❪ test drive: #1 ❫

[natha]

OVERFLOW POST

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 as you slept. 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 can help. You knew that you'll 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 was all a dream, but somehow, you knew it wasn't — now, will you keep that promise you made to Darma? PROMPT: THE MESS HALL     It's fascinating to the Orbiters how such a dull room can be turned around so completely with people in it. All meals are served by Roman, and while all the food is delicious, some of it is a bit odd. Is that neon green soup? That’s hideous. If you happen to be in the mess hall at a particularly unlucky time, you and the food will suddenly begin to drift. Someone’s got jokes, and they’ve turned off the gravity control. Now it’s just you, your fellow refugees, and the floating sea of food. Wait, did that person just chuck a pie in your direction? 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. Be advised, however, that participating in one of the training modules will start you off favorably with the Natha Orbiters’ in terms of REPUTATION. Once seated and appropriately strapped in, the system will automatically whir to life and the dense foliage and forestry of a section of El Nysa will open up. According to one’s map registry, it clear to see that it’s miles from the outer gates of Olympia, but not as far enough to venture into any other territories. So, in that sense, you’re safe. 1. Or you could have been, but unfortunately the wilderness is home to various types of beasts and monsters hailing from different universes and galaxies. On the bright side, perhaps one of them will be oddly familiar to you. Or maybe someone else who is currently synced is willing to give you that extra helping hand. Fortunately, if you’re powerless, there are options. From telekinesis to flight, there are strange abilities one can adopt and “test” out in the virtual reality. Granted, you’re only limited to one at a time. They say in the near future, some of you may be granted these abilities under certain conditions. But, please practice some caution. You aren’t alone in the system, after all. 2.. Who do you fight for, the VR system will ask you individually before you enter the module. The righteous Olympians, or the free-spirited Wyvers? Whatever your choice, when you enter El Nysa, you will wholly and truly believe your allegiance. A. Working together: You now have to suffer the consequences of your choice, as you and your partner have been captured by guards of the opposite faction. Now jailed and soon-to-be tortured, you must find some way to negotiate your release. Perhaps you’ll find some means to escape without detection. Maybe you’re the “fight your way out” sort of people. B. Facing your enemy: That person you stepped into the VR with? They’re out to capture you. Or maybe you seek to capture them. 3. When you enter the virtual reality, things aren’t exactly how they’re supposed to be. Maybe that’s natural, especially if this is your first time, but the problems here seem a bit more fundamental. Maybe you find yourself under a parental safety lock, and you’re suddenly censored. Exposed back? Censored. Body suit? Censored. Or replaced with a mascot costume. Worst of all? You can’t sign out. Not right now, at least. Regardless, whatever it is— ridiculous filters, body alterations, or even body swaps with other users... you are assured it’ll all be fixed with due time. Zasere sends his humblest apologies and promises no more wire chewing, or so the announcement states. 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: HANGAR STATION     You find your way to the hangar station. Here rests are a factory worth of docked mobile suits. You recall how the Orbiters had previously spoken of a "space frontier," but only after seeing this you realize how real their words are. Most machinery have marks of wear and tear, assurance that they have indeed been used before, and an assembly of others are going through repairs and maintenance. No one seems to care that you've just strolled in. In fact, there seems to be a couple of the aircraft that beckon you to take a closer look. Maybe you’ll only look on the outside, maybe you'll be greeted by the hand of a mobile suit extending toward you and welcoming you to its cockpit. You go out and explore SPACE!!! Unfortunately, that mobile suit should have warned you it only had 20 minutes of flight time left in its system. Or, perhaps, you’re a particularly ambitious pilot and you’ve strayed past the designated perimeter. Either way, the HUD display is now blinking with errors, cropping up with a single message: DISTRESS SIGNAL. 1. You’re the poor sap who happened to chill around the Observation Deck. Unfortunately, everyone seems busy with the influx of mobile suits out and about, and the only one who can answer this distress signal is on the Navigation System, well, you. Hope you can figure out the controls fast enough. Guide the pilot back to the safety of the hangar using the most efficient route possible. Keen Navigators will find an instruction manual that provides a shortcut to automatically return a suit back to base. 2. You’re actually sitting in a two-seater mobile suit. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Maybe you were unwittingly dropped down a hatch, or dragged along for a joyride by your ambitious co-pilot. Either way, it looks like help is going to take some time... 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! A Training Module thread of AC length on the TDM may be submitted for 1 NATHA ORBITER REPUTATION POINT after acceptance. QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● world ● map ● reputation ● npcs taken ● reserves ● application calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

