elnyan | ❪ test drive #9 ❫

Entry tags:

test drive

❪ test drive #9 ❫

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.

The sensors we enhanced with Natha technology are picking up on some... rather confounding readings coming from the edges of the galaxy. I've checked the archives, and it seems similar readings have been detected at five different points in this planet's history, since the Natha began observing it. We have loaded these virtual reality consoles with data corresponding to those points in history, but there are only so many of us, and there is a lot to look through. If you could assist us in examining these events in more detail, perhaps we can figure out what exactly it is that caused it and how the Natha were able to repel whatever is responsible for these readings in the past.

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!

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[A FORCED AWAKENING]

[Chaos. Everything is chaos and the bells, alarms, and noise remind Lucy of what happens when time travel meets--]

What the hell--?

[She's hunched over, the nausea overwhelming, the headache excruciating. It's worse than the first time in the Lifeboat and she kneels there on all fours there for a moment, waiting for the worst of the sensations to pass so she can lift her head and look around. That's when the panic sets in. She recognizes no one and, unlike any of the other times they've traveled to the past, this isn't the past.]

Wyatt? [She says it first, then calls it.] Rufus? [She stumbles to her feet, then stumbles back, out of the line of people coming awake.] Flynn!

[Seriously, she recognizes no one.]

[Crime —]

[It's not the first time she's found herself in a situation where she's had to make a break for it, but this time, she's being chased by soldiers with swords rather than guns. Her 1950's poodle skirt fits in even less than they do - so she thinks - and she makes a wrong turn, only to be surrounded by the guards that finally caught up.

"—predicted the quake last month, and they say there's more to come—"

Is what she hears as she's being dragged away and the world goes fuzzy. Something she seriously dislikes about this new place she's found herself in? All the sidesteps into nausea and feeling out of place and then she's back ten minutes in time (not a new feeling) with the same small package in her hands.

She hurries away again, this time taking a different street, ducking into a small space between doorways as she hears the guards thunder past. Fear isn't real, she tells herself and it's definitely a hard lesson to remember in the moment.

Ever so carefully, she pokes her head around the corner to see no one at all chasing her any longer. She steps fully into the streets and, as she does, the word goes hazy once more. This time, she finds herself on the outside of the machine she'd willingly stepped into, a small golden necklace clutched in her hand.]

Whoa.

[INVISIBLE WIRES ]

[It is cold and she's aware that she's not completely dressed for the occasion. The coat she's been given is one thing, but it reminds her of the various places she's been in the freezing cold. The Titanic is one, though that's a little unfair since she left the ship before it sank completely. This? This is different.

The red vines against the stark snow aren't normal, at least they don't remind her of anything she's seen before, and she leans over to touch one, only to see it disappear before her eyes. The sensation, however, is quite distinct: first her finger, then her wrist, and she yanks back hard enough to sever the vine from its base. It doesn't stop there, though, and she can't see it still, but she feels the tightness there before it moves onward.

As the tightness in her finger and wrist ease, she hurries back to the path, then glances back over her shoulder to where the red vine seems like it's been there the whole time. A few moments later, she feels the ache in her chest and she places a hand there, gasping.]

Oh, my--

[WILDCARD]
[feel free to PM for a new scenario or make one up and I'll play along!]

Easy. [The voice that comes from behind Lucy is light and gentle, yet still somehow confident, and a hand comes down on her shoulder in case that stumble was leading into an overbalance.

The person who's elected to intervene is a young woman in a short tunic-styled dress and heels, with long, long purple hair. She offers a slight smile, more offering understanding than sympathy. Mikumo is a little confused about what's going on herself, honestly, but she seems to have chosen to handle that by trying to keep her composure as much as possible.]

If you're looking for someone, not everyone here seems to be waking up. So you might be in for a harsh surprise if you look.

[The urge to pull back, to shake off the stranger is high; most places Lucy travels aren't friendly and this place doesn't look much different. But as she stands, all that seems out of place with the young woman herself is that shs's very... colorful. It's not necessarily out of place, but it does put Lucy back a pace.

Taking what she's said, Lucy looks around and sees that not everyone on the ground is awake, which is even more off-putting than her own awakening and she feels that same nausea roll through her.]

That's not a good thing. [She thinks, then looks over at the woman.] Is it?

[She has no idea who's on the side of good or bad. She's trusting her gut.]

[Mikumo withdraws her hand as soon as Lucy seems to have balance again, folding her arms across her chest and tapping one a little with her fingers as she observes the scene. She still looks confident and unruffled, but the situation at large isn't exactly putting her at ease.]

Things like that rarely are. Though I'm not sure what it is we're supposed to do to help them. [There are a considerable amount of these empty...they almost look like some kind of recuperation chamber, honestly, and Mikumo walks towards one of the open stasis pods to investigate.]

Unless they came out of these. What do you think? [She raps the glass with her knuckles.]

They might've. [It's awkward, really, not knowing what comes next and she follows the girl's point and rap with a sigh.]

We could. [The idea is so bad and carries very little appeal but it feels like something she should at least offer to do.] Try and put them back? It's better than leaving them sprawled on the floor here.

[And maybe she'll come across someone she knows.]

Of course. It wouldn't be very dignified to leave them lying around. [Even if that's not what the chambers are for, but Mikumo's used to some fairly advanced technology, and she's going to go with her gut feeling on what these might be. Especially since she's very used to being confined to a tube to recover herself.

She can't see anyone she knows personally at the moment, though, so she bends down to the nearest person and loops her hands under their shoulders.] I'd appreciate some help with the legs.

[An expectant sort of smile comes at that. It's politely put, but it's pretty clear Mikumo isn't going to tolerate slacking now that they've decided on a course of action.]

Lucy Preston | Timeless

forced awakening

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invisible wires

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a forced awakening

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A forced awakening

my joy!

:-D

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crime;

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