Very amateur writing ahead. Also, lore and other things may not be a T to what it is in Starbound; I don't know all the lore and how all the races react to each other, not to mention that there are some things I would just like to add or remove. You have been warned. Also, when it comes to the Floran accent, I only apply it when the "s" makes an actual "s" sound like in "sea" or "hiss". The word "is" usually has a "z" sound at the end. At least, when I say it anyways. Blooming Part 1 "Jayce, food reserves are still low. I hate to ask this of you for the fourth night in a row, but you're the best hunter we've got.Please go out hunting and get some food for us. We're counting on you." The words echoed relentlessly through Jayce's mind. Both the Mayor and him know the town is dying. Food and resources both are drying up, people are dying or leaving, wild animals have been becoming more aggressive and to make things worse, a Floran ship was spotted in orbit of the planet, not too far from the village. Florans were bad news, especially for such a small and defenseless village. Humans are sturdy, but not that sturdy. Jayce had to go out even further from the village as he had dried up all the nearby resources the last few nights he went hunting. The cart he pulled behind him made him wish the animal tamer would hurry up and train the horseboar they had captured. By the time he had reached a suitable place to hunt, it was already getting dark and he barely had enough time to set up camp. The forest started getting noisy with the cries and howls of animals, as darkness covered the sky. Jayce found that hunting at dark, while more dangerous, often provided more meat. Many animals on the planet were nocturnal and thus came out to play. Jayce stood up from his campfire and hefted the large iron hammer of his over his shoulder as he set out from the camp he had made. He had a revolver holstered on his belt but he preferred not to use it; he found guns to be unreliable. The hunt did not go as well as he had expected. Two hours later and he only had enough meat to feed four or fivefamilies for a week; and only if they rationed it. The hammer became heavy in his hands and the lionmouse he had just killed was causing his shoulder to ache. He made his way back to his camp, deciding to take a short rest before continuing his hunt. When he returned to his camp, he threw the dead animal on the cart along with his other kills and sat down in front of the dying embers of the fire he had made earlier. He stoked the flames to get the fire roaring again and that's when he felt a nearby presence. He quickly became alert and stood up, readying his hammer over his shoulder with one hand and his other hand ready to draw his revolver. Across from him, just outside the light of the fire, was a humanoid figure. "Leave now or die!" Jayce warned, readying himself for a fight. There was silence for a moment, before the figure spoke. It's voice was soft and gentle, as if trying to lure Jayce into a falsesense of security. "Floran only wantsss to talk. Human knows there is no harm in talking, right? Floran can get clossser with no harm done." The figure didn't need to say it was a Floran; Jayce could tell just by the accent. "There can be a lot of harm in coming closer; and not necessarily to me. You are perfectly capable of talking from there,aren't you? Or is that too difficult for a Floran?" The Floran stays quiet for a few moments. "Floran...may have lied." Jayce scoffs, interrupting the Floran. "Yeah, big surprise there. Nobody would ever think a Floran would lie to get a meal."He squints, trying to see the Floran better but it's too dark outside the fire for him to see. "Floran is cold," it says. "Floran sssimply wishes to sssit by the fire ssso she does not freeze. Is all Floran asssks." TheFloran's intention surprises Jayce; but he does not let his guard down. After all, she could be lying. Still, Jayce had a kind heart. It was why he's spent four nights trying to provide for the village instead of just leaving to providefor himself and himself alone. Yes, he was dealing with a wild and savage Floran; a sentient and carnivorous plant race know for killing, eating and even cannibalism. Still, he felt everyone deserved a chance, as even humans have done horrible things in the past. And he would know. "Alright," he said, drawing his revolver and setting his hammer down slowly and carefully, keeping both eyes on the Floran. He steadily aims the revolver at the Floran. "Slowly walk into the light of the fire. Any sudden movements or attempts to come closer will result in a dead Floran." To his surprise, the Floran complies. Step by step, she slowly and carefully walks closer, until she is completely visible bythe firelight. Her skin is a green-yellow and her eyes are large and black. On her head appears to be a red mushroom cap of some sort, dropping low enough to cover some of her forehead. For clothes, there wasn't much. Just a plain white shirt made of cloth, ripped in several places and a simple loincloth. She had no footwear of any kind but perhaps that was normal with Florans. Her demeanor made her seem weak and vulnerable, but Jayce knew better. "Alright, good," he said, after looking the Floran over, making sure there were no tricks up her sleeves; or roots perhaps?He slowly and gently pointed with his gun where she could sit; directly on the other side of the campfire. "As before, no sudden movements." The Floran slowly