driftfleet | At least there's no elevator music...

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At least there's no elevator music...

[At least two weeks have passed since the Drift Fleet passengers woke up on this strange wing of the Marsiva... Some new passengers have even joined the group instead of being Shuffled off to a fleet ship! The large monitor in the central room remains quiet for now, so how is everyone holding up?

Have you been relaxing? Enjoying the Earth media? If you can even remember them, how have Calibrations been treating you? Has anyone started getting a little stir-crazy?

Don't worry... This ship has no shortage of mysteries, and you'll be seeing a few more soon.]

ooc: here's another mingle for the current game event! players can start or continue threads here from any point during the event. the additional setting information is still being postponed due to sickly mods, but y'all are welcome to post additional topcomments for reactions and investigation once it's up!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ In all fairness, this is neither the first nor the last time one will find him squashing his face against the window, gawking at space. Real space!! Sure, he didn't get the best news in the world, but the novelty of this fact really hasn't worn off, and it's a great distraction.

It's the loud and drawn out grumble of his stomach that eventually peels him off the bowed glass, and he looks up from giving it a dismayed look.

He should try to find the kitchen. Place like this has gotta have a food printer. Oh man... he's going to have to learn all the settings that print out steak all over again!

Just wait until he finds out it's all basically tofu and weird gels. THIS IS HELL. ]

...Na?

[ He blinks, then lifts a hand to point at the blonde, starting to gawk. ]

Oh! Hey, you're... that girl! I saw you outside Dana-Burn, when that kid started shooting pink beams at us! You ended up here, too?!

[ ... She's also kind of staring in confusion now. ]

... Wait, what?

[ She has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Not that this is new for Luffy, necessarily, but if she's hearing this right ... ]

You know who I am?

[ Oh great, now both of them are looking at each other in total confusion. Except Luffy's involves blanker stares and a slightly agape mouth. ]

...Nope. Sorry.

I don't think you really said your name! That girl got herself blown up running into all those traps, and then she got back up and started shooting at us!

[ He folds his arms, canting his head to one side with eyebrows furrowing. ]

Wow. You really don't remember!

Yeah, because that didn't happen!

[ ... Wait a second. ]

Hold on. You're not from your ship, are you? You were somewhere else before you came here.

That's right! But you were there, too! Not with--

[ Actually, this brings him up short for a moment, and he plants a fist on his hip as the other hand cradles his chin. ]

Come to think of it, I'unno where you came from or what you do, you just happened to be there.

[ LMFAO ... Oh, Luffy. She's glad that wherever he came from last, it didn't seem to have changed him much. ]

What was that place called? The place you came from.

[ You know what they say. The more things change, the more they stay the same. His experiences have left an impact greater than a couple of extra scars, but it's safe to say the force of Luffy's personality and the conviction he has in his attitude go a long way to drowning these out. ]

Nuh-uh. You already asked me stuff, it's my turn!

[ Luffy, really? You're twenty, aren't you too old to be like this? ]

How do you know my name?! I don't even know yours!

[ She just told you! ]

[ Fortunately, she's pretty sure she knows how to get this conversation to go in her favor. Not that she's not excited to see him, as a friend -- but figuring out where he came from and how he knows of her could be important in figuring out anything to do with why they were picked to be here.

She'll stick out a hand for a handshake ]

I'm Ino. I'm a ninja.

[ As though that explains everything ]

[ Luffy's eyes light up like a kid discovering their favorite gift-giving holiday arrived early, and holy crap, if it isn't like he's actually sparkling, he's enthusiasm in physical form. The only way she could have made him fanboy harder is if she introduced herself as a ninja robot that fired beams. ]

A ninja? Really? Like Tacchi and Foxy and Cherry?!

[ Sorry, did she anticipate a handshake? Because Luffy grabs that hand with both of his, clasping it as he leans in. ]

That's so awesome!! Did you live in a, what's-it. A hidden village too?!

--uh, maybe? I don't know if I know any of those people.

[ they sound like nicknames, but who knows with some people .... ]

But yes, I did live in a hidden village.

Oh, uh. I call one of 'em Cherry because I didn't know her real name for a long time, and her hair was-- [ He talks with his hands, but the gestures are all vague and unhelpful, if expressive. ] You know! Like cherry blossoms! Pink, real pretty.

[ It takes a certain level of self-assurance to embrace some idea of manliness but still use words like 'pretty'. He doesn't have a thing to prove like Sanji does, but then, she knew him, she'd know. But he's positively beaming now, a smile huge and bright as daybreak, like talking about friends -- or at least, friendly acquaintances -- might just be one of a list of favorite things to talk about. ]

And Foxy's Naruto, cuz he's got these... I'unno, whisker things on his face!

[ And the most significant of them all, the one he was friends with longest and with the most investiture: ]

Tacchi... is Itachi, it's just easier to say. [ His face falls, if briefly; whatever troubled him just then is brusquely pushed aside in favor of the matter at hand: ] He's the one who told me about how you guys are like, secret armies or something!

[ Sakura. He must be talking about Sakura. And Naruto, too! Her face lights up too, and she's about to ask how they were doing, but that last name.

