Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Summer Soiree: Planetary Potluck (CLOSED)

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Hello! This is my Summer Soiree Event. So good to see you!


The setting is a futuristic Earth, but anyone is invited to stop by! I heard Ellie here dropped off a couple of teleporters on low-tech planets, too.

Remember to keep it civil! IC drama is okay, but please, keep it IC. We're here to have fun!

Eleanor has a wide variety of food and drinks available. If your character has dietary restrictions or allergies, don't be afraid to ask Eleanor so she can direct your character to something that'd suit their tastes.

Teleporters are provided throughout the event, and many will lead your character back home. They can be used any time, as many times as you want, so if your character has other matters to attend to, you can back out (and by extension, return) any time! The teleporters outside of the party will close when the Summer Soiree is about to end.

Oh, and if you find Eleanor isn't acting quite like herself, fear not. That may just be Elliot, her assistant. If they're not with Eleanor, you might be able to find them lurking around the venue. They're quite friendly, so feel free to say hi to them as well!


Annnnd that's it! If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me. Have fun out there!

The Operator landed her hover van in a nearby alleyway and glanced at the work order. "Ugh, I've got to go underground and check cables," she grumbled. This wasn't what she'd signed up for. She should be back at her cord board plugging away and connecting calls across the galaxy. When were the suits going to get things resolved with the linemen's union strike? While it was nice to get out of the office for a while, all of this traveling was growing tiresome.

One bright spot is her droid, Yoo-nit wouldn't be able to follow her down the access tunnel. "Wait here and watch the van," She instructed, "I'll be back in a jif!"

"Ship," The little toaster-like robot responded.

The Operator only rolled her eyes in annoyance. After grabbing her tool belt, briefcase with diagnostic equipment, and headset, she slammed the door to the hover van, moved behind it, dropped the orange cone behind the vehicle as was proper protocol, and looked for the manhole cover to the underground service tunnel with the communication cables.

A few minutes later after lifting the heavy, round metal cover from the hole, she descended down the ladder into darkness. Fortunately, she had a flashlight in, her belt and flipped the switch and looked around.

"Oh buggar," She groaned. "There's a lot of cables to check here. Well, best get to it." She pulled a diagnostic tool from her belt and got to work. She started to work her way down the tunnel. A few hours later, she stumbled across something.

"What's this," She asked aloud. "Some sort of cave-in?"

The Operator approached what she thought was a giant boulder, then a meteoroid that had somehow crashed through this maintenance tunnel and been covered over, and then she realized it was a cube-shaped metal contraption. "Must be some sort of communication equipment," The Operator mused. "But it doesn't look like anything ITC uses or built. Maybe an independent telephone company put it here before the merger?"

Suddenly, it came to life, fanning out. The Operator stepped back as it began to glow and unfold itself and a message began to play...

"Ahem... Is this thing on?" It was a pre-recorded message, featuring a human woman. "Yes, alright- Elliot, please get your antenna out of the way- Ahem. Hello! If you are receiving this message, then you must have found my teleporter. That's fantastic! Right, so my name is Eleanor Newmann. I'm a xenobiologist, and I am hosting a potluck on my home planet, Earth. I have a wide variety of food imported from planets all across the Hyperion Galaxy, and I encourage anyone who sees this message to come on down and enjoy themselves. The food is free, and the event is open; I just ask that any attendees do not destroy the venue. If you'd like to attend, then feel free to step on the platform when you're ready. The teleporters will remain open until the party is over, so fear not, you have plenty of time to stop by. I look forward to seeing you there."

"Amature. She really could use a lesson or two n' how to make a proper recording," The Operator said smirking. After all, she had made dozens if not hundreds of recordings; everything from Time and Temperature to notices of non-working or out-of-service numbers to telling callers they'd misdialed and to please check their number and try again.

"Teleporter, eh? I've heard of this Earth place. I think that's the little blue speck with that York, York city that I visited once," She said sighing. "Well, I've been at it quite a while so why not? Might as well give meself a break."

