[video]

[wallcrawler]

Who: Peter Parker
Broadcast: Video
Action: SS Huntress
When: Now!

[Good evening flooters, have a clearly distressed yet refreshingly well-rested teenager looking anxiously at the network for some sort of reassurance.]

So, is it normal for people to just black out around here? Last thing I remember, we were all stuck on that big welcome ship.

I mean, I know occasionally people go to sleep for a while, but don't they come back feeling like they spent a bunch of time back home? I've got squat.

[You know, aside from the lingering embarrassment and a strong desire to forget that people were in his head.]

Comments

video;;

[postocular]

Yeah, that's pretty normal.

[permanentlyexhaustedbird]

I couldn't tell you if it was normal or not I'm afraid but it's been a little time since Calibrations. I'm sorry you didn't get a glimpse of home while you were out?

video;

[nomirage]

... I've not heard about anything like this happening either but since I'm still relatively new here, it could be common enough.

Nothing else happened?

[video]

[wallcrawler]

[Great. All Pete can do is just groan at that- the implications weren't great, and considering none of them ever volunteered to come here, frequent blackouts wasn't the sort of thing that inspired confidence. Maybe instead of forced participants in some stupid TV show they were just galactic guinea pigs.]

Well that's just great...where are we now? How long's it been since those weird rooms?

[Though, speaking of the rooms...]

...and uh, sorry. About that.

[video]

[wallcrawler]

That's what they're called? Why? What are they calibrating?

[He doesn't actually expect Tim to have the answers here, but, well...intentionally or not Tim sort of laid a mystery at his feet, so now it's going to be bugging him forever.]

You think it's some way for them to keep the augments in check? I mean, sure, they let us do our assigned jobs, but I've seen a few glitch out and do some preeeetty weird things. Though maybe we've just been assuming they're glitches this whole time...

[This might go on for a while, judging by how Pete's up and pacing around his bunk trying to talk himself through this. Even though there's absolutely no chance he'll be able to figure anything out- he's got an inquisitive mind, but lacks the sort of experience and know-how to actually puzzle something like this out.]

[video]

[wallcrawler]

No. Not since those rooms. Or, Calibrations I guess. I didn't pick the name!

Figured you had to be new though. I recognized everyone else I saw during that whole...

[He is absolutely doing the vague hand gestures bit here. Because honestly, how could anyone even gently explain the whole "Hey so we got to walk around inside your head and see your memories" ordeal in a way that wasn't creepy and unsettling?]

...uh, thing.

[video]

[nomirage]

[Boy is her laugh a little awkward.]

That certainly was an experience.

[To say the least.]

[wallcrawler]

Yeah, yeah it was... apparently they're gonna happen again. It's probably a long way off, but apparently this wasn't the first. Or even the second. Or third, really.

[Surprise...? He doesn't particularly enjoy being the bearer of bad news, but an expected nightmare is still better than a surprise one, right?]

[nomirage]

That's what I've heard too. I'm sort of glad I can't remember a lot.

[wallcrawler]

Huh... y'know, you're actually the first to say that. I just thought it was normal for everyone to remember all of it.

If only to wake up and wonder if it was all some crazy dream, like in some bad daytime show.

[nomirage]

It's all very fuzzy for me. I'm not sure why of course but I imagine I may remember some more things with time.

[And part of it is probably just her blocking out things she heard or shared.]

[wallcrawler]

Maybe. Or it could be because you were like, this big, and that's throwing it off.

[He is definitely holding his hand up level with his head, then appropriately lowering it to Bitty!Mirage size. For illustrative purposes, of course.

And also because he'd rather not try to ballpark that age and find out she's one of the pointy-eared people who live for so long his guess would end up being so inaccurate it's an insult or something.]

Or hey, maybe you just lucked out and got a room that didn't want to overwhelm you after?

[nomirage]

[Oh! She looks a little wide-eyed for a brief moment and then it sort of hits her all of a sudden.]

Ah, you caught me sneaking around, didn't you!

[She shouldn't get flustered but there's still a part of her that recalls her mother's wrath in those moments when she would sneak onto the VF unites, okay.]

[wallcrawler]

And even interrupted some quality playtime in the cockpit, yeah.

But I got the distinct impression we'd have both gotten in trouble if I said anything about it. Still getting that same vibe!

Just how many times did you get busted for that, anyway?

[Because Mirage didn't seem like the sort of person to have been the Problem Child, but judging books by covers and whatnot...]

[nomirage]

[Mirage looks thoroughly sheepish... at least for a little bit. Then she huffs out a little laugh before spiraling into a more proper laugh.]

Just a few times.

[She gives him a big grin after that.]

My grandfather vouched for me every other time.

[If Grandpa Max loved anything, it was recklessness to some degree. And little Mirage had been a fair bit more reckless than big Mirage. Not Problem Child material exactly but more a Jenius through and through.]

voice;

[abracafcku]

Oh sure. Everyone's doing it these days - the blacking out thing. It's trending.

