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pluviooc2024-03-18 02:45 pm
pluviosamods) wrote in pluviooc2024-03-18 02:45 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE 02
TEST DRIVE
Hello, and welcome to the second Pluviosa Test Drive!
This Test Drive corresponds to Days 4-12 in the ship calendar, and will run until around the game's next major event. You can get a better idea what's going on in the most recent Game Update which covers Days 5-8. Currently, character IC housing is not in operation yet; it is expected to open on Day 9 (part of the way through the Test Drive period). Otherwise, the ship is largely in the state described on the Setting page and in other game information.
Test Drive threads involving characters who are accepted are considered canon to the events of the game unless otherwise agreed by players/mods. Pluviosa does not do welcome mingle logs nor does it have any kind of in-character welcome information, making your test drive threads your character's arrival to the game setting. That said, mod-run interactions such as formal exploration and/or interactions with the Ship as an NPC are not available on the Test Drive.
It is advised that potential players familiarize themselves with the Premise page, the Rules/Session Zero page, and at least the first few paragraphs of the Setting page. As Pluviosa is a horror game, we especially encourage players to be aware of the content warnings that will be major themes of the game. If you have any further questions, you can ask them on the QUESTIONS header in the comments!
If you're test driving a character, you're welcome to join the game Discord and hang out and meet your fellow players!
You wake up. You remember waking up, right? In another place, another time...
There's blood running down your fingers. Outside, the rain isn't pounding, yet, just a gentle patter...
Or is it?
As characters gain fuller awareness of their surroundings, they will realize that there is, in fact, no blood on their hands (save any that might have already been there). It feels as though they lost focus for a moment and hallucinated, but the hallucination ended with them somewhere else entirely.
There is not actually the sound of rain. If characters are near enough to a window, balcony, or even a hole in the ceiling, they will find that it is cloudless, beaming sunlight outside. The emptiness in the distance rolls on and on, completely absent any signs of life.
That being, of course, because the signs of life are all in here. Characters might wake up on any of the decks on the upper side of the ship - anywhere that isn't the cafeteria or lounge where previous arrivals spend most of their time is free game. This also means, of course, that they have the jungle of plants to contend with...
Most areas in the ship are dark when characters arrive. That doesn't mean that they stay dark. Occasionally, lights overhead flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time.
The problem with this isn't the lights themselves (cool white and kind of industrial). It's the reaction that the addition of the extra light causes the plants in the dark areas of the ship that's cause for alarm. To describe the growth as explosive isn't an understatement - vines, saplings, and even thicker branches surge with growth, pushing outwards towards the distant sunlight and upwards towards the flickering bulbs.
The growth is sudden enough to take all but the most aware characters by surprise, and if they're in the wrong corner of the room, it's very easy to get tangled up, wedged in by a tree trunk, or otherwise trapped against some corner or wall. If you're lucky and skilled, you might be able to cut yourself out from there (or break down the wall you're shoved up against), but otherwise, there's only one solution left.
Yell like your life depends on it, and hope somebody out there can hear you. And that whoever hears is someone who is inclined to help, rather than leaving you there. Or worse.
Oh, and the lights flicker back off after a few minutes, of course. Hopefully you're not waiting for rescue in the dark (with the smell of mold and the general faint dampness of the forest) for too long.
Occasionally, the whole ship tilts.
This is not simply the side to side motion of a ship on the water (or the equivalent motion brought on by the way this particular ship moves); it's an extremely forward or backward tilt that sends things sliding across the floor if they aren't secured by roots or something else. Unlike storm-tossed ships, the tilt is somewhat prolonged - rather than everything sliding back and forth a couple times a minute, the tilt lasts for five, ten, maybe as much as twenty minutes.
Although it's not enough to knock a well-balanced character off their feet, it's quite likely that new arrivals will not be particularly on-balance. And attempting to traverse the ship with the tilt is a tall order... especially when the ship's angle does unexpectedly change... to the exact opposite direction. All that goes up the mountain must go back down, and a glance out the windows reveals that that's exactly what's going on, as the ship progresses across a mountainous landscape without real regard for the concept of mountain passes.
And for characters who have managed to make their way to the "civilized" parts of the ship, namely the cafeteria and the lounge above it... None of the furniture in these areas is secured. The cafeteria carts under the direct control of the Ship don't seem as inclined to go anywhere, but the tables and chairs in the cafeteria and the couches and armchairs upstairs... Well, it's a good thing both spaces are surrounded by railings. Large chunks of tree trunk also still littler the lounge, sliding back and forth and occasionally rolling with great force across the floor.
