» 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

[catastrophics]

[ it seems as if everyone's had to step outside their comfort zone. wanda barely remembers what hers is anymore. ]

i'll be there as soon as i can. [ she thinks she's more or less learned where things are by now, but things are still unfamiliar enough that it still might take her a while. ]

[retund]

Alright. You have a name?

[ if it'd been said aloud, it would have a teasing lilt, calming in its casual tenor. it's harder to convey that effect over text, but all Ripley wants is to put her fellow survivors at ease. ]

[catastrophics]

[ fortunately, wanda is familiar with the limitations of texting. #millennials ]

wanda.

[retund]

[ catch her up on all the cool trends, girl. ]

See you soon, Wanda.

[ wanda. the audial similarities make her think of amanda, but she dismisses the thought. for all she knows, she's about to meet with another grown ass woman. ]

[catastrophics]

[ that seems to depend on who you ask. steve, for example, would refer to her as a kid, and she's aware that she's quite a bit younger than most of the others on the team. but she's lived enough of a life to think of herself as an adult.

(also, she's in her twenties.)

she finds ripley about fifteen minutes later, having taken the fire doors as recommended. her hair is pulled back and the sleeves of her jumpsuit have been pushed up, but even with the minimal alterations she doesn't look entirely comfortable in the uniform. but at least this one doesn't come with a shock collar. ]

Lieutenant Ripley? [ ellen? she doesn't recall the woman indicating a preference. ]

[retund]

[ the ease with which she leans against the cool metal wall, plain undershirt peeking out of the unzipped front of the jumpsuit, speaks to her comfort on the station, even as she fears what might be lurking in the ducts.

her gaze settles on the girl, not as young as some of the people on board this empty husk, no. ]

Just Ripley. [ said simply. she put out her full name just in case newt and hicks roamed the halls, and then mentioned her rank to prevent any company types from getting uppity. ] Have you looked around much yet, Wanda?

[catastrophics]

All right. [ she wanted to be respectful. ripley's done that much for her, and in her experience, people in positions of authority tend not to lend much of it for those who don't. ]

Just the observation deck, mess, and sleeping quarters. I haven't been feeling up to much exploring. [ not after whatever had affected everyone in the mess the other day. ]