Test Drive Meme #1 (cw vehicular crash, moderate injury)

[spoofer]

Test Drive Meme #1

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

You don't need an invite to test
but please remember we're currently invite-only

CRASH LANDING

Exit one dimension, enter the next. It was chaos: pressure against your ears, light bending in an impossible, unimaginable way. The very molecules of your body vibrating against one another. If you have windows, the view outside makes no sense. Even if not, your hands, your face, your feet seem like an uncertain thing. It's the feel of reality itself tearing apart, reshaping, reconnecting, thread by thread.

And suddenly, there's a beach— or ocean, whichever you land in. Smoke. Fire. Salt water churning up, fizzing around.

Maybe you crash, in a ship wrecking into sand. Maybe you merely stumble out of a portal, a ragged wormhole in space. Or maybe you fall off the back of an incredible steed, some creature that carried you into this place. Either way, there's pandemonium around you. Incredibly, severe injuries are far and few between— nobody's screaming about the dead. But you might have to help pull someone free of wreckage, or move quickly to salvage burning belongings from the landing craft. Maybe it's the crafts themselves, that you're trying to salvage.

Likely, you don't know them, these other strangers who arrived here^[1]. Maybe you don't trust them— you just came out of a dying world, after all. But you all have one thing in common: you're here now.

When you get a second to breathe, maybe you'll see it. The brilliant green forest across the sand. Beyond that, the glint of a faraway city.

INTO THE WOODS

Your first night at Xistentia does not feature five-star accommodations, but as the sun begins to set, the forest offers everything you need to survive. By now, you may even have met your daemon, who'll help guide you through this. There is fallen wood to make fires for warmth and cooking, any number of rabbits, deer, and fish if that's what you're into eating. Those very same animals also provide guidance as to what vegetation is edible, including a variety of vine mushrooms, fruits, and flowers. If you're the kind of creature that mostly eats other sentient creatures, well. Technically, there are a lot of those hanging out too^[2]! Now and then, you'll see tiny, winged humanoid creatures the height of a finger dart in and out of view.

A resourceful group, the multiversal refugees have determined ways to create shelters, using wreckage, supplies, and basic survival knowhow. There aren't enough blankets to go around, but the weather is mild and the fires seem to keep out any aggressive creatures.


Things get quiet. This could be a good time to meet the others under less fraught circumstances. Maybe you'll see some familiar faces and reunite with others who fled from your dying world; maybe you'll meet someone new.

Try not to seek out and fight any Rock Trolls. It's still early.

ENTER THE CITY

The city is beautiful, even with the vines covering everything, the streams running down half the streets, the massive white deer leaping off under the highway overpasses. The architecture of the skyscrapers is incredible to look at, modern and sweeping. It's clear that terraced gardens were part of the building design, and some of the greenery that lines the street had been part of the original city plan. This is a city of great potential.

And it knows you're here. As you walk by, beacons like streetlamps begin to emit a gentle glow, registering your presence. No doors are locked, though you might find yourself chasing out nests of silver-winged birds and bug-eyed rabbits.

Here, you can claim empty shops or the clothing and other sales items inside of them. Apartment complexes aren't difficult to find in a range of sizes; nor are standalone homes, brownstones, loft studios. Penthouses may not feel like penthouses when there's a thin layer of dust growing on everything and a flower growing out of the sink, but you know what? Maybe that little bud is gonna be your first roommate.

It's the strangest thing. After a few days, the lights begin to work and the water begins to run, fully operational within the unseen sewer system. At some point, the keys to your house or residence are going to turn up. Your daemon will help you find what you need. F.A.TE.S. welcomes you.

NETWORK

By now you've settled in. You have some time to explore the city, the woods, and your new kit.

Chances are pretty good that your daemon is not a phone or a computer or a wax-sealed piece of parchment or a Howler, nothing with a convenient camera or a keyboard; it probably isn't even a pocket sized. Likelier, it stares at you with eyes that contain the lenses-- or powers-- of a camera, and some part of its body projects a holographic keyboard into the air. For those of us who are not accustomed to manipulating intangible light prisms, it's about as intuitive to type on as shaping a cloud with your fingers.

