Let the games begin!

[thespaceopera]

[several days late, as has been the trend lately, the Shuffle's transmission plays for the Fleet.

...or, it tries anyway. the music doesn't even make it--just a punch of static with sad, scattered pieces of musical notes trying to struggle their way through.

when Diamond's voice is finally heard, it's only intelligible in three little bites.]

--Three disappearing from-- ... --new faces, so-- ... --Captain Halliwell--...

[and then the music blends strangely with other sounds, like someone flipping idly through broken radio stations. it takes some time for anything to come in clear, and every frequency turns up the same interference. it isn't until several minutes later that one signal suddenly stutters into clarity, and music begins to play.

wherever you are, they are playing your song! and if there are multiple people in the room, maybe the speakers nearest to each person are playing different songs, each specific to the closest passenger. and after the signal connects, the speakers will continue to play whatever song they started with, even if different passengers move toward or away from them, and will only play something else when the controls are messed around with. and the signals and machinery will continue to behave in this way sporadically, all through the month.]

ooc: the musical madness has begun! feel free to use this post as a mingle for interactions relating to shuffle day and the ensuing musical chaos. if you have any questions, please post them to the January ooc post!

→ Shuffle ooc post
→ January system ooc post

Comments

open network | three twins action

[catamite]

[the communications officer aboard the SS Three Twins is hailing all fleet ships... and he looks nervous. soft, otherworldly hymns are playing in the background.]

Um... So, all the other communications people...

There's something wrong with our network. Or... maybe it's our whole communications array? I don't know. But it's really messed up.

Is anyone else's acting weird?

[blindoptimism]

[heeeey guess who is returning the hail!]

Yes, our ship is having the same difficulties. It seems that a song is playing on the frequency that we usually use. [she taps a finger on her control panel, out of the camera's sight for a moment, before continuing]

Based off of chatter on the network, it seems like everyone is hearing different songs.

[catamite]

Really?...

[he leans away from the monitor for a second, maybe listening to the madness going on in the rest of the ship]

What's yours like?

[blindoptimism]

It reminds me of choirs that I heard when I was young. [men's voices singing the glory of the Britannian empire, dark red tones filling the high palace ceilings, and her father's face above the crowd]

But other said they hear church hymns, or even odd country tunes.

[catamite]

...They're not in elven?

[which is the obvious answer here, but he's just got to make sure. because he's kind of freaking out a little bit.]

[blindoptimism]

No, it sounds-- [she almost says Britannian] like and old form of English.

Are you also hearing a familiar song?

[catamite]

Yeah, one from elven temples. Back home.

[blindoptimism]

Yet it's all the same signal?

[hm... she's kind of just talking as she thinks, mulling over the facts out loud] And we're all hearing thing that are familiar in some way.

[catamite]

Oh... huh. I guess so.

[staring at the controls and nodding, as if he's actually following any of this very far in his head.]

But that shouldn't be possible... right?

open network

[got_it_memorized]

[Fellow comm officer Axel reporting in!]

Same deal where I am. Thing is, this ain't exactly Top 40 stuff I'm hearing. I don't think everybody's hearing the same thing, which is all kinds of bizarre and borderline impossible.

open network

[catamite]

[hello new comms officer buddy]

Are you guys getting... um... elven music?

[got_it_memorized]

Elven? I'm not sure I'd know elf music if I heard it, but I'm pretty sure it's not.

I was trying to figure out where it's even coming from--it ain't from any of the other ships. It seems to be coming from a planet, but...

[He's hearing a song his mom used to hum to herself a lot--pretty sure that's a song nobody else would even recognize. How is that even possible?]

[catamite]

Oh...

[he's so good at his job, even with his augment he doesn't remember that he can actually try and track these things until his new comms buddy reminds him.]

Right! Um... let me just...

[and there's an appropriate pause while he checks this out for himself. ...and then an extra pause while he mulls this over.]

...You think there are elves there, maybe?

[got_it_memorized]

[Axel just shrugs.]

I'm sure I don't know, but I'm usually a believer that most anything is possible. Really the only way to find out if there's elves there or not is to go there, right? [He grins a little.] I'm always up for a field trip.

[catamite]

[oh no, he's being given hope.]

Yeah, I guess you're right.

...Wow, it would really be great if there are elven temples there. They've got to know what's going on here. ...Or maybe they'll even help us get home.

[got_it_memorized]

Ehh, I personally wouldn't mind if we didn't get sent home right away--this is like a vacation for me. I work for a real slave driver.

[catamite]

...

[HAHA guess what is the only part of that he actually heard,]

...You what?

[onlyanapple]

[Oh right, he has an actual job here.]

If by 'weird' you mean 'suddenly playing Queen at me', then yes. I just thought that was something that generally happened to me, though.

[catamite]

'Playing Queen?'

[oh how hilariously he can't make any sense out of that sentence...]

What does that mean?

[onlyanapple]

Just what it says. It's playing Queen.


...Bohemian Rhapsody, I believe.

What is a fandango?

[catamite]

Is that a... person...?

[it has not come close to dawning on him that it might be the name of a band.]

[onlyanapple]

No, it's a song.

...Oh. No. Queen are a band. You know what a band is, right?

[catamite]

Oh.

[hang on, all the lights are flickering on, one by one. brain sloooowly lighting up.]

--Oh! I get it.

Yeah, who wouldn't know what bands are? Like, with music. On the radio and stuff.

[onlyanapple]

...Yes. Exactly that.

I suppose if you weren't from such a place, you wouldn't know. Met a few like that.

[catamite]

We had radio and stuff, but... it didn't really sound like that.

[there are no Norran equivalents of Freddy Mercury, apparently.]

But you recognize it? All I'm getting is, like... temple music.