An incognito arrival

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

Who: Erek King and anyone!
Open: Wide open!
When: Day 247
Where: anywhere in the Bastion
What: An android arrives and skulks about hidden behind holograms before saying hello.
Format: prose preferred, but I'll match either!
Warnings: none

Erek's holographic emitter isn't projecting when he becomes aware he isn't home. That is already worrying, even before he takes in his surroundings while raising the illusion of a human boy around himself. An expression of relief flickers across the holographic face, thousands of years making shifts in expression a well-founded habit. His emitters aren't down, at least.

This isn't Earth, though, and it's the most bizarre planet Erek has ever visited. As he takes a step, the ground shifts around him, creating a path on which to walk. ...Interesting, if concerning. He doesn't think it's based on magnetism. The planet itself probably isn't sentient either. It's a matter for later investigation, though. There are more pressing concerns.

He sees a light in the distance that looks promising and replaces his human hologram with one of invisibility, blending into his surroundings. Erek will wait until he sees what species inhabit the planet and do his best to blend in. He sets off toward the Bastion.

When he arrives, Erek stays out of sight until anyone comes into view. He plans on taking up an appropriate hologram as soon as he's gauged the people well enough. Of course, should anyone human-shaped be present, it's easy enough to duck behind the edge of a building and emerge as Erek King, a fairly unremarkable teenage boy. He assumes that no one will see through his camouflage in the meantime. It hasn't happened so far, his emitters sufficiently advanced that it would take a very specialized sort of eyesight to see anything through the illusion.

Comments

[notachickenhawk]

While there isn't someone human-shaped around, there is a very familiar bird-shaped person around. Tobias wheels around the Bastion, just stretching his wings and scanning around. He doesn't expect to see anything, but - grass is bending where there's no one around. He lands on a building nearby to watch, suspicious of what's going on. He tenses up. He might have to attack, but first he'll see where it's going.

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

The bird is certainly familiar. Most redtailed hawks would notice oddities in the grass if those were moving, but Erek is standing still right now. He stays hidden but calls upward, "Tobias?"

A friend would be a welcome sight right now, even if he can't say he's happy Tobias got roped into whatever this is.

[notachickenhawk]

That voice. He knows that voice, and he calls down - not quietly, either. If something does go wrong, he's not keeping it just between him and whatever this is. <Erek? Is that you?>

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

Erek immediately shifts his hologram back to the form of his current human identity, nodding confirmation and knowing that the gesture will be obvious to Tobias even from a distance. "Did you just arrive too? I can't think of many other than the Ellimist with the power to bring us here, and it doesn't seem quite his style." He's still speaking louder than he'd like on unfamiliar ground. Erek beckons Tobias closer, into easy conversation distance. Thoughtspeak is fine, it's just Erek's side that's less convenient.

[notachickenhawk]

Tobias flutters down, looking up at Erek. He can't smile, of course, but there's relief evident in his 'voice'. <I've been here a while. About two and a half months. There's... the world's gone, as far as anyone can tell. Something about this place had us end up here, but we don't know what.>

... He should explain the 'we' part. How to put this...

<There's no Yeerks here, as far as I can tell. People know about me being able to talk and morph. There's a lot of 'weird' people here. There's even a dragon. So if it saves power for you to walk around without a hologram, I don't think people will mind. But I hadn't seen anyone else from our world until now.>

[freedom_engineer]

It would seem that Erek's passing isn't going unnoticed by a few of the observant sorts in the Bastion. Colin spies the apparent young boy and smiles at him, before his eyebrow twitches slightly. He grins then, and he steps over to him.

"Haven't seen your face around here before," he says in greeting. "New arrival?"

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

"Yes, just today." He returns the grin with a smile, half out of politeness and half because he does appreciate what seems to be genuine friendliness. "You've been here considerably longer, I assume?"

[freedom_engineer]

"A couple of months now, hardly a blink of an eye really," Colin says idly, shaking his head. "My name is Colin. Hopefully you haven't been too weirded out by everything out there?"

He gestures out towards the Skyway entrance, watching Erek.

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

He nods, though he's a little surprised by Colin's attitude about the length of time. "I'm Erek. The planet is a very odd one, but I didn't encounter anything dangerous while I was out there. Do you have any idea what makes it move like that? I could conceive of planets with floating debris or bits of earth, maybe something magnetized, but the ground here is responsive to movement on it. That's considerably more complex."

[freedom_engineer]

"I'm not even sure if you can accurately call this a planet anymore," Colin tells him, shaking his head. "After the calamity, it's not displaying many planet-like features. Gravity's weird, time is... questionable. It's more of a point of least resistance, I think. It's definitely got its own laws of physics. Close to what most people know, but... not QUITE the same as we know them."

[dontyoujustwish]

If Anya were still a demon, she might be able to see through his disguise, but as a human her talents of perception are rather unremarkable. In fact, she almost doesn't notice him stepping out from behind that building, and when she does she stops short.

"What are you doing sneaking around?"

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

Erek doesn't even bother denying the sneaking part of that. He's hiding who he is, after all, even though he's now stopped actively sneaking. Instead, he simply ignores the accusatory part of the question, answering calmly, "Familiarizing myself with the place. I'm new here."

[dontyoujustwish]

He gets some points for not denying it.

"Well, there's no need for stealth. We have dozens of clueless teenagers. You'll fit right in."

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

Erek, millenia-old android that he is, laughs openly at the clueless teenager comment. "I don't know about fitting in, and I don't think the gap in knowledge when it comes to my current predicament makes me clueless. I'll pick things up quickly enough."

[dontyoujustwish]

"I'll believe that when I see it. Most people have been here for months and still don't know the first thing about enjoying themselves in a post-apocolyptic situation."

<- Her human will be along soon enough, but for now, have a local critter!

