audio | un: rey

[garbagepilot]

[A few days into their time on the Arch, a (probably) unfamiliar voice breaks through onto the earpieces. She's sounding a little out of breath, a little rushed either out of excitement or the rush of adrenaline that comes after something unexpectedly stressful. This is also the first time she's used this to make her own announcement, but does she think to introduce herself?

Of course not.]

I just had a meeting with the Lion about joining the Fables. I made a contact with a student at the college and he brought me to a room in the Golden Courtyard to meet with her, so it might be worth it to try to keep an eye on the hotel. They use the back doors, so anyone who can look out for secret passages may want to try that.

[She's talking very fast, like she's trying to get everything out before any of the details escape her, but at least it's all coming out crystal clear, albeit in an English accent.]

The Lion told me they don't want only change for this place, they want to completely overhaul it and she didn't mean in a peaceful way. She wanted to know if I would do whatever it would take to help them meet that goal and to me that means there must be some sort of fight heading our way. She also mentioned that the government has been singling out people with talent to abduct and send to the work camps where they're forced to use their skills to invent or create things that only ever benefit the powerful and the rich, so to everyone who might be standing out a little more than anyone else, please be careful.

Oh, there are also people with masks of a black bird and a - a tortoise. I had to look that one up in the books in the library here, I'd never seen that kind of animal. I'm not sure who they are, but the boy that brought me to the Lion knew of them too, had met with them face to face. Apparently the Lion has to vouch for you to meet the others.

[Now, finally, she starts to slow down a little. Her voice sounds softer now, like she's reflecting a little more inwardly about what had happened rather than just rattling off the facts.]

I think she was a droid, the Lion. I tried to use the Force on her but it had the same sort of feeling as trying to use it on a droid back home. She had her own thoughts and feelings and hopes, a sense of humor, but there wasn't any will that I could feel in her. No organic life.

... Anyway. She said she would reach for me when they need me, so I'll check in again when that happens.

Alright. Goodbye.

[And that's where it ends.

Maybe. Wait for it.


Wait for it.]

Oh, my name is Rey. Hello.

[NOW the message ends. Nailed it.]

Comments

private text to mal | un: mal

[garbagepilot]

I told you I didn't need a bodyguard 😘

[tochnyy]

sounds like exactly the sort of situation where having a bodyguard would have been helpful if things went badly.

audio; un: stargirl

[bossily]

I'm gonna add on to the warning about standing out, and say that if anyone was considering using the holonet to do a bit of hacking into security feeds? It's definitely not recommended.

[That warning put out over the earpieces, she moves on to more important details.]

You're positive, though? That the Lion felt entirely void of organic life?

[garbagepilot]

I'm sure. She was sweet, she really cared about finding people to do the right thing, but there was nothing in her mind that was flesh and blood.

[Back up though-]

That doesn't sound good. Are you safe where you are?

audio | un: 182

[fuchsiative]

Did you, like. Take a breath at all during that?

[ okay but seriously though. ]

That's all so wild. Did they say how they were going to reach out? Are you going to wake up one day to a room full of animal masks and rope?

[garbagepilot]

Didn't I tell you that Jedi have gills? I don't need to stop talking to breathe.

[Oh yes, seriousness, of course.]

I... no? I hope not. She did say I might recognize her when I see her again, though.

un: blue

[firstroar]

I recognize this pattern... Isolation of unique skills, the redirection of energy...

This place...will see a dangerous upheaval. Whether the people accept that change...or fall in with what is comfortable...that's what can't be predicted.

[garbagepilot]

[Oh hey brain buddy. He'll feel her reaching out to him in the Force, a warm, gentle feeling not unlike a hug.]

Yes, she wasn't really subtle about that being part of the plan. They aren't out here to hurt anyone but the government and the corrupt, though, so innocents shouldn't be in danger.

Accidents happen, though, so we'll have to keep an eye out.

voice; un: newt

[groupiedrifter]

[So to everyone who might be standing out a little more than anyone else, please be careful. Well, that's not him, so he's great! Just your average little electronics shop keeper, James Neutron.

But anyway...!

He's been meaning to introduce himself... properly... to Rey. In a way that doesn't involve her mind literally being inside his (and somehow still not meeting despite this? what a wild life they lead). But not that he's, like, on the air, he's feeling a little sheepish about it.

Mmmwhelp, just get it over with, Newt.]

Uh. Hi, Rey! I'm Newt. Nice to meet you.

[Okay, so maybe not get it over with like that.

But what's done is done.]

You're from Finn's world, right? With the whole force thing? Super hardcore.

[garbagepilot]

[Oh... yes, she absolutely did not follow up on that whole thing, did she? She almost had, had almost gone to visit him to see how he was doing, but there were always so many other people around, so many people who knew him better, had so much more reconnecting to do that she had always just stepped back, decided to try again.

And now here they are. This is very awkward.]

Newton. [Wait.] Newt. How have you been doing?

[She definitely doesn't expect an actual honest answer, but at least she has enough social grace to know to at least ask.]

Yes, we're from the same world. I keep forgetting to thank him for telling everyone I'm a Jedi, it's kind of nice to skip that step and get right to unexpectedly quick friendships.

audio; un: finn

[hatejakku]

[ WELL THEN ]

Want to bet they're building weapons in the work camps?

