Writing Prompts

A spot for collections of Outsider-related original fan fiction and related works.

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Krulle
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Krulle »

The thing is, Beryl would remember the feeling on her lips anyway.
And it would definitely not be smart of Alexander to lie to her.
Especially when either pilot might've seen something...

Alex tried to squeeze back on Beryl's hand, to reassure her and to lure her to grip a tad less tight.
How hard will she squeeze, once the computer and Talon will actually start their evasive maneuvers?

Beryl turned to Alex again. "Tempo has a question for you. How widespread is this meditation among your people? And why do your people do that?"
Alex, taking up the chance to distract himself while the countdown to the hard maneuvers ticked down: "Somewhat widespread. It is a good exercise when in stress. To calm down. To forget the stress, make the mind just wander freely and forget about any worries and sorrows for a short while, which helps releasing the body tension coming with stress. It is present in nearly all cultures, in one form or the other, but not practiced by everyone."

"50 solons"

"We also have quite a range of meditation techniques. Quietness. Music. Certain medications, natural and chemical ones." Alex continued, just to block out any other thoughts.
And with that, the shuttle made a hard lurch, but the gravity Alexander felt immediately ebbed down again. The inertial dampers must've kicked in. But the station visible through the window moved faster and faster out of the middle.
Then a bright, greenish flash came over the screen, seemingly from the station towards the shuttle. The shuttle shuddered violently.
Alex felt a sharp pain in his hand.

Alex heard Spiral's voice: "Gora-Relay: we can confirm hit. The missile has been destroyed. But the explosion caused a leak in our tank, we are loosing fuel fast. We will decelerate as much as possible, but we cannot land purely on our own power anymore. Can you catch us?"

"We have also several techniques, but to learn to control the Sanzai, quietness works best. How does that work, using medications?" came Beryl's curious voice.

"Highland Seven, we will try to catch you, but you need to move out of the way. There are more missiles inbound, and they are using you as a shield to prevent us from firing at them. Fly past us, and we will catch up to you."

The pain finally reached Alex' brain: "Ouch! Beryl, could you please stop pressing so hard on my hand? I think you ..."
Beryl stopped pressurizing Alex hand, but did not let fully go. She pulled his hand and arm towards her, and looked at his hand.

"Did I hurt you? I thought shaking hands is common among Humans, I thought your hands would therefore be used to being gripped?"

"Yes, we are, but your grip is somewhat stronger than most Humans can exert. And especially the small finger is prone to being broken with us Humans. I think you might've hit a weak spot..."

The station was not visible on the screen anymore.

Beryl's hand shot away from Alexander, as if it was poisoned. In her face was slight disgust. 'Disgust at us being weak to have a broken bone so fast?' was Alex first thought. He pulled over his hand and examined it.

He felt the shuttle move slightly erratically, and wished for some painkillers.

"I am so sorry, Enzin Jardin." came Beryl's voice. "Shall we meditate again to 'release the body tension'?"

Then the engine died down, causing a weird feeling of inverted gravity in the shuttle, which shortly afterwards went away when the inertial dampers stopped.

"Gora-Relay: We are out of fuel and cannot move by ourselves anymore. Please inform us of the situation whenever you can and feel it might be helpful for us." came Spiral's voice.

Talon turned around and said "Well, now we are fully dependent on Gora Relay."

"Highland Seven: We are currently targeting the missiles and have started moving ourselves between you and the aggressor. Please wait."

Alex, somewhat disoriented from the multiple conversations around him, answered: "I don't think meditation will heal my body physically. I fear you do not have pain medication for me accessible?"

"We have emergency kits in the shuttle, but I fear the medication in it will not be agreeable for your biochemistry. And while we have some of the stuff we collected from your ship in the shuttle, we have stored all in the storage bay, where it is currently not accessible. Furthermore we cannot differentiate your markings to identify harmful and helpful stuff. And the situations so far have not given rise to an occasion to ask you to help us identifying what is what." came Beryl's answer. Although Alexander had the feeling, this was actually Tempo's answer, and just coming through Beryl's mouth.

Alex looked at his hand, which had a distinct reddish bulb on it. And the pain was throbbing slightly with his heart rhythm.

'Okay, let's go for distractions, then.' Alex thought, and looked at the tactical screen, which showed the station moving slowly closer to the shuttle, fending off small red dots moving fast towards the shuttle and the station. "Beryl, no meditation like we just did will not help. It frees my mind from outside stimula, but usually I cannot eliminate stimula from my body." He heard a seatbelt lock click. "And blending out outside stimula would focus my thoughts only more on the pain in my hand. I don't think it is broken, though. But a stiff drink to inebriate myself would do wonders for my anxiety right now."

He heard Talon's voice over the shuttle speakers: "Remain seated and keep the belts on. Expect bumpy maneuvers from the station as we get within the range of their inertial dampening field. The enemy is also still firing on us, expect closeby explosions. And our inertial dampers will not be working at full efficiency without fuel for our engines."

