Test Drive Meme #1

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Test Drive Info

⇝ Test Drive Memes usually take place in a virtual reality simulation occurring in characters' minds that tests them for 'fitness' before they enter the setting officially. However, for the first TDM, it will be set in the real world and centered around the arrival of the first crop of extra-universal "recruits."
⇝ Test Drive Meme threads may be considered game canon so long as all parties agree to it.
⇝ Test Drive Meme threads do count for Activity Check.

Welcome to the Broken World.

You can't even remember how you got here.

All you know is that one moment you were in a world you were used to, comfortable in. It might have been a regular day or the most important day of your life, in the middle of a meal or brushing your teeth or the battle to save the world or the moment of your death. Whoever took you didn't seem to care what you were doing when you were taken, and now that you're here, they still don't seem to care.

You wake up after what seems like the blink of an eye, nauseous and dizzy but otherwise unscathed, possessions taken away, barefoot and dressed only in a set of plain grey clothing, like the most bland uniform ever imagined, in an empty room with empty walls and one single door with a small barred window and a single number printed just above it. The door is locked and cannot be broken by any means, you can feel your connection with any superhuman powers you had severed, leaving them just out of reach - you can feel them there, tingling at your fingertips or in the back of your brain, but you just can't get to them. There is no one to greet you or explain what's happening. You start to lose track of time, the only sound the distant ticking of what sounds like a massive clock.

Just when things seem hopeless, when you feel like you're about to go mad, there's the sound of a commotion outside your door. The sounds of a battle, or perhaps an infiltration gone just slightly wrong. Either way, when the door opens, there is a figure there with a hand outstretched.

"Welcome to the Broken World. Come on, we'll explain everything just as soon as we get you and the others out of here."

i. The Rescue

The moment of peace and freedom doesn't last for long.

Even while you're still disoriented from everything that's happened in the past few hours, the person who's just freed you pushes a gun into your hands. If you're familiar with guns, it's simple enough to use, with a recognizable safety and trigger, a magazine of bullets attached to the bottom. If you're not familiar with guns, well...the person who just rescued you will give you a minute-long introduction to it. Press this button, click this hammer back, pull the trigger to shoot. Nothing fancy, but enough that you won't hurt yourself or anyone else you're not supposed to be hurting. Probably.

After being handed the gun, the person rescuing you looks at you not unkindly and gestures for you to follow, leads you through a maze of concrete corridors to the entrance of the building. There, you'll find something of a small warzone, a battle in progress though almost completed, in the parking and courtyard area between several small, squat concrete buildings. There, huddled in the safety of the building's entryway, the person who just rescued you will point across the courtyard toward an encroaching patch of jungle and quickly explain the situation - you've been brought to this place by the Sylphid, long-standing enemies who will "eat your soul" and replace you if they catch you, and the person rescuing you is part of a resistance army intending to overthrow them. You're to make your way across the courtyard and into the jungle, where you'll find someone named Brycen, a blue-skinned man who will get you out of here even as the battle rages on.

The courtyard is mainly open, with a few benches and trees that can be used as cover, and there is a small group of Sylphid - the enemy, the people who took you and are now shooting at you, but who look like average everyday people - who are taking potshots at whoever crosses the courtyard even as they engage with the rebels. You'll be provided with suppressive fire from those same rebels while you cross the courtyard, but other than that, you're on your own unless you want to take the run with whoever else just got rescued.

ii. Race Through The Jungle

Once you make your way across the courtyard and into the jungle, you'll find Brycen waiting for you about a 10 minute walk in. The moment he sees you, he gestures you over and leads you a few feet further into the underbrush where there are a few All-Terain Vehicles parked in a small clearing. Shooting you a little grin, Brycen spreads his arms to present the vehicles, then heads over to the closest one. What follows is a quick explanation of how to use the ATV, a small hovercraft that can seat two. Brycen points out another ATV that is driven by a member of the resistance, and tells you that this person will guide you to the Witches Camp, where you'll be living from now on. But it's on you to pilot the ATV from here to there.

