The27percent:

the27percent​:

Non-intervening was something they had done by nature, but visiting quieter spots where they could at least be mostly alone was something that didn’t trouble them much. Perhaps they had shown up in  some of the stories of varying civilizations over the many years, that didn’t seem to bother them much. Although they still had a way of avoiding such places just to make sure the potential fervor died down after a few generations.

They had been moving careful and quietly within the forest, prepared to dissipate or alter themself at the sight of a local. They had done enough reconnaissance to know this was fairly out of the way of most patterns - so when they did pick up on someone else.

They couldn’t be too surprised to see another.. potential wanderer type out here. Usually, they would actually be a little friendly even to see someone interested in places of this nature. But the sheer reaction on her face was enough for Atieno to remain guarded, distant in a way that came off as aloof.

They weren’t biologically right, alright. Ati is uncertain whether they should get closer or not. No, they would stop their movements and remain still, very still as they kept an eye on this other being.

They weren’t going to be judging for wandering, they were in no position to do exactly that. Instead, they would let this oh-so-expressive kind of wanderer make an impression.

“Interesting walk out here.. isn’t it?“ They kept their stance, casual - almost off-puttingly so, with their hands in their pocket and their overall gesture of someone who does not play all their cards so boldly, so immediately. Never at first.

A tilt of the head as they are studying her, almost too aware of how wary she has to be - the facial expressions had given off so much information without saying a word.

There’s something to be said about circumstances being able to engrave a reaction to something in someone’s bones. Potential danger being treated and analyzed, processed before it had any chance to become a true threat was a general hallmark of twitchy trigger fingers. Alive twitchy trigger fingers, of note.

Slowly, Krigg shuffled her poise from ready to act, to defensive. She slid one foot back, shifting her weight to it, her gaze fixated upon the strange figure, lips drawn tightly into a thin line. Faint star-shaped pupils contracted, the branches thinning and expanding minutely as she meticulously scanned them, trying to sink her claws into what exactly her hindbrain latched onto that her higher brain functions hadn’t caught.

It was the eyes, wasn’t it? Just one distant glimpse had been enough to send alarm bells ringing in the back of her mind, but a closer inspection certainly didn’t help soothe her reactive habits. There were plenty unusual details about the... she didn’t even want to qualify it as a *biped*, but they could all be attributed to cosmetic flights of fancy.

But the behavior, and the eyes - those struck out at her like things she SHOULD have been wary of with reason. Even when straining her vision harshly, she could not see pupils distinguished from the irises. They were two blacker-than-black dots that sucked in all the surrounding light like the space between stars. And for a creature that was supposed to belong to a civillization that hadn’t gotten to the stars yet, they were awfully comfortable.

Well, maybe not comfortable, more... detached. Like the whole situation was just a thing to happen. The behavior was extremely non-stereotypical, which was saying something about bipeds, which had BY FAR the weirdest reactions to this sort of thing normally. Krigg found she had to very consciously will her face back into a neutral posture when they spoke, lips instinctively curling to bare rows of sharp teeth. Her antennae slowly tilted downwards until they lay flat on her head, their usual curve growing stiff. It was a small wonder she didn’t hiss at them.

Call it a professional deformation, but she didn’t much like things that wore the skin of something else. Especially not when the things were looking back at her and picking her apart with as much attention as she was giving them.

She considered not answering and just walking the other way. But she lacked information - only surface assessments. Being too hasty and not treading carefully was how you made a fool of yourself. Or how you ended up dead, which sort of nullified the other possibility on a technicality. In a remote corner of her mind, the less anxious part of her leaned over its balcony railing, and suggested that maybe not jumping to conclusions on others was the right thing to do. It was, promptly, not ignored, but not answered either.

“...It’s quiet and the air smells nice. The greenery is pleasant to look at. I guess it’s... alright.” It took Krigg a few tries not to mumble through clenched teeth, or to try and chase the tension from her body. She only marginally managed the former.

the27percent​:

It was pretty obvious that whoever they were encountering was used to having analyze threats and quickly at that. If nothing else, she seemed to have a strong sense of self-preservation at all costs. A good quality to have if one was going to be out among the stars for any potential reason.

Indeed their incredibly dark eyes would have been the physical signal that all that the being here was of a very different state of existence. One that barely fit within the form that they had chosen to taken up. Perhaps they should have done something more shadowy, that would have been closer to their true nature. But would that have made this situation any easier?

What does a presentable form look like for those ultimately more formless than anything else? Atieno had experimented with that according to their interests, but those interests still meant that they would always sit in a uncanny valley kind of territory for those that they ran into. That they had long gotten used to. So the staring, the bearing of teeth, the sheer tenseness that they seemed to inspire in her - that was to be expected. They couldn’t and wouldn’t blame her for being wary.

But they weren’t going to take any particular action to give her reason to act either. Seeing her finally respond to their statement was enough for Atieno to give a slight nod.

