nolandspam | TEST DRIVE MEME 2

Entry tags:

TEST DRIVE MEME 2

NOTES:

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!

PROMPT 1: ARRIVAL

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:

Watch on YouTube

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.

PROMPT 2: SETTLING IN

The living quarters of the vault leave something to be desired. While the current occupants of the vault have made some improvements, it's hard to ignore piles of skeletons in corners and the mildew on the beds. 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. 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, the kitchen is stocked with 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.

A small reminder that characters are not the only living things 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.

PROMPT 3: CLEANING DAY

Welcome vault dwellers to the dreaded cleaning day. Yes, many characters have been tidying up here and there for, let’s face it, lack of much else to do in their new home. But the resident kitchen Mr. Handy robot has finally snapped, threatening the other Mr. Handy, Nick, with deactivation and some creative repurposing of his parts if something isn’t done about the horrible state of the vault. Too bad Nick would rather feed himself to the roaches than do that much work- meaning he’s conscripted you, the newly awoken and (semi-)veteran vault dwellers alike, to help.

Whether you like it or not.

Nick has helpfully put you into pairs, lured you into rooms throughout the vault, and then locked you in together with enough cleaning supplies to get the job done. Just pile the junk in one corner, he says, and he’ll unlock the door once it looks presentable. How does he know how it looks inside the room through solid metal doors? He’s not telling. Just another piece of info you can try to squeeze out of him once you’ve escaped and, possibly, enact your revenge. But for now, better get cleaning. Or for those of you with some lock-picking or hacking skills, figuring out this weird technology to get the door to open back up again without Nick’s help.

PIP-BOY CHATTER

Post text or audio messages to the pip-boy network to get to know your fellow dwellers!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Arrival]

[ As you try to find your bearings and recover from the disorienting process of waking up in a pod, you may notice some of your fellow Vault Dwellers aren't handling this as well as the others.

One in particular being a pale, dark haired girl who has backed herself up against a wall and is looking at you all with suspicion and murderous intent in her eyes.

The last thing Azula remembered was running off into the forest after her mother...

Clamping her eyes closed she pressed a palm to her head to try and quell a growing headache. She had to focus...had to put that woman and her deception out of her head. Whatever nightmare she'd just woken up into needed her full attention.

Do you dare to approach the girl as she grumbles to herself? Be careful those nails look sharp.]

___________________________________________

[Settling in.]

[ Azula had calmed down somewhat, though her attitude had not improved. She was trapped underground which already had her anxiety building in the back of her mind, and she had discovered that her firebending had somehow been blocked. That had resulted in an emotional breakdown that thankfully she was fairly sure no one else saw since she was in her morbidly decorated room.

Now that she had collected her thoughts somewhat she was focusing her mind on the problems at hand. They needed to find out just how much of this place was accessible. Perhaps there were hidden chambers, perhaps more weapons or supplies...

...or perhaps there were giant bugs.]

Absolutely disgusting.

[She doesn't sound too stressed just irritated as she looks to you and gestures to the bugs.]

Well go on. Dispose of them so we can continue.

[Wait is she not going to help? She's holding one of the few remaining pool cues!]

_______________________________

[Cleaning day.]

[By this point Azula's come to the conclusion that she's probably going to die in this horrible place.

The indignities were starting to stack up, from having no one respect her title to being forced to survive off food that she wouldn't have inflicted upon her own countries peasants. Even when she was locked up in the asylum her food was better then this!

And now...now they wanted her to clean like some common scullery maid.

She glances with dismay at her temporary partner in this endeavor.]

And who are you again?

Edited 2020-05-18 21:43 (UTC)

( Her immediate question falls on deaf ears. Dismayed expression is returned tenfold as the young woman beside her shares a look nothing short of contempt. Broom is dropped to the ground, arms fold across her chest. )

I am not cleaning shit.

( Sorry, Azula. Looks like you're on your own with this one. )

(Off to a great start then. Azula instead turns her attention to the door that's locked them in.)

Well I hope you're skillful with those complicated looking locks then whatever-your-name-is because I doubt he'll take our defiance as an acceptable answer. He has all the power for the moment.

[Elizabeth makes no move toward the bugs. She has killed more than she can count. The new people should be prepared for what it's like to actually live in this metal hunk underground. The young woman looks young like a teenager. She would wonder at why those who are young are brought but she knows better.

The world cares about children, not childhood. She points to the pool cue.]

Do you know how to use that?

