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

[hangingtree]

Maybe they shouldn't stalk us, then. [ The comment's more for her daemon's benefit than Alec's and it, in response, lets out an almost indignant sounding huff. Then, in its low, growly sort of voice says: ] I wasn't stalking you, I merely came to find you. There is a difference.

[ Katniss rolls her eyes but ignores it, focusing instead on the feed. ] I thought you went home, Alec? [ A beat, then she adds: ] Please tell me this isn't where you come from.

[ In true Katniss fashion, she ignores the inquiry to how she is to focus instead on figuring out where she is. ]

[helical]

We thought that was where we were going. [ back home. after making one final request — but this is far from home.

whatever her daemon is, it seems to have a bit of a personality, as most others seem to as well. alec wonders why they couldn't make programmed assistants to be more polite and agreeable. maybe it's a protection of some kind, but it's irritating.

his is not speaking at the moment, but a long, white and grey tail swooshes in front of the camera lazily a moment, while alec fusses with it and nudges it away from the screen. ] Did you get here directly from Eudio, like the others?

[hangingtree]

[ Katniss frowns; while it would've been strange, ending up in Alec's world, at least then someone would know where the hell they were. But she tells herself not to panic just yet, even if that's all she wants to do; someone has to know where they are. And, more importantly, how they ended up here instead of where they all intended to be.

She notes the tail, curious as to what form Alec's daemon has taken, but she puts the question aside for the time being. It's not the most important thing right now.

Her own sits down roughly, making the feed shake briefly, and lets out another gruff sounding huff of air since apparently they're not moving anytime soon. ]

Yeah. I thought I was going home. I wanted-- [ Pausing for a brief moment, Katniss clenches her fists at her sides, digging her nails into her palms. Now's not the time to get emotional about the uncertain state of both Eudio and home. ] I thought maybe Panem was dealing with the same thing.

[helical]

Sounds like if it isn't yet, it will eventually. [ that's what he's gathered, at least, from pestering his daemon with questions about what this place is, how they got here, what's going on. some of it is unclear, confusing, muddled, but alec has kept a clear head by focusing on the facts.

and not what might be happening to his family.

seeing familiar faces here has helped, too. ] We need to focus on finding shelter, food, all of that first. There's a city, apparently.

[hangingtree]

[ He's at least gotten further than she has; obviously her main concern when the daemon found her was using it to see if anyone else she knew was here. And just like with Alec, Katniss feels a (small) sense of comfort knowing that others she's familiar with are here.

Still, she wants to get back to Panem to check on the people there. While she was in Eudio, time supposedly stood still back home, but with the destruction of the city, who knows what's happening back home? ]

I'm close to the edge of it, actually. [ That's how her daemon found her. Not that she knows that. ] There are buildings here that look like they could provide a safe place to sleep. [ Once they're looked over, of course. ]

Where are you?