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[ Red was just an ordinary boy enjoying an ordinary boy walk, as much as an ordinary boy can enjoy an ordinary walk on an alien planet after helping to stop an alien stampede.

Alas, one should not enjoy an ordinary walk on an alien planet, regardless if they were really enjoying it or not, for that planet is not about enjoyment and instead about misery for those that do not belong, and so when that tremor shudders through the camp (not even one of the bigger ones at that), an ordinary boy should watch his feet or he will tumble over like an anime.

Unfortunately, Red is completely an anime and most comically as one does - and quite painfully, it should be known; someone better get the bandaids for his booboos ready - he tips back and right too much forward, and with a yelp and his arms out wide, he falls dramatically to the ground.

That is our story of the ordinary boy that did not belong on the abnormal planet. But don't worry, he's not dead. He's just groaning in his misery, his life, and whatever else. ]

Owwww oww ow owwww.... what...

[For a moment, all Garrus can do is stare. That is the most dramatic fall to the ground he's ever seen in his life, though he's not the least bit surprised that it's a human falling like that. Short of the volus, nobody's more dramatic.

The ow gets him kneeling, though, trying to make sure the kid is all right. He's not heartless. Even though he's amused by the way the guy went over.]

What hurts where? Are you bleeding?

[ There's still some groaning, and whining, and gosh what a kid. ] Mmm, it's okay, I'm okay--

[ So, so used to this. He's getting up, flipping over onto his butt with a sigh that gets followed by a groan, and he's about to dust off his hair -- if not being interrupted by his own hissing. The arm of the hand gets stretched out and turned, a show of skin torn and forming red blotches from hitting the ground. ]

Not again... [ Ugh. Red hasn't forgotten his company, about to say something more, except the words get lost as he looks up (up and up) to see the face of them, and with the volume going from 2 to 8-- ]

W--woah!!

[ He jumps back, the sting of the scrape no longer mattering for his arms shooting at his sides.

Just-- just let him get his breath back--! ]

Your-- your helmet! Sorry, it scared me!

[What a kid... and with a green cuff, too. Maybe he's just having a bad day or something, but all of Garrus' benefit of the doubt vanishes when the kid yells at seeing Garrus for the first time.

He sighs, a little frustrated, and shakes his head.]

It's not a helmet. It's my face.

[This kid is very young, though. Garrus can't be completely angry, despite the racism going on.]

Look. Not everyone on this crew is human. A decent amount aren't. And that's something you're gonna have to get used to. Let me see your arm.

[He holds out his hand.]

[ When he's corrected, Red face tinges with warmth and his brows raise, and he knows that he's just said something very, very careless.

He does what he's asked, speechless through his embarrassment, holding it out towards the... man's? direction. ]

S-sorry, that-- that was rude of me. I didn't mean to... I mean...

[ Trying to be more careful with his words, they completely fail him altogether. ]

[At least there's an apology, and one that Garrus is pretty sure the boy means. He nods with his mandibles drawn very close to his face as he checks the wound. Just a scrape, good.]

I know you didn't mean. It'll be all right. And this'll sting for a second.

[As he speaks, he's pulling out his waterskin to rinse out the wound.]

My name's Garrus. You're gonna meet a lot of people who don't look like you.

[And none of them are going to like being yelled at because of how they look. With that, Garrus carefully pours water over the scrape.]

My name's-- [ and it does sting, his face winching, but he's a boy that's grown up getting enough bumps and bruises in his life and still growing and earning more. He can handle it. ] --Red. It's Red.

[ ... ] I'll try and be more careful.

Red.

[There's a little amusement in his voice once Garrus speaks again, finished rinsing out the injury and putting the cap back on the waterskin.]

Your name is Red and you're on Green. Someone's having fun with the paperwork.

[Not like he thinks this kid would make it on Red.]

We have a Green on Green team. You guys can color-uncoordinate together.

[ --wow what okay, he knows this guy is having a joke about his name, but! ]

Green? Is that Green Oak?

And what you mean, "colour-uncoordinate"? [ no come on what is that joke. ]

Green Oak, yeah. And I mean you're Red on Green, and he's Green on Green.

[He reaches over to take another look at the kid's arm. The wound looks clean now, good. And it's small enough that it should heal pretty fast.]

...Wait. You know Green Oak?

[Is something their world does, name people after colors? Maybe there's some significance to it.]

[ He lets himself get alien-handled, and when Garrus lets go, Red has a look for himself briefly. ]

Yeah. Sorta. [ Um. ] I mean... he's my next door neighbour. We grew up together.

[ That's 'sorta' knowing somebody. He goes back to his arm, and decides that, you know- it's not worth thinking about. Nobody needs to talk about Green Oak right now. ]

Anyway, thanks for that. Does that normally happen here? [ Let's bend the arm? Ow, no, let's not bend it unnecessarily. ]

[So it's their city. But it looks like Red wants to leave that topic behind, so Garrus moves on to the other as he watches the boy bend his arm.]

