Seeek of eet! So, so SEEEK of eet! (open)

[globber]

Drifting closer and closer to the atmosphere of Traverse Town was a small, red and white space cruiser. Nothing or no one was piloting it. The vehicle was simply drifting .... From within, the warning alarm went off.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEE-*KABOOM!*

The red alarm was torn through in seconds by a blast of green plasma. Sparks and electric surges danced about the corner of the ship until the beeping stopped. No noise but the sizzling of smoke peeped out of the now burnt mass of grey goo. Across from the silenced alarm, a green arm bearing a yellow, smoking plasma gun poked out of the cryogenic pod. "Baah! Stoopeed alarm!"

The metallic pod opened up with a mechanical whirr. Slowly emerging from it was Experiment 621, followed by a freezing cold mist. Chopsuey yawned obnoxiously and stretched all four of his arms before popping his knee caps. How long has it been since he fell asleep in here? The green alien looked around the dark gray room of the ship, smacking his lips and wiping his large black eyes. What was the alarm beeping about? An intruder? Alien invaders? Those .... shadowy monsters from before?

Finally, Chopsuey approached the window, and to his sudden mix of fear and delight, he'd found a new planet! "Hmm .... meh be I better lehnd here. The sheep coood use new fuel and a ...... new alarm seeestym." He growled looking back at the destroyed bit of machinery. "Ehz long az theez plehce eezn't Earth, I'd be hehppy to lehnd ..."

The ship blasted full speed, spiralling down recklessly towards this unknown planet covered in dark towns. To Chopsuey, the ground was now up, and it was speeding towards him fast! With a loud boom, he hit the brakes and pushed down on the ship's yoke. He slowed down with a screech, ready to make a horrible landing right in the middle of the First district ....

The red ship left a huge scar in the middle of the brick center of the town and destroyed an entire lamp post as it stopped. The white hatch of whale-shaped ship opened with a screech of air. Hopping down from it, plasma cannons held with his two bottom hands, Chopsuey growled. His long ears darted this way and that, his black eyes peered over at an "accesory shop", and his gumball nose bulged with sensations of food .... What he was most careful of was what the inhabitants of this world were ..... No one was out and about this dark, renaissance-style town at all! Were they friendly diplomats or hostile warmongers? His near-crash landing may stir up this town's subjects though, so he may get the answer soon ..... "What eez theez plehce?"

[yanagi]

Felicity wandered the streets of First district. It was night there as far as one could tell. Day and night were both adorned by the twinkling stars and deep blue sky. She had hitched a ride on a gummy ship with a few people. She smiled to herself. The had been very surprised when as they were leaving a young lady that they did not know asked to come along. She didn’t know what she would have done if they’d said no. She had come to take a look at Traverse Town and get a glimpse of a few of these “heartless” creatures. She touched the handle of her butcher knife tucked into the loop of her leather apron, an ecstatic smile upon her lips. She had never been anywhere that a woman, any woman, could raise a weapon and this place, this wonderful place had subjects for practice built in. She hesitated, it wasn’t wrong to kill these creatures, was it?

She took out the butcher knife; she’d only just purchased it ( Traverse town also had a Cid’s Accessory shop where she had sold her broach and got the Knife.) Seven inches, carbon steel. (the shop keeper had explained to her what that was and it sounded very useful) The blade was un-christened. No blood had fallen across it. And if the stories she had heard about heartless in Radiant Garden were true, no blood would. Felicity crouched as the ground shook and her ears rang. She tucked her knife back into its loop and stared towards the noise. She looked around but the street was empty.

Felicity shook her head to try and dislodge the ringing and slowly went to find the cause of the noise. Something had crashed in the center of town. She frowned disapprovingly at the great scar along the road. In front of the red thing, a ship of some sort though it bore little resemblance to a gummy ship, was a quite unusual creature. Felicity couldn’t think what he looked like and she felt a giggle coming on and quickly put one hand firmly over her mouth.

