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

[rosetagonist]

[ It does, but she thinks it kind of looks pretty cool! Probably has a really serious reason for how he got it but she can ask about that later. ]

...I wish you weren't right but... you probably are. They want us to get out of here by... well... killing someone but there's no way I'm gonna do something like that.

[ She lost too many people she cared about already. ]

[misplacedxsheath]

[He agrees that it looks cool. Though he'd use different words.]

It would be foolish to do so at this point, even if we were yet certain there was no other viable means of escape. We have no proof so far that they truly would release anyone who wins their game.

[rosetagonist]

Yeah! Exactly! There's probably some other way out of here that they're not telling us yet and they just told us the other thing so we'll be more on edge about that first.

[ Ruby knows she's not the smartest cookie around but this logic just makes the most sense to her. Besides. She wants out of here and to where her scythe is being held along with her clothes... she misses all of those things... except maybe her scythe takes more precedence. Priorities. She has them. ]

[misplacedxsheath]

[He gets it. His sword is top priority.]

I doubt they've provided an alternative method of escape. However, no prison is perfect, and I'm certain my second in command has already noticed my absence.

[rosetagonist]

Second in command? So you're part of some kind of military force then, right?

[ Because now THAT would be awesome. Seriously. ]

[misplacedxsheath]

Yes. I'm the Commander in Chief if the remnants of Old Miltia's armed forces, now known as the U-TIC organization.

[rosetagonist]

Whoah! Really? That is so cool!

[ Which probably now explained how he got that scar over his eye to some extent. Old habits still died hard with her though as this kind of thing was just so impressive to her, even if she was a soldier in her own right. Not that she looked it right now in this odd outfit and without her scythe. ]

So you think they'll notice you're gone and come find you here, right? I mean, my team's gonna be looking for me too but since i'm... well.. here, it might make that a bit hard...

[misplacedxsheath]

[There's a very faint hint of a smile. It's nice to talk to someone who doesn't find his station intimidating.]

Pelligri is competent and resourceful. If they've left a trail, she'll find it and make them regret their arrogance.

[rosetagonist]

Yeah!! They can't just do this and not have consequences!

[ Oh yeah. Definitely not intimidated by any means. She faces shadowy monsters on a regular basis back where she comes from, plus some pretty nasty bad guys as well and she's managed on her own. More or less. ]

Pretty sure everyone who's been brought here's got someone looking for them too so there's that so we shouldn't really be kept here long, I think.

[misplacedxsheath]

We should be prepared for them to use us as leverage when they are discovered. We might be their entertainment, but our position could easily become that of hostages instead.

[rosetagonist]

[ Right. She doesn't like that idea but knows it's a very real possibility. Memories of her time at her school months ago still seems very fresh when she's recalling it now. ]

It's possible, yeah. Not that I want us to become that but without any of our weapons, they kinda have the upper hand here.

[misplacedxsheath]

Nor our abilities. Even without Amavasya, I doubt I'd have any cause for concern if my Ethers were functional.

[rosetagonist]

[ Yeah that was the other thing that bothered her too. Something had seemed off from the start besides the initial situation itself and this confirmed it. ]

...but how do they just... take away what we can do? Something that's a part of us..?

[ Considering her semblance AND Aura weren't even remotely accessible here and were a part of her? She was trying to understand how someone could just take it away. ]

[misplacedxsheath]

There are abilities that can seal Ethers on a temporary basis. Given they have control over our sleeping quarters, they may be employing a particularly long lasting variation and intending to renew it while we sleep. It's not an uncommon technique for dealing with prisoners who specialize in destructive Ether abilities.

[rosetagonist]

Not really sure what Ether is but if they're doing this while we sleep, that's really bad. What if we don't go to sleep though? If we stay up maybe they can't do it or something?

[ Hey. She's genuinely trying with all of this, okay? ]

[misplacedxsheath]

At the very least, depending on how long it lasts, we may see their method of inflicting it. It's worth a single night's lost sleep.

[Not that he looks like he gets much sleep to begin with...]

[rosetagonist]

Exactly! A little lost sleep's nothing if we can get some answers on how they're doing things here!

[ A nod of her head. She's totally pumped for this now and is likely to try and stay awake tonight even if she's able to manage it as such. ]