Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » Refuge in the Stars (1x1)

(Just a heads up, there may be some swearing down the way!)

Xil panicked as an alarm went off in his tiny ship; the fuel was running low and the hyper drive was getting too hot. He needed to land and fast. His ship automatically pulled up a potential landing site. It had intelligent life forms, plenty of water, and was covered in the carbon that he needed to breath. As he set his course for... Earth, as the inhabitants called it, he already knew that his chances of safely landing the ship was slim to nonexistent, but he still turned off the drive and hoped for the best.
He put up the ship's buffer as he entered the little planet's atmosphere, and then the fuel ran out. He thought that maybe the atmosphere buffer would help with the impact a little. At best, he might make it out alive with only a few cuts, but that would take a miracle. He braced himself as the ship went faster and faster, racing towards the surface of a heavily wooded area of the planet. He hoped that in the near-twilight light, not many of the people would notice him. He wanted to stay undiscovered on this planet, as he knew that some planets were not as receptive of others. The very war he was escaping proved that.
The light ship began to shake as the tops of strange plants started to hit the bottom of the spacecraft and he swore heavily in his native tongue just before the machine slammed into the ground of the Earth and the ship launched into a series of safety procedures.

Marinelli hadn't even been back on Earth for more then a few hours...

She had been on a large boulder in the woods the cigarette that she had sworn she wouldn't light was balancing haphazardly in her mouth. Her one cyborg arm tucked up under her head her other human one resting on her stomach. She sighed and took a long slow drag of her light instead of blowing out merely opened her mouth and watched the smoke lazily roll out past her lips. She didn't come to Earth often; it wasn't her home, not really. But it was where her parents were born and so being here brought about an odd kind of nostalgia she knew she felt no business feeling for a planet she didn't grow up on. She hadn't bothered with her contacts her crimson eyes closed and her long cherry red hair messily falling behind her. When she heard the ship start to crash she opened only one eye watching it fall. She didn't move but she followed it with her eyes and the moment it slammed into the ground she sighed rolling her eyes. She didn't jump up right away, instead she finished the last of her cigarette and flicked it onto the grass below her rock stomping it out with her old dusty combat boot as she slid off said rock. Expecting the pilot to be long dead she stuffed her hands in the pocket of her tattered hoodie. When she reached the crash sight she looked down at the ship and then back up at the sky where he had come from and let out a low whistle "yeesh" she muttered her head cocking to one side as she looked over the ship considering what parts of it she may be able to scrap

Xil let out a low moan as he came to a few seconds after impacting the surface of Earth. He undid the safety buckle, slid out of the chair, and made a grab for the medical kit. He dragged it behind him and slowly crawled out of the broken ship. As he exited out of the broken front of the craft, he noticed a being in front of the ship. He couldn't tell what kind of creature it was--or if it might be friendly--in the dim light, so he tried not to notify it of his presence. He attempted to scurry behind a strange plant, but his left leg gave out from under him--the safety procedures of the ship had not been enough to protect his leg. He looked down at it and could only see that it was covered in his own silvery blood.

She didn't notice him at first. Instead she walked closer to the ship and crouched down beside it resting her chin in her hands she pursed her lips in thought. Using her metal arm she moved some of the ship out of the way as if it weighted nothing but her brow arched up into her hairline when she saw the cockpit was empty. Her eyes went back up to search the surrounding area for what must have been a very, very lucky survivor her one blue eye and her other robotic red one searching the darkness she spotted Xil easily. "You speak English?" she asked knowing it was a longshot. She spoke a few alien languages but none of them fluently

(I'm not sure if you read Xil's character sheet, but I just wanted to bring one thing to your attention before I confused you. The Vae can't pronounce the letter "u" or the word "you", so they'll replace it with other vowels or leave the letter out entirely.)

Xil tried to crawl behind the safety of the plant as the creature lifted the ship--human, he remembered. He had spoken to some when the Vae came into contact with a colony and he had learned a bit of their language, English, it happened to be, but not enough to carry out a real conversation. The human spotted him and spoke, but he had trouble understanding. He was still getting used to the contents of the air of the planet, not to mention that he was badly hurt. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep the leg or not.
"Well enogh." He replied after some time. He figured now was as good a time as any to address his leg.
"Ya don't happen to have any medical training, do ya? I've been badly hert." Although he was a medic, he didn't trust himself to stay conscious while healing himself. Still, he worked towards leaning himself against a large rock and opening up the medical kit. He wasn't sure if the human would be able to work with some of the tech inside, like the x-ray, but she was all he had.
"Ya don't happen to know how to ose one of these, do ya?"

(lol yep I read his sheet I got you I think that's a super interesting addition to his character!)

Her brows furrowed a little as he spoke immediately recognizing the odd speech pattern. While she had never met someone from his planet before her adopted father had told her about them. He had tried to teach her about as many different alien species as he could so she wouldn't be such a fish out of water in situations like this. She stood up letting go of the part of the ship she had been inspecting a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to scavenge it now that the captain was alive.

