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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! |
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he's still kind of getting his head ( and the rest of him ) together when he hears a voice, a voice that still sounds a bit off in the distance, but one directed at him nonetheless. there's a contemplative sort of look flickering through his expression on the other's approach, a look that ends up shifting into something a little bit sheepish as he offers a tentative half-smile. ) That obvious? ( that he almost has the look of a fish out of water?
it's fine. he's adaptive. he'll get used to this. and he finds himself looking down at one of the unconscious bodies on the floor. that cannot be comfortable. ) I figured that, but I was afraid of jostling them too much. ( shiro … they're asleep … they're not going to know … )
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He hums a little at Shiro's concern, but shakes his head.] If we don't move them, then it'll be worse...usually we wake up from the pods, so I think they need to be in there to recover. A little jostling is fine if it fixes things in the end, right?
[He tilts his head a little, like he's actually putting that question to Shiro rather than just adding the question as a rhetorical.]
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( he considers that information, and it does make sense. it's not like they're about to toss them around like limp noodles, or anything, and if they need to be in the pods, then … they need to be put back into the pods where they belong. so, he nods. ) That has to be better than waking up on the floor. ( he gestures toward the nearest body. ) Mind helping me?
( it is absolutely okay to say no, because he can do this on his own, but he has to admit that sharing conversation with another person as opposed to talking to himself is … way more preferable. )
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I can try, though I don't know how much help I'll actually be... [Ren's a bit wispy in build, and while he's not quite as weak as he's letting on, people don't generally call on him for assistance with matters of strength.
Still, he crouches down by the person's legs, looking over them with a vacantly thoughtful look.] This isn't someone you know, is it...?
[Just making sure he's not going to do something terribly offensive if he mishandles them a bit.]
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( hey, you don't necessarily have to be large to be strong, but. you know. everyone's built differently and shiro is kind of a. mountain. well, not really but he isn't small by any means.
that isn't the point. he's grabbing the upper half of this comatose body underneath the arms, shaking his head with the smallest laugh at the question. ) No. I haven't actually come across anyone I know here, yet. ( then again, he hasn't done a lot of wandering, but that will happen later. ) Ready in three, two — ( lifting on one!
nice teamwork, guys. )
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Ren's about to remark on the not having found anyone he knows thing when Shiro starts counting down, and he rather hastily tightens his grip on the legs so he's ready to lift at the appropriate time. It's...not the most graceful thing in the world, honestly, but at least the legs are up? And then he keeps talking as if he wasn't interrupted at all.]
There's a chance people from your world are awake already, but it's pretty hard to tell before you get onto the planet, usually...it can be hard to find certain people in here unless you keep looking for a while.
this got longer than i expected my bad
it isn't weird. it isn't weird at all. it's just nice to have company, that's all.
any … way. at least you'll be off the hook after this body is safely back in its pod, ren. he's not about to make you hoist dead weight off the floor just for the sake of lingering conversation, especially if you've already agreed to it.
it's much easier for shiro to lift his end — but that just comes from having a ridiculous amount of upper body strength and a strange prosthetic arm, the latter of which isn't his fault, and the former … well, that is — and he pauses once they've deposited this poor person back into the space they belong, breathing out a small sound that is equal parts contemplative and something … maybe uncertain?
he wants to think the others are here. maybe they've been waiting on him to wake up, or maybe he'll end up waiting on them. that all remains to be seen. ) Does that kind of thing happen often? ( yeah, he definitely sounds contemplative. like he's already preparing to go in search for his friends, like there's any other way to go about it than that.
( it isn't just because he doesn't want to be alone, either. but because he knows they would have gone looking for him, if their situations were reversed. little does he know … ) ) I mean, some waking up before others. ( he pauses, and then he shakes his head, like he's chastising himself for something. ) I'm sorry, I'm asking you all of this stuff and you don't even know my name. I'm Shiro. ( he offers an apologetic smile, because of course he does. ) And thank you, for helping me. ( and just hanging out. you're good company. )
it's good tho
His attention turns back to Shiro's face once he starts talking again, though. He seems like he's prepared enough to answer the question anyway, but the matter of introduction sidetracks him, because he blinks a bit like he completely forgot about it himself.]
Oh, it's okay. I'm Suzugamori Ren, but just Ren is fine. Your name suits you a lot. [Is he gently poking about Shiro's white hair? Possibly.
But it might also be a way of prolonging answering the initial question, because he elects to not quite answer it directly as he could. It means he doesn't have to try and force his shrug to look careless like he'd have to if he was talking about his own experience.]
I know a few people who have other people from their world here, and I think a few have mentioned others being awake before they were? So I guess it's not that uncommon.
asjgsd i'm glad because it was absolutely unintentional
and does ren get a sheepish sort of grin for the gentle nudge about his hair? maybe. it wasn't always like that, okay. but he can't honestly dismiss it, because it is fitting of all that white, now. if only you knew the kind of stress that had him ending up with it, bud. ) It didn't always, not that much. ( but ah, he's chuckling a bit. good job, ren. and maybe one of these days you'll get the full takashi shirogane, but by now he's so used to being just 'shiro' that it feels odd giving the whole thing.
he's grateful for an honest answer, even for as reticent as the other had been on answering it in the first place; that's the one thing he'll always value above everything else, honesty in the most literal sense of the word itself, regardless of how an answer might be taken.
sometimes, there is no softening a blow, even if it doesn't seem like one at the time. ) That's a much better chance than if you'd said something like 'I've never seen it happen'. ( yep, he is absolutely staying positive about this. ) Thanks for the honesty.
