❪ test drive: #2 ❫ THE OVERFLOW

[natha]

ORIGINAL POST

THE PROLOGUE     Many people in stasis seem to be medically sound enough to wake up, brother. Are the preparations ready to go? Yes, I've long prepared myself for this. Watching them everyday has been truly rewarding. ... Right. Yeah. Okay, let's get them ready to wake up. We should keep their minds active to ease the transition into consciousness. A simple VR program should do the trick, I think. I will boot one immediately. There! All systems are green. Their consciousnesses are linked. However, their minds appear to be too active... They may be over-stimulated, brother. Huh? How can that be...? Can we pull them out safely? Not from my end, no. This may be too large for us to fix alone. Do you think...? Yes, I think so... It will have to be done organically. Can you send out a message to our refugees? Of course, brother. I will send one swiftly. We must be sure to fix this before Darma returns. There is urgency in the Orbiters' request. Refugees currently in El Nysa are asked via mass message to please return to Thesa Station virtual reality area immediately. Zasere tells them that the next set of Refugees are scheduled to wake, but there's been an issue. On Thesa, refugees will find that the people in stasis are still apparently trapped in slumber. Most of them are complete strangers, but there's a chance you may recognize a familiar face or two. Normally, these people would wake up from their pods without issue, but due to a malfunction caused by the unforeseen force during The Descent, they have to go through extra measures to make this possible. Those in slumber require extra stimulation, something to keep their minds active. What better than a simulation of an area of El Nysa? Keeping their minds active requires an extremely involved simulation. Those subjected to the VR (prospective characters) will find themselves completely immersed in their new environment, believing themselves to be native Olympians. To wake up from the simulation, characters must work together to accomplish a certain objective(s) in the icy tundra. Characters in-game will be aware that this is a simulation, but this is good practice for properly interacting with El Nysa natives, isn't it? An AC-length log thread on this TDM may be submitted for Two (2) Natha REP points HERE. Please read the OOC note at the bottom of this post for the terms. PROMPT: WINTER CAME     The wind in the icy wasteland is bitter and frigid. You are wrapped up in a winter coat, but even still, the cold bites at your skin and leaves you yearning for a warm fire. Perhaps you're a merchant from the city, here to make a delivery, or you're a royal guard, sent to patrol the area. Who are you? The sky is the limit. One thing is certain — you won't snap out of your new identity until you finish a task. 1. Due to the vast diversity of the creatures on El Nysa and the fact that new ones are constantly being discovered, an important objective is to carefully chronicle different species. Unfortunately, to research these new species, they happen to need more than just a visual. More than just fleeting glances in over a snowy hill. Researchers are constantly looking for ways to secure... You guessed it! Blood and stool samples. The supplies for the former will be given. Supplies are offered in a small box; one per person. In this box is a small dart that will automatically procure a small touch of blood, and easily shaken off so the creature will be able to securely escape. As for the latter— well, they'll give you a plastic bag if that counts. Look, sometimes to get a job done, you have to get your hands dirty. Specifically, they seek samples from a newly recorded rare beast known as a Klep. Kleps spend much of their time hidden in caves, so hitting them with the darts will be tricky. They are also nocturnal, but you may be able to lure them out of the cave with fish as bait. When struck with a dart, you must grab the dart and escape immediately, as they will charge you, and killing such an endangered species is illegal. As for stool samples, well... Once you find a pile, you will have plenty of sample to work with. 2. It's cold, to say the least. Too cold to continue forward. Whatever you were doing, you must stop and seek shelter. Looks like your goal is clear, at least. Get warm. Not finding a way to sustain heat, whether it be seeking shelter, building a fire, cuddling up, or all of the above, will likely end in serious consequences. 