And Mia Malfoy-Ausa could not possibly be happier about that fact.
The mother-to-be was just relaxing at a table with some lunch, enjoying an unusual break of not having to go to the bathroom, when her eyes happened to land on the squid.
Her face immediately lights up the way a child's does when they're informed they're getting that pony they wanted for Christmas and they won't lose any birthday presents because of it.
She tries to quell this some when she addresses the very lovely squid.
The creature's head swivels around and lowers so all six black eyes are focused on the speaker at once. It cocks its head to one side and lets out a 'prrt?' noise; that probably means yes, or possibly where am I, please?.
Milliways. It will remember that. It makes a face best described as
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and gives a pleased trill. Oh, and it lifts its tentacles and flexes them outward; it has little hope that any individual human necessarily understands the gesture, but it seldom hurts to say hello, even if not understood.
A giant brightly-colored squid has just 'walked' into the Bar.
Darryl 'Mother' Roskow is going to be properly terrified now, dropping his current project with a clatter and a scattering of parts before flailing and screaming like a little girl squid.
The squid lets out a similarly startled whistle of alarm and shoves itself backward several feet, yanking its snakelike neck and head up hard enough that it's probably trying to retract them into its body. Oh, and the tentacles, too; it might have better luck with those.
The screaming human is doing a fair job of nearly levitating while he flails. At least until he hits the ground, then it's just an all out run for a table about 20 feet away and hiding behind it.
That reaction, the creature knows. Not from humans, though. From video footage of Unggoy who've lost their Elites in battle against the humans. Unggoy morale is seldom what anyone would call very strong, and they tend to cower and hide rather than remember they're carrying plasma pistols. It... might be safe...
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One eye is enough to tell if the human is about to do anything threatening, right?
Chuck is sitting at a corner table, a few jars of freshly harvested honey resting in front of her.
Hardly squid food, of course, though she wouldn't be completely sure what to feed a squid if she saw one.
Because she's fairly convinced she's seeing one right now - or something that looks as though it's floating like it lives in the ocean in mid-air, so that's sort of odd.
The squid creature cants its head at the sound, blinking all six black eyes curiously. It offers a purring little trill of curiosity, ducking its head to get a better look at the jars before turning its full attention to the human.
It's used to humans, but the culinary offerings on board the UNSC cruiser Spark in Darkness don't generally include honey, so it's not sure what it's looking at.
Chuck's torn between the urge to run in the opposite direction and curiosity. She settles on the latter and rises from her chair, taking a few steps in the squid creature's direction.
"Hello," she says. Unfortunately, the many languages she's studied do not cover anything from a world that's not on Earth, so she's probably going to be rather limited in terms of communication, but there's no harm in trying.
The creature whistles cheerfully, lifts its tentacles, and flexes them outward. A human might make a similar gesture by putting the heels of his or her hands together, flexing all the fingers towards the palm, then spreading them outward. It's the creature's species' sign for hello, and it's worth a try.
So as the whistling squid drifts into the Bar, a lion (except she's obviously bipedal, is wearing blue denim pants, and does not have a tail) looks up from her plate of fried eggs with startlement of her own.
She murmurs to Bar, obtains a black box the size and shape of a shoebox, extrudes the claw on the first finger of her right hand, and presses two of the buttons recessed into the top of the box, then turns it towards the squid.
The box produces five five-note chords. (In the language of the t'ca, a species from Chur's side of the door, it's the question "Who are you?" even though the squid doesn't perfectly resemble a t'ca. It's not mammalian, it's not reptilian, and it's whistling; Chur'll go with her first guess just in case.)
Hm. That's new- sort of. There are plenty of images in the data files from New Mombasa that somewhat resemble the biped there, but they all depict quadrupedal Earth lifeforms. There's never been any mention of human attempts to bio-engineer bipedal life from quadrupeds of Earth in the data the creature has access to, other than in fiction. Therefore, it's probably reasonable to guess that this is not a being of Earth, and that it's trying to communicate via the chords. Not doing a bad job, either, given that the creature's species can communicate by sound if they need to convey quick messages.
Unfortunately, the syntax is still a bit beyond the creature's grasp, so it lets out a disappointed little mwoop and lowers its head. A moment later it brightens, moving towards the box; perhaps if it can examine the device more closely...
