trans_9 | Time for the 'meat' and greet

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Time for the 'meat' and greet

[NOTE: This takes place DURING the holiday plot. If your character is involved in that, then they're still on the surface and not on the ship at this time.]

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies. The mission is still going on, so if your character is offship, they won't be around for this.]

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Out of boredom, Yoshimi had decided to pop in on the newcomers. After all, the ship was kind of... lacking in activity, what with all of the other crazy people off on that mission, and she was too lazy (as per usual) to have gone, and it wasn't like she was going to admit to being lonely, but really, she definitely was, because hey, she doesn't have her cat, and that cat's the closest thing she has to friends, but hey! Enough about her.

Looking faintly amused with the general confusion, she drifts from clod of people to clod of people, tuning into conversations occasionally. Passing by one rather frazzled-looking guy currently standing alone, isolated among many, she hears him shouting for a leader, someone to calm his tattered nerves probably, and snickers.

"Kid, you're not gonna get much by doing that. Command Crew doesn't have much to offer you at this point, and yeah, the ship is in charge, so they probably wouldn't sate your demands, anyway." If he bothers to pay enough attention, he'll notice that her mouth doesn't sync with the words she's speaking. "Her name's Stacy. Say hello to you new Mother."

Ah, onboard translators. Dustin wasn't surprised at this point. Although, he would have to do some investigation as to how this was done without microphones, or at least receivers, or perhaps he had some sort of implant in him that allowed for—

No, he would not go and investigate this. Not until he figured out what the hell was really going on here. This girl was just about as delusional as the rest of them, unfortunately.

“Listen, Sweetheart, can you actually offer me any information?” Dustin gave her a skeptical half-glance, currently preoccupied with attaching his left jacket sleeve to the opposite button (might as well do something with his malfunctioning prosthetic), “And I mean valid information, not just what everyone else here has told you, or some mystical nonsense about how this is our goddamn destiny or something.”

He finished creating the improvised sling, but he still didn’t look up. She, so far, was not worth his time.

“Maybe you could make yourself useful and go find someone for me.”

Hm... It would seem that he just back-talked Yoshimi.

Bad idea, Scruffles.

Cueing her most sickeningly sweet smile, she folds her arms across her chest, hip popping as she transfers her weight onto that leg.

"Well, I could inform you that your entire Universe has ceased to exist, along with everyone else you've ever known, but that would be mean, so I'll just be a good little subservient girl and scuttle off to find someone Big and Fancy enough to assuage your hunger for Feeling Important. Of course, I'm only doing it because you seem like such a kind, concerned person, but, you know..." Unfortunately, her pink hair serves to dull the effect a great deal, as does her significant height problem, but hey, if it doesn't stop her from dismembering ten-foot-tall robots, then it won't stop her from being snarky.

Yoshimi Ito the Robot Slayer used Rampant Sarcasm!

It's not very effective.

"Proof?" Dustin cast her a skeptical glance, one eyebrow impossibly raised. She's going to have to try harder than that.

Eyes narrowing, she shoots his skepticism right back at him.

"You're one of those people?" You know, one of the ones who needs proof for everything? The ones who refuse to believe something if it has even the slightest chance of being proven false. Those're the ones she's talking about. "You'd be wise to get over that damn quick, kid. You don't get proof on the meatship - you get reality, and it's not exactly handed to you kindly. More like... tossed on top of your mangled body after getting the shit beaten out of you. Or... well..." Abstraction, abstraction... where was she? Oh, yeah. "Anyway. Take my word for it. It'll make your life easier in the long run."

Dustin wasn't annoyed, he wasn't freaked out; as a matter of fact he was quite amused. Was she trying to lecture him? Oh, this was priceless.

"Should I now?" Dustin scoffed, risking a smirk in the violet-haired girl's direction, "And what makes you so special? I already turned down advice from Shitface over there, and apparently he's second in command."

The emaciated, scarred man jerked his head towards Kirk, who was...well, around. Don't expect Dustin to keep track of him.

Yoshimi shrugs, expression relaxing into its usual mask of boredom.

"You can decide whether to listen or not - I'm not your mother. It'd be wise, though."

She pauses, eyebrows lifting as he so astutely names Kirk "Shitface".

"You know, honestly, if you hadn't said the second in command bit, I would have had no clue who you were talking about, because most of the people around here are Shitfaces." Coming from her, the one who has nothing but disdain for most organisms, Chief (her cat) aside. "And anyway, nobody said I was special, unless you consider cogent thought processes special." Or taking down rampant robots - your pick.

That actually managed to get a laugh out of him. It was a brief, ugly sound, like the barking heard from the guy behind you at the movie theatre on his cellphone.

