[open] ROCK LOBSTER!!

[hairrands]

CHARACTERS: AJ Harris and Algidus and YOU!
LOCATION: Encampment
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Two new arrivals return to camp triumphant and ready to barter with the biggest river-pig yet.
NOTES:
1) Backdated to several days after the September batch of newbies arrived. September 15 or so.
2) Catch-all for setting up some trade. They're looking for tech, trading for sea-bacon. Try to start some shit and the bit ice alien will end it.






When they finally arrived back to the outskirts of the encampment late one afternoon, AJ Harris was a sweaty mess of grumbly frustration, but she forced a wide grin on and picked up her step from the moment she spotted the camp's first inhabitants. Algidus had held up his part of the bargain by catching this monster. Now she had to hold up hers. "This way," she encouraged him, meandering through onlooking survivors as they gawped at the massive tentacled beast carted between the two of them. Soon the pair were flanking a two-meter long rock lobster--missing several bony plates near the back of its massive jelly eyes--showing it off as best as possible for would-be connoisseurs. It was so big that AJ had had to fold its now frosty tentacles over on itself, lest they trip up passers-by.

Luckily, they had no incidents as they approached the clearing developed for bargaining, gathering, and shouting, and the long-haired human was pleased to finally take a position over the olde shouting rock to holler up some attention. She waited until Algidus had finished placing their catch on the ground before them before he withdrew to menace any who thought to slip in and poach, then got down to business. She had recently ripped the sleeves off of her standard issue jump suit, so now she wiped her hands off of one wedged over her belt before raising her sweaty guns to the encampment at large.

"Me and my big friend here have icy slabs of calamari just waiting for anyone who wants a bite, but she was a bitch to wrangle out of the river, so they're not gonna be cheap! You want a slice, this could just be the start of some beautiful business!"

She pointed down at the rock lobster with both hands, two fingers apiece, hyping up the catch by flagrantly flexing her pipes. "Who's sick of eating leaves? You are! Who's sick of climbing trees? You weren't born to be a fucking monkey! Who wants to eat cooked fucking meat without a throat full of nasty gecko bones? You, right here! This is one-hundred percent triple A-grade natural river-fresh meat right here, and if you got details about how we can get off this fucking rock we got a place for you at the front of the line! I want parts and supplies, I want gas and a generator, I want whatever passes for alien federation mind-meld voodoo that got that thing up there!" She pointed first to the wreck looming in the distance, then up to a low-hanging moon, then brought her fist back down, a show of force as her grin dropped into a sneer. "And neither of us are gonna be fucked with, so don't think of bumming any fake shit; neither of us are neanderthals who are gonna be spoon-fed a bunch of horse turds and believe they're apples!"

Hopping down off the rock, she did her best to saunter. Showmanship was never her strong-point, but by god she was trying her hardest here. She really owed Algidus if she expected him to keep hunting for her.

Comments

Algidus | OTA

[thecoldshoulder]

Anyone who had wandered over upon hearing AJ's spirited sales pitch would find the icy alien that had accompanied her standing nearby the foot of the shouting rock, towering over the kill with his arms folded across his broad icy chest. His glowing green eyes were narrowed; his expression was stern as he kept a careful watch over all of the proceedings. He wasn’t about to climb onto the rock and start squawking himself, but his booming voice was still easily heard by anyone who might have approached. “I suggest you be straightforward in your dealings. I have little patience or sympathy for those that impede my goals… or the one that is helping me pursue them. Wouldn’t it be so much easier just to make a potential ally here?"

He was trying to be imposing, but maybe not… overly threatening, which wasn’t his strong suit. It was why he had left most of the talking to AJ to begin with. But if it was her job to wrangle in any potential business partners, then it was his job to keep all of this running smoothly. He was taking it just as seriously as he approached basically everything else in his life.

for you both?

[queasycrow]

Of the sparse crowd that has since gathered, whether attracted by the giant fish-thing, the imposing but not overly threatening ice-thing, or all the shouting, there stands a man who doesn't really look like he has much clout in the way of gas and generators, although he might have a vulgar joke up his sleeve about the first thing. He wears armor, and a mage's staff is lashed to his shoulder, and he raises his hand, classroom-style.

"Just a question."

He doesn't wait to get called upon.

"Am I to understand you're operating on the assumption that people might be stashing away means of escape and are only awaiting the perfect opportunity to trade it in for calamari?"

Hawke probably has more questions than just that. Probably. He just wants to ensure we're all on the same page.

(AJ's gonna leap on this like a pig on a biscuit)

[hairrands]

From her perch atop the big old boulder, AJ has a very good opportunity to sneer down her nose at this sarcastic asshole, and because she has such gaunt, jagged features, she puts a pretty good spin on this particular glare.

