trans_9 | Meet and Greet

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Meet and Greet

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicomms and comm rings. They are also told they must read information about their current situation and a survival guide with their new omnicomm. New crewmates might see a tall dragonish guy with wings (but don't call him that), a large afro attached to a smaller girl, and talking ponies 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. But thankfully this time, there's a system that was set up to aid the new crew members with a few more experienced ones.

[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. Big brother/sister, there will be a thread for you as well!]

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He wasn't the only one getting annoyed. "I know you don't, you use alchemy, I've seen it. He wasn't an imitator, he looked and acted just like you and everything! How many people do you know look exactly like you and can use your powers?"

Of course. Thanks, Stacy.

"Yeah, that figures. Stacy can sometimes mess with memories too. It's never nice."

"You haven't even see me use any powers, so how do you know I have them? And you've barely even talked to me for two minutes; how can you make conclusions about my personality based on that?"

Obviously there was some kind of logical step here that Katara/Kaya/whatever wasn't explaining (Stacy? The ship?), and Ed could only assume she was now accusing him of being some kind of staggering amnesiac.

Which was ridiculous. What was more likely? That a magical psychic spaceship somehow perfectly mindwiped him while keeping all his other memories intact? Or that this girl had obtained some basic details about the Elric brothers (easily done) and now wanted something from him, like knowledge or the use of his abilities (likely)?

"Never mind. Point is, I don't know you, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped insisting I did." And/or maybe just cough up whatever her angle was.

"So you're not an alchemist? So you're not..."

No, this was all wrong! She'd MET Ed, watching him train, seen him do alchemy, he looked and acted like him, same attitude and everything! What was going on, that this person was not only looking and dressing like Ed but didn't remember being on this ship?

"Look, I don't know how this happened. I MET someone named Edward Elric who looked and acted like you, and I haven't seen you alchemy, but if you can't maybe I'm wrong. All I know is he was a friend of mine, and someone I cared about. If you don't know me then...then I have no idea what the ship is doing, but I'm not a liar!"

Awwwwkward. And by this point, Edward was feeling tired, cranky, lost, and even more unreasonable than usual. So now he was digging in his heels in earnest.

"Quit yelling at me! I said I don't know you, so I don't know you!" He hefted his briefcase up in hand, heading toward what he hoped was an exist, or else this would look pretty foolish. "Anyway, go ask someone else!"

For whatever it was she wanted.

"I'm not yelling!" Well, she was now, but she was understandable frustrated. The Ed she knew was still in the pods, or this one was different, or he was the SAME and his memories of the ship were wiped. What was even the point of that?! Anyway, she started to come to her senses: if he really didn't remember, what good would being angry with him be? Obviously he was still confused about being here.

"Ok, look...I'm sorry. I did know someone named Ed, and why you look the same and alike and all is anyone's guess. The ship does things like this. I was just happy I thought I saw someone I knew from before. In any case, I'm Kaya. I'd like to help you with any questions you have."

Edward paused for a moment, then relented and extended his hand. "Yeah, well... I'm sorry, too, I guess." You know. For whatever. "There are a lot of people who hear about me and then want me to turn lead into gold for them. Or they're a struggling alchemist that just needs a few more months' funding to make an earthshattering scientific breakthrough."

"...But I still don't remember you." Don't forget that, Kaya!

Questions? Did he have any questions? "I'm looking for my brother, Alphonse."

Kaya nodded. "I don't care about gold, and though some people might on the ship, stuff like that is sort of useless once you're looking at what's awaiting us. It might be good for trade maybe? But no, I'm no alchemist, just a waterbender."

Oh, she got that. Thank you Stacy, for making life irritatingly more traumatic than needed!

"I haven't seen Al yet," she said, remembering what Ed from before had described him as. He MIGHT have pod popped though, so you never know. He won't be hard to find if he is though, right?"

"No use for gold, huh... Well, trade is good." Just as long as it was equivalent.

"He wasn't in that Pod Cavern," said Edward, waving the idea away. "Not out with the rest of us, anyway. So if he's not out here already, he must be back in that goop. Most people would notice a guy in armor who was that big. So how do I find him and wake him up?"

"Trade is about the only thing you can count on until we go on leave to another planet," Kaya said. "Then you can actually get things on the ship. We have areas where we grow things, and some of us hoard food for others, but otherwise that'll be the way to get what you need."

Here though, she sighed. "You don't. Pod pop happens when Stacy says it does, not before. If Al isn't here, you'll have to wait until the next pod pop. I'm sorry."

"You're talking like I'm gonna be here for a long time... I'm not exactly planning on spending the rest of my life on this hunk of meat, you know." Well, at least he could get what he needed through trade. There was always a place for a good alchemist, after all.

"Huh? Why do I have to wait? If he's in there, I should just be able to kick one of those things open and let him out, right?"

"Because you are, until you're podded or you die," Kaya said. "I don't think you really want to see what almost happened to the last two people who were trying to leave the ship. The ship will find out and...well, its not pretty."

She shook her head. "No. These pod pops happen at a certain time. Even if you could just kick them open, which you can't, chances are you would wind up damaging Al's soul. We haven't all just got here, after all. Some of us have been here a very long time."

Edward crossed his arms across his chest. "Hey, I'm not going to give up on getting back to where I'm supposed to be. What happened to them?"

That gave Edward pause. Alphonse was already treading some deep water in that metal body of his; did he really want to tempt fate? "I don't really get it, but... if he stays in there, his soul is safe? It'll stay in his body?"

