Test Drive Meme IV

[eternitymods]

A. RETRIEVAL Dreams fade slowly, and awareness returns in increments. The hum of machinery, the smell of recycled air, the murmurs of others waking up around you. The interior of the ship has been outfitted with cots for those Biggs and Wedge retrieve from the Dream Width. Outside of the makeshift infirmary, windows set into the walls of the worn lounge area offer a view of space. It’s time to meet your fellow new arrivals who have been brought together on Biggs and Wedge’s airship. The other newly-awakened people have no idea how they came to be here, but now's a good time as ever to introduce yourself to the others on the airship and glean what information you can. B. CURTI CENTER The researchers at the Curti Center are not quite so unprepared as last time, but it is still obvious that they are struggling to understand the sudden influx of interdimensional travelers from the Dream Width. "Please step into the lobby for a quick survey. Perhaps there is some common thread we haven't discovered yet..." The staff will do their best to help the off-worlders settle in. They answer the questions they can, write down all proffered information they can about the arrivals' homeworlds, provide maps and pamphlets about Vaikuntha and the destinations within it, and even guide the arrivals to a neighborhood where housing has been provided for you. Yes, due to the strange influx of arrivals, you’ll be expected to share, but the Curti staff are doing the best they can, considering they are still housing the previous arrivals here on the island. Experiences like these bring people together. Perhaps you are the only one here from your world, but at least you are not alone in this experience. Others are right beside you, learning the same information, planning trips to visit the same new cities, checking out these Job things, and settling in to their new (temporary) homes. C. UP IN THE SKY There’s a whole new world to explore. It’s almost enough to distract from the fact that there’s one place you can’t go- home. You are on an Airship, the main mode of transportation between the major cities of Vaikuntha. While the majority are owned by airlines, perhaps you hitched a ride with a friend that has their own. You can go anywhere in a matter of hours — One can only hope you don’t have motion sickness. D. GUILDS Proud representatives of the Guild are lined up, ready to demonstrate their skills for the new initiates. Make sure to stay behind the designated line, this might get dangerous. So you want a new Job? You'll have to first travel to the Guilds, sign the papers, go through the orientation and introductory lectures, and get basic training. Afterwards, you can freely chat and practice with your fellow members, celebrating your new powers, and checking out your new wardrobe. E. LET'S BE ADVENTURERS Separated from all of your material possessions, connections, and everything you know, and really, what you’re left with is time. Better try to make the most of it. Enough expository banter. It's explorin' time. Maybe instead of spending every day in your room, you'd rather spend it living it up in the city of Lavode, or betting on Chocobo Races in Sparks Goldsaucia. Or maybe you'd rather go and explore the caves and ruins near Arito. With Airships and Chocobos at your disposal, you can go nearly anywhere! F. SIDEQUESTS Maybe you’re telling yourself, ‘I didn’t sign up for this.’ But wait, you did. At least it pays. It all started when you checked the Quest Board.  All you wanted was a few gil to spend, and here you are in the wild, hunting for a Malboro Vine. Or maybe you are in some ancient and decrepit ruins looking for an artifact. Or you could be asked to be janitor for a week. Consider yourself lucky though, at least you don't have to do that alone. G. GET A JOB (THE OTHER KIND) You’ve got a Job, but Claire keeps sighing and muttering about layabout space-people not earning their keep, so it might be time to seek out Employment as well. There are plenty of opportunities to earn some gil in Vaikuntha, no matter where you choose to settle down. Your iMog slate includes listing for employment opportunities. Hopefully you can find something you can live with so that you can start saving up for an airship or the security payment for your permanent housing. H. MOGNET *Ding!* You’ve got Mog-Mail! Thankfully, you can instantaneously chat with your friends around the world thanks to you iMog Slate. And unlike old-fashioned Moogle Letters, you can even send messages to everyone in a blink of an eye! However, despite the change in technology, the old tradition of Mognet Strikes have never gone away. Nobody knows any more whether the Moogles have legitimate reasons to go on strike or if they are just lazy. But today, Mognet is down, and to get information you have no choice but going to the public boards or risk message corruption and mishandling. I. RANDOM ENCOUNTER The ground trembles, and out of nowhere, something hostile appears! Is that battle music playing? You were minding your own business walking around, and suddenly monsters attacked you! Time to put to use the skills you've learned with your Jobs! Will you try to fight on your own or seek help? And remember, you die in random battle, you die FOR REAL. There’s no shame from running from enemies that are a higher level than you! J. PUMPKIN SPICE Let us send shivers down your spine. The weather has turned cooler, and with the arrival of autumn comes fall-themed treats, fall fashion, and of course, the beginning of the spookiest holiday season. Even though summer is still newly ended, it is not uncommon to already see people embracing the season in full force. Pumpkins and ghost-moogle decorations begin to appear on porches and in windows, stores offer a pumpkin version of everything, and there is so much orange. It is all good fun in the day time, but there does seem to be a rise of monstrous activity after the sun sets... K. WILD CARD Feeling inspired to create your own prompt? The power is yours!