Walking over to him she pulling her long red hair back out of her face up into a ponytail so it wouldn't get in her way. The piece of machinery that was her arm was surprisingly sophisticated, it moved as fluid as her other flesh and bone arm. It was definitely not earthly in its make. When she reached him she crouched down beside him and grimaced at the sight of his leg "shit man" she said sounding almost impressed by the severity of the wound. "Alright pass me the med-kit. Let me see what I can use" As she spoke she held out her hand for the kit not looking up at him instead her one crimson eye was looking over his wound inspecting every part of it better then her normal human eye ever could

(Thanks )
Xil shoved the medical kit towards her and hoped she'd be able to work with it. The kit's contents were sparse, at best; it was just something that had been in the ship, so it didn't have much that would be entirely useful with this kind of wound, although he had managed to grab a couple of things like the x-ray when he escaped the military base.

She didn't speak to the alien as she picked through the kit, she assumed his grip on the language was minimal at best and even if it was decent he was far too injured to be having a conversation. She grabbed what looked like a slightly more sophisticated tourniquet and slipped it under his leg tightening it to staunch his bloodflow and moved his clothing out of the way to get a better look at the kind of wound she was dealing with "How do you feel? Is your leg numb? Are you dizzy?" she spoke a bit slower then she normally would turning her one pale blue eye back up to him

"I can't feel it, but I'm not dizzy." Xil said, although the blood loss was certainly doing a number on him. "Wold yer planet's hospitals be able to treat me?" He wasn't entirely sure what the planet was like since he had only met a few members of a colony, so he didn't know if one of their hospitals would be willing or even able to treat such a different creature. He did know that this woman's prosthetics were not from Earth; he'd seen some like them in far reaches of space and had seen a few on some amputee's from his own planet, and they were even still able to fight in the war if they wanted.
"Yer not from here, are ya?" He asked, looking her in the face and for once noticing the one red robotic eye contrasting with her one blue human eye. He had never seen one of those on a human, even in the more advanced colony.

She snorted at the thought of taking him to a hospital and shook her head "trust me sweetheart not a good idea" she said shaking her head the pet name holding none of the affection that often went with it. "Though I know someone who can help if I can get you stable" she offered with a shrug "Right now though we should be working on getting that bleeding to stop" she added finding the materials needed to stitch up the wound and quickly threaded the needle. At his question of not being from here she paused looking back up at him for a moment as if considering telling him the truth "no I'm not" she said quietly "Guessing your not either?" She said dryly the sarcasm dripping off her words as she turned her eyes back down to the wound and immediately started sewing him up. It was clear she was no stranger to this both metallic and flesh nimble fingers moving fast to minimize pain even though he said he couldn't feel it

Xil wondered what harm could come from visiting an Earth hospital. Maybe it was super expensive and corrupt, like some others planets, or just wasn't welcoming to aliens like him. He didn't blink at being called "sweetheart": he was called similar names in the military with the woman's same tone.
"I shold be able to walk with the other one, of corse, assoming ya'd be willing to help me get there." Xil wasn't at all certain that she would, at least not for free; she seemed a very rough-and-tumble kind of lady, so she and whoever she was taking him to might expect some kind of payment that he wouldn't be to give. He hadn't been able to take much when he was fleeing. He expected the needle to hurt and flinched just out of habit, but he felt no pain.
"Heh, what gave it away? The antenna or the silver blood?" He said with a low chuckle.
It was then that he began to worry that something major in his leg had been cut and that he might have to get an implant to make it work, or even have to need it get amputated and get a prosthetic.
"How much was your arm? It looks very advanced." He asked and hoped it wasn't a touchy subject for her.
"I'm Xil, by the way."

She pursed her lips in thought when he mentioned her willingness to help him get help. She clearly wasn't a good Samaritan type of woman and he didnt strike her as the type who had much to offer in monetary goods but perhaps he could be of some use to her in some other way. She had been looking desperately for someone to help her on a job she had scheduled soon. Maybe he could help her that way.

"I'd be more then willing to take you there if you can make it worth my while" she said smoothly her eyes not leaving the wound on his leg that she was working on. She smirked a little as he continued the joke, however that smirk fell when he asked about her arm. Clearly it was a touchy subject. "I'm Marinelli" she said easily dodging his question about her arm as if he had never asked it

"I'll see what I can do for ya when my leg is osable again." Xil wasn't sure at all what he might have just agreed to; she might need him to adventure around on a strange, hostile planet or to capture her mad cat.
He noticed that she didn't respond to the question of her arm. He thought he might inquire further on the topic, but decided to drop it, as she had.
"Nice to meet ya, Marinelli. What might I have to do for ya for yer help?"

