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

[ascocarp]

[Ellie has always prioritized the measurement of time. At first, in school, it was the best way to know when things were over and how long she had to stick around for boring shit. It's not like they were gonna waste any batteries on clocks, back there. Later, it became important to know how to meter out rations, when to hunt and how long to wait. She thinks she's gotten good at knowing when in the day it is by the amount of light and the position of the sun, if visible.]

[That skill is completely fucked, here.]

[Ellie studies the stars on the wall, running her fingers over them as well. She wants to ask about these, but there's no reason to think this guy would know. She always heard people could navigate by stars.]

I dunno, [she finally admits.] Long enough to get hungry, I guess. [Not that it takes much for a teenager to get hungry.] What about you?

[fumitory]

( a response like that warrants a look from Ben, naturally. he is no gawker, but he looks to the teen with a new awareness, and maybe something a little...reverent.

and then, back to the wall. he leans in and squints, scrutinizing the patterns of the cosmos, looking for an assembly that could feel familiar. this level of displacement makes him wonder if the stars here are even visible from earth, his earth — can he assume the girl and he share the same world? )

Long enough to start missing my electric kettle. ( brand new, from Christmas, and Ben is definitely not feeling at all bitter about the fact that he only got to relish it for five months before being blipped out of existence like this. nope, not him. but for real, he might kill a man for a cup of tea right now.

yet, for as prissy as a remark like that might seem, it comes away flatly, almost half-heartedly, as he pulls his briefcase around to his side, by a length strap stretched across his chest. ) And plenty long enough to have been asking myself if any of this is really happening.

( because Ben does have priorities. and a less than stellar gauge for humor. swing and a miss. )

This will be really unfortunate if you're vegetarian, but... ( covered in grey dust, the same kind that coats much of the labyrinth and its collected junk: one small package of beef jerky, still sealed, looking like it just survived an apocalypse. stashed away into his briefcase, he's pulled it out into the open now. ) I found this. Perhaps there is hope for us yet.

( or, it's the last ration of dehydrated jerky in the entire damn world. while Ben is ever the pragmatist, even he would like to angle a little bit more towards optimism, right now. he holds it out, at some modest midway point between the two of them — only because he really isn't pushing it if the teen in fact is vegetarian. or possesses some sort of allergy. or if the contents don't happen to be kosher... Ben, overthinking? say it isn't so. ) Then again, I haven't tried any, so for all we know, it could be absolute rubbish.

[ascocarp]

[It's suspicious kindness. Both the expression on his face, and the easy offering of food, she's not sure what to do with. Ellie twitches despite herself, a half inch away from the man and his jerky. She doesn't even know his name.]

...I'm good. [And her stomach obligingly doesn't rumble after she says it.]

[She looks back to the stars, and their chipping paint. In some places, they're falling. She wants to count them.]

[That's stupid.] We should find a safe place. [Without waiting for him, she turns from the stars and keeps trudging up the stairway. If that seems abrupt, well. It kinda was, yeah.]

[fumitory]

Well, if you change your mind. ( light, easy, far from offended as he pushes the package back into his briefcase. in the back of his mind, he thinks of a feral cat, one curious enough to stick around for the survival benefit, but still not so trusting to get that close.

the girl is blunt, and nothing about that bruises Ben as he watches her turn and march on, giving him cause to follow. he can see how she's guarded, a fence between two yards; it's there to set a line, to maintain a privacy. Ben sees it and knows how to identify it — in the same way someone can recognize a mirror, by the reflection of themselves shining back.

but she's inclusive, something that Ben judges as incredibly mature, and it leaves him impressed. to say nothing of how grateful one would naturally be to not get bailed on after a too-exciting chase scene like that. )

...If a safe place exists.

( great mood boost there, Benny boy. ) Nothing seems to stay as it is for very long before...

( it all changes. change isn't something Ben fears or resists, even when set deep in his ways, he can reconcile that inevitable truth. but this is just...more than he thinks he could have prepared for. as they climb, it steals his attention away from finishing his remark — very unlike him.

as long as they seem to wordlessly agree to team up as they go, Ben can break the ice first. it just won't be as suave as say...anyone with even slightly more charisma than he has. ) I'm— Ben, by the way. Thanks for, ah...coming to the rescue.

[ascocarp]

If it doesn't, we might as well kill ourselves right now. [Say what you will of maturity, that sentence was accompanied by a very puerile eyeroll. As she walks, she traces her hands over the starlines, looking dismayed when bits flake off under her fingers.] Gotta keep finding something to-... [Fight for? Fuck.] To look forward to. Y'know.

[She looks up from the stars when he gives his name, and she takes a long moment, deciding, before.] Ellie. Ellie's my name. You don't know shit about being outside, do you?

[So, yeah, blunt.]

[fumitory]

( oh, well, good thing they're not jumping to extremes or anything. ) —Lets call it a contingency option. ( said as mildly as one can while masking some knee-jerk alarm, which might still glow at the edges of Ben's calm, but hardly disruptive.

in fact, probably about as calm as she seems — Ellie, then, he learns.

Ellie here is quickly wielding a tendency to stun Ben with striking optimism. something to look forward to... well, it's a tall order for sure, in a predicament like this, but hearing her vocalize it makes the idea feel half-tangible already. it's still possible, isn't it? somehow, some way...it can't be so difficult.

Ben scoffs, the sort that one can hear a small smile through. ) Outside? Certainly. Not a place like this, though...I've never been chased by shadows, for one. ( Ben can't quite decide if Ellie is just so adept to handling threats, or if she's familiar with these shadow creatures herself. to Ben's credit, he tends to have a little more forewarning, often somewhat more prepared than he was for all of this. Ben only brought his pocket first aid kit, no traveling provisions, no emergency tools, no extra clothes, and definitely packing light on the herbs and wards. he thinks this is what roughing it truly means. )

...Is it— ( abrupt, bucking the momentum of their chatter, Ben's tone pinches upward with sudden confusion as he turns around, to look down the stairs whence they came. they've been climbing, and now, Ben can no longer see the landing below them. ) —Am I daft, or...are these stairs not...stopping?