Relaxation with a Tuffle (Open)

Interesting. The rumours floating about regarding the Outer Plait turned out to be untrue. Expecting a nasty grim hellscape, the wanderer was greeted by a rugged tough expanse instead. Though, they supposed they should have expected it after seeing that part of the planet from orbit look different than they thought it would... That said, in their defense, the Outer Plait was the only thing that was different from what they were told. Maybe some mystic managed to fix it? Something to look into for later if other plans were to come to fruition.

In any case, the anomalous wanderer took in the sights, taking keen note of what was not as they expected it to be. They had run into some locals, a group of Mazoku, and after a short interaction, they had forewarned this small elven stranger about a swarm of what seemed to be scaly birds that would be coming through a portion of the Outer Plait. It was a migration period, and on most other planets that may be a more peaceful event but these avians in particular were known to be really hyperactive, disruptive and sometimes aggressive when migrating, so most locals of Namek would know not to stick around out of respect for this wildlife and its behaviours.

That said, the wanderer was infinitely curious about it all the same, and a small part of them wanted to see it all up close. So, after the local Mazoku made their way onward to another location, the wanderer went precisely towards where they were told not to go.

Eventually, by some cosmic luck, they had also ended up finding a small campsite with one occupant and their lone space pod. While they made no effort to hide their approach or presence, the stranger did not speak, they simply stared at the person before them.

The stranger stood in silence, staring on with their unblinking neutral expression as the person they had found began to speak. There was a comment on how the wandering anomaly looked, and it made perfect sense. “You would not be the first to mention it. This is simply the way we look.” They spoke, somehow, without a single bit of movement whatsoever, with no clear indication as to how they managed, in a chorus of many voices folded into one. It could have been anything between magic, sonic projection or just really stellar levels of ventriloquism. “It is no fault of the Outer Plait, if that is your concern.”

Looking through the space pod, the camper that the stranger had found brought out a pair of sandals and a bowl of some sort of food. They explained what they were supposedly here for as they handed the footwear and food over. “From what we can tell, if you are after beaches, then the Dragon Isles would be more appropriate.” Looking between the bowl in their hands and the sandals at their feet, the anomalous stranger chose to set the bowl down on a nearby rock as they then went to put on the sandals, only for the sandals to seemingly de-materialize into nothingness. At a closer glance, it could be easily seen that the pattern of their socks had changed instead. “Hmm. As expected. We thank you all the same.” Picking up the bowl, introductions were noted. “In this life, we go by Nervan.” Their name, strangely, had only a single unique voice behind it!

Nervan supposed it was good that Namek hadn’t given them much trouble— or any at all really. The Tuffle didn’t seem to be having much luck on his end however. “That is unfortunate. Perhaps your time here will be better eventually— or another visit may be more to your liking.”

As far as ‘looking decent’ was concerned, Nervan gave a barely perceivable minimal half hearted shrug of their shoulders. “We cannot imagine that many look like... This.” Nervan gestured lazily to themselves. “Decent or not, this is us.” Luckily for Apexle, Nervan was amicable and not so easily taken aback or insulted!

“The Dragon Isles do have nice lakes too, that is true.” Nervan seemed to nod incredibly slowly, but to the rhythm of a normal nod. “Perhaps another visit some other time would be fruitful, like we said.” Unsure of what Apexle meant by his joke, Nervan tilted their head slightly. “Then why did you have them?” Ah, so they took the statement rather literally.

“The same to you, Apexle.” Whenever Apexle happened to blink or otherwise look away from Nervan and look back, a piece of the meal that was given to the strange homunculus would be gone, but it also looked like Nervan hadn’t even moved so much as a millimetre. “We did not come here for any particular reason, at least not this time. We do have a friend that is from here, but they are currently elsewhere. There is not much that ties either of us to this world apart from general fondness for it.”

“That would be the beauty of things, really. Planets that are inhabited are rarely so stagnant in what they offer as an experience.” Nervan would hope for such a thing to be the case at least, given the true stagnant worlds without anyone on them that they had seen in the past. “It would be the reason that we travel freely to many worlds rather than remain for very long.”

As for Nervan’s looks, they gave a light appreciative nod for the most part. “Thank you, but it would be rude to speak ill of Namekians in such a way. They are simply different from us, and that is okay.” In Nervan’s opinion, it would be boring otherwise.

