test drive meme 21

[savmods]

NOTE: The locations in this test drive are placeholders and do not fit with current game events. Due to ongoing changes as we shift to arc 3, contents of this test drive as they related to specific areas or activities are unfortunately not able to be incorporated as game canon, though if it is possible for a particular thread, you may assume conversations took place similarly in a different setting once the changeover happens ICly. Test drive threads may of course still be used for application samples!

--

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 robotic medical tech is always present to explain what’s happened in a rote fashion, though his programming does not permit him to answer specific questions. He provides some clothing, a TAB, and a guide that explains the basics of Ingress travel and why you are here. Outside the room, you'll find you're on a space station that is staffed only by other robots; the only other organics there are those who recently arrived with you, or perhaps your predecessors, who are strolling the halls in search of an observation deck or the tech they've been sent here to fix. Why not introduce yourself and say hello?

---

phanos

* The planet Phanos is not as it was during the last visit there. Storms of dark energy swirl across the sections of the world, though they do not yet overwhelm it. The temperature is cooler now, but sandstorms still kick up with great frequency, making cooperation an important part of survival as groups make their way across the landscape, investigating the changes. The pyramid forest remains, but the griffins who live there now venture farther down from their nests, and around a third of them have been twisted by the storms' energies into even more aggressive, monstrous versions of what they once were. Do not take one on alone, or it may be your last mistake.

* Inside one of the tallest pyramids, the lab remains intact, and rumors speak of a locked chamber in its heart that contains valuable material—but is that in the technological sense, or does it hold something monetarily precious in the right market? Maybe you don't care and you're just nosy. Either way, the vault is sealed away behind a series of complicated sliding puzzles that have just one catch—they are not possible to solve without two people operating the locking station. Are you here with a friend? If not, better hope the next guy to come along has a sharp mind for this stuff.

---

OUT OF CHARACTER INFO

FAQ | LOCATIONS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS | NAVIGATION

Comments

peter quill | mcu

[sonywalkman]

[ Nosy is, of course, the name of the game. (Except that would be a pretty lame name, so for his sake, he hopes that's more of a metaphor than it is literal.) In any case, it doesn't take much rumour at all to convince Peter to take a look inside the pyramid.

(After all, what is this compared to saving the galaxy, right? A cakewalk, that's what.)

He finds his way into the structure without much incident, but the darkness and foreign nature of it is enough to convince him to switch on his mask for good measure. Because those pinpoints of glowing red light in the distance aren't ominous at all, right? Equipped like this, he stalks farther in without company (or really much thought for it). The only downside is that no one is around to appreciate his snotty references to old David Bowie movies.

But he's definitely in the final act here, isn't he? Just missing the best part of said movie: where exactly is David Bowie when you need him?

The question lingers to the tune of Dance Magic Dance through those dark, horribly confusing corridors...up until he approaches what looks like an equally horribly complicated lock. At least the rumours led up to something, huh?

However, try as he might, he can't get the puzzle to work. Just when he thinks he's slid something into the right order, the rest changes, and there's a long string of muttered cursing in a variety of languages, some that don't even sound human. Another attempt only earns a loudly exclaimed: ]

Sonuva--

[intrepiding]

[ Anywhere is better than being outside with those... whatever they were. Sure were some ugly ass cats and Kirk was not looking to be their mouse. Goggles pulled down to around his neck, he keeps his phaser handy, unsure of what he would find inside the pyramid. Already it seemed more familiar than the outside. But better safe than sorry.

Kirk gets lost a few times but when he's close enough to hear a voice, he follows it. May not lead him out of the maze but at least he'd have someone to question. Plus, two heads better than one, etc.

There's relief as he manages to find his way out and spots someone trying to... looks like some kind of combination lock. Or puzzle acting as a lock. It would line up with all the rumors he heard about this place.

He takes a gamble in putting his phaser in his holster as he approaches the guy but if they are a friend he doesn't want to create any misunderstandings. Once he's closer, he calls out, ]

Hey. Need some help?

[yondu]

Still havin' a go at it alone, ain'tcha Quill?

