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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. |
no subject
That's also too bloody much to try and parse in the middle of the night. ]
I don't need to hear about Howard — God knows I know enough about the man to last me a lifetime. And you know me, or at least, you seem to. You're the mystery, here.
[ A slight smile. ]
No offence.
no subject
[ Tony invokes his father at careful, precise moments, at calculated moments, but never on a personal level. There wasn't much personal there. Still too much resentment, too much bad blood. What's he going to say, I kind of hated my father because he cared more about his company and SHIELD than he did about me? No one needs to hear that crap. ]
Mystery man, I kinda like it. I don't really do mystery, my picture was in the newspapers from the day I was born, you know I met my first US president as an infant. Nixon.
no subject
I wouldn't expect anything less.
[ From a Stark. Perhaps that's the delicate thing. Howard is a difficult man to love but she does care for him deeply, as one of the friends she has who's always believed in her. The expectation of the name is there, though. And she's seen the weight of it in flashes and never for very long. A conversation for another time. ]
I haven't, [ she adds. Met a US president, she means. Not by her age or the year she's from; not yet. ] Then again, I don't see the merit in it. If anything, that's always been Steve's place, the poor man. [ The spotlight loves Captain America, not the soldier behind the shield. ] Why don't we leave your tinkering for later and have something to eat? God knows how long any of us have really been asleep and I'm sure you're starving.
no subject
Food? I subsist on motor oil and - you know, actually, a cheeseburger sounds really good right now, let's do that. If there's a decent cheeseburger to be had around here.
[ is she trying to mother hen him? he could probably use someone to do that, in Pepper's absence. ]
no subject
You know, I could do with one myself. Roman can whip up anything, bless him. The food on the surface isn't bad, in fact a lot of it is quite good. But there isn't much in the way of familiarity. [ Because... alien planet. God, that still takes some getting used to. ] I'll show you to the mess.
[ She turns to walk, heels clicking softly as she goes. Then: ]
When was it for you? [ A glance to him and she clarifies, ] The last thing you remember?
no subject
He shoves his hands in his pockets as he keeps stride with her. ]
It was 2016. I'm really gonna have to work on the temporal differentiation thing, because the fact that we're both here having a conversation basically proves the existence of pocket dimensions and that means our world could still exist in one of them.
no subject
That's certainly one theory. I've already had to grapple with the notion of — diverging timelines, for lack of a better phrase. And parallel ones, mad as it sounds — two men with the same name, who know some of the same people, but whose stories don't entirely match up. [ Two Bucky Barneses. The one she's familiar with and one who didn't know her at all. ] Or the fact that you and Steve and the friends I've made have all come from the future but as far as I know, the Storm ended the world in 1947.
[ Her lips press into a line and she shakes her head as she rounds the corner; the vast mess hall is at the end. She's heard of how the world carries on, how technology has advanced, how women finally fight their way into the workforce as a whole. She's heard of more wars, too. How can the world start and stop in so many different places? ]
There's no rhyme or reason to it. Not that I've found.
no subject
Not my area - they'll have to wake up some cosmologists for that. I was still dealing with the discovery of aliens, let alone multiple, parallel universes.
[ Tony files that away - Peggy will quickly learn that his mind works at about four different levels at any one time. For purposes of this conversation, he's ready to go back to the most superficial - letting the tougher questions percolate. ]
But first - cheeseburgers. Have you been completely Americanized yet? Baseball and hot dogs and french fries - or do you call those "chips"? Do you do tea and crumpets?
no subject
[ Since they are — were — on the topic of the extraterrestrial and interdimensional. Tony changes tack as easily as breathing but it isn't new or unusual for her: his father does the same. Unfair, to keep making the comparison, and she'll strive not to do it too much (and certainly not out loud).