"Well that makes two of us," Dustin folded his arm the best he could, shoving his gloved hand into the crook created by his makeshift overcoat sling, "Though, if that's how everyone is around here, I can't call them all Shitface—it just wouldn't be original anymore."

Dustin liked this girl, if only for her sarcasm and the fact that she could actually agree with him on something. Putting the moves on her crossed his mind for a long enough period of time for Dustin to actually consider it, but he eventually decided that this really wasn't the time.

Maybe later.

"On that note, what should I call you?" Have a grungy smile, dear, courtesy of Dustin Silver the Assassin. "Unless you'd prefer one of my other 'formalities'. I'm sure I can think of one."

She manages not to raise an eyebrow at his laugh - she had been starting to think the guy had no humor in him. Obviously she was wrong.

"You could just not call them anything. Hell if I know the names of half of 'em." Hell if she knows the names of any of 'em. In all honesty, she could probably count them on one hand. ~~Wyn, Peter Parker, Master Chief, Kirk... Jaime?~~

She does hesitate on the name front, though. She's gotten a little... paranoid of late, what with being veritably kidnapped, but hey, what's life without a little neuroticism?

"Well, I was pretty excited when the city finally let me paint "Robot Slayer" on my parking sign, but it's a bit of a mouthful, all things considered. That, and it tends to, eh... put people in here on edge, what with the number of robots running around." Her disgust is palpable. Yoshimi? Hate robots? Never.

"Name's Yoshimi," she says finally, offering a faint, mildly pained smile along with a courteous bow. Hey, it isn't her fault that her parents had instilled traditional Japanese manners in their only daughter...

He shrugged. "Yeah, but that takes the fun out of it."

That's right. Even Dustin was allowed to enjoy himself from time to time, even in such trivial pleasures as obscene name-calling. He was only human, after all.

Now...'Robot Slayer'? Really? And there were...others?

Ignoring the obvious response to her introduction (which might be to recognize that she'd even said her name in the first place, or at least give his name in return), Dustin found himself unable to restrain himself from daydreaming.

He'd come close to creating sentient machines. Most of his devices could, for the most part, make their own decisions based on rational queries that Dustin programmed into them—basic 'if this then that' things, but for practical and slightly more complex situations. But a full-blown android? How many exactly were "running around" (and Dustin thought this complete with air quotes)?

He finally came back to earth with a rapid blink and a somewhat startled look on his face. The urge to go find one of these sentient machines and study it in detail was almost overwhelming. M-maybe he could take one back with him. Yes, he'd try to do that...

Nope, he's gone again. Yoshimi might have to poke him or something.

As she waits for some kind of acknowledgment of the existence of the rest of the world out here, beyond the confines of the weird, scruffy man's brain, her eyebrows slowly but steadily lift. Lips quirking in a bit of a smirk, she edges her toe forward and kicks his shin - not very hard, but it's sharp enough to bring him back to Earth Stacy.

"Did I break you?" There's mirth hidden in her voice, mostly at his expense. She probably wouldn't be "mirthful" if she knew what was going on his head - as a general rule, Yoshimi hates robots and every train of thought that goes along with them. Unfortunately, she's a bit obsessed with them herself...

Hey now, Dustin's a delicate guy. Kicking him is just about as safe as playing with grandma's antique pottery.

"Ow! Christ!" Dustin snapped, stumbling back a few paces, "Yeah, you did now! That leg still has screws in it!"

He cursed a few times and regained his balance, looking visibly pained. Sure it wasn't that hard a kick, but when the receiving limb had just finished the first stages of healing after being shattered for a few months (along with about half the other bones in Dustin's body—of the ones that were still left anyway), it seems understandable that he's not really up to that kind of abuse just yet. Though Yoshimi had accomplished what she was trying to do—that being, snapping Dustin out of his wishful daydreaming.

"@#$*&...Okay, what were you saying earlier?" he sniffed, rather annoyed at this point.

Is it a bad sign that her smirk turns into a Cheshire-worthy grin at his pain?

Probably. ~~Sadistic Yoshimi is sadistic.~~

Assuming a nonchalant expression (though the cat-like grin is still visible as a malicious glint in her dark, dark eyes), blowing a bit of violently pink hair out of her face, she quirks an eyebrow at him. "I wasn't saying much of anything, though I'm wondering if you heard most of it." Because she's so not going to repeat it. Dustin, honey, pray that you got her name when she said it the first time, because ain't no way she'll tell you again. Once in a lifetime opportunity, there, unless, you know, you bring Chief back from the dead, pink spot between the ears and all, or... I'unno, bring her some nigiri from that one marvelous cart down the corner from her apartment. Man, what she wouldn't give for some nigiri... ah, the delightful taste of unagi... And warm sake! She would kill for some of that. Mmm...

Anyway, back on topic.

Wait... was there a topic?

