Hinata was not having a good time. His friends and him just wanted to go on an intergalactic road trip and somehow ended up on this forsaken planet. Though the slightest were gorgeous and the creatures were beautiful, the local sapient species… less so. At first it was fine… if fine could be defined as being stranded on a strange world after some rat bastards destroyed the ship. Another thing Hinata greatly disliked about the world, they had way too much vermin.
Even with the ship destroyed it had been fine, they were finding the materials needed to leave. That all changed when they got caught up in local turf wars of the planet and seeing as it was going to hell he and his friends were heavily prioritizing getting off the world as quickly as they possibly could.
As Winika finished with the last few repairs for the ship in a run down shed they piled in ready to leave before someone found them and caused them to stay longer. Once everyone was in Hinata strapped in and began starting the engines. They groaned in denial before slowly roaring to life. That was sure to catch way too much attention. They began to hover as Hinata checked one last time to make sure everything was in order and no one was going to die on take off.
They blasted through the roof as Hinata hit a few buttons and moved a few levers around. Taking off into the sky as quickly as they could praying that they wouldn't be shot down by, well anything that was in the sky, at this point Hinata wasn't entirely sure the birds themselves weren't spies themselves, he had heard somewhere that they were. Then again humans spread misinformation worse than the shimmerarians.
They began to exit and the atmosphere as their speed quickened, had they not had g-force shields they would have been crushed. Once they broke the atmosphere they began to near .0005% light speed increasing drastically as they continued out of the solar system reaching 1% light speed by the time they passed mars. They would need to exit the solar system before they could warp away. They reached 10% light speed by the time they passed Pluto and exited the system.
Hinata activated the warp drive and space twisted around them in a nauseating way, mixing everything together. It only lasted a few moments before they were spit out elsewhere. Unfortunately elsewhere was not where they meant to go, in fact it was inside a planet's atmosphere, which made zero since. Hinata had heard stories of people who had gone through this, it was incredibly rare but did happen. He also had no doubt that was what had happened, how else could he explain the laws of nature blatantly being ignored.
The people who survived to tell the tale told many different stories, some of strange worlds with thousands of never before seen wonders while others told of horrific monsters and nightmare creatures that caused anyone who glimpsed them to go insane. Hinata was desperately praying for the former. Checking the systems he realized that they needed to recharge the drive before they could continue on. Sighing, he brought the news to his friends.
"Seems we've been ditched in some unknown space, and if I had to guess also in some other dimension." He said as he brought the ship down to the ground in an oddly big parking lot.
"Can't be worse than earth." Solace said as he sprawled out on top of Veeolia's head looking nauseated.
"Maybe we got lucky! Who knows, perhaps we're on a nice world." Veeolia chirped as positively as always.
"While that might be a possibility we also could be completely screwed on some hell world while we wait for the ship to recharge. Speaking of which, how do we plan to do that exactly?"
"Well we certainly won't find anything staying here. Let's explore a little to get a feel of the place."
Veeolia was more than happy to take Hinata up on the offer, Winika and Solace less so, they did however yield once they came to the realization it was the only real way forward. Plus they did not feel like being stuck in a potentially dangerous world once night fell. They exited the ship once by one bringing along tools and things they could potentially pawn for the world's currency. Hopefully the residents won't be too upset about them being alien.
Setting up some basic safety precautions they walked out from behind the building they were behind and into the streets. Once they entered them they were momentarily shocked by the residents. Most seemed human, but there were several who had other strange features decorating them.
"We'll that's disconcerting." Solace said.
"Yeah." Hinata agreed in a mildly shocked tone.
"Well let's see what this world has to offer!" Veeolia cheered, then was shushed by everyone else as they tried to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Which didn't work well because the next thing they knew a businessman with neon green hair and white horns popped up in front of them.
"Hello, you must be new here! First time visiting? That's alright, I have just the thing to get you started off in this strange new world!" He started with a cheerful voice spread across his face and a big grin.
"No that's---" Hinata was cut off by the business man.
"Not looking to stay, I see! That's just fine too. I got just the thing for short term stays as well! For a small price I can give all the information that you need! Just tell me what you need to know and all your things" the last part he muttered under his breath, "and I'll tell you anything!!"
At this point Veeolia was trying to sneak off with Winika and Solace attempting to leave Hinata to his fate. He noticed just in time and glancing between the salesman pressuring him to buy his items and his escaping friends he swiftly grabbed the nearest person and placed them in front of him before darting off towards his friends.
At his flawless escape he joined his friends who gave him a small round of applause.
"Hey, that shop looks cute! Let's go inside." Veeolia pointed out jestering toward a shop on the other side of road to a shop with nice colors and the words Lucky Charm Coffee Shop and Bakery displayed across the top of the building. Then she dashed across the road.
