tdm 16

[savmods]

test drive meme

Ingress travel can be disorienting, but there’s no need to worry! All side effects are temporary and lessen with each trip. Your body may experience several sensations at once: being pushed forward as if a hand is resting on your back, momentary and startling blindness, a gentle ringing in your head. You may have difficulty discerning whether it is hot or cold, but where you have been prodded is noticeably warmer than the rest of you. Some may suffer from dizziness while others are perfectly fine. You notice that the area you are in is filled with a soft cerulean light and feels slightly humid and dark despite the glow around you. Regardless of your current state, however, the stress of initial Ingress travel forces your body into unconsciousness.

Waking up is another story. Or maybe it isn’t.

You find yourself in a nondescript room; sometimes with others who have found themselves in the same situation, sometimes alone. A medical tech is always present to explain what’s happened before giving you some clothes, a TAB, and a guide that discusses things in further detail. This entire process also consists of a complete work-up of medical history and current health in order to obtain your signature—a specific frequency that will allow them to hone in on exactly where it is you’re from in order to get you back there.You spend your first week on the Ingress Complex while other accommodations and arrangements are made for you.

welcome to thisavrou

---

escoria

⋆ Escoria is classified as Exploration Class (EC), and travel through the Ingress is mostly smooth except for one issue: anyone with powers or abilities will find that the distortion between worlds has temporarily caused problems accessing them. Essentially, it has left all travelers depowered. Another similar issue comes in the form of the location of Escoria’s Ingress—seemingly in the middle of a vast ocean, the Ingress is balanced precariously on a set of buoys connected to a small floating dock. Once on this dock, it is clear there is no getting anywhere without some transportation. Testing the dark waters will find it unbearably cold, though not cold enough to form ice, and far off in the distance, between the mist and ever-constant gray light - where’s the sun? - some might even notice what looks like an island.

⋆ The boat that eventually comes to your rescue isn’t very big, one of a fleet used to transport visitors from the floating Ingress platform. Only a few passengers are allowed on each one--a maximum of six. The boat’s captain is quite insistent that each group remain small, handing out blankets to those who did not come prepared for the chill. It isn’t too much trouble as there are a great many boats and plenty of natives to pilot them. The weather is cool, the skies are dark with rain that might fall, but for now things seem alright. Leaning out on the rail, you might see some shark-like sea creatures breaching the surface to breathe. Of course, you might also see quicksilver figures darting underneath the water from the corner of your eye, which is then followed by a sharp rocking of the boat. Did something nudge the vessel? Maybe you ought to make sure people stay back from the sides in case they fall in...

⋆ Despite the calm appearance of the sky, the worst has happened. A storm hits at just the right time to drive your boat against one of the multitudinous reefs, roughly jarring its passengers, and then, the waves continue to batter the ship against it until it falls to pieces. You get lucky and find a piece of debris to hold onto to keep your head above the water until the storm passes, although it’s some time before even a calm comes. Once it does, you have to deal with the facts: you’re stranded with minimal supplies, all alone except for the other people who were on board with you when the ship went down in the waves. And what’s worse, the water isn’t getting any warmer. What do you do to survive until help, hopefully, arrives? Will you make an attempt to swim to shore or wait for someone to send another boat?

⋆ The few who manage to weather the storm and make it to one of the few islands of Escoria are, indeed, lucky. What lies beneath the surface of those dark waters is much more dangerous and deadly. Distant cousins of Thisavrou’s native Gorgona of Region Four, these nameless creatures are ruthless as they hunt. They slither the shallow surfaces of the reefs spread out across Escoria, waiting for even the slightest ripple of water to alert them to their prey. At first, looking into the water reveals nothing. Then, the closer these things come to the surface, the faster it begins to change and look as if something familiar, something you long for is calling to you. It can be a person, alive or dead, or it could be something intangible like a goal waiting to be fulfilled or an object waiting to be touched. This is how they lure the unsuspecting below the surface, and once they have their claws in you, it’s very difficult to escape. The urge to be with them is impossibly strong regardless of the fact that no one can hold their breath for that long or survive the deep cold of the water for longer than a few minutes.

