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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

"That's, that's pretty good, then, I think. Training animals is pretty fun, and, really rewarding."

While allowed, the move isn't the best strategic maneuver Alex could make. Tavros explains why.

"A-an' useful. S-she's h-helped me g-get inta places, s-stealin' k-keys, o-or if I've l-lost a w-wire or summat behind a d-desk. A-also, doin' what she was w-when she b-brought y-you ta me, f-finding p-people ta bring messages."

Alex asked about an alternate move instead and how well it would work.

"B-but the m-most rewarding thing I th-think is that she's t-trained ta tell me when she needs ta use the b-bathroom, an' ta g-go in an a-actual t-toilet. I-it lets me b-be able ta keep her with me all the time."

The alternate move is definitely better, and Tavros actually has to stop and think about how to counter that.

"I don't think I've ever, uh heard of animals using, a load gaper before. Seems like, she'd just fall in."

"Sh-she hasn' s-so far. R-rats have g-good b-balance. Wh-what sorta animals d-do you h-have in your world?"

Bonding over card games. How sweet!

"Oh, um, there's so many, uh, different kinds. Like... hoofbeasts, behemoths, cuttlefish, cats, musclebeasts... I'm kind of, uh, allergic to cats though."

Animals and card games. I guess it could be a lot worse.

"I-I've only ever heard of c-cats before. An' c-cuttlefish sounds familiar, b-but it sounds like something that might've b-been m-made up in my world. W-we had things l-like dogs, an' birds, an' fish, an', w-well, there's a l-lot. The ones I j-just said, w-with the addition of c-cats, are c-common pets. Rats are k-kept as pets too, b-but not nearly as often.

"I th-think it's your turn now?"

All we need is to get some Mountain Dew in here and we can have a geekapalooza!

"Cuttlefish, uhh... they're some kind of undersea thing. I don't really know. ...Oh, sorry..."

Tavros ponders, then makes his move.

"I like cats, but their fur, kinda, triggers allergies. So I try to steer clear."

He nods, "Y-yeah, they do that i-in my world too. D-dogs too. Have y-you ever had any sorta pet? Y-you mentioned 'lases' before. Oh, o-or 'lusus'?"

He played this move with a bit more confidence, but it was still not the best move. Better than his last one though.

"Well, uh. A lusus isn't exactly a pet. ...Are you sure you want to, play that card? Remember my, um, hand's pretty strong against water types."

He gives Alex time to reconsider.

"I guess... different trolls have different, um, relationships with their lusus. Some trolls fight theirs, or are kind of... ruled over by them. Or... treat them like a, a servant. Mine was sort of like, the way Alice is to you, I think."

"GAH!" He snached his card back up and replaced it with a different card, now that he's realized his mistake. Crisis averted, he returned his attention to the conversation, "Th-they sound m-more like friends." He pressed his lips together, realizing how he would feel if Alice hadn't popped with him. "I-I'm sorry, th-that your lusus isn't h-here. H-he might still sh-show up though!"

He went quiet for a second but a question was bugging him, "Wh-when I said I d-didn' h-have a lusus e-earlier, you s-seemed... w-well, I k-know you w-were f-felling s-something, b-because th-there was a sh-shadow f-for a minute. Wh-why would y-you be s-sorry that I h-had no lusus?"

Tavros smiles a little, at Alex's better move and the encouragement. After a moment, he plays his own card. At the question, he frowns a little. The shadow may return.

"Uhh, well. I guess maybe it's, a lot different for you. A lusus is a... it's our custodian. A guardian, maybe, might be a better word for it. They, uh, raise us."

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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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((refer to icon. tinkerbull = the cute forever.))

((DAW))

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