♢ 01

[effluent]

Who: Sarah Turner and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: SS Golden
When: 12/06

[as the video flickers on, a blonde teenager stares intently at the camera before she flashes a toothy smile and leans in closer]

Aaaand there we go. Testing, one two-- [she taps the camera twice and grins a little wider as she hears feedback from her own device]

Is it too late for a Wizard of Oz reference? Because we sure are not in Kansas any more. [her left hand reaches up to fiddle with a strand of her wavy blonde hair as she looks up, past the camera]

So tell me if I leave anything out, because here's what I've got figured out so far. We're on Survivor: Space Edition, with just a dab of Star Travel mixed in for flavor. And I'm guessing instead of getting voted off the island, we get jetted off into space? Man, and I thought human reality TV was vicious. Turns out aliens are the real assholes.

[but despite that she laughs a bit at her own joke and turns her full attention back to the screen before she continues]

I guess the meet-and-greet comes next. Hey, I'm Sarah. [she wiggles the fingers of her right hand in a half-hearted wave] Nice to meet you, blah blah blah. While we're on the subject of introductions, I looked through the contestant list, and you guys have some wild names. Special shout out to "Belthazar" and "Adrasteius"... I can't tell if your parents were huge nerds, or if they just hated you.

So! Who all is out there? Don't be shy, I don't bite... much. [aaand yep, she accompanies that with another shit-eating-grin. She'll also be lounging around the Golden's kitchen area... Draped forward on the counter and snacking on her free pudding. Such a class act, this one.]

Comments

[effluent]

Wow, for all the confetti and pudding this show is pretty dark. [but despite her words she doesn't look put out by the news that she may never go home. Or doesn't show any reaction positive or negative. she just... shrugs and moves on]

You mentioned we're both 'Communicators', what does that even mean?

[averagestar]

Well, let's see... We're basically the eyes and ears of the ship. We're in charge of the radar and the various sensors on the ship. That means we're in charge of stuff like scanning things, damage reports, and the like. We also handle stuff like data encryption and decryption, or... breaking into a computer for the rest of the people here.

[And also data mining. Staring at code for hours and hours trying to find something useful from the mess that is a heavily damaged computer network, but... let's not mention that.]

And then we also have the jobs the name says we're in charge of. Communications! We're technically supposed to work as diplomats for the ship, if needed. Which is to say... basically every time someone speaks with us in space.

[effluent]

Wow. So uh... that's not really my strong suit. [more like, it could be but I am literally out of fucks to give and being a diplomat sounds like a nightmare] Would you mind keeping the reigns while I get adjusted to all this?

[aka I'm going to shove all the work on you and be a lazy bum :D]

[averagestar]

I don't really mind, no. I mean, it's not like things have really changed by having someone else around. It would be nice to be able to have shifts, but take your time adjusting.

[Go ahead and shove all the work on me! I don't mind at all! Also, dealing with getting lazy people to do their work has always been someone else's job.]

[effluent]

[wowow, she smiles a bit and raises an eyebrow]

Are you always this... chipper?

[averagestar]

Well, I try to be. It's a good idea to keep our spirits up, especially since we don't know how long we'll be here. In the end, there's not much we can do about our situation, so we should do our best to make it as safe as we can, right?

I don't really feel comfortable if I don't have anything to do, so having a job helps a lot. Even if half the time I'm just looking at what random asteroids are made of.

[effluent]

[Sarah shrugs as she asks "make it as safe as we can" and reaches up to rub the back of her neck]

Wow, a real girl scout extraordinaire. [...] So... have you found any fun space rock facts?

[averagestar]

I don't really know about a girl scout, but... We have an audience and fans cheering for us, so shouldn't we do our best for their sake, too?

[Not so much a girl scout as someone in the entertainment industry, it seems.]

As for space rock facts... does it count if I can tell what ones we can sell to make some extra money?

[effluent]

I'd say that counts as a fun fact. How much are you going to charge for it?

[....]

Although, as I say that I realize I have no idea what space dollars are used here.

[averagestar]

Mostly normal clothes, real food, and upgrading the ship so that we can eventually have something other than a communal shower. I use it to buy music.

There are actually some small ports you can stop by to buy stuff, but since the flight path takes us kind of out of the way, there's not really much in the way of variety at them.

As for how much we charge for the rocks... I generally leave that to the other side. I mean, it's not like we really have a use for them anyways, at least not until we can upgrade systems to break them down better.

[And I probably get favorable deals anyways, thanks to my Charm augment.]

[effluent]

Huh. Well if you ever want, I can try to figure out what a good price is. Then we can charge even more. [it's quite hard to tell if she's serious or joking]