FPM: Whew! Sorry for the extensive time between this update and its previous, and thanks for the reviews! …They make me feel all bubbly…:P
FPM: There's a new Pope, too…Out of curiosity, how is the development of an alien queen any different than a norm. alien? Like, what makes it "evolve" into a queen instead?
.--(-flash-back-)--
Shir'at'uk, after finally hearing his name called by the Elder, smiled and went to him.
As he approached Ini'yukar, Shir'at'uk noticed the Elder had left the largest of the three guns—the Ari't'ole—for him, and felt a deep surge of honor. Ini'yukar smiled as Shir'at'uk stood in front of him on the lower platform. The Elder laid his right hand on his left shoulder and shook gently; Shir'at'uk nodded once and received his new weapons. Ini'yukar stopped him before he could strap any of his weapons on and made him turn towards the crowd.
"Fellow Yuatjans—Shir'at'uk has proved himself worthy of the Ari't'ole this Hunt. He exceeded his own limits and excelled in every training session. His intellect has proved superior to others—so, of course, he will know how to avoid the fiery wrath of the females when they are in heat." Ini'yukar paused and waited for the other Yautja to stop their laughing. He turned towards the other two Warriors-To-Be behind him. "Excuse me, Yu'ki and Anasha."
Yu'ki and Anasha, though somewhat embarrassed and angered by the Elder's previous statement, nodded in unison. Ini'yukar allowed Shir'at'uk to strap his weapons on himself; Shir'at'uk excused himself and stood by Anasha's left side. Ini'yukar continued his speech, addressing the point of this Hunt and the strengths of each Hunter-To-Be. Through his peripheral view, Shir'at'uk observed his height in comparison to the other two females—he hypothesized he was two heads shorter. Inhaling deeply, he noticed the crowd had erupted in cheers and that Ini'yukar had turned towards the ship and advanced towards it—It's time.
Reaching his destination (in front of the other three), Ini'yukar turned towards the crowd and rose his right hand. Again, the crowd erupted in a full cheer as Ini'yukar, Shir'at'uk, Anasha, Yu'ki, and the other Blooded Warriors entered the ship.
.--(-end flash-back-)--
"KIMI!" Melissa stared hopelessly up at her daughter who was hanging down from the over-head fan, upside-down. Her feet were tied with a black rope; Kimi smiled back sweetly.
"Itz alright, Mommiez… I asked Da Manz to do dis…" Kimi peered at her feet suddenly, and then back at her mother. "Oh, Mommiez! I gots a loose tooths!—Wanna see? Wanna see?" Kimi opened her mouth as wide as she could and stuffed her hand into it. A muffled question asked Melissa if she knew which tooth was loose. Smiling, Melissa began untying her daughter from the overhead-fan when two things happened: 1) the phone's ringing went off, 2) Melissa jumped at the sudden sound and fell onto her back, head colliding with the floor loudly.
Shaun casually strode into the room and found Kimi's rope somewhat loose, as well as Melissa sprawled out on the ground. He cocked his head as he watched Kimi erupt in small tremors as muffled giggles escaped her. Shaun went to Kimi and tightened the knots. He then pulled out the spare rope at his side and tied Melissa, hanging her upside-down from a pipe that ran along the top of the ceiling. As he was pulling Melissa up, Shaun heard her mumbling something along the lines of "phone's ringing" and then blackout. Standing back to admire his work, Shaun suddenly heard a male's voice from somewhere within the apartment.
Following the voice, Shaun trailed it back to a small device –which he guessed was the "phone" Melissa had mentioned-- and peered at it quizzically as the man's voice continued.
