memesofeternity | Test Drive Meme IV

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Test Drive Meme IV

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

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Honestly, Serge had felt bad for the guy when he'd seen him brought aboard. It'd be bad enough waking up in this place with no idea of where you were, but without pants? A man shouldn't have to run around with just his boxers.

Of course, by the time he'd run to his locker to grab a spare pair of uniform pants and run back, the offworlder had already, apparently, woken up and run off somewhere. "Ah, crap. Where'd he go...?"

oh god oh no somebody's here quick think of something

He somehow manages to wedge himself in the pipework of the airship, trying desperately to stay out of sight. From within, he yells out. "I really hope you don't take it the wrong way when I say to drop your pants."

Serge blinks, turning around quizzically to look in the direction of the shout. "Oh, uh. Sure." The pants are set down on the ground, the grayish sort of one-size-fits-all pants that are largely shapeless, slightly wrinkled as though they've been sitting at the bottom of a locker but otherwise clean. "Hey, I'm really sorry and I get that waking up without clothes is... probably not a great start to your day but that's just how you were found, I swear. I keep some spare uniforms in my locker though just in case, so you can have those."
He tries to smile, though he still can't see where the shouting came from. "At least I hope you're the pantsless guy and you're not just some offworlder with a really weird way of introducing yourself."

Richard Conway is a practiced panic hider. Most of what he does for a living is get himself into horrible situations, screw up, and then think of clever ways out of those problems using unusual gadgets.

Richard does not have any of his unusual gadgets.

Richard has a button-up shirt and a pair of boxers with little hearts with bullet holes in them printed on.

"Would you believe both?" He jokes. "I hope you understand when I say turn around, and don't turn back around until I'm done." He moves to go behind him, his steps quick but with a practiced evenness that nullified the sound of his footfalls.

Edited (Needs a /little/ more detail.) 2018-09-15 06:11 (UTC)

"Hey, no problem." Serge obligingly turns around. "I felt bad. Really should talk to them about keeping spare clothes on the ship, instead of at the center. I know I wouldn't want to wake up around a bunch of strangers in just my skivvies."
He hooks his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "Anyway, you seem like you're kind of stressed out, not that I can blame you. So I guess I'm just hear to reassure you that this isn't an abduction or anything, we just picked you up like this. But you're safe now and we should be doing the re-entry thing in a couple minutes and landing maybe... uh. Half an hour? Forty-five minutes? After that."

A moment later, the shuffle of cloth against flesh softly contrasted against the sounds of the mechanics of the airship. “I almost dread to ask where you picked me up from where something like a dirigible is considered 'usual transportation.'”

He'd normally be proud of his ability to skip town so hard that he winds up somewhere like this, but he had no idea how he even ended up here.

Eh, maybe he still feels a little pride.

“Where are we headed, anyway? And who are you?” He said, patting down his pants and starting to walk into view of Serge for the first time.

"Well, uh. The short version is that you're aboard an airship, headed to dock at the Curti Center, which is a sort of... science-type facility on the world Vaikuntha. I'm pretty sure there's a pamphlet that's way better explaining this than I am, but I think I must've forgotten them... Um."
There's an embarrassed grimace, and he offers his hand. "Anyway, I'm Serge, and I'm here to help! I'm new, kind of, but hey, if you've got questions and you probably do since I know I'd be confused if I was suddenly in another world where everything's probably different but if you've got questions I promise I'll answer 'em as best I can."

He bumbles around for a little while, leaning on the railing and just shaking his head. "I think my first and most pressing question, and I understand, it's petty, and you probably get this a lot, and can kinda understand if you don't want to answer because honestly, it's just an awkward question, but... You know. Humor me on this one. Please."

He clears his throat. "HOW THE FUCK DID I END UP IN A DIFFERENT WORLD?"

There's a grimace, when the question is shouted at him. "Okay. I... I don't know that one. Maybe the bleeding-edge scientists could help you figure that one out, but mostly I just... try and help people get acclimated. It's not like we're trying to hide that, either, it's..."
He sighs. "We don't know much about the Dream Width. We can detect when people or objects show up in it, that's how we found you, but we can't really venture into it past a certain point. Anybody who goes in too far slips into a coma and then they're lost in their own memories and have to be rescued." After a moment, he adds, "I'm sorry. It's... not all bad, though. Curti Center's specifically set up to help people who show up there, and until you get back on your feet and everything, they make sure you've got food and somewhere to stay and clothes and stuff. Plus some money for extras until you've got income of your own coming in..."

