At least there's no elevator music...

[thespaceopera]

[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!

Comments

[ino]

... Yes?

Is your world the type of place where you court someone and then marry them right away or something?

[experiencepoints]

What? No. I don't think so, anyway? I just don't know why you'd date someone you weren't in love with, unless you were tricked into it...

[That's a little specific, Nightingale...]

[ino]

Well, I liked him. We were attracted to each other.

[ Also she has a whole host of issues revolving around her love life but you know what? This is a good thing and she's not going to ruin it ]

[experiencepoints]

Well... That's good, and it worked out, too... Uh, congratulations, I guess? Is that the right thing to say?

1/2

[ino]

[ She giggles ]

Thanks!

[ino]

[ But hey, wait a second. ]

... Did someone trick you into dating them?

[ THAT SOUNDED AN AWFUL LOT LIKE A THING YOU HAD PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH. ]

[experiencepoints]

Uh- No, of course not, I have no idea? Amnesiac, remember?

[Not that she even knows if she told Ino that part. It's amazing how she only mentions that part when it's a convenient excuse for something she doesn't want to talk about. And it's not convincing at all, anyway.]

[ino]

... No?

[ She squints at her ]

It was just kind of a weird, specific situation to bring up.

[experiencepoints]

It's a very long story involving an asshole ninja, you probably don't want to hear about it.

[ino]

[ She flips the meat out of the pan onto a plate, and then leans against the counter, chin in the palm that's not holding her fork ]

I've got nowhere to be.

[experiencepoints]

... That's the line that means there's no way I'm getting out of this, isn't it.

[ino]

Yep.

[ Pops a piece of meat in her mouth and chews. Do go on! ]

[experiencepoints]

... Right.

[Okay. She can't lie worth a damn, and Ino is smart, so she'd pick up on it right away. How does she honestly make it sound less worse than it was.]

My parents decided it was time for me to get married, so they sent me on a date with this one guy without telling me what it was, apparently hoping we'd hit it off, only the guy was... well, kind of thick-headed, and a ninja on top of that, so we didn't even have anything in common. And I'm not even interested in men, so...

Anyway, that's all it was. Not a big deal.

[ino]

Ahh, the whole arranged relationship type of thing ... That sucks!

[ She'll poke at another piece on her plate ]

I didn't know you didn't like boys.

[ Ino, no, don't go down that path, nobody else wants you setting them up with anyone ]

[experiencepoints]

It- It wasn't that bad, really.

[Yes it was.]

Really? I guess that makes sense... I've pretty much given up on romance. It never works out when I fall for someone.

[At least, she seems pretty oblivious to whatever Ino is thinking. Good luck.]

[ino]

Hmm ...

[ She looks Nightingale over for a moment ]

What sort of girls do you like, then?

[experiencepoints]

I guess, ones that...

[She starts to answer, then trails off, and turns very red, quickly aborting what she was going to say.]

Um. Smart girls? Ones with... a strong sense of justice, I guess?

And judging from my past record, apparently, straight ones.

[ino]

Ah ... so that's why it didn't work out, huh.

Well, you don't have to worry. I don't think there's very many people here who only like the opposite sex.

[experiencepoints]

Well... One is- gone, one is straight, and one has been in a monogamous relationship with her boyfriend for... 'Several centuries', I think she'd said.

[She sure is using the present tense having crushes on multiple people. Having a ton of feelings can be a problem sometimes.]

Here has its own other problems...

[ino]

[ She's noticing that, but ... it's not like she doesn't know what that's like, soooo. She's more interested in the last part, anyways. Mostly because she's pretty sure she could have something helpful to say about it. ]

Like what?

[experiencepoints]

[One day, she's going to figure out how she keeps getting pulled into other peoples' paces like this.

Today is not that day.]

I'm a neurotic amnesiac with a whole lot of baggage. At least back at the castle, everyone was in that same position, but here... Not exactly great dating material.

[ino]

You'd be surprised at how many other people here have a lot of problems and manage to function normally anyways.

[ She'll use herself as an example. Not because she wants sympathy or anything for the things she's going through, but because it doesn't seem appropriate to tell Nightingale other people's problems to make a point. She says it in a light tone, making it clear she's not about to, you know, cry about it or anything ]

I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm going be killed in a huge war that we're completely outnumbered in at home whenever I go back, since the last thing I remember is my dad saying goodbye to me before being incinerated by a gigantic monster that nobody knows how to stop. I've been stuck in a crazy interdimensional maze for the entertainment of some bizarre collection of higher powers for eight years now, and I've seen thousands of people come and go in that time, including some people that I've dated and had a really hard time getting over because they got sent home so suddenly. And now the entire universe apparently gets to watch me in the shower like the creepy perverts they all are.

But, I manage to find some time to squeeze a few dates in.

[experiencepoints]

Wait- Hold on- Wait, what?!

[WHY ARE YOU DYING. why does she keep befriending people who are fucking doomed. why this.]

What the- What's that about a war?!

[ino]

I'm a soldier for my village. There's a group of people who want to take over everything using some demons they collected. So, obviously, we had to fight back.

[experiencepoints]

Then don't go back there if you're definitely just going to die!