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Entry tags:
❪ test drive #7 ❫
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YOUR STORY BEGINS  The Storm came. You remember darkness, but you don't remember much after that. You don't know how long you slept, but the dreams were short. You remember the expanse of stars and galaxies in your direct view. Every world and solar system ever known to man was present in your dreams in careful, pristine detail. You also witnessed the Storm, which has devoured a fair portion of these galaxies. Your Earth and similar planets were assimilated by the Storm. Somehow, you knew it would be the last you'd see of your world. That was when she told you what happened. You knew that you'd be living somewhere new. The details weren't clear, but you knew it was a part of a deal with the entity known as Darma - once, you might have been able to speak to her, but now you are only met with silence. When you awake, you will find yourself in Thesa Station. Your body is still cold, you're hungry, and the halls seem frighteningly bare somehow. EMPTY HALLS ![](https://i.imgur.com/G8jldQW.png") Despite the absence of Darma and the rest of the Natha Orbiters, the station is still managing to sustain itself. Those that dig within the station’s log will find that it’s currently in some sort of Energy Saving Mode. While Thesa isn’t at risk of failing any time soon, people will notice that the ship will appear more dim and desolate. Malfunctions will be common, and while none seem to be life-threatening (yet), they are notably inconvenient. Fortunately, it seems the Orbiters were prepared for the worst, and in a potential response to these concerning turn of events, they've prepared some help.
The virtual assistant takes a wide variety of shapes, from adorable animals to metal paper clips with googly eyes. Regardless of what form they take, their mission is clear: to help in any way they can. It’s unfortunate, however, that they just haven’t been calibrated properly. Hence, they will appear at the strangest times— in the middle of dinner or an important conversation— sometimes they won’t even offer anything useful. Apparently they were designed after a program that existed once, but who really knows.... However, while they may seem like nothing but trouble at first, there are many occasions in which they can actually help. They are equipped with a whole wealth of information on how to keep the station operational. They can offer tutorials and step-by-step instructions on how to fix various aspects of the station and beyond. Their knowledge is extensive, and if they believe the refugee they're assigned to needs a different kind of help (a lesson in smiling or how to have adequate small talk being some of the many topics they're equipped to teach), well ... they're not against supplying it. Expect some invasive teaching. The virtual assistants are also all synced together. Meaning, if there’s a big enough problem, they can ping one another and assign refugees to help with certain parts of the ship. The only problem is that prioritizing may not be their strong suit. What seems like a simple issue could be exacerbated into a huge ordeal. What someone thinks is a fire in the main hatch could actually be a plumbing issue near the Mess Hall. They also seem to assign people arbitrarily. One can only hope all the refugees get along. SEND HELP  While no specific parts of the station are necessarily offline, a lot of the tasks the station would normally complete on its own will need to be handled manually. Fortunately, the main functions of the station are more than accounted for, however everything else will be up to the refugees. As there is no telling when the Natha Orbiters will return, perhaps it’d be wise to take this opportunity to learn to be a little more self-sufficient on Thesa Station. 1. There are some areas the Station can’t automatically clean without exiting its current emergency protocols. Each of these areas will be marked off on the map provided by Thesa's very own virtual assistant, Yppilc. According to Yppilc, one of the key places that would benefit from a good wash down is the airlock. As a fair amount of foreign matter travels through these doors, special suits will be provided for those cleaning the area. The suits will have a built-in communications system and will also include its own oxygen tank. A helpful feature to have, just in case someone may be swept out into space. Which happens more often than one would think! Cleaning too close to the controls can trigger the doors to open… they’re sensitive. The oxygen tank isn’t equipped to last very long, so you can only help comes soon. GIFTS FROM THESA  The Natha have bequeathed their will unto the refugees, the burden of watching over their dear planet not given without a token of trust. Everyone, those newly awakened and those already settled, will receive periodic urging from Yppilc to visit the VR facilities. These messages will grow more frequent, more frantic, the longer they go ignored - for the sake of sleep, it’s best to indulge the request. Load into the simulation, and the scene is mired by the confusion of battle. You and another stand on a low hanging precipice, overlooking a failing front line. The location and conditions of the fight vary, drawn from the memories and fears of the participants themselves. Olympia and Wyver, locked in a caustic war - and your new home is succumbing. Or your homeland, entrenched in conflict from the past, or from a dreaded future. While the scene laid out before you is chaotic, one thing stands clear; your allies are fighting a losing battle. Comrades fall, innocents flee, and the wounded cry out for help. The program has determined what could best spur you and your comrade to intervene, though the more stubborn refugees may need additional goading from their partners. Your next action determines more than the outcome of the fight before you. Choose wisely - this message is conveyed mentally in a garbled voice that sounds familiar