Paramonia
A/N: I'm just setting this up. I'm really interested in Paramite society so I thought I'd write this. It's a little vague for a first chapter, but once I get to the second one everything should be much clearer. This one won't be nearly as long as my others - I'm estimating around five-ish chapters. Anyway, please tell me what you think of this! I'd love to hear from you.
Warning: It's a typical human-gets-brought-to-Oddworld fic. But I've done this for fun, don't question the logic. It's just something I came up with randomly.
If you do like it and think I should continue, please tell me. ^_^ So I'll know whether or not to, well, work on it more.
Marie stared thoughtlessly at the television screen. It was after midnight, and she'd already passed the point of being tired. Instead, she felt rather zombiefied. However, Marie was determined not to go to sleep. Instead, she sat on the foot of her bed, one hand buried in a bag of popcorn and the other clutching a cold, sweaty can of cola. It was a cold, Saturday night in October.
Come one, Marie, just hang on a bit longer. Kaylie's going to call and after she calls you can sleep.
She thought vaguely of a game commercial that had come on. It was yet another band game ripoff and she yawned sleepily at it. When the phone finally rang, Marie snatched it up in her hands.
"Hello? Kay?"
"Marie!" Kaylie's voice on the other end was like sweet music - but only because she was going to get some sleep. "I'm so sorry I had to call you so late. You know I'm not allowed to use the phone while they're awake. I just now stole my cell back."
Marie rolled her eyes. Kaylie was always going on about having abusive parents, but she'd never shown up at school with any.
"Alright," Marie replied. "So why'd you wanna call me so late?"
"Something's up with my game! I know it's stupid but this game means a lot to me and I really don't want to lose it."
"What's it doing?"
"Something's up. It's not letting me save. I'm at one of the temples and ...I'm so scared. I've had this game most of my life!"
Marie was by no means a gamer, but she had a knack for fixing things. It came in handy often. When someone's computer ceased to function, she was called in and she could figure out what was wrong and fix it. In spite of this, Marie was never very good at fixing her own problems.
"Well, what game is it?" Marie asked her.
Kay's voice hesitated. "It's my Oddworld game - that one with the green dude?"
"Oh... man, Kay, that game's like... ten years old?"
"Yeah," said Kaylie. "Will you help me?"
Marie sighed. "Alright. You want me to fix it tonight or tomorrow?"
"Can you do it tonight? If not I'd understand..."
Marie wanted only to sleep, but it was hard to say no to her best friend.
"Yeah, I'll do it tonight. Wanna meet me anywhere?"
"How's the front gate?" said Kaylie. "You can drive up right?"
"I'll be there." Marie said goodbye to her friend, grabbed her shoes and keys, and headed out the front door.
Fortunately for the both of them, Marie's parents were out somewhere for their anniversary and Marie had the house to herself. Being seventeen, she was still a new driver. Even more fortunate was Marie's home. It was a street over once she got out of her own subdivision, and it only took about ten minutes to get there. When she arrived at the front gates of the subdivision, she saw Kaylie standing there in her pajamas, shivering.
Marie got out of the car. "You sure you don't want to stay the night?" she asked as Kaylie handed her the game.
"N-no," said Kaylie. "I gotta get back before my mom says something. You'll bring me the game Monday right?"
"Yeah! Did you get it to save?"
Kaylie shook her head. "Yeah, but I can get back to my spot within an hour."
Kaylie was a girl every other girl seemed to idolize. She was stick-skinny, tall, and very pretty. But Kaylie was a gamer and spent a lot of her time at home in her room. Marie was slightly chubby, much shorter, and spent most of her time working at the computer. But the two of them were very close, and it was worth pulling her third all-nighter in a row to fix an old game.
When Marie got home, she fixed a pot of coffee and stuck the game in her old PS system.
"Oddworld, huh?" she muttered. "Hmm."
Marie had played the game but it had been as a demo in a store years and years ago, and she'd been in kindergarten at the time. She hadn't gotten much farther than the first level then. Marie decided to play the game for a bit and see what she remembered.
Oddworld opened up to Marie all of a sudden. She figured out the controls and went to work saving the prisoners. Slowly everything melted together. She made Abe leave Rupture Farms, pass through the stockyards, into the Monsaic Lines and down into the Paramonian Temple. Stars exploded in her eyes and as she focused on the screen the furniture in her room turned into blobs.
Perhaps it was her lack of sleep. Or maybe she was losing her mind. For a moment, she thought she spotted a tree sprouting up from the corner of her room. Marie jumped, staring at her bookshelf, blinking heavily.
"Oh man," she said to herself. "I gotta..."
She went to save the game, but then remembered it wouldn't save, and just left it on where it was. Marie got to her feet, and stumbled into bed.
But there was no bed. Marie hit the floor and grunted, shivering. Her entire world went black, but she was still very conscious. Not ready to panic, Marie reached out her arms and started groping for her bed. When she felt nothing but crisp, empty air, she sat up and sniffed.
"How'd I end up outside?" she murmured, shivering. She sat there for a moment, trying to discern where the house was. She couldn't see a thing. "Must've.. maybe I fell out the window.."
Marie turned around, groping for the side of her house, and rose to her feet. Her balance was off - too far off to keep her there, and she twisted and dropped. But this time, instead of hitting the ground, she fell into nothingness with a scream. She recalled hitting the back of her head on something before she lost all sense of self.
