driftfleet | Plain, Simple Carol

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Plain, Simple Carol

Who: Carol Peletier & you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: Heron, Iskaulit
When: After the shuffle on the 20th to the arrival at the next waystation

Heron Bridge: Closed to Crewmates

[ It was a good thing that Carol had a few days to adjust between arrival and transport to her assigned ship. During that time she was able to get some information from Maggie and Carl and formulate a plan. The wisest course of action appeared to be the same thing she had done upon arrival in Alexandria: behave exactly like the timid, inconsequential housewife that she appears to be.

A plan that is seriously threatened by her position as the only security personnel on the ship. It's a fair enough assignment, she certainly has the skills necessary to defend the ship. But it is disconcerting to have her cards pulled from her vest so early.

After the initial celebration, such as it is, she reports to the bridge to take stock of the loadout. She opens the compartment and makes a show of surprise. ]

Oh my. [ She laughs awkwardly, and picks up one of the guns gingerly, as if she were afraid it might bite her. She turns to one of the other crewmates on the bridge ] I don't suppose there's a shooting range anywhere. Or maybe some kind of simulators I could train on?

Iskaulit Library: OTA

[ Reading is Carol's favorite way to pass the time. When she finds out there's a library she makes a point to visit as soon as possible. The lack of organization is frustrating. But she tries not to focus on that, and instead just let herself browse without any specific goal in mind.

It lasts about five minutes before she gets frustrated. Luckily, she's not alone. She just hopes the other person browsing won't mind an interruption. ]

Excuse me, I'm sorry to bother you but hi, I'm Carol. [ Her smile is a little simpering, as she's still doing her best to keep up the "simple housewife" act. ] I'm new here and I can't figure out how these books are organized. Do you have any tips on how to find anything?

Video: OTA

[ Carol smiles a tight-lipped smile at the camera, her eyes crinkling warmly. She's standing in the kitchen on the Heron, a variety of what passes for ingredients spread out around her. One could almost imagine her hosting some kind of low-key cooking show. ]

Hi! I'm Carol, and I'm new here. I noticed that the food leaves something to be desired, at least on my ship. So, I thought why not see what I can do to make things a little nicer. If any of the rest of you are interested in this kind of thing, or have been working on this kind of thing, I'd love to hear from you. I thought it would be nice to share tips and experiment!

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[ Carol frowns as the woman explains. It's been a while since she really thought about T.V. But now that she mentions it, Carol does start to remember how some of those shows went. ]

Yeah. They do like that sometimes, I guess.

[ Carol keeps her hand out as Lucina looks at it, and then lets it drop. ]

If I'm supposed to provide security for this entire ship, we'll need them. [ She sighs. ] What do you do, Lucina? is it anything you're experienced with or was it a learning opportunity for you, too?

[Welcome to being on a TV show, Carol. Isn't it better than the Zombie Apocalypse?]

I take it that it is something you're familiar with on your world then?

[Sorry. She'll get used to weird things like handshakes one day. Today is not that day.]

If you're that unsure of how to use the weapons given to you to use, you might want to take a better look at your augment. I'm the tactical support personnel, and I've not had much experience with that before now, but the learning curve is not as steep as it would be were I thrown into the volcano head-first.

[ ...
...
...
Maybe. ]

Yeah. As much as anybody else who watched T.V. was.

[ She doesn't elaborate more than that. Explaining more leads to questions she's not sure she could answer even if she wanted to. She listens as Lucina explains more about the augment, but one thing about what she says trips her up. ]

There's a volcano?

[At least no one's going to try and eat your face.

....

Yet.]

There is nothing like that on my own world. I find that being constantly watched is unnerving. Well, more than normal.

[Her every move is watched by her friends and by the Grimleal, but this is a lot worse and extremely different than what she's used to.]

No, it's an expression. [She grimaces as she attempts to find something that might be comparable.] Although, I believe there are a great deal of strange things on the main ship that we are allowed to visit, the Iskaulit. There is a mountain in a park, if I remember correctly, an ice rink and a swimming pool. If you're interested, you might be able to take one of the small ships over to explore it.

[ Small blessings. ]

Usually on my world it was something people wanted to do. They'd have to compete with each other to get chosen for the... privilege, if that's what you want to call it.

