Inconceivable Cheese

Subject: Inconceivable Cheese Tue Oct 20, 2015 1:10 am

Inconceivable Cheese
(Title by Ray)

----

The ocean crashed against the rocky cliffs, beating with waves upon the unmoving face of stone with grim dedication. This was a battle the ocean, eventually, would win, but for now the cliffs sat in silence and enjoyed the view. It was sunset, and the edge of the glorious flaming disk in the sky was just beginning to touch the horizon, setting alight the waters of the sea. This orange glow cast brilliance on the cliffs, making the castle atop shine with intense luminosity. The tallest tower faced the sea, whitewashed by the salty spray despite being several hundred feet away from the frothing waters. Extending from this tower was a long length of thick wood, supported by other wooden beams that connected to the tower and the outer wall. It was obvious this structure was a dock of some sort, but evidently not for any ships that could reach the water.

The rest of the castle stood in silence, empty but for the stray mouse or rabbit. The outer courtyard was unkempt, weeds poking through the cobbled walkways and ivy climbing up the walls and into abandoned structures. The wrought-iron gates stood ajar, inviting in the gusts of wind that playfully danced about, throwing up dust devils for the amusement of the birds.

A shape flickered through the gates and into the castle, white cape flowing out behind it. It paused for a moment as if to smell the air, thin arms poised outward for balance, and legs at the ready for swift movement. It was a lean, bipedal creature with silvery-white skin, and large round eyes the color of the sky. A thin tail poked out from underneath the cape, flicking nervously back and forth. It was obvious that he was nervous, despite there being no one around to observe him. Suddenly he darted inside the building, vanishing into the darkness. He reappeared a few minutes later atop the tallest tower, standing on the dock and looking out over the ocean. His cape caught the light as it fluttered in the breeze, and briefly he considered jumping.

The notion was so absurd he stepped nervously away from the edge, fearing for his own sanity. He mumbled something under his breath that only the wind could hear, threw a sandlike substance off the edge, and disappeared back inside the castle. This ritual, while at first appeared nonsensical, quickly drew meaning as the courtyard suddenly exploded violently in a flash of yellow and orange lights. The air seemed to split, and beings coalesced in these holes in the sky. Quickly they touched down onto the ground, where their features became distinct and it was apparent that they were alive…

----

A woman’s voice screamed in terror as explosions sounded outside the shuttle. The pilot of the shuttle hissed audibly, his forked tongue sliding out from between his teeth. Silently he wished someone would tend to the princess while he was trying to save their lives. The shuttle shook hard as it took another hit, but the shields were holding. The brilliant, orange shields that had been the last defense they had against the invaders. For an instant his mind was taken back to the moment the shields had fallen, the planet-wide defense system failing after a seven-year blockade rained fire down on their world. The rip in the sky would forever be trapped in his mind’s eye. He was brought back into reality by another explosion, shaking the shuttle even more.

“General, shields are down to forty percent,” said the copilot, busy at the seat next to him.
“We’ll make it,” the pilot hissed. We have to.

A couple thousand more feet and they’d be safe in the blackness of space, enfolded in her arms of stars. The ships behind them couldn’t hope to match their speed or track them, but first they had to break atmosphere. Closer… closer… Alarms blared suddenly.

“We’ve lost auxiliary power!” shouted the copilot. “All secondary systems are down.”
“What’d we lose that’s important?!” snarled the General.
“…Starmaps. Navigation. Nothing too bad, but we’re going to be flying blind.”
“If we can break atmosphere can you fix it?”
“Possibly. We’ll have to jump first, and jumping without a destination is… dangerous.”
“…It’s a risk we have to take.”

They took another hit, knocking them down another hundred feet. So close. So close. The heat of the moment filled the room with smoke as twelve of the occupants of the shuttle suddenly caught fire. They broke atmosphere. The General engaged the fluxspeed drive.

And then suddenly everything was gone. There was a bright flash of light and then nothing. His ears rang. He realized he was laying down face-first, his nose in the dirt. Dirt? Startled and confused, the General pushed himself up off the ground. It was dirt. Dirt and… an unfamiliar green plant. He looked around for a moment, blinded by the intensity of the light. Where… Where was he? Was this death? Had they been shot down? Is this what happened when one engaged the fluxspeed drive without a destination? Squinting, he could make out other silhouettes in the light.

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Vessyr

"It'll be a pleasure working with you, I'm sure," said Vessyr's new partner, who she had already forgotten the name of. She contained her sigh and shook his hand.

"You too," she said, trying to sound sincere. "I'll see you later, then."

