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

action for the pathstone

[faithfulwisdom]

[And one of your communications officers sits straight up in his chair when he hears the music that comes through the speakers. His face pales and he reaches to turn the volume up- just to be sure he's hearing what he thinks he is.]

Impossible.

[But impossible or not, he's hearing it. A familiar tune, his native tongue.]

[ooc: the type/genre of song, but it's in the wrong language. This is in the language the song would be in.]

[heresyandlace]

[and Tek is sort of spooked out of the bunk room by what is playing on the speakers in there... and so is quietly and vastly relieved when he finds someone else in some amount of mental turmoil over a completely different song.

at first, he doesn't say anything. only listening to the melody for a minute, silently looking to the elf for reaction or explanation.]

[faithfulwisdom]

[It's a few moments before he notices Tek's presence and a few more before he chooses to react to it. Slowly, he turns the volume down.]

It is an ancient hymn in my native tongue. But why it should be sung here, I have no notion.

[heresyandlace]

[he nods as if he's not surprised in the least--and given what's playing in the other room, he can believe this very easily.]

...And how many others could know it? How long lost is this song? Or is it only a matter of unfathomable distance?

[faithfulwisdom]

It is not lost- not often sung in Middle Earth, perhaps, for Quenya is a language rarely spoken. [And this seems to trouble him, by his tone.] But it is common enough in Valinor, or was when I left. But to hear it here...

[heresyandlace]

[he smiles a little, but it's an empty one. he's not happy.]

What does it mean to you?

[faithfulwisdom]

[And he gets a weak smile in return.] Do you ask me to answer with my head or with my heart?

It speaks to me of home, first and foremost- no small matter for an exile.

[heresyandlace]

[there's a little eyebrow raise at 'exile,' but it's more acknowledging than anything else. maybe agreeing.]

So, it's speaking to both, then.

Any ideas on what could conjure up such a thing?

[faithfulwisdom]

[He leans back in his chair, thoughtful.] I see only two possibilities. One: the powers which have brought us here have obtained another individual from each of our homelands and use them either to produce the music themselves or to obtain information. Or two: they have some means of divining our thoughts and sorting through our memories and have chosen to reproduce something of significance to us.

The second seems to me most likely, if only because it seems a great deal more efficient.

[heresyandlace]

And I can personally disprove the first.

...Which makes the second far more likely, but no less enraging.

[and he's quiet, very calm about it--a subtle sign of just how much this upsets him.]

[faithfulwisdom]

[Finrod raises a hand to his forehead and rubs it, as if to ward off a headache.]

Enraging, perhaps, but not altogether surprising. They have made it abundantly clear that they have no compunction about meddling with our minds. I know much of these matters, but I suspect the methods our captors use are not the sort with which I am most familiar. [He's the wrong Arafinwean for this anyway; his sister would be much more help.]

[heresyandlace]

And what sort is that?

[since it is also not quite the kind that Tek is used to.]

[faithfulwisdom]

We call it in my native tongue 'sanwe-latya'- 'thought-opening.' But I would have felt an intrusion of that nature; I am not as skilled as some, but neither am I entirely useless.

[heresyandlace]

[he lifts his chin in acknowledgement... and agreement, frankly. it sounds similar enough to himself and what he knows that he can give a blanket response without having to go into it further.

because other things are more concerning to him anyway.]

Whatever the method, I suppose the most pressing question is why.

[faithfulwisdom]

Manipulation, of course. How many of us would now be perfectly comfortable passing by this signal? [A tap at the screen] We know very well that it is likely a trap, but I would wager many would be willing to walk into it all the same.

[heresyandlace]

So, a summons.

[no, that isn't quite the concept that the elf is going for. more like...]

...A lure.

[faithfulwisdom]

Precisely. [Quite an effective one, at that.]

[heresyandlace]

...Then, my wondering if there is some message beyond that is likely only part of its ploy.

[he doesn't sound as though he's avidly seeking Finrod's advice on this. maybe more of using him as a convenient sounding board, double-checking his own musings.]