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Gentle-Heart blinked all four eyes at once. That... wasn't what they had in mind as a reaction. Had the alien not realised that Gentle-Heart had asked for her name? Still... there was time. Perhaps it would be best to focus on their own name first...

Practically skipping across the room, still shaky and with the occasional sniffle, Gentle-Heart gestured the alien to follow with an unusual gesture that looked vaguely like beckoning. They headed over the workspace counter and picked up two near-identical... things. Gentle-Heart knew them to be objects known as restorers that reacted with certain materials that parts of the ship's components were made of, causing them to stick back together when broken. Almost like tiny pen-sized welding torches. Lifting one object slowly so the alien could see, they then slammed it down on the counter with all their pitiful might. Then taking the other object in their other hand, they placed it down very delicately and deliberately pointed at their hand with the other arm as they did that. When they were done, they turned to the alien and closed one of their fists against their chest, then cupped their other hand around it. Hoping that the alien understood the meaning, they tilted their head questioningly, ears kept slightly apart.

They hadn't seemed insulted. Only confused. She mst have sounded stupid, but she tried. Seeing them dash off, she followed at the sign of beckoning. Then she watched what…seemed to e a recreation of…something. She tried to pick it up, but all she could really understand was that… it seemed like the alien was trying to tell them that they crashed. Then they… pointed the other thing at it,before turning and makig what she thought may have been a pleading gesture.

Realizing she needed to figure out what they were translating, maybe soon if it was important, Roque pointed at the item that they had pointed at the other one… that looked almost the same. Whatever. She asked, hoping her cofusion on it carred in her voice if not her words.
"What is… this?"

Gentle-Heart exhaled in what seemed to be a sigh. Holding their hands up in defeat, their shoulders slumped. This wasn't going to be easy... after a moment spent catching their thoughts, they returned to the work counter. Maybe there was a better way of doing this.

Taking a deep breath, Gentle-Heart firmly pointed to themselves. Then they held up 2 fingers. When they were sure the alien had seen it, they pulled their hand away, then held it up again, this time showing one finger. They then went over to the devices they had earlier picked up and did the same demonstration with them again. Then paused and made a gesture as if cradling a baby.

Roque, as her brother would probably tell anyone, was about as good at charades as she was at… everything else. Not, to say, someone most people would choose as the person attempting to figure out what exactly was being said. Or, well, motioned.

Following every movement, and being confused by every one, Roque assumed tha… the answer wasn't that the alien was 21 crashlanded babies. She put her hand over her eyes, barely peaking out, and muttered something long the lines of "I'm so sorry you have to deal with me."

They,2, 1, wait,how could she even be sure that those were symbols for numbers? Oh no. She wasn't sure what anything else was, or why it looed like they were cradling a baby,or… She needed to focus.Maybe… They're named something like 21? Wait, but she thought their name was whistles and trills and the like.

Oh god. She mumbled,embarrassed at her failure. Of course she wouldn't be any different just because she met an alien. Just another thing to disappoint.

Writing was not Gentle-Heart's strong point... nor did they expect an alien would have a similar writing system... but there was another thing they could try. Fishing around in the ship, they found a flat digital notepad and slapped it softly on the desk. Turning it on, they gestured to it, then drew two horizontal lines with a space in the middle. Maybe... drawing would help... over the first line, they drew some sort of flower and a cloud. Over the second, they drew a simple depiction of a torso with what looked vaguely like an anatomically correct heart in the middle.

It was then that they realised that they were spending far too long just trying to tell the alien their spoken nickname. And there was a distinct possibility of the alien getting it wrong, but being so sure they were right that Gentle-Heart would mistake it for being a correct translation. But then... that was better than nothing. At least the alien would have something she could call them...

Roque squinted. Obviously, she… needed to get this one. But… at least this seemed simple. She could do this.
"Nature… heart?"
It made sense. Unless it was flower… or plain, or … whatever. She felt close enough at least. Wait.

