TEST DRIVE #002

[reveriemod]

TEST DRIVE #002

( 0 0 1 ) » WAKE UP

Were you asleep or were you unconscious? It doesn't matter: when you come to, there's an odd taste in your mouth and there's a low-level mechanical hum in the air. Your head hurts and you feel nauseous. You aren't anywhere you know: everything around you is metal, from the floor you lie on all the way to the ceiling. You are dressed in a jumpsuit you definitely weren't wearing before.

"We tried to save the world. I think— I think we did the opposite."

The message repeats on a loop. If you look for its source, you find a comms device on the floor next to you. The logo on its wallpaper says REVERIE TERMINAL. Upon closer inspection, you find the same logo on your jumpsuit.

Welcome to your new home. What choice do you have but to explore your surroundings?

( 0 0 1 . 1 ) » WAKE UP WHERE?

When you wake up, you find that you're not alone. But more importantly, you find that you're in a closet. An empty closet, bar you and your new companion. It's small, cramped, and there is no door that you can see. The ceiling is low, there is barely any lights, only some coming from the tiny flashlight clipped to your suit's shoulder. You cannot be sure that there is any air coming in to the room.

Are these grooves in the wall supposed to mean something?

( 0 0 2 ) » OBSERVATION DECK

There were no windows in the corridor you woke up in and no windows in any of the crew quarters you might have checked for occupants — but there are plenty of windows on the uppermost level of the station, deck 1. In fact, there are windows from floor to ceiling all along the circumference of the station's circular deck, and it's possible to walk along it all. What it shows is a strange solar system you've never seen before and a planet that might resemble one you know, but certainly isn't the same.

You're in space. You don't know where you are. Neither does anyone else.

( 0 0 3 ) » BAR

On deck 3, you find the bar. Tucked away from the crew quarters, it's dimly lit, there are bar stools thrown down on the floor and what looks like some very old drink spills, crusty and dark against the bar top. But there is alcohol here, or at least, what you think is alcohol, in bottles with faded labels, most of them indecipherable. Take a drink, get drunk, start a fight, or start a party? You're stuck on this station, might as well make the most of it, right?

( 0 0 4 ) » SPACEQUAKES

One second, you are is walking. Magnetic boots are on, the ground feels solid enough, for a metal deck in a space station. Everything is perfectly fine, or at least as fine as it can be, given that you still don't know where you are or how you came to be here.

The next moment, it's like everything explodes around you. You're thrown against the wall as sparks erupts from electrical panels, as the whole station rumbles and shakes around you. You fall to the deck, earning yourself scratches from the grating. When you look up, it's like nothing has happened. No wires hanging from open panels, no flickering lights, no more shaking. Like an earthquake in space.

( 0 0 5 ) » NETWORK

The comms device you found next to you when waking up connects to a station-wide network, REVERIE NET. You have the option to post video, voice or text messages.

What will you share?

( 0 0 6 ) » WILDCARD

The station features a variety of locations, from sleeping quarters free for the claiming to a dirty swimming pool and a bar that still holds alcohol (though some of the bottles seem to have been opened a while ago).

Go wild, but don't wreck the place. It's your home for the foreseeable future, after all.

Comments

[magicshows]

[Man, she doesn't even have her hat to pull down over her eyes here.] If you keep saying weird things, I'll have to cast a spell on you. [That doesn't even make sense?]

[hopefragment]

Uh... right.

[Hajime... has no idea what this guy's talking about, at all, and while normally he'd be comfortable just calling him a chuuni and moving on with his life, he's met enough distinctly abnormal people not to count him out just yet.]

So can you use ice powers or something to get us out of here?

1/2

[gundamned]

[So bold Hinata...!! They only just started holding hands-- wanting to see something like that so soon into their friendship!]

Gck--!!

2/2

[gundamned]

Your bravery is commendable. However, you -- even with the power I've lent you-- are far too pitifully weak to survive the full extent of my abilities in such a confined space!!

Even if you were to somehow live on, just witnessing the extent of my abilities would warp your pitiful mind and send you into the deepest pits of unfathomable insanity! No, it is impossible!

[hopefragment]

[Who are you calling weak?!

Hajime looks directly into the camera like an episode of The Office. He's just met this person, and already he's tired.]

Uh... sure, if you say so.