"Veeolia wait! We have no money!" Solace shouted from on top of Veeolia as he clung to her head hoping not to meet god today.
Hinata processed the scene before him. He turned his head to Winika who did the same. They had a small staring contest as Hinata's antinni waved in a slightly confused, slightly distressed manner. Winika didn't really know what to do either and simply decided to head off after her rambunctious friends. Hinata followed closely behind.
They entered the shop, smiling softly at the smell of cinnamon and coffee. There were all different types of trinkets decorating the place a pumpkin drifted along the ceiling and crystals seemed to sprout from the walls.
Jinx was working the counter today and while not all that happy about it she had some interesting requests and even got to curse a karen that had wandered in. She was lazing around at the counter playing with a few crystal bats that flew around the place when the wind chimes rang out. Looking up she spotted a small person with bright blue hair, four eyes, and polka dotted wings enter. With her, Jinx thinks she's a her, was a much smaller person that one had wings like a dragonfly and was only a few inches tall.
"Hi, welcome to Lucky Charm. How may I help you." Jinx asked in her usual customer service voice.
"Ah, hello, what do you have that's super sweet and also tastes like caramel?"
"Well we have butterscotch, brownie caramel bites, caramel, and some other. Do you have any desired effects for them?"
"Desired effects? Like what?"
"Well Lucky Charm butterscotch will give you a noticeable boost in luck, and fiery caramel bites will make you temporarily breathe small amounts of fire." Jinx replied a bit exasperated, why wouldn't anyone read the board it was right there.
"Oooooo that sounds so coooool~" I'll take one of each!"
"Veeolia we still have no currency." The tiny one said
"That's not much of a problem. This place gets to many other worldly visitors for use to really have one, plus the residents regularly leave the place to gather materials from other worlds themselves, we mostly just trade goods."
Before they were given a chance to respond the door opened again with a chim announcing the presence of two more people. Once had light green hair and was covered in vines and flowers attached to her skin. The other had strips, antini, and spikes covering him. The two newcomers quickly went up to their friends at the counter.
"Hinataaa, Winny~ we don't need money to buy things in this place." The one with bird wings cheered, she was way too cheery, was this normal for her species?
"How are we supposed to pay then?" The green haired one, could be Hinata, could be Winny who knows, not Jinx.
"Goods!"
Silence rang out in the shop for a moment, besides the few other patrons who were minding their own business.
"Right," the tiny one added, "At least we know we can actually buy what we need in this place."
"Yeah that is a plus."
Jinx was beginning to think she should be here.
"Riiight," she drawed out, catching their attention again. "Are you going to get anything orrr."
"Yes! I'll take a lucky caramel brownie, and a scavenger latte."
"I'll take a pumpkin spice latte with three shots of patience."
"How bout a shining sugar cookie."
"Adventure cookie!"
Jinx nodded and began to prepare, grabbing out the desired items and making the few that weren't already displayed.
"Here it is, now what do you have to offer?"
"I got a crystal dagger or some weird plants I can give you."
"Hmmm hard choice, tell me about those plants."
Winika pulled some plants out of a storage pocket, "this is a void fern and fungus. Leave them in minimal light and neglect them. They will flourish."
"Deal," Jinx agreed, taking the planets out of Winika's hands and pushed the sweets toward them disappearing behind a wall
The four aliens sat down at a nearby table eating their sweets in the peaceful atmosphere. They would work on getting the parts they need later. For now they collectively decided to not care. Solace finished his pumpkin spice latte first and waited patiently for the others to finish as well. Winika was literally glowing by the time she finished hers. Hinata was bouncing in his seat urging them to leave and go exploring. Veeolia on the other hand was stuffing the last of her brownie into her mouth.
"Common! Let's go." Hinata exclaimed in excitement.
To this Winika stood up with Solace perched on her shoulder. Veeolia nodded as she picked up what was left of her drink and followed the rest of her friends out of the store. They walked down the streets with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Veeolia and Hinata lead the way skipping happily while the other two walk calmly behind them looking out for anything dangerous.
As the aliens were exploring the town and picking up needed supplies to fix their broken down ship Jinx was in her basement looking for a place to put her new plants. She stepped over and around the different objects clustering around as she moved to the back, where some of her other little to no light plants were. Entering a room to the side she was greeted by all the other plants keepted there. Passing the various flowers and cactus like plants she made her way to the fungus section placing the void fungus down besides the others.
Once that was finished she moved toward the ferns passing hanging plants with long vines that would occasionally snap at her if she got too close. Dodging another vine and passing by a few different shrubs she got to the ferns and placed the void fern in its own section to flourish. She would have to check on them again later, she'd had a few plants she had received been cursed or otherwise problematic. Perhaps she should look into hiring someone who was good with plants.