Test Drive Meme #5

[spoofer]

Test Drive Meme #5

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

INTRODUCTION ⇄ FAQ ⇄ APPLICATIONS

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
<center><img src="URL HERE"></center>

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

hells yeah

Footnotes

1. 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.
   
   
2. But like OOCly ask permission ofc.

Comments

[mordacita]

it would be wise to prepare for disappointment
but if he is not here, there remains hope that he may arrive later
that happened with two of mine. a kingdom of others remains missing, however, including some who are very dear to me
it is the same for many of us. i understand.

[infatyuated]

a whole kingdom?
are you some kind of royalty?

[ he's unaware that rafa is a vampire, much less their king. ]

I'm not unused to disappointment.
still, I worry about him.
He's the only family I have left.
I have to protect him.

[mordacita]

i am their king

so i understand wishing to protect the one you have lost.
it may be impossible for you at this moment
but if i should encounter one by that name, i shall inform you.

[infatyuated]

i wasn't aware there were any
human kingdoms left.

and thank you.

[ this guy isn't bad for a (presumably) human, though mika isn't going to trust him just yet. ]

[mordacita]

there are several, in fact, despite their efforts to rid themselves of all tradition

but i did not say i was human, my friend.

private;

[infatyuated]

[ not human. that has mika immediately wary. if this person a vampire, he doesn't know if he can trust him. a demon would be even worse. he can't imagine anything else because there is nothing else besides demons, vampires, and humans where he's from, and so he in his mind, he's already suspecting the worst.

krul, his sire, would scold him if she were here, but she's not and he has his and yuu's world to save. so if there are other vampires here... ]

99% of humanity is dead where i'm from
if you're not human, what are you?

[mordacita]

[ Hm. Glances at that. ]

i am a vampire
is there a reason why you made this private? i make no secret of it here.

[infatyuated]

I have my reasons.
So you're a monster as well.

[ a long pause and then: ]

and the humans don't mind?
what about when you need to feed?

[mordacita]

[ It's been a while since anyone had that reaction. It prickles more than it used to. ]

we are all monsters in our own ways

some humans mind. i have little time for prejudice
i feed from volunteers. that is more complicated in this world than my own
a friend made a machine that could clone blood for me.

do you have need of it?

[infatyuated]

some more than others.

[ volunteers? this comes as a surprise to mika. most vampires he knows just take to the point of killing those from whom they feed. but this one insists he uses volunteers and he can't help but wonder who would ever. sure, yuu had insisted, insisted frequently and insistently, but maybe it's because he's so different from most vampires that he hates the thought of drinking human blood.

cloned blood, however... he hates admitting it, but this might be a boon for him. he might need this vampire's help. ]

does it work?
the blood of my sire used to be enough, but
and I only have 5 vials left of Yuu-chan's blood

[mordacita]

5 vials is not enough.

[ Anyone would know that. Certainly any vampire. ]

there are animals here
they may sustain you, i do not know

but the cloned blood works. it is no different from human blood
colder. but it can be warmed

tell me did your sire sustain you alone? for how long?

[infatyuated]

[ that much is true and mika knows it. but he hates the idea of drinking anyone's blood but yuu's, if he has to drink it at all. ]

animal blood would not work.
I wouldn't ever be able to digest it.

but the cloned blood might work.

she did. for four years.
I'd never had any human blood at that point
her blood was the only thing I could bring myself to drink

[mordacita]

i see no reason why it would not
i clone it often. it stays fresh

come to try it
before your need is urgent would be best.

[infatyuated]

[ he doesn't want to do this, doesn't want to rely on anyone, but in order to save his world... in order to save his yuu-chan, he has to keep sane. ]

where do I find you

[mordacita]

[ Rafa sends a map point - to the bar he keeps the machine is, a clean and comfortable business in town. ]

get your daemon to find it
that should not be a problem for them

[infatyuated]

[ with the map, it doesn't take much effort to find his way to the location of bar. when he arrives, he's tense, glancing around him as he tries to memorize exits and everything in the bar. one hand rests on the hilt of his sword, the other at his side. he doesn't even know what this other vampire looks like, but he figures he'll know when he sees him. after all, he can smell the blood in the area. he'll be able to smell it on the other vampire when he shows up. ]

[mordacita]

[ Rafa's in the back room, along with the machine. This room doesn't look like the rest of the bar. It's very clean and sterile, smelling more like a clinic than anything else. There's a table on which the machine - which looks a little like an espresso maker - is sitting, and a large refrigerator against one wall. there are some seats arranged around the table. Rafa has been sitting on one of them, but gets up just as Mika approaches. ]

I thought you would like to see the process.

[ He doesn't bother to ask if Mika is who he's waiting for. He knows that he is; he recognises the step of another vampire, the lack of a heartbeat, the general grace with which they walk. He smiles slightly. ]

I am Rafa. Come in, I will show you how it works.

