❪ test drive #4 ❫

[natha]

YOUR STORY BEGINS     The Storm came. You only remember darkness, but you don't remember much after that. All you know, perhaps, is that it was cold. You don't know for how long you slept, but the dreams were short, at least. You remember the expanse of stars and the universe that came in view. Every world and solar system ever known was displayed in your dreams in careful, pristine detail. You have also witnessed The Storm, which has devoured a fair portion of these galaxies. It was a dark, thick smog — ominous in appearance and ever foreboding. Your Earth and similar planets were immersed in The Storm. Somehow, you knew it would be the last you'd see of it. That was when she told you what happened, and how you could help. You knew that you'd be living somewhere new, even though you never asked for it. The details here weren't clear, but you knew you'd made a deal with Darma. Not long after, you'll wake at Thesa Station — your body is still cold. It all felt like a dream, but somehow, you knew it wasn't — now, will you keep that promise you made to Darma? PROMPT: THE STORM     CW: death You were awake on Thesa Station. But at some point you, like many other new arrivals before you, wandered into the Observation Deck. Ordinarily, this is where images of The Storm are replayed to remind Refugees of the fate they have escaped. The Natha Orbiters' technology has evolved. They are aware of your gaps in memory. You may have doubts of The Storm even existing, or of your world's destruction. Though they do not wish reliving those last moments on anyone, they have created an experience that will do just that. Before entering the Observation Deck, you are warned that what follows will not be for the weak of heart. As soon as you step in, you will find that the walls around you begin to transform and expand. Welcome to the Planet Cespi, in the Circinus Galaxy. Unfortunately, we were not able to save this world from The Storm's Consumption. These are its last memories. You are surrounded by blue, grassy hills as far as the eye can see and a pleasant breeze. The atmosphere is thick with a sickly sweet smell. Before you lays the scene of a quiet village, with its residents going about their everyday lives. You aren't alone, either, with an equally confused stranger (or perhaps you know each other?) surveying the scene. Then the world grows completely silent for a full minute. You and your partner are unable to make a sound, verbal or otherwise. Without warning, a deafening roar fills your ears and forces you to double over in pain. The villagers run out of their homes in a panic, finding themselves in just as much pain and confusion as you do. Where there was no sound before, now there is too much for a normal human body to process. Look up. An expanding mass of energy is swallowing everything you can see. It consumes the earth, the atmosphere, the depths of space — and it is getting closer. Your only hope is to outrun it, if you can. The people in the village certainly try to, racing past you. Their fear is very real. Their bodies are very real. You may be able to run from it for a time, only able to catch glimpses of this dark and sinister force swallowing everything and everyone. The earth rumbles and separates beneath you. Electricity surges through the sky, and then through your very body. You fought hard, but it is impossible to outrun the Storm forever. You too will be consumed. Your death is quick, but not painless. What were you thinking, before you took your last breath? You awaken back in the Observation Deck, next to your new friend. PROMPT: TRAINING MODULES     While it’s all nice and well to familiarize oneself with Thesa Station, it is most advised that new arrivals venture out a bit. Not physically. No one is quite prepared for that yet. However, there will be several virtual reality training programs set for those who dare to be adventurous. For those who aren’t and don’t dare, well — good luck, all the same. Once seated and appropriately strapped in, the system will automatically whir to life. 1. When you enter the Natha's newest program, at first nothing loads. You might think this is an error as you look around in apparent total darkness, only able to see your own virtual body if you look down, but soon enough a voice comes to life as if speakers have turned on somewhere. Long ago, the lands of El Nysa were dominated by the ancestors of the dragons who now live among the people, tamed. It was pretty dangerous! How about a little history lesson? And then the simulation comes to life— a. The lush lands that blossom to life around you all at once are real enough to make you forget you're in a simulation — at least for a moment. Those refugees who have been to the planet in reality before will find themselves in territory as unfamiliar as those who are brand new, as this simulation takes place far back in history. Instead of sprawling cities and civilizations, the most you'll find is scattered villages, many of them no more than nomadic campsites at best. You've been outfitted to blend in with the natives and these simulated people won't react to you as a newcomer, but as a member of their village. Are you a doctor, or perhaps a warrior? Maybe you're even in charge! But they want your help, and they want it quickly: a dragon is coming. The