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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! |
no subject
Just a babe, then.
[ He swallows heavily, suddenly very much wishing Claire were there with him to help him guide the conversation. ]
I can help ye, get situated. If ye need help or guidance, my wife has been out of stasis now for over a year, she's verra familiar.
no subject
Yes, I...
[He seems to visibly shake himself, glancing around before back at Jamie himself. No, no, he must ask this much at least.]
I'm sorry, did you say -- your wife? [He raises his eyebrows again at the other man. He'd said something of her before in their conversation but it's taken a moment for the gravity of it to register for him.] Do you mean to say that she's... Here?
[Politely swapping the word in that last question for the one that had been on the tip of his tongue: alive.]
no subject
Aye, she is. As is...our daughter.
[ Might as well get everything shocking out of the way for this version of John. ]
no subject
Oh, but he is in love with her. He can see it in him, in so simple a statement as this, the joy he has found in their reunion. It is good, he thinks. To see him so happy. John had always known that Jamie's heart belonged to another. At least now they have found each other again.
He finds himself smiling, despite the complicated twist of emotions he feels whirling in his gut.]
Well, then. I am glad for you both. I am glad for you all, I suppose I might say. Your daughter...
[Christ, he doesn't even know where to begin. Exactly how impolite would it be to ask whether it would be a child of the two of them together, he wonders.]
no subject
Just before Culloden, I kent my wife would be just as wanted as I. And we kent she was pregnant. So, I sent her away wi' enough coin to make safe passage to the Colonies. I believed she was safe, and she...believed I was dead.
[ It's not such a lie though, is it? He knew she was gone, and she knew for twenty years that he was as good as dead. ]
She returned to Scotland to show our daughter were she was from, to say goodbye to me. Instead, she found me alive, in Edinburgh.
no subject
Incredible...
[He isn't quite certain what to make of it. He is, of course, glad to see Jamie so content. It does make him wonder where that leaves him in the other man's life.
And quickly turns that thought away. Jamie Fraser was his prisoner. Jamie Fraser is essentially his ward. But the man has made it fairly clear he would like nothing to do with Grey personally.
At least, he had. And yet the Jamie Fraser standing before him had greeted him as John. Staring up into the taller man's face, he has to wonder...]
Culloden was some time ago, Mr Fraser. [He notes, physically turning his thoughts aside.] Even for myself. This would make her...?
no subject
We were separated for twenty years and reunited two years ago. [ Jamie lets that sink in for a moment. He's much older now, far ahead of John. ] We settled in the Colonies.
[ There's much to tell him, though he isn't sure how much he should. None of it matters anymore, not now that they're all here. ]
I only just saw ye, recently. Passing through ye stayed with us in our cabin. There was whiskey to be had and more than one game of chess.
no subject
It's quite a lot to take in, yes. Grey wonders whether the other man will ever stop shocking him, with revelation after revelation. He wonders if there's more he's not telling him. More that he'll spare him the knowledge of. That's, what -- a good portion of Grey's own life he's yet to live himself. And now that this has happened...
It doesn't make sense, the two of them being so far out of time from one another. Not that Grey isn't pleased to see Jamie here, but. It -- it doesn't make sense. None of it does, and he shakes his head to keep himself from idling on it further, before he manages:]
Well. It is good to know that not so many things have changed.
no subject
[ Things had been rough once, before. Jamie had even begged for death at his feet at a point. But they've both come far, he thinks. It'd be a shame to lose it.
If I can help in any way, as ye've done a great deal to help me, it would be my honor.
[ John is raising his son. Jamie owes him a lifetime for that. ]
no subject
Well.
[Grey raises his eyebrows, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, glancing about themselves before back at the other man, with the quirk of a smile.]
I could certainly use a drink...? If your schedule is open.
no subject
Aye, Claire's shown me where to go.
[ It take a few drinks for the truth of who's truly raising Willie to come up.
He waits for John to fall into step with him before setting a casual pace toward alcohol and a bit of food. ]
I cannae believe it, truly. To ken everything we once kent is gone somehow. But that all the ones we care for are back in their own chambers, asleep. I wouldna believe it, if it hadna happened to me.
no subject
[Grey says, with the air suggesting that he still doesn't quite entirely believe the whole of it. He takes in a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before glancing back at the other man. Adopting as neutral as an expression as he can: stiff upper lip and all that. Even as he continues on to say,]
It is all a bit much to adjust to, however. One minute you're in Germany, in the middle of a campaign, and the next...
[He waves his hand about themselves. Carefully crafting the very picture of calm and collected as he quips,] I would like to hope that at least we won the bloody thing, before they plucked me out of there.
[Though the rock settling in this career soldier's stomach is beginning to suggest that in the end -- it might have all been for naught.]
no subject
[ Not his campaign, not Culloden, not a thing any of them have gone through. It doesn't matter. Not with the world having ended. ]
And time, anyway, is a strange thing here. Claire is from a fair bit behind me, though she's been here over a year. Some things, I cannae explain how they work.
[ It makes him agitated, to not understand something fully, but he has no real say in the matter. He'll add it to the list with 'magical stones' and 'time travel.' ]
no subject
Are we expected to be grateful?
[Grey's words are perhaps sharper than he had intended them to be, but he finds he cannot help himself. Perhaps that drink really would do him good. He takes in a sip of a breath, letting it out in a long sigh before continuing:]
I mean to say. If time does not play a factor for them, they might at least have waited for a more opportune time in my life.
no subject
[ Jamie is. His wife has been here alone, without him, and outside of how that's actually possible, he knows well what can happen to Claire when she's alone. But to add toward the gratefulness, his daughter is here. A daughter he thought lost to time whom he would never meet. So, Jamie Fraser is a grateful man, but he can understand how those without so much to gain may feel otherwise. ]
Though. There's no accounting for the end of the world. Ye were'na truly living that life, near as I can understand it, which, admittedly, is no' verra much of an understanding. Ye were only asleep, in the stasis chamber.
[ Is he upset about things he lost? Yes. Lallybroch is gone. Fraser's Ridge; he was building something for his wife, a legacy in the future for Brianna, and it's all gone. All of the sweat and blood and tears and for what? To have a mansion with no love in the walls apparently serve as a home later, once they're off of Nadril. ]
no subject
I suppose I do not have the right to complain about my circumstances. I'm alive, am I not? If what they say is true, Hal and Minnie and the children. They're all safe as well.
[He casts a slightly wary glance aside at Fraser at this. As if still somewhat doubtful of the whole stasis situation himself, but he supposes he'll get there, in time.]
It's only just that -- I find myself a stranger in a foreign land. Not that I have never been as much before, but now I find myself...
[He glances away from the other man once more, before continuing:] Adrift.
no subject
[ Just ask Claire. ]
But if I can learn how to survive in France, in a new world in North Carolina, I have faith ye can adjust to life here. Both of us can.
[ Even if 'here' is some other planet. They can make it, he has to believe that. ]
Claire told me she visited me in stasis, all of our family, but I havena looked, myself. Too much, for the first days, I reckon.
[ He isn't ready to see his sister, nieces and nephews, Ian, all asleep. Isn't ready to see the dead she claims are there as well. ]
no subject
He takes in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he does.]
But such a thing is possible? To visit them, as they sleep?
no subject
[ It makes him ache a little, to know she was so close, that she needed him, and he wouldn't wake. ]
My wife tells me she owns a large house as well wi' plenty of space. Ye should stay wi' us, John. As long as ye'd like.