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nolandspam2020-04-04 04:35 pm
TEST DRIVE MEME 1
IF BOTH CHARACTERS APP IN AND AGREE, THREADS USING PROMPT 1 CAN BE COUNTED AS GAME CANON.
PLEASE READ THE FAQ TO DECIDE YOUR ORGANIC FORM BEFORE POSTING!
You awake laying on your back in an, admittedly comfortable, pod. You can't move anything but your eyes, can't even feel your body yet. How you got here or why is a blank. You may have been in the middle of your day, asleep, or even- for what you remember- should be dead. Then a screen directly in front of your face flickers to life and in crisp, black and white displays: DON'T PANIC. The following video then plays:
The screen flickers again and reads: CONGRATULATIONS ON PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! WELCOME TO VAULT LIFE, CITIZEN. WELCOME TO YEAR: [ERROR]. YOUR PERSONAL BELONGINGS ARE LOCATED IN [FILE CORRUPTED. SEE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR]. ENJOY YOUR STAY AND THANK YOU FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT VAULT-TEC.
The pod then unseals and you are able to, unstably at first, climb out of the pod. Your body may feel foreign for a moment- perhaps entirely foreign if you suddenly find yourself a human, ghoul, or super mutant for the first time. But whatever your form, you have two items on: a bright blue jumpsuit with the number 66 in yellow on the back, and a mechanical device known as a Pip-boy sealed onto your arm. If you click on the buttons it takes you to an instruction screen.
You look around to find yourself in a room of other pods. Some are just opening, other people looking as confused as you climbing out. Others remain closed with the status of 'STASIS' on the screens attached to the pods. The rest of the room is less than impressive. Computer systems that seem out of place compared to the technology level of the pods are scattered across the room, apparently running the chambers. Trying to access them, even for the most talented hacker, will simply result in SEE OVERSEER being displayed. There is large metal door leading to the rest of the vault, a lever on the wall next to it that will cause it to open.
Welcome, dweller, to vault 66.
The living quarters of the vault leave something to be desired. Like non-moldy bedding or fewer skeletons and less blood on the walls. It's clear that whatever happened to the last occupants of the vault, whoever they were, it wasn't exactly a peaceful end. The medical wing has some of the worst blood splatter...but that at least you can pretend was from needed medical interventions. Right?
At the moment, the entire vault is run only on emergency generators, creating dull, flickering light throughout the underground base. None of the computers are working yet, and what appear to be three robots are powered-down in various corners of the vault. There's only you and the people that woke up with you now.
Despite this, there's some hope. There's clean, if very mineral tasting, water in the sinks, toilets, and showers. There's a pool table if someone can relax enough for a game and doesn't mind the fact it looks like a pool cue shoved in the eye socket may have caused the death of a couple of the skeletons laying around. Further, on exploring the kitchen there's even some food! It's all pre-apocalypse, hyper preserved canned goods and sugary cereals that somehow haven't gone bad yet, but it's something.
Those willing to explore a little more will find they are not alone in the vault. In the shadows created by the flickering lights or outside of the range of the light of your pip-boy, there is skittering. The noise isn't noticeable when there are groups of people, but get down to three or two and it's impossible to ignore. If you don't run away, you'll eventually come across groups of foot long radroaches, gigantic cockroaches that are ready for some fresh food for once. And it looks like you're on the menu. Hopefully you've got one of those pool cues or found a wrench or some other weapon, because it's gonna take more than a stomp to take these guys out.
It's been a few days since everyone got out of the pods and started settling in. Louis, the 'Mr. Handy' robot in charge of cooking, can power up for whole hours at a time now. While he's recharging again now, he did make quite a feast beforehand. A whole cake, some tasty cola, and even grilled meat (if you helped kill the radroaches, you know where that meat came from). He even found some old party decorations that, once upon a time, were supposed to be used when the vault was unsealed and everyone allowed to leave. Everyone waking up is close enough, the robot had claimed, and hung the streamers and balloons throughout the rec area. There are even party hats, for the particularly festive.
The party lasts a good hour before the price for relaxing is paid: the emergency power flickers once, twice, then shuts down. Worse, the constant hum of the air vents you hadn't even really notice until now stops, leaving the vault in total silence and darkness. Only the pod room has any energy left, and all of that must be used to keep those still in stasis alive.