Suddenly, he felt Beryl leaning over, and she kissed him.
I feel like I somewhat went back and forth, and not really kept a line.... I just wrote this down as it came, during my "coffee break"....
I don't even fully know where I wanted to go, but then these writing prompts are intended to leave a cliffhanger so the next can continue.
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

entity2636
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by entity2636 »

LOL Alex is such a pussy :lol: But then again, women with their tiny hands can indeed squeeze quite painfully :?

By the way, Loroi PDLs are pinkish red rather than green.

Krulle
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Krulle »

I left that as a prompt for Alex to wonder, if the Loroi have been upfront to him about Naam...

In these writing promots we can diverge from the canon storyline... :)
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Zarya
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Zarya »

"Hi, I'm clickyclick-27's brother. He reported [as it has happened that] you guys have been nasty to him at Naam. This will not stand. Time has [irrevocably] come to empty our missile tubes and unleash our vengeance on to you [as it has]. Touch the mandibles of your loved ones [as well as the sorry hindside of your abdomen] goodbye!"

Image

entity2636
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by entity2636 »

Krulle wrote:I left that as a prompt for Alex to wonder, if the Loroi have been upfront to him about Naam...

In these writing promots we can diverge from the canon storyline... :)
I see :) If he ever catches on to that, Tempo will have some explaining to do. Wonder how she'll wiggle out of that one ;)

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

But for now, Alex has some, well, more pressing concerns :)
Beryl kissed him.

Beryl kissed him.

Beryl kissed him.

And it wasn't a chaste affair, it was even more pronounced than what he did to shake her out of the trance. A part of Alex's brain noticed the weightlessness - it wasn't quite microgravity, but the gravity must have been reduced to maybe one tenth - and he noticed that only because of Beryl actually drifting closer to him, pulling herself in an even tighter embrace.

That was the moment where Alex felt his brain folding in to itself and imploding. No other words would suffice to describe it, save his brain making a complete shutdown and reboot.

Coming back to his senses he noticed that she broke the kiss and looked into his eyes, with a mixture of curiosity and a slight smile on her lips.

"Did that help? You said meditation wouldn't work, so I thought this might do."

Alex blinked. Yes, his bruised hand. There was something, right. His nerve endings may still sent some pain signals to his brain, he realized, but it may be awash with endorphins right now that they wouldn't reach the pain centers. He glanced at his hand which still sported some angry welts (which were already subsiding) with a feeling of detachment.

"Uh... yes... yes, it did." Damn, his speech centers in his brain still weren't completely back online. "But, if you ever get to meet other humans, you might try for a more standard method of pain medication, right? And, maybe Tempo and Fireblade should refrain from doing this."

Her smile got a bit wider. "Am I right that you are giving me permission to do that again when the occasion arises?"

Well, I'd say yes even if there isn't actual need, Alex thought, their closeness again bringing this burned-vanilla scent he came to associate with Loroi - and especially Beryl - to his nostrils, and nodded. After all, Alex realized that they did cross an important line when he agreed to her skin to skin touch experiment.

"I've relayed your stipulation, and I think I felt some abject resignation coming from Tempo, and...."

"And you made a fuss about me just touching his hand. If you were calling dibs on Enzin, why didn't you say so?", Talon's voice mock-scolded Beryl.

"I didn't...." Beryl started, but never finished the sentence. Truth be told, maybe deep down she actually did.

"No matter. I told you to get strapped in, but at the moment we're simply going ballistic. But brace yourselves for explosion shockfronts."

That brought up another topic. Everyone knew enough orbital mechanics to realize that the Gora Relay has to accelerate to follow first, going faster for a bit to close in on the shuttle, and then decelerate to match speed, heading and location. Even without being shot at, this is a time consuming maneuver. "Just asking. How long does the Relay need to catch up to us?" Alex noted.

Being back in his lap - Beryl surely seems to like it there! - she half-turned and typed another set of commands into the console, displaying a course projection for the shuttle - a straight line heading outwards - and the Relay, an arc intersecting the line a good distance down the estimated course. "Given our current speed and heading... 2900 solons."

"I need to scale down life support and internal systems to conserve energy", Talon noted, "It could get a bit cold."

Alex didn't want to mention that for his tastes, Loroi ships are already a bit chilly. But, he thought, Beryl might already have a good idea that he's used to higher temperatures than the typical Loroi.

Beryl looked back at him with a bit of concern in her eyes. Of course she must have had the same thoughts he had, but a sidelong glance to the back of the shuttle told him that one of the Loroi in the back might have sent (sanzai'd? Is that a word?) to her.

"Fireblade just sent me something. She asked me to relay that to you, and to quote it verbatim. 'We need to talk'. "

Well, Alex thought, that is a sentence every man dreads coming from a woman. And make that woman a six-foot, red-haired, mean-tempered blue space elf with powers to bend one into a pretzel without batting an eye, that sentence becomes doubly scary.

Krulle
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Krulle »

Wow. I enjoyed reading that....

