Futuristic Starfall

[Vampunk]

Fym hesitated, her bony fingers twitching as a part of her wanted to reach out to Mallory and hold on to her despite her rational thoughts telling her that there was nothing to be gained from delaying the human.
And yet deep inside that elongated skull of hers something had taken root that could no longer be erased, something that would forever change the once machine-like cranium that had governed the extra-terrestrial's every move, made the decisions that lead her to this moment.

Would she have made the same decision to allow her alien mind to meld with Mallory's if she had known that would mean for her own existence?
And now, for the first time since she had hatched on her home world, one larvae among hundreds just like her, the human notion of "doubt" had found its way into Fym's mind, making the alien wonder if what she was doing was right.

For she dared not think about the consequences if it turned out to be wrong.
Blinking slowly after the human's leaving form, Fym's purple eyes would come glaring at her extended hand, starry orbs examining the gray appendage that ended in thin, claw-like prongs.
Unlike Mallory, whose skin was smooth, warm and soft, Fym's form was a hardened shell well-suited to the harsh world she called home.
A body designed to withstand the devastating solar storms that ravaged a planet whose core had long since cooled off to the point where the once strong magnetic field had protected the world's inhabitants from the horrors of outer space.

She knew of the species they had evolved from.
They had been smaller, of more colorful complexions, with softer hides and tribe-like cultures...
But the warping of their world into a nightmarishly gray landscape scarred by solar flares had caused them to die out...or rather evolve.

And here she stood, the accumulated process of over three million solar cycles of evolution, a creature that had adapted to survival on an otherwise uninhabitable planet. One that had been forced to shed not only their softer flesh but also all of those brain functions that would have made them weak, too frail to survive in a world where emotion might have spelled certain death.


But evolution never ceased...did it?
A sigh escaped Fym's lips as her warm breath sent hazy mist drifting into the cool autumn air, the secondary set of airways on her thorax exhuming another wave of the gray fume as the alien would find her mind wandering into territories she did not intent to ever explore.
Shaking her elongated head, Fym would try rearranging her thoughts as her fingertips brushed over the humming purple gem adorning her forehead.

Slowly thoughts were rearranged, emotions tamed, her mind brought back into balance as Fym would calm herself so that she could form coherent thoughts.
Just in time for Mallory to return with what seemed like enough baggage to travel across the vast planes of this earthly continent.

A small smile would accent Fym's lips, the thin line twitching softly as purple eyes found Mallory's own.
"I am sorry if I've startled you with my rash reaction. I did not intent to scare you but the situation I brought upon myself, and in effect, also unto you, is dire and may lead to more complications in the near future..." Fym would try to apologize now that her nerves had been calmed but simply allowed herself to exhale deeply.

"No, I do not require to pack anything, it's all in here..." The alien would gesture towards the metallic apparatus lining her thorax, the device humming in response. "And what remains of my ship will be safer buried in terrestrial soil, I have made sure it will not be found by primitive earthly technology....No offense..." Fym would mumble the last part, raising her thin hands defensively before Mallory offered her a beef jerky.

Purple eyes blinked at the fleshy snack as Fym raised it to her lips, baring bizarrely formed ivory teeth that would take a small bite.
The salty taste was almost too much for taste buds that had only known the sterilized nutrients her kind consumed, resulting in Fym's face scrunching up in a weird grimace...

Just for her to resume nibbling on the beef jerky stick, like a mantis consuming its prey; small, probing bites...several of them per second as it seemed.
After a while, Fym stopped, her purple eyes coming to rest on Mallory as the alien swallowed, the purple tubes on her neck bulging to the side as she'd tilt her head slightly to the side.

"Does Josh know?" Fym asked, bluntly and with a lingering air of curiosity in her tone.
However ambiguous her question was, it would be up to Mallory to answer it.

 

[Cartoonicat]

Shaking her head, Mal collected herself, calmed her breathing. "It's alright. I'm... well, I'm glad you told me. We have time to figure this out, now." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt, still nervous about what might happen in the near future regarding Fym's - and by extension, her own - safety. "You didn't know this would happen." Her eyes flicked towards the metallic apparatus Fym gestured to. Her brows lifted. Mal found herself curious as to what all the device could accomplish and if it were a part of Fym that she couldn't go without, especially on earthly soil. Part of her, the more daring side, needed stifling so as not to inquire about it, much less reach out and poke something so forwardly. Mal did not know Fym's culture's customs, however... if she did ask something too probing, it wouldn't result in a grudge. ...Right?

