it's raining turians

[10minutesofscreentime]

Who: Nihlus and you! Or anyone, really
What: Yet another goddamn alien arrives
Where: Some relatively secluded and open place in/close to LA
When: Now?? Probably??
Warnings: None

There is a protocol on establishing contact with new (sentient and deemed worthy of the Council's attention) species. The protocol, sadly, is reserved for big ships with crews of more asari and salarians than turians. As for the Spectre protocol, there is, as usual, none.
As usual, Nihlus chose to improvise.
After a couple of days of research as intense as his ship's dwindling resources and his concern for security would allow, he finally decides he's almost ready to go out in the open. The decision is driven more by necessity than his actual readiness - his ship and equipment is running out of power and Nihlus himself is running out of food. The only thing he's not too short on is ammo, which is almost miraculously useless in this situation.

So what happens is this: not unlike another spaceship some time earlier, an obviously alien, unindentified one-man (judging by the size) vessel disables all of its cloaking shields in the sky over LA. It's not much more than a dark spot in the sky at first, but it quickly grows larger before appearing in all its glory (of which there isn't all that much, with how battered the ship is) and landing. The rumble of its engines dies down, and barely a minute later the ship opens as Nihlus steps outside, his omni-tool already running scans of the area (and his gun still strapped to his back - discreet, but readily available).

This world is still new to Nihlus and he blinks a couple of times, vaguely disoriented by how overwhelming it all is. Without his suit's filtration and adjustment systems working (and with several days of minor malnutrition) the air of this world feels too sharp to breathe and the colours of the landscape feel off to his eyes. He shakes his head briefly and reverts his attention to the matters at hand - that is to say, his omni-tool.

His choice of location isn't random - the landing spot is remote enough not to warrant unwanted attention and close enough to warrant wanted attention, as well as providing enough space for maneuver, both on foot and in his ship (in case things take an unfortunate turn). What he is banking on, though, is coming in contact with the authorities or at least people of certain standing to establish his position on the planet (and get some help). The last two days have been spent analyzing the local language (despite being a rather advanced planet, it's still multi-lingual) and according to the computer's estimations, Nihlus should have a fully working (if still incomplete and a bit wobbly) translator in just about--

This is the moment his omni-tool informs him with a quick flash and a beep that energy reserves are at a critical low, and therefore all but most basic and combat functions will be cut access to.

Nihlus can't find anything better to do than swear.

((Tl;dr: there is now a baffled and vaguely annoyed catbird alien in the vicinity. Have your character ever wanted to communicate with an alien using nothing more sophisticated than signing, drawing pictures and repeating words slowly and loudly? This is your big chance!))

Comments

ooh ooh charades

[ravirn]

The good thing about a city; everything within only so much reach.

The bad thing about a city; that doesn't include fresh air.

So Ravirn's take a bit of a hike, after making use of some public transport; getting off near the stadium, he heads towards some green he'd found, figuring that if he can't relax the way he normally does he might, hell, see if there's any rings or something around there.

Never hurts to find one for later, all.

So while the birds and scarce wildlife is expected- something coming from the sky isn't, and it's only a moment's pause before he's quickly running in that direction, despite Melchior's comments in his backpack how this is probably not the smartest thing to do but then again when has Ravirn done the smart thing?

And while he's not trying to be sneaky...maybe it's just Slapstick making its appearance when he loses his footing on some loose dirt, stumbling with a yelp and barely keeping himself from falling on to his face. He ends up on his hands and knees, looking up just in time to catch sight of-

well.

"...huh."

He's not sure what that is, really.

i am so hoping for charades

[10minutesofscreentime]

That is called a turian, thank you. It's also staring at Ravirn incredulously.

Contact with unprepared civilians is not what Nihlus was hoping for, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to try to make the most of the situation. He might as well use this to establish himself as non-threatening.

