don't think I didn't see that you nerd Fawn nodded, quietly inspecting the sandwich materials. She picked up the jar of pickles and swished it around a bit. "I think there is a data pad on my life pod with a more comprehensive list of human foods known to be harmful-- my life pod!" She turned on her heel, looking around wildly for a moment. "Maddox, you must show me to my life pod immediately!" she exclaimed, brandishing the jar of pickles. "I must salvage what I can before the sun damages anything. I know your sun is less harmful than mine but it is still bright and warm, so the matter remains urgent." She seemed to realize at that point that she was waving around a jar of floating plant matter, glanced at the jar in her hands, and set it down on the table very gently. "Urgent matter."
Corn Fields (private thread)
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"The sun! The sun'll do that?" He said, around a large bite of the poptart, a bit of the coffee sloshing out of his cup as he set it down quickly- "What about you? Can you go out in it- we've got some sunhats around, maybe you can wear one of those, come on, it's not far," He said, jerking into motion, going for the door and tugging his shoes on, pushing a pair of tennisshoes at her incase she needed shoes. The sunhat was on the coat rack, a great big powder-blue thing, all floppy, with a sunflower in the band, and he held that towards her too.
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"My home planet is dark most of the time, so we do not exactly take solar shielding into account when making certain items." Fawn explained, taking the hat from him and gingerly placing it on her head. The brim flopped down in front of her eyes for a moment, and she reached up to adjust it. "Usually the shielding on the life pod itself would protect everything inside, but the hull was damaged in the crash..." She had managed to put one shoe on, but decided it was too big and would only hinder her movement, so she kicked it off and followed Maddox to the door. "Let us hurry."
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He paused for a moment, the part of his mind that was still sleepy finding the hat somewhat hilarious on her, with her ears sticking out like they were. Still, he pushed that down, walking out into the pale, early morning light to the fields. It took him a moment to remember exactly which direction they were going, and then he began to wade into the corn fields, the tall green stalks obscuring everything else from view.
"You know, we have mazes'n'stuff in here during halloween. Can get kind of confusing if you don't know where you're going," He chattered as he made his way through, until they came to the deep scar left in the earth. He broke into a jog, jumping over the discarded fire extinguisher, relieved to see the ship still there, but then, where would it have gone exactly?
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Fawn was completely silent as they made their way to the downed pod. She had grown to find Maddox's chatter comforting, and even a bit endearing. Seraphim would hate it, of course, but he wasn't here to complain about it. She made a mental note to try and connect with him later, to check on him.
"Thank the Shade it's still here!" she said when she saw the pod, breathing a sigh of relief. "Mostly intact... Here, follow me. I might need you to help carry things."
Careful not to step on anything sharp, she made her way down to the doorway and looked inside. Everything was tilted at a fairly steep angle, so everything of value had slipped down to the back side of the pod. She saw her datapad propped up against the pilot's chair, and picked it up with a cheerful, wordless exclamation. "This will help me greatly. It contains briefings and instructions on how to survive on all colonies and other worlds my kind has visited." Everything else was in a storage locker towards the back of the ship, but just as Fawn started to unlock it, the distant sound of excited animals-- geese, mostly-- rang out from the direction of the road. She paused, listening. "What is that?" -
Maddox couldn't quite keep from bouncing on the balls of his feet as he came up to the ship, feeling the same rush of excitement that he had the night before. This thing had gone into space, it had gone from planet to planet, it was a smaller piece of a larger ship, and it was here-
"Oh! Yeah, sure thing. Human forklift, they call me. We should'a brought the wagon." He paused as the sound of the geese started, hollering their hearts out. He also heard the crunch of tires over gravel, and frowned as it continued down their way- "Must be a car. Someone might have gotten lost? They usually turn around sooner." He took a few quick steps and jumped, head clearing the tops of the corn- "No one I know," He reported, and then jumped again- "Kinda official looking," one more time- "Grab anything that wont last- we gotta get back to the house, now, before they pull up," He said, frown replaced with a worried expression as he slid down into the small crater, hands extended either to offer her help or for her to hand anything to him.
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Fawn grabbed a handful of things-- the data pad's protective case, a pouch full of nutrient blocks, a small canteen, a thermal knife, and a spare change of clothes-- and clambered out of the pod. "What is wrong?" she asked, handing over the canteen and the folded clothes. "Is there danger?"
