Meeting at the Barn [Closed, bendytimed to not long after podpop]

[livestoannoy]

They hadn't had a meeting for a while - when it was just Ax, Marco, and Rachel, there hadn't really been much point to it - but with Jake, Cassie, and Tobias all podpopping? It was definitely time for another one, if only to fill everyone in on everything.

It was almost like being back on Earth, with all of them settling into their usual spots in Cassie's barn. The only real difference was that Rachel wasn't there, still being stuck running mazes with GLaDOS.

[[ooc: Okay, so a separate thread for each topic, basically. I figure two will do for now, but we can set up others as we need them.]]

Comments

The Yeerks & Stacy

[livestoannoy]

Earth might have been completely destroyed by the Ohm, but that didn't mean that the Animorphs didn't have to worry about the Yeerks anymore. With three Yeerks on the ship currently and a Yeerk attempt to take over in the ship's past, there was a lot to talk about.

Ax and Marco started off, detailing what they knew about the Yeerk activity's on the ship so far.

[[ooc: Okay, so just assume that Marco and Ax indodumped all the stuff we already talked about over email, guys]]

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

(OOC: I guess that I'll have Cassie tag into both threads for now. If I'm doing this wrong or if the posts are awful then please let me know, so I can fix it. Thank you.)

Cassie nodded as she listened. She'd already learned the basics of this from Aftran, but the information that she received now was far more detailed. And, although she understood why it had been done, she did find herself wincing a bit when Marco and Ax started talking about the attempt to starve Iniss out of Tom. She had no affection for that particular Yeerk and she had little in the way of sympathy for him overall, given what he had done, and she had always truly wished for Tom to be freed, but that was still an awful way to die and she couldn't help but react when the plan was described.

It was all a lot to take in though and she did have a few questions, particularly about the unknown Yeerk, Schmuz, and about what Iniss's current behavior had been like. She thought that it was a positive sign that Iniss had opted to leave Tom of his own free will, given that he hadn't in her own time even when he'd had the option, but it would be better to know for sure.

"So, what do we know of Schmuz?" Cassie asked quietly. "Aftran mentioned his name to me, but I don't know much of him. And what has Iniss been doing? Is he..." Is he still their enemy was what she wanted to ask, but she couldn't quite get that thought out. She was a bit frightened of the answer. Frightened that her hope for a more peaceful future would be crushed by the response.

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

Jake had listened quietly, storing information for when he needed it. It'd been a bit difficult to keep his mouth shut when it came to Iniss, but he'd managed. So far, it sounded like the Yeerks had already tried to make their move on the ship and had failed, which was better than worrying about the stupid slugs trying something again later on. As it was, there were only three of them still on board. Unless there were more hiding somewhere, anyway.

"Are they going to be a problem for us or the rest of the ship?" Jake finished for Cassie, although he included the other Yeerks instead of singling out Iniss. Aftran had been an ally, but that didn't mean she could be completely discounted. Plan for everything.

"Or are they actually managing to get along with the rest of the ship?"

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

< Schmuz is largely uninterested in drawing attention to himself, > Ax said. < Stacy may not even consider him to be a member of the 'crew' -- he did not come from the Pod Caverns, but from the Pool on board. Stacy did not assign any Violations for that, nor did she assign any for the Yeerks that were starved out. I doubt that he will be much of a problem. As for Iniss, for the time being, he seems to have decided that it's in his best interests to not cause problems for the crew. And Aftran seems to have thrown her lot in with us, again. >

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[livestoannoy]

"Schmuz definitely isn't a threat," Marco agreed. "I mean, come on. This is a Yeerk who didn't like infesting Sam because he was afraid of heights. Not to mention he that for most of the time he was infesting Sam, Sam was the one in control. But Iniss? He's playing nice for now, but he's still potentially trouble. The fact that he decided to try and run for Council makes it pretty clear that he'll still grab for power when he can."

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie nodded, slowly turning the information over in her mind. She was glad to hear that Schmuz wasn't an enemy. That, after all, left open the possibility that he could be a friend and ally if approached correctly, assuming that he wasn't one already. There was a definite difference between not being a threat and being a friend. "Is Schmuz an ally then or at least a potential one then?" Cassie asked hopefully.

Iniss was another issue entirely though and one that Cassie wasn't ready to tackle just yet. With that in mind though, she turned the conversation in a new direction. "How is Tom doing?" she asked softly, her eyes shifting between the others. She hadn't had the chance to see him yet and, to be fair, she wasn't totally sure if there was anything that she could do for him, given that she'd never truly known the real Tom, which was a thought that saddened her. But she was still very worried for his sake. At least he was alive though and he was finally free again. And for all that, she was very grateful.

