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

[solarcharged]

[ ...Harmony? Apollo's expression changes in an instant. He remembers those wretched months when Midnighter had vanished once again, this time in pursuit of a part of him that was probably better forgotten. Apollo leans back, giving Midnighter a look of pure confusion, and distantly shakes his head at the memory. ]

But that... that was months ago.

[ He pauses, battling with the sinking feeling in his stomach. ]

What happened just before you arrived here?

[weaponize]

Harmony was this morning.

[after well and truly cutting his ties to the place. after destroying what was left of his relationship with mindy. but if apollo has been here for a month already, there has to be some kind of time fuckery at play here.]

I came back to the carrier. And now I'm here, and you think that was months ago.

[and midnighter's-- well, not panicking. but it's a close call. have they messed with his head that much that he's forgotten the past few months? or worse, have they messed with apollo's?]

[solarcharged]

[ Harmony had only just happened as far as Midnighter's concerned, but for Apollo that had taken place nearly half a year earlier. Apollo shuts his eyes briefly, pained at the realisation that Midnighter has no idea what's happened to them lately. ]

Does the name Ken mean anything to you? [ He asks after a moment of indecision, opening his eyes again. It's worth checking, just in case... ]

[weaponize]

Something tells me we're not talking plastic dolls here.

[his voice is completely flat as he pulls away again, putting space back between them so he can give apollo a look. one that's a mix between annoyance at being out of the loop here, and concern that whoever this ken is must be important in some way if he's bringing him up. so whether or not it's something he should know about yet--]

What happened?

[solarcharged]

[ God. Somebody had made that joke, hadn't they? The familiarity of it twists his stomach unhappily; hearing Midnighter not remember (or not know) one of the most awful choices the Authority ever had to make in a long, long list of awful choices was nothing short of horrifying.

His hands drop to Midnighter's waist; he swallows uncertainly. It's not like him to be nervous. Is that what it is? Nerves? Or maybe just latent guilt. ]

It's a long story...

[ Apollo nods towards the bed. He needs to start from the beginning. ]

Sit down, I'll tell you everything.

[weaponize]

[he doesn't like this. doesn't like the fact that apollo is trying to ease him in to whatever it is he has to say. that means it's bad, even for them. means that the authority have likely fucked up in some way, and he hasn't been there yet to see it.

fingers wrap around apollo's wrist, and he tugs the man down with him. sits at an angle so he can see him. can try to work out how far to push for each detail he wants.]

Apollo. [there's a warning to his voice. not one of flat out anger though. not yet. rather, it's exasperation.] Just talk. No kid gloves. [...not that either of them have treated each other that way before.]

[solarcharged]

[ He lets himself be guided down, settling on to the bed beside Midnighter. Knees pressed against his husband's twisted around to face him a little - a mirror image of the angle that Midnighter turns to him. His hands in Midnighter's are warm and pliant, letting them be held as he explains. ]

The Carrier crashed through the Bleed, stranding us in a low-energy world. It didn't have any superheroes, any magic, no Doctors or Jennys. What's worse is our caged baby universe was missing and the Carrier was dying... we had no idea how to get home.

[ It had been something of a reality check; without the Carrier, the Authority were stuck no matter how powerful they thought they were. Apollo grimaces at the memory. ]

We were working with a local, a man named Ken. The Doctor looked inside his mind and he realised why the world was 'low energy'. He said it felt like everyone in the world was sleep walking...

[ And this is where it gets weird. ]

Turns out, this Earth had some kind of parasite. Like some space creature feeding off the entire world. Sucking out the emotional power of everyone on there, tapping in to the collective subconscious and draining it bit by bit -- hence why that Earth was low power, see?

And of course, there's us with the Carrier and all of our power, crashing in through the Bleed... it noticed us.