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Entry tags:
❪ test drive #4 ❫
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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—
2. Let us now travel forward in time, shall we?  a. The Olympian settlement around you is quiet — until the screaming starts.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... 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. |
omage; un: unchained
it's working
[holy shit holy shit holy shit]
[he has to resist the urge to teleport up to thesa immediately, has to make sure this coincidence isn't actually coincidental before he gets his hopes up]
so uh hey
where're you from?
you ever hear of japan?
[#smooth]
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[So direct! Is that how kids are these days? Then again, homesickness must be a real problem here.]
I'm from Japan, actually. You are too?
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hahaha, really? you're an old man then, huh
or an old lady, i guess ( ☞◔ ౪◔)☞
[Japan. They're from Japan. It has to be, right...? Despite himself, he feels a sudden rush of emotions in his chest and he's tempted to drop the charade right then and there, but holds himself back. One last check. He'll do just one more.]
yeah, tokyo
what year was it for you? it was 2112 for me
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[What does that emoticon even mean, he's so disconnected from The Youth.
Tokyo in 2112, though. That's...specific, in these circumstances. And detectives are skeptical of coincidences.]
That's the year it was. I guess we have a lot in common.
[It's a risk, but...]
Do you know something called the 'Sybil System'?
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For an instant, he can't breathe; he has to give his hands a second to stop shaking before he can even type a reply. And he does reply, much as he wants to outright abandon the conversation and teleport to Thesa. Which he will. In a minute. But first:]
i thought it was you, pops
it's kagari
[he considers adding, 'i'm not dead', but he decides against it at the last second.]
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Kagari-kun! I'm glad you're alright.
[Masaoka had hoped Kagari had found a way to escape, had known he was probably dead. But whatever had happened to the kid back home, he was here now. Alive.
And not the only one.]
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.....that for how incredible freedom has been, he's missed his friends so much, has come to visit them almost every day for over two months, and now one of them is finally awake. It gives him hope for the others, for a chance to live a truly complete life with those people he loves, and imagining it makes him feel almost sick with a kind of desire he'd never allowed himself to so much as contemplate, back in Japan.
He doesn't say any of those things. Instead:]
you're still at the station, right?
which part?
i'm coming up
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(Does he even want to go back? Or is it just that he knows he has an obligation?)
That's a topic that will come in time. If they can broach it.]
I'm in the sleeping quarters. I can get to the mess hall.
-> action
okay
i'll go there then
[And so he does. He waits just long enough to turn the corner, because he knows they're not allowed to teleport in front of the locals, and then he's gone. Doesn't even bother to let work know he's not coming, he just fucks right off. And then he's up in Thesa. The walk to the mess hall is almost excruciating for how long it is, and he's halfway tempted to peek inside the stasis unit to see if any of the others are stirring, but no. He'll go see Masaoka first; he's already waited way too long for his taste.
When he finally sees the older man....his face does something strange. It's like it resists his commands to grin cheekily, cock an eyebrow and offer some kind of irreverent quip. Instead, it tries to tighten, suddenly growing hot and prickling around the eyes and he can only manage a crooked half-grin, bark a laugh that gets forced out of a throat that doesn't want to stay open.
He can't bring himself to say, I missed you, heart having long ago been wrapped around and around with coils of barbed wire for protection, blocking the passage of any true vulnerability. But any detective worth his salt can read it from his eyes like any well-loved passage of their favorite book.]
What took you so long, old man? Damn, I thought I was gonna start going as gray as you waiting.
action
Kagari stands out when he enters. Kagari, Masaoka suspects, has always tried to stand out. But then, for Kagari to stand out in this crowd, perhaps it has more to do with Masaoka himself. It's such a relief to see Kagari, see that he's healthy and doing his best to project the same careless image. Masaoka's smile is tight around the edges, as he tries to keep anxiety about whatever had happened to Kagari under control. He doesn't want to press. But for the most part, it's a smile of genuine relief.
He'd missed Kagari, too.]
Ah, you can't expect me to keep up with someone your age.