dragon is larger than the mount-sized breeds that exist on El Nysa today — much larger. It's a good six stories in height, bestial, and angry. Maybe it's then that you notice the lands that surround you are littered with scars of scorched earth, some of them several yards across, and there's a reason these people don't live in one place for very long. But don't linger too long on the makeshift grave markers sticking out of the burnt countryside — the dragon is coming. b. If you're looking for something a little less violent, perhaps another area of the historic simulation will be up your alley. This one finds you on a cliffside, waiting among other villagers for an event the people are talking about in hushed whispers, some of which you can identify as prayer. When the white dragon raises its head up from the depths of the ravine, towering impossibly high over you and the others on the cliffside, it's no wonder most of the natives fall to their knees in awe and wonder. This dragon doesn't attack, only looks at the people on land with an ancient and strange wisdom. Then it speaks. Not in words, but the low rumbling sound that starts in its throat and becomes a full trumpeting bellow to the sky seems to have meaning, and somehow, you can understand its cry as it entreats the people to praise and worship. The natives around you are already starting to give offerings with their prayers, food and carvings and — blood? Is that someone's arm being offered up? That's different. 2. Let us now travel forward in time, shall we? a. The Olympian settlement around you is quiet — until the screaming starts. Guerilla fighters from Wyver flood the streets, knocking civilians aside and breaking down doors and windows when they find their way barred. They move methodically, advancing toward the nicer parts of town where the politicians reside and leaving terror in their wake. They're here for the politicians, people say. They're here to punish the people who made the decision to advance into Wyver in the first place. Blood for blood, as the saying goes. Where they'll be taking them once they have them is anyone's guess. A soldier emerges from a building, dragging someone in elegant clothing out by the hair. Looks like they've found one. Will you rescue them? Make a run for it yourself, lest you be mistaken for one of their targets? Or maybe they've already caught you and some other unfortunate Refugee who's been dropped into this simulation, and the two of you need to figure out a way to escape. b. CW: branding You find yourself in the midst of a bustling crowd gathered at the Temple of Thesa. Robed acolytes stoke fires on either side of the altar at the front of the temple, where miserable-looking people who seem to be from a village in Wyver await, bound in ropes. The priest, at the front of the crowd, picks up a metal brand from the altar and gestures for another acolyte to bring a prisoner forward. The crowd watches with interest as the prisoner is forced to kneel in front of the altar, their arm laid out flat on the marble surface. Another cry — "For the glory of Olympia!" — and the crest of the city is burned into the prisoner's arm. The crowd cheers, deafening the cries of pain. The priest ushers forward another prisoner, and then another. Is that a familiar face you see in the lineup, thrust into this bit of history by the simulation's whims? You have to do something. Or are you unlucky enough to find yourself bound? ...Well, hopefully someone else in the crowd has more scruples than this priest. 3. And now, the present. After all those enlightening scenes, the simulation finally brings you to a more quiet area of Olympia. You are deposited out somewhere in The Outlook, a place the very first group of refugees had to trudge through before they found their homes. You've arrived in the early evening — but sunlight is waning, and soon you'll be under a sky full of stars. Luckily, their old campsites aren't too overgrown. The intention here is to get you familiar with some of the local flora and fauna. What sorts of plants will you encounter? Do you find yourself under a Verillum Tree, suddenly compelled to be painfully honest and truthful in conversation with a complete stranger? Find yourself behaving erratically in the presence of Whistleweed? Or perhaps you'll have to break the spell of being trapped in a Vena Amoris' vines... with a kiss. PROMPT: STASIS UNIT     You have found the massive section of Thesa known as the Stasis Unit. There’s no special access required to enter 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: 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     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! An AC-length thread may be submitted for 2 NATHA ORBITER REPUTATION POINTS after acceptance here. Please submit by February 18th. We will no longer be providing overflow posts. In an event where the post hits CAPTCHA, players are advised to move threads to an overflow post on their character journals or create their own catch-all post. These threads remain eligible for REP. There will be an application cap of 60, and no reserves. Please read here for more information. QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● lore ● map ● npcs taken ● atp/emp ● application ● rep/acp calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

