Uneasy First Day

Ralkos was sitting at the dining room table in boredom, Siti was still hiding in her room while Ralkos lazily scratched at her leg. Getting fed up she walked over to the room and knocked on the door saying. "I'm heading out to introduce myself to the neighbors."

There was silence in return, shrugging her shoulders Ralkos headed out. The hallway was very bare with the same white metal as the floor. The neighbor to the left of their housing was being rather loud. It seemed like they were already arguing inside. 'Seems like the whole hallway is.' Ralkos mused mentally before moving to the one door that didn't have any arguing behind it. She knocked lightly on the door tapping the back of her foot. 'Should I have brought a gift?' she asked herself, she began to worry if she should head back into her room to grab something. The door opened before she could make the decision as an Elken stood there staring at her. Elken, a race that bore a slight resemblance to humans. They had pointier ears and their nose and mouth were separate. Males had large powerful antlers while females had thinner antlers. The lower part of their body had a pair of digitigrade legs covered in short fun ending in a pair of cloven hooves. Using this knowledge Ralkos determined that this was a female of the species by her horns.

"Hi there," the Elken spoke, her voice eerily calm and cheerful as a smile grew on her face. "A visitor, how nice."

"Hello, I'm Ralkos," the introduction carried a hint of nervousness in Ralkos' voice, she wasn't sure why the smile made her nervous. "I was just stopping by to say hi, sorry I didn't bring a gift."

"Oh do not worry, we have everything we need," the Elken answered unblinkingly, which caused Ralkos to take a step back. "I am Larial of the Whitewoods."

"Nice to meet…!" Ralkos jumped as a hand grabbed her shoulder causing her head to spin around seeing who had just grabbed her shoulder. It was a rather strange alien, one that Ralkos had never seen on Venerosis. 'Considering how big the planet is, that doesn't surprise me.' she thought observing the newcomer: Standing about the height of an adult human male, this species had large eyes, a flat nose, pale skin, no ears, and its hair seemed to turn into cloud whisps that drifted away. It also had no distinct gender. This creature stared at her for a moment before asking in a toneless and emotionless voice. "What are you doing?"

"Meeting my neighbors," Ralkos said, staring at this being. "What are you doing?"

"Oh!" the whole voice shifted into something very cheerful. "Well nice to meet you neighbor!"

The hand let go of Ralkos' shoulder allowing her to turn her entire body to face this new person. "Well nice to meet you."

The being reached forward and grabbed Ralkos' hand, shaking it with a lot of force. Ralkos noticed that it was levitating off of the ground as it continued to talk. "My name is Kavis, my family moved here about a month ago!"

"That explains a lot," Ralkos replied, chuckling nervously as Kavis floated around her. "I should probably head back now."

"Oh nonsense, I doubt you'll get much done with all that arguing," Kavis told her, floating up behind her and clasping both of her shoulders. "It seems like everyone is paired up with someone that they don't like."

Ralkos turned her head to glance at Kavis and Larial, both having a very similar grin on their faces. "Well, there isn't much to do in the housing at the moment. So I'm guessing that they have to talk to each other."

Ralkos gripped the hairbrush in her hand as Kavis began to laugh before reaching up and stroking the feathers on her head. "I know! It's chaos out here!"

The hands grabbed Ralkos' face as Kavis forced her to stare into its eyes. "Glorious chaos!"

"Yeah… chaos, yay," Ralkos didn't know if she should walk forward to escape or move backwards. That was when a hand grabbed her wrist and Siti's voice said. "There you are Halfy!"

"You're still calling me that?" questioned Ralkos with a sigh as she glanced down at Siti who was staring at Kavis. The strange alien let her face go and pushed off of her to go backwards. Something leaped from Kavis into the feathers of Ralkos before it got too far away. Ralkos was pulled away and back into the room as Siri turned to address her housemate. "You need to be careful. That was a Chaldresian."

"So that's what they look like," Ralkos mused before looking at Siti. "Thanks for getting me out of there. Chaldresi are really intense when they are on chaos overload."

Siti looked startled at the words of gratitude and blinked a few times before wanting clarification. "What?"

"Thank you?" Ralkos stared at her before looking around. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No… I just never thought I'd hear those words from you," Siti huffed before looking away. "You hate me."

"When did I say that?" It was Ralkos' turn to ask the questions. "I'm irritated at you, sure, you've been picking on me since we were kids. I've never hated you though."

"You kept stealing all of my stuff when we were kids though," Siti pointed out and Ralkos frowned, she honestly couldn't remember doing that. However she did know that young Akakoa had little to no control over their instinct to horde shiny objects. It could have been her. Before she could explain, however, a hologram appeared announcing that the first test would be an interview. Siti bit her lower lip as she glanced towards her room as if wanting to escape. Ralkos was about to let her leave when she felt her skin crawl. This confused her as there should be no way her skin would do this. She was disgusted by the want to escape, so she reached back to touch the area gently. Siti eyed her for a moment before walking over with a sigh. "Let me check."

