♖ 001.

[summerschild]

Who: Bran Stark and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The HS Marsiva Hospitality Deck
When: 6/13

[On the Hospitality Deck, there's a little lump of dirt and fur on the floor next to one of the cots, twisted up in the white sheets. Bran had woken up in a fit of panic, scrabbling for the damp floor of the Queenscrown holdfast, and then-]

Is anyone there? Hello?

[A bump on his head aches from the tumble. He doesn't understand what he's seeing in front of him, through the clear glass of the bowing windows. It makes him dizzy, and he rubs at his nose with one grubby hand. His fur cape is still muddy from the thunderstorm, making him look a bit like an abandoned puppy.]

I need some help!

[He tries to use the cot to pull himself back up, but with a click the wheel unlocks, and sends the bed teetering towards anyone coming across the floor. Oops...]

Comments

[summerschild]

How are we supposed to entertain them?

[He's got some pretty daunting ideas, such as jousting, or fighting pits.]

Do we have to fight?

[asinisterkid]

You don't have to fight. Everyone here has a job, and there's a... okay, there's no good way to explain this... there's a little thing they put in your head, an augment, that gives you the knowledge you need to do it. Some people are security, and they're equipped to handle combat if it needs to happen, but we've got cooks and pilots and engineers and things. Lots of people here who probably wouldn't know which end of a knife to hold. [ His smile's more wry than reassuring, but as solemn as this kid is, he doesn't want to come across as condescending. ]

Really, they just want to see how we get along, how we react to things, what we get up to in our spare time... Every month, we go someplace different, and what we do when we get there is up to us. Sometimes it's all good fun, other times... not so much.

[summerschild]

[At the mention of the augment, Bran's eyes go wide. His fingers fly to the back of his head, searching for anything awry. When he lands on the small protrusion behind his ear, the alarm grows.]

I don't understand. How did they put it in? Can they take it out?

[He hasn't even heard the rest of the explanation, so distracted is he by the augment.]

[asinisterkid]

[ And here's the moment when he asks himself if he really wants to scare this kid more than he's scared already. After a moment, he decides to go with the truth. Trying to soften the blow never helped him when he was a kid. ]

Most likely they made a little cut and put it in, then healed it up before you woke up. They should be able to take it out just as easily, but don't try getting it out yourself. That'll just hurt you. A lot.

[summerschild]

[There's no softening the reality of a stranger having cut you open in your sleep. Bran goes paler, if at all possible.]

... You said the entertaining people get to leave? How?

[asinisterkid]

From what I hear, whoever has the highest ratings -- whoever the viewers like most, basically -- gets to go home when they're done with our tour through the stars.

I'm guessing the lucky winner's going to just wake up at home like they woke up here, but there's no way of knowing for sure.

[ He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. ]

I'm sorry. I wish I had better news. I know all of this is a lot to have to deal with at once.

[summerschild]

You don't need to apologize. It wasn't you that brought me here.

[He's not bitter at all, really.]