I have some ideas, but currently on my way to bed (after having seen Kroos bringing the Germans to a lucky win vs. Sweden).
G'night everyone!
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

raistlin34
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by raistlin34 »

Turns out Fireblade is the cuddly one. :lol:

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

She is pulling rank to show that snotty Listel who's wearing the psionic pants. Figuratively speaking, we all know Tempo wears the pants, Fireblade has the wifebeater.

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Hālian
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Hālian »

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Don't delay, join today!

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Hālian
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Hālian »

entity2636 wrote:LOL Alex is such a pussy :lol: But then again, women with their tiny hands can indeed squeeze quite painfully :?

By the way, Loroi PDLs are pinkish red rather than green.
What's a PDL?
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Onaiom
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Onaiom »

Hālian wrote:What's a PDL?
Point Defense Laser(cannon).

Krulle
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Krulle »

Alex hesitated a bit, but then asked "Did she ask to talk alone with me? Now?"

"Yes." Beryl answered. She then started moving fully back to her own chair and put the safety belt back on again.

"Well, the station is now between us and the attackers, so we're as well protected as is possible under these circumstances. I'd suggest you move now, while the missiles would have a hard time reaching us." Talon said while looking at Alex.

"Thanks." Alex answered, unlocked his belt and left the cockpit. While passing the front rows of the passenger compartment, he caugt Tempo looking at him, but besides an encouraging smile, she gave no hint at what he was about to expect. So he continued down the aisle towards the redhaired Loroi.

So he continued down the aisle and tried to think of a strategy that might take edges of her aggressivity. At least tactics that might help.

"You asked me to come and talk to you?" Alexander asked her when he stood next to her row.

The next few noises he heard were among the worst spoken language Alexander had ever heard, it was obvious the Teidar did not use her voice for anything other than possibly a war cry or utterances of pain. "Yes."

Alex looked at her, and asked "Since we are still under attack, may I sit down so I can buckle myself in?"

The Teidar looked at him, slightly surprised, but made a hand motion to the seat right next to her.
So Alex sat down, and buckled in. When he looked up, the redhead Loroi was looking at him intently. It seemed like her eyes were glowing. Not a pleasant feeling being scrutinized by her.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Teidar Fireblade?"

"You have.... made friends with Beryl?"

"Yes. I like her inquisitive nature. I am also very curious, and while I know it is her job to get to know me, it seems to me that there's more interest in me than just professional interest."

"You have made a friend in her."

"I gather that. Since Loroi have an aversion against touching each other, her touching me seemed to me like a very intimate gesture among Loroi. That's what convinced me she's not just professionaly curious about me."

"She is my friend too."

Alex did not really know what to say about that.

"Do not harm her." came the untrained voice of Fireblade, with an unmistakeable warning sound to it.

Alex looked in Fireblade's eyes. "I will not."

He felt a pinch against his chest. Apparently a telepathic push, sicne Fireblade did not move, and no other Loroi was seated around her, but he refused to look at his chest. "Good. Otherwise I would find you."

This was not an unexpected warning. But it was far more personal than he expected. He knew Fireblade was watching him. And that she would harm him if he ever tried to hurt any Loroi. But now he got a specific warning about harming Beryl.
But since there was no reply necessary to her statement, he waited, while the push at his chest subsided.

After a while, Fireblade said: "And I also mean no psychological games with her."

"I would never play with her." his answer came. Finally he stopped looking at the shining eyes of the Teidar, and his eyes flicked to the cockpit door. Of course Fireblade did not miss this.

"Are you thinking about her? Right now?"

"Yes." he replied. And after a small hesitation, he decided the full truth might gain him some trust fromt he redhead. "Since the kisses I do think about her." He could not suppress a slight smile on his face.

The Teidar watched his face for a moment.

"Why did you see me when you... 'mediated'?" her raspy voice asked.

"'Meditate'... I do not know." he looked back at the Teidar. "I wish I knew. I also thought of her at that moment. And wondered why I saw you, and not her. She was sitting on my lap, and touching me. Why did I see you and not her?"
He suddenly became aware that now the others in the crew compartment were looking interested towards them, where previously they had seemed so disinterested in the talk between Fireblade and him.

"We all want to know. Because something else happened at the same time. She became as invisible to me as you are and the enemy currently is." her voice became stern.

This surprised Alex a bit. "What do you mean?"

"You know I have been tasked in guarding you specifically. For your protection, but equally for ours. So of course I keep watch on the telepathic signature of those direclty around you. And if I would see alarm or perceived danger there, I would start moving to stop you. But when you both 'medi..ta..ted', she got invisible for me. I could not 'see' her. I am only sitting here again, because Tempo ordered me back, when Talon and Spiral both independently relayed what you two were doing, and that she at least seemed to be unharmed and in no pain."

"Oh. Yes, she said she experienced a 'quietness' like never before. I didn't know about that. I mean, the whole concept of telepathy is still foreign and difficult to understand for me." Alexander replied, obviously more nervous than he would've liked to be near this red-haired harpy.

When Fireblade did not answer, Alexander continued: "I mean, I have the feeling that now I am not just talking to you, but to all Loroi here, especially Tempo and you. But before, I did not have the feeling when you asked me about Beryl and me."