"No, I needed to get out of dodge anyway, that's fine. But I'm wondering how I managed to run so hard out of town I got planted onto a different world. That's crazy." He placed his elbows onto a nearby railing, eyes wide, rocking slightly forwards and back.

"My second question is, 'where did my pants go'?"

"Well, on the plus side if you're on the run, nobody from there can reach you and even if they could, they'd be cut off from all the stuff that makes them dangerous!" He hopes that sounds more reassuring than it is.

"And, uh... you were wearing pants, last you remember? I've got no clue. Sometimes things that belong to offworlders turn up, though. Maybe they just got separated from you, somehow? I'm sure if they're important to you they'll be drawn here, as well."

"Pants are something that you kinda have to try to lose." That leads to an unfortunate, unpleasant conclusion. "Which means that either someone or something else took them off of me, or I had to ditch them to wind up here."

He shifts off his feet, looking at the boy, pausing before speaking since he had to clear his mind a little in order to have words to speak at all. "Right, so. Kiddo. I'm guessing a similar story happened to you? Is that why you're here, to pick up chumps drifting 'round off the side of an airship?"

"Er... well I know that a lot of the time people have belongings that're magical or special in some way, and we don't really know why but the Dream Width strips them away... could be that's what happened? Sometimes they turn up later though, like I said."
At the second question, though, he grins again. "Nope! I was born in Nakagawa, actually. I work for the Curti Center- they do research on the 'width, pick up people who show up there, that sorta thing. I joined up because... well, honestly they really need the help. There's a lot of offworlders coming in lately, usually it's one or two every few years but since April it's just been tons and tons, every couple months. We're running out of room to house everyone and the Center's way understaffed. I get a chance to help some people who really need it, plus housing's included and I can save up some extra to send home, so it's all a win-win for me."

Richard feels a little bit like Columbo at this moment. Bumbling around, in shabby and not-quite-fitting clothes, asking questions long enough and often enough to wear down the patience of a monk. And the more this guy talks, the more questions he has.

Only, the thing is, he has no clever 'gotcha' moments planned. He really is just sorta that clueless.

"Dream Width? Nakagawa? What are these places? Who are you? Why's your hair purple? Do you have to dye it, or does it just come out that way?" He didn't see any roots. That's either fresh or things got even weirder.

Well now he's just confused. "Wha? No, it's just like this. I never met my grandad, but from the old black-and-white pictures I've seen it's pretty much the same color as my dad's and mine, so I guess it runs in the family? Anyway, the Dream Width is where we found you. It's..." he furrows his brow. "It's kind of like a cloud around the planet, made of... memories, and stuff. We don't actually know all that much about it since it's hard to study. As for Nakagawa, that's pretty easy, it's a city on the coast of Min'To."

Richard just gives him a dull stare. What are these make-believe places he's talking about? He wasn't able to parse if Serge was screwing with him with the hair thing, but given his normally straightforward and honest personality, he was guessing not.

Which means that he was in the shit.

"Okay, so. The Dream Width is a cloud around the planet made from memories and dreams and stuff, and you were skimming it and I just sorta fell out." A pause. "It's a good thing I am really good at falling."

"Well, 'skimming it' is selling it a bit short. We can detect when people show up in the cloud, and usually we like to make sure they get rescued because, well. It's the right thing to do. People lost in it go comatose and they end up reliving their own memories. You can get sucked in, too, if you're not careful, but you can also get people out that way, so it works out."
He senses the disbelief, though, and pulls out his iMog slate, pulling up a map of the planet. "See? Here's the Curti Center, that's where we're headed right now, and over there's Min'To, and Nakagawa's there on the map..."

Richard rubs his temples. Okay, he's not in a different place. He's not in a parallel dimension. He's on a parallel dimension on a different planet. The hell is going on?

"And whenever I say that I'm from Ocean City, you probably won't know what I'm talking about. Okay, so, this has been educational. Well, nice to know I'm in space Japan."

He sighs, stepping back. "I'm... really sorry." He doesn't quite know what else to say. "It's like I said, Vaikuntha's... well it's a whole world."

"Space Japan that's a whole world." He walks out of the room, looking out into the brave new world in front of him. He looks down and sees the ocean infinite, the sky burbling with the stuff of dreams, the beautiful constructions off in the distance both whimsical and alive.

And he was just happy that he was alive and had pants.

"What a weird way to wake up..."

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Test Drive Meme IV

No man should have to go pantsless

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