From The Cosmos

[Zamora]

January 15th, Midnight

The upside of the Serengeti, with all its heat and drought, was that there was so little light pollution. Each night was a light show of its own, allowing anyone that looked up a view deep into the cosmos. To those unacclimated, it could make one feel very lucky, or very, very insignificant...


... The sound is sudden. The atmosphere ripping in twain. The flare of fire caused by atmospheric friction. Something, and something large, slams into the ground just outside of camp, sending a massive quake through the area. A large ball of metal —an escape pod— cleaves through the African soil, leaving a rift behind it before it finally shudders a smoldering, sparking halt.


And, just as it had before, all falls silent again.

[Hikaru]

Hikaru walked along her patrol route steadily, her eyes and ears alert to all sights and sounds. She had finally earned a place in the Freedom Fighters, tentative as it was, and planned to make the most of it. Hikaru had a job to do, and she was going to do it right. However, all her caution and attention was unnecessary.

Even someone as blind as Shani couldn't have miss the thunderous crash outside the camp!

Hikaru drew a pistol and held it at her side straight to the earth so that she wouldn't accidentally shoot anything. She picked a steady pace and jogged quickly to investigate... whatever the hell happened. Something had streaked to the earth. A meteorite? Some sort of attack? A crashed item?

Hikaru drew up to the long gash deep in the earth, dirt and stone kicked up in an awful trail leading straight to a large metal... pod? Hikaru kicked aside a small bit of smoldering vegetation as she approached, holding her pistol with both hands in front of her. With a cock of her head, Hikaru tried to ascertain the situation. She was just far enough that she could react if something attacked, but was also close enough to try and see if perhaps some one was hurt or needed help.

[Zamora]

As Hikaru approaches, all sits still. Smoke billows into the night sky as sparks sputter and flash, a gentle hiss escaping the damaged... whatever this was.

After a moment, though, there’s a noise.

thud. Thud! BANG!

On the third strike, the door on the pod flies open and clears its hinges, flipping violently through the air before landing noisily in the dirt. It’s here that a creature steps out, coughing heavily against the smoke.

It’s... big.

Ringing in at just over nine feet, a creature covered in scars and pitch-black blood stumbles slightly against the fresh air, leaving its first unsteady steps in the African soil. Long, bladed tail hangs listlessly behind her, dragging against the dirt as she stumbles forward, back turned towards Hikaru. At first, it seems like she’s gone unnoticed, the hulking beast taking steadying breaths in this new atmosphere. But after a few shallow gasps, the creature freezes. Ears go up. There’s the distinct sound of... sniffing? It whips to turn and face the scout.

Five massive, pale eyes stare at Hikaru for a beat, only to flick down slightly. It’s here the creature —decidedly female in appearance— seems to notice something, even in her partial blindness.

The gun.

At the sight of the drawn weapon, what first appears as damage and desperation changes. The creature hisses and snarls, mouth splitting along all four cardinal lines to bear teeth and sharp mandibles. Massive bundle of jungle-hued hair raises up, more obviously a huge group of spines now, and rattles angrily. The creature lowers itself onto all fours, tail lashing behind it. The third arm stays tightly pressed against its middle, holding a large bundle of cloth to where the fourth arm should connect.

Between the snarls, what seem to be... words, in some odd language, are spit. The beast may be incredibly injured, but at the sight of the gun raised in its direction, it still seems ready to fight.

[Hikaru]

The door blew past, as if propelled by an explosion. Hikaru drew her pistol up and braced herself... but there was no way she could have prepared herself for what REALLY came from the pod! ...in her defense, however, she didn't flinch.

The massive creature that had appeared was more wild than anything Hikaru had seen. There had been many a strange being among the Blackbloods, but Hikaru's involvement with the magical elements of the group had been limited. She had more experience with monsters of a more mundane variety.

The beast reared back and made a display of aggression and Hikaru shifted lower, ready to defend herself- wait. That blackness. The way it- she, held herself. Was she hurt?? So maybe she wasn't attacking, but was being defensive... Hikaru's mind whirled like a hurricane behind her blank, unflinching expression. She had moments to make a decision. 

If the creature would attack, Hikaru needed to defend. But if the creature was only defending herself, then Hikaru attacking her first would just escalate the situation. 

Hikaru's jaw shifted lightly, and then she lowered the gun, she extended her hands out on either side of herself. The movements were slow, opening her up for attack. But she didn't look away from those five, pale, alien eyes.

The creature, the being? She seemed to be trying to speak. Whatever language it was, Hikaru knew she'd never make head nor tails of it. But... in a way it didn't matter. Hikaru didn't really speak much with her words anyway. It was with her actions...

She slowly tossed the gun aside, making sure the action was smooth, and that the being could see her every move. Still with the same slow pace, she pointed to her own side, approximately where the being seemed hurt, bleeding.

'I put down my weapon'
'I see you are hurt'

Universal gestures.

Hikaru waited to see how the survivor of the crash would react.

