Meat 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

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

As Cassie made her way out on to the Observation Deck, her mind was still reeling, but at least she was now clean and clothed, which removed that concern. It was a smaller concern then the some of the others perhaps, but anything off her mind right now was something to be grateful for at the moment.

Biting her lip, Cassie scanned the area, looking for any familiar faces as a wave of loneliness rushed through her. At least, she hoped that she could find Jake or Tobias again. She would rather not do this alone if that could be helped.

[colorfulworld]

Aftran scanned the crowd for familiar faces. Being in a completely new body helped; if she spotted someone unfriendly, she had a chance to fade into the background and warn someone before trouble started. It would also make it easier if, say, Karen's parents popped; she was looking for them, having Karen stay in their room just in case.

In this case, though, it made things awkward. When she saw Cassie, she wondered just how to approach her. Well, she'd have to some way or another.

"Cassie," she said, trying to stay neutral, but she couldn't keep the very real smile out of her voice.

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie jumped a bit as the stranger approached, not sure how to respond. On one hand, a part of her still lived in a time where strangers knowing her name had the potential to be a very serious threat to both herself and to all those who she loved. She still hadn't quite adapted to the fact that her identity was no longer a secret on Earth and, in these strange surroundings, the old worries had been rekindled fully.

Still, she didn't sense any deceit or ill will in the newcomer's tone. It wasn't quite enough to get her to drop her guard, but it was enough to allow her to smile at the person in front of her.

"Hello," Cassie greeted with a welcoming tone, trying to cover up her remaining feelings of concern. "I'm sorry, but I can't quite place the face. Have we met before?"

[colorfulworld]

Aftran hung back just slightly; she knew how easily the Animorphs could get paranoid, and she didn't blame them.

"I'm Aftran 942," she replied. "There's a lot you have to catch up on. Have any of the others found you yet?"

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

"Aftran?" Cassie whispered, her shock plain in her voice and on her face. The last time she had seen Aftran, her friend had been swimming away, having chosen to become nothlit humpback whale. She had missed her friend after they'd parted, especially since she'd doubted at the time that they would be likely to meet again anytime soon, if at all, but she'd also known that, the last time they'd spoken, Aftran had been happy with the new body and the newfound freedom.

But if this was Aftran, what had happened? This wasn't Karen's body, but it wasn't the whale's body either.

Could she trust this person who called herself Aftran? Who, but Aftran and those that the Yeerk had trusted most, could know about their friendship? No one. Aftran had been very careful to keep the identity of Cassie and her friends a secret and for that Cassie would always be grateful.

Still, did she really take this person at her word? Cassie's instincts said yes, that this person was friendly and definitely meant her no harm, and she'd learned that sometimes it was best to trust her instincts. But, well, perhaps she'd ask just one question that only Aftran should know the answer to hopefully. Just in case. That should be enough proof, right?

"Aftran, forgive me for asking you this, but do remember the deal we made when we parted while you still had Karen as your host? I'll answer all your questions if you can tell me what it was." She felt like scum for treating her friend like this, especially since she did trust Aftran, but after years of being able to trust no one but a few select companions, it was hard to go back on years of behaviors that had become habit.

[colorfulworld]

But the smile on her face faltered when Cassie asked that question. It wasn't because of the question -- she understood the skepticism and need to verify her identity -- but because of the answer. "If you would morph a caterpillar and stay that way for two hours," she replied quietly enough to keep from being overheard over the din of the crowd, "then I would leave Karen and never take another host. I tried to tell you to demorph near the end, but..."

[livestoannoy]

Marco had already run into Tobias today - so by now, he knew that Cassie was on board. All he'd have to do was actually find her, which was easier said than done when most of the people in the crowd here taller than he was.

Eventually though, he found her - and promptly decided to try and sneak up behind her and whisper, "Don't turn around now, but someone went and painted a bunch of ponies weird colours behind you."

...What? Who said he had to be mature about saying hi to Cassie?

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

It took a second for the voice to process, but no more then a second. Cassie spun around instantly, her eyes widening joyfully as they fell on Marco.

"Marco! Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" Cassie smiled. Then she gave him a kind of odd look. "Someone painted some ponies? I saw some creatures earlier that sort of matched that description, but I'm pretty sure that they aren't painted." She looked sort of concerned, not sure what he meant by his comment. Some days she had a decent grasp on Marco's sense of humor. Other days, not so much. Today apparently fell into the latter category.

"Jake and Tobias are around too. I saw them earlier. Have you seen them yet? We split up and now I don't know where they are," Cassie asked, worry creeping into her voice, even though she tried to suppress it. "And Aftran is here and human! Isn't that incredible?" Warmth filled her voice as she spoke of her old friend.

