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acatalepsy_ooc2019-01-19 05:03 pm
acatamods) wrote in acatalepsy_ooc2019-01-19 05:03 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME #5.
 test drive meme #5 It happens in the blink of an eye. One moment, you are home. Perhaps you are with your family, perhaps you are at work. It's a completely normal day . . . and then, suddenly, your stomach drops. You are overcome with a sudden sense of vertigo. You cannot see up, or down, or where you are. You fall flat on your face. It's bright, warm, and humid . . . for now. Weirdly, the weather seems to be entirely in flux. One moment, it is warm and humid, and within the next handful of hours, it is starting to snow. Whatever is going on with Astoria seems to be messing with the atmosphere of the Temple, and as a result, you are having something of a wild entrance to Acatalepsy. It takes a few seconds for you to gain composure and catch your breath. You are surrounded by ancient stone buildings, with carvings you do not recognize etched into the stone. There's a sense of nausea, overwhelming and sudden, when you realize you aren't in Kansas anymore. Indeed, it seems as if you have fallen down the rabbit hole. A weird, mysterious, snowing-yet-humid rabbit hole.  THE TEMPLE OF BEGINNINGS. Welcome to the "Home Base" of Astoria's Circle. What the actual name of the base is called is lost to the ages, and there's no sense of where you could find it, unless you started asking around. At any rate, this is a central hub of the Circle, a place of powerful magic and mysterious energy. It is a scattering of ancient stone buildings and for the most part, it looks abandoned . . . except for what seems to be a few items, some rooms taken, items moved or organized, even a small garden planted. These are just the smallest hints that there are people here that have been here before you arrived. Overall, it's fairly beautiful. However, it is definitely not modern. Upon exploration, you find that the buildings are kept up by some kind of magic. Some of the rooms have items, things from other Circle members already settled, and others appear to be unclaimed. Pick your rooms, explore the grounds, see the beauty and wonder all around you in such a magical place. However, be careful -- there is some additional movement around the Temple that seems specific to the time of year. HAPPY UN-BIRTHDAY.  The kitchen has become overtaken with a flurry of activity. Vines have woven their way into the area of the Temple typically reserved for food, and there is a massive tea party! What a splendiferous thing -- surely this can't be all that bad. There is such a massive array of food here that it almost seems impossible to know where to start . . . tea and cookies set out with messages that read “EAT/DRINK ME." Well, if you insist. However . . . certain foods and drinks have certain effects upon your person that are wholly unexpected. Well, drat. If you taste the rosehip tea, you are suddenly infatuated with the first individual you lay eyes on. They are everything to you. You think you may even want to propose, immediately, right now. Weddings, I love weddings! Tasting the ladyfingers will cause you to spill your deepest secrets to whoever is nearby. Have a secret crush? Not anymore! The entire room has to know about it, and you somehow can't seem to shut up about whatever you've been trying to keep quiet. A sip of the chamomile tea will cause you to become ridiculously sleepy. That corner looks like a particularly delightful place to take a nap, doesn't it? Maybe someone else wants to nap too. The Madeline cakes cause a ridiculously high spike in happiness. Nothing can get you down, not even the grumpiest of people. Smile, smile, smile! You need to spread this joy to everyone in your reach. A nibble of the scones will prevent you from lying. . . and, in addition, you will be brutally honest on whatever question you're asked. Maybe now is a bad time to give an opinion on your friend's outfit or new haircut, hm? And, finally, the Earl Grey tea will cause an enhancement of your Astoria given powers. Make sure you have that under control, or you may accidentally blow out a window, depending on what it is. YOU'RE LATE, YOU'RE LATE.  