With that, The Operator stepped onto the platform.

There was about a three-second delay for the teleporter to do its thing, but that was all it took for The Operator to be completely engulfed by the same blue glow radiating from its core.

The teleportation process was harmless, however it certainly felt strange. All that could be seen was the blue light, though it did not hurt to stare at, and all that could be felt was a violent tickling of the skin. About 5 seconds later, the sights and feeling disappeared in a radiant blink, and The Operator found herself on a completely different world.

The sun beamed down, warm and intense, its heat seeming to have killed the patches of grass completely outside of the venue. Thankfully, the grassy field within the venue was soft and dewy (likely having been watered), and crowded the masses of teleportation platforms and around neatly-placed tables and chairs.

A bountiful buffet table was front and center. The food ranged from human cuisine, to food that only somewhat resembled Earth food, and stuff that was completely indistinguishable from the rest. Some of it looked appetizing, others not so much. Really, it depends on where you came from and what you're used to eating. Everyone is different, after all.

Not far from that were floating dispensers, suspended by some form of magnetic attachments underneath them, labelled to sort out the different drinks. The tables, chairs, even the grill, seemed to be using the same levitating technology as well.

And speaking of the grill, it looked like the host was patiently waiting by it. The woman, Eleanor, was gazing out into space, quite literally watching the spaceships and the traffic above. However, it didn't take long for her to notice her first guest!

"Oh!" She readjusted her glasses and smoothed out the wrinkles of her flower-patterned blouse. "Hello there! Glad to see you could make it. Did the transporter work okay? My apologies, I'm not terribly skilled with teleporters... Not my forte."

Her smile was as warm as the sun. She seemed rather ecstatic about this.

"I suppose you got my message, so I don't need to introduce myself, do I?" Eleanor chuckled with a shrug to accompany it. "Who might you be?"

"Oh!" She readjusted her glasses and smoothed out the wrinkles of her flower-patterned blouse. "Hello there! Glad to see you could make it. Did the transporter work okay? My apologies, I'm not terribly skilled with teleporters... Not my forte."

"Oh, 'ello, love," The Operator replied. "Can't complain. As teleporters go that one wasn't bad at 'tall."

Her smile was as warm as the sun. She seemed rather ecstatic about this.

"I suppose you got my message, so I don't need to introduce myself, do I?" Eleanor chuckled with a shrug to accompany it. "Who might you be?"

"Yes, I stumbled upon your 'lil gizmo in a maintenance tunnel while checking some communication wiring," The Operator explained. "I'm called The Operator. Why? Well, because that's how people ask for me on the telephone. 'Ello Operator? Can you get me the number for... or if you've ever dialed an out-of-order phone number and you get that annoying woman's voice- 'I'm sorry, your number can't be completed as dialed' or you call the time and temperature number and get some ad for a bank loan and then she comes on again and says "The time is 18:01 Standard Galactic Time, temperature is whatever? Well, that's me, love! Although, lately I've been flyin' round the galaxy in a repair van mostly fixing payphones. The lineman's union went on strike and well it's a long and very borin' story... I thought I'd pop in an' take a 'lil break."

A titanic golem appeared through one of the teleporters, his obsidian skin reflecting the teleporter's light around the room almost like a disco ball. He took a step off the teleporter, his massive stone foot hitting the floor hard enough for everyone to feel the tremors. The goliath seemed to take notice of this and began to step as quietly as possible. He waved with a gargantuan claw, the razor edges gleaming in the light. His voice was dark and deep, like the groaning of a mountain, "Good day, everyone."

Eleanor nodded approvingly. She'd never really dabbled with teleportation devices that much, so she was worried if they had somehow been set up improperly, this whole potluck would have been for nothing, as nobody could have showed up.

