"I'm sorry. My translation programming must be faulty." Aya looked up to Hal with apologetic eyes. She sounded genuinely distressed that neither she nor her teammates could understand what the alien beings were saying to them. "Given our distance from Guardian Space, this planet must not be catalogued within Oan records. Therefore, its languages are also unknown."

"It's okay, Aya," Hal offered with a hand on her shoulder. "These guys seem friendly enough." One of the smaller creatures reached out and prodded one of his ribs with a bulbous-tipped digit. He chuckled more to humor the little guy (or girl) than anything else. His reaction prompted the others to try and poke the other Lanterns and Aya, presumably to see if they would do the same.

Razer tried to avoid the aliens' curious touches without using his ring, but the temptation to at least shock the bolder ones was growing with each passing moment. "Don't be so sure, Jordan. They could very well be discussing how best to cook us for all we know."

"Are you ever not paranoid, kid?"

"It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you, Sergeant." He calmly slapped a hand away from his leg, making the alien chirp in what seemed to be annoyance.

"Calm down, Razer. You gotta remember it's their planet. We're the ones who look weird to them." Hal wasn't entirely wrong. A hodgepodge team of Green and Red Lanterns along with an AI was certainly out of place among the indigenous people.

Purple-skinned with disproportionately long arms, the natives sported huge eyes that were a solid black set in bald, teardrop-shaped heads with sharply pointed chins. In place of mouths there were only two vertical slits; the flesh around the slashes contracted and expanded as they spoke, although none of the visitors understood their words. Similar openings on the sides of their skulls must have been what equated to ears. All were slender and graceful, but some appeared more fluid and lithe than others (Aya, after consulting her internal databanks, concluded that they were in all probability the females of the species). Their flowing clothing reflected this ease of movement as the fabrics stirred with the slightest shift in wind or stance. They were also unendingly fascinated with their alien guests.

Razer was the only one annoyed by the constant prodding, even though the crowd that had gathered around them had thinned considerably. Hal and Kilowog were trying to establish some kind of communication, while Aya merely observed and processed every nanobit of data she could; a trio of golden-clad aliens seemed particularly interested in her. One held her arm up while another inspected it, the other reaching out to stroke her face. Razer readied his ring hand to defend her if necessary, but something else distracted him, something that sort of hurt.

He spun into an attack stance to blast whatever had hit him in the face to find a large ball bouncing along the ground back to a small cluster of what appeared to be children. One child cocked its head at him before throwing the ball back. This time the Red Lantern caught it and stared at it as if it were something foul. A large hand clapped on his shoulder before Kilowog's booming laugh reverberated through his bones. "Looks like you got some new friends, kid."

"What are you talking about?" he replied nonchalantly.

"I think they wanna play with you, Razer," Hal interjected while letting a stooped alien (most likely an elder) trace the outline of one of his gloves. "Toss the ball back."

Razer had no desire to play, not while his senses were still on alert for any possible danger. But the little ones actually looked eager for his next move. He thought about sending the ball into the air and blasting it…for about one second. The foremost child caught the toy as it returned to him, then raised a leg to kick it towards another child. He watched them play for several moments, instinctively drawn to their innocent joy before they sent the ball back to him. This time, he decided a little revenge was in order and hurled the ball at Hal's back. "HEY!" His shock turned to outright glee when he saw the playful smirk on Razer's face. "Okay, you wanna play it like that? Heads up, kids!"

They lost themselves in play for the moment, each Lantern grateful for the respite from the whole running-for-their-lives-every-five-minutes pace that dominated their waking hours. Even Razer found himself grinning every now and then. When he took a moment to rest he noticed that someone was missing. "Where's Aya?"

Kilowog glanced back at him over his shoulder, pausing in his inspection of the detailwork on a native's golden armband. "She went off a while ago."

"What?! Alone?"

"Calm down, poozer. She went with a few ladies. Aya'll be just fine; she's a big girl. She can take care of herself. 'Sides, you're gonna have your hands full in a minute."

"Wha-" His face suddenly became very good friends with the ground as he was tackled by two children. The others quickly followed suit and piled on top of him, much to Hal's delight and his own irritation. "Get off! I've got to find Aya!"

Yes, another Razaya fic. Leemmealone!