[Who is particularly good at crashing parties? Especially ones Peter Quill is attending? One sad sack of a pain in the ass, Yondu Udonta, who speaks to Peter from behind as he watches him galavant down the damn corridor. The fin, though, is one from before the revolt. The attitude one of a man who's still a little riled that this boy pulled a fast one on him.]

[Okay, he might have been impressed by the stunt too, but there's no good in inflating Quill's ego more than necessary and making him think he can get away with that.]

What are you doin' here?

[Well, logically he knows why he's here. Ingress, this and that, needed money, blah blah, but asking is almost obligation to make him explain himself. Like a relex or muscle memory. See Peter? Also see what fresh hell he's making.]

Re: peter quill | mcu

[aka_pistachio]

[It was stupid to leave the ship thing and stupid to wander around and really stupid to enter the frickin’ alien pyramid but she isn’t dead yet, at least.

Unless this is some kind of afterlife. In which case none of it would make a difference.

And somebody in this thing is playing Bowie. So maybe all the stupid things added up to a quadruple negative and she ended up doing something smart. She’s pretty sure that’s how Wes manages to make his way through life, anyway.

She follows the sound of that song from Labyrinth, the part where they throw the baby around. It all feels a little on the nose. There’s probably some kind of goblin king hiding in this thing.

She finds… somebody. Possibly a goblin king, although with much baggier pants and not nearly as much glitter. Real life is never as great as Bowie life. There’s red glowing light coming from somewhere on its face and she very nearly pees her pants when the person… alien… goblin… thing curses at the door.

But the alien goblin with the glowing face is listening to Bowie and speaking English. It’s not much to go on, but it’s enough. She tucks some stray hair back and stands up straight. All 5’2” of her, anyway.]

Hey. Uh. Need some help?

peter maximoff | x-men cinematic

[quickfingers]

☈ ingress complex

[So this is uh... definitely a thing.

Peter's handling it spectacularly well, all things considered. But the jury is still out on whether his composure is intentional or just a byproduct of the stunning transition that just occurred. One second you're chilling at Xavier's academy and then the next you feel like you're staring on an episode of The Twilight Zone. He's absorbed about as much of the explanations as he can grasp, holding the TAB absently and finds the whole process creepier the longer it drags on.

The only thing that's really bothering him is a bout of lingering vertigo that puts a rather abrupt ending to his thoughts of scoping out this place once he was dressed and on his feet. Nearly wiping out (more than once,) has him staying at average speeds with a bit of a lean on solid surfaces as he gets his bearings. He'll recover quickly enough, but not without perhaps bumping into a few people accidentally, murmuring an apology.

After one particularly close-call and near collision, he pauses to pinch at the bridge of his nose and rub at his eyes with a disgruntled noise.] Yeah, sure. Let's have a headache now too, that's great. Super helpful.

[Said with a "just kill me" tone:] Like it can get any worse.

☈ network - text

so like... does this count as alien abduction?

it's pretty close to what I've heard and all (minus any probing - please doooon't tell me if there was any, I'd rather be blissfully unaware thanks) but I better get something better than a t-shirt out of this. I'm thinking of starting a club, let me know if you're in or not. (technically we're all in but whatever I'm not making a thousand badges here)

Thought to make it extra deep: aren't we technically the "aliens" now? Food for thought.

Related to that (and more importantly,) speaking of food: where get, where buy, where eat?

☈ misc

[hmu with something else if you like! wiiiiiiildcard.]

network - peter, ffs

[welcomeprofessor]

Would a t-shirt make you feel better?

ingress

[greyate]

[ It's pretty much in passing that she hears him, that familiar voice. One she was sure by this point she wouldn't hear again. Not unless she found a way back home. She stops short in her steps before turning to look behind her. She sees the silver hair and her heart skips.

No freakin' way. ]

Peter?

[ She blurts it out before she can stop herself. ]

ingress

[coercive]

[Laura strongly resembles a drowned cat that's cool with it's fate. She's not wet, but still looks out of sorts, her hair going every which direction. After her experience in getting stuck with super speeds for a while, she isn't exactly phased by him nearly running her over. But she's definitely arching an eyebrow and observing him carefully. ]

It will always get worse.

[Not can. Will.