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Instead, he huffs sort of affectionately, pillowing his head against his arms and looking vaguely off to the side to get the stupidly sentimental creases in his expression smoothed out before he carries on.]
At least you're awake now. And you're the first one awake from our division besides me, so I guess you're not the slowest slowpoke.
[He shrugs, then heads further into the mess hall, motioning for Masaoka to follow.]
C'mon, let's grab a drink.
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He forces a laugh, and turns to follow Kagari.]
What do they have?
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Things aren't ideal here; there's political tensions brewing that Kagari can't begin to understand, a pressure to establish a loyalty where none exists. There's having to learn how to actually function and survive when his day-to-day living expenses aren't actually covered. There's the outright primitive state of technology down in El Nysa. And yet...
Freedom, as it turns out, makes it all worth it.]
What would you like? That god guy'll make you whatever you're in the mood for.
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It's Masaoka's smile that's tense around the corners, his eyes a little too tight. But it's been like that sometimes before.
That's wiped away by actual interest, with no small amount of surprise.]
"God guy"?
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Yeah! You know, like the one that talked to you in your dream before you woke up. Promised you stuff like keeping your friends safe.
[Friends, family. The latter is an even thornier issue, of course; he doesn't presume to have any ability to disentangle it, not when he himself has never had the chance to see his parents again, to attempt to rebuild something from the ashes of pain and resentment.]
There's a few of those around here. One of those is like, a housekeeper-slash-cook for the station.
[But that brings him back to the tightness around Masaoka's eyes, the way he was obviously troubled. They don't have to talk about it. He could just pretend it's not there. It's not as if he's ever been any kind of confidante for the older man. Division One was united by the fact of being trash picked out of the gutter; they never really discussed what had made them fucked up, just held the solidarity of knowing they were.
But things are different here. And Kagari feels like he needs to know one thing before he can even pretend to carry on as normal--]
...You're free now too, you know.
[Aren't you happy? Do you miss Japan? Do you want it back?
He doesn't speak those questions out loud, but they're written into his expression, his tone, the gaps in between the words that do leave his lips.]
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The one he'd died for, trying to protect his family after failing in that for so many years.
It's an idea to hold onto, here. But the execution is trickier. What does it mean to protect someone who's asleep, whose life you don't want to control?]
Well, a god should be able to get good whiskey.
[A joke. Tense still, but he's still trying. Until Kagari cuts right through that. Masaoka stops walking, studies Kagari's face. Kagari has every reason to be happy, and it's good that he is. It's good that Sybil didn't take that ability from him.
Masaoka won't lie- it's a thrill just to be able to walk around this station without being questioned, without the certainty that you're being checked to make sure you haven't turned into a hound that needs to be put down. To be able to speak to anyone here, because you want to instead of for the purposes of solving a crime.
But there's that sense of obligation. To everyone he failed to keep safe. He sighs and turns away from Kagari, tilting his head towards the ceiling.]
"'Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.'"
[His phrasing makes it clear that it's a quote. The social contract, indeed. Masaoka turns back to Kagari with a shrug.]
I know. But I think I need some time.
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[And there it is, that bitterness. It's never far, for Kagari. Even with the ability to have unpoisoned moments of joy, here in El Nysa, one doesn't spend seventeen years filled with misery and loneliness and only barely-repressed anger and simply recover from it all in two months of freedom. Must be nice, he thinks, for some pretentious asshole to talk about chains so metaphorically.
Kagari glances away, not quite able to keep looking at the older man's turned back, the inner conflict it was obviously hiding. Masaoka says he needs time, and logically, he knows that's fair. He was part of Japan, long ago. It should make sense that there's things he has to mourn. But it hurts, all the same--the thought that Division One wasn't enough, when it's all Kagari's ever had.
If he were a better person, he'd be able to smile disarmingly like Akane-chan, tell Masaoka he understood, and let it go. He'd be able to mean it. But he's not; he's selfish. Kagari feels an irrational sort of anger rise in his chest, a sort of jealousy he didn't realize he was capable of until this very moment.]
