WEEK 1

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 1

[Well, this is...happening. This is a thing. This is your life now. The Commander is expecting you to just up and kill one another, and then try to get away with it. No big deal, right? You guys can handle this. You won't fall for what she has. She's clearly an idiot. A loud idiot, but still an idiot. She's not going to get one over you.

...Right?

In any case, the Commander's quarters are now open for anyone who decides they can actually stand to be in the same room as her, but beware - any favor you might ask of her is going to come at a price, and who knows what she'll ask you to do if you decide to gain a boon from her. Unless you're a suck-up like Baku - then she'll apparently be flattered. Maybe that's a good tactic to use?


Whatever you do, try not to murder the bread again. The Bread Did Nothing Wrong.


There are fifteen strangers in this place.]



MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY

Comments

[backuphero]

[Guess who didn't sleep, and only emerged from his bunk around mid-"afternoon" anyway.

Guess who is staring at the soda fountain in the mess hall like it'll pick a drink for him if he stands there long enough.]

Wish I knew for sure what most of these were, you know?

[Or, if you happen to catch him a while after that... well, it'll be in the theater, where he's trying to figure out how to make the thing show a film. It's not really going well.]

mess hall

[stealsyourduelist]

I've been wondering what this is as well, truth be told.

[But he's never been introduced to the concept of soda at all.]

[backuphero]

Looking at what everyone else is getting from it, I think it's an automatic soda fountain - mixes the flavors in on its own, I mean, you still have to press buttons to make it work.

[There is a short pause as it hits him that he's talking to Fifteenth Century Guy about this.]

So, basically it's fizzy water that tastes like fruit, or just sweet. Like some French wines, or ciders, but it won't get you drunk. I don't recognize any of the flavors here, though....

[stealsyourduelist]

Hm, sounds like the sort of fare that Lord Stanley would keep at his castle. But this says it is made with cream...?

[He can't imagine what a cream-based nonalcoholic cider or wine would taste like at all.]

Shall we try some?

[backuphero]

[Jonathan grins, in the manner of one fiercely clinging to what joy he can find.]

Sure thing. And if that's anything like cream soda back where I'm from, it'll be good! You've tasted vanilla before, right?

[...he really didn't pay attention in World History, okay?]

[stealsyourduelist]

[Yeah, he's about ten years too early for that. He just pauses.]

...I suppose that will be another new taste experience.

[He's not going to have any idea what these flavors are, is he. But whatever, he's adventurous. Time to pour this soda and watch in mild fascination as he always does whenever there's liquid dispensed from a machine.]

[backuphero]

It's good, don't worry. Sweet, kind of... warm? But not spicy warm, like... curling up in a blanket warm, but as a taste.

[Hey, he's in good company, Jonathan only recognizes a few of them himself. He can definitely understand the fascination at a machine dispensing soda basically on its own, too... that's just straight-up science fiction.]

[fashionfever]

I heard somebody only knows about a couple modern things from those expos like in Chicago!

[Angela is walking up to him with both her hands folded behind her back.] So I thought, hey, you might wanna see a movie about the beautiful rough Windy City!

[backuphero]

[There are good people here. He just needs to focus on that, and he'll pull out of this blue funk in no time.]

You know, I'd actually like that. Mind showing me how you actually show movies with all this stuff?

[Depending on how bad that movie really is, he may yet regret these words. But for now... distraction! Nice lady has brought him a thing to focus on that isn't a crisis-mode feedback loop!)

[fashionfever]

Of course~

[She just pulls the VHS tape out of the cardboard sleeve in one fell swoop.]

This is the actual tape! [Pointing at the little coily parts.] This is film like in a camera... There's some little clicky part where it reads the tape. [Wait uhhhh where's the actual VHS player...]

[backuphero]

So it's miniature film reels in a box? When did they switch over to these things?

[THAT IS SO MUCH MORE CONVENIENT AND LESS LIKELY TO CATCH ON FIRE, SERIOUSLY.

And It's the right shape to go into that one machine... over where he'd been looking a little bit before she came in.]

Nevermind the history lesson, though, is it supposed to go in this?

[fashionfever]

I don't know, like, the seventies? [SHRUG. SHE DOESN'T HAVE WIKIPEDIA WITH HER she just knows they were around by the time she was born in the early eighties.]

Yeah! There you go. [offering it to him with both hands] This side up.

[backuphero]

All right, here goes nothing...

[Helpfully, the "power" button is labeled, so he hits that before fitting the cassette into the slot.

And the screen is still blank.]

Okay, how do I... it's not a projector, but is there still another thing I need to turn on somewhere, or...?

[fashionfever]

You press "play". [She makes the right-pointing triangle shape with her hands.] That gives us time to sit down and get comfortable!

[Well, there's no remote, so one of them is still going to have to rush away from the player to the seat... evidently it's not Angela. She's already sitting down with crossed legs.]

[backuphero]

[Well, he's standing by the thing anyway, might as well press the triangle button - whoa okay that really did start up quickly - and then he's going to dash over to where Angela's sitting, and sprawl on the couch next to her.]

Do all these things make a noise like that when they start up?

[He's referring, of course, to the COMING ATTRACTIONS doomchord we all remember from the 1990s. What trailers does this have on it, anyway? He's not going to be quite used to that....]

btw just ping me if you want to edit the HTML

[fashionfever]

Uh, yeah? [It's the least terrifying thing in this place. Honestly it takes Angela back to her childhood. A simpler time.]

They want to get your attention for the logos. [There is a trailer for the VHS release of The Big Easy.]

eh, it's all right - "noise" was meant as the only italicized bit, for the record.

[backuphero]

Guess it makes sense, then, just kind of loud... they show trailers on stuff you buy and take home, too?

[Not that he minds, that New Orleans cop movie actually looks like it might be good - definitely not a single actor in there he recognizes, but then, the date mentioned is pretty far in the future, isn't it....]

Sorry. I'm probably going to have some really stupid questions.