She's got a pretty crappy outlook on life still, but at least she isn't yelling at him for going too fast.]

[seeingscarlet]

[This time he didn't almost barrel into her at top speed, but in a way that's almost more concerning. Still, he looks to be in one piece, and he's here again, and--]

Peter?

[--when she gets closer, she can see that he looks older. Maybe this isn't her Peter after all.]

Are you all right? Did they hurt you?

network

[specifications]

Yes.
Yes.
Depends on what you want to eat.

network; SCREE

[shadowblends]

you're technically right about us being 'aliens.'
regarding the food situation, why don't we start with what you might like to eat?

jim kirk | star trek aos

[intrepiding]

ingress;

[ It wouldn't be the first time he's been left stranded planet-side. But it would be the first time he can't get in contact with his crew at all. At first, he could've sworn he had woken up in Yorktown. Somehow passed out after being pulled into the vessel with Spock and Bones. It looked enough like it -- at first glance. Closer inspection showed it was not Yorktown. Not even close. And then he was told what happened. After learning about time travel through black holes, this Ingress business wasn't the strangest thing he had ever heard. Just a little concerning when he had left his crew in the aftermath of a space station almost destroyed.

When it's pretty damn clear he can't get in touch with anyone and that Starfleet isn't anything they are familiar with, Kirk decides to head out. Getting a lay of the land is the best thing he can do (along with the only thing he can do at the moment).

He tries to watch where he's going as he makes his way through the crowd but if he bumps into anyone, he'll give a polite if distracted, ]

Sorry. Excuse me.


phanos;

[ He was glad he kept the goggles on him, he needed them on this planet. It reminded him of all those pictures he saw of Ancient Egypt. Except, well, more. And a whole lot darker. The storms weren't welcoming and the creatures outside the pyramids even less so. They look like mutated panthers. With wings?

Yeah, sure. Why not?

That's what he says to himself as he gets his phaser out and starts running. He can almost hear Bones yelling at him about how insane he is and it makes him laugh. At least until he's trying to jump from one cliff to another. He manages to grab the other one but he's sliding quick. ]

Shit.

[ Why does he keep doing stupid shit like this?

Habit. ]


wildcard;

[ hit me up yo ]

ingress

[aka_pistachio]

[Water would be good, but Kelly Ann’s going to have to find some kind of water fountain or something. The robots could probably tell her where to find it but talking to robots is really fucking weird. The other people could probably tell her, but a lot of them look really fucking weird and most of them seem to know each other already and she was never really great at that breaking the ice thing. So she keeps wandering, hoping to stumble across it on her own.

She needs to do something to excuse the fact that she’s standing in the middle of a crowd, not talking to anybody. so she decides to start fiddling with the cellphone thing. Tab. Maybe there’s some kind of music on it?

Success! Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk”. Maybe not the best thing to listen to when you’re already on-edge but better than nothing. And music is always a better ice breaker than anything she manages to come up with on her own.

It isn’t even through the entire first drum riff before somebody bumps into her from behind. She yelps in surprise and almost drops the device.]

Oh, hey. It’s ok. I just sort of… stopped in the middle everything, I guess.

[He’s not as weird-looking as some of the others, though his clothes look like some kind of costume for a Mark Mothersbaugh concept album video. She realizes that means he fits in better with this… wherever they are than she does in her ripped jeans and old t-shirt. Screwing up all the nerve she has left, she decides to ask him.]

Do you know where I can get a drink? Like, water, I mean. [Anything but Tab.] I mean, soda would be fine but I’d rather water. Like, craft services or a convenience store? A vending machine? [Anything!]

Laura | xmu

[coercive]

[Phanos. She should've gone to find the others from the Ingress complex but she made her way here instead. It feels important to do it, even if she isn't sure why.

The scents here are all wrong. She can't pick up on anyone she knows, and she wonders if that's because she's been through the Ingress one too many times or they're all gone. Ignoring the pressing sense of urgency to find someone familiar, she moves forward through the sand. The winds are picking up and sand is starting to fly. She knows she needs to get inside the pyramid that's looming in the distance.

