Meet-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

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[alterniantaurus]

Next out is a troll kid in a wheelchair. He looks around, scanning the welcoming crowd for any sign of his little white custodian creature. He didn't think Tinkerbull would be here, but hope springs eternal.

He guesses he'll have to talk to one of the strange alien folk. God, so many. And so many different ages. He's never seen so many adults in his life.

Normally he'd be too scared to speak up, but time's running out. If he doesn't get back to Alternia, at least one friends' life will be forfeit. He approaches a member of the command staff.

"Ex... excuse me. Sorry to bother you. Can, uhh... can you tell me how to get back home?"

[outta_this_army]

The figure in orange armor currently slouched on the organic furniture pauses a handheld game and looks up. Grif hates podpop. All these new people bug him, and sometimes try to make him work.

"Sorry kid, nobody knows for now." He pauses. The helmet tilts a bit to one side.

"...Nice horns."

[alterniantaurus]

"Th. Thank you. But..."

Tavros swallows hard. He's just having a really bad day.

"I have to get back. I left my friend in the lurch and it, it, uh, it may be too late already, I think..."

[outta_this_army]

There's a sigh. "Your world's probably not there anymore to go back to, Kid." The delivery of the information is perfectly casual, like this is the most normal thing in the universe.

"So if you want my advice? Get comfortable. It's gonna be a long ride."

[alterniantaurus]

Tavros misunderstands and slumps miserably in his chair. He failed. Somehow he'd broken the chain and gotten in the game ahead of Gamzee, and that screwed up everything.

...Even though this is completely not what he'd expected the game to look like. You'd think at least the mouthy team leader would be briefing everyone on showing up naked and having to deal with all these aliens by yourself.

Sad yellow eyes stare up at Grif.

"W-well... Karkat got in first, so he's here somewhere, right? And Terezi?"

[the_team_sucks]

"Maybe? Did you hate 'em? Cause if you hated 'em they're probably just waiting to show up any minute now. That's what happened to me."

Doc and Tex are the only people Grif knows from before the ship, and he's using this as his frame of reference.

"I haven't seen any... whatever you ares, though."

"Most of us were just picked up because space bugs were blowing our worlds up or something. Did you guys... try to get here or something? Cause dude, that sucks."

[alterniantaurus]

Space bugs? Blowing up worlds? As a member of an insectile species notorious for hostile galactic conquests, Tavros is just not very comfortable with this conversation anymore. If "ohm" is the pink alien word for Alternians, he's going to be in a lot of trouble.

Thankfully, there's a change of subject. He hops on that that the lifeline it is.

"I don't think that sounds very right, to me. We were all, umm, playing a game, me and my friends? And I guess it's supposed to be a really important thing, but this isn't what I was expecting, uh... at all."

[the_team_sucks]

Grif's quiet for a moment. This has been the weirdest lead up to "me and my friends were playing a game" that he's ever heard.

He's just not gonna try.

"Well, I was fighting a war. Except it was more like a game of capture the flag with guns and a bunch of people I didn't like. It sucked almost as bad as this."

He continues to squint at Tavros from behind his visor. He has to ask.

"What are you, anyway?"

[alterniantaurus]

Grif, you don't know the half of it. Tavros understood the basic mechanics of Sgrub -- do these steps, get transported to safety in another dimension, begin actual gameplay -- but the reality behind it is a lot stranger than that.

Best to just move on.

Tavros opens his mouth to say something positive about capture-the-flag, but he gets interrupted before he can speak.

"Oh. Um. I'm a... a troll. What are you?"

[outta_this_army]

"Human." Grif takes off his helmet with a small hiss and a strong whiff of cigarette smoke as the seal opens. He really should stop smoking inside his helmet, he's ruining the air filter, but nobody's succeeded in convincing him of that yet. Have an adult human, Tavros. His face is just as unconcerned about this as his voice was.

"Most of the crew's human."

[alterniantaurus]

He'd been sort of curious about the creature behind the mask, and he seems a bit disappointed to see another grownup alien. "Human," Tavros obediently repeats. He'll remember that word. If the smoke smell bothers him, he doesn't mention it.

"So... did you guys all file down your horns?"

[outta_this_army]

"Nope, they fall off in the winter," he says, giving his left temple a tap.

[alterniantaurus]

Oh Grif, Tavros has no reason not to believe you. And he's more open to believing lies like this than most trolls. So you get a look of mild horror.

"Wh... which winter? Every winter or just the first one?"

They shed their horns! What kind of freakish species is this?!

[outta_this_army]

"Every winter, man. And I gotta tell you they itch when they're getting ready to fall off."

He scratches above his ear. "Then your hair's gotta grow in to cover the holes."

Grif finds this hilarious, but manages to keep a mostly straight face. There's no malice in it, it's just too easy.

[alterniantaurus]

"Sweet Troll Jegus," Tavros breathes, "now I think I basically understand why you wear that helmet."

Humans sure are weird!

[outta_this_army]

"Yeah, you need something to protect your head until they grow back in."

He nods good naturedly. Sorry Tavros, Grif is a bit of a troll himself. In another sense.

"Doesn't hurt, though."