While I was on my writing streak last summer, this was one prompt I had written a response to. I find that I like to “go against” the grain of most of the responses, if that’s a thing. A lot of people on this thread were “whoops, I got left here” or “I was serving a prison sentence here”. The architecture reminded me a lot of South Asian, so I tried to put that into a spin of someone visiting. A bit brief and rough, but I liked it.
Done in July 24, 2020.
Note: My writing for Reddit writing prompts is different for brevity. While this is a good example of my writing, I often omit backstory and several details to create a concise post. Please look at my other works if you’re looking for my more regular style of writing.
Original Image (in case hosting or post goes down)
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“How far are we out?”
“Not too far, we will be onsite in a minute.”
Va’shoo unsteadily fingered her pulse rifle. Their lance had been sent to bodyguard the Monarch’s “Paladin” on a personal matter. She had sent her and several of her sisters with this task. The young man differed from both their kind and hers; the olive skin and dark hair. He had been recovered in deep space two years ago, and his origins were unknown.
Until now. The Notikans had found a distant settlement with those of his cultural background. So far away from home, there had finally been a connection made. And now there was to see if there was any kinship between the two.
Jenosh stepped out of the cockpit, in comfortable but stately clothes akin to that of an ambassador.
“Guys remember, polite! Nice. Daa.”
He folded his hands similarly as the Notikans did in prayer to emphasize his point. Her sisters nodded in response, small chirps leaving their symbiotes on their heads.
“We are touching down,” the pilot called.
Va’shoo got up, grabbing a railing above. She instructed the others in their native language to sling their weapons behind their backs, and not be bearing them in-hand.
“For Jenosh’s sake,” she added.
The door of the dropship opened, the cold and dry air hitting everyone’s faces. Va’shoo immediately regarded the cultural bikini garb of her people, wishing for the vacuum spacesuits she sometimes fought with instead. Her mane of violet hair blew in her face as she irritably pulled it away, walking out behind Jenosh.
Upon the temple landing were several men with similar ethnical features as him. They seemed to be dressed somewhat similar, though colors varied. May seemed to wear a sort of turban on his head. They started to speak in their native language excitedly, folding their hands in greeting and bowing.
Va’shoo’s symbiote let out a thought pheromone, causing three of the brood to follow her to one side. The other four lined up on Jenosh’ opposite. While she could’ve barked a verbal order, she didn’t want to alarm anyone.
They were all busy still greeting each other. Va’shoo had no idea what any of them were speaking, and the Notikan’s translator did not understand their language. The bug girls patiently waited shoulder to shoulder until their target finally turned to them.
He was busy talking to the men still in his language, motioning to her. He motioned to them, making the same hand gesture for her to mimc.
Upon seeing her the men seemed puzzled, perhaps curious. Va’shoo felt her cheeks flush in confusion as she clumsily put her hands together as instructed,
The men seemed to stop for a moment, staring at her in awe. It was an odd silence, causing her to become at great unease. Did she do it wrong? Was someone offended? Did she need to put aside her gentle, blushing host body, and swap to the killer instincts of her symbiote and grab for the rifle?
“Jennooosh,” she asked uncertainly.
One of the men spoke directly to her in his language, puzzled. Jenosh ran his fingers through her hair, looking quite nervously at the ground.
“He said you look like their gods.”
“Gods?”
This was throughly perplexing. Her symbiote didn’t quite understand this, but her body seemed to at least understand the concept.She and her sisters resembled some sort of deity to these people.
One of the other men became animated and excited, motioning for them to follow to one of the corner towers. Everyone slowly followed; three of her sisters kept to Jenosh’ sides and front in case an impromptu attack did happen.
The man stopped at one of the pagodas, motioning to a statue inside.
Va’shoo’s jaw almost dropped, pushing past the crowd and coming to a stop outside.
Inside was a figure of a blue man, the same tone as her kind’s skin. The eyes were dark like Jenosh’s, and an ornate gold headdress rested atop, bearing some sort of shape to their symbiotes.
She turned back to the inhabitants, slowly pointing at her and then back at the statue. A few of them nodded eagerly to confirm the connection.
Jenosh clapped his hands together and seemed to go on a different track, as to continue the socializing. She was certain this topic would return, but wanted to move onto other matters. While her group trailed behind, she trailed in the very back, grabbing the talkie on her shoulder.
The High Command would certainly want to hear about this.
Feature thumb and image from prompt by Kamila Szutenberg https://www.artstation.com/karamissa