trans_9 | Meet'n Greet Part Deux

Well, it became quickly apparent that the decor didn't get any better. Basically, it seemed as though the Observation Deck was meant to be the commons, or at least a place for people to gather. It was decently sized, at least, and it didn't quite make Kurt's skin crawl to look at it.

It was probably a bad thing that he wanted someone to hold his hand through this, figuratively speaking, of course. He was simply feeling insecure. At least until he spotted a few others, and honestly, she hadn't been kidding. He was in very mixed company.

"I am in no hurry about any of it." There was that smile again, slightly forced, but he was doing his best to be a good sport. "I suppose the more people who see me, the better. Then there is less surprise." Though he then leaned up on his toes a bit, peering around. "Hum. I think I will be fine." A murmur. Maybe it had taken seeing it to believe it.

Whoa. Holy mother of--

Get used to it, Cybil. Get used it.

Kurt hadn't been the first weird-looking person. He wasn't likely going to be the last.

Cybil had her little datapad out (the Census) and came over.

"What's your name, kid?" she asked Kurt.

Alright, Kurt. Time to remember how to breathe. As long as he wasn't freaking out, then possibly other people would not freak out. Right?

Alright, so someone used to reading body language could tell he was anxious. Hell, he was anxious of her. The woman with the short-cropped blond hair had spoken to him, and he smiled up at her, briefly.

"I am Kurt Wagner." Then he spelled it for her, carefully pronouncing each letter for her afterwards. Hopefully she didn't want to fingerprint him, too. That'd be a real mess.

"Are you, um, this 'bosslady' person?" Kurt grinned, weakly. Hopefully she wasn't the easily offended type.

Her mouth quirked into an amused look.

"Something like it," she said. "Stacy decided I was captain and I have no clue why. I've been trying to keep track of everyone we've got here, though." She held up the little pad with the Census. "Rules are: Don't go anywhere alone, and stay away from the room where the doors and whatnot are upside down."

Nope. Okay. She was responding normally.. Well, as regularly as someone could when covering with what looked like a walking prop from the Island of Dr. Moreau.

"I would assume it is a very interesting list." Kurt spoke, dryly. She was laying down the house rules, and that sounded simple enough. Who would want to wander off alone here, anyway?

"Oh. The last one sounds like an easy one to follow." Though he could probably get himself out of that mess by teleporting. Talk about cheating.

"That one's pretty serious. We had a few of the crew go exploring there, and they came back saying there was something dangerous inside. Living statues or something, Cybil explained.

She went on, "And it is. A very interesting list."

Wait, here she was being rude.

"I'm Cybil Bennet, by the way. Brahm's PD." She held out her hand.

Living statues? Kurt's brow creased, faintly. Still, out of all the things here, that was the one he had to stay away from? "Ah. Well, no problem. I am not looking for trouble." Just in case she was wondering..

She agreed about the list, and then he grinned, brightly. "It has to be. I am on it." Well, it wasn't as though he were boring.

"Well, you know the name. You could also call me Nightcrawler." If she were inclined to use codenames, at any rate. She'd put out the hand, and he'd carefully shaken it in a three-fingered grip.

"Nice to meet you, officer Bennet." He was polite, if nothing else.

That won him points. She had a soft spot for kids, but teenagers tended to be snots.

"Speaking of you being on it, is there anything you can...do? People here tend to be able to shoot laser beams out their asses, or have super strength, and those things are...good to know. We may have to fight, at some point, for all we know. If you have any sort of specialized knowledge, that counts, too."

Well, it wasn't as though Kurt was typical. Not that he didn't ever do something ridiculous, considering he was definitely at that age, but still. She probably wouldn't have to worry about him that much.

There was a half-choked laugh in the back of his throat. So he was immature; the idea of ass beams was still funny. "I can fight." A murmur, then, more seriously. "I am not the strongest, but I am quick." Then he was thinking about it, for a moment. Half these things came naturally to him. "I can stick to walls and ceilings, I am hard to see in the dark, I know two languages and can walk a tightrope." That wasn't even the end of it. He actually paused and took a breath before he dropped the big one. "I can also teleport in any direction for up to two miles. I can take someone with me, too, but they will not enjoy it." Squeamish people wanted to vomit, simple as that.

"I could also attempt to pass myself off as, uh, normal, but that is from my watch, not from me." Kurt supposed it depended on if they went.. anywhere. But wouldn't they be among aliens, then? He'd be just one more foreign creature to them.

Unless it was a world of human-looking people.

"Teleportation? Seriously?" A pause. "Why am I asking that? We have a cyborg."

She shook her head, as she scribbled it down with her stylus. "Still can't believe how many comic book superpowers've turned out physically possible."

"Ja. Though, one could say I am blinking in and out of another dimension." Then Kurt's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. He wouldn't have even known that much if it weren't for the curiosity of someone else. It worked, so there. A cyborg, and for a moment, he seemed interested, or at least curious, but he didn't press her for details.

If it weren't for the circumstances, this could be a fun trip.

"I am surprised none of my teammates are here.. or at least ones from a timeline that I remember." It would have been nice, especially with this buddy system, to be able to depend on someone he knew. "Dealing with the impossible is more or less what they do." Someone like the Professor, especially! A sigh, then. He'd make do.

