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

[aberth]

[ He's midway through an explanation when he hears his name being called. Something complicated happens in the cavern of his chest, a frantic squeeze that sets his pulse racing. Adam barely mumbles his apologies to the person he'd been speaking to before he's abandoning his demonstration to rise and search for her in the crowd of refuges.

He lets out a breath when their gaze locks, relief flitting over the exhaustion and fear. Adam doesn't think, he just strides over to her, ignoring everything else.

He's not alone. ]

Blue. Jesus. [ His hands hover when he reaches her, like he'd like to touch her to confirm she's real, or hug her because she's alive. ] Are you okay? Are you --? Christ, I thought I was the only one.

[ But maybe that was a silly thought, considering how intertwined they all are. ]

[amplifyings]

[ Blue practically scrambles to her feet, her daemon doing the same in a show of surprise at the girl's sudden movement -- even if it had been banished to what was ultimately time out, there was still concern for exactly what had Blue so frantic -- and it's a miracle she doesn't stumble over her own feet with how quickly she's trying to get to Adam as well.

She doesn't need any confirmation that he's not a hallucination. The way that her heart clenches and then swells at both the sight of the boy and the sound of his voice is enough to convince Blue that this is Adam. He's here. Where ever it is that they are, he's there too and things seem just the tiniest bit less crushing.

The kinds of things that they've all already went through together would have been infinitely harder had they each tried to do them alone. They were intertwined, connected, tied to one another, and -- dare she go as far as to say it? (It seemed true, after all.) -- fated to all meet.

The moment she's close enough, Blue's throwing both of her arms around Adam in what is probably the most relieved hug Ever. She didn't know what had happened, she had assumed the worst, and now realizing that that wasn't the case was almost too overwhelming. ]

Adam. [ She says again, this time like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders as she finally drops her arms from around him, taking a half step back to look him over. Making sure he actually is okay.

His words are slightly disheartening, though. ]

You haven't found anyone else?

[aberth]

[ She makes the decision for the both of them by throwing her arms around him. His response is instinctive, holding her as tightly as he can without being afraid of hurting her. He doesn't say anything for a moment, just squeezes his eyes closed, her hair brushing his cheek. It instantly becomes easier to breathe, part of the rock of worry that's been sitting heavy in his stomach loosening and coming free. She's here, she made it. It makes him wildly hopeful for a moment. Now there are two of them, it feels more solid. It wouldn't be right to split the group like this.

( And they're survivors, he knows that. Of course they'll have made it. ) ]

I'm fine.

[ Apart from feeling dirty and tired, he really is. He got off easy. ] Are you? A lot of people crashed, it was --. [ A mess. If he closes his eyes all he can see is licking flame and rising smoke. ] But you're okay? [ He needs confirmation, he needs to be there for her if Gansey can't. ]

No, it's just been me. But if they're here we'll find us.

[ He looks away from her once to glance around the forest, noting the strange faces grouping around the trees. ] They'll be here. Somewhere.

[amplifyings]

[ Blue nods her head. ] I'm okay.

[ A few smudges of dirt on her face, her hair a little oilier than usual from being unwashed, the edges of her clothes frayed and torn -- though, knowing Blue, that could have very well been something she'd done on purpose.

Distressed, she called it. (Ironic now, isn't it?) ]

I was in the water, [ Her stomach lurches at the memory, that sick feeling washing over her again as she's briefly transported back. The smell of saltwater and death filling her nose, the feel of waterlogged, ice cold skin underneath her fingertips-- Blue gives her head a slight shake, bringing herself back to reality. ] but I made it out okay. I'm fine.

[ Adam's answer is hopeful and Blue wants to believe it -- they're all too tied to one another, it seemed almost impossible that they all wouldn't be here. Blue still feels like something is missing inside of her, but it doesn't feel like it's gone. Just temporarily misplaced, waiting for her to find it.

Maybe that feeling is stronger in Adam, maybe that's why he can be so hopeful. ] You think they ended up here too?

[ Or maybe being hopeful was better than thinking of the alternative: if they weren't here, they were gone. ]

idk if you want to keep this going now we're retconning but i thought i'd reply anyway aha

[aberth]

[ He'd never had a thing about large bodies of water before, but now he's reconsidering. When she says how she found herself here, he frowns a little, because he knows what that means and he too can't forget the feeling it brought upon him, the crushing cold of the water, his body unwilling to cooperate, the certainty that he was going to drown. But he knows that neither of them would want to dwell, even if they had time for it, so he lets it go. ]

Okay, good.

