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

joseph kavinsky | crau | the raven cycle (cw suspected animal death)

[pillz]

beach { closed to crau aric & murphy

[list of shit that's been super fucked lately:

1. aric was on his way over and murphy was still at his apartment, which was separately anxiety-inducing, when
   
2. earthquakes began to strike across the town he'd come to see as his home,
   
3. the magic towers and protections faltering,
   
4. his alcohol shelf falling over, crashing, shattering everywhere,
   
5. (secondary: he cut his foot on bottle glass) (at least the alcohol probably sterilized it though)
   
6. where the fuck are ash, minho, and newt? he'd made himself lay down and dream. it had felt impossible with the house shaking, but he'd done it, because selfishly he hadn't wanted to die.
   
7. then a gigantic magical ungulate burst into reality, and murphy started screaming at him, and he didn't want to go before he knew what the fuck was happening with raf and vex and aric, but then thanatos kicked in the door and thundered with aric astride him and it seemed like enough of a sign that it was all right then, he was allowed to give in to the terror pounding in his veins, the overwhelming desire to cut and run, even though he knew it made him a coward— like he always knew.
   
8. sudden sunshine. sand, a glaring white beach where everyone is screaming, bizarre ships are sinking in the sea, and portals of jagged distortion keep popping into view in a nauseating disruption of physics.

the air smells like salt. kavinsky falls off the white elk's gigantic rump, retching, his stomach in a revolt. he had been riding behind murphy with his dog in his lap, and she falls over with a whimper of shock, her wide snow paws kicking wildly in the substrate underfoot. he lets go of her, mostly so she doesn't accidentally get him in the dick, and twists around.]

Aric! Where fuck are you! [he's still on his knees when he twists his head the other way, trying to assure himself the elk didn't fall over and crush its remaining rider, either. too much is going on. the tide suddenly rides in and soaks cold and soggy through the knees of his pants and shoes. his foot stings inside its sock.] HEY.

---

city { open

[you know what was fucked when the dog started talking to him. moonshine. and starts projecting holographic keyboards out of her fucking chest, and tells him he'd left the last letter off her name all along, apparently.

to be perfectly honest, half the reason he's hunting across the city is because he's pretty sure that this daemon is an impersonator. it must have found the real moonshine at night, some point in the shitty camping episode. maybe it killed her, took her skin. he doesn't know if he's looking for a skinned carcass or a secret cache of abducted animals.

the other half his reason is: he's scared for everyone at home and, despite the explanation offered by his daemon, he isn't sure what he's doing here. not really. he's distracting himself by robbing an empty city. at this point, the gigantic camping rucksack he got is loaded with random shit. cans of spaghetti-o's and bags of candy, a random tupperware container of crispy bacon, a few dvds he's never heard of, clothes that look like they'd fit him, a few kitchen knives, bottles of booze, three packs of cigarettes. he hasn't stopped to try and dream anything yet, not trusting that vulnerability until he finds his way back to his companions. he prefers his solitude. by now, moonshined has learned to follow largely in silence.

but his foot is throbbing. he stops in the shadow of what was probably at some point a bank in order to smoke, only to find]

WHO, [furiously,] THE FUCK HAS A LIGHT.

city

[thehunger]

[ There's a 'SNAP!' and suddenly black flame surrounds the hand that snapped. The hand belongs to a man, early fifties, sharply dressed, with a chessboard tucked under his other arm. He was just passing through and happened to hear (how could he have missed it) the cry of the young man in search of a light. ]

That's a nasty habit, you know. [ He says, offering his flaming hand for the boy to light his cigarette off of. ]

[pillz]

[kavinsky startles slightly. but for a moment, he takes his cue from moonshined, forgetting all his suspicions about her because there's a handsome stranger whose hand is on fire. mind you, if kavinsky knew even the half of it, he'd be much more wary than he is but. well. you know: kavinsky.]

More or less nasty than combusting yourself, man?

[he leans forward, raising his tattooed fingers to the cigarette at his mouth. dipping the tip of it into the flame, and taking a drag. smoke unwinds in the air, fills his lungs. he exhales again. it makes him feel better, even if it's just putting park on an addiction, rather than, you know, solving the massive shit that's piled up now.]

