abraxaslogs | january catch-all

Preach?

[ The word spills out of his mouth before Steve can think better of it, but the concept of a jellyfish preaching any sort of word is definitely foreign to him. Garrus speaks of it like it's completely normal, which grants Steve another small glimpse into the wider universe and what sort of strange things it contains.

They're both used to jellyfish being much smaller, and that's where the comparisons between their experiences stop, it seems. ]

Also never seen a jellyfish this size. The ones on Earth definitely don't preach, though. In fact, most of them don't even have brains.

[ He steps up to the nearby table to retrieve a pair of gloves for himself, a silent indication that he'd like to accompany Garrus on carrying out the monumental task ahead of them. ]

I've fought other creatures this big, though. Or bigger.

[ It seems the worst this jellyfish can do is shock them, though. He isn't afraid of little pinpricks of pain like that, and the gloves should help. He pulls them on one after the other, then sends Garrus a brief sympathetic look. Yeah, these weren't really made with his kind in mind, were they. ]

Preach. They're sentient, worship an extinct species, and they want to make sure you know all about it.

[Some things are universal. Like the eyeroll Garrus just pulls off right there. It's been a long time since C-Sec, but you never forget having to chase hanar missionaries off of private property. Not fun. Way too many tentacles. There were always too many tentacles.]

Consider me jealous. If the hanar didn't have brains, we'd have a lot fewer headaches.

[He thinks maybe he can rig the gloves up to work okay. The extra fingers sort of flop around, the tips of the ones he's wearing are stretched around his talons, but if he tightens up the wrist straps... yeah. That'll work out. It'll have to.]

Think we'll really get this thing back in the water?

[ As far as things to worship go, there's probably stranger, but Steve still raises an eyebrow. He almost feels like Garrus is pulling his leg, but if that's the case he has one hell of a poker face. Meaning he's probably being one hundred percent serious.

That, and the eyeroll feels a little too genuine to all be an act. So, sentient religious jellyfish are a thing in some universe. Steve is just going to have to internalize that. ]

I bet. Do they sting?

[ It looks like Garrus has the glove situation figured out, at least, so Steve gets to work pulling his own on and then starts across the sand toward the massive sea creature. It's bigger even than giant squids are purported to be, and if nothing else, he's glad he got the chance to see something like this with his own eyes. ]

Sounds like we're gonna have to. I heard it plays some important role in the ocean's ecosystem, so if we don't, it's gonna have lasting effects.

[ Besides, he doesn't want to see something like this die needlessly. ]

No, they don't have stingers. They're... squishy.

[Not realizing what exactly Steve means by 'sting' in terms of jellyfish. He knows there's a Blasto line that has to do with jellyfish stinging, but he figured that was some cultural thing that didn't translate well. Besides, Blasto was all fiction, anyway.]

[Once again, he wishes there were a way to show people images from home. If only to corroborate the stories he has to tell. Or better explain things. So many other members of the crew would have been able to explain things better - except maybe Javik.]

All right then. Let's... [Garrus trails off, his mandibles tapping against his jaw as he surveys the extent of the creature. Damn, it looks bigger up close.] ... Get pushing. Too bad we can't just excavate the area under it. Get the ocean to do the job.

[ Steve could clarify that he was wondering if their tentacles had stinging properties, but it doesn't ultimately matter. Right now they need to deal with what's right in front of them, and it's possible that Garrus will learn what he means firsthand soon enough.

After walking right up to the sea creature, though, Steve also can't help be in awe over the size of it, head craning up to stare at its bulbous, multicolored mass. He's pretty sure if something like this happened on Earth, the entire area would have been cordoned off to prevent random people from wandering up. Instead, they've been asked to help.

Then again, the Summoned can't exactly be classified as "random people." ]

Yeah, I guess they don't want to completely tear up the beach if they can help it. [ Which means they need to try and shove it back into the water themselves, inch by inch. The canvas has already been spread out around the jellyfish's massive bulk, and so without further ado Steve approaches a section of long, wriggling tentacles and begins to heave them up and slide them over, armful by armful.

He glances over his shoulder at Garrus. ] Be careful. I'm pretty sure they gave us these gloves for a reason.

[Jellyfish biology can happen later. If at all. There is a part of Garrus that almost misses discussing weird things between species - old elevator conversations. Mostly, he'd been teasing (read: harassing) Tali about it, but, in hindsight, it had been eye-opening for his younger self.]

[More important things at hand.]

[Like figuring out just how in the hell pushing and shoving is going to get a bag of water, jelly and tentacles into the surf. Ugh - hopefully they won't have to swim.]

Probably harder to repair than it seems like. Can't just dump more sand back in place or something. [Which seems like a solution to him. Scoop out the sand, and the jellyfish, dump more back in.]

[A deep breath, and, trusting the makeshift glove solution, he starts joining in on the tentacle shifting. He's not as strong as some, but long arms have to count for something. A good reach - he doesn't have to move as much to haul the tentacles from one place to another.]

