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

[andjerry]

I'm sorry, it's been on my mind lately, I bring things up at the worst time- but I'm Thomas. I still don't know what I'm doing here. [He fingers the edges of a sleeve.] Like, why would we wake up wearing this and not have a clue where we are?

[photoshooter]

Beats me. I keep telling people, I don't even know how we got into space. Or how they could've caught me without me noticing. It's the kind of thing I think I'd remember, you know?

[andjerry]

Caught?! [yeah he hadn't even thought of that idea

and really doesn't like it]

[photoshooter]

I--I mean kidnapped!

[Prompto "UMMMM I'M NOT A WANTED FUGITIVE LOLOL??" Argentum, everyone.]

[andjerry]

That's what I meant, too. [He twists half-away, puzzled about what else it could mean-]

Wait, you're thinking about that movie, aren't you? [It's clearly not a happy movie.]

[photoshooter]

...Which movie?

[Prompto, buddy, you could've just said yes.]

thomas is not the deadprem character who goes off on movie-related tangents, but.

[andjerry]

My sister and I once watched this very old movie about people getting kidnapped and hunted for fun, I think it was called Game of Death? [jesus] Were you thinking of that one? Because I don't think people would be interested in either of us.

[photoshooter]

Oh. Y-yeah, something like that.

[His life is kind of like that. Minus the kidnapping. And the fun.]

But yeah, I'm not... I'm not anyone important. Or interesting! I wouldn't be any fun to hunt at all.

[andjerry]

And you hunt, so you know about good hunting.

[photoshooter]

I--? [Oh, right, the profiles.] I--yeah, I guess. But we do that for cash, not for fun.

[photoshooter]

...Well, I guess it's fun sometimes.

[photoshooter]

...But mostly it's terrifying.

[andjerry]

[a man who says he hasn't liked having to engage in one of the major hobbies in Thomas's cultural milieu

Prompto he likes you already]

You've done it a lot? I- I think I agree. And if it's terrifying when you're the hunter and they're innocent...

[photoshooter]

Inno...

[Wait.]

I, uh. I hunt beasts and daemons, dude. Not people. Like. Never people.

[andjerry]

[oh my god]

I didn't mean that, either! I meant animals. Deer eat grass and roots, not people. Maybe we have to put down bears sometimes, but...

[photoshooter]

...

...

You said deer and... bears?

[andjerry]

...yes?

[photoshooter]

What are those?

[andjerry]

[He could handle the shock of waking up to a monitor shocking him when he tries to pull it off, is still standing instead of panicking at being in a suspiciously sterile hallway, can manage people knowing far too much about him, but a nervous young man asking him what deer and bears are: this is what breaks him. He laughs, eyes wide, and shakes his head like everything's crashing down around him... but Prompto's earnestness makes him realize-]

...you're not making a joke.

[photoshooter]

[Thomas, buddy.]

Uhhh, no. I know I'm the joker type, but this doesn't really seem like the moment? You okay, man?

[andjerry]

[all right he's losing it a little here; he isn't going to acknowledge it]

Sorry... You've really never seen a bear? [maybe this will anchor him] They're massive, big brown shaggy things that eat whatever they can find. If you stay out of their way, they won't bother you, but not everyone tries to do that.

[photoshooter]

[Big, brown, shaggy, won't bother you if you leave them alone...]

You mean garulas? I've seen tons of garulas, they're all over the plains.

[andjerry]

...not quite. They're not peaceful like a buffalo. [garula is a northern wastes word for buffalo right] They can smell food for miles, and if you're between its fangs and your cooler when you're out camping... [he winces]

It's so strange to be talking about bears like they're an exotic species when we should be, well... [he waves a hand. "doing something about this", maybe?]

[photoshooter]

Oh, uh, right.

[???

Are they not an exotic species? Prompto's been all over the place, and he's literally never heard of them. It's not like he's a wildlife expert--he prefers cute, domesticated pets--but you'd think he'd at least recognize the name.]

I haven't found anything that looks like a way out yet, but there's still places we can't get into. So maybe it's there?

[andjerry]

[and as they both try to move past that cultural insensitivity...]

It might be. The announcement might explain what's happening, but if we leave first...