Fireblade gave a kind of smile. "You are talking to us now, and Beryl as our Listel witnesses these kind of conversations for the record, and before we two were talking privately."

Alex looked at her, and finally dared to say: "What has changed your mind that you did not talk through the others, as before? I feel slightly honoured that you do talk to me directly, but you must've known that I am aware of what you'll do to me if I harm any Loroi."

Fireblade looked at him, and said: "Beryl is the youngest aboard our ship. This war forces us to recruit ever younger Loroi. She is merely a child. A child so carefree, that I feel obliged to protect her. And besides the missiles outside, you are currently her greatest danger. But you have treated her well. And have not shown other signs of treason, but only honesty. So I thought you deserve this warning from me personally."

Alex looked around the cabin, and again the others seemd to be 'disconnected' from the talk. "Then I thank you, and tell you I have received the warning, and will heed it. Anything else you wanted to talk about with me?" He became aware that the expressions of the others changed again.

"They were not listening in, right, but now they are again?" he asked.

Fireblade looked at him, and said "Yes. How do you know?"

"I guessed from their reaction and facial expressions."

"There is no other reason?"

"No. Like I said, we Humans believe we do not have any telepathic capabilities. It is only for stories. Until the Orgus told us about you Loroi."

"May I test something?" the redhaired asked.

"What?"

"To touch you." and she extended a hand.

Alex looked at her left hand, and gripped it somewhat awkwardly, because sitting next to each other strapped in chairs limits arm movements somewhat.
But when touching, he only felt the physical touch.
"We Humans usually use our right hands for our greeting ritual." he said in a try to lighten the atmosphere.

She pulled her left hand from him, and tried to move her right hand to get hold of his right hand. Noting it does not work without awkwardly contorting her wrist and elbow, she dropped her hands and said with a slight frustration in her voice "Why do you have so cumbersome rituals?" Also a slight hoarse crept into her voice, reminding Alexander that this voice has likely not spoken since her childhood.

Alex looked at her, then unbuckled and stood up. He then offered her his right hand and said "well, this is difficult while sitting, so usually we greet each other before we sit down. Or at least before the one who comes later sits down."

She looked at him, but then gripped his offered hand with her right hand.

He shook her hand, and then let it go and sat down again.
"Was there anything else you wanted to speak to me for?"

With that question in the room, the readhead looked over Alexander's shoulder, who only then noticed that Tempo must've used the distraction to walk down the aisle towards them both.

"Yes and no. You had your private talk with her, that's what she wanted to talk to you about." Tempo said. "But now we all, including her and me, are interested in your thoughts about Beryl's Lotai. When she meditated in your arms. This has a considerable influence on how we think about you. It may not be a coincidence that out enemy is advancing with large fleets which are invisible to us, just when we discover you."

Alexander looked back at Fireblade and then back at Tempo again. And finally it dawned on him. They were starting to consider him an enemy. Someone who is lieing to them about his capabilities, and knowledge of the enemy's abilities.

"I have told you all I know." Alexander protested. "I cannot imagine how the Umiak would be able to use this knowledge without extensive research and practical experiments when not having telepathy themselves. My mission was trying to contact either side, so at the very best, the Umiak could've made contact with Humanity only two weeks before we arrived in Naam. I cannot imagine how the Umiak would've been able to achieve this attack within that time."

"Us neither." Tempo replied. "That is why you are still sitting here. But now we desire to conduct some experiments."

Alex looked at her, slightly shocked: "Experiments?"

"Yes." Tempo replied. Nodding towards Fireblade, she said "Teidar Pallan Teinnol is our strongest telepath aboard. We would like her to 'meditate' with you, and see what happens."
Please do not open the spoiler if you think about writing the next part yourself. Thanks.
SpoilerShow
Please do not read this if you think you might want to continue this story. It contains some of my thougths, and you would not want to get tainted by them, do you?

If you think you might want to continue this writing prompt, please close the spoiler again. You may revisit when the story has been continued.

Thank you.


Two alternative ending I wrote and dismissed:
"Us neither." Tempo replied. "That is why you are still sitting here. But we've received information that either the enemy is bound to destroy us, or capture us. They seem to know you are here, and that you are very valuable."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"That the enemy battailons have started to not only secure the entry points to this system, but that a considerable force has started to move towards us. Large enough to overwhelm the station's defences." Tempo replied.
This ending is actually more a continuation, but I decided to simply cut it down:
"Uh..." Alex replied while his brain stalled.

"We are aware this is an unusual request, and we would appreciate your cooperation in this." the Mizol continued.

Alex saw no way to get out of this, without flatly refusing his hosts. And on the other hand he also wanted to know why he saw the red-haired harpy instead of the science elf.

"I intend no harm, and I will try to avoid harming you." the raspy voice of Fireblade said.

Alex looked at her.

"I promised my friend Beryl." the hoarse voice added.

Tempo added: "And I promise you, that I have ordered them all to not harm you or try to reach your thoughts while we are conducting this experiment."

Alex sighed, and said: "Okay. It's not like I have much of a choice, do I?"

