❪ 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

[motivation]

it would have gotten you out of the pod

[fibrosis]

that wasn't quite how i meant that

still didn't answer my question

[motivation]

i didn't know how to without doing something potentially terrible, all right?

[ she's torn halfway between believing the orbiters aren't shitty and wouldn't have lied about alvis, d'avin not being ready yet to get out of the pod, and natural distrust and the possibility that they'd use d'av to punish her for breaking out alvis or vice versa. ]

just shut up and tell me where you are

[fibrosis]

Dutch
the first thing i do when i roll out of my cryo-stasis pod bed and into another galaxy only to find that you got here first to scout it out isn't gonna be to accuse you of not doing it fast enough

[ she seems... stressed.

not that he can blame her - he's having a bit of trouble adjusting too, although this, at least, is something a little more familiar. even though he's apparently caused some misunderstanding already, gently untangling it isn't anything new.

hopefully the conversation in person will start a little smoother. he had been exploring, but he can probably stay put long enough for her to find him. ] some hallway between the sims and the hangar bay
according to the person i just asked
unless it would be easier to meet somewhere

[motivation]

[ she is stressed. she's stressed because that's exactly what she thought and she's stressed because she's not in front of him, seeing him move and knowing that it's really him, that he's really awake. she's stressed because d'avin is still in there and so is pree.

she's stressed because there might be hullen in there, too. ]

if you can find the hangar bay, i'll meet you there

[fibrosis]

see you there

[ which is where he'll be, standing at a walkway near the entrance and watching the ships come and go. she might notice he's wearing the same robes he walked into the vaults with, or the healing on his face, but they've been down there for a few days now and he only has about three markedly different articles of clothing anyway. whenever she comes close enough for him to notice her, he turns and wow, yeah

he'd believed it was her when she said it was, because that matched up with the small amount of information he had so far, but still. different in person. ]

Not quite our usual meeting place.

[motivation]

[ she's missed him. she's missed him and she's worried about him and now he's out and in front of her and it's really him. it is different, seeing it for herself, even if she'd known that it could only be him after their conversation, throughout it.

this is better. she doesn't realise yet that he's from a markedly different time than she is, but for now, details like that don't matter so much. what matters is closing the distance between them and wrapping her arms around him in a show of caring that dutch had been getting better at.

(johnny making her soft, khlyen would say — but khlyen is dead.) ]

Our usual meeting place doesn't exist anymore.

[ is the bleakness of those words softened by the fact that they're pressed into his robes? ]

[fibrosis]

[ stay you, he'd said to her, and raising his arms to return the gesture, he's glad that apparently she did. at least in some of the many ways that matter, in most of the ways he's always seen her in danger of losing. while the circumstances aren't great, he is pleased to see her - really never couldn't be - and if she had to be here at all he's glad she's apparently had Johnny as well. ]

I heard. [ believes? he's still working on that, although if she does, well. he's a man of faith, and his faith in her has always felt as natural to him as any other.

(it only strengthens his current, selfish, disinclination to avoid the hells out of the stasis pods, because he doesn't want to see the ultimate truth of his actions, how much or how little his rebellion or his faith mattered, or if Johnny was right about what it was he was truly giving people.) ]

Glad you made to the new one.

[motivation]

[ she's tried, and more than once she'd almost lost whatever it is he thinks is more her than other things. sometimes, dutch isn't sure. alvis thinks she's better than she herself does; she's a weapon forged for killing and she'd run away from that truth all those years ago.

it is still true, but she's more than that, too. he helped show her as much, though no one did as much as johnny. ]

Glad to see you finally decided to join us in the brave new world.

[ having him in front of her, solid beneath her arms before she steps back from the hug, that makes the teasing easier. there's no anger or reproach in her tone now, nothing like what she'd read into the text messages. (her own bad conscience talking, maybe.)

it's not much of a brave new world, but some of it seems less shit than westerley. still: dutch misses old town, shithole or not. it had become home as much as lucy did. ]

[fibrosis]

[ if he didn't look at things and see their potential, he never would have made it out of the mines. hells, he might not have survived the tunnels long enough to make it into them. he wouldn't be trying to save a moon choking on everything that keeps it in orbit, that should keep it stable, and he definitely wouldn't have been able to find temples made of artificial trees and follow their roots to the surface and beyond. ]

Figured it'd be easier to build one if I knew what they looked like. [ he says, releasing her when she begins to pull back and settling into a comfortable stance, hands clasped loosely in front of him. she's a creature of nuance - he's not bothered at all that the black and white of text sometimes doesn't play out well. ]

[motivation]

[ he's always been brighter than her and steadier, seeing hope and possibility where dutch sees a battlefield. it's something she likes about him, something she's come to rely on over the years. she trusts alvis, and he's a piece of steady ground even after the end of the world. ]

There must be easier ways than this.

[ her tone is lighter now, but there's real regret underneath it. alvis won't ever get to see the westerley he'd fought so hard for. dutch might not ever know her full history. she won't get to fight her war. none of them get what they wanted. ]

[fibrosis]

[ alvis has always liked being relied on. it's a side effect of other things he likes more - instigating change, helping people - but it's a nice one. makes him feel like he's not going to float away into his own ambition.

there's a slight shift in the set of his features to indicate something along the lines of amusement, but you couldn't really give name to the expression. ]

I'm not sure it's supposed to be.

[ but speaking of brave new worlds, his eye catches something moving in the hangar, and he tracks it for a couple of moments. there's still a lot to take in, and perhaps a new topic to move on to, so he shifts gears a little bit. ]

So, are you gonna show me around or do you think it's better to discover it yourself?