3. You are stuck in a dilemma. On one hand, you are set to work for Olympia. One the other, you're not completely sure what is really expected of you, or who the man who gave you this mission truly is. You and your partner are meant to protect precious trade cargo for them. You were told that these were essential supplies for one of the outer colonies. They assured you it was mostly food. In loading the cargo onto the supplied wagon with your partner, however, you noticed something inherently off about it. The weight and even the sounds of some of the contents inside definitely don't sound like food. Moreover, some boxes are more obviously more concealed— draped in black sheets and reinforced on all sides. You've also caught wind of rumors that you are potentially being utilized to supply advanced weapons and other contraband to Wyver terrorists in the colonies. But what do you do? Refuse to make the delivery, and people in the colony will surely starve. Try to remove the weapons and only deliver the food, and you will be killed on sight for being too suspicious. Make the delivery as-is, and not only will Olympians die at the hands of terrorists in the future, but you will betray your country. Decide quickly... 4. There are many dangers associated with traveling in such an isolated, harsh environment. You must help each other to survive. Perhaps someone has fallen on thin ice, and requires a rescue. Maybe someone is on the brink of starvation, and you must share what provisions you have. When you come to, you will awaken in Thesa Station. All will be explained to you by Zasere or Sael via telepathic link. Your world is no more. The Storm has consumed it. We offer proof in the Observation Deck if you desire it, but it won't be an easy thing to stomach. We offer you a new life, in our planet of El Nysa. We just ask for your help in maintaining the vitality of El Nysa. What can we offer you in exchange for your help? PROMPT: STASIS UNIT     You have found the massive section of Thesa known as the Stasis Unit. There’s no special access required to access this part of Thesa Station, but refugees are warned that it may not be for the faint of heart. Here, in large pods that nearly cover every square inch of the space, are all of the people the Orbiters have managed to rescue. Your loved ones, your greatest enemy, your next door neighbor— you might find them here. These people are in a state of deep cryosleep. Due to the damaging effects of The Storm, their bodies are not yet ready to be awoken. PROMPT: GET REKT     The Orbiters have noticed that some of the refugees really miss their video games. The technology in El Nysa could be much worse, but it definitely leaves much to be desired. Which is why, after expressing relief that everyone awoke safely, the Orbiters have decided to provide a little fun in the form of video game competitions. Anything from old-timey arcade machines to state-of-the-art computers, consoles, and VR headsets (though you may be a little tired of VR right now...) is available, and yes, they have your favorite games! Enjoy PAC-MAN, Starcraft 2, or perhaps Dance Dance Revolution! Teach a friend how to play. Get unnecessarily angry and competitive. Most importantly, have fun. Keep fourthwalling to a minimum, please. Recommended playing: QWOP PROMPT: OMAGE     Upon receiving your mobile phone, you will be asked to set a username. Voila, you can now access the network! You can choose to send a message to the entire network, specific usernames, or you can try out the Orbiters’ service, Omage, which connects you to a random user. They thought this might be a good way for their new guests to make friends with each other... Connecting to server... Looking for someone you can chat with... You’re now chatting with [username]... Say hi! PROMPT: WILDCARD     You are welcome to write any scenarios in Thesa Station! Characters have been granted temporary access to the Observation Room, and are encouraged to study it carefully. FINAL OOC NOTE     Please give toplevel priority to prospective characters! Current characters wishing to thread these scenarios with other current characters are encouraged to create separate logs. However, threads between 2 current characters are not eligible for Natha Orbiter REP. 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! A TDM thread of AC length may be submitted HERE for 2 NATHA ORBITER REPUTATION POINTS. Current players may submit their thread at any time, and prospective players may submit a thread after acceptance. Please note that threads must contain at least five (5) log comments from your character. A toplevel counts as a comment. Network threads are not eligible. QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● world ● map ● reputation ● npcs taken ● reserves ● application calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

