AUDIENCE 🚀 SHU

[dropoffs]

Comments

[dropoffs]

[ they're funny to pick on.

there's a pause, and then the faint glow of the inside of their helmet is joined by what looks like a data interface. it's also on the inside, but there's a curious blip and a silence before they answer. when they do, the data interface fades out. ] Oh, I see. That feels pretty apt.

[ sometimes you just need to look up what a phrase means. ]

Redacted by Nut & Bolt. But at least I'm charming, Mr. 10 Charisma. [ muted playfulness. ] I'm faster to make up for it.

[roseoftexas]

[ every day's a learning day. ]

Yeah.

[ he's right. ]

I never claimed to be charismatic.

[dropoffs]

You're not a 2 or a 9, at least.

[ there are so many people with 9 cha??? there's 6, 7, and 8 also but the 2 really wins it. ]

I don't actually remember what my numbers are, I haven't seen them in something like a month.

[roseoftexas]

So, less likely to total fail if I have to charm someone. Reassuring.

[ when is he gonna do that? ]

You just ... basically deleted them?

[dropoffs]

You never know. Sometimes we have to network with the locals.

[ also maybe cyoa you don't know ]

Nut & Bolt did when we got promoted. They redacted a lot of information about us to maintain "professionalism" for training. [ they don't physically airquote but the energy is there. ] Same concept as the helmets.

[roseoftexas]

I'll let someone else do the talking.

[ DELEGATE. ]

...

I'm not sure how promotion equals loss of identity, but maybe that's just me.

[dropoffs]

Smart.

[ they make a contemplative noise. ]

No, it's one of their more stupid protocols overall. But I've had to assume identities before for my past work - becoming Adrastea is far simpler.

[roseoftexas]

Let me guess -- if I ask what your name actually is, that's "confidential information" that I "don't have clearance" for.

[dropoffs]

[ a bingo gesture. ]

I might tell you before you all leave, who knows. We wouldn't be training you then.

You can call me whatever you like in the meantime.

[roseoftexas]

I think I'll just stick to your Nut & Bolt assigned name. Unless something springs to mind.

[dropoffs]

. [ they tap a finger on the bar counter, and a glass with amber liquid, ice, and an orange peel materializes from the auto-bartender. ] Named after some planet's moons, apparently. Suppose it's more mysterious than "fixer," though, really, it wouldn't surprise me if that flew over some heads.

[roseoftexas]

[ ooh. convenient. ]

It's literally a job title. It's already confused at least one person for something they already knew, though.

[dropoffs]

[ they get one of those skinny stirrer straws and stick it into the glass, drinking it through their helmet. ]

I'm sure more than one person is going to think you're a repairman. [ said with all the (albeit muted) emphasis of bless their hearts. ]

[roseoftexas]

If they do they're in for a surprise. I think Yuri thought I was some kind of hitman.

[ he is. ]

Like, one from her world.

[dropoffs]

[ if they had a visible face this is where they would be looking at him from under their brow like. alright, shu. before he adds that last part. ]

Not many of you from the same world, as it turns out. Even those of you from Earth I think are different flavors of it.

[roseoftexas]

[ look. listen, he's a hitman but he's not a Fixer thank you for coming to my explanation xoxo gossip girl. ]

Even if a lot of things overlap? That's... specific, but kinda weird.

[dropoffs]

[ i would sit for a dissertation becks. ]

I can look at the dockets again to see where there's overlaps, because each Earth has its own code in our system, but I think there's only a few that match up. Shoma and Mizuki, for example.

[roseoftexas]

[ holds up a sign that says play library of ruina. i'll play roland one day, but he shares a few too many similarities to shu for me to do so too soon. maybe in a two week.... my tired man, my roland. ]

Same Earth, huh? [ interesting. ] Yuri mentioned she knows Rodya and Gregor, so they must all be from the same place too.

[dropoffs]

[ i was about to be like where is this going but i understand now. bring him to us someday we want him. "who is we" the royal we of mg. ]

Mm, there's a decent number from the same world even if it's not the same Earth. Mistral and Anguis, for example, or Turner and Bain, if I remember right.

[ adrastea sets their drink down so they can pull up their I.R.I.S., going to get the admin side of the profiles. they can't edit anything, but they can See. ]

[roseoftexas]

[ i always want to play roland, because (a bus drives by obscuring my words) ]

If it's luck of the draw, the draw really liked doubling up. Or tripling up.

[dropoffs]

[ hmmm ]

For a manner of "luck," anyways. [ they tap away, until they get the right information they want. ] The three from "The City." Two each from Arpéchéle, Auldrant, Solistia. I was right that Turner and Bain are from the same world, as well. Only one instance of more than one person from the same Earth, and that's Shoma and Mizuki. The rest of you are from different iterations.

[roseoftexas]

You put much stock in luck?

[ hmmm. he brings up the profiles to flick through them as well. ]

Not sure what I think about there being that many versions of Earth out there.

[dropoffs]

Luck of the dice, maybe. But even that can be manipulated.

[ so, yes but no. ]

It's... interesting, to say the least. I'm not sure if they're alternate universes or just similar branchoffs - that's beyond my world and experience before now.

[roseoftexas]

[ stares at this. i see. ]

If you’re prepared enough, sure.

I’ve heard people claim weird things, but alternate universes isn’t one of them.

[dropoffs]

[ what. don't look at us like that? ]

In the end, you just have to make your own luck, no matter the situation. [ shrug ]

You'd want Ganymede or Metis for that sort of thing, though. I completed my crash course on space travel and anomalies, but they're the ones that have their noses to the books in those regards - the rest of us leave them to those theories and explanations usually.