Vetra looks down at herself. She understands where he's coming from, and she doesn't love it, but it might be better than nothing. And she can always take it off when she's alone, right?
"Look, first, I'm gonna make sure you live long enough to worry about that," he says, and if he gets to that point, "then some kind of suit. I don't have the ability to influence the world around you, but maybe we can do something with you, like..."
He gestures vaguely. "Holographic projection or something like that. I've never done it before, but maybe some parts of the ship can work."
"What about my omnitool?" she suggests. She draws it up over her forearm and taps at the interface. "It can project a hardlight hologram... I just don't know the full limitations. You could probably tweak it, though."
But he's right. None of this'll matter if she starves to death first, so she focuses on drawing up turian biology so he has something to work with.
Michael wants to know everything he can about alien technology that he's never seen before, which is why he leans forward, almost scrambling to see it. "I could try and program something in here," he says, even though he's never seen it before. "I do more with mechanical engineering, but..."
He trails off and thinks sadly about how Alex would probably be able to ace this with no issues, but he's not here, and given how Michael's been acting lately, he'll never be.
"I'm not sure what that expression is. I haven't spent a lot of time around humans or asari to really know. Is this one of those expressions you need to talk about?"
She's trying, but it feels awkward.
"Or would you rather I just tell you more about my biology, and you can work on making me food?"
The last thing he wants is to talk about anything, because it's not like talking has ever done him any good. "You willing to give a sample of your tissue or blood? It'd be a lot easier for me to test some things if I had it," he admits.
So yeah, definitely not eager to talk about things.
"Copy that," she says easily enough, and she removes one of her gauntlets to give him needle access.
Like her face, the back of her hand is lightly plated in a paler, flexible layer that's slightly thicker than the rest of her skin. Her brown wrist is rough, but not difficult to pierce with a needle. Her two fingers and single thumb are tipped in sharp talons, and she fists her hand to make the veins in her wrist pop out more visibly.
He reaches through his things, rummaging until he finds a syringe, and is able to pull it out in order to take some blood, knowing that he'll need to ask Liz for access to the lab to analyze it. "What kind of race are you?" he asks, because he's so human-seeming, that he's the outlier.
Are his people like this to blend in? Or are there a lot of humanoid races out there?
"Well, I'm a turian, from the planet Palaven," she answers. "But I haven't lived there since I was a kid." She tells him more about Palaven, about the low-grade radiation from their sun that caused turians to evolve their bony plating. She tells him about their biology — what she knows of it — and how turians and quarians can't share food with humans, but most other races can.
The thing is, this is interesting to him, but seeing as he's only ever remembered Earth (despite being an alien), it's not like he's got a wide range of galactic information. He grabs the microscope to look under it, glancing at what he could do.
"Can you eat the food?" he asks. "Like, even if you don't get nutrients, can you eat it? Cuz it'll be a lot easier to supplement with vitamins or a protein in it."
"It's hard to say," she admits. "I don't think I want to risk it by trying. It could kill me. I mean, it might not, but... it could." If she tries, and she starts reacting, there's nothing on hand to save her. There aren't any shots or sprays to counteract the closing of her throat, the swelling of her brain, whatever it is that happens when a dextro eats levo foods.
Michael looks at the blood on the slide, noticing the color. His blood is red, he knows that, but he's pretty sure that once you dig down into the organs, he's definitely not even close to a normal human being. He eyes her, not sure he likes the sound of that.
"I mean, we're looking at trial and error here," he warns. "I'm gonna try real hard not to kill you, but I'd appreciate knowing how to avoid that."
"So would I," she points out. "Run whatever tests you need. If you can figure out a supplement, or something, then you'd be ahead of the curve even where I'm from."
And if she dies while they're trying, well... It'd be faster than starving to death.
"What about you? I've never seen your species before."
He wants to figure it out, if only because he's stubborn that way and the idea of being able to solve an alien's hunger issues is kind of incredible. It's the boost he needs right now to try and get him out of his depressive funk, which feels like it could take over.
Michael shrugs when she asks. "Your guess is as good as mine," he says. "I hatched out of a pod when I was seven. Stasis," he clarifies. "I don't have any memories from before, but seeing as I was in there for 50 years, I'm not surprised."
"I am," she admits. "I was in stasis for six hundred years and my memories are fine." It makes it seem intentional, or else like the pod is faulty somehow. But why would his people intentionally block or remove his memory?
He fixes a perplexed look on her, wondering if he should figure out a way to get her to the pods so that she's able to take a look and figure out why he doesn't remember. "Maybe the pods were damaged. None of us remember." Not that there's many of them left, and Noah had.
So maybe it had been on purpose, or maybe they had actively repressed the memories, unwilling to recall them.
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no subject
Date: 2020-01-03 09:27 pm (UTC)"Well... what d'you think you can do, then?"
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 01:54 am (UTC)He gestures vaguely. "Holographic projection or something like that. I've never done it before, but maybe some parts of the ship can work."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-04 04:54 pm (UTC)But he's right. None of this'll matter if she starves to death first, so she focuses on drawing up turian biology so he has something to work with.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-05 02:08 am (UTC)He trails off and thinks sadly about how Alex would probably be able to ace this with no issues, but he's not here, and given how Michael's been acting lately, he'll never be.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-05 11:00 pm (UTC)She's trying, but it feels awkward.
"Or would you rather I just tell you more about my biology, and you can work on making me food?"
no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 01:26 am (UTC)So yeah, definitely not eager to talk about things.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 02:07 am (UTC)Like her face, the back of her hand is lightly plated in a paler, flexible layer that's slightly thicker than the rest of her skin. Her brown wrist is rough, but not difficult to pierce with a needle. Her two fingers and single thumb are tipped in sharp talons, and she fists her hand to make the veins in her wrist pop out more visibly.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 03:04 pm (UTC)Are his people like this to blend in? Or are there a lot of humanoid races out there?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 06:47 pm (UTC)"Can you eat the food?" he asks. "Like, even if you don't get nutrients, can you eat it? Cuz it'll be a lot easier to supplement with vitamins or a protein in it."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-07 01:39 am (UTC)"I mean, we're looking at trial and error here," he warns. "I'm gonna try real hard not to kill you, but I'd appreciate knowing how to avoid that."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-07 11:26 am (UTC)And if she dies while they're trying, well... It'd be faster than starving to death.
"What about you? I've never seen your species before."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-07 02:18 pm (UTC)Michael shrugs when she asks. "Your guess is as good as mine," he says. "I hatched out of a pod when I was seven. Stasis," he clarifies. "I don't have any memories from before, but seeing as I was in there for 50 years, I'm not surprised."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-08 08:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-08 04:51 pm (UTC)So maybe it had been on purpose, or maybe they had actively repressed the memories, unwilling to recall them.