made her way to where he directed her; keeping an eye on him. When she got to the other side of campfire, she looked at him and he nodded; giving her permission to sit. And she did just that, sitting on her knees so she could lean forward towards the fire and warm herself up. Jayce sat on the log he had set up, keeping an eye on the Floran with his revolver ready. But the Floran only now seemed interested in the fire; the flickering flames reflected in her gazing eyes as she held her hands up to it. Ending it there just to get some feedback. Let me know if you guys like it, what I can improve, spelling mistakes, grammar/punctuation mistakes, etc. I'm pretty sour when it comes to criticism, so try to word it gently if you can. Whether people like it or not, I'm most likely going to keep wrriting as I enjoy the story myself and writing as well. I tried to be thorough with spell checking and grammar checking, but I'm no english major. I will admit that I often overuse commas. : P
Part 2! Didn't get any feedback yet, so eh, it's whatev. Blooming Part 2 As the Floran warmed herself up by the fire, Jayce stared intently at her, watching for any sudden movements or signs of herattacking. But there was nothing. The Floran was just interested in the fire and warming herself up. It amazed Jayce how right now, she seemed like a harmless and innocent girl. Though he knew she was hiding the depths of her cruelty and viciousness. "What's your name?" he asked the Floran. It was an impulse; he didn't know why he asked it, but he did. There was silence for a minute or two before she responded, "Floran does not have name. Parentsss were killed. Wisemanbrains sssaid to increase intelligence upon being eaten. Only when dead though. Other Florans did not ressspect tradition. Other Florans left me stranded, alone. I was put up with. Floran do not attempt to eat children until they come of twenty yearsss. I knew they were waiting. Biding their time. Called me weird. Looked forward to eating me. I wouldn't let them. I ssstole ship and essscaped. Ran out of fuel. I do not know..." Whatever else the Floran was going to say, she kept to herself. Jayce sighed. "I asked for your name, not your life story." He looked at her face, and noticed a wet drop falling from one of hereyes. He immediately regretted what he said, feeling like absolute garbage. "Sorry. I've had it rough too. I can understand how you feel. What do you want your name to be?" The Floran shrugged, not taking her eyes off the fire. "I do not know. Florans do not name themssselves. Have others givename." "Hmmmm," Jayce said thoughtfully, trying to think of a name for her. He stared intently at her face, before suddenly noticinga strange liquid dripping down her forehead, from beneath the cap of the mushroom. "Erm, you seem to be...sweating?" For the first time since sitting down, the Floran lifts her head and looks at him, a confused look on her face. "Sssweating?"The liquid drips down onto her nose. Noticing it, she crosses her eyes to look at it. She wipes a bit off with her finger, and then softly suckles on her finger. "Sssory. A Floran's flower absorbs sssunlight during the day. At night, it provides usss with the exsscesss energy. When we are hungry, it provides usss with sssome food." Jayce blinks. "Flower? You do realize that's a mushroom cap on your head, right?" "Flower," is all the Floran responds with. Jayce blinks a few more times, processing the information. "Erm, okay. So Florans don't need to eat then? That's rathercool. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to eat." He gives a small chuckle. The Floran gives a small smile. "Florans do need to eat. The food provided by our flower is more of a sssnack. It's sssweettasssting, but doesssn't give usss all the energy we need, and it only comes from one ssspot so it'sss not that much. It'sss more ssso to hold usss over until we find real food." Jayce blinks. The accent is starting to get on his nerves. He starts wondering if Florans become annoyed with each otherbecause of the accent. Then a name idea came to him while thinking about what she said. "Why not name you 'Sweetspot'? It's not exactly the most creative name, but it's all I could come up with, considering what I know about you." The Floran blinks a bit. "Sssweetssspot?" Jayce instantly regretted his suggestion; the accent is going to drive him crazy."Sssweetssspot..." The Floran again said, mentally and verbally mulling over the name. Jayce secretly hoped she would reject it. "Sssweetssspot is...my name. Thank you. Sssweetssspot never got your name?" Jayce groans internally. To the poor sucker that has to put up with this girl, I apologize. Please forgive my sin. The thoughtand joke to himself made him smile. "Sorry. My name is Jayce." Saying his own name, he realized an issue and quickly made amends. "But please, call me Jay. It's a nice nickname that I like." "Jay...Thank you, Jay, for giving a Floran the time of day." She smiles at Jayce, who nods his head and returns the smile.Sweetspot blinks. "What'sss a nickname?" Jayce groans in frustration. "I'll tell you before you leave." He smiled, looking at her. He noticed a small red light on herforehead, and without thinking or any warning, he tackled her to the ground, just before a gunshot went off. Jayce could only feel an immense pain enveloping his entire body. It burned and he started feeling faint. He knew it was the end for him, but he'd fight for as long as he could.