Better hold on tight.
While wandering around the ship's interior, characters might occasionally hear a person whistling.
The sound always seems to be coming from just around the corner, but it sounds alive in a way that other sounds don't. Maybe more alive, even, than the rustle of leaves, the occasional drip of water, and the sounds of things sliding back and forth across the grimy, leaf-covered floors. The whistler, whoever they are, doesn't actively respond if called out to - but the whistling does pause, as though indicating that the call was heard, before starting up again.
If characters choose to follow the whistling, they're inevitably led to the same place - somewhere overlooking the great gap down the middle of the ship, whether an internal suite's balcony, one of the bridges crossing between the two halves, or one of the hallways that runs alongside it. Once they're there, there's no whistler in sight; however, characters will be filled with the overwhelming urge to look over the edge of the railing and down into the lower parts of the ship.
Exactly what they experience after looking down varies. Some will hallucinate that they've fallen over the side, feeling their balance go haywire and seeing the floor rushing up to them right up until the moment of "impact," at which everything returns to normal. Some will feel a stranger's hands on their shoulders, threatening to push them over with a great shove that goes through them with incorporeal fingers. Some will just hear unidentifiable laughter right up close to their ears, and experience the distinct sensation that there's someone laughing at them, in a haha-made-you-look kind of way.
But whatever happens, when they look up, there's no one there - or at least not anyone that physically close to them. The one good thing about being drawn to the middle section of the ship by whatever prankster this is is that it makes it a lot easier to run into people if you're all drawn to the same, highly visible place.
And at least the other person is flesh and blood, right? Probably.
This Test Drive corresponds to Days 4-12 in the ship calendar, and will run until around the game's next major event. You can get a better idea what's going on in the most recent Game Update which covers Days 5-8. Currently, character IC housing is not in operation yet; it is expected to open on Day 9 (part of the way through the Test Drive period). Otherwise, the ship is largely in the state described on the Setting page and in other game information.
Test Drive threads involving characters who are accepted are considered canon to the events of the game unless otherwise agreed by players/mods. Pluviosa does not do welcome mingle logs nor does it have any kind of in-character welcome information, making your test drive threads your character's arrival to the game setting. That said, mod-run interactions such as formal exploration and/or interactions with the Ship as an NPC are not available on the Test Drive.
It is advised that potential players familiarize themselves with the Premise page, the Rules/Session Zero page, and at least the first few paragraphs of the Setting page. As Pluviosa is a horror game, we especially encourage players to be aware of the content warnings that will be major themes of the game. If you have any further questions, you can ask them on the QUESTIONS header in the comments!
If you're test driving a character, you're welcome to join the game Discord and hang out and meet your fellow players!
ARRIVAL - LIKE THE RAIN
You wake up. You remember waking up, right? In another place, another time...
There's blood running down your fingers. Outside, the rain isn't pounding, yet, just a gentle patter...
Or is it?
As characters gain fuller awareness of their surroundings, they will realize that there is, in fact, no blood on their hands (save any that might have already been there). It feels as though they lost focus for a moment and hallucinated, but the hallucination ended with them somewhere else entirely.
There is not actually the sound of rain. If characters are near enough to a window, balcony, or even a hole in the ceiling, they will find that it is cloudless, beaming sunlight outside. The emptiness in the distance rolls on and on, completely absent any signs of life.
That being, of course, because the signs of life are all in here. Characters might wake up on any of the decks on the upper side of the ship - anywhere that isn't the cafeteria or lounge where previous arrivals spend most of their time is free game. This also means, of course, that they have the jungle of plants to contend with...
LIGHTS ON, SHOW START
Most areas in the ship are dark when characters arrive. That doesn't mean that they stay dark. Occasionally, lights overhead flicker on and off for a few minutes at a time.
The problem with this isn't the lights themselves (cool white and kind of industrial). It's the reaction that the addition of the extra light causes the plants in the dark areas of the ship that's cause for alarm. To describe the growth as explosive isn't an understatement - vines, saplings, and even thicker branches surge with growth, pushing outwards towards the distant sunlight and upwards towards the flickering bulbs.
The growth is sudden enough to take all but the most aware characters by surprise, and if they're in the wrong corner of the room, it's very easy to get tangled up, wedged in by a tree trunk, or otherwise trapped against some corner or wall. If you're lucky and skilled, you might be able to cut yourself out from there (or break down the wall you're shoved up against), but otherwise, there's only one solution left.
Yell like your life depends on it, and hope somebody out there can hear you. And that whoever hears is someone who is inclined to help, rather than leaving you there. Or worse.