Comments

Re: Retrieval

[timecrash]

Serge had volunteered to go out on the ship and help with retrieval. These people needed help, badly. The retrievals themselves had been tiring, but now he's one of the people taking stock of the situation, counting heads... but as one of the new Arrivals starts to stir as he's walking by, he can't not stop.
"Uh... hey. Don't freak out, okay? It's probably pretty disorienting, waking up in a place you don't know, buuuut the important thing is you're safe now."

[waywardking]

[He's not freaking out externally, if it makes Serge feel any better.

But he does jump, as he was paying more attention to the other sounds around him and didn't notice the louder voice in front of him. He can't tell where Serge's face is, so he hopes he's looking in the general direction of it.]

Safe from what? Where are we?

[timecrash]

"Oh, crap, the lights." Serge turns to call out to the other staff. "Hey, they're starting to wake up, turn up the lights a little!"
As the overhead lights turn up, slowly, they reveal... a cargo hold, converted to makeshift infirmary. Dozens of cots occupied by sleeping people of varying shapes.

"I mean it's not like you were gonna get hurt out there, I meant safe more in the sense that you're not in danger or anything. We found you floating in the Dream Width, so we got you aboard and we're probably gonna be doing the re-entry thing here in a couple of minutes, so... Oh! Right. I'm Serge, and I'm kind of new here, but I'm here to help any way I can, so if you've got questions I'll answer as much as I can."

He smiles brightly, offering his hand.

[waywardking]

'Dream Width' brings up so many more questions than answers. Namely what the hell is a Dream Width and what was he doing in it? It seems to be minorly dangerous, since he'd been 'saved' from it--Serge's idea of saved, anyway--and there was the word 'Dream' in there, so Noctis figured it might be another dimension of some sort.

Speaking of safety, he actually does feel a little safer since Serge seemed not to recognize who he was or else just didn't care. He seemed a little Prompto-ish.

"Right. Serge. That doesn't tell me where I am...I'm guessing some kinda dropship?"

There's some movement in front of him and he reaches a hand up to try to touch whatever it might be. He must look silly for several seconds as he gropes around before his fingers brush against Serge's hand.

[timecrash]

Serge takes the offered hand, and shakes firmly. "Uh. Okay. You're aboard an airship, which is supposed to land on a world called Vaikuntha in... an hour? Maybe less?"
"Right now we're in the Dream Width. Er-that's the stuff that's around the planet, it's like a cloud made of... I'm really not a scientist, I'm bad at explaining this. It's like a cloud made of memories, sort of. Sometimes people from other worlds appear in it and they're lost in their own memories, so when we detect people out there we fly out to pick them up so they're not just floating forever."

[waywardking]

There's a convenient accident; Serge was looking for a handshake.

"Did I hear you right? 'World', like a whole planet world?"

If they were approaching a whole other world, he was definitely pretty far off the map, and suddenly assuming the Dream Width was an alternate dimension was making more sense than he liked.

"So I was out there," he asks, gesturing vaguely 'outside'. "Just chilling....any idea how anyone ends up there in the first place?"

[timecrash]

"I'm... really sorry. I have no idea. Like I said, not a scientist; some of the bleeding-edge-forefront-of-discovery types might have a clue, but as far as I know we don't know very much about the Dream Width at all. It's kind of hard to study, since if you go in too deep you pretty much inevitably fall into a coma and then you're the one who needs to get rescued..."
He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, grimacing. "But yeah, Vaikuntha's a planet. I'm... sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear."

[waywardking]

"It's not, but right now, I don't really care too much what Vaikuntha is, as long as you don't tell me it's under Nif control."

Imagining Niflheim successfully branching out into space is a bit terrifying to think about, but ultimately unlikely as far as Noctis is concerned, since they seem to be more occupied with acquiring more land on Eos.

And lately, keeping themselves together.

[timecrash]

He takes a seat on an empty cot next to Noctis's. "No, can't say I've ever heard of anything called Nif. So I think you're safe there. And even if people from there came here, they'd have a real job getting back. We haven't even figured out how to get past the Dreamwidth."

[waywardking]

"Niflheim. It's a country back home. They pretty much aim to take over every bit of land they possibly can." He looks up at the ceiling, thinking for a couple seconds.

"Though from what I understand, the government's basically disintegrated and everyone else has fled."

Kinda hard to have a government when all of them have turned into literal monsters or malfunctioning cyborg beings.

[timecrash]

"That sounds pretty bad, yeah. We don't have any nations currently acting like that... Not that I know of anyway, I wasn't really the best at World History, if I'm being honest..."