❪ test drive: #1 - the overflow ❫

[natha]

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

Comments

[valcurie]

( Angela just nods at that. 'Us': so Ana never stopped thinking about herself as one of them, she hopes, and if she were a more petty person she might think something different of Ana, perhaps, that in fact it may not have been easy for anyone but it was easier for some than others. That she left under cover of her death made Ana--weaker, lesser, older, far more fragile. But Angela also has respect for the woman, so it's unlikely she'd think such imperious things. She isn't a martyr, but nor is there a point in making such an assessment because the balance doesn't matter. With hindsight, she can see that. Whether or not Ana was there Morrison and Reyes were two forces on a collision course.

She walks past, the only noise her heels' incisive clicking resonating in the quiet cavernous room. Very gently, with a measure of respect, she places her hand on the pod and wonders for a moment. So this is the woman that young child had grown into. A young woman Angela would be happy to rouse, if she knew how. )

I wanted to make sure you knew how I felt when everything was said and done. That I don't think, in the end, there would have been a way to salvage that organisation.

( After considering the last bit of what Ana said, she turns around and faces the woman. ) I laid my heart bare in those reports. ( 'My conscious is clear,' she would add, but that's already explicit. ) Do you know something, Ana?

[nanamari]

It's gone now, and I doubt it's coming back. If I knew anything - even if it couldn't stop what was happening to Overwatch - do you really think I wouldn't have tried to help them?

[ Not just Jack and Gabriel, but all of the people she'd cared for, who had been caught up in the collateral damage. There was no magical piece of the puzzle that she could have provided, and at the time she wasn't in any kind of shape to be anyone's support through the aftermath.

That probably isn't all of what Angela is asking about, but it's all that she's willing to say. That Jack and Gabriel are alive is - not currently relevant.

She turns to Fareeha, though she's still speaking to Angela. ]

Do you think there's anything you can do for her?

[valcurie]

No, nothing like that, Ana. I just wonder if maybe you were able to learn something, given your outside prospective. It is hard to see the forest for the trees when you are lost in its tangled branches.

( She's not suspicious, or accusing, she's just someone who knows better, now. Someone who wouldn't be surprised if not everything was as it seemed. Ana, after all, isn't dead, so what other ghosts, she wonders, might come back to haunt her, even though the world is supposedly over?

Then, more quiet: ) I hope there will be soon. One of them--Darma, asked me to help people. ...Even if we're not sure what's going to happen, do you want her to wake up?

[nanamari]

[ She doesn't even think about the question. She looks at the stasis unit and nods. ] It's what she would want.

[ That's all there is to it. Whether Ana wants that or not isn't really relevant. She knows her daughter well enough to know Fareeha would want to be conscious to do what she could, no matter the cost in the end.

She shrugs. ] As for learning anything... Well, I'm the same fool now as I was then. You know what they say: it's hard for an old dog to learn new tricks.

What about you, Angela? Learn anything interesting these past few years?

[valcurie]

( She may also have wanted to know you're alive, Angela thinks, but doesn't say, because she doesn't know all the details of that situation. She does know better than to get involved. Instead, she just understands the place from which Ana is coming. )

I will do what I can to help her, Ana. ( She means it as a heartfelt promise, to reunite a mother with her daughter as soon as she is able.

She gives a small laugh at the expression. ) Interesting is subjective, unfortunately. ( What can she say? She hasn't done anything grand, anything exciting, and her contact with anyone else has primarily been in the form of private personal communication. ) I've learnt to have an appreciation for sponges.

[nanamari]

Thank you. [ She means it sincerely, even if Angela is only helping for Fareeha's sake, or her own integrity, Ana won't forget this. ]

Am I going to regret asking you to elaborate?

[valcurie]

You're welcome, Ana. Being able to help is it's own reward.

( After that she smiles at Ana. Not an unfriendly one, but she's going to have a bit of sass to give. ) Well, if someone wanted to weaponise them, I think they'd be disappointed. Otherwise, they make impressively effective emergency wound packing. Like packing peanuts for the human body.

I think possibly for omnics too, though I am not sure how long they would plug up oil.

[nanamari]

[ Well, she sort of deserved that one. Mercy has always been strictly against her research being weaponized, but that had been an inevitability from the moment she started working with Overwatch. They were too closely linked to various military organizations to not give ground somewhere. It was just that they disagreed on where that ground should have been given. ]

I don't know, I might be able to integrate them into my rifle. [ She's kidding, mostly. ] Is that what you've been doing all this time? Still finding innovative ways to help people?