The Unseen Servants will be a little, well, mad. Not that anyone will be able to see them, but there will seem to be things moving around the Temple at random, whether they be sheets, clothing, food, furniture, etc. with very little if any logical reason to it. It almost appears like the sheets and the like are moving throughout the air without any rhyme or reason to it . . . someone certainly isn't happy that the Temple is all astray.In addition, the Unseen Servants may also be attempting to steal things off of you. After all, you are also new to their world, and they want to make sure everything is put into their proper place, so beware any silent mischievous Unseen Servants dipping hands into pockets. Also . . . some of the rooms in the Temple are shifting around. Certain entryways could lead you to a select location at random. You may have thought you were entering your room, but it appears you’ve wound up in someone else’s. Or the bathhouse. Or the forest. Either way, you may find yourself lost for a bit...until the Temple decides to stop playing tricks on you. Keep track of your location, or you may wind up in the Forest of the Fey by mistake. OFF WITH YOUR HEAD.  Should you approach the fighting ring, you’ll find that isn’t quite what you’d expect — there are no training dummies to be found, the rusted gates are colored a lavish gold, and the dirt ground has been replaced with a red and black checkered flooring. More notably, the ring itself seems to have expanded to make way for seating so that it’s become more of an arena than anything. There is an audience of spectators: many of them are typically known as the bestiary of this Temple. They are a bit more, er, refined and chatty today.When you enter, the gates will shut behind you. They will not budge. You have now entered a makeshift Royal Court. Suddenly, a playing card manifests in your hand. It might be… A Heart: A princess-like figure is displayed on this card. She appears to be singing.On the back reads a message that states “This card withholds your role. You’ll be permitted to leave once we are thoroughly entertained. Best of luck!” No further instruction is given. Those who have entered with you are in the same predicament. How will you interpret your card? Who are you stuck with and how will you satisfy the audience? Or are you a member of the audience instead? Either way, good luck getting out — it’s up to you! COMMUNICATIONS.  Upon arriving, you will notice on whichever is your non-dominant hand, you will have a fairly simply screen. A smart watch, if you will. Upon exploration, you will find that it has a directory of all those here with you at the Temple of Beginnings- names, and access to a direct message to them. The watch also has video, audio, and text capabilities, as well as what looks like a collection of messages sent to everyone who wishes to open them. This is your 'network', and also how Astoria can reach out and communicate with you. There is nothing keeping you from removing and/or losing your watch! But remember that you will not have access to this network without it. OOC: Also feel free to join us and other possible players on our discord server! enjoy! ♥ |
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It was Wyoming.
[But she doesn't need to clarify any further, does she? Wyoming who had ended up hitting York, mortally wounding him.]
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That knock-knocking motherfucker--
[ He turns and drives his fist into the wall of the building they're standing outside, which unfortunately for York is grey stone. It hurts like hell. He lets the pain shoot up his arm and pulls back with a hiss, shaking away the sting and ignoring the blood on his knuckles.
That just proves he's alive here. But... ]
And Delta?
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She can only stand there at that bout of anger, knowing that York is one of the most easy going people she had ever met. It was one of the things that she had liked about him at the start, although his pick up lines could have used a little work. But he is human, and a part of her feels horrible to have broken that news to him. It's not the end that she would have wanted for him, or for so many of the others.
But he has to ask that, doesn't he, and Carolina can't give any better news about the AI. Her gaze shifts to his knuckles, watching the blood trickle across his skin. She knows how she had suffered with Epsilon's loss, and York and Delta had been a team far longer.]
He went to Wash, to South, and ended up with the Meta. He was eventually destroyed after an EMP was activated.
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Not that he gets the chance.
When Carolina breaks the news about Delta, York skips over grief for himself entirely. All the anger drains from him, his shoulders drooping in defeat. His non-bloody hand comes up and covers the base of his implant, expression utter despair. ]
...none of that's happened to me yet. He could still be in there now. I can't-- I told him, if anything happened to me to jump to Tex, but he didn't, did he? He risked it.