But here's your network access. Accessible to all your fellow travelers in XISTENTIA.

Misfires, typos, and blurry video footage are likely. Time to feel like a Luddite!

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

hells yeah

Footnotes

1. Some of these can be nameless, plot-device NPCs to facilitate interactions! But even in this case, please avoid gore in describing their current state of being. Anyone dead or catastrophically injured will have disappeared by the time your characters make it to Xistentia. There are no corpses or dying here.
   
   
2. But like OOCly ask permission ofc.

Comments

Aaron Minyard | All for the Game

[assumptions]

Crash

( cw: blood )

[ Aaron is going crazy. That is the only possible explanation that there could be in this situation. One moment he'd been covered in blood and his word metaphorically coming apart to the soundtrack of his twin brother's hysterical laughter and the next the world was literally falling apart. How many seconds had it been between then and now that he fell onto the beach. He must be crazy. He doesn't bother getting up, just rolling onto his back to stare upward and ignoring the clamoring panic about where Andrew is -- because he doesn't hear him anymore.

How long does it take to go insane? ]

Half a fucking second...

[ It was a nightmare. How much of it is the nightmare? Is he awake yet? Is he insane yet? One of those things must have already happened and by the location maybe it was both because this doesn't look like the little starter apartment he started in in Eudio. There's more, he knows that, maybe he's intentionally forgetting something.

But what the fuck is he doing on a beach. He brings one of his hands up in front of his face, it's clean aside from now some stand sticking to it.]

Fuck.

Network

[ The video is unclear and shaky, the annoying bugger is hopping around just out of Aaron's reach. ]

You're doing what?

[ A close up of his forearm and a flash of his face. ]

Turn off right now!

[ Well that ends that and maybe now he can discover where the damned keyboard on this thing is. Does it have one? What he wouldn't do for a computer to just google with. ]

Wildcard

[ Hit me with your best shot! ]

[assumptions]

[ Aaron's still not sure what he thinks of all this. He's still not convinced he hasn't gone completely insane and everyone is just a part of his delusion. But he was never the crazy one in the family, right?

Mulder had always had a calming affect on Aaron and so at the question it's hard to say no so he gives a slight nod. He's still wary of Axel. Maybe he never won't be wary of him. He doesn't give it much thought, though. There's more pressing matters at hand. ]

[assumptions]

[ It probably wouldn't have made him feel much better, since, Andrew was actually a tad crazy on a good day.

Aaron actually smiles minutely, a hint of a twitch of it at the corners of his lips when Mulder is on his lap and instantly seeming content to snuggle back down. His fingers traced over his ears before petting him softly. He's always gentle with the fox, a gentleness that probably even Andrew hadn't really seen much from him before.

It'd been reserved for Katelyn and before that random strays when he was a kid. ]

I'm breathing.

crash;

[hasitsthorns]

[ What he might hear over the panic is the sound of someone losing their lunch in the waves crashing to the shore. Dimensional magic, man. It's rough on the stomach. ]

Euuugghh, [ she groans, on her hands and knees as water laps over them. If she were less disoriented, maybe she'd be more panicky about being so close to such a large body of water. As it is, she's just trying to get head on straight and-

Hey, where are her dogs? They've been distracted, seems like, by a familiar(?) looking his face. His scent is wrong but the face is practically the same so they're going to greet him anyway. Doge logic. Enjoy eight canines coming up to Aaron snuffling him curiously where he lay. Only seconds later comes a sharp whistle and Rose padding across the sand (as quick as she can without puking more) to call them back. ]

Boys, c'mon, leave the poor dude alo-- Aaron?

[assumptions]

[ Aaron only vaguely registers the sounds of retching but he wasn't paying close enough attention to actually care about where they were coming from. It wasn't him that was doing it so it wasn't a concern.

But then, suddenly he's surrounded my dogs who are sniffing at him and instinctively he pets one's head before then noticing Rose coming up. He hadn't expected to see her but it's not a bad surprise.

At least she looks in one piece and all. That's probably lucky. ]

Yeah. [ Really, he's crazy to just go about having a halfway normal conversation right now. ] Are you alright?

