TEST DRIVE MEME #4.

[futurologists]

test drive 4.0 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 went 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, the previous mission world, 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!) 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).

Comments

rey / star wars

[forcevisions]

KITCHENS:

[ Even after the Resistance picked her up defacto, Rey ate like she was starving, and the consistent availability of food in Oska never seemed to fully sink in for her; she'd simply spent too much of her life going without, and her brain was wired that way now.

Most of it was unfamiliar—fruits and dried meats that were never available in the barren wasteland of Jakku, where only sour meat of local animals and grain expanded from a fine powder could feed the people there. Nothing would grow. It appeared ALASTAIR had greater access, despite what they said about not having the energy to return people to their homes. She was as glad for the food as she was for the chance to get some understanding of so many different places through it. ]

The world this came from, [ She asked as she gnashed the meat of a harpfruit between her teeth, ] Does it still exist because of ALASTAIR?

NETWORK

Just how do these necklaces work? Has anyone been able to crack them open and make sense of it? I haven't found any wires or speakers yet, but it's like it's plugged into our minds somehow.

network; text; username: OKAMI

[whatshimadayou]

I am far from being that technically savvy, but I had been under the impression that it was some sort of mix of magic and electronics.
Though I do not expect to be right. It works, and that is enough for me.

username: FALCON

[forcevisions]

Magic? They're saying it's magic, and you're not the slightest bit curious?

[whatshimadayou]

Magic is not so unfamiliar to me. Curious as I may be, how am I to be the one to unravel it?

[forcevisions]

All magic means is that we don't understand how it works yet. Surely someone who's been in Oska longer must, though; someone had to create them.

[whatshimadayou]

The common words of a scientist. How amusing.
Undoubtedly. Ask for them, if you must.

[forcevisions]

I wouldn't claim the title, but I know my way around a comm system well enough to know that the insides of it shouldn't be so easy to disguise in baubles and jewels.

[whatshimadayou]

It was not meant a disrespect, either. I suppose I am just adapted to the idea of magic and to accept it.
I wish you luck in observing what you wish to understand.

[forcevisions]

Adapted to the idea of magic? Is there a great deal that you attribute to magic, where you're from?

kitchens i am so sorry

[competing]

[ lance hadn't actually realized there was another person in the kitchens with him — he had actually mistaken the sound of rey's fervent eating for some dishwasher or garbage disposal going off (or breaking) — and so when she finally speaks up, he very nearly jumps out of his own skin.

that is, till he gets a look at who's asking.

he calls himself the fastest pilot in space (keith notwithstanding), but even the speed he reaches with his blue lion has got nothing on the breakneck pace with which it takes him to whirl around and fix himself up to look A+ presentable (though there is still a bread crumb on his cheek...) ]

Heeeeey there... [ wait what was she talking about?

he blinks down at the fruit in her hand, then at the rest of her plate, nearly spilling over with an assortment of foods. ]

Uh. You're gonna have to be a bit more specific, beautiful.

[ GOD HE'S SO CHARMING ISN'T HE SO CHARMING REY i am so sorry ]

oh goodness

[forcevisions]

[ As people to criticize the evidence of his messy eating go, Rey was low on the list, but consequently of the same indifference, when she looked at him, it lacked any of the girlishness or starry eyes that he was likely looking for. Instead, she focused primarily on answering his question, for getting to the point would mean getting her question answered.

That was her intention, at least. She got sidetracked quickly by— ] Beautiful? What does that have to do with anything? [ Isolation on Jakku had afforded very few opportunities for the sort of social interactions that would predispose a girl to brushing that sort of thing off, and fewer still of those that might lead her to feel complimented in the least. She huffed and dismissed it with a shake of her head. ]

I'm talking about the fruit. Obviously. [ That second part, Rey realized, she hadn't meant to come out, for it was rather snappish; after all, he'd more than likely just not realized she was talking to him right away. ] Do you know where it's from?

such a trooper, rey (thankfully not a storm one)

[competing]

[ to be blunt? "beautiful" has to do with everything. don't get him wrong, lance is a pretty stand up guy — he's not going to leave any old lady or whoever standing out in the lurch or anything like that — but studies have shown that there is definitely a distinct correlation between a person's looks and how willingly and enthusiastically he helps them. (aren't you lucky, rey...)

fortunately, lance is of a sound enough mind to know that putting it quite like that isn't going to fly (even to someone who appears to lack the social aptitude that rey does — not that he's judging or anything, he's been exposed to enough alien lifeforms that he's slowly but surely started thinking outside of his little earth-human sphere), and so instead of saying something crass like "everything, if you play your cards right" he'll go ahead and defer to: ]

Eyes like yours? It can be my everything.

