NOVPUBNow that he was relatively confident that Reluun was telling the truth, Alex sighed and sheathed Virtue's Edge.
"Okay, Reluun… I'm Alex. That's Brontes. We're, uh… also kind of here for the 'fracture'."
Alex wasn't exactly sure about the details, but since Reluun called that huge spatial distortion in the distance a fracture, he just decided to roll with it.
"Fascinating," Reluun murmured, tapping his finger against his skintight suit in deep thought.
He didn't question exactly why Alex was interested in entering the fracture and ender his race's realm of the Primordial Expanse, but he made his interest in the whole thing clear.
His serious, fascinated expression lasted a whole of five seconds before it crumbled into somewhat of a sheepish grin.
"Well, I guess that means your people are absolutely doomed," he spoke, with a halfhearted shrug.
"But hey, I'm sure you'll just become another one of the natives in this place when your people in the outside universe inevitably falls. Or, who knows, you might just go out in a blaze of glory."
Alex blinked, keeping a deadpan expression.
"...You're not very good at diplomacy, are you?"
"I'm excellent at diplomacy!" Reluun insisted. "You just have to lower your standards until they're practically subterranean. That way, everyone's pleasantly surprised when you don't try to kill them."
Brontes let out a low chuff that suspiciously resembled a snort of amusement.
Alex ran a hand down his face.
"Okay. Alright. Let me just get this straight – you're not a warrior, scout, or infiltrator?"
"Nope."
"You're not about to sprout wings and scream your battle cry while calling down an orbital bombardment, right?"
Alex knew this was a trick question, since there was no such thing as an orbit in the Primordial Expanse. The sky just continued on and on endlessly.
"...No, but now that you've said it, I really wish I could." Reluun replied.
"You're not hiding some secret mission to take information back to your people?"
"Well, my objective is to observe and collect information, yes, but nothing that would spark a war between races." Reluun replied, still rather calm.
Alex didn't know what to think.
Over his time as an Awakened, it had practically been ingrained in him to be vigilant, or even hostile, when encountering something completely unknown to him.
So to encounter someone like Reluun, who seemed relatively harmless, friendly even, it completely overturned everything he had learned to accept as definitive over the past few years.
"...Is everything you said about my race's situation real?" Alex asked after a few moments of hesitation.
Now that the two of them were slowly getting more and more familiar with each other, Alex had to accept the fact that the information Reluun could potentially provide him could be essential in the Federation's survival.
"That's right."
Alex gave him a long, tired look.
"Well, at the very least, you're honest."
Reluun puffed his chest out. "That's one of the Solari's core virtues, actually: honesty, intellect, and snack preparedness."
Alex gave him a look.
"...snack preparedness?"
Reluun promptly reached into one of the small pouches strapped to his waist and pulled out a bright blue fruit, shaped like a squashed pear and glowing faintly.
"Snack?" He offered.
Alex looked at the fruit, then Reluun, then at Brontes – who tilted his head curiously – before sighing.
This guy was just too innocent.
What he said about being a relatively peaceful race might actually turn out to be true.
There was no way he could be from a race like the Red Demons if he acted so innocent and nonchalantly.
After interacting with so many hostile creatures and beings over the past few years, Alex could tell that Reluun wasn't anything like them.
"You know what? Sure." He accepted the offering of fruit.
For all he knew, this could be a sign of cooperation to the Solari race.
He took the fruit cautiously, sniffed it, then took a small bite.
Surprisingly… it wasn't too bad. A bit citrusy, and energising.
"See? First interspecies contact and I didn't even poison you. I deserve a medal for my skills of diplomacy." Reluun said proudly, puffing his chest out even further.
Alex couldn't help but smirk. "Don't push your luck just yet. You could have poisoned it with a delayed acting toxin."
Reluun smiled in return. "Too late. I'm making a whole new luck economy and I've declared myself chairman."
Brontes gave a disgruntled snort, eyeing the strange newcomer with wary amusement, then nudged Alex's side with his snout.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Alex said, resting a hand on Brontes' scaled head.
"We'll still be careful."
Reluun nodded enthusiastically, then turned his attention to Brontes. "What's the deal with this beast? Why is it willingly following you. I thought they were all practically programmed to attack any sentient being on sight."
He scratched his chin with a confused look plastered across his face.
"He's my tame. And he wasn't born in the Primordial Expanse either, so maybe that has something to do with it." Alex answered without giving it much thought.
Reluun clearly came from a race who knew much more about the Primordial Expanse and the System's workings, so maybe he would actually know more than him.
However, Reluun just continued to inspect Brontes confusedly, before giving up on questioning it any further.
"Well, no point in trying to pry out an impossible answer. Guess I'll be off then, see ya later new friend!"
Reluun proceeded to turn on the spot and start marching back towards the fracture in the distance.
"Wait!"
Alex shouted out to him instinctively when he saw this. His face portrayed his confusion.
Reluun stopped and turned to look at Alex.
"I thought you came here to explore this realm, so why are you going back already? Don't tell me you've already got all the information you need after our short conversation!?"
The idea that Reluun had already obtained an impossible amount of information about the Human race and this realm of the Primordial Expanse honestly scared Alex a bit.
