004 ↯ audio

[feathery]

Who: Davesprite and whoever.
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Indoors, moonside.
When: Now sounds good.

[Someone is done to death with masks and getting accosted by randos on the street. Thus, Davesprite has taken refuge indoors, since that's as good as it gets short of returning to the ships. He'd normally opt for text, but he honestly just wants to talk for a while. Even if his voice is equal parts bored and sullen.]

Sportball ambushes on the street are great and all, [it probably isn't possible for him to sound more sarcastic] but I got to ponder the selection happening in this contaminated stain on the face of space. Like, sure, there are "strategy games" [yes, those are actual, audible air quotes], but where my real battles at. You know, the wordplay variety, where you drop a witticism to a sick beat and slant it to rhyme. Twist that shit into ill verse and cause some deadly delirium not even the most decorated doctor could cure. Dude could be veteran to World War Disease and still find himself stymied by this nasty flow that makes even the gutsiest guerilla fold. Ain't a medic around who can mend my rap battle burns.

[A beat.]

So, yeah, maybe I'm only pissed about moon pollution central 'cause all these hostile idiots keep hailing me out of the blue and yet: not a single fuckin' rap battle. [This is definitely not the only reason he's pissed about moon pollution central, but priorities.] What's a guy got to do, besides deck himself out in a shitty respirator and biohazard costume. A live performance? God, this is stupid.

Comments

[feathery]

Do they still have Whose Line in the future. Damn.

[It had definitely been reduced to reruns by 2009.]

But yeah. Like it turns out my alt universe mom and Jade's alt universe granddad could...sort of send shit back and forth between our universe and theirs. But the energy cost was fucking astronomical, and that was still within the same contained reality. I don't know, it's just frustrating when there's all this fucking garbage that doesn't add up, but we can't do anything about it. Like anytime anyone tries, it just turns into dead ends upon dead ends.

[forsometimenow]

I catch it every now and then on TV, yeah. What year was it where you were from? I'm from 2009.

[She then nodded.]

They've certainly perfected blocking us from finding out anything useful, too. They can fiddle with our memories, they can seal off anything that might give us clues, they don't talk to us directly. It's hard not to feel hopeless sometimes.

[feathery]

Oh. [That's...way more contemporary than he was expecting.] Uh, I guess it would have been 2012, but 2009 is the last time years meant anything. We didn't have space travel or anything like that, either, unless you wanna count hammerspace storage. That was considered basic tech, though.

[Being in jamjars for two years means he's finally over the fact that only video game protags think hammerspace is normal.]

Anyway. I dunno what to do about it, the whole Atroma thing. 'Cause it does feel futile, and I mean—there's no way to know what they do to our memories besides that. And if they've got that much control over everything we do, what's the point in pretending they don't.

[forsometimenow]

Most of the public wasn't aware of the space travel thing, to be fair. I only talk about it freely here since I figure it doesn't matter who knows, but I had nondisclosure agreements and security clearances a mile long back home. I couldn't even tell my dad where I was.

[She bit her lip.]

Yeah. We can't exactly go behind their backs when they can knock us all out at will and implant knowledge into us. But on the other hand, I have a feeling they'll slip some time. They HAVE to.

[feathery]

Was it later in the year where you're from.

[This question is less random than it sounds.]

But I guess they do. Or maybe they have before, but they wipe the memories. The whole augment bullshit makes this a thousand times more complicated than it needs to be. And like, I'm used to complicated, but this is above and beyond anything that's remotely necessary.

[forsometimenow]

It was around the middle of the year, actually.

[She nods, making a frustrated sound.]

When we can't count on our own memories, it makes it even easier for them to control us. Manipulate us for entertainment. Whatever the story is behind this, it's deeply screwed up.

[feathery]

It was April 13th, where I'm from.

