[Video, Backdated to June 3]

[chalicejoker]

[The video feed switches on, and there's Hajime. He looks pretty darn satisfied about something. Kind of like he's done something impossibly stupid, survived anyway, and has now decided that the experience was actually pretty cool and that he is cool for surviving it.]

So Jack and I went by the courthouse to talk to the alien. Between the two of us, we were kind of a spectacle, so Geoff offered us a more private place to talk.

[Yeah, he's pretty proud of that luck there. He usually doesn't grin, but there are hints of one now.]

So we ended up meeting him aboard his spaceship. It's not like we got the full run of the place, but we saw some stuff...I don't even know what most of it was.

But they--the aliens--didn't try anything funny. No surprise ambushes or anything. It was pretty peaceful overall, even if it was...weird. Aliens respect monsters, I guess.

[He's about to switch off the feed, but then he stops.]

And before I forget, are there any doctors out there who could get Jack a doctors' excuse for the past couple months? Something about being laid up with bird-itis?

[That's what you call it when you turn into a giant peacock-thing, right?]

Comments

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[darkhourdear]

[Phillip, close your mouth. You'll catch flies.]

You got to go in a spaceship?!

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[chalicejoker]

Yeah. He asked us if City Hall was a little too public, we said sure, he offered his spaceship as a meeting place for us to talk.

[There's a shrug.]

It's a good thing about being a monster, I guess.

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[testsonseashells]

Visit LSR in Dead District; not currently there myself, but my assistants fully capable.

Information gathered?

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[chalicejoker]

Cool, I'll send him over if I can get him to leave the office. I think he missed it.

They call themselves the Children--or at least that's what the species name translates to. They say it's unpronouncable to humans, birdmen, or bugmen. They call the planet they come from The Child. He also claimed their intentions are peaceful, that they just picked up on something weird here and came to check it out.

[Text]

[lightsoflife]

Can you describe more of what you saw?

[She's asking partially for information, but...seriously, spaceships.]

[Text]

[chalicejoker]

Probably not well. Words aren't my strong suit, and that was technology like I've never seen before. It was way beyond anything I've ever seen on TV, and I kind of got stuck watching a lot of Galaxy Quest before we headed over.

[This is what happens when you're keeping your nerd of a cousin who got stuck as a giant bird-thing company.]

The room we were in to talk had a control panel thing that wasn't switched on, and it also had some pods.

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[kyoumibukai]

Ah! You were the bug guy?!

I've been to your family's restaurant!!

Remember me? I was at Denny's.

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[chalicejoker]

Yeah, I remember you.

[It is hard to forget a kid who was so drunk he approached a couple of monstermen with no hesitation.]

And yeah...I'm the local bugman around here. But the restaurant's clean, I promise.

[These are the important concerns you have when you're a big bug who works in the foodservice industry.]

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[fusionjack]

I was not laid up with bird-itis. There's no such thing.

[He's not amused, Hajime. He's also apparently in his office at work. There are a lot of extra-large takeout coffee cups in the corner of the shot...]

breakin in to video at u

[kyoumibukai]

Oh hey, you're not a bird right now, though! Good job!!

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[chalicejoker]

Exactly. You need some weird obscure disease to cover for those months, right? And this way, you're kind of not entirely lying...you could probably say the name translated to a weird bird-shaped inflammation or something...

[It is somehow easier to reroute those Undead instincts to fight into teasing Jack than it is to suppress them entirely. Sorry, Jack.]

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[abhero]

whoa whoa you were on a SPACESHIP and that's all you have to say?????
deets man
spill everything

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[chalicejoker]

The aliens call themselves the Children and their planet the Child. The ship itself was full of a bunch of technology I can't even identify. The room we talked in had a bunch of pods and some control panel-looking thing that wasn't on.]

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[believing_heart]

You got to go in a spaceship? What was it like?

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[chalicejoker]

Futuristic. Really futuristic. Kind of like what you'd think some advanced alien spaceship might look like, and then some. I couldn't really identify any of the technology.

[siesinddasessen]

It's called "bird flu".

[She's actually interested in hearing about this spaceship, but she doesn't want to sound interested, so that is as good an opener as any.]

[chalicejoker]

I didn't think that's what you called it when you turned into a giant bird, but hey, at least the people at his office wouldn't ask too many questions.

[ursoreckless]

Guess what I'm calling you two now? [fear the evil little grin. FEAR IT.]

[chalicejoker]

[This smile makes him uneasy. Very uneasy.]

...I'm not sure I want to know.

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[professorwolf]

What did you talk about?

[He doesn't even ask if Hajime's okay, after such a potentially dangerous thing, even though that's what he most wants to ask... it's obvious he is. Whether or not Geoff is trustworthy, the spaceship might be an entirely different beast, for all they know.

But he keeps his fretting to himself, which is probably a step in the right direction.]

[Audio]

[chalicejoker]

We asked why the aliens were here, what they wanted, that sort of thing. Actually got their creation myth, and then I kind of ended up giving them one for the bug people. Kind of a weird cultural exchange.

[Voice]

[gobybessie]

[ Since Solus has already brought up the clinic in general ... ]

I'll be at the clinic. Something could be arranged.

[ A pause. ]

I do so wish I could have seen the ship.

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[chalicejoker]

Thanks. I'll let Jack know...if he'd pry himself out of his work for more than a couple minutes. Guy's been out of it for a couple months, I guess it makes sense...

It was something, all right. I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again.

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[purestambition]

[ Hmph. She didn't get to go onto the spaceship. ]

At the least, it's about time they started to be more forthcoming.

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[chalicejoker]

Yeah. I was kind of surprised we got as much out of the visit as we did.

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[dead_black_eyes]

What did you talk about, once you'd been granted an audience?

[He's pretty impressed.]

[Audio]

[chalicejoker]

We asked him why they'd come and who they were. I was kind of surprised we actually seemed to get straight answers.