[ ... though maybe the better option would have been not to say anything at all.

anyway, she does seem real concerned about that fruit, so he'll go ahead and actually be serious for the three seconds necessary to give the item in her hand a look-over, before leaning back with a thoughtful purse of his lips. ]

Can't say without putting a name to it, [ he answers. if he's got a name, then he can have a better idea of where to start looking in oska's huge library. ]

But if you're wondering about its planet, it's got to still exist, doesn't it? [ he doesn't know for sure, but he's working the math out in his head. ] That's ALASTAIR's whole shtick, isn't it? "Save the planet, save the timeline." That fruit's looking pretty fresh, so I can't imagine they'd get it in stock if the place it came from is kaput.

[ see sometimes he thinks with his upper head... ]

that just means she'll actually hit, ohhhhhhhh!!!

[forcevisions]

You can't have my eyes.

[ Because obviously, if he was so interested in them, it was some vulture-like behavior. Rey's answer was abrupt, reasonably so since she deemed the defense of her eyes necessary. She looked out of the corner of her eye at where her quarterstaff lay against the corner of the countertop. ]

It's close enough. I could reach it.

[ But she stopped short when she realized the words had come out aloud. Balking, she looked around, at Lance, at the staff, and down at the fruit. Was it some side effect of the magitek? That her thoughts were slipping out unchecked now? She was often blunt, true, but she could keep a secret, especially when it came to preparing for a fight. Slowly, she set the harpfruit down on the counter in front of her. ]

Something's wrong. I don't usually talk this much, certainly not everything I'm thinking. But it's like I can't stop it. [ Her gaze lifted quickly to Lance, accusation in it. ] What did you do?

ohhhh snap

[competing]

[ lance realizes sort of right away that there is more going on here than just simple miscommunication. there's definitely something a little... off about her — not quite odd, but not quite not odd either; more strange, but the kind of strange you feel when you start a movie midway and things are happening and it's interesting but you're also not quite sure what the heck is going on. frankly, it makes her a bit more endearing, in that lost lamb kinda way, though the way she's staring at that staff makes her more akin to a lost lion.

tbfh he kinda likes it. ]

I didn't do anything. [ his hands lift in that universal gesture of surrender, and he decides to drop the petname for now, not wishing to further agitate her. ] It must've been the fruit...

[ he tips his head towards the harpfruit in her hand, taking care to keep his tone steady. ]

I was by here earlier, eating one of the apples. Or what I thought was an apple, anyway. It made my face swell up ten times are large as usual. [ insert big head joke here. ]

How're you feeling?

ok but like this thread is hilarious marry me

[forcevisions]

Annoyed.

[ She answered abruptly, though to be fair, that one was hard to tell if it was the harpfruit or just Rey's personality. Shifting her attention from Lance, to the fruit, to Lance again, she studied him, as if estimating how his head was looking now. Was it— ]

Is it supposed to be smaller than that?

[ Not the point. But still, as wayward thoughts to get shared unintentionally go, not the worst. Strange as he was, she opted to trust him simply for the fact that there was no harm in it, here, and thus threw the remaining harpfruit into the sink as though it were poisonous. She stared down at it, then looked over at him. ]

Well, you're alright. It can't be all that bad or you'd be dead. [ Blunt enough to, again, be either the harpfruit or just her. ] Maybe they should have left this one on the world it came from.

oh gosh idk this is so sudden what will i tell my family how much money do you make

[competing]

[ well. on a list of things she could be feeling right now, "annoyed" is definitely not as bad as it could have been. he definitely takes it in stride, though... which is either telling of his resilience...

or his previous misfortunes with the fairer sex.

let's just say it's both. ]

No — what? No! My head's fine now. This is totally the right size it's supposed to be. [ DON'T MAKE HIM SECOND-GUESS THIS, REY, HE'D STARED IN A MIRROR FOR HOURS JUST MAKING SURE OF THIS.

anyway let's stop talking about his head before he gets self-conscious again. ]

Maybe that's why it's here. [ he gestures towards the tossed fruit. ] It was doing too much damage in its own world, so they removed it.

wait what was that last part

[forcevisions]

And put it in a kitchen where we'd eat it?

