![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
❪ test drive: #1 - the overflow ❫
|
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.
QUICK NAV
premise ●
faq ●
world ●
map ●
reputation ●
npcs
taken ● reserves ● application calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] |
no subject
[ Somehow, Magnus acting concerned is way worse than Magnus slowly exploding in a self-sacrificing supernova and Taako hates it. This gogurted fool looking like a sad puppy holding a flaming sword is not his jam right now. Taako immediately snaps back to deceptively cheerful, fixing the angle of his hat so it exudes cool and casual. ]
As for the Storm - fuck if I know. [ Said, cheerfully. ] These guys seem to think so. At least we'll get some time to, uh, sit on a new a plan? One that might actually work. All I know is I got a pinkie promise out of it if I swore allegiance to their little science fair project, but they kind of had me over a barrel.
no subject
[Turns out Taako seems fine, the concern was wholly unwarranted. But now he's a little concerned on a different level.]
That's what I don't like about it. It's not like we wouldn't have helped take out this thing either way! After seeing what it can do? But the promising extra stuff, it sort of seems like - well, is that okay? I figured, well, maybe I'll just do what I would have done anyway, whatever seemed right, instead of what they want? And that way I'm not agreeing to anything that's - weird.
no subject
They promised everyone stuff. If they're going to hand out giftbags you might as well take one - I didn't sign anything, so it can't be binding. [Implying that there's some sort of legal system here to even enforce that with the, apparently, Gods he made a handshake deal with? Who knows. We all tell ourselves stuff to sleep at night. Or meditate deeply at night. Whatever Taako does.] If it works out, it works out. If it's bullshit, uh, we're alive?
no subject
[Of course, that doesn't mean he isn't afraid of being controlled. He knows he can resist once, but every day? For who knows how long? But he can try, that's really all he can do.]
We can keep each other honest.
no subject
[Magnus, sweet Magnus. Honesty - in words and in character - is not Taako's strong suit, and you must know this. You are playing a dangerous game. Still, he's not really one to take to be controlled all that well either, this is probably something he can actually be relied on for.
Now that Magnus seems to have been talked down off the Fighting The Storm with a Punch ledge, Taako is relaxing a little -
and that means he's back to the sword thing. He holds out his hands.]
Speaking of staying honest, I was serious. I just lent that to you, as a personal favor, it wasn't a gift.
no subject
Yeah, I know, but they took my armor, and my axe, and my lance, and everything. So I'm just going to keep it for now. I mean, come on. You don't want me running around without a weapon either; you'd have to do all the work.
no subject
Can't be that hard to find something new to whack enemies with. We can go back in there and break you off a chair leg, you'll be just fine.
no subject
[Or else he'll keep whining like this. Or maybe, if Taako keeps it up for long enough, he'll eventually realize that consistently throwing yourself in front of someone to protect them from damage probably gives you the right to take their really cool sword they only use as a fashion accessory. But he hasn't gotten all the way there yet.]
no subject
[ Dropping the fight for that exact reason. It's probably best that it never really occurs to Magnus that he might be owed anything for constantly throwing himself in front of danger to protect his frail wizard body. Without the bickering though, Taako trails off into a silence, shifting back into nervousness - twisting the end of an earring around one finger and scanning the room for anything that might divert the conversation. He has to break a lot of news, and isn't really sure where to start, or when to start. Or, frankly, why to start. Right now. ]
So. Uh. Hmm. That's settled then?
no subject
[He's still going to try to pull a 'no take backsies' whenever he gets his axe back, or else just hope Taako forgets or doesn't care anymore. On the other hand, he knows he's not going to out-stubborn Taako, so there's little point in not agreeing to it.]
So I guess you gotta give me the lowdown? Our whole, uh, break into the Bureau plan seems like it's on hold, forever...
no subject
[Clearing his throat, starting a few times before trailing off again, rolling his hands in a "hurry it up" motion like he's living in a montage. He's tried this before and it failed, but who knows, maybe it will work on a party member.]
And then, he told Magnus everything there was that he needed to know, and we all moved on and didn't have to talk about it any more today. That take? You got it? . . . No?
no subject
...No, sorry. I just heard you saying that.
[big TAZ spoilers itt from this point on u have been warned]
[He pauses, realizing one more thing he can birdwalk on before he has to dive on all that.]
You know what I just realized? Nice new body, by the way. I don't think I had a chance to say that. Got all caught up in the 'Gurt Moment and forgot - I'm assuming the blanks I'll have to fill in for you don't include the basics like "Magnus Burnsides: Taako's #1 fan and devotee," and how to like, wipe, and stuff?
no subject
[Flexing a bicep just to show it off. Still very big and muscular, in case Taako was at all worried that he might not be.]
