A/N: Hey y'all, I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to even read this. lmaooo If you find any grammatical or just continuity inconsistencies etc just let me know and I'll fix them asap. I'm really just doing this out of boredom on my phone so yeah lol
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It was close to evening, which meant quitting time. Noelle cashed out her last patient's copay and logged off all the appropriate databases. All that was left was setting the automatic answering service to put in progress and file away the leftover charts. It wasn't the most glamorous part of the job; it could even be considered the most monotonous to some, but she was grateful for it all. The filing, the emails, even greeting the incomers. Noelle was probably at the most stable part of her life..ever. She'd spent the rougher part of twenty years trying to find the right balance of professional intervention and different combinations of medication to keep her in the "eye of the storm", so to speak. That was definitely putting it lightly.
Different members of Noelle's family had their own battles of the mind-on both sides, and she tried her best to not let herself succumb to it, but sometimes,of course, there was no rhyme or reason; she just felt like shit. And that was hard, and honestly, shitty.
But today was not a day like that, and she gave herself a small smile in triumph as she tucked the last manila folder in its place, letting a gentle sigh escape her as she did so.
"Finally." She mumbled, adjusting her sunshine yellow blouse and coordinating headwrap, her golden bangles jostling against her deep ochre complexion in tandem.
Just then, an unfamiliar humming sound kept her notice; she surmised it was the a/c, and her topaz orbs swiveled over to the industrial stand-up air conditioner across the room. noticing it hadn't been on for at least the past hour, she cocked her head in confusion and the humming grew closer. Louder.
"I don't got time for this." Noelle shook her head, pushing her curiosity from her thoughts, her tuft onyx crown bouncing with it before she grabbed her purse off the desk and pulled out her keys.
"Time to go home." She strolled over to the back door, wasting no time and flicked off the office lights, locking the door behind her and power walked to her car...only to be interrupted by that sound again...that she could only describe as...hovering? Humming?
Noelle's soft brows furrowed before letting her sight rake her surroundings in search of the cause, to no avail; at least she thought she failed, until some iridescent warping caught her eye as she opened her Lancer's door. It was like seeing a mirage, but there was no heat, and Noelle wasn't dehydrated.
Again, this dancing mirage appeared, closer to the trunk of her bright yellow bucket. Her eyes stayed intently trained on it, wondering now if it had just been a product of her imagination. Which, by the way, was not totally out of the realm of possibility. The last few days had been kicking Noelle's ass thanks to the ever growing Covid stricken population; which meant more early mornings and later clock outs.
Never mind the difficult twilight hours she spent alone in her one bed dilapidated apartment; those wee hours of the morning were spent panicking over all she had to do the next day-all she hadn't finished the day before, and brooding over all she still wouldn't accomplish in her efforts.
It was then she was ripped from her reverie by something very real...and very tangible. Noelle would know because this...being. This thing got hold of her bangled wrist, practically dwarfing it with its grabbing appendage, though she still could not make out its figure or its likeness. It was rough and slightly...scaly? It's what she'd imagined an alligator or a lizard to feel like. Though she'd never try her hand with the likes of any of them. She didn't fuck with those kind of animals- if you let her tell it.
Her ember eyes were practically bulging from their sockets when its stature materialized. It was fucking ginormous, its shadow nearly enveloping her. And then it offered some creepy... ticking noises, like some weird ass bug. It disgusted her and repulsed her simultaneously.
She jerked her arm in response and its rough hide constricted her wrist a fraction; the being let a snarl escape it's mouth in warning. Noelle's jaw clenched and her body responded stiffly. In her terror, she still managed to make out features of the weird-bug-man.
Some strange helmet covered its face, the material sleek and metallic, it gleamed in the remaining sunset, though she thanked the ancestors for the small blessing by keeping it faceless...for now. Who knows what was concealed underneath it.
As her eyes raked from the form's head to the rest of its build, she could see the texturing of its skin, leathering and bunched wrinkled patterns-it really was unbelievably reptile-like. Like an Iguana! But the color was nothing like it.
It's overwhelming color started to bleed into the ever-closer nighttime darkness. Blacker than any obsidian. Darker than any charcoal. So vivid that it sort of glinted in the escaping light. But parts of him, like his trunk and inner thighs had a gradient of different purples. It would have been beautiful on anything else. Like a purse... or a blanket. But on this...thing.. It was just nasty.
