» 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

[rehabbed]

[ It's good the guy doesn't talk as he leads the way. Jesse is spiralling. He's always spiralling. Always. Even in his stoic silence, he's spiralling. He doesn't know what it means to be stable anymore. He doesn't know what it means to be human anymore.

When the guy stops at a room and opens the door, Jesse halts to eye him. He eyes the doorway, too, and the room beyond. No windows. An uncomfortably enclosed space. There's a bed, though. A proper bed, not a filthy mattress riddled with bedbugs and odorous stains.

He swings his mistrustful gaze back on the guy. Jesse points into the room. ]

In. And stand by the far corner.

[ No way is he walking in first and risking being shut and locked into the room. You may seem like a nice guy, dude, but Jesse in no way trusts you. At least, not yet. ]

[wentnuclear]

[ This is definitely one of the biggest single rooms on the station, and is as empty as everywhere else Raleigh's checked. He glances over his shoulder to consult with Jesse, only to find the other man ordering him inside. ]

...why?

[ He'll comply -- already is, actually, moving in and crossing the distance to the indicated space -- but he looks pretty confused about it since he hadn't been planning to stay and play guard dog while Jesse showered. On the other hand, it's not like he really has anything better to do, he was just going to hit the fitness center and work off some nerves. ]

Did you want me to hang around?

[rehabbed]

Don't ask questions, just do it.

[ But this is the rub, isn't it? On the one hand, Jesse doesn't want anybody near him; he doesn't trust anybody. On the other hand, some terrified part of him is desperate to feel safe, to feel protected by somebody. Except nobody has ever made him feel safe. Except Mike. But Mike has been gone a long time now.

Walking into the room, however... He sweeps his gaze all around, up at the ceiling, the walls, taking in the size of it. And he edges towards the door that seems to lead into the bathroom, where he peeks in to inspect it. And right there: A shower. A toilet, too. An actual flushing toilet. The amazing thought of being able to shower, to not have to shit and piss into a filthy bucket, throws all his panic off-guard. He stares at both for a long moment like he can't believe his luck, like he's overwhelmed by the mere idea of such luxury, such freedom.

When he turns his head to peer back into the room, at the guy over in the corner, there's a different expression on Jesse's face: A little dazed, a little lost. Jesse watches him, assessing him, like he's trying to size up whether to take a risk with trusting the guy or not. ]

...Promise you won't try anything.

[wentnuclear]

[ Fine, no questions. Although he doesn't understand where Jesse's head is at, Raleigh leans against the far wall as the other man examines the bathroom, obediently not moving as he waits for an actual response. He can be patient, when it matters.

The request gets a blink. It's an easy enough promise to make -- Raleigh's not an angel but has never hurt anyone for fun, and Jesse behaving like an abused animal really is triggering a strange protective instinct he's only felt for a few people before. He just needs a little clarification. ]

I promise.

I think the doors lock, but I'll stay and keep an eye out if you want. From here?

[ Can he at least sit down? Standing at attention in the corner is gonna get uncomfortable -- he's still a little wrecked from the battle hey fought before he woke up here. ]

[rehabbed]

[ Assessing silence from Jesse while he stares at the guy. So much staring, like Jesse has forgotten how conversation even works. His eyes swing across to a chair, and he points. You can sit there. And then calm as anything, despite how knotted up with panic he's been since entering the elevator back there, he sets his attention back on the guy. ]

You try anything, I'll kill you.

[ Unnervingly emotionless and matter-of-fact. He hopes the guy won't try anything. Jesse is so sick of death, so sick of killing. But he's not going to let anybody do anything to him anymore, and if that means he has to kill to make that not happen, then that's just the way it has to be. ]

[wentnuclear]

[ ...okay, there are several thoughts running through Raleigh's head right now. Firstly, the possibly hubristic thought that Jesse couldn't take him. Secondly, that he's not in any rush to hang around someone who just tosses out a threat like that as if it's no big deal. Thirdly, wondering if people ever really come back from this level of damaged. A large part of him does still want to help, but worries he'd be setting himself up to fail. An awkward silence stretches between them as he debates just leaving. Why did he have to start giving a shit about people again? Life was much simpler when he didn't care about anything.

