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

[rubbernecking]

WAIT, WE'RE ON A REALITY TV SHOW?

[mikangirl]

Kind of a big space storm. And--

[UH. Wow, he got that a lot faster than she expected. She just stares for a second, mouth twitching up a bit because now, bizarrely, she feels on more familiar ground. But. Let's get one thing straight.]

Supposedly. Nobody's ever seen any proof of that. For all we know, we're just being lied to and we're here for some other reason.

[rubbernecking]

[ He actually participated in some of those TV shows! He was partnered up with a dour rebel in a cooperative broadcast contest (think a trivia contest meets obstacle course), was an extra in a soap opera (which, by the way, was a hilarious disaster culminating in the set burning down), even a cooking show with Sanji, too, which was a pretty successful pilot (which came with its own set of problems).

Entertainment was a huge deal where he was, and they suspected it was another of the many, many distractions meant to keep the populace preoccupied. Reality tv was so much a part of the culture that he kinda can't ignore it, the same way that its surveillance state and widespread deception is not unexpected, either. ]

...Okay.

[ He cocks his head to one side, considering. Vivi would make nice with the locals. Law would have integrated himself into the administrative functions at the core of a place, figure it out from the inside. Sanji would... disappear, and show up later having done something terribly clever (and probably seedy).

He's not good at any of that, but they're not here, and if he wants to get back to them he has to try, try really, really hard, to play the long game, too. ]

Um, is there anybody here besides people like us?

[mikangirl]

[...Luffy what are you thinking.

Seriously. She can't read you and that doesn't feel right. Nami frowns, but she answers the question. Uh-- sort of.]

People like us how? You mean from the Grand Line? No, there isn't. Or do you mean people who aren't involuntary TV stars? Because I've only met one, and that was over the screens over there. [She points across the room at a large screen, currently dark.]

They talk to us sometimes. Apparently.

[rubbernecking]

Talk at us, huh.

[ No, no, he gets it. He knows the type. He recognizes too the resigned, disgruntled, impotent rebelliousness of people who don't really think anything will be solved by grumping or flipping off the nearest source of their despair, but do it anyway because it's all they can do. He might not agree with it, but he gets it. ]

Mm, I figured if there were more of us from home you'd have said so!

[ And he can't really hear the 'voice' of his other crewmates, either. ]

Okay, maybe getting cozy with those guys who show up there-- [ And by this, he nods at the screen, indicating Diamond and Co. ] --won't really do much.

[mikangirl]

[...these pauses she keeps giving him are getting longer and longer.]

How long were you in this other place for?

[rubbernecking]

[ That question's kind of abrupt; Luffy tries counting on his fingers as he sorts this one out loud: ]

Lemme see... there was my birthday, and then there was Torao's... and there's, uhhh... six months right there between those? And then...

[ Although he visibly gives up when counting it out becomes too troublesome for him, it's safe to say it's been at least half a year. ]

[mikangirl]

[She's trying to work out why he's off.]

Law was there too, huh? [Yeah okay, at least six months. Probably not more than a year, because she thinks he'd pick that. He's still Luffy; just... warier and more subtle than she thought he could be.]

...must have been an interesting place. [She says it casually enough, but her expression is flat.]

[rubbernecking]

And Sanji! My brothers, too.

[ And Perona, but he doesn't think she'd be all that relevant to Nami's interests, so he doesn't bother bringing her up. Just because he and Perona took a stroll through a personal kind of hell and came out friends for the trouble doesn't mean anyone else has to care a whit about a former enemy. As far as he's concerned, his friendship is between them.

The rest of the crew can come to their own conclusions. Sanji was easily convinced; she's a lady, after all. ]

Sometimes it was fun, but mostly it was... [ How do you even summarize it? Without worrying her? ] Yeah, it was interesting! [ His gaze swivels away from her, lips puckering. ] What about you?

[mikangirl]

[Well, at least he wasn't entirely alone. Also, one thing hasn't changed, Luffy: you're a terrible liar.

In this case, though, she's not sure she wants to push him about that just yet. Besides, he said something else that gave her pause. Because--]

Brothers?

[Even given Ace is dead, which these kinds of places don't seem to care about and if he got to spend time with Ace, that's... great in a horrible kind of way.

But that was also a plural.]

[rubbernecking]

Yeah--

[ Oh.

He brings up his palm to smack the heel of it against his forehead, mouth forming that sound without actually saying it, realizing: ]

You didn't meet Sabo!

[mikangirl]

No, I didn't. [She nearly asks who's Sabo? but from context she can already guess his response. Nami smiles a little. Baffled, sure, but even if she doesn't know the whys and whats and hows, she thinks this is a good thing for Luffy.]

You never mentioned him before. What's he like?

[rubbernecking]

There really wasn't a point, before. [ Then again, Luffy was unintentionally tight-lipped about a lot of other stuff, it took how long for the crew to find out he had a brother at all? But there's a reason he didn't mention Sabo when explaining Ace and his relationship: ] For a long time, I thought he was dead.

[ And he abruptly smiles, bright and huge and warm. ]

But he was okay! He forgot all about everything, and it turned out he'd become a big-shot with those Revolutionary Army guys!

What're the chances, huh? [ Swinging his arms over his head, he clasps his hands behind it, under his hat. ] He's become real strong, and ate Ace's fruit, too! Keeps busy a lot, I hope he's doing okay.

[mikangirl]

[So by definition, then, he won the contest on Dressrosa. And that's how they met. Which... doesn't surprise her, even given you were meant to be doing something else. Oy. Still, she can't help grinning in response to that huge smile.]

I'm glad. I hope I get a chance to meet him one day.