and ethereal all at once. Jump into action and fight. Save an ally - perhaps even your partner in this simulation - from certain death. Or help those who cannot help themselves. Act, and you will find yourself imbued with a new power. Use it, and the scene will soon come to a close. Despite returning to the reality of Thesa Station, you’ll find this newfound power still within your grasp. A gift from Darma, to aid in the battles to come. OOC Note: Feel free to give your character any one power that would be classified as a ‘major spell’ on the ACP rewards table. These powers can fall under any category (Unaffiliated, Natha, Olympia, or Wyver), and must be reported by existing characters and new applicants here under the most appropriate header no later than September 8th 11:59PM EST. Please include a brief description of the power you’ve chosen. You will receive a response within 48 hours if there are any modifications required. SOCIAL-LINKED(in) By some miracle, there are still some quieter parts of the hall. This may be an appropriate time to check out your smartphone. Aside from the expected "Omage" app, there seems to be a new one called Social-Linked. There, you may find a profile waiting to be posted. The app allows for the user to fill it in, but there is also an auto-function! upon pressing it, it will generate a shockingly-honest answer based on the Natha's observation of your history. Roman will be your only friend in this app, with his very own profile: PROBLEMS IN STASIS  1. The ship’s malfunctions have reached the stasis chamber, a long feared outcome finally dawning on sleeping friends and families. Yppilc will be quick to notify all refugees aboard that the pods will need close monitoring. Whether you’re visiting to keep an eye on things, or simply there to see the face of someone dear, be careful. Bumping a control panel, or drawing a hand along the glass could trigger an emergency ejection. Lights blink and a mechanism hisses, and then the pod is gone. With the pod thrust into space, you’ll be left with nothing but a small screen displaying the chamber’s position. There are ways to retrieve it— such as climbing into a suit from the airlock or following Yppilc’s instructions. Regardless of approach, it’s imperative that you stay calm. One error, and you could eject another pod or cut off the view screen entirely. 2. The newly awakened won’t find a moment of respite. The errors that pervade over the rest of the station have altered the contingencies for resuscitation in a majority of the pods. Some may awaken with gaps in their memory, or an old injury yet unhealed. Some may be afflicted with new ailments, such as loss of a sense or severe nausea. Anything could happen, with the computer systems processing so inconsistently. Interfacing with Thesa in any way, from entering the VR simulator to accessing the medical facilities, can cause the same range of side effects, so even established refugees should take caution. FINAL OOC NOTES
As always, feel free to wildcard prompts within Thesa Station!
These threads may be carried over as game canon if players choose. Players are encouraged to submit TDM threads as application samples, but they are not required. Please direct any OOC questions to the questions thread below. Players may submit an AC-length thread HERE from this TDM for 2 Natha REP. The due date for submission is September 16 11:59 PM EST. For this application cycle, there will be a cap of 60 and no reserves. Applications will be open on September 2 12:01 AM EST and end on September 4 11:59 PM EST. Thank you! |
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He observes Moira's movement forward with a sharp attentiveness - he has an inkling of what might be coming when that darkness of hers reaches for the soldier, and if this hadn't been a simulation, he might be inclined to stop her. In this situation, though, when he can remind himself it's not real no matter how much it might seem to be, he merely tilts his head so the fall of his hair blocks out the merciless slaughter of the other soldiers at the hand of their ally's weapon.
This woman might be one to keep an eye on, he thinks.
None of that impression reaches his face as he sweeps his hair back out of his eyes and approaches her once she releases the soldier from her hold. His gaze lingers briefly on those long nails - it reminds him of someone else he knows, though perhaps thankfully one who isn't awake - before he glances briefly over the area to double-check that it's been cleared.]
Well, there's nobody else left here...we might as well move on... [He says it in a somewhat vague, almost airheaded tone, as if he's thinking about something else. That "something else" might become more obvious when his own shadow lumps up a bit and then rather abruptly takes Ren's legs out from under him, leaving him sitting on one of the tentacles like a very strange side-saddle mount.]
Oh, it worked~
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Moira simply pays it all little mind as she strides over to her temporary partner and suddenly looks less than impressed that he's decided to try turning his shadow into some kind of lumpy pony. Her mismatched eyes study the moment for all of but a few seconds before she actually turns away form him to continue striding along.]
When you have finished you notions of having a pony, I do believe the battle has continued on this way.
[There's testing your powers for scientific purposes and there's testing your powers for childish notions. Guess what she views Ren's testing as? And she has no time for it as she summons the two orbs to her hands. Once again, left is golden and the right is purple. With a motion, she throws out the purple one and it goes bouncing off walls ahead of her, sometimes with strings of the purple reaching out and the sound of a person falling to the ground as the orb goes out of sight. The chamber on her back glows purple as the mist inside of it swirls about.
Apparently there's work today and she's on her way to take care of it.]
