annexedmeme | Test Drive Meme #1

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!test drive meme

Test Drive Meme #1

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

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"That's strange.. I didn't feel a thing." Which, honestly he's glad? Because that must have felt awful, but now he's having some doubts. Should he have been able to feel that?

Though, that does lead to a new question. Leaning forward, Luke's eyes glitter hungrily. "So, what do you know about the Force?"

Because there's so much he doesn't know. He's going to want to know everything. Not right now, this second, but... eventually.

Ezra opens his mouth, and scans around the room again. "Maybe I'm being paranoid. Or not paranoid enough. But let's have this conversation a little less out in the open, maybe?"

Luke looks around the room, but shrugs.

"I mean, sure." It's not like he's really had to hide all that much. He's gone from Farmboy to Rebellion figurehead basically overnight. Plus, it's not like the Empire is here, right? What's there to worry about?

"One of our apartments?"

They were seemingly the most private option afforded to them at the moment, so it seemed like a safe enough choice.

Sorry, Luke, he's been play op sec games in the Rebellion for too long.

And their apartments could be bugged, too, of course. He shoves that thought away. That way lies making decisions out of not just caution but fear.

"That works for me," he agrees, hopping to his feet.

Look at you, more experienced than him in like... basically everything. That's fine. That's cool. But no, in all seriousness Luke's going to end up looking up to Ezra quite a lot.

Paranoia later. Now is the time for acclimating and celebrating!

"Great." Luke gathers the few things he has and heads for the door. If he stops and grabs a few extra pastries for later? Well, that's his business.

Ezra's is't going to question squirreling away food. In fact, he grabs a couple of things he thinks will keep for a little while. He stays quiet as they make their way to Luke's room.

As soon as they're in said room, though, Ezra paces across most of the space, until he turns on his heel to face Luke..

"Ok. So you're, what, Force-sensitive but mostly untrained? Ben found you and offered to train you?"

Hey, they're probably on their own for food after this. So why not help themselves to food that's free? It just makes sense.

Luke nods, because that's all technically true.

"He wanted to start my training earlier, but my Uncle wouldn't let him." Of course, Uncle Owen's dead and so could no longer object. Which is still sad, but it's been long enough that the loss is mostly just a sharp sting unless he thinks about it too much.

"Ben knew my father. He was a jedi too. I have.. had his lightsaber." A look of dismay crosses over Luke's face when he realizes that this potentially means the Sylphid have his father's lightsaber. But after a moment that concern gets pushed aside. A goal for the future, because he can't do anything about it now. "Ben said he would have wanted me to have it."

But now that begs the question.

"What about you?"

Because he definitely sounds like someone who knows what he's talking about.

So Obi-wan had known about Luke for a while. Might even be part of the reason the Jedi Master had stayed there, to keep an eye on him. Maybe even that was why the older version of Master Kenobi had been in such a hurry to Ezra off Tatooine. Force sensitives could be drawn to each other, in Ezra's experience.

"Well, I grew up on Lothal, like I said. T don't - I don't know if my parents knew I was Force-sensitive, but they never liked the Empire, and taught me to care around Imperial types. When I was seven, they were arrested for speaking out." He crosses his arms, glancing away.

"I hid. Was on my own. And then when I was 14, I met a man who called himself Kanan Jarrus. I thought he was a smuggler, and then I got wrapped up in his, uh. Mission. We ended up rescuing some Wookies being sent as slaves to Kessel. And he pulled out his lightsaber. When it was all over, he offered to teach me about the Force and being a Jedi."

In a lot of ways, Luke lead a pretty sheltered life on Tatooine. Even with all the trouble he got into. It could have been a lot worse considering what was happening in other parts of the galaxy.

"Sounds like the Empire." Luke's heard a few stories since he's been with the Rebellion. There a lotta stories to be heard and most of them were pretty grim. "Sorry about your folks."

Luke listens intently, nodding as Ezra tells a very abridged story. But it's still interesting. Especially since that means....

"Ben's the only jedi I've ever met. So did you? Learn from him I mean."

"Yes," Ezra says with a firm nod. "Kanan was my master - my main teacher - and I was his padawan. I've met a few others, with Jedi training, and learned from them, in different ways."

He decides not to bring up Kanan's death, right this second. "Actually - it was Ben who was the first person I ever heard talking about the Force or being a Jedi, although it was a recording in Kanan's things. And I heard stories him, from others. I only met him in person the once."

Ezra laughs. "But he did save my life. Probably the closest I've come to actually dying. So he's tied up in a few important memories, for me."