[ Adam is not an optimist, is the thing. Instinctively, he's always been waiting for something bad to happen, be it a punch or mystical entity destroying life itself. But there's a willful thing resting inside of him and he can't bring the words to the surface. If it's true, if they're dead, then the little good he's managed to claw back from life will be gone. If they aren't here, he doesn't know if he wants to survive it, if this won't be the final thing that's going to ruin him.

He can't let his thoughts follow that thread. ]

I don't think Gansey would miss the opportunity to explore a brave new world, do you?

[ It's helpless, and a little bit too fanciful but maybe they both need that to keep going. ]

eh why the heck not?! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[amplifyings]

[ The mention of Gansey brings a grin to her lips -- her final memories of the boy aren't the greatest, the short time that the entire world had been coming undone before Blue's eyes had felt like a literal nightmare, and while she had tried to keep a hold on him, to cling to him like he was her life force and to pull him through to this place with her, she'd found herself here alone.

Well, not alone. The beach had been full of people, but not a single one had been him.

Her emotions wax and wane quickly -- from hopeful to hopeless, from happiness to despair, from relief to anxiety. -- but rather than let the heavier ones consume her, she focuses on Adam's words. Fanciful as they might be, there's something reassuring in his tone. Or maybe Blue's searching for it and latching on to even the tiniest bit of hope. Sensibilities, be damned! ]

You're right. [ She sighs, giving a firm nod that's more for herself than in response to Adam. ] He's probably out there making maps and taking detailed notes on everything.

[aberth]

Right? And when he finds us he'll probably end up lecturing us that we've been here long enough to make notes of our own.

[ Before he'd found her, Adam had mostly been moving along on pure adrenaline. Now he has someone he knows, someone he can trust, someone who might need him, the main ambition is to keep busy. ]

I tried going out of the forest. Or at least whatever way I thought was out. But this guy stopped me. He said there were - rock trolls, I guess? Or something like that. They haven't come to the camp, but they don't like you stepping in their territory either.

[ What is it with crazy woods and things wanting to kill them? ]

Have you seen anything?

[amplifyings]

He'll be so disappointed in us, how will he ever recover?

[ It's a thought that makes her laugh softly, and she can just about hear Gansey's voice in her head going on and on about the importance of noting everything in a strange and new world such as this. A lecture that all of them would have likely ignored -- Sorry, Gansey. ]

Rock trolls? [ Back in Henrietta she would have probably called Adam crazy -- or suggested that he's been reading way too many high fantasy novels and should take a break from them -- but here? Rock trolls sound like exactly the kind of things that would exist. ]

A lot of bugs, mostly. [ She pauses, lips pursed into a flat line of thought. ] And, these little creatures flying around. I can't get a good look at them, they move too fast, but they remind me of fairies. [ What she saw of them buzzing by looked.... somewhat human. ]

[aberth]

Rock trolls.

[ He says it with the same level of mysticism, like he's not actually sold on the idea. ] Apparently they don't like us. [ Of course, it could have been a lie, Alec could have been bullshitting Adam for various different reasons. He doubts it though, the guy had a severity that didn't lend itself for chain jerking. ]

Rock trolls and fairies. Where's Lynch when you need him? He'd have this fairytale bullshit down.

[ Lord, but he wishes Ronan were here. ]

If we see a gingerbread house we are not going in. With our luck, Gwenllian would be inside.

[amplifyings]

[ She'd yet to see a rock troll, but who was to say that they didn't exist? After all, the entire world had been falling apart before she'd just been pulled through some kind of portal that dropped her into the ocean somewhere that she'd never once seen, or heard of.

And she had a talking tree that she's not sure isn't some part robot also.

And she may or may not have seen a fairy.

So, yeah. Anything was possible. ]

That's probably exactly why we can't find him. He's somewhere away from the threat of rock trolls. [ Blue offers up wry, but somewhat playful grin. ] It might be worth the free meal.

[ And then she pauses, pressing the tip of her finger to her lips as though she's having a Great Internal Debate ] The witch only intends to eat the boy in the story, doesn't she?