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

[fiachdubh]

[ He doesn't scoff at her comment, bringing his wrist to his mouth instead, pulling at his bracelet with his teeth, his biggest tell - he's been unable to break the habit, no matter how hard he's tried.

In some ways, he gets it. There are things he's pulled out of his dreams that he's kept under wraps and not shown anyone, not let anyone touch or play with. Too dangerous. And she doesn't know him; he doesn't know her. Their distrust can feed off of each other.

But maybe he can ask something about it anyway. ] Is it magic? [ It's hard for him to talk about his own gift and how it influences him, when he's spent a lifetime keeping it a secret. But magic, generally, fascinates him anyway, and he can't help the question. ]

A torch would help, thanks.

[astralera]

[ Era nods, casting her gaze to search for an appropriate branch to set alight. ]

Black magic.

[ Spotting one she believes suitable enough, she gets up and walks over to grab it. Eyeing it over, she then pulls a small strip of linen from her bag to wrap around it as fuel before sticking it in her campfire. Once she's sure it will stay alight, Era removes it and turns her attention back to the young man.

She holds the torch out to him carefully, so as not to burn anyone's fingers. ]

Here.

[fiachdubh]

Thanks. [ He takes the torch, wondering if he should leave now, go on to make his own camp, but. She says black magic, and his thoughts go back to demons, trees corrupted by darkness, his own lungs filling up with black ooze as he died. He swallows with difficulty. ]

You - do black magic?

[ That's bad news. Bad, bad news. He instantly, fervently wishes Adam was here with him, or Gansey, to ground him. ]

[astralera]

[ The way he asks the question gives her pause. She has been persecuted in the past by people with misconceptions of what the different magical disciplines really are, though this is different from anger or disgust. ]

Yes. White and arcane as well.

[ Era tilts her head ever so slightly, watching the young man with - concern? Yes, concern. Was his reaction due to reputation or experience? She thinks of a spear of light and the loss of a friend. How dangerous all magical disciplines are.

She wants to ask did someone hurt you? but the words won't come. She's sure he wouldn't appreciate it, regardless of if she could will herself to ask. ]

I am sorry, if you have had a... bad experience.

[fiachdubh]

[ At her words, he lets out a bark of unkind laughter, looking away before rubbing a hand under his nose, sniffing. ]

Bad experience is an understatement.

[ When he looks back at her again, it's cautious, slightly worried. ] How can you mix magics?

[ The Unmaker and the Fox Way women had been way too different for their types of magic to be able to mix, even if Neeve seemed to think so. But then again, it was different from calling black and white, wasn't it? It toed a thinner line - the energy coming from the same place. ]

the one topic she will word vomit over :U

[astralera]

[ Magic is the one thing in her life that had felt familiar even when nothing else did. She may not remember her childhood, but it never mattered to her all that much after she delved into the arcane arts. Magic has always been a comfort, and while she is aware of - and has dealt with - people who abuse her craft it is still a thought that angers her.

His laughter is returned with a slight incline of her head in acknowledgement. Era doesn't inquire any further. If he wishes to elaborate he will, but she won't push the issue. ]

Black magic comes from fire, ice, and lightning aether. White magic comes from air and stone. Arcane magic is from the aether within oneself.

[ She relaxes as she explains; a small smile on her face. Clearly devoted to all the disciplines of magic she practices. ] If abused, white and black magic can not just harm others, but imbalance the world's aether. In the past there had been a war between the white and black mages. They used all the elemental aether save for water, leaving an abundance of it that caused a great flood.

When used properly magic is naught but a boon to whomever it involves.

[ As for how she 'mixes' them... It's complicated, and not even she is positive as to the why. Her smile shrinks. ]

I have met very few who use multiple forms of magic beyond myself. I am often an... outlier, when it comes to combat. To 'mix' the magics, I must change which weapon I am using to channel it. I cannot Cure with my black mage rod, I cannot use Fire with my white mage cane, and I cannot summon without channeling my aether through an arcane book.