9903/This Planet is Weird

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This Planet is Weird
Date of Scene: 04 November 2019
Location: Roof, Titans Tower
Synopsis: A meeting of the alien Titans on the roof ends in a few surprises and a bit of nostalgia.
Cast of Characters: Kian t'Kaeh, Starfire, Miss Martian




Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    The evening air is a little on the cool side, but not uncomfortably so.  Sprawled out on a deck chair, the little birdman has a bowl of heavily buttered popcorn on his left and a large tumbler of purple Kool-Ade to his right.  "Now this," Kían says, grabbing a handful of popcorn, "is something this planet does right.  One of the exceedingly few."
    He stuffs the handful of popcorn into his mouth and chews appreciatively.

Starfire has posed:
    Koriand'r floats upwards with a large bottle of mustard (with a straw in it) and… some… strange-smelling strange-looking food in a bowl.  She flops on one of the chairs.  "Hi Kian!" she chirps, setting her 'beverage' down as she waves to him.  "Beautiful evening, huh?"

Miss Martian has posed:
    M'gann M'orzz has only recently arrived at the tower, but to some small fuss, given the request from her more famous uncle.  Apparently a Justice League referral helps, as she's already has a room and everything, albeit one filling up with an overabundance of posters from some cheesy 90s sitcom.  Yet, while her identity is no secret to the rest of the Titans family (see again: famous uncle), the shape-shifting alien has mostly been seen in her adopted human form when wandering the halls or relaxing in the common room.  She spends a fair bit of time in the kitchen, baking disastrously.
    All of which makes today a bit special.  Today, she's taking a break in proper Martian green!
    Rising up from the rooftop (practice makes perfect), she makes it up to about her waist before she spots some others hanging out.  "Oh! I didn't anyone was—erm, that it was occupied."

Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    "Kíe, Kóri," Kían says after swallowing his mouthful.  "A little brisk, but pleasantly so.  Popcorn?" he offers.  "I was just ruminating on this planet.  I'm resigned to it being my home now… but it's still just so weird.  It's like they can't do anything normally here."
    He blinks at the new arrival, but he's learned: if the tower's automated defenses aren't on alert, then he doesn't need to be.  "Kíe," he greets pleasantly, glancing to Kory to see if she recognizes the newcomer.

Starfire has posed:
    Koriand'r nods.  "You get used to it after a while."  She digs into her… food.  It doesn't really look like anything remotely edible.  "Want a bite?  It's a dish from home called grakz.  It's a bit spicy though."  She sticks a fork in it and raises an eyebrow.

Miss Martian has posed:
    "Um, hello!"  Megan doesn't have the wide linguistic capability of a certain other alien, but it's hard for her not to pick up on the general vibe.  And since she hasn't really been introduced to either of the others properly, she offers: "I'm M'gann M'orzz, but everyone just calls me Megan.  Or um, 'Miss Martian' I guess is my 'code name.'"  She says the last part with the excitement of someone who is pretty new to the whole concept of it, even.
    She begins to float up a little further, but seems stuck for a moment, half in the rooftop, half out.  "Ack.  Hrm… ahhh, okay here we go."  Eventually, she manages, and rises a bit further until all of her is 'aboveground,' so to speak.  Then she looks over at Kori, noticing both the others have food.  "Oh gosh.  I wish those cookies had come out better so I could offer some too.  I'll try whatever that is," she offers… bravely?

Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    Knowing Kory's culinary tastes… doesn't help.  After all, he'd be the first Akiár to ever try Tamaranean food.  "Sure, I'll try it.  I haven't tried anything yet that did anything worse to me than just telling me I didn't like it."
    Kían watches Megan extricate herself from the roof with interest.  "That's an… interesting way to get up here," he remarks.  "Mégan, is that right?  I'm Kían.  Nice to meet you.  Are you related to Gar?  You're both very green."

Starfire has posed:
    Koriand'r smiles.  "I am Koriand'r, codename Starfire," she states, smiling.  "I'm from Tamaran."  She then offers it.  The stuff would be both horribly bitter and super-spicy at once as she offers a bite to each.  "None of the humans around here will touch my cooking.  I don't understand why.  Getting food from home isn't easy in the current environment."

Miss Martian has posed:
    "To Gar?"  Megan looks genuinely lost on that one.  "No, but I do have an uncle, his name is J'onn J'onzz.  He's a superhero on Earth too."  Which she says as if it wouldn't be a very obvious and well known fact, lacking a bit of perspective on the whole hero business.  "It was his idea that I could come here, he said it would be a good place to learn and make friends."  A prospect which, by the tone of her voice, does seem to excite her!
    "So both of you…"  And she glances back over to Koriand'r as she makes her own introduction.  "Um, I mean, neither of you are from Earth either?  Phew.  That's great.  Um… Stardust?  She told me about a few of the other 'aliens' here and I've been hoping to meet you."  Once she accepts the food, she tastes it curiously, but doesn't react with shock.  Instead, she looks thoughtful.  Almost too much so.

Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    Kían is no stranger to spicy foods—oh, how he wishes he had a bottle of spicewine from his homeworld—but the spices he's used to are Akiár spices, not Tamaranean spices.  He stifles the reaction as best he can, but can't hide the reddening on his forehead and the slight tearing in the corner of his eye.  "Forgive me, Kóri, but I cannot say that's to my tastes.  The seasonings are too unfamiliar, I'm afraid."
    He nods once to Megan.  "Yes, I'm not Terran either.  I've been here a while… but I can't say I'm getting used to all the strange ways Terrans behave.  They just don't make sense.  I am happy to meet another outworlder."

Starfire has posed:
    Koriand'r raises an eyebrow.  "You are the niece of the Martian Manhunter?  That is very impressive lineage.  My only real relative is a brother I haven't seen in years, and a sister who ruined my world and killed our parents."  She sighs softly as she nods.  "I understand, Kian.  Few taste things like my kind do."

Miss Martian has posed:
    "I believe some of these chemicals are mild irritants," Megan comments, after seemingly chewing the food for far longer than is needed.  "Or at least, that they would be to a human. I've been studying their biology to perfect my mimicry…."  Then she makes a face, and admits, with almost comical sheepishness as if she really feels bad: "I had to revert the taste buds I was trying to copy.  But it's not bad by Martian standards!  We had a certain fungal, hrm… tree colony?  Something like that.  It's tricky to get across the idea in English.  But the consistency was similar."  She really sounds like she's trying to paint it in the best possible light.
    "So Tamaran, what's that like?"  And she glances at Kian too.  "Or where you're from?  Mars is practically Earth's next door neighbor, so I don't really have a lot of, hmm, experience out there in the bigger galaxy," she points out, although her expression saddens a bit at Kori recounting her family history.  "I'm sorry.  I don't really have much family left either, other than uncle J'onn, after what happened to our people."

Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    Kían blinks at Kory.  "I haven't seen my family in years either, but I would be shocked to hear either my brother or sister had caused any destruction beyond the limits of their own estates.  Come to think of it, I'd be shocked to hear they'd caused any destruction inside their own estates."
    He regards Megan a little blankly.  "I don't really know where to begin.  My world seems so… ordinary to me.  Outside of the atmosphere and nearly the gravity, it's not like Earth.  We don't have cities like they are known here.  We spread out, we insinuate ourselves into nature rather than impose ourselves on it.  My home, for example, is strung through the canopy of a thick copse of trees, and you couldn't see it at all if you didn't know it was there.  Buildings like this," and he sweeps his arm downward, to indicate the tower, "are almost entirely unknown."

Starfire has posed:
    Koriand'r just blinks as she goes quiet at Megan's question, sighing softly as she sets her plate down, just shaking her head.  Sadness is in her thoughts if Megan's checking.  "I…."  She just slumps, gazing up at the twilight skies as that simple question froze her up.  She doesn't respond much after that, wrapping her arms around herself.

Miss Martian has posed:
    "Oh, that sounds wonderful," Megan answers, listening to Kian's description of his home with what seems like quite rapt attention and focus.  "We lived in tune with the planet on Mars as well.  Or, well… hmm, again it's a little hard to explain like this," and by 'like this' she seems to mean 'with words', "but the planet was alive in a way, and we were a part of that."  All a touch sadly, as it's all said in the past tense.  Suddenly, everyone is all sad and quiet and uncomfortable, which definitely seems to have a sort of reinforcing effect on Megan as well.
    "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," she tells Kori.  "It's just really interesting to meet both of you.  Hmm, because it's kind of like we're both similar but even more different?"  A little self-conscious, now, she nudges at the rooftop with her foot.  "Anyway.  I'm happy to be here.  Everyone seems really nice so far."

Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    Kían looks at Kory, but does not pry, though he does look sympathetic.  It sounds to him like they both miss their respective homeworlds, although for different reasons.
    And then, as Megan talks about her world, or rather the difficulty talking about her world, the birdman turns and faces her sharply, a surprised look on his face.  Another telepath might 'hear' a startled {!}—Kían has gotten so used to not sensing other minds, he's stopped listening.

Starfire has posed:
    Koriand'r sighs softly.  "Sorry—thinking of home puts me in a bad mood."  She sighs softly as she shakes her head, as she floats down the stairs—she took her mustard jug but left behind that… whatever the heck it was that she brought with her.

Miss Martian has posed:
    While Megan is pretty good (or at least, has focused fairly hard) at keeping her head out of other people's thoughts, raw emotion is harder to ignore.  Thus, there's a bit of a wonky feedback loop here, a jumble of her own feelings for the loss of Mars, her embarrassment at upsetting Starfire, and then the experience of the other woman's own feelings, which give her a whole new something to feel guilty about.  "Oh, I really…."  Suddenly, the otherwise peppy young lady seems rather glum.
    Yet, the startled 'ping' she gets off Kian does kind of cut through it, echoed by a bit of a non-verbal flash of surprise before she realizes.  << That's right, Colette told me there was another telepath here.  I—I'm sorry, I've kinda messed this all up. >>  Which sees her retreating as well, although instead of going right back down through the floor, she speeds off over the edge of the tower to find her room and go in the window.  Windows are so much easier!

Kian t'Kaeh has posed:
    Suddenly alone again, Kían blinks at the sudden quiet, both in his ears and in his mind.
    And then he adjusts his deck chair for a better view of the city in the distance, and reaches for the popcorn….