--
Marie found that, when she came to her senses, she was no longer cold. She wasn't warm either. She felt decidedly different somehow. She tried to open her eyes, but for some odd reason she was unable to. The muscles and nerves in her eye seemed to no longer exist. She whimpered, but her vocal cords rasped and hardly a sound came out. She lifted her arms, and while they felt structurally different, were largely the same. She attempted the same with her legs, but her legs wouldn't move how she wanted them to.
She pushed herself to her feet, but her body refused to leave its position of all fours. She felt top-heavy and awkward. The differences in her body were making her nervous, and she couldn't see anything. However, Marie was overcome with a strange sensation. Someone was coming. Terrified, she attempted to flee or put her back to something, but there wasn't anything around. Her instincts took over and she growled.
The response was a quiet chirp. Her brain translated it without thought.
Howdy.
It was not an unfriendly feeling. She attempted to reply in kind.
Howdy.
The other creature came closer. She heard it grow nearer until it stopped very close to her and she could feel its warmth and hear it breathe. It was like her somehow. It made her feel safe.
Hungry? The other creature asked. Immediately Marie felt her stomach churn, hunger followed by a sick fear of death.
Hungry.
There were no words for her to explain her situation. She couldn't tell the other Paramite how she used to be someone else. The other creature drew closer to her. The hand-like something on the front of her head stretched and the other creature touched them with his own. She could smell the other creature, and learned so many things she couldn't explain. The other Paramite had no gender. Or if it did, it had no sex organs. It was a young adult of its species. Also, it had been hunting recently, but there was no smell of prey or death. It must have failed.
Hungry? The other creature asked her again with an insistent squeak. He had a peculiar, individual smell, one that reminded her of open freedom and the sky. So she called him Zip. She didn't know if it was a name from another world, or not.
Hungry! Come on! Marie replied quickly. The other creature turned around and moved ahead of her and she was close behind.
Movement was awkward, but generally straightforward. She had large forelegs and tiny hind legs, she realized, with some strange mechanism attached to her rear, plus this hand thing on her face. It was expressive and very powerful and flexible. The other creature would stop now and then and wait for her. He had a feeling to him, like a crackling sensation that reminded her of electricity. She had a similar feeling.
Her brain could not recognize what she was. She reminded herself of a spider, but different somehow. Different in a way she didn't want to fathom just yet. Her stomach was empty and her brain was telling her that hunger could mean death if she didn't satisfy it yet. She wondered what it was they would be eating. Zip stopped moving, and Marie fell along beside him, instinctively focusing.
Ahead, something was eating. In the midst of all the electrical impulses flooding through her, she picked out the shape of the creature. It was taller than she was, with four, slender, apparently unstable legs. It smelled very young. It screeched, but the sound was small and terrified. All at once Marie's stomach began to clamor for food. Beside her, she could feel the hunger radiating from Zip. On the fringes of her sensations, she felt others of her kind. They were not many, but she counted at least two.
Their prey screeched and fled, its claws clicking. All at once they gave chase, with Marie forcing her body to adjust to running. She nearly tripped many times, but managed to keep up with Zip.
The ground opened up for her then. She became aware of rocks on the ground, hills, dips, drops of water that fell from a ceiling she couldn't feel. Their prey was losing ground. She could smell the stink of a festering wound and while it didn't smell pleasant, it made her salivate and urged her to move faster. All around her, the others of her kind emerged, surrounding the prey and hissing. Drawn up into the moment, she hissed loudly, not sure where her excitement was coming from. One of her kind - she thought it was Zip - pounced - and she heard a series of snaps as its hand-like protrusion slapped the prey on the back of its neck. Soon all of them were atop it.
There was a struggle. She managed to avoid one of its powerful, razor-sharp toes and sank her teeth into its leg. The prey continued to scream. Zip sank his teeth in the base of its neck, while another did the just under its jaw. The prey's screaming became something completely unrecognizable, like an unearthly roar as its jugular was ripped. The smell of blood was powerful and suddenly she was breaking into the shell while it was still alive. The others were doing the same and soon their prey ceased struggling, twitching in its last few moments.
They consumed it - there was enough for everyone - although just. The prey might've made three of her kind in weight, and was apparently a baby. The flesh was tender, but it was difficult to break through the outer shell to get to it. The stronger of her kind managed to get to the softer spots, while she and Zip were forced to use the fingers on their face to snap the carapace before they could eat. Something told her this kind of meal did not come often, so she ate as quickly as possible.
The others perked up, stopped eating and listen. There was another screech. It was still some distance away, but she became aware of another fear. This one was more direct, and that screech - and the others that followed - were the source. They had the same feel as their prey had while it was still alive - but they were larger, scarier, and angrier.
Marie and the others backed away. The angry calls came closer, and the group of Marie's kind hopped away quickly before they were caught. Zip, who had stayed with her, suddenly leaped onto something and she followed, catching the rope-like object as she climbed up with him. She joined him on a ledge hidden deep in the shadows, body pressed against his and heart pounding. Nearby, the others had done the same, each of them hiding from their attackers.
It was then that Marie became vaguely aware of something from another world. A game of sorts. A game with these creatures. Marie trembled, suddenly realizing what she was. Marie was a Paramite. And now, she realized, this was real. Maybe it was a dream, maybe it wasn't. She was too terrified to find out. There was safety around these other Paramites, that she had once run from and killed. A vague memory of an old friend filled her mind. Said friend would be very jealous - if she survived long enough to tell her.
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