Repairs are going to have to be made.
((OOC: feel free to make assumptions and go wild with repairing the reactor or the emergency power supply. It's a TDM, mod approval not needed for anything)).
Post text or audio messages to the pip-boy network to get to know your fellow dwellers!
Arrival
[There's something oddly comforting about hearing someone talk about Murderworld and Arcade, even if those concepts aren't really comforting in themselves. At least someone knows what's up, kind of.]
The vault thing puts me in the mind of a couple of baddies, though. Are you alright?
[Silly question, given the circumstances, but who knows how the pods they were in had affected anyone.]
no subject
[Wasn't great, but it beats waking up from being dead. Repeatedly.]
How about you?
[If that sounds awkward, he's still not the best at interacting with people. He's got...friends in Houston, but you spend a decade or so as a brooding angsty grimdark person and your social skills aren't great even if people force you to use them.]
And who's on your list of assholes that do this kind of thing?
no subject
[It is, she knows, something of a shallow reply, but it was also a reply that let the deeper part of her mind process everything that was going on around her. Playing that card has helped Rachel out more times than she can possibly count.]
Well, Mojo's out. Could have been a couple of jerks calling themselves Topaz and Prototype, but I'm sure they're dead. The Serpent Society - or Serpent Squad or Serpent Solutions or whatever the hell they're calling themselves these days, though this does seem a little outside their wheelhouse. Besides, the more I think about it, the less I think we've been brought here specifically to be killed.
I have no idea what this Vault-Tec thing is, though. Certainly it's not a corporation I've ever tried to steal from.
no subject
[It's not a contest and he's not trying to make it one, but what's it like having a fashion sense, Diamondback?]
Never met any of those guys either. Or heard of Vault-Tec. Roxxon's the main bunch of corporate assholes I run into, but they at least spend money on their bullshit.
[For better or worse...usually worse. And wait hang on he missed something important here.]
Wait, you're a thief?
[Not that he has any room to really talk about breaking the law at all. Ever.]
no subject
[Honestly? Positively fabulous, darling. If they ever get out of this, all Kaine needs to do is ask and she'll GQ him up.]
Topaz and Prototype weren't around for long, and the Serpent Society were always more of an Avengers problem than a...anything else.
Also, this doesn't feel Roxxonian, which worries me a little. All the obvious baddies don't count, so what's going on exactly?
[She sighs and runs a hand through her shock of pink hair.]
I've been a lot of things. Thief, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, Femizon, mercenary.
[Also, Captain America's ex-girlfriend, but that's not really the one she talks about unless she's amongst close friends.]
What about you? I don't recognize you - not that I know a whole lot of people - but you're not freaking out, which makes me think you might be, someone. You got a name? Mine's Rachel.
no subject
...Kaine.
[He doesn't think he's ever been on the Avengers radar, but S.H.I.E.L.D. That's..not good. He knows he's in that database for sure. He could've lied, but that hasn't gone great for him, so if there's going to be trouble, best to get it out of the way now.
But maybe there won't be a problem, she said she didn't recognize him and he looked pretty different then...
So if he seems a little grumpy, it's because he's trying to sort out if he has to worry about being recognized as a superpowered murderer and all that, but also because...]
And I try to not be someone. Doesn't always work out that way.
[He can't even say he was having a good run with that because he really wasn't.]
no subject
[Was it his first name? His last name? Rachel is tempted to ask, but decides against it. One name is good enough to go off of, anyway. It's not like she dropped her name or costumed identity into the conversation. But that's right, Kaine, she hasn't recognized you at all.]
It's nice to meet you. I mean, as nice as possible, given the circumstances.
[She has noted his hesitation, though, and she knows that look. You don't do villainous things without knowing that look.]
I don't know your story, but I was with S.H.I.E.L.D. for only a brief amount of time, and I'm not exactly with them anymore. If you have secrets, you have nothing to worry about from me.
[Because it was best to get that out in the open. They didn't really know each other, and given the circumstances, they may need to trust each other, and they couldn't do that if he thought she was out to get him for whatever reason.]
Trust me, I tried being no one once. It wasn't long before I was pulled back in to being someone. Once you're someone, obscurity is difficult to achieve.
[She indicates the space around them, then.]
