» 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

[oorah]

[ he notices the way she looks at him like she's about to fall into his arms all over again. it does make him nervous, especially coupled with the eye contact she knows he can't sustain, his own gaze dancing around even before she looks away. ]

It's who you are. [ his voice is full of admiration, even though it's framed within a tease. he bites his lips against a smile and shakes his head, looking down at his magboots rather than at any part of her now. ]

Breakfast. [ he repeats like he's trying to remember the word. in reality he's trying to remember what having a social meal is even like. he's certainly never had one with karen. ] You sure about that, Karen?

[subplot]

It's not like I'm asking you to stay the night.

[She's not really prepared to put up a fight to try and get him to meet her for a simple meal, so she's prepared to just drop it there. But she can see that maybe he's still trying to figure out the boundaries and make sure that she knows what she wants.

That joke she's just made probably is making him incredibly uncomfortable, so she softens the blow as best as she can.]

It's only breakfast. An easy, no strings attached meal. I can tell you everything I've found out so far, and you can tell me all about the people you don't think I should trust.

[oorah]

[ stay the night. predictably, his head snaps up, eyes wide and wild and even fearful. he would do anything she needed, on some level he thinks they both know that. but he can't do that. it would break him. he feels stupid the instant she goes on, realizing she wasn't serious, but his heart is still pounding against his ribcage like the insistent beating of a drum. frank pushes a thready breath out his nose and tries to focus on what she's saying. where usually he finds it easy to remember conversations verbatim, here he's struggling to even pluck the meaning out of her words in real time. ]

Nothing between us is ever easy, alright. [ a bit of that haunted expression he'd worn when she first met him slides across his eyes briefly then, but he brings a hand up to scrub over his face, trying to get a grip on himself. this isn't that serious, she's right. they're stuck here whether they drink coffee together or not. slowly, he manages a nod, even cracking a lopsided albeit shortlived smile at her suggestion. ] Yeah, should I start making a list? Seems like a waste of time, when I know you'll never listen.

[subplot]

[Nothing between us is every easy...

His words echo in Karen's head, and she has to look away in a pathetic attempt to hide her frown. Nothing between them has ever been easy, and she isn't sure if it ever will be. It's painful in a way, to care about someone that isn't ready to feel anything. Numbness is a gift to men like Frank, men who have seen and been through so much trauma. She can see hints of the man he's capable of becoming in time, but she isn't going to press him to get there before he's ready.]

I'll have you know I've been told my not listening can be a gift.

[Except for the time when it got Ben killed, but she doesn't think about that anymore because she has his job and it would be inconvenient to be sad about that.]

[oorah]

Yeah, I'm sure you have.

[ he sounds tired suddenly, shaking his head when she looks away. ]

Okay. [ breakfast. he waits for her to meet his gaze this time, his expression clear for the first time tonight. ]

[subplot]

Okay.

[She repeats, voice a little resigned. Then it dawns on her that he's actually agreeing, and she looks pleasantly surprised.]

Okay? You're...

[There's little resistance to the smile that breaks out across her face, just as bright as her ridiculous sunshine hair. Her hand reaches up to push golden strands back behind her ear, and she gives a little nod of her head. She didn't mean to seem so surprised, really.]

Okay. I'll see you tomorrow. [She's giving him an open invitation to leave, if he wants to take it.] Better get that list ready.

[oorah]

[ he gives her a look until she comes around, then nods belatedly. okay, okay okay. ] Okay. [ frank repeats, and maybe it's just to be pedantic. or maybe he doesn't even notice. ]

Save me a seat. [ frank starts to back out of the room, reluctant to leave her already, but then he stops dead in his tracks as he remembers something. pulling out his comms device, he frowns at the blank display still staring up at him. ] What's your name on this thing?

[subplot]

[He gets so close to escaping, but then he reels her back in with another question. It brings up something that she was paranoid about earlier, and her smile abruptly fades as she glances down to the device worn around her wrist. ]

I had to take the username page.

[She hopes that's easy enough to remember. But she's not interested in talking about what she chose. She strides in close to him once again, so they can talk in hushed whispers like there's a big conspiracy going on. Which there probably is since they and a whole bunch of other people were kidnapped and put in space.]

I would have used my whole name, but when I tried it told me that it was already taken.

[And clearly that must mean something!!]

[oorah]

[ he looks around when she comes in closer, as if looking for bugs in the ceiling, but of course he sees nothing. ]

Same thing happened to me. [ a beat as he visibly mulls something over, his jaw working alongside the cogs in his head. ] If you need me, post a message to the network that says I don't know-- "Lovely weather we're having." Some shit like that. I'll see it.

[subplot]

[Her eyes focus in on the way his jaw sets, and she feels a sinking in her stomach as she figures that means they're in trouble. Of course they are, she knows. Obviously this isn't their being safe. But they're sticking together, she thought things would be easier that way. Now he's back to talking in code, like he may disappoint her by choosing not to show up to breakfast the next morning.]

Or I could just mention white roses.

[It seems a little more likely to also illicit responses from others that could be interesting or worth looking into.]

You'll know to come running if I do.

[oorah]

[ he nods again, but curt - businesslike. ]

That works.

[ frank turns bodily towards the exit so he can't talk himself into staying another minute. ]

Good night, Karen.

[subplot]

[It's like a switch has flipped and he's talking to her like she's his boss. She lifts her hand like she might consider reaching out for him. But she doesn't, and presses her hand against her chest instead. He's ready to leave, and she's too tired to play games to stop him.]

Stay safe, Frank. And try to get some sleep.

[oorah]

[ he doesn't give a fuck about his own safety and he definitely isn't sleeping tonight. but frank thinks she knows those things already so he doesn't bother contradicting her. he turns to face her in the doorway one last time, taking in a sharp breath when he meets those cool blue eyes. and then he's gone, the automatic door sliding smoothly shut behind him while he takes off to god knows where. he'll put off telling karen where his claimed quarters are for as long as possible, that much he knows. time to stare at the ceiling and dread morning for the space sludge that passes for coffee around here. karen will take it to heart if he's late, though. ]