Before she could act on her intrigue, which may have been for the best, Mal found herself smiling some. "No problem," she said. Her eyes flicked to the device again, this time briefly. She was so curious. Curious about Fym's planet, her people, her technology and customs. The mind melding had given her great insight, but it was nothing like hearing actual stories. Experiences put into words and shared among people, as was human culture. Though, the bits and pieces of Fym's memory that had been shared would have to suffice for now. Not for the first time, Mal wondered what all Fym had seen on her end.

As though reading her mind - or so it felt like it - Fym asked a probing question of her own that left Mallory sputtering. "Know what? I d-don't-..." her words trailed off when, stupidly, she realized that perhaps there had been a miscommunication. She hadn't realized she'd taken a step back, back pressed against the door and arms cradling across her chest, until she switched trains of thought. Warily lowered her defensive stance, as though not entirely sure it was necessary, but finding comfort in it anyway.

"He... does not know about you," she tested, glancing up at Fym warily. Gauging her reaction. Hoping that was what she had been referring to, rather than something else Mallory prayed had not been in the mind meld. A pair of green eyes, creeping out of an algae-covered pool. The wolfish grin following it. Sun-kissed hands reaching out to take her own, goading her into murky water. Out of fear the mind meld had done exactly that - somehow melded their minds to the point Fym could read it clearly - Mallory forced herself to think of something else. Josh would be there soon and then things would get better. All she had to do was think of that.

Yes, that helped.

"Uh... b-but he will," she said. "Soon. He should be here soon, so..." Mal stepped away from the door and glanced at it thoughtfully. The question remained as to how they would tell him. She figured introducing him right off the bat might incite a heart attack, considering it nearly had her when she first met Fym and Mal was far more in shape than her older brother. Drumming her fingers against her thighs, eventually tapping them anxiously, Mal peered around the room. Again, her eyes landed on the device.

Something clicked.

"My phone," she said, not sure how Fym's device connected her to the idea, but in the next second she was pulling out her phone and clicking into her camera app. "We can, uh... I don't know... record a video of you introducing yourself to him or something." Pushing a lock of hair behind her eyes, she held up the phone, thumb poised over the record button. She hesitated. Lowered her hands, frowning. "He'll probably think it's a joke. Or some CGI thing... um..." Again, she pushed the same lock of hair behind her eyes despite only a few strands having fallen. Time was ticking and she had no plan to explain the situation. Itching to pace the room but deciding to stay still, Mal chewed at her lip, deep in thought.

Then she raised the camera again. "Even if he doesn't believe me, it'll at least prepare him," she said. Glanced up from the small screen to meet Fym's eyes. Smiled sheepishly. "So, uh... are you okay with this? Recording a video for my brother? Just to, you know... get him used to the idea of... well... you. Before actually meeting you. Unless..." Mal frowned. "Unless you think they can hack into my phone's gallery? Erm, the pictures."

 

[Vampunk]

Fym blinked at Mallory with a confused glare as her question seemed to cause the terrestrial girl to assume a more defensive position, making the alien wonder if what she had asked might have been inappropriate to earthly customs.
And yet Fym couldn't help herself but feel like she did something wrong, said something that might have not been of any immediate importance to either of them, but for some reason she had asked such a thing.

Just a few earthly rotations around its dim star ago, Fym would have never thought about communicating if there wasn't any reason to it, her bizarrely structured cranium had worked on the simply logics of survival and disregard of any excessive, unimportant information.
Her brain would have stored only those things crucial for her to assume her function as a reconnaissance unit of her species...

But now her mind worked differently, on impulses.
Curiosity, more human notions, that made her be interested in the terrestrial creature that had taken her in, given her a roof over her head, food, provided her with whatever she had needed so far to get closer to achieving her mission. And yet there had been more to it than her simple need of survival, or her sense of duty.
Fym hesitated, the translucent membrane sliding slowly over her eyes as she let go of a pensive click that made her bottom lip quiver softly.