"Oh, so that's you?" The woman listened intently to her guest. "I always thought it was an automated system set up by other people. That's quite fascinating! Well, Ms. Operator, you've come to the right place. Stay as long as you'd like! The food's not going anywhere, neither are the teleporters."

Eleanor was alerted to the beam of another teleporter. Wonderful! Another guest. She spun on her heels, only to be caught off-guard at the sight of a massive mech making its way into the party. One positively armed to its teeth. Its footsteps made the entire venue rattle.

In all honesty, she was less shocked about the mech, moreso shocked that an entity of such size and weight was able to use the teleporter without breaking it. And that was enough to make Eleanor grin.

"Why, hello! I-I'm glad you could make it," She approached the mechanical goliath, readjusting her glasses and tightening her messy ponytail. "Please, make yourself at home. And you are...?"

"Oh, so that's you?" The woman listened intently to her guest. "I always thought it was an automated system set up by other people. That's quite fascinating! Well, Ms. Operator, you've come to the right place. Stay as long as you'd like! The food's not going anywhere, neither are the teleporters."

"Well, uh thank you," The Operator replied. "Yeah, those recordings are set up by Intergalactic Telephone Company but that's me voice on 'em I've done dozens if not hundreds of recordings for the phone company in all different sectors n' such. ITC is the dominant communication company across the galaxy. Anyway, nice meeting you. I'd love to hear more about Xenobiology. That's making synthetic lifeforms and such if I'm not mistaken. It looks like another guest has arrived, though. I'll go fix meself and a plate and maybe we can catch up more in a bit."

The Operator excused herself and got a plate and piled some food on it. The first thing she tried was a bluish fruit resembling an orange. Instead of being sweet or even sour, it tasted like salty fish. She politely spit it in the trash when no one was looking. Next, she found some dumplings that seemed to be made from some sort of cheese with a sprinkle of pork in them. "Not bad," she remarked. The Operator decided it was best to take little samples of things first, try them and if she liked them, then she could come back for a bigger helping.

Black Quartz smiled a razor-edged grin to Eleanor and said, "Black Quartz, human name Ivan Solace. I'm an Atronarch, a sentient mass of elements assigned to protect a specific galactic system, in my case, the Milky Way." His form shifted and turned, and he appeared as a tall, fit 27-year-old male with waver blonde hair and a thick beard. He reached out a hand to Eleanor and said, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Starlit-Wisdom tentatively stepped free of the teleporter pad. Their hands were still occupied with the tablet and stylus they were using to document the medicinal flora of the world they were on. A world where this device seemed to have crashed out of nowhere, flattening an unfortunate shrub that Starlit-Wisdom had named Prickly-Branches in the process. Poor Mr Prickly-Branches...

Though the void-dancer did not eat, Starlit-Wisdom nonetheless found intrigue and curiosity at the invitation the device and its recording had offered. And so, here they were.

The first thing Starlit-Wisdom noticed with the sunlight. The urge to sleep came strong to the nocturnal sunlight-feeding creature; but they just about managed to stave off the sensation, though not without a minor level of dazedness. Apparently, others had arrived here before them; and so with the expectation of some form of social interaction, they saved their work on their tablet and switched apps to a basic word processor, figuring that nobody here would be capable of understanding their dance-language that made up for their lack of speech capability. If the language on the recording was universally understood here, Starlit-Wisdom figured it would be prudent to attempt to communicate via text instead.

Thus, with their singular eye squinting in its horizontally-folding eyelids and six nostrils taking in the air from their flanking positions on their mouthless face, the four-eared hoofed alien made a few more tentative steps closer, awkwardly lingering to one side as they tried to determine what social graces were expected of them.

Ana would definitely chide Xihuitl for stepping into odd teleporters, but at least this one had a good invite. Besides, who could pass up the chance to learn about human culture?

Xihuitl left the teleporter's location for a while to prepare before officially entering it. She had looked up on the ship's database what a human 'potluck' was to make sure she had the right idea for it. It was feathercrown season on the planet they stopped at, so it was the perfect opportunity to unload all the goods she'd gathered and practice her cooking.