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Renly Baratheon | Game of Thrones | OTA

[antleredcrown]

I. STASIS UNIT
It's odd -- no, unsettling, to see so many familiar faces here. He's not sure why he keeps coming back to this place. Perhaps because, for once, Robert looks peaceful. Not covered in blood, not drinking or shouting or arguing. And for a little while, he can remember the brother he loved.

Sometimes, Renly strikes up something like a conversation with him, one-sided as it is. Talking about when they were young. How they used to play. How Renly would run down the halls with a fake crown on his head. Look at me, I'm a king.

He does look for Stannis as well, but the halls seem endless and he hasn't seen his other brother yet.

Perhaps it's for the best. He wouldn't know what to say.


II. WILDCARD/THE OBSERVATION ROOM

He can't pinpoint why, but Renly rather enjoys coming out here. Looking at the vastness of the universe. Perhaps it's to remind himself of where he is, now. Perhaps some odd notion of reminding himself how small and petty all his quarrels on Westeros were.

Though there is a part, a small but stubborn part, that comes out here to look for familiar stars. Perhaps if he stares hard enough, long enough, he can find something that looks like home.

STASIS

[triplerose]

Loras is here for Margaery. Though her absence in his life has been short, years of being together has made him feel it strongly. He doesn't expect anything to come from this visit, so imagine the way his heart skips a beat and stops when he stumbles across Renly.

At first, he's not sure what to say, or if he can speak at all. He is not the Loras Renly may remember - older now, curls short but growing, face a little slimmer and eyes not as bright. Fortunately, his body reacts better than his mind.

The steps to Renly are quick and sure until his hand can reach out. A ghost, Loras thinks, so he has to touch to be sure.

"Renly -" It is not the most clever of things to say, but it comes out like a rush of breath.

[antleredcrown]

Perhaps part of him had been looking for Loras among the faces here. So when he hears that oh so familiar voice, it makes him jump. He turns -- and oh, poor Loras. He looks so tired. Worn.

He squeezes Loras's hand and reaches up to brushes his fingers against Loras's cheek. "There you are," he sighs, feeling relieved.

[triplerose]

Loras isn't sure if this Renly is of his Westeros or the other. He isn't sure if Renly remembers their last moment alone together was a fight, or that Loras failed his duty as Lord Commander to keep Renly safe. But Renly was looking for him, is happy to see him, so that's all Loras thinks about.

For the first time in months, a genuine and easy smile cracks across his face.

"Here I am." It's all he's thought of for years, this, so Loras doesn't even hesitate to bridge the space between them to brush their lips together. "And here you are."

[antleredcrown]

"Here we are." Their last fight had been stupid, anyway. Pointless, and Loras had been right, in the end. He'd needed to at least put up appearances with Maergery, needed to produce an heir -- though his snippiness about Brienne was just silly.

He closes his eyes at the kiss, pressing his lips more firmly against Loras's. Quick and sharp before he pulls away nervously. Always aware of their surroundings, always suspecting that they're not alone.

"Your hair -- where have all your sunshine curls gone, hmm?" He runs his fingers through Loras's short hair; an acceptable touch for a relatively public place.

Observatory

[icingonthecake]

When he was a boy, Lea had spent many a night staring up at the stars, wondering if anyone was out there staring back. These days, Axel didn't have to wonder anymore, but he certainly would have preferred to have his suspicions confirmed in a less... terrible way. Still, despite the rude way in which the information was conveyed, he finds he still has a penchant for looking up, and as he stands near the window in the observatory, he notices out of the corner of his eye that it seems someone else has seems to have the same predilection.

The man stands a meter and a half away, but there's a presence about him far greater than his immediate personal space bubble, and Axel can't help but be a little intrigued. He's dressed oddly--though everyone's fashion choices in this place seem a bit odd to him, all things considered--in robes and gold, and despite the air of importance about him, Axel senses a dissonant sort of melancholy. He clears his throat quietly, hoping to maybe catch the man's attention without startling him, and then taps a finger against the window glass.

"See any you recognize?" he asks, and then gives a shrug. "None of 'em look familiar to me. Some people say the stars all look the same, but... I think those people aren't looking very hard."

[antleredcrown]

"I think you're absolutely right. If you watch the stars, there are patterns. Shapes that let you know where exactly you are. Some stars are brighter than others. I was never very good at it, but you can navigate by the stars.

These don't look familiar to me either, alas." He casts a regretful smile at the newcomer, removing his gloves and tucking them into his belt so he can offer his hand properly. "Renly Baratheon. Were you hoping to find some sense of home as well?"

[icingonthecake]

Axel grins a bit.

"When I was a kid," he says, "my friend and I used to make up our own constellations." He drags his finger across the glass, connecting two stars in his field of vision. "We knew they weren't the recognized ones everybody knew, but... it was fun making up our own. Besides, who are we to say what official shapes the stars are making, right?"

The man removes his gloves, and Axel hesitates a moment. Oh. Is that the SOP for this? He's worn gloves with the Organization coat for so long, he barely recalls he's even wearing them half the time. Well, he doesn't want to offend this guy, so he follows suit, removing his gloves and fumbling a moment before tucking them into a pocket on his coat. (Really, everybody else in this series gets forty belts, and the Org members don't get a single one?)

