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Entry tags:
❪ test drive #9 ❫
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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. Exploring the halls brings you to the transporter room, which will give you easy access to and from Nadril... Getting there is a quick process that leaves you feeling vaguely nauseous and out of your own body, and you can’t travel to the rest of the planet just yet, but the space station and the icy colony are yours to explore. A FORCED AWAKENING (THESA STATION)  ... But that is, of course, assuming that your awakening was a smooth one. In the best case scenario, nausea might be the worst you'd feel. For many others, the newly awakened won't be a pleasant one. In the past, the refugees will only wake when they are mentally and physically prepared for it. After all, they are in a whole new galaxy, and dimensions and time were trampled with to make the Intervention possible. Those who witnessed the storm before it devoured their own world would know as well that the Intervention hadn't been a graceful one, and it's exemplified by the way you wake. Alarms on the station will be blaring when you finally come to, siren calls and flashing light invade your already disoriented senses. You'll find yourself face-planted on the cool metallic floor among many others with you. Some, just as confused and unstable as you; others, still sleeping — they're alive, but no matter how much you try to wake them, they will not gain consciousness. Or maybe some will. It seems the best way to approach those in stasis is to put them back into their chambers in hopes that the glitch hadn't disrupted their recovery. Thesa Station has changed though, seemingly overnight. The space that surrounds the station is now in near-total darkness. Where there were once stars across billions of lightyears, it appears as though they're fading — some would flash right before your eyes. This is especially true for those with access to the Observation Room. Alarms will continue to ring as you find your way there. Once inside, you will see visible glitches in the hologram of the multiverses as a ghostly, dark fabric begins to blanket over the shining dots that represents the many stars across many galaxies. As it gathers the stars, it moves even faster. Somehow, you may feel that it's getting closer now. The impending doom of the Storm is now upon the little corner of the universes where Darma found her planet. It's only a matter of time now before the Storm finally, finally, finds El Nysa. THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
Nadril will remain accessible once you've established footing — it may seem like a welcome change to the steel, alarms, and artificial gravity. Once you've teleported down, your devices will pick up the message from the one and only Nurray, the leader of Nadril.
True to her words, the city square where you've teleported will have been furnished with a new piece of technology. Those who are familiar with Thesa's ins and outs would recognize it as a version of the Virtual Reality machines that can be found up there, but it is made for far more people. This foreboding machine has a shining gate that allows users to simply step through it and disappear into space. However, what you're really doing, is stepping right into the past.  I. Burning Dawn — You can hear the piercing screams even before your surroundings finish rendering. Once they do, searing heat, choking smoke, and flickering flames greet you — you find yourself in the midst of a burning village, at the center of the town square. The streets are swarming with people, both peasants who seem to live here fleeing for their lives and the heavily armored troops who have fanned out throughout the village, armed with torches and spears. Those who are running speak of safety in the forest — a place of refuge, somewhere they can be protected even from these outsiders with their blades and their fire. But reaching the forest means getting past the invaders who are stationed throughout the village and at all the exits. Fight your way out, sneak your way out, or find some other solution — but to escape this simulation you must find a way out. Should you find yourself killed by the invaders, you will respawn back in the village square again, right where you started. There does not seem to be any other way to end the VR session. II. The Escape — It is bitterly cold. You find yourself as part of a caravan — and though no one explicitly says so, you know instinctively that you are traveling north. Snow crunches underneath your feet and soaks through the material of whatever it is you are wearing. There are cliff walls and caverns visible further up ahead, and the path you need to take is a long, winding road that leads to the top of those cliffs. On the horizon are dark clouds, and murmuring around you makes it clear that you all expect a storm. You have perhaps half an hour before it is expected to hit. What you do with that time is up to you, but should you fail to prepare properly and succumb to exposure, the next thing you know you find yourself within the caravan once more, a chill in your soul as you stare out at the approaching storm. Thirty minutes... III. Crime — "Catch!" Someone calls that word out to you, and a moment later, a small wrapped package is dropped into your arms. There is a flurry of movement from somewhere