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sexyspace2018-06-25 07:10 am
zhautasmods) wrote in sexyspace2018-06-25 07:10 am
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME #2
Awakening
The multiverse is sick. It’s dying. And it’s up to you to save it. Or, at least, that’s what the Zenith Corporation had told you when they announced their search for a cure across the multiverse. They hand-picked individuals to be "volunteers" for the next stage of experimentation. Maybe they made it sound dire, maybe you already had your mind set to help, or maybe the specifics of how you could help was vague. Considering the alternative was wasting away on your home planet with no promise of when this cure might actually come to fruition, it ultimately wasn’t much of a choice either way.
Everything comes to life the more awake that you start to feel. "Good morning, volunteer," sounds a synthetic, feminine voice in your ear. That must be one of the fancy features they advertised about the chip that was injected just beneath your skin. A projected HUD above your torso displays and scrolls through several readings about the state of your being. "A scan of your vital signs show that everything is functioning as normal." There’s a small pause. "Wait-" The spike of alarm that should follow that single, distressed-sounding word is accompanied by a light chime. "Emotional responses are still accurate, too. Thank you for your cooperation!" Without any further explanation or allowing for protest, she continues on. "I hope you enjoyed your nap! We’ll be descending to planet #05031941 - common name designated as Zhautas - in approximately three hours. There will be a brief orientation for all volunteers exactly one hour before landing. Due to potential unnatural stress levels upon awakening from stasis, I suggest a relaxing trip to the garden beforehand."
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
My name is R.O.S.I.E. and, on behalf of all of us at the Zenith Corporation, we’re happy to have you aboard.
Code CreditMy name is R.O.S.I.E. and, on behalf of all of us at the Zenith Corporation, we’re happy to have you aboard.
Say Aloe (Prospective Players Only)
Red lights lead the way to the gym, green will be your path to the gardens, ostignuh is- Wait, what do you mean the color ostignuh is burning your eyes? Huh. They must have over-corrected for your species. Oh, well. They’ll fix that for the next trip. For now, don’t worry about it. It probably didn’t lead to anything important anyway!
- The staff is much more attentive this time than they were with the first wave of volunteers. Poor feedback and the threat of losing their jobs if they don't improve their standing will do that! Unfortunately, it isn't just the colors that have been over-corrected. Despite how many times you tell the very helpful staff member that you're fine, they won't leave you alone. Are you sure? They can walk with you if you'd like. They can even hold your hand if you're overwhelmed! If there's anything you need, they're here for you.
Maybe if you find a buddy to walk you to your destination they might divert their attention to a different volunteer. The buddy system is pretty fool-proof, after all. - As you draw closer to the gardens, the lights in the hallway begin to dim. In fact, the only available source of illumination for a small distance is the thin green line across the floor guiding your way. Careful not to trip! There's handy railing to hold onto or maybe you accidentally grab the arm of that (hopefully) cute person nearby. It's kind of hard to tell and green isn't really a flattering color anyway.
Suddenly, you're stepping into a wide open space of twilight. Iridescent flowers dot the landscape for as far as the eye can see. They come in all different shapes, sizes, and glow softly in this simulated night-scape. Trees of shining magenta leaves and blue bark wind up to the stars. Or, at least, the viewing panels that allow the stars to be seen from inside the ship. Not to worry, it's entirely safe and beautiful!
The featured flower of this month is the Nykt Blossom. Be warned, however, that inhaling its pollen causes increased levels of oxytocin. This will cause you to feel compelled to bond socially with others. That is, you might find yourself a lot more friendly than usual! Maybe a little too friendly, even, if you're especially susceptible to its effects. - It's very easy to miss the warning signs in this dark as you step into the section of the garden that houses the more alien plant-life.
They'll fix that for the future, of course, but for now many volunteers are likely finding themselves subject to the same unfortunate circumstances. Coitendrils are in abundance here; they're a pretty touchy feely species.
It's a plant that thrives in warm conditions and grows at an incredibly fast rate to seek out these cozy spots. As it turns out, your body warmth is the highest temperature around and exactly what it's looking for.
Before you know it, long green tendrils are suddenly growing around your arms or legs in speedy spirals. They get everywhere in a matter of mere seconds. Their growth is aggressive, finding ways beneath the fabric of whatever clothes you happen to be wearing and to the skin below. The only way to reverse their growing hold is to cool yourself off and fast. Maybe someone can grab you some ice?
