trans_9 | Meet-n-Greet

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Meet-n-Greet

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.]

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The disappearing stuff on the other hand, causes Alex to gape, frozen midway across the room. "O-okay, y-you're g-gonna haveta explain all of that, i-including h-how you made that disappear."

Sure he had weird powers, and that helped make him more accepting of others', but it didn't mean he was any less shocked whenever he saw them for the first time.

"Huh? No, I didn't disappearify it; it's right here."

Blink. And the items drop into Tavros' hands.

Alex's eyes widened, even more confused. "Wh-where'd it go th-then?"

Alex gets further baffled looks from the troll.

"I just, told you. My, uh, sylladex."

How could anyone over the age of one sweep, let alone a computer-savvy kid like Alex, not already know this? Humans. Weird.

"O-okay, we don' have th-those where I c-come from, so, y-you'll haveta fill m-me in." Alex feels about as stupid as he seems like he might be to Tavros right now.

Tavros looks a bit taken aback by that. Seriously? He has to explain how he picks stuff up and carries it around? Well, then again, everything's foreign today, so why not.

"Okay, uhh, basically it's a... system, that people use, for carrying things. You can carry up to... however many captchalogue cards (http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=001907) you have."

Slight pause.

"You really don't, uh, have that here? Where do you... put your stuff?"

Alex turns out the insides of his jeans pockets and then pulls out some of Alice's solid slop (it's called slop by everyone on the ship, but he only carries around bits of the bowls and trays in his pockets for her) as well as his own hand-held out of the pockets of his sweat-shirt. "Th-they're called pockets. W-we don't have captchalogue cards e-either, though, I- I guess i-it sorta works like a d-digital inventory system? M-makes pockets s-seem... primitive."

Now that he has Tavros's version of pockets figured out, time to solve the next mysterious culture gap. He returned to moving his stuff to his side of the room and asked, "Wh-what's a strife speci... thing? W-we don't have anythin' by that name either..."

"Well, I mean, uh, of course there's pockets too. Though I guess... not in these organic, um, suits. Either way... you got it. It's an, inventory system, with codes on the cards, though I never, uh, figured out what they're for. I guess just... for identifying the object, or something."

And then the next question. Tavros rolls himself way back from Alice and Alex just to be sure no one gets skewered. And then he's holding a full-sized jousting lance (http://mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004015).

"Strife specibus. Sort of, um, the same thing, but this stores weapons. By type."

Alex's jaw drops again, "Y-you, er... wha?" He shakes his head as if to reset, and stares at the lance, "O-okay, I don' like weapons, b-but that's pretty friggin' cool." Weapons often helped make shadows spread more efficiently, but Tavros just whipped a lance out of no where. He could make exceptions.

Tavros grins and puts the lance back in its hammerspace. Wheelchair jousting is a lot tougher than riding into battle on an actual steed, but a troll who wants to stay alive learns to make do. And Tavros is nothing if not adaptable.

"Wow, uh, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they, um, didn't like weapons before. You kind of... have to have one, after all."

"Wh-what? I've n-never had any w-weapon, u-unless you count sh-shadow powers an' all..."

When Mikel had suggested the four of them start to carry guns for protection it was unanimously struck down as well.

"You can... fight with those powers? I thought, it was just like, uh, just a sort of consumption."

The idea of going around unarmed strikes him as ludicrous. Do that on Alternia, and you might as well hang a fresh meat sign around your neck. Tavros is as close to pacifism as his race gets, and he still wouldn't be caught out without something.

"W-well, if ya eat the stronger ones, i-it g-gets... I g-guess it sorta g-gives you a-access to different powers. I-it's a bit like levelling up, b-but ys don't know y-you have access ta the powers till, well, y-you usually use 'em on accident the first time. O-one of the o-ones I jus' found out about i-is the ability ta let other p-people see shadows like I do."

He rubbed the side of arm and looked away, busying himself with trying to stack the disks neatly at the foot of his bed, "I don' like using 'em though, 'c-cause ta use 'em I needta force myself ta feel some sorta n-negative emotion at the s-same level o-of whatever power I'm usin'."

Leveling up? Oh yeah, Tavros understands the basic premise now. These two are going to get along fine, weapons or no.

"Oh, well... can you, uh, not use them? Or, or eat them? Just... let the emotions go away?"

"I c-can't not eat them. It'd b-be like not eating food. N-normal food doesn't sustain me. B-but I c-can just n-not use the powers, i-if I'm c-careful an' stay f-far away from strong shadows."