The agent scowled eastward at the sunrise, taking a swig of his rapidly cooling coffee before tightening his already tense grip on the steering wheel. Mornings were bad enough as it was, without the need to recover yet another damn UFO on his schedule. On top of it all, the thing just had to have crashed in the middle of nowhere. Sure, it was inconvenient for the agency hypnotists and all the agents who did barely any field work when a ship came down in the suburbs, but at least then nobody made him get up at 4 in the goddamn morning and drive three hours to dismantle a downed ship.
There were three men with him, dressed as septic system maintenance workers, although that was certainly not what they were. Their toolbelts carried guns and recording devices as well as wrenches. The agent turned his head slightly and addressee them.
"Alright. We're arriving in about two minutes. Farm boy lives here. May be uneducated, may have honestly not seen or heard anything. Let me do the talking, as per usual. Got it?"
The men in orange vests nodded in almost eerie unison. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Just another alien. -
"...Maybe. I don't know- Feds, not a good thing either way- oh shit I think they've pulled up already." He fidgeted with the items handed to him, the magic of them being from a different planet lost in the moment of anxiety. His family and 'The Feds' didn't exactly have a great history, between his questionable escapades in flight, Calvin's drones, and the general weirdness that was most of the women in his family- and now this. There was an alien ship in his corn fields. There was an alien in his corn fields-
"Just...stay in the corn. Away from the ship- hide, the fields go out for a ways, I'll holler when its safe," He decided, handing her back the items and starting off at a short jog. He couldn't exactly burst out of the field at them, so he'd have to get around the house and through the back door to answer the front when they knocked. It was still early enough to warrant a delay in response, and if he put the accent on thick enough, maybe he could just pull the 'dumb hick' card on them and get them out. Maybe the geese would eat them first.
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"Feds? I-- I do not understand--" She started to protest, but the sharp urgency in his voice and the expression on his face were enough to make her quiet down and comply after a moment. She watched helplessly as he started off towards the house, calling a quick "be well!" after him for luck. When the cornstalks obscured him completely, she turned and started off in the opposite direction, trying to move the tall plants as little as possible as she passed between them.
Right on schedule, the agent pulled the unmarked black van into the dirt and gravel driveway. He took one last sip of his disappointingly lukewarm black coffee, picked up a clipboard, and all at once the men exited the car, walking single file up to the door. The agent knocked three times, loudly, and awaited a response.
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Maddox jogged through the corn, stalks slapping at his face, breaking into a sprint as he heard the car stop, doors slam- he vaulted the short fence, the long dead vegetable garden, and burst through the back door, taking a few moments to catch his breath. Grabbing a rifle out of the closet (for good measure- it was loaded with blanks), he cleared his throat and let a drawl creep into his voice-
"Y'all better not be from the bank," he said, channeling his inner farm-hick "Cause if you are, I'll give you to the count of Five...Four-" -
Oh god, one of these, the agent thought as he heard the voice. One of the men behind him shifted nervously. "No, no, sir. No need for that. It's just routine maintenance. I'm a foreman, here to oversee some work on your septic tank." he explained in a well-rehearsed corporate tone. Hopefully the farm boy wasn't serious about that threat. Killing civilians was not something the agent was unfamiliar with, but it was always so inconvenient.
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"Three- oh. Routine maintenance. What kinda routine happens once every five decades, huh? 'Sides," he shoved the door open "what kinda maintenance men wear suits, huh?" He squinted at them suspiciously, holding the gun with the butt on the ground now. He wanted to look behind them to see if Fawn had made it, but knew that would be a bad idea-
"Y'all look like bankers." He stated again, tone flat.
-
The agent nearly winced visibly, but kept a poker face. Five decades since there was any septic tank maintenance? Unbelievable. They really were in the middle of nowhere. "Alright." He sighed slightly, pulling the badge from his coat pocket. "I'm a federal agent. You may call me Agent Smith. I'm here to investigate a report of a loud explosion heard around here last night, sometime between 11pm and 1am. These maintenance men behind me are here to make sure it isn't a natural gas leak or any other kind of potential large scale threat." He smirked slightly, a hint of condescension creeping into his voice. "Not from the bank, though. You can put the gun away now, sir."
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"I'll put the gun away when I damn well feel like it, an' not any sooner." He said, puffing out his scrawny chest, waiting a few beats before nodding at setting it aside under the coat rack- "Now I feel like it." He scratched at the back of his head, looking at Agent 'Smith' (seriously, who's last name was actually Smith) with a speculative expression, before suddenly bursting out with a laugh-
"Oh, that little thing? Shoot, gotcher pants in a twist over nothin', I was just testin' out my buddy Cal's fireworks, he put too much magnesium in the fuckers, made'm light up kinda huge. Neighbors didn't call y'all on me, did they? There's no gas though, y'all can head back." He could hear the condescension in the agents voice- it was working.