[ There's no other explanation for Tex not being on that list. He'd stayed with York, despite the armor's protocol being to destroy the AI. It must not have, for some reason. ]
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It's not quite the same, and York has been in this place, wherever in the galaxy it is, for longer. He would have a better understanding of it, and of what may be possible. It's not hard for her to see the shift in his posture, how that anger dissipates and he all but slumps in on himself. It's not news that she wanted to give, but no lying. There had been too much deception before, too much hidden, and they had torn each other apart over it. The truth isn't always better and it certainly isn't easier, but it is the truth.]
Is there some reason- something about this place that keeps him away?
[Offline, blocked, she doesn't know, can't see in to his head, at least about that. It's concern that marks her face, that over rides everything else about this foreign place. York, if she believes it to be York, and believes it all to be real, is hurting.]
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[ York has no idea, basically. And is just in denial about the fact that Delta may not be in his implant anymore. May have been ejected with nowhere to jump to. Dead before he's supposed to be dead, essentially, and York was spared. Maybe. He doesn't know how timeline shit is supposed to work with his being here... or maybe this is his afterlife and he just doesn't remember Wyoming killing him.
The easiest way to get answers would be to talk to Astoria, but maybe York is afraid of what he'd hear. So he refocuses. ]
We should find you a place to stay. You could crash with me and North, if you wanted... it's right through here, you should take off your armor too so you don't run down the power.
[ He doesn't want to let her out of his sight, honestly. Too afraid of that as well, that she's just a vision of some sort. ]
...I've missed you, 'Lina.
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But it is still surprising. A part of her does want him to get angry, to call her on her bullshit, to- to do anything than offer her a place to crash, because she doesn't deserve it. He might have been one of her primary reasons for taking down the Director, but it doesn't change what had happened. If she had trusted him.
It's a breath that is released, weight shifting slightly from one foot to the other. Retirement may have given her some different perspectives, but her armour is still a second skin, leaving her feeling naked otherwise. Vulnerable isn't a feeling that she likes to feel.]
... you shouldn't. I defeated you and left you in an elevator.
[It is the expression on her face that does speak louder than any words, that whatever this is, if it's another temple that's messing with her head, some screwed up dream that's going to shift to some nightmare, or whatever else it may be, that she's missed him no less.]
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They've all made mistakes along the way. ]
Yeah, you sure did. That's why I didn't want to fight you, of course you'd win. But we both survived -- that fight, at least -- and now we're getting a second chance.
[ He shifts his weight, shrugs at her, and decides to just be honest. ]
Sue me for remembering us how we were before that moment. It wasn't our best, that's all.
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A second chance though...
It's not something that she, of all people, deserves, as there are so many more who do deserve the honour. That she had found Wash and the Sim Troopers, that they had become a family that she had never thought that she would be able to have again, a second chance right there that she shouldn't have been granted... And yet it's York, who may be dead from her own point of view, and yet who has still had such a big impact on her.
But... it's almost too good to be real, which is why there is something about her that seems to say she expects it all to vanish, to poof away, to wake up gasping for air again, alone in her room. It wouldn't be the first time, after all, that those demons ate away at her. Because yes, for that one bright shining moment, things had been good, had been wonderful, but some of it had been a world through rose coloured glasses.]
So, we're here, until we're not, to- [And if she's going to work on the basis that this is real, no matter how unreal it seems, then she shifts through everything that she has been through since waking up to that voice.] I'm not going to blindly be someone's warrior again, to fight in a war where we're not on the right side.
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[ York's never been that selfish, to want her to stay against her will. But the fact is they're both stuck. And he doesn't want to waste a minute of the time they do have here and now, through whatever cosmic mistake it is that Astoria would pull them both. ]
We're supposed to be saving worlds, but it's not that simple. It never is.
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Yet it's easier to focus on this place than on the emotions that he brings forth within her, emotions that have stirred now and them, but otherwise she's kept dormant. There's enough messes across the galaxy for her to clean up, the pieces of Freelancer that are still floating around, and like that, her mind turns to something easier - his statement about saving worlds and it not being simple.]
In what way?
[Or rather, what particular points make it so.]
