Ask Some Questions, Get Some Answers (?)

[airlockedmods]

[The Stardust Nebula is a large cloud, sprawling pink and purple across the dark void of space as you approach. There are no planets here, not even a planetoid, but that hardly means it’s devoid of life. Kip will easily be able to navigate to the place in question, a small collection of interconnected spaceports orbiting near the edge of one of the nebula’s hazy, rose-tinted tendrils. Floating signs hooked to these advertise “AIRLOCKED! Q&A”, with arrows leading towards what appears to be a convention center. A dome encloses the area, much like the one around the Fantasy Sweet, but there does not appear to be any kind of security restrictions on the port; it will open as soon as any ship pulls up to it.

Inside, there aren’t too many inconspicuous places to park your weird flotilla of offensively-shaped ships. You may just have to settle for the back of the docks, behind a large news van or something like that, and consider not sticking around the entire time. Getting inside was a quick process, so you shouldn’t have any trouble doing it again, especially with a military navigator staying with the ship. A line has already formed in front of the entrance, at least partially due to the scanners flanking the door. A large weirdly baby-faced alien in some type of uniform is standing there, apparently manning the machine, checking peoples’ belongings, and generally directing them. There’s an unfamiliar symbol on their uniform, clearly not the InterGal 7 logo. Despite being alone, they seem to be handling the line fairly efficiently - even if they occasionally appear to intentionally loom over some of the smaller aliens attempting to enter. There are a few cosplayers among the crowd, of course, but this time the majority are in plainclothes.

Some people are skipping this line and walking around to the back of the building. They’re all wearing or carrying badges, which do have the InterGal 7 logo on them.

For the moment, no one seems to have taken notice of your arrival.]

Comments

[kingshaming]

[Xander, his curls hidden under a 'world's okay-est genetic donor' hat, looks at the others with a put upon sigh]

After everything at the restaurant... please everyone, try not to be overly loud and avoid talking about the 'show' too much.

[cyan_maid]

[There's a very nervous, very strong hope in Jane that no one in the Airlocked fandom will suspect her to ever dress up like this. Almost everything she's got on is black - a men's collared shirt, a baggy hoodie, jeans that are just asking to get the bottom hems worn and torn from walking around, lipstick and eyeliner and eye shadow as black as she'd seen Roxy's Mom wear on the covers of magazines. The only bits of color she has on are in three distinct accessories - a bright orange bandanna tied around her head, Rosie the Riveter style (Dirk, lend me your wits), a set of emerald green suspenders (Jake, I'm sorry, but I need your gumption), and a neat, neon pink bowtie (Roxy please, please, I've never wanted to be as brave as you are more than this moment). There's no blue and there's certainly no red - nothing that should tip someone off to who she really is - and hopefully, that's enough.

She presses her lips thin with sheepishness, folds her arms.] Nobody ended up saying anything to us...but right, of course.

[kingshaming]

We were lucky- it all worked out, but we can't depend on being mistaken as rabid fans forever.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Hey. [I don't know which one of you Church has just nudged, but you're getting nudged. He nods his head to the InterGal badge holders, more with the brim of his hat than anything.] Think we could take on one or two of these nerds and skip the line?

[misanthropicprinciple]

Not so loud.

[Junpei adjusts his fake glasses and watches those IG7 guys go. He bleached his hair. He bleached his hair. With bone-white locks pulled back with a string headband and an all-black Kingsglaive ensemble, he looks like a fucking punk.]

Think you and the big guy can handle it? I can keep lookout.

[Because... I mean, Junpei can fight. He just probably can't win.]

[stitch_in_time]

Not a bad idea, if we can get a couple of 'em alone.

[He pulls the psychic paper out of his pocket and taps it a little.]

What do you think, surprise safety inspection of their setup?

[stitch_in_time]

Huh, Raxacoricofallapatorius...ian security.

[Peeking at the crowd around them over his sweet but non-sonic shades.]

Careful around them, they've got noses like bloodhounds and they're more dangerous than they look.

[serrata]

[ they're fucking horryfing is what they are but Yuuri can't stop staring ]

They're so... I mean, I'd already seen Kip-san but this is...

[ Behold, it's Wakasa Yuuri's first real encounter with aliens. I can't believe that's a real sentence I just typed. ~airlocked~ ]

[serrata]

[ "Kotori Ichimichi" climbs off the ship and even under all her foundation (she had to cover up that beauty mark somehow) she looks a little pale. But she's... made an effort, at least. Her long dark hair's been scraped up and tucked under a sleek, shoulder-length ashy brown wig and instead of striking green, there's an amber sheen to her eyes courtesy of a pair of fashion contacts. She's got a pageboy cap sat atop her head and she's dressed very unYuuri -- all beige tones and floaty layers. She won't be fooling any family members but it's a good enough disguise. ]

... We're not going to trip the security, are we? If they have hardlight detectors or... [ Their PIPs.

She's speaking softly enough that only the people in their little group should be able to hear her. ]

[shikosuki]

I don't know if hardlights will be the problem... didn't they say a lot of people use them for cosplay?

[scourgingstars]

[Who the fuck is this guy, other than six and a half feet of hardlight-crafted muscle.]