"Ah... Axel," he says, shaking the man's hand crisply. "Just... just Axel." Whatever his surname might have been back in Radiant Garden all those years ago, that boy is long dead. "As for home..." He shrugs his shoulders. "I dunno, the place I grew up hasn't really been home for a long time." Casting his eyes to the glass again, Axel fidgets with his hands. "I think maybe I'm more looking for orientation than home. Home can be anywhere, I just wondered if... we're, you know..." He makes quotes with his fingers. "'Anywhere'."

[antleredcrown]

"You sound like a very wise young man, Axel." Though they might be of an age, who knows in this place. Everyone looks so different than what he's used to.

"I am from a place where the kingdom where you were born dictated most everything in your life. Your friends, your enemies, your fate. I, too, feel lost without being -- as you say, anywhere.

But there's something freeing about it, as well. No one cares if I'm from Storm's End or King's Landing or Highgarden. None of that matters here."

STASIS BRO

[bruxisms]

From time to time, Stannis visits the stasis pods. To remind himself of Westeros, of what he asked the Natha for. In some ways, he finds it strangely comforting, to know the ghosts of the past were preserved. In his wanderings, he must have seen countless Westerosi, once almost certain that one was Aegon the Conqueror himself (though he had been unable to find him again). Be that as it may, he always returned to one area. His family and those closest to him had somehow been grouped together, yet, when he goes to pay his respects, he notices one pod is distinctly missing.

As he wanders, looking for him, it doesn't take him long to find the face that's missing. The one that still haunts his dreams (though his hands were clean). If only he'd done his duty...

But still, when he sees Renly, for all the things that he wishes to say, he can only say one.

"Brother."

He brought his doom upon himself with his treason, but I did love him Davos. I know that now.

[antleredcrown]

"Stannis," he replies, slow and careful. "A bit of an odd reunion, this. Though perhaps it is best that Robert cannot speak. Gods know how he liked to go on."

He had never wanted to go to war with Stannis. If the man could have been simply reasoned with -- but no, that witch had had his mind wrapped up with her spells and gods know what else. Stannis was never a man of faith, much less a cultist, that had been her doing.

And so, Renly suspected, was his own death.

[bruxisms]

"Far too much," he says, though there is so much more he wishes to say. A part of him wants to ask him what the meaning of the peach truly was, though his pride would not allow him. Another part wishes to know what he had thought of their conflict, though he knows he likely will not be honest.

But no, finally he settles on one thing...

"What is the last thing you remember, before the Storm arrived?"

This would help him determine which Westeros he was from. Perhaps a small part of him hoped that it was from the other one so that he didn't have to answer certain hard truths he kept hidden from himself.

It would be far too painful.

[antleredcrown]

A fair question, honestly. Loras had asked him the same. "Well let's see. You and I met on the battlefield for negotiations. Which was about as entertaining and productive as negotiating with a brick wall. And you had your scarlet clad companion with you. Which is why, I suspect, I was greeted by a shadow wielding a dagger that night in my tent. After that, I was probably dead, seeing as I was stabbed through the heart. And then I was here."

II

[panzersoldat]

Reinhardt came here with another. But he left them to their privacy in the Stasis Unit. There are some things that just need privacy. They don't need an old man as an audience to their time with whomever they came to see. He takes that time to stand before the viewing window. To look at the planet below and wonder about it.

He finds he's not alone when he approaches the glass. He stands for a moment behind and clears his throat a little, so that his huge presence isn't suddenly intimidating before he strides up next to the man to stare at the window as well. "Strange isn't it? I've seen it so many times now, and every time I'm struck by how small it makes me feel to see it from here. And I wonder about all those places I see that I haven't seen yet." He glances to his side. "It's not bad down there, I promise."

[antleredcrown]

"I think anything would be hardpressed to make a man of your stature feel small," he comments with an arched eyebrow, looking his new companion over curiously. "But I understand what you mean. I though crossing from one kingdom to another was a long journey, but this -- " He taps the glass. "This makes a few days on horseback seem like nothing."

[panzersoldat]

He has to laugh warmly. He knows he's a large man and he doesn't mind at all when it's brought up in such a way. Instead he just crosses his arms over his broad chest and keeps his eye on the planet in the viewing window.

