TEST DRIVE MEME 2

[nolandmod]

NOTES:

IF BOTH CHARACTERS APP IN AND AGREE, THREADS USING PROMPT 1 CAN BE COUNTED AS GAME CANON.
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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!

Comments

Saya Takagi | Highschool of the Dead

[pride_outbreak]

Arrival:

Saya's last memory before blacking out was the chinese nuke that hit Japan during the outbreak, so the video that played in her pod made her curious. However, as more and more started happening around her as she adapted to her surroundings and the items on her person, she began to panic and breathe shallow, quick breaths.

"What... what happened? Where's everyone? How did I get here"

[makeadragonwannaretire]

Azula was...also not having the best time waking up to a new place with a bunch of strangers.

With her back to a corner and her eyes darting around nervously she settled on the girl asking questions and glared at her.

"Shut up. Panicking isn't going to answer anything." she hissed before turning her attention back to the room at large.

"Something like this seems too much even for her to pull off...so how...ugh."

She was frustrated, and wouldn't want to admit it but scared. And the fact that she couldn't access her bending made it so much worse.

"You! What's your name?" she demanded trying to take charge of the situation to make herself feel better.

[pride_outbreak]

Azula's sudden address brought a bit of calm to Saya and she took a moment to study the situation and calm herself down as much as she could. Still, the last memories she had in addition to the 'welcome' message had left her pretty shaken up... was the the only?

Mentally chastising herself, Saya visibly shook her head and took a deep breath before looking back at Azula. "You... you're not faring any better yourself!" she began to try and give herself the courage to snap out of her stupor. "I'm Takagi, Takagi Saya" She paused and closed her eyes for a moment before looking her over again. "You?"

[makeadragonwannaretire]

Azula tried to fix a withering gaze on the new girl when she called her out. While she wasn't entirely wrong and Azula knew she was on the verge of losing her tentative grip on the situation, she wasn't about to admit it.

"Princess Azula of the Fire Nation." She answered matter of factly before turning back to the room and slowly inching around her pod to peer at one of the pods that had not opened.

"And it would seem Takagi Saya, that we are not the only ones here...just the only ones waking up." She carefully pressed an ear to one of the pods half expecting to hear screams. The silence was somehow less comforting then she'd expected.

[pride_outbreak]

"Princess?" she questioned. Wow she sure is full of herself isn't she... Then again, that was the least of her worries right now. Especially when Azula confirmed that there were more... Prisoners? Survivors? She couldn't tell just yet.

"Hm. What is this place?" she asked more to herself as she lowered her head in thought.

[makeadragonwannaretire]

The reaction to her title made Azula frown. It wasn't entirely unheard of that someone didn't recognize her in person but to not know her name? Either this girl had lived under a rock...possibly literally or something was very wrong here.

"Those images indicated some kind of bunker." She answered mind reeling from the possibilities as she began to cautiously step around the pod to examine an empty one near her own.

"But there was a lot in those images I didn't understand." She paused and twisted her head to glance over her shoulder at Takagi suspiciously.

"You saw them too didn't you?"

[pride_outbreak]

"They called it a vault?" she replied as she herself was raking her mind to try and find something, anything familiar having been mentioned before by the government or anyone, but no luck.

Saya paused for a moment and nodded, but yes, it's a bunker for certain, a nuclear bunker from the way it was described... I mean," she looked at Azula and raised a brow. "It was a pretty clear description, what didn't you understand from them?" she asked curiously as she nodded at her last question.

[makeadragonwannaretire]

Turning to face her more directly she seemed puzzled and annoyed but that was better then fearful and furious as she had been a few moments ago.

"Well for one, what is an "atomic" bomb and something about "Nuclear" devastation?"

Never mind how the images were moving or just where "America" was. She didn't know just how much she'd be able to get out of this one or if she was even telling the truth. Best to start with the most important information.

"And those numbers...were they coordinates? If we contacted that group then they were the ones to bring us here? I think I'd remember something like that."