"Thanks," Ralkos replied as she crouched down so Siti could reach the area. She felt the fingers slide across the feathers moving them away before pausing. "You're burned."

"What?" Ralkos moved to turn her head but she was stopped by Siti resting her other hand on the back of her head. "Don't move, it seems like a slimy substance got onto you and it is slowly dissolving your flesh."

"That's not making me feel any better!" Ralkos' breath began to pick up as she felt her chest tightened.

"Hold on, I'm seeing something," Siti continued in a very serious voice, her fingers moving over to the spot that was itching the most. "It looks like a blob of something. Give me a sec."

Siti moved away and Ralkos turned her head to try and peek, seeing something crawl under her feathers. Glancing towards Siti, Ralkos spotted her grabbing some salad tongs from the drawer and a container. Upon seeing her returning Ralkos quickly turned her head back around. She could feel Siti staring at the back of her head before grabbing onto what she had felt before. There was a sting of pain before the moving thing was finally off of her back.

"Here," Siti said as Ralkos turned around as she handed her the container where a strange creature resided. It was about the size of a baseball and seemed to be made of a gelatinous fluid. 'Or gelatin.' Ralkos thought, she wanted to poke the creature before turning her head around as Siti reported the injury. "How were you able to touch it?"

"I didn't hold it," answered Siti as she turned her head for a moment. She sighed before taking the container from Ralkos and placed a lid on it. "We can talk about it later, first I'm taking you down to the medbay to get it treated."

"You're taking it with us?" Ralkos asked as she was guided out of the door, her head still down at Siti. Siti sighed before deciding honesty is the best policy. "There is a science lab here, I want to examine it. Find out what it is and where it came from."

"You should talk with Kavis and Larial," suggested Ralkos as she headed towards the elevator. "I don't think I managed to pick this little guy up from just my walk here."

Siti nodded her head as she summoned the elevator. Ralkos felt a little irritated, it wasn't like she was incapable of doing that herself. She opened her mouth to say something when she felt like someone was watching her. Her eyes glanced around quickly but didn't say anything. 'It could just be my imagination. Or it could be the owner of that weird thing.' Ralkos thought as the doors to the lift opened up and she was gently nudged inside. There were a few people, including Kas, already inside. Ralkos grinned at her friend who glanced up at her before nodding his head with a slight smile on his face. Siti glanced towards him as well as he looked down at the container, the creature inside moving away from him. This caused Siti to frown, something was up between the two. Then Kavis walked in as well with Larial right behind her. They moved in between cutting off Siti's sight to Kas causing her to look forward.

Ralkos glanced down noticing the look on Siti's face and was about to ask her about it. Then she remembered that it wasn't a good idea to do so in public. Siti had one of those looks on her face that was rarely seen in all the years that Ralkos had seen her. The first time must have been when she first came to Verotis City. 'She had that distrustful look back then too.' Ralkos thought back before the doors opened and the crowd of examinees climbed out. Siti grabbed onto Ralkos' arm gently as she led the way glancing back at Kas once in a while.

Later that night Ralkos found herself laying on her temporary bed. She was missing home a lot more than she thought. Siti, though still rather obnoxious in calling her "Halfy" hadn't been terrible as a roommate. Instead she let Ralkos have her space. Currently she was still studying the strange creature in the labs on the lower floors. Kas had visited her while she was being examined relaxing when it was revealed that the damage wasn't bad. Ralkos was glad that he visited, Kavis and Larial had been stalking her. Though Larial did follow Siti instead. 'I think they have something to do with that creature.' Ralkos thought as she shifted to the side. Her skin, though healed, still felt irritated and she was doing whatever she could to not touch it. Taking a deep breath she closed her eyes. Then she felt like someone was staring at her so she opened them jumping when she saw what seemed like five red lights, three small and two large, above her. Rubbing her eyes, she stared up again seeing them gone. Rolling onto her side, Ralkos tried to get some sleep but any traces of tiredness were just gone.

When the next morning came, Ralkos and Siti were all woken up at 0400 to get ready for the exam. Ralkos, having gotten no sleep through the night, was exhausted. She hid her yawn as Siti walked into the dining area going straight to make herself something to drink. Ralkos was just poking her way through the food that was there, finding nothing of interest.

"Nervous?" Siti asked, almost sensing that something was up, Ralkos glanced at her for a moment. Rubbing the back of her head, Ralkos replied. "More tired than nervous, I didn't get any sleep."

"I heard that this is one of the most difficult interviews," Siti told her and Ralkos shrugged her shoulders. "From what I hear."

"It changes every year, hence why it is difficult," Ralkos told her as she straightened her uniform. "Nothing looks good."

