trans_9 | Summertime [Open]

"From what? The ship get a sneezing fit one day, and..." He made a whoosh sort of motion with his hands, causing a little wind as he did so. "Actually, they'd probably like it. Familiar ground~ They're not like Ankh and me." A pause, and he seemed to grimace. "And Ankh's not like me, either." Caz actually...pouted his lip a bit. Hmph.

"Dig down? Break the floorboards~?" Oh geez Zou, curiosity got the cat kicked off the premises, didn't you hear that one? "Oh, spoo~oooky. Maybe you just need some holy water, or an offering~" And a thumb-gesture at the fish. See? Caz could totally be a non-pyromaniac ~~motherfucker~~ gentleman who is in no way a detriment to society.

"More like a series of battles. During the last attack, the Ohm got aboard the ship, but I don't think they did too much damage. At any rate, I'd prefer not to break this place. I'm sure there's a conventional means of getting in, but it's not a high priority right now."

He gave Cazali a Look at the suggestion of sacrificing the fish. "Somehow, I don't think that will help much. Besides, they're pets, not blood sacrifices."

Edited 2011-11-01 16:22 (UTC)

"Oh, so stuff DOES happen around here~? Maybe I'll feel better when I have something to actually fight." A pause, and he waved off Zou's concern completely. "I didn't expect you to anyway~ This is your place, who wants to damage their own things~? That'd be ridiculous."

Look? What look? "Oh, I thought they were food." He, actually seemed a bit awkward about that. "...they were supposed to be pets?"

"Unfortunately, it seems we don't get to pick the time and place of each battle," Zouichi said, smiling a little cynically. "The ship does that. We're just along for the ride."

He blinked. "No, I don't think anyone eats goldfish. They're ornamental, that's why they come in such bright colors. People eat carp, though, which is the fish they were bred out of."

"...well, I guess thats what happens when you fly through space in a giant sack of organs~" Seriously, if someone had told him he'd be doing this for an 'afterlife', he'd have scoffed forever.

And even more awk. "...oh." He wrinkled his nose, crouching down by the edge of the pool and staring at the fish. "I sooorta fed your sibling to my cat, sorry~" It was only common courtesy to apologize to the fish first.

"I suppose so. Though you'd think that sack of organs would have a steering mechanism."

"...Animals do eat other animals. That's just how things are." Zouichi paused. "But I don't think kittens are supposed to eat goldfish. If you'd like, I can ask Howard if he has any kitten food you can use. I know he's got a lot of cat food for Emergency Rations."

"Think of it this way- would you want a bunch of tiny things piloting your body through space~? Not that I'm defending the ship, but...been there, done that myself~ It's kinda lame." Someday, Caz will write Stacy/GLaDOS romance fic and post it to the comm. Someday.

"I never got to spend much time around animals~ I always wanted to, but no time." A pause. "Emergency Rations? Hn, I think that's the guy who suggested 'Entrée' for a name. I tried to feed the kitten slop, but...well, it didn't work out so well." Not that the kitten was starving- Caz had other means of getting dead things to it, but...steady, normal, non-bloody food would be pretty appreciated.

"I don't much care what the ship wants or doesn't want. It certainly doesn't give a damn what I want. Which would have been not being awakened by some thing delving into my thoughts to try and manipulate me into doing what it wants and convince me it loves and cares for me like a mother." Zouichi fairly spat the last word in his disgust. He had a mother, and the ship wasn't it.

"And let's not forget a little forewarning every time it dumps me on some mission that could kill all my crewmates. That would be nice. Instead, it ships us all off to clone caste planets to negotiate with a bunch of genocidal fascists for pointless medical technology. And how about that time it vivisected that one crewman in front of everyone else as a demonstration of why you shouldn't break the rules? Oh, and that time it spent all its precious energy waking up the people in the pods most important to us... but only for a day, and only for specific people? Who cares what all that energy could have been used for? Like protecting against the Ohm invasion? Or, I don't know, not storing flesh-eating, psychotic space zombies in a room anyone could find?"

Cry him a fucking river, in other words.

Zouichi did calm down a little at the mention of the kitten. "...Try going to the Sensoriums and imagining up some food for him. Or her. It's basically slop, but it won't taste like it in there."

...okay, Caz certainly hadn't known about any of that. And while he didn't put the same stress on some of it- he didn't care about mothers, and didn't have any 'important people' to stress over -but the vivisection thing sure seemed to spook him. Well, the zombies would have too if he was an organic life form.

