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[statusreport]

Characters: All passengers!
Stardate: 58575.3
Location: Hoitu’yunia
Summary: The passengers land on their first planet.
Warnings: Please warn for anything graphic in subject lines.


Planet: Hoitu’yunia, Class M planet
People: Hoitu

Welcome to your first planet, space explorers. The Illyria lands, somewhat roughly, on the planet, though considering what the ship has been through, things really go about as well as can be expected. Anyone who steps off the ship will find themselves on a seemingly endless beach, greeted by the smell of the sea and a warm breeze. Here, they will find the Hoitu people, and an interesting environment and with exciting locations to explore.

[The People]

The Hoitu people are hospitable and friendly, willing to lend a hand to passengers with problems or trades. They are an amphibious lifeform bearing some resemblance to frogs. It is as unadvisable and inaccurate to call them “frog people,” however, as it would be to call a human a “hairless ape.” Although they may have similar creatures in their remote evolutionary ancestry, they are biologically different organisms.

Like the frogs of earth, they have long, strong back legs with exceedingly stretchy tendons, allowing them to jump seemingly impossible distances with ease. Their webbed hands and feet have distinct and defined fingers, allowing them to manipulate their environment in a more sophisticated way. Their skin is smooth, slick, and coated in mucus, and their eyes are large- taking up about two- thirds of their face.

[Social]

Within their villages, the Hoitu see no need for clothing and have no nudity taboo. When hunting or traveling in the forests, however, they are known to don special suits to protect them from the sun and heat.

Their food is heavily meat-based and they consider several forms of insects a delicacy. Discussions with the elders of the coastal community reveal that they are members of a nontraditional group, created in response to political strife. As a result of their departure from their traditional environments, they have been cut off from many of their previous primary food source. Now, they experiment with new forms of seafood, and hunt. Some attempts have also been made to establish trade relations with the parent population, with limited success.


[Locations]

I. The beach

The beaches are spotted with large outcroppings of limestone, sometimes along the coast itself and sometimes jutting out from the ocean. These have been known to take a variety of strange shapes and local lore has sprung up around them, linking them with mythological-historical events and cultural heroes. This place, frankly, is a travel agent's dream.

In fact, you might want to come back later, after you've explored a bit. There's plenty to see, after all, from the stunning limestone formations along the coast, to the bioluminescent algae in the tide that the Hoitu rave about.

II. The coastal village

Some distance down the beach from the landing site is the village of Kalia'yunia, a coastal settlement built in the shallows themselves, its buildings sitting on posts to keep them from flooding.

The Hoitu are a welcoming and friendly people, placing a high value on hospitality. While this particular settlement is far from wealthy, they are quick to offer their guests anything they may need (I hope you like seafood).

The water in the center of the village seems to the center of everyday life, and it is there that you can find the market, the place of honor of the village elders, the playgrounds of the youngest villagers, and just about every other aspect of public life. There are a few wooden platforms for the Hoitu to rest upon, of course, but you will likely make much more use of them than they do.

III. Limestone coastal caves

In some areas along the coast, the limestone in the local bedrock has been worn away by the tides, creating caves and underground rivers which extend far into the mainland. Some of these cave systems are certainly accessible, but be careful! Getting lost in them is dangerous and drowning in the process of reaching is a real possibility, particularly around high tide.

IV. Exploring inland- the rainforest

The truly adventurous may even wish to travel a ways inland, to explore the tropical rainforest; it is a tempting destination, teeming with life as it is. But both the Hoitu and your concerned commanding officers will advise you not to venture too far in, especially without a guide. It is far too easy to get lost and far too dangerous to do so.

Comments

[fist_of_hydra]

Sun was something Bucky didn't tend to get a lot of, anymore. It wasn't like he was some kind of vampire; he went out in the daytime, it was easiest to blend into the crowds when there were the most people around. But he was always wrapped up in two or three layers to hide the arm, a cap pulled low over his face, and frankly, he was probably pale enough to pass for the ghost some called him.

Or a vampire, for that matter.

Either way, the planet was far too hot and sunny for him. At the same time, he wanted free of the confines of the ship, even if it was just for a while. Not being able to leave had been starting to itch at him, and getting a breath of fresh air was exactly what he needed.

Finally, Bucky got to see what he couldn't help thinking of as his first 'real' aliens. The first ones that didn't look like someone had spray-painted a human, but instead like something that couldn't possibly exist on Earth.

