Crystal Clear Part 2: Familiar Faces (Jasper x Reader)

Chapter 10: First Contact

You stepped back, gesturing to Jasper and Sapphire to do the same. The “priests” were not quite the most disturbing things you’d seen, but they were certainly in the top ten.
The one on the left was roughly humanoid, its right side fairly well-formed despite being composed of all different colours and bearing a slightly stretched appearance. The same could not be said of its left side, which bubbled and swelled with what resembled giant tumours, turning its leg into an awkward fleshy club, fusing its arm to its side, and bending its neck sharply to the left as the left side of its face was consumed by the mass. Its right eye was blank but otherwise fairly normal, while the fused shards comprising its gem filled the left eye socket. Its jaw was unhinged like a snake’s to make room for the hand and forearm which protruded from it. The fingers of the hand flexed slightly as the being struggled to draw breath, its eye scanning the area, its good arm hanging loose at its side.
On the right was a far more animalistic figure. It possessed a torso to which four limbs were attached, all of them left arms, on which it stood in a sprawling quadrupedal stance. It had no head, possessing a ring of teeth where its neck should have been. In the middle were three beady black eyes arranged in a triangle. Its makeshift gem was embedded in the creature’s chest. It paced like an eager predator, snarling constantly despite lacking a visible mouth.
The figure in the middle was a gaunt humanoid, at least seven feet tall. Most of its frame was concealed by a black and grey patchwork cloak which covered it, hanging all the way to the ground and possessing no visible sleeves. The being’s skin was all pale white, and stretched so tight you could see its (highly abnormal) bone structure. It had two hands which did not attach to anything, simply floating disembodied in front of it. Its head was extremely skeletal-looking. It had only smooth skin where its ears and nose ought to have been. It was unclear whether it had black eyes, or just very dark empty eye sockets. Whichever was the case, the right one appeared half-shut, while the left one was stretched vertically, reaching up to the being’s forehead. Its toothless mouth hung open in a permanent grin, exaggerated by its malformed jaw, and a split ran down its face from above the left brow to the left eye, from the left eye to the right eye, from the right eye to the right corner of the mouth, and from the right corner of the mouth to the neck and down into its the collar of its garment.
“What do you want?” you asked, your throat suddenly dry, as the three beings stepped off the colossal hand, allowing it to descend back into the depths.
“THE PARAGON DEMANDS SACRIFICE,” declared the tall skeletal “priest.”
“Right, see, thing is, I get the feeling you mean you need more gems to feed whatever you’ve got going on down there, and that’s the difficult bit, because we’re kind of here specifically to prevent that.”
“YOU WOULD DEFY MY WILL, CHILD?” asked the priest whom you had decided to nickname Bones.
“Crawl back into your hole,” Jasper warned, stepping forward.
“YOU ARE ACCEPTABLE. JOIN YOUR FOES AND YOUR COMRADES.”
The priest with the arm coming out of its mouth, whom you dubbed Tumourface, snapped to alertness, lurching forward and extending the arm from its mouth. An elbow emerged, then… another elbow..? Followed by another, and another, metre upon metre of arm shooting out of its mouth, coiling around Jasper like a snake, pinning her arms to her sides. You darted forward, meaning to sever the arm, but the animalistic priest you called Spider pounced on your back, knocking you to the ground and grabbing hold of all of your limbs. Bones opened his cloak with his hands, revealing only blackness underneath… a blackness from which sprang dozens of disembodied white hands. These flew out in all directions, restraining you and Jasper. You tried to look around to see where Sapphire was, but you couldn’t see her.
Suddenly, your eyes started to sting as though the moisture had been sucked out of the air. Tumourface froze… literally. Sapphire dropped from his back, having concentrated the water vapour in the air and frozen it into a solid shell of ice around him. His tongue-arm loosened its grip, allowing Jasper to grab it with both hands. She swung him like a giant flail, striking Bones and knocking him back into the pit. Bones’ many hands released their grips and vanished. Jasper swung Tumourface hard into the ground, his frozen body shattering and poofing. Jasper now turned her attention to Spider, grabbing two of his arms and trying to pry them off you, only to find that his grip was seemingly unbreakable. So she pulled his arms off of him instead, poofing him instantly.
You got to your feet and caught your breath.