Well, you and your new friend.

See, there are half as many ATVs as there are people, and each one does seat two. Brycen gestures at the nearest extra-universal arrival and tells both of you to hop on. Now, you're both bound for the Witches Camp together, for better or worse. It's a long walk, so don't piss off your pilot!

Or overturn the ATV or crash it, because the path from the clearing to the Witches Camp is rough, without many trails or paths that have been carved out of the underbrush, something the revolutionaries have done to avoid being tracked back to their home. The ride will be bumpy, hover-vehicle or not, with a lot of swerving to avoid obstacles and dodging to avoid branches. Hopefully, you won't have a run-in with any of the local jungle wildlife, which can range from small, relatively harmless animals to lizards the size of small dinosaurs and wild cats.

It's a wild ride, but eventually you make it to the Witches Camp, a sprawling maze of low-to-the-ground buildings and markets interspersed with jungle for cover, and the rebel leading you keeps doing so until you pull up in front of Central Command. This building is one of the nicer ones in the area, and houses the Witch herself as well as the seat of the revolution. This is where all of the rebel plans are made and where new arrivals are put up.

iii. Welcome Home

Once you enter Central Command, you'll find that they've prepared space for you. First, you'll be led to the residential area of the large building and given the keycard to your new apartment, a small furnished studio apartment with a main living/sleeping area, a desk, kitchenette, bathroom with shower stall, and a walk-in closet for storage. Once you've been oriented to your new apartment, you'll be taken to pick your network device from an array of devices ranging from ultra-modern tablets that can fold into the shape of a phone to an equivalent of regular modern-day cell phones to magical tablets or books that can be interacted with by characters unfamiliar with technology. They'll also offer to alter your own phone or device to access the network, if you prefer that.

After that, you will be guided to one of the big board rooms in the Central Command, where you'll find a large spread of food on the table, ready to be dug into - all the staff at Central Command have brought food from home to share with the new arrivals. You'll also find notebooks and pens to take notes, because this is the official orientation, and you'll come out of it having learned pretty much everything about the rebellion, the Sylphid, how the rebellion originated and most importantly, how you got here and how you can go home.

This is where the rebels point out that helping them is helping yourself, because the only way to send you home is to commandeer the device that brought you here in the first place, and the only way to do that is to overthrow the Sylphid overlords.

After this presentation, no matter how accepting or skeptical you are, you'll be given a small stipend and set free to explore the city, linger around and chat over the potluck leftovers, go back to your apartment, make a network entry to meet other people, or whatever else you'd like to do. Want some new clothes? They can direct you to the markets. Looking to start learning magic? They can direct you to the Mage's Sector where you can find a teacher. Looking to dance your cares away in the wake of this terrible upheaval? They can direct you to a club in The Electric Heart that sells cocktails that'll erase all your pain for the evening.

Go wild. The Witches Camp is your new home. What will you make of it?

iv. Network

Once you've settled into your apartment in the evening, you're free to browse the internet and intranet on your new network device. Care to make an entry and meet the others in your same situation?

NAVIGATION

Comments

Leia Organa ─ Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney limited series)

[precociousprincess]

𝙸𝙸𝙸. "𝙸'𝙳 𝚁𝙰𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙱𝙴 𝙳𝙸𝙶𝙴𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙳 𝙱𝚈 𝙰 𝙹𝙰𝙺𝙾𝙱𝙴𝙰𝚂𝚃"

( Not that the precocious ten year old wasn't happy to be safe again and indoors and on an adventure, but listening to old people talk about boring things when she could be exploring the new base and looking for possible new friends and hopefully people her own age was not going to happen.

She slips out of the meeting, small and stealthy, and begins to wander around as if she should be hiding, like she is sneaking out past bedtime. She spots a table with pastries and her eyes light up as she grabs one, pauses, looks around, and pockets a few extra for safe-keeping. Missing her best friend and emotional support droid Lola, thinking she is talking to herself, she mutters ─ )

I hope they aren't stale.

