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<p><br>Please read, critique, and enjoy!</p><p>Sorry about the funky format.</p><span lang="EN"><p><font color="#000000">1</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></span><font size="7" face="Rockwell Extra Bold"><font size="7" face="Rockwell Extra Bold"></p><p><font color="#000000"> </font></p></font><p><font color="#000000"></font></p></font><p><font size="4" face="Arial"><font color="#000000" size="4" face="Arial">It was a particularly nice day in Reiflem, despite a volcano erupting and completely burying a house in lava on the edge of Reiflempor Square. None of that mattered. It happened every day, and besides, the fire department were lazing around playing video games while their Ardurs dove into the fire to rescue victims. The sun was shining, it was the middle of summer, and nobody, especially people on Reiflem, was bothered by the heat. The recent late spring, which was indistinguishable from summer on this planet, had gotten everyone worked up. </font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Arial"><font size="4" face="Arial"><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> It felt like tensions were breaking, along with that cold barrier of ice that looms around all winter. Winter had been a great ball of ice in everyone’s stomach, a glacier only held back by a tiny pebble. And when that pebble falls, just like when that very first day of summer falls, that icy ball in your stomach melts, bringing back friendships lost by the harsh season. Creatu come out of their hiding places, making it exceptionally easy to find their eggs. Birthdays seem happier, and even normal days feel like your birthday. But for some, it poses a new problem.</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> At that moment, a bright mucus-colored school bus was driving along some of the back roads of the city, those few and desolate neighborhoods that were home to the few children whose parents let them live in such a shady place as this. Even at the end of the first street, a gang of high-school kids that looked poorly-treated stood leaning on trees and smoking. Their creatu looked as savage as they did, crouching at their heels or curling up on their shoulders. Inside the half-full bus, a girl shuddered in her seat. In the girl’s lap lay, sopping wet, a ginger ball of fur.</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> “It’s not going to make it,” the girl sitting next to her sighed, “You only incubated the egg for fifteen minutes, Moni.” The first girl replied with a shrug. She stroked the frail body, starting at the head and working her way to its tail, till the creatu’s irregular breathing became more steady. (Just so you all know, the egg had been found under a bush during recess and incubated in the teacher’s lounge, until the principal walked in and demanded to know what she was doing in there). The Veram sucked air through its nose, and opened its eyes. Its paws twitched. It stretched its wings and yawned.</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Moni (or her full name, Monique) grinned smugly at her friend, who rolled her eyes and muttered something incomprehensible. Only a handful of students her age had creatu. Man, would her mom be so proud…</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Monique shuddered at the thought of the woman who only kept her around as a favor to her husband, who was overseas (or lava fields) fighting in the war against Relcore. Monique, ever since she was capable of doing these things herself, had to make her own food, clean the house, teach herself to read. Her mother never read her bedtime stories, never helped her get ready for school, never played with her or listened to her woes, never even said “I love you”. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Now that she was thirteen, however, none of this mattered anymore. Except the fact that her mom never let her go anywhere (excluding school) by herself. While many eighth graders planned to meet at the center of Reiflempor Square, which was the only trustworthy shopping center in the city, Monique was stuck at home doing all the things listed above. This was a turning point in her life. Maybe, just maybe, now that she had a creatu to protect herself with, her mother would let her go out of the house alone.</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> With a great belch from the exhaust port, and a screech borne from the sudden break, the bus halted at Monique’s bus stop. Monique, along with her friend-whose name, by the way, was Piney- and a boy with dirty blond hair trundled themselves off the bus and into the sidewalk. Without a glance back, the bus driver sped off down the street, no doubt going way over the speed limit, and throwing the kids inside back into their seats. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> “Why don’t they have seatbelts on those busses?” Piney muttered, annoyed. Piney only had to walk about five steps to get to her house. “Bye!” she called, a little over-excitedly, as the other two dragged their feet down the dry, cracked sidewalk, that was in a pitiful state of disrepair. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Carrying her new pet closely in her arms, Monique set about getting home. The blonde boy stopped at the next house, turned into the driveway, and unzipped his backpack. Out of it crawled, slowly at first, but then leaping out at the last second, a calico meiko. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Monique had never seen such a magnificent creatu in her life. Suddenly, she was hit by a wave of jealousy. Why did everything have to go wrong for her? She didn’t get boys, her teachers all hated her, she didn’t know where her dad was, and she was stuck with this careless woman she was forced to call <i>mother.</i> As if he could sense her fury, the small natural veram gazed up at Monique, his wide chocolate eyes gazing up at her in a sympathetic manner.</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Monique stomped home, her anger forgotten for the moment, but still sympathizing for herself. Approaching her house she read the name of the old neon orange building that was displayed on a fading flag hanging over the front door: House of Udv, for the last word was halfway worn away, and every other letter was missing. Thinking this as she walked up to the front door, she realized her new friend didn’t have a name yet. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Once it was written on paper, it was official. Not ready to face her mother with a nameless baby veram, much less without a veram at all, she pulled out her science notebook, turned to her report on verams, and, with some difficulty, pulled a pencil from her pocket. Setting the veram on the ground next to her, she scoured her mind for a name that suited the unsteady creature. Finally, she decided on one that complemented her pet, one that mysteriously appeared in the back of her mind as if from a long-lost memory:</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rnrn</font></font></font><font size="4" face="Bradley Hand ITC"><font size="4" face="Bradley Hand ITC"></p><p><font color="#000000">Phae</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></font></font><font size="4" face="Arial"><font size="4" face="Arial"></p><p><font color="#000000"> However, there was something about the name-it didn’t feel <i>whole. </i>But it still felt right. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Monique stared at the words, scratched opun the page by her, the silvery graphite putting little swirls on the ends of her “E” and the “H” looking like a deformed ”V”. So many letters swarmed her head, Monique, bl[injection]inking awake again as if from a dream, later suspected she had blacked out. Phae sat next to her, bearing his teeth as if smiling. Monique stuffed her supplies into her indigo bag, full of holes and worn half away, scooped up her new pet, who flapped his wings defiantly, and tramped off to enter through the back door. All the while, she was shaking her head to clear it. To get that word out of her mind. It was just to unsettling to think about that barren planet, inhabited by half-human, half-robots and their awkward creatu.</font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Where the name Phae came from, she didn’t know, but she had a feeling it came from this planet. </font></p><p><font color="#000000">rn</font></p><p><font color="#000000"> Uldavi.</font></p></font></font>
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