Comments

[punshots]

[ Deja vu's kind of a bitch like that, huh?

Prompto doesn't waste another second throwing himself onto the snowmobile, weapon still grasped in his hand as he grabs onto her. Even still, it's no small miracle that he doesn't go flying off the back end when she guns the engine, and he cranes his neck around just in time to see the klep's claws swipe and miss him by just inches. ]

Ho-ly shit! [ Hopefully Aranea doesn't mind an earful of his shrill yell, because that's what she's getting right now. ]

Did you see how close that thing was? If you didn't show up when you did I'd be lunchmeat right now!

[unweave]

[ The snow kicks behind them almost immediately. Prompto has no time to even get comfortable before she's gunning it off and outrunning the feral feline. Aranea winces at the level of Prompto's voice, but she's almost use to it by now. ]

Maybe that tells you to take better care of yourself, kid. Not going to be around all the time to pull you from the jaw of beasts.

[ A beat as she speeds up. ]

The hell were you out here alone for?

[punshots]

[ If he weren't so frazzled from yet another near-death experience (just another notch in the wall, at this point), he might've noticed that question was sort of unusual.

Isn't she out here for the same reason he is? The Natha had called all of them up here to do this one thing.

As the wind and snow whips at his face, he shouts out his response, though not as panicked as before. ]

Same as you, right? Looking for new refugees to snap back to reality! [ Even if that clearly wasn't going so well for him, given the state she found him in. And truth be told, while he'd be happy to help anyone out in here, there are certain faces he'd been hoping to run into more than others. ]

[unweave]

[ She stays silent for a few minutes, curious on what the hell he means by refugees. Their speed allows them to get off the bluff quickly, the snow going from heavy to a light powder. They were in the clear, but there was a decent trek back to the outpost. Time for a Talk. ]

Nah. Not same as me. Didn't you learn it's bad running off into the cold frontier alone?

[ She says almost scoldingly. ]

Nothing about reality — though, I do know how shitty this place is. Suppose to play search and rescue with some sap who went up to get a blood sample from a pissed off cat.

[punshots]

[ Slowly but surely, his heartrate starts returning to normal, even if he's still huffing and puffing in the frigid, arctic air. He's pretty sure his nose because too frozen to work properly hours ago. ]

H-ha, right, how could I forget?

[ Same story, different day, Prompto charges ahead without thinking his circumstances through enough. But she'd come to his rescue again, and at least he wasn't in real mortal peril this time. Still. He owes her one. ]

You talking about another sap? Because that definitely couldn't be me. [ He chuckles lightly, though he's picking up more peculiarities in her words. Sure, getting the blood sample was part of the mission, but that was only so they could pull people out of here.

Right? ]

Hey, uh...what've you been up to the last few weeks, anyway? Just kicking ass and taking names as usual?

[ They hadn't spoken since they got to Olympia, and he'd done as he tended to do: he'd worried. But he hadn't wanted to overstay his proverbial welcome, so he hadn't bothered her, either. Now, he's really wishing he had. ]

[unweave]

Who knows, right? For all I know, fate was just oh-so kind and threw you a bone.

[ She's definitely going to tease him again — how does this keep happening!!! Whatever brought them together, she was left picking up the pieces and getting them the hell out of dodge. His words were a little tentative, a little weird. She shoots him a glance briefly over her shoulder. ]


I was before [ waves hand ] — this whole thing. Had some other stuff to tend to after saving your skin in another snowy landscape, but, you know — end of the world and what not.

[punshots]

No, I mean...didn't you...make it to Olympia?

[ It's strange that she'd jump back to home, like it's a recent memory for her instead of two months gone now. It's not like Prompto has stopped thinking about it - hardly - but -

A thought finally occurs to him, and he shoots her a drawn, thin look when she glances back at him. Sure, sure, she's regularly saving his skin, but it's been awhile, and...it's not adding up. ]

- Hang on. Do you...not remember?

[unweave]

Olympia? The hell is that?

[ The two months she had were stolen from her. Not that she did anything amazingly worthwhile — nothing like becoming the Commodore or leading a fleet. It was all gone the moment she woke up again. The vehicle comes to a stop away from the chaos. The engine humming a low, dull vroom under them. ]

Okay, not making a lot of sense here. What should I remember? If it has to do with this shitty simulation, then I don't think I'm alone in forgetting who I am. I thought I was some animal tracker or something.

[punshots]

[ Okay, so that's a definite no. She's just like Noct, then, and he can't help a sinking feeling in his gut at the realization. If she's forgotten, then she must've gone back into stasis too, which makes him the ultimate chump for not even realizing she was gone in the first place. What kind of a friend is he?

It also means he has a lot to explain that she probably isn't going to like to hear, so he's grateful when she pulls the snowmobile to a stop. Without the wind stinging his eyes and face, it's a little easier to speak, and he needs all the help he can get with that right now. ]

N-no, it's not that, it's... [ Where does he even begin? He's not the greatest at explaining things at the best of times. May as well just come right out with it. Blunt, to the point. Not padded like the way he usually puts things, and the words feel coarse in his mouth. ]

You were here before. And by here, I mean El Nysa. You must've gone back into stasis and...forgotten.

[ So...there's that. ]

[unweave]

[ It's all lost to her. Stasis — or whatever hell her dreamlike state was — could have been far from the truth. To her, she could have never been here. But, Prompto knows better. He experienced some hard reset and as she finally twists her body to look at him, there's a wash of confusion on her face and odd processing one on his.

