xistentiaooc | TEST DRIVE MEME #3

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#meme,
#tdm

TEST DRIVE MEME #3

Test Drive Meme #3

I walk around with all my violent decisions.

Prison World Prequel: Spidermarvel

D.E.S.T.I.N.Y. has learned a new trick to stop characters from defying the end of the multiverse. These are prison worlds, alternative universes, where prisoners are brainwashed into native conflicts so that they will kill each other.

NEW CHARACTERS: BRAINWASH

One minute, you're escaping your dying homeworld. Perhaps through a wormhole, perhaps with some incredible leap of technology, sorcery, or on a magic steed— regardless of the how, the why was clear. Everything you once knew tearing apart at the seams, facing utter destruction at the mercy of an apocalypse no one had predicted.

The next instant, you topple into a street covered in rubble. The Battle of New York (spoilers in the link) rages around you.

Armored humanoid aliens, the Chitauri, run amok in the streets, armed with staffs that blast powerful energy bolts. A hundred times larger, fish-like "Leviathans" are gliding through the air, with fangs as tall as people, damaging skyscrapers with their massive flippers, and ejecting yet more of the Chitauri from their sides. Around you, fires burn and humans are running in every direction in panic, barely taking a second to notice anything outlandish about your appearance. In the distance, there's a blue, glowing portal hundreds of feet in the air.

Maybe you stand and fight. Perhaps you find a citizen or a fellow world-hopper bleeding and hurt and you try to help. Maybe it's the faraway portal you're going for, assuming this is just that damn apocalypse again— but that's when something feels ever so slightly wrong.

This is the sensation of your memories starting to warp, your very identity shaping to fit this world. Your powers starting to flicker, gutter, not operating quite right. Glance down, and for a split-second, it's like your hands are-- pixellated? But blink again, and it's over. Hell, there are more important things to take care of right now...

EXISTING CHARACTER: WRAITH MODE

Technology lights up in the Citadel, the defense systems coming online abruptly, dozens of screens and interfaces crawling with unrecognizable code— and special instructions. Using a visor at the Citadel, brief journeys to the prison world are possible. When you appear in the Battle of New York, the visitors appear like ghosts displaced from space and time. You are now in wraith mode, incorporeal, intangible, and invisible to most of the inhabitants of the Prison World. However, you can be seen and heard by the new prisoners, all the while retaining their personalities and identities. Simulation or transportation? It's hard to tell.

The Temple lights up too, revealing a new chamber filled with dozens of strange stone beds, dimly aglow. But the technology or magic there refuses to reveal anything else.

HEATWAVE IN THE CITY

A week after you arrive in Xistentia, you are still trying to get a grip with life in the city, your new apartment, still trying to understand exactly what's needed of you. The inhabited parts of the urban development have wide boulevards and beautiful facades, well-groomed trees on every street. The further you go from the growing colony, the more overgrown and wild the buildings look, small flocks of birds singing at you from the bridges.

Beyond the streets, the natural environment around you-- wherever you choose to explore— is supposed to be perfect; the weather in Xistentia is designed to be temperate in the city, hotter on the beach, cooler in the forest. But in recent days, the temperature has been climbing. It's a steady thing, but it's felt throughout the whole of Xistentia, and it's not long before it becomes unpleasant, humid and heavy heat that sticks your shirt to your skin.

Your daemon trills, requiring your attention. You've noticed that it now looks different now than it did back in the Prison World, no longer a simple cellphone. When you touch the hologram popup, the message reads:

F.A.T.E.S. WARNING SYSTEM
Threat Assessment: Mild
Phenomenon Type: Weather System Compromised
Predicted Duration: 72 hours

Due to massive energy discharge from D.E.S.T.I.N.Y.'s Prison World program, a heat wave has come. Residents are advised to remain cool indoors or hydrated outside. F.A.T.E.S. requests your assistance offsetting repair power costs by temporarily increasing physical contact, including intimacy. Remember, safezone protocol will prevent combat within the city excepting sparring at gyms.

With expected assistance, the weather system will be corrected in 72 hours.

Fate is your hands. Or possibly your arms, if you're more of a hugger. As characters initiate physical intimacy within the city, they may notice the nearest lamps in the streets brightening.

NETWORK

Chances are pretty good that your daemon is not a phone or a computer or a wax-sealed piece of parchment or a Howler, nothing with a convenient camera or a keyboard; it probably isn't even a pocket sized. Likelier, it stares at you with eyes that contain the lenses-- or powers-- of a camera, and some part of its body projects a holographic keyboard into the air. For those of us who are not accustomed to manipulating intangible light prisms, it's not very intuitive to type on.

But here's your network access. Accessible to all your fellow travelers in XISTENTIA.

Misfires, typos, and blurry video footage are likely. Time to feel like a Luddite!

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

sUPER FUN!

