revivalproject | At least it's not actually raining men

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At least it's not actually raining men

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.

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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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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?"

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.

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.

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."

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.

"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'.

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.

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?"

"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?"

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."

"...."

His shoulders hunched up at being called out like that. For an empty city it was sometimes super easy to run into other people, case in point. He scratched at the back of his head, absently trying to dust glitter off of it in the process as he glanced away awkwardly at the woman's question.

"...not really," he finally admitted. "This stupid glitter isn't helping either." The turtle brushed at his arms, scowling as he only seemed to be spreading the shimmer.

"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.

"No, it's not." She didn't bother trying to rid her skin of it where it fell. It was pointless until she could get into water, and Ripley often tried to avoid pointless. It was annoying, but it wasn't hurting her. Just making her look like she was ready to go to a disco.

Head cocked to the side, she gave him another curious look. "What are you?" Because he wasn't human. And he had to know that. Neither was she, but that might not be so obvious.

It was easier to talk to someone who was a new face, at least. Giving up on his attempts with an exaggerated sigh, Raphael folded his arms instead, if only to keep himself from another futile battle against the glitter coating.

"You never seen a mutant turtle before?" he asked, managing a faint smirk. Mutant turtles weren't exactly commonplace even back home either, after all. He lived with most of them.

"No. Never seen a turtle before, either." She hadn't seen a lot of things, Raphael. Turtle hadn't been flashed on one of the cards in her training session. But, he was certainly something interesting. The shell reminded her of something else, something she doubted he'd ever seen either.

Still, he didn't seem so mad anymore, and she needed to learn more about this place and the people in it.

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

That was surprising to him and it showed on his face, brows lifting beneath the mask. "Whoa, seriously? What planet are you from?"

It wasn't meant to be a sarcastic question but sometimes his tone just had that hint to it. Most of the people he'd run into around here either knew what turtles were or just figured he was an alien of some sort, and either way no one- well okay, one person had screamed in terror but everyone else was generally cool about having a five-foot talking turtle around.

"Name's Raphael. Who're you? Other'n new?"

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?"

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At least it's not actually raining men

Outside in the Glitter

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