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

[nutbuckets]

[When the girl pokes out of cover and shoots the shooter, Harley lets out a little whoop of glee, and checks the magazine on her gun to make sure she's got ample ammo.]

Why don't you make a break for the edge of the jungle, I'll cover you, then you cover me and we can meet up there?

[She clicks the safety on the gun back off and turns a little, poking her head up so she can spot the enemy, get a feeling for where they're shooting from, and hold up her end of the bargain if the girl goes for it. She doesn't look concerned, but then again she never really does when she's in this kind of situation. It's natural to her at this point, after being on so many Suicide Squad missions.]

[stargazed]

[Mikumo nods slightly, checking her own ammo.]

That should work. On three? [Or at least in the few moments it should take for them both to get their positions sorted out. Once Harley looks like she has her vantage point figured out, Mikumo darts out of the cover, sprinting and keeping her gun aimed at the area the enemies have been shooting from. She sends a bullet or two out as warning, but it's pretty much impossible to aim at speed, so she's going to have to hope Harley's gun handling holds up.

If nothing else, Mikumo's crossing the distance quickly, aiming for the cover of an old, thick and gnarled tree at the edge of the jungle.]

[nutbuckets]

[There's not a lot of ammo left over in Harley's gun, but she figures there's enough to cover Mikumo while she crosses the last of the courtyard and makes her break for the jungle. Hopefully.]

On three's good. 1 - 2 - 3!

[She watches as Mikumo goes, and she gets off a few shots of cover fire before her gun runs out. And Mikumo is still only halfway across the courtyard.]

Shit. Shit shit shit!

[Scrambling around, she checks her clothes for another gun or some ammo or something, and it's only when she checks the ground beside her that she suddenly comes up with a semi-automatic rifle of some kind.]

YESSSSS!!!!

[Where it came from, she's not sure, but it's here and the magazine is full, so she pops up out of cover and peppers the Sylphid cover with it while Mikumo makes it the rest of the way across the courtyard. Now it's her turn!]

[stargazed]

[Thankfully, Mikumo has the sense to not hesitate or turn around when she hears the gunfire stop and that little crisis happening. That's pretty much a guarantee she'd get herself shot, and the cover fire will probably buy her at least another second or two before people come out of their cover to shoot again.

But it's hard not to hear Harley's solution to the problem, and while she's not sure she wants to know where that semi-automatic came from, it at least gets her the rest of the way across the courtyard unscathed. Without missing a beat, once she reaches the cover of the trees, she turns around and starts with her own cover fire, hers a little more precise and calculated to try and minimise the risk she runs out of ammo like Harley did. She won't have access to more ammo and another weapon over here unless she gets very lucky with a passing rebellion member, and by then it would probably be too late.]

[nutbuckets]

[When Mikumo starts covering her in return, Harley brightens a little. It isn't that Mikumo seemed unreliable or anything, but she's used to people leaving her in the dirt, not doing what they promised, or not caring whether she lives or dies. So it's nice when the other girl keeps her word and covers Harley.

She decides to make the best of it while it lasts, so she darts out from cover, semi-automatic still in hand, and runs as fast as she can across the courtyard while weaving and ducking and moving in every way possible to make sure no one can get a good bead on her. Jumping on the seat of a bench, she launches herself off the back, lands smoothly, launches over a trash can, weaves around a bush and finds herself under the cover of the jungle with Mikumo soon enough.]

That was SO badass.

[stargazed]

[Mikumo works best in these sorts of situations, and her focus intensifies as Harley crosses the courtyard, exacting shots going out into any exposed limb she sees from the people trying to shoot. Some manage to move their hands or arms in time, some don't, and the number of shooters dwindles further as Harley hurls herself into cover.

Letting out a slight breath - she was running a bit short on ammo herself by the end - the sense of mild amusement returns to her face.]

I thought people were supposed to make an entrance, rather than make an exit. [But now that they're on the other side, it's time to focus on where they need to be going from here. There's a rebellion member further into the underbrush who beckons towards them when she sees them, pointing beyond herself and further into the jungle.]

Looks like we still have a bit more of a trip.

[nutbuckets]

[The other girl's shots are dead accurate, and Harley can't help but admire her again. Somehow she manages to be pretty, badass, and elegant all at the same time while wearing dumpy scrubs and Harley isn't sure if she wants to be her or be with her.

Maybe both.

But as she arrives in the edge of the jungle huffing for breath just little bit from her display of acrobatics, she grins at the other girl.]

You'd think, but I'd say makin' an exit is more important. Leave a good impression, right?

[She glances over as Mikumo says that they have a bit more of a trip, and spots the person waving them over.]

Yeah. Oh, did I introduce myself? I'm Harley.

[stargazed]

I suppose you want the last thing that people remember to be exciting. [Mikumo doesn't exactly abide by it in situations like this, though. Sometimes you just have to beat a very hasty retreat, and decorum and anything else have to go out the window.

