THE SKY WENT OFF-WHITE.

[wastemods]

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!

NAVIGATION.

PREMISE
RULES
FAQ
ACTIVITY
APPLICATIONS

TAKEN
HIATUSES & DROPS
CANON UPDATES
REWARDS
TPC CLAIMS

WORLD
EXPLORATION
DEVICES
QUESTS
INFORMATION

CALENDAR
SUGGESTIONS
MOD CONTACT
SETTING INBOX
CODEBOOK

Comments

b

[itselbitch]

[ sometime before, the magician eliot had also encountered the exact same convenience store. he was injured not even a week before all this, but his assumption when stepping into the grandfather clock had been to arrive in fillory, where there are healers to help with sorting out the traditionally patched up axe wound to his abdomen. this is definitely not fillory, and he doesn't have enough pain pills for this.

he's toward the back of the building, skimming shelves of pharmaceuticals for anything he can bring with him. he'd found a shoddy bag with a zip in another aisle. it's while eliot's shoving bottles into it (all of them; he can throw out the useless shit later) when he hears someone trotting in. he immediately ducks from sight, keeping as still as he can.

when nothing seems to happen after, the man just shuffling about like he's lost too and trying to make sense of things, eliot thinks that maybe this is actually a good thing. they say there's strength in numbers, right?

he peeks over the shelf after the man grouses aloud to himself (the statement felt quite mutually) and watches him root around a little. eliot stands tall again before speaking up. ]

Don't take all the cigarettes please. I'm dying enough as it is, and sharing is caring.

[calculo]

( he should have heard someone else. he should have been able to tell someone else was lurking but his focus was elsewhere and this entire place was throwing him off in ways that he hadn't ever encountered, not since the rider had made that deal with him.

he doesn't jump or anything ridiculous like that but he does swing around, hands coming up as if to defend himself. a second longer and the words that the man said process and he lets out a breath. that doesn't sound like a threat.

or, if it is, it's a really lame threat. )

You're dying?

( cigarettes ain't gonna cure that, eliot. ) Of what?

[itselbitch]

[ not that it can be conveyed to robbie to reassure him, eliot is well versed in tactical magic to help one get through being a delinquent at school, and sneaking around without getting caught comes in pretty high on that list. he could even give the weasley twins a run for their money, but it's also wholly unfair to compare his grad school level of knowledge with some kids in high school, so. whatever that would be worth, again, if it could be conveyed.

it's definitely not a threat though, especially since eliot would personally prefer not to fight if possible, but he's no mouse like alice. ]

Mm. [ he sighs through his nose, giving a passive shrug of his shoulder as a lazy smile forms on his lips. ]

Old age? Cigarette withdrawal? The need to drink something at least sixty proof? [ he'd mention the wound on his stomach that had to be surgically stitched up the old fashioned way since magic on earth had been too depleted to heal him at the time, but that's the kind of rookie mistake that usually gets people killed. ] Take your pick.

[calculo]

Oh, a funny guy. Just my luck to run into one of those in this hellscape. ( but he was someone and that was important. so, even though eliot rubs him wrongly immediately, he's still something other than the sound of silence and wind and robbie welcomes that about now. )

Don't know what to tell you, pal, but I'm not finding anything that's gonna help you. ( so, guess you get to keep on dying? how sad for you. )

You in here hiding?

[itselbitch]

[ oh, goodie. it's like he's found penny all over again. befriending this one will be fun. and hopefully not end in being shanked in the stomach. ]

No cigarettes back there? How am expected to live under these dire circumstances? [ what's even the point of there being a convenience store, then? that's not convenient at all! ] Not really though, no. Grabbing whatever first aid is left.

[ and all the pill bottles in case there's something there that can relieve his pain or get him high, but details. ]

Are you hiding?

[calculo]

I look like I'm hiding? ( he wasn't crouching, he wasn't ducking behind a shelf like you were, mister cigarette. )

Trying to find anything that might help with this...I don't even know what this place is. Do you?

( might as well ask, right? ) Because last thing I remember's eating dinner and not this.

( whatever this was. ) If you die in front of me, don't expect CPR.

[itselbitch]

I wasn't the one who ran through the door like I was about to shit my pants, handsome. [ okay, so maybe it's a bit of an exaggeration, but. still. you don't have to look like you're hiding to still be hiding, friend. ]

Your guess is as good as mine. I was supposed to be in Fillory, but. Maybe the Library fucked up the portal--I don't know--either way, we're fucked unless we find a replenishable food source.

Assuming you're not a cannibal, in which case, I don't recommend eating me because so many drugs have been through my system that I'd probably taste like if you deep fried cheese in every kind of soda and then left it sitting in the sun for, like, three months.

[calculo]

( he's too busy glaring to even make a mention of the whole 'handsome' thing. thanks for noticing, eliot, maybe he'd remember you saying that later. or maybe not. it all depended on what other shit this place threw at him.

or them, he supposes, since he's found eliot now and though he's annoyed, he doesn't really want to walk away either. he doesn't want to hang out with the shadow things. )

Yeah, there's shit out there that I don't wanna deal with.

