Chapter Text
Ranboo was greeted by an Elucidater before he stepped onto the ship. The alien offered him a foot to shake and Ranboo grasped it automatically before he could second guess himself, bending down to meet their eyes and giving the person a look up and down as he shook their scaled, dexterous talons.
They were neat looking, every feather pressed to perfection and Ranboo took a moment to process his new co-worker. Elucidaters were in the tall range of most alien species which meant they were short for an average human and tiny compared to Ranboo. They stood at about 5 feet, with about two thirds of their height in their long legs and the rest in their black feathered torso and head. They looked as if someone had taken a particularly large raven or crow and given it the legs of a crane.
"Heya mate." They said in English with a distinctly Northen-British accent. "It's nice to have you on the team, you're even taller than I'd thought you'd be." Their beak didn't close as they talked, the sound was produced solely in the vocal cords and projected through the mouth like a speaker was stuck in their throat. Ranboo was hit heavily with the uncanny valley feeling he was told to expect when dealing with aliens.
"Yeah I'm pretty tall even for a Hu-Ender." Ranboo laughed sheepishly, stumbling slightly over the galactic descriptor for humanity. It obviously wasn't what humans of thought themselves, but a description was a lot more easily translatable than a name, the context of "Humans- the Enders Of War" kept the same across languages. Ranboo doubted Elucidaters thought of themselves as Elucidaters either, but their species inborn ability to easily mimic most spoken languages had left them with a galactic name that literally meant Communicator. Names had to be easily translated into every galactic language in the universe, without worry of unpronounceable vowels, chirps or subvocal moans.
The Elucidater laughed along with him in a move that was clearly meant to put him at ease, dropping their foot back down. "It'll be a pleasure to have you on the team Ranboo. I'm Philza and use the English pronouns he/him. I'm the translator on this here ship. It said on your resumé that you speak American-English and Common?"
"Yeah." Ranboo answered. "I've also been trying to learn how to read Etheral bioluminescence because you said there would be an Etheral on the ship but I haven't got that far into the grammatical structure yet. And I looked into Consumer sign language but apparently it's impossible to perform with my arms the way they are and tree-climber species have difficulty parsing aquatic body language apparently? So I'll be able to understand the very basics but not much else."
Philza laughed again, a perfect mimicry of the one he'd let out before. Yup, definitely an attempt to adapt to human social behaviours, it was quite sweet of him to try. But Ranboo guessed it was technically his job, 'translator' also meant cultural interpreter. "Everyone can comprehend common so don't worry about not being understood. But Wilbur will be happy to hear that, he's sick of relying on me and Tommy to communicate all the time, another person to talk to would be good for him. It's a shame about the sign language but I'm sure Niki would appreciate the effort, she certainly won't be offended for you trying."
Philza, Wilbur, Niki and Tommy. Ranboo committed the names to memory. Now he just needed more faces to put them to (or tentacles, in the case of Wilbur, and mouths in Niki's).
"Hurry up with the newbie Phil!" A Brawler-accented voice called in Common. Philza grunted something back in the grovely, base-heavy snorts that permeated all of the Brawler languages, ending it in a pig-like squeal.
"We're getting summoned." Philza switched to English, the squeal abruptly cutting off to switch to human-style laughter.
"Well we'll need to appear then won't we!" Ranboo joked somewhat awkwardly and took initiative to step through the spaceship door, ducking in a manner he suspected he'd have to do a lot with the doorways in the ship. At least the ceilings were high enough for him, if only barely.
What must have been the Brawler that had spoken grunted in surprise as Ranboo entered.
"Wow." They said in Common, disconcertingly human looking eyes blowing wide as they looked up at Ranboo. "Enders really are tall aren't they." They quickly tacked on the verbal emotional indicator that meant 'this is a compliment' because tone could get lost between accents or cultures. Ranboo appreciated it, as the Brawler had a very monotone manner of speech.
But still, Ranboo felt he was going to be getting that a lot. Again he automatically scanned the Brawler up and down, from their hog-like muzzle and tusks to the wicked looking hooked blades Brawlers had instead of hands and down to their digitigrade structured legs and hooves. They looked like an average member of their species, if a bit tall at around 4'5"-4'7". They were heavily scarred though, with scratches across their snout and a chunk out of their pointed ear.
"I'm tall even for an Ender." Ranboo repeated, scratching the back of his head.
"Techno this is Ranboo, our new heavy lifter." Philza introduced in common, adding a couple of snorts from the Brawler language to the end. "Ranboo this is Techno Blade-fighter, the ship's bodyguard." Philza continued, then aside to Ranboo in English he added. "He/him pronouns." Ranboo nodded in acknowledgement.
