At least it's not actually raining men

[monstermama]

WHO: Ripley & OPEN
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Settling in, disclaimers that this isn't her fault (pink hearts, sparkly glitter)
WHEN: V-Day (and a few days after)
WARNINGS: Possible language (Ripley has a dirty mouth)

She'd been there a day now. A day to poke around and find a place that wasn't too close to the rest of them, but not too far either. Not hers- not yet, but hers for now. It was in the area near the Flood Plain. One of the residences somewhere in the middle. She'd been listening on the network, going past to see what was and what wasn't. The Flood Plain had food in ready supply if she needed it, things she could hunt. Things that might try hunting her. It almost felt natural.

It wasn't too far from the bar she'd met the android, Cayde, in. Close to the meat of the place, since she'd yet to see humans pass up a place to go to drink themselves stupid when the situation called for it.

She'd been about to leave to go hunting, see what there was in terms of sport and violence here, when the sky had opened up above her. All over Temba, it seemed. She held her hand out when she saw that it wasn't doing any damage to the area around her. Flecks of glitter stuck to her hand, a little pink heart joining the flecks to stick to her before she wiped it off. Or, tried to. It didn't seem to want to come off, sticking to her and just moving to another part of her body. "Great."

What a welcome. She managed to drag together a blanket to toss over herself to protect her from the worst of it, but... well. There was glitter raining from the sky, and someone had left something on the pad she'd made a nest of when she got back to the room she'd claimed. A note. Fangs. And a pink ball of fluff that she kicked off to the side.

After a half a day of glitter-rain, she took to the network.

username: ripley
Does this happen often? Is there some sort of weather schedule to look out for to avoid this? Whatever this is.

For the next few days, Ripley will be found using blankets and tarps as coverings when she ventures out, looking for food, information, and trying to figure out where she fits in this strange new city. Find her wherever you like, looking for things, attempting to scavenge, or eying the data points with curiosity.

Comments

Outside in the Glitter

[kree_soldieress]

Some people sought shelter from the glitter. Some people reveled in it. Lauri-Ell did neither. The woman moved calmly through the streets of Temba, a large, blue bastion of calm as confetti and glitter fell around her. The calm was probably hard to achieve, but the large was remarkable given the woman was over six and a half feet tall, and wider in the shoulder than your average linebacker. She had a metal hammer with a haft that had to be at least four feet long slung over her shoulder, and dangling from it at the end of a rope, a collection of animals hanging off of it as she walked.

Of course the woman paused when she caught sight of Ripley, tilting her head in consideration. Here was someone she had not met yet, right?

"Hello. The shining particles all around are not dangerous to human biology as far as I can tell. You are safe without coverings."

[monstermama]

It wasn't the first time she'd come across an alien. It also wasn't the first time she'd come across one that didn't look human- though this was more of a coloring issue than physiology one. Still, she stood there, the tarp over her held by one hand at her head, tucked around her front by the other, and just looked. Just for a moment. Processing. Ripley didn't know Valentine's Day, but she'd make her own judgement on the harmless issue. "Depends on your definition of dangerous. This crap doesn't seem to want to come off, and I'd rather not look like I'm advertising myself as sparkly edibles."

[kree_soldieress]

Well, that was definitely a concern, Lauri-Ell supposed. Though not a pressing one.

"There is not much here that would hunt us. But if you are concerned, you can take the security data point. And a weapon."

Then she would be moderately safe.

"Or I could provide an escort if you are uncomfortable with weapons."

Many humans here seemed to be, if it was not one they had brought with themselves.

[monstermama]

She'd looked at what the data points were, noticing which ones had been mentioned on the network and which ones she might be interested in seeing to. The security one hadn't been one of them. She shook her head, looking the large blue female over again as she shook out the tarp, spreading the glitter and hearts behind her. "I don't need a weapon to hunt."

She said that as if she felt comfortable doing just that; hunting. It helped that she wasn't exactly as human as she looked.

[kree_soldieress]

Interesting opinion, but Lauri-Ell doesn't argue against it. The question is of course how she intends to catch things, but if Lauri-Ell has learned anything, it's that humans don't like corrected.

"Then I would advise you to look for things like these. They are edible. Or go to the beach. There are large crustacean like things. They taste good. But they sting."

[monstermama]

Humans don't like a lot of things. Like being told they're wrong, or someone trying to prevent them from killing off their entire species. Clearly, humans were stupid.

