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

[altruistical]

Why should he? He has other matters to deal with.

[He doesnt even have to say his name, she knows who they are talking about.]

Did you say please?

[altruistical]

Is honesty something foreign to you, Belmont?

[tutee]

[ Bill's eyebrows shoot up, but she shakes Clara's hand anyway. ]

Really? He never mentioned you.

[ Wince. ]

I mean, he never mentioned anyone, actually.

[mentis]

Hm. Well, if he knows what's best he'll stay the hell away.

( He'd sound angrier, if he weren't so bloody exhausted. Instead all his bitter rage has been drowned out by alcohol and circumstance. So he drains the rest of his drink, lets the glass settle on the counter with a clumsy thunk. Then he's rising. He's not quite steady on his feet, but he's put a lot of practise in pretending otherwise.

Charles pushes the stringy parts of his hair back from his eyes with the flat of his hand, glances at Raven again. )

Do you need a hand?

[mentis]

Iron Man? ( Frank, you've just said far too many words that have flown right over Charles' head. ) And I thought my sister calling me 'Professor X' was bad, that's just terrible.

( Tony Stark in a pinny ironing shirts. Except he doesn't know Tony Stark, so that's not quite as amusing. )

I had no idea. I suppose, space wars aren't that far off then.

[mentis]

I've met Sonya.

( She'd been something of a calming influence on Charles. ) She's scared though. I think some treading lightly there would be best. She assumed all of this was a telepathic assault. She's a nice girl, there's just something there. Something's happened to her.

( He'd been talking to Erik like a peer, like they might have done years ago. The future of their people had been uncertain, but they'd been so full of hope. It makes something ache in his throat. )

They'll have to get over that. I'm hardly in a position to do much for them.

( And if his powers come back, well. Then he'll be even worse. )

[omnicides]

Oh, I see.

You think aliens are cool?

[omnicides]

I don't understand what vampires have to do with it. Or racism.

( help!! )

[bestials]

As long as they weren't trying to hurt people, or conquer my planet, or anything. Sure, why not?

[oddbod]

[It still stings to hear, even though she already knows, even though it's been following her like a bad dream for months.]

Bit of a long story. [And it'll come out, she supposes, at least the bare bones of it all. But not right now, not when there's so much else to fret about.] Something happened, and he forgot about me. Glad he found someone else, though. I've been worried about the old man.

[personify]

[There is still part of her that's not prepared to lose herself for the sake of the greater good. Dying is one thing. Killing Trask. That feels right. Killing someone she cares for is an entirely different thing. It would be a far worse fate than her own death.

What might she become then?]

Do you actually think we'll ever get there? To a time when mutants aren't murdered, experimented on, or forced to live in fear?

[She's not so sure that can happen.]

[target]

if youre gonna cry about me not knowing
sure

[you are very confusing good sir]

ill meet you at the mess hall
or whatever theyre calling the place you can find food here

[weaponize]

[it's a self-inflicted penance, in a way, when he leans back enough to make eye contact with apollo. it'd be so much simpler if he stayed where he was, with the two of them wrapped up in one another, rather than make the attempt. but given just what he needs to say in response, he isn't prepared to hide. he did enough of that when he chose to leave in the first place. when he continued to stay away for all those months.]

I left. And I wasn't here when you arrived.

[which, given the almost non-existent pause between the two statements, could be seen as a single issue. but it's only the latter that relates to being on this space station. the former is the one he actually regrets. that he's trying to apologise for. he needed to leave the carrier. the team. there was no other option for him. so even now, despite knowing all the damage he did as a result, he wouldn't even consider hijacking the time police's ride to go back and stop himself.

changing things though...

it's only then that his gaze finally flicks away. that he has to grit his teeth as he forces out the last few words.]

Should've talked to you.

[because then, maybe bendix wouldn't have been able to sink his claws back in to him. maybe he wouldn't have abandoned apollo. maybe jenny would have been able to have a real childhood. maybe, maybe, maybe. the only definite is that, if he'd talked to apollo, he knows they would have found a better solution to it all than midnighter chose.]

