thirstology | TEST DRIVE MEME #8

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test drive meme

TEST DRIVE MEME #8

test drive 8.0

The world has shifted. Or maybe you’ve shifted? Either way, things have changed, and it’s going to be quite a while before you see them change back again.

BASICS

You were going about your business as usual until the world went white around you, and when the fog cleared: Oska. You've arrived in a snag of reality between worlds, the full extent of which can be read about here. But in essence, you’ve arrived in a grand, magical, almost empty castle. Outside the castle is an empty, long-abandoned village, partially in ruin. Past that, the world simply fades out into white mist. Your best bet is probably to stick to the castle and its grounds.

Suits of armor patrol the quiet hallways, but good luck getting them to speak or answer any questions. There’s absolutely nothing inside them, they move under their own power. They don’t talk, but they also go out of their way not to hurt you. You can even attack one, it will just patiently wait for you to give up and leave. If, however, you ask one for directions, it will dutifully turn and lead the way to wherever you’ve requested.

Librarians lurk in the halls of the enormous, well-stocked library, in which you can find nearly any book from nearly any world. The librarians are tall, wide, and very muscular, but they’re also not out to hurt you. Provided you play nice, of course. The usual rules apply: be respectful of the books, keep your voice lowered, and never bring any source of flame into the library. That last one might make the librarians reconsider their nonviolent natures.

Outside, there's a greenhouse with every type of flora you can imagine (and more, since they're from all over the universe) — be careful, though, because not all of them are friendly. If you'd like to take a dip, you can check out the lake; just be friendly to the fish. You can catch sight of almost any animal you'd like in the stables, real-world or fantasy. Most of them have been tamed, and won't do any real harm. However, some of them can be a bit testy. Stay away from the unicorns unless you have perfect manners — they hate impoliteness.

Current characters in game can assume that the Timeline glitched and sent them temporarily back to Oska. You are welcome to take any threads that happen here as game canon, should both parties arrive in game. Threads done here by prospective players may be used as application samples, and threads done by current players may be used as Bonus AC.

PROMPTS

ONE ✗ THE KITCHEN
The kitchen is always stocked with food, freshly cooked and ready to be eaten — although there was no one to do the cooking, and it might just be you to do the eating. That doesn’t seem to discourage the kitchen in the slightest, which is constantly churning out new, fresh courses. Some of them are more innocent than others today.

That tart you just ate? It was harpfruit, native to Cendiares, and has a pesky side effect of making the eater blurt out everything that pops into their head. The completely average-looking salad actually has flakes of Raphian wildflowers, which cause a bit of dancing fever — it isn't contagious, but it does make the sufferer want to dance with everyone they can. The choices and effects are endless and up to you, and don't worry; ALASTAIR is working on getting the kitchen under control as we speak.

TWO ✗ THE TRAINING CENTER
Maybe you find your way into the Training Center. A lot of work went into setting this room up, and it can construct nearly any scenario that you can imagine. All it takes to activate this room, still and featureless until it comes to life, is the brush of a finger against one of the glowing pads on the wall. The magitek will take it from there.

Just envision the setting and any enemies you’d like to train against, and they’ll instantly materialize. Would you rather go sightseeing, without worrying about a fight? No problem! The room is eager to provide you with a sparring partner, but it can be convinced to hold off -- just don’t think of getting into any fights. The Training Center also offers any games you can think of: soccer, basketball, literal freeze tag, etc. Every supply you need will be simulated for you.

Additionally, the following scenarios are also preloaded into the system for user convenience, each coming with a small summary of mission objectives:

ANWICK: A ruined little village with a massive, dead dragon skewered in the center of it. The goal is to protect her young in a nearby cave. The terrain is treacherous, the wyrmlings are squirmy and unhelpful, and the townsfolk are furious. But for good reason -- it seems dragons have been plaguing them for decades. Even the simulation’s enemies are programmed to say as much, and will do their best to convince you to their side.

CHANTES: Chantes, Audentes' first mission, is a typical medieval town cloaked in darkness and surrounded by a winding forest. It comes in two default flavors and difficulty settings. Fairies are the easier enemy; the objective is to collect three jars of unpleasant, glowing sap from their nests without getting your eyes poked out. The fairy goop can also cause disturbances with magical powers, unwanted levitation, and unfortunate cosmetic effects.

Demons are the more difficult setting. The task is to clear ominous runes off of various town structures, but when approached, each one releases a red, misty spirit. It will fight tooth and nail to protect its ‘home,’ but is largely invulnerable short of destroying its rune. To prevent this, it may resort to spells, violence, and possessing someone else in the simulation -- consider this a lesson in PvP. (NOTE: You’re also welcome to use anything from the previous events from Chantes as well.)