𝙸𝚅. "𝙸𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚂 𝙰 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙲𝙾𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚂𝚃?" | 𝙽𝙴𝚃𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙺 - 𝚅𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙾

( The cherubic face of this mischievous ten year old enters the network. She smiles and waves and shoves a scrappy looking droid she has been working on out of random scrap and trash around the camp into the camera. It is about eight inches long and three high, and doesn't do much yet besides whirr in a state of slight confusion. Not that it is sentient. It's really just a trash robot. But she is proud of it. Be nice to Trashy. )

Hi! I'm Leia, and this is my new droid! But I don't know what to name him because he doesn't really do anything yet, but that's not his fault. What do you think?

𝚅. 𝚆𝙸𝙻𝙳𝙲𝙰𝚁𝙳

( Feel free to wildcard something or one of the other TDM starters! )

III

[doitinthree]

[There had been a brief pause in the meeting, and Jim had decided to head back into one of the side rooms to grab something to eat.

He did not expect to find a small child, stuffing pastries into her pockets.]

What is this, 'bring your kid to work' day? Your parents know you're in here?

forgive lazy code, at work, couldn’t resist T^T

[precociousprincess]

[ Oh, no. People were coming out. She didn’t feel like being scolded but didn’t have time to flee before she was addressed.

The girl makes a face at the man as if he stinks slightly. ]

Do yours?

♥

[doitinthree]

[Okay, what? Usually those types of quick thinking switcheroo comebacks that make him have to actually think of a response come attached to a pair of pointed ears, and not a child.]

...No?

But that's different. I'm an adult, which means I can go wherever I want and I don't have to to tell my parents about it. I doubt that's the case for you.

IV Network - Video (I couldn't resist)

[heeroized]

[Heero's leaning forward in his seat, openly curious as he peers at the little droid.]

Did you make that?
It's impressive.

[They haven't been here for very long after all, so she must be quiet skilled.]

resistance is futile >:)

[precociousprincess]

[ Leia sees a boy lean in and grins when he calls her currently useless but kind of cute? new friend impressive. Or he was saying it was impressive that she made it? Probably both, she decides.

She beams at him. ]

Thanks, I made him myself. I've always been good with droids but now I can do things I could never do before. It's very exciting.

What's your name?

It is indeed.

[heeroized]

[There's no babying her, no treating her as less. Heero's response is exactly like if she was his age or even older. As equals.]

I see.
[One of those planetary alignment abilities perhaps? Interesting. Tell him more.]
What sort of things?

My name is Heero.

IV

[jedied]

[ Rey hears the name and stares at her device, which she'd left on beside her while she closed her eyes for a few minutes. Leia. She squints at the small face on the tablet screen in disbelief, taking in the girl's expression, the hair, and yes, the droid.

She finds herself blinking away a particular wetness in her eyes before she hits send on her own message. ]

Hello Leia. That's... a very good droid. I had a droid friend back home, too.

[ It can't be her. It can't. She'd left General Leia Organa behind promising that she'd tell her everything soon; this is not quite what she meant. ]

:')

[precociousprincess]

[ Leia rests her chin in her palm and scooches in closer. Another girl who liked droids? How exciting!

Since people seemed to be from all different sorts of galaxies and worlds and times here, Leia wondered if that also meant there were new types of droids and ships that she didn't know about yet, which was essentially the most exciting thing that had happened since she took pockets full of pastries while no one was looking. ]

Oh! You like droids too? Some people are rude to them, and don't like them, but they all have their own personality, and most are really nice! Not to mention very helpful. What model is your friend? What were they like?

[ Remembering the snacks, she grabbed one from where she'd stored them in the room she got all to herself, unsupervised, and took a bite of the sweet with no one to stop her. Her face spelled out "tell me everything" with all the enthusiasm in the galaxy. ]

IV - but action?

[bentheredonethat]

[ When he'd first seen here Obi-Wan had felt a rush of pure panic. This was no place for a child, this was no place for Anakin's child, Leia was supposed to be home terrorizing safe on Alderaan. Next came a fierce anger and disgust with the Sylphid. What kind of monsters ...

