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Entry tags:
❪ test drive: #1 - the overflow ❫
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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 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.
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. 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! A Training Module thread of AC length on the TDM may be submitted for 1 NATHA ORBITER REPUTATION POINT after acceptance.
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no subject
[The paper doesn't say, but he figures it's meant to serve as a hint more than instructions. They did just happen to find it along the way.]
Stealing seems the safest bet. There's no need to waste a powerful artifact - and should we need to destroy it, we can do that later.
[Which leaves the choice of how to get it.]
Does your magic work, here? [He raises a finger to his chin, pensive.] Regardless, we don't know how much security there is in there...
Perhaps it would be smartest if I went in to extract the crystal, then go on the roof and throw it to you before distracting anyone who may attack us?
[On the one hand: he's starting to get better at tactics. On the other hand: his tactics still consist of being canon fodder more than anything. But since he heals fast, that only makes sense, if you ask him. If anyone has to get hurt, better him than her.]
no subject
[ it's like asking if she can still breathe here, or talk here, or exist. granted, she hasn't tried to use it here.. but it's all panned out fine in other simulations, so she can't imagine it won't here as well. even still, on the off chance it wouldn't, she always has her rapier. fighting her way out of a crowd is the straightforward approach she's always liked best.
his plan, however, has her planting a hand right onto her hip. ]
That leaves you doing more or less all the work, you realize.
[ and she's not keen on that. she's also not keen on foolish sacrifices, either, simulation or not. ]
Not to mention, there are only two of us, and we've no idea how many we're up against. You said it yourself, we're blind on their security. I'd rather stick together.
no subject
[At least: that's not how he intended it. It was just a practical approach, in his opinion. If anyone has to be at risk, he'd rather it be him.
But... that's a little selfish, he supposes. If he respects her, he should expect her to know what she can and can't do, and take her word for it.]
Very well. [He smiles, though: earlier suggestion aside, his agreement is not reluctant.]
You said magic is used for transportation, didn't you? Can you get us onto that rooftop?
[Because he can jump there, but that's a lot more likely to attract attention. Besides, if she transports them up there, he can be sure that her magic works. She did say magic can be for healing, as well...
But, failing that, he can definitely jump them up there. It will just kick up more of a fuss, giving them less opportunity to see what they'll be jumping into once they go in through that hole - unless her magic provides a distraction, maybe.]
no subject
alas, at his question, she shakes her head. ]
Unfortunately, no, it's not so simple.
[ there's aught to do with attuning to crystals, and aether, and anima, and blah blah but she's not alphinaud, so she isn't going to bother to explain all that. at least not now, when they've got a job to do.
with a thoughtful frown, alisaie gazes past him and back out into the town center again. an idea strikes her. ]
I can, however, create a suitable distraction, and draw watchful eyes away. You can jump up to the roof safely, and after, I can sneak in the old fashioned way and meet you upstairs. What floor was it on?
no subject
The top floor. The hole is roughly in the center of the roof; there are stairs leading up there along the back wall.
[He takes a deep breath, a little nervous in spite of himself, but he readies himself all the same. He's ready to go at her command.]
no subject
All right. I won't take long.
[ as far as the distraction goes, he'll certainly know it when he sees it, so she doesn't take the time to explain. instead she's slinking off down the alleyway and back the other side, hunting for a suitable spot, a suitable target.
it doesn't take long. there's a large wooden cart by the town's outer wall, just by the front gates, where several guards stand tall. from a small alcove across the road from it, alisaie charges her spell, a powerful verfire channeled through her crystal; she aims and hurls it, and with a low roar a fireball erupts on the cart, immediately engulfing it in explosive flames. naturally, chaos ensues.
the guards race toward the cart, and the villagers shout shrilly; by the time anyone thinks to look back in the direction the spell had been flung from alisaie is already gone, weaving through the alleyways quickly and back toward the target building. ]
no subject
He barely pays attention to the distraction as such, just waits for the chaos and takes advantage. Using the strength of his transformed legs, he jumps right onto the building, digging his claws into the wall 2/3 of the way up to help him cross the distance, and hops on top of the roof with his next move.
He doesn't seem to be noticed, but that's only buying time too, in the end. Looking in through the hole, just to see how many people may be around and/or protecting the crystal, he has to stand with the sun in his back in order to see anything at all, but a guard notices his shadow immediately. The man moves to shout for help, but he doesn't get far: Atsushi leaps inside and at him, tackling him before punching him out. (No killing. Not if he can help it. He doesn't care if this isn't real.)