Orientation (Prospective Players Only)
Around an hour before landing, an announcement is made to everyone aboard the ship. It’s time to find your way to the amphitheater for orientation. If anyone gripes, they are reminded that it has mandatory safety information that the Zenith Corporation is legally required to cover. In fact, there's even a quiz at the end to make sure you understand all the technical ins and outs! The Zenith Corporation only has your best interests at heart. They also can’t afford another lawsuit or PR nightmare but who can, really? It’s only a half an hour long and R.O.S.I.E. reassures everyone that it will go by faster than they think.
- Are you way too cool for school? If you try to play hookey, the crew members of the spaceship are already on guard. You're not the first one to try this and they doubt you'll be the last. Try as you might to super sleuth your way around, there’ll be someone at apparently every single turn and twist you try.
It’s also very likely that in scrambling to find a place to hide you’ll run into someone else breaking the rules! Perhaps great minds think alike and you decide to try to defy the system together. Or maybe they’re totally just getting in your way and you decide instead to throw them to the wolves to give yourself a better chance at escaping certain boredom that is an informational seminar. The choice is yours, volunteer! - Whether you come to the orientation willingly or are dragged in by one of the staff, you’ll quickly realize just how bad R.O.S.I.E. lied. A half an hour feels almost like ten hours instead. The last time you checked your watch, it was somehow later than when you check it now. Is time going backward? It sure seems like it the longer you listen to the monotone voice read over colored flavor text clearly meant to engage but missing its mark stupendously. Even the motivation of a quiz at the end that needs to be passed in order to disembark seems to do little to nothing for your dwindling attention span.
Finally, there’s a break in the bureaucratic monotony. The faceless, droning voice introduces one of the staff currently on Zhautas, Jeneviere. He's assistant to the head scientist, Professor Quintalian, and freshly assigned overseer of new volunteers. He also looks like he absolutely doesn't want to be the one doing this seminar.
"Come now, Jenny," says a masculine voice off screen. "You promised."
"I know what I said," he snaps, glaring off camera and not seeming to care much for the fact this is a live feed nor that these new volunteers are expecting something a bit more professional.
"Then what's the problem?" the voice asks again. As it does, a tentacle wiggles into view and gives a reassuring pat on the deerman's shoulder. "I know for a fact that you like being filmed, Jenny, so really this shouldn't be so daunting-"
As he speaks, Jeneviere's cheeks suddenly burn red hot. He stands forcefully out of his chair and uses one of those hoofs to kick harshly at the source of the tentacles. There's a very undignified squawk at the attack before the video feed cuts out and a technical difficulties sign is displayed.
"... Right," the narrator from before says to break the undeniably awkward silence. "Just give us a moment, volunteers, and we'll get a pre-recorded seminar ready for you instead. In the meantime, let's open up communications with the facility and allow you to discuss with those already on the planet about what they've enjoyed most about their time on Zhautas so far?*
- Hopefully, you didn't forget about the quiz! The staff certainly didn't. After the pre-recorded seminar is run, papers are handed out. A quiet shuffle carries through the room as people pass them to and fro down the aisles. It all seems rather arbitrary and tedious but remember! You have to pass in order to disembark.
It isn't too hard. Or maybe it is. Perhaps it's just the pressure that you only have fifteen minutes to complete it. What was the professor's first name again? How many research facilities are there on the planet? Staff are scrutinizing your every move now, it feels like. Do you take the risk and try to whisper for help to the person next to you? Pass notes? Do what you must to succeed! ...Or you can just shamefully take the quiz again and again and again until they're legally obligated to let you off board. - Hopefully, you didn't forget about the quiz! The staff certainly didn't. After the pre-recorded seminar is run, papers are handed out. A quiet shuffle carries through the room as people pass them to and fro down the aisles. It all seems rather arbitrary and tedious but remember! You have to pass in order to disembark.
Welcome to Zhautas! (All Players)
Finally, it's time to disembark at the research facility. This time they have the right coordinates so it's as easy as stepping off the ship and to your new home away from home. Or, at least, it should have been that easy...
There's an awful lot of construction going on around here. Several beings with hard hats, power tools, and ridiculous amounts of glue are rushing about. They're shouting orders and saying "excuse me" where they remember to. Still, it can be hard to get a word in edgewise about the fact that you're new volunteers here to check-in. In addition to the construction, there's also an awful lot of important-seeming people walking throughout the facility as well that staff are far more attentive to than you.
