Snowed in: With the Alien Tentacle Monster by Silvana Falcon

Author:Silvana Falcon [Falcon, Silvana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Valen emerged from his rest cycle to unfamiliar sounds. Rustling, soft thuds, and what seemed to be human muttering. He was still on the couch where Logan had fallen asleep against him the night before, but Logan himself was no longer there.

A clatter from across the cabin drew his attention.

When he went to investigate, he found Logan reaching up to the top shelf of a closet where several dusty cardboard boxes sat. Through their bond, Valen felt something he hadn't experienced from Logan before: a mix of melancholy and... anticipation? The emotions swirled together like the aurora storms of his home world, complex and beautiful.

"What are you doing?" Valen asked.

Logan startled slightly, then relaxed when he saw Valen. "There should be decorations in here," he said, setting one box down on the floor. "Christmas decorations. Haven't put any up in... well, in a while."

Valen peered into the box. Inside, he could see delicate spheres made of glass, painted with intricate patterns of silver and blue, nestled in crumpled paper. "Christmas," he repeated carefully. He grasped that it was an important holiday, but he still wasn't entirely sure of its significance.

"Yeah." Logan knelt beside the box, carefully unwrapping one of the ornaments. "It's about family, giving gifts, celebrating..." He paused, then added more quietly, "Being together."

Through their bond, Valen felt the sharp edge of old pain in those last words, but it was softer now, cushioned by something warmer. Something hopeful.

Valen watched as Logan pulled all the boxes from the closet and began sorting through them, creating small piles of different items. Valen wanted to help but didn't know where to start.

"First thing," Logan said, pulling out a long string of tiny lights, "is to untangle these." He sat cross-legged on the floor, frowning at the jumbled mess in his lap. "This is such a headache every time."

"Is it?" Valen settled beside him, fascinated by the way the morning light caught the small glass bulbs.

Logan's hands stilled for a moment. "Jeff loved Christmas lights. Said they made everything magical. But no matter how neatly we packed away the strings… they'd always be a mess by the next year." Through their bond, Valen felt the memory's bittersweet warmth.

Valen carefully touched a loop of lights with his tentacles. "May I help?"

Logan nodded, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. "Yeah. Just be careful. If you use too much force…" He broke off as Valen's tentacles efficiently began working through the knots, separating strand from strand with ease. "Oh. That's... actually really useful."

Valen felt a spark of pleasure at Logan's impressed tone. "We have similar illumination strands on Nexa, though ours respond to emotional resonance rather than electricity. Sometimes it makes them flicker a lot." He paused, realizing something. "Is this why your emotions have been all over the place? These memories?"

Logan was quiet for a moment, his fingers tracing one of the untangled strands. "Yeah, I guess so." He took a deep breath. "But it's good, I think. Like... like finally opening a door that's been locked for too long.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.