❪ 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

Comments

[inacan]

[ And on three, Tony jumps up, dodging off to the side for a bit of a strafing attack. The dragon lifts a clawed arm up and Tony fires the crossbow at the exposed skin beneath - it must've hit something, because it screeches in pain and turns its attention to him. ]

Shit.

[ And he dives. Oh yay, the dragon can breathe fire! This simulation is really good.... ]

[beknight]

[ He calls, ]

You can get hurt.

[ The burns will be real, he's learnt from wrestling every creature this thing threw at him during his first week. And he's got to do his job, Bruce waits until it's low to hurl the spear, when it hits the wing and the dragon dives, he takes at it running, darting from cover to cover. ]

[inacan]

[ Naturally. Tony wouldn't expect anything less. Though he's insanely curious about the tech behind it. Not that he's any less focused on the task at hand - his brain is fully capable of dealing with all this at once, and then some.

He reloads the crossbow, quickly getting the hang of the mechanisms involved, and soon he's up and firing again - at the neck this time, and that seems to do more damage, the creature letting out a frankly horrific screech of pain and yeah, it's bleeding. ]

Nailed it. Woops -

[ The tail swipes at him and knocks him off his feet. Tony curses, and scrambles for the nearest cover. ]

[beknight]

[ It's low enough. Bruce changes direction abruptly and jumps on its back as it skids past, drawing a spray from his belt and aiming right for its eyes. ]

[ Say what you want about giant dragons. It has that weak spot. ]

[inacan]

[ Go for the eyes - duh. If he'd had FRIDAY here she would've pointed that out to him like ten minutes ago. Stupid.

About half his body is gonna be covered in bruises in an hour, but when the dragon opens its mouth on another roar of pain, Tony manages to get a crossbow bolt fired right into its throat.

Yeah, this dragon is going down, fast. ]

[beknight]

[ Blinded and downed, it's only a matter of time before the villagers get some courage and add to the fray, stabbing it where they can. Bruce slides off it, staying out of the way. He counts the minutes, then the simulation ends, background rendering is the last to fade into the training room. ]

It's over.

[inacan]

[ As the simulation ends, leaving Tony in his street clothes once more, he grimaces and grips his left arm for a moment, flexing his fingers. ]

Could've been worse.

[beknight]

[ Bruce's street clothes are less elegant than he's accustomed to, but fairly stylish for the Natha, he pulls his sleeves down and shifts his foot, looking as though he's scuffing off the mud. In reality he's sensing the weight of his utility belt — all there, all hidden. ]

One hell of an introduction, [ he observes, with dry humor. ] I'm Alan.

[inacan]

[ The moment of weakness, of pain, passes, and Tony puts on an air of joviality like one of his suits of armor. Extends his right hand with a charming smile. ]

Tony. You've got some moves - what have you trained in, MMA?

[beknight]

Krav maga, some others.

[ Every fighting technique known to man, but you know. Why show off. This is the strangest mirror he's ever looked into. Bruce shakes his hand, pleasantly, if firmly. ]

What did you say you fought that was bigger than the dragon?

[inacan]

Wing chun, a little boxing. My head of security used to be a boxer.

[ Tony, on the other hand, is more than happy to show off - just a little, anyway. ]

Ah, a giant flying space dragon thing? We call 'em leviathans, for lack of a better term. Pretty nasty, kicked over a big chunk of Manhattan a few years ago, I'm gonna call it now, you're probably from a slightly different version of Earth than mine.

[beknight]

[ — Ah. He's expected to know the man's name, or at least, his appearance. Bruce is enjoying the anonymity — to an extent, he doesn't like having no money or needing to build his connections from scratch. ]

I was usually that head of security.

[ With a little wry smile. He had people for that, of course, but Bruce was the one who kept an eye on everything. This kind of familiarity is nice. Definitely useful. ]

Let me guess, are Asgardians real?

[inacan]

To be fair, Hap's not really mine these days, he's - whatever, doesn't matter, he taught me a few moves.

[ Tony's not quite ready to talk about Happy, or Pepper, or any of the others in stasis. Not quite. Most everything else though? That's fair game. His whole life has been lived in the public eye, it doesn't bother him a bit, and he's never sought anonymity. ]

Oh hey, bingo, guess you've met someone else from my weird-ass world. Rogers?

[beknight]

[ Barnes. But his association with Bucky is — not a secret, exactly, but not something either of them advertise. ]

That might be... [ He ducks in a little, like he's trying to understand something vast and incomprehensible, ] Runs around dressed in the American flag?

[inacan]

[ That's probably for the best, especially in this case. ]

Still. He can't let go of the old stars-and-stripes motif, no matter how many times I told him it's out of style. On the other hand, I cornered the market on red and gold, and Banner's got green covered. You get used to it after a while.

[beknight]

[ Red and gold. Hotrod colours, flashy, says a lot. Man likes to make a statement, likes to be remembered. ]

Whatever happened to black?

[ Like an idle musing, with a brief shake of his head. ]

[inacan]

That's Natasha's thing. They call her 'Black Widow', it's not really my idea of sexy but I guess some people go for that.

[ Tony gives a faint shrug, shoving his hands in his pockets. ]

Having distinctive color schemes helps with branding and merchandising.

[ Is he being serious? Facetious? The world may never know. ]

[beknight]

[ Keep talking buddy!!!! ]

No doubt.

[ They're only on T-shirts in his universe, but action figures would follow, comic books, Bruce knows. He was a Gray Ghost enthusiast. ]

[ He gestures after you at Tony towards the door, lest another scenario load (it won't, but that kind of precise knowledge is something Bruce obscures that he has). ]

[inacan]

[ Hey, Tony's happy to keep talking - he enjoys the sound of his own voice, and he's not stupid enough to give away anything that wouldn't already be considered common knowledge in his world - all publicly available information on people who are super famous and regularly make news headlines.

Even Nat - who is secretive by nature and training, is no longer a non-entity, not since she testified before Congress and dumped all of SHIELD's files onto the internet. But that's the thing - Tony can keep prattling for hours about this stuff, and never give away the important shit. The fractures. The emotional ties. The damage.

He strides forward, glancing around. ]

So how long have you been here? How stingy are these guys with their toys?

[beknight]

[ And yet it's more than he's gotten out of Rogers in months. Curiosity killed the cat and all — Bruce likes knowing as much as possible. But the thing about flamboyancy is that it obscures as much as it shows. Perhaps more. People see what they want to see. ]

Seven months, and that depends, can you ask nicely?

[ He's betting on yes. ]

[inacan]

Oh, I can be very persuasive.

[ Or he'll find a way to hack into it, but he'll try the diplomatic route first. No need to make their benefactors into enemies, not while they hold the lives of the people he cares about in their - somewhat-omniscient hands. ]

I was working on a realistic simulation program back home, but nothing that could actually leave bruises. I wanna see their code.

[beknight]

[ He hums, nice to be right on the money. ]

I've found they're willing to talk. It depends on what you bring to the table.

[inacan]

I've got no shortage of marketable skills.

[ Tony pauses a beat, and cocks his head at the other man. ]

What'd you offer?

[beknight]

[ Bruce's mouth curves, it lingers, distinctly in the realm of playful. ]

Wouldn't you like to know.

[inacan]

[ Aha! That got a reaction. Tony flashes a faint grin in response. ]

Playing it close to the chest, I can appreciate that. Some people like their secrets.