Stick a Fork in Me

[hollystrike]

Who: Katie McCoy and you
Broadcast: Fleetwide.
Action: Vanquish, Iskaulit, Malum
When: Today!

[Video]

Just a moment--

[She'd apologise for the deafening thunk of a very solid piece of metal striking the floor in front of your screens, but she's in too bad a mood.   It's the business end of a battle axe, runes inscribed along the metal edge and the weapon far too ridiculously big for a person like Katie to use.  In fact, it's not temper that made her slam the stupid thing into the floor.  She just can't lift it for very long, it's too goddamned heavy. 

(Especially for someone who's been out cold for nearly three months, and this is what she comes back to?)]

Now.  Who's responsible for this?  Where did you get it?

[Anyone who saw any Tully-related flashbacks in calibrations will recognise the weapon for his.  Otherwise, the runework is distinctly Scandinavian (Younger Futhark, to be precise) if there are any geeks in the audience.

...also, that's from the Atroma and it's been sitting in the cargo bay for months.  Merry belated Christmas?  She really appreciates it.  Honest.]

---------

[In person, one can find Katie either dragging said stupid axe back to her quarters on the Vanquish, down at the fox park on the Iskaulit, or lurking at a table in Malum and getting really drunk, which is possibly not wise but par for the course.]

Comments

[hollystrike]

[If anything was going to make her mood break, a giant stuffed tiger will do it. Katie's face lights up somewhere between genuine cheer and just, y'know, glee that someone would gift Felix this.

Look, she's a lover of cats in all forms.] I can think of at least six uses! I bet he'd make a lovely pillow.

[scanninggaydis]

[Hey look, another one of its uses: cheering people up.

As a response to that cheer, he smiles a little. The tiger kind of ruins his image. But he likes Katie enough that it doesn't matter as much.]

I guess it also makes an interesting set dressing.

[His room is still pretty barren of personal objects otherwise.]

[hollystrike]

See? Two uses already.

[She can already well guess it's not really Felix's kind of thing, but it's still cute.]

Much lighter than an axe too, I would imagine.

[scanninggaydis]

It did make it a lot easier to carry from the cargo bay. They should have given you a handcart to go along with yours.

[Because the Atroma are the pinnacle of consideration.

Also no it's not his thing in the least but he puts up with some things for the people he cares about. Including keeping plush toys that they gave him as jokes.]

[hollystrike]

If they were going to be rude enough to bring it in the first place, they should have gone the whole way and put it in my bedroom. [Sniff.]

I suppose it must be rather comical to watch.

[scanninggaydis]

They do have to think about their viewership.

[Sarcasm!!]

[hollystrike]

I wonder if we'll ever get to meet their viewership.

[scanninggaydis]

That would be a pretty interesting experience.

...Which I don't really think we'll ever get.

[Call him skeptical. It doesn't seem like the Atroma are all that interested in actually introducing them to their viewers.]

It does seem a little weird, you know? You'd think they'd want to be able to parade us around in front of the people who are actually watching us.

[If anyone is watching at all. Which, let's be honest: they're probably not.]

[hollystrike]

Maybe their audience isn't exactly aware we're captives and so actually meeting them would result in all kinds of space lawsuits.

[scanninggaydis]

You think they edit out all the bits where we grumble about being stuck?

[Like this very conversation?]

[hollystrike]

In some quadrants where that sort of thing is frowned upon. I suppose there's probably several versions of the show they put out.

...do you think if we spent all our time swearing or complaining they might decide we're not viable as entertainment?

[scanninggaydis]

I mean, it might be worth a try.

...But I'd be worried about the outcome of that decision.

[As far as they know, people are just sent home when they disappear. But Felix doesn't trust the Atroma much. They've put their "stars" in harm's way before.]

[hollystrike]

[....she considers that seriously, actually, face falling a little.]

I'd like to say it might be better to be in control of our own fate, but not if our own fate is going to be an extremely limited length of time.

[scanninggaydis]

[Hey, look at him, bringing down the frakking mood. Because it's Katie, he honestly feels a little bit bad. It's only practical, but it still feels like a misstep. Maybe that shows on his face a little.]

Something like that, yeah.

[hollystrike]

[Katie's thoughts skitter across darker things more times than most realise. She bounces back pretty fast, though.]

Well. As long as we have the relative freedom of relative choice, we can make do.

[scanninggaydis]

[Felix smiles faintly at her optimism.]

Pretty much. People are good at doing that, I find.