driftfleet | action + video;

Who: Mirage Jenius + you!
Broadcast: Yes
Action: SS Starduck
When: Today!

ACTION;
[Frankly the amount of time Mirage gets on the SS Marsiva is far too short for even the beginnings of an introduction to this whole space show business. She wakes up in her bunk and immediately understands this isn't the dorms and isn't even the Macross Elysion or anything like that. Wherever she is she was plucked straight from her VF unit, flight suit and all.

So this starts right out as a recon mission in her mind. However she ended up here she's alone and has to find her own way back. She's barely stepped out of her room with a grimly serious expression, noting the people just walking through the hallways like it's no big deal she's standing out here.

And then woosh, she's ... being covered in confetti?

There's music?

Mirage is just sort of stuck in place, eyes wide and expression befuddled. And then she makes out her first disbelieving words to any gathered crew there.]

... Pudding?

[What's going on here?!]

VIDEO;
[Alright, so things have been explained. Sort of? There's a ship and a fleet and some kind of show, that much she's gathered by now. She's been several hours roaming the SS Starduck and getting to know it's general layout, in particular where the shuttles are stored and such.

Now she's getting down to communicating across the other ships, a need to test the system being her primary excuse. She's wearing a stern, no nonsense expression here.]

I have been briefed on my current status and situation. [And now maybe just a touch angrier in tone.] I don't exactly appreciate this sort of treatment but--

[Ahem. Stay focused, Mirage. Treat this like a report or something similar, anger won't do much good.
She sighs out loud.]

My name is Mirage Jenius. Currently I am stationed aboard the SS Starduck. If there are others here from the Xaos company or the Macross Elysion, please respond.

[... How do you end one of these broadcasts? Mirage's stern expression briefly falters, a moment of confusion peeking through. Observant eyes will catch the tips of her ears reddening just slightly before she rushes through the rest.]

Thank you very much. Over and out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I haven't seen any myself. But I understand from the network records that there has been in the past.

[Both raiders and surface-to-space missiles, if what he's read lines up with actual events. Those are huge concerns for any moving convoy of vehicles, especially one as under-resourced and under-staffed as the Fleet.]

We should be open to the possibility it may happen again.

[Ah, that's never good. Now she does wander around the stations, easily picking out the navigation area from the others. Funny how that works out, hm?]

Better to be safe than sorry.

[It's a good sign that she's taking this seriously and scoping out the stations. There would be time for that later of course, but it bodes well that she's paying attention to it now. Not that he likes to think of any situation arising where it will be needed.]

That's what I believe too. In my experience here though, we're rarely called upon to do our assigned duties. Everything is much more-- freeform.

... Freeform?

[She says it like she has no idea what that means. At least in terms of have duties and roles and just -- not really doing them?]

[It's a terrible term, isn't it? Connor still prefers it to 'not enforced at all'. He spreads his hands in his equivalent of a shrug.]

I mean you can choose what times you do your standard duties. Nothing appears to be set, beyond automated processes that we have no input in. As a pilot you might have more active duties when we leave this system.

Oh!

[She seems to get what he means very quickly with that explanation. Then she sort of... looks mystified.]

That leaves you with a lot of free time, doesn't it?

Excessive amounts of it by my standards, yes. It's taken some getting used to.

I can imagine. I'm not exactly used to a lot of free time.

[She's no android but she's military and she's more or less built her life around that sort of mindset.]

Neither am I. What I've found is that a lot of my time has been taken up with exploring the last planet the ships landed on. It isn't a job as such -- [Not officially, though investigating leads is exactly what Connor does in his job at home] --but it does offer a lot of variety.

Are the planets typically open to such free exploration?

[Not that they never are at home but there are some planets that are more sequestered than others and so on.]

The one we most recently visited was. There appeared to be few limits on what we could do, beyond our own. I haven't been here long enough to experience more than that planet, but I'm sure not every world has been that hospitable or welcoming.

[He pauses for a moment, before adding with some bemusement:]

In fact I'm sure they weren't, because this world was strangely welcoming to everyone.

[Strangely welcoming. Mirage's brow furrows at that.]

I don't believe I've ever been somewhere I would call 'strangely' welcoming before.

[Compared to the world Connor was living it, it's downright bizarre. His perspective is a bit skewed, he knows, yet he still thinks it was a bit... excessive.]

They liked to hand out gifts to anyone they saw, whether they knew them or not. I've never encountered behaviour like that before.

They didn't try to charge you for any of them, did they? I've seen it happen at a destination fairly popular for tourists before.

[Ragna was rife with such vendors if you didn't watch out for them or if you looked new.]

Charge me? Not that I'm aware of.

[If they had been expecting payment they definitely had not made that clear. Connor quickly reviews all of his interactions, cross-referencing against common social etiquette. No, he doesn't think that was the case, unless these aliens had very different means of making their intentions known.]

I tried refusing them on several occasions but it became simpler to accept their gifts.

That's surprising.

[She mulls on it a moment and then huffs a slight bemused breath.]

I guess that says more about me than them though.

In what way?

[He's curious to know, if she's making a statement like that. He thinks it says much about the locals but the impressions of the Fleet passengers tend to vary quite a bit.]

I was thinking it makes me sound cynical.

[She seems bemused by this. She realizes she's been a somewhat tightly closed off person emotionally for some time now. The thought of someone simply giving out gifts naturally brings rise to some explanation that seems more realistic to her.

Somewhere along the way of growing up, she had become jaded. Or maybe she had forced herself to be that way.]

I'm not sure that's the case. What I observed was at the extreme ends of social generosity, as far as my own experience goes.

[And his Social Relations program.]

It is not typical for humans to offer gifts to complete strangers with no expectation of some kind of return. They might if there is a work or financial reward involved, but it's rare to happen for no discernible reason. [He pauses before continuing with something of an admission.] Of course, they aren't human, so perhaps I shouldn't be applying that kind of expectation to them to start with.

[He makes a good point. Mirage looks thoughtful.]

Honestly not even most non-human individuals would be that generous. Though I guess others have their own customs. It's unusual to find this sort of custom though... or it seems that way to me.

It's highly unusual. I do wonder if that will still be the case after having seen several planets with their own distinct customs.

[The definition of what's usual and what's not is going to have to change dramatically, Connor thinks. He'll retain his own understanding of Earth's normal standards, but as a yardstick to measure against it will surely become less adequate the more planets he visits.]

[Mirage quirks a grin at his observation.]

I think the more types of people you see, the more they'll always end up surprising you.

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