trans_9 | Meet-n-Greet

Alice repeated this, bringing Tarvos out of the noisy obs deck into the comparitively deserted hallways around it. It seemed like just about everyone was either on the obs deck or busy elsewhere. At the first corner she turned and ran down it.

A voice echoed from around the corner, "S-still no l-luck Alice?" Alex was sitting a bit further from the edge of the corner, his knees up to his chest with one arm wrapped around his legs and the other streched out for the rat to climb up. He was wearing blue jeans, an off white tee shirt, and a grey hoodie with a hard to make out black design that was several sizes too large for him. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbow, showing countless scars up and down his hands and arms, as well as quite a long cut that seemed to have just recently had stitches removed.

Getting the living hell beaten out of you is basically an expression of friendship on Alternia, at least for normal trolls. All it really means here is that Tavros isn't as shocked by the signs of violence as he could have been.

Still, it's obvious this new person isn't okay. He moves a little closer so Alex can see him, but stays back far enough in case he isn't as friendly as his companion. Gotta leave yourself a little absconding room.

"Oh, hey. Uhh... are you all right?"

Alex jumps, scooping Alice up to his chest as he scrambled to his feet. His heart was racing, seeing this horned creature, though the wheelchair helped dissuade his fears to a certain extent. He takes a step back anyway, "Wh-who are you?"

Unfortunately in his scrambling Alex missed the question.

"Um. My name's Tavros. Tavros Nitram. ...Are you Alex?"

Alex seems to relax a little, though his guard hasn't dropped quite yet. "Y-yeah... S-so, I'm g-guessing Alice t-took a liking t-to ya an' h-had you f-follow her here?" He shot a glance at Alice as if he was trying to be annoyed at the rat, but loved her too much to really muster any menace into the look.

He crouched again, allowing Alice to go on the floor. She promptly ran over to Tavros to show Alex that she did indeed trust him. It wasn't until then that he seemed to really relax.

Tavros nods at the question. Jeez, and he thought he was scared. This guy looks terrified. He guesses he doesn't have any reason to be nervous and relaxes too.

"Alice?"

He glances down at her as she runs over, then smiles again.

"Hi, Alice. I think that's a pretty name."

And back up at Alex.

"Yeah, I followed your, uh, your furbeast. What is she?"

"A rat," he smiled weakly, "th-though I don' know i-if she's a furbeast. We c-call animals th-that are friendly with us p-pets."

Alice made her way back up Tavros's chair, climbing up to his shoulder.

Tavros snorts and tries not to laugh as she climbs. Alice's whiskers tickle! He pets her again before turning back to Alex.

"A rat?" That's not a very pleasant word. Still, who's he to judge? "I had a lot of, um, friendly animals at home. I didn't get to bring any, though. I don't even have my lusus."

"Th-that's r-really sad. I d-dunno what I'd do without Alice." It is becoming more and more apparent that the stutter is at least in part a standard part of the boy's speech, as he seemed to be as relaxed as he ever got- which was about as relaxed as a rabbit as it grazed in a yard it knew a cat sometimes prowled.

"Wh-what is a lusus?"

Tavros knows people with much more noticeable speech impediments, and even if that weren't the case he's too nice to point out Alex's. At the boy's question, he stops petting Alice. Not having his custodian here was crushing, but he's dumbstruck for a moment as he tries to imagine never having one at all.

"Y-you don't know what a lusus is? Who takes care of y-- oh. Oh I'm so sorry."

Orphans are just the saddest thing. Though without Tinkerbull, he technically is one now.

Alex looked at Tavros rather baffled. "I-I don't think we have lusus where I c-come from. Y-you're new on the sh-ship, a-aren't you?" It would explain why he seemed to think that Alex ought to have a lusus. "I-I mean, mum usedta take c-care of me, b-but I g-guess you r-really couldn't s-say that F-Father ever did mucha that." Though he didn't speak with an accent normally, the bare traces of a german accent could be sensed on both 'mum and 'father', turning father into something more like 'vahder'.

Tavros has no idea what a vader or a mum could be. Or Germany for that matter. But he guesses there's a similar concept at work here, a creature of some sort that acts as guardian. And since Alex is using past tense, he figures the guy doesn't want to talk about it.

Time for a subject change!

