I have seen much activity here lately so I thought maybe I'd post another story for anybody who's interested. Personally I think this is one of my better writings.
-Tranquility- or
-Minuet of the Mythic World-
Nina groaned as she awoke from a somewhat uncomfortable slumber. Sitting up, she broke from her daze and began to recollect her thoughts.
The last thing she could remember was sitting at her balcony enjoying a glass of iced tea late on a Friday night. Everything was as normal as could be until all of a sudden, a strange, otherworldly light came from out of nowhere and engulfed the very vicinity she was in. It felt as though she were being swept away and pulled right out of reality. Anything after that was nothing more than an absolute blank.
Looking around at where she was now, she couldn’t help but ponder at the unusual qualities of her surroundings. The trees and bushes were garnished in an shimmering white foliage while the grass and flowers at her feet were a rather haunting shade of gray. Looking up, her surprise only broadened. Instead of the sunny, light blue sky she was accustomed to, she saw a pink sky with thick, red clouds floating through the atmosphere. Where in the world was she?
Even the very air she was breathing right now was different somehow. Taking it in, it felt so soft and pure, like some sort of advanced form of oxygen soothing her lungs and body as she inhaled and exhaled. It felt so good just to sit there and breathe it in.
Taking a glance at herself, she could see that she was still dressed in the white, two-piece pajama outfit she was wearing at the balcony that night, her shirt buttoned down to her waist and up to her neck.
Nothing was making sense at all. What was this place and how did she even get here? There had to be somebody here to tell her where she was, someone to give her answers. She got up as she prepared to find someone to talk to.
Nina was a woman with many gorgeous qualities. Her short, ridged red hair and her lean, athletic figure were the perfect counterpart to her bold, spunky attitude. She had a bit of a sharp tongue but when in the right company, she possessed a fun-loving, friendly personality. She was adored by a number of men, and while at times, she would be modest and pretend not to show interest, deep down she loved the attention she got.
As she began to walk around, she began to notice the strange properties of the ground underneath her feet. Instead of rock or soil, the tar black surface felt like a thick layer of bloated rubber, just whimsical enough for her feet to press inward ever so slightly, yet stable enough for her to walk about without fear of falling over. She never would’ve guessed that ground like this was fertile enough to grow flowers and trees though.
As she ventured through the strange frontier, more questions and curiosity came to boggle her mind. The wonders of the land had continued to astound her, especially one in particular.
She stopped in her tracks as she came across a tree topped with a dazzling, golden leaf shrubbery. From its branches, it was sporting strange, blue fruits. They were plump, fuzzy and round and for some strange reason, Nina began to find them appealing right at first glance.
Looking at the fruits hanging among the branches, her appetite suddenly peaked and she was tempted to try one. Whether it had been the fact that she hadn’t eaten in some time or the tantalizing traits of the fruit that had caused this, she wasn‘t sure, but one thing was clear. She could practically sense those fruits beckoning to her, urging her to sink her teeth into them. Pulling one of the branches closer to herself, she proceeded to pluck one of the fruits off and gazed closer upon the odd bounty. Giving in to her desires, she began to bite into it.
As a result, her taste buds were overcome with a scrumptious sweet and juicy taste sensation, like nothing like she had ever eaten before. She hummed with delight as she savored the extraordinary flavor of the unusual fruit. It had to have been the tastiest thing she had ever eaten.
And with that, she eagerly began to take another bite, entitling her to another appetizing taste. Placed under the hypnotic spell of the delicious fruit, she continued to munch away, the weird blue fruit in her hands shrinking down to nothing with every bite she took. Even the stem of the fruit proved to be highly delectable.
It was unclear to Nina exactly how many fruits she had feasted upon as time went by. After having devoured one in a glutinous act, she got up to pull another off of the tree and began to eat it as well without a second thought. And when she was finished with that, she ate another and then another as well. She must’ve eaten at least five of them during her spastic binge, possibly even more.