Footnotes

Some of these can be nameless, plot-device NPCs to facilitate interactions! But even in this case, please avoid gore in describing their current state of being. Anyone dead or catastrophically injured will have disappeared by the time your characters make it to Xistentia. There are no corpses or dying here.
But like OOCly ask permission ofc.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Ice cream happens to be one of the few human foods Rafa actually likes to eat. Thanks to the heat wave, everyone is looking for it. He's reaching for a tub of vanilla when Janus speaks to him, and he looks curiously up. Despite the weather, he's wearing a full suit, with his only nod to the heat being that his shirt is open at the collar. He's not sweating, either. Odds are, the person you want holding your hand in this weather is the person who's literally always cold. Rafa lifts a smile at them. ]

Hello. We can, if you wish. Perhaps I can cool you down.

[ He holds out his hand. ]

Would you like some of this? It is good, and it will melt quickly out here.

[or perhaps he's mad. janus squints at the vampire for a moment, and decides that the relative sanity of strangers is of little consequence these days. at twenty four years-of-age, janus has successfully completed four years of college as well as dozens of murdery missions, and they're aware that

'insane' is a legal term,
plenty of criminals are in their right mind,
people who are not in their right mind are often perfectly pleasant to hold hands with when the world is melting in catastrophic summer heat thanks to some kind of multiversal disruption of physics.

not that they've had prior experience before, exactly. but they reach out and take rafaello's hand anyway, certain enough. they're good at reading people, and rafaello's little absurdly-costumed frame is articulate.] I'll have a little, thank you, [they say.] I try to avoid excessive caloric intake, but today seems like the right time for exceptions. [a beat.] Your hand is a very nice temperature.

[ Well

This one is polite. More polite than Rafa is used to, anyway, at least in this day and age. He surprises himself by thinking that it's nice to see. Perhaps he actually misses the days when humans were raised with genteel manners.

Even that thought makes him feel old. He'd be best to scrub that attitude out. ]

On a day like this, you need the calories. And besides, if we do not eat it, it will be liable to melt, and that would be a terrible shame.

Come. I am sure I can cool you down.

[ He smiles, and gives Janus' hand a little tug. This way, new friend. Outside,
he looks for somewhere shaded that they can sit, though in truth it's intolerably hot.
Rafa's only deference to the sun is his sunglasses, which he doesn't remove even when they find that shade. ]

Will this suit you?

[the shade is shady but the weather is sweltering, and janus abruptly wishes they had stayed inside, even though the smaller man seems like he deserves a better place to be than a grocery store.

janus is silent for a moment, sitting beside the vampire. manners battle with needs. but they've been shot and stabbed and had their limbs amputated before-- the heat, while uncomfortable, is not as intolerable as that. they decide they will bear it for some minutes while working on an alternative proposal; they're too frazzled to have a good idea yet. interpersonal interactions are still a bit of a b- subject for them.] Yes, [they say.] But I should have some of that ice cream. I think the cooldown process must start from the inside out.

[there's a lopsided smile. they lean back in their seat, opening a hand in optimistic expectation that the undead man will place the carton in it.] I'm Janus. What's your name?

[ The tub of ice cream is duly set into their hand, along with a spoon from Rafa's bag. He hadn't thought this treat would survive long once he got it out of the store. ]

I am Rafa. I am glad to meet you, Janus. Named for the god, are you?

[ Rafa's father, or at least the man who called himself his father, had been Roman. Those godly names are all familiar to him, reminding him of years long gone by. ]

Go on, eat. It will make you feel better.

[ Rafa slides closer to him at the same time. Body heat transfers, and Janus seems to have plenty to go around. ]

[heat wafts off janus' frame, perhaps not hotter than the ambient weather but fighting against it all the same. the warmth soaks through the fabric of rafa's shirt immediately, and janus themself is uncharcteristically like a child, over-eager as they tear off the lid and poke into the cold cream eagerly with the spoon. they'll be embarrassed later, probably. usually, they're a creature of great zen.

but today they're stuffing their gob with cold. there's a long pause as they hold the mouthful in, enjoying the immediate cool that flushes through their white cheeks. slowly then, slowly slowly, they swallow it down, turning their head to regard rafaello with a smile that's gone a bit dewy from dairy.] I am. Many of my people are named for gods and things like that. Anything that has a spiritual theme of duality, we tend to like. It's not as charming as being named for gods because they're gods, or themes of luck, but I like my name.

I don't know what Rafaello means.

[ Rafa's smile is tinged with irony. His father was not without a sense of humour. ]

It means, 'God has Healed', in Italian. To me it means nothing at all. I prefer Rafa. It is simpler, and I chose it myself.

I think yours is quite charming.

[ He shifts a little closer, pressing his side against Janus' side, keeping them cool. At the same time, heat spreads along Rafa's skin, making him sigh. That always feels good. ]

The sun never warms me like this. Your skin is so much better.