[episodically]

( hey, he'd gotten a date out of it, hadn't? okay, maybe not a date but jim thinks calling it that to this guy's face might get a reaction so he's gonna do it. )

It's the only way to make this injustice up to me.

( it wasn't but hey, he'd said yes and jim was bored. time to see what this guy who was using his lines looked like. )

Mess hall. Don't get lost. I'd hate to be eating my freeze dried lima beans and look out the window and see you trying to play with the stars.

[personify]

[Raven can't help but roll her eyes. Still acting like her protective older brother, as though that role is one she needs or wants anymore. She's not a wilting flower who needs saved. Not some blonde damsel in need of rescue from a tall tower.

Except that, unfortunately for her pride, she does need help right now.] Spare me your declarations, but yes. I could use a hand...

[She moves to get back up, biting back a groan of pain as she puts weight back on her calf.]

[target]

cute
youd better make it worth my while then

[yes, he's already well aware that he's probably going to regret that. but that wouldn't be the first time his words have gotten him in to trouble.]

[solarcharged]

[ A faint frown paints a crease across Apollo's expression at that reply. 'I left'. As far as Apollo knows, Midnighter has only just arrived. How could he possibly have left already? ]

What are you talking about? [ The faint smile of amusement still lingers on his lips, making the frown seem more bemused than anything. ]

You haven't left.

[episodically]

Challenge accepted.

( oh wesley, he'd make it worth your while and then some. )

[tutee]

He tried to do that to me. Make me forget. But there was no way I would have let him.

[ That pretty much solidified their whole relationship, now that Bill thinks about it. She wouldn't let the Doctor pull any of his poor tricks on her, and she thought (she hoped) he appreciated her for it. ]

I have been too. S'why I was hoping he'd be here. Last I saw him, he, ah... Wasn't too well off.

[oddbod]

[Dead as it is, Clara's heart breaks, right in two. He tried to do it again? How much else did he unlearn when he erased their friendship from his mind? How much more gone could she be?

At the last comment, though, her concerns grind to a halt, only to roll back into full force in a different direction.]

What do you mean? What happened?

[magneticfields]

[ Erik stops and looks at the man with an expression of faux concern. Well, real concern at first as it looks like he's about to collapse but once he recovers it's fake again. ]

I told you my name already, remember? Erik. Er-ik. Think you can handle that?

[ He steps onto the lift. ]

Coming, Francis?

[magneticfields]

Something's happened to all of us. Treading lightly isn't my strong suit, but I'll do what I can.


[ An observation of a fact. Different things, different times, different circumstances. But none of them have escaped unscathed. His jaw tightens at Charles' dismissal of them. ]

So that's the plan, then. I do what I can while you wallow in whatever swill the station can produce.

[magneticfields]

[ In the end, he choked. He couldn't do it. No matter how much he believed that it had to be done, that it had to be him, in the end he couldn't do it. He couldn't kill her. Knowing that he shot both her and Charles is enough to keep him up at night. Knowing that as bad as they all thought he was, he still had the potential to be worse. They don't even know about Apocalypse.

About Nina. ]

I have to.

[ The belief that this was all for some purpose is the only thing keeping him sane. ]

[oorah]

[ he didn't think clara was that mad. is she... paving over them ever knowing each other? or - wait, he thinks he understands. ]

If you're sayin' you want to start over, I'm game. [ he turns to her and offers a calloused hand, bruised eyes crinkling kindly. ] I'm Frank, ma'am.

[weaponize]

[there's a frown of his own, his confusion clear for the brief moment before he's able to tuck it away again. he hasn't had a chance to explore the station yet. hasn't sifted through the network and the plethora of information it holds. so the idea of time being a factor hasn't even crossed his mind. nothing beyond the knowledge that apollo has already been here for a month. maybe he's somehow...set it aside already?]

Harmony. [there's a lot more to his absence than that. bendix. paulus. even jenny had a hand in him staying away for so long. (he doesn't blame her though. he can't. not when he understands how much she was trying to help. doesn't mean he's ready to forgive her yet though.)

what it ultimately comes down to though is--]

I thought I could be normal. Should've known it wouldn't work.

[because like it or not, he's the midnighter. lucas trent is a lie.]