What is Love? [Valentine's Date Event]

[fabricaketions]

It's shaping up to be another average day on the Transmigration 9. Crew members are going about their business as usual and all is (to most appearances, at least) about as "well" as things ever are on the ship.

Some crew members are going to be stopped out of the blue by impact with a force field.

"Attention Crewmen: You have been chosen to participate in an experiment!" GLaDOS's voice informs. They're not alone, someone else that was nearby is also caught within the same narrow radius. "Participation is mandatory. Please try to relax and enjoy the experience, as this will improve the quality of the test results."

Clearly this is going to be a wonderful day for science.

"You and your new scientific partner are now on a date," GLaDOS goes on. "As it would be detrimental to our study of the date experience if you were to be separated, you must remain close to your partner for the duration of the experiment. This will be enforced with the Transmigration 9 Crewman Containment Field. Prolonged exposure to the Transmigration 9 Crewman Containment Field may have unexpected side-effects. While any side-effects encountered will be documented and your desire to offer yourself to science is commendable, it is not a necessary part of this experiment."

"You will be informed when the test has been completed. We would like to thank you in advance for your full cooperation in the experiment and failure to attempt to foil it in any way."

"The experiment has begun, so you may begin dating."

[OOC: The exact details of your characters' confinement are up to players' discretion. Being trapped in a sensorium or other stationary place is a possibility, as is being stuck in a sort of roving invisible force field hamster ball that only affects the two of you. How far partners can move apart is probably subject to whatever's fun but they ideally shouldn't be able to sit on opposite sides of a room ignoring one another the whole time.

ICly the "test" lasts for a few hours and you are free to godmode GLaDOS telling them the experiment is finished.

If you would like a few tags from GLaDOS herself in your thread, ping me on this account or plurk or AIM or whatever is most convenient for you. :)]

Comments

[bonnypiperlad]

His date is still facing the other away, providing Mar with a view of someone with short-ish brown hair. Human, maybe, if the what can be seen of the ears are anything to go by, and with a somewhat slender build - although it's not as delicate as it should be for a fair maiden. Still, they're wearing a pretty plaid skirt that shows off the legs nicely.

Pity they belong to someone other than one of the ship's lovely ladies. Jamie turns around rather quickly at the announcement, a faint look of confusion on a face that is most certainly not one that belongs to any lassie.

"Hey, what do ye mean a...och, no." He scowls up at the ceiling. "Look, I'll not play this game of yours again. Let us out!"

[seesbosscrotch]

Mar facepalmed. Hard enough that, considering he's wearing gauntlets, his failure to knock himself out is actually pretty impressive.

"You know, I KNOW there's a running joke about the proclivities of the elven race, but speaking only for myself, I'm straight!"

[bonnypiperlad]

It's definitely something...and if Jamie wasn't thoroughly irritated by the situation, he'd be impressed. As it is, he's still looking exceedingly cranky. "Aye. No offense, but you're not my type. And even if ye were, I've already got a girlfriend. I don't need to be on any dates with anyone else."

He doesn't bother pounding on the forcefield, as he knows from past experience that'll do absolutely nothing. Instead, he turns to Mar, looking at him thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you've got any ideas on how to get out of here, do ye?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Aww, I'm no one's type," Mar said, pretending to sulk for about half a moment.

He turned, lifted a hand for a moment, then let it fall before he even seemed to have done anything. "Nope, it doesn't even register as something I can attack. And I'm willing to guess smashing through while shielded won't work either."

[bonnypiperlad]

"I've not tried doing through it that way, but I'd say no, it'd not work. Last time we were stuck like this, ye had to kiss the other person before GLaDOS would let ye free. And I've no intentions of doing that, before ye ask."

If it was anything like last time, then he could always call someone who'd might be willing to help out...but then again, it's not quite the same, is it?

"Although...last time she said we had to show affection. This time she said it was a date. I wonder if she'll let us go if we go along with it. Not a real date, mind ye, but maybe something like a date."

[seesbosscrotch]

"And yet it's still as close as I'll ever get," he replied somewhere between resignedly cheerful and depressingly amused. "I warn you, I'm an old-fashioned sin'dorei, I won't put out unless you get me a Tauren Chieftains ticket."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Oh, aye, that," Jamie says, doing his best to make it sound like he knows what a 'Tauren Chieftains ticket' is. He doesn't, of course, but he figures if he pretends he does it'll make things easier. "I'll keep it in mind if I run across any other cinder eyes."

...He may not know what a 'Sin'odrei is, either.

Although it's odd the elf seems so resigned about not getting another date, even if he's trying to make light of it. "Why do ye say that, anyway? About this getting as close to a date as you'll get, that is."

[seesbosscrotch]

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but pickings are HILARIOUSLY slim on this ship," he said with a dismissive wave. "There's all of one girl I've met who's awesome, not taken, and not insane in completely undatable way."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Not so recently, no," he admits. Then again, he hasn't exactly been looking, so perhaps that's understandable. "I suppose you've a point there. But I don't know if ye could say if that'll always be the case."

There was a point not so far back where he would have thought the same, but sometimes things just work out. Unfortunately, right this second isn't likely to be one of those times, but maybe they could figure out something to do.