“Alright? Yeah, it’s pretty lovely area, places like this can be quite the nice refuge when traveling. But I mean.. I can certainly let you continue on your way. I don’t mean to hold you up from wherever you’re trying to go.“

Of course, they doubted that being staring them down wouldn’t try to get some information out of them. Like why where they here, what their exact deal was.

----

For some skin-crawling, unknown horror, the false biped had some rather choice thoughtful opinions on the art of remote locales folks passed through along the way to other places. Krigg gave a slight frown, pushing to the side her urge to speculate - did it actually have refined, self-formed opinions, or was it repeating something to get a desired outcome? Mindless trap, or intelligent predator? Despite the phantom buzzing within her arm muscles of a practiced gesture to grab hold of her plasma pistol, she refrained.

She would not engage hostilities, yet, or risk sparking an agressive response from the creature. If it gave her no reason to draw fire, she wouldn’t give it one to retaliate. Though t’was the path of least risk, the situation left her just as confused as for which reaction to display in regards to the being offering she continue her path.

She wanted to gather more intel first - but would doing so expose her to a higher risk of the situation turning sour? Most likely, but walking away and leaving one’s back exposed while knowing nothing was just as likely to end miserably. The gears turning inside her mind halted with the one certainty she did have. She needed to make a choice, stalling would only delay actual decision making so long.

And her need for information won out.

“I’m not... going anywhere. I was just trying to enjoy the scenery. Would me leaving even...” Krigg’s voice hung in the air, the words “be safe” resting on the tip of her tongue - unsaid, but at the same time so predictable from context. She had no doubt the sharply observing creature ahead would, anyways. “Like- what’s- what’s the catch? Is there one? Should I be worried about turning my back to you? Are you going to rob my ability to speak if I do it, or turn my eyes inside out out of some weird principle? I don’t even know what you are - sure as shit not a biped!”

Ah, and there was that bad habit of hers. A rising and lowering, rapidly flickering tone stuck between playful-ish disbelief and annoyance that seemed to belt out of her mouth when she was stressed.

ask-hydachi-turnip-and-friends​:

“Ugh… finally finished for the night.” On the particularly star shaped planet, a single human teen is blissfully resting upon a bed after a long day. Pulling weeds, gingerly shoveling dirt and killing pests. It’s been one hell of a long day and now, after hours upon hours of tilling soil and uprooting dead plants, the boy finally has time to sleep. It’s been an exhausting night. The human plops into his bed, a content groan escapes him as he lands onto his fluffy covers and pillows, his sore muscles finally receiving the rest they deserve. “I hope tomorrow’s less tedious…” The boy groans, his voice muffled by a pillow he’s laid beneath his face. “Work sucks when I can’t use my powers all the time…”

Not even a few minutes after finally laying down, a loud sound is heard outside of Hydachi’s window. Wind. A LOT of wind, suddenly picking up outside. Hydachi shoots up out of his bed. “OH GOD! I FORGOT TO CLOSE THE FRONT GATE!!” Hydachi lifts his head, rubbing his eyes and staring outside, noticing a comet glimmering in the sky above. The boy’s eyes sparkle with curiosity. “Oooh… There wasn’t any news about a meteor shower today…”

Hydachi shakes his head, smacking his cheeks to wake himself up a bit more. “Focus! Front gate! C’mon, Hydachi!” Hydachi rushes out of his room, heading outside to get a closer look at what’s going on out there.

“Ugh... finally some fresh oxygen.” There was absolutely no grace in Krigg’s movements as hauled herself out of the airlock and tumbled on top of the Revenger’s wing and into the cool night air. The smell of a planet’s atmosphere was one you found out you missed a fair bit, after a few weeks of sniffing the same stale recycled junk. She would have happily soaked in the moment, but her gut let out a squeak of protest at her inaction that pushed her to sit up with a groan. She looked behind her at the hill she’d used as a landing pad - she hadn’t even had a messy landing, the whole thing didn’t have a gouge or anything like that, and simply hopped off the ship, landing at ground level with a small tumble and a roll.

Might as well start looking somewhere, even if it was for something like a tree full of green apples. She was far past the point of being picky. The diminutive alien jogged up the hill, grumbling in frustration at the fuzzy weight that seemed to spread across her muscles and slow her down. Malnourishment was a bitch. Still, for all that her body fought her, it didn’t take long before she made her way up and over it, watching her surroundings for any sign of, well, if not civillization, then at least grub.

And luckily for her, she quickly caught a glance of both, in the form of a tiny farmstead nestled in the green, rolling hills by a small dirt path. In other circumstances, she would have thought of it as cute, or considered knocking at the door. Two small issues though : it was the middle of the night. Whoever was awake, given the lone window with a source of light, wouldn’t be awake for long. And she was right fucking broke in whatever currency that place used.

Plus the very thought of begging for food was enough for a rush of embarrassment to creep up on the back of Krigg’s mind. The small alien shook her head briskly, and began her descent of the hill. Surely, there had to be one or two things she could just... borrow and not impact their revenue? They wouldn’t even notice them being gone... right?