The twilight purple of her eyes would find Mallory's own again as Fym would listen to her answer one of the many possible meanings of the question she had posed.
For there was something inside Fym's thoughts, noting more than a sensation, a notion of water, of vivid greens, of warmth, of comfort...something that seemed like it had been dear to Mallory, and yet it had been something that seemed to have been hidden deep inside Mallory's conscience.

Whatever it was, and Fym could not possibly know what its meaning was, she felt like it was something linked to Mallory hiding something from...someone.
Shaking her head softly, the extra terrestrial would try cast out the desire to prod Mallory on what it was that their mind melding had planted inside her head, for there were so many things that were exchanged over nothing more than a few terrestrial seconds.
And still they were things that would have taken ages to explain to each other, to truly make sense of the things their minds had shared with each other.

Fym sighed, tilting her head to the side as a warm smile spread over the cool, gray lips of her visage, the most genuine smile she had yet to produce after acquiring the capacity for human emotion.

"I understand." Once again Fym's words were ambiguous, and still they were the only response she could give Mallory, yet they did feel...right.

But before any doubt and curiosity could get the better of either one of them, Mallory suggested something that caused more than just minor interest in the idea.
The smile adorning Fym's face grew in width, revealing her bizarrely straight incisors as an amused click escaped Fym's throat.

"Oh, I see. You intend on preparing your sibling for what you terrestrials call 'First Contact', yes?" The extra terrestrial would speak in what seemed to be a rather amused chirp, her towering form shifting to nudge closer to Mallory and prod the strange device.
"Well, I suppose it would be for the best. There have been cases of certain civilizations not dealing well with the idea of being face to face with what they deemed an impossible alien life form. Strange, for my kin never did share such notions..." Fym would muse, blinking slowly at Mallory as her bizarrely long fingers would come to rest over Mallory's holding the phone.

"When reaching out to meet my kin, they did warn me from them listening to the frequency we communicated with. Seeing that they will seek to find the same amplitude and manner of signal, I do not think they would scour your kin's vast flow of information for something like a small file of animated pictures." The alien would explain, for somehow she seemed...excited...to do such a thing, despite it not serving too much of an important purpose other than telling Mallory's brother what could have as well been explained over a phone call.

"But...what should I do...What should I...say?" Fym would speak after what seemed like several moments of awkward silence.
"I cannot possibly share the same amount of information I did with you over a mind-link. This is a primitive way of exchanging data, I doubt I could even cover one percent of what you have been able to share in..." A pensive roll of her starry orbs, and a bony finger poised to her chin, Fym's eyes would come resting on Mallory again.
"Maybe we should both talk?"

 

[Cartoonicat]

For some reason, Fym's smile - warm and open - seemed more genuine than any human's. More understanding. Kind. Mallory had never shared her secret with anyone other than her brother yet, now, a part of her wanted to. She felt confident standing in Fym's presence, a similar sensation to waking up with so few hours of sleep and conquering the day. She did not know if it was due to the extra-terrestrial herself or if it was just the second wind of a good day catching up to her, but Mallory felt herself smiling softly in return. The secret could wait, however; they had work to do. Whether or not the confidence to disclose it would remain was a mystery, but Mallory figured she would cross that bridge when she got there. In the meantime...

"Yeah, first contact," she nodded. Angled the phone at Fym's prodding of the screen so, together, the two were able to see it. "I'm uh... not so worried about-" Mal's train of thought faltered at the contact. Fym's fingers rested over her own, helping to support the phone, and she cleared her throat. "U-Uhm, yeah, uh... Josh, well, he..." How did she explain her brother's obsession with the paranormal without making him seem crazy? There really was no way to sugarcoat it, especially if she intended to prepare Fym of what was undoubtedly to come. "He's kind of... eccentric? Yeah. I mean, uh, my brother is super cool. Really nice guy. But, um, he's kind of..." Her free hand had dropped to the hem of her shirt, thumb wearing at the fabric anxiously, subtly. "He has a really intense fascination with aliens, so... any kind of negative reaction will probably be him fainting or something dumb, because he's dumb. And a fanboy. Erm, you probably don't know that term."

