Creative Piece:

Adapt in Your Own Way

Go to New York, they said. Do not be scared, it will be fun, they said. Everyone is different over there, you will fit right in, they said. They obviously never went to New York.

Aunt is a creature of ten arms and two eyes in the middle, from the planet 1128. She got her name because she reminded her family of their aunts, someone who overwhelmingly gives out hugs. She had wicked multi-tasking skills, and working with her hands was as fast as the speed of light.

Aunt used to work at the top gourmet restaurant in 1128 for the past four years. Since she was so quick with her hands, she was granted a great job promotion as a top chef, that required her to take a 33-day travel ship to planet Earth. Even though this job promotion included a 5-year contract, she thought long and hard about the fact that she would have to leave her home planet. Aunt weighed all her options before she made a decision, like leaving her family, friends, and comfortable routine life. In the end, she realized it was an opportunity of a lifetime. Her relatives reassured her that she is lucky to have a chance to go the Earth, and if the roles were reversed, they would go in an instance.

Aunt was specifically hired among her peers in 1128 because she was the best at her job. She had a physical advantage to her many limbs, but she chose a career, cooking, that would allow her to exploit this advantage. So when the opportunity came to move to Planet Earth and learn even more than in 1128, it was a no-brainer decision.

Aunt boarded the ship to Earth, with a bag in every arm. 100 other aliens were on the ship with her, going to different places for different reasons. When it was the 25^th day of the travel, Aunt had just finished eating lunch when she realized all the other ship members had immigrated to the round windows, over-looking the vast galaxy. She walked over and looked out, noticing in the far distance, a perfect little blue sphere. It was Aunt’s first visual of Earth. Aunt knew she was headed for great things.

Being on a ship with 100 other creatures seemed like Aunt was not going to be alone in New York, but she was wrong. After every passing day, Aunt would always look out her room’s round window, seeing the little blue sphere enlarging. The morning of the third to last day, Aunt’s face turned bright red, as she realized she underestimated the size of Earth. The little blue sphere turned into the only thing she saw out her window. Little did she know, that the ship of 100 members would disperse among Earth like dust in the wind.

Paranoia was another creature from 1128, she was a cluster of 16 eyes and lush lashes. Paranoia was on the same ship as Aunt, travelling to Planet Earth. She too had a job proposition, but in the detective sector. Paranoia had an extreme case to solve, in which the suspect had escaped to Earth. It was not the same job promotion as Aunt’s but if Paranoia would successfully crack the case, then she would earn a high pay raise.

Paranoia was headed to New Jersey to bring back the directions to create the Planet 1128’s iconic bean and vegetable stew. She was hired for this investigation because she had a special advantage, her eye sight. The suspect who stole the recipe, with the highly sensitive directions into making the stew perfect, was a creature from 1128 as well, Morph. This creature, too, had a special advantage, he had the ability to transform his body into looking like anyone he imagined. Morph naturally looked like a floating translucent blob, which is why he had the agility to take shape of anything he wanted to be.

This case required the special Paranoia to detect Morph’s one weakness, his glitch that happened every 30 seconds. His morphed body would malfunction for a split second, but then return back to normal. Paranoia has an innovative skill to catch detail, since she has the accessibility to multiple eyes.

Three months in, while Aunt was cooking with pans, whisks and vegetables in each hand, she was listening to her boss, as he tells her she is being promoted, due to her extraordinary talent. Aunt was thrilled to hear she was achieving her goals in coming to Planet Earth, but she can’t help but see it had evoked the evil in her new peers. Instead of getting compliments by her co-workers, she had been receiving hatred. Hatred like her not deserving to work there because she has an unfair advantage. Many go to the extreme and make fun of her looks for having so many arms. They even try to ruin her career by spiking the meals she prepared, but Aunt has so many limbs she has the ability to catch the ruined plates, at the same time as making other orders.

Aunt has the great ability to multitask, and in cooking that means she is able to create and do more work than any of her colleagues. She had made no friends in New York so far, and everyone shuns her because they either think she is strange looking, or that it is simply unfair she can compete with humans when she has an advantage.

Paranoia on the other hand has been getting great progress in finding Morph. She has tracked him all the way into New York City, where she always sees him but then loses him in the large crowd of people. Alike Aunt, Paranoia also has people discrediting and rejecting her skills, because she has an unfair physical advantage. Even though Paranoia has led her team of investigators a lot faster than anyone in the company, her peers decide to take her down instead of using her ability to solve the case. Her peers simply do not cooperate with her and tries to distract her by telling her mean comments about her appearance. They call her nosey eyes because she seems to see everything they do, or googly nebula because her eyes look different directions at the same time, and does not belong on Earth.