( so yeah, he'd run. and he doesn't regret it. )

I don't know what the hell Fillory is. Some rich east coast thing? I'm from Los Angeles. ( and if there was some fillory suburb there, he doesn't know where it is. he's not one to hang out there. )

And I'm not going to eat you. ( please. ) You don't look that appetizing.

( said very, very dryly while he starts to poke around. )

[itselbitch]

[ don't worry, eliot won't let you forget that he thinks your handsome. in fact he almost replies with, oh, but i'd much rather eat you anyway, but decides against it because it's always better to let someone warm up to you a little more before diving straight into it, especially if they're a little camera shy, which seems to be the case here.

as for being from los angeles, well, ] If you think there aren't people like me on the west coast, you're sorely mistaken, sweetheart. But. For the record. New York. Enchanté.

[ he gives a (sarcastic) curtsy and resumes dumping bottles into his bag of growing goodies. even if none of them help with the pain, there's bound to be something that gets him high.

if this really is someone from earth, he's glad he's at least around someone that's relatively sane and understands all his pop culture references (or hopefully most of them, if this man's really from the city of angels), but that also means eliot needs to hide his magic from him. boo. where's the fun in that? ]

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who finds our shadowy friends needlessly unnerving.

[calculo]

Unnerving. That's one way to put it. ( and this from a guy carrying around a hell demon inside of him. a hell demon who hadn't so much as made a peep since he'd gotten here but he's still there. robbie's got no doubt about that.

robbie doesn't find much among the shelves except dust and dirt and a few broken pieces of glass. not a bad weapon in a pinch but he doubts a shadow's going to really be affected by a shard of glass to the neck. )

What's your name, New York?

( because it probably wasn't new york.

at the clinking of glass, he looks over, stepping closer to try and get a better look at what eliot had found. )

Unless you're about to find the local recycling plant, it sounds like you found something other than dirt.

[itselbitch]

[ he's seen plenty of unnatural things in the last few years, all ranging from harmless to disturbing, but the shadow creatures definitely make his spine itch with something akin to fear, even if, for the most part, eliot has managed to ignore it in favor of pushing forward and finding a means to survive.

that said, these bottles are his, thank you very much. but maybe he can hand off the laxatives he's pretty sure he glanced going into his bag... ]

First come, first serve, as they say. But I may reconsider sharing if you try smiling a bit more for me. [ he glances up, offering a pleased smile of his own. then he's skimming the rest of the shelves. nothing much left, really, but anything is better than nothing. given his height of six feet and two inches, his head still peeks up above the top of the rack. ]

It's Eliot. And yours, Los Angeles?

[calculo]

No. ( he's not going to smile on command. he can smile but this whole situation doesn't really make him want to smile even in exchange for some unknown bottle. )

I can find my own. ( because if he'd found something, there was bound to be more. maybe not in this building but elsewhere. ) Robbie.

( look at that, now they knew each other's names. he still wasn't smiling. )

You planning on staying in here? Because I don't know if staying in one place is smart with those things out there.

[itselbitch]

[ not if eliot finds it first, robbie. cute name, though. even if he doesn't smile, eliot knows better than to consider it a wash already. things like this time, and if they're going to get out of this damn place, there's going to be plenty of that. ]

Definitely not, but it was worth a gander. I doubt pills are the easiest thing to come by in a place like this. [ especially with the wasteland outside. ] Or alcohol. Which I haven't checked yet, but I'm sure there's probably something in this shithole that constitutes alcoholic in nature.

[ there's a clean ziiip as he closes the bag and slings it over his right arm. he lets his cane slip back to the ground, taking it with his left hand to redistribute his weight. ] You have anything to carry your pillaged treasures with, or will you be hoisting it all with those strapping arms of yours?

[calculo]

What treasure? You picked the place clean.

( he'd found rocks. and he wasn't going to take those with him. he didn't want to weigh himself down with something he could get anywhere in this hellscape. )

I'll take food and water before alcohol. ( hadn't been much of a drinker for awhile now. ) You gonna tag along, then?

( he's...okay with that. even if he's not sure what to think of eliot, he's at least another person and that's a comfort. it means he's not completely alone. )

[itselbitch]

I think there's a flowery tote bag left in the second aisle. If you'd like something to carry things with.

[ he offers another smile before walking over toward the area normally stocked with drinks, his cane click with every other step. ]

Alcohol is still fluid, you know. If there's nothing else, it's still better to drink than dehydrate.