[thehunger]

[ The cigarette lit, the man drops his hand, the black flame extinguishing itself. He chuckles slightly. ]

Much more. Over time, your habit is likely to kill you. [ Whereas his habit kills other people. ]

tw suicide/attempt

[pillz]

I dunno man. [only after kavinsky takes a drag from his cigarette does he suddenly suspect that maybe there was something dangerous about the fire on the man's hand. but true to their discussion, the first puff doesn't kill him. so. obviously that means he should keep smoking and talking to creep with powers. it's nice to meet other creeps with powers.] One time I tried combusting and it a hundred percent killed my ass.

[a slow exhale. smoke rings uncurl against the older man's face.] You from a place called Eudio?

[thehunger]

[ The man waves the smoke away, shrugging as if to say, "Yes, well, your methods may vary with spontaneous combustion." He's more interested in the next thing the boy says. ]

I haven't heard of such a plane, no. I'm from... well, it hardly matters where I'm from. [ It's been such a long time since he limited himself to just one plane of existence. ]

cw racism

[pillz]

[a line runs through kavinsky's forehead, frowning disapproval.] That makes no fucking sense, man, [he says.] For one thing, your new friends gotta know if your penis looks human. And what the fuck are we gonna talk about if you can't start there. [he sniffs, shaking his cigarette a little. ash crumbles off the end.] Ain't just Chinese people and Mexicans get solidarity that way.

White guy power, man. [kavinsky gets more ridiculous when he's stressed, but no one has been kidnapped in almost two years, so at this rate, he'll be a decent person someday. in a few hundred years.]

beaaach

[rekt]

It's the ocean, numbnuts, it's literally saltwater and you have cut.

[ murphy affectionate reply to kavinsky screaming right next to his ear, as some giant fucking deer flops him down on the sand. suddenly, everything feels so much like home. not eudio home, home, where everything is always falling apart and people he maybe cares about are constantly sending him to die and the ones he actually admits to loving are just dead, or dying. remembering that water, back home, holds disgusting sea worm monsters in it, murphy's immediately grabbing on to the back of kavinsky's sea soaked collar, and bodily dragging him up the shore, away from the tide.

he honestly couldn't give a shit where aric is - he's alive, and one of the two or three people he maybe gave half a shit about survived with him. considering the going record, he's doing pretty okay. ]

Come here. [ while kavinsky was dreaming, murphy at least had time to grab the emergency pack he carries literally everywhere with him, and now, it comes off his shoulder, zipper yanked open and antiseptic pulled out, along with a bandage. yanking at kavinsky's ankle, he's cleaning that nastiness up before some kind of gross radiation sea bacteria starts squirming into his bloodstream. it will not feel better than the ocean, but it'll keep him from dying in a few days. ]

[pillz]

[kavinsky ends up half-strangled by his own shirt collar. there is an inelegant, somewhat amphibious squgaghle sound as he slides over the wet brown sand in the other boy's grip. but he's still dual-tasking, his eyes too big in his head as he twists to and fro like a fish, trying to find aric. he thinks maybe he should have shot thanatos and made aric get on the elk. aric probably would have done it— kavinsky would guess that it takes a few hours for love to transform entirely into vinegar. like wine spoiling.]

I'm going to puke.

[he doesn't feel good, but the sand turns into hot powder underneath him and he recognizes that this is probably, technically, an improvement of circumstances. he doesn't feel all that much at home. he is accustomed to being the bad thing that happens, that's how he's made his life for years, and the current events are very much beyond even his own incredible choreography. by the time he starts paying attention again, murphy has gotten the sodden sock off his foot and started fixing whatever was wrong with him.] You got something in your nursey bag for fucking projectile vomit? Do you see Aric?

[rekt]

[ murphy doesn't spare much concern over kavinsky's apparent need to barf, though he does believe him. it wasn't a smooth ride and this is all a little Much, even for him. but he's focused more on getting K's foot cleaned up enough that he'll be able to walk. they'll probably need to wrap it with something else, hmm, but he answers in a mild, distracted tone. ] Yeah, it's called turn your face back to the water.

