Where Are They Now?

[airlockedmods]

Good evening, and welcome to Where Are They Now.

Ten annuals ago, a small spelevision network went public and burst onto the media landscape with a space-breaking new program. While the first season of this program was often criticized online for its abrupt ending, it quickly took the inter-net by storm and became popular on now-defunct social media site Spitter.

That's right. Tonight, on Where Are They Now, we're taking an exclusive look... at Airlocked!

Watch on YouTube

During its time on the air, Airlocked! became known for its charming and eccentric casts of characters, the authentic relationships that developed, and of course - the murder. The All-Star series finale, which shattered viewership records across several galaxies, and was even syndicated beyond the reach of InterGal 7, brought with it the revelation that this fictional universe, with its eclectic mosaic of characters, was actually a series of snuff films - real murders and executions, broadcast into billions of homes and nests.

Following the trial and imprisonment of the Executive Producer of InterGal 7, most of the beloved cast retreated from the private eye, understandably changed by their experience.

This annual marks the tenth anniversary of the series premiere of Airlocked!, and to commemorate this media milestone, tonight we are here to ask:

Where Are They Now?

[The camera pans down onto Earth - not the Earth of 6982, but the Earth of 2019. To a successful coffee shop in Portland, Oregon.]

Not all of the victims of Airlocked! could be found for comment, but our camera crews have spent the last several weeks in part at this coffee shop, whose owners we watched on the spinoff Lovelocked!. Let's watch.

[[OOC: Welcome to an impromptu reunion log for Airlocked! Here's Da Rules:
-Airlocked Alumni are welcome to participate. All players who did not participate in Airlocked must have mod approval to join.
-Airlocked alumni are welcome to NPC their own castmates or to bring castmates for each other.
-Airlocked CRAUs are welcome. If you played your Airlocked character in a different murdergame, feel free to bring them back with that experience as well (see rule 1 for murdergame castmates).
-Character toplevels go under location toplevels. Each location toplevel is for a location where the film crew was able to - safely - interview and observe Airlocked alumni.
--Alums are encouraged to post their own location toplevels! Tell us what Flavortown's been up to!
We are stealing a gimmick from We Could Be Round 5! Since this is a TV program, any character is welcome to do a "Talking head" aside. If you have questions about how this works, ask and we'll provide an example!
And finally, Have Fun and Be Yourselves!]]

Comments

Electric Brewgaloo

[airlockedmods]

[A bustling coffeeshop that may or may not actually be Bigger on the Inside(TM). The atmosphere is warm and inviting, with dark wood furniture, a chalkboard wall, and dozens of paintings by the owner's husband that include both regular earth landscapes, and also a lot of space landscapes that will seem familiar to those who were there (and those who have played the space-themed TTRPGs that have licensed some of them).

Bolton himself is dressed in a starry apron with a dark dress shirt underneath, and at first he greets the cameras with an unimpressed expression, before finally allowing them to stay "as long as they don't start any bullshit."]

[cyan_maid]

[Ten years...

Ten years is a lot longer than Jane thought she would ever get, and to know there's years yet for her to see beyond partly in thanks to the trauma and horrors of Airlocked is...well, she feels obligated to appear for their little anniversary. Not that she's exactly thrilled that there's still a fervent desire for "content" about herself.

In the group chat, she makes sure the others know her stance:

I'll be in a safe place and humor the request, but I will certainly not begrudge any backup. I trust Space media outlets as far as I can throw them.

She chooses Portland, and Bolton and Jamie's coffee shop, because she feels safest there. The most neutral ground she can think of, where at home with Lightning and Xander and her Dad and everyone else, she's pretty sure her many parental figures wouldn't even let her out of the house should the space camera crews descend upon them.

Not to mention the chocobos. Geez, who knew raising sweet fluffy birds and ending up with her own tiny flock of cyan feathered friends would elevate her to 'mom we MUST protect at all costs, especially with a Choco Meteor' status?]

...Got my degree online, of course, but I've taken to traveling wheresoever I can. Visiting old friends, and seeing new places, you know? I want to make as much of my life as possible. Hoo hoo, it'd be a shame if I didn't!

