TEST DRIVE MEME 001

[ataraxites]

T E S T   D R I V E   M E M E A R R I V A L You wake up, alone in the dark. There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Through the fog you can see shadows of movement, the muted sound of alarms crying. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're suddenly dropped several feet onto the opposite wall. It takes you several minutes to catch your breath and gather strength in uncooperative limbs; more time still to climb up through the debris to the hole in the outer wall high above. You emerge in bright sunlight, surrounded by an immense jungle. As your vision clears, you realize you stand on the hull of a colossal spaceship, crashed on an alien planet. There's a shout behind you, and as you turn, figures climb over the curve of the ship towards you: your rescue party, weathered and scarred by the efforts necessary for survival. B A S E   C A M P A ramshackle spread of tents and shelters built out of resources salvaged from the ship and gathered from the jungle. Not sleek, not clean, but alive: people coming and going from tent to tent, heading out into the jungle or returning with freshly foraged food. Some are working to build more shelters or improvize working tech out of parts salvaged from the ship; some are cooking; some are just taking shelter from the sun for a while. Whether you find somewhere to help or apply your skills, it's probably a good idea to get to know your neighbors. E X P L O R A T I O N The jungle is dense and green, teeming with life, high calls and cries of strange animals and birds, the low buzz and murmur of insects. There are no paths or notable markings; go too far into the trees and you may not be able to find your way back. Dangers hide in the shadows but there's also food, water - or perhaps you're looking for more, pushing further in a search for answers about this planet you're now living on. Or you can turn your attention to the crashed ship, the huge bulk of it balanced precariously on the edge of a cliff. It creaks and groans in its delicate position, audible from a distant but all the louder should you venture inside. Dark corridors made even more dangerous by the damage to the internal structure, debris and obstacles blocking progress, and any wrong step could cause it to collapse in on you, or send the ship over the cliff. But finding any tech, resources or supplies might just be worth the risk. C H O O S E   Y O U R   O W N . . . Hunt or flee from strange creatures in the jungle, take a try at rock-climbing down the cliff-face, or practise in-game gained abilities. Ataraxion is currently without a network until one is built, but test-driving on a prospective one is also totally fine!

Comments

[weaponsgrade]

[Crazy stuff. It's so damned accurate that Roy can't help the half-snort, half-laugh thing that escapes, but there's absolutely no amusement in it. He brings a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, then gestures at the ground next to him.

Pull up some dirt. It's a long story.

What's Truth trying to do here? Teach him some idiot lesson wrapped up in storytime?]

That's one way to put it. [Definitely crazy things.] I killed one of them. I started digging after-- [He cuts himself off, because finishing that sentence just isn't going to happen.] I went fishing and the catch nearly killed us. Havoc was medically discharged. Paralyzed. I really thought that they'd come after me. [Because, you know, vulnerable in the hospital. Just gonna gloss over that.] Hawkeye was expecting it.

[He drops his hand and shrugs.] They needed me alive but apparently I was too dangerous to just let be. [And now there's a bit of a wolfish grin.] That may have been because I walked into Central Command and accused the fuhrer of being a homunculus. I was right. [This is said with a bit of an air of superiority. He was right damn it.] I probably could have done that a little differently. They kept me there all night and, in the morning, my team was given new assignments. It was implied that if I didn't keep a low profile, my people would pay the price.

[Yay, hostages. He's pausing here, opening the floor for questions. Whaddya gonna throw at him, Truth and/or actually Hughes?]

[ontheline]

[Hughes can totally pull up some dirt.

Kind of feels like their time at war. Except, you know. Somehow less traumatic. Goes to show how absolutely fucked up their time was in Ishval. Hughes plops down without hesitancy, gaining that focused look he usually gets on a pretty heavy caseload. His eyes widen slightly — because, well. Shit. That's a lot of bad fucking luck. And — ]

The fuhrer was really one of those — things?

[He rubs a hand over his mouth, looking at the ground.]

Damn. I can actually see it. I knew it went high up the ladder, but that's still...

[weaponsgrade]

He was. [Roy held up one hand, just for a moment. The wounds aren't quite as bad as they could be -- probably should be, honestly. The blue goop is good for something at least, it seems. They'll scar, though, and they're painful.] He's really good with swords. [Despite what he's talking about, the tone is carefully wry -- Hughes will likely see through the facade.]

[He lets his hand drop then, wrist resting on his knee.] We went into their stronghold to try to stop them that day. We did it.

[Shruuuuuug. No big deal.]

[ontheline]

[Snort.]

Trying to make it sound like a typical day at the office?

Sounds batshit crazy, if you ask me.

[But he's more relaxed beside Roy now, eying the man's hands but keeping his words to himself this time; no use pointing out the obvious. He'll need to make sure sir colonel here isn't getting himself any worse off. Hughes is champion at Roy Watching (like bird watching, only it's way more enjoyable to annoy Roy compared to birds, but hey).]