Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen

"Aaa?"

They coo in response, tongue-tip boop Alice on the nose again, and put their head back down and begin purring- well, really, it was more of a rumbling.

"Hello..."

*Hissssthpthp. They flick their tongue a couple times in response.*

"Do you speak... my language?"

*. . . They continue rumbling.*

". . ."

Alice sighed, and just laid there. She stared at the ceiling-roof of her book fort. If she closed her eyes, it was like she had a really big cat on her chest. That she could deal with. For now. She could feel the panic fit growing, but she was going to hold it in, because this scalekin hadn't done anything yet to warrant the panic. Again, Yet. The purring was calming. It was helping her maintain her composure. Probably something to do with the vibrations. It was very relaxing. It's not like she locked her doors. Crime wasn't something she really had dealt with.

She lifted her head, ever so slowly, and looked back at the scalekin. She thought about pulling out an arm and petting them. But that would be rude at the least, and super improper at the most. Come to think of it, why are they here? Are they a survivor? Maybe they're from the forest? That would be interesting. Alice was not aware of anyone living in the forest. Not that she ever thought about it. Also, she doesn't even know the kind of people who lived in the town. Maybe they were from town. What are their motivations? What is their name?

"Do you even have a name?"

The scalekin's head suddenly shot up, and they looked into Alice's eyes.

"Yes."

Their voice was soft, and they were so close, that as they spoke, their tongue darted out invisibly fast and poked Alice on the cheek.

". . . Wh-What is it? Your name."

"Viss."

"Viss... that is a nice name... I think? Um- so you do speak common... why didn't you say anything earlier?"

. . . Viss laid their head back down.

"Viss does not like to spend energy answering silly questions."

"H-Hey! I didn't know! How should I know?! I don't even know where you came from!"

*Hissstphpt.*

"Fine, be that way. I have an important question for you. Do you have sensitive ears?"

. . . Viss lifted their head and looked at Alice. They looked incredibly confused.

"Because I've had a really bad few days and I've been bottling up a bunch of stress and you presumably breaking into my house and laying on me while I slept did not help but you licked my face and I'm just going to start screaming and flailing. Okay? Also as long as I'm being super honest, I have a gun and I've already got a hand on it, so please get out of my house."

"UH- WAIT, VISS SAYS WAIT-"

~One extremely brief, violent and sudden explosion of stress later~

Alice is laying outside, in the grass. It's bright outside, which means she slept through the night, yesterday. Assuming that was just yesterday. Does time mean anything anymore? God, her head is a mess. Qhen is just standing there trying to get her attention. ... OH. WAIT.

"Huh? Qhen?"

"Oh- You're finally... lucid. Are you okay? Did you hear anything I said? I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?"

". . . No... I'll be fine, right? That's what this little monster is doing."

Alice looks over, balls her hand up into a fist, and gently noogies Viss on top of the head. Viss is laying in the grass next to her, curled up against her arm, and prumbling loudly. The pain in her arm from where Qhen grabbed her and trip-threw her to the ground slowly fading.

"Viss is-was your crewmate on the airship, and a doctor. Her species makes her well suited to this, as this pleasant vibrating against my arm is helping my muscles mend. I'm pretty sure you dislocated my shoulder, by the way. When you said you were staying, and explained the situation, Viss demanded to stay as well- and the crew agreed to help with the search and salvage operations. A skeleton crew on the airship is slowly doing laps of the island, calling out and looking for survivors. The other half dozen or so- the toughest on the crew- are slowly passing through town, clearing rubble and loading a cart with supplies. Their cut that you agreed to- without asking me- was 50% of all royals found, all the perishable foods they wanted, and when everything was said and done, I would look through all the things they've recovered and give them a cut of the things that I don't think will be missed, provided we even ever find hide or hair of any of the people from town. They're on the honor system not to swipe anything. When I had my breakdown, I tried to Flash Bomb Viss, almost set the downstairs library on fire, and when they ran out of the house, I followed them, as she assumed I would, and ran right into you, and now here I am. Totally fine. You can stop pinning my legs now."

