Jester Social Link 001

[cabbagedetective]

Who: Tohru Adachi and YOU!
Broadcast: Video (to all)
Action: The Marsiva
When: Right now!

[The first thing that could be heard as the network feed clicked on was someone yawning rather audibly. This was followed quickly by the sight of a suited individual sitting up and stretching out his arms.]

Man, I haven't slept for that long in a while. Usually the guard-

[Adachi quickly cut himself off as he realized that he clearly was not where he had been when he fell asleep. Instead of the four plaster walls that he'd grown accustomed to, he now seemed to be in a large, spacious room filled with all sorts of amenities. He couldn't help but draw the comparison to Junes. But then... how the hell could he be back in Inaba?]

[His detective instincts started to kick in, despite their lack of recent use. First thing: assess yourself.]

[Adachi looked down and was surprised to see his old detective duds. The dark gray suit, white button shirt, and red tie all looked as good as new. Odd, considering how often he had worn this particular outfit.]

[Second, assess the environment.]

[Well, this was already partly done. He clearly was in a completely new environment. Could it be... the other world? That didn't seem plausible. He certainly didn't remember going near any TV, nor did he remember anyone coming along who could have possibly thrown him into one. Noticing a nearby monitor, Adachi got up out of the bunk and approached it. He placed his hand on the peculiarly cool screen and felt resistance. He clearly wasn't going inside this one. And that's when he turned and saw the large viewing bay window.]

What the heck?! It can't be!

[He appeared to be in outer space. Yet, somehow... this realization didn't unsettle him as much as he thought it would. In fact, once the initial shock had worn off, he almost seemed comfortable with this fact. But how? He returned to his initial bunk and went back to step one: assess yourself.]

Okay, it doesn't feel like I've been drugged. Though, if I'm really in the real world, then I shouldn't be able to...

[Sure enough, as Adachi concentrated and tried to summon him, he realized he couldn't.]

So I'm clearly in reality right now.

[He rubbed the back of his neck as he came to terms with just how surreal this was all seeming. And that's when he felt the soft bump, located behind his left ear.]

Eh? What is-

[Yet again, however, he seemed to already know what this bump meant. It was as if he'd always had this information stowed away, but he was only now rediscovering it.]

An "augment," huh?

[That's when he noticed the communicator located next to him. Picking it up, he inspected the device front to back. Just like before, he already seemed to know what it was and how to use it.]

Well then...

[Step three: Assess the situation. Adachi directed his attention to the screen in front of him.]

Um... hello? Anyone receiving on this thing?

Comments

[cabbagedetective]

I- I, uh... I suppose?

[Adachi tries to return the grin with an anxious chuckle and smile of his own. No point in drawing it out, might as well ask the obvious question.]

Where exactly is "here?"

[onlyanapple]

Hmmm. Only a suppose? I'm hurt.

Somewhere in space. You, specifically, are on the Marsiva, eventually you'll be moved to your own ship.

[cabbagedetective]

[Adachi's starting to get the feeling this guy is playing with him.]

I'm sorry, but have we met before?

Wait- my own ship? Like, I'll be in charge of flying my own spaceship?!

[onlyanapple]

[Good eyes, there.]

I have met you, but I'm not sure if you have met me. Does the name Paradisa ring any bells?

If you're a pilot. Either way, you'll have a crew.

[cabbagedetective]

Paradisa? No. Can't say that it sounds familiar. Is that like... a resort or something?

[Okay, this guys clearly seems a little off his rocker. But he apparently knows Adachi. The question is... how much does this guy know?]

A pilot? No, I'm not a pilot. I'm a detective. Or wait... [Something was becoming clear in his head. Could it be this augment thing again?] I apparently have a "security" augment. Does that make any sense to you?

[onlyanapple]

...Not at all. But you clearly don't remember it, so don;t worry about it. You're better off not knowing.

There you go, security, you won't have to fly anything. I've got communications, personally.

[cabbagedetective]

Oh, uh... okay. But you're saying we met before? At this... Paradisa place?

