01;

[whatitis]

Who: Carlos; OTA!!
Broadcast: Everyone
Action: Anyone on the Marsiva, if you wanna find him!
When: Any time from 1/26 to the Saturday Shuffle, really.

[Carlos is many things, but primarily confused, and partially scared. Luckily, though, he's also pretty adaptive, and he manages to find the broadcast-y technology pretty early on in his...well, he wouldn't call it panic, but most people would.]

[He looks tired, first and foremost, but also curious. Exceedingly curious.]

...Hey-o. This is sure...a situation--hold on, pretend that didn't happen.

[There's a shuffling of the camera before he shows up again, now bearing a blinding smile that's closer to a grimace.]

Hi, this is Carlos? If there's anyone, y'know, out there...hi! Oh, I'm no good at this kind of business. Just, um, if someone could drop me a line on what's happening, that would be capital-A appreciated.

Comments

[Action?]

[helladoomed]

[After her talk with Max and various others, Chloe headed out to explode the...Marsiva, everyone said it was called. Which was why the blue-haired punk came wandering around a corner and spotted the devilishly handsome scientist with his perfect hair and teeth. Not that she really noticed that part, she was just happy to see another person.]

Damn, they were right, there are other people over here.

[whatitis]

[Chloe, you useless lesbian, you.]

[As soon as she enters, he turns away from the equipment, looking very excited! Human contact!]

So there is! Hi!

[He raises a hand in greeting, bearing a more genuine smile. For...whatever strange reason, he's wearing a lab coat over a purple bowling shirt. Is that the fashion, nowadays?]

[helladoomed]

[Hmph. She is a bisexual in love it is a totally different problem.]

[Chloe could dig the look, but she's in a tanktop and a blazer with her bra showing so she wasn't the best person to ask.]

Hey! You just wake up here too?

[whatitis]

Yeah, I did. I'm guessing you asked because you've been exposed to a similar experience? Neat. Good to know I'm not alone--both literally, as I'm not the only person here, and also that I'm not alone in my strange experiences.

[Yeah, he's definitely a bit of a blabbermouth. Just a bit.]

I'm Carlos. I'm, uh, a scientist? Who're you?

audio

[bothbarrels]

It's scary, I know, if you haven't found yourself in this type of situation before. You've been taken by powers unknown to a ship fleet in outer space to participate in a reality show that's being filmed on board. I'd like to be able to give you more useful information than that but there really isn't any.

[whatitis]

That's...fun! Really fun.

[He winces, looking around at the sterile walls of the Marsiva.]

There's, uh, more ships? This is a fleet? That's bizarre.

[bothbarrels]

Fun? [ He sort of chuckles. ] Well, we make the most of it. Sometimes, you'll do something that interests the audiences more than usual and you'll get a pay bonus for it.

You'll get your crew assignment at the end of the week. I wish I could tell you there's a way to get home or find out more, but I can't.

[whatitis]

I meant fun in a very dry way, believe me. That sounds not fun at all. The opposite of fun. Unfun.

Even though you can't tell me much more, I appreciate the assistance! It's small kindnesses in unfamiliar places that really make it feel homey.

[video]

[forsometimenow]

Congratulations, you're the newest member of the Drift Fleet. Lucky you?

[whatitis]

Lucky me, I guess! I needed a vacation, anyways.

[forsometimenow]

Well, that's quite an optimistic way to look at it.

[whatitis]

I'm an optimistic person, generally speaking.

[Video]

[flameandpassion]

-- I'm new here, too, so I can't offer you very much.

[ but having lived in adstringendum for five years, she's always had a pang of sympathy for people showing up in the unknown. ]

But you're on a ship called the Marsiva. You'll be put on a different ship when these... people called Atroma put you there, probably at the end of the week. Or at least, that's what happened to me.

[whatitis]

That does sound about right, from what other people have told me. I've been comparing notes, so to speak!

...Though, hm, there's...quite the mix of people here, if I do say so myself. Just from who I've encountered thus far.

[flameandpassion]

It is pretty diverse.

[ different species, demons, humans, intergalactic warriors of the universe... ]

What world are you from?

[whatitis]

I'm not from anywhere special, I guess. Well, it's special, but in a real weird way.

video

[lord_wizard]

Would you prefer the simple version or the complicated version?

[By the looks of the video, he's sitting in a park somewhere, looking more at his surroundings than at the screen, dressed in an expensive-looking but somewhat worn coat.]

[whatitis]

I'll take the complicated version, if that's at all possible. I thiiink I can handle it.

[lord_wizard]

As you wish.

[Though how complicated it is depends on perspective and just how fatalistic he's to be in his interpretation]

You've been brought to another universe, ostensibly to be a player in a television show called Drift Fleet, wherein you are to be assigned to a ship of your own, with a job you can perform, and a crew to work with. On the wider scope of things, your presence here is due to the nebulous power called the Atroma. No one seems certain if they are a group, a race, a corporation, or even a single entity. They have installed in your body a chip that allows you to understand the basic functionality of your ship and your job, and which may also be responsible for altering your very perception of the situation, as they also occasionally malfunction [There are verbal verbal quotes on that word], which alter everything from health to mood. Which raises the greater question of how much of what we are experiencing is real.

Ah, and everyone else in the fleet are also from other worlds. Some of these may be similiar to your own, or from a different time in your own. We've been told going home is the prize for winning, whatever that constitutes, though people will often come and go. Whether home is where they go to, however...

Question so far?

action;

[familyremains]

[ For days, Dean's been walking this heaping flying piece of scrap trying to find anyone a pilot, a stewardess... anyone who works on the damn thing, but so far, all he's found have been robots and people just as clueless as he is. He's just starting to give up finding anyone who works on this place when he sees a man in a white coat.

Jackpot. He goes right up to the guy, cuts in front of him to make sure he doesn't try to make any kind of hasty mistake. ]

Hey, Dr. Nick. You work here?

[ The guy may not be a pilot, but he'll take it. ]

[whatitis]

[His first thought is something along the lines of "who the hell is Dr. Nick."]

[His second is "this weekend-casual labcoat is pretty flattering on me, I think."]

[His third--and most important--is spoken aloud, with more than a note of confusion:]

I...don't work here? I think? I might, I don't know.

[Nailed it, Carlos.]

[familyremains]

[ Oh yeah, you nailed it, Carlos. It's a good thing you're good-looking, let's just leave it at that. ]

You don't know? [ Dean balks, openly staring at the guy. ] How do you not know if you work here or not? It's an easy question.

[theshabbiestofmen]

How much do you know? I can answer questions you have left over, if you need. My name's Remus.

[Another tired looking man, albeit one with a smile.]

[whatitis]

I know that I'm on a ship, and it's called the Marsivus, or something like that...something, something, Atoma? Astoma? Atroma. Reality TV but in space.

[Gg.]

[theshabbiestofmen]

Precisely so. We're also given an allowance-- a salary, I suppose?-- given how entertaining we are. More dramatics means more money. That being said, we're never given any indication of an audience, so it's a bit easy to forget we're being watched.

[If they truly are.]