Nervan tilted their head, curious about what Apexle meant about a weirdness in the Dragon Isles. “What was this weird thing you felt? We haven’t experienced anything like that. Perhaps we missed something?” Nervan sounded like they had chuckled. “Well, if you think naturally green water is strange, we have been to a planet with naturally occurring bubbly pink water. It was effectively what one could mistake for soda.”

A practical use for something generally always made sense, and what was once Apexle’s possession of sandals did exactly that— it made sense. “We cannot say that we experience the same thing, but it is what it is.”

On the topic of visiting Namek, Nervan gave a small nod. “Yes, for the most part. We are intending to go to Konats next, which could be interesting. Have you been there recently?” It was a shame that Apexle had a fight with one of his own friends though. “That must be rough. Hopefully it all works out.” Any good friend would manage to make fine in the end.

“We haven’t seen much in the way of trouble, a few gruff locals around here, but not much else. Our landing scared a farmer quite a bit though. Thankfully we did not ruin their crops or anything, we would have felt embarrassed.”

“And yet, many more than you or us call a single place home. They saw through the stagnance, they saw what only they could see— the place they could return to, always and forever. Home.” Nervan looked up into the sky, perhaps even directly into one of the suns, though in any case they did so undeterred. “We have no place such as that. This fact does not bother us. We have something else that we value just as much.”

Nervan’s gaze returned to Apexle a few moments later. “It would pay to be aware, that’s all.” It was good that Apexle didn’t mean to be malicious, but so long as he was now aware of how he could come across, Nervan considered it a victory.

“It will be seen to and taken care of, most likely, whatever it may be.” Nervan commented on the strange darkness Apexle had picked up on. Nervan themselves didn’t run into anyone that was particularly worried about whatever it may be on their travels— this kind of lent credence to the rumor that Namek was apparently very well defended, and Apexle said as much himself.

Apparently there had been some drama on Konats. A pity party? Why? What for? “Might we ask what happened to cause this?” Nervan tilted their head slightly, only for it to suddenly jerk back upright, then listlessly tilt back down. At the mention of a name, it just so happened to be one Nervan had heard before. “Hm?” Holding a hand up to their ear, Nervan seemed to bring out a small card out from behind their ear. “Would this be her?” It was Striker’s business card! “We have actually met once before. Interesting person. If we run into her again before you do, we can let her know.” Nervan put the business card away and gave Apexle a choppy thumbs up.

“Everybody wins, really. We met some interesting locals at that time.” Regarding the societal climate of Namek, Nervan tapped their chin. “We think it is more intricate than that, the issue of the three clans of Namek, it has to be, it runs deep. We know that much for certain. It is a story for Namek to tell, and for those that chose to see it in the way only they could; as home.”

“That is largely the same for us as well. We were a wanderer from the very beginning.” It was how Nervan had met those closest to them after all, so why would they bother stopping any of that now if it was what worked. They had a ship, or at least a glorified van capable of space travel; but it was in someone else’s possession at the moment, so they just had a ball of junk that kind of worked for now instead. The former would be more akin to a ‘home’ if only because of the people that were associated with it.

Nervan tilted their head lazily to the side, further than what would be normal, before it snapped back upright with the sound of... Well, it sounded like snapping bones but clearly nothing was broken. “We fail to see how that is rude. It does not offend us. Shinjin is the closest thing, but even that, we do not think is the answer. Not the true answer, anyway. For now, it will work.”

The two seemed in agreement that Namek could largely take care of itself, so Nervan chose to instead move on with the conversation, particularly that which involved Konats and by extension Striker. “Ah. So something has gone wrong on Konats, then?” Nervan asked, curious to know what that was, seemingly happy to let Apexle talk as much as he pleased. Maybe that was why the Tufyan thought Nervan to be a good listener.

“We met her on Earth, she was training with a ‘Hero For Hire’. Strange choice of occupation, we thought, but there was nuance and charm to it.” Nervan shrugged (kind of). “Then what would you like us to mention to her, if anything at all?”

As far as Namek was concerned, Nervan looked around lazily. “Should they see the bigger picture, then it will be possible. Clearly someone has made an effort already.” Nervan was of course referring to the current state of the Outer Plait as a whole, curious to know who had managed to purify it, but in no rush to find out at the moment, they were simply satisfied that it was indeed done.

Once more, Nervan would place the bowl that was in their hands on the nearby rock— now completely empty of any trace of food. “That was nice. Thank you.” Oh. They had been eating it the whole time, apparently. Every time Apexle had blinked or turned away from Nervan, a portion of it was gone, and eventually, there was none left! “What was the primary ingredient, the monstrous tail specifically— from what creature does it originate?”