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

[magnetlips]

"Oh, wow." No wonder Billy looked so tense. "Was anyone hurt?" She was sure he would have told her if any of her friends had been.

...Right?

[morphitudinous]

"No one who's ever been on the active crew died," Billy said, oddly specific. He glanced down at the ground, still struck by the remains they'd seen. "But the AI attacking us executed people in the pods. In some cases, she'd pop them---and the crew saw them struggling to wake up for a second before..."

[magnetlips]

She'd tried so hard to protect the people in the pods. She'd sacrificed...

"Do-" Cassie's voice caught in her throat? "Do you know who they were?"

[morphitudinous]

"Most of them were relatives and friends of ours. Someone lost a sister, others lost friends---but I don't think anyone was related to you. There should be a list, though. We tried...but she'd disabled our powers and there were too many robots."

[magnetlips]

"There wasn't anyone- from my world" She felt terrible for asking such a self centered question, especially when others had lost their family members but she had to know.

[morphitudinous]

"I don't know. It would be on the list," Billy hated to admit. It scared him---what if some of the dead would've been his friends someday?

This guilt was hard to shake.

[magnetlips]

Cassie took a deep breath. Billy had seen her dad. If he had died he would have recognized him and told her. But anyone else from her world-

Deep breaths. Knowing Stacy she wouldn't be able to check the list any time soon. She just needed to calm down and enjoy catching up. It was obvious that Billy didn't want to think about it either. She couldn't blame him.

"O.K... that's uhm.... Well, did anything else happen?"

[morphitudinous]

"We were all upset by the attack...and just before it, Ronnae and I had been in a chapel from her world. We started talking about things that happened there, and before I knew it I was proposing to her. We promised to marry when the time was right, when we needed to lift our spirits."

He blushed, suddenly feeling guilty that they hadn't waited a little longer. "We did it after we recovered from the attacks. Last night, actually."

[magnetlips]

"You- you got married?" Cassie blinked several times. "Wow. Wow! Congratulations! I'm sorry I wasn't there." That was some bad timing. But wow she would have to process this.

Billy wasn't all that older than her and he'd gotten together with Ronnae on the ship. Was it all that good an idea? On second thought, Cassie was the last person to be making judgment about other people's love lives considering her colossal mistakes. And with this war, you never knew what could happen.

[morphitudinous]

"Yeah." Billy scratched the back of his neck. Why was this so awkward?

"We were actually going to...have some private time today. I guess that's not happening. But I'm sure you had plans too!"

Oh, this was just bad.

[magnetlips]

"Oh!" Oh no, this was his honeymoon and he was on a date with the wrong person.

"I'm sorry, Billy. This isn't exactly what I had in mind either." She had someone of her own that she wanted to visited for some private time.

"Well, this probably won't take too long." She hoped.

[morphitudinous]

"It's not your fault," Billy tried to reassure her. "I'll just send a message to Ronnie saying I'm...trapped for the day. She'll just make up for it later. We could attempt an enjoyable activity to distract ourselves?"

[magnetlips]

Day. Surely this wouldn't- then again this was GLaDOS. Damn it.

"Sounds good. Any ideas?"

[morphitudinous]

"I have a few, but we should test the diameter of the forcefield first---or its properties, at least. There are a few things we can't do if we can't leave each other's sight," he noted.

That said, Billy took some cautious steps backwards. As soon as he reached the edges of a comfortable speaking distance, he smacked into the barrier.

"...ugh. That doesn't give us much room to work with."

[magnetlips]

Cassie frowned. This was going to be one awkward "date." Although she didn't think it would top "Tony Stark" taking her to a diner.

"I don't know what GLaDOS is thinking... So uhm, know any games we can play with... very little space and no props." Preferably that didn't involve touching.

[morphitudinous]

"Play cards?" Billy started digging around in his pocket. "They're not with me, but maybe we're not rooted to the spot. I don't think she expects people on a 'date' to stay still. If we walk together, maybe..."

He tried a few steps, gesturing for her to come along. Hey, having hope when GLaDOS was involved was foolish, but he'd give this a shot.

[magnetlips]

Cassie followed. It was impossible to stay close while not invading Billy's personal space but she did the best she could.

"I haven't played cards in forever."

[morphitudinous]

"Neither have I. I know a few games, but I wouldn't be sure where to start."

Billy noted with dismay that they had hardly any space. It was as if this exercise was designed for people holding hands...and it probably was. Just wonderful.

They finally reached the lab, where navigation got even more difficult. "Maybe we can stay here. Us being in the lab wouldn't look that unusual...but maybe a quieter place would be better."

[magnetlips]

"The lab is fine. If we get bored we can try working on something. Although I'm not sure if my mind is all here." She tapped her temple. "All those mazes one after another can really fry your brain."

[morphitudinous]

"We'll be elbowing each other if we try to work like this," Billy sighed. He snatched up the deck of cards and shuffled, plucking out the jokers and tossing them aside.

"...but if you're not feeling well, I can sit down while you rest. A simple game might help, but it's your call."

[magnetlips]

Cassie's first thought was to snap that she was just fine but she took a breath instead. That was an overreaction and not the tone she wanted to set. Besides, he had a point. She probably could use some rest.

"Let's play. I'm not that tired."

[morphitudinous]

"All right." Billy found a small table for them to sit at---comfortable, but not so large that they might be crushed by the forcefield every few seconds. He did his best to shuffle the cards, but a few slipped out and flew at Cassie.

"I guess I haven't done this in a while. Not that I played very much at home. Did you have games you liked?"

[magnetlips]

Cassie quickly gathered the run away cards and handed them to Billy.

"I didn't play much either. Let's see, I don't remember all the rules for poker. I think it'd be hard to play with just the two of us anyway. There's always go fish."

[morphitudinous]

"Neither do I," Billy sighed. "I could have been skilled, but I didn't like the pressured environments it created."

He set about dealing little piles. "It'll work for a round or two. The only problem is cheating---certain friends of mine loved to. We had to have neutral observers ready to check," he remembered with a shake of his head.

[magnetlips]

"Don't worry, I only cheat at poker." Cassie smiled. "And monopoly."