Mallory could feel herself rambling, so forced her mouth closed for several beats even if it felt unnatural to do so. After taking a breath, she held up the phone. The screen encapsulated both her and Fym, classic selfie-style, and she smiled sheepishly. "We can both talk. Um... I'll start. When it's your turn, you can tell Josh about yourself?" Before pressing the button, a thought struck her. Craning her neck back, Mallory looked up at Fym. "Like I said, my brother is dumb, but he's a good guy. If he asks you anything you don't feel like answering, just tell him no. He'll understand." He'll probably be bummed, she thought, but he'll get over it.

Looking back to the screen, Mal exhaled and pressed the button. Smiled, thought it felt more awkward than natural.

"Hey, Josh... wow, this is more awkward than I thought, aha. Uh, yeah, well, anyway... as you can see here, I kinda... made a new friend?" Mal thought back on the night she'd met Fym. Remembered how scared she'd been. It made her smile more sincerely this time, because Fym definitely had not turned out to be the world dominating type. She was... kind. "So, yeah, uh... remember that meteor that crashed by the house? The one you wanted me to get a space rock from? Well, I didn't find a rock." Telling her brother, even digitally and through a recording, the experience lifted a weight from her shoulders she didn't know she'd been carrying. "I found Fym! That's, uh, that's her." To clarify, Mal pointed towards her extra terrestrial guest. "But anyway, yeah. Meteor crash lands in the back woods. I meet an alien. That's probably the premise of, like, all sci-fi movies. Ever. So... we, uh... we wanted to make this video for you, so that before you meet Fym in person and promptly pass out - or worse, enter Freakout Mode - you get to know a little about her."

At that point, Mallory glanced up at Fym as signal for their changing turns.

 

[Vampunk]

Fym listened to Mallory try to explain her brother's potential reaction to meeting nothing less than a true extraterrestrial creature, and yet the alien did not manage to take anything away from what her terrestrial friend tried to tell her. It all seemed so bizarre to her how Mallory tried describing a different being to her, trying to put everything about Josh into words.
It was something that had never been an issue for Fym's kind, where individuals were grouped into collectives and referred to by their strengths and weaknesses, as if trying to equate them to tools fit for certain tasks...

The thought of it soon found its way into Fym's mind as realization soon dawned on her as of why she did not quite seem to understand Mallory's difficulty of explaining the being that was "Josh" to her.
It was because unlike her kin, Mallory saw her brother as an individual with flaws and character quirks that could not be put into words and form a completely, one hundred percent description of who he was and how he'd react.
He as someone.
Not something.

Fym shook her head, her round, starry eyes finding Mallory's sky blue ones again as a faint smile came to adorn Fym's visage.
"He sounds irrational and impulsive." The extra terrestrial mused...Before her eyes widened and she pulled up her hands in a defensive motion.
"Oh, but I did not imply it is a bad thing, by all means...It just seems...peculiar to me, that's all." Fym added as another thought invaded her elongated cranium...'How would she try to describe me?'

But before Fym could try asking Mallory, her human friend already began recording the small video of them trying to brace him for the inevitable confrontation.
While Mallory was talking, Fym would find her gaze wandering to the terrestrial girl, to the small device they had poised to show what it was recording, and back to Mallory. And the way she tried to explain things in a very erratic, awkward kind of way would cause Fym's lips to form a warm...happy?...smile.
Accompanied by her four heart chambers pumping more blood through her spiny thorax...And causing a somewhat comforting warmth to spread though her chest, and yet the emotional response it caused was something the extra terrestrial had never experienced before.

Which caught her completely off guard when Mallory tried directing the attention to her, making Fym's eyes dart from Mallory to the screen as her mouth hung agape.
"Oh, ah!" Something she had never felt before would find its way into her brain, an irrational sensation that seemed to serve no purpose other than to cause a jumbled mess of emotions to invade her thoughts.
She felt distracted, unable to speak and form coherent thoughts, she suddenly felt overwhelmed with such a simple task that was nothing more than to briefly explain herself to whoever would watch that video.

