Xistentia: Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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xistentiaooc2017-09-23 06:03 pm
spoofer) wrote in xistentiaooc2017-09-23 06:03 pm
Test Drive Meme #5
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:
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—
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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?
no subject
[ 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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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.
no subject
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?
no subject
finishing the glass, he ducks his head so that long, blonde bangs cover his crimson, cat-like eyes. with the back of a gloved hand, he wipes his mouth. he's ashamed and it shows. ]
It's only human blood. At least, that's what I've been told. Though... Yuu-chan has a contract with a demon, and he's the only human I've ever had blood from. Before- it was always from my sire.
no subject
Why do you hide from me? I know what you are drinking.
[ The truth is, Rafa has raised many fledglings in his time. It's a small number considering his age, but it's more than most vampires he knows. He tends to have a difficult time in letting go of humans who become important to him. It's enough, however, to recognise those feelings of shame in a young one.
He moves to crouch beside Mika's chair, so that he can look up into his face. Rafa touches his chin, wiping away a tiny drop of blood from the edge of his mouth. ]
You are safe here. No one will judge you, myself least of all. It will get easier in time. Rely on that.
no subject
She used to say that all the time. First when it was her blood, and then when it was Yuu-chan's. It shouldn't be easy. I shouldn't want it, but I can't escape it.
no subject
Why should it not be easy? [ He keeps his voice gentle. ] Blood is what we need to live, as humans need food, and plants need the sun. There is no shame in that.
no subject
Were you born a vampire or did you become one?
no subject
Born?
One cannot be born a vampire, Mika. Not in my world, or any that I have heard of before now.
[ It's a very strange thought. He frowns, not sure what to make of it. ]
We are all mortal, and then turned by another vampire. That is how we reproduce. Is it not so for you?
no subject
[ he swallows, still feeling the slick feel of blood in his throat. ]
I still remember. What it was like. I remember my family and how they were all but one slaughtered by a vampire. That will likely be me some day.
[ his free hand lifts, clutching at his chest, below his tie. ]
I don't want to be a monster.
no subject
This is disturbing. This is not the kind of person Rafa would ever turn into a vampire. Those like Mika tend to have trouble with the life granted to them. If they cannot feed, then they will waste away.
Whoever turned this one was a fool. Or in love, perhaps, but a fool for that as well. ]
All of us have choices to make. You do not have to kill, to feed. These bags are proof of that. I am sorry, for your family. Truly.
[ Then he looks up at him, meeting his eyes and watching them closely. ]
What do you mean when you say...an incomplete vampire?
no subject
Yuu survived, at least. That's why I have to get back to him, to protect him.
[ when rafa's eyes meet his own, mika notes they're not the crimson red he's grown so familiar with over the years spent with vampires. it makes rafa almost seem human. ]
I was dying when I was turned, but for four years, I refused to drink human blood. I lived off my sire's blood. So I remained incomplete. I still aged, I still grew, my eyes stayed blue. It was not until I was separated from her and without her blood that I was forced to drink human blood. Yuu offered his to me and I was so thirsty that I couldn't...
[ he shakes his head. ]
I drank the blood of my own family.
no subject
That is not how it happens, for us. You can see, there is no change like that.
[ He gestures to his own eyes - but of course, Rafa had not hesitated to drink human blood. It had been a very long time since he had understood there was anything wrong with it. Even now, he still finds it somewhat hard to understand. ]
You are what you are. There is no helping that. Feed without killing, and you will have achieved more than most humans. This...
[ He taps his finger against the blood bags. ]
...is nothing to be ashamed of. We are not monsters because of what we need. Our actions make us that, and yours need not, my friend.
no subject
You're a kind person, Rafa. Far more than any other vampire I've met. Far more than a lot of humans, at that. ...Thank you.
no subject
You are one of my people. You are a different manner of vampire, that is true, but we are still one people, and we are few here. I will do what I can to help you.
[ He smiles at him, and glances around the bar. ]
This will be a safe place for you if ever you need it.