» 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

[hopefragment]

Hah... yeah. You're right.

[Yeah, no argument from Hajime on that front, even as he rubs his forehead in an attempt to ward off a mounting headache.]

I just... this has got to be interstellar space travel, right? None of the planets in the solar system look like this. We just don't have the technology for that yet, so... none of this makes sense.

You don't remember how you got here, right?

[ryuji]

[Despite the snarky interaction and punkish attitude, Ryuji doesn't keep it up for very long, noticing the other start to rub his forehead in frustration. Yeah, man, it sucks. But at least there are other people here. The blond doesn't really know how to express that properly, so he just settles on:]

I guess. I mean. The highest up I've ever been is the Tokyo tower, and that was when I was like... 6.

[Looking out into space is actually... kind of nauseating somehow, so he turns his back to the large window in front of them, and crosses his arms. Yeah, he's cool.]

Nah. It was kinda weird. Did you wake up in a closet too? Or was that just... me.

[hopefragment]

Oh, you're Japanese? Me, too.

[That's at least a small bit of familiarity in a situation that seems more nonsensical than... a lot of things he's been through, recently, and he can't help but sigh with a little relief.

And then quirk an eyebrow, because,] Uh, no. I was just on the floor with this watch.

[He fishes his communicator out of his pocket and holds it up.]

How did you end up in a closet?

[ryuji]

[Weird thing is- he hasn't met anyone here that didn't speak Japanese. Or so he thought- he had no idea that he wasn't even rolling about in his native tongue, but one that everyone mysteriously shared, regardless of origin. Ryuji had just assumed everyone else was also from Tokyo. Which, admittedly, didn't really make much sense, but the blond often doesn't.]

Huh? Lucky as shit, man.

[Ryuji held out his wrist, showing off the communicator that he had, too. Seems kind of... standard issue, then?]

I dunno, I guess that's the hundred million yen question. But I woke up there next to some guy and we were suffocating. It was. [Shifting weight and distributing between both feet, rocking a little in his permanent inability to keep still.]

Total effin' bullshit. Can't believe we made it out in time. Hey, you seem pretty calm considering we're in a space ship.

[hopefragment]

[Standard issue, indeed. Hajime takes a closer look as if to confirm that yeah, it's the same as the one he'd put in his pocket, before offering half a shrug and slipping his away again. Good to know he's not the only one who found it, but by itself it's not conclusive evidence of anything. Just something to make a note of.]

S-suffocating-?! Are you serious? I'm glad you're okay.

[I guess I should stay away from any closets... wait, why is a closet air-tight, anyway?! Maybe he's just exaggerating...

Then a start, and a sheepish, embarrassed laugh as he shakes his head.]

I'm glad I look calm. But... right now, at least, there's nothing actively trying to hurt us, and we have free rein to investigate. We need to make the most of it in case that changes, somehow.

[He extends a hand, tries for a smile.]

I'm Hinata, by the way. Hinata Hajime.

[ryuji]

[Definitely not exaggerating. Considering how loud Ryuji is, his screaming from inside the enclosed space definitely depleted additional reserves of oxygen, making him light headed, which, of course led to heavier breathing and more panic. Which meant less oxygen. Thank god someone was in there with him, because if they weren't? Who would even come to his space funeral?

He looks out towards the hand outreaching from Hajime's body and takes it briskly, not caring one way or the other for aggressiveness or personal space, giving a bit of an emphatic shake.

Just a second ago, he was suspicious of the kid- hell, suspicious of everyone since how can you tell if someone among them didn't cause all this, but that earnest laughter tickles Ryuji into a small sense of trust. Nah. Can't be him. Probably not him.]

Hey, man. You don't think we like...

Y'know. Died or something, right? And this is where we woke up? I dunno about you, but I sure as hell don't remember signin' up for some space exploration shit.

[hopefragment]

[Poor Ryuji... meanwhile Hajime just woke up on the floor and talked to himself for a little bit. Like a normal person would.