[hasitsthorns]

[ There have been stranger things, in Rose's opinion. Still. She can't deny she's glad to see Aaron in one piece as well. Surprised, but pleasantly so. ]

Nauseous, [ she admits. ] Hopping worlds always wrecks my stomach.

[ Worried, too, because she's supposed to be with someone but... she'll figure it out. ] How about you, dude?

[assumptions]

You've done it before? [ Aaron questions.

When the question is turned on him he shrugs. He doesn't know what definition of alright he is, if any. He supposes that he's breathing and all his limbs are intact so that's something. ]

I guess I'm alright.

[hasitsthorns]

This is my third time.

[ It's definitely one definition of 'alright' in her mind; she'll extend a hand out to him now, actually, to help him up if he so desires. Or he can continue being drowned in puppy love. It's up to him. ]

That's good! We need as many people in one piece as we can get, honestly. Looks like we've got a lot of work to do in this new place.

wildcard!!!

[rekt]

[ it's like everyone in eudio forgot how to act like real freaking humans in real freaking environments while they were cuddling all up on each other.

or, more likely, they never knew, and murphy's just from a really, really fucked up place where you actually need to know crap like how to skin a rabbit and make a friction fire and build shelter out of branches and leaves. the latter is what he's collecting as he goes wandering around - branches and leaves - and eventually happens upon a familiar head of shock-white hair, plopped on his butt on a log, holding on to a little fox which murphy's guessing is his daemon.

ah. aaron minyard. this will be fun. ]

Congratulations, you didn't kick it. [ he speaks up from a nearby tree he's hunting around for fallen branches. ] Now what? Sit on your ass and wait to starve or freeze to death?

[assumptions]

[ Murphy would be wrong about one thing. The little fox is Mulder. It's sadly not his daemon. If it was his daemon then he wouldn't ever have to relinquish him back to his rightful owners: Andrew and Axel (aka Andrew's Bitch, never forget). Aaron loves the little fox a lot, though. He doesn't notice Murphy coming up on him so he's making an embarrassing cooing noise and asking Mulder a question before he sets him down on his lap.

He nearly jumps out of his skin when Murphy talks, his hands grabbing Mulder at once and turning to look at him.

He shrugs at the question. ]

My brother and his ... [ A vague hand motion, unclearly meant to mean boyfriend. ] went to find... something. Or whatever.

[rekt]

And his what now?

[ a short, bark of a laugh punches from him, his brows raising at the fact aaron can't even say the word. god, he's so repressed it's painful to watch. he supposes, maybe, it makes sense. he watched someone he cares about raped by another man, so, yeah, he can suppose that makes some vitriol understandable. it's still kind of extra, though.

but that's aaron, and it's nothing new. of anyone on this island, murphy should freaking know, by now, with all the times he'd have gay panics and went speeding out a door. and yet, any time this doofus comes knocking again, murphy always seems to open the door. fantastic. ]

So you're just relying on them to keep you alive? [ he asks, while getting back to the task of collecting branches, letting out a mild snort. ] Yeah, good luck with that.

[assumptions]

I don't really care.

[ Aaron murmurs and well, it's true. He doesn't much care if he lives or dies except if he dies, Andrew wouldn't be all that okay. So he cares a little for the sake of his brother.

He hates that all it takes is seeing Murphy briefly and hearing the sound of his voice to feel that guilty twist of attraction again. He carefully sets Mulder down, knowing the fox won't go anywhere. It likes him enough to stay right at his feet.

His eyes follow Murphy as the other goes back to picking up branches. ]

Axel's a vampire or whatever. Probably worse things to rely on. [ Andrew's a force of nature himself but Aaron doesn't want to talk about him, not to Murphy. ]

What are you doing? [ What he really means is can you stop so I can maul you with my mouth. ]

[rekt]

[ murphy actually stops for a second, and turns back to aaron with brows raised, the expression screaming 'are you fucking serious right now?' ]

A vampire. Here, without a bloodbag supply. That's what you're saddling yourself with as a travel companion.