OSKA TRAINING: The goal in this simulation is simple: outlast the timer. It’s exactly the same castle, but after it’s been pelted by a firestorm, architecture ruined to rubble and ash. Navigating the half-destroyed castle is hard enough, and the earthquakes and fireballs raining from the sky will continue until characters survive for a certain amount of time (from an hour to a day) or find a full bushel’s worth of food. And just to rub salt in the wound, all the dirt, grime, and mud in this simulation will last outside of it, so you might need a shower after.

NALAWI: An island nation populated by diminutive deer people. The first setting is a mini version of the Gilligan's Island event -- it's less action-packed and more focused on survival. Marooned on the drowned island of Dakal, it's up to you to figure out where to find food and shelter. You might also want to avoid the hungry sea creatures that have made their way up on the island, too.

The second setting involves lava monsters erupting out of Nalalona, the largest volcano on the Nalawi islands. Lava imps will do their best to hypnotize recruits into following them back into the volcano, and can be defeated the normal way or non-violently lured into the water. Next comes the fire golems, hulking but fast. Their weak spot is their glowing core, but it will require some cleverness to reach. (NOTE: You're welcome to use any scenarios based on other Nalawi events as well!)

ZETA-12: Oh boy, a whole planet to explore! The objective here is simple: protect your delicate goo baby at all costs. Luckily for you, the simulation has seen fit to skip over the frozen wastes! Your first challenge is crossing the deep forest: carnivorous plants try to get a bite out of you, but that isn't the worst part. Eventually, you come to a deep chasm, and have to choose between forcing your wailing, distressed squidge across, or soothing it for several hours until it's willing to go with you.

Scenario two is a thick bog inhabited by an aggressive plant monster. It spits a crippling neurotoxin, so anyone attempting to fight it should be wary. Outsmarting or avoiding it would be best for the squidges' well-being, but some people are too hot-blooded for that. What will you do?

Finally, there's the desert; it's picturesque, but only if you can ignore the dehydration and punishing heat. There's a cave network for you to seek shelter in, but make no mistake: pretty soon a freak meteor shower causes a cave-in and leaves you trapped inside with an increasingly aggressive squidge. Are you out there dodging meteors or navigating caverns?

PERDITION'S REST: This is a mining colony on a planet known only as Q-65, populated solely by an alien race who have come to mine the planet for argecite, a mineral required for their survival. Members of the fundamentalist group called the Deemers have been outed as Taraxa, slug-like brain parasites who belong to ALASTAIR's rival group, Zymandis. The parasites infect unwilling hosts and leave them a husk.

The first scenario brings you to Boneyard Junction, an abandoned town at the end of the rail line that is half-sunken into the desert, surrounded by Deemers. The goal is to incapacitate your foes without killing the host body; if a Deemer is killed, a loud buzzer goes off. Use whatever tactics you need to, just keep them alive.

The second scenario takes you inside the mine, where several workers are trapped. The objective is to find them and bring them back to the surface, which is made a little more difficult by the large, hungry sand worms slithering in the depths. You'll need to get rid of them to save the miners, but be mindful of the fracking equipment, please!

WOODHURST: A sprawling suburb in an alternate Earth circa 1993, Woodhurst is besieged by the Bristol Virus, an infection that is spread by fluid contact. In addition to physical symptoms, its sufferers show heightened irritability and hunger in the later stages of the infection, including cannibalistic tendencies. Because of Woodhurst's "mundane" state, all recruits will be cloaked to appear human so as not to startle the native population. This is considered an advanced training scenario!

In the first scenario, you must find clues in the hospital as to the origin of the virus and who is responsible. The hospital workers will bar the way for any civilians merely strolling in, so you'll either need to go unseen or be very good at lying and disguises.

The second scenario is set during the final stage of Woodhurst, in which a large portion of the population is infected. Your task here is to ensure the safety of civilians while injecting any infected you encounter with a cure. (For the purposes of this exercise, your cure syringes are automatically set to limitless, but you may adjust the module to make it more challenging.) You will gain points for how many deaths you prevent and infected you cure, and you will lose points for killing infected or allowing civilians to die.

LERAMZEN: A futuristic, luxurious city located on the planet Perun, Leramzen is nestled at the foot of a mountain and is currently undergoing its dark winter with nights lasting eighteen hours. Luckily, nightlife in Leramzen is particularly lively, with many clubs, restaurants, and theaters to visit. Of particular note is the Lyushny Theatre, which hosts the galaxy-famous Lyushny Ballet, and the State History Museum -- which holds a giant diamond on display.