"Look, as long as we're stuck like this, maybe there's some way we could pass the time. What is it ye like to do, anyway?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Absorb blows from the nastiest creatures Azeroth or the Twisting Nether has to offer, while my allies lay into it with steel and spell," he said, helpfully. "I'm not sure that's much of an option right now. Or much of a date, even a fake one."

[bonnypiperlad]

"Oh, you're from Azeroth? I've met a few people from your world." Some of whom he talks with more than the others, and he still hasn't gotten through all the questions he has about the place. Fortunately, though, he's less interested in those right at the moment and simply winds up nodding in agreement.

"Aye, maybe so. I suppose ye could think them up in the Sensoriums, but we'd have to get there first, and that might be a wee bit difficult right now. Unless for some reason we'd be able to move about more this time."

[seesbosscrotch]

"Oh yes, there's a few of us running around. I barely see the others, though. For some reason, they all think I'm crazy!" He wasn't denying it, though.

"We're supposed to stay together. Maybe we'll be allowed to move if we do that?"

[bonnypiperlad]

"We can always give it a go and find out." Who knows, maybe it would actually work! If not, well, he thinks he has a deck of cards somewhere in his sporran. After a few seconds of thought, he nods off to his left, and takes a few steps towards the edge of the forcefield on that side.

"Let's try this way and see what happens."

[seesbosscrotch]

Good tank that he is, Mar put his best face forward and stepped into the spot he was certain would flatten his nose on the field keeping them caged in.

It didn't! "Ha! Phase 2 of the bad date begins! The MOVING phase, every melee fighter's favorite!"

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie shoots him a look at that, eyebrow slightly raised at the odd statement, then shakes his head and starts to walk. It's a slow process, giving him a chance to sync up with Mar so they can avoid bumping into the forcefield.

"Right. Let's see if we can get somewhere. How would ye feel about trying to get to the tavern? I think it's a wee bit closer from here."

And a drink might not be a bad idea right about now, either.

[seesbosscrotch]

"Sure, I'm fine with that!" Mar said, even as he walked with a hand forward to keep checking on the force field's progress. If it stopped moving, he'd rather discover that with his fingers than his face... as used to that sort of punishment as his face was.

Luckily, smooth sailing was ahead!

[bonnypiperlad]

Smooth sailing it was - at least, until they reach the tavern, and Jamie goes to take a seat. He would have thought it was close enough - he could still talk to the elf from there, after all - but the forcefield had other ideas. Try as he might, he's slowly nudged off the stool he wanted, and onto the next one over, much closer to Mar than before. "Och."

Another scowl up at the ceiling, and he turns back to Mar. "So what are ye having then...er. Sorry. I've not asked your name, or even told ye mine, have I? I'm Jamie. Jamie McCrimmon."

[seesbosscrotch]

This wasn't something Mar was bothered by. On the one hand, people get a lot closer in the middle of pitched combat; on the other, all that armor he's wearing goes a long way to discouraging intimacy!

"Maridian, Sin'dorei, Blood Knight, Crusader, Kingslayer, the Hallowed... and the list goes on, and on. Funny thing, the denizens of Azeroth got very generous with bestowing titles upon their heroes of late."

[bonnypiperlad]

"So I see," he replies - a touch dryly - as he picks up a tankard that's been placed on the bar. He doesn't really remember Ronnae having quite so many of those. But, well, maybe she does, and it's just he never asked.

"So why so many, then? Are there that many beasties that you've have to fight that you've distinguished yourself and gotten them or is it just they decided ye should have a whole lot of titles for some reason or other?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Oh, well, in large part it's because every time there's an Azerothian holiday, I'm out there in the forefront. But some of them are actually notable titles. Killing the Lich King, that was a good thing," he said without any particular boastfulness.

[bonnypiperlad]

"They give out titles for holidays?" That sounds daft to him, but he chooses to take a drink from his tankard rather than actually say that out loud. The Lich King, on the other hand...well, okay. The King part he understands, but that first word Mar said? He doesn't have a clue. And that's less easy for him to keep to himself.

"Oh, aye, of course. What's a Lit-ch?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"Sure! For example, to earn the title 'the Hallowed', on Hallow's End I had to save Tirisfal from the Headless Horseman, kill said Headless Horseman, travel across two continents and a shattered world trick-or-treating, detonate rotten eggs over an entire city, kill ten Alliance opponents, and eat candy till I got sick," he recited with a distant smile. Fond memories.

"Liches are undead spellcasters, though the Lich King is a lot more complicated of an entity."

[bonnypiperlad]

"And here I thought that wearing costumes and doing that trick-or-treating thing was hard enough," comments Jamie wryly. "It must take ye months to get through all that."

Well, except for the eating candy until you get sick part. That doesn't sound like it would take so long, really. "So does this Lit..er, Lich King have anything to do with the holidays or is that more complicated too?"

[seesbosscrotch]

"That's a little complicated, so let's just say no. I mean, technically, Hallow's End is a celebration by the Forsaken of their escape from his mental control, but the holiday is really divorced from its origins." After all, why did ALL OF AZEROTH celebrate that? It was just an excuse to eat candy, that's why!

[bonnypiperlad]

"M-mental control?" That's something that hits a little too close to home for him, and he swallows heavily for a moment. But, no, wait. Mar said that he defeated him, didn't he?

"So how did ye manage to win against him if he was strong enough to control a group of people?"