She let her eyes rest on Jake for a moment, but quickly redirected them. She could only hope that the two brothers would have the opportunity to reconnect now.

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"Well... at least they're not a threat here. Or at least not an immediate one," Jake murmured, half for the group, half for himself. There were three Yeerks aboard (that they knew of), two of which could be reasonably trusted not to try anything. Iniss, at least, seemed smart enough not to take on the whole ship all by himself. So, they'd still have to keep an eye on him, but at least there wasn't an immediate problem to deal with.

When Cassie mentioned Tom, he glanced up, opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again. After a moment, he shrugged.

"I've seen him. He's... he's doing alright."

Which was the best thing to be said. He was his brother again - but he was different. He'd never really expected things to end up the same, but there'd always been that hope.

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

< Schmuz is still a Yeerk, > Ax answered Cassie. < And a fairly weak-willed one at that. I don't know how useful of an ally he'd be. > And if it was decided that they ought to approach Schmuz as an potential ally anyway, as Cassie was undoubtedly thinking about at this moment, Ax's participation would only be a hindrance.

He too glanced in Prince Jake's direction when Tom was mentioned, but he stayed silent. His interactions with his prince's older brother were polite, but somewhat awkward. Tom had had Yeerks in his head for many years, it was understandable that some wariness of Andalites would have seeped through. And on his end, Ax didn't quite know how to interact with that particular human.

< He's come by the house a few times, > Ax said. < But he seems more comfortable with some of the other people he's met on the ship. >

Re: The Yeerks & Stacy

[skyboundmisfit.livejournal.com]

< Great. We get to deal with yeerks, despite the whole multiverse being threatened. Who thought it was a good idea to bring them along for the ride? > A little bitter? Maybe.

< Who knows? Maybe they'll actually work with us instead of trying to murder us. So far it seems like they've been pretty cooperative, at least from what I understand. Am I wrong? >

Ship Organisation / Life on Stacy

[livestoannoy]

"So, what exactly do you guys know about the ship Council and Command so far anyways" Marco said, eying Jake, Cassie, and Tobias.

Re: Ship Organisation / Life on Stacy

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie was pretty much a blank slate on that, although she'd managed to glean a few details.

"I don't know anything about the Council other then that it's elected," she answered honestly. "As far as Command goes though... I think the captain's name is Leon something?" She glanced at Marco questioningly. "Also someone with the name Grayson is involved in security, right?"

Okay, so maybe she didn't remember all that as well as she'd hoped. In her defense though, on the day she learned all that, it had been a busy and very weird day.

Re: Ship Organisation / Life on Stacy

[skyboundmisfit.livejournal.com]

< I'm about the same page as Cassie here. > Tobias spoke up. And really, he didn't care overly much. As far as he was concerned, he would listen to Jake. The other people could wait to prove themselves.

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

Jake ran a hand through his hair. He should've been finding out more, but he'd been more concerned with seeing his brother. Still, what was done was done.

"Only what I've heard from you and picked up from talking to a few people. I haven't been that impressed with what I've heard so far, to be honest. Sounds a bit like the Andalites on a smaller scale."

[livestoannoy]

"Leon S. Kennedy's the Captain," Marco said, nodding. "Nightwing - that's Grayson, and yeah, he's really Nightwing - he's on Security. They're both Command though, and that's mainly the military side of things. The Council is basically the civilian government, and they're the real trouble." Marco scowled. The Council were definitely not his favourite people. "They're the ones who decided that Iniss should be allowed to keep infesting Tom. Apparently, they think that as someone says they've agreed to become a Controller, it doesn't matter whether they've been coerced into it. Or that Mom told them that a lot of people who'd been hosts for years don't even know how to make their own decisions anymore. In fact, apparently they didn't need to listen to Mom at all, because clearly her hating Yeerks overrides the fact that she has more experience with Yeerks than anyone else on the ship, and that she sure as hell knows more about what it's like to be a Controller than them."

Technically, Marco had actually been the one to tell Kang about the former hosts who couldn't make their own decisions - but ever since Melting Clock, Marco had effectively lost his memories of after the war, and he'd ended up jumbling up what he'd talked about himself with the things his mother had said.

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie tilted her head as she mulled the information over. It was all pretty straightforward, although she didn't understand why Marco had gone out of his way to stress Nightwing's name. Should she have known the name? A question for later perhaps. Right now, there were more important things to discuss.