She lets him speak — for once, it's not him hating himself or beating himself down. That's a change. Aranea feels her chest tighten a bit when he says she's been here before — El Nysa and there's something inherently wrong with that. ]

Shut up. You don't just forget waking up to a shitstorm!

[ Like, he isn't stupid. Aranea never thought of him as being some forgetful kid or a stupid one, so her dismissal is a bit colder as she processes this. ]

I know this is some stupid simulation — some fake mission. Is stasis what happens outside of this?

[punshots]

[ His mouth thins, because he could have definitely put that better and he knows it. Still, now it's out there, at least, and whether or not she believes it is up to her. He just wishes...he had better news to bear.

He may not be in a constant state of verbally beating himself up around her anymore, but that doesn't mean he's not critiquing his whole approach to this in his mind. But - that's not what's important right now. Right now, he's going to tell her whatever she asks, because the Six only know what's going through her mind after hearing something like that.

She's definitely taking it better than he would, at any rate. ]

That's where you must've been before this, yeah. They called us up from the planet to get you guys out of here. Uh - we're...in a space station, by the way. Technically, I mean.

[ So that's a thing, too. ]

[unweave]

[ His face is contorting in ways that wash emotions. She's curious — he seems to care a lot about it, about what she's experiencing. Aranea tries to push it off, deal with it later when she can drink or sleep through it. She's pissed off. Feels her privacy invaded, her mind too. Aranea finally just completely turns her body, facing him on the little bench of their VR snowmobile. ]

... Holy shit, got anything else to drop on me, kid? Was this sled called Rosebud the whole time? Do I have six fingers? Got married and missed the wedding night? Now would be a good time to tell me everything.

[punshots]

[ Her line of questioning earns a wry smile out of him, even if it's fleeting. ]

You've got an alien half-brother, too. How's that for a twist?

[ But then his expression sobers again, because there is more that she should know. He'll tell her anything she wants to hear, but he hesitates, if only because it's difficult to even know where to start. ]

It's been about two months for me. Gladio's here, too, and...Ardyn. [ A beat. ] What's the last thing you remember from home?

[ He can make a guess at what point in time Aranea's come from based on how she's reacting to him, but he has to ask. ]

[unweave]

A twist that is cliche by this point.

[ She sits in silence, though. Listening to his words hit her. She's dealt with worse — actual bullets, you know. She chews on her bottom lip, mind working to think through on how to react. How to process. ]

And the other two of your boy band? [ She says idly, trying to ignore Ardyn's name. She'll have enough of him in the future, after all. ] They here too or are they stomping around the snow waiting to 'wake up'?

[ But, he asks her a question. She'd be rude to decline. ]

Kinda just like this. Of course, here we don't have a giant Magitek reject chasing us, but. You drove off into the sunset to find your friends and I went back to work.

[punshots]

[ As best as he tries to mask it, a melancholic wince passes over his features fleetingly at her question about the others. It's been weeks since Noct went back into stasis, and maybe he's handling it better than he was before, but it still...stings. Of course it does. ]

Iggy's been in storage ever since I woke up. Noct...was here. Awake, I mean. But he went back into the freezer a few weeks back. Sleepyhead.

[ Guess the first nap wasn't long enough. For as much as Prompto would have returned to the station to help anyone out of stasis, he couldn't stop himself from hoping he might run into Noctis or Ignis in here, too.

He looks down a moment, nodding slowly. Close to when he's from, then, which is...better. She wouldn't have seen the world in ruin like Gladio has, then. ]

That was a few days ago for me. Back home, anyway. Kinda feels like a lifetime ago now.

[unweave]

Chin up. Keep your hopes high.

[ They'll wake up, she figures. She doesn't know much, but she's aware of how goddamn lucky those boys were. ]

A few days ago... [ She repeats. ] It was a few hours ago for me, but. Least of my problems.

[punshots]

[ He manages a genuine smile at her reassurance, because for as much as he is hoping for it, he needs to hear it all the same. Maybe it won't be this time, or for awhile, but...they'd all be together again sometime. They had to. ]

Y-yeah, guess so. [ Bigger fish to fry, as they say, when your whole world has been torn asunder. ] We should try to find a way out of here. It'll be easier to explain outside of...

[ He gestures vaguely. Why couldn't this simulation be on a tropical island, or something? ]

All of this.