Well, thank you Via ten for the likes! Not sure if it's out of pity or what, but nonetheless, thank you! Blooming Part 3 Jayce blinked, trying to keep himself focused. He got shot, he knew that. But he didn't understand why his body felt like itwas on fire. If he didn't have his eyes open, he would assume he was in Hell; but he could clearly see Sweetspot, his new friend...who was chomping on his right arm! "AGH! What the HELL are you doing!? Let go! Stop!" he shouted, the new information shocking his brain back into activity. "Jayssse tried to trick me!" Sweetspot declares angrily. "He isss trying to kill me!" she adds, biting down harder on hisarm, pulling to try and rip the flesh. "Aggggh, stop! There's somebody with a sniper rifle, trying to kill us! Didn't you hear the gunshot!? If I wanted to kill you,I would have been able to do so earlier!" The words get through to Sweetspot; she lets go of his arm and looks at him. Jayce looks at his arm though. The skin was definitely punctuated; blood is flowing freely from the wound and the skin is torn slightly. He wanted to chew out Sweetspot for the damage, metaphorically speaking, but he knew he had to focus on the current situation. "Go take cover behind that fallen tree and keep your head down," he issues. Sweetspot complies, sliding out from beneathhim and quickly and quietly moving behind the tree. Jayce quickly tears off a bit of his shirt and winds it around his wound to help stop the bleeding. He grabs his nearby hammer with his good hand and dashes to the log, dragging the hammer behind him. He sits next to Sweetspot, grunting in pain. His body still felt like it was on fire; just what did Sweetspot do to him? Sweetspot looks at Jayce with a pained look on her face. "What do we do now?" she asks quietly. "We stay quiet, and we wait." And the two did just that. Unmoving and silent, Jayce took the moment to rest himself. Theywaited and waited. Sweetspot was confused, wondering what they were doing, but she stayed quiet. After about an hour or so, she heard a noise. Jayce held up a finger to his mouth and quietly hissed "Shhhh". He ever so slowly looked over the fallen tree they were hiding behind. In Jayce's camp was their attacker; an Apex with a black sniper rifle. It was rummaging through Jayce's belongings and sniffing the meat in his cart. It said something under its breath. Jayce figured now was as good of a time as any. "Cover your ears," he whispered to Sweetspot, who obliged. Jayce took a deep breath, steeling his nerves and readying for his attack. Sweetspot watches with interest, as he placessomething with a cone shape between his lips. He then slowly creeps out of the hiding place and makes an advancement upon the distracted Apex. He grips his hammer tight with his left hand, dragging it along the ground quietly. He starts walking faster and faster, quickly becoming a jog and then a full-on run. The Apex, hearing him, turns around and aims his sniper rifle at him. Jayce takes a deep breath and releases it all at once, as loud as he can in a whistle. The cone amplifies and directs the sound, barraging the Apex with it, causing him to instinctively drop his gun and cover his ears. It was all Jayce needed. When Jayce is within hitting distance of the Apex, he spins himself 180 degrees and swinging his hammer. The momentum is enough to bring his hammer up and hit the Apex square in the chest. The Apex is lifted off the ground with the hammer and then quickly slammed back onto the ground with as much strength as Jayce could muster. The Apex's chest caves and is smashed through by the hammer; obviously dead now. Jayce pulls the cone out of his mouth, and calls out to Sweetspot. "You can come out now." Sweetspot nervously emergesfrom the hiding place. Seeing that it is indeed safe, she walks over to the camp and stares down at the Apex. Jayce looks