xistentiaooc | Test Drive Meme #5

Entry tags:

#meme,
#tdm

Test Drive Meme #5

You wouldn’t wake; i couldn’t sleep for years.

CRASH LANDING

Exit one dimension, enter the next. It was chaos: pressure against your ears, light bending in an impossible, unimaginable way. The very molecules of your body vibrating against one another. If you have windows, the view outside makes no sense. Even if not, your hands, your face, your feet seem like an uncertain thing. It's the feel of reality itself tearing apart, reshaping, reconnecting, thread by thread.

And suddenly, there's a beach— or ocean, whichever you land in. Smoke. Fire. Salt water churning up, fizzing around.

Maybe you crash, in a ship wrecking into sand. Maybe you merely stumble out of a portal, a ragged wormhole in space. Or maybe you fall off the back of an incredible steed, some creature that carried you into this place. Either way, there's pandemonium around you. Incredibly, severe injuries are far and few between— nobody's screaming about the dead. But you might have to help pull someone free of wreckage, or move quickly to salvage burning belongings from the landing craft. Maybe it's the crafts themselves, that you're trying to salvage.

Likely, you don't know them, these other strangers who arrived here^[1]. Maybe you don't trust them— you just came out of a dying world, after all. But you all have one thing in common: you're here now.

When you get a second to breathe, maybe you'll see it. The brilliant green forest across the sand. Beyond that, the glint of a faraway city.

THE RAIN

Here comes the rain. Trickling down the rafters and tinkling down the trees, it starts as a drizzle and steadily increases to a downpour. Maybe it catches you by surprise, chasing you indoors or to share the umbrella of a friendly stranger. There's something oddly elaborate about the gutters of Xistentia's city-- it clearly carries the water toward the temple in the East, a storm system that causes the lamps to pulsate without threatening to shut down.

You'll notice too that you're prone to nostalgia which even infiltrate your dreams, memories sad or happy. This is easily a private experience, but you might find yourself wandering the city to get away from old ghosts or feeling invincible in the glow of memories. More oddly, whether or not you're an artist, you might be inspired to draw on the windows with your finger in the condensation.

Personal symbols, detailed illustrations, these inextricably lead back to the nostalgia. Whatever it is, it might pull someone to ask.

NETWORK

By now, the city of Xistentia has a population of over 400 people. Shops line the streets of downtown, and increasingly well-trodden paths will take you into the agricultural zones nearer to the forest or even down to the beach. There are still distinctive animal presences around— careful with that— but the most common critters you'll see are birds crapping on your stuff outside and tiny winged hairless people creeping your food.

One afternoon, you are taken from whatever you’re doing - taking a walk through the city, sunning yourself on the beach, running around in the forest shoring up defenses - by a message, appearing on your Daemon’s network screen. It’s a simple line of text, that reads:

PHOTO SENT

It would appear that your daemon accidentally sent a picture, perhaps one from your photo roll or instagram, or a random shot of you or your surroundings. Wait. Was that a public network post? Wait—

IMAGE CODE TEMPLATE

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

hells yeah

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

❄ crash and burn

[Jack's unsure of what irritates his eyes more: the salt water or the smoke from the fire once he manages to drag himself up onto the sand. He raises a hand, coughs up another mouthful of sea water then spares a glance around at his surroundings.

Everything is chaos, what with people rushing here and there, attempting to scavenge items from the wreck. Honestly, he's pretty sure none of it is worth risking their lives over, but in his own way of helping, he douses the smaller flames with some of his ice powers, ignoring the throb at the side of his head.

It doesn't occur to him that he might be injured.

The slow forming of a bruise from temple to chin will continue to go unnoticed, unless a passerby happens to mention it.]

❄ rain, rain, go away

[At this point, steady rainfall is something he pays no mind to. That is, until his daemon decides to flutter up next to him, shaking her wings off, dousing him with tiny, bitter-cold drops.]

Thanks a lot, [he mutters sarcastically, adjusting the hold on his staff then reaching to gently rub the sleeve of his hoodie across black-speckled feathers.] Better? [A soft 'hoo' seems to be all she can give him, her head ducking low and hovering near his cheek.]

Don't worry, Avalanche. We'll be out of this mess in no time. ["That's what you think, Jack. For all you know, we could be here forever."] Oh, come on, why do you have to crush my dreams? [If an owl could roll its eyes. "How dramatic of you."] 'Dramatic' just so happens to be my middle name. ["I thought it 'Overland?'"] You promised you'd never bring that up ... ["Oops?" Which Jack responds to by rolling his eyes.