But at least things are a little calmer now, and Mikumo nods slightly at the name as they head for further directions.]

You did, but I couldn't blame anyone for forgetting in the midst of all that. [High pressure situations do have something of a habit of making smaller things slip people's minds in favour of, you know, not being shot.] I'm interested to see exactly how many of us make it out. This seems to be a fairly significant breakout.

[But they don't have a good idea of exactly how many people were in the facility, given the isolation they were in before being freed.]

[nutbuckets]

Exactly!

[Harley sure does abide by it even in situations like this, because she likes to leave an impression. If the Sylphid start getting to know her as Harley the Sylphid-killer, she'll be more than pleased.]

Oh, I did? Whoops, sorry, silly me.

[She's used to these little lapses in memory, especially in trying situations like the one she's currently in. The whole thing seems pretty trying, the whole kidnapping thing and the new world thing, despite how many strange situations she's been in. It's only really sinking in now that she's in another world.]

It does, yeah.

[A pause, then a deep breath, and she nods.]

I'm interested too, but aren't we supposed to be findin' that guy with the escape route thingy?

[stargazed]

Yes, it's something I think we'll have to sate our curiosity about once we actually get where we're going. There's no saying if they'll get brave enough to bring the combat into the jungle.

[For the moment, the Sylphid seem to have their hands full enough with the courtyard, but sometimes desperation can drive people to do some questionable things. So she's not prepared to guarantee that the Sylphid aren't going to try and pursue people into the treeline, especially once people aren't trying to cross the courtyard any longer.

As they approach the rebellion member, they come forward a bit from their post and start to explain the way from here - pointing through the trees, where there's not exactly a clear path but it shouldn't be too hard to walk in a straight line guided by the positions of the trees. Stressing if they follow that exact direction for ten minutes, they should find another rebellion member waiting with vehicles to take them to their destination. They're taking pains to outline the "exact direction" part, because walking in a random direction in jungle like this means they might just end up getting totally lost, and then it might not be so easy to help them.]

Sounds straightforward enough. Should we get on, then?

[nutbuckets]

You think there's anyone still in there?

[Because she wonders if they shouldn't stay to help if there's still more unfortunate captives in the building they'd come out of, considering how badass they are as a team. But then Mikumo agrees that they should get going, and she nods, a little bit regretfully, turning away from the courtyard and looking at the jungle.

There's a bit of a trail that winds off into the jungle, mostly just broken branches and bent underbrush, but she follows it along with the other girl, until they find the blue-skinned man they were told about. Who gives them a little run-down of how to drive the ATVs and Harley barely pays attention because she's too enthralled with the idea of hover-ATVs.

Once Mikumo jumps into the ATV, Harley settles in behind her and checks her gun for ammo and makes sure the safety's on in case it gets bumpy. But she keeps it at the ready just in case there's wildlife. They'd mentioned wildlife.]

You drive, I'll ride shotgun.

[stargazed]

It's hard to tell. Since they had all of us isolated, the only sense of scale we have is the people we can see coming out with us, but I think it would be very lucky if everyone got out.

[That is to say, she thinks there's a very high chance that there'll be people that don't. Unfortunately, this isn't a position where they really have the luxury to charge back in - they have minimal weaponry and minimal understanding of what's going on here, so they have to trust that the people who busted them out will do the best they can.

The walk is quiet enough, but it is something of a relief when they find the promised escape route. While hover-ATVs aren't exactly widespread in Mikumo's world, hover transport does exist - it's just not that practical in many cases compared to something that's wheeled. However, she's experienced with several types of ground vehicle, so she's confident she can drive this, even if she might need to initially adjust to the specifics of how it responds.

Already moving towards the driver's seat when Harley suggests it, Mikumo hands over her gun - she's still got a tiny bit of ammo left, just in case they need extra.]

Take this, then. I'll have to focus on the terrain in conditions like this. [Swinging herself behind the wheel, she runs over the controls to familiarise herself before starting the machine up.]

[nutbuckets]

Yeah. Well, I hope they all got out okay.

[It's a little wistful, and totally genuine, but she doesn't make any moves to go back and help or anything. She's got the same feeling Mikumo does, that they wouldn't do any good if they went back with limited resources.

And she doesn't know about her superpower yet.

Harley takes the other girl's gun and checks it quickly, then tucks it in her waistband and climbs on behind Mikumo, wrapping her arms lightly around her waist to hold on.]

I've got your back, Mikumo, don't you worry about that!

[If anything tries to get them, she's definitely going to shoot it.]

this seems like a good point to wrap up?

[stargazed]

[After another ATV starts up to direct them to the camp, Mikumo brings their vehicle into line behind it, navigating smoothly over the sprawling roots of trees. If only that was likely to be the worst of it, but this wouldn't be the first time she's had to slalom between trees or jump over rocks, so the real question is whether a floating vehicle is going to handle that any better than a wheeled one.

She supposes they'll find out.]