Oh, and the lights flicker back off after a few minutes, of course. Hopefully you're not waiting for rescue in the dark (with the smell of mold and the general faint dampness of the forest) for too long.
TILT-A-WORLD
Occasionally, the whole ship tilts.
This is not simply the side to side motion of a ship on the water (or the equivalent motion brought on by the way this particular ship moves); it's an extremely forward or backward tilt that sends things sliding across the floor if they aren't secured by roots or something else. Unlike storm-tossed ships, the tilt is somewhat prolonged - rather than everything sliding back and forth a couple times a minute, the tilt lasts for five, ten, maybe as much as twenty minutes.
Although it's not enough to knock a well-balanced character off their feet, it's quite likely that new arrivals will not be particularly on-balance. And attempting to traverse the ship with the tilt is a tall order... especially when the ship's angle does unexpectedly change... to the exact opposite direction. All that goes up the mountain must go back down, and a glance out the windows reveals that that's exactly what's going on, as the ship progresses across a mountainous landscape without real regard for the concept of mountain passes.
And for characters who have managed to make their way to the "civilized" parts of the ship, namely the cafeteria and the lounge above it... None of the furniture in these areas is secured. The cafeteria carts under the direct control of the Ship don't seem as inclined to go anywhere, but the tables and chairs in the cafeteria and the couches and armchairs upstairs... Well, it's a good thing both spaces are surrounded by railings. Large chunks of tree trunk also still littler the lounge, sliding back and forth and occasionally rolling with great force across the floor.
Better hold on tight.
SOMETHING WHISTLING
While wandering around the ship's interior, characters might occasionally hear a person whistling.
The sound always seems to be coming from just around the corner, but it sounds alive in a way that other sounds don't. Maybe more alive, even, than the rustle of leaves, the occasional drip of water, and the sounds of things sliding back and forth across the grimy, leaf-covered floors. The whistler, whoever they are, doesn't actively respond if called out to - but the whistling does pause, as though indicating that the call was heard, before starting up again.
If characters choose to follow the whistling, they're inevitably led to the same place - somewhere overlooking the great gap down the middle of the ship, whether an internal suite's balcony, one of the bridges crossing between the two halves, or one of the hallways that runs alongside it. Once they're there, there's no whistler in sight; however, characters will be filled with the overwhelming urge to look over the edge of the railing and down into the lower parts of the ship.
Exactly what they experience after looking down varies. Some will hallucinate that they've fallen over the side, feeling their balance go haywire and seeing the floor rushing up to them right up until the moment of "impact," at which everything returns to normal. Some will feel a stranger's hands on their shoulders, threatening to push them over with a great shove that goes through them with incorporeal fingers. Some will just hear unidentifiable laughter right up close to their ears, and experience the distinct sensation that there's someone laughing at them, in a haha-made-you-look kind of way.
But whatever happens, when they look up, there's no one there - or at least not anyone that physically close to them. The one good thing about being drawn to the middle section of the ship by whatever prankster this is is that it makes it a lot easier to run into people if you're all drawn to the same, highly visible place.
And at least the other person is flesh and blood, right? Probably.
no subject
They're almost keeping pace as they walk, but Miku's definitely moving just the slightest bit slower, due to having to take more care with her steps; bare feet make things difficult, alas. Her lagging behind just that little bit, though, means she catches the little glances Aurelia-san keeps throwing back her way...gaze narrowed with focus and thought.
"Aurelia-san," she says, "is there something on your mind?"
Pathinder Axiom #7, Trust with knowledge or be betrayed
Aurelia slows as well, a look of surprise on her face before a brief moment before it flattens out again. "Yes" she admits after a long moment, marshaling her thoughts together before she continues, the silence stretching between them as she does. "I was trying to determine what you are." Again the considering silence after a sentence that would have come out accusatory, if delivered in anything but the idle detachment with which Aurelia seems to approach everything.
"I don't believe you are any more human than I am. There's a number of details that point to this. First, your appearance caught my eye as trustworthy almost immediately. In this environment, doubt and mistrust should thrive but you managed to put yourself forth as a nonthreatening almost immediately, almost as though you were designed to be trusted. Second, your voice is ... the best description is artificial." She trails off there, thoughtful, even as her gaze continues to sweep left and right across the corridor. Analyzing her companion to her companion as though describing someone else entirely. Despite that, her eyes shine with interest, the strongest emotions she's displayed so far, even as she continues to talk... nearly ramble.