She wasn't totally sure what to make of the situation with the Council. She could see Marco's point of view and she wasn't necessarily sure that she disagreed with it, but she thought that she could probably understand that Council's point of view too. After all, if Tom had agreed then would it have been right to take that decision away from him... but what if that agreement had, in fact, been coerced? Certainly, it couldn't be right to allow it in that case, right? And she did trust Marco's judgement. She turned it over in her mind for a few moments, but then decided that it was too convoluted a situation to judge for now.

"Is there anybody else of importance that we should know about?" Cassie asked curiously. "Do we have any allies among them?" She hesitated a moment, not sure that she wanted to voice her next thought. But, she knew that she should still ask. "Is there anyone on either that we should be wary of?"

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a mess to me. And not the kind of mess we can sort out easily, either. Then again, it's also not about to blow up in our faces, so that's a positive," Jake mused. "I don't want us getting hurt or killed because of a decision these people make without consulting us."

Which meant consulting Jake, because he was the leader and he was ultimately responsible for them. At least in his own mind.

"Seconding Cassie's questions. Is there anyone we can trust or go to on the Council? Or are they all like that?"

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

< With Elfangor back in the Pod Sleep, there is no one on the Council that we can go to with a guarantee that they will listen, > Ax said. < And they've made a ruling that a person can't be locked up in the Brig for something they did in their own reality. A 'clean slate policy', as it were. So if, for example, Visser One turns up, we will get in trouble for attacking him if he doesn't present himself a clear and obvious threat to the ship's welfare. >

DRAGONS

[livestoannoy]

"So," Marco said in an almost suspiciously casual tone of voice. "I acquired a dragon the other day."

Re: DRAGONS

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

Cassie jerked to face Marco, the shock evident on her face. "A dragon?" There was a mix of disbelief and awe in her voice at the thought of actually meeting a dragon. They were things from myths and fairy tales after all. They couldn't really exist... could they? Then again...

She watched Marco's face carefully for a second, looking for a clue. Deciding to risk being teased, she pressed on, "You... really mean that, don't you?"

Re: DRAGONS

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"...Haha, Marco. Very funny," Jake quipped. "Next you're going to tell me that you acquired a pink pony."

Re: DRAGONS

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

< I did see a pink pony during the Pod Release, > Ax said. < I doubt Marco would have befriended it enough to ask to borrow its DNA this quickly. But there are dragons on board. >

Re: DRAGONS

[livestoannoy]

"Dude, no way am I acquiring a pink pony," Marco said, rolling his eyes. "But I'm not kidding - there's a dragon on board called Celena, and she let me acquire her. And she might let you guys acquire her too."

Re: DRAGONS

[caringcassie.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Cassie was curious, but hesitant. That there were dragons aboard was a shock all in itself and that Marco was on friendly enough terms to get permission to acquire one was another. "She's friendly then?"

There were some things about the situation that also made her uncomfortable though. First, from the way Marco spoke of the dragon, Celena was what Cassie thought that he'd called the dragon, it sounded like she was a sentient being. She'd never been totally comfortable with morphing other sentient beings, but if Celena consented then she supposed that it would be okay. Right?

"Might?" she questioned. "Why might?"

Her second issue was more emotionally based and harder for her to come to terms with or articulate, but the idea of morphing something so large and potentially dangerous reminded her awfully strongly of morphing into a T-Rex, a morph of which she had very bad memories. She was aware that it wouldn't be exactly the same, after all the T-Rex hadn't been sentient, but what would a dragon's instincts be like? "Do... we really need dragon morphs?" she asked anxiously, a slight tremor in her voice as her memories of the T-Rex morph came back to her. She tended to prefer smaller battle morphs like her wolf, where she could keep damage to a minimum. "What is it like? The instincts?"

Re: DRAGONS

[hadabrother.livejournal.com]

"Having one wouldn't hurt," Jake mulled quietly, "And if she'll let us, it'd be nice to have it, just in case there's something our usual combat morphs can't handle."

He glanced up, "See if you can get her to let us acquire her. I know she's a sentient being, but if she says it's ok without being coerced, I think it'll be alright. Besides, we need every advantage we can get."

Back to being the ruthless one.

Re: DRAGONS

[skyboundmisfit.livejournal.com]

< I think Jake is right on this one. It could be useful, and if she's willing, why not? Though I may stay out of the acquiring since I'm supposed to be a nothlit. > Tobias chimes in from his perch.