at her and sighs. "What did you do when you bit me? My body feels like it's on fire; it really hurts." Sweetspot looks at Jayce and then at the ground. "Sssorry. Sssome Florans have a poisssonousss bite..." Jayce's eyes gowide with fear, but before he can say anything, Sweetspot wipes a bit of the nectar dripping from the mushroom on top of her head and holds the finger out to him. "It should rinssse the effectsss from you, or at leassst redussse it." Jayce cocks an eyebrow at her, but reluctantly wipes the nectar from her finger with his own, and tastes it. Initially, the tasteis sweet, but becomes extremely sweet after a little bit. He swallows it with ease, somewhat wishing he could have some more. "Thank you," he says. "Don't worry about the bite; I forgive you." She nods her head, smiling at him. He smiles back, and rummages through his bags. He pulls out a bottle of water and some bandages. He takes off his makeshift bandage, pours a little water on the wound to clean it, and then wraps it in bandages. Sweetspot looks on quietly, watching with interest. Suddenly, he turns to her. "Do you know where you're going after this?" She blinks and then looks away. "No. Sssweetssspot does not have anywhere to go." "I see," Jayce says solemnly. There's silence between them, as Jayce argues in his mind. Finally, he comes to a decision."I trust you, so don't betray my trust. You'll regret it if you do. I know Florans and Humans don't really get along and are vastly different from each other. But would you like to come back with me to my village and live there? It's a really small village, about 13 families. It won't be too hard to get you settled in, since there are abandoned homes. And the people trust me, especially the mayor. I don't think it'll be too hard to convince them. What do you say?" Sssweetssspot smiles widely and nods her head excitedly. "Yesss! Sssweetssspot would...I would love to! Ssswee-Um, Iwould love to!" Jayce grins at her. He noticed she's trying to speak like him now and he thought it was kind of silly of her. "Alright then,we leave first thing in the morning! Get some good sleep; I can keep watch." Sweetspot smile does not fade and her eyes seem to be tearing up. "Thank you." Jayce nods his head at her, a smile onhis face as well. He hands her a bedroll and she lays it on the ground, and plops down on it, getting ready for sleep. But she has trouble sleeping. Her mind races, thinking of all the wonderful things she will soon experience, of her future. Her eyes grow tired though and close, soon putting her to sleep with a smile on her face. Her new life would start tomorrow. And that's Part 3! There's still more to come! If you feel a stinging sensation in your eyes after reading this, don't be alarmed. That is perfectly normal. I do ask that you donate your tears to a well. EDIT: Seriously, how do I not notice all these mistakes I'm making? "his his cart"? "wonderful things will soon be experience"? I can't help but wonder if my laptop has a grudge against me, and just makes these changes without me knowing. Also, thank you tux93 for the likes! I truly appreciate it!
This was very entertaining to read, and like Ian I have not noticed any grammatical errors at all. Would definitely read more if more parts were posted.
Well, I kinda dropped out of Starbound for awhile (as I am prone to do with games that I play 24/7). If ya really want, I wouldn't be opposed to continuing from where I left off. I'd need a day to re-read my story and see where I was going with it (although I still remember the general direction). I checked my computer, and it seems I was already in the middle of typing Chapter 4, so I should have the next chapter up either later tonight or tomorrow morning. Depending on how many revisions I need to make and how angry I get at my own writing, and how much more I plan to add to it.