[Jane in her late twenties is still petite, plump, and able to turn on a jovial, sparkling personality for the cameras. But once they're not focused on her? She slumps back in her chair, sighs, and rubs at her eyes before taking a deep drink of hot, life-giving coffee. She still sports a streak each of pink, emerald, and orange in her bangs; she's dressed nicely, but the clothes are a bit too new - not like her usual worn down outfits scuffed with the dirt of the multiverse - and the sleeve of her shirt is still stiff enough that you can most certainly make out what is obviously (to Airlocked alumni) a familiar knife hidden, but not out of reach. She's putting on a show, she knows it.

But it's hard, when you realized you didn't have to do that all the time, and got used to just being yourself. To just discovering who yourself is, every day.

If you're nearby, no matter what season you're from, she'll look over to you and give you the weariest little smile you've ever seen.]

Never have I ever been so glad as to have kept my Spluesky private and completely unaffiliated with this horsepucky.

[Fun cakes, baby chocobos, and long-winded rants about Hercule Poirot, all at chippercherry (at) spluesky (dot) com.]

[ratherdoweddings]

Oh, I started one of those, but I got busy and next I knew I forgot the password. How are you doing, Jane-chan? Still well?

[cyan_maid]

[Aw, Yurika.]

I've been alright...a little tired right now. [Understatement. Reliving so much in your mind and going over details that you thought were faded but are actually crystal clear is...hooph.]

What about you, what have you been up to?

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

[There is a zombie looking hungrily at all those pasteries. Maybe they’ve talked or become friends in those 10 years it’s been. Or maybe Jane only knows of her through Roxy and Jamie. What does Jane do?]

[theundertaken]

[ Max is decidedly not participating in any actual interviews. Even after all this time, he's not one for the cameras. But he's at the coffeeshop anyway, back in one of the employee-only rooms that the camera crew can't access. He's wearing a dark sweater, with his long dark hair pulled back into a messy bun shot through with grey. Right now, he's stretched out across a couch, apparently comfortable enough in spite of what's going on outside. His Shuppet is tucked in the crook of his arm while he sketches something.]

Hey - you been out there? Are those guys still around?

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

[Zombina is here to protect the king of the dead! She’s poked her head into the area Max is hiding.]

Nope. I’ve kicked the last ones out. This is a press free zone my liege. Your soda fountain decree shall stand for yet another decade more. Verily.

[Her Mimikyu gives a wave at Max’s Shuppet from her shoulder. Ghost buddy!]

[theundertaken]

[ Max snorts. ]

It's fine if they wanna talk to people out there. I'dve stayed home otherwise. Just figured I'd, uh, stick around.

[ In case Bolton needed backup? Max isn't sure he's great backup, but hey, he's a guy that exists? ]

[nojohnyouare]

...

[Mai looks out the door and closes it again.]

Distracted. Arianna is monologuing.

[She shuffles over to tilt her head at Max's drawing.]

Who?

[theundertaken]

Deer head.

[ It is! He's been making a lot more art out of garbage and shit he thrifted, in the past few years. Been in a few fancy galleries and all that, which feels stupid for stuff he literally just threw together, but eh. Makes him feel like he's paying his share of the bills. By doing something actively, not just from the Trauma Money.

Anyway, he's sketching out some ideas for bringing the deer head back to life. Figuratively!!! ]

It's fine. Would've just stayed home if I was hiding-hiding. As long as they don't actually come back here.

1/2

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

Yoooooo! B!

[Zombina is here, busting through the door and waving a zombie movie with far too much undead boob on its cover for what it’s claiming to be a remake of.]

Night of the Living Dead: Unalive came out and—

2/2

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

- Uh.

[That is a lot of cameras wow. Zombina looks at them. Then at Bolton.]

Do you need me to ruin their footage. I’m pretty sure the pg-13 TV laws are way less strict in my world than theirs. There is some pretty graphic stuff in the paper guide inside.

[It’s a Monster Musume world remake of the Night of the Living Dead with real zombies. Graphic could mean anything from ‘torn in half zombie actors’ to ‘uncensored tits’. Does Bolton risk it?]

Earth

[airlockedmods]

[While there's no formal party going on this time, Earth of 2082 can be used as a neutral or public gathering spot for those who don't have a public "home base" like Flavortown or 2019 Portland.

