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

[drehnifusbahi]

Maybe that's not such a bad thing? It might not have given the best first impression, the shape it was in.

[That would be Vanyel, trying to joke back - probably falls a little flat, though, given what he just said and the fact that he still hasn't let go of her. It's like he's afraid she'll vanish too, if he does.

(Spoiler: He sort of is. Irrational as it might be, he finds he can't quite quash the fear that if he lets her go, he'll lose her like he lost Erandur and Serana.)

So he keeps holding onto her (and probably won't so much as loosen his grip until she makes him, if he's honest), taking comfort in her nearness and warmth and those encouraging words. Slowly, he starts to relax again, and eventually he raises his head, kissing her temple gently.]

Yes, we will. [Emphasis on 'we'. Because he heard that pronoun shift, don't think for a moment he didn't.] Thank you, Rose. [That softer, more tender tone is back as he continues.] I'm... so, so glad I don't have to do this without you.

[hasitsthorns]

Please, you saw my house. I have no right to judge anyone else's worlds based on that alone.

[ He might not have ever seen the worst of it, but undoubtedly visited when she'd forgotten to tidy up some parts before his arrival. Still. Jokes. That's the only way she can truly cope about it all. So she doesn't mind that his has too much truth to it to be funny because she can try to pick up the slack for him.

Her lips curl up into a smile at that ginger kiss, but the next part has her cheeks a little pink. She, uh. She had said 'we,' didn't she? She worried briefly but his reaction doesn't seem to indicate it was an overstep on her part. ]

I'm glad I can be here for you, too. [ Nuzzle, nuzzle. ] The same goes for you, of course. Had me worried there for a little bit... [ While she'd kept her concern fairly concealed, there was no doubt she was much more at east for having Vanyel around. And all the others, of course! There's still one face she hasn't seen that she's hopeful to come across, too, but only time will tell. ]

But hey! We're here, together, and both in one piece. Not much more I can ask for. Well. A place to live that isn't the great outdoors might be nice, but. [ As they all know, she's lived off the land before without much problem. Apollod has an apartment for her, she knows because he's said it like 50billion times by now, but... eight dogs are not going to fit into an apartment. ]

[drehnifusbahi]

If you say so. [He had seen parts she'd forgotten to tidy on a few occasions, but he isn't about to agree that her house was sloppy, even so.

And with that, what little humor he could muster up hasrun dry, and he settles for simply holding her and leaning into that nuzzling. No, he doesn't mind at all that she said 'we'; in fact, it's a comfort. Just because he could manage alone doesn't mean he wants to.

His grip tightens just a little, reflexively, when she mentions she'd been worried.] Sorry about that. [It wasn't done on purpose, of course, but that doesn't change the fact that he did worry her. So.]

But you're right. [Their being together and both in one piece is the important part, to be sure - but finding someplace to stay is the more immediate concern at the moment.] That one [he nods toward Zeymahd, circling overhead] mentioned an apartment, but with this bunch [meaning the dogs] we're probably going to need to find someplace bigger.

[Don't mind him just... casually assuming they'll be living together, here.]

[hasitsthorns]

[ Vanyel is far too good to Rose. Absolutely wrong, too, because it was a disaster zone like ninety percent of the time and she's aware of that but. Still. She smiles all the same. Even in the face of him lapsing back into a bit more somber state. Not that she can blame him at all, of course, it's... a lot to take in.

The apology isn't necessary but appreciated; she wasn't about to hold it against him, of course, but it had definitely given her more of a frighten than she was willing to let on. ]

Oh, [ she says, blinking. This time it's him who makes the mention of 'we' and... in a way she had wanted to ask about but wasn't sure the best way to bring it up. Or if she even should. They'd never lived together in Eudio for a plethora of reasons. It's definitely a big step.

Her mind whirs with worries and 'what ifs' if they're incompatible living together but she tries to push passed them. She doesn't want him to be far nor does she want him to feel like she wouldn't want to live together or stay close because she does. Absolutely. It's just, y'know, a bit scary too. ] Yeah, definitely, [ she adds after a moment, trying to play it off as just a casual pause. ] These guys need their space.

Let's get house hunting then. [ Which is punctuated with a peck on the lips and brightest smile she can manage. ]

[drehnifusbahi]

[That might have something to do with the fact that he doesn't always have the easiest time keeping things tidy, himself - especially when he gets caught up reading, or brewing, or studying. Or it could just be because he's besotted. Take your pick.

He smiles wanly in return, trying to set his worries on the back burner for the moment; doing nothing but mope and worry won't change things, or be remotely helpful, and he knows it.

Having her here helps with that; he knows by now that she isn't entirely helpless, but his overriding instinct is still to protect her, to keep her safe. Hence his not-so-subtle 'suggestion' that they move in together (that, and he honestly can't bear the thought of living alone here).

But then she hesitates to answer, and it occurs to him that maybe he shouldn't have just presumed she wanted to; at the very least, he should have phrased it as a question. It's on the tip of his tongue to apologize, to say they needn't share a house if she doesn't want to- then comes her answer, and he summons up a more genuine smile and kisses her cheek in turn.]

Let's. [He says, by way of agreement, and offers her his arm.]

[ooc: I think that's a wrap?]