[motivation]

Most of the time, we won't even be on the station.

[ which is fair enough, dutch gets it — so many people take a lot of resources to sustain. still, she's more comfortable with the technology present on the station than with what's available on the ground. ] But I'll give you the tour.

[ which, actually — ] Are you hungry? [ she doesn't remember if she was, coming out of the pod. ]

[fibrosis]

[ actually food sounds fantastic right now. rations in the vaults were being heavily monitored, and alvis had mostly been doing exactly what you'd expect him to be doing with his own - sharing. ]

I could eat, yeah. Think I saw a sign a little while ago, but I'm sure you know the way.

[motivation]

[ of course that's what he's been doing. sometimes, dutch wants to shake him and remind him that he can't sacrifice himself for everyone and everything.

(it's selfish; she's asked him for plenty of sacrifices.) ]

Turns out I do.

[ the mess hall isn't too far, and the room's got the wide window front that dutch actually likes, a good view of space. it reminds her of lucy's cockpit, though the space is much bigger, filled with chatter and the clatter of cutlery against plates. ]

Some of the food's strange.

[fibrosis]

[ he's pretty sure she doesn't get to make any lectures anytime soon about self-sacrifice or martyrdom. she might not see some of her actions in that context, but most people don't necessarily go out of their way for anyone else, even if monetary compensation is depending on it.

alvis walks along with her, only somewhat surprised when they turn the corner and he sees the space of it, both outside and in. obviously, large space station, large food service, but still. also it's just noisy.

her comment earns her sort of a sideways glance. ] Do I want to ask how, or is that for after I've eaten.

[motivation]

Pretty sure you'll be able to tell just by looking.

[ some of the meals here are very gooey. some are neon-coloured. dutch has extensive training in poison, thanks to khlyen, but for some of these dishes and some of the fruits, she cannot tell at all whether they'd be safe to eat. (of course, there's always a risk, and she's hardly gone around sniffing every dish, but some of them look like they should be poisonous.) ]

[fibrosis]

[ alvis makes what can pretty much just be described as a "hm. well okay then" facial expression before looking back out over the room as a whole as they come further into it. not gonna lie, he's definitely a little more interested in checking out what people are eating - and moreover, which sorts of people are eating what. he doesn't believe anyone's really brought them all the way across the universe just to kill them with lunch, but that doesn't mean people can't have natural allergies. maybe?? who knows.

that said, the overall smell in here is definitely making him hungrier, and he's already eaten some weird shit before. no real use in sitting around wondering about it.
]

I trust you'll tell me if I actually get something inedible on my plate.

[motivation]

Have I ever let you down?

[ at least not when it comes to food. or alcohol, which is really what they share more often than food. it's odd, to her: this conversation is so normal, yet their world is gone and she hasn't seen him in months. the latter isn't necessarily a strange occurrence: there have been other times when they've gone weeks or months without talking or seeing each other, but he's never been stuck in a stasis pod and she's never been so unsure whether he'd wake up at all. ]

[fibrosis]

[ i guess waiting for two months on a stasis pod does beat six tense seconds by a vat of water under spring hill

the smile is the one dutch usually seems to be able to get out of him - small, a little extra air coming out with it, like his amusement pushes it aside to make room. ] Not once.

[ he likes to think he's generally pretty tolerant and open-minded, but he's still not sure he wants to put whatever that brightly coloured grainy thing that looks like it might have been cheese? once?? anywhere near anything else he's picked up so far. mostly he's picking up what look like maybe-vegetables and one thing that might be a... fish? bread? he might eyeball what she leans towards as a sort of barometer - definitely keeps track of what she stays away from. ]

[motivation]

[ he gets a smile in return, warmer than her sharp ones, eyes softer for a moment. she's glad for alvis' presence; he's been someone she's trusted with herself for almost as long as she's known him, which is not an easy feat.

what ends up on his plate is all perfectly safe, and it's only when he reaches for a dessert that dutch lifts her eyebrows, arms crossing in front of her body. ]

Wouldn't do that if I were you.

[fibrosis]

[ it's a weirdly mutual trust - weird in that it exists between them at all. honestly, he doesn't spend a lot of time trying to dissect whatever it is that they have, and it's only partially due to a scant amount of worry that doing so would somehow change it in some irreparable manner.

he pauses at her caution, hand poised over the item in question, and glances between it and her a couple of times. then he just sort of makes a well okay then expression and pulls his arm back into his lap. maybe once he's a little more familiar with things here he'll test the boundaries, but since he's been cognizant for all of about half an hour now, if that, he'll just take her word for it, whether she's joking or not.

still, curiosity piques while he starts in on what he's already accumulated. ] Taste or effect?

[motivation]

That one? Taste.

[ there are things here that have an effect — sometimes one she'd prefer to avoid, sometimes one she welcomes. the red light district influences people as much as its drinks and inhabitants do and dutch doesn't mind that so much. it reminds her of the royale, of pree, of old town.

she doesn't like being manipulated, but sometimes, it's her choice to let it happen. then it isn't so bad. (alcohol is a prime example of that.) ]

Got any ideas yet what you want to do here? Plenty of trees on the planet.

[fibrosis]

[ well at least it wasn't potentially life threatening. maybe he'll ask for a crash course on what things are probably poisonous later on, just to maybe steer clear until he's been around a bit longer.

'plenty of trees', hah. take your huff of laughter, dutch, while he finishes chewing. ] Guess I'm gonna be doing a lot of hiking until I find the right one then.