... She knows he's not actually crazy and was just looking out for Sasuke, but she can't imagine actually being friends with the guy ... ]

You were -- you were friends with Itachi? Uchiha Itachi?!

Well--Yeah!

Once, this really bad thing happened and it would've ended up with a lot of people dead. Some of my friends helped out, and one of 'em, Torao-- he got bad off after working so hard, and Tacchi looked after him.

[ That's about as much detail as he's willing to give, because the rest goes something like: ]

And a bunch of other stuff happened, but he was a great friend, looked out for everybody.

[ He's sobered as he continues talking, and he's stopped motioning with his hands, tucking them deep into his pockets. ]

...I miss him a lot. Anyway, if you know him, were you guys in the same village?

[ She looks a little dumbfounded. It's hard for her to imagine all of that, but ... Maybe that's the person he could be when he wasn't trapped by the laws and circumstances of their world. ]

... Sort of, yeah. I know Naruto and Sakura much better. The three of us went to school together.

[ The world he just came from turned a lot of things upside-down. ]

They're together, if you're wondering. And healthy!

[ And he won't say safe, not exactly, that'd be lying. None of them were safe. That's why he has to get back there -- none of his friends were safe, and he'd promised they would leave together.

He smiles again, though, adding eagerly: ]

Wow! I'll bet you're really strong, too!

Ha ... is that right?

[ That gets a little smile. She can see it working, anyways. And she's glad to know they're doing alright, wherever they are. ]

I like to think I'm pretty capable, anyways. But -- [ There's something weighing on her, now ] You wouldn't happen to remember if they said anything about what was happening in the place we came from, would you? I haven't heard from them in years, and the last I remember we were in the middle of a pretty big battle, so ...

[ To be totally honest, Luffy's pretty tickled to find, out of the wide, wide expanse of an endless sea of stars, he'd happen upon one other person who happened to grow up with some of his friends. And they're the first real, live ninjas he's ever met!

The ~~sea~~ universe sure is vast. ]

A battle? Hrmmm...

[ Luffy tips his head one way, then the other, slowly screwing up his face more and more (seriously, is thinking that hard?) until he shakes his head. ]

Don't remember, but-- you've been apart for years?

...Wow. I'm sorry. That's rough, but I'm sure you're gonna see 'em again!

[ And she's waiting, waiting ....

... And then lets out a sigh. She shouldn't have expected much, honestly, but it's the first she's even heard of them in years, so she had hoped ...

... But oh well. She'll offer Luffy a bit of a wry smile ]

Yeah, I hope so too.

I know so! Shishishi!

[ No sooner than he's hissed his own unique and toothy laughter, his stomach chimes in, giving the sort of long, shameless grumble that might have embarrassed anyone who... well, wasn't Luffy. ]

...Hey, you know where I can find a food printer?

[ And, for all that their conversation has meandered all over the proverbial map, this time he practically crumples, putting a hand on his stomach. ]

I'm really hungry!

[ He's getting another confused stare for a moment. ]

... No, but I know where you can find the kitchen?

[ And hey, she knows just the thing to up her favor with him even more. She nods her head towards the hallway leading back to the common area, turning to head in that direction. ]

C'mon, I'll make you something.

[ It's okay, Ino, they're going to be giving each other baffled looks for a while now, at the rate things are going. Any dismay he might have experienced learning that maybe, just maybe, for all its high-tech appearances it might not actually have food printers, it's gone the second she says she'll make him something.

Ah, Ino, you're becoming cooler and cooler by the minute. He throws his fists into the air with a whoop of joy, shaving years off his twenty in a single gesture. ]

GREAT!

[ He trots to keep up, then slows to stroll at her pace, lacing his fingers behind his head beneath the brim of his straw hat. ]

...Hey, how come we're in space? Are we going somewhere?

[ She glances over at him as they walk. ]

... Wow, you really just got here, didn't you?

[ How to explain this ... she can't remember if they have TV and stuff in his world. ]

The gist of it is, we got brought here to be recorded for an audience. We travel in a fleet of spaceships and stop at different planets and moons. We get paid depending on how entertaining we are. Right now, we're all stuck on this one big ship though.

Audience..?

[ Where he just came from, there was no end to the amount of mind-numbingly awful reality television, groan-worthy soaps, and eyebrow-raising game-shows. Considering this may just be the first answer he's received that doesn't result in confusion, he's caught her drift just fine.

~~Haha, drift, get it--~~ ]

What's that mean? We're paid... but only if we're really interesting to watch? Do we use the money to go back?

Yeah. And the money can be used to buy things at the places we stop, or upgrades for your ship.

As far as leaving goes, we've been told the only way to go home is to be the most popular, or most interesting. They haven't exactly been very forthcoming about all that.

[ He laughs, but it's different than before. Not humorless, exactly, but a little tired. This game is one he's a little familiar with, but only recently. A delicate balancing act of holding up appearances even when the whole mechanic of a place chafes something fundamental to how one views the world and what's right in it.

Right, okay. He's not so good at this kind of game, but he's learned how to survive in it.

The trick is doing so without the support he'd been accustomed to. Seas, he misses-- ]

Sure! No sweat.

...What's going to make you more interesting?

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