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

[donkeyballs]

Depends what floor your quarters are on, but if you make your way to the observation deck, I could give you the tour, if you like?

[improbablelie]

i could do that. seems like knowing where everything is would be a good idea.

sure you don't mind taking the time out of your no doubt very busy day?

[donkeyballs]

I ain't busy, don't you worry.

You'll find that life here is either far too fast or far too slow and ain't a lot of in between.

Helpin' out newcomers is half my gig.

[improbablelie]

i'll be honest - both that pacing and that gig sound like total shit.

you'll have to tell me what you mean by far too fast though. meet in twenty minutes work for you?

[donkeyballs]

Nah, it ain't bad. Most folks here ain't even been in space, so I don't mind passin' on a bit of wisdom to those who want to learn how to walk around without feelin' like they're gonna throw up.

Sure thing, hoss. I'll be there.

[improbablelie]

[ Hoss. Jack definitely stares at that last message for a solid stretch of time before she continues her scroll through of the network for a few minutes.

But even if she doesn't trust offers of help, she won't get anywhere by ignoring them and taking people up on it at least gains her something. What, she won't know until she does. So she's quite punctual, arriving at the observation deck about two minutes early just in case.

Besides, she really does love the view. It has to be a trick, but it's beautiful. Her attention is split between glancing around for whoever this stranger might be and looking out the window as she sends a quick message. ]

Here.

[donkeyballs]

[ He arrives around thirty seconds later, wearing not the usual Reverie jumpsuit, but a different one - one with red cord in the seams, and the words Tachi and MCRN emblazoned on it. Unlike her, he knows fairly well who he's looking for. Not that he knows what to expect, so much as that he knows who to rule out. So when he spots her unfamiliar figure he makes a beeline for her and offers a small wave. ]

Howdy. [ He offers the same hand he'd waved with for a shake, when he draws close. In person, the Texan twang is impossible not to notice, despite the fact that he's obviously of South Asian ethnicity, and despite the fact that he's never been to Texas. Or Earth, for that matter. ]

Alex Kamal, at your service.

[improbablelie]

[ It's the difference in the jumpsuit that pings her first in her scan of the surroundings, zeroes her in on him, but it's the wave and heading straight for her that cements that this is likely who she's meeting.

(Does he know her face, or just know the current residents well enough to know someone he doesn't recognize? Questions to be filed and answered later.)

She takes his hand, not particularly smiling but not negative either, looking alert and curious more than anything. ]

Jack. Pleasure to meet you, Alex.

[ Her hand shake is quick and brief, and then she glances around. ]

You've been to space before. Do you get used to the view eventually?

[donkeyballs]

Never. [ His smile is warm, and when she releases his hand he slides it into the pocket of his jumpsuit. ]

Though the Roci ain't got any windows, so, maybe I'm just biased. A view screen ain't really the same, even if it still offers one hell of a view.

Alright, so, you found the Observation deck well enough. You found the bar, yet?

[improbablelie]

Good to know. The Roci was the station you used to be on?

[ Casually enough said, even if the curiosity is genuine. Given that her own experience with space sits at a beautifully rounded up zero, the more information she can get from people who've been in it before, the better. ]

I found a bar, yeah. Nobody charged me anything, which seems pretty weird, but "pretty weird" seems to be a running theme with this place so far. Never seen a prison where they let you run free before.