For what? To grieve for the place that threw you away? That built their perfect, peaceful existence on your back?
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I'm sorry.
[He could talk about the genuine innocents in Japan, how they deserve protection and a chance, the way Tsunemori did when she first joined the Division. He could point out that Japan is not the world, is in fact a remarkably small piece of it. He could talk about those obligations, and what he'd say would be true. When he considers the right thing to do, he has to think about them first.
But Masaoka doesn't always do the right thing. He sighs again, tilting his head down and closing his eyes. Buries his right hand, the flesh one, in his hair.]
To figure out what Gino would want. [Nobuchika, he almost says, but that still feels a little like a liberty, especially in front of someone else.] What would help Kou and the young lady the most.
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When the anger is stripped away, all that's left over is misery--and that's all that stands before Masaoka in that moment. Kagari, the fun-loving young man who likes to get drunk and play video games and laugh at terrible jokes isn't the one who's there, then; it's Shuusei, the lonely boy who never had anything, having the future taken away from him all over again.]
...They could be happy here, too. Why does it have to be Japan?
[I want you guys to live here with me. You're the only family I've ever had.]
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Masaoka can feel the irritation of individual strands of hair between his fingers, the scrape of his fingernails against his scalp. Reminders that he is here, that this is (however improbable) real. He takes a deep breath. The air on the station has a particular recycled tint to it, different from the processed scent of the MWSPB building. He does turn towards Kagari now. Slowly, trying to give the young man time to compose himself however he wants to, if he wants to.]
It doesn't have to be Japan. I just don't know how everything's going to work.
[I want you all to be happy.]
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Indeed, as the older man finally turns around, Kagari's own gaze drops to the floor. To him, it doesn't seem complicated. El Nysa wasn't perfect, but it was freedom. What was there for them in Japan? They were nothing but trash, worthless for anything other than cleaning up the streets of others of their kind.]
It's not bad here. The tech isn't as good, planetside, but....there's so much stuff to do. And we can even come back up, whenever...
[Sybil won't get in the way of killing Makishima. Sasayama and Yuki are alive, asleep in their own pods. The simulation rooms can remake any aspects of Japan itself that they want. There's so many arguments in his head, for why there's no reason to hold back on making El Nysa their home, but he doesn't get through even half of them before he trails off, jaw clenched. If freedom wasn't enough...arguing to Masaoka why he should stay feels childish and stupid. Like he's five years old all over again and hoping against hope for his parents not to let him go.
Division One might've been where he belonged, but it was stupid to think anyone else belonged with him.]
Whatever. Let's just get that drink.
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Certainly not the greatest injustice of the system. Probably no more than Masaoka deserves. But an injustice, nonetheless.
He turns his eyes toward the ceiling again, but lets his hand finally fall back to his side.]
I'd like to hear about it here. From you, not them. [He waves his metal arm briefly, encompassing the Natha Orbiters and the other residents of the station in the gesture.]
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[It's still a little guarded. Masaoka's hesitance feels a lot like rejection, to Kagari, and the way he always reacts to protect himself from being hurt is to push everything away, to bare his fangs and hiss and snap at anything that tries to stick its fingers through the barbed wire he'll wrap around himself for protection.]
Right now, everything's kind of a mess since some idiot decided to be a cliche and try to bring one of the original dragons back from the dead to take over the continent--'cause that always goes so fuckin' well--soooo the Natha pressed the pause button on that shit and it's their problem now. But it's cool, usually.
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His expression, though, grows significantly more dumbfounded than casual.]
A dragon?
[Being brought back from the dead? Is there a history of this that Kagari's referencing, or is it just that it's like a video game plot? (It is like a video game plot, he's not that out of touch, right?)]
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[He grins, maybe a little too sharp--but it's clear he's genuinely enthralled.]
Turns out dragons are real.
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dammit my phone died just as I finished typing this tag
top ten anime betrayals
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oops i rechecked 16, kagari came in a couple minutes later
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