[Social] I'll Gladly Pay You Tuesday For a Beer Today

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

Thrax barely stopped himself from visibly wincing. He was relieved that she didn't know, but the comment struck far too close to home.

"Not really much of one after failing to become a Stormsinger monk and running away, but yeah," he said with a well-placed sigh. Of course, he wasn't thinking that Shari likely had a nose for all kinds of deception, even the kind that was mostly controlled body language.

[Shari]

"Much of what? And there are worse places to end up after running away."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"I mean I'm not necessarily the best my kind has to offer. That's all," Thrax explained with a shrug.

"And I'd hope it's a good place to hunker down, because I have a feeling I'm going to have no choice but to be around awhile. No offense—this world actually seems fun—but I'd much rather be moving on." Because I don't want to bring bounty hunters here.

[Shari]

"My family was stranded here for years. But they also decided to focus on subjugating this planet for the glory of the empire and scavenged our engine to help with that. They do still have one piece of it here but I have no clue if that'd be even remotely compatible with your ship."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"It's worth a shot!" Thrax grinned. "I mean, as far as I know. I know the bare minimum about ship repair and even less about salvaging parts from different species' ships. Minamida obviously doesn't know anything about either but she's a great deal smarter than me. "

"But, won't your family, uhh... not like that?"

[Shari]

"Uh, yeah, I don't think that matters cause except for one uncle they're dead and what's left of their ship is probably in some Russian lab by now."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

Thrax winced; for all he knew, his family had been killed along with so many others. So, he could sympathize even if she didn't seem particularly close with her family.

"Sorry. Close or not, they were your family," he said in such a way that suggested he had grieved his own despite every effort to hide his pain. He had a terrible poker face, which was a problem when you need to live in the gray area of a vagabond.

[Shari]

"I... think you care more about that kind of thing than me." she says with a kind of commiserating smile. She's not sure what she's commiserating with but does she really have to?

"Everything I do and believe is despite them. The greatest kindness they've ever shown me was to exile me and make me forget all about who I was for a while." It might come from a place of passion, but in that moment, some of the more emotionally detached, utilitarian Skrull does peek through.

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"Oh, shit. Well, definitely fuck them with an array of increasingly barbaric dental implements then," he quipped.

"'So, uhh, you liking Earth so far?' he asked lamely, having nothing better to say at this awkward moment."

[Shari]

"It's very interesting. Varied too. I spend a lot of time just... moving around, making do. It sucked, especially during winter, but at the same time, it was good to just be free and only have to worry about myself."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"That... actually sums up my life out there pretty well, except for the part about winter. Though, I guess it's always winter in space; ships are just heated."

He shrugged. "I mean, it doesn't always suck; some of the jobs I've taken were pretty awesome. Benefit of being hard for people not familiar with my species to age is no one treats me like a kid."

[Shari]

"Then I'll skip asking how old you are." Shari smirks ever so slightly. "What kind of jobs were you doing?"

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"Let's see..." he said, counting off on his fingers, "... worker, musician, bouncer, debt collector, bounty hunter, part of a heist crew... You know, little bit of everything."

[Shari]

"Getting by." she nods. "Fair warning, don't try to steal from this place or they'll punish you by giving you a place to stick around for way too long."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

Thrax barked a laugh and smirked. "Yeah! They do seem quite goody goody!"

"But don't worry," he said to Robin, "I have a strict 'no causing trouble for people who are helping me' policy."

"Not deliberately, anyway!" he laughed.

[Shari]

"Yeah, let's not talk about accidental trouble. Where'd you crash anyway?"

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"Some forest northwest-ish of London. I already gave Minamida the coordinates. She thinks she can get it to your hanger without drawing any more attention than I already did bumbling around the city like a lost cub."

He laughed. "At least people only thought I was some deranged mutant and not an alien or I'd apparently be in deep shit."

[Shari]

"No idea. But probably. They can't even treat each other well half the time, can't imagine they'd react well to space aliens. Though it is funny how some of them randomly stumbled onto 'secret lizard people in their government' completely unprompted." she laughs.