In short, it's borderline chaos as you try to get your bearings.
- "Bad news, new volunteers," says R.O.S.I.E. in the midst of all the commotion. "We have your housing assignments but there have been some... technical difficulties in preparing the new rooms." There's actually been a lot of technical difficulties, period. Maybe you've already noticed with the lights randomly changing color or dimness, the vending machine that launched your drink at you, or R.O.S.I.E. herself glitching out periodically when responding. The problem with the rooms is that the doors won't open. Or they won't stay closed. Or that they open and close constantly and forcefully so it's a safety hazard. As if everything else going on with all the construction isn't.
"We're working on it as fast as we can, but for now, we've set up a temporary sleeping situation until its resolved." Everyone will be directed to one of the larger common rooms in the east wing of the facility while the rest of the volunteers are still awaiting their new housing as promised.
Mattresses are laid out in rows on the floor. There's plenty of blankets, pillows, and even some LED lights strung around the room to provide some nice ambience.
Additionally, there's a screen covering one of the walls for a movie to be projected on before bed. R.O.S.I.E. has chosen a thematically appropriate film that was approved by Professor Quintalian himself. Snacks are provided too! It's an old-fashioned sleepover, volunteers. Make a blanket fort, enjoy what's on for your viewing pleasure, and have - most of all - have fun. - What's a sleepover without scary stories? Flashlights have been provided and it's time to get spooky. Here's your chance to share that real thriller that you know from back home. Maybe another world has a similar tale! Either way, there's nothing like bonding over a little healthy fear. Right?
Or maybe terrifying strangers isn't your idea of a good time and you'd rather make shadow puppets instead. That's also an option! In fact, some people are trying to start a contest out of it to see who can cast the most creative shadows around. - The night staff comes around for one last security sweep. Get some sleep, they say. It's been a long day. Tomorrow might be even longer if they still can't figure out the rooms or where to put all these new volunteers for the time being.
As nice as that sounds, it's a little easier said than done. Whether it's the construction noise, the person next to you snoring, or late night existential thoughts it's difficult for sleep to find you. Maybe talking to someone might help? Or maybe you just need to go to the bathroom. Good luck crossing the swath of bodies, in the case of the latter, and who knows! You might find someone else having as much trouble sleeping as you that you can commiserate with.
Or maybe you're the one snoring. Do you happen to kick in your sleep? How unfortunate for the person assigned to the mat next to you. They might be courteous or they might tell you just how obnoxious it is. Whatever the case might actually be, you're likely in for a long first night here at the research facility.
Network/Bangr (All Players)
During all the goings-on, R.O.S.I.E. will prompt you to set up your presence on the network. Pick a username, a profile picture, and commence to shitposting immediately if you so desire! Additionally, if you want to get a headstart on your contribution to the volunteer program, why not set up your Bangr? R.O.S.I.E. even has an icebreaker question ready for you! They change every month. This month's question is:
(*Despite what you might actually put, know that R.O.S.I.E. is a little glitchy. What you wrote might not actually be what's displayed! I.E., you can totally use this as a misfire type deal in case your character wouldn't answer this question.)
bangr
Professor Quintalian | 35
Wake-up sex is the best, in my opinion. Hormones are more haywire first thing in the morning; it's just scientific sense to get your bang in during wake-up time.
| ✓ | ✕ |
| YES |
NO |
Extra Notes
- The BANGR code only works in comments, there is a separate code for entries!
If you're testing this code before posting it here please do so in a comment to an entry for accuracy! - TDM top levels are allowed for current characters and/or new characters!
However, current characters can ONLY interact with the following prompts:
WELCOME TO ZHAUTAS where new characters are on the planet AND/OR the network options available if they want the thread to be considered game canon.
no subject
Now that they're tucked away in the room, the mutant takes a 'seat' cross-legged in the air, positioning herself strategically out of the door's initial line of sight. There's a soft sigh as she steals additional comfort, visibly relaxing as she uses her powers blatantly for the first time since arriving. Well, the safe powers at least.]
An' how would you answer those questions now? Have your answers changed since 'a while back'?
