Watching and Waiting [open]

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

Paranoia was a perfectly reasonable reaction to waking up in a strange place covered in slime, having a fight with tentacles that put some kind of throbbing...thing on him, and then being forced to run through mazes that shot fire, a cruel voice passive-aggressively taunting him the entire time.

Tarzan didn't know where he was, didn't know what was going on, and didn't know what happened to the people--and gorillas---he cared about most. His entire world had been turned upside down. He'd found himself in a strange place completely full of people, more people than he'd even imagined existed. It was full of lots of strange people, and some of them walked on two legs but didn't look human; others were clearly animals but they conversed with humans with apparently no difficulty.

They all were strange to him. Frightening, even to one that had faced Sabor. It was all so confusing. Even terrifying, all the more so because he couldn't find Jane or his mother anywhere, even when he searched during the times other slept.

So he'd hidden in Hydroponics, and taken to the trees, wary of every living being on the ship.

Anyone that entered Hydroponics and stayed there for long might find themselves having the unmistakable feeling that they were being watched.

But he was just as curious as he was frightened and cautious. As much as he was holding back from the people on the ship, he had a burning desire to speak to them, to figure out what they were all about.

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[ternaui.livejournal.com]

The Chancellor came in to look over the fruit plants for a while. It didn't take him long at all to tell he was being watched.

"Good afternoon," the rich English voice said.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

There was no answer. Not even a rustle in the leaves. You sure you're really being watched Chancellor?

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

He looks around with mild bemusement, then goes back to examining the fruit trees. After a moment. "If you are still there, I assure you I am no threat."

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

Yeah, right. You're a lizard-man. You're something he's never seen before.

And the man part of lizard-man was what had him concerned. Men lied. Men tricked. Mankind could be good, like Jane and the Professor, but it could be bad, like Clayton.

This place was strange and the Chancellor was strange, and it made him take extra caution in dealing with him. In fact, the idea crossed his mind that he should run away through the treetops, but curiosity kept him rooted to the spot, watching and listening.

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

Beastboy felt the slow creeping sensation of being watched...and promptly ignored it. At least for a few minutes. Around here it always felt like someone was lurking over your shoulder be it Stacy, another crewmate or possibly GLaDOS.

For now he was a man on a mission! He'd run out of his own snack stash and needed something sweet. And there were these strange looking fruits he had seen before in Hydroponics that he'd never tried before. For all he knew they could be poisonous to humans.

So he was going to attempt to eat one as a monkey and see how that went!

This sort of logic was what propelled out little green hero into the leaves of the trees as a monkey, swinging about and chattering cheerfully as he sought out the fruit tree he pictured in his mind. It was hard to focus though, being an agile little monkey was one of the more fantastic experiences he'd had with his shape shifting powers. Right up there with flying and being a dolphin.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

There was a rustle in the leaves as he was followed, but whatever was following him didn't show itself, beyond being a darting shadow in the branches.

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

Beastboy stopped in his path and hung from a branch by his tail glancing around slowly, the fur starting to bristle on his back.

He had never had any problems with predators in Hydroponics, but there was a first time for everything.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

When he glanced back in one direction, he'd hear a sudden rustle of leaves and find himself facing a man who hanging upside down.

"Ook ook."

That meant "hey, 'sup."

[gi-ant-man.livejournal.com]

Hank was there, with an audio recorder in his hands, having upgraded from the notepad. He was examining the alien plant life, as well as the tiny organisms that made their home in them.

"It appears that this myriad of various organisms from vastly distant environments are able to co-exist on the ship. Amazing..."

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

A hand reached down from the tree canopy above him, and made an attempt to snatch at his audio recorder.

[gi-ant-man.livejournal.com]

"Bwah!" Hank says as he fumbles and drops the recorder. He takes a few steps back and almost activates his belt before he sees Tarzan.

"D-Don't do that!" Hank says, then takes a second to examine Tarzan. "Uh, who are you?"

[lessafool.livejournal.com]

Esplin wasn't enamored of this form, really. Compared to the Hork-Bajir it was agile and swift, but not much more so than the larger, more dangerous form the Hork-Bajir offered. Yet with smaller trees and a certain wariness of the animals living in hydroponics, the chadoo made sense for movement. Four stubby legs, clinging to branches, and the two elongated arms with their claws made for an awkward looking creature. The skin flaps that made gliding possible when a chadoo moved from tree to tree looked odd when he wasn't in movement, brightly colored feathers settling down as he kept a wary distance.

He hadn't expected to run across one of the humans in the trees themselves. Aldrea made pointed observations about Esplin's lack of observations, which resulted in a sort of contest of wills where he mostly relied on but I keep you for now so shut-up I win to prove his point, only far more pointed and ugly.

Like this look he was sending the strange human up in the trees with him. Moving closer, he chirruped, holding off on making mental contact for now. With as brightly feathered as he was, he didn't expect he'd gone unnoticed by the other creature. If he had, chalk it up as another loss for the species. Must have been numbers that made them so choice as a host sometime in the future. It certainly wasn't any physical attribute.

Humans were kind of like less ugly Gedds.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

The gorilla-raised human didn't respond to the strange creature with the same caution he responded to humans with. After all, it was another creature of the wild like him, like monkeys, like elephants, like gorillas.