The creature had what were most certainly weapons in either hand. He was waving them about so Felicity was unsure whether she should approach. "What eez theez plehce?" Oh, good he spoke English.
Felicity stepped forward and the creature turned towards her, weapons still drawn.

She took a nervous step back but it was too late to flee now. “This is Traverse Town. It’s quite a nice town. She looked to the side, what I’ve seen of it. It was very unkind of you to land your ship here,” She said reproachfully. She looked at the crashed silver hulk. Oh, not that you meant too. I see that now.” She realized she was babbling and looked down. She was sure her ears were red and her hands were starting to shake just slightly.

[globber]

621, his eyes now squinted, made slow turns to scan the wide, open area. In just a matter of seconds, the green alien deduced that this could have been a place of lowly, primitive technology. Technology similair, or possibly even worse than, Earth's own tech. "Hmmm ..." He growled with annoyance. Were was everybody?

“This is Traverse Town. It’s quite a nice town."

"Eh?" Chopsuey swerved around to face a ..... HUMAN woman? .... The alien's yellow blasters were already raised at this female creature ..... He hardly listened to whatever it was she mumbled. He was paying more attention to this life-form's oddly-dressed appearance. His wide black eyes showed suprise. A HUMAN woman? Did Chopsuey happen to drift off into space, only to return to Earth? But that's Impossible! The planet looked COMPLETLEY different from Earth up in space .... did the Shadow Monsters change it?

"Look leetle girl, ehm not careengh for what I deed to chunks'a'breeks." He addressed, still aiming his plasma cannons at her in suspiscion. "Tell me, what plehnet eez theez? What quadrant? What ..... gehlexy? Am I on EARTH?!" The sheer fact that this creature ..... APPEARED human was enough to spook him. Did humans learn space travel? Or did Chopsuey land on a planet with a race similair to humans?

[yanagi]

Felicity made an effort not to flinch as the weapons were leveled more steadily on her.
The creature spoke, "Look leetle girl, ehm not careengh for what I deed to chunks'a'breeks. "Tell me, what plehnet eez theez? What quadrant? What ..... gehlexy? Am I on EARTH?!

Felicity’s lips tightened he was yelling at her and what had he called her.?“Leetle girl” Felicity took a step forward, fighting not to stomp her foot. “You will address me as Miss Thomas, Mr. Creature. If you want your questions answered you will put down at least one of, she gulped. Your weapons. You will introduce yourself. We will shake hands and sit down and then I will tell you what you want to know. To the best of my knowledge," she amended.

The thought inside her head while she said this was. Wherever you come from with that atrocious accent, must be a horribly rude place. She had another thought, that possibly the place he came from was perfectly well mannered and it was the creature himself who was at fault but that was unkind to think of someone you have only just met and so Felicity shooed the second thought away.

[globber]

Chopsuey's eyes squinted in anger at the girl. But as she spoke, His head tilted down a little, his long ears flopped, and he was now simply glaring at the floor. He felt like he was getting scolded by that little hawaiin girl ...... At first, the green experiment decided to ignore the girl's request. After all, HE has the weapons aimed here, what could a human do to him and why should he follow orders?

"Weeeeeelll ...... You are mehkeengh very goood point ..... But theenk what answers I coood get after THREATENEENGH you weeth gun?" He said, a little - just a little - sarcastically. He waved his gun around with a smirk on his green face.

"Just keedeengh! Loook, I poot away BOTH guns!" Chopsuey grinned. His two lower armed arms disappeared as they retracted into his body, pulling in his weapons with them. No more weapons, now for a little earthly diplomacy. "Okeh Meez Tho-meez.. I ehm Ex-spare-eemint Seex-Doo-One. You meh call me Chopsuey!" He giggled a little as he spoke his name. But then, his gurgly voice, notably impatient, went on ahead rather abruptly after his introduction. "Now, tehll me PLEASE-" He said in an angered emphasis. "- what plehnet, gehlexy, ehnd time eez theez?" 621 was getting so ticked that he twitched a little and pulled on his ears without even knowing.