[An understanding smile quirks on her lips as she leans back, wanting to hear how he discusses what's clearly a passion of his.]
no subject
Kneeling, he opens the first one and is met with the disappointing view of storage. Tupperware, candles, a couple of smaller cardboard boxes. When Rogue asks her next question, he tilts his head in her direction, mouth pursed in slight concentration. ]
I'd say the boundary is nearly limitless, now. [ Inception had shaken up all of his previous beliefs. All of the hard lines he'd drawn in the sand, wiped away by the proverbial ocean of experience that job had given him. ]
But I'd still agree to get in the middle of it. The fascination hasn't faded. [ Even if some things feel like he does them by rote now. It's just ingrained instinct; that doesn't stop the wonder of building something from nothing. ]
There was– is– this piece of technology that allows for lucid dreaming. Shared dreaming, too. Originally it was developed by the military, which was my first introduction to it. Apparently I had a level psych test and a young mind, which was very appealing.
[ He shuts the first cabinet and opens the next one, which has some vases and extra glassware. Ugh. ]
It was technically my superior officer that asked me those questions; Lieutenant Harris. Well, she hadn't been mine pre-questions. But after I gave satisfactory answers, she pulled me from the regular ranks and put me on the dream project.
no subject
When he answers her, her features knit in a worry filled frown. If he indeed has found a way to walk minds through dreams, to enter the space of both resilience and terrible fragility, then his statement implies he's discovered a way to touch and manipulate every aspect of the dreams. Rogue understands the magnitude of this power, and it is a power. She knows better than anyone what such power can do to someone, what it can mean for countless others, and what happens when it's used for selfish and self-righteous reasons.
It's playing god, and unfortunately, she can empathize with having that fascination. With all the powers she's possessed, Rogue often feels joy in experiencing another entity's powers. Hers is a power that has tempted her morality on far too many occasions, but she's learned that powers come with responsibility. Her visibility as an X-Man and Avenger helped her gain the wisdom to embody the virtues of a hero, even if she feels as though she falls short more often than not.
Her attention sharpens at the mention of military technology, and there's a mix of emotions at that.] Not gonna lie sugah, military developed dream walkin' technology don't exactly give me the warm and fuzzies.
[But she knew telepaths and dreamwalkers that came to have their powers naturally. If mutants didn't exist in his world, who is she to draw lines in his past, to judge what he did as a soldier to train, to improve his ability to protect his people? That's what they did as X-Men, after all.
Her face remains serious as he continues, waiting for him to finish to speak again. It's clear that dreams have become a large part of his identity, much like her own powers and occupation.]
What did the military use this technology for? [She pauses, voice lowering with added seriousness.] What are the adverse affects of usin' it?
no subject
Halfway through, his attention is pulled away by her answer. Of course, he can hardly hold her nervousness against her. Even without the mutant aspect, the military isn't exactly a trusted organization. Hell, he'd been in it and still thought it was full of shit.
(Or maybe he thought that way precisely because he'd been a part of the experiments). ]
I was young and naive; I'd enlisted right after high school. It seemed like it would do more good than harm, then.
[ Just another way to say he was young and stupid. He knows better now. ]
It was for training, for the soldiers. Drop them in a dream landscape that looked like an active front, let them experience a fight in so-called real time. Pain still registers in the mind, even in a dream. The military thought they could get soldiers used to injuries and death before they hit the real ground.
A good idea, in theory.
[ Sufficiently convinced this bottle must be drinkable, he unscrews the cap, takes a cursory sniff. Yeah, smells just like spiced rum of some sort; he recaps it after. In the same cabinet is a shelf of glasses– he pulls two of them out, rims pushed together between his thumb, index, and middle fingers.
Straightening, he walks over to where Rogue is floating and takes a seat in the nearby chair, momentarily leaned forward to set the glasses and the bottle on the coffee table. ]
Those early tests were uncomfortable. The drugs used to induce the dreams weren't as good, didn't last very long. You'd be sick for days afterwards, sometimes weeks if you had exceptional sensitivity.
[ A number of people had to drop out for that reason alone. Arthur undoes the cap and pours out a measured amount in both glasses. ]
As the drugs got better, the dreams got clearer, which was technically a good thing. The major downside is that people lost track of what was real and what wasn't. Recruits would wake up from an injury in the dream and think that injury was still with them, topside.
[ Fuck, it's been a while since he's had to think about this. He bites down on the memories, reaches out and hands her a glass. ] Some... some of them killed themselves, thinking it'd "wake them up", like death normally does in a dream.
no subject
Young and naive. Those words brought to the surface memories of the Brotherhood, of attacking the Earth's Mightiest Heroes, of hate and anger blindly fueling her to rack up regrets like they would make up for her inability to truly connect with anyone. She had been so malleable, so ripe for manipulation that when she finally broke free the damage had already been done, the seed of self-doubt deeply planted.]