Serenity. Serenity. Serenity Obi-Wan chanted inwardly to himself. Getting upset and frantic wouldn't solve anything. It wouldn't help Leia, perhaps only frighten her and while he was not sure what his next step was now going to be, Obi-Wan knew he didn't want her bolting off because he was ready to tear his hair out.

By the time he found her, he'd worked through the initial shock and panic. Projecting more of the amused, calm he'd worn when he'd last seen her, he walked up from the side and waited for her to take a break from her network conversations. ]

With a little bit of work, I think your new friend could at least be set up enough to pick up after you?

<33333333333 (just to be clear)

[precociousprincess]

[ At first, she was startled, because she had thought her place was secure. But of course, if anyone could find a way in - if anyone would even want to, it would be Obi-Wan. Ben, her friend. Ben, her savior. Ben, her father's trusted ally. Ben, mysterious Jedi who had known her birth parents and seen the best of both of them in her. Ben, who said they may never see each other again someday, unless she ever needed help from a tired old man again.

She almost teared up, but she was too youthfully enthusiastic to see him. With a gasp of pure enthusiasm and joy, she shut off the network video comms and ran to him without hesitation, only a temporary delay of shock and processing.

She immediately attempted to throw her arms around him, though all she could reach was up to his waist. ]

Ben!! You're here! Just like you promised. You said if I ever needed you again, you'd be here.

[ Repressing her true feelings and trying not to cry. She was't overwhelmed at the moment, and nothing bad had happened to her, besides the obvious captue. But the intensity and confusion of it all was present, something she'd been pushing back, trying to make the best of what she could comprehend.

She hugged him tightly, not caring if he wanted her to or not, and then looked upwards to him. ]

I knew you'd always be here for me. That you wouldn't break your promise. [ And so he was, always, though she hadn't lived long enough to know it yet.

As a youthfully naive afterthought, in a whisper: ] I missed you, Obi-Wan.

OOC: I'm having trouble recalling precisely if Leia learns his true name in the Disney series. I'll be reviewing it on my days off, which start tomorrow, but if you need me to simply change this back to 'Ben', lmk <3)

IV. un: Bridger [Video]

[ezra_of_lothal]

[He knows a Leia. And she does sort of look like - he sets that thought aside for the moment, as well as worry that there are kids are young as her running around the base, to focus on coming off c.]

Hey, that's pretty good! You're definitely doing more interesting things with scrap than I was at your age.

I'm Ezra.

[precociousprincess]

Hi Ezra! It's nice to meet you. [ Again, but she isn't old enough yet for those memories. Very sad.

She beams. A lot of nice boys were telling her she was good at things, and her favorite things, which put her in a very good mood. Plus she got a bunch of free food and no one was telling her what to do or when to go to bed.

It was kind of like a vacation, and the only scary part so far was the beginning. But was it scarier than what she'd just been through with Obi-Wan? That remained to be seen. ]

Ever since I got here I've been able to understand droids in ways I never could before. AND I can make my own! I have so many ideas. Imagine if I had better things than trash to work with. [ She glances at Trashy with a guilty expression. He bloops twice, in a low note. ]

Sorry little one. I'm not done with you yet! You'll be amazing in no time!

[ Trashy chirps. She looks back into the video. ]

What sort of things do you like to do, Ezra?

lol hi tiny mom!

[forcecalls]

[Had he retained any sensitivity to the Force, the sudden comment from the table behind him wouldn't have been a surprise. The resemblance to someone he's very well acquainted with would also be far more obvious. As it is, both escape his notice until the sound makes him turn a bit more sharply than intended to find a surprisingly small someone standing there.]

They brought in a child?

[The wariness of his expression gives way to baffled curiosity as he tries to make any sense of that. It seems like everyone else in the room is one of the ones who was captured, but why would the Sylphid want to take over the body of someone not even fully grown?]

