driftfleet | Chapter One [Video/Action]

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Chapter One [Video/Action]

Who: Richard Castle and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: The good ship Windrose
When: RIGHT NOW

Video

[Castle is looking dubiously at his bowl of celebratory chocolate pudding- at least he thinks that's what it is- as he broadcasts to the network.]

Dear video diary,

Today is the start of my new life as a space reality TV contestant. It can't be much worse than paparazzi and serial killers, right? Right. I have been assigned to the good ship Windrose and hope to be an asset to her crew. Oh, diary, I do miss New York City, but I might as well make the best of things while I'm here.

Love always, Castle.

Action

[Upon exploring his new digs, it didn't take Castle long to find the tiny cleaning droids. He was attempting to line them up, but as they seemed programmed to go and clean on their own, he was having some difficulty.]

Come on, stand still and be a good robot army.

[Or perhaps you'd like to run into him elsewhere? Just name the time and place.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That... gets a blank stare in response, before Castle remembers his manners and nods.]

Yeah, I think meeting a talking pony would be something I'd remember, but alas, I don't. Thanks for the welcome, anyway, Cheese. I hope we can be friends again.

[Good job, Castle. Cheese gives a little shrug, in an attempt to pass off he's less bothered than he actually is. The smile stays on. ]

You better believe it, I won't let a little thing like Atroma-induced Amnesia get in the way of that. How're you settling in? Space, right?

[WAAAAH Cheese. :< Castle does feel bad.]

Atroma- that's the name of our hosts, right? Do they have a complaint box? Because I love the idea of being in space, but being far away from home- yeah, not so much.

[It's ok, he heard friendship is magic or something, they can get through this! ]

Wellll, they make an announcement every couple weeks or so, but they never, ever reply. So it's kinda like yelling at a brick wall?

Someponies do go home, so I guess you just gotta wait for Atroma to decide to send you.

[Same as Paradisa, really. Luck of the draw.]

That... seems a little weird. Kidnap us, make announcements, but never talk to us? Then again, I guess it allows them to stay detached from their prisoners.

[He sighed.]

Might as well make the best of it while I'm here, then.

And at least they have a voice. That's...something.

[Better than the creepy-ass whispers of the castle every night.]

That's what I'm doing. We can explore so many different worlds, here. That's exciting!

Yeah, suppose so- it'd be even worse if they just left us to our own devices and never made commentary to us.

[He nodded.]

I'm still getting used to that idea- the whole other-worlds thing- but it is exciting.

And then nopony would know what we're supposed to do out here.

[Not that they...especially know anyway, but details. ]

It's super exciting! I can't wait to see all the places we'll discover.

And in the meantime, I will play up to the audience for extra prizes and such. I am totally shameless.

That never hurts! You get extra money for doing that to buy whatever the hay you want on the planets. Nothing wrong with a little audience pandering, I always say.

To me, it just makes sense. If I'm going to be stuck here a while, why make it harder on myself? Of course, I am used to being in the spotlight back home somewhat, so it does come naturally to me.

Oh yeah, that's right! Well, you'll be a natural at this, then!

Maybe I'll even get fanmail. Hopefully of the not-creepy sort.

Oh yeah! We get fanmail a lot! And if you answer it, you get more credits, so it's worth taking the time.

None of them have been too high on the creepy meter. Yet.

So everyone wins. And I'm glad there's not much on the creep side... some of the fanmail I got back home was a bit weird. And then there was the fanfiction.

...I have no idea what fanfiction is and I'm not sure I want to know.

But nah, the fanmail seems pretty okay, so far.

You're probably better off not knowing if that's the case.

Well, that's good. I once had to have a detective go through my creepy fanmail as part of a murder investigation.

Okey dokey artichokey!

Wow, a murder investigation? Did they send you clues or something?

Well, a killer had been basing their crimes off the ones in my books. They wanted to see if the killer had sent me any mail to brag about it- like, if they were doing it to try and impress me. It's weird, but some people are just that twisted.

...Wow. That's pretty darn creepy.

I thought it was pretty awesome at the time. I have, shall we say, grown up since then.

That's...probably a good thing.

I'd say so. I developed a better sense of empathy for the people whose cases I worked on- it's hard not to, when all they want is to have some justice and closure.

I guess seeing it for real and making it up in a book are two very different things. But at least having empathy shows you're not a psychopath, so yay for you.

Yeah, exactly. And there have been cases where kids were put in danger... being a dad, those got right to me. So it helped me see the gravity in the cases, rather than going oh, cool, I get to be an honorary cop!