She winds her way around the tables towards the counters, shooting him an amused glance. ]
I lived in New York for well over a year and my roommate was a waitress at the automat. I don't think I could have avoided your finest American cuisine even if I tried. Some mornings I still wake up craving a bagel. [ Then she turns to Orbiter who serves as Thesa's butler. ] Morning, Roman. A couple of cheeseburgers, please.
[ They're in luck, they get fries too. And it's off to find a table. ]
Eat up; likely you won't find these planetside. But I've been known to nip back up here for a bite or two.
no subject
[ Mostly. He still designs weapons systems for the Iron Man armors but he doesn't sell those.
Tony grabs his food - a cheeseburger with everything on it, thank god, and fries - and leads her to a table where he will proceed to gobble the burger pretty fast. He's almost as hungry for one of these as he was when he got back from Afghanistan. ]
New York's always had the best bagels. And the best pizza. So has anybody broken the rule about not telling the natives who we really are? Mostly I'm curious how they've managed to prevent leaks with so many of us running around down there.
no subject
I've wondered the same. I haven't heard of it happening, but that doesn't mean it hasn't. I don't know what the consequences would be, but — [ She shrugs one shoulder then takes a bite of her cheeseburger, only bothering to chew a few times before talking around the mouthful. #ladylike ] The Natha keep a close watch on things. If they can wake us up, it stands to reason they can put us back to sleep. [ She swallows, swipes a thumb on the edge of her mouth to flick away a sesame seed. ] Friends of mine have returned to stasis without warning; some come back, some haven't.
[ Claire Fraser disappeared for three days and returned to them, albeit with twenty years' worth of new memories. Edmund Pevensie, on the other hand, returned to his pod and hasn't come back since. And he'd been old hat at this "new world" business, she doubts he'd have said anything to draw attention. ]
But they aren't the type to tell the Nysans about all of this, so that remains a mystery. Of course, it's in everyone's best interests that we stay as under the radar as possible. There's bad blood between the north and south and it seems we're about to be caught in the middle of it, whether we want to be or not.
no subject
[ Tony knows a lot about big sticks. ]
I hate politics. I couldn't stand the politicians on Earth, what makes them think I want to get involved in another planet's politics?
no subject
[ Peggy raises her brows at him. ]
The Natha aren't pushing us to choose sides; it's the people on the surface that will likely ask it of us sooner rather than later. It's already begun. The winter gala a few weeks ago had us selecting pins at the entrance as a show of loyalty, I suppose, for whichever faction we considered — home. [ She shakes her head, exhaling softly. ] Quite honestly, Mr Stark, I'm not sure how long any one of us can remain neutral without consequence.
no subject
[ He shoves a fry into his mouth, scowling a little. ]
God, I sound like Romanoff. Or Fury. But I don't think for one second we have the whole story.
And Natha or not, down there, on the planet? I'm Switzerland. I'm on my own side.
no subject
Mr Stark, [ she begins lightly, ] If you're at all familiar with my record then you surely know I share your wariness. Governments and organisations have leaders with agendas which, as we all know, can change in a heartbeat. The only people we can count on with any certainty are the ones we know. Now, do I trust the locals above or below?
[ She glances askance, but no one is sitting near them at all. The place is nearly empty because of the late (early?) hour. ]
I haven't been given a reason not to. [ Mostly. Aforementioned "tensions" aside. ] But that's not the same thing. Understood?
no subject
So, what you're saying is, you agree.
no subject
[ Culture is so varied. And there are already so many layers to this one, the greatest foundation built on — well, not a lie, but an omission of truth is the same thing to a woman in her field. The locals believe Thesa is a moon meant to be worshipped and the Natha want to keep it that way. The Natha want to save them and help this world.
It sound so simple and life rarely is. ]
So we may as well enjoy our cheeseburgers in the meantime.
no subject
[ Tony's heard some of the stories but it's very impressive to see the legend in person, so to speak. And he feels less resentment towards her than to Steve. Peggy is simply someone to be admired.
He just takes another bit of his cheeseburger. ]