I can't remember how I made the indents in my previous posts, so I had to come up with a new way for this post. If it's annoying or distracting just let me know, but I tried my best to make it as invisible as possible. Blooming Part 4 ~~~~~Sweetspot's dreams were full of color, but blurred beyond recognition. There were dark colors and bright colors, all melting together, swirling, mixing. It was a beautiful spectacle for her to watch, even in her mind. She wanted to drown herself in the colors; let them take hold of her and whisk her away to a better place. But the colors started to fade. Everything was becoming grey and the color started to wash over her and flood her mind. She heard a loud booming noise and a flash of white. The color overwhelmed her and started to drown her. She woke up with a start, adrenaline rushing through her body. She quickly looked around and noticed that her new human companion was pulling some sort of cover over his cart. She then realized that the world was soaked wet; it was raining hard! She looked up and grey clouds dominated the sky. Lightning flashed through them and thunder boomed. ~~~~~Jayce took a second to look back at Sweetspot, and seeing that she was awake, he called out to her. "Sweetspot! Finally you woke up! Get a move on! We have to get back to the village! Lightning strikes are very common and very dangerous here! The village has several lightning rods that protect it!" Sweetspot jumped to action and rushed over to help Jayce. Together, putting the cover over the cart was easy and tying it down was even easier. Then there was pulling the cart. Jayce took the handle on the right, so he could pull it with his left arm, as his right arm was still weak from Sweetspot's bite. Sweetspot took the left handle and used her free hand to help lift the cart slightly. ~~~~~The two pulled the cart through the thunderstorm as fast as they could. The forest started to fade until few trees were left. Sweetspot squinted her eyes, trying to see any signs of this village. She started to see the outline of something, but it was too small to be a house. Was it a human? She saw blue sparks coming from the outline. "What'sss that!?" she shouted to Jayce over the thunder. ~~~~~Jayce looked up from the ground and squinted. The outline seemed familiar to him, but he didn't know what it was. Then he saw the blue sparks. "Duck and cover!" he shouted to Sweetspot. He dropped the cart and Sweetspot looked at him confused, before he tackled her to the ground and rolled away from the cart. A lightning bolt appeared from out of nowhere and struck the cart, causing the front end to break and be torn to pieces. "Damn it, I'M the one who's going to have to fix that!" The outline approached closer until the creature could be seen clearer. It was a creature who's body was more long than wide. It's legs were rather short and stubby, giving the creature a silly appearance. But on it's head, where it's nose should be, there instead was a long, drill-like horn. The horn had blue sparks around it, appearing and disappearing. ~~~~~Sweetspot had never seen such a creature before but it was apparent that Jayce was familiar with it. Suddenly, the creature stood up on its hind legs. Despite the odd body shape and stubby legs, it seemed to have perfect balance. It lifted it's head as high as it could. The odd sight peaked Sweetspot's curiosity and made her want to giggle. She was suddenly aware that Jayce was holding her hand, when he said "Be ready to dodge." She blinked. Dodge what? ~~~~~Sweetspot watched, as lightning struck down from the clouds and hit the creature's horn. Instead of frying the creature, the lightning seemed to be absorbed by the horn. The blue sparks started growing bigger and larger, the lightning from the sky still striking the creature's horn. In the blink of an eye, the lightning broke off and as the creature dropped back to all fours, a bolt of lightning shot forth from it's horn directly at them. Sweetspot was paralyzed by fear and all she could do was watch. Luckily, Jayce knew exactly what was going to happen and jumped out of the way, pulling Sweetspot along with him. The lightning bolt struck the grass, setting it on fire before it was quickly put out by the rain. “Wh-What is that!?” Sweetspot asked in surprise. They certainly didn't have animals like that back on her planet. ~~~~~“Don't worry, just get behind the cart,” Jayce responded, hefting his hammer with his good left arm. With his other hand, he seems to touch his chest and Sweetspot hears a barely audible 'beep' noise over the rain. Jayce then crouches slightly, dropping his hammer to the ground and he waits. The creature with the horn again raises up on it's hind legs and gathers lightning, Jayce still waiting. When it comes back down and shoots out a lightning bolt at Jayce, he disappears. Sweetspot's eyes go wide in surprise. She hadn't taken an eye off Jayce and yet he is no longer there. She hear's a pained roar and looks at the creature. In one swift move, she sees Jayce smash his hammer under the creature's jaw and then pull out his revolver with his