Anyway, so, basically - I think when I was a mannequin, I was technically dead? And because I was dead, I was remembering a lot of stuff. Really fucked up stuff. But once I got back in this body, I couldn't remember any of it anymore. I remember everything else that happened, just not the stuff that I think was sort of voidfished out.
So, after we split up, what happened is I went back to see the voidfish again. Because I think last time, it was trying to tell me about the like, black stuff that's eating the other planes? So I think it showed me a little more about that and, mm, stuff about its kid and me being a redrobe and stuff? But I can't remember any of it. So anyway, at that point, something came and it attacked Johann and it attacked me. And I freed the voidfish and then I fought off about a hundred of them? Picture basically the dopest last stand you could ever imagine, it was like that, but better, but also a little worse because it was a mannequin. Anyway, eventually they killed me because I was in a shitty wooden body, and I woke up in my good new body, and I couldn't remember some things anymore, and I couldn't remember what attacked me in the voidfish's chambers even though they were still fucking attacking me. But I got your sword and killed even more of them, and then I just sort of started killing my way to come find you guys?
So that's where I'm at.
no subject
Alright. Well? Keep in mind here, I am not normally in charge of this stuff. This is not my bag! Taako is a appreciator of the art of expositional wordsmithing, but not a practitioner. We'll just ease into it. So, turns out there's another voidfish - a twist! You know, like the Prestige? We got Prestige'd. [Sort of. He does feel a bit like Hugh Jackman drowning in a box right now.] Me and Merle shotgunned that sweet shot of fishy piss or whatever we decided it was, because why not? No one ever accused us of being geniuses. Which means now Taako is the one in charge of all this knowledge, because no one else but you and me is awake and here to help me out.
We're all, uh, Redrobes. Not really our name, more commentary on our fashion choices - we're actually the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration. Don't ask me, I didn't come up with it, I could have done a better acronym than IPRE, but there you go. Space explorers! The seven of us: The Direc-- Lucretia, I'm not using that title anymore, come on. Davenport, Barry, as in Bluejeans, Merle, You, Me. And. Um. Lup? My sister. [ He struggles a little to get her name out, but there it is and he's not going to let it sit for long, barrelling forward before he's asked any more direct questions about that mess for right now. ] We all set out to try and explore other dimensions, some lofty shit that gets you grants, you know? I think maybe most of us just wanted to maybe go off the grid in a new and exciting way. Really raise the bar on skipping town. Turns out as soon as we headed out, our world got nailed by that black stuff.
The black stuff is called The Hunger, by the way. Or the Storm, I guess they're calling it here? As far as I can tell, it seems like the same thing. And it was chasing us, and the thing called the Light of Creation - again, I was not put in charge of these names - across all these planes for a friggin' century. We'd get somewhere new, try and find the Light for a year, then bug out before it caught up and ate that plane. Every time we'd sort of regenerate? Even if you died. Right back on our ship, and we'd be somewhere new. And it was just that, over and over and over, trying to get this Light and study it and whatnot, and then hitting the pavement as the Hunger caught up and tried to rip us a new one.
We got to our last stop - you know, that place we all thought was home - and we had a plan! It was a good plan, I mean. It wasn't terrible? But things went a little sideways on us. [ Kind of an understatement, but no one's here to call him on it. He can maybe put off the whole "we caused a destructive global war that cost thousands of lives" thing until after he's had a break.] Lucretia I guess thought she had a better idea. She, uh, got us to forget.
Basically, my life might be a lie, I think my sister is dead, we really, uh, fumbled the end zone play on our final stand against the Universe consuming entity we've been trying to fight for over a century, and this place doesn't have Key Lime GoGurt. They've never heard of it. It sucks. My entire sort of brain area feels like it met the bad of a baseball bat in an alleyway?
So that's where I'm at.
no subject
[I mean, what do you say to all of that. His face kind of screws up a little, like he's having trouble processing it. It sounds completely insane, obviously, but also, he can remember remembering things that were completely insane, so, it tracks? It's not disbelief, it's just difficult to get his mind around.
There are a lot of questions running through his mind that he wants to ask. Does this mean Lucretia is evil? Are any of their memories even real? If he trained to fight the hunger for 100 years, how jacked did he get? Also, are you, like, okay right now? Though he might not be the most tactful person, he gets that Taako is dancing around the topic of his sister, and that sounds pretty heavy. He knows all too well what it's like to lose someone important to you, but not what it's like to forget you lost them in the first place.
But he doesn't voice any of this because it all seems either not quite the right thing to say, or at least not what Taako wants to hear.]
