driftfleet | video ♟ first complaint

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video ♟ first complaint

Who: Murphy and YOU
Broadcast: Open
Action: HS Marsiva
When: Early morning

[It's been a while since he's sent a wave on any kind of network like this, but it's not like it's hard to remember how.]

You know - being back on a spaceship, alright, fine.

[The face onscreen is of a wiry, annoyed teenager. He keeps carding his fingers through his dry, soft, clean hair; it's a feeling he's not used to and it's still novel. His eyes are rolled skyward as he considers the room, sketching around at the ceiling and searching for something before he regards the actual camera.]

Weird... cleansing rituals. Sewing my clothes. There was probably some feet stuff while I was out. Whatever. I guess I'm not here to judge your lame kinks as long as I get some grub out of it.

[He looks back up again, and ticks an irritated finger towards the roof above him.]

But if we're gonna keep playing this new age, virgin with denial and a saxophone jazz crap all day long? I'm gonna need a damn weapon back.

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[ ... She lifts an eyebrow, but doesn't comment yet. It's not like she hasn't been in a similar situation, being a ninja and all. So ... ]

I guess you could say it's a little more of the latter. What we're doing gets broadcasted across the universe for people's entertainment, we get paid depending on how exciting or interesting we are.

[He's heard some of his share about the show already, but clearly not everything. Murphy's eyebrows raise at the mention of payment but it's as far as his own excitement stretches.

[On the one hand, being able to actually afford anything was a nice concept. On the other, he'd seen firsthand what sort of things came out of 'giving the people what they want'.]

Yeah? Define 'interesting'. They already set the stage for creepy, but how bad's it get? [He smirks.] Anyone ever get shot in the name of fun?

[ That gets a flat, disapproving look ]

No.

[ It's said in such a final way that it kind of implies he will be in a whole lot of trouble if he tries it. Of course, coming from the tiny blonde pretty girl, it can't seem all that threatening. ]

It's more like, personal drama, your love life, so on and so forth.

Whoa, hey, alright. Just a joke, princess, you don't gotta get all tense.

[Honestly, your odds of threats going over with Murphy increase exponentially depending on your being a tiny stern pretty blonde girl, okay. This is actually familiar.

[Even if she is telling him the exact opposite of what he wants to hear.]

Isn't one'a the benefits of being airlifted off a planet with a bunch of teenagers supposed to be that you don't have the love drama anymore? [He suspects.] People pay for this stuff? I can find that trying to find a place to take a dump in the morning.

Edited 2015-09-09 16:02 (UTC)

[ She just huffs. She doesn't want to be the one who has to smack this guy around if he decides he's bored and wants to go beat someone innocent up, okay!!! ]

Well, nobody said it had to be real drama. As long as you're a good actor.

[if ur not the first person at the scene of his first crime he's gonna be so disappointed, he's giving all this setup]

Good actors in a love drama. [He makes a universal 'OK' with his fingers.] Got it. So, that doesn't turn anyone off mid-hump? Or do they fake theirs too?

[ ... She wasn't expecting quite such a blunt question, there, so she's ... blushing. A little. ]

I guess that probably varies from person to person.

Anyways, the point is, you get paid for having weird things happen to you.

We established that. Now you're all waiting for thanks for being accepted into your come den, I get it. Thank you. I'm really looking forward to it.

[he is at the least two thirds kidding]

[ She just ... grimaces. Murphy, you are gross. ]

It's not like that ...! Ugh!

[Thank you, he tries really hard.

[He smirks at first, like he's now achieved- something. Maybe not something substantial. His eyes practically roll out of his skull, but he does eventually try a different approach:]

So give me a scenario that I can actually prepare for without all the wang in-your-endo. [Because it was clearly not Murphy who was perpetuating that nor would he ever continue now.] I'm only 17, my fragile child ears shouldn't even be hearing this.

[ Oh my god. ]

Yeah, real fragile.

[ Clearly. Still, she'll try to answer as best as she can, since it's a pretty disorienting situation regardless ]

The type of situations you end up in depend on what you decide to do with your time. There's a lot of free time. You'll have a job on your ship, whatever one you get assigned to.

[So, free time. Gen pop and not a cell: that meant behaving. More of that conforming junk he hadn't quite got the hand of. Keeping his head down? What did productive members of whatever even do?