Fascinated, he spent quite a bit of time in the village, loitering on the docks and watching the locals more than talking to them. He fussed with the comm badge until he figured out how to turn off the translator for a while, so he could hear the strange croaking and bubbling noises that the creatures used as speech.

He even tried ribbiting a few words back at them, much to their entertainment and hilarity. Bucky was a fast learner when it came to languages, having had so many implanted in him that he had a broad base to draw on. But it turned out human throats just couldn't make the kinds of sounds required.

Also, he was pretty sure from the bubbles of laughter that they were actually teaching him to say 'Hi, I'm a hairless ape', not 'Hi, nice to meet you'.

It didn't long before he was forced to strip down to his last top layer, a sleeveless undershirt that unfortunately showed off his metal arm and the scars where it joined to his body, but it was too God damned hot for anything else.

[farmboyjedi]

Luke had ended up shedding his robe after a while in the village, and had ended up removing his tunic too, finally feeling somewhat comfortable in his trousers, boots and white undershirt. It reminded him of the way he'd dressed on Dagobah, due to the planet's swampy humidity and the physical routines Yoda put him through. Yavin IV was a lot like this as well, but he could take shelter amongst the trees there. This was something closer to perhaps a Gungan settlement, trading the swamps for the sea.

He could see he wasn't the only being here with a prosthetic, but the other human's brought to mind a memory of the metal arm he'd seen his father wearing in the holovids. Unlike Luke, Anakin had never covered his in synthflesh. Luke's looked less noticeable outright, but the transition from synthflesh to flesh and bone was still visible without long sleeves on.

Luke sighed. "Not my first experience with this type of environment, but I'm not sure I'll ever totally get used to it." He commented. "Even with spending pretty much half my time on a jungle planet back home. Maybe I'm still a desert rat at heart or something."

[fist_of_hydra]

The human voice was jarring after all the ribbitting, and even with the translator it took Bucky a second to wrap his mind around the words.

When he looked up he saw another person from the ship, one of the other transplants. Wary, Bucky stood up from where he'd been crouched by the water, and gave a small nod to the newcomver. "I'll take heat over ice any day. But it ain't exactly my natural environment, either."

He didn't miss the strange transition from one skin texture to another on the man's forearm, his gaze flicking down and back up, curious.

[farmboyjedi]

(ooc sorry, wrong account there)

Luke nodded back. "I imagine it's not a favorite for quite a few of us." he said. "And yeah, me too. Had more experience with ice than I care to remember." Images of Hoth floated into his mind as he said that.

He could see Bucky gazing at his arm. "I guess it still stands out a little, even though it's still colored similarly to the real thing. I lost it in a fight." He flexed the hand. "At least with the...we call it synthflesh...I won't worry about it getting water-damaged around here." Not the metal, that wasn't the type that rusted. The inner wires and electrical workings would have been in trouble without the covering.

"It looks as though we have that in common." He nodded at Bucky's hand. "Sometimes I hardly notice mine...doesn't really bother me any having it."

[fist_of_hydra]

Glancing down at his own bright metal hand, Bucky blinked. "Never even thought about rust." Granted, the metal itself he was quite certain couldn't be damaged by a little water. But when the plates shifted as he moved, there was a possibility water could work its way in...

He shrugged, and looked back at the guy. "They never warned me to stay out of water, and I got dumped in at least one river I remember and it was fine. I was in the water with the aliens earlier and didn't have any trouble. Hopefully if something goes wrong later, the ship people can fix it."

Since the other man had started the conversation, he assumed that meant it was okay for him to ask questions without being nosy. He came closer, fascinated by how the other artificial limb could nearly pass for human. "Not sure if you're more advanced, or if they just didn't care enough to try to hide mine. It went with the rep, you know? Made me scarier, I guess."

[farmboyjedi]

"Well, there are some electronics inside it...you're probably right, it probably is more advanced." Luke replied. He had encountered beings who didn't have a covering on the arm, and it sometimes did make him wonder if not having the synthflesh was any trickier than having it.

"And that's a good thing for both of us probably...I've learned to do a few things to keep it working, but usually I'd rather let the medics handle it." he said. He'd managed to learn a few ways of repairing it over the years for the times when he wasn't able to reach a medcenter easily, but when it was an option, he was more comfortable taking it.

He could see what the other guy meant about being scarier with it. "I can see how that would work."