If she's encountered there, she'll be easy to get to stop. While the swirling sand seems to irritate her, she'll be remarkably chill for an eleven year old making her way through a raging sandstorm alone. She also doesn't really seem all that bothered by a griffin that's peering down at her menacingly from its nest.

If she's not encountered outside, she'll be found later inside the pyramid. She's explored plenty and has found the puzzle that needs to be solved. Growling lowly at it, her claws extend. A curse is given under her breath in Spanish, and she tries to count to ten in her head and not lose her temper. Her father has worked hard to teach her something close to patience.

When the sound of someone else in the area fills her senses, she abruptly turns around. The claws retract with a snikt and she points.]

¡Míralo! Look! You will help?

[specifications]

[ Much like with dreamsharing, planet-hopping wasn't something Arthur could just stop doing while the option was still available to him. Was he expecting for the desert planet to be this bad? Not even close. He finally feels like he finally breathe again once he's inside the pyramid.

He hears a voice and growling and wonders what the hell it is. The voice sounds young... frustrated. When he's close enough he can see there's just a child. The claws make him step back but she isn't attacking him so that's good.

He understands Spanish but wonders if she's like Charles and the others. He looks where she's pointing and nods as he walks forward. It looks like a puzzle. ]

Sí. ¿Cómo se llama usted?

[welcomeprofessor]

[ He shouldn't be out here. That's a simple, given statement. The terrain leading to the pyramids is unforgiving (though thankfully not as harsh as it could have been, or what he's seen recently), but he pushes through it anyway, feeling a draw he can't quite describe in terms that would sound in any way reasoned or...well, sane.

There are snippets of voices, overheard from minds tangential and simply in given proximity, but he tunes the majority out and pushes them aside. Places like this have enough ghosts of their own, he doesn't need to add to them.

And yet, he continues to slowly follow that pull, wheelchair still lightly protesting from its earlier contact with sand, until he can hear that quiet, frustrated growl. It sparks light concern, easily too pushed aside...at least until he hears that tell-tale sound of retracting metal and his eyes go wide. He follows it around the immediate corner, and finds-- ]

Laura?

[el_paso]

[ Welp, this seems to be the place. As a general rule, Logan doesn't really like labs, but he's here for a job, not to play tourist. There's a fresh, bloodied set of tears that run wicked up his sleeve, but they don't trouble him- the wounds beneath are already healed. Fucking griffins.

There in the entryway, perusing his TAB again for instructions, he can still hear the dull rumble of the storm outside, the hum of energy in the lab...and then a very, very familiar young voice that stops him cold.

It can't be. It can't, but under the scent of steel, muddled experiments, too long gone to properly identify, and slow neglect, there's blood and grass and hot sunshine cut against a razor of adamantium.

His voice his hoarse, and suddenly small, charged with hopeful disbelief: ]

Laura?

[shadowblends]

[An all too familiar snikt reaches his ears before Laura's words do. His head turns in a too quick manner, iridescent eyes squinting in a rather skeptical manner.]

... Laura, [the azure-skinned teen finally manages, a broad smile splitting his features. He's (almost) one hundred percent positive that's her!] Logan's going to be thrilled to see you. [If he's anywhere nearby, they might have already met, though Kurt can't be certain about that.

He spares a glance to the item in her hands, tips his head to the side then turns to look where she's pointing. There's a moment where he falls absolutely silent, scrutinizing the other half of the puzzle.] I'm not sure how much help I'll be, but ja, you got it!

sans | undertale

[skelepun]

[There's an old saying in the underground; if you wanted something protected, puzzles were as good as a lock and key. Of course, that wasn't really true. Where locks just sat there, rusting over, puzzles practically invited people to solve them. Back home they went from security measure to tradition, providing a diversion for monsters too young to remember their original purpose.

Still, if you wanted something protected...

Getting into the pyramid was easy. Once he heard the rumors, Sans couldn't resist poking around. It could've been a part of the Ingress. It could've been some fuel. It could've been a pile of rubber chickens (if he could be so lucky...). Hell, Sans would've settled for the Meaning of Friendship. He was easy to impress.]

