Meet-n-Greet

[cityship]

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. New crew-mates might see a tall man in green armor and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

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.]

Comments

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Next out is a troll kid in a wheelchair. He looks around, scanning the welcoming crowd for any sign of his little white custodian creature. He didn't think Tinkerbull would be here, but hope springs eternal.

He guesses he'll have to talk to one of the strange alien folk. God, so many. And so many different ages. He's never seen so many adults in his life.

Normally he'd be too scared to speak up, but time's running out. If he doesn't get back to Alternia, at least one friends' life will be forfeit. He approaches a member of the command staff.

"Ex... excuse me. Sorry to bother you. Can, uhh... can you tell me how to get back home?"

[whyarewehere]

The figure in orange armor currently slouched on the organic furniture pauses a handheld game and looks up. Grif hates podpop. All these new people bug him, and sometimes try to make him work.

"Sorry kid, nobody knows for now." He pauses. The helmet tilts a bit to one side.

"...Nice horns."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

"Th. Thank you. But..."

Tavros swallows hard. He's just having a really bad day.

"I have to get back. I left my friend in the lurch and it, it, uh, it may be too late already, I think..."

[whyarewehere]

There's a sigh. "Your world's probably not there anymore to go back to, Kid." The delivery of the information is perfectly casual, like this is the most normal thing in the universe.

"So if you want my advice? Get comfortable. It's gonna be a long ride."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros misunderstands and slumps miserably in his chair. He failed. Somehow he'd broken the chain and gotten in the game ahead of Gamzee, and that screwed up everything.

...Even though this is completely not what he'd expected the game to look like. You'd think at least the mouthy team leader would be briefing everyone on showing up naked and having to deal with all these aliens by yourself.

Sad yellow eyes stare up at Grif.

"W-well... Karkat got in first, so he's here somewhere, right? And Terezi?"

[the-team-sucks.livejournal.com]

"Maybe? Did you hate 'em? Cause if you hated 'em they're probably just waiting to show up any minute now. That's what happened to me."

Doc and Tex are the only people Grif knows from before the ship, and he's using this as his frame of reference.

"I haven't seen any... whatever you ares, though."

"Most of us were just picked up because space bugs were blowing our worlds up or something. Did you guys... try to get here or something? Cause dude, that sucks."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Space bugs? Blowing up worlds? As a member of an insectile species notorious for hostile galactic conquests, Tavros is just not very comfortable with this conversation anymore. If "ohm" is the pink alien word for Alternians, he's going to be in a lot of trouble.

Thankfully, there's a change of subject. He hops on that that the lifeline it is.

"I don't think that sounds very right, to me. We were all, umm, playing a game, me and my friends? And I guess it's supposed to be a really important thing, but this isn't what I was expecting, uh... at all."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

A small rat was making her way through the crowd, sniffing as she looked for something- or someone. A rolled up piece of cloth was tied to her like a harness. In the cloth was a message, "For Loretta, Mikel, or Amanda, It's Alex. I'm on board. I've missed you. You can find me on the comms, and I'll tell you where to meet me there."

She might not have been his companion creature, but she certainly belonged to someone, and she seemed to dislike seeing people upset. She made her way closer to the boy, wondering if he'd welcome her. Maybe he'd even help her find the friends Alex was looking for.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros glances down at the tiny furbeast. Sure, he's upset, but if this game has cute animals in it it can't be all bad. He rests his hands on the grips and leans down to get a better look at her.

"Hey... hey there. Don't get too close to the wheels. That... um, that'd be really bad for you."

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alice didn't know what the boy was saying, but she was standing by his feet rather than by the wheels anyway. She got up on her hind legs and sniffed at Tavros. He had a very funny scent, and this was a rather odd contraption that he was on.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros watches this for a moment, then smiles a little. She seems harmless, though she's from a species he's not familiar with so anything's possible...

He brushes the fingers of one hand against his temple and concentrates, attempting his bestial communion on Alice. Mostly just an attempt to ease any wariness and help her recognize him as a friend.

[hack-rat.livejournal.com]

Alice seems to already be rather comfortable with the troll. He didn't alert her sense of danger, and his communication just made her like him a bit more. She jumped up to the foot support on the chair and made her way up to his lap, though a part of her was still looking for any of three people.

