» 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

dave strider | homestuck

[oculusriffs]

002. we can rebuild it

[yeah, this is going pretty much exactly how he expected it.]

[you spend three years on a meteor hurtling through space, then you spend exactly one day taking a very violent tour through a glitched as all get out universal construct of a video game session. and then, after you've gone and lost the damn game, what's your consolation prize? another glorious romp through space.]

[it's like slapping the final piece of bread on your peanut butter sandwich, but all you have left is an end piece. and also, you're allergic to peanut butter.]

[and he doesn't have the luxury of a sister or any best bros nearby to bug — or the mayor. god, Dave misses the mayor. what a shining beacon of democracy and administrative prowess that chess guy was, presiding over Can Town, a most reverent of public servants. and he gave the best high fives.]

[you know what? fuck it. it takes him a little while to figure out how to procure a can of beans from the replicators, but — if you happen to be hanging around the observation deck, an aviator-sporting kid will suddenly stomp by, clearly on an important mission, and straight up slam the can on the floor in triumph.]

[Can Town, Reverie Terminal annex, circa ... whatever year it is. Dave does not consider himself qualified to run the place, but he sure as hell can build it.]

004. this was a mistake

[yeah, trying out dinner rather than sticking with putting it toward poorly conceptualized city planning was a bad idea. and though he has a laundry list of fears that he would never cop to, there is an obvious one that stems from spending the first 13 years of your life peeking cautiously around the corner for a fight from your guardian figure.]

[it's not being able to defend yourself.]

[he is curled up on the floor near the crew quarters, too completely spent to try to make it inside to a berth. should someone approach him, or make the mistake of getting within contact range, he just. lifts a hand and offers what appears to be an affable pat.]

[but judging from the angry (or maybe even panicked?) way his brow is furrowed, it is not a friendly gesture. you and him are fighting right now do you understand? he's trying his hardest.]

G'way. [and that's the best he can manage.]

005. incoming

[suddenly! a text from the username turntechGodhead.]

hey
if you happen to be collecting shit like
i dunno
empty food receptacles
or even if the food machine shot out a can of something vile
im gonna need to confiscate those
its for a science fair project
thanks

wildcard.

[throw something funny at him! throw something anything at him!]

[boazjachin]

[So: someone on the floor, either in pain or exhausted or hurt or some combination of the above. Because Makoto is herself, she doesn't walk on by. She crouches beside him to see if she can help--]

[--and gets patted on the face.]

[Wh......at.]

Uh?

[Leaning back, she examines the place she was. Patted. Nothing is on her face? He really appears to have just patted her.]

Why did you do that.

[oculusriffs]

[oh god, that — that may well have been the least cool thing Dave Strider has ever done in his entire life. and that includes executing a fantastical pirouette faceplant off of a katana that would have made any figure skater seethe with jealousy.]

[but he doesn't have any fight in him to be embarrassed about it, and he just lets his hand drop to his side. he can't even look angry anymore, just mildly, tiredly irritated. or defeated. they may as well be the same thing.]

[boazjachin]

[Well.]

[This is a situation entirely out of Makoto's experience. But on the plus side, she's pretty used to that. Somehow, in the past few months, she's gotten good at improvisation.]

[So, tentatively, she reaches out. And pats his face in return.]

["Good" is relative.]

[oculusriffs]

[— ??? ????]

[?????]

[congratulations, Makoto, you've cracked the Konami code, probably the one gesture that might make any Strider completely short circuit. all of them.]

[he has no idea how to process what just happened. he's used to the unabashed, sometimes bone crushing sort of hugs Jade gives, or the friendly shoulder punches or fist bumps he'd expect from John. even Rose has her moments. what does he do with a face pat? aside from the aforementioned three, random friendliness isn't something he grew up having any experience with.]

[(Dave is conveniently ignoring the fact that he just did the exact same thing to her, but that's because he knew his intentions — it was the most pitiful attempt to defend himself he'd ever managed.)]

[his limbs are still trying to drag him down to the floor like leaded weights, but he does finally manage to heave himself into a taller sitting position. and then he looks at her, expression flat, but armed with an extremely important question.]

What the hell?

002. where doing it man where makin it hapen

[gavehead]

<sub>[ Sure, he's crafty enough. And sure, he'd be lying if he didn't get some kind of kick out of making Dave lose his calm demeanor and absolutely flip his lid by his terror inducing antics. It was his sick way of training Dave especially since he really had no idea how to raise a kid to begin with. It was sort of a game in his eyes, but with the tables getting turned (heh) here in shit-fucking space, maybe his approach will be a little more generous. You know, maybe not fucking weird.

To Dave, that was years ago when he was more naive, but to Bro, it was actually recent. Simply by observing Dave from a distance he could tell he's grown up-- he figured he would be about fifteen or sixteen by the sight of it, but if that's the case, there's a little bit of relief that eases his complicated mind and emotions from catching glimpse of his speedy adoptive bro and genetic son. If Dave has aged, that must have meant he survived somehow.. which is good.

Much to Dave's surprise, he hasn't had time to get into it with Dave by approaching him via elusive means and mind-trickery. It's probably because he doesn't know what is happening because the last thing he remembers is going at it face to face with very difficult bad guy. If Dave is older, that must mean he knows what happened too, and that is why he's relieved in a way.

From the distance, he watches as he slams the can down, not really sure what he's doing, but-- okay, well. Maybe he can at least tease him a little. Before Dave can get a taste of that beans, Bro is just just gonna flash-step on over and take that can out from under your hands and disappear without a trace other than a mirage following his trail. Yeah, no. Not the person you wanted to bump into, right now, right?

Uh, right? ]</sub>

[oculusriffs]

[what the — that was the starting foundation of city hall, you horse's ass!]

[but it's the sort of trick he knows all too well, the sort of trick to make his blood run cold, to make his hair stand completely on end. it dredges memories he'd been casually stuffing in the back of his mind like a store of secrets hidden behind a reinforced steel door; it gnaws at feelings he'd been holding in his chest, stretched far too thin and nearly ready to burst.]

[teeth and fists clenched, he turns. glances around quickly, completely on edge and unnerved. he doesn't even have a weapon. should he stay and try to fight, or make a break for it? Bro would just find him if he left, wouldn't he.]

[gavehead]

<sub>[ Foundation of city hall my ass. There's better things to do here instead of build city hall. Honestly, he's a little disappointed this is how they meet up, but he supposes he can't be too harsh on Dave in a place where their weapons are gone and nobody really knows where they're going.

Okay, but.. the look on his face is a little priceless.

He'll reappear at a safe distance before Dave, still holding onto the can. ]</sub>

Miss me.
_{[ Completely unreadable as per usual. ]}

[oculusriffs]

[this is it — this is the HorrorTerrors' version of hell, isn't it? the pendulum may have swung to heroic when he died, but this is no Valhalla; there is no massive hall or feast, the food's shitty anyway, and Dave Strider cannot catch a fucking break. would he be chilling in a dream bubble made of fucking posies if he had died a death he deserved?]

[something like white hot anger boils at the back of his throat. or maybe it's bile. he can't bring himself to answer, but the thought is instead written on the scowl spreading across his face.]

[gavehead]

_{[ Yeah, it probably isn't Dave's ideal way of waking up in an unknown space craft with a bunch of people he doesn't know. This really opens up an awkward situation for them both-- here on a platform that isn't SBURB or preparing for SBURB, weaponless and looks like a big year gap between the two. Just what all did he miss out on?
His eyes bounce behind his specs, analyzing as much of Dave as he can. He looked unscathed, older, maybe healthier than what he remembers? Did he become God Tier? Bro can't really tell since they're both in the same stupid overalls.
His response to Bro's arrival is new, though. That was some spitfire anger he just saw and he can only guess something bad happened between them to make him react that way. Gee, I wonder what. ]}

Don't look at me like that.
There's explaining you gotta do.

[oculusriffs]

[he's had three whole years stuck on a meteor to stew over it — then try to forget about it, because the guy was dead anyway, so what did it matter? — and then stew over it some more, agonizing over what he'd even say if he had a chance to.]

[and yet, now that he's got a chance, Bro goes and snaps a command at him like that and he freezes.]

[...]

What do you want to know?

un: stoner

[sevelev]

LOL WHAT
okay, so i'll agree to give you my actual garbage, but i'm demanding a boon in return.
ie: you've gotta fill me in on this science project. Because I'm calling BS.

[oculusriffs]

its civil engineering
you know like building shit
out of garbage
or does that not count as a science to you
also i dig the handle snoop would be proud you snagged such a choice name before anybody else

004

[ryuji]

[Life was going great, actually. You know that moment before you're supposed to go off and kill a god, save the world, get the girl at the end of the movie? Ryuji was there, man, he was so close to being the shounen hero he idolized so much in those (trashy) serialized manga that he and his best friend stayed up every Monday night to read. Except, not anymore, because as life would have it, there's a certain comforting way the entire universe just softly lifts a hand and smacks you straight across the fucking face, and here he was- one (1) blond, rowdy, loudmouth- stuck on a space ship. Careening into their doom.

But hey, he was trying his best.

There's always that, right?

It takes a little while to start mapping out the facility while the nerds out there mapped out the constellations. He didn't need to know that the angle of Venus no longer held a temporal axis or that the moons were off kilter by 13 degrees differently than earth to know that... hah, well, they were all screwed. And really far away from home. Obviously.

And maybe it was destiny that Ryuji wanders past the point where Dave is spread out on the floor like he'd just eaten a bad beef bowl or copped one glorious hell of a sea...er...space? sickness, but there he is, looking so out of it that the teen can't leave him sitting there.

Leaning down, he sits with the other for a moment as he's patted. Ryuji extends an arm, meets the hand with his own and locks their fist into formation.]

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a thumb war.

[This probably isn't helping. This also probably isn't the type of manly battle that gets declared in the bowels of space hell itself. But... y'know. Going boldly where no man has gone before can wait. At least until this guy gets back to his senses.]

[oculusriffs]

[... is this guy serious right now. for a moment he just stares, expression fixed into something flat and disinterested.]

[man, you know what, fuck it. he has no strength to even be exasperated right now, and honestly, this is pretty much exactly the sort of joke John might crack in this exact sort of situation, which is a thought he finds weirdly comforting.]

[this is so, supremely uncool, but the only way he can fight back is by proving his prowess in a proper thumb throwdown. are you prepared to lose, Ryuji? Dave will most likely cheat (look, there he goes already).]

[ryuji]

[On the contrary, this is just about the coolest thing that's happened to him today, when you count the whole waking up in a dark closet thing, so yeah, thumb war? Way preferable to pretty much anything else that's happened so far.

But Dave is a dirty cheat, and Ryuji's eyes lull into a nearly closed position. It's not that Ryuji is perturbed by the errant sneak attack or cherry bomb move, no, rather that he didn't get to it first.]

What the hell man! You're a goddamn piece of work, y'know that?

[Thumb captured, he squeezes--- hard--- in the hopes of freeing himself out of this situation.]

Give up now and I'll go nice on ya!

[oculusriffs]

You're the one who invaded, Atilla — I'm just defending my territory.

[yeah, they are officially in the shit now, and Dave is going to see this battle to the bitter end. though he is a lot stronger than he looks, he's also at a pretty big disadvantage, and he can't free his cheating fingers of that death grip to all but assure his victory.]

[can Ryuji turn the tides and win??? Dave might not be able to fight back if it's his thumb that's captured. for now, though, he goes ahead and starts counting —]

[ryuji]

Ugh, build a wall and get over it.

[If only all great struggles of the world could be fought over a thumb battle, then there'd be a whole hell of a lot more peace. Who knows, maybe Ryuji would have a bright future as a professional athlete. But if things keep up the way that they're headed, his career might be over long before it started.

And even as Ryuji exasperatedly calls him out on his negligence to follow the rules, he's still smiling like an idiot. He hates being outdone so easily, and in an attempt to toss the board off the table and take the pieces all flying with it, he uses his other hand to effectively flick Dave's forehead.]

[oculusriffs]

Hey —

[oh what the hell, that's like the best part of his face! it catches him off guard enough so that he loses the captured thumb, and he still can't break free from the anti-cheating grip Ryuji's got over here.]

[this calls for much more strategic measures. or, in Dave's own parlance, shenanigans.]

[luckily, right about that time there's a new distraction casually walking down the corridor, not really paying much attention to the extremely goofy battle happening in front of him. and then, still casually as you please, he lifts a hand and pops Ryuji in the back of the head as he walks by.]

[and there he goes. it's weird, but the guy's hairstyle and pretty much everything else about him looks exactly like another Dave. huh. good thing that's too stupid to be possible.]

005. text: thunderbird

[tanker]

what's the project's goal?

[oculusriffs]

urban renewal

[he's building a city out of cans.]

im gonna guess if this pile of space debris can pull randoms from all dimensions once it can do it again
so im making sure the mayor has a town to rule over
just in case
hes gotta be able spread the good word of democracy
otherwise his mayors sash would be pointless
im not about to let my best bro look like an idiot

[tanker]

[ Well that makes no sense. ]

who's the mayor?

[oculusriffs]

[that's pretty much homestuck.txt right there.]

only my best friend in the universe
hes like this completely tricked out chess piece guy
with the rags and the aforementioned mayoral sash
he communicates almost entirely in high fives and fist bumps
english sporting like 50 words for extremely rad and the dude doesnt need even one
he just is
also this one time i watched him brew a mug of shitty space coffee
he just threw the whole thing back in one go mug and all
no idea where the hell he put it but thats just part of his charm
anyway are you willing to contribute to the cause thunderbird

[tanker]

somehow feeling like we could find better use for these things than whatever you're planning, i'm sorry

[oculusriffs]

thats fair enough
nobodys ever really given me the full spiel on recycling
im pretty much just improvising here
out of curiosity though if you had about a dozen empty cans lying around how would you best utilize them