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Marluxia | Kingdom Hearts

[bloom_out]

STASIS
[Marluxia is strolling past the many stasis pods, occasionally leaning in to peer at a face or pausing, waiting for... something. When he doesn't get the reaction he wants, he shrugs and moves on.

Each and every pod is inspected, no matter who's in it. A few of them give him longer pause, and one of them even earns a sharp, hollow laugh.

However, this means he's also staring and stroking gently the glass of the pod someone from your world is in, doesn't it? And he doesn't seem to notice you watching.]

MESS
This... filth. Is this truly the state of cuisine in this place? There is no aesthetic value to this in the slightest.

[He's holding a bowl of green soup. Sure, Nobodies don't need to eat, but there's something to be said for holding a diligent, graceful opinion of one's culinary tastes.

This soup does not suit him. He foists it off to the nearest person- Maybe you.]

Dispose of this. I have no need to dirty my eyesight with it any longer.

WILDCARD
[Running into the Graceful Assassin isn't exactly fun, but maybe it's inevitable given that he's walking around the place like he owns it already, hood occasionally up if he feels like being mysterious. Shame if you ran into him in a prompt that I didn't list-- Double shame if you're someone he knows...]

STATIS.

[nysan]

[ Darma knows each and every one she saves, so there is no particular reason why she had stood there and watched him stroking the glass. She is always watching, after all — but it is only on occasion that she gets as personal as now. ]

What interests you about this human, Marluxia? They are not of your world.

[bloom_out]

[He pauses. He knew she was watching, of course, but he did not expect her to speak up about what he's doing.

It doesn't phase him for long, but his words are very deliberate when he speaks.]

I am looking for those with a certain... potential. Many of these people seem to possess interesting abilities, but none exactly as I seek yet... [A gracious sigh.] It would be remarkable if even one of these people has it without being from the same world as my Organization.

I typoed STASIS, oops.

[nysan]

[ There are no irises in her eyes. There is no reason why she would blink, but she does to express curious mirth. ]

And you know their potential just from one look? [ She is far taller than any human or human-like people would be. She towers over him as she glances down at him. ] Remind me, what ability do you seek from these people?

[bloom_out]

We call it a "scent"... But it is more of a sensation of power. If these people had what I wished, then I would detect it immediately. Seeing has nothing to do with it. Even here, in stasis, they give off enough of their natural scent I can feel it.

[Hmmm. He'll play your game, if only because he's already playing so many others that he's confident he'll win.]

In the Light, and in the Dark, there are powerful weapons that can be wielded by only the chosen few. The ones on my own world have been found already, but... If this potential spans to other worlds...

[nysan]

[ Darma nods in understanding. She holds a vast library of knowledge from different worlds in her mind. With affirmation from Marluxia, she is reminded. ]

You speak of the keyblade, yes? [ When she stands tall again, her attention shifts to the line of sleeping refugees. Marluxia may not know the answer, but she very well does. ]

I can name too many who possess similar powers. Perhaps not that specific form — the key in which you seek. I am interested how you will make it yours, if that is indeed your intention.

[bloom_out]

So the savior has done her research...

[He shrugs once again, this one as confident as someone with no heart can get. If she knows what he's after, there's no reason to play dumb.]

It need not be the Keyblade, exactly. It is merely that there is no power its equal where I reside. If other worlds have their own variations... Then all that matters is the user's strength of heart.