Ranboo couldn't exactly go in for a handshake with how the Brawler hooks were structured, and he couldn't just grab one of his long, monkey like tails out of nowhere, even if they were used for gripping things. That just felt rude somehow (and a handshake might be a strictly human gesture anyway, Philza probably learnt it just for him) so he just stood back awkwardly and waved.
Philza snorted at Techno, who jerked his left foot in a diagonal motion. Probably the cultural equivalent of a wave, or maybe a nod. Belatedly, Ranboo realised that raising a hand to a species who's hands were literally deadly weapons could potentially be seen as a threat. He looked to Philza, motioning with his eyes to Techno's hands and then his own in a questioning manner, Philza gave him an obviously practiced human-like wince, moving his wings in a shrugging motion that looked both entirely natural to Ranboo's anthropomorphizing brain and entirely unnatural for what he knew of bird body language.
"Other species wave as well mate." Philza reassured him in English. "He's gotten used to it, won't take offense. The motion he did in response is a traditional workers greeting, if you want to be professional and all that."
Ranboo nodded at Philza then said in Common to Techno. "Sorry about the wave. Used to interacting with Ender's. I can-" he attempted the same jerky gesture Techno had done before, obviously not well if the squeal of laughter was to be believed. Thankfully Techno didn't seem to take it personally, baring his throat in a fast movement Philza quickly translated to "a human smile".
"You can't really do it properly with your legs but thanks for trying." He said, using the verbal emotional indicator for 'gruff but pleased.'
Ranboo quickly pinged back with the verbal emotional indicator for 'happy to help' which was the alien way of going 'mm-hm!' agreeably. Techno bared his throat for a longer amount of time in a move that Ranboo didn't need Philza to translate as "grin."
Ranboo copied him easily, revealing his own (much skinnier) neck. Despite his little mishap, he wasn't so culturally insensitive to try give Techno a human style smile, he wasn't a complete idiot.
"When will Wilbur be here?" Philza asked Techno in common, tilting his beak up in an easy Brawler smile.
"He was right behind me but you know how he is." Techno answered exasperated. "Might have been distracted bullying Jack."
Jack. Ranboo internalised. Philza the Elucidater, Techno Blade-fighter the Brawler, Wilbur the Etheral, Niki the Consumer, Tommy and Jack. All people he'd have to remember in due course.
"Ah Wilbur!" Philza greeted in Common, peering at someone just outside of Ranboo's field of vision "Techno was convinced you got stuck in the vents! This is Ranboo, the new heavy lifter."
"It's nice to meet you Wilbur!" Ranboo turned to face his new crewmate. "I'm sure it'll be a pleasure to work with you!"
An Etheral looked rather like floating jelly fish in person, Ranboo couldn't help but think. He knew it worked way differently, Etherals actually had brains after all, even if they were decentralised and nothing like human ones. But, their large hellium filled dome and thin grasping venomous tentecles really brought to mind the sea bearing species from earth.
/P-H-I-L-Z-A you [sharp spine at the top of a tree, used colloquially to mean annoyance, could be translated into 'prick'] / not stuck in air vent screw you T-E-C-H-N-O / [exclamation of pleasure] a new co-worker / T-O-M-M-Y needs more [a word ranboo didn't know] minerals P-H-I-L-Z-A, we will need to buy them [date in the future] / oxygen amount enders need is going to be hard to work into the gas levels, [insult adjective implying another Etherals ability to produce hellium is below average] [swear word] / P-H-I-L-Z-A tell R-A-N-B-O-O it's nice to meet him too/
Wilbur said, the bioluminescence in his tentecles flashing a warm blue colour. As Etherals didn't speak a verbal or movement based language Wilbur didn't need to worry about putting information in any type of order before speaking, so all of what he said was portrayed in his tentacles simultaneously.
"Ah." Ranboo said sheepishly. "Is oxygen that hard to work with?"
Wilburs bioluminescence rippled and it'd be inaccurate to say he turned to face Ranboo (Etherals had light sensors all around the rim of their dome, they didn't need to 'face' anyone) but his tentacles definitely strained towards Ranboo a bit, flattened out for ease of reading. In length Wilbur was shorter than Techno, but due to the fact he could float, Wilbur was now towering over Ranboo in an effort to help him read his tentacles better.
/You know language ?/
Wilbur said eagerly.
"Only a bit." Ranboo clarified quickly. "If you wanna talk with me keep it simple, with no, like, technical terms. At least until I get better."