She slipped out the door, barely registering his reply. Seconds later, her partner followed in a rush, throwing the door open. "Hey, wait, I-" He froze. She was nowhere to be seen.

"they weren't lying when they said she was good at disappearing..." he mumbled, and went back inside.

----

Suddenly, Vessyr was not on Rathor. She stopped walking, neon green eyes squinted against the sunlight, and looked around. She was outside, somehow, and had no idea where she was. There seemed to be other people around, though, not that it did anything to ease her fears. If anything, it made her more nervous. From her back she pulled her weapon, an energy sword with a small blaster inside its handle, and held it at her side as a blade.

There was no way this was actually a planet, she reasoned. Most likely she had somehow been beamed up to a ship in orbit above Rathor, into some kind of simulation. Someone probably thought it would be funny. That someone was not her. Whatever or whoever had brought her here had done so against her will. They had better be prepared to face her, and send her back immediately.

----

It was dark, well past midnight, in the forest, where strange creatures hunted and few people dared go. One such strange creature just happened to be wearing brown clothes, a hood, and a long scarf. However, this creature was not exactly hunting. He was simply sitting high in a tree, plain black claws dug into the branch, and large catlike green eyes fixed on the sky. It was a good night for stars, he decided.

Then everything caught fire, and it was day.

The Shade fell backwards onto the ground, staring straight up at the sun, and let loose an odd sort of trilling shriek. He shut his eyes, blinded, and focused instead on life around him. There were several people, and not one of them was happy. The entire area around him was a storm of confusion, anger, and fear. There was an opening, though, where no one was. He slowly opened his eyes as he scrambled up, still mostly unable to see in the light, and ran for it.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

Wev sat alone on a secluded peak a miles from his hometown. He always came here when he was tired of the everyday bustle of the city. He stopped to watch the sun sink below the peak behind him before reaching in a small satchel for a small, ridged disc with a blue light in the middle, battered from near constant use. He tapped on the blue light and hit it against his hand a few times, causing a blue holographic circle to slowly flicker on around him. He moved the headphones hanging around his neck up to his ears, and started bending and twisting the circle until it started pulsating an a steady rhythm.

This went well into the night, until the only light within miles was the dim pulsing blue of the increasingly complicated shape he was making. Then suddenly it stopped. Wev frowned, and was about to shake it to put any loose circuit back in place when the pitch black suddenly turned into a blinding white. He blinked in the bright light and hunkered down, instinctively raising the feathers on his back to make himself look bigger. When he looked up he saw three shadowy figures standing near him.

Subject: Re: Inconceivable Cheese Tue Oct 20, 2015 9:55 pm

Valliance was having a lovely dream. It involved him fishing with his father on some pristine world, and he was in the process of reeling in what could have only been the largest fish in the lake when suddenly the dream exploded. Valliance found himself somewhere else, bathed in light. That was such a shame, he’d really wanted to see that fish. Curled up like a kitten, Valliance opened his eyes. Odd. He’d never woke from one dream into another. He stretched luxuriously, wincing slightly as he realized his side was sore from accidentally falling asleep on his sheathed sword. He adjusted his belt and stood up, examining this new dreamscape.

It occurred to Valliance that this might not be a dream, but if that was the case where was he? Where was his sister? Hadn’t they just been aboard Thray’s ship? This certainly didn’t look like a ship. It looked more like a pretty planet; a bit like the one in his dream. He’d never seen a real castle before. Gazing with wide eyes he took in everything. Aliens surrounded him but none of them seemed to be paying any attention to him. That was normal. Living on Rathor for his entire life, aliens were something he saw every day. One of them was even shaped familiarly, though at the moment he couldn’t place what it was. The other aliens were foreign, and to him they looked rather funny. Especially the big black one that seemed to be trying to hide in the grass. For lack of anything better to do, Valliance walked over to this creature, admiring its wings and long, glossy, black feathers.

“Hello,” Valliance said, smiling politely at the thing. He hoped he’d make a good impression. Maybe if it was a nice creature he could ask it where he was.

Nakion on the other hand was already irritated at just about everything. He was on some strange world with only one sun, (ghastly), that was at least thirty degrees too cold, (hellish), and surrounded by what he interpreted as hostile forces (disgusting aliens). He took note of the creature fleeing the scene but elected not to give chase; he was cold. Curse it all, why did it have to be cold?! He gripped the heavy blaster rifle at his hip, fidgeting with the safety. “Ssomeone has a lot of explaining to do,” he hissed loudly.
The blinding lights had faded now, revealing that it was sunset. Fantastic. Soon Nakion would be even colder.