[Zamora]

Eyes watch every movement, like a predator watches prey. Ears twitch every so often, flicking hard when the gun is tossed aside. As Hikaru gestures, the snarling eases to exhausted. pained panting, and despite the obvious state the creature is in, she's slowly starting to relax. Mandibles retract and split lips return to their 'normal' state, and spine slowly stop their rattling and settle again. Despite the wide eyes and alert ears, it seems Hikaru's intents aren't lost, and the creature settles a bit.

With a short grunt, the creature lowers itself to its hands and knees, settling lightly, almost submissively, to the ground.

Again, it seems to speak. This time, without the snarls, it's much more clear. Still a strange, unknown language, but it's definitely talking. The tone is pained, exhausted, and almost pleading, bearing certain signs of sentience. The creature is obviously struggling, but doing its best to stay awake, alive, and communicate proper.

[Hikaru]

A gust of breath from her nostrils was the most of her relief that Hikaru showed. Her bet had paid off. Her trust had been rewarded. She didn't want to push her luck, however, and so Hikaru kept her movements smooth and slow as she opened her jacket carefully. There were more weapons, and she didn't want whoever this was to think that she was just drawing another one. Hikaru had some gauze. It most definitely wouldn't be enough for this wound. But it would be better than nothing.

The Freedom Fighter cocked her head, the noises the being made sounding much more focused now. Definitely a form of speech and not some sort of warning sound. Hikaru's brow creased ever so slightly. If this was a language, it most definitely wasn't one she knew. She lifted her scarred hand and pointed to her own ear. Hikaru tucked short strands behind the curve of her ear, the light of the fire flicking briefly over the small pink earring studding her earlobe. Hikaru shook her head, "I don't understand you."

Hikaru didn't expect the being to understand her either, but she hoped that the gesture, and showing her own language would be enough to get the point across. They both could speak, they were both sapient. But neither could understand one another.

Hikaru opened the roll of bandages and gauze. She held it up, once again, for the being's perusal, making all her actions obvious. Hikaru unrolled from the spool, and then wrapped it around her fist a few times. She pressed the wad of bandages to her own side, miming staunching the blood as if she herself had the wound. Then she stepped forward cautiously, and nodded towards the being's actual wound.

Hikaru carefully looked for signs of permission.

[Zamora]

Pale gaze watches carefully, apparently observing every movement in excruciating detail. Breathing begins to ease slightly, and upon the sight (or maybe smell) of bandages, all caution is lost. Ears finally rest, and the beast sits back on her haunches, as if approving of the concept of help. Though, that's not the stunning part.

A four-fingered hand mimics the motion previous. Tucking hair behind ear, and a motion. Though she doesn't shake her head. She nods. The free hand then gestures to Hikaru, and a single word escapes the larger. Thick with an unknown accent and the struggle of the word, but familiar.

"Human."

[Hikaru]

Oh.

That's interesting.

Hikaru actually blinked in surprise when the large being spoke a word that she could understand. Hikaru knelt down with in arms length of the strange being and  held out the bandages. "You understand?"

She waited, to give her a chance to respond, and then also asked, "You know I'm a human?"

Hikaru spoke very little, and thus seemed perfectly at ease with asking in short and simple yes-or-no questions. Mentally, Hikaru ran back over everything she knew of the situation:

• There had been a crash outside of camp
• A creature came out from a pod that crashed
• The creature is large and dangerous
• The creature is hurt, and only reacts defensively
• The creature, is a being, capable of understanding 

[Zamora]

Another nod, this time with offering a weak, slightly pained smile. One hand reaches vaguely for the bandages, the other makes a motion towards her mouth, hesitates in thought, and then motions to the middle of her face, where her nose would be.

She can smell you.

There’s a chatter here, in that strange tongue. While it seems she knows a few words, she’s certainly not fluent. Thankfully, she can understand just fine.

[Maxwell]

It was the middle of the night, but Max was expected to be up and ready. As far as he knew, he was the only one qualified to run the communications equipment. He was still just a hobbyist, but he felt a lot of weight on his shoulders. Max had a small tent with dark covering where he was surrounded on all most all sides by his rig. All his windows were closed and he hadn’t had to be exposed to people all day; just the way he liked it.

Max felt like he was doing pretty okay. He was reclined in his chair, his feet up on his desk, and he was surrounded by well over his fair share of junk food (which he most likely snuck off with early in the day). As his tent was somewhat isolated from the others, the blonde man didn’t feel like he was bothering anyone by singing to himself, whilst shoving off-brand nacho corn chips into his face;

“Dodododo dododo baa… I hear drums echoing tonight, but she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation. Dodododo dododo bwaaah--shit.”

Voice quickly dying off, Max stood up from his chair, nearly knocking it down behind him, suddenly aware of the rumbling from outside. He unrolled part of the cover to one of his windows to hazard a look. In the far distance in the grass, he could spot what appeared to be a plume of mist at the end of a stretch of torn up dirt. Completely bewildered, it took him a while to start to step back. Bringing the mic of his headset down to his mouth, he began to move toward his control panel at the desk.