Her unusual cravings at last satisfied and her stomach full, an exhausted Nina prepared to lay down before the tree, happily groaning from her meal. Her eyes started to close as she began to slip onto a lazy slumber. Any concerns of getting back home were neglected for the time being. She was much too tired to think of something like that right now.
Several minutes later, something woke her up. A gaggle of squeaks came to her ears, snapping her out of her sleep. Opening her eyes and getting her head off of the ground, she immediately found a group of colorful creatures gathered around her, a species unlike anything she had ever seen.
Overcome with the shock of being awakened by such odd beings, she began to shriek for her life and curl up in fear, which in return caused the beasts to jump back from the woman ever so slightly. Nina couldn’t believe what she was looking at.
These aliens were unlike any other kind of creature she had ever seen before. There were dozens of them crowded around her, in several different colors. They were stout and plump, possibly measuring to be four feet tall at the most. They had small, beady eyes, short little hairs atop their noggins and twin curled antennas sticking out at the ends of their heads. They made high-pitched squeaks as they conversed with one another, probably gawking amongst themselves about the human female before them. They looked like living, walking balloon people with what appeared to be woolen scarves wrapped around their pudgy necks. As strange as they were however, they didn’t seem hostile or violent in the least. They merely chattered with themselves as they curiously observed the human woman before them.
“Uh… Hello?”, Nina spoke to the aliens, uncertain if they would understand her or not. She proceeded to get up to her feet. They all ceased their jabbering and began to stare quietly as she stood up.
“Can you guys tell me where I am?“ None of them said anything. They merely stood where they were at and silently watched the woman talking to them.
“What.. is.. this… place?”, she questioned slowly, hoping that somehow she could shatter the language barrier.
Unfortunately, she couldn‘t. They merely continued to look at her while poor Nina wound up feeling foolish.
“Cmon guys, please help me out.”, she begged to them.
But just like before, they did nothing. They merely stood there, watching in utter silence, looking as though they were expecting her to do something.
Put off by their eerie quietness, she gave up on trying to communicate and began to back away from the aliens in hopes of finding a more solitary place for herself. To her dismay however, as she began to walk away, the mysterious beings followed, chirping with each step they took. She continued to move farther away but still, they tagged along and went where she went.
Desperate to get away, she soon gave up walking altogether and started to run away from the crowd of aliens. In response, they too began to pick up the pace in their pursuit, chirping even faster as they gave chase.
“No“, she screamed. “Get away.” But the creatures wouldn’t comply as they continued to pursue her across the bouncy frontier, close at her heels. Panting and gasping, she sprinted as fast as she could to get away but the aliens were persistent, and quite agile. They trailed diligently to the fleeting Nina, close to her heels.
Looking over her shoulder and seeing the aliens hot on her path sent her into a sudden fit of anxiety and a slight, panicked misstep brought the chase to an abrupt end as she began to fall over and tumble onto the rubbery ground. In no time, the aliens caught up and swarmed around her, forcing unwanted company upon her once more.
Nina groaned at the results of her failed escape. Sitting upwards, she looked around and saw her undesired alien posse. They had resumed standing and watching over her.
She was about to get up and make another attempt to flee but something caught her by surprise. All of a sudden, she was overcome with a strange feeling and her stomach was emitting a deep, hollow growling sound, one that she had never heard before. It certainly wasn’t growling for food.
Her body seemed to be reacting to the weird alien fruit she had consumed earlier. She began to experience a fuzzy bloating feeling within her belly. It started off as a gentle sensation but that soon changed. She could feel the bloating spreading and intensifying quickly. It wasn’t painful but the pressure grew to be quite robust and in response, Nina began to rub her tummy in concern as she wondered what was happening to her. She could feel the bloating within her continuing to build. Stronger and stronger it got, putting poor Nina at it’s mercy as her whole body began to rumble uncontrollably, unable to handle the intensity.
