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

CACKLES WHILE CRYING. CRACKLES.

[mentis]

( Someone is watching him. Charles doesn't need telepathy to be able to feel the gaze drilling holes in the back of his skull. He isn't in the mood to deal with it, honestly. Not right now. Not ever.

All he can think about is Logan's terror, how relieved Raven had sounded before her fear had taken over, how Erik, always Erik seemed to make him hurt. And so he drinks, while Jane Doe stares at him, and he keeps drinking, until he makes an ugly exasperated sound and finally rolls his gaze towards her. )

I'm not interested.

( Kindly fuck off. Stop drinking. He needs that alcohol. )

[personify]

[Those eyes impossibly narrow. He doesn't know it's her. He's not read her mind.

That seems to be his go to move with most everyone, she thinks with a bristle. So why not now? Perhaps that's not fair, but she's drunk and angry. Reason's got very little to do with it. Raven snarls a bit before taking a sip of her drink and slamming it a touch too hard onto the table.

She's not going to let on who she is, not really wanting him to know- not ready for it. Instead, all she wants to do is rage. It's not even about him, really. Not this time.] That's new. Not blonde and idiot enough for you?

[mentis]

( Oh.

So he's offended her. Charles feels the briefest flicker of shame - be polite, be courteous, be kind - before it's swallowed up by something else. Bitterness. Panic. Agony. He snorts, taking another sip of his drink, practically ignoring the girl. Even when he speaks, he doesn't look at her. )

Mm. Funny. But you're right. You're definitely not what I'm looking for right now.

( His life is spiralling out of control and he doesn't know what's happening. Is Raven okay? Christ. )

I just came here to drink.

[personify]

[None of this seems right. Endlessly positive Charles reduced to this sad sack? What had happened to him while she'd been gone? This also seems to make her angry. Perhaps sad too... if she allowed herself the moment to actually think about it.

Her eyes don't leave him, even when he turns away apparently done with her.]

Hm. You look like that's all you've been doing for years, so don't stop on my account. [Harsh words, but whats left of her tenderness is buried in grief. She'd been so relieved to see Charles after so long, then Erik... then Erik.]

[mentis]

I'm sorry, do I know you?

( Christ, he sounds like his mother. All clipped vowels and nasal poshness. And his glass is done, so he's just going to pour himself another one. )

Because otherwise, what I do with my time is none of your business.

[personify]

I'm not sure that I do. [There is a pang of regret in there, the feeling having burrowed it's way in there despite her attempts to push it away.]

Not anymore.

[mentis]

So, we've met.

( He may not be able to use his telepathy, but he's not stupid. He doesn't think of Raven though, if only because his memories are so entangled on who she was hours ago, on how terribly he feels that he's complicit in betraying her. He should have known, he should never have trusted Erik.

Charles sighs, rubs a hand over his forehead. His hair's dirty and he really should sleep, but without Hank and the serum he needs to find another way to dull the pain. )

Terribly sorry if I've disappointed you. It's just a matter of fact, these days.

[personify]

We've met, Charles. [Putting it so simply makes her laugh bitterly. And then it's her turn to look away. She shoves away her drink like it's betrayed her too.] I'll leave you to your drink.

[It's too much to see him like this and to think on all that's happened. So she pushes herself off her stool intent on the door. Raven doesn't get more than a few steps before the charade gets the better of her. Gasping softly she stumbles and clutches her leg, cursing under her breath. She's able to maintain her shape but only just barely.]

[mentis]

( It takes him a second.

His name, her bitter laugh, the pain in her leg. But then Charles is scrambling off his stool, stance uncoordinated and he's not sure if that's the serum wearing off, or he's drunk. Maybe, just maybe, it's panic. )

Raven.

( He goes to reach out, to touch her, hand shaking. But then he stops, watches her instead, something mournful in his gaze. He would have known it was her if he'd had his power. Not because he'd have plucked the answer from her head, but because everyone has their own resonation. He would have realised. )

It is you, isn't it? Please. Please, don't go.

[personify]

[She reacts without thinking, recoiling when he gets up to move toward her. Instead of anything even approaching grace, the step sends a searing pain up her leg and Raven stumbles. Falling to the ground with a cry of pain, can't hold on to her shape. Clutching her calf, she stares up at him eyes narrowed. Raven's not forgot that he hadn't been able to use his powers to stop Erik in the boardroom. Now its ever more clear that something is seriously wrong with him. And not just that he's a drunk.]

What's wrong with you?

[mentis]

I --.

( Shame comes hot in the wake of her question. He had managed to protect himself with anger when it came to Erik, but Raven is different. He loves her, he has always loved her, and he hurts with it every day. )

I don't have my power. Not anymore.

( He lets out a breath, weary and weak. ) Sit down. You're not doing your leg any good standing on it.

[personify]

[The only reason she doesn't drag herself up and make for the door again is because of how desperate he looks. And despite everything that's happened, she loves him too. Seeing him like this hurts nearly as much as the wound in her leg.]

How? [It doesn't make sense.]