Posts : 42 Join date : 2014-09-15 Age : 25

(I ended up deleting my original post on accident, so for the sake of time, I'm not going to write what happened before Thukr got there.)

***

At first Thukr didn't notice a difference between the rotten cafeteria and the courtyard. She had no capabilities of sight, thus she wasn't able to realize where she was, at least not right away. The suspicious silence perturbed her. It wasn't like Logwed and Nhahgnis to be silent. She moved an inch forward, but stopped an giggled. It was such a terribly strange sensation of the grass beneath the lower mass of her body. Thukr had never felt such a feeling before. She moved a couple more inches forward and ended up cackling in a very beastly manner. She contorted slightly when she had felt this. She stopped again, and decided not to move any further. The feeling of being tickled by the grass was too much for her.

Since she lacked eyes, Thukr took in her surroundings by scent. With a single whiff she could picture everything that surrounded her in her head, just by the smell of everything. She sensed a few beings. They smelled in such a way that disturbed her deeply. They smelled much fresher than anything she had ever sensed. They did not smell rotten, nor did they reek of anything similar to iron or sand.

She seemed to stay in one single single pose, and did not move. Her face twitched every so often, and she drooled through her bloodstained canines. Overall, Thukr didn't look all too pleasant.

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Vessyr blinked a few times, adjusting to the light, and grumbled. Great, being able to see didn't help her with anything. There were several other people around, though, and she did not recognize any of them. The feathers on her head and tail ruffled slightly as she began silently exploring the immediate area, looking very annoyed, and ignoring everyone else. Not once did she loosen her grip on her blade, nor did her face deviate from a scowl.

Shade had found a small tree to hide behind, and was gladly doing so. Trees were nice, they didn't get scared. He stared out at the other beings, nervous. Some of them had turned from fear to anger, while others were simply scared. All were alien, beings unlike anything he had met before, not that that bothered him very much. He met new creatures fairly often. Two beings stood out among the chaos, who seemed to be much more calm than the others. They were both obviously confused, but one of them seemed almost happy. Amused, perhaps? Or curious. He fixed wide eyes on the creature, small and furry, and watched him.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

As his eyes ajusted to the light, Wev started looking around. He found the foliage mildly comforting, but any comfort gained by the trees was quixkly taken away by this abandoned castle looming over him. It obviously wasnt of Vith design. Where could he be?

Wev saw one of the figures approaching him. Trying to not look quite so uneasy, he straightend back up, breifly smoothed his feathers, and quickly put his instrument back in the satchel on his belt. Getting a closer look at the creature approaching him, he saw it was bipedal, and rather fuzzy.

"Hello," the stranger said. He seemed friendly enough. Wev looked down to see the sword on the stranger's belt. He didnt look any older than 13, which seemed a bit young to be carrying a weapon like that around. Wev was fairly certain at this point that this creature didnt intend to use it on him, but in his experience, 12 year olds are fickle and an armed one was still terrifying.

"Hey," said Wev, trying to be as calm and polite as he could "do you know where we are?"

Subject: Re: Inconceivable Cheese Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:09 am

"Ah no," Valliance answered apologetically. His gaze dropped to his feet. "I was sort of hoping you might know where we are." He laughed quietly. "Oh well. Maybe someone else does."

Despite the apparent cold, Nakion was not so out of sorts as to not overhear what was being said between the two aliens. This simply made him angrier, but he shoved that feeling down and took a deep breath. This, evidently, was now a survival situation. That meant that someone had to take charge. He felt that he, as a qualified military general and the last remaining link to the royal line for his race, was well-suited for the task.

"Alright," Nakion said loudly, raising his voice to be heard by all. "If anyone knows where we are right now, please sspeak."

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Vessyr rolled her eyes. "No clue," she said, "but I plan to find out." She stopped, looking at the taller alien. "I'm Vessyr," she said, a little friendlier, a little forced, "you?"

Shade decided he did not like the red person, as he was far too angry. He did, however, like the pale gray one, and the black one seemed alright. After a moment's thought, he decided he would go over there. Slowly, he began to skirt his way around the other beings, trying not to get the attention of the angry ones. Better to have allies, after all, or at least someone to hide behind...

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

After hearing Nakion, Wev looked back at Valliance.

"Doesn't look like anyone does." Wev said, looking down and frowning. He looked back up to see a blurry figure coming towards him. It startled him, since he can always hear the heartbeat of living things, but he didn't hear anything from this hooded figure.

"Wait what is that?" he asked Valliance, pointing at the figure, "Is it alive?" He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Nope, its still there. Vith aren't known for their eyesight, so he walked closer to get a better look.

