[Chapter #1.3.1 - After the Feast]

A grand feast was arranged at a wide circular square somewhere within the city of Libertaria. Only if your sense of direction was grand, would you have been able to pinpoint it so soon after arriving to the city as the crowd carried you along to the site and afterwards, music, a mix of tribal and techno, came echoing through the settlement. Around you seemed to be more aliens than humans and no ASSWs. The aliens were of all shapes and sizes, ranging from the plant-like dinosaurs accompanying Um to short humanoids, hooded and their faces obscured, but partying all the same. A large bonfire was arranged around which the jist of the commotion was gathered and a large table made out of titanium scraps circled the blaze's perimeter, its tongues licking the food and keeping it warm. You could grab a variety of foods with the sticks available across the table. The food itself looked appetizing enough ranging from stews to meatbally things.

Beyond the bonfire, you could see the Captain chatting away with Um, who nodded every now and again, her eyes focused upwards as if dazed. You couldn't tell whether she was listening or not, but you could tell it didn't seem to bother the Captain in the slightest. He would scathe you with his glance periodically, sending jolts down your spine. Some locals came over to talk to you, jostling your attention. There was nothing but to wait for Matty to approach you then.

After an hour or two, Mina would feel a light tap on her shoulder and would turn around to come face to face with Matty's pale green eyes and translucent hair. The fire and the reflections of the dust in the sky both seemed to reflect off of and through Matty's hair and golden arms, giving her a strangely illuminating presence in the half dark.

Music:

Matty grinned, several Waddle-Dees following behind her. Several appendages seemed to have sprouted from her upper right arm, holding and fervently playing some sort of a handheld retro game console. "There you are. Not that I couldn't tell, of course. I was just taking in the sights." She said, glancing disinterestedly to the side. "The folks around here are either fascinated or scared of me." She shrugged. "Eh, big deal. They don't seem fond of ASSWs though so I'm just keep to the sidelines. That was the deal anyways so you guys just go over there and talk to someone. Anyone. I'll record your convos so no worries there." She gestured as if shooing you away and before you knew it, she was out of sight and out of mind. Strange how stealthy she could be even with her grotesquely amorphous arms and blindingly reflective head. "Jealous, ain'tcha." Her voice echoed through your head, reminding you she was contacting you mainly through her Plug.

Looking around and waving to Mina the little Waddle-dee's would look at the three pointed out by Matty and they nodded, one of them giving a little Salute as another took out a notepad and started to make their way towards the shy looking girl, all the little aliens waving to her and one writing down on the pad before finishing and holding up the notepad for the girl to read

"Hello there, we were hoping we could ask you a few questions if that is okay?" the little Waddle-dee's looked up at her hopefully, wanting to be helpful to the ship by getting the information the captain asked for.

Flinching slightly and tensing at the light tap on her shoulder, Mina spun around, breathing out and relaxing at the sight of a familiar face. "Matty, please don't scare me like that..." She sighed before responding to Matty's statement. "W-well, it doesn't seem like they've seen one of you guys before, so I guess it's only natural..." She mused, trailing off as Matty disappeared into the crowd in her bizarrely graceful manner before her voice could be heard yet again, this time in Mina's head.

"Why would I be jealous--you know what, screw this. Sure, I'll go talk to someone." Mina set off after the pack of waddle-dees who had acknowledged her, instead walking up to the towering alien that Matty had pointed out.

"Errr...hello?" She greeted the creature, having to crane her neck to look up at it.

>1) Big Alien

Waddle-Dees & Shy Girl

The Dees approached the girl who had clearly been standing to the side of the party without participating in the celebrations. She took a few steps back, avoiding looking at them when she noticed them. However, she hit a wooden stand with the back of her heel, forcing her to stop her escape. Eyes darting, she forced a weak smile and waved with her hand. It was the girl that had run up to the group when they landed, reporting to Um.


"Why write, c-can't you speak? Anyways, my name's Therrace. W-what kind of questions do you want to ask?" She said, giving a brief introduction. "I have to be hospitable, r-right... Ugh, this is so difficult..."

Matty's voice echoed in the Dees' minds. "Eh this should be easy. If you need any help, call me beep me and all that, 'kay?"

---

Mina & Big Alien

Mina would hear Matty's snickering in her head. "Yep yep you go do that. I'll just be taste testing these, what are these even? They look tasty though!"

Mina would indeed have had to crane her head up to face the alien, who, in turn, lowered their head with two glowing yellow bulbs for eyes. Its skin seemed almost made of stone, however, the tendrils on its head were very fleshy.

"Yikes." Matty said through the mental link. "Imagine having appendages like that, hehe. I could never imagine." She started whistling.