"If you're thinking of trading the magical hovering stick crammed up your shit-hole you can float your boat on someone else, smart-ass. Of course we don't think you're sitting on a shuttle or something whole and ready to go, but I know people are digging up parts and we happen to know how to put a working vehicle together, which is probably more than your ugly cudgel-toting face could manage."

Already hot and tired and cranky, she can't help but add, "we just figured that maybe an apple-cheeked village idiot like you might be hungry enough and smart enough to figure, 'hey, food is good, I'm literally sitting on parts I'm too stupid to do jack shit with, but maybe getting an easy ride and a square meal would help everyone here!' Why am I not fucking surprised that you're too busy scratching your tick-bitten ear like you can't put two and two together?"

[thecoldshoulder]

Algidus had already been watching this man approach with a wary eye; by the time Hawke had opened his mouth the alien had moved just enough to put his body between his kill and the man, and a fierce scowl had overtaken his features. This is why he hates dealing with humans. You try to cooperate--in this case, trying to offer them something in return for what they might know-- and they reply with snide remarks, always thinking themselves so clever. This is why he'd fallen in with AJ, he figured; let her deal with whatever humans tried his patience.

Turns out that her way of dealing with this wasn't too far off from what he had in mind to say. It was just far, far more wordy and colorful. The alien tried to keep his features from lifting up into a little sneer, but it was damn hard not to. "I think my... associate has answered your pointless little jab well enough. Perhaps you would like to try again? Otherwise I would be more than happy to... see you off." Again, being nonthreatening was not his strong suit.

[queasycrow]

Andraste's tits.

Hawke just stands there, perplexed but, you know, listening, and then gives a crooked grin at 'ugly cudgel-toting face'. At her summarising rhetoric, he proposes, "But then I would have missed all that, and then where would I be."

His focus withdraws, tilts the necessary inches up to consider where he approximates Algidus's face to be.

"Where I was going with all this was that I've actually driven a shuttle like you're probably after, and come with a bevy of ominous warnings about how they're sorry excuses for escape vehicles because space is very big, but I can't help but stay interested. I don't know if any of the shuttle bays are still intact," and he jabs a thumb back over his shoulder in the rough direction of the Tranquility, "but that might interest you conceptually."

Hawke is quite calm and almost pleasant in manner, in an effortless way that must be genuine. To say that he is used to hurled insults and threats of physical violence is an understatement.

[hairrands]

AJ's eyes narrow immediately to the point that she gives a very fair--if human-version--impression of Algidus' glowing glower. The difference between them is primarily in that AJ possess a mouth, and that mouth is pulled into a puckered scowl, whereas Algidus does not... but to be fair, the alien has a pair of impressive if ominous looking mandibles to work.

"So you're a wise guy, huh? Prove it," she tells him. She can see him lying through his teeth with a tone as glib as that.

I'll also take both for 100, Alex

[tongueamok]

Now that certainly is a sight, thought Carlisle to himself as he watched the spectacle of showmanship from behind a few people. He meant the display in its entirety: the creature they'd caught was a nightmarish array of frost-covered tentacles, the barker was as crass as she was cacophonous, and the other... individual was a strange being, to say the absolute least.

But the important part was that they were offering food, and something they'd fished up, at that. He hadn't had seafood since he'd been taken from his home. It was a bit frustrating that he could remember that tidbit of information, but not what his home was actually like, but he figured he could safely assume it must have been on the water. He could recall seafood and boats. That was a start.

His stomach pulled him back to the present, prodding him to talk to these people about their catch. It was time to see if he could barter for something more than lizard jerky. He was pretty hungry those days, and it couldn't hurt to ask, he supposed.

And if it did hurt to ask... well, he'd cross that bridge if he came to it.

He waited until there was an opening for chatter, when others had left and it was relatively quiet, before making his approach to the pair and their catch. "Excuse me," he said with a smile, trying to make himself look agreeable, "but I've got a question. Is there anything other than, er." He made a gesture with his hand, not particularly motioning to anything. "—parts that you'd be will to take in exchange? An offer of services or skills? Or something else entirely that wasn't mentioned?"

Ayyo wonderful!

[thecoldshoulder]

It likely wouldn't hurt to ask unless Carlisle was planning on trying to dupe the pair... and as he approached the shouting rock, Algidus was watching him carefully like that was exactly what he was expecting the human to do. The smile didn't seem to do much to assuage the towering ice alien, but at least he was listening. AJ might have been willing to conduct most of the bartering and interaction with her fellow humans--and she was much better at it than he was--but he would have to begin learning at some point for himself if he was going to continue investigating this planet and their strange circumstances.