“That's the first time I've seen a sapphire fight!” Jasper remarked.
“Impressed?” Sapphire asked.
“Reasonably,” Jasper replied with a wink.
“We'd better bubble these two before they can reform. Sapphire, you live around here, so it's probably best if you-” you started.
“It won't do any good,” she interrupted. “Try it.”
You formed a bubble around Tumourface's gem, only to have it push its way through the side of the bubble and roll, seemingly deliberately, into the pit.
“I imagine shattering them's out of the question?” Jasper asked.
“Why? They've already been shattered,” you reasoned. “If anything, it's probably a good thing if you can break apart the pieces which don't belong together.”
“We've tried that,” Sapphire pointed out, “but you can see for yourselves.”
Jasper stomped on Spider's gem, twisting her heel on it, breaking it apart. The pieces lay inert for a moment before they too began to move on their own, tumbling back into the depths.
“They'll be back,” Sapphire sighed. “And there are other pits they can come up from. Sometimes they do it at night, unannounced. They won't give up until they've shattered someone and added them to the mix.”
“How many have they gotten since this started?” Jasper asked grimly.
“About two dozen so far, but they take more and more each time.”
“Will they come back soon?”
“Probably in the next couple of days. But it's probably safe for now.”
You breathed a sigh of relief.
“Right then. I suppose we'd better get settled in. We might be here a while. Sapphire, you knew we were coming. Do you know where we're staying?”
“Oh, yes, of course! I can show you the way there. It isn't far.”
“Thank you. But first, I was informed there's some doctor I'm supposed to see about some vaccinations?”
“Ah, you must mean Dr. Stier. His office is this way,” she said, leading the way.
Some time later, you sat in a doctor's office. It looked nearly identical to what one would expect on Earth, although there were many devices around the room which were clearly of origin design. Beside the examination table was a large flip chart displaying the anatomy of various species and their biological details.
“Good day (Y/N), I am Doctor Fargonius Stier,” the doctor declared as he entered. Though you weren't sure quite what you were expecting, you were surprised nonetheless to see that he was Tarkanian. He was a little shorter than you, wearing a white coat held closed by three large buckles, with a turtleneck-type collar, and an assortment of pens and pencils in the breast pocket. He wore seafoam green pants covered in zippered pockets, and on his proportionally small feet he wore simple teal moccasins. He also wore a grey and purple utility belt, identical to those you had seen Tarkanians in full armour wearing, and a stethoscope around his neck, because it has been well established in fiction that doctors always wear stethoscopes, even when they're off duty or, in this case, have access to technology which renders the device obsolete. His arms were muscular (though far less so than Jasper's), ending in hands with only two thick fingers and a thumb on each. He had no discernible neck, and his big purple head was shaped like a tall dome. He had two round, black eyes, nor unlike those of a fish, on the sides of his head, angled only slightly towards the front, and two bushy grey eyebrows above them. He had two ears which stuck out quite a bit, and came to small points at the tips. His distinctive trapdoor jaw ran from just above his collar up to his forehead (if he could be described as having one), with small sharp teeth jutting out around its edges. It was pretty clear that Tarkanians were better evolved for swimming forward, rather than standing upright.
“Hello!” you replied. “I hope you don't mind me asking, but how is it we can understand each other? You don't look like you're wearing any kind of translation device.”
“My good fellow,” he replied in a distinctive British accent, “the reason we can understand one another is that I am speaking English. It may surprise you to learn that the influence and reputation of the human known as Churchill have been quite far-reaching indeed, particularly among my people. Between you and me, a bit of a racist, though.”
“Does your family know you're doing this?” Jasper asked him.
“As far as my family is concerned, I do not have a family,” he sighed sadly. “Mine is a proud race of warriors. My father worked most of his youth giving out hand grenades to the crowds at sporting events until he had enough experience to serve in the Tarkanian Legion. It was assumed that I would do the same. My father spoke often of his dreams of me growing up to join the army, but I didn't have it in me. I could never be the son he wanted, the true Tarkanian he wanted, and instead I disappointed them all by becoming a doctor. When it became clear that I wasn't intending to change my mind and completed my medical training, they severed all contact. I haven't heard from them in years.”
“Don't pay them any mind,” you said. “Where I come from, physicians are possibly the most respected and lucrative profession, and I don't think many parents dream of their children becoming soldiers. You chose a life of helping people and saving lives. That's nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Good… sir? Ma’am? Never can tell… You tell me nothing I do not already know. I am unashamed of my profession. This is my dream, and this is my mission. If they cannot accept me for that, the fault is theirs. Now, regarding those vaccinations.” He consulted the forms on his clipboard. “Ah, due for the full battery, I see!” He went over and studied the diagram on the flip chart. “Please roll up your sleeve.” You did so while he rummaged in a drawer, then turned around holding what was essentially an electric drill. “I apologise in advance, this is rather painful. I'll need to drill an entry hole through your hide and into the bone in order to inject the vaccine there.” You started to sweat anxiously as he started it up and approached you. “Unfortunate that there's no easier way. It's so nice and clean for species with circulatory systems.”
“Wait!” you exclaimed, holding up a hand to halt him. “I do! I do have a circulatory system.”
“What?!”
“Doctor Stier, you're looking at the wrong chart!” Sapphire realised.
“Oh? Oh! Quite right! Good catch there… I didn't think you looked silicon-based, anyway.” He flipped through several diagrams until he found one which looked more appropriate. “Oh, and an endotherm as well! Oh, then this shall be relatively painless.” He went over to a machine on his desk, pressed several buttons, removed a tube full of yellow liquid from it, attached it to a device which superficially resembled an electric razor, and held it a few centimetres away from your arm. It projected a green laser grid onto your skin and emitted a small humming noise. The liquid in the tube vanished, and you felt a momentary chill in your veins.
“Is that it?” you asked, amazed.
“Indeed. Quite a bit more advanced than what you're accustomed to, I take it?”
“Well, yeah. There weren't even any needles involved.”
“Needles? For Araniel’s sake, I'm a doctor, not a barbarian!”
“Heh,” Jasper chuckled, “he said the thing.”
“Now then, if you'll just hold still, I'll perform a basic checkup.” He took his medical scanner out of one of his pants pockets and moved it slowly around you. “Both hemispheres of the brain appear normal… ocular receptors… slightly sub-par but within reason, oooh, magnificent dentition… only one heart? What do you do if it stops? Stomach could use a bit of food in it, I see, bowel health appears good… now then, only one bit left. Your friends may wish to avert their eyes.” He pulled on a pair of surgical gloves and rolled up his sleeves. “I'm afraid there's no more practical way of doing this. I'll need you to lower your trousers and lean forward.”
“Ah jeez…” you muttered as you unfastened your belt.
“I know, I know, but routine inspection of the venom glands is an important part of -”
“Wrong chart again!” yelled Sapphire, mercifully before you had exposed yourself.
“Hmm? Oh. Sorry. I take it you are, in fact, not a gumato?”
“I don't even know what that is, so I'm going to say no,” you replied.
“I suppose I should have guessed from the underdeveloped body hair.”
“So am I done now?”
“Yes, quite. You may go about your business. You're fortunate to have been spared the examination. If they weren't all off-duty, I would have called in a physician with more slender fingers, I assure you.”
“Ah, don't mention it. Seriously though. I will die happy if this never gets mentioned again.”
“Anyway, since you were such a cooperative patient, would you fancy a grenade?” He surveyed the room and saw everyone's expressions of confusion. “...or perhaps a confection of some sort.”
Sapphire next showed you to where you were staying. You expected something along the lines of a spartan hotel room, but instead were met with a small apartment. It was cosy and well-lit, with all the amenities. The refrigerator was fully stocked with food which Sapphire assured you was edible for your species. There was only one bedroom, but you didn't foresee that being a problem.
“Well (Y/N),” said Jasper that evening as you looked out a window, “I guess this is home for the next little while. It feels strange, being back here. I'm glad to have the chance to do something good for a change, but… I can't stop thinking about how nothing can undo any of what I did. For that matter, I don't even know how we're going to do this. That thing seems invincible.”
“There's only one way we're going to do it. Together.” You held her hand as you both watched an alien sunset. You'd hardly visited every star in the sky together yet, but this… this was a pretty good start.

Sorry it's been a while. I've just been focusing more on my other story due to popular demand. Rest assured that I have not forgotten this one.