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Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Summer Soiree: Space Race Spectator BBQ (Closed)

Xa'Taren (played by Riik) Topic Starter

((No worries))

"Oh, no problem," Xá said. "I'll be here all event, so unless I run out of food before you next get hungry, I can always get you more. Just... you know... give it a bit of time first so that others can get a chance to have some." He winked to emphasise the comedic edge to his comment.

Meanwhile a muffled rumble began to sound out from somewhere in the canyon.

"Ah, here we go," Xá declared, gesturing toward the ring. "Take a good look - you won't get long."

After a few seconds a streak of red shot out from the canyon and through the ring. With a sleek angular hull, the pointed spacecraft had no issue aligning itself into the designated space at full throttle, swooping back into the canyon again a second later. It wasn't the smallest of craft, as it was clearly designed to house multiple occupants with a rudimentary living quarters; but its profile was kept slim. Small spindly-looking wings seemed to hang off the hull on pivots as though designed to aid with aerodynamics in atmospheric sections of the race. For the canyon course, they were kept folded up against the hull to reduce the ship's profile and lessen the potential for damage against the stone walls.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, as even shielded, the sound from the passing ship completely drowned out the music. An instant later, it was gone; and aside from an increase in the volume of the general chatter, all was back to normal again.
Petra Hyeon (played by FreeJayFly)

Looking up toward the ring, Petra watched as the red light of the ship glanced through it. She was glad to have looked up when she did -- the rise and fall of the cheers and roar of the ship would not have allowed nearly enough time if Petra looked up in between that moment. She had to admit that it was a little exciting to see that up close.

If she still had film for the polaroid camera in her satchel, she might have tried to get something. Though... with everything moving as fast as it did in the race, she would have really had to have been quick on the draw. And even then, it was possible that the picture would not have even turned out looking good in the slightest. It would have to stay a memory.

Once she was capable of hearing her own thoughts again, Petra looked down to her plate and then back to Xá. Considering his offer, she knew she could not possibly pass that up.

"I'd really appreciate some extra food. Maybe not now... but before I go. Um... I don't... actually know when that'll be..." Petra's sentence started to peter out as she came to that admission. She was never really sure how to predict when she would leave. She personally did not want to just up and leave right away, though sometimes all it took was... a roll of the dice.

But Petra was still here, much to her stomach and taste buds' delight.
Xa'Taren (played by Riik) Topic Starter

"Well for now, you'll have to wait anyway," Xá decided. "One serving per meal time is my policy. It's still a few hours before I consider the switch from it being lunch to it being dinner time. If you want to stay and chat until then though, I'm fine with that, just know that I'll have to pause to serve others from time to time. Speaking of..."

Xá turned his attention away from Petra for a moment to serve a couple that consisted of a bulky-looking lizard person who certainly towered over Xá; and a creature that seemed mostly to be a transparent balloon-like orb with glistening red eyes all around its body and four separate proboscises evenly-spaced between them, all supported by an uncountable number of long, thin noodle-like appendages, which seemed to skitter fluidly when the creature walked away, a handful of the 'noodles' now holding the plate. The way the lizard affectionately kissed the creature on the dome of its head as they left suggested a romantic involvement.

None of the exchange was in a common language. The orb creature certainly seemed to lack the capacity and instead communicated in a series of slurps and whistles, whilst the lizard seemed to speak in a mixture of growls and croaks. Xá responded in an approximation of the lizard's language that apparently was sufficient enough to be understood, though certainly had a strong accent to it on account of him having a more mammalian set of vocal chords.

"It's rare to see a szyblioid on a non-aquatic world," Xá commented when the other aliens were out of earshot. "They can survive on land of course, but much prefer to be submerged. Lovely, kind people. Sadly, few outsiders know their language. The reptile is a dolorokile if you are unaware," Xá added for Petra's benefit. "And a particularly athletic one at that. One of the more common species in the region. After their territory got absorbed by the Nibuzani Empire, many of their people scattered across the sector, so they're all over the place. Much like the jib nird, the ko-kan and the habaadi."
Petra Hyeon (played by FreeJayFly)

Petra moved aside somewhat as the new arrivals made their appearance at the booth. It saved her the burden of lingering on the thought that her gaa'dan would have been just as strict about when to distribute food. Though, now that Petra was jumping around from place to place just looking for anything -- food or supplies, she rarely gave thought to the ideas of overall convenience or distribution. Though, Petra supposed that with such a large event, and with such generosity, asking for too many free handouts was probably pushing her luck.

In many different instances, Petra has been told several things about staring:
  1. It was rude.
  2. It passed unspoken judgement.
  3. It was an invitation to fight -- a sign of aggression, basically.
  4. Suggested more romantic desires. Which was gross. Ew.

Basically, Petra did her best to avoid staring at living beings most of the time, unless there was a reason to stare. Self-preservation in the presence of weapons was typically one of them. Even then, though, Petra's eyes would usually be on the weapon rather than the person it was attached to. But seeing as many people were out enjoying this public event, it was unlikely that her life was in any immediate danger.