It was fucking miserable, but simpler. ]

Right. I'm not gonna try anything, Jesse.

[ Decision made, Raleigh makes his way over to the chair calmly and takes a seat. See? He's just gonna sit here and watch the door for you. Nice and safe. ]

[rehabbed]

[ That awkward silence passes with Jesse still just staring at him. He remains watching him as the guy moves across to the chair and obediently sits down. Then, and only then, does the tension in Jesse's shoulders ease a little. God, he hates this paranoia. He hates not knowing if he can trust his own mind, his own judgement. He hates how every little sound can make him jump. Very slowly, he begins stepping backwards to the bathroom, where he slips inside and closes the door.

Off come his magboots first, which he has trouble figuring out until he finds the clasp holding them together. Then the strange jumpsuit, then the strange underwear, until he's standing there all skin and bone, pale flesh mottled with old faded bruises. Reaching into the shower, he fumbles with the taps, and the noise of water hissing out of the faucet startles him a little. But he steps in, one foot, then the other, and the water rapidly grows close to scalding hot as he holds his hands out and lets the water splash onto his palms.

A laugh of disbelief bubbles out of him, soft and bewildered, followed by an awed little smile. Tears spring to his eyes, and suddenly another laugh erupts out of him, shrill and delighted and incredulous, all at once. The laugh is loud enough to be heard in the next room, and it's hard to tell if he's laughing or crying. ]

[wentnuclear]

[ Raleigh's actually a little surprised by this turn of events, that he's somehow managed to gain even this small measure of trust. But Jesse disappears into the bathroom and shortly there's the sound of water running, and Raleigh is a man of his word -- he stays, keeping an eye on the door and fussing idly with the device he found beside him when he woke up.

When Jesse's laughter reaches him he glances up from the menu on his communicator worriedly. It's a bit unnerving how uncontrolled it sounds, like even if it's purely the product of happiness the other man might slide into hysterics. Hopefully it's nothing but he definitely tunes in more intentionally, listening in case it turns into just crying or stops too suddenly, which could mean Jesse blacked out. He's got to wonder just how much abuse it takes before you have an emotional breakdown over being able to bathe. Maybe not much? But from what he's seen so far it's clear enough Jesse's way past whatever his personal breaking point was.

It's too bad this device he's wearing doesn't have the internet, he'd research how to behave around victims like this. Because that's what the guy is. Even with that threat, and the feeling Raleigh has that Jesse's made good on similar ones before... you don't do this to people. Anyone. But he can't google anything right now, so he'll just have to follow his instincts. Hopefully if he's consistently kind and offers his protection for awhile it'll make a difference. It occurs to him that if he'd ever bothered going to the therapy they offered him after Yancy's death, he might know a thing or two about how to approach someone traumatized, but it had seemed so pointless. No one in the entire world could relate to what he'd gone through, just because it had literally never happened to anyone else. So he'd just shut down instead, because that was less painful than a stranger fumbling through trying to understand.

The water's still running and Jesse's still laughing so Raleigh continues to wait, brainstorming talking points that might not trigger shit from home. ]

[rehabbed]

[ The crying laughter doesn't last too long. Soon, after the initial wave of relieved disbelief wracks through him, Jesse desperately plunges his head under the water, his whole skinny body shrinking into a tight huddle to try and let the hot water cascade over all of him. His hands raise to his face and scrub, and his fingers push through his matted, filthy hair, and that's all he does for the next couple of minutes: Stands under the spray, completely submerged, never more grateful than this very moment of such simple comforts like showers.