[Who was his example supposed to be here? Everyone he knows is a criminal. Murphy presses past that annoying little piece of hysteria by thumbing at his wrinkled nose.]

Assigned? I, uh - better not be gettin' shoved into some lame subquad with my thumb up my ass and a mop in a bucket.

No. Generally the jobs are important to the ship's functionality in some way. Pilot, engineer, cook, so on and so forth. If you don't know how to do it already, they'll have implanted memories and knowledge in your brain about how to.

[ Ah, right -- this would be a good time to warn him. ]

There's a chip on the back of your head that's got all of that in it. Don't try and take it out, people have tried, and it just hurts like a bitch and knocks you unconscious. We haven't quite figured out a way to get rid of them yet.

['Don't try to take it out', she says.]

What the hell -

[Murphy's muttering to himself, clearly not heeding the rest of her warning as he starts frantically rubbing his fingers at the back of his head. He finds a small plastic plate embedded as advertised, but simply catching his nails at the edge and scratching makes him feel about as happy as he did being dragged into a whooping grounder camp with his hands lashed. His stomach turns like he'll be sick on the floor and he flattens his palm flush against it after that. Holds his grey matter in for a bit. He'd speak right at that second but he also thinks it's a good idea to wait until the vom recedes.

[So that's an awful feeling he never wants to repeat. Why didnt you warn him or something ino jeez what a friend]

Hey. Streamlined everything. Even act-outs. [Murphy's mouth flattens into a line that's trying to be a cool smirk? and looks more like he swallowed a bug.] Only took us 'til 2149. What else is left?

[ she watches all of that go on with a very unimpressed look on her face ]

What, did you think I was joking? I said don't try to mess with it.

[ She sighs. ]

Are you alright?

So say it earlier next time if it's so important.

[Which was also her fault and not his. Yeah. ...Yeah.

[He stops fiddling at once but not before one last hateful tap at the plate. Whatever that's going to amount to. Maybe he'd fiddle later when he wasn't broadcasting on a screen.]

I'm - fantastic. [He doesn't sound convinced, so he adds:] Hey, other than getting skull-fucked by a console, this week's hard to rival.

[That part IS honest.]

[ a huff ]

Or maybe you can try this thing called "listening" before you do something.

[ but that comment makes her slow her roll, a little bit ... ]

I take it that means conditions weren't great where you're from.

["Listening", she's hilarious.]

Who the hell's is? [He wants to know.] Come on, what do you want me to do, cry about it? I only got the one life; don't exactly have much else to compare it to.

I was just asking. There are plenty of people who want to go back to where they came from.

And the "point" of the show is to win so you can go back, apparently.

[That was the point? That was the big prize? What a joke.

[Murphy laughs to himself (at the least, there was honest chuckling), considering as he plays with the cuff of his ear.]

Now, let's see. That's like having to choose betwee-en... death by - being set on fire... [He raises his hand up and down, literally weighing the options.] Or death by... being stabbed in the head. Like, if you had to.

[Hang on, he's thinking now.] I feel like there's a lot of effort? In being set on fire? So long. Takes so long. You have to wave around like an idiot, there's that. Plus, at the end of it, the barbecue smell would be the last thing you'd ever smell.

Stabbed in the head is fast. [He rubs two fingers against his augment again.] Getting stabbed in the head is pretty easy, right? Just one chkk, and. Yeah. Think I'm gonna have to go with stabbed in the head.

[He smiles wide, without teeth.]

Call me a coaster.

[ she is very worried about your mental health, Murphy. ]

I wouldn't call this place as bad as being stabbed in the head. Or anywhere, really. It's more like a mild annoyance than anything.

I'll let you in on a little secret - so is getting stabbed in the head.

[What? why]

Probably. I can only guess.

As someone who's been stabbed multiple times, and has been here for almost a year, I can tell you being stabbed is significantly worse.

Than being set on fire? Because I've been stabbed. Don't know - what kind of person you think I am. [Definitely offended.] I specifically said in the head. Seeing as how you're still standing here.

[A whole year, huh? He gives her a glance over, best as he can tell over a video feed.]

But I guess the real question is: How much do you make?

No, I'd say being set on fire is worse.

[ but this argument is dumb, and she's so confused why he's offended ]

You shouldn't assume that would kill everyone, though. And how much I make depends a lot on what's happening in my life every week.

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