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HYPERJUMP | a panfandom sci-fi game. ([personal profile] uplink) wrote in [community profile] hyperlinks2018-08-01 05:17 am
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test:drive_01.

TESTDRIVE_01



THE ARRIVAL.

You wake up, wet and bruised, in the water.

You don't recall falling, but you recall a flash of bright light, and the next thing you know you're washing up on the shoreline. You can see two moons and a planet in the sky. Directly abovehead is a slash of oscillating lights that flash painfully bright with every passing second - and you witness a handful of silhouettes getting spit out of the lights, falling into the water with a loud splash.

It's a surprising sight; just as surprising is the fact that you're not alone.

A stranger you didn't notice approaching hauls you up onto your feet, checks you for injuries, and then you're lifted into a shuttle, where you're healed by the med techs on board. There are others like you who were pulled from the water and the sand, and they're in various states of healing. You're all soaked in seawater - and by the look of things, you're all equally at a loss about your situation.

An automated message keeps repeating over the PA system in English: "You are currently in Caius Allied Territory. Welcome to Alexandrina."

Where the hell are you?

You're now in Alexandrina, and we hope you enjoy your stay.



NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE.

It isn't your lucky day.

Something, somewhere along the line, goes incredibly wrong. Rather than keeping you at the shores of Alexandrina, the rift pulls you in and spits you out in a place that's a lot less watery and clear. The first thing you come to is the taste of dirt and grime, and the hustle and bustle of a city that doesn't have an off-switch.

Overhead, there are high-rises and towers that go up further than your eyes can see. It seems neverending, and natural light struggles to filter through the metal. The shock only starts to fade away when you hear the sounds of a struggle not too far away from where you landed. Investigating will lead you to a group of Caia Maxus harassing a few Terrans on a back alleyway. The Terrans are trying to sidestep their way out of this (they'd rather not get involved in a fight), but the Caia Maxus far outnumber them and all escape routes have been blocked.

No one else is stepping in to intervene. If anything, the rest of the onlookers seem to be encouraging the rough treatment. So now you get to decide:

OPTION A | YOU STEP IN LIKE THE HERO YOU ARE. You step between the two parties to try and avoid an escalation. You don't want to start trouble, or maybe you do and this seems like a good reason to fish for a fight.

OPTION B | YOU LOOK THE OTHER WAY. This isn't your problem really, so without saying a word, you head for the other direction. The Terrans weren't asking for help anyway, so maybe they could handle it. Best hope nothing will let you regret your decision.

Choose wisely. You'll feel the effects of your choices sooner than you think. Regardless of what you decide though, the Hypatia Rescue Fleet 409 will locate you a few Terran hours later. They'll tell you they have no idea how you ended up in Koriba, that's never really happened before, but they're glad they managed to find you before anything major happened.




THE NIGHT OF.

It's a lot to take in. You're on an alien moon, looking out to a planet that looks a lot like Earth but isn't. You can see the storms swirling around, the deep blue of its own seas, as you listen to the crash and pull of the waves not far from where you stand. The stars are different here too - there are no constellations that you recognize immediately.

Some of the older locals are lingering outdoors with you, and they nod at you as you make your way around the cottages. Are you headed to the beach? You might find a few couples having a moment there. Are you headed back into the cottages? If you peer into some of the windows, you'll find entire families sitting together, or parents tucking their children to bed.

If you're headed into the woodsy areas that extend away from the beach, you might hear a rustling sound or two - from something too large to be another person.

Careful where you walk tonight. There's a reason for lights out being a thing.




WELCOME TO THE 409.

It's the morning after your quick orientation into the Alexandrina settlement, and everything looks dewy and homey — until you start hearing loud splashes, followed by shots firing off nearby. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a bunch of eldritch horrors falling from the rift abovehead. They stand at roughly ten meters tall each, lumbering out from the water with angry screeching and flailing limbs. They're already kicking up a mess at the shorelines, and upending some of the makeshift outposts lining the beach.

The locals are shooting at them to keep them away from the settlement borders. Most of them are adults, but some of the shooters are as young as fifteen or sixteen, and clearly used to the kickback of the firearms they're carrying. One of these shooters pushes you forward, tells you to get moving. Another hands you keys to a vehicle and points you in the direction of the fleet — every able adult needs to help in manning the patrol lines, they say. The keys fit into a hoverbike, which in turn is armed with blast guns up front.

"Get up in the air and help the guys out," the stranger urges you. "We don't have as many men as we used, to. Get going, get going!"

...Maybe those bikes come with a how-to manual? On the bright side, at least you're not alone in trying to figure these bikes out.




NOTHING WASTED, NOTHING THROWN.

The beach is saved! You're drenched in monster blood, there's sand in places you didn't realize you even had, and your bike is in some form of damage after those first few crucial minutes of getting the hang of riding them.

Now comes the cleanup, and your character is armed with large chainsaws and buckets. The creatures need to be chopped down to smaller sizes before they can be properly incinerated, and everyone's kindly asked to suit up and get to chopping!

There are small stalls and tents lined up along the beach for various purposes to help with the process. There are refreshment tents for when the sun heat gets to be too much; there are portable incinerator ovens, which burn the creatures' parts down into fertilizer (no point letting it go to waste, hey!), there are shower tents for when you're done with the hacking and sawing, and at the far end of the beach, away from the gore and the carnage, is a beach barbeque bonanza.

