Map The Stars Between Us

Chapter three-Lottie

Lottie didn't know what to think. Her mind felt overwhelmed by what she saw in front of her. She had been expecting to see a hole-y stone, like those she'd seen online or at museums as a kid of meteors that had fallen throughout history. What she saw now however, was anything but rock. At the bottom of the pit sat something metal and long. Though banged up, there was no denying that the object was a ship of some sort. 

She was still trying to wrap her mind about what she was seeing when a doorway slid open on the spaceship and someone stumbled out. She held her breath and stared. It felt as if her eyes were wide enough to compete with the Blythe dolls, whose eyes consumed their faces. She watched as the person slumped onto the ground outside of the ship. She leaned further over the ditch and her breath caught in her throat. The figure was male and he would have looked fairly human if it wasn't for his skin that was completely covered in fur. His hair was short and brown and he was dressed in what looked like some sort of uniform. His physique wasn't huge but it looked toned under the thicker fabric of his clothes. She watched as he shifted up onto his elbows and his eyes shifted upwards towards where she sat.

Their eyes met over the distance and Lottie stopped breathing all together, it was like she had ceased to exist. They sat like that forever, not taking a moment to inhale until she started to feel dizzy and her vision began to go hazy around the edges. Lottie felt herself tip forward and before she should lean back to stop herself, she was tumbling head first into the pit. She heard a hiss as she fell and felt as the air rushed through the damp hair that had pulled from her bun before she landed with a grunt on the ground. Her mouth was filled with dirt and her jaw ached horribly as she turned over and spit at the ground. Lottie heard a hiss again followed by a rumbling noise that resembled the sound a large feline as a hand landed on her shoulder. Shooting forward to get away from the man she only succeeded on whacking her forehead on something hard. Crying out she cradled her head in her hands momentarily forgetting she'd fallen into the same ditch the strange man had been laying in. 

This night was slowly becoming utterly horrible and all of a sudden Lottie regretted ever steeping foot outside in the first place. If she had just left it well enough alone she wouldn't be a sopping, aching mess at the bottom of a ditch in the middle of a thunderstorm with an alien. She thought about that, an actual alien. She sat in a hole that had been created by a fallen spacecraft of an alien. She peeked through her fingers towards where the sounds of growling were originating. Up close the man looked more odd than she'd originally thought. In shape and form he resembled any other man she'd ever seen, but his features were truly unique. Besides the fact that his skin seemed to be entirely covered in patterned, sepia-toned hair, his nose was a bit too flat and his eyes tilted at the sides but sat round in his face, the corners black rather than pink. They were multi-toned in the dark, shining blue but tinged with auburn. His ears had a slight point and the fur at the top looked softer than the hair on his face. Darting her eyes downward she noted his nails were softly founded like her own but instead of a fleshy tan they had a dull black tint that reminded her of a wild animals claws. Lottie's eyes came back up and their eyes met once more before she dropped her eyes back towards the ground. Building up some courage she shifted onto her knees and clutched her thighs before she cleared her throat. 

"Hi," she practically mumbled. She cleared her throat once more and tried again. "Hello, are you okay?" she asked trying to be polite least he prove to be dangerous. She'd learned long ago to always stay on the good side of a person who was unpredictable. She waited for some sort of response but when nothing came she looked back up. The man had tilted his head to the side and his eyes were squinted in his face. His look was so utterly human she almost felt relief. She decided to try again. 

"Can you understand me?" she tried. His only response was to lean forward and make a huffing noise that sounded like it was a mix of confusion and frustration. She felt similarly.If he couldn't understand her words maybe she could try something different. 

Lifting her hands she pointed at him and then the ship and made a motion with her hand as if a person was walking into something and sitting down. She then pointed to the sky that was flashing once more with the storm and made her other hand fly downwards and crash towards the ground before pointing back towards the the alien man. He stared at her for a minute and then looked towards his ship that was still lit up by the occasional small flame. He looked back towards her and she could see he seemed to understand. He lifted his own hands and repeated her movements his eyes holding hers with a look of determination she took as confirmation. She smiled and nodded her head. She brought her hands up and placed them on her chest and said "Lottie" before moving her hands forward as if to place them on his as well. She stopped before her hands actually touched him before repeating the action once more. He jerked his head down as if to mimic her previous nod and moved his hands forward in a familiar motion as hers had done. 

"Llowteea," he said with his hands outstretch towards her. It sounded long and kind of like a hiss at the end, but it was recognizable.

She smiled and repeated her name. "Lottie."

He tried again but her name came out sounding like Lowtee, which she figured was close enough to her name, and much less hissy, that it didn't really matter. She nodded and he followed suit before moving his hands towards his own body. 

"Baxxyhm," he growled out.  

She tried to pronouns it like he had but he only narrowed his eyes at her so he spoke again, tapping his chest and gave her what she assumed was a nickname.

"Bax"

She smiled and nodded before repeating the name Bax with her hands held out towards him before pulling her palm towards herself again and repeating her own name. 

Bax smiled at this and Lottie forgot to blink as she saw his teeth which were much sharper than her own. Bax didn't seem to notice her reaction. They sat like this for a minute, Bax smiling as if he was proud she'd learned his name and Lottie, trying not to imagine his teeth anywhere near and vital parts of her anatomy. 

Bax seemed to get over the moment faster and stood up before walking towards his spacecraft. Lottie just stared as he walked away. He was much taller than her, she determined, he had to stand at 6 feet 6 at the least while she stood at a mere 5 foot 3 in comparison. She watched as he walked around the front of the ship and kneeled ever once and a while to look at certain dents and scrapes. Every time he came across a a flame he either stomped it out or packed dirt against it until it went out. He did this a couple times before he leaned forward and started to push the thing forward out of it's vertical position. At first the ship only inched forward but after a rather firm push it started to move more in the wet soil. The ship wasn't that large. It looked about the length of a decent sized 2-person camper as if it had enough room to contain a bed, some storage space, a toilet and a driving component of some kind. She watched as he muscled the ship to a horizontal position and then got up. Before she could start walking towards him however, he was already moving towards the side of the craft, towards the door Lottie had watched open before she'd fallen. He stepped inside and she was left to decide wether she should follow or remain where she was. After a moment of internal debate she figured what-the-hell, it was a crashed spaceship with an alien (one who seemed rather nice based on their brief 2 word conversation). So she begin walking towards the doorway ignoring a small voice in her head that said she was making a big mistake.