[ToxicShadow]

A thin layer of dust had already settled itself onto the almost egg shaped pod. What once shown silver was already turning to a dull gray. Yet, even so, the violet vibrantly glowing panel, tear drop in shape, shown brightly on the center of the pod. The light it gave off never faltered, sure to attract attention of any passers by.

No one could say how long the alien craft had been there, almost in limbo between the dense Tengel Rainforest and the Slums. From the instant that it landed, invisible roots grew out from the pod and into the soil, stealing nutrients and information as they spread out quickly, shooting out several miles underground. The being kept inside was nurtured through these unseen roots, never moving, forever in a comatose state until called upon and released from his personal prison.  

The day that the pod had landed, there had been some mild gossip in the surrounding areas, but not a single soul had trekked out and found its location. It was all but forgotten, those few that saw something dart across the sky and appear to fall, found no immediate interest in wasting time in their life on chasing such nonsensical stories. For all they knew, it could have been a trick of their eyes.

[Azura Rayume]

"Mia, stop running off," Cora called, sounding exasperated with the antics of the younger female. Coming all the way out here to the middle of the jungle had seemed like a good idea for an outing for a couple of adventurous young women- and a not so adventurous one- but now she was beginning to regret that decision. She kept losing sight of Miami in the thick foliage. Sure, she would see the girl again, and Miami would be hanging from a tree or trying to do back flips off rocks or some other stunt. Honestly, Cora understood the desire to do something dangerous, but this child was getting out of hand. "MIA!"

"Maybe you shouldn't yell," Shane suggested in a soft voice behind her blond companion. She was staring about at the trees as if something was about to jump out and eat her at any moment. New places always did that to her, and since she spent most of her time at home, most places were new. She just hated going out but had agreed to come just because both of her adopted sisters were going. If she disliked something more than going places, it was being left alone. "You know she doesn't respond when you yell like that."

"Yeah, well she doesn't respond when I don't yell either. I just want to make she she can actually hear me."

---

Mia was entertaining herself quite well, actually. She hopped from rock to log with a grin and ignored the calls coming from behind her entirely. She didn't come back because she didn't want to. She was having far too much fun by herself to bother with whatever Cora wanted. Besides, her sisters would always catch up; she wasn't too far ahead of them anyway.

Though, apparently, she was far enough to get into trouble though. Her foot slipped off a moss covered root, and she fell face first into, well, a hole. A really big hole. Like, crater big. Her cry of alarm rang off the sides of the incline and out into the forest surrounding it.

---

Shane jumped at the scream. "M-Mia!" she said, whimpering slightly. She scrunched her eyes closed, shaking her head emphatically. "Oh, something bad's happened, I know it, Cora. Cora?" She peeked out just in time to see her friend bolt away. With another whimper, she chased after the other.

Both arrived at the lip of the crater at about the same time, but only Cora slid down the bank after Mia. Shane stood frozen at the top, staring at the metal thing in the center of the hole. It wasn't shiny or anything and was quite the strange shape. Not like what she would have expected to find in such a location. Still she cringed from it, such a strange thing.

Cora hauled her youngest companion to her feet. "Are you alright?" she asked, glancing over Mia for any signs of damage. Though she was genuinely concerned, she was still angry with her junior for being so reckless.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Mia's tone was meek, though she looked entirely alright. "There's this thing, though. Do you have any idea what it might be?"

Cora turned her attention away from her friend and to the strange device that seemed to have, well, crashed here. There was no other way to explain the crater. "I don't really know," she admitted, pacing around the thing, stopping at the purple glow. "You know, this might do something." She knelt beside the panel, pressing a hand against it in the hopes that it might give her some clue as to what the thing might actually be.

((Hope it's not too jumbled for you. o3o; It made sense when I typed it, but I don't know how much sense it will make to you or even to me in a few hours.))

[ToxicShadow]

With Cora's touch, the touch of a female human, the panel's glowing light increased nearly ten-fold, pouring out and surrounding the entire pod. The two farthest from it wouldn't even be able to see their companion past the blinding light, but there was no doubt that they could hear what was happening. Oddly enough, for Cora, her vision wasn't faltered by the increased light.

The pod began to open, once unseen panels now shifting inward to create an opening. It made a loud mechanical whooshing sound as it came to life. Once the panels had all moved, they revealed a pale, white haired young man in a tight black jumpsuit that covered everything aside from his hands and his head. He appeared to be sleeping in a sitting position, but his violet eyes shot open quite suddenly. Simultaneously, the purple light that the pod emanated had faded completely away. He could now, for the first time ever, see his surroundings, and be seen by every female of the traveling party.

The strange man tilted his head to one side as he observed the goings on around him. He remained slight as he braced himself against the inner of pod and pushed himself into a standing position. Under his weight, his knees felt weak and wobbled under him. He was forced to brace himself against the pod, looking a little helpless and concerned.

