#002 [Video]

[everydayhero]

Who: Hiro Hamada and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide video
Action: SS Bishop!
When: 3/8, in the afternoon



[What's that sound? The sound of an alarm going off. What's that video feed? Well, right now the camera is set on a bobblehead that is rattling like crazy. Its base has been elongated, and from under said base flashes (slowly) a red light. Then it turns blue after two buzzer sounds from the alarm. Then yellow. Then orange. Then green. Then purple. Back to red. It continues to cycle as Hiro turns the camera to face him, and he's bobbing his head with the beat of the buzzer while standing at a control panel of different metal than the ship that has been welded onto the wall by the door to the main deck. Every time he presses a button on said panel, the light changes color. Then he hits a small green button above a large red button on the side, and the whole thing stops.

[Yes, the entire Bishop was just subjected to that without warning.]

Pretty cool, huh?

[Hiro looks like a cat who just caught his very first bird.]

It's all hooked up to our control panels, but I can't program it to do everything I need it to until we have a pilot and a communications officer. Right now, we have fire, gas, and the latter half of the collision alarms. I still need to program one for docking and to hook up another to the radar so we can know when we're headed dangerously close to something that could damage the ship. Right now, we've only got one that tells us we've been hit.

[SHRUG.]

But since, for some reason, everything under the control panel looks like gibberish to me... [he takes a moment to look into the camera like he's on the office] ... we get to wait until we have someone more "competent" [airquotes!] than I am.


[VOICE EDITED IN LATER]

P.S., if there are any communications officers who wanna hop ship over to the Bishop for keeps, let me know. It'll work out best if you're one of two on your current ship.

Comments

[everydayhero]

[oh she looks confused ok]

It's a ritual we have on Earth. We make a promise, link our pinky fingers, and if whoever makes the promise breaks it, the other person is allowed to break their pinky.

[WHICH IS WHY HE'S GOING TO WAIT UNTIL SHE RESPONDS TO LINK THEM because let's be real he'd let her do it if he ratted her out but explaining it to someone who doesn't understand it has made him realize it's a little brutal.]

Usually it's kids that do it, but they don't actually break their pinkies. The point of it is acknowledging that it's a promise that would be worth breaking somebody's finger over if you were... y'know. Inclined to do that.

[howcanihelp]

Children can be vicious sometimes. All right, then! Pinky promise.

[ She is not at all fazed, which is probably good. Pinky-linky! ]

And I will absolutely collect on that if you break it. [ She is very bad at sounding threatening, especially when she's trying not to grin. She wouldn't actually collect. ]

[everydayhero]

I would absolutely expect you to.

[pinkysqueeeeze, then letting go.]

[howcanihelp]

Okay. My singing isn't very good, and it's better when a whole group is singing it while drunk, honestly, but...

[ She clears her throat and launches into the song about the Antivan prostitute. It is witty and extremely not work safe.

Her voice is pretty average, and she's being a little quiet in hopes no one else on the ship hears. It's an earworm for SURE. ]

There. You've heard it, and I have done my part in the corruption of an innocent. Zevran would be so proud of me, I'm sure.

[everydayhero]

[His face is probably priceless right now, and his face is a little red.]

Oh my god. That is incredible.

[Aaaand now he's laughing.]

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa is now very red, herself, and she sticks her tongue out at him when he laughs. ]

Don't laugh! I should've made you promise that, too. Brat.

[everydayhero]

I'm not laughing at you, it's--... th-that song!

[howcanihelp]

[ Stephanie covers her mouth with her hand, trying to hold in her own giggles ]

Isn't it awful? I don't think some of that is anatomically possible.

[everydayhero]

We're on a space ship and we're possibly from entirely different universes. I'm not sure anything's impossible anymore.

[howcanihelp]

I still don't think she would've been able to do the bit with the fencepost.

...We need to change the subject, this is just mortifying.

[everydayhero]

[Hiro is cracking up, this is the raunchiest conversation he's ever had.]

Alright, alright. That's fair.

[howcanihelp]

I swear I know other songs. Just-- I was pretty sheltered in the Circle, where I lived, and then I got conscripted into being a Warden and I picked up a very... interesting group of people. And some of them thought it was their duty to "educate" me about the wide world.

[ It's exasperated and fond. These people meant a lot to her, clearly. ]

[everydayhero]

So, what's all of this "circle" stuff? Is that like... a complex for students?

[howcanihelp]

Sooooort of?

[ Okay, how to explain this so it doesn't sound horrible... ]

Mages in my world have a connection to another realm called the Fade. Everyone goes there when they dream, more or less, but mages have a very strong connection to it. That's why they can do magic. It also attracts spirits that live in the Fade, called demons. Demons want to get out, to come to our world, and they can do that if they can convince a mage to let them possess their bodies. It would give the mage much more power, and they'll play on your weaknesses to get what they want.

Because of this, all mages live, train, and study in what's called the Circle of Magi in their country, guarded by the Templars, which are an order of knights that are specially trained to be able to subdue mages. Any mage who refuses to go to the Circle, or flees from it, is an apostate.

There's a religious aspect to it as well, though I'm not sure I agree with the interpretation of Adraste's teachings that are cited as the reason for the Circles. Mostly I think people are scared of us. A demon in the body of a mage can kill or harm many many people before it's killed, and even a mage with a grudge or poor control of their powers can cause a lot of death and destruction.

[ ...success...? ]

I was brought to the Circle in Ferelden when I was about six.

[everydayhero]

... Six?!

[YOU WERE PUT INTO WIZARD CAMP WHEN YOU WERE SIX???]

That's pretty young to be labeling you as dangerous!

[howcanihelp]

[ she shrugs a little ]

One girl was brought in a little after I was, she was 10? Because she accidentally set her parents' inn on fire when she had a nightmare. 7 people died, including her parents.

It's young, but... if we don't learn how to control it, we are dangerous.

[everydayhero]

[damn. wow, he can't even feel bad about that.]

... Well, I guess you'd be living proof of a mage being in control and awesome.

[howcanihelp]

[ Yeah, stuff like that isn't SUPER common, but it's common enough. ]

Something like that, I guess. [ laughs ]

Are you in a school, back home? For your... robots and everything?

[everydayhero]

[PRIDE BUMP.]

Yep. The way school works where I come from, you start at age 5 and go to 17, and then you graduate. Then you have the choice to apply to colleges and go as long as you want. I graduated high school at 13, and I go to the same college my brother went to.

[howcanihelp]

Four years early? You must be exceptionally smart.

[ She kind of could've guessed that, though. Otherwise why was he the first one to have built something like that alarm? Noise aside, it seemed very useful. ]

[everydayhero]

[SHRUG]

Yeah, maybe a little. The college I go to has the best robotics program in the country.