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(no subject)

Who: Nightingale and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva hospitality deck
When: Now!

[action]

[Nightingale's awakening is much lower-key than most, sitting up in the bed and realizing quickly that she is not where she should be. The best way to cope, of course, is looking around, taking in her surroundings, and just talking to herself.]

Okay... So, this must be a game. Don't think I recognize any space Echoes, though... Whatever, I should figure out the win conditions, first. And hope it's not another 'everyone dies' game.

[she lifts a hand, and a strong wind whips through the area, throwing bedsheets and pillows around.]

Okay, magic's still on, that's... usually a good sign.

[She doesn't seem to have noticed the mess she made. Or maybe she doesn't care. Either way.]

[Video]

[Having immediately fallen into the assumption that this is a game, Nightingale isn't too bothered by the idea of being able to operate technology she hasn't seen before- it's not like it's the first time, after all. She takes a deep breath, and starts talking to the camera. Noticeably, she still hasn't cleaned up her prior mess.]

This is Nightingale, from Takshaka. I don't know what's going on, but this game seems a bit different. Can you check in with which teams are here? And Roc, Gull, Hawk, Magpie, Togetic, Sparrow, any of you around?

And which Echo is this, while I'm at it? I don't recognize any with a space theme going on unless it's the damn Bone Witch again. If I see that dress or that whale again, I'm going to find a way to leave in the middle.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Shit. No. I mean. Never had to play a game to win back my identity, at least. [It turns into a half mumble near the end.]

Where I was, we got pulled in by some so-called gods, 'cause their world was dying and it affected the rest of the collective multiverse. There was some metaphysical tree that supported all that shit and it was sick, so they linked their souls to ours in a last ditch effort to save it. With the caveat of "hey, we're douchebags and we know we're douchebags, but we're trying to be a little less douchey when we ask you to fuckin' help us. And 'cause if we fail, the whole multiverse will collapse into a pile of fire and ash."

Which. [He sighs a little.] Sounds kinda like what you're talking about actually. I mean it happened; I know it did. One guy I knew, Ryan, his whole fucking universe just. Ended. He saw it before he was snatched back.

But we fixed it. There was this stupid fuckin' battle and some tripped out magic tricks. The MIA worlds got restored as far as I know.

[He tapers off.]

So, I don't know. Maybe we fixed that for you guys, too. It was chill when I left.

[She listens quietly, taking this all in, not making any noise to interject until he's done.]

... The stories do match up well, except on one point. What was killing their world?

[Maybe a little unexpectedly, he laughs self-deprecatingly.]

This is gonna sound dumb, but I don't actually know. It was different for a lot of our worlds, I guess. Like it kind of already ended where I'm from, but the tree's deal revolved around it withering 'cause a stupid prophecy said so.

I'm guessing it's heavier than that in... [He's gonna butcher it. He's gonna fuck up how to say Kyriakos.] I dunno can I get away with referring to it as Costco.

Just call it 'the castle'.

... We don't know. We were told that it was a force called 'Reapers' that destroyed our worlds. But no one ever knew anything more than that, and we had a lot more pressing concerns.

Weird. We had creatures called Reapers show up once, but they were from someone else's world. Looked pretty stereotypical, too; they had a dumb scythe and everything.

The more pressing concerns you're talking about—those would be the games you had to play, right.

Yeah. Some of them were okay. Some of them...

[She looks away, trailing off, gripping her arm tightly.]

... People died. One time, everyone who was there at all died. Torture, killing each other... Things like that.

Shit. Sorry. [He sounds it too, even if it's understated.] That's fucked up. Why do they make you go through all of that?

Come to think of it, who even is "they".

They...

[Deep breath. She doesn't like talking about all this, but he is related to Roxy. Plus, she's already spilling everythint to that fucking horse anyway.]

They were called "Echoes". They were like us- worlds destroyed, souls shattered. But unlike us, they couldn't get their shards back, no matter what... But in exchange, they had god-like powers. They could do anything. And the game system was established by an idiot. Well-meaning, but an idiot. So there was nothing stopping evil assholes from exploiting that.

Turns out, people kind of stay the same even when they're missing most of their souls. They do that to us because they enjoy it.

[My Little Pony gets the best of everyone sometimes.]

If you've got a fucked up version of anyone like Baldr around, you got my deepest sympathies.

But. Thanks. For telling me this. I guess even if the assholes here kidnapped us for a reality show, it's a step up from that.

Yeah... Who's Baldr?

... Sorry it's not Roxy who's here.

A huge asshole who made people's heads explode for kicks. His dad grounded him after and his dad was kind of a dick sometimes. That's how huge an asshole he was.

But hey, whoa. You didn't do nothing wrong. Besides, there are a ton of people here from some shitcastle called Paradisa. Maybe y'all from Costco will start a trend.

... There is one person from my team here already, so maybe. That might be nice...

Yeah, see. It could totally happen. We already got a couple reps from Asgard around, and a space station with a religiousy name.

Anyway, if you ever want to chill or something, just. Give me a head's up, k. I'm usually hanging out around the Wonderduck.

[She's about to reply, when she realizes what she just heard.]

The... Wonderduck?

You got no idea how many times I've nearly called it the Wonderfuck. Or actually done so.

I don't know who they let name the ships.

... I hope the ship I end up on has a better name. No offense.

None taken. It's definitely got the worst name in the fleet, so your chances are pretty good.

Watch me end up there now...

I'm totally blameless in that scenario. Freer of guilt than a dude starring alongside Tommy Lee Jone.

You'll probably end up on a ship that's missing whatever augment you've got, though, and we're almost full up. Just missing a security officer and whatever civilians they got floating around.

If I understand this right, I got stuck with a cook augment. ... Which is stupid, since I could do that anyway.

Oh. Huh.

[...]

We don't have a cook.

Fuck.

It's gonna be a tragedy at this rate if you don't get put on the Wonderfuck. I mean Wonderduck. Fuck, see, I told you this would happen.

If I do get put on there, I'm blaming you now.

Too late, I already called my Get Out of Blame Free card. I might as well slap a halo on my head and start reciting a Hail Mary. That's how blameless I am.