"Yes! I am Fymcrea from the Andromeda Nebula Galaxy, I have come to this planet to safe my kin that are being kept captive somewhere on this terrestrial continent. I...uh..."
Turning her attention to Mallory, her gray visage seemingly more pale than it ever was, Fym would face her with wide eyes.
"What do I need to tell your sibling?" Fym would ask in a hushed whisper, just for her to turn her face back to the camera with the most awkward, and simultaneously most haunting, smile that displayed the bizarrely shaped cage of ivory teeth as deep, fast breaths caused the two secondary airways on her neck to bulge in bizarre motions.
"I need your help, Mallory told me you would." Fym would finally speak, her bony finger coming to lead Mallory's finger over the button that seemed to stop the recording.

And as it did, Fym took a deep, labored breath, one that would send hazy, damp air through the openings on her thorax as the alien tried to calm herself.
"What just happened?" She'd ask, turning her elongated head towards Mallory as starry purple eyes met sky blue ones.
"That should not have been so complicated...But it was." Fym mused, allowing her slender form to sink to the floor as she'd seat herself on the floor, tilting her head backwards as something resembling a sigh escaped her lips, causing another deep breath of terrestrial air to be exhumed through the airways on her thorax.

"Do you think your brother will believe any of this before he meets me?" The extra terrestrial finally spoke again, eyeing Mallory out of those bizarre, lidless eyes of hers.

 

[Cartoonicat]

As the recording ended, Mallory let out a sigh. The video hadn't gone as smoothly as Mallory had hoped, but it was something. At least Josh had the opportunity to see and hear Fym in action before meeting her in person. She felt herself laugh a bit at Fym's question; complicated indeed. "I think it'll be alright," she said after a while. Mallory sat down, too, back leaning against the freshly installed panels of her childhood tree house. "He's irrational and impulsive so.. he digs stuff like this." Her brows lifted immediately. "Uh, 'dig' as in... is interested in, not actually digging up something, heh." Talking to Fym made her realize the oddities of the English language. Absently, she wondered if other languages had such odd, nonsensical sayings that natives accepted without question.

"Honestly, though... he'll probably think you are CGI or something, even though he knows I can hardly draw proportionate stick figures," she said. Shrugged, shoulders slumping. She wrapped an arm around one knee, pulling it to her chest and resting her chin on it, expression thoughtful. "Only one way to find out though."

And that was to wait.

[One Hour Later]​

Mallory startled at the sound of her phone buzzing. She could practically feel her heart leap into her throat: Josh was there, in the woods, about three minutes away if he'd texted from the property treeline. She scrambled to her feet. "He's almost- just wait- erm," Mal's words came out choppy, erratic, before she simply grabbed her phone and motioned for Fym to stay hidden inside the tree house. Without another word, she stepped outside and shut the door behind her just as Josh stepped up to the staircase.

Right, he was a fast walker.

"H-Hey, Josh-"

As if to example how fast he could walk, Josh took the steps two at a time before meeting her right outside the tree house door. Wrapped her up in his arms, a tight hug. Hesitantly - not feeling worthy, considering her lie - Mallory returned the gesture. There they stood for an awkward half a minute. When he pulled away and searched her face with the blue eyes they shared she felt instantly guilty. Tried remembering why, exactly, she'd lied. Wondered if he'd ever believe her after this. "I know I took a while," Josh said, "but I grabbed Choco-Pops on the way here." He offered a dorky smile that would probably make her feel better if the situation was different.

Instead, her smile looked more like a grimace. "Oh, yum. Thanks." Her brother frowned but before he could comment, she thrust her phone into his hands. "Watch this. It's... important."

"What? Er... okay," Josh said. Tapped the play button. Mallory read confusion in the knitting of his brows, surprise at the way his mouth parted just slightly. Did he... believe it? After the video ended, Josh said nothing.

He played it again.

And again.

Three replays later, Mallory grabbed the phone. The two met each other's eyes. "Josh-"

"That's not real," he said, but he sounded like he didn't believe his own words. "That's not real, right? I mean, it can't be. It's just..."

Mallory shook her head. "It's not CGI."