[pride_outbreak]

Saya blinked a few times in disbelief. "Wait, you don't know what an atomic bomb is?" she started before shaking her head. She didn't want to assume, but maybe this person was from a sheltered country, she did say she was a princess of some sort... Placing a hand on her hip and looking matter'o'factly at Azula; "An atomic bomb is a weapon. It creates a massive explosion created from the splitting or fission of the nuclei of a heavy element like uranium or plutonum -- " She was going to go into the details, but something told her Azula didn't really care. "In any case, it's one of the most powerful weapons of mass destruction and can devastate entire cities easily..." she pauses and her gaze looks less annoyed and more somber. "The aftermath of the explosion isn't any better either... depending on the type of nuke used, it can render the zone completely uninhabitable for years due to the radiation contamination... That's what they were referring to when they mentioned nuclear devastation more than likely."

When Azula brought up the numbers, Saya once again raised a brow. "Coordinates? You mean the phone number for that supposed company Vault-tec? I mean I guess we could contact them if we had a phone or a pc to reach them at..." Something to think about for sure and a plan Saya could get behind.

[makeadragonwannaretire]

Azula listened intently, letting the words she didn't understand wash over her each one making her less and less comfortable with the situation. The Princess had spent all her life trying to be the smartest, strongest and most skilled person so being introduced to something so powerful that she'd never even heard of?

This was to say the least...uncomfortable. But this one seemed to know plenty.

The last part struck a little too close to home and Azula did her best to keep her face neutral, but there was a flicker and familiarity in her eyes. Her own father had done something similar after all.

And it had been her idea.

"Phone number...alright. And we can use this number to gather more information." Azula was piecing things together as best she could but she had only just now noticed the light source overhead wasn't candles or any obvious form of fire.

She wouldn't say it out loud, but it was at this point she suspected she might be out of her depth.

"Well you seem knowledgable and that will be helpful. Can you defend yourself?" Azula was eyeing the door and if whoever was on the other side wanted them to go back in their pods she wasn't going to make it easy for them.

[zombeye_candy]

"Yes, if we can find a phone or a PC we can contact them with the phone number. If we had a PC, we could just look up any information on this company online." she voiced as she looked around for any signs of either.

At Azula's inquiry, Saya looked uncomfortable. "If I had a gun, I guess. Or any other weapon... Hirano and Takashi taught me a little but I admit combat is not my forte."

[makeadragonwannaretire]

"You let me know if you find any of those things then." Azula grumbled still teetering on the edge of if she liked this girl or just found it annoying she knew so much that the princess didn't.

For now she began striding towards the door with false confidence. "Very well then, stay behind me and if necessary I'll ensure you survive long enough to help me figure out just what sort of mess we've gotten into."

[zombeye_candy]

"Will do," she replied. She didn't have to ask her twice, Saya wanted to know what the hell was going on as much as anyone else, and Azula at the least, didn't want to eat or kill her. Yet anyways.

Once Azula began taking charge, it felt familiar and Saya was beginning to feel more at ease as she nodded, "Sounds fair to me, I certainly don't wana get killed here not after everything..." She paused and shook her head. "Lead the way."

[loveyoudarling]

Chocolat had just been lingering about the pod room as she usually had. Really, at this point it had become routine for her to simply linger about and hope that, maybe, someday, something would change and a familiar face might just emerge.

So it was with wide-eyed shock that she watched as one of the very pods she had been keeping watch over happened to open up. Her body tensing as she watched another woman shoot out in an absolute state of bewilderment.

"Ah, hold on now! Take a breath or two first. You just woke up. You're probably still acclimatizing."

Wow. She couldn't believe it. After nearly a month, someone had actually managed to wake up from one of these things.

[pride_outbreak]

Sound advice... and sorely needed at this time. Saya took a moment to follow through. One breath. Two breaths... She closed her eyes and took a moment to gather her thoughts.

Once a moment passed, she looked up again, "Woke up... That's... is what the video said true? I remember the attack and then... it all went black. And now this?" she looked around again, nothing looked familiar.