Your only chance of escape? Someone who might have noticed that you’d suddenly slipped under without a sound. Or, if by chance, you manage to snap off a piece of the coral in the reefs. It changes with the shape of the holder, and that, if you’re lucky, might be the very weapon that saves you.

---

OUT OF CHARACTER INFO

FAQ | LOCATIONS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS | NAVIGATION

For mature or graphic content, please label.For questions, please direct them to the FAQ or the Feedback page. Any scenarios listed (unless otherwise indicated) can be used as game canon. As always, be kind and have fun!

Comments

[welcomeprofessor]

London.

[And his mother had preferred the house in upstate New York to the busyness of London, and sometimes he can't even blame her for it. Even his stepfather's more outlandish paranoias, resulting in bomb shelters under the house, had served as a groundwork for something much larger years down the line. But that's too complicated. Estranged parents? That's rarely anything too surprising.]

Though I'm more...acquainted with Oxford. Or its pubs, at any rate.

1

[shiro2hero]

[He's in and out of the Ingress Complex on a regular basis these days. The dubious benefit of being a space taxi driver -- he'll call it a shuttle pilot, though, because that sounds way, way better. Regardless, this particular run involves some cargo.]

[No problem. Better him than one of the smaller drivers.]

[He's got a big package hoisted over one shoulder when there's a brief flash of a face out of the corner of his eye. Oh -- wonder what she's doing up here --]

Checking on the Ingress tech again, Pidge?

[specifications]

[ He nods again, ]

But you had fun getting a degree there.

[ He felt it was an easy leap to make. He kinda misses London himself but he's more familiar with Paris. Just remembering that makes him feel frustrated all over again. He suppresses a sigh and looks around, ]

Don't suppose you're 'acquainted' with any pubs around here?

well hello

[shiro2hero]

Why the Ingress is suddenly dumping people into this planet? That's anyone's guess. But the least he can do here is head out to help pick them up. Which is what he's currently doing. Driving a boat is a lot different than piloting a ship, but... hey.

He's got this.

It's when he's busy helping someone into said boat that something boops into his armored leg from behind. He turns -- but no one's there.

At least until he looks down.

"Whoa -- hey buddy." Holy shit that's a dog. This is the best day ever. "Who brought you out here?"

[welcomeprofessor]

[He nods a confirmation. He doesn't have anything by way of complaint on that front: it's true enough.]

Unfortunately, I can't say I am. [The shrug he offers is sympathetic, but not quite hopeless.] Though this is as good a time as any to start.

[specifications]

[ He raises a brow at that. ]

You don't have anywhere else to be? Or...?

[ Because he wasn't expecting Charles to show him around or stick with him. Not after just meeting. ]

[welcomeprofessor]

[Well, he hasn't been told to fuck off yet. The refusals he gets are usually far more blatant.]

I'm not about to leave a fellow-- [don't say mutant, Charles, don't say it] --Earthian to wander about alone, that's just rude.

[Insert half a beat...] And you're right, that sounds bloody ridiculous.

[specifications]

[ Arthur has to press his lips together to stop him from smiling at that, nodding. He licks them instead. ]

"Earthling" sounds pretty weird, too. But it's all we got for now.

[ He pushes himself up from the bench and looks around from his new vantage point. He looks around again, turning to look behind him for the first time and sees some shops. Or what look to be shops. He gestures over to them, ]

Want to try over there?

[welcomeprofessor]

I don't see why not. The only way out is forward, after all.

[They could go in any direction and likely find something more productive than standing still; unless this universe has largely missed a memo on the time-space continuum (more so than it seems to have already, anyway), that is generally how it works.