So then I guess it's end zone play final stand take two? Me and you, classic team up.
no subject
[Taako most definitely realizes he sounds like a rambling lunatic, so he's fine with Geez! as the big reaction he gets. It could be worse. Jinkies, Scoob. Zoinks. Anyway, sorry buddy, but you'd reset any sick gains you made every year so there was a limit to how ultra-jacked you could get. A hard jacking limit. As for the other questions, Taako can get there eventually, but there's a lot to unpack. About six episodes worth?]
Don't ask me any tough questions about sports rules here, but I don't think that's how it works. Think we might be back at the scrimmage line, and more than half our team is out on chronic popsicle leave.
[ Sports??? Good enough. It could be encouraging to hear that at least Taako still thinks they're on the field instead of taking his ball and going the fuck home to give up forever. ]
no subject
[Said in a trying to keep it light kind of way; yeah, these odds all seem pretty bad? And if anything, the loss of their planet hits him harder, since no matter what Taako might tell them about going to new worlds, letting them get devoured, and peacing out of existence, he can't wrap his mind around what that actually feels like. Sure, their friends are safe, but it's that odd experience of knowing, hey, that nice old guy at the bank that time? He's dead. That town, where you had a great evening once drinking at the tavern? It's gone. A little like what it was like when Raven's Roost was destroyed. Speaking of which, that's even more gone now than it was before. It's not okay, and it's hard to try and be optimistic when he actually wants to go be angry.
Thank god Taako is here to pull him back a little, or he really would go run after it all with a flaming sword. Speaking of... ]
Oops, hang on a sec. I'm getting word the hug train is coming into Taako station! And it seems someone's cut the brakes?? Oh no, it can't be stopped by any mortal man??? Hold on for your life!
[Yeah. C'mere, buddy.]
no subject
Taako goes completely still in self-defense, arms pinned to his side and just accepting whatever is happening right now, which is a weird overly strong hug from a shirtless guy in cargo shorts. They've hit rock bottom, might as well lean into it. ]
Is this helping? Is this how you process? Tell me when you're done.
[ The most Magnus will get in return is one very awkward hand reaching up to sort of. Pat him on the back. Is that what you're supposed to do in these situations. ]
no subject
[Holding him very gently and tightly in a big warm bear hug, rubbing a comforting circle on his back. Basically the warmest and nicest hug you will ever receive in your life. And, after thirty seconds, pulling away. There's definitely some smudged Gogurt on Taako's stupid forever 21 clothes now.]
Okay, done. Anyway. So, what exactly was the director - Lucretia? What was she trying to do? Was she evil?
no subject
He just shakes his head at the "was she evil" question. He doesn't have the most insight of all of them into what she did, exactly - from his perspective it was a bit of a blindsiding and he's only started putting the pieces together, but he really doubts Lucretia's capacity for evil. Figuring out what went down, and why, isn't incredible difficult to logic out. It's possible to tell the question shakes him a little because he doesn't seem to care all that much about being 'gurt smeared.]
Um, nah. Not evil. [The opposite. Taako himself doesn't exactly have the credentials to be able to easily explain the concept of loving your dumb family so much you'll do anything for them, though. Voicing that sort of thought requires a few more levels in Emotional Intelligence he just doesn't have.] Like I said, our plan. Hm. Went kind of off the rails. She . . . uh, tried to fix it for us. I don't know, maybe she'll wake up and you can interrogate her yourself?
no subject
[Since it's obvious Taako doesn't really want to explain, and it's not important. All he really wanted was to know how to feel about it. If Taako thinks it's complicated but not evil, then that's good enough.]
I just mean, well, would her plan have worked? We're going to have to figure out a new plan, at least, although we don't need to get into right this second.
no subject
[ That might be kind of dope actually. Why didn't he think of that earlier. I mean there's the downside Magnus might get emotional insight into Taako's personal perspective on it, which has a lot of potential Yikes involved, but if he practiced enough he could probably hum some Kenny Loggins over the cool parts and it'd look pretty sick?]
As for her plan, I think you can kind of see the outcome of that yourself? We're here, aren't we? Kind of implies taking an L on that one, homie.
no subject
[But, okay, he hasn't wanted to mess too much around with this stuff, it seems unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but still, it's going to eat at him if he doesn't ask.]
Hey Taako? How does the hundred years thing work in with all the other memories we have? Like, were those faked as part of the plan...?
no subject
Oh, nah, all that shit is real. All this other stuff is just the surprise prequel you didn't ask for, like Wolverine. You know how the Fish works [sort of], it can only take things out of your head, not make up a decade wholecloth and implant it.
[Don't worry man, turns out THB imploded their lives just fine on their own, no fakes needed.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)