Josh glanced to the door behind her, hands slowly reaching up to run through his hair and tug at the blonde strands. He looked absolutely bewildered. Maybe a bit scared - Mallory hoped not. "What the..." Carefully, hesitantly, she took one of his hands and tugged him towards the door. Offered a comforting smile. Josh stayed rooted in place, fingers tightening around her own. "There's an alien in there?"

"Josh," she started. "Do you trust me?"

"I-..."

"Do you trust me?"

Swallowing, her brother tightened his grip even more but took a step forward. Mallory resisted the urge to exhale in relief; this was going far better than making the video had, but they still had proper introductions to make and she could tell her brother was already an amalgamation of conflicting emotions. Turning the doorknob, she stepped back and pushed the door open. Inside stood Fym in all her tall, extra-terrestrial glory.

Josh's eyes stretched wide. "Holy shit."

 

[Vampunk]

Mallory explaining all the various irregularities of humanity, be it in speech or just the way they acted, never failed to capture Fym's interest. The extra terrestrial allowing herself to let go of an amused click at her terrestrial friend trying to clarify what she had meant, but instead of prodding Mallory on what she had meant by "C.G.I", Fym just watched how the human girl would rest against the tree house's wall, intent on waiting for her brother to arrive.

Tilting her head slightly to the side, Fym would come to imitate Mallory, letting her towering form slide down the wooden wall and come to rest next to Mallory.
One slender leg pulled towards her alien thorax, folding both of her bizarrely long hands on her joint, and finally resting her pointy chin on them, Fym would exhale deeply.
Causing her warm breath to send hazy mist into the autumn air as the two of them waited for Josh's arrival.

It didn't take too long for the first sign of him being near, as Mallory seemed to jolt up the moment her communication device started humming. A terrestrial hour did seem to pass quite quickly for a being used to the longer planetary cycles of her homeworld, and yet the silence between them had seemed longer than what time actually had passed. A strange new sensation for a creature whose perception of the world used to be simply based on facts and sterile data, all things that had been changed ever since two minds had become one for the fraction of a moment.

"Is everything alri..." Fym tried to ask Mallory, but the girl seemed too preoccupied with calming herself down, and apparently failing to do so, for Fym to try and ask her about all the things that had been festering in her mind during the hour they had spent beside each other, without a single word being exchanged between them.
But Mallory made it quite clear that she had to stay hidden inside the treehouse, or at least until her terrestrial friend had managed to defuse the situation somewhat and prepare her brother for "First contact".


Through the thin walls of the treehouse, Fym was able to follow the rather brief exchange of words between the two siblings...And was allowed to witness the little video they had made in preparation for this exact moment to be replayed not twice, but thrice. The sound of her own voice making Fym raise what would be akin to a human eyebrow as the sound did not really match her own idea of her voice.
But she did not get to linger on such a thought for much longer as soon enough, Mallory opened the door to reveal Fym, the extra terrestrial supporting her towering form on the doorframe, having to hunch slightly so that she could actually see the two terrestrials.

"Oh...Hello there Josh, Mallory already told me so much about you." Fym would mumble with an awkward smile that revealed her bizarre ivory fangs in all their glory.
The narrow doorway already made her seem much more imposing than she actually was, a whole seven foot tall with tough gray skin and inhumanly long limbs.
Tilting her elongated head to the side and blinking with those translucent eyelids of hers, her purple crystal node humming softly and emitting a faint glow, Fym would glare down at Josh, unsure whether she should prod him with questions or allow him to stomach meeting a real extra terrestrial face to face first.

"Uh, I assure you, I come in peace, everything you humans seem to project on beings hailing from different planets does not really apply to my species. We're just a gigantic network of drones under a collective, communal neural bond, there's no real need or want for conflict in my kind, not after the assimilation."
For Fym those were reassuring words, trying to convey the thought of her, and her kin, being peaceful and not harboring any ill will towards the human population, but for some it may have been the looming threat of alien assimilation into a hivemind.

"I already melded with your sister, it is through her that I have been able to further my mission on this planet. And she thought you may be able to aid us in this venture." Fym added with an even wider "smile", one that seemed far more genuine, but not any less bizarre coming from an extra terrestrial creature from the depths of space.