Thankfully even Luke has enough sense to know that now isn't the time to fully dump all the important events from the last year on Ezra right this second. Especially not when it comes to the fate of Ben and the seeming lack of Jedi anywhere that Luke knows about.

"I've only met Ben and we didn't...well, there's been a lot going on. So I haven't learned very much." Luckily any trace sadness in his voice can easily be brushed off by the overwhelming amount of stuff that's gone on recently. Honestly being yanked to this place is just the latest in what feels like a Very Long list that has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

"Yeah, he's pretty good at that. I don't know what would have happened to me if he hadn't shown up when he did."

Well, now seems like a good a time as any now that there's no way anyone could overhear and freak out.

"Let's start that again. My name's Luke Skywalker." He holds out his hand to Ezra with a smile. "Recently a Rebellion pilot and I guess kind of a Jedi padawan?"

Or was? Can he still be one now that Ben's dead? Because... it's not like he's getting any training now. Oh well. Later, Luke. Worry about it later. People can fuss at him for using the wrong words or whatever another time.

Ezra eyes go visibly wide at the name 'Skywalker'.

"Lt. Commander Bridger, under General Hera Syndulla's command, with the Rebellion. I do know about a Jedi Knight who was a General in the Clone Wars with that family name? Anakin Skywalker."

That...would fit. For several reasons. Master Kenobi knowing about and being invested in the well being of his former padawan's son made perfect sense. If he's right about Anakin being behind the mask of Vader, all the most reason to want to keep Anakin's son hidden and safe, until he was older.

Well, at least this is going way better than it did with Rey.

"Anakin." He repeats the name, thrilled at the way it just feels right and like something's clicked deep down. His dad's name was Anakin. Yes. Okay. Right. Cool. "Ben told me a little about him, but not much. I think I know more about how he died than how he lived."

Which is a little bittersweet, but it's better than nothing anyway.

"Uncle Owen told me he was just a Navigator on a spice freighter when I was growing up."

It's incredibly validating to find out that his dad was so much more. Though he's still curious just why his Uncle had tried to keep the truth from him, but right now he's pretty sure that's one answer he'll never know.

Ok, no, now Ezra is thoroughly confused.

"I...don't think I've heard a verified report of Knight Skywalker's death." Sure, Vader had said he'd destroyed Anakin Skywalker, but he'd really thought the only way any the rest of that conversation between Vader and Ahsoka had made any sense if that had been some weird Sith metaphor.

"But then," he goes on, still frowning. "Senator Organa - Bail - verified Ben's death as being at the rise the Empire, but I know that was either a mistake or a lie."

He shakes his head. "Your uncle wanted to keep you away from Jedi stuff, huh? But not badly enough to set the Empire on Ben?"

Luke will join him in a state of confusion.

"Really? That's strange." Because it had been a very important conversation, so he's been careful to remember exactly what Ben had said. Because any news about his family was precious. "He told me that a pupil of his named Darth Vader turned to the dark side. That he betrayed and murdered my father."

Maybe it hadn't been verified because of the chaos that came after? Luke can't really say.

"He doesn't know." Now his smile does drop, because as much as he'd chaffed on the moisture farm that had been his home. That was his family. "My uncle bought some droids from the Jawas, to help around the farm. Turned out they were escaped droids from the rebellion. They had the technical readouts to the Death Star with them....Imperial troops were hunting for the droids. Tracked them to the farm."

He doesn't finish the story, because it's pretty obvious what happened next.

"R2 ran away, if I hadn't been chasing after him with C-3PO... well, things would have gone very differently for the rebellion I can tell you that much."

And for him too, but that's...Later Luke's problem once again. He really doesn't have the time to unpack all of this. Still. One day though. Maybe.

But Darth is a title, Ezra thinks to himself. Maul has been formerly Darth, because he'd parted ways with his former Sith master. Ezra was...nearly dead certain that was how it worked. Darth Vader was a full Sith name, and the man behind the mask been born with some other name.

Well. If Master Kenobi'd had another padawan, Ahsoka probably would have known them well, too. Could still have wanted to reach out to part of her family still alive, even if the man Vader became hadn't been her master. Maybe that explained everything.

He files all of that away for later. Luke's grief here matters more.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Ezra says quietly. And then, making a snap decision - "Luke. I- I don't know if maybe you're trying to protect his privacy; I have been. But you do know Ben is here, right?"

He swallows. "He has to be younger than you remember him last, because he looks years younger than I when met him face to face. I don't even know if he knows you yet, but-"

Luke knows nothing but what Ben's told him, so that's about as helpful as he can be. He just doesn't know any better.

