trans_9 | Mix-and-Mingle

Entry tags:

Mix-and-Mingle

After the most recent pod-pop had been completed, Stacy began encouraging the crew towards the Obs Deck. They would be most effective if they were familiar with each other, and as the Jaime Reyes Incident had proved, leaving them to meet whenever they happened to cross paths was not effective.

Anyone who stepped into the Hub would be transported to the Obs Deck, no matter where they had intended to go. Those who had been exploring the City were verbally herded towards the Hub, although the energy tentacles did not make an appearance.

||Please report to the Obs Deck for Crew Introductions.||

The Obs Deck hadn't changed very much since they'd last been there. The creepy sculpture was still present, as were the fleshy couches. However, the couches were arranged in a more obvious circle this time.

Come and meet the new -- and in some cases, weirder -- members of your crew.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pat blinked and turned while Toxin reared up off his shoulder, and the pair looked at each other for a moment before glancing back to Lyta. "It's kind of hard not to notice," Pat said after a moment. "He likes to talk."

Toxin huffed a bit to himself, his eyepatches narrowing.

"You know damn well I'm not letting you go and-" Pat paused again. "...Sorry. We should probably do introductions first...I'm Pat. That's Toxin."

Toxin flicked a tendril at Lyta and stretched forward to sniff at her.

"You're going to get smacked for that someday."

"That's all right," Lyta answered, extending her hand slowly to Toxin, giving him ample opportunity to take in her scent. Really. she added, sending the message directly to Toxin. "I'm Lyta."

Toxin sniffed curiously, but the message made him squeal and suddenly jerk back in surprise.

Pat looked to Toxin, frowning. "What?"

"...Tele-something?" he guessed as he looked to Lyta.

"Telepath," Lyta answered with a slight nod and a subtle smile.

I'm sorry if I startled you, she said to Toxin. I'll talk to you, if you'd like.

"How long have you two been together?" she asked Pat, withdrawing her hand and folding her arms over her chest.

Pat nodded. That honestly wasn't as weird as it probably should have been, but he had found his sense of the strange and unusual had become just a little warped. "He's a little over a year old now."

Toxin, meanwhile, was tilting his head back and forth, trying to get used to being the talked-at, rather than the talkee. He paused, then wondered,

"I don't know. Can you?" he asked, figuring that if she could, she'd know what he meant.

"Not if he doesn't want me to," Lyta answered. Unlike a certain Psi-cop, Lyta didn't believe in eavesdropping on other peoples' thoughts if they didn't want them there.

Toxin shrugged, or tried to. Given his body's shape, it was more of a ripple than anything else. he added, prodding at Pat with a tendril.

Pat brushed the tendril away, sighing at Toxin. "He says it's okay."

"Good," she smiled. Now we both have someone to talk to.

She glanced around the room and saw that had begun to fill up as even more and more people filtered into the observation deck. "How many people are here?" she asked.

"If you figured out how to talk to me in my sleep, then I'd never get any peace," Pat said with an eye roll, then continued, "I don't know. I've only met a few people so far, but I've heard...weird things so far. Like some people are from places that are supposed to be fictional, and that there can be more than one version of where you're from-I've already met two people from different versions of where I'm from." He paused. "I'm beginning to think it's one of those situations where you're better off not knowing too much."

Lyta's forehead creased in confusion as Pat attempted to explain something about the alternate realities that everyone on the ship seemed to have come from. Great, not only was the ship as conversational as a Vorlon, but now who knew what kind of 'fictitious' people she'd find herself stuck here with.

"Great," she moaned, shaking her head slightly. "So has anyone been able to figure out what we're all doing here?"

"Not yet, as far as I know. I have a feeling that it's not going to be what you'd call a good surprise when we do. Apparently the ship's AIs don't know much, either...or they aren't talking."

"Maybe they're waiting for something."

"Hmmph," Lyta scoffed. She was obviously irritated at having been abducted onto a strange spaceship with no idea as to who had been behind it--aside from 'Stacy'--or why she'd been taken in the first place. "With any luck, it's for their clue to arrive."

Pat sighed. "I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun if-or when-that happens."

Toxin flicked his tendrils, snorting and crinkling in on himself.

"Well, considering they control the ship we're on, in space..."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Lyta said with a slight shake of her head. She glanced around at the fleshy interior of 'Stacy.' Though it wasn't as terrifying as the organic Shadow vessels--or at least how she imagined they were on the inside--it was by no means as comforting as the living Vorlon ships. Especially Kosh's transport. "I think the only one controlling this ship is the ship."

"That's what I mean. If we attack the ship, we're probably shooting ourselves in the foot." He glanced to Toxin, frowning. "That means no trying to maul anything unless we have to."

Toxin snorted again and flopped against Pat's shoulder.

"That doesn't exactly leave us with a whole of options, does it?" she noted. She hated feeling powerless, virtually incapable of doing anything to help herself. With Stacy capable of blocking even the most superficial of scans, Lyta's exponential telepathic abilities seemed worthless. "Except do as we're told," she added, practically spitting the word out in disgust.

"Unless the ship decides to land somewhere, and even then..." He glanced towards the windows. "I wouldn't count on everybody we meet being friendly." He was sure they'd run across aliens eventually; after all, they were stuck on some giant space ship.

He paused as he considered something. "Maybe we should keep an eye out for other ships going past?"

Lyta followed his gaze out the window, staring at the bright streams of light flashing past. The bursts of color made it impossible for her to determine whether they were just flying through normal space at high-speed, or if they were in some kind of hyperspace that she hadn't seen before. Either way, it didn't seem all that plausible that they would be able to spot another ship--even for a fraction of a second--amongst all the light streaming by. However, since she couldn't come up with anything more productive to do, staring out the window and hoping to spot another ship was considerably more rational that just standing around the Observation Deck doing nothing at all.

She finally nodded and started making her way for the nearest window. "I just hope we don't regret it if we find one."

"Seems like we have things to worry about no matter what." Pat looked back to her. "Have much experience around aliens?" It'd be nice to know at least one person on the ship knew what they were doing when it came to non-humans.

"You have no idea," she answered. Not only had living on Babylon 5 made contact with aliens a daily fact of life, but Lyta had spent a year on the Vorlon homeworld. A year during which she had been placed into a tank and altered by the ancient species to suit their needs. Gill implants placed in her neck made her capable of breathing in alternate atmospheres, her telepathic abilities--originally rated a P5 by Psi Corps.--had been enhanced exponentially, and then there was the fact that... "I suppose you could say I know how you feel having Toxin a part of you," she said, looking over at Pat.

Toxin perks up at that, his eye patches crinkling in curiosity. Pat looks to him, then back at Lyta. "Had a bodyguest of your own?"

The symbiot stretched out to sniff at her again.

You wouldn't, she said to Toxin. Vorlons don't leave traces of where they've been.

She nodded to Pat. "The Vorlons took me their home-world and...changed me."

Toxin continued to peer at her, but nodded.

"Vorlons?" Whoever they were, they didn't sound that pleasant.

"They're an alien race...where I come from," Lyta answered. "Much older than humans. And much, much more powerful. Probably about as old and as powerful as whoever made this." She gestured at the fleshy walls of the ship around them.

"Are they symbiotes or parasites or...?" Pat's own experience with aliens was limited; besides Toxin, he had only met Venom and Carnage, and those encounters had mostly involved attempts on his life.

(no subject)

lytaalex.livejournal.com - 2008-08-01 04:57 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

likeapoison.livejournal.com - 2008-08-01 05:01 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only