[ aka, you're going to be a freaking meal, aaron, you fucking moron. in eudio, they had a nice, steady supply of whatever blood they needed, but here, it'll be hard even for the humans to get a decent diet if they can't trap or hunt properly. this is exactly what he was trying to explain to rafa about his wariness of him. there is a twinge of concern, wanting to tell aaron to stick with him instead, but he'd said 'brother'. he doubts he'll abandon family. ] Whatever, your funeral.

[ shaking his head, he looks back to his pile of branches, pausing to count them out. needs a few more, still... ]

Gathering. To make a shelter. Unless you have a tent hidden up your ass you're willing to share.

[maserati]

( the house they've holed up is in empty, for now. andrew managed to convince axel to stay away for a bit, under the short promise he'd allow the vampire to heal his wounds from the fight with murphy, later. more important things first, and the list of things more important than andrew's physical health goes on for miles, starting and ending with a single name, aaron minyard. andrew loves him in equal parts that he can't fucking stand him right now, a very brotherly issue to have, where he'd take a bullet for the idiot but treats him cruelly alongside that, threatens the people who get too close to him because andrew trusts no one with his property. of which aaron most certainly is. they have a contract, an agreement that binds them.

this is the second time aaron has betrayed that promise.

andrew sits on a relatively nice sofa they have ( axel wouldn't settle for something ratty ), wearing one of aaron's shirts, the white fabric splattered in blood and dirt and predictably unwearable now. he's smoking. he's chain smoking, actually, and probably going through his entire supply from this one hitch they've stumbled across. there are a thousand reasons why andrew is upset -- the broken trust that lays shattered between them now, the shortening list of reasons why andrew and aaron are different, the fact that aaron can go anywhere now to get protection, that he doesn't need andrew, that he never really has --

andrew decides the worth of his life by how useful he is to others. right now, his life feels absolutely worthless. he feels like a burden.

when aaron arrives back home after taking mulder for a walk, andrew surges up, standing, wearing his we need to talk face that he rarely sports, if only because he loathes to hear himself speak. )

Get. ( said to mulder as he comes bounding up. the fox sadly droops his tail and scurries, far enough that andrew can bring his attention fully to aaron. he steps close, closer, fingering the cigarette from his mouth. silently, he presses it against aaron's lips, prompting them open. ) Tell me, Aaron. What was it I promised you? Go on. Tell me. Let me hear it.

[assumptions]

[ Aaron's expecting that there was going to be an altercation. He's not expecting to find Andrew in his shirt, blood on that shirt. His eyes followed Mulder for a brief moment before the dominating force that is Andrew is close, too close for it to be safe to do anything but look directly at him.

There's shame that feels like it's choking the life out of Aaron. Not only is his dirty secret now in Andrew's knowledge, he knows that he's betrayed him in a way, not a new way. Going behind his back wasn't new, he hadn't been able to help it when he met Katelyn before. He wants to ask if Murphy is okay. Is that blood Andrew's? Is Andrew okay -- that question is laughably complex.

He parts his lips, though it's less for the cigarette and more to answer. ]

Andrew... [ Aaron says the name, an exhale of frustration and pain, of love. Aaron needs Andrew more than he wants to but perhaps that's something he doesn't want to change. He cares about him to the point of pain at how broken they are, at how much he hates himself for his own lot in life and that Andrew is the one who by luck of the draw took the worst of the abuse either of them faced and then wants to protect him.

It should be Aaron protecting Andrew but he's always failed, too late. He'd always been too late. ] Do you mean the promise you broke too?

[ It was always meant to be the two of them and Andrew would protect him. ]

cw: misogyny, mentions of self-harm.

[maserati]

( he leaves the cigarette in between aaron's lips, momentarily debating making him eat it. ( he'd never, but thinking it does quell his rage, a bit. ) andrew's eyebrows go up at the question, flickering briefly before he tames them to his regular look of bored nonchalance, taking a step back. aaron will lose this game, andrew already knows. it's just a wonder how far he's willing to go.

inside his mouth, aaron might feel the familiar sweetness of cracker dust tickling his tongue. )

It's poor form to answer a question with a question, and it's a bad move to joke around with me when I'm angry. Consider that a warning. You won't get another one.