"Well, to tell the truth, riding from one kingdom to another is still a long journey, but it's worth it. It's a beautiful world down there with a lot to offer. I just wish that you would have a chance to see it before things get bad." He knows this man has likely just woken, and it's a lot to take in, but Reinhardt doesn't have the heart to let a stranger come down that planet fully unaware. "It looks peaceful up here but there is a war on the horizon."

Stasis. he's nice now....but when he finds out you're a baratheon...

[reek]

Theon can pick out the Westerosi now. It’s almost an art, really. There’s something different in the way they walk, the way they speak, the way they stare at the sleeping faces in the stasis pods; some of them with hatred, some of them with love, but they almost always find a reason to be unsettled. Everyone in Westeros has known death, but this place has stripped away every meaning of the word.

He had come here himself to see if Ramsay was truly back in stasis and to scowl at Robb for a bit. It’s a habit, but he harbors some illogical sort of hope that it may someday spark him to wake once more. Instead, he’s found some unfamiliar Westerosi gazing at Robert Baratheon’s stasis tube.

"What do you want with him?," he asks. "Wondering how they found a tube large enough to fit him?"

He smirks from the opposite side of the corridor, though there’s something hard and bitter in his gaze. He hates Robert Baratheon, though he’s never exchanged two words with the man. He hates him for everything he helped to take away from him.

[antleredcrown]

Renly snorts a laugh and pats the side of the tube, shaking his head a little. "Truly he is an impressive figure, is he not? But he'd be quick to remind you how very very strong and handsome he was in his younger days, have no doubt."

Perhaps he should feel bad for making fun of Robert while he was -- frozen, or whatever this was. But Robert does lend himself well to mockery.

[reek]

Theon doesn’t care how impressive Robert was or wasn’t in his youth. Eight stone thinner, Robert was still the same man, and Theon’s gaze hardens even still as he glances toward the enormous slumbering figure within the tube.

“Impressive wouldn’t be my first choice of words,” he admits, though his smirk hasn’t faded. “He’ll find no love here, among those who have already woken.”

stasis;

[unprays]

It is a vision of a younger Catelyn Stark that approaches Renly as he gazes at his sleeping brother — Sansa may never have met Renly Baratheon, but there is a similarity between the one who sleeps and the one who is awake; she knows of him, saw Stannis and Margaery speak about him; and furthermore, she remembers what her sworn sword spoke of him, back in Westeros.

"Do you wish for him to wake, my lord?" she asks, quiet and calm and polite, not giving away any idea of what kind of answer she expects to hear.

Re: stasis;

[antleredcrown]

"You know, I'm not certain. Though I know he would wake without his physical wounds, I worry he'd wake with the weight of the world on his shoulders again. That he'd feel the need to start up another revolution, unhappy with the way things were run here."

When Renly turns to face her, he looks stunned. "Gods, you must be a Stark. Or a Tully, at least."

Observation Room

[song_of_ice]

It was something Jon did as well, visit the Observation Deck, if only to take in the view and remind himself of how small he was compared to its vastness. How his problems and worries were a speck of nothing, a slight breeze rustling against a wide world. This place called to him, as the top of the Wall had. It was a sight he missed and couldn't replicate, but this dwarfed it in a way he hadn't been able to imagine.

He had never met Renly before, only having heard of him in passing. There was the usual gossip at the Wall, crude and late, given how removed they were from the world. Stannis had never mentioned him and neither had Davos. He had heard Brienne briefly mention the late king, but those who knew him were focused on other matters.

Even without recognizing him, he noticed the resemblance to the dour king and to Robert as well. "It's a lot to take in," he nodded to the view.

[antleredcrown]

If spoken aloud, he'd resent the comparison to his older brothers. As it is, he traces his fingers over the glass, connecting stars together absentmindedly.

"It certainly is something to contemplate. Perhaps I come here looking for guidance, who knows."

stasis.

[oldser]

There are many familiar faces who line these hallways. His brothers, clad in white, sleep peacefully in these open tombs. An old man has often had to think, not dead, sleeping. At peace, far away from the world that cherished and killed them both.

So, clad in his blazing white armour and cloak, bearing a dragon's crest for the queen he now serves, he is a ghost in these halls.

And upon finding Renly, he waits politely, at ease. There was never anything to fear of Renly Baratheon, Ser Barristan sees no reason to begin now.

[antleredcrown]

It's rather difficult to be subtle wearing white, even amongst the stasis tubes. Renly catches sight of him and inclines his head in greeting.

"Ser Barristan, I was not expecting to see you. Especially not in such interesting colours."