[infatyuated]

Hyakuya Mikaela. [ by way of a greeting. ] So you're a vampire king, but not a progenitor. Your politics must be very different from what I know.

[ he looks the other over, features carefully blank. this rafa is shorter than he'd imagined, but his eternal features don't look much older than his own. he doubts rafa is as young as he is, though. surely a king must be old indeed.

when he follows him to the back where the sterile smell makes him scrunch his nose a little. it's not very appetizing. then again, blood never has been to mika. thus, when rafa smiles at him, he doesn't smile back. ]

Usually it's humans who meddle with science like this. Who's blood is being cloned?

[ when he speaks, it's with an accent. japanese, by the sound of it, though he hardly looks japanese. ]

[mordacita]

[ Rafa's head tilts very slightly and he raises an eyebrow. ]

A progenitor? I have fledglings. I do not know why you would assume otherwise.

[ Maybe the word means something different to this strange boy. Rafa goes to the fridge and removes a bag. He fits it into one side of the machine, which then proceeds to scan it. An exact clone will drop from the bottom when the process is complete. Used to this, Rafa lets it work. ]

Names would mean little to you. It is human, and cloned from another clone. That is the beauty of this. It is an unlimited supply, so the donating human need only do so once.

And this, strictly, is not science. Magic created it. [ Rafa looks up, and casually switches to Japanese. His accent, as always, is imperfect, showing influences of Italian heritage. But his fluency is perfect. ] Are you Japanese? Your name is, at the very least.

[infatyuated]

[ blinking a bit at the abrupt shift to japanese, mika jerks his head to stare at the other vampire. he shouldn't be surprised. after all, most vampires speak more than one language, often due to their age. and even mika knows more than english and his native language. ]

I am. Born and raised in Japan before I became... this. [ he gestures to himself. ] Progenitors are as the name suggests. I served one of the three Third Progenitors because she was my sire and queen of Japan. For each rank, there are the same number of progenitors and the higher the rank, the stronger their power. Legend has it the First Progenitor was none other than the angel Michael who fell from Heaven and was cursed by God. Krul never confirmed the story.

[ a shrug before he peers over at the machine. ]

Even magic can be meddled with, but if I don't have to drink from a human, I'm willing to try it.

[mordacita]

[ Well, none of that would have made much sense to Rafa in any language. He gazes at Mika while he speaks. Three Progenitors. A rank, then, and not simply one who had created a vampire.

He shakes his head. ]

That is not my legend. My people do not come from angels.

[ Quite the opposite, in fact. But now the cloning process has finished, and Rafa moves to take the fresh bag from the machine. He returns the original to the fridge, and smiles at Mika again. He starts to go out of the room, beckoning his companion back towards the main bar. ]

My Kingdom is in Europe. 'Progenitor' is not a rank we use. I took my position by force. Where I am from, power is something to be earned, and won - not given by rank. My kingdom is far from here, however. I will warm this for you. Would you me to mix it with alcohol?

[infatyuated]

Clearly, our worlds are very different.

[ said with no amount of bitterness or remorse. as far as he's concerned, vampires are still monsters, different worlds or not. though the information that this vampire king took his crown by force... that's interesting. ]

Don't. I wouldn't be able to drink it. I can only digest blood.

[mordacita]

[ Rafa glances up, and then nods. He heats the blood briefly, before decanting it into a hurricane glass. He avoids alcohol, fruit pieces, and anything else that needs a stomach to deal with it, but does add a straw and a little umbrella. Then he brings it over to Mika, sets it before him, and slides into the seat opposite him. ]

My blood absorbs other liquids. I can handle them, but not solid food. I understand the complaint.

[ He leans back, crossing his legs and folding his hands neatly in his lap. ]

If it works for you, you will be welcome to it. I wanted this device to help all of my people, whether part of my kingdom or no.

[infatyuated]

[ when he's given the "drink", mika stares at rafa and the umbrella. it's a little bit like something ferid bathory would do, but it's already been made clear that this rafa is nothing like the sadistic vampire that is ferid. this cheers mika up a little bit. ]

Thank you. [ he takes a sip, moving the umbrella out of the way. the flavor is disgusting, but he gulps the rest down anyway, like a man who's been dying in the desert. when he finishes it, he realizes his thirst, which had been creeping up on him. lowering the glass, he sighs. ]

I think it'll do.

[mordacita]

[ Rafa watches him. He knows thirst when he sees it, and without a word, he goes to the fridge and returns with more bags. He heats one of them, filling another glass. When he sets it on the table, he lays two cold bags beside it. ]

You needed it. [ he says, which isn't a question. He gestures at the bags. ] Keep those. They will need refrigerating, but your daemon will take you somewhere furnished. Keep them cold and they will last several days. Then come back, and I will give you more.

[ That's the whole point of this place, the entire reason why Rafa had wanted the machine in the first place. ]

I will ask for other donors soon. Tell me, is it only human blood you can drink, or would other kinds nourish you?