our feelings will tingle, it's a vanquish mingle!

[geonomy]

Who: The crew of the Vanquish and any visitors!
Broadcast: Maybe? Nah?
Action: On the awesome Vanquish ship
When: Now through July

[Just arrived? Don't like nature, or do you just not have feelings and don't want to hold hands? Come on in!]

Comments

[outstandingbalance]

Yeah? Because it's so weird, or because you don't believe it?

[It seems to be the accepted, received information. And it fit what she heard on the Marsiva.

She's not getting married to any ideas yet, though. Not at all.]

[sonofgold]

A little bit of both. We didn't have television back home- just radio- so I'm still not quite sure how to take this idea that someone's watching me. On the other hand... I think there are some convincing arguments to be made that the audience isn't actually there.

[outstandingbalance]

If there are, I'd love to hear them.

[sonofgold]

For one, we never actually see them- or we haven't as long as I've been here. Atroma barely even speaks to us, and while they supposedly read fan mail to us every now and then, it'd be easy to fabricate that. If we're on such a popular show, why not let the fans meet us?

[outstandingbalance]

Good questions. It's hard to say without knowing more about our audience, though.

For all we know this is more like going to the zoo than it is wanting to meet a celebrity.

[sonofgold]

Yeah, and I'm not sure we'll find much more out than we already do. Lack of information is one of the ways Atroma keeps us on a leash. If we don't know where to look, and if the information is closed off to us, then we can't do much in the way of digging.

[outstandingbalance]

There's always information somewhere. It's just a matter of finding out where to look and how to get at it.

[sonofgold]

All out of Atroma's watchful eyes. Of course, they haven't addressed us in months, so maybe they're not keeping as close an eye on us as before.

[outstandingbalance]

That sounds a little too optimistic to count on. Still, there's always a way...

They can't really be watching everything, can they?

[sonofgold]

My gut says they're not. I mean, that's a LOT of hours of footage to have to put together for a short television program, considering how many of us there are.

[outstandingbalance]

Do we know for sure that's the format? For all I know they might be streaming us twenty-four seven, deciding which cameras they want to follow.

[sonofgold]

That's a good question, actually- I think everyone's just assumed it's a program. But even with constant monitoring, they'd have to have a lot of eyes on us.

[outstandingbalance]

They would.

[Natasha shakes her head a little.]

Just seems like there's no way to know for sure. Maybe I'm a little paranoid.

[sonofgold]

I think a little paranoia is warranted, though.

[outstandingbalance]

In this case, we know they really are watching us. So it's not baseless.

[sonofgold]

Yeah. And they seem to know about us before we're even assigned to a ship- people often get augments that either fit their skills, or are different enough to provide a funny or ironic twist. Like my friend Toph- she's blind and they gave her a pilot augment.

[outstandingbalance]

How's she handle that?

[sonofgold]

She thought it was hilarious and went at it with gusto. I think the ships can steer themselves to some extent, too- they'd have to, if nobody with a pilot augment is on board- so I don't think her crew was particularly worried.

[outstandingbalance]

I've heard that. It sort of seems like the jobs are just to give us something to do. It's not something that's necessary.

[sonofgold]

... hmm, you know, I've never thought of it that way, but it does make sense. The ships can steer ourselves, we get the protein gel so there's no real need for a cook, and I think the ship had some weapons before I came on and my augment gave us more. Because they can't guarantee that every role will be filled, or else they choose not to fill each one for their own reasons.

[outstandingbalance]

Hadn't you?

Like I said, it could be paranoia. Hard not to think about it when it's all so new, right?

[sonofgold]

Mmhmm. I've been here for several months now, so I've become a lot more focused on just trying to live my life here as best I can. I should be more worried about this kind of stuff, though.

[outstandingbalance]

There's something to be said for just trying to get by as well as you can.

From the way I hear it, some people might be doing just fine here.

[Which she doesn't judge, but which also isn't he position.]

[sonofgold]

Mmhmm. For some people, I gather that it's a lot better for them here than what's waiting back home- some people have war and conflicts going on back home, for example. Or they just don't have anything to go back to.