From the way people act, this is a normal day in the 409.

So why not grab a saw, chop up some monster flesh, and have yourself a nice beef-flavored something? You've earned it today.




HYPENET.

C̪͇̜̞͇̲a̮̠̝͍̩̦n̪̣ a̦͖n̕y̯̪̪o̟̭͞n҉̩e͢ ̱̜̠͎̖̤h̘̝͔͓̳̪̠e̻̲̦̯ͅa̵r͈̜͙̣̜ ̧m̩͇ḙ͓͡?̩͈̲ͅͅ

H̷͖͇͈̮e̲͖❚❚͓͈̥̤̺͔ͅ—͍ N͎̦̫̯͔̯o͖̖͎̠̣̮ ̹̝o̬̦̠̫̮ͅ❚̱͈̺̝̥͞❚͏ ̳❚͉͎͜ş ̨͚̲͓͚̣̫s̙̥❚̮͚̻͠f̟̪̲̳̕e̥̞̲̝̝͟—͈̖


Whoa. What was that?

This is the first thing you hear as soon as you try connecting to the network. Something tells you this isn't something that happens often, but asking anyone who knows more about this place than you do isn't netting you any answers. The more people start looking at you like you're crazy, the more you're tempted to brush it off...

Connecting to the network again will trigger its original default message:

Welcome to HypeNet, DefaultUsername[xxxx]! You are now accessing the Hypatia Mass Network. You may input your personalized username and start chatting now!

Time to get some answers. Maybe someone else must have heard it too, right?



OOC NOTES.

Welcome to the first TDM of HYPERJUMP! We're trying something different with the Koriba prompt, so please bear with us. Cast your vote here! Both options have their own sets of consequences that will affect the first intro log of the game, so choose your actions carefully!

Additionally, the interactions in this test drive can be game canon if the parties involved agree to it. Everyone is also encouraged to use test drive threads for samples in your application. We are super excited to have you here, and we hope you like what you see. ♥


collaborates: credit: <lj user="bungalows"> (Default)

[personal profile] collaborates 2018-08-06 09:03 am (UTC)(link)
The dead? You mean to say you are communicating with the deceased?

( Sorry Vanessa, Connor is an android. Ideas of the afterlife and such is such a foreign concept he just can't bring himself to believe it's a possibility. Even if he had to consider it for himself, there is no afterlife, just nothing.)

That isn't possible.

( One day Connor will also learn when not to be too blunt with the truth. Today is not that day.)
possidetur: (ᴏɴᴇ ᴏʜ sᴇᴠᴇɴ)

[personal profile] possidetur 2018-08-06 09:13 am (UTC)(link)
( it's far from the first time that she's had her abilities or beliefs doubted. considering that society at large doesn't really believe in it, that some only want to when it serves them matters little. she's accepted it -- she possibly would have been the same had she not been gifted )

Yet people wish it to be.

( she doesn't push. vanessa never does, not to a stranger. pushing her beliefs as truth only makes her seem crazy and that isn't something she ever wishes to revisit )
collaborates: credit: <lj user="bungalows"> (pic#12449408)

[personal profile] collaborates 2018-08-06 09:32 am (UTC)(link)
( If Connor was human he might have felt bad for outright telling someone that their job choice was impossible. But he's not human and in Connor's mind something either exists or doesn't. Communicating with the dead just didn't exist back home and contemplating it's existence without evidence was a fool's errand.

The comfort side of it — and people wishing for — does make sense. Even Hank had said himself he would have words with his creator. He would probably have words for those he'd lost too given the chance. It's something Connor can only look into from an outside perspective and he files it away for later consideration, instead giving Vanessa a side-wards glance as his led flickers yellow again.)


Do you wish it to be?
possidetur: (ᴛᴡᴏ ꜰᴏᴜʀᴛᴇᴇɴ)

[personal profile] possidetur 2018-08-06 09:48 am (UTC)(link)
Does it matter?

( in the larger scheme of things it didn't seem to, though perhaps that was because vanessa knew more than most. her gifts allowed her to be able to do such impossible things -- her opinion could hardly be unbiased.

but then they were here, and in such an unknown situation did it matter whether or not she believed that people could contact the dead? whether she wished to be able to? she didn't think so )
collaborates: credit: <lj user="bungalows"> (pic#12443136)

[personal profile] collaborates 2018-08-06 10:58 am (UTC)(link)
No, I don't suppose it does.

( maybe it was too personal a question. it isn't important in the grand scheme of things, just a small piece of information that may give more insight to the whole thing. connor moves on from the topic, not at all bothered or concerned that he didn't get an answer for that one.

had vanessa been a suspect in something? you can bet he would have pursued it until his last moments.)


What are your thoughts on this place?
possidetur: (ɴɪɴᴇᴛʏ sᴇᴠᴇɴ)

[personal profile] possidetur 2018-08-06 11:20 am (UTC)(link)
I don't have any.

( her response is a little agitated. she'd already felt trapped, that feeling only abating slightly with the distraction of the conversation. but it's a long conversation and she hasn't spoken to anyone in months.

it's a little trapping on its own, a feeling of frustration rising through her particularly when vanessa doesn't know something-- she doesn't know anything about this place )


It's all unknown.