[She's slow to get up, but eventually she drags herself back to her feet to sit a few stools down from him, wanting to maintain some distance between them because she's not sure what to think.]

[mentis]

( He reaches for his drink again, takes a deep gulp before he replies. There's a desperate need for fortification. This knowledge never goes well. )

Hank - he developed a treatment for my spine. It manages the pain, and helps me to walk. But a side effect is that my mutation is dampened. ( A huff of an unfunny laugh. ) Actually, it's practically nonexistent now.

( She doesn't need to know that he's glad for it, that the voices in his head became too much. )

For what it's worth, I honestly thought Erik would help. Shame on me, I suppose.

[personify]

[She waves off the bartender when he comes over to her next. Raven already feels off-kilter from the drinks she had and suddenly wishes she'd more control of herself than she did in that moment. There's no reason to make it worse.]

[The bitterness that swells up in her she can't help when he says how it's happened. Hank and his formulas. She wonders if this is an offshoot of the formula he'd tried to make from her blood in an attempt to hide his mutation.] You've always been so eager to see the best in people. [And now without his powers, he'd been even more vulnerable.]

[mentis]

Yes.

( How easily he'd fallen into the same trap, how quickly he'd believed. He should have kept his guard up, let his bitterness keep him afloat. But Charles has always had a weakness, no matter how broken it gets he can't ignore his heart. )

Well, maybe one day I'll realise.

( More gently. ) How much pain are you in? If this place has a bar, they must have a medbay.

[personify]

[Raven can't quite explain why the idea of Charles losing his trust in people made her suddenly feel so sick. She'd spent so much time resenting him for his unyielding optimism. Yet here he is now. So close to losing any shred of hope. Her hand curls into a tight fist, nails digging into her palm.]

I've gone to a clinic. They stitched it up. [She doesn't answer his question as to the pain. It hurts a great deal even with the painkillers and the alcohol she's drank on top of it. But what did it matter? He couldn't do anything about it.]

[mentis]

At least it shouldn't get infected. But you should rest, don't put too much weight on it unless you absolutely have to.

( They're on a space station. Movement might be necessary sooner than he'd like. He looks at her again, worry remaining evident in his frown. There's so much he should say, so many things he needs to atone for, but the words won't come no matter how hard he tries to will them. )

I'm glad you're here.

( That is true at least. Not because he wants her to suffer the same strange fate, but he knows she's alive, and that's all that matters. )

[personify]

I'll do as I please, but thank you for your concern. [The last thing she wants it Charles drunk mothering her, so her irritation flares yet again.]

That makes one of us. I need to be back in Paris. [And figuring out Trask's next move. She doesn't want to be here on some strange space station, stuck with Charles, Hank, and Erik. That sounds like torture, were she being honest.]

[mentis]

( He visibly winces, leaning back on his stool. It's been years since he's been able to talk to Raven without stumbling, he can recognise now that it started even before Cuba. But he still hates that he can't find a way. )

Well, unless you know how to commandeer a shuttle - if there even is a shuttle - I believe Trask will have to wait.

( He doesn't like it, but they're fairly stuck here. )

Have you seen anyone else around? Anyone we know?

[personify]

[She knows she's stuck here too. Raven just doesn't want to accept it. His question lingers there in the air for a moment, so long that it seems like perhaps Raven doesn't intend to answer. Then finally-] Hank's here. And Erik.

[mentis]

( His only reaction is the very slightest of twitches in his jaw. He's already had his showdown with Erik Lehnsherr, and the fact that the three of them are stuck in this god awful place together is doing quite a number on him.

But then he's smoothing his expression out, something bland and empty. )

You'll stay away from him?

( At the last minute he remembers to make it a question and not a command. Raven will always be his little sister, despite everything. He only wants to protect her. But he can't risk upsetting her more. )

[personify]

[An exhale of breath. It's not in irritation at his question, but her exhaustion catching up with her. Raven's tired, emotionally and physically.

Also she doesn't know the answer to what he's asking. She does know she wants very little to do with him right now, the sense of betrayal stings nearly as much as the pain in her calf.]

Will you?

[mentis]

Believe me, I plan to avoid him as much as possible.

( But he's lying to himself, and to her. Emotions are complicated things. Just because they're negative doesn't mean he won't be tempted into action because of them. Right now, he'd much like to punch him.

But Charles isn't a fool, they might need to work together. )

Christ, I was so sure I was done with him.

( The pain feels as fresh as it had been now, but he's looking at Raven instead of focusing on his own bitter thoughts. ) You should rest. I heard something about Crew Quarters. Let me walk with you, we can find you a bed at least.

[personify]

[Raven didn't have nearly so much forethought as Charles. She's already punched Erik right in the jaw. Oops?]

It will be harder to avoid him now, all of us staying in such a small place. [It hadn't happened even when they'd had the entire world, after all.

She glances over at him and the drink in his hand. Any other circumstance she's sure she would have told him no. Yet, if it will get him away from the bar-] If you insist.

[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?