Therefor, when the Avian exited the teleporter base on the scene, she carried a large box in her feathered hands and a jar tucked into her arm. Mesmerized, she looked about. The light bore down on her yellow feathers in a way that thankfully wasn't more oppressive than she was used to on Tlaloc IX. In fact, it was pleasant. The adorable furniture and greenery made everything twice as quaint. Contently, she breathed through her nostrils. So, this was Earth. . .

Unfortunately for her anxiety, there were people, and people were difficult. Hopefully, she could tide them over with the feathercrown treats she had brought with her. She ended up sauntering in the back behind Black Quartz and nearby Starlit-Wisdom, clutching her plastic box to her feathered chest.

"U-Um. . . hello there?" Her greeting was directed to no single person in particular. "I brought snacks. . . such is what happens at a potluck, no?"

"I'd love to chat about it over a meal. Speaking of which, why not help yourself to the buffet? Try something new, perhaps? Just be mindful if you have allergies..."

Eleanor watched The Operator make her way towards the food-piled tables and turned her attention back to Black Quartz. She observed with quite some awe as the mechanical marvel shifted to a much more human form. She took his hand when prompted. "Ivan, then? Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, as well. I'm sure guarding a whole system is quite tiresome... If you're looking to take a break, this is it!"

More guests were arriving! Eleanor was surprised many were showing up so quickly... Thankfully she wouldn't be tackling this alone. First she was met with the sight of another alien critter with a singular eye and a tablet. Noticing their somewhat-timid aura, she attempted to not be too in their mouthless face, not approaching but still giving a friendly wave. "Ah! Hello there. Wonderful to see you, my friend. And who might you be?"

"U-Um. . . hello there?" Someone chirped... quite literally. Eleanor's attention was suddenly dragged over to the sight of a bird-like creature, bearing a plastic box full of otherworldly snack items, barely hidden behind two other attendees.

"Why, hello!" She placed her hands on her hips with a continuous smile. "And right you are. I have lots of food already, but there is no such thing as too much food at a potluck! If you'd like, there's a free space on that table over there. You can put your box there."

Eleanor pointed over yonder, to the edge of a table. "I'd love to try some of what you've brought. Thank you very much, uh... Sorry, I didn't get your name?"

The Avian's eyes widened before she dipped her head. The wooden beads she wore rattled softly.

"Forgive me! You can call me Xihuitl." There's an odd unusual pronunciation to the name, where much of the sound was formed in the sides of a beak that humans didn't possess. Maybe the cheeks would suffice?

Just then, she raised a hand to removed the lid, revealing the deep red vegetables within, stuffed with what appeared to be a medley of chilis.

"Oh, these? I brought spicy feathercrowns a-and. . . some feathercrown jam. They are traditional foods of my people." She struggled a moment before producing a jar from under her wing-like arm. "You are most welcome to try either of them! The latter is good on tarts and breads. You can eat the former with your fingers."

As such, she moved to unload the box and jar upon a nearby table. She was stuck realizing it probably would have been prudent to bring beakseed bread for the jam, but she didn't want to bring too much food. Such a gracious host she had already! To escape from her circle of worrying, she eyed the others.

"So, um, help yourselves!" She cast a glance to Starlit-Wisdom briefly. "Although, I am not sure if you have a mouth to eat with? Forgive me. . ."

Starlit-Wisdom swiftly ran their stylus across the tablet, then took the device in both hands and twirled it 180 degrees on the vertical axis. Despite what they were written now being upside down, the text itself was in fact the right way up, suggesting that they had written it upside down in the first place; which given the neatness of handwriting and swiftness of the process suggested a fair degree of proficiency at penmanship. Despite the digital nature of the device, however, there were minor inconsistencies in the lettering that suggested it was definitely hand-written.