Or, so that’s what Krigg kept telling herself as she slowly made her approach under the cover of night towards the property. It was fenced, but the wall wasn’t all that high, to be completely honest. The little alien slowly skulked away from the main gate, choosing instead to pick a more remote spot to begin investigating, smack dab behind the worn down barn. There was only a short hop, and a scratch of gloved claws against wood that sent paint flecks cascading down as she clambered up the obstacle. It wibble-wobbled a little under her weight with an ominous creak, but she was soon enough over it, landing smoothly behind the barn.

Right, let’s hope that was stealthy.

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the27percent​:

Atieno could clearly tell that she was struggling with what they had explained. Although it was honestly a fair reaction, one they had gotten some times before. Which is often why they were a little careful about when and where they spent their time. “I mean.. fair. The reasoning can be hard to gauge especially when it’s contrary to how you’d expect someone my sort of being to move.“

“I mean. Yes. That’s more or how it happened. Although to be fair, I had seen many worlds form and.. so I have more amorphous but smaller versions that lets me slip about pretty easily too.“ It was quite the exercise to have caused.

“I think the main thing keeping me from what could be ‘insanity’ although I would question applying the concept of sane/insane to me at all in the first place - is that despite my fairly limited appearance, I still pick up on way, way, way more than any human or mortal being would. So it’s not that much of a separation for me. “

Atieno gives a bit of a dry mildly understanding hum at the admission about conceptualizing discomfort in others. It didn’t even land as a poor decision given they were being pushed to explain themself in the first place - that kind of uncomfortable realization was going to come. Even if they did manage to smooth things over a bit better with their words in other situations.

 “Yeah, you’re probably right about that. For the most part… I’d rather not tell anyone anything if they don’t actually want to know, to be forthright there. Easier to let people question things and maybe forget about the whole thing in time. “

Should they actually tell her about how curious they could get about the decay process and how that plays out? Atieno has since decided, that kind of honesty wasn’t worth it. Not here at least.

“As I said, I’m not entirely so removed in understanding my surroundings despite how I look currently. It’s very much a thin cover for what I can really do at a given moment. As for you and still reeling from all of this - I think most would understandably, and besides being boring isn’t exactly a bad thing. If it makes getting through things easier, then it has to be a relief. “

“Honestly chief, it depends on who finds you boring. The less energy something dangerous opts to spend on me, the better in my book. It means you might just slip through the cracks of something’s awareness, and in due time, they might forget you more than you forget things they’ve told you.” Krigg answered with a rather blunt strain of honesty, reaching to stuff her hands in her pockets. This whole conversation was a multi-track drift of trying to figure out how the person in front of her felt, how dangerous it was, and in general, to understand the strange social case that stood in front of her. Frankly, she wasn’t finding the task easy.

Trying to psychoanalyze something that far removed from the normal concepts that most people were subjected to for actual motivations was a plain headache and a half. And Krigg looked properly like she was slowly feeling the mother of all migraines coming on. The nasty type that started between someone’s eyes and that felt like some random asshole had driven a railroad spike into their forehead.

“So, you looking like this and approaching the world looking like a random, if very weird biped, isn’t any sort of downplay on your perception of the universe. You’re still observing the world under the same lens that you started out with, only in a way that would freak people out significantly less. But, that begs the question - do you get anything out of the world interacting back with you in that specific manner?” Krigg couldn’t help but ask, trying to pick her words with some degree of caution. She slowly reached up to rub her temples, staving off the feeling of mental exhaustion that came from her brief moment of fight-or-flight.

Now that the stress was dying down to levels acceptable for not being at an immediate risk of expiring, it was taking a toll on her body. “Are you finding some form of worth in interacting with other people as a pseudo mortal creature, at least in looks? I mean - you gotta’ have some form of interest in the situation to even maintain a conversation with me.”

“...I wonder if that’s how it feels like for chicks of endangered species to realize they’ve been interacting with a hand disguised as a sock puppet of their parent their whole formative years.” She added, the thought feeling fairly incongruous, but in a way that demanded she say it out loud. “You are basically talking out of a human sock puppet.”

@pzfr​, from [X]

“Rex, I say this as nicely as I possibly can...” Krigg whispered, her head slowly poking ‘round the same corner Rex was investigating, a little ways down compared to him, one lone antennae preceding the charge to listen for incoming hostiles. “But your whole planet has become a master in the art of pulling some weird and unusual shit out of their ass. I’ll roll with it when it happens, not if.”

The little creatures gaze scoured the hallway meticulously for the hidden gleam of a camera, or any sign of hostiles. And when she found none, she simply looked up to the nypardian with an unimpressed quirk of a non-existent brow. “Just mind yourself. I can be so fucking sneaky, you’ll forget I’m there. Just let’s do the repo job and get out ‘cause you owe me a pretzel for this.”