[individuates]

Wherever Tama-chan was, her mother was rarely far behind, but for the time being she was wandering on her own. She knew the Bastion perfectly, well enough to be sure when something was amiss - a new vibration in the ground, an odd scent in the air. And that meant an investigation was in order.

Not that it took much to make Tama-chan go sticking her horn into other peoples' business.

She could smell the new person, feel them through her feet. But she couldn't see them. So she was likely to brush past Erek as she went snuffling along in search of him, or even thump into him entirely.

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

There isn't much to smell, metal and other materials leaving much less of a scent in the air than a flesh-and-blood person would. Erek studies the new creature as she steps into view. She bears a little resemblance to certain earth creatures. Narwhals and alligators are the first that come to mind. But she's entirely new to him. Sharp teeth, a predator, but she seems curious rather than hunting for a meal at the moment. He sidesteps as Tama-chan nearly walks into him, which creates more obvious vibrations in the ground.

Curious what her reaction would be, he takes a quick look around for company before dropping his hologram a moment, showing his metal body, and then raising his usual hologram of a teenage human boy.

[individuates]

She turned an ungainly circle on the spot, the ruff of blue scales around her neck lifting in mild frustration. Tama-chan thought she had you, invisible quarry! Where did you go?

Erek's… reveal, so to speak, had her emitting a little gurgling noise of surprise and alarm and skittering back a couple of paces - in so far as an anklegator of her size can skitter, though that at least was still a reaction option open to her. Her eyes were certainly sharp enough to catch a the shine of the metal before the seemingly-ordinary flesh-and-blood boy appeared before her and under any other circumstances she would have rolled right over for him but… his scent was still off. Definitely off. Her ruff flattened down but she was still wary as she moved in closer, cautiously.

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

The sniffing is obvious, and Erek has seen that response in unfamiliar dogs. He treats them well, so animals tend to like him eventually, but the initial difference in scent is often unsettling. Crouching down, he holds out a hand palm up, unthreateningly. If Erek had food with him, he'd offer it. Of course, then he would smell like food rather than like metal. That might be a bad idea.

"Hello," he says quietly. "What sort of creature are you? What planet do you come from? Are you wild, or a pet?" Tama-chan isn't remotely dog-like, so Erek doesn't have an instant outpouring of affection for her. He's friendly enough to other sorts of animal, though.

[individuates]

He appeared to be quite nice. But that doesn't mean that Tama-chan wasn't suspicious. She edged closer with another little gurgle, less startled this time and more curious - what is it, what is it, what is it? It was hard for her to figure out what to make of him exactly. Aside from that flash of metal, he appeared to be human - like her mama and her papa and all of her aunties and uncles in the Bastion. But she had no way to be entirely sure.

Well. There was maybe one way.

Watching him carefully the entire time for any sign of alarm, she slowly opened her mouth and carefully moved to close it around his arm. Tama-chan had lived with humans all her life - she knew how squishy they could be, and if Erek was as he appeared, he should be squishy too. If he squished? Fine, no problem - she would judge him as she has every other human ever and flop onto her back for belly rubs. If not… well at least he seemed friendly? She may not roll over but her tail will swish side to side in a tentative wag.

…and if Tama-chan was very lucky, Erek would perhaps recognise her efforts to be gentle, her attempt to give him time to pull away, and not be annoyed at her for the mild gnawing received.

/comes in a week later with starbucks

[croceamors]

Illusions are one thing, but is smell another? Because emerging from one of the nearby apartments is a golden retriever with his nose firmly attached to the ground and clearly on the move. Following behind him? Saix.

It was normal to make sure New Moon expended this much energy instead of going stir crazy inside all the time, after all.

Erek is thrilled by that golden retriever. THRILLED.

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

Scent is indeed another thing. A wave of joy and relief washes over Erek at the sight of someone walking a dog, and he's quick to make sure he's covered in human hologram complete with forcefield. His new immediate goal is to say hello to and pet New Moon.

He doesn't smell human, but neither does he smell threatening. He smells like... not much. Metal doesn't have a strong smell. His holographic face is smiling as he approaches. "I'm so glad to see a dog here," Erek calls out to Saix. "I thought they were all... gone."

EXACTLY WHY I TAGGED need more dogs asap

[croceamors]

Yes. Yes. New Moon nearly vibrates with excitement when the smell comes closer. He'd known something was a new smelling thing in the Bastion, and now he's found it! Yes, he is such a good dog, he deserves all the treats.

If only he could tell his owner of this. Instead, he just gleefully starts to approach Erik before stopping at the sharp whistle Saix makes. "Heel, New Moon." As the dog practically wiggles in place, Saix gives a shake of his head before looking over who he can only assume to be a new arrival.

"I doubt they're all gone, but there's not many here in the Bastion. New Moon came with me from a different World entirely."

Always need more dogs, all the dogs, overrun the Bastion with dogs

[canismetallusfamiliaris]

Erek grins approvingly at the well-trained response. Leash unnecessary, and New Moon is clearly happy with his owner. Humans and dogs really have become symbiotes. "Could I please say hello and pet New Moon if he's willing?" he asks eagerly. "I've always loved dogs."

New Moon is more hope than Erek expected to find after realizing where he was and what happened. Erek isn't the last of the Pemalites' legacy, as he briefly worried he might be. Dogs hold the essence, the soul, of the race that created him.

...cannot argue with this decision

[croceamors]

There's a pause as Saix seems to consider it, more to make sure New Moon behaves himself than anything, before he gives a nod. "Go ahead. Don't let him jump. That's his worst habit."

That's a bit of a judgment, considering it hardly happens under Saix's guidance, but he's something of a perfectionist. He won't settle for anything but the best if he can reach it. "So you're a new arrival, I take it?"