The aliens took notice of this and a commotion broke out among them again, chirping and cheering as through they had something to celebrate. Nina was about to plead to them for help when something unusual captured her attention. Taking a second to glance down at her shaking body, she thought she saw something odd.
Her chest, was it growing? Was her body going through some sort of change or was the fruit playing tricks with her mind? Clenching her sides at an attempt to stop the shaking, she strived for a better look at herself.
As it turned out, it wasn’t just her imagination. She was actually swelling up like a balloon. With her own disbelieving eyes, she saw the shirt of her pajamas being pushed forward. Her breasts within were pumped to larger, more inhuman sizes, beyond anything an ordinary woman would possess. The top two buttons of her sleepwear were burdened with a sudden strain as her two blossoming breasts attempted to pull the two flaps of her sleepwear apart, creating gaping holes down the middle that showed off her bloating chest. The gentle, warm breeze building within them would strengthen over time as they grew and she began to feel a similar sensation spreading to the rest of her body, from her stomach down to her limbs. Her strange growth struck her with a vibe of concern. The aliens however were overjoyed, hopping and squeaking, their eyes gleaming with what looked to be anticipation. Assuming from their reactions, she had an uneasy feeling that this was just the beginning.
As it turned out, she was right. Glancing downward from under her ever-expanding chest, she began to notice her stomach reacting as well. Filling up with the warm air stirring within her, it began to steadily inch forward, resembling the belly of a pregnant woman at first but it showed no signs of stopping. In no time, it began to grow out of the simple bulge it was, jutting from underneath her shirt. The rest of her was beginning to expand as well. She noticed that she had become wider as well, her hips striving outward as they too filled out and began to swell, challenging the pants of her nightwear. The spiraling, warm breeze within her was as dynamic as ever, distending her body larger as it grew stronger.
The enthusiasm of the balloon people hadn’t ceased even in the least. They continued to cheer for the swelling woman.
“Knock it off!”, she yelled at the aliens, but they paid no mind to her shouts. They continued to hop and squeak with merriment.
The inflating had certainly taken a pneumatic toll on her trim physique. Her midsection had changed considerably, her small figure had swollen every which way. She had doubled in size in the least. Her hips and thighs were bloating outward and drifting further apart, pulling her wider as a result. Her stomach had swollen the most, having gone from a flat belly into a sphere all it’s own bloating bigger as she was pumped up, causing the bottom button of her pajamas to snap off and fall at her feet. As her tummy continued to grow, it began to bond with her sides, giving her a more circular quality as she inflated even more. Her arms had found a most suitable position, slanting away from the swelling woman, while they too began to thicken out and expand, right from the shoulders up.
From her enormous chest down to her gargantuan hips, all of her bloating curves were starting to diminish as she slowly but surely began to take to the form of a bigger, rounder shape. Her puffy limbs fell victim as well, her thighs and shoulders succumbing to the bellowing pressure as they were pulled into the surface of her globe-like body.
She attempted to run away but her fat, bloated legs resisted at every step, reducing her to take off at a slow, desperate waddle. As before, the creatures followed the fleeting woman, continuing to squeak and cheer as they pursued. Nina took note of her entourage and whimpered as she tried to pick up the pace, deep down realizing that she wouldn’t escape their presence.
She could feel her knees being pulled into her ballooning form, forcing her to shuffle her feet across the ground. Needless to say, she didn’t gain much distance, let alone get away from the squeaking balloon people.
Just as she was about to muster another step forward, she felt a plethora of little hands clutching at her backside, pulling her backwards. The aliens were grabbing hold of her. She struggled to get out of their grasp but to no avail. Whether she was inflated or not, their numbers steadily overwhelmed her. Suspending the massive woman over their heads, the balloon people proceeded to haul Nina off against her will. She squirmed and wiggled what little she could but it did no good as she was whisked away.
Powerless to stop her captors, she took a brief moment to look at herself. She had become nothing more than a giant round balloon. Only her hands, feet and head remained. Oddly enough, she could also spot a pair of enormous bulges sticking out from across her chest. Somehow, her breasts hadn’t vanished into her swelling mass like the rest of her figure, but instead protruded from her round body like twin mounds.
