i'm needing you more

Luke stood outside the gates, amongst crowds of people, all waiting for the same thing. There was a small group of protestors, cornered off from the rest of the city, but still, Luke folded his arms across his chest and looked to Michael, his best friend and partner in crime of many years. "What do you think they look like?" He asked with a smirk. The facility, hidden behind the large, iron gates, had been kept top secret for the past five years, after a UFO had crashlanded on the outskirts of the city. As amusing as Luke found the idea of aliens, Luke also found it terrifying.

Lucy stared down at her ID, complete with her human name, and the age she was, according to Earth years. Adjusting to this planet had been... strange, to say the least, but adjusting to the name of Lucy Dawson had been even worst. Looking around to the rest of her colony, Lucy's eye caught Ceres', and she offered her friend a weak smile as an voice on the intercom, projected outside, announced that the gates would be opening. Looking to the former leader of their colony, who hadn't been pleased about being kept on Earth, not wanting to mingle with 'weak' humans, Lucy decided that humans couldn't possibly be that bad.

As the gates opened, Lucy reached on her tip toes to see past the elders of their colony, seeing crowds upon crowds of humans. Falling behind for Ceres to catch up to her, Lucy looked to her friend. "Wow."

Michael shook his head slightly to Luke's question, watching the gates silently for a few long moments, his arms crossed over his chest. “Who knows?” he asked, “I mean, outside of government officials, I don't think anybody's seen them… Though plenty of people have claimed that they've snuck in there before.” He looked to his friend, then. “Our parents are going to lose their shit, you know?”

Ceres dropped her gaze to her ID, scanning over it for a few long moments. She'd refused to change her name, though she'd agreed to take a surname. Her gaze went to Lucy and she offered a weak smile in return but settled her gaze ahead. Hearing her friend, she chewed on her lip as she stared at the gates as it opened. “Are you nervous about this?” she asked quietly.

"What they won't know won't hurt them." Luke replied to Michael easily. He knew his parents, alongside Michael's parents, had been leading the rebellion group, and for the past five years, Luke had heard nothing but how aliens were scum, how humanity was doomed for letting them in, but Luke had always thought that it couldn't possibly be that bad. As the gates opened, Luke looked up, the crowds around them falling frighteningly silent.

Lucy nodded. "Nervous? Definitely." She nodded, looking to Ceres' ID before focusing her attention onto the gates, her curiosity growing still. "I mean, I've heard that they already hate us. So, I mean... this could go one way, or another." She told Ceres, following as the colony began to move, having been assigned living arrangements and transport, but also expected to go out and mingle with humanity. Looking at the crowds, Lucy stuck to Ceres, afraid of being separated. "At least we're not living by ourselves."

Michael offered an amused look with the mention of it. “Yeah, but that won’t stop them from being pissed that the aliens are being released into our everyday lives,” he pointed out with a small shrug, though his gaze rested ahead. He knew his own parents would raise hell, probably petition to retract the previous decision and have the aliens put back away, but he didn’t want to think much about it.

Ceres nodded slightly in response, chewing on her lip a little anxiously but she offered a small smile. “I know what you mean,” she murmured quietly before she breathed out and looked ahead as they walked. “Whether they hate us or not, we can do this.” She hoped they could, anyways. The last thing she wanted was for either of them to struggle. “And we’ve got each other.”

Luke grinned with Michael's words. "Who cares?" Luke asked, his gaze settled firmly ahead. "They're the older generation, Michael, they hate anyone different." Luke pointed out, hoping that he was, at least a little more open minded than his own parents, who wouldn't be all that happy that Luke was here to begin with.

Lucy nodded, hating the feeling of everyone staring at them. "I hate this." She murmured to Ceres. "I feel like a zoo animal." She complained, her gaze straight ahead, still, from the corner of her eye, she saw looks of shock, sneers, smirks, everything that made her feel uncomfortable and unwelcomed. "At least we've got each other." She nodded in confirmation. "I bet they were expecting us to be green."

Michael grinned to his friend and rolled his eyes slightly. “Well, you do have a point there,” he admitted with a nod. “But, chances are, they’re gonna stir up trouble the first chance they get.” But, then, he fell silent, watching as the aliens were led out, his eyes scanning the crowd, though he paused when he saw one that caught his attention, his brows furrowing with shock with the fact that she was actually gorgeous; he hadn't expected aliens to be attractive.