Oh. This was their name. Then what was that… other thing? Unless that whistling meant Nature Heart in… alien. It wasn't a bad name at least.

Gentle-Heart sensed the hesitance in the words, but decided for now that they'd do. Maybe the alien had guessed correctly. It was hard to say. Chirping an 'mhm' equivalent, Gentle-Heart stepped away from the table and gestured to the alien, making the questioning chirp they had used before. Now it was time for them to learn her name.

Hopefully.

Oh! It said a … form of… yes? Maybe? Well, she thinks she got it. Relief washed over her face. Alight… now. The alien seemed to point at her, then… say their name again? Was she Nature Heart? Unless… It was sying that it was Nature Heart, and that was their name, and what was hers? Well… she might as well say it. Gah, what if she had to write it down? Her name didn't have… meaning like that.
"Roque. Roque… Traep."
She decided against… tallking about her middle name. May be confusing.

Gentle-Heart made a mental note of that name. Naturally, they wouldn't be able to say it, however. Glancing at Roque thoughtfully, fingers pressed over their own nose like someone fiddling with their lips, Gentle-Heart was still for a moment, before then prodding Roque in the the chest and letting out a low chirp. And then a higher one. And then one the same pitch of the first. And then a trill that was lower than all of it. They then gestured to themselves and restated their own name, then gestured back to Roque with this new sound again.

Head tilted to one side, Gentle-Heart stepped backward and once again made their questioning chirp, hoping Roque had understood.

Roque was silent. Had she messed up? It was silent, musing to itself. Oh no, oh no… Roque drifte off into a panicked state of such severity that she had to focus on not letting her body copy it, when… The poke grabbed her offguard nd yanked her out of her inner monologue. Nature Heart was… singing again? Wait, it was pointing to themselves and sung for themselves, then back at her.

As it chirped a question, Roque realized… that it was translating her name. That was her name. She smiled lightly, obviously she hadn't messed up too badly. She then pointed to herself and attempted to copy the singing with whistling. No highpoint was strong nough, nor low point treble enough, but she thinks she got it.

Gentle-Heart hesitated again. This... wasn't what they had in mind. They began to worry that Roque would try to whistle what she had been taught on a regular basis. To Gentle-Heart, it sounded nothing like the chirping. It was like trying to copy speech by going muh muh muh for each syllable. Her speaking her own language made much more sense. Plus it would help Gentle-Heart learn to understand it.

Now that introductions were finally out of the way, Gentle-Heart felt exhausted. What now? They had no food to offer a mouthed creature - if Roque ate like that in the first place. And they had nothing to entertain guests. If anything... they would be happier leaving the ship rather than staying here. Besides, they needed some materials to start repairs with, and maybe Roque could help with that.

Gentle-Heart turned their head toward the radio. They weren't making much progress learning from it. They needed more hands-on teaching... at least to teach them the basics. Once they knew the constituent sounds, they could get back to it.

Realising they had gone silent again, Gentle-Heart looked back to Roque, wondering what she expected to achieve from this encounter. Curiosity began to take over Gentle-Heart, however. Now that the introductions were over, they had an opportunity to realise... they were standing face-to-face with a new species. One that they were definitely curious about. Roque wasn't like any of the species they'd met before... but then it was always like that meeting a new species.

Slowly so as not to spook her, Gentle-Heart reached for Roque's face and placed their fingers against her cheek, then felt along her mouth, paying attention the the feeling of their jaw. It wasn't entirely unlike the species who owned the space that Gentle-Heart's planet could be found in. They still couldn't imagine what it would feel like... having a part of one's face that was capable of opening like a hinge. It was still alien to them.

Roque stayed silent. She… guessed that having a jaw was weird. Actually, yeaj. Part of her skull was broken off on purpose to move on joint. In a way, it made more senset to not have a jaw. Wait, how did… it eat? Did i even require nourishment?Oh god she was regretting the rabbit hole the farther she went.