He doesn't mind the aggressiveness, nor the breach of his personal space. When you spend a couple weeks trapped on an island with classmates who think that biting is acceptable as a form of greeting, things like strong handshakes seem almost reassuringly normal. Especially when framed with a strange planet in the background? Yeah, he'll take a handshake.

But he immediately shakes his head to refute the question.]

Probably not. It's more likely someone's messed with our memories, and that's why we can't remember how we got here. For all we know, this could be some kind of virtual world, instead of a real spaceship. I mean... is it even possible for normal people to go to space, where you're from?

[ryuji]

[He has no way of actually taking stock in the validity of Hinata's statement, but the reassurance that, hey, they're not dead, is something that he can blindly trust. Almost like he tends to hear what he wants to hear. He sighs outward, and with that breath, carries the subtle fear that's been building in the back of his brain.]

Virtual world?

[Sure, it seems better than Ryuji's suggestion, but even then, it didn't even seem remotely right.]

No, it ain't a normal thing to visit space, but I don't think we got the technology to trick people into thinkin' they were in a whole other world, either. At least---

[He's about to start talking about the Metaverse, the subcutaneous layer of consciousness under the human psyche that has a physical location slid under the depths of Tokyo, but as his team leader once (twice, a million times) said- he should probably learn to keep a low profile if he's in a situation where he doesn't know who to trust.

That said, he wants to discern something, and quickly, he changes the course of the conversation.]

If this is virtual... hmnn... Hinata, take a swing at me. Nice 'n hard. [He wouldn't feel it if it were, right?]

[hopefragment]

[At least?

That's something to mentally plug into his student handbook, though he doesn't push the point for now. If this guy doesn't want to talk about it right now, Hajime isn't going to force the issue. Unless it seems like it becomes really, really important.

Which is why he just hums uncomfortably, as if agreeing, that there isn't a technology like that. Until he knows if this is some elaborate trick by the Future Foundation, or worse, he's being a little cautious himself.

Well, except-]

I'm not going to punch you. [His tone wavers somewhere between skepticism and incredulity.] I mean... even if it's a virtual world, you're still feeling everything right now, right? Punching you won't make a difference.

[ryuji]

[The lack of resolve in acquiescing Ryuji's demand catches him off guard. He's the meat shield of his party, the guy who takes most of the blows for the team as the more strategic members of his party make the plans. That's how it's always been- so when Hinata finds a loophole in the scheme, he just stands there with an eyebrow raised. Oh man, did this suddenly get a little awkward or what? Putting a hand to the back of his neck, he smiles sheepishly. Maybe Hinata was right, who knows?]

I dunno, it kinda made sense at the time. [His plans usually do, in the heat of the moment.]

Like... what type of VR actually makes someone feel the same thing that's happening to them in the fake world as it's happenin' in the real one, though? If that's the case, we gotta be hooked up to like... weird machines 'n shit.

[Putting more thought to it, it starts to seem less and less likely. At least with the idea that this is some digitalized interpretation of a setting, there was some hope that they could break out of it. Or find a way to hack the system (shit, if only Futaba were here)- something to discern the irregularity of everything and provide a hint to its fakeness.]

Man... It seems kinda far out to think that we're in a simulation, then, y'know?

[hopefragment]

Haha... don't worry about it.

[Ryuji honey no...

But then again, that's Hajime's job, to be the voice of reason. He brings a hand to his lips to help him voice as he hums in thought.]

That... would probably be it, yeah. In fact, that's the only thing I can really think of, being hooked up to machines. That would explain why our memories are messed up, too. Like, you don't remember how you got here, right?

[Ah, but Ryuji doesn't seem to think so, so for now, Hajime shoves that into the back of his mind and just kind of shrugs one shoulder.]

But... yeah, you're right. That sounds crazy. Way outside what's normal. All of this is.

[He gestures back toward the window and the planet outside.]

Maybe we can find some computers or something with more info on it.