behind you, and suddenly, men garbed in Olympian insignias — older than the versions worn in Olympia these days, but still recognizable — appear, brandishing swords at you. "Stop! Thief!" If the guards catch you, the scenery around you will distort, and you will find yourself back at the start of the simulation, with a package thrown into your arms. But if you flee, if you evade the guards for long enough through the twists and turns of the Olympian markets of hundreds of years ago, and manage to lose them... When you come out of the VR session, you find yourself gripping a small trinket of some kind — an antique bracelet, or perhaps a goblet, or some other bauble of Olympian make. It is very old, and it is yours to keep. IV. ...And Punishment — The rattling of chains fills your ears as the walls of some kind of cell form themselves around you. There are shackles around your wrists, connected to chains which are bolted to the stones hemming you in. There are others chained here with you, and as you begin to process what you're seeing, someone enters the cell. It's a large, imposing man with scale-like skin, and he takes one of the others in your cell and hauls them away. Minutes later, from outside, you hear screaming — and then utter silence. The man will return in thirty-minute intervals, dragging the inhabitants of the cell away for execution until he gets to you. If you do nothing, you will meet your end in a variety of ways — beheaded by an axe, perhaps, or drawn and quartered, or boiled alive. Should that happen, you will awake in the cell again, until you find a way to free yourself and escape. V. Castaways — The tang of sea salt fills the air as the image of the ocean builds itself around you. You find yourself on the deck of a ship, sailing away from the isles of El Nysa, toward the thick, thick fog that has kept everyone fenced in for so long. "It's never been done before, crew," shouts a man with a thick beard, wearing the clothes of a captain. "But today, we'll be the first! Full speed ahead!" The ship sails directly into the fog, and it seeps in around you, obscures your vision and becomes so thick that it's almost hard to breathe. But you can hear the waves breaking on the ship's hull, and everything is fine. Until it's not. Until the sound of the waves breaking is the sound of waves crashing, until the wind whips around you and howls but does not clear away the fog. There's a sickening crunch as the mast cracks and twists and falls, shattering the deck and sending you and everyone around you into the icy cold depths of the sea. The isles are back the way you came, but can you make it? Try — because should you sink to the depths of the sea, you'll only find yourself on the ship's deck again once you open your eyes. INVISIBLE WIRES
While there are no apparent seasons in the everwinter of Nadril, the diverse flora is not all year round. Now, with the coming of the most distant moon of the year, there grows a beautiful red vine. It snakes upwards from the ice, bright red against the glowing scenery. Growing along houses, coiled up tree trunks, and spidering over the ground, the plant is resilient and quickly adapts to any terrain.
It's quite the sight to behold, but get close and the veinlike roots fade, becoming entirely invisible. Like this, the vine ensnares its prey. A small tendril wraps around your finger, your neck, or burrows into your chest to entwine your heart. Each plant chooses two hosts in this way, binding them together with a sharp ache that becomes more severe the greater the distance between them grows. You may be alone when afflicted, left to suffer the night wandering to find your other half to soothe the pain. The vine withers after about 24 hours, leaving behind no trace, however, resisting its pull has been known to draw blood from the most stubborn obstinate victims. FINAL OOC NOTES
As always, feel free to wildcard prompts within Thesa Station and Nadril!
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 two (2) Natha REP. The due date for submission is January 20th, 11:59 PM EST. Due to the plot-relevancy of this TDM, current players are able to play these prompts in-game in their own logs. However, only threads involving a perspective player may be used for Natha REP. For this application cycle, there will be a cap of 60 and no reserves. Applications will be open on January 2nd at 12:01 AM EST and close on January 4th, 11:59 PM EST. Thank you! |
crime
Knowing this place? Probably not.
[ she sounds nonchalant. running isn't really her style, but and this is vr or whatever the hell that is, so it would probably be better just to commit massacre and call it a day. at the same time, why put so much effort into something that isn't real? ]
Guards or any kind of city authority don't really care for my kind.
[ the stealing kind. zero has a package in her hand also, and while she knows it's the simulation that conjured it, it's not out of line of something she would do anyway... so really, it's anyone's call. ]
no subject
At least we both know what it's like to be in enemy territory, then. It'd be disappointing to have to perform with someone who didn't know what they were doing.
[That said, she glances around the alleyway, looking for anything that might aid their escape. It's extremely narrow, enough that it would barely admit two people their size side-by-side, which might be useful for a few reasons she could think of.]