"No, you haven't." came the matter-of-fact reply from Tempo.

Fireblade stood up and sat on Alex lap. She was remarkably much heavier than Beryl. This would be much less comfortable than before...

Fire blade looked him in the eyes, and then wrapped her arms around him to touch him, breathed deeply and seemed to try to relax.

Alex took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and started focusing on breathing regularly.

And then he saw her. Sitting on his lap. Extremely bright in the black nothing.
After his tenth or twelfth breath, he noticed this was not the only light shining. He saw also the black-haired Temp next to him. He immidiately focused on the cockpit. And yes, there she was. His Beryl. The black void started to shimmer slighly pinkish with these thoughts.
Next to her, Talon and Spiral.

Astonished, he tried to encompas the whole shuttle. Yes the guards were there too.
He focused "backwards" of the shuttle, and after a while, he saw a small cluster of lights nehind him. 'Must be Gora Relay" he tought.

Exhilariated by this ability, he tried to focus his attention on the remainders of the system. Nearly immidiately, he noticed the other Loroi in the system. But between them were very dark specks. If the 'void' wasn't slightly pink-tinged, he would not have seen the black specs drifting in clusters there. Correlating this with the image he saw of the system before, he assumed those are the enemy ships. He tried focussing on one of the black specs, to get more details, just as beforehand he was able to see more of the shuttle. And indeed, the focus 'zoomed in'. And then he 'saw' it. A cluster of insectile shapes touching something else, a Human? a Loroi?
And it did not look like a light touch, more like a forced connection.

Shocked he came out of the meditation.
A third possibility I had in mind was Alex "seeing" telepathic connections between the Loroi, and being able to intercept images of the Sanzai chatter.
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

No way for Alex to get out of that one, not without serious repercussions down the road... :) I have some ideas how it would go with his least favourite Loroi, and Beryl is definitely not completely out of the picture, in any case.

Just takes some refinement....

EDIT: The Barsam showing up on the scene in pg. 135 doesn't change much about Highland-7's predicament, but it could actually provide an extra twist to what I had in mind.

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

Took a bit, but here comes:
Alex swallowed and tried to force down the trepidation he felt. He still vividly remembered the first time the Loroi - she! - tried to crack open his mind like a walnut. Him passing out, and waking up with a headache that makes a migraine look tame in comparison... and no Aspirin in sight.

"Well...", Alex tried to stall a bit, "... as I said once, telepathy... or any sort of psychic powers are stuff of legends, old wive's tales. Myths. It still boggles me that it really exists. Telepathy, telekinesis... Any meditation we do is just to focus our minds and clear them from distractions - we never did it with any supernatural powers in mind."

Of course Tempo picked up on Alex's hestitation, but his words had merit. "And still humans have words to describe these 'supernatural powers' and seem to have a rich lore around them. I admit, now I'm more than curious, and I think there are forces at work here we both might not fully understand, and maybe the recent discovery of The Enemy to hide itself from our farseers is just but one aspect of this mystery."

"What do you mean?" Alex prompted.

"Understand that while I ... do have had my suspicions about you, I have seen that you had been forthcoming with information and your take on things. I am not suspecting trickery by you and your people here, but I've come to think that your Lotai and The Enemy's newfound ability might be part of a bigger picture we don't see in its entirety... and that it is of utmost importance to get a clearer view. To the Loroi Union as well as to Humanity."

Alex mulled her words over, then nods. "Good point. So how shall we go from here?"

Fireblade watched the exchange, and mainly Alex, her expression slowly changing from her usual standoffish one to one tinged with ... concern? Yes, Alex was quite sure that she looked a bit concerned now.

"Try not to resist. The last ... attempt we made while you were ... unconscious", Fireblade haltingly noted, "A willing mind is more open."

'Makes sense', Alex thought, 'Hope I'll wake up without my head feeling like I've been hit with a hovertruck.'

Alex was a bit relieved to see that Fireblade made no move to unlock her seatbelt - the idea of her ending up in his lap was ... no. And the other way round would be much worse, he thought. Instead, she unlocked and removed the vambrace from her left arm and used her bare arm to reach out in what Alex idly recognized as a 'warrior's handshake'.

Pulling up his own overall's sleeve, reaching for her lower arm and feeling her fingers on his was ... again, strange. While it was barely discernible with Beryl, and non-existent with Talon, that touching-a-live-wire feeling was much more pronounced with Fireblade, much closer to the range of 'unpleasant'. Alex steeled himself, tried to calm down his thoughts running around in circles and closed his eyes.

Darkness.

There.... there it was. That fiery mote in the darkness he came to know to be her. And it was closing in.

The single mote got more defined, shaping itself into Fireblade's outline, brightly against his eyes... mind.... whatever. Yet, something was different - on board the Tempest he felt her pressing on, violating his self, but now... she was waiting. Like a hunter waiting for a particularly shy animal to show itself.

Then it hit him.

The fear.

The panic. The need to get away, get away, Get Away, GET AWAY THIS INSTANT....