You don't think they're just to make us look sharp? [His mandibles cant in a way that's meant to be a grin.] Damn, I was just thinking I should get a pair in my shape.

[ It's not like Steve knows enough about how to get a giant sea monster back into the ocean to argue with the people organizing this whole endeavor. Maybe Garrus is right and there is a better way, but they at least know this will do the trick. It's just going to take a while. On the other hand, there's a lot of people out here, so maybe it will be faster than expected.

Especially if some people are relying on magic to get the job done, rather than brute strength. (Cheaters.)

While he hasn't yet figured out how to read Turian expressions, Steve can hear the joking tone in Garrus' voice. ] Hey, I'm not here to judge. If you wanna wear them around Cadens—

[ He cuts off with a hiss when one of the tentacles he's heaving lets out a small shock, one that manages to penetrate through the gloves and send a spark of pain up his arm. It's not too bothersome, and startles him more than anything else.

He frowns, setting the tentacles carefully down onto the canvas. ]

I wonder if it realizes that we're trying to help it.

[His head snaps around, concern flexing the plates of his face, drawing mandibles off his teeth.]

You okay?

[The answer is probably 'yes', given how Steve starts back working again almost immediately. He has to ask - it's out before his brain pieces together the probable cause. Right. The jellyfish shocks.]

[Time to be even more careful, he supposes. One at a time, more quickly than before, but still careful. Speed instead of quantity. Does it know they're trying to help? For a moment, he pauses, studying the thing. It's an animal. Isn't it? How the hell is it supposed to understand? It's not a hanar, or anything like that.]

[So he shrugs.]

Do these things have brains? It doesn't look like it's got much of a head...

Yeah, I'll live.

[ To say the least. Steve's been through much, much worse, and if a warning shock like that is all that he needs to worry about here, then this should be an easy (if long and tedious) process. Still, Garrus' genuine concern is noted and responded to with a twist at one side of his mouth, a crooked smile. ]

A lot of jellyfish don't, but... we're on a whole other planet, so it's not like I can expect anything to be like it was back home.

[ For all they know, this creature is highly intelligent and simply doesn't feel like communicating with them. Either way, it does seem to be revered and Steve can understand why. If nothing else, it's magnificent to look at.

He continues to work on shifting over the tentacles armful by armful, reflecting on just how strange his life has become. Then again, that process started a long time ago. ]

Great - hate to think a pile of goo took you out.

[It's said with a grin, or, rather, the turian version. But there's enough amusement in the words to translate. There's something familiar in that little bit of teasing. Like old times. Like the people he remembers so well at his back.]

Right. Whole new world full of weird new experiences. And giant jellyfish with electric shocks.

[Liara would probably think it was incredible. Grunt or Wrex would try and eat it. More old memories. Sprung up by the suddenly easy camaraderie here. How used to working on mixed species teams he's gotten. Maybe this would be a lot harder if he weren't.]

[No reason to dwell on that. Every reason to keep transferring the tentacles to where they need to go.]

[ Steve's slowly picking up on what Turian expressions are like, taking the tone of voice and then extrapolating from there. Like any soldier who's seen too much, Garrus has a streak of dark humor in him that Steve finds familiar.

He quirks a smile of his own. ] When it comes to ways to die, that's gotta be pretty low on the list.

[ Going out in a blaze of glory; that's how most people imagine it. Steve tries not to give his impending death too much thought, mainly because he already did the whole self-sacrifice thing and somehow came out on the other end. So, when it happens, it happens.

(Sam already told him how it goes. But with different timelines, with the multiverse, who knows?) ]

I guess you've been to enough planets that you're used to this, right? Having to start over and learn how things work in a new place.

[ They're getting into an easy rhythm with this now and Steve continues to shift down the massive creature's bulk to work at another area. ]

I could list off a few more, if you ever want to feel better about the goo.

[He's joking. No one wants to think about worse ways to die than jellyfish goo. No one wants to think about ways to die in general. Not even people who deal with death and violence every day.]

[There's something familiar about heavy work like this. Finding a back and forth rhythm. Just a physical task that doesn't require too much thought. Not much beyond where to put your hands and how to haul the next tentacle. No worrying about your situation. This weird world. And how to get out of it again.]

[He shrugs, shaking his head.] I wish. By my time, the galaxy's pretty mingled. Anyone who has to learn that kind of thing is a colonist.

And I am definitely not the colony type.

Think I'll pass.

[ Steve also finds there to be something oddly therapeutic about mundane physical labor like this. Granted, most people wouldn't consider hauling around a giant jellyfish mundane, but at the end of the day there isn't that much to it.

It makes it easy to chat, at least, and Garrus has been good company. ]

Huh. So, all of that's just common knowledge? It's hard to imagine having to keep track of that much information. About different planets, different species...

[ It just seems like so much. But Garrus is almost cavalier about it. ]

january catch-all

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