Miraculously, her clothing survived. The top button on her pajama shirt had remained intact throughout the swelling, offering covering for her monstrous chest, at the expense of leaving her belly unclothed. Her pants held together as well, although they had spilt at the sides to fit over the lower half of her body.
She had stopped inflating but what now? What was to become of her now that the aliens had her. She had a bad feeling that things were about to get worse.
Minutes later, Nina was taken to what looked like a wooden house, roughly twice her size, built right on top of the rubbery ground. To her surprise, the aliens let go of her before positioning her right-side up, allowing her to view the building for herself. She never expected a house to be here of all places.
Is this house where the creatures live, Nina wondered to herself. As Nina‘s mind filled with curiosity once more, the balloon people around her began to leave and head back without her, leaving her all alone in the vicinity of the house.
“Hey wait!”, she shouted to the group of aliens abandoning her, “don’t leave me here!”
But once again, they didn’t listen to her pleas. Turning her head, she could see the crowd of balloon folk walking past her as they began to head off, their squeaks becoming faint as they left the poor hapless woman. Alone and unable to fend for herself, Nina suddenly began to yearn for the obnoxious company she detested only a while ago. What was she supposed to do now?
That’s when she heard a familiar sound, the rattling of a doorknob. Turning her head back to face forward, she saw the door of the house opening and somebody coming out. From her lofty perspective, Nina could spot a tall figure coming out of the doorway. It certainly wasn’t one of the aliens. As soon as they stepped outside, Nina was overcome with surprise.
She couldn’t believe it. There was a human being before her, dressed in white pants and a blue sweater vest, wearing eyeglasses and sandals.
Closing the door behind him, he began to walk up to Nina. He took off his glasses, looked up to her head atop her bulbous body and graced her with a smile, not even seeming to mind the fact that she had been swollen immensely.
“Well hello there darling. Who might you be?”, he greeted.
“What’s going on here!? This is insane!”, She demanded of the man.
“Well that’s a particularly strange name for a fine lady like yourself“, the man chuckled. “Can I call you Honeypuff for short?”
“No, that’s not my name at all“, she responded as she fumed at the man’s so-called sense of humor,” and no, you can’t call me that. My name is Nina“.
“Ah well, hello Nina. I’m Victor“, the man introduced. “Victor Slate, man of science. I am the first earthling to ever come to this planet, and if I’m not mistaken, I believe you are the second.”
A planet?, Nina replied. So we are on an alien planet, aren’t we?
That’s right. It’s a big balloon planet supporting a colony of balloon creatures, and all this time, mankind wasn’t even aware of it’s existence. Remarkable, no?”
Yeah, I guess, Nina grumbled, but I don’t understand. What are you doing here?
“Isn’t it obvious, Honeypuff Nina“, Victor asked with a clever grin. “This is my home.”
“Your… home?”, an astounded Nina replied. She couldn’t believe what this man was saying. He lived here?
“Indeed. You see, a while back, I grew rather tired of humanity and all it’s despicable evil. I decided to build myself a rocket so that I could leave Earth and begin a quest to travel the galaxy in search for more intelligent life. “
“Unfortunately, one month into my journey through space, disaster had struck. My rocket broke down and I lost control. As a result, I crash landed onto this strange, far away little planet”
“In what I thought to be the darkest hour of my quest, I got out of the debris of my rocket to discover that I had actually stumbled into a utopia. As it turned out, this planet truly was an outstanding place. The air was soothing, the water was pure and refreshing, and the inhabitants were peaceful. Best of all, it didn’t reek of the violence, greed and prejudice that plagued our pathetic little, planet. My hunt for an intelligent species had come to a satisfying conclusion.”
Nina was rendered absolutely speechless from listening to Victor’s tale.