The text read. Behind the tablet, Starlit-Wisdom committed a bow, mostly with their head and lightly with their shoulders so as not to disrupt the tablet too much. Their facial feelers wiggled for a moment, and after they felt their writing had been visible enough to be understood, they turned the tablet around again and wrote another message, presenting it in a similar style once again.


After a moment, they wrote a new message.

Several more guests arrived. One looked to be a bird person, the other an unknown alien species, and the guest that had stepped through the teleporter a moment after her. Perhaps it was a robot? The Operator wasn't sure and didn't want to assume anyone's species. She noticed several of the others offered food. She smacked herself in the forehead.

These potluck things, she'd heard of them before. When a meal was designated as a "potluck", custom dictated you were supposed to bring a dish of your own. The Operator hadn't expected to find the teleporter or come here and she was ill-prepared. She debated a moment if she shouldn't slip back in and find a space 7-Eleven and grab a bag of space chips or something. It dawned on her though that the teleporter might be a one-time portal. If she stepped through it to return back to where she was, would she be able to return? If not, her host, despite not knowing, might consider that rude. At the same time, was it also not rude to bring something to share?

The Operator glanced guiltily at her plate debating what to do.

Xihuitl's beak parted ever so slightly, just enough to loose a chirp of understanding. "I see, you photosynthesize. I know a few species that do that." Florans definitely not being one of them, ironically. "Well, um. Do not feel bad. I was simply acting on human custom, it seems. I brought nothing of use to you, I am afraid."

It felt a bit embarrassing. To have been graced with the presence of an alien species unknown to herself and have nothing to give for it. . . well, perhaps the learning experience would be enough. A good exchange for the knowledge received. Maybe Starlit-Wisdom didn't mind.

"That is up to the host, I think. But. . . I-I believe you are alright as you are?" She tried not to sound too hesitant, so that she wasn't reassuring anymore. "My name is Xihuitl. Um. . . your writing is lovely."

Was that a weird thing to say? Hopefully it wasn't too weird.

Xihuitl eyed the woman with raised brows, sharing her fret. Did she make her feel bad? Xihuitl was just acting upon what a quick galactic network search allowed her to. She hoped this didn't mean others felt stepped upon.

"There, there, u-um! I apologize if I made you feel left out. . . say, were you getting food? What were you getting?"

The best she could be at this moment was uplifting!

"She... wee... ch," Eleanor tried to pronounce the name. "Did I get that right? She-wee-ch? Xihuitl? Alright. Please do correct me if I mispronounce your name. Wonderful to meet you!"

Eleanor turned back to Starlit-Wisdom, who was now proudly showing off the text on their tablet. She pushed her glasses into place it read it; she figured not all creatures may be able to speak common, and that was okay.

"Fear not, my friend. Bringing your own food was not mandatory," Eleanor explained, after carefully scanning the words presented on the tablet. "Anyone is welcome to, such is the main appeal of a potluck, but I figured anyone who would've located my teleporters likely wouldn't have been prepared for it. Such as why I provided most of the food, the vast majority coming from different planets and cultures to make it seem like a genuine potluck."

Eleanor had a look around. The venue was growing at an exponential rate. "Though if the party is going to keep growing at this rate, then perhaps we could benefit from extra food?" She shrugged her shoulders. "We'll see."

She turned back to the cycloptic creature before her. "Well, I hope that answers that! You don't need to worry about it. All you needed to bring was yourself. Thank you for asking, uh, Starlit-Wisdom, was it? Whew, I think I should start writing down names! Please enjoy your stay!"

Eleanor proceeded to head down to the tables to try some of the food Xihuitl had brought.

Starlit-Wisdom bowed their head at both Xihutl and Eleanor in succession, responding to both of them as their words were spoken. Feeling as though their hands were overly full right now, they tucked their stylus into a holster on the side of their tablet and held it under one arm. That seemed to be the best they could manage in this situation without abandoning their method of communication.