That is a spectacular question. At this point, with any other person (especially one that was of the same gender), Dustin would have long lost his patience, considering that he'd so far learned far less about this ship than even arguing with Kirk. But despite her obvious glee at seeing him in agony, Dustin found something oddly endearing about her.

~~It was probably a bad thing that he thought her sadism made her appear even more attractive.~~

"Yeah yeah, I heard ya," Dustin winced as he regained his composure, "It was your name, wasn't it? 'Yoshimi, Robot Slayer'..."

It took him a moment to realize that this was suppost to elicit some sort of other response.

"Dustin," he said gruffly, giving her a level stare. If he planned on taking her back to his place later (if he even had a place left), Dustin might've offered Yoshimi a handshake. As of current, however, this was not his primary objective, and therefore she got only the stare.

Yoshimi will be confused and concerned for the man's sanity if she ever hears of him finding anything endearing in her. She's far too used to social obscurity to believe such poppycock.

~~It's probably an equally bad thing that she's perfectly willing to continue with the sadism.~~

She nods eventually, acknowledging the other half of the introduction process, choosing to stare blankly back instead of saying anything. After all, blank stares are her forte.

Alright, aknowledgement. Awesome.

...

Now what?

Well, Yoshimi apparently didn't have anything really important to tell him. She didn't know much else than what he already knew from Kirk—as far as he knew. There was still...one more question that she might be able to answer to his liking.

"I still need you to find someone for me," Dustin cut into the silence abruptly, "Or, at least tell me if you've seen her around."

Yeah, if he was feeling at all sentimental during that pause, he wasn't anymore. As far as Dustin was concerned, he was back at square one.

Her eyebrows lift fractionally, lending her the look of someone currently embroiled in an inner battle of "Is this guy a complete and total asshole or not?"

At the moment, she's rather inclined to side with the Snarkosaurus Rex hiding in her brain and say that, yeah, he's an asshole.

Still, the kid's witty, so she'll stick around for a while. (Also, she hasn't spoken this many words in... ever.)

"I might not be the best person ask, kid, but... eh, I'll do what I can. What's she look like?"

By now, either because of becoming properly acquainted with this person or because he actually had a fleeting hope that she can answer his question, Dustin completely ignored any sarcasm or other such gestures and got straight to the point. His sudden onset of desperation might've seemed uncalled for; but then again, this was the only reason for why he was acting so unreasonable in the first place. Dustin was desperate.

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd know her by name. She's about 5'4'', twenty-six years old, has bright red hair and freckles, hazel eyes...Ring any bells?"

Yoshimi's face contorts in an almost pained manner as she shifts through her vague memories of the passengers of the ship. She twitches occasionally, thinking she's remembered something, only to realize that no, no, she was much too tall to be 5'4'', and her eyes are blue, and no, that's a dude.

After a few minutes, she shrugs, puffing out breath in a rather defeated fashion.

"Sorry, but I got nothing. Ah..." She pauses, snorts, shakes her head. "I was about to refer you to Kirk, but then... yeah, you're not fond of him. He probably reciprocates that emotion. I would send you to the Chief, but he's..." And, hey! How fortunate! Her eyes land on the ~~man~~ cyborg himself, and she blinks for a moment before looking back up at Dustin. "He's right over there. He knows pretty much everyone by name and face, so you can ask after your girl there." A few seconds of silence slip by, and she frowns, eyeing him carefully. "Don't get your hopes up, though. We've all lost people in this hellhole, either through the dangerous shit we do or because Stacy didn't feel the need to pick our loved ones up, too. Just... yeah."

Is she trying to be nice? Wow. There's a new one.

Dustin seemed disappointed. And not in the, "damn, you're just as much of a moron as the last guy I talked to" kind of way, either. This temporary flash of absolute, frustrating sadness and despair wore off quick enough that it might not have even been noticable in the first place.

He would prefer it if things stayed that way. Dustin hardly knew the girl, after all. So instead he channeled his fear that the only thing he really ever cared about dead into disbelief.

"...No, that's impossible," Dustin shook his head, turning around abruptly, "She's...I remember what the AI said about why we're here. If she really chose us because we were 'important' somehow, then she has to be here."

Otherwise it just wouldn't make any sense, now would it?

So look, Dustin's walking away now. He's probably going to ignore anything else that Yoshimi says or does to keep him from staying back to chat a little longer, because frankly he's afraid of her now.

Yes, that's a sigh escaping her chest. And yes, she's sagging at the shoulder now. And yes, she looks sad.

It's been a while since she kept a person around for that long.

"Denial is the main staple of optimists," she mutters, folding her arms across her chest and shifting awkwardly on her feet, not bothering to call him back.

She knows damn well when someone's walking away from her.

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Time for the 'meat' and greet

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