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

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

"~Yes, perhaps the man commanding the winds should sleep occasionally.~"

"Everybody should have hisorher own specialties," Alex recites politely.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

So you're a hopped-up sidekick," Punchy says.

He points to Soren. "This homie's specialty is being a jackwagon."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Side...kick?" Soren frowns. "I'm not sure what you're implying." He essentially ran the Mercenaries, since Ike had little head for the logistics of keeping a group like theirs well-fed, well-supplied, and well-cared for.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

"A sidekick is like a big hero's assistant. I don't know what a jackwagon is. It must be an American thing."

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, Alex. Nobody knows what a jackwagon is. Even Punchy.

"Yeah, that."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Soren draws himself up to his full height. Well, he's only 5'7"ish.

"Then a sidekick is what I am." He's traveled the continent to find the one boy who ever showed him kindness, and he'll do anything to make sure that whatever Ike attempts, he will succeed in.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

"Great," Alex says cheerily. "I bet you're a great sidekick. So what's it like in America on the streets?" Alex then asks Punchy.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

Crap. Punchy has no idea.

"Rough, dawg. But nowhere near as rough as being a super. The shizz we got to do is downright off the chain."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Oh? And what, exactly, is this 'shizz'?"

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

Alex just looks up with interest.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

"This shizz is the bomb," Punchy responds, answering nothing. Then he puts Puppet up close to Soren's face, not touching him but invading that bubble again. "Boop."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

For a moment, Soren does nothing. Then he snaps one of his books open, gestures with one hand, and suddenly, there's a powerful gust of wind materializing out of nowhere, blasting Punchy back. Not enough to break anything, of course. But enough to bruise.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

It's before Soren actually moves that Ifrit says "Kid, say '~Ifrit, ten feet back.'~"
"Ifrit, ten feet back," Alex parrots puzzledly and is suddenly standing ten feet further away.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

Punchy hits the ground hard, but thankfully his outfit's got plenty of superheroic padding. For like, superheroics.

Like getting tossed around by some jackwagon in a dress.

"What the hell's your damage, dillhole? I didn't even touch you!" He yells, picking himself back up.

Wait, how'd the kid get over there?

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

The force of the wind spell wouldn't have hit Alex, anyway -- Soren's casting is carefully controlled. He notes the sudden disappearance and reappearance, but right now, he's dealing with Punchy.

"If you're testing the waters to see how far you can push me, the answer is this: not far." Soren's encountered bullies and browbeaters before. And he's never forgotten what he learned about dealing with them: the only thing they understand is force.

"I'll thank you to keep that ridiculous hand puppet out of my face."

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

Ifrit considered it likely Soren was skilled enough to keep it focused, but no way was he going to leave Alex that close to a fight if he could avoid it.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

"I ain't trying to push you nowhere! Why you gotta be so paranoid?" He dusts himself off, adjusting Puppet's little habit. "You were the one who started getting your ig on the moment you woke. I barely said anything before you were trashtalking me about being some bumpkin."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Soren's tone is cold. "I have already asked that you refrain from touching me without permission. Exactly how am I supposed to take you immediately taking it upon yourself to almost touch me without permission?"

"And I don't recall calling you any such thing." Thinking it, sure, but he's pretty sure he didn't say it.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

"~I'd have to agree there, even if I haven't had a concept of personal space in three thousand years,~" Ifrit intones.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything," Alex pouts, looking at his hand.

"~Sure, Kid, sure, no ill will. Well, look what can happen with no ill will. But you might want to find out what the rules are around here about offensive spellcasting before you let things like that go any further. And no, let's not assume that just because this Stacy's a kidnapper, she has no rules.~"

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

"You were thinking it. You couldn't be igging me harder if you were showing heat on me!" Punchy says, clearly frustrated, and drops his hands (and puppet) down by his side. "Don't know why you all are being such dicks. This should be the bombest thing to ever happen and all you do is front and," he gestures from Ifrit to Soren, "side with him."

Clearly, Punchy is just not getting why people would be short-tempered with him. It's an icredibly obscure and difficult concept, guys!

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

"Really?" says Soren, dropping his tome to his side and... pretty much forgetting anything else. "This is the 'bombest' thing to ever happen? You're glad that our worlds were destroyed? You're glad that everyone you ever knew is dead?"

He's not the easiest person to get along with by any means, but even he understands that if what they've been told is true, people have died by the millions. Billions. More.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

Alex just stays where he is and bites his lip.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

"I - I didn't - I wasn't..."

But Soren's right. He didn't think this through. He got so caught up in the drama, the adventure, that he didn't bother to process what was directly in front of him: the deaths of countless people, countless individuals. Mothers and fathers and heroes and villains and dumb, idealistic kids like him and their best friends.

His mother and father. His classmates. Vee and Duke and Destra. Flora.

Puppet's blank eyes, dressed in miniatures of his sister's clothes, are almost taunting him. Isn't this exactly what you wanted? Didn't you realize you can only be special when everyone else is dead?

"I can't breathe," he says quietly, before sitting down hard.

[alexaddin.livejournal.com]

Alex is about to cry himself, but his thick, teary voice says "Ifrit. Paper bag, please," as he looks at punchy.

When the bag appears, Alex steps over, puts it in Punchy's hands, and says, "Breathe into this. Dr. Gaudin says it works."

[facepunching.livejournal.com]

Soren is a cold, distant individual almost all of the time, but at this sudden display of emotion, he backs off. He didn't mean to upset Alex, either. But it is true. Most of the people from their respective worlds are, in fact, deceased.

"If what we were told is true," he says, "What has lost can be regained. It is up to us."