[Azura Rayume]

Cora was so startled by the flash that she fell backward and watched the unfolding of the metal hull from a stunned position seated on the ground. She had been expecting a control panel or a readout or something... something other than this. What the pod contained came as more of a shock to her than the fact that touching it had caused it to open. A man? Living in a pod? Impossible... right? She rose to her feed and watched him, perplexed but interested.

"Cora!" both Miami and Shane called in unison, the pair running down the side of the crater. Well, Mia was running and dragging Shane along. This lead to a long procession of stumbling, tripping, and almost falling for both of them because Shane found her feet rebelling against her and refusing to move while Mia continued to haul her down the incline. The two almost tumbled headlong into Cora when they finally reached the bottom of the hill, stopping short when they saw the man in front of her.

"Woah, cool," Mia whispered, giving Shane a friendly poke in the side with her elbow. "That's better than anything I could have come up with to come out of that thing." Shane gave a hesitant laugh, still unsure of what this strange man could mean.

Cora frowned. The poor guy looked so weak; he was barely on his feet at the moment. She reached out a hand to help him, her expression changing to a hint of a friendly smile.

[ToxicShadow]

Singit, still braced against this now seemingly lifeless pod, eyed Cora's hand when she offered it out to him. He stared at it for a long moment, before his eyes raised to her face, as if he was attempting to make sense out of her expression. Before doing anything else, his eyes also traveled to look over both of the other two females that had joined them. The fact that three females were nearby puzzled him a little at first, but when his eyes returned to Cora, he very clearly felt drawn to her. She was, indeed, the one. She was the one who had opened the pod and awakened him. In that moment, it was as if her soul called out to his in order to pull him out of the darkness of his almost eternal sleep.

Hesitantly, he reached out with one of his own hands and took her hand, slowly standing upright. His legs were still weak beneath him, but he was able to stand just as well with her support. The smile he wore mimicked her own.

Remaining silent another moment, he attempted to call forth the knowledge that had already been gathered through the roots of the pod, trying to find some manner of words in order to speak. When he did speak, he stammered, having not used his vocal chords in such a long time, "H-h-hello...?" He sounded unsure of himself, for he was not entirely positive that it was a correct greeting word. According to the data the pod collected, however, it was often heard in the beginning of a conversation when two of this world's inhabitants met or came together.

[Azura Rayume]

"Hello," Cora replied, wondering exactly what this guy was doing in a metal pod out in the middle of the forest. There was obviously something strange about him, especially how unsure he seemed to be. She knew that quite a few strange things happened on Evelon, but this was certainly the strangest. "Who might you be?"

Miami took his greeting to be for her instead of Cora. "Hi!" she said, bouncing enthusiastically and waving. "Hi, I'm Miami, but you can call me Mia most people do. This is my sister, Cora, and my other sister, Shane. They aren't really my sisters, but they're close enough. And Shane's name isn't really Shane, but she hates her real name for some reason, so we call her Shane. I have a nickname, too, but I don't hate my name. I think Miami sounds really pretty actually."

Shane gave Cora a desperate look to stop the youngest girl's spastic yapping but received nothing but a shrug in return. Shane bit her lip nervously, still not sure that this was a good idea.

"Hey! Speaking of names, what's yours?" If she had been in her canine form, Mia's tails would have been wagging.

[ToxicShadow]

His extremely pale purple eyes blinked as Cora replied. It seemed that he had been correct in his greeting, what with she having used the same word as he. Of course, more words came and, before he could process an answer to them, another of the females spoke up. Another onslaught of foreign words piled up in his mind, it trying desperately to sort and process them as quickly as it was able.

As she introduced everyone, his eyes moved to observe the face of each of them. He nodded in understanding, now attaching names to faces in mental notes. The next matter was... 'sisters,' a word that he hadn't quite figured out the entire concept of yet. Through the pod roots, he had absorbed information regarding sisters, though in only that some beings referred to others as such things, while some claimed not to have any at all. The word 'brother,' seemed somehow related, as well.

The man's expression became troubled, but he shook his head slowly. It was pretty obvious that he was confused and, somehow, rather new at this conversing-thing. "Singit," he finally said, his eyes only on Mia, who had last asked him his name. "Singit is...what I am...called." There were several short delays between his words, as his mind pieced the sentence together. He raised his hand, pointing to each of the females in turn as he spoke their names, as if double-checking his data, "Cora, Mia who is...actually Miami, and the one choosing...to be Shane?"

He wasn't sure exactly how to react to all of the girls, certainly not expecting to meet so many at once. Cora seemed friendly and confident in herself, as did Miami, though on a much more excited level, and the girl Shane... She seemed very insecure.

"Please...do not be... frightened, Shane." He addressed her, wanting to solve any problems that may have arose with his strange appearance.  "I do not come from this world," he explained, "but I do not know...where I came from. I was...sleeping until now." The only reason he formed the use of 'I' was, once again, from previously learned data. He hoped with all of his might that his attempts at communicating with them made sense. What if he made mistakes in his speech or word usage? What would happen then? Singit shuddered to think of it.