"They might show up, for all we know. In the meantime, people've been looking out for each other pretty well. Stick close and we won't let anything happen to you. If you need anything or anyone gives you trouble, let me know, okay, kid?"

A nod, then, though for a moment doubt was written clearly across Kurt's face. Even if they did show up, would that be a good thing? Some of the younger ones could be rowdy, after all.

Now his smile was rather warm; this sort of thing made him feel much more comfortable. Yes, she might be treating him like he was a bit younger than he really was(it was probably the height, or lack thereof), but she wanted him to feel safe.

It worked, anyway. Just a little.

"Yes, ma'am. Officer. Captain.."

"Just Cybil. Cybil's fine. Not that anyone ever actually calls me it, but it's always worth a shot," she said, looking amused as she walked away to greet some of the other newbies. "Better than 'Grand Poobah,' anyway..."

Leela nudged Kurt.

"Wha'd I tell you. See? S'all good."

The captain had headed off, then, and Kurt breathed out in relief. Not that she made him too nervous anymore, but still. Then Leela had put a playful elbow in his ribs, and he ..

.. stuck his tongue out at her.

Anyway. "Yes, but that was unusual. I mean, this whole thing is unusual, but.." He trailed off, then. "You were right, at least in her case." He could only hope the rest of the crew was as friendly.

She grinned and gestured towards some other people to meet. "I'm right in a lot of cases."

The reptilian alien making his way right for the newcomers didn't seem aggressive. Despite the teeth, his stance was decidedly relaxed and he moved at a nonchalant pace.

He seemed to take an immediate interest in Kurt, a clicking chirp sound somehow accompanying his words. "Ah, I haven't seen your kind before! You must be from a planet in Wild Space. Or, you wouldn't consider it to be Wild Space." Apparently his greeting tactics included a complimentary cup of confusion.

"May I ask your name? And your species name. Mine are the Tiss'shar."

Leela had told him there was a dinosaur-man. What he didn't expect was pretty much a velociraptor in a plant-suit. One that spoke pretty decent English, at that. Alright, Kurt was gaping in surprise, like some dust-farmer kid from the middle of nowhere.

No, there was no anxiety, now, only a sort of glee in getting to interact with what looked like a very cool museum prop. It might dawn on him in a moment that he was standing near a predator of decent size. Not to mention it was an alien.

"Ah, no, actually. I am from a planet called Earth." Weren't most of them. Then he was forcing a small smile. Nobody had seen his kind before, after all. He was one of a kind.

"My name is Kurt. I, ah, am a human." Though certain humans certainly didn't want to treat him that way all the time. Tiss'shar. These were the sort of aliens he could cope with.

"He's just a different-lookin' one," Leela cut in. "I'm Leela, by the way. I caught your name, but don't think we've had a chance to talk yet."

It was difficult to tell puzzlement by Red's face - his face didn't change from the same stoic expression. But when he reared his head back and seemed to measure them with one slit eye, it was evident. "Really...another Earth Human?" He was gradually beginning to form his own theories about this "Earth." Those theories included "Everything from this planet is called a Human, even if it isn't."

He lowered his head back down, bobbing it in what must have been his attempt at a bow. "Pleased to meet you both. And my apologies... I've been trying to piece together what exactly is happening here. Socialization takes a back seat to that, I'm afraid."

Well, equality and all that.

Kurt wasn't going to be offended by that look, anyway. It was a harmless sort of surprise, and the smile just wasn't leaving his face. Kids liked dinosaurs, and by God, he wasn't very much of a grown up. "There are a lot of unusual variants in the human gene pool, at least from the Earth I am from." That was an understatement, to say the least.

"No, it is fine. I get that often." His smile turned wry, then. "Understandable." A blink, then, of yellow eyes. "Has anyone told you that you look very similar to some extinct species on Earth?" Perhaps that wasn't a polite route of conversation, but damnit, he was curious.

"Which is pretty bitchin' cool?" Who the hell DIDN'T like dinosaurs?

Red had never been to Earth, and now he had a strange feeling he didn't want to. It's never really a good feeling to hear your species was whiped out before it had a chance to develop elsewhere. Especially when it was looking like just about every other species on Earth did manage to survive.

"Er. No, I didn't know that." A whirrrr-ing sound came from his throat as he stepped from foot to foot. Obviously it unnerved him. "They weren't killed off, were they?"

That would be a kick in the snout- if all these Earth Humans carried some kind of deadly Tiss'shar-slaying pathogen...

Kurt tried to imagine a caveman stalking a talking dinosaur. The idea didn't stick. It was too ludicrous, even for him. "Well, no. They vanished millions of years before humans developed. No one is quite sure what happened, there." Red's presence could easily start up some crazy theories. The dinosaurs didn't die out, they left in spaceships.

"I, uh, did not mean it like that." The guy was getting antsy, and Kurt shot Leela an 'oops' look. "Just that it would be an interesting coincidence." Open mouth, insert foot. Only in his case, Kurt could probably physically do that.

Meet'n Greet Part Deux

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