Thankfully, when the dreams descend upon him, dredging up memories of his sister, that day on the ice, which teems into somewhat happier moments. The drag of his finger through the moisture on windows isn't the same as using his abilities to create illustrations that move, but it distracts from things he doesn't want to remember right now.]

❄ network

username foundhiscenter

[ooc: or come at me with something of your own! i'm voice-testing this troublemaker, just so everyone's aware. c:]

[ Nostalgia weaved its way through Toothiana in surprisingly personal ways. While she of course thought of the times spent with all the Guardians, she also found herself reflecting on her parents and her life before Guardianship herself. Before she can get too lost walking down memory lane, one of her fairies alerts her to a new arrival she would definitely be interested in. ]

It's about blooming time you showed up, Frost, [ comes a likely familiar condescending Australian-accented voice. It is Bunnymund, but not the one he knows. Not the true Guardian of Hope. For one, he's a lot smaller than usual. For another, the digital sheen to his eyes signify this is a daemon but whose-? ]

Jack! [ the woman chirps, bridging the distance between them in a blur. She's a splash of color and, well, a literal splash as well. There's no concern for personal space (he should be used to this by now, possibly) or how damp her feathers are as she throws her arms around him in a twirling, dizzying hug. ] Oh, Jack, you made it here alright! I'm so relieved. Wait- [ The woman pulls back just a fraction to give him quick once over. ] You are alright, aren't you? Did you go through North's globe too? I know things looked a little bleak there for a moment, so I wasn't sure but- I was hoping you'd gotten through too!

[ She, uh. She hasn't slowed down much since he's seen her last, at least. ]

[He pauses mid-step, one bare foot gliding forward so he can plant the ball and do a heel-turn on the other.] Listen here, kanga-- [pause, one blink, then a second before he averts his attention to the daemon,] ... roo?

[Okay, this is weird because it's Bunny, but not exactly? His head tilts, an eyebrow raising in confusion. Another familiar voice catches his attention, making him look up just as Toothiana tosses her arms around him. The snowy owl hops atop his head to give them room and Jack laughs, folding his fellow guardian in an embrace.] Tooth! Oh, man, am I glad to see you! [Then, she's withdrawing to examine him. Nothing looks too out of place, aside from the faded bruise on the right side of his face. Her enthusiasm is great, though. It's something he's used to and he can't help smiling.] Yeah, I'm fine. Thought something felt off during that ride, [he admits.] You're okay, too, right?

[His turn to scrutinize her, eyes squinting, nose wrinkling in a ridiculous manner before he grins once more.] Looks like it.

[ Close enough to the real thing to insult Jack, apparently. But it seems the jabs are done for now as Toothiana takes the stage and practically demands Jack's attention just by virtue of being her and all up in his personal space. She definitely frowns at that bruise. Her slender fingers brush up against it gingerly even to make sure that it's not too serious. It might hurt a little, but better safe than sorry! ]

Me? Oh, I'm perfectly alright! [ As are her fairies, which are congregating now around the Guardian of Fun happily. They're just as excited to see their favorite snow spirit. They all give amused peeps at his antics, following Toothiana's own smile at him checking in on her. ] Well, it's been a bit of an adjustment getting used to things here and trying to figure out what I can do, but I've been managing alright I think! I'm just glad that you're safe and I hope that the others aren't too far behind.

Edited 2017-10-01 10:56 (UTC)

[Much like a fussy child, Jack huffs and raises his hand to carefully take hold of Tooth's wrist, drawing her pressing digits away from the contusion.] I'm fine, [he insists gently, the right side of his face quirking in response to her concern.] Really.

[A sigh of relief is what he answers with at first, ice-blue eyes widening before a laugh escapes him. All of the baby Tooths' cheeping is comforting, too, and he shows no resistance with a widening smile.] Don't worry, I missed all of you, too. [A wink.] Same goes for you. Being okay, I mean. And yeah, if we're lucky, North, Sandy, and the real Bunny shouldn't take too long.

[ While the fairy frowns, she doesn't press the matter any further. ] If you're sure, [ she concedes but still obviously not convinced. The mini-fairies also give Jack tiny frowns but they don't try to inspect the wound for themselves either.

Instead, they're too busy swooning at that wink Jack gives them. ] Oh, girls, [ Tooth can't help but sigh. They really needed to be more professional than all this. ] I should hope not! But it's been a couple months give or take since I arrived, actually...

I am, [Jack reassures. Just in case, yeah? All of this pouting isn't helping him any, though.

Ah, now that's the sort of reaction he was waiting for. The snow spirit chuckles, reaches one hand up to rub the nape of his neck. He's readying himself for a reply, only hesitating when she says--] A couple of months? Wow, Tooth, I— [he stops, brow furrowing with concern for his friend now.] I had no idea you'd been here by yourself so long.