» TEST DRIVE #001

[reveriemod]

TEST DRIVE #001

( 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 3 . 1 ) » VIRTUAL

But the alcohol isn't even the most interesting part of your discovery (depending on who you are, of course). No, what catches your interest is a second, smaller room off from the main bar room, which looks to be some kind of arcade. There are a few VR sets lined up against one of the walls, and surely, they can't be working, right? Nothing is on this rust bucket. And yet, if you put it on, the display comes to life.

It's a pretty simple HUD, and when you move around in reality, you move around in the virtual world you've just entered. It's a luxurious world, full of brightly, saturated colors, making it just a little obvious that it isn't real. Ahead, there is a jungle, a temple, and a city. You can play around, slay some monsters, have some fun, but you can feel yourself growing hot, like the VR helmet is burning your forehead.

And when you try to take it off, you find that you can't. The HUD glitches, the sound cuts off to a blaring alarm, and an error message appears, in glowing, blinking red letters: FINISH THE MISSION. Will you, despite not knowing what the mission even is, or will you fight to get the helmet off?

( 0 0 4 ) » MALFUNCTIONS

(cw: body horror, bodily functions, gore, blood, death)

The fabricators function well enough, until they don't. One day, one moment, everything's all right — the food doesn't generally taste amazing and sometimes downright awful, but it's nourishing and filling no matter what your dietary needs — and the next, things go a little haywire.

In short, the fabricators are malfunctioning.

Oh, they're still producing food that looks and tastes much the same as before, but now there are some unexpected side effects.

NB: Characters may experience any of the following side effects: nausea ranging from slight to debilitating, the sensation of being happily and affectionately — but not overwhelmingly — drunk, bone-deep exhaustion and weariness that makes it hard to move, or repeated hallucinations of loved ones screaming for help, reaching out to characters and leading them down abandoned corridors or being killed by unseen forces.

The extent to which characters are affected is up to players, as is whether you'd prefer to play this more lightheartedly or tackling more serious themes. If the latter, please provide warnings in subject lines where necessary.

( 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 5 . 1 ) » NETWORK USERNAME

When you first turn on your communication device, it requests for you to pick a username to identify you on the network. It can be anything you want. However, as you try to input a username in your wristband to access the network, you get the following message, along with a small, but irritating, warming sound:

this username is already in use.

What does this mean? Is there other people around? Were there other people around?

( 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

arrival

[subplot]

[Karen comes to more slowly, blearily blinking awake with a soft groan. Her head is absolutely pounding, and as consciousness creeps up on her she's aware that she's dizzy even with her eyes closed. It's the sound of an unfamiliar male voice that gets her to force herself to try regaining her bearings. ]

What?

[She shifts against the cold metal floor she's laying against, and turns toward the sound of the voice. The flashlight on her shoulder illuminates the area just enough that she can make out a face, but she squints as she tries to make out his features. It suddenly dawns on her that she hears something on repeat.

We tried to save the world. I think— I think we did the opposite.

It plays over and over and she fumbles around for the source like she might be fishing for her phone when her alarm is sounding off. When she finally finds the device she grasps it with a shaky hand. Bringing it in close to her face, she's able to make out the words on the screen. A couple of button pushes later, the playback stops.]

Reverie Terminal. Are they expecting that to sound familiar to us?

[magneticfields]

It means "hello".

[ Americans. So predictably monolingual.

Whoever is talking, whatever the recording means, Erik knows it is not related to him. Saving the world has never been on his agenda. His concerns are unapologetically far more myopic.

It didn't occur to him that they could turn the alert off, and once she does he quickly follows suit. ]

Does it sound familiar to you?

[ He shifts to stand, and can't quite straighten up. This takes him a long time to discover, as he is quite sore from being in such a cramped position for so long. ]

[subplot]

[Her head is still pounding, and now that it dawns on her how small the space is they're trapped in, she feels a little short of breath too. Talking probably isn't a great idea to conserve what air they have, but it dawns on her that he thinks she doesn't know what hola means.]

I know what you meant. I speak a little Spanish.

[Her voice is still thick and drowsy, and it doesn't get any better as she shifts to try and stand up.]

I just wasn't sure what you were saying over the sound of the recording.

[She glances back down at the device and frowns.]

I've never heard of Reverie Terminal. I don't even remember how I managed to get here.

[magneticfields]

Congratulations.

[ Yes, he's testy. This situation is uncomfortable, to say the least, and as far as he can tell she is useless. ]

I don't remember either how I got here either. And I don't believe those words mean anything. [ He scrubs a hand through his hair. ] Would the Chilean government have any reason to silence you?

[subplot]

[Her eyes narrow at his tone, but she doesn't say anything about it. God knows her own patience is wearing thin. This situation isn't something that makes her eager to have conversations with the person she's been crammed in a small space with. The thought of air running out crosses her mind, but she ignores it.]

Unless they went after me to get leverage over a friend, I don't think the Chilean government is involved in this.

[There's a pause, as she realizes she's going to regret asking but knows she needs to. But she stays calm and professional as she shifts to sit up, moving on wobbly legs to try and stand.]

Why would the Chilean government have a reason to silence you?

[magneticfields]

[ As she talks, Erik makes a show of spreading his hands over the walls of the cell. He can sense where they are, and where the grooves and mechanisms hidden behind the walls are. He can't quite make out what they do, though. ]

Who knows why Pinochet does what he does.

[ As true an answer as any, though he has some more specific reasons to draw their ire he's not about to explain them to this strange woman.

His hands find a catch and he hesitates. This may be the way out, but with the grooves on the walls in the places that they are, he doubts it. ]

Brace yourself.

[ He flips the catch. Nothing happens. At first. ]