[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]

My name is Joscelin Verreuil. I'm standing at the top of the stairs, the blond man in the gray suit with a sword on his back. Speak to me here or there, it doesn't matter.

[notinthecards]

Remy LeBeau. The boy might have a stick in an impolite place, but nothing he just said was wrong. I'm just a little busy now, hanging off the ceiling over your heads, but you find the charming Cajun in the trenchcoat, and I'll tell you what's what.

[superieure]

Gambit.

[In the haze of voices in her head, far more intrusive and unpleasant than the low murmur she's accustomed to, she latches on to the first familiar thing. (not true, the first familiar thing is being called a fool, and she returns the favour with a few choice, muttered insults at the perpetrator.) But he is there and his voice is the same as she remembers from her research, and the fact that someone here already knows more than she does is an affront.]

What is this?

[notinthecards]

Monet St. Croix, no?

[There's a curious slant to his mental voice, but also an edge of amusement.]

You've just been shanghaied onto a journey into mystery, chere.

Audiovisual post

[neverfeltthatway]

[More than just another voice in their heads, this voice comes with the image of a small blond boy who also happens to be standing about 100 feet to the side - the right way up, for a change.]

H-Hello. My name is Armin Arlert. It's a pleasure to meet all of you!

Umm... I can also help get you up to speed, and I will answer any questions you have to the best of my abilities!

[wholeheaded]

Be ready for a new Jaunt? [ this repetition is in a new voice, one that is bright and curious.] So a bunch of new folks showing up signals that, yeah? Okay. Okay, good. I mean I love experimental physics as much as the next guy but I could really go for some chicken curry and jasmine rice, a nice wine, oh maybe some of that flatbread with the cucumber sauce and chutney and for desse--

[ the voice cuts off abruptly. ]

Sorry. I'm new at this so sometimes indoor voice becomes outdoor voice. Name's Ambrose, and honestly I shouldn't be your first choice for question-answering. I'll be glad to chat once you've been through orientation.

[sparkstriker]

Lightning. [No not a warning for lightning-- it's her name.] We're called Travelers, and what we do are called Jaunts. Don't mind Garrett-- he's always like that.

I've done this a few times myself, so I can take questions. If you want to speak in person, I'm the only one with rose-colored hair around. Doesn't matter to me, honestly.

[By which she means the only person with pink hair in the entire crowd, who's standing by the window that shows the sunny beach.]

[superieure]

M, [she clarifies; better that than demand he call her madamoiselle.] I'm not in the mood for games. Whose neck do I have to wring?

[unabatedly]

I am Neria Surana. I...suppose it's too much to hope for that any of you are from Thedas.

[Or her dog. But it's better this way. Her voice, while gentle, has a firmness to it.]

As Lightning said, we are called Travelers. We can answer as many questions as you may have in what limited time we have. There are a few of us here who are veterans, who have been here through many Jaunts. We can help you.

[Don't be afraid is implied, perhaps felt like a brush against the mind, but that's all.]

If you have need of healing or...medical assistance [she's still not used to calling it that] then seek me out and I will do everything I can to help you.

And ignore the man calling you 'fools'. He's a ponce.

[wantedittobeagame]

[Hunh... this guy seemed to be the man in charge of this weird... whatever it was. He could take a wild guess at what was happening here, but it was still messed up.]

Eh... used to being called a Fool, so it doesn't bother me. Just not used to things in my head being so talkative.

[He was saying it out loud as he was thinking it; he probably looked like a massive idiot.]

What exactly's going on here?

[notinthecards]

How much do you know about tarot, chere?

[He still sounds a trifle amused. The explanation has an order to it, and he's not ready to let it be rushed just yet.]

[superieure]

Superstitious nonsense. [She places one hand on her hip, breathing more steadily now, slaking her anger by imagining him in a headlock.] Next.

[notinthecards]

Here they take it seriously. It's why they call you Fools. The first card, the one with zero on it. Zero jaunts, zero investigations, zero experience. if you lay out the Major Arcana in order, they tell a story. The Mystic Journey, going from one strange place to another, pulled by unseen strings of fate.

We're on that journey. If you're a Fool, then right now I'm Death again. I've been doing this a year or more. And I haven't seen any necks to wring. The trumps like to keep out of sight. If it weren't for the way they play with telepaths, we wouldn't even be sure they exist.

[protect_and_serve]

They don't mean you're an idiot. They mean like a fortuneteller's card deck. Are you familiar?

[detectivewonder]

I'm new here, but I've been doing a little study, so I can try to fill you in. Tim Drake. I'm the one in the really obvious red and black, headed your way.

[wantedittobeagame]

More than you could ever guess.

[He was actually a bit surprised that he picked up on that. He liked this kid already.]

Name's Tohru Adachi, by the way.

[protect_and_serve]

Were you a Traveler before this? We've had a few who were.

[protect_and_serve]

These aren't usual circumstances. As far as I know, in thirteen jumps we've never spent this long in Liminal Space before. We've... rarely... lost so many at once before. And we've never gained so many.

After a Jaunt, we're brought back here. Some get lost. Some new faces arrive. And then we Jaunt again. Normally, I would say we have two or three hours. Now?

[A snort of disgust carries surprisingly well over a telepathic medium.]

[wantedittobeagame]

[Adachi couldn't help but let out a laugh.]

Nope.

[protect_and_serve]

All right. Well, Tohru... we've all been taken from our worlds, and we're being shuffled between them on someone else's agenda. We call them Trumps, but we've never seen them. All we can do is discuss them in metaphor. Either Tarot, or baseball. A Fool is just someone who hasn't made his first Jaunt. When I first came here, they called them virgins, instead.

[blackhand]

[That voice that called you a Fool? It's speaking again.]

Garrett. [There's a break here, as if he's debating whether to talk or not beyond just his name.] Unlike Joscelin, I'm not going to take you by the hand- you want to avoid the name? Get ready for the Jaunt, and learn as you go.

[No one said he was the epitome of charming.]

[wantedittobeagame]

...yeah, I think I like Fools better.

[He was not turning red, what the hell are you talking about?]

Still, doesn't sound so bad. Could be worse.

[Could be so much worse.]

[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.