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]

[ 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?

[infatyuated]

[ as strange as this situation is, as much as he hates being in it, mika has to admit there's something comforting about hearing his native language from this vampire's mouth. he's almost kind, which is strange when vampires are normally so apathetic, if not sadistic. there's no love among vampires where he's from, but this rafa seems to genuinely care.

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.

[mordacita]

[ Rafa watches for a moment, before carefully reaching out to brush Mika's long bangs back from his face. He tucks them behind his ear. ]

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.

[infatyuated]

[ he almost jerks back from the touch, not fond of people being so close. but rafa smells like krul and that's comforting in a way. he'd hated and cared for her in equal measure. he can see the same happening here. so he doesn't pull away as the blood is swiped away from his lips, even though he keeps his gaze downcast. ]

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.

[mordacita]

[ Rafa goes very still, and careful. His brow has knitted a little. This is dangerous territory. ]

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.

[infatyuated]

[ there's a pause before he responds. his lips press together as he considers what he wants to say next. he's not used to revealing so much of himself in one setting, but maybe that's the part of him that still refuses to abandon his humanity. the part that hates being a monster. ]

Were you born a vampire or did you become one?

[mordacita]

[ Rafa moves his hands from Mika, leaning his arms against his crouched thighs instead. ]

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?

[infatyuated]

It's the same, it's just... it doesn't happen very often. There hasn't been a new vampire in centuries and that's me. I've only been like this for a few hours and before that, an incomplete vampire for only four years.

[ 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.

[mordacita]

[ This...

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?

[infatyuated]

[ rafa's not wrong that the one who turned him could be considered a fool, but krul tepes had her reasons. her machinations had assured mika would not die after ferid bathory's attack and better yet, that he and yuu would be reunited. but the cost had been his humanity, which he had not given up freely. and now that he is what he is, forced to live off the blood of others, mika hates himself, but keeps living if only for the sake of his yuu-chan. ]

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.

[mordacita]

[ If nothing else, it's obvious there are great differences between the vampires of their worlds. Rafa smiles faintly, and lets out a little sigh. ]

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.

[infatyuated]

[ following rafa's line of site, mika merely nods. this new exposure to something so different from what he'd known will take some time to parse. it won't be easy accepting vampires here as easily as rafa has accepted him, but mika does intend to try. furthermore, he knows he can trust rafa for this blood and that he must because nothing else is possible. and since he still has to get back to yuu, he'll do what it takes to survive. ]

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.

[mordacita]

[ Rafa only shakes his head. It's not kindness. ]

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.