"Yeah... I basically just got here. I-I don't really understand, what's going on, or why I'm a chosen whatever, or any of that stuff."

Alex smiles warmly, trying to be reassuring. "M-mosta us w-wonder the same thing. B-basically, best thing ta do is ta j-just g-get settled an' l-learn h-how ta live here." He had only gotten here during the last set of people to pop himself, but he already had begun to feel rather comfortable here. "H-have you t-talked ta anyone who's explained anythin'?"

Tavros nods. "Yeah, so I know that Al-- that my planet's, um, gone and everything. So I guess the only thing, I can really do now, is... try to get used to this."

Easier said than done. There are definitely similarities between the two races, but Tavros has a lot of culture shock ahead of him.

"Um... do you know where I could, uh, find the blocks?"

Culture shock became commonplace on the ship it seemed. At first Alex looked confused, and then blushed as he thought he pieced together what the guy meant. Where the bathrooms were was one of his first concerns, and it only made sense for it to be other peoples' as well. Still he wanted to be sure before he made himself look like a fool.

Looking away while being rather red he said, "Y-y-you m-mean, th-the p-places wh-where y-you, e-er... r-relieve y-yourself?" Hopefully at least the euphemisms were the same, cutting down the time they spent in this awkward moment.

Tavros flushes a bit in embarrassment, his complexion going slightly browner as he realizes they've found another slight language gap.

"Huh? Oh, no, that's, uh... I don't mean the load gapers. I mean, um... like, the place where you get into your recuperacoon and sleep...?"

Alex's ears go red too now, realizing that he had confused 'bedroom' and 'bathroom'. "A-ah! W-we c-call t-those e-either b-bedrooms o-or o-on the sh-ship, th-they're c-called 'c-crew qu-quarters'. Th-that, o-or there's th-these c-creepy h-hole things y-you c-can sleep in."

He pauses for a second before walking closer to Tavros and extending his arm for Alice to crawl up. He could use her emotional support at the moment. "The qu-quarters a-are scattered, b-but I c-can show y-you mine i-if you'd like."

A pile of data disks and a laptop was currently occupying the other bed in his room, but he was still lacking an actual room-mate.

"Quarters, huh. Well, okay, I guess humans are kind of... in charge here, basically."

He holds still as Alice returns to her companion.

"Uh... okay, I guess it'll at least give me, uh, some idea... of what I can expect."

The room is... nothing like Tavros expected. Well, maybe a little, but what the hell are these soft raised pallets for? He pokes at one experimentally.

Edited 2010-10-04 03:24 (UTC)

"S-sometiimes I w-wonder i-if h-humans bein' in ch-charge is ac-actually a good thing." The furrowed brow didn't last long before he smiled again and began leading them in the direction of the Media library, having chosen for himself a room near that.

"I-it's b-basically a r-room with two b-beds an' a b-bathroom- th-the room I th-thought y-you meant at first." He went red again and rushed on, "B-but my r-room's a b-bit m-messy. I-I'm the o-only one i-in it, an' I s-suppose I've b-been using the o-other bed as a d-desk, th-though I-I'd like a r-roommate an' all, b-but I don't think a-anyone'd w-want ta share a r-room with me." His tone seemed to imply that while it was not an offer to Tavros to be his room-mate that he would not be unhappy to have him there. He honestly just thought that no one would be able to stand sharing a room with him

Tavros follows Alex and patiently listens to his short speech. Bathroom, he'll have to remember that word. Even though it's a little more... blue-blooded than what he's used to. He wonders where Alex stands on the hemospectrum; the black mark on the boy's hoodie isn't helpful at all.

"I don't see why you'd say that. You seem, uh, really nice to me. Obviously Alice, um, thinks so too."

((Hoodie front (http://oi55.tinypic.com/aebrwm.jpg) and back (http://oi53.tinypic.com/2j0fvhc.jpg) for refrence.))

"W-well," his cheeks have turned a nice shade of red once again, "I-I have n-nightmares a-a lot, an' s-so I w-wake up s-screamin' s-sometimes. I-I also don' s-sleep much in th-the first place, s-so..." He trails off, figuring it didn't need much more explanation.