He comes closer to Ravirn after his fall, crouching and extending a three-fingered hand towards him in a universal gesture of "you okay?".

we will make it happen

[ravirn]

Having never met a turian, the first thing that pops in to Ravirn's head is webtroll- but even that moves out pretty quickly, because there's no way in hell one would look like that even aside from the chance it'd even be here. And despite the better thought of maybe not taking this so quickly-

Ravirn flashes a grin, reaches for that hand, and promptly makes to use it to pull himself up. "Thanks, bud. For the record, I totally meant to do that."

wonderful B)

[10minutesofscreentime]

Nihlus helps Ravirn get up, but only shakes his head at his words. He still can't speak English - though even through the language barrier Nihlus can recognize the lame I-meant-to-do-that excuse tone of voice. Now that is a universal constant.

"I don't speak your language," he explains, if only to demonstrate his point. His speech sounds a bit like a strange mix of bird-like trills, occasional clacky sounds and, somehow, something resembling a cat purring.

[ravirn]

That is- an interesting language. Ravirn's never heard it before, but then it clicks that it may be true the other way around, too.

And oh no.

Oh no this has wonderful potential.

Ravirn has to force himself to not immediately take advantage of this; still, he can't help but grin, tilting his head. Given time and he could probably translate it, write up a quick program to help him speak it too with Melchior's help; but the webgoblin is securely in his pack for now, and would more than likely yell at him for pulling him out. As well as falling.

(He really needs to spellhack a bluetooth or something so they're not so far apart. The webgoblin more than makes up for their lack of communication when he can speak, but Ravirn misses their back-and-forth banter more than he should.)

"Right, so..." He pulls his hands back, rubbing them together briefly in thought. First things first, and he firmly tells himself he can have his fun later. "Ravirn," he declares, patting himself on the chest. "Ra-virn. How about you?" he adds, gesturing towards the...well, whatever it calls itself.

8')

[superball]

One would have to be blind to miss the sudden appearance of an alien ship over LA, and Eusine prides himself on his very sharp eyesight - though to be quite honest he also prides himself on his sharp wit and sharp sense of fashion, meaning it's probably a miracle he's not constantly cutting himself on all that edge - which is why, all sense of caution thrown out of the window (as if he had any to start with,) he decides to go investigate the new visitor.

After all, if they're friendly he would be stupid not to use the occasion to learn more about life beyond the stars! ... And if they're not, the city might need his strength as a RENOWNED SUPERHERO. A win-win situation if he ever saw one.

Eusine doesn't arrive straight away, having decided NOT to use his rocket spats: not only would that give his superhero identity away (as he's not in costume), but it would undoubtedly mess up his hair and now that would just be criminal. He needs to look presentable, after all. It doesn't take him too long to get there though, and it's with utmost confidence that he strolls towards Nihlus, having apparently decided that he was friendly based on the sole fact he hasn't started shooting up everything on sight. First impressions are great.

"Welcome, friend, to our blue planet Earth!" he declares theatrically, his arms wide open. Leaving that kind of stuff to people with actual political power? Please.

eusine no

[10minutesofscreentime]

Spirits it's talking at him

Nihlus notices Eusine coming while he's still some distance away, so by the time Eusine reaches him Nihlus has already deactivated his omni-tool and has an expectant (but not overly hopeful) look about him. He doesn't look worried in the least (the good thing about sentient species is that if they actually want to shoot you, they do it without much dramatism from a safe distance), but neither does he look overly friendly. Even for someone unfamiliar with turian body language it's easy enough to tell - his eyes are sharp and slightly narrowed as he gives Eusine a studying look.

Things change with Eusine's ridiculous declaration.

Nihlus actually looks startled for a second, eyes darting from Eusine's open arms to his face to the distance behind Eusine - this kind of theatrics is usually reserved for grand ceremonies, isn't it - but once he realizes that Eusine is the only one here he looks slightly annoyed again, his mandibles moving once in irritation.

"I have no idea what you're saying", he says with a sigh. The sound of turian speech is definitely alien - flowing, vibrating sounds born deep in the throat, interspersed with short, clacking sounds occasionally. It might remind an Earthling a little of birds and rivers.

did you mean: everyone's reaction to everything eusine does, ever

[superball]

If Eusine's smile falters when he realizes there's a massive language barrier between then, it doesn't show for more than a microsecond. No problem! He can work with this. His new alien friend looks willing to communicate, which is an excellent start; he may or may not have noticed Nihlus' gesture of irritation (the mandible thing reminds him of that one time he found a crab cryptid. Good times, good times... until it tried to eat him, at least) but Eusine would never let something as petty as mild annoyance prevent him from butting into people's business.