[wallcrawler]

Can definitely see why you'd keep doing it, then. Always easier when you've got someone ready to cover for you.

[Not that he'd ever had a jet to play around in. But Uncle Ben always made it a little easier for him to mess around with electronics or run experiments in the house.]

So, did that mean you got a pilot augment when the Atroma brought you here? Or did they stick you with something else?

audio

[wallcrawler]

Can't say I buy that last part.

If it was trending, it'd have some weird name attached to it. Easier to hashtag.

[nomirage]

Surprisingly the Atroma gave me the pilot augment here. I've heard that's not usually how it works out. Or rather is someone is good at something it seems to be the last thing the Atroma give them.

[wallcrawler]

Is it? I've seen it match up pretty well for a few. Guess I've only seen the success stories.

[Which was entirely possible, given he didn't really get out much those first several months.]

At least they're not handing out augments to people who'd be the worst at using them though, right? Ratings boost or not, all the kitchen fires from bad cooks would probably get expensive to deal with.

[nomirage]

It certainly would make running the ships... or what little we do run them... more challenging.

[wallcrawler]

I could do without "challenging." I've had more than enough "challenging."

I'll take boredom over dealing with a pilot playing Chicken with the other ships or an engineer blowing up part of the ship every other day any time.

[Even though he may or may not be the engineer in that hypothetical scenario]

[nomirage]

That sounds very. Specific.

[wallcrawler]

Aren't all worst-case scenarios? They kinda have to be, otherwise they can't be the worst.

[nomirage]

I suppose so, yes. Somehow that sounded more like experience speaking than something hypothetical.

[wallcrawler]

Okay, that first part was, a little. But definitely not the rest of it.

I just didn't want to give you the wrong idea about the rest of the crew. They've all been pretty cool so far.

[nomirage]

[Ah, that explains that. She smiles a bit.]

I understand. I've had no problems aboard my ship either, now that we're back on them at least.

[She hadn't been around that long before being swept off into the whole Calibration mess after all. She's only now really getting to know members of the Starduck's crew.]

[wallcrawler]

Well, hey, at least you wound up with a good crew! Not that there's any bad crews- I don't think- but still. Not like many of us are enjoying our time here, so having good people with you helps.

Which ship did you get put on, anyway?

audio

[abracafcku]

It might be. Are you tuned into whatever frequency the planets use for their social media? Maybe #blackout or, uh #napout is running wild.

[nomirage]

I'm on the SS Starduck.

[wallcrawler]

Ah. I think that's one of the few ships I don't know anything about.

[He's...pretty sure that's the one Escha was on? But it's not like they really knew each other. Even calling them acquainted would be a stretch- they'd just both been two of the people working on trying to study the black mist from several systems back.]

Not that any of these ships are really comfortable, but is it upgraded at all? I heard the bunks and stuff can start off pretty cramped.

[wallcrawler]

This went into "maybe" territory real fast for a sure-thing. But hey, #napout was a pretty good try!

[nomirage]

I'm not sure really. I believe the rooms must be upgraded, mine at least has a fairly large mattress.

[She's also used to more cramped conditions though, even when she doesn't necessarily enjoy them.]

And I have a small desk.

Re: [video]

[permanentlyexhaustedbird]

[Tim actually waits and lets Peter rant and wind himself down a little

I'm sorry, I don't have answers for you. The idea that it's to do with the augments is a good idea but I feel like perhaps there's a lot that we learn and assume and nothing we actually know.

I hate the idea that these things might be glitching in our head. I mean they're attached to our brains. That's really dangerous.

[video]

[postocular]

It's been over a month. Maybe a month and a half? [ He shrugs, trying to look nonchalant. He can't deny that all that shit with Venom didn't freak him the fuck out. ] Didn't really happen to me. I..uh. Can't believe it happened to you, though.. Are you okay?

[wallcrawler]

It's not just our brains. Or at least, that by itself wouldn't explain some of the things they do. One of our pilots had his act up a while back, and whenever he got wet it turned him into a mermaid. Er, merman, I guess.

Some people have even gotten aged back a few years. Some of them many years. I know it sounds weird, but waking up to find somebody in the Fleet's going through grade school again's not as unlikely as you'd think.

[wallcrawler]

[Well, at least he'll have plenty of network files to catch up on. That binge watching session's probably gonna take weeks to wrap up.]

I'm...fine, I guess. And it's been months since I last had any of the nightmares.

[Though the fact that he's been here over a year now and was still measuring it in months might make that admission a little less reassuring]

Plus, it doesn't look like Symbie can infect anyone from those rooms. Even with me blacked the whole time, the rest of you guys would've noticed pretty quickly if it had.

[abracafcku]

The hashtag is a maybe. Most of the worlds look at me weird when I mention things like Tinder and shit, so who knows if they're even sophisticated enough to understand this.

[permanentlyexhaustedbird]

But do we know if that was done through the augments or simply an ability these Atroma have? There's so much that we just don't know. Even the things we're told, we can't be sure if they're true or not or simply theories passed down from other fleeters that have now been taken as fact.