He follows, albeit at a somewhat reduced pace, still learning to navigate unfamiliar terrain. (Or at least it makes for a good excuse when blaming it on the chair itself tends to get old). It isn't remarked upon, and he has a more pressing focus.]

So I suppose, being freelance, if I asked where you were from, I'd get something like "all over"?

[specifications]

[ Arthur, being as tall as he is, takes his normal strides. Until he realizes he's going a bit too fast. He falls back some and gives a nod. ]

Pretty much.

[ And then he figures he might as well relent a little bit. ]

Last place I was in was Paris.

[tookashirototheknee]

[At first he doesn't react. That's not a name he knows. But after a moment of not paying attention, he realizes he's being addressed.]

Sorry, I'm not... [He turns around, finally, and his eyes go wide, a combination of surprise and relief and excitement. He swallows, trying to find his voice, which comes out really small.]

Shiro? You're...alright? And...you're here? I...really hope I haven't lost it enough that I've progressed to hallucinating.

[tookashirototheknee]

That would be an interesting way of catching prey, dragging it under with visual hallucinations. Difficult to control, but doable, I guess.

[He pauses, thinking for a moment, then finding his manners. He's curious about the person in front of him, but considering he's spent months with violent purple space cats, he's not too surprised.]

Good to meet you, Kurt. Sorry for rambling off there. What're you doing here in this particular spot?

[notglitching]

[Oh, Rinzler's very familiar with the lexicon of helmet-glares. Wash might, just maybe, be able to pick up the smirk in the slight tip of Rinzler's shell that answers back. (And the quiet catches, not-quite-laughter, in his sound.) Accuracy is important!

Still, Wash is back. Rinzler is pretty happy about that, memory or no.]

Injuries?

[shadowblends]

I'd imagine that would depend on how the hallucinations are caused. If you have mind powers, it might be as simple as implanting thoughts into someone's head and having them ... well, walk off into the water - never to be heard from again.

[Momentarily turning away, the teleporter stares out across the water, marveling at the stillness that's only broken by the odd surge of the tide.]

It's no reason to apologize, [he murmurs, gaze averting to his feet, steam rising into the air between them when he sighs.] There's less of a crowd and I've been here before.

[tookashirototheknee]

Mind powers... [He trails off, thoughtfully.] Not something we have at home at least not on a usable or large scale. I know that there are quite a few people here with a lot of different powers, but it's still oddly fantastical to me that there are actually people like that. Amazing, but odd.

[He turns, looking over at the figure next to him.]

You shit with crowds too? I'm sorry. It sucks.

[squeedlyspooch]

"A human, dog-slave," he answers shortly, in the kind of patronizing tone that says he fully expects a random talking dog to understand his insults. His attention is on the collar anyway, and while he holds back from actually touching it (dog germs and all) he gets even squintier and makes quite a few thoughtful noises.

Then he abruptly jumps back to his feet, yelling unnecessarily. "Garbage! Whatever pathetic creature made that had no idea what they were doing! I could make an infinitely superior dog-translator while my brain is being devoured by a brain-gnawing bloodge hat!"

No worries!

[squeedlyspooch]

[Zim stops listening approximately halfway through that sentence. Or disregards it. Or he didn't hear it in the first place. With him it's hard to tell whether the whole not listening thing is deliberate or if he just has problems.

Either way he puts his hand on his chest and answers all patronizingly.]

I am a perfectly normal human child who has overcome his skin condition to be like all the other normal, filthy children. You... horned pig.

[Well, he is pink....]

[metachrosis]

Uh-huh...

[Unconvinced by Zim's explanation and a little amused at his patronising attitude in spite of being completely unconvincing, Espio pulls away from the wall and walks around him, making a show of checking him out. No, he's definitely not human. Possibly not even a mammal.

It's not like it matters, considering Espio can't identify the species of most people he meets anyway, but why is he pretending?]

You must have met some really weird looking pigs.

