tdm 14

[hohnkai]

T E S T D R I V E

Survival is the exception "living is an act of courage." THROUGH THE INGRESS The Ingress has pulled you in. Your body experiences 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 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. Once equilibrium has been reestablished, you will notice you are standing on a rocky planet. Former crew of the Moira are there to greet you, and it’s a grim message they have to share. The Moira has crashed and is beyond repair, but there’s good news... the destination the crew has been heading towards for over a year? You’re standing on it. But before you get into exploration and survival, it’s best to deal with the effects of coming through a broken Ingress. ☄ slip and trip find your footing fast Coming through the Ingress has left your character with one of three changes - an age slip, a form of body horror, or an extreme weakness. The first, the age slip, will mean that the character is either older or younger and this change can’t be rectified during their first month in game. The second, body horror, comes in the form of an alteration to the character's body due to whatever they were carrying at the time they came through. If they were wearing a watch, it’s now fused to their wrist, clothes are permanent, knifes replace fingers, and many other alterations (anything goes) and it lasts the first month as well. The third, extreme weakness, can be a mental or physical decrease - weaker arms, legs, or the weaker ability to talk or do math. ooc: the choice of change is up to each player and this prompt can be game canon. ☄ introductions aren’t awkward as long as you don’t shake their hand too long A new planet. Physical and mental changes. Talk of a ship that crashed and a Hub that is home to the ‘creators’ of a technology you’ve never heard of. A lot is happening and the best way to sort through it is by getting to know the Moira’s crew. They’ll help you settle in and get you any care you might need, all the while informing you that the group is on its way to the center of the hub. Something that might seem mundane is an absolute necessity for survival. Ask a seasoned space traveling veteran for answers and guidance. ooc: this prompt can be game canon. ☄ dealer's choice just make the right one Characters have the option of coming through an Ingress that is any possible location on this planet. It can be inside a cave, at the top of a rock formation, etc. This means you can have your character have to climb or slide down, have them yelling for help, and have other characters see them and come to their aid. Your character's arrival is completely up to you, and since this is a unique situation that hasn't happened before, go nuts with it! ooc: this prompt can be game canon. OUT OF CHARACTER INFO FAQ | LOCATIONS | RESERVES | APPLICATIONS | NAVIGATION For mature or graphic content, please label. For questions, please direct them to the FAQ. As always, be kind and have fun!

Comments

[farmboyjedi]

"They're reptiles. Don't move much, but they block the Force." He replied. "They tend to get carried around on nutrient frames by beings fighting Jedi. Had to fight my way through a night in a forest full of them once with a woman who kept saying she was going to kill me as soon as we got out of there. Not a great experience. Anyway, they're usually my first suspects when I can't feel the Force."

He sighed. "Trouble is it means my wife and son are probably worried sick not being able to sense me. Leia too..." He wished he could somehow tell everyone he was all right.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[There's a lot to unpack in that explanation, enough that Anakin lets the simple explanation of Force-blocking aliens slide. They are what they are, but being a part of a galaxy whole and separate from this awful one they're caught in, their existence--as interesting (and frustrating) as it would be in the moment--does nothing to explain the current predicament.

There's enough in the rest of it that rankles all on its own. Which is not insomuch the people he mentions, even given his fractured relationship with his daughter when she had been here, but the fact--the very inarguable fact--that he's missed more than an entire lifetime here. An entire lifetime twice the span of his own, a harrowing, impossible thing to swallow around, where the hurt of it winds its way around his insides like a serpent and pulls.

There's not a way around it. No apology than can make up for lost time, let alone fifty years of it.

He sighs.]

Luke, I don't think that has anything to do with this...place. We're not anywhere near home. Even when the Force is present, it doesn't...reach that far.

[farmboyjedi]

[Luke can tell that his father is dealing with a lot, and that it's taking a bit for him to deal with all of this. It's the same for him, really. And he just keeps finding out more strange things.]

Do you mean like another part of the universe? It's all so confusing. I know I can sense certain things even on the other side of the galaxy, but I do understand how it could be harder if we're in a far away place. I think. It's hard to make sense of it all.

[ex_forcechoke292]

I mean-- [He starts, only to pause and regard the boy in front of him; if he'd had a mirror that showed himself at twelve...Force, he'd never imagined they'd look that much alike. Leia seemed to have gotten all of her mother to herself. He sighs quietly, and nods back in the way of the small gathering of Moira survivors. There isn't anything left out here of value.]

It's another universe entirely. Like...like wild space, just farther away. There isn't any turning around and just going home.

[At least not in any permanent way, nothing that makes sense to explain concisely. He's seen visions of home plenty, broken pieces of it melded together across timelines in a way that never should have been possible. But the Ingress isn't home, and as far as everyone here is concerned, there's no simple way to go back willingly. And who knows what's happened to those who've disappeared.]

[farmboyjedi]

[Luke has never thought much about the idea of alternate universes, though he will become more convinced while he's here.]

I knew I felt something was off when the stuff with the contract and all that came up. Like it wasn't the whole truth. But I do still think the Force must have brought us together for a reason. I hope something good will still happen, even though I don't like being trapped very much.

And hopefully we'll somehow find something that can help us find a way home.

[He wonders about his father though. Might Anakin be better here than at home? But will history change if he is stuck here? If they both are?]