Though, she watched as the two -- the szyblioid and dolorokile -- departed with their food from Xá's stall now in their possession. She also perked up to Xá's educational explanation on both of them, even if both bits of information were relatively brief. Since she still had some time before dinner, she took out a well-used journal from her satchel and a pen. Flipping it open to a blank page, she wrote down some notes that touched upon what Xá said; she was documenting the small bits of the information on the two races that came by in novii, save for some words she did not really know how to write, so defaulted to writing in English as best as she could assume the word would be spelled.

"What's the 'Nizubani Empire'?" Petra asked, not entirely aware that she had gotten the name of it incorrect.
Xa'Taren (played by Riik) Topic Starter

"Oh, just your typical tyrannical dictatorship," Xá'Taren explained. "And they also happen to be the largest and most powerful nation in the sector, hence the reason the sector is called the Nibuzani Sector, despite only a part of it belonging to the Empire. It's a multi-species empire, but it originates on the kan'jan homeworld and is heavily hereditary in structure, so the majority of the ruling class is still kan'jan. It's from them in fact that the local common tongue of Ka'yari originated. Thankfully for the rest of the sector, the Empire is currently embroiled in a major civil war with the Wabu-Hiki rebels. Freedom fighters who want to install a democracy. I've worked with them a lot. In fact, I know the leader of the main rebel territory on a personal level. Golaa Shi'jau. A bit of the old kan'jan supremacy still exists within her, but she is otherwise an admirable person - and improving on that particular flawed front."

He shrugged and took a fish off the barbecue and bit into it. "A little too serious company for me though. I prefer the chief representative of the Wabu-Hiki People's Revolution. It's an underground movement made mostly of non-kan'jan workers. Very brave folks, working behind enemy lines to sabotage military infrastructure. They share the Wabu-Hiki name, but they're pretty much an entirely different entity. Moreso than any other Wabu-Hiki cell. The chief rep had a crush on me for a while. Though at that time, we'd only spoken over ship comms. He seemed to be of the impression that I was female..." Xá chuckled. "I've never minded what pronouns people give me, but I tend to lean away from other gendered terminology... yet I make an exception with him. Mostly because I know he does it tongue-in-cheek to make fun of his own past assumption and he respects my preferences." She took another bite out of her fish and placed it down at the edge of one of her tables, wiping her mouth on the back of her arm. "Oh, the stories I could regale."
Petra Hyeon (played by FreeJayFly)

Petra glanced up to Xá while writing down what they were saying every now and then in regards to the Nibuzani Sector (or as she had it in her notebook: 'Nizubani Empire'). She was making sure to take in the information and at least get what she felt were the important parts written down. One might have mistaken this for her getting ready for some kind of test were she back on Earth, though it was not too terribly far off. Most interactions with other people and races was a test -- a test of knowing them well enough not to make a mistake.

Petra was well enough versed in making mistakes.

She flipped a page and started a new section on the 'Wabu-Hiki'. Though the portion there seemed to be just a couple bullet points of information compared to other things she had learned not too long ago.

"I've got time... probably," Petra said in regards to the tales that Xá implicated. At the moment, Petra was also just relieved there was no mention of parents, or 'aren't you too young to be hanging out on your own'. There were a lot of people that seemed to recognise that she was still juvenile, and so usually questioned her on where her guardians or parental figures were. Hard to really have them keep up with you when you can end up virtually anywhere at the drop of a hat.
Xa'Taren (played by Riik) Topic Starter

Xá swished her tail from left to right. Short as she was, she often found it difficult to determine the point of adulthood amongst humans past a certain age. Of course, for those reasons, she was also careful. Besides, in her experience, teens often preferred to be spoken to as adults. And to Xá, all humans in one way or another were in some way like children, due to their lifespan being far short of Xá's present age.

"Ah, well... it's hard to choose a story unprompted," Xá admitted. "I have lived for over two Earth centuries and both the technology at my disposal and the rapid healing factor of my cybernetic systems have essentially ensured that I haven't really spent any of that time staying still. Occasionally I may take a week or two of vacation before the next adventure. This, by the way, counts as one such vacation."

Xá took another bite of her fish. "So... you know a bit about me now, perhaps you would be comfortable in telling me where you hail from? You can't be Federation or Alliance if you aren't aware of the Nibuzani Empire; and no offence, but you don't look to be the type who would have the capability for unrestricted travel from the Syndicate... unless you have fled them of course. That just leaves the People's Republic of Westcluster, and you lack the hardness of a Westclusterian. So either you're from an alternate dimension," she said with a joking grin. "Or your not from one of the human-majority nations."
Petra Hyeon (played by FreeJayFly)

Petra clicked her pen a few times with her thumb. She had heard of the term 'centurion' a few times to know it meant a type of commanding officer, or was used in lieu of meaning it -- but 'century' was still something she was trying to wrap her head around. From the sounds of it, it was a frame of time.

When Xá asked about Petra, she stopped clicking her pen. A lot of the names they were saying did not really mean much to her.