“I built myself a house here and started my new life among the balloon people. They were truly a fascinating, mystical race, as I’m sure you realized for yourself. By the way, what did you think of the filling fruit you ate?
“Filling Fruit?”, Nina moaned as she was reminded of the golden tree and the strange blue bounty that made her so enormous “Is that what I ate?”
“That‘s what I like to call it“, Victor told her, “Apparently it’s the bumper crop for the balloon folk here. They like to feast upon it and plump themselves up. It’s quite a delicacy.
“This is terrible“, Nina moaned. “How am I supposed to get back to normal?”
“Not to worry Honeypuff. The effects of the fruit are only temporary. You’ll deflate eventually, although considering how much you ate, it may take a day or two.”
“I’ll… deflate?”, Nina asked in a confused tone. Shrugging her concerns of her shape aside for the time being, she began to ask another question.
“I still don’t get it though,” Nina said. “Why would those aliens bring me here? What would they possibly want with me?”
“Oh, the aliens didn’t bring you here“, Victor responded. “I did.”
What?! Nina shrieked. How?
“After settling here, I salvaged what was left of my shattered rocket and went to work constructing a teleportation machine. With my technological genius and the mystical powers of my alien friends, I was successful in building such a device.”
“A teleportation machine?!” Nina cried with disbelief. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, but I am serious“, rebutted Victor. “With the psychic powers of these creatures at my disposal, I assure you I can build things I never would’ve imagined to be possible.”
“Why did you bring me here?!” Nina yelled furiously. “If you were so happy here in the first place, then why would you go out of your way to kidnap me!?”
“I was lonely“, Victor replied. “As it turns out, paradise doesn’t measure to be much without a special someone to share it with. I programmed the machine with specific instructions. Scour the cosmos, find the perfect woman for me and bring her to this planet. Make sure she is a tall, sassy beautiful female, perfect to be a queen for this world. I waited days for the machine to complete the task I set for it but it came through, and now, here you are, my sweet Honeypuff.”
“You’re out of your mind!“, Nina screamed. “I am not your special someone, I am not your queen, and I am not your Honeypuff!”
“Oh come now“, Victor insisted. “Don’t knock a planet until you try it.”
“Take me back home now!” Nina demanded to the scientist.
“Sorry Nina“, Victor said, “it’s not that simple. I’m going to need some extra power.”
“What do you mean “extra power“?”, Nina groaned.
“Teleporting larger objects requires much more power“, Victor explained. “Bringing a slender lass here is hardly a problem but moving a big, fat balloon woman through time and space takes a lot of energy. It’s going to take a few days of recharging for my machine to muster that that kind of gusto.”
“What?!”, Nina shrieked. “You mean I’m stuck here?!”
“For the next few days, yes“, Victor explained as he began to walk up to the poor inflated woman and moved her on her backside. “Until then, why don’t we show you around the planet. You must be pretty hungry. How about some more Filling Fruit?”
Nina whimpered as Victor began to roll her away from the house. She had a bad feeling these next few days were going to be longer than she wished. The two of them headed towards the white forest.
Nina groaned as she awoke from a somewhat uncomfortable slumber. Sitting up, she broke from her daze and began to recollect her thoughts.
The last thing she could remember was being stranded on a weird planet and being blown up like a balloon at the mercy of some mad scientist and his alien comrades. After what seemed like to be days at that strange place, the scientist finally agreed to send her back.
She looked around and found herself in a familiar place. She was lying in her bed, under her covers, in her apartment bedroom on earth. She took a second to look at herself. She wasn’t huge. She wasn’t inflated. She was nothing but her original, slender self. There was no sign of any mysterious planet or balloon people. Everything seemed normal.
Had the whole strange ordeal been nothing but a dream? The experience seemed so real, but at the same time, the memories of it felt so distant. She wasn’t really sure what to think.
“No! Snap out of it Nina!” she reassured herself, “There is no planet of Balloon people. It was just a silly nightmare.”
