driftfleet | first {if the honey don't get me, i know the beehive will}

Who: B + U {open}
Broadcast: Fleetwide audio
Action: Marsiva
When: Nowish

[B wakes, and he isn't where he should be.

Caught, his first panicked thought, followed closely after by failed - but no. This is a cot, but it's not a prison cell. He's been detained, rerouted - that much is certain - but he hasn't failed. He hasn't finished. The landscape of the game has simply changed.

It's still an unnecessary detour; it still makes his blood boil. B allows himself a long, silent moment of pure fury over his current predicament - forcibly prevented from finishing his masterpiece, halted from placing the final piece of the puzzle into place, how dare, how dare - but only that, only a moment. He's still him, and he does next what comes naturally for his brilliant mind in any situation - always observe. Make an analysis; collect the clues; form a conclusion.

B sits up, swings his legs over the side of the cot, plants his feet on the floor. Picks up the device set next to him, slowly turns it over in his hand, examining it. Somehow, he already knows exactly how it works. Interesting.

A move has been made against him; the only viable response is to launch a counterattack, a test. He clicks on an audio broadcast, and for several seconds, there's only the almost-silence of dead air - quiet breathing, a faint hum of background noise, nothing more. Then, he speaks: calmly, evenly. Perhaps unnaturally so, give the circumstances.]

Misora ... please respond.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ooookay. That's just weird. You're gathering evidence.

This isn't a... a crime or something!

Of course it is. I've been kidnapped, haven't I? Kidnapping is a fairly serious crime. And besides, I'm a detective. This is how I operate - gathering evidence is second nature.

[Oh. Well.

...He's got a point.]

Okay, okay, so we've all been kidnapped. That's true, I guess. But it's not like anyone's really figured out anything important about who took us.

[A pause.] You're really a detective?

That's right, I really am a detective. I don't seem to have my business cards any longer, otherwise I'd show you. Is this your first time meeting a detective?

Yeah, I guess so. There weren't exactly a lot of detectives back home. [If they even existed anywhere outside of stories.]

...And I don't really know that much about detectives.

One certain way to learn more about something you don't know much about is to ask questions.

[A pause.] Aaaaand... I can ask you?

I don't see that there's anything that would prevent you from doing so.

[It's another few moments before she answers.]

...Do you really figure out murders and stuff?!

Of course, that's what a detective does - solve crimes.

[All right, all right. Awesome!] Oookay. So it's gotta be easy for you, right? Cause you do it so much?

Well, I wouldn't say it's easy, necessarily. Part of the satisfaction of closing a case is meeting the challenge of it. But I am pretty good at it.

Ohhh. So it's not exactly hard for you either, right?

[A pause.] Sorry, sorry! It just sounds like a really cool job, I guess.

No, it's not especially difficult for me.

[B has actually never thought of detective work as cool. It's something he sees more as a calling, a sacred profession - L's profession.]

You're right. It is a pretty cool job.

[She laughs.] Definitely. It's just gotta be... amazing to be able to figure all of that out! And you're helping people when you do it!

Yes, of course. Seeking justice for the victims is a worthy cause, [he lies. Maybe it was true once, but now ... ]

You seems to have quite an interest. Have you ever considered becoming a detective yourself?

[That startles a laugh out of her.] Not really! I don't think I could have really been one back home, you know?

I just read stories and watched them on TV sometimes... That's all.

But you do have an interest. Passion for one's work is important, after all.

I guess. It'd be pretty boring without it.

So, tell me then! How do you become a detective?

[She's not taking it too seriously, not really, but hey! She's curious.]

Through hard work and dedication, of course.

[Also being ~~brainwashed~~ trained for it from childhood. That's also a thing, in B's case.]

Isn't that the same way you become anything else?

When you put it that way it just sounds too easy. It makes it sound like you just wake up one day and say I'm gonna be a detective and start working hard!

[She laughs.] Though I guess that kind of is how I got my job back home...

What job is that?

Everything! It's... No one here's known what it is, but we just do all the odd jobs people ask us to do. [A shrug.] Missing pens, missing people... Deliveries!

[Fighting terrorists and monsters, but wow, better not mention that yet.]

Hmm ... it would be a bit of a leap from deliveries to detective, but you seem intelligent enough to do so.

[That. Almost sounds like a compliment.]

first {if the honey don't get me, i know the beehive will}

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