"N-not ta mention, I h-have c-creepy powers n-normal people don' have. People here s-seem a lot less w-weirded out b-by them h-here than they w-were back h-home though." He was talking to a kid who was grey with orange horns and was in a wheel chair. What he considered 'weird' could be perfectly common place for the kid for all Alex knew. Still, every time he explained his powers, while he was glad to finally be able to without worrying about the government spiriting him away in the middle of the night, he was a little afraid that the person would completely reject him and find him terrifying just like the people in his version of Earth did.

Tavros is past the age of day terrors, so he just nods sympathetically as Alex talks. The violent collective troll subconscious is a similarly nasty cross to bear; and without the soothing effects of sopor slime, let's just say Alex won't be alone in being frightened awake if the two become roomies.

He shrugs when Alex finishes. Low-blooded trolls tend to be psychically gifted, and he's no different.

"What kind of powers? I guess I have some, too, but it's not as cool as, um, most people's."

Alex looks at his feet as he talks, a little more nervous than usual, but not so much that he seems unwilling to explain. "I-I basically c-can see negative emotions. Th-they sorta look like shadows, b-but they're n-not flat l-like normal ones. They c-come in d-different s-strengths, according ta how strong the emotion is, the w-weakest n-not even being able ta f-fight back, b-but the s-stronger ones c-can r-really d-do a lota damage. I-if I'm not c-careful, c-certain ones w-will even attack when I-I'm jus' nearby." He pauses and looks around nervously, out of old habits.

Remembering that he didn't need to be so worried about being overheard he sighed and continued, "I c-can- an need to- eat them instead of n-normal food. B-but, I c-can use them ta do different things, l-like c-create these tendril things th-that c-can grab at stuff. B-but I need ta ch-channel negative emotions ta use them. I c-can make it so o-others c-can see my powers, b-but it's tiring. Th-that, an I just f-found I c-can l-let someone e-else see what I c-can too, though I h-haven't tried ta see h-how long that lasts.

"I-it's all p-pretty unpleasant ta use, b-but it's g-got it's uses. An' I g-get ta experience any Shadow I e-eat too, an' I c-can get a t-taste of wh-why th-that emotion existed. 'C-course, e-eating a st-strong shadow is d-dangerous," he begins to run his fingers across the wound that had the evidence of recent stitches. Subconsciously he always tended to touch a scar if a story reminded him of it and it was within easy reach. "B-but it a-also b-builds my p-powers faster, b-but I'm in n-no rush ta improve those. R-really, th-they jus' happen ta improve 'c-cause sometimes I c-can only find a tiered shadow- those are the stronger o-ones. That, o-or I'm e-eatin' it ta h-help someone."

He figures now isn't the time to go into all of the dangers eating a stronger shadow could pose.

((If you're curious, there's a full explanation of Shadows and Alex's powers in his journal.))

((I'll have to check that out if these two are going to be roomies. XD))

Tavros is patient, listening to Alex talk with growing fascination. He's pretty sure no troll can do that.

"You... can eat shadows? Do they, uhh, come from anyone's negative emotions or just yours?"

He glances at Alex's scars with new curiosity. A shadow did that. Humans sure are weird.

He nodded solemnly, "I actually c-can't see m-my own, th-though m-my friends back home- they c-could do the s-same, 'c-cept their sh-shadow abilities w-were differnt- they've t-told me that I've got a pretty n-nasty one, t-tier four. Highest tier is f-five, an' th-those a-are the ones th-that have gotten so strong that th-they've... we-well, I f-feel bad f-for the people they c-come from. But, I d-do okay, I guess. I c-can keep it f-from g-getting ta tier five, an' that's r-really the important thing."

He realized something and held up his hands, "B-but most people d-don' normally a-always have a shadow! I-I, w-well... I'm jus' a-always a-at least a bit s-scared, so m-mine sticks around. B-but it won' attack y-you or anythin'."

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((This can happen after you talk to the Master Chief))

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((Just wait till Tavros sees that Alex was playing an RPG on his laptop before he rushed here))

((nerdy gamer boys ftw!))

((Alex does programming too. He's making new games all the time!))

((give Tavros a translator and he'll beta all Alex's games. all of them!))

((I think text auto-translates anyway, but you should double check that))

((Oh, I think you may be right. Regardless, let's handwave it since it's not important))

((Ah, I checked, and I was right, so no translation needed! <3))

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((I would so love them to be roomies!))