[ She laughs softly at the explanation, feeling a little foolish. ] That makes more sense. [ But then Lucina continues to explain about the Iskaulit and Carol's eyes go wide again. ]

How big is that ship?

[Hey, we take them where we find them. Let's be real here.]

I can assure you that after speaking with a few people here, there is little privilege in our being here. Though they do allow us the chance to be "gifted" things if we prove to be entertaining enough to their audience.

[You're welcome for that run down, Carol. From a highly unbiased source no less.]

It's rather large. Though, the Marsiva is the lead ship and appears to be much larger than all of the others together. I spent my first week on its hospitality deck. [She crosses her arms under her breasts in an attempt to hide her annoyance.] It could use work.

I didn't think it was much of a privilege back home, in all honesty. [ She smiles a little. ] I guess that's irony for you. [ She thinks a moment and winces. ] I won't count on any ... gifts. I can't imagine I would be entertaining to anybody. Maybe they just needed some background filler.

I was only on the Marsiva a day or two. Is there anything else on there? What is all that space for?

Yes, well, you and I would be in agreeance then. There is no real reward in being taken from my world. [In fact, there is everything wrong with that.] However, if what we've been told is true, time has stopped while we are being used as actors in a play.

[She knows better than to give credence to this woman's remarks about her being uninteresting. The dissidence seems too strong.]

From what I gathered, the level where we are kept is the only one that we are able to access. The rest is sealed and no one has seen it.

Well, that's a relief.

[ The slow twisting of guilt had been tying her into knots since she arrived. Ever since Daryl found her in the cottage she knew he wasn't telling her everything. She still didn't know everything. Something was wrong, and she needed to help make it right. But if time wasn't moving the same there as it was here. Or they could just put her back where she had been, then she wouldn't be abandoning them to whatever fate was waiting for them.

The revelation that the vast majority of the lead ship is still unexplored is significant. Carol is quiet a moment as she digests that. ]

Do you think it could be whoever is running this thing? Or maybe who's watching it?

Yes, it is. Hopefully it's true.

[She's got a mother to apologize to and a father to save. This place isn't going to be the reason her world falls into a terrible fucking zombie apocalypse. She won't let it happen again.]

Those ideas have been posited, but there's no way to verify it. Although, there are signs that those running this little production are watching it, but there appear to be more than just our captors watching our lives progress here.

[ Carol mostly has a lot of people to kill. And some breakfast cobbler to eat. The whole terrible fucking zombie apocalypse ship has sailed, and she would never have been able to prevent it anyway. ]

The whole point of shows like this is for people to live vicariously through you. If they were all stuck in that big ship, or afraid to leave or something, they could all be in there.

[Learn to time travel, Carol. That's how you stop zombies.]

Vicariously, hm? If they're so interested in fighting against cannibals, maybe they should just live through it. That would be more satisfying for me.

But, honestly, after a week of exploring the ship, I don't think there's anyone on it. At least not near the Hospitality Deck.

[ She laughs softly and shakes her head. ]

No, if you're the audience the point is to watch other people be put in danger while you are perfectly safe. Experiencing it for yourself would just be terrifying, not entertainment. You know, like how it's not all that entertaining for us.

[ Carol nods and lets the matter of the ship drop. They have nothing but speculation, which will only get you so far. ]

So. What do we do now? Just wait for the next episode to start filming, or something?

That sounds pointless. I would much rather be able to face things head on than to let others do the living for me. Living vicariously through others is silly.

[And Lucina doesn't have a great sense of humor on a good day. This is not a good day, despite her company.]

I don't think it ever stops. Since I've gotten here, there have been letters and gifts left for me while I slept and there's every indication that they can "tune in" at any time. So, I suppose we just go about our days as we normally would.

People like to be safe. But safe can be boring. So they split the difference.

[ It's such a strange thing to think about. There is no reality television back home anymore. Carol doesn't necessarily miss it, because it was never something that she ever paid much attention to in the first place. She does miss the kind of world where "escape" meant living vicariously through somebody doing something potentially dangerous. ]

Plus some of the shows were just dating competitions or cooking competitions. It wasn't all Survivor.

[ She glances at her when she mentions the fans. ]

Letters and gifts? Good Lord. I suppose it's silly to worry about stalkers when they must know where we live, but still.

