:56 pm
“I don’t…think they’re youma?”
The thought made her frown and after a moment she glanced around, glad that she had the height from being on top of Meadow, and transformed into Lazurite, just to make sure. When she felt no auras coming from the creatures, she powered down and shook her head. “Not youma…well, duh. That was stupid. If they had been youma they would have just turned to dust. I’m not on my game today, Aria.”
She was on her game enough to not make some comment that the pods were most likely aliens and how awful aliens were…because…
Well.
Aria. But she twisted Meadow and crushed another pod, shivering at the squelching sound. “Do you see any others? I feel like I’m doing one of those videos where you crush the snail eggs…not sure what kind of snails, but those videos are super satisfying.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:06 pm
If they were not from Earth, and they were not from Chaos, then that left the possibility that they could be from somewhere else. Somewhere else with life. Although it broke Naeria’s heart to see the broken carapace of the creatures, she carefully reached down with her sleeve pulled over her hand and she broke a leg off of one of the creatures and put it away in her subspace. She pulled out a small trowel, instead, one that she usually used to dig up forest plants she wished to study. “Um. I do not see any more, no,” she said, and that was the truth. She did not hear any, either. “You can keep riding if you would like. I am going to bury these.” She knew that Gabby would not understand, but just because these insects did not belong here did not mean that they did not deserve respect. There was no core on Earth to return lost lives to, and Naeria had learned over time that the custom here was to lay remains in the ground, instead.
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:35 pm
Gabby hesitated and scratched her head for a moment, feeling…a little guilty. She knew she had done the right thing…these weren’t…normal creatures and it just..it was the best thing to have done. For the area, for the city. For the planet, even.
“I’m not…going to leave you behind, I’m not…really keen on touching the things but I won’t leave you, Naeria. Friends don’t just leave one another.”
After a moment of fidgeting, she hopped off of Meadow and walked over to her friend. “Do you have another shovel? I can help you dig the holes? Or the…one hole? Are you doing a mass grave or like, individual?”
She hoped it was just a mass one, but. Her friend had very different ideas sometimes.
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:37 pm
“Um. No,” said Naeria, looking down at her small shovel with embarrassment. “This is all I have.” She hoped that it was all that she was going to need to carry on her. The thought of having to dig graves repeatedly for large quantities of deceased animals made her heart hurt. Doing it once was bad enough. She could only hope that invasive insects like this were not a common occurrence. They were not so large, though, so at least it would not take so much time to bury them. “I think one hole will be fine?” said Naeria. She did not see why that would be disrespectful. It would still increase the speed of their decomposition. Luckily, the dirt in the forest was soft. She was even able to scrape at it with her free hand, helping the digging to go quickly.
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Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2024 7:58 pm
Gabby hesitated and once again powered up, kneeling beside Naeria. She tugged hard on the bow behind her and ripped one long, black tail off, wrapping it around her hand and beginning to help dig. “I made you have to do this, so I’m going to help as best as I can.”
She felt…bad, knowing she had upset her gentle friend but…also she knew what she had done had been the best thing to do…but. Right now? Right now they could bury these bugs, and later? They could continue their ride…and everything would be okay.
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