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wasteyard mods ([personal profile] wastemods) wrote in [community profile] wasteyard2019-05-18 02:36 pm

THE SKY WENT OFF-WHITE.

WHO: Anyone and everyone.
WHAT: Our inaugural test drive meme.
WHERE: Anywhere in the world core.
WHEN: Whenever your character arrives.
NOTES: Expect surreal horror and possible violence. Please use common sense when warning for other content.



Art by Basile Godard

THE SUNLIGHT SPLINTERED.

You reach the end of the ash-gray hall at a run, hands fumbling for an antique door handle. And then you stumble, fall, tumble—any number of adjectives, depending on where, exactly, the door opened—into a radio station.

The equipment is old and dusty, but devoid of cobwebs to the observant eye. And it's dark, save for whatever light makes it through the windows. They display disjointed locations; perhaps one shows an upside-down tower, while its neighbors frame the crumbling pavement of a rotting car park and the stripped out interior of a sewer. Whatever the case, peering through one window reveals a landscape that impossibly doesn't connect to the next.

The door is still there, the only exit to this grubby room. It opens somewhere, anywhere else in this distorted world. And once you leave, it no longer leads back whence you came.

Where do you go?


THE LIGHT, DIVIDED.

A sun on one horizon, a full moon on the other. They're luminous but unreal, like they were plucked from a sky and pasted to a flat, starless backdrop. You can see only one, depending on which side you entered; it's essentially random. Both "sides" overlap like alternate dimensions and you can't see anyone who isn't on the same side as you. Light or dark, you walk in the light of a muted sun or an overbright moon. It never feels quite real.

Neither star nor satellite seem to move from their position. The passage of time is at a standstill.

Regardless of which side you're on, you'll find signs that you aren't alone. What someone does on one side affects the other, so moving an item or writing something down will translate to floating items and mysteriously appearing letters. Speech doesn't travel...unless there's a radio. Radios may turn on and off, with voices audible through the white noise. And if you walk past a mirror, the reflection isn't your own. Instead, it acts as a window to the other side.

In-character observations:
  • Anyone sensitive to time, space, and related dimensional shenanigans will feel they're distorted. And it isn't something they can fix, at least not with powers.
  • It's possible to cross dimensions if a character has related powers, but they'll suffer backlash and significant stress from the transition. Successive jumps aren't gonna fly.
  • If a character is affected by the sun or moon, they'll find neither holds sway over them here; e.g., vampires can walk in daylight and werewolves won't shift in the full moon.
TL;DR: Whatever this is, it isn't natural.


THE SHADOW REALM.

Outdoors, there are shadows on the prowl.

Silent and eerily insubstantial, they trail after you like blind spots given form. Staring at them too long is unsettling but, for the most part, they're content to watch you back...if they can watch. They don't seem to have eyes.

When that isn't enough, however, they attack. Stealing the shape of monsters from other worlds, they may lack special powers, but that doesn't keep them from being dangerous. When in doubt, you're safest indoors.

But maybe that isn't good enough for you. Or maybe you just fucked up. Either/or.


RADIO WAVES.

If you aren't wondering how you got here, you're probably at least asking why. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anyone around who can answer your questions. Everyone else is as clueless as you.

But, some time after you arrive—whether it's days, hours, minutes, or seconds—the dead air stirs. The atmospheric pressure drops and playhouse lightning arcs across the facsimile of a sky. It's a storm that warns of what's to come, as an earthquake shifts the ground beneath your feet. Around you, buildings flood, and water pours out in falls only half aware of gravity. Wind hurls debris at such high speeds, it turns into shrapnel. Rain pelts you from above and below as the temperature plummets. It starts to snow.

Somehow, the sun and moon remain visible through the turmoil. A collection of mirrors scattered through the world don't reflect their light; instead, it passes through them and illuminates the other side. These specific mirrors, all set in ash-gray frames that match the halls, are untouched in the unfolding natural disasters, and standing before them will shield you as well. Consider them havens in the chaos, proverbial eyes in the storm.

In the dark, a radio turns on of its own accord. Is someone—something—talking to you?


INTO ALL OUR DARKEST FEARS.