"This," he tells Nihlus slowly and loudly, arms outstretched towards the landscape as if trying to embrace it all, "is EARTH! EARTH." he repeats, drawing a circle in the air with a finger. The planet you're on. Earth.

He is communicating with an unknown alien species. As the common man would say, this is so cool.

one thing that unites all species: reaction to eusine

[10minutesofscreentime]

As Nihlus would say, this is so embarrassing.

He understands that Eusine is attempting to communicate with him, but not much beyond that. He winces almost imperceptibly at Eusine's loud voice and the unfamiliar tones of this planet's--correction, this particular place he's in's speech. His eyes follow Eusine's gestures as Nihlus tries to figure out what this native is trying to tell him - this might as well be the local way of greeting someone, for all he knows. He decides to take the safe way out and go through it word-by-word. Or, at least, what he assumes counts as a word.

"Earth," he repeats, trying to imitate Eusine's pronounciation and having some difficulty with it - vowels too deep and drawn out slightly longer than necessary, and the "th" sound is absolutely not agreeing with his turian mouth. He opts to pronounce it closer to "s".

the only constant thing in the entire universe: some unpredictable nerd

[superball]

Eusine simply can't help but clasp his hands in delight.

"Not bad! I'm sure you'll get the hang of this in no time." And he means it, too. He's heard some much poorer attempts at English from his fellow Frenchmen.

Actually... He pauses for a second, a hand on his chin. He's visibly considering something, his previous exuberance seemingly replaced with a more contemplative mood... That is, until he takes out a small notepad and a box of pencils from the inside of his jacket, flip past what seems to be twenty pages of some kind of horned lump with four legs, and excitedly draws what can only be called a masterpiece.

"Well! How about this?" He rips the page off, almost shoving it into Nihlus's face as he points to the blue planet in the middle, before repeating his previous circular gesture.

"Terre!"

After all, no one said aliens had to learn English.

[chapterfiveversenine]

If the datastream that flitted through the consensus upon Nihlus' arrival could be translated, it would read oh god not more of these assholes.

The sentiment remains, as a group of younger runtimes rapidly compile and distribute a list of reasons the turian's arrival is Very Bad. The oldest runtime quietly catalogs this instance as an example of the emotion of irritation before the consensus begins audio transmission.

Legion's voice sounds over a scrambler; it's impossible to identify them.

"Hello. Who are you?"

taking some liberties here/assuming they're both speaking some citadel lang

[10minutesofscreentime]

There is only silence for a couple of minutes while Nihlus decides what to do.

This transmission confirms his original guess - someone had already travelled through the relay he had discovered. But they haven't tried to return - meaning they either had no means or no intentions of doing it. Could be a crashed ship, could be petty criminals hiding on a suitable world away from Council space. They must have been here for at least some time - either they have enough resources to survive for a long time, or they are a species suited to living on this planet. Even the fact they're using a scrambler could either mean they're expecting trouble, or it could be a simple security measure.

Deciding that revealing his Spectre position might be a hasty move in this situation, Nihlus finally activates his own audio transmitter.

"My name is Nihlus", he informs the mysterious sender. "Who am I talking to?"

me too to be honest

[chapterfiveversenine]

"My name is Gerrin," the consensus intones, selecting a name generic enough that it doesn't suggest any species in particular. Nihlus' voice is immediately identified as turian, which means he definitely has military training and is likely armed as well. Legion has no desire to restart old wars; conflict avoidance is the best strategy here. "I would like to know if you are here on behalf of any militaries or mercenary groups."

[10minutesofscreentime]

Thankfully, it's also in Nihlus's interests to avoid conflict right now. Finding out if this 'Gerrin' (Nihlus isn't so blind as to trust the name to be real, but he can understand the caution) is involved with anything illegal (by Council standards) can wait until he isn't in danger of starving to death over the course of the next week.