The alien tilted his head slightly to one side, his gently curling mandibles twitching once. "That depends entirely on what kind of services or skills you think you have to offer. As you can see, I am more than properly equipped to provide for myself," and here he puffed up slightly, lifting one foot to place proudly on the carcass, "So you had better be able to get more creative than that for us, human."

Now he fell quiet and swiveled his head to AJ, waiting to see if she had anything else in mind that she was looking to garner from this exchange. He had no qualms about turning Carlisle away if this turned out to be a waste of their time... but at least this human was proving to be more cooperative than most for the time being. It was a good change of pace.

Re: Ayyo wonderful!

[hairrands]

When Algidus had opened his gills to speak, AJ was concerned that he was going to berate this scrawny man for approaching... but given he was one of the ones being more amicable to their offer, she was just about to leap onto his horns to slap her arms over his neck to shut him up.

...It was a good thing that he had managed to be more civil.

The human scrambled down the front of the boulder and confronted Carlisle directly, letting Algidus know with a nod that he'd done good. "You look like you know better than to stir the pot like some assholes out here. You been around since before that thing fell out of the sky?"

[tongueamok]

Thank goodness the woman cut in, because Carlisle looked like he was about to collapse from the way her monstrous comrade was looking at him. He shriveled under that glowing, green gaze, his muscles tensing and preparing for a run for his life. Her partner was much taller than more imposing than he'd seemed only moments before, especially once he placed a foot on their trophy as a reminder of just what he could do to someone who crossed him.

Still, Carlisle managed to stay upright and maintain that smile (albeit twitching from his nerves). He did not want to make a poor impression, no matter how afraid of being torn to pieces he was. Some people just looked frightening, he reminded himself. They really weren't so bad under all that. One just had to get to know them.

Ah, but getting to know them -- that was the tricky part, now wasn't it? Especially when he could feel his gut plummeting a mile a minute.

"Yes," he answered the spokeswoman of the pair, taking a breath and trying to remember that they were all prisoners here. "I've both been around since before the crash and learned to hold my tongue when necessary. My memory is still spotty in some places regarding that first point, but I know that much. A- and while I can see that you're both perfectly capable of fending for yourselves in the woods," —he motioned to their catch, giving a nod to the intimidating alien— "I know of no one who is completely invulnerable. I cannot offer much in the way of combat skills, but I am an adept healer."

[thecoldshoulder]

The sudden shift in the human's demeanor did not go unnoticed by the alien, and it lent his features a particularly cheerful-looking leer. After everything he'd been through, he'd almost forgotten how gratifying it was to see a member of the race that had been responsible for putting him through such hell properly intimidated by his presence. This was as it should be, he thought; it took a whole lot of self-restraint on his part not to lean his head down towards the man to glare at him, or to shift one of his arms into a blade just to see his reaction...

... But no. He was going to be good. As gratifying as it would be to see the human in a panicked retreat or curled up in a fetal ball at his feet, that wouldn't further either he or AJ's goals. He could have his fun another time; instead he decided to put on a show of bravado--it was often just as effective as a display of aggression in discouraging anyone from messing with him.

"Human, look at me!" Algidus crowed, thumping a fist to his broad chest. "Behold my strength, my natural defenses! I have no fear of what lurks in the jungle." Still, he wasn't going to outright turn down what Carlisle was offering; he'd never been afforded more than one shot at life, not like some, and it would be foolish to turn down an offer of aid when there were rumors of monstrosities lurking out of sight. "But... I find your offers intriguing, nonetheless. I would be willing to hear you out, should my..." here he fumbled briefly, having no clue how to address AJ, someone he felt a connection to that he hadn't quite pinned down yet, "... Associate agree to it."

i can go either/or with both of your dudes! just gonna slam this down here

[circumitus]

Already an adequate survivalist, Rey by no means suffers a shortage of food supply. She is quite well taken care of in that field, thank you kindly.

Rey does, however, stand back with some mild amusement at AJ's pitch, before leaving for a while to check on some people and possible supplies for the shelter she has been working on. It's a nice distraction from other matters that's been goading her conscience, if nothing else.

By the time she makes it back, she notices that the girl and the ice alien are still there. With a backpack full of supplies slung over her shoulder, her arms cross and a brow lifts at the scene.

Admittedly, their catch is pretty impressive. She didn't peg AJ or the alien for being adequate piscators.

"Any biters yet, or is it just a tough crowd?" She is, of course, referring to the people they're attempting to barter calamari with when she says biters. It isn't some sort of morbid connotation for... anything else. That would be weird.

