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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
VIDEO
[But unless there's a clone of Commander Shepard of the Alliance running around, that's her.]
... I. Don't understand how you're way out here. We're six hundred years out.
[This is the Heleus Cluster, right?]
FUNNY STORY ABOUT CLONES
Not any more. Wherever you were before? You're on Thisavrou, now.
Did you get a chance to look through the information they gave you, yet?
[600 years... 600 years...
There's something itchy and significant about the number. Something that's been thrown around before.]
im glad you saw that
[She shakes her head. Reading through packets is for when you're somewhere stable and familiar. When you have a moment to breathe and figure things out.]
[When you know where your family is.]
Figured I'd look off the record first.
I MEAN SHE'S NOT WRONG
[There's a beat, and her expression softens.]
That's understandable. And I'm sorry I can't help, there — but I can give you an overview. Help you wrap your head around things.
Aside from the locals, many of the people living here on Thisavrou have been involuntarily pulled from their own universes, and thrust here by a device called the "Ingress" — that's the swirling mass of energy you would've stepped out of.
[She shifts her weight in the office chair, leaning forward on the desk. The pause is intentional — no one likes the next part.]
The good news is, Ingress technicians and scientists are trying to get us home, trying to locate the multiverse coordinates for each of us, and there's been some successes. So there is every chance we can return. But in the meantime? We're in limbo [Purgatory,] living our lives.
no subject
[Her face flicks. Agitated. Even if the rest of her stays composed. Because someone has to be.]
Hey, an overview from Commander Shepard herself. Don't know many people who can say that.
What do we know about the "Ingress"? Anything? The techs share anything with the rest of us? [She folds her arms.] About how many people are here?
no subject
And suddenly, it clicks. Those ads. They'd popped up here and there on the extranet, always a happy family on an alien world, with catch and copy like "How Far Will You Go? Find Out What It Takes!", then a link to "Recruitment Details".
The Andromeda Initiative. Someone's passing pipe-dream to send a bunch of people to the Andromeda Galaxy to explore where no-one had gone before. But hadn't it been grounded with no funds? It sure hadn't been in the news cycles.
But it did fit the 600 quote, if they had the right tech. Although how they'd get that...]
We know that the Ingress harnesses a unique energy that has the ability to manipulate time and space. It works, and it serves as a jumping off point for trade and travel — but it still has faults, glitches — and that's what drags people here. The techs share a lot — everything they can. You can even get a job working alongside them, if you've got what it takes. Anything to help speed up the process.
In terms of numbers, there's thousands of people stranded, from thousands of different universes. There's even twins, doubles of people from parallel universes. Some people from the same universe don't recognize each other, because they've been pulled from somewhere different, before they ever met.
So — Vetra, right? — clearly you know me. Why don't you tell me a little about yourself?
no subject
Or call in someone who can hit it harder.
[Is she joking? Or do all turians have that deadpan snarker ability built into their DNA?]
[The rest is less easy to process. Way, way less. Alternate dimensions? Parallel universes? What kind of bullshit did they get dragged into this time?]
Guess I should count myself lucky I ran into Commander Shepard. And not her evil twin.
[OH IF ONLY YOU KNEW, GIRL.]
Who doesn't know who you are? [Seriously, Shepard.] Me? I'm just the person who makes deals to get the things you want, and shoots at the things you don’t.
no subject
Outstandingly lucky. [Delivered dryly, she'll leave it at that for now. Luckily for both of them, the clone probably wouldn't've picked up anyway — aliens, and all.]
And "just", huh? Pretty humble, considering. You sound like exactly the kind of person everyone likes to have around. [A fixer. Well, well. The black market was potentially alive and thriving, 2.5 million light years away. Naturally.]
And what drew you to join the Andromeda Initiative?
[It's a hell of a stretch, based on shaky assumptions — hell, she didn't even know a rough pull point for Vetra — but it wasn't like there was a hell of a lot of extra-galactic exploration projects going around. Barnard's galaxy, anyone? The Large Magellanic Cloud, perhaps?
But she'd recognized Shepard, and not historically. "I don't understand how you're way out here. We're six hundred years out." It wasn't just her being alive that was shocking — it was location.]
no subject
[But of course, there's the tone of someone trying to downplay that fact. Downplay the ah -- smuggling bit, to a Council Spectre. Even if they're not in the Milky Way, or the Heleus Cluster.]
[She shrugs, attention dropping to her omni-tool. Tapping a few keys. It looks that way, at least. But it's more of a deflection again.]
What draws anyone to a new place? New galaxy? Adventure. Right?
no subject
But the video was on. So instead, she nods gravely, allowing for a thin smile, letting the deflection slide. It was enough to work with for now, and she didn't need to ask everyone on arrival. Plenty of time.]
Right.
You're in luck, at least. No shortage of new experiences, here.
no subject
[The ocean was COLD and Vetra is a TURIAN thank you very much. And Shepard probably doesn't need to hear about how much turians hate the cold.]
[She looks back up again.]
So what do we have to work with here?