❪ 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

[razzledazzles]

We'll be going to the cafeteria for that, don't worry.

[These snacks are confiscated? He nudges at him with his elbow since his hands are full, trying to get him away from all of this glass.] Let me just clean this up and we can be on our way.

[fatgun]

[But he just wanted some shitty snacks... there better be nugs in this cafeteria. Don't touch him.]

Mm... [sigh,] Don't waste your time.

[This idiot who doesn't know what a vending machine is probably shouldn't start picking up glass pieces. Joshua waves a hand at the mess on the floor and the shards promptly lift themselves up off the floor and float delicately into the trashcan that's been nearby this whole time. Tada.]

[razzledazzles]

Huh?

[Hold on a second, he's distracted first by a single floating shard, and then another, and then he's noticeably startled as he jolts his arms backwards, holding the snacks still.]

Whoa! [What the fuck] Did you do that?!

[fatgun]

[Don't jump when there's glass moving in the air......]

Who knows? Maybe it was the wind. [joshua] No, it was me. Surprised?

[razzledazzles]

Who wouldn't be surprised about something like that?!

[He's fine, he just jumped a little. He can't fully jump indoors and there's no wind either you sassy punk. He points at him with the box of crackers.]

What was that, exactly? An ability?

[fatgun]

Hmm, enough people... [What kind of people?? He's in better spirits already both because Jae-Ha's reaction is Funny, but also because he's deeply uncomfortable with the fact that he can't adjust his own powers right now—but at least some of them still work. He's stuck as a small meat boy, but a meat boy who can throw glass with his mind...]

It's one of my many talents.

[razzledazzles]

No matter how you look at it, that's a suspicious answer.

[Why can't this small meat boy be open with him? Still, he guesses he wouldn't be able to give much more himself on his own powers. People from other worlds who are stronger than humans... it's possible.

He moves closer to the vending machine to start pulling off a bunch of the snacks into his arms.]

You wouldn't happen to be able to help me move these, would you?

[fatgun]

[He's too small and he's allergic to being open. It wouldn't actually be too hard to explain the why behind the things he can do, but if Jae-Ha doesn't get vending machines, he's not going to get any of that - and Joshua is lazy, besides. Unlock his backstory later.

To wit, he doesn't want to carry snacks? The fuck.]

You really are persistent. It might be too suspicious if a bunch of snacks float down the hallway.

[razzledazzles]

It was suspicious that those pieces of glass floated into the garbage, but you had no problem doing it in front of me.

[Is this guy power shy all of a sudden? Hmm.] What if I agree to let you have one of the packages if you help? [Children can be bargained with, right...]

[fatgun]

[He's lazy... shh. Also that's probably condescending, that tactic, but hmm—]

Sure, alright. I'll help for two snacks. [haggling snacks]

[razzledazzles]

Fine. But one of them has to be one of the two you picked open.

[Choose your poison, boyo!!]

[fatgun]

[wow what a difficult choice]

Give me back my crackers, then. We didn't need to stand here and dawdle this whole time, after all.

[razzledazzles]

One now, and the second once it's all delivered.

[A fair exchange. He shoves the picked-at cracker box into Joshua's arms and gathers as much as he can himself, then sets off! Assuming Joshua will follow and bring the rest, like he said he would. He'll find somewhere to stuff all of this.]

[fatgun]

[He could just leave the rest of the snacks and leave, completely... but that's a new level of pettiness Jae-Ha hasn't earned yet. So alright, he'll follow along behind him, with a trail of floating snacks bringing up the rear of this awful snack train. Does he have to do it like that?? No. Not at all.

He's also going to judgmentally crunch crackers the longer Jae-Ha takes to find somewhere for this stuff.]

[razzledazzles]

[The impatient judging of those crunches is noted, and soon enough, Jae-Ha decides to find a spot to hide them and come back and retrieve later. A loose panel in the ceiling or a vent, whatever it is, he spots somewhere that he can access and hops up without warning. A few snack packs drop back towards Joshua as he's messing with this, but he wiggles into the ceiling and starts storing snacks like a fucking squirrel.]

Could you pass them up to me? [Float them up here.]

[fatgun]

[literally what the fuck]

You're going to remember this spot how, exactly?

[He's floating the snacks up, don't get him wrong. He's definitely still participating in this genius plan 100%, but uh. Hmm.]

[razzledazzles]

It's on the way back.

[Uh, if he goes the same way. But anyway—] The halls here do all look the same, so just in case, I'll stick a little corner of one of the snacks out. I'm bound to see it.

[fatgun]

You and everyone else with functioning eyes.

[This is the worst idea?] Whatever happened to hiding things in a shoebox under your bed?

[razzledazzles]

It's a rare chance that I'm able to have a bed in the first place. Do you think someone your size will grab a stool to reach this?

[Please, it'll be fine. Probably. He shoves the last of the snacks in, carefully arranging one corner to sort of stick out like he said and then closing the panel or whatever like nothing is wrong as he hops down. Yes... flawless.]

[fatgun]

[Joshua crunches another cracker at him, judgmentally. Someone his size... stop that...]

You did just watch me levitate all of those snacks up to you.

[Come on, Jae-Ha. You can do it. You'll get this.]