/that's completely fine R-A-N-B-O-O / can't wait to talk with someone other than [swear word] P-H-I-L-Z-A and T-O-M-M-Y / it's going to be great working with you / I am the atmosphere technician by the way / yes Oxygen is hard to work with / it makes J-A-C-K even more flammable than the already are and I have to update S-A-M to be careful with their spines/
Philza chirped the emotional indicator for 'faux offended'. Wilbur flicked a tentacle at him dismissively.
"Aw thanks! I can't wait to work with you too!" Ranboo tried not to grin too much as he talked, instead giving a closed mouth smile Philza quickly translated into Common.
/Come with / meet the rest of the crew / everyone apart from N-I-K-I is in the pleasure center/
"Pleasure center?" Ranboo asked in English, looking to Philza. "That isn't on a typical cargo ship."
Philza answered in Common. "It's an unused storage room we decided to convert to a sort of common room. It's got a bunch of stuff that satisfies our different instincts, I have something that mimics the experience of catching fish, Sapnap has a heating lamp, Tommy, our tailor and a Reticulater, has a frame that he can use climb across and weave different things, ect. Enders have symbiotic relationships with the furred species on your planet don't they? We could get different furs for you to cover yourself in. Or... Enders are descended from tree-climbers, right? It's why you have such dexterous hands and strong forearms, we could get you a climbing frame as well?"
"And don't say you don't have instincts kid." Techno cut in. "I thought that too until I learned that not every species cuts straw to pass the time."
"The furs sound like a good idea actually." Ranboo admitted. "We call them 'blankets' on earth. Ender skin is basically insanely covered in nerve endings so soft tactile experiences are actually quite pleasant for us. Climbing isn't a hobby I have though, I'm afraid." Ranboo made the verbal indicator for 'wait, I'm thinking.'
He couldn't think of anything he really did in his spare time by habit, maybe play video games? But that wasn't a human specific activity, other species liked Virtual Reality games, it just depended on the type.
"Enders are, like, really strong pack animals." He mused. "It's why we formed so many symbiotic relationships in the first place. Positive interaction with other people is really the only thing I'd like, actually crave."
/Well that's easy enough / most species who chose to work on spaceships are social creatures/
Wilbur flashed and Ranboo hummed abstantmindedly. What else would he like to do?
"What do you do, Wilbur?" Ranboo asked curiously. Maybe he could get some ideas.
/Feel things with my tentecles / it's like you said for your [stretched material that the Etheral hellium dome is made out of, also used to describe human skin], tactile experiences are really strong for me on them / they are poisonous to most species though so I can't touch anything not mine incase of [some sort of chemical?] burns / I have a specific area in the pleasure room that's dedicated to me/
"Oh I meant to tell you Will." Philza started, perking up. "Capsicum isn't lethal for Enders, for some reason they're less susceptible to chemical burns."
What? Ranboo thought. "What?" He said. "Enders definitely get chemical burns?" It wasn't like they were invulnerable, despite the stereotype.
"Yeah but it takes way more to do it." Philza dismissed. "Wilburs capsicum amount is about the same in a human 'pepper' if that puts it into perspective for you"
"Oh!" Ranboo said surprised, was that all that was in the famed Etheral venom? "Oh yeah." He turned to Wilbur. "That'll be fine for me, Enders just call that 'spicy' it's a common food flavouring, the only place we can't touch it is with sensitive membrane, like our eyes."
/Excitement !/
Wilbur expressed, speeding towards Ranboo at an almost scary rate. Ranboo shot an alarmed look to Philza who simply arranged his wings in a 'hugging' manner and tilted up his head in a Brawler smile.
Ranboo sighed and let the Etheral embrace him, the strangely dry tentecles draped over his shoulders. "Don't get them in my eyes." He warned. Wilbur squeezed him slightly in acknowledgement and then detangled himself from Ranboo's form.
"That." Philza told Ranboo in English. "Was a traditional greeting between Etherals. He hasn't been able to perform it in years. Wilbur is going to fucking love you"
Ranboo startled at Philza's language and smiled slightly despite himself, quickly covering his mouth before the others could see. Philza tilted his head to the side birdlike at Ranboo but didn't comment on his slip.
"Now Ranboo's gonna need to be decontaminated, Wilbur." Techno complained, beckoning with a tail for them to follow him into the ship. "It was touching and all but very impractical. Ranboo? Don't touch anything until you've been sprayed down with a neutral liquid. That is water for Enders, right Phil? It's not some other extremely dangerous chemical right?"
Phil laughed, the sound an odd mix of human and Brawler, almost like squeaky-toy. "Yes it's water for humans, but also Enders are viciously allergic to konkam so we can't use that as a common-place neutral liquid anymore. I'll have to let Niki know."