"I was considering whether or not you were an outsider of some sort, one of the calmer Azata or an Angel. Or perhaps a nephilim descendant of theirs. But no such being would wander around unarmed. And a construct would not have emotions the way you do, no matter how strange yours are." She pauses again, coming to a full stop in a junction in the hall, two paths before them. A good adventurer always goes left, and Aurelia stops to gesture in that direction before her brain catches up to her. There really is something strange about this Hatsune, a single question enough for her to lower barriers built up over years.
She blinks once, glancing up into the other woman's eyes apologetically before she returns to watching for approaching dangers. "Please forgive the analysis. Solving mysteries is ... a hard habit to break"
miku vc miku is miku
"Ah," she says. "Yes, Aurelia-san, I am not human." Though it's a little surprising to hear that Aurelia-san herself is also not human? Is she VIRTUAL, too? "I am what is known as a VIRTUAL SINGER. Does that mean anything to you?" Miku kind of doubts it, because not much of what Aurelia-san says makes sense to her. Except the angel part--Miku knows what an angel is, though she isn't sure why Aurelia-san would think she is one. She doesn't even have wings, in this module.
Miku shakes her head. "You do not need...to apologize. Solving a mystery is...just another way to get to know each other."
Re: miku vc miku is miku
VIRTUAL: almost or nearly as described, but not completely or according to strict definition.
The definition comes easily to her, though combining it with the word singer produces a certain... linguistic confusion. She thinks further, and her train of thought simply collapses under the weight. Computing? Computers? Software? Internet? Aurelia cuts herself off as her flat expression slackens with confusion for a long moment, blinking and resetting back to her neutral as she takes a deep breath. Miku has gotten a few steps ahead of her as Aurelia struggles to come to term with an entirely new set of context. "You are a... Fake singer?" she manages to ask. Hoping quietly that the answer isn't yes. "Are there many ... VIRTUALs? I admit I've not heard of your race before"
no subject
She frowns. "There are a few of us, though I wouldn't really call us...a 'race.' Usually it is...variants of the same few base modules. There are some aberrants, though. Those are always interesting. It's not surprising...that you haven't heard of us. Mostly...those that meet a VIRTUAL SINGER...are those that have need of one."
no subject
Where the _fuck_ is she?
"You have blood." She says, almost without thought, making an observation that he conscious mind can't quite connect with her senses. She uses it to comfort herself, where she is, the living still have blood. The world is not so far gone from what she knows that she is lost entirely. "Who needed you Hatsune?" she continues, trying to bring herself back under control with a question, focusing on the mystery of the woman infront of her.
no subject
Aurelia-san's next words break through her thoughts. "A friend," Miku says. "A girl--she felt so alone she wanted to disappear. But she's someone who has...a vital spark. Someone who can create great and beautiful things. So I was made for her, to keep her company. To keep her spark alight."
Like looking in a mirror
Shock loosens her manners, the grip of etiquette and Aurelia steps closer to Miku, reaching out towards the other girl and gently taking her by the wrist, she dosen't need to pull her sleeves up to feel the beat of her heart. In any world, any universe, she's attuned to the rush of blood beyond all other sensations. Measuring the beat with a tilted head, it's slow but not the slowest she's ever heard. "Thirty nine beats per minutes" she mummers, eyes trained downwards at her hand. "Faster than mine, though not by much. You're a living being with flesh and blood Hatsune."
She gives the other woman a moment to process that, watching muted greys bloom and twist beneath her skin in time with her thoughts. Perhaps she would have doubted the other woman's words here, if she couldn't see the echo of her thoughts in the shape of her emotions. "Let's find somewhere safe." She decides after a long moment, looking away and stepping down the hallway. A girl who felt so alone... she wanted to vanish. "I know how your charge feels, she deserves not to lose you here" Grief, old and faded stains her words, before it too is hollowed out and swallowed beneath a mask of manners and efficiency.
no subject
A living being...a VIRTUAL SINGER is not without life, but still...
Aurelia-san's words as she pulls Miku along in her wake through sheer melancholy strike a chord in Miku's apparently beating heart. "We should find...somewhere safe for you too," Miku says. "If you know how she feels...but you still feel like there's hope...then I know there are people who love you, too."
no subject
Aurelia looks over her shoulder, offering the other girl a smile that doesn't reach her eyes but does reveal the fangs in her mouth. "That's very kind of you to say." A platitude. She turns her attention back towards the hallways she's marching down, still lightly dragging Miku along. The hallway they're in is flat, but there was danger down the other direction, so safety can certainly be found upward. Pathfinder Axiom number three. All they need to find is a staircase, or some teleportation circles, or a window.