Paranoia came to Earth to do one thing and that is to find Morph, so she ignores them. One day, alone, Paranoia tracks down Morph on the street and finally finds out all the details into making the legendary stew! She is so proud of herself, and can now go back to bring home the victory. As she comes back to the investigating crew’s office to report the good news, no one believes her because she did not bring back the suspect. All of her co-workers started laughing at her, and mocked her, for thinking she could actually have all the details perfectly. Paranoia’s heart sinks into her stomach.

Paranoia runs out the building and starts crying profusely, in the back street of a restaurant. Just as Paranoia is trying to contain her tears from all her eyes, Aunt walks out of the same restaurant, furious. They both look at each other, stunned with a little grin on each of their faces. The both run for a huge hug, even though they do not know each other, they still recognize each other’s unique features from 1128.

“I’m Aunt!”

“I’m Paranoia, do you work here?”

“Yes, it’s a long story but I work as a chef!”

They vent for 45 minutes about their stories moving to Earth, and their realization that they were on the same ship to the Planet. They bond over the fact that they are both so different from the people on Earth, and people have seemed to have the same effect for both of them. They both are the best at their jobs, because of their drive and physical advantage, but instead of being praised, people get jealous and try to ruin their careers.

Aunt asks Paranoia, “Oh and why were you crying before I met you?” Paranoia realizes what a great coincidence and sheer luck it was to meet Aunt, who happens to be a chef.

“It was about work, say, do you think you can help me out?”

“Sure, anything!” Paranoia asks Aunt, if she can use her special cooking ability to make the detailed stew, from the directions she remembers. They work together and perfectly produce the stew. Paranoia’s heart warmed up again, knowing she finally had proof to show her co-workers and boss. She walked back across the street, walked into the business building, rode the elevator to the top floor to her detective crew, and placed the stew in the middle of the table, with bowls and spoons.

“This is why I hired you Paranoia! Well done!” Her boss fanatically responds, after he consumed half his bowl of delicious stew.

After Paranoia and Aunt’s great victory they both decided to stay in New York and help each other out. Even though they work in different fields, they always seem to cross paths to help each other out.

“What a great city New York is eh?”

“You are so right Aunt, New York is so much fun!”

Images of both characters:

Alien #1 called Aunt, the multi-limbed creature.

Alien #2 called Paranoia, the multi-eyed creature.

Process/brainstorm/sketches:

The way (I Imagine) the creatures open up around each other, and allow their different appearances be seen.

The way (I imagine) the creatures act and feel on the inside when they don’t feel they fit in in New York.

My notes and brainstorm for the story.

Reflection:

From the beginning my partner, Lane, had such interesting characters and perspective of the projects. Her aliens were not representatives of her home country, but more inside her home. This element really excited me because I wanted to make aspects of my story link to her personal story of home, like the type of food, planet name, character names etc.

A part that was challenging that then turned into a key element in the story, was that my partner’s character descriptions were set in New York, while the assignment was to be set in her home planet.  Her descriptions were about them not fitting in New York, unlike living at home where everyone was different and they could just be themselves. The assignment mentioned a creative piece about two characters and the invented world that they inhabit, so I asked Lane about it. Lane’s response was: “Yes, my descriptions were set in New York, not in “my world” that I invented.” Having the characters moving to New York, I think evoked the story in a positive way, because it allowed more space for creativity and change to the alien’s lives.

My partner and I always kept in contact and communicated thoroughly throughout which helped me get all my key details more significant, for example the home planet name 1128. For example, 1128 is my partner’s house number from home.

One of my questions was that usually people feel good in New York, since it is one of the more international states in America, and abnormal characters should fit in. Lane clarified that, “Yes, New York City is more international and more accepting to different styles, but if you had multiple arms or eyes you would still be thought of as strange and stand out.”

My process to writing this creative piece started out by sketching out their looks and getting myself familiar with the character’s story (previous project). I then realized they were both such unique characters, that I evolved the story to be about each one’s different ability.

I am happy with the result. I achieved in making it link to my partner’s home and character’s identities, by including the small details to create a personal touch to the story. I did however, surprise myself when writing about the time they meet to be at the end. I was interested in the fascinating characters, that my main aim was to fully portray the backgrounds of the aliens. This seemed to delay the intersection between the two characters, but overall I enjoy the ending to be open ended.