/chinpalm

[precociousprincess]

[ Leia takes a moment to assess the dark-haired man. He seemed kind of sad. Maybe angry? But Ben looked sad most of the time, and tired. And Ben was nice, and saved her a lot of times. Maybe she shouldn't assume the worst before talking to someone at all.

Still, boys made her skeptical. And she was usually right, so. ]

Who's they? [ Way to skip the debrief and not pay attention, Leia. As if any of that would have made much sense or been good for a ten year old to hear at all. ]

You mean the people who put us in prison so we had to be rescued? I've seen all kinds of people here. [ She shrugs. A lot of people tried to hurt her, often, and kidnap her, and she didn't really think much of it here because she was a princess and they probably just wanted something from her parents. And she had literally just been through this mere days ago. ]

Why'd they bring you here? [ It is more petulant than meant as an insult. ]

𝙸𝚅. Network. (I'm making zero promises)

[forceguided]

That's a mighty fine droid you've got there.
You made him yourself?

[It's a coincidence. Has to be. But that doesn't stop Luke from being drawn in anyway. Besides, the droid is pretty great all things considered. So it's not like he's lying.]

no pressure or worries! you have still sparked joy! /weeps softly

[precociousprincess]

[ Every time someone compliments her new droid, her beaming grows wider and more radiant. ]

Thank you, I did! But I don't know what to name him yet because I'm not finished. I'm not sure what I should program him to do yet. I don't really understand what is going on here yet either.

[ She just got here and doesn't even know what all she can do yet. But it's all very exciting and overwhelming to her easily distracted child-brain. BUT THERE IS SO MUCH POTENTIAL. ]

Do you like droids too? [ Chin-palming once again into the camera. ]

[ofkyber]

[ Jyn doesn't stay for the meeting, even though she should and is likely going to miss out on information. But she's hungry, and tired and she's had enough of standing around and listening to people talk to last a lifetime. Another Rebellion and another war. It's apparently the same no matter where you go.

Which is how Jyn comes to the food table. She grabs a pastry and bites into it, savoring the sweet fruit jam inside. She's about to move when the little girl doing the same catches her eye. While it's curious that they're bringing children into this, it's no surprise that some take them from wherever they can, at any age they can. ]

The one on the left here's got some kind of filling in it. You should try it.

Omg u guys, my *feelings* T^T /SW hits franchise cap in 1 week

[precociousprincess]

[ Leia is slowly getting comfortable with the fact that some adults are leaving the boring debrief (that hardly makes sense anyways) and venturing towards the food, and others seem to believe they’re on a break? Maybe they are. She knows nothing. She is here for food and chaos, whether she has thought it that far ahead or not.

She is less startled this time when someone speaks to her, largely because this person isn’t angry looking, or questioning her. Also she trusts women better. Usually.

Not that she should default to trusting anyone she doesn’t know, but, nothing about this place makes sense. Why try now? She’s ten. She just wants to have fun and avoid excessively terrifying things mostly.

Leia smiles gratefully, looking devilishly at what the nice woman recommended.

She snags one and bites into it, fruity cream squishing into her mouth. ]

Ohhh… [ Her eyes light up. ]

It’s so good! I’ve never tasted anything like it.

[ uwu face intensifies. ]

Thank you! [ She says, very gracefully, obviously, dessert still in her mouth as she swallows. ]

I’m Leia. What’s your name?

[dumedknight]

[ Kanan has decided to take a breather. All of this talk about a rebellion has just rankled his already raw nerves.

Kanan can smell the pastry and hear some shuffling, like a small being trying to hide. Then he hears the voice-- a little girl. He swallows down his disgust at a kid being dragged into this-- bringing Ezra into this is bad enough, in his book-- and tries for something light. ]

Is there anything good?

[precociousprincess]

[ Oh! Another person. She tries not to look guilty as she stuffs the last pastry she was stealing into a rough satchel looking bag she'd found while wandering around before everyone got rounded up and sent to the debrief.

Leia glanced back at the table. ]

Well, these ones are really good. A nice lady showed them to me. They have fruit in them. So squishy...