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Ren gets the impression Shiro's been through some rough times, though, scar and prosthetic aside. People like that tend to have a particular sort of manner that's not too hard to pick up on, and at the same time, people who've seen enough hardship are the ones that find it easiest to remain optimistic in the face of a situation like this, he's found.
He waves a hand a bit at the point about honesty.] Well, everyone wants to see their friends again, right? So I don't see why anyone would lie about that. Unless they were just bitter and grumpy or something, and I guess there are some people like that here...
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he's also definitely been through enough, not only recently to have adopted the kind of mannerisms that keep him, at the very least, trying for optimism no matter how dark the road ahead, or how hopeless any given situation feels; he's always been the optimistic type, always tried to keep a good game face on when everyone else around him is uncertain of how to proceed, and this. this is no different, especially when there's some measure of hope on the horizon when it comes to seeing his friends coming out of stasis as he had.
he makes a thoughtful sort of noise in the back of his throat, moves to place another sleeping body back in its pod. because oh yeah, he was supposed to be doing that instead of mulling over whether or not there's going to be any hope of seeing the others here. ) I can't imagine someone being so bitter they would lie about something so important. ( shiro. really. we know you want to believe in there being good in everyone, but you're not really that naive, are you?
you're old enough to know better.) But, I guess there's always going to be a first time for anything.no subject
And speaking of other people, he's just going to help out with the legs again when Shiro moves to put someone else back in their pod. Because he feels like dragging them around himself would be a bit undignified for them.]
You could always try asking around a bit. Some people might recognise names...or it might be that you had friends wake up and then go to sleep again, and it'd be good to know that too, right?
[Nobody's ever recognised the names Ren's brought up from his own world, but he remains hopeful that one of them might wake up in the future. While he's been here long enough that it's no longer an expectation of his, it's nowhere near long enough that he would've actually lost hope it might end up happening.]
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the galra don't count, clearly. they're giant purple alien cats. they're not people. no that's terrible asdklhthanks for the help, though, ren. he really wasn't expecting you to continue to help put these poor people back in their pods, more than all right with just the conversation aspect of this whole thing, but it's still nice. and much appreciated. ) That's a thought. ( he ends up giving over thoughtfully, like maybe it hadn't had a chance to occur to him, but now that it's been brought to the forefront of his mind, it's easy enough to focus on.
he tends to think further ahead than this, really. blame it on being jarred awake before he was fully prepared for it, or just the weight of the situation that surrounds them as a whole, all these poor, unconscious people being upended on the floor and not being aware of it. regardless, he's thankful for that train of thought, and it shows in the soft smile he ends up giving over. ) Do you have anyone that's already woken up? ( because … he has to ask. because it's always going to be reassuring to know it's a possibility of someone familiar waking up, even if it doesn't happen right away. )
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[Never mind that he was here in stasis for this incident in the first place because he visits his people here at least once a week (usually more) and hasn't been able to break the habit, nor has he really wanted to. Or the fact that he's always been terrible at hiding how much he hates being alone. He certainly doesn't want to mind it, because he immediately reaches for a topic that isn't going to keep the focus on himself long enough for a deeper probe.]
It must have been a bit of a mess to wake up in the middle of all this, though...I guess you'd be worrying more than others.
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he doesn't say anything, acts like he doesn't notice but it softens his heart, a little, to know that they are, presently, in the same effective boat as far as that situation goes. ) Right. ( he gives a small nod to the affirmative, but doesn't press it further.
but he can't imagine, not really, being alone in a place like this, even if the people you're waiting on are still in stasis; it must be something to visit them, maybe even talk to them while they're sleeping — which isn't all that odd, because there are some people out there that would argue that someone in a coma can hear it when someone talks to them, so why would it be any different in this instance? — wonder when or if they're ever going to wake up, because the unknown is always going to be just a little bit scarier than anything else.
just. because it's unknown. so, he gets it. he really does. and he knows a change in topic when he hears one, tops to follow that train of thought with a small, thoughtful hum. ) Maybe … maybe not. ( maybe not? takashi shirogane, you are always going to be concerned for your friends. you don't always have to put on that strong front, you know. ) My friends have a pretty good track record of holding on when they need to. They're strong. ( wow, this got deep.
he exhales a small sigh. ) But maybe I should eventually check to see if they were dumped out of their pods. ( are you seriously trying to joke right now. why. )
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Well, I already handled that for the people I know...though I think some of them were already moved. It's kind of hard to tell when things are like this right now.
[He certainly hopes they were moved, because some of the people unaccounted for are extremely important to him - he hasn't found Aichi yet, among others, and while he doesn't want to hope too much that they're awake in case he's disappointed, he can't entirely quash the thought that at least one of them might be.]
Make sure you put them somewhere you can easily remember when you find them. It'll make things way easier later.