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

[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."

[monstermama]

"I'll wait until it's less likely to get decorated," she said, gesturing up at the glitter still falling down around them. She wasn't too stressed over the idea of something stalking her. She understood predatory instincts. It was in their nature, after all. She just opted to be the apex predator in terms of what came out alive. She wanted to make a nest, get herself comfortable and familiar to the area, and then figure out where to go from there. The ships were a good start, but they had to be fixed first.

"What's your name?" It would probably be better to get one than to refer to the larger female as 'blue lady'.

[kree_soldieress]

What an interesting way to think of it. Lauri-Ell would not think of it in a similar way. She was not, at her nature, a predator for the purpose of food. No, she hunted shapeshifters, and tha was a whole different skill set.

"I am Lauri-Ell. And you are?"

[monstermama]

"Ripley." It was better than 'Number 8', and it was unlikely that her former original self would resurrect at any point from two hundred years in the past. She had every right to the name. She had the memories- most of them. But she wouldn't claim her first name. She wasn't Ellen. It made sense to her.

"How long have you been here?"

[kree_soldieress]

In a place such as this, it was more likely than Ripley might consider. But it was a decision she got to make, and anyone that judged her would have Lauri-Ell looking at them with serious disapproval.

"I have been here three months at this place. It has been interesting."

[monstermama]

"Three months. Others have been here longer?" The lilt at the end made it a question more than a statement. She was trying to see how established this place was and who she could look at for more information if she needed it.

[kree_soldieress]

"Yes, some more than a year," Lauri-Ell confirms. But not many, she thinks. Not at this point.

[monstermama]

She nodded as she took that in, giving the tarp a flick again as the glitter accumulated on it. She looked up at the sky, then back at Lauri-Ell. "This kind of thing happen often?"

[kree_soldieress]

"Not to my experience," Lauri-Ell offers with a shrug. "It's better than spiders, though."

She smiles and continues on her path toward the diner. But she does think to gesture for the woman to join her.

"Let us see if young Thomas has put out food yet. Or found a solution for the glitter."

[monstermama]

It wasn't as if she had better plans in mind other than scoping out the area and avoiding having to dig glitter out of her pants. "I'd heard about the spiders. Not sure if I'm glad I missed it or not."

Lauri-Ell started to move, and Ripley fell in step with her. "Who's Thomas and why would there be food?"

[kree_soldieress]

"You should be glad. They were annoying."

Annoying. Most people would use stronger words. She had merely been annoyed.

"Thomas Shepherd. He is one of the few who manage the greenhouse, and he runs the diner. Multiple meals a day."

She does not know why the speedster does it. But he does.

"There are also the ships. There is protein paste."

[monstermama]

'Annoying' was always a relative term. What was annoying for one was fun for another, and vice versa.

Finding out about a diner was good. She hadn't gotten that far in her perusal. That there was someone minding it was better information. It meant she couldn't just do as she pleased, the same as Cayde's bar. Knowing about the ownership was the first step in her decision as to whether she cared or not. "So we aren't going to be required to hunt for food if we don't want to- or aren't able to."

Also good to know, since she might be capable of some things, but not others. She'd never had to hunt for food before. She just assumed she could. "I've seen the ships. They don't seem to be working too well."

[kree_soldieress]

"No. There is free food when he, or whoever helps him, makes it," Lauri-Ell shrugs. Not that he's always there of course.

"They crashed into the planet apparently. In the storms."

[monstermama]

That mental note of the food was a good thing to keep in mind. She nodded as she kept pace. "I noticed when I went to see them. How many here are capable of working on them? Or is that not on anyone's top five to-do list?"

[kree_soldieress]

"There are those with engineering data points. But I expect parts are hard to acquire. And what I hear is that we are not able to leave the planet surface even when they function, not unless we are permitted to."

This place traps them, quite effectively. It is something they must deal with, but as they couldn't, there were other focuses.

"Our goal is not off the planet after all. We must stop the storm."

[monstermama]

She remembered that from the initial 'download' she'd received from waking here. That draw, that touch, and the sudden flood that had just been there. Not too dissimilar from her own memories, but still... "How exactly do they expect us to stop the weather? Become a god?"

[kree_soldieress]

"Oh, the resident gods have achieved nothing. This is something to be solved by science I believe."

Very good science, not Asgardian science.

"Managing the climate of planets is managable, if we had the resources. But they seem to believe there is a source. If we stop the source..."

Then perhaps they will return home.

[monstermama]

Call her silly, but it sounded like this large blue woman just implied that there were gods in residence. Actual beings, and not some figment of the imagination of a group of needy morons.

But the idea that the storms were caused by a source was... also interesting. "I don't suppose there's any more clues about a source of storms other than there 'may be' one?"

[kree_soldieress]

"No, not yet at this point. It seems to circle the world, and is worse outside from what I have heard. I cannot say for certain."

ANd Lauri-Ell doesn't know how to say more than that because she doesn't actually have an answer.

[monstermama]

"And I suppose that the people that want us to fix this thing they've mucked up haven't been helpful enough to leave any actual clues. Are we sure that fixing things is what they really intend?"

What? It was a valid question. If someone wanted her to do something, she'd assume they'd give her the information to do it with, not make her muddle through the muck and mire of useless information.