[valcurie]

Well, I don't plan on sharing the information, so it'd certainly be a bit of a challenge. ( Which is really what she has to say about that. Ana may think she's overly idealistic, but Mercy can be pragmatic too. That's not what smarts the most. It's the blatant disregard she was shown by people whom she trusted--over and over again she spoke her mind, and yet they insisted the inevitable would't happen, as if they knew better than her naïveté. But everyone from then is either dead or asleep, or talking with her now, she thinks. )

Something like that. I was invited to Oasis, but I wasn't much use there.

[nanamari]

Fair enough. [ She's not going to push. She certainly doesn't expect Angela to trust her with that kind of thing, after everything. ]

I find that hard to believe. [ Her brow furrows a little. Angela is probably being too hard on herself. ] What happened?

[valcurie]

( As ambivalent and Angela might be feeling towards Ana, damn, does Ana still know her. These have felt like long years to her; it's almost hard to believe she's changed that little.

She's quiet, rubbing her arm a moment as she gives it some thought. She's not sure how much Ana knows about Oasis, though she does know the older woman will see through any excuse immediately. ) I was too suspicious. Something that won't come as a surprise to you, I'm sure. Only this time, I was so rigid, I broke off the relationship before even signing a contract.

[nanamari]

[ Ana doesn't know much about what's been happening outside of Egypt, even when it's as close as Iraq. It's a choice she's made over and over in the years she's been dead - not to dig, not to be involved - but that doesn't mean she hasn't kept track of the broad strokes.

She knows that she can speak her mind freely now that she isn't a reflection of Overwatch, but she still chooses her words when she speaks to Angela, out of habit. ]

I'm in no position to talk about how you use your work or don't. But I will say that if you had reservations, well... [ Ana shrugs. ] You have good judgement about these things. You should trust it.

[ Angela had her reservations about Overwatch too and, though Ana isn't particularly apologetic on that front, she doesn't think Angela was wrong. ]

[valcurie]

( As stubborn and staunch as Angela can be, and how carefully picked Ana's work are, her head still falls, the straightness of her back slackens. There's just something about being talked to like this again, mentored, really, when she thought it would never happen to her again.

It's been over half a decade. She has saved hundreds of lives. And yet she can feel so small. It hadn't really occurred to her how poorly her decision to cut and run weighed on her until now. When she'd caught the faintest scent of corporation and potential patenting, she'd up and fled like a thief into the night into the safety of NGO obscurity. She had regretted it for a bit, before moving on and settling for what was her calling.

But could she have managed to do more? If she weren't so tired, so actually jaded, could she have sucked up her wounded pride and actually put up a worthwhile fight?

Whether Ana can help absolve her of this or not, it doesn't really matter now. ) That's what you did, isn't it? You gave up being stubborn against your own good sense? ( Oddly enough, she looks up now with a shrug. ) It is an interesting idea. I do try to be open-minded, so I might try it some time.

[nanamari]

[ Ana has missed this too, in her own way. It's easy to be dragged down into the same hopeless thoughts that had kept her in bed far more effectively than her injuries, even now that she's trying to put herself back to work. She forgets sometimes, why they did all of it to begin with. That they had wanted to create opportunities, inspire confidence, and ultimately to let people like Angela change the course of the world for the better.

It had almost worked.

Ana shrugs, noncommittal. She's never liked talking about herself. ]

You're a bright young woman. Other doors like that will be open to you - or you'll make them yourself.

can i get things i thought i responded to 500

[valcurie]

( That's another thing they share. As much as Angela likes to nag others with things that she thinks {and actually are!} right, and as much as she will talk when she disagrees with something, she actually doesn't enjoy going on at length about herself and all that that entails. Over the past few years she has become even less practised at condensing parts of her life into interesting anecdotes that can hold, generate, and propel conversation.

As such, she just takes what Ana says and stands there quietly for a time, thinking about it. Eventually, she turns to the older women with something of a smile. )

You're right as always. ( No surprise there. Angela take a few steps away and begins to turn. ) I guess I will just have to see what doors I can open here. I will leave you to the moment I interrupted. ( The one shared with her daughter. Angela makes a vague gesture that isn't needed about this, it's something like a wave, but in the end it becomes nothing. She isn't sure how to say goodbye. Was it good to see her again? It's honestly hard to say. )

I will see you again, Ana.

[nanamari]

[ Ana gives her a wry smile. She hasn't been right about a lot of things lately, but she appreciates the vote of confidence. It was good to see her again, despite the circumstances, despite the mixed feelings between them.

She'll keep an eye on her when she can, and not just for Fareeha's sake. Too many of the people she used to know have been lost to their own pain, or worse. She's glad that Angela isn't so fargone. ]

I hope so. [ She nods, instead of waving. It feels strange for her too.

When Angela is gone, she returns to her daughter. ]