Huh. [The first locked door was almost pretty -- round interlocking designs muddying each other in a confusing mess. Sans laid a bony palm against the widest circle, trying to move it. It didn't.] Welp.

[Another old monster saying: When the universe blocks off a puzzle, it opens a small business.

... Okay, that one was less a monster saying and more a Sans original. Either way, whoever comes through next will see a skeleton sitting by the base of the puzzle door, looking lifeless save for a few scattered snores. A cardboard sign is balanced in his lap, advertising his services in crude script:]

hints....5000G
guesses....8000G
inklings....10000G
lies....1G

[It's a living.]

[coercive]

[It's a skeleton.

A skeleton with a sign. Laura stops walking and looks utterly perplexed by this. His sign doesn't make much of any sense to her but she still reads it anyway. Her reading skills are slow thanks to being locked away her entire life but she eventually manages. And what she reads makes her snort.]

You think people will pay for lies?

[She's half not expecting the skeleton to answer.]

Leonard Snart | DCTV

[perfectlychill]

[When Snart heard that there was a locked door, and that there was something valuable behind it, there was only one possible course of action to take.

He was going to steal it.

After five minutes working on one of the puzzles, he comes to the conclusion that he needs a partner for this job. A partner or a chump, either way, so long as he gets a second pair of hands that he can direct.

And there's another pair of hands coming right now, attached to a shipmate. Snart sidles up to them, his head tilted and voice a slow, nasal drawl.]

I don't know about you, but I really want to see what's behind door number one here. You interested?

[magneticfields]

[There was something off about the thing. It was maddening. He could feel all the metal, but he could not manipulate it. The full force of his power brought down upon it only elicited a slight tremble. He could operate it well enough with his hands, but that was it. And he could only work one lock at a time, so unlocking it on his own was out of the question. A full circuit of the structure revealed no other way in, and whatever was being used to block his abilities was all over the area.

Adding to his frustration, when he returned to the lock (the first lock he had encountered since awakening in this strange place, and thus the lock he was committed to opening) somebody else had found it as well.

Erik eyed the other man. He had an aura of something very much unlike respectability. Which was promising, at least. And he apparently couldn’t read minds, always a plus.]

It seems determined to make us work together. As much as I dislike the manipulative tactics, it appears we have no other choice.

erik lehnsherr | xmu

[magneticfields]

[His first thought, even with all the robotic explanations, and the strange little gadget they gave him, and the clothing which was of much better quality than any prison uniform he had ever encountered, was that this was, in fact, yet another prison.

He touched the wall, and was soon comforted by the familiar thrum of metal, the pulse of it singing through his fingertips. If it was a prison, his jailers knew little about him.

How much did he even know of himself? Such questions were troublesome, and a distraction. The first goal was to find a way out of the structure he had been placed in without his knowledge or consent.

He emerged from the Ingress, blinking in the harsh light. Not knowing what to expect, he had dressed in layers. This instinct was reinforced by the chill wind, sending particles of stinging dust through the air. He squinted against it. His dark, perfectly tailored clothing, lean form, and wary posture suggested nothing so much as some large feline predator.

Turning, his gaze landed on the pyramids. He went still, the sight triggering a memory that was not his. The sight rang in his ears, a high-pitched whine that drowned out the sound of the wind.

He blinked and shook his head.]

Strange.

so abt those pyramids buddy

[welcomeprofessor]

[ If someone were to actually ask Charles why in god's name he's out here, he might, at this juncture, leave it up to said god--it doesn't even matter which, whether one familiar or as alien as the landscape--to answer that for him. By all rights, he really shouldn't be: the terrain is hell on his chair, the sand is hell on his hair, the weather is hell on...everything else.

It seems a strange thing--a stupid thing, really--to leave that up to whim to dictate. This isn't necessarily something he wants, but something he's drawn to instead. It isn't quite explicable, or even reasonable, but he's here and committed to it now. Maybe it's some half memory he doesn't have. Rumours of things he should remember (things even his students seem to recall but he can't). Raven's once-adamant insistence that Cairo would be where everything changed. There's always been enough mystery in ancient cultures, and the study thereof, that his interest is piqued at least, and maybe that's enough.