Brushing it aside as nothing more that a wild fantasy, she got out of bed and proceeded to head out onto the balcony, where she went to greet the brisk, Saturday morning.
Green trees, blue sky, white clouds. Everything was as normal as it could be or that’s what she thought until she gazed down. At her feet, she found two peculiar objects laying at her feet.
The first was the glass she was drinking iced tea out of that Friday night, the lemon wedge still hugging the rim of the container.
The second was a small white band laying next to the glass. It was just big enough to possibly fit onto her wrist. Upon examining the item closer, she gasped at what she found. Written across the band, she found four words, that of which confronted all that she assumed to be real and fake. The events that had transpired, it was no dream.
Across the little white band read the words, “Pack your bags, Honeypuff”
Meanwhile, back on the mysterious planet…
"Take it easy, dear Nina", Victor said as he stood outside his house, gazing at the pink sky. "We’ll meet again soon, and I promise I’ll have an even bigger surprise planned for you next time you visit."
-End-
-Pakona-
-Alien Synopsis-
-by Victor Slate-
The dominating populous of this planet is an unnamed, species. They share many qualities of that of a ordinary latex balloon such as rubber-like skin. In terms of size, they average about 4.2 feet tall and each weigh about 11 pounds more or less, making them surprisingly light for such bulky creatures. My X-ray equipment has indicated few vital organs or skeletal features within their bodies, posing the question as to how they function without say a liver or a spine. It appears that 70% of their bodies actually contain nitrogen, contributing even more to their balloon-like traits. In addition, their bodies can serve as cavities that can store a dirigible’s worth of gas into their tiny bodies.
The creatures are herbivores, their diet consisting mostly of a particular fuzzy blue fruit that I have dubbed “Filling Fruit”. The fruit contains strange, potent nutrients that when consumed by the aliens will cause them to temporarily inflate to larger sizes. Through the process of diffusion do they eventually deflate and resume their original forms. Interestingly enough, the fruit seems to have a similar effect on humans, causing them to expand just like the balloon folk. In addition to the fruit, their appetites also allow them to eat native herbs and berries grown throughout the planet on occasion. Consuming these does not cause swelling.
Mentality testing and brain scans show that these creatures possess an astounding IQ of 700, perhaps even more, as well as the possibility of mental capabilities such as PSI, telekinesis, and other supernatural abilities deemed unlikely by the board of science back on Earth. Despite their intellectual power, they seem to have no qualities of a technologically advanced species, implying they have no need to improve or innovate their simple lifestyles.
Their language is absolutely boggling, at least to the human mind anyway. I’ve spent weeks trying to pick up speech patterns and decipherable content from their squeaky conversation but I swear it all sounds the same. I’ve come to two conclusions to explain this. The first of which being that they communicate through a keen number of frequencies. My second assumption is that they actually speak to one another on a telepathic level, their squeaking serving as more of a greeting than that of a means to talk to one another. Currently, I have no proof to support either theory.
Interestingly enough, these inhabitants wear scarves around their necks, which I believe is to keep themselves warm and keep the gases inside of them from expanding during the cold weather. This in itself would lead me to assume that these creatures have learned how to knit and that they would have a reliable wool source on this planet but oddly enough, I have yet to see either. It’s downright spooky. I mean, those scarves would have to come from somewhere, wouldn’t they?
The planet’s geography is another wonder in itself. The surface of the planet is like a large, thick plane of rubber concealing a gas giant like that of Jupiter. Surprisingly it’s highly fertile, allowing plants and forests to sprout and flourish, providing the ideal environment for the critters. At some points, the ground juts inward and outward, forming lakes, hills and mountains, much like the crust of the earth.
My latest theory revolves around the possibility that the designs and concept of the balloon on Earth originated from this very planet, having been picked up by astronomers of the earlier centuries. I admit, it was a solid assumption at first, but for every detail that fitted into the theory, there was another that didn’t. As of now, I can do nothing more than label it as a wild speculation.
I intend to pursue my research further to better understand this marvelous species.