As Noelle thrashed against his grip in an attempt to release herself from his clutches, he gave an exasperated huff. Settling on dragging her across the pavement, Noelle lost her grip on her pocketbook and keys as she went. Her skin skidding across asphalt and marring it with gravel as he went, his large strides didn't provide any form of reprieve from injury, either.
Noelle winced and bit into her lower lip so hard she drew blood. Adrenaline drowned out most of the pain she'd otherwise be subject to endure, though at the moment that was the least of her concern. A monster was here, in front of her, and had a hold of her. Most likely it would eat her or torture her to death. It's dressing and lack of language showed her all she needed to know. It was probably some primitive bigfoot thing from the mountains out in Mount Fitch or something. It wouldn't surprise her in the least. People with any amount of power never did anything right out here.
Noelle felt her pain suddenly dull, and she looked over to the towering being. It halted, but why? She assessed the area where it stopped, trying to figure out what it was supposed to be looking at. Did it even have eyes? She didn't remember, and didn't care to find out.
The woman thought it to be a good opportunity to squirm out of its hold while in distraction. Though that proved to be futile, and just riled its anger. The monster shook her violently; the rough jangling traveled up her arm and it rattled her teeth in her head and sloshed her brain around in her skull. It was dizzying at best, and at worst, terrifying; it only used one hand to do so. As she tried to retain her sense of balance she was tugged forward, and into some sort of...shuttle? Aircraft?
Everything was foreign and indistinguishable, just about. Wait. Hold up. She thought to herself. How the hell did we get in here? Her gaze flickered over to the beast, who was now fiddling with floating buttons and levers.
Noelle hadn't even noticed the bigfoot had released her. The incredulousness of the whole situation left her speechless and lost.
Suddenly the woman felt movement, her stomach feeling like it throttled into her throat. It had hit her then. It was that same humming! Her eyes were slits and her mouth was agape. This was the shit she heard when she was packing up at the office. She shook her head in disbelief Nah, that's mad dumb. No way. This isn't real. But was it? She was watching that...inhuman thing fiddling with screens and stuff like those dudes from Star Trek. Though her thoughts were cut short when a large hand palmed her elbow. It seemed it wasn't done with her.
Stricken by too much fear, or shock-whatever it was...she remained silent. Even if it couldn't talk that didn't mean it didn't know when she was being hostile; if she did decide to scream at it. And at this rate...she'd rather keep her head on her shoulders.
After shuffling through a series of automatic doors, the beast shoved her roughly onto a pallet of...blankets? That's what she was going with. Its..horns clacked together sharply as the bigfoot glowered at her with deep purple irises that bore into her through its mask.
It seemed to be...studying her. Up and down, and then moved to circle her on the perimeter of the bed, probably continuing to inspect. And, with an agile, outreached claw the monster moved to touch her crown, but her headwrap was on too securely it seemed to irritate the beast.
So, with one swift movement, the silken cloth was torn in two, billowing to the floor. Leaving her coils unprotected and at the being's mercy. Its hand dove into the tuft mass, moving its large digits around and through it in fascination.
Noelle could feel the boil in her blood rising from such a breach in respect and personal space. So much so that she began to quake slightly. She'd made up her mind that if this thing thought it was going to treat her like a goddamn petting zoo she wasn't going to have it- no matter how much stronger and scary it looked.
The woman bolted off the bed, leaving the curious hand behind and out of her hair. "Don't you fucking touch my head! Maybe you don't know what personal space is but dammit leave me to mine!"
The iguana looking thing just stared intently, almost in confusion and tilted its head. Then, probably realized it was being disrespected and gave Noelle a thunderous growl and she clammed up instantly. That feeling of movement still in the background of her senses.
Then it all came crashing into her. The aircraft movement, the animal-guy, the star trek screen. She knew there had to be more out there, but this? She could never imagine it. Not in a million years. And being suddenly taken captive by an..alien? Not in two million years. But to her luck, she got two for one all in the same day.
Right...she was being kidnapped. By an alien. Who tries to be funny during that? Not somebody who had a healthy relationship with family, or a strong support system in their lives. Yet...she had both of those things.
But, the kidnapped woman didn't have much time left to consider much else when she heard a mechanical, artificial voice sound from its watch-thing on its arm. "I am Nua'di. Identify yourself, female."
What the fuck?!