"That should be interesting." It would be. Anything that managed to pierce her skin was going to regret it immediately. But it made for fun hunting. "Anything I should avoid going after?"

[kree_soldieress]

Very stupid. They often assumed the worst from her opinion. And they made reality television. But they had also created pizza, and that was nice.

"There are things in the forest, the deep forest. They stalk things. They attempt to stalk me."

And in the soldier's opinion, that was a grievous tactical error.

"If you take out your data device, there are records in it, describing some creatures here. We use it to list what may be poisonous."

[rage_on]

His mood had been pretty dismal after the whole spider fiasco, and although it had been about over a week since then, the turtle teen still wasn't quite sure where he sat with things. He felt bad about attacking people but hadn't gotten around to coming up with an apology, and even though he knew it had been something that couldn't have been helped, it still bothered him.

And then suddenly it began to rain glitter. It did not make him any more of a happy camper, and the realization of what this sore attempt of frivolity from the Agrii was supposed to be for only brought about heartache.

He was out by the waters of the lake that had over time swallowed up a portion of this end of the city, hurling rocks that sometimes skipped far along the surface that now sparkled with floating glitter bits, other times plunked noisily with a splash. Part of him debated on going for a swim, but he wasn't so sure the cold water would be worth the probably futile attempt to wash off the glitter sticking to his green skin and his shell.

[monstermama]

It was the plink-plunking of the rocks hitting the water that caught her attention. Possibly dinner? Only one way to find out. She was as quiet as she could be when she moved to see what might be making the noise. Ripley had found there were things that bit back in this particular part of the city- which is why she'd settled close to here. It felt more like home to her, less in the visual and more in the 'constant state of danger' zone.

Peering over a rock, she saw... something. Something not human, but looked either bipedal or capable of it, if the toss of a rock was anything to go by. She wasn't familiar with what it was, though. Hands resting on the rock, she propped her chin up and opted to watch and see what it did. Whatever it was, it didn't look particularly perky. Not like that other tiny little thing she'd seen.

[rage_on]

Raphael paused a moment to give into the frustration of dealing with the ever-falling sprinkle of glitter from the sky. "Aarrrrgh!" he flailed, swiping at his arms, trying ineffectively to dust off the back of his shell.

With a huff he stooped down and grabbed a bigger rock to throw, roughly the size of his head. He hurled it with both hands, flinging it a fair distance before it landed in the water with a *bloosh*. It was after a while of watching the outspreading rings in the water that he suddenly jerked his head around. He was usually better at figuring when he was being watched, inwardly scolding himself for not keeping his guard up.

[monstermama]

Whatever it was, it was clearly angry, if that little rock throwing episode was anything to go by. Ripples spread out from the larger splash, and then the green thing turned in her direction. She didn't move from her vantage point, just flexed her fingers to indicate movement. The 'argh' had indicated something close to speech for her, so it was possible it was also intelligent. Intelligent and mad and having a tantrum.

A sparkling heart landed on her nose, and she blew it off, sending it and a few more glittering specks to whirl away from the top of the rock she was resting on. Well hello, little green man. Woman? She couldn't tell gender from here. It didn't smell like anything she knew.

[rage_on]

It didn't take Raphael long to pin-point his previously unnoticed audience. He looked a little embarrassed at first before snorting, turning to better face her. Aside from the red mask-bandanna with the tattered ends that he wore over his eyes, he had a belt tied about his waist, elbow and knee pads that had definitely been battle-tested, and stained bandages wrapped about his stub-toed feet and his palms. The pair of pronged dagger-like weapons tucked into his belt behind him definitely cemented the feel of a fighter, even if earlier he'd been acting anything but.

"Well?" he finally prompted, scowling as he tried to ignore the fact that he was still getting powdered with glitter. He sounded gruff but young, a brave, annoyed front hastily drawn up to cover for whatever she might have seen earlier.

[monstermama]

She could read body language. It was part of being part of a species that spoke via pheromones and a link to their queen, that hunted via thermosensors and scent instead of visually. Arrogance. Embarrassment. Ah, yes, and youth. Smiling, she moved to sit up more where she was, head tipping at her as she heard something distinctly understandable from him. A word. "Did that help get whatever it was off your chest?"

Yes, Raphael. She was referring to the rock-tantrum.

