Beam me up

[thespaceopera]

[The weekly Shuffle doesn't happen quite as it should. No new passengers appear on the ships, and no message is sent in from the hosts. The usual day comes and goes without a stir.

And then, on the second day, another one of those surges of static comes in over the speakers, breaking apart for a voice in the background. It's Diamond, and she sounds too far away from the receiver. She also doesn't sound quite like herself-- her tone flat and cold. Disappointed.]

--I know. I can't. [A pause of empty air, before a short, decisive sigh.] ...Yes. Bring them in.

[A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. They have never seen this room before, but those familiar with the Hospitality Deck of the Marsiva might recognize the style of decor. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well--clean and chrome--but this set of rooms have never been ventured into before.

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers.]

ooc info:
Happy belated birthday, Drift Fleet! This is the first official mingle for the Season Finale event. As always, this is very backtag friendly-- including the Hosts section below. Take a look at the event information, then jump in and enjoy!

Event information → Here!

Comments

[honorbends]

Fire reacting to metal.

[And, to his nonsurprise, nothing is happening. Nothing of consequence, anyway, except a red hot mark on his wall.]

Nothing important.

[save_the_souls]

[......]

There's a button that opens the door, Zuko. You don't need to melt it.

[honorbends]

I know that. I wanted to see if this was an illusion.

[Adstringendum does weird shit to a man's mind, okay.]

It feels real, but that means nothing.

[save_the_souls]

By setting it on fire....

[Sigh. Firebenders.]

It could be anything, really. We'd wake up in strange places all the time in Paradisa. [Which means he's used to this, but it's not at all comforting] From the sound of it, everyone is probably here too.

[honorbends]

What else am I going to do, punch it?

[ excuse you METAL MELTS ]

It happened in Adstringendum, too, but this feels different.

[ less animus-y, more 'we literally got teleported'. though zuko supposes that could happen in adstring too. ]

[save_the_souls]

[Well YEAH!! PUNCH IT!! Except oh right, not everyone has a hand made out of god-mody material that wouldn't get hurt by punching walls. Right]

Ah...you have a point there.

[But oh, that strikes his interest. After the Paradisa folks kept going on about similarities, he's real keen on hearing differences]

Really? How does it feel different?

[honorbends]

[ there's a brief silence ]

The Animus were all powerful spirits, but you could ... it was real, what they did, but it wasn't, at the same time. This feels like we were moved from one place to another -- in Adstringendum, you were always home. -- or, where the Animus put us, anyway.

[save_the_souls]

So they'd just make illusions and hallucinations around you to make it seem like you were traveling somewhere else, when you really weren't...

[Wow. Castle magic actually sounds less complicated. Never thought he'd see that happen]

How do you tell if it's real or not?

[honorbends]

A lot of the time we were trapped in our own head.

[ which was the worst, depending on who you were. for zuko, that had been the worst. ]

-- you just know. Some people don't -- it gets easier the longer you live there. You know it's just a trick, if you're lucky.

[save_the_souls]

[Trapped in their own heads...ugh. He's seen that happened before. It was never good]

I'm sorry you had to go through that so often.

[It's surreal to think he apparently did too- or rather, another version of himself. He can't imagine he'd been a fan of that]

Well, at least between the lot of us, we'll be more ready for whatever Atroma throws at us now.

[honorbends]

If you say so.

[ zuko is not confident but then again being optimistic isn't his job.

and he's not good at it, either. ]

[save_the_souls]

[It's okay Allen will take on the job for you Zuko. It's part of the contract in being a shonen.]

[As well as terrible ill timed jokes to hide his stress]

Oh come on! Look, maybe you'll get to set something on fire while we're here!

[honorbends]

I can do that on the ship.

[ NOT THAT ZUKO WANTS TO BE ON ANY SHIP but uggggHHHhhhHhhhhghghghghghg :c ]

Where are you, anyway? And everyone else?

[save_the_souls]

[...You know, all that retort tells him is that he really should get around to asking Hiro to setting up that fire alarm on the Blue Fish when they get back. Y e p.]

Me? I'm in a hallway outside the rooms. Looks like there's nameplates on every door.

Beverly is in her room, and Sokka said he was going to try to talk to Atroma. I haven't heard from the others yet.

[honorbends]

[ there's a moment of silence as zuko steps outside of his door -- some shuffling and the door closes and zuko examines the name on his door.

and then glances at the one next to him before frowning.

he doesn't seem to be near anyone he knows, but if this bullshit is alphabetical, atroma is getting punched in the throat. :) ]

I think I'm at the end.

[ because of course he is

fucking christ his life sucks ]

[save_the_souls]

[Word of god says randomized! So you were just sorted by shitty, shitty luck bro]

You are?

[Crap. And this hallway seems never ending too]

Then- start walking and I'll meet you half way?!

[honorbends]

[ somehow even better ]

Fine.

[ GAWD dammit and he begins to walk, in irritation SO MUCH HUFFING ]

This is just -- stupid --

[save_the_souls]

[And he's walking as well- in what we hope is the right direction!! Since man it's really hard to tell in this hallway. But he'll just snort]

I'll agree to that.

[But as he gets another message]

Toph's alright. She's destroying some doors.

[honorbends]

[ . . . ]

Great.

Can anyone get arrested here?

[save_the_souls]

How should I know? I don't know where here is.

[honorbends]

We should figure it out before Toph finds out for us.

[ bc he's pretty sure they won't appreciate trashing the ship ]

[save_the_souls]

[Dryly]

Yeah. I'll keep an eye out for a law book. I'm sure they're lying around everywhere.