Ceres offered an amused look. “They probably did expect us to be green. Probably with huge black eyes, too. Gigantic heads,” she listed off, trying to pretend that she wasn't worried about this. She sighed, though. “I feel like zoo animals would get treated better.”

Lucy nodded with Ceres' words, offering her an amused grin. "Scaly skin, big hands, probing machines." She snorted with laughter, straightening out her clothes as she looked around, trying to see if any faces stuck out to her, and she almost paused when one did, and the fact he was looking right to her made her nervous. Offering him a smile, Lucy ducked her head anxiously as a government official began to introduce them to the public, lifting her head as her name was read out.

Luke grinned over at Michael. "I always have a point. If they're nervous, imagine how the aliens must feel." He tried to offer up. "Think about it. A planet and race that isn't theirs, and the welcome they get is that we want them burned at the stake." He watched the crowd though, almost not believing this group of people weren't from this planet. Luke paused, however, when a beautiful woman caught his eye, and she'd captured his attention so easily. "Holy shit," he breathed. "They uh, they don't look like what I was expecting." He smiled though, hoping the girl would look over.

Ceres laughed with the mention of it. “Especially the probing machines,” she joked lightly, shaking her head, trying to ignore her own anxiety, “Honestly, who thought to spread a rumor like that?” She snorted quietly but fell silent when their names were being introduced, shifting uncomfortably before she became more alert when she heard her own name, peering around before pausing when her eyes landed on a man who seemed to be watching her.

Michael nodded slightly in understanding. “That’s true,” he admitted quietly, though his gaze didn’t pull away from the woman who had caught his attention and he was clearly distracted, falling silent instead of responding to Luke for a long time. When he heard the woman’s name announced, - it only becoming certain that it was hers by the way she lifted her head, - he felt his heart swell, tucking the name away in his memory. “Yeah, you can say that again.”

Luke blinked at the name Ceres Cadence was read out, and the woman that he had been so captivated by lifted her head. Luke felt relief, for some reason, now that he knew her name. She was gorgeous, there was no denying that, and Luke wanted to get to know her. His parents wouldn't be too happy if they knew that he was mixing with the invaders, but they couldn't of been that bad. "So, what happens now?" He asked Michael. "Do we just get to know them?" When he noticed Ceres' eyes on him, though, Luke offered her a genuine smile and a small wave.

As the government official finished reading out the names of the colony, he went back to the facility to join his colleagues, wanting to study how the colony would interact with their newly learned human behaviours. Lucy watched as the man retreated, looking as everyone continued to stare at them like they were animals in the zoo. "Well, this is awkward." She murmured to Ceres, the former leader of their colony going to speak with the mayor of the town. As the group disbanded to go and make 'friends', Lucy broke free, ensuring Ceres was following, before they were allocated to their new home.

Michael thought for a few moments, debating, but he eventually nodded. “We might as well,” he suggested quietly, looking to Luke, though his gaze went back to the woman who’d been introduced as Lucy. “We’ll have to be careful not to get noticed by our parents, though.”

Ceres blinked when she saw the man wave and she quickly ducked her head, peering over at her friend, though she offered a weak smile. “It could be worse,” she offered up in response, though she followed Lucy quietly, peering around, taking it all in.

Lucy smiled at Ceres' words, nodding in agreement. "I suppose so..." Lucy hummed in agreement, seeing the rest of her colony, mixing with humans with mixed emotions and mixed reactions from the habitants of planet Earth. "But it could also be a lot better." Lucy wrapped her arms around herself.

Luke caught up with Ceres quickly, not even bothering to reply to Michael, because the rebellion of it all was fascinating. "Excuse me!" He called to Ceres, weaving through bodies to catch up to the woman who was disguised as the most beautiful woman. "Hi," Luke breathed. "I - you waved back to me, so I figured I'd introduce myself, make you feel at home." And shutting up once he realised he was rambling, Luke exhaled. "I'm Luke."

Ceres nodded slightly with the mention of it, peering around for a few moments. “Yeah… I guess you’re right about that,” she agreed quietly, sighing softly, though she blinked when somebody approached her, and she watched him, surprised. “I - hi…” she greeted, unsure of if she was more surprised by how attractive he was or by the fact he’d come up to her. “Ceres…”

Michael blinked when Luke caught up to the girls and he snorted quietly, shaking his head before he followed after, catching up to them and offering a small smile to Lucy. “Hi there,” he greeted eventually, “I hope we’re not bothering you. I, uh, I’m Michael.” He held his hand out to her in greeting, smiling as he took her in, amazed by her. “Welcome to society and all.”