"Have you ever tried frosted cereal before?" Siti asked as she spoke her order to the replication unit. "Wish they had a box here."

"Looking for a toy?" Ralkos joked and Siti frowned at her. "Was it that bad?"

"Halfy… you sound arrogant all the time," Siti answered and Ralkos winced. "And I'm sorry for calling you Halfy all the time… as a kid I just thought that was your nickname and… never learned your real name."

"Oh!" Ralkos felt like an idiot herself, she had been offended all the time. She and Siti never shared a class together and Kas would always just go quiet around Siti. Never once did she ever call Siti out on calling her Halfy until now. "Ralkos… my name is Ralkos."

"Ralkos," Siti said as if trying it out for the first time. "Better late than never, I still don't like you, but it's good to know your name."

"Thanks?" Ralkos wasn't sure how she should respond beyond that. She looked at the frosted cereal. She scooched over to the replication unit before saying. "I'll have the previous order as well."

She almost drooled at the sight before picking it up and heading over to the table. Taking a seat she began to peck at the food. Siti watched her for a moment before shrugging her own shoulders. The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence until they were summoned. The energy in the elevator was a nervous one. Except for Kavis, who seemed to have none of the serious attitude from the previous night, and Larial. There was a saying among the Akakoa: "Elken are either eternally serene or drugged." 'If that is the case, Larial must be asleep.' Ralkos joked in her head. The doors slid open with a quiet hiss as Ralkos shifted uncomfortably. She could feel the talons on her feet slowly come in as the group began to move out and towards the first building. Through the glass hallway revealing the wide open sky where Ralkos longed to be. An attendant waited at the door on the other end silently. Once they all stopped they addressed the group. "You will be called in one at a time. When the interview is finished you will leave through a separate door."

The group nodded their heads not sure if they were allowed to talk or not. Kavis was already whispering to Larial about something and the attendant didn't seem to mind. After all there was no way anyone could actually cheat at the exam. One by one a person from the large group disappeared into the room allowing for a little more space in the hallway. People were relaxing a little more each time since there was more space despite how wide it was. Ralkos' wings subconsciously stretched out a little more as well as her tired brain wasn't doing so well. She couldn't stop thinking about what she saw last night. 'Maybe it was Kavis, Cheldrasi are shapeshifters after all.' she thought to herself seeing Kavis glance in her direction.

"Hrevia, Ralkos," the attendant said, causing Ralkos to snap out of her thoughts.. "You may enter."

Squaring her shoulders, Ralkos entered the room. It was dark for the most part, the only light shining upon a chair and from the holographic form of Wisdom. Wisdom had the form of a cube always rotating parts of itself. "You may sit."

Nodding her head, Ralkos took a seat trying not to fidget waiting for the first question.

"How was your day yesterday?"

"Despite a little trouble with an acidic creature and an argument everything went pretty well," Ralkos replied truthfully. She paused for a moment, debating whether or not she should mention the lights. "Actually I think that the lights were malfunctioning last night. I saw five red lights, two large and three small, before they went out."

"Thank you for informing us of this, we shall look into it later," Wisdom told her, there was a pregnant silence before a minute. "The report has been filed, you are excused."

Ralkos got up before bowing as she said. "Thank you." Internally she was thinking. 'That's it?! This is what the first exam was leading up to?' Reigning back any complaints Ralkos exited through the door that opened up and nearly ran into Kavis. Ralkos took a step back as Kavis grinned at her saying. "Well we've got the rest of the day off."

"Yeah…." Ralkos replied wanting to scoot around the Cheldrasi but failed as the shapeshifter merely was floating in her way. "I should head back to my room."

"Come on, it's a lovely day out and Siti is going to take a while," Kavis said, placing their hands on Ralkos' shoulder before leaning in to whisper. "There is something I want to talk about."

To say that Ralkos wasn't curious was a lie. So, despite her better judgement, Ralkos followed after Kavis and Larial. They took her to the open courtyard as Kavis darted about before flying up in the air. Ralkos taking off after her as Larial just stared up at them before starting to grab at blades of grass.

"What did you want to talk about?" questioned Ralkos and Kavis turned to face her, the normally mischievous smirk on its face now gone. Moving in closely Kavis spoke in a hushed voice. "It's about that Slime that was attached to you. What happened to it?"

"Siti is still studying it," Ralkos answered, unable to fly back, not liking how close Kavis was. "Why? Wait… what's a Slime?"

"A creature from our homeworld that normally doesn't produce an acidic residue," Kavis answered, flying upside down still watching Ralkos. "Only two conditions can cause it. One: It was threatened, unlikely considering that it had even burned several of the examinees yesterday. Hence all of the arguing on a few floors."

"What's the second condition?" Ralkos wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer but her curiosity got the better of her. Kavis looked at Larial before the gaze returned to Ralkos. "The presence of a Draemon can create a Slime that produces an acidic residue."