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Agent Smith did not seem amused. "Fireworks?" he said dryly, glancing periodically over Maddox's shoulder at the inside of the house. "Well, we still have to go check things out. If you'll excuse me, I need to inspect your backyard as well as the fields beyond. Are there any guard dogs or animal traps we should know about?" He paused for a moment. "I will remind you, sir, that lying to a federal agent is very serious and can land you in quite a bit of trouble." He pulled his coat aside just enough that sunlight could glint momentarily off his gun holster. "I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth."
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"Ain't that just sweet of you." Maddox said, his grin turning into a somewhat sickly smile. His mind raced furiously as he tried to remember if there was anything incriminating inside the house- he'd left the atlas on the coffee table, the sandwich makings and his pop tarts in the kitchen, but nothing there couldnt be explained in a mundane fashion. Still, he let Agent Smith and his goons stand outside for a few moment longer before an expression of understanding crossed his face-
"Oh- didja' need to look in here now?" He asked, eyebrows going up- "cause no, we don't have any animals back there anymore. Aunt Cas' veggie garden from the last decade, but nothing living anymore. Neighbors dog gets in sometimes, little chihuahua, things vicious, take your knees out." He said, winking in a conspiratorial fashion at the Agent. -
"The house, no. Not unless we find something out there of course. The fields, though, we will need to search." The agent paused, glancing over Maddox's shoulder again. "You may stay here. In fact, please do. Wouldn't want you lighting any more... fireworks." Without waiting for a response, he turned and started walking around the side of the house, the three other men following close behind.
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"Alright, alright, you just don't touch the fridge out there, it's got issues- maybe raccoons, I dunno." He said, leaning out the doorframe to watch until they rounded the corner- he was off as soon as they rounded the corner, snatching up a tarp as he went and bundling it up against his chest to keep it from flapping around as he bolted through the corn for the second time that day. The cover job was hasty, and he was lucky the crater kept anything from sticking out too much. On his way back to the house, his foot caught on the fence, pitching him forward and into a hastily recovered roll so that he was back in the doorway, where he sat, as if waiting. He'd still have to keep them out of the fields though, some excuse would com to him.
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The agent and his men filled into the backyard, looking around for a moment before he motioned the rest of them over for a short briefing. The agent was exhausted, honestly. He hadn't slept last night, and the absolute last thing he wanted to do was screw around in a cornfield for hours. Besides, the weather forecast said there was a good chance of storms later, and muddy cornfields seemed to be magnets for lightning strikes. He'd nearly lost a partner that way before. Sure, he'd give a cursory look around, but...
"Jim." said the agent, without looking at the man he was addressing.
"Yeah, boss?" Jim was surprised, but eager.
"You grew up on a farm, yeah?"
"Well, not exactly, but near enough to 'em that I'm familiar with farm people." Jim shrugged.
"Was that kid serious? About the fireworks, I mean. Is that a thing hicks do for fun?"
Jim laughed. "City kid, are ya?" The agent glared. Jim cleared his throat. "Ah, yeah. I guess. I did it a few times."
The agent considered this, and also considered his swiftly developing headache. After a moment, he sighed heavily, rubbing one temple. "Aerospace has gotten the trajectory wrong before. We'll order a helicopter flyover of the area in a few days. I'm too tired for this shit right now." The men seemed relieved. "Come on. Give the yard a search for drugs and fireworks and we'll call it a day."Fawn had come to a conclusion in her time in the field-- whatever this Earth plant was, she hated it. It trapped heat, which she appreciated, but it also trapped humidity, and it smelled kind of odd. She heard the sound of a tarp crinkling, and crept a few steps closer to her ship before freezing up. Heading close to the pod was an awful idea. Maddox had indicated there would be danger there. She decided that she should probably just try to sneak back towards the house. It would be safe there, right? She just had to move really, really slowly...
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He didn't like listening to them rustling around in his back yard, probably stepping all over the garden beds like he did five minutes ago. His eyes scanned the corn feilds, trying to see what he could- the usual movement from the breeze, and there was no way to tell that there was a hole punched in it from an alien spaceship at ground level. There was something...moving. Through the field. Slowly-
"Fawn! Jesus- if you're gonna- if you're gonna come back, hurry," He whispered loudly over towards her- they said they wouldn't search the house anyways, if she could get into the house, maybe they could keep this under the hat.
[[my brain is?? so fried so if something doesn't make sense thats why]]