[fist_of_hydra]

"I didn't exactly have a lot of choice about not letting people fix it - the only ones who knew how were the ones I was running from." Bucky shrugged. It was something that had worried him - what the hell he would do if the damn arm ever started malfunctioning. But his life after leaving HYDRA had been pretty much an endless string of 'I'll deal with it when it happens'.

"I wonder if the ship people could hide mine like yours." Bucky wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the idea. The arm was an indelible mark of what HYDRA had done to him, but it was also a part of him now. Part of who he was, the new identity he was building for himself out of the shattered remnants of the real Bucky Barnes.

[farmboyjedi]

That didn't sound good. Luke had been lucky, the rebels had decent access to good medical care and medical droids, even if things weren't nearly as extensive as what the Empire had at its disposal. And once the New Republic was in place, things were fairly easy. Granted, it wasn't always easy to find help on a mission or during the war with the Yuzhaan Vong, that was why Luke had tried to familiarize himself with the inner workings enough to make do in a pinch.

"That wouldn't be a good thing. You're lucky if you didn't get into too much trouble with it." he replied.

"I imagine so...there's probably quite a bit they can do in their med ward. And it might even happen that we have or pick up someone who's good enough with that kind of thing to help you out."

[fist_of_hydra]

"Mostly I was just trying to hide it." Hence him wondering now if it could be made to look more human. And yet... "Not sure I want to, if I don't have to, though. It's part of me, now. I may be Bucky Barnes again, but the Winter Soldier is still in there, too. I'll never really be free of him... and trying to pretend like it never happened seems, I dunno. Disrespectful."

As if he was brushing aside all the lives he'd taken, all the innocent people who had died because of the Soldier's actions.

[farmboyjedi]

"I actually kind of understand that." Luke nodded. He still always felt that his father was part of him. The darkness, the person who forced his way out after his foolish actions with the reborn Palpatine. The darkness is always part of him.

"Certain things may always be a part of us, but we can learn from them, grow stronger. I think if it leaves us completely, it might lead to more mistakes in the future. It's not easy living with the things that are a part of us, and we have to keep them under control, but maybe they ultimately lead to us being better as people."

Luke would always fight the darkness and it would always be a part of him. But he would let his past remind him of what he needed to avoid in the future.

[fist_of_hydra]

That was more understanding than Bucky would have expected from a 'normal' person. He eyed Luke, wondering what the other man had been through, had done, that made him understand what it was like to try to live with that kind of darkness inside.

"You really think having done horrible things can make us better people?" Bucky supposed he could sort of get the logic, but he wasn't sure he could accept the conclusion. Nothing about what HYDRA had done to him felt like it had made him 'better' in any way beyond the obvious physical enhancements.

[farmboyjedi]

"Well, not....Maybe I don't mean it in the general way. Just that we learn from it and hopefully don't repeat it." Luke replied. Of course, someone had to be willing to learn...his father had been too lost and broken, but he'd still been able to be reached.

[fist_of_hydra]

"Not repeating it is the whole reason I'm so glad to be here." Bucky turned his gaze briefly up, searching for the flash of reflected sunlight like a giant star in the daytime sky, where the ship was. "I guess most of the transplants are pissed and wanna go home, but me? I'd stay here forever if I could."

Nobody chasing him. Nobody hunting him. Nobody threatening to take his mind away from him and turn him into a killing machine again. Yeah, life in the distant reaches of time and space was pretty good, as far as Bucky was concerned.

[notrosesshadow]

Martha happened to see Bucky from the profile without the metal arm. She listened to the funny croaking coming from his mouth and giggled along with everyone else. "I don't know what you're attempting to say, but I don't think it's working."

For her part, Martha was wearing shorts and a tank top. Her hair was piled on top of her head to keep cool, though tendrils were already frizzing and sticking to her neck.

"First encounter with aliens?" She asked.

[fist_of_hydra]

Since she was speaking English, Bucky had no trouble understanding her even though his translator was off. The British accent made him think of Carter, actually. But it was the woman he'd met in the mess hall over tea and plums.

Well. 'Tea' and 'plums', anyway.

"Not counting the ones on the ship, yeah." He stood and turned toward her, metal arm gleaming in the sunlight, the red star on it standing out sharply. He was surprised to see she was wearing as little as he was, and a light flush crossed his cheeks. "Sounds like you're more used to them, from what you were saying."