[demjiin]

The sound of Kaz's staccato rhythmic steps preceded him, the reason for them was evident when one looked at him and saw he used a crow-headed cane to walk. His hands were gloved despite the weather not quite calling for it, but in the hand not using the cane he held an extremely silly umbrella that at least worked to keep the glitter off. Though he did not look pleased to be using it. He was making his way toward the greenhouse but he was slowed both by the glitter rain and using the cane.

[monstermama]

Ripley was crouched under a tarp she'd pulled over herself, watching the new land around her and trying to figure out what her next move would be. The ships were the clearest thing for her to be working on, but she had to see if there was anything else to be concerned about here. Any large predators. Any midnight murderers that hunted the beings drawn here by whatever source had been used.

The clicking sound drew her attention, and she watched a male figure with a ridiculous umbrella stomping along. She hadn't seen anyone using a cane before. Just Vriess with his chair. She shifted where she sat, the movement bunching up a part of the tarp and sending down a shower of caught glitter and hearts. If she was trying to be stealthy, she was failing. Good thing she wasn't.

[demjiin]

...well at least using a tarp looked more silly than the umbrella? Not that it meant Kaz was any happier about it. Pausing in his walk beside where Ripley sat, Kaz considered her for a moment.

"Are you trying to stand out? Because if so you can forgo the blinking sign above you since you won't need it."

When he spoke his voice sounded hoarse and grizzled like it belonged to an old man, not a 17-year-old kid.

[monstermama]

And yet more functional and covering more than a silly umbrella. Judge away. "If I wanted to stand out, I'd let more of that shit stick to me." Her eyes flicked upward to his umbrella, and the corner of her mouth ticked up. "Or get some nifty accessories like some people around here."

You, Kaz. She was talking about you.

[demjiin]

But more mobile than a tarp, despite looking so silly.

"Granted. So if you're not trying to draw attention, then why are sitting under a tarp in the open?"

Kaz was at least trying to be logical about it, at least.

[monstermama]

That depended on your definition of mobile. She didn't have a cane, so walking around with a tarp over her head was just as easy for her as holding an umbrella. "It was getting in my hair." The glitter itself wasn't too bad of a problem, but the sugar mixed in was melting in the constant wetness of her hair and self and she was feeling... sticky.

After Glitter-geddon

[on_repeat]

Even after the glitter and confetti have passed, Echo has found out quickly that no amount of shaking will get rid of every glittery shingle from his blacks and no amount of scrubbing will clear his armor or skin of it either. So long as most of it is gone, however, he can live with a few extra highlights.

He makes a stop at the 'Whale Comb Sent Her' dressed in his red fatigues when he sees Ripley poking about, mildly distracted from what he needs to check on.

"Ah...need some help there?" he asks, his brow arching slightly.

[monstermama]

"Do I look like I need any help?" It was less a rhetorical question than it might seem. Honestly... did she? She was still trying to figure out the specifics of everything. It was entirely possible she did need help, and that she looked like it.

[on_repeat]

He could have interpreted the question as such, but he appeared to take it at face value.

"Well, you're in the right place," Echo replied, his tone casual without any hint of condescending as he passes by her. "There's plenty of supplies here, and if you need anything specific you can use the Replicator." He pointed to the microwave-sized object that sat on one side of the room, but then his gaze slid over to the big pink box under scrawled graffiti on another wall. "And...I guess there's that option if you wanted to try your luck."

[monstermama]

She follows his gaze to the box, turning back to him after. "Luck, huh? Not entirely sure I want to risk it." Or maybe she was the best one to try. Who else had survived multiple encounters with an alien murder species only to be brought back better than ever from it? Of course, all of that had landed her here, so really, what was luck.

[on_repeat]

"Completely up to you," Echo nods with a faint smirk, thinking her decision wise. Although he doesn't know anything about her personal experiences, he can see how steely her gaze is. The best solution is to continue to keep a comfortable distance while rifling through the rest of the room until he either comes across something he may need or leave empty-handed.

He can do that and ask another question. "How long have you been around for?"

[monstermama]

"Just arrived." She watched him rummaging, curious if he was looking for something in particular or not. She noted the distance, and the fact that he seemed aware of it. Not so obtuse, this one. It earned him a feral flash of a smile as she leaned against the wall, looking far too relaxed. "You?"