Video

[hearsthesea]

Who: Shirley and all!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Marsiva
When: Now

[There's a teenage girl broadcasting, with a polite smile and an air of formal pleasantness about her.]

Hello, everybody. This is Shirley of the...formerly of the SS Huntress? I'm on the Marsiva again, so the Atroma must have done something. I know people have fallen asleep for a long time before, but I remember Varric...

[Shirley's smile fades, and some of the formality in her demeanor drops away as hesitation takes its place. She's still making an effort to stay positive, though!]

Could anybody please tell me what date it is? As best as we can, around here. I'd also appreciate if somebody could tell me more about what system we're in as well. And of course, if anyone who knows me is seeing this I'd like to hear from you. Has it been a while?

In any case, to everyone - thank you for hearing me now. Whatever's going on outside of the Marsiva right now, I hope you've found something to enjoy here.

[And for anybody else on the Marsiva, she'll just be exploring the ship until it's time for ship assignments and more confetti probably. Shirley barely saw the Marsiva before getting whisked away the first time, so she may as well take advantage of the opportunity now.

And besides, she's been wanting to look for something here. Time to check in all those nooks and crannies...]

Comments

[spontaneouscombustion]

Oh, hi, Shirley! Welcome back! I'm Pinkie Pie, nice to meet you! Oh, and the date's July 9th, and we're on this really NICE green planet with lots of trees and beaches and hugs!

[hearsthesea]

[...Well, ponies are a little unexpected for a greeter. But hey, Jay has talking otters for family so what's Shirley going to say.]

Hello, Pinkie Pie. It's good to meet you. It's July 9, you said?

[Give her a moment to recall the calendar system around here--and then it hits her.]

But then it's been several months since I last remember anything! Or even longer than that.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Yyyeah might be. Hiro and Belthazar were like that too; they just got back last month.

[hearsthesea]

Last month? I wonder if something is going on.

[Why bring back a bunch of previous members, if you sent them away to begin with? Sounds to her like a plot is in the works.]

Have they mentioned anything special for this month? Even just a hint?

Shhhh you're fine, I saw nothing. ;)

[spontaneouscombustion]

Oh yeah! We moved to a different planet a few weeks ago! What was the last place you were at?

Video

[save_the_souls]

[Well this guy sure remembers her, and looks very thrilled]

Shirley! Welcome back!

Video

[hearsthesea]

Allen!

[Shirley's looking mighty relieved right now. Friend count: at least one.]

I don't remember being gone, but I'm glad to be back all the same. I'm sorry if I worried you while I was...wherever I was.

Video

[save_the_souls]

It's alright. I'm just happy to see you again.

[And that you remember!! Even better]

It's been quite awhile. It's July 9th, right now.

Video

[hearsthesea]

That's...that is a long time.

[Too long to summarize easily, she's guessing. Lot of catch-up to do.]

I wonder what the Atroma were thinking? Did I bore them?

[Admittedly, she's never been good at playing to the cameras. And she's just Shirley, nothing grand out here...]

Video

[save_the_souls]

I can't say. I don't know what Atroma's thinking half the time.

They'd be foolish to think you're boring though.

video.

[scrubscrub]

Hello, Miss Shirley! I'm Koala; I work as a cabin girl aboard the SS Huntress.

I-it's a pleasure to meet you!

[AKA HI I'M THE COMPULSIVE SKITTISH CLEANING LADY ON THAT SHIP.]

video.

[hearsthesea]

[Ah, somebody on the Huntress she doesn't recognize. It's not surprising, but it is a weird feeling.]

Koala, you said? It's nice to meet you, too. I don't know whether the Atroma will choose to put me on the Huntress again, but I'm glad I got the chance to meet you.

[Shirley's quiet for a moment as she debates something, then speaks up again.]

Can you tell me who else is on the Huntress right now? I just want to know if anyone I know is still there.

video.

[scrubscrub]

Oh, um, yes! Yes, I could tell you. Um... One moment, I have a list...! Somewhere...!

[She'll go ahead and read off the roster. Ahem.]

Mikleo is our captain! And we have Sorey and Sora. Dezel just joined! And Maglor, Adelina, and Mr. Obi-Wan. Lydia is our medical! And Mr. Sasuke is here as well. And me!

video

[hearsthesea]

[No names she recognizes. Certainly no names from her time aboard. But also...ten members! Shirley tries to focus on her surprise rather than her disappointment.]

That's a lot of people! I know that the Huntress grew while I was there, but still that's twice as big as it was when we first started.

video

[scrubscrub]

Twice as big?!

[She may not know math, but she can understand well enough, a-thank you!]

It m-must've been a quiet ship you had!

[stefanged]

Shirley!!

[What a pleasant surprise! Stefan beams at her, trying a little to contain his relief - and honestly, he's failing.] It's so good to see you. How do you feel?

[hearsthesea]

[No need to be reserved Stefan, Shirley's glad to see you!]

It's good to see you too, Stefan. I'm all right, I think. Just...confused.

[Maybe a little more than just confused, if you count the question of how many people she knows are gone. But let's not get into that just yet.]

[stefanged]

I bet. It's been a really long time since I saw you.

[Not that it's obvious; Stefan will never ever look a day older than twenty-two.]

But as for our current planet, we're somewhere pretty green. I haven't seen anything so lush in a while.

[hearsthesea]

Really? Well, it wouldn't be the first time we've been somewhere very green...but maybe it has been a while.

[She wouldn't know, obviously.]

But the first planet I went to was like that, too. That one was almost entirely forests and trees.

[stefanged]

Huh. I know you came before me, so maybe it was the one right before the ocean planet.... [He's musing to himself, mostly.]

But you're pretty much describing our current stop.

[nerdeology]

[Blank screen? Totally a blank screen. Sorry in advance.]

You were on the Huntress? I'm sorry if you had any friends there- the crew's changed a lot since you've been gone.

[At least, the number of people still around who were there when he got recruited is pretty low, and he's never met her before, so...]

[hearsthesea]

[??? A mysterious person appears! Or, not quite. Whoever it is, Shirley's disappointed but not surprised by their response.]

I heard that it's been a while, so...that makes sense. Are you one of the people on the ship now?

[nerdeology]

Yeah. For better or worse, I've been selected as its captain.

[Time will tell if this is a good thing or not. No issues so far, but...]

I'm Mikleo.

[hearsthesea]

The new captain? Well, then, it's good to meet you, Mikleo. Can I ask how the Huntress is doing?

[Nothing on fire? Okay, she trusts Mikleo more than that, but up until now the Huntress was home. It's natural to ask.]

[nerdeology]

I think it's managing alright. We're almost entirely upgraded, and no one sets the kitchen on fire on a daily basis. That's an improvement from what it was like on my first day.

[They didn't call it the Hot Mess for nothing.]