[notrosesshadow]

The gleam from the sunlight draws her eye to his prosthesis. While Martha is used to injuries and various forms of prosthesis, she's not used to metal arms. She blinks once and then looks back at his face.

"Excuse me? Oh. Yes. Yes. Met a few in my travels. I'm sorry, but I have to ask. War injury?"

[fist_of_hydra]

Glancing down at his arm - and the absolute mess of scars around the plate welded into his shoulder - Bucky grimaced. He had no real body modesty, too accustomed to being worked on by various techs to be bothered by people staring at his arm. On the other hand, he'd spent the past two years obsessively hiding it, and that was hard to shake.

She'd already proved she was no threat, though, so he shrugged the discomfort off. "Sorta. I lost my arm in the fall that got me listed MIA. When HYDRA found me, I guess they figured a one-armed assassin wasn't all that much use even with the serum, so they built me a replacement."

Lifting his hand, he flexed the fingers a few times, showing that it moved as easily as any flesh limb. "Still not sure how the f... hell they did it. Far as I know, even seventy years later there's nothing like it. I mean, they've made lotsa improvements over the years, but even so."

[notrosesshadow]

"I've never seen something like this," she responded in awe. Martha started to reach forward, as though to touch it, but then remembered where she was. She dropped her hand to her side. "No, we definitely don't have the technology to create something like that. Most people thing anything that advanced will come about with the advancement of cybernetics."

[fist_of_hydra]

"I guess they had access to some kinda advanced alien tech," Bucky said. He didn't miss her reach out, but she hadn't made any aggressive moves in the mess or here, so he didn't flinch away this time. "I mean, they said it was left there by the gods, but it turned out to be aliens."

He wasn't a hundred percent clear on the whole thing, but the internet said Loki had been at the head of the alien army attacking New York, and Thor was known as an Avenger, and both of them were supposed to be aliens. Presumably Odin was as well.

[notrosesshadow]

Martha nodded. "Most godlike things do turn out to be aliens. And monsters. Met some witches once that turned out to be a race called the Carrionites." She said it so matter-of-factly.

"It's very impressive tech though. Even at UNIT we don't have anything that good. May I take a closer look?" Because it's always better to ask for permission before just reaching out.

[fist_of_hydra]

Bucky actually wasn't used to people asking to look. The techs always just grabbed him, usually locking him into the chair when they needed to access it. He'd been hiding it since then.

Deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt, he nodded and held his hand out toward her. He was tense, ready to pull back if it looked like she was going to try something, but the offer to let her look was genuine. "Not much to see from the outside, really."

[notrosesshadow]

"Perhaps not, but it's still fascinating," she replied. Leave it to Martha to be more fascinated over a metal arm than the world they are on. "May I touch it?" As far as Martha is concerned, asking is the most important thing she can do right now. Particularly considering his general skittishness.

[fist_of_hydra]

He'd assumed she would from the first question about wanting a closer look. That she asked again specifically for touch did a lot to relax Bucky. Having people be considerate of his space and his wishes was a nice change.

"S'pose I don't mind having a pretty dame hold my hand." The words came out without really checking with his brain first, and he felt a faint flush of heat across his cheeks as he realized what he'd said. Flirting. That was flirting. He'd been good at it, once, he was pretty sure.

Flustered, he tried to cover it. "You a tech or something? Or just curious?"

[notrosesshadow]

Martha looks up at him with a smile. "It's not too much a chore to hold your hand either." Even if she is engaged, Martha is a flirt. Not at Jack capacity, but enough.

She looks back down to his hand, hold up her left to lightly touch his fingers and hold it steady while her right gently probed.

"Trained as a trauma surgeon, though I'm sort of a medical director of some new medical breakthroughs in NATO. Can you feel me touching you?" she asks.

[fist_of_hydra]

Having her flirt back was a different kind of flustering, especially because it made him realize quite a few women had flirted with him over the last two years. He'd been oblivious, the memories too lost in his shattered mind.

"I can feel pressure in the fingers and palm, and a general..." Hesitating, Bucky searched his memory for the words he'd heard the techs spouting off. They hadn't talked to him about the arm's functions, but they'd talked over him about it a lot, as if he was deaf. Or too stupid to understand.

"Kinesthetic sense," he finally remembered. "General kinesthetic sense in the whole thing. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to hold anything, or fight with it effectively." His smile turned dark. "It's all about improving my fighting ability."