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[thespaceopera]

[Once again, the Shuffle day comes and goes without a word from your chatty hosts... And once again, a day late, all ships suddenly receive a broadcast signal that plays out of every speaker in the Fleet. Even ships that are completely powered down receive the transmission--though it's not coming in very clearly.

There's a lot of static, no cheery jingle. Crackly, distant music comes through in pieces, along with a man's crooning voice, humming and singing an old song. Eventually, he can be recognized as Beau. There's a woman too, Diamond--who sounds wearily amused. It's nothing like the chipper voice that passengers are used to. These aren't voices for the radio; like the last broadcast, these voices aren't meant to be sent to the public.]

Happy birthday, baby... ♫

[Diamond, hard to hear:]

Oh you... Must we do this every time? It gets old, you know...

[More singing:] I dont even know your name... ♪♫ [A weak laugh.] --Very funny.

Though you never met... ♪ [A loud crackle eats the other sounds for a moment. When it dies down, a cold, robotic voice can be heard saying something, but it's far away...]

--Why is that light on? I think it's syncing up...

Oh. [Beau, for a moment, sounds more professional.] Get ready darlin', here it comes.

BROADCASTING ÌN͞ ̸͝T̢E̴̡͜N̕̕.̵̢̀<..

[The countdown, which was so clear last time, is almost immediately overwhelmed with sharp, screeching interference. The signal drops again, leaving every ship in silence.

...Guess they haven't made much progress on fixing whatever's going wrong, huh?]


(ooc: Atroma won't respond, but you're welcome to thread out reactions and discussion here anyway. Just another wacky day in space, right...?)

Comments

Voice;

[alwayscomeback]

...

Well.


That wasn't ominous at all.

video;

[grounds]

[The feed catches Octavia as she winces at the screech.]

What the hell was that?

video;

[unfulfilledpotential]

[Shawn's wincing just as bad - and he might've almost dropped the screwdriver in his other hand.]

No idea. If they're trying to connect to us, they're doing worse than we are. And here I thought our ships were in pretty bad shape.

video;

[grounds]

Bad shape or not, that was just creepy. [A scowl's in place now, wince all but gone.]

video;

[unfulfilledpotential]

You're telling me. [slight shudder] For our sake, I hope this is still a reality show and not some weird sci-fi slasher.

Video

[averagestar]

I wonder whose birthday it is... Well, it doesn't matter in the end! I'm sure someone, somewhere is having a birthday today, so! Happy birthday, everyone whose birthday is today! We'll keep doing out best here, too!

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

...Ah. I was trying to remember if it was today or tomorrow.

Voice;

[mikangirl]

What was today or tomorrow?

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

Oh- the one year anniversary, since this whole mess started.

Voice;

[mikangirl]

...this fleet has only been around for a year?

[That doesn't make sense. Must we do this every time? Unless that's in reference to something else. She can think of a couple of ominous-sounding options.]

Re: Voice;

[goldenglasses]

Do you think that was about us or one of our "host's" birthday? I suppose it is about the right time though.

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

Maybe the show? Or both. It has been about one year since it all started.

Voice;

[goldenglasses]

Yeah, as long as time works the way it does back home. Kinda hard sometimes with the different suns that we go past.

Voice;

[tobeajedi]

This has been going on for a year?

[hm... trying to decide if that's a long or a short time.]

Voice;

[save_the_souls]

This fleet? Yes. That's when our group first woke up here.

voice

[tobeajedi]

Darn, they noticed it was on. [would have been interesting to hear more, even if it just seemed like a silly private moment.] I wonder if that was just them hitting the wrong button or something more serious?

[Video]

[jamminshield]

There's something fishy about all of this...

...Where's the cake?!

voice;

[geonomy]

[WELL THAT WAS KIND OF AWFUL. Still, a moment after that wince-inducing screech, he muses more to himself than anything.]

"Every time", huh...

Video

[preformthisneigh]

I'm doing because I have a strict Party Pony credo to keep to, but let it be known this is under duress.

[He'll half-heartedly throw some streamers in the air and blows a noise maker. ]

Happy birthday, Godless Space Box.

Video

[kill_switch]

[It is rather fascinating to see the dedication as well as the reluctance.]

You really are serious aboutthis party business.

Video 1/2

[preformthisneigh]

Of course, I'm a professional. Even if Atroma did kidnap up against our will and make us their little entertainment puppets, it doesn't mean a special event should go unnoticed.

Video 2/2

[preformthisneigh]

They're not getting a cake, though.

[kill_switch]

Glad to hear you've got some scruples. [Not that she really had any reason to doubt, but she's still perplexed by this creature.] They certainly don't deserve a cake.

[goldenglasses]

I'll take the cake!

You know, if your credo says one needs to be baked.

[He just wants free cake.]

[video]

[thebestseller]

[Castle is once more watching with some Floot Brand popcorn, this time with artificial butter-like flavoring.]

Come ON, why does it always cut off at the best part?