[yanagi]

Felicity let out a sigh of relief. She knew it was rude to do so but under the circumstances she thought it appropriate. Well! Her little outburst had born fruit. The little creature, she corrected herself, Chopsuey was now unarmed, Quite literally! She frowned. That name did not fit well with a Mr at the beginning and though Experiment, she figured out what he had said in her head, double checking, 621 sounded more appropriate it sounded even less like a name. Chopsuey would have to do.

She looked around for someplace to sit and decided on the empty chairs and tables of the café. They were closed but if they had wanted to keep people from using their tables they would have found a way to bar the space when not open.

She leaned down to Chopsuey who was now fiddling with his ears and realized that she needed to kneel. She did so and extended her hand.“Hello, Chopsuey. I am Felicity Thomas. I am late come to this particular world but I will answer all the questions I can. If we may sit?” She gestured towards the café and walked over. She pulled out a chair for the creature; ready to push it in for him. She looked around that the square. Why had no one else come to investigate?

[globber]

Chopsuey hastily snatched at the chair from this "Felicity Thomas" and sat. He was starting to grumble under his breath, annoyed at how slow this was going. But atleast this would give him SOME kind of information. His eyes, now wide and not squinted, darted around the town. When the woman finally set herself down, the green alien immediatley asked away.

"Okeh. Sooo I ehm eht theez Traverse Town plehce? Well what PLEHNET?!" Chopsuey started to lightly rub his temples with his long claws. "Eez theez plehnet Earth? Are you human?" The green experiment was now standing on his chair. The suspense was literally shaking 621's twitching body. "PLEAZE ANSWER me Meez Felee-ceetee! I went through the most horreeble plehnet, most terreeble shadow alien invaders, and the crehziest sleep all een .... I dunno how much time!!"

(Yes, Chopsuey is a very dramatic character)

[yanagi]

Felicity blew on her fingers. When Chopsuey had snatched the chair away from her it had hurt! She sat across from him her back stiff but as he spoke she began to feel a little sorry that she was taking so long to explain and relaxed She still did not appreciate being yelled at but a case of hysterics was understandable. She was feeling a little high-strung herself.

“Mr. Chopsuey, you are not on earth.Felicity frowned. “I don’t actually know what earth is. Traverse town is a world unto itself. There are many worlds nearby that can be got to without much difficulty. As for quadrants, I have no Idea which quadrant we are in.” She looked at him, afraid he would flinch and ready to flinch herself since the weapons might come back out. “There are shadows in this world and the others, heartless they are called or nobodies. I haven’t quite worked out the difference. “She held up her hands “But in this world, this section of the world First District is mostly safe from them. When they do come they can easily be killed.”

Now that she had answered all the questions she thought he had asked Felicity looked at Chopsuey frankly. “I am a human. May I ask what you are?”
Felicity sat up straight. She had forgotten the most important thing for a hostess to provide! “Oh, I am forgetting my manners. Would you like some tea? Shall I go see if I can find some tea?” She stood up pushed her chair in with great care so that it did not scrape on the ground, Horrible sound, and disappeared up the steps towards Sid’s Accessory shop.

She returned with a silver tray, a tea pot and two bone china cups that, unfortunately did not match the pot. As she poured the tea and set out the cups in front of them, Felicity looked apologetically down at the experiment. “I’m afraid you’ll just have to drink it black. Now, where were we? What are you? I hope you don’t mind me asking.”
He had asked her species designation so it was only right and fair that he respond in kind.

[globber]

Chopsuey never stopped his chattering and shaking until after the woman was done speaking. He took a moment to absorb everything he had heard. It was definitley a tough moment to swallow though ..... The town ITSELF was a world? Perhaps it's possible .... was this town built on a small asteroid? Or was the entire place just an artificial planet? .... But then Heartless and Nobodies? That's what those shadowy invaders were called? Entire destroyers of one planet could easily be killed in this world? Chopsuey's mouth opened up and uttered a gurgle, but before he could begin speaking, the woman went off ....

