[Open Broadcast]

[protect_and_serve]

Who: Everyone on the telepathic network (which is everyone)
When: Just after the new arrivals show up.
What: Joscelin attempting to get things organized.

[There’s a lot of chatter going on, literally making it hard to hear yourself think, between veterans gossipping and speculating what the new wave of Travelers means, and accidental broadcasts by panicked new arrivals, until one hard-edged thought cuts through it all.]

Enough.

You all need to stop this before we drive ourselves insane.

Anyone with experience on the Network, I want a few organized broadcasts offering help and information to newcomers. We don’t call them Fools.

If you’re new, stay calm. No-one can overhear you unless you’re projecting. Try to divide yourselves as evenly as you can between the people giving you answers. That much is instinctive, you won’t have trouble as long as you can imagine it.

Anyone who’s been here longer and wants to speculate? Don’t do it publicly. Find your own little corners, or keep it off the network.

New telepaths. You’ll need to find someone more experienced more than anyone else does.

And everyone be ready for a new Jaunt.

Comments

[protect_and_serve]

We're sent from world to world doing the dirty work of the Trumps. half the time our minds are wiped. You'll make friends, then lose them as they vanish between worlds. Right now there are more new faces than we've seen at once in a long time - because we just lost more Travelers than we've lost in a long time.

Just because it could be worse doesn't mean you can rest easy.

[wantedittobeagame]

[That was pretty sobering, and got Adachi really serious, really fast.]

What happened that you lost so many?

[He's probably easy to spot if Joscelin's standing up at the top of the stairs; he's the one that just reached into his jacket for a notebook, flipping through case notes to get to a blank page. Time to write this shit down.]

[protect_and_serve]

... We decided not to do as we were told.

[wantedittobeagame]

Urk...

[Adachi paused his writing, a weirded out look coming to his face.]

What, did you try to escape or something?

[protect_and_serve]

They don't tell us what they actually want. When we had no idea after six weeks, a large group... tried to force a confrontation. To quit.

Then they were gone, and we were back here.

[wantedittobeagame]

[Note to self: Just go with it.]

Sometimes it's better to wait and see what your up against, than just going against it and hoping.

[protect_and_serve]

In more than a year, I've never seen them.

[wantedittobeagame]

Well then, there's gotta be a way to draw 'em out, without getting poofed.

[A bit of a lopsided grin came to his face.]

Luck you got a detective here with you guys now.

[protect_and_serve]

Just what we need.

[wantedittobeagame]

[Adachi paused at that, letting out a nervous laugh.]

...w-was that sarcasm, or...?

[protect_and_serve]

You're not the only detective we had, or have.

[wantedittobeagame]

[He's pretty sure he hasn't had a detective quite like him, but he'll keep that to himself for now. Besides, other than what this guy's told him, he really has no idea what's going on, or who to trust for that matter.]

Man, you sure know how to take the wind out of a guy's sails.

[protect_and_serve]

Better than the other way around.

[It isn't quite possible to incoherently mumble a telepathic response, but he comes close. It has the sound of a remark that's rhetorical, aimed at himself and not at Adachi.]

[wantedittobeagame]

[He knew what he meant, but the guy seemed kind of down to say something like that... so obviously he needed to say something, right?]

Er... take the sail out of a guy's wind?

[...okay, maybe not that.]

[protect_and_serve]

Have you done much sailing?

[wantedittobeagame]

No, why?

[protect_and_serve]

Because being becalmed is more pleasant than riding out a storm.

In any case, your help will be welcome. We all want to know why we're here. How we were chosen. Who and what has the power to do this to us...

[wantedittobeagame]

[...sheesh.]

Well yeah... I hear you.

[But truth be told, after what just happened, getting a break from his world wasn't too bad. He could imagine the fit his partner was having by now though, pretty sure he was referring to him by every word that meant "lazy".]

[protect_and_serve]

Do you have any other questions?

[wantedittobeagame]

Not really... guess all we can do is wait, hunh?

[protect_and_serve]

... Not entirely. Find out if anyone who just arrived could teleport, if you know what that means. Teleports and telepaths .... are changed, when they come here. They might have abilities we could use, right now.

[wantedittobeagame]

Hunh... okay, I'll keep an... er... ear out? Brain out? Uh...

[protect_and_serve]

Either's fine.