[ Rey made no secret of her ensuing scoff, but when she folded her arms under her chest right after, it at last made it apparent that she wouldn't go for her quarterstaff to bludgeon him over the head with it. So, you know, comparatively successful encounter. ]

That's the stupid idea I've ever heard.

[ Well, maybe. ]

How are we supposed to find anything to eat without wondering if it's some mine from an universe on the brink of apocalypse?

[ This is just offensive. She starts rifling through cupboards now because girl is a starving orphan leave her alone. ]

kitchens (still zooms in on this but i changed my mind)

[sololoquy]

[She looks different than he remembers her. No more kept, no less skiddish -- but Kylo Ren could hardly deny that several months without the scavenger in his midst had almost caused him to forget about her.

He could never truly forget about her, of course. It was not as if the Force-sensitive were still freely roaming about the galaxy. To public knowledge, he was the last there was and would ever be. She is no more than a satistic, and likely a bloodstain on the ground should she not see the futility of her resistence against him.

Whomever she had been speaking to had been quickly yanked out of the doorway once her voice had registered. And he stands there, helmetless and scarless to blink almost impassively at her. His lightsaber stays clipped to his belt. After all, FN-2187 and Poe Dameron had already joined them once. It was only a matter of time before she arrived as well.

And the circumstances between them all had not changed -- just the playing field.]

Most likely.

casually greets u with violence hello

[forcevisions]

[ Lance went flying out of the room, and with him, every ounce of uneasy calm that Rey had reached with in his company, and she startled to a straighter position, eyes widening and harpfruit forgotten, as the looming shadow of Kylo Ren took his place. The cold shock of dread curdled Rey's stomach, but anger quickly replaced it, as fresh as if they had only just flown from the crumbling supernova of Starkiller Base. ]

You.

[ Here, in the last place she could fathom meeting him, Han Solo's murderer behaving for all to see as if he held some considerable position in Oska with ALASTAIR, throwing other recruits around with the Force without consideration for who might stop him. Here, on a base full of heroes.

Without a lightsaber to reach for, Rey grabbed for the quarterstaff that waited at the end of the counter—as interested as she was in interrogating how he could come to be here, she was more interested in revenge, particularly while under the assumption that the same callous act he'd used to dispose of Lance might readily be used against her all too soon. ]

UvU(\

[sololoquy]

[He had hardly expected anything else, but that doesn't mean a piece of him isn't rankled regardless when she picks up her staff. His face loses its calm briefly and he calls the Force to push her backwards into a wall. One hand stays on his lightsaber -- gripping it tightly, but refusing to pull it from its clip. Oh but how he wants to. How he wants to hear her beg for his mercy, about how wrong she had been for refusing him--]

Foolish.

[Barely restrained anger held tightly behind his teeth causes him to hiss the word. She hasn't earned his distance from her, so he does not give it. He approaches purposefully. The hatred, the lust for revenge...he had not felt the Force thrum so fiercely.

It might be welcome, under different circumstances. He knows the Force is weaker in Oska -- he will not be able to hold her for long if she remembers the power sleeping within her.]

What will you do, scavenger? You must know by now that you cannot face me anymore than you can run from me.

next up: braiding friendship bracelets

[forcevisions]

[ A crack echoed through the kitchen as her head hit the wall, and hard, dazing her for a moment. Rey's head lifted, and her shoulders and arms strained against the telekinetic binds that pressed her there, but failure lay in her efforts to use her muscles instead of the Force. She didn't budge, and meanwhile, Ren was drawing closer.

With all the grace and composure of a muzzled dog, Rey thrashed, snapping back at him with a snarl baring her teeth, ] I'll kill you.

[ For Han, for Finn, she could do that. It didn't matter that he undermined and doubted that she could; Rey knew she had that in her. She had flinched away from it on Starkiller Base, spared the decision by the splitting earth, but looking at him now there's no doubt in her mind that she could given half the chance.

The more rational part of her mind reasoned that General Organa would not want that, for it wasn't a mission of revenge to hunt down the First Order that Rey had been sent on, but a peaceable one to seek out Luke, but measured reason had no place in the instinctive rage that boiled to the surface upon seeing him again. He shouldn't have made it off the base. He should have died there, consumed by the weapon he was responsible for.