Ain't hindsight a peach?
[But that's her only interjection until he finishes, her green eyes sharply following his movements as she keenly listened to Arthur, finding her own desire for a bottle of high proof comfort. The training device has direct parallels to the Danger Room, and she finds herself uncomfortably putting herself in his shoes, wondering what the first iterations of the Danger Room or Cerebro had truly been like before it had been deemed safe for frequent use. Maybe they'd been lucky and nothing quite so terrible had happened, but it's not difficult to imagine other outcomes with the stories she's hearing now about this military technology.
She herself has trained to endure pain and torture, both physical and mental. It's made her scarred but strong, stitched together with grit and sheer stubbornness. What he describes is sobering, and she finds herself wishing it shocked her more. That she couldn't empathize so easily with him.
Good, he's found something. It's a welcome distraction from her own dark rabbit holes beckoning her. Truth be told, following his movements as he collects the glasses and pours them each a healthy dram gives her something to focus on along with his words, like a tether to the present. It's far too easy for her to imagine the horrible side effects he describes and to experience the horrors like they are happening right now. So when she floats closer to take the glass from his hand, she consciously allows her gloved fingers to brush and linger against the back of his hand before eventually slipping down to take the glass in her hand, her eyes search out his.]
Ah'm sorry Arthur. [Her voice resonates a heavy empathy, a reassurance that he's not alone. She hates that he's experienced such horrors, but knows that like her, they've made him stronger.] It ain't ever easy livin' with that regret. Thinkin' you could've done more, could've saved them.
[She brings the glass to her lips and takes a healthy swallow, her eyes shifting to stare into the amber liquid.] What good's all that trainin' if we can't use it to save the people we care 'bout?
no subject
He'd do it all over again.
Every day spent in the military had given him a leg up, bits of information coalescing to form a strong foundation, a firm backbone once he'd dipped out of the legal and into the criminal. In the beginning, he hadn't been able to find anyone who could build as neatly as he did, not unless they were other ex-military. Later, his uncanny instincts and attention to detail made him popular– it's a well known rumor that he's considered the best point dreamshare has to offer.
(Sometimes, he misses building. But after Dom, after Mal's shade started navigating the mazes he built with more ease, he couldn't keep up).
Rogue's touch startles him a bit. He freezes at the brush of fingers, staring at the point of contact with serious eyes. Slowly, he shifts his gaze up, not expecting the sympathy he sees there. Swallowing it all down, he takes a drink from his glass, liquor burning all the way down. ]
It's in the past. [ Where it'll stay, not because he's heartless. But because he'll be swallowed by grief, otherwise. Learning how to compartmentalize had been the most useful skill he picked up in the military. ]
For this, it's less about the training and more just. If someone loses themselves, how do you convince them of anything else? Our minds are fragile but stubborn. Once sure of a truth, people put their roots down. Only a thought that seems self-generated could make them unearth themselves.
[ He replays all the times with Mal, all the weeks he watched her grow further and further away and–
no, he's not going down this path, it's been tread over too much. ]
no subject
When that more doesn't come, she exhales a half-breath she didn't know she's holding, her eyes lingering on how he drinks his liquor. She's found that a person's relationship and choices therein with alcohol spoke volumes about their personality and the current situation of their life.]
The past has a way of sneakin' back up when you least expect it. [She counters softly, speaking directly from experience. Even here, in this place, which churned her mind down a different path, one she'll touch on in a moment. She's not about to take away from the weight of their current conversation, one that's hitting so deep in the home of her mind and heart that after she sips the liquid and approves, she finishes the rest of it in one, healthy swallow. There's no coughing, only a resetting of her jaw for several moments.]
Feelin' someone in your head, diggin' through your deepest, most personal thoughts, memories you've been entrusted to protect, and bein' able to change them, to fabricate a false world that feels so real that you're utterly malleable... [She shudders, glancing down to her now empty glass as she remembers how it felt to have the Red Skull inside her head. It's something she'll never forget, no matter how far in the past she buries it. She shakes her head and hopes that shared dreaming doesn't feel like that.
Moving on to that thought from earlier because it's marginally less depressing.]
Have you met anyone from your universe, or one that might be parallel to it yet?
no subject