Chur smiles a closed-mouth smile and holds out the box for the other creature to examine. Unfortunately, all the buttons are recessed to be activated by narrow hani claws, but there's a coffee stirrer abandoned nearby that might suffice.
Oh, that won't be necessary. The creature lifts one tentacle, which suddenly splits into a brush-like tuft of dozens of cilia, and brushes them over the machine. If there is an interface port somewhere, or some seam it can slip into and figure out how to open, even if only for a moment...
The creature's seen what the human is eating before! Some of the Marines on board the Spark in Darkness had packages of that sort of thing. And the people of New Mombasa had them sometimes, and were told not to keep them in their desks without sealing them up securely. Keeping things clean was a priority, after all.
But that's a distraction and lasts only a second. The creature's attention goes from the food to the human, who gets a curious trill and a birdlike canting of the head from side to side. This is definitely not where it had intended to be, no.
It doesn't entirely understand what, precisely, 'end of the universe' is supposed to refer to- the universe isn't linear- but it does want to make sure that nothing has gone too wrong. It turns and opens the door...
... yep, that's the interior of the UNSC Heavy Cruiser Spark in Darkness, all right. A corridor in the engineering section, specifically.
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And Mia Malfoy-Ausa could not possibly be happier about that fact.
The mother-to-be was just relaxing at a table with some lunch, enjoying an unusual break of not having to go to the bathroom, when her eyes happened to land on the squid.
Her face immediately lights up the way a child's does when they're informed they're getting that pony they wanted for Christmas and they won't lose any birthday presents because of it.
She tries to quell this some when she addresses the very lovely squid.
"Hello. Are you new here?"
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It's intelligent. But of course it is; Mia wouldn't expect anything less.
"Welcome to Milliways."
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and gives a pleased trill. Oh, and it lifts its tentacles and flexes them outward; it has little hope that any individual human necessarily understands the gesture, but it seldom hurts to say hello, even if not understood.
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Darryl 'Mother' Roskow is going to be properly terrified now, dropping his current project with a clatter and a scattering of parts before flailing and screaming like a little girl squid.
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One eye is enough to tell if the human is about to do anything threatening, right?
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Hardly squid food, of course, though she wouldn't be completely sure what to feed a squid if she saw one.
Because she's fairly convinced she's seeing one right now - or something that looks as though it's floating like it lives in the ocean in mid-air, so that's sort of odd.
"Hmm," Chuck ponders out loud.
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It's used to humans, but the culinary offerings on board the UNSC cruiser Spark in Darkness don't generally include honey, so it's not sure what it's looking at.
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"Hello," she says. Unfortunately, the many languages she's studied do not cover anything from a world that's not on Earth, so she's probably going to be rather limited in terms of communication, but there's no harm in trying.
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She murmurs to Bar, obtains a black box the size and shape of a shoebox, extrudes the claw on the first finger of her right hand, and presses two of the buttons recessed into the top of the box, then turns it towards the squid.
The box produces five five-note chords. (In the language of the t'ca, a species from Chur's side of the door, it's the question "Who are you?" even though the squid doesn't perfectly resemble a t'ca. It's not mammalian, it's not reptilian, and it's whistling; Chur'll go with her first guess just in case.)
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Unfortunately, the syntax is still a bit beyond the creature's grasp, so it lets out a disappointed little mwoop and lowers its head. A moment later it brightens, moving towards the box; perhaps if it can examine the device more closely...
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He peers at the creature for a moment (he's seen stranger), and smiles hesitantly. "Are you--new here?"
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But that's a distraction and lasts only a second. The creature's attention goes from the food to the human, who gets a curious trill and a birdlike canting of the head from side to side. This is definitely not where it had intended to be, no.
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"It's really not that bad, but it--um kind of just shows up?" in his best reassuring voice (it is not that great). "It's, um, a tavern-hotel place."
Brief pause, and then a rush onwards.
"At the end of the universe, I mean, but yours should still be outside your door?"
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... yep, that's the interior of the UNSC Heavy Cruiser Spark in Darkness, all right. A corridor in the engineering section, specifically.
How very strange.
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