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

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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.

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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

[el_paso]

'Ro please.

[ 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.

[nimbi]

Alright. Where?

[ He didn't seriously think she would just let this go, did he? ]

[el_paso]

[ You know, part of him was hoping... ]

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. ]

[nimbi]

[ After all the time he has spent with her (more than she knows), he really should know better than that. ]

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. ]

[el_paso]

[ And Logan is quick to follow, tucking away the TAB, scrubbing a hand over his eyes. He's not sure he's ready for her questions, still processing the last few days, the last hours of the life he left behind. ]

[nimbi]

For a moment there I thought you might be Mystique. Before I remembered that it couldn't be.

[ 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. ]

[el_paso]

[ Their quiet time by the window must have been a fluke. People crowd the corridors, the complex a busy hive buzzing with activity. It sets his teeth on edge.

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?

[nimbi]

[ Her turned to be surprised, throwing him a questioning look. He really doesn't follow her line of thought there? ]

She was "cured".

[ The word is accompanied by air quotes made with her fingers,and enough poison to kill a grown man. ]

[el_paso]

[ He pitches that look right back, bemusement in the quirk of his brow. She should know this...right? ]

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?

[nimbi]

What do you mean? There's nothing to remember. It hasn't been a year.

[ 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?

[el_paso]

[ People move around them like water flowing around two stones in a river. He lets her turn him, but shivers out of her grasp, disliking that feeling of being hemmed in. ]

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. ]

[nimbi]

[ She lets him go, not entirely surprised by his reaction. They're not usually all that touchy-feely with each other after all. It tends to mean that things are going wrong when they are. ]

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.

[el_paso]

[ It's no surprise to him that she's given voice to his own thoughts, not after how long they worked together. The breathless awe in her voice, the look in her eyes though, those earn him a deep pang of regret, and again that sense of loss rears its ugly head.

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?

[nimbi]

[ He earns himself a side long glance and a smirk for that one. Paranoid as always, not that he isn't often right. ]

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? ]

[el_paso]

[ Paranoia kept his ass outta the fire often enough. It's hard to shut off. ]

Do they know that?

[nimbi]

"They" seem to know a lot of things, if you ask me.

[ And of course she's suspicious, but what good would turning a bed down do? ]

[el_paso]

Too many things, [ he adds, sotto voce.

It's amazing, really, how quick he feels himself falling into the old patterns. For a while there it had been just Storm and him, as Hank disappeared intermittently due to his ambassadorship. He'd wanted to run; that's a feeling he recalls with some intensity. And he had, eventually, but he never got terribly far. The school was the sun he'd aligned his orbit around, where he had friends. Family.

Had. That was the operative word.

There's that sharp pang again, and this time he has nothing else to say on the rest of their journey. ]

[nimbi]

[ She lets him brood in peace, there's never been much point in trying to drag Logan into talking if he isn't feeling like it.

She leads him to the door of her temporary abode, and lets him walk inside first before she enters and lets the door close behind her.

It's about what you might expect from a bedroom in a space station. Small, spartan. Has what you need and that's about it.

Suits Storm just fine.

She folds her arms across her chest and looks Logan over again, her expression neutral though if he is from over twenty years in the future he probably knows her well enough to know that there is furious activity going on beneath that calm surface. ]

So. Considering how you reacted when you saw me I guess things don't go that we'll for me in the future.

[ She never has been one to sugar-coat things. ]

[el_paso]

[ Entering the small room makes him want to leave right away again. He finds the wall real interesting, a line of tension drawing his shoulders taut. The old aches aren't there anymore, but he swears he can still feel them regardless, just as heavy and hurtful as the knowledge he carries. ]

No.

[ What use is there in avoiding this? He'll try though, once more, though it's the protest of a man who knows his effort is in vain, ]

Ororo, you really, really don't want to know.

[nimbi]

[ She wants to reach out to him, hold him again like she did before. But she knows better than that, and leaves him alone. ]

I guess no one should really want to know how they die.

[ And that's what she is assuming happens, and in a really bad way.

What he should be assuming here is that she wants to know anyway. ]

[el_paso]

[ He cards a hand back through his hair, digging his short fingernails into his scalp. Logan turns finally, rounding on her because the anger is always and forever easier. His right hand shakes at his side, a subtle tremor in his fingers. ]

You weren't the only fucking one, all right?

[nimbi]

And is that my fault somehow?

[ Because otherwise she doesn't see why he needs to start coming for her here.

She pushes away from the door to step a little closer, as always rising to his challenge. ]

[el_paso]

That's not-

[ A breath out through his nose, hard and stilling. Even this squaring off against one another is so familiar it stings, all the little nuances of their partnership he'd well and truly forgot until now.

Logan closes his eyes, marshaling himself, and tries again. ]

The whole team...went down as one, Storm. We didn't- we couldn't- [ The anguish creeps up soft in his voice, and he looks at his hands, unable to meet her gaze. How the fuck do you tell someone they were killed by a man they loved, a man who had guided them, who had mentored and supported them for years?

How does he even explain how Charles came back? Not for the first time, Logan has no fucking idea of what to say, desperate for even an ounce of the Professor's calm thoughtfulness right now.

He turns away, frustrated and overcome, not even knowing where to start and not wanting her to see the grief on his face. ]

[nimbi]

[ She doesn't need to see his face to know how he feels, how Logan is feeling is written all over his body.

She slowly walks closer to him, close enough that he can probably feel her body heat, but she doesn't touch him yet. ]

I know you. If you were there, you did everything you could.

[ Slowly, slowly she lifts just one hand to gently rest it between his shoulderblades. ]

But if you feel like you need my forgiveness for any of it... then you have it. I forgive you, Logan.