[there's a disbelieving quality to janus when they grunt in answer to that-- about their skin. but they smile too, a small one. enough of a pause that they can then appreciate the odd chill that resides within rafa's tawny skin.] Rafa, [they repeat, after a moment.] You chose well. It suits you.

A diminutive. [their eyes are laughing a little, but it's not at rafa. with him, surely.] One that rolls off the tongue. [even seated, janus is obviously considerably taller than their companion, the bulk of their shoulder lofted high above the corner of rafa's. janus digs up another spoonful of ice cream, and tips it toward rafa in offer.] I know your kind, I think.

I know your skin, and your generosity with ordinary food.

[ Rafa's eyebrows lift. This is strangely sweet and teasing. Janus had been very polite inside the store, and it hadn't led Rafa to think it would lead to this. He's pleased. ]

My kind? I presume by that you mean generous Sicilians. Small, generous Sicilians, apparently.

[ He corrects himself with a little smile, while curling closer to Janus. Their shoulder is at a height which welcomes Rafa's head, and while he doesn't quite get there yet, he's close to it. ]

[good manners have never stopped janus from a lot of things— murder and flirtation included. janus studies rafa's little face, tawny cheeks and long nose, his very dark eyes. his mouth, within the tidy frame of his stubble. it's on the last that janus' eyes linger.] I think you're more than that, [they say.] If it weren't daylight now, I'd have a more specific guess.

Would you say something in Italian? I'm sure you get that all the time. [glancing back at the ice cream, they dig out another spoonful of cold cream out.] It's been a long time since I heard someone speak it, and I always thought it was beautiful. Even the word 'stone,' that's pietra right? There's a flow to it.

[ Rafa can't help his smile. He touches a light fingertip to the stem of his glasses. ]

They would confuse your guess. Without them I would be more than warm in this sun. Perhaps your guess is right.

[ But he'll keep you guessing just in case.

At that request, he draws his knees up to his chest and considers. ]

I am rarely asked. Hai dei bellissimi occhi. Do you know what that means?

No, [janus says, looking at the fan-shaped articulation of shadows that rafa's eyelashes spread over his cheekbones, and how fine the grain of his pretty symmetrical nose. how tiny he is. they wonder which of them is stronger. the physics of vampires are so very strange. and lovely.]

No I don't know what that means.

[demigod? ice elf. janus reaches up to tuck rafa's hair behind his ear, looking for a point that doesn't turn out to be there. he smells too nice to be a zombie.] You think that something's pretty, I think.

[ Rafa tilts his head, surprised at that sudden affection - which turns out, he thinks, to not be affection at all, and then it makes him smile. It spurs him to reach out, tracing light fingertips along the line of Janus' chin, and he meets their eyes intently. ]

You are pretty. [ His smile widens. ] But your eyes, in particular. I said they were beautiful. Sei molto dolce. You are very sweet. Like the gelato, which is ice cream.

Is English your first language?

[this is nice. italian seems to be as native a language for rafaello as the communication of articulate tawny fingers and little smiles. people have made fun of janus all their life for talking about sensuality as if it's a skill to be metered and measured and increased steadily with use, but janus thinks that's just because those people haven't been paying attention when they meet the rafaellos of the world. there are experts, people for whom these things come fluently.

it makes janus feel safe. like sparring with a talented teacher. you have to be careful, but it's different to fighting for your life; they aren't on a mission, and they trust themself to be able to tell when the other wants something different.] I'm generically American in all the ways they make fun of, [janus says.] English is my first and I'm not too skilled with others. But thank you. I like these eyes all right. I used to have better ones I think.

[more ice cream. they smile.] You're sweet too. Air of mystery and all.

[ Rafa laughs. ]

Am I mysterious? It is only that you do not know me better. I believe we ought to fix that.

[ Janus is effortlessly charming, drawing Rafa in with ease. Now that he's mentioned their eyes, he's quite intent on them. He draws his knees up on the bench, draping his arms over them and watching curiously. ]

Is that a metaphor? Different eyes. Perhaps your eyes are older now. Though they still look young to me.

[ He reaches idly down to steal a fingertip of ice cream, and brings it to his lips. It's really quite liquid by now, which of course Rafa prefers. ]

One day I'll tell you the story, [janus says, even though that sounds like a promise. it's a small one. it'll be all right. they aren't worried. losing their proper face is one of the least vulnerable things that happened to them.]

For now, I'd like to know the Italian word for 'cool.' I think, if I hold onto you long enough, I'll be able to remember it.

[~~~ THEN THIS THREAD ENDS, KERRY DON'T TAG ME BACK AAAA]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

TEST DRIVE MEME #3

heatwave

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lmk if this isn't ok! gently drags janus around...

Is happily dragged by a smol vampire

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maybe we can steer this one toward a fade? <3

sure thing

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