[ lifting his head as he wraps the bandage, he skims along the beach, looking for the other man he'd met only moments before, not entirely sure he'll still recognize him covered in sand. really, none of the faces he sees he immediately recognizes, but it's hard for him to look close when he's so concerned with other things involving staying alive through the night here. also, there's a big white elk ass in the way. move, elk. ]

No. I didn't see him land, but I was kinda busy.

[deathstouch]

[ The last thing that Aric had expected was to see Eudio falling apart but that's what had been seeming to happen when they escaped. He somehow ended up further up the beach from Kavinsky and Murphy. Alize and Thanatos seemed fine but he carried the scared dog as Thanatos followed him without need for his hand on reins.

Aric's sword was drawn as he made his way and he'd heard Kavinsky but he was too cautious to yell back and instead walked until he saw the giant elk and then walking around it to catch sight of the other two. ]

Are you alright? [ He's talking to Kavinksy, of course, since it seems like Murphy is tending to him. ]

[pillz]

[kavinsky is glaring knives at the side of murphy's head, then at a screaming child nearby, then at the sea in question. he also at some point produced a pistol from the back of his jeans. it isn't a good thing, but on the other hand, nor does he shoot anyone immediately or report that murphy also has a bullet perforated ass cheek to now attend to.]

I'm going to [look for him, is what kavinsky means to say. but then the towering death god steps out of nowhere and just like that, the adrenalinized urge to cap bitches tanks. by at least like fifty percent. abruptly, kavinsky realizes how much his foot hurts.] NO, [he says.] Where the fuck were you? What is this like your first time entering a magical alternate dimension with blood and jacked up shit everywhere. This motherfucker is trying to cut off my foot. [he waves his gun at murphy's head.

keeping cool is slightly more difficult when you give fucks about people. but on the other hand, kavinsky wasn't all that polite and validating even to people he was rescuing from nightmare monsters.]

city

[miss_brilliant]

[when the quakes had started, Amanda had been understandably worried. She'd been somewhat used to earthquakes in California, but hardly on that scale and that had been so different and not Eudio, a place where she had finally started to feel secure in her body and herself.

She had tried to be rational, tried to be a scientist, but like any human, she'd panicked and had unquestionably gone through the portal, only taking enough time to grab Heddy, clutching her close as she went through. Maybe because she trusted portals, so like Stargates. Maybe because she didn't want to think about what would happen if she didn't.

Whatever the reason, she was here now with something that looks like an African Grey parrot on her shoulder, although she knows from its explanation--which at least she mostly understands, and she's grateful her profession at least gave her that small applicable skill here--that it is not a parrot. It's still a comfort though, to have something like an animal that is also something like a computer that she can interface with. It's something that is familiar enough to calm her so she can walk through the city She's not ready send out a message just yet, she needs to find her footing, so to speak.

However, her breath catches when she hears a familiar voice, and she's almost surprised by the fact she feels tears in her eyes.]

Sorry, I don't smoke. [she calls as she walks towards the source of the shout hoping the smile in her voice will cover up the 'fee-fees']

cw ableism, also c-word, and powerpose-- lmk if it's not ok

[pillz]

[and with that, the punk screaming in the middle of the street stops screaming. he stops, his narrow frame locking stiff and straight, like somebody jabbed him in the kidneys with a hypo. it can't be. don't the people with disability usually die, expendable? he turns slowly, his dark eyes getting bigger in his head right up until he sees her. he knows that girl, with her long brown hair and oval face, her lanky limbs and needlessly self-deprecating smile. he used to affectionately bully that.]