I'm supposing they're civilians then, peasants and the like? Not everyone is built for battle, but stories of prowess due tend to be popular.

[Lucina, not everyone is ready to charge headlong into a fight that started before they were born either.]

Why are dating competitions popular? That seems even sillier.

[Lucina frowns behind her mask, remembering the growing pile of letters from her "admirers" on the desk in her room.]

I don't like the idea of voyeurs into my life giving me unwelcome gifts either, but I don't think we have much of a choice in the matter. There's nothing to say we have to use or acknowledge them unless we wish to.

Civilians, yeah.

[ The word "peasant" makes her uncomfortable. Especially since she's been living in The Kingdom. Like they're regressing to some kind of feudal state. Although with all the thugs declaring themselves warlords, maybe they have. ]

The dating competitions are the most popular. And it's expected that they will end with the winners getting married. It's just as strange as it sounds.

[ She sighs softly. ]

I don't like voyeurs in my life at all, let alone sending me things. But like you said, we don't exactly have a choice.

[ It's an unsatisfactory conclusion. There is no resolution to this. Not until they somehow go home, anyway. And she can retreat to her cabin where nobody can see her. ]

[Look, she's a princess. And she's known some pretty tough peasants. Like Donnel. Not everyone can be nobility or royalty. And her father is a good ruler. She can only hope that her smaller self can grow up to be just as good as Chrom and Emmeryn. Not like her grandfather.]

What a strange way to find a marriage partner. Somehow I don't think they'd be lasting.

[Lucina sympathizes, but they are here for now and there is no use in complaining about it. Besides, it's been done before.]

I'm sorry I have no good news for you upon your arrival, but I would rather not sugarcoat things.

[ For all her criticism, Carol herself was hardly more successful in choosing a suitable husband. ]

Some do, some don't. I think it comes down to luck, really. Same as any other way to figure out who to marry. Though I think they have a slightly higher than average failure rate.

[ Had, more like. It's not like they're still doing that stuff. As far as she knows.

What a weird possibility. ]

It's alright. I'd rather know the truth of our situation than get some sugarcoated version.

[ Not like whatever sugarcoated version of the situation Daryl had given her back home. ]

[She's not at all sure she's comfortable with the thought of marrying someone for entertainment of others. Marriage is both to strengthen countries and the parties involved, but mostly it should be about love if her parents and the rest of the Shepherds are any indication.

But moving away from the weirdness of the other woman's world, Lucina is definitely more interested in making sure she helps her get acquainted as best as she can.]

Lying gets neither of us anywhere. You can just check through the communication devices we're so generously given to see what the situation is.

[ Carol smiles pleasantly at the comment about lying. She almost says something about what a good policy it is to be honest, but decides against it. She doesn't want to lay it on too thick. Plus it's not like she's asking Lucina anything personal. Carol herself wouldn't mislead a newcomer about the status of the fleet and their position in it. ]

That's good to know. Thanks for explaining things to me. I'm sure these kinds of information sessions can get repetitive.

[Lies catch up to you eventually, and Lucina knows that more than anyone else. It's still not the truth.]

I wouldn't know. This is actually the first time I've had the chance to speak to anyone who's arrived after myself. I don't doubt that I might find it tedious if I had to do this many times over the years, but as of yet, it's not.

Besides, I learned a great deal of what I know from the devices they leave with us, which I'm sure that you'll get acquainted with soon enough.

Yeah, it's been a while since I've used anything like this. But I'm sure I'll catch on quick enough. They don't seem too complicated.

[ Or they were complicated, and the thing in her head made it simple. What a weird thought. She didn't dwell on it, because that would only upset her and she can't do anything about it anyway. ]

I think I'm gonna do some exploring around the ship. You wanna come with?

[ She doesn't really expect Lucina to take her up on it. She probably knows the ship pretty well by now. But still, seems rude to just walk away. ]

No, I will decline, unless you need a tour.

[The ship isn't that big, but she does feel like it's her duty to offer that small boon if it's needed. As a crew mate.]

Otherwise, you can find me if you have other questions. It has been nice to meet you, Carol, despite our current circumstances.

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Plain, Simple Carol

Ugh sorry I could have edited!! Just tell me and I'll fix things

Nah, I just need to proofread. My bad.

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