And suddenly, it was gone. Perhaps it was Alex's subconscious arranging itself with the inevitable.

Images flooded his mind. One, two, then more and more in a faster and faster pace. Unfamiliar landscapes. Pitched battles with what seemed to be Umiak cyborgs. Trench warfare at its worst, fighting to hold the position. Broken bodies with holes through the chests, the stomachs, the heads...

...Then it stopped. And it was again only Fireblade's presence, in the darkness. He felt... chagrin coming from her, a wordless "I ask for apology."

Alex tried to concentrate on a thought conveying forgiveness, then he felt her presence ... shifting, sort of. As if she moved her attention elsewhere.

She did.

Because, in the distance - whatever that word meant - Alex felt another presence. Faint, but definitely there. No one needed to tell him, he just knew ... this had to be Beryl.

Then he was back in the physical world, meeting the faces of Fireblade, Tempo, Reed and Flint, all portraying a mix of confusion and shock. And on turning back facing forward, there was Beryl, too, at the bulkhead leading to the cockpit, with an equally shocked expression on her face.

"What happened? For a moment I thought I could ... sense you", she gasped.

Fireblade sent a pointed look at Beryl and Tempo, setting off what looked to be a heated silent debate amongst the Loroi. 'Of course', Alex thought, 'this might be too important to leave it to her sub-par language skills.'

"Uh... care to fill me in...?", he piped up.

"Peace, Captain Jardin", Tempo placated him, "I must say, this is surprising. Beneath your Lotai, you actually seem to be telepathic - and not only just so, but on a level that would allow you to easily exchange thoughts with us. This is almost unheard of, since almost every other species we encountered we just could assense... but not communicate with using sanzai."

Beryl beamed brightly as if christmas has come early, if she were human. Were he not strapped in and in a semi-public setting, he got the impression that she would be all over him in an instant... again.

"I think I have an idea how your Lotai came to be. Or, two in fact. Either your species faced some powerful telepathic foe in your evolutional past so that you had to develop such a rigid protection and an instinctive fear of mental contact, or ... someone did this to you", Beryl offered.

'Valid point', Alex thought, turning to Tempo.

"Look, Tempo. I'll be frank. I said onboard the Tempest that you seem to know more than you let on, especially when it comes to how similar our species are.. Perhaps now it is the time to come clean with it, because now I think what we don't know will turn around and bite us in the ass."

Tempo rose an eyebrow. "Do humans have more of these graphic metaphors? But, you are right, Captain Jardin. You were very forthcoming and patient with us, allow me to repay it. Please be advised, what I am about to tell you has the potential to destabilize the entirety of the Loroi Union..."

Talon's voice cut in over the speakers.

"I'll have to inform you that docking with the Relay is not possible at the moment, since the Relay is under heavy fire. In addition, Captain Mozin's Prophet's Reason arrived from the Azimol Relay. If we manage to change course, we could rendezvous with him in about 16000 solons."

"He must have followed us all the way from Naam, on a more counter-spinwards route", Alex mused. "My existence seems to stir up waves already, and perhaps it's best to prepare ourselves before Captain Mozin or whoever else drops the bomb on us. Hell, I get the feeling that I stepped into something far larger than a genocidal war between two superpowers...."

Tempo furrowed her eyebrows, then nods. "You may be right. And, coming to think of it, your lore about something you believed to be fantasy might contain some answers - perhaps relating these 'old stories' to Beryl might help discern the truth", she added, and Alex was sure he heard some amusement in Tempo's voice, "and, perhaps it might be beneficial to continue your experiments with Fireblade ... they seem to be promising."

Alex looked back at Beryl - bubbly, chipper Beryl - and a fleeting image of the horrors he got from Fireblade crossed his mind. No way he would allow that happen to her...

Already he started to dig up what he knew about the 'old stories' he referred to. Accounts of self-styled 'magicians', tidbits like old couples understanding each other without words, folk tales...

And, as a semi-unrelated thought, he asked himself if he should include the folklore about elves, too... 'No', he chased that thought away. No way!

Krulle
Posts: 1413
Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 9:14 am

Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Krulle »

Beryl came over, keeping her eyes on him all the time. All the time.
Not that he minded, since he kept looking at her too.

Then the redhead brushed his arm with her fingers. He felt he kind of sharp synaptic burst this time, and the impression of needing to talk about what happened.

He turned to look at the redhead, and was surprised to see some pain in her eyes.

"Were you close with her?" came the question from Fireblade.

"Whom?" he asked, slightly disoriented who she might be talking about.

She looked at Beryl, who was now standing next to Tempo.
Tempo stepped aside, and Beryl moved closer and sat in the chair next to him, on the other side of Fireblade. It was obvious though, that there still was an ongoing discussion between the three Loroi, Tempo, Beryl, and Fireblade.

Then Beryl touched his arm gently, and asked "Can I try sending to you, please?"

When he said failed to reply, Beryl concentrated, and an image flared in his mind, briefly, but clearly coming from Beryl. 'Fireblade showed me how she formed her thoughts and what may have triggered you reading her', then, an image that was ... unwanted. A face with a tear tatooed next to the right eye.
The image faded, and the three looked at him.