Both is fine by me if Ano wants to dive in!

[hairrands]

It might be hard to tell that the iced over corpse was more beaten up looking than when Algidus had put an end to it; when he'd first dragged it out of the river hand-over-hand, he'd all but curb-stomped it to the point that chunks of its stony plate armor buckled and broke around its strange head.

Now that AJ was doing barter--more for information than for honest to god goods--a few more chunks were missing, but these were more deliberate. Seeing as they'd only been lent a little stove, they hadn't gone through much, but a few more plates were missing, and the smell of... bacon? wafted from around the shouting rock.

AJ, at least, looked pretty smug, but then she was actually sated for the first time in days. She was picking her teeth with one nail, and she cast Rey a smart grin. "Bites've been had. You were right about everybody just trying not to starve, though. Nobody seems ready to even think about getting off this planet or finding anyone else come to get us."

[thecoldshoulder]

"So sort-sighted," Algidus huffed, sounding more exasperated than anything else-- he'd never stopped thinking about potential avenues for escape, but that was more because he didn't even want to consider being forced to remain on this planet for the long haul. "But then it's not surprising to me that most of the humans here aren't used to fending or providing for themselves. No matter. Their shortcomings can be exploited."

The alien wasn't thrilled about divvying up his hard-earned kill for members of the species that he held such a grudge against, but when he could always go and catch himself another it seemed wise to put this towards gleaming information and establishing a position for he and AJ among the clutch of survivors from the crash. At least he wasn't busy glaring Rey down full-force like had done to some of the others that had come poking around his kill; her distant nature was something more familiar to him and she'd proven herself valuable enough in providing information, though some of her answers to his questions had been... vague. Right now he was more worried about a certain tidbit that she'd shared with him earlier: that she knew Glacius, or knew of him. Algidus wasn't sure if she was going to drop that fact on AJ, or how that would impact things... he wasn't sure if he wanted the other clone to even know that his original had been here, but if she was going to find out he wanted to be the one to tell her.

[circumitus]

Arms crossed, Rey graces AJ with a raised brow as she picks at her teeth. "The last people who tried to 'come get us' were more likely to take us in as experiments, or study or assimilate us or what have you. Don't blame anyone for not wanting to try."

She'd seen what that government had done to their prisoners. And once, it seemed that the same thing nearly happened to all of them. Rey had experienced enough corrupt governments that she'd rather die than to be taken in, and go through that all over again.

Her eyes dart to Algidus and she shrugs.

"There wasn't much forging involved on a ship that more or less provided everything you need. Don't think a handful of these people are used to camping, either."

On the other hand, Rey had been a soldier. At least, she had the memories of many soldiers in her head, all with their own survival training for environments such as these. She gets by, and that includes finding her own food.

[hairrands]

"Is it just fucking me, or am I the only one who came from a place where people didn't try to fuck you up day in and day out?" AJ forgets herself, slipping back into memories of her original's former life. Really, she can't speak for that at all, considering that she was one of those shoddy group's experiments.

She goes red in the face, her horrific realization melting out of her in the form of hot shame. "Anyways, who says either of us want to go to civilization? Maybe we want to find a place better suited than a stinking jungle. Maybe we just want to see if this whole planet's the same or if there's better places to poke around away from the equator."

[thecoldshoulder]

"Not just you," Algidus shakes his head, "That seems to be a uniquely human thing from my experience." He was about to continue prattling on about how his people would never pull that sort of shit, how they were above it all and how this sort of conflict was beneath them, but then he saw her go red in the face and he stopped talking really damn quickly. The icy alien was no expert at relating to other people, but he was able to draw the connection there and it quieted him. He was of the same circumstances, after all. The life that was uniquely his had not been a long one, and it had been centered on plots and schemes to destroy and to replace... and even here, on this strange new planet, he wasn't completely free from it. Glacius just had to have been here, a reminder of his hollow nature.

He doesn't want to think about any of that right now, particularly not with Rey around. The less she knows about where he was from or what he actually was, the better. "Trying is better than just idling here, not accomplishing anything. If we come across the ones responsible for any of this, I will fight. I will not be taken, not again." Three times--once by Ultratech, once by the Technicians, and now by whoever or whatever was responsible for his appearance here--was already too many times for him. He needs to get a sense of his own agency back.

I'M SO SORRY I'LL GIVE YOU A REAL TOP COMMENT WITH HUGHES OKAY

[theroadwarrior]

Max happens upon the sight with mud in his hair and dashed on his cheek, his pack over his shoulder and his shotgun hanging against his hip. And he watches. And he stares. And looks like someone who might actually be paying attention to this showcasing of goodies. And when AJ finally stops her very long and very hyped dialogue, he replies:

"... Hmn."

