Calibration Post 1, "Daytime"

[thespaceopera]

[ Not long after the shuffle, there's a ripple of static over the network - loud, sudden, and seemingly with no origin. It's puzzling, but there's no indication that it's going to happen again...

Until a minute later. Another surge of static comes in over the speakers, and then a voice - one some may find familiar, though not necessarily welcome, after all of this time... It's Diamond. Long time no speak, hmm?

Clearly, not all is well. She sounds very far away, for one. For another, she sounds... skeptical, almost alarmed. There may actually be real concern in her voice. ]

Again? Twice in one c--

[ Her sentence is cut short with a strangled gasp, followed by a moment of silence. What follows may be the sound of metal dragged across metal, but it's hard to place. When she speaks again, it's uncharacteristically monotonous. ]

... Bring them in.

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome, but this set of rooms has only been used once, and for the very same purpose that befalls the fleet contestants now.

As for their hosts, there is no immediate sign of them, though some may recall a series of hideous, half-electronic screams before their memories begin to blur upon arrival...

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round two of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Comments

[darksmokerising]

Well, that sounds like it was quite a treat.

[touchallthebooks]

Finding the books was but the Twin Roses captains... they had some fun after.

[darksmokerising]

Oh? [She leant in a little, interested in where his story was going. Being a Hunter as well as an academic meant there was a double interest in anything with a story attached to it.]

[touchallthebooks]

I fell asleep studying. Vash drew one me and Kitty woke me up by telling the ship was on fire. [Probably lower than the least exciting thing she was expecting.]

[darksmokerising]

Quite rude.[Merlan laughed softly. These were things she had probably only read about since all of her focus had been solely one academics with a little side quest now and again.] What did Vash draw on you?

[touchallthebooks]

[A soft chuckle. No hard feelings towards Vash, not really.] His face on my cheeks and a star on my forehead.

[darksmokerising]

Tch. Terrible. I suppose boredom on their part causes ill manners.

[touchallthebooks]

[Khadgar just gives a carefree smile.]

I suppose but I can't hold it against them. At least, not for too long.

[darksmokerising]

There are worse things he could have drawn. So, small mercies.

[Merlan smiles and decides Khadgar's is a very nice one. It's the sort that makes you smile back out of reflex and she's glad for it.]

THey sound like siblings rather than shipmates and those one must forgive. No use travelling around in a tin can with a grudge, anyway.

[touchallthebooks]

Siblings. I guess they do? I don't remember getting into that kind of mischief with my brothers and sisters but it's been a long time since I spent time with them.

[She's not wrong though. Holding a grudge here won't help.]

[darksmokerising]

I don't have any at all. Some teenagers seem to indulge in that behaviour often and even when they get into more advanced studies. I suppose most people grow out of it.

[touchallthebooks]

I didn't live with them long enough to have to deal with them as teenagers.

[He also lied. Khadgar absolutely got into mischief, using his magic to steal cookies before supper.]