"Even if you managed Ed, don't forget we're in space. how would you even get back to where you need to be? I'm not saying you should ever forget wanting to go back to where you're from, but you do have to accept that its got right now. We've all had to."

As for this, it always made her queasy. "Imagine you're in front of everyone, and the ship proceeds to take your limbs off, ALL your limbs, as slowly as possible so you can feel everything. And that's just the punishment. The people who are making us fight this war are looking for an example to make. Don't be one."

The idea made her sick, especially knowing what Ed had gone through.

"Yes it will. The whole reason people are on pods is to keep their souls intact. But forcing them out early would destroy all of that."

The Portal of Truth, maybe, but it wasn't like he was going to talk about that to just anyone. Besides, human transmutation was a last resort. He fixed her with a pointed stare instead. "Don't tell me what I have to do. I got this far by making my own decisions. I'm not going to stop and turn back now."

He grinned at the description of the Punishment, though the expression was one of grim humor. "Taking off your arms and legs, huh? Well, what's a couple more? Still, what an idiotic way to punish your soldiers. Can't make your dog follow you around if it doesn't have any paws to stand on."

Ed crossed his arms in thought. "Maybe the pods are the best place for Al right now, then. Until I figure out how to get out of here."

Kaya had to hold her tongue a little here, because she never heard such an arrogant statement by someone she knew before. Did he remember she had been here longer, so she wasn't saying all this for her health?

"I'm saying it so you avoid making the mistakes other people do," she said. "I keep telling you, you're not the only person who forges along and wants to do what they want. What I'm telling you is that it never ends well, and we're not all just happy to be here, trust me. There's still a lot you don't know, and believe me, I wish you could just do what you wanted."

Kaya sighed. Actually, now that she thought about it, Ed was actually A LOT like that when he was facing off against their swords trainer. It made her be very strict with him a lot of the time.

"They don't stay off, its just for that amount of time. And its purely a bullying tactic, to let the people on the ship know we're expendable. It's important you watch things on the ship: aside from the Daligig, there are the people on the ship period, from different worlds and dimensions and places who have their own way of doing things. The wrong word is liable to set someone off."

She nodded. "Yeah, good luck there. We're sort of in outer space right now. Where would you go?"

"I appreciate the warnings and the sentiments and all," he said, "But if I make a mistake, it's mine to make. And pay for. Not yours, or anyone else's."

Oh, they put the limbs back on afterward. That was kind of a glaring detail to leave out. Edward just shrugged. It was a cruel and inhumane practice, but he'd been through worse; the threat of a little dismemberment wasn't going to faze him too much. "Sorry. I'm not going to keep my head down on the off chance I might offend someone." Even if he did resolve to watch everything he said, by his very nature, Edward would be monumentally terrible at it.

"And I can't tell you. Alchemist's secret." Or close enough.

Well she couldn't argue with that: heck, she could ever respect it when it came down to it. Of course, she wouldn't have bothered with the warnings so fervently to begin with if she wasn't worried something might happen. What had happened with Howard was bad enough, but there was no way she could keep a low profile if it happened to Ed.

"Keeping a head down is more than just for offending people," Kaya said. "That's just one of the reasons. But on the chance you can't leave and you're stuck here, you don't want the people who have it out for you to know where you stand, not until you know who's on your side?"

Oh, she was maybe revealing too much, considering he had just popped and knew nothing about the ship. but it was Ed, and no matter what he said, they HAD trained together. She thought he had a right to know.

Ed stood there for a moment, trying to parse the question. Or statement?

"Uh, plenty of people have it out for me." In fact, at this point, maybe it was easier to count the people he knew that weren't after him for some reason or other.

Besides, how long was he honestly going to be able to keep secret who he was and what he thought, even if he tried? Not long, that was for sure.

"Yeah, but I'll bet most of them aren't on the ship. The better thing to do would be to gather the people who are allies. For the moment, no one is thinking about going home since, honestly, they do't know where home is. what they're trying to do is make sure we win this war, on our terms, so there is a possibility we have our own worlds to go back home to."

Which was only half a chance on that one. She, like most people on the ship, just wanted to be free.

Edward crossed his arms, scowling in earnest now. "Look, lady. I've been here maybe an hour, and you're already telling me to forget about home and start thinking about how to be a good soldier. I didn't start whatever war it is this ship is blabbering about and I'm not here to help fight it. I've got stuff I've gotta do and people waiting on me to do it."

"You want to give up on home and focus on the war? Fine. You do that. But I'm not part of your secret fighting force or whatever, so quit giving me advice I didn't ask for."

Kaya frowned. "Were you even listening when you were brought on the ship? Your home is GONE, so is mine, so is everybody's. Instead of saying things that make no sense, why don't you try opening your ears? You think I'm in this war because I want to be, because its fun? Everyone is on the same boat, relatively speaking, and this advice you didn't ask for is so you know exactly what's what! I didn't start this war either!

"But you know what, nevermind. Obviously you must know more than me, even though I've been stuck on this ship longer and trying to at least make things easier for you!"

And she was already turning to leave. Ugh, why did she even bother half the time!

What did she expect -- that he'd just swallow that whole story about world-destroying psychic space bugs without incident? That he'd just accept that everyone and everything he ever knew was gone? That there was a way to restore entire universes?

Not a skeptic. Not a scientist. And certainly not Edward Elric.

With time, perhaps he'd change his mind. For now, he shrugged, turning back toward the crowd.

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Meet and Greet

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