"I am not," he responds, deciding to keep the information to a minimum for now. Simple answers will do for now, until he can find out more about his conversation partner. "I did not expect there to be anyone from the Council space on this world. Are you a colonist?" he asks, instead, opting for as innocent variant of a guess as possible.

[chapterfiveversenine]

"I am a scout," Legion responds. "I was searching for potential colonies when I discovered this world, which already has an alien civilization. Currently, I observe and report to my superiors."

There is a short pause. "I believe you are turian," 'Gerrin' then adds. "There are very few naturally occurring dextro-amino acid food sources on this planet. It is best you are warned now."

i'm sorry nihlus

[alienheroes]

Ben is still sort of irritated with himself for missing the giant robot showdown, not to mention the fact that apparently there was another recent alien landing that he also missed, and he didn't manage to get in on solving all the stuff with everyone singing compulsively, which totally stank because that was really embarrassing and helping to fix it would have been awesome.

But now there's another spaceship, which means an alien, and he is an expert on aliens (in much the same way being good at racing games makes someone a good driver, which is to say, it's not true and thinking it is is irritating and potentially dangerous).

When he actually sees Nihlus, he hesitates briefly, because come to think of it he doesn't think he's seen this kind of alien. But, obviously, that is only a very slight setback.

"Hey, a new arrival, huh? Who are you?" For all he knows this guy might be evil, but he doesn't look like he's attacking or anything, so might as well assume he's a good guy, right?

one thing they dont teach you in spectres: how to deal with kids

[10minutesofscreentime]

... That. That is a child. Even if Nihlus hadn't already seen human children, it's not hard to guess.

Nihlus realizes he doesn't know how to deal with children up close. It's not often you see other species' young, especially as a soldier, and the last time Nihlus had spoken to a child (technically) was a brief exchange with a twenty-years-old asari in a far-off spaceport. He had pointed her to the snacks vending machine.

Ben is treated to a completely baffled expression on Nihlus's face, before the turian clears his throat (his mandibles move) uncomfortably and gets himself together.

"I can't understand you", he tries to explain, before realizing it's useless and simply shaking his head instead. That should be a universal gesture, right?

[alienheroes]

Ben squints slightly. That was unexpected; he's mostly used to dealing with aliens who already speak English, or at least have some kinda translator things. Actually, it takes him a moment to realize that that's the problem here.

"...what?" He has no idea what those noises were, what is going on. Then it clicks into place. "OH! You don't know English, do you? Umm... just a second!"

His first impulse is to reach for his watch, but- no, he's pretty sure he doesn't have whatever this guy is on there. Besides, last time he tried that, it didn't work and he got attacked by two giant dog-alien-things.

Instead he just sticks his hand out, because handshakes are a universal thing, right? He hopes so. "I'm Ben!" He points at himself with his other hand. Clearly, this is a foolproof mode of communication. He is an expert.

[10minutesofscreentime]

It's alright, Ben, he doesn't understand what your noises are either.

Nihlus gives Ben's outstretched hand another incredulous look, but doesn't hesitate long before reaching out with his own hand (two fingers and a thumb)... without, however, actually touching Ben's. Hand contact as a form of greeting is not uncommon, mostly favoured by the asari - but Nihlus isn't familiar with the ways of this planet. He tilts his head expectantly, waiting for Ben's reaction.

The other gesture, though, he identifies as introduction easily enough. He nods and repeats what he thinks is the boy's name.

"Eyme Ben," his pronounciation is still off, some sounds too rough, but he's managing it better than his attempts at pronouncing "earth". Similar to Ben's gesture, Nihlus rests his other hand on his chestplate. "Nihlus Kryik."

[alienheroes]

Ben just sort of stares at Nihlus's hand for a moment - is that not a thing they do? - before taking hold of it awkwardly in something resembling a handshake.

Then he realizes he was kind of... misunderstood when introducing himself. Crud. "No, actually, it's just, uh-" He points at himself. "Ben." Then at the alien. "Nihlus Kryik?"