On the other spectrum from Matty's talkativeness, the alien only produced watery sounds as if air bubbles rising to the surface of the sea. It bobbed its head as it "spoke", seemingly at least understanding Mina's greeting. Matty's comment referred to how not even the Modules' translator was helping here. "This might be a lost case so uh, go do something else. Why'd you choose th- Wait, I'm scanning something. Huh, there's someone atop its head! At least according to the scans. Try asking them."

The little Waddle-dee seeing the girl was clearly uncomfortable they gave her some space, only the one lone one stood close to her so she could read the note pad, as she asked her question the Waddle-dee started to write on the pad, they tried to be as non-treatening as possible....which was really easy for a waddle-dee as they were not threatening by nature. and as the Waddle-dee finished writing it lifted up the note pad once more for her to read.

"We write because out Language isn't translatable, also we wanted to ask questions about Libertaria, if this is hard you can write too if you like? or we can converse through interruptive dance..." A few waddle-dee's in the background where dancing by this point, though there was some extra dots on the notepad and just before the Waddle-dee's stopped dancing the one with the notepad held up a second notpad "We have been told this would a funny joke to break the ice" the little creatures still looked up at the girl happily as they patiently waited for her acknowledgement.

meanwhile another Waddle-dee was messaging Matty "Are there any specific questions that the captain wanted us to ask?" it sent a little text message to the ASSW that was providing support.

"No, I can't imagine having appendages like that." Mina playfully shot back at Matty, sighing as the ASSW informed her of the life from atop the alien's head.

"Nothing's been easy lately, hasn't it?" Mina muttered, ignoring Matty's frankly unamusing remarks. "How am I even supposed to get up there?" She turned to a few of the unoccupied stalls adjacent to the alien, clambering up on some scrap and other debris as she pulled herself up to the top of the stand. She could indeed spot the top of the alien's head from her new perch and addressing the figure who Matty had scanned in a somewhat awkward manner, given her position.

"H-hello...again."

Waddle-Dees & Therrace

The girl adjusted her glasses as she continued reading the Dees' messages. As her eyes reached the part about the interpretative dance, her face went red and she began waving her hands around in a defensive manner. "A-ah uhm no please don't dance, it's... awkward..." She said. In the party happening around the whole Libertaria, though, lots of people seemed to be dancing vigorously. She was keeping away from all of them, however, looking around with a quivering lip and a blushed cheek.

Matty spoke in the Dees' minds. "What did the Cap say... Lemme just... Oh, ok, so right now, he's trying to prod that Um about the lack of humans here. The girl seems to be human. The math's adding up, isn't it."

Therrace spoke up again after a short break spent waving her hand over her face like a fan, likely recovering from the interpretative dance shock. "A-about Libertaria? Like, our history? I mean, not much to say. Our teachings talk about a big war in the past and us being the remnants of that war. O-our ancestors had to hide to keep safe and now lady Um is keeping us all safe while we gather resources from the passing ships in the sky to get by... I like when the pirates return from those trips. T-they keep bringing cool stuff like figures and video cartridges..." She looked to the side, fidgeting with her hands. "A-anything else?"

---

Mina & Big Alien

As Mina climbed, she saw no one atop the alien's head. Their tendrils danced hypnotically around their round head and yellow eyes. Matty, however, insisted. "There's gotta be someone there, let me try and get through whatever cloaking they're using... No one can beat the great Matty with such dirty tricks..."

However, as Mina looked at the alien, she heard a voice coming her way from near the alien's head. "You lookin' for me, lass? Mwahahah, then guess where I am!" The voice wasn't coming from the head. Instead, it was coming from a bit behind the head, seemingly directed in the opposite direction... Then Mina saw it. A polip, like a pimple on the back of the alien's neck. It would've normally looked like an unwanted growth, but the weirdly charmingly rugged voice was definitely coming from it.

The little Waddle-dee's took notes on what the girl said, as another wrote on the notepad as she finished and asked if there was anything else the  other Waddle-dee's listening to her and were quite happy that she was talkative even though it seemed hard for her, one gently offering her a bit of food they had from the feast.

The Waddle-dee doing the communication nodded as it reread what it wrote and then turned the notepad around for the girl to read "Yes we were wondering why there seems to be so few humans here, is it due to the war you mentioned? also you mentioned games and figures, do you have any favorites? OH also we are worry we forgot to say we are the Waddle-dee's it's very nice to meet you, and thank you for talking with us we are glad we get to learn more about this place"

All the waddle-dee's gave a friendly wave to the girl and smiled happily, glad to be making a new friend and trying to help the girl feel more relaxed.