"...since you're a pretty straightforward guy, I'm going to assume all that shit is real." Said for the sake of saying it. "They took someone apart? That's what happens if security nabs you?" Oh, fuck no. He wasn't being scattered around like a bunch of loose change again. Fuck that. Plus, if he factored in all the nonsense about the council... "So, people are free to go about their business even if they were genocidal freaks back on their world, but if they break a rule on the ship they get dissected?" Yeah, Cazali just doesn't understand.

Kittens tend to calm everyone down, unless they're soulless monsters. "...that place creeps me out~ People sit around and indulge in false images, egh. But if I gotta do it to keep the kitten from starving, fine. He's certainly given me something to do, instead of sitting on my ass and sulking all day~" He appreciates you, Besel. More than he can comprehend.

Edited 2011-11-02 19:15 (UTC)

Few new people did. And even among the crew who'd been around for a while, well... they just seemed to compartmentalize what happened, and move on. But Zouichi had a long memory for that sort of thing -- a long memory.

"The ship did, yes. That's what people are referring to when they talk about Punishment. It was only performed once, as far as anyone on the crew that's currently awake remembers, and since then, Punishment has supposedly been suspended -- not by the ship, but by people in Engineering overriding the ship's 'Warden' personality. Security doesn't have anything to do with Punishment, though. At most, I've seen people being confined in the Brig."

Come to think of it, Cazali didn't seem to understand how things worked here. "On the ship, there's the ship's rules, and there's the crew's rules. They don't always coincide. The departments, the Council, and the military command are all crew-created constructs, to help organize and govern the crew."

Zouichi nodded. "Understandable. But the Sensoriums might be one of the better options."

"...as far as anyone remembers." Caz latched on to that little tidbit, and his spooked face only grew in to one of disgust. "So, some ship can prod around in people's brains...and stuff like that~? I suuure feel rescued, all of a sudden!"

The fact that the damn thing had to be hacked by crewmates was even more awkward. It was a damn good thing Caz hadn't decided to just go full out evil mode when he popped, or...yeah best not to think about it. Hey, at least he only had to worry about jail.

He only grew more deadpan as the topic continued. "So there's at least three major bodies of government, not counting the departments, and two of them have separate sets of rules?" He had to laugh. It was the only way to get that weird feeling of concern off his chest. "Well, that's just dandy~ Why don't they publish this stuff in that stupid little newbie guide? Or did I miss that part, too~? Jesus."

Screw it. Even if he couldn't taste it, Caz took a piece of watermelon and chomped down on it. At the very least it made him feel better.

"Welcome to the ship," Zouichi said dryly. "Some people blame it all on the 'Warden' personality, but if you ask me, they're just two sides of the same coin."

"I wouldn't really call the ship a branch of government. That would imply we have some kind of say in how it runs things. But yes, there's a military Command, and a civilian Council." He shook his head. "Hey, at least they gave you a newbie guide. They didn't have one of those when I woke up."

"Yeah, that's always the excuse. Humans sure love using personalities to explain away their problems."

Caz gave a sigh, staring at the watermelon and hazarding another bite in to it. The sound was kind of like a glorp noise instead of chewing. "So, the ship's like a king- or, the more vogue term is a 'dictator'. And the other two are puppet governments that, in the blink of an eye, can be overrun because of a personality malfunction." Caz snorted, and let himself lie down, kicking his legs. "So~ How successful would someone be if they got off at shore leave and didn't get back on~? Not that I'm all for letting a bunch of space bugs or whatever eat everything, but if they're not going to let me fight something without being some expendable pawn, I am failing morale."

Well, that was a weird sound. "You can leave anytime you want on shore leave. The question is what you'd do from then on. A lot of people stay here because their families or friends might be in the pods, or because they believe the story about being able to restore their worlds. There's also this: if the Ohm are going around destroying universes, there's no guarantee that the world you get off at won't be destroyed."

"...okay, that last one's a bit more compelling." Really, it boiled down to- would he rather risk destruction of a planet, or risk running in to other Greeed?

"Ah, this is so stupid!!~" Caz's lip completely curled, and he glorp'd more watermelon. "I'm used to being on the other end of the spectrum~ But I guess this is what evolution is for..."

Zouichi looked thoughtful. "I suppose you could be sure to get off at a world with universe-traversing technology, if you wanted... but..." he shrugged.

