driftfleet | (no subject)

Who: Robin
Broadcast: Video!
Action: None!
When: Now!

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[hey, it's Robin. he's lounging around in his captain's chair, feet up on the control panel. he's twirling something around in his fingers--it looks kind of like a glow stick? it's a glass cylinder filled with some sort of glowing, red liquid.]

Back in those casino stations, I won one of these.

[he stops twirling the cylinder. when he holds it up closer to the camera, you can see that it's capped with silver on one end. the insides seem to be bubbling a little, as if the liquid is carbonated.]

This is a Luxilizer... though most people below the surface just called them Dummy Sticks, as in, you were an idiot if you walked around the lower levels without them. They're filled with a liquid extracted from a luminescent fungus that grows in the caves of my hometown.

[he twirls it again. Robin himself doesn't seem particularly delighted about the thing, he's just casually explaining, perhaps out of boredom.]

They were originally designed as a backup light source, in case a person got lost in the tunnels. It also makes it easier for others to see them. It can get pretty dangerous down there, in the dark...

[after a pause, he grips the glowing tube and smiles at the camera.]

It's funny to me. No one where I'm from would give these a second thought, but I've learned that underground cities are not a familiar concept in most worlds.

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[PRIVATE TO JASON | TOTALLY HACKABLE, HE AIN'T NO COMMS OFFICER]

Hey, remember me? [waving from his side of the video feed.] Mr. Mean Everything?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not quite, but I did spend enough time in one to consider it more of a home than most places.

[thankfully, it's a question he can answer without really diving into his age and how he's been around much longer than said underground settlements.]

Skeleton City, it was called.

That's a grim name, for somewhere like a home.

[She's not really judging too much, but...yeah, it's a little weird.]

[that's okay, it makes him laugh.]

It was a grim city! It used to have another name, but no one remembers it anymore. It's supposedly... [using air-quotes:] "The city where lost souls go to rest". It's not actually full of skeletons.

That's still rather solemn, but it's a little better.

[She could see places like that on the Legacy, almost.]

I've never heard of an entire city underground before, but I suppose I've seen things that are just as strange to others.

It does have a few nice points. The city up above it is beautifully built--and the tourist strip is a lot of fun. Lots of bright light, lots of music. I wouldn't exactly recommend it as a vacation destination--but it could he a lot worse.

[really, in a world where everything wants to kill you, Skeleton City is almost charming.]

What kind of things? If you don't mind my asking.

Well, discovering a village of talking otters was certainly a surprise.

[Very cute though. And the otters are cool.]

Even the land itself is probably something new to others...my home is on the Legacy, a massive ship the size of a continent. I've never seen anything like it in the worlds we've been to since I was taken, but I think I would be surprised if there were.

Oh yeah... [he pauses, eyes widening in severity.] You know, you told me about the talking otters before, but it's not any less strange the second time around.

[his surprise turns more to genuine curiosity with that second bit, though--]

A ship the size of a continent, though, that certainly sounds like a marvel to me. A sea vessel, I assume? [since he can't imagine anything like that staying up in the air...]

For the most part, it is. The Legacy has quite a history, and I don't think that anyone knows the whole of it.

Huh. Well, what's a part that they do know?

It was originally an Orerines ship from offworld, but not even the Orerines remember that these days. Since then it's been home to the old Ferines kingdom, and today we're working on a large-scale migration of the Ferines back to the Legacy.

[Shirley's obviously rather pleased about the last part. She's invested, she's never made much secret of that.]

Ah... [he looks a little apologetic, despite the smile.] I'm sure that would have been much more impressive with context. Who are the Ferines?

Oh.

[She got a little ahead of herself there, huh. Shirley looks embarrassed now.]

They're one of the races on the world I come from. I'm one of the Ferines, and the ambassador between the Ferines and the Orerines.

Ah, all right. [that's better!] The Ferines and the Orerines have had a poor relationship until recently, if I'm guessing right?

Yes. There's been a great deal of history between the two, but things are changing now. My aim is to see to it that we can live alongside each other despite our differences.

[Maybe a little strange coming from her, as Shirley's well aware she's told Robin certain other things about her and the Orerines, but that's how it is.]

That's very good to hear. I think you'd do an excellent job of it.

[which is, again, knowing certain other things about the situation.]

[There's a slight pause where Shirley looks surprised, and then:]

...Thank you.

[He really means that? Shirley's determined to make it work, but it's not as if Robin has no reason to be skeptical.]

Thank you. I appreciate your decision to do it, and your determination is admirable.

[which he says smoothly enough, but... he really does mean it. his world needs more people like her. he'd kind of like to be someone like her, in his own way.]

[Oh.]

I think that's something best saved for when I'm actually doing what I should be, at home. But it's always good to know there are others who believe in me...it's much harder without people willing to do that.

[She sounds a little embarrassed, but definitely happy.]

Well, good. Hopefully you'll be able to apply some of that here, in the meantime.

[good for you Shirley, way to be a decent human being.]

I hope I won't need to much, actually. That would mean relations here were much worse than they are now - most of the time, anyway. Although1, if we ever found a way to reach the Atroma...

[Not much chance at present, but maybe one day?]