Welcome to THE WASTEYARD's first test drive! Some quick things to remember:
  • Our TDMs tie into the game plot. As such, any applicants can keep their TDM threads as game canon.
  • The network is exclusive to in-game characters. TDM characters can only use radios.
  • There is a language barrier, so please mention what language your character speaks somewhere.
  • We don't have a fixed day ratio; instead, you pace yourself at your discretion.
  • Characters may face backlash when using any powers.
  • Mark if your character is on the sun or moon side of the divide. The choice is yours as the player.
  • If you have any questions, please direct them to our FAQ!
And that's all, folks. So take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!


a

[personal profile] louwoda 2019-05-21 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
[Madi is used to being alone, so it's not that she's particularly bothered by how empty this whole place seems to be. She's also pretty comfortable around other people, all things in her life considered, so that's not it either. But hearing someone in distress over a walkie-talkie (which she thankfully is familiar with) gives her pause; that's not being alone and it's not being around people. It's something else entirely.

It takes her a little while before she "answers," just holding the walkie and mulling over what to say in her head for a few long seconds before she settles on something that didn't even need a lot of thought anyway.]


Are you okay? [And, for good measure, because in her limited experience, people are just as likely to speak Trigedasleng as they are English,] Yu ste laksen?
gonplei: (Default)

[personal profile] gonplei 2019-05-21 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ The sound of Trigedasleng makes her heart race. Wonkru? The chances of a Wonkru member wanting to kill or help her are about 50-50, and she's not certain she likes those odds. She likes the idea that this is all some horrible trick or hallucination even less.

Still, the words hang heavy in the air. She is not alone.

Goddammit. Octavia picks up the radio, careful not to identify herself. If this is one of the defectors, there's no telling what they'll do once they find her. (She's sure she can take them, but she'd rather get the drop on them.)
]

Yu chich Trig op ai. Chon yu bilaik?

[ "You speak Trig to me. Who are you?" Or, you know, something like that. Don't grammar police my Trigedasleng. ]

[personal profile] louwoda 2019-05-21 05:25 pm (UTC)(link)
[Okay, good. That means this is someone she can count on as an ally (in theory). Madi fumbles with the walkie-talkie a little, just because it's weird to speak to someone she can't see; it's not a question she'd expect to get if this person on the other end could see her.]

Ai laik Heda.

[Which heda is self explanatory. Because the idea of canon points is, you know, not a thing she'd consider.]

Weron yu kamp raun? ["Where are you?" Also not something she's considering: that it's impossible to answer that question in this place.]
gonplei: (Default)

[personal profile] gonplei 2019-05-25 04:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Heda? —Madi.

She breathes a sigh of relief that it isn't someone with a poorer opinion of her. Madi is just a little girl, one who has no intention of turning on her. If she can be sure of no one else's loyalties, she can be sure of a 12-year-old girl's.
]

Ai laik Bl— [ Blodreina, she almost says. She's not anyone's red queen anymore, not even Osleya. ] Okteivia.

[ As for where she is, that's a damn good question. She knows Madi speaks English as well as she speaks Trigedasleng, so she switches over. ]

Hell if I know. Everything keeps shifting. [ There's one landmark she's found, and one alone— ] Can you see the 'EUREKA' sign?

[personal profile] louwoda 2019-05-28 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[She thought the voice sounded familiar, and she's glad it's someone she knows. Some stranger speaking Trig would be scary, and Octavia has always been good to her. Even loyal, in the few instances she's had to prove it.]

Um. [She doesn't say that over the walkie, obviously; there's a short pause as she finds a window and sticks her head out.]

I think so. [She doesn't know how to spell eureka. But that looks close enough.] Are you outside?
gonplei: (Default)

[personal profile] gonplei 2019-06-02 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
No. [ She's in some crappy run-down building that looks like it's from over a hundred years ago. Clearly, walking around hasn't done much for her, since she seems to get lost every time she does. ] But I can get there.

[ It's not too difficult to find the only building with words on it. It's the only landmark, and with everything else constantly shifting around her, she's been strangely grateful for its existence. ]

Wait there, and I'll come to meet you.

[ Maybe she isn't meant to be telling the Commander what to do like this, but at the same time, she's a little girl. It feels a hell of a lot more natural to take control of the situation than sit there and wait for the 12-year-old to take care of herself.

As an afterthought, she adds,
] If you see shadows, don't go near them. Ste kefa. [ "Be careful." ]