[Which is a really precise date. But the combination of your best friend's birthday, the apocalypse, and your life generally going down the shitter all within twenty-four hours in linear time leaves a lasting impression. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ]

...Do you think Atroma is after anything in particular, 'cause I've got nothing. Besides, I dunno, some kind of mass social experiment. But that still doesn't really explain why they snatched us all up from other worlds instead of people from their own.

[forsometimenow]

Hunh- must be an important date if you remember it so precisely. I'd been in another galaxy and in the middle of a firefight beforehand, I don't remember what the date was back home.

[She shook her head.]

And I'm positive they could have found willing volunteers if they were so desperate to run an experiment of some sort. But then again, they'd get better results from unwilling participants, no? More genuine emotions and behavior, rather than playing to the cameras or conforming to the expected script like volunteers would have been.

[feathery]

Yeah, it's kind of memorable when you dimension-hop on the same date on two separate occasions. [His canon really loves its arc numbers.] A firefight sounds pretty intense, though.

And I guess. But it's not like anyone could have stopped them from kidnapping people from their own planet, or any others. So what have we got that they don't.

[forsometimenow]

Jeez. I don't know which one I'd prefer, honestly.

[Jennifer nodded.]

I tried to ask Diamond once- I asked about myself specifically. She basically told me that the audience thinks my lack of self-confidence is cute. Surely there are enough people similar to me they could have picked instead?

[feathery]

Whichever one results in the better outcome, I guess.

[Aka FEWER PEOPLE DYING.

But that explanation kind of makes him ????????? Enough that he passes over the question part.]

That's...uh. I know her and the other guy are all about condescension, but that's taking it to a new level.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah. She also added in that the audience just loves my friendship with Beverly. It was a little... weird to hear myself examined in that way, like I'm nothing more than a fictional character for people to obsess over.

[feathery]

Yeah, it's fucked up. I mean it's one thing to sort of know that shit from speculation—like let's be real, the only reason I ended up captain instead of someone actually qualified is because Atroma thought it'd be funny—but. I dunno. It's another thing to hear it confirmed we're being kept in a big ol' fishbowl and Atroma likes to tap on the glass.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah. It's easier to ignore the whole "we're watching you" thing when it's come nebulous concept... and haven't they talked about broadcasting our pasts to the audience, too? Talk about Big Brother.

[feathery]

Dude, like. How did they even get that shit, assuming they're telling the truth. It's already past skeevy they always know what's going down, even when we can't see any cameras. Do I walk past an invisible fucking camera crew on my way to the bathroom each morning? Do they follow me into the bathroom. What the fuck.

[forsometimenow]

I'd like to know that, too, because if they CAN even watch us at home, well, it goes back to the whole question of why they just pick and choose rather than bringing in the groups of people who can cause optimal drama. And how far their reach is, if they can look into our home universes that thoroughly. You're right, though, we have to guess whether or not they're telling the truth. The many layers are enough to make your head spin.

I just pretend they don't follow me into the bathroom, for the sake of my sanity.

[feathery]

Yeah. Probably easier not to think about it at all.

[Which obviously hasn't stopped him and has actually kind of exacerbated his preexisting problems. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Thanks, Obama Atroma!]

I bet they'd like that, us making their job easier. Not that they exactly put themselves into a position where we can get to them anyway, but come on, they can't air all the negative press we give them. Trash talking the supposed audience has to be bad for ratings.

[forsometimenow]

Yeah, so I'm sure they use editing to their advantage. Which makes me think they can't be filming us ALL the time- considering how large the Fleet is, constantly monitoring us would be a hell of an editing job. So they just... choose when to turn the cameras on. Like when there's action or drama or moments with our friends happening, and when we start to complain about the conditions, poof! Nothing.

[feathery]

Welp. Guess this means it's time to step my shit up. I'm going to complain about everything for fucking ever. Need to drop some heavy emotional trauma? I'll bust out my official Bitching About Atroma handbook and the audience can have at.

[forsometimenow]

I can't see a downside to that, honestly. Either they'll get sick of it and kick you off, or you'll just not feature heavily in the weekly shows.