Welcome to the Program

[airlockedmods]

Good Morning, Champions. In the interest of maintaining healthy sleep patterns, a day/night cycle is in effect. Your presence is expected in the cafeteria in exactly one hour.

[The voice comes through not a large speaker, but through the device that's attached to each Champion's arm. Further investigation of the features of the device will reveal a list of profiles, a mini-map, and a list of rules. The hallways are shiny white and silver, with running lights along the floor and lights on the ceiling, and at the junction of the hallways is a sign with a knife and fork icon and an arrow pointing down the hall.

Welcome to the Excellence Program, Champions. Time to get to know your teammates.]

Comments

[immaculacies]

[Manaka doesn't say anything when she's grabbed, wordlessly and pliantly following behind him. If he's expecting an equally awed reaction from her, though, he'll be disappointed; her expression doesn't change at all as she stares out the window in front of her, staring blankly ahead for one beat, and then another...

Finally, she turns her face toward him.]

What about it?

[titularly]

Isn't it cool?!

[Well, if Manaka can't be awed then Osomatsu will be excited for the both of them.]

Maaaan, I never thought I'd see the day where I got to be an astronaut...

[...]




Do you think if I peed out the window it'd reach back to Earth?

[immaculacies]

[. . .]

If you could open a window, you would die when the vacuum of space sucks all the air from this room. Your body would decompress from the lack of ambient pressure, causing your skin to swell and your blood to bubble, even as you suffocated from the lack of breathable oxygen.

[So, no, she doesn't??]

[titularly]

...whoa.

[Osomatsu seems taken aback by that answer, and he physically leans back away from Manaka.]

You must be fun at parties.

[immaculacies]

[Ha, ha, the jokes on you! She doesn't go to parties.]

Don't ask a question if you aren't prepared for its answer.

[titularly]

Well don't give me such a serious answer to a joke!

[immaculacies]

It wasn't funny, so that's the only answer I could give it.

[titularly]

You need to get yourself a better sense of humor!

[no, osomatsu is the one who does here]

[immaculacies]

Maybe.

[Listen. She's not going to argue that one.]

Is that all you wanted to show me, though? Space?

[titularly]

Well... yeah. I thought it was pretty cool...

[immaculacies]

I suppose it would be for someone who hasn't seen it much.

[She glances away from him, back toward the window, and struggles to recognize the pattern of the stars outside. It's hard to say whether her failure means it's a sky she can't recognize, or merely that she's forgotten.]

I wonder how it is that we've been brought here, though.