[He doesn't sound convinced, but rather deadpan as he fumbles around for the little flashlight and starts shining it around their little closet, looking for a seam of any kind.]

Hey, do you think if we kick against this, we could knock it loose?

1/3

[gundamned]

[A rival?!]

2/3

[gundamned]

[... no. No matter.]

Kehehe...

3/3

[gundamned]

Kehehe... fuhaha!!

Your pitiful party tricks are assuredly nothing compared to me, insolent witch! I am the great and powerful Gundam Tanaka, Supreme Overlord of Ice!

[magicshows]

My magic isn't a trick! [That is very important!] I'm the Super High School Level Mage, after all! [No, she's the SHSL Magician. But that's just a mistake in the name, definitely.] If you were a real mage you wouldn't lock yourself in rooms with cute girls. [This is probably his fault.]

1/2

[gundamned]

[Listen. Hinata might be the singularity, but he is no match for Gundam. No one is!]

Kehehe--!!

2/2

[gundamned]

[--Wait.]

...together?

[hopefragment]

Uh... yeah?

[??? In the dim lighting, Hajime can't quite see the other boy's face, but from his voice, Gundam might be able to imagine the familiar look of exasperation. Did you expect him to do all the work??]

Look, we'll start kicking on three, okay? One, two--

[BANG BANG BANG let's kick this shit down!!]

1/2

[gundamned]

[The concept of human friendship is foreign to him still, cut him some slack??]

Heh. I see...

I suppose I could display a minuscule percentage of my strength, if you are so confident in your survival.

2/2

[gundamned]

Prepare yourself, door of insidious intrigue! Together we shall emerge to new beginnings through your perilous gateway! We shall transcend time and space through our combined power no matter what hellish existence awaits us on the other side!

One, two--

[BANG BANG BANG -- but definitely more mystical and powerful than however Hinata kicks shit down!!]

005.0 un: crow

[uragiru]

There's no culprit for you to find, I'm afraid.
Our being here is the result of a catastrophe that disrupted space-time and caused reality to become warped on this station.
If you were brought here without something, it was likely because of the displacement.

[ he doesn't know that at all, really, but it seems like the best way to talk this person down from their paranoid ravings for a start. ]

[hopefragment]

[Door of... what?

Whatever. Hajime lets out a wordless yell of his own, slamming the heels of his sneakers against whatever that metal seam is. Door? Piece of grating?? Who knows. What he does know is that there's not really much airflow in here, and his own shout is echoing in his ears.

Somehow, the two boys who are surprisingly more macho than the look, actually do manage to pound the bit of metal plating open, spilling Hajime, at the very least, unceremoniously face-first to the deck with another wordless yell. Unlike Gundam, he's not wearing one of the station jumpsuits, but rather, the uniform that he was wearing on the island. That's a little odd.]

[ryuji]

[A little thrown back by the obvious distaste for getting all up in his business, he stops when they're out of range of the hallway that's pretty much designed to kill them. He'll try to make a mental note of it, but like with anything, there's a good chance he'll slip up in the future.]

Uh...

[Yeah, man, where does he even begin to talk about things?]

Rooms you walk into and get trapped inside a metal block... hearing weird ghost sounds... when you do anything to the station you fall asleep.

[Shit, he doesn't want to scare the newcomer. There was also the issue of a wire being stuck in his cheek, a bandaid still over the section where Ren had to cut it out of him.]

You just kinda get used to the patterns and adjust. Unless you're a weirdo and wanna get into that crap.

[foolishjourney]

Great.

[You can tell how incredibly excited by all of this he is, from the deadpan expression on his face. So pumped.]

So it's a horror movie on top of a sci-fi movie.

[Not exactly his first idea for his afterlife, really.]

[ryuji]

Kinda like that movie Aliens with the dudes that pop outta your chest after they've laid eggs in you. Except there... aren't any aliens we know about so. At least there's that?

[Ryuji, you're not helping?]

But really, it's... I mean, it ain't that bad. I know it sounds like it is, but in between the crazy shit that goes on in here, it's almost kinda peaceful. You can go off and do your own thing, watch the stars, talk to people and learn shit about the world they came from.

[Oh- but,]

Whatever you do, don't order the ramen in the mess hall. It tastes like dinosaur piss.