( said aptly before he props himself up against a nearby window sill, crossing his arms over his chest. streaks of blood line down his mouth and nose, apparent linears to the pattern now becoming aaron's shirt. there are dried blood streaks that abruptly end at his elbows, previously worn armbands having protected the rest of his skin -- but it's no secret now, really, the multitude of bumpy lines andrew inflicted on himself that have since grown into scars, and the bite marks proust left over top them that have now been added to his collection. andrew doesn't take his eyes off aaron, boring holes. )

The therapist back at Eudio said I should attempt to be more bluntly honest with you, and it seemed like her pea-sized brain had the occasional entertaining or logical thought, so. ( he shrugs. ) You were fucking Katelyn, behind my back. Back at Palmetto. It's pointless to lie, it'll only piss me off more. Now you've found a new cancer to get sick with, one worse than that cheerleader skank.

Which brings me back to the question: what was our agreement?

[assumptions]

[ The traces of cracker dust isn't lost on him. He takes a drag off the cigarette all the same, then exhales, fingers pulling it from his mouth. He can feel it, the familiarity of it and he resents Andrew a little more for taking yet another choice from him in that moment.

However, he's not stupid enough to ignore the warning. He takes in Andrew's appearance more carefully because he doesn't want to meet his eyes. He doesn't want Andrew to see what's in his own. He can feel his eyes all the same. Why is there blood? It makes Aaron feel sick, brings back a memory he has trouble suppressing every moment of every day and every night it's haunting him.

Aaron pressed the cigarette to his lips again, feeling his stomach twisting and his throat tightening. He doesn't try to defend Katelyn -- but he should. He should defend her. He hates himself even more than had been the case before Andrew found out -- he knew that would happen, he knew it'd be unbearable and he didn't want to give in to it but it was clawing him raw. Andrew was salt rubbing into his wounds. ]

To stick together, to not date. [ Why does it hurt so much? Isn't there a point where he can be numb? He wants to ask what Andrew's done but the words catch in his throat. ]

[maserati]

( good, he's being agreeable. that makes things a bit easier on andrew. although his body is drawn permanently taunt, in anticipation for every worse case scenario he's ever had to live through, there's an odd tremor down his arm. his thumb -- rubbing up against the bend of his elbow. clear anxiety, in the one motion he never lets slip through.

in truth, he's scared to lose aaron. it's a terrifying thought, to lose the one person he's tried to keep safe beyond all other people, because his life is the single more precious one andrew knows to date. they look alike. they are alike. andrew is scared shitless of the idea of anything bad happening to aaron -- he can't be there when john murphy is fucking him, to make sure he's doing it right, to make sure he doesn't go to fast, to make sure he doesn't go to hard. to make sure this soft, untainted body is taken care of, the way that andrew's wasn't. to make sure aaron never has another fucking tilda in his life again. to make sure anyone who raises a hand at aaron gets their wrist snapped and their fingers broken.

he knows murphy is violent, now. but he also knows he's strong. he could snap wrists, he could break fingers. what does andrew provide him now, but a standard of how far he has yet to fall to become the family fuck up? )

So, ( rarely does andrew stutter for words. he does now, briefly. why did you need katelyn, when you had me? ) What? Clearly our agreement isn't working out for you. I'm not going to make you choose between your infection or me, because I wouldn't enjoy the hypocrisy when it comes to Axel. You have a decision to make, even still. ( his gaze finds the outside through the window now, thumb stopping its ceaseless motion. ) We put the terms on hiatus until we get back to Palmetto, or we terminate it altogether.

network;

[moshennik]

At least you weren't broadcasted in the shower or sitting on the crapper, right? [ because that almost happened to her. twice.]

[assumptions]

That would've be substantially worse. I wonder if that's happened to anyone. [ If that had happened he might have been determined to destroy his daemon -- except not really because it was a really cute furball of a thing. ]

[moshennik]

Oh, honey, it's almost happened to me too many times. Raccoons do not make good cell phones. Then again, most of my accidental posts will be him digging through jewelry boxes. [ Pause.] Other people's.

[assumptions]

Hopefully you aren't held accountable for his actions, huh? [ An almost laugh, which is a bit of an awkward sound to be honest. ] Maybe you can use shit like that to train it not to turn on at weird times.