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

[vexy]

[ DAMMIT. WHAT? URGH-- ]

Alright. So. Maybe he likes me. It doesn't mean I'm good company.

[scarrings]

[ Theeeeeere we go. Although he doesn't get why this long turnabout.... ]

I'm sorry, did I offend you somehow? [ He's really trying to think about all he's said. ]

[vexy]

So how do you and Hunter do it? [ He interrupts, loudly. ]

Every other day? Is there a rotation? Or do you get higher priority because you're number two?

[scarrings]

[ ...... Hunter? What's he got to do with it? And why Hunter and not Nikolai too? ]

Rafa just spends time with us both each day....

What does Hunter have to do with this?

[vexy]

Ahh, the rotation gimmick. Alright. So anyone new who pops on gets a day? What happens when he gets past 365? Oh! Is there one that's stuck on the leap day?

[ He could only imagine where he'd end up if Rafa loved him.

Good thing he didn't. ]

[scarrings]

[ Maybe finally Vex hit a nerve, though maybe not the nerve he was expecting to hit. ]

I don't know what you're trying to get to, but those are very personal questions about Rafa I'm not going to answer.

But if you're implying that Rafa loves too freely and can't take care of those he loves adequately, then I'm going to have to politely ask you to stop talking about my husband like that.

[vexy]

Isn't it funny how I didn't say anything remotely like that, but that's the conclusion you arrived all on your own?

I suppose you can rotate with Hunter here, huh? So you get monday, wednesday and friday, he gets tuesday, thursday, saturday, and everybody else who doesn't have a ring on it gets sunday.

[ He spoke about it so ho~hum~ casual too, but there was definite irritation in his dark eyes. ]

[scarrings]

[ Why does he keep asking about Hunter? Does this guy know Hunter personally? Rafa and Hunter were in that place, eudio, together. Was this guy with them? ]

I wouldn't have to keep guessing if you'd just speak plainly.

What's your problem with me?

[vexy]

Hm, speak plainly, alright. Plain English then: Who invited you here anyway?

[ Vex, the end of the worlds happened, nobody invited anyone-- ]

[scarrings]

I apologize if the destruction of my home is getting in the way of your time with Rafa. I clearly should have organized the impending apocalypse better.

[vexy]

[ Damn, that was a good one. Still, he can't give him props because he's mad. ]

Uh, yeah, clearly you should have. We were doing fine without you, thank you.

[scarrings]

[ So he's jealous. That makes sense. ]

I'm not going to fight you over Rafa. Or come in between whatever the two of you have going on.

[vexy]

[ Wait.

Shit. ]

There's nothing going on between us. [ Wait, that's not-- ] Nothing like that, anyway. It's just shagging. I'm just thinking of Hunter, not me. [ Vex thinking of anybody else other than himself? Right. Anybody who knew him could see that was bullshit from a mile away. ]

[scarrings]

[ Really? On Hunters behalf? ]

Hunter married Rafa when he already had two husbands. He chose to accept that part of Rafa when he married him. Hunter and I are fine.

[vexy]

Yeah, it was great to see you two at the wedding. No, wait, that was me.

I was the one at his side. Where the bloody hell were you?

[scarrings]

At Rafa's side. At the wedding they held when they returned to their our world after that Eudio a place. A place they came and went from without me knowing the first time.

1/2

[vexy]

[ ffffffffffffffff--- ]

You-- [ pause. ]

[vexy]

Fine! You're perfect then! Good for you! I hope you're all bloody happy together!

[scarrings]

So did Rafa not spend any quality time with you in Eudio once he married Hunter?

[vexy]

What? No, of course he did. Hunter's mine t-- Hunter's a friend of mine.

[scarrings]

I may not be your friend or really know you, but I'm not going to spoil any time you have with Rafa either. Rafa wouldn't let me even if I wanted to do that. He's too good for that.

[vexy]

Uh huh. Yeah. And if the two of us were dangling from a cliff we all know which one he'd save, don't act like I'm oh-so special or he's oh-so perfect. We're all grown-ups here.

[ Even though Vex frequently acted like a five-year-old. ]

Whatever, it doesn't matter. Welcome, and all that shit.

[scarrings]

If it were Hunter and I on that cliff instead, who would he save then?

It's not a competition when it comes to Rafa.

[vexy]

You, probably, since Hunter's a vamp and he'd be fine if he fell off a ruddy cliff. But assuming absolute destruction, he'd be smarter to save Hunter since he's the latest husband and the honeymoon period is still on.

Out with the old, in with the new. You know how it is, dear.

[scarrings]

Except Rafa isn't like that.

Also, I'm part vampire, so he wouldn't actually need to save me in these scenarios either. [ He flashes the fangs for good measure. ]