"I'm here because it's the best chance I've seen so far of allowing me to change the way things are headed. I don't see what evolution has to do with it, though."

"Eh, I wouldn't really leave. I just don't like all my eggs in one basket, you know~? Options make the worlds go 'round~"

The watermelon slice- rind and all -was swallowed with one final glorp, and he finally sat back up. "I don't want to stay the way I am forever. I want to get better. The easiest way to do that is to evolve."

...which probably didn't make any sense to someone not from OOOsiverse.

"You know, you're not supposed to eat the rind. Although I suppose I shouldn't complain; it saves me the trouble of getting rid of them myself."

Zouichi frowned a little. "What, exactly, constitutes 'better'? Evolution on my world took place over a long period of time, through natural selection for traits that allowed individual organisms to survive."

"We're pretty much garbage disposals~ You need me to get rid of the rest~?" Well okay it'd just sort of chill in his body cavity till he "threw" it up, but shut up. It counted as disposal in his mind.

"Stronger. Faster. Not reliant." Caz counted off on his fingers, hovering on the fourth for a second before continuing. "Don't want any hobos being able to use my medals. Want to actually be able to see and hear properly someday." And handswitch. "I don't want to go human like Ankh, nor do I want to stay the way I am. Oh, and if I'm reaching for stars~ I'd like Mezul and Gamel's medals back. Water powers were fun."

"The rest of the rinds? Sure. But someone else might want a piece of watermelon." That was an important distinction.

"Wait a second... Mezul and Gamel's medals? Meaning that you've stolen other Greeed's medals as well?" What was he even helping you for then :|

"Fine~" He didn't seem to care either way, and spent a good ten seconds glorping down the used-up rinds.

Oh boy, this was going to be fun to explain. Caz plinked out one of his cell medals, examining the coin in his fingers, and actually did something shocking- considered his words before opening his mouth.

"We all did, back home. Take one Greeed's medals to make them help you get your own from another Greeed, that sort of stuff. But Doctor...sort of took it to another level." The coin was grasped tight, and Caz shrugged. "Yeah, I'd like Mezul's medals, and Gamel's, and even Ankh's. Oh, and Uva's I guess. But using another Greeed's medals is...taboo. I was the first one to do it without losing control, mostly because of Doctor's research, but..."

Oh yeah he'd died. "...its a hollow desire. I can't do it again. Not after everything that happened, you know~?" He leaned back again, elbows on the deck and sighed. "Sure would be nice though~ I felt so full, with their medals inside me."

"Okay, you do realize that if you stole medals from other Greeed, it might make your case a little harder to prove? Especially if it was a common practice among your kind." A species of thieves. Awesome.

~~Also, Cazali, does Zouichi not want to hear about how you felt so full with other Greeed's body parts inside you in fact if you never mentioned that again it would be super awesome~~

"I can't claim to understand what it's like to be a Greeed, but you may want to start up some other hobbies."

"Well, it's not like I was going to tell them that part. It wasn't supposed to be common either...Ankh started it." Way to sound juvenile, even if it was true. "He stole mine and Uva's cores first. We tried to get them back and...well, we all died the end." Which was Caz for 'I don't really think anyone gives a crap'.

It took him a moment, but he finally did continue. "I want my medals. But I don't want to want them~? I'm trying to fight nature to prove I don't need them, otherwise I would have gone and done that stupid paperwork already." Sigh. "Sure, they're my body, and not having them makes me feel sick and empty, but...I haven't had them for eight hundred years. I'm never going to be complete. Why torment myself~?"

As for hobbies... "That's what Besel is for, duh~ I never got to play with a cat before, it's actually sort of nice~"

Zouichi frowned. "But you do realize that if I'm questioned about it, I will have to mention this, don't you? As much as I sympathize with you missing parts of yourself, I can't approve of what you've done." In short, he cared.

He wasn't sure what to say about the rest. If Zouichi was missing a part of his body, well... there wouldn't really be any point in getting it back, save perhaps preventing someone from reverse-engineering him.

"Yeaaah, I figured as much~ I don't hold it against you." Shrug time go. "Just, ah~ I dunno. I'm not used to talking this much, but I think it feels good?"

Yeah, this is one of those rare times Caz was just flying by the seat of his pants.

"The only thing I ever spoke to before this stupid meatship to was the Doctor, and...well, fuck him. So, yeah, congrats, you have to put up with me actually being ignorant about things. I'm sure you're positively thrilled."

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