[ She hands one up to him, a polite, closed smile on her face. ]

You can have one.

III c:

[democratically]

[It has not been the best day so far on so many different levels. Between what had transpired on Scipio, Clovis and Anakin, she is still a little shaken. She may be a Senator by profession, but she may also get into more trouble than the average one. Not that she would admit that. Whatever Padmé might have expected, it has not been any of this.

Her mind still works over it. The corruption in the Banking Clan... Clovis had always been a little persistent and not in a pleasant way, not quite quick on the uptake. Not that there had ever been anything, and she still wishes that Anakin would trust her on that regard. Her eyes might roam, but she is elsewhere for the most part, mulling over what has happened so far. Her first response to a situation is never to go to war. Rather, it is to try to talk things out and she hadn't appreciated having a gun thrust into her hands. She'd still like to understand things better.

She half listens, between the meeting and working things out in her own mind. She has always been one to make her own decisions, going with her gut and not just with what people say. Her mind wanders, pondering over the beings they were to be aware of. At least until a small voice catches her attention. It is more that it is different from the others, younger sounding, and when her eyes finally catch sight of the girl, it is confirmed. Padmé doesn't expect to see one to young here, and finds herself turning within her mind as to whether she has seen any others.]

You can have mine, if you'd like.

[She's taken one more by reflex, not having actually taken a bite.]

still ♡!

[precociousprincess]

[ Leia had also been pocketing extras, because you never know when you're on an adventure the next time you'll get to eat, and being safe for now didn't seem to make any difference on her recent adventures with Obi-Wan. Just because something seemed safe didn't mean it was. Just because someone seemed nice, didn't mean they were. It was all very confusing.

She smiled at the offer and was getting ready to thank her for offering something that looked even better, when her child-brain decided to act it's age and get distracted by the woman's appearance, even though they were all in these terrible prison clothes still. Leia was mostly mad that she didn't have her hair the way she liked it. She beams up at the nice woman who she has no idea is her mother.

At first when she speaks, her voice is small, then goes back to her regular tone. ]

Thank you. ...Wow, you're really pretty. I wish I could go to my room and fix my hair but they keep telling us where to go and sit in boring meetings.

[ Arms fold as she crunches a cookie and somewhat loses her train of thought. ]

III

[nouskaiananki]

The grey scrubs left his cybernetic arms on display. The right a fine craftsmanship of black plate and gold fingertips and accents. The left was dull, dark durasteel and clearly less well designed. He could breathe on his own, so the helmet he wore truly just acted to supply vision and hearing and was not art ask used to hide his face.

His artificial trachea could be seen at the front of his throat, he'd shed the bottle plate of the helmet, and the shirt hung oddly - like there were abnormal things attached to him under the shirt.

Currently he's huddled in a corner, watching.

"They are sure to be stale unless you wrap them." His voice is soft, there's no vocal modulator now, no amplifier, his voice his own target than the one chosen for him by Palpatine.

:')

[precociousprincess]

Admittedly there were way more people than Leia expected there to be, and she realized she'd been distracted exploring so long before getting around to scrounging food that the meeting was probably over. Still, people had largely dispersed afterwards and not all were interested in or had even noticed the food.

She glanced at the strange looking man suspiciously. She had never seen Vader, the entire time she was with Obi-Wan on their recent adventure, and was chipped and cut off from whatever force-sensitive growth had existed in her. She did, however, have a budding Robotics Mastery that was already, upon looking at his appearance, giving her ideas on how to help this man look less...Well. You know.

She would have found him intimidating except he was huddled in the corner like he didn't want to talk to people and he'd given her advice on how to preserve the pastries so far. So. That was nice, right? She felt kind of bad for him.

"Good idea!" Although, she didn't really have anything to wrap them with, she appreciated the tip.

She approached him cautiously and slowly because adults did not, apparently, always enjoy being around children. She offered him one of the best, fruit-filled pastries as a thanks for his suggestion. "You should try it while it's fresh."