So. This Felicity IS human. Perhaps 621's next question would be how the heck did humans learn spaceflight? Heck. How could a human not even know what EARTH was?

Finally, the "human" woman returned. This time, with tea. 621 looked down at his own cup and growled, disgusted. But even so, he'd have to follow these customs if he wishes to find out more. The green alien grabbed at the cup with his claws and gulped it all down in one gulp. "Mmmmm ..... BLAH!" He yelped, trying to hold back the puking sensation of black tea .... "Gugh!" It swirled in his belly like a whirlpool of junk and garbage ....

He heard the woman ask what he was. That's when Chopsuey immediatley ignored that terrible after taste. At first, he glared at the woman, still angry that she thought he could handle both tea AND this casual talk of heartless. But since sense seemed twisted here, he decided to admit his origins. "Ahem .... I ehm Ex-spare-eemint number Seex-hundrehd-&-Twenty-One. I come from a long line of other geneteek-ally-created species much like mysehlf." He looked back down at his empty cup. "I ehm supposing all you can seh eez I'm a mutated creation. Born a test tube behby .... I don't expehkt a human to beelieve tho. But even so, you spoke to me of heartless and nobodies .... so, the unbelievable to thee unbelievable, I s'poze."

[yanagi]

Felicity watched, mildly irritated that experiment 621 had gulped the tea with no sign of enjoyment. It was good tea, well, it was tea and meant to be sipped an enjoyed.

Felicity’s eyes widened in confusion. What am I doing? This is a creature from another world who recently leveled weapons at me. I don’t need to provide tea. I have gone above and beyond my obligations.

She looked down at her cup of tea and picked it up, taking a sip. “I see, and what is a test tube baby? Oh, I believe you completely but I am have not heard the term.”

“So, she searched through her mind for possible topics. “How is your family?”

[globber]

Chopsuey tilted his head for a second and squinted his eyes at the girl. But quickly, he started to chuckle and twitch some more. "Heheheheheh .... Eh Test tube behby eez a creature or bee-hing cree-ehted from a science lehb. I was seemply mehd from DNA of multeeple other creatures." The experiment chuckled some more. But it grew a bit bitter. Speaking of his origins like this wasn't a normal thing. In fact, now that he finally spoke of it, he began to hate his past even more. Chopsuey wished to change the subject and speak of how a human got into space, but the woman asked another question.

"How is your family?"

Chopsuey snarled at the sound of that word. "My fehmeely .... my ohana .... Ohana eez what I used to call them." He looked away from Felicity with a glare. "They are patheteek pieces of notheengh to me .... All they've ever done was make my life more meez-erable. My cousins were all veeshus creatures like myself. But all were against me .... Even my mehster .... They've never said it themselves, but they never hehd to .... I hate them."

Chopsuey hated bringing up his personal past but loved to hear himself speak. Even if it meant making himself feel miserable .... He wiped his eyes and snorted his nose before staring back at Felicity. "BAH!" He chattered. "Enough of me. What about you? How deed YOU, a HUMAN, achieve space flight?"

[yanagi]

Felicity clamped her jaw, the twitching was getting too her. She wanted to tap her feet, play with her ears. All things that were not appropriate. She replayed his words inside her head.
Eh Test tube behby eez a creature or bee-hing cree-ehted from a science lehb. I was seemply mehd from DNA of multeeple other creatures."

"So, you are a golem? Hm.” Felicity took another sip of tea. Truly she felt like removing the lid from the pot and consuming every drop in the hopes that the stimulation would settle her mind but she did not, it would have been rude and she was not a rude girl. Not now.

Felicity’s head rose as Chopsuey, she had begun to think of him as the creature again and that was rude, snarled at her. She gripped her dress. Do not yell, do not yell do not yell. She held on until Chopsuey spoke.

