"Hey sorry for Flooing in without notice, I forgot my -" Karen looks out the window. "- alien. - I didn't forget my alien, I don't own an alien, that was a topic change - hello? Who's home right now?"

Ana, carrying Jeremy, pokes her head into the room. "I'm here? Is there an unauthorized alien? I hope you don't mean me, I'm supposed to be here."

"I know you're supposed to be here, I -" Karen points.

Ana looks. "...alien," she agrees.

" - alien! Actually alien alien!"

"...is Minor home? Or Finis? To try to... talk to the alien? I know Kefin flew out with Pelape..." says Karen.

"Hala and me can kind of fake it, the language thing, if they're not, it was a good party trick in school," says Ana. "Hala! Hala where are you!"

"I'm coming!" calls Hala. "...alien."

"Yes, that's been more than covered," says Ana.

The alien is definitely looking at them with both stalk eyes.

"How did it get here? Did you see it arrive?"

"It was already here when I showed up, but maybe somebody in another room can see it from another window and didn't hear me hollering? I think the Amentans' wing would have a view of it."

"It looks a little...dangerous? That tail is bladed."

"It is at that. I mean, a shield charm should handle it? If we can find Minor?"

"I'll go see if I can find him," says Ana, handing Hala Jeremy and running off.

He is in his father's laboratory and comes anxiously to its door.

"- what now -"

"There's an alien - not one of us," says Ana, "a more alien alien, like a centaur, in your yard."

"What's it doing?"

"Just standing there looking at stuff with all four of its eyes. We think you should go talk to it. With a shield charm because its tail is sharp."

" - cool. Okay." And he follows her out.

She points out the alien to him when they come to the door.

The alien finally turns its head, a little bit. It doesn't have a mouth.

"...okay, maybe you can't talk to it," says Ana.

- he waves. 

"Hello?" he says tentatively.

<...I can't understand you yet. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be here! I don't know how it happened!>

"  - woah. Can I do it back at you?"

Can you hear this, he thinks aggressively at the alien.

<I'm sorry, I don't know how long the translator chip takes to pick up something new, I don't know what's going on - did you bring me here ->

Headshake. - aliens aren't going to know what headshaking means. "No, we didn't. I doubt anyone here would have on purpose though it could've been a side effect of something. Do you need more words for your - translator chip? Like from a computer? Is it working normally here? Uh, I can give you words....the thing you just said was 'I'm sorry, I don't know how long the translator chip takes to pick up something new, I don't know what's going on - did you bring me here. One two three four five six seven eight nine ten. I am called Minor Finis Way. You are an alien. You are blue. I am a human. I am kind of pale pinkish but we call it white because we have racial categories and ours is the palest, except I guess Scandinavians. You have a tail with a blade on it."

<I really hope this is you trying to give me words and not trying to tell me that the grass is poison or something. ...if the grass is poison wave your arm.>

He does not wave his arm. "The thing you just said was 'I really hope this is you trying to give me words and not trying to tell me that the grass is poison or something. ...if the grass is poison wave your arm.' I have no confidence the grass is safe for aliens, though. I think it is for Amentans - not the grass, but, like, the edible flora - but Amentans are weirdly similar to us and you are, uh, not."

<I think it's starting to get some words.>

"That's really fast! Unless it has a way of leveraging the fact that I'm repeating the things you said back to you. Uh, you just said, 'I think it's starting to get some words.' This is grass. This is the sky. This is a human. This is a house. This is a tree."

<You're repeating things? It probably has a way to use that but I don't know how to tell it that's what you're doing.>

"Huh! Okay, then it's just really impressive, it doesn't really have much data at all. You said, 'You're repeating things? It probably has a way to use that but I don't know how to tell it that's what you're doing.' I'm going to keep repeating things because it's hard for most humans to come up with lots of words to say on demand. It's easier for me because I've practiced a lot but still kind of hard because with an alien there's a slight worry that if you say the wrong thing you'll ruin interspecies relations forever or something."