Aurelia tries not to think about her words too much, focusing on the task at hand. Love. Hope. She can't remember if she's ever seen those colors. Perhaps at the end of the siege of Kenabras, but that wasn't for her... but for the hero's in whose shadow she hid.
Silence reigns, until a deformation in the walls catches her eyes. A slit? A Cut? The metal is parted in two from floor to slightly a height perhaps two feet above her head. She stops to inspect it, looking around. There's some symbols on the wall nearby? "What is this?" she mummers.
no subject
Miku tells herself not to be surprised by Aurelia-san's confusion; Aurelia-san was very polite about Miku being confused about having blood.
no subject
An 'elevator'. That doesn't sound safe. It sounds like a trap. In the dungeon she's wandering through with a girl who only has one sock and didn't know she had blood (and might not be real even if the blood is). A dungeon that's had nothing guarding it but light sensitive plants and is made of metal.
She's starting to question if this is a dungeon at all. She's starting to question if she's even on the material plane. She has too many questions and no where to start. She takes a long look at Hatsune, seconds turning into at least a minute of silence before she turns an equally heavy gaze back onto the 'elevator' in a silence that only grows heavier as she remains motionless.
Slowly, Eventually, she sinks to her knees in the hall, lowering her head and offering a prayer laden with as much despair as she can muster. "Oh pallid princess, what feast did I spurn to earn this spiteful curse of a journey". For a moment, she wonders if Hatsune will turn and reveal herself to have been a Pyschopomp after all, and tell her she's dead and this is her punishment for the life she's lived. She's not sure she'd be surprised at this point.
no subject
She gets down beside her, and offers her own prayer.
Miku isn't religious. That's not something a VIRTUAL SINGER is by default, and it's not one of the things she got from Mafuyu or the other members of Nightcord at 25:00. If she digs deep inside herself, she finds a mild aversion to the concept--she does wonder who she picked that up from, but doesn't pry; if it's so subtle within her, it's something they're not comfortable with other people knowing, and that's okay.
Instead, she prays to the Ship. She hopes it's doing good. She hopes it will get better. She hopes it will let them go home soon--and she tells it this, in her prayer.
Her piece said, she settles down more comfortably next to Aurelia-san and hugs her knees to her chest.
"It's okay, Aurelia-san," she says. "Things here are very confusing...but I'm sure we can figure it out together. You've been very smart so far. You have so much knowledge different to mine...so if we just combine what we know. We'll find an answer. I'm sure of it."
no subject
A small smile starts to play on her lips, than a hollow laugh escapes as she turns her head minutely to catch the other woman's gaze. "I don't think I've had anyone talk to me like that in... decades. I must have been fifty the last time someone tried to comfort me." She lapses into silence afterwards, even in the face of a response, savoring the echo of grey affection and comfort Hatsune puts out. It's sweet, shades of amber and white hidden under the grey. She hasn't tasted that since she was fifty either.
"Thank you" she responds eventually, a faint hint of emotion still lingering in her voice before it fades away. "It seems like you know more of this... place than I do. Or at least, of it's..." she struggles to find the right word here, turning her gaze back onto the 'elevator' "...Technology" a new word, felt out. "Where do you think we should go?"
no subject
no subject
She's so hungry.
She sighs and leans against the wall, breath slowing to inhuman rates as she takes up watch. "Alright. Let's see what happens."
no subject
As Aurelia-san goes still and unfocused in a way that is still, nevertheless, focused--like Meiko when she's wandering the boundaries of the Empty SEKAI--Miku watches her. Takes in her slow breaths...and the colour of her skin, which seems to be even paler than it had been before, when they were walking. In fact, though she hides it well...her entire expression looks vaguely pained. "Aurelia-san," Miku says slowly, concerned, "are you okay?"
no subject
Aurelia tenses, going from unfocused vigilance to ready for violence in a moment. Her gaze sweeps up and down the corridor for threats before she takes a deep breath and slowly releases it, relaxing back into her watch as she turns her head away from Hatsune Miku, unconsciously gripping her wrist as tight as she can. She isn't sure what set her -
'are you okay?' she'd asked. And she'd last heard that question shouted at her across a battlefield, as the men and women she'd marched for weeks with screamed and died. Honest concern and a state of heightened vigilance, memory associations, perfectly normal.
She's fine. She's just hungry. She's. Fine.
"I appreciate the concern Hatsune". She intones, fingers flexing around her wrist in a series before they still, as her hunger eats away at the burst of her own panic and fear. "I'm - " she cuts herself off, unsure what to say next. "I'm handling it." she decides to finish.