Mary's sweet virgin cunt. [his voice erupts in the quiet of the overgrown street. too loud. a set of nesting birds in the windows of a nearby building goes flying off, panicked. kavinsky ignores them, running to meet the girl and her lame fee-fees.] Holy shit! You're not a gimp again. Holy shit. [the eevee marks amanda as amanda, which is good because he's already pulled a gun on one traveler from eudio and that was probably enough. the instant he's in arm's reach, well-- nothing changes. he keeps coming.

and it's not until he's properly invaded her space that he drags her narrow waist into a hug. hoisting her right off the pavement, if he can.] Amanda fucking Perry. Right? Amanda fucking Perry.

fdajlfk nope ur great this proves its her version of him

[miss_brilliant]

[the language doesn't surprise her at all--it makes it very clear that he isn't a lookalike, like some people in Eudio were, but Kavinsky--but the hug? Yeah, that's a bit of a shock. She's still thin on muscle for her age and height, a few months out of The Chair couldn't change that, so she's not hard to lift for most people.

She chokes out a laugh, trying very hard not to cry. Her Eevee makes a squeaking noise at being jostled, shifting so it is almost burrowed against her neck so it doesn't tumble to the ground]

Yeah. Yeah it's me, in the still-walking flesh. [she blinks rapidly] There was a...portal, like the ones I used back home in my work. It seemed a safer bet then...

[then what had been destroying the place so many of them had finally felt safe in, hangs in the air unsaid but not needing to be]

[pillz]

Oh my fucking God, [says the most expressive and eloquent young man in the multiverse.] You're a full body hug for a sore cock. [he says stupid things when he's freaking out. he says stupid things all the time. he spins her around twice, his big hollow eyes squinting up at her face, studying the familiar shape of her smile and the way it matches to her self-deprecating little voice. he jostles her up and down two more times in a way that would've cracked an infant's neck, probably, if she were an infant, but she's not.

he lets her down on the ground. two little burst drops, until her shoes touch the pavement again. he glances down at the eevee, and after a moment, tries to fluff it on the head with his tattooed fingers.] Yeah no fucking kidding, [he says.] We had Goddamn earthquakes. Saw one of the energy collection towers cave across the park from where I live. It was a little bit uncool. No people died or nothing while I was there. Very PG-13, as far as the fucking apocalypse goes.

[he's downlplaying it, and/or being an ass. as one does.] You get in here alone?

[miss_brilliant]

[despite the situation--or maybe because of it--Amanda laughs, covering her mouth with one hand quickly in case it turns hysteric. She's managed to keep a tight reign on her emotions so far, the academic taking over entirely as she processed the information the daemon had given her. Which was a bit of a problem, since she understood things far too well and was fighting to keep herself from thinking of people in the universe she'd left before going to Eudio]

Thanks, I think. [she chokes out finally, still smiling. And for her Eevee's part, it actually sniffs a curious nose at Kavinsky's hand. It recognizes his smell, and given that all it understand is there was a lot of shaking and noise and then it was somewhere without its nice bed and toys, it seems very contented to have something familiar and makes a happy squeak and actually almost smiles. It's always been the brighter of the two of them.] It's good to see you too. [and understatement, but she doesn't have the words to describe how glad she is to know he's all right, and how bizarre it still is that seeing him in one piece is a comfor

Amanda lets out a shuddery breath, nodding jerkily] Yeah. I didn't...see any deaths either, but I was too focused on trying to figure out what was happening, for all the good that did, and then getting out when the chance presented itself.

[her throat tightens a bit, and she coughs it away] Yeah, just me and Heddy. [there's so much in those words, as she thinks of both Eudio and the people in a spaceship another galaxy away. Had they been able to use the Gate, had Nick been able to unlock the bridge, oh god Nick, no she can't think of him, not now, not when she has to try to keep herself in one piece] What about you?

city

[poorlycopingstrategist]

Forgot the magic word.

[Nearby the walls of a building have partially collapsed onto each other, providing a perfect vantage point for Jamie to slump in exhaustion and judge passersby. He'd ordinarily be a little more careful about mouthing off to a stranger, but at this point he's completely out of fucks to give. His daemon, resembling a sort of skull-faced robotic t. rex, reclines next to him, staring unblinkingly at the other human-and-daemon pair.]

cw drugs

[pillz]

[the dream thief's hackles go up. he cuts a look at jamie, a dark eyebrow quirking slightly on his forehead. he's not as dead-eyed as he used to be when he was manic on a permanent diet of cocaine, but it sure is something.] Like fuck I did, [he says. he rolls the cigarette between his fingers.] Hey. You got a light and you just being a bag of cocks about it? Or what?