Granted, I wish this was less obscure. I tried hacking the computers earlier - and I'm not much of a hacker - but I didn't get any information beyond going to see an overseer. Or The Overseer. I'm not clear on the details, but I don't like the name Overseer much.
[It's a little too Big-Brother-is-Watching, isn't it?]
I don't suppose you have any ideas on what's going on?
no subject
Yeah, I've noticed, keep trying to go somewhere low profile and it's like trouble just finds me. Like I've got a giant blinking sign or something that summons every asshole around no matter how far away from New York or Madripoor or anywhere where that kind of bullshit happens I get.
[He probably should've addressed the situation at hand first, but it's pretty nice to know someone else gets that getting away from all the chaos of the Marvel Universe isn't anywhere as easy as it should be.
Okay, now to the other thing, as he mulls over what she said.]
You're probably more of a hacker than I am. But the Overseer, I don't like that either.
[He's grumbling, looking around like said Overseer is watching them right now. Sounds like the type of thing someone with a name like that would do.]
No idea who it could be either. Arcade was my one guess and that's out.
[It's not the Jackal either, he'd already be gloating and trying to get rid of Kaine, but he's not gong to bring that up.]
no subject
I retired for a bit, but then my fiance died...after that, it was time to go back to what I knew best, you know?
[Sure, some of that had also involved trying to catch Cap's eye again...that was something she wasn't ever sure she was going to be free of. Granted, there seemed to be a lot in life that she didn't think she was ever going to be free of.]
I know my way around a keyboard a little bit, but honestly, I'm better at making things explode. You know, with the proper equipment at hand.
[Rachel sighs and walks up to one of the unopened pods, examining it. She's not going to try to open one - she doesn't want to mess with that - but she's looking for some answer for who has really kidnapped them, and why.]
I'm starting to think this room has all the answers we're going to get from it. You up for a little exploration, Kaine?
no subject
[Which is yes, but he's not actually going to say yes.]
And...sorry about your fiance.
[Was that awkward? He gets the feeling it was. He doesn't usually say this kind of thing, but it seemed like the thing people say there. God, sometimes he wishes he could back to just not giving a shit or trying.
But anyways, he'll follow along with the exploring idea.]
no subject
Thank you. It was one of those unavoidable illnesses. Nothing much you can do, right?
[Sure, Rachel could have sold some of her genuine diamonds to fund an LMD of Frank, but that would've been crazy. Besides, she was already salty over the fact that there had been an LMD of her running around. Plus she didn't think Frank's son would have been wild over the fact that there was an LMD of his father running around.
Her fingers twitch for a second, as though she was going to reach for one of her throwing diamonds. The fact that she has none irks her to no end - they're a hell of a dazzling security blanket.]
Let's do this, then.
[With that, she walks over to the large metal door nearby, steels herself, and then pulls the lever. She waits for a beat, and then two, and is pleasantly surprised when the door swings open.]
I was honestly expecting the floor to give out under me there.
no subject
Don't say shit like that, it might happen.
[Which would be a really terrible way to find out he doesn't have his powers.]
Can definitely rule out all the guys that would've put a trap there now though.
no subject
[Instinctively, Rachel reaches up to grab an explosive earring...only she doesn't have her earrings. Damn. Those would have been useful to set off any traps that were ahead of them.
Rachel leans forward into the corridor and carefully studies the walls and ceiling. Everything seems dirty, old, and as though it hasn't been touched or cleaned in a long, long time.]
Usually, being stuck in a dirty old place like this means there's a supervillain afoot, but take a look around here. Nothing seems to be booby-trapped. We're either dealing with an incredibly lazy villain, or there's an entire other story here that we're not aware of.
[Rachel takes a deep breath and then gingerly steps into the corridor. Nothing happens.]
I don't know about you, but the fact that nothing is happening is creepier than the alternative.
no subject
Yeah...none of this seems right.
[There's some definite uncertainty in his voice, despite trying to keep a stoic expression. It's not fear or anything, it's just...weird. The situation's not adding up with what he's used to and that's weird. Because if it's not stupid villain garbage, then what the hell is going on exactly.]
No traps, nobody taking credit for it, it's all old. But our stuff's gone, we've got these stupid suits and this thing...
[He'll gesture at the thing on his arm.]
So what the hell is all this?