Easy. It'll probably sting for a time still.

[Garrus is a little nervous about the age of some of the Greens they're getting. There's going to be a lot on their shoulders, but he'll do what he can to help. Even if some of them are a bit speciesist.]

Does what normally happen here? Quakes? Not often that I've noticed, but we've only been here for... Uh.

[Sometimes the time gets murky, between 72-hour days and the mess of attacks.]

Two months, I think.

[ He didn't meeean iiiittt....

But huh. Two months? ]

I don't remember any at the other camp. --wait, you don't think it's another stampede, do you?

[ Should he be getting up? This seems like a good reason to start getting up, huffing and ignoring the sting on his arm. It's just a scrape! ]

I don't.

[It hadn't been a distant thing. The rumble had been here, under their feet.]

I think there might be other stampedes to come, but this was local. This was just a quake.

[He glances up at the mountains, wondering if there's something going on up there, if they're needing to brace for a volcano. Garrus has no idea. He's not an expert when it comes to life on planets.]

You can relax.

[ He pauses, listening to what Garrus says and then following where he looks over to. But he does relax, some, his shoulders noticeably falling. ]

Okay... I guess we're just going to be sitting around and waiting for the next thing to happen. [ He nearly goes to rub at his arms, but stops himself to just touching the untouched skin, and then lowering them back down to hide sides. ]

There doesn't have to be any sitting around.

[Garrus' voice is friendly as he straightens.]

There's plenty to do. Gathering sticks for making fires or crossbow bolts, uh. I was gonna suggest felling trees, but that could make you more of a target for the natives. Don't do that.

[There's a beat.]

If you know Green, does that mean you have a... I forget what they're called. Companion animal fighter thing?

[ Don't fell trees. Okay. ]

Uh-- yeah. A pokémon, right? [ He's going to guess that's what they mean. ] He's in his pokéball right now. He was moving around a lot, so I wanted him to get some rest.

Pokemon. Yeah, that was the word.

[He keeps jokingly calling it a pet or an animal to Green, but he doesn't know this boy well enough to start teasing yet. Later he can poke fun.]

Two fire-breathing dogs will definitely be better than one.

[ Dog? He's quick to correct that. ] No, he isn't an arcanine. He's a charizard.

[ There's only a small pause, since he knows he's going to have to explain. ]

He's still a fire type, but he's a flying type too. He's... he looks like a dragon, or so everyone says. [ Enough for him to remember, anyway. ] Do...you know what a dragon is?

[Garrus blinks.]

Your world has two sorts of fire breathing pokemon running around it? And yeah, I know what a dragon is.

[Okay, maybe Red's got to have some survival skills despite his size. Anyone who makes it on a world that has multiple things like that isn't as vulnerable as the earlier fall indicated.]

So flying fire. And your people have survived.

Yeah...? [ His people? He doesn't quite understand that, and it makes him wonder for a moment before he decides to go on. ] But there's more than just two fire types; that's just the two me and Green have here.

He's probably got more somewhere, but... since I dropped down the first time, I only had Charizard with me. All my gear was missing too.

He's got more somewhere?

[Garrus isn't quite sure he's following, though Green had spoken about a team before. Maybe Garrus should have asked more questions about that.]

How many things, pokemon, that can use fire do you guys have running around your world?

[And how has your city not burned down yet?]

[ He's squinting here briefly, because Garrus is asking him to put a number on something so big. ]

I don't know. There's all kinds in the wild. [ Mm. He's tilting his head, he's trying to think. ] You've got charmanders, growlithes... I've seen a lot of growlithes and vulpixes, actually. There's pontya too... and then you've got the flareons that eevees evolve into if you give them a fire stone.

[ Wow, you're really making him go through his pokédex--and don't think he's stopped just yet, he's bringing up a hand and tapping it with his forefinger. ]

Oh, and then... there's magmars. They're not too popular in the wild, but they're another fire type pokémon. [ He stops with his hands. ] And then you've got Charizard's line. They're all fire types.

We've got other types of pokémon too. They're not all just fire types.

[That's multiple types of things running around setting fire all over their world. Garrus has seriously underestimated the survival abilities Green and now Red bring to the table, clearly. And there's not just things that can set thing on fire, either.]

Had no idea there were that many pokemon. You coordinate and train multiples, then? At once? Because you said 'only' Charizard.

[And it clearly takes a lot of focus and work, as Green hadn't been sure about additional training for things to do alongside the pokemon.]

Mm, right. [ A nod. ] Actually, me and Green have been working on an encyclopaedia for his grandfather and catching all the pokémon for it.

[ ... ] Or, well... we were, anyway.

day 107; action

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