They did their best to try to catch eye contact with the other guests they were yet to communicate with in an attempt to find an opening to offer a bow of greeting.

Eleanor examined the spicy feathercrowns, nestled in their plastic box, noting how appetizing they looked. To the human eye, they didn't seem TOO far off what they'd eat on Earth. However, Xihuitl had described them as being, well, spicy, so she was considering heading towards the drink stands to get herself a refreshment... However, she didn't need to. Among the meaty displays of cuisine was a little ball of blue goo, antennae pointing straight towards the human intently.

"Peekaboo," Eleanor plucked the slimy mass out from the table. "I was wondering where you'd gone, Elliot."

A trio of lime-green eyes blinked at their host. Eleanor placed them down in the grass. "Okay, lots of people are showing up, so I'm going to need you to help out. Would you mind handing out plastic cups to everyone? We need refreshments, and so do I. Can you get me a glass of the punch? Yes, the teal stuff."

Bobbing their 'head' in understanding, Elliot slithered along the grass towards the plastic beer cups, and began distributing them among the guests. Everyone would quickly find the blue blob nudging their ankles with their designated cups.

Once that was done, Elliot had filled up a cup for Eleanor and delivered it to her. Just in time; she had already taken a hearty bite of the spicy feathercrown, and Xihuitl was not kidding when she said they were spicy. Delicious, but spicy. Enthusiastically, she took the cup from Elliot and chugged its contents down.

Wiping her mouth on her sleeve to remove the excess punch, she turned her head to locate her avian guest. "Hey, these taste great! Did you prepare these? You did a good job!"

Elliot let out a series of squeaks, almost as if they were chuckling at Eleanor's reaction to the spice.

Xihuitl was impressed with Eleanor's ability to figure out her name in its native pronunciation. She was impressed by a lot of things, admittedly, but she always appreciated when someone took the effort to pronounce her name correctly. She looked at her hand before giving Eleanor a thumbs-up with her feathers. That's a human thing, right? Hopefully it aligned with the right culture and didn't come across as rude.

Soon enough, she's distracted from her wonder of being on Earth by a nudge at her scaly ankle. Looking down, she finds a blobby slime creature offering her. . . a plastic cup? Oh, it must have been one of the hosts. There was no need to be rude.

"Oh, u-um. . . thank you!" She knelt to collect the cup, following Eleanor's words. The punch was teal, so she went after that. Presuming it wasn't alcoholic, that is. She didn't presume a species would share their alcohol to other species unknowingly. Especially not with friendly intentions.

Then she watched Eleanor down one of the slightly crunchy feathercrowns, already pre-plucked for eating. At first, when Eleanor washed down the contents, she worried it wasn't to her liking. She didn't consider the spice; granted, Avians couldn't really taste spice as well as humans could. However, when she received the compliment, her face lit up.

"You like it?" Her hands cross over her bead-adorned chest. "I am glad! I used some chilis I had gotten from a human vendor, since I assumed Avian spice would be too much for humans. . . I did not want the experience to be painful. But everyone likes feathercrowns, so I decided to make them. Beakseed is a bit of an acquired taste, I think, but many like the crunch. I added just a little bit to the chilis and vegetables for texture. It is not my first time making it, I will admit, but the recipe was my mother's, passed down to me. By Kluex, I am so pleased you enjoy them!"

Xihuitl eyed the woman with raised brows, sharing her fret. Did she make her feel bad? Xihuitl was just acting upon what a quick galactic network search allowed her to. She hoped this didn't mean others felt stepped upon.

"There, there, u-um! I apologize if I made you feel left out. . . say, were you getting food? What were you getting?"

"Oh, no love! It's quite alright. I was just debating if I should run and get something is all," The Operator said quickly. "Nice little selection she's got! Just trying a bit of everything! I happened here quite by accident. A rather pleasant surprise really. It caught me a bit off guard and I just wish I'd been better prepared is all. Um, so... what brings you here?"