If Nihlus's pronunciation is sort of off, Ben's is an absolute travesty. He's trying, okay.

are you sick of unhelpful youngsters yet

[neonmonstrosity]

Okay, look. The reasons for Chris hanging out in the outskirts of the city are unimportant and definitely not illegal. The thing that matters here is that he's been distracted from whatever Completely Sensible and not-at-all-frowned-upon-by-CONDOR thing he was doing by the appearance of a spaceship. He contemplates just ignoring it for a minute, but outside of Karkat, (who Chris likes well enough, but he also has a perpetual case of the morbs,) he never gets to meet aliens like at all ever. What's even the point of joining the Trailblazers if you don't get to see cool shit like that?

(Saving lives and helping people. That's the reason.)

So Chris decides to speed over in the vague direction of the ship and-- oh, yes. That's definitely the person he's looking for. Chris waves an arm to get Nihlus' attention - the idea that he could be here with hostile intent clearly doesn't even occur to him - and jogs up closer. "Alright, mate? Need any help?"

he is 100% done. do adults exist on this planet

[10minutesofscreentime]

Nihlus notices Chris's arm wave and turns to face him, but does not seem particularly thrilled to see him. His expression turns perplexed (easy enough to tell by the way he tilts his head and narrows his eyes, even if it's accompanied by a vague movement of his... what are those even, mandibles?) at Chris's greeting - he must be the first person Nihlus has ever known to just run up to an alien of unknown species and greet them. Does this planet not have the notion of common sense and elementary safety measures?

"I don't speak your language," he informs Chris with a shake of his head, and continues to watch him attentively - Chris's carefree demeanor's put Nihlus on his guard a little. Who knows, he might need to defend himself.

only technically

[neonmonstrosity]

To be fair, they've probably warned against exactly this sort of thing in training before. Chris doesn't care. As far as he's concerned, he has super strong robot arms that can punch through almost anything, what could possibly happen?

He gets that Nihlus doesn't speak English - he briefly wonders if having paid attention in French would've helped him, but he discards that thought in favour of trying to figure out how to communicate with his new buddy here. Speaking loudly and gesturing broadly should help, right? It worked for him in Russia.

"DO YOU--" he points quite intently at Nihlus and really stresses the you there, "NEED HELP?" 'Help' is a little harder to get across, and he elects to mime picking up shopping bags. It's exactly as useless as it sounds.

welp i sure did hiatus there

[10minutesofscreentime]

Nihlus winces visibly, Chris's loud voice unpleasantly alien (hah) to his ears. "Spirits, you're loud," he informs the teen before him, his tone clearly displeased. It's to no avail, of course, but at least he tried.

Chris's shopping bags gesture only serves to confuse Nihlus further and the turian cocks his head questioningly and narrows his eyes, shaking his head. He really does have no idea what the... individual in front of him is trying to tell him. Instead, Nihlus tries to explain the situation on his own, pointing back to his ship and shaking his head once again to indicate that he's stuck here now. He then points at the buildings of the city in the distance before giving a shrugging gesture. "I'm unfamiliar with your planet. Is there anyone in the city that can help me?" he asks, relying on the tone of his voice to get the point across.

how dare you 8I

[neonmonstrosity]

As is surprising to literally no one, Chris is very familiar with being told he's too loud and gets it despite the language barrier. The next bit kind of has him squinting at Nihlus as he tries to figure out what he wants though. Something to do with the ship and the city? If he wants to wipe them out that is the opposite of okay.

Oh wait, he shrugged. So he's confused? Or... "Oh, shit. You're lost, yeah?" Got it.

He looks back out to the city and pulls a face; mostly weighing up the pros and cons of leading a stranger of unknown power through LA and taking them to CONDOR. What if he's just raring to go killing people and destroying heroes or something. That only lasts a moment before he comes back to his stance of 'I can punch anything' and looks at Nihlus, smiling and nodding.

"I'm--" pointing to himself, "gonna take you there." And he points in the vague direction of one of CONDOR's bases, looking back to Nihlus to check if he understands.