Instead, he sniffed the air, trying to get its scent, and crawled around the branches around it, almost as deftly as it could crawl.

Apparently humans could be quite agile when they wanted to be.

[lessafool.livejournal.com]

Far more agile than he was expecting. This human and his crawling prompted Esplin into his own moving around, keeping sight of him before darting up into slightly higher branches. Just how fast could a human go? He vocalized again, calculating.

[the-companion.livejournal.com]

Inara knew that she was being watched. Being aware of your surroundings at all times, that had been a good part of her early training as a companion. It didn't show on her face, though, or in the way that she carried herself.

No, instead Inara strolled down Hydroponics, her Indian-style bell earrings gently tinkling as she did so. She looked around, familiarizing herself with the place. It was a beautiful place, she thought to herself. Very relaxing. It was also as close to nature as Inara was ever going to get to upon the ship, and she was determined to milk that for all it was worth. Halfway through her stroll, Inara found a pleasant place to sit - a little corner filled with fragrant flowers, some which Inara recognized, and others which she didn't. Gently, she lowered herself into the corner and leaned over to sniff the flower. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the scent. For some reason, the sweetness of the scent made her think of Mal.

Inara's eyes flew open. Not the sort of thing I'm too keen on imagining, she thought to herself.

She settled down, taking up a lotus position, and relaxed. There were many things she needed to think about, but she'd rather focus on someone else's issues just then.

Like the man who was watching her. She smiled daintily to herself and waited to see if he would reveal himself.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

He liked the bells. They were interesting. In general, he liked small shiny things, and he liked things that made noise. He also liked to see the things crafted by human hands that were more intricate and complex than the things he could make in the jungle.

It was her earrings and the fact that she carried herself in a gentle, non-aggressive way that coaxed him halfway out of hiding, hidden in the shadows of the branches.

He wasn't about to just jump down there and risk being out in the open, but he was curious and that was enough for him to get a little closer, at least.

[the-companion.livejournal.com]

Inara could be very aggressive when she needed to be - she was very well versed in using a bow and arrow, and an excellent swordswoman as well - but she preferred being the gentler sort of woman that she was trained to be. She reached out and gently plucked a flower that was in full bloom. She then looked in Tarzan's general direction and smiled warmly before setting the flower down on the ground across from her, an invitation of Tarzan to join, if he wanted to.

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

With the rustling of the leaves as Tarzan moved through the trees, it was a foregone conclusion that Pikachu would eventually notice him.

The mouse's ears twitched, and he let out a "Pi?" his head turning in Tarzan's direction.

"What's up Pikachu?" Ash asked, and Pikachu pointed over towards the tree.

"Ya heard something? Hey! Us anyone up there?!"

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

The calling up to him alarmed him and he retreated further into the trees.

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

"You sure there's someone up there?" Pikachu emphatically nodded at Ash's question.

"Alright" he said with a shrug, before calling back up into the trees. "Ya know, it's not polite to go around spyin' on people!"

[sunlightsister]

Something very different to Hydroponic's usual creatures walked through the trees today - Princess Celestia herself. She had been exploring the ship herself, and she was particularly curious about Hydroponics. The fact that plans could grow without a sun was unsettling, but fascinating nonetheless. And what curious creatures!

She could tell, however, that somepony was watching her. But she did not feel any sense of menace or threat, so she simply continued her walk and observed the flora, giving no signal that she was aware of being observed.

Then suddenly she leaped up, flying into a tree to stand on a thick branch, whereupon she started walking along it casually, as if nothing had happened.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

Tarzan let out a grunt and swung backwards in surprise at the flying pony suddenly winding up in the branches with him, not far from where he was crouched.

Sudden movements were not exactly something he was dealing well with at the moment.

[sunlightsister]

"Good day, fellow creature," Celestia said cheerfully. So it had been one of the 'humans' who had been watching her! And it appears that humans were capable of climbing trees, as well. "These trees are lovely, aren't they?"

[riseupnchargem.livejournal.com]

The feeling of being watched was not new to Jamie - the Geno Saurer tended to give him an "eyes on the back of the head" sensation that he'd initially thought unsettling but had come to regard as somewhat comforting in its familiarity. When that feeling was not accompanied by his massive blue death machine, however, it was a little creepy.

Jamie kept an eye on his surroundings as he moved through Hydroponics, thinking once or twice that he saw something moving among the overhead branches, but whatever it was - if in fact it was ever there to begin with - seemed to vanish in the time it took him to squint and try to get a closer look.

Tentatively he wrote it off as some form of alien wildlife. Everything in Hydroponics was supposed to have been trained not to attack people, and if something did try to jump him, Stacy would intervene, right? And if she didn't, he was prepared to Flare the hell out of it. And if that failed, well...he was good at running.

Settling beneath a tree adorned with mottled purple foliage, he opened his spellbook. He'd taken to coming here to study and practice his spellcraft in what scraps of spare time he could manage, and now he was going over some of the cantrips Aibghalien had taught him; currently he was reviewing Dancing Lights, using a muttered incantation and perfunctory gesture to summon a group of bobbing, luminescent spheres.

[pantsr4pansies.livejournal.com]

Something rustled in the leaves but only briefly before there was silence once more.