driftfleet | 10. Must Obtain Every One!

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10. Must Obtain Every One!

Who: Simon Tam and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Bloodsport
When: July 21st

[Simon had been about to make one of his rare appearances on the network, when his face scrunched up in confusion... and suddenly he seemed to trip and fall, lucky face-first into a convenient sponsor-provided crate of Flootemon stuffed toys and other assorted merchandise.

And let out a snore. Oops.

Once someone extracted Simon from the mess, he made another broadcast.]

... I have absolutely zero use for any of these stuffed toys, so they are free for the taking if anybody else is enjoying that monster-catching game. [He then squints at some of the name tags attached to them, holding up a black and gray-furred dog that's totally not a Mightyena.] ... Bigby? Really? ... Pikablu? And why is this frog called Sableye?

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[ Caitlin looks just a little puzzled. ]

Are you okay? And why would someone send you toys?

I am now, thank you. I think my augment may have glitched- it has happened to others before.

It is from the sponsors. They seem to think I enjoy getting gifts.

Wow. That's comforting, knowing that we have such reliable tech in our heads.

[ She's just counting the days until her luck runs out and something happens to her. ]

Interesting choice. And by interesting I mean, what the what.

You were not around for the recalibrations, then- Atroma fixing them was quite an experience in and of itself.

[Simon laughed.]

I suppose the sponsors saw me playing on my communicator. I may keep one or two [to give to Sascha to cuddle instead of him], but the rest are up for grabs.

No, I've only been here nearly... two months?

I don't have any use for them myself, but I'm pretty sure Cisco will ask for one. Or three.

Toward the end of last year augment glitches were becoming more frequent, so we were all sucked back to the Marsiva for a month to allow Atroma to fix them. We each had our own individual rooms plus a kitchen and exercise room and all the music, books and other entertainment we could consume, but we were only awake for a certain amount of time every day then automatically ended up back in our beds.

That's incredibly... Is "disturbing" too strong? Actually, I think it might be too mild.

Disturbing is quite apt, yes. We have no idea what they were doing to us while we were out, and being Atroma, they were never forthcoming with any answers- just the usual smiles and insistence that everything was okay and we should be perfectly happy with them. They even gave us gift baskets once we were back on our ships.

This is probably a weird question and— [ Her gaze turns upward, in effort to address their "hosts." ] —I'm not trying to incite anything, it's just a question. Has anyone tried to rebel? I imagine with their direct connection to us, it would be very short-lived.

Not openly, to my knowledge. The big problem is that we're not sure where to strike, so to speak. Atroma has never spoken to us in person, it is always through written or video messages of some sort. We don't know where they are physically located, so that limits the effectiveness of any such effort.

Have to hand it to them. They are smart about these things. [ She drags a hand through her hair. ] Even if we knew, there's no telling how quickly and harshly they'd shut it down.

Exactly. They have apparently been at this for a while, so they have it down to a science. They speak from a distance, give vague answers as to how they and their show work, and generally do everything they can to keep us as in the dark as possible. Knowledge IS power, after all.

[Stefan tilts his head, peering closer as if that'll give him a better look at the stuffed animals.]

I don't exactly know what you mean by "monster-catching game," but I'll take a couple.

I'd appreciate it. ... there are trading cards, too, now that I am digging deeper. And some t-shirts.

There's a game that appeared on our communicators not so long ago- Flootemon Catch. It's surprisingly addicting. This merchandise has characters from the game on it.

No kidding? So that's what that game was all about...

[Stefan doesn't care enough about video games to give it a try. He has learned his lesson with Katamari, okay? Never again.]

I'm guessing you've gotten a chance to play it, then?

Yes. I am usually not one for frivolous timewasters, but this adds an element of fun while I am walking from place to place.

True. I'm all for anything that gets people up and moving....

[He shrugs.] I'll give it a shot and let you know what I think.

And do let me know if you'd like to take some of this merchandise off my hands. [This is said with a big wink.]

I wouldn't mind taking one of those ferret guys. [He means an Eevee.] Seems like the kind of thing Alex would've loved.

Of course. [Simon smiled sadly.] I... saw that you'd been promoted to Captain and presumed the worst.

You assumed right. [He bows his head a little.] I figure, the best thing to do is keep her memory alive and move forward, rather than dwell on it forever.

Some dwelling might happen, though. I felt that way when my sister left... I wanted to just put it behind me and keep going, but in truth, sometimes it is just... difficult to push aside.

Maybe. But right now, a broody Captain is the last thing our ship needs.

[He moped about it, alright. He also might've moped about it for far too long.]

Yes- having responsibility is a good distraction. When there are people counting on you for something, it's hard to find time to brood.

Or, well - anything, really. Maybe it's just my luck, but we've had more chaos in the past week than we've had in months.

Could be that Atroma's trying to stir things up again. We HAVE been rather low key for a while.

Nah, I think it's just my crew. [Beat] So uh, give me twenty? I'll be over as soon as possible.

Ah, certainly. Take your time- I won't be going anywhere else for a while.

[Bran looks please by this turn of events.]

Is there a Pawlithe? I like Pawlithe.

Let's see... that's the fire dog, right? Here... [Simon emerges with a plush toy. Except the poor thing's eyes are just off-center enough to make it look, for lack of a better word, "derpy".]

That's him!

[Clearly, Bran doesn't even notice the slight defect.]

He can absorb fire attacks.

Which is quite useful if you can deflect it back onto a bug or grass element foe. ... not that I know that from battling in this game, of course. [This is said with a big wink.]

I've been playing it all month. We don't have "video games" back home.

Ah, is that so? We have plenty of technology like this where I come from, but I am usually not given to spending a lot of time playing games. This one has been surprisingly engaging, though.

I used to play games with Arya and Sansa. My favorite was Monsters and Maidens, but Arya always made me be a Maiden.

[Simon had to smile at that, reminded of all the pretend games he and River would play as children.]

Did you at least enjoy being a Maiden, or did you have to be "rescued"?

It just meant she got to chase me everywhere. I didn't mind it, though. I could climb better than her.

My sister and I would play games when we were younger, too- though ours tended to involve space ships. ... and dinosaurs, every now and then. Not much in the way of climbing, since I was bogged down with schoolwork much of the time.

Schoolwork? What were you learning?

I am a doctor. My father placed a lot of importance on schoolwork, so I was doing all I could to study to be one from a young age.

Like Doctor Crusher! [He doesn't wait for an answer.] I don't think I would want to learn all of that. It must take ages.

Yes- she's brilliant, isn't she? [He then laughed.] It wasn't easy, either, but in the end, I have found it is more than worth it. I greatly enjoy my work.

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10. Must Obtain Every One!

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