[ Something irritating that she's struggling to deal with, is just how unwilling anyone here is to obey her commands. Truthfully if she hadn't just spent the previous year in a mental hospital where no one listened to her either she might have already started lashing out and shouting at anyone who dared to defy her.

Instead she took a breath...let it out...and gripped her pool cue tighter.]

I know how to use weapons like this. I do not however know how to play the game that this apparently is supposed to be used for.

[Someone back in the living area had explained to her that those were not just dull spears but tools for a game. She had proceeded to sharpen hers.

Stepping forward with a resigned sigh she waited for the first roach to aggressively rush her and dispatched it with a casual spin sending it flying back into the pile of other aggressive bugs who now turned on her and began their assault. One after the other she stabbed and swatted at them, moving with the grace of a trained dancer but the accuracy of a warrior.]

Will you be joining me or shall I just expect to clear this area by myself then?

Arrival

There are no words for how confused Vanya is right now. She rises from her pod like a woman waking from a coma, looking at her clothes and then her surroundings with complete and utter bafflement. What just happened? Her memories are a jumbled fugue, but she could have sworn she was in the middle of her concert a second ago.

Had Allison shot her in the head?

Vanya prods the back of her head, searching for a wound that isn't there, looking to the nearest person to say, "Hey... do you remember getting in that thing?"

Settling In

After exploring for a bit and realizing that neither an exit nor her family was anywhere to be found, Vanya raids the pantry. She finds marshmallows, freeze-dried bread, and canned peanut butter that tastes like it's fifty years old. She still makes a sandwich.

There's something robotic about her movements. Like it's a nervous tic rather than a sincere attempt at feeding herself. Then she knocks over the marshmallows all over the floor.

She curses, kneeling down to pick them up, when she comes face to face with a radroach.

"HOLY SHIT," she screams, reeling back as the radroach barrels towards her.

A pool cue smashes down in front of the roach, squishing a marshmallow.

"Stop coming in here! I can't keep advocating for you assholes if you won't listen!"

Jiro's ignoring Vanya for now and talking to the radroach. He herds the roach back out of the kitchen, leading it with the marshmallow on the cue. They're never going to let him keep them all alive. Once at the entrance, he throws the entire stick out into the hallway, the roach skittering after it. Only then does he turn back to acknowledge the newcomer.

"Chill, it's just a cockroach," a really big one.

Vanya has to hold a hand over her own mouth to keep from screaming. What the fuck. What the fuuuuuuuuuuck.

"What kind of cockroaches have you been living with? That wasn't a cockroach!"

The words burst out with more force than she's used to. Usually, she'd just meekly thank him for getting rid of it and wilt at the implication that her reaction had been childish, but that was before she came off her medication. No, now she's definitely sure her reaction is completely justified.

"That thing was the size of a toddler!"

He returns to the kitchen area to give a questioning glance at her choice of sandwiches. Gross.

"Yeah, it was one of the smaller ones," he's lying, but he wants to see the reaction. "I've been here over a week and we haven't found any of the nests yet."

"One of the smaller ones?!"

Vanya has to put a hand over her mouth again, leaning against the edge of the counter. Keep it together, Vanya. Keep it together.

She had been on mood suppressant medication since she was four years old, and she had only stopped taking it in the last few days. She fumbled for a pocket that wasn't there on instinct, but no, she had no pills. She had to talk herself down from the oncoming anxiety attack on her own.

She grabbed the abomination of a sandwich and took a bite. The sugar hit her all at once and she wrinkled her nose. Oh, gross. The bread was crunching and rehydrating in her mouth. Gross gross. Why did Five eat this stuff?

But she took another bite, nose still wrinkled. The taste reminded her of Five, the only brother of hers she could imagine taking this kind of thing in stride. What would Five do in this situation?

She takes a shaky breath, forcing herself to swallow the lump of rehydrated sugar in her mouth. "You've, uh, been here over a week? Do you know where we are?"

Unaware of her thoughts and inner struggle, he's smirking at the panic.

"Not entirely sure," he shrugs. "The video makes me think United States in the 1950s or 60s, but everyone's... from other places. Information hasn't been easy to gather."

Nor have they found a way out of the vault. It's very irritating.

"Where'd you come from?"

Azula | Avatar: The Last Airbender

let's clean

no subject

settling in.

no subject

Vanya Hargreeves | The Umbrella Academy

Settling In

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

settling in

no subject

no subject

no subject

Saya Takagi | Highschool of the Dead

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject