reveriance | » TEST DRIVE #001

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ enter: one glass. it doesn't look dusty and it's about as clean as this place gets. it's slid from a few feet away over the bar by a lean figure, who happens to be holding another, already filled with a finger or two of something strong (though he hasn't touched it himself, maybe it's just for appearances). he's been watching there, silent as the tomb for a good few minutes, just observing. but she's not exactly easy to ignore, with the promptness of her steps and how badly it looks like she needs that drink. and the promptness of how she's fulfilling that need. ]

Long day, dear?

[ understatement. ]

[ Well, she's never exactly been one to beat around the bush. Catching the glass as it slows its journey across the bar, a bare fingertip traces the rim for a moment before she tips the bottle and fills it with amber liquid. Legitimately fills it, not that measely two finger business. This is not the time for moderation. ]

It actually hasn't been that bad compared to the past few years. [ Why not be honest? It's not like she has anything to lose. ] But yeah.

[ annnd she's having a go of it. the glass filled looks familiar and he tilts his head a bit, offering a smile.

but he makes no remark, stepping closer and setting his own bottle on the bar with a finessed touch. he does finally take a small sip of his own since he's no longer alone here anymore, and it's warm on the back of his tongue. he weighs the taste a moment, listening to her as he does so. he holds his glass gently in one hand, arm leaning on the bar now as he pulls up a seat himself. ]

We could do worse than a slightly decrepit station in the middle of galactic Nowhere at the very least.

[ Woe to anyone who tries to come between this southern belle and her desperately needed drink. It has been far too long and she is perfectly content to make up for lost time. ]

I just came from worse, so I'm really not complaining. [ Followed by a large sip of alcohol. Not complaining, but not exactly thrilled by their present circumstances. Another sip and she turns more toward him, glass still in hand as regards him with polite curiosity. ]

You don't seem too shocked by all of this, sugar. I'm guessing space isn't too unusual for you.

[ far be it from peter to intervene in what looks to be some much needed social lubrication. he listens attentively, drumming neatly manicured fingers lightly on the side of the glass before sinking into his answer. ]

I can't say that being kidnapped off to some abandoned space station is very typical day-to-day, but space itself? I'm very familiar with it. Do quite a bit of travel here and there myself.

[ a little bit of a shrug. ]

Can't quite say I'm all that fond of being plucked from my course - the observation room has left me with little doubt that I'm in the same system as before.

[ His answer lends itself to the theory that they're not all from the same planet, possibly not even the same universe. She might not have personal experience with such things, but she's seen more than enough to tell her the impossible is always possible, and there were more than a few scientific lectures from Hank about parallel universes. ]

It's not my first time being kidnapped [ she explains after another drink, intent on keeping a steady stream of the burning alcohol entering her system ] but space is an entirely new experience for me. I've never left Earth before — it's not really something people do where I'm from.

» TEST DRIVE #001

3 / i require this prompt

good bc i require you in my inbox

makes a nest in here

yes pls stay a while

brings my suitcase

no subject