Alex wanted her to find them, but she couldn't get their scent. She wanted to go back to him. He was always so stressed in situations like this, but she wanted to find one their old friends first.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

"Whoa, hey..."

Still smiling, Tavros gently strokes Alice's head with a finger. Good to know his communing works here, though it also helped him realize this little furry friend was never afraid of him.

"What's that on your back?" Fingers reaching to carefully take the cloth and unroll it.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

A young, nervous child in a wheelchair? Yep, Fate's Mama Senses are definitely tingling. She approaches him, and there was no sign at all that she was even surprised at his looks.

"I'm sorry... but there's no way for anyone to return home right now."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

"Yeah... I-I understand, mostly, I think."

Tavros twiddles his claws.

"But what am I supposed to do now? I can't find Trollian on this thing so I don't even know who my server player was. I can't find anyone on here."

By "this thing" he means the comm ring. Which he seems to have up and working just fine, even though he hasn't done anything but search.

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

"Well, the ship has it's own kind of server, I guess. We're traveling through space right now, so there's no way to hook up to anything else." She said. She had no idea what a 'server player' was, but she'll save the questions for when the boy was a little less confused.

"But don't worry. Your friends are safe and asleep in the Pod Caverns, the place where you woke up. We don't know when they'll wake up, but you'll be able to talk to them then."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Congratulations to Fate for finally saying something to make Tavros look less unhappy. A lot less, actually. Despite his nervousness, he smiles a little.

"They're here? And okay? Gamzee too? Can I... do you think I could see them?"

[thunder-ace.livejournal.com]

"Well... you're free to go down to the Pod Caverns whenever you wish, but you might not be successful. The most you can make out are very blurry shapes in those pods." It was a bit of bad news, but Fate's smile didn't fade at all.

"But rest assured, they're all here and they're all perfectly fine."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

"Well... as long as they're really okay. I guess I'll see everyone later."

He looks around. So many unfamiliar faces. Maybe one or two species he can kind of recognize. And back up at Fate.

"So, is this the game? Do I... fight stuff now?"

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

"Troll! And/or goblin! But probably troll!"

Cue the Viking with the metal leg and furry vest diving behind a meat-couch.

Wait wait wait. He should know by now that weird-looking people are usually harmless. Or at least not harmful. Like, not full of harm.

It was just a hard instinct to kick when you were raised on stories of trolls, dark elves, and other nasty creatures, and every grown up you had ever known thought it was hilarious to describe, in excruciating detail, exactly how said nasties would eat you.

Hiccup ultimately decided the best approach was a diplomatic one, and peeked his eyes over the back of the meatcouch.

"You can't have my socks. I don't have any." He added, as an afterthought, "Hi."

Hey, compared to other times he'd flipped out when meeting weird people, this was an improvement. Way less screaming and flailing this time.

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros' first instinct is to look over his shoulder, because this is the first time in his life anyone's seen him coming and dived for cover. Surely there's a hideous monster behind him, right?

It's something of a shock as he realizes this boy who's probably not much older than he is thinks he's a beast. He stares in confusion at the other kid as he keeps talking.

"Uhhh... hi. I don't, um, want your socks, at all. So they're safe, or I guess maybe, if you had any, they would be..."

What a weird kid. What a weird species. Tavros' highly fashionable socks/sandals combo is back at his hive on Alternia anyway.

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

Hiccup was still peeking over the edge of the couch.

"You are a troll, right?" Grey skin, horns, and so on. The wheelchair was different, but whatever, all the rest of it seemed to fit. "Gobber says trolls steal socks. The left ones."

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Tavros just watches Hiccup in confusion. It's sort of funny that this alien guy is acting all afraid of him, but he's not really in a laughing mood. And why does he keep blathering about socks?

"Yeah, I'm... I'm a troll. And I already told you, that I, um, don't want either of your socks, left or right."

[i-saw-myself.livejournal.com]

Hiccup still stayed behind the couch.

"Do you eat people?"

[alterniantaurus.livejournal.com]

Bluh! No thank you, Hiccup.

"N-no! ...Do you eat trolls?"