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[ It's not fair he get a third chance at life when they didn't get any. He looks up at Carolina. ]
It sounds like most worlds, how to help has been pretty clear. This one wasn't, it was another war. I took the side of their princess, who wanted to close the rift and bring peace between the two factions. Whatever we did, it wasn't enough. Some of them are living in our lake here but she's missing. Wash went missing in that world, too, maybe he was just sent home... but how he acted around me makes a lot more sense now, knowing.
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[And what exactly does it mean? Some grand cosmic event? And why would warriors need to be brought in? You should go with people you know, who's loyalties (for the most part) you are aware of. Kidnapping people, no matter the purpose, hardly makes for a good pool, unless there is something bigger involved?
The words about Wash have her focus sharpening, and while she knew Wash from Freelancer, he has grown in many ways. Had he arrived injured, she almost wants to ask, having put their trust in Locus to save him. She's not entirely on board with him, but he had gotten Wash the medical attention that he required.]
I'm guessing when he came from never came up in conversation.
[Which sounds like a ridiculous question, when she says it out loud.]
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[ Wash was here before York and North, and York shakes his head at the question. There's a slight furrow between his eyebrows, not quite a frown but he's not... happy about Wash's reaction to them. ]
...no, nothing ever came up in conversation because he was a total jerk. Every time he saw us he just tried to escape. I think North had better luck, but not by much.
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[Because she does want to know what she's getting in to, even if she's not saying that she will take any action.
Carolina does feel her forehead furrow a little at that statement. Wash could be a little high strung, especially when it came to dealing with the Sim Troopers, as they did seem to know how to push his buttons, but overall, like her, he had started to learn to relax a little, let Sarge take on gravity, knowing that it was going to end in gravity winning... Got rid of that god awful beard, anyway.
There had been steps towards amends with Epsilon as well, but was it- Everyone had forgotten about Wash, including herself, hadn't bothered to checked to see where he was, and Carolina had only come back in to his life for one reason initially. Not to see how he was doing, but to use him and the Sim Troopers to get to the Director.]
Wash's come a long way. Even stood up to me and kicked my ass to the curb. Still came to help me in the end though.
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[ York shrugs, not dismissive of Carolina's experience, but... he certainly didn't see it for himself. ]
I wouldn't know. Every time I tried to talk to him he just bolted. I wanted to try and apologize for leaving him behind, at least, but he wouldn't acknowledge I existed. Makes more sense now, but it's still shitty.
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A small breath again. It was more than what Carolina had done. She'd just come storming in, making demands, and he'd fallen in to place like he had before. At least until she'd pushed too hard, threatening the Sim Troopers, then Wash had pushed right back.]
I- am sorry to hear that.
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It's not your fault. Sounds like it might not have been his, either, I'm just... we tried, you know? I feel like that's all I've ever done, is try.
[ And fail, goes unstated but hangs heavy between them. ]
Come on, stay with us. I'll show you where we are.
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It does drop like a stone, and she's reminded about Epsilon's words about Texas. Trying, and always failing... But for the moment she relents, not exactly agreeing to stay with them, as it's still more of a dream-like quality than reality, but she nods.]
Alright. Show me where you're living.
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Huh. I guess it thinks you're staying. There were only two last time I was in here, the rooms kind of do that. Magic.
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Not that any of this makes any sense.
But, she's also come to expect a certain amount of malarkey in her life now. Her gaze sweeps the room, posture slightly awkward, and forehead furrowing at the third bed. He verbalizes before she can even comment, as the two are fairly obvious as to who they belong to. She's familiar with the armour suits.]
And that's just normal?
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[ He considers how crazy it all sounds for a moment, then shrugs -- she's seeing the proof right now, what else can he do? ]
If you don't feel like changing yet I can continue the tour... there's a bathroom through there, and then common areas and kitchens farther down the hall.
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It's- later, I'll think about changing.
[Which does make her rather obvious in her armor, but for now there is also that sense of protection that comes with it.]
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