Chapter Text
Mythical creatures
Theories
Rumours
Legends.
Words often associated with things, people and even creatures that sound too fictional and magical to be even close to reality. Some of these are mentioned in past tense, others like they're going to jump at you from the darkness.
These are not limited to communities, nor cultures, nor countries. Not even planets; the wide system of communication, routes and trading ships among planets make these rumours travel as fast as the ships floating across the galaxy.
And, when the GWHO found a brand new planet, with an unheard of species fully conscious and competent with their own society, the whole universe what quick to find out about it, peaking the interest of their own society.
'Humans' they discovered; big, strong and tanky compared with other species, some grown humans were big, ready to place a fist in someone's mouth. Others seemed meek, smaller, but still managed to be awfully resistant to... Well, a lot of things. The CWHO was more than happy to let this new species find its own way into space, slowly but surely if necessary. But bounty hunters and illegal trafficking ships were more than ecstatic to steal humans off of earth, keep them like some twisted pets of theirs and examine their anatomy, even if it meant killing a few of them.
Though, things went... Rough.
The whole thing about rumors wasnt really a joke; people talk and talk about a father who got snatched from the comfort of his home, alongside his daughter. Its safe to say that, when authorities caught onto this and tried to put the ship to a halt, everyone inside was nothing but dust. The man somehow managed to break free from the jail he had been put on, smashing one of the captors in the head with his handcuffs and brushing off the effects of any sedatives on him. He managed to land the ship with the help of another captured human, and run off into the... Somewhere of a random planet.
Authorities weren't sure what to do about it, and from the looks of it, the small group of humans seemed to be doing just dandy in the middle of some sort of forest. Who knew they came with a built-in ability to survive from absolute 0?
The stories of humans doing wild things when captured weren't unpopular. One was starved for 11 days while in the discomfort of one of those trafficking ships, the criminals inside doing so because they thought it'd be better to have the human die from starvation than from physical wounds that could interfere with research on their bodies. Yet, even after arduous days of eating who knows what, the human was still alive.
Some talk about a human that lost a whole hand and kept on fighting either way, some others talk about a child that managed to communicate coherently with their captors after only a few weeks. Some others talk about a human that's running wild in the woods of this planet after a ship being taken down.
Wait, what? This planet?
"Okay, that's... Sketchy, buddy"
"I'm not even pulling, Elliot! 'm serious!"
The merchant infront of the "pizza" man looked crazy, honestly. He doesn't give off the biggest aura of trust or comfort-not in the slightest, really. He looks like a drunkard or one of those men who manage minimarkets down the shady parts of the planet that are clearly doing some sort of trafficking or money laundering. And, despite being a nice guy overall, Elliot couldn't find it in himself to trust the "news" he talked about.
"So... You're telling me that one of these galatic-wide-threats that most of us are deadly afraid of... Is just- wandering around? On this planet?" Elliot said slowly and giving each word a second or two to settle, in a hushed tone; like if no one else heard it'd make it less of a truth. If it even was a truth in the first place, that is.
The vendor looked at him with wide eyes, nodding and putting a hand to the side of his mouth, whispering as he leaned closer. Elliot could see from the corner of his eye how the older person beside the both of them stared in something akin to curiosity, but he wasn't sure, his mask kind of limited his range of view.
"I swear t' they Admins above! Lyin's not on mine bucket list, Eli.
I heard 'elamon himself came t' work on the area..."
Telamon himself? Now that's new. Elliot almost feels lucky to hear that he's standing in the same area a considered god had been within probably a few days ago.
Elliot whistled, hand placed on his cheek, leaning agaisnt the register counter of the small local shop. "So the Admins are aware? Gee, might mean trouble... Do you think people might land by less due to fear?" He asked, silently trying to get some weights on if the area was good to drop by for a few days and get some customers. It's not like he hasn't done it before, but he doesn't want to rent a slot if the traction is low due to rumours.
"Nah, i think 'em people are more curious 'n eager to visit!" The older man leaned back a bit, a hand on the countertop, placed firmly as he laughed at the implications. "Bet they'r just wishin' to get their hands on 'em humans. Foolish few."
"Right... Yeah, i don't think I'd call myself lucky or anything of the sort if i came in contact with a human, might be scary..." He tapped his claw agaisnt the counter, careful not to scratch it. If there really was a human wandering around, he'd rather not have an encounter with it. Better to leave now and save himself the trouble, he'll probably drop by tomorrow again, when business is back to its normal pace.
"Um. Other than that, I'll get going now, allllrighty?"
The pizza boy winked, though it was a bit hard to catch onto because of his mask. Either eay, the local seemed to get it, and brought a hand up to dap Elliot, a friendly gesture he makes sure to keep up with. Wouldn't want guys like these to catch air of his distrust...
"Aight, 'll be seein' ya then."
"Goodbye!"
The... Spaceship? Wasn't particularly large, but definitely bigger and well taken care of compared to other ones parked nearby. It was polished, shiny, and they were surprised it didn't seem to have been robbed or breached. Maybe it's some sort of big brand? Could be...
The bright red and colorful signs told them it was clearly some sort of establishment. A better place to sneak into, considering these are usually empty and secured during the night. They'd just have to hang low until it landed somewhere more... Livable. Somewhere that they might be able to... Start over.
Oh, who are they kidding.
They won't survive a day, but...
They just want to lay down, and rest. Even if for just a moment.