When he has to break his face out from under the stream of water for a gasp of air, he is very suddenly struck with the urge to scrub himself. He turns hurriedly and his shaky fingers snatch and fumble at the crusted, old soap that looks like it's been sitting in the soap dish for a decade. He starts lathering, and he starts rubbing it all over his shoulders and arms and chest, his neck, his stomach, rubbing and scrubbing. It's just a quick wash at first, like a guy eager to rid himself of filth and stench, but it quickly begins to descend into something more urgent, more harried. Soon, he's scrubbing - scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, like a man possessed. A man trying to scrub away something that's much further beneath the surface of his skin.

The sickening memory of it all. The disfiguring humiliation and shame and nightmare of it all. Every touch Todd ever laid on him while chaining him up in the meth lab, or chaining him up down in that mildewy cement hole. Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing - his scarred up face, his bruised arms and chest, his sallow and wasted away legs, all of it. Urgent little noises hitch from his throat every now and again, not quite whimpering but something close to it. And every time he plunges himself back under the near scalding spray of water, a gasp slips out of him, sometimes sounding almost like a laugh, like he can't believe he has access to hot water. Like he can't believe he's free.

Jesse is in the shower far longer than anybody would need to be, and he's still scrubbing. Scrubbing over all the places he's already scrubbed three, four, five times. His skin is beginning to get red raw, from all the scrubbing, from the intensely hot water. The whole bathroom has become one opaque wall of steam. Chances are he might need to be checked up on with how long he's now been in there. ]

[wentnuclear]

[ In this case a long shower is understandable, so Raleigh gives it twice as long as he'd usually take himself before starting to worry a little. As time continues to tick on... yeah, maybe it's time to fish Jesse out. What if the guy did collapse?

He rises from his seat and crosses to the bathroom door, knocking firmly and calling out loud enough to be heard over the water. ]

Jesse? You okay?

[ When there's no response right away, he knocks again. Gives it a few moments before deciding there's more risk in not barging in than in doing so, and presses the door release. If it locks, Jesse didn't bother, as it slides open at his push. Raleigh finds himself hit with a wall of steam so thick and heavy that not only is he barely able to see the opposite wall only a few feet away, it's a little difficult to breathe. That water's too hot, and Jesse's been in here too long. Waving at the steam to clear the room a little, he spots towels set into a shelf on the wall. Perfect. He grabs one and turns to the shower stall, rustling the curtain before just yanking it back. If there's still no answer after this, though, fuck modesty. ]

Jesse! Come on, man.

[rehabbed]

[ That knock startles Jesse so much he clams up, soap slipping out of his hands. That landing on the shower floor startles him, too, makes him flinch and jump, and when he realises the bathroom door is opening, he backs up and finds himself pressed into the corner of the shower, heart racing, mind going blank with terror while also frantically trying to think of some way to defend himself. He stares at that shower curtain rustling, his pulse now thumping in his head, adrenalin searing through him—

And then the shower curtain is yanked back, sudden and sharp, and though his instinct is to lash out, claw with his fingers, punch, fight dirty, scream, he shrinks into a tiny huddle. Those Nazi fucks - they got Jesse trained good. They made sure Jesse never forgot that if he so much as disobeyed ever again, Brock would be next. And that's the conditioned instinct that kicks in now, despite all survival instinct: Brock. Don't disobey in case they go after Brock.

One hand dashes out in defensive surrender, and humiliation fires through him as his other hand grapples at his groin to hide himself with a shaky fumble. D-Don't, is what his body language is silently, shakily pleading, please don't, don't hurt me, I swear to god I'll be good. ]

[wentnuclear]

[ Jesse doesn't answer, so Raleigh ends up just pulling back the curtain worriedly. It's not quite relief he feels when he sees that Jesse is at least conscious -- the terrified huddle pretty much nixes that -- but it's still better than if he were passed out in here. Raleigh lifts his hands in a show of harmlessness, his voice gentle as he slowly reaches out to turn off the water. It's scalding hot, and Jesse's skin is lobster red. He must've been scrubbing himself raw, too. ]

Hey. I'm glad you're okay, you had me worried.

