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

[cheerleader]

[Yeah, okay. She follows along after him, staying close to his side. Whenever her legs feel too wobbly she reaches out to grab his arm.]

Is it your fault that I ended up here?

[It's probably a good idea to get this out of the way now, so she can decide if she wants to be angry at him or not.]

[oorah]

[ max would usually walk pressed to frank's side, but with claire occupying the side he usually flanks he walks alongside claire instead. he seems to do pretty good for a dog used to 1g of gravity. ]

Yeah, no. I'm not a space guy. [ he wrinkles his nose. even as he learns how to get by here, it only highlights the many ways in which he's actually useless and it sucks. ] There are nearly 100 people here, no one knows how we got here either. Just - woke up in fucking space. I've been here about three weeks now.

[cheerleader]

[Her nose wrinkles up as he keeps saying stuff she doesn't want to hear. Since he's the bearer of bad news she pulls her hand off of him and rests it on his dog's head instead. She's so tiny that it works out just fine. He seems nice and protective, and she's already formulating plans on how to get this dog to stay with her 24/7 so she feels safe.]

My dad isn't going to be happy if I don't come back home.

[Not with her, or anyone else. She's starting to think it's likely he might kill people if it means keeping her safe and with him.]

[oorah]

[ more dads waiting for their daughters. maybe this is hell and he's being personally tortured. it would make more sense than anything else right now. ]

You'll go home.

[ he glances over when she stops grabbing at him, but she's letting max protect her instead and that's probably for the best. frank has to believe he's right, that kamala and claire will get back to their parents and alex and prax will get back to their kids. what else does he have? ]

[cheerleader]

[She desperately wants to believe him, so she peeks up his way like he's some kind of hero or something. Adults can't always be trusted, and she's recently learned that the hard way. But she still nods her head anyway, because she has to believe that she'll get home eventually.

With her hand still on Max's head, she hurries on ahead so she can also hold onto his arm with her other hand. She's invincible, she doesn't need them to protect her. She does need them to make her feel safe though.]

Until then, can I stay near you and your dog?

[oorah]

[ ugh, it tugs at his chest in a way nothing else probably could. he thinks of leo lieberman then. he's a lot scarier than pete. but she had still trusted him, because her daddy had. karen said kamala and kat were right to trust him, so all he can really do is try to live up to that expectation. ]

Yeah, sweetheart. That's okay. [ he lets her hold onto him and max lets her too and soon they're all getting in the elevator to go up to the observation deck. he's just going to give her the run-down because that seems prudent right now, and it will keep him from thinking too much anyway. ]

There are crew quarters on deck three down. [ he points out to the hallway they were just in before the door shuts and hits the big #1 ] Any room you walk into that's unoccupied will sync to your thing- [ he taps his communicator indicatively ] and that room will become yours. There are fresh clothes in there and soap and whatever else. Laundry's at the end of each deck corridor. Deck four's got the gym, deck three the bar, deck two's the mess and deck one... well, that's where we're goin'. [ she'll see soon enough ]

[cheerleader]

[That...is a lot to take in all at once. She nods like she's processing it all, but becomes increasingly panicked looking the more h goes on. She's from a time before iphones, so the communicator on her arm is a lot.

But the thing that freaks her out the most right now is one very specific, ridiculous detail.]

I have to do my own laundry?

[Isn't there like a space mom or something who can do it for her?]

[oorah]

[ is that... her only takeaway from his speech? frank fixes her with a look as the disembark onto deck one, leading her straight to the floor-to-ceiling observation windows. max goes right up to the windows too, he likes this room if the wagging tail is any indication. ]

You don't know how to do laundry? [ they're looking down at the unfamiliar planet and its two orbiting moons, but that's still the more shocking thing to him. it helps that he's had three weeks to get used to the view. ]

[cheerleader]

My mom's always done it for me.

[He's judging her, she's sure of it. But it doesn't matter much, because when she speaks she sounds distracted. Which she is, by the sight of stars and a planet out there. Like Max, she goes right up to the window and presses her face against it.

She's pretty sure her mind is short circuiting right now. ]

We're out in space and you're worried about me being able to do laundry?

[oorah]

[ he thinks of sarah lieberman now, and isn't it funny how they've taken the place of his own family when he draws comparisons. she's the type to do everything for her kids like that - not that maria wasn't, but he got after his kids when he was home about being self-sufficient. he tried to give them skills to be independent because in the back of his mind was always the thought that he wasn't coming back. ]

No. [ he admits on a little sigh, standing slightly behind and removed from girl and dog. ] I'll show you how, if you want.