The name of the game in this scenario is diamond heist, where you attend a fancy gala (complete with holographic fancy outfit) and must move through the museum without being noticed by gala attendees or guards. Positions available include Distraction, Infiltration, Hacker, and Lookout. If you're a jack-of-all-trades, try Support and fill whatever role is needed. Each simulation begins with 100 points, with points being subtracted for each time you arouse suspicion. A game over will result if your points reach 0.

THREE ✗ HOT SPRINGS EPISODE
One of ALASTAIR's teams extracted an enormous, very hot core from a sentient and murderous AI. What better way to put it to use than to heat up the springs? It's a nice place to get some much needed R&R or just hang out. Some enterprising recruits have built wooden decks and stairs around and through the whole affair. It's a little bit of a hike to get there from the castle, but anyone who has visited can agree: it's worth it.

FOUR ✗ THE NETWORK
There is some good news, along with all these bizarre and fantastical new sights: you’ve arrived with a new piece of jewelry which, if examined, gives you access to anyone else that might be currently inhabiting Oska. You can speak into the jewelry and be heard, you can get it to project moving images of yourself and others, you can even think a message into it and have it arrive as written word to whoever you’re communicating with. It’s a useful little trinket, provided you can get it to work.

FIVE ✗ CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE
You are free to use any of these settings, or anything from the Settings Page. You may use any virtually created setting you can think of in the Training Center, even scenes from your character’s world (although they’ll be devoid of people, unless they’re brought in as opponents).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[in response to the quick subject change, Akira merely flashes 9S a grin. but it fades quickly as he focuses his attention on the question afterwards]

Definitely not a local. Though if you have to ask that question, then at least my camouflage is working.

[handwave, handwave!]

You're the same? Someone else who tripped through a rip in time and space?

... Camouflage?

[ He utters the words under his breath, puzzled. Was there something obvious he was missing? Argh, there's just way too much 9S doesn't know for his liking. He's used to data collecting, and for as much as he loves to discover the unknown, right now it's almost daunting how much he has to catch up on. In a way, he feels as though he's at a disadvantage.

Well. One thing at a time. ]

Oh. Err, yeah. Supposedly, as of a few hours ago. Never heard of a phenomena like this happening before.

[oh, lord]

I was-- I wasn't being serious.

[when people take jokes literally, cry. Akira rubs the back of his neck and lets out a thoughtful hum. MOVING ON]

And neither have I, honestly.

[even if the concept of "different worlds" wasn't too foreign to Akira, considering the Metaverse, everything about ALASTAIR and Oska seemed to be pulled straight out of a science fiction novel]

Actually, where I come from, most people would probably write off this entire thing as "impossible."

Edited 2017-09-17 00:27 (UTC)

[ LOOK HERE, BUDDY, IT'S BEEN A CONFUSING DAY ON TOP OF HAVING A BAD TIME LATELY, LEAVE HIM ALONE......

More seriously though, it may be tough to catch the subtle pinch in his expression, but rest assured it's there. Jeez...

Luckily for the both of them, he doesn't mind moving on. If anything, there's a certain few words in there that quickly catch 9S' attention. ]

Impossible, huh... I wonder. [ History was pretty damn vast and crazy, and that's only from what minimal knowledge of human civilization 9S has. ] Say... where are you from?

[ He knows what the answer likely is, because there's only one place humans originate from. Never hurts to confirm anything, though. ]

[his answer comes immediately]

Tok-- [but he cuts himself off soon after when he realizes he should probably be a little more general with a group of people drawn from the far reaches of the universe. does this guy even know what Tokyo is? does Tokyo even exist where he comes from?]

. . . Earth? [WHY DOES HE SOUND SO UNSURE] Yeah, definitely Earth, and that's the first time I've ever had to answer that question that way.

Congratulations.

[on being the first to get that response, he means. it's kind of weird!!]

And that's the first time I've had to ask that question that way.

[ But it's confirmed: he's from Earth, which means he had to be someone of the Old World...

A part of 9S is delighted to know there's people like them, truly around. Maybe... this Oska place isn't so bad. ]

... But, hey—that makes the two of us? From there. [ Well, somewhat. 9S has spent most of his life in the Bunker. Close enough. ] Did people really think this was impossible? To be honest, I can't imagine anyone I know could have even dreamed of this scenario to deem it impossible in the first place.

From Earth? [a quirked brow, and now he's pushing a bit, just to make sense of things] And you're surprised to see an organic organism?

[last time he checked, most living things on Earth were organic. what kind of Earth did this guy come from. . .?]