Controlling her anger, letting the venom that she spat at him simmer down would prove the only way to extricate herself from this, experience told her as much, but it was a task easier said than done, particularly under the implicit threat of his advance. ]

he's been waiting for this day for a long time

[sololoquy]

[Her anger is like broiled honey, and he stops just a few feet from her with his arm still raised. There's a long pause of no words exchanged between them as he basks in it, regarding her with eyes void of anything -- no anger, no hatred, no happiness. In fact, he almost looks proud.]

Admirable. But you will not.

[It almost sounds like an attempt to placate her. He doesn't need the Force to tell him what will happen when he releases her. If there was one thing he could say about the organization that had brought them both there, it was that he valued their dedication to Order. It was hardly as staunch as the First Order's own commitment but--it was something.]

Aside from the fact that you would not win a fight against me, ALASTAIR will not permit you to cause discord among their ranks. You will not kill me any sooner than I will kill you.

[While she digests that, he slowly drops his hold.]

Do not run, or I will do it again. And I will not be as merciful the second time.

but has he considered a.) getting a life, b.) a hobby, c.) not

[forcevisions]

[ When he released her, all her struggling amounted to an indecorous fall, and she picked herself up off the floor in the same breath that he called himself merciful. There was no hope of subduing her sneer, but for a moment, she said nothing of it, instead focused on sifting through the rest of what he'd said. Wondering on that, she decided quickly, would serve her far better than lingering on the feeling of ambient nausea that came with the vaguely proud encouragement he had offered.

ALASTAIR would not permit it, would stop the both of them from killing one another. But ALASTAIR was not here now, none of their leaders watching or threatening—it was just them. How could ALASTAIR save him? More interesting than her doubts, she realized that it had at the very least been sufficient to muzzle him—and given Kylo Ren's predilection for controlling others, it must have taken a great deal to control him.

Her gaze narrowed. ]

And you're obeying them?

[ Doubt lingered in her voice for she still could not shake the feeling that she was being set up, that once her guard was down, something worse would come crashing in. There was no point in it, though, beyond the potential for sadistic entertainment. ]

look the friendship braclets would compliment all of that black really well

[sololoquy]

I prefer "cooperating".

[The fact that she doesn't react immediately is encouraging enough that he takes his hand off of his lightsaber hilt and leaves his arms to hang stiffly at his sides. She isn't wrong -- there is only one person in the whole of the galaxy that he answers to, and he was not there. Some piece of him recognises that he should not be allowing this girl to walk unfettered in face of what the Supreme Leader had asked of him --

But he already had his own agenda in that regard. So perhaps Snoke's leash was not as tight as once imagined. The other piece of him feels a vague churning in his gut that he can't put a name to -- the same churn that game when he spotted Anakin and his lightsaber. Either ALASTAIR was torturing him, or they were trying to tell him something.]

Their requests cause me no inconvenience. That has always been the goal of the First Order -- order.

[Using wildly different methods but -- potato, potato.

And he has nowhere to go. And he has a duty to ensure that Anakin remains in the path to become Darth Vader. For that, he'll do whatever they ask of him.]

i mean that sounds fake but ... no that just sounds fake

[forcevisions]

[ Preferences were a funny thing. Rey, for instance, preferred him charred and disarmed and beaten in the snow, but it appeared that had been a temporary state of affairs. Her jaw clenched, grinding her teeth together, uncertain of what to make of his assertion.

From her point of view, the only goal the First Order had was devastation and domination, far at odds with the peaceful intervention and exit that ALASTAIR touted. That meant she was either wrong about the First Order, or wrong about ALASTAIR. The first possibility, her pride refused to allow her to believe, and the other terrified her. Perhaps she would need to be more cautious in the ease with which she settled in here, if it were the sort of organization that courted the Dark Side with so little chafing. ]

They're saving these worlds. Helping them. The First Order would have conquered them, and if they failed to do that, you'd have watched them burn.

[ She snatched up her quarterstaff—not to lunge at him with it, despite how direly she wanted to, but rather for the same reasons a child might snatch up a security blanket. It made her feel better to be armed, made her feel like she was not tolerating his presence so much as suffering it. ]

You said they won't permit discord in their ranks. What do you mean by that? What would they do about it? [ filed under: things that weren't in the training video. ]