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[Once again, the Shuffle day comes and goes without a word from your chatty hosts... And once again, a day late, all ships suddenly receive a broadcast signal that plays out of every speaker in the Fleet. Even ships that are completely powered down receive the transmission--though it's not coming in very clearly.

There's a lot of static, no cheery jingle. Crackly, distant music comes through in pieces, along with a man's crooning voice, humming and singing an old song. Eventually, he can be recognized as Beau. There's a woman too, Diamond--who sounds wearily amused. It's nothing like the chipper voice that passengers are used to. These aren't voices for the radio; like the last broadcast, these voices aren't meant to be sent to the public.]

Happy birthday, baby... ♫

[Diamond, hard to hear:]

Oh you... Must we do this every time? It gets old, you know...

[More singing:] I dont even know your name... ♪♫ [A weak laugh.] --Very funny.

Though you never met... ♪ [A loud crackle eats the other sounds for a moment. When it dies down, a cold, robotic voice can be heard saying something, but it's far away...]

--Why is that light on? I think it's syncing up...

Oh. [Beau, for a moment, sounds more professional.] Get ready darlin', here it comes.

BROADCASTING ÌN͞ ̸͝T̢E̴̡͜N̕̕.̵̢̀<..

[The countdown, which was so clear last time, is almost immediately overwhelmed with sharp, screeching interference. The signal drops again, leaving every ship in silence.

...Guess they haven't made much progress on fixing whatever's going wrong, huh?]

(ooc: Atroma won't respond, but you're welcome to thread out reactions and discussion here anyway. Just another wacky day in space, right...?)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

...Ah. I was trying to remember if it was today or tomorrow.

What was today or tomorrow?

Oh- the one year anniversary, since this whole mess started.

...this fleet has only been around for a year?

[That doesn't make sense. Must we do this every time? Unless that's in reference to something else. She can think of a couple of ominous-sounding options.]

This cycle, yes. We aren't the first group to be here though. I think we're the twelfth...? That's what I heard.

...ah.

[That's more like it.]

You've been around since the start of this one?

...Yes, I have.

[Sucks to be you, Alan. She's quiet for a moment.]

All right. Thanks.

[That's it, no more questions.]

[Yes it does suck to be Allen]

Ah...no trouble.

[Cool. He can live with that.]

Do you think that was about us or one of our "host's" birthday? I suppose it is about the right time though.

Maybe the show? Or both. It has been about one year since it all started.

Yeah, as long as time works the way it does back home. Kinda hard sometimes with the different suns that we go past.

....

....

I hadn't thought about that.

[For fuck's sake Allen you're dating an astronaut get it together]

[Vash can't help but start laughing at the honest response.] Yeah, well, it still is convenient timing if they were singing happy birthday and go by Earth time standards.

Yeah, it is.

So- it's good enough for me! We've been here one Earth year!!

[SCREW OTHER CALENDARS EARTH'S IS THE BEST ONE]

[And Vash isn't even FROM Earth and agrees!] Good enough for a birthday for me!

Yeah!

So, uh...happy anniversary to us, I guess?

Yeah! Happy anniversary! And still almost no questions answered.

Ah...yes. That is very true!

[He wishes he was more surprised by that]

Oh well, as they say! There's always tomorrow? And next year?

This has been going on for a year?

[hm... trying to decide if that's a long or a short time.]

This fleet? Yes. That's when our group first woke up here.

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