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» 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

003。1

[ Skipping over the bar straight to the arcade seems like a glorious start to investigating whatever is going on here. More like Noctis gave up trying to figure that out and is just senselessly wasting time because he's not sure what else to do. That seems to be his general trajectory as he's already combed what few levels he could, trying to find his friends, and short of knocking on all the space closets, he doesn't have a Plan B quite yet.

Besides, gaming helps him clear his mind and think. At least, that's the excuse he's sticking to as he glances at the VR helmet, turning it around in his grip before trying to peek at what's inside without actually putting it on. Fortunately, there's some company lingering around and a second helmet. He gestures to it with a tilt of his head, not trying to seem desperate or anything. It's just nice to have a player 2 sometimes. ]

That one's yours, if you want. Might as well see what it's all about.

[ He doesn't have a whole heap of other things to do, so they may as well. ]

005。1 - Network

TEXT | UN: +PRINCE+

[ He's having second thoughts about this already as he tries to think of what to even type. A simple 'hey' might be a good start, but just how far does this thing broadcast? Wait, why are all the cool usernames already taken? Time to default to his ultra-discreet King's Knight handle.

Yep, this is a good choice of a username, and now... what the hell does he even type? ]

Anyone reading this? Not a whole lot of apps on this thing, right?

[ Maybe he should delete that. Wait, did he send it already? Damn it. ]

So anyone know where we are?

[ That's a more useful question, at least. ]

Wildcard。

[ Toss anything you wish at me. I will embrace it all with loving arms. ]

[Okay, Noct. This probably isn't the blond headed sidekick you were expecting, but when it comes to video games, Ryuji knows his shit. Sure, there are otherworldly anxieties that need to be answered such as: how did they get here, when are the aliens going to harvest their organs, who the hell is in charge and how many punches to the face could they take?, but with all those questions left in a highly unsatisfactory null response... screw it.

He approaches the VR set and looks over at his new spacemate. Same jumpsuit, same flashlight dangling off the corner of his shoulder, just like everyone else. For everything that it's worth, there's no way to tell that he's standing in front of royalty. Not that he'd particularly care either way, as he picks up the headset.]

You ready? [There's a small smirk that elongates his already sharp features. Oh, it's on like Donkey Kong--] Player 2?

[ Indeed, this is the wrong blond, but he'll take it. Close enough, he guesses. Besides, another video game aficionado? The start to a beautiful friendship. ]

As I'll ever be. Just try and keep up, okay?

[ A small warning that this guy is dealing with a pro here. Sure, the technology is a little new to him, and he doesn't even know what game their playing. But he's perfectly confident that it a.) probably won't kill them and b.) he'll be able to master it fast.

Wasting no further time, he fires up the game before his eyes are immediately assaulted by an overwhelming explosion of color -sprawling landscapes, a horizon that seems to stretch on forever. It all looks so lifelike that he can't help but reach out and try and touch some of it. ]

...Woah, wasn't expecting anything like this. Sure beats the arcades back home.

[Try and keep up- he gives Noctis the most nonplussed, tempting stare that he could possibly manage (a threat, a warning, etc)- but it falls on completely deaf ears as the VR headset goes on top of his head. Ryuji has half a mind to tell him off for deferring the potential snarky ass comment he had in reserve to it, but... eh, whatever. At least they'll be gaming together, which is a fast and easy way to earn Ryuji's trust and respect, depending on the appropriate skill level.

Oh, and yeah. He probably should've warned him that once you accept the TOS by putting the helmet on, you're kind of... stuck in the game until you end up completing it. He found that out playing with Akira earlier, but this idiot is good for a re-up into level 2. Grinding had never been so much fun.

On the helmet goes, and this time, it doesn't look like an Assassin Bleeds type of franchise- but hey, it ought to be fun either way.]

Yeah, back home the arcades only had rhythm games, shoot em ups, and card games for the most part. Look alive, man. We're gonna have to kick some ass if you wanna get outta here.

[Must be some sort of high-fantasy genre. Ryuji looks down at the short sword in his hand.]

A sword? Aw, c'mon. At least give me something I can use. Like a lead pipe. Or a shotgun.

[ That warning would have helped, but it's not like Noctis has any qualms about gaming to completion. There are worse things he could be subjected to, so he's definitely on board for whatever they're being sucked in. And while Ryuji gets a fancy looking sword, Noctis gets saddled with... a wooden staff. ]

Oh, come on, don't tell me I'm the healer...

[ And here he thought he was going to kick some ass today. Because he's level one, he only has a basic Stone I spell and Cure I. He's beginning to regret having 'chosen' this path as he looks at the giant pack of monsters heading towards them. Maybe he could just bash them in with his staff to finish the level faster? Anything has got to be better than slowly stoning them all to death. ]

So all we do is just kill all of that?

[ Unless this guy is a first-timer like him. In which case, Noctis is out of any better guesses, but he does try and slow them down with his Stone I, a spell of which works very much like throwing pebbles at their face. ]

...Ugh, might as well just throw rocks from the ground.

[ Which means it's up to Ryuji if they're going to do much advancing, and he probably shouldn't count too much on Noctis watching his health bar. He barely ever watches his own when he's gaming at home -not that he has to. Need he remind everyone that he is a pro. ]

[A little notion appears in the top right corner of Ryuji's peripheral.

Slay 10 killer bees and obtain their stingers.

Ugh...ew....]

What the hell is this, a level 1 fetch quest?

[Some NPC must really need... bee stingers, or something, and it's frustrating, since he's sure he leveled up at least twice the last time he popped the helmet on and played with his best friend. There should be more than just sword strike abilities he has- like a shield bash, or something (the details are kinda fuzzy), or even cover.

How is he supposed to protect his healer wife if he can't even effectively tank hits? This is horrible. This is---

And then he looks down at what he's wearing. Man, it felt kind of breezy, but when he realizes what he sees, he nearly up and has a freaking heart attack.]

WHAT? [Looks up at the sky, like the game dev is listening somewhere in the skybox.] YOU GOT SOME REAL WEIRD SENSE OF HUMOR, ASSHOLE.

[And as if, on cue, here come the bees. For the love of everything holy in this world, Noct, please get the hell out of cleric stance!]

Noctis Lucis Caelum | Final Fantasy XV

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Network | un: apollo2

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