Alex sighs, "I w-wish I'd never been put into that experiment, th-then I might've h-had a ch-chance at b-being sorta normal." But he had been put in the experiment, and he wasn't normal.

Experiment? What the hell? Tavros had been under the impression Alex was just hatched with the ability. As trolls are.

Awkward silence reigns.

"Well... uh, I guess... I don't really understand how a, a shadow can possibly be, uh food. But there's a lot I don't... really understand, basically."

Yeah. The experiment thing bothered Alex too. It helped that he had no clue what had been done to him. That was the only reason he spent any time in medbay, to have one of the doctors help him figure that out.

"I-I don' r-really get it either. I-I just know th-that I n-need to e-eat shadows an' take th-these," He pulled out a pill bottle and shook it to make the pills inside rattle, "O-or I w-will die. I-if I don't take 'em, w-well, i-it st-starts ta hurt. F-first j-jus' like I'm h-hungry, b-but th-then everywhere s-starts ta ache, an' whatever I e-eat i-it won't f-fill me. I-I d-do stop seeing shadows though."

Every so often he would stop taking his pills because he would rather deal with the pain for a while than need to see those things.

Tavros nods. He still doesn't fully understand, but that can come in time. As his side of the room empties, he removes items from his sylladex. The console and games, his own organic-looking husktop from home, a well-worn copy of Pupa Pan, a stack of cards with a strange black and yellow symbol on them.

"Uhh," he ventures after Alex finishes speaking, "I guess maybe it's better to just... take the medicine, then. If it, if it'll help you stay alive, I mean."

Cards? They looked a lot like Pokemon cards, or even Yugi-Oh! cards. He sighs at the mention of the medicine and looks at the bottle. He's still not sure if Tavros is right, but he's far from being suicidal enough to really ever stop. He might skip a day though, if seeing the shadows just got to be too much. "I guess. I w-was afraid I was g-gonna run o-out, but I g-got... s-someone, I f-forget who, ta make me some more. S-still, there's a-always a chance I m-might r-run out b-before I c-can get more made..." Deciding to skip a day or two was much different, and much less terrifying than running out and not having the choice.

Changing the subject he pointed to the cards, "W-what are th-those?"

Tavros welcomes the subject change. The stuff Alex is talking about is making him a little uneasy, and there doesn't seem to be anything he can do to help. "These? They're, uh, Fiduspawn cards."

Tavros picks up a few cards and turns them over, proving Alex right. The language they're written in is nothing he's seen before and the monster images won't be familiar, but to a gamer there's no mistaking a list of stats and skills.

((Also, if something is written in another language it's readable unless it was written in said language with the intent to use it to hide the meaning. ^_^))

Fortuntely, Stacy's translation systems kick in, and the words become more familiar, though the names remain just as strange. "D-do you have e-enough f-for two ta play?"

He had always wanted to learn a card game, but had always lacked someone to play with.

((Oh duh, I knew that.))

"You, really want to? I mean... Yeah, there's, uh, enough for more than one deck."

Tavros happily shows Alex how to play. This is kind of exciting. He lived someplace remote, and usually only had his lusus to play card games with. Having an intelligent opponent is going to be awesome!

"Definately!" It wasn't Magic: The Gathering, or anything else from his world, but is was a trading card game. It was one of the epitomes of geek-dom. Of course he wanted to learn.

Alex looked around for a second as it occurred to him that they couldn't just play on the floor. He solved the problem quickly and straightened out his sheets so that he could sit on the bed and Tavros could sit at the foot of it and they could use the space between as a table.

As they began, Alice wandered over to see what was going on. He showed her the card, and said aloud, "C-card." As they continued, every time Alice tried to investigate a card, he would tap it and say, "c-card," again.

Tavros is happy enough to play. It'll help take his mind off all his frighteningly different surroundings. He pauses in his explanation as Alex shows Alice the cards.

"She can, um, learn what these are?"

Alex smiles and nods, "Yup! Sh-she's a q-quick learner. S-smart, e-even for a rat. Sh-she knows some b-basic c-commands, like 'g-get', an' 's-t-o-p', 'c-cept not spelled of course. I just don't want her to think she's doin' somethin' wrong."

Alex played a move, "I-is this allowed?" He wasn't certain, but he was definately having an easier time learning this than he had learning swimming.

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((He still doesn't know that there is the equivalent in his version of Stacy slop. XD))

((Stacy slop?))

((yup! It's the food from the cafeteria.))

Re: ((yup! It's the food from the cafeteria.))

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