[calculo]

Drink it for me. ( he doesn't want to drink alcohol. even if it takes a bit to get him drunk, he'd rather be clear headed for whatever the hell they're about to face.

his eyes fall on the cane when eliot starts moving and then he looks back up at him. )

You gonna be able to walk for awhile? ( there doesn't appear to be any convenient hotels or motels to sit and relax. even the relative safety of this building didn't feel too safe. )

[itselbitch]

Don't mind if I do, [ he teases, amusement laced in his words. this wasn't really an idea worth contesting anyway, in eliot's book. ]

I'll be okay. Maybe not fast, but okay, at the least. [ until he runs out of oxycodon, but that's another discussion, and he doesn't feeling like having it right now.

as he scans over emptied shelves, he manages to find an empty bottle of isopropyl alcohol. that's it though. just that. ]

Damn. I'm sure this would have been delicious. [ he holds it up for robbie to see before leaving it sitting on the top-most part of the rack and walking back toward his new companion. ]

I don't suppose you'd happen to have a compass tucked away somewhere in your pockets, would you? Or a map.

[calculo]

Left it in my other pants. ( it's a joke though it might be hard to tell considering there's little inflection in his tone besides dryness. but that's just the way he is. you get used to it, eliot.

or some people did. he sighs and moves closer to eliot but does it slowly. he doesn't want to startle him. he's not here to hurt anyone and even if eliot's...unique, he's damn better than the shadow things out there. )

That a long term thing or did you just get it?

( the injury that led to the cane, he means. ) I ain't carrying your tall ass.

[itselbitch]

[ oh! a joke! there is hope for robbie after all. the dryness of it even matches what tends to fly from eliot's lips at the most difficult moments, so that robbie is actually capable of joking and also seems to enjoy wry sarcasm as much as eliot is a Very Good sign. maybe they won't be best friends, but at least they can mock situations mutually and find comfort in that.

eliot almost wishes he could feel bad for being tall, but even standing next to robbie right now, he can only think about how glad he is that everyone else is armrest height. ]

Let's hope it doesn't come to that. [ he offers the words gently with a soft pat to robbie's shoulder. ]

It's recent, though. My best friend axed me in the stomach. Long story. [ he waves his hand dismissively. ] I didn't really expect to lose access to a pharmacy and first-aid supplies, granted that neither exist where I was headed, but they have people who can help heal it faster. So whatever we can find down that road would probably be helpful. Assuming it hasn't been looted already.

[calculo]

Your...best friend axed you in the stomach? ( eliot, you realize how that sounds, right? usually, best friends don't axe you at all. it was one of the reasons robbie kept himself free of most connections. he had his brother and his coworkers and...a few other people but wasn't like they were here now?

they'd also never axed him in the stomach. jesus. )

Sounds like a great friendship. ( wry, sarcastic. but, he slows his pace so eliot can hobble into step beside him since it looks like they're gonna stick together. )

We'll look for something. ( he was concerned about food and water but looks like eliot had a little more to be concerned about. and now robbie felt a little responsible for him. too bad the hell demon that was riding along with him didn't give him healing abilities for anyone but robbie himself. )

[itselbitch]

[ fine, if you want the long story now, then eliot will just have to give you a condensed version because it actually is a weirdly long and fucked up story that ends with his best friend's death, and he doesn't have enough alcohol in his system to have that conversation yet. ]

Okay, well, [ eliot takes a breath and sighs. ] Short version: I royally fucked up and unleashed this. Thing. A horribly, fucked up god-like thing. It possessed my body, and the only way to force it out was to using these enchanted axes that purge intruders from a host. Or something like that.

I still have the stitches in, but I definitely don't have enough pain pills to last me more than a few weeks at best. [ and not that he'd admit to robbie, but it's hard enough already forcing himself not to pop one every few hours. eliot's doing his best to make it last now, though. especially if he won't be seeing anything as powerful as oxy again for a while. ]

[calculo]

( he listens to the short version of the story and barely reacts. or maybe that's just his face. when it seems like he's done, robbie purses his lips and the nods. )

Believe it or not, I know about things possessing bodies.

( he doesn't elaborate immediately. with eliot's story, robbie thinks he could handle knowing what robbie himself is carrying around but it's always a risk. he doesn't want to piss off the rider either. )

Am I gonna have to worry about you dropping dead randomly?

[itselbitch]

[ eliot looks up, appraising robbie for a moment. were he not a magician, eliot would find it harder to believe, but if robbie has experience with that sort of otherworldly bullshit, then maybe it's actually not so much a danger, to let his new companion know about his magic.

a quiet laugh resounds from eliot's throat at the question. ]

Don't worry, darling. I'm a stubborn bitch. And anyway, I'm sure you'll be wishing I drop dead long before I ever reach that point. It's a gift and my curse.

[calculo]

Seen too many people drop dead so — ( how about you stay alive there, eliot? he doesn't know you well but robbie gets the feeling that you're not so bad. he's known plenty of people like him, confident and bombastic and they've always turned out all right.

mostly all right. )

Come on. Let me know if you need to stop. ( making allowances. trying. trying to be a compassionate person in a place like this wasn't easy but he was doing his best. ) You got any sort of weapons on you?

( shadows and all. )