It's still a verdant paradise, although the human civilization has rebuilt into an aesthetic that's roughly solarpunk in appearance.]

[le_mat]

[He leaves it up to Kaiba if he wants to allow cameras into Domino- and in the alumni group chat he is very clear and loud about how much he fucking hates this and how if they get too pushy he'd going to Cause Problems on Purpose.]

call me right away if someone starts shit. we have resources.

[that is very much a threat.

None of which is shown on his face or voice at all when he shows up on Earth 2082 to make a public appearance for the 'anniversary'. He looks like he's here as a special guest to a fashion show, hair slicked back and dressed in crisp blacks and reds. He chats up the cameras and interviewers with his classic charm... but afterwards he ducks into wherever they are staying with a venomous scowl... that shifts to a lazy grin when someone he recognizes shows up.]

Sure doesn't feel like that long, does it?

[nojohnyouare]

...

[Mai shakes her head. She watches Bear-san vacuum up crumbs from someone's food that they left.]

Ten years since your season. ...Sometimes it does. Usually not.

[le_mat]

Easy to get caught up in the day to day. Some times I don't even think about it for awhile. Crazy.

[theundertaken]

yeah sure. b'll just throw em out tho

[ Max is gonna be around, for the Portland segment, but not anywhere near the actual cameras. Maybe he should be over that now; maybe not. He knows enough to recognize that him finally speaking up would draw a whole lot of extra attention that the others wouldn't, maybe that's a good excuse. ]

you gonna talk to them?

1/4

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

Sure doesn’t…
[There is a dramatic pause as a voice Akira hasn’t heard in like… let’s be real maybe a few days at most echos from behind him. That or maybe he saw her at the party in a probably not that modest dress. But she disappeared a bit before Akira did back to where they are staying.]

[burninglight]

[It'd be a bright day in Angelgard when Ardyn let network cameras anywhere near his chocobos in whatever fuckoff corner of Japan they'd taken to living in.]

[But...well. He was still one to seek attention where he could find it, and he did miss most of the others. So he'd make his own appearance in loose comfortable clothes in shades of gray, long hair in a messy braid spilled over his shoulder. He'd talk to the interviewers with that usual bright smile and charming personality, and gods forbid they ask about his birds because he'd really get going until they finally had to break off and bother someone else.]

[...A nefarious plan that worked to perfection, of course.]

[nojohnyouare]

[did someone say bird-san, because Mai was staring in awe throughout that entire interview]

...They make you happy. Bird-san.

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

[There is a zombie in the distance here to visit. She is waving happily at such speed it might come off. What does Ardyn do?]

Zombina Top Level

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

[Zombina is here in a probably only barely socially acceptable dress. Do you want to talk to her or leave her be in raiding a barbecue she’s got going.]

Hey lava chicken girl da da da…

[She may or may not have taken the family to see the Monster Musume Minecraft Movie equivalent soon. And is singing that world’s equivalent of the Lava Chicken song while bbqing some chicken. Enjoy.]

Yl'lb's House

[thesciencemind]

[ Yl'lb himself has stubbornly refused to comment on Airlocked publicly, outside of his participation in the extremely public trial. He's refused to comment on his own recent involvement in...something as well. That's easy enough; he's cut back quite a lot on his public speaking appearances in general, since what happened.

Death and resurrection helped him recover from the illness that caused it all, but the whole thing was stressful and strenuous. His health hasn't entirely bounced back since. Sitting out by the pool, he keeps his cane in easy reach, drumming his fingers as he watches the camera crews through the windows. ]

Maybe I shouldn't have let them do this here.

[ It's a safe place for some of the survivors, though. And besides that... ]

Let me know if they overstep at all.

[ ...it's very much not neutral territory. Nice to be able to throw the press off his property if he wants! ]

[theworldsliveliestcorpse]

You want me to throw them out if they get too rowdy?
[It’s Zombina here. She’s probably been trying to talk to Space Bill Nye more ever since the WCB incident as thanks for keeping an eye on everyone there.]

[thesciencemind]

Mmm...tempting, but no. That kind of thing just gets more press.

[ He'll have his people do it! Yl'lb didn't always have security on-site, but today he does! And...after the incident, sometimes. ]