I've been at the Golden Courtyard and haven't seen anything suspicious, though. I'll keep an eye out. You all right?

[garbagepilot]

Weapons yes, but also things to make the lives of the rich and powerful more comfortable. They're using the people they capture to make their fake food taste better.

[There is so much bitterness in her tone, a tightness to her words that belies the fact that she's saying this all through a tightly clenched jaw.

She's so mad, Finn :C]

I will be when the Fables win this.

audio; un: kovacs

[kovach]

[ —the force? he wonders if it's magic, the kind he's seen people like yen use. it seems different than his own envoy intuition — less voodoo, as he'd call it, and more observation — but it seems plenty impressive. ]

A little change is never enough.

[ spoken like a man who's been in the heart of his own rebellion. ]

You have to strip it to its core or it'd just work its way back up to exactly what you wanted to get rid of in the first place. This snooping around of theirs won't be enough. Whatever they have planned, no doubt it's gonna be big.

[ the question is — should they actually get involved? ]

These other animals, you said the Lion has to vouch for you to meet them. You gain favor enough to do that? Or to get anyone else involved?

[garbagepilot]

That's what I told her, that to really change this we'd have to smash it all down and build it back from nothing. She liked that I had - guts.

[The hesitation there is only because it seems like such an odd word to choose, but that is what the Lion had said and she's going for accuracy here.]

Yes. [No hesitation there, at least.] I don't think bringing a lot of people who are obviously with me would be a good idea, but one or two should be fine. Others could set up and wait farther away if it's a public space. I think it must be, she said we when she said they'd reach for me, so it has to be somewhere with enough room for a group of them to meet up.

audio; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

Well, if the government's doing what they say, then resolving things peacefully isn't going to be an option.

Some of us are going into the government, to see what they know and get in a position to sabotage things- if nothing else, we need to make sure they don't have the orb, because if they do- they can trade away anyone and anything under their power.

[garbagepilot]

Honestly it sounds like they're already doing that. They're taking who they want and using them how they want with or without the orb.

Audio | Un: Star-Lord

[spacedisaster]

Woah, Rey, that's a lot of useful info. Congrats.

It's great that you got another student to trust you so quickly that they lead you to them.

A droid...do you think that perhaps it was remote controlled?

[garbagepilot]

Oh. Thank you?

[The praise is unexpected and not exactly something Rey knows what to do with, but it is... nice. Oddly so.]

I think anything is possible, it might be that droids are just a unique kind of lifeform in my world and there isn't a one for one translation of them here, but they could be programmed to do all kinds of things. It's possible this one was just used as a safe way to communicate from far away.

audio; un: alenko

[majorbiotic]

With the technology of this place, a synthetic life-form wouldn't be too far of a reach. At least where I come from, there are some synthetics who do have their own thoughts, emotions, and so forth. And of course we have a few like that in our crew. I'm wondering if the animal motif has any significance. Lion, black bird, tortoise, hare... hmm.

[He could continue down that line but he focuses back on what she's revealed]

That work camp has me worried about the students I teach here. I'll have to keep a close eye on them.

[garbagepilot]

I'm not familiar with those kinds of animals, so I can't be any help with the symbolism there until I get back to the university and do some research, but I'll have to be careful. I don't want to draw any attention with those kinds of searches.

[That second part is way more important, though.]

I think the engineering and science ones would be the ones most at risk. What do you teach?

audio; Ambus

[legalcy]

That gives me cause for concern for some of my students. If they are especially talented in the sciences, they paint a target on themselves. If they remain mediocre, they stay safe.

[It feels so familiar. Those in pre-war Cybertron who were skilled in politics and law were snatched up by the powerful. It was a struggle to run from those monsters in the Senate and find something better suited for his own lifestye.]

By "no will of her own", do you mean a lack of a Spark or soul, or something specific to organic beings?

[garbagepilot]

I wish it seemed more odd, but talented people usually end up with a target on their back sooner or later.

[That's a little pessimistic, but what would be the point of trying to put a nice spin on it when every single one of them just has to take one look at this place to be able to see it for the mess it is?]

Organic beings. For me droids just feel like blank spots and she felt the same.

[And yeah, she definitely has to ask-]

What is a Spark, though?

audio; @kozuki.oden

[hannyas]

Hi Rey!

[ she may wait for something else to follow, a comment to it all, but............ for a long moment, nothing comes. yamato literally only comments to greet rey back.

after maybe five minutes, there's a follow-up: ]

I wonder if those animal people are real animal people or just pretending!

[garbagepilot]

[Oh boy that is some definite enthusiasm wow.]

I... No, they're not real animals. Not like any I've seen, at least, is that a thing in the world you came from?

audio; un: rodimus

[victorylap]

Sounds a bit like some of the resistance movements I've seen before.

[ He's been a part of like, two, over the course of his life. Did the Autobots end up counting? Yeah, probably. ]

...and yeah, this definitely reminds me of the weird Functionalists, except less religious.

[garbagepilot]

They do tend to pop up in situations like this one.

[You know, with all that political corruption and the common man generally starving and being used to fuel the machines of progress. Fun times.]

What makes them weird, out of curiosity? The... Functionalists you mentioned.