[counterblows]

[It's not as obvious as, say, the way Maine could hold up a hand, a thumb and forefinger extended in a vague U-shape against the gold dome of his helmet - a surefire indication that he had found something amusing, and was smiling. But Rinzler is vocal enough in his own right. The incremental tilt of his visor, the rasping noise that sounds like something might've gotten stuck in his throat, if he has one.

He's laughing at him. Wash settles for a disgruntled sigh, a breathy fuzz of static.]

Plenty of those.

[If he had an A.I. unit, doubtless they would have discharged biofoam at the first indication of cracked ribs or the flurrying burst of shrapnel lodging itself into the meat of his thigh. If he was the type to keep an A.I. unit, it wouldn't be a problem.

But he isn't. And so it is.]

[shiro2hero]

[It takes all of half a second before the voice registers. Before he stops walking right in his tracks. He doesn't know if the feeling in his chest is hope or anticipation or panic or what. But it's cold, hot at the same time, something squeezing while he tries to tell himself this is his imagination. Nothing more.]

[And then he turns.]

[He turns and it's like time hit a screeching halt. All he can do is stand there, staring. The box over his shoulder takes this moment to abruptly fall out of his suddenly limp grasp, scraping across bare metal. He's not armored, not today, and he's abruptly conscious of the alien sound of metal fingers flexing.]

[That's. Not Pidge.]

... Matt?

[tookashirototheknee]

Hi. Um.

[He just stands there, feeling very small and very out of place next to Shiro, who seems to have gained about twenty pounds of muscle since he saw him last, as opposed to himself, who has lost about that much.]

[There aren't any words that are coming right now. What is going on with Shiro's arm, what did they do to him, but he's alive and he's here, and that's what matters, right? He just stares, starting to shake a bit as his emotions begin to well up, remembering the last moment he saw his best friend, and the moment he thought he'd lost it.]

[Eventually, after a long moment, he finally finds his voice again.]

you're... here.

[shadowblends]

[The fact that Matt sounds genuinely curious about super-powered people makes him perk somewhat, his slouched posture straightening.] You sound like you're sincerely inquisitive about such beings.

[Which lessens his anxiety, urges him to remove his tri-fingered hands from his pockets and reach for the hood covering his head. He tosses it back, revealing intricately scarred blue skin, lustrous golden eyes, pointed ears, and overly sharp canine teeth. Then, in a tentative manner, the tail he's got secured around his torso loosens and slithers free from beneath his shirt, absently twitching back and forth near his shoulder blades.]

That's one way to put it.

I. BECAUSE *SCREECHING*

[pidge_out]

[There are still days when Pidge actually goes out to look at the Ingress, just to see if there's anything new to learn about it. Half the time there isn't, and she kind of just ends up talking to a few of the engineers about what its recent behavior has been like. That had been the plan today, and she'd actually kind of been looking forward to it.

She definitely doesn't expect to see a familiar face as she heads in that direction.

There's no way she could mistake it for anyone else. Searching for the names and faces of her missing father and brother amidst alien crowds, video feeds, and prisoner lists is something she does without even thinking about it. But this... This is the last place she expects to see Matt.

Pidge halts immediately, eyes wide as she stares at him in disbelief, her heart pounding in her ears.] ... M--Matt..??

[tookashirototheknee]

[That voice. Matt freezes in his tracks and turns, a smile cracking across his tired face, as he steps toward her. He's thinner than she'd remember, weaker, and definitely slightly older-seeming.

His smile, however, is pure Matt. He holds out his arms to her.]

Katie! I... are you alright? What are you doing here?

[tookashirototheknee]

I am. I've always been fascinated about different kinds of people. I... don't want to be rude to people. I just... I'm interested in what makes people who they are.

[Matt's eyes widen, and he smiles a bit, curiously, but winces.]

Ah. I can see that being... difficult. Are you from a planet that has a lot of one species? People can be... huge assholes to people who're different than them.