one . video

[misconceived]

WHO Chris Halliwell
BROADCAST Network unfiltered video.
ACTION The SS Huntress.
WHEN Shortly after the Shuffle.

Again?

[ This is a young man circling around as he's transported to his new ship, the SS Huntress. He's mostly talking to his new crewmates but there's that unknowing broadcast going out, too. ]

Moved around twice in twenty-four hours, and this one is not nearly as nice as the first one. We're supposed to stay here while we play this stupid game? [ Psht. ] Which, by the way, I didn't sign up for. Did anyone? Because I was in the middle of something, you know, important.

Comments

action forever;

[merchantprince]

[After the initial moment of stumbling and yelling a strange epithet, he steadies himself on the nearest weird-looking machine. What is confetti? What is going on? What is that nasty thing on the table? We just don't know.]

Maker's blessed balls! They could've given me some warning.

[misconceived]

[ Chris just stares for a moment. ]

Nice.

No, definitely seems like they're getting a kick out of this. Not surprising considering we're apparently... [ He pauses, looks around like he'd be able to see the cameras. ] ... you know, being broadcast right now! I'm starting to get real tired of that.

[merchantprince]

What, you been here a while?

[He wonders if he can poke at things, and decides not to. He settles for poking at the dessert blob instead.]

Anyway, everything I've been told begins and ends with 'this sucks'. You can either throw a tantrum and hope you get paid for it, or help me figure out the quickest way to get off the ship.

The less of this shit I have to eat, the better.

[hearsthesea]

[Oh dear. It doesn't look too serious, but the confusion is more than understandable. Shirley rushes over, ready to help if needed.]

Are you all right? It is a bit much.

[merchantprince]

[He's surprised to have someone sort of doting over him, and he needs a moment to figure out where his brain is. She's so young.]

Thanks, little lady. Just lost my balance.

[He smiles disarmingly.]

Varric. Varric Tethras. And you are?

video;

[ladiesss]

[man, there is a really quiet voice coming in from over the network speaker. there's a teenage girl on the video feed--dark hair, lots of eye makeup.]

Well, at least he's not screaming...

[misconceived]

[ WHO GOES THERE

wait what. Chris turns to follow the sound's origin, then comes to the network console. He leans toward it and squints. ]

Well, we're in space. No one'd hear that.

[ladiesss]

Oh... My god, do you get that reference?

[she leans in closer to the camera! this whole being-kidnapped-in-space thing seems pretty old-hat to her. she also seems to be... whispering, for some reason... still...]

Are you from Earth?

video

[blindoptimism]

[a slight smile tugs at her mouth, it's nice to see someone taking all this in stride, in his own way... But, wanting to be serious and not trivialize the situation she doesn't smile too much]

I'm afraid you can't return home any time soon, we are all stuck here for the time being.

[misconceived]

[ Dammit, he's going to have to pay closer attention to these network cameras. Chris runs a hand through his hair and shrugs. ]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Isn't there a way to get out? Like, get booted off the island or something.

[blindoptimism]

I don't know if there is a way to intentionally leave. People have "left" but there is no way to know if they were able to return home. [like in her case, it would seem]

Action!

[hearsthesea]

...

[Shirley's still in a little bit of shock with the new environment and the confetti and whatnot, so she's just going to look around without saying a word before speaking up.]

I think we were all taken against our will. I can't think of anybody who would volunteer for something like this.

[misconceived]

I can think of a couple.

[ One of whom actually did volunteer the last time something like this came up. Then again, so did Chris... ]

That can't really be entertaining. I mean, come on. That makes us prisoners here.

[hearsthesea]

Some people don't care about that. Whoever's done this must be one of those people.

[This makes what, the sixth time she's been taken by someone? First time it's been off the planet, but she's no more impressed with the situation.]

video;

[catamite]

[more helpful voices from the network screens! this time, it's a pretty dude with pointy ears and a bunch of piercings smiling at him.]

Oh man... you got to see the big ship too? What's it like? Is it really nice?

[misconceived]

[ Chris kind of tilts his head at the image on the screen, eyes narrowing just a bit before he straightens out. ]

Not for long. It was... it was like a lobby. A really nice lobby.

[catamite]

[and Nel's mild excitement just carries on.]

Was there any food? I bet it's way better than the little ships...

[rebella]

Oh, it was terrible. I was in the middle of scrubbing the floors when just like that - here I was!

( There's nothing terrible about no longer scrubbing floors, and frankly, she was more heartsick in her bed, but details, details. )

Which is to say, no one did, but we're here and we can see what we can do about it in the meantime.

[misconceived]

[ Okay, that gets a small laugh. ]

Any luck so far?

[rebella]

( She breathes in, sighing as she shakes her head. )

Not especially. I haven't seen anyone be able to re-enter the Marsiva once they're off that ship, and finding anyone directly responsible that we don't see just on this broadcasting network who works for this whole thing is difficult. No one seems to recognize the idea of the show at all when I've tried talking about it at the waystations or the last planet we were orbiting.

Which is at least knowing something to start with.

( Like how much they don't know. It's a start of sorts. )

Video

[wilder]

I'd be surprised if anyone did sign up for this.

But sorry to say, I'm pretty sure they don't give a damn if you were in the middle of something important.

[misconceived]

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised, but I also wouldn't want to meet anyone who signs up for this stuff anyway.

[ Deep, annoyed breath. ]

Then maybe we just have to make them give a damn.

[wilder]

I bet they'd be one of those crazy competitive types...

By what? Signing a petition?

voice;

[aberrant_type]

You and all the rest of us - take heart! You can improve your circumstances little by little, at least to some degree.

I wouldn't call any of this setup luxurious but you can do that much.

video.

[misconceived]

So we can go up, just not too far. How's that?