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

[misconceived]

Any of the dangerous sort?

There's got to be a point where it stops making good TV. ... Right?

[wilder]

[He shrugs] Haven't run into any so far. But I can't claim to be the most social of people.

I dunno. I've never watched TV.

[misconceived]

Not exactly easy when we're all on different ships, either.

Never watched TV. Ever?

[wilder]

[He shrugs]

My homeworld didn't have them.

[misconceived]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[wilder]

It wasn't so bad. At least my hometown had the entertainment of watching matches in the coliseum.

[misconceived]

Coliseum? Like fights to the death?

[wilder]

Well, yeah- but that's only if the fighter's a prisoner. If it's someone who paid to fight and it looks pretty bad, they'll try to get them out of harm's way before anything happens.

Though, admittedly, that...doesn't always work.

[misconceived]

And you just watch that stuff for fun?

[ literally sounds like the demonic TV show he just came off of, dude ]

[wilder]

Uh, yeah? [SOUNDS TOTALLY CASUAL ABOUT IT]

[misconceived]

How can you just enjoy watching people die?!

[wilder]

[He shrugs]

It's not like I'd attend the executions unless I had to. And everyone tends to enjoy the fights with paying participants more. People are there mostly just to see a good fight.

But hey, an honorable death in battle against monsters? There's worse ways to go.

[misconceived]

You just said people could still die even then.

Wait, your people feeds your prisoners to monsters?

[ Yes, Chris is upset. This is kind of completely terrible to do to other human beings. ]

[wilder]

Yes, but accidents happen in a lot of activities. Anyway, the entry fee's really expensive to deter anyone who doesn't really know what they're getting into from entering.

[Like you better reload your game if you fail because screw paying that fee more than once!!]

If the crime's serious enough.

[Of if they're half-elves but...well, at least he got THAT law changed before he croaked]

[misconceived]

Entry fees? Doesn't that just mean the rich and the dumb?

Oh, so that makes it okay.

[wilder]

[muttered] Sadly not as many as you'd expect.

[So much love for his fellow noblemen here]

That depends on the circumstances and your point of view. Mostly, it is what it is. Tethe'allans aren't exactly known for their pacifism.

[misconceived]

Yeah, that's way more than just not being pacifists.

[wilder]

[He just shrugs; totally unfazed] Yeah, well- that's Tethe'allans. And people wonder why I'm not constantly overwhelmed with homesickness.

So where are you from? Somewhere advanced enough to have TVs, right?

[misconceived]

Earth. Uh, San Francisco if you know where that is. [ He has never before heard of Tethe'alla but there's plenty of instances of one-sided knowledge that he's not predisposed to assuming both will be clueless. ]

[wilder]

I know of Earth, but not that city. Which country is it in?

[misconceived]

America. California, down in the southwest of the country. You ever heard of those?

[wilder]

[He seems consider it for a moment]

- Oh! Yeah! That's the region near Vegas and New Mexico, right? I've been to those places.

[misconceived]

Yeah. You've been there?

[wilder]

Yes.

[a beat]

It's a long story.

[misconceived]

Is there anything else I should be doing with my time? Not exactly a whole lot of places to go or sights to see right now.