bad arm and shoot the creature in the chest, killing it. ~~~~~“How did you do that? Sweetspot is mossst impresssed by your ssspeed!” Sweetspot is grinning and standing over Jayce, only to realize he's breathing heavily. “Is Jayssse-erm...Jay okay?” He nods his head instead of speaking and motions for her to help him up and so she does so. ~~~~~“Thanks. Using techs is rather tiring. They're useful but take a lot out of me. C'mon, help me get this Weinercorn into the cart.” Sweetspot blinks at the strange name and helps Jayce pick up the so called 'Weinercorn' and put in the cart. “Alright, let's keep moving. The village isn't too far now.” ~~~~~Jayce and Sweetspot dragged the cart back to the village with no other troubles. It only took them a few minutes, but in the heavy rain and slippery mud it felt like forever to them. Upon arriving the in the village, Sweetspot was surprised. The buildings were not made of grass or straw or simple wood. They were made of stone, some of different colored stone, and refined wood. The wood was colored as well, though most houses were just a white wood. They had wooden or stone doors, and she even saw a few iron doors as they pulled the cart through the village. “Let's get this cart in the barn first. Then we can go into my house and eat then rest. Tomorrow morning, I'll bring you to the mayor.” Sweetspot gave him a confused look and he realized she didn't know what a mayor was. “Uhm, basically a tribe chieftain?” ~~~~~“Oh! I sssee,” was Sweetspot's response, quickly followed by, “He...won't try to eat me, will he?” Jayce only responded with a chuckle, though she wasn't sure if that was a 'yes' or a 'no'. Without much trouble they managed to get the cart in some sort of barn. ~~~~~“Now that that's done,” Jayce said, “We can head to my home.” And so Jayce lead the way, Sweetspot following closely behind. A little too close. “Do you mind?” Jayce asked. ~~~~~“Mind what?” was Sweetspot's response to which Jayce sighed and waved his hand, dismissing the conversation. It only took a minute for them to arrive at Jayce's house. It was rather nice. The exterior was made of wood colored blue, and the roof was a nice crimson red color. But the path up to the house's door had entranced Sweetspot. “What'sss thisss!?” she asked, as she stepped on the stone that was multicolored all shades of red. ~~~~~Jayce chuckled. “It's brick. It's made by heating up clay until it hardens.” Still smiling, Jayce walked up to his door, opened it and stepped in. His smile faded immediately. ~~~~~Sweetspot immediately ran up to the doorway and froze, seeing another man sitting in the house. The man rose to his feet and she saw how big he was. Not to mention she saw the muscles on his arms bulging; this man had clearly seen plenty of battle. It didn't take a human to recognize this human as the chieftain of the village. And Sweetspot, an outsider, was just found out being sneaked into his village. She was certain he was going to eat her. And that's part 4! The amount I had written didn't need much refining, and it was already nearing the end of the part so there wasn't as much work as I thought I needed to do. I'm a bit rusty since it's been so long but I think it was decent enough for me to post. So how was it justsuper65?
I like it! I hope you will be continuing this story, I'm really curious about how this will turn out.
Thanks man! The problem is that I don't have an ending yet. And if there's anything I remember from high school, it's my english teacher saying to never start a story unless you know the ending. I have a rough idea about what I want to happen, just not sure if that should be the ending or not. Anyways, I'll work on it some more! I'll probably have something to post by Tuesday or so. By the way, how was the indentation on the last part? Not too distracting or anything?
Not to sure how I should feel about it. It's your story and you can do with it as you please, but in my opinion the text seemed to flow more naturally without the indentations.
While yes, it is my story, I should try to make it easier and nicer for people to read. Next post will not contain indentations.
Been gone for like a month, then I come back to this. BEST WELCOME EVER MAN!!!!!!!! you know there's this YouTube person called zoey proasheck and she loves both floran and good stories. if you got this to her I'm sure you'd get some more attention.
Haha, now I'm getting all embarrassed. I think I've heard of her before, but I don't recall who she is. And I'm not all too interested in attention. But I dunno, maybe I'll give a link to her to see if she likes it anyway. Part 5 will either be on Tuesday or Wednesday, probably Wednesday. EDIT: No wonder her name seems familiar; she's a YOGSCAST member. Man, it's been forever since I watched any Yogscast videos.
She was in the black-chronicle till it up n' died. she doesn't have many subs but they're loyal. win her over and you get them too.
At this point being exact on the lore isn't that much important, although you have the mannerisms and dialogue right, which makes it familiar to us. Good job! I can't wait for more.