[ Water off, he unfolds the towel and holds it out for Jesse to at least cover himself with. Then his hand stays outstretched, offering help getting up and out of the shower. ]

[rehabbed]

[ Jesse swallows hard, his tongue dry like cotton wool. Raleigh's remark about being glad you're okay and you had me worried rebound mistrustfully off Jesse's ears. That's the kind of shit Todd says. Stares at Jesse with those dead, eerie eyes of his and that unsettling little smile of his, tells Jesse in a calm voice that he's glad Jesse is okay.

Eyes darting to the towel, Jesse's outstretched and defensive hand dashes down to snatch it. Trembling hands shake it unfolded before he's clutching it against himself. The strange fog of panic that had started to cloud his mind is clearing a little again, enough for Jesse to realise it's that guy. Not Todd. Not anybody else. Just that guy. Raleigh, right? ]

Fuck you.

[ Is that relief in Jesse's hoarse voice, relief that it's not Todd, or is that nervous, spiteful venom? ]

[wentnuclear]

[ Geez, you're welcome, Raleigh thinks a little bitterly. Sue him for worrying that Jesse had been in here way too long. He had. Raleigh's mouth twists unhappily but he keeps his hand out, turning it into a beckoning gesture as he moves back from the shower stall. ]

Look, you asked me to keep an eye out for you and that's what I'm doing.

cw: homophobia

[rehabbed]

I didn't ask you to do shit.

[ Jesse bites that answer back quick and sharp. Which is technically true. "Try anything and I'll kill you" had been what Jesse emphasised, after making the guy promise not to try anything. Jesse eyes that beckoning hand, keeping the towel gripped against him.

Something about what's happening right now suddenly strikes Jesse has deeply humiliating. The old Jesse, the Jesse he used to be, would be shouting right now, getting all up in the guy's face about being a homo, walking in on him like this. He'd be trying frantically not to feel utterly threatened by being cornered in the bathroom, naked, by a guy almost twice his size, attempting to appear tough and aggressive while inwardly shitting himself at the same time. All ego and hot air.

No ego and hot air in Jesse anymore. Being cornered by a faggot isn't even a fear that enters Jesse's mind anymore. Being cornered by someone who's could hurt him, savagely beat him, destroy him, kill him - that's all that enters Jesse's mind now. Survival. All the fears he used to have seem to trivial and stupid now.

He inches, very slowly, cautiously, from the corner of the shower, while his shaky hands manoeuvre the towel to lash it around his skinny, rail-thin waist. God, maybe he had been in the shower too long, though. Too much hot water, too much steam, too much heat, coupled with exhaustion and not enough food or water to drink. A dizzy spell trips its way into his head, and the way he steps a foot out of the shower is unsteady and off-kilter, his pasty skin red raw from all the scrubbing and all the heat. ]

[wentnuclear]

[ Hmm. Raleigh gives that a moment of consideration -- maybe Jesse hadn't asked him to stay in so many words, but he'd asked if the other man wanted him to and the response given had implied he did. He didn't say no, get the fuck out, he'd pointed Raleigh to a seat. Wasn't that a confirmation he should stay and keep watch like he'd offered?

Navigating this is getting increasingly more complicated and Raleigh had already known he was in over his head. They weren't really understanding each other, so he's just going to take the aggression as a sign to back off. Leave Jesse to his own devices now that he's sure the other man is safe. But as he's turning away Jesse starts moving forward, visibly off-balance, and... this is probably going to be taken the wrong way too, but Raleigh can't not extend a hand again, offering support. Not touching yet, but there to steady Jesse should he stumble. ]

I'm sorry I busted in, okay? I'll go, just lock the door behind me and get some rest.