[ex_forcechoke292]

[History, as he sees it, really has no bearing here anymore. None of what has happened in his time with the Moira has followed the narrative he's been presented as correct, vetted, and unavoidable. He knows too much. And if, Force willing, he's given the chance, "history" can take a back seat to how much he plans to instill Justice.

He gives a small shrug. Nothing he has is good news for this sort of optimism. Especially not when it's such a struggle to find and understand it himself. Without the Force's attempt at helping him keep his emotions at an even keel (as futile as the attempt may often seem), the worry and despair has settled in with barely any adjustment period. They're not unfamiliar sentiments, but it's rarely so all-encompassing like this.

It brings him an uncomfortable step closer back to that toxic, depressive mindset of Leia's revelation. And however much he wishes he could move away from the knowledge that not only can he fail, but that he's meant to, it's difficult to feign the necessary positivity to not simply let the truth fall between them.]

It's been almost two years, Luke. [If he has his timing right, anyway. If time even means the same thing out here as it does back home. That's still up for debate.] I'm not sure getting any of us home has ever been a priority.

[farmboyjedi]

Wow.

It's not hard to imagine. Whoever brought us here probably has power that we can't begin to imagine...There were things they told me about, papers they said everyone got, but I had a strong suspicion the whole truth wasn't told. And they probably only care about whatever reason they had or whatever they intend to accomplish.

[It reminds him a bit of the Empire, really. Only probably much more powerful. They didn't care either about who they manipulated or used or who got hurt. They only cared about what it accomplished in the end.]

I do want to get back to my family, and I'll keep trying to find a way if it's possible. I guess all we can do for now is to keep trying to survive, a day at a time. Find a way to make it through. A lot like back home, actually...things've been pretty rough there, too.

[ex_forcechoke292]

[It's a strange speech to get from a seeming twelve-year-old,and the fact that it's not what it looks like is something he has to keep reminding himself of, especially now, without an obvious voice of inner judgment.

The Force is never a nursemaid. No, but he feels lost and close to non-functional without it, like he's relearning how to form words all over again.]

Let me guess, middle of a war?

[Because "pretty rough" is usually what that equates to. He can tackle that whole "wife and son" bit when his brain can process his son as...well, something other than a twelve-year-old boy. And then maybe he can tackle what's happened to Leia's son too, especially when through all of this information, it hasn't come up once.

Something that heavy should.

Right now, however, that isn't the point. They need better shelter, for one, and to find a way for Luke to reorient himself at the very least. Family legacy can take a back seat. Especially if he's been dead through most of it already.]

[farmboyjedi]

[Luke nods.] End of a war, but close enough. But it wasn't galactic factions this time, it was trying to keep the galaxy from being conquered by a race from outside. We'd just finally brought it to an end before I was pulled into here. Things were starting to look up, but we still had a long way to go to rebuild.

The whole family was hit hard...I almost lost my wife while she was pregnant, Leia did lose one of her children...we've just been surviving a day at a time for a while. It's good to finally see a light in the darkness, but it definitely takes its toll.

[He knows there will be more to say later, but though he isn't reading his father's thoughts, he does share the belief that they need to find a place to shelter and he needs to get settled. There'll be time for more details later on.]

[ex_forcechoke292]

[It's already more said than he knows how to process. There's a lifetime in there he knows nothing of, and he doesn't know where to start. His son is married, he's a grandfather more than twice over apparently, and how is he supposed to connect to this when his daughter had only seen so adamant about his continued culpability in something he can't ever do anything to pay penance for.

He's wanted this family ever since he could remember, and now that the possibility sits right in front of him, he's at a complete loss of how to deal with it, let alone mend the gaping holes that lay bare both in the span of time between them and in the wounds ripped open the last time he'd tried.

Right now, no, maybe he can't make it too much worse. At least not without a hefty degree of moral disconnect. But are they always going to be walking a line of never getting better?]

I'm sorry. [And that's all he can think to say for a long moment. It's too much to digest, but if it's overwhelming for him, there's no way it's any easier to understand first-hand. He nods off in the direction of the rest of the Moira's encampment, and only follows up once they start making progress.]

What did you mean one of Leia's children? She's only ever had one.

[And somehow he's missed the most important part of his own explanation. Whoops.]

[farmboyjedi]

[Luke nods] It's all right. It's been tough, but maybe, if we're lucky, things will start to improve.

[He's distracted by his father's next reply.]

No...she had three.

[If he'd said two, Luke would think that maybe it was between the twins and Anakin. But, one? ]

The first two are twins. Jacen and Jaina. They're almost grown now...both Jedi Knights. The third one, their younger brother...she named him after you. Anakin Solo. He was the one we lost.

[Luke had a lot of feelings about Anakin, his nephew, that weighed on him, but he didn't think now was the time for all of it. His mind turned back to the confusion.]

I wonder about something...you said Leia had one son. I wonder if it's what you said, coming into play. Two timelines. Maybe it isn't just this place that's in another universe. It's hard to imagine...alternate versions of everyone and everything...but honestly, nothing's surprising me anymore. Maybe the Leia who was here was from the other world.

I don't care where you come from, though...I don't think it matters much. You're still my father, either way. And I'm still glad to be here with you.