[he is the worst. but not as bad as an apoclaypse. kavinsky steps toward the other young man, not exactly optimistic, but unwilling to let an opportunity pass him by.]

[poorlycopingstrategist]

[If he's going to be honest, Jamie's starting to think of apocalypses and aggressively rude douchebags with the same level of weary disdain. He's endured more of either than he ever wanted to, often simultaneously, and he's just. Tired.]

I've got a lighter, yeah. [Pause.] What'll you give me if let you use it?

[fratricidio]

[ The boy has kept to himself, for the most part. This is unfamiliar grounds on every level in and beyond the literal sense, in a world he doesn't know, without the safety net of a house and cult to return to. Even the dog by his side - a white samoyed - isn't the one he thought he knew, now calling himself... Dogd. Which sounds a bit too weird. When you're a man-eating, dog whispering demigod with a cult leader for a father and a demoted demon for a mom, deeming something weird is a concern.

If nothing else, the vocal capslock of a demand breaks through the silence (and heavy thoughts) and makes both the boy and his magical tech-dog snap their heads up. ]

Please don't.

[ This is a bad idea. He shouldn't be drawing attention, but... the other guy wins that competition, clearly. ]

[pillz]

DON'T FUCKING WHAT, [says kavinsky. he's searched all the small pockets of his backpack, unnecessarily, their zippers still gaping open as he yanks the thing back onto his narrow shoulders. beside him, moonshined looks slightly querulous. more than slightly. whether or not she actually retains memories from eudio isn't clear, but she's learned to recognize kavinsky's crazy eyes and can feel a pair coming on as he turns, cigarette in hand, a scowl carving down his narrow eyes and too-full mouth.] DON'T F--

[--ucking.

the since hits kavinsky like a stone. he stares at the boy and his dog. the other boy and his dog, that is. he's pale to begin with, but he gets fractionally paler. after a moment, he says,] Holt? [his voice is dry, but it doesn't crack.]

[fratricidio]

[ The inside of his chest goes cold. There's a split second between hearing and processing the last word that comes out of Ye Typical Bully's mouth, a dread that tenses everything inside and shifts his body language from quietly closed off to spilling open in a sloppy attempt to get every single guard up.

The stranger knows his name - his last name. Caleb hasn't told anyone, he hasn't made any ties to where he came from or who his parents are. Not Santiago Holt, not Petra Dodrescu, not any mention of the neighborhood or the other dogs in his personal pack.

Santiago sometimes mentions names of kids that Caleb grew up with, most of them older, that he doesn't remember meeting. They might not have stuck around long enough to register, Caleb might have simply been too young. Whatever the case, if he knows who and what Caleb is, that's a problem. ]

-- shut up. [ It's a hiss, followed by another failure: trying to discreetly search around for anyone who might have heard it. ] You can't call me that.

[pillz]

[in the meantime, kavinsky is working with a very different context. a context where he killed himself some years ago, got transported to a brave new land, and then that brave new land was quite recently summarily destroyed amid many natural disasters! now his ex has come back, looking peaky, and is giving him fresh shit. shit unrelated to the shit that characterized their disasterous not-relationship from before.]

What the fuck is wrong with you? [his eyebrows dig down. a not very friendly combination of hot irritation and cold disdain in kavinsky's face. if they didn't have bigger problems, kavinsky would be being a bigger problem, but he's determined to be at least a small problem right now. what else is a dream thief to do with this impotent rage?] What do you want me to call you instead? Weenie McFuckface? Another joke about how you like fucking your dogs. [he gestures at the apocalypse world around them.

trees poking out of cars, that kind of shit.] You don't think we got bigger issues than your fucking attitude right now? [asks the boy with the best attitude in the whole multiverse.]

[fratricidio]

[ Another fact, another point against him - his dogs, which seem to surround Caleb wherever he goes. The only one left here is Dog(d), throwing his owner a look that's both puzzled and reluctant to share his theories. Best to not interfere, let these to hash it out and step in if things get dire. ]

Stop it! What's wrong with you? Do you want to get me killed?