"Ellen..." slipped from his mouth. Taking a breath, he looked at Beryl, and repeated "Ellen. Ellen Kirkland was her name."

"Was she...", but Beryl left the question hanging in the room, unfinished.

"Yes, and no. Yes, she was my partner. At work, and sometimes in bed too. Human relations are complex, and while we are usually monogamous, having one partner, we are, what some psychologists call, 'serially monogamous', meaning we have one partner at a time, but after a few years, when the attraction dies, we often switch partner. " Alex tried to explain. "But no, Ellen was never officially 'my partner'. We both are ... were singles, meaning we both had no partner waiting at home. We had fun together, and she was my best friend. We've been through difficult situations together, and the Bellarmine was a packed ship, not much room, on a dangerous mission. This all lead to a build up of stress. And being 'friends with benefits' is a good way to relieve stress, in such situations."

Beryl nodded her head. Her curiousity was there, but also something else? Sorrow?... no. Maybe. But something else was there. Finally, a thought hit him 'Jealous'.

"Now is not the time to go about personal feelings." Tempo interrupted "We have more pressing concerns, and I fear Captain Jardin might need more practice how to overcome his own Lotai before he might be able to show us the 'stories of old' without telling them."

Alex consciously touched Beryl's hand, while trying to form an image of pressing on her hand reassuringly.

'Yes' came her sending. But then quietness. Beryl's face showed a smile, but Tempo showed concern.

"You are able to send aimed messages to Beryl then. But when Fireblade tried to telepathically ask you something, the connection broke." Tempo said. Seeing his face, she added "Yes, we are all party to at least some of the Sanzai you are sending to her. Partly because we three have an 'open connection' among each other right now, to share our findings and thoughts about your Sanzai and Lotai, but also because your sending is not that precise. We are able to 'listen in'."

"Again, now is not the time for personal feelings, although it seems to help you discovering your Sanzai." Tempo added. "For the immediate now, I want to know about some of your stories from the old times. The ones having telepathy as a part of it."

"Well..." Alex said. "Our stories are not that defined. We have plenty of stories, where Humans seem to communicate to each other without words. But modern scientists have made plenty of tests, and in some cases, mostly experienced card-players having played a long while with each other, were apparently able to seemingly communicate to each other without words. Modern software though used to assess body language of those involved, actually discerned that the card players were communicating through unconscious body signals. Like a slightly dropped left shoulder, and that the card-playing partner actually only picked up on that. In most other cases, the scientists actually showed, that there was nothing going on, and at best the assumed telepaths were just better at reading other Human gestures, and thus able to make educated guesses, making their 'reading of thoughts' simply slightly better at predicting what the other person was thinking."

"In some very old stories, and also in our literature, which we use for entertainment, we have stories of other sentient beings living or having lived on Earth too. We group those stories as 'fantasy', as there is no proof of them being true, or having a true core. Those other sentient beings being 'giants', Human looking people with very large bodies, 'Dwarves', also bipedal, but smaller and often living underneath the surface of our world, mostly in the mountains, 'Orcs', bipedal, but rather stupid beings loving violence and war, and then the 'dragons', mystical beings walking on four legs, having a long tail, and said to having been able to fly, although most stories depict them with wings far too small to fly."

"And all of them were said to have telepathic abilities?" came Beryl's question.

"No. No. Only the Dragons, and only in some of the stories."

"Only in some?" came a perplexed question from Beryl.

"Well, our stories are often independent from each other. And therefore properties something has in one story means nothing for other stories. For example the Dragons. In all stories those are depicted as very large lizards. In Chinese stories they were often a bright red, while in European stories they were often green or brown to better hide in the backrground of our nature."

"Lizards?" interrupted Beryl.

"Lizards are creatures walking on four legs, and having scales. Being coldblooded, they often need warm ambient surroundings to make their muscles work sufficiently." He added when he saw Beryls face. "Dragons were also in some stories only large animals, no sentience in them. And in other stories they were smart, very intelligent beings being able to talk, and in some being able to suggest you to do something, by making an image appear in your mind, which you had to follow."

"Okay, lets talk later about the Dragons. Who else had telepathic abilities in your stories?" Beryls voice came.

"Well, there were the Elves, and them some Humans, mostly in Science Fiction stories using the help of technology , so no actual telepathy."
'Oops, now the Elves slipped my mouth' Alex thought.

"No telepathy, but technology?"

"Yes. Basically, in these stories, written in a time before some of our current technolgies existed, and writing about how the author sees a possible future for Humanity, they imagined some kind of microtechnology being implanted in the brain, and being able to read your intentions. And if you intended to send a message to someone, the technology in your brain would do that for you, as the technology in the receivers brain would alert the receiver to a message being received, and actually play it by stimulating optical and/or auditory nerves directly."

"Ah, I see." said Beryl. "And how about Giants, Dwarves, and Orcs?"

"I know of no story where either of them had telepathic abilities." Alexander answered.

"Can you try to describe the mentioned races? Or try to send an image of them?" Beryl asked.

