trans_9 | What's Alan? [Open]

Deep in the bowels of the ship, he waited. Below him, the groundbound bipeds milled back and forth, their movements without rhyme or reason. Some were holding slabs of metal, some stared out at the strange, hypnotizing space outside, and still others merely stood, endlessly chattering to each other in their countless inexplicable alien languages, waiting for the ship to translate for them what they could not understand for themselves.

He watched all with his keen, avian intelligence. Alien intelligence.

With no master about to end the boredom of his inquisitive mind, he had been forced to improvise. And now he was free. Free to wreak havoc as he would amongst the silly, slow-witted groundlings. ~~FREEEEEEEEEE~~

Zouichi wandered from location to location on the ship, but so far, not a single brightly-colored feather to serve as a sign of Alan Turing's presence. The parrot had been acting a little sulky ever since Zouichi had left on that last mission, so he'd decided to leave Alan some space. But this morning, the bird was nowhere to be found.

He was beginning to suspect Howard's cat (Emergency Rations was a terrible name) had something to do with this.

[ooc: Post is open! Please feel free to chase the parrot, try to lure him out, reason with him, call him names, try and cooperate with Zouichi to catch him, whatever! He can be run into anywhere on the ship, just let me know where. The person who will eventually corner him, though, is Shoutarou.]

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He smiled. "Well, thank you all the same. I haven't seen you around before; are you a recent arrival?"

"Quite welcome."

Shoutarou nods. "I am - came out of the most recent wave of podpops, or whatever they're called."

Zouichi paused. "...come to think of it, I think I remember a Hidari on the Security list. You volunteered to be an officer, didn't you?"

He nodded politely. "Kanoe Zouichi. But Zouichi's fine. I've been in Security for a little while. Sorry I didn't say hello earlier -- I was stuck on that mission to Galilee. How are you liking the ship?"

The man smirks a bit. "That'd be me, unless you guys got another Hidari lurking around that I don't know of."

Shou holds a hand out - the one that corresponds to Zouichi's bird-free hand - for a handshake. "Nice to meet you. It's a pretty interesting place so far."

Zouichi smiled, then returned the handshake as Alan hopped up onto his shoulder. "No, as far as I know, just the one."

"Interesting is one way to put it. I'd probably refer to it more as 'like living in a giant nose'."

Shoutarou pulled his hand back, then made a face.

"...you mean the pod wasn't the last of the goo I'll have to deal with?"

"Well," said Zouichi thoughtfully. "I think it'd be a little premature to say you'd never have to deal with slime again. If you're repodded, for instance, it's back in the goo with you."

The detective...does not look pleased about that potential event.

"...well, I'll just have to see that such a thing does not happen."

"Just make sure your soul stays safely attached to your body," he said, "And I'm sure you'll be just fine."

~~not reassuring at all~~

"...wait, why would my soul get detached?" Have a rather concerned-looking Shou.

"Well, the way I heard it, we're in the space between worlds for so long and so many worlds are being destroyed that it's a danger. Supposedly, that's why GLaDOS kidnaps people on occasion, too -- to perform tests on them and make sure their souls are still pretty firmly attached."

What cake had to do with souls, though, was anyone's guess."

Shoutarou looks...even more rattled, really. He tugs a bit at his collar, then sighs. "...to borrow a phrase from my chief, 'I didn't hear about this'."

"Hear about this," said Alan, following it up with a clicking noise that sounded a little like a watch.

Zouichi nodded. "Well, think of it this way. If it starts happening, you'll just be put back to sleep. Who's this chief of yours?"

"While that's better than losing my soul, I'd rather be out here where I can be useful, but if it happens, it can't be helped, I suppose."

"My chief... Well, her name is Akiko. She's still in the pods, far as I know. It was something she said a lot when something unsettled her."

"I'm not sure that you could do anything to prevent it, anyway. It is a rather unnerving thought, though. I knew someone who was repodded; one day I was talking with them and they seemed just fine, the next... they were just gone. No formalities, no announcements."

"So... she was the chief of your detective agency? I'm glad she was picked up along with you."

"...huh. That is rather odd. Hope it doesn't happen to me. Would much rather be out here and be useful."

The comment about Akiko makes him chuckle. "Well. She's the daughter of my previous chief. Nowhere near on his level, but despite our bickering, she does a darn good job for just being twenty."

"A family business, huh? Are you related to him, too?"

"Not related to him, but he was my mentor. Taught me most everything I know regarding detective work."

"Ah. Well, he sounds like a good person." Zouichi paused for a moment. "Did he retire?"

[There's a pause, and Shoutarou adjusts his hat a bit.]

...you could say that.

Oops. Did he step on a land mine or something?

"Er, well. Wherever he is, I hope he's enjoying himself." He gave Shoutarou a friendly nod. "Anyway, I should take Alan back home. It was nice meeting you."

That got a bit of a smile out of the detective, and he nodded back. "Likewise."

What's Alan? [Open]

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