"I left Earth when I was smaller," Petra started. "I don't remember how old, but maybe I was this tall?"

She held her hand out to a little above her hip. That was Petra's approximation for how much smaller she was when she first jumped a rift.

"I ended up living with the novii'viho. At least until the time I ended up leaving them as well." Petra took a moment, a thoughtful expression on her face as she tried to determine whether or not she wanted to say anything further. In the end, it probably did not matter much. People generally found out one way or another, and if Petra knew anything, a large jump meant that she never really saw the same person twice. Much as it would have been neat.

"I... end up leaving places or people behind without meaning to," Petra slowly said. "So even if I come from Earth, I don't really know anything about it or the humans that live there."
Xa'Taren (played by Riik) Topic Starter

((Sorry about the wait, yesterday was real stressful))

"Earth, huh?" Xá asked. "Haven't actually been there myself. I've done a lot of work in the Federation of Free Worlds and the various human planets in the Alliance of Independent Nations. I've never really had access to Earth though. I have a uh... complicated history with the Terrans."

Xá shrugged, and the momentary disappearance of her smile came to an end as it returned once more. "I've never heard of the novii'viho though... I love hearing about new people. Personally, I come from a now uninhabited world called Xanedaíga. I was created there as... well as a slave, more or less. I wasn't 'grown' so much as had my organs independently grown and pieced together... I guess 'assembled' is a more accurate term. So to my creators, I was nothing more than a robot made of flesh and blood and bone. And cybernetics. Turns out they couldn't perfect their method of bio engineering without the need for technology. I stayed there and did my duty for the remainder of the time it took for them to die out of a mutated virus, and then remained for a few more years out of a dumb sense of obligation. After fifty years or so Earth time, I realised that I didn't have to be beholden to their rules, so I left. I've been exploring the stars and generally helping out make the sector a better place for over two hundred years now."
Petra Hyeon (played by FreeJayFly)

OOC: No worries! :) I'm getting some last minute packing done for anything that needs to be disassembled over on my end, so this was going to be my last post to this thread since the Summer Soiree is also ending the day I move! Which, by the way, thank you for having me! I enjoyed getting to RP as Petra here with Xá. ^_^

"Oh, same," Petra commented simply on the matter. Most other humans, or 'terrans' as some people had called her and other humans, had been interesting people. The few that she ran into were usually bounty hunters of some kind or another, sometimes mercenaries. It was rare to just find a human that worked what some would call a 'normal job' running a shop or something.

"Not... on the whole being put together like a puzzle," Petra clarified after a moment. "Or... being... a slave.... Being built kinda sounds cool, though. I bet that means you could always rebuild yourself if something happened. More easily than seeing a doctor or something."

Petra made a small doodle in her journal as well as made a note about Xá: 'Friendly. Makes good food. Built to life?'

"The Novii that I lived with had... a lot of trouble," Petra mentioned, recollecting the old discussions that her Gaa'dan and community members had with one another. "I was the first human that most of them met, but luckily one of the grandpas had met a human like me in the past. Noted I was much 'smaller' than the ones he was used to. So they kinda went from there. Teached me stuff and helped me."

Putting her journal and pen away, Petra dug in her satchel again. Eventually, she pulled out a rather beaten up looking child's dictionary (with pictures!) -- something you would expect to see at an elementary school.

"My human mom and dad gave me this to help me before going to school!" Petra said. "I already knew how to read and do the alphabet. So I had this so I could know more words."

While caught up in her excitement, however, Petra paused once she felt that all too familiar tug. Like something or someone reaching into her body and grabbing at her stomach. It always felt that way before a jump.

"Um!" Petra quickly started. She had to talk fast: "Itwasreallynicemeetingyou!Thanksforthefood!"

For a moment, Petra was yanked back, accidentally knocking over a chair as a spatial tear opened up and pulled her through before disappearing as quickly as it came.
Xa'Taren (played by Riik) Topic Starter

((It was fun! Thanks for attending my summer soiree!))

Oh, if only it was as simple as being an actual machine! There were many corrections Xá was itching to make. Most notably the fact that being assembled wasn't exactly the same as using robotics. Xá wasn't built with screws and bolts. Tendons and ligaments were... not quite so simple when it came to repairs. Even with the help of nanobots in the place of certain crucial bodily cells.

Unfortunately, such a chance to explain the reality of matters never came. Petra's strange sudden disappearance at the least gave Xá enough time to offer an awkward wave before she was truly gone, but she was still left standing there dumbfounded.

"Well uh... you certainly know how to make an exit," Xá said to thin air. She noticed that a lot more attention was aimed at her after the unusual rift had caught the eye of the nearby crowd. Perhaps Xá could use this to her advantage! "Free barbecued food, anyone?" She asked to the suddenly subdued crowd, breaking the not-quite silence of the quietened murmuring.

In a way, this brief encounter had been a rather apt metaphor for much of Xá's past friendships and social engagements. But with each departed or separated friend, there were plenty of memories worth holding onto. Though brief, Xá was certain this encounter would stay with her for a good while yet.

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