Ah yes, konkam, Ranboo mused. Apparently as common as water on a lot of planets and absolutely non-existent on earth. Thus the human body reacted to it how it usually reacted to unknown substances, with extreme prejudice. He'd forgotten about that.
"Bruh." Techno said over his shoulder, clicking his tongue to pre-set his statement with the 'this is light-hearted teasing, I'm not being serious' indicator. "Imagine being able to withstand capsicum of all things but not konkam. Enders got nerfed big time."
Ranboo laughed despite himself. It would seem like that to other species, yeah. But to be honest, Ranboo didn't really care. It didn't really effect his life a lot and humans didn't need to consume it to survive like a lot of other species did, so really it was just one less thing to worry about.
Techno snorted, looking pleased with himself and continued forward.
Brawlers kept their arms very rigid by their sides, Ranboo observed as he followed Techno deeper into the ship. They didn't move for balance at all like human arms did, instead his incredibly long split tail swayed from side to side in their place. The Brawler tails, Ranboo knew, had evolved to collect the long grasses that were Brawlers primary food source on their planet, designed to curl around them to form a sort of haystack that the Brawler would then carry home on their back. Their intimidating hooked hands were actually evolved to be used as scythes, because despite what their name implied, Brawlers were graminivores, and an effective evolutionary strategy was just to straight up steal the food before any other grazers could have a chance of eating it and instead store it dry to eat later. That wasn't to say Brawlers weren't badass fighters though, they got their name from somewhere after all.
Techno abruptly stopped short, his tails spreading out like a barrier to prevent Ranboo from going further. "Wait a second." He said, cocking his head to the side, ear twitching. He slammed a blade against the metal wall, causing it to clang loudly.
Something within it shrieked and Techno's head threw itself back with how hard he was grinning. "Niki." He said, a squeal of laughter separating the two syllable word, and he chirped 'gruff fondness' before continuing "Stop your spyin'. Just say hello."
The Consumer, Niki, must have pressed a button or something on the other side of the wall, as the metal turned translucent. She flicked a fin and twirled excessively in what Ranboo barely caught the start of to mean hello. He turned to Philza to see how the body language would translate to his form. Philza made his body much looser than he'd held it before, and he used his wings as fins and his tail feathers as the tail. He bobbed his head around at Niki, flicking his tail back and forth, she performed some movements back.
"She says it's nice to meet you." Phil informed Ranboo in common. "But she's displeased that she's going to have to completely restructure a lot of the pipes around the common areas because of your allergy."
Niki squealed to grab Philza's attention and flipped over in a move that Ranboo recognised as scolding but not much else.
"Ah sorry." Philza apologised. "Niki wants to clarify she's not annoyed at you. Just the original designer of the ship that didn't have Ender's in mind." He flicked his tail minutely at Niki and flapped his wings slightly. She stopped moving completely and gave Ranboo a considering look, then purposely opened her filter feeder mouth (the one set in lowest on her face). Ranboo didn't recognise the gesture until he noticed Philza looking between them in excitement. Oh! Consumers apparently smiled like humans.
Ranboo grinned back and Niki squealed delightedly, opening both her meat eater mouth (the one in the middle) and her grazer mouth (the one on the top) in a triple smile. She had started with the filter feeder because it was the least threatening to large lifeforms, Ranboo realised.
"Uhhh." Techno interjected. "Is this some bizarre threat display I'm too non-carnivorous to understand?"
"That's the way both of their species smile." Philza explain, tilting his chin up as if to demonstrate it in a way Techno could understand.
"Their display of non-aggression is a direct display of aggression?" Techno asked, and the emotional indicator for 'incredulous' sounded more like a click in his accent, rather than pop Ranboo had been taught. Probably because of the lack of human-like lips.
"It's not a display of aggression to them." Philza argued mildly.
"Don't worry!" Ranboo assured, closing his mouth into the less threatening equivalent. "This is the version I'll do to everyone else, it's the same emotional response but more muted. I already wasn't planning on doing it while on the ship! I know it makes people nervous so I'll only aim it at Niki."
Wilbur tapped Ranboo on the shoulder to get his attention and then said.
/Do it to me if you want / Etherals don't have mouths so it's not like I care/
"Aw, thanks Wilbur!"
"Insane." Techno muttered. "The lot of you." Then, louder. "Wilbur you said everyone else is pleasure centre?"
/Yes/
Techno, who evidently understood at least that much bioluminescence, said. "Right then. We'll need to stop off at the decontamination station on the way there but you have spare clothes so that's fine. Ranboo, get ready to meet the most ride or die people you'll ever know."
Ranboo laughed. "I look forward to it!" He said.