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

The Profiles

[theundertaken]

Someone asking for a Mexican?

[now you've done it]

[hellahighwater]

[ OOPS... ]

Uhhh. Hi, sorry, your name just kinda made me shit my pants for a second there. Thought you were someone else.

[theundertaken]

Ohhhh, yeah. No problem. Most of the other Maxes I meet are literally dogs, so that's cool. Someone you didn't wanna see kidnapped to space, or someone you didn't wanna be stuck in space with?

[hellahighwater]

[ Immediately softer. ] What, no, it's the first one. She's...one of the only people I'd like to be stuck in space with. She's just also the last person on Earth who deserves this bullshit.

[theundertaken]

Fair. I don’t think I know anyone personally who deserves it, but...y’know, maybe there’s some out there. Probably.

[Mmmmmn. Anyway.] If you wanna know a secret, mine’s short for Maximiano.

[hellahighwater]

...Cool. Maximiano it is. For simplicity's sake, since it looks like everyone is going to be asking me about her. Thanks, stupid fucking...thing.

[ She glares at her PIP. ]

[theundertaken]

I don’t usually use the full thing, but it’s fine if you do. Better than Max Two. Or Max O., that sounds like a brand of dish soap, or like...something.

It’s sort of....it’d be cute if she said it, or you did, but from a bunch of strangers it’s just fucking creepy.

[hellahighwater]

Yeah, wouldn't want to... [ wait ] Uh, I mean- it wouldn't be anything like that anyway, she's just my best friend.

[theundertaken]

Sure, but that’s still fun, right? In a different context without kidnapping?

[jUsT gAlS bEiNg PaLs]

Mine’s the Champion Portait Artist, which seems like a weird compliment I’m not okay with.

[hellahighwater]

[ harold, she's an idiot ]

...I guess. [ cough ] What's that even mean, anyway? Portrait Artist.

[theundertaken]

What it says on the tin, I guess? I don't know, I wouldn't have called myself that. I do draw people a lot, though, so it's not totally wrong.

Honestly, I think it's maybe just a way to tell me and Jamie apart. Portrait and landscape...it's two easy categories that go together. Like, uh, orientations. [for pages, harold]

[hellahighwater]

[ she knows aaaaall about orientations... ]

Oh. Oh, it's- that kind of artsy thing. Aren't those different ways to take pictures?

[theundertaken]

...yeah, I guess it's that too. Actually, it would've been a better title for somebody who does professional photography or something. Like those fancy family portraits you can get done. But - [shrugs] - that's not me.

Not that I wouldn't paint a fancy family portrait if someone paid me! But I have no idea who would do that.

[hellahighwater]

Wonder what she'd get... [ A small smile at her face- no, she's kidnapped, don't smile. ] So- what, I totally thought doing something like that's what you do for a living, is it just... Are you just really good at drawing people?

[theundertaken]

I like to think so!

[He grins.]

I want to do it professionally. I've actually sold some stuff before! But, uh, you know, life happens. [Shrug] Anyway, most art jobs want you to have actually gone to an art school?

[hellahighwater]

...Yes, I am completely aware. Ugh, there's this totally prestigious and pretentious academy that's become totally a...rich-slash-scholarship school, so I'm kind of in a town surrounded by the art school types.

[theundertaken]

[Max does not point out that blue hair is a hallmark of art-school types. Nor that they've got a dude with a master's in art running around, Jamie's cool.]

Kinda seems like that's the way it goes a lot? I dunno, I tried for some scholarships when I was still in high school, but I ended up just having to go right to work. I don't really think going to a school like that actually makes you a better artist, it's more about being in a place where you can afford to just focus on that.

[hellahighwater]

[ Look, it's nothing about being an art school type in general, just the ones at Blackwell! ]

Ugh... School. [ ...Well there's her opinion on that- ] Tell that to half the people in town. It's either that place or money. Mostly money. It's not even a college, by the way, it's a high school.

[ ...She's getting bitter. ]

Whatever, point is, that's the dream, dude. Being where you can just do whatever you want.

[theundertaken]

What’s the point of a private high school? Go to normal school and actually talk to different people.

[But, uh, that’s just him. Let’s not get super bitter, huh?]

Whatever. Being in paradise probably wouldn’t have saved us from space.

[hellahighwater]

Point is...the professors, or something, Max- my Max, I mean- she's gaga over this one guy, says he's the best of the best.

[ ...Spend a minute bitching about this school, slightly defend it but only in the case of her best friend, seems legit. ]

You're right, though, looks like there're fuckin' princesses here and stuff.

[theundertaken]

Not teaching at the college level, though.

[But okay, he'll let it go. He has no horse in this particular race.]

That girl Korra? She can make fire in her hand. Just, bam, like that. Fire. Also air, aaaaand she can bend metal with her mind.

[hellahighwater]

Holy- really? Things just keep on getting weirder, don't they? ...You don't have anything like that, do you? Telekinesis, laser-eye bolts?

[theundertaken]

God, no. I'm just a dude from Florida. I haven't even been arrested in a hilarious way.

But I mean, all the magic people I've talked to seemed to think magic was super normal and common. So maybe I do something totally normal that's actually really cool in another universe. Wouldn't that be fun?

[hellahighwater]

Like...what, in some of these places people don't know what painting is or something? That'd be pretty cool, I guess, if not hella weird.

[theundertaken]

Man. I don't know how that'd work, but that would be cool. Like, maybe they just use magic to color stuff and never discovered how to make paint?