[loveyoudarling]

"The video, hmn?" Ah, right, she remembered when she first watched that message off the Pip-Boy permanently affixed to her arm. Truthfully, the entirety of what it said still felt a bit too far-fetched for her taste. And that was a lot considering how much she had to deal with in her short lifespan. "Not sure if all of it is true. At least, I've found no solid proof for it yet. But, at the moment, it's all we have to go on."

She sighed, grateful that this new girl seemed to recover pretty quickly, all things considering.

"Here, what do you say we get out of this dreary place and go upstairs where it's a little nicer."

Emphasis on 'a little'.

[zombeye_candy]

At the very least, this person was kind. At least on the outside... Saya had already known during her own apocalypse what falling to supposed kindness could do to people. But right now, there weren't many other choices.

"I... yeah I mean, I guess that's a good idea. Maybe I'll be able to clear my head..." she paused for a moment before looking at them curiously. "Have you been here long?"

[loveyoudarling]

"A few weeks now," Turning she almost immediately began to make her way towards the halls. As much as she was happy to help out a new face there was a small bit of bitter disappointment in her tone. She knew how improbable it would have actually been, but she was really hoping the person who woke up would have been someone she knew. "What few of us have woken up seem to have been around that time. About five of us right now? Although I suppose including you it would be six now."

[pride_outbreak]

"A few weeks..." Saya thought out loud. "And nothing before you guys? I wonder if there's a set timer for each of these pods to open or if it's entirely random... If so, I wonder if there had been batches of releases prior to your group a longer while ago." And what happened to them...

[loveyoudarling]

"Well, not nothing exactly," She didn't want to bring up the bodies that they had all found to Saya just yet. The poor girl had only just woken up after all. "There are definitely signs that others had woke up before us. But it looks like it had been quite a long time between them and us."

She continued to lead Saya through the dark halls, turning and winding rather expertly amongst what seriously felt like a maze before finally entering a much larger room. It seemed to be a gaming hall of sorts with a kitchen attached. Although most of the supplies within the room were just as decrepit as everything else within the vault. And was that blood on the floor? Oh right, Chocolat had been meaning to deep clean those stains.

"And here we are! Welcome to our humble little rec room! Though most of us have really only been spending most of out time here to get some food. Are you hungry?"

[pride_outbreak]

"That's concerning," Saya replied in thought as she looked down while following Chocolat. "I wonder if they made it out of here then. And if so, what's the world outside like after the fallout..." Many questions were zooming around in her mind and no real answers at the moment. Thankfully, that also helped her not notice most of the decrepit decor in the rec room.

"Oh, at that sounds," finally catching a glimpse of the surroundings, Saya stopped and sighed. "On second thought, I think I'll wait to eat..."

[loveyoudarling]

"Nonsense, you just woke up from a god-knows-how-long slumber. You really should get some food in you," Walking into the kitchen area she started to rummage through the shelving. Most of the cans were so worn and aged that the labels that mentioned what they were had no longer existed. "I know none of what's here looks particularly appetizing, but despite how they look they're still pretty edible."

Well, most of them were at least.

"And at the moment it's also all we have. Unless you don't mind cockroach meat that is," Or the concept of fighting Jiro, one of their less sane vault-mates who had developed a bit of an emotional connection with said cockroaches.

[pride_outbreak]

"Wait, that's what's left?" They wouldn't last, and definitely not if more people awoke from those pods...

Saya sighed and looked down and as if on queue her stomach grumbled. "Ugh... I guess I should eat something but... is anyone making sure the food is rationed?"

[loveyoudarling]

"So far we hadn't needed to worry about it too much, just because the robot who runs this part of the vault has been doing most of that for us," Pulling one more can down she looked it over before shrugging and deciding that whatever was in here would do well enough. Gabbing the can-opener and finagling around with it a bit before finally managing to pop it open. "Here, come sit down, I'll get everything together."

[pride_outbreak]

Saya rubbed her arms, looked around a bit longer and finally moved over and sat down to wait for the meal.

"So the robot does the gathering? The cooking? Or both?" she wondered just how much did the robots do in this place.