A low, distant rumble broke the night’s silence throughout the woods. While she had been fast asleep, she had taught herself to be a light sleeper, so even that slightest of sounds would wake her.
As the noise reached her long, slender ears, Alessa jolted awake with her revolver in a firm grip.
She sat up on her bedroll and sat completely still, her ears trembling slightly as they pointed straight up. She didn’t even breathe as her every muscle was tense strung like a harp, ready to pounce and fight for her life if necessary.
For the longest of time, all she could hear was her own heart drumming in her chest, and the wind whistling through the trees while the few last embers of her fire crackled as if in a final gasp before death.
But just as she dared to relax and lower her gun, she heard it again; a long, deep braying somewhere off in the distance. The sound reverberating between the trees, giving it a slight echo as it pierced the night. She tensed up again.
She wasn’t sure what she hearing.
It almost sounded like an engine the first time she heard it, but as it sounded through the woods again she realized it could be the call of some beast. She would definitely prefer the latter, as an engine would mean people. And people would mean that she would have to leave, again.
Nobody ever plans to get stranded on an outworld planet, but that is exactly what Alessa had done. Not intentionally ofcourse. Staying on a planet for too long made her feel trapped, and paranoid.
But the starship captain she had managed to haggle herself a ride with, had ditched her on this barely colonized rock when he found out that she was being hunted down by none other than Aurora Industries.
She supposes she was lucky, however, as the captain apparently had some bad blood between him and the company, and didn’t want to cross paths with an agent from there ever again.
Rather that he kicked her off, than trying to capture her for the bounty she undoubtedly had on her head.
However, the good thing with outworld planets was that there were usually plenty of uninhabited space to hide and camp down in. Which is what she had done, while waiting for the next trading route to pass by.
Things had been calm and uneventful ever since she made herself at home in a little crevice in a cliffside, where a tree was sprouting and had created a little secluded cave with its hard roots splitting the cliffs apart as it grew.
This was the first time in however long her sleep had been interrupted.
She couldn’t allow herself to relax, she simply didn’t know enough about the fauna of this planet to take any chances.
Especially not when she realized that the source of the sound was coming closer.
The calling sounded like a mixture between the braying of a moose, and the roaring of a bear. And whatever it was, it sounded big.
Very, very big.
But at the same time, she couldn’t help but to feel a sense of curiosity. She rarely turned down an opportunity to learn about something new, probably something she could thank that stupid chip in her brain for…
Alessa was careful to not make any sounds as she crawled towards the entrance of her little cove and peeked out. The forest was still, only the occasional winds making the leaves rustle gave any hints of movements.
But then she heard the call again, as if it was calling for her. It was closer now, but she still couldn’t see anything.
She hesitated for a minute.
“It better not be anything out to eat me...” She muttered to herself as she eventually reached for her duster and climbed out.
The night was clear and full of stars, and the planet’s single, unusually blue toned moon shone brightly on the lands below. Bathing the alien forest in shadows and cold, blue light.
The little white rabbit knew that her fur was probably making her stand out in the darkness, so she tried to cover as much of herself with the duster as possible as she snuck out of her safe cave, and into the wilderness.
She kept her eyes open and ears swiveling as she listened for literally anything that would catch her attention.
And suddenly, just as she caught a white shimmer through the trees in front of her, she heard the braying again. This time up close.
The creature’s deep voice rumbled through the area similar to how a heavy engine always made her shudder. It was definitely big, and there was something in its voice that felt… noble. Like the voice of a king as he speaks to his citizens.
There was definitely something just up ahead.
Alessa took a deep breath before sneaking closer. Every step she took was deliberate as she soundlessly crept closer, and found a hiding hole in the hollow between another one of the alien trees’ roots. Like a mangrove tree’s roots, they sometimes made little tunnels just barely above the ground, and some where just large enough for her to crawl through.
When she poked her head out she noticed that she had reached a clearing, one she recognized as a clearing she’d pass through on her way to the river.
There were usually tiny cat-like rodents scurrying between the roots and dark brown birds flapping around in the spacious branchworks, but now everything were silent and still.
Except…
Alessa let out a low gasp as she had to do a double take.
Coming out into the clearing with long, elegant strides was a creature she had never seen before.
It vaguely resembled a horse, but it was covered long, shining white and light blue fur. It’s long, convex head was held high, and on its forehead sat a large, dramatically curved horn. Shining in the moonlight as if it was forged out of silver.
It’s surprisingly small and delicate-looking hooves were overflowing with long, blue fur, and despite its size it moved gracefully and swiftly like a fish in water. Its steps did make a slight tremble in the ground as it walked, but at the same time it appeared to barely leave a track behind.