The consideration and pondering of that draw don't seem to matter much, however, when in the course of trying to find some meager resource against the wind and sand, it isn't just a vague pull that holds his attention, but something in his mind that rings all too familiar. At first, he brushes it off (this can't be right), then squints into the wind, as if that will change anything. Finally, when there's nothing left for his denial but to confirm it, he approaches, rough terrain and all. ]

Strange isn't the half of it.

[ Which is said as he realizes there's no room left for doubt at all. ]

kelly ann | roadies

[aka_pistachio]

ingress complex

[This is crazy.

And not in a “caught the stalker groupie masturbating with The Boss’s mic” crazy kind of way or “Phil’s body taxidermied in a forever hug” kind of way but in a what the fuck is going on what happened to me am I going fucking crazy or was I actually fucking abducted kind of way.

The nurse… robot… things treats her for shock until she isn’t cold and shaking anymore. She still feels like she was going to puke, but there isn’t enough in her stomach to actually produce anything. So she focuses on breathing in through her nose, out through her mouth every time she starts heaving.

Spending so much time on the road teaches you a few tricks, after all.

Legs still shaky, she pushes herself off the metal… medical… cot… thing. The room is empty, except for the robot things. They give her some clothes. Distressed jeans, Chucks, an old tour t-shirt that is worn soft as pajamas. But not her jeans. Not her Chucks. Not her t-shirt. What the fuck? She pulls her hair back in a messy bun and goes into the hall. Somewhere, she could hear voices.

After so many years of tour buses and back stages and green rooms and signings, the feeling of being utterly alone is the worst part. Whatever the ship… hospital… thing is made out of, it makes the acoustics all weird and echoey. She listenesfor a while, and then goes in the direction that she thinks she can hear the voices.]

H-hello?

[She remembers the little cellphone… pager… thing. Tab? Like the soda? Her mouth goes dry, and she doesn’t even like tab.]

network - text

Hi. This is awkward. Does anybody know where we are? Or where I could get something to drink?

a good frog

[wallride]

a. guess who's back, back again

[it takes about three seconds for lúcio to get his bearings when he's unceremoniously spat out of the ingress. he only stumbles slightly, looking around then sighing with a strange mix of defeat and fondness.]

You still doin' this stuff, huh?

[said to the ingress, before he quickly checks over himself to make sure none of his gear broke on the entry then... decides to have a look around. if anyone comes near him, he's definitely going to flag them down.]

Hey-- [he calls out.] Do you remember the Moira? That name ring any bells to you? I'm looking for the crew.

b. network - voice

Hello, hello! My name's Lúcio-- I don't know if anyone here knows me, I was with a bunch of people who fell through the Ingress a while ago. Crew from the Moira. Any of ya'll know 'em?

[his tone is only a little pleading.]

Thanks!

wildcarddddddddddddddd

[CUT THE BRAKE BITCHES]

B

[justice_from_above]

Yes, I think I might be familiar with a few of them. [A little sass for you, Lúcio! Can you hear the smile in her voice, because it is there and it is big! It's always a blessing and a curse; things aren't exactly a fun, soothing vacation over here, but hearing a good friend's return certainly picks her spirits up.]

How have you been? You must tell me everything!

Matt Holt | Voltron: Legendary Defender

[theotherholt]

[Heck yeah, puzzles! Matt loves puzzles. He was always the best at them, even when they took literal hours to complete, requiring all his skill and concentration. He was a...very socially awkward child, okay, and puzzles don't judge you for being a nerd.

It doesn't take him too long to realize that these aren't one-person puzzles, though. Someone has to touch there and press here and slide this bit and one human doesn't have that many limbs. Most aliens don't have that many limbs. Still, he'll quietly make a fool of himself for a bit, running back and forth to try and beat the system until he's panting softly, out of breath.

Help him.]

/SCREAMING

[pidge_out]

[Puzzles, FUCK YEAH! Except someone else seems to have beaten Pidge to the punch here, which makes her frown a little bit as she approaches... until she notices the way they're frantically running around to solve the thing. Her brow furrows slightly and she squints at all the things he's moving around, already trying to figure out what the deal here is.]

I think... you might need an extra set of hands there.