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

[hasitsthorns]

[ It's already a wonder why this Caleb Holt differs from hers. Besides his apparent age and figure. Why does this one lack the charisma she found herself foolishly falling for in Eudio? Is this perhaps before he came the Caleb she knew? It's hard to discern and, honestly, thinking of all the possibilities makes her head hurt a little. So she'll refrain with the comparisons and questions for now. ]

Do you? Hopefully they won't miss you too much. [ If they're still alive, that is. A morbid thought but this is indeed a morbid situation they've found themselves in. ] If you're lucky, they won't even know you're gone. Let's hope for that.

[ Ever the idealist. The huskies three continue to lap up whatever attention Caleb has to offer. The others, however, keep in-between the two and hang closer to Rose now. ]

-What's your name, by the way? [ Despite the fact that she knows. ] I'm Rose.

[fratricidio]

[ The pause that follows is composed of a little discomfort, tiptoeing back and forth between telling the truth or a lie. He was taught to be careful, but only ever instructed to lie about what he was and what he could do. This Caleb is only half as powerful because he lacks the twin he grew up with and fed off of, their strengths bouncing off each other and amplifying like feedback. It's what's taken part of his confidence away, replaced with the guilt and longing for a brother he never got to meet. ]

I'm Caleb.

[ There it is, the confirmation anyone could ever need. Eventually, a new dog approaches in the shape of a white Samoyed, trotting lightly. ]

That's Dog. [ He gets a look from Not Dog. ] I mean - Dogd.

[ Which makes no sense to him... ]

[hasitsthorns]

[ Confirmation that does little to put her mind at ease. ]

Nice to meet you, Caleb, [ 'again,' she thinks but doesn't dare speak. Is it really again, anyway? Not for him, at any rate. Should she eventually tell him that they'd crossed paths before? That another him holds a special place in her heart? How would one even being to explain something like that... The multiverse is really throwing her a lot of curve balls she hadn't anticipated with this trip.

Another similarity pads right up to them both. Dog. Dogd? ]

Is it your daemon now? One of my dogs actually turned into mine too. Where is he- [ Scanning the pack... ] -Apollo! C'mere, boy.

[ At the call bounds a Golden Retriever front and center. He acts like a dog. He looks like a dog, too, save for those minute details. And the fact that he can now say, ] Yes, Rose? [ in a low, computerized tenor despite the fact that his tongue is lolling out of his mouth as he pants. ]

[fratricidio]

[ Caleb nods at her question, focusing the rest of his attention on her pet-turned-daemon-thing while his own sits and waits patiently. He has the same silly expressions that Rose might remember from her time in Eudio. The same dog if you don't stare at him for too long. ]

It's weird that they can talk. [ He isn't entirely convinced that they're supposed to be the very same. It might as well be a way for those running this place to control the new inhabitants by presenting them with some familiarity. Something that could create empathy instantly. ] What's he done for you so far?

[hasitsthorns]

[ She does remember. A wistful smile comes to her lips at it, actually, as she watches the Dog that is not Dog but Dogd. She doesn't get it either. Apollo should be Apollod but she's not going to call him that and he doesn't seem to mind so far. ]

It is a little strange, [ she admits, nose crinkling as she looks at the computerized canine. ]

He's, uh. Helped me get around. Reunite with people. All in all, I can't actually complain since he is pretty useful. What about yours?

[fratricidio]

[ Reunite with people, she says, and in his uncertainty Caleb debates with whether he should resent that or not. Mostly he just wants to be with people he knows in a place that he knows, and this is most definitely not it. What would be the point, when everyone outside his family wouldn't treat him as a friend, anyway? ]

... He's just keeping me company for now. Not that different from home. I think he knows there's no point in doing much else.

[ Quietly, Dogd nods. ]

[hasitsthorns]

[ Since this Caleb doesn't know Rose, he is obviously unaware that she makes friends wherever she goes. Even without meaning to. This time, however, it will be entirely intentional to be friends with this Caleb; otherwise, she figures it'd be wasting the opportunity the multiverse gave her to still have him in her life in some fashion. ]

That's not so bad, I guess. A little bit of familiarity. [ And it occurs to her that maybe just like in Eudio, ] Sorry. I know how rough it can be without anyone from home.

[fratricidio]

[ Caleb, without the thought crossing his mind, can't bring himself to shake off his expression. It makes him look small despite his height, like he's forcing himself to not be seen long enough to register. Santiago didn't intend for him to be that careful and Petra sure as hell doesn't see the fucking point, not when he's supposed to be so powerful.

There's a small trickle up his arm that redirects his attention. Turning his head, he collects a ladybug to the back of his finger. It must be another piece of familiarity from home, he thinks. They seem to follow him everywhere. ]

You sound like you've done this before.

[ The tone doesn't come from disbelief, just the idea that someone could hypothetically go through this ordeal more than once. ]

[hasitsthorns]

This is the fourth world I've been to.

[ It doesn't sound incredible until she says it though. For Rose, it had just been... necessary. The world that was supposed to be her home wasn't. Then she'd died in the second one, only to be brought to the third with a promise that she could stay and build a new life for herself. Now that one fell apart too (go figure) and this is her third chance at a new life.

Just so long as she keeps living, honestly, she can't really complain. ]

So, yeah, you might say I'm old hat at this by now. I'm guessing you haven't gone this far from home before?

[fratricidio]

[ The shift in his expression is less subtle this time around, a flattened tone of what that tries to piece together what probably is beyond his reach. So to speak. (He's in a world that should be beyond his reach, get it.) ]

No. I've never even left my hometown.

Any advice?

[hasitsthorns]

Be prepared for anything. Probably sounds cliche, but... Something I actually wish I would have been told before my first world hop.

[ Be prepared for the worst, actually, she thought to say but. She doesn't want to scare this smol Caleb away. ]

[fratricidio]

How do you prepare for things that you don't know?

[ A question for the ages, really. ]

[hasitsthorns]

You do the best that you can with what you've got.

[ Idealism at its finest. ]

Are you planning on heading to the city, too, or-?

[ She doesn't want him to stay here (or anywhere without her), if it can be helped. ]

[fratricidio]

[ He's quiet, a sorry little realization crossing his mind: he hadn't considered where to go next. In some way, Caleb hoped that someone he knew would come and take him home, tell him all he needed to know. Maybe it'd be something as simple as waking him up. ]

... You're going?

[hasitsthorns]

[ If only it were that easy. ]

That was the plan, yeah! Gonna' try to find out what's all going on, I guess. You're definitely welcome to come with if you've got nothing else going on here.

I know I might not look it, but I'm pretty tough. [ Flex! ] We'd be safe.

[fratricidio]

[ What a chirpy, friendly lady. Caleb can't help wondering if she'd still be nice once she figured out what Caleb was, what he was capable of. ]

-- yeah. Okay. If it's okay with you.

Come on, Dogd.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Ironic, perhaps, that she often wonders the same exact thing of those closest to her. ]

Of course it's alright with me, dude! I invited you.

[ With a whistle, all the dogs come to attention with Apollod leading the herd. ]