. "My fehmeely .... my ohana .... Ohana eez what I used to call them." He looked away from Felicity with a glare. "They are patheteek pieces of notheengh to me .... All they've ever done was make my life more meez-erable. My cousins were all veeshus creatures like myself. But all were against me .... Even my mehster .... They've never said it themselves, but they never hehd to .... I hate them."
Felicity watched as he snorted his nose. She frowned, trying not to be disgusted. She felt sorry for him and embarrassed that she didn’t have a handkerchief on her person. Da- she stopped herself and stomped her foot under the table. Mother had been right. One must always carry a handkerchief, even when at home.
“Oh, that’s terrible,” said Felicity.
Pity shone through her eyes until she remembered that Chopsuey might not take well to pity and arranged her expression more appropriately . Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice.

"BAH!" He chattered. "Enough of me. What about you? How deed YOU, a HUMAN, achieve space flight?"

“Ah, I didn’t. I was sent by magic.” felicity smiled brightly though she didn’t feel that particular emotion right at that moment. She pulled a rectangular card out from her apron. It was fine cardstock and featured raised vines in the margins. There was the scent of honeysuckle emanating from it. Written in a florid hand upon the card was the body of a letter. The writing was large and barely fit.

To my dear niece felicity,
I am quite disappointed in your actions my dear.
Thomas Featherhew is a fine gentlemen and most certainly as good as you can hope to gain. yet you refused his proposal and, of all things, deigned to lay a hand upon him. I am ashamed of you my dear and glad that I prevented you in time. You would have brought ruin upon the whole family.
Think of your father. Think of your mother and siblings. Think of me!
I have sent you far away so that you do not ruin your family name with more ill thought out exploits.

Felicity handed Chopsuey the card. “Can you read?”

[globber]

Magic? MAGIC? The little alien was expected to believe this human managed to visit the atmosphere of other planets through MAGIC? He was starting to feel like this woman was simply making fun of him. Like, maybe she thought he was too dumb to understand space travel, and just simply made up this "magic" stuff. Similair to what Chopsuey would tell baby hatchling experiments whenever they asked obviously annoying questions. The experiment simply snorted as Felicity handed him a card.

"Cehn you read? Cehn you READ? BAH!" Chopsuey repeated bitterly as he snatched the card from her hands. He just felt more challenged. However, he'd better put away such feelings and just read the darn text ....

"..... Sooo .... you were bee-heengh courted by snooty batootty human, eh?" He sarcastically asked while his eyes squinted at the large text. He placed the card on the table and slid it back to Felicity.

"Eenteresteengh history I might seh. I suppose I cehn feeel SOME peety for you, my dear. Behtrayal by your fahmeely must feel like a honker, eh?" Chopsuey giggled. "MY fehmeely would have probably locked me up for doing anytheengh like THEHT!" His gurgled giggling abruptly stopped when he simply glared into her eyes. "But theht eez not what I meant. You are a HUMAN. From .... Earth? No? NO Eartling I've ever known even knew how to go pehst THE MOON!!! Does your aunt hehve a spehce sheep or somethin'?"

[yanagi]

Felicity leaned back in her chair. She did not hunch. She put a hand up flat on the table.

“It may not have been magic. My Great aunt is the one who transported me and I have no way to fathom her means. I only said that it was because I was about to give-, that smug little pig’s behind. “Mr. Featherhew a reprimand for being too forward with my person.”

“I think I understand what you mean when you ask my origins. My planet, if that is what you want to know, is called Soil. I gather that there are other worlds and other means of travel. You seem to use science. I know of magic. This world, she looked around the dark street, still devoid of people. Perhaps because they were mostly refugees they would hide instead of coming to investigate. “seems to run on something that is a blend of the two.”

Felicity looked the little creature in the eyes. “Think of it. Those creatures that attacked you, those, heartless. They were once humans. Now they are dark shadows. They disappear and reappear in different places. They are darkness.”

Felicity straightened and folded her hands together on the table top. “Darkness may not be evil in itself but these creatures exist merely to attack others. Someone else must be controlling them when they organize and do what they did to your world. They have no communication devices, no transporters, and yet, they are capable of causing so much pain and if one loses to them they will make that one into one of them.”