Of course they'd think it impossible. Traveling through dimensions, multiple worlds and rifts in space-time. . . most people are under the impression that such things are purely fictional.

[he makes sure to separate himself from "most people," of course, if Nines would pick up on something like that]

—Huh? Oh! Oh. [ Right, that... ] Not in general. [ He knows flora very well, and he's seen some animals, however few they may be. ] Just people. I wasn't sure if you were actually human.

[ And, lo. He was.

The next explanation gets a thoughtful hum out of 9S, laced with a sense of wonder. ]

I see... We never really talked about stories like that back home. The very idea of any of that never crossed my mind.

[both of those responses give Akira pause as a few conclusions click into place in his head. one: this guy isn't human. two: there aren't any humans on the Earth from which he hails. three: everything Akira considered to be a part of a normal, human life? this guy hadn't experienced]

[talk about broadening one's horizons, huh]

[he pulls up a lopsided smile, shifting from one foot to the next]

The Earth you come from is definitely way different than the one I know.

[way different]

Akira, by the way.

Yeah. It sure is.

[ There's no uncertainty in his response; 9S says this with an unwavering firmness. It's a fact he knows all too well. ]

... Ah, right— You can call me 9S.

9S.

[he repeats, like he isn't sure whether that's a name or a title or a model number. ah. . . huh]

Can I ask you a question?

[he has so many. why hasn't he seen humans before, if he's not human than what is he, what is it like where he comes from--]

[he lifts a hand and jerks a thumb towards 9S's blindfold instead]

How can you see through that thing, anyway?

—What?

[ Honestly, of all things, that wasn't a question he was expecting. If anything... he kind of doesn't get why it warrants asking. ]

They're my goggles. I can see through them just fine.

[ Look, I know. Just work with me here okay. ]

[he's keeping it light!! all of his other questions are super serious]

Seriously?

[???!?!?!]

It's not a blindfold?

[ No one's ever questioned this before, okay... Other androids get him. ]

There'd be no point in purposefully impairing your vision, right?

[OTHER ANDROIDS ARE WEIRD]

Not if the sensory deprivation is part of some sort of combat training.

[a beat]

Or so the movies tell me.

[movies about ninjas and shit? he's pretty sure he's seen a movie where a budding ninja fought a bunch of dudes blindfolded]

—The movies?

[ To which Pod helpfully intervenes: ] Analysis: A story or event recorded by camera as a set of moving images. Used by humans as a form of entertainment, they were referred to as "movies".

Oh, I see now. [ Like any recording, but... for leisure. Must be nice. ] I don't know what these movies told you, but I have a hunch it's not quite right. My sensors were built to be top notch, after all—aaand I'm not exactly made for combat, anyway.

You're telling me that movies lie?

[he lets out a faux gasp, clutching at his shirt over his heart in a stupidly dramatic fashion]

Spare me the truth; I'm not sure I can take it.

[. . .]

Just kidding. [annnd he's normal again. and saying that, just in case 9S was going to take him seriously again] You said "made," so. . . an android of some kind?

[he looks too advanced to be a simple robot]

[ Oh my god. 9S nearly does, 'cause hell, he's not used to people just... joking around and being silly. No fun allowed for YoRHa units and all, emotions were prohibited blah blah blah...

Or maybe humans were simply weirder than he thought.

It's both that and the question Akira poses that has 9S giving off a sense of surprise; he rubs at the back of his neck sheepishly. ]

That's right, an android. ... You couldn't tell?

[ It's easy for 9S to say, but then again, he's never had a human to compare himself to. For all they're modeled after them—even in ways that seem illogical for them to be—he always imagined the differences would be obvious. ]

[hang around Akira long enough 9S and you'll learn the ways of his terrible sense of humor]

You look human enough. [but, that said] It was only obvious you weren't from the way you were staring.

Wow.

[ That's sincere, by the way. ]

I, uh—I guess that's a good thing. There's more people around, right? I wonder if others would say the same, too... I'll try not staring next time.

You can stare, I'd just learn to be a little more subtle about it.

[he grins and kicks at the ground idly]

Cut some holes in a newspaper or something. No one would figure you out then.

[ ???? (here we go again) ]

I'm not really sure how cutting holes in paper helps anything.

[. . .]

[well he guesses Nines is right; that method didn't really help Makoto]

Common surveillance method. Pretend you're reading a newspaper while actually watching your target through a set of holes cut out in the middle.

[. . .]

I'm losing my touch, here. . .

[ Considering you're telling this to someone whose entire lot in life entailed surveillance... ]

You can't be serious. Is that actually common? There's no way a method like that should work.

[ SORRY AKIRA ]

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