And then

he just walks away.

LMAO BYE AJ BYE.

[hairrands]

The moment that AJ spots the filthy, stinking human, she keeps her fucking eye on him. Were this any other canon, you can bet there would have been dramatically narrowed eyes, wide-frame zoomed-in death-glares just waiting to be consummated by spaghetti Western oaths of imminent deaths and towns that are too small.

But no, this is real life, and AJ prefers to keep herself more or less intact. She isn't going to poke the bear.

She is, instead, going to poke another one, more polar in nature.

"Hey," she nudges Algidus. "You see that shit-lord, you watch out for him, huh?"

[thecoldshoulder]

Algidus doesn't flinch or jump when he's nudged, he just slowly shifts his head around to stare in the direction that she's pointing. When his gaze falls upon the mud-spattered, bedraggled looking man, he gives a little scoff. Despite what he assuems is a crude weapon resting against his side, Max does not look like much trouble... but his fellow clone has singled him out and Algidus has a role to play, here.

"I shall... why, did he give you trouble?" the alien asks. Then another idea occurs to him: "Do you want me to drag him over here and make him answer for it?" It would serve the human right for his dismissive nature, but moreover... the idea of throwing his weight around in such a manner for AJ to watch has its own appeal. He's just provided her with a massive cephalopod packed with meat-- how better to keep giving her a good show of his power than by besting someone on the receiving end of her disdain?

On the other hand, he knows how hard AJ worked to attract attention here so that they could start getting their foot in the door. Even though Algidus would very much enjoy a target to take some of his ire out on, he realizes that grabbing a human and hauling him over might maybe attract the wrong kind of attention--it could undo some of that hard work. So for now, he's waiting for her to make the call... though his eyes, locked on Max as they are, certainly look intent.

[hairrands]

Seeing as how Shit Lord was already skulking off and around a staked down tarp, AJ was not feeling inclined to have him chased down... so she shook her head 'no', but she added, "you know, you ever see him causing trouble anywhere else, it's probably because he likes to do it. He didn't do anything, like, cruel or anything. Just... came up out of the goo-bay and he was sitting right there in the middle of it all eating food and making fun of us who didn't know what the hell was going on."

AJ's version of 'making fun of' encompassed showing off one's strengths to those who had no hope of matching them, which meant that it aligned pretty well with Algidus' at this point.

[thecoldshoulder]

Algidus seemed to deflate slightly when she shook her head; his gills began to open like he was considering asking her if she was absolutely sure, but then they settled again as he decided not to press the issue. Lucky for that human, he thought. No matter... he'd get his chance another time.

"He doesn't seem to have much of a clue himself," the alien mused instead, "He probably turned away because he knew he didn't have anything of value with which to barter."

either of you i want or boooth yessssss

[ontheline]

Ahahaaaaa. What the hell is your friend there, um... supposed to be...

An alien, Hughes is guessing. A bona fide alien. He has to assume as much, what with the glowy bits and the icy things and the penchant for looking... like an alien. Alright, but he's going to play nice and assume this guy is like a lot of the others who've come and gone on the ship. Totally not a book to judge by its cover.

He rubs his chin, looking super interested in what AJ is throwin' down here.

"I would imagine it's pretty hard to convince someone horse droppings are apples, but sure thing! I don't know if you'll find actual gas or generators around here, but there's always people willing to salvage scrap from the ship for you! What're you looking for, wires? Nuts and bolts? Glass screens?"

well now u get both my friend~

[hairrands]

AJ's been in a prime position to watch Hughes ogle Algidus, so she is glad when he finally turns his attention on her instead of the ice alien. She closes the distance by a step or two, gesturing with a toss of her chin for him to come over to talk. "Wires would be good, as much as you can lay your hands on. I would kill for some tools, and I mean a good range, but you know the usual, the basics are good. You got anything like any of that?"

[thecoldshoulder]

Algidus has definitely noticed the human eyeballing him. It causes him to go rigid and bristle slightly, and while he isn't making any aggressive moves, the firm glower over his features suggests that he expects Hughes to come out swinging with any number of questions about his alien nature--and that he is prepared to shut them down. Thankfully the man seems to simply be interested in talking business, but it never hurts to reiterate his part.

"And don't think of trying to pawn off anything fake or faulty," he warned, "She has a good eye for this sort of thing. If you want a cut of this meat--and trust me, you do if you value a solid meal--you had better be able to come up with your end of the bargain."