Chapter 1: Goodbye, High-School Life

[hopefullyyours]

Who: Nagito Komaeda and anybody else
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: On the Marsiva
When: 1/30

[Komaeda shows the stars before himself, arranging his bad arm one last time to make certain nothing is showing. It's a wasted effort- his hand is already tightly bundled up under multiple layers of bandage and clothing. He switches the view so he's fully visible.]

Hello, hello! What an interesting setting we're in now. I don't suppose Monokuma has given us any announcements to explain why it looks like we're in space?

[He smiles, eyebrows quirking up. It's an expression that seems to beg forgiveness, though there's a shadow of another expression, a colder one, behind his eyes. The combination of those two layered expressions reads as contempt, but is it just that?] And, goodness my, but it's quiet here. Have I been locked up again? In punishment? I promise you all, I did what I did in order to further you-

... To further hope.

Comments

[detectivewonder]

Timothy Jackson Drake-Wayne. But just 'Tim' is fine.

The second question is what you did.

[aberrant_type]

[Listening in on this]

[hopefullyyours]

.... Are you- a foreign exchange student? [It's possible? Sonia was, after all. But how, or why, would he be kept separate from the rest of them this whole time? And with how boisterous and sadistic Monokuma was, there was no way he could keep himself unknown from this 'Tim' in that situation.]

Hmmm.... Well, I sort of... burned down a building. It was an unused factory! Nothing of value was lost in the fire.

[detectivewonder]

No more or less than the rest of us.

And you didn't answer about Monokuma.

[hopefullyyours]

How interesting. Have you ever heard of Hope's Peak Academy? [Because of course he has, everybody has, but Komaeda hasn't gotten this far by blithely assuming things.]

Oh- Monokuma? He's a beary distinct sort of person. You would definitely know him if you saw him.

[detectivewonder]

Never heard of it.

...A talking bear?

[hopefullyyours]

Huh. [He's trying to imagine a world without it, and having a hell of a hard time. Even the most boring, basic person where he's from would know that place, at least in name only.] That's interesting. Amazing!

A talking stuffed bear, if it makes you feel any better. [Komaeda makes a mental note- this person is sharp, clever enough to take a subtle verbal cue and extrapolate accurately rather than assume it's a mistake on his part.]

[detectivewonder]

So, I'm guessing it's famous. Technologically advanced. And screws with you without warning? Or, with the only warning being a mascot character's announcement?

[He's the sharpest pupil of the world's greatest detective. And besides, he speaks Japanese. Kuma...]

[hopefullyyours]

Hm, is he famous? I think he'd say yes, but really, most things he says can't be trusted. He's much more unpredictable than that- he wouldn't be so kind as to give us an announcement, I think. Usually he does things and then announces them. [SIGH. He actually almost feels nostalgic for the morning announcement. Almost.]

[detectivewonder]

Actually, I meant the Academy.

[hopefullyyours]

Oh- no, no, how terrible. I'm afraid I've perniciously led you to the worst of wrong assumptions! Hope's Peak Academy is just that- the pinnacle of hope and brilliance in our era! I have nothing but admiration and respect for the students of that place. Truly, if anything could physically embody hope, I think it would be that school.

[Komaeda is getting more and more ramped up as he talks about the school, clutching at himself as if in unbearable excitement or passion.]

[detectivewonder]

... I'm a Brentwood Alum with a GED.

[hopefullyyours]

[HEADTIP?????]

Uh..... all right?

[detectivewonder]

Different school.

[hopefullyyours]

If you were from the same place as myself, you definitely would have heard of Hope's Peak! It seems like you're not the only one, so don't feel bad. I suppose it does lend credence to the idea of this not being even close to my.... world? Hmm, what a strange phrasing. Anyway, Hope's Peak is truly amazing, but not even they have managed to breach dimensional boundaries yet.

[He's all smiles. Wow, dude really likes this school.]

[detectivewonder]

We're either in deep space, or a good simulation of it.

[hopefullyyours]

My bet is that it's a simulation, but then again, it's harder to argue that when people from all sorts of places are here.

[detectivewonder]

I'll keep my eyes open for glitches. Interdimensional teleportation doesn't necessarily imply interstellar travel.

[hopefullyyours]

It's true that I don't see any reason for one to necessitate the other, but if our hosts are capable of one, it increases the likelihood of the other. [Komaeda is pretty sure that he's being made fun of right now.]

[detectivewonder]

Well, sure. If nothing else, they could steal the tech. But crowd control still might be easier in a simulated environment. No chance of escape or successful rebellion inside a simulation, for one thing.

[hopefullyyours]

Isn't it true that the ships themselves act as crowd control? It doesn't seem like there's any true crucible to forge rebellion in right now, either.

Not yet, anyway.

[detectivewonder]

Kidnapping us all isn't spark enough?

Yeah, the ships are crowd control. But mobility is a threat. Access to control systems is a threat. Neater to remove both.

[hopefullyyours]

Clearly not. Besides, I think you'd be surprised at what it would take for most individuals to rebel if they're fed and kept reasonably comfortable otherwise.

Do we have any real ability to control our mobility here? I assume not, since I have some sense that we can't roam beyond the main ship's range. [Komaeda gestures at the ship around him, shrugging.] We don't have a good indication one way or another of whether or not what we're seeing is the whole story.

[detectivewonder]

Bread and circuses, huh?

Like I said. I'll keep my eyes open. Not just for glitches in the matrix.

[hopefullyyours]

Right, you're definitely correct! Soft beds, .... nutrient gel? Well, I don't know about that stuff, but anyway....

.... I'm sorry to be so dense and disrespectful, but do you know what sort of thing would need to be looked out for in the first place?