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

The large alien laughed aloud. "Is that how they stopped your family? Ahaha! The fearsome Skrull invaders foiled by the random musings of the insane. That—well now I have seen everything."

He snorted a final laugh. "Ahh, I needed that."

[Shari]

"Rare that someone comes along to prove your conspiracy theory right after the fact but shhh, don't tell them they were right and blow my spot."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"I mean, I wouldn't even know how to talk to them, so you're safe." He smirked playfully. "At least, until I figure this Internet thing out. Then who knows what'll happen."

[Shari]

"Well, not much they can do about it anyway. Besides, no infiltrating for me. We're supposed to be explorers, put ourselves in others' places to understand them, not wrangle their planets under our thumb."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"An entire galactic empire would beg to differ," Thrax pointed out. But, inwardly, he could very much sympathize with her. His people were supposed to be on the road to greater cultural and spiritual enlightenment, not the march to war against enemies they couldn't possibly defeat.

Enemies like said empire that could crush them in the blink of an eye.

[Shari]

"Still doesn't make it right. They could be anything and they chose to be tyrants."

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

The statement hit so close to home that it was all that he could do to conceal the pain of it. He had to change the subject or make some excuse to leave if that didn't work. These two might well sympathize but he couldn't risk pity; he couldn't stand being pitied.

"So, uhh... any tips on keeping my alien-ness on the down-low?"

Not awkward at all, fuzz-butt.

[Shari]

"I usurped someone's place, memories and all." she says, green fading into dark brown skin, hair shortening a little and eyes lose their alien looks. It happens smoothly, like slipping into a familiar pair of pants. "We don't really do struggling with local customs." she says with a wry smile. "They're generally low-tech. Combustion and nuclear power, their comm-net is pretty solid. Lotta stuff is only accessible if you have the money. If you want an easy cover-story just tell them you're from some impoverished nation. Hyenas live in a place called Africa and that's full of less developed spots that people here aren't going to know much about so you can always lean into that. Either people are gonna be racist and assume you're ignorant because you're used to rubbing two sticks together to make fire or they'll be embarrassed about how little they actually know and not dig too deep because they're afraid of revealing their own ignorance. Plus Africa's big enough that even if you do run into someone from there you might be able to play it off as being from a different area. You got an universal translator?"

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"I do." Thrax nodded. "Wearing it right now, in fact. Honestly, I'm so used to it living in my ear that I feel naked without it. Space life essential, really."

"Africa... That's a continent, right? I'll have to read up on it on the comm-net when I secure access to it. I agree that it sounds like a decent cover. As long as I don't run into someone from the specific part I choose, anyway, which doesn't seem likely."

"I should probably think of a human name while I'm at it. Or a mutant name more explainable than Thrax. That almost gave me away to Robin by itself."

[Robin Stanton]

"Just say it's the sound electricity makes. Thrrrrax!" Robin chimes in, imitating the sound of a tesla coil rather than the thunderclap of a lighting strike.

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

The alien broke out in a boisterous laugh. "Yes! I love it! It's the perfect explanation for using my actual name. It really is!"

Looking her over, he asked, "So, do you have a one of these fancy 'Mutant Names'?"

[Robin Stanton]

"I could never really settle on one. They're either lame stuff like Play-Doh or boring like 'Protoplast' or weirdly villain-y like Puppeteer. Names are hard! Plus I never really had a non-mutant life or needed to stress that it's part of my identity now or anything. I've always been Robin, that shapeshifting kid." she chuckles.

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

"The Order has this ceremony when someone advances to being a full Stormsinger monk, where one is given a second name by the Elders. It's not chosen by us, but I think it's somewhat close to the same idea—a name for the special things we are that the world will associate with our deeds. Really, from what I gather, the Order is much like your X-Men or your Avengers, only official."

[Robin Stanton]

"Hey, sometimes we're sanctioned!" she chuckles.

[Thraxion Ord'Rakar]

At least, we were...

"Sure, but sometimes doesn't grant any authority, does it?" he said with a smirk.

Then, he laughed. "Can you imagine? The likes of me being allowed to order people around!"