[foolishjourney]

That wouldn't be my first choice of movie to relate to our situation, but I guess I'm just not bursting with enough enthusiasm about it.

[Did he just... make a joke. Yes he sure did, but he says it so casually it might warrant a double take on whether or not it was intentional.]

I guess... that isn't too bad sounding? But is all the food terrible, or just the ramen...?

[This is the most important thing you've told him yet, Ryuji.]

Jim Holden | The Expanse

[holdensteady]

( A. Observation Deck )

[ What Holden finds more disturbing than the fact that he's woken here and not on the Rocinante is that once he finds his way to the Observation Deck, an attempt to orientate himself leaves him at an even more complete loss as to where he might be. There doesn't seem to be any information that he's found yet to give him any guidance but the planet in the distance doesn't look like any he's seen before.

It looks similar enough, but there's enough there to let him know that it is not Earth and it's certainly not Mars, which begs the question where he could possibly be.

He stares out into the vastness with his arms crossed and lost in thought for the moment. The only question more pressing than where he is, is where is his crew? ]

( B. Network )

un: holden

Does the Rocinante mean anything to anyone here?

[ He has a minimal dose of caution to at least attempt to be subtle in searching for friendly faces. ]

( C. Wildcard)

[ Find Holden in search of coffee or whatever else your heart desires! And, of course, I'll match formats! ]

a

[donkeyballs]

[ Every day, he still searched for Holden. Sometimes with Frank, sometimes with Naomi - once in the morning, ever day.

It was just circumstance, that he was doing another sweep of the station tonight. Couldn't sleep, like something wiggling in the back of his brain, egging him on.

So he just happened to be walking alone, looking for Holden. Though looking might have been a big word for it - the sweeps he made these days he did without actually hoping to find anything, so his eyes didn't linger for more than a couple seconds.

When he first saw Holden's silhouette against the windows he barely even registered it. His brain didn't notify him of what he'd seen for several seconds, and then suddenly his gaze snapped right back to it.]

Holden? [He sounded shaken, but after a couple moments shock he started walking quickly towards him, one arm still bound tightly to his chest in a sling.]

Cap? That you?

a

[marineris]

[Bobbie's been keeping an eye out for Holden just as she's been keeping an eye out for Chrisjen, but so far, nothing. They might not be particularly close, but Holden is a hell of a man to have around, and she knows the rest of his crew is searching for him. She especially knows how much Alex is worrying, even if he's trying to keep his spirits up. And then, one day, as Bobbie is passing the observation deck, she spots Holden, just like that. It pulls her up short, and she hesitates before approaching. There's no way of knowing if he'll even remember her. So far, no one else does.

She puts on an easygoing face anyway, crossing the distance between them in long strides.]

Hey. I should have known you'd show up eventually. You have a way of stepping in shit.

[weaponize]

[it doesn’t matter how he left things in the moments before waking up here. doesn’t matter that he’s forgotten just how to act around apollo these days. that he’s the reason that things have begun to break down between them. (and bendix, of course. but he knows that’s something he should be standing strong beside his husband on.)

all that matters is having apollo right there with him. being free to wrap his arms back around him to try and offer at least a modicum of the comfort that he’s taking in return. apollo is his home, as broken and bruised as it may sometimes be. so finding him here is both a relief and a concern. if whoever’s behind this is capable of catching both him and apollo off guard, then they have a good reason to be worried. especially when they seem to be out of range of the others.

he doesn’t pull back. doesn’t put and space between them that isn’t needed. instead, after a moment spent with his face pressed into apollo’s hair so he can breathe in his scent, midnighter finally breaks his silence.]

Can’t get away from me.

[for better or worse, till death do us part—]

Wish I could say the same about the others. Carrier’s not responding and I can’t get in touch with anybody. [except apollo of course.]

You want to tell me what’s happening? [because the computer isn’t telling him anything, which is...disconcerting.]

[mapsio]

[It's a long story, and one that probably makes no sense. Not that a lot of things here made any sense.]

This entire place is rather odd.

[She brushes herself off next. Humming in thought. She wants to explain this in a way that would maybe not sound insanely crazy.]

I can't really explain. It feels so real, right? But then it is like nothing ever happened. I have experienced this once already. I had wondered if what we experienced was a hallucination... or maybe the station showing us things that have happened in the past.

[Not to quote Akechi Goro, but... "the station may be sentient".]