“There is more to it which I do not understand but I stand with what I say. This world is neither magic or science. I am no student of astronomy, but whoever heard of a town that is a world unto itself? It should be small enough that the spin of the planet would be noticeable.” Felicity stood up knocking her chair over. She flinched at the clanging scrapping sound it made as it fell but continued her tone level but with great conviction. Nay, distracting!”

Part of her hair had come unpinned and a lock hung in front of her eyes. She tucked it back behind her ears. “This world does not make sense. The inhabitants wander around looking for shadowy creatures to kill and many carry weapons. The dark creatures when killed drop money. Felicity stared at the sky. "Their economy is partially based on the heartless. Hmph!

They travel to other worlds with only a town or a city upon them in contraptions called gummi ships. She looked at him. “It’s true! That is how I came to be here.”

Felicity realized that she had been talking for a while now. She put her hands down and smoothed her dress, smiling at the experiment. She bent over grabbed her chair, set it carefully next to the table and sat down again sending another careful smile towards experiment 621.

“This is only the rambling of an overstressed girl. Please forgive me for such an outburst, will you?” She began playing with the butcher knife on the table, twirling it so that the blade shone in the candle light.

[globber]

Chopsuey listened to her rambling. With each passing sentance spilling out of her mouth, the experiment simply grew more angry, more impatient. What was she doing now? Sputtering out any random ideas that pop into her head? There's NO such thing as this "magic". Everything possible can ONLY be accomplished through the laws of physics, reality, time, and space itself. His body amazingly held still as he listened on, but his black glaring eyes twitched incessently.

At last, Felicity finished her long lecture of these strange ideas and fantasies in her mind. What was she? Scizhophrenic? Manic? What were these filthy ideas coming from? This is when he started to twitch and shake again with impatience. "Lehdy, you've beeen watch-eengh too mehny Wasp Mummy & Were Ant movies!" He bitterly spouted through his sharp, revealed teeth .....

621's mind went completley insane with rage when he caught a glimpse of that knife she happened to slip out .... "Wh-what een the?!" He jumped out of his seat and onto the table. His two extra arms popped out along with his yellow plasma blasters. Both weapons were aimed at Felicity. By now, Chopsuey's constant twitching stopped, but his voice was notably worked up and shaky with so much rage and embarrasment, he could hardly speak straight. "St-St-zzzzzz-STOP mehk-mehk-eengh fun of meh-m-mee! STOOPEED HUMAN!" The experiment snarrled and cursed in an alien dialect.

"CHOOBI CHIBA!" He now poked a gun at her nose. "Gwaheh ... eheheh ... HEEHEHEHEE!" He shook himself up with his involuntary laughter. Other experiments would know that when Chopsuey laughs, it means he's gone completley over the edge. "-Hehehe! HAHAHAHAHHAAAAA! SO THEN!!! HehHA! You theenk you cood mehk mee loook like an eedeeot? I HEHTE YOU! I HEHTE YOU! HEEEHEHEEE!" He had to wipe a tear out of his black eyes before continueing. "I've beeen undermined ehnd deesreespected for TOO LONG! ..... HEARTLESS? MAGEEK? BAH! .... You are treateengh me like I ehm steel a leetle behby hehtchleengh ..... WEECH I'M NOT EHNY MORE!!! You treat me like meh FEHMEELY! Those stoopeed LOW LIVES!"

He was so angry, Chopsuey actually shot a green blast of plasma at his own ship. It left a deep, charred dent on its side, but THAT wasn't the problem .... the shaking and rattling it caused woke up four inactive Possesor heartless that flew out of the engine like wispy ghosts. They must've been the ones guiding his ship to Traverse town. "Oh looky here, eh few of those - what you call - HEARTLESS! Heheh!" As Chopsuey laughed, the Possesors took flights, leaving trails of black smoke behind. They must find objects to posses ....