the mock mingle

[airlockedmods]

[An hour ago you woke up in a bed that wasn't yours, awakened by a chirpy, feminine voice coming from the device on your non-dominant arm. The voice cheerfully requests that you exit your sleeping quarters and to please make your way to the the main deck of the ship for a debriefing on your circumstances.

It was around this time you might have noticed the clothes you last remember wearing are gone and replaced with this little number. If you take a moment to check out the Personal Identification Program on your arm, you'll find a touch screen with a few icons that lead to a series of 21 profiles and a series of apps that lead to note-taking functions and a number of customization appearance screens. The profiles all contain a photo of each Champion, their name and title, their age, species and world of origin.

As you stumbled out of your chrome-y quarters (into an equally chrome-y hallway), with every step the floor lights up under your feet, illuminating the dark ship a little at a time. On one side of the hallway are a series of mechanical doors with screen pads embedded on the walls next to them. A quick flash of your PIP will open them for you without hassle. On the opposite side of the hallway are a long string of windows showing nothing but vast amounts of stars and the deep, dark blackness of deep space. Once you reach the end of the hallway you'll find a large central living space with 20 other people, the same people from the profiles, either there already or filing in along with you. Floating well above everyone's heads in the middle of the room is a large computer screen. Once everyone piled in, the screen blinked to life and the same voice from your PIPs greeted you in the same peppy tone from before.

The voice introduced herself as the Champion Excellence Control Environment or C.E.C.E. before welcoming you to the Deep Space Champion Excellence Program, explaining that you were selected for this program based on being the best in your particular field in your particular world, hence the title of "Champion". In this program you will be expected to live communally together here on the ship for as long as possible. The ship is fully-functional and fully-stocked for an extended stay.

Oh? You don't want to stay and participate in the program? That's alright, there's an easy fix to that! All you have to do is kill one of your fellow Champions and not get caught. That is easy enough, right? Right.

When the debriefing is complete, the screen dims but doesn't turn off completely. If need be C.E.C.E. is available to answer any more questions you have throughout the week. For now, you're free to explore the ship as you like. There's the communal dining hall, a zero gravity room, a kitchen, a holo deck, the central living area and the personal quarters everyone woke up in.

Go make some friends, dears, you may be here a while.]

Comments

[humanitarianherbalist]

[I'm gonna say he hasn't checked out the holodeck yet.]

How transparent would it need to be? [Another pause] How waterproof is your ink? Wetting paper can make it more transparent.

[voltrounds]

[Neither has she, I decided. She's gonna feel dumb later.]

More than that, I'm afraid. For it to really work it would need to be transparent like the windows.

[humanitarianherbalist]

I see. [A pause] Perhaps there is spare glass somewhere.

[voltrounds]

Don't worry about it. I can just make paper copies if I need to.

[humanitarianherbalist]

That would work as well, I suppose. You are very diligent.

[voltrounds]

Well, in the Labyrinth, you have to be.

[Etrian Odyssey, the series where taking a moment to relax in a meadow can get you killed. By butterflies.]

[humanitarianherbalist]

I can see that. Perhaps I should have suggested that instead of school for those more troublesome students.

[voltrounds]

Only if you wanted them to die.

[humanitarianherbalist]

It is that dangerous?

[voltrounds]

Even the first floor has monsters that can kill an unprepared explorer.

[humanitarianherbalist]

I see. I suppose in your new time that is what your education focuses on?

[voltrounds]

I don't think so. Most people don't set foot in Labyrinths at all. They aren't everywhere.

[humanitarianherbalist]

I see. Still, that is even more impressive then, to take on this job that few dare to.

[voltrounds]

Well, I kind of had to. The facility where I'd been sleeping was damaged over the years, and parts of it were inaccessible. In order to get to them I needed to use something called a Geomagnetic Pole, which occurs inside Yggdrasil.

[humanitarianherbalist]

That is...unfortunate. Were you at least able to find a guide before entering?

[voltrounds]

A whole team, actually.

[That brings a smile to her face. She likes these people.]

[humanitarianherbalist]

That is good to know. I assume that is normal for those who enter those Labyrinths.

[voltrounds]

Yeah. Some people go in smaller groups, but it's dangerous to go alone. [Take this?] Well, it's dangerous anyway, but it's worse without other people there.

[humanitarianherbalist]

I suppose smaller groups would hold an advantage in stealth. [A pause] So you've encountered groups outside your own? Or merely heard of them?

[voltrounds]

We've met lots of them. Not usually while we're in the Labyrinth, but most of Etria's industry is based around explorers and the resources they bring back, so they're a common sight in town.

[humanitarianherbalist]

That is certainly an unusual future. Are most of the explorers as young as you?

[voltrounds]

I'm not that young. But it varies a lot.

[humanitarianherbalist]

Ah, I apologize. Still, you are quite younger than most of the labyrinth-delving heroes I've heard about.

[voltrounds]

I guess that's what happens when it gets to be a common activity.

[humanitarianherbalist]

What are your companions like? If they can keep up with you, they must be quite diligent in their own right.