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(no subject)

Who: Obi-Wan Kenobi and You
Broadcast: Video
Action: Hospitality Deck - Marsiva
When: January 2nd

[ Obi-Wan is no stranger to waking up to unknown locations, but this seemed odd . . . even for him. He gropes for his lightsaber . . . which is gone, obviously. He huffs, before straightening himself and brushing his hair back. Communications . . . communications . . . ah, there it is.

A video feed. Somewhat archaic, but it'll do. He doubts anyone from the Republic will be nearby, but perhaps the locals will offer some aid. Obi-Wan clears his throat before speaking. It's time for his other skill set to come in use. ]

Greetings. My name is General Kenobi. To whom do I have the pleasure of addressing? And I don't suppose there is someone willing to answer my questions? Because I have a great deal many of them.

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Sorry, I'll pass, I have enough rivals as it is.

Is that so? How did you manage that?

[ In Obi-Wan's case, he's the General of an army, infamous for his techniques. ]

[She has to pause for a minute, thinking how to summarize.]

By making out with a vampire in front of her boyfriend as a distraction tactic?

That . . . would do the trick.

[ Even though that sounds like something out of a teenage drama. ]

My issues with rivals tend to be a tad bit deadlier.

[She shrugs.

The teenage drama only gets more... teenage drama from there, honestly.]

I've got a few of those, too, but I figure once they've killed me a couple of times, they get moved up to 'enemy'.

I beg your pardon, a "couple of times"?

Twice, yes. Maybe three times, but I'm not actually sure if that first one counted.

I find it usually counts if you lack a pulse.

How did you come back?

Well... Coming back from death was normal in my world, so I'm not counting those.

But at my last interdimensional shithole, the beings who killed us brought us back afterwards. Either because it was the rules, or so they could do it again later.

But not here.

[ That comes as a slight relief. Obi-Wan had no interest in seeing people he cared about die . . . again. ]

I've been here for about half a year, or a bit over. In that time, I haven't seen a single person die, which is... bizarre to think about.

We have been locked in representations of each other's hearts and made to experience each other's memories, including the bad ones, though. We're not going to come to physical harm, I think, when they can hurt us psychologically instead.

Bizarre, but not all that troubling.

I suppose it's not surprising they're unwilling to hurt their contestants so to speak. They probably lack the power to return people from the dead, unlike our world.

I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, honestly.

I doubt that. The Atroma have power to spare, and they've invested resources in bringing us here already. If we're still profitable to them, they'll bring us back.

[ And that says plenty, but it's not his place to comment on it. ]

They may not have the method. Bringing people back from the dead . . . speaks of a force I'm not comfortable with.

Really? Any mid-level healer can do it, where I'm from. Hell, give me a couple months of proper training, and I'd be able to do it.

In your world, yes. But do you think the Atroma are from your world?

I'm certain they have no relation to my world. But if there's one world that could do that, it stands to reason there's others. There's apparently near-infinite worlds, after all.

Yes, but you've been here for some time and it has yet to happen. Perhaps that'll change, but without proof either way, we simply don't know.

It hasn't happened yet.

I've never known about a being as powerful as the Atroma that doesn't get off on murdering people. It's only a matter of time.

I find yet can be quite varied. Especially when it comes to our expectations.

[ Does power translate into murder and destruction? No. He knows this for sure. ]

So you've never had powerful friends? You could be considered powerful too, bringing people back to life.

... My teammate here, Magpie, regularly kills gods with a book. Not metaphorically or anything, she just bludgeons them with it when she's not casting spells. My other teammates include a ridiculously strong vampire, an alien kid who can control animals, a girl who captured some sort of otherworldly horror and tamed it with pastries, and a guy who could summon infinite copies of the most powerful swords ever made in his world.

I'm on the low end of the power scale, compared to my friends. But none of them hold a candle to the forces that can rip people across universes like this.

But they hold candles of their own. It's not power that corrupts, but abuses of power. That's what sets your friends apart from the Atroma.

We have been unwillingly torn from our lives, put on prison ships, stripped of all privacy, and placed here to compete with each other, with the promise that in the end, only one of us will go home. Not even any better off for our trouble, mind you, but the prize for winning is to go home like nothing happened.

The Atroma are most definitely corrupt as fuck, and have immense power. Whether or not power does the corrupting isn't relevant.

[ Really? Because it was, earlier. ]

Of course. I stand corrected.

Damn right.

... Oh, right. Nightingale, by the way.