How are you at climbing? [She's looking up towards the rooftops of the two buildings forming the alleyway. They look flat from here, at least, though they'd probably be banking on the guards not looking up to not be seen. Still, it'll mean they have to do more than just catch up to get them.]
no subject
And you do? [ knows what she's doing, that is. the woman seems... well, zero is the last person who should judge a person about how they look, because it's not like zero has the appearance of someone who can destroy the world, but — she looks like a princess. even then, zero acknowledges that she has the confidence of someone much, much stronger. that's enough for her. ]
Let's see.
[ zero was among the people who woke up to alarms and flashing lights. it's perhaps the most rude awakening yet, and she's never been a fan of that fucking teleporter they keep using. still, better nausea than having to stick around thesa station for whatever the hell is happening up there.
she glances up to the length of the wall, relaxes her shoulders, and leaps... just enough to hold on to an edge of a window. ] Dammit. My arm's —!!
[ one of her arm is prosthetic, held together by a live parasite that isn't exactly fully recovered from stasis, it seems, and she's losing grip fast. ] Gimme a hand!
no subject
Mikumo watches Zero leap upwards with a somewhat impressed look, but she can tell that's not going to hold long, and she eyes up the wall herself. She doesn't have enough space to run up for a higher leap, so she takes the alternate option - she can jump higher than a normal human, but a standing start still has some issues. Instead, she leaps up, kicks off one wall, and rebounds against the other, landing delicately on the narrow sill and leaning down to grab Zero's arm. Despite Mikumo's somewhat waify appearance, she doesn't have any trouble hauling Zero up to join her.]
I see it wasn't just our heads that awakening made trouble with... [She sighs slightly, weighing up how much more distance they have left to the rooftop. It's not too far, at least - no more than the same distance again as it took them to get to the sill.] Well, I can boost you if your arm's going to try and give out on you again, but it'll be delicate work.
[She taps the sill with one heel to accentuate the narrow space they're working with here.]
no subject
climbing a wall without the help of most of her powers, and most importantly the parasite on her arm, is quite annoying, and it's unfortunate that that would be the girl's first impression of her...
nevertheless, zero takes the hand entirely and catches her breath when she joins her on the rooftop. ]
What the hell... is boosting? [ she glances over to the other side where she assumes is their next stop. jumping from building to building — haha. if only mikhail were here. ]
My legs still work fine. If I can't make it over, then I'll just have to fight my way through the assholes down there.
no subject
[If she wants to do it herself, though, Mikumo isn't going to stop her, and she moves to one side of the sill with a wave of the hand.] We'll see how it goes, then. Though I'd be a little disappointed to see you couldn't make it across. It makes for an easier time than a fight.
[Just because Mikumo can fight if she has to doesn't mean she likes doing it. Not to mention she's not completely sure of the limits of this simulation and if it will even allow them to fight the guards rather than flee, but she supposes they'll find that out if it happens.
For now, she focuses on the rooftop, holding a position prepared to leap but glancing over to Zero first.] After you, then.
[There's not a great deal of space between them right now, so it's probably safer to go one after the other rather than together to avoid any mishaps.]
no subject
probably most fun, but who needs to know that...
she rolls her shoulders and shakes out her legs. ]
All right, here goes nothing—!!
[ she allows herself a running start then leaps over the ledge — it's a little like flying, and she definitely still got it, but her landing is not a graceful one. as though she has forgotten about gravity, she lands nearly face-first into the next rooftop with a pained yelp. look... shit happens... but she's able to get up shortly after, knees shaking and white cape dirtied. ]
Christ, I'm getting too tired for this.
no subject
[Even as she says that, she's backing up to give herself a little running start, and leaps just on the last word. There's a certain grace to the movement that says she's surprisingly used to hurling herself off rooftops like this, and though she lands pretty hard, she does manage to keep her footing even though her knees have to buckle a bit to save the landing.
As soon as she lands, she turns her head in the direction the guards had ran before, trying to parse specific movement out of the cacophony that the market is to her ears. Thankfully, senses somewhat sharpened as they are, she can just pick up the specific sound of a group running back towards their area, and another who seem to have kept running.]
It sounds like only the ones who were chasing me are coming back this way...for now, at least. But we should probably still get moving before they get any ideas.
[Like that they're actually going to catch up to them. Mikumo glances over to Zero as she starts heading across the rooftop.] I hope your knees are still feeling up to it.