Instinct more than anything else has him raise his transformed arm when he turns; it deflects a blade that ricochets off and still almost catches him in the face, quick reflexes saving him from more than a light scratch on his cheek. Atsushi launches himself at his assailant, to take that one out next.]
no subject
she could 'round the place and go in the front, but there's a perfectly good open window just above her, so she hops onto an abandoned crate instead and tumbles in.
there are sounds of a scuffle above her, and it's easy enough for alisaie to follow it, finding the stairs along the back wall that he had mentioned and sprinting up them two at a time. rapier and crystal already drawn, she surges through the half-open door, kicking it shut behind her, and launching a preloaded veraero at the absolutely flabberghasted thug that whirls to meet her. the violent ball of wind catches him in the belly and knocks him back, breathless, and she follows it up with a swift slash of her rapier to the meat of his calves, keeping him down.
oh it feels good to do this again, even if it's all fake - her adrenaline is spiked, cheeks flushed and eyes bright while she channels a verthunder that crackles and hisses through the air past atsushi's shoulder, incapacitating another guard just behind him. ]
Need a little help?
no subject
As it is, at least he's getting the job done - as is Alisaie, clearly. He's impressed.]
No, thank you.
[With that, the guards in the immediate area are dealt with, but the fight is bound to attract some attention - and, if not that, the claw marks will. Just as Atsushi looks at the crystal (which does indeed seem to reflect all colors of the rainbow, very pretty), there's shouting from below.]
Let's go!
[They could fight off more enemies, but why would they? He runs at the crystal to grab it, then realizes that... it will be a lot easier to get out through the roof, which means Alisaie will have to hold the crystal... and he can carry her. So he all but shoves the item into her hands, and moves to pick her up.
Hope you don't mind being bridal-carried??]
no subject
she's just laying eyes on the crystal when he's picking it up, and alisaie turns to glance toward the door - there are sounds downstairs, muffled shouts, and she's quick to shove a wooden chair in front of the door before they can come crashing in.
when she turns back again, atsushi is handing her the crystal, which she takes readily once she's sheathed her rapier again, but then he's -- excuse?? picking her up?? alisaie shouts in surprise, limbs flailing, but he'll at least find she's easy to lift, considering her diminutive size. at first she's shocked, confused, but it doesn't take her long to realize what he's planning and.. gods damn it all, it's certainly the more quick and efficient escape. she can jump high, but certainly not as high as he can, with those legs.
so she huffs, and hooks her hands onto his shoulders. ]
Do not drop me.
no subject
[He says it full of confidence - unusual for him - but that's because he means it. Besides, his arms are very powerful when transformed, and he's careful enough with his claws... besides which, he's not really considering the option of hurting someone with them accidentally. His transformed limbs are a part of him, but they're also not entirely him, which means they don't have the same lack of confidence beaten into them.
... It's still a little weird to do this when he's half-naked, but so be it.
Crouching in preparation, he jumps up on the roof in one massive leap, takes a few steps, and leaps off into the streets, aiming to put as much distance between them and the scene of the crime as quickly as possible. He'll put Alisaie down the moment they land (or as soon after as he thinks is safe), trying to stay right behind her in case people follow them. That doesn't keep anyone from attacking frontally, of course, but he wants her to be in the lead: she has the crystal, after all.]
no subject
immediately, once they're touching down, she shoves the stolen stone down the front of her coat for safekeeping, then draws her rapier and crystal, keeping them at the ready as they run. she's more than happy to take point, confident that he can keep up easily on those legs of his; getting out of the town seems to be their best course of action, so she runs and runs, rushing down alleys, dashing behind wooden stalls laden with fruit and fish and precious silks. if they're being pursued, which they likely are, she can't hear it beyond the thumping of her heart in her ears.
at last she skids to a stop when they reach a high wall and, panting hard, she whips around, searching, while the sounds of shouts and heavy footsteps draw nearer.
ah, there we are. a conveniently placed hay cart. ]
Up and over, I suppose.
[ leaping onto the back of the cart, alisaie jumps for the wall, grabbing it by the lip and hauling herself up. ]
no subject
That high wall might have been a dead end, but Alisaie is managing to get over it just fine. With one look over his shoulder at their enemies - and they are indeed chasing them, even though they're far in the distance for now - Atsushi reaches out with that massive arm and smashes the hay cart with a loud cry. If nothing else, that should slow their pursuers down considerably.
He jumps up, grabbing on to the top of the wall and hauling himself right over. Something flies through the air, hits the transformed part of his arm and bounces right off... An arrow. Thankfully it didn't land somewhere it would actually do a lot of damage! It's something they'll have to consider when they find their final escape route: best follow the wall for now, at least for a little while.
What would end the mission, anyway? Is it enough to get away, or do they need to deliver the crystal to allies?]
no subject
it isn't until it feels like her legs might very well give way beneath her that alisaie stops, panting hard, bending for a moment to catch her breath before she's straightening enough to pull the crystal from her coat, to be sure she hasn't lost it. ]
Well.. that's done then, I suppose.
no subject
Yes... We did it. [He smiles at her, proud of their combined accomplishment.] I guess this is enough, at least. Should we try to log out?
[He's glad that they've managed to do what they were meant to, but it doesn't feel real yet. Maybe that's just because of all the aimless loitering they did before they could get started.]
no subject
I'd call it a job well done.
[ even if it was a simulation, a test, it still feels satisfying to complete, and it was good exercise and training, to boot. hopefully, soon enough there will be less simulation, and more real action to vent their collective frustrations on. slipping her phone from her pocket, alisaie thumbs over it. ]
Take care.