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Anyone can have a pony, though... [Clearly having a weird shadow tentacle is much more interesting. But in pursuit of what's clearly testing his powers, and not simply remaining on the shadowy mount for longer than is really necessary just to be an annoyance, Ren directs the tentacle to follow along. It extends to a certain point before another tentacle has to rise up from another shadow to take over for it, one moving seamlessly into the other before the first one fades out and disappears.
Ren watches Moira's handling of the isolated opponents in front of them with mild interest, and glances over to the golden one again.]
So what do those orbs do, then...? [Other than the purple one obviously injuring people severely enough to at least knock them unconscious, if the sounds that come after it departs from sight are any sign. The mist has him a little bit curious as well, because...well, he doubts the timing is a coincidence.]
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The golden orb heals and the purple one steals life. In the most basic of descriptions.
[Obviously that implies it's far more complex than that but she has found she sees no point in going into those details until she's sure the ones she's with are actually able to keep up. Not all can manage her scientific genius. It's a sad fact of life that she honestly got over years ago.]
They will last for seconds but they will do their work in that time if their targets are there for them to fulfill their purposes for.
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That sounds pretty useful by itself, actually, you probably could've handled this pretty well even without anything new... [And yet she hadn't seemed at all like she was planning to handle it until he'd stepped in himself. It had been more of an experimental attitude than anything.] Though I guess it would get kind of boring to never actually face an opponent, too.
[His tone in saying that is mild and almost childish, though he has vastly more disconcerting reasons for not liking the idea of not watching an opponent lose to him.]
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[Now, that is not to say she desires a life of peace. Rather she simply doesn't care if there is war or otherwise around her. That has never been a factor in what motivates her in the slightest. Not when she can make discoveries and do her research through any of that.
With that said it does paint this young man in an interesting light. One that has her curious since he's shown curiosity for what she can do while also displaying reckless tendencies.]
Is this what motivates you? A desire for opponents?
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The question she comes to is a pretty good one, though, and Ren taps his chin thoughtfully.]
Hmm, is it? I wonder... [In this situation, he's honestly not sure. He's more used to seeking opponents in less chaotic situations, though it's true he has still done so when confronted with the end of the world.] I guess I feel like calling it a fight is a little bit pointless if there's no fight involved.
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[She fades from sight again in almost a swirl of smoke before appearing again several feet ahead. This time to study a pattern on a wall. Her right hand (purple and covered in obvious veins...almost like it should be dead) comes up to trace the pattern with remarkably long nails.
And then...she walks away from it like it's nothing.]
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Did your powers do something weird to your hand...? [It's put in a rather vague, airheaded sort of manner, as if the potential connection is only barely occurring to him.]
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[Two can play that game, Ren. Moira can already tell he's not an idiot so if he's going to keep putting on an act then she sees no reason to be forthcoming. In a way he reminds her of Sombra. Seemingly silly or airheaded but with so much more going on in that head of his. Which doesn't bother her but she does know that it could lead to him attempting to get her to give more than he does. A clever ploy if it were something that actually worked.
Obviously she's not allowing it to.]
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Hmm, that's not very fun of you... [It is pretty funny, though, despite his external reaction. He doesn't really like being seen through, but people playing along with it isn't so bad.
With an exaggerated sigh, Ren gestures his tentacle mount up a bit to try and see over the nearby buildings, then points past another building.] Oh, there's some more people over there.
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[Moira looks at the wall then looks toward her current companion. More people? Well that could be beneficial or hazardous. Time would tell very soon.]
How many are there?
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Mmm...a few...it's a little hard to see from here... [Two can play at the obfuscating information game (as if Ren wasn't the one who started it, really, but he's happy enough to continue it with all the same airheadedness as earlier). Though it is legitimately a bit hard to tell specific counts from this far off - he can see at least a half-dozen, but that's not considering any that the buildings might be obscuring.]
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Six. Possibly seven.
[With that, she continues onward, easily side-stepping to avoid the conflict.]
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Oh, that sounds right. I wonder if that group we got rid of earlier was the biggest one...
[It wasn't particularly large, but they're not running into any very big clusters here either. Perhaps the main front is more spread out than it seemed earlier.]
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[Hey, if he's not going to be useful and offer information when it's needed then she sees no reason to do the same in return. Even the number wasn't something she was telling him. Obviously he already knew that.
But she continues on and simply avoids the main front with the easy of someone used to being part of the backline as support. One best offers support if one is not in a place to obtain injury, after all.]
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Well, we might be wondering less if we split up to deal with the rest of them...since we're not really working together much, are we?
[Not that it's really an issue to him - he mostly just sounds mildly amused.]
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[Has that been what she's been going for this whole time? It's hard to tell but that does look like the doorway out. In fact, she goes up to tap and...yep. Outside world. She's quite done in here, thank you.]
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[Way to spoil a healthy respect for stage setting. Nonetheless, he shrugs a little.] I guess if you already ruined the illusion, there's not much point in hanging around.