It was quite beautiful, and Alessa couldn’t help but to tug her mouth up into a disbelieving smile. This was definitely worth getting out of her cave for.
She had no idea what this creature could be, but something about it brought her back to the colony, as she remembered good ol’ Bean telling a story to her and the kids about a mythical creature called “unicorns”.
He described them as horses with cloven hooves, donkey tails, and their most striking feature: a horn in the middle of their foreheads.
This beast wasn’t like Bean’s description to a T precisely, but it was similar enough.
Alessa tilted her head. What if this was one? After all, all stories had a kernel of truth to them, as Kel once had told her…
Suddenly, the unicorn-like creature raised its head and appeared to sniff the air for a moment, before opening its mouth once more to let out another one of its long, deep, rumbling brays.
Alessa’s ears flattened to her neck to muffle the loud sound, but she couldn’t look away from it.
At least not until a second braying could be heard, coming from the other side of the clearing.
Her long ears perked again, and she watched as a second unicorn emerged from the treeline, and the two creatures greeted each other with growling chuffs. Despite the threatening sound, there was nothing hostile about them.
The second unicorn walked up to the first, and their heads lowered as they touched their muzzles together. Their large horns softly clinked like metal as they tapped against each other in their greeting.
“Damn...” Alessa whispered under her breath in amazement. “What are these things?”
The two creatures cooed and rumbled at each other for a little, still with their heads close to each other, but then they both turned their heads away from each other. Their movement was slow and graceful, and it took Alessa a few seconds to realize that they had both turned to her. Their dark eyes seemed to look straight at her, despite still lying huddled up in her hiding spot. At least, in what she thought was a good hiding spot.
When she met their eyes, she froze up. Her heart began to beat a little harder as she and the creatures stared at each other.
Neither of them moved, but while Alessa was tense and ready to spring up in case these were the planet’s apex predators, the unicorns seemed just as calm as ever. As if they were waiting for her.
Seconds ticked away and felt like hours, but eventually she tried to wave her hand to see how they would respond. Neither of the creatures as much as budged at the gesture, and Alessa slowly crawled out from the tree’s roots.
The unicorns watched her as she stood up and brushed herself off quickly, before giving the unicorns a sheepish smile.
“I’m sorry” She mumbled lowly, feeling both inclined to apologize to the two giant beasts and silly for doing so.
As she stood and looked up at them, she realized just how big they were.
At the base of their necks they were probably three times as tall as her, sans her ears. They towered over her like trees, and she felt truly tiny compared to them.
The first unicorn took a step back after a while, but the other one remained still, and even reached its head down further towards her.
Alessa hesitated before taking a few steps towards it with her hand carefully reaching out. Neither of the creatures moved as she walked towards them, and she felt how her heart was drumming against her ribs again.
Eventually she found herself close enough to touch the creatures muzzle, and to her surprise, the unicorn pressed its muzzle into her palm on its own. She heard a deep, curious rumbling from deep down its throat as it seemed to sniff her palm, studying her.
She couldn’t help but to giggle softly as its soft muzzle and hot breath tickled against her hand, and she lifted her other to touch the side of its face.
The fur had looked smooth from afar, but as she stroked the side of its jaw and bridge of its nose, she was amazed at how soft it truly was.
It was like running her hand through air, or a fluffy cloud, and she had to restrain herself from trying to bury her face into its softness. The fur was long enough to bury her fingers through, but fine enough that they simply glided through.
However, underneath the fur she could feel thick, almost armor-like skin. Maybe these creatures weren’t as delicate as they looked.
After a few moments, the unicorn lifted its head again, and Alessa took a few steps back. Completely unaware of the wide smile on her face.
The unicorn-like creatures rumbled to each other again and the one Alessa petted let out a rather happy-sounding snort. And with that, they both turned around again. This time they turned their backs to Alessa, and side by side they walked back towards the forest.
Alessa remained in her place and tilted her head as she watched the two giant, shining white creatures return, and eventually disappear among the trees. Still smiling to herself.
Maybe this little outworld wasn’t that bad to be stuck on after all.
---
Alessa was mostly inspired by the game "Rimworld" after all, and after getting back into the masochistic toddler-wrangling simulator again i got the idea to draw and write a little short bit about her having an encounter with the game's alien unicorn-like specie "thrumbo".
I fecking love thrumbos, even if they're a bit of a pain in the ass to keep because they WILL eat all your trees and takes f o r e v e r to raise. IF you're lucky enough to tame a pair that is. But that's ok <3
everything Rimworld belongs to Tynan Sylvester
Alessa's moine~
Keywords
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Details
Published:
2 years, 8 months ago
24 Apr 2022 16:35 CEST
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