(OOC: I'm sorry for posting again. Noticed some errors right after I posted. I won't make a habit of this. :( )

[livestoannoy]

"Are you serious? Those colours are real?" Marco said, dubious. "No way. They look like some girly kid's toy, that can't be real..." Marco trailed off, remembering that he'd once ended up talking to Woody the Cowboy of all things. He groaned. So much for his plans to joke about how Cassie might go all tree-hugger and start declaring that painting the wildlife was animal cruelty then. "This place is insane!"

If Bert and Ernie showed up next, he was so outta here.

"I've seen Tobias - he already told me about you guys - but I haven't found Jake yet. And Aftran's been back for a while, actually. After months and months of doing jack shit the Council finally managed to somehow reverse engineer a morphing cube, except the one they made was crap and only worked on Aftran." Marco scowled, and continued complaining without realising that Cassie didn't actually remember being on the ship before - which meant she didn't remember anything about Aftran being on the ship before, or about the other Yeerks. "Iniss was left free to keep on wondering around in other Tom's body still, because hey, the Council still thinks that that it's alright for people to get enslaved as long as they're coerced into agreeing to it."

Marco sighed. "At least Tom's free now. Iniss and Shmutz ended up in brain-dead clone bodies, but Iniss was a jackass and decided that his clone body wouldhave Tom's face still. I don't know how I'm going to tell Jake."

[[ooc: Hah, it's cool! Feel free to delete whenever you need to. AND UH. SORRY FOR THE REALLY CONFUSING INFODUMP THAT WILL MAKE NO SENSE TO CASSIE AT ALL /sob]]

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

"They remind me of some characters from cartoons that I sort of remember from when I was younger, but that... doesn't really make any sense." They also reminded her of some toys that her parents had bought her when she had been little, playing to her love for animals, but that made even less sense then that they looked like cartoon characters, so she held her tongue. "I mean, I guess that they don't look that much alike though, so... just forget that I said anything."

Very little of what Marco said next though made much sense. Aftran had gone over a lot of what she'd missed, but she was still very behind.

"Can you slow down and go through that again, Marco? I'm sort of new here. Aftran told me some of what has been happening while I've been sleeping, but it's still enough to make my head hurt."

[livestoannoy]

Marco tilted his head, eying Cassie. "What do you mean new? You were here before. You should know about all of this already...oh man. You don't remember?"

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

Beastboy, still shape shifting his way through the newbies spotted the pretty girl and trotted over to her as a green puppy. That was always popular with the lonely despondent looking newbies! His tail was wagging and tongue hanging out as though he didn't have a care in the world.

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie smiled broadly as the green puppy approached her. A part of her was thrown by the puppy's coloring, but given the things that she'd seen in the past and the fact that she'd just recently woken up in what appeared to be a living space ship while covered in goo, the color of the puppy didn't seem like that big of a concern. It must be some type of alien dog or something, which was strange, but, as Marco would say, their lives were pretty much completely insane by this point, if not well past that by now. It would take more then a green puppy to throw her, especially when said green puppy appeared to just want to say hello.

"Hi there, little guy," Cassie muttered gently, holding out her hand for the puppy to sniff. "You're a gorgeous little dog. Do you know that?"

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

The puppy seemed to swoon at her affection and playfully rolled around before...suddenly and surprisingly shifting into a much larger dog! A full sized green Labrador.

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Well, that was kind of strange. Cassie stared at the dog in front of her. This strange green puppy could change sizes and shapes to an extent apparently given that it hadn't looked like a Labrador a moment ago.

She bent down to scratch the big dog's stomach, moving a bit more cautiously then before, but still not really frightened of the friendly animal.

"And you're an interesting dog as well I see. I wish that you could talk."

[changelingdude.livejournal.com]

Annnd that was his cue.

"Gorgeous, interesting, you're such a flirt~" He had shifted back laying on the ground with his hands tucked behind his head in a relaxed pose, though he was blushing. "Nice to meetcha!"

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

"GibgibGible!" It was Gible again, who had wandered back over to meet her.

"Gible, what're you doing?" Ash said following after him with Pikachu riding. The tiny shark-dragon started gesturing, and Ash managed to pick up on what he was trying ot say.

"You met her down in the pods?"He saked, turning his attention over to Cassie,"...he didn't chomp on ya or anythin' did he? He's usually pretty gentle about it, but if he did I am REALLY sorry."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie couldn't help but smile at the sound of her new friend Gible approaching. She'd met him in the Pod Caverns and been charmed by the friendly little creature.

