Plot: Come on, Locke - meet a visiting spaceman.

[goldenbrother]

Who: Geoff Benwick and OPEN (to Locke City characters in the main log; phone-in thread is open to all).
When: June 1st-4th, afternoons.
Where: By Locke's City Hall.
What: One of Locke's visitors from beyond the atmosphere would like to make acquaintances of some of the city's other less-mundane occupants.



[Geoff had given his directions vaguely to the handful who'd been involved in cleaning up yesterday. He said he'd be by City Hall, starting at two, and that's where he is - close to one of the front walls, a ways from the door, dressed, as usual, for a proper impression. He's wearing a copy of the same suit he's been seen in already. As there's no need for them, he hasn't left a trace of his wings visible.

The suit, his look otherwise, and that aura he radiates have still caught eyes, and a couple of crowds of fans that it looks like the third of those things has already gotten him. He's turned away a reporter, or someone who professed to be a reporter, once. Asking nicely seems to have gotten him enough space to scan for the people who he might be looking for, eventually.

Speaking of which - anyone who does seem to be looking for him or heading his way with any kind of intent will get a wave over, a polite beam.

Either he'll wait for them to take their signal or he'll close some of the distance, and confirm they are who he thinks they are with an innocuous-enough greeting:]

Good afternoon!

What brings you here?

[OOC: If your character cannot, would refuse to, or just plain wouldn't meet with Geoff in person but you'd still like him to speak with them, you may have them call in if you like.

Remember that speaking with Geoff directly 1. leaves a person under the influence of a supernatural "charm" effect which makes him seem trustworthy by default, and 2. grants eligibility for a plot Echo.

Comments

[charcoalfeather]

[As noted, Rakka had come with Julien. She was almost overshadowed by the bird-man that stood with her, but she wasn't about to complain. Something about the aliens made her trust them, but that didn't stop her from feeling apprehensive of coming out to talk to them.

Her cap was on tightly as usual, hiding the halo underneath. Her wings were less inconspicuous unfortunately, making small tents in the back of her jacket that needed to be smoothed out.]

Uh, yeah, hello there. I have questions too.

[goldenbrother]

[He notices them both, definitely - quite a contrasting pair of visitors, and at the least it's obvious at a glance what sub-community they're "with".

He smiles back - under lifted brows, out of natural interest and the continuation of unique cases this group keep delivering.]

I'll be pleased to answer any that I can. Pleasure to speak to the pair of you. [That is directed toward both of them - a little more toward Julien:] I infer the existence of mine made common knowledge.

[Commonly-available knowledge, at any rate.]

[espigeonage]

[Julien keeps back a little, a by-now habitual courtesy since he's realized most people don't enjoy being loomed over. Even with his wings folded and keeping some distance, he takes up a lot of space.]

Thanks for the chance to talk to us! I know you lot are busy.

[He tips his head to one side.] Well, your unveiling was a fairly public spectacle.

[charcoalfeather]

[Was it that obvious what group Rakka belonged to?

She hung back as well, not exactly hiding behind Julien, though it might seem so what with his size. Her hands gripped her sweater, unsure of where else to go.]

Yeah, thank you.

[She's... she's here too though.] It was nice of you to do that, instead of hiding like that other alien did.

[goldenbrother]

[It indeed is, though much more so when she's with Julien - if there is reason to look for things, one will look harder, or start searching for signs in the first place.]

We might be from similar origins, but that doesn't mean that we would act the same. [He shrugs, a bit apologetically.] Just that some of us want to work together with you [general you] sadly doesn't mean that others have the same idea.

[espigeonage]

[His wing moves in what would be a pretty subtle gesture if it was still a human arm, as if he'd like to touch Rakka's shoulder. Julien refolds it, his habitual smile in place.]

Can you tell us anything about this other? 'Tiny', was it? Why was it the one to make, uh, first contact?

[charcoalfeather]

[She glanced at Julien, only because of his wings moving. The gesture made her own wings ache a little. She hated hiding them, but what else could she do?]

Uh, yeah, tell us about him. And, uh, why did he look like that anyways?

[goldenbrother]

[He'll turn a bit towards Rakka first, addressing her question, before turning to Julien's as that seems quite larger to him.]

I assume that it was some kind of biological difference between him and most of us - I could never find a way to ask him about it that did not seem rude, so my best guess is all that I can offer here.

[There is a moment of thought before turning to the question of contact. How to best put this.] We wanted to investigate peaceful methods of contact, now that your world seemed at a level culturally and technically where it would be possible without interfering too much. To not risk being discovered more than necessary, it seemed prudent to instead of all going together send the most... unobtrusive one, so to speak. [That was obviously a mistake that he regrets.]

[espigeonage]

[Julien would like to know more about Tiny, but despite being inclined to like Geoff he wants to be careful.]

I see. If you'd been the first here instead, what would you have done? Would we still not know about - this?

[He grins.] Ah, by the way, I'm Julien.

[charcoalfeather]

[Rakka did like that the alien was being so helpful, but there was still bits of doubt. Regardless, she should still be nice.]

Oh, and I'm Rakka Yoshitoshi.

[goldenbrother]

I would have acted according to plan, which was to return to the others with word of what was happening on this planet. We might have already gotten in contact at this point even then.

It's nice to meet you, Julien, Rakka.

[espigeonage]

[Julien dips his head graciously.]

The pleasure's mine! Ours, I suppose.

[His pupils adjust and the small feathers on his shoulder rouse part of the way and settle back down in some obscure avian expression that doesn't touch his human face.]

When did you find us? How long had he been here? We - some of us - had a kind of signal back in April of last year, though I understand some people had things happen long before that.

[charcoalfeather]

Yeah, it's, uh, nice to meet you too.

[Rakka nodded in kind, taking a moment to adjust her cap. She didn't really have a question to ask at the moment, and Julien sounded like he had several, so she'd just listen in and not overwhelm the alien.]

[goldenbrother]

[He seems thoughtful, for a moment, his brow lowering.] Tiny was sent here just after that very April incident, as it showed on our instruments. Tiny was to investigate directly and report back on the subject of Earth's readiness for an extraterrestrial presence.

[He carries on.] We first detected your planet early in the last century, and began observing it just after. I've studied your human calendar - my closest estimate would be somewhat before the middle of the century.

[espigeonage]

['Your human calendar'. This is really happening, huh.

Julien has seen Contact and remembers how those aliens found out about Earth.]

When we started making TV broadcasts strong enough to really send out. Was it the Hitler at the Olympics thing, or something else?

[charcoalfeather]

[They knew about them for how long.

That certainly surprises Rakka.]

You've known about us for that long? Why didn't you come earlier?