Qhen scratched their cheek with a claw idly, then rubbed the top of their head, and nervously picked at one of their horns.

"First, Viss isn't a monster-"

"Of course not. She's a scalekin, of the Drahke species, because she lacks wings."

"AND- You were listening, I guess. But I'm going to just stay here for now, if you don't mind."

Qhen had to find a way to pin Alice down, and went with the direct method. After disabling Alice's 'shooting arm', and with Viss clinging onto that arm to assist it's healing, Qhen is essentially kneeling on Alice's legs. It's very uncomfortable. Qhen is heavy.

"I kinda do mind. And it's not just because you're heavy, and it hurts."

rude "And why is that?"

"Because I currently find you appealing."

". . . Ah. I'm not sure if I like direct-to-the-point Alice."

Qhen got up, and sat nearby.

"It's a coping mechanism. If I remove myself from the emotion, then nothing can bother me, and I can take time to properly assess the situation."

"Right... That sounds healthy."

"Hmph. So. While I'm like this, I was curious."

"About?"

"Hitting you is like punching a hardwood door. I was going to say like a rock, but you're more... pliable than stone? Your body is very dense, and rigid, but there's still bend and give. What's that about?"

"Oh. I have- What you might consider 'too many bones'. Imagine something like a snake, except most of my body is like that. A series of interlocking bone joints that form a kind of... internal armor. It protects my organs. It also makes me incredibly flexible, because if I focus really hard..."

Qhen brings up their arms, and closes their eyes. Slowly, their arms begin to bend. But not at the 'elbows', but... they're curving. They curve their arms backwards and over their own shoulders. Then back again.

"... That was mildly disturbing to watch."

"I know. And I'm not particularly good at it. I never got formal training in how to use my... 'abilities'? As I understand it, there have been others with my strange bone structure that were essentially like watching humanoid-shaped-water flow on the battlefield."

". . ."

". . ."

*Rumbles quietly.*

"Don't suppose we can pretend I didn't say something incredibly stupid just a little bit ago?"

"If you can, I can."

"... I can try. Look, over there, a change of subject. How about, in a little bit, when Viss is willing to let go of my arm, we go into town, help search... and then we figure out what to do tomorrow. One day at a time, until it's done."'

Qhen stood up, dusting themselves off. They reach down to grab Alice's good arm.

"Sounds good to me. C'mon, Viss. Let her go. You can check her shoulder again tonight."

*Hissssthpthp.* "Fine. Viss will not keep Alice from being a busy body, but if Viss sees Alice hurt themselves again, Viss will tie Alice down to a bed and make them rest. Viss clear?"

"... Sure."

The rest of the day went fairly uneventfully.

Alice, Qhen and Viss helped the airship crew load things into the cart, then brought it back to the house, sorted through it, divided up food and money found, and then Qhen and Viss helped Alice load it into the voidspace, where Alice spent some time and energy constructing rooms.
They had a simple dinner of bread and cheese and dried fruits, then Alice wordlessly excused herself to go to bed.

15% of the town has been searched.
5% of the town has been salvaged.
0% of the forest has been searched.

Alice will not do anything for the time being that is unrelated to her goals re: the town, so for now we'll be changing the format a little.

*TIME SHIFT: Day to Day mode activated*

For now, and possibly continuing on forever from this point: You will be given the date, anything important that was supposed to happen that the party knows of, and a list of options that you can assign to each character for each time period. Please ask questions if this is not clear.

*CURRENT DATE - First Charmsday under Canned - Morning*

Party Members Available: Alice, Qhen, Viss

Actions Available: Explore, Salvage, Sort, Rest, Interaction
Explore Options: Forest, Town
Interaction Options: Alice, Qhen, Viss, Airship Crew
Special Actions for Alice: Upgrade voidspace
Special Actions for Qhen: Recon Duty
Special Actions for Viss: Alchemy

(For Example: Alice - Explore Town, Qhen - Salvage, Viss - Interact Qhen)