He smiles, it's faint and brittle, but he manages. "It's okay. Just..." but anything he could say is instantly flushed from his mind, because how is he supposed to be able to process something like that out of nowhere?

"What? Ben's here but.. how?" Then it dawns on him, of course. Time is... weird here. Things are possible that could never have happened back home.

Younger or not. Knows him or not. Luke doesn't care, because he'll finally have a chance. He's got to ....sit down. Sinking into a chair, Luke grins up at Ezra sheepishly. But there's so much relief and hope coursing through his system - enough that he'd felt lightheaded for a second there. He doesn't really have room to feel embarrassed right now.

"I can't believe he's here."

~~Forget fighting the Sylphid, maybe he should thank them instead.~~

Ezra certaintly isn't judging. He smiles, although it's ragged, because this entire conversation has definitely been a rollercoaster.

"I get it. If - not just Kanan, if any of my family were here-" Then he breaks off, and rolls his eyes at himself. "Or however you think of Ben," he adds, more gently.

"For me, Kanan was family and so was everyone else in our little unit. Extended family, was how I thought of some of the people who didn't fly with us, all the time. Including the woman who was your father's padawan and one the captains under Anakin's command."

Yeah, lots of ups and downs. It's definitely been a Long day. Which is why he's definitely not telling Ezra about Ben. Not today anyway.

"Ben's... I dunno. He means a lot to me. I'm not sure I can easily put it into words. I guess you could say he's my master, but he's also more than that. You know?" There are very few, if any, people he would have been happier to see here. No matter how shitty things get he's going to be grateful regardless.

"My father had a padawan?" He's learning all sorts of new things today. Huh. Yeah, that's what you should have taken away from that sentence. Good job, Luke.

"You had an affinity in the Force. A connection." That a guess on Ezra's part, but he feels pretty solid on that supposition. "They aren't easy to explain, but they're real."

Then he follows the topic switch, and beams. "Her name is Ahsoka Tano, and she's amazing. There probably wouldn't even be a Rebel Alliance without all the intelligence work she's done. She says she's not a Jedi anymore, that she left the Order and it was her choice. That's all she said, so I don't know what happened. But there's not really an Order anymore, and she acts like a Jedi, and taught me things, so-"

He shrugs. And ok, she did say she'd avenge her master and that wasn't very Jedi. But it wasn't like she seems she was going off the rails trying to get revenge, either. She got a pass, in Ezra's book.

Ben was a brief moment in his recent life, but represented a lot and caused a lot to happen in short order. It's only natural that he's become a larger than life figure in Luke's mind.

"I didn't even know there were other jedi out there aside from Ben." Luke admitted ruefully. "Guess I've got a lot to learn even back home." He thought about it, before adding. "Strange I've never heard Ahsoka's name before now. Guess the Rebel Alliance is bigger than I knew too." After all, it's not like he's been a member for very long. "Well, you know what they say if it looks like a bantha and smells like a bantha, even if you don't call it a bantha it's still a bantha."

Eh, being a Jedi is Complicated, so Luke can't judge. Then again, he doesn't know enough to judge really.

"That's how I always thought about her Jedi-ness, but I didn't want to disrespect her choice and whatever lead up to it," Ezra agrees.

"And I'm only half surprised you haven't heard of her. Even when I first got involved, the Rebellion operated almost entirely as indepedent cells with a lot of information passing through her, under a code name. It was nearly a year before I met her."

"Makes sense. If she's not comfortable answering to the term, best to respect her wishes." It's that easy.

"Makes sense that not everyone would be at a single base." Luke agrees. Though it's still food for thought about just how big the alliance's operations actually are and that maybe things aren't as desperate as they'd felt. "Guess the Rebel Alliance is really only just ramping up."

How much of this is directly related to Leia, Luke has to wonder. Sure, she's only one cog in a sea of gears, but still. It's obvious that she's far more important than just a single rebel leader.

"Guess there's still a long way to go."

But later, because they can't exactly do anything about it while they're here.

"Maybe I'll make it back before it all come down, after all," Ezra reflects.

Then he breathes out heavily. "And maybe that'll depend on what we can do here. How close they can get to us to where to want to be, sending us back."

"Man, I hadn't even thought about what happens when we go back."

And Luke's going to continue not thinking about it until such a time as he can't ignore it.

"For now all we can do is whatever we can with what's right in front of us." Trying to worry about what's going on back home isn't going to help. Not long term. They can't do anything about it. But they can do stuff about the situation they're in at least.

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ezra_of_lothal - 2022-09-01 17:51 (UTC) - Expand

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