Subject: Re: Inconceivable Cheese Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:39 pm

Valliance looked over at the tall lizard-like alien that had yelled. Unfortunately what he’d said hadn’t been interesting enough to hold Valliance’s attention for long. He was, after all, only 11 years old. Having no answer for the reddish alien, he turned back to Wev.

“Looks like a hooded guy,” Valliance said, looking over where Wev had pointed. He then followed his new friend over to the shadowy shape, curiosity swelling.

“Greetings Vessssyr,” Nakion said politely, as was custom drawing out the ‘ss’ in her name. “I am General Nakion Flarun, of the Flareling Imperial Ssovereignty.” He paused for a moment. “It is imperative that I find my shuttle, for aboard is my princess. Sshe and I are the last ssurviving of the royal line. Have you seen it?”

He assumed at this point that they had crashed somewhere, sometime after engaging the fluxspeed drive. How he’d managed to land face-down without any serious injuries was a mystery to him, but this was the least of his concerns. For the moment, he didn’t care who the rest of these people were, but instead thought he might enlist them to help the search. There was safety, survival, and success in numbers.

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Vessyr shook her head. "I haven't seen more than you," she said, "I was on Rathor, and then I was here." She had, by this point, decided that Nakion was the only person there who was really worth her time. Everyone else seemed clueless, uninterested in helping, and probably not very good in a fight. But perhaps they could at least help look around.

It was at this point that Shade began to realize he may have made a mistake. The two people closing in on him did seem more curious than anything, but he still didn't like how close the bigger one was getting to his face. He stepped backwards, hoping they wouldn't move any closer.

'Hello?' he sent nervously to the pair. It occurred to him that telepathy tended to catch people by surprise, but it wasn't as if he had another choice.

Posts : 42 Join date : 2014-09-15 Age : 25

Thukr glared into the nothingness that she saw, and attempted to grasp the situation. She tried her absolute hardest, but still failed miserably. Nothing made sense to her, and she wasn't the thinking type; that was Logwed's job. The others didn't seem to notice her, which was rather surprising. She was ten feet and looked hideous to the point where she was downright scary. Not to mention the smell of wet dog and vomit lingered from her very being.

She took another whiff of her environment. She couldn't pick up any distinct smells besides the scales of the flareling. When she thought scales, she thought Nhahgnis, which wasn't there. If Nhahgnis was there, Thukr would be smelling scales and as well as the iron in blood, though she could only sense scales. So that was useless.

By now, the grass beneath her had become pure calcium. She didn't seem to notice though. With that, she slowly inched onward. As she moved, everything that was touched by her was converted to pure calcium, thus she left a trail of white crust behind her. She was becoming ever so nearer to whatever they were. She couldn't tell, but she could tell they were friendly, and that she liked.

Perhaps they would be scared of her, perhaps they wouldn't. She didn't move much in any place besides her face which occasionally throbbed, and her mouth, in which her teeth rattled.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

Wev jumped a little. The Vith recognize everything by sound, so needless to say, he was startled by this soundless speech. His right ear twitched a few times as he turned to look at Valliance. He pointed to the hooded creature and stuttered some incoherent gibberish. He nervously looked around as his eyes grew wide and his ears snapped back.

Subject: Re: Inconceivable Cheese Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:52 pm

"Whoa!" Valliance grinned, gently startled by the unusual voice in his head, "that’s… uh…tell-pathy!" He looked over at Wev to see if his new friend was as delighted as he was. This sentiment quickly vanished when Wev started spouting nonsense. “Hey are you okay mister?” Valliance asked, concerned. He looked spooked to say the least.

“Rathor?” Nakion echoed. “I do not know this pla--” He stopped midsentence, his nose assaulted by a most horrid stench. In one fluid motion he drew the blaster rifle from his hip, spun to his left, and leveled the gun with what he assumed to be Thukr’s head. The thing before him was such a ghastly shade of green and smelled of pure rot. He hissed sharply, obviously alarmed by the thing’s continued approach. “Sstop.”

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Vessyr curled her lip, pressing her ears back against her head. The smell. She held her sword a little more tightly, a little more obviously, but didn't move other than to turn towards the... thing. She had seen a lot of different kinds of aliens in her time, but nothing like this. She growled quietly, but decided to let Nakion deal with the situation for the time being.

Shade tilted his head slightly, confused. Valliance at least was happy, but he had managed to scare Wev much more than he had expected. He took another step back, worried. 'Sorry...' he sent to both of them, hoping it wouldn't just scare Wev more.