"Hey, Mel, this is Kiefer, and I wanted to tell you that the meeting was rescheduled for next Tuesday…"
Shaun became as easily uninterested in the machine as he had interested. He waited for a while as the voice carried on and on and on…When will he stop? Shaun thought, rather irritated at the lengthy time the male was taking on the device. Is he inside of the "phone" ? … Shaun pulled out a small knife he had discovered in a case wrapped around his calf earlier that morning. Carefully wedging the weapon between the two slabs of plastic on the larger part of the device, Shaun shifted the knife around until the case popped open and revealed a small box within the larger one with black tape rolling inside of the smaller box. Picking up the smallest box to view it at a closer angle, Shaun stared at it for possible signs of human life. Finding none, he noticed that the black tape had continued rolling and was beginning to become twisted up. Shaun finally yanked the box in his hands away from the machine, black tape snapping. The sounds of the male's voice continued and seemed to never end. Shaun stared at the small box in his hands, multiple questions erupting within his mind. Sighing, he easily crushed the box in his hands and threw it to his side.
.--
Melissa's senses came back a few minutes later, waking to the sounds of Keifer's voice through the phone and Shaun bashing away at the message machine with what she guessed her umbrella. Smiling and inwardly sighing, Melissa turned her head back to Kimi, who was currently entertaining herself as she continued failing attempts at removing her hand from her mouth. Feeling her mother's stare, Kimi turned towards Melissa and did her best to smile. Shaun walked into the room and he went to Kimi's side; after successfully removing her hand from her mouth, Shaun turned to Melissa. He went to her and tightened the knots again; Melissa had to turn her head away from him because she found her head below his waist-height.
"…Erm, Shaun…could you move a little bit?" Melissa asked hopefully. Shaun's hands paused and then he suddenly crouched next to her, his eyes staring at hers through his mask. He pointed to himself, murmured, "Shaun," and then laid his hand on Melissa's stomach, saying, "Melizzi." She nodded and smiled. "You didn't like the message-machine either, huh?"
Shaun stared at her absently for a few moments and then stood. He turned and walked away, out of the room. Melissa sighed and peered at Kimi again, who had her hand back in her mouth. Smiling, Melissa shook her head. Shaun walked back into the room, holing the phone-device in his left hand. Crouching next to Melissa again, he placed his right hand on her stomach, murmured, "Melizzi," and then shoved the smashed device in his other hand in front of her face. Melissa nodded and smiled.
A sudden knock on the door grabbed everyone's attention.
Melissa's eyes enlarged as she remembered that she had a meeting with Shelly. She shifted her head to her left and looked at Shaun. "That's Shelly-- she's a friend on mine-- and we're having a meeting-- please let me down?"
Melissa stared hopelessly as Shaun stood and walked away. "NO, SHAUN! DON'T YOU DARE OPEN THAT DOOR!" Melissa screamed, fearing that Shelly may have issues with her best friend living with a deranged alien from God-knows where… Shaun came back a few moments later, holding a knife. Melissa watched Shaun sheathe the weapon and untie her. Landing on her back with a loud thud, Melissa scrambled to her feet and ran out the door. She pulled Shelly inside, slammed the door shut, murmured, "hold on," and ran back to where Shaun and Kimi were. Melissa closed the door and went to Kimi, telling her to keep quiet, and then to Shaun, instructing the same thing. She ran out the door and closed it, and then ran to where she left Shelly.
Coming to a stop near the front door, Melissa found Shelly to be nowhere, and turned around in circles to see if she was somewhere else.
"Over here, Mel." Shelly looked up from the couch, smiling. Melissa stopped her twirling and stared at her in disbelief. "What?"
Melissa shook her head and went to the couch across Shelly, sitting down. She yawned and smiled at Shelly. "How's life?"
"Better than your wardrobe." Melissa blushed, remembering she had not yet changed from her pajamas. Shrugging, Shelly added, "Fine, I guess…Mac's cool and all…How's Shaun?"
Melissa was curled up in a ball, murmuring to herself. Her friend's pause lulled her away from her paranoia that Shaun would walk in at any moment and she stared at Shelly. Sighing, Melissa looked away. "Sorry, I'm kinda out of it."
"So I gather."
"Okay, okay…I'm ready."
Shelly paused, and then smiled. "Late night with Shaun?"
