nolandspam | TEST DRIVE MEME 2

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TEST DRIVE MEME 2

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:

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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

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.

"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.

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?"

"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.

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."

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.

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.

"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."

"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."

"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."

This felt natural. While she didn't exactly plan on sacrificing herself to protect this stranger she was willing to put in the effort so long as she was useful.

She hesitated for a moment before pulling on the lever to open the door, clenching tensely at the noise the door made sliding open for them. Lips pursed she peered around the corner into the hall making sure it was empty.

"Come on." Slowly she crept into the hall, eyes darting around as she led them deeper into the unknown. Only hesitating when she heard something skritching and scratching around the corner.

She wasn't one to take the lead, even with her family being a well known, powerful name, Saya much preferred being more of a support to those she could either use, or trusted.

Staying behind Azula, she followed. "The tech in this place is... confusing in a sense... Hydraulic doors, possible stasis pods... but the video was so dated... what's going on?" she mostly kept her voice down and was thinking out loud.

The world needed leaders and followers. It seemed that at least for now, these two were comfortable in their roles even if nothing else about this situation was comfortable.

"Some of it I recognize, The Fire Nation is the most technologically advanced Kingdom in the world...but somehow I'm coming to expect we still have a long way to go."

Especially if those bombs that she mentioned earlier didn't require a power source as fickle as a comet.

The skritching made Azula fall silent though and peered around the corner before pulling back and looking disgusted.

"I hate this place already."

Waiting for them just around the corner were a pair of massive roaches fighting over a tattered and worn box labeled "Snack Cakes"

"This Fire Nation, where exactly is it," Saya finally brought up something that had been bothering her. "This is the first time I've ever heard of it and no offense, there's not many princess titles used in the world anymore so I would have thought I'd learned about them all by now. Unless it's more of a native tribe, those are more secluded and do still use titles like such."

Her outwards thinking and pondering got placed on hold when Azula went silent and then commented on their thoughts on this place. Saya blinked a few times before sneaking a peak around the corner and quickly regreting it and hiding behind Azula, "What the hell?! Those things are huge!"

Azula wanted to think that Saya was surely just some kind of sheltered idiot to not know where The Fire Nation was. But there was a creeping suspicion in the back of her head that something was more wrong then even she could imagine.

Thankfully the giant bugs saved her from having to try and wrap her head around this inconsistency in her world view.

"Not the biggest bugs I've ever seen but disgusting never the less." She agreed before stepping out assuming them harmless.

This turned out to be a mistake as the two roaches dropped the box they were fighting over and rushed Azula, one skittering low while the other took flight for her face. With a furious bark of anger she spun out of the way back handing the flying one into a wall where it bounced off and hit the floor in a daze.

The one on the floor meanwhile gave chase, snapping at her ankles and trying to grab hold of her Vault Suit.

Once they started flying and rushing them all hell broke lose. "EEEEEEEKKKK! Get it away!" Saya flailed and rushed behind the corner. She peaked back soon enough to see Azula backhand one against the wall with ease, she reminded her of Saeko... But there was another going for her legs too, what could she do?

Well, she hoped the same rules applied to these monster roaches and she grabbed the closest item to her and proceeded to slam it onto the roach that was onto Azula's feet. "Take that you creep!"

Azula had been prepared to kick the roach away but suddenly...surprisingly Saya had seized a broken chair and smashed it down on the roach. The Princess sprang backwards to avoid her foot getting caught up in the broken chair pieces.

Roach guts gushed out around the shards of chair as the roach made a hissing noise of pain and twitched it's dying twitches.

"Be careful!" She snapped apparently not ready to thank Saya for intervening on her behalf. The roach Azula had backhanded was back on it's feet and coming for her so in a fit of anger she stomped down on it hard crushing it's head under her boot.

For a moment she looked triumphant...and then realized she had roach goo on her shoe and groaned looking disgusted.

"I hate this place already."

"You're welcome" Saya snapped back in a hiss but not before jumping back in order to avoid roach goo all over her weird jumpsuit. "Oh, oh, eww that's really gross..." she pointed out as she took a step back.

"Ok, so, maybe giant roaches are the biggest of our worries... I mean, technically radiation poisoning is said to have weird effects on flora and fauna..." she really hoped that was the least of their worries....

Azula took the time to try and wipe her shoe off on the floor with some degree of success but not nearly enough.

"This is another symptom of those bombs you mentioned?" Azula gestured at the bugs for clarification. "I presumed they were some kind of spirit world creature. I do not have a particular fondness for nature at the best of times."

But these things were about as unnatural as Azula could imagine.

Saya didn't want to say for certain, this was on another level but... "It's very possible. The radiation poisoning from a nuclear fallout has the capability to mutate flora and fauna... So those, things could very well be an outcome from it..." And now she was afraid that this was just the least of her worries now.

Meanwhile Azula was writing off the potential of this weapon. If the Fire Nation used something like that on their enemies and what was leftover was giant mutated bug monsters?

She'd almost rather fight the entire war with just her bending.

"One more reason to stay on our guard if we have to beware giant bugs and woman eating plants." She half joked before starting down the hall again. After a moment she noted, "I didn't expect you to jump into the fray so quickly. There might be a fighter in you yet under all your scholarly teachings."

"Yeah... at least it's not Zombies I guess..." She was pretty tired of running for her life, but who knows what this world had in store for them.

She followed Azula closely as they made their way through the halls. Upon Azula's inquiry, Saya shrugged. "I can't say I would have done so some times ago." She admitted thoughtfully, "But the past few months, well before waking up here, I've had to learn to do things I wouldn't have bothered with before thinking them brutish. But here we are I suppose."

"You'll be amazed what you find yourself doing when the motivation is good enough." She didn't want to expand upon that but living on the run had made for some very long difficult nights.

"What exactly is a Zombie?" Azula hesitated at the next intersection, one path leading down to the left and the other going on ahead. After a moments consideration and peering down the left before turning to lead deeper into the unknown.

"Yeah... you can say that again." she replied as she looked around curiously while they walked.

At her question though, Saya really began wondering what was going on as they seemed to not have been from a secluded area but to not know pop culture either, there was definitely something out of place here. "Well, they're the walking dead. Pretty popular in horror movies and stories but... not amusing at all when you're met with it in real life. They eat people, hard as hell to kill if at all, and they swarm... stupid as rocks though."

"Movies...like those images from before?" She was catching on but slowly and the tone in her voice indicated she didn't like how little she understood about Saya's world.

"And you've encountered them? Undead cannibles?" Even in the forests where spirits ran wild Azula hadn't ever considered the dead rising and eating the living. Just one more nightmare to add to the list.

TEST DRIVE MEME 2

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