Zraneth slinked down the trench until she found a narrow pathway much less steep than the walls that made the trench. There were multiple of these pathways, all leading to the outside. The gold vurmple made her way to the surface, the voices of her species slowly drowning away.
The scenery around her was once again different, this time tall trees surrounded her. Their large trunks were shades of mahogany, and their leaves were light pinks, reds, and oranges with blue accents. The vegetation was lush, fitting into the aesthetic of the trees. From the trees' branches hung glowing blue sacs that dripped a strange sap. Some of the sacs were just low enough for Zraneth to reach.
Zraneth tasted the sap from the sacs, making sure it was ripe and wasn't sour. Then, she'd rip them off their branches and place them into her basket.
As the vurmple placed another ripe sac into her basket, she heard something. The golden vurmple froze, turning her gaze to a tall bush. It rustled, like someone was on the other side.
"H-hello...?" Zraneth whispered.
Suddenly, something walked out from the bush, unlike anything Zraneth had ever seen or heard of before. It looked sort of nervous, like it was afraid it'd scare her away.
The creature was a little taller than Zraneth, and it was yellow with spots of blue. It had some sort of soft fabric on its head and body that was shades of periwinkle and blue, and it had only two eyes that glowed scarlet.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Um, hello." the creature said.
So it does speak vurmple...strange. Zraneth thought.
Zraneth hesitated before responding, "...Hi." she stammered, "What...are you...?"
The creature blinked at her, like it was surprised she hadn't ran yet. Zraneth wondered if it'd tried talking to other creatures. Maybe they'd ran away?
"I'm The Collector." the creature replied, smiling slightly.
Zraneth eyed it up and down. She could tell "The Collector" wasn't going to hurt her. It seemed friendly enough.
"That's a weird name," Zraneth laughed, "I'm Zraneth."
The Collector looked happy at her response, Zraneth guessed that perhaps it didn't have many friends, or it just wasn't great at making them.
"Do you wanna...be friends?" The Collector asked in a hopeful tone.
Zraneth thought for a moment, "...I want to ask you some questions first."
"Okay, first of all, you didn't answer my question. Your not a vurmple...but you speak our language. What are you?"
The Collector hesitated, "A collector."
"No, seriously."
"I am being serious!"
Zraneth tilted her head, "I've just never heard of your kind before."
"Well duh, we're not from here." The Collector explained, "We're from the stars!" it pointed up towards the sky.
The vurmple's eyes widened. Was it really from the stars? It did make some form of sense, the cloth that hung on it seemed starry-themed, and it looked too strange to be from here.
"How'd you get here then?" Zraneth asked, "And how come you speak vurmple?"
The starry creature replied, "Oh, that's easy. Collectors can fly and speak any language, duh!"
"You can fly?" Zraneth gasped.
"Yeah, look!"
Zraneth watched as The Collector lifted himself off the ground with ease. He did a flip in the air, then flew over closer to Zraneth.
"Well- wow- okay. I guess that's all my questions then." Zraneth shrugged.
The Collector's eyes sparkled, "Really!? Does that mean we can friends!?"
The vurmple smiled, "I don't see why not."
As The Collector celebrated, a wave of realization hit Zraneth. She'd forgotten about the deliveries! Mother was gonna be furious! The vurmple glanced at the sacs she collected, hoping there was enough.
"Crap, I lost track of time." Zraneth yelped, "Sorry, I have to go!"
The Collector looked sad, "Oh. Um...that's okay! You'll come back, right?"
Zraneth felt a wave of guilt, The Collector seemed really lonely, "Yeah, I promise."
"Pinky swear?"
The vurmple stared at The Collector's strange claw, "What."
"You don't know what a pinky swear is!?" The Collector gasped, "Neeevermind then. Bye Zraneth!"
"Cya!"
~
A/N: okay, two things. first, since zraneth's species is all girls, she'll call the collector it instead of he/they in her perspectives (for now) since 1. she doesn't know what boys are and 2. there's no word for he in her language. second, when avera said "look who caved in the tunnel" that's basically the vurmple way of saying "speak of the devil", basically means jinxing something ^^