Surprise flickered over her face at the boy who followed. The little yellow creature on his shoulder though reminded her, in a way, of Gible. And, given that the boy seemed to know Gible, she had to assume that the three of them were all connected.

Her eyes sparkled as she stepped forward to greet the boy and the yellow creature with him. She watched him curiously as he listened to Gible, surprised that he appeared to be able to actually understand him. Cassie had tried and managed to communicate with Gible some, but she was certain that she was still a long way away from being able to actually understand his manner of communication.

"Oh, no. Please don't worry about that. Gible was a perfect gentleman when I met him," Cassie smiled reassuringly. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Cassie." She'd, by this point, come to the conclusion that giving her first name was safe enough as long as she stayed vague on the rest of the details until she had time to confer with her friends. Besides, this had to be a friend of Gible's and she'd decided that a friend of Gible's was a friend of hers. "You're a friend of Gible's then?" she asked for confirmation. "And who is your other friend here?

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

"That, and I'm his trainer. I'm Ash Ketchum, and this is Pikachu." Ash said, thumbing to his partner.

"PiPikachu!" the electric rodent waved at Cassie.

"And I'm actually kinda surprised. He'll usually bite anything. One time he ate my friend Barry's bicycle whole."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

"His trainer?" Cassie asked curiously, the word bringing to mind people who trained animals from her own world. In general, she didn't have a problem with that occupation as long as the trainers treated their animals well and, given the way that both Pikachu and Gible seemed to look at Ash so fondly, she could only assume that Ash did. Still, Gible hadn't struck her as the type of animal who would work with a trainer. But then again, if he tended to bite, even if well-meaning, perhaps that explained it.

Cassie smiled at Pikachu. "It's nice to meet you, Pikachu!"

"He ate a bicycle?" She said with a laugh, looking at Gible with both surprise and amusement. "Well, that's not good. Perhaps he's outgrowing that kind of thing."

[shallturnto.livejournal.com]

"Yup, for Pokemon battles." That probably wasn't the best thing to say to Cassie, though Ash really couldn't conceive of why she'd think it was a bad thing.

[hero-sting.livejournal.com]

After being put through the tests that GLaDOS put Chris through, whether on purpose or not he arrived at the Obs Deck. It must be podpop time... His biege jacket on over the the plantsuit, he was more than annoyed at the AI as he spied a teenager who looked a bit lost. "I'm beginning to see why a lot of people hate that GLaDOS..." He truned to the girl as he had a thoughtful look.

"Sorry. I'm Chris Ramirez. Do you need any help? I've been on this ship for quite a while. I can probably answer any questions you may have."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie spun to face the stranger who had spoken to her. A bit hesitantly, she spoke up. "I... yes. If you could, then I'd like some help."

She smiled at him a bit wearily. "I'm grateful for the help. Can I ask your name first though? I'm Cassie." There was still hesitation when she said her name. Three years of lies and secrecy had drilled that caution into her, but she had already decided that there was no harm in offering just her first name. In fact, there might be more harm in refusing. She wouldn't want people to look at her with suspicion.

But what to ask? There was still so much that she didn't know. "I... still don't totally understand how this ship works. It's apparently alive and her name is Stacy, but how is that possible? I've never heard of a living ship before much less seen one."

[hero-sting.livejournal.com]

Cassie had given Chris the impression of someone used to strange accurances, used to very strange things. She was what, sixteen? That made him feel a little sad about the state of people, regardless of what universe that they lived in. "Right. Um, as I said I'm Chris Ramirez. I'm not really sure about how this ship came to be, other than what a few facts I know. Apparently, it used to be a prison ship and we were 'rescued' by Stacy (that's the ship's main personality) before the Ohm destroyed our respective universes. However she's not the only AI on board. If by any chance you deal with an AI called GLaDOS, don't listen to her. She has this insane tendancy to force people to run tests with the promise of cake, she does not care about any of the crew and will kill us if given the chance."

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

"A prison ship?" That didn't sound promising, but it at least it didn't seem to be designed like one any more. It barely resembled a ship at all from what small bits she'd seen of it. But, then again, she also wasn't terribly knowledgeable about spacecraft. She only really knew about the type of stuff that she'd seen during the war.

This was the second time today that she'd head the name GLaDOS though. Aftran had mentioned it earlier and, given both what Aftran and Chris had told her, it sounded like dealing with this GLaDOS was something to be avoided if possible, although the description Aftran had given her had been tamer then the one Chris had offered. "Thank you for the advice. I'll try to avoid her," Cassie responded.

Cassie glanced around the room as though expecting to see someone before looking back at Chris sheepishly. "Do you know who's in charge around here?" That could be useful information, after all.