Alex thought hard of an image of Orcs, Dwarves, and Dragons. Without an Elf.
Orcs, Dwarves, and Dragons. Orcs, Dwarves, and Dragons.
He touched Beryl, and immediately felt a shock. A hard shock, and then the mental shout of 'NISSEK!' sent back to him, attached to the image of the Dragons. this time he could cleary identify Tempo's, Beryl's, and Fireblade's sending separately coming to him. He tensed at that, and immediately felt any connection close again.

'Ah, relaxation is a must for sending right now.' Alex recognised.

"What are 'Nissek'?" Alexander asked.

"Another sentient race we are formally allied with." Tempo added.

"I felt some... distrust... when you three thought that word." Alex probed.

"Indeed." Tempo added. "While they are formally allies, they have not really contributed to any war effort, yet still maintain a large fleet. We are somewhat distrustful of their motives, but since they are at the other side of our Union, we keep an eye on them, and repeatedly ask for some support, which they usually decline with a lot of positive sounding formulations, but ultimately end up being nothing more than hollow phrases. But since they are apparently fighting something in their region of space, and keep our common frontier clear from other incidents, we are hesitant to force the issue."

"Oh, and they are also known to eat other sentient species." Beryl added.

When Alexed looked in slight confusion at her, she added "We felt in your sending, that the Dragons are also known to eat Humans, and other beings, this is just an additional observation from me.
Although the Nissek do not have the ability to fly, nor do they have wings. And they walk on two legs." she commented further.

Then Beryl looked at Tempo. Alex followed her lead, and saw into that face.

"You were deliberately hiding something with that picture." Tempo said. "The picture was not complete. My guess is you've been thinking about a specific story, one with images, so that you could have a detailed image to send. But you tried to remove something from that image."

"Yes. I picked up on that." she added. "We Mizol are trained in telepathic trickery. There is something in that specific story you wanted us not to know."

Alex tensed up. Beryl tried to touch him, but there was no reaction to her touch.

"You've tensed up, and there will be no telepathy involved now." Tempo commented. "But be aware that this obviously cannot dissolve our reservations about you."

Alex looked at her. "Sorry. Yes. Yes. I was hiding something."

He took a few deep breaths, and tried to relax. He took Beryls hands into his, and looked deep into her eyes.
"Sorry" he said, and with that he thought of an image of the Elves. He was thinking of Arwen, as depicted by Liv Tyler, an actress one of the films with Elves, showing the story of one of his favourite books. The face was now against his wishes very much Beryl's face.

He heard all three of them take a deep breath at the image of the black haired, whitish-skinned female Elf with long, pointy ears.
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

I don't want to poop on your party, but shouldn't Alex know that tolkienesque elfes were made up by some dude?

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orion1836
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by orion1836 »

To someone in Alex's time period, Tolkein's elves are probably the dominant image in the mind of the general populace when one thinks of 'elves,' the same way that Disney's versions of various fairy tales override the originals. Does Fair Folk mythology go much, much farther back than Tolkein? Of course it does, but a spacer in 2160 is probably going to be most familiar with the big cultural landmarks, not the minutia of ancient folklore.

EDIT: Though now that I think about it, Vulcans would have been a much more appropriate analogy. At least they were telepathic.

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

Tolkien might have made that specific image of elves popular, true, but it's not completely originating from him. What we nowadays commonly picture as elves is closely resembling the irish/gaelic 'Sidhe' (spoken: 'Shee') - tall, ethereally beautuiful, long-lived, all the works - and they were reputed to have an ability to mesmerize humans (hmmm...). Given that Alex is about 160 years removed from today, folklore may be more at the forefront on his mind than today's pop culture, although, yes, some 'classics' might survive the test of time.

Not sure if Alex would think of "Jedi" if Tempo ever showcases her less powerful, but much more precise telekinetic skills :)

And if we think of Star Trek, one would think more of Romulans than Vulcans when comparing to Loroi, I guess :) - and, after all, even today's viewers of this comic (and Alex himself, as the narrator) did and do instantly label them as (blue space-) elves rather than Vulcans.

Krulle
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Joined: Wed May 20, 2015 9:14 am

Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Krulle »

You may poop the party as much as you want.... this is the 'nets anyway.

Also, if you want to write a part, you are free to disregard my part and take the previous prompt, just please clearly state so at the beginning of the post from which one you are continueing.

Seeing that I still like to watch some black&white classics, I'm somewhat sure that todays classics might survive.
But basically it was the first specific image that came to me. So I went with it.

Also, when thinking about elves, I don't have a fixed opinion of how they should look like. Greenish coloured, elegantly dressed, or very nature bound (like druids), or whatever. They are imaginary beings anyway, and as such, the different authors have different looks in mind for them. With every story they are featured in, I read the authors description and try to picture them based on that. They simply aren't "elephants", which have a very distinct image compared to "giants", "Siren" (with their mesmerizing song in Homer's epic), or "mermaids".

Hmm, mermaids.... Would an image of mermaids make the Loroi think of the "Pol"?
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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