You have no idea…
Shelly shrugged. "Well, do you have any coffee? I need to wake up too."
Melissa nodded and remained where she was. Shelly cocked her eyebrow. "Erm…want me to get it?"
"Huh?" Melissa stared at Shelly absently.
"Okay…so nevermind the coffee. …Look, Mel, if this isn't a good time"-Shelly smiled-"or if I'm interrupting anything, I can just come back later—but I really need to talk about something important when you're ready, kay?"
Melissa nodded. "I think I'm ready—just lemme get some Starbucks. I've got some in the fridge."
Melissa walked away and Shelly smiled. "Like that Store-bought kind? Great…Well, the cold will help wake us up too, I guess…"
A few minutes later, Melissa came back with two glasses and gave one to Shelly. Sitting back down, Melissa sipped her coffee. She looked back at Shelly, who had pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Melissa sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned her head back. "Ready. Shoot." She looked back at Shelly.
Shelly nodded, and then erupted in tears. Melissa was taken aghast and watched as her friend shook her head and calmed herself down. Shelly took a long drag on her cigarette, took it out of her gaseous mouth, and blew out the unpleasant fumes. Melissa restrained from telling her that her new "friend" would be bothered by such smells if he came upon them, knowing how he despised how humans mistreated their Earth. Finding her nerves to subside, Shelly paused her shaking and held her cigarette away from her so she would not be tempted to another drag.
"I…hit something, Mell. I hit…something. Something…" Shelly trailed off as both of them heard thunderous footsteps enter the kitchenette. Melissa recognized them as Shaun's, but realization swept over her that her friend had not yet been acquainted with him yet.
"…Oh…My…G-HOLY FREAKING SHIT! I RAN OVER YOU A MONTH AGO!...oh MY GOD!" Shelly screamed and held her arms out in front of her, as if her small, frail arms would keep his large, menacing appearance away. Melissa sighed.
Or, at least, properly acquainted…
Gordon Kiefer had been standing inside the telephone booth, watching the rain drizzle down the sides of the glass. He sighed and looked down at the cigarette in his right hand, exhaling grayed breath. His emerald eyes darted back to the phone. I already called her…Swas. isn't going to like it… Kiefer sighed and looked out the glass, noticing that the rain had begun pouring down instead of its previous lighter state. What a crappy world…
He pulled his tan coat around himself and stared out the window at a bus pulling up. Kiefer turned around and looked up at the building disguised as a garbage-managing facility—deep beneath the building was the second Government branch that dealt with the extraterrestrials that came upon Earth. Shrugging, Kiefer turned back to the bus that just pulled away. He noticed three people had been dropped off…Two of which went in separate directions. The third was a woman who already had Kiefer going. He smiled.
Maybe this isn't such a crappy world after-all…
Stanley ran into Sgt. Swason's office, finding his Boss in a meeting with two other officials that ran the northern wing of the building. He paused, presently in an awkward situation.
Swason, he could tell, was already seething. "What is it, Stanley?" Swason had spat the name out as though it were poison.
"Erm…Nothing Sir. …Nothing."
Swason's brows deepened. "I believe you have more files to be cleaning on the lowest floor, Stanley." Again, his name was spat.
Stanley nodded, very overwhelmed, and left without another word. He scurried back to his office, set the article in his hands down where he would easily find it again, and left to the elevator.
He slid into the elevator just as the doors were closing. Andrew Sepich and Jessica Myers were inside, and both became quiet when Stanley entered. They got out on the next floor.
Stanley hummed to himself and the elevator descended to the lowest floor. He stepped out into a dark, dank room. There were six tables stacked with paper in three rows, as well as a last table at the back table. He sighed and went to the farther-most one and began sorting out papers. Again, he hummed to himself.
And nearby, a facehugger scurried, waiting for the right moment, the right time…
FPM: yess'ms, that't it :)
FPM: reviews are always appreciated, but are not mandatory…though I wish they were. :P:):) Toodles!