"I'm looking for someone" she said with a shrug reaching into one of the many pockets in her cargo pants pulling out a water bottle and washed off the silverly blood and stood "problem is they're in a star system I've never been too, if you're familiar with it then you can help me" She asked offering him her hand to help him up "if not i'll figure something else out" she added with a shrug

"Try me, I might have been there." Xil had been to many different galaxies with the military; the Vae liked to stick their antenna in places they didn't really belong. He had always thought it was just a primal instinct to expand, reproduce, and colonize, but the actions of the Vae had struck up many battles. Of course, some planets and even whole star systems had been very welcoming. In exchange, the military sent them a greeting card filled with warships and snipers. Although Xil had long stopped being a sharpshooter, he remembered it very vividly; staying in place for hours upon hours in a blown up building and picking off officers, stalking messengers, and the games of hunting the hunting hunter with other snipers. He'd been close to death many times and finally had to give it up after a shot to his shoulder, so he instead trained in field medicine and became a doctor. It didn't really make him feel any better, and he still often had to kill enemy soldiers so he could get his own wounded to a safe location.
So, the Vae might have already gotten to whoever Marinelli was seeking, but he didn't say anything as he firmly took her hand and pulled himself up onto the good leg. It felt strange; he felt as though she were a field medic trying to hobble him to safety, which he had done many times for others.

"The Xaiser system?" She said with a quirk in her brow making sure he was steady and using her metal arm to hold the majority of his weight she helped steady him as he walked "my friend isnt far, think you can walk on that?" She asked sounding a bit doubtful giving his leg a once over

"I think I can make it." Xil said after testing his good leg, which although wasn't near as bad as the other, still had some minor wounds. His other leg seemed to be in very bad shape; he couldn't feel it, not even when he put pressure on it, which was very worrying. He wondered how the designers of the ship could have missed such a major flaw in the craft, or maybe he had just overestimated the capabilities of the ship. It was probably that. Not every ship was made to fly continuously for eight galaxies and then crash horribly.
Xil thought back to all of the systems he'd been in; he might have been to the Xaiser system, or maybe just the galaxy it was in.
"Do ya know what galaxy its in?" He asked her as they began to trudge through the forest of strange plants.

"In that is where the problem lies" she said with a sigh "all i know id there on a planet earth labed X-239 in the Xaiser system...thats it" she said with a roll of her eyes. Once she waa confident that he could support his weight she nodded and let him go "come on, follow me. The terrain is pretty level so it shouldn't be too bad" she said looking over at him leading him through the flattest path in the woods she could find that would take them to her friends house.

"Will yer friend have a compter? I might be able to find what yer looking for with it." He thought that since he could almost remember the solar system then he might be able to find it with a computer. Xil struggled to keep up with her stride, but considering he had a wounded leg and was eleven inches shorter than she, he thought he was doing alright.
He looked around at the land; at least this area was as flat as his home planet, but none of the flora looked similar. Neither did the fauna, for that matter. Some of the creatures on his planet did fly, but none of them had the strange skin (feathers) that some of these animals did.
"What are these things, flying arond like a bonch of assholes, not having to worry abot crashing into a strange planet?" He said with a half smirk while gesturing to one of the winged creatures. He stooped to pick up a fallen branch to use as a crutch.

"he will have multiple computers if he's still the old Bill I remember" she said with a shrug. As they walked she pulled her hair out of the ponytail with a slight grimace shaking it out to dispel the headache caused by the tightness of it. She gave a snort at his rant about birds "bunch of pests is what they are" she said with a chuckle leading him into a clearing. Inside the clearing was an old barn that had apparently been converted into a home. It was shoddy and looked like one big redneck D.I.Y. It was old and decrepit and if the sound of a televisions playing through he windows hadn't been there it would be easy enough to think that the place hadn't been lived in in years.

When they approached the door Marinelli slammed her fist into the door three times "Bill! Open up! Its Mari" she called at the door. There was a long pause and she groaned rolling her eyes and hitting the door again "Dammit Bill now!"

"I'm coming i'm coming!" A boisterous, slightly slurred voice came from inside and the door was ripped open by a man who stood about a whole head taller then Marinelli, he was wearing an old tattered pair of blue jeans stained with paint. he had an old black wife beater tank top on that was frayed around the seams. He was barefoot with long chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes resting on top of deep bags. He looked her over and leaned in the doorway not looking entirely happy to see her despite Marinelli calling him a friend.

"I need a favor" she said her voice smooth as she got out of the way so the man could see Xil.

At the sight of the alien his eyes widened and then narrowed in anger and suspicion "Whatever you think I owe you...it aint worth this" the mans heavy southern drawl growled out as he went to slam the door in her face.

However instead of slamming shut the door stopped as she stuck her foot in the door not even winching as the door slammed into her foot. "Actually Bill, it is" her voice lost its charm, an icy chill that had nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the sudden change in her tone settled over them as the two stared each other down. Despite the height difference Marinelli seemed, in spite of this mans attempts, very much in charge. She arched a brow in challenge and smirked a little when the man backed down giving a defeated sigh he walked back into the house leaving the door open "for christs sake get inside before somebody sees" he grumbled his pride badly wounded. Marinelli looked back at Xil all iciness gone and that same charisma returning as she gestured to the house "come on" she said slipping inside