Posts : 42 Join date : 2014-09-15 Age : 25

Thukr stopped, but did not recoil. She opened her mouth to speak to Nakion, "You smell like veer, but you are not veer. Tell me what you are." Every syllable was short and separate from every other. It was a bit difficult to understand what she said because of how beastly her voice was. It was like she wasn't speaking, and instead she was barking. She could sense the metal in Nakion's gun. She's learned of things like guns, and the things that they fed her. She was suddenly hungry. Perhaps she did want him to shoot her, but she would need to provoke him, which would most likely end in him not being friends with her. It was a hard decision, but she couldn't afford to pass by a new friend.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

Wev relaxed a little, but his ear kept twitching.

"That's okay," Wev said, still obviously nervous. "I usually recognize things by their sounds, and you don't seem to have any, so I'm sorry for over-reacting..."

Subject: Re: Inconceivable Cheese Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:55 pm

Valliance cocked his head to once side, examining Wev and the weird cloaked thing. Wev was right, the cloaked thing didn’t make any sounds that he could hear. “What are you?” Valliance asked timidly, hoping that wasn’t something rude to say. His tail swished back and forth, brushing the grass behind him. “And what's your name? Mine’s Valliance.” He blinked once before poking Wev lightly. “Hey, what’s your name? My manners left me and I forgot to ask!”

Nakion eyed the thing in front of him with obvious distaste and didn’t lower his gun. “I am General Nakion Flarun, of the Flareling Imperial Ssovereignty,” he growled. “Explain yourself! What are you? Ally or enemy?” His thumb switched the safety off.

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Shade stared at Valliance and Wev for a moment, thinking. This time, he made a quiet chirping noise when he spoke. 'I am Shade,' he sent, 'People call me spirit, or monster, sometimes.'

Posts : 42 Join date : 2014-09-15 Age : 25

Thukr's face throbbed and she drooled a bit, "I am Thukr. I am biprimae. I am hungershulla. I am friend." The ground subtly and slowly turned to calcium. It did this slowly enough that unless one was paying close attention to the ground around her specifically, it would not be noticed.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

Wev managed a smile. "I'm Wev. It's good to meet you guys, dispite the..." Wev paused for a moment to glance up at the castle "...odd circumstances." Wev shifted his weight to one side and scratched behind his ear, mostly just in an attempt to keep it from twitching. "So are you guys from here? I was on my homeworld, Vithian, and then I just sorta...wasn't."

Subject: Re: Inconceivable Cheese Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:56 am

"You don't look like a monster to me," Valliance laughed. "Nice to meet you, Shade. And nice to meet you too Wev." He listened to Wev's question patiently. "I was asleep I think... I don't know how I got here, but it seems a nice place." He gazed up at the sky and noted that there were a few stars visible now, arriving with the fast-fading light. As he looked he noticed movement from the damaged portcullis of the castle, and his attention snapped to it. He leaned over to peer around Shade. Coming from inside the castle was an unfamiliar shape. It wore a white cape and had silvery-white skin that gleamed in the fading light. It stood in front of the gate for a moment, watching them, and then began to walk towards the group.

Nakion did not trust this ‘Thukr’ as she called herself, but he did lower his weapon. She’d said she was a friend, and for the moment he did not want to waste ammo on something that perhaps could be useful. Even if it did smell like it had withered and died in a moldy cavern a week ago.
Detecting movement in his peripheral vision, Nakion turned toward the other group of aliens he had yet to speak to. The littlest of them, a furry blue-gray thing, was staring at something in the distance. Something white that was coming towards them. Nakion did not put his rifle away.

Posts : 160 Join date : 2014-09-28

Vessyr lowered her blade only slightly. This 'Thukr' thing still didn't sit very well with her, especially her nose. But apparently she was a friend, and Vessyr was not in a position to decline an alliance. Unfortunately, as soon as one thing ended, another began. It seemed the castle gate was opening. She watched closely as a figure came out, distrusting. Perhaps whoever it was would know what was going on...

Shade listened to Wev and Valliance's stories, then offered his own. 'It was night,' he sent, as if that explained everything, 'and now I am here.' He sent a vague image of the forest he had been in, with the stars above it, to them, to emphasize his point. He had no idea where he was.

He flinched. Someone was coming out of the castle, and he didn't recognize it. Quietly, he took a few steps to the side, positioning himself behind Wev. He didn't have to see to know where this new person was, but he had no idea what they were doing.

Posts : 34 Join date : 2014-10-12

Wev looked up to see another creature coming towards them. Everyone else he'd met here had been nice, chances are this guy is too, and better yet, he could hear this one. He was about to say hello when he noticed that Shade had moved behind him.

"Uh, Shade? Do you know him?"