[Gotta try and dig a little more.]

Okay, so does that mean I'm going to end up on your ship then? Like, there's a draft or something?

[onlyanapple]

We had, not exactly close, mine, but casual acquaintances, at least.

They call it a shuffle. No one knows where you'll end up, you just get put there.

[cabbagedetective]

I- I see.

[Clearly, this was all he was getting out of him at the moment. Adachi made a note to keep an eye on this guy. He needed to know just how much about him this guy was privy to.]

Well, why don't we start over then? Otherwise I think you'd have me at a bit of a disadvantage mister- uh... mister... [At the very least, maybe Adachi could get a name out of him. Certainly would make keeping tabs on him a lot easier.]

A shuffle huh? And we just get put somewhere at random? That doesn't exactly sound like the most reliable of methods.

[onlyanapple]

[That's Crowley, he's a sharer.]

Crowley. And I suppose we can.

It isn't. It's kind of a balls-up, to be honest, but I imagine it gets the ratings.

[cabbagedetective]

Well, nice to meet you again Crowley-san. Who knows? Maybe if we hang out sometime, I'll start to remember you more?

[It's more than likely that no such will occur, but hey, any excuse to further interact with this guy, and uncover what he knows, will suffice.]

"Ratings?" Like, viewership ratings?

[onlyanapple]

You probably won't, but hey, I won't shove you away if you bring booze or something.

Exactly. We have a whole audience watching us, the more interesting we are, the more ratings we get, the more money we get given. We may be stuck here, but at least we're getting paid to be stuck here.

[cabbagedetective]

Booze huh? I'm sure I can manage that. Though, I don't exactly know where I could get some easily.

[Drinking huh? Well, maybe interacting with this Crowley guy further won't be so bad after all.]

Wait, so we get paid? In what? Space dollars? How does that work?

[onlyanapple]

That's fine, there are bars on the moons we're docked near.

Credits. It's like having a credit card.

[cabbagedetective]

Well then, we should definitely get a drink there sometime soon! A little alcohol might help with all this craziness.

A credit card? I have one of those on me? [Adachi starts patting the pockets of his outfit, trying to figure out where it could be.]

[onlyanapple]

A little alcohol helps with everything.

It's more...linked to your augment.

[cabbagedetective]

Well then, do you happen to know any good places nearby? Maybe we could meet up there?

[The last time he'd had anything alcoholic to drink was... well, roughly over three months ago. The opportunity to get a good drink sounded too nice to pass up.]

Oh, really? [Adachi tentatively reached back up and felt the bump behind his left ear.] Well, I guess that's convenient. I don't ever have to worry about losing it. [Adachi chuckled.]

[onlyanapple]

There's a moon full of it, in fact.

Nope, and I don't recommend trying to remove it. Some elf guy did it and it looked like it hurt.

[cabbagedetective]

Wait- a whole MOON? Like the whole moon is a bar?!

I'll remember that. [Trying to remove an augment means immense pain. Good to know.] Thanks for the heads up.

[onlyanapple]

Pretty much.

Don't say I never do anything for you. Must be sentimentality, or something.

[cabbagedetective]

Well thanks very much Crowley-san. I'm definitely going to check it out when I get the chance. [Adachi pauses briefly as he tries to contemplate how exactly he's going to do that.]

Uh, Crowley-san, you wouldn't happen to know the uh... proper procedure for um... getting off this ship to visit a planet would you?

[onlyanapple]

Yes, it's called sit and wait for the shuffle, and then get out of whatever ship they dump you on.

[cabbagedetective]

Ah, I see. [Adachi sounds somewhat disappointed. It's looking like he's going to have to wait a little while longer before he'll be able to get that drink.] Is it hard to uh... "get out?"

[onlyanapple]

On the Marsiva? Impossible. On your own ship? It's easy, there are little shuttles, but honestly, your ship will probably be docked at a moon, anyway.

[cabbagedetective]

Huh, well that does make things easy. [Adachi was worried there would be some kind of formal request process or something asinine like that.]

When do these "shuffles" occur?