[Well, if you ask him it's 'Nadir Vaullerey', but if you hear him talk it's probably Ardyn. To his credit, he did a good job of looking casual, and black hair with brown eyes stuck out much less than violet and yellow. Totally calm, with absolutely no hidden magic dimension. Certainly not one with a giant sword.]

Remember, we're not here to draw attention to ourselves. And we need to stay together or at least within sight of each other. [...he said, aware of the painful irony.]

[cyan_maid]

[Excuse you, she's short, not blind. Definitely not blind. Is this hunk of man someone Ardyn just dreamed up or what??]

As long as we don't run into any aliens like certain someones we know who're...clearly enamored with height differences? We'll probably be fine.

[serrata]

[ She cannot believe he somehow managed to get taller. There was no need for that, sir. ]

Should we agree on a meeting point? If anyone gets separated, they should come straight back to the ship. No messing around by yourself.

[motherfucking_ghost]

[are you kidding me are you fucking kidding me] And you're sure you won't draw attention to yourself, Gristle McThornbody? [church]

[shikosuki]

[ the voice doesn't actually register at first despite how distinct it is. Choromatsu is just... distracted by all this ]

...Who the fuck are you?

[shikosuki]

[ Choromatsu is coming along today, determined to keep being "useful" and to also attempt(??) to bring some impulse control to the group. Some, anyway. Yuuri helped him get in incognito mode earlier, and if asked his name it's "Hayato Araragi" or just Araragi, because Choromatsu Matsuno can never make anything easy on anyone's tongues apparently.

He's mumbling under his breath ]

Please don't let anything crazy happen today, pleeeeeeeeeeeease don't let anything crazy happen today...

[cyan_maid]

...Because of all of us, or because of the nature of the event?

[She saw a con okay. She saw grown men in sailor uniforms.]

[ratherdoweddings]

I think it's already going to, though.

Q&A PANEL / AUTOGRAPHS

[airlockedmods]

[Welcome to the Airlocked Q&A panel!

The actors are sitting at a long table up on the stage at the moment: Max, Bolton, Lightning, and FN-2187, from left to right. It seems that they have already been answering some questions, but there’s still some seats in the back of the audience. The house lights are on, so they can see who's asking, but there's also quite a lot of people here, including some security up by the stage.

The autograph portion of today will probably start soonish, but if you hurry you might be able to hop onto the end of the questions line.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[As soon as they're all through security, Junpei's looking to reattach his hand to Yuuri's, looking sheepish and apologetic but mostly beaming with relief.]

There's still some seats left. Come on.

[What sorts of questions are our panelists currently being asked?]

BACKSTAGE

[airlockedmods]

[Backstage, there doesn’t seem to be much going on at the moment. Most of the attention is now focused on the Q&A panel happening out in the front, and a lot of the staff back here have clustered in the wings to watch, even though there is a thin television monitor on the wall that seems to be showing a live feed of what’s happening. Only one person is back here watching it: a tall, blue-skinned, somewhat amphibious-looking alien in a dark suit with an InterGal7 badge clipped neatly to the lapel. Even they aren’t paying too much attention, instead focusing mostly on their tablet, which is inexplicably hovering in the air in front of them. It’s similar in shape to the one Cece owned, but obviously much fancier. They're doing something with it, but you can't tell what that might be.

The blonde intern hands them one of the drinks as she passes by, and they barely glance up at her, murmuring some perfunctory thanks. Their posture is rigid; the quick sip they take does nothing to ease the tension in their shoulders.

For at least one of you, this is not the first time you have seen this person. Identify them to perform a Knowledge check.]

[stitch_in_time]

Careful Church, looks like your girlfriend's still here.

[Nodding in the direction of the blonde coffee intern, before attempting to sidle up to the monitor to get a look at that alien with the tablet.]

[There's no spare clipboards or anything he might grab nearby, are there? No one questions a clipboard.]

[airlockedmods]

[Well, now that all y'all have started drawing swords and smashing 40s glitter bombs on the ground, the crowd is Properly Panicked. As such, the Real Cops are all at the entrances to the room, efficiently and quickly evacuating all the civilian fans. Also helping the police's efforts are Max, Lightning, and Finn, who are helping to make sure that slower and more vulnerable fans have protection as they get to the doors.

Unfortunately for y'all, the private security are on your asses like white people on superfoods, and with the kerfuffle of the near-trampling going on, they converge on the backstage area. Congratulations, Teen (plus Junpei and Choromatsu I guess) Idiot Squad, you all manage to sneak out of the venue and out to the parking lot.

As for the rest of you...

A ring of armed security guards block off all of the exits and close in on Team Backstage.]

[scourgingstars]

[...Yeah, this is about what he figured would happen. Ardyn had no intention of stopping until he either saw any of the others, or was so cornered they'd have no choice but to fight.]

[If the others got away, then...this would be fine. They'd be fine. He'd just have to salvage what he could of the situation.]

HEY TEEN IDIOT SQUAD

[shikosuki]

[ OH GOOD THEY GOT AWAY but... wait... he's only just now realizing not everyone was with Junpei and Yuuri ]

Wait-- where's everyone else?