[nysan]

I simply watch. That is what we Natha do.

[ Saving him and the others notwithstanding. To his following response, she smiles. It is the first time she has done so. ]

Do you have heart, Marluxia?

[bloom_out]

... No.

[He looks... pained. Nobodies are good at that one, at least.]

For all our power, that is the one thing we do not have. You should know that as well as any if you've done your research, Watcher.

[nysan]

I am Darma. I watch all.

[ So she knows - her smile says so, but this is a subject that has held her attention. How does one that is heartless show such ambition, such... emotion? The question is more rhetorical. ]

Do you yearn for a heart? To go back to the way you were before?

Mess

[winningkatsudon]

[ To be fair, Yuuri couldn't blame anyone's reaction to the food; it looked entirely unappetizing, and he couldn't even imagine the taste. Heck, if it were Yurio talking to him, he would have taken the bowl without complaint and suggest they try to find something else. But this pink-haired person wasn't Yurio or anyone else he knew, and he wasn't about to be ordered around. Instead he motioned to where there was some kind of receiving hole in the wall; he had seen others leaving trays there, so that had to be where trash would go too, right? ]

I think that's where the trash is.

[bloom_out]

Very well. [He gestures magnanimously to the chute before turning his back.] You may deliver it there.

[winningkatsudon]

I'd rather not.

[ Sorry, creepy pink guy. ]

[bloom_out]

...

[He turns back with a swoosh of his cloak. Most humans would obey someone so intimidating, or would at least do it to get rid of the disgusting glop. This is intriguing.]

So you intend to hold the soup for an indeterminate period, then?

[winningkatsudon]

No.

[ That said, Yuuri held the soup back out to them. Hopefully this person would take it back, because he was going to let go and he would feel guilty if their cloak got green goop on it. ]

[bloom_out]

[He does not take it back, staring Yuuri directly in the eyes.

He refuses to take the soup. He also refuses to be sullied by the soup, his muscles tensed.]

stasis

[chainbroke]

[ She's not even sure why she's here, other than... curiosity? Morbid curiosity, sure. Maybe she'll see someone she knows. It's actually very likely.

... But she doesn't expect to see someone she knows outside of one of those pods. And someone who's been long gone. Understandable, then, that she stays frozen in place right where he can see. ]

i screamed a little yesss

[bloom_out]

[... Ah, that scent. A familiar one, to be sure. He turns to her, a mirthless smirk on his face.]

Naminé... Looking for people you recognize? You know they wouldn't recognize you in turn.

same tho marluxias are so rare

[chainbroke]

[ It's remarkable how much she flinches when he notices her. ]

I... There are people who would recognize me.

[bloom_out]

I am sure there are. After all, there are several Organization members in these pods... Quite familiar they are, by the by. I recall quite a few just like them in the basement of Castle Oblivion...

[He gently strokes a nearby one, containing just some random sap.]

...And if you find your hero in one of these pods? What then? Do you wait for him to awaken from a potentially never-ending rest?

[chainbroke]

[ She stands a little straighter and lifts her chin almost defiantly. ]

No. More than them. I have friends. [ But she sounds unsure. ]

Sora, he... he isn't my hero. I wouldn't force him to be.

[bloom_out]

... You are not the same puppet as before, are you.

[He stares at her, pondering. She still smells the same as always, she still isn't complete, and yet...]

Did my defeat have such a strong effect on you...? No, something more is different.

[chainbroke]

Yes, that's right. I left the castle. I didn't have to manipulate anyone.

I... helped people.

[bloom_out]

... What a twisted skein you weave with, witch.

[He smirks, stepping closer and looming over her, petals scattering around his feet as he walks. Just because.]

You have no heart. You did not help people- you used them. For what game did you seek pawns this time?

[chainbroke]

[ Once more, she flinches back. She has to steady herself on one of the pods, but that defiant look on her face is mixed with fear. ]

You're wrong! I helped them because they needed me to. Because I could! Not for my own gain!