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tdm 16
test drive meme
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
⋆ 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.
FAQ | LOCATIONS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS | NAVIGATION
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However, since she has absolutely no reason to expect him to show up in outer space, he takes her completely by surprise.
Her head whips around, eyes wide in startled surprise, though the moment she realises who it is a wide smile spreads over her lips and she drops her hand from the window to throw her arms around his neck in a hug. ]
Logan!
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What kind of fucking place is this?
Logan remembers to breathe a moment later, heavy and harsh like it's scraping up his insides on the way out. Memories of Westchester hit him so hard and fast it makes him shake, terror and hurt at odds with the shock of unmitigated elation, burning bright and hot. Unable to speak, at last he holds her to him like a lifeline, and buries his face in her shoulder. ]
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Hey, it's okay, I'm here.
[ She's not sure what makes her think that is something he needs to be reassured of, but she's going with gut instinct here until he feels able to explain to her what's going on. ]
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No, he wants to tell her. Nothing is 'okay'; things haven't been okay for a long fucking time. He shakes his head against her shoulder, because the dam has burst, and all he can do is gulp in air against the raging current. ]
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She leans her cheek against his head, tears welling up in her own eyes simply because of all the pain she can feel rolling off of Logan in waves. What has happened to him? ]
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[ Spoken quietly as his breathing calms, the well emptied. There's not an inch of him that deserves her calming touch, or her warmth in his arms. She deserved better than what happened; they all did. Marie and Bobby, Kitty and Piotr. Hank. Charles. ]
I'm so...so sorry, 'Roro.
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[ Because he tends to only apologise when things are well and truly fucked up on an epic scale that he just isn't capable of. Sure, he can and does wreak plenty of havoc from time to time, and she knows he carries guilt around from a past she doesn't know too much about, but usually when it all comes to the surface in the form of apologies, it is because he has decided to shoulder responsibility for events that are not in his power to prevent or control.
The things he should be sorry for are more often than not of a much more mundane nature, and he is far too stubborn and proud to admit fault in those smaller spheres. At least with words. ]
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[ It's a bitter, miserable truth, one that grounds him. She can't excuse him if she doesn't know what's led him here. Logan straightens, loosing his grasp on her shirt, his hands settling at her waist. Storm looks so very young to him now, untouched by time and no less strong for it. She's always been the strongest of them all. ]
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[ She gives him a searching look, brown furrowing as she discovers more and more details that don't seem to quite add up. All the grey in his hair and beard, the fine lines in his face betraying a passage of time where no such signs could be spotted on him before.
She would almost be frightened, but the man as spent a good while clinging to her and sobbing by now so she's pretty sure this isn't Mystique pulling a fast one.
She is concerned, however. It hasn't been that long since the last time she saw Logan, and while she could buy him growing a full beard in a couple of days, the rest is... strange.
She tugs a little at a few strands on his chin, raising an eyebrow. ]
What's with the beard?
[ And the rest of this whole hot dad transformation thing. ]
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For the first time in forever he feels self-conscious, aware of the itch climbing his spine from the new, utilitarian clothes they gave him; a crisp grey shirt and black pants that replaced the ruined, blood-soaked ones he'd arrived in. ]
Long story. [ Pausing, disliking the silence, he glances away, gruffly warning her, ] You won't like it.
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I have a feeling you should probably tell me anyway.
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[ It's a quick, sharp jerk of his head. No. His fingers find the hem of her shirt, rubbing the stiff fabric between his thumb and forefinger. ]
Not here.
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[ He didn't seriously think she would just let this go, did he? ]
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I don't know, I just got here- [ Finally, finally he pulls his hands away, fumbling for the device he was given with shaking fingers. The tech who attended to him had mentioned "accommodations", but what that meant is unknown. ]
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Come with me.
[ It's a little bit softer than a direct order, but not much, and when she starts walking she clearly expects him to follow. ]
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[ She's been neutralised after all. By that horrible weapon they made out of the so-called "cure". Even now it makes her shiver a little to think about it. ]
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Something in Storm's statement surprises him. That she's here at all still surprises him as he keeps pace with her, unsure if he expects Ororo to vanish if he should lose sight of her. ]
How do you figure?
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She was "cured".
[ The word is accompanied by air quotes made with her fingers,and enough poison to kill a grown man. ]
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Yeah, for a little under a year, maybe. That shit didn't exactly stick.
[ Logan pauses, giving her an assessing look. Ororo has always been beautiful, right up to the end, but she's never been ageless. The marks of time on her skin aren't just faded, they're missing entirely.
Something uncomfortably cold settles in his gut. ]
You...don't remember?
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[ She stops, ignoring the people around them and reaches out to grab him by the shoulders so she can turn him toward her.
She takes a long, hard look at him. The grey in his hair, the lines on his face... he's aged. ]
But it has for you, hasn't it?
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Twenty years, 'Ro. Over twenty years.
[ Which means she's from 2006? So the tech wasn't lying about the Ingress taking folks from all throughout time and space. ]
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They really do take people from different points in time...
[ Her voice is soft, the thought enormous enough to make her a little breathless.
Then she abrubtly starts walking again, understanding now his need for privacy. ]
I have a temporary room here. We can talk there.
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Logan is only too glad she turns away, breathing deep before he catches up. ]
So they are rooms.
[ He's got to clear his throat. By his tone, it's clear he expected something more on the order of Alkali Lake or what he's seen of Transigen, "rooms" that were really cells. ]
You really think they'll let us out of here after a week?
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With that storm going on outside, do you really think they could keep me here?
[ Not that she would ever draw upon it to wreak havoc, the potential devastation to both the station and the two nearby planets would be too great, but the people here don't know that, do they? ]
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