Roque did keep still, though. Maybe it was normal, she just… woud feel guilty just poking at the rainbow fur. She just needed to wait, and maybe help figure ot a better way to talk to it.

Gentle-Heart pulled thier hand back slowly, but continued to look up at Roque in expectation. It felt like the next move should be hers. After all, there wasn't really much left for Gentle-Heart to communicate about... not without learning the language. That said... they were hoping for the opportunity for that... or maybe something that would help get them materials. But there was something about this alien that seemed... youthful. Could she really help with that...?

Gentle-Heart simply waited. Either to be invited outside of the ship, asked for a tour or left to continue what they were doing. Those were the most likely scenarios in their mind. Hopefully it wouldn't be the latter. They liked the idea of making a new friend.

It took Roque a moment to think about… how to break the silence. She… felt like she hould ask something. Given the way Nature Heart looked at them, she guessed she hadn't messed up so badly they wanted them to leave. But… now what? She had to say or do somthing before she just would feel more awkward.

She lifted her hand and gestured around the ship, rubbing her neck with the other.
"Nice… place you have here."
It wasn't… genius, but it was good. It would work.

((I've written a theme tune for Gentle-Heart))

Gentle-Heart's four multi-coloured eyes followed the gesture, trying to read its meaning. The room was dark... most of the power was out... there were a few holes and many of the appliances and objects had fallen from their usual storage spaces - some having smashed. It was a mess. Was that the meaning?

Gentle-Heart waved a hand in the air like conducting an orchestra. A Void-Dancer 'yes'. But what was the motivation behind the observation...?

No, something had to be done about the language barrier. This was getting ridiculous. Swiftly, the fluffy bloop skipped off over to the radio and picked it up. They brought it over to Roque and slowly shook it in front of her as though emphasising its presence. It was still playing the news channel.

"Roque..." Gentle-Heart whistled. They then pointed to her mouth, to the radio, and then to their own ears, before chirping "?".

"Huh?"
Roque actually thought she got this one immediately.
"That's the news!"
Roque chuckled nervously as her sudden boust of bravado wore off. Was she sure that's wat they asked? They put her name in front of it…
"I mean,uh,it's not my voice, o-obviously."

Gentle-Heart exhaled a sigh. Whether Roque answered their question or not, the fact that she hadn't started leading Gentle-Heart off to get started on learning was frustrating. To play it safe, they decided to assume she hadn't got it.

Stepping back over to where they had left the digital notepad, Gentle-heart placed the radio back down, purposely close to the device. They then reached an arm over to Roque with their palm up, almost like offering their hand in preparation for a dance. Come. Follow. Its meaning was within that area. They stepped along the table in the direction opposite Roque so that the notepad was in view, and slid it down the table closer to her as if offering it.

Roque stared at Nature Heart for roughly 2.5 seonds,standing in place. She had obviousky messed up, but what? Now ghey were over by the table with that tablet an…

And then she realized what exactly they wanted her to do.
"Y-You want me to… translate?"
Realizing that they wouldn't be ble to respond in the positive even if she was correct, she walked over to the drawing tablet and listened towards the radio, trying to pick out words that she could… draw. And trying o figure out how well she could actually… draw on this thing.

Now that Gentle-Heart had Roque where they wanted her, they reached past her and started drawing small characters in one corner of the screen with one of their fingers. It was the alphabet of their overlord species, their own species lacking a written language. Though they didn't have the capacity to sound out each character - which corresponded to a syllable rather than an individual letter - they hoped Roque would understand what they were looking for. Because the alphabet was long, they didn't write down every character. Instead, they wrote enough to then reach for one of the items they tried to demonstrate their name with, and held it up whilst pointing to the characters one by one to spell its name out. They then put the object down and pointed to the radio, tapping the middle of the notepad with their other hand as they did so.