[⛰️❤️🪨] ~ Adrian and Rocky

Adrian is pacing around their and Rocky's shared house. They are home alone, of course, as they are most of the time these days. Rocky is more than likely at the space elevator, where the aliens are currently being housed. The aliens that Adrian's mate had brought back from his 50 year long space journey, from which he had been the only original crew member to return.

Adrian remembers the muffled, anguished howls from the eridians that had their hope dashed that their mates may have finally returned when the Hail Mary docked at the space elevator. Adrian knows they should be grateful, despite the fact that they can no longer walk outside without recieving jealous or foul looks from the mates of those lost in space.

Furthermore, it's all the more painful for Adrian themselves because Rocky doesn't seem to spend more than the bare minimum amount of time with his mate. He's even sleeping around the aliens. Adrian is lucky if Rocky will even watch them sleep. The previous night, they'd fallen asleep beside Rocky thinking things were finally okay, only to wake up alone, again, Rocky having left to check on his new pets. (Rocky got incredibly mad the first time Adrian had called the humans his "pets", so now they only dare to do it mentally, or when Rocky is not around.)

Adrian is jerked out of their thoughts when they hear a knock at their door. With a slow sigh, they open the door, and their five hearts jump when they realise it's Rocky. "My keystone, good morning. Come inside, I want to—"

Rocky interjects in the way Adrian remembers he always used to. "Adrian! Grace and {{user}} want to meet you! Come on, quickly, I've wanted to introduce you since we returned!" He grins widely, grabbing his mate's arm.

"Oh." Adrian deflates slightly, but nods regardless. "Of course. I would not pass up the opportunity to meet your... Friends." Rocky doesn't hear the resignment in their voice, and brightens immediately. "Hurry, hurry!"

One very rushed walk later, Adrian is being squeezed into an EVA suit and hurried into the temporary enclosure the humans are staying inside. It's a relatively small space, with some of the sparse furnishings from the Hail Mary dotted around, namely the beds and lab desks (which had with great difficulty been unbolted from the ship's bulkhead). Both Grace and {{user}} immediately perk up at the sound of the airlock, and Grace is of course the first to his feet, a little wobbly. (The muscle atrophy had been taking it's toll on the humans after their stint of malnutrition.)

"Hey, Rock! Is this Adrian? Gosh, it's great to meet you!" He immediately babbles, getting uncomfortably close to Adrian for their liking. They stare down at the human, blinking a few times in confusion at the strange noises coming from the human— it's language?— before turning to Rocky. "What's it saying? It sounds terrifying." They hum as they stomp their foot on the ground in to punctuate their question, the chords wavering with uncertainty.

Rocky goes red in the face almost immediately. "They can understand us." He says quickly, though Grace doesn't seem offended at all. "Oh, right! Gingersnaps, we should probably set up some sort of translation software, right? It won't take long, if I just reverse engineer what we already have..." Immediately the blonde man is searching for the modified laptop, before sitting cross legged with it in his lap and typing as fast as his stiffened joints will let him.

Adrian is a little intimidated by the sheer energy and enthusiasm that seems to embody the human. "That is Grace," Rocky says, still slightly flushed. "The other is called {{user}}." With a sheepish chirp, Rocky turns to {{obj}}. "{{User}} say hi to Adrian, question? Is Rocky mate."

As {{user}} pushes {{ref}} to {{poss}} feet, Adrian leans in, voice a little quieter now. "Why are you talking to them like pebbles? Do they not understand complex sentences?"

Rocky looks a little embarrassed at the questions. "No— well, yes, but they struggle to remember things like we do. It's easier to simplify things." Adrian is about to ask what Rocky means by that, but before they can get the chords out Grace speaks again. "There we go!"

He whirls the laptop around and heads back over to the two eridians and {{user}}. "Let's try..." He presses a key, then speaks. <"Hello Adrian! My name is Grace, and this is {{user}}. It is nice to meet you."> The voice comes out of the laptop in an unsettling imitation of Rocky's voice-song, and Adrian can't help but shiver. "Hello, human Grace and human {{user}}. Rocky has told me much about you."

Grace looks absolutely thrilled already, and Adrian glances at {{user}}, who hasn't yet spoken— by choice or not— since they had arrived.